Seeking Inspiration - Halloween Special

[Greenfield]

Well, it's that time of year again. In our campaign we share the DM duties, passing the DM's hat around the table as sub-adventures come to a close. That's what just happened, and now the hat passes to me.

We aren't playing next week due to schedule conflicts, which means that I have two weeks to prepare a quick, two-session adventure on a Halloween theme.

Our party is a far-from-optimal 9th/10th level group, so I don't want to overwhelm them. Neither do I want a cake walk.

We have...

Half Elf Ranger 5/Druid 5
Human Wizard5/Cleric5 (w Practiced Spellcaster twice)
Human Monk 9 or 10
Cleric4/Fighter5
Rogue3/Duskblade 6
Siberian Tiger (Animal companion of Druid, and probably the best fighter in the party).

Last year I ran a backwards Werewolf story, where young Bela the Gypsy was the werewolf, and he was the victim of the dark deeds who needed rescuing.

I've also done the old mansion on the cliffs overlooking the stormy sea, with the reading of the will at midnight, the abrupt murder of the family member, and in the end the butler did it.

While we're pretty well stocked in healing, actual clerical power to deal with undead is very light, and sad to say my Bard 10 is the most potent spellcaster we have. (Like I said, we're far from optimized.)

So I'm thinking creepy horror more than direct assault, leading them to the big-bad at the end.

Any thoughts?

 

[Jimlock]

Flood a town with zombies.

Completely unoriginal of course, but has been working for decades...


EDIT: OOPS! missed the:

So I'm thinking creepy horror more than direct assault, leading them to the big-bad at the end.

 

[Dragonwriter]

There's the ever-classic haunted cornfield. Emphasize the "don't know which way is which" and all the same-looking corn pressing in on all sides for a good tone. Re-skin a low-power golem or something as a scarecrow, give it fire vulnerability, etc. and you've got a creepy and thematic monster.

You could also do something along the lines of a harvest festival with people disappearing among the crops. Scarecrow-monsters/constructs, plant-monsters (Great Pumpkin's evil twin, anyone? ), giant bats, hags... take your pick, I'm sure anything could work.

 

[Greenfield]

Interesting thought.

Anybody got stats on a Wood Golem handy?

Vampires get done a lot. And creepy old castles, well, they're kind of the norm in a D&D world. Mad doctors can be fun, but aren't exactly a good fit. (Yes, I ran one of those once and it was fun.)

Characters are currently in the Persian Empire (parallel of real world), near Bagdad (I think it was the only major city the DM could think of), on foot (an attack from some enemies killed all the horses), and wanted as enemy spies. The fact that they're innocent is actually inconsequential. At this point it would be politically impossible for anyone in authority to admit that they were wrong to accuse us.

So the PCs will be looking for some place to hide out. The NPC Rogue got separated from them, whisked off to the Plane of Shadows by an enemy mage as he escaped. I can reintroduce him if/when/how I choose.

And four of the six high level Assassins who attacked the party got away. I'm free to use them if I so choose.

The price on one of the PC's heads is not merely cash, but includes a land grant and a minor title. (They want him *bad*.) Oh, and he has no gear at the moment, having just been broken out of jail.

All tools I can use or ignore in laying this out. So they'll have to go into hiding, which can lead us to any convenient set of ruins, abandoned property, set of caves, or place with a bad reputation.

Seems like it should be easy, and I suppose it really is. But suggestions can often inspire the type of true madness needed to make a truly memorable Halloween. (Note, we play on Sundays, so the final session of this story arc will be the night before Halloween.)

 

[HoboGod]

I ran a spooky temple recently where every room was identical in dimensions but different in contents and when a monster was slain in one room, identical copies of their corpses remained in each room. That worked very nicely for a series of spooky aberration encounters. Also, add NPCs that have gone crazy or have the PCs go temporarily crazy themselves. Bizarre hallucinations are always very fun, especially when playing with miniatures where your players believe anything you put down on the table represents an actual encounter.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Spend some time looking into the Mother Cyst Feat in Libris Mortis and everything that goes with it.

