The world of Feder & Schwert’s Engel is totally cool,
there’s no doubting that. Knowing what I know now, though, I probably wouldn’t
have used it as the setting of my first Dread game. The preamble about the campaign world was just too
long. If the players had already been familiar, that would have been one thing,
but as it was about a fifth of our game time was spent bringing the players
up to speed on aspects of a rich setting that had little to do with the plot of
the evening’s adventure. “Your angels in a post-apocalyptic future dominated by
the Future Vatican” would have probably been enough. The exposition on the
Dreamseed (the giant infernal bug-demons of the world) was useful, as those
certainly made an appearance, but the hierarchy of the church, the role of the Engel, the
history of the world, less so. It’s all vibrant and fascinating, so I don’t
feel like it was a waste of time and the players were definitely interested—and
were receptive sponges, as quite a few bits of lore and neo-religious dogma
crept in throughout the night—but overall, had I to do it all again, I would
streamline things.
That said, if we play this setting again, these players are
totally primed, so it’s not like it was a waste.
As for Dread, I’ve been excited to play since I got the book
a month ago and it did not disappoint. In fact, I’ve been gushing about it
since we’ve played. Loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. The way the
Jenga-tower feeds into the players’ growing apprehension is easily the
strongest synthesis of resolution mechanic and mood I’ve ever seen.
Breathlessness, that’s this game’s effect, infecting each player with a totally
appropriate dread regarding every extraordinary action. The players started
around the table, but by the end, if they could have been closer to the walls,
and thus farther from the tower, they would have been. Simple, elegant,
brilliant—I might have a new favorite storytelling game.
I was too easy on them, though. First off, the janky Jenga
knock-off I got, while aesthetically perfect, seems far less structurally sound
than a normal Jenga tower—just look at those uneven bones! So I went easy on them as far as
calling for pulls, as I didn’t want the tower to topple after like three attempts.
Turns out, though, the tower was a little sketchy, but just fine, and over the entire
night it only tumbled once—boy did it, but we’ll get to that. Also, with the
engel being superhuman, the threshold of what’s extraordinary is already
increased. So feats of strength, using the name of god to shout down a shack,
flying, they’re pretty commonplace for engel, so I didn’t require pulls for a
lot of stuff. That made a significant portion of the initial exploration pretty safe—though
trying to empathically read an item formerly possessed by someone surgically
violated by insectile grafts certainly did call for a pull. If the players had
been normal humans, sure I would have certainly changed the danger level of the
game, but I still think there would have been significantly more pulls. The
whole thing worked and it was cool and, especially by the end, very creepy, but
without the shield of divine powers, the players would have been much more
freaked out. Something I’ll certainly be keeping in mind for next time.
As for setting the mood, I was delighted to finally get to
use the band In the Nursery’s Engel soundtrack
in a game. For a setting as dark as Engel, the soundtrack is strangely hopeful.
Maybe I’m viewing the whole setting through a more cynical lens than is
intended and Engel is actually meant to be a world about hope and faith overcoming
evil… but I really don’t think that’s the case. But, for the intro, the
epilogue, and another spot or two, it worked great. For the really creepy
stuff, I defaulted to an old favorite soundtrack, the score to Silicon
Knight’s Eternal
Darkness. Subtle and ominous, a few
select tracks were on in the background throughout most of the night. For the big
dramatic fight at the end, a newer take on an old standby rose to the
challenge, Castlevania: Lord of Shadows.
I haven’t used this specific Castlevania soundtrack terribly much—I’m mostly a Symphony of the Night kinda guy—but
certainly will again. Here’s my whole soundtrack for the evening.
Prelude: Engel, “Angelorium”
Exploring the Exterior: Engel, “Pandoramicum”
Exploring Crowland: Eternal Darkness, “Black Rose”
Ashby & Library: Eternal Darkness, “A Journey into Darkness”
Exploring the Vengeance: Eternal Darkness,
“The Somme”
Congregation: Eternal Darkness, “Gateway to Destiny”
Dreamseed: Castlevania, Lord
of Shadows, “Carmilla”
She opted for two and cautiously scooted toward the wobbling
tower. Cosmo, being absolutely in the moment, caught what unfolded. You can see me in the
background using my iPhone to slowly crank up the music (yes, I’m still loving
my Bose Soundlink speaker, which I gushed about in my last Mass Effect write-up).
Though you can probably infer, THAT means she dies, but
still dramatically succeeded, sacrificing herself to defeat the beast and save
her friends from a drawn out and surely lethal battle. Perfect. Absolutely
perfect. Her devastating
hosannas and hallelujahs ripped into the thing as it tore her apart, but her death cries ultimately blew away that living heresy.
And that’s where we ended it. There wasn't any point to
explaining how the characters got out, or reported home, or whatever. The
climax was so strong and so satisfying I ended it right there, with no
question that the engel had won, despite the tragic cost. Phew! What a finale.
Tomorrow I’ll post all my notes from the game if anyone
wants to do something similar to this, or just wants a sketch of a cathedral
riding a submarine. I’ll also talk a bit about how much of this was fiction,
and how much came straight from the real world… which might be more than you’d
think.
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