In January I ran a jam on the N@TO-Discord. The goal was to create one-page horrors, mysteries or complications that can be easily slotted into an ongoing campaign, all on one page of a Google Doc. This was of course inspired by Dennis Detwiller's Two-Minute Terrors.
The jam got 18 submissions in total, which I would call a great success. All entries can be found in the contest doc. In the following I will go over each submission and share some thoughts.
The Parasitical Sorcerer by blablorb
This is the first of my own entries, in which a sorcerer implants themselves in the mind of one of the Agents. Having an Agent be constantly accompanied by an unnatural entity enables all kinds of shenanigans, so I'm excited to try this out in my own campaign. We'll see how it goes.
Acausality by funnyname
In this entry the Agents realize that some things during their last operation have not happened as they thought they had. This is of course a great source of SAN loss and the entry gives many possible options for what has changed and why. I think it would have been better to focus on one or two things and flesh those out a bit more, even if it makes the one-page horror more situational.
SALTMAN by Chompy
This entry introduces an assassin that is raised from his essential saltes whenever needed and returns to that state after a job. I love this idea and it makes for a great recurring villain. If I would use this guy I would probably have him be associated with the Karotechia instead of MJ-12, since their whole thing is raising the dead. But this is mostly because I'm running a Karotechia campaign at the moment, MJ-12 definitely also works.
"Mr. Jingles can't die" by Tairbaz
An unkillable fictitious character is a very interesting concept. It's very intriguing and not even that dangerous, except for some mild SAN loss. Very fun idea and it has a lot of potential. I would like to see it expanded to a full scenario.
The Grapevine by tampopo
Via rumors an Agent's Bond and a superior learn that the Agent is not where they are supposed to be. A mundane horror that is a bit basic but a good way to get a Bond involved in an operation. And of course there are also possible consequences for the Agent's career, which is something that I have not been using enough in my games. I might use this entry as inspiration for future games.
Hole by blablorb
The last Alphabet Jam had a scenario about an unnatural hole in a research station in Alaska, which reminded me of The Cipher by Kathe Koja. This one-page horror is my own version of a weird hole. I gave the hole SAN restoration properties, which is a bit counterintuitive, but the hope is that this incentivizes the Agents to interact with it.
Dream Interrogation by blablorb
My current campaign (which I have written about here and here) is about Nazis in the Dreamlands. This one-page horror is one way in which they, or other Dreamlands-based antagonists, could utilize their abilities to fight the Agents. So you might see an expanded version of this in a future scenario I am writing.
Melvin the Magnificent by AstroCat
A stage magician with actual magical powers. Melvin is quite harmless, so this is more of a roleplaying encounter and maybe a moral dilemma for the Agents who have to decide what to do with him. This entry trivializes hypergeometry a little, Melvin has surprisingly high SAN if you consider that he must perform his ritual almost daily. He is also missing a disorder. Still, this is a fun idea for a more pulpy game.
Cuckoo, Rewthelees Glotoun by Arbor Day
This entry introduces the Cuckoo, an entity that takes a Bond's place and drains the Agent's WP. I love threats to an Agent's Bonds and this one seems quite nasty. I would just be worried that the Agent doesn't realize that the Cuckoo is taking their WP before it's too late, because there is no way to resist the WP drain. And even when the Agent catches on and confronts the Cuckoo, it is still able to use its ability. I like this concept, but adding some possibilities for the Agent to detect that something is going on would be helpful.
Foreign Body by Hermes King
Some nice body horror in this one: an Agent realizes that a foreign organ has been transplanted into them. The source and the nature of the organ are up to the Handler, but we are given some nice options on possible symptoms. I especially like the one where the Agent starts vomiting things that they haven't even eaten. A great source of horror and you could even provide clues for the ongoing scenario via this.
Legal Problem by Loops Ahoy
Another mundane horror, in this one an Agent's legal problems get worse because their lawyer is blackmailing them. This is a very cool idea and definitely something I would use. I think it would work even better if the lawyer was a recurring character, who at first is really helpful and only after some time starts blackmailing the Agent. Of course this requires that the Agent gets repeatedly into legal trouble, but I think this is a given in Delta Green.
The Shortcut by willowombat
In this one-page horror the Agents summon a Leviathan that transports them over a great distance. This concept feels a bit more high fantasy than horror RPG, but I like large worms, so whatever. Inside the Leviathan the Agents realize they are supernaturally strong and immortal due to same strange ichor. At this point the text makes a lot of strong assumptions on what the Agents do next, e.g. that they decapitate each other or try to collect the ichor. I don't think this is guaranteed to happen at all. I think it would make more sense if there was some sort of danger inside the Leviathan that encourages the Agents to use their strange new powers.
Echoes in Glass by Fargo
In this entry the Agents come into possession of an artifact that stores the consciousness of anyone who touches it. An already stored consciousness is destroyed and the associated "Copy" dies. This is a very cool idea for an artifact and I can see tons of ways in which this situation could develop. My understanding is that the consciousness in the artifact and in the Copy are still linked. It would also be interesting if that wasn't the case and the copy and the original consciousness develop differently. My main criticism of this entry would be that the text is a bit dense. Some sentences are too long and overly complicated.
Remote Workers by Chompy
The Agents have to deal with a person that is convinced their head is completely devoid of a brain, as were the heads of their associates which they just killed. I like this idea a lot, though I don't understand why and how someone could realize this, if they are just a vessel piloted by a Mi-go? The idea is still cool and I would use this in a Mi-go campaign. Convincing an Agent to drill into their own head to check if their brain is still there sounds like a lot of fun.
Unlucky by I.O. Adler
An Agent is more or less forced to adopt a cat that brings them an unnatural amount of luck. I like all these strange but beneficial coincidences that pile up, now that the cat is in the Agent's life, especially those that are good for the Agent but bad for their environment. I would have liked some examples that are more extreme, maybe something that is affecting a Bond.
The Tamagotchi Terror by AstroCat
This entry is a mixture of an artifact and a creature. I like it when technology and the unnatural mix, even if in this case it feels a bit more like an SCP rather than a DG artifact. I like the mechanics that are associated with the artifact, though. Maybe a totemic compulsion would fit better as a disorder, rather than an obsession. But it doesn't matter much.
CARGO by Salazaar
The Agents have to dispose a container filled with bodies of lesser Deep Ones in various stages of their transformation. I like this entry a lot, because it combines various different sources of horror into one neat bundle: violence, monsters and Operation SOMERSAULT. I would definitely use this in a Deep One campaign and I don't think there is anything I would change about it.
I Know You. by Sawyer Hill
In this entry the Agents are led to a wax figure that depicts an abominable combination of their bodies. I read some other scenarios by the same author and noticed that he is very good at horrifying descriptions and body horror. The statue in this one-page horror is no exception. The mechanics if the statue comes alive are a bit boring though, but I think this is mostly due to a shortage of space. If I would use this I would have to give the statue some more interesting abilities.
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