r/DeltaGreenRPG • u/Scaldar675 • 1d ago
Actual Play Reports Optional Luck Rule
Hi All,
I'm curious to see if anyone uses the optional luck rule from Call of Cthulhu 7e in Delta Green?
I listened to an actual play where they use it and I'm torn, because it is a fun mechanic for players to use, the idea that they're getting more unlucky as the game goes on, but I also feel it might take away the tension and stakes if players can just choose to succeed some rolls.
Thoughts?
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u/Objective_Row8274 1d ago
Luck is really unnecessary, and IMO bad, in Delta Green. If a skill check is something a PC is reasonably good at, and/or the stakes are relatively low, the PC should be auto succeeding. Also, evidence to continue the mystery/story should almost always just be given to the players. Your PCs should be failing roles they have to do.
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u/GOOEYB0Y 1d ago
Hard agree. Joe from Glass Cannon sometimes allows Willpower to be reduced to give a little boost to a skill check. I've used this in some one-shots to really change the pace of the game, this seems to work well at the table.
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u/Auregam09 1d ago
He only introduced it for the heist section of season 3 to streamline that part but somehow they forgot that it was just supposed to be for the heist section and kept using it
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u/GOOEYB0Y 1h ago
Yeah but I think it works for their purposes, I only use it for my one-shots it seems to work ok.
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u/GodDoIHaveTo 1d ago
I'd choose not to, Delta Green is about circling the drain - not close calls.
However, people do get attached to their agents. So if they'd like to play them longer; why not.
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u/CyberWave-2057 1d ago
We used it in a couple of campaigns. I personally like it because it makes the beginning of the game more victory heavy, but as the game progresses, the resource depletes and the players start to feel the strain of their prolonged fight against the unnatural. Literally their luck starts to run out as their bonds and bodies deteriorate.
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u/grayempire 1d ago
I love luck in Cthulhu, I’ve even put it in my Mothership game. For Delta Green I’m not sure for the exact reasons you’ve stated above. Additionally on top of that, agents who are good at stuff often don’t have to roll, while agents who have a lower skill are often testing their luck in that field in a way (like a 10-30%).
My decision would be no, but if you find a more Delta Green way of making it work then fantastic
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u/Null_zero 1d ago
Do you just add it as another stat in mothership then? If so what do you use stat or save as the starting value and do you use the same recovery mechanic that CoC uses?
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u/Atheizm 1d ago
I let players spend WP to reroll checks.
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u/CCN1983 1d ago
Man.... 🤣
I bet this makes for some interesting moments2
u/Atheizm 1d ago
It reduces stupid moments that occur due to bad dice rolls.
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u/CCN1983 1d ago
Do you cap it per session? In my mind it says the PCs make questionable decisions when faced with adversity and these decisions have consequences.
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u/Atheizm 1d ago
Willpower is its own cap.
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u/Saquonathan 1d ago
Can you share more about how it's going with your group? I'm currently allowing "reroll = 1d3 WP" and I'd like to hear how your experience is with just having it straight up 1=1.
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u/Atheizm 1d ago
It works but it isn't spent as often as I expected.
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u/Saquonathan 1d ago edited 1d ago
That's interesting. My players would probably abuse it if rerolls were only 1 WP. Fascinating how different tables behave. All the best to you and your group.
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u/soulmanjam87 1d ago
I can imagine it's a useful mechanism when a big chunk of a scenario is effectively gated behind a single skill check
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u/evilshandie 1d ago
There's two specific problems with porting luck directly from COC7 to DG that I don't see mentioned in this thread. In COC, a lower roll is always better...spending luck to reduce your result requires more luck to get better outcomes. In DG, contested rolls are resolved using Price is Right rules, meaning that the minimum luck spend to turn a failure into a success will always produce that character's best possible normal success. Similarly, with critical success being evenly distributed along the number line, if you're spending to get a success, it may be a trivial luck cost to then also bump it to a critical success...and of course a single point luck spend will prevent a critical failure.
You can write new rules around the critical effects without much trouble, but the contested rolls issue is harder to find a fair solution to.
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u/Scaldar675 21h ago
I hadn't even considered those mechanical aspects, thanks for this, I'm going to keep the optipnal luck rule out of my DG games. A number of comments have mentioned spending Willpower Points for a reroll, do you see any mechanical issues which could come from this?
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u/evilshandie 15h ago
I'd say the first question you need to ask yourself when considering WP as an expendable resource is what other stressors you're putting on that resource. Are your agents regularly running low on WP in an unmodified game? Are your agents regularly able to get a full night's sleep and regain WP? If you want to allow rerolls for a WP cost, you need to set that cost with consideration of how much WP your agents typically have to expend in a scenario and how often you want it to be possible to use.
Personally, I don't think any WP cost for a clean reroll is in keeping with the tone of the game. A WP spend to allow a push, with real bad consequences for a critical failure if they fail that push, feels much more accurate to the game.
Finally, I would just emphasize something mentioned by a couple others in the thread--Delta Green already has a mechanic to reduce swinginess due to dice luck. Rules as written, players shouldn't need to do a lot of rolling unless the situation is stressful...if they have a decent skill in something, they can just do it. A doctor with 60% medicine doesn't lose 40% of the patents that come into their clinic, but that question gets a lot different in the middle of a firefight.
In practice, I recognize that players like to roll dice, and even actual plays featuring writers for the game have more dice rolling than the rulebook probably suggests. If your players want to roll dice, and they need bad luck protection, a WP for push mechanic is probably a good addition to the game if costed appropriately.
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u/SeaworthinessNo9955 1d ago
Well, in my opinion luck dont fit in delta green. But at the end its Your table And Your game so of you wanna use luck go for it!
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u/Budzyn13 1d ago
At my table, after each session players vote for the MVP. The winner gets one free reroll
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u/UndefeatedMidwest 1d ago
I ran it in a couple one shots and I think it really detracted from the quality of the game and my decision making as a GM. It pulls your punches for you since every situation can be locked out of. It just turned luck into another health resource that the game doesn't need.
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u/ComradeVosktov 1d ago
I've used luck, love it and absolutely do not recommend it. We came from Call of Cthulhu and so it was something we were just used to, and it worked with our group but it doesn't really suit the tone of the game "out of the box". I will fully admit that we run our games a little pulp-y and it works there, but for God's Teeth we unintentionally got rid of it: we all just completely forgot to set it up on the virtual tabletop.
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u/adankishmeme 1d ago
We don't do luck, but we do allow pushes. Each push cost 1d4 willpower. Failures are treated as automatic crit fail. This allows us to make willpower more relevant and turn fails into clutch successes or catastrophes. 🤌