[DELTA GREEN] - Making Bonds Work For You

 

Perhaps the biggest thing to set Delta Green apart from Call of Cthulhu as a ruleset is the introduction of Bonds. Instead of some nebulous 'associates' the Keeper might deign to let you call upon and use in some undefined manner*, Delta Green gives you the ability to push all your post-traumatic stress and psychological damage on your friends and family, ensuring you become an increasingly broken and lonely sack of human waste, whose only reason for existing is to protect people you can never relate to, from entities you have begun to understand more intimately than your own hopes and dreams.

Yay.

My only real issue with the Bond system as written is that the rules provide for calling upon Bonds as assets you can pump for material (truth) but don't specifically set them out as living NPCs with their own skillsets. In a campaign I ran a few years ago, instead of going through their 'official' channels, they phoned friendly Bonds to dig up dirt on baddies, got their associates to leave much needed goods at dead drops (no questions asked... or at least, few questions asked), and - in theory - provide overwatch with a sniper rifle at meets. That last one didn't happen, but boy it could've been fun.

So here's my homebrew on making Bonds more useable in Delta Green.

 

(* that's not an attack on CoC, mind you - I love Call of Cthulhu)

[GODLIKE] - Thirty-Three Starter Talent Packages

Godlike is a game of "gritty" superpowers in World War 2.

The following superpowers - called Talents in game - are designed to be bolted on to starting characters built on 25-points (the "baseline" default).

You can randomly roll a power from the list using a D33.

1) HEAVY LIFTER (20 points)

Add 5 dice and 1 Wiggle Dice (+5d+1wd) to your PC's base BODY stat. That is, if your PC has Body 2, you now roll 7d and can set your wiggle-dice to create a match or expand a successful roll's width.

How much you can lift, throw etc. depends on your base stat (ask your GM), but from these 6d alone you can:

• lift up to 1 ton with a successful roll, 
• add +1 wound boxes to your torso and all limbs, 
• inflict an extra +2 width in shock damage from melee attacks
  

If your willpower ever hits 0, these extra dice vanish until you regain at least 1 willpower.

Add 5 Will to your Base Will.

[DELTA GREEN] - Four More PISCES Pre-gens

 

 

> Tonya Hackett, 29YOA, Ex-RAF Search & Rescue Force
STR 11, CON 11, DEX 14, INT 12, POW 13, CHA 11
HP 11, WP 13, SAN 60, BP 54
Bonds: Ex-RAF colleagues 11
Michael Mulwray, BFF accountant in Birmingham 11
Mum and Dad 11
Motivations: Save people's lives
Get back in the air as much as possible
Do your duty
Find out why you were recruited
Skills: Alertness 60%, Bureaucracy 40%, Craft (Mechanic) 40%, Firearms 60%, First Aid 60%, Heavy Machinery 40%, HUMINT 40%, Medicine 40%, Navigate 50%, Occult 20%, Persuade 50%, Pilot (Helicopter) 60%, Psychotherapy 40%, Military Science (Air) 30%, Search 60%, Survival 40%
Attacks: Unarmed 50%, 1D4-1
ASP baton 30%, 1D4
PAVA spray 70%, special
Glock Pistol 60%, 1D10
Description: Of British-Trinidadian descent, you grew up in a middle-class family outside London and, after school, sought the excitement of the Royal Air Force. Standing 5'10", with a penchant for t-shirts and combat pants, you carry yourself well. Your voice is soft and calm even in the most terrifying situations.
Background: Until closed down in 2016, the Royal Air Force's yellow-painted Westland Sea King helicopters served as the main search-and-rescue organization in the UK, rescuing mountain-climbers, sailors and even acting as a rapid reaction to major accidents or other situations. Tonya was both an RAF pilot and a paramedic, working diligently in the role until suddenly transferred into PISCES.

The reason for your recruitment into the intelligence services is as mysterious as it is sudden. Sat in a briefing room in London, you were shown shocking photographs, asked questions about your psychology and past. It's almost like there's something in your past - something that you've seen and forgotten, or maybe didn't even realize you've seen - that made PISCES take interest.
Playing Hackett: You're ex-military but not a soldier - and your life has been spent helping people, often in some of the UK's the most desolate mountains or raging oceans. You are moral but pragmatic, ready to make life-or-death decisions based on a "triage" of possibilities. When things look bleak, it's better to fall back and regroup than go in guns blazing.

If the mission calls for it, like requiring rapid travel outside London, on a successful Bureaucracy roll you can requisition one of PISCES' Bell 230 helicopters (Pilot+one in front, six in the rear). These are civilian helicopters, officially owned by Severn Aerospace. If they crash or explode or are seen doing illegal things, don't expect to be given another.

