The 2022 Delta Green Shotgun Scenario Contest
wrapped a few weeks ago. I've largely lost interest in Delta Green
over the last year or two, but I sent in three scenarios anyway.
Reviews of all 53 submissions under the cut.
OPERATION: In Media Res - The Agents become trapped in a haunted UFO — who will escape, and who will they remember being when they do?
Just start with the Agents entering the thing. I’ve run BESTOW and every time they want to leave one guy outside in the car, and I have to get him inside the building so he can actually play the game. I like this scenario overall, although I think declaring that a player character died offscreen sucks.
Operation FUNERAL JAZZ - Agents are brought in investigate a murder where the organs extracted from the victim are the same as those abandoned on the floor near the body.
The intro is strong but there isn’t much after the players discover the
box. A short list of sample victims from the journal would make the
scenario a lot more playable. There was a scenario several years ago about a sorcerer whose organs were sold on the black market, and who is collecting them again to rebuild himself. I remember it being pretty good, and this one is similar. I think there was an X Files or Fringe episode with a similar premise.
The Sinai Palimpsest - A book within a book should not be read?
I don't have anything constructive to say about this one. It's not a complete scenario.
Moment of Impact - Agents are summoned to investigate a burglary of a Green Box and eliminate the culprit in Mid-Pandemic Atlanta.
The Sinai Palimpsest - A book within a book should not be read?
I don't have anything constructive to say about this one. It's not a complete scenario.
Moment of Impact - Agents are summoned to investigate a burglary of a Green Box and eliminate the culprit in Mid-Pandemic Atlanta.
Carcosa shotgun scenarios are paint by numbers at this point, but this one doesn’t overstay its welcome and has a cool creature at the end. I like the monster but I don't understand all its abilities. The performance fighter ability seems to have been cut off mid sentence. A smaller and more focused powerset would be better.
Operation TOURIST TRAP - In a small, sleepy Tennessee River valley town, a brood of vampires is content to run the town while preying on residents of a rehab center.
Operation TOURIST TRAP - In a small, sleepy Tennessee River valley town, a brood of vampires is content to run the town while preying on residents of a rehab center.
The Deep One plot is a little convoluted, but I appreciate you have to get the Agents into the town somehow. More locations and NPCs would have been a bigger value add, though you would have had to come up with a shorter intro to compensate.
Recommend.
The Returning Lilith's Case - A scientific foray into organic nanotech has released an ancient horror that will soon spread unless quickly contained, all while multiple forces vie for its power.
The biological nanobots highlight a problem with “infection” scenarios: if this thing is self replicating and waterborne, there’s no stopping it. Based on the description of the delivery mechanism, should have replaced all humanity with duplicates of the witch back in the bronze age. I like the NPCs, both the Liliths and the mundane characters. The bronze age grugs running around are a great way for an Agent to use Archaeology to communicate. But the meteorite, the biological nanites, the March Technologies kill team, the bronze age women running around… I don’t understand the connection between the nanobots, the meteor, and the way Lilith reproduces.
Seaside Attractions - During World War 2 a team of PISCES agents are sent to a coastal resort in search of a suspected spy.
I liked it. There’s not a ton of stuff to do but the environmental details are fun. It’s clear that the author wanted to write a scenario about a cool real world location (and it does seem super cool and mysterious) and didn’t feel the need to elaborate much beyond that. The setting and time period mean the players will have to make a new crop of Agents for a pretty short scenario, which is unfortunate.
The Returning Lilith's Case - A scientific foray into organic nanotech has released an ancient horror that will soon spread unless quickly contained, all while multiple forces vie for its power.
The biological nanobots highlight a problem with “infection” scenarios: if this thing is self replicating and waterborne, there’s no stopping it. Based on the description of the delivery mechanism, should have replaced all humanity with duplicates of the witch back in the bronze age. I like the NPCs, both the Liliths and the mundane characters. The bronze age grugs running around are a great way for an Agent to use Archaeology to communicate. But the meteorite, the biological nanites, the March Technologies kill team, the bronze age women running around… I don’t understand the connection between the nanobots, the meteor, and the way Lilith reproduces.
Seaside Attractions - During World War 2 a team of PISCES agents are sent to a coastal resort in search of a suspected spy.
