Delta Green Handler’s Guide Overview
The Delta Green Handler’s Guide is a massive, full-color volume designed specifically for the game master. It serves as a comprehensive resource, offering tools and deep insights into the game’s mechanics. This guide is essential for running a successful Delta Green campaign, providing the game moderator with all needed information.
Role of the Handler
The Handler in Delta Green assumes the crucial role of game moderator, shaping the narrative and presenting the terrifying world to the players. This individual crafts the scenarios, populates the world with intriguing characters, and interprets the often-horrific consequences of the agents’ actions. As the game’s architect, the Handler is responsible for bringing the chilling atmosphere and unsettling mysteries of the Delta Green universe to life. They present the agents with challenges, describe the outcomes of their investigations, and manage the overall pace of the story. The Handler must be adept at weaving together the game’s elements, from the mundane details of modern life to the unnatural horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. They serve as the primary storyteller, guiding the players through the dangerous landscapes of Delta Green. Moreover, the Handler is a master of suspense, knowing when to reveal crucial details and when to keep the players on the edge of their seats, ensuring a captivating and unforgettable gaming experience that captures the true essence of the setting.
Core Components of the Guide
The Delta Green Handler’s Guide is structured with several core components, each crucial to running a compelling campaign. Firstly, it delves into the history of Delta Green, detailing its origins and evolution. This section provides the Handler with essential background knowledge to create a believable and immersive setting. Secondly, the guide explores the Unnatural, covering the Cthulhu Mythos, including descriptions of entities, hypergeometry, and methods for creating new threats. This section provides the Handler with the tools to craft truly terrifying and unique challenges for their players. Thirdly, it offers guidance on scenario creation and gameplay, offering tips and tricks for running the game effectively. This part includes tools for building scenarios, managing pacing, and handling player interactions. Finally, the guide unveils the structure of the Delta Green organization, its operations, and rival factions, adding depth to the conspiratorial nature of the game. These core components ensure the Handler has all the information needed to weave together intricate scenarios.
The Past⁚ Delta Green’s History
This section of the Handler’s Guide delves into the deep history of Delta Green, detailing its origins and how it evolved. It will explore key events shaping the organization and its clandestine activities over time.
Origins and Evolution of Delta Green
The Delta Green organization’s roots are explored, showcasing its inception as a clandestine project within the U.S. government. Initially conceived to investigate and combat unnatural threats, it grew from a small, obscure operation into a more complex entity. The guide traces its evolution through various historical periods, highlighting the shifts in its focus and methodology. It examines the initial goals of the group and the pressures that led to its gradual transformation. The text will explore how the organization adapted to new challenges and threats, and the key figures who influenced its direction. The evolution of Delta Green is not a straight line, but rather a series of adaptations, often born out of necessity, to survive against the unnatural. The narrative follows the growth from a small group to a more structured, if still secretive, force. It will highlight periods of intense activity and periods when the organization was nearly disbanded. This section also examines the impact of external events on the organization and how these events shaped the group. The reader will learn about the different eras of Delta Green and understand the context of its operations;
Key Historical Events
This section details the pivotal moments that shaped the history of Delta Green, providing context for the current state of the organization. It covers significant incidents, operations, and discoveries that have tested the group’s capabilities and resources. The guide describes the events that forced Delta Green to evolve and adapt to new threats, and which exposed its agents to horrific dangers. It explores the impact these events have had on the organization’s structure, protocols, and overall mission. The text will present key historical events that have led to changes in the organization. These events include encounters with specific Mythos entities, large-scale operations, and the loss of key operatives. Each event is explored not just as a historical record, but as a lesson for current and future operations. The reader will learn how these events have shaped the current policies and attitudes within Delta Green. This part of the guide will provide insights into the challenges that the organization has faced and overcome, and what lessons can be learned from the past.
The Unnatural⁚ Cthulhu Mythos in Delta Green
This section delves into the Cthulhu Mythos within Delta Green, detailing the monstrous entities, hypergeometry, and other unnatural phenomena that agents encounter. It offers crucial information for handlers to use when crafting terrifying scenarios.
Mythos Entities and Their Descriptions
Within the Delta Green Handler’s Guide, a significant portion is dedicated to detailing the terrifying Mythos entities that agents might face. These are not just generic monsters; they are beings of cosmic horror, each with unique characteristics, motivations, and weaknesses. The guide provides comprehensive descriptions, outlining their physical forms, abilities, and their place within the larger Mythos cosmology. From the Great Old Ones, such as Cthulhu and Hastur, to lesser, but equally horrifying creatures, each entity is presented in a way that allows handlers to effectively incorporate them into their scenarios. Furthermore, the guide includes information on how these entities interact with the world, how they can be summoned or encountered, and the psychological impact they can have on those who witness them. This detailed approach ensures that handlers can create truly terrifying and memorable experiences for their players, while staying true to the core tenets of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Hypergeometry and Unnatural Phenomena
The Delta Green Handler’s Guide delves into the unsettling concepts of hypergeometry and unnatural phenomena, which are central to the game’s horror. It explores how the fabric of reality can be distorted, creating spaces that defy conventional understanding. These warped areas can manifest as non-Euclidean architecture, where distances and directions become meaningless, or as locations where the laws of physics are bent or broken. The guide explains how these unnatural phenomena can be used to create challenging and bewildering scenarios for players, forcing them to confront not only physical threats but also the instability of their own perceptions. It also gives insight into how these phenomena might manifest, from temporal distortions to pocket dimensions, allowing handlers to weave these elements into their campaigns to create truly mind-bending experiences. Detailed explanations and examples are provided to help handlers present these concepts effectively.
