Review after actual play.

It took two evenings to complete, including generation of custom characters instead of using the pre-generated ones given in the scenario. Total actual play time was about 6 hours (not including character generation and chit-chat).

I am an experienced GM/DM/Keeper/Storyteller.

Players of mixed experience: two veteran roleplayers (but with little WoD experience), one less experienced one, and the last one was at his very first foray into tabletop roleplaying games.

We had a very good and interesting time, especially the second evening, so it's 5/5 stars.

As per description it is indeed perfect for one-shots and convention plays. But it's not very short, if the players are left to decide their line of action to some degree and without heavy-handing suggestions, so consider at least a 5 or 6 hours playtime.

The scenario is great in concept. It has a nice set-up, a short but fitting slow burn beginning, a few good plot twists that come up soon enough, an interesting situation playing out, a great final act. It is especially good for inexperienced roleplayers or players without a broad experience of rpgs.

In the helpful description department it is not that great. It would have been nice to have a description of the house, in less broad strokes, right at the beginning and for the storyteller only, instead of leaving it mostly to players' imagination by choice of design. Instead you have some descriptions all over the place. Same goes for the description of most of the ghosts and their motivations and desires and personality traits.

Also for a jumpstart I feel there is really a lot going on behind the scenes and with npcs motivations. So a storyteller really has to study the scenario a few times over before running it. It is also somewhat lacking in a few small plot points. Yet the good surpasses the bad and so it's worth to play the scenario with your friends.

The last act of the story feels a bit too much railroad-y, but at the same time it is extremely cool and fun and unexpected and so I ended up running it as it is anyway. If it weren't a one-shot proably I wouldn't have handled it that way, and I still think the last act suffers of lacking a few more options or suggestions to give the storyteller if the players choose a valid path out of the supposed final stage. At the same time I understand the final stage is a banger and it's really hard to give up on it (personal experience).

So it is not a very friendly scenario for inexperienced storytellers. But if you are a veteran storyteller, it is a perfect choice to propose to a group of friends for a one-shot, good time and horror fun. Also it's a well made product and a cheap one. Recommended.

Surviving the night in a haunted house - a Mephisto review

An old house connected by sinister stories, a group of amateur ghost hunters who want to explore this place at night, and some dangerous hauntings that oppose them – these are the ingredients for The Longest Night.

Complementing the World of Darkness sourcebook and setting Ghost Hunters, The Longest Night is a fitting quick-start. The book assumes that players have no previous experience with the World of Darkness, and just three pages cover the necessary rules and some basics about wraiths. Further game mechanisms are explained in the appropriate scenes of the adventure. However, the central part of the book is the adventure itself, which should take one or two evenings to play through its three acts. The pre-generated characters are confronted with a haunted house, which provides the dangerous background for some complications when the players have to choose different sides and approaches in the final scenes. Along with the six ready-to-play characters, there are a few additional rules explanations for the specifics of the characters regarding merits and flaws as well as necromancy and other special abilities.

The Longest Night does an excellent job mixing the necessary rules' summary with a challenging setting, thus whetting the appetite for more. New players will have an easy introduction to the setting. Those already planning a Ghost Hunter chronicle can use the adventure as an intro. Thus, the quick-start provides an ideal starting point into the world of the ghost hunters of the World of Darkness.

(Björn Lippold)