Read up on The Skulking Cyst, the undead created when a Necrotic Cyst is allowed to erupt out of a character and create an undead creature from the dead body. These Undead do NOT kill others, they attach to a victim, drain CON, then use Necrotic Cyst spell-like ability.

Than watch this:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHOkjz2CoLI[/ame]

Now create a large village or small city, that needs your help to handle mysterious deaths. Include a caster of some sort who triggers these implanted Necrotic Cysts, model this caster as much off of an Alien Queen as possible, Think Dread Necromancer/Alienist NPC.

This twist on undead is less skeleton/zombie, and more "Horrible, creepy monster"

...Than tell us how it goes!

More...
http://movieclips.com/7JhB-alien-movie-the-facehugger/0/134.002

 

[Gilladian]

I don't do horror, but this scenario came to mind:

The PCs are trying to find a place to hide. From a hill, they see not far away a thick, old growth patch of forest. If they could get down and into the woods and hide there until a day or two have passed, perhaps they can throw their pursuers off their trail. Tell them they do note that no trails or roads in the area lead into the forest, and it seems rather isolated from the surrounding landscape, which is probably otherwise well-tended farmland.

As they draw near the forest, they realize that it is indeed isolated and untouched - there is thick underbrush and a great deal of fallen wood, which should have been cleared and gathered by the local farmers... but no one has touched this wood in decades, perhaps longer!

To enter, they're forced to work their way through thick underbrush and hanging limbs - it's a good thing they have no horses, for no beast and rider could pass here. But within an hour of entering the woods (it should take about a day to work their way through to the other side, maybe 8-10 hours) they discover a faint trail, perhaps a deer-track, though they've seen scant sign of wildlife. Soon, they burst into a clearing. Within the clearing, as they make their way across - they see something on the edge of the woods - a horse and rider! The rider is a lovely maiden, wearing a long, loose, flowing robe or gown, and a cape or cloak, with her hair flowing out around her. The horse is a gorgeous beast, but it is drooping with exhaustion, dripping with sweat and mud-covered. It can barely keep moving, but the maiden has a crop in her hand, and she strikes the beast, begging it hoarsely to keep going. Behind her is a man, all in fine silver armor, with a bared sword clenched in one hand. He appears to be as exhausted as the horse. At first they appear to be together, but after a few moments it becomes clear that the man is trying to catch the woman, and is possibly about to do so, when they both spot the PCs.

Each one turns to the PCs, and it seems, in a burst of clarity, that each PC hears, at the same moment, but without any interference, each of the two people speak to them:

The woman begs: "Please help me. I must escape! I must reach the center...or all will be lost!"

The man pleads: "Aid me, strangers. All is not yet lost! She must not reach the standing stone..."

And then, before anyone can act, both fade away into mist and shadow before your very eyes...

What's going on? I have NO idea. Either or both could be good or evil, and they could be ghosts, figments from the ancient past, or something that hasn't happened yet. Is there a standing stone in the heart of the forest? Should it be disturbed? Or should they close their eyes and press on, avoiding the trail leading so enticingly out of the far side of the clearing?

I'm almost tempted to write the adventure to see what happens!

 

[Dandu]

There's the ever-classic haunted cornfield. Emphasize the "don't know which way is which" and all the same-looking corn pressing in on all sides for a good tone.

This will simply result in the PCs setting fire to the field. Or eating it. Perhaps both, at the same time.

 

[kitcik]

This will simply result in the PCs setting fire to the field. Or eating it. Perhaps both, at the same time.

That's why the ground has been soaked in naptha...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

1) Take inspiration from The Twilight Zone, Dr Who, and more recently, the book House of Leaves and miniseries The Lost Room:

House of Leaves - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Room

Have the party en route somewhere and find themselves forced to take shelter in an abandoned house...which is not only bigger inside than out, but is constantly shifting it's rooms & layout.

At the heart of the mystery, a Chaos Mage and his Minotaur sidekick gone mad (add Feral template).


Edit: also check out Hypercube (as well as its predecessor, Cube, and prequel, Cube Zero)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cube_2:_Hypercube