An example of a character's intensity.

This takes me back to a playtest of Fear Itself: The Ocean Game.

The friends of a troubled woman were trying to track down a figure who may or may not have some kind of mental or metaphysical hold over her.

As we gathered outside the suspect’s house, a player saw an opportunity to mess with them and check out the house for signs of wrongdoing.

I think the premise was as simple as, “I’ll go to the door, ring it, keep them busy. You sneak over the wall, look in through the windows.”

All was clear until the player’s character rang the door and their nemesis stood in front of him.

“Waddya want? I’m busy?”

“Hi… erm… hello, sir… I was… That is…”

At this point, the whole party realised their friend could be for the literal chop. Fear itself pits normal folk against the horrors of the Outer Dark; you don’t have secret agent skills or hi-tech equipment. Just a few useful hobbies and a can-do attitude. I remember everything going quiet; the table fizzed with dramatic intensity. Then.

“I am your Taylor Swift sing-a-gram.”

Incredulity at the table, but this character and no less the player too, was up for it.

The player and his character started a full rendition of Shake It Off.

Dear reader, it could well have been another Taylor Swift song, but that’s the limit of my memory and knowledge of the TS oeuvre.

Four minutes and one second later, it was over. The atmosphere could have been sliced with a rusty bread knife. Open mouths finally closed, and I realised I had to react to this moment of bold, intense play by the player and his character. I don’t think I even made them roll. The rule of cool™️. Yes, of course, the other player characters clambered over the wall and hid in the garden, but what of the suspected big bad?

“Impressive. You can hold a tune, fella. You’d better come in; I’ve got something for you.”

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