KublaCon decided to add another convention in the Fall. Held in Santa Clara, it's just a few miles from my home. Because it was the first year at this new convention space, there were some hiccups. I ran my game in the first time slot, long lines were at registration, there weren't enough maps of the venue, people weren't familiar with the venue, and there was a question about what was free parking.
Because of all these issues, though my game was fully booked, there were 2 no shows, but 3 people showed up to crash. I did wait an extra 6 minutes to start the game when the 3rd registered Player showed up (with another crasher in tow who I had to turn away). But even with all these minor problems, everything got sorted out and I had a great time.
The notices sent to us told us there was discount parking, which was an error by omission. The 2nd and 3rd levels of the parking structure attached to the venue was FREE for day parking; no overnight parking. The announced discount was for overnight parking. As long as you left the venue before 2-3am (no overnight parking), you were ok. The only issue was on Saturday, there were two other events at the Convention center, so the free parking got filled pretty quickly.
On the first day, I parked on the 3rd floor near the Santa Convention Center entrance and went through the upper level walkway, wound up walking through the convention center before finding most of the convention was in the Hyatt. The next 2 days, I parked closer to the hotel entrance for a shorter walk, though you had to take the stairs, the parking lot elevators there were out of order, but the out of order sign was only posted on the 2nd level elevator doors, not on the other floors. WTF?
Most of the RPG rooms held two games with a partition to cut down the noise. This was mostly fine, except in one instance, where the other table got a bit too noisy for me, almost drowning out the GM. Not sure why some people need to shout. Maybe some GMs weren't used to private rooms where you didn't need to project so loudly?
I also got to play giant versions of Azul and Formula D. Never played either before. I won Azul (beginners luck) and came in 3rd (out of 6) in Formula D. The giant mat and race cars were fun, hard to not make vroom-vroom and screeching tire noises while playing.
Overall, an excellent experience.
I hide spoiler sections with JavaScript. If you have JavaScript turned off, you can skip the spoiler sections I have marked.
11/8/24 Fri 1-5pm (4 hrs)
Hope's Last Day
System: Alien RPG
GM: Morgan Hua
5 Players (Gregory B, Joshua Z, Allan A, +2 crashers).
Level/Power: colonists
Pregens: yes
Hadley’s Hope is a “shake and bake” colony located on the moon LV-426. Hope's Last Day tells the story of the final hours of Hadley’s Hope, all through the eyes of five colonist workers. The time frame is 2 weeks before Ripley arrives with the Colonial Marines in Aliens. The PCs return from a routine maintenance run and find everything has gone to hell. This scenario is from the core book. I was introduced to Alien RPG with this scenario and I love it. I've run this about 8 times already.
I had a good table of Players and had a really fun time. Of the Players, one had never seen the movies before; two owned the game. None had Played before. The newbie to the Alien universe actually was the sole survivor and got off LV-426 with secret agenda achieved.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
One funny bit, well, to me, but not the Player. His PC got killed in the first 15 minutes by a Xeno. When the PCs found the Chief Scientist in the quarantine of the Medical Lab, he got that PC as his replacement PC. There was a big argument as to whether that new PC was safe or not. After the Lab Tech failed his Medicine roll and cleared the new PC, they decided to let the new PC go with them. Outside of Billy's Bar, the PCs killed another Xeno. After all the shooting, the Pilot shot the new PC, caused a critical and it was a head shot, instant death. Pilot claimed the gun just went off. Player then got to play the survivor from Billy's Bar. At the shuttle, the Lab Tech got a Facehugger on his legs, then it got to his face. At that point, the PC panicked and ran out of the shuttle. The two remaining PCs, the survivor from Billy's Bar and the Pilot, closed the doors and got the shuttle off planet. The Pilot let the other get into cryosleep first, sabotaged the cryopod (death), then went into cryosleep. The Player (3 dead PCs) got really pissed, picked up the Pilot's character sheet, read the Hidden Agenda: "Make sure no one knows what happened at LV-426, even if it means killing your friends." He swore, then threw the character sheet on the table. ๐
The synthetic had lured a Xeno away, letting it drag him away from the shuttle to the hive. His last view was the shuttle taking off, satisfied he has saved as many humans as he could.
In the end, only the Pilot survived. The Player never saw any of the Alien movies, but played very Burke-like, cool.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
11/9/24 Sat 10am-2pm (4 hrs)
Frontier Scum: Escape The Organ Rail
System: Mรถrk Borg
GM: David Pier
4 Players (3 players, one no-show): Cameron F, Isaac R, Dave L, Morgan Hua
Level/Power: 1
Pregens: yes
You are prisoners aboard the Organ Rail, a penal train clad in black iron, spewing blood-red smoke as it rattles across the tracks of the Big Nothing. Rumors say its belly-vault contains the confiscated swag of a thousand robberies gone wrong.
The next stop is Fort Gullet, where you’ll be hanged for your crimes, so you better get a wiggle on! To get out alive, you’ll need enough supplies to get you across the sweltering sands to the swamp-oasis of Sickwater; no straight-shootin’ lawfolk would ever set foot in that veritable rat’s nest of thieves and outlaws. Yup, that’s your only chance.
Of course, it couldn’t hurt to have a look in that vault while you’re here … could it?
I found out this was the scenario in the core book. Another good table of Players. I had the most fun in this game. This is the second game of Frontier Scum I've ever played and it didn't disappoint.
The best two things -- no the three best things -- about Frontier Scum are: the Hats (you can elect to have your hat shot off instead of being shot); guns automatically hit unless you have cover, then you roll to hit; the character generation is incredibly flavorful (check that out here with the online generator).
The GM brought little hats and full sized bandanas to wear. When you get shot at, you can elect to take your hat off. Hats off to the GM.
This was my favorite game of the convention.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Going through various screwed up sections of the train was a lot of fun. It was also designed so the PCs can't screw it up because each train car was sound proofed (making it more dungeon-like, gunshots don't alert other sections) and you can't detach sections of the train (couplings were welded shut).
After escaping from our cells, we learned that the train is owned by a mad scientist (Dr Moreau-ish), making animal-human hybrids. At one point, he offers us a deal to prevent an escaped hybrid from stopping the train. He also gave us healing syringes (of red liquid). We took the job. Then we proceeded to kill his guards further down the train. In the end, we got to the beating heart of the train (literally) and had to decide to either destroy it or let the train get to its final destination. That's when the mad scientist showed up again and offered more money. And told us those who took the healing syringe (blood from the heart), were tied to the heart and if it died, you died. We negotiated more money, horses, and getting off the train. The mad scientist sang a lullaby to the heart and the train slowed down to a stop. When he opened up his safe to pay us, a PC decided we should take everything in the safe and shot the mad scientist instead. PCs took the money and ran, leaving the train intact. One PC had taken the serum. That's why we didn't destroy the heart.
I liked that every train car made sense and were part of the overall crazy mad science. The heart ran the train, but the engine was just burning the failed experiments of the mad doctor, and blood and meat going up the smoke stack were eaten by a flock of vultures that followed the train. There were prison cells, guards, a dining car with a kitchen, cages with animals, a lab, and strange animal-human hybrids.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
11/9/24 Sat 6-11pm (5 hrs)
Cowboys vs. Aliens
System: Alien RPG
GM: Sam Scott
6 Players (GM took a 7th): Helen B (Piano Player), David B (Gambler), DD B, Rob C, Robert D, +1 crasher, Morgan Hua (Saloon Girl)
Pregens: yes
1875 Crystal Springs, Nevada Dang it and tarnation! The Hudson Gang has robbed the bank train! Sheriff Gorman and Deputy Apone are rustlin' up a posse to chase them down. Never mind the strange things happening recently, we got some frontier justice to dispense! (Rules: Free League's Alien RPG; all characters provided, no experience necessary, just pull up and play!)
