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demigod
2012-10-24, 02:51 PM
So i have decided to do something fun this year with my gaming group.
I have Dungeon Mastered many campaigns over the past 20 years. Each Halloween has prompted a halloweenie themed game. You know.. Zombies, skeletons, etc. This year im going for the Fun/none life threating game.
Below is my Campaign background.. Skip down to the next post if you dont want to read this part. Next post starts my Halloween Themed Session.

My campaign background (you can use this as well)
Players meet a messenger sent by an unknown Person.
The messenger gives the players the quest of meeting up with this unknown person. (With the DM kinda pushing the players towards overthrowing a Merciless King)
Players are enticed with coin and their home village protection.
Players meet the Former King of their land and are quested to infiltrate an elite guard unit and spy for information on various things
(DM provides characters with Masterwork Forged Transfer Papers.)
Players do missions they like and some they dont.
Players get paid for duties they do. (Patrol duty, Investigation, Tax collecting, Executions, etc)
Players eventually find very sensitive documents about troop movements and locations.
Players learn that their home town is going to be purged of life.
Players go to stop the purge.
Players battle against the elite guards to save their town.
(One NPC gets away to tell a commander of what the players have done; This NPC should be uncatchable for storyline reasons and forces the players to hide far far away.)

demigod
2012-10-24, 03:28 PM
Players are hurried off to a secret location where a ship is waiting to take on refugees. (I used refugees.. but there dont have to be.. but you need a ship)
and thus begins the halloween session below. But in my campaign it is know as Soul Harvestor's Night.

(i called my ship "The Wave Dancer", the Lore of it being a once eipc Smuggling ship)
Once upon the ship the players meet with the Cpt. of the Ship. This ship gives no free rides and the Cpt. Gives them orders to do some mundane task. Which require them to move about the entire ship.
1 hour later a person is killed.. a storm is brewing over head.
The person is obviously murdered.. but by who..
The Murdered NPC is found hanging from a rope with stab wounds, rope burns, puncture wounds, burn marks, cuts.
This is where i start my fun...a horror movie version of Clue.
Since this is a Medium sized ship it will be a short fun game to pass the boat ride.
The Cpt has narrowed down the suspects to 6 people. X amount of NPCs X amount of Player characters. (if you have 6 or more Players then you will need to add in at least a few NPCs) and the number of murder weapons must equal the number of suspects.

make a rough map of the overall ship i will provide image links below of maps i have made for this session. So check back!

Rooms in question (change these to what you like)
1. Sleeping Quarters
2. The Mess Hall (where they eat food)
3. The Cooks Chamber
4. The Storage Hold
5. Main Deck
6. The Washroom

Weapons in question (change these to what you like)
1. Meat Cleaver
2. The Misused Shoe
3. The Crystal Elephant Statue
4. The Razor Glove
5. Half bottle of Rum
6. Rope

Suspects (change these to what you need, i need only 3 NPCs as suspects)
1. Player 1
2. Player 2
3. Player 3
4. Cpt. Scharp
5. Crew Member Braggy
6. Refugee Littal

i wont explain how to play clue.. you can lookup those basic rules on the google machine.

demigod
2012-10-24, 03:37 PM
If one of the players ends up being found guilty they are tossed from the Ship. But lucky for the players the Current pulls them towards the islands.
If it is the Cpt. or one of the other NPCs... A Rogue Wave smashes the Ship causing all hands to be lost at Sea.. But of course the players washup on the shore of some Island.
Players find a well traveled road that leads them to the only town on the island.. in my case the Town is named Surron. A town of 100-200 people who have fled to this island for various reasons. The Town is run by Mayor Dandriss.
As the Players enter the town they are greeted by a festival to which they are unfamiliar. Soul Harvestor's Night. (give whatever background story for why there is a festival!)
The Mayor Does the opening Rituals and Speech.
In his speech he gives the Players the activities/events that will be going on.
Trick or Treating...
Games/contest...
Spook Houses...
In my next post i will outline a few games and events...

demigod
2012-10-24, 03:48 PM
Games:
Pin the ?? on the Zombie
Bobbing for prizes
Drinking Game
Hide and go Seek (in the town Graveyard/Crypt!)
The Wheel

Most of these are pretty self explaining as far as what skill checks to use.

Below is a personally made game i created for halloween.

