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Friday, February 22

Chapter 2: Lethal Legacy - Introduction

This scenario, “Lethal Legacy,” is from the Call of Cthulhu supplement, “Last Rites,” by Ian Winterton. You can read more about Delta Green at http://www.delta-green.com. Please note: This story hour contains spoilers!

Our cast of characters includes:

• Game Master: Michael Tresca
• Joseph “Archive” Fontaine (Dedicated Hero) played by Joe Lalumia
• Jim “Jim-Bean” Baxter (Charismatic Hero) played by Jeremy Ortiz
• Hank “Guppy” Gupta (Smart Hero) played by Joseph Tresca
• Kurtis “Hammer” Grange (Fast Hero) played by George Webster
• Jake “Blade” Iron Shirt (Strong Hero) played by Matt Hammer

This scenario was played right after The End of Paradise and was considered by the group to be the more interesting of the two. My suspicion is that this is because the scenario involved a combination of investigation and combat, with an alien opponent that had unknown capabilities. I was able to slowly introduce each of the creature’s powers, giving the PCs a rising dread as to what was to come.

And of course, I had plenty of NPCs to mess with, a whole family of gun nuts. I used Jack Nicholson’s performance as Melvin Udall in As Good As It Gets as the template for Randy Kalms in this scenario to spice him up a bit. The rest of the family was largely in the background…except the youngest, Luke. I’ve learned in horror that going after the weak link really makes the group feel vulnerable, even if it’s not “one of their own.”

An important part of The End of Paradise established that a foster home was actually raising cultists. Here, Randy Kalms lays out the entire campaign in one breath. It’s not all factually accurate (I’m not going to give ALL my secrets away in one fell swoop!) but it’s a good start and provides a framework for a conspiracy (Majestic-12) vs. a conspiracy (cultists across America). And two members of the cult conspiracy are about to start an all-out turf war.

Although the first scenario was creepier in tone, this one was much more freeform with moments that ended up being disturbing only because that’s how they played out. When you have a dimensional shambler with levels in telepath, you’d be surprised what you can pull off…

Defining Moment: The defining moment in this scenario is when Guppy, who was talking to the rest of the team, slowly turned around to see the dimensional shambler looming over him through the window. I showed the players a picture from the scenario and it totally freaked them out.

Relevant Media

• Last Rites: The source of the adventure, "Lethal Legacy."
• As Good As It Gets: Jack Nicholson's misanthropic author, Melvin, is the inspiration for Randy Kalms.
• Miskatonic University: Everything you ever wanted to know about Miskatonic University.
• Yuggoth Cultures: Contains Alan Moore's Yuggoth Creatures, which is in turn the book that Randy Kalms was writing that would have given all the mythos away. Of course, in this story it's actually Mary Kalms who experiences much of the happenings referenced in the book, and Randy merely fictionalized it. This is a fantastic comic for fans of Lovecraft.
• Burning Down the House: by Talking Heads.
• Fear: My inspiration for how a family reacts in a remote, fortified cabin under assault by an outsider.

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Labels: d20 modern

posted by Mike Tresca at 8:01 AM

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