“Open/Shut”
A straight and narrow path toward catastrophe for
Delta Green: The Roleplaying Game
Written by Brandon & Faith Murphree
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“You can’t always assume intel is good intel.”
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*HD = handler discretion
Introduction
A congregation of novice ‘occultists’ have decided to revive the Great Prophet of their ancestral faith through a ritual possession, imparted by dreams to one of the descendants of the century-dead cult.
The cultists never truly knew what they were doing. What they were opening. What they were finishing. The RITE OF THE SEVEN KEYS is, in truth, a ritual which opens the Gate to the Throne of Azathoth, that Nyarlathotep may finish what he started a century ago and enter our world in full, that he may rule in dominion before his father's Great Awakening. The ritual was broken up by S-Cell right before its conclusion. THE CHILD, Randy, is the final sacrifice; The Gate. His violent death is The Key that opens it. And now he's missing.
This is not the apocalypse Agents are trained to stop… that happened five hours ago. This is the fallout.
- The Rite of the 7 Keys
A fabled ritual that the cult believes will revivify their lost leader. It requires 6 sacrifices in sequence to manifest The Gate into the 7th penultimate sacrifice (Randy). Can be dispelled/countered with the ritual ‘Close the Gate’.
- The Child(Randy)
Has an unnatural aura of murderous intent that bleeds from the gate within him. Agents must roll SAN every in-game hour if within 10ft radius, line of sight, or both: Success = -1 SAN, Failure = -3 SAN.
Reaching BP = Agents succumb to aura and will attempt to murder Randy. Effect lasts 1 hour(requires successful SAN test).
For Agents both within radius and looking at Randy, the effect is the same and not multiplied.
- S-CELL
Outlaws that have been actively monitoring the area prior to players arrival. They intervened during the final sacrifice and are now actively pursuing the child and scrubbing the church of potential evidence. S-Cell is:
- Snow - tired but vigilant, searching the woods.
- Splint - on edge, scrubbing The Old Church.
- Sal - Splint's lover, DEAD.
- THE CULT
The Sons of Sons. The cult itself goes back to the late 1800s, a group led by a powerful occultist that died in the early 1900s. The cult itself was presumed to be snuffed out, but it has clung to life in the oldest of the resident families and they now seek to revive their long dead leader.
- Close The Gate
(using ‘Substantial’ Cost, pg 168 Handler's Guide)
This ritual can be discovered in The Notebook with high Occult, Ritual, and Unnatural skill checks. Agents with moderate skills can roll to pass. The ritual requires the blood of a devoted follower, used to paint the symbol in the notebook onto the Gate(Randy). The symbol must then be washed away by the devotee with the “tears of the mine” (water from the ritual cavern). The aura dissolves and the Gate is sealed. Randy counts as a Devoted.
Setting
A collapsing Appalachian coal town: Briceville, TN was once a booming mining hub with a storied history, now reduced to a nucleus of approximately 300 residents. Abandoned properties and collapsed mining tunnels extend into the wooded hills around the town.
The Briefing
Agents are dispatched to investigate reports of occult activity in the Briceville area. Agents are to confirm genuine occult activity, neutralize any threat, and scrub. Handler should downplay the threat - ‘these guys haven't been a problem in a long time, it should be simple.’
However..
Upon arrival, the town is in chaos; several police officers are overwhelmed, arresting townsfolk - shots were fired, cars idle where they jumped curbs or crashed. Some people in cuffs are feral, screaming about monsters or devils. Others comply, catatonic and confused by what just overcame them. Sheriff Clarke, the town's moral compass, is doing his best.
Investigation - Downtown
- Conflicting accounts of a monster, devil, or child and the spontaneous attempts on its life from otherwise normal folk.
- Multiple abandoned structures and rural hideouts where the boy may be hiding.
- Hints of a ritual site somewhere deep in the woods.
- Possible insight into the town's deep-rooted past of occultism.
- Remarks about missing children - six total, all local boys, all from “old families”, with two families disappearing from town entirely
- Robed figures have been seen around The Old Church, where local teens party and hook up.
- The Child is Randy Aspinwall who before now was a weird, bookish, and overall benign kid.
Investigation - The Child
Everyone who saw him reacted with irrational terror and/or violence, with several attempting to kill him before being restrained. Those restraining others were not immune; they too felt a deep, inexplicable unease about Randy.
He fled into the woods and has been gone for hours.
Investigation - The Woods
- SEARCH; KID
When searching the woods for Randy, every hour one random Agent in the party will roll Search until Randy's found.
Success = located. Consecutive skill check to capture, persuade or pursue.
CritSuccess = Agents get the drop on Randy and capture or dispatch without contest.
Failure = (HD) Agent gets caught in improvised trap set by Snow, or encounters cultist/townsfolk(if any) looking for Randy.
CritFailure = Agents are ambushed by Snow.
The longer Agents take, townsfolk will begin hunting down Randy as the seed of madness grows. Handler rolls Luck when Agents roll:
Success = +1 townsfolk enters the woods.
CritSuccess = townsfolk/cultist encounter
If encountered with Randy, immediately enter combat. Nonhostile to Agents unless provoked or defending Randy.
- SEARCH, CULT
If Agents enter the woods to search for the church, one random agent may roll for luck every hour in game
Success = The Quaint Cabin found
CritSuccess = Randy encountered - will attempt to flee.
- THE QUAINT CABIN
On the trail to the Church rests a sagging two-room homestead. On the porch sits The Old Man in a rocking chair reading from an old leather-bound ‘Bible’. He is tall, mid-80’s, spry, in good health, and very friendly. He’s lived in the woods all his life, & offers them coffee, and advice:
- There were three people who headed north towards the church before the kid ran south: “Not locals. Not clean either.”
