Arc Dream Publishing previews two upcoming scenarios for the Delta Green RPG, Fantasy Flight Games previews scenarios for Arkham Files games, and shares info about Arkham nights 2019. Welcome to another, Arkham news-round up. I'm your host, Nate and in this series I highlight news, product releases, and major community events within the Cthulhu gaming world from the previous month.

Starting off with Arc Dream Publishing, the folks behind the Delta Green RPG, announced 2 new scenarios for the previously mentioned, Delta Green. To briefly summarize for those unaware, Delta Green is a modern day investigation game where players take on the roles of Agents for a secret, undercover, and unsanctioned government organization to track down and neutralize threats of the Mythos, which the game dubs as “The Unnatural”. The first scenario, “Ex Oblivione”, sees agents investigating a gruesome crime in the haunted desert.

“The past is bloody teeth…which still hunger. Something evil has stirred in a tiny desert town. It haunts the area like the thin clouds which taint the sky each morning, turning the sun blood red. Sometimes, it is thick and choking. Other times, it’s a skein so barely there it’s easy to forget it exists at all. It holds the people in check. Only black flattop and sun devils wait for them, each and
every day. But few ever leave. And the evil around them can no longer be denied. A gruesome crime draws Delta Green to the haunted desert. Bodies have been ritualistically mutilated. Bizarre words carved into the drywall speak to the insanity of the killer—and, to Delta Green, the urgency of the investigation: HOME DAGON HOME HOME YHANTHLEI SEA TO THE SEA.

“Ex Oblivione” is a complete scenario for Delta Green, the role-playing game of Lovecraftian horror and conspiracy. It is playable with the full rules in the Agent’s Handbook, or the quickstart rules in Delta Green: Need to Know (pay what you want at DriveThruRPG.com), available from Arc Dream Publishing. Ex Oblivione” is coming in September in PDF and paperback.”

Taking it's name from a short story written by Lovecraft, this scenario as of the recording of the this video has been delayed a bit. According to a Reddit post made by Rachel Ivey, Arc Dreams Director of marketing, it might be “A little longer”. Patience is a virtue after all...

The second scenario, “Hourglass” begins with a video of a woman in a small-town park suddenly vanishing, screaming in pain.

“In an Internet video, already viral, a middle-aged, dark-haired, harried-looking woman stands on a park bench in a small-town park. She is crying and shouting at a handful of befuddled people. She says they live with a place that does awful things. They accept it into their community. They take its money. And it takes women and children. “It takes them and it—it—”

Suddenly she vanishes, screaming in agony. The handful of people in the crowd scream in fright and recoil. The young man holding the phone shouts, “Whoa!” He turns the camera toward himself, a white teenager, and says to the camera, “You see that shit? What the fuck!” The camera jostles and the video stops. 

The Agents are in a secure meeting room in the FBI offices in Portland, Oregon. Their case officer turns off the video screen and gives the rest of their briefing. It is 10:00 A.M. on a Thursday.

Delta Green: Hourglass is a new scenario for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game. We expect it to come out in October or November 2019 in PDF and paperback. “

The premise of Hourglass has me very intrigued. Initial playtesters for the scenario held it in high regard, many finding the story enticing and well fleshed out. I think it's safe to say that this scenario will see it's release in November, rather than October, given the delay on Ex Oblivione. In other news, Arc Dream Publishing also published their King in Yellow panel from NecronomiCon back in late August. If you haven't already, be sure to give that a listen.

In the same vein as Arc Dream, Fantasy Flight Games also previewed three scenarios for upcoming expansions to the Arkham Files games. Starting with “Silence of Tsathoggua” ,the second scenario included in the now available “Dead of Night” expansion for Arkham Horror 3rd edition. This scenario begins with as:

“The nights of Arkham are stretching to unnatural lengths and its citizens are lapsing into torpid sleep. Even in daylight, the city is muted and dull, the sun never fully cresting the unknown mountains on the horizon. The moon never sets, and at times casts a greenish hue, revealing unfamiliar stone buildings and rocky alien promontories, as though the landscape of Arkham overlaps some other place. Even worse, strange creatures are seen on the prowl – shapeless black monstrosities and flying clawed humanoids haunt the dark streets of Arkham.

