[Actual Play] Little Fears: The Septic Tank Goblin

[urbwar]

(This is my second ever actual play, so hopefully it's not too boring)

Four years ago, I bought a copy of Little Fears at my FLGS. I've been wanting to run it ever since, but could never find enough players. During a thread on rpg's over at NerdNYC, I found out that a few people were interested in playing the game. So I pulled it off my shelf, and decided to go ahead and run it. Due to various family emergencies, some people couldn't make it to the first game, so I ended up having only three players:

Thor Olavsrud is fairly well known on this forum, and someone I've gamed with for a few years now.

Andrew Ciotti is one of my oldest gaming buddies, and a close friend in general. I was kind of surprised Andrew was interested in playing, since in the past he expressed little interest in the game. I was pleased he changed his mind, as I was sure he'd add an interesting twist to things (and he didn't dissapoint!)

Mayuran I had not met before, but knew him from threads over on NerdNYC. I had no idea what to expect from him, since I didn't really know him

I was pretty excited about running, but due to some issues at work, I wasn't really about to prep much leading up to the game. I had browsed through the book a few times, trying to get the rules down (which thankfully, is fairly easy as the mechanics are very simple). I was able to finish up my pre-game prep 30 minutes before the game, but I was still a little unprepared rules-wise (imho). Thankfully, I'm a very improv style GM, so I can run with a half page to page of notes, some npc stats, and the actions of my players.

Other than Thor, I am not sure who else posts here, but if the do, I hope they will correct any mistakes, add their own comments, etc.

I chose one of the scenarios in the book called Hide and Go Seek. I felt drawn to this scenario for some reason, so I went with it.

Anyway, Mayruan and Thor chose to play boys, while Drew went with a girl. They all go to an unamed Catholic school in NYC

Here's the basics on the characters they came up with:

Drew played Lucy Penbrook, age 8. Lucy is athletic, a teacher's pet, and sometimes finds herself Guided. She also wears glasses, is potty mouthed, and tends to scream when frightened.

Mayruan played Daniel Wong, age 9. Daniel is a comic reading expert, a computer savvy nerd, a karate kid, a whiz kid, and a fast runner. He also wears glasses, is repeatedly picked on, and hates being small in his brother's hand me down clothes.

Thor played Diego, age 11. Diego is athletic, fleet of foot, multilingual, popular with his fellow kids, and faithful. His family is poor though, his brother is a tagalong (causing much problems for him), he's afraid of heights, and is haunted.

Along with the three players, there was Diego's little brother, Pedro, and Sally, who gets them involved in the adventure.

The game opens with the players in the playground at school Friday morning. Daniel and Pedro are playing, while Diego is standing around, trying to look and act cool. Lucy is nearby, making potty mouthed comments, and trying not to get caught by one of the Nuns overseeing the schoolyard. Sally approaches Lucy, telling her that Jimmy Sacket, another child from their school, disapeared in the middle of the night. His parents tucked him in, even checked on him around Midnight. That morning when his mom went to wake him up, he was gone. Sally's worried, because Jimmy is a weak kid, and the thought that someone might have taken him from his own room has her frightened. Sally tried to convince Lucy and Diego that they need to find Jimmy, as she believes there's more going on than what the grown ups are willing to admit.

At this point, Daniel and Pedro provoke Lucy by flinging a booger at her with a slingshot. This led to our first Test, as Lucy tries to snatch Diego's Lacrosse stick, and use it to whack Pedro. Miraculously, Lucy beats Diego in the test (Lucy has a Muscle of 1, while Diego has a 4), but misses when she tries to whack Pedro in the head. In retaliation, Diego nails Lucy in the back of the head with a whipper snapper, leading her to really get all potty mouthed (to the point of having a nun give her a lecture about using foul language). After some more banter between the players (with Daniel convincing Sally to tell the whole school that Lucy and Pedro are dating!), they all agree to look for Jimmy at the construction site of a new mall near Jimmy's house (where they all used to play before something made Jimmy unwilling to go back there to play).

This opening to the game went over very well, imho. Everyone started getting into character much easier than I thought they would. Lucy beating Diego in a Muscle test was a surprise to all of us, but it actually made the scene much more amusing, especially after Diego nailed her with a whipper snapper. That would be the start of Lucy's torment at her companions hands though....

We had to go over the mechanics 2 or 3 times, as the rules for a Quiz and a Test (Quiz being unopposed action, a Test being a contested one) are slightly different. After that though, it seemed to flow over well.

From there, we had a few minor scenes: Diego speaks with a school counselor regarding Jimmy's disappearance, commenting that he couldn't understand how someone with two parents could have something bad happen to them (Diego's dad died, and he's still dealing with the loss, especially since his mother works multiple jobs to make ends meet). This was a nice dramatic scene, with the counselor trying to console him (and a accidental red herring was dropped in the process, as the counselor told Diego that just because Jimmy has two parents doesn't mean he's necessarily happier than Diego is with one parent. This lead them to suspect the counselor might know something, but they never did act on it)

Daniel did some research on his computer, locating the online version of the afternoon edition of the local paper. A story about Jimmy's disapearance was there, so he printed it up to show everyone. Lastly, they all had a scene in the lunch room, finalizing plans for going to the construction site (with Daniel making them wait, as he has violin lessons after school, which he hates). Lucy (influenced by her Guided quality) decides to go speak to Old Man Tyler, who is cited in the article as claiming to have seen Jimmy at the construction site around 3 am, but was dismissed by the police as being crazy.

