Wicker Valley, episode 4: Save Our Swamp

Adam had taken a beating from the mewlips so he took George and the professor to the hospital while the rest of us went back to the Wicker Stop for a cup of tea and to get cleaned up. And then it was morning and time to start baking again.

The sisters were back, talking about a construction site on the edge of town. It's been abandoned since I got here, but things were starting up again. Apparently there were some protests against it, and Robin went to take a look. I finished my shift at the Wicker Stop, then went home for a shower and a nap. Michael said he was going to play video games, so I joined him for a bit and then finally got a decent night's sleep.

Next morning, trouble was back. Someone had died at the construction site, and that was after one of their digging machines completely sinking into the ground. Robin said it seemed to be what Adam would call Weird Bollocks. Plus there were two girls that he recognised from the protests who'd dropped by the Wicker Stop that morning and had a weird conversation. I didn't catch much of it - I think my aura put them off talking around me - but there seemed to be some connection with that morning's death.

Robin paid another visit to the site, and confirmed there was definitely something weird about the death, and also abnormal amounts of moss. It was another of those things we were going to have to investigate, lest the vicar start blaming it all on demons again. I thought moss demons seemed pretty unlikely. Although...hold that thought.

Michael wanted to visit the library and this time Robin and me went with him. Mrs Longbottom the librarian seemed very nice, and got me some books on local folklore which I'm rapidly realising is essential reading for someone in my position. She was able to fill us all in on some local details. The construction site was abandoned years ago after a lot of accidents and equipment damage made it financially unviable, but there were also protests about building on the swamp at the time. One of the protesters was the mother of one of the current protesters, Gillian. She died a couple of years ago, and it sounded like Gillian was trying to continue her legacy.

One person who never got mentioned was Gillian's dad. At this point I wasn't ruling out the possibility that he was some kind of swamp monster. I read a comic once where there was a swamp monster who had a romantic entanglement with a human woman, but unfortunately ended up having to leave town before I found out any more. The others seemed to think that was just a thing in a comic though. We couldn't find anything about it in the folklore books.

One thing we did learn from Mrs Longbottom was that Gillian's mum had a large collection of books on folklore and the occult, more even than the library, and we decided that might be worth a look. Michael couldn't get hold of Gillian's exact address but did find out what street she lived on.

I got on the back of Robin's motorbike and Michael started pedaling. He still managed to get there before us somehow, just in time to spot the car belonging to Gillian's friend leaving one of the houses. Michael followed her, while Robin and me took a look at the house.

It was a three storey building with one of those half basement things at the bottom, split in two. Gillian's home was the upper two floors. We took the stairs up to the front door, looked through the window and saw Gillian lying asleep on a sofa. A perfect opportunity to look around undetected. We went around the back.

The basement flat looked a bit odd. Unoccupied, but not entirely unused. It felt off, so we went in. Which is to say, Robin picked the lock but we ended up cracking the class in the patio door in the process. Not great for the whole undetected thing. But we were in.

Most of the furniture was covered in dust sheets, but the dining table was covered in paperwork. We looked through it, finding yet more folklore stuff - and then I saw something that made me reconsider the whole moss demons thing. Arcane texts. Spells. A summoning circle. The kind of thing you recognise when you grow up demonic.

We checked the master bedroom to see if anyone had been sleeping here. The bed was still under dust covers, but we did find a bookshelf. Books on folklore, will-o'th-wisp, sprites, runes...and three spaces in the dust where books had obviously been removed. It was all adding up to one thing. Trouble.

Then we heard the sound of Gillian starting to move around upstairs. Time to be elsewhere. We quickly took photos of what we'd found and legged it out of there. We'd left it a bit late, and I realised the only way I was getting away without Gillian spotting me was to go up. Which means Robin has now seen my wings. And Gillian has seen the back of his head, as he tripped over something while looking at me and didn't quite get out before she came outside. I might have some explaining to do.

Wicker Valley, episode 3: Definitely Not Demons

Obviously we needed to get out of the woods. I was fine up in the trees, but Adam managed to end up back in the mud. He was out of water to wash it off so he improvised, while I looked the other way. He eventually made it out, with his trousers intact and in the proper place and we headed back to the cafe.

