without further ado...
Welcome to Saw Hill
This Dread Scenario is a
mash up of elements of the Silent Hill series of video games by
Konami, as well as elements from the Saw series of movies. I had been
kicking around the concepts for years, but was never fully able to
merge them with an appropriate game system. Dread allowed me to run
this adventure and focus on the atmosphere and story, rather than the
hard numbers and rules. For that, I am forever grateful
Game Blurb:
What happens when you find yourself
drawn to a modern day ghost town that refuses to let you leave?
How do you escape a walking
nightmare that only has vengeance on its mind and is willing to
destroy anything in its path to get it? Try to find a way to survive
and a way out as a power struggle occurs that can only be described
as Hell on Earth.
Location:
Saw Hill is a small town
that was founded in the late 1800's (1867 to be exact) in West
Virginia. The town sits on the side of a large hill. The town was a
triple threat economy, which had a lumberyard, and ore mine, and a
foundry to refine the ore into usable materials. Unfortunately, the
area came upon hard times; there was a termite and bug infestation
that ruined the lumber in the area, and several cave-ins, fires and
flooding shutdown the ore mine. Of course, that led to loss of jobs
and without the mine, the foundry closed as well. Without jobs, the
population underwent a mass exodus, but a few stragglers still live
in Saw Hill.
The geographical layout of
Saw Hill:
The North Sector: The hill
is a large wooded area that holds several varieties of trees for the
lumberyard on the northern most edge of the hill top. The tree cover
is dense and lush and tends to make travel up the hill very dark. The
hill also holds an ore mine that lies on the western edge of the
hill. This area is more barren then the rest of the hill and is
accessible by a long dirt road that runs up the hill in a zigzag
pattern. Both the lumberyard and the mine sit abandoned, though there
are still lots of equipment and machines in the work areas.
Where the hill ends and the
town begins, there are three streets that run west to east and
intersect each other at the ends of the streets. These streets are
the residential homes of the people who live in Saw Hill and could
afford to buy homes. There are at least 10 homes on each side of the
street, but it's a roll of the dice to find if anyone lives there.
The houses that are abandoned are still in good shape and appear that
someone still lives there. The southernmost residential street is the
boundary of the North Sector, with it's back directly to the back of
the shops and buildings on Main Street. The ends of the residential
streets also mark the boundaries for the east and west sectors.
Main Street: Main Street is
the epicenter for the town. As such, this street does not belong to
any sector. This central street runs the length of the town and is
the only viable way in or out of the town (on the west end of the
street). On the north side of Main Street, there are small shops and
places of business, though none of the buildings are taller than 4
stories high. As you go further down the street, the city hall and
police station sit in the central-most position on the street, then
followed by a few more shops and municipal buildings.
On the south side of the
road, there is a large steel paneled barrier fence that is rusted and
weather-worn. The tops of each panel rarely match up with each other,
but a passer-by can clearly see the smokestacks and upper levels of
the foundry that lays just beyond the barrier. There is a gate that
allows access to the foundry compound on the easternmost end of the
street, which is only padlocked and loosely chained.
The ends of Main Street
mark the boundaries for both the East and West Sector.
The South Sector: The entire
foundry compound is the southern boundary of Saw Hill. The seven
buildings that make up the old factory are weatherworn and
dilapidated. There are some attempts to keep people out of the
buildings with rusty chains and locks, but the age of the gates and
the disrepair of the buildings can barely keep anyone out anymore.
There are numerous machines and equipment still inside the foundry
walls, and some of the things still work. The biggest feature of the
old structure are the two smokestacks that tower over everything in
the compound. They still appear to be in good condition, even though
they are discolored and covered in soot.
Beyond the foundry past the
gates and the fences, there is only a steep cliff to the south. This
cliff drops a few hundred feet to the bottom of the ravine in which
the hill and town reside. There is no safe way down the ravine, and
this cliff should be avoided at all costs.
The East Sector: The
eastern portion of Saw Hill consists of one road that intersects the
residential roads, Main Street, and then terminates at the gate on
the eastern end of the foundry. There are three main buildings that
are on this road. At the northernmost end is Saw Hill School. This
school houses all grades from kindergarten all the way through high
school. The central-most building on the street is an old church with
a graveyard nearby. Past this, on the eastern end of the street is
the Saw Hill Hospital, which sits opposite the foundry (and close
proxy to the graveyard.)
