[The Infected] The Flood

I've been promising Eric that I'd write up this playtest report for The Infected for some time now. This playtest was run a few months ago and was based on the "1.2" version of the rules (the original rules plus the first two patches). I have since run a playtest with the updated rules, so I'm going to save my deeper analysis for that write-up.

The session involved two players, and took about 3.5 hours. The players were experienced D&D players but relatively new to narrative-style games. We're all avid horror movie fans.

We started out discussing genre movies, and came up with Night of the Living Dead, various Lovecraft films, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, etc. We decided that a 70's era film was in order, and that we wanted to set it in a rural, isolated community with an old, dying economic base (a played-out mine). The setting became Wooshekatan, a fictional Alaskan mining town near Juneau. The town had an old, flooded gold mine, a thin logging industry, and a hunger for the growing tourist trade.

As the players developed their characters, I worked up the infection. I decided that it originated in the "Kitty Corner" gold mine. The name was derived from the original Tlingit name "Kaa Daakeidi" ("Coffin Grave"), which was based on the fact that generations before a group of "unclean" people had been murdered and buried in the mine, which subsequently flooded. The spirits of these "sinful dead" wanted out and wanted revenge. They got their chance when the mine was re-opened in the late sixties; someone drowned, and their body was taken out, starting the infection.

The infection- which is really a supernatural evil possession- is transmitted by the water, which is shared by the infected dead with new hosts. Early symptoms include heavy "perspiration" and coughing. This develops into excessive dampness, silence, and moodiness. Eventually, the eyes roll back, the body bloats unnaturally, the victim begins speaking in tongues and becomes powerfully violent.

The PCs were Diana and Ben. Diana was a wildlife guide from Washington, recently relocated to the area. I believe her Motivation was Love, as she was looking for her partner who came to this town months ago and disappeared. Ben was a reporter, in the area investigating an ecological disaster. His motivation was Fame, and his goal was to break a really big story at last.

The game played out over 17 scenes, spread out evenly through three reels. Initial setup took about 50 minutes; the first reel took a little over an hour; the second reel took half an hour; and the final reel was just under an hour.

All six NPCs were brought into play; Four of them were invoked by players five times, one of them four times, and one three times. Of those, four became infected, and none became monsters. The last NPC was invoked in the middle of the second reel.

Both PCs gained 1 infected die each, earned in the final scenes of the second reel. Only one PC managed to take a step closer to their goal after the first reel; by the end of the second reel, one PC had removed three tokens, the other two. They both attempted to resolve their goals in the final scenes of reel three (obviously) and failed.

In the final narration, Diane found her lover, who was a monster, and joined her as one of the drowned dead. Ben fought his way to freedom above ground, living to be in the sequel.

Observations

The players felt the game was simple and easy to play. They liked the "interactivity" (shared narration) between players and the GM, and felt that it was well-balanced with chance.

Although the enjoyed the game, they said that TSOY (which they have a session of experience with as well) was more intense.

Questions

Can there be multiple conflicts in a given scene?
How much narrative authority should players/GM have in another player's scene?

Suggestions

There should be more scene-framing guidelines (that is, there should be some)
There should be rules concerning the selection of NPCs