My table had just concluded our year-long Monster of the Week campaign. At the end of the campaign, I presented my players with a list of all the games I was excited to run. From the list they chose Deathmatch Island by Tim Denee and published by Evil Hat Productions. I had experience playing DMI and had even run a one-shot of it. We set our sights on a five-session “season” and jumped into character creation. Interested in running DMI and want to know more about my game? Connect with me on Mastodon: @[email protected]
An Intense Character Study
I joined an online game of DMI last year on a whim. The time slot fit my schedule, and John Harper’s PARAGON mechanics intrigued me. Based on the advertising coming out of Evil Hat, I had the impression that it would be a gonzo action romp that would conclude with the player characters murdering each other. The GM promised it would only take five sessions.
Much to my delight, I found that DMI focused me on my character over the environment.
DMI requires players to generate their character occupations at random. The game provides an initial motivation but intentionally leaves a lot of blank space. As the game progresses, players have opportunities to create more of their characters’ backstories. We do this character study under the intense pressure of a life-or-death contest. The alchemy of this combination, intense pressure and undefined characters, is that every action seems to reveal new depths to a character.
Ultimately, DMI is not a gonzo bloodbath. It is instead a drawn-out character study shot through with passion and pathos.
My Prep ahead of Session One
I prepared several pieces ahead of our first session. I sent my players the standard recruitment letter to introduce Production’s tone.
For those with some experience with the game, I ran the standard three islands with Cast A.
Since my game was held in-person, I made some props.
In DMI contests can be tagged as exhausting, risky, or dangerous. I made 3×5 cards using artwork from the book that I could display when a contest had one of those tags. I also made a leader card to pass around as who led the team changed.
I made a quick reference card for the players that showed how to build their dice pool on one side and had the season uniform on the other.
I randomly drew five character motivations for my five players: Fame, Victory, Sabotage, Redemption, and Confidence. I printed three standard welcome letters and the two alternate welcome letters. I paired up the welcome letter warning about a production plant with Sabotage and the letter warning about someone seeking revenge with Redemption.
I bundled the motivations, welcome letters, and quick refence cards into envelopes and set those aside with little sticky notes on them so I knew which envelope held which motivation.
I decided to dynamically assign the envelopes as players made their characters. Whatever motivation seemed to speak to a character is what I would assign.
For each player, I printed a player packet and laminated a character sheet. There’s a lot of erasing and remarking on DMI character sheets. Laminated character sheets seem like a necessity for in-person play. Laminated character sheets had the bonus of letting me use the can of DMI Beans to hold a pack of red wet erase markers.
To help me stay organized I produced an “orientation” page.
I also produced a list of “strange happenings” that I could drop in to increase player paranoia and offer glimpses into the conspiracy behind DMI. I knew I would push my improv limits with the cast and island encounters, so I off-loaded some work by creating the strange happenings.
Meet the Competitors
My players dove into character creation and before long we had our team:
#15 Jagger Chun (he/him) is a property developer with a wiry build and messy hair. When asked what breed of dog he would be, Jagger said a Borzoi which is a long-coated running dog. Jagger is good at Snake Modeand is motivated to find Redemption.
#23 Ruby Ahmad (they/them) is a member of a heavy metal band with tattoos, spiky blond hair, and an athletic build. When asked who they thought was most dangerous competitor on the team, Ruby said that the other Ruby was. Ruby A. is good at Snake Mode is motivated to find Confidence.
#31 Ace Rimmer (he/him) is a fitness instructor with spiky hair, a scarred face, and cold eyes. Ace admitted to rocking short shorts as an embarrassing fashion choice. Ace is good at Challenge Beast and is motivated by Fame.
#39 Ruby Berry (she/her) is a professional gamer. She has ginger hair with dyed purple tips. Her most prized purchase of the year was a new mic for streaming. Ruby B. is good at Snake Mode and is motivated to acheive Victory.
#53 Piper Chandler (she/her) is a professional dancer. She is short with a muscular build and perfect hair and teeth. Her favorite mythological creature is a unicorn. Piper is good at Challenge Beast and is motivated to sabotage Deathmatch Island.
Exploring the Island
I had the players roll their name die to determine who would be the leader. I awarded the winner, Ruby B., one box of followers. Ruby decided to land the boat at the fishing village. I went with a suggested cast encounter right out of the book.
Fishing Village
At the fishing village they encountered Abthorpe, barking orders at competitors. He was lining people up and distributing supplies to those who joined his alliance. Quincy approached the players and warned them that Abthorpe was dangerous and that they should join her alliance to resist Abthorpe. The team was unconvinced by either side’s pitch.
Ruby B. decided to steal supplies from Abthorpe’s alliance and make a break for it. Snake Mode vs. Abthorpe, difficulty 9. Ruby A. and Ruby B. competed, everyone else offered support. Ruby A. found a guitar and played it to cause a distraction to let everyone grab supplies. Ruby B. led the others through the fishing village like it was a first-person shooter. She kept breaking line of sight with Abthorpe’s goons and made good their escape.
Blinking Light
Ruby B. then decided to take the crew over to the Blinking Light. While trekking overland, Jagger saw the Birdcam from the Strange Happenings. At the blinking light they attempted a Redacted contest vs. Production, difficulty 12. Ruby A. was best. Ruby B. and Jagger failed. Everyone else supported. Inside Ruby A. found a desiccated corpse that resembled them. Piper was offered and accepted a special advance and a rocket launcher. Ace got the switchblade from the Strange Happenings. The team found redacted maps and got the other usual rewards.
Ruby A. decided to take the team over to Sanctuary.
Cliffhanger at Sanctuary
Time was running short, so I searched for a way to end on some suspense. Fortunately, the dice and my players did all the work on that score. At Sanctuary, the players encountered Bekket who was holed up in one of the McMansions with a crew of outlaws and all the supplies in the area. The team decided they would fight Bekket and I rolled a whopping 14 for the Deathmatch contest difficulty.
The only competitor who felt she had a chance was Piper and her new rocket launcher. Everyone else supported her and she came through with a 14 on the dice. We paused the game right as the rocket exploded the house into a fireball.
Follower Count
Ruby Ahmad: 180,000
Piper Chandler: 160,000
Ruby Berry: 120,000
Jagger Chun: 30,000
Ace Rimmer: 30,000
Our first session of DMI was a smashing success. My players left buzzing with excitement about what was to come. Going into phase two I had more knowledge of my competitors and could craft the experience to fit them. Want to chat about DMI? Find me on Mastodon: @[email protected]
Feature Image “Island” by John Avon copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast