The Charcoal Devil

Child’s Point of View – Horror – Co-creation
By: Mikkel Bækgaard
Duration: 4 hours
Number of players: 4

The house is situated just next to the large, dark forest. It is the Charcoal Devil’s house and seven year old Agnete and her parents have just moved in to it. Little Brother too, who coughs way too much. This is a place for adventure, at least if you ask Mum and Dad.

But for Agnete it’s no adventure. Out here it seems way too scary, too alien for her, too much like something the grownups don’t understand. And when the mysterious neighbour begins to tell stories about The Charcoal Devil, things get worse. He takes everything from you, the neighbour says – the same way the Devil took everything from the him.

“The Charcoal Devil” is a psychological horror story told from a child’s point of view. Agnete is the main character, who is played by all four players in collaboration. The players also play all the supporting characters, and together they explore and build on to the scary world Agnete lives in. In that way the game is intended for players who like to add on to and co-create within the framework the scenario brings. The game is at the same time both very open and very tight. Don’t worry about keeping focus as a player, the game master’s main task is to keep the game focused on what’s important and what’s not.

Whether the ending is happy or fatal is not defined beforehand. That’s up to the players to decide during play.

Download: The Charcoal Devil – English

Bio:
Mikkel Bækgaard is a Danish scenario writing veteran who has written plenty of games since 1997. His previous games that have been played at Stockholm Scenario Festival are “Vasen Road” and “Midsummer”. “The Charcoal Devil” is a dark story inspired by the very same forest and house he quite recently has moved in to. A place his own daughter doesn’t appreciate as much as he does.