The Green Room

Obligatory OOC Thread!

We’ll be back here during the commercial breaks!

Posted a few notes on Act One and the basic set up of the game. We are aiming to hit some classic reality TV shot beats before each commercial break.

I’ll post more as we advance through the game, providing a kind of OOC of what we are aiming to achieve!

We can start once everyone has submitted and we’ve landed on a location!

Working on a post in the next while that will set up the first room, utilizing the Features everyone gave! After that… it’s up to you!

Try to get that screen time! Feel free to run with it.

"Rumor has it…"

Have an aside with the camera person where you react to what the other idiots just said/did or giving your own contrary info/theories.

I’ll poke and prod as we go, asking questions and giving suggestions.

Leigh, admit it, you were involved in the cover up. XD

I can neither confirm, nor deny 😉

But we got some conflicting information about her. Rumors and all that. And who knows, maybe Leigh is just getting the names mixed up. She probably spent most of her freshman year drunk anyway.

If you feel like you’re ready to move on to the next room, then you can roll PROVOKE!

We can say that the next room will be the Common Room. I won’t speak to the Features, that’s your job, but my understanding is that it’s the hangout spot!

Just a PROVOKE from @witchdoctor and a Feature from @witchdoctor and @The4x4Guy!

Then I’ll move us into the next room. We’ve already accumulated 2 Provokes. So trucking along nicely. A little faster than I expected maybe, but there’s no limit on the rooms we can visit.

Although, the amount of rooms will matter in the end…

Just a note to say that lm mighty sick this weekend. Will try to get to my player duties before my DM duties, if I even manage that. Sorrry all.

Get well soon, KCC 💚

Yeah, get better soon, KCC! :>

It’s been a woeful couple of days, folks, I won’t lie! Hopefully it doesn’t take the steam out of the game! I’ll get us chugging along again soon! On the mend, I think.

Back on the horse now. The game might have cooled, so giving people the chance to re-assess!

I'm definitely still interested. This game is really fun so far!

I'm up for jumping right back into it. :D

Glad to see you recovered, KCC!

Unfortunately landed back in hospital again this morning. Can’t seem to get a handle on the specific needs this time around to get this under control.

Seems like we are still waiting on some people to post from last time. So, let’s just wait and see how the next few days go.

Really sorry, everyone.

I've been waiting to post because I know you've been super sick. I didn't want to add any pressure to your situation. I feel like you should focus on your health. We'll all be here when you feel well enough to take up the reins as GM again.

Much appreciated, witchdoctor! Thanks! ^^

Don't be sorry, we can definitely wait! And I hope whatever is bothering you abates soon.
I've been having some trouble writing the response this time around, but I'll post something today. :V

Once we finish in Alice’s bedroom, I suspect we will have enough Provoke to cut to commercial. We’ll take a day or two to share some ooc. What works, what doesn’t, what you want more of from me etc.

Glad everyone is still here despite the rocky patch of illness there!

Hello everyone. Some bad news - I’m gonna have to go on a hiatus from GamersPlane for awhile. One of my senior pups has gotten very sick and on top of working two jobs I just don’t have enough mental capacity to write up some quality posts for awhile. I’m sorry for this being so sudden but I hope everyone can understand. Keep on keepin’ on and it was a pleasure!

It was great playing with you too! And I hope things get calmer in your life soon, my best wishes to you and your pups. :>

Wishing you and the pups all the best!

Hope the dog is ok.

I hope things turn out for the best. GP will be here for you when you have time to return.

Well, that would have been a great way to write out that character 🤣 Oops, poisoned

Back at it, folks! 13 hour days and lingering illness.

I will get back to the doctor… someday! 😴

This gave me some interesting mental images. XD

That was a whole thing back in the 1920s-30s in America. There was a big spiritualism movement and con artists would hold seances where they'd "contact the dead' and regurgitate cotton and call it "ectoplasm".

It must have been quite unpleasant to do. I can't imagine cotton being very tasty; especially after regurgitation. :V

We are about to get undeniable, real proof that something real is happening here. No more hijinks, no more messing around. Something real is going to happen, and then we are going to cut to commercial and reassess how we feel about the game!

What do you mean no more hijinks?! But my special effects, I positively need to set something on fire! :P

Alright folks! Time for opinions on what works, and what really doesn’t. Do the mechanics make it feel aimless? Do you enjoy the freedom? Should we continue, or was this a fun little thing that’s fine to be over?

