[Spookybeans] Very first Playtest EVAR

[Ben Morgan]

I just had the very first Spookybeans playtest ever on Sunday at I-Con, and I have to say I think it went swimmingly.

First thoughts:

I'm very happy to discover that that mechanics that worked so wonderfully in my head actually do work in actual play as well (who woulda thunk it). The system was easy enough to explain to my players in about 15 minutes, even without them having read the rules yet. Oooh points were flying fast and furious, as I hoped they would.

Any rough spots in the session I blame on my own rustiness (I haven't actually run a game in nearly three years!), and lack of proper prep on my part. Next time, I'll know better, and be able to throw more of the setting at the players. It may have just been a product of the scenario I ran, but the feel of the game ended up being less Beetlejuice and more Fast Times at Ridgemont High (which is nothing bad in and of itself, as I was mainly testing mechanics).

The only sticking point in the system so far has to do with Happy-Happy and Doom-Doom, and it wasn't so much "this is broken", but more like "this needs more work", which is what I was suspecting anyway, so all in all, this is good.

On to the scenario itself:

I had 3 players, Bruce (playing Droo, manic culture vulture), Michael (playing Summer Johanson, psycho cheerleader), and Kyle (playing Zorak the Mighty, Alien mastermind).

Droo, Summer, and Zorak are hanging out in Euphorium, the local head shop/music store/T-shirt shop/tattoo & piercing place, when a confrontation breaks out between the proprietors, Smokey (played by Tommy Chong) & his wife Sunflower, and Chad Bradley, owner of Bradley Real Estate Ventures (and Euphorium's landlord). Seems that Smokey and Sunflower owe a little back rent - $100,000, to be exact. They have three days to collect the cash or they're out on their butts, and the Euphorium gets torn down to build a Starbucks franchise.

As Sunflower recruits the kids to help save the store, in walks Cameron, computer geek and conspiracy theory nut. Smokey and Sunflower move somewhere off-screen so I can concentrate on running 1 NPC at a time for a while. Cameron is there mainly to provide guidance to the group as they decide how to go about raising $100,000 in 3 days. First order of business: coffee. They adjourn to Java-Saurus Rex (the only competition Starbucks has had in the area for the last ten years).

While in the coffee shop, they are accosted by the main villains of the scenario: the Yuppie Youth Organization. The major antagonists are Pierce Worthington, President of the YYO, his flunky Brock, linebacker for Ross Perot High's varsity football, and Pierce's girlfriend Veronica. The YYO attempt to make fun of our fearless heroes, but are outclassed, and settle for warning against doing anything illegal.

Droo's idea to burglarize Chad's place is deemed unworkable, as is Summer's idea to wash cars, although the car wash motif does come into play again later.

Eventually, it's settled that they're going to have a benefit concert. Turns out Smokey knows some people that know some people, and long story short, he calls in some old favors to get the Grateful Dead to play the show (not bad for 2 days notice).

Droo gets all his skinhead friends to show up, promising them a good opportunity for ass-kicking. Summer sets up a car wash in the Euphorium parking lot to get the word out about the concert. She doesn't earn a lot, but she does make $600 in tips. Zorak the Mighty tracks down some of the more obscure members of the YYO (so obscure, we didn't even detail who they were), and convince them that there's going to be a big rally for the Young Republicans, with a special appearance by Dubya himself. Word spreads fast through the rest of the organization, so that by the time it reaches Pierce, there's no suspicion regarding the source.

Day 2 is spent setting up for the show. Smokey undergoes a startling transformation. For probably the first time in 30 years, his eyes are clear, and his mind is sharp. He directs the backstage operations like a WWII general. By 5pm, everything is ready for the band to go on.

The concert is being held on a makeshift stage in front of the main entrance to Slumber Hollow, the gigantic cemetery at the center of town. Giant banners proclaim: "The Grateful Dead! One Night Only!" Off on the side, smaller, more hastily drawn signs read: "Welcome Young Republicans."

By 7:30pm, every ex-hippie in the Tri-state area has descended on the show, as have all the skinheads. At 8:00pm, the band appears, and in the front... is Jerry Garcia. No mention is made of how he managed to come back from the dead... to the Dead, but hey, it's all good.

