Steve gets Murdered by Ghosts

So, I met up with Cat Tobin and Steve Bassett tonight and they tried out Murderous Ghosts. It was fun. I found it creepy too. There were three of us, so Cat was GM, Steve was the Player, and I hoped to get in a second game (and watched the first). It took us about an hour (we took our time!) and so we didn't have a second game. Work night, people loaded with the cold, etc.

Points that came up! Feel free to muse on or ignore any of the following.

* Cat was a little thrown by the "both players should read..." in the GM Intro. She wondered if there was supposed to be a GM and two players (it didn't help I was there making three!). I guess "the player and GM should both read..."
* On Player-5 -6 -7 -8 -9 -10 you get a Free Draw on Turn 1 (at the start of the game). This just means take a card into your hand, but count it as a High Hand. Steve wasn't sure if he should have a card in his hand at the end of this. But he decided he should have (and I think he's right).
* On GM-15 and GM-16 Cat wondered if the "her" was the ghost or the player. She decided ghost for advantage/disadvantage but it wasn't super-clear.
* On GM-18 there are the options for escape and survive (Cat hadn't realized that Steve could have gotten either outcome on his draw). Maybe something pointing out that the player may survive or escape and will tell you how.
* Steve got excited when he got 21 - Blackjack! Only to realize he was Bust. So, a plea from Steve who hit 21 a couple of times. He'd like it to be a High Hand. (But you're obviously free to ignore him!) He read 21+ as 22, 23..., whereas I read it as 21, 22,... (I think the Blackjack association also fed into that.)

Anyway, in the end Steve's spelunker had escaped a ghost by jumping away off a wooden beam and breaking his legs. He was pitifully lying there, bravely crawling away, when a little boy child in a sailor suit kicked him to death after he didn't play with him. He roused its curiosity, then its pity, but came up short in the end.

I was wigged out, and Cat was a bit too. Steve had fun even though he was murdered.

Oh, oh. We liked how Cat added a card to her hand to show Steve was progressing well, and then when she took one away it made Steve resolve to explore in a different direction.

Cat and Steve noticed the loops, but got out of them because although the pages were the same the world/situation had changed since they were last there.

Cat really liked GM-14. When Steve told her to turn to 10. She ignored Steve's request. And then told him "I've been told to ignore that, and I really like that it tells me to ignore your Turn to 10."

Steve was in the dark about where to explore and what to do (it felt like there was a real mystery). Cat had a fully realised world in her head and was describing it as Steve looked around. At the end he asked how much of it was in the book. She said that the guides were in the book but the world as he found it was all her.

What time of day is it at the start? Is it important? This game was during the day, which made Steve feel braver, but then he died in a dark cell, surrounded by broken glass and blood, so it didn't do him much good.

One final thing. Maybe some choices on your character to start the game? Pick one of the following... type of thing would give it more (apparent) replay value. For what its worth I think it is quite replayable as it stands.