I liked it. There’s not a ton of stuff to do but the environmental details are fun. It’s clear that the author wanted to write a scenario about a cool real world location (and it does seem super cool and mysterious) and didn’t feel the need to elaborate much beyond that. The setting and time period mean the players will have to make a new crop of Agents for a pretty short scenario, which is unfortunate.
Margate Shell Grotto
The Yellow Box podcast - Several groups of Hastur cultists compete to gain the attention of an occult podcast.
Is it just me, or is the podcast plot unrelated to the actual scenario itself? It’s not clear to me whether the cultists running the art festival are supposed to be the podcast hosts, or if they’re just a bunch of cultists who have converged on this location for fun. The cultists are cool, but so over the top the whole thing just becomes a farce. I want to go back to the premise at the beginning, of an illegal “podcast” that’s circulated by secret tapes using occult methods. A scenario that actually drilled down on that premise instead of a huge gunfight with a bunch of death cultists would be cool, especially if the author really filled out the content of the tapes more than just “it drives you insane” or something.
Bogged Down - Agents fall into jurisdictional mayhem over the existence of a large, (and unknown to them, hungry) floating bog on a Minnesota lake.
Lots of set up, a moderately interesting creature, and zero conclusion. Shotgun scenarios have a tendency to spend lots of wordcount on setup and briefings, and that's fine if they set up an extremely memorable set piece. But if all of that wordcount is spent just getting the Agents to the mystery in the first place, you run out of space for the actual scenario.
The Rhodesian - Just as Agents are wrapping up another operation, they find themselves the target of a retired Rhodesian SAS trooper's obsessions with the Mythos.
This one has to be stapled onto another scenario, which is a strike against it. Tons of set up, a few shootouts, and a bunch of stuff that’s “up to the handler”. Not much of a scenario. Focusing on a single one of the elements present, rather than vaguely mentioning a global conspiracy of lost cause Glaaki cultists, would have made this a much stronger scenario. As it stands, whole thing feels like a store brand version of Dead Letter.
It’s Raining Men - Downtown Valdez, Alaska: midsummer - the body fell from the sky, so say all the witnesses - falling with a dull thump, laying there in stylish high end outdoor gear.
It’s Victim of the Art, but in Alaska. A little flavor from FROZEN ARROW, a scenario I liked a lot but probably won’t ever run.
Operation FRUIT DUST - Gang warfare in Northern Houston has a suspicious lack of bodies of homicide victims, which alarms an Operation REDBONE veteran Friendly.
Tons of introduction, very little scenario. I like the concept of it just being a mundane crazy person, but I don’t understand the mechanism by which he actually causes the disappearances of the bodies. Is he just running out and grabbing them? Is he boarding them up in vacants like in The Wire?
Hurricane Season - Abnormal weather patterns and freak storms draw the attention of Delta Green to a small Appalachian town in North Carolina.
Is it just me, or is the podcast plot unrelated to the actual scenario itself? It’s not clear to me whether the cultists running the art festival are supposed to be the podcast hosts, or if they’re just a bunch of cultists who have converged on this location for fun. The cultists are cool, but so over the top the whole thing just becomes a farce. I want to go back to the premise at the beginning, of an illegal “podcast” that’s circulated by secret tapes using occult methods. A scenario that actually drilled down on that premise instead of a huge gunfight with a bunch of death cultists would be cool, especially if the author really filled out the content of the tapes more than just “it drives you insane” or something.
Bogged Down - Agents fall into jurisdictional mayhem over the existence of a large, (and unknown to them, hungry) floating bog on a Minnesota lake.
Lots of set up, a moderately interesting creature, and zero conclusion. Shotgun scenarios have a tendency to spend lots of wordcount on setup and briefings, and that's fine if they set up an extremely memorable set piece. But if all of that wordcount is spent just getting the Agents to the mystery in the first place, you run out of space for the actual scenario.
The Rhodesian - Just as Agents are wrapping up another operation, they find themselves the target of a retired Rhodesian SAS trooper's obsessions with the Mythos.
This one has to be stapled onto another scenario, which is a strike against it. Tons of set up, a few shootouts, and a bunch of stuff that’s “up to the handler”. Not much of a scenario. Focusing on a single one of the elements present, rather than vaguely mentioning a global conspiracy of lost cause Glaaki cultists, would have made this a much stronger scenario. As it stands, whole thing feels like a store brand version of Dead Letter.
It’s Raining Men - Downtown Valdez, Alaska: midsummer - the body fell from the sky, so say all the witnesses - falling with a dull thump, laying there in stylish high end outdoor gear.
