Developing a Stench in Stilton

UPDATE: This has now been released, you can read more about it here.

Something Stinks in Stilton is the name of a LotFP scenario I've been scribbling. I've ran it twice so far, both times receiving very positive feedback along with some suggestions to build upon it and I'm feeling exceptionally up-beat. It's also the reason why I've not posted much here recently as I've been wary of discussing too much about the scenario until I release it, just in case any potential play testers read it and get massive spoilers.

One thing I can talk about is how the process has made me feel. See, this is the first time I've actively taken time to commit a scenario to paper; quite often when I run games I'm usually winging it from a couple of sheets of single-line notes, and once finished I bin the sheets. This time I sat down with the intention of actually producing something that, once tidied up, I could release to the public in a "I made dis for you, enjoys" approach.

As a result I've found myself getting caught up in perfecting it, with the current story being fairly different from what I initially set out to do. In fact I'd go as far to say that I've probably written 3 scenarios so far of a similar theme, there's been that much adjusting going on.

It's also my first attempt at writing something that's disturbing, something that makes players lean in and hang on every word before going, "Ewwww...." or "Urgh...". Going by the past two play tests, I think I've managed that but there's still scope to amp it up a little.

One of the things that made me smile however was the directness of players. In both tests, the players didn't wait around to dive straight into the danger. I had written in little lines that would encourage them to go in but they went unused - player's don't want to waste time investigating if they smell the cheese as it were.

Conversely, as soon as the players get into the danger they want to nope-the-fuck back out of it. In both play tests at least one player said along the lines of, "No, we need to get out of here!" and in both situations it was having literally stepped into the first room and hearing a strangled roar of rage and pain (which hurts my throat considerably - the pain is real).

My current plan of action is to write in a few changes which should expand the story out a bit and allow players a couple of ways to uncover more background information should they wish to do so and then open it up for another clump of testing. Tonight however I'll be running "Tower of the Stargazer" for the group, session review to follow!