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Last Things Last from the quickstart is solid, if you think you need "more" then slap Metamorphsis onto the end. Lean less into the Program/Cowboy aspects and just make the Metamorphis another, less hinged group. Don't feel like you need more, you can slow roll LTL a little bit, focus on the apartment and cabin and draw the confrontation out. One thing I highly recommend is Figure out what your characters WANT, and have Marlene exploit that. She's got powers, and she wants to live...if one of your agents wants a promotion or wants to reconcile with his ex-wife, she can make that happen and that can be a powerful motivator. Find that thing and twist it.
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Aug 21, 2023 17:39
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I'd also advise against approaching Delta Green as if it's more combat heavy/combat oriented, it's not. It's investigative at its heart.
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Aug 21, 2023 17:43
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Sounds good, thank you. I treated combat in ToC as "If you're fighting someone, you hosed up" and as being pretty lethal, aside from the "scripted" encounters. I'll take a similar approach with DG
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Aug 21, 2023 17:48
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TheHoosier posted:Sounds good, thank you. I treated combat in ToC as "If you're fighting someone, you hosed up" and as being pretty lethal, aside from the "scripted" encounters. I'll take a similar approach with DG
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Aug 21, 2023 17:54
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That's likely what they'll expect: that this will be more combat-focused because most of them will have combat training and a weapon. Subverting that expectation will be key, I think. I'll report back whenever it happens
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Aug 21, 2023 18:03
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Nessus posted:With the partial exception of 'Pulp Cthulhu' this is honestly always true. If anything DG probably deceives you somewhat because your PCs are largely from military or police backgrounds. YMMV but my current group is a CIA field operative, a Customs and Border Patrol officer, and two historians. I'm prepping to run Impossible Landscapes, very much looking forward to it. Has anyone run it who has any tips?
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Aug 21, 2023 18:33
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Flakey posted:YMMV but my current group is a CIA field operative, a Customs and Border Patrol officer, and two historians.
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Aug 21, 2023 18:39
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They did take Unarmed Combat at 60% to represent their interest in martial arts...
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Aug 21, 2023 19:00
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Hey, just wondering: For Delta Green, if the group of players was to receive a once-off assist from a friendly/in-house hyper-geometrist, what kind of skills/spells should they have, if anyone has considered this before? Since basically, the mission will involve attacking the Karotechia compound La Estancia, which I've been planning. I kinda want the hyper-geometrist to have utility spells more than anything - like, they're primarily employed for research and for sending out on a rainy day, if conventional forces may not be enough. (And well, since it's THEM, the organisation considers it fair enough) The hyper-geometrist alone won't be enough to make too much of a difference though, is my aim. Basically what I'm currently thinking about is having him effectively be a guy who resembles an eccentric college professor, who's completely inexperienced at fieldwork. (I mean, they're not gonna send their best 'wizards' out, if they can help it! I might reconsider though, to have a creepier specialist join in. Not sure) My hope is that the players will be like "....uh seriously? OK then" when he shows up, but then he'll prove to be of frightening skill when he helps take out some random soldiers at the start of the attack in a gruesome fashion, before probably being killed via Withered/etc by Bitterich when the players hit the main building to take out the leadership. (Seeing as he's probably the biggest threat compared to some agents with guns, from Bitterich's perspective)
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Aug 22, 2023 03:18
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Major Isoor posted:Hey, just wondering: For Delta Green, if the group of players was to receive a once-off assist from a friendly/in-house hyper-geometrist, what kind of skills/spells should they have, if anyone has considered this before? If you don't have those books and don't want to buy/pirate them just to make one NPC, you can backport the present-day versions of the characters from the Handler's Guide. Your best pick is probably Agent ANDREA, she's a support caster who was active with the conspiracy in the 1990s. She's autistic and has nonverbal episodes in loud/stressful situations, which would limit her participation in the fighting beyond casting a couple important spells.
