April Fool's Day seems like one of those quaint things that we've left to our youths, like free and fair elections and civil rights. Anyway. That's nothing to do with today's game...
The Game: Bump in the Dark
The Publisher: Last Pine Press
Degree of Familiarity: Haven't played this, but I know both the game system and the vibe of the game
Books Required: Just the one
Bump in the Dark is a monster-of-the-week sort of game in which you play as a member of a "pact" of monster-hunters in the smallish town of Last Pine (I don't recall if there's a state specified, but it feels northeastern or Rust Belt to me). It's Forged in the Dark, meaning that it's very mission-focused, but keeps the "figure it out as you go" thing that such games have by asking the GM (sorry, "keeper") to come up with clues, but not to contextualize them until they actually come up in play so that the players can put everything together.
I'm of two minds. On the one hand, I would love to play this game, but I don't know about running it? I love investigative horror and monster-of-the-week style games (Chill, after all, isn't a million miles from this), but one of the things I like about them is coming up with the mystery for the players to unravel. I've played games were the mystery is really player-constructed, and that works well if the players are into it, but I dunno, if you've got the sorts of players that are going to be nose-deep in their phones for much of the game, it's real hit or miss.
Anyway, I think I probably would run this game if I had an interested group, it's just another instance of "why would I run this instead of Chill or Trail of Cthulhu", but there might actually be answers for that question (such as "the group really loved Blades in the Dark").
SO ON WE GO.
First we choose a playbook. I think I need a little magic in my life today, so let's be the Scourge.
Next we do a background, which consists of a field and a specialty, and then a very simple yes/no (are you from Iron County or not?). Hmm.
Well, answering the last one first, I'm gonna say "not." My hunter, Curtis Pope, is from a medium-sized but very conservative town in, oh, let's say Washington state. He grew up able to sense evil and hearing in church about how there was a Devil and how it did have wicked desires in mind for humanity, but then when he tried to actually tell people "uh hey there's a monster over there and it seems to want to do bad things to me" everyone either told him to stop making shit up or got very concerned about his sanity. So Curtis barely made it through high school, did two years at community college, got an associates degree in something, and left town. He wound up in Last Pine because that's where the car broke down.
So what does all that imply for field and specialty? Oh, there are categories for these, that's helpful. I think Public/Technical - Curtis has mostly done work in retail and suchlike, but might have some basic IT skill, too.
I start with two dots in connect and one in read, and then I get four more. I'll take one in scramble, two in sway, and one in hunt, I think.
I get an ability from my playbook. I want void sense, meaning I can automatically sense supernatural entities in my presence. I think that's what got Curtis in trouble as a lad.
Two relationships, one that keeps me in Last Pine and one that pulls me out. There's a list and everything. I'll say that Luciana Riddle, a former classmate, is the one pulling me out of Last Pine - she was one of my few friends in college and she misses me, and she makes me think I could have a life back at home. But then there's Rosario Wyvern (all of these characters have names that are really on the nose). Rosario is local (to Last Pine) witch, and is Curtis' FWB. They have a really confusing relationship, because Curtis is hella sheltered, but they wind up, erm, together a lot. I think Curtis doesn't actually know much about Rosario because they're always gone in the morning and they don't talk about themself much.
Solace! I think for Curtis it's camaraderie. He likes to hang out with the pact in the off time, play cards, bowl, whatever, just like, do normal things and talk about whatever. It's nice, y'know?
Two beliefs and a drive. One belief is meant to be about the pact, the other about the supernatural, and my drive is an actionable statement about what I want to accomplish.
Well, for the first belief (which has to be about the pact, not another hunter, since I don't have any other hunters), I think Curtis feels that these people are the friends I always wanted, the people who really get it. (Please note that this probably isn't really true and there are almost certainly going to be moments of friction around this, because Curtis sees the relationship differently than the others).
For the second one, we'll say that most people wouldn't recognize evil if it bit them on the butt. Curtis knows that people talk a good game about "faith" and "magic" and "miracles," but mostly they just like things how they are.
And, finally, Drive: I will go home and show my family that the supernatural is real and I was never crazy.
Name, pronouns, look. Curtis (he/him) is in his early 20s, bright blue eyes, fluffy brown hair that gets curly when he doesn't cut it, stays clean-shaven because his face itches if his beard grows out. Dresses mostly in khakis and t-shirts.
And I do believe that's it, because of course I don't need to pick gear. Curtis would be interesting to play, because the playbook assumes that you're using magic, and it'd be fun to have Rosario slowly induct him into some more overtly magical shit while Curtis is kinda going "wha?"
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