My phone damn near exploded when we got back into signal range. I gave up counting how many texts Michael had sent after the first twenty or so, and just sent one back saying 'I'm fine.' So at least he wouldn't have to wait until we met up again to stop worrying.

Back at the cafe, Adam was calling his friend Robin for backup. I didn't really know Robin, but if Adam thought he'd be useful, I was all for having an extra person along, especially someone who was going to be able to deal with Weird Bollocks. We had another problem to deal with though when the vicar showed up. Seems he'd been out with the search parties and saw another local, George, getting dragged away by what he insisted was a demon.

I tried to get more details. The last thing we needed right now was any of my family showing up. But what he described sounded a lot more like a goblin to me, and I tried to convince him of that. But he wouldn't believe me, because according to him, goblins aren't real.

Anyway, once Ranger Tom had been radioed to get all his people out of the woods, we managed to get rid of the vicar, and along with Robin we came up with a plan. Michael had done his job at the library and was able to tell us we were dealing with things called mewlips, that they showed up every fifty years to kidnap people for a feast, and that they lived in underground cellars. Which meant that light was going to be our friend here.

I went shopping for head torches, camping lanterns and glow sticks. Adam put together some special fairy dust shotgun shells and brought along a few road flares. He was all for waiting until the next morning rather than heading out in the dark, but I disagreed. We'd just bought all these lights, and we were going to be going underground anyway, and at this point it looked like there was a chance we might actually be able to rescue someone alive, so we needed to get on with it.

Michael got a bit waylaid. The vicar was planning a special church service, so he had to go along to make sure he didn't end up causing a panic. The last thing I need is people freaking out about demons in Wicker Valley. Bad enough that I'd have to move on again, but it would probably be bad for Michael as well, given that everyone knows we're friends. Anyway, at his suggestion we left a trail of fishing line hung with glow sticks so he'd be able to catch up once he'd spoken to the vicar.

The obvious trap path appeared almost as soon as we entered the woods and we made our way in. I didn't want to start flashing my unusual features in front of Robin straight away as I didn't know how much Adam had told him, so I stayed on the path. Which was a mistake; I don't know where my mind was but it only took one wrong step and I was knee deep in mud. I could feel it clinging on to me, and despite my efforts to wash it off I was too far in. Clawed fingers were already started to wrap around my feet. I told the others I'd see them on the other side and let myself be pulled under.

Adam and Robin made for the doorway of the ruin instead, trying to avoid the puddle of mud. Adam made it. Robin didn't. I just caught the sound of Michael's voice in the distance before I was pulled under.

I wasn't expecting the drop, and I dropped the road flare as I fell the short distance to the ground. Luckily I had the head torch, and I got a brief glimpse of the green skinned creatures with their red eyes before they went scuttling away. I looked up in case Robin was about to drop down beside me. No sign of him. I lit the road flare, marked the ground where I'd landed, and started searching.

It wasn't long before I found something. Another of the creatures coming towards me at a T junction, dragging something - or someone. I turned off the lamp and concealed the flare, waited for it to pass me, and followed.

The someone turned out to be Robin, entirely failing to get out of the rope he'd been tied up with. He told me he had a knife on him, but by then I was already using my claws to cut the ropes. Then I realised he hadn't seen the claws before. I assured him I wasn't a werewolf - usually the first assumption for people who haven't seen the rest, especially after that Wednesday show - and carried on. Professor Ross was physically fine despite the understandable terror, but George was in a bad way. Robin got him on his feet and we started searching for the others.

It wasn't long before I heard Adam shouting my name, and once me and Robin figured out which way the voice was coming from, not long before we caught up with him and Michael. Michael was wearing some massive cross, and I found myself recoiling from it. Again, not a good look in front of the new guy.

We knew there was a way out now, as it was where Adam and Michael came in. Getting back to it though, in this maze of shifting passages with only mortal sense to rely on...hah. They were messing with the wrong demon. And they continued trying to mess with us, when three of them dropped down to block our exit.

Adam put one of his fairy dust shells into one of them and took a swipe from its claws in return. I drove my claws into its neck, driving the fairy dust further in. I heard the thunder of Robin's shotgun and the sound of Michael's cricket bat. One tried to flee but Robin made short work of it as I tore my way through their leader.

