Honestly pick a horror movie and build a one-shot around it.
Movies I've done one-shots around: Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Critters, Hocus Pocus, Dawn of the Dead, Children of the Corn, 28 days later.
A few of those were actually modules from my monthly Dungeon Crate subscription. I know they sell their halloween Cult Classics on their website store if you google them.
Honestly though a halloween one shot is easy, build the atmosphere, pick a scenario (or sometimes even just a monster you want to use and build one around it), and build on the spooky.
Random ideas: -Invasion of the body-snatchers surrounding a Bodytaker Plant - Werewolf in London-esque scenario with a Loup Garou - Scream styled encounter with a Relentless Slasher -A pyramid head or Nemesis style encounter with a Relentless Juggernaut - A World War Z type scenario including Zombie Clots - A scenario based off of The Fly with this lovely post: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/ncya8c/the_botfly_or_i_gave_jeff_goldblum_a_statblock/
The Encounter of the Week section of the D&D Beyond articles contains lots of premade stand-alone encounters that can be made into a one-shot easily. A lot of them can be adapted to be scary, but the Haunted Cornfield, run more-or-less as written, is my personal suggestion if you want to try one out for halloween.
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Panda-wat (I hate my username) is somehow convinced that he is objectively right about everything D&D related even though he obviously is not. Considering that, he'd probably make a great D&D youtuber.
"If I die, I can live with that." ~Luke Hart, the DM lair
I agree with the above posts, they're good shouts.
But my suggestion is the players start off in a house at night. And they try to leave to start the adventure. But the house is possessed by a spirit that shifts the house around so the the rooms move and the normal laws of space and time aren't working. The house begins to spawn shadows and zombies and so on and the party have to get through and find the spirit's resting place to end the possession so they can escape. Oh, and if they don't make it out before morning, the house consumes their souls.
Just in general, add an in game time constraint for extra tension. Show not tell, build up every encounter well before the monster attacks (or is even seen) to really freak out the players. Get random perception checks time to time. Smile the whole time. Story is less important than atmosphere in this case, focus on that stuff if you choose to go down a horror route.
I'd personally recommend 'The House of Lament' from VRGtR over 'Death House' but if you're looking at something for relatively high level, I don't know you'll really find anything that's actually spooky. Best thing I could recommend would be doing either of the dungeons from 'Curse of Strahd,' meaning The Amber Temple or Castle Ravenloft. Also feel free to modify them as you prefer. For the Amber Temple I myself added a bunch of Yugoloths and set it up so that the players were limited to one (or two?) Long Rests and were unable to leave until they found a certain Holy Relic due to a number of vampire spawn and a full fledged Vampire (standard CR 13) camping outside. For Castle Ravenloft I personally recommend bumping up the main guy to 30d8 + 30 × Con modifier. That plus having him do a lot of hit and run tactics while drawing the players ever deeper. I think either of them would work for players of 8th to 10th, maybe 11th.
Much of the advice I read regarding Spooky/Horror RP would recommend against "high level" much tension coming from the PC's being hopelessly outmatched and it being a desperate survival against the odds... so if you do do High level PC's they still need to be out matched ie their weapons ineffective against your Spook/Horror. Take the Predator film for example super tough commando's with super weapons (High level PC's) but totally useless against the Predator.
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“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Last year, I ran a Halloween oneshot where the players were different horror-movie-inspired monsters who decided to overthrow the BBEG who recruited them. It went more humor than horror, but it was good fun.
Last year, I ran a Halloween oneshot where the players were different horror-movie-inspired monsters who decided to overthrow the BBEG who recruited them. It went more humor than horror, but it was good fun.
I had an idea a while ago where the players are on the run from the wild hunt. The hunt master would be really powerful and would act more like an obstacle than an enemy. They wouldn't be able to fight him, just hide and survive until dawn. In horror movies the characters are rarely able to kill the monster, just get out of the house. Trash enemies could be supplied in the form of ghouls, ghosts, banshees and undead of all varieties.
Since characters in one-shots are inherently a bit more "disposable" in emotional terms: the slasher movie springs to mind as a good template. Maybe have players make 2 or 3 characters so people who die aren't instnatly out of the game. Lots of tropes to play with and lots of potential monsters to pick from.
I did a halloween one shot last year and it was a lot of fun. I used the death house map and the town of barovia map from the curse of strahd game and just came up with a little story: The players were all pulled in to the tiny bubble realm by something dark and ominous, they are transported to the town of harmony where there is no sign of life. The players have to search around in all the empty houses looking for clues as to what happened and fighting off any zombies/ghouls until they reach the source of the issue which is where i used the death house map. Popped a zombie beholder in the basement as the main boss :') It was a lot of fun and had a nice balance between combat and investigation and i got to used some creepy background music
The Ghosts of Saltmarsh lvl. 1 adventure is perfect for a horror game, especially for kids ages 13 below who might not be allowed to play things from books like Curse of Strahd.
