150 lines
8.0 KiB
TeX
150 lines
8.0 KiB
TeX
% Halloween at the Barrowmaze
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% Copyright (c) 2022-2023 Peter H. Froehlich <peter.hans.froehlich@gmail.com>.
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% License terms: CC BY-SA 4.0
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\section{Halloween at\\ the Barrowmaze}
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\label{halloween}
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I wanted to spice up our Barrowmaze game a little, so I decided that all games
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in October 2022 would be ``Red October'' games and that October 31, 2022 would
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be a ``Halloween Special.'' It was important to set up ``Red October'' first to
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prepare players for the \emph{really} weird stuff that was to come, so here's a
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summary of both. Feel free to rip this off if you also have players who are
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generally amenable to occasional silliness.
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\textbf{Red October}
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Every year in October, the sky over the Barrowmoor turns red and stranger than
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usual things go on below. I used the moderately terrifying ``Pit of Chaos''
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table from the actual module, but you can substitute any super-dangerous ``what
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terrible monster gates in from the depths of hell'' table you have handy.
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Before each session I rolled a d6 to determine how many things gate in: 1--3 only
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one, 4--5 two, 6 three. Then I placed whatever it was in a random location; I
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simply rolled d100 for a room but I only allowed rooms that had previously been
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explored; if the room had not been explored, I divided the room number by 2; and
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if that room didn't make sense, I picked the next lower room number that did.
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For the October 3, 2022 session the d6 came up 1, so only a single ``gate'' roll
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was required; 4 ghouls gated in; I rolled room 80 but that wasn't explored; room
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40 didn't make sense (behind a secret door ghouls wouldn't know how to operate);
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so room 39 it was.
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%
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Interestingly room 39 already had a large group of tomb robbers from a previous
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restock roll, so I conducted that fight to see who'd win; the tomb robbers barely
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survived. In game I had the players stumble into the tail-end of the fight which
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meant the tomb robbers were ``on edge'' and almost attacked the player
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characters, accusing them of ``sending'' those ghouls their way.
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Other ``Red October'' sessions added even more ghouls, a banshee, and a ghast
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to various rooms; those ghouls are actually still haunting a section of the
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Barrowmaze to this day, but the ghast and the banshee have since been taken out.
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Luckily I never rolled 1--4 bone devils\dots{}
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\textbf{Halloween Special}
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For the October 31, 2022 session, not only was the sky red, but it was also
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dark around the Barrowmoor, regardless of the actual time of day. The path to
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the central mound had ``pumpkin lamps'' at regular intervals; a little bit off
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the path, skeletons, zombies, and large spiders (illusions, but whatever) could
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be seen ``threathening'' the path; weird organ music and the occassional scream
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or evil laughter were heard as well.
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There was a table out front next to the entrance to the central mound; one banner
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read ``One Night Only!'' the other said ``Final Halloween Raffle!'' There was a
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vampire sitting here, one ``Strump von Wasilatsch,'' with all the usual vampire
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equipment (pale, well dressed, red-lined cape, the works). He also had four dire
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wolves resting behind him, one of which was in fact another vampire. Strump was
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wearing a ``VBS'' (``Vampyre Benevolent Society'') pin and had a bottle of red
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wine that he kept using to top off his glass; he got up as player characters
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approached to give his spiel:
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\begin{itemize}
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\item ``Ah, welcome, welcome adventurers! I am Count von Wasilatsch and I am
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here from the VBS for our special \emph{One Night Only Final Halloween Raffle}.
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Your donations will go to worthy causes completely and utterly of our choosing,
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but the raffle tickets we have promise \emph{amazing} things, just \emph{perfect}
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for the likes of you who are about to head underground to \dots{} \emph{vanquish}
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\dots{} evil?''
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\item ``Ah, the tickets, yes! Green tickets are 5gp, yellow tickets are 20gp,
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and red tickets, our biggest item tickets, those are 100gp. Buy for yourself,
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buy for your friends, you will \emph{not} regret it! If you truly are
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\emph{adventurers} that is?''
