Horror - Putting the Theory into Practice
So I ran the Hanging Tree. It was a strange, difficult yet ultimately rewarding game. I must admit running spooky ghost story style horror is one of the hardest styles to run simply as it relies so heavily on the player buy in, as I theorised about previously. As a result, I found myself as GM to be strangely weaponless. With the style the GM must be careful not to force the players' hand or try for the cheap scare as the whole thing comes tumbling down.
The session acheived what I had hoped it would, though only just. The group proved particularly tenacious about just being varsity students, which made it hard initially to move them into the spooky moments. This problem actually arose from the use of cipher PCs in that the players can talk crap for many hours on end and still have fun :) However, despite this hiccup, I think the PCs and how they were introduced to the horror were the key to a creepy session.
The highlight of this was that the PCs were within 15 minutes of starting the session tied to a tree (which had an urban legend attached) alone and in the dark as a part of a varisty initiation prank. The group then pretty much talked in character for 45 minutes straight. I remained mostly silent and I think I introduced 5 things in that time including the mundane urge to vomit and urge to pee :) The idea was to have the players get a lot of energy out of their system and hammer home the that weird feeling of tiredness that the situation would bring. It was a lot of deflection mainly aimed at getting the players to slide into their PCs and keep them guessing. It was a risky gambit but one which proved vital in the end.
I think the best parts of the scenario related around the slow introduction of elements and how the scenario allowed the PCs to put the pieces in place. It moved slowly but when things clicked, they tended to do so with a shiver. The discover of a dead body after it had been haunting the PCs was actually quite effective.
The end of the scenario was adequate but needs reworking.
The session acheived what I had hoped it would, though only just. The group proved particularly tenacious about just being varsity students, which made it hard initially to move them into the spooky moments. This problem actually arose from the use of cipher PCs in that the players can talk crap for many hours on end and still have fun :) However, despite this hiccup, I think the PCs and how they were introduced to the horror were the key to a creepy session.
The highlight of this was that the PCs were within 15 minutes of starting the session tied to a tree (which had an urban legend attached) alone and in the dark as a part of a varisty initiation prank. The group then pretty much talked in character for 45 minutes straight. I remained mostly silent and I think I introduced 5 things in that time including the mundane urge to vomit and urge to pee :) The idea was to have the players get a lot of energy out of their system and hammer home the that weird feeling of tiredness that the situation would bring. It was a lot of deflection mainly aimed at getting the players to slide into their PCs and keep them guessing. It was a risky gambit but one which proved vital in the end.
I think the best parts of the scenario related around the slow introduction of elements and how the scenario allowed the PCs to put the pieces in place. It moved slowly but when things clicked, they tended to do so with a shiver. The discover of a dead body after it had been haunting the PCs was actually quite effective.
The end of the scenario was adequate but needs reworking.