The Wheel

Objective: Be the last person sitting at the table.
Types of Cards: 1. Defense , 2. Attack, 3. Wild
Number of Cards: 44 Cards Total: 8 Defense, 12 Attack, Wild 24
Defense: Can only be played on your turn Turn.
Attack: Can only be played on Another Player's.
Wild: Can be played at any time during the game.
Rules: 1. Once you start you cant walk away. 2. Ante is Placed in the Pot Each time you Spin.
3. Ante is increased every 2 minutes. 4. If player cant pay Ante that player loses. 5. Once the game reaches 10 minutes it goes to sudden Death round.
6. When you die you are removed from the game.. Dont tell the players that they arent really dead.. Just do a Resurrect on them after the game.
7. Sudden Death consist of Arrow Roulette
Cards:
(# of this type of card)
1. Skip Me: Defense (2)
2. Back 1 Space: Defense (2)
3. Forward 1 Space: Defense (2)
4. Counter Card: Defense (2)
5. Forward 1 Space: Attack (3)
6. Back 1 Space: Attack (3)
7. Give My Spin to... : Attack (3)
8. Counter Card: Attack (3)
9. Skip Person: Wild (2)
10. Reflect Card: Wild (2)
11:Counter Card: Wild (2)
12. Extra Spin: Wild (2)
13. Take Spin From...: Wild (2)
14. Double Ante: Wild (2)
15. Force Trick on...: Wild (2)
16. Force Treat on...: Wild (2)
17: Force Respin: Wild (2)
18: Paranoia on: Wild (2)
19: Death on: Wild (4)

Wheel Slots:
Treat: Vanity Item, Toy, Hallowed Token, 1 minute in heaven, Portrait of Self, Voucher for....,
Candy that gives +5 on any Skill check, 25 gold, 5 gold, 10 gold, Gain 420 Exp.
Trick: Drink Fear Potion, Kiss the Pig, 1 minute in hell, Eat/drink something nasty, Become Paranoid that somebody is standing behind you. Match the Coin in the Pot or lose. Death
Death: Arrow Roulette
Jackpot: Win all the Coin in the Pot
Draw a Card:
Random Discard:

PS: The Players do not actually Die. but each time they die they get a Counter.. once the player dies 3 times they become a shambling zombie for 1 hour. Throughout the night the players will see shambling zombie groaning throughout town.. but these zombies dont feed on people.. they want sweet foods and ale!!

demigod
2012-10-24, 04:17 PM
Spook houses...
I have made a fun event out of this aswell..
I call this one Fallen Wizards Manor.

Before the Players are allowed to enter they are greeted by the host.
The host Tells the players about all the spoooooky stuff inside.
The host gives a round of drinks to all involved along with the host saying something like, "We Toast this night to feel like a child again, Drink up, and enjoy the Game!"

Upon Drinking the Players Willpower is Reduced to that of a child. Their Effective Willpower is Static with no Modifiers included. Their Willpower should stay at -2.

Inside the Mansion the Players do not see each other. They are in their own illusion.

Design Different rooms 4-5 rooms of various sizes. Some rooms contain safe zones and other contains spooky zones.
While in Safe Zones the Player can not be scared.
While in Spooky Zones the Player can choose to send something Spooky to a Random Player.

Objective of the game is to exit the house first, and to scare the other players to death!! Hidden throughout the house are three pieces of a key that must be put together before it will unlock the exit.
Each Time a Player fails a Willpower Roll he/she becomes more scared.
There are varying degrees of fear the DM keeps track of.
Terrified, Pee your pants, Pass-out, Scared to death.
When A player is scared to death.. you tell them that they are dead.. but they are resurrected. (as mentioned above.. once the character "dies" 3 times they become a shambling zombie that craves sweet things and ale!)

Spooky things players send to other characters...
Animated Skeleton trying to grab them...
Zombie crawls from under the bed...
Ghost passes through the wall and comes towards the player....
Flash of an illusion that shows a grusome murder/torture...
etc etc.. you get the point..

demigod
2012-10-24, 04:26 PM
i will add more about this later! i must be off to work :(
I know this seems like a lot of work.. but if you are a good DM/GM and want to add that little extra to your halloween night and do not mind putting in some extra effort...Please try this...

There is more to come about this halloween session when i get back from work :).

UndertakerSheep
2012-10-24, 04:58 PM
This sounds like an awesome idea!

I've only been DMing for two years now, and this year is my first Halloween session ever. My players expressed their 'need' to play the bad guys for once, so I've created monsters for them to play as. These monsters are henchmen of an upcoming BBEG in our campaign, so I was planning on using the session as a foreshadowing for what is to come.

Was planning, because now I'm really tempted to try this idea of yours. It's been a while since my players had a good mystery on their hands.

demigod
2012-10-24, 05:44 PM
Here is a good idea if your characters want to play "the bad guys"
The Small town has a no weapon's policy. and their weapons must be kept at home/in their room (inn, etc..) so they are unarmed. if a monk is involved...well just have fun with that :) Make the Inn Closed for the remainder of the night do to whatever reason you can think of...

