1000 Creepy Adventure Ideas!

[Kibo]

( How do you do the long dark of Moriah with creature the equivalent of the Balrog chasing the players)

Why did the adventurers cross the mountains? To get to the other side or get away from the psycho with the axe. The eternal question.

You could use the fact they're being chased, probably for some reason other than to make them run, to "help" them into the adventure. If the huntsman is a polearm, great axe, other fearsome weapon wielding bad mamajama riding a dire wolf, with a small but ferocious contingent of lupins, and or lesser lycanthrops, running is almost always a good idea. But if he can make better speed, particularly over rough terrain than the party, they need to really use that head start. Shelter. An abandon dwarven tunnel rumored to still traverse the mountians even though it had fallen into disuse after a major collapse that is a) near by and b) also rumored to be a virtual labrynth suitible for losing or ambushing their hunter, well that's a pretty solid out.

If an NPC who's either indebted to the PC's, or wishes the PC's to be indebted to him, aids them with this information, all the better. If the PC's happen to learn why they're hunted, or at least for whom, they might then learn that person is on the other side of the mountains. The PC's might find themselves having to race to assasinate their assasins employer and render the contract moot.

 

[Sidran]

Thanks Kibo

But all was lost,

My dumbest player ( incidently playing a smart 1/2 dragon) Refused to run, And attacked the big bad evil guy, Turned out ok with only one character hitting -7, and another -2 But in the end the guy was defeated and was taken out by a lucky arrow ( Critted as he was running away)

Because he was a CR 7 for my small party of Average level 3's I thought it would be enough motiviation to run I was wrong the party brought it together and wiped out the being chased through the dungeon effect.

Lousy no good for nothing 1/2 dragon

Anyway not only did they kill him they got his nifty magical items as well and 1 level each.

And we only almost made it to the second level before my PC's got a backbone

[DM notes never play all nighters they go bad for story]

 

[Guilt Puppy]

More like a scene than an adventure:

PCs are going through underground caverns, they're bruised, bleeding, looking for somewhere to rest safely. In their haste, they manage to catch themselves in a pit trap, and fall a good 30 feet... as they stand, raising their torches, they find themselves surrounding by about thirty Mind Flayers.

Inexplicably, the Flayers begin grovelling piously at their feet.

 

[Gothmog]

Couple more ideas:

* The PCs stay in a room at an inn that is haunted by a man who committed suicide by slitting his own throat while in bed. This would work best if the PCs will be staying in the room over multiple nights- maybe as long as a week or so. At first, the haunting causes general uneasiness in the occupant(s), but soon the pillow and sheets of one bed seem to be slightly sticky to the touch, although no trace of liquid can be found. Any PC sleeping in the bed should be afflicted with severe nightmares which prevent him from getting a full night's rest. Other PCs in the room begin to see what appears to be a shadow resting on the bed at night when the lights are out, but it could be just a trick of the night. Animals refuse to enter the room, and any PC who stay there more than 4 nights begins to think he is seeing movement in his peripheral vision. The ghost is not hostile to the PCs (in fact it doesn't even interact with them), but the powerful psychic aura around the bed and the circumstances of his death mean that any PC who sleeps in the bed more than 4 nights in a row will try to slash his own throat if he fails a DC 20 Will save. The ghost won't fight the PCs, but it can be laid to rest or exorcised.

* If you have any PC spellcasters who use illusions heavily, this might work. At some point in the past, the PC who uses illusions is likely to have created illusionary monsters/humanoids/people for some purpose. During one of these castings, something went slightly wrong (perhaps he cast the illusion in an evil temple, in the presence of a demon, etc) and the illusion gained sentience, a twisted will, and a reality of its own. Now, whenever the PC spellcaster sleeps, some part of his psyche houses the sentient illusion, which manifests and commits gruesome murders wherever the PC goes. It might seem at first to the PCs that the killer is following them, but when they realize it is part of their companion's mind, how do they deal with it? Perhaps killing it should cause the loss of 1d4 permanent Int to the spellcaster.

 

[Wiley]

Two Words: Carrot Top.

Just use him in the adventure or periodically yell "PHONE HANDS!"

 

[Xarlen]

*The Boogeyman. The PCs may have just fought some Undead (perhaps some ghoul hunting?). Or they have relations with someoen who has a child. Any ways, someone they know turns up dead. Gruesomely. A smile carved into their face with a dagger, their innards eaten. The PCs investigate. And there's someone who starts to stalk them. The Boogeyman. A ghoul with new things (Fast healing 2, spider climb, Blend with Shadows), perhaps a few spell likes for Slow and Silence.

*Spellcaster hunt. Two children have shown up in the near by woods, dead, with arcane runes carved into them. The townspeople go ape****. As the PCs investigate, the townspeople are hiding their children. Evidence points towards some spellcaster or witch having done the slayings. A few spellcasters in town are persecuted, one stoned half-to-death in the street by a mob. Then the town starts hunting all spellcasters, even the PCs. As it turns out, a Demon who feeds off of the emotions which the Humans are putting out is manipulating people with a variety of Suggestions, Charms and Dominates, making them overreact.

 

[Angelsboi]

No, announce Carrot Top is going skinny dipping.

And the Spellcasting Hunt .. Sounds like Season 3's Gingerbread Episode from Buffy

 

[demiurge1138]

# Twenty-something

A psychotic gnome sorcerer is an ostracized member of a sophisticated city's Medical Society (a cabal of wizards and clerics dedicated to learning anatomy and healing the sick). He learns, accidentally, that he can gain power by grafting other people's organs to himself. He makes an announcement that he is "moving on to better things", and leaves the society. About a week later, members of the Medical Society, their friends and family begin to die mysteriously. Some become pale, weak, complain of pain and die within seconds, gasping for air. Others linger for days, or even weeks, and the confused (and dwindling) experts can do nothing for the poor victim. Autopsy shows that one or more of the deceased's organs are missing. And one of the party members is a relative of the director of the Medical Society...