Don’t be shy! I’m not sentimental, and I have thoughts of my own!

I feel like the mechanics kind of... don't exist so far. I like the shared establishing of details in the room, but for the dice rolls, they seem entirely pointless to me so far. Doesn't bother me, though. I'm having tons of fun with the rp and definitely want to continue (even though the provoking part sounds more fun to me conceptually than the ghost part). So I say, let's keep going with this!

Yeah, the mechanics are very sparse. They’ll become more important later, when the game turns, I guess!

I do wonder if it leans a little close to ‘belonging outside belonging’ systems where it’s hard to keep the game going when there’s no mechanical weight to react to?

Like Bowl, I'm having a lot of fun hamming around with the other characters but have zero idea how, or even if, the game mechanics function...and I'm perfectly okay with that.

Basically, we gather enough Provoke (which I will reduce now that one player has dropped!) to provoke the ghost into reveling itself, whereby we try to escape with our lives using Survive!

The higher your provoke, the quicker the ghost arrives and the less rooms we need to race back through to escape. The higher your survival, the more chance you have of making it through those rooms where others may not!

Well, good thing I'm great at Survive 😎

I'd like to continue, I'm having fun. I just wish I got to interact with Joe more, since it feels like him and Narcissus have the least amount of rapport (positive or negative) in the group. It would be awkward if they end up alive together; not that my Survive of 2 gives a good chance for that, but still. :P

I also like the mechanics, I think they work well. The idea of using stats to determine the length and difficulty is quite interesting, and it's probably even better face-to-face, since it's scarce enough to not distract from all the drama. XD

True, we haven't seen much of those two together, but they feel like they could have a pretty decent dynamic. Maybe they'll get a chance on the way out. Or after they're the only ones still alive 😄

Joe and the Professor would make for an interesting dynamic and they haven't really had a good chance to interact. I feel like that will probably change once the 'show' aspect breaks down and his focus changes away from being a camera hog.

I agree, I'm really enjoying the characters and world. I want to see this ghost hunt to the end!

None of us have Survive higher than 3, I don't think it's going to be a very long ghost hunt. :'D
...Assuming it works like "roll under or die" or even "get enough successes per room, or someone dies".

• For the next rooms: Incredibly, the cast and crew have stirred up something real here, and it’s beginning to warp the environment. The Rooms are weirder. The Features are darker.

• For Surviving the end: In each Room, every member of the Crew rolls 1d6 and adds their PROVOKE rating. Whoever rolls the highest will draw the ire of the Ghost. The Ghost will attack, using one of the Features in the Room to assist. The Ghost’s target takes 1 off their SURVIVE stat as damage. Every player can also simply negate this damage once per game – describe what you do to fend off this harmful attack.

I’ll describe it more fully later on, but you can use your Provoke to have the ghost attack someone else instead of you too!

Why don’t we call the next room the Dorm Bathrooms. I’m imagine something akin to the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, realism be damned.

Weird features, folks. Dark!

All sinks are filled to the brim with red-tinted water. Is that from rusty pipes, or blood?

The lights spontaneously turn into blacklights that reveal horrible messages written in fluorescent paint.

Not the PvP among our very nice and friendly crew members! :0

For the feature, let's say that there is a weathered mannequin dramatically positioned before a mirror. Maybe even a number of them, in a circle.
(I'm not letting go of the art installation angle that easily.)

For my feature, I'll say that there are terrifying messages that appear on the steam-fogged mirrors of the bathroom. Written as the cast watches, seemingly written by invisible hands.

Thanks all! We certainly hit a speed bump this last ten days. Holiday season here. I’ll get a substantial post up tomorrow and see this thing out!

Features for one last room, folks! Let’s have it be the attic, where Alice was, allegedly, found dead.

The substance on the windows is @bowlofspinach feature! What is it?

Well, it's clearly:

To be left to the imagination. The attic… in the student housing section of the college. One can only imagine…

Anyone want to share in my brain rot? XD I've stumbled across this song on YT, and now I can't help but think that this would be the dynamic of Ricky and Professor if our crew were detectives instead.

Psych is great!

Is it? It's the first time I've ever stumbled upon anything related, maybe I should watch it! Do they have more songs? :D

No I don't think so haha. I didn't even know this one! Must be a later season.

Aww, but songs make everything better! Well, it still seems fun. Though I don't watch a lot of long series since I have a bad habit of getting too invested, resulting in impromptu binge marathons. XD

The ghost reveal was great, KCC! :0

The Professor should get the Employee of the Year Award for getting that camera from J Money's still warm corpse before bailing!

Nice, creepy reveal! Stuck at work currently & been a rough couple of days for posting time but I'll have something posted up later tonight.

We just discussed that if we get it on camera, then we can't be blamed for murder! I couldn't not lean into it. XD

Dammit I shouldn't read the OOC thread before the game thread!

This is a true sign that we got into the setting; spoilers are real!
Oh shi--

I like how you literally named the person with the lowest Provoke in the group there 😅

...I have delivered! :P

Oh no, professor!

See, that's what you get for checking on the people who are being left behind. Dont do such silly things

But I'm a doctor! ...well, almost.

I do wonder, though. If all of us play it the most efficiently, it is very unlikely for any of us to die at all. Regardless of the stat spread, we can all redirect/soak up to 3 attacks and negate 1. With only 5 rooms it is almost a guarantee that we can split the damage between us without anyone going to 0. (Excluding the possibility of Justin's Revenge.)

...question is, do we want to play it efficiently? XD

That was my thinking as well. I guess we're not supposed to work together, but the odds don't seem bad for us.

I guess we'll have to see

Yeah, simply being able to negate the damage one time per game seems a bit OP! Considering we only have 5 rooms. Perhaps the game is supposed to operate on many more rooms.

Though, if I can just kill Ricky (1 Survive) then suddenly there’s two ghosts doing one damage a turn at least…

Oh, speaking of Provoke! If a character redirects an attack and thus loses 1 Provoke, then in the next room do they add current Provoke to the roll, or starting Provoke?

Current, I have to imagine. A depleting resource!

And if you spend it all, you also die!

Narrowly pulled ahead of you 😂

The only thing which would make it more impressive is if Ricky gets a 10!

It's possible. he does have a Provoke of 4, I think...

Genius explanation, witchdoctor!

Hey, what is this secret plotting in here 🤨

Haha, who is plotting, me? Never!

Oh no, it's spreading! The secret whispering!1!11!

Gonna need some Provoke rolls for when our ghosts show up!

Question: There's only this room and the entrance hall left. I still have 3 Survive and one free damage block. Leigh can't actually die in this anymore, right?

Hmmm… that does seem to be the case, yes! But Leigh doesn’t know that! (He says nervously!)

Huh, I would have had to be targeted in four out of the five rooms to actually die (all five, if we include the attack redirect through Provoke, though that can be blocked).
The balance in this game seems not very well thought out...

I guess… if you redirect the ghost this round, you take a point of Provoke damage. And if you did it again in the next room, you would give up and die, according to the rules.

Just ignore that bit about the free tanking!

Yea, I could still commit suicide. Honestly, if Ricky makes it out of here alive, that might actually be worth considering

Just saw your post.

I do think there are generally more rooms involved in the game. 5 players, generally picking up 2 or so provoke per room. Maybe you set the Provoke target a bit higher like 16. And then you’d have a few more rooms to traverse through. I think five rooms is probably a bit too short with so many players.

But Ricky and Joe could still die. Maybe the Professor too!

I agree with this.

If Joe gets targeted this turn (which I believe would be fatal for him?), do feel free to redirect it onto Professor.

If Joe dies, then that might be enough to overcome Leigh's "invulnerability" tho 😂

I'm always trying to save characters, but it's up to you. XD

Interestingly, if we had three more rooms, we would've already been at a guaranteed TPK.To add to the discussion about the number of rooms and game balance, I've been wondering if the dead PCs are actually supposed to be attacking as per rules. The part about them is somewhat ambiguous, and on first reading I thought it meant that the only thing they get is Revenge (as in blocking redirect). It seemed that it's way too easy to enter a death spiral after the number of ghosts becomes more than the number of living, especially if it's supposed to be more rooms.

In our case the balance is skewed because of Justin being dead from the first room, but after some theorizing I'm actually starting to lean into the multiple ghost rule, because otherwise it needs significantly more rooms to be challenging. (Although, perhaps more rooms is intended for more roleplay? How quick is this game supposed to be around a table?)

In either case, it feels like the GM has to math hard about Provoke goal in the first act if they want the game to be difficult. XD
Here are my numbers on this, if you're interested!(This all ignores a lot of factors like ties and ghosts getting lucky/unlucky with targets, of course.)

