Arc Dream Publishing

Arc Dream Publishing is an American tabletop roleplaying-game publisher closely identified with Delta Green, the modern cosmic-horror setting in which government agents confront dangerous and unnatural phenomena. Delta Green itself originated as a 1997 Call of Cthulhu sourcebook from Pagan Publishing, created by Adam Scott Glancy, Dennis Detwiller, and John Tynes. Arc Dream later developed the property into its own standalone roleplaying game, using percentile-based mechanics rather than requiring Call of Cthulhu. Arc Dream’s Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game appeared through a major Kickstarter campaign in 2015. Its core line was divided into two central volumes released in 2016: Delta Green: Agent’s Handbook and Delta Green: Handler’s Guide. The Agent’s Handbook provides the rules and material intended for players portraying federal agents, soldiers, scientists, police officers, and other operatives. The Handler’s Guide is for the gamemaster, called the Handler, and details the secret organization, its history, threats, adversaries, and scenario-building tools. The game’s premise is not simply that investigators seek forbidden knowledge. Delta Green agents are expected to conceal incidents, suppress evidence, protect the public, and often balance official employment, family life, and mental stability against clandestine operations. Its campaign procedures include Bonds, representing an agent’s important personal relationships, and mechanics for Sanity, violence, helplessness, and breaking points. These rules support the line’s emphasis on the professional and personal damage caused by the agents’ work. Arc Dream has expanded the setting with campaign books and scenarios. Delta Green: Impossible Landscapes, written by Dennis Detwiller, is a large campaign involving the King in Yellow, Carcosa, the mysterious author James Ward, and the surreal play The King in Yellow. The campaign begins with “The Night Floors,” a scenario first associated with the earlier Delta Green era, and takes agents across multiple decades and locations. Another major release, Iconoclasts, written by Detwiller and Shane Ivey, centers on an operation in the Middle East and introduces threats tied to the King of the Crossroads. Beyond Delta Green, Arc Dream has published games connected to the work of designers such as Greg Stolze and Dennis Detwiller. Its catalog includes GODLIKE, a roleplaying game of superpowered people during the Second World War, and Wild Talents, a superhero roleplaying game using the One-Roll Engine. Arc Dream also published the third edition of Unknown Armies, the contemporary occult roleplaying game created by Stolze and John Tynes. These releases place Arc Dream within the independent tabletop publishing scene while its continuing Delta Green work remains its most prominent contribution.