I managed to review 51 of the 53 scenarios submitted to this year's Delta Green shotgun scenario contest. But it's okay, because I didn't really understand the last two scenarios and didn't have anything important to say about them.
In Media Res
I have no idea what’s going on in this shotgun. There’s not enough connective tissue between any of the scenes and the triple fakeout confused even me as a Handler. I’m pretty sure my players would slap me if I ran this for them. The UFO is kinda cool, I guess.
Operation FUNERAL JAZZ
The introduction is far too long. The scenario’s backstory could’ve easily been a single paragraph. The SAN cost for the clue about the lack of struggle is too high. There’s too many mundane explanations. At most, I’d say it’s 0/1D4 to realize the attacker has an unknown and incredibly effective way of subduing his victims. The framing of “the Program has it all under control and the Outlaws can barely help you” is boring. Ignoring the fact that A-Cell is capable of providing support (just a different kind from the Program’s), making the Outlaws ‘hard mode’ means you have to make the challenges interesting. The link from Caldwell to Fremont is too weak, as it relies on a single clue. The rest of the scenario is neat, but I wish there were examples for how the Agents can track him down from future murders. It doesn’t really matter, but I don’t understand why he has Military Science. Arguably, he shouldn’t even have Occult. Having Unnatural makes sense, but if I try to fool him with some modern nonsense about UFOs, he should be lost. I’d also lower his initial chance to hit, since he’ll reach a 99% attack well before he’s even fully complete. 1D4/1D12 SAN does not feel appropriate for a faceless frankenstein, I’d say 0/1D4 if complete and 1/1D6 if incomplete. As a final nitpick, NPCs with over-long ritual lists are annoying, but it’s even more frustrating when it’s completely up to the Handler. However, despite all the criticisms, I think this is a cool scenario. I like the premise, I like the dynamic with the bronze box, and I like the use of Mu and Ghanatathoa’s leathery petrification.
The Sinai Palimpsest
This is a scenario seed, not a shotgun scenario. It’s also not really that compelling of a seed.
Moment of Impact
I don’t have much to say, as I played in the playtest. The way Carcosa factors into the scenario is cool, but it’s a shame that you’re just killing a 0 SAN cultist at the end. I think it was more interesting when there was a society you had to suss out before it was too late. I don’t know if this changed from the playtest, but Ambrose was more interesting when he had a non-zero SAN score. He could be negotiated with and panicked under pressure. Paranoia is a boring disorder to give to lone wolves (especially when not elaborated upon). The players are unlikely to negotiate with them and this just reduces the chances even more.
Operation TOURIST TRAP or Its Not a Habit
The idea of the town is neat, but even though it almost hits wordcount, the scenario feels like it’s sparse on information. The SOMERSAULT angle is completely unnecessary. There’s no reason to put a Deep One into the scenario. I would still probably run this, just without the fish man.
The Returning Lilith’s Case
There’s an interesting idea here, but it’s buried under a lot of cruft and overwritten backstory. It’s more like a list of NPCs than a scenario. I can see the structure the author is going for, but there’s not enough guidance on how the events actually play out. The exact mechanism of Lilith’s infection and birth is also confusing and the fact that she’s actually named Lilitu even more so.
Seaside Attractions
This might be one of the few Carcosa shotguns I actually like. I wish the scenario had done more with PISCES’ use of Talents, but it’s fine otherwise. My only critiques are that the investigation is pretty short and that I wish it was written for the DG system instead of CoC, but both are easily fixed. I don’t understand why the Agents would ever go through the gate. It’s presented like a path to a resolution but it doesn’t lead to anything.
The Yellow Box podcast
The idea of a bunch of laid-back cultists running a weird podcast is cool. I dislike how much of the scenario is just in-jokes that have no real meaning besides the reference. I also don’t like how the podcasters’ use of magic makes them nigh-impossible to investigate. I would not run this, but it did a good job of inspiring me to write a scenario about a podcast for wizards.