Have them drink/eat something poisoned /or whatever depending on the gaming system you are using.


Make the characters believe they are only poisoned and require a special antidote. However, this antidote combined with the poison has some bad effects. (To the player's knowledge it makes them feel very drunk, but this does not make them stupid drunk.. just unbalaced,slow, etc.. flaws their logic just a bit...)
an NPC Lets them know that the entire town seems infected, Possibly from the town Well. But his father a healer has an antidote!!
Increase their Grapple and Stregth. (do not tell them this)
Fort,Reflex, Willpower stats to 0 or lower. no modifiers add to these.
(tell them about these temporary stat changes)
Decrease their speed: to 10 (im playing 3.5e)

The Players notice this by how the rest of the town is talking nonsense..everything they say comes out as gibberish!!
Also the towns people seem to be murdering innocent people.
The players see themselves normally, but to everybody else they look like zombies!! And the Players see other zombies as normal people which they can talk with.
So a player walks up to Random NPC and says, "hey, what is going on here"
The NPC sees a zombie in his face going, "errrrrr,,,, uuuuuuhhh.. etc" you know zombies moaning and groaning...
The NPC of course freaks out, and begins attacking the Player.. the player hits, claws, bites, grapples, tumbles..
Players get a negative to hit the NPC, but do more damage when they do.
for example.
Player grapples a town person.. accidentally ripping their arm off
(considering your random town people are level 0 and guards are higher level)(towns people having around 1-3 HP and your guards about 10-20)
Grapple damage = 1d8
Hit/claw damage = 1d10
Bite damage = 2d10

If the players try to subdue the NPC, Formulate some kind of accident that kills the NPC. (to the players it looks like an accident, when infact they killed in some horrific manner)

Logically the players are thinking that they are killing infected people who have gone crazy...

Let them do this for awhile and finally give one of them a spot roll to see their reflection in a mirror that is showcased in the magic shop window (or any window/building). At this point they realize that they are the zombies!!
if they catch on a little earlier.. throw in an NPC that rushes up to them about how even the guards are infected and killing people now...Do this to reinforce that they are not the "bad guys"!!
Also, when they do find out.. all other interactions will be a good laugh cause now they will be visualizing how others are seeing them.. and they will try their best to get away by running/getting inside buildings...some buildings being locked.. some unlocked.. furniture up against doors, etc.. this is why we increase their strength.. to help them overcome doors/blocked entry ways.
this is also fun to do.. enjoy..

PS: when they players think back on all the interactions with NPCs.. it makes a good laugh...
PPS: if this is a session for long lived characters... make them wakeup the next day passed out in an alley/park/tavern/etc...Everybody is back to normally.. stats go back to normal...was it all just a dream???


AS a DM/GM you will be laughing so hard on the inside visualizing what is actually happening in each encounter.
IE: Player tumbles to do whatever....Player sees himself do this awesome tumble when actually he just falls to the ground.
Insert certain DM rules such as, Once they character tumbles they can only make grapple attacks or bite attacks.

Just use your DM knownledge of skills checks and feats to make the characters act more like zombies without giving away that they are zombies..

Use the excuse that their stats suck because they are feeling strong affects of being drunk, etc etc!!
Player-- "i want to tumble to that square"
DM-- "ok but the drunk feeling is giving you a -10 to your tumble"
Player --"I want to run from that guy"
DM--"ok but your movement is reduce to 10"
Player -- "i want to Hit that guy with a stick"
DM--"ok but you get a -??? to your roll"
etc etc...
have fun with this IDEA.. Takes great DM imagination "on the fly"

PPPS: please excuse any and all typos

TheCountAlucard
2012-10-25, 12:14 PM
Ahh, I remember my previous Hallowe'en game; it was a Slender Man-themed game. :smallamused:

Arcanist
2012-10-27, 08:18 AM
Ahh, I remember my previous Hallowe'en game; it was a Slender Man-themed game. :smallamused:

Doing an Expedition to Castle Ravenloft game, but adding Slenderman in at the Forest and having him stalk the players for the remainder of the game.

Easily the best Slender-Man Homebrew ever made ever (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=258659)

Kelb_Panthera
2012-10-27, 10:14 AM
I never seem to have an active group around halloween :smallfrown:

But if I did I'd either do a low-level, one-shot zombie apocalypse adventure or throw a nice, creepy horror arc into the current campaign; maybe some sort of shared nightmare scenario so that I could be nice and vicious and then have everyone wake up afterward so that the normal campaign can continue even if they TPK.

Ah well, maybe next year.