[GODLIKE] - Seven Pre-Generated Talents

Here are seven pre-generated "super-powered" Talents for the game Godlike. They're designed for late-1944 (the Battle of the Bulge), but can be readily changed for alternate campaigns.

All are built on the standard 25 points for super-powers expected of starter characters.

CPL. ERNIE "TRASH-CAN" LAUGHLIN
Nationality: American
DoB: 03-SEP-1920
Rank: Corporal (38th Armored Inf. Batt.)
Dependents: Parents, Older Sister

Body 1+5 (6d)
Brains 2
Coordination 3+2 (5d)
Cool 2
Command 2
Sense 2

Base Will: 7

Starting Will: 7

Skills:
Athletics 1, Brawling 1, Climb 1, Cryptography 1, Dodge 3, Drive (Tank) 2, Endurance 1, Explosives 1, First Aid 2, Grenade 1, Knife-Fighting 1, Language (English) 2, Language (French) 1, Language (German) 1, Machine Gun 1, Map Reading 1, Mechanics 2, Mental Stability 2, Mortar 1, Navigation (Land) 1, Pistol 2, Radio Operation 1, Rifle 3, Stealth 1, Submachine Gun 2, Stealth 1, Sight 2, Survival 1, Tactics 1

Talents:

• Hyperbody - 5d
   
• Block (using Trash-Can lid) - 6d
  Flaw: Must use trash-can lid “shield” strapped to your arm to “deflect” attacks

Equipment:

• Helmet (reduces all Shock damage to the head to a single point, then turns a further 2 Killing damage to shock)
• M1 Garand rifle (Capacity 8, Damage: Width+2 Killing and Shock)
• 50 rounds of M1 rifle ammunition
• (5) M2A1 "pineapple" hand grenades (Penetration 2, Area 3, Damage: Width+1 Killing and Shock)
• Bayonet (Width in Killing; fixed to rifle, Width+1 Killing)
• K-Ration (two day's worth)
• Personal gear (Zippo, toothbrush, safety razor, dog-tags, candy bar etc.)
• Trash-can lid tied around right arm like a medieval shield. Seems impervious to damage, so long as you are alive, but does not block everything fired at it.
  

Background: Born in Manhattan, New York City, to poor Irish immigrants, you went to art school and were working for a comic book company when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Due to your lacklustre physical prowess and 5'1" height, you were unable to enlist. Your anger grew - until one day in 1943, when jumped by muggers, you beat them off with inhuman strength, even deflecting bullets they fired at you using a nearby trash-can lid. Since becoming a Talent you've been attached to the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, helping protect American tanks against enemy talents. You've learned a little about how to drive and fix them too.

Personality: Your short stature and apparent frailty make people underestimate you until your Talent manifests. Personality-wise you are friendly, honest and decent, always trying to do the right thing. You blush obviously and profusely when forced to lie or cheat, or when the topic of sex is raised.

Talent Power: You are stronger than any normal man (add 1 extra wound to your torso and inflict +2 Damage in hand-to-hand combat), able to lift a 1-ton jeep above your head and toss an average man 10-yards/meters.

Your most obvious power, however, is the trash-can lid you carry around on your arm like a shield. This simple galvanized metal disc can deflect bullets (as long as you know someone is shooting at you) and stop physical attacks - but not the effect of fire or explosions etc.

Roll 6D when you know you're under attack and use matches to "gobble" successes from an opponent's roll. You can only use this on a single target, so choose widely.

You haven't used it block heavier weaponry like artillery, however, and you're not sure it would stand up to a hit from a tank's cannon.

* * * * *

[GODLIKE] - Basic Rules and Making Characters

 

Godlike: probably the best RPG about super-powered soldiers fighting in WWII.

Also my favorite RPG about super-powered soldiers fighting in WWII.

I bought the first edition in hardback back when it came out in 2001 when it first came out and haven't looked back. Best bit of a bad year, methinks.

Anyway, Godlike: it's an easy game to learn, and not exceptionally difficult to master, and because I have a habit of running it for people who've never played it, I've written up a simple guide for players.

If you want a far better summary of character creation than I could ever provide, you can find a more cogent, complete and professionally written piece (from the actual creators) free HERE at DrivethruRPG!

You'll also probably want a CHARACTER SHEET.

Very handy.

You can buy the full game HERE. 

And you should. It's good.

[DELTA GREEN] - Shotgun Scenarios 2021 Contest, Part One

 

Every year since dinosaurs ruled the Earth (c.2005) Delta Green fans have provided (sometimes) brief scenarios for the community's annual end of year contest. In 2021, some 52 scenarios were entered, each needing to be under 1,500 words.

