Reader Feedback, A Fresh Round of Playtests, Off to Editing

Last weekend, I had a chance to go to Big Bad Con near San Francisco. I'd just gotten beta reader feedback and made two sets of edits to the scenario based on what readers told me. I got to run each at Big Bad's Games on Demand, and while the first session went well, it didn't quite get the urgency that the beta readers suggested was missing from the scenario.

For the second, I made a pretty drastic change: I decided that Sid was already possessed, and his soul hung in the balance. Once the housemates found him, they had limited time to figure out what was going on and expel Simon Mathers' soul from Sid's body. It went really well, with the housemates scrambling frantically to figure out the best way to help Sid as Sid and Simon battled for control.

I spent the last few days revamping the scenario to account for those changes, reorganizing the NPC information, providing a stronger framing device (the scenario begins with police sirens approaching the harbor and the sound of a gunshot), and simplifying some NPCs like Ramona and Mike. I also expanded the magic item section to give GMs a clearer idea of how the soul vessels, protection glyphs, and grimoires work. The whole thing is still over 8k words, but I feel like they're better spent than they had been previously.

I also made some adjustments to the news articles, giving the housemates clearer leads. That meant dropping the one from the Conservative Quarterly, which echoed the Satanic panic, but while playtesters enjoyed it, it wasn't essential.

The scenario is now off Jared for editing.

Thanks to beta readers Alex Rinehart, Kyle Tam, Wes Franks, Josiah Sweetnam, Layla Adelman, and Stuart Martyn for their work!