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Aug 22, 2023 03:48
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mellonbread posted:I assume your game is set in the classic era with the pre-Through A Glass Darkly Delta Green organization. Take a look through the original Delta Green splat. Practically every named NPC has a full spread of spells and magic items at their command. If that doesn't work for you, try Delta Green friendly Jensen Wu and the D Stacks in the Countdown splat. Hmm, I can't seem to find ANDREA anywhere, but yeah Jensen Wu looks good - I might need to trim off some of the call/dismiss rituals and the like, but otherwise he looks pretty good! A couple of spells I also found and like the look of is 'Sign of Power' (knockback+2d6) and 'Sign of Alar' (1d12, where a finger shaped hole in the target's body is gone, including bone). Maybe not for my hyper-geometrist in question, but they could be cool/flashy spells for some villains to use. The weather change spells are good too - could create a nice and eerie, stormy atmosphere, while giving the agents some sound to mask their approach EDIT: Oh, one other thing though... where are the details on Mindblast, if anyone wouldn't mind pointing me in the right direction? I've seen mentions of it in spell lists, but no specifics. And well, with a name like that I've GOT to know! 
Major Isoor fucked around with this message at 13:43 on Aug 22, 2023 |
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Aug 22, 2023 13:40
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I would treat magic in this scenario as the unnatural threat that it is and only have it show up once or twice, to devastating effect (either to help or harm your Agents). This is my personal preference but I don't think DG is the place for wizard wars. I love the example you gave of some unassuming person showing up and then changing the weather to help cover your team's approach, but I'd make sure to play up how hosed that is as well.
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Aug 22, 2023 16:54
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Major Isoor posted:Hmm, I can't seem to find ANDREA anywhere Major Isoor posted:EDIT: Oh, one other thing though... where are the details on Mindblast, if anyone wouldn't mind pointing me in the right direction? I've seen mentions of it in spell lists, but no specifics. And well, with a name like that I've GOT to know!
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Aug 22, 2023 17:26
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Flakey posted:I would treat magic in this scenario as the unnatural threat that it is and only have it show up once or twice, to devastating effect (either to help or harm your Agents). This is my personal preference but I don't think DG is the place for wizard wars. I love the example you gave of some unassuming person showing up and then changing the weather to help cover your team's approach, but I'd make sure to play up how hosed that is as well. Oh yeah, a good old fashioned mage-off definitely isn't my aim here. My goal at this stage is for the players to go on a slight rollercoaster going between (false) confidence and a healthy lack thereof. So firstly, mixed feelings when they're told that they're actually getting serious support this time around (Like, "yes, we actually got help! ...wait... if we're legit getting some kinda space-wizard, that means we're in way over our heads") then after this guy's hyped up a little by their handler, they might be rather uninspired due to seeing this random dorky-looking guy present himself as their hyper-geometry specialist*. Then yeah, he changes the weather by doing some weird ritual and maybe kills off one or two soldiers with a gruesome spell while approaching the hacienda with the rest of the gang (and some supporting NPC troops). But then, when his time to shine arrives in the form of helping the party in a fight against Bitterich or maybe one of the others (I figure he'd probably be best against Frank and his zombies, seeing as he'd know the elder sign which would help keep the zombies at bay) he'll be targeted by Withering or something similar from Bitterich, likely killing him after he lets out a blood-curdling scream. So my hope is that by this stage, the players will have a little bit of confidence in their 'ace in the hole' wizard, before he dies horribly in one of the bigger moments of the mission, leaving the team without magical aid and hopefully concerning them greatly. After that though, to be honest, the players would probably be able to deal with 2/3 members of the triumvirate (excluding Galt) fairly easily, once it comes around to their turn. Since unless they all miss, they should be able to gun them down before long. We'll see though. And if Frank manages to incapacitate someone with Mindblast or another spell before getting away from the players... well, maybe it'll be time to perform a mind swap, to escape the ravages of time  * Not sure if I bring him in with the team via helicopter insertion, or have him use a basic gate/teleport spell to appear shortly before the team arrives at the rendezvous point, in the middle of the jungle. Arriving straight from his 'office' for a quick day-trip to the jungle, so he's dressed in his regular clothes - probably something like a tweed jacket and slacks  mellonbread posted:Page 282 of the Handler book. (sigh) Thanks for that! I really shouldn't have needed help with that, yet I didn't know her real name and for some reason a search for "andrea" wasn't coming up with any results, when I checked earlier...probably just OneDrive messing things up, since sometimes searches inexplicably don't work on there. Anyway, thanks again! mellonbread posted:Mindblast is a CoC spell and I don't believe it was ever ported to the standalone edition. Attacker must overcome the target's MP on the resistance table to inflict a 5 SAN hit - enough for an instant temp that disables the victim. Oh, interesting! I've only got the freebie quick-start rules for CoC, so I couldn't find it when I originally looked. (Wasn't sure it was CoC-only, but figured I'd check anyway) I'll have to look through all my other CoC scenarios and the like, to find a mention of it - since a SAN damage attack like that sounds cool Major Isoor fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Aug 23, 2023 |
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Aug 23, 2023 02:29
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A huge Trail of Cthulhu bundle dropped on Humble: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/trail-cthulhu-pelgrane-press-books
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Sep 8, 2023 12:34
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Just finished Masks with my guys and they loved the investigating as much as the shootery. So now what next - Horror on the Orient Express, or the Two Headed Serpent?