These three buildings are
some of the oldest in the town, and with the exception of the church,
are not much in appearance. The school and hospital are two story
buildings that are made of brick whose color has been stripped away
by the wear and tear of the years. Playground equipment for the kids
at the school is rusty and in disrepair. Windows are broken and
boarded up with plywood. Only the church and its grounds still hold a
glimmer of its former glory.
Beyond these buildings is
an extension of the graveyard, whose layout looks like a capital T.
beyond the graveyard is a continuation of the cliff as is becomes
flush with the hill.
The West Sector: The end of
Main Street on the western end of the road turns into a long winding
road that hugs the side of the hill. This road is the only entrance
and exit to Saw Hill, and is home to the local landmark, the “Welcome
To Saw Hill” sign. The road curves and bends as it holds onto the
hill, and it does so for miles. It is at least ten miles to the next
“sign of civilization” after visitors pass the welcome sign on
the way out of the town. On either side of the road, there is either
the immensity of the hill, or the depths of the ravine.
The Back Story:
Michael is a ten-year-old
boy who lives in Saw Hill with his father, Roger. For the father and
son, times couldn't be harder. Michael's mother, Patricia, was killed
in an auto accident a few years ago, and the pressure of the incident
has proven to be too much for Roger. Add in the fact that he is not
able to find a proper and stable job in Saw Hill, and the whole
situation has turned Roger into a hollow shell of a man. Roger drinks
to excess almost every night, and he cannot deal with the emotions
that he is dealing with, so he takes them out on Michael. There is
yelling, and there is some physical abuse going on, which only sends
Roger away feeling more miserable and spiraling deeper into his
depression and drinking.
Michael is growing more
desperate to find some resolution to this problem, or at least a
little help for his father. Anything to stop the beatings. One day,
he is on his way home from school, but for some reason decides to
head into town on Main Street to kill some time before he goes home.
It is during this time that he comes across Lilly Rose, an old woman
who lives in the old hotel on Main Street. The locals say that she is
a gypsy who came to Saw Hill to sell her odd wares, and they
generally dismiss her as a crazy old woman.
The old woman sees that the
child is in some sort of trouble (she can sense it) and engages
Michael in conversation. Michael opens up to Lilly Rose, and explains
everything to her, and iterates that “all he really wants is for
him and his father to be happy again”.
The old woman eyes the
child intensely, and senses that what Michael is telling her is the
truth. She decides to help the only way she knows how; selling one of
her wares. She produces what appeasrs to be a small music box and
holds it in front of the child. Michael is a bit cynical as he
wonders how such a box will help him, but Lilly Rose tells him that
this box once belonged to a very powerful Indian Shaman many years
ago, but doesn't really know what the box does or how it works. She
does know that she senses that the child needs it, and it will give
the child what he wants. However, she can't give it away.
Michael eyes the box and
the old woman conspicuously, his eyes darting between the box and the
old woman. After a few moments, he finally caves in and pays ten
dollars for the box. He puts it into his backpack and heads for home.
After another terrible
dinner with his father, Michael returns to his room. He reaches
underneath his bed and removes the box from his hiding space. He
holds the box close to him, and can feel a soft vibration from the
box. He wonders if what the old woman said about the box is true, so
he places the box on the floor, reaches behind the box and begins to
turn the key to wind the box. After a moment, the box is wound, and
he opens the box.
An hauntingly beautiful
tune begins playing on the elaborate mechanisms of the music box.
Michael closes his eyes and begins to think of the wish that he and
his father will be happy again, but he is interrupted by a loud shout
coming from his father who enters the room after hearing the odd
music.
Roger looks at his son, and
angrily asks where did he get the box. Michael is hesitant to answer,
but the father is persistant and pulls the child up with his shirt.
The stench of stale beer is on the breath of Roger, and it makes
Michael cry. The child knows that when his father is in this state
that he is likely to strike him. Michael tells his father that he
spent his own money on the box, and that it's his. Roger doesn't like
the kid's answer, slaps the boy, then throws him to the ground.
Duning all of this, the
music box continues playing its odd tune, but there is something also
audible under the melody of the tune. There is a pulsing humming that
comes and goes, but becomes louder and louder with each pulse. A
slight vibration begins to cause the box to tremble on the floor with
each pulse.