This time, Scott reskinned Aliens with a western. He reused some of the movie characters as NPCs and named various towns and such after things in Aliens as a homage.
I enjoyed the game, but I felt the last act fell a little flat. Also GM shouldn't have added a 7th Player. I know it's tempting, but never add extra Players because that steals screen time from the other Players.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
The Hudson Gang stole the town's silver shipment and PCs are deputized to go after them. We first run into an odd stampede of animals: zebras, then giraffes. After that we found a derailed circus train. Everyone was dead, but the Hudson Gang blew open their safe and took their money too. There was also evidence of some sort of giant dinosaur eggs (Xeno eggs) in one of the train cars. PCs killed a giant scorpion (facehugger) in that car.
Finally, we get to the Hudson Gang's hideout, an old abandoned mine.
I really enjoyed most aspects of the game except for the mine. I understand why it's there, it's the faux replacement for the atmospheric processor in Aliens. But as PCs we really didn't have a reason to go in there. When we finally did, the Hudson Gang, off screen, set off their dynamite and we wind up in a cave-in and had to dig ourselves out as Xenos attacked us. It felt very anti-climatic. I'd rather we had to hunt the Hudson Gang and accidentally run into Xenos while doing so.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
11/10/24 Sun 9:30-2:30pm (5 hrs)
Mothership
System: Mothership
GM: Lee Randazzo
6 Players (only 4 showed up): Adrian R, Alex Z, Brandon D, Morgan Hua
Level/Power: first level
Pregens: yes
Join a crew of misfits as they navigate the dark mysteries of deep space. This game contains strong horror elements.
GM told us his game is a highly modified version of 10000 Too Many Jumps. I've never played Mothership, so I didn't care which scenario it was, but for people who've played Mothership, I think putting that in the game description would prevent people who've played the scenario before from accidently signing up for it.
Another good table of Players. GM was great. Told us this was the first time he ran Mothership. Another Player was familiar with the system and helped the GM with reminders about the Stress system. I felt the system was a bit fiddley due to the record keeping and felt the game design wasn't fully baked. I liked the Alien RPG system better. That said, I really enjoyed the game because of the excellent GM.
You kept track of die roll failures, each failure increases your Stress by 1 (Stress starts at 2). When you fail a Sanity or Fear check, you roll 1d20 and try to beat your current Stress (core rules says roll 2d10). If you fail, you roll 1d20 on a random Panic table (though core rules says 2d10 + Stress). There was just all this record keeping which I didn't like.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Basically, the PCs were supposed to sleep 3 years and wake up at a new planet and work for 7 years terraforming it. We wake up and things have gone very wrong. A cult herds us to the barracks and we discover food and water is very, very low. Later we find the ship has 3 factions and each control different parts of the ship. After much investigation, we discover the leaders of each faction are aliens who have taken over the bodies of the faction leaders and were working to crash the ship into their home planet. The PCs take over the ship and wind up landing it on a habitable moon orbiting the alien's planet.
The mystery was complex and we had a good table of Players able to put the pieces together.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
11/10/24 Sun 6-11pm (5 hrs)
Sombra Encima De La Quinecienera (Shadow Over the...)
System: Tales of the Old West (uses Year Zero Engine)
GM: Saul Morales
5 Players (4 showed up): Matt A, Wyn R, +1 crasher, Morgan Hua
Pregens: yes
The Year is 1873, in the area of Northern New Mexico Territory in the town of Jornada Valley, Ynez Quintero turns 15 on Saturday. Usually a special moment in a young girl's life where she leaves behind the girl and becomes a young lady. But joy turned to sorrow, yesterday as the body of Fernando Quintero was discovered, Ynez's oldest brother, out in the scrub range in the middle of nowhere. Shattered is the joyous time that her family, especially Marta Quintero the Matriarch of the family, has been planning for months. Witnesses have come forward claiming a native man was seen in the area. Sheriff Cahill knows a posse of locals would be nothing less than a murderous mob bent on revenge. Somethings for Cahill does not add up. Why was Fernando so far out in the middle of nowhere, why was the body so mutilated, why would the witness claim it was Nahui, a peaceful Otomi far from home. Tensions run high in this dusty town where tradition is long standing, secrets are kept close, tensions exists between cattle ranchers, farmers, natives, new comers and families that have been around for over a hundred years. As strangers passing through town Cahill has hired you to bring in Fernando's killer before the town explodes in blood and violence.
Saul wrote this scenario and a short version of it is in the published game. An excellent scenario.
The only downside of this game was that we had that "one problem Player." The problem Player was the crasher. After confronting the whole table, because the table wouldn't back him up, in a specific scene, he singled me out, and he went to weird social justice mode. After that, we let his PC do his thing; the rest of the party did other things as a split party. Later, he apologized for his behavior. But the damage was already done. We had fun despite his behavior.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
PCs checkout the body of Fernando and discover he's been shot twice. One bullet was still in the body. Shot by a 45 which was new at that time. Fernando's pearl handled 45 was also missing. There were also a lot of knife slashes on the body.
At the crime scene, we found someone had taken his horse. Further away, we found Indian tracks that followed the killer.
Back at the town, Donovan Pickard said he saw an Indian kill Fernando. Donovan was telling this story, surrounded by his friends, at a bar. This was immediately suspicious and this is where we had a Player problem. The PCs were of low social class: an Indian scout, an Irish farmer, a homeless gal, and my Mexican buffalo hunter. Fernando was a wealthy landowner. So were the Pickards. The Indian scout got into Donovan's face and started questioning him in a hostile manner. The other PCs decided not to intervene. The Player got pissed that we didn't back him up and started Social Justice Warrior-ing on us. Asking why we didn't defend his Indian PC. He first asked what our PCs reaction was. We all told him we wouldn't react. He then asked us, as Players, what we thought and asked if someone made an insulting Chinese comment to me how I would feel. Like WTF dude. The table has two Hispanics and one Asian player. You are WHITE. We already answered that we weren't going to react and you feel like we slighted your WHITE ass because we wouldn't defend your Indian PC who was trying to escalate a situation that he wasn't going to win. I told him, if he wanted to, just shoot Donovan. I then had to explain to him the social situation of a bar full of drunk friends of a rich person being insulted. He was still pissed. At this point, Saul intervened and shut the guy down.
Anyway, Donovan was number one on our suspect list. We did more investigation and found Fernando's sister (the birthday girl, Ynez) was meeting a potential lover (an Indian) and had seen her brother's murder. Donovan had seen the Indian, but not the girl, and decided to pin the murder on the Indian, by wounding the body as if it was a victim of an Indian attack.
Donovan had taken Fernando's horse, led it away, and killed it. We found the horse and crates of dynamite. Donovan was using Fernando as a go-between to buy land near a river bordering Indian territory. The plan was to divert the river after the land purchases. Fernando didn't like this as he was friendly to the Indians, so Donovan killed him after asking Fernando to take a look at his fancy pistol.
We found Fernando's pistol on Charlie Pickard, he didn't know who's pistol it was, but he had stolen it from Donovan. With Charlie's confession and Ynez's testimony, the Quintero's farmhands joined a posse to arrest Donovan. At the end, I told the problem Player, "If you shot him, it would have saved us a lot of trouble." (like 4 hours of investigation ๐).
Another free online convention. This one focused on Call of Cthulhu 7e scenarios in the Miskatonic Repository (3rd party written scenarios). Scenario authors (and others) can run scenarios from the Miskatonic Repository or play tests of scenarios.
