The free online horror convention. They have raffles of physical and digital prizes. The raffle money goes to various charities.
I bought several Kult books, but I can't get my weekly gaming group interested in playing, so this time, I signed up for all the Kult games possible. And ... I got into no Kult games. But later, I got into two Kult games via the wait list.
After playing more Kult. I think the 2d10 PbtA system is a neutral system for Kult. What I mean is, if you play Alien RPG, the Stress & Panic system adds greatly to the game and supports it very well. Kult's PbtA system doesn't add nor subtract from the game play. It's just there. The system is serviceable, but what differentiates Kult from other horror games is the setting.
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12/6/24 Fri 10am-2pm (4 hrs)
The Blizzard's Teeth
System: Kult: Divinity Lost
GM: SpoJino (Joseph)
4 Players: manbeartroll (Lucie the teenager - Brian), yashtruna (Fergus the muscle - Dominika), rocinate_on_focus (Eve the hunter - Robert), Morgan Hua (Jacob the leader)
Pregens: provided
Content Warnings: Body horror, Loss of agency, possible PvP
Strangers eye each other across the frosty courtyard of the mountain compound. Outside the blizzard howls. The horrific storm has seemingly claimed some of your companions already who had sought a way back to rugged mountain roads. Communication with the village below has been spotty at best, and only getting worse as the blizzard gets stronger. Everyone has their own reasons for being here, as the CEO’s mountain retreat offers more than shelter from the raging storm. You have not all arrived here together, nor are you all known to each other. What you do know is that this place should have had, at most, a minimal staff presence to maintain the compound during the harsh winter months. At the moment, it’s unclear if the greater threat is the growing storm outside or the suspicious faces around you.
This game wasn't designed for Kult, nor really used the Kult mythos, so even though the game was good, it wasn't a Kult game in my mind.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
There's 3 groups of PCs. The gang of kidnappers (Jacob and Fergus), the "kidnapped" girl (Lucie) who's working with the kidnappers, and a group of "lost" hikers (Eve).
The kidnapped girl is in on the kidnap plot and suggested the scheme to the kidnappers, also suggested her dad's mountain retreat as a hideout. The kidnappers know each other, but are strangers to the girl. The lost hikers aren't lost, but are looking for evidence of Satanism at the mountain retreat.
Something "out there" is killing the kidnappers in a grisly fashion, but they're all trapped in there by the raging storm. The something has also killed some of the hikers.
Jacob is waiting for the money to be transferred into a Swiss bank account. In the basement, Fergus murdered the staff and hid their bodies. Tina, the tech person monitoring the money transfer is dead, frozen in a bedroom. A little girl shows up, afraid of Fergus as she had witnessed the murder of her parents. Jacob finds the bodies, but locks her in the basement anyway.
The hikers search the resort and find a ritual room. Eve connects with the altar and murders the other hikers, hoping to take the power for herself. She must also kill Lucie to take her power.
Fergus is convinced that this was all a setup and trap by Lucie and that she must die.
In the end, there's PvP as Jacob tries to escape the retreat with Lucie (who has supernatural powers and had healed Jacob). Fergus and Eve shoot at the car Jacob is driving. He crashes open the front gate, but bullets take out his tires and the truck goes off the road. The camera pulls out as we see a helicopter veer towards a helicopter landing pad at the back of the resort. Jacob screams to Fergus that this isn't necessary, that they've got the money. The screen fades to black and the credits roll.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
12/6/24 Fri 4-8pm (4 hrs)
Bad Apple
System: CoC
GM: J. Michael Arons (jarons20)
4 Players: JohnLapoint (Dennis the laborer - John), JustinLapoint (Evelyn the doctor and Arthur's daughter - Justin), Morgan Hua (Arthur Ashmore the Scientist)
Pregens: provided.
Content Warnings: Infertility, Sexual Violence
1920s, England. A Town suffering a bad harvest. Can the Investigators find the cause and end the corruption?
This was a play test and an interesting scenario, but I felt the pacing was a bit too slow for my tastes.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
What's interesting about this scenario is that it's Mythos-tinged, but the PCs approach this via the scientific method and in the end, the PCs solved this via science!
The trees aren't bearing fruit, the cows and sheep aren't conceiving, nor are the women in the township. There's a taint in the soil and water. This is found through investigation.
