Out of Time

Scenario

Out of Time

Inspired by The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Tagline: 3 time travellers are loose in NYC – go catch them!

Work Count: 1499

Handler’s Summary

March Technologies “invented” a working time machine! Actually, they found the FUTURE MEN’s, eliminated them, and stole it: the Gate. They’ve spun up a subsidiary, Chronon, and are testing their toy by pulling people known to have died out of history beforehand to see what happens to them. Turns out the temporally displaced (Temps) manifested related powers (Unwhere and Unwhat; see: Stat Block), didn’t like being experimented on, and escaped.

Now three Temps are loose in NYC: plotting to get home, at loose ends, and living their best life, respectively. One of the Temps pings Delta Green’s alerts: the Agents are sent to investigate. They can capture or eliminate the Temps, leaving Chronon and the FUTURE MEN free to continue their temporal shenanigans; or work with the Temps to find and destroy the Gate – maybe after sending them home first.

The Temps

Bridget Bishop:

• Free spirit, suspected of being a witch, executed during the salem trials in 1692
• Loving bohemian Brooklyn: the clubs, the clothes, the comely wenches
• Does not want to go back.

Amariah Brigham

• Renowned psychiatrist, killed by a patient in 1843
• Fascinated by the modern world, yet feels out of place
• Ambivalent about going back

William Drummond

• US Army Captain, war hero, died in Italy in 1945
• Default leader, feels responsible the other Temps
• Needs to get back to his men

Caesar †

• Emancipated slave, killed during the New York Slave “Insurection” of 1741 vivisected by a Chronon scientist in 2025

Timeline

Amariah was caught on video in the morning; the Agents begin their investigation in the afternoon. Amariah’s experience steps up Drummond’s timeline (“we leave tomorrow”); if he gets wind of the Agents’ pursuit, he rushes the Gate (“it’s now or never!”).

The Gate

Showed up in a modest 2-story Warehouse  on the outskirts of Queens, NYC; Chronon is studying it in situ, hasn't figured out how to move it.

The Gate belongs to the FUTURE MEN: human descendants from a post-climate-apocalypse future. They came back to our time on a Mission to destabilize the world economy through targeted assassinations, economic destabilization, and eco terrorism – but were discovered by March Tech (T-Radiation Counter) and neutralized.

Opposition

One FUTURE MAN was able to come through the gate undetected when Ceasar died. He must eliminate the Temps (or send them back) to bring more FUTURE MEN through the gate and complete the Mission (See: Resolution). He can detect when the Temps use their powers, and shows up when it's least/most convenient…

Chronon’s  Gate facility staff, including:

• Dr. Niles Winslow, lead scientist (knows how to work the Gate)
• 6 Breckenridge security officers (half at the facility, half out looking for the Temps)
• 4 techs

Agents’ Briefing

Agents are called in for a 2pm briefing at the Federal Building in Manhattan. Delta Green received word from a Friendly at the NYPL about an altercation at 10am this morning. The Case Officer shows them security camera footage of a man talking to security guards, panicking, running away, and phasing through a wall (Unwhat) to make his escape (SAN Loss: 0/1). His face didn’t ping on any Federal databases. The Agents are to  determine whether he represents an unnatural incursion; and, if so, stop it.

If the Agents are Program and brief their Case Officer on the nature of the Temps during the Op, word gets back to March Tech: they are contacted 1d4 hours later with specific orders to bring them in.

In the Field

The Library

Ms. Cho’s grade 7 class was on a field trip to the NYPL when she was accosted by a stranger (Amariah). She reported him to security as a nuisance; when questioned by the guards, he fled per above.

Security camera footage shows him wandering through the building beforehand:

• Search/Criminology: he shows up on noticeable cameras, but not on more discreet ones (Unwhere).
• Alertness: he’s carrying a reusable Greenpoint Grocery bag.
• History: his clothes are modern, but the styling is… anachronistic?

The guards don’t know why he ran. He seemed nervous when confronted, talked funny, kept saying he “bore (Cho) no ill will” and referring to them as “fellows”. They have Cho’s contact details.

