Alien - A Great One-Shot Horror RPG

Free League came out with the Alien RPG in 2019. Due to its popular IP (intellectual property: movies, comic books, novels, toys) and a good solid system, it has done well in the market place for a new RPG.

The only thing marring the launch were some conspicuous typos in the early printings. To see if you have an newer printing, look on p.51, Pilot should have Piloting instead of Mobility as a Key Skill. I ordered my copy through Amazon and received a 3rd printing. I only spotted one uncorrected minor typo in my copy.

Link to corrections: Official Typo Corrections

I've played the game twice and I'm now running Hope's Last Day (I've run this 6 times already as of 1/2022), the published scenario in the core rulebook.

The first thing you'll notice is that the book is full color and has a lot of art, all of it consistent, evocative of the movies and are originals with an oil painting style, NOT cheap stills taken from the movies. It is a joy to open and flip through. The only drawback is that the book has a strong ink smell to it, probably due to all the black ink used throughout the book. If you tried to print PDF pages of this, you'll probably spend more in ink than the cost of the printed book. The fonts used is easy to read, especially for old gamers like me with bad eyesight.

The rules are succinct, but sometimes scattered, requiring a search through the PDF to find various rules. The index in the back of the book isn't extensive enough. When running the game, I used both the book and PDF, cut-and-paste sections of the rules, and a fan-made cheat sheet (and rules summary).

One major rule that's confusing to new GMs is this one bit:

Some GMs get confused and read the 2nd sentence separate from the 1st sentence - they are connected. The action is only cancelled if the Panic Roll is 10 or higher.

What I love about the game? It really delivers on giving an Alien movie experience. Survival horror at its best. The Stress and Panic system, plus Signature Attacks by the Aliens replicates the Alien movies to a T. The Stress and Panic system is a death spiral that gives the PCs an edge, as the stress goes up, they get more Stress Dice to succeed and fail. A 1 on a Stress Die = required Panic Roll, a 6 = a success; so it's a devil's bargain. If your Panic Roll is 9 or less, and you have at least one success, you'll still complete your action. Additional successes can be used to do extra damage or add Stunts (such as knock an Alien out of an airlock).

During one game, a PC decided to hack into the system with Comtech, but failed with a Panic Roll and the result was that PC and all friendly PCs in Short range increased their stress by 1. As a GM, you have to get creative as to why this happens. I ruled that the computer responded by announcing on the speaker system, "Too many passwords tried. System locked. Please try again in 24 hours." 

The only drawback is that a creature's Signature Attack is randomly determined by a 1d6 die roll. At some point, you'll have too many duplicates and it becomes less interesting. The Aliens are killing machines, so its Signature Attacks actually give the PCs a chance to survive. Only one of its Signature Attacks is an outright death critical. The core rulebook suggests that you use Aliens sparingly. I think this is to mitigate this issue of too many repeats; to keep things fresh by making the Alien appearance rare.

One issue is spiraling Panic checks. Sometimes one PC Panics and causes everyone else near them to make Panic checks which in turn causes another Panic check. This sometimes gets out of hand, turning horror into farce. At some point, I just stop asking for them.

One thing to know is that Panic and Crits escalate. If a PC has panicked and an additional failed Panic check below or equal to the current Panic is rolled, pick the Panic result one higher than the current one. This goes for Crits too.

So far, every one-shot has been a great Alien experience for me. I do have reservations about running this as a Campaign. Can you keep this fresh? If you always run into Aliens, does it get boring? Or do you rarely run into Aliens? Is it still an Alien game if you don't run into Aliens?

The Colonial Marines Operations Manual, a campaign module, is coming out in 2021. Can they replicate the Aliens (Alien 2) experience? I do hope so.

See you in the pipe, five by five.

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Alien RPG won a Gold ENnie 2020 for Best Game.

My reviews of the cinematic scenarios published by Free League: Reviews and Spoilers for Draconis Strain Saga

Inspiration for your own games, I found some video shorts:

40th Anniversary Shorts Alien Anthology - Six Episodes

Alien: Isolation, Digital Series - Seven episodes

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Running Alien RPG on Roll20. Pick the Aliens Character Sheet Template.

For Voice, I use Discord and the Sebedius dice roller. The Sebedius die roller bot lets you roll on the Alien Critical Hit and Panic tables and does the look ups for you.

Roll20 "Aliens" Character Sheet

Sebedius dice roller bot for Discord

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Q: How does healing work in Alien RPG?

A: Humans who are not Broken naturally heal 1 Health per Turn (p.99 Recovery). If you are Broken, you must either get First Aid or wait 1 Turn (p.99 Getting Back Up). Medical Aid only works if you are Broken. Synthetics do not naturally heal, they must be repaired (p.111 Synthetics / Repairs).

Health is more like scrapes, bruises, and fatigue which humans can recover quickly from (p.99 Critical Injuries). Synthetics just continue to accrue damage until they have a System Shutdown. (p.111 Synthetics / Death and Critical Injuries on Synthetics).

This also makes me think Xenomorphs recover all Health in 1 Turn if left alone. Xenomorphs grow quickly and I assume bleeding acid everywhere while fleeing is a bad way to stay hidden, so I assume they heal all Health instead of 1 Health per Turn. This will also incentivize Players to hunt down and finish off a Xenomorph that's injured.

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Q: How does combat work? What happens when I try to attack a Xenomorph?

A: I'll do the combat step by step here:

1. Everyone seeing the Xeno gain +1 Stress. This assumes it's the first time they see one. (p.103 Stress Level)

2. Everyone draws an Initiative card (p.87 Drawing the Initiative). Most Xenos act more than once, they draw a number of cards equal to their Speed which is generally 2. (p.291 Speed)

3. Count up from 1 to 10. This is the action order based on each person's Initiative card. Each person gets a fast and slow action. (p.87 Slow and Fast Actions)

4. Let's say the Xeno goes first. It moves as a fast action and attacks with a slow action. Roll 1d6 and look up its attack chart. Resolve its attack. If the engaged target is still alive, PC gains +1 Stress if target takes any damage from the attack.

5. Let's say PC (Agility 3, Ranged Combat 1) gets to go. PC is firing a M41A Pulse Rifle (+1 Bonus, 2 Damage, Armor Piercing, Full Auto).

    5.1 Player must decide if PC will Aim with fast action and fire with Full Auto as slow action. Aim gives +2; Full Auto gives +2, but increases PC's Stress +1. (p.94 Aiming; p.96 Full Auto Fire)

    5.2 PC decides to Aim and fire using Full Auto. PC rolls 9d6 + 3d6 Stress dice. (9d6 = 3 Agility + 1 Ranged Combat skill + 2 Aim + 2 Full Auto + 1 weapon Bonus; 3d6 = 1 Stress for seeing Xeno + 1 Stress for taking damage earlier + 1 for Full Auto).

        5.2.1 Every 6 (on any dice rolled including Stress dice) is a success.

        5.2.2 If any of the Stress dice rolled a 1:

            5.2.2.1 The PC must make a Panic Roll. (p.104 Panic Roll)

                5.2.2.1.1 Panic Roll = 1d6 + 3 (3 = Current Stress level).

                5.2.2.1.2 If Panic Roll is 10+, PC's action is cancelled and immediately does the forced action instead.

                5.2.2.1.3 If Panic Roll is 9- and there was no successes, the PC has missed the Xeno.

                5.2.2.1.4 If Panic Roll is 9- and there was a success, the PC has hit the Xeno.

            5.2.2.2 Rolling any 1 on a Stress die means the weapon is empty (after it fired) and the PC forgot to reload. It takes a slow action to reload. (p.96 Ammo)

        5.2.3 If there is no successes and PC didn't have to make a Panic Roll, the PC may Push the Roll. If you Push the Roll, +1 Stress and reroll the attack with the additional Stress die. PC may only Push the Roll once per attack. e.g. if you miss again, you cannot push a second time. (p.60 Pushing Your Roll)

    5.3 If the PC hits the Xeno, decide how you want to spend the successes, most people spend it all on additional damage. If there are more than one target, you may want to hit secondary targets instead. (p.67 Ranged Combat / Stunts; p.96 Full Auto Fire)

        5.3.1 Assume PC rolled 3 successes. Damage would be weapon's damage (2 for the Pulse Rifle) for the first success + 2 more damage for the additional successes = 4 damage.