Lucy goes to see Old Man Tyler, who has a mean tempered Pitbull named Frankenstein. Tyler is drunk when Lucy speaks to him, and the two trade curses as Tyler tells Lucy what he saw. Since Frankenstein seemingly wanted to follow Jimmy into the partly constructed mall, but Tyler wouldn't allow it. He also commented that he felt a chill in the air, and the weather didn't support such cold. Armed with this knowledge, Lucy goes to meet up with her friends.....

who have gone to the construction site ahead of her, using a way in Diego knows. As they enter the site, they find footprints in the ground (which had been damp the night before), which look like a childs. They enter the mall, only to find the lights are not working. Pedro hands Diego a flashlight, and they lead the rest of the group inside. Lucy joins them as they are hesitating moving further into the building. After a few minutes, they find the Septic Tank that Jimmy was always afraid of. Lucy, once more proving that even a feeble person can sometimes accomplish great things, is able to jimmy open the septic tank. She tries looking inside, only to have Daniel (tired at her constant cursing) push her inside. She tries to move out of the way, but fails, and so falls inside the septic tank. Failing her fear test, Lucy freaks out, and starts screaming at the top of her lungs. Sally tries to give her Pedro's flashlight, but accidently drops it on top of Lucy's head, illiciting more screams from the frightened girl.

Now that we somewhat had the mechanics for taking a Quiz and Test down, Daniel's attempt to push Lucy into the tank took less time. We also saw the Fear check in action, which was nothing nore than a specialized Quiz (ie uncontested roll). The nice thing about Fear Tests is that when you fail, you can roll on a chart, but you can also opt to have any negative qualities that would be appropriate to the situation come into play instead. Andrew rolled on the chart, and got the one where Lucy basically soils herself (which in the muck of the septic tank, wasn't that big of a deal)[/color]

After letting Lucy scream for a few minutes, Diego convinces his brother to be lowered into the septic tank. Pedro searches through the muck, eventually finding Jimmy's body. He fails a fear check, and literally tries to claw his way out of the tank. Lucy sees the body as well, and starts screaming again. Diego lowers a hose down, and Pedro ties it around his waist, so Diego can pull him up. Lucy holds onto his waist, and Diego manages to get them both up. Pedro flees the building in terror, while Lucy (still hysterical, but not as bad as Pedro) lets the others know they found Jimmy's body. Diego goes after his brother, finding him puking outside the building. Afraid to go to the police directly, they leave the construction site, and Daniel makes an anonymous call to the police. They all go home, their young lives forever changed by finding Jimmy's body.

to be continued...

[urbwar]

As the children went home, each did their best to deal with the horror of finding Jimmy's body. Most of them see on the news (the local news interrupted regular programming to run a special bulletin) about Jimmy's body being found.

Daniel handled it best, being somewhat jaded (or at least, that's how Maryuan played him)

Lucy took a length bath and changed into her pajamas. Before going to bed, she said various prayers, circled her bed a few times, clutched her mother's locket in her hand, and surrounded herself with all her teddy bears.

Diego took Pedro home, gave him a bath, and sat with him until he fell into a fitful sleep. Pedro had nightmares 2 or 3 times between the time he went to bed and 2 am.

Around 2:30 am, Lucy awakens due to a gross odor in her room. She realizes the odor is the same as what she smelled from the septic tank. She hears a hissing sound, as well as the sound of sparks. She remains under the covers, while something in a raspy voice warns her that once she fell into the septic tank, she became "his", and that eventually he'd have her. Whatever it is leaves, and Lucy stays under the covers, eventually falling back to sleep

At about 3 am, Diego smells the same odor, and rushes to his brother's room, lacrosse stick in hand. Opening the door, he sees a small figure between him and his brother's bed. He notices that his brother's Red Ranger action figure is standing on the edge of the bed, it's gun pointed towards the being. The being turns towards him, and he is overcome by fright (ie he failed his fear Quiz), and bolts from the room. The creature chases after him, and he flees into his mother's room. Thankfully his mother is home, and the creature flees as she awakens. He tells his mother he had a nightmare. He pleads with her to let him stay with her for the rest of the night, and after checking in on Pedro (who is sleeping soundly), agrees.

The various things Lucy did, and Pedro's Red Ranger action figure moving to the end of the bed were actions tied to the Belief mechanic. While magic is fairly unpredictable in the game, the dice were totally on the player's side when I rolled (the GM rolls to see if Belief comes into play; if it does, then the player has control over whatever their belief brings to life). If Diego had passed his fear check, his lacrosse stick would have been a potent weapon against the creature. Since he failed, the creature was able to get away to terrorize them at least one more night.

