[Dread] Jenga beat up my dice! My results from the indie horror RPG.
John Crichton
First Post
It doesn't even have to be horror.
Festivus
First Post
I am posting here because I can't seem to get a response from Woodelf regarding my dread book order. Apparently I have been fortunate enough to order post GenCon and thus you folks were out of books. I replied back to his message but haven't heard anything. I am really looking forward to getting my hands on the book... someday.
Sorry for posting this here, but I didn't want to wait for my account on your forums to be activated, and I didn't want to send a fifth email to Woodelf (perhaps they are just not getting through?)
Feel free to reply back to me here or via email.
Sorry for posting this here, but I didn't want to wait for my account on your forums to be activated, and I didn't want to send a fifth email to Woodelf (perhaps they are just not getting through?)
Feel free to reply back to me here or via email.
RangerWickett
Legend
I hope to run a Dread game tomorrow night, though some of my players have scoffed at the idea of using Jenga instead of dice.
I suppose my biggest worry is . . . once a character dies, what's the player to do? How do you handle having unattached players?
I suppose my biggest worry is . . . once a character dies, what's the player to do? How do you handle having unattached players?
Rodrigo Istalindir
Explorer
For one thing, you've got the 'Dead Man Walking' option if someone screws up too early. Later on, it's no different than any RPG where a character dies -- he sits and waits for the end of the game. At least in this case, Dread is usually a lot more entertaining as a spectator sport than a traditional RPG.
Part of your responsibility as DM is to pace the pulls so the deaths will most likely occur when you want them to, so keep track of the number of pulls as most of the time you'll see a tower collapse in the late 20s or so.
Woas
First Post
About the dice rolling mechanic for Dread...
I agree that physically pulling the blocks from the tower and all the stress that comes from it is all part of the game no doubt. It's really that 'prop' that makes the game. It's like if you played D&D with a deck of cards instead of rolling dice. It would just change the way the game feels.
However, having that prop is key. An a prop that includes dice which I think would be a neat alternative is to have a die-tower/roller (a tall one so the dice spent enough time to build anxiety as you hear them clink their way down) or a simple die lottery machine could be successful. I can just picture the faces of players as they check their 'character sheets' as the GM calls out his diabolic lottery numbers as they come out of the dice-tower.
But anyway, having played Dread several weeks ago at Albany Gameday and despite the Insano-Deathtrap resets our lovely GM made us do
I must say Dread is probably one of the best 'gameday/Con/gathering' game I've played thus far.
I agree that physically pulling the blocks from the tower and all the stress that comes from it is all part of the game no doubt. It's really that 'prop' that makes the game. It's like if you played D&D with a deck of cards instead of rolling dice. It would just change the way the game feels.
However, having that prop is key. An a prop that includes dice which I think would be a neat alternative is to have a die-tower/roller (a tall one so the dice spent enough time to build anxiety as you hear them clink their way down) or a simple die lottery machine could be successful. I can just picture the faces of players as they check their 'character sheets' as the GM calls out his diabolic lottery numbers as they come out of the dice-tower.
But anyway, having played Dread several weeks ago at Albany Gameday and despite the Insano-Deathtrap resets our lovely GM made us do
I must say Dread is probably one of the best 'gameday/Con/gathering' game I've played thus far.
Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
Yeah - I've been 'involved' in four Dread games.
In one, I didn't die... but I spent the second half of the game with my character cowering under a billiards table hugging a shotgun. And it was awesome.
In the second, I pushed over the tower with half an hour to go until the end of the game. And it was awesome.
In the third, I wasn't a player - I just watched the last hour of the game. And it was awesome.
Only once have I actually been an active participant right to the end (where, once again, I pushed over the tower). And that was awesome too
So I personally haven't found that lacking an active PC makes Dread boring
-Hyp.
RangerWickett
Legend
It went okay. Jumbling Towers is not the same as Jenga.
Voodoo shaman stuck the villain's soul in a berry. (If you watch Adult Swim, pay attention to the bumps this weekend! Berries aren't berries!)
Around 4am, when the tower fell for the fourth time we were too tired to reassemble it and just narrated the end. But that worked too.
Paradox is fun. None of the players got the Day of the Tentacle reference.
I didn't really have much 'dread.' I always got tense when the tower was being used, but some of the players went into "I'm playing Jenga" mode and started giving advice on pieces to move. I should have better enforced the table talk rules.
Still, very fun.
Voodoo shaman stuck the villain's soul in a berry. (If you watch Adult Swim, pay attention to the bumps this weekend! Berries aren't berries!)
Around 4am, when the tower fell for the fourth time we were too tired to reassemble it and just narrated the end. But that worked too.
Paradox is fun. None of the players got the Day of the Tentacle reference.
I didn't really have much 'dread.' I always got tense when the tower was being used, but some of the players went into "I'm playing Jenga" mode and started giving advice on pieces to move. I should have better enforced the table talk rules.
Still, very fun.
Epidiah Ravachol
First Post
I'm sorry, I just have to geek out about this. So there will be an Adult Swim bump related to a Dread game? Cause that might make it all worthwhile.
Also, I'm sorry that the sense of dread was not so prevalent in your game. Dread, like all horror games, thrives when players (like the stars) are right for it. If players are treating it as they would a genre other than horror--or even just as a game of Jenga--it can lose some of its vitality. Was that the case with your game, or was there someplace where the system wasn't stepping up to help with the sense dread and horror?
RangerWickett
Legend
Actually, the berry conversation was in a different game last week, the bumps were made on Friday, and it was just by odd coincidence that berries also played a role in this game. Sorry.
Part of the problem was certainly that the players weren't really enthusiastic about 'horror.' Part of it was that I am a weenie and let them get away with stuff that was too cinematic. I normally run action adventure fantasy, and I've never even tried to do a horror game before. It was more like, I dunno, Ghostbusters than an actual horror movie.
Plus the game went from 8pm to 5am, one player got ill at 11, and another fell asleep at 3. I'm running the same game again for another group of players this next weekend, and I hope I'll have learned from the experience.
But people take for ****ing ever to pull pieces sometimes, and it's really hard to actually narrate something interesting while they're doing it. I guess I need to enforce "everything you say is in character" more, but I worry players would get bored waiting around.