PCs enter through the old growth forest and found a pile of rocks created when the farmers cleared the land hundreds of years ago. This area seemed heavily contaminated. There, Arthur spots a Dark Young, and tells everyone to run. They flee, hearing something large stalking them, finally escaping by putting a river between them and the Dark Young.
Research brought up that the current lord's family had accused another family of witchcraft and the witch was hung and the land taken by the lord's family. The land taken was closest to the old growth forest.
Soil samples and water samples point to a fungal contaminate. The only thing that would kill it is uprooting all the orchards, adding a fungicide to the soil, and burning the old growth (in a controlled burn) that is the source of the fungus. This is reported to Lord Heatherton, the land owner. The lord precedes to eradicate the fungus as advised.
The burning wood emits a harsh black smoke, affecting the health of the town. 12 women claimed they were raped by a devil and gave births to malformed children. The land never recovered and was turned into an airfield in WW2. Unknown to the PCs, a descendant of a witch had returned to the town and summoned dark forces. The lure of a cure to infertility was used to create her new coven. Those women lost their minds when they saw Pan (an aspect of one of the Elder Gods) and were raped by him.
The PCs (Arthur and Evelyn) left after the controlled burns were started. Dennis worked the controlled burns and plowed up the land. Other than Arthur seeing the Dark Young (other PCs didn't see it), there was no other indication of anything supernatural. Stories of witches 300 years ago was just folktales, greed, and superstition.
I liked how the scenario tied in the Mythos to aspects of witchcraft.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
12/7/24 Sat 11am-1pm (2 hrs, game was in a full 4 hr slot, but GM told us it was a short game)
Getting the Band Back Together
System: CoC
GM: Scott Dorward
4 Players: EerieLunarose (Perry St James - guitarist), ghost_crystal (Moxie Mutter - manager), automeris_io (Robin St James - bassist), Morgan Hua (Aubrey St James - singer)
Pregens: provided.
Content Warnings: Body horror, violence, harm to animals, possible PvP
Massachusetts, 1928. This latest tour has not been going well for your band. Interpersonal tensions are running high and the band is on the verge of splitting up. Maybe a nice stay in the country is just the thing you need to rebuild your sense of togetherness.
This was a very fun game, but it's more of an incident than a full scenario. Thus the 2 hour run time.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Scott gave us a list of grievances PCs had against each other. We were supposed to pick and choose and confer and agree. I said, can we just wing it, and use those things as we see fit, then let the other Player decide if the accusations are true or false? We can just play it out. Everyone agreed.
I wound up having an alcohol problem. Another PC smelled and used too much cologne. Etc.
PCs start off arguing in their van, then a tree shows up in the middle of the road and we have an accident. The PCs wake up in a single bed. Wearing only a simple nightshirt, covered in ointment.
We discover the all so helpful Agnes and Frank. They had rescued us, but Agnes had to cut off our clothes to tend to us. Agnes gives us tea and soup. Moxie has a rash, maybe an allergic reaction to the ointment. While outside, trying to wash off the ointment in the rain, there's some odd tortured animal sounds that Moxie hears. Moxie finds something growing in the pustules on her flesh and screams. Aubrey goes to help Moxie and sees a multi-goat-blob in the animal pen during a lightning flash. All the PCs eventually see this.
Aubrey and Robin start to merge via ropey flesh that burst out of their boils. Agnes explains it's a good thing for the Mother. Our flesh will heal her. There's a fight and eventually, all the PCs start merging, but they had surrounded Frank and their merging flesh crushed Frank to death. Also using music and rhythm, the PCs were able to corner Agnes and murder her. Both Agnes and Frank were "woody."
The PCs leave and run into a walking-talking tree that asked us to follow it. The PCs comply and find a clearing surrounded by Dark Young chanting a ritual. Aubrey uses his singing skill to subvert their song and take it over. After a very lucky Luck roll, the ritual energy, instead of entering and transforming the PCs, enter the Dark Young and unprepared for this, they explode.
