It’s October, and you know what that means, time for the spookiest of adventures. One-shots, campaign interludes, and more – all spookable.
Fall has fallen. October is upon us. And while yes, generally, the sentiment for the season we’re in is that the (pumpkin) spice must flow – and indeed it must, if the (pumpkin) Spacing Guild has their way – the presence of orange gourds across the continent means it is once again time for things to get dark, dreary, and if we’re lucky, spooky.
Because there’s something about the days getting shorter, the nights getting longer, and the air getting, well, not colder, but less oppressively hot let’s say in this era of man-made climate change, that makes you see ghosts, skeletons, and more in every shadow. The titilation of terror is a well-documented phenomenon. Fear and arousal are very closely linked.
People love true crime and gruesome horror movies because they make you feel something, anything – alive (unlike the people on the screen, who are often in various stages of dead or soon-to-be-dead). And with spookables in the air, the thinking goes, so too must D&D adventures be spooky. You’re in luck, because that work is already done!
Curse of Strahd
People will riot (send me a mildly-worded email expressing disappointment) if this is not on the list. And with good cause. The Curse of Strahd is probably the iconic, defining adventure of 5E. It’s the most popular one, both in online communities as well as by sales, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s got a lot of character. There’s meat to chew on, bones to roleplay with, and above it all a showdown with the forces of darkness in a gothic village located somewhere in a magical realm often called the Domains of Dread.
Yeah it doesn’t get much spookier than that. And arguably, you could make your whole campaign a little bit spookier even if you weren’t doing Strahd and your D&D game would stand out. Ravenloft is one of the more popular campaign settings, but not because of any specific lore – it’s all about vibes.
You could take a lot of the themes of Strahd and create your own gothic horror village that your campaign is set in. Then just turn your players loose.
Rise of the Pumpkin King
Rise of the Pumpkin King has all of that dark, Tim Burton-y kind of halloween fun that you could hope for in a D&D adventure. It’s a classic premise, in a terror-stricken town, the crops come to life to harvest the farmers instead.
What evil lurks in the hearts of these pumpkins? Is it a curse, some foul magic? Or, as the title suggests, the rise of a whole new terror. It’s up to you to discover – and the future of the town of Goldgrain could rest entirely upon your shoulders.
It’s the perfect blend of like halloween party fun. The horror isn’t too graphic, which is a plus, not everything needs to be a deep dive into the nightmarish body horror of like a Junji Ito manga. Sometimes you just want to vibe. You want Ernest Scared Stupid, not Saw II.
The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
This is the first adventure in The Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and it is an absolute doozy of a halloween-esque adventure. Because immediately you are invited to explore a sinister manor, which is the source of all manner of mysterious, haunting sightings in and around the town. It’s a creepy mansion that houses a surprising secret – it’s not actually haunted.
That’s right! This adventure is basically a Scooby-Doo episode. But what better adventure for the spooky season? Once players realize that the ghosts aren’t as ghostly, the fun can really begin.
The Final Curtain
This adventure is out of the Ravenloft: Mist Hunters series of adventures for the Adventurer’s League. And it is a spooky murder mystery, set in the town of Emherst in Kartakass, one of the many Demiplanes of Dread.
In The Final Curtain, the party is investigating a missing person. When the players arrive in Emherst after their latest clue, the bodies start to hit the floor. As in murders start happening, and is up to them to solve what’s going on in an eerie, atmospheric adventure with a surprising twist at the end.
Chains of Asmodeus
What’s scarier than the Nine Hells, and the lord and master thereof? Chains of Asmodeus is inspired by Dante’s Inferno, and has all sorts of hellish horrors and devious devils lurking within its pages.
And it doesn’t shy away from the scarier elements of devils as well. You can sell your soul, try and win it back, get embroiled in schemes from Asmodeus himself, and encounter all sorts of gruesome things in the hells.
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