Creating New Unnatural Threats
The Delta Green Handler’s Guide provides extensive guidance on creating original unnatural threats, moving beyond pre-existing monsters. It offers a framework for handlers to design entities that fit their unique campaign narratives. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the underlying cosmic horror themes, focusing on the alien and incomprehensible nature of such beings. The guide offers mechanics for defining the threat’s abilities, weaknesses, and motivations, allowing for a balanced and terrifying encounter. It encourages the development of custom scenarios that revolve around these new threats, making the game experience feel fresh. By mixing and matching different elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, handlers can develop antagonists that are both familiar and disturbingly novel. This aspect of the guide allows for endless replayability, as handlers are equipped to create unique and challenging scenarios.
Scenario Creation and Gameplay
This section delves into practical aspects of running Delta Green, offering tools and tips for handlers. It provides guidance on crafting scenarios, managing gameplay, and ensuring a compelling experience for players. The guide emphasizes player agency while maintaining a balance of horror and investigation.
Tools and Tips for Handlers
The Delta Green Handler’s Guide provides a wealth of resources to aid game moderators in crafting compelling and terrifying scenarios. It offers tools for creating engaging mysteries, emphasizing the importance of building tension and atmosphere. Handlers will discover methods for designing believable non-player characters (NPCs), each with their own motivations and secrets. The guide includes advice on pacing the game, ensuring a balance between investigation and action, and knowing when to introduce unnatural elements. It emphasizes the need for a deep understanding of the setting, including the history of Delta Green and the nature of the Cthulhu Mythos. Furthermore, it provides guidance on using the core rules effectively, highlighting important mechanics like sanity loss and combat. The guide encourages handlers to be flexible and adapt to player choices, while maintaining the integrity of the scenario. It stresses that the handler’s role is to create a challenging and immersive experience, encouraging player agency and rewarding careful planning. It also includes examples of common pitfalls to avoid, such as railroading players or making the unnatural too commonplace. Finally, this section encourages handlers to draw inspiration from real-world events and conspiracy theories, adding a layer of authenticity to the game.
Running a Delta Green Game
Running a Delta Green game requires a delicate balance of preparation and improvisation, as the Handler guides players through a world of cosmic horror and government conspiracy. It involves presenting mysteries that are both engaging and unsettling, demanding player agency. The Handler must describe the scenes vividly, emphasizing the atmosphere of dread and the weight of the unnatural. It’s essential to understand the motivations of both Delta Green and the opposing factions, ensuring realistic interactions. The guide offers tips on managing player expectations, highlighting that success may not always be an option and that failure can lead to compelling narratives. The handler should be prepared to handle character trauma, as the horrors they face take a toll. It’s crucial to maintain a sense of paranoia and uncertainty, making players question their perceptions. Good pacing is essential, as the game requires a slow burn of tension, with moments of intense action. The handler must be prepared to adapt to player decisions, as players may not follow the script and unexpected outcomes are essential. The guide provides advice on how to handle player creativity and maintain the dark mood and encourage player agency. It also offers insight into rewarding success and handling failure in a meaningful way.
Delta Green Organization and Conspiracies
This section details the inner workings of Delta Green, its structure, and its secret operations. It also explores rival factions and their hidden agendas, providing a complex web of conspiracies that handlers can use in their campaigns.
Structure and Operations
Delta Green operates as a clandestine organization, its structure deliberately obscured from public view and even from most of its own members. It functions through cells and small teams, each with a specific focus and limited knowledge of the broader organization. This compartmentalization ensures operational security, making it difficult for any single breach to compromise the entire network. The organization’s operations are typically reactive, responding to unnatural events and threats as they emerge. These operations are often shrouded in secrecy, involving covert surveillance, investigations, and sometimes direct confrontation with the unnatural. Delta Green relies heavily on intelligence gathering, utilizing a network of contacts and informants to identify potential threats. The organization’s methods are often morally ambiguous, reflecting the desperate nature of their mission to protect humanity from cosmic horrors. Agents operate under strict protocols, and any failure can lead to severe consequences. The internal structure of Delta Green is hierarchical, with different levels of authority and access to information. This structure is designed to maintain control, but also creates potential for internal conflicts and hidden agendas.
Rival Factions and Secret Agendas
Within the shadows, Delta Green is not alone in its pursuit of the unnatural. Rival factions exist, each with their own secret agendas and methods. Some of these factions are splinter groups from Delta Green itself, disillusioned with its practices or believing they have a better approach. Others are entirely separate organizations, often with conflicting goals. These rivalries add another layer of complexity to the Delta Green universe, creating potential for alliances, betrayals, and unexpected conflicts. Secret agendas within Delta Green itself are also a factor, with some members pursuing their own goals, sometimes at odds with the organization’s stated objectives. These hidden agendas can undermine operations, create internal strife, and force agents to question their loyalties. The presence of these rival factions and secret agendas makes the world of Delta Green a dangerous and unpredictable place, where nothing is quite as it seems. Agents must be constantly aware of the potential for betrayal and must learn to navigate the complex web of competing interests.