Welcome to the Opera!

Is this our default OOC thread?

Also, Hi, fellow assets!

Greetings!

Hello everyone! Let's all get insane as slowly as possible.

Hello, fellow doomed mythonauts!

I've got the bones of my character up, just need to put some flesh on them.

I'm reading... lots to take in.

I'm using the Need to Know quickstart rules. It's not clear on whether the player can just decide to have a traumatic background or if that's a GM-gated option. So... can I take one for my character?

I am going through the agent's handbook and I think I would like to play as an agent of Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training (OCEFT) but am I reading this wrong? When I am taking the skills suggested in the professional skill list, adding it all up comes to 340 points. But, if you make a custom profession, you are given 400 skill points to allocate. I know there are 4 bonds to take but can I take 3 instead and increase the skill points value to 50? Also, you are supposed to take 8 additional bonus skills, but OCEFT suggests only 4.

I'm taking a trip to view the eclipse, so I may not have my character ready until Wednesday of next week.

Is this a game where we should avoid duplicating professions? Or is it fine if we have more than one ex-agent?

I'd like to know what everyone's basic character idea is.

Mine was initially a typical FBI-agent (although ex-agent, to work with the game concept), but I'll probably change if someone else is doing something similar.

So, I have been going through the list of professions and I think scientist would be appropriate?

Since, we aren't doing government agents, I thought a scientist would be a good choice, so I will be taking that.

Alrighty... character sheet is submitted. It's still a work in progress as far as fleshing out and typing everything in, but I figured I'd get the mechanical stuff posted for review to make sure I didn't mess anything up too bad -- especially since I did everything from scratch as no listed profession quite fit what I envisioned for a bodyguard.

Any feedback is appreciated!

GM/Keeper/Handler/Boss: I thought the version of the recruitment thread I read said we'd be playing friendlies getting bumped up to a box seat at the opera. Has that been revised to be actual agents of Delta Green - just not the typical Federal employee agent? If so, are we G-cell (given our handler is Gorgon), and should we have G-codenames to match?

I must've misread something. All good.

As mentioned, Lincoln Morrow (Agent GEIER, if applicable) works for the Smithsonian Institution; specifically, the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives and the Museum Conservation Institute. He catalogues, restores, records and researches rare books, documents and manuscripts, with a specialty in the morbid subject of books bound in human skin. As part of this, he also works in the care of human remains in museum keeping, and their repatriation to their native cultures when applicable.

The key skills (50%+) he brings to the team: Anthropology and History. With honourable mentions (40%+) for Bureaucracy, Comp Sci, Bookbinding, Drive, Occult, Persuade, Biology, Genetics, and being able to speak and read Latin, Greek and French. Bit of a science and humanities dilettante rather than a specialist. Not much of a fighter, beyond the basic Delta Green weapons training.

Background: His first contact with the Program was when a group of menacing government agents approached him in his lab, asking him to identify the material that a book in their possession was bound with. Lincoln found that the odd, slippery, scaly leather had human DNA - but also DNA from some sort of unidentifiable marine organism. This seemed to grimly satisfy the agents, who vanished after warning him to stay silent about the encounter.

His second contact was just a few days later. Those same agents returned - minus a member, looking injured and harried. This time they had bought a stack of pages and what was clearly a freshly flensed sheet of tattooed human skin, still warm and supple. They demanded Lincoln prepare and bind the pages in the skin. He obviously balked at this horrifying, insanely illegal order, and got a gun pressed under his jaw as the agents tersely explained the situation:

The person whose previously owned this skin did something unthinkable and summoned something worse than you can possibly imagine in the Chesapeake Bay. To banish what they called up we need to reverse the ritual using a book bound in the operator's hide. Now change your pants, stop sobbing and do as you're told. You're embarrassing yourself.

So Lincoln did what they instructed. The fragments of text he was able to translate as he worked on tanning the skin, cutting, stitching and gluing the pages and assembling the book convinced him of the hideous truth of what they were saying more than their threats or bleak pragmatism. Once he was done, the agents again vanished, and hours after sunrise that morning he received a visit at home from their leader.

You saved half of Delaware and Maryland from being fucked to death last night. How would you like to do it again? The mission's not over while the world's still spinning.

Magic was real. Creatures outside the scope of evolutionary science existed. Half the books he had spent his life studying were potential unexploded unnatural ordinance. How could he say no?

Back from my trip (eclipse was awesome!). Too tired to make my character today. I'll get on it tomorrow.

Just what a triffid would say!

