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I recently ran Horror Movie Mayhem from the Our Friends the Machines expansion, it was a lot of fun! I thought I'd share my recap here in case anyone wants to see how it went for us or borrow some ideas.

As GM I found the books to be very helpful, full of details for people, places and events - the hardest part was choosing what to leave out. I used several NPCs from the core rulebook and threw in some hooks for other adventures from both the rulebook and other expansions in case we some day return to the Mälaren Islands!

None of us are Swedish but, with terrible 'Swedish' accents all round, our three players assumed the roles of school friends Jonas, Gar and Mads investigating as the adults of Stenhamra begin to act strangely...

CHAPTER 1 / 13

It's the last day of term before the summer holidays. At breakfast Jonas overhears his parents disagreeing about something but can't quite make out the details. Rumours circulate at school. Ingrid whispers to Mads about a protest at the video store tomorrow, it sounds like some adults are upset about some of the movies or something? School finishes early on the last day of term. Gar asks Mr Skarsgard if he can borrow some tools for the holidays, but Mr Skarsgard is acting strangely. He tells Gar he should know better than to take school property then scolds him for being uncouth and disrespectful.

Gar, Mads and Jonas meet up in the playground and decide to head into town, maybe they can hang out at the youth centre for the afternoon. On the way Mads and Jonas see someone being bundled into a van and driven away down a side street which scares Mads even though it was too far away to be sure exactly what happened or who the person was, and anyway Gar didn't see anything.

At the youth centre Daniel, one of the volunteer leaders, is extra busy because Ellen, another volunteer leader, hasn't shown up to help out. The boys offer to go see if she's at the video store where she works, but it turns out it's closed. According to Gar this is strange because it's normally open on Fridays. A group of adults is handing out flyers and they give one to Jonas. It's from the PTA and it says there's going to be a protest at the video store tomorrow morning and that anyone who is concerned about the effect of improper movies on children should come along. A severe, gaunt woman reprimands the boys for loitering then leads the group of adults away, all neatly walking in unison with excellent posture.

A bit unsettled by the odd events of the day, the boys head over to Mads' place to play Motorväg Groda on Aunt Astrid's Commodore 64. Mads is terrible at it but has fun anyway because his friends are reassuring and it's fun watching them argue over who's best when they keep getting exactly the same score. Eventually Jonas and Gar need to go home for dinner, so they all agree to meet up tomorrow morning and go check out the protest at the video store.

When Jonas gets home his mother is going through all the books on the bookshelf, it looks like she's removing some and keeping others? Jonas asks his dad about it but he's not quite sure what she's doing either. Out at Gar's place the Fire Watchers make their rounds along the edge of the wood as the sun slowly drops below the treeline.

CHAPTER 2 / 13

TWO WEEKS EARLIER

Tuesday afternoons at the youth centre are Drakor och Demoner sessions with GM Ellen. It's heaps of fun even though the group gets easily sidetracked and makes incomprehensible decisions that really keep Ellen on her toes. Ellen asks the boys if they are going to dress up for the Cultural Festival; she's going as her favorite movie character Ripley. The boys aren't sure who that is so Ellen suggests they drop by the video store one Saturday and if Alien happens to be on out the back and the boys were to sneak past the counter, well, if she were busy in the shop she wouldn't notice would she?

THE FIRST DAY OF THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

On Saturday morning the boys meet in their hideout. It's a treehouse in the woods by Gar's place, on the way Mads and Jonas see some big boars with glowing eyes and antennas on their heads which is weird but cool. They ride their bikes into town to see the protest, which has already started by the time they get there.

A group of conservatively-dressed adults are chanting and waving signs outside the video store. The gaunt woman from yesterday is up front shouting through a megaphone, it sounds like the PTA is really angry about the violent, scary and inappropriate movies in the store. Jonas spots his parents in the crowd and heads towards them, but suddenly a window breaks and the protesters surge into the store. Jonas makes a snap decision and slips in behind them. Mads and Gar run to a phonebox and call the police. The Mälaröarna community police officer, Inspector Ing-Marie Blankäng, is surprised to hear the PTA protest has gotten out of control and says she'll be right there. Mads and Gar run back to the store to see if they can find Jonas.

Inside the store Jonas watches as the adults start pulling videos off the shelves, piling up horror movies on the floor but putting musicals and documentaries and family movies back on the shelves. He grabs a video at random, Videodrome, off a yet-unsorted shelf of thrillers and shoves it in his bag. Gar yells at him from outside to get out and all three boys run back across the road to where they left their bikes.

