Last fall, I ran a session of DREAD at a con with an adventure that I adapted from “Horrorstör”,

a novel by Grady Hendrix. Since the session went well, I thought I’d share my prep for others –
both as inspiration as well as to get some additional feedback/new ideas if you got any. There’s
also some music at the end. Sorry if I missed some typos etc. in the write-up.

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ADVENTURE TL;DR

Employees of a large-scale furniture store get hunted down by Cronenbergian abominations

because Corporate wants to increase quarterly profits.

MAIN THEMES

Entrapment, Hopelessness, Annihilation of the Self, Fear of (Social) Decline, Assimilation

SETTING INFO & PLOT

“Horrorstör” takes place in a store called ORSK (basically a knock-off IKEA). It’s set in 2009 in
an American flyover state, right after the first big shockwave of the last financial crisis.
Characters are tasked with finding out the causes of nightly vandalism, only to uncover they’re
trapped in the store with something more sinister.

THE STORE

• The local ORSK should feel like an oppressive vault of niceness. Located well outside the
nearest town and framed by a lake of cement, this blue-white megastore offers shoppers
everything they need to make a space a home.

• Shoppers are guided through its showroom, market place and self-serving warehouse by a
long and winding path that induces retail hypnosis. Even ORSK employees (or “partners”, as
they’re called by Corporate) sometimes need to concentrate in order to not get lost.

• Within its walls, ORSK has no windows, skylights or clocks. Like a casino, it exists in an
eternal now. Of course, there’s also little to no cell phone reception.

• Aside from the retail floors, ORSK has a restaurant (whose meatballs are actually quite good)
and a Scandinavian Food Market (where no food actually comes from Scandinavia).

• Behind the scenes, there’s various break rooms, a larger storage warehouse, a basement and
freight elevators. There’s one way to the store manager’s offices upstairs above the showroom.

THREATS
 • Whereas the threat in the original novel was a [spin on the supernatural “haunted house”
trope], my adventure features “Projekt Drön” – an attempt by Corporate to create the perfect
worker.

• Drön are pure cyborg bodyhorror. They seem humanoid from a distance (because they once
were humans), but land smack-dab in the uncanny valley the closer you get. When Drön speak,
they don’t move their mouths. They unhinge their jaws and play pre-recorded stock phrases
(“Thank you for shopping at ORSK”, “The store is closing, please proceed to the exit”, “Do you
have an ORSK family card?”).

• As the night progresses, their appearance should become more horrific, with limbs elongating
or shortening, muscles bulging obscenely and flesh peeling off, revealing metallic mesh and
sinews beneath. They will hunt the players down – your choice either to kill them or use them as
raw material to make more Drön.

• The ORSK store should become more and more deadly as the game progresses. Start by
cutting off shortcuts in the floor plan, make furniture shatter and fall, have storage racks squash
them…

QUESTIONNAIRES

I’ve made the player questionnaires look like job application forms for ORSK.

As it was a con game for a max of 5 players, I kept it short – 12 questions each.

I started off with setting questions (“Why do you wanna work here? ; “What’s your favorite
ORSK piece of furniture” ; “How would you describe your work ethos?”), then ventured into
background questions (“You’re overqualified for this job. Why do you still need it?” ; “What made
you leave your hometown so abruptly?” ; “A part of the store lets you shudder. Which one, and
why?”), turned the screw towards the personal (“Why wasn’t your mother proud of you?” ; “Why
can’t you let others see the real you?”), and finally cranked up the unease towards Corporate
and the feeling of entrapment (“Why is true that a person’s worth is based on their efficiency?” ;
“If a person is dependent on their job, wouldn’t they be well to follow Corporate’s orders?”).

At the end, players should feel their character’s inability to just up and quit – either because
there are no better jobs available, or because the neatness of ORSK provides a security blanket
for their neurosis or what have you.

NPCs

• Basil, the supervisor (mandatory). Basil loves his job at ORSK, as his benefits pay for his little
sister’s medication (he is her sole guardian). Basil also likes the PCs and wants them to
succeed. He might get promoted soon, he heard, and would love for one of them to a rise to a
higher position as well. Besides the store manager, Basil is the only one in possession of an
Override key that can deactivate a store-wide lockdown.

