From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Eckhard Huelshoff [EHuelshoff@t-online.de] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 2:45 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Lassa Fever Good Evening. It seems we do have yet another case of Lassa Fever in Germany [ We already had two in the last 3 months ]. But this case is special: The "case"/the young man who the doctors and the health agencies thinks to be infected is.....the star of a 3rd league [ but professional ] soccer team from the town of Saarbruecken. The poor fellow is a Nigerian and a couple of days ago he came back to Germany from visiting his family and friends. And only a few days after his return to Germany he showed his first symptomps of what may well be Lassa fever. Unfortunately he had already trained with the mates from his soccer team. And now the other players [ and their families ] are under observation by medical teams and some of them are even hospitalized! Obviously the club has a couple of problems to go on in the continuing season. In the moment everybody hopes that: a) It is not Lassa Fever b) that at least the other players [ and their families, their friends and everybody else ] is not infected ObDG: Of course every case of a deadly virus spread is interesting for DG. But this case is special: A soccer team might be stopped from continuing a very succesful season. Other teams do have advantages from this disease, people profit. Think of a manager of a team [ soccer, football, baseball, basketball, water ballet or whatever ]. His team is not bad it might well win the championsship or the olympics. But unfortunately there is another team that is just that little bit better. Our friend has got to do something about this [ since he really does not want to get fired ]. And unfortunately his SAN-Points are already pretty low. If he could choose, he would like to see everybody in the other team really sick. Thus: a) The Conspiracy version: Our manager has got a friend in the medical elite [ like the CDCP ] who, well...helps him.... b) More Mythos version: Our managing friend knows of or even believes in Shub Niggurath. And he asks her for help... ECKHARD From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Davide Mana [doctor.dee@libero.it] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 12:36 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Cybermunchkins (was Re: DG: Re: Some Questions) Greetings. Time to sit around the fire and share old stories... Phil asked... >Have you given any thought to giving your steam punk hackers a difference >machine? >(evil chuckle) The bad guys might have access to large a pair of difference engines, yes. But I doubt my players' characters will have the necessary skills to make the most out of them. >Anyone else have cybermunchkin stories? Well, not actually with our resident munchkin, but with understudy.... The following happened at the very start of "Across the Fence": the team is having trouble with MJ-12 goons, and needs info. Munchkin: "We could hack into their computers!" Keeper [playing the fool]: "Interesting concept. How would you go about it?" Munchkin [feeling positively superios]: "The usual way.... I can get a modem...." Keeper: "You mean a modulation/demodulation device....?" Munchkin [adopting the 'you moron' attitude]: "Yes, a modem, like the one you use every day." Keeper [to the detail officer in the unit]: "Can you get her one?" Detail Officer [rolls two dice, hiding sheepish grin]: "Sure can." Keeper: "OK, you got your modulator/demodulator. Now what?" Munchkin [bored]: "I connect to the net...." Keeper: "You mean ARPA?" Munchkin: "ARPA? What.... Oh, fuck, what yeasr is this?!" Player by her side [patting her shoulder]: "Welcome to Da Nang, honey." [the rest of the team launches in an impromptu 'a cappella' rendition of 'California Dreaming'] Teaches the dear girl to miss gaming sessions for foolish motives. But the best bit I ever witnessed was the character creation for our first Shadowrun session - our resident munchkin fidgeted for half an hour just to decide if it was better to go for a dwarven spellcaster or an elven netrunner. At one point I honestly feared he would collapse for the stress. And here I better stop. Davide Mana Torino, Italy doctor.dee@libero.it The Ice Cave - http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/leiber/50/ice_cave.htm From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Philip A Posehn [paposehn@juno.com] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 2:57 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: True-Life Tale of Terror Greetings,Glad to see this story made it out to the rest of the US in some part. The original story in the Sacramento paper had a few things that were left out of later accounts though. the Dr. had worked with the CIA for quite a while and had been an "advisor" to both the South African govt AND the Israelees on biological warfare. Phil Posehn On Sun, 9 Apr 2000 13:38:05 -0500 "Til Eulenspiegel" writes: > The Strange Case of Dr. Ford > > _The Reported Facts_ > > > 200 neighbors evacuated for several days while police, HazMat > teams, and > FBI searched premises. They found ".a cache of military-style > weapons buried > in his back yard. They also found ammunition underneath a > stairwell's false > floor, weapons and chemicals in a nearby storage facility, and > suspicious > vials of unidentified liquids in the family refrigerator." (USA > Today, Wed > 05 Apr 00) > > Police questioned wife and three grown children about Ford's links > to > bio-weapons research and the CIA. Police claimed links suggested by > other > people questioned, and sought confirmation. Police have no official > cause of > death, but believe it a suicide. No motive known for Ford to shoot > Riley. > > D'Saachs, 56, remains uncooperative and in custody in Orange > County, > California jail. Riley recovered, returned to work, and has no > suggestions > for a motive in his attack. > > Neil Knobel, former chief medical officer for South Africa, claims > Ford > well-known in international circles as biological weapons expert. > South > African cardiologist and biological warfare researcher Wouter > Basson, > currently on trial for political crimes, is named as Ford's > associate and > host by Jan D'Oliveria, Basson's head prosecutor. Knobel claims he > invited > Ford to S.A. and introduced him to Basson. > > Biofem, Inc. works to develop "a contraceptive product that . would > prevent > the sexual transmission of disease", and recently received fresh > investment > money. > > Reference: USA Today. "Mystery surrounds doctor's life, death." > Wednesday, > April 5, 2000. Page 27A. > > _Speculations_ > ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Mintarr@aol.com Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 2:59 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Hope In Horror (was: Delta Green not horror?) A thought occured to me on this subject while re-reading Dagon And Other Macabre Tales (Arkham edition, of course). I got to In The Halls Of Eryx, and like every other time I've read that story it majorly wierded me out. I was never able to figure out why until now. I mean, its certianly not the normal horror fare, nor does it involve nameless things from between teh spaces. The thing is, unlike all the other Lovecraft stories, it involves a situation where our pitiful little human logic SHOULD be able to work. Its a situation in which both the character and the reader are allowed to maintain their faith, their hope, in logic, in the rules of the universe as we understand them. And every time logic fails, well, there must simply be something we missed while trying to get out of the maze, some passageway we didn't notice. Its