[Dread] Jenga beat up my dice! My results from the indie horror RPG.
Wednesday Boy
The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
Thanks for all of the insight, they were great pieces of advice all around! I actually put this idea on hold and decided to run one of the modules from the book instead since I've never played in a Dread game on either side of the tower. I was going to run it this weekend but it turned out that we bit off more games than the time we had to chew, so we never got around to it. Alas, I'll have to wait on Dread once again—more’s the pity.
Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
No problem, let us know how it goes when you have a chance to play.
My favorite moment in Dread is near the end of the game when I have the players separated and there are things stalking them from the darkness, darting in and out of sight while ambush attacks are made on the PCs. I usually never use one BBEG in Dread. Instead I use multiple "expendable" monsters, one of whom who the group might be able to catch and kill. . not that it'll do them much good.
I also like games where the players have to think their way to the solution, right at the same time that they're being harried. That puts massive pressure on the players and ensures that just knocking down the tower to kill a bad guy doesn't end the game with an anti-climax. In your previous example, if the PCs were trying to assassinate an important player, he has set it up so that killing him ruins their lives -- their credit ratings slashed, their loved ones killed, bombs going off throughout the city, whatever. The question ends up being "what's most important to you?", and the real struggle is between characters while the bad guy sits there and laughs. Very "Joker" from the last Batman movie.
Wednesday Boy
The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
After having Dread for years I finally got to play a game of it! Our normal campaign was put on hold because two players couldn't make it this week, so I was tapped to run Dread since I've been wanting to for a while.
I overwhelmingly prefer to play RPGs so this was the first one I've run since a one-shot in 2004 and before that was a short campaign in 1998. Needless to say I was very rusty as a GM but all in all it went pretty well. The general consensus of the players was that it was fun as a one-shot but couldn't see making a campaign out of it.
One of my favorite parts of running the game was integrating answers from the questionaires to tailor the adventure to get more pulls.
I think the most difficult part of it was having a good sense of the pacing, not only of the plot in general but of coordinating the climax of the plot with the precarious tower. I think I missed that mark a little because in the middle of the grand escape the tower toppled killing one player. But after it was rebuilt it was stable enough that there was no tension for the remaining two players as they escaped. It wasn't too bad because they only needed five or so pulls to escape but it seemed like the tower collapsed too early and drained the tension too much.
The biggest issue I ran into was purely a GMing fault by me. I ran the Beneath the Metal Sky adventure from the book and one player did an excellent job in flavoring the setting based on his questionaire answers. I was so elated at how closely he tied his character to the macguffin that I didn't expect that he would avoid all of the other clues to investigate. It muddled a bunch of the clue gathering and forced me to throw obvious "Don't go there." encounters to corral that character. But it was a good lesson to learn.
Despite the challenges and downfalls, I can't wait for my next Dread game!!
I overwhelmingly prefer to play RPGs so this was the first one I've run since a one-shot in 2004 and before that was a short campaign in 1998. Needless to say I was very rusty as a GM but all in all it went pretty well. The general consensus of the players was that it was fun as a one-shot but couldn't see making a campaign out of it.
One of my favorite parts of running the game was integrating answers from the questionaires to tailor the adventure to get more pulls.
I think the most difficult part of it was having a good sense of the pacing, not only of the plot in general but of coordinating the climax of the plot with the precarious tower. I think I missed that mark a little because in the middle of the grand escape the tower toppled killing one player. But after it was rebuilt it was stable enough that there was no tension for the remaining two players as they escaped. It wasn't too bad because they only needed five or so pulls to escape but it seemed like the tower collapsed too early and drained the tension too much.
The biggest issue I ran into was purely a GMing fault by me. I ran the Beneath the Metal Sky adventure from the book and one player did an excellent job in flavoring the setting based on his questionaire answers. I was so elated at how closely he tied his character to the macguffin that I didn't expect that he would avoid all of the other clues to investigate. It muddled a bunch of the clue gathering and forced me to throw obvious "Don't go there." encounters to corral that character. But it was a good lesson to learn.