Roger grabs a nearby
baseball bat. Michael scrambles to a corner and stays there,
petrified by the fear that his father is going to beat him with the
bat. Roger does not advance on the child, but rather
goes to the music box. He
raises the bat over his head, and without hearing the objections of
his screaming son, he bashes the box with the bat.
For an instant, time slows
down. The box breaks into several distinct pieces, and things around
the room are affected by an unseen pulse of energy. Items twist and
convulse, darken and distort, but all of this goes unnoticed by
Roger. However, Michael is an unwilling witness to the whole
disturbing scene.
As everything in his room
and house begin to rot and rust. He feels a throbbing pain behind his
eyes. He clenches his head, rolls into a fetal position, and cries
out as the pain increases. Michael also falls victim to the taint
coming from the broken music box. He become “The Dark Boy”, an
inversion of his persona, with all the ugliness of the life that he's
been going through in his life, while the true persona of Michael is
pushed deep down inside The Dark boy's empty soul.
The world erupts into
chaos. Light and darkness intermixes and repels each other. The world
changes and separates itself from all other know dimensions of
consciousness. The chaotic rift grows and envelopes the entire town,
but only entraps a few select individuals, for these individuals are
the ones who can undo the chaos. For these individuals, the town of
Saw Hill has become a desolate lonely place, devoid of all other
life, until the darkness comes, and things transform to living
nightmares.
The Main Characters and
Their Current Situation.
Michael/ The Dark Boy:
Michael is a ten-year-old
boy with brown hair and brown eyes. He's usually whimsical and
imaginative as most children are of that age, but his current
situation with his father has taken a toll on him. It's his wish that
has caused the situation that he is in now, and he's becoming more
aware of that fact. He realizes that the only way to escape and fix
things is to fix the music box and let it play the tune again.
Hopefully it will reverse things, but he can't act directly, since
his real persona is stuck inside The Dark Boy.
The Dark Boy is Michael's
rage and frustration made flesh. He appears more as a specter than a
boy. His appearance is similar to Michael's true features, but darker
hair and eyes with skin that is soiled and black-veined. The Dark Boy
is mischievous and threatening, but will not openly attack unless his
own existence is threatened. The Dark Boy does not want the music box
to be fixed. He wants to stay where he is and watch Roger deteriorate
more and more. His motives are clear, and he will do whatever it
takes to make sure that Roger suffers totally and definitively.
Roger:
Roger is a balding man in
his mid-forties. He typically has a grease monkey look, often wearing
overalls and perhaps a smear of dirt on his face. He has leathery
skin from smoking, and he smells of alcohol.
Roger is a good man, but
since the death of his wife and the lack of a steady job, he has
become a violent drunk whose own cycle of behavior only deepens his
void of destruction. He does genuinely care for Michael, but his
frustration continues with the fact that he can't support his son.
When Roger broke the music
box, the effects were tainted and caused the whole town of Saw Hill
to slip into a pocket dimension and isolate itself from the rest of
the world. This is his punishment, and everything that happens is
this isolated dimension is designed to destroy him.
In the time that this
imprisonment has been occurring, Roger has discovered that he has
some control over the evil occurrences around him. He has developed a
“power” that augments his own engineering skills and knowledge.
He is able to make handy gadgets and traps to help him out of sticky
situations. Unfortunately, this is not to his advantage, but rather a
curse that the Dark Boy has placed upon the father. For further
information, see ROGER's CURSE section for more specifics on how this
malady works.
Lilly Rose:
Lilly Rose is the old gypsy
woman that sold the music box to Michael. She has been caught up in
the tainted surroundings, due to her direct link to the box. She is a
woman in her late sixties, with gray hair that is matted down with
soot. Her face is wrinkled, and covered in spots and dirt. She has a
small hooked nose and shiny dark brown eyes. She walks hunched over
and wears a dress made of shoddy patches.
She has sought refuge in
the town church, and she is the one that uses the airhorn when she
senses the darkness coming to take over the town. She rarely leaves
the church, and even more rarely allows company to come into her
sanctuary. She is the only person in Saw Hill who can have an
understanding about what is going on and how it can be fixed, though
her knowledge of the box is very limited.