Having a halloween one shot based off of trick or treating. Each house on a lane has a random percentage (ie. roll a d6). On a 1-2, the residents of the house come out and gives them candy. On a 3-4, the residents come out to kill them. On a 5-6, the door opens and the party has to navigate through the house like its a dungeon. Castle, Candy or Killings.
someone in a few posts back is working on an escape room.
I'm kinda sorta working on an idea with the Wild Hunt as almost a zombie survival theme.
I also have a REALLY cute one for a fake haunted house that's run by kobolds that your party gets to explore and finds out that the spot that they planned for a haunted house is really haunted, (but its really a bunch of poltergeists and undead that are play as being corpses and killers to get in on the fun, so even though it's a murder in a haunted house style story, the ending should be so that the corpses and ghosts applaud you for figuring it out at the end.) <--- this one has layers and though it would be SO SO SO much fun, I don't know if I have the DM chops to pull it off.
A fourth idea is kind of hearkening back to some of Grimm's fairy tales. In some of them there's three travelers that make a deal with the devil to say some outlandish things, and as long as they stick with it (which they do), the rightful wrongdoers get flushed out and the people who did as they agreed get rewarded. (here it is: https://fairytalez.com/the-three-apprentices/ ) it's PERFECT for some tavern whodunnit characters, and tossing in some other grimm's villains and heroines from more obscure fairy tales (like these https://internationalstoryteller.com/grimm-fairy-tales-villains/ ) as other NPC's that might help you solve the mystery before these unlucky three get hanged in the morning. (and honestly, with a rogues gallery of characters in the bar, you really can take any motive and story from a fairy tale you like and use that to justify why the villains in the bar might have done it in a VERY clue style game) have to uncover.
I hope those help... Ad after thing settle a bit and the UA is less disruptive, I'll try doing more with the fey hunt that I started...
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I know it's a little early but I want to prepare for a one shot for my players to run for Halloween.
It would be 3-4 players and I would like something at a semi high level. Last year I ran the baby Tiefling candy run.
Would like something spooky/horror
It doesn't have to be something Halloween specific e.i Jack O' lanterns come alive.
Honestly pick a horror movie and build a one-shot around it.
Movies I've done one-shots around: Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Critters, Hocus Pocus, Dawn of the Dead, Children of the Corn, 28 days later.
A few of those were actually modules from my monthly Dungeon Crate subscription. I know they sell their halloween Cult Classics on their website store if you google them.
Honestly though a halloween one shot is easy, build the atmosphere, pick a scenario (or sometimes even just a monster you want to use and build one around it), and build on the spooky.
Random ideas:
-Invasion of the body-snatchers surrounding a Bodytaker Plant
- Werewolf in London-esque scenario with a Loup Garou
- Scream styled encounter with a Relentless Slasher
-A pyramid head or Nemesis style encounter with a Relentless Juggernaut
- A World War Z type scenario including Zombie Clots
- A scenario based off of The Fly with this lovely post: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/ncya8c/the_botfly_or_i_gave_jeff_goldblum_a_statblock/
Death House from Strahd...google it
The Encounter of the Week section of the D&D Beyond articles contains lots of premade stand-alone encounters that can be made into a one-shot easily. A lot of them can be adapted to be scary, but the Haunted Cornfield, run more-or-less as written, is my personal suggestion if you want to try one out for halloween.
Panda-wat (I hate my username) is somehow convinced that he is objectively right about everything D&D related even though he obviously is not. Considering that, he'd probably make a great D&D youtuber.
"If I die, I can live with that." ~Luke Hart, the DM lair
I agree with the above posts, they're good shouts.
But my suggestion is the players start off in a house at night. And they try to leave to start the adventure. But the house is possessed by a spirit that shifts the house around so the the rooms move and the normal laws of space and time aren't working. The house begins to spawn shadows and zombies and so on and the party have to get through and find the spirit's resting place to end the possession so they can escape. Oh, and if they don't make it out before morning, the house consumes their souls.
Just in general, add an in game time constraint for extra tension. Show not tell, build up every encounter well before the monster attacks (or is even seen) to really freak out the players. Get random perception checks time to time. Smile the whole time. Story is less important than atmosphere in this case, focus on that stuff if you choose to go down a horror route.
Chilling kinda vibe.
I'd personally recommend 'The House of Lament' from VRGtR over 'Death House' but if you're looking at something for relatively high level, I don't know you'll really find anything that's actually spooky. Best thing I could recommend would be doing either of the dungeons from 'Curse of Strahd,' meaning The Amber Temple or Castle Ravenloft. Also feel free to modify them as you prefer. For the Amber Temple I myself added a bunch of Yugoloths and set it up so that the players were limited to one (or two?) Long Rests and were unable to leave until they found a certain Holy Relic due to a number of vampire spawn and a full fledged Vampire (standard CR 13) camping outside. For Castle Ravenloft I personally recommend bumping up the main guy to 30d8 + 30 × Con modifier. That plus having him do a lot of hit and run tactics while drawing the players ever deeper. I think either of them would work for players of 8th to 10th, maybe 11th.
