Bedlam Hall with the Help of Good Society and Obsession
Explore the haunted hallways of an estate inhabited by a rather horrible family as the staff tries to survive in Bedlam Hall.
When I learned about Bedlam Hall, I knew I was going to be interested in trying it out! This tabletop RPG isn’t designed for solo, but of course, I made it work. And even more than that, I had a few outside elements I wanted to use to really get into the theme. Intricate family tree? Unique estate layout with meeples? The board game world’s worst family? I had it all!
Game Overview
Game Name: Bedlam Hall
Publication Year: 2017
Designer: David Kizzia
Artist: Michael Tuck
Publisher: MonkeyFun Studios
Solo Mode: None (Solo RPG Oracle Required)
The core storytelling element revolves around the servants of a household, which is both supernaturally haunted and just terrible in general. It’s all about ignoring strange happenings and gaining prestige to rise to the top of the perceived order… While trying to stay alive, of course!
Fun with Dice
A couple of years ago, I picked up an Advent calendar with a whole lot of Halloween-themed dice. These seemed most fitting to bring along for this horror-themed outing…
Although I will say that this is certainly more in line with comedic horror than anything. The RPG leaves open the ultimate interpretation, but I leaned into the silly!
I also don’t want to give it away, yet if you look very, very, very closely at this dice tray, there might be something…
Don’t worry! Nothing scary. Just my usual blend of silly hiding in the very not-so-stealthy realm. Ha ha!
Family Tree Visuals
Part of the initial session involves setting the stage with the family. Most of this is all about connections and what sorts of relationships exist, but I knew what I wanted to do!
With a selection of Good Society RPG cards, I randomly created a full family tree with tons of dramatic story ideas.
This worked out really well, even if it might look a little messy! I felt like this brought out all kinds of ideas with just the placement of cards. Very interesting process I enjoyed!
I also had a few connections from the family to the staff, which set up some underlying tension and secrets.
A Close Inspection
Before adding in the relationship cards, this was a fairly standard 3-generation family. Ah, but what lurked beneath?
Pablo and Carmen were the parents of Anna, but in an interesting twist, the cards indicated she was actually the child of Victoria who had been raised by her grandfather.
Furthermore, Carmen had put a curse on Pablo of unknown effects. Drama! Not to mention Pablo’s other relationships…
And Victoria was right in the middle of the secrets, with a supernatural connection to her brother-in-law, David. Talk about a ton of possibilities to explore during play!
Comedic Horror
Learning how to play is a little bit of a chore with the way the rulebook is laid out. Important sections are spread out, often with major rules hidden in sub-sections.
However, this has to be one of the more humorous takes on the horror genre! Examples of play are interspersed, and I especially enjoyed this section about the bizarre gardener.
I can appreciate horror RPGs and board games, although I’ve slowly gravitated away from the scariest of settings.
This one does it well! There are a lot of strange elements, but it’s very easy to add a pinch of humor. Or more. Ha ha!
Sometimes, Playing Out the Ideas is the Best Part
I’ve had these ideas to mix in with the RPG for a long time, and kept putting off trying them out. Although the RPG might have been a little more difficult to play solo, I still had a nice time! The hardest part of playing is often that first step of actually starting. I enjoyed the neat ways I developed backstories and other elements of the family or estate itself.
More importantly, I now know when I might be able to use these ideas again. Not every RPG-related idea turns out well… I’ve had a few misses or thoughts that didn’t work out the way I expected them to. This is sometimes why I gravitate more towards board games, since there aren’t as many variables to incorporate. I don’t have to come up with stories, for instance.
But when I’m feeling creative, more random elements will certainly make appearances. Exploring storytelling and roleplaying often comes down to using my imagination. Always a fun time, even when things take an unexpected turn!
Introducing the Cast
After setting up the family tree, I had some simple decisions about the staff. There are 6 possible roles, and I decided to play solo with a group using almost all of them.
Each character also had a random desire card assigned to them. Secrets are a huge part of gameplay, which aren’t easy to incorporate in a solo play, but it was still enjoyable!
I liked how I could still develop these characters, but having random desires helped solidify their personalities a bit.
A few were unexpected, too, like how Merlyn, the maid, was in disguise. And Lyle really disliked Kenneth. Drama!
A Little Obsession
Truth be told, the real reason why I was so excited to modify this play was to utilize a bunch of Obsession components!
I had the right meeples to represent the different servants. More than that, I split up the tiles into random stacks for upstairs, downstairs, and the outdoors. It was a lot of fun!
The garden maze was where Kenneth, the butler, found a giant and terrifying bird for dinner… Only took a major wound to his leg, but it’s probably fine. Probably.
And the whole reason for this dinner? Naturally, Lady Britta requested an outdoor meal that everyone scrambled to plan!
Meanwhile, Indoors…
The main part of the estate started to take shape with a lot of intriguing ideas. Why was there a secret entrance between a pair of music rooms? And those instruments!
Merlyn managed to snoop around the house a little bit, owing to how her family was wronged by this family. So of course, I came to think of them as the Gladstones. Ha!
A few rooms took on characteristics of their own, but the real focus remained on the characters. The horrible ones.
Pretty sure David knows about a haunted tomb entrance sitting in the middle of the great hall. That’s normal.
Taking All the Notes
When I play a solo RPG, I often gravitate towards narrating the majority of the action to myself. However, I still kept track of some of the main action scenes in my notebook!
I think the highlight of this was how there was a request for an outdoor meal, which had to be hastily put together.
Ah, but the servants all work against each other in many ways. Since Agnes, the cook, was extremely lazy to start the day, no one alerted her to this turn of events. Agnes!
It was a comedy of fighting to survive, laundering soiled uniforms, and meeting the family’s demands by sundown.
Abandoning Agnes
You best believe Agnes became enraged about being left out of the planning! Every character has a particularly horrible ability, and it’s likely that she’ll call upon it next time.
I loved adding in these elements to create the family tree and estate layout, although gameplay itself felt a little clunky. Too many characters? Or just a casualty of solo play?
Perhaps I’ll return to continue the story. If not, I now have some excellent tools to build family trees and blueprints!
And if there’s one lesson learned… It’s to keep your laziness to yourself. The staff will use it against you, Agnes. Ha ha!
Continue the Conversation
Have you ever played Bedlam Hall? Do you have any unique features you’ve added to your tabletop RPGs? I was quite pleased with how these ideas panned out! Never thought I would have a fun way to generate detailed family trees. And putting together the layout of an estate was great. There were plenty of laughs and hilarious drama along the way!
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