Spreading Corruption Act II: Dead Campers

James and Hassan head towards the sound of the gunshots, both using Heightened Senses to see and smell better in the gloom. They soon find the embers of a camp fire surrounded by three tents. A crate of beer cans sit by the embers. Three circular chunks of churned earth, each about three feet wide, are positioned around the campfire like they'd been freshly dug and then replaced, though without the usual large lumps that normally form when you try to fit uncompressed dirt back into its slot.

The tents contain sleeping bags, booze bottles, snacks, and a wallet in a jacket that identifies a man called Carl Thomas. The address listed on his license is just down the slope, a two-storey house along one of the few still lived in streets of this 'suburb'. They can see from the campsite that there's a light on upstairs but nowhere else in the house.

Hassan smells gunpower floating around at a point beside one of the tents and there's a lot of compressed earth and a few footprints there that suggest someone had been kneeling at the time when the guns were fired. Whoever had been here, had been in plain sight of the others. Neither of them could spot where the bullets have gone, though in this lightly scrub-shrouded hill, that wasn't not too surprising.

Hassan can only smell three human men at the campsite. There's no scent around where the shooter had crouched nor any scent of a monster.

Hassan can also smell blood, and they can see a line of blood spray on the soil near one of those churned holes and, guessing that bodies were buried here, they begin to dig the bloody one first. Hassan feels something brush his hands, and moments later he unearths fingertips. They keep digging, sliding the earth back, and James feels the rough texture of dirty hair against his hands. Finally, they unearth two hands and a head, positioned as though they'd been sheared at around the same spot after being pulled into the ground.

Neither of them have any skill in examining bodies, but Hassan's investigative talents do help him figure out that the parts were severed using something sharp yet slightly rough, like teeth. They don't bother to fully dig out any of the holes but they do dig up the first foot or two of each hole and find the other two empty, though blood-stained. They surmise that the decapitated one may have been standing at the time and therefore he was harder to swallow in one bite.

Hassan's occult background makes him instantly think of cryptids, as what else could tunnel through rock so effectively? Yet Cryptids normally are pushed back from civilisation and these hills aren't that far away. It could be some sort of briefly manifested spirit and his Arcane Sight does detect faint traces of unidentifiable magic around the holes. Or perhaps some shard of non-reality accidentally summoned by the working of a powerful spell. It's hard to be sure but what he does know is that since there were no screams, and the blood is very fresh, it's likely that all three were taken at once.

So they decide to follow the tracks to learn more from the mysterious shooter, when they can find him.

You can find all of this adventures' articles over here.

Music

A replayed song from the Fahrenheit soundtrack.

Considerations

If your players enquire about a line of investigation, or a type of clue, that you hadn't thought of before, don't hesitate to include it. Why not let them trace the source of gunpowder in the air with Heightened Senses - Smell?

I also broke up the unearthing of the body parts into steps to boost the creepy factor by making them wonder what they would find. At that stage, there were equal chances that they would dig up a still living person who had been dragged into the dirt, or perhaps a zombie that would attack them, or perhaps a severed head (as it was), or an entire corpse, or something else entirely. They didn't know. Besides, it was more immersive to describe it as their characters would have experienced it.

Spreading Corruption Act I: Eagle-On-The-Hill

Hassan arrived first at Eagle on the Hill. It's an old, derelict hotel opened in 1853, ravaged twice by bushfires (once in 1899 and again in 1983), and then abandoned after the construction of the new freeway route. Thus the hotel they wait at (pictured above) is a relatively benign loci (as far as they go) of flame and abandonment. It would make for a brilliant wyrm's nest (a crucible, no less) but for the werewolf pack (the Protectorate) who use it as a meeting place.

Anywho, so Hassan waits for a short while and reflects on the fact that the night up here is truly pretty. It's never struck him before. In fact, nothing truly has for decades as the ancillae is old enough that his feeling echoes have receded into rare moments. Tonight feels profound and he chalks it up to an omen from the concept of the Dark Mother rather than a burgeoning reawakening of weak but sincere emotion.

James Tyler soon arrives. The two have dealt with occult situations before in-game (and presumably also during the intervening decade and a half between campaigns) so Hassan can be more honest with the Invictus than he otherwise would be. In this element, they are occult investigators and potential hunters allied to a common cause, not politicos dancing with words in Elysium.