And then we were out, free, and heading back to town with our rescuees. Ranger Tom can take it from here. I just hope nobody talks to the vicar about what happened down there.

Wicker Valley, episode 2: A Walk in the Woods

It started off like any other day, with the usual customers. Those two sisters who can never remember whether they ordered scones or croissants were on fine form. Some old guy up from Oxford had apparently got lost in the woods. At least sharing that kept them happy while Michael tried to figure out what to serve them. The park ranger dropped by too. He gave me that look again. I can't tell if he wants to be friends or if it's something about that unnerving aura I project. Anyway, so far so normal. And then it got weird.

There were two of them. Student age, brother and sister, I think, and in a bad way. Adam brought them in, helping the guy to walk, and took him into the basket room to try some first aid. I put my head in to see if he needed help, and saw him scraping mud off the guy's leg - and then suddenly stop because there wasn't any skin underneath. I fetched the clingfilm.

Michael had spotted something else. The two of them had come down a path out of the forest, but not one of the usual paths. One that, in fact, did not exist and disappeared after they left it.

We called the ranger back. He took a look at the guy's leg, then ran out the back to throw up. Sometimes I forget I have slightly different standards of grossness than some people. Anyway, once he'd got himself together he started talking about search parties, so we volunteered. There was clearly what Adam insists on referring to as Weird Bollocks going on. Also they were going to need packed lunches. Just cheese in the sandwiches though. No roast beef.

Michael had got hold of some other thread though. Something about the missing man's interest in Tolkien. He wanted to go to the library to follow something up, and honestly, if one of us was going to miss out on a trip into potential horrible danger, it made sense for it to be him.

So Adam and me went out with one of the search groups, and it wasn't long before we started spotting paths that weren't on the map. Inviting looking paths trying to lure us away from the main track and into...well, an obvious trap. So I sent a message to Michael telling him where we were and where we were going, and the two of us walked into the obvious trap.

I say walked. That guy's mud covered leg made me a bit cautious of the ground, so as soon as we were out of sight of the normals I popped the wings and took to the trees. Flying up above the treeline there wasn't any path to be seen. I dropped back down into the canopy so Adam and me could keep eyes on each other. No surprise we didn't have GPS signal here. And then we found it. An old ruined building, with a ringing bell in the doorway. And the ground around it rapidly getting softer.

Adam jumped onto a large rock, just in time as we could see his relatively new hiking boots looking severely aged where the mud had touched them. It wasn't looking good for our missing man. We just had to hope Michael had found something useful at the library.

Wicker Valley, episode 1: Scarlet

I've just started playing in a Monster of the Week campaign at the Milton Keynes RPG club. In addition to my Monstrous character we have a Mundane and an Expert. A fourth character should join us next week, but for now...

My name is Scarlet Mason, and I was brought into this world to wreak havoc and destruction. Sounds melodramatic but it's literally true. Other kids get acne and BO. I got claws and bat wings. Other kids have to deal with their parents bugging them about passing exams and getting a part time job. Mine kept complaining that I wasn't committing enough acts of random violence and cruelty. Eventually I'd had enough. I wanted to be more than the monster I was born to be.

I set out on my own at eighteen to try to live a normal life. I'd got the hang of hiding the wings and claws when they weren't in use, and so long as I stayed away from churches I was managing to stay under the radar. Or so I thought. Word gets around in occult circles, it turns out. Someone let slip that there was a hellspawn living in Brighton and suddenly I needed to be elsewhere very fast.

I've moved a couple more times since then when trouble started catching up with me again. Eventually I fetched up in some small corner of the Lake District called Wicker Valley. There was a job opening, and after a frantic week spent baking scones and watching YouTube videos on basket weaving, I got the job. I had a new friend in my coworker Michael, and for a short while I thought I might actually get a normal life.

Trouble still found me. And by trouble I mean my own kind, who aren't too happy about my lifestyle choices. My own brother Rusty showed up in the shop one day. I found him on the point of tearing Michael to shreds, and by the time I managed to send Rusty on his way, Michael was very much aware of my more unusual features. Thankfully I didn't have to explain why I'd let Rusty go. Even when you're an unholy abomination it's hard to turn on your own brother.