Sakura Suzuki AKA Suzi
Sakura
Suzi is the wild card in
all of this. She has no previous history with any of the characters,
or the rest of the cast. The reasons why she is here in Saw Hill in
the first place are completely unknown to her. All she knows is that
she lives far away from the town (Host's choice, either San
Francisco, Japan, or some other place) and that she is locked in her
own home and can only escape via the air ducts in her home, which
take here here. She is looking for keys for the locks that hold her
captive in her home, and she can only stay for so long in the shadowy
world of Saw Hill, often fading from existence when the
transformations occur and reset.
(Note: This character is a
support character and really does not advance the story. She's
designed as a direct nod to Silent Hill 4: The Room, and as she is
looking for keys for her predicament, she may also help the
characters look for their solutions. She is a lifeline to the outside
world, and she can be useful to the characters is some no-so-obvious
ways. Her only link to this scenario is the box, because if she sees
it, she may recall a painting that used to hang in her family's home
of one of her ancestors, perhaps royalty, and they had the music box
in their hands.)
The Environment, The
Transformations, and The Curse
the environment of Saw Hill
goes through intermittent changes, and the world shifts in dramatic
and terrifying fashion.
The Cool World is the safe
area that the characters will try to get things accomplished before
the nightmares return. The town appears foggy, with a temperature in
the mid 50's (f). it is quiet with a perpetual snow/ash fall to
muffle sounds further. Visibility is about 25 feet. The air is cool,
with it either being damp of dry (depending on Host's choice or
location in the town) with a hint of the scent of smoke in the air. A
few random encounters with the walking nightmares can occur here if
desired, but it should be advised that it should occur later in the
session after the first or second transformation cycle has occurred.
The Transition happens
occasionally when certain triggers are tripped during game play.
(more info on the triggers will appear in a later section). When
these triggers occur, the sky darkens quickly and gradually. The
surrounding walls will corrode/rust/peel like skin flakes or burning
paper in the wind. Things dissolve as the temperature spikes
suddenly. It becomes hot, with the air either becoming moist or arid
(depending on Host's choice or location in the town) with a
temperature jump to high 90s or low 100s. The scent of smoke or even
sulfur becomes overwhelming. During this period an air siren can be
overheard throughout the town (Lilly Rose) and any semi-functioning
electronics will squeal and emit static.
The Hot World is Hell on
Earth. Metal surfaces are often hot to the touch. Organic substances
coat walls and floors and appear to bleed or secrete fluids,
twitching masses that writhe and sweat. There is a steady clamor of
metal and machinery, the smell of Sulfur and smoke is almost
nauseating. Water is prone to boiling, and the walking nightmares are
searching for souls to torment.
Transformation Cycles
Transformations occur when:
-players learn something
new or vital
-players get “close” to
an NPC
-players ger close to a
clue or an item.
Transformations end when:
-confrontation/conflict is
resolved
-distance from
clues/items/NPC's are gained
When a Transformation Cycle
ends:
-a reward should be given,
usually in the form of knowledge, information, clues, or items.
In effect, an entire scene
can take place in one full transformation cycle. The players come
across a character in the cool world. They are about to find out
something important when the world goes through it's transformation
to the hot world. As conflict is resolved, the world returns to the
cool world, and they have a better understanding as to what is going
on.
Roger's Curse:
Roger' background in
engineering is the basis for his curse. He thinks that he can control
the “Powers” of the dimension he exists in by making traps and
gadgets that help him manipulate the space. Each trap that Roger
creates tends to sink into the floor or the environment around him in
order for the effect to take place.
Roger is wrong about his
power. It is not his power, but rather the power of the Dark Boy and
the ploy of his ultimate doom. Every time that Roger makes a trap or
gadget to “help him”, he loses humanity and health, and parts
from assorted machines (gears, bolts, wire, etc.) begin to grow
inside him like tumors and shrapnel that make their way to the
surface of his skin. The more that he uses his “power” the more
handicapped he will become. But, it will become easier for him to use
the power. If he was just to throw a bunch of parts on the floor,
they would sink into the ground and the desired effect would take
place, as long as Roger desired it.
Inevitably, continual use
of the power will ravage Roger's body and he will take the form of
one of the Walking Nightmares. The only way for Roger to fix himself
is to stop using the power, and solve the problem trapping him and
the others there in this dimension. In other words, he has to fix the
music box.
