"Linnunlaulu": Vaesen Community Content Review

 

I continue with my reviews of Vaesen community content, aiming to cover as many different authors as possible. I only review scenarios that I am interested in running, and once I actually run a scenario, I will add notes about how it went. This time, we will look at a mystery called Linnunlaulu.

As usual, I will first highlight some positives and negatives of the scenario without spoilers, before proceeding to a full review. The beginning of the full review will remain spoiler-free, and I will clearly mark the point where spoilers begin. A final section will discuss how I intend to stage or adapt the scenario to get the most out of it.

Positives:

• Nicely edited, easy to read, and well-organised.
• Consistent and well-structured plot.
• Well-characterised NPCs.
• Helsinki as the setting—an urban environment for a change, and a city I have a particular fondness for.

Negatives:

• The plot is straightforward and somewhat predictable.
• It doesn’t fully exploit the conflicts its setup creates.
• The writing is clear but not particularly inspiring.
• Some NPCs feel bland.
• The Vaesen used is overdone.
• The name is difficult for non-Finns to remember and is not very appealing.

Detailed Review

I often find the ideas in Community Content scenarios inspiring, but I’m sometimes disappointed by their lack of organization, structure, and competent editing. This scenario, however, has the opposite strengths and weaknesses.

The scenario is generally better organised and edited than is typical in Vaesen Community Content. The photos are evocative, even if I would have preferred drawings—though it’s understandable that community content might not always provide this. The plot is consistent.

I appreciate the Helsinki setting and the more urban environment, but I’m a bit disappointed that it doesn’t delve into Finland’s unique folk tales.

(Spoilers from this point on)

Instead, it gives us another myling scenario—currently the most overused Vaesen by Free League itself, with two scenarios (one in Seasons of Mystery and another in The Lost Mountain Saga).

The plot is simple: A myling has been killing customers of a luxury brothel, searching for its father. The mother, a prostitute, created the myling by killing her own child in desperation because she couldn’t support her. She lost her “job” when the myling started killing her customers. Now, she lives a wretched life in a poorhouse, consumed by insurmountable grief for murdering her own child.

I appreciate that the scenario follows the format of “official” Vaesen mysteries and that it adheres to the well-established Vaesen tradition of including priests who are intolerant, fanatical rabble-rousers.

As I was reviewing the scenario, I thought about how to bring it to the table. It’s challenging because “The Devil on the Moor” already uses a myling in a compelling and poignant way.

How Would I Improve It?

There is nothing inherently wrong with this scenario. It is cleanly designed and, being simple, makes for a good one-shot that runs smoothly in one session. However, the plot unfolds in a rather predictable manner.

When dealing with themes like luxury prostitution and poverty, there are a couple of obvious angles to explore, and you can elevate the drama significantly.

First, create a veil of mystery around the murders. Don’t immediately connect them to the brothel. This is relatively easy. While preparing to run this scenario, I researched the area’s history. There were 15 villas, most belonging to famous artists, politicians, or businessmen. Only one was a brothel, and this was kept secret—most people wouldn’t talk about it.

Force the Society to do the legwork and find the pattern. One of the men could be wealthy and living in one of the villas, while others would be found in a neighborhood they weren’t supposed to be in, with their loved ones insisting they didn’t know why they would be wandering there at night.

Moreover, show reluctance from the police to provide information or investigate the case (an important person blocked the investigation to avoid drawing public attention to the brothel). Show the families and friends of one or two victims, making them distinct from each other. After a few such interviews, the link to the brothel should become clear. These interviews should also introduce an antagonist—perhaps a friend of a patron who is also a patron and wants to maintain secrecy, or a wife who doesn’t want it known that her husband was hiring prostitutes. They could try to intimidate the Society into giving up the investigation by sending some goons.

Once the Society focuses on the brothel, introduce another layer of secrecy. Neither the patrons nor the prostitutes will easily discuss anything related to it.

Make the “madame” a careful hypocrite who cares nothing for the girls but hides this behind good manners and a feigned motherly attitude toward them.

Introduce a cast of prostitutes, each with very different perspectives on their profession. Let them mention the girl who was fired (I would have her fired because of the baby, not because her customers died)—it’s more tragic if she loses her job because of the child, and then finds herself in such a desperate situation that she kills her own baby. This also makes the connection between her and the customers slightly harder to establish, though most of the prostitutes will recall that the dead men were all regulars of the prostitute who was thrown out. Also, remember that the information discussed in this paragraph includes the core clues the players need to proceed with the scenario, so you shouldn’t make them too difficult to uncover.

Make the customers a mix of the usual wealthy men who feel entitled to whatever they want, and some very shy men who see prostitutes as their only way of connecting with women. You could even add one who is genuinely in love with the mother of the myling and trying to find her himself—it’s not uncommon for clients to develop feelings for prostitutes. Include hypocritical customers who publicly defend traditional morals while secretly visiting the brothel—why not have the priest himself as one of them? What this scenario needs is more drama and NPCs with stronger, more dramatic personalities.

If you add these elements and use the myling to create some supernatural scares, I believe this scenario could truly shine.