What I'm saying is that I want a second go with a Provoke target of about 30. XD

Thanks for doing all the extended math, Flying!

I also read it as the second ghost only being able to block a redirect, not actively killing. But without that, this would be even easier for us, so I think for our purposes, it's better this way.

More players would mean more provoke. Set the target high. Kill off all the people who ghost the game! Set loose about 15 ghosts on people!

It would be interesting if there was a way for GM - or random chance - to focus on specific PCs. Like, give the ghost a limited ability of targeting, make it so there is actually thrill in choosing whether you want to redirect/block or save these for later. (Specifically with block - I just don't see a reason to not use it the first chance you get?) Something like "[number of players] per game, the GM can choose who the ghost chooses as a target, but they can't choose the same player in two sequential turns or more than twice". That way, GM can wait until the mighty random brings someone down and then strike unexpectedly, but can't just auto-kill someone (unless the someone is a very unlucky 4/1).

Now there's a Provoke roll! Joe is apparently really grating on those ghost's nerves for some reason 😂 I couldn't imagine why...

The ghost is very angry that she now owns a very fashionable tie, but no suit to go with it

Does that have the Professor dead? He could pass it off to either Ricky or Narcissus, if he wants. Otherwise I think it’s lights out… with a flare!

How would the professor be dead? He rolled the lowest out of everyone. And isn't he still uninjured?

In my country, we use Professor when we really mean Joe Glickmann. Oops!

I apologize for my culturally insensitive comment 😞

Interestingly, if Joe dies this room, we all just take one guaranteed hit in the final room. Three ghosts, three victims.

Unless you all tie! Then it’s Scooby Doo shit!

I think Joe was the only one with a tie

How would you rule it if only two highest tie? Like if two roll 5, and one 4?

Apologies, all! A busy week of buuuuullshit! I wanted to do Joe justice. I hope his death was okay!

Justin did so hate his smart mouth! Better to end it quick before he gets a final cutting remark in!

Joe ( from the Other Side ):
And Scene.... takes a deep bow.

The question becomes… Does @witchdoctor want to describe the actions of murderous Ghost Joe in this final room, or leave it to me?

Very dramatic death scene, truly worthy of Joe Glickmann!

Also, I'd still like an answer to my question, please.

That’s a good question! I meant to go back and answer it!

I guess it would depend. In the next room (with three survivors and three ghosts):

A) One Ghost gets befuddled by two players. The other two attack the unfortunate third.
B) Two Ghosts get befuddled by two players and the last attacks the third.
C) They all attack the third (this doesn’t seem in keeping with the game’s intent!) and that person would be determined by a dice roll.

Of those three, I’d lean towards B, so as not to make anyone feel singled out or that I was trying to have a sting in the tail of the game.

But I could see a case for A, too, within the mechanics!

I'll let you handle Joe's ghostly attacks. I feel like you handle that better than I would.

Well, that opens up a philosophical question 🤔 If Joe's ghost is controlled by someone other than who originally controlled him, is he really the Joest or just an expansion of Alice?

Well, that's our chances of a 3-way tie ruined. Good job, Nezz

With a roll that high, Ricky isn’t killed by a ghost, but by the van smashing into the building/his own bright idea!

I'm a naturally high roller! You are lucky Ricky has lasted this long!

Joe took the high spot long enough to get himself killed. I honestly expected Ricky to get the first victim with how high his Provoke was 😂

He only has one Survive. Time to deploy Option C above. Get him!!

Bring it on!

Oops, the ghosts are too afraid of fire, no ties for us

That’s all from me, folks! A final survival post from our survivors, describing your getaway and thoughts, if you please! :)

We will also need some heartfelt eulogies from the survivors (on camera, of course) talking about how much the deceased meant to them!

(If you want!)

Yay we survived! I'll get a post up this afternoon!

Haven't checked the thread yet but can I still provoke the ghost over to Ricky? 😆

Great game! Lots of wacky, spooky fun!

Lovely game, folks! I’ll give FS a while longer to get any final post in and shut this things down sometime tomorrow!

Thanks for playing! Very much appreciated!

Sorry, sorry, I'll post in an hour or so. This was a fun game, thanks to all the players and the GM! :)

I rewatched this old video by one of my favorite youtubers and I feel like it might be of particular interest to the players of this game.

The Worst Ghost Hunting Show of All Time

Haha yeah I'm subscribed to her, she's great. I thought of this video when we were originally starting this game.