Adventure Ideas: Page 5

Christmas time is here, and so is Krampus!

While Saint Nicholas comes every year to bring gifts to good boys and girls, ancient folklore in Europe's Alpine region also tells of Krampus, a frightening beast-like creature who emerges during the Yule season, looking for naughty children to punish in a variety of ways -- or possibly to drag back to his lair in a sack. In keeping with pre-Germanic Pagan traditions, men dressed as these demons have been frightening children on Krampusnacht for centuries, chasing them and hitting them with sticks on an (often alcohol-fueled) run through the dark streets.

But in the United States, Krampus is all but unknown (beyond pop culture). But now it seems hes out to make a name for himself in the states (in your PC's town no less) as his description has been reported to the police several times nightly over the last week! Hes been reported to be running up and down the streets and side walks while scaring all the children, threatening to punish them for their bad behavior, and a few eyewitnesses say that hes actually shoved them into a sack before disappearing into the night!

Publicly, the excitement of this phenomenon has died down as someone pointed out that in European regions where he's a legendary figure, people have been dressing as Krampus and performing these same pranks and rituals for hundred's of years. But with a bit of digging, the PC's local police force and/or authority contacts are still getting reports of Krampus on the streets at night, and several children have indeed gone missing (delinquents and runaways mostly). But Krampus is only a mythical Christmas creature; he cant be real... can he?

Investigating this Krampus character means the group will have to be out in public (thats where hes spotted most often), theyll have to behave carefully in public to not arouse suspicion themselves (no weaponry and odd gear in public without a good reason), and the police have quietly stepped up their patrols over the last few days, and all of them are on the lookout for suspicious activity. Diviners & Sensitive Psychics would be great for hunting him down in public. When the PC's do inevitably spot him, what they see doesn't make sense; its not a beast-creature (its obviously a man in a suit), but whatever is inside the suit... THAT'S not human! He lunges and jumps too far and too high, he moves too quickly, he shows off too much strength. Also, the Psychics in the group feel a familair psychic adrenaline rush when he gets near them.

At some point Krampus will snatch up a child (anywhere from age 7 to 15), quickly shove him/her into a large burlap bag he's carrying, and suddenly lunges up the side of building, fleeing into the darkness! The characters will have to track and chase him down (and probably without their best weaponry unless they have it all stashed nearby), and when they do find him (wherever youd like to set the lair is fine, but it should be somewhere dark and subterranean, or at least well protected from the sunlight).

Confronting him in his costume will throw off the group as they will fight him not knowing what kind of weapons or abilites damage him. Eventually, theyll realize that hes a Vampire, dressing as Krampus as a way to traverse the city streets and get close to children (this paticular vampire's favorite meal). The vampire might even be from Austria or Germany, where Krampus is most popular and came toi the states to take advantage of the pop culture fame Krampus has as of late.

If your group is capable (or somehow got the idea that its a vampire early on and prepared for it), the vampire may be a œMaster Vampire from the Rifter #49, and has a few secondary vampires working with him, or maybe even a wild vampire or two on a leash, ready to attack intruders. Either way, the outcome should revolve around the mystery of Krampus, and that they will unknowingly be dealing with a vampire (or vampires). I would consider a Master Vampire to be a œGreater Threat, Secondary and Wild Vampires a œLesser Threat.

Note: Inspiration for this adventure idea came from this news article concerning Krampus (where the image I used above came from) and the request of creating a vampire adventure per Palladium Books BTS forum fan “Gaby”. Oh yeah... someday, the real Krampus just might show up in the House of BTS. Tell your fiends.

Pact With a Monster

Valerian: Twice each year, at the Spring and Summer Equinox, the king selects a new victim. Virgins.
Ulrich: A lottery! Barbaric. And in return, this dragon... it leaves your villages and crops unburned. Your king has made a pact with a monster!
-Dragonslayer

This adventure idea came about while watching the criminally underrated movie Dragonslayer. To start, the PC's will be traveling to or nearby a small town/community in the middle of nowhere. How they discover the monster angle is part of the fun, but the land is cursed by the residence of a large and dangerous monster of some kind (perhaps even a dragon if the GM feels confident that the group can handle it). Unable to do anything else to placate it, the town has resorted to sacrificing one of its youth, twice a year.

