DM Notes: Lakeshore 11

This week's episode is full of ups and downs, from an upscale apartment to a basement from hell. Here are a few key notes and tidbits to enhance, inform, and uplift your experience of episode 11!

I rarely get a chance to include visuals with my notes, so I'm very excited to share a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the layout of the Drake Casino! It's so authentic--stains and all!

Let's go over some the features that we didn't touch on in the episode, shall we?

Coatcheck. That would be A5 on the diagram above. I really wanted a moment to foreshadow Rex's creepy habit of cutting off the hands of his victims to reanimate as his little servants, and a glimpse or hint of magical zombie hands working the coatcheck was I moment that I wrote in, but didn't get a chance to use in the episode.

Vera. I really wanted a chance to work this minor antagonist into the scenes at the Drake, since she is probably one of Rex's favoured lackeys. I quibbled over having her run the bar or just lurk in the employee areas. But ultimately, I decided that were already so many new and returning characters in this episode that it would have just been too much to keep track of, and there would have been a lot of overlap with the role Mickey played in this episode. Vera is absent here but definitely not forgotten!

Hazel's dressing room. B1 on the diagram. In this episode, we finally learn the demonic truth behind the mysterious lounge singer Hazel: that she is, in fact, a Tainted, just like Nox! Since this campaign is a lot more open, and the characters have lots of options, I was very satisfied to finally have a chance to include the character of Hazel, who has existed in my notes since the very beginning of my brainstorming. After all, what's a noir story without a femme fatale?

I wasn't sure if the gang would see Hazel as an ally or an enemy at this stage--and she can be a bit of a prickly pear--so I wanted to make sure that if Hazel wasn't interested in working with the team, there would still be a way of learning about her story. Her dressing room would have included no musical equipment whatsoever (because all of her music talent is demonic in origin), some evidence suggesting a demon's presence, and maybe even a record or note of her previous encounter with Nox...but who can say for sure?

That's it for notes for this week! There's plenty we didn't touch on--like Nox's dad being locked up in the basement, or all of the secrets in Rex's office--but I don't want to divulge too much. Who knows what future episodes hold?

Thanks for reading! We'll see you next time for episode 12!