The Best D&D Modules for Halloween

It's that time of the year, my favorite holiday; the night of spooks, goblins and ghastly things. Each year my group does a one-shot Halloween themed adventure and I figured I would give my opinion on what I consider the best Halloween adventures. Like everything on this blog, this is my opinion and I try to only evaluate modules I own and have run previously, so take it for what it is, but enjoy all of the amazing Stephen Fabian art incoming.

Ravenloft (I6): the original module from the Hickman / Weis team where we are first introduced to villain Strahd, a vampire with a tragic story. If running this one as a one-shot, skip all of the background and just run Castle Ravenloft itself. One of the greatest modules created is perfect for a Halloween scenario.

 

The Haunting of Harrowstone: Part of 1 of the Carrion Crown adventure path for the Pathfinder Roleplaying game. This adventure sees the characters come to a small village that is quickly becoming plagued by the spirits of an abandoned prison on the outskirts of town. Well those ghosts aren't going to go away on their own, the characters will need to venture into the haunted ruins and save the town.

Death Frost Doom: From Lamentations of the Flame Princess, you can likely expect things to go wrong for the players, and you would be correct in that assumption. An exploration of an out of the way cabin in a frigid country-side turns into the revelation of an apocalyptic cult and it's undead leaders being unleashed. Good thing we're just running a one-shot here, this campaign is ending sooner than expected! Really great and atmospheric module, highly recommend.

Night of the Walking Dead: Back to the domains of Ravenloft for this one. Themes are centered around a Bayou like village about to experience a night of terror. This adventure is clearly an homage to the pulp culture movie, Night of the Walking Dead with a Dungeons and Dragons spin. Props for not having the domain lord involved in this adventure, as the night goes on the threat increases unless the characters address the root of the issue driving the dead to march on the small village. This is a very underrated module and probably one of the best for the 2nd edition Ravenloft line.

Castle Xyntillan: This one may be a bit too whimsical and gonzo at times for some, but there is no better module to represent a romp through a haunted castle than this one. This is everything Tegel Manor should have been. A cursed family with dark secrets still plaguing the castle where riches are abundant for the brave and foolhardy to explore. This is one of the best modules ever produced for the OSR. The faction dynamics of dealing with the various and numerous family members presents a complicated mess for the players to weed through, and I mean that as a sincere compliment. This adventure is like being on the Haunted Mansion ride at Disney expect you may not survive.

Does the hobby need gatekeeping? And, is it too late?

This has been a hot-button topic of late in the D&D community of late, where the new-guard (5E players and WoTC in particular) have turned aggressive to the old-school and long time player. It is no secret that WoTC injects their beliefs and political ideology into all of their products, often at the expense of making good content. Now it has turned to more aggressive attacks, in reference the NPC character Thaco (a clear stab at the OSR) that guard a tent in their recent module the Wild Beyond Witchlight. I recently reviewed this module and was generally a pretty big fan of them taking a different approach, but that one little jab sort of sat sour with me.

This has been followed-on by several bloggers and YouTubers coming out with the notion that you are either with us or against us in regards to playing 5E, and that playing any other system is actively harming the hobby. I chuckle at the absurdity of this, but really I'm not shocked given the insanity of the left's political stances at times, this should be no surprise either. For the past few years you've seen panels at conventions and hires at some of the bigger publishers targeting inclusivity as opposed to actual interest in the hobby and game, now the lid is off and maybe the future of the hobby is in question all together. Honestly, I don't think these people give two squats about D&D, they are just in it to push an agenda and make others bow to their beliefs. They are a disease, a cancer to society.

So...what to do? For one, I'm taking a personal stance to no longer buy any WoTC published material from here on out. I've run 5E games for nearly seven years, but I'm also dropping it from the rotation. Currently running my group in games using Pathfinder (1E) and Old-school Essentials in another game. Lastly, no more reviews or overviews of their product, they've made it clear they don't want people like me (and someone with much disposable income) to play their games, so returning the favor and not playing them.

It really is quite sad with all of the division and in-fighting in our country in numerous issues, that now our hobbies have been infiltrated by these activists, who in all likelihood could care less for the hobby, they are just hear to push an agenda. All myself, and many others wanted was to be left alone and enjoy the escape that D&D can bring, come together despite our various stances in real life and enjoy our time together, but that is not good enough for the purple hairs in Seattle. The bad news for them, is that many others will take a stand against this. The hobby won't die, even though, that may be their goal, but it will certainly shift. I've collected years of books and products from the various editions and off-spin games to last me several life times at this point, but the OSR will certainly be my new home for the games I run and enjoy going forward.