Agent Creation

I'll walk thru character creation step by step, but for those of you that want to take a look at some rules, here is a link to the Need to Know documents (quickstart guide).

A link to the character sheet can be found here.

1) File -> Make a Copy (DO NOT MAKE YOUR CHARACTER WITH THE ORIGINAL LINK)
2) Fill out the copy according to the character creation guidelines.
3) Rename character sheet. File -> Share -> "Get Shareable Link" -> Anyone with link: "Can Edit" -> Copy link
4) Create character here on Gamer's Plane using "Custom" a character sheet. Paste the link to your Agent's sheet in the empty field.

What makes a Delta Green Agent?
All Delta Green Agents are composed of five elements:

STATISTICS (STATS): Core capabilities for every Agent.
DERIVED ATTRIBUTES: Ratings that indicate physical and mental resilience, derived from stats.
PROFESSION: What your Agent does for a living, which informs how many skill points and Bonds he or she has.
SKILLS: What training and education your Agent gained from, school, work, or life in general.
BONDS: The people your Agent fights to protect.

When, Where and Why?
Summer 1995. New York City. An artist has gone missing, and the players' Agents are dispatched to catalog the articles left in her apartment, which has been flagged by Delta Green as a potential unnatural vector. Agents should all be members or friendlies of the Delta Green conspiracy.

Agent Creation
STEP 1: Determine Statistics
Statistics are Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Constitution (CON), Intelligence (INT), Power (POW), and Charisma (CHA). They range from 3 (the worst) to 18 (the best), with an average of 10 for an ordinary adult. Statistics represent core capabilities possessed by all Agents. All are important.

Either choose one of the following point-spreads and assign the values to your Statistics as you see fit, OR simply allocate 72 points between the Statistics as you please.

Well-rounded: 13, 13, 12, 12, 11, 11
Focused: 15, 14, 12, 11, 10, 10
Highly Focused: 17, 14, 12, 10, 10, 9

STEP 2: Derived Attributes
Hit Points, Willpower Points, Sanity Points, and Breaking Point are derived from stats. They represent physical and mental resilience. When your Agent is hurt, exercises mental fortitude, or is traumatized, those scores can drop.

HP = (STR + CON) / 2, rounded up.
WP = POW.
SAN = POW x 5.
Breaking Point = SAN - POW.STEP 3: Select Profession and Skills
What does your Agent do for a living? Profession dictates what skills your Agent has and the number of Bonds he or she possesses. Skills require special training, and come from schooling, experience, or personal interest. Skills are measured from 0% (no training) to 99% (foremost expert in the world). See Game Details page for a list of Profession suggestions.

Each Agent's skill point spread is closely tied to their Profession, but they're each good at what you'd expect them to be good at: A Federal Agent is good at investigating crime scenes, interviewing suspects and witnesses, and tracking down perps; a Computer Scientist is good at electronics, systems, and interpreting signal intelligence; a Special Operator is good at running, gunning, and sneaking. You will have some bonus skill points to allocate however you please, but by and large, your skills will directly emerge from the Profession you choose.

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Going to pause here until everyone has chosen a Profession and we square skill points away. Check the Game Details page in re: Profession options.

In the meantime, feel free to ask any questions or for example skill spreads or more info on the setting/first investigation, whatever else you need to help you make your Profession decision - there are just dozens and dozens and dozens of agencies etc listed in the book, and I can't possibly post the skills for all of them here, so once you've all chosen Professions for yourselves, I'll dole out the skill point spreads for what you've selected.

I'm working from the quickstart (Need to Know) document here, so if there's something I'm missing, let me know.

I'm leaning toward a Federal Agent, but I'm pretty much open to anything. Though I'm going to avoid Scientist unless we could really use one for balance.

Federal Agents are the bread and butter of Delta Green - they're versatile and ubiquitous, and can be incredibly varied depending on what agency they're working for (for example, an agent from the US Marshals is different from a DEA agent is different from an FBI agent etc).

I feel safe saying that Scientists *probably* won't be quite as useful in this campaign as nearly any other Profession. Anthropologist/Historian and Computer Scientist/Engineer are both professions that tend to be overlooked as well, but even those two have skills that could be useful in this campaign.

If anyone is jonesin' to play a Scientist, don't let me stop you. But this isn't a particularly science-y campaign, especially compared to lots of other DG material.

Also, good call on the quickstart guide - I've edited the top of the thread to include a link. Up to you whether you want to work from that, or explore a wider range of options.

Well... for example, the quickstart doesn't give any difference between an FBI, DEA, or US Marshals agent. They all work from the same base set of skills. Which didn't bother me a bit before you said that there was a difference, and now I'm curious what the difference is. :D

Well, a Federal Agent is a Federal Agent - the base set of skills remains the same. But, I believe Federal Agents get to choose 2 or 3 of their professional skills from a designated list - between that and the allocation of bonus skill points, you can generate some diverse Federal Agents. It's more up to the players than embedded in the rules - for example, a DEA agent would probably have some skills in Pharmacy and Chemistry, an FBI agent in the CID is probably rocking good HUMINT and Forensics, etc.

Some agencies have paramilitary units, some have hostage/crisis response teams, some have environmental emergency teams, etc etc... but those aren't considered "Federal Agents" as far as skills go, they're just employees of federal agencies.

I'd say just think about what agency you might want to work for. Start with the concept, and work from there. I'll make sure you all know what options are available to you if it's ever unclear.

Got it. Thanks!

I'd say that FBI agents and US Marshals are probably the most commonly played types of Federal Agents in the game, but there's literally nothing stopping you from being ATF, DEA, CPB, etc. As long as it existed in 1995 (so no ICE agents, even though they're listed in the rulebook).

(As tempted as I am to unleash Lovecraftian hell on a team of ICE agents... some other time, maybe...)

whats the most plain jane profession i can take XD

That'd be Federal Agent, probably from the FBI. No worries if multiple players want to play a Fed. Like I said, bread and butter. They're well rounded and just customizeable enough to add flavor. They can both shoot a gun and clear a crime scene.

Another solid, no frills option is a Special Operator. High Alertness (which is like perception or spot hidden in other games), Athletics (crucial for fleeing from horrors), combat/weapons skills, etc. They don't have much in the way of investigative skills or knowledge specialties, but their physical/military skills are stacked.

im slowly working my way thru the quick play guide to get the jist of things, i'll prolly play one of the pregen to get the feel for the game :)

Sounds perfect. Out of the pregens, I'd say Kamaroff and Schell are the least useful/appropriate for the mission at hand. Any of the others would be easy to incorporate. The anthropologist/amateur photographer (Palmer), in particular, actually makes a lot of sense for what the task force is being asked to do. But the federal agent, special operator, and computer scientist are all in the wheelhouse of the operation as well.

I'll motor through the quickstart tonight and decide on a concept.

I'll go with Anthro/Hist but I'll give them strong investigation and weapon prowess since you've all but indicated that well not likely just be thinking our way through the story, heh.

Submitted my nerdy doctor. Still need to add a couple motivations and gear.

Well, this campaign is actually way less geared towards violent confrontation than many DG campaigns are, but it’s definitely dangerous. Almost any DG operative would have basic training in at least shooting a gun, if nothing else.

Okay, I think I'm going to go with a former investigative journalist turned detective turned FBI agent. I'll work on the sheet tonight!

So when choosing bonus skills, those listed on the character sheet that already have a number next to them (say, Dodge (30%)), if I were to add 20 to that one, it'd be a total of 50% right?

I'll be going for a physician belonging to a psy ops style department. Thanks for putting the stuff on google drive, I'll be saving it on my own and working on it tonight.