Adventures in Heroscape: Ghost Hunters Game Day

So our 5th Annual Halloween Heroscape Event was every bit of a success (in my eyes) as the previous ones. We missed Paul, but everyone else came and we had a great afternoon of fun, fellowship, and gaming.

One of the things I like about the Halloween game is that I ask guests to bring a Halloween- or game-themed snack to share. This year it was ghosts, of course. But I really like to see people's creativity come out in the snack area. This year we had banana ghosts with mandarin pumpkins. There was a big, red, jiggly brain to eat, mummy cakes, goblins, and even edible Heroscape figures (candy ghosts on Oreo cookies...yum). Pat brought a puking pumpkin again this year, too.

The afternoon began with a few snacks and a lot of conversation. The Halloween Event always draws a few more people that our regular games and there were some people who hadn't seen each other in a while, so it was a good opportunity to reconnect with friends. Some people were just hungry and like to talk.

Then the game began...

The first phase pitted all the Ghost Hunters (4 players) against the Shades of Bleakwoode (1 player). The heroes came through the the first phase unscathed and then moved on to phase two.

In the second phase of the game, the Ghost Hunters split up to search four separate rooms. Each Ghost Hunter player was pitted against a ghost player. Tina's Eladrin heroes faced Hypnotic Spirits in the library and defeated them earning Revenant's Tome as a reward. Solomon and Ana Karithon faced JP's Lurking Shadows in the hall.

Valguard and his viking companions under Anthony's control fought Charles' Oathbreakers in the armory. Valguard was the only survivor, earning a Brooch of Shielding in return. When the third phase began and the Caller in Darkness emerged, however, Valguard was in such shock from the battle with the Oathbreakers that he locked the door to the armory and hid for a few turns. Eventually his viking courage returned and he reentered the battle fighting bravely until he met his end.

In the rotunda, rookie player Jesse (with the helpful coaching of Benjamin) used her Phantom Knights to defeat Roheryn Dragonspine and her adventuring friends.

One of the things I love about our Halloween game is that I develop scenarios that create multiple simultaneous games. It gets more people playing more often, keeps the game moving along faster, and creates a wonderfully cacophonous controlled chaos that I love to watch.

Younger players (who weren't playing Heroscape) were playing outside and occasionally came in for a little snack.

Phase three brought all the rooms together into one. All the rooms which had been separate in order to better facilitate ease of play for the players, were connected together, and the surviving players had access to the entire house for the last battle against the Caller in Darkness.

Eventually the Caller in Darkness was defeated and the remaining ghosts fled from the house. Faron Deepshadow, under Tina's control struck the final blow winning the game for the Ghost Hunters.