a time to harvest A Time to Harvest game report - Episode 1

[roberto.ferrer]

Hello there, it's my first message in these forums, I'm glad to be here with you all. Please be gentle with my english, it's not my native tongue (I'm from Spain).

This thread will reflect my gaming gruop experience on the actual campaign testing (episode 1). Please notice that we played episode 1 in a row, taking us 8 hours to beat it.

1. The document is extensive and very reach, a nice setup for a not so long campaing, but with lots of cool lore that permits to readapt or create new adventures for out investigators. I really appreciate that the PDF is in black and white, personally, it looks much better like this than in color. There's no need to add "old paper style" backgrounds at all, if you need to add some drama or feel horrorized simply read the book :-)
2. Regarding the NPC list, players found it overwhelming in the beginning. There are lots of characters so we thought that it would be great to have a sheet of paper with some portraits, names and area of study/profession. In my opinion these huge list of characters provoked a slow introduction to the game. In fact, maybe the PC could be chosen from these NPC list, making more agile and versatile the gaming flow (Start the game introducing it as a story-telling and don't forget to let'em chose the characters once they're under pressure or in action!).
3. In addition to point 2, NPC are too polarized in the story development. They found quite easy that Blaine was too ambiguos (well, I'm not a professional actor neither, so...). Even though, there was a nice sense of psychosis between the players in every single scene. This was fomented by the false clues and the tension of Cobb's Corners population, the corpse in the back yard and the excavation.
4. The excavation was so depressing for the characters: they thought it was very important for the story, and an important clue to know more about what was happening. They didn't expect that an old woman could know more about the paranormal activity in the area than the ancient indian cemetery related to the Mi-Go activity!
5. About John Jeffrey, PC didn't even found it! But they could see fauna that came out of the portal. There should be an easier way to make them confront the main aspect of this episode much better than let'em lurk for it in the woods. Anyways, there can be a next oppotunity in an upcoming chapter... :-)

This is all for the moment. I attach some photos about that glorious day!