Halloween memories

Here's a blast from the past: Halloween 2011 and the first time I ran Don't Rest Your Head...

For this year’s Halloween game I volunteered to run a game of Don’t Rest Your Head, an indie horror game from Evil Hat Productions with one of the most awesomely innovative systems I’ve seen in years. I’ve been wanting to play it since I first got my hands on a copy.

Since it was Halloween, I also did a themed meal. This year’s theme was The Core, as it was the most horrifying thing I could think of at the time. We had:

Birds that have splatted themselves against buildings due to forgetting they still had eyes after losing their magnetic direction sense, served on a bed of drill bits. (Spatchcock poussins with passata, with fusili pasta.)

Geodes (I made these out of chocolate - milk, lined with white, with the inside coated in purple sugar crystals.)

Baked apples (because the peach that gets flambeed in the film is actually an apple, and also because I had to core them, and everything’s better without The Core.)

(We were going to have flambeed peaches, but we were all full.)

Magma (Tesco not-from-concentrate fruit juices, with added red food dye.)

With the flattened birds out of the way, we got on with the game. It was set in Northampton. Well, mostly Northampton...


The Cast:
Kim Kinnison - brilliant software engineer, who’s just had his great idea stolen (Marc)
Colonel Kadari - Libyan colonel in hiding from the UN (Jon)
Clapping Joe - homeless guy (James)
Dave - ex-physicist, now trying to hide from the aliens who want to control his brain (Bob)
Annie - librarian with an imaginary friend (Natalie)


The television pictures were horrific. It was even more horrific for Colonel Kadari, watching the man who’d been his boss for so many years being dragged out and shot in the street. As the sound of the TV died down he heard a sound outside his hotel room. A newspaper. A newspaper that he hadn’t ordered. A newspaper with a photo of himself, tomorrow’s date, and a headline announcing that he’d been captured. And there was a paper outside every door.

A glimpse of white going through the fire escape door. He followed it out, and saw a child - or at least, a child made of newspaper - running up the fire escape towards the roof. A knife in one hand and a lighter in the other, he followed.

Dave knew he only needed the right equipment and he’d be OK. He had his tinfoil hat to keep the aliens out of his head, and so long as he didn’t sleep they couldn’t reprogram him. He’d had to leave though...leave where? That all seemed a bit confused now, but he’d found an underpass where he could rest for the night, with only one current resident.

Clapping Joe had had to do a lot of fighting to get this underpass for himself, and now he had company again. The new arrival was rambling something about aliens. And if that wasn’t bad enough, there were now police heading down into the underpass. Only...why were they dressed in American police uniforms?

Dave always knew the CIA would come for him in the end, and now here they were. He tried to run, but now there were police coming in the other end of the underpass as well. Why were they ticking? And more crucially, why did they have big clockwork winding keys sticking out of their backs.

The two of them made a run for it. They smashed past the clockwork policemen - but when they emerged from the underpass they weren’t outside the bus station like they expected. They were on top of a roof, where they could see an Arabic-looking man with a knife and a lighter chasing a child made of newspaper.

Annie tried to sleep at night, she really did, but how could anyone sleep with Betty talking away all night long? Of course she wasn’t perfect at work - everyone makes mistakes. But that huge rack of books collapsing was not in any way her fault and it was totally unfair to blame her. And even more unfair to fire her.

Kim was furious. How dare they steal his idea? He had it first, dammit, and sending round lawyers with accusations of patent infringement was just rubbing salt into the wound. There had to be something he could do. He daren’t search the internet - that would just get him into more trouble. Maybe the library where he borrowed his comics would have something about intellectual property?

The library was closing as he arrived, and he recognised one of the librarians on her way out. Maybe Annie could give him a hand? She always knew where to find the comics. But Annie wasn’t a librarian any longer.

Coffee. That would sort it all out. The two of them started along the road, but after a few steps they noticed something weird - a rosebush in one of the nearby flowerbeds had started climbing out of the earth.

As they started running, it might have occurred to them that there weren’t exactly a lot of flowerbeds in central Northampton, but that was fairly irrelevant compared with a mobile rosebush, especially one that, as Kim noticed when he looked back, had a skull on top.

They dived into the first coffee shop they came to, not one that Kim recognised (and that was pretty weird - he thought he knew them all). He ordered coffees for both of them, but when the barista turned on the espresso machine, what came out was red and glowing. It was as if someone had taken the phrase ‘hot lava java’ just a little too literally...

They ran for the door, but when they stepped outside they were no longer on the street with the rosebush. Now they were on a rooftop, where they could see a familiar looking beggar, a man in a tinfoil hat, and an arab with a knife and a lighter chasing a boy made of paper.