Michael started acting differently around me after that. At first I was worried I'd scared him, but I think it might be the opposite. I'm not sure that's healthy, given what I am, but it's still kind of sweet.

There was almost some trouble with a professional monster hunter as well. Both of us showed up to the same fight, and there was some initial confusion about who was fighting who. One thing lead to another and I found myself face to face with Adam with a knife at my throat. I don't know what it was he saw in my eyes that made him change his mind, but we're both glad he did. I managed to pick him up a bit of magical warding for his van as a thankyou.

Those incidents made me realise that I wasn't doing enough. I couldn't just hide from what I am. If I wanted to be more than the monster, I was going to have to work at it. Actually get out there and help people. It's scary, but I've got Michael and Adam to keep me on the straight and narrow. And Wicker Valley? It just keeps on delivering.

First Time Playing: The Between

The Between is a game I picked up a while ago but only recently got the chance to play. It's a PBTA game like its predecessor, Brindlewood Bay, and uses the same Carved From Brindlewood mystery system. As a big fan of said mystery system I was keen to see how it ported over to this game.

The intro page explains that the game is directly inspired by the TV show Penny Dreadful, with some minor nods to other works. I initially thought it might be a game where you could play an adventure akin to Dracula, but no. When you get to the playbooks it becomes clear that this is Penny Dreadful, the RPG, as each one maps directly onto one of the main characters. If you're looking for a more generic gothic horror game, this isn't it.

Fortunately it's not necessary to be a Penny Dreadful fan to play the game. While the GM was a huge fan, the players were a mixed group. I'd watched some of it but not the whole thing, while some hadn't watched it at all. The Penny Dreadful characters are for the most part public domain characters, and the playbooks make it pretty clear who it is you're playing. While Brindlewood Bay's requirement that the PCs are all part of a book club and fans of the same book felt overly restrictive to me (what if you want to be a gardening club, or members of the WI?) the idea here that we were all monster hunters and residents of Hargrave House made total sense and didn't require any show knowledge to understand.

I picked the Vessel, (Vanessa Ives), while the other players went for the Mother (Victor Frankenstein), the Undeniable (Dorian Gray) and the American (Ethan Chandler (actually Lawrence Talbot)).

Like most PBTA games we kicked off with assigning stats and special moves, deciding what we looked like, and choosing names. Then there were the Personal Quarters. We went around each character in turn, and every player described an item that was in that characters's bedroom in Hargrave House. This was both interesting and frustrating. Interesting, because it provided a bit of insight into each character's personality. Frustrating, because these are all things that go on your character sheet and can supposedly be used in the game - except that none of them actually were, because they were in our rooms, and the mystery we were investigating was not in our rooms. Not a single item got so much as a mention after that point.

"...anything from the Personal Quarters that might reasonably be on a hunter’s person in a scene, is."

But as instructed by the game, we were all thinking of things that might be in someone's bedroom, not something they might be carrying around with them. One item we had in the Mother's room was a tank full of living flesh, which was not exactly something portable. And that was something from an AP chosen by the game designer himself.

Obviously this is an easy fix if you're running the game. Instead of personal quarters, frame it as items the PCs might happen to have with them. Then you've got a more freeform version of the equipment lists used by Blades in the Dark, and the items might actually get used.

On to the actual game. The Between has a strict play structure. If you're familiar with Blades in the Dark then you'll remember how it alternates between missions and downtime. This initially appears to be a rather more extreme version, with the four phases being Dawn, Day, Dusk and Night. It's not actually as complicated as it sounds though, as Dawn is just an upkeep phase, and Dusk is pretty much deciding what's going to happen in the Night phase.

The Day phase was all about investigating the mystery, or Threat as the game calls them. We played Sally No-Face, one of the included Threats, about a serial killer who removes people's faces with surgical precision. We went hunting for clues at the morgue and the scene of the most recent murder. We found horrible things, encountered troublesome NPCs, and generally had the kind of spooky fun I was hoping for.

...With one caveat: the Janus masks.

In Monster of the Week each character has a number of luck points. You can spend luck to improve a dice roll. You have a limited number of these, and very few options for regaining them, and running out means trouble. What's more, in the version we're playing, most playbooks have some kind of negative consequence for using luck. It's a mechanic I like a lot.

