Secret Door Club: Star Crabs play-test diary

Hello club members!

Last weekend I (Niels) ran a fun little one-shot for some friends and family to test some ideas we have for ACT 2 of Stars of the Sea, and I wanted to share some of it with you here. The one shot was designed to test three core campaign concepts:

• If the environmental message that comes with disposable Spell Cells is clear from gameplay alone
• If it works that the Stars of the Sea can infect/affect the player characters
• How far to take the (body) horror themes we want to include in the campaign

A quick summary to remind you of what I'm talking about: The Stars of the Sea phenomena is caused by broken & discarded spell cells conglomerating below the ocean to form a big chaotic alien monstrosity. This monstrosity will have the ability to "infect" creatures, assimilating them into its being.

The one-shot story hook: Find the lads.

The story hook of the one-shot is simple: The player characters have been adventuring in Silver Spires for a while. They know many of the prominent people living in the city, and they are a welcome sight for many. One morning, two of the Krablad brothers (who run THE CRAB LADS food stand on Soulspire Island) come to the adventurers with a mission: The other two brothers have gone missing while they were hunting for star-crabs, and the adventurers must find them.

Spell Cells

I gave the players 12 spell-cells, a cell-powered boat and a bunch of cell-powered items to use. As soon as they used the first one, they started asking questions about where they could charge it, and where to dispose of it. I don't expect every group to be on it like that immediately, but I feel that it certainly is encouraging for the Spell Cells' ability to be at the heart of an environmental story! When I told them they were one-use and disposable, they held on to every Spell Cell they used in order to put them in the appropriate bin later ❤️

The Stars of the Sea infection

I introduced various ways through which the player characters could be infected by the Stars of the Sea; by getting attacked by creatures or monsters that are already infected, or by consuming anything that contains Stars. Any time they'd be in contact with the Stars of the Sea in that way, I had them make a simple DC10 CON SAVE. On a failed save, their infection worsened.

I divided the "infection" into four levels:

• Level 1: No visible change, but the infected feels better, stronger, healthier.
• Level 2: Twinkly marks around the eyes; like Oki and Alimango Krablad are displaying. Infected feels great; Fabulous, even! As described in the Starry Eyes section of the Soulspire Island guide, there are people in Silver Spires actively pursuing this effect, as it has become a fashion trend. 
• Level 3: Starry "pocks" appear on the body; like the Giant Crab (Starred) above is displaying. The affected still feels like themselves. Disadvantage on future saves against the infection.
• Level 4: The mind of the infected is taken over by the Stars of the Sea monstrosity. They become part of the monster.

I think this worked out great for the one-shot. At first, some players were excited by it, some were suspicious, but it was all good fun. I kept the mechanics of the "infection" secret for as long as I could, tracking progress behind the screen. The easy-to-make DC allowed me to insert frequent saves, and as some of the players started stacking up levels, they started getting pretty worried - by the end of the mission, rolling such a "star save" became a very tense moment.

For the campaign, we may either raise the amount of infection levels, or put a time requirement on the infections' progression. We want it to be a persistently growing presence throughout the campaign.

Body Horror Elements

At the end of the one-shot, the players entered a deep cave where tendrils of the Stars of the Sea monstrosity were infecting the giant crabs. There they found Alimango Krablad, completely unrecognisable, fully merged with a star-monster.

Inspired by movies like "the Thing", I really wanted to push the design for this one. It certainly had an effect on the players, but I wonder if I may have pushed it one step too far. I know that some of our patrons play this game with children, and it may be better to keep it more "PG".  Something to think on for sure! 

We're likely going to explore some other options that are a little less "body horror" and a little more "psychological horror" than the example above for the Stars of the Sea infected beings. That way, more of the frights will be in the narration, and it will be easier for DMs with groups who don't enjoy the horror elements to tone them down.

Conclusion

All told, I would consider the one-shot a success. The players enjoyed the adventure a lot, and the themes we intended to communicate were understood through playing the story with little to no explanation. We're in the process of setting up more test games to run through the entire campaign, and as we do, I hope we can make a few more posts like this explaining how we're developing the campaign.

I'm very eager to hear your opinions on the themes I've talked about above. Do you intend to use the Spell Cells when you run the campaign? Do you think allowing the player characters to be infected with the Stars of the Sea is a good idea? Are you looking forward to seeing more horror themes, or not?

Thank you for your pledge, and thank you for reading!

- Niels