"You are cordially invited to a night at the opera."

Anyone here ever heard of Delta Green? It's a role playing game based on the work of H P Lovecraft, but set in the present day rather than the roaring twenties. Players take the roles of police, scientists, soldiers, secret agents and government officials who investigate Cthulhu Mythos-based threats. Gone are the days of professors investigating dusty old attics; these days, those Mythos entities still on Earth think they've already won and are trying to corrupt society to bring about its downfall. There is a more militaristic, aggressive tone to the human resistance, but it's still more about brainpower than firepower.

Thought a lot of people on here might find it interesting. Delta Green stuff is hard to come by - it's regarded as among the best of its kind and people who own the (limited edition) books know their value.

I'm a pretty big fan of H.P Lovecraft, you have my attention.

Imagine if Lovecraft was set in the X-Files age with more of an edge, with a healthy dollop of cynicism, tempered by an unbreakable belief that humanity is worth saving, despite the power of the Mythos. Oh, and there's a bloke in Delta Green who is basically immune to the horrors of the Mythos. He runs the D-Stack, a repository of captured alien technology, and is one of the only people who can be surrounded by the stuff without cracking or getting killed by it.

The Greys, you know, the stereotypical aliens, are also involved. They're basically a puppet species created by the Mi-Go (the alien race featured in The Whisperer In Darkness, one of the best Lovecraft stories). The Mi-Go are not exactly hostile to humanity, but they're using us to provide what is best described as spiritual energy, and they use the Greys as a "front" to interact with humans without revealing themselves or their true intentions. While it sounds ridiculous and rather complicated, it is written in an extremely sinister manner which embarrasses the poorly thought-out conspiracies about "fake" moon landings and 9/11 being an inside job, for example.

While nearly all of the species and deities from the Cthulhu Mythos are still around, humans are mainly affected by Nyarlathotep, the Mi-Go and the Shan, plus a few new species who pop up now and then. Former threats like the Deep Ones are no match for modern human military power and keep a low profile, but the most powerful species are still well beyond us.

Ah man I thought this thread was going to be about Queen. Oh well.

Doominator2 said:

Ah man I thought this thread was going to be about Queen. Oh well.

I am also disappointed, and as such condemn this thread. *sticks nose in air*

I like Mafia, it's cool to exercise deductive/inductive reasoning skills in trying to figure out who is who. The roles are usually something like doctor, police, civilian, mafia, or wildcard ability. The pace of the game is set by an officiator and tells people the deadline to cast their secret vote to lynch.

And if you want to put a Lovecraft flavor into it, that's cool also. It usually helps if you have a grim setting, and it doesn't get scarier than good old H. P.

Another person who was expecting Queen here.

Ill-educated ruffians! Do you know nothing of the great works of Lovecraft? (Or at least, those who are making a few quid off his works.) ;)

I knew I should have called the thread "Delta Green".

Seriously, nobody else ever heard of it?

There was a sale some weeks ago where I almost picked up the Delta Green box set, but I wasn't sure if I'd ever use it with my friends, since only one of them is a Lovecraft fan like I am. Still, it's a really popular game and I'm pretty interested in it. Anyone ever get a game going?

I also expected Queen, especially since I'm binging on The Kleptones' hilarious yet brilliant A Night at the Hip Hopera mash-up album. I'm afraid the unclear thread name may confuse even the intended adventure seeker. On an empty street.

MajorRawne said:

Seriously, nobody else ever heard of it?

Nope - but if you could hum the title tune I might recognise it.

I've always thought It's be really cool to see X-Com style game dealing with Eldritch horrors. I know Terror from the Deep is sort of that already, but I want horror straight out of the books and not so ball stomping difficult that *you* takes a real life SAN loss.