Inspector Ing-Marie arrives in her police van, parking it in the middle of the road between the boys and the video store. After a few minutes the boys see the PTA protestors leaving in neat rows off down the street. Ing-Marie asks the boys what they saw, and says she has the details of the PTA people and will follow up with them later. She also tells them about a strange creature she is sure she saw in the lake and wants to know if they know anything about it? She heads back to the police station after warning the boys not to come back at night to snoop around in the video store.

CHAPTER 3 / 13

The boys are quite worried about Ellen now and decide to visit her home to see if she's there. As they ride their bikes down the middle of a quiet street on the edge of town they see two rows of adults putting flyers in letterboxes. Despite the hot midday summer sun the adults are dressed in neat semi-formal shirts and pants, walking briskly in single file, their steps uniform and perfectly synchronised.

Jonas pulls over to see if he can grab a flyer from the closest letterbox. The adults on both sides of the road stop and all turn at once to watch him. An older man at the back of the closest row starts walking purposefully towards Jonas, who hurriedly rejoins Mads and Gar in the middle of the road. As the boys cycle away, spooked, Mads notices a walkie-talkie on the older man's belt.

Ellen's house is not far away, and while Gar knocks on the door and checks the neighbours' houses Mads and Jonas find a way in through the unlocked back door. The boys search the house, it looks like someone has packed clothes and food in a hurry. In the lounge they find a scary movie in the VCR and can't help but press 'play'. Instead of the usual ads they get a cheesy promotional video talking about an idyllic Stemhamra. Curious, they check some more videos from Ellen's shelf. Another scary movie has the same promo at the start, but a musical and one of Ellen's home movies do not.

Sounds of more people arriving through the back door prompt the boys to scramble out the front window. Mads and Gar drop below the window just as two adults enter the lounge while Jonas darts into the hedge. Peeking through the leaves he sees two men dressed in camouflage gear and gumboots, with wide-brimmed hats and binoculars, and the logo of the local birdwatchers club on their shirts. All three boys, now scared, upset and exhausted try to stay out of sight as the men stand in the lounge listening to a report of some kind on walkie-talkies. It seems to be about a 'sighting of the escapee', and mentions a notorious local landmark, the mysteriously abandoned Stavsborg's factory...

CHAPTER 4 / 13

The boys slip away from Ellen's house and ride back to their hideout. On the way they spot Ing-Marie in her Police van driving out towards the lake. The rest of the afternoon is uneventful, and after agreeing to meet at Mads' place at 10pm to check out the video store the boys all go home for dinner.

Cycling into town by moonlight the boys arrive at the video store. The smashed window has been boarded up with a notice attached that simply says "CLOSED! By order of the PTA". The front door is locked but the boys peer through the window and can see the shelves are now almost completely empty. They realise the posters for Jaws and The Terminator have been taken down from the windows too.

Mads tries the emergency exit, it opens and an alarm sounds. The boys rush inside and close the door and the alarm goes quiet. They find themselves in the back room of the video store, and see a pile of VCRs and cables on the long bench along the back wall. There's a monitor set up in the middle which shows the idyllic Stemhamra promotional video they saw at Ellen's house. Mads and Gar trace the cables and realise the promotional video is being copied over the ads at the start of other videos. Jonas notices that all the videos having their ads replaced are wholesome family movies, documentaries, musicals and the like. He goes looking in the shop area and finds boxes of horror movies, heavy metal concerts and some other... dance..? movies that the boys aren't quite sure what to make of.

A torch is shone into the shop from outside the front door and the boys scramble to hide. Mads curls up as small as he can on the floor and tries to reflect the torch light back with his compact. Jonas and Gar both lunge behind the same shelf and suffer a nasty head clash. Eyes streaming, Gar spots a side door and quietly tries the handle. The sound of the front door being unlocked is followed by footsteps as the person with the torch steps into the store and calls out "Hello? Is someone in here?"

CHAPTER 5 / 13

Inspector Ing-Marie is very annoyed to find the boys doing exactly what she told them not to do. Jonas manages to get her to listen long enough to tell her about the odd video-copying setup out back. Ing-Marie goes to have a look, watches the idyllic Stenhamra promo, becomes strangely calm and insists on driving the boys back to their homes.

