It was also a good chance to catch up with the various Wellington role playing locals and game with some new people. I had a great time and the whole night seemed to go very smoothly (at least from my end).
Below are more detailed reviews of the games I played in. There not too spoilerific, but probably best to avert your eyes if you're keen to play them in the future.
After a brief welcome and pre-amble, it was off to the first round game, which for me was 'Splinter of Corruption' run by Doug. I signed up for this one because I was keen to see how Dark Heresy plays as I've always thought that the Warhammer 40,000 universe would be a great backdrop for a role playing game. Doug didn't disappoint and ran an atmospheric and richly textured game, in which our novice inquisitor team sought information on the dark fate of Commissar Nihilius and his squad. It had a nice '80's sci-fi movie feel to it and I could feel the spirit of Aliens coursing through it.
I played a Novice Cleric called Castus who did his best to support his brothers and encourage them to follow the one truth path of the Emperor (he also proved more than a little handy with a hammer). I think our team was a little out of its depth in terms of leadership and adopted a very direct approach to the investigation, but this only added to the game's dramatic finale. We were a little pushed for time, though I understand that Doug intends to run this at Kapcon, so with a few minor tweaks this game will really do the business.
As we finished the first round game a little behind schedule, there was only time for a very brief break before I was into round two. In this round played 'Rivers of Gold', a Trail of Cthulhu based scenario run by Mike. I was really interested to be a player in a Trail game again as it has been a while since I had been in that position thanks to my GMing duties. The game was set in the Otago gold fields during the gold rush, with my fellow players and I taking on the role of a group of gold prospectors, who uncovered more than they expected in a previously uncharted part of the country.
I played Alex Masters, a young half-Maori, half-Scot who, against his better judgement, loyally followed his mate Bill into an increasingly bizarre world. I gather there may have been some mix-up with the character allocation as Alex was a quite a different man to the answers I provided to Mike's pre-game questionnaire. Nevertheless he was a lot of fun to play and for a while there I hoped he might make it through 'unchanged'.
Mike ran a very tight and polished game, which achieved its aim of producing more chills than frights, while teasing out the final mystery to the very end. Indeed it is a sign of the scenario's strength that despite being quite a linear and constrained scenario, those features didn't distract from the overall experience. For me it channelled the better aspects of Lovecraft's more science fiction orientated works, and some elements wouldn't have seemed out of place in The Colour out of Space. The other players too all really worked their characters well and proceed some genuinely creepy moments. We perhaps could have used a little more time to round things off at the end as it felt a little rushed, but that is only a very minor blemish.
So overall Fright Night more than delivered. A big thanks to Dale and co. for organising the event, and both Doug and Mike for running excellent scenarios. This has certainly set the bar for Kapcon and the mind is whirring already on what I can organise for Fright Night 2011. Hopefully I'll see some more of you there as it really was a great night.
No comments:
Post a Comment