Here is part one of my spicy hot-takes on how the 2021 contest went down.


DEEP FICTION
Synopsis: Agents go undercover and must dismantle a mythos conspiracy from the inside

Opinion: A neat campaign thread based around a very different kind-of premise just too huge for a 1,500 word shotgun. As a campaign it's interesting; as a scenario it falls flat.

The crux of the “core scenario” seems to be infiltrating the Unnatural equivalent of the Witness Protection Program (which is a cool idea), but the rest is basically set-up which isn’t explained. Some of the NPCs are nice, but the lack of stats means there’s no pick-up-and-play potential for them either.

I'd be interested seeing this converted into a proper scenario - dealing with the WitSec occultists sounds like a blast.

As a jump-off point for an experienced Handler this is fine, but could do with a pruning to bring out the scenario itself. As a campaign, it’s a solid idea.

* * * *  

LOCUS OF CONTROL
Synopsis: Players are abducted by Greys! They must escape!

Opinion: More a campaign opener than a scenario. The setup is neat, but is a bit of a railroad, requiring players do what’s expected (like beating to death the greys) or following whispering words in their ears – and knowing players, they’ll probably do anything but.

While its design leaves a strong likelihood of descending into a dungeon-crawl, I do like the way it uses 1990s Delta Green and Majestic-12 tropes to introduce lore. My jury’s out on the (unspecified and unstatted) “augmentations.” It’d have been nice to have these described – even in simple terms like “Augmented Arm, +20% to STR rolls, +1D4 damage to Unarmed” or “X-Ray eyes, can see through walls.”

The ending offers a few possibilities for future play, but leaves a bit too much up to the Handler to work out where to go next. 

* * * *

[DELTA GREEN] - Eight PISCES Pre-gens

 

 

> BRUNO DVORACK, 29YOA, ex-Immigration Enforcement Officer
STR 13, CON 13, DEX 12, INT 12, POW 11, CHA 11
HP 13, WP 11, SAN 55, BP 44
Bonds: Parents 11
Football buddies 11
Arsenal Football Club 11
Ex-Wife 11
Motivations: Help people, particularly the underdog
Protect Britain
Be English
Don't be foreign
"No, I'm not bloody Polish!"
Skills: Anthropology 40%, Alertness 60%, Bureaucracy 40%, Criminology 40%, Drive 50%, First Aid 30%, Foreign Language (Czech) 40%, Foreign Language 40% (Player’s Choice) 40%, History 30%, HUMINT 50%, Law 30%, Melee Weapons 50%, Navigate 40%, Occult 30%, Persuade 40%, Search 60%, Unarmed 60%
Attacks: Unarmed 60%, 1D4
ASP baton 50%, 1D6+1
PAVA spray 55%, special
Firearms 20%, varies
Description: You’re big and bulky and have a beard that doesn’t suit you. Out in the field you wear leather jackets and baseball caps. You used to work out, lift weights. Now you just drink beer and play five-a-side football with the lads. You are truly English.
Background: Your parents escaped Czechoslovakia, got to England as refugees. Yet they wanted to keep their old culture, their own traditions. You grew up despising it. They thought you were Czech. You knew you were English. You did a few wage-slave jobs before joining Border Force, got a job as an Immigration Enforcement officer, tracking down and arresting illegals.
It wasn’t a nice job. Made you sad. The day you were going to hand in your notice one of the Central Asian guys you picked up at an illegal sweatshop in Surrey suddenly coughed up a worm – a 6’ worm with teeth. You beat it to death with a nearby fire extinguisher. PISCES were impressed.

[DELTA GREEN] - Some British Agencies and Professions

A tentative and far from perfect selection of fan-made British professions for PISCES games. Technically all PISCES officers are part of PISCES no matter what skillset they have - so it's perfectly acceptable for a player to pick any of the professions from the Agents Handbook, slap down the points and then say "Fuck off, Filth - I'm with Section" when someone queries what they're playing as. It's a hell of a lot easier than faffing about with what your PC's previous life was before they got black-bagged by the Gods. But RPG'ers gonna RPG, I guess...

> BRITISH ARMY
While British Army's role in the War on Terror has increased the number of soldiers stumbling onto the Unnatural - something that should provide PISCES with the pick of the crop - the sweeping range of cuts and regimental amalgamations introduced into the military over the last decade has made it somewhat harder to pull in those people they actually want. 