The Walking Nightmares:
The walking nightmares
inhabit the hot dark world phase of Saw Hill. They are twisted
visions, vaguely human in nature, and are designed to inspire fear
and a sense of lethality. The creatures can be attacked in combat
situations, but it should be known that their numbers are many, and
they can't be destroyed, only delayed. A good gamemaster can use
these monster to direct players into certain situation and to
different areas, and should spring the transformations on the players
at the most opportune times for real terror to set in.
now, there are no real
guidelines for these creatures, and it should be said that the GM can
really use his sick and twisted imagination to make his own creatures
as he sees fit. The key thing to remember about the creatures is that
they are only as scary to the players as their descriptions allow.
The GM should feel free to embellish on the the details of the
creatures, keeping in mind the five senses and how the players
perceive the monstrous entities. How do the creatures move? What do
they sound like? What things make them so twisted and deformed? Do
they give off a bod odor as they move? The sky is the limit on this
one.
I've run this scenario a
few times, and have made a bit of a list of things I've used. This is
no means a definitive list, but can act as a guideline for further
ideas.
Types of Walking Nightmares:
Shambling Torso: one of
these is in the movie adaptation of Silent Hill. It's an armless,
featureless creature that has dark pulsating skin think with dark
veins. It waddles uncontrollably on twisted legs, and it's main
attack is a jet of black bile that burns like acid, which it spews
from a ragged cavity in its chest.
Twisted Child: also
appearing in the Silent Hill franchise, these creatures appears as
naked sexless children with taut gray skin. Their facial features are
twisted at odd angles, and their eyes burn with a dull orange-red
glow, like dying embers of a flame. They cry out in deformed wails
similar to cries of a baby. Their arms and legs are malformed, and
they are unsure of their footing like those of a toddler. They can be
fast moving, or deliberately slow, and sometimes their arms end in a
scalpel like appendage.
Dragging Beast: this is any
type of medium sized creature, but smaller rodents in swarms can work
just as well. These creatures have been stripped mostly of their skin
or fur, and are covered in a bloody mucous. They have lost their
ability for regular movement, and are forced to drag parts of their
misshapen bodies on the ground, leaving a discolored trail behind
them. They call out in twisted variation of their natural sounds. If
provoked, they can often attack with tooth, nail, claw, or even
tongue.
Razor Wire Tendril: the
first inanimate object that has become a walking nightmare. Perfect
for industrial environments, the tendril is a combination of wires
that wrap together to form a snake-like creature. The creature makes
no real noises except for the hissing of the wires sliding across
surfaces and floors. The tendril can ensnare and drag victims, cut
them, burrow and drill into places, and can alter its form with as
little or as much wire as needed.
Bladed Maw: A humanoid
creature with the head of a crocodile-like lizard. Scaly and slimy in
apppearance, the maw is lined with teeth set and odd angles and
sizes. The maw produces a bite that rivals that of a hydraulic press,
and can pretty much break anything in two. It's hands and feet are
clawed, and the creature can switch between bipedal and quadrupedal.
It may also be able to climb on walls like many of its lizard like
decendants.
Blood Pustule: these
creatures appear at first as a small, pillow-like sac that slowly
expands to house a humanoid creature inside of the sac. The sac, a
sickly whitish-gray is constantly covered in bloody mucous, but is
resistant to damage, the creature is free to move within the sac, but
never leaves the sac. The creatures cries out in awful muffled tones.
If destroyed by supreme forces, the sac erupts and sprays everything
in its vicinity, which often leads to the spawning of more of these
foul creatures.
Twisted Nurse: Another
Silent Hill icon, the sleek sexy bodies of a nurse from every man's
fantasy topped with the twisted flesh nightmare of a featureless
face. These can be placed in any location, thought they really lend
themselves well to any medical facility. Their movement are fluid,
but they move at odd angles and often change levels and postures to
take up more room than what their slender frames allow.
Spectral Cage: Making an
appearance in Silent Hill: Origins, this hellish nightmare is a
free-floating rusty cage. Though it appears harmless, the cage can be
very dangerous and cause severe lacerations or contusions if a
character is hit hard enough by it.
Rotting Dog: Dogs in horror
setting are terrifying, and even more so when there is clearly
something wrong with them. Whether they're zombies, falling apart at
the seems, bodies broken and guts handing out, or just horrible
parodies of what a normal dog is, with giant maws and row upon row of
teeth. The fact remains that a game is not complete without one pack
of these.