Gar is the last to be dropped off, his attempts to make small talk about the creature in the lake are met with mild bemusement and scoffing from Ing-Marie. She tells him to contact her immediately if he hears anything from Ellen. The next day is Sunday, and the boys spend the day doing domestic chores and homework. When Monday morning finally comes they all meet up at their hideout in the woods by Gar's place. After discussing the events of the last few days they decide to go out to Stavsborg's factory to look for Ellen.

Halfway there, as the road winds through the forest near Sånga-Säby, the boys encounter Ing-Marie placing someone under arrest on the side of the road. She's being assisted by two men, one of which Jonas recognises as his father Eric. Mads recognises the person being arrested as local bird enthusiast Mats Tingblad, a large man who is struggling fiercely and loudly protesting his innocence.

Gar spots a walkie-talkie on the belt of the other man assisting with the arrest. He lunges in and grabs it. After a confused minute of flailing arms and cross-purposes shouting Ing-Marie and Eric manage to get Mats in the police van. The other man composes himself and lands an emphatic back-hand across Gar's face, along with some choice words about how his behaviour leaves much to be desired. Mads and Jonas manage to convince Gar not to retaliate, briefly, until Gar picks up a rock and throws it, hitting the older man in the back of the head. The man ducks into Eric's work car, and soon after he and Eric are driving back into town behind Ing-Marie and Mats in the police van.

The boys are quite shaken up but their attention soon turns to the stolen walkie-talkie. After switching through the local maritime channel, some Stockholm truckers and a looping pre-recorded civil defence announcement they pick up what seems to be people patrolling near the factory. Biking on, the boys arrive on the outskirts of Stavsborg.

CHAPTER 6 / 13

The boys hide their bikes in some bushes near the front gate of the old factory. Catching sight of some birdwatchers patrolling nearby, the boys hide in the pine trees that surround the factory grounds. Mads dips into his compact and draws dark camouflage streaks across his face, exactly like the heroes in Predator.

The chain link fence around the factory is high and topped with rusty barbed wire. The boys sneak through the trees, heading around the back as they look for a way in. Despite Mads' facepaint, and Jonas' masterful command of bushcraft from his Pocket Survival Book for Boys, they are soon found by another patrol. There are three of them, a lean older woman who asks the boys what they are doing, a rotund younger woman who stays silent, and... Mr Skarsgard. They warn the boys to stay away from the factory as it is dangerous and improper, and suggest the boys go home and find something useful to do with themselves. The boys head back the way they came, then dart back into the trees when the adults are out of sight. Jonas tries to go over the fence by climbing a tree and shimmying along an overhanging branch, but his pants get caught on the barbed wire and he's forced to turn back.

The boys eventually find a hole in the fence and wriggle through, just avoiding yet more birdwatchers drawn by the rattling of the fence. They head for the old admin block and find an unlocked door. Inside it is dark, oppressive and dank. It takes a few minutes for their eyes to adjust from the harsh summer sunlight outside, but they soon notice signs that other people have been here - recently. It's also becoming clear that whoever has been in here does not want to be seen, as the windows have all been boarded up from the inside.

Making their way towards the big assembly hall the boys pick up a faint smell of smoke. Entering the hall through a set of heavy double doors they find themselves in a large, empty space with nothing much except a smouldering campfire in the middle surrounded by some old furniture. Stairs lead to a mezzanine overlooking the factory floor, but before the boys can start to look around there is movement over by the far wall! Then more movement, on either side, and again, up on the mezzanine! Something is coming out of the walls! The doors behind the boys slam shut!

CHAPTER 7 / 13

The boys are surrounded by people shouting at cross-purposes! Some are angry, some look scared, and some hang back uncertainly. Anne, a tomboy from school is among the crowd and after some confused back-and-forth with the boys she persuades everyone to calm down.

As the boys look around the assembly hall they notice that everyone is young, no older than early twenties, and there are a lot of kids from refugee families, troublemakers and weirdos and a boy from school who uses a wheelchair. While they are taking this in a familiar face emerges from the offices up on the mezzanine; Ellen is here too.

Everyone sits down around the campfire, Gar somehow managing to end up beside Anne. As the boys describe the events of the last few days, and members of the assembly hall group tell how they ended up there, it becomes clear that something is seriously wrong in Stenhamra. Anyone who does not conform to the 'ideal Sweden' portrayed in the mysterious promotional film has been shunned, persecuted and in some cases attacked before fleeing to the old factory.

