NOCTURNUS: Post GenCon Review

Getting to run sessions of Nocturnus at GenCon was something I desperately needed. Though I've been running sessions of it for about 2 years now, those sessions have been in somewhat of a vacuum. Players have been members of Infinite Black, along with some of its consultants and contractors, and many of my own test play groups. While all those games were invaluable to the continued development of Nocturnus, we all know each other and tend to rehash the same topics and concerns of play, and ultimately reach a kind of predictable feedback loop. Not that a predictable destination is bad--I test play with some amazing people who are seriously geeky about RPGs. But this also gets me thinking how things will run with people who don't know me, or are not part of the RPG culture of my regional gaming community. Do certain things work because that's what this community likes or that they specifically enjoy when I do it? Well GenCon brought that needed perspective. The sessions were absolutely amazing, playing with complete strangers with RPG experience that was all over the place. From having played a few sessions over this year to those that were decades long hobbyists. I spent anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes with getting to know the players of each group and their RPG experience, then took about 15 minutes instructing pregen selection and gameplay. Then we jumped straight into The Silence at Blackwood Keep. Even more exciting was that each group really dug into the adventure. Silence begins with each player having a piece of information specific to their character and their character's current interests. The sentinel group of harbingers (i.e. the player characters) has a few straight forward goals, which is all they need accomplish: 1) Travel to Blackwood Keep to discover why no one's heard from it in months. 2) Deliver a written, sealed message to Lord Blackwood. 3) If Lord Blackwood requests it, the harbingers are to assist him and will be compensated. 4) If the message is undeliverable, the harbingers are to destroy it. Players at GenCon attacked this scenario, challenged by the four hour time constraint to finish it. Despite that certain aspects and mysteries could devour their time, all groups got close to the end, one group actually completing it. All seemed very capable at using their harbingers effectively, taking advantage of their individual skills and capabilities to overcome difficult challenges. Even as novice, starting characters, players were able to demonstrate expertise and specialization particular to their harbingers very successfully. All around, this was a particularly satisfying introductory run for not only Nocturnus but for the Journey to the Tree of Sorrows adventure series. Silence was written as a prequel to that series, so seeing players first hand latching onto its details was exciting.