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On Saturday 20th September, we gathered in Grimsby to run our first Department of Acts Shiver Epic: Trollhalsen. Four interconnected games, one oil rig in the North Sea, and twenty three players daring to uncover what Lancelot Industries had really been drilling for.

The Story Unfolds

From the moment payers stepped into their roles, drillers, scientists, operators, and support staff, they were immersed in a rig that was never really about oil. Each table explored a different slice of the mystery, but all were connected:

• Drill Team battled with catastrophic machinery failures deep in the rig’s bowels, their choices shaping the stability of the entire operation.
• Science Team uncovered the truth of Dr. Langley’s research and the parasite “Aplysia,” a force capable of fusing worm and human into the grotesque “Compelled.”
• Operations Team fought to keep the power flowing, dealing with sabotage, shadowy corporate oversight, and the creeping sense that the rig itself was working against them.
• Support Team discovered that beneath the seabed lay remnants of a civilisation older than oil, tied to strange gods best left undisturbed.

Each table’s decisions, whether restarting drills, sabotaging systems, or sacrificing their own, echoed across the rig, altering outcomes for other teams. Players compared notes at breaks and realised just how entangled their fates had become.

The final acts brought all this to a head: power surges, drill meltdowns, betrayals, and glimpses of the Aplysia itself. Some teams survived. Some didn’t. But all walked away having played a part in uncovering the truth of Trollhalsen.

Professional Project Management in Practice

This wasn’t just a game day, it was run like a transformation project. We leaned on the same professional methodologies we use in our day jobs to make sure Trollhalsen wasn’t only immersive but safe, structured, and successful.

• Risk Log: We built a comprehensive risk register, covering everything from players being triggered by horror themes (mitigated with a content checklist and X-card system) to practicalities like health and safety briefings, fire exits, and even whether our dice trays would sell at lunch.
• Decision Log: Every key choice—from timing the games to inter-team radio calls—was logged, debated, and agreed on, so the whole team stayed aligned.
• Project Timeline: We followed a structured schedule, starting with initial plot meetings in June, story drafts signed off by late July, Parable Games consultation, advertising from August, and final promotional pushes in September. On the day, everything ran to time, with Directors using “drop-in” encounters to keep tables aligned.

Running a roleplaying epic through the same discipline as a digital transformation project might sound over the top but it worked. It gave us confidence that even with 60 players across four tables, the day would hold together.

The Players’ Experience

Ultimately, it’s not our view that matters—it’s what the players thought. And the feedback was overwhelming.

On the positives:

• “The team was absolutely incredible.”
• “Immersive! The Shiver mechanic was great & really easy to use. I was super nervous before starting today but had the best day!”
• “The interaction between the teams.”
• “Learning the Shiver system and being immersed in such a well thought out and detailed story.”
• “An unforgettable day! Can’t wait for future projects.”
• “The frantic panic of trying to repair the generator as we were being picked off one by one created very palpable tension.”

The ratings back this up:

• Storyline/Plot: 10× Excellent, 3× Good, 1× Fair
• Atmosphere: 12× Excellent, 2× Good
• Game Mastering: 13× Excellent, 1× Good
• Venue: 12× Excellent, 2× Good

We were blown away by how much people loved the atmosphere, immersion, and the interconnected stories.

What We’ll Improve

We’re always looking to refine. Two themes came through in feedback that we’ll take forward:

• A longer lunchtime: players wanted a bit more breathing room between sessions, and easier access to refreshments.
• Clearer story connections in play: while most felt the games linked, some tables wanted more obvious cause-and-effect from the other teams’ actions. We’ll tighten that for next time.

A Local Community Effort

We’re especially proud that this wasn’t a convention one-shot in a faceless hall. This was a local community event in Grimsby, with players from across the area stepping into horror together. Seeing old friends and new faces share tables, swap stories at breaks, and compare how their choices altered other games reminded us why we do this.

It was also a chance to showcase what structured, immersive roleplay can offer stories as detailed and collaborative as any novel or film, but built live, together, in a single day.

Thanks to our Partners

We couldn't have done this without the support of Parable Games and the Shiver Directors club, thank you to them for not only providing prize support for 'best role-player' but also for Ben the lead artist of the Shiver games live-drawing parts of the game as it went on. It really added to the tone and we gave away some of his drawings to the players and Directors in thanks.

What Comes Next

Trollhalsen rig still stands, the Avalonian is loose and the players are on the way home… but the story isn’t over.

Our surviving characters are all heading to a local hospital for check-ups. After all, they’ve been exposed to the North Sea, to strange parasites, to whatever it was beneath the seabed. But hospitals have secrets too. Who knows what they’ll uncover in the sterile corridors and shadowed wards?

That’s where we’ll pick things up.

We set out to test whether a Shiver Epic could work at scale in our community. The answer is clear: it can. And with your energy, your feedback, and your willingness to dive into the strange and unknown, Trollhalsen has been more than a game, it’s been the start of something bigger.

Stay tuned. The Department of Acts isn’t done with you yet.