Customer Reviews

Delta Green (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying, Modern)

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To call DELTA GREEN a supplement for Call of Cthulhu is to do it a great injustice. Even if you don't play the game, but are a Lovecraft aficionado, you owe it to yourself to pick this up and see what Tynes and company have done. This is not your father's Cthulhu Mythos. This is something much, much nastier.

Gone are the days where monsters lurked in dark places, and could be banished with the right spells. The stars are right - right here, right now, and the Mythos has kept pace with modernity, corrupting openly, though humanity is still too blind to see. Delta Green has been fighting them ever since Innsmouth and 1927, a hidden conspiracy within the government dedicated to seeking out and destroying that which threatens humanity.

Only trouble is, even the government has disavowed Delta Green, in favour of collusion with the enemy. But the menace is so great that Delta Green continues, an illegal conspiracy hidden in the bowels of that which wants too destroy it. Delta Green isn't Mulder or Scully, seeking the truth that nobody else knows. Delta Green *knows* the truth, and is making sure nobody else suffers from knowing that either.

DELTA GREEN takes everything we know about modern day conspiracy theory - Roswell, Area 51, Majestic-12, UFOs, and merges it seamlessly with the battle against the forces of the Cthulhu Mythos. The secret history it reveals is frighteningly plausible, and like Lovecraft's fiction, nags at you and makes you doubt its fictional qualities.

As a way of bringing a moribund CoC campaign from the gothic horror of the 1920s to the survivalist horror of the 1990s, it is second to none. Think you could have dealt with those creepy crawlies if you only had an AK-47 instead of a revolver? Think again. The psychological cost of fighting terrors from beyond is not forgotten either, with Delta Green agents wandering shell-shocked from encounter to encounter.

And as I said, as a means of stimulating your imagination to bring Lovecraft up to date, it is also superb. Anyone who thinks Lovecraft's themes are hackneyed and old only needs to read this to see how horrifyingly relevant they still are.

Buy this book, and its companion DELTA GREEN: COUNTDOWN, which describes the UK and Russian counterparts to Delta Green. The truth is here. And it's hungry.

Delta Green was originally spoken of years ago, when Pagan Publishing was still in its infancy. I almost gave up on it many times, but when it finally arrived, I could see that the wait was well worth it. Delta Green is one of the most well-crafted products ever to come out in the role-playing genre. It raises the standard and, since its release two years ago, we have indeed seen games and supplements become bigger, better, and more well-thought-out. I think we can attribute this in part to Pagan Publishing, which has shown the gaming public how good things can be.

Many have commented that DELTA GREEN is where X-Files meets the Cthulhu Mythos. They are correct, but it goes beyond that. Delta Green presents a satisfying and believable context for mythos roleplaying in the modern era. This supplement for CALL OF CTHULHU, a game which has a history of great supplements, raises the standard by which future works will be measured. This is quite possibly the best role-playing supplement ever. I have been into RPGs for nearly 20 years now, and I have seen most of what is out there. Believe me, it does not get better than this.

I'm writing this review because the rumors that a new edition with stats for d20 play are getting harder and harder to ignore. Even though the book is old and sometimes hard to find, anyone who seeks it will probably not be disappointed.

Delta Green revitalizes the Call of Cthulhu milieu in two ways. First, it plants the setting squarely within our time, developed from a backstory that starts in 1929 and gets downright spooky in 1947. Eldritch horrors still stalk humanity from beyond - only now the entities that menaced the 20's are content to scheme behind the scenes. Unfortunately for the Earth, some humans are content to betray us all for the ephemeral promises dangled before them. These men are not the frothing cultists and brute savages of Lovecraft: they are scientists, priests, and four-star generals. Plus there are new foes and surprises to keep jaded players guessing.

Second, there is finally a good reason for unusual characters to find themselves allied against the dark. Will a cop balk at sharing forensic evidence with a detective, a journalist, and a Marine? Not anymore. All the PCs are members of or friendly to Delta Green, an illegal conspiracy operating within the federal government. Of course, it's not the ONLY illegal conspiracy operating within the federal government. While Delta Green has adopted the sensible tack of trying to blow away every Mythos problem they encounter, its opponents are convinced that some mysteries can be studied, contained, or even harnessed for their own use.

That's just an overview. There is so much to Delta Green that any gaming group interested in conspiracy-style RPGs could find something useful. There are sections on U.S. government agencies, modern firearms, and mind-blowing adventures that are not for the faint of heart.

With Delta Green, CoC players can feel more confident with a nice gun in their hands, and the assurance that a backup team of ex-SEALs in on the way. Their characters will still die or go insane, but at least they should enjoy the ride.

I have heard a whole lot of good reviews of this product, hell it own the Origins award for best accessory of the year. So I went down to the local game shop and started reading it. Then I bought the damn thing without even knowing or owning the "Call of Cthulhu" rules that go along with it. I was hooked, this book is a very intelligent updating of Lovecrafts Cthulhu mythos, bringing the Mythos into 90's UFO culture. If you like the X-Files, check this book out. If you like "Call of Cthulhu" check this book out. If you like both the X-Files and "Call of Cthulhu" you will be in hog heaven.

I've never played anything but 1920's Call of Cthulhu, and have never been to keen on the idea on modern-day CoC. But I must admit, the Delta Green campaign setting is really impressive. After having taken a look at it and purchasing it, I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a change of pace in their CoC game. The best comparison I can think of is this: If CoC 1920's is the movie "Alien," Delta Green is the movie "Aliens." Both are cool, both have the same creatures as the adversaries, but they both have different moods and different types of protagonists. The background info in this book is so realistic, if I were a bit more mentally unbalanced :), I could easily believe every bit of it as gospel truth, not just a game setting.

This is the best RPG suppliment I have ever read, bar none. It's a great READ, even if you are not a gamer. Interesting background, lots of plot hooks as well. The group that did this book are great writers and are loving what they do and it shows. If you are into Horror, X-Files, Call of Cthulhu, ect...buy it to read, if not play.
The book is curently out of print, but I understand that it will be reprinted in 2006 as a hardcover with d20 rules. Anyone wanting to write or publish an RPG should read this book and use it as an example. A MUST.

I don't have a long, thoughtful review to write. Just wanted to say this is the BEST RPG idea/supplement I've ever seen. Intelligent, thoughtful, scary, fun...get it get it get it!

Even if you're not into roleplaying, any fan of H.P. Lovecraft should be interested in Delta Green. It takes Lovecraft's premonitions of nihilistic doom and shows them slowly coming true in the '30s through the '90s. It's coherent, compelling, convincing and deeply, deeply creepy.

This amazing game (and just plain interesting read!) is currently back in print. You can pick up the new edition, converted to D20, by heading to the publisher's web site. Pagan Publishing and TC Corp have done a great service to its fans by releasing this reprint!