The Kingsbury Horror Play Report Session #3
Ok, the final play report of The Kingsbury Horror, a one-shot for the Gumshoe RPG, Trail of Cthulhu (ToC).
The final session saw the group with a fistful of clues, now trying to figure out where to go next.
They decided to spend some time at the library, picking out clues from the painting found in the pictures at Frank's that then led them to Orem H. Van Schaen. They staked out his house and talked with his sisters, to some fun roleplay but no real progression on the case. During this period of being in a Safe Haven, they also replenished some of their General Ability pools.
Eventually, as the group was running out of inspiration, the 11th victim turned up, with the fig leaf clue. They managed to find the street with a row of fig leaf trees that led them straight to the Station, a timelapse vision showing the way from a bit of evidence collection.
The next section was quite combat orientated, the group succeeding in a series of ability tests to find the hidden room, taking out Van Schaen and then Scylla, before, after a fair amount of prompting, destroying the tablet in a chemical bath to avoid Charybdis rising up from the River.
The World was once again a safe and pleasant place, with only a smattering of mental scars for the adventurers to be haunted by.
Keeper Thoughts:
So, a change of style for this blog entry, cards on the table, I forgot to record notes for this session, so I had to rely on my failing memory.
I won't dwell on the session itself but as a starter one-shot, we all enjoyed this adventure, it had flexibility, not too linear and relied on a bit of real-world knowledge, which I tried to encourage reading on between sessions, with varied success!
It does feel like Gumshoe rules have moved on since ToC was published and I would hope if there is a new edition that there would likely be a graded series of one-shots to allow groups to build out their knowledge of the rules and an increasingly complex storyline. The Kingsbury Horror is quite complex and challenging for a first time GM and also is weak on the Cthulhu Mythos, though there are options to beef this aspect up.
Overall, an excellent 3 nights (short sessions) play, which everyone enjoyed and has paved the way for more Gumshoe adventures within our group.
Finally, The Kingsbury Horror requires a lot of reading prep until you are familiar with the twists and turns. I would recommend, as a GM, reading the following blog from John Arendt, Dreams in the Lich House, it really helped me, as a first-timer, get to grips with the flow and possible visualizations that worked for me, thanks John!
...Here be spoilers...
They decided to spend some time at the library, picking out clues from the painting found in the pictures at Frank's that then led them to Orem H. Van Schaen. They staked out his house and talked with his sisters, to some fun roleplay but no real progression on the case. During this period of being in a Safe Haven, they also replenished some of their General Ability pools.
Eventually, as the group was running out of inspiration, the 11th victim turned up, with the fig leaf clue. They managed to find the street with a row of fig leaf trees that led them straight to the Station, a timelapse vision showing the way from a bit of evidence collection.
The next section was quite combat orientated, the group succeeding in a series of ability tests to find the hidden room, taking out Van Schaen and then Scylla, before, after a fair amount of prompting, destroying the tablet in a chemical bath to avoid Charybdis rising up from the River.
The World was once again a safe and pleasant place, with only a smattering of mental scars for the adventurers to be haunted by.
Keeper Thoughts:
So, a change of style for this blog entry, cards on the table, I forgot to record notes for this session, so I had to rely on my failing memory.
I won't dwell on the session itself but as a starter one-shot, we all enjoyed this adventure, it had flexibility, not too linear and relied on a bit of real-world knowledge, which I tried to encourage reading on between sessions, with varied success!
It does feel like Gumshoe rules have moved on since ToC was published and I would hope if there is a new edition that there would likely be a graded series of one-shots to allow groups to build out their knowledge of the rules and an increasingly complex storyline. The Kingsbury Horror is quite complex and challenging for a first time GM and also is weak on the Cthulhu Mythos, though there are options to beef this aspect up.
Overall, an excellent 3 nights (short sessions) play, which everyone enjoyed and has paved the way for more Gumshoe adventures within our group.
Finally, The Kingsbury Horror requires a lot of reading prep until you are familiar with the twists and turns. I would recommend, as a GM, reading the following blog from John Arendt, Dreams in the Lich House, it really helped me, as a first-timer, get to grips with the flow and possible visualizations that worked for me, thanks John!
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| John Arendt's The Kingsbuiry Horror, "Mapping the Investigation like a Dungeon" |
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