With the paper boy sliced, diced and incinerated, the five of them surveyed the view from the roof of the Park Inn. Northampton was looking bigger than any of them remembered. Why were there all those planes sticking into the roof of the guildhall, and wasn’t the castle demolished centuries ago?

This clearly called for a trip to the pub. They climbed down the fire escape, and found their way to The Castle, without passing anything particularly weird except for two people in suits of armour, having a fight outside the Chinese buffet.

Things were pretty mundane in the pub. Annie ordered two vodkas and cokes, while Kim went for a double Red Bull and Red Bull. They shared a little of their weird experiences so far. The TV was playing the news, showing Colonel Gaddafi’s death yet again, followed by an article on the computer genius Kim Kinnison’s great new invention - except that the man they showed in the article definitely wasn’t Kim. Then the door opened, and a white hand threw a newspaper inside.

Kadari picked it up quickly. It had tomorrow’s date on it, but no mention of him. Instead the top story was a librarian called Annie committing a brutal assault on people at the library. He took it to the barman, who’d never heard of this ‘Unlikely Chronicle’ newspaper and reckoned someone must be playing a joke.

Kim boasted that he didn’t need newspapers - his smartphone got the news to him instantly. At this point his phone went ping, and he brought it out to find a news story with tomorrow’s date saying how a schizophrenic with delusions of being Kim Kinnison had been taken into a mental hospital. Along with a picture of him.

Kadari wanted to know where the Unlikely Chronicle was printed and asked Kim to look it up on his phone. All the phone would tell him was ‘District 13’ and then the interface vanished, leaving nothing on the screen but a clock face.

Kim asked Dave to try phoning him on his own phone. Dave dialed the number, but instead of getting through, the phone started laughing at him. He carefully left the phone on the bar to ensure that it got stolen.

Kadari looked outside and saw more of the paper boys, leaving newspapers outside doorways. The others followed him out. After a brief encounter with a trick-or-treater who oozed syrup from every orifice and dissolved into syrup when Kadari tried to talk to it, they found a little girl crying.

She recognised them as the Awake, and despite shaking with fear at Kadari’s threats, she managed to tell them that people who don’t sleep end up in the mad city, that the paper boys’ stories tended to come true, and that they could stop it by collecting up all the newspapers. Oh, and they really didn’t want to go to District 13 because that’s where the police come from.

She was Awake because she couldn’t sleep without her teddy bear. Her parents had taken Mr Scruffy away, saying she was too old for teddy bears now. Annie reassured her that you’re never too old for a teddy bear, but Kadari was less sympathetic, throwing her a twenty pound note and telling her to buy a new bear and get over it.

They collected up the newspapers and set fire to them (Joe proved to be something of an expert at this). Kim borrowed Annie’s phone to try to erase the story about him from the internet. Mentally tiring work, trying to do this without the proper equipment, but he succeeded - although afterwards he felt a curious sensation of loss, as if he’d forgotten something.

The view from the Park Inn had been pretty good, but when it came to seeing the whole of Northampton, you couldn’t beat the Express Lift Tower, and that was their next port of call. There was a lift and a spiral staircase in the tower. Kim pressed the button to call the lift, but when it arrived, it had a mouth and was smiling at him. He joined the others who were taking the stairs.

From the lift tower roof they could see Northampton, looking so much bigger than they remembered. They could see District 13, an area with a grid layout behind the ancient castle. A ring road surrounded the city (while Northampton isn’t a city, this clearly was) with heavy traffic grinding its way around. The roof full of planes. Other unfamiliar sights.

They began their descent of the tower again, but then it struck them - there had been doors leading off the staircase. What on earth were they doing there?

They opened the first door, and found themselves only a couple of rooftops away from the crashed planes. This had to be worth investigating. Close up they could see an enormous variety of planes. Kadari spotted a Lear jet, but Dave was more interested in a B2 Spirit stealth bomber, due to its resemblance to a UFO.

Inside the Lear jet’s plush interior, several passengers were strapped into their seats. An announcement was playing over the tannoy. It said,

“We would like to apologize to passengers for the continuing delay to this flight. We are currently awaiting the loading of our complement of small lemon-soaked paper napkins for your comfort, refreshment and hygiene during the journey. Meanwhile we thank you for your patience. The cabin crew will shortly be serving coffee and biscuits.”

Kadari failed to get any of the passengers to move. When he unfastened one of the seatbelts it fastened itself again. They got out quick.

By contrast, the B2 was completely deserted, devoid of pilot, bombs, or anything else that might reasonably be expected to be found in a military aircraft.

The Hurricane did have a pilot, albeit a skeletal one. Kadari nicked his service revolver, which was still in good working order.