Can your investigators unravel the mystery surrounding the dead of night before unknowable evil devours Arkham while it's lulled into a never-ending slumber?”

Looking at the map set up, the vertical layout of Arkham may throw a wrench in unprepared investigators plans, with only one way in, or out of Northside. Worse, the city is overrun with Mi-Go such as the Grasping Fungus, and the downright terrifying, Cerebral Extractor. Shudders... I don't want to know what's in the “Mi-go Braincase”, do I? Dead of Night is now available wherever you get your games.

Stepping in to the Mansions of Madnress, The second preview I wanted to highlight is for the “Lost temple of Yig” scenario for the soon to be released “Path of the Serpent expansion for Mansions.

“In ancients halls of stone, serpent priests attempt to reforge their broken bonds with their god, Yig. Their success could herald the end of humanity, unless you can pass the mysterious trails of the temple and put a stop to their nefarious plot first.”

Lost temple of Yig sports a difficulty rating of 5, and can be played in about roughly two hours. Keeping in line with the perceived difficulty of previous Arkham Files games set in the Jungle, looking at you TFA, This scenario introduces a new Rubble token, which prevents the players caught underneath it from performing various actions until they clear the rubble away. Rubble isn't the only new twist thrown into the mix, Locations are randomly drawn from a pool rather than being pre-built alternate maps, adding extra replayability. I always enjoy a good pulp adventure through the jungle, and I'm sure this take will be up to par. The path of the serpent expansion for Mansions of Madness is due by the end of the year 2019.

The last scenario for an Arkham Files game I want to highlight this month is “A thousand shapes of horror” the second Mythos pack, and scenario 2-b of the dream eaters campaign for the Arkham LCG. For those unfamiliar, rather than a typical 8 part campaign like Dunwich or previously mentioned Forgotten Age, the new Dream Eaters campaign is split into 2, 4 part campaigns that can be played individually, or interwoven to form a larger narrative. Taking inspiration from Lovecraft's “The unnameable”, this scenario sees the investigators searching a long abandoned house for a way to enter the Dreamlands with their physical bodies to hopefully stop the two worlds from merging. You would think from the last creepy house they entered up on the French Hill that the investigators would learn to NOT enter old creepy houses but hey, that's just me.

Continuing their recent trend, FFG is offering four, 5x7 art prints for those who pre-order this product on their website. The article also spoils a few of the player cards included in this Mythos Pack, Otherworld Codex, a new tome for Seekers that lets them search the top nine cards of encounter deck for a copy of a non-elite enemy in play and discard it. Ethereal Form gives mystics a new means of evade enemies and introduces the “Ethereal” keyword. “Let god sort them out” gives Rogues a bunch of hoops to jump through to gain an extra VP and Versatile lets any investigator add 5 more cards to their deck, one of which can be from ANY OTHER class. A thousand shapes of horror is likely to be released before the new year, my guess is around the end of November, based on the release of the Dream Eaters at the end of September.

In other News, Arkham Nights 2019 has been officially announced! This celebration of madness and horror occurs annually at FFG's gaming center in Roseville, MN. From October 11-13th, attendees will have the chance to play upcoming Arkham Files products, potentially take part in designing a card for the Arkham LCG, and walk away with some really cool swag. Tickets are still available, so if you're interested in attending be sure to follow the link down below. I unfortunately won't be making it this year because I'll at another event later that month.

Arkham Beneath the waves. Hosted by fellow Co-host of the Great Old Ones Gaming, Nathan Early. Beneath the Waves is a day long event dedicated to the Arkham LCG, being held at Guardian Games in Portland, Oregon October 27th. Details for the event can be found on the Great Old Ones website along with the event page on Facebook! Hope to see you there!

Which upcoming product sparks your interest the most? Are you attending either Arkham Nights or Beneath the waves? Was their any important news I missed you feel is worth sharing? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments down below. That's gonna do it for this Month's Arkham News round-up, I've been your host Nate, and I'll see you all the next time you're, lost in time and space…