okay though, we've got food and water and we can find our way back to the middle. We can try again. Allowing that very hope, and crushing it little by little, again and again, is what really scares me about that story. The idea that logic can fail in a time and place where it shouldn't. I mean, come on, no one can be expected to live, let alone remain sane, in the face of cosmic horrors. But a maze? Its only a matter of time. Right? ObDG: Let those agents find rational or normal explanations a few times. Then spring the mind shattering stuff on them real sudden like. Too much will make them numb, too little though...too little and you might actually be able to scare them. ;) Joel From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Eckhard Huelshoff [EHuelshoff@t-online.de] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 3:19 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Hope In Horror (was: Delta Green not horror?) Mintarr@aol.com schrieb: > A thought occured to me on this subject while re-reading Dagon And Other > Macabre Tales (Arkham edition, of course). I got to In The Halls Of Eryx, > and like every other time I've read that story it majorly wierded me out. I > was never able to figure out why until now. I mean, its certianly not the > normal horror fare, nor does it involve nameless things from between teh > spaces. > The thing is, unlike all the other Lovecraft stories, it involves a situation > where our pitiful little human logic SHOULD be able to work. Its a situation > in which both the character and the reader are allowed to maintain their > faith, their hope, in logic, in the rules of the universe as we understand > them. And every time logic fails, well, there must simply be something we > missed while trying to get out of the maze, some passageway we didn't notice. > Its okay though, we've got food and water and we can find our way back to > the middle. We can try again. During my stay in France I also re-read this story and it had already been many, many years since I read it. For the simple reason: The first time I read it, I did not like it. I did not only think it to be unlike other Lovecraft stories. When I first read it, I thought it to be a mistake that it was in a Lovecraft-collection, since I could not believe it to be written by Lovecraft: The setting, the style, the amount of "action", nothing made me think of Lovecraft. And even today I am pretty sure that this story was not written by Lovecraft. I have to admit that it is a pretty good story though. ECKHARD From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Mintarr@aol.com Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 3:29 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Hope In Horror (was: Delta Green not horror?) > The setting, the style, the amount of "action", nothing made me think of > Lovecraft. > > And even today I am pretty sure that this story was not written by Lovecraft. > > I have to admit that it is a pretty good story though. Well, its listed as being written with another author. I would agree that that's a bit questionable though. But my point was precisely that it WASN'T like other Lovecraft stories. It puts you in a place where the normal is expected and the abnormal is what you get. Its why there SHOULD be hope in horror sometimes. Its far worse to have you're hopes dashed than to never have any hope at all. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Davide Mana [doctor.dee@libero.it] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 3:33 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Hope In Horror (was: Delta Green not horror?) Greetings. Count me in as another Eryx fan. >The setting, the style, the amount of "action", nothing made me think of >Lovecraft. > >And even today I am pretty sure that this story was not written by Lovecraft. >I have to admit that it is a pretty good story though. The thing I found funnier when I first discovered this story is, I was well aware of the haughty attitude HPL always had for Edmond Hamilton, a purveyor of space adventure akin to Eryx. A good story. Makes you wander what science fiction the old gentleman would have written had he had the time.... Davide Mana Torino, Italy doctor.dee@libero.it The Ice Cave - http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/leiber/50/ice_cave.htm From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Steven Kaye [box_nine@ix.netcom.com] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 3:42 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Re: Some Questions At 12:32 AM +0200 4/9/00, Davide Mana wrote: >My forthcoming (hopefully) steampunk conspiracy game will feature hackers >in not one, not two but thre different forms > > . telegraph hackers > . pneumatic post hackers (a real life-threatening activity!) > . urban hackers (people that know the network of shortcuts and passages in >large cities) For telegraph hackers, you might want to check out a book called THE VICTORIAN INTERNET. Draws some interesting parallels between developments regarding the Internet and the development of the telegraph - for example, telegrams were allowed to be enciphered in the US but not in Europe, apparently. With respect to the pneumatic post, the introduction to UNDERNEATH NEW YORK mentions rumors that the FBI continued to use its pneumatic network after it was generally replaced by delivery vans. One of the other reasons the network was abandoned was the tendency for mischievous kids to plug up the works with bubble gum. The Dead Media Project (http://www.wps.com/dead-media/notes/index-numeric.html) might give you some useful background - particularly the information on 18th century English mail hacks and various pneumatic post schemes. Steven ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Steven Kaye box_nine@ix.netcom.com Reason - rationality - is a concentration camp, where the sets of concepts for surviving in a chaotic universe form vast, though finite, rows of huts, separated into blocks by electric fences, which the searchlights of Attention rove over, picking out now one group of huts, now another. Thoughts, like prisoners - imprisoned for their own security and safety - scurry and march and labour in a flat two-dimensional zone, forbidden to leap fences, gunned down by laser beams of madness and unreason if they try to. Ian Watson, THE EMBEDDING From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Andy Robertson [andywrobertson@clara.co.uk] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 3:52 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Hope In Horror (was: Delta Green not horror?) ----- Original Message ----- From: > > Well, its listed as being written with another author. I would agree that > that's a bit questionable though. > But my point was precisely that it WASN'T like other Lovecraft stories. It > puts you in a place where the normal is expected and the abnormal is what you > get. Its why there SHOULD be hope in horror sometimes. Its far worse to > have you're hopes dashed than to never have any hope at all. > FYI it was written by a fan, Kenneth Sterling, and "revised" by HPL. Sterling describes the revision being done "in short order" on a pad of lined paper over the course of an afternoon. I believe that Sterling's input gave it the SF background and the basic idea of the invisible maze: HPL's revision gave it its flavour and tone. I think it is quite an effective story, but I doubt Lovecraft put as much of himself into it as he did into his "canonical" stories or even his other revisions (like "The Mound"). I think the points you have been making about "Hope In Horror" are valid - that good horror fiction can be created along those lines, and can be integrated into DG/gaming - but I don't think that was Lovecraft's