Tell Me of Your Annual Halloween Game!

Tell Me of Your Annual Halloween Game

  • It will be a one-shot special event.

    Votes: 12 38.7%
  • It will be part of our regular campaign/game as a special event.

    Votes: 4 12.9%
  • Business As Usual: Every Day is Halloween in our Horror Campaign

    Votes: 1 3.2%
  • We don't do an Halloween Game/anything special.

    Votes: 12 38.7%
  • Other

    Votes: 2 6.5%

  • Poll closed .

jaerdaph

#UkraineStrong
Halloween: It's my favorite time of year, especially for gaming! B-)

So what do you and your gaming group do for Halloween? Do you take a break from the regular game/campaign and run an annual one-shot horror session? Or perhaps you run a special horror themed session as part of your regular ongoing campaign? Are you running a horror campaign anyway and so business as usual?

I want to hear all about it!
 

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I always do some sort of Ravenloft game, last year dressed as Strahd. Last year, I tried my hand at a 2E version of Ravenloft, the year before a 4E version of Night of the Walking Dead.
 


I'm generally far too busy with partying to play on Halloween.

It's my favourite holiday of the year and, fun as RPGs are, I have other stuff I'd rather be doing with friends on my favourite day.
 

I always do some sort of Ravenloft game, last year dressed as Strahd. Last year, I tried my hand at a 2E version of Ravenloft, the year before a 4E version of Night of the Walking Dead.

I'm running my copy of the 2E Silver Anniversary Ravenloft this year over two sessions (in PF - I tend to wing the monster stats). Any advice?

I tend to have a hard time scaring my players. They're sort of callous and don't really flinch at the agony and torture of NPCs and fellow players. The gremlin in the party has become the moral compass.
 

In recent years, I've usually gone with the one-shot. We try to pick a "theme" every year. A couple of years ago our theme was Classic Universal Horror Movies. Using Adamant Entertainment's Thrilling Tales Pulp d20 Modern characters and rules combined with a modified Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, the PCs all met aboard the Orient Express which ended up breaking down and getting stuck in Barovia indefinitely. I basically added a railroad station and a descent hotel to the village map but left the rest of the Eastern European peasant village feel alone.

Last year our theme was Classic Hammer Horror Movies and we went with The Mummy in Victorian Egypt/London using the Dead of Night 2e RPG from Steampower Publishing. We liked the Dead of Night rules a lot and will be using them again this year. We still haven't chosen a theme for me to come up with an adventure yet. I've thrown out Mario Bava Italian Horror Movies, 1970s Witchcraft, and Mexican Luchador Horror Movies of the 50s and 60s as options.

I really like pre-Internet/cell phone eras for horror games. B-)
 

I'm running my copy of the 2E Silver Anniversary Ravenloft this year over two sessions (in PF - I tend to wing the monster stats). Any advice?

I tend to have a hard time scaring my players. They're sort of callous and don't really flinch at the agony and torture of NPCs and fellow players. The gremlin in the party has become the moral compass.


Don't bother trying to terrify your players; just play Strahd like he was your own PC, and terror will come naturally. However, if you want to work on a mood that will put unease into your players, remember that it is the unknown that causes the greatest fear. Was that howling wolf just a wind beast in the distance, a messenger of Strahd or Strahd on the hunt? Why does Madame Eva shake her head in sorrow when she first spies us? Does she know something about what will happen to us? Who is the little girl who stands over a mother's grave, and does she have fangs, only to vanish in a swirl of mist rising from the ground?

Don't ever pick a fair fight - Strahd should never show up to fight the PCs directly unless he has to, or until the party is already knee deep in other monsters. He's been around the block for 800 years; he has time on his side, he can afford to be slow and methodical, waiting to strike once the PCs make a mistake. Have him swoop in, make a strike or two or drop a spell to confound the PCs, and abruptly leave, even should he be winning. He should play a game of attrition and "shaking" the party up. Assume he always know what the PCs are up to unless they specifically take measures to thwart him, and that he's never more than a round or two distant from the PCs to strike. Never give a lone PC a break - Strahd should take the opportunity to move in on such PCs. In many such cases, domination of the lone PC is a better tactic than an aatack. He can then use that PC to lure the others into traps, ambushes or betrayals at the right moment. Change Strahd's spells to ones that favor him and would be more effective against tactics PCs may attempt.

Want to strike the fear of Strahd into them? Have him constantly interrupt any attempts to rest - preferably throwing minions or summoned wolves/bats to harrass the PCs. When they can't rest to regain spells, hp and the like, they'll stand up and take notice.
 

Not entirely sure what I'll do for Halloween. Usually I find something Halloween themed to put into the usual game. I think this year they're going to find out the orc clan they're off to visit are all were-tigers a little too early for Halloween, though. Maybe I can steer them into the undead marshes.

(Halloween itself, of course, is reserved for partying, but we'll probably game a day or two before.)
 

Don't bother trying to terrify your players; just play Strahd like he was your own PC, and terror will come naturally. However, if you want to work on a mood that will put unease into your players, remember that it is the unknown that causes the greatest fear. Was that howling wolf just a wind beast in the distance, a messenger of Strahd or Strahd on the hunt? Why does Madame Eva shake her head in sorrow when she first spies us? Does she know something about what will happen to us? Who is the little girl who stands over a mother's grave, and does she have fangs, only to vanish in a swirl of mist rising from the ground?

Don't ever pick a fair fight - Strahd should never show up to fight the PCs directly unless he has to, or until the party is already knee deep in other monsters. He's been around the block for 800 years; he has time on his side, he can afford to be slow and methodical, waiting to strike once the PCs make a mistake. Have him swoop in, make a strike or two or drop a spell to confound the PCs, and abruptly leave, even should he be winning. He should play a game of attrition and "shaking" the party up. Assume he always know what the PCs are up to unless they specifically take measures to thwart him, and that he's never more than a round or two distant from the PCs to strike. Never give a lone PC a break - Strahd should take the opportunity to move in on such PCs. In many such cases, domination of the lone PC is a better tactic than an aatack. He can then use that PC to lure the others into traps, ambushes or betrayals at the right moment. Change Strahd's spells to ones that favor him and would be more effective against tactics PCs may attempt.

Want to strike the fear of Strahd into them? Have him constantly interrupt any attempts to rest - preferably throwing minions or summoned wolves/bats to harrass the PCs. When they can't rest to regain spells, hp and the like, they'll stand up and take notice.

Awesome. Thanks. I'll be sure to run it like an evil bastard :)
 


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