Near the end of H.P. Lovecraft’s Shadow Over Innsmouth – in an episode unlike any other in the great horror author’s works – a force of U.S. government agents launches an attack against a colony of mutant subhumans inhabiting a coastal Massachusetts town and a nearby reef. Although Lovecraft does not describe this assault in much detail, it is easy to envision G-men with Tommy guns and .45 automatics clearing subterranean chambers, deep-sea divers laying explosives along the reef, and commandeered fishing vessels dropping 55-gallon depth charges into the murky deep.

Delta Green is the latest supplement for Fantasy Flight Games’ Cthulhu Live live-action roleplaying game and is an adaptation of Pagan Publishing’s highly successful Delta Green supplement for Chaosium’s tabletop RPG Call of Cthulhu. It is based on the premise that an organization called Delta Green rose from that first apocalyptic battle between the U.S. government and the minions of the Great Old Ones, was eventually officially disbanded, and continues to exist today as a secretive, rogue organization within the federal government. Much more than a simple live-action version of the Pagan Publishing book, Delta Green is complete campaign supplement for live action gamers fascinated by -- and interested in investigating and taking part in -- conspiracies, black-bag operations, and X-Files-like adventures.

Like most of the other supplements for this game, Delta Green was authored by Cthulhu Live creator Robert "Mac" McLaughlin, with the assistance of a number of veteran CL players, among them props wizard Greg Agostini, Mark Shireman, and Christian Matzke (one more Christian than you’re actually likely to encounter in most Cthulhu Live gaming sessions …).

This 192-page book is divided into six chapters, "Cthulhu Live and Delta Green," "Groups and Conspiracies," "Close Assault System," "Stagecraft," "Tradecraft," and "Parapsychology." Features include tips for running live-action Delta Green campaigns; guidelines for conducting criminal investigations and interrogations; overviews of modern intelligence and counterintelligence operations; information on paranormal research; organizational and operational information about groups like Delta Green and the Majestic 12; and techniques for adjudicating everything from night vision devices to airmobile insertions.

A number of new rules have also been incorporated into the book, including a revised, high-powered combat system; new character templates and skills; new rules for psychic powers; and new "rules of engagement" that accurately reflect characters’ varying levels of combat ability.

Aficionados of the horror and conspiracy genres will appreciate many of the unobtrusive – and unidentified – pieces of insider art sprinkled throughout the Delta Green book, such as an ominous looking photograph of the Texas Book Depository in Dallas as it appeared in 1963 and a picture of one of the plates from the infamous Book of the Nine Gates. Fans of the game lucky enough to have played in a CL game run by McLaughlin will also recognize his mug throughout the book, starting with his Glock-brandishing image on the cover.

The truth is out there – and Delta Green players will discover it with wiretaps, see it through starlight scopes, and blow it away with silenced submachineguns.

--Michael J. Varhola, Editor-in-Chief