tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post2334508795209812284..comments2024-03-25T22:48:31.750-04:00Comments on Dreams in the Lich House: Green Around the GillsJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031181424520125213noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-2039116467972269962013-06-07T12:02:04.916-04:002013-06-07T12:02:04.916-04:00The first thing I think of when I plan a session i...The first thing I think of when I plan a session is game atmosphere and feel. House rules follow. For example in scenarios about larger conflict I kake some things (like seige weapons) unreasonably deadly and a bit arbitrary. One of the things I liked about COC is that the rules fit the mood. It sounds like Delta Green has less of a horror feel and more a supers thing. Supers vs. Azathoth is a thing but its own genre I guess - one I personally don't find inspiring.Gus Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872819206286105195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-68984872542919020502013-06-06T18:31:09.098-04:002013-06-06T18:31:09.098-04:00And regarding the Fate specifically, they publishe...And regarding the Fate specifically, they published all the information regarding them in the wrong order. The Adepts, Neophytes and Lords in Eyes Only are perfectly reasonable and interesting NPCs for a CoC campaign, but everybody read some inverse-hagiography of Alzis and Belial first instead of the stuff you could *actually use in a game.*huthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16502682297320819595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-6600529007930412302013-06-06T18:27:50.260-04:002013-06-06T18:27:50.260-04:00Since 75% of the DG material is over a decade old,...Since 75% of the DG material is over a decade old, I just cross off names of NPCs I think are probably dead by now. huthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16502682297320819595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-6108348354445350002013-06-06T18:15:29.466-04:002013-06-06T18:15:29.466-04:00I find the setting makes more sense (speaking as a...I find the setting makes more sense (speaking as a guy who's using DG background material both for DG games and classic-era CoC) if you assume that each agency has a very specific version of 'the supernatural' which is their lens for viewing strange things through. They don't perceive 'the mythos' as a thing, an alternative cosmology (which Keepers shouldn't either really), just a series of strange events. <br /><br />One of the parts of the setting that protagonizes Delta Green over the other groups, for example, is their institutional paranoid schizophrenia, for lack of a better term. The history of types of contact with weird stuff they have had might gives them a cult-centric focus, or one which tends to view the activities of supernatural beings as 'invasive' and 'infectious.' It's easier for them to identify patterns of bad weirdness—cults are isolated, travel in groups, hide their true non-homo-sapiens biology. The details and how they interrelate might be a mystery, but since the agents usually come from some sort of counterintelligence or criminal investigation background they can shift from crimes committed with a weapon to crimes committed with an alien servitor more easily.<br /><br />MJ-12 has an alternative mythos already, one which can deal with one half of the situation quite readily (anything that looks like an 'alien') but which might default to rationalization or total ignorance when confronted with a classical occult gloss to it (like trying to figure out a Resurrection spell).<br /><br />The Karotechia has the entirety of Aryo-Theosophy to frame their worldview, and lucky them, it's a lot of the same stuff which inspired/fed HPL et al in the first place. No wonder they make such good villains.<br /><br />PISCES, on the other hand, can be read as having a focus on identifying and exploiting or neutralizing human mutations, be they psychics or blessed of Shub-Niggurath. <br /><br />GRU-SV8's origin parallels Delta Green, and along with it can help them see the weird as an invasive or corrupting force, associated with cannibalism, the dead and the un-living, which leads to some version of classical criminal activity.<br /><br />M-EPIC is essentially a law enforcement version of the residential schools act. (I'm Canadian so I might have more complex opinions about M-EPIC than the rest... also there's the [SPOILERS]) <br /><br />Glancy's articles on semi-aware mythos groups included a cool idea for a French group whose 'exposure' consists of whatever they've stolen from MJ-12, making them second-hand dupes. <br /><br />A second thing: the history of these groups all stem from events that happen in the first half of the 20th century—WWI for DG & GRU, WWII for PISCES, the birth of the Cold War for MJ-12—and I like to think that if any of those groups go down, there's not going to be anyone in the governmental sphere replacing them. <br /><br />I've done it in my DG game in anticipation of the new DG RPG. I replaced MJ-12 with a constellation of military contractors and biotech companies, which Kroft funnelled patents and materials to before being purged himself.