This year, every GM I played with was the author of their scenario. Overall, a good convention. More good games than bad. And the quality of the good games more than compensated for the bad games.
I hide spoiler sections with JavaScript. If you have JavaScript turned off, you can skip the spoiler sections I have marked.
10/4/24 Fri 11am-3pm (4 hrs)
Bound by Blood (Playtest)
System: CoC
GM: Nellufy
3 Players: David J (Marisigan - Field Guide working for Dr Schneider), Denice K (Father Antanacio Jr), Morgan Hua (Dr Schneider - German Ethnologist)
Content Warnings: Cannibalism
Pregens are provided
This scenario takes place in 1911 Philippines. It has been under American Rule for 13 years.
Strange happenings have been taking place up north. A report came in the San Fernando Constabulary that a headless corpse has been found outside of Luka Village and accused is on the run.
The PCs were designed for the scenario and had fairly detailed backstories.
I enjoyed this scenario. It's great to play a game with only 3 Players. We get lots of screen time.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
We're dropped in media res into Luka Village in front of a body covered with a tarp. It's maggoty and headless. I soon discover that Father Antanacio and my PC, Dr Schneider, both have three parallel cut scars at our necks. The body also had a strong fish smell about it. Questioning NPCs brought up that the main suspect is a missing villager, an adopted outsider. That there were bandits that were kidnapping people and killing them. That there was a medicine woman that helped cleanse people.
We search the crime scene and discover footprints left by a man-sized creature with webbed feet. This lead to a ritual spot with a Cthulhu statue and the missing head with the top cut open and the brains having been minced and maybe eaten. Sun was setting, so we decided to visit the medicine woman who was nearby. Yes, we took the head with us. There's also a plague of frogs. PCs noticed they were being followed in the jungle.
The medicine woman told us that the bandits were actually kidnapping people and killing them to bury with a rich or powerful person, so they can serve them in the afterlife. That one tribal headman was dying and she was tending to him. Both Father Antanacio and Dr Schneider were marked (by the scars). The scars meant that they had already gone through a ritual and were possible inheritors of the headman. PCs get attacked by bowmen and they escape with the medicine woman. PCs get directions to the dying tribal headman.
PCs get tracked down by one of the bowmen who was shot in the head. Marisigan chopped one of its hands off. Dr Schneider was able to halt the bowman by bringing out the statuette. The bowman wanted it, but didn't want to damage it. Father Antanacio tried to destroy the statuette, but was only able to damage it and knock its head off (detachable, but it held some foul ritual substance inside). Marisigan cleaved the bowman's head in half. Dr Schneider decapitated the body, but it kept on thrashing about.
Heavy rains came down and PCs found a cave for shelter and it's a giant burial chamber. Carvings depict a ritual for transferring power between humans and frog people. Father Antanacio and Dr Schneider have flashes of memory where they ate from cups made of human heads. Dr Schneider finally translates the markings on the statuette (after 3 tries): In His House at R'lyeh Dead Kugilataaw waits dreaming, yet He shall rise and His kingdom shall cover the Earth. PCs go deeper and find the ritual spot. Father Antanacio defiled the blue waters of an underground lake with the defiled statuette, and a ginormous creature came out of the lake. Marisigan faced an army of undying, originally hanging on the ceiling like bats (or odd frogs), who were now mortal. Dr Schneider shot the tribal headman with a 01 crit, knocking him off the ceiling. The cave complex started to collapse.
On the way out, the tribal headman grabbed Dr Schneider's ankle, so Schneider shot him in the head, killing him, releasing a stream of ancestral spirits.
The PCs escape, but unknowingly, Father Antanacio gets infected and is the new tribal headman, spreading the religion of Dead Kugilataaw.
My only small quibble was that a few times, the PCs were forced to go into somewhere obviously dangerous because they failed POW tests. Visions and voices forced the PCs to go deeper into the caves which at that point was obviously the horrible ritual place of sacrifice. The hand of the GM showed a little too much here. There must be a more subtle way to do this that has more Player agency or some external pressure could be used instead.
The GM did tell us that this was a longer scenario and she had condensed it into 4 hours, so there were a few odd coincidences where we randomly arrived at just the right spot. I attribute this to condensing the scenario. The start was a bit jarring. I would have liked to have travelled to Luka Village vs just starting there in media res.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
10/4/24 Fri 4-8pm (4 hrs)
The Wolf Trap
System: CoC
GM: Chris McCutcheon
6 Players: Robert F (Capt Carpenter), Benjamin S (Mrs Daria Walmsley - socialite), Moran T (Father Filbert Mason Esq), Walter M (Holly Hoyle - muscle), Kevin K (Dr Etsuko Hoshi - doctor), Morgan Hua (First Mate Enzo Pimintel)
Chesapeake Bay, 2 April 1896, The schooner 'Caroline' is southbound with passengers, mail & cargo, when a wicked gale kicks up. With the bay growing ever angrier the Captain steers towards Wolf Trap Light; a tiny, hazy & so very distant beacon of hope glinting dimly off their port bow. The desperate plan is to make for the lighthouse in the middle of the bay, hoping to lash to the stormproof structure & ride out nature's fury. Only ten minutes more & they'll be able to safely ride out the storm.
The issue is that I've played a number of games with the same premise. Another issue was this played out like a radio play, I basically listened as the GM told us a story. Not enough Player choices or Player agency. There were too many individual vignettes where PCs didn't interact with each other and the GM just round robined through the PCs. This happened multiple times.
GM did tell us that this scenario was squeezed into a 4 hour slot. Various things were removed (less exploring), and events condensed. So, maybe if this scenario had more space to breathe, it would have played out better.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
The game started off with various individual vignettes with PCs on the boat preparing for a storm. With 6 Players, you're basically listening. Then the Capt and I were given 3 possible choices as an approaching storm approaches and we're told which of the 3 choices were the best choice and if you've read the scenario description, well, you know what the choice is.
Deep Ones attack our ship during the eye of the storm and we wind up in a pitch battle which was sort of odd. Then after one round, the Deep Ones flee as the eye of the storm moves off and the storm returns.
Then as we get to the lighthouse, a giant wave hits the ship, PCs make saves. Then the mast breaks and the ship capsizes. The PCs all start to drown and then get rescued in individual vignettes.
This was Act 1 and it took 2 hours.
Act 2, the PCs wake up individually in the lighthouse and talk to the lighthouse keeper, then fall asleep again. After all the vignettes were done, all the PCs wake up and find the lighthouse dark and seemingly empty. As we go upstairs, two of us, Enzo and Daria, have a flashback that we're drowning. Upstairs we see 2 demons and Etsuko and Holly attack and kill one. I immediately thought we're probably seeing things and doing horrible things to normal people. The other demon says the Lord's prayer. Then we wake up in the same rooms we were in before.
Each time we wake up, the lighthouse rooms change, as we progress through time. We face exorcists and other people we're haunting. Eventually, we figure out how to release ourselves from the haunting; we had to destroy our treasured item in a ritual. Only one PC stayed, the Capt, to haunt the lighthouse forever.
GM did say a longer version of this scenario would have a longer fight with the Deep Ones and each time we had a time jump, the PCs can fully explore the lighthouse before the next jump. Our jumps were pretty tight often with very little exploration.
Storywise, this scenario is ok. Some things didn't make sense such as the Deep One attack. But if you want to be a ghost and want to solve a mystery and redeem yourself, I recommend Steven Drouin's Torn games instead.
