Need help for a mid level Friday 13th game

[ErHo]

I'm conflicted on what to run for a side quest on Friday the 13th for my group, I know you all will help with your collective wisdom!

5 PCs finishing up the first part of a 2 part campaign, I want something challenging but essentially a one-shot.

Premise is open, but I'm limited by the PCs in my mind...how to horrify them, and really affect their play styles. I'm not looking for verbose Lovecraftian narrations, I can handle that but rather number what how and why and CR-Crunching in a horror setting.

6th level vanilla classes:

Firbolg Anti-Paladin
Half orc Bearbarian
Dragonborn Ranger
Elf Thief
Tiefling fiendish warlock

Yep, an over worked warlock and Anti-pally on heal duty, blast everything they have on the first encounter after rests is how they roll. Pretty lacking in more powerful magic weapons than +1 this and that. I may need to give them something to match CRs or just a certain enemy.


Help me make them feel the hurt(I'm thinking a TPK is what they want but dont dare ask for!) and feel worth while.

At first I thought Fri 13th, they start out individually cursed. Sounds Ok, but what kind of curse?

The old "something is killing things at night, turns put to be a PC with lycanthopy" would be hard and kid of cheesy, but sell me on it, I'm open minded! Plus the elf never sleeps, and making him the "monster" would require some DM athletics on splitting the party without letting on. Not sure how to pull that off.

We have already done the Necromancer with undead/flesh golems early on, maybe a Lich? With the oneshot I'd have trouble with the phalactory search, etc.


Any help would be great!

Thank you

[Falcon X]

If you are willing to port in from other games, some monsters I’ve used to nice effect:

Blindheim: Start Out with a horde of these guys and your characters walk into the dungeon blind. They are frog-like creatures that shoot blinding rays from their eyes.

Meanlock: These stalk the party from a far, choosing a victim and psychically making them more and more paranoid. When they finally strike, they turn the victim into a new meanlock.

Suped up Mind Flayer: make him like the Predator. Maybe the party does something to offend him like releasing his slaves. Then he hunts! Lots of psychological warfare.
Mine fought though caves with a final confrontation on a stone bridge over lava.
Some weapons to equip him with from the old book of the Illithiad:
- Remote device that it can speak through to make audible speech, but also mislead.
- Spear that completely blocks off magic usage for a while tonthe person it is thrown at.
- tentacle extenders for greater grabbing and throwing.
- energy weapons (use the anti-matter rifle)
- proximity mines.
- invisibility spells and other such spells.
- Magical katana-like blade

[ImproperJustice]

They all wake up in the town square (including the Elf).
It’s midnight, and no one is around.

[Falcon X]

Dungeon of exploding bees. They are everywhere and hit like a grenade. They will have to lock themselves in rooms and watch every step to make sure not to touch one. The boss is the queen bee which they have to kill.

The Great Pumpkin: A more novelty approach, but I’ve done it. Google image search this one.
I had it living in a farmland and raiding a nearby village, capturing their children.

The Underworld: Lead them to Hades, the River Styx, or some like, which is haunting as it is.
They find a type of oracle (the fates? A magic pool? A guardian?) that forces them each to see what their afterlife will be like (might paint it in the worst possible light). They must choose between passing on, or facing something bad in this life, like a physical handicap, solo fighting a Tarasque, living 1000 years in the Far Plane, etc.
They are given no other choices, though it implied that there is no other way to live than to take the second choice. They should not be told that they might still reach their goal. This should sound like a hopeless situation.
Either way, provide a way to save them in the end, but always by a hair or for a price.

You can always have them randomly end up meeting Cthulhu...
https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?74110-The-Wrong-Room-In-Ryleh&s=

[Requilac]

I am a DM who is currently running a horror campaign and my players seem to love it, so perhaps I could have some useful information for you, even if I don't have any exact campaign books you can read.

When it comes to D&D horror can be difficult to pull off, and especially when it comes to one shots it is hard. The Lovecraft approach can be done in D&D if you play your cards right, but that would take a lot of build up and wouldn't easily be done in a one shot. The stereotypical slasher movie approach is also a bad route to go, because for adventurers they grind through things far worst than serial killers like you do breakfast.

I have some pieces of advice that may help you. First off, horror is less about the actual events and more about how you describe them. Normal hack and slash is not going to be conducive to horror, no matter how scary the enemies may be. Really role play things out. Make the NPCs seem like humans and go to great depths to describe their general attitudes. Give vivid detailed descriptions of the monster and explain its attacks thoroughly without just saying something like "the wraith attacks, make a con save". Make sure your players know exactly what the environment looks like. If you do not do this your approach will likely fail.

Another thing is to take advantage of surprises and implement a Combat as War approach, at least for this single session. Enemies as mindless drones can sometimes be frightening, but an intelligent one is far more so. Especially if the enemy is more intelligent then the players. I have seen many cases where players are entirely unused to being on the receiving end of guerrilla warfare, and are typically shocked by the results. This doesn't just have to be ambushes, but make seemingly friendly creatures attack them can be an effective approach too. If normal looking animals or mundane people suddenly attack them, they will start getting nervous and paranoid. Give them a lot of red herrings and feint them too, create noises and shadows which don't end up as anything. This can be frustrating if you don't play it right, but if done right it can be very effective.

Come to think of it, I think the most frightening encounter I actually made as a DM was just against normal humans. The PCs arrived at a monster's lair, expecting to fight it, but instead a group of homebrewed arches were striking at them from a range as they brashly charged in. The PCs were low on health and had to flee, and we spent most of that session describing how the PCs escape from this cave full of assassins bent on their destruction. Humans acting in a realistic manner and employing effective military tactics can be downright horrifying.

I have much more to say, but I have already said too much so that will be it unless you ask for me.

So maybe instead of making a one shot focused on the players fighting hideous monsters, why don't you make the enemies intelligent humanoids that outsmart the enemies?

Sorry for the tangent, but I hope I have provided useful information.

[Sorlock Master]

People are dying in the town at night.

The bodies have no marks on them, and cannot be resurrected.

The bodies are found in bed undisturbed.

Go from there

[Requilac]

People are dying in the town at night.

The bodies have no marks on them, and cannot be resurrected.

The bodies are found in bed undisturbed.

Go from there

Sounds sort of like a Night Hag using Nightmare Haunting...

[ErHo]

Theres alot of great ideas here!



Thank you all!