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Anatomy of a Campaign - Delta Green: Impossible Landscapes
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Anatomy of a Campaign begins with one of our most ambitious RPG experiences: Delta Green: Impossible Landscapes.
Nick shares what it was like running this acclaimed published campaign, while Daryl, Nick, and Robert discuss the unique approach that made it our own. Between the campaign's major acts, each of us run original "interlude" adventures set during the years- and decades-long gaps in the story, expanding the lives of the agents beyond the published material.
Join us as we explore the inspiration, preparation, challenges, and lessons behind weaving three Game Masters' ideas into one unforgettable campaign.
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Transcript
Introduction to How We Roll Gaming
00:00:02
Speaker
with the coachman D20 Radio. at Your game is rolled.
00:00:17
Speaker
How will We Roll Gaming is dedicated to spreading enjoyment of great role-playing games. We hope to bring you insights into games you may not have played, tips to be a better game master and player, and share us stories of momentous events at our tables.
00:00:29
Speaker
Every game is a new story to tell. I'm Daryl. I'm Nick. And here's Robert. And this is How We Roll.
Free RPG Day Experiences
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome back to the How We Roll Gaming Podcast, everybody. Hope you are doing well. Nick, I hope you are doing well. And Robert is back. Yes, am. Welcome back, Robert. welcome Glad to be back.
00:00:56
Speaker
Robert has been on assignment for a couple episodes. Yes. And you'll banish the dark corridor from your home. It's called summer.
00:01:09
Speaker
Yep. you know As we talk, when the sun goes down, the the darkness will encroach once again. I wish I had spooky music. Unless we end at like 11, it's not going to get that dark because, you know, summer. True.
00:01:23
Speaker
True. true So, before we get into everything, Free RPG Day was last weekend, as we record this. And we got some goodies. We got some goodies. I know that Nick didn't go anywhere. Did you go anywhere for Free RPG Day, Robert?
00:01:42
Speaker
Nah, I had stuff to do. I was actually able to get everything that I wanted to. Oh, that's right. You had you had a fit That's why we... did the movie last Saturday instead of a game. I had a wedding and a birthday party on Saturday.
00:01:59
Speaker
Oh, geez. Well, wedding Friday, party Saturday. I was actually able to get everything that i really wanted to get on my first stop for free RPG day.
00:02:13
Speaker
or well, I thought I did because ah the first store that I went to only ordered one kit. And because one of his regular players runs Avatar Legends, he gave there was only one set of the Avatar Legends stuff per kit.
00:02:30
Speaker
And so he gave him that. And so I got everything else that I wanted to get. I got the Marvel Multiverse Secret Wars expansion preview. I got the Arkham Horror quick start that Edge did this year. Got the Dungeons and Kittens quick start that they did. Got a Vampire the Masquerade. ah Renegade actually didn't do an Essence 20 this year.
00:02:56
Speaker
It was so weird. Like, yeah. um And you know got got everything that I wanted to on on my first stop. But still made a second stop because... That was the big thing on the Essence 20 Discord. They were confused. like They usually have one. Yeah, that was who knows.
00:03:17
Speaker
So I went to another store that to see about getting the Avatar stuff for both me and Nick. And got three of the five that they had, because what they had listed on the site was a bundle of five quick starts.
00:03:39
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And so managed to get three of them for each of us. And I got home and as I was heading home, I was like, these titles sound familiar.
00:03:52
Speaker
And I got home and I checked and the adventures that they put out for free RPG day singly this year were the adventures that are in the adventure book that was part of the Kickstarter and the initial release.
00:04:11
Speaker
So I was like, Oh, i already have this. and i guess it's kind of fair because they, they already printed them. It's like, It's not really what... considering the last line was an original... it's an advanced error.
00:04:28
Speaker
Yeah, and they just released digitally a new quick start in the past month or so. Mm-hmm. You know, a new free quick start. So, you know, I was expecting a physical copy of that to be their free RPG day entry this year.
00:04:47
Speaker
But, hey,
Anatomy of a Campaign Feature Introduction
00:04:48
Speaker
what are you going to do? I guess they sort of... ah monopolize on the fact that they already had something to print out already, so they printed it. Yeah, who who knows?
00:04:59
Speaker
Who knows? you Either way, it it it would have saved me an hour's drive if I'd known. Would have saved an hour's round-trip drive if I'd known, but oh well oh well. It did end up, since every time I go to a store for free RPG day, or free comic book day for that matter, I make sure that I make a purchase so that I'm not just going in and saying, give me free stuff, and walking out.
00:05:22
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And so I ended up with the latest Legend of the Five Rings sourcebook, which Robert, you got a few months ago, but I haven't been able to find since I pointed you to it when our local store had it. Yeah, i was lucky that Madness had it.
00:05:40
Speaker
I sent an image to you, Robert, but ive just today I received the Night City 2045 for Red.
00:05:52
Speaker
i don't think they've shipped mine yet. I'll have to
00:05:57
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And i it's ah it's ah it's a making it's a very lovely book. Very, very high high quality. I don't disbelieve that. Talisorian is always good with their books.
00:06:10
Speaker
the The artwork already looks lovely. Speaking of shipping, I got an update in Kickstarter just a week or two ago that Free League is going to be shipping the Invincible RPG here within the next few weeks. And I've been seeing ads that I've been seeing ads that the street date is July 30th.
00:06:38
Speaker
Oh, really? and ah random the mime Every time i see a notification from our Ring doorbell camera, I'm like, are they dropping off a box?
00:06:51
Speaker
Is it Invincible? ah You understand it if it you look at your doorbell and you see a blue screen this ah and it does a blood spatter happens.
00:07:04
Speaker
Yes. Well, I mean, yes, I haven't gotten a shipping notification yet from Free League, but we didn't get shipping notifications for Alien Evolved Edition, and one day, suddenly, boom, there's there's books on your doorstep.
00:07:22
Speaker
Oh no, that means they're going to the on the island train thing when they announce. Who knows? Who knows?
00:07:34
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But yeah, that that was you free RPG day in a nutshell and what I'm expecting to ship. And i I'm hoping that I am able to pre-order, like you did, Nick, the um new Alien...
00:07:49
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campaign box
Delta Green Campaign Overview
00:07:50
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that's coming out but uh oh yeah just don't have the cash right now so and also don't have the extra cash we're recording this on the uh on the third so to those who will see this we'll be in the happy birthday america 250 yes big old 250 yeah
00:08:13
Speaker
Yes, and I will not go off on the tangent that I want to go off on. That's all we have to say. and yeah So instead of going off on that tangent, I'm just going to say that if you're into video games and love hearing people really dig into what makes them tick, check out We Fix Games, part of the D20 Radio Network.
00:08:39
Speaker
Each episode hosts Laura and Sarika. Jerica? Yes. Is is that it's pronounced? Flora and Jerica, you're correct. Yeah.
00:08:51
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Take a game and break it down. What works, what doesn't. And what they change before rebuilding it in their own creative way. It's thoughtful, funny, and full of game design conversation.
00:09:06
Speaker
Whether you're a player, or a designer, or just someone who loves talking about games long after you've put that controller down. We Fix Games is a great listen. Find it whenever you go get your podcasts.
