I'll see you out there.

I'll flag this up to John Wilson too, as he has Esoterrorists but hasn't had a chance to play it yet. He'll be looking for things to do at the con and he'll probably drop by.

Gregor

Steve, as one of your demoees (!) I felt that I got an idea of how ET (!) worked but perhaps not an *experience* of it. That's cos you ran the climactic scene that was basically "shoot the monster", whereas the intriguing thing about ET was (supposedly) a new and improved approach to investigation. So I think whatever demo you run has to at least include an interesting investigation scene.

Showing how the game does "shoot the monster" as well is by no means a bad thing... I suspect you just need to present something quite compact so that within a short time people can feel they've uncovered something and done something about it. I'm wondering about something a bit similar to The Corbitt House for CoC.

Tim Gray (not just a pretty face, specially right now)
Silver Branch Games
www.silverbranch.co.uk

My demos went much better this time, thanks to the advice I got here and feedback on my LJ. The games were much more focussed on the structure of the GUMSHOE system.

Rather scarilly I had Robin Laws looking over my shoulder during one of the demoes but he seemed to like what he saw. He aslo liked my quick demo checklist which I pretty much cribbed from the Cold City one here.

I'm glad to hear that the demos went better this time. As another of your demoees (interesting word Tim!) at DragonMeet last year I can only agree with what Tim said.

I got the basics of the mechanics and understood them but didn't feel like I'd really got to experience the whole point of the system, the improved take on investigative games.

I'll be interested to see an AP of some of your new, improved demos to see what you did differently.

I've tarted it up a bit from what I wrote for myself but it's basically what I did. It starts with general advice and then goes into the two scenarios, one for Esoterrorists and one for Fear Itself. The start might seem a bit rules heavy but players coped fine with it.

I rather enjoyed running these and I think we got a dozen or so sales of the back of them.

Please don't copy them around though, unless you're going to use them!

GUMSHOE demos

0. Hold up the book during the intro. Have spare books on the table for players to look at.
1. Welcome players, introduce yourself.
2. Say what the game is about (i.e. read the blurb off the back).
- Esoterrorists: Ordo Veritatas and Veil Out
- Fear Itself: ordinary people in bad situations
3. Mention the other books in the range (Esoterrorists, Fear Itself, The Book of Unremitting Horror)
4. Hand out reduced character sheet (biog, picture, 5 investigation + 5 general skills, right hand column for fear itself)
5. Explain demo procedure, short scenes to highlight how game works.
6. Go on to the character sheet. Point at different bits of the sheet. Talk about investigation skill use, core and supplementary clues and how GM might introduce them. Explain general skill use, Health and Stability For Fear Itself talk about Risk Factor, Want I Want, Worst Think I Ever Did, Sources of Stability. Keep it short! This might seem a lot but players are happy with this. These things should come up in the demo.
7. Get the players to introduce their characters to each other.
8. Straight into a scene.

The scenarios are basically the same, but from a different angle. A LARP GM has accidentally got hold of a real demon summoning ritual. The ritual takes place in a circle with the one person in the centre, known in the ritual as the “feast”. The others, known as the “feasters” stand around the outside circle and chant. A demon, known as the “bounty” is summoned into the “feast”. The “feasters” eat the “feast” and share the “bounty” amongst themselves. That is they devour the intestines and organs of the guy in the middle and the demon is split amongst them. This ritual was used for gaining strength in battle. The downside is that the only way to dismiss the demon is to reassemble it in one of the participants and kill that person. This is what the PCs will discover and must decide what to do with this knowledge.

In Esoterrorists the PCs are Ordo Veritatas agents pursuing the manuscript, in Fear Itself, the PCs are the poor saps who summon the demon.

Esoterrorist Scenario
You've been chasing a demon-summoning manuscript across the country. You've had it removed from the internet but it keeps cropping up. Now you're at a 'games fair' in [wherever you are now], undercover as FBI/Police. The local bureau/Force thinks you're chasing some stolen art.

Scene 1 - the roof.
Suddenly a blood covered man rushes past you screaming. The crowd parts, some even applaud but you've seen real blood before – something is very wrong. You pursue the man to a hotel roof. Barely out of his teens, he gibbers and gestures at you wildly. His beard is with blood and on his t-shirt you can just about make the words “Kill them and take their stuff”.

Core clue: Trivia- talking about gaming to this guy puts him back in the driving seat. The last thing he remembers is playing in a LARP with his chums. He can lead the PCs to the room where this happened. He says that 4 of them are in the LARP competition, the Quest for the Crystal of Mil-Lar. They had paid an NPC necromancer to summon up a shade who was going to tell them the location of the crystal.

Supplementary clues:
Language (Ancient Babylonian) - you can understand the guy, he's calling down dire imprecations on you and your lineage
Occult studies - 1 pt, this guy is possessed. Demons can be suppressed by appealing to the core of the possessed's being, something they really care about.
2pts, even when suppressed shocks can cause the demon to regain ascendancy.