While they perform this sacrificial lottery in secrecy, the PC's learn of it in some way. Perhaps the next chosen youth, her parents, or someone who's concerned that their child will be the next one to be given to the monster desperately comes to them for help. Possibly a parent overhwlmed with grief of losing their child as a sacrifice to the monster comes to them, hoping others can avoid such grief. Its possible the PC's can get hints of about the residing monster via psychic means.

There are questions to consider for this adventure, such as:

What keeps the people here? Has the town been doing this for so long that it’s just life for them? Does the monster provide the town with some kind of benefit? Does the monster have some kind telepathic effect on the town that keeps them from leaving? Will the monster simply not let them leave? Is the town worried that if they leave the monster will also leave and prey upon some other unsuspecting town or city?

What does the monster do with the town’s youth? The most common answer is to eat them, but it may be worse than that. If so, what nefarious purpose does it have for them? The players would inevitably want to confront the monster, but at least a few of the residents won't appreciate meddlers getting involved and potentially enraging the monster (the fiend has taken its anger out on the town in the past). Local law enforcement is more interested in keeping the peace and quiet than letting outisders provoke and anger the monster as it will surely take its anger out on the town.

Another angle might be that the entire town will try to stop the PC's, perhaps they are under the influence of the monster, or they're simply terrified of angering/upsetting it and simply want to keep the peace (which is why they began the sacrificial lottery to begin with).

Finding the monster's lair can be as challenging as the GM desires, and might require someone from town to help them find it (maybe one of the potential teens registered in the lottery will help them).

“Rise the Dead” by Anthony Uyl

Frequent guest and contributor Anthony Uyl has submitted a twelve page BTS adventure for all the house guests to enjoy!

“In this adventure, characters will be thrust into a small town where many superstitions and folk-lore abound. The PC's will have to determine whats true and whats false as they follow the tracks of a mysterious stranger the locals claim have been causing strange people to emerge from the dark forests surrounding the small town of Hemel.
When they find him, they'll be thrust into a climactic battle against a great evil and its source of power”.

Click here to download the PDF

Sap

In a nearby forest during the middle of deer hunting season, a group of hunters stumbled upon what looks like a small makeshift dwelling built of various scraps, garbage and debris. Upon investigating, they found it inhabited by a small boy, no more than six or seven years old! He's dirty, barely clothed, and nearly primal in his actions and reactions and his speech pattern and vocabulary are at about a three or four-year-old level. When asked, he says his name is “Sap”. When asked where his parents are,
or whoever looks after him, he only responds with “he’s right here with me”. When asked, “he” is called “Tree”.

Like the good citizens they are, the hunters took him out of the forest with them and to the local police. To all their research and investigating, the authorities are stumped as to who this boy is and where he came from. For the moment he’s being placed in foster care, but this is not going well; the boy keeps disappearing, only to be found in or heading towards the forest again.

This makes little sense as the child wouldn't be able to get so far on his own, and after five different foster homes, he still keeps disappearing, no matter how tight they lock up their home. How is he getting out? How does he keep getting so far inside the forest every time?

Things have recently taken a turn for the worse as the last search party that went looking for him had an unexplainable death, like he was crushed to death. But his body was in wide open view with nothing large enough to crush him. He was found with Sap (now called Sam) standing next to him, looking down at the body with an innocent curiosity. Obviously, Sam didn't do it, but who (or what) did? Sam’s not saying beyond “He tried to take me away from Tree. Tree got mad.”

Two more foster homes, two more disappearances, two more search parties and two more unexplainable deaths have happened since then.

Well, Sam has again been returned to town, sent to a new foster home, and has since disappeared again! Publicly, the authorities want him found and brought back safely. They suspect that he’s back in the woods again, but now everyone’s hesitant to go into the woods to find him.

What’s going on here? Who is Tree? And really, who is Sap? How does he keep disappearing and finding his way back so far into the forest? What’s happening out in that forest? How were the members of the search party crushed to death? What kind of ending can such a mystery have?