        5.3.2 Roll Xeno's armor. A Xeno Drone has 8 armor, but it is halved because of the Pulse Rifle is Armor Piercing. So, roll 4d6, every 6 reduces the attack damage. Assume Xeno rolled 1 success, so the armor reduced the damage from 4 to 3. Subtract 3 Health from the Xeno. (p.118 Weapon Features / Special / Armor Piercing; p.98 Armor)

        5.3.3 If the Xeno has Acid Splash (acid for blood), roll the Acid Splash + damage it just took. Roll 11d6 = 8 Acid Splash + 3 Damage. Every 6 rolled is 1 point of acid damage. Actually everybody in engaged range takes the Acid Splash, you probably should roll Acid Splash separately for each PC. (p.298 Acid Splash)

            5.3.3.1 Assume 3 successes are rolled, so PC takes 3 Health damage from acid.

            5.3.3.2 Acid will continue to burn each round until it burns itself out. At start of next round, roll half the number of dice, rounded down, until no damage happens. (p.298 Acid Splash)

            5.3.3.3 PC takes +1 Stress for taking acid damage.

        5.3.4 If the Xeno is reduced to 0 Health, roll on the Critical Injuries on Xenomorphs table. p.291.

6. Next person in Initiative Order goes. Most likely the Xeno will get its second action. 😀

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Q: Is it worth buying the physical versions of the Starter Set and Destroyer of Worlds?

A: I have both. Depends on the "price." I bought it during a sale. If you plan on running "Chariot of the Gods" (Starter Set) and "Destroyer of Worlds" a few times, it's not a bad price.

The Starter Set with the two dice sets (10 black and 10 yellow stress dice) were worth it as I couldn't find the dice discounted that much anywhere. For a few more dollars, I got the maps, cards (initiative, weapons, agendas, NPCs), pre-gen character sheets, cardboard markers, and 105 pages of rules. Chariot of the Gods was a separate 49 page booklet. One issue with the cards is that they don't give you duplicates, so there's only one of each weapon. Not useful to handout to players if you only have one of each card. Most PCs carry the same weapons such as a pistol, knife, and rifle, but you only have one card for each weapon. The markers are fairly large and are about the size of a room, so you can use them to mark which zone a PC is in, but not for zoomed in tactical combat.

Destroyer of Worlds has maps, cards (weapons, NPCs, agendas), pre-gen character sheets, and a 90 page scenario booklet which includes some tables and rules from the Colonial Marines book. You do need the Starter Set Rulebook or core book for various rules, especially the Other Hazards rules. Same issue with the weapon cards being one of each weapon, no duplicates. The Starter Set markers can be used to mark PC locations, but are too large to mark tactical positions.

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Q (LT): One of my players has got a drug addiction due to a 13+ panic roll. My question is this, what side effect of drug taking can I give them that would be fair? The books don't offer much help in this area. 

A (MH): I thought there were several examples in the rule books and published cinematic boxed sets. Basically, the drugs reduce Stress and is their Significant Item, spending quality time with it reduces Stress by 1 (once per Act). And if they run out, it winds up as a Hidden Agenda or Story Card where they have to have to find drugs and take it to get a Story point.

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Q: How long does it take and where do you recharge air for your space suits?

A: It's not in the rules, but I assume it'll take a Turn at a recharge station. Scuba tank refilling takes 10 to 20 minutes, so I assume something similar. I assume there's a recharge station at every airlock or where space suits are available for use. Up to the GM if the recharge stations are in working order. In a number of the published scenarios, they're either not working or malfunctioning to add tension to the game.

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Q (bh): If someone rolls 3 successes on a Close Combat roll, and the target Blocks and rolls 2 successes, that removes 2 of the attackers successes, leaving them with 1 success, causing damage.

I assume that means the attacker effectively rolled 1 success and gets no stunts, but this came up and someone said it blocks extra damage, but the initial roll's extra successes still count as stunts. That doesn't feel right to me, and I don't believe the rules support that, but wanted to see if I'm possibly misunderstanding something.

A (MH): This is pretty interesting, on p.98 Armor says explicitly damage. p.92 Blocking, says Decrease Damage also.

In the Free League Forums, I found the following from Tomas Härenstam, rules designer:

This is the intended sequence:

1. The attacker declares the attack.

2. The defender declares whether to block or not.

3. The attacker rolls (and pushes if they want to), then chooses a stunt if they rolled several successes.

4. If the defender declared a block, they now roll dice and choose an effect. If the defender chose the "decrease damage" effect, the attacker loses successes and can thus lose their chosen stunt.

5. The results of the attack and the block are implemented simultaneously. If the defender chose to counterattack, the two attacks occur at the same time. If the defender chose to disarm the attacker, the attack hits normally, but counts as an unarmed attack.

This makes me think if Decrease Damage made the attack miss, the Attacker's Stunts are completely negated. And if the defender decided to not Decrease Damage, they can do so. So, it's only safe for an Attacker to use Stunts if they have two more successes than the Defender (if the Defender is Blocking).

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Q (LB): Panic state duration.

1. If I am in combat mode, how exactly is a “turn” handled? I take it that it doesn’t mean “round," so it would be what, multiple rounds? Until combat round is over? Or whenever the GM determines 10 minutes have passed?
2. Some panic states sound less of a state and more of an immediate response (e.g. Drop Item). I take it that I don’t drop an item each round, but am I considered in that “state” (as in, if I roll 9 again, I increase from “Drop Item” to “Freeze”) or am I simply dropping an item and immediately ending my panic (thus new panic rolls simply assign me whatever state I roll)?
3. Are twitching and trembling states which remain for a “turn”?

It seems really messy to me to have the GM make an estimate for how long a turn is in combat mode, but as the rulebook defines the terms turn and round as different lengths of time, I take it that they aren’t using them interchangeably? In which case, how are people handling a “turn” when using “rounds” in combat mode? This whole mechanic seems incredibly important to the game yet it isn’t very clearly explained.

A (MH): 

1. Combat is in Rounds (5-10 secs). Combat never takes longer than a Turn (5-10 mins, see p.83 Measuring Time), so if the PC panics during combat, it lasts until the end of combat. Then after combat, it should magically wear off. Or for dramatic reasons, the PC could still be cowering, waiting for someone to snap them out of it, but if you do this all the time, it turns comedic. It's only good to do this once in a while.
2. If there's no duration, the action happens and there's no future effects (see p.104 Stopping Panic). For instance 1-6 is treated as nothing really happens it's a freebie save throw. So, if you get a 5 and then a 3. The 3 isn't increased to a 6. Panic Result 7 = I interpret as one and done. 8 = ongoing until panic ends. 9 = one and done. 10 = one round only. 11 = one round only. 12 = one round only. 13 = 1 turn. 14 = until you kill something. So, for Drop Item, it doesn't increase to Freeze, they just drop another item. But Tremble would increase to Drop Item, but I would keep the ongoing Tremble effect (RAW seems to replace the Tremble, but I would argue the panic is still ongoing).
3. I interpret Twitching as one-and-done. The effect is your and others Stress goes up. Done. Tremble lasts 1 Turn or until end of combat.

