Delta Green and Carcosa
about 9 years ago – Thu, Oct 15, 2015 at 12:07:52 AM

Excerpted from Delta Green: Impossible Landscapes

Delta Green has confronted the manifestations of Carcosa dating back to the 1950s. Records of such encounters were destroyed lest some snippet escape the page and start the infection all over again. Those in command quickly determined that Carcosa and its attendant manifestations appear to be a cancer of human thought, spread through language, speech, text, and pictures. Sources of the infection were purged with brutal efficiency.

Several living agents have dealt with the terror of Carcosa and survived. But the qualities that helped them survive make it difficult to learn from them; they are universally tight-lipped about what they saw and experienced. 

Fighting unnatural horrors is one thing, confronting the roiling insanity that is Carcosa is another. The otherworldly madness and horror spread by the Old Ones is due to their impossible nature and unknowable methods. Carcosa seems to be a deeper, more insidious manifestation of that impossibility. Some agents who would stand firm against an inhuman monstrosity loping at them from the sea could not tolerate a house that seems to bend and warp around them, changing as they observe it. One seems separate from humanity, a monster; the other appears to warp the deepest and most coveted concepts of humanity: thought, ideas, order.

Carcosa is a name given to the slurry of thought and quantum possibility that exists between man and the Great Old Ones. This runoff pulls human thought into a void and fills the space of possibility with thoughts, dreams and ideas. The collapse of the waveform becomes the dance of multiple waveforms. A thousand outcomes become possible or impossible at once.

Similar effects occur in so-called “non-Euclidean” constructions. Some struc-tures left behind by the Old Ones warp spacetime and human perception. This seems to be a fixed effect. Perception shifts depending on location, but rarely seems to “bleed” or “change” beyond that place or artifact. Instead it looks alien and surreal.

Carcosa could be more akin to a feedback loop in reality, a tug of war between an infinite consciousness and a human consciousness both observing a finite reality. Carcosa seems to act and react to human thought, to change and direct itself within human concepts of fear, disorder and chaos. It has catastrophic effects on human sanity.

Attempts to understand Carcosa always fail. Carcosa may appear to become “ordered” for short periods based on agents’ mental fortitude, but this is always a momentary pause in a dance of horrors that swarm the mind. It is like an undertow in the current of thought. At first it seems subtle and easy to resist. But soon the agent is pulled out to sea and realizes the truth. Carcosa envelops human minds like a slug, ingesting and burning them away. All that remains behind are echoes of their thoughts and perceptions, echoes which sometimes last forever.

These powers stand at the tideline between human physics and the roiling world beyond. They are like a parasite of the human mind which consumes and regur-gitates ideas and perceptions, blotting out all reason.

—By Dennis Detwiller, © 2015

Agents and Friendlies

In our social media campaign we're only one retweet away (!) from unlocking another milestone reward, or 5 Facebook shares, or four Google+ followers, or 4 Subreddit subscribers. We might unlock three or four rewards tonight.

Why do we keep pushing you, our backers, to help us spread the word? Because you are the ones people trust! You have far more credibility with your friends and fellow gamers than we strangers ever will. 

So help us spread the word!

Play the game and talk about it. How does it play? You've probably played other Cthulhu Mythos role-playing games. Does the new Delta Green feel any different at the table? Why is it worth backing?

Explore the old books and talk about them. You may be here because something about Delta Green hooked you a long time ago. What was it? What do you look forward to seeing in the new game line? 

Talk about it, encourage newcomers to sign up, and — if you're willing to take this leap of faith — tell them they won't be disappointed.

Delta Green: Impossible Landscapes is less than $6K away. Beyond that we have a complete starter campaign ready for playtesting, a massive sourcebook about the secret government programs surrounding Delta Green, sourcebooks dedicated to World War II and to PISCES, and so much more. 

We want to unlock all these great Delta Green projects, and to do that we need to keep bringing new backers aboard. If you believe in what we're doing and want to see us do even more of it, spread the word!