Cho admits he seemed harmless, just weird; chided her for “making the children engage in mental labour, and not in gaiety and amusements as was appropriate.” Medicine or History trace his words to a book written by Brigham, Amariah. Pub: 1845.

FUTURE MAN could be lurking, but will take no action.

Finding Amariah

Amariah headed east on foot. Search to learn this by talking to an unhoused guy who saw him; Alertness to notice security cameras everywhere; Persuade to access – either way, Agents lose him crossing 5th Avenue.

Law or Bureaucracy to access to NYPD’s city-wide CCTV network: again, he doesn’t show up consistently, but Computer Science or SIGINT tracks Amariah to within a 2-block radius of the Apartment in the neighbourhood of Greenpoint in Brooklyn.

There’s only one Greenpoint Grocery in NYC.

Greenpoint

The clerk at the Health Clinic remembers Amariah – he filled out a volunteer form, including his DoB (1798!) but no address.

The barista at Sweeties Coffee won’t know Amariah, but asking about anachronistic people causes her to recall Drummond – cute, old fashioned type; kept calling her ma’am – and Bridget – she’s great; they did a TikTok: “$hit pilgrims say”. Doesn’t know where she lives, but Persuade learns they’re meeting at House of X tonight.

Greenpoint Grocery is chaotic, the cashiers frazzled; things have been hectic since the manager suddenly announced she was riding her bike to Mexico 2 weeks ago (Bridget used Geasa on her). They can provide her address (the Apartment).

Everyone loves Bridget at House of X, a nearby LGBTQ+ bar (LE types may stand out). Doors open at 9pm; she arrives around 10pm. If Agents talk to the staff, they warn her: if confronted aggressively she runs, using her powers as needed (possibly drawing the FUTURE MAN), heading back to the apartment.

The Apartment

The Temps live in a brownstone walkup, recently vacated by the manager of Uptown Grocery. They retreat here if confronted:

• Amariah is in bed, calming his nerves. His room is full of books: history, philosophy, medicine.
• Bridget is out (evening), returns after the bar (night), soused. Her bedroom is messy; her “mouser” gets underfoot, meowing for food.
• Drummond is in, watching over Amariah and planning (evening); out, surveilling the warehouse or taking the other Temps to the Gate (night). His bedroom is ship-shape.
• There’s a Colt M1911 in his dresser
• On his desk, a map of Queens with the Warehouse circled, notes from his surveillance: staff, schedules, movement patterns, security camera locations, cellar entrance.

If the Agents aren’t hostile, the Temps explain their predicament and ask for help. Drummond has thoughts on how to get to the Gate.

The Warehouse

3 floors: the cellar is half full of stored equipment; 1st floor contains rooms where the Temps were housed; top floor has Chronon’s office, lab, and the Gate: a free-standing rectangular metal frame with weird control panel, its interior rhythmically pulsing with black “light” (0/1 SAN).

The front entrance is a reinforced security door with a biometric scanner (any Chronon staff’s eyeball works); windows are barred; Athletics to climb to the roof; Search: the  cellar door is normal but locked (Strength – or a Temp can Unwhat and open it from inside).

On site:

• Day: Dr. Winslow, 4 techs, 3 security
• Night: research staff go home (Stealth to follow them); 3 security
• 3 more security are always 15 minutes away

The office computers contain everything Chronon has learned about time travel: In English. Study time: months. Physics +20%, Unnatural +4%, SAN -1d4.

Resolution

Use the Gate – Math, Physics, or Craft (microelectronics) @ -40% to operate it; make the Scientist do it; or Bridget uses the Open Gate ritual – to send Drummond and Amariah home; Persuade @ -20% to convince Bridget to go back, too. 0/1d4 SAN to see it in action for the first time; 1D4 SAN and WP to go through.

+1 SAN / Temp for whatever seems like a successful resolution to the Agents: sending them home, recruiting them, helping them disappear, delivering them to March Tech the Program, etc.; -1 SAN / Temp (Helplessness) for Agents with a different definition of success.