<br /><br />Third thing: Any of the above groups can be reinterpreted as an <i>infection</i> of a government by a cult. Most of them are already described as such. Others (i.e. Delta Green) can be turned into villains simply by taking their standard operating procedure to the ultimate extreme. Abducted by aliens? They shoot you. Found an artefact which has some weird snake glyphs? They smash it, your notes are stolen, and their friendlies in academia kibosh your future funding grants.huthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16502682297320819595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-75092825205614145432013-06-06T17:38:14.477-04:002013-06-06T17:38:14.477-04:00Taking down any of the Super NPC's should be f...Taking down any of the Super NPC's should be fair game for the players, assuming they want to make a campaign of it. The Fate is the only group where the authors overstep in terms of presenting their badassery.<br /><br />These are all issues the referee needs to solve (ie, if I do it right, the players never feel like Rosencrantz or Guildenstern because they're not treated as such...)Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18031181424520125213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-45962273869637020622013-06-06T17:26:58.715-04:002013-06-06T17:26:58.715-04:00Way back when, our group did a small expirement mi...Way back when, our group did a small expirement mixing our fantasy with modern times by making d20 Modern characters where were all on a SWAT team who get transported to the Village of Hommlet and we went to the Moathouse. It was a one-shot game that lasted about 2 game sessions. So I understand needing to take a breather from the usual gaming.<br />Greg Johnstonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11309648175626829683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-74578029392106804542013-06-06T15:02:38.326-04:002013-06-06T15:02:38.326-04:00Unlike Agent Mulder, who never quite learns the tr...Unlike Agent Mulder, who never quite learns the truth, DG agents have the Mythos info they need. Toss in a few minor arcana to wield and a stash of guns, and they won't have to stand back while extraordinary gentlemen do the work. Survival can be one bullet at the right moment, or just getting out of the way when monsters appear. Having 1000 loyal minions doesn't help if you're all looking inside the Ark of the Covenant. Lee Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06698873084592329937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-16762062952745175902013-06-06T14:56:52.667-04:002013-06-06T14:56:52.667-04:00The Super NPC problem is one of my main issues wit...The Super NPC problem is one of my main issues with <i>Delta Green</i>. The other is that there are so many conspiracies that it's comical; every government seems to have a secret agency devoted to battling or studying the mythos.thekelvingreenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-40123561937146386192013-06-06T10:27:37.487-04:002013-06-06T10:27:37.487-04:00PX Poker Night is a free introductory scenario ove...PX Poker Night is a free introductory scenario over on RPGnow - reading the PDF would give you a flavor of the setting.<br /><br />The players are all Air Force personnel consigned to dead-end positions on a back-water base. Some guys show up with important classified papers to field test a new device. (It all goes horribly wrong for them and the government guys all bleed out their eyeballs).<br /><br />If the players survive and escape, they get a chance to join DELTA GREEN now that they've been exposed to the occult conspiracy world.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18031181424520125213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-58154076806518811992013-06-06T10:05:40.000-04:002013-06-06T10:05:40.000-04:00Interesting indeed...!Interesting indeed...!JDG Perldeinerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07632961831809544262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-43523996238915619222013-06-06T10:04:41.833-04:002013-06-06T10:04:41.833-04:00That's a fair question - when we say that vari...That's a fair question - when we say that various groups have tried to commoditize magic, it would seem to undermine horror and mystery (back to using magic as a replacement for technology).<br /><br />DELTA GREEN works because no one is successful. Sure, someone may achieve limited "immortality", but now they're an inhuman walking corpse that always needs to stay refrigerated so they don't "spoil". Or the guys that study the alien technology, go nuts, and get featured on the nightly news after their high profile murder-suicide spree.<br /><br />DG is very successful at presenting a 'realistic' view of misguided folks trying very hard to "break the Mythos code" and failing over and over again. That part of it stays true to Lovecraft.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18031181424520125213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4353391426294254427.post-19968297039659620102013-06-06T09:47:24.725-04:002013-06-06T09:47:24.725-04:00I've never read the Delta Green book, but some...I've never read the Delta Green book, but something about it always seemed EXTREMELY un-Lovecraft to me. Perhaps its the idea that the horrors of the Mythos are understandable enough to be manipulated, or that they can be comprehended at all, but it strikes a note as being very much contrary to some of the central Mythos themes.<br /><br />I could be wrong, since (as I said) I've never read it. But that feeling has prevented me from ever even picking it up.JDG Perldeinerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07632961831809544262noreply@blogger.com