When they do get the opportunity, Section goes for intelligence officers (particularly interrogators and members of the military police), sappers from the Royal Corps of Signals or Royal Engineers, and soldiers from the Brigade of Gurkhas. The hardy psychology and toughness of the latter are particularly appealing, Gurkhas having been used on numerous operations against the occult since 1968.

Brigade of Gurkhas Soldier: 
Alertness 50%, Athletics 50%, Bureaucracy 30%, Drive 40%, Firearms 40%, First Aid 40%, Foreign Language (English) 40%, Heavy Weapons 40%, Melee Weapons 60% Military Science (Land) 40%, Navigate 40%, Persuade 30%, Unarmed Combat 50%.
Pick any four from:
Artillery 20%
Demolitions 20%
Heavy Machinery 30%
Occult 30%
Search 40%
SIGINT 20%
Swim 40%
Bonds: 3
Special: All Gurkhas carry a kukri in a sheath hidden in the small of their back. It deals 1D8 damage. Their native language is Nepali.

Military Policeman (Provost)
Alertness 60%, Bureaucracy 40%, Criminology 40%, Drive 50%, Firearms 40%, First Aid 30%, Forensics 50%, HUMINT 50%, Law 20%, Melee Weapons 50%, Navigate 40%, Persuade 40%, Search 50%, Unarmed Combat 60%
Bonds: 3

Royal Engineer Sapper
Alertness 50%, Athletics 50%, Bureaucracy 30%, Craft (Military Engineering) 40%, Demolitions 20%, Drive 40%, Firearms 40%, First Aid 40%, Heavy Machinery 50%, Military Science (Land) 40%, Navigate 40%, Persuade 30%, Science (Player Choice) 30%, Science (Physics) 40%, Unarmed Combat 40%
Bonds: 4

77th Brigade Interrogation Specialist
Alertness 50%, Bureaucracy 40%, Criminology 40%, Drive 40%, Firearms 40%, First Aid 40%, Foreign Language 50%, Foreign Language 40%, HUMINT 60%, Persuade 60%, Pharmacy 40%, Psychotherapy 40%, SIGINT 40%, Unarmed Combat 50%
Bonds: 2

Army Air Corps Helicopter Pilot
As Pilot.

[DELTA GREEN] - Agent Obtuse's Super-Slick Combat Rules

These are tentative house-rules I need to try out, in hope they speed up combat a bit and put more emphasis on rolling to do things rather than rolling Firearms until someone falls over.

Maybe they'll even work?

(They probably won't.)

[SHORT STORY REVIEW] - Ramsey Campbell's "The Insects from Shaggai"

"The Insects from Shaggai" was written by British horror author Ramsey Campbell c.1961 and published in 1964. A defining entry in his early Lovecraftian ouvre, it can be found in a number of collections, most prominently certain copies of Cold Print (1985). We'll cover the book's other stories (including "Cold Print") some other time, but right now let's talk brain-parasites and witches...

Spoilers beyond the cut.

"Sundered Sky (Left Face)" (M. Klaas, Stockholm, 1946)

[DELTA GREEN] - Pulp Action Feats and Special Training

For my 1940s "Monster Squad" scenarios I've decided to add a little extra flair. Players may pick any two from the following lists to give to their PCs (that is, two feats, two special trainings, or one feat and one special training). 

In most cases, feats offer unique bonuses in combat or special effects outside of it. Special trainings are typically - though not always - tied to a skill or statistic.

Learning a new feat or special training is a Home Scene; doing so reduces one Bond by 1D4.

 CLOSE-COMBAT FEATS

SUCKER-PUNCH: Rename your Unarmed to something more auspicious (e.g. Karate, Commando training, Wrestling savante). On a successful Unarmed attack roll you don't need to roll for damage; instead you may choose how much it inflicts, up to the maximum allowed (e.g. if your Unarmed deals 1D4 damage, a successful roll can inflict 1, 2, 3 or 4 damage). On a Critical success you can inflict up to double that amount.

ARMOR-BUSTER: On a Critical Unarmed or Melee roll you can choose to "tear apart" physical armor, removing the equivalent of your maximum damage (e.g. you critically succeed at Unarmed for 1D4 damage; you choose to rip apart 4-points of the opponent's 5-points of armor, leaving it with only 1-point). Things this feat can be used upon are up to the Handler, but might include: armor provided by cars, deep ones' scales, bulletproof glass, etc. It is unlikely to work on buildings, Huge creatures or vehicles like tanks.

FIGHTING TO LIVE: You are skilled in the art of Melee weapons. After a successful Melee attack roll you don't need to roll for damage; instead you may choose how much it inflicts, up to the maximum allowed (e.g. if your weapon deals 1D6 damage, a successful roll can inflict 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 damage). On a Critical success you can inflict up to double that amount.

