Cabin in the woods. [Spoilers]

[Mordokai]

Yes, it's about the movie. So if you haven't wathed it yet and would like to, get out, because there's gonna be spoilers. You've been warned.

I would like to run a one-shot campaign based on this. It's supposed to be at least mildly lethal, with the PC dying not being able to come back, at all. If they are sacrificed to the sort of ancient deities bent on world destruction, that would make sense, right? That's the primary reason for the whole one-shot. It need to be over with quickly, lest the players of the dead PC's get bored. So here's the first problem. How to stick this in a three hours session(the amount of time usually aloted to us), without making it rush too much?

I'm leaning toward using d20 Modern for this. DnD the usual would give them too much magic for this to be really scary and I don't want that. I realize nWoD would probably be better, but I'm pretty much the only guy in the group who knows anything about the system and I don't feel like educating the rest of the gang just for one shot. Probably around level three to five. Should give PC's some staying power, while still making them pretty vulnerable, especially considering the massive damage thresshold, or whatever that rule is called.

As for the monsters... what kind of artifacts would one put in the basement and what monster would they summon? I imagine Fornicus, Lord of Bondage and Pain would be a very memorable opponent, but how to summon him? I imagine the Buckners would be fine opponents as well, but as we've already seen them in the movie, they are kinda low on priority list. Basically, I'm looking for a list of artifacts and co-responding monsters. I'm hoping for at least a little of horror in player's part, so this is kinda important.

Last but not least, I'm thinking of offering the dead players a chance to join me behind the screen, so we can orchestrate the demise of the still living players together. That way, even if somebody dies, they are not totally out of game. Question is, how would this be done best? I imagine a sheet of paper with some instructions would be pretty good, but maybe something less obvious?

There will be more, but later. Right now, I'm just looking for as many ideas as possible to crunch. So don't be afraid to share. Anything is good.

[Acathala]

I think it may be too difficult to conceal the fact dead pcs are still playing. You are as well telling the group about it. You can stilk keep their actions secret.

[whibla]

Last but not least, I'm thinking of offering the dead players a chance to join me behind the screen, so we can orchestrate the demise of the still living players together. That way, even if somebody dies, they are not totally out of game. Question is, how would this be done best? I imagine a sheet of paper with some instructions would be pretty good, but maybe something less obvious?

A staple of many horror films is that it is the spirits of those previously killed on the property that initially haunt the new group of unfortunates. They cannot be killed or laid to rest until the big bad is actually dealt with, but they can suffer temporary set backs, such as the destruction of their manifestation. I'm not totally sure how this would work in a very low level session, or in a fairly small space, but maybe create a level 1 version of each character, with at least an undead template, and just give it to any player when their character dies. They always appear in the cellar, have a hunger for their friend's 'company', and will reform, back in the cellar, 5 rounds (or so) after their destruction each time. I'm not sure there's a reason to bring them behind the screen tbh. Run the session as you usually would, but after each death it just becomes a bit more like an arena duel.

I suspect that as a one-off this could be quite enjoyable. There's nothing that tells you who your friends are quite like running a session that actively encourages them to eat each other's brains. I hope you guys have fun with this.

[Mordokai]

I like your idea. Maybe give each monster some sort of Spawn ability. Not even undead per se, just ability to make a sort of minions that later come back to haunt their former friends with vengeance.

As for limited area... the titular cabin is their just for a set up and the area also includes a rather large forest and an underground complex later in the movie. As we see later, there are more experiments going all around the world and the one in movie is just one of them. I used it as an example, but the one we see would probably not be included in the game. Rather, I would use one of the other experiments that are going on somewhere else in the world and come up with a similar twist, but a different enviroment.

[Rejakor]

Spawn is the best way to do it.

Second best, is to have character sheets for the dudes down in the control room. When player characters die, they re-roll as the control room guys, or Bill from Maintenance, or the Director. Thus you could have the PCs 'lose', but actually it's a win for most of the team, since they were already playing as the 'bad guys'.

[Mordokai]

That was one of the ideas, yes. However, it would be nice if the team of directors and maintanance would be able to do something. I'm not really sure what that something would be though...

I also considered adding a timer. Have a couple of events and after each, the timer moves forward. For example, eight events, each one moves it onward for an hour. Ideally, it would be timed with the PC's death. Whether the PC dies or not, the timer moves on. That way, if they manage to stay alive for a long time, they may actually win. Of course, them winning means the humanity looses and that would actually be kinda awesome.