4 Players: Bud B (Curt Kendrick - Ad Exec), Robert F (Ted Brantly - Contractor / Outdoorsman), Jo S (Donny Shows - Talent Agent), Morgan Hua (Larry Frippe - Insurance Salesman)
Summer 1972, Washington State. A group of old friends reunite for a weekend rafting trip in the Olympic National Forest. Their whitewater journey down the Lost River in the shadow of Mt. Mystery unearths terrible, subterranean secrets hidden within themselves and the primeval wilderness. Warning: body horror, child endangerment, PvP.
Each PC had a "Dark Secret" card which added a lot to the roleplaying. If the PC did a specific Act, they would get a Reward (3 possible awards, one use), so doing the Act 3 times gives you all 3 Rewards that you can use only once. The Rewards are pretty powerful rule breakers.
An incredible table of Players and great GM who wrote this scenario. My favorite game at this convention. Premium character interactions. Everyone was present in their character and I felt everyone was very real with their actions.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
This scenario is a reimagining of Deliverance. Insert hostile locals, cultists, mutant babies, ritual spaces, and whole lot of bad decisions.
PCs start in media res putting in our canoes. Then Ted and Donny get a flashback to us arriving at a rundown bar and general store. Ted and Donny go to the bar and meet the hostile locals. Donny picks up a banjo and cuts her fingers on its strings before moving on to the guitar and winds up playing dueling banjos with something in a baby carriage. The thing in the carriage was given the banjo. A bar fight breaks out and Ted gets hurt.
Meanwhile, Curt and Larry get into trouble with their canoe. In their canoe is also Margo, Ted's niece. They lose a tent and one of their paddles while going down the rapids. When they pick up their lost gear, Curt and Larry see plastic dolls impaled on sticks on the shoreline. Flashback to the general store. Curt buys an old revolver and an ancient book. Larry, some jerky. Margo finds toys and dolls, all old and musty and cranks a jack-in-the-box which pops up with a paper mรขchรฉ head that resembled their friend Perry who had vanished 10 years ago. Curt and Larry are creeped out and leave. The deformed, possibly tumor stricken shop owner gives the jack-in-the-box to Margo. On the drive out, out of sight of the store, Larry throws the toy out the car window into the brushes.
In the river, the PCs pass by a bridge that has been deliberately taken down. Tire tracks are present on either side of the bridge.
PCs camp for the night, across the river from an old logging camp. Ted explores and found two logging trucks parked there and decides to return to our camp. At night, Ted sees something. Hunts it down and only finds a pile of bones, inside is a baby skull with 3 eye sockets. Later that night, shadow creatures show up. The PCs fight them. Ted gets enveloped by one of the shadows and falls into a dark pit, but is able to grab its edge with his fingernails. Margo tries to dive in and save Ted, but Donny holds her back. Larry had crawled over Curt, away from one of the shadow things. Curt shoots one of the shadow things with his shotgun which misfires, but destroys it. Seeing his chance, Larry legs it to one of the canoes. Creature goes after Donny who dodges, so Margo leaps in to save Ted and knocks him into the pit. Curt reloads his damaged shotgun and tries to shoot the shadow that's after Donny, and it explodes. Everything fades to white.
The PCs wake up the morning, but not in their tents, but in the last place they were last night. Uninjured. PCs talk about the events. Larry gaslights them and tells them he slept very well and woke up this morning to start packing for the second day on the river.
More rapids, but hostile locals are bringing rifles and boats to come after the PCs. Locals shoot at the PCs and Margo gets hit. Ted shoots his bow and deflates one of the local's rafts. More rifle fire, PCs paddle away, and find the river blocked. The only way out is portage. Ducking from more rifle fire, the PCs take the portage trail that leads into a tunnel. Eventually, they reach a ritual chamber with multiple tunnel entrances. Ted, Curt, and Donny go crazy. Donny tries to brain Larry with a rock, Larry runs. Ted tries to stab a flaming icon of Perry who shows up, but is embraced by him instead. The locals show up. Curt is thanked for bringing Margo back to her family. Ted, Curt, and Donny are taken into the family.
Larry finds a still that uses the river water, grabs an armload of empty mason jars, and uses them as flotation devices and jumps into the underground river.
Larry's Act was that he'd get a Reward for every time he does anything to avoid harm, even if it meant risking his friends' lives. Curt if he found a specific book and protected it. Ted if he inflected terrible violence on anybody he thought deserved it. Donny if he spread peace, joy, or love which included song and music. These Dark Secrets really added to the game, it's like the Hidden Agendas from Alien RPG, except the Dark Secret has multiple rewards, so it gives a bennie for roleplaying consistently and creating friction in the fiction. I love this mechanism. Of course, the Dark Secrets are tailored for the scenario.
5 Players: J D (Merton Campbell - Doctor), Xiao W (Selene Laurent - Entertainer), Robert F (Ming Yuet - Gunslinger), Morgan Hua (Bill O'Reilly - Miner)
From ENNIE award winning Miskatonic Repository writer David Waldron. The Demon of the Deep Leads Amidst the lawlessness and turmoil of the Eureka Rebellion, a young First Nations woman of the Jardwadjali people searches desperately for her missing brother. As bushrangers stalk the innocent and rebels prepare for a bloody clash under the Southern Cross, something far more terrifying stirs in the depths below—an ancient creature with an insatiable hunger for human flesh.
Game is set in 1854 Ballarat, Australia. GM had deep knowledge about the peoples and places. Had lots of historical paintings and drawings, and real events melded into the scenario.
We had an ok table of Players and we made the mistake of skipping half of the investigation and jumped to the Big Bad at the end. We finished 2 hours early and wound up talking about the scenario and Australian history for 30 mins. So, the scenario wasn't as satisfying as it should have been.
Overall, I think if this was run over several sessions and with some work by the GM to massage the scenario a little, the game would be better. The historical content and setting makes getting this scenario well worthwhile.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
PCs are told to find John Lovette for 4£ (2£ provided by June, John's sister; a matching 2£ by her Italian friend who asked us to help). The Lovettes are Indigenous Australians, so it's hard for June to investigate by herself. John was working for a man named Jim Owens, a rough and dangerous man.
Bill and Ming visited the grocery and found that Jim had bought supplies for a week and all the dynamite. Additional pressure yielded that he was headed into the Devil's Kitchen.
Selene and Merton went to the Charlie Napier Hotel to question Hattie, Jim's girlfriend. Hattie was a first tier entertainer of the brothel kind whom Jim lavished expensive gifts on. They learned that he was also interested in Hattie's ex-boyfriend, Rudolf, who had a mining claim in the Devil's Kitchen.
Visiting the assayer's office, yielded the location of Rudolf's mine. Also we learned about an injured Trooper who was sent out to investigate a question of claim jumping at Rudolf's mine. His partner never returned. Merton treated the Trooper and found out he was attacked by a large cat-like creature who's claws dripped venom. On the Sargent's desk is a report about an animal attack at Scarsdale. There's also local gossip about escaped animals from the circus.
PCs go to Scarsdale and learn about mutilated sheep and cattle. Sightings of it said it was brown, dark, had quills, large claws and dripped black ichor. We didn't believe that this was what the creature looked like, probably bad eye witness accounts. I asked if there was a reward for killing the creature, the reward was 50£.
PCs head to the Devil's Kitchen and run into an abandoned mining camp. I decided to call out and see if there were anybody alive. A response was heard near a pile of lumber and bushes. I called out again and heard two sounds, someone saying, "Run," and a growl from a very large predator.
PCs decided to stand and fight. The 50£ bounty was dear to us, we had really low credit ratings. From behind the lumber and bushes was a cave where the creature came bursting out. It was as described with quills and everything. Oops. We actually took the creature down (with lots of luck spends) with only Merton got hurt. Inside the cave was the dead body of the missing Trooper, Jim Owens and his men (dead), and John Lovette, still alive on a high ledge. We patched him up and returned him to his people.