A door on the roof appeared to lead down into the guildhall, but instead it opened onto a tunnel. A little way in was a signpost pointing further down, saying ‘To the Wax King’. They decided to follow it. Further down the tunnel widened out, and others branched off. From time to time they passed people, their features obscured by a coating of wax. Kadari tried to pull the wax off one of them, but he seemed to be wax all the way down.

The final part of their journey was accompanied by two people in medieval costume, each with candles burning in their empty eye sockets. Everything was waxy down here, including the wax king himself.

The wax king offered them a deal. Most of the Awake didn’t last long in the Mad City, but he could offer them a degree of protection. Somewhere to live within his kingdom. In return he needed their help. There was more than one king in the Mad City, and on Halloween night the Pump King was the most powerful entity around. He was likely to launch an attack on the Kingdom of Wax unless he was stopped first. And he would most likely attack at 13 o’clock.

He gave them each a wax coin, which might help them out somewhere, and a train ticket. The candle-eyed people led them down to the station, where they found a narrow gauge railway. A train drew up. The engine looked like a miniature steam engine with a screaming face on the front. They checked for a name. Apparently this train was called Paraffin. They climbed onto the seat it was towing, and shortly afterwards drew up at Castle Station, where they found themselves briefly back in the City Slumbering and the real railway station.

The castle walls were patrolled by armoured guards, and a huge iron gate barred the entrance. Annie tried to get her friend Betty to go in and open it for them, but she couldn’t get past the locks. Then Kim started to think - if he could hack into a complicated security system, surely he could get past this relatively simple security system...

They slipped through the gates and found themselves in the outer bailey, which was milling with flaming skeletons. Sneaking past seemed like a better option than trying to fight all of them. They got past without attracting attention - but at the last minute, Kadari had a moment of panic and ended up beating two of the bone fires into flaming pieces. Meanwhile, Annie had run away, through a doorway which lead to a rose garden. She ran straight back out again.

Unfortunately, the rose garden seemed to be the only route into the castle. They all entered together, and several skulls popped up and turned towards them.

Dave came up with a plan, and pulled out one of the regular rose bushes. He tried to use it as a disguise, but unfortunately the dead heads saw through it and one of them brought out its arms, each ending in a pair of secateurs, and started to snip bits off him.

Perhaps, Kim thought, if he ran fast enough they wouldn’t be able to see him. A mad idea, but it worked - he got past the bushes with only a few scratches. Annie took a more considered approach. The garden had been laid out as a knot garden - rather maze-like, and wasn’t there always a proper path through a maze? She walked the proper path, and the dead heads left her alone.

With everyone across (if shedding various amounts of blood) they headed inside the keep and found a large dining room. People were sitting silently and rigidly in the dining chairs, while all around them, little children in witch costumes circled, leaving sticky trails behind them. As the group entered, several of them turned to the door and started to head towards them, calling out in high pitched voices, “Trickle treat! Trickle treat!”

Dave threw the coin he’d got from the wax king to one of them. It put it in its mouth, and then let out a childish wail and slithered off into the corner. Another was distracted by a USB key. Kadari managed to create a diversion by throwing a bunch of twenties into the air, although not without getting smeared in the oozing syrup.

Away from the snail-like creatures, they climbed another staircase into a kitchen filled with the most stereotypical, white hat wearing, floury armed cooks they had ever seen. They paid the group no attention, beyond one of them pointing upwards when asked where the Pump King was.

Upstairs again, and at last the throne room - guarded by two more armoured guards, holding halberds. Kadari shot them both in the face. The bullets bounced straight off. The guards raised their visors to reveal empty blackness inside, and the room started to get darker.

Dave went for his bag of electrical stuff, borrowed Kadari’s knife, and after a few cuts and burns, rigged up an electric knife. Kadari went to stab each guard in the armpit. While there didn’t seem to be anything in their armpits, the electrical current did lock up both guards and they were able to get through the door.

The Pump King had the physique of a body builder, ghastly orange fake tan and all - except he was made entirely out of pumpkins. His head had a carved mouth and eyes, and fire burning inside.

Kadari tried the ‘shoot it in the face’ option again, but this was no more effective on the Pump King than it was on the guards. The others laid into him with various weapons, but this served only to tire them. Annie took a moment to think though - what could they use to hurt a pumpkin? She remembered reading that ice cream scoops were really good for hollowing out pumpkins - and wouldn’t they have some in the kitchen downstairs?

The Pump King breathed out a huge cloud of flame, singeing everyone still in the room, but moments later Annie was back with enough ice cream scoops for everyone (including Betty). Newly armed, together they were able to defeat the creature - but at the last moment, exhaustion took its toll on Kadari and he fell asleep.

