radiant fracture

On this most recent trip, my distraction of choice was Escape This Podcast, in which the hosts guide players (who are often the hosts / casts of other podcasts) though escape room scenarios.

The scenarios are authored by Dani Siller and brought to life by Dani and Bill Sunderland, who Does Voices, playtests, and produces.

Escape rooms are not my go-to kind of game -- they are (? seem to be?) primarily puzzle boxes in cool settings, and I like something more emotional and cathartic -- but Dani is great at creating these stories-in-a-bottle, and the hosts and guests have a lot of fun working through the scenarios. I've just been listening to the Charlie-and-the-Chocolate-Factory doppleganger Escape Roompa-Loompa. (The link is to Episode 2 in the series, but if you know the books or film, you'll know exactly where you are.)

(A propos of nothing in particular, a guest also mentioned the new-to-me term "haunt," for an interactive horror experience. I like that a lot.)

In a cool and generous move, the show makes its scenarios available for free if you want to run one yourself.

My creative brain is coming to life again, and of its own accord it began to write an escape room scenario. I find it's best to let my brain do what it wants, so I sketched the scenario and puzzles in today during a long walk along the west shore and a sojurn at Denny's.

(This is all a bit ironic, since while I love the idea of puzzles and ciphers, I am not very good at solving them.)

You Are Invited

This is your invitation to playtest a very rough escape room scenario. I have not written one before, and I am still feeling out how the form works.

To playtest, all you have to do is to leave a comment with what your character does next. I will comment with the response text, and you can go on from there as far as you like, or until I realize something doesn't work and have to redraft.

When you're done, or as you go, you are welcome to comment with ideas for elaborating or clarifying puzzles or other room elements.

I think this would probably be considered quite an easy escape room to anyone familiar with them. The puzzles are (I think?) pretty transparent. A diversion rather than a challenge?

If you're not familiar with escape rooms (as I am not, really, except through the pod), it's customary to start with a detailed examination of the room and its contents. You're looking for puzzles to solve rather than more open-ended challenges -- "figure out the key code," not "win over the security guard.

It's much more about puzzles and setting than character or story, and the setting's primary function is to provide clues about how to solve the puzzles. (I think. As I say, I am new to this. Any escape roomers (escapees?) out there?)

Comments will obviously contain spoilers, though the details may vary as I develop and improve the language of the scenario. Also hopefully I think of a better title?

(I made this a Christmas scenario to create some quick stakes -- invoking familiar genre tropes seems to be a staple of the format, a shortcut to understanding the task at hand.)

( The Scenario: Long Winter's Catt Nap )

{RF}