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\item He then mumbles ``Certain undisclosed rules and restrictions apply,
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parents are responsible for their children, not valid after October 31, only
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one purchase per entity, all sales are final, void where prohibited by law or
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decree.'' and smiles, fangs and all.
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\end{itemize}
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If player characters come back for more tickets later, he says ``only one
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purchase per entity'' and smiles; if they persist one dire wolf growls and he
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shushes it, still smiling; if they persist he says ``only one purchase, really,
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get out of here before it gets mad!'' and keeps smiling; after that the dire
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wolf would strike once but he would rein it in after that ``get out of here!''
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no longer smiling; more of that and they all attack, slaughtering the player
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characters.
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Going down the stairs in the central mound, it is clear that there are more
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pumpkin-based light sources ahead; indeed the whole 60'\(\times\)60' chamber
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appears to have been cleared and tables have been set up against the north,
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south, and east wall. Behind each table is another vampire, although these are
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not as talkative; the table to the north has a green banner, the one to the
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south has a yellow banner, and the one to the east has a red banner; three more
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dire wolves skulk around here and there; behind each table is a chest with a
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big lock, that's where the stuff is stored. For each ticket a player has, let
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them roll once on the table below.
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What's with the ``Marshmellow d66?'' In our game, a player can \emph{once per
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session} make a d20 roll with a d30 instead; this d66 allows the player to use
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a d66 instead of a d20 once, after their main character consumes it. Pretty tasty!
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Somewhere on each item there's a \emph{tiny} note saying ``Provided `as is'
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without any express or implied warranties. Best by October 31st.'' Yes, of
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course all items are good only for the one session, they crumble to dust after
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midnight. Also each item has a 1\% chance of malfunctioning per use; but that
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malfunction will \emph{not} be extra-detrimental to the user. (For stuff with
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a duration, roll when it matters, not when it's first activated. So invisibility
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will work until it doesn't.)
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\end{multicols}
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\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{cZZZ}
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\textbf{Roll} & \textbf{Green/Cheap} & \textbf{Yellow/Standard} & \textbf{Red/Fancy}\\
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1 & Potion Healing & Potion Control Undead & Ring Regeneration\\
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2 & Potion Invulnerability & Potion Heroism & Wand Polymorph \(\times\)6\\
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3 & Potion Gaseous Form & Potion Speed & Wand Cold \(\times\)6\\
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4 & Potion Invisibility & Dagger+1 & Sword+1, Flaming\\
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5 & Bullet+1 \(\times\)8 & Sling+1 & Spear+3\\
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6 & Arrow+1 \(\times\)6 & Armor/Cloak+1 & Ring Telekinesis\\
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7 & Scroll Magic Missile \(\times\)3 & Wand Fear \(\times\)6 & Staff Healing\\
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8 & Marshmellow d66 & Scroll Protection Undead & Gauntlets Ogre Power\\
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\end{tabularx}
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\begin{multicols}{2}
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\textbf{So\dots{} What Happened?}
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Of course the players bought only a few tickets, being suspicious of the entire
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setup. Predictably, once they were downstairs and had gotten a bunch of items,
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they wanted to go back for more tickets. But they got the hint and didn't push
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their luck.
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%
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Down in the Barrowmaze I had added some sound and light effects: Instead of the
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usual silence, there was a constant ``screams and evil laughter'' background,
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complete with more ``haunted house'' illusions. But there were also lighted
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neon signs pointing the way towards previously undiscovered magic items and
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treasures.
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%
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The players started carefully, but after a few successful ``fights'' using
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their \emph{Wand of Cold} and other items they became more confident. Until
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they followed a neon sign to the old temple where a Banshee held court. They
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debated what to do for at least 40 minutes, but in the end they ``chickened''
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and left. Despite the fact that they could clearly see a \emph{huge} pile of
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gold.
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So we all learned that no amount of magic gear will make you into an
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\emph{adventurer} when that's just not in your bones to begin with!
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\by{phf}
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\endinput
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