Creating the Big Bad: I turn
to pyramid head/ red pyramid for this one. There is always a giant
singular master involved in one of these games. A creature that is
set apart from all other based on his size, his determination to
chase the characters across hell, and a distinct and unmistakeable
look. For this game, I didn't want to rip off pyramid head, so I made
my own. However you want to use this character is fine, even if you
want to totally ignore using a big bad in your game. Whatever works
for you.
Blockhead: (example Big Bad)
Blockhead is a 7 ft tall slender male. He wears torn and sullied
coveralls much like a mechanic would wear. His right hand is encased
in a large concrete block, though his fingers and thumb retain much
of their mobility. The rest of him remains normal, despite the sickly
pallor of his skin and thick veins that run just beneath his skin.
The most outstanding feature of Blockhead is indeed his head, which
is a standard cube of concretem which is featureless, except for
distinct cracks and chips in the concrete, and there is some barbed
wire anchored it what would be the base of his skull near the back of
his neck with the remainder of the coil wrapping around his left arm
in several tight loops. The creature walks with defiant strides,
though his posture is thrown off to the right side because of the
heavy weight of the concrete.
Running the Game: a basic
Framework
this is just a general idea
as to how to run the game.
The Arrival:
based on the
questionnaires, each player is going to have some reason to get to
Saw Hill, so each character will set out on their own to get to the
small town. As they get closer to the town, it will get dark, start
to rain, and as they just about cross the only bridge into the town,
they'll see something dart in front of them across the road. We can
assume that each player will have their own vehicle, so this will
cause a crash and a blackout. Such things that could dart out in
front of the vehicle could be the boy, the old woman, blockhead, the
man, etc., but it should foreshadow something that they'll encounter
in the town.
After the blackout, the
group will slowly wake up to a world of gray (the cool world). They
are all together, stranded on the only road leading into the small
town. There is no effective way out of the town now until the game is
completed. They will find themselves walking on foot through fog and
soot. One of my personal favorite touches is for the characters to
see a large darkening shape off on the side of the road, and they
find the iconic “welcome to saw hill” sign.
The group comes into the
small town, deserted and covered in soot. As they make their way down
the main road in the town, they will see The Dark Boy in the
distance. The boy want interact with them at all, but will probably
lead them into a building (not the church) or down an alleyway,
somewhere where the players will be isolated and somewhat enclosed.
That’s when the sirens should sound and the skies should darken.
The first transformation
should be very descriptive. Explain how things corrode, wilt, peel,
twist, or melt. Use the five senses rule to describe every sensation;
temperature change, a bad smell and coppery taste, the sound of metal
and steel, and the horrific visions of both the transformation and
the arrival of the walking nightmares. This will be the first time
that the world will shift for them, so make sure that it as
horrifying as possible for them. Introduce the players to several
walking nightmares, either a pack of the same type, or three or four
different ones. Let the players scramble for safety or fight, but
don't damage them too badly. This first encounter sets up further
encounters down the road, so there’s no real need to rush this
encounter. let it unfold naturally, and let the world shift back to
gray when you think the time is right. After the shift, reward the
players with something; some needed or helpful items, a cryptic but
valuable item (like a part of the music box), or even a clue to a
place they need to explore. Again, let the scene unfold naturally.
Deeper exploration of the
town will bring the group into contact with each of the main players
stuck in Saw Hill, one at a time. Though there is no real specific
way to do it, my personal preference is to meet the father, the girl,
and then the old lady so that she can reveal exactly whats going on.
The Father: the father will
be in a workshop somewhere in the small town, possibly in the
foundry, his local residence, or a mechanic's shop. He will be
working on a trap to try and escape the town, but obviously that's
not going to happen. Nor is the father expecting company, so he will
turn his attention to the group and use the trap on him. There will
be a world shift during this encounter, signaled by the sirens. The
powers of darkness will allow him to escape, much to the chagrin of
the characters as they will have to escape the father's trap without
a good confrontation with the father. They will inevitably escape the
trap, minus several pulls from the tower, but that's the point of
this encounter.
This will also be the first
time that the group gets their first cryptic reward, a part of the
music box, which they will need to assemble (and assemble correctly)
to end the game. THERE ARE FIVE PARTS TO THE MUSIC BOX; THE CENTER
SPINDLE, THE GOLDEN NEEDLE, THE MUSIC DISC, THE WINDING KEY , AND THE
MUSIC BOX. The music box itself is in the possession of the old
woman. Other than that the other parts will have to be found after
the other encounters.
