Delta Green

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Delta Green
Delta Green sourcebook cover
Delta Green cover
Designer Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy, John Tynes
Publisher Pagan Publishing
Publication date 1997
Genre(s) Horror
System Call of Cthulhu

Delta Green is a setting for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game created by Adam Scott Glancy, Dennis Detwiller, and John Tynes of the Seattle gaming house Pagan Publishing.

Contents

[edit] Premise

Set in the modern day, the game revolves around a secret organization called Delta Green (created by the U.S. Government following the covert raid on the town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts) spearheaded by elements of the United States government. Its members are dedicated to combating the mind-rending horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. The organization works undercover by contacting and gathering members across the wide range of U.S. government agencies like the FBI, ATF, CDC, and DEA. It appears to have "gone rogue" somewhere in the 1980s following the "deal" struck by the Reagan administration with the "Greys" (actually a facade for mythos creatures) via the offices of the Majestic-12 governmental UFO conspiracy group. The group was introduced in the seventh issue of The Unspeakable Oath, a Call of Cthulhu fanzine created by Pagan Publishing, in early 1993. Four years later, the Delta Green supplement appeared and spawned a number of its own modules and novels.

The premise is frequently compared to The X-Files (although the original incarnation of Delta Green preceded The X-Files by almost a year[1]), as both draw on federal alphabet soup folklore, UFO conspiracy theories and other modern legends. The game is also similar to Eden Studios' RPG Conspiracy X. Delta Green also involves groups like a modern-day offshoot of the Nazi Ahnenerbe organization, occult criminal gangs and paranormal television shows, amongst others. All of these separate threads are woven into a more existential, bleak and Lovecraftian form of the Cthulhu Mythos than some other Call of Cthulhu publications.

The Delta Green supplement lays the groundwork for the scenario, setting up the initial plot and providing players with their motivations and the resources they need to carry out their tasks. It also provides a source of replacements for characters who go mad or are killed. Unlike many Call of Cthulhu supplements, Delta Green is designed to raise ethical and moral questions. As a member of a legitimate government group, acting outside their remit, the players may have to engage in questionable actions to safeguard society, with serious repercussions for whatever choice they make. The second supplement Delta Green: Countdown proved somewhat controversial for its inclusion of a cult of Russian-emigrant castrati and their use of child abuse to perpetuate their religion.

In 1998, Delta Green won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Supplement of 1997. The setting also won two awards in 2000: Best Game-Related Novel of 1999 for Delta Green: The Rules of Engagement and Best Roleplaying Supplement of 1999 for Delta Green: Countdown.

On May 1, 2006, the Pagan Publishing homepage was updated with an announcement describing the reasons for the delay of the new release of Delta Green, and stating that the d20 edition of the game should be available in time for Gen Con Indy. While there were a few show copies available there were no copies available for sale to the public as most of them were "still being shipped from China"[2]. As of May 2007 the book, which is a reprint of the 1997 book with the addition of D20 stats, was finally reprinted and was available in stores [3].

A hardback compilation of the the three Delta Green Eyes Only chapbooks, along with additional material, was released in November 2007. The book was published in cooperation with Arc Dream Publishing. The entire 1,000 copy print run was sold out by February 2008.[4] A softback version of the compilation is intended to follow later in 2008.

[edit] Publications

As of February 2008, the following Delta Green books have been published:

[edit] Pagan Publishing game books


[edit] Fantasy Flight Games game books

[edit] Ronin Arts

[edit] Dennis Detwiller

  • Music From a Darkened Room
  • Delta Green Scenario: Future Perfect (Parts 1,2 & 3 available)

[edit] Pyramid Magazine

  • Green Box (8/21/02 & 10/9/02, with d20 stats)
  • Jack Frost (12/24/99 & 12/31/99)

[edit] Dungeon Magazine

  • PX Poker Night (with d20 stats), issue 96

[edit] Shadis

  • Dia de Los Muertos, issue 52

[edit] Unofficial Material

[edit] Fiction

  • Delta Green: Alien Intelligence (Tynes Cowan Corp, March 1998), short stories collection, ISBN 1-887797-09-2.
  • Delta Green: Dark Theatres (Armitage House, 1999), short stories collection, ISBN 1-887797-17-3.
  • Delta Green: The Rules of Engagement (Tynes Cowan Corp, 2000), novel by John Tynes, ISBN 1-887797-16-5.
  • Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy (Impressions, 2003), novel by Dennis Detwiller, ISBN 1-887797-24-6.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Delta Green/Frequently Asked Questions
  2. ^ Pagan Publishing
  3. ^ Pagan Publishing
  4. ^ Delta Green Eyes Only

[edit] External links

Languages