Q (LB):  It seems a bit weird to have a Nervous Twitch for only a few seconds, then to Tremble for a whole turn, and then Drop Item just be this thing that isn't really a panicked state at all which defaults you to trembling. I think I might homebrew it to make Twitching and Trembling and Drop Item turn-length states, renaming Drop Item to something sensible and relevant like Shaking.

That way the first three are all turn-length without replacing actions, the next three are round-length while replacing an action, and the final three replace the action and are ongoing. It feels sort of right that the last three are semi-permanent. I mean, if Catatonic is supposed to be the worst state, it only lasting one turn makes it actually one of the better ones!

A (MH): Actually, Catatonic 15+ means you're permanently gone. That's the final fail state (my interpretation).

I think the chart is sort of random and there's not a real logical progression from step to step. There is a progression from 1-6 (nothing), 7-9 (additional effect), 10-14 (overrides action), to 15+ (screwed), but internally in each group, there's no real logic other than they're grouped together and the designer decided something was worse than something else.

During play, most of the Players don't notice the inconsistencies and it's not a big deal. You'll only notice it if someone drops something 3 times in a row. In that case, as a GM, I do the +1 and go to Freeze for variety. Or if they have nothing left to drop, I move it up to Freeze. Dropping your Pulse Rifle is a big deal. But once you do that and you have nothing else in your hand, it becomes a no op, so I'd bump it up.

Q (LB): About those final three. It makes sense that there wouldn’t be any progression from Fleeing unless they were prevented from escape. But Berserk, the player is continuing to take actions (Close combat? Ranged combat?) with which skill tests continue and thus more panic could trigger. Would they go from Berserk to Catatonic? Or does the “stop only when other player is broken” prevent that progression?

A (MH): Remember, you run out of ammo on a panic result, so what'll happen is the PC will either try to fire and find their gun is empty or will know this and will definitely go to hand-to-hand combat, using the pulse rifle as a club, pull a knife, punch or strangle someone. And yes, RAW, if they panic again, they go Catatonic, but as a GM, I prefer they keep on attacking until another PC talks them down or until they kill someone. I guess if you're being a nice GM, if they Panic again while trying to attack another PC, they go Catatonic as they realized they tried to murder a crewmate, sort of a roleplaying opportunity. At that point, I'd hand out a replacement PC. I personally prefer that they continue to stay Berserk until they roll 15+ on the Panic roll.

It's all about game flow. It'll be annoying to keep on rolling Panic once you go Berserk and it'll hurt the game flow. I'd just play out the Berserk until someone dies (or gets talked down, but even if you talk the PC down, most likely they'll go Berserk or Catatonic on the next Panic roll anyway). So usually, someone or something dies. Trying to punch a Xeno to death generally doesn't give you the result you want.

Q (LB): Yeah, I like your take on it. And I’m going to make the last three states essentially permanent until they are commanded out of it.

A (MH): I looked at the new Evolved Edition and Catatonic does wear off. But if your Stress is that high, it'll probably reoccur a lot and won't be fun to play. I'd personally have a Xeno drag that PC off to the hive to be glued to a wall with resin.

Keep the Game Moving: Interview with Morgan Hua.

Host of interview was Ezra Denney. Keep the Game Moving is his channel.

Ezra also GMs for the Quest & Chaos channel on YouTube.

I didn't want to mention people by last name, so only used their first names in the interview. The co-GMs who we blanked on was Josh and John. Of course, I immediately remembered Josh's name right after the interview ended.

If you have any GMing questions, you can leave a comment below and I'll try to answer them.

Call of Cthulhu 7th Ed - Shotguns, a Closer Look

Winchester 1897 12 Gauge Shotgun - "Trench Gun" for WWI

Time to talk about shotguns, a favored weapon. Why? It does massive damage. Look at the following chart:

They're not concealable, but in the 1920s, people won't bat an eye if you had one in your trunk or transported one in a carrying case. People would have one available to go hunting vs a handgun.

The only drawback is that they mainly hold two shells, meaning you can only fire twice before having to reload. But by 1920, the Winchester 1897 12 Gauge Shotgun holds 5 shells and you can pre-load one shell in the barrel for a total of 6 shots, but loading takes a long time. This weapon was used to clear trenches in World War One. Though carrying one of these might raise eyebrows as the single barrel is shorter and probably not used for hunting.

Trench Shotgun in WWI (video)

Trench Shotgun Details and Live Demo (video)

The story is that the military used 12-gauge shotguns with 00 buckshot in the Spanish-American War in 1898 to kill insurgents in the Philippines. Nothing else stopped the knife wielding attackers.

00 buckshot is 9 pellets, each slightly smaller in diameter than a 9mm bullet.

From the Live Demo video above, at point-blank and short range, you can only hit one target, the spread of pellets isn't enough to hit more than one target. At medium range, you can hit 1.5 targets.

Birdshot will probably do no damage unless you're at point-blank.

If you watch shows such as Supernatural, you can try to load shotgun shells with rock salt. According to this article, it can only do damage at point-blank.

One way to conceal a shotgun is to saw off its long barrel and stock. Thus the sawed off shotgun, easily concealed beneath a trench coat.

And if you're trying to kill something real tough, fire both barrels at the same time. And load solid slugs which can impale on an extreme hit vs buckshot which don't impale and can only do maximum damage instead. See p.406 Keeper Rulebook, Shotgun solid slugs. 12-gauge solid slug does 1d10+6 and base range increases to 50 yards.

Buckshot: 4d6 damage = 14 avg damage; on extreme success, automatic max damage 24.

Solid slug: 1d10+6 damage = 11.5 avg damage; on extreme success, avg damage 27.5, max damage 32.

In extended gunfights, where you need to fire more than both barrels, you can load one shell and fire, but with a penalty die. See p.113 Keeper Rulebook, Reloading Firearms.

I think the only drawback not in the rulebooks is that if it's raining, the paper cartridges might swell and jam the barrel and you won't be able to reload. And if the cartridges aren't taken care of well, such as just shoved into a pocket, the cartridges might get damaged or bent, or swollen from moisture. Keeping the cartridges in the original box or a waterproof bag would go a long way in keeping the cartridges usable.

p.s. A note on recoil. If properly braced, it doesn't really matter how small (PC's SIZ) the shooter is. It just needs some proper training. Only in cartoons and old movies does a shotgun's recoil knock you off your feet. Here's a link for how to properly brace a shotgun: https://www.ammunitiontogo.com/lodge/correct-way-to-shoulder-a-shotgun/

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The following is from my Q&A on Combat:

Q (MH): How does a double barreled shotgun work?

A (MH): Shotguns have under Uses per Round either "1 or 2" or "1 (2)". "1 (2)" are single barreled shotguns. "1 or 2" are double barreled shotguns. Also under Name if you see a "(2B)" it's a double barreled shotgun.

Single barreled shotguns "1 (2)" act like handguns where you get a penalty die if you fire twice.

For double barreled shotguns "1 or 2", you can fire at:

• one target with one barrel. Normal attack roll.
• one target with both barrels. Two attack rolls, one for each barrel, no penalty die.
• two targets, one with each barrel. Normal attack roll for first shot, Penalty die for 2nd target.

See p.405 Keeper Rulebook, 2nd column, bottom, Uses per Round.
Damage listed is for a single barrel. Shotgun pellets do not impale, so an Extreme Success only does max damage. See p.406 Keeper Rulebook, 2nd column, Shotguns.

Optional Armor Rule, see p.126 Keeper Rulebook. Armor is reduced from each damage die. e.g. Creature has armor of 1 gets hit with a 4d6 shotgun blast; armor will stop 4 pts of damage from pellets.

Optional Point-Blank Rule, see p.127 Keeper Rulebook, Point-Blank Revisited. Rifles, full-length shotguns, and bows do not get a bonus die at point-blank range. Short-barreled shotguns (such as the Winchester 1897 "Trench Gun" used in WWI or a modern Remington Tac 14) or sawed-off shotguns do gain a bonus die.