KNIFEY-SPOONY: Pick a single melee weapon as your signature weapon. You gain a +20% to your Melee Weapon roll when using it in combat. If you permanently lose this weapon for whatever reason, you must choose a new signature weapon for your next Opera.

JAILHOUSE SHEATH: You can secrete one small knife (1D4, AP3) or sap (1D6) about your person which is unable to found during a visual or pat-down search. This concealment will not withstand X-rays, a metal detector, or full cavity search. It takes one round to ready the weapon for combat.

[BOOK REVIEW] - RITUAL by David Pinner

There’s probably not much to be added to the story of The Wicker Man but let's take a trip back in time, to the original source – a little novella called Ritual, written by stage-actor David Pinner and published in 1967.

The book that birthed The Wicker Man - kind of... 

If you’re not that interested in the history of the thing, feel free to skip to the synopsis section below…

PISCES Campaign - WONDER WALL - Session Three (After-Action Report)

Operation Roster (linked to After-Action Reports):

+ Ronald "Al" Frost - previously AFO with the Met's Diplomatic Protection Service
+ Chloe Thornes - ex-MI6 case officer with overseas experience in Russia
+ George Crackanthorpe - old-hand MI6 secondee
+ Holly Walker - a PISCES shrink and professional skeptic
+ Simon Spencer - millennial bad-boy computer hacker given another chance at life

WONDER WALL: SESSION THREE

"Forget it. This stinks. The whole operation stinks. And I'm gonna find out why..."

Leaving Hatton Garden Police Station, officers Frost, Thornes and a bandaged-handed Spencer pondered what they should do next. The had more than enough clues to go around - the dead shoot-out suspects and its injured survivor (still in ICU), the Kacey woman, the blue stone - but nothing they felt was concrete just yet. Phoning Control, Frost gave a brief and deliberately imprecise run-down on what they'd learned and informed his superiors the team would join up with their colleagues in Team Wenseclas and help with their "rat problem."

At the same time Crackanthorpe and Walker were having their own desires for aid. Drenched by rain, standing in a graveyard full of names, lost out of time, they sneaked out as swiftly as possible. Again they patched their wounds back in their car, Crackanthorpe applying bandages to his blood-soaked belly and switching to a spare shirt. Walker called the other team, requesting they meet up at Brixton Police Station to assist, as Crackanthorpe started the car and headed for an unannounced meeting with Det. Sgt. Styles...

PISCES Campaign - WONDER WALL - Session Two (After-Action Report)

Operation Roster (linked to After-Action Reports):

+ Ronald "Al" Frost - previously AFO with the Met's Diplomatic Protection Service
+ Chloe Thornes - ex-MI6 case officer with overseas experience in Russia
+ George Crackanthorpe - old-hand MI6 secondee
+ Holly Walker - a PISCES shrink and professional skeptic
+ Simon Spencer - millennial bad-boy computer hacker given another chance at life

WONDER WALL: SESSION TWO

"From mice to men
And then to rats
But only snakes behave like that..."

Last time we left the PISCES lads and ladettes, Team Wenceslas (Officers Walker and Crackanthorpe) had set up a surveillance post in one of the abandoned flats at the top of the Wyndham Court estate. Hoping to catch a snifter of Old Scratch's existence beyond second-hand stories, they tossed their bedrolls on the dirty, beer-can-and-tin-foil strewn floor and readied for the long haul.

Night falls, electric lights come on. Across the estate people return home to the warmth of their apartments. A bored Crackanthorpe saunters outside to poke his head around the estate after dark. He takes the stairs down to the fifth floor walkway, and as he rounds the corner spots one of those greasy "rat-prints" on a flat window. Inside, the sound of a TV buzzes.

Then something fat and heavy ran across his foot. A black rat. Behind him - tired of waiting, having come down to find him - Walker watched the creature rush past her.

Ahead on the balcony, the electric lights flickered out one by one. A solid darkness advanced...

Swallowing the two PISCES agents in impenetrable gloom.

Esoteric Enterprises - Continuity of Government Bunker Complex

"Alright. Flush the bombers, get the subs in launch mode. We are at DEFCON 1."

Unless you've been hiding under a rock most of your life (and, to be fair, if that was the case I can guarantee you definitely know what I'm talking about), you've probably heard of Continuity of Government.

Continuity of Government (C.O.G.) is the planning and preparation for how government can continue after a catastrophe, like a nuclear war or asteroid strike or Cthulhu waking up. Among the most important parts, beside laying out a list of contingencies and picking a Designated Survivor to sit out all the public events in case a bomb goes off, is building bunkers to hide in until the radiation levels drop enough for a go at repopulating the Earth.

