I need a cheesy Halloween monster plot

[Eldan]

So, it just so happens that today, I found out that the next possible open timeslot my group found for a game is Halloween. And we just finished a longer, more involved and serious story that got a bit heavier than expected, so I want a bit of a palate cleanser. But because I didn't know or consider beforehand that it would be Halloween, I have nothing planned.


Enter Halloween. I want to do something slightly goofy. (Knowing my group, it will turn into full on comedy, but you don't plan for comedy, that doesn't work out.)

So. Game conceit is urban fantasy in the modern-ish era (exact year left vague on purpose). Group are world-travelling investigators with magical powers, so far, most adventures started with them being sent somewhere by their superiors to help some other arcane organisation investigate a mystery for political favours.

Basically, I need ideas for a Halloween plot that'll fill an evening but not go too long. Probably something involving classic monsters, that isn't quite as clichéd as a haunted house. And I need a hook to get a group of investigators who aren't that big into monster hunting involved. Any ideas or help brainstorming would be welcome.

[Mordar]

Hocus Pocus. Simple as it gets, will fit most any genre, has opportunity for plenty of subversions or twists.

- M

[Anonymouswizard]

Giant lizards. If in doubt go for giant lizards, they're a classic.

Bonus points if, instead of a miniature, you use a tablet looping several stock footage clips of a normal lizard.

For a plot? There's a town near a dessert where people are mysteriously vanishing, but the only part of their cars that disappears with then I'd the roof. The reason? Giant dessert lizards. Cone on, you know you want to, you even know all the stock characters.

[Easy e]

Giant lizards. If in doubt go for giant lizards, they're a classic.

Bonus points if, instead of a miniature, you use a tablet looping several stock footage clips of a normal lizard.

For a plot? There's a town near a dessert where people are mysteriously vanishing, but the only part of their cars that disappears with then I'd the roof. The reason? Giant dessert lizards. Cone on, you know you want to, you even know all the stock characters.

The Giant Gila Monster..... watch and learn how it is done.....

[TheStranger]

Murder mystery at a Halloween party. Drop whatever hook you have for the next “serious” adventure, and have the players meet their contact at a costume party. Somebody (maybe the contact) is killed, and the players investigate. Along the way, it becomes obvious that not everybody is wearing a costume….

…Or are they? Optionally, you can pull a Scooby Doo ending after stringing them along for a few hours. It turns out the vampire is just trying to scare people away so he can buy the land cheap, and he would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for those meddling kids. If you don’t do this, lampshade it by having the Mystery Machine gang show up and be convinced this is the case, but then they become the next victims.

Extra bonus shell game ending: the villain is just a guy in a mask, but the party guests are all actual monsters having a good time on Halloween. Drop a bunch of clues for vampires and werewolves and whatnot as the players look for the killer, then have those all be red herrings. Insert “humans are the real monsters” jokes ad nauseum.

Either way, by solving the murder mystery, the PCs also get whatever information they were supposed to get from their contact to move the regularly scheduled plot forward.

[farothel]

My life with master. It's a very simple game, normally only usable for one-offs. Players are the minions of an evil master (created by players and GM together before the session) and they have to do evil in the 'village' while they only want to be loved by the villagers.

There are enough masters and minions possible with an halloween theme.

[jjordan]

Car breaks down on a farm road. Players are saved by a local who takes them to his house and tells them about the scarecrow that haunts moonless nights. Players go find scarecrow and destroy it or it comes to them if they don't go looking. Simple.

[Eldan]

I do like the giant lizards and the scarecrow a lot, but I think I will actually go with the Halloween costume party, because that ties surprisingly well into the next story I had planned.

[Eldan]

Oh, and speaking of people not wearing masks, I will absolutely have a totally normal guy there disguised as the King in Yellow and watch my players panic.

[Anonymouswizard]

The Giant Gila Monster..... watch and learn how it is done.....

To be fair, for a cheesy adventure the premise works beautifully. And I need to finish watching that classic science fiction movies DVD.


But yeah, the Halloween party is probably a slightly better idea, if only because it can be spun in more ways. Personally I'd go with the Scooby Doo Hoax version of they've encountered monsters in pretty much every adventure, as a change of pace and reminder that monsters aren't behind literally everything.

[TheStranger]

Oh, and speaking of people not wearing masks, I will absolutely have a totally normal guy there disguised as the King in Yellow and watch my players panic.

Obviously. The real question is, will you have the King in Yellow there disguised as a totally normal guy?

PC: “Why aren’t you wearing a costume?”
Totally normal guy: “I am.”

Provide no further information no matter what your players do.

[Pex]

I present to you one of my favorite one shot adventures I run: Brady Bunch of the Corn

Presuming a 5E game

The party enters a large cornfield. They will find a circular clearing where a scarecrow is on a pole. Presuming the party will check it out it is the Scarecrow monster who attempts to use Terrifying Glare on the first PC to examine it. Roll initiative. Also entering the clearing to attack the party is a Dire Lion (using the Dire Tiger statistics) and either an Animated Armor or a Helmed Horror depending on party level.

