Courtesy Pagan Publishing
Pagan Publishing recently released the Delta Green scenario PX Poker Night by Dennis Detwiller as a free download.
PX Poker Night was originally published in Dungeon Magazine #96 for d20 Call of Cthulhu, but this updated version has been revised for Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing system (BRP). Additionally, the scenario has been laid out like a standard Delta Green publication, including maps, columned pages and cover art. Pagan Publishing also included character sheets for all the pre-generated characters in the scenario and a blank character sheet for those who wish to create new characters for this or any other Delta Green scenario.
PX Poker Night includes all the disparate elements of the Cthulhu Mythos, ranging from aliens to horrors from beyond, a government conspiracy to people going bonkers. When I ran PX Poker Night, not all of my players showed up, leaving us with just three agents. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise due to the number of characters I had to juggle.
There are no less than twelve characters (each of them cleverly named after a Mythos author) that handle the day-to-day duties of Platte Air Force Base. Encountering each of them takes a considerable amount of work. I really wanted to flesh out their personalities so there were some good foils to role-play against, so I fast-forwarded through the various shifts, wherein one player character got to hang out with one non-player character each day. A short amount of role-playing ensued to allow them some time for dialogue. Once they were all were introduced, it was time to start the poker game.
Major Sprague started dealing cards. "Oh yeah. The van parked in the graveyard is to be avoided. Don't interfere with the visiting staff's operations. You're all confined to the base until the visiting staff has left." He dealt a full hand to the two spots with empty stools. "So take a seat boys and ante up. We’re going to be here for awhile."
I toyed with the idea of playing an actual poker game, but role-playing with the various characters took up plenty of time already, so I just skipped to the crazy event. I debated about adding in the dimensional shambler, but since the agents had already encountered one from before I decided it was time to reintroduce a recurring villain. And the dimensional shambler also provided an excellent form of menace that guided one agent right into his worst nightmare.
For new Keepers, PX Poker Night can be a challenge. The scenario has a lot of great ingredients but not much guidance on how to use them. But with a Keeper who’s willing to do the work, it’s an excellent introduction to Delta Green.
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