Obviously, the government's not just going to let any Tom, Dick or Harry into those super-special-secret bunkers they've built though. Nope; only the lucky few, the most important, cleverest, bestest people are at the top of that list. Oddly enough, the guys who drew up the list - namely the politicians - seem to think politicians are the most important, cleverest, bestest people for the job.

Whatever the case, there are a lot of those bunkers. Most were built a long time ago, back during the Cold War. A lot are just sitting there. Unmanned. Untouched. Unused. Safe. Secure.

Now home to other things.

This is an underworld C.O.G. chamber for Esoteric Enterprises.

Esoteric Enterprises - Alternative Connecting Tunnels

Down, down, deeper and down...

Esoteric Enterprises is an occult dungeon-crawler where you raid the mystical underworld of a contemporary city, murdering the inhabitants and stealing their stuff. Some people will try to tell you it's an OSR Unknown Armies without the metaplot; a better description might be murderhobo Jim Butcher meets D&D. Despite its often wonky rules and editing, it's pretty fun.

Its best part (beside flamethrowing feral undead and ripping off occult weirdos) is the randomly generated map, where you toss a handful of dice onto paper to create nodes and beasties and gangs, then slot the pieces together jigsaw fashion to make a surprisingly coherent whole.

This is a rejig for Table 83: Connecting Tunnels (p.149), which trims back one of my biggest bugbears: the three sewers, three subways, and three storm drains (!!! - three exclamation points - !!!) on the list. Instead, it reshuffles the pieces a little and replaces some of more common roll-ups with bits I wanted to play with. While the layout does increase the dice-rolling you can solve that pretty easily by just picking the least used, cooler or more logical option instead of randomizing it.

DICE	DICE	TUNNEL TYPE
D4	D4	Reccently dug by residents
D4	D6	Ancient ruins
D4	D8	Steam tunnels (1-3: active, 4-6: inactive)
D4	D10	Communication tunnels (1-3: historic, 4-6: modern)
D4	D12	Smugglers' tunnels
D4	D20	Utility tunnels
D6	D6	Subway line (1-2: 1-track, 3-4: 2-track, 5: 3-track, 6: derelict)
D6	D8	Construction works / Big Dig
D6	D10	Basement throughway (1-3: historic, 4-6: modern)
D6	D12	Sewer connector (1-3: historic, 4-6: modern)
D6	D20	Ventilation tunnels
D8	D8	Storm drain (1-3: historic, 4-6: modern)
D8	D10	Abandoned traffic tunnel (1-3: foot, 4-6: vehicular)
D8	D12	Water tunnels (1-3: canal system, 4-6: underground river)
D8	D20	Geological formation (1-3: lava tubes, 4-6: karst tunnels)
D10	D10	Sewer network (1-3: dilapidated, 4-6: under construction)
D10	D12	Storm drain (1-3: derelict, 4-6: historic)
D10	D20	Ancient tunnel dug by undercity residents
D12	D12	Abandoned mineshaft
D12	D20	High-speed railroute (1-2: 2-track, 3-4: derelict, 5-6: specialized)
D20	D20	Eldritch formation (1-3: dead/fossilized creature, 4-6: unnatural construction

[DELTA GREEN] - NPC - Chantelle Barrow, the Xenobiologist

The Menagerie (T.P Hu, 1982)

A Texas based exotic animal collector, ex-carnie and zoomaniac designed to push players into the swing of not gunning down every monster they meet, lest poor Chantelle gets upset and leaves them in the lurch.

This one collected the most number of votes at the 3rd annual Night at the Opera contest and won Top Unreliable Ally. I'm a little surprised (far moreso grateful) for people's support; I felt there was potential in there but a lot of stuff got left by the wayside in banging it out. So here's the proper one.

CHANTELLE BARROW
Xenobiologist and xenoanthroplogist (PDF version)

Parris took a drag on the blunt, passed it to McCallister. His breath coiled like gunsmoke into the night air, the stars above still visible despite the thick of the trees and the arc-lamps' glare. Both men were leaning against a black SUV, one of the convoy parked at the side of the woodland road, and they watched the other agents and technicians milling about, moving equipment, checking manifests. On the hillside, one of the search dogs howled. McCallister put his head back and replied. Someone told him to knock it off. He gave them the finger.

"Capture-team to me!" shouted the case officer. He'd been sitting in one of the jeeps, talking on the phone, but now he was out, arms swinging, limbering up like readying to run a marathon. McCallister offered the roach back to Parris, but the other man stubbed it out on the car's wheel-arch. It left an ugly black circle on the shiny paint. The rest of the capture-team were already forming a semi-circle around the case officer, listening. Shaking the cold and the tiredness out, the two men rose and joined them.