James explains the court situation. Hassan explains again what he saw over the city. They try to figure out what to do about it when they hear two gun shots coming from below, in the direction of the sleepy remnants of the dying suburb. Trouble is, that particular remnant they hear the shots coming from is only a few hundred feet down one of the slopes. It sounds like a .38 revolver.

In 2025, in this particular future of Adelaide, gun laws have been relaxed due to the current dangers and need for self-protection so the sound isn't as unusual as it otherwise would be in Australia but it's still worth checking as it's 11pm at night. Hassan uses Heightened Senses - Hearing and makes out a muffled non-sound that reminds him of the times he's contested various Obfuscate-like powers without quite succeeding. Wondering if the gun shots are vampire-related, the two head towards the sound.

You can find all of this adventures' articles over here.

Music

A replayed song from the Fahrenheit Soundtrack.

Considerations

Funnily enough, both characters have well over 100 experience points on their sheet yet I'm really not worried that they'll be overpowered. New World of Darkness sheets sure know how to soak up experience. Besides, neither of them are dedicated combat characters.

I made gun laws less restricted in this World of Darkness version of Adelaide because I want to ramp up the sense that the streets are so dangerous you can't just rely on the law. It's also important to help the characters feel comfortable getting involved without feeling like the Law will be breathing down their neck every step of the way - which would encourage a realistic yet boring response to the horror, like running and hiding.

Three Act Structure In Sessions

I find that you can give each session a greater sense of accomplishment when you loosely give it a Three Act structure. Act I establishes a problem. Act II allows them to discover more about that problem. Act III is where they resolve that problem. True, you can break almost everything down into those three stages (every dice roll, in fact) but it has greater importance for adventures as sometimes you can get whole sessions that drift along without much happening. This is fine if it comes out of the adventure naturally or if the players (or you) are particularly interested in that sort of campaign, but it can help to have an idea of a situation that can be established, investigated, and resolved in most sessions.

While on an Adventure level, the Three Acts all combine to follow an overarching story, such as in a murder mystery where you must bring the killer to justice, on a session level the Acts can go off on tangents so long as they're somewhat related.

For example, on an Adventure level:

Act I: A woman is found dead in a hotel room. The characters take a look around the crime scene and figure out that a vampire is involved and thus they can't rely on the police to deal with it. The problem is thus defined for them: Identify and deal with the vampire.

Act I: The players investigate various vampires and try to figure out who might have done it and why. This is also where they decide if they'll get involved and what they're going to do about it.

Act III: The players actually attempt to resolve the situation. Perhaps they try to convince the Prince to punish him or perhaps they try to kill him themselves.

Here's an example on a Session level:

Act I establishes that a murder has been committed and the characters arrive at the hotel.

Act II reveals that the receptionist with the key to the crime scene needs help with her husband who's badly shaken up from the whole ordeal.

Act III involves the players helping the husband deal with the trauma.

See how it's tangental to the over-arching adventure plot while still following it's own internal logic? It still follows the Discovery, Investigation, Resolution format. These three acts could take about 10 minutes or could take an entire session depending on the players and their interests in this particular NPC. It doesn't matter if the players cycle through the acts several times in a session, only that they make some progress and cycle through them at least once. Otherwise, a session can feel a bit bogged down.

Having said that, the occasional session where nothing much happens can make for a fantastically enjoyable one but as a general rule, I personally find it better when there's an identifiable goal discovered, its details learned, and something resolved, all in the same session. Of course, every campaign and every group of players are different. It's just something to bear in mind.

Whole bunch of Fan Supplements for WoD

Take a look at this link to find other links to a whole bunch of Fan Supplements for the World of Darkness, including one for a Silent Hill conversion that's pretty damn good.

Shadows Campaign: Spreading Corruption

For this session, I managed to get another of my old Troupire players to reprise his original role of the Taifa Gangrel, Hassan, from the Circle of the Crone. It sure made it a lot easier for me to run since there were minimal NPCs in this bit so I got to focus on the atmosphere of the place and the various clues they came across. I wanted to establish a sense of mystery and danger right from the out-set. Nowhere is truly safe for them. Outside in the dark, there are spontaneous abberations of shadow that may come from them. Inside in the light, there is human observation and vampire needs that can create a volatile mix. Unless they're at home in their own havens, but with the current praxis seizure, that may not be safe either.