Bogged Down
The introduction is good, but ‘The Threat’ section could’ve been tightened to make room for more of an explanation of what actually happens in the scenario. I would adjust the exact mechanics of the skill thresholds, but I like the general idea. The progression of discoveries is also actually neat. The author clearly actually possesses some points in one of those Science skills. The most interesting part of the scenario, negotiating with the bog, is the part with the least amount of material, which is sad.
The Rhodesian
I generally dislike ‘add-on scenarios’ (eg: Metamorphosis), but this one is…okay. It has some good avenues to expand into something more than just a one-off. Schalk and the other cultists need more characterization, especially since they’re all boring 0 SAN murder machines. Schalk technically has Disorders, but aside from Totemic Compulsion they’re all really boring. Gee, he’s obsessed with his god and a sociopath? I never would’ve guessed. It’s nice to see a 0 SAN NPC with Disorders, but so close yet so far. A good use of the Brixton shard from ARCHINT, too. On a mechanical note, the ‘Professionals’ should be missing some SAN to account for their adaptation to violence and if the G3 is supposed to be a Heavy Rifle, it should have 5 AP.
It’s Raining Men
I advise the author to publish their scenario in a more printer friendly format next time. The briefing is nothing special and doesn’t deserve the wordcount spent on it. It could’ve been one paragraph. I really dislike the “native people have magic powers” trope because it’s a bad trope and rapidly turns settings into unhinged alt-histories. If Isaac was dropped from that height, neither he nor his belongings would be intact for any sort of identification.
Operation FRUIT DUST
I can’t take the name ‘Armstrongism’ seriously, but I really like that the scenario details the actual religious beliefs and practices. Too often, that sort of stuff is just ignored. But at the end of the day, it’s a mundane scenario ‘gotcha’ that has no reason for the players to stick around once they figure out the twist. If the mystery was more interesting or there was something for the Agents to actually do, I’d like it. Also, if you’re going to give your scenario a fake codename word-salad title, at least make it relevant to the contents in some obscure way.
Hurricane Season
I like the trope of MJ-12 finding ‘ARCHINT’ and trying to use it. I also like the callback to the mythical origins of the Ai-Apa from A Victim of the Art. I don’t like that it’s a polyp. I don’t think they’re very interesting monsters and their mechanics make them annoying to fight as an Agent and run as a Handler. Confirming the unnatural nature of the weather with skills completes an objective, but it should give the Agents something more than “this is Delta Green business; roll SAN.” We’re playing the game, we already know that. The writeup of the facility is okay, as are the resolution options, but the scenario could’ve tightened up its prose to give them some more elaboration.
Cambrian Rhythms
I advise the author to publish their scenario in a more printer friendly format next time. It’s good that there’s an upfront summary, but it’s not concise enough. It’s more flavor text than instructions on how to read and run the scenario. There’s a lot of pieces here and there’s not enough explanation for how they fit together.
Operation: PALE
The intro has a custom briefing that’s not interesting or unique enough to warrant the wordcount spent on it. Likewise, the whole deal with Prendes could’ve been fleshed out. As is, it’s just “shoot a guy” or “wait to shoot a guy and get burned to death.” I think he sacrifices the teenager to bargain with a demon for power, but I have no idea. The two most interesting concepts to me are Prendes’ descent into insanity and the well dressed client. But we don’t get anything about them, Prendes doesn’t even have a SAN score. The phonebook is a cool clue, rewarding clever thinking even if you don’t have a skill. I also like most of the descriptions, they’re worth stealing. Also, a title should either be memorable or related to the scenario’s contents somehow.
Signs Following
The introduction is pretty good! It could be tightened up and the hook has the classic issue of “why does DG care about this?” The factions are interesting but overwhelming. Too much of the scenario is abstracted into clocks for my tastes. I like that the monsters are using human intermediaries, but there’s not enough on how to ‘flip’ the leaders of the organizations.
Biodynamics
The author deserves congratulations for making an interesting scenario out of the Lloigor. I like how the scenario doesn’t assume Parker automatically kills himself, though, him always having “an outgoing and friendly personality” doesn’t make his depression atypical in the slightest. That’s kinda the whole point. Loads of people kill themselves with zero warning and while suicide-note-leaving varies with culture, the highest incidence globally in any one demographic was 50%. The rest of the scenario is great. It uses all the themes of Lloigors while avoiding the disaster that is their statblock. I would probably change the Germanness of the background to head off any potential Karotechia red-herrings. Still awesome, though.
