28 August 2014

#RPGaDay - 28 - Scariest Game you’ve played

The scariest game that I have played happened back when I was still in secondary school. One of the things that we did several times was to take part in a 24 hour sponsored role-playing event for charity. We did this at school and I think that we also did this at my home. I think that my parents went out for the evening, but I may be wrong. I’m sure it was at my house, but again, memories have faded a bit.

Now, I know that this happened sometime between being aged 16 (when we moved out to a small village in South Cheshire from Holmes Chapel) and before my year out for University when I was 19. It was either a 24 hour event or some friends were staying over.

We where playing AD&D, probably second edition, and I’m pretty certain that John N was running the game. It was pretty dark fantasy (this was around the time the first Ravenloft boxed set was released) and I can remember us staying in an Inn in a village that had been beset by a monster. In this case at least one Werewolf. Our characters had hired a suite of rooms, and we’d locked the doors (which were sturdy)and put furniture behind them. Classic horror story siege mentality. The atmosphere was amped up by playing with a single light (I can’t remember if it was a candle) and the rest of the house being quiet and dark during the night.

We heard the Werewolf enter the building, there were screams and then we heard snuffling outside our door. Gripping our weapons (we all were lowish level and in a meta-gaming sense knew we needed silver weapons) and keeping very quiet, the tension built up. The door was tried. The lock clicked. The furniture stopped it opening. Then everything went quiet. And then the Werewolves (for there were more than one of them) burst through the walls rather than the door and completely freaked us out. Chaos ensued. Someone’s character jumped out of the window risking death rather than be torn apart.

Anyway, I can’t remember whether we survived or not. Or what else happened. But what sticks with me is that we all felt it necessary to go to the toilet when the game had a break in at least pairs, as no-one fancied walking out into the darkened house on their own…

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