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Sep 8, 2023 20:25
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I've only flipped through either of them, but from everything I've heard THS is the better-designed campaign of the two. Alternately, the Trail of Cthulhu campaign Eternal Lies is considered as good or better as Masks by many people and it has a CoC conversion and it's in that bundle I just linked to.
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Sep 8, 2023 20:45
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Absolutely do Eternal Lies if you want other Masks-esque globetrotter. HOTOE has the seed of something good in it but god drat I feel like I’m having to excavate it from a pile of 90s gotcha bullshit every time I try and work on my giallo/eurohorror version of it.
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Sep 8, 2023 22:03
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since it's been discussed that Delta Green is only marginally better for combat and about the same for player facing magic as regular CoC, if someone did want to run a game that better accommodates either of those, I'd recommend giving FIST a look, it's currently doing a Kickstarter(and for the duration of that all of the currently available books for it are free on Itch.io); https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frogappreciator/fist-paranormal-mercenary-rpg-box-set
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Sep 9, 2023 04:54
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drrockso20 posted:since it's been discussed that Delta Green is only marginally better for combat and about the same for player facing magic as regular CoC[/url] Delta Green's casting rules aren't the same as CoC's, except in the sense that you roll a die and pay resources off your character sheet (common to RPG magic systems). Casting is more expensive but not gated behind things like passing a series of intelligence rolls, fitting with Delta Green's general theme of letting players do things and pay the cost rather than cock blocking them with thou-shalt-nots.
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Sep 10, 2023 05:01
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mellonbread posted:I'm not sure where you heard this, but it's not true. Delta Green's combat rules are pretty good, though the devs have the same nasty habit as the CoC authors of larding the published modules down with dull unskippable firefights (I'm looking at you, Kali Ghati). Yeah, 100% agreed. I find magic aspect of DG to be way more appealing than what I've read about CoC. Obviously it's a pretty restricted/rare occurrence, rather than being super commonplace like in D&D and the like. But for when players encounter rituals/spells, it's very fun (as a GM, but also for players) to simply allow players to do The Thing(tm) that they want to cast/pull off... for a price. Way better overall, compared to a seemingly arbitrary "nope sorry, can't do it today"
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Sep 10, 2023 07:13
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Speaking of Delta Green, there's a Bundle of Holding collection which is absolutely worth checking out: https://bundleofholding.com/presents/DGMega
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Sep 12, 2023 16:08
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Hey, so, this isn't really a DG/CoC question specifically, but it applies to the DG campaign I'm running, so I figured I'd ask about it. So essentially, I'm gonna be running a slightly modified "Crack'd and Crook'd Manse" scenario from CoC, in the fictional town of Gamwell. But because my players love maps to reference (we do 'theatre of the mind' for combat of course, but town maps+building plans are something they're always keen for) I'm wondering about what I can do for Gamwell. I know there are fantasy/medieval town generators out there, although is there anything like that for modern towns? Not massive cityscapes mind you, just small towns. (Or even just a pack of premade town maps I could grab from somewhere, to use/modify) If not, well, I could potentially just change it from being set in Gamwell to a real town perhaps, then just use an old map of the town centre. (Or Google maps, but I mean, it's set in the '80s, so a road atlas would fit better) A shot in the dark I know, but I figured it would be worth asking!
