I ran Death Throes - Buried At Sea at the 3W6-Con on 18.08.2023 in Vienna, Austria. We had a lot of fun, hope and despair! I will definitely play it again.
The Rooted in Trophy rules framework works wonderfully here, supporting and encouraging exactly these kinds of stories. I love it!
Session Review:
[Possible spoiler warning! Each game round will be unique, but certain content is more or less concretely given by the scenario].
We had a veterinarian in debt, a mechanic with a photographic memory, a Russian spy, and a cook who wanted to let the infection spread.
Because of their positions, they received different rumors, noises, and orders at the beginning that confused and disturbed them. What's happening?
From Stage 2, the tension and drama steadily increased. The first infected mechanics appeared, which were still fought off, but the too-curious cook took a devil's bargain and was bitten by the passenger while trying to sift through the secret documents, without anyone noticing.
At the same time, the comrade in the infirmary, who actually specialized in veterinary medicine, tried to treat the ever-increasing number of sick people. And the Russian spy manipulated a torpedo with a timer to destroy the submarine shortly after docking in the safe dock.
It came as it had to, the group tried to avoid or repel the infected comrades, secure the secret documents and prevent a meltdown of the nuclear reactor. They managed to do this only by the "sacrifice" of the cook who reached Ruin 6, helping the mechanic to stabilize the core and thus prevent the destruction of the virus and ensure its spread.
In the final stage, the situation on the bridge escalated and the remaining three characters had to choose sides, leave the submarine or wait in isolation in that one for help and an antidote. Inexplicably for the entire crew, the Russian spy was able to read the Russian secret files and transmit the information to the outside world by radio.
The cook and spy then took opposite sides and got into a duel, which the cook won. He tied up and gagged the still undetected spy, who wanted to get out of the submarine as quickly as possible because of his prepared bomb.
The group's mechanic was certain of death from radiation poisoning, so she heroically took the initiative and welded the only entrance to the submarine to prevent it from spreading outside. In the process, she was not only bitten by an infected person, but also killed immediately afterwards by her other comrades before transforming.
The cook, who had to watch helplessly this heroic deed and the terrible end of his comrade, got thereby with the last Ruin throw of Ruin 5 on 6 and sent a last radio message, which should warn the outside world of the terror in this submarine and destroys thereby all control units.
And fully aware of what he had done and the end that was approaching, the bound and gagged spy could neither act again nor warn the others about the rigged time bomb. Helplessly facing the end, the submarine exploded, together with all other possibly already infected people, all evidence and documents.