Me telling you about a horror one-shot I once ran

 Halloween is coming up, and I am a big fan of running seasonal one-shots. They both allow you to try new game systems, and also flex some muscles with new DMing techniques.

Last Halloween I ran a western horror one-shot, using the Alien RPG game. And I loved it! I thought I could tell you about it.

First up, mood is very important in Halloween games! We went all in. Low lights, candles, creepy western music (the Hateful Eight and Bone Tomahawk soundtracks are excellent for this). It was great!

For the adventure itself, I retrofitted the example adventure from the Aliens rules: Chariot of the Gods. Yes, a sci-fi adventure run as a western. It was surprisingly easy, but a lot of things had to change from the original adventure. However, the Alien world is pretty much just a western in space with some added horror.

The key ingredients in the Alien movies are: a remote location with no chance to call for help, an unknown and weird danger that hunts people, rivalry and betrayal within the group, company greed and ambition, and religious undertones. All this seemed perfect for a western setting!

The pitch I used was as follows:

You are a posse of hirelings tasked with transporting a wagon of mining tools to a new mining operation deep within the mountains in Montana. The company (Johnson and Swanson) wants this mining operation to remain a secret for as long as possible, and have therefore recruited a band of unknowns. They also mandated that a company representative accompanies the move. Make sure the cargo reaches the mine safe.

Of course, the whole thing about the mining operation is just background dressing. A snowstorm pushes the characters into a mansion found in the mountains. There, they uncover the dark history of the family that once lived there.

I leaned heavily into the different agendas that the Chariots of the Gods adventure outline, and also structured the one-shot into three acts. These acts were generic points in the story, designed to ramp up the story. For example, the first act was simply the introduction of the characters, them being driven to the mansion, and finally them exploring the house. The second act began, or rather the first ended, when a curse was set upon the characters. This curse was triggered by either them messing with old Native American treasure found in the house, or discovering the cannibalistic history of the mansion inhabitants. Either way, they were now hunted by an wendigo.

At the start of each act, the characters gained a new agenda. These agendas were brief descriptions of that character's goals - what they wanted to achieve. How the goal was achieved was up to the player, but the agendas are designed to create tension within the group. Many of them were directly opposed to each other. It’s a great mechanic for a story-focused game. The players really leaned into the roleplaying with this!

In addition to the agendas, the characters had a rival and a buddy. I created this graph to keep track of it all. The buddy and rival thing had no further gameplay mechanic, but it helped the players get into character. 

Anyway, that’s all for now. If there is enough interest I might do a more detailed write-up on this adventure. Now, I’m gonna prepare for this year's Halloween romp: a crew of an icebreaker receiving a 40 year old distress call deep within the arctic zone. It's gonna be weird and fun (and totally inspired by season one of the Terror).

You can read more about how I build horror in my games here: link

Now go and make a weird conversion, or find a fun new game to try out in a one shot. Make it fun, make it weird! Happy (early) Halloween!

Thanks for reading!