Greetings, so here is my character:

Name: Dr. Daren Hill Profession: Scientist Employer: Naueve Pharmaceuticals Nationality: American
Sex: Male Age: 37 Educational and Occupational history: Ph.D. from University of Stanford, Contractual Scientist in Naueve Pharmaceuticals

Stats:

Strength: 9 - 45
Dexterity: 11 - 55
Constitution: 10 - 50
Intelligence: 16 - 80
Power: 14 - 70
Charisma: 12 - 60

Derived attributes:

HP: 10 Willpower: 14 Sanity: 70 Breaking point: 56

Skills:

Accounting (10%)
Alertness (20%)
Anthropology (0%)
Archaeology (0%)
Art () (0%)
Artillery (0%)
Athletics (30%)
Bureaucracy (10% + 30% + 20%) = 60%
Computer Science (0% + 40%) = 40%
Craft (Drug) (0% + 40%) = 40%
Criminology (10% + 20%) = 30%
Demolitions (0%)
Disguise (10%)
Dodge (30%)
Drive (20%)
Firearms (20%)
First aid (10%)
Foreign language () (0%)
Forensics (0% + 40% + 20%) = 60%
Heavy Machinery (10%)
Heavy weapons (10%)
History (10%)
HUMINT (10% + 20%) = 30%
Law (0% + 20%) = 20 %
Medicine (0%)
Melee Weapons (30%)
Military Science () (0%)
Navigate (10%)
Occult (10%)
Persuade (20% + 20%) = 40%
Pharmacy (0% + 40%) = 40%
Pilot () (0%)
Psychotherapy (10%)
Ride (10%)
Science (Biology) (0% + 60%) = 60%
Science (Chemistry) (0% + 50%) = 50%
Science (Toxicology) (0% + 50%) = 50%
Search (20% + 20%) = 40%
SIGINT (0%)
Stealth (10%)
Surgery (0%)
Survival (10%)
Swim (20%)
Unarmed combat (40%)
Unnatural (0%)

Bonds: 4

@eeyolhlneuetqw So, here is my question. Adding all the profession skill gives like 350 points. Can I lower a bond and increase any skill by 50%. Also, I choose social worker for bonus skills and one of the choice is Foreign language. I don't know if any foreign language is going to come up so I am hesitant in taking that. Can I take 20% in any other skill then?

I submitted my character, retired FBI agent Robert "Bob" Hobbs. I just followed the simple steps in the Need to Know book, so he's not optimized. But that kind of fits with my idea for the character.

I intentionally left his brush with the unnatural vague. As a player, I wasn't sure what exactly might have happened, and Bob could barely comprehend it. So... "something bad" happened.

Is there a character sheet available? I will fill it up and submit my character then.

Go to: Characters (on the menu at the very top of GP) > New Character (Label = character name or whatever you want, System = Custom) > Create > Load Template (Delta Green).

If you save an exit that sheet, you can then edit it by clicking on the individual number and word slots, instead of fussing with the code, which might be more user friendly.

Okay, so I have created the character sheet and filled it up. I have made some final adjustment. I thought I will need craft skill to create a drug but it seems Pharmacy is doing that so I have shifted craft and added those to Law. I have reduced a bond and distributed the 50 points to two science skills (10 points each) and the rest 30 I have given to First aid. Finally I have applied the 20 points of bonus to Pharmacy and bumped it up to 60.

So, here is my question. I am envisioning Dr. Daren Hill as a contractual scientist who works for a Pharmaceutical MNC, Naueve Pharmaceuticals and often works as a contractual analyst to test forensic samples under a NDA in an official branch of Government Body organisation. He is taken there when some specialized opinion is needed. It is not disclosed publicly and instead he is paid for his work. I don't know whether this type of association actually exist IRL. But, I was thinking this will fulfil the reason for his skill setup. Like he has LAW and Forensics at 60% and his 'official' work is that he is a contractual researcher for a private Pharmaceutical company. Maybe this is how Delta Green found out about him and scooped him up, when an interesting batch of evidence came? So regarding bonds, I was thinking Daren will have a bond with his wife, a bond with his colleagues back at Standford University Toxicology Laboratory and maybe a bond with his old mother.

I don't know that you can optimise in DG. I guess if you thought it was going to be a short term game you could pick options that sacrificed Bonds for skill, since Bonds are more about long-term survival.
Look up Project Bioshield. That might fit the bill.

I think my character is ready.