The Audrey St James Band, now a Siamese Quadruplet oddity, performs hidden behind a white bedsheet. If you're in Dunwich, drop by the venue they're playing in. It's a hoot.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
12/8/24 Sun 10am-2pm (4 hrs)
The Twins
System: Kult: Divinity Lost
GM: mrtnj (Martin)
2 Players: deviliciouz (Sam-antha Anderson, mom and programmer - Setheus), Morgan Hua (Ian, boyfriend and drug councilor)
Pregens: In-game character creation.
Content Warnings: harm to children, losing family members, self-harm, drugs, drowning, puberty, parenthood
The twins were, as one might expect, inseparable until that night. You are their parent and the new partner of their parent. Will you literally tear reality apart to get your kid back? One-shot game for two players. Character creation in game, aided by a questionnaire.
Characters are created in-game. We have a few questions to answer about the twins, ourselves, and our relationship.
Wow. Excellent Player and GM. When there's only 2 Players, everyone including the GM has to bring their A-game. No one slept on the job. A very, very enjoyable game.
This game definitely used the Kult mythos. We rarely rolled dice which was good as we mainly roleplayed. I think the system neither added nor subtracted from the game, it was neutral.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Here are the first 3 questions from character creation:
The Parent (Sam):
What are the twins’ names, and why did you choose them? Eva & Lilly
Which twin do you love the most, even though you know you should love them equally? Lilly
What is the one thing you can admit is concerning about the twins, even if you love them more than anything? They have this look of pitying sorrow when they look at you.
The Partner (Ian):
What do you think is worrying about the twins’ behavior? They bury things in the backyard.
What is the worst thing you have done to a child? Accidentally broke my nephew's arm while discipling him.
What is the reason you don’t want any children of your own? Fear of loss of freedom.
Sam has twin girls, aged 6. Ian is the new boyfriend of 6 months. Game starts in 2014 with everyday life and then Ian having a nightmare. Sam wakes up and finds Eva upset and Lilly missing. Elements of what Eva witnessed were also in Ian's nightmare, a specific song, glowing green lights. Lilly is never found. There is no sign of abduction.
2022. The girls are now 14. Lilly is still missing. Ian has dreams of Lilly. She is growing up like Eva, but emaciated, wearing tatters of what she wore when she disappeared. Eva goes to a nearby woods and does a ritual to rescue Lilly, but it looks like a suicide attempt. Ian snoops around and finds Eva's journal which also describes her dreams of Lilly and a ritual that requires something of Lilly's, drugs, and sudden physical shock.
In the end, Sam goes to the woods (where Eva was found) and downs alcohol with sleeping pills. Ian goes to the living room (where Lilly disappeared) and takes a measured amount of sleeping pills and teaches Eva how to hit him with an anti-overdose drug. Sam and Ian arrive on an oil platform. They find kids hiding from a monster. Ian faces the monster and gets grabbed. Sam tries to hamstring the monster, but in doing so, all three of them (Ian, Sam, and the Monster) fall off the oil platform. (Ian and Sam both failed their die rolls).
Sam's body is found in the woods. Eva failed to bring Ian back. Eva is put in a foster home. Six months later, Lilly returns and so are a number of lost children around the world, all this relatively unnoticed.
There were a lot of cool moments. I think one was Ian having installed a GPS app on Eva's phone (Sam was against this, but he did it anyway), so he was able to find Eva in the woods (he lied and said that he's seen her go there before, so he'll go and see if he can find her there). Another time, again, he wanted to go through Eva's stuff after the suicide attempt and Sam was against it. He did it anyway and brought Eva's journal (and her hidden knife) downstairs to show it to Sam. He wanted to talk to Eva about the similar dreams, but Sam didn't want it, so Ian snuck a note into the journal telling Eva that he had similar dreams and to not tell Mom that he told her this. Of course, at one point, when Sam wanted the ritual, she found Ian's note in the journal. The nightmare Ian initially had was quite good, using various elements we had made up during character creation, going into the backyard, following footprints weaving between snow mounds that looked like graves, taking the shovels from the girls, chasing Lilly and accidentally breaking her arm.
Pippi Longstocking doll as an introductory gift to the girls for the win! (Yeah, totally uncool and I only brought one for the two girls).
This 104 page book (including endpapers and such) consisted of 4 unrelated scenarios; each set in a different season. No pre-gens were provided.