The Dead put on a fantastic show. The YYO, having showed up later than the rest, arrive in the middle of the concert. They are absolutely livid at having been tricked, and attempt to leave. Blocking the exits are the skinheads. A giant fight breaks out. The crowning moment is when a pit opens up and it's Droo and Brock, one on one. Many Oooh points are expended, and in the end, Brock gets a head-butt to the forehead, and goes down hard.

It's round about this time that Cameron alerts Zorak to a problem with the sound system, inadvertently caused by Droo, in his attempt to help out earlier on in the day. Cut to Zorak, hanging from the scaffolding, when a power line detaches itself from the lighting rig and begins a slow sparking decent to the speakers stacks. Zorak leaps out and catches it, in slow motion, and lands on the side of the speakers, the rubber soles of his big alien boots insulating him and preventing the 10,000 volts from affecting the speakers. We leave him hanging there for a bit.

Summer had been doing MC duty, and comes on stage after the Dead finish up, and in the middle of waving and gesticulating to the crowd, her cheerleader outfit gets caught on the mic stand and rips off, leaving her there on stage in her underwear. [This was odd, in that it was an instance of a player so juiced up to use an Ouchie that they jumped straight to it without actually making a roll for anything. I decided to let it stand.]

Everyone is piling out of the show when Chad pulls up in his big limo, and demands to know what's going on. The PCs are only too happy to inform him. Chad sneers and tells them it doesn't matter, they still don't have the cash, and that's when Sunflower walks up with the cash box. Not only did they raise the $100,000 for the rent, they even managed to make some profit. Chad makes a suitable "This isn't over" villain exit, and everyone cheers.

I decide it's time for the epilogue, so I jump straight into it. Everyone came out with more Happy-Happy than Doom-Doom, so they all got their good endings.

Smokey comes up to Droo, and offers him free tattoos and piercings for the life of the store as a show of gratitude. After this, a gentleman in a suit comes up to Summer and introduces himself as a talent agent from Hollywood, and offers her his card. Round about this time, everyone notices that Zorak is missing. I cut to the basement of Euphorium, where Zorak is in the middle of setting up lots of alien technology in his new secret base, and laughing maniacally.

-- Ben

[Bryan Hansel]

Great read, and it sounds like the game was a ton of fun.  I'm curious what specifically did not work with the Happy-Happy and Doom-Doom.

[Ben Morgan]

It wasn't specifically that it didn't work, it's just that it could have worked better. In the current version of the rules, Happy-Happy and Doom-Doom only go up when you spend Oooh on a roll. I'm thinking of just making it so every roll adds 1 to HH or DD, depending on success or failure.

-- Ben

[Bryan Hansel]

That would be pretty cool.  I remember reading the rules when you posted them awhile ago and the game looked fun.  By linking Happy-Happy and Doom-Doom to every roll, you could really influence the mood of the game.  What if when you spent Oooh on a roll you had a chance of moving Doom-Doom to Happy-Happy?

[Ben Morgan]

Strictly speaking, it already does that, as adding Oooh to your roll increases your chances of succeeding at the roll.

My main question regards how Ouchies interact with HH & DD. Should taking an Ouchie get you a point of HH, seeing as how it turned a failed roll (that would normally get you a point of DD) into a successfull roll (which would normally get you a point of HH)? Or should you still get DD, seeing as how you initially failed the roll?

Additional notes for next time I run this game (especially at a con):

1. Bring Pez dispenser(s), and hand out Pez for Oooh points.
2. Bring big box of Band-Aids, and hand them out for Ouchies.
3. Flesh out characters a little more (just nifty descriptions & background for each).

-- Ben

[Bryan Hansel]

My vote on it would be that it remains a DD, because the roll was failed. And secondly, ouchies get you Oooh, so you're are gaining something positive out of the negative already.  And you can use that Oooh to gain HH, which will negate the DD you got from the failure.

1. Bring Pez dispenser(s), and hand out Pez for Oooh points.
2. Bring big box of Band-Aids, and hand them out for Ouchies.

Brilliant! And too funny.