GM Tales: The Wendigo

One of my favorite experiences running a game was with the Monster of the Week system written by Michael Sands, a game in the style of Apocalypse World, for all you TTRPG fans. I was inspired by The Adventure Zone: Amnesty, which uses the same system. Our game was set in a small, old-west town in Colorado in the year 1869. I wanted monsters and cowboys, and hoo boy, did my players deliver.

Can’t recommend the system highly enough, especially for people new to RPGs.

One of our favorite adventures in the old west had my players investigating a logging camp where employees were mysteriously disappearing during a harsh winter. The same thing had happened at the camp a few years prior, and the players had to search for clues to figure out what was stalking the camp and how to kill it, as well as save the remaining lumberjacks.

…The problem with that set-up, of course, was that my wife was one of the players, and she knew me well enough that as soon as we even began the mystery she said: “it’s a Wendigo.”

If you’re not familiar with that term, Wendigos are fascinating monsters from North American mythology. Generally speaking, they were humans driven to cannibalism by bad spirits, who grow monstrous over time. Some myths suggest they don’t leave any tracks. Others say their howls can drive people mad. They’re one of my favorite creepy creatures.

So,logging camp cut off from supplies and people going missing? My wife immediately calls Wendigo. “Why are we investigating again?” she said. “We know what it is.” The other players agreed. Nevertheless, the did some more digging: the creature appeared when humans were bleeding (almost like it was hungry…) and screamed with the voices of dozens of people (almost like it was maddening!) and managed to injure the creature before digging through the graves of the original inhabitants of the camp (their bones gnawed on, as if… you get it.) Two of the graves were empty, though… They didn’t make much of that.

So, after figuring out the creature was afraid of fire, they tracked it to a cabin and prepared to set it on fire. On a high investigation score, they discovered that the creature inside wasn’t injured. “Wendigos must heal fast,” my wife said.

So the players set the cabin on fire, surrounded it and waited. The Wendigo appeared and just when they thought they had it cornered…

The Wendigo’s brother came to rescue it.

“IT WAS TWO WENDIGOS!” I shouted, in nerdy glee. “You thought you had me! You thought you saw right through it! But it wasn’t a Wendigo, it was two ALL ALONG!”

One of the Player Characters came INCREDIBLY close to death in the fight, but with a little Luck, they were stabilized and saved, as were the surviving campers.

After that, we had a running joke in the game. The next monster wasn’t a skinwalker… it was three Wendigos. Those Zombies? All of them are Wendigos. That dragon? A bunch of Wendigos standing really close together!

There’s not much like a big reveal going exactly right in an RPG, so it’s a moment I savor. And I think of this is as a parable for GMs and Players alike: GM’s, your players know you pretty well. Use that against them. Players, be careful when you assume. You never know when there’s another Wendigo out there.