Sadly, Andrew had to leave due to a family emergency, so Lucy was relegated to NPC status for the remainder of the session. That was a bummer, as his character helped provide some conflict amongst the characters, as well as some comic bits that helped provide some breaks in the darkness of the events the characters were experiencing.


Diego oversleeps due to the events of Friday night, and finds his brother watching tv. He tells him what happened, which alarms Pedro, who wonders why the creature didn't harm him. They call Daniel, who seems skeptical, but still agrees to do some research. After some web surfing, he finds a page on obscure folklore that lists a creature called a "Sewer Goblin", dating back to ancient Rome. He prints the material up, and goes to meet Diego and his brother.

Pouring over the information, the read that the Goblin can be killed by fire, or surprisingly, by cleaning it (such as forcing it into bath water, etc). They decide to set a trap at Lucy's house (since her family is affluent, they have a large house, and therefore more than one room with a tub in it). Diego and his brother grab their super soakers, while Daniel soaks some rocks for his sling in Draino. Since the Goblin seemingly targeted Lucy and Pedro, they will be the bait to lure the Goblin into their trap.

Once again, Belief came into play, as the characters all felt that dumping the Goblin into a bath tub filled with cleanser would kill it. Again, the dice were on their side, so now it was a matter of facing off with the Goblin, and destroying it

The characters wait for hours, until the foul stench of the Goblin appears late in the evening. It threatens both Lucy and Pedro, who pretend to be freaked out (the both actually passed their fear checks). Diego comes out of the closet, passes his fear check, and fires his super soaker at the Goblin. The creature recoils in pain from the liquid, and Pedro joins in on the assault. Daniel (who was down the hall) rushes to join them, and nails the creature with one of his draino covered rocks, causing it more pain. As it charges him, he fails his fear check, and runs screaming down the hall into the bathroom. The Goblin, sensing easy prey, pursues, unaware of the trap laid for it. The Goblin prepares to attack Daniel, only to be attacked from behind by Diego, who swings at it with his lacrosse stick. As he does, he feels his father's hands guiding him, and he nails the creature, knocking it over Daniel (who ducked when Diego appeared in the doorway) into the tub. The creature screams and struggles, but the soap from the bubble bath in the tub consumes it, and it literally melts, leaving behind a horrid stench.

The characters drain the tub, and the remains of the Goblin go down the drain. The characters reflect on their victory, content in knowing that the Goblin would not harm any more children. They prepare for bed (they were all sleeping over at Lucy's), slightly scarred emotionally/mentally from the ordeal, but able to sleep sound....at least for that night.

I was pleased with how the game turned out. The players got inventive, using Lucy's house as the place to destroy the Goblin. Since her house had multiple bathrooms, they had a few places to try and destroy it in. The Goblin never did get to actually harm any of them physically, but finding Jimmy's body did damage of another form. We chatted for a bit after the game, going over some things about the game and it's system before calling it a night.

Things that I liked about the game: The base mechanics are very easy, and make things run smoothly when dice rolls were required (which was not too often). I also felt the players did a decent job of getting into their characters, which helped set the tone of the game how I hoped it would be.

Things I didn't like about the game: My only problem was not having the rules down as well as I would have liked. Considering how simple the system is, I wish I could have had a bit more time to bone up before the game (which was entirely my own fault). Now that I've run it once, I feel confident I won't have the same issue the next time I run the game.

I had a great time running the game, and I got the impression that the players enjoyed it. If all goes well, I'll be running this again (for a few other people from NerdNYC) down the road, which I am looking forward to.

[Mayuran]

once again - thanks, jerry, for making this happen. here are my comments on little fears and our actual play.

one of the things that was most confusing to me was the relationship between the character sheet questionaire and the mechanics. about 80% of what was included in the questions did not have an impact on play.

these questions generated the personality of the character, which is great (my character was loosely based on my best friend from primary school), but outside of the "stats" and the "qualities" (traits that give a +1 positive or negative dice to a roll) there wasn't much need for so many questions.

jerry had also warned us or commented that elements of child abuse were part of the game. this never really came up - but colored what i was expecting (such as the possibilities for andrew's characters interaction with old man tyler). later jerry explained that he didn't feel like going "in that direction" but pointed out places in the gamebook where potential child abuse situations are explored and explained.

interactions between Andrew, Thor, and I included many elements of PVP for the first half of the game. we made some nasty kids - who kept swearing at, insulting, and hitting each other. this was resolved through opposed rolls - but at times we couldn't determine who had to roll what against what. other times, a player would say "i'm fine with that happening" and no rolls were made.

i'm not sure if there is a social conflict mechanic - such as if I wanted to talk to Andrew's character to stop insulting her little boyfriend, instead of just pushing her into a septic tank. what would we roll?

some questions for anyone who has used little fears for long term play:
- do the characters advance mechanically or do they simply become less innocent and less soulful (these are two scores which we never changed during the game)?
- what are some of the ways that people have stretched out the "there is a monster and you have to defeat it" plotting of the game?