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Adventure Seeds: Weird, Wild West

The wild west shares a small slice of the tabletop RPG pie, but that slice is full of flavor. The more popular western RPGs include a heavy dose of horror and today I offer five adventure seeds that can be incorporated in to Deadlands or Down Darker Trails. Also featured in this post is a new ambient playlist for your adventures.

Fistful of Tentacles

The PCs come across what appears to be an all but abandoned, but well-maintained, town. There are still a few inhabitants in the town: a bartender, hotel clerk, general store proprietor, blacksmith, deputy, and a marshal. With the exception of the marshal the townsfolk are friendly and smiling; in an almost unnerving or unnatural way. The marshal, on the other hand, is gruff and grumpy. If the PCs decide to stay in the town, they will be attacked at night by five large phantom tentacles, each the size of a person. The tentacles will focus and gather around a party member (ideally, an NPC with the group) and vanish, along with their victim. This will occur nightly; the tentacles can be wounded but not destroyed and the first five listed townspeople will act as if they are oblivious to the events. The marshal will be more evasive; and claim the PCs were probably having nightmares… but he’ll help look for the missing member.

There is a tentacle monster in the well and the denizens (except the marshal) are “shadow figures,” each representing one of the tentacles. It slowly feeds on the energy of its victims, keeping itself alive. The marshal is aware and made a deal with the creature. Were it not for a pact made, he would be dead from a blood disease. Guilt is beginning to eat at the marshal, who saw the entire town die under his watch and now strangers, too. The monster in the well can be fought and the PCs may be able to convince the marshal to help or decide what to do with the disgraced lawman.

[This adventure seed was inspired by the TV show Reaper; season 2 episode 24 “Underbelly.”]

Children of Pitch

A coal mining town owned by a railroad company has posted a reward for solving and stopping an issue. In the dead of night people are disappearing. At first it was thought that the people simply left, but all of their belongings remained. And now a baby, daughter to one of the miners, has vanished. The only clue are small, humanoid footprints in soot, less than a foot in length.

The miners dug too deep and released pitch-black, child-sized creatures into the world that only strike in the black of night. For picture reference, I would suggest using an image from Galaxy Quest showing the “cute, but deadly” aliens. The creatures avoid light and can be disoriented by it, but must be fought as the PCs work with the miners to find which branch of the mine should be collapsed. The railroad company will not reward anyone if the entire mine has to be shut down.

Man’s Best Fiend

This seed is best used in a campaign or series of adventures and can be started with any of the other seeds on this page (or elsewhere). At the start of an adventure have a dog approach the party. If any of the PCs are friendly, it will reciprocate and follow them. The dog appears to understand standard verbal commands and tricks, and is very friendly–but growls at danger. (This is a good way to help PCs realize something might be “wrong” or nefarious with an outwardly friendly NPC.) The dog should assist the party in resolving an adventure or two, gaining the trust of characters and players alike.

During their travels between adventures the dog will start barking at something unseen in the distance, run towards it then bark at the PCs, encouraging them to follow. Eventually, the group will reach a cave where a pack of ravenous, possessed dogs will attempt to devour the party.

Organ Trail

The PCs are hired to help a wagon train reach a new settlement. The roads are treacherous, and the group must ford a river, but even worse appears to be the string of bad luck affecting the people themselves. Through the trip, many of the settlers become sick and each display different symptoms including, but not limited to: nausea, coughing up blood, vertigo, boils, and rashes. The doctor traveling with the wagon train appears unable to cure or find a source for the ailments. As the train proceeds, some of the travelers die. The doctor will insist that instead of a burial he takes any corpses to his wagon to perform an autopsy. As the settlers die phantoms haunt the caravan, ghosts of the dead. Some settlers may blame the PCs for not properly protecting them or for somehow getting the travelers sick, but most will request the PCs help investigate and determine what is causing all the death.

Investigating the land and nearby Native American village will not lead to any clues. The PCs will need to study the settlers themselves. If the doctor’s wagon is investigated, the culprit will be revealed. The doctor has been targeting different travelers with diseases in order to study the effects and potentially create new vaccines. If a bit of action is desired in the finale, the corpses of the deceased have been stitched together into a single, monstrous entity that rises on the doctor’s command and not only fights with inhuman strength but has a chance of infecting anyone it hits.

A Bloody Rush of Wind

A forest along a trade route in the northeast part of the US has become infested with Kanontsistonties: flying, vampiric heads that cannot be killed using conventional means. Not only must the PCs research and work with displaced natives to determine how to stop the creatures, they must trick or force each head to eat a hot coal. For a bit more info, see AXS Monster of the Week: Kanontsistonties. This small seed is intended as an action-packed interlude between adventures or if only an hour or two of game time is available.