00:09:18
Speaker
Yep. My apology. I have dyslexia, so I was like, didn't want to mispronounce Erica, but I have dyslexia, so I was like, and am I seeing it wrong? no No, you're good. You're good.
00:09:32
Speaker
Okay. Now, before we jump into this episode's topic, We're introducing a brand new feature here on the How We Roll Gaming podcast called Anatomy of a Campaign.
00:09:47
Speaker
So over the over all of our episodes to date, we've talked about a lot of our home campaigns on the show. And sometimes it's examples, sometimes they're cautionary tales, and sometimes because we just couldn't resist telling a good story. yeah We thought it was time to... There's brand new ideas.
00:10:11
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Yeah. So we thought it was time to dedicate an entire episode, or dedicate several entire episodes, to looking at how those campaigns came together. Mm-hmm.
00:10:24
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And your turn, Nick. In Eastern. I was about to speak. You're the red, Nick. I was literally about to speak. In each Anatomy of the Campaign episode, we'll pick one campaign and break it down.
00:10:39
Speaker
From the first spark of the idea to what actually happened once the players get involved. We'll talk about the planning, the improvisation, the memorable moments, and the unexpected twists that no GM can see you coming.
00:10:54
Speaker
Now, the goal isn't to tell you this is the right way to run a campaign. Every table's different. Instead... We simply want to share what worked for us, what didn't, and hopefully give you some ideas you can adapt to for your own games.
00:11:09
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Some of the campaigns we'll cover have already reached their finales. Others are still very much in progress. And we'll keep spoilers to a minimum whenever we can. And if we need to get into the weeds, we'll make sure to give you a heads up first.
00:11:26
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Whether you're looking for inspiration for your next campaign, curious about the decisions that happened behind the GM screen, or you just enjoy hearing RPG war stories, this series is for you.
00:11:38
Speaker
So, and enough about the feature itself. Let's put today's campaign under the microscope and see what makes it tick. This is our first Anatomy of a Campaign. so let's get rolling. Our very first campaign that we're going to talk about.
00:11:55
Speaker
is going to be our Delta Green campaign, Impossible Landscapes, which is at least
Running Impossible Landscapes: Inspiration and Preparation
00:12:03
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partially based upon a published campaign guide for Delta Green.
00:12:09
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And yes, and we chose to do this one since all three of us, Daryl, Nick, and i run sessions in it. Most of our campaigns, actually i think all the all our other campaigns, is either one or two of us. This one has all three.
00:12:24
Speaker
right And it's kind of a unique structure. yeah It is still ongoing and it's kind of a unique structure. Nick is running the actual main spine of yeah the campaign.
00:12:40
Speaker
But the way that it's written and published is there are gaps of years and decades in between the major...
00:12:53
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the major time periods of the campaign. So Robert and i tag team off of one another and we run kind of monster of the week sessions in between those major points that Nick runs, just you saying what happens to the characters, you know highlighting some adventures that they have in those intervening years.
00:13:22
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Yes, for example. Side stories with ah interesting and available parts. And I'm also a player in those parts.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yes. Whoever's not campaigning is playing. Yep. And to kind of draw an example, if you The way I've always described Delta Green to people is it's the X-Files meets Cthulhu. That's a great elevator pitch to get people to get what it's about. Even if it's not 100%. We had an episode describing Delta Green before. Yeah.
00:13:58
Speaker
Yeah, we did. and And feel free to go check it out. There will be. Yes, and then come back. hey Yes. There will be a card up here. somewhere linking to the episode. That's how YouTube I think.
00:14:13
Speaker
Yes, on YouTube there will be a card. and on video On audio there will be a link in the show notes. ah but But this is also by a very unique ah sort of version of a campaign in this setting.
00:14:32
Speaker
Right. and But where I was going with that is X-Files meets Cthulhu. And so if you look at X-Files as an example, there were what became known as the mythology arcs that dealt with the government conspiracy and the impending alien invasion. And then there were the Monster of the Week episodes.
00:14:57
Speaker
Yeah,
00:15:00
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And so you that we're kind of borrowing that structure a little bit. Yes, because Delta Green is definitely X-Files related and the sense of very few people know of the unnatural because they know if that just became public knowledge, everything would collapse.
00:15:18
Speaker
So their goal is to not beat it because you can't beat it in Delta Green, but maybe we can push it off another decade or another century before everything just collapses.
00:15:31
Speaker
So let's let's take a look at at the idea to start with. ah So I would say what inspired this campaign, but since it's being ah played from the spine of a published campaign guide, Nick, why this campaign?
00:15:49
Speaker
Why this campaign? This is a fascinating question. um I've have been a big fan of like the Lovecraftian and cosmic horror scene since I got into literature. And I actually have a ah literature major.
00:16:07
Speaker
But one of my first like loves was cosmic horror as as a genre. ah Stephen King... ah King and other like sort of like cosmic horror or experts.
00:16:27
Speaker
And i sort of wanted to learn like the root of that. And I sort of like dug down into, and I found Robert Chambers' is The King in Yellow.
00:16:40
Speaker
ah And I found it fascinating. it was It was before, like, Lovecraft and others. It it was, like, the originator.
00:16:55
Speaker
And yet inspired them, and they kept on bringing it up in other fiction and elements. And i just always loved that. And that sort of helped get me into role-playing games, like ah call the Call of Cthulhu games that eventually evolved into Delta Green.
00:17:15
Speaker
talked about like the nature of the king and yellow Haster and. There and the ideas of Tim Garcosa and it was I found those brilliant and haunting.
00:17:32
Speaker
And one of those individuals that was instrumental in writing. Writing Delta Green eventually came back to the franchise in the modern era.
00:17:45
Speaker
to write Impossible Landscapes. A unique, surreal horror version of The King in Yellow.
00:17:56
Speaker
Still in line with Lovecraftian horror, but distinct, unique, blending the ideas of time and and horror.
00:18:12
Speaker
And hi I supported them for a long time. And when it finally came out, I was like, this is what I want to run. I've been dreaming of running this for a long time.
00:18:27
Speaker
All right. Like it, like it. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's, it's so, it's it's, it is very much quintessential cosmic horror, but it also has a whole lot of unique surreal elements that,
00:18:42
Speaker
it's not your usual like, ew, icky squid things. Yes, it's more like existential. Yeah, very much so.
00:18:54
Speaker
Very much so. And Act one of it, we'll we'll talk about this in a little bit, I'm sure, now kind of resonates with the pop culture entertainment phenomenon that's going on right now. Honestly, pop culture has caught up finally with The King in Yellow.
00:19:16
Speaker
And I appreciate it. And I'm glad I've seen so many people that like, yeah, I get it. You guys were inspired by it. I admit
Character Creation and Development
00:19:25
Speaker
that some people are attributing most of that to these new creators.
00:19:30
Speaker
it' was like ah this this this Again, The King in Yellow was written in the late 1800s, so this is not new, but it's like it's cool seeing new and new creators take such inspiration and come forward with it.
00:19:48
Speaker
So we we know now why you you wanted to run this campaign. We kind of know what you were trying to to deliver, you know, what kind of experience you wanted to try to create with it just because of inherently what it is.
