r/nightattheopera Setpiece Contest

This contest is dedicated to all the lengthy, glorious descriptive text written by Handlers which agents
never got to hear because they went in with guns blazing.

/r/nightattheopera is an open table RPG community that utilizes a living world where Delta Green Agents
and Operations take place in the same linear (or non-linear, non-Euclidean) timeline. This allows Agents
to fully experience the horrors the Delta Green RPG has to offer. For more info, check out the intro page
here or come chat with us in Discord here or the Reddit contest discussion thread here.

What’s a setpiece anyway? A setpiece is a fleshed-out, ready-to-go ‘something’ that you can drop into a
game, or build an ad-hoc game around. For example: An auto salvage yard, which includes a description,
some different areas (an office, the car crusher, the alleys of cars stacked like cordwood, etc.), some NPCs
(the surly owner and his dog, two metal thieves breaking in overnight, etc.) and some suggestions on how
to use the setpiece (rules for crushing cars, stats on the beater tow truck agents might steal from the lot,
etc.)

Contest Rules:
Setpiece contest submissions should contain at a minimum:
● A description of the setpiece (including a map, if applicable)
● Suggested adventure/scenario hooks for the setpiece
● Rules or mechanics to interact with the setpiece
● Statblocks for any NPCs or items which can be encountered at the setpiece

What is not a setpiece? An encounter isn’t a setpiece. This is a fine line, but ultimately ask yourself if
what you’re doing is too niche. If your setpiece is a cultist hideout, have you written it so narrowly that it
only works for one elder god? That feels more like an encounter.

We want these to function as drop-ins that can fit any scenario, or seed any adventure.
- Good: Frank will crush a car, no questions asked, but requires payment in illicit substances.
- Bad: Frank is a member of a Cthulhu-worshiping cult and has the key to the inner sanctum

Voting Anyone who submits a setpiece will be asked to rate five (5) other setpieces based on the simple
scheme below. Non-voting submitters will have their own scores set to zero. Please do not submit if
you’re not up for reading and rating others. There is no limit on the number of entries, but for each entry
you’ll be scoring 5 others so keep that in mind.
Final list of submissions with rank order after judging. For comments, see the bottom of each
setpiece.

Rank Setpiece Name Submitter

1st Coney Island Carpets BurningHeron
2nd Olney Rock Patrick Harkin
3rd (tie) Police Roadblock Jake Cook
3rd (tie) The Beetle Labs Jef Wilkins

5th Federal Agent Counter-Investigation Mellonbread

6th The Gang Goes to Prison Jake Cook
7th Dead Drop Jake Cook
8th There Was a Firefight (Comments Doc) AgentFincher
9th Fire Department Kevin Ham
10th Blade in the Dark Mellonbread
11th Black Stars Brewery Mark Knight
12th Room 218 Michael Keenan
13th (tie) Manuxet Marsh FTZ 299 Michael Daumen
13th (tie) Gator Farm Zomner
15th The Job Offer Dhole
16th The Big Gun Down Mellonbread
Judging: Entries will be judged on the following criteria using a 1-5 scale:
● Originality: does the setpiece rely on published Delta Green material or cliches of the setting?
○ 1 - This setpiece leans heavily on a crutch built of published Delta Green or setting trope
material.
○ 3 - This setpiece features an original concept
○ 5 - This setpiece is full of fresh new material
● Modularity: can the setpiece can be added to a scenario with minimal changes?
○ 1 - This setpiece won’t fit into an existing scenario without heavily rewriting the
scenario.
○ 3 - This setpiece will fit with most scenarios with some adjustments
○ 5 - This setpiece can be dropped into a scenario on the fly with minimal adjustments
● Realism: does the setpiece feel like a living space that could exist the real world?
○ 1 - This setpiece is wildly unrealistic, using it would take a large suspension of disbelief
for players
○ 3 - This setpiece feels realistic
○ 5 - This setpiece oozes realistic, intricate detail
● Eeriness: does the setpiece create an atmosphere of dread and unease?
○ 1 - This setpiece doesn’t capture any Delta Green-esque atmosphere
○ 3 - This setpiece feels like it belongs in the Delta Green universe
○ 5 - This setpiece shouldn’t be read with the lights off.
● Balance: Will the setpiece set players up with an unfair or unfun advantage, or does it undermine
the scenario it’s added too?
○ 1 - This setpiece features something which would heavily, negatively influence a scenario
in which it was used
○ 3 - This setpiece is unlikely to meaningfully distract or add to from the larger scenario
○ 5 - This setpiece notably adds to any scenario it’s placed in

The goal here is to create a cool, free, community resource of setpieces. Depending on volume and quality
of submissions we might combine these into a PDF, but at the very least we’ll provide a list of links like
in the 2018 scenario contest.

Submissions open July 9th to August 20th. Submissions should be shared with elendil004@gmail.com as
a google doc (A copy will be made and retained for the contest). PDF also OK. Deadline is by 2359
ZULU, 20 August, 2018. Voting will commence promptly and be completed by September 3rd. All
submissions will be posted below as they are received.

We’re not offering prizes for this contest. Winners receive bragging rights, and get to see and hear about
how their creations are used throughout future Delta Green operations.

Below is example outline for for a hypothetical setpiece. This isn’t a template you need to follow but may
help you understand the gist.
Franks Big Ol Auto Salvage Yard

● Map
● General Description
○ Approach flavor text
● Areas
○ Crusher
■ Rules for operating alone
■ Rules for getting Frank to crush stuff
○ Front Office
■ Tow Truck w/ rules
■ Locked safe
● Rules for opening safe loud
● Rules for opening safe soft
○ ‘Out back’ in the yard
■ In the event of a shootout
● Rules for use of the crane
● Rules for a junk avalanche
● Notable NPCs
○ Frank
○ Franks dog Frank
○ Hobo who lives outside the chain link fence
● Suggested hooks/encounters
○ Night-time run-in with scrap thieves
○ Frank is crushing something he shouldn’t
○ Frank is being shaken down by someone

But when will I, a prepared handler running an awesome scenario ever need Franks Big Ol Auto
Salvage Yard? No scenario survives first contact with Delta Green agents.

Let’s say your agents decide “hey we need to remove the bad guys ability to move around, how can we
get rid of their car”...isn’t it good that you can flip open to a nearby towing yard and act like you planned
for this?

Let’s say your agents made the cleanest getaway and you’ve still got two hours of session time
left...wouldn’t it be rough if they stumbled into this abandoned salvage yard to cool off and ran into some
scrap thieves?

Let’s say your agents are being tailed by some cowboys and are looking for a place to pull off...and you
just have the perfect place to set up an ambush with some cool environmental rules.

Let’s say your agents express the need for a little extra cash to buy some illegally modified assault rifles
and the token ATF agent is missing...well haven’t you heard about the bounty ol Frank keeps in his safe at
the salvage yard?

Let’s say you are a player, and your regular handler calls the game at the last minute...you can dust this
off, chuck your favorite mythos inspired macguffin into the crusher and have a little side operation, saving
the day.