Mrs Frieda’s Halfway Home Session 25 – If Words Could Kill

Odyn has been defeated, but at a heavy cost. Julie Williams, chief rumorsmith and head popular girl, was lost inside the nightmare world Odyn created to trap Emma. Nele and Emma blasted their way in and recovered the little girl Emma, but Julie was consumed by Odyn.

Emma and Nele survived, and through the combined efforts of all of the children, Odyn was destroyed.

Now, the kids are standing in the aftermath. Julie is gone, and no one seems to notice that she is gone. It is only with the return of George, and Condor’s healing flesh, that there is the slightest chance to bring her back.

And the love triangle, revitalized by George’s return, is stretching to the breaking point.

PLAYERS

2 Comments

  1. Wow, great example of player ingenuity saving the day in this one. I’m glad the players had a pretty big triumph after such a nasty streak of failure. At first, at least from a storytelling standpoint, it felt like a backpedal (I notice “retcon” is a tag for this one :p) that sucked some of the emotional energy out of the last episode. But as it progressed I saw how great it was that after all the damage Odyn caused, some of it got to be fixed. Besides, RPGs aren’t supposed to be traditional storytelling. It’s the group dynamic that makes this a good campaign.

    But really, the Scott/George/Emma triangle really stole the show for me. I was especially wowed by Matt’s acting during that whole thing. I was an unfortunate participant in an angsty teen love mixup once many moons ago, so I can relate to all the craziness of it. That’s what makes stories like these so good, they can jump from fights with dark demon princes to something that makes you go “oh yeah, I can remember that from when I was that age.” It gives it a human dimension that connects the audience to the characters.

    So yeah, well done once again. 🙂

    1. Author

      Awh, thanks! I was worried I would be chided for some overacting there. This is not the last time someone cries in a game, but it is the last time that someone fakes crying for the sake of drama (by which I mean some shit happens that actually makes the players cry).

      Yeah, I recall one of the players saying “What’s up with this high school bullshit?” following which time I pointed out that all of the characters are in middle or high school. Monsters and Other Childish Things is very strange thematically in that it places equal emphasis on the supernatural and the mundane. In fact, as a monster kid, you are less likely to be injured by the supernatural than you will be by say, drugs.

      The important thing is that all of the characters are adolescents and still have a very self-centric view of the world (or one that is expanding). They are brash and impulsive and do things specifically because it will apply directly to them. In a strange way, monster kids are strangely like the standard D&D PCs.

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