A Conjunction of Conspiracies

For many, their first expose to the world of Lovecraftian investigative horror and conspiracy that is Delta Green would have been the scenario, Puppet Shows and Shadow Plays, which appeared in the Delta Green sourcebook published for use with Call of Cthulhu by Pagan Publishing in 1997. However, it was not the first scenario for the Delta Green. That was Convergence and if On the Trail of the Loathsome Slime is not only one of the most important scenarios ever to be published for Call of Cthulhu and certainly the one with the best ever title, then Convergence is certainly its equal, in importance, if not the humour of its title. On the Trail of the Loathsome Slime, published in 1983 by Games Workshop, based on the article, ‘Cthulhu Now! - Call of Cthulhu in the 1980s’ which appeared in White Dwarf #42 (June 1983), followed by ‘Cthulhu Now! - Part 2: Mini-Scenario outlines for Call of Cthulhu in the 1980s’ in the next issue, introduced the concept of roleplaying in the modern day for Call of Cthulhu. Up until that point, scenarios and campaigns had been set in the Jazz Age of the Roaring Twenties. With On the Trail of the Loathsome Slime, players could have their Investigators encounter the Cthulhu Mythos in the world that they were familiar with, that is, their then here and now. If On the Trail of the Loathsome Slime updated Call of Cthulhu, then Convergence not only updated it by another decade, but it also introduced both an entirely new way of playing it and an entirely new reason to play it. In introducing Delta Green, what Convergence did was give a reason why the Player Characters are investigating the Mythos, that they are both investigating and covering up evidence of the Mythos.

Convergence, though, was not widely available when first published. This was in the pages of The Unspeakable Oath, Issue 7, published in the Autumn of 1992 by Pagan Publishing. Originally published for Call of Cthulhu, Fifth Edition, Arc Dream Publishing [has since updated the scenario for use with Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game The scenario begins in September 1996, after the FBI and Georgia state troopers arrest Billy Ray Spivey, a teenager who has been on a strangely reluctant rampage, robbing gas stations and killing an attendant with punch, in pain, and fleeing his family after killing his father. Medical analysis of the teenager reveals that the muscles in his arms and legs have been entirely replaced with a strange tissue that mimics human muscle, but possesses non-human characteristics, and his arms and legs are covered with microscopic scars. This occurred after he disappeared for two days some nine days ago. The contact for the Agents—as the Player Characters in Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game—assigns them to travel to Spivey’s hometown of Groversville, Tennessee, investigate what happened to him and find out who or what performed the surgery on him.

The Player Characters are Federal Agents, but for this operation go undercover conducting an investigation into Spivey’s drug connections. Their investigation should be as low key as the town is sleepy and quiet, there being an air of melancholy to the place. In the course of their investigation, the Agents will discover classic signs of UFO activity—signs of abductions, cattle mutilation, and more… Then, Convergence really puts the knife in. The Agents are given a means of detecting the cause of Spivey’s condition and it is everywhere… If that is not enough, Convergence takes a firm grip of the handle of the knife and gives it a hard twist or two. Not only are the Agents being monitored—not once, but thrice over, by agents inhuman and agents, and cowboy media ready to put them under the spotlight. In both ways, Convergence quickly amplifies its horror and the horror in which the Agents find themselves in. It serves this up in a couple of really great set-pieces, one of which will put the players off from going into motel bathrooms for life! There really some scenes in the scenario which are going to make the players go, “Oh shit!” This is an indication of the quality of the writing, combined with the quality of the ideas underlying Delta Green. Ultimately, the play of Convergence boils down to two things. One is surviving. The other is surviving and conducting a successful cover up of the convention. Both are incredibly challenging and there is high chance of a total party kill in the scenario.

If there is an issue with Convergence it is the television series, The X-Files. Both the setting of Delta Green and The X-Files deal with similar subjects and feel similar. However, Delta Green predates The X-Files, but nevertheless, Convergence very feels like an episode of the television series. A very nasty episode. Any player who goes into the scenario thinking that it was going to be like the television series would have received a big shock.

Physically, Convergence is superbly presented in the standard style for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game. The artwork is also great, as you would expect from Dennis Detwiller.

Convergence is short, no surprise given its original appearance as a scenario in a semi-professional magazine. But it packs a punch—quite literally. Convergence was a great introduction to the conspiratorial world of Delta Green in 1992, establishing the pattern for Delta Green operations and scenarios for decades to come. It is still a horrifyingly scary three decades on…