Tips for running Vaesen

 

I'm a long time gamemaster but very new to running Vaesen, the game of Nordic horror roleplaying. But it's become one of my new obsessions. Now I'm going to be offering up a little bit of advice for running the mysteries from the books. At least what I've learned so far. 

Before I begin I will say I used the Starter Kit to introduce my group to the game. Letting them get a feel for the game before making their own characters. It worked rather well and they were ready to dive right in after that initial taste. 

First. Take notes for yourself. There is actually quite a bit of detail put into their published adventures. So making a few notes and maybe even scribbling out a relationship map can work rather well. It's easy to forget something from one particular location that may be an essential clue for later on. 

Second. Practice saying the names a bit. I'm from the middle of nowhere in the United States. So when it comes to Scandinavian names for people and places let's just say it's a bit of a rough go. While reading through the adventure before running it say the names out loud a few times. It's better than stumbling over it for the first time in the middle of the game.

Third. Use the handouts. Most are available on the Free League website to download. These help so much to set the mood and they've put some obvious work into them. Now most of the mysteries also have pictures of the main characters to boot. So if you have the pdf print those off as well if you can. That and props are always advisable at most gaming tables, especially where mysteries are concerned. 

Fourth. Let the players figure stuff out first. Don't push them towards the set motion that you think will work the best. Especially if they have the codex from the Starter Kit available. If they start reading through that trying to figure out what they are up against LET THEM. Figuring out what kind of Vaesen they are up against is only half the problem. 

That's all I have for now. As I keep running more mysteries out of the books I'll post up any more advice that I may have.