Thank you for supporting Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game. We would not be here without you.

You will see the Yellow Sign
about 9 years ago – Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 07:44:26 PM

Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game hit $170K this morning, which unlocks "I Have Seen the Yellow Sign." That will be a look the challenges of containing the King in Yellow "infection" in the Information Age. It'll be available to all backers soon. 

Our next stretch goal: DELTA GREEN: IMPOSSIBLE LANDSCAPES. A 256-page campaign of scenarios and sourcebook dedicated to Delta Green confronting the King in Yellow. Written by Delta Green co-creator Dennis Detwiller ("Night Floors," "Music from a Darkened Room," Future/Perfect, "Project RAINBOW") with Daniel Harms, Robin D. Laws, and John Scott Tynes. 

It's coming. The shadows lengthen in Carcosa.

Send More Agents

Keep violating Delta Green's secrecy protocols! By sharing Delta Green online you've been unlocking social-media milestones way faster than we can create them. We owe you a host of scenario conversions and audio files. We want to do more, so keep it up. Every new gamer you bring to Delta Green helps us create more books and adventures for it, from Impossible Landscapes to Control Group to Deep State and beyond.

Here's one of those rewards now: "Alphonse's Axioms for Agents," which appeared in The Unspeakable Oath, presented as an in-world email from back in the old days. You can print it out and share with players as a handout if you like.

DOWNLOAD ALPHONSE'S AXIOMS FOR AGENTS HERE.

For Your Consideration

Finally, a few friends of ours have their own Kickstarter projects going. Check them out. 

• Painter Dave LaRocca's "Star Spawn"
• The Book of Starry Wisdom, an illustrated and annotated Lovecraft collection—featuring an essay by Delta Green's Adam Scott Glancy on the parallels between the Cthulhu cult and modern terrorists
• Heather Hudson's Cthulhu Christmas Greeting Cards

Be seeing you.

International shipping estimates (and "Kali Ghati" unlocked!)
about 9 years ago – Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 09:15:46 PM

Since the beginning of this project we've struggled with how to discuss international shipping and handling costs. 

We have been reluctant to give hard numbers because international shipping rates go up frequently. We have been hit hard many times in the past when the amount we had to pay for shipping and handling wound up being thousands of dollars more than we had collected from customers or backers. 

Nevertheless, we've been working nonstop on getting the best possible estimates for international deliveries. 

And here they are!

(I hope they're legible. Kickstarter's compression software plays havoc with text.)

This includes an arrangement with our friends at Editions Sans Detour in France for deliveries to Europe. Most others are through the U.S. Postal Service. We are still talking to people, particularly about U.K. deliveries. If we manage to make arrangements to reduce these estimates further, we will update backers and post the new rates on the project's homepage.

Kali Ghati

We hit $165K, and that unlocks the new playtest draft of the scenario "Kali Ghati" for all backers! We'll send a download link shortly. 

Thank you for supporting Delta Green!

Terrifying rewards unlocked. More revealed.
about 9 years ago – Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 06:41:35 PM

Yesterday we announced rewards we'd offer if backers helped us reach more gamers. You've already unlocked seven of those rewards! 

• “A Victim of the Art”: Dennis Detwiller’s scenario converted to Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game. 
• Art prints: Dennis Detwiller’s paintings from Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game will be made available as fine-art prints you can order from a third-party vendor (art.com). 
• “Lover in the Ice”: Caleb Stokes’ scenario converted to Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game. 
• “Music from a Darkened Room”: Dennis Detwiller’s scenario converted to Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game. 
• “Music from a Darkened Room” audio: A recording of Shane Ivey running “Music from a Darkened Room” for his friends (two episodes). 
• Future/Perfect, Part 1: Dennis Detwiller’s scenario converted to Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game. 
• Future/Perfect, Part 1 audio: A recording of Shane Ivey running Future/Perfect, Part 1 for his friends (two episodes).