A Dance with Death (spring) Fireheart (summer) The Devil on the Moor (fall) A Winter's Tale (winter)
On the maps for each scenario, I've circled Upsala in green as a reference point. Red is the destination.
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.
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A Dance with Death
Season: Spring
Location: Nusnäs, Sweden Pages: 20 Run Time: 1 session Hook: Two cows drowned, police won't help, person suspects something supernatural did it.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Plot: Lisbets Boel and The Neck have tricked Gustav into luring farmgirls into Lake Siljan to drown them. Gustav drowned two cows, with the magic he learned from The Neck, but chickened out when he tried to drown Pers Ida. The PCs must banish The Neck before Gustav is bewitched by The Neck, uses The Neck's fiddle, and lures all of the farmgirls into the lake. Vaesen: The Neck (p.144 core book) Location of Note: Lake Siljan. A fäbodvall, a summer farmstead. Kulning, Swedish herdcalling.
Each time the PCs went into the Forest, I had them roll Vigilance or run into the bear. If they succeeded, they would spot the bear and avoid it. The bear is also why the cows and goats are brought in at night. This also explains the bear trap (hidden by leaves and staked down) in front of Gustav's cabin. Otherwise, the bear trap makes him seem paranoid and crazy.
I decided that The Neck needed the human sacrifices to extend the life of Lisbets, so she would be immortal, so they could be together forever. Each life sacrificed extended her life for 5-10 years. I also noticed that it looked like The Neck wanted female sacrifices, so I decided gender likeness was required.
Swärds Jenny did suspect something supernatural because of the tapestry in the dining cabin, now missing, and stories of people drowning in the lake. Why else call The Society for two drowned cows?
Gustav's Magic is only 2, good luck with his Trollcraft spell DANCE (Observation). With two dice against the PCs having Empathy + Observation dice, the spell probably won't work. You might want to add Gustav's Empathy of 1, so give him 3 dice with the spell. I also had the PCs roll save throws each round Gustav played his instrument (vs Gustav's 3d6). Once you failed a save throw, you were entranced.
In my game, the PCs (in Countdown 1) followed the enchanted PC to the Lake and ambushed Gustav, knocking him out and took away his knife. They presented him and the tapestry they had found in his cabin to Swärds Jenny. The PCs prepared a trap made of wooden boards painted with Christian symbols and steel, and convinced both Jenny and Ida to help (expecting them to lift up the boards at the right time). They had Gustav call out to The Neck. The Neck showed up, but he made Gustav play his fiddle. Only Ida was entranced, and started walking into the lake, so the PCs stabbed Gustav's knife into the ground between Gustav and Ida breaking the spell on her. The knife symbolically cutting the link between them. One of the PCs shot the fiddle, destroying it. The Neck, pulled out another musical instrument (an instrument one of the PCs had gifted The Neck in an earlier scenario, years ago) and started playing. With Magic 12d6, that enchanted everyone. The Neck made Gustav walk slowly into the lake and drown. Once that was done, The Neck transformed into a fish and dove into the water. The PCs never figured out Lisbets involvement. But the PCs told Jenny to put up a fence facing the lake and put Christian symbols on it. This basically solved the mystery. If the PCs did manage to fence in The Neck, I was going to have Lisbets come out of hiding and free The Neck, but that didn't become necessary.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
Fireheart Season: Summer
Location: Lake Hären. Smolandia, Sweden Pages: 22 Run Time: 2 sessions Hook: Brother is influenced by an evil preacher-woman, a servant of Lucifer.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Plot: August Härenstam is actually influenced by Dragon (gold) Sickness and so is Beata Gideonsdotter, the preacher-woman. August stole dragon gold to start his ironworks and uses eternal dragon fire to run his blast furnace. The dragon has started to wake up and will notice his missing gold. The PCs must appease or get rid of the dragon before it lays waste to the countryside. Vaesen: Dragon (p.45, Seasons of Mystery) Location of Note: Lake Hären
I found the timeline a bit odd. In the background story, August stole the dragon fire and gold ten years ago (p.25) and was slowly affected by the Dragon Sickness (p.31). Beata had shown up a few years ago (p.36) and was affected by the Dragon Sickness after given a coin. Why does it affect Beata and the PCs so easily (p.31, Dragon Sickness)? Also, some of the gold must have been spent to start the Ironworks, so not all of the gold in the strongbox is from the dragon, it must be a mix of dragon gold and new gold. One explanation is the awakening of the dragon, increased the influence of the Dragon Sickness. But I decided to compress the timeline. August, through desperation, due to the drought, returned to the cave. He bought the failing Ironworks a few months ago with the dragon gold. With the hotter (dragon) fire, he made higher purity iron ingots, and has made the Ironworks profitable. Beata had shown up two weeks ago. Soon after, Alfred had a falling out with his brother. Then a week later, his parents died. And so he contacted the Society.
