Concluding Episode: The Esoterrorists

The Prize in the Mail for Saving the Universe

So, first of all, I get a prize in the mail from +Tim Shorts after +Chris C. and I save the universe in our Esoterrorists' campaign, run by Tim. How cool is that? Thanks, Tim! Much of the campaign was centered on several Ouija Boards carved in the floor of the Beckett house.

Secondly, I have to say that Tim deserved the title master in Game Master. We were on our toes and off balance the whole campaign. Tim does a great job of putting you on "the clock," so you have to be quick with your strategy and tactics. No time for hand-wringing or babbling. In the end, you have to make your decisions based on imperfect knowledge. The longer you poke around looking for information, the more the situation deteriorates.

Thirdly, I thought the GUMSHOE system was a blast. It supports a very fast and intuitive style of play, with the focus on clues, evidence, and interactions with NPCs and locations. Not having played it before, I found that it worked best if (a) I didn't challenge the game system and just went with it; and (b) I focused on telling Tim what I wanted to do to letting him figure out the resolution. I did not find that to be a struggle, but I think others might find it a bit difficult to wrap their minds around it if they are coming from a system that has a lot of rules governing tactical options and actions. It is much better to think of The Esoterrorists as a strategy game, not a tactics game.

Finally, the goal is to stop whatever evil is plaguing our little corner of the world. It is less about character building and advancement. By time we started the last session, my character was completely mentally unstable, almost dead physically, and had few other skill resources left. I had to make decisions throughout the last session, not knowing what was real and what was simply a product of my fried brain. The two player characters ended up getting separated temporarily, or so it seemed to my unstable mind.  It was trippy, frantic, and fun. In the end, we barely managed to complete our mission, but it was at a high personal cost. My character was alive but a mere shadow of his former self. 

Playing D&D 5e in the Majestic Wilderlands

My blog posts have been less frequent, as I have had to focus on real life stuff. My gaming has been a bit inconsistent as well, although I am playing a human fighter, Aevin Steelhand, in +Rob Conley's (Bat in the Attic) Majestic Wilderlands setting. In our current campaign, we are using D&D 5e. I have also been playing Ben Monday, a history teacher turned supernatural sleuth, in +Tim Shorts' (Gothridge Manor) Wednesday night game, using The Esoterrorists as our rule set.

+Douglas Cole (Gaming Ballistic) has an excellent blog post, Majestic Wilderlands--Do You Hear People Sing?, summarizing our last session. Rob has some interesting posts about his use of feudalism in his setting. As a player, you have to know your station and who you are talking to. It is one my favorite aspects of playing in Rob's setting. Here are links to Rob's posts:

• Of Overlords, Kings, and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part I
• Of Overlords, Kings, and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part II
• Of Overlords, Kings, and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part III
• Of Overlords, Kings, and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part IV

The Esoterrorists and GUMSHOE: After Three Sessions

I have now played three sessions of The Esoterrorists, with +Tim Shorts (Gothridge Manor) as GM. Tim wrote a blog post about our third session, so I am not going to attempt to recreate the session here.

I am really enjoying the game and the GUMSHOE system. Once the GUMSHOE premise clicked with me, the rules really faded into the background and it has felt like we are investigating paranormal activity. Tim has done a great job of mixing a very real small town, with some actual horrifying events, with a series of paranormal events. The system and style of play are well-matched with Tim's approach to GMing and his ability to weave open-ended narrative.

As I noted above, a key to this is accepting the premise of the GUMSHOE system. Wikipedia has a nice summary: The premise is that investigative games are not about finding clues, they are about interpreting the clues that are found. So, instead of searching for clues, we are trying to understand the importance of the clues we have and their relationships to each other. Even so, we have investigate and interrogate, in order to have the clues at our disposal. The system comes into play when we can use our skills to help us understand the importance of the clues we have found.

While we are getting close to discovering the most important clues (and thus making sense of the pages of color-coded notes I have taken), our last session ended in a bedroom with twenty or so Ouija boards madly carved into the floor. We look up at the closet door, only to see it slowly open...

Five For Friday 33: Games I Want To Play in 2015

I don't really have any gaming goals besides wanting to continue gaming at the rate that I am currently gaming, but there are some games that I am interested in playing in 2015. Here they are in alphabetical order:

• Dead Inside: This just looks weird and fun and a bit creepy at the same time. The PDQ looks like it is very easy to grab hold of and play for a few sessions as a break from more extended campaigns. New to me.
• The Esoterrorists: +Tim Shorts ran a session of this for our Monday Night Uber Goobers Gaming Group at Con on the Cob. I am really wanting to finish what we started. I would love another serving of this.
• Fiasco: Any game inspired by the movie Fargo (among other titles) gets my attention. This just looks like a good time and perfect to play when the GM is unavailable. New to me.
• GURPS: I have played two different GURPS characters, both in Dungeon Fantasy style games. I would really like to play (not run) a modern or science fiction game. I would love a third helping of GURPS.
• Microscope: How can I not want to roleplay the whole history of a world? This looks like a blast and could also be way to collaboratively create a campaign setting. New to me.

Given my limited time (except Monday nights), thanks to a bit of success in playing music on the weekends, I am not sure if I will get a chance to play any of the above games. But here is to hoping.