Time Shifts
I know this scenario originally came from a campaign and I think it should’ve stayed there. It’s not a shotgun and loses a lot from being cut down. Also, requiring an esoteric setup condition to run a scenario is fine, but linking to a scenario, a location writeup, and a cult writeup as ‘optional’ reference material is not. A lot of people hear “if your shotgun doesn’t fit wordcount, cut it down until it does.” This sounds like it’s talking about cutting words but it’s not. It’s about scope. You have to cut the scenario’s concept down until it fits.
Christmas Bear
Excellent job at succinctly from the introduction, to the briefing, to the cover story, to the truth. This is a model other shotguns should aim for. It’s not the only one to achieve this, but it’s still good. Two minor critiques: I think there should be a set number of tardigrades, and the infamous water bears are not actually indestructible. They’re just good at surviving inhospitable environments. If pierced with some microscopic appendage or swallowed by something bigger, they die. Their stats are really boring to fight. They’re a sack of fifty hit points, even with a Lethality weapon, that’s still five attacks needed per water bear. That said, I’d still run this, just with different stats. and being insane shouldn’t give you a damage bonus
Behold! The Night Mare
I do not know how to review this scenario because I do not know how to run it.
Loopholes
I dislike the scenario on principle because it reduces not one but two anti-mythos orgs into interchangeable placeholders. Using two similar names for two groups that play very different roles in the scenario was a terrible idea. Too much of the scenario is ‘build it yourself,’ a style poorly suited for heist scenarios. Yet at the same time there’s too many weirdly specific details. It reads like a brainstorming session.
The Sound of Sirens
The mummified child body is cool but makes no sense as a wartime souvenir. I’d use the brain cylinder option. The hook of “Man shoots himself after trying to insert a TV aerial into his head” is great. However, the investigative connection between the problem and the buried mummy is too weak. The atmosphere is cool, though.
Ozyorsk-17
This appears to be an attempt to translate Stalker to Delta Green. It doesn’t work. I also dislike it because despite seeming like a sandbox, you end with a meaningless binary choice and your characters are wiped from existence. I don’t think this even works as a convention one-shot.
Coke Room
This would probably be fun to play, but it doesn’t grab me as a Handler. It’s also useless as a plug-in-and-play scenario for any existing campaign. It also flops down on two fronts, as it doesn’t feel like a good recruitment scenario and it doesn’t have any cool pregens. Feels more like a CoC oneshot.
Applied Hypergeometry
The scenario has a backstory that can be uncovered by the players, but I think the finale will just come off as an unsatisfying string of gibberish. Also, the Tsathoggua angle felt like it came out of nowhere even to me as the Handler reading it. I like the gizmos and drugs that the company has, those are cool.
Keep on the Sunny Side
This isn’t to my taste, but I imagine it’d be a heck of a lot of fun to run and play in. I was skeptical of the premise of “here’s your Deep One pregens, go!” but the character writeups for each one won me over. I like the mechanic of tying SAN to the transformation. It’s a cool dynamic for the scenario and a neat thought experiment.
Operation: MPET
This is a railroad towards a setpiece at the end. There’s no investigation (or even any false choices that let you influence the atmosphere). I also don’t understand what’s going on. Did the delegate’s son go on an axe-spree in an attempt to kill all the ghost leeches who also summoned the blizzard? There’s an interesting idea here somewhere, but it’s executed poorly. Also, if you’re going to give your scenario an ‘Operation: WORD SALAD’ type title, at least make it relevant to the scenario’s contents so it’s easier to remember.
Bugs Bugs Bugs
I helped playtest this, so I will say nothing other than I really like it.
Alone in a Crowded Room
I dislike that this shotgun scenario relies on an external document, but mostly I’m just not a fan of the “wander through a Carcosan dreamscape” structure. Mostly, I dislike the SAN travel mechanic. Also, if you’re going to make the Agents roll to spot hidden cameras, don’t also slap a negative penalty onto it. The setpieces for the dreamscape are neat and I commend the author for creating concrete usable content for The Lonely, but the scenario has no conclusion.