This was really just a formality. They'd heard it all already, what they were to do, what reconnaisance had gathered, what to be ready for - or rather, what the March boys told them to be ready for. Local law-enforcement had been pushed out to a three-mile cordon on the main roads, turning back cars. "Federal meth cookhouse hunt" was the official story, and everyone was wearing their DEA raid-jackets. Everyone except Parris, who'd stuck with his ATF duster. The suits in Pasadena had made it plain after the shootout that he was getting the push, any excuse they had - zip, gone, no pension, no goodbye. He had another piss-test tomorrow, if he survived tonight. This would probably be the last time he'd get to wear his jacket. As far as he was concerned, twenty-two years meant he deserved it, no matter what some pencil-pusher in Pasadena might think. If they wanted it back, they could keep the bloodstains.

The case officer was talking and Parris hadn't heard what he'd been saying. Over the way a women stepped down from the command bus; pale and boney and stoney-expressioned. Her  face was sharp as an axe, red hair forming an enormous bushel of unteased knots above her head. Under her federal windbreaker she was wearing a pair of dungarees - steel-toed boots crunching through the gravel and leaves. Blinking in the glare, face blank, her lips curved in a resting-bitch-face that made Parris uncomfortable.

"Team, meet Doolittle -" continued the case officer. He reached out to point at her with his clipboard and she flinched, involuntarily stepping back. Without a word she snatched the clipboard from his hands and began poring over it. "- Our xenobiologist," he finished. On the hillside the dogs rose again in chorus - a long, drawn out series of howls that went on and on, ululating in primitive warning or fear.

"What are the doggies for?" asked Doolittle, without looking up.

"They'll be acting as scouts," said the case officer. "We'll send them in first with cameras to map the tunnels - we've noticed they undergo an interesting psychological reaction when-"

"Oh no. No, no," said Doolittle. She shook her head, frizz of hair flapping like a hairy halo."Oh no. Those things eat dogs. Call the dogs back. I'm not having anything needlessly killed tonight."

Parris heard Odelle curse behind him. Doolittle evidently did too.

"Are these the best people you have?" she asked. Her eyes moved across the capture-team, taking in their faces with all the emotion of surveying a side of beef in a supermarket. Her bottom lip moved noiselessly for a moment as if she was pondering a complex math problem, and then she took a pair of spectacles from her pocket. They sat upon her upturned, freckled nose. The lenses did not reflect the light. The frames, in fact, had no lenses at all.

"This isn't my first Opera," said Odelle. Her combat-vest creaked ominiously as she brushed her hand over her freshly shaved head. The last of the stubble made a scratching noise beneath her fingerless gloves. "Even shaved my head for it. Unlike some people." Her eyes burned themselves at Doolittle's flowing locks. "You ever seen what happens when something gets its claws in your hair and pulls..."

"That's not going to happen," said Doolittle icily. "We're not going to threaten or hurt it so it's not going to hurt us unless we do something stupid. I won't be threatening it or doing something stupid, so I'm in no danger."

She slapped the clipboard into the case officer's chest. "Let's go."

"Uh..." he said. "Well, OK. You heard her: load-up - move out in five."

Grumbling, Parris and the rest stocked up at the weapon-buffet the techs had laid out for them on a couple tables. He slid two Glocks into his cross-holsters, grabbed an AR-15 and spare ammo. Gas-mask too. Out the corner of his eye he saw Doolittle beside him, bending over the table, scouring the objects on offer. He was going to ask if she needed help when she picked up a SIG, racked the slide to check the chamber was clear. Two spare magazines, a couple of tear-gas grenades. She must have seen him staring, because she looked him square in the eye, as if willing him to say something.

"Just didn't think you'd be needing a gun," he said. "Seeing as you were saying there was no chance you were going to make those things living up there ornery at you."

She looked away. "I also said that no one's going to get needlessly killed tonight. So if one of those things does decide to go for me..."

She dry-fired the pistol.

Parris grinned and turned to Odelle: "Y'know, this one might not be so bad after all."

PISCES Campaign - WONDER WALL - Session Two Prep

NEWS AND PUBLIC SOURCE INFO

BNC 24: Police are appealing for anyone with footage of the gun-battle and car-chase in central London yesterday to come forward. The incident, which left a tourist and two alleged attackers dead, saw Waterloo Station and surrounding roads closed. Four men, including two police officers, are being treated in hospital for injuries.