PCs wondered if there was something sexual going on between Beata and August. I had Alfred infer that that was true, part of her unholy influence. I did come up with a funny scene, but didn't get to use it. If the PCs had snuck into the Director's Villa, they could overhear August and Beata in the master bedroom making ecstatic sexual sounds, but with the odd occasional clink of gold coins (they're actually just fondling the coins).
PCs also wondered if Beata was a descendant of the sorceress who called down the rainstorm (p.28, Excerpt from Myths and Folk Tales of Smolandia). Otherwise, why would she have an obsidian knife and the Lexicanum Draconicum? (p.39, Clues). This may also explain why she showed up, but unluckily got Dragon Sickness.
p.42, The Dragon's Cave, map. It looks like there's water in there. Maybe it's dried mud from when the lake flooded the entrance, but with the dropping water level, the dragon can fly out of the big entrance to Lake Hären. I made the crevice to the small opening a tight squeeze, nothing the dragon can get through.
I also had Alfred know the location of the dragon cave entrance, but he never saw the full dragon or gold. He saw part of a scaled serpent (to keep it a secret that it's a dragon) and fled. At that time, the cave was more water logged.
In my run, the PCs split up into two groups. One got work at the Ironworks and snooped around. The other group looked around the lake. Eventually, they got Alfred to show them the cave. The PCs entered and talked to the dragon. It demanded its missing gold and interest payment. "If you don't fix this, I will." During the evening sermon, one group snuck into the Villa and stole the chest of gold. The other group joined the sermon and Inspired (multiple successes) the Ore Boys into going to the dragon cave to get the gold horde. August tried to stop them, but was unable. Beata and August followed the mob, but hung back. In the cave, the dragon easily heard the mob and breathed fire into the small tunnel, setting Ore Boys on fire. The surviving Ore Boys fled. Outside, the PCs with the stolen gold arrived. August and Beata confronted the PCs and in the fight, August was knocked out and Beata was picking up the gold (one of the PCs dumped the gold on the ground). Inside, the PCs told the dragon its gold and the thief was outside. Outside, the PCs dragged August's unconscious body away and made sure they were far enough away from Beata. The dragon showed up, breathed on Beata and ate her. It took all the gold (old and new), warned the PCs to leave it alone, and returned to its lair. The PCs took the unconscious August to his brother. When he regained consciousness, the Dragon Sickness was gone and he acknowledged his unreasonable behavior and agreed to sell the ironworks and go to America with his brother.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
The Devil on the Moor Season: Fall
Location: Jutland, Denmark Pages: 22 Run Time: 2 sessions Hook: An engineer asks for help suspecting dark forces.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Plot: Something's been damaging the steam engines at the moor. The Chief Engineer believes it's locals dealing with black magic, summoning vaesen to do their dirty work. Instead it's two local boys doing the sabotage. But the Chief Engineer is carrying Sandemann's journal and had disturbed the bones of a murdered baby, Sandemann's illegitimate baby. This gives rise to the Myling bent on revenge against Sandemann who is long dead, but its misplaced focus is on the journal and whoever is carrying it. The PCs must put the Myling to rest before it kills too many people. Vaesen: Myling (p.142, core book)
Here's some stuff I had to infer and invent to make sense of some NPC motivations:
Signe Andersdotter was spinning tales to keep Sandemann interested in her. Making up stories that confirmed Sandemann's wildest imagination. These fantastic stories wound up in the journal.
The journal's handwritten entries and close proximity to Sandemann made it his treasure and imbued some Sandemann-ness to it, making it the focus of the Myling's hate.
