Delta Green for Players

This was originally posted to YouTube in 2025. Now I’ve made it available as a blog post, too. So you can watch or read it, whichever you prefer:

Here’s a really quick reminder of how Delta Green PCs are, well, different.

Delta Green isn’t like most tabletop RPGs. In D&D, for example, player characters virtuously slay obviously evil villains, monsters, and so on in carefully balanced fights. They become more capable, gain marvelous powers, enjoy treasure and wondrous magical items, and accrue glory for all their good deeds.

In Delta Green, the idea isn’t to gain treasure and glory. In fact, there’s no treasure to be had. And if player characters attract any attention to themselves at all, they’ve screwed up — so glory is out. While PCs in Delta Green confront unimaginable evil, they don’t defeat it. At best, they can hold off its inevitable victory for a time, often by resorting to morally dubious tactics along the way. Delta Green characters fight thankless, horrible battles in the shadows for government wages.

So yeah, playing a Delta Green PC isn’t carefree fun — but it is an intensely rewarding roleplaying experience. Here are a few things I keep in mind as I create and play Delta Green characters.

What Drew Your Character to Their Original Career?

While some people characterize the military as being composed of heroes and others think of them as bloodthirsty killers, people join for all kinds of reasons: to get away from home, for adventure, to save for college, because a buddy joined, for structure, because it’s a family tradition, to give back to their country, to put rounds downrange — you name it.

My DEA agent PC Jimmy Cabot joined the Air Force after a year at Harvard, going straight into Pararescue training and selection. His father wanted him to continue the family tradition, go to law school, and become a judge. But Jimmy wanted to be part of a small, tight team doing things only a few people on the planet could do.

What Kept Your Character in That Business?

What moved your character from there unwittingly toward Delta Green? It wasn’t just some chance circumstance. There’s something about this character that Delta Green saw in them. Is it their refusal to give up even under overwhelming odds? Their smarts? Their savvy? Do they have a rare combination of specialized skills? Maybe they have the kind of personality that helps keep a team anchored and calm.

Delta Green saw in Jimmy a self-motivated team player who was cool under stress and comfortable operating in total secrecy.

What Made Your Character Say Yes?

Beyond what brought Delta Green to them, what made your character say yes? What compelled them to dive into this secret world? Not all of an agent’s motivations need to tie directly to Delta Green, but at least some of them will.

Jimmy saw something he couldn’t explain — something that took the lives of some of his comrades and the sanity of others. When eventually he was briefed on what was behind the inexplicable event, he felt he owed it to the buddies he lost. He had to become a part of Delta Green. And he quickly realized Delta Green’s work is as elite as it gets. So it wasn’t even a decision for him, really.

Notice that for Jimmy, it’s not about something abstract like God and Country. It’s about what happened to his close comrades — people he fought alongside, people who had his back when he had theirs. And it’s about that thing inside him that wants to do something special, something out of the public eye but vitally important. For his dad, it’s all about being seen in the spotlight. For Jimmy, it’s about doing what needs to be done in the dark, unrewarded, except by the feeling that he’s doing the right thing.

How Does Exposure to Horror Affect Your Character?

Once your character is part of Delta Green and they start being exposed not just to the awfulness of what they face, but also to the horrible things they sometimes have to do in order to carry out their missions — how does that affect them?

This isn’t something I build out ahead of time. I want to get a feel for the character and stay in the moment as new horrors arise. It’s not about predefining how the character will act. It’s about running events over those motivations and seeing what bubbles up.

Even after seeing what he saw in Pararescue, Jimmy was always cracking jokes, always keeping it light. He was a professional, but he diffused stress by finding a bit of levity even during the worst moments. But as he went on more Delta Green missions and started losing sanity, the anchor loosened. The jokes became less frequent and more forced. At times he’d forget to crack a joke at all. The calm that served him so well in pararescue, and then in the DEA, frayed at the edges. He’d more easily get frustrated by the stupidity of civilians. He’d resort to violence more quickly and more lethally.

What About the PC’s Bonds?

Bonds are more than just point pools. They’re a part of that PC in a very tangible way.

Jimmy respects Judge Cabot, his father — or at least he did. Now that he’s been fighting the most secret of secret wars, his father’s pronouncements about family legacy, about his hopes for higher political office, are just irritants. Nails on a chalkboard, whining irrelevancies. The more he has to burn his bond with his father, the worse this gets.

His sister Jen, on the other hand, is more important to him now than ever before. They had always been tight. But now he has a reason beyond his quest for excellence, beyond his kinship with his teammates, to fight against this encroaching oblivion. He’s got to protect her for as long as he can. When he has to start burning bonds with her, that’s going to be the deepest cut of all. That’s when he’ll start to feel the end coming.

What is the PC’s Relationship to Their Inevitable Demise?

Actually, backing up a bit — how do you as a player feel about it? That’s got to come first.

For me, the point of Delta Green is not to win. It’s actually explicitly set up so you don’t win. You can’t win. The point rather is to find out what happens to your character, to play out the story as they approach oblivion. At the end of it all, what will Jimmy have to give up in order to keep fighting? How long will his luck and his wits keep him going? What’s his breaking point? What of his former self will be left? Ultimately, the arc of his story is discovered through play.

I can’t give you the answers to any of these questions yet — but I’m ready to find them.

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What’s your experience been like as a Delta Green player? How do you think about motivation, about Bonds and Sanity, about how PCs inevitably come to a bad end? Let me know in the comments or in the Setting First Discord.