Dread: Part Five
Contest Time!
The authors of Dread, Epidah Ravachol and Nat Barmore generously offered up 3 autographed copies of Dread for me to give away to readers and those folks interested in taking the game for a spin. I have to say, this is pretty damn cool and I am excited to pass these along to 3 of you. With that, let’s dive into the deets of the contest.
140 Characters of Dread:Â Every session of Dread revolves around a group of characters and a story. In my opinion, it is the heart of the game. So in the comments below, in 140 characters or less give me your best Dread scenarios. This will run until Sunday evening and then the winners will snag a shiny, autographed copy of Dread!
Update: Enter as often as you like. I’m easy.
Update #2: A few folks asked how Brett’s character is still in the game after knocking over the tower. Â By the letter of the law, Brett is now considered to be a ‘Dead Man Walking”. He is going to die at a moment determined by Charlie. However, being a DMW he is allowed to role-play and interact with the other players, though he cannot make tower pulls. It’s a great mechanic for keeping players who accidentally knock over the tower (like he did) in the game for a while and build tension.
As night deepens, a car accident leaves 2 vehicles wrecked and 4 strangers alone on the side of a forest road. With one injured, they must find help soon.
I really have to thank you for making me discover this game, it’s really interesting and i’m already working of some session 🙂
Many years ago we played a repeated single run story for months on end: you awake on an island, tired and with no memory, just the sand at your feet and an environment to explore.
Each week the island and the scenario would change. Sometimes it was a 1920s asylum where we were the doctors awakening after an escape, sometimes it was a military installation in 2020, sometimes it was tropical, others it was snow ridden. Often one of us was the “insider” who knew a little more, and sometimes one of use chose to be the catalyst for change. We played with different names, but there was always an NPC called Bob who we should find early on.
This was player before I knew of Dread, in the late 1990s, and it was due to the intense paranoid and great story that it worked so well.
(nope not 140 characters, so I know I’m out – but it feels right in a Dread sense)
= Many folk knew Manny’s secrets; or so you heard from his partner; now dead on the sand. As Cops you keep calm, but you too have secrets…
This seems like a far more polished version of escape or die. I like it.
An inner city apartment block, barricaded from outside. Something inside is picking off the people inside, and anyone who tries to exit is shot without question.
You few samurai survived the battle that crushed your lord, and fled into the mountains to safety – but something is in the woods with you.
Love this one!
Thanks! Went to a Japanese sword show last weekend, so the topic was fresh in my mind.
This new drug is fantastic! You feel high as fuck, just a bit dizzy and… how did you get here and who are these weird guys you’re with?
I like this. I could write these all week. If I win one of these, I’ll have to see if I can talk my usual board game group into trying something out of the ordinary.
A story on these CIA brainwashing experiments could win all of you the ’62 Pulitzer, if you can get out of here with these documents, alive.
OK, that’s enough for now.
The group stares at each other, taking shelter in the old house from the storm. On a bloody note in front of them, ‘None will escape alive.’
You wake shackled by the wrists and a burlap hood blinding you, a metallic voice screeches that none of you will live for what you’ve done.
Having passed out from too much grog and games, you are awakened by noises at your front door. Shuffling, heavy breathing, and muffled voices are just on the other side..
You are the crew of an interplanetary spaceship. You are carrying people in cryo-stasis, food and water… and a sealed ward that military staff have locked. Until something breaks free of its prison within…
In Police holding call with a dozen people. Lights go out, there are screams. Lights come on, and everyone not in a cell is missing. The door opens…
3 Spys, playing a poker game together… the only thing they still have to bet are their secrets… but how deadly this knowledge can be?
Part of a Crew hired for the mines in a small town. Everyone in town is a little off. Crewmates start to go missing, and there are strange sounds in the mine.
You all work in a government facility when a lock down occurs. One or two of the players know what might be up. The lock down goes on for a while to inspire cabin fever and claustrophobia. The twist of this story is you could have ANYTHING happen from release of chemical agents, to monsters aliens loose. The important thing is for everyone to mistrust each other and boil up to a masaker underground.
You and your friends are on a road trip, looking to spend a week camping away from it all. Miles from everywhere, on some dirt track with no sign of people, a shot fires and takes out one of your tyres. You retreat into the woods, not knowing something is in there with you.
