Vs. Stranger Stuff: Creepy Clowns (VsM Engine)

This adventure for Vs. Stranger Stuff Season 1 (compatible with Season 2, just fyi) clocks in at 12 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, leaving us with 8 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

I’ve been asked by one of my patreon supporters to move this up in my reviewing queue, so there we go!

It should be noted that this adventure is included in “Vs. Stranger Stuff: Send in the Clowns“, which also provides rules and additional adventures. If you want to dip your toes into Coulrophobia, this pdf is the way to go; if you really want to embrace darkened clown-tales, get the big book – it has more stuff and revamped and refined layout etc.!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion.

…

..

.

All right, only GMs around? Great! So, fall is approaching and, in a time-honored tradition, older kids, bullies and pricks have decided that it’s fun to do the horror clown and frighten the young ones – so that’s the backdrop.

The module then proceeds to do something structurally interesting: Taking a cue from RPG-classics like the original Ravenloft module, the adventure has a randomization effect: The module has the players draw cards in the beginning – the suits then determine the structure of certain aspects of the game, hooks, etc..

We begin with an encounter with a clown-painted bully, and after that, the Kids will, after school, notice absurdly large footprints – following them, they may well witness a clown goon, recruiting one of these bullies, transforming them! Beyond the combat, there may well be an epidemic if the kids don’t stop it! And indeed, the local carnival may well be the source, with no less than 4 radically different scenarios, including 3 different boss stats, waiting for them!

Really cool little adventure. Huge plus for the replay value! This makes for an excellent convention game that doesn’t become boring for the GM after running it twice. The module also comes with a nice good gimmick as a reward.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good on a formal and rules-language level. Layout adheres to a two-column full-color standard, and while not as refined as in the big book, it’s a nice pdf to look at. The pdf sports some rather creepy full-color artworks and has a single bookmark that points towards the start of the module.

I really enjoyed this module by Ben Dowell – the randomization enhances the replay value significantly, and the adventure per se is fun, diverse and intriguing. 5 stars, with the caveat that I strongly encourage you to get the big “Vs. Stranger Stuff: Send in the Clowns”-book instead, as linked below on my homepage.

You can get this neat module here on OBS!

You can get the big Send in the Clowns-book (also in print!) here on OBS!

Missed the excellent Vs. Stranger Stuff Season 2? You can find it here on OBS!

Endzeitgeist out.

Comments