When that's done the party continues on and eventually reach an empty town. The windows are all dirty. Inside the buildings are dead bodies posed as if doing whatever it is they're supposed to do in whatever building. Make it up as you go long or what the players want to investigate. A common example is to go to the tavern. There's the dead barkeep at the bar. Dead customers sit in chairs. All of the drinks and food are poisoned. It's the same in every building. Everyone is dead.

Soon the party hears singing. Going outside to investigate coming into town are six children who are doing the singing, three boys and three girls. They are all bards. Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby, Cindy Roll initiative. On the roof of a building also attacking the party is a cleric with Nature Domain named Oliver who is their leader. Adjust level of the kids suitable to the level of the party. When Oliver is killed any surviving Brady Bards stop being hostile and return to being normal children.

[Eldan]

Alright, next question, if anyone is up to more brainstorming: I need a few more party guests and activities. What kinds of clued-in mortals or vaguely humanoid looking monsters could there be at an expensive Halloween party in New York, what would they be disguised at, and other than standing around with drinks and chatting, what would they be up to?

[Lilapop]

Mindflayer disguised as PotC Davy Jones. Has a peg leg on the costume, but is always floating and doesn't realize it is supposed to make a characteristic noise.

Knight who is always wearing full armor including helm, because he has sworn an oath not to reveal his face. Actually just an animated armor (use whatever mindful, or remote controlled mindless, creature is appropriate for the level/setting/system).

Wolverine is just squat and hairy, not a werewolf.

The actual werewolf has excessive hair on the upper half of his face (eyebrows?), but you can't see because he is wearing an opera mask.

I'm not a vampire, I just sleep badly enough to look like Nosferatu.

[Eldan]

Heh.

Actually I kind of like the idea of a super hairy and muscular werewolf badly disguised as, like, a pixie.

[TheStranger]

Whether all the humans are clued in or not is probably what decides how blatant the monsters are about this. Also, how obvious do you want it to be to the players? Is it going to be obvious as soon as they walk in that this is a supernatural party, or is it something they’ll need to uncover in the course of solving the mystery?

I assume many of the monsters would just go as themselves. These are your vampires, werewolves, faeries, hags, constructs, and any other vaguely humanoid monsters enjoying the one day they can walk around openly. If you look very closely, you might notice that those fangs aren’t plastic, but most people won’t look twice.

Then you’ll have monsters disguised as other monsters or otherwise lampshading the whole thing (with greater or lesser degrees of subtlety, depending on how clued in the mortals are). The werewolf in a bad pixie costume, real vampires with obviously plastic fangs and fake blood, dragon in human form in a dragon costume, succubus dressed as a sexy nurse, vampire dressed as Van Helsing, whatever. Probably a subset of these will actually be trying to pass themselves off as something different, like a vampire in a very convincing werewolf costume. Anyway, this is where you can have fun with it.

Then you have mortals, who will presumably be wearing all the costumes that mortals normally wear on Halloween. Mortals in the know might think twice about any costume that might offend a real monster, though. Sure, the vampires might graciously assure you that it’s all in good fun, but that doesn’t mean plastic fangs aren’t the equivalent of blackface. Clueless mortals might just be confused why that guy in the vampire costume was so rude (and may disappear on the way home).

Naturally, the PCs will need costumes too. But since they haven’t had time to prepare, their employer has graciously provided some.

Edit: And I stand by my earlier suggestion that there should be one totally normal guy wearing jeans and a Led Zeppelin shirt (“bikini inspector” is also acceptable), talking to all these monsters like he’s either oblivious or belongs there. Any attempts by the players to figure out who or what he is should be met with dice rolls behind the GM screen and a carefully-worded response along the lines of “you are unable to detect any way in which he is not an ordinary human.”

[tomandtish]

Perhaps The Great Pumpkin isn't as benevolent as Linus believes.

[Cygnia]

Next year, do "Night of the Lepus"!

[Eldan]

Edit: And I stand by my earlier suggestion that there should be one totally normal guy wearing jeans and a Led Zeppelin shirt (“bikini inspector” is also acceptable), talking to all these monsters like he’s either oblivious or belongs there. Any attempts by the players to figure out who or what he is should be met with dice rolls behind the GM screen and a carefully-worded response along the lines of “you are unable to detect any way in which he is not an ordinary human.”

His name is Jeffrey, he's in a band that covers 80s rock songs and he's pretty sure he got off the elevator on the wrong floor, but he's also pretty sure this is better than his cousin's movie evening.

[DavidSh]

Somebody done up like Wolfman Jack, the 20th century DJ, as if he were still alive. (It's mostly a matter of hairstyle and voice.)

[SouthpawSoldier]

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...ween-(a-quest)

[SpoonR]

Plot: Someone is shooting a Halloween movie. Real monsters get involved. Or a music video (I think “Beat It” had real gang members?)

Monsters: go digging through the weirdest looking X-men.

Robots. There has to be at least one robot costume, and one robot passing as human.

A ninja in a zombie pirate costume, who is the murderer.

And Zoidberg.