Spoiler Warning: This review gives away some of the novel's plot elements, though I have tried to keep things vague for those who haven't read the book. This review also discloses pertinent Delta Green background information, so players may wish to get permission from their Keepers before reading further.
This review is for the the limited signed and numbered hardback edition of Delta Green: The Rules of Engagement, which I purchased directly from John Tynes, the author, at the Pagan Publishing booth at GenCon in 1999. I understand that the text is identical to the trade paperback version.
John Tynes is a great person and an amazing game designer. I did some playtesting for him and Pagan in the late 1990s. I have nothing but respect for John and his work in the gaming industry. With that in mind, I had high hopes for the novel. When I got home I placed it at the top of my "to read" list. For a number of reasons, though, the novel languished on my book shelf for over four years. It was only after I began a new Delta Green campaign that I decided enough was enough and it was time to read it. I opened it to the first page and started reading with several years of pent up anticipation. Unfortunately I was rather disappoined in Delta Green: The Rules of Engagement for, as it turns out, it's not a particularly good book.
The novel is sort of a sequel to John's short story "The Dark Above", published in Delta Green: Alien Intelligence, though it is perhaps more accurate to say that the story is a prologue to the novel. The short story introduced us to Captain Forrest James, a Delta Green operative, and Dr. Stephanie Park, a Delta Green "friendly" working for the Environmental Protection Agency. The novel begins sometime later, in early 1999. James is incarcerated in Fort Leavenworth due to the events at the beginning of "The Dark Above". Stephanie is now a Delta Green agent in T cell, with the codename "Terry". She's also suicidal. The reason for this is somewhat obvious if you've read the earlier short story, and John has written the book — consciously or unconsciously — with the earlier story in mind. I hadn't read the short story until after I read the novel, so the connection between her and Forrest James was not at all obvious to me. I eventually figured it out, but it's not as clear as it should have been.
The reader is immediately introduced to the two other members of T Cell, agents Thomas (an FBI special agent) and Tonya (a park ranger and leader of the cell). All three agents are sent to investigate the disappearance of Agent Shasta, who was conducting a follow-up to the events in Groversville, Tennessee. S Cell previously investigated Groversville, and their mission formed the basis of the Convergence scenario in the Delta Green source book. T Cell discovers that Shasta stumbled across something sinister in Tennessee. This, in turn, leads them to the government's Outlook facility in Baltimore (detailed in the Delta Green: Countdown source book), and the informal "rules of engagement" that allow Delta Green and Majestic-12 to co-exist. When an incident convinces the agents that the "rules of engagement" have been broken, T Cell takes matters into their own hands. The rescuers become the captives, and so the plot switches focus away from T Cell for the climax. The novel ends with a quite literal deus ex machina. Along the way John throws in appearances by Phenomen-X, Tiger Transit, Adolph Lepus, Agent Alphonse, Agent Adam, Agent Nancy, Stephen Alzis, Reinhard Galt, and the Karotechia, all of which are well known to anyone who has read the Delta Green source books.
The biggest problems with Delta Green: The Rules of Engagement are structural. There isn't one single protagonist to engage the reader. You could argue that the protagonist is Stephanie/Agent Terry, or perhaps all of T Cell, but then the author abandons the "protagonist" at the height of the story to throw the focus on an entirely different character. This focus change happens with a noticeable jolt just as the novel was beginning to, thankfully, pick up speed. Instead we have to go through more set up, a minor plot twist, and then even more set up before the climactic action sequence. The novel gains and loses momentum so frequently that I felt like I was riding my bicycle up and down sand dunes.
The lack of a protagonist is actually a symptom of a much deeper problem. Remember in English Composition class when the teacher explained the use of points of view, and how you should generally pick one point of view character and stick with it? This novel is an example of why your teacher was so adamant about that rule. Though the novel is less than 230 pages long, there are no fewer than 10 point of view characters. Most of the point of view shifts are unnecessary and do nothing more than dilute tension. While John never shifts point of view within a single paragraph, he does occasionally shift two or three times within a single chapter. All of these shifts make the narrative disjointed while doing little to impart information that couldn't have been expressed another way.
The most egregious error in point of view shifting involves the characters in T Cell. There is no reason that he couldn't have adopted the same point of view character every time the agents of T Cell appeared. The obvious candidate would have been Stephanie Parks/Agent Terry. She's the first character the reader meets, and is — quite frankly — the most interesting of the bunch. She's new to the team. She's unsure of herself. She's suicidal, for heaven's sake! She is the character that the reader is most likely to connect with, emotionally. The novel should have allowed us to get inside her head, but it never does. Maddeningly, just when we think we'll get a glimpse into her psyche John changes point of view to Tonya or the far less interesting Thomas.
A good example of this occurs about a quarter of the way through the book. Terry was one of the last people to come in contact with S Cell. She kept this information a secret from the rest of her colleagues until pressed by Alphonse. Alphonse suspects she might be infected with neo-tissue (if you don't know what that is, check out the Convergence scenario). He orders the other two agents to handcuff her, strip her, and inspect her body with a spray solution that detects the presence of the alien tissue. There is great potential here to delve into Terry's character. How will this woman, who is unsure of herself, doesn't completely trust her companions, and who was recently on the verge of suicide, cope with humiliation, degredation, and a loss of control? Will it make her stronger, or will it push her to the edge of self-destruction? Will it make her resentful of her companions? How does the process feel, physically? How uncomfortable is it? How does this inspection, and her keeping a secret from her colleagues, affect the cell's cohesion and bond of trust? These are all very important, and interesting questions. Not one of them is answered. The whole inspection process is handled off camera. When we return to the agents Terry isn't even the point of view character. We deserved, we needed, to get inside Stephanie's/Terry's head at that moment but we were denied.