The Jensen brothers had approached the Moreland Society's camp and were turned down as laborers, as the Moreland Society have their own experienced workers that they trust. This embittered the brothers and was the spark for sabotaging the equipment, making them unintended geniuses where they would claim that the draining of the moor would destroy their people as there would be no more peat to dig, justifying their actions.
I had Granny Thea collapse to her knees in tears when the PCs showed her the photo of Signe. The locals who were sharpening scythes approached menacingly, but Granny waved them away.
I made the steam engine and pumps noisy, so there was a lot of shouting. For meal times, they idled the equipment, lowering the noise, rang the dinner triangle, to call all the workmen to the dining tent which held long tables and shared benches. Massive piles of food would be put on platters and the workmen ate like machines.
The baby was drowned, so the crushed skull was just from being buried for so long in the bog, not from violence, but inspecting it is inconclusive. The damage could also have happened when it was sucked into the steam engine.
Instead of a Heron, I went with a large black raven as it seemed more like a common form used by various Vaesen.
In my run, the PCs told Granny about the infant's bones and if they are her grandchild's it should be buried with her daughter's body. Granny agreed to attend the interment. The PCs told Preben they needed the bones to put the vaesen to rest. Preben wanted to salt and burn the bones, but the PCs convinced him to hand it over, but Preben tells them if it doesn't work, he'll dig it back up and salt and burn it. Granny's not sure the bones are of the right child, so the PCs did a seance to call the infant's spirit. The black bird shows up instead, faces the PC who has Sandemann's journal and says, "Sandemann, burn, burn, burn." PC realizes the bird is staring not at his face, but at where the journal is. PC burns the journal and the bird's hate disappears and turns into a baby and it then melds into the bones in the small casket the PCs brought. Granny agrees to give her name, Thea, to the baby. And she would just be called Granny from then on. The PCs bury the baby in Signe's grave. One of the PCs is a priest and he consecrates the grave. My group did an excellent job. For flavor, when the PCs returned to the camp to get the baby's bones, I had a commotion in the camp where someone had found Jens face down in the bog, drowned.
=== SPOILER SECTION END ===
A Winter's Tale Season: Winter Location: Russia, near St. Petersburg Pages: 20 Run Time: 2 sessions Hook: PCs are invited to a meeting of people who know of the supernatural.
=== SPOILER SECTION START ===
Plot: This is a bait and switch, instead of having a scenario at the supernatural convention, the PCs suffer a coach accident and are stuck in an inn surrounded by deathly cold. Father Frost is kept out by a Nisse that is upset and withdrawing his protections. The Winchester Brothers are also at the inn and act as foils and making things worse. There is a ticking clock as Father Frost encroaches on the inn. The PCs must figure out a solution before everyone freezes. Vaesen: Nisse (p.148, core book), Father Frost (old man winter, no stats, force of nature) Location of Note: St. Petersburg
As the above video noted, Storytelling Night is a bit heavy handed. Having the NPCs tell story after story (info dumps) is horrible. I instead would rather have this information come out when the PCs talk to the NPCs.
I made Axel and Ester husband and wife and added a love triangle. The coachman Ilya Ermakov was having an affair with Ester. I also accidentally made Imre and Krööt Trygg's children instead of the cook's, when I was running the game, I forgot who's kids they were.
I made Axel a budding casino owner, wanting to bring in entertainment in addition to card games, hoping to make his inn a destination spot instead of a stopover.
Greyfoot, the Nisse, generally appeared as a cat inside the inn and when someone tripped or had an accident, the cat would be underfoot each time. In the kitchen, the cat is fed, but not its favorite food that Ester used to give it.
In the stable are the Campbell brother's midnight black horses. In the carriage house should be the brother's black colored buckboard wagon. I'd make the wagon too small to carry everyone to safety.
In my run, the PCs cut a deal with Greyfoot, offering him a home back in the old country in Castle Gyllencreutz and a promise to show him due respect. They also cut a deal with Father Frost, giving him the inn in exchange for safe passage. As the PCs leave with all the surviving NPCs (the Trygg family with new jobs at the castle), an avalanche destroys the inn.
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.
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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. 😀
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: Mörk 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 😀).
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.
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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 mâché 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 Shintarō - 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.
The Blizzard's Teeth
Bad Apple
Getting the Band Back Together
The Twins
