I received an email from Ben Monroe, who had urged his friend Matt Steele to try Invasive Procedures, a disturbing adventure for Fear Itself. Matt’s comments are below. Matt also told me “As the Terror Rabbit and host of the Dead of Winter Horror Invitational, Invasive Procedures will be the scenario I bring to run”.
Beware, sweary language.
OMFG!
1st of all, thanks again for pointing me to it. It is truly one of the creepiest scenarios I’ve ever seen. In this instance, perhaps too creepy – for some.
For a couple of Players, the game crossed the line in its graphic details. The were truly uncomfortable. There was a long discussion afterwards and a coupla Emails as well. Of course, I’m of 2 minds on this. 1. I ran it well enough, and it’s fucking disturbing enough to weird out people sitting at EndGame. There’s some awesome in that. 2. I don’t want people to have a negative experience playing a game. I could have easily toned it down, and the Players gave me some good ideas about how to do that – after the game. I wish they had said something during the game as I could have made it a better experience had I known they were so uncomfortable.
I ran it in a 4-hr slot. It just wasn’t enough time. I had to compress three nights into one and the ending was rushed. On the plus side, people really liked the creepy setup and up to the actual ‘Invasive Procedures’ they were having a great time.
In the future I’ll run this only for hard-core horror fans and in an 8-hour slot. I’ll also only run it for people I know, who can deal with the material. I knew everyone at the table, except for 1 person, so I should have thought about the Players I know and how much horror they are into.
I had a blast running it and watching people react to the nastiness as it happened. I found some great imagery that I showed people to help draw them in and it worked.
I’m going to run it again for a group I know can handle it and over 8 hours. Who was on the list you mailed to that might have picked up the scenario? I’m hoping to run it a 3rd time, but not for people who have read it.