A tip for the contest enter-ers: Twitter only allows you to use 140 characters. Type your idea into the Twitter-post-thing to see if your post makes the cut.
The barkeep was closing the saloon, while you finished your poker game. A storm had blown in over the prarie and brought something with it.
Hazing reaches new depths as you and 3 other frat pledges wake up after a kegger realizing that you’re trapped in a deadly game of “gay chicken”
It has been raining for weeks. Oddly, you haven’t seen some of the people in your building since it started. Suddenly, the power goes out.
Hey, I’ll participate regardless, but will you ship to Europe? cuz, you know, that’s where I live >_>
anyway, I’ll try to post something this week since I’ll have to do some research – I’m pretty new to RPGs in general. thanks for the opportunity.
well, here goes, directly from plato’s analogy of the cave.
You’re in chains and your body is not alike the others’ – slithery dark beings on the opposite wall.
You thought this was a tryout for a ghost hunting show… until the hosts died and the what ever is in The asylum closed the doors.
The four roommates woke up soaked with the sweat of fear knowing today was the day… the rent was due.
A team of FBI agents is tracking a serial killer in a remote area. The tables are turned when the serial killer and his cult of followers begin hunting the agents.
Lovecraftian Prison, all characters try to escape. Twist: Everyone’s an aspect of the same person imprisoned in a cultists’ corrupted mind.
Hudson’s Bay, fall 1917. Native guide absconded. A single dog remains. Something is killing the men, leaving mangled corpses for us at dawn.
Two words: Hunger Games. d20Blonde ran this at DC Gameday last year, and it was brilliant.
My 140: You wake, naked, bloody, hurt. Surrounded by bodies, few still alive. Are you werewolf, hunter, or victim? Can you find out b4 moonrise?
You wake up strapped down to a surgeon’s table. In the distance, screaming has abruptly stopped and you hear something approaching.
The group of you made on the show. The bright lights keep you squinting as the questions grow intrusive and where is the audience?
Waking among the remains of a birthday party, you wonder who are these people and who the…yup, dead…birthday boy in the hospital bed is.
You all awake in tanks in a lab. You are all naked and identical. Emergency lights flash and sirens blare. In the distance, gunshots and explosions. A computerized voice says, “Wake up. Time to run.”
Four friends and their dog just hanging out in their van when something stirs in the night.
When did you start with P&P on Wall St?
Why did you agree to attend the corporate retreat?
Why did you pack that knife?
It was supposed to be a routine check; land the ship, test the air and soil and lift off. But something, or someone, sabotaged the engines.
Group on a road trip have an accident and look for help in an nearby home. The twist they died and are actually ghosts haunting the area.
An old, abandoned, island theme park, rumors of ghosts and zombies, a group of friends looking for excitement. What could possibly go wrong?
They call you to the house. Others are there and sense some things, but none hear what you do. You belong here. You belong to the house.
FLASH & UR in a medeival marketplace. The locals run screaming. Guards R closing on you. Find the Temporal Corp deserter before its 2 late.
Late-night subway commuters get stuck underground. Only 1/2 mile to next station – but different dangers/directions lie ahead. #thirdrail
After a superstitious festival. Those who missed it become paranoid and start killing themselves. The players were among those absent.
Writer, artist, letterer. It is 11 PM and the webcomic MUST be up by midnight, or trolls attack! Is that the sound of a hard drive crash?
You’ve been invited to the home of Dr Lucky for an dinner party. The lights keep going out. Did I mention that you really cannot stand Dr Lucky? In fact, you HATE Dr Lucky.
Heh – I call the tight hat!
Loud noise, man. Go for the loud noise in the carriage house.
Four friends in a van riding through the bad part of town suddenly get a flat tire.
X number of friends – not necessarily four.
Keepers of the faith have arrived at your frontier town. A time for celebration! Sinners will be brought to justice! You’ve committed some terrible sins.
A group of archaeologists uncover the entrance to an ancient burial tomb.
Loving the arc, and maybe someone has already mentioned this, but I notice that all 3 of our characters have vision problems. Two of them don’t appear to be able to see out of their left eye, while the 3rd is wearing glasses, and so has unknown vision issues with one or both eyes. Coincidence, or clue?