In this episode Hassan and James Tyler meet to discuss the praxis seizure near an abandoned hotel in the Adelaide Hills. Hearing two gunshots, they head to the source and find a camp-site where something large has tunneled up beneath three campers and devoured them, leaving a head and two hands in one of the freshly churned sections of dirt. Following the tracks of the shooter, they pass one of the camper's homes and upon investigation find something hiding in the dog house. They hear the dog growling but even their Auspex can't pierce the shadows inside. The dog starts barking and the teenaged occupant of the house calls out for the dog to shut up but when it doesn't she promises to come downstairs. Hassan and James are forced to confront the dog and kill it before it has a chance to kill the girl.

I figured I'd do things a little differently since this is a horror session I've done. I'm going to give a detailed run down of this session, providing you with monster statistics, music titles used, and detailing the considerations I had when creating this session, I'm going to break it up into four other articles and release them over the next four days. They will be:

Act I: Eagle-on-the-Hill
Act II: Dead Campers
Act III: Bad Dog
Monster Statistics: Shadow Hound

Links will be put into place as I've put them up. By the way, I took a lot of inspiration for this adventure while writing the Alan Wake Game Translation. I hope you enjoy the analysis.

Game Translation: Alan Wake

Alan Wake is a psychological horror game where the titular character goes to Bright Falls for a holiday to try and help him break through his writer's block. While there, his wife drowns under mysterious circumstances and the entire cabin disappears. Alan Wake must follow a trail of clues leading through the dangerous nights and the safe(r) days, in order to find and reunite with his wife while other interests try to piece together a book he doesn't even remember writing.

This is a game where horrors lurk in shadows and where the darkness can literally try to kill you. Alan must seek out light sources to hide within, find ways to switch lights on (often after power outages), and use his flashlight to stun and slow down the shadow possessed before shooting them dead. During battles with the enemy, it's vital to position yourself so that you have enough time to slow them down and shoot them and then run off to allow your flashlight to re-charge before the next enemy strikes.

The main difficulty with any darkness-based enemy in pen-and-paper games is that the flashlight is often either too powerful or not enough. Unless they have some sort of super-powerful flashlight, there's no reason why there'd be a re-charge period and without one of those it's harder to make it a tactical consideration. One trick would be to simply use multiple enemies and have the stunning effect wear off quickly when the character switches to a new target, but this can become clunky when you have four players. Requiring one player to work the flashlight while the others focus fire (by giving them astonishing healing rates unless struck multiple times in the same turn) could work to renew a tactical element in the game.

The other trick is to allow flashlights to stun them relatively easily, but make the creatures themselves hard to spot. They are born of shadows (or possessed by them), after all, so playing hide-and-seek should come naturally to them. If the possessed make for good contortionists, have them cling to ceilings or reach out through holes in fences. Make them fast and choose their moments carefully. This is also important because, in truth, horror in roleplaying games is dampened when the enemy takes too many casualties as it emboldens the players and encourages them to run and gun more.

Bearing in mind that a set of fresh batteries can last twenty four hours, it can be tricky to deprive characters of their protection from the light. An easy way out of this is to make it that the shadow creatures seem to absorb the light, which causes more strain on the flashlight, as reality tries to compensate by drawing on more battery power. Either that, or just try to break the flashlight itself, with a telekinetically lifted book case or, perhaps in later stages, a car.

Off Road Driving's Never Been So Much Fun

There's a real sense of a thriller television series in the episodic format used in this game which provides a greater sense of structure and narrative than is normally found in videogames. This also helps the tension by providing a real sense of pacing. The episodes each start in the daylight and work their way into the night, allowing for numerous quiet points to ratchet up the tension through contrast. In most games, you only have a single descent into darkness with the odd restful moment within that nasty world. The Alan Wake multiple day format allows for frequent comparisons to the normal world and gives the whole thing a bit more impact.