In The Between, spending a luck point is called 'invoking the Janus Mask.' Mechanically, they're fine. You have a set number available on your playbook, and each time you spend one you have to narrate something from your past. This is a great fit for the TV show theme, as character backstories are typically something you experience as a series of flashbacks at critical moments.

No, my issue (beyond the ridiculous name) is that the GM is supposed to narrate the bad outcome of the roll, even if they know that the player wants to use a mask to negate it. Why? Fortunately the book has an answer.

"Answer: because it’s fun! The Janus Mask lets us glimpse different timelines, play them out, feel them, experience the anguish and terror, and then… do something different."

Only it wasn't fun. There was no anguish and terror because we already knew it wasn't going to happen. All I felt was that we were wasting time and the GM's creativity, putting work into something that was going to be immediately retconned.

Again, this is an easy fix if you're running the game. Our GM rapidly quit bothering with the additional narration. Screw the rules; if it's as un-fun for you as it was for us, don't do it.

But back to the Threat. Like in Brindlewood Bay, the scenario provides a list of somewhat abstract clues that can be found when the characters are successful in their search for information. This is where the game really shines. It was creepy and atmospheric, and lead to some fantastic emotional scenes between characters as they had to deal with the conditions picked up over the course of the investigation. At last we'd collected enough clues to gather back at Hargrave House and discuss our findings, and work out what to do next.

What the game isn't clear about is when this is supposed to take place. Our group came up with our theory at the end of the Day phase, and then spent the Night phase dealing with the threat. This worked well, but with an otherwise rigidly laid out play structure, it's a bit odd that this doesn't seem to have any specific timing.

Something new in The Between's mystery system is that the complexity (and therefore the difficulty of the Answer A Question move) can vary depending on which question you want to answer. In theory I like the idea. In practice, it didn't go so well. Here's the questions for the Sally No Face threat:

WHERE IS THE KILLER HIDING? (Complexity: 4)
Resolve the Threat by infiltrating the killer’s lair, then capturing or
destroying them.

HOW IS THE KILLER CHOOSING THEIR VICTIMS? (Complexity: 6)
Resolve the Threat by luring the killer to you, then capturing or
destroying them.

WHAT IS THE TRUE IDENTITY OF THE KILLER, AND WHAT DROVE THEM TO THIS MADNESS? (Complexity: 8)
Resolve the Threat by empathizing with the killer, then bringing them in
peacefully.

And this became a problem. Because we were all the kind of players who want proper answers. We didn't just want to find the killer, we wanted to understand them! So obviously we were going for the third question. Except having answered that question successfully, we were now expected to empathise with the killer and bring them in peacefully. And there was not a lot of enthusiasm for that. We understood their motivations, but they were also a serial killer going round London cutting people's faces off. We wanted to take them down! And being told we weren't supposed to, just because we wanted to properly understand things, was bloody irritating.

If you've read this far you'll probably already have guessed that we did in fact end up taking them down when our efforts to bring them in peacefully failed due to a) them being a derranged serial killer, b) bad dice rolls, and c) not all of us actually wanting to do that.

There was a brief and somewhat unwelcome interruption to the dramatic finale in the form of the Unscene. This is a scene that takes place somewhere else in London while the Night phase is happening, and has absolutely nothing to do with the PCs, the threat, Hargrave House or anything else from the actual game. It consists of a series of prompts where the players take it in turn at intervals during the night phase to read out a prompt and then do what it says, usually narrating a scene.

The purpose of this is to provide a cinematic play experience and show parts of London's seedy underbelly. What it actually did for me, as the first player to get picked, was suddenly drag me away from the fun game I was having playing my Vanessa expy and shove me into something entirely unrelated. Doubtless someone finds this fun. I found it frustrating and tedious.

Another easy fix. If you also find the Unscene to be an unnecessary interruption to the game you were trying to play, throw it out. Our GM didn't ask any further prompts after mine.

So that's my experience of playing The Between for the first time. Incredibly atmospheric, innovatively designed, full of the kind of gothic horror I've loved since I was old enough to read Dracula, but at the same time extremely restrictive in what characters you can play and how the story unfolds, and hindered by weird design choices that kept pulling me out of the atmosphere and story.