Teenage humans have to egg the creepy house on the corner and avoid the city watch?
Much of the advice I read regarding Spooky/Horror RP would recommend against "high level" much tension coming from the PC's being hopelessly outmatched and it being a desperate survival against the odds... so if you do do High level PC's they still need to be out matched ie their weapons ineffective against your Spook/Horror. Take the Predator film for example super tough commando's with super weapons (High level PC's) but totally useless against the Predator.
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Last year, I ran a Halloween oneshot where the players were different horror-movie-inspired monsters who decided to overthrow the BBEG who recruited them. It went more humor than horror, but it was good fun.
This sounds amazing!
Puffin Forest was in a good Halloween one back two years ago with Zee Bashew and Dingo Doodles. Give it a listen and some more teeth.
I like this idea. I think you can have an ALT environment as outdoors like the Blair Witch Project (similar "can't get out" theme).
Pallutus
I had an idea a while ago where the players are on the run from the wild hunt. The hunt master would be really powerful and would act more like an obstacle than an enemy. They wouldn't be able to fight him, just hide and survive until dawn. In horror movies the characters are rarely able to kill the monster, just get out of the house. Trash enemies could be supplied in the form of ghouls, ghosts, banshees and undead of all varieties.
Since characters in one-shots are inherently a bit more "disposable" in emotional terms: the slasher movie springs to mind as a good template. Maybe have players make 2 or 3 characters so people who die aren't instnatly out of the game. Lots of tropes to play with and lots of potential monsters to pick from.
Village of Shrooms has a pretty good Halloween feel to it:
https://www.patreon.com/file?h=59347142&i=9483358
I did a halloween one shot last year and it was a lot of fun. I used the death house map and the town of barovia map from the curse of strahd game and just came up with a little story: The players were all pulled in to the tiny bubble realm by something dark and ominous, they are transported to the town of harmony where there is no sign of life. The players have to search around in all the empty houses looking for clues as to what happened and fighting off any zombies/ghouls until they reach the source of the issue which is where i used the death house map. Popped a zombie beholder in the basement as the main boss :') It was a lot of fun and had a nice balance between combat and investigation and i got to used some creepy background music
The Ghosts of Saltmarsh lvl. 1 adventure is perfect for a horror game, especially for kids ages 13 below who might not be allowed to play things from books like Curse of Strahd.
Orange Juice!
Having a halloween one shot based off of trick or treating. Each house on a lane has a random percentage (ie. roll a d6). On a 1-2, the residents of the house come out and gives them candy. On a 3-4, the residents come out to kill them. On a 5-6, the door opens and the party has to navigate through the house like its a dungeon. Castle, Candy or Killings.
Am looking into this myself. Here a few pretty good lists:
https://geektogeekmedia.com/geekery/tabletop-gaming/halloween-dnd-adventures-one-shots/
https://dungeonsanddragonsfan.com/best-dnd-halloween-one-shots-5e/
https://www.cbr.com/dnd-halloween-one-shot-ideas/
someone in a few posts back is working on an escape room.
I'm kinda sorta working on an idea with the Wild Hunt as almost a zombie survival theme.
I also have a REALLY cute one for a fake haunted house that's run by kobolds that your party gets to explore and finds out that the spot that they planned for a haunted house is really haunted, (but its really a bunch of poltergeists and undead that are play as being corpses and killers to get in on the fun, so even though it's a murder in a haunted house style story, the ending should be so that the corpses and ghosts applaud you for figuring it out at the end.) <--- this one has layers and though it would be SO SO SO much fun, I don't know if I have the DM chops to pull it off.
A fourth idea is kind of hearkening back to some of Grimm's fairy tales. In some of them there's three travelers that make a deal with the devil to say some outlandish things, and as long as they stick with it (which they do), the rightful wrongdoers get flushed out and the people who did as they agreed get rewarded. (here it is: https://fairytalez.com/the-three-apprentices/ ) it's PERFECT for some tavern whodunnit characters, and tossing in some other grimm's villains and heroines from more obscure fairy tales (like these https://internationalstoryteller.com/grimm-fairy-tales-villains/ ) as other NPC's that might help you solve the mystery before these unlucky three get hanged in the morning. (and honestly, with a rogues gallery of characters in the bar, you really can take any motive and story from a fairy tale you like and use that to justify why the villains in the bar might have done it in a VERY clue style game) have to uncover.
I hope those help... Ad after thing settle a bit and the UA is less disruptive, I'll try doing more with the fey hunt that I started...