way. The Glove Cleaner From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Eckhard Huelshoff [EHuelshoff@t-online.de] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 4:11 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Agencies often forgotten Good Evening. Today I was talking to one of my oldest players [from AD&D to CoC and DG]. And one topic that came up was that in DG certain agencies were preferred by the players. In nearly ever DG campaign there was at least one player who wanted to be in the FBI, or the CIA, the ATF or the DIA. But there were agencies that seem to be ignored much too often by players and keepers alike. For example the "Foreing Agriculture Service", the OEE, the US Postal Inspection Service, or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It's a shame isn't it? The same happened for the IRS for year until a friend of mine not only wanted to, but demanded to play an IRS agent. She, a colleague of mine, chose this agency since she specialised on tax law while on law school. And she really came up with a great background for her IRS character who had achieved her title of Doctor of Jurisprudence by writing a paper about "Churches as a way to save taxes / concentrating on the many new churches founded in 1920s' New England". Thus I liked to ask you guys: Do you have any experiences with the "stranger" agencies? Did you ever have a campaign concentrating on just one of these agencies [ like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ] ? Though it was not in DG I ran a CoC campaign in 1990s' Germany where all the players were lawyers in the same law firm. The player were at that time all law students and the campaign was not really about investigating friend dissapeared or haunted houses but it the adventures were mainly courtroom dramas. And this campaign really ruled! Though I do have to admit that every person not involved in the legal profession might very well think that the campaign definitely sucked! I'd appreciate input. ECKHARD From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Davide Mana [doctor.dee@libero.it] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 3:52 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Re: Some Questions Greetings. ... and thanks Steven! >The Dead Media Project >(http://www.wps.com/dead-media/notes/index-numeric.html) might give >you some useful background - particularly the information on 18th >century English mail hacks and various pneumatic post schemes. This one is a veritable treasure trove - chances are some weird bits of tradecraft can be found herein and adapted to current DG campaigns. Excellent! Davide Mana Torino, Italy doctor.dee@libero.it The Ice Cave - http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/leiber/50/ice_cave.htm From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Eckhard Huelshoff [EHuelshoff@t-online.de] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 4:20 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Hope In Horror (was: Delta Green not horror?) Andy Robertson schrieb: > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: > > > > Well, its listed as being written with another author. I would agree that > > that's a bit questionable though. > > But my point was precisely that it WASN'T like other Lovecraft stories. > It > > puts you in a place where the normal is expected and the abnormal is what > you > > get. Its why there SHOULD be hope in horror sometimes. Its far worse to > > have you're hopes dashed than to never have any hope at all. > > > > FYI it was written by a fan, Kenneth Sterling, and "revised" by HPL. > Sterling describes the revision being done "in short order" on a pad of > lined paper over the course of an afternoon. Anyway: As far as I know, in nearly every "revision" HPL did, the whole thing ended up in a true HPL story using the plot of somebody else. I mean "The Horror in the museum" or "The Crawling Chaos" are typical stories in setting, style and character definition. The "Gates of Eryx" really differs. > > I believe that Sterling's input gave it the SF background and the basic idea > of the invisible maze: HPL's revision gave it its flavour and tone. No, no, no. In my opinion it has nothing of HPL's typical flavour and/or tone. I read the original Version and the German translation and - as far as I can say something about it - it seems as if "he" [ whoever that might be ] does not even use the same words as HPL. ECKHARD From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Andy Robertson [andywrobertson@clara.co.uk] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 4:46 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Hope In Horror (was: Delta Green not horror?) ----- Original Message ----- From: Eckhard Huelshoff > > I believe that Sterling's input gave it the SF background and the basic idea > > of the invisible maze: HPL's revision gave it its flavour and tone. > > No, no, no. In my opinion it has nothing of HPL's typical flavour and/or tone. I I agree! I agree! HPL could not change what was fundamentally a pulp SF story far enough to make it a "typical HPL story". Nontheless he did change it quite a bit. This is based on my memory of Sterlings comments on HPL's revision . . . . minor point really. The Glove Cleaner From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Joab Ben Stieglitz [stieg@ix.netcom.com] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 6:24 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: RE: Agencies often forgotten In the game I'm currently playing, my character is a Veterinarian for the Fish and Wildlife Service. He also serves as the medical specialist for the cell. -----Original Message----- From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com [mailto:owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com]On Behalf Of Eckhard Huelshoff Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 5:11 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Agencies often forgotten Good Evening. Today I was talking to one of my oldest players [from AD&D to CoC and DG]. And one topic that came up was that in DG certain agencies were preferred by the players. In nearly ever DG campaign there was at least one player who wanted to be in the FBI, or the CIA, the ATF or the DIA. But there were agencies that seem to be ignored much too often by players and keepers alike. For example the "Foreing Agriculture Service", the OEE, the US Postal Inspection Service, or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It's a shame isn't it? The same happened for the IRS for year until a friend of mine not only wanted to, but demanded to play an IRS agent. She, a colleague of mine, chose this agency since she specialised on tax law while on law school. And she really came up with a great background for her IRS character who had achieved her title of Doctor of Jurisprudence by writing a paper about "Churches as a way to save taxes / concentrating on the many new churches founded in 1920s' New England". Thus I liked to ask you guys: Do you have any experiences with the "stranger" agencies? Did you ever have a campaign concentrating on just one of these agencies [ like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ] ? Though it was not in DG I ran a CoC campaign in 1990s' Germany where all the players were lawyers in the same law firm. The player were at that time all law students and the campaign was not really about investigating friend dissapeared or haunted houses but it the adventures were mainly courtroom dramas. And this campaign really ruled! Though I do have to admit that every person not involved in the legal profession might very well think that the campaign definitely sucked! I'd appreciate input. ECKHARD From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of LizardRoi@aol.com Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 6:27 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Re: Some Questions In a message dated 4/9/00 5:18:33 AM Pacific Daylight Time, sallison@netcomuk.co.uk writes: << Governmental worrying about computer security is just a show. Any govenrment worth its salt transmits anything really worth knowing using direct mind-to-mind encrypted telepathy these days. >> Or by carrier stealth pigeon. Mark McFadden From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Mintarr@aol.com Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 6:58 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Agencies often forgotten > But there were agencies that seem to be ignored much too often by players and > > keepers alike. For example the "Foreing Agriculture Service", the OEE, the > US > Postal Inspection Service, or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service And let us not forget the INS. