Malimar
2023-10-22, 09:57 AM
So I've got a holiday one-shot session coming up in a week, an experience which is intended to end up somewhere in the broad zone of spooky, spoopy, scary, suspense, horror, horrifying, and/or horrific.
I have a few not-even-half-formed notions swimming around in my brain, but I'd like the Playground's help brainstorming ideas.
The setup, as presented to the players:
Through some celestial mishap or accounting error, for some reason, Hoobynoob falls on Freday the 13th of Octember this year. Normally, of course, Hoobynoob falls on the 30th, the last day of Octember. The 13th of Octember doesn't normally even fall on a Freday -- it is typically a Munday.
This calendrical irregularity is known for certain: all the experts agree on this unusual occurrence -- the astrologers; the astronomers; the druids and rangers of Sequoia (who counts the months and weeks, the planets and stars, under her purview); the calendricians and calendrometers; we even asked the janitor, as they know of these things.
Amongst the populace, once the confusion is overcome -- or at least set aside -- the yearly observance of Hoobynoob proceeds as usual, albeit on the 13th. In Endeesy, capital of Gus: gourds are carved; nuts are harvested; costumes are prepared; candies and sweets are purchased or crafted in bulk in preparation for the traditional mass extortion, on threat of prankery, by children.
When the 13th of Octember arrives -- on a Freday, just as (unusually) ordained -- the morning sneaks into Endeesy foggily. The day slugs by: children growing increasingly excited, adults growing increasingly wary of danger, the weather growing increasingly foggy and moist-smelling.
When treat-or-tricking time arrives, it is nigh impossible to find one's way in the fog. But, through some divine Dalyan providence, unusually alert priests of Dalya, and widespread use of the Buddy System, no children are separated from their guardians for long.
The children return to their homes, feast on junk food, and repair engorgedly to their beds. After the foggy day and foggier evening, it looks like it has been another successful Hoobynoob, profitable for the children and fun for all ages! Parents go to bed. Bar crawlers begin the process of acquiring their holiday drunkenness.
Midnight approaches.
The clock tower in the Cathedral of Quasxthe in the Crown District of Endeesy ticks over from 11:59, and the mighty bell begins its twelvefold tolling: BO-o-...
The bell, having tolled half of once, trails off, as if it has forgotten how to bell.
Cue "we're stuck at midnight; Hoobynoob night doesn't end until the Problem is solved".
Hoobynoob is roughly the equivalent of Halloween; recently (i.e. within the last 50 years) claimed by an agriculture goddess as a sort of harvest festival; before that, it was sacred to the goddess of destruction/fire/demons; before that, it was sacred to a now-mostly-forgotten goddess of anything that's disgusting (the number 13 is sacred to her, so this session could plausibly have something to do with her trying to reclaim what's rightfully hers -- but it certainly doesn't have to, that could be a coincidence).
Lay people often think Hoobynoob is sacred to the god of death, but in fact it is the day of the year the veil between life and death is at its thinnest, and their ability to keep the dead contained in the afterlife is at its weakest ebb.
PCs include a fey-based ranger (in town to make sure treat-or-tricking goes ok), an archfey warlock (probably cryptically warned something is up by their patron), and a bard and a fighty guy who are sailors. Some fey involvement here, on one side or the other (or both), would be probably a decent idea.
The system is D&D 5e, but I've put this in the general forum because the specific system is not very important and I can easily adapt any sorts of ideas to the system, plus 5e comes baggaged with a hefty implication of a specific setting.
I have a few not-even-half-formed notions swimming around in my brain, but I'd like the Playground's help brainstorming ideas.
The setup, as presented to the players:
Through some celestial mishap or accounting error, for some reason, Hoobynoob falls on Freday the 13th of Octember this year. Normally, of course, Hoobynoob falls on the 30th, the last day of Octember. The 13th of Octember doesn't normally even fall on a Freday -- it is typically a Munday.
This calendrical irregularity is known for certain: all the experts agree on this unusual occurrence -- the astrologers; the astronomers; the druids and rangers of Sequoia (who counts the months and weeks, the planets and stars, under her purview); the calendricians and calendrometers; we even asked the janitor, as they know of these things.
Amongst the populace, once the confusion is overcome -- or at least set aside -- the yearly observance of Hoobynoob proceeds as usual, albeit on the 13th. In Endeesy, capital of Gus: gourds are carved; nuts are harvested; costumes are prepared; candies and sweets are purchased or crafted in bulk in preparation for the traditional mass extortion, on threat of prankery, by children.
When the 13th of Octember arrives -- on a Freday, just as (unusually) ordained -- the morning sneaks into Endeesy foggily. The day slugs by: children growing increasingly excited, adults growing increasingly wary of danger, the weather growing increasingly foggy and moist-smelling.
When treat-or-tricking time arrives, it is nigh impossible to find one's way in the fog. But, through some divine Dalyan providence, unusually alert priests of Dalya, and widespread use of the Buddy System, no children are separated from their guardians for long.
The children return to their homes, feast on junk food, and repair engorgedly to their beds. After the foggy day and foggier evening, it looks like it has been another successful Hoobynoob, profitable for the children and fun for all ages! Parents go to bed. Bar crawlers begin the process of acquiring their holiday drunkenness.
Midnight approaches.
The clock tower in the Cathedral of Quasxthe in the Crown District of Endeesy ticks over from 11:59, and the mighty bell begins its twelvefold tolling: BO-o-...
The bell, having tolled half of once, trails off, as if it has forgotten how to bell.
Cue "we're stuck at midnight; Hoobynoob night doesn't end until the Problem is solved".
Hoobynoob is roughly the equivalent of Halloween; recently (i.e. within the last 50 years) claimed by an agriculture goddess as a sort of harvest festival; before that, it was sacred to the goddess of destruction/fire/demons; before that, it was sacred to a now-mostly-forgotten goddess of anything that's disgusting (the number 13 is sacred to her, so this session could plausibly have something to do with her trying to reclaim what's rightfully hers -- but it certainly doesn't have to, that could be a coincidence).
Lay people often think Hoobynoob is sacred to the god of death, but in fact it is the day of the year the veil between life and death is at its thinnest, and their ability to keep the dead contained in the afterlife is at its weakest ebb.
PCs include a fey-based ranger (in town to make sure treat-or-tricking goes ok), an archfey warlock (probably cryptically warned something is up by their patron), and a bard and a fighty guy who are sailors. Some fey involvement here, on one side or the other (or both), would be probably a decent idea.
The system is D&D 5e, but I've put this in the general forum because the specific system is not very important and I can easily adapt any sorts of ideas to the system, plus 5e comes baggaged with a hefty implication of a specific setting.