Play@YSDC

Yeah, sounds good to me.

Can I have a Group (hard difficulty) luck roll please? I think it'll be using the highest Luck stat which is 50 on Wessell's sheet.

Here you go.

[dice]0[/dice]Extreme success!

Honeydog, John’s credit rating is slightly higher than Harrison’s. Would you like to do the honours?

If you feel you're at a dead end I'm happy for you to make an Idea roll, regular difficulty. Failing will not be good though...

Idea: 1d100 98

Fail!

INT 50 [dice]0[/dice]Pass!

jp1885 wrote:INT 50 [dice]241655:0[/dice]Pass!

While musing over their next step, it occurs to Harrison in a flash of inspiration that a central issue is where does Corbitt get the body parts he uses? It doesn't seem to be abductions and/or murders, at least not locally, so it must therefore be either from the recently deceased or amputations. Maybe activities at the local hospital are worth looking into?

On what day did we first see Corbitt dropping the limbs on his porch? I guess it was late afternoon / evening?

jp1885 wrote:On what day did we first see Corbitt dropping the limbs on his porch? I guess it was late afternoon / evening?

It was the previous Sunday, early evening. It is now late afternoon on Thursday.

How are you both feeling with the progress of the game? It's my first run at being a Keeper so I'm more than happy with hearing your thoughts/criticisms.

Am I making it too easy, too difficult? Was the Idea roll okay? It's a short scenario with not too much sandbox stuff so I'm concious that I don't want to railroad things, but similarly I don't want you getting frustrated.

I'm happy with how you're running it so far. I'm in a few long campaigns, both on this forum and with my local gaming group, so short scenarios make a nice change.

Harrison and John are both very different characters in temprement and you are handling that well. The idea roll also came at a good time I think.

Considering we've already gone insane once, I would't say you're making it easy!

The pace is good Simon. It’s actually quite difficult to know what to do in this game, as any action against Corbitt carries a lot of risk. There’s nothing wrong with giving a few pointers I think, as players are often not seeing the game in the same way you are, and can go off in all sorts of directions.

Do another one after this – we don’t get enough Classic era games here. Shorter adventures work well, as these things take fucking months to play in this format. Most of the successful games I've played in here have been concise scenarios. One persistent difficulty is players forgetting details as time goes on.

Thanks for the feedback

I've sensed the difficulties in this scenario. I think every new lead needs to be investigated to the full, and perhaps a slightly more surreptitious approach might work well.

simonthompson wrote:...perhaps a slightly more surreptitious approach might work well.

Bump!

Seriously, I think (without wishing to give too much away) that one way or another it's back to Corbitt, either in an outright confrontation - although that approach hasn't gone well so far - or a more cautious one as hinted at above.

Or, and of course I'll understand why since both are great characters, you may simply decide that the investigators are in over their heads and forgetting all about old man Corbitt may be the best option if they want to retain their sanity, liberty and live to fight another day.

I think John might choose to be pragmatic about it and avoid further investigation and risk. They got lucky with the hospital incident, and managed to interfere with Corbitt's supply. He's too powerful to take on directly. Even a secretive approach must mean some kind of confrontation at some point.

I think John will attempt to write and publish a story about it, with a character based on Corbitt but not naming him. That might bring some attention down on him.

Harrison will be loathe to sever relations with his uncle, but also doesn’t want to go near Corbitt again. He will probably wait until Corbitt is exposed (perhaps a drink with a journalist or two) and then re-establish contact with his uncle.

Okay chaps, we'll call it a day on this one then.

Hopefully you enjoyed the game, it was a great learning experience for me and I had a lot of fun. If I could do one thing again it would be to keep Tomaszewki alive at least a little longer. I was too pedantic in following the scenario guidelines (during which he leaps to his death from a high building if confronted), and having him spill some beans might have opened up another route back to Corbitt that was less risky for Harrison and John.

It was a nice scenario to run but it's tough to play Corbitt well without either making it too easy for the investigators or much too difficult.

Anyways, thanks for participating

Thanks for running the game! It was good fun (if only for the interplay between Harrison and John). I assume the limb monster thing was the 'end boss'? If so, there's a GMing lesson for you - never expect your players to do things in the order you want them to!
Tomaszewski's death did seem a bit abrupt; perhaps you could've tried out the much-maligned chase rules and given us a chance to get some information that way? But all in all you did a great job!
I might play Harrison again some time - mind if I use this thread to roll for skill improvements?

Yes, thanks for the game, it was enjoyable. I agree, sometimes following the scenario too closely can be detrimental to play. I was hoping that by having Tomaszewki confess we might have been able to catch Corbitt in the act. With him obviously being powerful, and with the police in his pocket, any attempt at simply doing him in, or my preferred choice of burning down his house, would probably result in death or imprisonment.

I assume that the lady-leg thing was Corbitt’s wife at some point, and the main monster was something else. I'm going to read the scenario and find out.