The main problem you're likely to face if you try to implement this system in a pen-and-paper is that by allowing the adventure to continue over multiple days and nights, your players will be tempted to do the smart thing and stay inside at night. Even during the day, they're unlikely to go into dark buildings or basements, at least not without punching holes in the walls or driving a car in through the front door. They're also likely to do as Barry did and dress themselves up in lights like a Christmas tree or come up with even more outlandish attempts to stave off the enemy. While these are all realistic and immersive reactions to this kind of situation, it can lead to the players stubbornly digging their heels in and refusing to deal with the plot. If this happens, then the game will either grind to a halt or move in fits and starts as you drag them along by the teeth.

The real trick here is during character creation. Convince them to create characters so motivated to find the solution NOW that they're never willing to wait until dawn. They'll follow the clues they have now as soon as they find them. Of course, depending on your players, they may or may not be able to put aside their pragmatism. Especially when characters start dying. In which case you can always make it more of an apocalyptic survival game where everything decays around them until they either die or act.

Or just have them play vampires. Then they can't avoid going out at night.

The other age-old question is how to discourage the players from trying to mash through the enemy rather than treat them with fearful respect. My suggestion would be to make them hard to hit unless light is used against them. Give them ACs so high the best fighter in the party can only hit them if they roll an 18 or above. Throw in a Miss Chance of 20%, or even 50%. Or in the World of Darkness, give them bonuses to Defense (+3 is enough in most cases) on top of their own defense (allow it to function against firearms, too). Make it possible, but too difficult to hope for. If you simply give them more hit points so they can take a beating, then players will be tempted to GIVE them a beating and win through a battle of attrition. If they simply don't get touched by a beating, players will look for another method.

The episodic structure in Alan Wake also includes cliffhangers and a central theme, or mini-plot, that Alan Wake must get through before the next episode begins. These are relatively easy to implement in a roleplaying game. Simply come up with some greater question or tension-inducing aspect to end on most sessions and structure the next session around that. Of course, since it takes a lot longer to play through a segment of a roleplaying game than it does through a videogame it might be worthwhile to focus around a couple essential scenes grouped around a similar theme rather than try to work in an entire plot line that may or may not be followed.

A campaign based around Alan Wake, or including elements of it, would certainly appeal to Tacticians who will quickly figure out the most intelligent way to handle the threat. Sprinkle a few clues around to some greater mystery and involve some oddball NPCs with their own goals and motivations and you'll keep Investigators happy. Explorers probably will enjoy taking a look at the different situations and seeing how odd the occult side of this world can get. Action Heroes are likely to get bored and frustrated as are Communicators who will want to bunker down and see how the various NPCs react to these claustrophobic events.

If you'd like to take a look at the trailer to learn more about it, you can check it out here. If you'd like to read the sort of tropes that Dead Island used, you can find them here.

For the next Game Translation, you have a choice of these: Left for Dead, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Fahrenheit, The Sims 3, Half Life 2, Prototype, Skyrim, Deus Ex, L.A. Noire, The Last Express, Realms of the Haunting, and pretty much any survival horror or horror game. If no one picks anything by next week, it'll be Deus Ex. If you want to see the list of games I've done thus far, you can find the Game Translation series starter over here.

Flashpoint: Investigations

This was a cool session though also a funny one because the players in both this session and the last kept ignoring the Lubor's Office lead in favor of dredging up other ones that go off the adventure path railroad. It's all good because their ideas were logical -- but therein also lay the problem. The adventure assumes they came from inland and then follow the path to the docks whereas they came in from the sea. The adventure also assumes that they don't simply search the docks for the Hydra's Fang (particularly the dry docks for any major repairs). In truth, since in the adventure it's just sitting amongst the other ships there's no reason why a cursory inspection of the harbor wouldn't spot it fairly quickly.

So of course Archer immediately searched the dry docks and then came back the following day to bribe the person in charge of the dry docks for access to the files. On the way a man tried to sell them Pesh and became obsessed with the idea that the tiefling, Lhye, would buy it off him. Proteus told him that he didn't trust anyone who didn't sample his own wares so the man promptly did and became more fixated. Lenny knocked him down with a punch and the man ran off, still telling Lhye to come find him.

Then they were mobbed with kids trying to sell shell jewelery and even feathers dyed red that they said was from a griffon (they were gull feathers). When Lhye said that griffons were white, they promptly said that it was a special, magic griffon that lived nearby. Proteus distracted most of them by showing the nine kids eight coppers and saying that one would miss out before tossing the coins behind them. Eight kids ran off.

