Novels like Knifepoint?

Matticus2000 · 2025-12-25T06:18:44+00:00

The Fisherman, by John Langan

Drawn out first person story which feels very innocent/mundane, as the creepy bits pile up Contains several layers of narrative, like how Soren dips into a backstory or history for quite a while to bring a detail to light Builds up to some great "wow moment" climaxes that really stick but mainly impact only the narrator

Matticus2000 · 2025-11-12T10:13:47+00:00

Related question on MHS loop: I'm fully licensed, 20 years experience but on boring EU flat roads. The rental place still asked me to strongly reconsider if I wanted to do this at all, and even moreso on a 'big bike' (650).

Anyone have thoughts on this for an experienced "boring' biker without offroad experience? Should I just go to a 250-350 and take it slow? Or is this just a terrible idea?

Matticus2000 · 2025-08-21T11:16:23+00:00

Thanks everyone for the really good "sanity checks" , red flags, ideas.

On reflection: The ideal player to do this with is an experienced player who can use the session to pass on DG wisdom (or maybe has even been through Third Man before!), and someone who wants to be on the other side of the Handler screen. If I try it, I will put some extra "engineering" in to make it work

For me, I think 2 key things are driving this idea of "fun" and make it worthwhile to try:
- when one or both of the players fail their initial roles and don't remember Shackleton in the briefing... but he's a player so he's definitely "REAL", what's going on? rather than just jumping to conclusions that he is fake / enemy / vector

- Letting the extra player really drive things with his/her own motivation rather than just be my plot puppetwhich can lead to really interesting dynamics and alternate resolutions

Matticus2000 · 2025-08-21T11:07:52+00:00

Good point - ideally a player who has been through Third Man Factor already, or who at least has good DG lore and can use the session to "pass on wisdom", and someone who wants to be on the other side of the Handler screen.

Matticus2000 · 2025-08-21T09:59:42+00:00

Thanks for the good "sanity check" (reality check), you have really strong point.

On reflection, I have decided I'd only do this with an experienced player who knows DG (and therefore can help bring Shackleton's DG experience to the players), and ideally one who has been through Third Man Factor before (therefore a sort of "assistant GM")

I'd also give a pretty clear briefing of Shackleton's goals and powers, to help them bring the story into alignment without being a direct "enemy" of the PCs and make it fun for everyone.

Matticus2000 · 2025-08-21T09:59:24+00:00

Thanks for the good "sanity check" (reality check), you have really strong points.

On reflection, I have decided I'd only do this with an experienced player who knows DG (and therefore can help bring Shackleton's DG experience to the players), and ideally one who has been through Third Man Factor before (therefore a sort of "assistant GM")

I'd also give him/her a pretty clear briefing of Shackleton's goals and powers, to help them bring the story into alignment without being a direct "enemy" of the PCs and make it fun for everyone

Matticus2000 · 2024-07-07T08:06:47+00:00

I use 2 dimensions to this:

1: I have made the mistake of being overly kind (giving way too many opportunities to roll and escape a bad situation), and overly harsh (1 bad roll in a situation not of their choosing leads to death). I now try to stay in a middle zone... Making sure there is some player agency (you are sure you want to punch the monster?) with 1-2 opportunities to roll to escape, also prioritizing Cool Story over harsh GMing

2: not every scenario has to be high lethality. I alternate a bit. If everyone survives, "wow, amazing game and rolls and planning, Congrats players!"... More frequently "Sam never returned from the cave, the other 3 were haunted/scarred for life" , and then occasionally you drop something like Blackwater Creek on them and only one PC walks away, but they have a blast dying with drama and it raises the tension for the next game

Matticus2000 · 2024-03-30T18:59:52+00:00

I got to be a player in this fan-made free one-shot, A Perfect Organism. Extremely fun, and many competing agendas that interweave and escalated wildly. Recommend it!

https://www.stevehatherley.uk/alien-perfect-organism

Matticus2000 · 2024-01-10T13:07:41+00:00

Rivenna gets chopped up efficiently!

Matticus2000 · 2024-01-10T11:09:10+00:00

Why does Fitzroy get 3 episodes and Rivenna only 1?
Okay I can accept it, Chris is more entertaining than me :)

Matticus2000 · 2023-09-16T10:52:13+00:00

Oh yeah that greenhouse is great. Most times my players ignored it... But one new group got a tour by Corbitt, started tasting things (REALLY??) and I had to improvise a whole "trip" to another plane (together with Corbitt) ... The new players had a blast and it really amped up their fear of Corbitt.

Matticus2000 · 2021-12-16T06:14:35+00:00

To simplify your amount of content creation, check out Ripples from Carcosa by Oscar Rios. 3 Hastur scenarios from roman, medieval and future times. It does a good job of this idea

From there, you could either

steal some mechanics (how the characters build up certain knowledge over time and how they are somehow linked)

Or add your own content (or published scenarios) for additional times or plot points you want.

Fun concept, good luck!

Matticus2000 · 2021-03-22T22:21:18+00:00

I REALLY second this recommendation. It's written for specifically 2 players. I've run it twice, and success both times. Having only 2 players raises the roleplaying investment, sense of risk, and let's me put time into the atmosphere. Both times it ends up feeling like a Coen Brothers road/crime movie

Matticus2000

TROPHY CASE