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Sep 21, 2023 03:26
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hello thread! i just bought the fancy slipcase version of Masks, on the understanding that i might not run it for a year or two, but is 7e, you know... good? it seems incredibly fiddly, to the point where I'm tempted to replace it whole sale with rolemaster when i get round to running it. does it go smoothly in practice?
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Sep 21, 2023 08:40
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Major Isoor posted:Hey, so, this isn't really a DG/CoC question specifically, but it applies to the DG campaign I'm running, so I figured I'd ask about it. So essentially, I'm gonna be running a slightly modified "Crack'd and Crook'd Manse" scenario from CoC, in the fictional town of Gamwell. https://probabletrain.itch.io/city-generator Try this? Alternatively you can just grab an old town map, yeah - try the something like the library of chicago collection  oh, sorry missed that it was the 80s, the pickings are a little thinner there... here's a free pdf of a fictional town: https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/139292/ETU-Pinebox-Map
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Sep 21, 2023 08:51
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sebmojo posted:hello thread! i just bought the fancy slipcase version of Masks, on the understanding that i might not run it for a year or two, but is 7e, you know... good? it seems incredibly fiddly, to the point where I'm tempted to replace it whole sale with rolemaster when i get round to running it. does it go smoothly in practice? CoC 7e is my second favorite system, and it's perfectly suited to what the game is: investigative horror.
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Sep 21, 2023 11:03
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sebmojo posted:https://probabletrain.itch.io/city-generator Ohh interesting - good idea! I'll have to trawl through their map collection, to see if anything stands out
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Sep 21, 2023 12:52
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sebmojo posted:hello thread! i just bought the fancy slipcase version of Masks, on the understanding that i might not run it for a year or two, but is 7e, you know... good? it seems incredibly fiddly, to the point where I'm tempted to replace it whole sale with rolemaster when i get round to running it. does it go smoothly in practice? "This is a fiddly system, I should replace it with rolemaster"
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Sep 21, 2023 14:10
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sebmojo posted:hello thread! i just bought the fancy slipcase version of Masks, on the understanding that i might not run it for a year or two, but is 7e, you know... good? it seems incredibly fiddly, to the point where I'm tempted to replace it whole sale with rolemaster when i get round to running it. does it go smoothly in practice? 7e is loving great, and works amazingly smoothly. Except when it comes to automatic weapons. If someone lays about with a Tommy gun, suddenly I feel like my gameplay grinds to a halt. I would just kludge in the Delta Green Lethality rules for that one exception.
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Sep 21, 2023 17:53
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DrSunshine posted:7e is loving great, and works amazingly smoothly. Except when it comes to automatic weapons. If someone lays about with a Tommy gun, suddenly I feel like my gameplay grinds to a halt. I would just kludge in the Delta Green Lethality rules for that one exception. Oh yeah that's true - I'd forgotten about the lethality rule differences, when I replied in the chat thread. That and the 'home vignettes' would be good additions to port over from DG to CoC, IMO. The latter kinda depends on your campaign/session structure though I guess - since if they're just like, one-shots with different characters, then the vignettes won't be of any use
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Sep 22, 2023 01:06
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CoC7e works fine in practice. It's an old system and the first six editions more-or-less didn't change anything from the first, and 7e added some new stuff, but was pretty conservative about changing systems that were already in place. CoC grogs often say things like "CoC is the simplest system in the world, tee hee, you just pick a skill and try to roll under it, tee hee, that's the entire system!" and no, there is a lot of extra fiddly bits on top that which I'd personally prune if I was in charge of 8e, but once you get a handle on them it runs pretty well. For Masks specifically, I'd suggest getting the Pulp Cthulhu book and using the pulp rules to run it. (They should be part of the main rulebook and it's a little rear end that you need to buy a separate book for them, but oh well.) Replace the automatic fire rules from 7e with the rules in Delta Green, as well. If you're willing to do more rejiggering I would suggest pruning the skill list. 7e combined Punch, Headbutt, Kick, Grapple and Mercilessly Tickle into a Brawl skill; I'd suggest doing the same with Athletics stuff, maybe combining the four social skills into Social, and split Use Library, Listen, Spot Hidden into Alertness (notice danger) and Search (search for clues). Take a look at Delta Green, Rivers of London, Sigil & Shadow to get an idea for some alternate takes on CoC-ish skill lists. On a related note, I've been mulling taking the hatchet to CoC and brewing my own CoC-module-compatible hack for running CoC one-shots where a character would look something like this: Minnesota Jones HP 12/12 SAN 50/50 Academic(Archeology) 70 Athlete(Boxer) 60 Explorer 50 Socialite 40 Perks: Brawler, Die Hard, Rogueish Charm, Skeptical