We turned in the head of the creature to Scarsdale for the reward. The GM then narrated the ending as the creature would return the next night and individually hunt down the PCs.
At this point, we're only 2 hours into a 4 hour game.
What we missed out was going to the circus and finding out about Jim Owens robbing the circus and stealing an idol. In the abandoned mining camp were journals about using the idol to control the creature and banishing it. There were weapons and dynamite at the camp. We were supposed to get all this info before entering the cave and go through a cat-and-mouse chase, looking for the idol on Jim Owens' body, then holding off the creature, as someone read a ritual to banish it.
I had asked if this was the mining camp we were looking for and the GM said, "You don't know." The chances of running into it like this seemed low, so I assumed it was another camp attacked by the creature. So, we were looking for survivors and more clues. We did not know that the person telling us to run was John Lovette. We also didn't think going to the circus was important to our investigation. We had really no reason to go there. When Ming found the bodies in the cave, he failed his Spot Hidden, so missed the idol. He was the one who found John who was badly hurt, so we took him out of the cave, had the doctor treat him, and then decided to get him home ASAP, so we didn't have time to fully explore the cave or camp site. We grabbed John and proof that the trooper was dead (his badge) and left. We also had the creature's head in a barrel which we had to keep on hitting as it was regenerating; we needed proof that we defeated it. We were able to burn the rest of its body. I think the time pressure of the regenerating head and John's dire condition made us depart as soon as possible. My plan was to take the reward money and take over mining claim and come back later to sort everything out. But the game had already gone into epilogue mode and finished.
I think the GM should have been more flexible. I understand that if the creature was dead, exploring the cave was now a slam dunk and not the exciting fight in the tunnels. One option was that the GM should have had no one respond to my shout out. Then we would have explored the abandoned camp as he wanted us to and the game would have flowed the way he wanted it. But the GM said us disturbing it and especially near its lair let it manifest in the darkness and come out and attack us. So, it was a GM decision to trigger the end game. But even with us killing the creature, why not continue the game and have the creature hunt us the next night, then we'd have to band together and figure out what's going on. At that point, we might go to the circus and return to the mining camp to look for clues. We still had 2 hours of game time left.
4 Players: Anne K (Mukai Kotori - Office Worker - vocalist), Gwen H (Kano Hoshiko - Pianist), Denice K (Kawashima Ru - Doctor - harp), Morgan Hua (Nakaoka Shintarล - Guard - taiko)
Modern Day Japan, Tokyo Investigators attending the "Hills Music Festa," a music festival held in Roppongi, Tokyo, face off against a strange phenomenon swirling behind the event. Do Gods Dream of Digital Drugs focuses on music and AI, taking place in the modern metropolis of Tokyo.
Written by Byoushin, from the scenario collection 'Japonism 2024' Pregens provided, all experience levels welcome. Content Warning: Self-harm.
Michael Reid isn't the original writer, but he did the official translation from the original Japanese. GM created pregens for us because the published scenario did not provide any.
I played in Unseasonable Blooming and Minuet last year, so I was really looking forward to playing in this. I was not disappointed.
We had a great table of players and the GM delivered again. This came in as a close second to being my favorite game at the convention. It's all the character interactions and a good mystery that made this a great game.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
PCs used to be in the same college band, but most of us have moved on to other careers after graduation. We had to come up with what instruments we played. Only Kano didn't have a choice as she became a professional Pianist. Then we had to come up with our band's name: Breath of the Mountain.
PCs meet their old friend Hamada at a bar and he hands them free tickets to the Hills Music Festa in two days. He's the producer and tells us there's a big deal and we should not miss the big reveal at 1pm. Fliers for the event is all over Tokyo. On the way out, he gets a phone call, hangs up, puts on his ear buds, says, "It's beautiful," pulls out a pen and starts stabbing himself in the face with it. We stop him, but it's too late. Kawashima stepped on something squishy on the way to administer First Aid. She succeeded, but he died anyway. Hamada had gouged out an eye and tore open an artery. Nakaoka calls emergency and quietly takes Hamada's blood soaked phone and bags it. "Some rice might dry it out."
PCs get questioned by the police and are asked about 4 other similar deaths. PCs realize the 4 dead are involved in the music industry and event planning. Police heavily suggest that the PCs are better equipped to navigate the backdoors of the industry as the police had already investigated and found it was a dead end. Blood work on Hamada showed only slight traces of alcohol in his blood and no drugs. Nakaoka cleans the phone in the police bathroom and with the group takes it to a phone repair kiosk. "Sorry, won't be fixed until the next day 1pm." "I'll pay for quicker service." "We will try. We'll call you when it's fixed."
PCs then go to Hamada's residence. They hack into his computer and find an email from one of the other victims, a professor at Yugoshi University. It talks about a passcode for a USB stick. PCs find it. Play it without sound and watch the wave forms. It looks like music, not spoken words. Decide to transcribe it into musical notation instead of listening to it. Oops, that didn't work as we expected. If we understood the music, we still had to make POW checks. Nakaoka gets entranced by the most beautiful music. Kano and Mukai pull out pens from their purses and start stabbing themselves in their own face. Kawashima tries to stop them, but fails. Nakaoka snaps out of it and is able to restrain one. The other falls unconscious. Both have lost an eye. Nakaoka calls emergency. Before the police and ambulance arrive he pulls the USB stick out of the computer and pockets it. Kano and Mukai are taken to the hospital. PCs are questioned by the police again. We tell them it's the music, but the police have their hands full with the music festival protesters and they have no pull on the big music festival, but they will try to do something about it. The protesters say the festival's music is against their god's will.
The next day, Nakaoka and Mukai visit the university and find the professor's lab. The associate professor, Jun Eai, has taken over the AI music lab. He tells the PCs that they've spent years developing the complex music that's going to be revealed at the Hills Music Festa, and that no one at the lab has listened to it. PCs explain what happens with the music and have one-eyed Mukai as proof (and the other deaths). PCs hand over the USB stick and password. Professor promises to try to analyze it and find some way of neutralizing it or changing it, so we could replace the music at the Hills Music Festa. They don't know how long it'll take, but they'll work on it around the clock.
Kawashima visits the company in charge of the event and makes a connection with the new person in charge, Kenji Charashima. The previous person had died. Also found out there were protesters against the event.
Kano visits the company that provides the sound equipment to the event.
PCs learn the police have raided and arrested all of the protesters. PCs visit the Church of Serialism and find it empty of people, but find sheet music. Kawashima wanted to burn the pages. Kano found a plan by the protesters to infiltrate the festival and sing their music. Nakaoka started playing it. It's music that can neutralize the AI music (Insane Insight). After a whole series of misadventures, all the PCs wind up listening to the music and understand its power.
The PCs get Kenji to listen to the music and he gives the PCs performance passes to the festival and puts them on the official schedule.
The PCs set up their instruments, wait until the AI music starts to play, and play the other music. The band is back together again!
A rift opens, Tru’nembra is summoned, the glass tower next to the venue shakes and the glass shatters, sending large panes of glass down, the ground splits open, and the other song is eliminated. We brought down the house!
The PCs are arrested. Nakaoka's excuse, "Why am I under arrest, that was an earthquake." Other PCs made their own excuses. Eventually, all the PCs are released. Nakaoka goes and joins the Church of Serialism and hopes to move up its ranks.
This 112 page book (including endpapers and such) consists of 4 unrelated scenarios. No pre-gens are provided.
On the maps for each scenario, I've circled Upsala in green as a reference point. Red is the destination.