00:20:06
Speaker
So let's take a look at building that campaign. um
00:20:12
Speaker
The heavy lifting was already done for you in the book. Yes, it did. And again, this is building off of like, this is the second, it doesn't call itself 2.0 of Delta Green, but the it kind of is.
00:20:34
Speaker
Because the creators of it were working in like the 90s and then they, that's why it is very much like X-Files meets X-Files.
00:20:45
Speaker
call it because they sort of lapsed for a while and they came back in the late late 20 2019s and this where this was published eventually but it was so always meant to this idea like it kind of was meant to like it was fun that they were like we're gonna take what we made initially and create a campaign that reflected the fact that we had the weight like several decades that make it together.
00:21:20
Speaker
And so building the campaign out though, when you sat us down for session zero, I'm going to lay most of the questions for the beginning stages of the campaign on you because Robert and I coming in to run the campaign side sessions came up later. It kind of came up that has yeah as we were discussing the structure.
00:21:44
Speaker
So for session zero, what kind of character creation guidance did you give us or would you give someone who's going to be running Impossible Landscapes?
00:21:56
Speaker
I would give it the same as any campaign for Delta Green. You are you at this time period. But I would also say like, This campaign is going to last decades.
00:22:11
Speaker
It is in terms of your character arc. like You guys seized upon the idea of filling those areas, and we can get into that later.
00:22:24
Speaker
But what made it but we made it so in business was like, I stated outright, we're starting in this year.
00:22:35
Speaker
And it's going to go on for this many years. I didn't say when we are going to... And eventually, when when we talked about like you guys filling in the gap years, did I tell when the years are going to happen?
00:22:52
Speaker
But you could also just be as just as ambiguous as I'm not going to tell you. But I did say like this is when it's happening and it's going going to last decades.
00:23:04
Speaker
And now conceivably, one could say that if you're just running the campaign as written, that um you don't have to do those gap years. You could very easily just say that this group is brought together for Act One. They complete everything in Act One. And then they go their separate ways until Delta Green calls them back together again for the first time ever years later.
00:23:38
Speaker
And this is entirely possible. Again, you guys are players in the game, and this Act 2 has not happened. right Right. We're in what I've been calling the interludes.
00:23:55
Speaker
Yes, because between Act 1 and 2, we have about 20 years. But, without spoiling anything, mechanically, yes, we could have just skipped and have the characters called back.
00:24:12
Speaker
Which would fit within the lore and the storytelling. Here's where Robert and I come in. In session zero, when you're giving us that time frame, and when we do our little prologue session at the end of our session zero day, and then session one, we all start talking that we really like.
00:24:36
Speaker
We all really like our characters that we're We were just like, wait, I want to know what happens to them in that interlude. Yeah, we want to know what happens in that gap. So that's when we hit upon the idea because you we both had ideas just in general for Delta Green sessions.
00:25:01
Speaker
But we didn't necessarily have an idea for a Delta Green campaign. Exactly. And so like, hey, we could work these session ideas that we have in as the interludes in between the acts.
00:25:19
Speaker
And you were gracious enough to say, yes, that's not going to derail what is going on with the main campaign.
00:25:32
Speaker
In fact, it's going to give you material to play with for the characters once we get to act two. Yes, and as you are the overarching GM of the thing,
00:25:44
Speaker
You also sprinkle in your own little main campaign stuff in those interludes. I have. I've been both either subtle or not so subtle.
00:25:55
Speaker
Sending in actual seeds that would be important later on. You don't know what they mean. yeah in one of the interludes, my own character got their invitation in one of them.
00:26:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, and it's a place of you, you don't know what they mean. And I've also, again, I've constantly told you, like, if characters go, you can, to those who don't know about Delta Green and Call of Cthulhu mechanics, you can go insane.
00:26:34
Speaker
I have made it abundantly clear that characters who go insane will be important later on because the campaign has built in mechanics for that.
00:26:51
Speaker
Yes. And judging by some how how some of our interludes have gone, some are getting closer and closer to that all the time. That's just the nature of Delta Greed in general, but it's like... Yes.
00:27:06
Speaker
But I will say that the idea but I've made certain that like I said like, Yes. If a character goes goes crazy, they won't be gone because there is a way to bring them back in the campaign.
00:27:24
Speaker
just can't tell you that because that's spoilers. Of course, of course, and we've totally accepted that. yeah no I think you said even if we die, you have ways to do it Yes.
00:27:37
Speaker
Now, Before we move on from the building the campaign ah section, one of the things that we that we're going to talk about in other episodes of this is prep before session one or session zero, as it were, since we do a little prologue.
00:28:00
Speaker
And Nick, I want you to tell you about one of the tell everyone about one of the fun things that you did for us. Because you know us as players. Yes, what did you do? The kind things we like to do.
00:28:13
Speaker
what What'd you get us, Nick? I got you guys some special stuff. What'd you get us, Nick? Yeah, come on. Don't leave them in suspense. I feel like they're...
00:28:26
Speaker
very You should tell him what he got. So Nick went and got a big cork board. Yes, he did.
00:28:38
Speaker
And push pins. And strings. And diff different colors of string so that we could make our own conspiracy board.
00:28:49
Speaker
And we did. Yeah. And I printed out each all the clues and all the information they needed to. They also had note cards of different colors. Which we used to write down answers and put them on set core. And they made sure that each different color cores went to a different spot.
00:29:11
Speaker
Oh, it was... Yep. If I fire remember, black was anything unnatural. Like, this doesn't fit. And then... I think what yellow is like interview stuff.
00:29:25
Speaker
And you were connecting it with different colored string. Oh, it was. Again, like, we I already had cork board.
00:29:36
Speaker
The cork board was like the the easiest part was to get the cork board. The hardest part was like getting like the colored string. You got a lot, so I don't think we're going to run out. Mm-hmm.
00:29:49
Speaker
Yeah, well actually we actually are. I need to get recover the more strength. Well, Ed, anyone who's listened for a little while has probably picked up that we're big on props and tactile things like that. And us having that cork board, we are like kids in a candy store.
00:30:12
Speaker
we yeah We are giddy as school children whenever we're playing with that cork board. Yeah, and that corp board is where Daryl and I like, well, we got to have our own props when we run our sessions.
00:30:24
Speaker
Well, the only reason that it worked for me was like I spent the time to like print out a lot of i' like like little pieces of information, like different like newspaper articles and stuff for that. that you guys can pin it up for that case.
00:30:45
Speaker
And it's like... I had to cut out some and the scisors was like It was worth it to see you guys pin that up. There's Deskos was like de goes there they like Connecting it to that. Connecting it to that. And then putting up like the ah the hotel floor plan. And then connecting it everyone to everyone to the floor plan.
00:31:07
Speaker
What I really like what you did, Nick, is you either typed out or printed out like an actual like dossier at the beginning to be like, This is what we got. Go find out.
00:31:19
Speaker
yeah that was the ah That was the only thing I had to print out myself because it was the only thing that wasn't... Again, like... we're connected ah There's a Patreon from the writer of this Death of Green Adventure and he provides a lot of amazing things that you can like download.
00:31:42
Speaker
That was the only thing I didn't have wasn't able to download. I had to write that out myself. And I formatted it in the same way that he did. And then printed it out and then cut it out.