In my experience, shotguns generally become the weapon of choice for veteran CoC Players. Due to the massive amount of damage it does. PCs would move into point-blank or wait until an enemy comes into point-blank for a bonus die before firing. Though an extreme success would only result in maximum damage instead of an impale. See p.406 Keeper Rulebook, Shotguns.

What's interesting is that Delta Green does something different. Shotguns always gain a +20% to hit (similar to a bonus die). Armor stoppage is doubled. Single barrel is 2d8 and firing both barrels is 3d8, rolling only once to hit. See p.94 Delta Green Agent's Handbook, Shotguns.

So, you can house rule something similar, such as 6d6/3d6/1d6+2 damage for a double barreled shotgun blast, requiring only one die roll to hit if firing both barrels.

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Q (MF): For a shotgun how do you read Damage and Base Range? Does the level of difficulty change? What do the numbers between slashes mean?

A (MH): The numbers are for a single barrel firing 00 buckshot. The closer you are, the more damage a shotgun does as you get hit by more buckshot. The damage corresponds to the range: short/medium/long. For a 12-gauge Shotgun (2B), firing one barrel: 4d6 is at 10 yards or less (short range), 2d6 at 20 yards or less (medium range), 1d6 at 50 yards or less (long range). See p.406 Keeper Rulebook, Shotguns.

See p.112 Keeper Rulebook, Range and Firearms Difficulty Levels: Long range (2x base range) is Hard difficulty level. Very long range (4x base range) is Extreme difficulty level.

See p.406 Keeper Rulebook, Shotgun solid slugs. Base range 50 yards. Which leads me to believe that firing buckshot has a lower base range than solid slugs. For Handguns, almost all of them have a Base Range of 15 yards. Rifles 110 yards. From the article below, 30 to 50 yards is where the shotgun becomes unpredictable which leads me to believe shooting below this distance is where you need a regular success.

As a judgement call, I'd do the following:

If the shooter using a 12-gauge shotgun has a DEX of 50, DEX/5 = 10 feet is point-blank range.

Mossberg 500 with 14" barrel is 28" length overall (combat/tactical shotgun).

Winchester shotgun with 30" barrel, overall length 51" (hunting shotgun).

0' to 4' (GM potluck, depending on weapon and situation: too close to shoot, 1 penalty die for hip firing, or bonus die for point-blank.) See p.127 Keeper Rulebook, Point-Blank Revisited.

4'+ to 10' (bonus die for point blank, regular success to hit, 4d6 damage)

10'+ to 10 yards (regular success to hit, 4d6 damage)

10+ yards to 20 yards (regular success to hit, 2d6 damage)

20+ yards to 50 yards (hard success to hit, 1d6 damage)

50+ yards to 100 yards (extreme success to hit, 1d6 damage).

If this is too complicated, then I'd just rule that max Range is 50 yards. And you only need a regular success to hit. But use the short/medium/long ranges to determine damage.

From https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/whats-the-maximum-effective-range-of-buckshot/:

Shotguns are typically considered close-range firearms, especially when loaded with buckshot. Beyond about 30 to 50 yards, the spread from most shotguns becomes too unpredictable to reliably guarantee that any of the pellets will hit the intended target. 

From https://news.gov.mb.ca/news/archives/1959/10/1959-10-02-shotguns_can_kill_at_a_long_range.pdf:

Hunters are urged repeatedly not to try for ducks that are more than 50 yards away.

The heavy shot used for geese is dangerous for 1,400 yards -- almost a mile. A Winnipeg ballistics engineer says that heavy shot for geese is the same weight and travels at the same velocity as a .22 caliber bullet. 

A heavy goose shot, fired without careful aim and caution, is the same as a dozen .22 bullets scattering over the countryside for a mile: This means that hunters must be extra careful. They should check to see that they have a clear range for the danger distance of the shot. In heavy country, or marshes where there are many hunters, a man must be extremely careful that his stray buckshot doesn't wound or kill a fellow hunter.

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Q (A): What's the range and damage for a sawed off shotgun?

A (MH): See p.403 Keeper Rulebook, 12-gauge Shotgun (2B sawed off). By shortening the barrel of a shotgun by sawing it off, it decreases the time the pellets stay in the barrel and doesn't allow enough time for the propellant (gunpowder) to completely ignite before the pellets leave the gun. This leads to a shorter range. Also the pellets spread out sooner. It also has a fair amount of recoil if held like a handgun vs braced against the body. If you look at the base range, it's only 5/10 yards, short/medium. There is no long range. I assume the shot becomes spent and too spread out to do any damage at long range.

There are no stats for using a slug in a sawed off shotgun. I'd say it's very ineffective and the slug might just tumble after leaving such a short barrel. Worse case scenario, give it the same range as the pellets for a sawed off shotgun, 10 yards, instead of the 50 yards for solid slugs.

See the following video on Sawed Off Shotguns: https://youtu.be/ambeh2YE49g

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Q (k): How did you came to the conclusion that two rolls are necessary when firing both barrels simultaneously. Judging by the videos I've seen, they don't reflect this decision. The two shots really do come out of the barrels at the same time.

A (MH): The two barrels have spread and don't hit the exact same spot. If you shoot at a target, the pellets will be two overlapping areas. If the two barrels hit the same area, then yes, you only need to roll once, but physics says otherwise. Even if you fired multiple bullets from the same barrel from an automatic pistol, you have to roll separately and you get a penalty die. Firing both barrels actually removes this penalty. Also as game balance, everyone would be firing both barrels to automatically do double damage if there wasn't a downside. If you do want to allow a single die roll, then I'd do what Delta Green does which is 1.5x damage instead of 2x damage.

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Q (fr): You say that a leather jacket can completely block birdshot at point blank. I'm used to shotguns in the UK so I might not know the nuances elsewhere, but that doesn't seem right to me. A cartridge used to shoot birds could do major damage at point blank and pierce leather. Are you getting that from anywhere or is there something I'm missing?

A (MH): The birdshot comment was from something I read when I was doing research for this blog post. I said "probably," not "will" block birdshot. I'm not a gun expert. I used weasel words because I wasn't sure. I looked at a few videos and found birdshot for home defense was a big controversy. 

I found this: https://youtu.be/QZ3rK1fSfqE?si=IaYHwThQy1f2V8M2

and this: https://youtu.be/ZQJl3Yzr2rc?si=GiAA7Jnu66QBGepN

I've concluded that leather won't stop birdshot at point blank (so even "probably" is incorrect). Therefore, I've removed that sentence from the blog post. According to the rules, thick leather only stops 1 point of damage, p.409 Keeper Rulebook. And in CoC, the rules don't make any distinction between different sized shot, only between buckshot and a solid slug. I don't think PCs or NPCs will put birdshot in their shotguns, unless you run into a NPC who was bird hunting.

I'd rule that a shotgun at short range does 4d6 and thick leather (motorcycle leathers or a flack jacket) will stop 1 point of damage.

Morgan's A Weekend with Good Friends Jan 2021 Most Excellent Adventures

A free online convention run by The Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast.

This was a great online gaming convention. This is their second and they didn't quite get the new shuffler code ironed out yet, but the convention staff worked really hard managing signups with an electronic spreadsheet and discord messaging.

After the shuffler was done, I got into 3 games; all in the first two days. Not bad. Then people found out that they were double booked (I was too) and dropped out of games. And I think most people were top heavy in getting into games and as the days rolled on, more and more people dropped out of games. Some also didn't account for time zone conversions as players were from all over the world. In the end, I played in 7 games! (And I had 3 other non-convention games the same week, for a total of 10 games in 6 days).

I found the quality of the GMs and Players to be excellent.

I think I'll talk a little about GM style in this article. There are a variety of GM styles and depending on personal preferences, Players may like a specific GM style over another. There is no good or bad style, just different.