Carrying both Kadari and the pumpkin head, they made their way back to the guildhall and the Wax King, who was happy to make good on his offer of a safe place to stay. As for Kadari...well, if they could guard him from the nightmares for the next 24 hours, he might survive. Or they could turn him over to the Wax King, who would keep him quite safe, he assured them. Nobody thought anything of the traces of sticky syrup still clinging to him...


So as of the end of the game, it seems that most of the characters got what they needed...
Joe has got somewhere safe and warm to live (safer and warmer than the underpass, anyway), at least for the moment.
Without his phone, computer or anything else electronic, Kim will be forced to stop pushing himself for a little while and get the rest he needs.
Dave is out of reach of the aliens in the Kingdom of Wax, and can relax for a while. Perhaps he can even recover his lost memory.
Annie finally has some friends who are prepared to acknowledge the presence of Betty.
And Kadari - well, as a man wanted for crimes against humanity, perhaps he got what he deserved.


Some notes on the nightmares:

Dead Heads arose (ha!) from thinking about skulls and a memory of my mum dead-heading roses with secateurs. What if the roses dead-headed you?

Bone Fires were based on the word ‘bonfire’. I went looking for Halloween-related words, and while we have bonfires a few days later it was too good not to use. The bone fires are actually the remains of locals burned up by the Pump King while rampaging through the Mad City on his descent to madness.

Trickle Treats were based on a mis-hearing of the words ‘trick or treat’ when I was a child. What would a trick-or-treater trickle? Sugar, of course. So I imagined small fat children - or at least something that looked kind of like them - that oozed syrup from every orifice, leaving a sticky trail behind them. They’re nasty little things and you really don’t want their syrup on you. Marc immediately recognised them as an embodiment of the disgust I feel for the trails of crumbs, chocolate and unidentifiable stickiness that children leave behind them, something I hadn’t even realised myself. All that from a mis-hearing.

Nights were inspired by the TV show Neverwhere, in which our hero has to cross Knightsbridge - which is a bridge with...well, he asks if it’s the type in armour, but no, it’s the kind that comes at the edge of the day. Empty suits of armour are a ghost story staple and having night pour out of their visors just adds to the creepiness.

The Pump King
I needed an end boss type character, and some kind of pumpkin-based nightmare seemed to fit the bill. I went with the obvious pun, and then the word ‘pump’ suggested ‘pumping iron’. Of course, body-builders all cover themselves in fake tan, so they tend to be a bit orange already... The idea of a man made of pumpkins partially stems (ha!) from the very first nightmare I can remember having, about a woman made of poisonous potatoes who was replacing my mum. The fact I can still remember it, something like twenty-five years later, should tell you just how much of an impression it made on me.


Final thoughts
It seems to me that one characteristic that DRYH characters need at least a little bit of is kindness. My plot hinged around the little girl with the missing teddy bear. I think the others would have shown her some sympathy, if Kadari hadn’t dismissed her with money, and from then on things would have gone very differently. In future I’ll know not to approve a character who comes across as an unrepentant thug. (A repentant thug would be a different matter, of course.) On the plus side, should we ever continue the game, the little girl is still out there somewhere...

One thing that made me particularly happy is that by thinking her way through the obstacles, Annie managed to avoid a lot of the damage the others took and provide the way to defeat the Pump King. Also, the rapid realisation that Clapping Joe was the sanest member of the party.

This is a game well suited to small groups. Having as many as five players was challenging. The ‘what’s your path?’ question seemed to cause the most difficulties, with only Kim’s answer really giving me much to work with. I think the answer is smaller groups, with more time to discuss each character before beginning play. One to three is probably an ideal number.

Coming back to the rules afterwards I realised that I should have been inflicting responses or exhaustion on the characters each time they failed to beat a GM roll. I also forgot that I could spend more than one despair coin at a time. Had I remembered all this, things would have been much tougher for the characters as they threw themselves at the insurmountable might of the Pump King in his castle on Halloween Night. I’ll get it right next time.

I had an idea for a longer term game, involving changing GMs. Since the insanity/exhaustion spiral tends to make characters plummet towards disaster quite rapidly, my idea is that each time a character crashes/succumbs/otherwise leaves the Mad City, the player takes over as GM (this will also allow them to play their own nightmare in the event of succumbing) and the old GM gets to join in as a player. I don’t know how well it would work, but I think it might be worth trying out some time.

Tough as this game was to run, I’d love to do it again - although definitely with a smaller group. The character sheet makes for imaginative characters, the dice mechanics are bizarre but extremely effective, and the setting is a weird and wonderful delight.