So the weekend of Halloween, I'm planning on having my friends/cousins over to run a Halloween one-shot special. However, instead of the typical "horror movie escape the monster" type session, I wanna do something really special and give my players the chance to be the scary threat by letting them pick a monster to be (so far I have a Wight stylized to be the Grim Reaper and a Ghast stylized to be a Gollum-like creature). Below are the thoughts I have as of now:
Players will be somewhere between Levels 8-11 (Would love input on what people would recommend from personal experience)
Instead of leveling a character up to that though, they will use the stat block of a monster of their choosing from the Monster's Manual (I'm saying up to CR 7) then I might let them roll for health so they're not as squishy
Additionally, I might let them pick a Level 3 class so they have some sort of relatable abilities
Takes place in a high security prison for monsters of varying threats (Think Cabin in the Woods-esque)
Locked up for research/experimentation purposes
Prison contains 5 Threat Tiers where monsters are divided (Category 1 being lowest, Category 5 being highest)
Not all players would necessarily start on the same floor (depends on what they picked)
The prison cells themselves are anti-magic and the creatures are given the barest essentials of food, water, etc.
Adventure kicks off when a mysterious voice in everyone's heads promises a reward if they can get to Level 1 of the prison
By some means, a guard/mysterious figure sneaks each of them a Dispel Magic bead to escape the cell
Not sure what god-like being is at the moment, but promises & rewards ultimate power upon reaching them
Each player is ultimately turned into a CR 19-21 level monster that allows them to go on a rampage (for example, my cousin who loves Lord of the Rings will start as a Ghast to be like Gollum, but will be turned into a Balor and channel his inner Balrog if they free them)
At this point, it just turns into a power fantasy where they'll destroy low level guards while also facing against challenging but manageable security deterrents
Unsure if it starts as stealth before devolving into chaos, or if some sort of big distraction occurs
With regards to the being's motives, it would be along the lines of using the prisoners as the ultimate army (think The Beast from inFamous). Of course this isn't set in stone. The rest will come to improv on how the story progresses/ends, but I was hoping people could give me some advice or ideas on how to makes this idea great and tie it all together. If somebody even has a better idea than the prison break concept, I'm completely fine with that too. Any input would be much appreciated! Thank you all and have a wonderful day!
I wouldn’t limit them to a prison, I would do something like “a group of demon worshiping cultist gather on All Hallows’ eve, the time when the line between our world and theirs is at its thinnest” and have those cultists summon them all as high ranking demons. To make it more fun let them choose their form (you should probably use the Balor stat block for them all, with minor changes depending on what form they choose). Then they’ll be able to rampage throughout the world for as long as they want (or until All Hallows’ Eve ends, a time limit might be fun, it’ll encourage them to do as much destruction as possible in a short amount of time). A would have it start a things like villages and farms, then is they start slaying more they’ll gain an army and move on to towns and even city’s, then after some rampaging they’ll likely catch the attention of a group of priests, they will probably be one of the only things that can kill them, but as reinsurance that one of them doesn’t die immediately then get left out you can decide that the demons know a ritual that can bring each other back. With this your players will be pretty much invulnerable, but if that’s what you/they want it’ll be really fun.
I love the veil of All Hallow's Eve idea and the expansion into cities & towns! The cultist summoning demons and trying to save their imprisoned leader could serve as a good distraction for the players to escape. Thank you so much!
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Hello everyone!
So the weekend of Halloween, I'm planning on having my friends/cousins over to run a Halloween one-shot special. However, instead of the typical "horror movie escape the monster" type session, I wanna do something really special and give my players the chance to be the scary threat by letting them pick a monster to be (so far I have a Wight stylized to be the Grim Reaper and a Ghast stylized to be a Gollum-like creature). Below are the thoughts I have as of now:
With regards to the being's motives, it would be along the lines of using the prisoners as the ultimate army (think The Beast from inFamous). Of course this isn't set in stone. The rest will come to improv on how the story progresses/ends, but I was hoping people could give me some advice or ideas on how to makes this idea great and tie it all together. If somebody even has a better idea than the prison break concept, I'm completely fine with that too. Any input would be much appreciated! Thank you all and have a wonderful day!
I wouldn’t limit them to a prison, I would do something like “a group of demon worshiping cultist gather on All Hallows’ eve, the time when the line between our world and theirs is at its thinnest” and have those cultists summon them all as high ranking demons. To make it more fun let them choose their form (you should probably use the Balor stat block for them all, with minor changes depending on what form they choose). Then they’ll be able to rampage throughout the world for as long as they want (or until All Hallows’ Eve ends, a time limit might be fun, it’ll encourage them to do as much destruction as possible in a short amount of time). A would have it start a things like villages and farms, then is they start slaying more they’ll gain an army and move on to towns and even city’s, then after some rampaging they’ll likely catch the attention of a group of priests, they will probably be one of the only things that can kill them, but as reinsurance that one of them doesn’t die immediately then get left out you can decide that the demons know a ritual that can bring each other back. With this your players will be pretty much invulnerable, but if that’s what you/they want it’ll be really fun.
hope this help!
I love the veil of All Hallow's Eve idea and the expansion into cities & towns! The cultist summoning demons and trying to save their imprisoned leader could serve as a good distraction for the players to escape. Thank you so much!