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Game Name: On a Wild and Savage Hillside

Game System: Trail of Cthulhu

GM: Scott Dorward#6426

Number of Players: 3-5 (diesel680, domjallen, P. Troilus, sodmikail, Morgan Hua)

Newbie Friendly: Yes

Age Minimum: 18+

Character Creation: Pre-generated characters will be provided. 

Time slot: Slot 1, Jan 14 8am PST (4 hrs)

Description: Rural Carmarthenshire, Wales, 1690. 

The Beddoe family keep to themselves, tending their farm peacefully. Of course, they have their secrets, but who doesn’t? A few eyebrows were raised when Griffith left the church, and loose tongues wag about Gwenllian being a foundling, but these are minor vexations. And now Margaret has a child on the way, after many years of disappointment. This is a happy time.

At least it should be happy. Events are conspiring to make the Beddoes confront the secrets of the land on which they live and the blood that runs through their veins. Is their family strong enough to survive, and will anything ever be the same again?

This self-contained scenario forms the opening of the upcoming campaign, A Poison Tree.

Content Warnings: Pregnancy, peril to children, body horror

Safety Tools: X-Card, Lines and Veils, Pre-game discussion

Due to the nature of Trail of Cthulhu, there was minimal die rolling, so most of the game dealt with storytelling and choices by PCs. The story is driven by events, external pressure, inter-party conflict and mystery, and character choices.

GM had the right balance of everything, getting the setting established early and the external pressures defined, so the PCs just have to react and have interplay with each other and the environment.

This was my favorite game of the convention.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

PCs all belong to the same family; All with some secret or suspected dark background or secret. I played Agnes Beddoe, the family Matriarch. Agnes is a very good healer and midwife, but some in town accuse her of being unchristian. Her husband, Griffith, used to be a vicar, but why he resigned is a mystery. Son-in-law, Rowland, married to daughter Margaret, is a cagey about his past. Daughter-in-law, Gwenllian, is a foundling with no known family. Owen, her son, married to Gwenllian, with seemingly no secrets.

The story starts with her daughter (NPC), Margaret's difficult birth. Baby is albino white, eyeless, and has two rows of shark-like teeth, with no appetite for milk, but an appetite for fresh blood. After the birth, their farmstead is watched by shapes in the snow and gifted with a bloody present at the door.

The family then has to deal with the baby, the strange watchers, and a non-tolerant village.

Strangely enough, none of the PCs tried to kill the baby. After the game, the GM told us that usually, at least one PC does try to do that and finds out the baby is impossible to kill.

In the end, the PCs head to the fairy mound and plead for assistance from the fae, but hands erupt from the dirt and try to drag us into the hill. Owen, the son, was dragged under, but everyone else escaped. Then Griffith lured the rioting mob, villagers with pitchforks and torches who had burned our farm to the ground, to the mound and they were in turn sacrificed.

The surviving PCs left the village to start a new life elsewhere. Agnus leaves the cryptic message, "Carmarthen" on the barn door to tell Griffith where the family had gone to.

Meanwhile, underneath the hill, both Owen and Griffith are melded into a flesh wall with the villagers.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Game Name: YKRPG - A Doll's House

Game System: Gumshoe Quickshock

GM: The Liar from Beyond#9621 (Daniel)

Number of Players: 3-5

Newbie Friendly: Yes

Age Minimum: 18

Character Creation: Characters will be created during play. https://theblackbook.io/

Time slot: Slot 2, Jan 14 12:30pm PST (4 hrs)

Description: You are French soldiers on the frontlines of an alternate continental war in the 1940's. Stationed in Dijon, the squad are called out to the area of Strasbourg to gather intel on the Castaignist forces that withdrew from a desolate farm area. 

Low on combat and fueled with reality horror and paranoia, this scenario welcomes a different kind of haunted house experience.

Content Warnings: Violence, gore, psychological horror, intensity.

Safety Tools: X-Card, Lines and Veils, Pre-game discussion

I have YKRPG, but have only read, played, run the first book, Paris, and I really wanted to try out the other settings. This is the second book, set in an alternate history WWI.

YKRPG hands out Red (Injury) and Yellow (Shock) Condition cards. If you rack up 3 of one color, you're either dead or insane. Each card describes the injury or shock and how to discard the card. See my review of YKRPG for details. So, injury and shock are descriptive with some mechanical aspects.

This game was very atmospheric. The GM was very good at intersplicing game mechanics with description. This worked really well for this game.

I enjoyed the game and game play, we had excellent Players, but I felt that random things were just thrown at us to react to and to hammer the PCs until we reached the climatic ending.

I've played in several WWI trench warfare Cthulhu-esque games before and they all seem to have random encounters that don't have a cohesive storyline. They wind up being a tour of the horrors of trench warfare. Even the movie 1917 had a plot of trying to get the message through to save the lives of others, especially a brother.

p.s. The Black Book website let us create Gumshoe PCs very quickly and is highly recommended.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

Our mission was to enter a deserted village in a valley, occupy a specific farm for four days, observe, and report back. Possible POWs were also present. If so, we were to rescue them. 

From a distance, we noticed the whole village was bombed out and burned down except for the one farm. I was the Lt, so I decided that we'd skirt the town and observe from a hill above the farm. From there we can see enemy movement. One PC came from this town and wanted to check an old wood pile near his home. The wood there was fully stocked. This set us on alert because that meant that people were about.

Then we started having hallucinations. The GM did a great job interweaving what was real and what was imagined. Some save throws showed us illusions, some reality, and we were kept unbalanced, not knowing which was which.

At different points, we shot at each other (PCs saw enemy soldiers, but it was others in the party), saw maggots and worms everywhere, saw advancing enemy soldiers, encountered mines, etc..

In the end, two PCs entered the farm (one had actually shot the other earlier). The one that was shot (saw a place of worms), shot the other PC while in the farm. My Lt and another PC got away as far as possible when in the distance we see the farm and the village be devoured by a giant sinkhole filled with maggots and worms.

Afterwards, the GM did tell us if we went into the village we would find it would suddenly be inhabited with Victorian era people and other strangeness. 

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Game Name: Cursed

Game System: Call of Cthulhu 7e

GM: diesel680#9263 (Al S)

Number of Players: 2-4 (John F, Matt R, Shannon M, Morgan Hua)

Newbie Friendly: No

Age Minimum: 18

Character Creation: Pre-generated characters will be provided.

Time slot: Slot 3, Jan 14 5pm PST (4 hrs)

Description: In modern Aylesbury, Massachusetts, a group of military veterans have built a good life for themselves and even found love and children. An encounter with a strange woman connected to their past threatens to take everything they hold dear from them. Players will be able to explore modern Lovecraft Country as they search for answers and their investigation presents them with difficult choices.

Content Warnings: Harm to children. Romantic relationships between player characters.

Safety Tools: X-Card, Lines and Veils, Pre-game discussion

GM set up everything early with daily chores, setting us in modern day pre-Covid with minimal descriptions. The game was about making hard choices. The decision making process was what made this game really interesting.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

Two pair of PCs are married to each other, and all are friends. We each have two kids, dogs, and a stable life. The story starts with us at brunch and we spot a wanted criminal. Two of the PCs are cops, so we give chase and arrest him. At the arrest, a strange woman approaches us and tells us we were responsible for the death of her father, who she names, and then disappears.

The PC's kids have problems sleeping that night.

The PCs start investigating and discover who the woman is and decides to visit her house. Inside, the cop PCs find the dead body of the woman's mother, stabbed to death. They also find Mythos related manuscript pages. PCs have the woman arrested and question her.

She tells us we were responsible for the death of her father, so she has cursed us and our children will die unless we tell her which one of our children we want to live. We would have to sacrifice either a parent or child in exchange for that one life. A sequence of haunting events ratchet up the ticking clock as we only have 10 days left to decide.