00:31:54
Speaker
So like that. let get it was one of the few things that I didn't have to do a whole lot of work for. But it's like i was I was happy that you guys enjoyed that.
00:32:06
Speaker
did. yes. It looked like an actual newspaper cutout. oh yeah it did that looks like a actual like newspaper cutout I actually went through two versions of it. I tried to, like... I do, like, a passer plaster repair. It's, like, fake newspaper on it, but it's, like, it didn't look right.
00:32:26
Speaker
So i just cut it out on on regular paper. But you guys liked it. That ah that was really cool. Yeah, I mean... We get that it's not always possible have...
00:32:41
Speaker
have authentic materials for the props we get it yeah i I did try like I when there was like the ah the fit the the phone number number stapled onto one one of like the ah one of the fake
Surreal Elements in Act One
00:33:05
Speaker
IDs like you guys called called that out really immediately is like that was the point like that was really cool
00:33:13
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, like I say, you we know that you're not going to be able to, if it's a newspaper clipping, you're not going to be able to print it out on newsprint. We get that. Yeah, and we're not expecting that.
00:33:25
Speaker
No, but I'll admit that i' made the like part of this, part of being a good, proper mystery is like, I kept the music in into tune for the time. i tried to keep everything like, regular. I even like,
00:33:41
Speaker
made sure that I knew what the what the the weather was. It was a like 1996 in the fall.
00:33:51
Speaker
all i made sure I knew what the weather was. So that's all kind of a good segue into talking about actually running the campaign. And here's where this and the next section of the campaign anatomy of a campaign outline that we have is where all three of us yeah can dive in. So let's talk about running the campaign. So how is everything actually unfolding? I know that Nick, you've, you've done act one of impossible landscapes as written, and you've also done one or two of the interludes.
00:34:36
Speaker
I've done two interludes and, Impossible Landskates, part of the generosity of Impossible Landskates is there's a lot of leeway allowing for character interaction.
00:34:51
Speaker
And I think that's one of the things that we love the most about this campaign as players is there's a lot of character interaction and you there's also some really spooky crap going on.
00:35:06
Speaker
Oh yeah, and Again, I would love to reveal more, but I can't because all that, it all, it's, and for for, to use, it's not time. was like when When it eventually comes around, i think you guys will really appreciate some of the weird stuff that I did that didn't seem to add up.
00:35:33
Speaker
Well, and I mean, you know, we get that that there's not going to be spoilers on things that haven't happened yet. You we totally get that. um and For, for instance,
00:35:48
Speaker
um the, the book itself is not currently in print apparently. And I stumbled across, not knowing that it was a full campaign guide, right. As we were starting the campaign,
00:36:05
Speaker
I stumbled across a copy. Those watching on YouTube can see that I have it right here. But I stumbled across a copy of it at Half Price Books, and i was like, oh, I should get this, not knowing that it was the campaign guide.
00:36:21
Speaker
And when I got home with it and told you that I got it, you're like, don't read it. Yeah, and I haven't. I made sure to keep that promise. Yeah, I haven't. Also, in general, if if you can...
00:36:35
Speaker
it it's very hard to find one of these. So if you can, just buy it. Very true. I think I have a PDF. I don't have a physical copy. Yeah, I mean, that's what you said know when I told you that I got it. i was like, well, I mean, I can return it. Because I had totally been debating buying it that night. Because even though it was a half-priced books, because it's out of print and in demand, it was full price.
00:37:05
Speaker
And I was like, no, no, no. I told you, and me, he's like, fine, go read you're like, no, no, keep it. Keep it. You just can't read ahead. And I was like, I won't read ahead.
00:37:18
Speaker
because Because it is a, it is an actual rare piece. Like, it's it's worth it. It's also well-printed, again, you won't know that.
00:37:30
Speaker
well printed well again like you youll won't know that We finished the campaign, but it's a well-written, well-produced campaign book. it's like, yeah you hold on to a very valuable piece piece of book. Yes.
00:37:50
Speaker
yes um now let's Let's talk a little bit about the beginning of the campaign, though. We've kind teased this a little bit. um And, you know, if we're going to be talking about of the details... It's the most I can talk about.
00:38:07
Speaker
Yeah, well, and for anyone out there who might run it in the future, or who might play it in the future... Yeah, we you know we have River Song chiming in, because we're about to give some spoilers. Spoilers.
00:38:22
Speaker
But... Kind of what happened in Act 1. Do you want to give your impression or do you want me the to be like a fully candid? Because it would be interesting to hear your impressions.
00:38:39
Speaker
No, go ahead and give yours. Of course, you. Leave out anything that we overlooked that could come back to haunt us later. Yeah, simply. What happened?
00:38:51
Speaker
All right. So... Act 1 is it's known as the Night Floors. Better known as Operation Alice.
00:39:07
Speaker
An individual by the name of Abaco Wright went missing at a New York Brown Zone apartment.
00:39:21
Speaker
Owned as sort of a hippy, dippy, artsy, fartsy commune. She disappeared. And it's a disappearing appearance case, but she may have something to do with the unnatural.
00:39:41
Speaker
Calls in a team to investigate. A motley team. Yes. A motley team. And they enter into this ah classical brownstone apartment in the middle of New York City.
00:40:01
Speaker
And upon entering her apartment, they find that it is a mess of many, many things strewn across the walls, stapled, uh, uh, literary pieces, ah Pieces of technology, etc, etc.
00:40:23
Speaker
No trace of her. As well as some very, uh. Unusual and very quirky neighbors inside of there. And then.
00:40:36
Speaker
Night time happens. And everything flips upside down. Suddenly this three store. where building becomes infinite. then There's no way to escape and there's a whole lot of new rooms to explore.
00:40:59
Speaker
Feel free to ah give any sort of your recollections of that. I really liked how day and night the guests would or like the residents of the place would flip, kind of.
00:41:14
Speaker
Like one time we had a polite a very polite person we were interviewing. And then once it flipped, he was like reclusive, paranoid, and rude. There was ah clown painting that I remember. That's when ah Stephanie got onto you or Daryl got onto you about it since Steph's afraid of clowns. And then, then I liked walking outside and we could see like the building is three stories and then no, it looks like a skyscraper, but like only we could see it.
00:41:46
Speaker
Yep, and the night rooms when we oh yeah we got into them, that kind of expanded. It was kind of... And I gotta say, you when I first heard um about the movie The Back Rooms, i was like, wait a minute.
00:42:13
Speaker
feel like... Like things like surreal horror and ah sort of it's a mix of analog and the idea of like liminal spaces has become really popular, but it really did start with like things like with like the King in Yellow stuff.
00:42:33
Speaker
And and the night rooms, but. it It's all part of that. Which is fascinating. Oh yeah, it was.
00:42:44
Speaker
um Again, I brought a whole lot of different ideas. Like if a contributor to the channel, ah Betsy was here, she recognized when I talked about like the yellow wallpaper, which is a classic horror story from the early early Victorian era.
00:43:06
Speaker
like that There's a lot of stuff that I've played with. Oh, yeah. And definitely like the night rooms with the clip on how each of our characters reacted. Daryl's author character just fell right into recognizing the cliches and not following them.
00:43:28
Speaker
My priest character just kind of walked in faith and actually did not get attacked in the night rooms because he never touched the statues in the statue room. The statue room was probably like, I was really sure he was...
