Pros: Puppet Shows and Shadow Plays absolutely has some merits. The PDF and art are of high quality and make, as is typical for Arc Dream's products. It's reasonably priced, and you can rest assured that, as a Handler, you're getting your money's worth even if you never run it

just being able to have the statblocks, and see how the encounter is structured, is immensely helpful.

In addition, having another "intro" Operation is always welcome to help break up the stranglehold of Last Things Last as an intro (nothing wrong with LTL, just nice to have options). If you're into the MAJESTIC-DG conflict, Shadow Plays sets that up quite nicely (which, in turn, lets you flow pretty decently into Convergence, the other '90's published operation, which also features MAJESTIC). The antagonist is suitably well-thought out and interesting, and very in flavor of the '90's X-File, Men-In-Black theme that Conspiracy-era DG ops love to XXX into.

Cons: Uniquely (in my experience) among DG Operations, Shadow Plays pulls its punches rather significantly. Information is given to the players even if they decide not to pursue it. Several fights are, while admittedly cinematic, also slightly "scripted" through the use of bullet-sponge NPCs, which makes it somewhat dissonant among operations and may provide the players with a false sense of the game. This also can make the operation feel a bit "scripted" at times. There is a large-scale manhunt midway through the module which has very limited support or mechanical advice on how to run, but which is fairly vital to the op as a whole. Some more support on how to run that, or some sort of minigame, would have been lovely. Others have also stated the heavy Native American religious presence in Shadow Plays - as I'm not Apache, I don't know as to the accuracy of this portrayal (though I trust Arc Dream far more than others to handle this respectfully), but that could possibly prove a source of discomfort for Handlers. Or not! Finally, and not necessarily a Con, but Shadow Plays is the second main operation, and the third (?) op in general, published in the 1990's "Conspiracy" era of Delta Green (after it's sister Op "Convergence" and the MAJESTIC-centered "Jack Frost"). While this setting is quite juicy, it also means that Handlers may have difficulty integrating the op with more "modern" operations that deal with the Outlaws and the Program (the common fix is to just replace the Program with MAJESTIC, which is what I did, but that is an additional constraint on Handlers). Overall: Puppet Shows and Shadow Plays is somewhat flawed in its execution, but it is clearly made with heart and effort, and is of high quality and reasonable price, like all Arc Dream products. Running PSSP may require some Handler tinkering for the Op, and larger Handler structuring to integrate it into a wider campaign, but, ultimately, your players will likely relish the mouthfeel and setting of the op, and come away wanting more.