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Til Eulenspiegel [duggerj@mindspring.com] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 4:12 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Re: the movie Sunday, 09 April 2000 [snip] > Has this been discussed before? Did you check ICE CAVE? >Who would we have directing Delta Green:the movie? Alfred Hitchcock, as long as we're dreaming. My second pick: John Carpenter. My third pick: Dan O'Bannon. >Who would our composer be? Angelo Badalamenti composed soundtracks for _Alien: Ressurrection_ and _Twin Peaks_, among others.He gets my vote. >Who would do the theme song for the marketing blitz? Front Line Assembly's "Don't Trust Anyone" captures the spirit, but its slow tempo doesn't match modern advertising. I think countering the trend could work, but a faster remix might serve better. Say MDFMK (formerly known as KMFDM) for that job? >And what about a cast? Unknowns from start to finish. That way no famous faces compete with the story for attention. > And what would the Pagan crew do as a cameo? The Lone Gunmen? ;-} Depends on the story, of course. I vote for hapless victims. Err, maybe we should hold off on that until the next issue of TUO comes out. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Til Eulenspiegel [duggerj@mindspring.com] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 4:23 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: the movie OT > > Cristopher Lee as Alzis?, I always thought of Alzis as a > >middleaged man. How about Gabriel Byrne or Kevin Spacey? > > Christopher Lee has his hands full playing Flay in the BBC's miniseries version of Gormenghast. I might just buy a TV to see it. (Haven't had one since I saw Videodrome under the infulence of strange alkaloids...) From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Til Eulenspiegel [duggerj@mindspring.com] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 4:49 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: the movie > Incidentally, I have exclusive rights on the Zippy the Rhino(tm) action > figures and the Agent Andrea swimsuit calendar and screensaver. Sorry, you > snooze you lose. Fine. I call the T-Shirt. Seems like that's the only way I'll ever have anything like my DG Mailing List Shirt. Call Pagan Publishing with your credit card number! I have copies of the proposed artwork. Email me if you want to see it. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Til Eulenspiegel [duggerj@mindspring.com] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 5:09 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Re: Interesting reading Sunday, 09 April 2000 Hello all, While Hite's _Suppressed Transmissions_ deserves Davide's review, I must add one strong qualifier. If you have Internet access of any kind, don't buy it. (You're reading this, right?) Instead, spend US$15 and subscribe to Pyramid. Pyramid is the S.J. Games house magazine-website. This book collects Hite's columns there. By subscribing to Pyramid you get access to all the back issues (ST comprises a subset), access to playtest copies of upcoming S.J. Games books, and chat access. (Tynes was their guest last week.) Next, do buy Hite's other book: _Nightmares of Mine_. From I.C.E., this text reccomends ways to GM horror. It helps, really. ----- Original Message ----- From: Davide Mana To: Cc: Sent: Friday, April 07, 2000 7:10 AM Subject: DG: Interesting reading > Greetings. > > [I'm sending this to both DG List and Strange Aeons - sorry to those that > will get two of these] > > I just received from my British supplier a copy ofa book that might sit > well on the same shelf where you keep your copies of Call of Cthulhu and > Delta Green. > I'm no reviewer, but I'll try.... > > The book's called "Suppressed Transmission", by Kenneth Hite, and is > produced by Steve Jackson Games. [ISBN 1-55634-423-6]. > It's an expanded compilation of the Hite columns from Pyramid. > Curiously enough they present it as a 'generic supplement' - so that it has > no official tie with GURPS. The fact that practically each page carries at > leas one reference to one GURPS handbook or other was evidently overlooked > or considered unimportant. > > My impressions from skimming through it and reading a few chapters.... > > Pros > . Wide variety of Conspiracy-oriented informations > . Offbeat tone and amusing style > . Good, ample and varied bibliography and resources section > . Lots of useful ideas > . Good artwork overall - better than the average GURPS book, IMHO > . Introduction by John Tynes > > Cons > . Strong Anglocentric interest - too scarce or sketchy references to > non-Anglophone conspiracies and weirdness > . Kitchen sink approach (but some might consider this apro) > > > Final opinion: > This one is most of all a good starting point to develop an original > conspiracy setting, as it throws at you some rarely mentioned weird facts. > It gives you a summary of the basics, plus lots of pointers for you to do > your own research. > I'll certainly use some bits off this to spice my games and give a run for > their money to a pair of players of mine that normally check through > Altavista all the weird references I throw at them. > > And this is it, I guess. > > Davide Mana > Torino, Italy > doctor.dee@libero.it > The Ice Cave - http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/leiber/50/ice_cave.htm > From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of USFORREC1@aol.com Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 9:46 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Agencies often forgotten My players currently have this mix for their cell: NSA Black Bag Operator (Agent) Federal Research Division Researcher (Agent) CIA Case Officer (Agent) INS (Friendly) OEE Investigator (Friendly) CDC Researcher (Friendly, though this was played by a part-time player whose schedule has changed to full time. She was playing the NPC right out of the book and will soon be making her own permanent character. No idea on what agency that will be). This mix has worked very well for us. Usually, they just represent their respective agencies or are working a covert DG operation where affiliation is unimportant. In cases where their agency is an issue (such as in Convergence), I usually have FBI (or whatever agency needed) "packages" prepared by A-Cell for the group. These consist of fake ID (usually of either dead agents or agents assigned to other parts of the country), standard issue firearms and equipment and whatever else is needed for their covers. -Dave K From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of forvalaka@juno.com Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 7:05 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Agencies often forgotten I've had two Park Rangers in my campaign. Federal preserves are great out of the way places for both criminal and Mythos actvity. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of USFORREC1@aol.com Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 9:47 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Some questions <<>> I would say that this would be one of the least of your worries. Simply, if you want to be traditional and true to the material, force a proper name upon them. If this name, however, is going to make the player happy and raise fewer issues in the long run, go ahead and allow it. <<>> I also run Delta green as a bit sinister. I have a few truly bad apples in the mix of agents and Friendlies in addition to A-Cell having its agenda secret to promote that paranoia. The policy of agent expendability just adds to that feeling. To avoid them constantly attempting to break in (in addition to the excellent ideas already put forward) I would add these: First, throw them the occasional bone. Let them meet someone or get a piece of Delta Green lore that will expose a tiny bit of the organization to them. This may satisfy their curiosity a bit and let them think they are getting to the heart of the matter. You just control the flow of information to them so as to control their perceptions and knowledge. Second, let them hack away. Delta Green's main file system isn't on-line for them to get into. It is a dedicated system that only ALPHONSE has access to and doesn't connect with the Internet or any other network. Unless they get to his computer, there is simply no way in. Third, let the trail of e-mails end at someplace innocent and unconnected to DG. With DG's own specialists, the secure routers and so on, allow the trail to be followed only as far as some office cubicle at the FBI or even right back to their own computer. Part of that trail will have been erased from cyberspace as soon as it was sent, allowing only a portion of the "Judas list" to be exposed at anytime. Let them see only that far. Finally, as to A-Cell reaction, it would determine just how far they wanted to push the issue. DG would expect some degree of paranoia from its agents, probing into its business is how it finds a number of its recruits. Quiet and gentle questions from the agents would probably draw very little attention. Seeking too much knowledge, especially in a "loud" manner such as blatant hacker attacks would draw more serious reactions. A-Cell would probably have a stern warning issued and watch the agents closely. If they don't get the message, they would start getting sterner warnings. If that failed, they would probably start drawing suicide missions. If that failed to eliminate the problem one way or the other, there is always Agent ANDREA to have pay a visit… <<>> This would depend on how big of actions against MJ he takes. MJ would expect a certain amount of blowback and damage from having to allow him to continue to operate. That's part of his cover and a necessary evil. MJ would be more likely to control the flow of information to him and use him to plant disinformation. Then they control his potential targets to a degree. They can also use him to hit MJ sites belonging to another MJ faction, providing MJ-3 with some nice deniability. I would say, that unless he exposed his connection or was involved with DG ops that provoked MJ retaliation in general against all of DG, his position is more important than simple revenge for a minor setback. -Dave K From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of John Petherick [jpetheri@cyberbeach.net] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 10:58 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Some questions At 09:24 PM 4/8/00 +0200, you wrote: >****lurk mode off**** > > >Question Two: Iīve depicted DG as a truly mysterious -even sinister- conspiracy. I think game is more interesting that way, but my players are rather paranoid and they are always devising new odd methods to find out the truth behind DG; for example, one of them -a master hacker- is trying to track DG messages to its source using the many resources he has at his disposal -working at puzzle palace has some advantages after all. >How would Cell A react? Perhaps they deserve something like this... > >Adam: Why dontīt we wipe out cell S? >Alphonse: What?! Are you telling me they succeeded at that last suicide mission? > Let him attempt to hack the DG servers. One communication method that has been posited on the list is encrypted text messages hidden in the body of digital images, requiring the use of some specialized software for retrieval (I forget the name for this process). The hacker, tracing back the route of the encrupted messages will ultimately find a server that contains a huge amount of these image files, more than is possible to read in one sitting. Maybe some of them are even further encrypted, zipped or otherwise requiring manipulation before they can be read. Let the hacker download these to their heart's content. Unfortunately, the image files happen to be the worst form of kiddie porn. And the server is either one monitored by whatever law enforcement agencies look after this, or a message is sent to the top level administrator if the hacker was so stupid as to use their work account. Presto, chango ... their computer, removable media, etc. is seized and they've been arrested and labelled as a child pornographer. Loss of security clearance, loss of job, loss of friends and loved ones. Followed probably by a lengthy stay in a correctional facility where, due to subtle manipulation, paperwork gets lost and they end up in general population. If they're lucky, it's a shiv between the ribs in the shower. Sure, it's a bad way to lose an agent. His fellow cell members will be interrogated and reminded of the necessity to monitor for deviant behaviour. Fellow DG agents experienced in the field will say much of the same thing. Cell A will shake their heads and pledge to better screen possible agents. Remember, DG is more important than any one agent, even Alphonse. ********************************************************************* John Petherick, CIH jpetheri@cyberbeach.net From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of MurfNMurf@aol.com Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 11:33 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: DG: Just plain OT In a message dated 4/9/00 9:28:27 PM Central Daylight Time, duggerj@mindspring.com writes: << I saw Videodrome under the infulence of strange alkaloids... >> I remember seeing Disney's _The Black Hole_ at the theatre on 2 hits of acid back in my school days... verrrrrrrry weird. -Ken- From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of forvalaka@juno.com Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2000 11:42 PM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Some questions > Unfortunately, the image files happen to be the worst form of kiddie > porn. > And the server is either one monitored by whatever law enforcement > agencies > look after this, or a message is sent to the top level administrator > if the > hacker was so stupid as to use their work account. > > Presto, chango ... their computer, removable media, etc. is seized > and > they've been arrested and labelled as a child pornographer. Loss of > security clearance, loss of job, loss of friends and loved ones. > Followed > probably by a lengthy stay in a correctional facility where, due to > subtle > manipulation, paperwork gets lost and they end up in general > population. If > they're lucky, it's a shiv between the ribs in the shower. Scary but very realistic. There is a fellow here in Texas that was convicted of downloading child pornography. He is a private investigator