We're going to start work right away so we can deliver those rewards ASAP. So keep it up! Expose all potential agents and friendlies to this campaign.

Now let us sweeten the pot even more.

In the Court of the Yellow King

We have hit our $160K stretch goal! That unlocks In the Court of the Yellow King, a play by John Scott Tynes. We'll send a private link to all backers shortly. Thank you!

Order the Case Officer's Handbook, download the Agent's Handbook free

This is a new development to help out all our gamers. If you upgrade to the Case Officer's Handbook in PDF or hardback, we will send you the Agent's Handbook in PDF at no further cost. 

That way you'll have the complete, playable rules when the Agent's Handbook is available, and you'll get the expanded Case Officer's Handbook when it's ready a few months later.

Updated stretch goals

You've been wondering what we're planning if this project REALLY takes off. We've revised a thing or two and added a lot. Let's go.

At $165K, "KALI GHATI": A scenario by Shane Ivey set in the drawdown of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. We used it to playtest combat rules earlier in development of the game. This expanded version is a more complete scenario ready for another round of playtesting RIGHT NOW. Available FREE to all backers.

At $170K, "I HAVE SEEN THE YELLOW SIGN": A look the challenges of containing the King in Yellow "infection" in the Information Age. Available FREE to all backers.

At $180K: IMPOSSIBLE LANDSCAPES IN PDF AND FULL-COLOR HARDBACK: A full-length campaign and sourcebook where Delta Green agents face the influence of the King in Yellow, written by Dennis Detwiller with Daniel Harms, Robin Laws, and John Scott Tynes. ADD-ON COST: $50 for hardback plus free PDF; $20 for just the PDF. PDF included in tiers that get "All New PDFs Funded by This Project."

At $190K, "THE LAST SHOW": A short story of Delta Green and the King in Yellow, written by Dennis Detwiller. Available FREE to all backers.

At $200K, "REDACTED: FUSION CENTERS": Detailed player-facing write-ups of organizations that are only summarized in the core rules: the ATF, the Secret Service, ICE, Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard, and FEMA. Available FREE to all backers.

At $210K, "WORMWOOD ARENA": A new scenario by Greg Stolze in which Delta Green agents must go undercover to learn the goals of a cult with ties to the unnatural. ADD-ON COST: $5, PDF only. PDF included in tiers that get "All New PDFs Funded by This Project."

At $220K, CONTROL GROUP IN PDF AND FULL-COLOR HARDBACK: An introductory campaign by Greg Stolze, written to teach new players the rules and to create a team of Agents out of those who survive along the way. ADD-ON COST: $50 for hardback plus free PDF; $20 for just the PDF. PDF included in tiers that get "All New PDFs Funded by This Project."

At $230K, “REDACTED: THE COLLECTORS": Detailed player-facing write-ups of organizations that were only summarized in the core rules: DIA, NSA/CSS, NRO, ONI, NGA, NCTC. Available FREE to all backers.

At $240K, "REDACTED: BIG DATA": Detailed player-facing write-ups of organizations that were only mentioned or summarized in the core rules: DARPA, Nuclear Security Administration (NEST), NASA (Dryden AFRC). Available FREE to all backers.

At $250K, "REDACTED: BELTWAY BANDITS": Detailed player-facing write-ups of organizations that were only mentioned or summarized in the core rules: Constellis Group, CACI, RAND, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin. Available FREE to all backers.

At $260K, DEEP STATE IN PDF AND FULL-COLOR HARDBACK: A sourcebook detailing the diaspora of secret MAJESTIC-12 programs. Built around an alien threat that seemed to vanish, these projects failed, changed, evolved and in some cases grew throughout the Global War on Terror and as a consequence of conflicts with Delta Green. ADD-ON COST: $50 for hardback plus free PDF; $20 for just the PDF. PDF included in tiers that get "All New PDFs Funded by This Project."

And if we get that far, we have a lot more to come....

"Kali Ghati" backer download
about 9 years ago – Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 01:12:13 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.