00:43:41
Speaker
if i It was like a pretty hard time that deal with it you were probably going to incur a problem with the statue room. That's why I did not touch them. yeah that's why I don't care if they looked at me funny. I'm not touching them.
00:43:58
Speaker
Yeah, my my writer was far too far too genre savvy. And it ended up getting him kicked out of the night rooms for a bit.
00:44:09
Speaker
Yes. I'm going to get you back You are forced to really give him a ticket. Well, and i I forced myself back into the night rooms because I realized with all of the you know weirdness that was going on, I could... and There was a lot of stuff going on with meta-narrative and things like that so that I was able to write myself back into the night rooms.
00:44:39
Speaker
It's like the idea of especially the Delta green version of the King of yellow is very.
00:44:52
Speaker
Meta textual. And that's part of the horror. It's like, it's not contained to just even its own reality. The narrative is the horror.
00:45:04
Speaker
Yes. And then in the night rooms opening area, there's, forget his name. I think his name was Mark or something. Uh, guy from the 1920s, and like a guy from the 1920s, he had opinions.
00:45:19
Speaker
And I think my character was the only one that was polite to him. so But he would definitely see, like, he is firmly from the and it's like, time seemed to be a factor.
00:45:35
Speaker
Well, it's also, I think I liked him a little bit, because he's that archetype of someone who's too afraid to go forward or back because of what would happen. So he just stays.
00:45:48
Speaker
yeah
Interlude Contributions and Integration
00:45:49
Speaker
Yeah. He just, he stayed where he was. Didn't want to leave the night rooms. He just, the, the welcoming area was kind of a bar. So he just stayed there. Yep. Then want to leave.
00:46:00
Speaker
he and we Nick joke, bathroom in that room. Don't go in that room. Yeah. We had two characters that also didn't accept the concept of the supernatural.
00:46:12
Speaker
The sort of scullies of our X-File team. And they had had they had the worst experience. They were trying to just, like, get out of there.
00:46:27
Speaker
Nope, didn't work. They kept getting stuck in place. the The other thing that the night rooms reminded me of was I kept making... Twin Peaks references.
00:46:39
Speaker
and again that Both in and out of character. i that's it's It's also it's also a reference to Twin Peaks. It was very much like, especially in the original series finale, when Cooper got stuck in the Black Lodge.
00:46:57
Speaker
When Cooper was in the Black Lodge and he would run down one hallway, go through a curtain, and he's back in the hallway. again it And it was doubling back without intending to double back. and A lot of those ideas do go back to Robert Chambers in the late as King and Yellow.
00:47:22
Speaker
He was kind of the presenter of a lot of these ideas. And these have all been sort of like proliferated. and Yes, H.P. Lovecraft...
00:47:35
Speaker
Afed off of those and built a quite deal for more we better, like understanding of that. But it's, it all goes back to that. He is like one of the OGs of like surreal horror.
00:47:51
Speaker
And one of the things that kind of helps Robert and i in doing our interludes is that the characters, the characters,
00:48:05
Speaker
developed a bond sometimes ah intentionally, sometimes circumstantially ah by being in this circumstance together.
00:48:19
Speaker
And so I can see how, yeah like we were saying earlier, if characters didn't make that connection, how it would be easy to jump from Act 1 to Act 2 directly.
00:48:35
Speaker
yeah But our characters who did make those connections. would lack impact. Yeah, it'd like, oh, we're back together again. i haven't seen you in 20 years. But yeah the characters created bonds and friendships that have been growing through the interludes, too.
00:49:02
Speaker
yeah so Part of that is because you did this This will be a... ah Put in the spoiler here. Oh, you you need River Song talking again?
00:49:15
Speaker
Spoilers. Fact one, you don't solve the case. You did solve the case. Nope. But the idea was that you experienced something in incredibly unnatural and that you couldn't solve it. and Very unnatural.
00:49:35
Speaker
And then Delta Green's head like done. Get out of here. Yep. And we of course have those players that are like I'm not going to stop. I'm going to be that guy that keeps this investigation going on the in the back.
00:49:53
Speaker
But there again like in in the actual lore like Delta Green falls apart so you don't even have the ability to like reinvestigate.
00:50:04
Speaker
You don't know what happened. So it's always... But you guys are connected. You know each other. And we've... Through these adventures, we've had... These South African adventures.
00:50:18
Speaker
Yeah, vaovvita but in the back of your mind, it's like... What happened to Operation Alice? Well, and just having those connections... And like I said, Robert and I having ideas...
00:50:32
Speaker
for Delta Green sessions, even if we didn't have ideas for a campaign, led us to doing the interlude. So like, what kind of ideas did you have for yours, Robert?
00:50:43
Speaker
For mine, i went with kind of off topic thing that I saw, I think it's related to like Nepalese Buddhism or something. Yeah. But I decided to go through that and kind of create my own kind of mini campaign that I'm going to plan to do we've already done the first part with the one shot i did in the year i think 1996 and then in the next part you we're actually going to go out of america and i'm going to put them in spain which is going to be fun but it's going to keep building and building until kind of the penultimate climax in here to be like yeah sure the king yells the overarching thing but as we all know in Delta Green, there's not only one cosmic core, there are several and they are not working together. So I decided to create my own kind of cosmic core that they're going to have to delay over time. Yep. Mine is all about extensionism as well.
00:51:46
Speaker
And then my fact is like, I am not going to involve it as well because well as the quote unquote big bad as the one running the campaign, it's like,
00:52:00
Speaker
Regardless if you succeed or fail, like you will not be the the threat. Exactly. The whole thing about the other green is that you're always on the back foot, even if you have government funding.
00:52:13
Speaker
they they could they could see succeed or I could intervene. i haven't decided yet, but like regardless, the real threat is technically the campaign I'm running.
00:52:26
Speaker
Yes. And then there are certain years that Daryl and have been like, okay, we're going to collab like a certain year where so an event happens that we're going to collab on that. Yep.
00:52:37
Speaker
And like, I say that i have intervened a few times with giving small parts, but I and we love that. Yep. And then I had, oh, sorry, go ahead.
00:52:51
Speaker
i was going to say Nick did his own like interlude after act one. Just kind of set the tone and we got to have a fun little thing playing against Slenderman. And we put spoilers here as well, Daryl. Spoilers.
00:53:06
Speaker
The whole interlude is basically what happens if idiots find ancient cosmic magic and just abuse it, not knowing what they're doing. Because Nick lied at the, like the invert of, everyone assumes whoever gets this knows what they're doing. What if they don't?
00:53:20
Speaker
ah yeah that I've always wanted to do that as a as an adventure. It was like... It was a fun interlude.
00:53:32
Speaker
One of bunch of like like like dumb golf kids are like, hey, let's do this. And it is completely fucking up. ah It was fun, because I think both my priest character and Daryl's author character was just like... we were like, that's not how you...
00:53:49
Speaker
No, that's stupid. You're stupid. If it were said years enough later for have been thing, would have been saying, that's not how this works. That's not how any of this works. if it were set years enough later for this to have been a thing we would have been saying that's not how this works that's not how any of this works Pretty much. I was like, you tried to bargain with the devil?
