OPERATIONAL HISTORY: HITTING THE RIGHT NOTES
Added 2024-05-29 14:58:53 +0000 UTCWhen we talk about the "we shall serve no wine before its time" philosophy of creating books for Delta Green, here's an example.
I've written tens of thousands of words for Delta Green: Operational History (up to the 1980s), a big, horkin' book of history left out of Delta Green: Handler's Guide due to lack of space. New content that fills in gaps about Delta Green's timeline, and more ( just history of Delta Green, mind you, we have no room for much else). Also, in the process, I managed to find several books (including the excellent A CENTURY OF U.S. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE by Captain Wyman H. Packard) which revealed several amazing coincidences that seem to line up spookily with the DG timeline.
The goal for OPERATIONAL HISTORY is to give the Handler a maximum amount of stuff to mine; secrets, spells, timelines, situations; so that the Handler can put players in anything from the Roswell crash, to Innsmouth, Point-103 or even the Innsmouth raid itself.
Recently, I broke down the version I was working on and split it up into component parts and started to crawl through from the beginning again, trying to find the right tone, level of detail, and angles. I cut together the first 14 or so pages that feel good to me, wrote a bunch of new content, and this is what I came up with.
Let me know what you think!
Comments
Oh goodness no. There's a ton of work still to be done. No ETA except "when it's ready". Cheers!
Dennis Detwiller
2024-07-24 18:16:02 +0000 UTCSo excited for this! Any chance this gets finished/is out Q4 2024, or is it more an ongoing project?
Sean Moriarty
2024-07-24 18:14:33 +0000 UTCI'm really excited about this! Especially the 90s, early 2000s content!
Pablo Valcarcel
2024-06-10 14:38:54 +0000 UTCThere are plans for EVERYTHING, but such a project is well down a big list.
Dennis Detwiller
2024-06-06 12:16:48 +0000 UTCI'm sure someone's asked this question before but I haven't been able to find an answer; are there plans to ever publish operation OBSIDIAN?
Lowell Prevost
2024-06-06 06:48:01 +0000 UTCI’m anxiously waiting all DG releases, but this one (and the Falling Towers book) are the ones I’m most excited about! Great work!
Fabio Santos
2024-05-30 23:46:23 +0000 UTCBy far the release I'm most excited for.
Brent Ault
2024-05-29 23:53:54 +0000 UTC“It was not the small ancient car I had expected from Akeley’s descriptions, but a large and immaculate specimen of recent pattern—apparently Noyes’s own, and bearing Massachusetts licence plates with the amusing “sacred codfish” device of that year. My guide, I concluded, must be a summer transient in the Townshend region.” from “The Whisperer in Darkness”
Bret Kramer
2024-05-29 23:52:24 +0000 UTCSweet!
Dennis Detwiller
2024-05-29 23:45:31 +0000 UTCOn the off chance you include an illustration of one of the trucks used during the Raid on Innsmouth, the 1928 Massachusetts plate design included the image of a codfish and was widely blamed for a reduction in fishing catches starting in 1928. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/automobiles/the-great-fishy-massachusetts-license-plate-fiasco-of-1928.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vk0.16hv.5XTUU88h6WxS&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
Bret Kramer
2024-05-29 23:44:39 +0000 UTCAdded back in!
Dennis Detwiller
2024-05-29 18:59:31 +0000 UTCI like the hooks and gameable ideas as well.
Nick Melchior
2024-05-29 18:58:51 +0000 UTCAs always Arc Dream is awesome. Thanks again!
Mike Nusbaum
2024-05-29 18:54:03 +0000 UTCOh yes. We’re working out how to structure it. It could be multiple books. But it’ll be big and hardcover. Cheers.
Dennis Detwiller
2024-05-29 18:45:23 +0000 UTCThanks for posting this. Will there be a physical book for Operational History in the future? I've pre-ordered the PDF but as always like to have a physical copy too.
Mike Nusbaum
2024-05-29 18:19:24 +0000 UTCOh it’s great if you add the hooks! Thanks a lot and congratulations for all your hard work!
bouik bouik
2024-05-29 17:14:58 +0000 UTCExciting! I'll be reading this later today. Thanks!
JuicyGarland
2024-05-29 16:52:25 +0000 UTCAs you find the Handler's Guide suffers from the same issue for you (and as far as I know, few others), I'd have to say, as you said, this is a "you" issue. OPERATIONAL HISTORY was never pitched as a scenario book (and it won't be), it is a history book. I will reinclude the adventure hooks, but it sounds more like this just isn't a book for you. Cheers!
Dennis Detwiller
2024-05-29 16:42:27 +0000 UTCNo, it’s unfortunately an issue for me as a GM. I ran nearly every DG scenario and campaign you published (even God’s Teeth, God’s Hunt, IL, the three scenarios collections, the playtest ones here, etc. Yes I know Im crazy) but the HG timeline has lost me. Perhaps it’s just my tastes but you (and the other authors) published really interesting and immediately playable adventures. I would really like to immerse my players in the internal DG conflicts and projects described in the timeline now they’re experienced DG players. They asked for it. However this timeline is somewhat dry and not really « actionable ». I can write something inspired by the events but I don’t know if I have the same writing quality as your team and the time to do it right. For me the essence of DG are the official scenarios, not really a « setting/secret history to be inspired by ». I hope it’s useful. I run DG with 2 groups of players, however only one group played the campaigns. Sometimes only one PC. Age 20 to 40 yo. We still didn’t play the Conspiracy era.
bouik bouik
2024-05-29 16:39:47 +0000 UTCVery fun to read and see.
Max Mason
2024-05-29 15:38:38 +0000 UTCI can't wait for the ULTIMATE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA version of Delta Green's all that ever was and shall be.
Trung
2024-05-29 15:36:23 +0000 UTCAlso very excited to see the finished product. I want to run a campaign in the mid-1980’s so please put lots of good stuff in for that time period ;-)
Howard Bishop
2024-05-29 15:32:07 +0000 UTC(Also, I have a question: Do you also not know how to use the timeline in the Handler's Guide? I'm interested if this is you, me, or everyone difficulty.) Cheers!
Dennis Detwiller
2024-05-29 15:25:49 +0000 UTCI could certainly include the hooks again. For me, they seem extraneous and obvious. Any other votes for that?
Dennis Detwiller
2024-05-29 15:17:12 +0000 UTCLike the ones you made for the previous OH extract some weeks ago. There were « hooks » and list of scenarios ideas :)
bouik bouik
2024-05-29 15:14:59 +0000 UTCThanks! I read it and i don’t know how to use it. I vastly prefer mini scenarios associated with each events than a description. Or at least direct hints and questions adressed to the Handler.
bouik bouik
2024-05-29 15:12:03 +0000 UTCI'm so excited for this! I must consume the lore!!
Breton
2024-05-29 15:07:44 +0000 UTC
