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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eunomiac" data-source="post: 6385362" data-attributes="member: 6686214">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!</blockquote>

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