My group had a very interesting trip to the House of Usher. Together we convinced Roderick that Madeline was not dead and saved her from being buried alive. Because of our efforts, we got Roderick, Madeline, and her friend Margaret out of the House of Usher safely. When went to the House of Usher each group member was asked to beta-test some part of the experience and I was asked to try to figure out how we could expand Margaret’s role while keeping other possible outcomes available, which I think is very possible and would offer a unique interpretation of the Poe’s short story.
When we first arrived to the House of Usher, we were greeted by Madeline, Roderick, and Margaret. We followed them to the library where Meghan led Roderick to try to distract him while Chelsea searched for clues and I learned more information about Madeline and Margaret. Madeline constantly talked about taking some medicine and went searching for it, immediately Margaret and I followed her. I tried to convince her that she did not need to take the medicine, and if she was tired, she should just lie down and relax. Madeline did not listen to me and she took a small amount of the medicine then fell asleep. Then Roderick came in and tried to move Madeline to a different room, because she was not in the correct room. I tried to convince him not to move, because I was afraid if we left Roderick move her then he would move Madeline to the crypt in fear that she had died. Fortunately, Madeline woke up and waked to her rooms where she went back to sleep. After Madeline was in her room, Roderick and Meghan went downstairs to investigate noises that were scaring Madeline. Chelsea went to talk to Margaret while I watched Madeline so no one would think that she was dead and move her to the crypt. Then suddenly Madeline disappeared and I went to Margaret to find out where Madeline would have gone, then Roderick came upstairs and then shouted where Madeline was and then disappeared. We had no idea where they went but then Chelsea said to come down to the crypt quick, so I ran down with Margaret to the crypt. There I found Madeline laying in a coffin with Roderick standing beside her and Chelsea talking to Roderick. Then Roderick got into the coffin lying in the room, Chelsea talked to him and go Roderick to come out of the coffin. While Chelsea was talking to Roderick, I was trying to convince Margaret that Madeline was not dead. Then Roderick came over and kept saying that Madeline was dead and Chelsea and I kept saying she had a heartbeat and her cheeks were flushed. However, the coffin kept closing and I kept opening it so Madeline would not be buried alive. Finally, Madeline woke up and started to question why she was down in the crypt. She did not want to come with us because she thought that we put her in the crypt. Eventually we convinced her to leave the house with us and then we all left the house unharmed and all alive.
My beta-test was to help figure out a way to expand Margaret’s role while keeping the story line open for many possible outcomes. During the whole experience Margaret was trying to get Madeline to take the medicine and then was convinced she was dead. This made our job of trying to convince Roderick that Madeline was not really dead a lot harder. Despite the difficulty, I think that Margaret could have a very important role within the story. Margaret said something in passing about her being a nurse and companion of Madeline. One possible thing that Margaret could do is to try to steel Madeline’s “dead” body. This would incorporate something into the House of Usher that was originally part of Poe’s story. Also, you could have Margaret try to keep Madeline on her daily schedule, which would include taking the medicine. Basically, I would try to get Margaret more involved in the story line because he could offer a unique character that could really influence the outcome of the role-playing.