• Matthew (optional), one of the storehouse workers. Ethnically ambiguous. His beard is the last
thing a craft beer sees before it dies. Matt has never encountered a conspiracy theory he didn’t
like, so you take his ramblings about “corporate replacing us all with automatons” with a grain of
salt.

• Trinity Prendergast (optional), co-worker and resident MySpace goth. Her family is *really* into
pageants, so her look is aimed squarely at riling her mom up. Her first and last act at work is
wiping off and reapplying black lipstick, respectively.

• Ruth Anne, the good soul of this ORSK (optional). She’s been doing odd jobs all her life, with
ORSK being by far her favorite. Kind, communal and protective, but can pack a punch when
cornered. If she has a vice, it’s strawberry flavored chapstick. Looks like if your older aunt was
cosplaying as Dolly Parton.

• Michael, the drifter (optional). Has lost his home, and his family, during the financial crisis and
sleeps in the store. Michael can be used as a red herring to explain the strange things during
the night… except he’s been here far shorter than those.

• The raccoon (optional). Another red herring for the player’s to find before they encounter the
real threat.

• Tom Perssons, CEO of ORSK North America. All-American sweetheart turned corporate.
Pomenade and teeth whitener made human. His picture hangs in every ORSK, but no one has
actually seen Tom in real life.

ADVENTURE STRUCTURE

Part I

After a mysterious shipment of new prototype furniture is delivered, the store suffers from weird
acts of nightly vandalisms. Players are tasked with spending an extra night shift to get to the
bottom of it.

In this part, GMs should introduce characters and a general sense of unease towards
Corporate. Mention slogans that seem both cheery and ominous at the same time (“ORSK: A
home, forever!” ; (“ORSK partners: Our most valuable resource” etc.), “Employees of the Month”
that you’ve never seen in the store (they’re either been “promoted” or switched stores) and that
despite the spotless façade, your ORSK is in dire need of some repairs. It should also become
apparent that ORSK is cutting costs by firing the cleaning and security staff.
Of course, the mysterious shipment are DRÖN compartments. After they’ve been put in the
basement, this part of the store will become off-limits for employees due to a “leak”. Mention a
rotting, electrical stench emanating from behind the doors.

Part II

The store shuts down for a national holiday – which means there’s no shoppers or staff coming
for a few days. Perfect time to hunt for vandals. Characters get more than what they’ve
bargained for.

Use the first section of this part to (further) develop a sense of camaraderie between characters
and introduce the red herring. Generate a feeling of paranoia and uncanniness. Whereas the
ORSK is well-lit and pleasant during the day, at night the scenery – with the lights off and no
white noise playing – plays with and confuses your senses.

When players have encountered the red herring and are ready to call it in, guide them towards
the store manager’s office. Shortly before they reach it, have the Drön show up first and claim
Basil and additional victims, if applicable. End this part of the adventure with players discovering
a case file for “Projekt Drön”.

Part III

After discovering the “Projekt Drön” video, characters need to find Basil (or what’s left of him) so
they can get the Override switch and escape the ORSK. To do so, they have to cross the floors
of ORSK that the Drön have turned into death traps, get into the basement and survive long
enough to make it to the exit.

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DID YOU USE PROPS?

Yeah. As I’ve mentioned, the questionnaires looked like job applications; I’ve photoshopped and
printed out an actual IKEA Store map. The original “Horrorstör” novel also provides some nifty
and appropriately creepy furniture artwork. A quick Google Image search will help you out.

WHAT CHANGES DID YOU MAKE FROM THE ORIGINAL NOVEL?

The threat, mainly. The original book is basically a>! fun take on the "haunted house" trope!<, I
thought I'd play up the callousness of Corporate and invented new villains to match my intent.

SO WAIT, IS THE TRUE VILLAIN CAPITALISM?

Whatever gave you that idea?

IS THERE A SPOTIFY PLAYLIST?

You bet your ORSK there is!