Delta Green: The Way It Went Down

by Dennis Detwiller

Lovecraftian cosmic terror meets modern-day conspiracy in these 33 brief tales of horror and personal apocalypse.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Role Playing Games, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Anthologies

80 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 16, 2018

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horror has many faces. The Way It Went Down shows us that cosmic horror can be as deeply terrifying in very short form as in long, detailed novels. “Microfiction” works perfectly for Delta Green, because although what each short piece shows you is horrifying, the true horror lies in what each implies instead. It leaves things open to interpretation and leaves your mind spinning, your imagination filling in the gaps, adding faces and sounds to the smoke and shadows. That is what makes it so incisively effective, as well as brutally addicting.

If you have been following Delta Green on social media, you might recognize a few of these shorts. This volume collects all the previously published ones with ones you have not seen before. It is fantastic. I could read these all day for weeks, although my sanity would not survive intact.
I truly hope that we eventually have more volumes of Delta Green microfiction in the future.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3½ stars.

A collection of flash fiction set in the Delta Green universe that leans heavily into being moody and atmospheric. If you wanted a single, coherent story or narrative, this isn't it. This is Delta Green as vibes.

I'm not sure how this collection would land without a background in Lovecraftian and/or Delta Green lore—for example, more than one story deals with the Great Race of Yith and their mind-swapping through time shenanigans, but you have to be familiar with the Yith, their motives, and their physical description to know the story involves them. Still, perhaps the mystery makes it work even better.

As a big fan of the role-playing game, that's only a hypothetical problem, and I particularly enjoyed the stories that more explicitly intersected with Delta Green agents. If you were gearing up to run or play the RPG and wanted to get in the right mood or headspace, this would be a great place to start.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very moody and atmospheric micro-fiction. Knowledge of the Delta Green premise will enhance enjoyment, but a lot of the stories stand up just as well without it.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of horror vignettes has several fun little moments, and many times had me hooked in but the stories are gone as soon as they arrive and often leave me wanting more details. An interesting breezy read, I would only recommend this for Lovecraftian horror and Delta Green superfans.

[Jorge Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read, fun if you are into Lovecraft and the Delta-Green stuff.

[Joseph P. Spencer III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great super-short stories that are a treasure trove for RPG players

The Delta Green books never disappoint, and this edition is no exception.

Not only are the shorts well written and sufficiently creepy, but also can provide story ideas for Call of Cthulhu RPG game masters. Each short leaves much to the imagination, and so can be developed as the reader wants.

If you aren't an rpg player, these stories will still be entertaining and creep you out as a good lovecraft collection should.

Kudos to Mr. Detwiller on this great addition to the Delta Green world!

[Nathan Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these mini stories of the experiences of Delta Green agents. The snapshots do a great job of hinting at a much larger dread and serve as great inspiration for Cthulhu based gaming.

[Irwin Fletcher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Delta Green is a pretty cool idea, a sort of X-Files meets Cthulhu Mythos thing but unfortunately none of the fiction I've read has really lived up to it. The authors always seem a little too clever for their own good and always trying to be interesting through gimmicks rather than just telling a good story and this collection of scraps epitomizes that. To be fair I did find the gimmick of "micro-fiction" somewhat interesting until I actually started reading it. The concept definitely sounded better in theory than it was in practice. It's possible the idea might work but it didn't this time and was just forgettable. Literally. I read it three days ago and couldn't tell you a single thing that happened. The "stories" don't seem to give you enough information to really grasp the situation, not enough to care or sometimes both.

[Ken Ringwald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a distinctive short story collection. It's full of micro-fictions - stories that are only 1-3 pages even on an Amazon kindle.

They are about quickly sketching a creepy mood in a Lovecraftian setting. As a result, they assume familiarity with the Cthulhu Mythos and the Delta Green role-playing game setting.

Even without deep familiarity, I think they would be odd, distinctive fiction. With the background, I love them as unsettling snapshots. I'd previously read many of them on the author's blog and patreon, but I like having them collected into one volume.

[Siegfried · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to like this one. for real.
a hybrid of x-files and Lovecraft? exactly my jam
love the delta green rpg books.the podcasts platinum some campaigns.
this? no. sorry.
I tried.
it's just a random selection of tales. if you can call some random 4 paragraphs of text a tale.
and they're not good ones.
there's like two that's interesting.
not good, let me be clear: it's interesting.
at best.
most of them? trash.
they kinda give the vibe of the game, but seriously? with feds, lovecraftian monsters and cosmic horror and ITS STILL BOTING?
sorry. don't read it.