I looked at the Dread site a week or two ago, and that was a plot point in the questionnaires for one of their scenarios, where you’re all maybe-vampires-or-something: “How have you kept people from noticing your left eye is missing?”
4 friends in an old Cadillac on a lonesome desert highway. Gas almost gone. Cop car blacked out windows been following for 50 miles.
A group wakes up in an oasis surrounded by rock walls. Their skin grow painful scales over time. To remove scales, they must drown themselves
Walking into your reunion with two friends, you are alarmed when you recognize your fourth “musketeer†that you saw die on graduation night.
Your cryobed opens, but the ship is still dark. You get to the bridge and learn Epsilon Eridani is still 37 years away. Who else is awake?
He has been committing unspeakable acts. You are the voices in his head. One of you is making him do it and must be stopped.
Scene: a dark room x people chained to beds no visible door no accessible tools or weapons
Obj: escape the room using what is in the room
1870 Plattsburgh, NY. Canadians raiders. You chase them to their boats, but they never made it; a grizzly mess on Lake Champlain’s shore.
Tardis is out of control. You are all past companions but there is no sign of him…where is he? When is he?
(C’mon…someone had to do it!)
As you hit the snooze on your alarm, the pain in your hand makes you think, “wait a minute, I lost my hand in Fallujah, what’s going on?â€
4 people wake up in a secret prison facility with no idea why. They must escape and learn what they can while being undetected by guards
Crossing the Bermuda Triangle was a bad idea. The engine is stopped, the crew dead or missing, and where is that awful sound coming from?
While magics rip apart the kingdom, a few people hid in the cathedral, are they safe, or are they in the eye of the storm?
Uncovering 5000 years of Egyptian history, and you find a phone in the pyramid? After recharging, you discover it’s your own iPhone 6?
+1
“Smoke? Last words? How did I get here?†you thought before your executioner was felled by an arrow from a stranger calling you “boss.â€
“Eject, eject, eject†seems like a simple command to follow, but not in a submarine 700 fathoms down, what was mission control thinking?
You and 3 friends are in a coffee shop. You look across the street and see yourselves entering a dark warehouse building.
The gang can’t believe the robbed a bank, but when they get back the hangout. They find a message written in Greg’s blood, “Your welcome”
The gang can’t believe the robbed a bank, but when they get back to the hangout. They find a message written in Greg’s blood, “Your welcome”
With a couple grammar issues fixed, you’re over 140, but I’m sure you can shorten it:
The gang can’t believe they robbed a bank, but when they get back to the hangout. They find a message written in Greg’s blood, “You’re welcomeâ€
I agree with whoever said it earlier, these are fun to put together, but they are also hard to not find yourself jacking something from existing fiction, like bulldozers coming to knock down Arthur Dent’s house.
Dire notice over the office intercom. A nuclear weapon will explode in 2 hours over the city. You & 3 workmates must get to a safe distance.
You’re in a dream, and you know you’re in a dream. You also know that if you die in the dream, you really die, and if you wake without it, you’ll die. But you don’t know what “it” is.
Taking a cruise was a good idea. Until you all wake up in the night abandoned with the power out. Slowly the boat is filling with water…
X# find themselves w/o memory in room w/time machine.notes claim maniac went backward to erase connections 2 each other,TM Glows ready 2 use
Members of ancient cult have infiltrated Vatican in order to perform what is necessary for ancient prophecies to come true.
You are heading home after a long day at the office. When take the elevator down to the lobby, you find yourself back on your floor.
A question? Having pursued the rules of this game, shouldn’t Brett’s knocking over of the tower immediately have removed his character from the game in one way or another?
By the letter of the law, Brett is now considered to be a ‘Dead Man Walking”. He is going to die at a moment determined by Charlie. However, being a DMW he is allowed to role-play and interact with the other players, though he cannot make tower pulls. It’s a great mechanic for keeping players who accidentally knock over the tower (like he did) in the game.
I’m new to your comic as of a few weeks ago (thanks to one of the D&D tweeters/bloggers I think) and absolutely loving this arc!
Here’s my entry:
After your research team discovers a way to record dreams, the lead scientist is murdered and his disturbing dream is found on the machine.