It’s Victim of the Art, but in Alaska. A little flavor from FROZEN ARROW, a scenario I liked a lot but probably won’t ever run.
Operation FRUIT DUST - Gang warfare in Northern Houston has a suspicious lack of bodies of homicide victims, which alarms an Operation REDBONE veteran Friendly.
Tons of introduction, very little scenario. I like the concept of it just being a mundane crazy person, but I don’t understand the mechanism by which he actually causes the disappearances of the bodies. Is he just running out and grabbing them? Is he boarding them up in vacants like in The Wire?
Hurricane Season - Abnormal weather patterns and freak storms draw the attention of Delta Green to a small Appalachian town in North Carolina.
The NPC is interesting and I appreciate that you can actually work with a scientist for a solution, instead of just smashing everything with firearms and explosives.
Cambrian Rhythms - An act of highway robbery, three dead Program Operatives, a missing item - is this how it all comes toppling down?
Interesting riff on that one story from Imago Sequence with the fucked up horse in the barn that kicks the guy’s wife in the brain. I couldn’t find an explanation of who MJ12 Faithful is, or how/why they took the Carpenters hostage. It doesn't seem like there's anything the Agents can do to stop the outbreak, the amount of firepower required to sterilize the area is more than the player characters can bring to bear. The scenario itself admits that events basically proceed without their intervention after all the set pieces are exhausted.
Operation: PALE - A small-time drug dealer is caught with an old, esoteric looking book in his possession.
I thought this was going to be a fakeout like Straight Outta Crompton, and was surprised when the Ars Goetia gave the guy genuine magic powers. Not a ton of payoff for all the setup.
Signs Following - A strike at a coal mine is a secret battleground for an eons-old war between Chthonians and a Serpentfolk cult.
Cool setup with interesting mundane characters and supernatural creatures. The flaw, as with many “unnatural vs unnatural” conflicts (Holy War), is it’s not clear what Delta Green’s interest is here. How do the players even discover the stakes, let alone do anything about it?
Biodynamics - A pair of pseudoscientists unleash a cancer that threatens to devour the Agents.
Reducing the Lloigor’s laundry list of powers to a handful that were actually interesting was a smart play. Putting the Lloigor in the back seat and letting the fucked up humans take center stage was the right choice. Tynes tried to do it with the Prana Sodality and I think this is a more compact version of the same thing, with greater attention paid to the gameplay. I think the monster should transform into a dinosaur if it successfully gets uploaded to the new crystal. I would have voted for this one if my own submissions hadn't crowded it out of the top 5.
Recommend.
Time Shifts - In 1999, a series of mysterious disappearances at a research campus leads the players to an old enemy - one that was last seen at Operation OBSIDIAN.
Tons of set up, little scenario. I like the time shifts but they need more examples and supporting detail to bring them to life.
Christmas Bear - So yeah yet another low level academic has a psychotic break and is now an active shooter - why was S-Cell activated?
Silly but fun scenario with lots of interesting encounters. Great NPCs, a lot of mileage out of a single creature design with a simple stat block.
Time Shifts - In 1999, a series of mysterious disappearances at a research campus leads the players to an old enemy - one that was last seen at Operation OBSIDIAN.
Tons of set up, little scenario. I like the time shifts but they need more examples and supporting detail to bring them to life.
Christmas Bear - So yeah yet another low level academic has a psychotic break and is now an active shooter - why was S-Cell activated?
Silly but fun scenario with lots of interesting encounters. Great NPCs, a lot of mileage out of a single creature design with a simple stat block.
Recommend.
Behold! The Night Mare - One cold night in Colorado, the worlds of anxious cognizance, desperate pipe dreams, and dreamless sleep were suddenly pulled taut; and a pale White Horse rode forth to hunt from beyond the veil of slumber.
The most original and interesting scenario on the list so far. I foresee the Agents hitting a wall rather than figuring out the connection between anything that’s going on, the horse’s presence at the ritual site, and the use of the drug to perceive the horse. The horse should chew a limb off instead of instantly killing you. That's a lot scarier to the player and doesn't instantly remove them from play.
The most original and interesting scenario on the list so far. I foresee the Agents hitting a wall rather than figuring out the connection between anything that’s going on, the horse’s presence at the ritual site, and the use of the drug to perceive the horse. The horse should chew a limb off instead of instantly killing you. That's a lot scarier to the player and doesn't instantly remove them from play.
