Game Report: The Grateful (Un)dead

Editor's Note: I run a Drakkenheim 5E campaign every other Thursday; this week, we had some player absences, so I pivoted to teaching the present players my favorite RPG: Delta Green! Drakkenheim recaps will resume in January 2026.

One of the things I enjoy is roleplaying in the actual, real world - with an eldritch horror twist. So, I was excited this week to teach some friends the world of Delta Green, the game where competent professionals try to keep the unnatural out of public view ... usually pay for it with their sanity.

For this session, I used the excellent "Last Things Last" scenario in the (free) QuickStart, "Need to Know." I was the "Handler," (the GM role), and 3 of my Drakkenheim players were the "Agents" (the PC role). Agents play members of the conspiracy "Delta Green," which seeks to keep knowledge of the "Unnatural" out of the public eye.

The premise was simple: a long-serving Program veteran, Clyde Baughman, died suddenly, and his family would arrive within 48 hours. The Agents' charge was to quietly enter his apartment, remove anything that could expose the Program, and figure out whether he stashed sensitive material elsewhere.

The team assembled in Queens, NY under cover identities, each pulled out of their normal lives by a “mundane” message only they’d recognize as an activation. After a briefing from Agent Bojangle, the Agents chose to blend in as building maintenance to avoid drawing attention...which worked, right up until a hyper-curious neighbor (self-appointed “mayor of the hallway,” Mrs. Janowitz ) tried to interrogate them. Agent Dana talked his way through it, learned the deceased’s family details were messy enough to be a risk, and got out without triggering police, building management, or anyone else who enjoys ruining your day.

Inside Baughman's apartment, the vibe was bleak and minimal, except for two things: signs of a personal life he tried to keep at arm’s length, and a hidden paper trail. Agent Doppler's hours-long deep dive through chaotic records revealed something Baughman had been quietly maintaining for years: a remote cabin property in northwest New York State, complete with documentation and coordinates. That was their first clear indication that the “cleanup” was not going to stay in Queens.

After clearing the rest of the sad apartment, the Agents drove north as daylight died, trading exhaustion, coping humor, and that creeping certainty that the woods were going to be worse than the city. On the way, Agent Dana droned on to Agent Doppler about The Grateful Dead and how they've "really gotten better since Gerry passed." [Ed. Note: lies!]

At the cabin, the Agents found a shed stocked with tools and multiple full gasoline cans, plus a conspicuous ground hatch that looked like septic tank access. Inside the cabin itself, the plumbing was deliberately sealed, as if someone wanted the place to appear normal while preventing it from functioning like a normal home. In the living area, a locked olde-timey steam trunk waited like a dare.

The trunk contained the kind of evidence you never want to find, especially when it’s been carefully saved instead of destroyed: old evidence reels, a blood-soaked suit, a banned-looking academic dissertation documenting murders attributed to something inhuman, tear gas grenades, and an ancient iron blade altered with a disturbingly modern human-bone handle. There was also a small pouch of ritual components that made it very clear someone had been doing work that was not “official,” not “safe,” and not “finished.” Paging through the dissertation cost Doppler a bit of composure and gave her a little more understanding of the Unnatural, which is Delta Green’s version of “congrats, your worldview just got worse.”

Then they read Baughman's last will and testament, of sorts.

Then the banging started.

They could hear...it?...inside the septic tank. When they got close, "she" cried out for help. "Please, oh please, let me go. He kept me in here for so long. Please!"

The Agents, keeping their wits and ignoring the pleas, transferred the gas from the shed to a wheelbarrow and readied it to throw into the septic tank as soon as it was open. Agent Darius, the group's firearms expert, twisted the handle.

Upon opening, "Marlene" (Clyde's not-deceased wife) jumped out, naked and animated by some fell sorcery, and tried to rip/claw the Agents. She, unfortunately for this Handler, was no match for the combination of gasoline and a max-damage roll on an MP5. I also rolled a 76 (on a d100) TWICE, 1 percentage point OVER what I had to roll to grab an Agent and throw them into the tank. Not-Marlene was quickly neutralized and burned to a crisp.

All the Agents survived, though they're all strongly considering therapy in the near future.

The players all reported enjoyment with the horror vibes of the system, and expressed interest in playing a longer stint. I am going to try to pitch them a Pulp Cthulhu campaign once Drakkenheim is over.