My Monster of the Week Halloween one-shot ran long and we hand to hang up the dice. Fortunately, we left on a natural cliffhanger. The party had just defeated a single ghoul and learned of a dark conspiracy to create a bunch of ghouls. The greatest advantage of splitting the adventure into two parts is that I will be able to tailor what comes next to the player characters.
If you haven’t already, check out my prep notes for the adventure and my session notes for part one. Do you have experience running Monster of the Week? I’d like any tips you have for GMing. Please reach out to me on Mastodon: @[email protected]
Picking up the Dangling Thread
We left our heroes in a trashed suburban home standing over the corpses of a ghoul and one of its victims. They learned that both the ghoul and the victim belonged to a cult that turns its members into ghouls. They learned the general location of the cult’s headquarters. When we come back for session two, where should I pick up the narrative?
To answer this, let’s take a step back. I need a strong start for the session to pull the players into the narrative. I could have the player characters contend with police units called to the scene by a neighbor who heard the fighting. I don’t like this because, while it could be exciting, it doesn’t move the plot forward. Once the players are done talking or running or surrendering, they still must take time to recover and prepare for their showdown against the ghoul cult. Furthermore, the strong start can build on consequences from the previous session.
The Cult Catches Up
Let’s make our strong start an encounter with cultists. That presents the players with options (fight, run, talk) and can get them clues. Last time, one of the characters tried investigating a mystery by opening their mind to arcane forces. They failed the roll, and I ruled that something in the darkness noticed them. Now we can say it was the cult leader using clairvoyance to locate the escaped ghoul. The cult leader sent out some goons with a description of one of the hunters.
We begin with the player characters in their hideout, discussing leads and plans. Three cultists walk in. Two have weapons peeking out from under their coats. One is holding up a medallion that slowly turns. The one with the medallion holds up a charcoal sketch of the identified hunter and demands to know if the players have seen the hunter. Everyone pauses, we hear a toilet flush, and the hunter in question walks back into the room drying their hands. The cultist’s medallion spins wildly. What do you do?
This start builds tension, uses comedy to break the tension, and ramps the tension right back up. We’re aiming our tone to be something like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I think the slice of humor fits that tone. This start preserves player choice, too. I’ll force a confrontation, but it’ll be up to the players what kind of confrontation it is.
Setting Up an Abduction
In my initial prep, I made a pair of true crime podcasters to serve as innocent victims in the finale. They didn’t make an appearance in session one. I’d like to do something with them that gives the players some fun opportunities. Let’s say the podcasters uncovered more disturbed graves and made local headlines. The podcasters believe themselves to be at the leading edge of the investigation even though they are way behind the hunters. They don’t suspect any supernatural involvement.
The hunters can encounter the podcasters doing field recordings. The podcasters treat the players like they’re window dressing. They ask the players leading questions about the grave disturbances. I’ll play them as innocent if a bit insufferable.
Let’s have the cult abduct the podcasters thinking that they’re the hunters. After all, the cult is in a hurry and working with incomplete information. They grab the people who are nosing around in their affairs. The hunters can learn about this from the social media accounts of the podcasters. Maybe they’re livestreaming for their “Watson Tier” Patreon supporters or some such!
A Handout for the Players
I don’t want to pack too much recap or exposition into the session. We’ll probably only have about three hours and I’d like to spend the entire last hour overcoming obstacles in the ghoul cult’s hideout as we build to a final confrontation. I’ll prepare a handout like I did for the first session. It’ll begin with an in-character description of their departure from the house. The next section will give an out-of-character recap of first session. I’ll list the clues they’ve found and present some threads for them to pull on, like the podcasters making headlines. Finally, I want to set up the strong start. I’ll say the action picks up with the crew in their hideout discussing their next move.
Okay! I feel like we have a good handle on part two of Ghoul’s Night Out. We have a strong start and we’ve sketched out a scene that’ll let the players have some character play before we go into the showdown. Have a suggestion to make my game go more smoothly? Message me on Mastodon: @[email protected]
Feature Image “Ghoulcaller’s Bell” by Lars Grant-West copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast