Shotgun Scenario Review: Jessica's Bodies

This post is the first in a series in which I review fan-written scenarios for  Delta Green. There is a lot of fan content, e.g. there are over 400 shotgun scenarios listed on the Fairfield wiki. I hope these reviews help to spotlight some of the many excellent fan creations. I will concentrate on scenarios that I have run or played in, because sometimes a scenario reads better than it runs, or vice versa.

In this post I'm going to review the Jessica's Bodies by David Tormsen, which was a submission to the 2016 Shotgun Scenario Contest. This review contains spoilers, so don't read further if you want to play in this at some point.

The scenario starts with a strong hook: a skinless body is found, the DNA matches that of Jessica Gerber. The problem is that Jessica should be buried, since she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend three weeks ago. During the investigation the Agents find out that medical student Willie Fox is trying to resurrect Jessica, by transforming other people's bodies into hers with a hypergeometric body warping DNA solution.

Scenarios that combine science and technology with Mythos magic always appeal to me, especially if the combination is done well, like in this case.

There are a lot of clues that could lead the Agents to Fox, mostly in the form of NPCs. However, other things that the Agents are almost certainly going to investigate are not detailed in the scenario. This includes Fox's apartment or the lab where he created his magic DNA solution. Handlers that want to run this should prepare some things ahead of time, e.g. a notebook with details on Fox's research, things that show his obsession with Jessica, etc.

There are also not a lot of clues that could lead to the current location of Fox, to his next target, or to the cabin at the lake where he will try to hide. However, those clues are easy to add or improvise.

This scenario is not particularly dangerous for the Agents. If Fox manages to inject the DNA solution into one of them it means insta-death, but for that he would first have to succeed his attack roll and the Agent has to fail their Dodge or Fight Back roll. Since Fox is not a trained fighter this outcome is pretty unlikely. Of course the Handler can change this by making Fox more capable, or make it less dangerous by having the transformation only happen on a failed CONx5 check.

Overall, this is a great scenario with a strong hook and a solid investigation. It requires some light tweaking and prep (or good improv skills), but nothing too serious. I had a lot of fun running this and can recommend it.