I voted for this one.
Loopholes - The collapse of an apartment complex has wiped dozens from the collective memory, more concerningly your team isn't the only one who's noticed.
This scenario is like one third briefing by wordcount. Making the organizations generic placeholders robs it of any flavor it might have had. Mad lib scenarios only work if all the options are interesting, or if there’s something interesting about them independent of the fill-in-the-blanks.
The Sound of Sirens - A forgotten Green Box in a small town in the South renders night time talk radio damaging to your mental health.
A puzzle scenario similar to ARTIFACT ZERO and OBSERVER EFFECT, but I think the investigation in this one holds up better. Cool “monster”.
Loopholes - The collapse of an apartment complex has wiped dozens from the collective memory, more concerningly your team isn't the only one who's noticed.
This scenario is like one third briefing by wordcount. Making the organizations generic placeholders robs it of any flavor it might have had. Mad lib scenarios only work if all the options are interesting, or if there’s something interesting about them independent of the fill-in-the-blanks.
The Sound of Sirens - A forgotten Green Box in a small town in the South renders night time talk radio damaging to your mental health.
A puzzle scenario similar to ARTIFACT ZERO and OBSERVER EFFECT, but I think the investigation in this one holds up better. Cool “monster”.
Recommend.
Ozyorsk-17 - Another classified accident on the territory of the USSR, whose veil of secrecy the players will lift with their own hands.
A cute sequence of encounters with enough flavor that I’ll forgive the largely railroaded nature.
Gains - A new health drink causes unnatural mutations at a local gym.
This one is pretty good. It reminds me a lot of an adventure I wrote called Eight Folds to Infinity, especially the way the NPCs degenerate from weird but approachable into violent supermen as the players explore. I would have voted for this one if my own submissions hadn't crowded it out of the top 5.
Ozyorsk-17 - Another classified accident on the territory of the USSR, whose veil of secrecy the players will lift with their own hands.
A cute sequence of encounters with enough flavor that I’ll forgive the largely railroaded nature.
Gains - A new health drink causes unnatural mutations at a local gym.
This one is pretty good. It reminds me a lot of an adventure I wrote called Eight Folds to Infinity, especially the way the NPCs degenerate from weird but approachable into violent supermen as the players explore. I would have voted for this one if my own submissions hadn't crowded it out of the top 5.
Recommend.
COKE ROOM - A group of partygoers are forced to survive after an invitation to party with a cokehead yuppie quickly descends into gratuitous horror.
Good scenario. I like low level Delta Green adventures where the characters aren’t well armed or skilled, but face a lesser threat. I rate this one above “Burner”.
COKE ROOM - A group of partygoers are forced to survive after an invitation to party with a cokehead yuppie quickly descends into gratuitous horror.
Good scenario. I like low level Delta Green adventures where the characters aren’t well armed or skilled, but face a lesser threat. I rate this one above “Burner”.
I voted for this one.
Applied Hypergeometry - While investigating the disappearance of a math professor's brain, the Agents stumble upon a shady R&D company.
Applied Hypergeometry - While investigating the disappearance of a math professor's brain, the Agents stumble upon a shady R&D company.
It's K Syndrome from the Laundry. I disliked the premise, but the cast of NPCs and sci fi weapons to play with won me over. The whole thing with the guy recruiting cultists reminds me a lot of that old post about the scions of Tsathoggua.
Recommend.
By Nottsuo
Keep on the Sunny Side - In the year 1936, a trio of Deep Ones kill a concentration camp guard and embark on an odyssey into the dustbowl ravaged Oklahoma countryside.
This one is mine. The biggest flaw is that it requires exactly three players, limiting when you can run it. The initial draft had George Nelson and Tommy Johnson as NPCs and potential backup characters, but including them would have required me to include a bank robbery and a recording studio, which would have pushed me over wordcount.
I voted for this one.
Operation: MPET - The Program needs a group to gain leverage over a Maine congressional representative, by rescuing their son after his final message has him saying "Nodens" and speaking in Old Norse.
There’s a lot of introductory text in this scenario, given that the excuse for Delta Green being involved has nothing to do with the actual contents of the adventure. It reminds me a lot of Death Frost Doom, specifically the whole thing hinging on the players fucking with a cursed item in a cabin, and not having much content if they leave it alone.