Star News: At a presser this evening, Commander Harry Singh of London Counter-terrorism Command stated that the Strand shoot-out was not a "terror incident" but organized crime, with investigations remaining under the Metropolitan Police's Organized Crime Division. Information on those killed and injured will be released at "an appropriate time, when families have been informed" he added.

The Daily Crucible: English police forces' heavy-handed tactics in breaking up "rave culture" are damaging public trust, say community figures. Last month's dispersal of crowds at an illegal rave in Essex, which left six officers injured and led to the arrest of thirty-four people, has come under scrutiny following evidence that officers failed to present noise abatement writs to the rave's organizers prior to sending in riot police.

London Mail: Three boats carrying 43 migrants were caught in the English Channel yesterday, bringing this month's tally to more than 500. Numbers have surged since the bulldozing of the "Amazon" refugee camp outside Calais, a popular congregating site for those looking to escape to Britain. While Minister for Immigration Jason Woolpit-Coates has vowed to dismantle the organized smuggling gangs that prey on such individuals, the London Mail can report none of those who made it to the UK in the last year have yet been deported...

WATERCOOLER TALK

Gary in D-Section says the chiefs are in a flap over yesterday's debacle - and our friends in SIS have been on the phone, shouting all night. Everyone involved, and I mean everyone who breathed the same air, is being called to the carpet for a 2pm debrief and wall-to-wall bollocking. Do NOT be late.

Rumor from the armorers is pistols will be signed-out on a "will permit" basis. Still no license-to-kill with it though, so unless you found a 00 designation in your cornflakes this morning, weigh your options before taking it up. You pays your money, you takes your chances, as my old man used to say.

Our lad in the Met says someone's pushing hard - really hard - to make sure this doesn't get marked as a terror incident. According to them, Organized Crime's been told to back off too, which means someone's running interference. As to why, who knows? You didn't hear it from me, mind.

PISCES Campaign - WONDER WALL - Session One (After-Action Report)

Operation Roster (linked to After-Action Reports):

+ Ronald "Al" Frost - previously AFO with the Met's Diplomatic Protection Service
+ Chloe Thornes - ex-MI6 case officer with overseas experience in Russia
+ George Crackanthorpe - old-hand MI6 secondee
+ Holly Walker - a PISCES shrink and professional skeptic
+ Simon Spencer - millennial bad-boy computer hacker given another chance at life

WONDER WALL: SESSION ONE

A drab gray day in London. From the 23rd floor of the Severn Aerospace Building it was hard to tell if the Thames reflected the gunbolt hue of the sky or vice-versa. Sipping coffee, doodling on notepads, chit-chatting about the Gunners, the officers waited for today's Control - a middle-aged, tweed-jacketed type with a personality far too hip for his years - to brief them. "The Gods have spoken," he said. "The Sorting Hat chosen its candidates." He pinned photographs and papers to the whiteboard on the wall. Two issues had come up requiring the Section's involvement...

Team Shadwell: Heathrow Airport flagged Chuck Hauser (or rather his passport, AKA Milton Waters), an American citizen, entering the country via Schiphol, Amsterdam. He's booked into the Strand Hotel near Covent Garden. The Gods want him surveilled. No reasons given.

Team Wenceslas: One of PISCES' prognosticators dreamed a dream of doom. Onto the board goes his child-like etching of a ziggurat and stick-figures, drowning in a river of blood, overlooked by the lidless eye of the moon. The actuaries often send in their nightmares, scrawled in crayon; like Nostradamus they think they have meaning.

Sometimes - as in this case - they do.

[DELTA GREEN] - PISCES - A Fictive Background (Locales and Factions)

Another chapter in my unofficial and non-canonical take on modern-day PISCES, Delta Green RPG's British anti-occult agency. A bunch of fractitious groups and locales, with potential seeds and ideas.

PISCES LOCATIONS

+ Severn Aerospace Building, London: in use since the late-1980s, most of this 25-storey office-block in Southwark, south of the Thames, is rented to multinational corporations. Only the top six floors (and roof helicopter pad) are still retained by PISCES, whose somewhat dilapidated collection of open-plan offices, private rooms and operation centers oversee British occult security. New recruits are often surprised by its lack of windows. There is no office for “R.” 

+ Regional Divisionals: the Section operates six regional offices (RDs) in key cities outside London, specifically Belfast, Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham, York and Edinburgh. Listed as on-the-books  MI5 or National Crime Agency buildings, RDs have offices, vehicles, equipment and materiel for work across the country. RD-Belfast is unique, being located aboard the leaky, decommissioned submarine-tender HMS Celene, currently laid-up on the city’s waterfront.