Dr. Daren Hill background:

Dr. Daren Hill completed his doctorate degree from the prestigious Standford University working under the Toxicology Laboratory. He researched on metamorphic patterns of different biotoxins across phyla. He became close to his colleagues Dr. Sandra Smith, Dr. Richard Miller, Dr. Vanbrick Lopez and Dr. Ariana Martinez and they had been successful in designing several antibacterial drugs and potent antivenoms. Before attending the University, Daren was pursuing academics alongside social work, where he helped organise medical checkup for the homeless and sometimes worked as a volunteer for vaccination programs and medicine distribution in suburbian areas. At this time he developed an interest in law and dreamed about becoming a forensic analyst. However, life had a different turn of events when he finally completed his Masters in Biology.

Daren realized that the pure world of academics was too much for him and he wanted to shift career in getting a job for a proper stable income instead of the uncertainty of getting projects approval for constant funding of the laboratory. He ended up working for Naueve Pharmaceuticals after leaving his colleague from the University with whom he maintained a cordial relation. During his work in Naueve Pharmaceuticals, he got to analyze a curios biomolecule sent to him by his colleagues. Further analysis showed it was entirely alien in origin and such biomolecule homologue was not present in the existing database. When he questioned his colleagues it became evident that they didn't want to share further information. However, Dr. Smith told him secretly that it came from governnment under an NDA. Later, as more samples came from analysis Daren got suspicious and interested that he started researching on it personaly. One day, he got a curious mail about investigating a biological sample from a seperate site. The mail came from a government investigation agency under a strict NDA. As he continued to analyze the samples and provide data he was getting more and more suspicious about the source of these alien biomolecules. Finally, he got approached by an organization called Delta Green who seem to be aware of the source and everything changed after this.


I guess, with this my character is done.

I have come down with a nasty cold. My first few posts may be short and boring.

A little backstory:

James Alder joines the Marines right out of high school. Let's face facts... his home town was a dead-end, and most people who stayed ended up with addiction issues, in and out of jail, with a fair chance of an early grave. When the Gunnery Sergeant slid that contract across the desk, Jim was more than eager to sign on the line.

Infantry was simple -- even fun -- but the politiking and cliquiness was more than he could deal with. When his contract ran out he chose not to reup. He drew on his military experience and went to school to learn how to provide personal security. A lot of it was skills he already knew -- firearms, driving, situational awareness... but there were legal aspects to learn. Well... more than that, but the legal requirements were the most alien to Jim. Still, he passed with flying colors.

Over the next few years, he was a bodyguard for a few D-list celebrities who were in town. That is, until he met [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] was a millionaire who made his money in real estate investing, and who used his money to dabble in the occult. Jim spent many late nights overseeing weird rituals, strange chanting, and stacks of books he couldn't read. He witnessed a few things he couldn't explain, not really... but nothing he couldn't rationalize away. It was just low light, or smoke, or a reflection in the mirror. (Right? Right.)

Until the morning Jim went into [REDACTED] study and found a scene beyond explanation: A circle of salt on the floor, broken by the foot that kicked through it. Unfortunately, a foot was all that remained... sheared clean, just above the ankle. The ceiling was covered in blood splatter, it looked like a blood geyser. Reminded Jim of that scene from Nightmare on Elm Street, actually. The (a?) weird thing was that no blood had splattered or dripped -- at all. One book sat open and looked like a fire had been set on the open pages.

Everything else in the study was pristine.

It took a while, but the death of [REDACTED] became a cold case when the detectives gave up on it. Nothing made sense. Unfortunately, James hadn't given up. He couldn't. He started asking questions. He called people [REDACTED] did business with. Eventually, someone called him back -- Delta Green.

...and with that, I think I'm ready to go!(?)

Double and triple checked my numbers, including adding actual point values at the bottom instead of just listing professional skills and hobbies.

I should be right at 480 (Well... 400 and 80, respectively).

Torino, copy that.

It's from the movie Gran Torino. :)

You can assign Hobbs a codename. And am I reading correctly that I need to spend 10% more on my skills?

Robert Hobbs: Agent Sienna

Yep, +10% for skills.

Sorry, work went from normal days to doubles at the drop of a hat, so we could meet a deadline. I was trying to get caught up as I had five minutes here and there but I'm behind in just about all my games. Going to post now on my commute home since I hopped a ride with a coworker.

I have a fever with sore throat. My posting will be slow.

Take care, we'll wait for your posts.

GM's been offline for nearly two weeks. Not a good (yellow) sign.

I saw that to. Fingers crossed, but it doesn't look good