[Dread] Jenga beat up my dice! My results from the indie horror RPG.

[UselessTriviaMan]

It was friggin' awesome. I ran two playtests for our upcoming convention over the weekend, and Dread went absolutely beautifully. My players were all veteran gamers (and some were veteran horror gamers), and everybody had a blast.

(I can't go into scenario details yet, but eventually I'll fill y'all in on the secrets.)

Things I learned:

1. Props are SO useful, especially for convention one-shot games. They really assist with the immersion if done right.

2. The Tower can turn jaded horror movie buffs into squeamishly terrified children. Seriously, one gamer curled herself into a ball as soon as there was the slightest wobble.

3. Be VERY clear about when players need to pull. The only hitch in the game was when a player intentionally knocked the tower over because he thought an NPC needed to pull; he wanted to pull for the NPC and intentionally fail so she'd die. He did it too quickly for me to stop him in time, but after explaining the actual rule we gave him a mulligan. (Although we did make him restart the tower afterwards.)

4. Players need hope. Don't take everything away from them. Or, at least don't take everything away too early in the game.


Thank you all for sharing the fantastic advice, tips and information about how to run a successful Dread game. I'm gonna be using this system for many, many years.

 

[Eunomiac]

I love getting that "someone just responded to the Dread thread" email---this is my favorite tabletop game bar none.

Has anyone recorded video of a Dread game? It's one of those things people need to see to fully appreciate, and I'd love it if there were a YouTube link I could point them to.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

3. Be VERY clear about when players need to pull. The only hitch in the game was when a player intentionally knocked the tower over because he thought an NPC needed to pull; he wanted to pull for the NPC and intentionally fail so she'd die. He did it too quickly for me to stop him in time, but after explaining the actual rule we gave him a mulligan. (Although we did make him restart the tower afterwards.)

Something similar happen in a game I ran. About two-thirds of the way through my friend had bad luck and knocked over the tower. I used the Dead Man Walking rule to keep him in the game but he forgot about it when the climax of the story rolled around. His captain was about to be attacked so he rousingly shouted "Thank you, sir. It's been an honor! Aaaaaugh!!", "took the bullet" for his captain, and emphatically knocked the tower to the floor. After a brief moment of surprised silence we rebuilt the tower as best we could. But since his acting was so dramatic and appropriate we let his sacrifice stand.

 

[Eunomiac]

I used the Dead Man Walking rule to keep him in the game...

Something I've always done --- literally from the very first game I ran, the Grand Canyon werewolf adventure from the main book---is make the first "Dead Man Walking" something really special, so they remain invested in playing.

Using the example of the Grand Canyon adventure, one of my players knocked the tower over right at the start, while carrying the guide's body over some treacherous terrain immediately following the initial attack. So I explained the Dead Man Walking rule to the group, and gave him a "Broken Leg"*---now he was dead weight that everyone else had to carry along (or convince themselves they could sleep at night if they left him behind).

*Aside: One thing I love doing is giving each player a postcard-sized bit of cardboard to wear around their neck with a lanyard. It has a flavorful picture as the background, and space for them to write their name at the top. Then, whenever something bad happens during the game (e.g. they refuse to pull to resist being "Panicked" or, in this case, if they get a "Broken Leg"), I write the complication on a sticker and affix it to their card---think Boy Scout merit badges from Hell. As the game goes on, players looking around the table see those complications steadily mounting, ratcheting up the tension and---most importantly---giving me a TON of control over how often pulls are required.​

Anyways. After announcing his "Broken Leg" , I took him aside and out of earshot. Boy, was he surprised when I informed him that he was the werewolf that attacked the guide in the night! (The werewolf that would be chasing them for the rest of the adventure was his mate.) Armed with this knowledge, he had a blast playing the crippled guy who needed to be carried everywhere... especially when I started making things hard for him, by dropping hints on the other players (e.g. the person supporting him was wearing a painfully-silver watch; hinting at his fast healing---"looks like his leg wasn't broken after all, merely sprained"; having the other werewolf's ambush attacks constantly avoid him for a more-distant target, etc.)

I ultimately cashed in Dead Man Walking at the climax, but let him control his character as the second werewolf during the final encounter---a bit of controlled PVP that ended up working really well for everyone.

In fact, this reminds me of another awesome thing that happened during a later run-through of the same Grand Canyon story, with a different group. I asked one player a question that came right out of the book: "You're convinced the guide was attacked by a werewolf. Why do you believe in werewolves?" His four-word answer was more interesting than everyone else's put together:

"Because I am one."

Gotta love it when players throw you for a loop---that's what makes Dread so much fun for the host!

