This is Halloween!


Not counting Groundhog's Day, Halloween is my favorite holiday. I have made quite a few Halloween-themed posts over the years and thought I would compile them in one place for DMs who might want to mine ideas for a Halloween-inspired session.


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A Midsummer Night's Teddy Bear Picnic Where the Wild Things Are

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For your consideration... The Teddy Bear Picnic is the "domesticated" version of the Wild Rumpus. Once a year, on Midsummer's night, teddy bears and other stuffed toys come to life. Fur and claws, stitched smiles and button eyes, all come together in a fireside dance beneath the trees. An enormous moon shines down from above, bathing the world in silvery light. Drums and horns echo through the night - the rhythm becoming more frenzied, more feral with each passing hour. The Teddy Bears become larger and wilder, growing until they tower over their young wards, having become the Wild Things. Children who stumble upon the celebration are rarely harmed but are never the same afterward. They return to their homes, older, wiser, perhaps a bit more wild. They share stories that nobody believes. Those stories have some of the more fantastical elements edited out and are set to music, a nursery rhyme that becomes a song. The child, or children, are drawn into the Feywild. They be...
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The Battle for Tarithnesti (Part 2)

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07 Deepkolt 349 AC EN ROUTE TO TARITHNESTI Kysek triggers his wand of lightning. The bolt leaps from the enchanted baton and streaks through the air toward the rider atop the second dragon. The blast strikes an invisible field surrounding the rider and dissipates harmlessly. Dusk beats her wings rapidly, picking up speed as she heads straight toward the other dragon's rider. As she draws closer, the aura of terror that surrounds the wyrm's washes over her. Kysek the sense of impending doom that comes with facing such powerful creatures. The elf calls up the discipline developed over more than a century to steel his nerves. His griffon has no such tools to work with. Her eyes go wide with terror. She panics, breaking and diving toward the cover of the trees. The dragons bank, turning after their much smaller target. The first dragon exhales a poisonous cloud of gas. Dusk plunges straight into the caustic fumes. Kysek manages to cover his face and hands with his cloak, avoidi...
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Monster Truckers Revisited - Waffle House

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Earth-3845 Several months ago, I picked up a copy of the Monster Truckers RPG. I have not really had much opportunity to do anything with it aside from making some characters . I spitballed a couple first-adventure ideas but nothing really felt right. Then last night, as I was putting the kids to bed, "Turn the Page" began playing in my head. Within minutes, I had plotted the story beats for three adventures and had put together some lore for the setting.  Despite many of their locations being destroyed during the war, Waffle Houses remain open across what is left of the US south. Most operate under FEMA Yellow conditions - generator power, propane-fed grills, some menu items are unavailable but the coffee is always hot and fresh (even if nobody knows where they source their beans from). The  jukeboxes still play music. Waffle House serves as Accorded Neutral Ground , a policy which is rigorously enforced, serving all comers, regardless of sobriety, criminal or metaphysical...
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The Battle for Tarithnesti

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07 Deepkolt 349 AC EN ROUTE TO TARITHNESTI “Damnit! We’ve been tricked! A damn illusion!” Kysek shouts. “They know we’re coming! This was meant as a distraction and to give away our position! No matter! We’ve got this!” the elf adds. He brings Dusk back to the tree tops and turns an 45-degree angled path to the right of what his original trajectory was. He sticks to the trees and shadows of the forest intent on changing his arrival approach after being  duped into giving away his position. The two now fly for the city. No stopping; only watching for something that can actually attack. The forest rushes past in a blur of frost-covered trees. Needles and leaves are dragged along in Dusk's wake as the mighty griffon races along. Branches whip by, dangerously close as she weaves between bough and limb at a reckless pace. Kysek’s eyes dart to and fro, searching for enemies ahead. Bubo clings to his shoulder, the owl watches the sky and their back trail. For several tense minutes, the...
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Road Trip to the Dragon Isles - Deep Shale Hold (Part 1)

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  03 Newkolt 349 AC Granite leads the group through the second half of the Cactus Forest. At times, progress is slow with the group having to dismount and lead Nightrend and the camels through spots where the path narrows dramatically. But the land changes once the group emerges from the narrow trails that wind through the towering succulents. Ahead, the land becomes less sand dunes and brush to exposed stone and jagged outcroppings as the group leaves Khur behind. Granite's focus seems to change. His eyes linger on formations of stone, his fingers trace exposed rock as if he is reading by touch. The open desert gives way to fallen rock, wide cracks, sinkholes leading down into the dark earth. The road snakes back and forth around all of these, in places, stone bridges - obviously built by dwarves and worn down over time - span the larger gaps. Phineas breaks the silence first, peering over the edge of one of the nearer drops. “So this is the Delving,” he says quietly. “Feels li...
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Smoke Powder Golem

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Smoke Powder Golem                                     CR13 (Original drawing of Smoke Powder Golem)   A Smoke Powder Golem is a blending of technology and the divine magic of Gond created to serve as temple guardians.   On average, the golem stands 12’ tall and weighs 8,000 pounds.   The smoke powder golem resembles the more common Iron Golem except its right arm has been replaced with the thick barrel of a bombard.   A large “backpack” has been built onto the golem and contains the ammunition for the golem’s cannon (internal magazine of six shells).   Firing the cannon causes the next shell to automatically, move into the firing chamber.   The golem smells of oil and sulfur.   N Large Construct Init: -1; Senses: Listen +0, Spot +0 Languages: Understands the langua...
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