Where Walks the Wendigo

“As the blue and cream VW camper van pulled to the side of the road, Blake turned round in his seat to address his team. ‘Okay, so we know that there have been reports of a monster roaming this area, but as we all know, it’s very unlikely that it’s genuine. So what we have on our hands is a mystery…so let’s go solve it!”

As promised, here is the culmination of ‘Scooby Doo’ month here on the Buffet, with an AAR of a solo play game I ran to test if my home brew rules could cope with Scooby Doo gaming. Turns out they can, but need a little tweaking.

Before we start, I have to apologise, as due to issues with my computer, this post and all content has been done via the app on my ‘phone. So it will probably be a little rough around the edges, so bear with me.

As I do not game often, I had to use what I had to hand, so the gaming area was built from Heroscape tiles and scenery. Here it is:

This is the left hand side of the table, showing the road and rest area, a wooded hill and some mysterious ruins. The Enigma gang are alongside their camper van and there appears to be another vehicle parked in the rest area.

This is the right hand side of the table, showing what appears to be an abandoned aircraft hangar, which cannot be seen from the road.

As mentioned before, the gang started alongside the ‘Enigmobile’. Four clue tokens were placed on the gaming area – each clue successfully secured by the gang would increase their chance to catch the ‘monster’, but for each clue secured  there was a cumulative 20% chance the monster would appear. Here are the clues:

Clue 1 – the news team.

Clue 2 – hidden in the ruins.

Clue 3 – concealed within a cave.

Clue 4 – within the supposedly abandoned hangar.

On Turn 1, Blake used his Leadership ability on his first Action to activate Anne, Herman and Ace, leaving Joan to look after the Enigmobile. Herman and Ace headed for the ruins,  whilst Blake and Anne headed for the news team.

Having reached the news team,  Blake attempted to use his Charm on the news anchor, but unfortunately rolled a 1, meaning that not only had he failed, he could not attempt this clue again.

Luckily,  the dice were smiling on Anne, who used her Charm on Carl the camera man, securing the first Clue! This was footage of the ‘monster’, giving both Anne and Blake a +1 modifier to any Fear rolls when confronting the ‘monster’.
However, as the first clue had been secured, there was now a 20% chance the monster would appear – and a 2 was rolled! Enter the Wendigo!

The green tile to the far right of this picture is the ‘monster’ spawn point and a 6 was rolled, it appeared 6 tiles closer towards the clue that was secured. This put it in line of sight of all characters on the board, except Joan who was behind the van and Ace, who was nosing about in the ruins. With their +1 modifier, both Anne and Blake easily passed a Fear test. The news team were not so fortunate and bundled into their car and squealed off into the distance. This left Herman…

Being of stern Austrian stock, Herman took one look at the ‘monster’ and with a scream of “Uzi 9mm! ” opened fire. The dice were kind and he managed to damage the ‘monster’ which then ran away, dropping an additional clue token. Once it was out of LOS, in true Scooby Doo style, the ‘monster’ vanished!

Herman then joined Ace in the ruins, searching for clues. Not being the brightest duo, here they would remain for some time.

The clue token dropped by the ‘monster’ was then approached by Anne and Blake.

Seeing what appeared to be a hank of fur caught on some briars, both Anne and Blake attempted to retrieve it.

After some failed attempts, Blake managed to retrieve the fur. “There’s something not quite right about this…” he muttered.
Of course, that meant another chance the monster would appear – and the chance had risen to 40%! A 3 was duly rolled…

Followed by a 4, meaning the Wendigo appeared only two spaces away! Both Anne and Blake failed their Fear rolls and ran for their lives! And in true Scooby Doo style, the Wendigo gave chase…

A further Fear test against both character’s Resolve resulted in Blake passing and Anne failing miserably with a 1, meaning she would keep running – right off the table and out of play. Curses!

As the Wendigo was right behind Blake…

He decided to use his Bamboozle skill – a combination of disguise and fast talking – to confuse the Wendigo. Luckily, the dice favoured Blake and the Wendigo was stunned for two actions, allowing Blake to run away and hide.

Looks pretty pleased with himself, doesn’t he?
Meanwhile, Herman and Ace had secured the clue in the ruins, uncovering a set of speakers and tape recorder. Curious…

Moving out from the ruins, Herman and Ace decided to investigate the cave. However, as they were concentrating on their investigation of the cave, they failed to notice the Wendigo creeping up on them.

Upon realising the monster was there, Herman failed his Fear test and ran. However, Ace, being almost insane, walked his Fear test and launched himself at the creature!

Having savaged the creature, causing damage, the monster ran off out of sight and, of course, vanished once more!

Ace then secured the 4th clue, with no reappearance of the monster, meaning the gang now had 4 clues!

Even though Joan, back at the van, had the Devise skill, the 4 clues still gave the remaining team a +4 modifier to catch the ‘monster’.
Having regrouped, Blake, Herman and Ace approached the disused hangar.

And found and secured the final clue…

Which resulted in the final appearance of the monster.

Fear tests passed, Blake attempts to trap the ‘monster’, pitting his Awareness and Clues modifier against the Wendigo’s Vigour – and succeeds! Having trapped the Wendigo in an oil drum, Blake explains…

“The footage I watched earlier was obviously filmed remotely on a tripod and the fur we found was obviously fake, the sound equipment Herman found created the howls that had been scaring everyone away and the evidence of digging in the cave revealed the reason. If you look in the rear of this black pickup, you’ll find gold ore. Our ‘monster’ had discovered an untapped seam of gold in an old mine and was using his skills and the legend of the Wendigo to scare people away…Our Wendigo is actually…Carl the camera man!”

And the credits roll…

The system worked pretty well, although having the right people attempting the clues seems to be important, otherwise they get tied up for ages. The monster rules worked well, where if it is out of sight, it vanishes until another clue is secured. And it scaring, chasing and being Bamboozled by Blake was so Scooby Doo!

Needs a little tweaking here and there, but it was a fun game and ideal for solo play. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed playing.

Comments and feedback appreciated, as always.