No Take, Only Throw
Minor nitpick, if WATSON was a Program agent, she wouldn’t have a codename like that. Those are just for Outlaw cells and 90s agents. Unless she’s an Outlaw who stole a bunch of stuff from the Program in which case that’s an awesome hook. Also, the use of the term ‘handler’ for the in-universe character and the GM was very confusing. The NPC is called a ‘case officer’ in writing for this reason. The scenario doesn’t grab me, but I like how each outcome has a writeup. I think the author could’ve used the remaining 200 words to add some more detail to the more interactive options. The “spare the Hound for a get-out-of-jail-free card in the future” is great.
Material Data Safety Sheet
On the one hand the in media res opening is too blunt for my taste. On the other hand, I appreciate the straightforwardness of “no, you don’t have to tiptoe around in HAZMAT suits, you’re all exposed, try not to die.” The handout made me chuckle, but it’s a shame that the scenario explicitly discourages the players from using their thinky skills and there’s no cool revelations for them to find. This is also the longest safety brief I’ve ever read. Way too long for an emergency.
Operation Bookkeeping
The basic idea is cool, and I like the different routes into the main area. I think it could’ve used someone else’s eyes, because I had to read it a few times before I figured out what was going on. There’s three factions at play, but the only really interesting one is Jared, the mobsters and the librarians seem just kinda there. I do like the timeline progression, though. I’d run this.
Bad Time at the El Royale
This is a tidy scenario that is completely runnable with the materials provided. The wellness check angle seems unnecessary. I don’t have much else to say as it’s not to my tastes.
Don’t Sleep!
I do not know how to review this scenario because it is so far outside what I want or expect from a shotgun scenario.
Operation Purple Dust
I’d steal the imagery and ideas, but I don’t think I’d run it. It’s nice to see this side of the Karotechia’s immortality project. The scenario could do with a title that’s more relevant to its actual contents to make it easier to remember. Like ‘Labyrinth Lakes’ or ‘Submerged City.’ Still, ‘Purple Dust’ isn’t half bad, so good job.
Portrait of God
I don’t know how to review this because I don’t know how to run it. The factions are all so overlapping I can’t tell who’s who and what’s what. The basic idea described in the introduction is neat, but I have no idea how to pull it out of the text. There’s also only a single line of clues weakly connected to each other, and without some heavy nudging, I feel like it’d be pretty easy for the NPCs just to clean up everything offscreen. Which is boring. Also, you explain that the Wrath of Sekhmet is a spell from the new Conspiracy splat, otherwise someone will drive themselves mad looking for it in the Handler’s guide.
SRA-A case file: HOLY BAY
If I ever found out my Handler was just rolling randomly to see if our investigation was valid, I’d slap them. The author could’ve used the time spent coming up with this bespoke mechanic using the actual rules for DG, CoC, gumshoe, anything to write the scenario.
Redial Call
Untraceable things are boring because they cannot be investigated. If it can’t be investigated, it serves no relevance to the scenario. The way it blends descriptive ‘fluff’ text with mechanics is very confusing. I also have no idea if this is supposed to be a mystery investigated by concerned citizens a la CoC, or by Delta Green Agents. I can barely understand how the unnatural threat is supposed to work, and from what I can understand, it seems tricky to run as a Handler and annoying to face as a player. That and I have no idea how, as a Handler, I’m supposed to lead the Agents to the conclusion of “fiddle with the dials until the White Noise goes away.”
Innsmouth Girls
The scenario isn’t to my taste, but if I ever wanted to play The Litany of Earth: the RPG, I know it’s here. I also appreciate the author’s straightforwardness of “Hey, I wanted to write a scenario in an alternate universe where Ruthana Emrys’ stories are true,” instead of trying to twist a mountain of existing lore into something else. I wouldn’t use Delta Green to run this, probably Cthulhu Dark or something similar. DG’s system has too much overhead for the story being told.
