Here is a rundown of an alternative DG campaign background. It replaces the Mi-go with Ophibians. The whole set up comes after a recently completed Cthulhu 1920s campaign which took three years to to run. To cut an obviously long story short, a human (player-character) of mixed serpent-people and human blood fulfilled an old prophecy to bring the Serpent People of the Dreamlands back to Earth, there to regain their dominion. So the next bit makes sense, I'll tell you that his (human) name is Christopher Larkin.

The other really important bit of info from campaign one is that one of the other player characters (a former test cricketer known as Owen Geary) was succesfully manipulated by Nyarlathotep into passing into Cathuria. There's a cool little line in Chaosium's Dreamlands book that says doing this will precipitate the end of times by letting a huge tentacled beast free which will eat the Dreamlands and send everyone on the earth stark raving insane. Its only a little line but it's in there ;).

Oh and btw I call serpent people Ophidians a lot.it sure sounds a whole lot less D&D which helps my players' maturity levels.

The world post campaign 1

1933

Christopher Larkin returns to the Earth after taking the mantle of the Promised One for the faction of Serpent Men who are the followers of Tsathoggua. His position is opposed by the followers of Yig. Initially Larkin himself rejects the aim of returning the Serpent People to dominance over the planet. However he soon learns that due to the passage of the Nyarlathotep pawn Owen to Cathuria, the End times are on their way. The Serpent People may in fact be the Earth's only hope if it is to avoid destruction at the hands of the Old Ones. Faced with this information Larkin accepts his destiny.

1933-1945 (Karotechia and The Fate)

The Tsathogguan Serpent People who have returned to earth join with the faithful based below Mt Voormithadreth in Greenland. Larkin leads a civil war against the Yigian faction and 'wins', managing to drive the Yigians back into the Dreamlands. The Serpent People commence terraforming.the cause of global warming. Until the earth's temperature is increased by several degrees, a global Ophidian population is unattainable. This of course is their long term goal. Until this is accomplished they intend to remain in secret.

The Tsathogguans begin their quest to uncover a method of stopping the End of Times. They leave no stone unturned. From 1934 onwards, Ophidian agents filter throughout the world.

Nyarlathotep, having encompassed the End of Times by having Cathuria breached, needs to protect his investment. The Fate commence operations under Alzis, their motive to thwart the collection of esoteric intelligence by the Tsathogguans.

The Serpent People form alliances with and infiltrate the Nazis. They use the Karotechia to futher their ends. They are deeply involved in the experiments to call and dismiss Azathoth, "testing" as it were, their End of Times defences. They are also behind the quest to uncover Ubbo Sathla and the Tablets of Destiny which they know to be a virtual shoggoth "cookbook". It is hoped that the technology of the Elder Things could be used to battle the Star Spawn effectively when Cthulhu rises. The Serpent People help the Nazis develop nuclear and rocket technology but see the likely result at the end of the war coming and cancel their co-operation. They are active in providing the intelligence for the Telemark action against the Nazi nuclear program.

1945-1990 (MJ-12) The Time Traveller Conspiracy

Post the war, Larkin reacts to the threat of discovery of the Serpent Man activity in Greenland by forming a plan to dupe the US, now emerging as the world power and a nearby neighbour. A group of Ophidians use their consume likeness abilities to pose as travellers from the future, making contact initially with the US Air Force Intelligence. They sweeten their apparently outrageous story with displays of advanced Ophidian science and technology including the information required to complete the Manhattan Project. This convinces the US Govt that one way or another they are worth listening to. In response to what they tell the US Govt and their provision of tantalising hints of advanced technologies including genetic engineering, an agreement of sorts is entered into. The Majestic-12 clearance is set up for dealing with the "time travellers".

Part of the revelation of the Time Travellers (and their central deception) is that they have returned to avert an imminent disaster (which is arguably true!). This disaster is an impending catastrophic ice age which devestated "the future". The Time Travellers argue that only by warming the globe several degrees can this be averted. The US agrees to cover up the terraforming activities in Greenland. This will form their basis for opposing global warming controls in the future. The activities in Greenland are covered by the establishment of the USAF Ultima Thule air base at the site of the terraforming facilities. The Govt also helps cover up many of the disappearances caused by the use of the "Consume Likeness" ritual. The Time Travellers have explained these disappearances as the sending of people to the future for "educational purposes". Few seem to return and those who do are often erratic and prone to further disappearances. This has obviously caused some consternation for MJ-12 and there is much internal dispute about the co-operation with the Time Travellers and what their true motives may be.
1994 (Game Present)

The breach of Cathuria and the subsequent penetration of the Beast in the Gulf into Earth's Dreamlands means they are slowly being destroyed in a process that will take thousands of dream-years and about 100 Earth years. By 2033 the process will be complete and the End of Times will have arrived.

By 1994 the process is well in effect. People around the world are waking up insane in what will soon amount to a global pandemic. In 1994 this effect is starting to be noted in psychological and psychiatric circles. Explanations abound but the phenomenon is causing unease among the most alert in the profession. A paper is put out this year about "Sea Terrors" a cause of debilitating mental illness becoming prevalent along the Pacific coastal
rim.

Mythos activity is on the rise. The Old Ones present in the world feel the End of Times coming and their cults are reactivating. Mythos creatures with links to the Dreamlands are being agitated by the destruction of that realm and ghoul communities in particular are suffering a refugee influx. There is a lot more hunger below ground now.

The Ophidians are active, their activities cause regular mysterious disappearances across the globe. The Fate is nurturing human sorcerers to joust with the ancient and powerful Ophidians and deploying human chattel to thwart them.

Delta Green remains as described in the book.currently a cell-structured illegal operation formed initially from the Naval P-Division, concerned mainly with localised mythos and Deep One activity. They have some knowledge and suspicion of MJ-12 and their alliances with "alien" forces. Right at the moment, they know almost nothing of the real state of affairs. But strange things are happening more and more often and Alphonse is wondering
what the big picture is.

With this set-up MJ-12 loses the significance of Roswell (maybe it was just a weather balloon) But Ophidians do travel on levitating silver discs and make people disappear.and consume likeness is not their only disguise, they have considerable ability to form illusions in weaker minds (big glowing eyes! Tiny mouths!). So retention of the whole UFO abduction thing is quite possible.

That's it really. Its actually rather amazing how much of the DG canon remains in place despite the replacement of the Mi-go with the serpent people. In many ways I find the Ophidians have more motivation (they're saving the Earth.ok, not for humans, but nevertheless) and the fact that they are working against the Mythos and "against" humans at the same time gives me a nice double onion layer that the Mi-Go don't provide.


Credits: Agent Voormihunter