Ichor Falls

[Brendan]

Looks like I'm on the hook for this now, assuming there are any Starslip/Chainsawsuit/hell, PATV fans in attendance.

Ichor Falls is a sort of Silent Hill++ setting for an agglomeration of Kris Straub's horror material, plus more submitted by readers. Probably its most popular spinoff is the forum-thread-as-story Candle Cove, which doesn't relate to the town exactly, but gives you a good idea of the kind of horror we're talking about: memories that become more twisted and frightening upon each examination, and a sort of Lovecraftian fear of one's own mind.

Someone asked Kris about an Ichor Falls RPG on Formspring a while back, and he said "It would have a sanity or fear mechanic for sure." I'm thinking of taking Geiger Counter and bolting a Perception Meter onto each character--higher Perception of the true nature of your surroundings gives you greater power against the Curse, but if it maxes out you're gone and become part of the Curse yourself. I also have some crazier ideas about hacking that onto The Mountain Witch and stealing the Otherkind dice out of Ghost/Echo, but I probably don't have time to prep and playtest that before the con.

Anyone interested? I may have to just bring this along and have it ready for pickup--slots are filling up fast.

[Lukas]

Hey Brendan,

I'm interested in this. Lesley probably would be too. We've both had a lot of fun with Geiger Counter in the past, and I'd be interested to see it get hacked a little bit. Neither of us has signed up for any games in advance (and we probably won't before Friday of con), so just look us up when the time comes, eh?

[Kris Straub]

What game mechanics do I need to know before you savage my creation with your fanon, you swine?!?

[Brendan]

Geiger Counter is a game by Jonathan Walton--you can download the PDF and read the rules right now if you want. Honestly, though, we'll end up going over them at game time just because a) I'll need the refresher and b) the most recent available version is the beta, and I'm really hoping he'll sneak out a copy of the gamma before Go Play begins.

Basically, the game is designed to create movie-like stories of large casts getting picked off one at a time by a hidden menace: think Alien, in structure if not necessarily in tone. We'll discuss the setting and the nature of the Curse when we sit down (though we can leave much of it to be discovered in play). Then we'll come up with two quickie archetype characters each: Anna the park ranger, Shamim the realtor, Leslie the drifter, etc. We take turns setting quick scenes, going around the table, establishing or revisiting locations on a shared map, with the focus on establishing a very film-like atmosphere (and trying to approach the speed of an actual film). As the Curse begins to reveal itself, it grows stronger, and the characters get whittled down to the core protagonists; eventually one or two will have to face it down, and hope that the dice they've collected will fall in their favor.

Also, it's not technically fanon; by playing the game you consent to canonize whatever we come up with and then cede all rights to Ichor Falls and any related properties to me. Sorry, it's in the rules.

I'm already committed for SAT-03 and SAT-04; how would you guys feel about the first or second slot that day? Is the morning slot too early for horror, or would playing after lunch make things too sleepy?

[Kris Straub]

Re: Ichor Falls rights, I'm no lawyer but that sounds fair.

I will be scared and upset no matter what time of day, so I'll take anything.

[Ben Wray]

Count me down as well! Either of the first two saturday slots are good for me at the moment.

[Brendan]

Cool, let's play it by ear on Saturday, then. I'll find you guys before SAT-01 and we can either start playing right away or punt to 02 if there's some other cool pickup game you want in on.

(It's only just occurred to me to wonder why the slots get two-digit designations. Is that a cryptic indication of the dozens of post-midnight secret slots?)