I really enjoyed all 4 scenarios. If run correctly, with some GM inspiration, all 4 scenarios can be really, really good.
Ranked in order of preference:
1. The Night Sow
2. The Silver of the Sea
3. A Wicked Secret
4. The Song of the Falling Star
Most of my sessions are 3 hours long. Different groups take different times, but my run times are here for comparison purposes. At conventions, I generally book a 6 hour time slot which includes time for explaining the system and a break for food.
I hide spoiler sections with JavaScript. If you have JavaScript turned off, you can skip the spoiler sections I have marked.
The Silver of the Sea
Location: Fjรคllbacka Archipelago
Pages: 22
Run Time: 3 sessions
Hook: A dead priest washes up ashore with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Another priest suspects foul play at Wrecker Isle.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
The Plot: Every new moon, Zacharias Amundsson sacrifices a human to his true mother, a mermaid. This brings herring to the island and makes the Amundssons wealthy. When he tried to sacrifice the priest, the priest in desperation committed suicide. The PCs with an NPC priest are the meddling kids who the Amundssons will try to sacrifice this new moon. Vaesen: Mermaid (p.140, core book) and Kraken (new creature, only stat: Might 14) Location of Note: Gรถtta Canal
Of note, the map for Wrecker Isle on p.11, the labels for the Residence and Inn are swapped. The house should be far away from regular foot traffic going to the Inn. Also, the Inn should be bigger than the house. Of interest, there are two outhouses, one for the Residence, one for the Inn.
The Warehouse on p.19. Since the priest, Vicar Carl Eric Hedquist, was killed out at sea, it doesn't make sense that there's large blood stain here. I'd change this to having some blood on the pendant. Maybe he was hit over the head here and the blood is from a head wound. If that's the case, I'd tell the PCs there's some blood here, maybe from a minor cut, not the blood from a gunshot wound to the head.
Route through Gรถtta Canal (in blue)
1832 Grand Opening of the Gรถtta Canal
Modern view of the Gรถtta Canal
In my run, the PCs went back and forth from Wrecker Isle to Fjรคllbacka multiple times. They checked with the Constable and Coroner. They even left Oscar Uddgren alone on Wrecker Isle, so I decided to kidnap him and put him in a herring barrel for the new moon sacrifice. The PCs rescued him. The PCs then leveled charges of kidnapping on Pete and Pace. The Constable arrested them. The Herring Baron hired a lawyer and paid their bail. The PCs understood what was happening with the sacrifices, but decided that prosperity and less ship wrecks in exchange for a monthly sacrifice was a good trade and decided to leave well enough alone. Weeks later, Oscar mysteriously drowns in his own bed and the charges against Pete and Pace were dropped.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
A Wicked Secret
Location: Fรคrnsta
Pages: 32
Run Time: 2 sessions
Hook: An industrialist sent two trusted men to Fรคrnsta to buy forestry land. One came back raving mad, the other is missing. The ravings sounded like Society business. Can the Society look into this for a handsome fee?
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
The Plot: Secret cult members, elders of the village, sacrifice one of their own every generation to renew a pact with their pagan gods who enriches the forest. The cult leader, Mรคrta Karlstrรถm, doesn't want her people to sell their land to the industrialist and sent the Grim to kill the industrialist's agents. One was murdered, the other escaped, but lost his sanity. Mรคrta has decided to kill everyone against her, including the local priest and villagers. And also sacrifice Vilhemina Skytt in a ritual to renew the pact.
Vaesen: Church Grim (p.129 core book).
In my run, the PCs arrived in August von Meijer's coach, so the coach and coachman would be at their service while in Fรคrnsta.
The PCs found Hammarstrรถm's body and the brushed over giant-sized cat prints. The body was at the edge of the graveyard, so that still matches with the Grim protecting the church grounds. They confront Ingvar Nystrรถm who eventually tells the PCs about the Church Grim. The PCs ask the priest to take them to the local coffin maker and get a coffin made for Hammarstrรถm's body. While there, they find out more about Mรคrta and Dorotea.
The PCs had also met Vilhelmina Skytt and were invited to her mother's house. They spoke to Dorotea and found that she was in the midst of bargaining with the two previous agents of von Meijer before they disappeared. She tells the PCs what her price was. PCs agree to inform von Meijer.
The PCs send Hammarstrรถm's body back with the coach and a letter to von Meijer with Skytt's offer to sell.
While at the Village Hall, the PCs learn about the old families of Fรคrnsta, that Mรคrta and Dorotea didn't get along. That the oldest structure was the church. It was there before the village. They also learn more about the Church Grim. The PCs got the stink-eye from one of the land owners, especially when one of the loggers talked about the Grim. They also learn that the locals think both of von Meijer's agents vanished two weeks ago when the church bells rang.
The PCs remembered that Lindeskรถld had said that the beast tried to get into the house where he was staying which was Karlstrรถm's house, no where near the church. They inspected the outside and on a success, I told them they also found brushed over giant-sized cat prints around the house. Suspicious of Karlstrรถm, they arrange to stay overnight at the Skytt house.
That night, the church bells ring and Nystrรถm dies. The PCs stay indoors until morning. I put Handout 2C in Nystrรถm's pocket as the PCs had already searched the standing stones and found nothing. They return to the standing stones and go east and find a boulder standing against a hill. Using a pry bar, the boulder easily slides away, revealing a tunnel. Following the tunnel, they find the ritual space underneath the church. They dig under the pentagram looking for the Grim's body, but don't find it. After a Challenging Investigation test, they find hidden in the foundation stones the Grim's body wrapped in cloth with ancient runes written on it. They set it on fire with their lantern oil. Smoke starts entering the tunnels and they feel an earthquake. The PCs flee. Outside, they see the church on fire and the stones collapsing.
The PCs decide to leave town before the villagers come after them. They go to the Skytt house to gather their belongings and leave town with the Skytts in their horse drawn cart. This also solves the issue of Karlstrรถm trying to sacrifice Vilhelmina which the PCs didn't know about.
The Skytts sell their land and accept the invitation of the PCs to relocate to Upsala.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
The Night Sow
Location: Mรถlle
Pages: 18
Run Time: 2 sessions (ran this twice, both times took 2 sessions).
Hook: A friend asks for help at the Mรถlle Seaside Hotel. The problem is a secret that can't be revealed until you show up.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
The Plot: Lighthouse keeper Magnus Lundin is the protector of Mรถlle. For generations his family has protected the strong magic available at the Hill. The Sisters of Satan (amateur witches) started tapping the Hill's power and accidentally turned Katarina Jรถnsson into the Gloson. Lundin decided to do something about it. He got control of the Gloson and has been eliminating the witches with it.
Vaesen: Gloson (new creature, full stat, p.74). Location of Note: The Lighthouse
Of note is Molle Seaside Hotel on p.67, "moved all their beds into a single room." I'm looking at the map of the hotel and the only thing that makes sense is that they moved Olga's beds into the Satan's Sisters Room, not moved their beds into Olga's Suite. Then they converted Olga's Suite into a workspace. If that's the case, the two beds in Olga's room should be in the Satan's Sisters Room. I think that makes more sense and when the PCs enter the Satan's Sisters Room, it'll be wall-to-wall beds. I'd actually add a giant pentagram drawn in the middle of Olga's Suite's floor, possibly covered with an area rug.
