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Daïna
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Location: France

Re: The Dance of Dreams

Wed 13 May 2020, 15:21

Yeah, the connection to former members of the Society was a completely missed clue for my players too. Nevermind, I used the story as a starter for a campaign, so they will have time to figure it out later. I chose to make the 3 former members of the Society the player's grandparents, so that I can bring them back later in their stories, and they could remember they were alleged murderers of Oscar.
 
BurnAfterRunning
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Joined: Tue 05 May 2020, 14:29

Re: The Dance of Dreams

Mon 29 Jun 2020, 18:11

I ran this for The Smart Party Youtube channel - it's going out on 1st August, so I guess I'll post then - but the link is here for when it hits. I ran it, and then we had a discussion about the adventure and game - overall it's a neat little introduction, although the closed-room nature of it makes it a bit claustrophobic - especially combined with my tendency to run one-shots at a fast pace.

In the after-game discussion we went off at several tangents about investigative games and how to structure them - it's a good showcase of the setting and system and definitely creepy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWpem9ki7IQ
 
Ralph
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Joined: Tue 11 Aug 2020, 13:09

Re: The Dance of Dreams

Tue 11 Aug 2020, 13:12

Sorry to come to this particular party late, but I’m just preparing to run Dance of Dreams.
The flyer could simply have been handed round to customers at the inn, which is where Olaus got his copy whilst staying over. That’s how I intend to justify it anyway.
 
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Daïna
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Location: France

Re: The Dance of Dreams

Tue 11 Aug 2020, 13:50

Yes, I think that would work nice. :)
Especially if your players are already "anointed" members of the Society.
 
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Arnold
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Re: The Dance of Dreams

Tue 11 Aug 2020, 16:50

I ran the dance of dreams last friday. It was my first VAESEN- scenario, and i was very happy with it. In that group, i played 4 Tales from the loop adventures and started with mutant. TFTL was cool, mutant felt more like a disaster. So i was a bit unsure how VAESEN would hit my players.

1) They made some kind of freaky charakters. A depressive privat detective who has murdered his wife (dark secret), an officier who accidently killed a friend in norwegian- swedish war, a vagabound who is a complet amoralic drunkard and a writer who is more an agitator who tries to start a union in a factory.

2) The mystery started with the meeting of ELFEKLINT in the asylum. Here, they are informed of the society, also, Elfklint give them the letter from Olaus Klint with the dance of dreams. They only got a few hours for shopping (very poor resources) and making advantages, befor the coach to stockholm starts in the evening.

3) They met Kilint at the stables. The detective character has heard of him before, they liked each other as the detective also wants to kill all VAESEN (connection dark secret).

4) They went inside the Inn, got their rooms and talked to most of the NPC´s. The Vagabund created an NPC with his talent, an old and drunkard maid with whom he went to the stables to make sex.
The writer had a speek with the girl, who wants to show him the theater. The others watch the girl and the drug addict woman went of upstairs and ended in a conservation with sami, when suddenly most NPC fall asleep..Sami and the PC´s bring most of the sleeping NPC´s in the dining room. Sami went for the stables to look after his maid.

5) The group went upstairs, searching for the women. They looked in all rooms and even break in Noras room.via lockpicking. Then they here the girl shouting for them because the light went blue and it is getting cold. The group climbed on the attic and talk to lydia. They watches the shadowplay with the frighteninmg end. Lydia is upset and the group decided to look for sami, whom they found in the stable, hanged and stained with blood. Lydia is even more upset.

6) The group wents up again, wanting to search the room of Nora. where the vagabond is bewitched and attacked the detective. Then they found the handouts in Noras room and decide to search for the remains of oswald. But before they could act, all the sleepers (Drug addict in the first floor and 5 NPC´s in the dining room) danced up and attacked. First, they fixed the woman, but soon after, the others came up the stairway. The group retreated to the attic- a fatal mistake. One of the dancers took a burning latern from the wall, and they panicked. The officer jumped in the dancers and was heavily beaten up. The detective started firing headshoots to the dancers, the vagbund joint the officer and the detective jumped and crawled down the dining room with agility. here, he discovered that the maid and the 2 horses also danced outside.
In the end, all 7 dancers and the 2 horses where stabbed and shooten to death, a massacre. Also, the officers chest was crushed and he died. All members of the group had lots of hits and where mentaly and physicaly heavy beaten up.

