Woah, what's this, top hat? A post about an OSR game? We thought you'd totally abandoned the Old School Renaissance for Delta Green.
My internet friend Jojiro wrote a solo module called Bears Fruit and people thought it was pretty cool. I also thought it was pretty cool and decided to review it since no one else had. Also my blog was in some desperate need of some Spears-related content. You can find Joji's blog, Dungeon Antology, in the sidebar of this one! There's some cool stuff there.
Now with the whole group (and mom hat) double vaccinated, we could all meet up in the hat basement for rpg funtimes. We ate some pasta and brownies and went downstairs to pick up where we left off.
SESSION SIXTEEN
The team drove out to the land of cell reception and found that the Free-Life Temple's next 'healing session' was due in a week. They asked for a Home scene which seemed like a bit of a stretch, but I said they could check off any skills they could plausibly train in the meantime. Sadie, of course, spent the week trying to get closer to Fox Tox.
The church bus drove out to another county and set up shop with a big tent in an abandoned lot. Gina stayed in the jeep to provide overwatch while Barbara, Ren, and Sadie hung around the back of the crowd. The reverend gave a normal sort of service with the usual deviations one might expect from a faith-healing sect. Ren didn't note anything too out of the ordinary with Anthropology, nothing about star people or crystals that one might expect to find out here in Montana.
With all of us having had at least one dose of the vaccine (and two of them being in the same bubble) and Blue's roommates being out of the apartment, we decided to meet up in person to rekindle some of the excitement of the campaign. It was a bit awkward sitting in the four furthest corners of the largest room with the sound of wind and traffic coming through an open window, but it was nice. Most importantly, I brought props! They now had an envelope to tear open "IN EVENT OF POSITIVE TEST" and a spray bottle to spray. We jokingly declared that you had to be holding the bottle if your character had it and any sprays had to be both in and out of character. I forgot that the bottle still had a bit of water in it and we almost sprayed the cat.
SESSION FIFTEEN
Once again, my players surprised me with their recall of the previous session and we picked up where we left off after just a few minutes of recollection and shitposting. The latter would be a great theme throughout the night and the primary reason why we didn't get much done.
WARNING: This post sort of contains spoilers for some creatures and mechanics in the Handler's guide. If you wish to remain unspoilt as an Agent, read no further.
Delta Green is filled with various critters, some unnatural, and some completely mundane. However, all of them usually have what the Handler's Guide calls a "Defensive Property." This blogpost exists to expand upon the "Creating Your Own Unnatural Threats" chapter. I think it's a good resource, but it glosses over the finer details of DPs, plus I have my own bones to pick with a few of them.
With Matiopia busy doing things with her family and Winkdeath busy doing...something, I was left with only one player, Blue. Fortunately, when I suggested a solo session she jumped at the chance. I deliberated between running mellonbread's Rehab or ChiefMcClane's Now You See Me with some additions from one of my other friends. I'd run both scenarios before and both as solo ops (as the latter was initially playtested with three players) but opted to go for the latter, as Agent Leonard's skills were better suited to finding its clues.
So one of my internet friends wrote up a system because he was tired of adding house rules to B/X but still wanted something that could run "old school content." I've played in it a whole bunch and I think it's pretty neat. In fact, right now, I'm working on some stuff I intend to run in the system.
This is the Surprise Table, as of revision eight, at least.
Roll | Result |
1-4 | Monsters alerted to players’ presence, players unaware |
5-10 | Monsters and players fail to detect each other and “surprise” each other |
11-16 | Monsters and players both detect each other at the same time |
17-20 | Players alerted to monsters’ presence, monsters unaware |
After an annoyingly long hiatus, my friends and I were finally able to coordinate our schedules for another game night. We briefly covered the new errata while catching up on each other's lives and jumped right back in. They remembered a surprising amount of the situation and quickly put together a plan. Sadie would lie in wait beside the building, Ren would hide in the car, shotgun at the ready, while Hopps would actually confront Rupert. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Hopps asked if Rupert would mind stepping outside, as she had some "sensitive information to discuss."
She started off by telling him that despite his claims, Gita had been seen around his diner. In fact, she had a witness who said they thought they saw Gita killed behind the building. Rupert feigned concern as Hopps continued to push, getting closer and closer to an accusation.
"I know you know something about this. What happened to her?"
"Why, my darling, the same thing that's going to happen to you..."
SESSION TEN
After leaving The Diner, the group headed towards The Church. As they opened the doors, they were greeted by the pulsing sound of EDM and vapor pooling at their feet. Confused but intrigued, they stepped inside. The group immediately split up, Ren on the hunt of a mysterious movement he saw up in the rafters, Sadie wanting to surveil the patrons, while Hopps wanted to check out the bar.
Hopps met the bartender, Frast, who explained that he and his wife, Fia, ran the establishment. Hopps noted that his long limbs and digits bore signs of Marfan Syndrome, but that his torso was too short for that to make any sense. Ren tried to sneak upstairs, but was stopped by one of Fia's children. He found a back entrance and a spare uniform which he used to disguise himself and check out the basement. There he found the mysterious portal. After shedding his disguise, he met up with the other Agents at the bar and took them to the back entrance. As soon as Hopps heard about a magical portal, she rushed on in. Ren told Sadie to make a distraction on the dance floor and ran in after Hopps.