Destroying the Gate (blow it up, smash the control panel, etc.): +1d3 SAN

Drummond and Bridget (know they) are going back to their deaths, but Chronon screwed up: Amariah didn’t die in 1843. If he doesn’t get back, he never helps found the American Psychiatric Association, setting the field back 20 years. All players lose 1d8 from Psychotherapy and roll Luck: lowest roll loses 1d6 from a bond who suddenly always had a mental illness as a result.

Defeating FUTURE MAN: +1d3 SAN

If the Temps are killed or sent back but the Gate is not destroyed, FUTURE MAN brings his buddies through to complete the Mission. Learning about their successful campaign on the news after seeing one in action: -1d6 SAN (Helplessness)

Warehouse Map

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Stat Blocks

NPCs

Ms. Bridget Bishop – 29 y/o witch from 17th Century Salem

STR 8, CON 11, DEX 12, INT 11, POW 15, CHA 17, HP 9, WP 17, SAN 33

MOTIVATIONS

• Live, laugh, love
• Don’t go back

DISORDERS AND ADAPTATIONS: Encavmaphobia (fear of getting burned [alive at the stake])

SKILLS: HUMINT 50%, Occult 50%, Persuade 50%, Unnatural 20%

RITUALS: Geasa, Open Gate, Prayer to the Dark Man

ATTACKS:

• Run, cower, or take cover 40% (non-combatant)

POWERS:

• Unwhat: become incorporeal for 1d4 rounds, 1 SAN to use, 0/1d4 SAN to witness
• Unwhere: become intentionally undetectable to electronic equipment for 1d4 rounds, 1 SAN to use, 0/1 SAN to witness

Looks like: 5 foot nothing, a Botticelli painting come to life – but with blue hair and piercings

Stuff she might say: “Good ‘morrow to you” “Huzzah!” “Fare thee well” “Surly fellow, what dost thou want of me” “Remove thy shift” “Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?”

Dr. Amariah Brigham – 45 y/o psychiatrist from 19th Century Boston

STR 9, CON 11, DEX 10, INT 16, POW 13, CHA 12, HP 10, WP 11, SAN 55

MOTIVATIONS

• Understand this strange new world
• Help people

SKILLS: First Aid 50%, Medicine 50%, Surgery 50%, Psychotherapy 40%

ATTACKS:

• Run, cower, or take cover 40% (non-combatant)

POWERS:

• Unwhat: become incorporeal for 1d4 rounds, 1 SAN to use, 0/1d4 SAN to witness
• Unwhere: become intentionally undetectable to electronic equipment for 1d4 rounds, 1 SAN to use, 0/1 SAN to witness

Looks like: A scholar and a gentleman; the very model of a(n early) modern psychiatrist

Stuff he might say: “​​The influence which the exercise of the intellectual faculties has upon the health, growth, and proper development of the body, ought to be a subject of inquiry to every rational being.”

Cpt. William Drummond – 25 y/o infantry officer from Montana serving in WW2

STR 12, CON, 12 DEX 13, INT 10, POW, 12 CHA, 12, HP 12, WP 12, SAN 40

MOTIVATIONS:

• Protect his friends
• Get back to his men

DISORDERS AND ADAPTATIONS: Violence

SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Athletics 50 %, Firearms 50 %, HUMINT 30 %, Military Science (Land) 40%, Unarmed Combat 50 %.

ATTACKS:

• 1911 pistol 50%, damage 1D10
• Unarmed 50%, damage 1D3

POWERS:

• Unwhat: become incorporeal for 1d4 rounds, 1 SAN to use, 0/1d4 SAN to witness
• Unwhere: become intentionally undetectable to electronic equipment for 1d4 rounds, 1 SAN to use, 0/1 SAN to witness

Looks like: Crew cut, square jaw; a god-damned American hero

Stuff he might say: “Situation Normal All F***ed Up" “Yes ma’am” “Jeepers, that’s a hummdinger” “Nice jalopy” “Don’t be such a dope”

Dr. Niles Winslow  – Chronon Lead Scientist

STR 7,  CON 9,  DEX 10,  INT 15,  POW 15,  CHA 7, HP 8,  WP 15,  SAN 49

DISORDERS AND ADAPTATIONS: Adapted to violence, Obsession: understand time travel