00:54:14
Speaker
That never goes well. You bargained with two different devils, and now the devils are both coming here to and I was like, you idiots.
00:54:26
Speaker
You didn't even make the gold you wanted. yeah That was, um i I love how it was like, like the situation solved itself, but you guys got watch it. It's like, Oh God. Oh man. That went horribly wrong.
00:54:42
Speaker
But they they they did it terms of themselves. And for, for my part, I just, I had this idea
Improvisation Challenges for GMs
00:54:51
Speaker
just thinking about Delta green period that, you know Well, yeah what if Y2K, the problem wasn't necessarily the computers. What if there was some cosmic horror that you the Y2K bug was basically oh an inadvertent ritual to summon some cosmic horror? That was a fun session.
00:55:16
Speaker
Yes, because in Delta Green, they can make math equations cosmic entities. I mean, you nick is already scared on it now i was Nick is already scared enough of Nick of math.
00:55:30
Speaker
Nick and you know X-Files math. so that That was just fun. I also have i have an idea for another one that I don't so much have the idea for the story itself for the session.
00:55:48
Speaker
i have an idea for a twist. that takes place during the session. have to remind you about Renegade 20.
00:56:00
Speaker
Just make sure that you don't do the thing. yeah no, I'm not doing that. Yes, and I found at least... I made a mistake before, that's why they that's why they made a special blurb about me. What were you saying, Robert?
00:56:17
Speaker
I said, when I played my interlude... I actually follow Delta Green's kind of like framework on how to create it, which we all found actually works very well. Cause I think either you, Nick or somebody else was like, how did you set this up? Like it flowed really well. was like, I just use their thing and it works.
00:56:38
Speaker
Because it's actually a pretty well done system. them Yeah. The only thing that I knew was going to happen is like the minute I introduced the the child character, everyone was going to be like, yeah, she's something. cause I was just like, well, I still like it, but I knew you guys were going be jumped like, what's what's wrong with this child?
00:56:57
Speaker
Well, it's because my character's media savvy. Yeah. He's genre savvy. And everyone everyone and everyone seems to see it's so think everyone thinks about something weird about Arya the rabbit.
00:57:14
Speaker
That's because she's evil. She's evil. Very evil. You're all completely wrong. totally sus. mean, I could have made her just an innocent child, but no.
00:57:25
Speaker
she She was the monster at the end. You you didn't want to subvert the expectations? No. yeah Honestly, she didn't she technically didn't do anything. It was all her father, but still...
00:57:39
Speaker
I have an idea for for a twist that will happen. And I just, I need a story to build around that twist. I i need to not be like, you some movie directors and just say the twist is enough.
00:57:55
Speaker
I need to come up with a story that befits that twist and can lead to it and lead out of it to be the rest of the story rather than just saying, hu hu How about that twist? ah hu yeah yeah usually see Something that did change from the original plan for mine was the town I used did have an old like drug smuggling problem. Which you guys really focused on to the point where was like, i that went way further than I thought it would. we way wait we did we we We were looking into that a bit too much. Yeah, and I was just like, and I kind of stoned for it, I like,
00:58:36
Speaker
I didn't plan this far. This was entirely a red herring. that that Unfortunately, the the red herring can be... ah start to run into that Didn't I start to run into that with part one of our Delta Green Gamer Nation Con game? Where we did play test. All of you started going down the drug smuggling route. i I think you were... It was like,
00:59:03
Speaker
Maybe they're doing some ritual to make this town free of drugs. And I'm like, what? Yeah, again I think we're really like, well, drugs have to be involved. There has to be drugs involved.
00:59:16
Speaker
And then we we're like... It was like, tangentially, because he found them at like a a meetings, but... Oh, I just... I just had another idea for a potential oh i got interlude. Oh, we should...
00:59:32
Speaker
Again, we can save this, but like this is be a good time to talk about our arera special game at the convention because there are so many people to do not pick up on.
00:59:48
Speaker
We can do a separate episode on that. We're talking about this campaign. That can be an avenue of a convention later. That's what I'm saying. There are so many people who are like... to went the wrong weather. i I do, you know, I have an idea for another potential interlude or just a Delta Green standalone one-shot that is also kind of another media tie-in.
01:00:18
Speaker
And that is... think that we should... Oh, what do you have? So, what if... saying the Blair Witch Project was a work of fiction was a cover story.
01:00:33
Speaker
Oh, that's a good... Oh!
01:00:36
Speaker
Oh, that's good! And and they've they've even, you know, whoever's covering it up, even, you know, found or made with via plastic surgery lookalikes for the cast to, you know,
01:00:56
Speaker
that That could be fun. ah that's Anyway, back back to the campaign that we're talking about. yeah was what doesn Put that down. Write that down. I want ah i want to explore that. That sounds good. That sounds fun.
01:01:12
Speaker
You can write it down, Nick. Yeah. Well, i mean, you we don't need to write it down. We just recorded it oh yeah But speak going back to running the campaign, what were kind of favorite moments or biggest surprises so far?
01:01:29
Speaker
Biggest surprises was how much you guys... Again, we don't have the whole cast here. But all of your interactions with the night rooms and the ultimate cast...
01:01:50
Speaker
was amazing. Oh yeah, that was a lot of fun. Seeing you see how like the night rooms wasn't just like, oh it's it's spooky and weird, but also like interacting with the night room residents who were kind of like opposites or sort of alternates.
01:02:16
Speaker
The amount of attention that you guys paid to the details. like be Like, this is weird. This is wrong. But also, confronting them during the daytime, etc. it's like You really played Honestly, it was the fact that you guys played it fully as investigators that I loved.
01:02:40
Speaker
Yeah, and I'll say I had Three favorite parts. One was Daryl's character dealing with all the problems in the basement section with the paintings. That was fun. Yeah, watch yeah that was great.
01:02:58
Speaker
Watching Lawrence's character avoid the spider in that weird web room was fun because it was like, it's getting closer, it's getting closer, it's getting closer. And then just a personal favorite for my own character was when that when he dealt with one of those like robotic mannequin things, and he just rolled a really good on-arm combat check, literally he just flipped it and broke it.
01:03:22
Speaker
So we now make the joke that Padre's got hands. Padre's got hands. Honestly, it should have been able to stab me. It should have, but I went first. Honestly, I think my favorite so far is the...
01:03:41
Speaker
the ability that not necessarily knowing even from the pitch that you gave us for the campaign and just, I had the fun idea of coming up with, with a writer as a character, but the way that I've,
01:04:01
Speaker
been able to lean into that aspect of him because there was so much about meta narration meta narrative and things like that in act one that was just a lot of fun for me to play with so that is was maybe because again if you don't know i i'm pretty sure you and I hope you don't know more more about the King in Yellow stuff, but like it, but it is about meta narrative and sort of growing with that.
01:04:40
Speaker
So like, honestly, you sort of leaning into that just instinctually was fascinating. Yeah. Cause I just, I just thought that that was a fun idea for the character. I was like, Hey, you what, what if you take kind of a, a more serious Rick Castle,
01:05:00
Speaker
type of character who it was as research for a book he unintentionally got too close to the real Delta Green and they came to him and like no no no you can't publish that but if you don't publish that we'll let you in not only is that great for Delta Green but also like it is like an incredibly potent counter, graphic story answer but good story engine to wrap into a meta-narrative known as as The King in Yellow. It is
Lessons from Running the Campaign
01:05:46
Speaker
fascinating that I've been trying to work with.