Bugs Bugs Bugs - Agent GARY needs help with the bug people stalking him.
This one is mine. It's is based on the X Files episode Folie a Deux, about a man who shoots up his telemarketing job because his manager has been replaced by a humanoid insect.. It's also inspired by the Laird Barron story Proboscis, about an assassin bug disguised as a human. Tophhat playtested this scenario for me, the suggestions are his. The one thing I'd change is just starting the scenario after the Agents all look at the card, so that the Handler doesn't have to deal with players shouting "I look away!" and then complaining that they were affected by the illusion despite not observing the sigil.
Operation: MPET - The Program needs a group to gain leverage over a Maine congressional representative, by rescuing their son after his final message has him saying "Nodens" and speaking in Old Norse.
There’s a lot of introductory text in this scenario, given that the excuse for Delta Green being involved has nothing to do with the actual contents of the adventure. It reminds me a lot of Death Frost Doom, specifically the whole thing hinging on the players fucking with a cursed item in a cabin, and not having much content if they leave it alone.
Bugs Bugs Bugs - Agent GARY needs help with the bug people stalking him.
This one is mine. It's is based on the X Files episode Folie a Deux, about a man who shoots up his telemarketing job because his manager has been replaced by a humanoid insect.. It's also inspired by the Laird Barron story Proboscis, about an assassin bug disguised as a human. Tophhat playtested this scenario for me, the suggestions are his. The one thing I'd change is just starting the scenario after the Agents all look at the card, so that the Handler doesn't have to deal with players shouting "I look away!" and then complaining that they were affected by the illusion despite not observing the sigil.
I voted for this one.
Alone in a Crowded Room - Delta Green encounters agents of Project COPPER while investigating one of the Lonely.
Requires the handler to read and reference a writeup many times longer than the scenario itself. But then, if you couldn’t reference outside material that would just rule out fan-orgs entirely. Or limit it to worse-than-dogshit fan organizations, like the one from Yummy Yummy. So let’s explore this scenario on its own merits... It’s another Carcosaventure, but it has fun locations and content to explore instead of just leaning on the stuff from Countdown and Impossible Landscapes. Mostly. The title illustration is from Countdown.
No Take, Only Throw - An AWOL agent, a forgotten Green Box, and a juvenile Hound of the Angles.
A fun riff on a monster I thought I was sick of. Like that lloigor submission but for the hound. A good spread of possible solutions, besides just firearms rolling versus a fellow Delta Green agent.
Requires the handler to read and reference a writeup many times longer than the scenario itself. But then, if you couldn’t reference outside material that would just rule out fan-orgs entirely. Or limit it to worse-than-dogshit fan organizations, like the one from Yummy Yummy. So let’s explore this scenario on its own merits... It’s another Carcosaventure, but it has fun locations and content to explore instead of just leaning on the stuff from Countdown and Impossible Landscapes. Mostly. The title illustration is from Countdown.
No Take, Only Throw - An AWOL agent, a forgotten Green Box, and a juvenile Hound of the Angles.
A fun riff on a monster I thought I was sick of. Like that lloigor submission but for the hound. A good spread of possible solutions, besides just firearms rolling versus a fellow Delta Green agent.
Recommend.
Material Data Safety Sheet - The Agents are exposed to an unnatural substance and only its material data safety sheet can save them from horrible deaths.
A disease scenario that mostly avoids the two pitfalls of disease scenarios: the scenario bogging down because the players are terrified of interacting with anything, or the disease spreading too fast for the players’ actions to have any effect, short of using tactical nuclear weapons Unfortunately the disease itself is underwhelming, just spawning an uninteresting monster over and over.
Operation Bookkeeping - Delta Green operators must quickly travel down to the Mafia-controlled harbor in order to question a wanted man and obtain his very special book before anybody else shows up.
This scenario hinges on the Agents being captured, which isn’t a good start. The more likely outcome is a gunfight. If the Agents must be captured for the interesting thing to happen, you should start the scenario with them already in captivity. It’s a cheap trick, but the alternative is even more railroading to get them where they need to be. The final boss is cool. I like his motivations and his heart based special abilities. The Library is so bare bones in the current incarnation it’s hard to justify its inclusion in the scenario. The intro text should be cut down, and that wordcount reallocated to give the librarians at least one named NPC. Players don’t interact with organizations, they interact with characters. My main objection to this scenario is that, for an adventure about rare books and rare book collectors, there’s nothing for a historian, anthropologist or archaeologist to do. I’d be pretty pissed if I brought an academic to a tome based module, and the whole thing was a meatgrinder of firearms rolls and fistfights.