 

[Piratecat]

Mythago, those sound amazing. Why are you on the other coast again?

I love Dead Man walking. I once used it in a game where the PCs were down in Mexico, being hunted around an island resort by a madman. Some of the PCs were huddled around a tiki torch for light, when something rolled in out of the darkness. "What is it?" asked one player, whose PC was up at the cabins. "IT'S YOUR HEAD," I said. She'd completely forgotten that she'd knocked down the tower earlier, and it freaked everyone out wonderfully.

In another case, a ghost possessed the body of the dead man walking, and she spent the rest of the game trying to surreptitiously kill her character's brother by steering him into dangerous situations. The other player didn't figure it out for hours. When he did, it completely recast everything in the game in an entirely new light.

Man, I love this game.

 

[UselessTriviaMan]

And I've now run my first Dread convention game.

I'm happy to report that it seemed to be a smash hit, from all reports. My players (none of whom had ever even heard of Dread) had a blast, and apparently all the other tables in the hall were wondering why the people gathered 'round the Jenga tower were wearing bright yellow leis and having so much fun.

Things I learned this weekend:

* Apparently the new iPhone 6 has an add-on taser.
* A blood analysis test can be done in the field, in a golf cart, in the middle of a medium-speed chase, by a desperate pharmacist.
* Given the opportunity, players will totally create utterly screwed-up, broken people to play as their characters. At one point four of my six PCs were high as a kite on the meth they'd brought with them on a tropical island vacation.
* It's nothing less than astounding when a player accidentally writes down an answer that perfectly fits the game. (I mean really, what are the chances that a celebrity learned how to arm/disarm nuclear devices for a movie role??) :blink:

I can't wait to do this again. Seriously.

 

[Piratecat]

Hey, this thread is eight years old! And I STILL love this game.

Want to see me run it? I filmed a time travel-themed horror game for the website Gamers With Jobs, running Dread for 5 exceptional players. Here's part one:

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/120154

 

[mythago]

I love Dead Man walking. I once used it in a game where the PCs were down in Mexico, being hunted around an island resort by a madman. Some of the PCs were huddled around a tiki torch for light, when something rolled in out of the darkness. "What is it?" asked one player, whose PC was up at the cabins. "IT'S YOUR HEAD," I said. She'd completely forgotten that she'd knocked down the tower earlier, and it freaked everyone out wonderfully.

I beg to differ, sir! It is you who are most vexingly located on the opposite coast!

Eunomiac, I love when players do that. I think my favorite in the 'pure atmosphere' category was the player who, in response to "You wish you could go back and apologize for what you did; why can’t you?" replied with Well, they're all dead now, aren't they.

Er.

Also, a Dread book recommendation: Bait. It's a little uneven as a book, but I was sick that I hadn't thought of the book's premise as a Dread game: A group of heroin addicts, none of whom know each other, wake up on a small tropical island. They can see other islands around, a short swim away. There's a cooler with some sandwiches, water, and a note. The note tells them they're isolated from help, and nobody is coming to rescue them; but on the next island over, there's another cooler, which has more sandwiches, water....and heroin.

They immediately realize their dilemma. They can stay put, of course, and avoid the potentially hungry sharks and other predators that live in these waters, but sooner or later their addiction is going to flare up, and it will cripple them. The longer they put it off, the worse the withdrawal symptoms are going to be, and the harder it's going to be to swim the doable-but-not-trivial distance to the next island. And of course there's the fact that probably the sharks can't eat everybody at the same time, so maybe if they all go together and cooperate they'll make it. Though if the sharks eat somebody else, that helps your own survival.....

It's a beautiful thing.

 

[Middle Snu]

Hey, this thread is eight years old! And I STILL love this game.

Want to see me run it? I filmed a time travel-themed horror game for the website Gamers With Jobs, running Dread for 5 exceptional players. Here's part one:

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/120154

Maybe this is the sort of message that should be reserved for a private message, but I just wanted to share: That recording is AWESOME. Seriously, you did an amazing job (and had a great bunch of players!). Watching it was just a darn good use of two hours (so far - still waiting on part 3.)

Before I watched the video, I don't think I ever 'got' Dread - how can you have a game where any action is discretionary? Where there are only one mechanic? Maybe I was just too set in the "D&D" style of roleplaying.

Anyway, I'm eagerly awaiting Part 3 - and running my own Dread game!

 

[Piratecat]

Oh man, [MENTION=51652]Middle Snu[/MENTION], that's really nice to hear. I'm glad it's fun for people other than just me. Thank you.

I'm convinced that Dread is really all about pacing and mood. The ending of this one.. heh. The ending is good.