7) The detectiv, almost mentaly broken, decided to protect Lydia, in which he saw his missing daughter. The two others went to the garden and searched for orskar, finally finding and confronting him in the root cellar. Here, they could convinve him that they where not Albert, katia and ... . They went to the nearby church and in digging his reamains in holy ground could banish their first VAESEN.

8) Lydia had completly lost her mind and was taken to the Asylum. The survinig PC´s set the Inn on fire and burning all the dead except Sami, who still hung in the stable, hoping that he is the one who would be found guilty of the massacre.

9) The group met Elfeklint and got the key for the castle. That is where we finished the game.

Fazit: One PC died. I think that is good, because in my opinion, the Zero Engine games are not so deadly. All of the NPC died and one went mad. Wow, thats heavy stuff. The PC´s finally made it and won the day. Not an heroic end, but a cool one. We had fun, and i will try to bring the group together again and play another mysery.
 
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aramis
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Location: Oregon, USA
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Re: The Dance of Dreams

Sun 16 Aug 2020, 09:25

Yeah, the connection to former members of the Society was a completely missed clue for my players too. Nevermind, I used the story as a starter for a campaign, so they will have time to figure it out later. I chose to make the 3 former members of the Society the player's grandparents, so that I can bring them back later in their stories, and they could remember they were alleged murderers of Oscar.
My players had checked to see if they had anything in the mansion relating to Oscar Hjort, and got several successes.

So they found that Oscar was indeed a part of the society, and disappeared... so they knew who were active at the time...
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Smith & Wesson: the original point and click interface...
 
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aramis
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Re: The Dance of Dreams

Tue 25 Aug 2020, 09:29

Read up on the starter's adventure this morning. It's not a miracle of modern roleplaying game design, but a solid ghost story without any Alienesque Body-Horror or Jump Scares and no big metaplot or cosmic horror.
There is a bit of body-horror... Oscar posesses both Sami and Sophia. players don't know why they aren't affected by the sleep.

There also is a more than strong hint at a metaplot: What was it that Albert, Katja, and Hilma were suggesting? how complicit was Pyri? Is that plot still a viable, or even needed deed? And what other things did those 3 do that need remedying?
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Smith & Wesson: the original point and click interface...
 
Byrax
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Joined: Fri 08 Jan 2016, 10:42
Location: Mythic North

Re: The Dance of Dreams

Sun 13 Sep 2020, 16:48

Hm, in the Swedish book, on page 209 about Oskar Hjort, there is something called ’death of the songs’, apperantly a scheme by the last members of the Society. Tied to the forthcoming meta-plot described early in the scenario? Anyone found out something more? Might be connected to the devil flute in the flyer?
 
ChristopherRobin
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun 06 Sep 2020, 19:27

Re: The Dance of Dreams

Sat 03 Oct 2020, 10:54

Another question about Oscar: In The Vaesen book by Egerkrans it says that "gast" (ghoul in the english version? I use the Swedish version) is the spirit of an evil person (contrasted with the other types of ghost vaesen). But there isnt really any indication of Oscar being an evil person right?
 
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Daïna
Posts: 138
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Location: France

Re: The Dance of Dreams

Sat 03 Oct 2020, 11:11

Another question about Oscar: In The Vaesen book by Egerkrans it says that "gast" (ghoul in the english version? I use the Swedish version) is the spirit of an evil person (contrasted with the other types of ghost vaesen). But there isnt really any indication of Oscar being an evil person right?
I think you want to consider Oscar, not as "evil" in absolute, but as "full of hatred" as the rulebook says. Being murdered really altered his temper. :lol:

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