Last night was the beginning of a three-game Samhain Campaign, all in a row.

Monday.

Tuesday.

Wednesday.

Three nights straight, with three more players than I am normally used to. That means six souls sitting down to play, plus me as the Harvest Master.

Friends and family assembled around the table, and I think the first session went swimmingly.

I am already excited for part two tonight.

This week on YouTube I talked about running a Halloween-themed RPG session and threw out some ideas.

Dress up as your character.

Themed food.

Drinks.

An opening ritual.

Music.

Props.

All the little things that can make the night feel like more than just another game session.

We did all of that and more.

I am a little hung over this morning.

There was a lot of mead flowing, along with my usual drink of choice, Jack Daniel's.

Tonight I think I will switch things up and have some Highland Park Scotch.

Right after I finish writing this, though, I need to sit down and go through all my notes from last night's session.

There is a lot to remember.

Bringing Six Souls Together

My three regular players and their characters needed to meet up with the three guest PCs.

Depending on the people involved, that kind of thing can sometimes be difficult.

Why are these characters suddenly together?

Why should they trust each other?

Why would they stay together?

Thankfully, my players understand the assignment.

Even the guests know that we are all coming together to play a game.

Sometimes that sounds obvious, but it matters.

We only have three sessions in this particular stretch, and the people at the table came from everywhere from the bedroom down the hall to 530 miles away.

That is about an eight-hour drive on a good day.

So we need to make every part count.

From dressing up as our characters, to contributing food, snacks, and drinks, all the way to the actual reason everyone gathered together in the first place:

To play Samhain: Hearth & Horror.

Six Players Changes Everything

Playing with six players plus myself as the HM is exciting.

It is also very different from my normal weekly game with three players.

There is simply more happening.

More conversations.

More ideas.

More character interactions.

More side comments.

More people wanting to investigate something, talk to someone, cast something, stab something, or wander off somewhere they probably shouldn't.

Everyone needs time to interact with the world.

Everyone needs a chance to affect the game.

That becomes a balancing act.

It is one of those skills every GM develops over years of play, and even after 38 years of gaming I still get it wrong sometimes.

Someone gets more attention than somebody else.

A scene runs longer than expected.

One player gets pulled deeply into a moment while another waits for their turn.

It happens.

All I can really do is keep trying to stay aware of the table and make sure everybody gets their piece of the action.

Discovering the Story

This is still one of my favorite parts of being the HM.

I have my notes.

I know what is happening in the world.

I know what certain NPCs and Denizens want.

I know what might happen if nobody interferes.

Then the players show up.

Suddenly all of that starts changing.

They talk to someone I expected them to ignore.

They ignore someone I thought would become important.

They succeed on a roll I assumed would probably fail.

They completely botch something that looked like a sure thing.

Then the story starts emerging.

My job becomes keeping the notes together, paying attention to what the players are doing, and adjusting the direction based on their choices and those fickle dice rolls.

That is the good stuff.

Samhain Is Getting Close

I love this hobby.

I love Halloween.

And I am really starting to fall in love with this latest version of Samhain: Hearth & Horror.

The game feels about 95% there.

At this point, I do not think it needs piles of new mechanics.

What it needs are more tools for the Harvest Master.

Tables.

Guidance.

Things that help the HM make decisions quickly and keep the game moving without taking control away from the people at the table.

That feels like the final stretch.

The DNA of a lot of games has found its way into Samhain over the years.

Modern games like D&D 5e.

EZD6.

Older games I have played for decades.

Even some of my own games and systems from the past.

Then you pile Halloween and horror movies on top of that.

Music.

Video games.

Books.

Folklore.

All the weird little things that have been rattling around inside my head for decades.

Somewhere along the way, all of those influences started mixing together into something that feels like its own thing.

That is what I am seeing at the table now.

And I am loving what it is becoming.

Now I need some coffee, a lot of water, and my notes from last night.

Part two begins tonight.