More research and after reading parts of the Necronomicon, we decide to cut a deal to save our children.

In the end, we go to a haunted mound, contact a Mythos creature and have the curse lifted in exchange for one of us being a "mother." I loved that all this was so nebulous, that we cut a deal without really knowing the consequence. 

My PC's wife volunteered. I watch my wife for 9 months, with paranoia, preparing to evacuate my two kids. After 9 months, our door bell rings and two babies are left on our doorstep: one goat-like, the other monstrous.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Game Name: Hope’s Last Day

Game System: Alien: The RPG

GM: iPwnedMSCS#8795 (Chris B)

Number of Players: 4-5 (Katonic, Shane M, Tristan N, Morgan Hua)

Newbie Friendly: Yes

Age Minimum: 18+

Character Creation: Pre-generated characters will be provided. 

Time slot: Slot 7, Jan 15 11am PST (4 hrs)

Description: Hadley’s Hope, jointly funded by Weyland-Yutani and the United Americas, has a “them and us” feel to it, with any visiting corporate folk looking down their noses at the colony’s laborers. Despite this, the colony has been developing well. There’s opportunity aplenty—and risk aplenty, too.  

Four days ago, a wildcatter named Russ Jorden was brought back, infected with something. He died, and some snake-like parasite disappeared into the guts of the base. Security has had no luck catching the thing, and somehow more people were infected. Rumor has it that some of them have died, and that there are more of these snake-things than Supervisor Simpson is admitting to. Simpson spoke over the intercoms, calling for calm.

Safety Tools: X-Card, Pre-game discussion.

This is the scenario in the revised edition of the core book. It's actually the final act of a 3 act scenario, so that it can be run in a convention timeslot. The game is set in the time period before Ripley and the Colonial Marines land on Hadley's Hope and find Newt.

This game is very cinematic and delivers Alien in spades. I think it helps that all the players have watched Aliens and are familiar with the setting. So, only minimal descriptions by the GM were necessary.

The GM had a good sense of pacing and knew when to throw things at us with enough foreshadowing that it wasn't a jump scare. Things ran organically.

My only issue was with the system. The type of Alien attack is determined by a random 1d6 chart. On extended combats, the limitation of this starts to show itself. Ineffective attacks repeat themselves a little too much on long combats. There needs to be a way to fairly escalate the combat on both sides, to end the combat sooner.

Overall, a fun cinematic Alien game that delivered what it promised.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

The game starts with the PCs outside of an airlock door entering Hadley's Hope. Inside, an emergency message is on repeat, telling people to go to the basement level housing. We soon find signs of violence. Our key concern is getting a priority card key, so we'll have access to the armory and to the shuttle, and finding survivors.

While exploring we get intercom calls. One from the bar and another from medical bay. We run into an Alien trying to get into the bar. We shoot it up and rescue a survivor. We find a stack of bodies in the casino and one comatose woman. I got attacked by one of the snake-things and get dragged into the morgue before another PC saves me. We get to the medical bay and get the priority card key from the WY employee in quarantine.

While some PCs are examining the comatose woman in medbay, the others are in comcenter. We change the message to tell all survivors to go to the shuttle for evac. We check all the CCTV and spot no survivors. Meanwhile, a chest-buster comes out of the comatose woman and the PCs re-quarantine the WY employee.

Just as we get to the shuttle, we get attacked by 2 Aliens. This combat goes for about 10 rounds. This is where the combat went too long. Some of the Alien attacks were ineffective against our Synthetic PC. And at high stress, my PC kept panicking before being able to attack. At one point, even the GM asked if we should just call it. In the end, it was a TPK.

GM told us afterwards, that if we entered the shuttle, we'll actually get attacked by face-huggers.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Game Name: The Victim’s Ball

Game System: Call of Cthulhu 7E

GM: minauril#4994

Number of Players: 4-8

Newbie Friendly: Yes

Age Minimum: 16+

Character Creation: Pre-generated characters will be provided. 

Time slot: Slot 8, Jan 15, 3:30pm PST (4 hrs)

Description: The year is 1794. You're lucky to be alive after the Reign of Terror. Not that many were as lucky as you. You are invited to the house of Comte De Rochforte, where you've heard rumors that he has been holding the most scandalous parties, should the rumors be true. Tales of dancing, drinking, gluttony and... other unseemly things, too unseemly to be speaking about in public or private. Your invitation was quite specific on arriving in the most strange and scandalous attire. Come and join the Victim's Ball... if you dare.

Content Warnings: Existential horror, body horror and gore

Safety Tools: Safeword: Kiwi. Players can use this to pause or leave as needed for their health.

I enjoyed this game for what it was. The GM was monologuing about half the time. With 8 players, that left us with about 15 mins of play per PC.

I thought this was great entertainment and we ran the gamut of horrible outcomes. It felt like a radio play with a few choices made by the PCs, sort of like choose your own adventure with only a few choices, since we didn't have much screen time.

The GM kept track of the 8 PCs very well and we each got our outcomes. For a convention game, this is fine and dandy. Something completely different. But my personal preference would be more character interaction and more player agency. The PCs didn't know each other, so we're basically involved with our own goals and stories and nobody else's.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

To get to the party, the PCs must relinquish their coats and shoes in the middle of winter. We discover the guests must wear a red ribbon. The servants black ribbons. The noble house women green ribbons.

There's a party game where the Sorcerer is picked, and the Sacrifice is picked later. None of the rules are explained, but we figure out the Sorcerer is picked by the majority of the women and the Sorcerer picks the Sacrifice from the women. The Sacrifice gets her head guillotined off and reattached with a green ribbon.

As the party runs through the night, the dancing and music drive the guests to a mosh-pit like frenzy. Guests start to die of exhaustion. Eventually, Nyarlathotep is summoned and the dead continue to dance.

One PC got her head chopped off, eventually losing her identity over time. One PC joined as a servant, to wear a black ribbon. One PC went through a gate to another planet. Several PCs escaped by hitching a hay wagon to horses in the stable. My character froze to death outside clutching a decapitated head.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Game Name: Little Land of Ba'al

Game System: Call of Cthulhu 7E 

GM: daupo #8153

Number of Players: 3-5 (Island Boy, MissMoogle, Syd, Morgan Hua)

Newbie Friendly: Yes

Age Minimum: 18

Character Creation: Pre-generated characters will be provided.

Intend to record or stream: Yes, if players are interested in doing so

Time slot: Slot 14, Jan 16 6:30pm PST (4 hrs)

Description: In the early 1920s, a handful of intrepids respond to the last few letters of an acclaimed archaeologist who has fallen silent, following an exotic dig on an ancient island. 

Content Warnings: Dark and violent themes, possible sexual themes, religious themes, psychological horror

Safety Tools: X-Card, Pre-game discussion

The historical background for this game is fascinating. The exact location is revealed in the spoiler section.

I liked that the PCs were experts in their fields and were there to do a job. Also various odd things could be explained as either scientific or supernatural, so they could be taken either way.

Overall, a good game. One I wouldn't mind running myself.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

The setting was the island of Menorca.

We're sent as a rescue / second team. So, we're allowed to inventory necessary supplies. Which was ok, except the GM then damages our boat and we lose most of our supplies which made the supply run a waste of time. For a convention game, this is a big no-no. GM also made a big deal of wreaking our radio. We had repair it several times before it worked. A bit of plot armor there which I disliked. If I ran the game I'd let the radio get repaired; it didn't matter to the plot.

The GM wrote this scenario and told us afterwards that it was designed to work against expectations. It was flexible in that if we trusted X, then Y would be the insane cultist; and if we trusted Y, then X would be the insane cultist. I think that's pretty clever. Also NPCs were experts in their field, so when the Geologist tells us that our boat ran into an unexpected shoal, it was because of the earlier earthquakes. So, I liked how a lot of unexplained things were explained, so it kept the PCs guessing.