Reassurance – Spending a point of this will also get you the core clue as you realise that maybe talking about gaming will calm this guy down.

Scene 2 - the room.
This is a small meeting room. The door is hard to because there is a body slumped behind it. The lights are out but a switch is just inside the door. Gamers pass by and compliment you on your 'leet fbi/police threads', whatever that means. Inside it is carnage. Stability checks, threshold 6, loss 4. Three bodies, one lying eviscerated on a tarp covered with mystical symbols, human bite marks surround the gaping wound, organs are missing. The other died in a struggle - their necks are broken. Along the back wall there are five rucksacks. Spell scrolls are strewn around the room. They are all written phonetically. In one of the rucksacks is a nicer version of these scrolls, and a receipt from the trade hall.

Core clue: Evidence Collection - there are three bodies, one live guy and five bags. The other bag belongs to Clara Jones. She has left her programme behind and in it she has ringed her booked games. Next up for her is the D&D open.

Scene 3 - the room, again.
Skip to the end. The PCs find the missing gamer, Clara. They also follow up the leads on the documents and find a stall in the trade hall selling LARP props. The owner has a translation of the summoning spell as well as a dismissal - to dispel the demon, reassemble it in one of those who partook of the feast and kill that person. Play the scene for a bit, to give the players time to make some kind of decision as to what to do next - supplementary clues could be gained from use of other skills, such as occult.

This is the point of the demo, to show that the clues aren't everything, the players have to make difficult choices

Fear Itself Scenario
You're LARPers competing at [this con] for a prestigious prize. Your team is undergoing the Quest for the Crystal of Mil-Lar. You need to question a shade on the whereabouts of the crystal and have paid a necromancer to summon one up.

Scene 1 - the room
You are in a small meeting room with a GM. He is standing on a tarp on which a magical circle has been painted. The only light in the room comes from a candle each of you is holding and the GM's laptop in a corner of the room. Each of you has a sheet of phonetically spelt chants. At the GM's signal you begin. He really gets into his performance, screaming out the strange words, then, suddenly, it is dark and you are sitting on the floor.

There is a dim light from the crack around the door (locked, keys in GM's pocket) and the light switch. When the light is put on Stability check threshold 6, loss 4, the GM is dead having been eviscerated and partially eaten by the PCs. They are covered in blood and gore. 30 minutes has gone by. The GM has the room keys in his pocket, a score sheet for the game. His chant prop is much nicer than the players' photocopies - it's illuminated on aged paper.

If PCs try to run away, mention their Risk Factors. In my experience, players will do already be playing to their PCs' risk factors anyway.

The demon has been summoned and split between the PCs. It can be felt and seen on their stomachs. It's appearance relates differently to each PC, something about the worst thing they ever did. Stability checks are necessary here, the severity depending on how bad each PC's worst thing is. Should anyone try to attack a demon, everyone will feel the attack, but only the PC attacked will take the damage.

Core clue: Computer Science - The GM's laptop contains details of all his spending at the con, including £15 paid to LARP Props in the trade hall for a Babylonian scroll. The PCs might worry about how to get down to the trade hall. When they open the door, have some passer by say “Cool make up, dude”.

Supplementary clues: Language (Ancient Babylonian) - you can understand the scroll in parts. It talks about "sharing the bounty of the feast with all the participants."

Occult studies - 1 pt, the PCs are possessed. Usually summoning rituals have a counter-spell for dismissing the summoned entity.

Scene 2 - the trade hall
The PCs find the dealer. He's affable but busy. He compliments the PCs on their costumes. On his stall he sells props for LARPs, resin altars, mirrors and daggers and aged scrolls. When someone mentions Babylon, he'll talk, going into the interesting history of the place.

Core clue: History - A PC who engages the trader in a talk about Babylonian history will get a passionate response. The trader will print some stuff off for the PC and offer to buy him a drink later when the hall has closed and there is more time for a proper discussion. He sold some of it to a guy earlier.

Take the player who grabs the printouts aside. There is a copy of the summoning ritual and the dismissal, plus translations of both. To dismiss the demon, use the ritual to reassemble it in one of the blessed and then kill that person. Usually the PC won't give the full details to the others.

Scene 3 - the room, again
Skip to the end. Play the scene for a bit, to give the players time to make some kind of decision as to what to do next - supplementary clues could be gained from use of other skills, such as occult. If they do the ritual, the one in the middle becomes possessed, grows claws and teeth (1d6+2 damage), +5 athletics and +5 scuffling pool. He will attack to kill the others. Run the fight for a bit but cut it short if one side is winning – they win, or no one is clearly ahead, they all take a breather, look at each other and ...

This is the point of the demo, to show that the clues aren't everything, the players have to make difficult choices.

Supplementary clues: Occult - a demon may be suppressed by talking to the possessed about what they care most about in the world. This won't dismiss the demon but will make the person be in charge. Any shocks, i.e. Stability loss and the demon can come back.

Reassurance - Using this can suppress the demon possession.