With Halloween drawing near, I was thinking about a scary (to me) and funny (to everyone else) gaming-related event that happened to me awhile back. If you have any, whether scary or funny, please share!
Back in college (ten years ago!) I spent a fair amount of my time not studying either playing role-playing games or working in our college’s on-campus planetarium and observatory.
One evening, on the week of Halloween, I got together with my gaming friends. One of them was eager to run a game of Call of Cthulhu, which he ran extremely well. During the game, my character was exploring a large observatory when a formless winged beast landed on the metal dome. The gamemaster grated his fingernails on the table to imitate the sounds coming from above. When the session was over, we all agreed it was a lot of fun and it had set our nerves on edge.
Later that week, with only a couple of days until Halloween, I ran a planetarium program for a school group that had been scheduled for an evening program. After the planetarium show, we all ascended the three flights of stairs to the observatory to do some observing. When we were done, I walked the group down to the lobby, leaving the observatory dome open.
After the group left, I locked the front doors and returned to the observatory to shut down for the evening. I had left the lights off in the observatory, and as I approached the doorway, a dark creature flew at my head, flapping its wings wildly!
I shrieked like a girl in a "B" horror movie and fled down the stairs as fast as I could, flying out the front door and down the hillside where the observatory stood, all the while thoughts of that week’s gaming session running through my mind. It was only after I reached the road that I regained my composure. Luckily, I had my keys with me, so I was able to reenter the observatory.
As I climbed the stairs, I moved cautiously, trying to see what it might be that had flown at me. As I neared the doorway, the “thing” flew at me again, I shrieked again! I ran, again! This time, I stopped just outside the front door and tried to buck-up before going back in.
After returning to the stairs a third time, I finally saw my nemesis: a lost sparrow. It was clearly disoriented, and I realized it had inadvertently flown into the open observatory dome and was lost and confused.
After several pathetic attempts to catch it, I finally cornered it and grabbed it, carrying it gently to the front door, where I made sure if flew away. I shut down the observatory, packed up my things, and left the observatory.
I also swore I’d never play Call of Cthulhu near Halloween, again!
Back in college (ten years ago!) I spent a fair amount of my time not studying either playing role-playing games or working in our college’s on-campus planetarium and observatory.
One evening, on the week of Halloween, I got together with my gaming friends. One of them was eager to run a game of Call of Cthulhu, which he ran extremely well. During the game, my character was exploring a large observatory when a formless winged beast landed on the metal dome. The gamemaster grated his fingernails on the table to imitate the sounds coming from above. When the session was over, we all agreed it was a lot of fun and it had set our nerves on edge.
Later that week, with only a couple of days until Halloween, I ran a planetarium program for a school group that had been scheduled for an evening program. After the planetarium show, we all ascended the three flights of stairs to the observatory to do some observing. When we were done, I walked the group down to the lobby, leaving the observatory dome open.
After the group left, I locked the front doors and returned to the observatory to shut down for the evening. I had left the lights off in the observatory, and as I approached the doorway, a dark creature flew at my head, flapping its wings wildly!
I shrieked like a girl in a "B" horror movie and fled down the stairs as fast as I could, flying out the front door and down the hillside where the observatory stood, all the while thoughts of that week’s gaming session running through my mind. It was only after I reached the road that I regained my composure. Luckily, I had my keys with me, so I was able to reenter the observatory.
As I climbed the stairs, I moved cautiously, trying to see what it might be that had flown at me. As I neared the doorway, the “thing” flew at me again, I shrieked again! I ran, again! This time, I stopped just outside the front door and tried to buck-up before going back in.
After returning to the stairs a third time, I finally saw my nemesis: a lost sparrow. It was clearly disoriented, and I realized it had inadvertently flown into the open observatory dome and was lost and confused.
After several pathetic attempts to catch it, I finally cornered it and grabbed it, carrying it gently to the front door, where I made sure if flew away. I shut down the observatory, packed up my things, and left the observatory.
I also swore I’d never play Call of Cthulhu near Halloween, again!
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