Dennis Detwiller

Woah. I only have access to the first 249 pages but reading this draft I already questioned my sanity three times. This campaign is unsettling in a way I experienced never before. Not once was the spirit of the King in Yellow captured in such an adequately disturbing fashion. I can not wait to GM this.

Absolutely superb with excellent chapters on various disparate topics, all of which of great interest to the Delta Green Keeper of Arcane Lore. The material in this gem could be mined for many years. Highly recommended

An esoteric and eclectic collection of stories inspired by The Horror on The Orient Express supplement from Chaosium. Ranging from pulp to surreal horror, these really had an entertaining effect on me, with me enjoying them immensely. Admittedly,this scratches an itch for me, with me loving both Europe in the golden age of travel, the Orient Express and call of Cthulhu. What's not to like? With only one exception all are great stories. Recommended.

This is a supplement for the Delta Green campaign setting for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. It is a limited edition hardback compendium of the three extremely limited edition Delta Green Eyes Only chapbooks. This volume includes the contents of those three chapbooks along with two all new scenarios. The production values are definitely better than on the original softback DG books.

I'll provide a brief rundown of its contents along with my assessments.

SPOILERS ABOUND. Read at your show more own risk.

1. Mi-Go: Enlarges the material provided in the main book. There's nothing earth-shattering here, but it does provide much needed additional information on Mi-Go physiology and culture (such as it is), along with some details on what Yuggoth is like (this portion is a personal favorite). (Hint: You do not want to visit, and you certainly don't want to live there.) My favorite of the three organizations in the book.

2. The Fate: Significantly elaborates on -- and sometimes contradicts -- the material presented on this organization in the main book. This was the organization that most needed fleshing out in the main book and it gets al that and more here. I would venture to say that the Fate is nigh-unusable as presented in the main book; this treatment is invaluable if you intend to use them. My complaint with this section is that pages upon pages of material are provided on boring, mundane details of their operations, like a list of three centuries worth of land use and ownership records for the property for their headquarters. How exactly would this be used in play? In general, I have somewhat of a problem with the Fate, as presented in DG: they are simply too powerful. I know, that's an odd complaint for Call of Cthulhu, but I think that PCs going up against these guys are bound to be frustrated continually.

3. Project RAINBOW: Provides details on a new WWII-era US government black program and subsequent cover-up. This is the "Philadelphia Experiment" on the destroyer USS ELDRIDGE. It was accidentally sent to another dimension/time where the laws of physics are somewhat different. The technology that did that is still around and causing problems. The level of detail on the survivors of that experiment is impressive, if boring, but I suppose necessary if the player-characters are to truly investigate the incident.

4. Tradecraft: A brief section, but useful. It provides some additional details for players who may not have a military or intelligence background.

5. Three adventures. They are as follows:

A Night on Owlshead Mountain: Concerns the Mi-Go. They long ago abandoned a human servant (crazy old, but immortal, mountain man) and he and a Dark Young that has accidentally been recently freed are causing problems. It's not a bad little adventure.

Artifact Zero: Concerns Project RAINBOW. Revolves around an archaeological dig. I don't like this one because the plot will actually have the best outcome if the players do nothing. Yuck. I hate adventures like that, and some Call of Cthulhu adventures are very prone to that failing. It is also extremely bloated with superfluous forensic data on the various victims. Most of that could have been summed up as "after the forensic analysis is completed, the corpse and person X appear to match up."

Holy War: Concerns the Fate. Deals with an internal schism and a scheme perpetrated by a worshipper of Glaaki who plans on opening a new lake portal/temple to it in New York. Not bad, but doesn't do much with New York City, which has been established as the Fate's playground. It also revolves too heavily around the actions of various rival cultist NPCs, leaving the PCs without enough to do.

This is a good book, but it has some flaws. If I had one criticism of it, I would say that it has a tendency to descend into boring minutiae that is of very little relevance to most campaigns.

Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers show less