So, we find the dig site and we get shot at. It's the famed archaeologist, alone at the dig site, slightly deranged. We calm him down and bring our surviving supplies in. He tells us that 3 of his members went to the south village and never returned. Then another member, Jeremy, went to the northwest village and never returned. So, the last member, Terry, also went to the northwest village. We found no evidence of foul play at the dig site. Terry eventually returns and tells us the villagers weren't willing to help.

The archaeologist shows us an underground complex with a Phoenician stone stela which translates to a warning that those being worshipped were not who they seemed. Walled up sections seem to block off tunnels out of the cave like spokes on a wheel. The archaeologist thinks that one leads to a Taula to the east. One of the walled off sections has partially collapsed and we can smell decay. After digging it out, we find the body of Jeremy, body crushed by either rockfall or someone smashing his body with a stone, but there is no evidence of either. We take his body out and bury him. We then unblock the tunnel which we think goes to the Taula and follow it. At some point, it veers away from the Taula and we find another chamber with goat sacrifices. Obviously done by villagers.

We find a breach in the tunnel that goes into a well with stairs that rise up into a basement. Terry confirms that either this is the church or the mill in the village. We go up and at that time, both the archaeologist and our linguist starts chanting, the blackness in the well starts moving, and we flee upstairs into the church -- full of villager cultists.

In the end, two of the PCs (I had one of them) escaped, returned to call for help on the radio, then hid in the jungle until they were picked up. The rest of the PCs were lost.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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Game Name: Waiting for the Hurricane

Game System: Pulp Cthulhu

GM: TenSoon's Shadow#6436

Number of Players: 3-6

Newbie Friendly: Yes

Age Minimum: None

Character Creation: Characters will be created during play.

Time slot: Slot 18, Jan 17 12:30pm PST

Description: A group trapped on an island off the coast of Florida during a storm.  People get kidnapped, a cult is at work, and all might be at stake if the investigators don't intervene!  Tired of investigations?  Looking for some good old fashioned shooting and explosions?  Then boy do I have the game for you! With absolutely no brain power involved this will be a great way to wrap up the weekend with some good pulpy action. 

Content Warnings: None

Safety Tools: Pre-game discussion

The GM told us to either pick pre-gens from dholeshouse.org or roll our own. So, I wanted to play a grown up version of Short-Round from Indiana Jones and I built a fast talking, dodgy, driving, hand-to-hand maneuver expert. Well, the GM didn't like most of our characters and made us pick pre-gens from Dholeshouse. We wasted 1/2 hour because the GM didn't quite get that Pulp is PULP and over-the-top. So, I picked Richard Fizzlebottom, a stuntman who was almost exactly like my rolled up PC except he had no social skills. So, I decided Fizzlebottom was more of a NYC type of guy, chatty like Cary Grant in His Girl Friday.

Our GM was pretty dedicated to railroading us and car tires had plot armor, and we got to the big ending. The GM seemed sleep deprived and a bit frazzled. His grasp of CoC 7th rules were a bit loose, loose enough for him to shoehorn us into the plot.

We had a great table of Players and they brought the fun to the game.

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

We're vacationing in a hotel as a hurricane approaches our island. The bridge is out, so we're stuck until the storm blows over. Meanwhile, men in black enter the hotel and start killing guests. Our intrepid vacationers then take it upon ourselves to stop those men.  

We save a few guests and stop a few of the men in black. As the surviving men in black push hostages into a van and drive off, one of the PCs shoots out its tire, after numerous penalties, but the van still drives away. Yeah, plot armor for the tire. We try to help some cops that were shot and were told to get to the police station which they can't raise. We go there and find the aftermath of a massacre. A phone call comes from someone at the graveyard needing help. We grab guns and go there. We knock off the men in black there and the guy we rescue tells us there's a horrible ceremony going on on a secret island that will wipe out the coast. We go there and blow up the ceremony building. Then a giant Mythos creature rises out of the depths.

In the end, my PC tried to ram our boat into Cthulhu, but failed. Cthulhu just picked up the boat and threw it away. I guess he learned from Call of Cthulhu.

The photographer (PC) died protecting his camera with photos. The journalist, our pacifist scout, saw the ritual and went temp insane and fled. She found the camera afterwards. When she ran, we decided to just blow up the building. The journalist and another PC survived. The rest of us died or were never found.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

Morgan's Undead of Winter 2020 Adventures

 

This is the Annual Dead of Winter convention, but now virtual due to Covid concerns and lockdowns. The original idea was that DoW GMs would bring back to life an old game they had run before.

I played in 3 games and coincidentally, all three games were set in the 1990s.

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12/12 Sat 11am-5pm

The Witch of Bar Harbor

GM: Travis Smalley

Game System: FATE

Variations: The Secret World of Cats

Power Level: Low

Number of Players: 5 (Aaron V, Matt S, Shannon M, Tom I, Morgan Hua)

Characters Provided: Yes

Technology Involved: Discord and Maptools. Webcams preferred but not required.

Description: (game was changed last minute, so this description is mine, not Travis's) In the Secret World of Cats, we play sentient and magical cats, similar to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway musical Cats. The cats strive to protect humans from their follies. The game is set in 1990, Bar Harbor, ME.

The game starts with unexplained Rube Goldberg-like set of events which threaten a teenage girl.

I have a strong dislike for the FATE system as players tend to stack Aspects and then Invoke a pile of them to auto succeed. Players game the system too much and remove any sense of challenge or danger.

So, why did I sign up for this game? Well, Travis is a great GM and I haven't played a game with him for a long time. Also, Dovi A runs a great Star Wars FATE game, so not all FATE games suck. So, there are exceptions to the rule.

Travis limited the amount of Aspects available and only gave out Aspects with a free Invoke when a 5+ success occurred. With no free Aspects, PCs had to generate an Aspect first. This limited the amount of Aspect abuse. Travis was also very masterful in escalating and managing the end game.

Overall, I loved playing a cat and trying to navigate the everyday normal world from a cat's eye view. Travis delivered a really good game.

Other investigative cat games are: Cats of Catthulhu and Cathulhu (CoC 6th).

=== SPOILER SECTION START ===

The game started with a satellite dish threatening to crash down upon a teenage girl. Shannon's cat pushed her out of the way. Soon after, a spiky fragment of the dish was going to cause a flat on a truck barreling down on this girl and her boyfriend. Another cat magicked the spike flat.

After following the girl and her boyfriend, the cats break into the Bar Harbor Historical Museum and learn of a witch that was burned at the stake and the great cat slaughter that followed afterwards. The cats get into the attic after scaring the night watchman and encounter the ghost of the witch and find there's a missing cursed trinket that used to be warded by cat magic.

Meanwhile, outside the museum, another accident occurs and the girl is sent to the hospital. Cats follow her and also track the missing trinket using magic.

The cats wind up at the boyfriend's house and after another caper dealing with breaking in, sneaking around, stealing things, a house fire, and dogs, the cats get the trinket, but the ghost witch steals it from them.

The cats then track the trinket to a cemetery and defeat some undead cats and re-ward the cursed trinket the witch was trying to use to do something terrible.

In the end, we had to do at least 3 rounds of cat magic. Each magic round required participation by a different cat. During the round, the other cats had to work to defend the cat working the magic that round. Because the witch attacked at a really high plus, something like +12, all the cats had to work together to defend. In the end, Tom's cat suffered a serious injury, having his insides torn out and exposed.

=== SPOILER SECTION END ===

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12/12 Sat 7pm-1am

Josie

GM: Matt Metcalfe-Armstrong

Game System: Home brew (rules light, roleplay heavy)

Variations: NA

Power Level: Normal people

Number of Players: 5-6 (Alicia H, Andrew W, Dani L, Honda C, Lis H, Morgan Hua)

Characters Provided: Yes, and developed as game proceeds 

Description: A group of high school gaming friends meet again every few years in observance of a morbid anniversary, and must cope with the long-term ramifications of the events in their life. 