This denial suggests that John, himself, isn't sure what's going on in Terry's head. It's as though she was someone else's character. This may very well have been the case. Several portions of the book read more like a roleplaying session transcript than an original piece of narrative fiction. This is reinforced by the way John seems almost compelled to give each member of T Cell the same amount of "air time". There's one scene where Tonya goes stomping out of the agents' motel room in a huff because there was no hot water left for a shower. After she goes, Terry and Thomas briefly talk about her mood swings. The next sequence shifts to Tonya and how she handles a smartass coffee shop worker. The second sequence is unnecessary because the characterization was already covered in the conversation between Terry and Thomas. The dialog between the coffee shop worker and Tonya is unconvincing. If you read the excerpt with roleplaying games in mind, though, you can easily imagine the original roleplaying session. It's like parts of the novel are a scenario "write-up". Each character gets equal billing not to benefit the story but out of deference to the person who created and played the character.
Before your English Composition teacher explained points of view, she probably gave you the age-old directive to "show, don't tell". The Rules of Engagement acts as a wonderful example of what happens when you do not follow that directive. Exposition is used in place of narrative throughout the novel. This is most noticable about half way through the book when a Delta Green "friendly" is asked by Alphonse to train the agents in the use of photography as a part of espionage tradecraft. The agents have to master complicated cameras and darkroom equipment while spying on the Outlook facility in Baltimore. (Here the novel shows its age. With a laptop, photo quality printer, and a professional SLR there's no need for the dark room equipment. Today much of the tasks' difficulty would be diffused, but I digress.) Again, we have the opportunity to dip into a character's thoughts. Again, the opportunity is missed and we are left to experience the "roleplaying transcript" syndrome. Instead of showing us the characters' frustration at learning the complexities of high-end photography, or the elation of learning a new and valuable skill, John uses a limited omnisicent view point to give us a daily update on the agents' progress. You don't have to close your eyes to imagine the narrative playing itself out, almost verbatim, during a roleplaying session. All that's missing is the sound of rolling dice.
In the afterward, John Tynes mentions that the book was written over the course of a couple of months. This shows. The end of the novel seems rushed compared to the languid pace set by the first two thirds of the story. I didn't like the focus change away from T Cell, either (though, admittedly, the characters to whom the focus changed were more interesting than Terry, Tonya and Thomas). If this had to be done, much of the set up for the final chapters could have been done before the focus change. I also feel that John shoehorned too much of the Delta Green pantheon into the final chapters.
If limited page length was the reason the ending was rushed, John should have pulled Phenomen-X out of the novel entirely. This tabloid TV show first made an appearance in the Convergence scenario, but was described in more detail in Delta Green: Countdown. It's presence in The Rules of Engagement is totally superfluous. Phenomen-X doesn't propel the story, doesn't impart important information, and only results in minor plot complications that were easily brushed aside. John could have, and should have, pulled them from the story without affecting it one iota.
Phenonmen-X's is the focus of one of the book's logical gaffs. The Phenomen-X team run off the road in a rental car while looking for Groversville. John actually mentions the air bags going off in the car. A couple of pages later the Phenomen-X crew are back in the car and heading down the highway. What happened to the air bags? Did the characters take a knife to them? Won't the rental agency be a little bit miffed at that? Or did they drive away with air bags on their laps? This isn't the only mistake in the book. Agent Terry watches people in an outdoor pool at a hotel in Memphis, in February. I live five hours south-southwest of Memphis and I wouldn't think to go swimming outside in February! I suspect that when it was originally written the novel took place at a different time of the year. At any rate, the book was poorly edited.
An "idiot plot" is when the plot moves forward because one of the characters acts like an idiot. The Rules of Engagement has a couple of these, mostly revolving around Agent Terry. As an example, with questionable motivation she shoots someone in the chest and leaves them for dead. As it turns out, she fell for the old "bulletproof vest under the jacket" trick. It is a cliche and it doesn't work. Later on, there's another "idiot plot", and the T Cell characters stumble into an obvious trap. They even comment that things are going too well just before the trap is sprung. Maybe it's because I'm a Keeper in a Delta Green campaign, but I found myself almost wishing the novel would end there; the characters deserved whatever fate was in store for them.
The less said about the deus ex machina ending the better.
If I seem overly negative it's because I expected more out of this novel. Delta Green: The Rules of Engagement is not a particularly good piece of fiction. Gamers, though, look at game fiction as more than just an entertaining story. They also look at it as inspiration for games, and as an adjunct to source books. In this respect, The Rules of Engagement is worthwhile reading. The plot could be used as a sequel adventure to Convergence almost without alteration. The concept of the "green box" is introduced in this book. Delta Green: Countdown describes the Project Outlook facilities but gives only a vague idea of how to use them in a campaign. The Rules of Engagement provides not only a way of using the facilities, but also provides a couple of examples of how Delta Green agents can penetrate them. Seeing Agent Nancy in action is one of the book's highlights, as well as a valuable resource for Keepers wanting to use this important NPC. I didn't like the Alzis/Karotechia connection myself, but I can see how it could be a welcome inspiration for other Keepers. Perhaps the most important addition to the Delta Green background is the "rules of engagement" themselves.
As a source book in narrative form, filled with items that didn't make it into Delta Green: Countdown, I think Delta Green: The Rules of Engagement is worth reading. I think almost any Delta Green Keeper would get something out of it. Unfortunately I can't recommend it as a work of fiction.
July 17, 2004