01:05:50
Speaker
I've been happy to work with. I also thought that you If he's a successful writer, which he is, then that allows some resources for him. And it also allows him the freedom to go to any of the locations that we have to go to.
01:06:15
Speaker
you know He doesn't have to worry about you know like a 9-to-5 accounting job or something. Yes. He can just up and go.
01:06:26
Speaker
Yeah, and I made my priest character as he literally works for the Vatican. And the Vatican, I think in real life, has their own like exorcist wing with all the dark artifacts and everything. So I just said, hey, they probably know about the unnatural too. And they kind of ally with Delta Green and other places sometimes. So they lend out their people.
01:06:51
Speaker
Yeah, you don't have to worry. You're always... be part of the narrative. And I want to say that yeah one of the the bullet points that we have for the structure for anatomy of a campaign is things that change from the original plan. I think one of the biggest things that changed from the original plan is us jumping in.
01:07:16
Speaker
Yes. do theludes And that was never the intention. It's like, but welcome. And that, It creates stronger character developments. And I do have means by wits. Like, again, Call of Cthulhu and Delta Queen have instances where characters will perish or be removed from the narrative.
01:07:45
Speaker
I have means by wits to use such characters so they will not be gone. And I have made that clear. that That's not ominous at all, is it?
01:07:59
Speaker
Not ominous. yeah That's not meant to... I've also made sure it is never meant to, like... That's an intent as in terms of the characters that are being played during your sessions.
01:08:15
Speaker
I can bring them back in a way of some type. Now let's... start taking a little peek behind the screen. So what kind of yep prep process do we all go through for these?
01:08:32
Speaker
Nick's probably going to have slightly more intensive prep because he's got to worry about. Yeah. I am printing a lot of material, printing a lot of ah maps, ideas.
01:08:49
Speaker
Actually, I'm Adapted things just have new. New materials I can use with, but. ah In general, I'm still using the same materials to.
01:09:02
Speaker
Create. Great maps and. And images. For future sessions. Alright.
01:09:15
Speaker
Yeah. I'll say for myself, like. Like I guess said already, I look into Delta Green type of thing, how they split everything off between book, case, red herrings, unnatural moments, and kind of build it that way so that once I kind of know, okay, now that we're here, I can jump to here.
01:09:42
Speaker
i also... heard say Sorry, I forgot the cork board. And with the cork board, I also... Printed out my own my own little props here and there, like pictures, portraits.
01:09:57
Speaker
Like, if you guys remember, I brought in that manila folder to be like, here's everything. Figure it out. And at least from what you guys said, it worked pretty well. oh i love bro it great.
01:10:10
Speaker
Yeah. And then the horror moments. I fully admit it, I'm not not really, I don't feel I'm pretty good at simulating horror, but But the unnatural moments, you guys at least reciprocated like it was OK.
01:10:25
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, not to be rude, but.
01:10:34
Speaker
At the source, it's really good with like finding like unique, like descriptive verbs. And for me, I just really like something that makes it feel like really squishy and scary.
01:10:49
Speaker
And for me, I did like I do for most games regardless of system. I knew what my premise was and just kind of built out from there. I didn't so much follow the Delta Green tools because... Not because it didn't necessarily apply, but I felt like putting that Y2K veneer on it kind of...
01:11:20
Speaker
tonally at least, steered away from the cosmic horror that it was underneath. I'd agree. i was I was focusing more on... way better I was focusing more on as we're counting down to midnight, because there was a literal ticking clock yeah that was happening here.
01:11:44
Speaker
um And sometimes that clock ticked backwards. Yes, it did. ah But because there was that literal ticking clock, I was focused more on, okay, what happens if they have or have not done this by 1030?
01:12:06
Speaker
you ten-thirty And that kind of thing. So I was focused more on that than the normal Delta Green structure, whereas my next interlude will probably...
01:12:18
Speaker
be helped a lot by the the Delta Green document because it will be more of a traditional supernatural Delta Green cosmic horror as opposed to we screwed up and when we made this computer system, we we're actually we're accidentally summoning and an Agent One or something. where We're summoning something.
01:12:49
Speaker
But but but you nobody, even those of the few of you who actually remember any of that happening, you don't even know what it really was. You know, the name that it was given within the system. Yep. I think I was crazy at that time, so I don't know.
01:13:09
Speaker
Yes. And even you were like given like a specific government? Government that... You have a name for it.
01:13:21
Speaker
Yep. And and i Robert kind of touched on on this bullet point for one of his, but balancing prep versus improv.
01:13:32
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yes, because in your in your session, there was ah moment where you had to do that because at the power station, Betsy and I just went crazy and broke everything.
01:13:44
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I was like, ugh. I should have known this would happen because who who am i who are our players? I know you all well enough, but that I didn't figure out into a blackout. i was crazy No, I went crazy just with her. I was like, okay, this is somehow hurting these people, so i'm just we need to break everything. what What kind of lessons have we all learned running this this game?
01:14:13
Speaker
Definitely for myself is don't be afraid when something none of us goes somewhere you didn't. None of us would be government agents. Well, that's already a given, but yeah, I mean, I'm sure that I'm on plenty of lists that would prevent that anyway.
01:14:28
Speaker
Yeah. But for mine, it
Campaign Expectations and Player Dedication
01:14:30
Speaker
was just, if they go off, do your best improvise or let them tell the story. And you can be like, Hey, that's interesting. I'll just put that there now. Yeah.
01:14:41
Speaker
I guess we, I guess it's on that, on that same, uh, Same frame, same work. ah We're going to do the Macarena on the nearest computer system.
01:14:55
Speaker
And now let's take a look at where the campaign stands. So, so far, and I'm going to primarily direct this to Nick because you're the one that kicked the whole thing off.
01:15:09
Speaker
So how's the campaign met or exceeded expectations? It's going... Better than anticipated, but not how anticipated. That's a fun way of saying that.
01:15:23
Speaker
Yeah, I'll agree with Nick in saying that we are going towards the grain of what he wanted. Yeah. I have no idea when we are going to reach Act 2.
01:15:36
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, as long as we keep coming up with it. But I am in no way asking you guys to rock it. 2, Act 2.
01:15:48
Speaker
I was about to say, as long as we keep coming up with interlude ideas to fill in the gaps, and you are willing to let us do that, that's great. If we ever reach a point where you say, okay, I really want to get to Act 2 now, all you have to do is let us know, and you know, it's time for Act 2, baby!
01:16:14
Speaker
It hasn't reached that point, but When it does, I'll let you guys know. Because I feel that you guys have at least a couple more seconds in in the bag.
01:16:31
Speaker
So what what advice would you give someone wanting to run Impossible Landscapes itself or a similar campaign? I'll divert to Nick first, since he's actually running the book.
01:16:47
Speaker
That is actually interesting because I've actually seen at least two impossible landscapes and three canceled ones.
01:17:00
Speaker
The idea is like patience. The idea is that this is meant to be a long-term campaign. I would say so, looking at the size of the book.