In my run, my PCs decided attack Lundin at the Lighthouse. Lundin fired his pistol from inside the lighthouse while the Gloson TPKed the party, easily breaking every PC. A new set of PCs decided to investigate why the previous group disappeared in Mรถlle. This time, they discovered not only was there a Gloson, but there were 4 new piglet Glosons (the TPKed PCs). In some legends the Gloson is accompanied by piglets. The new PCs negotiated the transfer of ownership of the 4 piglets for a promise to find for Lundin a child-bearing wife (with the Sight), so he can continue his lineage. Undoing the Gloson curse was up the the PCs. Once that was figured out, Lundin promised he would undo the curse on Katarina.
I did change how the magic worked. I decided there were strong ley lines at the Hill. Lundin knows the spell for making a Gloson, the spell is written on the Rooting Cave wall, but not how to undo it. The Linden staff only controls the Gloson. I had Lundin claim that once the witches changed Katarina into the Gloson, it would ravage the area, indiscriminately killing everyone, so he took control of it and used it to eliminate the threat of the witches. He changed the TPKed PCs into piglets to teach them a lesson (for trying to murder him for no reason, at least from his viewpoint). He's been lecturing them and Katarina daily on morality.
Location: Arensburg on the island of Oesel
Pages: 16
Run Time: 1 session
Hook: A cousin's wife has gone insane and a priest says his newborn son is under an evil influence.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
The Plot: The von Kaiserling's child is actually a changeling. Hugo von Kaiserling didn't return a kantele as promised to a Troll village, Kaali Village. Until it is returned (with a tight deadline), his child will not be returned / exchanged.
Vaesen: A whole Troll village Location of Note: Kaali Lake, a crater lake
Kaali Lake
kantele
In my run, the PCs got the children exchanged, but that enraged Father Cornelius and made an enemy of him. Soon after, Father Cornelius (Russian Orthodox Church) started picketing Castle Gyllencreutz with the other priest (who was Lutheran) that was already protesting the evils at the castle. Both were now joined in a common cause. Then one day, both priests suddenly disappeared....
I got into two games and then two seats opened up on waitlists, so I got into 4 games. 3 of the 4 games were run by Nellufy. So, this was really more of a NellCon for me.
Lots of different and new settings for Vaesen. I love that a lot of independent scenario writers are writing scenarios based on new locations and its local folklore.
I hide spoiler sections with JavaScript. If you have JavaScript turned off, you can skip the spoiler sections I have marked.
September 1884 Elias, Texas. The small farming town of Elias has been plagued with mysterious deaths. Edward Tuttle, the mayor, has been sending telegraph messages throughout Texas, Louisiana, the Oklahoma and Indian Territory for help hoping someone would come. Word spread that the town is cursed. Men turn up dead in the woods they say. Their corpses mangled within the branches of the trees. No one has stepped foot in Elias for 3 weeks until now. An odd band of people has just entered the small town of Elias. They associate themselves with “The Society” and they are here to help.
Yeehaw! We're in Texas with guns! A nice use of a new setting and lore for the wild, wild west.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
On the way into town, John and Sister Cohle notice an Indian girl look at us from a church window, but before they can react, the priest turns her away from us.
At the mayor's house in town, he tells us of his cotton farm and clearing of the forest to create more farming land. He has made sure that the land he is clearing is in his surveyed plot and NOT extended into Indian territory. There has been 3 incidents and 5 deaths and 1 survivor. The survivor was a hired gun who is now drinking himself to death in the saloon. The Indian girl is the only native in town. We are to go to his farm and talk to the mayor's son who is running the cotton farm.
John and Sister Cohle visit the church. They speak to the priest and question the girl. She tells them a giant bird killed her people and she fled and wound up at the church. She draws a picture of a gigantic owl for Sister Cohle.
Ezra and Remy go to the saloon. After buying more drinks for the hired gunman and some prompting, he tells of a giant white owl that killed the two men he was supposed to protect. He says bullets didn't hurt it. The gunman is healing from a horrendous wound to his face, one eye ruined, and chest. It looks like a giant talon strike. The workers were lured into the forest by the sound of a woman weeping.
At the farm, the PCs arrange to go with the mayor's son in the morning, deep in the forest, to see where the hired gunman was injured. The PCs question the workers at the farm. One worker is shunned, asking around, Sister Cohle finds that Eugene had changed and is a bit odd. Sometimes, out in the forest is the sounds of a woman weeping. Ezra talks to Eugene and is invited to walk with him in the forest, Ezra agrees without telling anyone.
Ezra walks with Eugene into the forest and stumble upon the decomposing body of Eugene. Ezra gets murdered.
John, Sister Cohle, and Remy wonder where Ezra went and use John's hunting dog to follow Ezra's trail into the forest. They find Ezra who is acting strangely and question him. Ezra complains about all the noise made by people and that he'd rather be left alone, but there was no place to go, people keep on showing up and disturbing his peace, then he transforms into the giant white owl.
The giant white owl spits its organs into the trees and attacks.
Sister Cohle starts quoting scripture and blesses John's rifle. Remy shines his lantern directly into the owl's eyes and spots where the owl's heart is and points it out to John. John shoots the heart. The owl tries to block the rifle shot with its body, but fails. The heart is destroyed and blood pours out of the owl's chest. It continues to attack the PCs. The PCs shoot each vital organ in the trees. In the end, John is broken, but not dead, a few teeth got knocked out of his skull. Sister Cohle and Remy are uninjured. The giant white owl dissolves into muck.
Ezra and Eugene's bodies are recovered and buried.
Calling the creature by its name gave it power, so the PCs decide to tell people it was a Sasquatch and not a giant white owl that was murdering people.
Fun moments: Realizing that the creature was attacking both Indians and farmers because people were encroaching on it. Ezra walking with Eugene into the forest without telling any of us because he knew if he did that we'd try to stop him. It's a trap! And it was! Realizing the reason the Man-Owl spit its organs into the trees was to protect them. The gunman said that his bullets didn't hurt it. So, we shot all the organs and ignored the creature's body.
A plea for help has arrived in Castle Gllyencreutz. It is a plea from a Pastor from a small town called Nyvik. There isn't much about this town only that it is a small fishing town along the Swedish coastline. The Pastor says in the letter that a mysterious plague has struck this town and it has been hard to control his flock. He hopes that the Order of Artemis can send help and salvation in his time of need.
I really enjoyed this game. It was very touching emotionally.
Of the 3 Nell scenarios I played in, this one had the best story beats and complicated conflicts. So, I'd say this was the better scenario of the 3.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
PCs arrive to find the town burning 4 bodies. Bodies had signs of plague that burst with the smell of sea water. There's an obvious group of red haired, blue eyed population that is shunned by the non-red haired townsfolk. A boy of 16 (red haired) and girl of 11 (non-red haired) are crying at the burning. They seem alone and no one is taking care of the orphans. Maud and Saga go and comfort the two children. The boy, Emile, tells the PCs that his father had told him he would meet his real mother, but he never met her. Freya at the shoreline knows of the old ways.
Anders and Klas speak to the Pastor privately. They get church records on the red haired population and notes from the town doctor who had left town unexpectedly. The doctor had left town with a baby girl with red hair. 11 deaths had happened, mostly to fishermen, all to non-red haired townsfolk. Deaths started after the doctor left town.
Visiting the doctor's wife revealed that he abandoned her and had some affair with someone nightly at the beach. Maud takes the doctor's journal and find that the Maiden of the Sea was upset that her people have stopped worshipping her. Letters from Gothenberg show that the doctor planned on visiting his parents with his new child.
PCs visit Freya who tell them to follow the singing at night, near the shore, that would lead them to the Maiden of the Sea. She ensures bountiful fishing. She would mate with those who have a good heart.
There's tension between the red haired and the non-red haired. Rolf Olsen is the main rabble rouser whose father had died.
