A short scenario, perfect for a one-shot at the drop of a hat
Available as part of an adventure twin pack, you can pick up Dead Light and Other Dark Turns for $15. Alternatively, the PDF is available for $7. The bundle contains Dead Light and Saturnine Chalice.
Dead Light is really designed to be something you can slot in when some of your players can’t make it to the table, or you need a bit of breathing room while you prep the next session. The second scenario has much more meat on its bones.
Dead Light is a classic Cthulhu encounter written by the late Adam Blight. Saturnine Chalice was written by Matthew Sanderson, who is a bit of a Cthulhu rockstar here in the UK. He’s often at Contingency, although I’ve yet to play in one of his games.
Setting
The storm of the century has struck, and adventurers encounter a bedraggled young woman as they pass through Orchard Run. Seeking shelter in a roadside café, neither the party nor the handful of customers and staff realise what’s headed their way.
Troubled Emilia Webb recently moved in with her grandfather, a retired doctor residing at Greenapple Acre cottage. With a generous allowance and a flashy new car, Emilia has attracted the envy and ire of a local waitress – Mary. Conspiring with her boyfriend and one of his friends, the trio plan to rob the cottage and get what they feel they deserve. Naturally, things do not go to plan.
Doctor Webb is the keeper of an extradimensional beast, handed down from father to son and used to remedy unwanted offspring. Unleashed in the midst of the burglary, all hell breaks loose and the bodies start to fall. Emilia flees for her life, running through the woods and to the encounter with the party’s car. Mary is naturally on edge when Emilia and the group arrive in the café. What went wrong, where is her boyfriend, and has she been implicated?
Emilia is able to share further details as her memory returns. Will the characters decide to investigate, or will the fight come to them?
Props, handouts, and prep
Not much to arrange in advance for this one. There are a few journal entries which could be paraphrased and read out by the Keeper. Plot-wise there isn’t a great deal to remember – there’s an incandescent horror out to kill. It cannot survive in daylight, is vulnerable to electricity, and there’s a ritual one can perform to get it back in its box. There are also only two locations. With the benefit of no lasting repercussions in a one-shot, you can safely make up most of the details on the fly.
Playthrough
Using this to fill the slot before we resume Deathbringer next week, we ran using the pregens provided.
Following a social gathering, the group tried to stay ahead of the weather while heading back to Boston. A successful drive auto roll meant that Emilia did not bounce off the bonnet and over the car; I was a little disappointed. An overturned cattle truck blocked further travel, forcing the investigators to wait out the weather and try to help their hitchhiker. The diner is the only port in this storm.
The diner scene opens with Jake being consoled at one of the tables. Mary stepped up to greet the newcomers, and a successful psychology roll suggested that the waitress recognises Emilia.
The scenario states that Jake is banging on about seeing a ‘dead light’. I don’t know what the hell a dead light is, and I don’t know why anyone would use that term. Jake thought he’d seen an angel in our game.
The gas station manager knows Emilia and offered keep her company; he came across a bit creepy. She kept muttering about her grandfather, but couldn’t remember much more. The manager allowed the group to use the phone in his office, but the line went dead whilst talking to the operator.
Billy Esterhouse came yelling and started banging on the window. He turned to face the pursuing ball of light, became mesmerised, and a glowing tendril pierced his chest. Too soon for a direct confrontation, there was a crack of thunder and a bolt of lightening struck the diner’s road sign. The creature fled into the woods, dropping the hint that electricity was a possible weakness. One of the group dashed outside to drag Billy to safety, but it was too late. A gaping ashen hole was all that remained of his upper torso.
Emilia remembered that she and her grandfather were the victims of an attempted robbery. Mary brandishes her revolver and volunteers to join the investigators on the their trip to Greenapple Acre. The drive was fairly smooth thanks to relentlessly decent skill checks.
Note to self: Do not allow the spending of luck in one-shots; it trivialises rolls.
The bodies were discovered, Mary was confronted with the ruined corpse of her boyfriend and started to panic. One of the players tried to calm her down, botched the roll, and she levelled the gun in their direction. Mary backed out of the house and ran for it. One player discovered and started the generator, another found the diary entries and casket. A distant feminine scream reached the house, and they headed out to investigate – arriving just in time to see the creature consume Mary.
The group decided to take a shortcut through the woods on foot, and arrived safely back at the diner. Unable to discover someone deserving of ritual sacrifice, one of the players bravely volunteered. He marked his forehead and walked out into the night. A heroic death led the beast back into the box.
Oops. They forgot the waxy compound. The monster re-emerged and worked its way through the horrified customers. What was left of the party bolted for the door and disappeared into the night. Total play time: about one and a half hours.
Conclusion
I normally try to find a real-play podcast and reviews for pre-packaged adventures, and some were overly critical of Dead Light. It’s supposed to be a bare-bones encounter to slot into your regular schedule in a pinch – and it does this very well. You can change anything in this scenario with no negative consequences. It could take place in the modern era, a crowded city, or anywhere else.
Because there is so little content, you don’t need to do much prep beyond reading the scenario. Again, perfect for filler at short notice. You might wonder why you’d even want to shell out the few dollars for something so minimal – but there is a second and much chunkier encounter included in the pack. If you want something similar but with far more substance, check out Edge of Darkness.
The booklet is of decent quality, albeit greyscale. That’s understandable considering the price. You don’t get separate handouts, but Chaosium throw the PDF in for free if you buy direct. The PDF maps and character sheets are in colour.
Dead Light accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. Due to the cut-down nature of what you’re given, it might not be the best adventure for someone new to running a game. You will need to fly by the seat of your pants and make adjustments to keep things moving. It’s also quite railroady, as one-shots must generally be.