[assertNull · Rating 3 out of 5]

As it was mentioned by other reviews, The Way It Went Down is a collection of micro-stories that can take place in the worlds of the Delta Green Role Playing Game.
Each story is a vignette that both entertains the reader and demonstrates what a story in the game’s universe might look and feel like; just like the fiction in many Role Playing Game books.
I can see myself picking up in the future to read a random story whenever I have a few minutes of down time.

[Michał Bukowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mikro-opowiadania, które są niepokojące, wieloznaczne, czasami ocierające się o halucynacje, w duchu najlepszej grozy i weird fiction. Niedopowiedzenia wynikające z minimalnej formy pobudzają wyobraźnię od pierwszych zdań. Utwory przedstawiają pejzaż ontologicznego i etycznego rozkładu człowieka oraz społeczeństwa w duchu lovecraftowskiego kosmicyzmu. Świetne pomysły na wpół-oniryczne przygody do Zewu Cthulhu/Delta Green.

[Mike Nusbaum · Rating 1 out of 5]

A largely disappointing micro-short story collection. This is very poorly written and frankly reads like a teenager wrote them. I don't know how the author or editor could think these stories were worth reading. In the entire collection there is one story that's enjoyable, "He Died, Again". The rest of the short stories are either vague, pointless or just silly and often all three at once. I would never recommend this book to anyone and I would say steer clear unless you're a die hard Delta Green fan and think you might get something out of it.

[Mike Dukes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Madness at it's best

Delta Green is a table-top role-playing game, my favorite actually. These short stories represent the hopeless and strange elements of that setting quite well. What is reality? What is real? After reading these tales, you won't be too sure.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic and well-crafted micro-fiction that sets the tone for Delta Green; several of these short stories managed a fresh twist on old tropes and the very best of them left me unsettled and wary. Will definitely read more Delta Green.

[Russ Bobb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice Diversion

Really short book, but well thought out and cleverly written. Some stories were ephemeral, others made me wish that they had been expanded. Recommend for light summer reading or if you know about the Delta Green RPG.

[Sotiris Kosmas · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of short stories that are unfortunately one page long and thus don't provide the necessary space for the narrative to truly immerse the reader. They do provide a hint of the world but it is such a short glimpse that it leaves the reader unsatisfied

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of short stories for the Delta Green Call of Cthulhu campaign setting, some of the stories were excellent and some were not. Does not really explain any context or who the characters are. However, it serves as a fun primer to the setting and themes.

[Darshan R. Phatak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice short ideas for campaign starts

These are great ideas for delta green campaign starting points or inspirations for new campaigns. Fancy a night at the opera?

[Dom Mooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flash fiction in the Delta Green universe, much of it culled from mood pieces in the game material. Lots of flavour that leaves you wanting more.

[Blaise Carland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but succulent morsel.
Full of bleakness and existential horror.
I really must play Delta Green again soon.

[The Smoog · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get that this is flash fiction, but even knowing something about the setting isn’t going to help you much here. These are mostly the little bits of flavour text that are often found in RPG manuals, all thrown together as a collection, and unfortunately most of them make very little sense here. I added an extra star as two of the slightly longer ones near the end were kind of interesting, but I’m afraid overall I’d have to say give this a miss. Sorry, Mr. Detwiller!

[Adam Rodenberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some fun microfiction based on the Delta Green game. Prior knowledge isn't neccessary to enjoy this collection, but it certainly helps.

[Lucas Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical anthology

As with most anthologies, some really good stories but most them are just ok. No real stinkers but nothing great

[Luke Wilkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this and volume II, rating and reviewing together. Loved this, but I wish they were longer! I get that it’s flash fiction but for a bunch of them I wanted a whole book.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you know the world of Delta Green (the RPG), these little stories (some closer to vignettes, really) are just brilliant. They are atmospheric pieces that set mood and provide insight into the lives, situations, nightmares or problems of DG agents, creating a tapestry of aspects useful to anyone wanting to play or GM the RPG. A fine, short and entertaining read - and also quite well-crafted.
Without knowing the RPG, they still are atmospheric, but might provide even less information for the reader, and might be a little less enjoyable.

[Isil Arican · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun short read, but nothing too special.

I went back to playing tabletop RPGs after 20+ years of a hiatus and one of the games e played was a Delta Green campaign based on Cthulhu Mythos. The cosmic horror concept in the game is amazing, and it provides a great storyline and lots of anticipation with the leadership of a good DM.
This book is a collection of very short stories within the same game concept series. The stories are suspenseful and interesting despite being super short and provide a good amount of entertainment. They also help the reader to determine how one should roleplay a character in the next campaign game.
Overall, a fun read that can be completed in a single setting.