Ellen is very troubled by all of this, and with a deep breath she tells, for the first time, her story:

"One evening as she was locking up the video store, someone attacked and kidnapped her. When she woke up she was in a room at a place which later, during her escape, she recognized as Stenhamraskolan. In front of her stood a woman she recognized from the local newspaper. Jeanette had an advanced computer and a strange machine that she used. It was connected to a TV and a VCR. Ellen was forced to watch some strange Stenhamra commercial. Some of the words from it echoed in her head and she felt a tremendous headache, but after several repeated viewings it became evident that the message would not take hold. The others in the room, some standing, others tied to chairs, seemed captivated by the message. She heard the woman, who seemed to be the group’s leader, say: "It doesn't work, her brain is already too affected by unwanted thoughts". After that, Ellen managed to break free from her chair, evade the sluggish guards, and escape from the school, and from Stenhamra."

After some discussion the boys decide to wait until dark, then investigate the PTA Room at Stemhamraskolan. They try to convince Anne to join them but she says her place is here at the factory where she can look after her people. The younger ones in particular are scared the adults will find them and then..?

The boys sneak back out of the factory and ride home for dinner. After bedtime they meet outside the school where they can see lights on inside and shadows moving about the corridors. Hiding in the trees they discuss how they will get in and what they will do when they are inside. Someone right behind them says "you boys couldn't be any louder if you tried!"

CHAPTER 8 / 13

The boys panic, Mads squeals, Jonas freezes, Gar blindly lashes out in the darkness, knocking the mysterious speaker unconscious.

It’s Anne. She soon comes round but is groggy and can’t remember much after leaving the old factory. The boys sheepishly mumble something about someone else being responsible.

They all make their way around to the school library, narrowly avoiding being spotted by someone emerging from a classroom near the PTA room. Anne forces a window open and they all climb in. Progress stalls after Anne spots a book she’s been looking for and stuffs it into her pocket, which prompts Mads and Jonas to insist upon properly issuing it to her.

The group creeps along the deserted corridors between the classrooms until they reach the PTA room. Inside, things are very strange. Chairs with leather restraints face a row of television sets, surrounded by cables. The cables lead to a table covered in electronic equipment, academic papers, handwritten notes and a large computer with a blinking cursor in one corner of the screen. Jonas and Mads figure out that the computer programme is sending subliminal messages via the promotional video. Gar and Anne locate boxes of scary and violent movies taken from the Video Store. Anne finds a schedule for the upcoming Cultural Festival; the PTA are planning to screen their promotional film and have organised for the entire event to be broadcast live on national television.

CHAPTER 9 / 13

The sound of footsteps in the hallway outside causes the group to panic, Anne tries the window but it's locked shut. Gar forces it open then holds it up so the others can pile out. Jonas and Anne are first, then Mads who has managed to snatch a folder of CLASSIFIED notes from the computer table. He falls through the window, several pages of notes from the folder fluttering loose into the darkness.

The door to the PTA room begins to swing open. Gar rushes the door and throws himself against it, slamming the door shut and knocking whoever is on the other side off their feet. From the sounds of it they have taken a nasty blow to the face in the process. Gar lumbers over to the window, his shoulder somehow both sore and completely numb at the same time, then clumsily drops out of the window. He lands directly on top of Anne, completely knocking the wind out of her, and provoking untimely and unhelpful stirrings in his loins.

As they struggle to their feet the boys notice the door to the PTA room opening again, then the school caretaker Per blunders in shouting how he thinks his nose is broken, and what were they thinking slamming the door on him like that, and who's in here, and where is everyone anyway..? Anne and the boys flee on their bikes back to the hideout by Gar's place. After some discussion the boys agree to let Anne stay in the hideout for the night so she can recover before sneaking back to the old factory in the morning. She says she'll talk to Ellen and the others then meet them all back here tomorrow evening when it gets dark. Jonas and Mads head back to the Mads' place for the night while Gar heads over to his house and tiptoes into his room.

The next morning Mads and Jonas decide to head into town to see if they can find Gar. They find him in the town square where he's been dragged along to assist his parents and their weird friends set up a stage for the Cultural Festival. His mother and father and all the other adults are working silently, efficiently, and in perfect synchronisation with one another.

Jonas and Mads convince Gar to break away from the adults because there's a robot breakdancing around the corner that they think he'll want to see, it's really cool and it even did The Robot and it's dancing to NWA! The boys watch, very impressed, unlike the growing number of disapproving adults observing proceedings. Inspector Ing-Marie pulls up in the police van. The robot does a backflip.