who was working with FBI agents to bust a ring of child pornographers. The downloads were a part of the investigation. The FBI agents testified in his behalf at the trial. He was convicted anyway and is now in prison. As far as I know, in the general population. Very scary indeed... Charles O. Baucum Jr. Mortuus non est quod in aeternum insiditur et aetate ignota mors ipsas finiretur From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Philip A Posehn [paposehn@juno.com] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 1:07 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Re: Some Questions You mean Harry Recon, the CIA pigeon? Phil On Sun, 9 Apr 2000 19:26:34 EDT LizardRoi@aol.com writes: > In a message dated 4/9/00 5:18:33 AM Pacific Daylight Time, > sallison@netcomuk.co.uk writes: > > << Governmental worrying about computer security is just a show. > Any > govenrment worth its salt transmits anything really worth knowing > using > direct mind-to-mind encrypted telepathy these days. >> > > Or by carrier stealth pigeon. > > Mark McFadden > ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Gil Trevizo [furrylogic@mindspring.com] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 2:07 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: ODH Power limits [was RE: DG: Montecassino] In reply to an overpowered WW2-era Delta Green, Adam Crossingham wrote: > HQ will always be reluctant to spare B-24s from their roles of bombing the > snot of the Fatherland. Bomber Command will always have a better target >than the one suggested by OSS P-4 or PISCES, ones they have chosen themselves. and then someone else wrote: >>Fighter Command, on the other hand, kept Typhoons around for that sort of >>thing. and then John Petherick wrote: >And I'm sure that PISCES had contacts within the RAF who could scramble a >Mosquito intruder mission. Able to fly higher, faster and with the same >bomb load of a B-17. The fastest thing flying in Europe until the M-262 and >final production runs of the Spitfire and similar fighters. >Late in the war, Mosquito intruder missions were flying as far as >Czechoslovakia from bases in Britain, although some were refuelling at >airfields in France. I gotta feel this proves my point... sure, it's reasonable to assume that without any foreknowledge of Mythos threat, any DG team sent deep behind enemy lines will be left to devices little or no better than those available to the average CoC Investigator. Unfortunately, not only will DG teams have some foreknowledge of the threat (the after-action report from Innsmouth is some fifteen years old now), but more importantly, players are not reasonable - like John and the previous poster, they will use historical instance to get all kinds of heavy firepower. Before they parachute into the secret Karotechia laboratory camp, they will be requisitioning a flight of flight-bombers be on standby alert, as well as a platoon of Commandoes. If they're deep into occupied territory, all the better - now there's plenty of French Resistance/Yugoslav partisans to throw like redshirts at whatever the Nazi sorcerors can summon. Anything from flamethrowers, heavy machine guns, bazookas, mortars all the way up to dive bombers, tanks, or a submarine... as P Div officers during wartime, it's not unreasonable for the players to ask for such firepower. Now of course, the Keeper can just say no. The problem is that it's also not unreasonable for P Div to get access to these kind of goodies. A long-range bombing mission, a detachment of soldiers, a tank platoon - no one in logistics should bat a eye, at least not on a consistent basis. Constantly telling the players they can't have access to that which their characters would have "in real life" breaks that suspension of disbelief necessary for a good role-playing experience. It's called railroading - good to keep a story on track, bad to maintain play balance. I'm not saying this automatically turns any WW2 DG campaign into hack-&-slash the Mythos. To tie this into the "DG is/is not horror" thread, one can already play modern-day DG as a dungeon crawl with Deep Ones instead of orcs and californium bullets instead of holy avenger +5. With all the talk of ultralights and mini-subs, I often wonder if that *is* how people play DG. But within the concept of Delta Green itself is the limitation that, as an illegal conspiracy, the agents must be concerned first with deniability before exercising their full power - if that band of cultists is stockpiling illegal weapons, DG agents can call in the alphabet soup (FBI, ATF, etc) and burn them down; but if the cultists are clean and can't be framed, then the DG agents pretty much have the same resources as the average CoC Investigator with their shotgun and library card. One can ignore this limitation and make things go boom till their heart's content, but for those who wanna play with more than just toys, the limitation is still there. WW2-era Delta Green takes that limitation away, and that could make OUR DARKEST HOUR campaigns easily degenerate into Wolfenstein 3D: The RPG. That's what I'm concerned about. Not heavily concerned, but shit, it's better than that damn movie thread. Gil Trevizo furrylogic@mindspring.com From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Daniel Harms [dmharms@acsu.buffalo.edu] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 2:55 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com; dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Hope In Horror (was: Delta Green not horror?) At 11:20 PM 4/9/2000 +0200, Eckhard Huelshoff wrote: >Anyway: As far as I know, in nearly every "revision" HPL did, the whole thing >ended up in a true HPL story using the plot of somebody else. I mean "The >Horror in the museum" or "The Crawling Chaos" are typical stories in >setting, style and character definition. That's only because they usually only reprint the GOOD (HPLian) stuff. Sitting through "Poetry and the Gods" or "Four O'Clock" is probably few people's idea of a good time... Yrs., Daniel Harms dmharms@acsu.buffalo.edu The Internet: Learn what you know. Share what you don't. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Daniel Harms [dmharms@acsu.buffalo.edu] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 2:55 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com; dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Hope In Horror (was: Delta Green not horror?) At 11:20 PM 4/9/2000 +0200, Eckhard Huelshoff wrote: >Anyway: As far as I know, in nearly every "revision" HPL did, the whole thing >ended up in a true HPL story using the plot of somebody else. I mean "The >Horror in the museum" or "The Crawling Chaos" are typical stories in >setting, style and character definition. That's only because they usually only reprint the GOOD (HPLian) stuff. Sitting through "Poetry and the Gods" or "Four O'Clock" is probably few people's idea of a good time... Yrs., Daniel Harms dmharms@acsu.buffalo.edu The Internet: Learn what you know. Share what you don't. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of forvalaka@juno.com Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 3:01 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: ODH Power limits [was RE: DG: Montecassino] This is not intended as a reply to any specific post, but rather to the idea of a turbo charged WWII Delta Green. There is a war on, a big one. There is never enough equipment, backup, manpower, intel, ect, to go around for anyone to be happy. A manifestation of a Mythos threat would be weighed in the balance of other more mundane but equally dangerous threats. A hydrogen bomb in the hands of the Nazis would have been every bit as dnagerous as many Mythos related threats. And then there is the need for secracy. Does Delta Green really want to explain why they need a mass bombing or commando strike against some inoculous farmhouse in the French countryside? Do they want to draw attention to the Mythos, knowing that *someone* might be tempted to dig too deep for their own good. I would think that even in the Cowboy Years, Delta Green would want to stay deep black. If only to keep from being a vector for the very disease they are trying to cure. Charles O. Baucum Jr. Mortuus non est quod in aeternum insiditur et aetate ignota mors ipsas finiretur From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Eckhard Huelshoff [EHuelshoff@t-online.de] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 3:50 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: ODH Power limits [was RE: DG: Montecassino] forvalaka@juno.com schrieb: > This is not intended as a reply to any specific post, but rather to the > idea of a turbo charged WWII Delta Green. > > There is a war on, a big one. There is never enough equipment, backup, > manpower, intel, ect, to go around for anyone to be happy. A > manifestation of a Mythos threat would be weighed in the balance of other > more mundane but equally dangerous threats. A hydrogen bomb in the hands > of the Nazis would have been every bit as dnagerous as many Mythos > related threats. If you're speaking of a bunch of Deep Ones or a single Byakhee you may be right. But think of a Karotechia unit close to succesfully calling Azathoth. Or a hydrogen bomb in the hands of Nazi cultists. > > And then there is the need for secracy. Does Delta Green really want to > explain why they need a mass bombing or commando strike against some > inoculous farmhouse in the French countryside? Why not. It's a war. Accidents happen. And BTW: This is the 1940s! There isn't CNN or SkyNews filming at every hotspot of the war, no satelite system observing every square inch on the planet. Therefore secrecy was easier to manage than in our times. And of course: In WWII there were no daily press conferences where press officers had to explain every single bullet fired or bomb dropped to dozens of journalists. ECKHARD From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of forvalaka@juno.com Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 5:01 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Cc: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: ODH Power limits [was RE: DG: Montecassino] > If you're speaking of a bunch of Deep Ones or a single Byakhee you > may be right. > But think of a Karotechia unit close to succesfully calling > Azathoth. Or a > hydrogen bomb in the hands of Nazi cultists. There is significantly less military value in summoning Azathoth than in lighting off a hydrogen bomb. And accidental summonings are more likely to be a problem for the aforementioned cultists than their enemies. In short, you are far more likely to run into the byakhee and Deep One than you are one of the Elder Gods. Frankly, if you are throwing Elder Gods and Great Old Ones at your characters frequently, you are badly unbalancing an already unbalanced game. In all the years I have run my Call of Cthulhu campaign, only one Elder god and one Great Old One ever made an appearance. Both were walk-on cameos. > > And then there is the need for secracy. Does Delta Green really > want to > > explain why they need a mass bombing or commando strike against > some > > inoculous farmhouse in the French countryside? > > Why not. It's a war. Accidents happen. And BTW: This is the 1940s! > There isn't > CNN or SkyNews filming at every hotspot of the war, no satelite > system observing > every square inch on the planet. Therefore secrecy was easier to > manage than in > our times. > And of course: In WWII there were no daily press conferences where > press officers > had to explain every single bullet fired or bomb dropped to dozens > of > journalists. > > ECKHARD > Perhaps I should have been more clear. The knowlege of the Mythos is a secret. DG would not want to let too many people in on it. It is a virulent secret, it has the capacity to corrupt the minds of those who know too much. Too many high power missions with no discernable goal or value coming from the same sources will prompt someone to look into the origins of these orders. As another favorite author of mine, Frank Herbert, once said, "They say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is wrong. Power attracts the corruptable." Sooner or later, high profile operations will reveal the Mythos to the wrong people. Corruptable people. People who can convince themselves that "it's for the good of the cause." People who won't care who benefits or suffers as long as they gain from it. People who are unstable and easily pushed over the edge. Many of Lovecraft's antagonists were very intelligent people. Crazy, but not stupid. Imagine the consequences of a general or senator learning too much for his own good; a General Whately, a Senator Tillingast, a Captain Pickman in the OSS. It can happen, it does happen. Look at MJ-12, even if they are all dupes of the Mi-Go, they do what they do for reasons that have less to do with national security issues than with personal wealth power and longevity. I would imagine that DG watches it's own cells closely and I'd be very surprised if they never had to lock up or even terminate an agent or a cell that had looked too long into the Abyss. Was that maybe the root of the Cambodian problem? Simple minded enthusiasm on the part of a Marine Colonel seems a bit too neat an answer to me. Charles O. Baucum Jr. Mortuus non est quod in aeternum insiditur et aetate ignota mors ipsas finiretur From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of David Farnell [daf@iwa.att.ne.jp] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 2:54 AM To: Delta Green List Subject: DG: Re: Re: the movie From: Til Eulenspiegel > >And what about a cast? > > Unknowns from start to finish. That way no famous faces compete with the > story for attention. Agreed. Except I have always imagined Wilford Brumley (or however you spell his name) as Alphonse and "that jackrabbit son of a bitch" Gary Busey as Lepus. Surprised no one mentioned the latter so far--he does a great military-leader psycho. And what is with all these white boys being cast as Alzis? ObDG: Alphonse takes a page from Vlad Tepes and gets the ball rolling on Delta Green: The Movie--a massive disinformation effort to make sure that nobody will ever believe in DG, even if it's "outed" by some reporter eventually. (This is just Phase Two--the game supplements were Phase One.) The casting is so star-studded and the plot so over-the-top-action/adventure that, according to the plan, it should put the final nail in the coffin of the "modern horror conspiracy" genre. (Hey, maybe that's what X-Files is for!) Unfortunately, he chooses Friendlies McFadden and Mana to direct/write/produce, and they craft something truly evil and mind-bending/expanding, which dies at the box office but becomes a cult film, just raising the conspiracy-fever bar a little higher and encouraging more nutcases to seek out the "real" Delta Green. This does have the benefit of making Friendly-recruiting easier, however. Dave Join us! http://n.ethz.ch/student/hankef/DeltaGreen/tshirt.htm From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of David Farnell [daf@iwa.att.ne.jp] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 5:16 AM To: Delta Green List Subject: Jane, you ignorant... [was Re: DG: Delta Green not horror?] The whole "hope vs. horror" theme is something I'm struggling with myself, but I'm going to hold off commenting until I can get my ideas more fully formed (which is another way of saying I have no idea how 'Angel' is going to end). But I've really enjoyed the