Four of you wake up chained into simulators with screens depicting the views from different UAVs. A 5th chair lies empty, but bloodstained.
There’s no such thing as talking dogs. Just what IS Scooby Doo, and how can you end its sway over these poor teen runaways?
It’s your first time at Gen Con, and everyone’s talking about a great new adventure, “The King in Yellow.” Your DM is muttering about some guy named “Hastur.” Hilarity ensues.
You wake up in a suspension chamber with memories of basic training and little else. Outside an alarm sounds but nobody comes to let you out
# wake up in a Romanian castle. You’re guarded by Nazis, who’re edgy because something in the castle has been picking them off one-by-one.
Back in HS. Test today. You’re naked. Dreaming? Then why are others having same dream with you?
You’re all private investigators hired by local parents to find out the reason why children keep disappearing in the woods.
You’re in a burning building – GO!
Captured by pirates. First to reveal treasure is spared. Unless he lies. Can you keep the pirates guessing until help arrives?
Therapist enters a counseling room and surveys the clients attending today’s group session. In 90 minutes, some of them will not be alive.
Oohh. I think I saw this one.. The Color of Night with Bruce Willis, right? 😉
The players have all commented the same crime and must figure out what that crime is be for they get punished by their host.
Four soldiers wait in a sterile room. A note slides under the door-one has an alien embryo implant. Who has it and what will it do to them?
On a road trip with friends with windows that don’t roll down, 15 miles till next exit, everyone asks the question “WHO FARTED?!”
A typical game of D&D is occurring, when the players realize the DM is a douche that’s trying to kill their high level characters.
Woo! Totally meta!
A group of 8 year olds at a sleepover realize that toys to come to life when no one is looking… and these toys aren’t wanting to play.
A priest, a rabbi, and a shaman walk into a bar for what feels like the millionth time and finally realize… the joke is on them.
My entry: You’re trapped in part of a spaceship with a matter transformer, but no usable matter to create tools for escape. Except your own flesh.
And because I can’t leave well enough alone… The idea is that the matter transformer only works on matter that hasn’t gone through a matter transformer already. Everything around you fits that description except for living things. Hopefully the players will come to realize (with horror) what they need to do on their own once the requirements for the matter transformer are understood.
The question of how and why you’re trapped is up to the GM.
OH, NO! NOT THE BEES! NOT THE BEES! AAAAAHHHHH! OH, THEY’RE IN MY EYES! MY EYES! AAAAHHHHH! AAAAAGGHHH!
It’s dark, cold, cramped, and other than you and your companions shallow breathing, all you hear is dripping water in the distance.
Some strangers who all snuck into the Drive-In in their friend’s trunks each emerge to find all the cars empty and the screen projecting the face of a pug laughing.
Stuck on a life raft in the middle of the ocean following a plane crash, a group must contend with the mermaids that managed to bring down their flight.
Following a strange lighting storm, 5 decathletes discover they’ve been shrunk to half an inch tall. An freak accident, or sick experiement?
I’m not even all that concerned about winning this. I’m just getting a huge kick trying to think up original (I hope) ideas that I’d like to play.
Five words: Dread the Tomb of Horrors.
American recon patrol in Iraq chase attackers into a forgotten Babylonian temple complex. Something dark awakens; it must not escape.
You’re a student at a private Catholic School. Your’re awoken by a bloodcurdling scream, still in your nightgown you get up to investigate.
You have assaulted a long-dead space-hulk and overcome the horrors that live inside; but who among you can survive the resolution of this adventure and wield the power at its evil crooked heart?
The funeral of your otherwise nondescript aunt is crashed by a rag-tag-grab-bag of undesirables; punks, politicians, mafiosa, drug-dealers, rappers, police officers, and licensed clowning professionals – they are all mentioned in her last will and testament, and all must deal with the dire consequences of their life-styles.
A dense forest blocks your path to a crucial engagement. Legend has it there is a witch at the centre, and there are numerous perils at every turn – but you must go through it to reach civilisations, and it gets scarier as the sun sets.
You are guests at a Transilvanian guest-house that is strangely hostile to guests. Darkness descends, a hunger must be satiated, and only the wily will escape the menu by morning.
