Seasons of Blood 2013

Welcome to It Came From the Sketchpad! The official blog of Sketchpad Studio and DT "Sketchpad" Butchino. Twice a week I'll be posting about Sketchpad Studio projects, comic books and gaming, with occasional guest posts and possibly an interview here and there. Have questions you'd like to ask? Give us a shout at sketchpad.studio@gmail.com and we'll try to answer them in a post.

I've spoken in the Acts of Villainy issues on how much I like event comics. Last year, I ran a one-shot game that allowed my gaming group to gather a random group of their heroes together to stop an invading menace that was prophecized by the Mayan calender. We had a blast, so I wanted to do that again, only with a Halloween game. Thus, Seasons of Blood was born. The game was announced to friends in August, with sign up leading up until October 12th, with Mutants & Masterminds, Third Edition being chosen as the system. The game was set in the Tribute Universe during the year 1977 and ten pre-generated characters were available for up to seven players. 

Last night we played the game and had the following players, all of whom are regular members of my bi-weekly gaming group, The Midnight Legion:
• Glenn, who played Jon Hollow, a former detective that continued his career after his death.
• Sara, who played Rose Cobb, a former agent that's gained a werewolf-like curse.
• Charity, who played a crystal mage named Maureen "Moonglow" Davis.
• Ana, who played the uncontrolled telekinetic named Alvin Keller.
• Talya, who played nature psychic Sylvia Simmons.
• Seth, who played Malcolm Wolfe, a hunter not unlike a pair of famous brothers seen on TV.
Each character was PL 5, with some having powers and the Ritual advantage being used in full swing.

The game started with the team being called in to investigate a gruesome killing of a consulate member, Gene Oberman. With each character working for W.A.R.D. (see W.A.R.D.), they discovered that he was an avid art collector and one of his pieces, a mask, was stolen. They also discovered The Yellow Sign etched near where he was killed. Malcolm took the bait and mentioned Hastur's name three times, which summoned a rat-thing that served as the eyes for an unseen master.
Meanwhile, another killing occurred, this time of a stage producer named Sam Thompson. While there wasn't a body, there was enough evidence of foul play and the heroes investigated further. Looking in his office, they discovered a list of people, each linked to a rock opera called The Emperor in Amber. Looking into the members, they found each of them either dead or in a state of insanity, with two members encountering a shadowy, winged creature during their inspection. While it managed to get away, they managed to find the name of Evan Cassilda, a local Pentacle Club owner and secretly a member of The Pentacle of Shadows (see The Pentacle of Shadows). Bringing him in for questioning, he managed to walk free with little evidence pointing to him. 
However, that didn't stop the heroes. With most of the group waiting outside, Rose and Maureen went in undercover and found the club about to perform the Emperor in Amber on their stage. Gathering the others, Maureen rebuked Cassilda, who had been part of the performance as The King in Yellow. Attacked by the same shadowy beings that were seen earlier, the group rallied and managed to defeat one, while Jon jumped on stage and removed the stolen mask (itself an artifact of Hastur), canceling the spell and causing the gate for the true King in Yellow to fail. Using what waning influence he had left, the monstrous deity pulled whoever he could into the portal with him, with both Jon and Maureen escaping, the latter with the help of Alvin. 
As the game came to close, Malcolm discovered that the rat-thing had been trailing him the whole time, though what its master's agenda was may have to wait for a later time.

Overall, we all seemed to have fun. The rules from the Supernatural Handbook worked well for what I'd worked up and would be happy to use them again. Our next major event is another holiday-themed one that's coming up in December. Expect another game report shortly after. 
That wraps up the first post, folks. I'll be posting again probably mid-week, so if you have any questions or comments, please drop me a line or comment on this post. Thanks for reading and I'll post soon!

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