Despite the challenges and downfalls, I can't wait for my next Dread game!!
Rel
Liquid Awesome
Not long ago I got to play Piratecat's "Separation Anxiety" game, which was easily the best Dread game I've ever played. It helped a lot that the group of players was one of the finest collection of gamers that I've ever sat in a room with.
But it had a few things built in that really just made it amazing and I think they are worth mentioning. I'll do this without giving any spoilers.
The basis for the game is that the characters are on a reality TV game show where they are trying to (presumably) fix their marriages. There were three sets of couples played by the players and another couple played by the GM.
It seems like a pretty basic setup but it's genius for a couple of key reasons. First, you already have a character in the game that you're deeply tied to because they are your spouse. This might mean that you love them or that you hate them or that you want to see them live or die, but regardless it ties you strongly to them.
The other thing is that I've seen some Dread games, especially those with new players, where it is very hard to break the "PCs are a party" mindset where you don't want to ever get in each other's way. This results in not taking too many pulls early unless faced with some obvious outside problem. But this game is a game show where you're competing directly with the other players. The pulls started happening early and often (one player knocked the tower down after what was essentially the first encounter!). This quickly ratchets up the tension for a death by the mid game, which is a good thing in Dread, IMHO.
Finally I loved one other tweak that Piratecat made to the rules, which was to allow one player, once per scene, rather than make a pull to instead sit in the "confessional". This was a separate chair that nobody else was occupying, intended to mimic the solo camera time often shown on reality TV shows. It was hilarious and interesting as a way to reveal more about your character to the players but not to their characters.
Dread is one of the few games that I really love which I've never GMed. I'm now considering doing so using this game or something similar.
But it had a few things built in that really just made it amazing and I think they are worth mentioning. I'll do this without giving any spoilers.
The basis for the game is that the characters are on a reality TV game show where they are trying to (presumably) fix their marriages. There were three sets of couples played by the players and another couple played by the GM.
It seems like a pretty basic setup but it's genius for a couple of key reasons. First, you already have a character in the game that you're deeply tied to because they are your spouse. This might mean that you love them or that you hate them or that you want to see them live or die, but regardless it ties you strongly to them.
The other thing is that I've seen some Dread games, especially those with new players, where it is very hard to break the "PCs are a party" mindset where you don't want to ever get in each other's way. This results in not taking too many pulls early unless faced with some obvious outside problem. But this game is a game show where you're competing directly with the other players. The pulls started happening early and often (one player knocked the tower down after what was essentially the first encounter!). This quickly ratchets up the tension for a death by the mid game, which is a good thing in Dread, IMHO.
Finally I loved one other tweak that Piratecat made to the rules, which was to allow one player, once per scene, rather than make a pull to instead sit in the "confessional". This was a separate chair that nobody else was occupying, intended to mimic the solo camera time often shown on reality TV shows. It was hilarious and interesting as a way to reveal more about your character to the players but not to their characters.
Dread is one of the few games that I really love which I've never GMed. I'm now considering doing so using this game or something similar.
Wednesday Boy
The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
For me, I think that's what's brilliant about Dread. Not that campaigns are bad, but dread is "horror". People die by the end. I think it lends itself ideally to a quick-start, one session game. Loads of fun
RedTonic
First Post
I do think it's possible to structure a campaign of sorts--but it would be very episodic, considering it's likely that none of the PCs will survive a given session.
I'm dying to run a Dread game after sitting in on one at the Boston gameday; I don't have a local group, but one day...! This just means I have time to sit on an idea.
I'm dying to run a Dread game after sitting in on one at the Boston gameday; I don't have a local group, but one day...! This just means I have time to sit on an idea.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
Oh absolutely. I just don't want to give any of that away because it is likely that PC will be running this at GenCon and possibly other future events.
Wednesday Boy
The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
Ah, I gotcha. Man, now I need to finagle some way to GenCon...
