Post Script - The Baughman Op
Breaking down Last Things Last and using Delta Green Solo
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Photo by Eneida Nieves: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-cabin-in-the-woods-on-daytime-803975/
Last Things Last is an excellent little scenario. Back when I hoped to run this game with a group, I memorised most of the main story beats during a fit of Cosmic-Horror-fervor. It made running it Solo easy, but challenging as a player. I know what Marlene is in the context of the scenario, I know her Stats and what she is going to do in certain situations, but how would Kat reasonably react? How would Montford and Palmer react? I could play it in an ideal way, relying on skill checks to keep the drama going, but one of the best parts of Delta Green is the uncertainty of each situation. I try to randomise as much as possible to keep the story and flow interesting, but for Delta Green especially, I want to consider that the agents are competent and mission focused, but largely unaware of the greater cosmic threat of the setting. I used luck rolls1 to keep me on my toes, and got a few surprises, mostly based around how belligerent Montford was! In future missions, I’ll randomise less of their behaviour as I get a better understanding of who they are. One thing I really like about Delta Green, and TTRPG’s in general, is how the mechanics of the game help you define the character. I had a pretty solid image of Kat in my head when I made her character sheet. Slightly cynical and sarcastic, but with a good understanding of people and natural athletes. But how would she interact with the unnatural? Would she keep her cool? I liked to think she would, but when she failed her SAN2 test, and took 6 SAN damage, I wasn’t so sure. When I projected onto a bond3 and only shaved 1 SAN off of that, I was stressed. I repressed the temporary insanity4 with more projection, and got lucky on the last SAN roll, but it was close! I’m not currently keeping track of other agents Sanity, as I don’t want to fall into the trap of running a group, rather than running a single character. I might change that approach later, as the scene could have gone very differently if everyone failed their SAN rolls. I was also really pleased with how the action section ran. Some of the games I’ve ran solo, the action scenes can become very gamified as I’m keeping track of all the moving parts, but this felt very tense, with each roll of the dice feeling just as important as the last, which is refreshing. The whole scene was skill checks, contested checks and a few luck rolls to keep it flowing. For Marlene’s death, I wanted to keep that uncertain feeling from guided play, when the enemy is bloody, and looks almost dead, but you don’t know if you should risk a final shot, or play it safe and duck for cover. To simulate that, I tracked Marlene’s HP and damage, but used a Luck roll to decide if it actually killed ker. When she hit 0 HP, I would roll luck, and if it failed, she was still alive and kicking, and may well have ended Kat’s journey there. Fortunately it passed. I plan on expanding this to add a bit more uncertainty to the combat, and maybe even use it to randomise traits or stats for creatures to keep me on my toes.
I’m still learning the mechanics and lore for the world. I chose 2006 and because it's after a few big things that happen in the setting, but before things have settled into the “Modern” setting post 2016. Enemies from the conspiracy era might still be around, and ones from the modern setting are just getting started, and I wanted to have that freedom to move around and engage with whatever aspects interested me at the time. Also, the internet is game changer when it comes to investigations, and setting it before people posted every aspect of their life online might add an interesting challenge! We’ll see. I think the biggest hurdle I’m facing is that I am British, and I live in Canada, and so America, either in the 90s, 2000s or modern day, is familiar to me only through media, and the times I’ve been to Florida on vacation. I’m probably more familiar with Lovecraftian cannon than I am with any aspect of living in America, and feel free to leave a comment if I describe a scene that is jarring or unrealistic. One day I’ll run a PISCES or M-EPIC5 campaign and be on more familiar ground, but for now, I hope you enjoyed Kat’s first foray into the Unnatural.
For the next Operation6, I decided to use the Rogue Handler supplement, by Parts per Million, to create a random story thread for Kat to follow. I wanted to keep things simple as I learned more of the mechanics and started to build the story, so I only used Rogue Handler, which uses a modified version of the Luck Roll as a stand in Oracle7, or GM emulator, as well as a handful of really nifty random tables and a few interesting mechanics. When you ask the Oracle a question, you increase or decrease by 10, 20 or 40% depending on if the answer is unlikely, likely, impossible or certain, as with other oracles, but the big feature was the “Clock” Mechanic, which functions as another way of throwing in an air of mystery and tension as you play. When you start something, you arrive on the scene or begin an investigation. You start a “Clock” by rolling percentile dice, giving you a starting number. Whenever time passess, or events happen, you roll again. If you roll under the clock, you increase it by one, but if you roll over, the new number rolled becomes the clock value. Once it hits 100, something happens. Maybe a new person arrives on the scene, your agents are interrupted or the monster arrives early. I actually used this clock function in my first chapter, and it's the reason why Mrs Janowitz arrived at Clyde Baughman’s apartment. Moving forward, I’ll be using it in conjunction with some random tables to keep Kat on her toes and moving quickly. I’ll include my thoughts on the system and how it jives with Delta Green as I go.
One other change that you may notice is that I will be including a limited amount of footnotes in the next chapter. I use footnotes extensively in my journal to denote oracle results, skill checks and keeping track of my clock. I won't include every skill check or Oracle question, but I’ll aim to include enough that the narrative makes sense!
Feel free to leave a comment if there’s something you want to see more, or less, of. I’m hoping to include more of the RPG aspects and Solo rationale as I get more comfortable with the platform! The next post will feature a short “Home”8 scene followed by the first steps of the new mission, Operation: Haruspex.
A Luck Roll is a roll on a d100. If it is 50 or under, you get the ‘good’ outcome, and if it is 51 or over, you get the ‘bad’ outcome.
SAN or Sanity, is a statistic in Delta Green, and functions kind of like a health bar. Lose too much at once, and bad things happen!
You can reduce Sanity loss by “projecting” it onto a bond, which is kind of dark, but a mechanic I really like.
Losing 5 SAN or more triggers temporary insanity. Fight, Flight or Freeze. Kat would have fought, for the record, but who knows how that would have gone.
PICES is the UK, and M-Epic for the Candians.
Delta Green is usually divided up into a mission format, although the line where one mission ends and the other begins can get a little blurry.
An Oracle is a catch all term for questions you ask in place of the GM. Is this door open, are the enemies armed
The Home Scenes are brief scenes between missions. What does your agent do when they aren’t on the job for Delta Green? What’s changed? And what can your agent do to regain a little bit of what they’ve lost?