SKILLS: Bureaucracy 43%, Computer Science 88%, Science (Computer Engineering) 81%, Science (Mathematics) 73%

ATTACKS:

• Pepper spray 50%, stuns target
• Run, cower, or take cover 40%

ARMOR AND EQUIPMENT: Cell phone

Chronon Technologists

STR 9  CON 9  DEX 10  INT 13  POW 12  CHA 12

HP 9  WP 12  SAN 50  BREAKING POINT 48

SKILLS: Bureaucracy 30%, Computer Science 50%, Science (Computer Engineering) 50%, Science (Mathematics) 40%

ATTACKS:

• Run, cower, or take cover 40% (non-combatant)

ARMOR AND EQUIPMENT: Cell phone

Breckenridge Security Officers

STR 14  CON 13  DEX 12  INT 11  POW 12  CHA 7

HP 14  WP 10  SAN 53  BREAKING POINT 48

DISORDERS AND ADAPTATIONS: Adapted to violence.

SKILLS: Alertness 60%, Athletics 50%, Dodge 40%, Driving 40%, Firearms 60%, HUMINT 40%, Melee Weapons 50%, Persuade 40%, Search 50%, Unarmed Combat 60%.

ATTACKS:

• MP5SD 60%, lethality 10%, suppressed
• Night stick 50%, damage 1D6
• Flashbang grenade 60%, stunned -> -40% for 1d6 turns
• Unarmed 60%, damage 1D3

ARMOR AND EQUIPMENT: Kevlar vest (Armor 3), three extra magazines, 3 flashbang grenades, flashlight, night vision goggles, cable ties (for use as plastic handcuffs), cell phone

FUTURE MAN

STR 18, CON 15, DEX 8, INT 13, POW 12, CHA 6, HP 17, WP 12, SAN 30

DISORDERS AND ADAPTATIONS: Violence, Helplessness, Obsession: save the future

SKILLS: Alertness 50 %, Athletics 50 %, Firearms 40 %, HUMINT 0%, Navigate 50 %, Search 40 %, 90% Microelectronics

ATTACKS

• Kill-o-Zap Gun 40%, 10% lethality, costs the user 1 WP per shot (Breaks on a fumble, irreparable without 90% Microelectronics)

ARMOR AND EQUIPMENT: Temporal Anomaly Locator (gets a ping on the location of a Temp every time they Unwhere or Unwhat, or when the Gate operates)

POWERS:

• Unwhat: become incorporeal for 1d4 rounds, 1 SAN to use, 0/1d4 SAN to witness
• Unwhere: become intentionally undetectable to electronic equipment for 1d4 rounds, 1 SAN to use, 0/1 SAN to witness
• Reinforced Skeleton: takes half damage from physical weapon attacks.
• Regeneration: if he has 1 or more hit points, heals 1 hp at the end of each turn. (After he dies, the flesh still heals itself but he does not come back to life.)

SANITY LOSS: Seeing his flesh knit itself back together costs 1/1D4 SAN from the unnatural, or 1/1D8 if it happens after he dies.

Looks like: Tall and broad, with striking features of undefinable ethnicity.

Stuff he might say: “Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow” “Better dead than smeg” “All your base are belong to us”

Additional details per Thartha in Sick Again

Rituals

Geasa (new)

Simple ritual. Study time: days; 1D10 SAN.

Activation: two turns; 10 WP or 2 POW, 1D6 SAN.

Essentially a version of the Infallible Suggestion ritual from page 180 of the Handler’s Guide. If the operator overcomes the target in an opposed POW×5 roll, the target is ready to receive a command. The command must be in the target’s native language and must consist of a prime number of words (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, etc.). The target must obey until the ordered task is completed. The ritual’s effects can be lifted only by completing the action or by the death of the operator.

Open Gate

Simple ritual. Study time: days; 1D6 SAN.

Activation: a turn; 1 WP, 1 SAN.

This meditation upon impossible angles in spacetime opens a pre-existing unnatural gate. Once the gate is open, anyone may pass through for a few minutes.

Credits

Out of Time was written by boomforeal for the 2025 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Yjp9NBKsCvH4bde_rgSTvmMKcB-K5pGSDhSdAh6PxLM/edit