An outbreak at the local hospital necessitates a quarantine – every minute you are trapped with the infected increases your exposure. How will you escape, and will you infect society at large?
The ship lurched, shuddered, and the engine died. Some… things were climbing the ship, deck by deck. Can you reach the helipad alive?
A diplomat at a high-level function is executed; a lock-down is enacted, forcing the entrapped suspects to confront each other in order to determine the culprit – braving poison, knife, and bullet to survive the ordeal.
A coalition of grave-robbers brave the traps and puzzles set out in an ancient egyptian tomb to reach the sarcophagus. Surrounded with curses and warnings it will take a brave heart to pluck the greatest treasure from the trove – and a cautious eye to escape with the prize alive.
Group is in a white tile room, the only feature being a wall mounted switch. Flipping switch shuts off lights and activates good/bad events. Who will survive?
Players are split into two rooms with uniforms, red and blue. All have pistols. Doors open to larger room that holds a water bucket on a pedistal. Voice says claim the bucket and live. Spill the water and die.
Players start in room with door. On other side is hallway with many doors. Players continue through doors to new areas, but cannot revert to older rooms. Can they escape?
While shopping, a siren goes off. A manager ushers everyone into a break room. A moment after he leaves, screams are heard outside the door.
This is a good one – leaves a lot up to your imagination
The initiation ceremony to join this private club is much deadlier then you think. Can you make out alive or die like a dog.
Crawling from the wreckage of your downed aircraft the group finds itself on a frozen mountainside with darkness rapidly approaching.
Entry #2: Driving home from an event around midnight. The radio crackles on & won’t go off. The car & road lights go out. The radio still crackles.
The bus spun and skidded to a halt, teetering over the edge of a cliff overlooking a deep chasm.
I’ll just reply to myself to keep mine bunched together:
“There’s a chance one of you might escape. One. Maybe I’m lying. Maybe. I wonder if they believe me. Will they help or hinder…? How fun.”
The ship is sinking. Slowly but surely, it’s going down. Can you stay alive inside long enough for help to arrive? Also… what did it hit?
You are in an elevator with four other people. One is on the floor, dead. The rest have the words “I did it” written across their forehead.
my three: maybe I’ll have a few more as I think of them.
Snowed in at a remote airport strange things are happening; power outages; strange noises, and people missing. Can you discover what’s happening before you all disappear?
After a plane crash strands you miles from civilization. You are forced to journey through a barren desert. But deep down you know the crash wasn’t an accident.
After picking a top secret crate a trade ship is making its way back to Earth. A few weeks out and the crate is broken and whatever in it; gone! Sabotage! But who? And why?
Treasure seeking ship sinks. Captain, 1st mate & crew in lifeboat. Whom caused it to sink & survive long enought to make land & get rescued
Hospital, sick people bleeding from ears/eyes. Man runs in, injects himself & bleeding stops but mauled to death by other crazy sick people
1 2 3 u call out & the body flies off the edge of the cliff into the rocky ocean below. But who is helping u & who did u just dispose of?
Scientific expedition into jungle was successful, but discovery, whose bite causes hallucinations & victem to become host for young escapes
I should have started with this:
Thanks very much for making such a great comic and sharing it with everyone!
I look forward to each instalment, the regular game, as well as the Cthulhu and now Dread stories too. Great work, keep it up!
Entry #1: A small group of bank robbers have just pulled the heist of the century. One has poisoned the others in an attempt to get away with everything. Who did it and is there an antidote?
Entry #2: A group of mice are on a journey to the kitchen to get some food. What route do they take? Across the open floor or through the unknown perils within the walls?
Entry #3: A group of spring breakers on a camping trip find themselves stranded in the remote mountains of Oregon. No phones, no vehicles, no way out?
Editting Entry 1: A group of robbers have pulled off the heist of the century. Somebody has poisoned them. Who did it and is there an antidote?
Editting Entry 2: Some mice are on their way to the kitchen for food. What could possibly go wrong?
Ok, hard getting this down to 140 characters. Do spaces count? Just to be safe, here we go:
Small party with friends. Everyone a little off. Sounds of struggle. One of you found bloody and bruised next to body of exact duplicate.