As planned, our Call of Cthulhu one-shot, The Dare, was able to be held on Saturday. By this point, the first two parts of the session should be available on YouTube, if anyone has any interest in the experience. Unfortunately, the start time was a bit delayed, but everyone had a lot of fun, and we managed to finish the adventure in a single (long) session. It was a rather late 3 AM when the few survivors managed to crawl out of the haunted house.
The total game time came in at about 9 hours, for a convention scenario with a described timed of 4-5 hours. However, I would say that the group was not particularly slow or cautious, it did feel like they were moving forward most of the time. Near the end, a few of the players were starting to fade, but during the conclusion everyone was able to stay awake and focused (at least until they died).
The technology and the board worked well, adding to the mood. The LED lights allowed for the room to be dark, even though there was enough light for the cameras. Thunder sounds were decent, if perhaps a bit repetitive after 9 hours. A few other sound effects added to the feel, creaking doors opening and closing, screeching rats, flapping of bats, etc – several times in the game, the group would catch a background effect, and reach as such in the game with the natural tension.
In the end, we ended up using 7 of the pre-built characters – there was a death mid-way thru, so I allowed a replacement to arrive at the house. Two others died horribly during the final encounter, and the remaining four managed to survive, badly injured and mentally scarred, but alive.
As for Call of Cthulhu, this was officially my first time running the game system, and the first time for the group playing. As a result, we made many mistakes. Most notably, I completely missing the Major Wound mechanics, and I mis-ran much of the temporary and indefinite insanity rules. The group was good at tracking their Sanity, and we determined the effects at times (many very effective results), but I am fairly certain we didn’t follow the true mechanics. We also had some challenges with the skill levels, especially around impromptu weapons.
However, none of this really distracted from the experience. Everyone had a blast, I had enough of the rules to follow the spirit, and the rest we adapted to what made sense at the time. In the end, the story is what mattered, and what everyone was focused on. And after recovery the following day, I had a lot of interest in planning our next one-shot or short campaign, and more than enough interest from the group to repeat the experience.
The list of survivors is summarized below:
- Joey Delafano – The Tough
- Pauline Laughlin – The Prankster
- Julius Thurston – The Snob
- Sherwood Kent – The Boy Scout
Kyle Robards– The Bookworm – DeadJoelene Bachman– The Poor Kid – DeadHarry Enslin– The Know It All – Dead
