Sponsor: Arc Dream is sponsoring this episode of Game Designer’s Workshop. Check out the Delta Green Kickstarter.
In 1947, Delta Green is still part of the U.S. government but they are more concerning with hunting ex-Nazi occultists than they are investigating domestic ‘weird’ events. When a truck in the Catskills Mountains hits a bizarre ape-like creature, Delta Green is notified. Similarities between the creature and specimens retrieved by the Nazis from the Congo spark the idea for an investigation. A team of three agents with Delta Green clearance are sent to the Catskills to find out the truth behind the creature.
Using a beta version of new Delta Green rules, this game showcases some of the changes between baseline Call of Cthulhu and the new game. Keep in mind that many of the rules in the beta may change before final publication.
This AP guest stars Faust from Thrilling Intent. Check out their Youtube channel.
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Thoroughly fun listen. I object to those irresponsible ’47 DG guys foisting off more problems for M-EPIC to cope with!
Still enjoying the episode.
If you guys ever wanted inspiration for a Cthulhu adventure in the Catskills or lights in the sky and the supernatural, I -highly- recommend reading The Barrens by F. Paul Wilson. Fantastic Mythos story.
the extra lobes pleased me. the one Delta Green scenario I ever wrote involved the appendix as the anti-Mythos organ. I think the high point of the session was making all three investigators roll Luck to see if they had their own appendixes and have them all fail. only way to complete the scenario without the world ending was if one of them’d had an appendix and had cut it out of themselves and stuffed it into the mad scientist doctor dude who’d been searching for the formula to end the world as he operated on himself.
This was a fun and surprisingly simple scenario. The scene in the mansion was pretty hilarious. Also, my immediate thought was if someone made a good scenario out of Facts Concerning The Late Arthur Jermyn.
@TRNSHMN – Jermyn has already been used in the Delta Green canon – read Denied to the Enemy for more information. In fact, it’s referenced in this scenario indirectly.
Nice scenario based on one of my favorite Lovecraft stories! Well done, and I really enjoy Faust on these APs. All it was missing was some stormy weather to go with the name of the mountain, but I can see why you’d want to skip the logistics of dealing with soaking wet PCs in a situation where they were so badly overmatched to begin with. I do think a scene of pitch black raining interrupted by a flash of lightning to show the absolute horde of Martense-Apes coming up from the earth would fit nicely though.
I like Faust too, I could easily see him pulling double duty on podcasts
Good stuff guys. Very entertaining. Was this a published or original scenario?
@Casey – I wrote the scenario. It is not published. If you like it, like Arc Dream know and it may become a published scenario!
Good scenario Ross.
At the beginning I was uncertain if you were going with Arthur Jermyn or The Lurking Fear. I like adventures that keep some mystery about the identity of the Mythos adversary, or reveal additional unexpected complications.
And you provided that in spades by having three tribes for the players to contend with. That was an interesting wrinkle to the plot. It of course begs the question, why did this lifeform speciate so quickly into three different niches?
I suppose the answer is the yet to be uncovered vector that we will see in the next episode.
I really like episodic games where players have to deal with the consequences of their actions last week, even if there is bait and switch in which the player expect they are playing a one shot. The structure reminds me of Caleb’s Preemptive Revenge, which I also enjoyed!
When the players discovered the car I was grinning from ear to ear, you monster.
The design choice of the tribe prepared to hunt the players down if they acted like prey added a lot of tension and made perfect sense. Credit to the players for going full defensive on that one. I would suggest though that if you ran this again that there be one or two more hints that acting like prey would get a player treated like prey. Maybe they come across a body that had run and it’s back was gouged out and it’s legs were gnawed on or something. Just a thought.
Is there any chance of Faust becoming a regular on RPPR? Please say yes.
@Twisting H – good points. I have yet to run the follow up adventure for Inheritance, but I will try to at some point in the near future.
@ChrisMarlowe – Faust is welcome to play with us when our schedules line up. He’s going to be in Caleb’s Delta Green game next.
I’m actually from Catskill, NY, believe it or not. One half of my family has been in the area for over 200 years. If you are interested in geographical or historical information, or just real world locations that would work in place of the made up ones please reply. A touch of authenticity usually goes a long way towards establishing the realism of a setting or adventure.
Also, I was going to point out I’m going through Caleb withdrawal but I guess that just got resolved, ha.
Anyway, I can’t tell you how cool (and weird) it was to hear you guys talking about my hometown.
I’ve been listening since 2010, you guys are the best.
Nice scenario, Ross. I liked the moral quandary at the end, and how the players dealt with it. Kinda wanted to see Aaron’s character run screaming from a failed SAN check, but demonstrating the WP mechanic was cool, too. 🙂
Check out a scene from this game depicted in RPPR Illustrated on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/5390827