Bad Time at the El Royale - Time can't run out, but it can go bad.
Material Data Safety Sheet - The Agents are exposed to an unnatural substance and only its material data safety sheet can save them from horrible deaths.
A disease scenario that mostly avoids the two pitfalls of disease scenarios: the scenario bogging down because the players are terrified of interacting with anything, or the disease spreading too fast for the players’ actions to have any effect, short of using tactical nuclear weapons Unfortunately the disease itself is underwhelming, just spawning an uninteresting monster over and over.
Operation Bookkeeping - Delta Green operators must quickly travel down to the Mafia-controlled harbor in order to question a wanted man and obtain his very special book before anybody else shows up.
This scenario hinges on the Agents being captured, which isn’t a good start. The more likely outcome is a gunfight. If the Agents must be captured for the interesting thing to happen, you should start the scenario with them already in captivity. It’s a cheap trick, but the alternative is even more railroading to get them where they need to be. The final boss is cool. I like his motivations and his heart based special abilities. The Library is so bare bones in the current incarnation it’s hard to justify its inclusion in the scenario. The intro text should be cut down, and that wordcount reallocated to give the librarians at least one named NPC. Players don’t interact with organizations, they interact with characters. My main objection to this scenario is that, for an adventure about rare books and rare book collectors, there’s nothing for a historian, anthropologist or archaeologist to do. I’d be pretty pissed if I brought an academic to a tome based module, and the whole thing was a meatgrinder of firearms rolls and fistfights.
Bad Time at the El Royale - Time can't run out, but it can go bad.
Interesting setup but very little scenario, no puzzle or anything to disable the device, just an “appropriate” skill. Why does this need to be an infection scenario?
Don’t Sleep! - Lab, amnesia, you always want to sleep. One question: how do you escape from a classified facility if you are the subject?
This scenario is an egregious wordcount violator, more than a thousand words over the limit once you remove the pregens and stat blocks.
Operation Purple Dust - Italy, 1943. Agents must parachute into Operation Husky to prevent Nazis from getting close to knowing dangerous powers: immortality.
This scenario is a slight wordcount violator, between 80 and 92 words over the limit depending on how you count the introductory text. It’s impressive how much scenario the author managed to fit and only go a little over, and with some trimming it could easily come in under the limit. Overall a neat dungeon crawl with some combat that’s just interesting enough to not be filler.
Don’t Sleep! - Lab, amnesia, you always want to sleep. One question: how do you escape from a classified facility if you are the subject?
This scenario is an egregious wordcount violator, more than a thousand words over the limit once you remove the pregens and stat blocks.
Operation Purple Dust - Italy, 1943. Agents must parachute into Operation Husky to prevent Nazis from getting close to knowing dangerous powers: immortality.
This scenario is a slight wordcount violator, between 80 and 92 words over the limit depending on how you count the introductory text. It’s impressive how much scenario the author managed to fit and only go a little over, and with some trimming it could easily come in under the limit. Overall a neat dungeon crawl with some combat that’s just interesting enough to not be filler.
Recommend.
Fascist soldier with "samurai" magazine vest for the Beretta M38
Portrait of God - The agents are called to investigate the attempted kidnapping of another agent, drawing them into a torrent of madness and murder surrounding a forgery.
This scenario has a ton of backstory that doesn’t seem relevant. Thankfully that doesn’t detract from the competently designed mystery that offers a mix of investigation and combat. The ability of the infected men to sense and hunt unnatural beings to collect knowledge is the most compelling aspect of the scenario, much more than the whole subplot around the nazi mobsters.
SR-A case file : HOLY BAY - Visit a small French coastal village : its museum, its abandoned houses, and its weird statuette made of human bones!
This scenario has a ton of backstory that doesn’t seem relevant. Thankfully that doesn’t detract from the competently designed mystery that offers a mix of investigation and combat. The ability of the infected men to sense and hunt unnatural beings to collect knowledge is the most compelling aspect of the scenario, much more than the whole subplot around the nazi mobsters.
SR-A case file : HOLY BAY - Visit a small French coastal village : its museum, its abandoned houses, and its weird statuette made of human bones!