insights. From: > Now, I definitely do agree with observations on threads with the list. I > have seen many threads come up that have died on the vine with few if any > responses that should have been explored more in depth. Also, some old > topics have resurfaced that I think would be interesting to reexplore, > especially with the recent growth of the list. This people are quickly told > to simply check the Ice Cave or archives and blown off. Ah, now I just want to say that (usually) when I write "Check the Ice Cave," I mean it as "We've already got a bunch of stuff on this in the Ice Cave, so take a look at it, and if you've got anything more to say on the subject, then excellent! Let's go to town on it." But I realize that it's very easy to take it as "Shut your ignorant trap, you scum-sucking newbie!" Difficult to get emotional subtleties across on email. I'll try to be more clear in the future. After all, I'd LOVE to get another Tcho-tcho thread going, if anyone has some more bizarre ideas. > Sorry for the long rant, > -Dave K Personally, I enjoy your long rants, Dave. Dave PS: I'll be disappearing from sight for a few days, while I set up a new computer and ship this one elsewhere--I'll try not to let it get intercepted. Be seeing you... (soon, I hope). From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Crossingham, Adam [Adam.Crossingham@Octavian1009.E-MAIL.COM] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 6:55 AM To: 'dgrpg@delta-green.com' Subject: DG: UK Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Bill Folks following the UK security services (or rather the politicians ordering the security services) grip on telecomms may be interested to see how far the UK is progressing a bill with powers that other nations (USA and France) have dropped as unworkable: http://www.silicon.com/bin/bladerunner?30REQEVENT=&REQAUTH=21046&14001REQSUB =REQINT1=36839 -- Adam Crossingham "Get out of my head you alien eavesdropping piece of voyeur crap" Home e-mail: zodiac@theblackseal.org Any opinions expressed in this email are those of the individual From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Eckhard Huelshoff [EHuelshoff@t-online.de] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 6:22 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: ODH Power limits [was RE: DG: Montecassino] forvalaka@juno.com schrieb: > > If you're speaking of a bunch of Deep Ones or a single Byakhee you > > may be right. > > But think of a Karotechia unit close to succesfully calling > > Azathoth. Or a > > hydrogen bomb in the hands of Nazi cultists. > > There is significantly less military value in summoning Azathoth than in > lighting off a hydrogen bomb. This depends on where you summon him. > And accidental summonings are more likely > to be a problem for the aforementioned cultists than their enemies. In > short, you are far more likely to run into the byakhee and Deep One than > you are one of the Elder Gods. Frankly, if you are throwing Elder Gods > and Great Old Ones at your characters frequently, you are badly > unbalancing an already unbalanced game. In all the years I have run my > Call of Cthulhu campaign, only one Elder god and one Great Old One ever > made an appearance. Both were walk-on cameos. Ahem, I chose a very drastic example to make my point clear. And if you had read my mail carefully you would have found the following "a Karotechia unit close to succesfully calling Azathoth". CLOSE TO. Means: NOT ALREADY SUCCESSFUL. NOT YET SUMMONED. And this definitely is a pretty frightening threat which could justify to send a wing of B17s. And you may relax: I do not hurl Elder Gods or Great Old Ones at my players on regular basis. Believe me: After a few years I understood the CoC-rules so far that this might ruin an evening. BUT: There is an outer god that appears on a regular basis: Good old Nyarlathotep. In his role as a trickster and schemer. ECKHARD From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Crossingham, Adam [Adam.Crossingham@Octavian1009.E-MAIL.COM] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 7:52 AM To: 'dgrpg@delta-green.com' Subject: RE: DG: the movie > EdDrWho: > <<< The Doctor makes a wonderful scientific advisor for PISCES, until he figures out what's going on... >>> And then he gets Shanned... then we have trans-temporal and trans-spacial Shan. Oh dear. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Davide Mana [doctor.dee@libero.it] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 7:03 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: ODH Power limits [was RE: DG: Montecassino] Greetings. Charles hit it on the head, IMHO... >I would think that even in the Cowboy Years, Delta Green would want to >stay deep black. If only to keep from being a vector for the very >disease they are trying to cure. That was exactly the rationale behind the hush-hush feel of my Cowboy Years Vietnam campaign - one thing is to be able to access certain informations thanks to a special clearance, another is to attract undue attention on problems that are better left out of the public's eye. So, yes - I think WW2 Delta Green ops would be able to step up and start taking names, but that much would stay in terms of ops and stuff. Do not forget that 'A Night at the Opera' is Cowboy Years slang for a DG Op. Some things do not change. That's why (incidentally) I insist about the idea that, supposing the bombing of Montecassino was a cleanup operation (an idea I like a lot), it was a desperate last resource, arranged keeping the Joint Command and most of the staff in the dark. Cue to the 'abt' translation error and the hijacking of a bomber flight to a new target. Just like DG did in Cambodia twentyfive years later - a single DG man in the right place doing the right thing at the right time, and winning the war. [Anybody read the recent 'Unknown Soldier' comic from DC?] Or at least, that's my take. Davide Mana Torino, Italy doctor.dee@libero.it The Ice Cave - http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/leiber/50/ice_cave.htm From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of EdDrWho@aol.com Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 7:21 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Hope In Horror (was: Delta Green not horror?) In a message dated 4/9/00 3:22:37 PM Central Daylight Time, EHuelshoff@t-online.de writes: > And even today I am pretty sure that this story was not written by Lovecraft. > I have to admit that it is a pretty good story though. > I think he co-wrote it with someone. From: owner-dgrpg@delta-green.com on behalf of Edgar Riceboro [rlyehswimmer@angelfire.com] Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 7:49 AM To: dgrpg@delta-green.com Subject: Re: DG: Lassa Fever On Sun, 9 Apr 2000 21:44:58 Eckhard Huelshoff wrote: >ObDG: Of course every case of a deadly virus spread is interesting for DG. But >this case is special: >ballet or whatever ]. His team is not bad it might well win the championsship or >the olympics. But unfortunately there is another team that is just that little >bit better. Our friend has got to do something about this [ since he really does >not want to get fired ]. And unfortunately his SAN-Points are already pretty low. >If he could choose, he would like to see everybody in the other team really sick. >Thus: >a) The Conspiracy version: >Our manager has got a friend in the medical elite [ like the CDCP ] who,well...helps him.... > >b) More Mythos version: >Our managing friend knows of or even believes >in Shub Niggurath. And he asks her for help... Or of course it could just be something more mundane like someone testing out infection vectors for a weapon-of-mass destruction. Got Shubbie Milk? -ER Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com