It's something I'd consider playing again, because when the game wasn't getting in the way of its own fun it was genuinely excellent. And I'd consider running it, but only with all the changes I've described above. And probably after I get round to watching the rest of Penny Dreadful.

Seven Hills 2023

My first time at Seven Hills! The theme was Change, which seemed appropriate given how much has changed since there was last an in-person Seven Hills convention.

Game 1: The Gentle Ladies' Tea & Monstrosity Destroying & Quilting Circle Auxiliary

So obviously I signed up for this scenario, entitled 'A Fete Worse Than Death', based almost entirely on the name of the game.

We were genteel ladies in Worcestershire in 1919, trying to ensure our village fete was a successs, facing various challenges along the way. We started off with such mundane horrors as someone trying to pass off a shop bought cake as home made, and rapidly escalated until we were fending off all manner of eldritch threats armed only with parasols, brooms and teapots.

This had a bit more of a board game feel to it than most RPGs, being fairly structured with each of us taking it in turn to face a new threat. We described how we approached the threat, rolled dice to see how well we did, and continued to do so until either the threat was dealt with, we were 'fudged' by a critical failure, or lost enough gentility points from failed rolls that we fainted. In the latter two cases, another lady could step in to assist. On two occasions we all failed so much that all three of us fainted and we were subjected to the ultimate horror: being rescued by a man.

This is the kind of game that's perfect for a casual one-shot. If you like coming up with creative ways to fend off abominations while maintaining respectability, give this one a shot. The main hinderance is actually finding a copy. After much searching I've found it for sale although the preview appears to be the entire document.

Game 2: Liminal

A rare opportunity to play my favourite game. Our team was called in by P Division to investigate a bizarre death at a stamp collecting shop in Manchester. A fun set of pre-gen characters and a thoroughly weird mystery that we had a great time unravelling. The GM was someone who's previously played in my games, and it was great to be on the other side of the table.

Game 3: Kult

I've been looking forward to the first in-person outing for my new scenario, Disco Inferno. I requested one of the cells at the Garrison hotels for this one, partly because I like them as a gaming space but mostly so I would be able to deploy my soundtrack and disco lights without annoying anyone else.

When printing the character sheets I'd managed to forget to include the relations section, so decided to freeform that a bit, just letting people pick a numerical value. That worked fine, but I'll need to remember to include that section next time as it does add something. Fortunately two players picked disadvantages that lead to a strong NPC relationship, which gave me something to incorporate into the story.

I'm very happy with how this went, except for one small error at the end. I got to the end of my prepared plot in the 3 hours I anticipated, but the players were so enthusiastic and didn't want to let it go! I should have been clearer about wrapping things up there as that would have made for a tighter ending. All the same, what we actually got was still OK. And credit to the players for thoroughly embracing their characters and the spirit of disco.

Game 4: Root

A PBTA game of adorable woodland animals, based on a popular board game. I'd been looking forward to trying this out, and with two sessions on the schedule I knew I had a good chance of getting in with my GM pick.

In the end though, despite a fun setting, solid rules, an interesting scenario, good GM and enthusiastic players, this one just didn't land for me. Maybe I just don't want to be an adorable woodland animal all that much. And this is why I like convention one-shots - a chance to try something out before I buy it.

Game 5: Liminal

Given how tired I was by slot 5 at Revelation, I decided the best way to keep myself going to the end was to run the one game I can always count on invigorating me: Liminal. I ran The Haunted Hospital, one of the set of adventures I've written set in and around Northampton, and created a whole new set of pre-gen characters. I used the convention theme of Change to create a new P Division team who'd all recently had a major upheaval in their life which lead them to their current job. I also sprinkled in a few new limitations that don't appear in the core book.

I wasn't sure exactly how this would go as it was my first time running it as a one-shot (it's previously only appeared as part of my Northampton campaign) but timing and balance all worked out well. This will join my convention staples for the year.

Reflections

I was supposed to indicate when registering if I was new to Seven Hills. I wasn't sure if having attended the virtual one in 2021 counted. But now I can definitively state I am not new to Seven Hills. I really like having the convention theme to guide my thoughts when deciding what to run, and I'm looking forward to future events and seeing what inspiration strikes.

Roll on North Star!