Delta Green & Writing a Scenario Inspired by Last Things Last

Spoiler alert: this article is my attempt to write a TTRPG Delta Green scenario inspired by Last Things Last for my gaming group. They have yet to be introduced to Delta Green but they all have the book Need to Know which contains the scenario LTL and therefore I have to assume it has been spoiled for them. A great shame as this is an absolutely perfect scenario. This post (Part 1) is about how I am thinking about the writing something new (inspired by LTL) and then follow-up (Part 2) will be what I finally decided, how it went down, reflections. 

Last Things Last: if you haven't seen these two videos already there are two great breakdowns of the scenario by Buds RPG Reviews and Seth Skorkowsky. I support both via Patreon and encourage you to do the same if you like their stuff. I am a super slow reader, so videos are a massive help for me, and I think Bud and Seth are top. And, bonus, here they are playing Bud's scenario Black Thumb with Delta Green co-author Shane Ivey!

Tone: this will be my groups first game of Delta Green - I'll want to set the tone and convey why I like DG so much - my interpretation of the books (old and new) is the type of character I like to think finds themselves drawn into Delta Green is the type of person who at some point in their life held their hand over a candle's flame - they knew it would hurt but they wanted the experience - they were curious - and the rest of the Universe - and the Unnatural - is akin to that flame - we are at best fuel to be consumed - nothing more - this for me is why Delta Green isn't a game of grand conspiracy where politicians are puppets of great plans - but a more personal story of horror as we, one by one, experience things that have little interest in us - we are just fuel for their fires - and I think Last Things Last is a fantastic introduction to this game world. 

Outline: I take the gist of the scenario to be, in the abstract: 

• someone just left The Programme (poor health, or a 9mm retirement?), 
• the PCs are tasked to tie up any loose ends (against the clock), 
• leading to an investigation of their affairs (a sad & lonely ending),
• uncovering a terrible story connecting their loss (their most valuable Bond?) and something awful (something Unnatural)
• (meanwhile also uncovering clues foreshadowing future operations)
• ultimately leading to the climax (a horror, a negotiation, a conflict)
• after which the PCs tidy up and debrief (beginning their one-way journey into this world.

Decisions: this means we need to decide some of the following before we get to the gaming table: 

• The Retiree, their unfinished business, future plot hooks, how they died. It's a game of conspiracy so maybe we have the group know it was one thing ('their heart') but leave evidence of something else ('chemicals recently washed down the bathroom sink'). Who were they? What might have have done for the programme? What else could this foreshadow? Were they still a willing volunteer? 
• The Bond: which bond was most significant to them - it could be anything e.g.: a loved one, former colleagues, a DG team mate, a handler, an old group of friends, an online group of friends, a society, a club, a hobby, a pen-pal, religion, a group who endured something together, their psychiatrist. 
• Hooks: leads to other operations. Things we can decide later what they mean. 
• The Unnatural: the thing that has befallen the Bond, ideally at the initiation of The Retiree to indicate their arc of their life. In the original we have a combo of forbidden lore (hypergeometry) and The Thing. This was kept secret from The Programme. Perhaps in my scenario the bond is a grandchild - still receiving a monthly payment - obfuscated - and the Unnatural is (for reasons yet to be discovered) they live 'off the grid' and carry The Innsmouth Taint. 
• The Climax: according to Sandy Petersen's breakdown of game writing - why set this somewhere mundane when we could pick a memorable location - that said - the original was The Cabin In The Woods - which worked perfectly. Last Things Last contained a negotiation before a fight - if we take The Taint approach perhaps there's an attempt at bargaining (akin to DG short story The Dark Above, Author John Scott Tynes, from Alien Intelligences). Whatever the group decide there should be the menacing sense that 'mother' or 'father' may return from the sea.
• The Epilogue: Feeding the Paranoia: the team's Case Officer in the debrief asks what CS measures they've taken recently - perhaps asking them to walk through events over a specific period of time - but with no explanation given for why they ask ('N2K'). Putting the PCs on the spot about some events and asking what they thought was going on will be good ideas for future scenarios - my players always have the best ideas. 

Update: I reached out on Reddit, the input has been amazing, some highlights:

• Keep the original but immediately after the scenario jump into Metamorphosis, or waylay them with Dead Light. 
• For more ideas on what to throw into any Green Box here's a tool
• Or run Last Things Last, but introduce an associate of the deceased in a subsequent adventure, then run a flashback scenario with a team running alongside the deceased 'back in the day'
• Or the deceased isn't deceased at all, all other aspects are the same, they need help dealing with something... and of course, they have also become the mission now 
• Or they're helping the not-deceased, something to do with their family, a grandchild, as things heat up they disappear to go negotiate with The Bad. They fail, and just raise tensions as the thing gets closer to the bond to take what was agreed.
• Run it as a prelude to a campaign - and tie LTL in as an intro e.g. Impossible Landscapes, and involving carcosa/hastur/king in yellow elements. 
• Consider swapping the Unnatural threat for something more thematically appropriate to the follow-on operations. 
• Try scenario First Things First.  

Re-imagined: further to the Reddit comments now I want to consider re-imagining the scenario: 

• The Retiree: what if they're still alive, and The Programme is now aware of the secret they've been keeping regards something Unnatural. The group will need to convince them to share what they know. First problem is they're incarcerated - perhaps offering a cross-over opportunity between Silence of the Lambs and Mindhunter. Rather than regular good old fashioned 'madness' etc. perhaps our retiree is in the grips of something - possessed perhaps. The cell need to resolve whatever has happened to the retiree and cover it up. To draw this out we could have a series of operations directed by our Retiree / Hannibal leading to the climax where they figure out what's happened to him / what they can do about it.