One, the smallest six-year-old waited, and asked for a silver to run off. Lhye, admiring her spirit, asked if he could keep her. The child said it would cost him a gold and everyone was a little disturbed that she might be trying to be a prostitute until she clarified that it would cost a gold to 'abopted her' (yes, typo is intentional). Proteus told Lhye he couldn't keep her but she hung around, demanding a gold from Lhye so she could be abopted. She then started playing with his tail (he took the prehensile tail variant) and even bit it to see if it was real when Lenny lifted her up by the hair. Proteus gave her a sleep potion and she rolled a 17 and passed.

Ahh, True Neutral Adventurers. He could've given her a gold piece to make her run and eat well for a few days but instead he wasted a 25gp potion on trying to render her unconscious so that they could dump her somewhere.

They kept walking, Lenny holding her by the hair and the kid with her arms crossed stubbornly across her chest. They went to the dry dock official. For a shiny gold piece, they were told that it limped off a couple days ago but wasn't provisioned for a major voyage and was likely moved elsewhere. I dropped another hint about him owing Lubor money. I also dropped a bit of a clue that there were Lacedon on the ship that someone glimpsed.

Archer asked for anyone who might have seen the ship leave and they were directed to a lovely old lady who sold pot pies and tea. He bribed with a shiny gold piece (in exchange for a pie and a tea cup) and she immediately told him that he'd mistaken gold for copper (she sold the pie and tea combo for three copper pieces). He told her he was an investor so she made him out a receipt. Anyway, she told him that the captain of the Hydra's Fang was an arrogant Chelish man who'd had an argument with Lubor and owed the Consortium quite a bit. Archer then enquired as to where they could track down the Consortium Headquarters (le sigh) and she said that only those members who had a personal stake in the issue would be interested (*hint* Lubor *hint*). She also told them his ship was a galliot and that he may have hidden it in the Underdocks. Proteus also bribed the little girl with a pie (she immediately demanded two, so he added a tea) if she'd leave them alone. She agreed and went over to sit on the edge of the docks and eat.

Archer realised that if he pulled down the lateen sails and perhaps dismantled the masts he could row her in like a large row boat into the underdocks. So they promptly set off down a greased ladder and saw greasy footprints leading off into the hole in the side of one of two stone bunkers. Archer, Proteus and Lunjun went to talk to the various people who generally docked down here (mostly fishermen) and found out that any boat of that size would be more likely to be docked in the western Underdocks and if they spoke to the guards over there they could be directed to the right place.

Meanwhile, Lenny waited by the ladder and Lhye went over to follow the footprints but stopped before the entrance hole. He suggested Lenny go in there, which she did. Someone cast Flare in front of her, but neither she, Lhye, or Lunjun Siva (who was peering in as well) were blinded. Two 'Blurred' figures (who'd drunk Potions of Blur and Potions of Darkvision) shot arrows at her. She charged one and decapitated him despite the miss chance. Lhye shot an arrow and missed. A third enemy cast Obscuring Mist but Lenny managed to find the second archer when he came up to hit her - and she decapitated him in one hit as well. Lhye cast Detect Magic (Lunjun simply checked to identify the spells cast).

The caster successfully tumbled away from Lenny and through a small hole (Acrobatics check - rolled a natural 20) but Lenny grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her out. They threatened her and she confirmed that the galliot was moved every couple days and was likely in the western underdocks. She and her friends had fled the ship because of disturbing noises below decks. She didn't know anything about any Lacedon (or Lacy-whats-its, as she called them). They knocked her out and there the session ended.

I'm figuring they're avoiding the Lubor link because they don't want to get tangled up in the Consortium or risk Du Moire finding out. It just goes to show that adventure writers really don't think of everything because there are multiple avenues for looking for Du Moire and without literally hiding the ship the players could have so much as climbed a bell tower to see it (if they had a spyglass).

The encounter I ran was from the book (Katiya and the thugs) and I used the Tier 1 - 2 option but with the Tier 4 - 5 potions to boost them a little bit.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure Lhye still wants to 'abopt' that kid.