If I spend four hours solving a mystery, I want there to be an actual mystery, not a randomly generated solution decided by a die roll. Some of the details are interesting but the author makes no attempt to fit them together into an actual scenario. The NPCs are cool. It’s not clear to me whether the players are supposed to be Delta Green, “Section”, or some other organization.
Redial Call - The murder in the television studio exposes the fact that a childhood in front of a TV takes its toll. Can ordinary people save the world from a new threat?
A Delta Green riff on Videodrome or Pontypool, or maybe Empty Man. I always say that if a scenario demands a special type of character for a oneshot, the author should provide pregens. A crop of media specialist characters would go a long way toward enhancing the playaiblity of this adventure.
Innsmouth Girls - It's 1928. You're a daughter of Innsmouth, and you have almost nowhere left to go for help. Who do you turn to when the government is your enemy?
Redial Call - The murder in the television studio exposes the fact that a childhood in front of a TV takes its toll. Can ordinary people save the world from a new threat?
A Delta Green riff on Videodrome or Pontypool, or maybe Empty Man. I always say that if a scenario demands a special type of character for a oneshot, the author should provide pregens. A crop of media specialist characters would go a long way toward enhancing the playaiblity of this adventure.
Innsmouth Girls - It's 1928. You're a daughter of Innsmouth, and you have almost nowhere left to go for help. Who do you turn to when the government is your enemy?
I’m conflicted on this one. I like the premise and most of the scenario, but don’t like Litany of Earth one bit. It’s part of the Mythcreants school of “fixing problematic media” by boiling all the interesting conflicts out and replacing it with a straightforward morality play. The scenario itself could use more supernatural creatures, antagonists, or other things the Handler can insert if the deal goes so smoothly that the scenario threatens to end in under an hour. What happens when a Deep One Hybrid hits 0 SAN?
Saturnalia - The flames died and the blizzard lifted, and the firefighters found a giant skeleton in the ruins.
I wrote this one. It's based on the Eagle Talon fire form Laird Barron's Swift to Chase collection, and on his depiction of Saturn in The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All. This one won people's choice and second place in submitter's choice. I didn't playtest it, I focused on making it evocative and fun to read. There may not be enough clues.
I voted for this one.
.jpg)
By Goya
Hunter or Hunted - Delta Green cells coalesce to battle Majestic-12 while the unnatural stalks them both.
Tetsuo the Iron Man, or Videodrome, or Golden Light. Mostly a railroad but the encounters are interesting. MAJESTIC needs a couple named NPCs to add flavor to the legions of faceless special agents piling out of vehicles with firearms at the ready.
Carcinization - A scenario to answer ‘where did the 11 billion crabs go’ in 2022.
A diving hardsuit would solve the problem of the extreme depth, and also be extremely cool. Rolling the same skill and being attacked by the same creature over and over is lame. I would have had one low level crab attack, then maybe some kind of boss monster at the core. Entering the sanctum is cool. It reminds me of the part in BPRD where Abe Sapien goes inside the underwater temple and sees the water spirit.
Provax - Agents must vaccinate three families by any means necessary.
A series of interesting encounters with interesting decisions for the players to make. The first time I’ve seen someone use the spawn of Yog Sothoth statline in a scenario, but a good inclusion - if overly similar to the one in the original story. Good followup investigations.
Recommend.
EMFs At Higher Frequencies - An ex-Majestic scientist is hiding out in a town taking a stand against 5G and the Woke Globalists.
Straightforward bug hunt with some interesting flavor. A few more example NPCs besides the cop and the gun seller, along with some personality for the mad scientist, would go a long way toward bringing this one to life.
Mystic Hunter - Agents must hunt an unnatural horror across the frozen Dakota plains, before they become its next meal.
A cool creature that isn’t just a wendigo or other recycled snow monster. The ability to find the underground lair would be cool, with bones or other pieces of victims. I would take away the beast’s armor, 5 points makes it immune to the shotguns the Agents would be carrying for a turkey hunt.
Take the A Train - If you don't pay the toll, you'll have to stay in the hole.
It’s imaginative and the NPCs are good. Similar to that old shotgun scenario Drifting where a building full of people is sent into the deep future, with the red sun and the spider people who farm fungus. I feel like I’ve heard all these names before, but I can’t think of where.
EMFs At Higher Frequencies - An ex-Majestic scientist is hiding out in a town taking a stand against 5G and the Woke Globalists.