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Sep 22, 2023 13:12
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Elendil004 posted:"This is a fiddly system, I should replace it with rolemaster" I mean, exactly. Though Rolemaster is super smooth in play, roll a dice, add a number, take a number away, look up the result. I think it was the tommy gun example that made me go hmm, yeah that's p fiddly
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Sep 22, 2023 13:27
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sebmojo posted:I mean, exactly. Though Rolemaster is super smooth in play, roll a dice, add a number, take a number away, look up the result. Yeah, that's the one lovely sub-system in the book. You can just not use it.
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Sep 22, 2023 14:30
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Even sanity, regarding temporary and indefinite, is a little fiddly. Temp is just five, sure, but indefinite is 1/5 for an attribute that can change on the fly many times a session. Then rolling temp into indefinite… The skill resolution is as easy as pie though.
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Sep 22, 2023 14:36
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Megazver posted:CoC7e works fine in practice. quote:Minnesota Jones What this reminds me of to some extent is con games, where I would often just write simple 'personal' rules for various unique or character-specific things someone could do. Most of my GMing, to be fair, is also con games... and that's probably the best way to do stuff, when it's like "this character can do this one weird thing. Rather than reproducing the entire Weird Thing rule, just write down what they can do.'
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Sep 22, 2023 14:52
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I kinda want to play CoC now since I haven't played actual official CoC in years. My copy of the rulebook is edition 5.something and 7e looks like it's cleaned up compared to that.
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Sep 22, 2023 15:09
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A fun trick: I've had my players roll SAN as a skill before. My players are good roleplayers who don't mind failing, so sometimes I get questions like "What can I roll to see how my character might react to this?" or "What can I roll to see if my character believes this is real or not?" I've often replied that no, you can actually just choose to do whatever, but if you want to give yourself the chance to fail, you can roll SAN.
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Sep 22, 2023 15:34
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DrSunshine posted:A fun trick: I've had my players roll SAN as a skill before. My players are good roleplayers who don't mind failing, so sometimes I get questions like "What can I roll to see how my character might react to this?" or "What can I roll to see if my character believes this is real or not?" I've often replied that no, you can actually just choose to do whatever, but if you want to give yourself the chance to fail, you can roll SAN. May I introduce you to Cthulhu Dark?
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Sep 22, 2023 20:54
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Megazver posted:On a related note, I've been mulling taking the hatchet to CoC and brewing my own CoC-module-compatible hack for running CoC one-shots where a character would look something like this: No Library Use and Spot Hidden on the character sheet? This is literally unplayable! Dr. Lunchables posted:Even sanity, regarding temporary and indefinite, is a little fiddly. Temp is just five, sure, but indefinite is 1/5 for an attribute that can change on the fly many times a session. Then rolling temp into indefinite… The one trick for Indefinite Insanity is to pre-calculate what 80% of your Sanity is, so when you pass that point you know you've lost 20% of your Sanity in that sitting. DGRPG does this, IIRC, and for most CoC starting characters it'll be 4×POW. When you cross that threshold in a session, things happen. It breaks if there's a significant rest period, but it works for a lot of scenarios.
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Sep 22, 2023 20:59
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Yeah, for con games I would indicate it on their sheet, and for the premades I would write up unique 'breaks' to pass secretly to them if they got there or like, somehow managed to take 6 SAN from seeing a Deep One and it was getting a little dry.
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Sep 22, 2023 21:06
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