Saturnalia
I’ve read this scenario four times and I think I get it now, but it’s a lot of poetic wordcount for a simple idea and that was confusing. The descriptions are excellent, but when the same style of language is also used for the structure of the scenario, it becomes hard to read. The Gnaw and Grab attacks could also use some mechanics beyond ‘Handler fiat.’ I would run this.
Hunter or Hunted
There’s an idea here, but it feels like a lot of the scenario’s connective tissue was cut out to squeeze it into the wordcount. For example, it says it’s a joint operation with MAJESTIC, but it seems to play out like your standard “sneak around MJ-12 and smash their things,” type game.
Carcinization
The idea is cool and the imagery is neat, but it’s a railroad. That would be fine, but there’s not much to occupy the Agents’ time and minds as they go down the ride.
Provax
This is a neat scenario with just enough moving parts and NPCs to be interesting but not too many to be overwhelming. Normally I hate “what if QANON was RIGHT omg lul!?!?!” type setups, but this scenario does it well. I wouldn’t use the vaccine to poison Agents whose only crimes against nature were learning a ritual or correlating the contents of our world, though.
EMFs At Higher Frequencies
I don’t have much to say because I helped the author edit the scenario a bit. I’d probably use it if I was running a campaign or arc about Tillinghast radiation.
Mystic Hunter
The hook is weak, but the scenario’s a very honest bug hunt so that’s okay. I think the monster has too many special abilities and I’m usually not a fan of “ooooh, what if the Indian legends were trueee?” gimmick, but neither are too offensive here. I’d run this in a pinch. I was expecting a connection to the CoC spell of the same name based on the title, though.
Take The A Train
This scenario is fine. I like the harmless wizard. The conversational style of the writeup hurts the scenario. It chews up wordcount that could’ve been used making the location more interactive. The SAN scores are all messed up, though. Unless Ephraim is adapted to helplessness, he shouldn’t have more than 70 SAN. The same goes for Kyle and Jane, just with 40 and 45 SAN respectively. I don’t think anyone besides Mr. Legume needed a custom statblock, though.
In The Shadow of His Eye
The wordcount spent on the details of the method of contact and the objectives for the briefing is a waste. None of it adds anything that someone wouldn’t assume on their own. Derrick’s dad’s conflict of interest with being his son’s doctor is a cool red flag. Richard comes out of nowhere. He’s first mentioned as being recognizable if you spent time in Derrick’s cottage, but there’s no description of him there. Overall, this scenario is pretty underbaked. I’d encourage the author to revisit it, maybe not as a shotgun so they have room to expand. It scratches the itch that the Resolution and The Endless movies sparked in my mind, which is cool.
Onomatopoeia
I don’t know how to review this because I don’t know how to run this. Am I supposed to swap out the BRP system for something where everything is resolved with sound effects? I’d just ignore this and run it normally, but too much of the scenario is left up to the Handler to decide how it goes.
Operation Pleasant Depths
I had to reread the hook a few times to understand it, but it’s cool. However, the connective tissue of the investigation is extremely weak. I can’t see players figuring this out without some heavy hand-holding. The proliferation of Lethality weapons among the militia is also kinda unrealistic and way too deadly. Especially given the presence of the Spawn of Tsathoggua. I do appreciate the author’s attempt for the ‘Operation WORD SALAD’-type scenario title to actually be relevant to the contents of the scenario.
Operation TANGERINE REMEDY
The scenario isn’t anything special, but at least the mutated goons are cool and I’d steal them. I would’ve just given Mr. Skull a garrote. A plastic bag being just as effective as a garrote is kinda silly. Also, Mr. Ant is described as ineffectively trying to use his four arms to ‘guns akimbo’ everyone to death, but mechanically, he would totally succeed. Four 40% attacks doing 1D10 damage or one 40% attack doing 4D10 damage is absolutely going to kill someone. I’d probably do it as “firing all four guns imposes a -20% penalty to the attack roll, but gives the attack a 3 meter Kill Radius.” That way you have a cool moment where everyone is threatened by the hail of gunfire, but no one’s liable to be instagibbed since it’s just 1D10 damage. Maybe reloading is free for him, because of the extra arms.
Thank you for posting this list.
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