01:17:11
Speaker
you need it You need to trust your players and you need to To accept. That they are. are going to do. definite Things outside of the campaign. In order to continue their characters.
01:17:30
Speaker
And possibly. Characters will Paris. But there are ways. And means within the actual text. To.
01:17:42
Speaker
Reincorporate. Lost characters. But. You have. If you want to run the full campaign, opinion is like you need dedicated characters.
01:17:55
Speaker
Dedicated players. It's a long-term story. And it is not kind. It is not easy. It's going to test them.
01:18:10
Speaker
Are we dedicated players or are we committed players? As in we should be committed. Daryl? Robert, you are the type of character that is necessary to make it to the end.
01:18:24
Speaker
And that is a, honestly, special class of character the players. Yes, thank you, Nick. And that's what I'm saying. Unlike the Tits' Impossible Landskates,
01:18:41
Speaker
Is a incredible campaign. But it is not. For the faint of heart. And not for the. Easily dissuaded. And you. Have both taken on extra.
01:18:55
Speaker
On your own. Extra extra work to. Help make the campaign better. We try. Yeah we definitely try. So.
01:19:08
Speaker
It's a hard campaign. and
Advice for Running Similar Campaigns
01:19:10
Speaker
And the fact that you are willing to go with me on this campaign journey. I am honored. And it is difficult.
01:19:19
Speaker
How about you, Robert? For me, it kind of goes back to what I believe we said before in another episode is that most core rule books, especially GM rule books, will give you a framework on how you can make your own your own original one shots or sessions.
01:19:39
Speaker
So I would definitely recommend doing it. Even if you don't follow the structure exactly, it can give you an idea on how to frame it, which can then help you on how to run it once you have your characters. And like I said before, don't be afraid if it goes off what you've expected.
01:19:58
Speaker
Simply improvise, work with your party, and get them back to the, or kind flow it to where it still focuses on your main topic, and you'll have a fun time.
01:20:10
Speaker
Yeah, I would say just know and trust your players. And as a player, and trust your GM, because it can be a grueling in terms of of subject matter campaign.
01:20:33
Speaker
But if you're all on the same page and all good with it, it is a lot of fun. it's Because it's very challenging. It's a challenging campaign. It's challenging type of campaign, both to play and to run. But it's been well worth And I'm glad I have ah have two individuals to help me.
01:21:04
Speaker
take
Future Developments and Speculations
01:21:05
Speaker
up some of the smaller parts, because once we get into Act 2, it's going to be really, really heavy.
01:21:18
Speaker
Yes. now Now, without going into spoilers, what are you most excited about going forward with the campaign? How my character and the rest of the characters get their own issues and go insane.
01:21:33
Speaker
I'm kind of looking forward... So, just as as part of my character's backstory... Are you are you talking to about are talking about ah Impossible Landscapes? What do you want to see going forward?
01:21:49
Speaker
Well, I'm talking about... you With my character, as part of his backstory, i had created and actress girlfriend just to be you one of his his touchstones.
01:22:03
Speaker
But the more I've let that percolate in the background, I'm kind of looking forward to how that whole subplot can impact the character going forward.
01:22:23
Speaker
Because we we've already talked that since the time is going to pass... there's going to be, at whether it happens in a session or not, there's going to be a wedding.
01:22:36
Speaker
And he's going to ask Robert's character to officiate. ah But once, know, how is that going to impact? Because you're not supposed to read anybody in on Delta Green.
01:22:54
Speaker
But so far, As far as I can remember, my character is the only one that has any kind of significant other. And you he also he deals with fictional flights of fancy and supernatural things on the daily as his job.
01:23:19
Speaker
So you is he going to be able to read her in? And even if he doesn't say, oh, it's all real, he's like, oh, yeah, I have this idea for a story and relate what just happened. And if so, how is if they find out, how is Delta Green going to react to this?
01:23:45
Speaker
Simply tell her you're in a book club. book club i write the books oh and i i'm also looking forward to getting my combination getting the characters combination bar and bookstore open oh yeah daryl's character really focused on a bookstore in the first act because they staple pages yep yep well no he stapled price tags to the covers And just that will not do. He is my arch nemesis now. And when he went back, that bookstore was gone.
01:24:20
Speaker
Yes, and you it would be interesting with your wife, especially as Nick says, over the time, Delta Green kind of collapses. So there's not really much enforcement during that time. Daryl?
01:24:32
Speaker
Robert? I know what I need to do. do No, that's not ominous at all. Feel free to bully me. Okay, yeah, I mean, that takes the fun out, but... Squirrel!
01:24:46
Speaker
Here,
Community Engagement and Closing Remarks
01:24:47
Speaker
how's that? ah Well, I know what we can say. I mean, we're going to have a nice little grill out to tomorrow for Independence Day, and we're thankful that Nick finally learned that hamburgers and hot dogs need condiments.
01:24:59
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, decide I did. I did the condiments. Now, did you get the chips? Yes. Multiple types of chips.
01:25:12
Speaker
Okay, good. Good. how about fireworks? The city of Addison's going to have that taken care of. We'll get to watch Kaboom Town from Nick's house. I know from having worked on your mind that it's a great view of Kaboom Town.
01:25:27
Speaker
And they they due to the changing of the am my backyard, they completely moved like most of the trees. So we'll get a good view of Kaboom Town for actual times. That's good.
01:25:42
Speaker
That's good. That's good. Wait, wait, am I? Oh, I'm covering you. i so What do you got next? What do you got next? Next, we'll just say head over to HowWeRollGaming.com, your central hub for everything How We Roll Gaming. You'll find details on our current campaigns, including Impossible Landscapes, our full podcast archive, plus quick links to our merch store and all our social channels so you can stay connected wherever you hang out online. And speaking of that merch store, as of July 1st, our latest campaign
01:26:21
Speaker
T-shirt design is up and live inspired by one of my favorite favorite audio clips that I run. They shenanigans once, they'll shenanigan. Yeah. you certain The new shirt says we shenanigans once, we will shenanigan. So head on out there and buy your we will shenanigan T-shirt so that you can also shenanigan at your table.
01:26:49
Speaker
Yes, and if you're looking to support the show directly, the best way is through Patreon at patreon.com slash howweralgaming. We've got membership tiers starting at just $2 a month, with perks ranging from special recognition in our Discord community to on-air credits and exclusive discounts in the merch store so you can get your shenanigans shirt.
01:27:10
Speaker
And while you're supporting us, you can also help the show at no extra cost. By using our drive through RPG affiliate link. When picking up your next tabletop goodies. And finally.
01:27:21
Speaker
We want to hear from you. Got questions. Want us. Topics you want us to see. On the show.
01:27:33
Speaker
Or a. Legendary RPG glory story. You want there. Drop us a podcast. At howryrollgaming.com
01:27:45
Speaker
We read everything, and your message might just end up on the show. so thanks for listening, and remember, however you play, make it legendary, and we'll catch you next time.
01:28:00
Speaker
I'm Daryl. I'm Nick. And I'm Robert. And this is how we roll.
01:28:09
Speaker
This episode of the How We Roll Gaming podcast is copyright 2026, How We Roll Gaming, LLC. All games and associated intellectual properties are copyrighted their respective owners, and How We Roll Gaming makes no claim of ownership by discussing them here.