Re: [HOE] Killer Clowns Spoilers

[Dirk <darklord@dark-sky.net>]

Bryce wrote:

> Spoilers for Killer Clowns... I*Always*thought*clowns...were scary...
> and so this makes perfect sense to me.  <snip>The map is good, except
> for the markings of A and B. However, I'm thinking of inking in the
> internals of the Enchanted Woods, to help create the feeling of being
> lost while inside the Woods. The Puppet is a fairly deadly challenge,
> what with the instant kill potential.  But I do like the way it is,
> with the hanging corpse and the twisting, grasping tentacle-like
> wires.  The Big Bad Wolf is very tough, I could see a few players
> going down to it.  Also, I don't know if I want the players to realise
> that Wolf and the Clowns are automatons.  I guess its okay, but I do
> like how the Clowns dissolve into a pretty puddle of goo.  Dempsey,
> itself, is also a tough hombre.  Its going to take a lot of firepower,
> brains, and luck to take this hombre down. I'm guessing this adventure
> is for a group of experienced survivors.  What is it like when its
> run?  Also, this is the third dime novel, what is the second one?  And
> how many dime novels are there for HOE? Thanks in Advance, Bryce

First, my posse was really freaked by the place, so they avoided the
woods all together.  After rescuing their first hostage, they really
wanted to get the heck off of the island, it was really dumb luck that
they found the second hostage.

Now for the clowns, when you are about to to first have someone spot one
for the first time, do this.  Get up to get a drink, or use the
facilities, on your way back to your seat, make sure only 1-2 of your
players are looking at you, do the pimp walk, have a big demonic grin on
your face, wave at them, and sit down.  It went over great in my group.
With a "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?" scream, "A clown",  "WHERE DID IT GO?"
"It's gone now..."

Also, this is one tough adventure, if you need to tone it down a bit,
remember that everything on the island is there solely to scare the
daylights out of them, and if they are dead, they aren't scared
anymore.  I made sure that everyone made it to the final showdown.  Even
when I had A character all alone, and dead to rights, I instead chose to
slice off his arm (which made him pass out), so that he would worry
about bleeding to death while the others finished riding the coaster,
and fighting the clowns on the tracks.  My reasoning for his survival,
they want to scare them, so instead of letting him die, One of the
clowns took a blow torch to his arm to stop the bleeding, tied him up
and stuck him in the enchanted forest (the one place they hadn't been
yet besides Dempsey himself).

In the end, we had two really wounded guys, one dead guy, and a whole
lot of fun.  This is one adventure where you really want to play up the
"Horror" aspect of it all.  My posse also went the entire adventure
thinking that the little white ball that was rolling across the floor
early in the adventure would have really kicked their butts if they
hadn't left it alone.

Hope the info helps.

--Dirk