- The woods have been “wrong” since last night. He saw a glow in the sky and “heard the earth groan”.
- The cult was thought to have died out in the twenties but never did, they just got quiet when their leader died. They believe this ritual will ‘bring him back’.
He knows far more than he should. He speaks lowly of the cultists; ‘morons, lost souls, confused, useless’. He speaks of God and faith but at no point quotes the Bible or uses any dialogue regarding any specific faith.
The Old Man will regrettably advise the players that they may need to kill Randy. If Randy is with Agents, he makes no attempt to harm him and gives the advice discretely.
IF PLAYERS RETURN TO THE CABIN, The Old Man is gone & the cabin in ruins, reclaimed by what seems to be decades of nature.
The Old Church
A long-forsaken church rotting deep in the hills. Behind its pulpit, a dislodged floor panel leads down into tunnels. Splint is out back burning bodies and scrubbing evidence. Among the dead is Sal, Splint's lover.
- THE CHAMBER
Following a tunnel beneath the church for several minutes leads to the old mines. Deeper still, a path of candles, blood, and footprints leads to a perfectly round cavern with a stalagmite and stalactite that reach towards one another in the perfect center. A vein of thick gold runs a perfect circle along the domed ceiling and a ring of groundwater pools where the stone floor meets the weeping cavern walls. Blood is everywhere. There are no symbols or discernable clues in the cave.
- THE NOTEBOOK
(can be found on Splint or the False Prophet, HD. Impart relevant context as appropriate to passing skill.) A composition notebook filled with an illiterate manifesto of schizo-occult ramblings. Hidden within’ perfectly transcribed excerpts from the fabled Book of Eibon.
- CELL PHONES
(Can be found on any living cultist, or on dead cultists with successful Search.)
Cultists communicate via a free messaging app. The text threads impart multiple references to “Prophet”(their leader) and his revival. They believe Prophet is inside Randy and must be released.
Potential Solutions
- Randy is given to the Program or Outlaws (Clarke) becomes hostile).
- Randy dies in a nonviolent manner.
- Close The Gate is successfully performed.
Potential Consequence (CATACLYSM)
- Randy dies violently.
- Randy is surrendered to Clarke.
The Cataclysm
As reality rips apart, the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the whine of accursed pipes floods Agents’ minds. They’re overcome with unnatural omniscience and a flood of endless knowledge, which burns away nerves and dissolves synapses. As every cell in their bodies incinerates with the fire of knowledge they were never meant to have, a thousand dying souls scream out in unison. Just before they're ripped apart on an atomic level, the echo of that scream warps, and finds them as a name.
A name for what they look upon.
Azathoth.
NPCs
- Agent Snow
Dead behind the eyes, but far from done.
STR 13
CON 10
DEX 10
INT 14
POW 17
CHA 5
HP 12
WP 17
SAN 85
BP 74
GEAR:
Kevlar vest +3 armor, Personal First Aid Kit, Large Flashlight, AR-15 (1 d12 DMG), Glock 20 (1 d12 DMG), shotgun (nonlethal, 1 d6 + STUN), combat knife (1 d6 DMG)
SKILLS: Alertness 60%, Athletics 60%, Firearms 60%, Melee Weapons 50%, Navigate 50%, Search 40%, Unarmed Combat 60%, Survival 60%
- Agent Splint
On the brink of a breakdown, with way too many bullets.
STR 11
CON 12
DEX 15
INT 14
POW 10
CHA 10
HP 11
WP 14
SAN 55
BP 50
GEAR:
Kevlar Vest +3 armor, large flashlight, lockpick kit, S&W model 13 (1 d12 DMG), brass knuckles (1 d4 DMG), tactical hatchet (1 d4 Armor Piercing DMG), Baretta M9 (1 d10 DMG)
SKILLS: Alertness 60%, Athletics 60%, Firearms 60%, Melee Weapons 50%, Navigate 50%, Search 40%, Unarmed Combat 60%, Military Expertise: Interrogation 60%
- Sheriff Clarke
He's basically Dudley Do-Right..until he isn't.
STR 14
CON 12
DEX 10
INT 11
POW 15
CHA 10
HP 13
WP 15
SAN 75
BP 60
GEAR:
Handcuffs, two-way radio, pepper spray, standard issue S&W model 13 (1 d12 DMG), baton (1 d4 DMG), tactical knife (1 d6 DMG), Tazer, pen and notepad
SKILLS: Alertness 60%, Athletics 50%, Firearms 50%, Melee Weapons 70%, Navigate 20%, Search 60%, Unarmed Combat 50%, Forensics 60%
Enemies
- Cultist
STR 12
CON 8
DEX 10
INT 8
POW 10
CHA 10
WEAPONS: Dagger (1 d6 DMG)
SKILLS: Alertness 70%, Athletics 40%, Firearms 50%, Melee Weapons 70%, Navigate 20%, Search 70%, Unarmed Combat 70%.
- Deranged Townsfolk
STR 12
CON 10
DEX 8
INT 8
POW 10
CHA 12
WEAPONS: Melee Weapons(shovel, axe, baseball bat, etc., 1 d4 DMG) or Hunting Rifle (1 d8 DMG)
SKILLS: Alertness 70%, Athletics 50%, Firearms 50%, Melee Weapons 70%, Search 70%, Unarmed Combat 50%.
Credits
Open/Shut was written by Brandon & Faith Murphree for the 2025 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10z1Wba-2lQqpLxagtQ8KCnIbAC-XW6SVXx1nq04zrAw/edit