The Girl: this encounter is
purely optional, but it's helpful if the players start to get a
little bit lost in their objectives. Suzi is a good backup for groups
that want to fight the nightmares, and can fill the group in on more
of the inner workings of the town's curse. Suzi is looking for keys
to the locks in her apartment, so she has her own agenda and should
not interfere with the main storyline in any way, unless she really
needs to help out in a pinch. When the group meets here, there will
be a world shift into the dark hot world, complete with sirens.. She
will battle with the nightmares, and will not require pulls since
she's an npc. After the battle she'll hand over one of the key
components of the music box before she resets to her apartment.
The Old Woman, at some
point, the players will realize that they need to get to the church,
since that is the place of origin for the sirens. They will have a
hard time getting into the church, since the old woman has the place
barricaded, but she'll reluctantly allow the players in, just as
another world shift begins. The players will find some semblance of
sanctuary here, and the old woman will be able to fill the players in
on the background of the music box and the back story of the father
and child. If presented with any one component of the music box, she
will look horrified, realizing that a broken music box means a broken
wish, which is the core of the problems in saw hill. She'll be able
to plan out that the music box needs to be put back together. She
won't have the music box on her at this time, but she knows where it
lies..just outside the church in the nearby graveyard.
Allow further encounters to
unfold naturally, if your players want a longer gaming session. It's
ok to delay direct rewards of music components if they want to deepen
the exploration of the town.
A secondary encounter may
be necessary with the father if his curse deepens, perhaps the music
disc or the golden needle are stuck somewhere in his face or body,
jutting out of the skin like a compound fracture. Some serious gusto
and intestinal fortitude might be needed to extract the needed items,
without killing the father. Of course, we know that the forces of
darkness will never let the father die. Not without suffering for all
eternity first.
The final resolution:
the crescendo of the game
hits when all remaining components are finally collected and are
ready for assembly in the church. Is it at this point that the dark
boy will make his ghoulish appearance in the church. He will taunt
and torment the individuals who are assembling the music box. One by
one, he will enter the minds of the characters, taking them on a
flashback to a darker time in their lives (see the questionnaires)
and will force them to make pulls to see if they can break the hold
that the dark boy has on them.
The dark boy can be hurt
and slowed by conventional weaponry, but it won't kill him. The only
way to banish him and the darkness is to rebuild the music box
properly and play the music box's song.
There are three possible
outcomes:
rebuild the music box:
if the players are good enough to put the box together properly,
without the help of the old woman, the entire world reboots, the
nightmares go away, and the father and son are able to live
peacefully. Best possible ending.
The old woman: if she
helps in the rebuilding of the music box, the world reboots,the
nightmares go away, but the divide between father and son is greater
than ever, and the two can no longer coexist peacefully ever again.
If the old woman dies, the whole scenario starts over again with the
group starting out on the gray road. Both of these are bad endings.
The father: it is
possible to kill the father deliberately, whether by direct malice
or by extraction of parts. If the death is deliberate, without
concern for the father's preservation, then the hot world
disappears, but they players are stuck in the cool world forever,
doomed to walk a spirit like realm forever, even though they can
leave Saw Hill without incident. Another bad ending.
The wrap up: characters who
have died, their names will appear on headstones in the nearby
cemetery. If all goes to plan and the best possible ending occurs,
the main characters should be able to get on with the rest of their
lives, without incident, but the npcs that they interacted with will
have no recollection of the events of Saw Hill
general notes:
each questionnaire has a
question about their fears, their darkest moment, and a specific
question about why they are going to Saw Hill in the first place. It
is imperative for the guide to keep some notes handy when these
questionnaires are filled out, so that the final moments of the game
with the dark boy can go off without a hitch and build maximum
tension.
If your into playing music
with your games, find the music of Akira Yamaoka, especially his
stuff from the Silent Hill franchise. It's the perfect mood setter
for this game, and I spent much time crafting this game to his music.
I would highly recommend
the use of the siren to denote the beginning of the world shifts,
especially as they begin to speed up in frequency. There is no better
look on a player's face than that of pure fear and panic once they
hear that ear piercing shriek of the siren. Here's a link:
thanks for putting up with
the wait on this one. This is probably the best scenario i've come up
with. I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