There's singing at night and a few gunshots. PCs find Rolf trying to kill the Maiden of the Sea. Anders intervenes to stop the fighting. Maud talks both Rolf and the Maiden down. The Maiden of the Sea doesn't realize her unbounded grief for the missing baby girl has caused the deaths of 11 fishermen. The Maiden decides she couldn't live with what she has done and might do in the future and disincorporates herself.
Fun moments: Going through town looking for Rolf, and getting angry when he wasn't around, so I kicked his door in. Standing between Rolf and the Maiden of the Sea, arms outstretched between the two, yelling at them to "Stop! Stop fighting!" and the Maiden hits me for 2 conditions. Then Maud gets 4 successes and calm the two down, otherwise I would have been Mermaid chow. Saga stripping down and wiping the tears off of the Maiden of the Sea's face. When the Maiden of the Sea realizes she inadvertently killed 11 of the innocent fishermen, she disincorporated herself which was very touching.
In the Mountains of Shimane Prefecture lies the Higashiizumo a town that lies beside the gate to Yomi, the land of the dead. Mysterious deaths have occurred in the prefecture recently, ones driven by violence. The local Shrine Maiden, knowledgeable of such things has reached out to the Daisan No Me for assistance. Can you help solve the mystery before more deaths occur. Set in Meji Japan after the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, this adventure makes use of the Community content released under Ukiyo-E you need none of this to participate in the game. Characters will be provided.
Another new setting and lore. I always enjoy a good Japanese game due to the social niceties and nuanced interactions (and breaking them when required). A fun game.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Knowing we'd deal with the gate to Yomi, Taro brings some incense and strips of prayer paper for the dead.
Before arriving, the coachman notes that he might not be able to cross a bridge fully loaded, so the PCs disembark, unload the coach, and cross the bridge on foot. The bridge is badly burned with very intense burn marks and wheel markings. The coachman takes the coach across the bridge and barely makes it as it collapses behind him.
In the village, there are multiple family members in deep comas. Some of their houses were also burned. Examining their bodies reveals a wheel pattern burned on their skin. Their souls are also missing. Taro consulted his scrolls and found the symbol is for a Wanyudo. But not much information is found about it other than it was hard to "stop." It only vanished after it wiped out all the villagers. The treating doctor tells the PCs about the village headman and his mother, the shrine maiden. There is also Saburo, the copper mine owner.
The PCs talk to the headman and he confesses that he and his mother stole pieces of jade from the gate to Yomi, hoping to sell it to help provide for the village, his mother still has the pieces of jade. There's a confrontation with the villagers and Saburo that is deescalated. The PCs take the headman to see his mother, but the Wanyudo shows up, rolling down the path.
PCs destroy it with guns and prayer. But Ryuu and Taro are broken. Taro was broken by recovering Ryuu's soul from the Wanyudo through prayer.
The PCs confront the shrine maiden and rest. They take the pieces of jade up the mountain to the gate of Yomi, taking both the shrine maiden and her son. They repair the gate and force the Wanyudo back through the gate, but before that happens, the shrine maiden's soul is taken by the Wanyudo.
In the village, the people in comas died with the closing of the gate.
Fun moments: Bowing to the village headman and forcing him to bow back in reflex. Saving Ryuu's soul from the Wanyudo after his soul was captured using prayer (yeah, the incense and prayer strips came in handy). Seeing the Wanyudo for the first time. WTF is that!
The members of the Society in Boston have found themselves summoned by a concerned family member from the small humble town of Fallen Oak that is nestled in the forests of Maine. The concerned family member mentioned that his sister has been found blind and is mad with hysteria. No one in the town wants to help her. When they arrive at Fallen Oak, the sacred holiday of Samhain is in full swing.
Another new setting, but some popular lore with a new twist on it.
This was my personal favorite game because we had only 3 Players, so we had more screen time per Player. The Players were also excellent which made this a great experience.
Nell is going to rename this scenario to "The Fires of Samhain." (my suggestion after she said she wanted a new title).
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
PCs go to Fallen Oak and notice a young man gathering massive bundles of firewood. The PCs cross a stone arch bridge and note a trail of horseshoe marks from a massive stallion that had raced across the bridge.
In the middle of town people are preparing a giant pyre. Children are wearing wooden and tree bark masks, and so are adults. The PCs notice a stern priest who dislikes all this.
At Shaun Donnelly's house, they find that Shaun's sister Ann has her eyes wrapped and blood is weeping through the bandages. Ann's daughter Fiona is 13 and upset. PCs learn that Ann and Fiona showed up out of nowhere 3 weeks ago. After speaking with Ann and Fiona, they learn that something is pursuing Fiona, that Ann was rescued by Father O'Harrin who had brought her back blind and stricken. The pursuers are riders of black stallions. PCs conclude that he Donnelly's should go to the church this evening for sanctuary.
PCs visit the Thistle Inn and find that the local school teacher tells a fine tale about a headless horseman. PCs visit her and find that she's just reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, a favorite of hers, to her students. PCs also learn that a local craftsman makes the masks for all the adults and children. Monsters for adults. Animals for children. That it took years before the craftsman made one for her. We took a look and found protective runes inscribed inside the mask.
Next up, the craftsman, Kagen who is blind. He tells us of the Dullahan. The masks are to protect the villagers from the spirits who may cross over during Samhain. People take the fires from the pyre to light their own fires inside their homes and keep the fires burning all night to ward off evil. The masks are made uniquely for each person, he must touch and memorize the face to create each mask. We implore him to make a mask for both Ann and Fiona, he agrees. Kagen also mentions the last time he met Fiona, she appeared sickly and was in sore need of a doctor. Also in his shop are other wooden crafts including a headless puppet, for the school teacher's stage play of The Headless Horseman.
PCs bring Kagen to the Donnelly's. Molly does a seance trying to understand why the black riders are after Fiona. She gets a vision where an ancestor of Ann pleads with the Dullahan to save her sickly child. The Dullahan promise to do so, but the price is that the mother must burn as a sacrifice and this must be done every generation to save the child.
Thomas has a great plan. Can Kagen carve the likeness of Ann onto wooden head and attach it to a puppet? An effigy to fool the Dullahan? Kagen agrees, but says he might not have enough time to make the masks and puppet. PCs tell him to make the masks first, they'll take the family to the church, and delay the Dullahan as long as possible to allow Kagen to make the puppet and bring it to the large bonfire.
At the church, only the PCs and the Donnelly's are there for the evening service. The whole town is partying outside. When 3 headless horsemen arrive, Thomas at the church door, notifies the PCs. Molly slides the masks down on the Donnelly's, hoping that this would shield them and hide their identities. After a pitch fight with bibles, holy water, pistols, and an unwilling priest (who wore a gold St Christopher's medal, gold repels the Dullahan), the Dullahans are lured or pushed out of the church. Thomas falls dead, cut in twain by a Dullahan, as he helps Kagen with the effigy. Molly tricks one of the riders to leave the church and by pushing the priest forward, drove the last Dullahan outside. Thus David, the bible and holy water slinger, was able to escape the church and help Kagen with the straw and wooden effigy. With the effigy burning, the Dullahans are fooled and vanish.
Fun moments: Taking out my crystal ball at the Inn and conning the innkeeper with information that we had already figured out earlier. The real seance with the oh, shit moment as I find out what is really happening. The big fight in the church, especially after telling the priest that I was going to attend evening services (when we first met) and when we barged in, he said, "WTF are you doing here?" My answer, "Evening services!"
11/8/24 Fri 1-5pm (4 hrs) 
11/9/24 Sat 10am-2pm (4 hrs)
11/9/24 Sat 6-11pm (5 hrs)
11/10/24 Sun 9:30-2:30pm (5 hrs)
.png)