Straightforward bug hunt with some interesting flavor. A few more example NPCs besides the cop and the gun seller, along with some personality for the mad scientist, would go a long way toward bringing this one to life.
Mystic Hunter - Agents must hunt an unnatural horror across the frozen Dakota plains, before they become its next meal.
A cool creature that isn’t just a wendigo or other recycled snow monster. The ability to find the underground lair would be cool, with bones or other pieces of victims. I would take away the beast’s armor, 5 points makes it immune to the shotguns the Agents would be carrying for a turkey hunt.
Take the A Train - If you don't pay the toll, you'll have to stay in the hole.
It’s imaginative and the NPCs are good. Similar to that old shotgun scenario Drifting where a building full of people is sent into the deep future, with the red sun and the spider people who farm fungus. I feel like I’ve heard all these names before, but I can’t think of where.
Recommend.
In the Shadow of His Eye - A youth camp in Alaska comes under the scrutiny of a rural hermit, who attempts to alert the FBI to possible child abuse.
Another decent use of the Yog Sothoth orbs this year. Desperately needs some example children, just a couple names and a single detail for each would go a long way. The chunks of the skull floating away into the sky evoke David Firth’s Three Skins Without Men, one of my favorite animations he ever did and certainly the strongest entry in the Sock series.
In the Shadow of His Eye - A youth camp in Alaska comes under the scrutiny of a rural hermit, who attempts to alert the FBI to possible child abuse.
Another decent use of the Yog Sothoth orbs this year. Desperately needs some example children, just a couple names and a single detail for each would go a long way. The chunks of the skull floating away into the sky evoke David Firth’s Three Skins Without Men, one of my favorite animations he ever did and certainly the strongest entry in the Sock series.
Recommend.
By David Firth
Onomatopoeia - Agents are sent in to investigate a report from a friendly to see what goes “BUMP” in the Night.
It’s silly and it’s a dungeon crawl, both of which I respect. The puzzle is fun.
Operation Pleasant Depths - A white supremacist militia in Wisconsin is harnessing the unnatural, but who is using whom?
It's ok. I love the way it makes mutilated bodies look like the missing parts had never existed at all.
Operation TANGERINE REMEDY - Raid on a pharmaceutical factory leads to an investigation of a drug that cures you more than it should.
My favorite part of this scenario is the silly mobsters. By comparison the compound and its inhabitants are lacking flavor. A couple unique guards and scientists would improve it a lot.
Cooler Heads - A Space Force guardian infected with an interstellar brain virus has taken hostages and demands to speak to MAJESTIC.
The interesting setup makes up for this being yet another infection scenario. Hostage scenarios are a tough sell because players “know” that any unnatural threat is going to get worse over time, so negotiating is a bad idea because the monster is just stalling while it builds up power. The solution is always to go tactical immediately.
Operation Green Mountain - An Incident has occurred in a secret facility somewhere in the Green Mundines, Delta Green operators are sent in to rescue their scientists before all goes to hell.
It’s silly and it’s a dungeon crawl, both of which I respect. The puzzle is fun.
Operation Pleasant Depths - A white supremacist militia in Wisconsin is harnessing the unnatural, but who is using whom?
It's ok. I love the way it makes mutilated bodies look like the missing parts had never existed at all.
Operation TANGERINE REMEDY - Raid on a pharmaceutical factory leads to an investigation of a drug that cures you more than it should.
My favorite part of this scenario is the silly mobsters. By comparison the compound and its inhabitants are lacking flavor. A couple unique guards and scientists would improve it a lot.
Cooler Heads - A Space Force guardian infected with an interstellar brain virus has taken hostages and demands to speak to MAJESTIC.
The interesting setup makes up for this being yet another infection scenario. Hostage scenarios are a tough sell because players “know” that any unnatural threat is going to get worse over time, so negotiating is a bad idea because the monster is just stalling while it builds up power. The solution is always to go tactical immediately.
Operation Green Mountain - An Incident has occurred in a secret facility somewhere in the Green Mundines, Delta Green operators are sent in to rescue their scientists before all goes to hell.
A ton of setup that doesn't matter. The whole thing with the Chinese government is irrelevant to the actual content, but takes up most of the word count. Then the scenario itself is just a lot of guys with guns.
Thank you to everyone who submitted scenarios, and everyone who read, voted and wrote reviews.You can read zomner's reviews here and tophat's reviews here.
No comments:
Post a Comment