A game in multiple acts, and following characters over the course of 20 years, from their high school graduation night to middle age. An untimely death changes the trajectory of their lives, and when they come together 20 years later, they try to make contact with the spirit of their lost friend.  

GM NOTES & GUIDANCE TO PLAYERS

TONE: Supernatural drama, players must be willing to invest in characters, and be willing to accept that their choices may lead to bad outcomes for their characters. Mix of dramatic memoir and ghost story.

This game reminds me of Montsegur 1244 in that it can be played very realistically and bring in very strong emotions, or played with less realism (being over the top) and have less impact, all depending on the mood of the table.

The game started in 1994 and ended in 2020, skipping about 5 years per act and then skipping about 20 years for the last act.

1994 is the senior year of high school. All of the PCs are friends of each other and Josie, an NPC who dies after graduation. We fill out an open ended questionnaire about our lives. We play out various prompts and resolve or invent some drama. Matt (GM), then reveals what happens in between acts. We fill out questionnaires again, rinse/repeat until the final act.

The only issue is that with such an open ended start, it was hard for the Players to latch onto something. So there was a bit of floundering at the start, but once we got Act 1 out of the way, things went a bit smoother. But there were times when I felt even though when the Act was done, people just filled in the empty space with small talk until Matt called End Scene, we probably needed a non-verbal signal that we were done.

I had a really good table of players. The game turned out very low key and realistic. The emotional content at the end turned out very good.

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Josie died of a drug overdose right after graduation. So, it was a mystery whether it was an accidental overdose or suicide. The game dealt with collective guilt over not saving Josie from herself and how that affects their lives. The ghost of Josie haunts the PCs, some more than others. The last scene happens after a 16 year gap, the PCs meet over zoom and do a computer séance and contact Josie. She finally tells the others that it was an accidental overdose and that her appearances were only to be with us, to peek into our lives, out of love, not out of hate or vengeance. This gave us closure.

Matt did the haunting very well with odd flashes of seeing Josie's ghost, smelling her cheap perfume, and photos of her and PCs that never happened suddenly showing up. The PCs did a séance before the final act and physical objects (a d20 and CD) showed up. My favorite parts were the last two acts, the camping séance (spontaneous event unprompted by GM) and the last virtual séance.

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12/13 Sun 11am-5pm

SKILLSHOT

GM: Andy Hull

Game System: Delta Green

Genre: Horror

Number of Players: 5 (Shannon M, Tom I, Dave S, Aaron V, Morgan Hua)

Characters Provided: Yes

Power Level: Recruits

Description:  It's 1992.

Unlikely companions search for treasured people who have faded from their lives. A filthy stranger promises them answers as long they keep their damn mouths shut.

Does this team have what it takes to penetrate a gnawing supernatural conspiracy, or will they become another necessary sacrifice in the grisly hunt for the truth?

Delta Green fights on.

GM Notes & Guidance to Players: 

Tone - An investigation with limited resources and rising stakes

Tags/Descriptors/Genre - Supernatural Horror, Mystery, Serious, Retro, Body Horror, Mature 

You will be expected to work together as a group with varied fields of expertise, and handle many clues presented as props.

I really enjoyed this game because it was 90% investigative. I love investigation games. Andy had tons of props and handouts to mull over and figure out.

It was a very hard mystery and without some help from the GM, I think we would have taken 8 hours to finish this. Given a time limit though, we did what we could. We did run into spending more time discussing what we should do vs just doing it because we thought we had a ticking clock and spent more real-time arguing about what to do than doing. Part of the problem was that all the PCs didn't know each other and were working together for the very first time.

Overall, if you like solving mysteries and reading handouts, check this game out.

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Criminal was played by Shannon, DEA Agent by Tom, Military Pilot by Dave, CDC Doctor by Aaron, Hacker by Morgan.

The PCs are strangers and get called by a mysterious handler to investigate a location. All of the PCs are searching for missing associates.

The first scene is in the middle of the Arizona desert where we find a half buried car in a ditch. Inside the trunk is a dead body and some clues. The clues are cryptic and incomplete.

We needed to use our contacts and some brain work to figure out the clue trails which lead us to a company which we have to break into. That then led to our final Act.

By then we knew there was a ticking clock as we were experiencing disturbing dreams and physical infestations and mutations. We also knew the handler was dangerous and was going to kill us as he had done the same to previous teams. The paranoid conspiracy and body horror were well done and the best parts of the game. Very Delta Green.

The final scene was at a religious encampment out in the desert where people abandoned their cars to reach enlightenment. In the end, DEA reached "enlightenment" on a magical school bus, CDC was shot in the head by the mysterious handler (who Hacker rammed with a dump truck), and Criminal, Hacker, and Pilot escaped right before a tactical nuke went off. 

In the end, Hacker escaped with the plans of a nuclear weapon. And to tie it into the time period, sold it to Pakistan.

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12/13 Sun 6pm-Midnight

Four Hours to Reno 

GM: Morgan Hua

Game System: Down Darker Trails - A setting for Call of Cthulhu—the American West of the late 19th century. The era of gold rushes, outlaws and lawmen, discovery and expansion.

Variations: Luck Spends to adjust most % rolls

Power Level: Purist

Number of Players: 4-6 (5-6 is ideal as this scenario is more action oriented) (Todd E, Felipe M, Badger M, Aaron T)

Characters Provided: Yes

Description: The Investigators are a deputized posse of civilians lead by US Marshal Eldridge Nash, returning on a train to Reno from Salt Lake City as they take in the remnants of the Hensley gang to be tried for cattle rustling and murder.  

GM NOTES & GUIDANCE TO PLAYERS

Tone: Yee Haw! Western. Them darn Hensley gang going to hang! Cthulhu? Pardon me mam, but here's a kerchief for your cold.

60% Root-em shoot-em action, 25% Investigation, 15% Horror.

Tags/Descriptors/Genre: Western/Supernatural Horror/Action/PG13 with some gross bodily fluids. Scenario will run for 4-5 hrs depending on the pace of the game table.

I was originally going to reanimate my Scooby-Doo game, but it would have required too much work to get it ready for an online game. Instead I ran this which I had prepared for GenCon. Also I picked the last slot on Sunday because I knew the game was only 4-5 hours long and no one would complain if I ran a shorter game after everyone had stayed up late the previous day and they would probably be dead tired by then. Also the scenario was more of an action set piece and would work when people are tired.

This game actually did run 5 hours even with just 4 players. Generally, a game runs faster with less players, especially combat heavy games.

I had a lot of fun running this game. I think this is the 6th time I've run this. I had a great table of players. There's a balance of roleplaying, advancing the plot, and just having fun. There were a lot of great moments brought by the masterful role players.

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Badger the Mountain Man was played by Badger, Angel the Farmer by Aaron, Leroy the midget Gunslinger by Todd, and Dirk the Cowboy by Felipe.

Fun moments:

Badger and Angel almost getting killed by Break Em Betty (NPC). Betty knocked Badger to 0 HP with punches and almost took Angel out before he killed her. Luckily Angel brought Wei Li (NPC murder suspect) with him who was able to stabilize Badger (who was dying).

Angel dominated by Abigail (NPC) and ordered to shoot Badger, does so, but shoots through Badger in order to hit Abigail also. Angel kills Badger and Abigail with both barrels of his shotgun.

Dirk sliding off the top of the train car and hitting the ground, then failing to pull himself up by a rope Leroy throws to him, finally getting back on the train using his whip as train cars whip by.

Leroy miraculously climbing up on top of the caboose and shooting Angel, now possessed by evil spirits, in the back as he tries to escape on the back of a flying Shantak.

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