Dread

Dread is my favorite RPG for one-shots, especially for horror. I first discovered the game back in 2008 in a post on Enworld. I ran it for my friends that Halloween later that year. I fell in love instantly. The interplay between the tension of the story and the tension of the tower is *chef's kiss*. And the questionnaires are definitely the secret sauce that really make the game sing. I, with help from my friend Angela, have written many scenarios and wish to share them with you. Please enjoy.

Note: Instead of creating name tents for each PC for each adventure, I recommend making custom name tags using Avery 8395 - Adhesive Name Badges. This minimizes players interactions with the table and reducing the chance of accidental tower collapse. They have a handy word doc template which makes it super easy.

Playing Dread Online Tags: Rules Supplement

Blurb:

Doesn't suck when you want to play Dread, but can only meet online? Well now you can with this easy to use hack!

Links:

Playing Dread Online - WEB.pdf

Commentary:

It is fairly obvious that I love playing / running Dread. So when the COVID quarantine hit, I was bummed. There was no real way to play Dread online with my friends. I had briefly wondered if there was a Jenga module for Table Top Simulator, but I figured it would be more awkward than anything (as a side note, I am not a fan of that platform anyway). Then my friend Jamie Lindemann (of Nerdhaus Games - he has some really awesome games. Definitely check them out) said he was going to run an online Dread scenario. To say I was very intrigued would be a monumental understatement. And it did a good job of generating the tension Jenga-driven Dread does. Not as well as the tower in in-person play, but a reasonable facsimile nonetheless.

He had basically used the card-based mechanics from the Grin RPG by Arcana Games. It was easy to port over to Jenga. I took those rules, tweaked them a bit. And now I present them for you.

MHAR01 – The Aftermath… Tags: SciFi, Slasher, The 'Verse

Blurb:

It was supposed to be a routine flight out of Bernadette. Just a load of settlers bound for the waterworld Newhall. But then the Reavers struck and the Truthful James became an abattoir. The gorram safe rooms were easily breached and the settlers and their livestock were slaughtered. But a very few survived and now they are trapped on a drifting ship in the middle of the black. Can they make it back to civilization?

For 5-6 PCs. Set in the 'Verse of Firefly fame and powered by Dread. Beginners welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

Back in 2011 I gave my friend Angela a coupon saying I would write an adventure for any system and any subject she wanted. She came back and said she wanted an adventure set in The 'Verse of Firefly Fame where some average people had to survive a Reaver attack. I thought of several systems that I knew she liked, but all had issues making regular/average people because they all had stats and skills and whatever and presumed some level of competency and heroism. Then I had an epiphany - Dread has no stats so everyone could be average! And the adventure fell into place.

MHAR02 – Tsu-NAZI!!! Tags: Modern, Zombies, Cheesy

Blurb:

From the director of Sharkano and the writer of Sharkalanche comes TSU-NAZI! Can the small, sleepy pacific island of Palanaii deal with the preternatural disaster caused by secret North Korean atomic testing? See jack-booted radioactive Nazi zombies from a sunken submarine ravage bikini-clad tourists in this new American classic!

For 4-5 players. Beginners Welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

Back in 2013, the very cheesy horror movie Sharknado was released. It was lampooned on social media. My friend Garath even came up with his own silly title - Tsunazi. That name stuck with me, lingering in the back of my mind. Then in 2015 I had the perfect adventure idea for this title. I wrote this originally for All Flesh Must Be Eaten (an excellent Zombie Horror RPG by the way). But then I decided to update it for Dread because I just love the system.

MHAR03 – Legends of Heroes! Tags: Modern, Fantasy, Cheesy

Blurb:

The cheesy TV series "Legends of Heroes" appeared for only one season on the SciFi channel before being canceled. In the past couple of years, it has been embraced by a new generation of fans. For the first time in ten years the cast is reuniting and making an appearance at CON-Fusion, a Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Gaming convention. As an actor, you've tried to escape the long shadows of the show and your role in it, but you never could. What could possibly go wrong when you have to interact with rest of the cast as well as the legions of Legends cosplayers...

For 4-5 PCs. Beginners welcome

Links:

Commentary:

I had recently rewatched Galaxy Quest and I wondered what a fantasy version of this look like. So I wrote this adventure. And since I love Dread so much, I added some horror elements to it and voila!

MHAR04 – Welcome to Red Rock Tags: Western, Vampires

Blurb:

The Silver Springs bank robbery didn't go according to plan and now you and your fellow desperados are being pursued by the infamous Marshall Duke Lamar. Luckily you all have heard of the town of Red Rock. It’s across the county line, they don't ask questions, and the night life is to die for. All you have to do is get across the river and everything will be all right. Or will it??

For 4-5 Players. Beginners Welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

I believe that Sunday mornings at conventions are one of the hardest time to find games to play. I started to purposely submit games for that time slot. And for KantCon, a local table top gaming convention, I decided that game would be Dread and that I would debut a new adventure every year. For KantCon 2017, I looked at my various horror scenarios for various game systems and I realized I hadn't done much in the Western or Vampire spaces and Welcome to Red Rock was born. Also I liked that Welcome to Red Rock could easily become Welcome to Dread Rock or Welcome to Dead Rock.

MHAR05 – The Fermi Paradox Tags: SciFi, Cosmic, Federated Nations

Blurb:

The year is 2157. It took the crew of the E3 Corporation survey ship twelve days to get to the Uranian system. It took them only two days to discover the answer to a 150 year old question. But the answer could mean the extinction of the Human race! Find out the answer and more in... The Fermi Paradox!

For 5-6 PCs. Set in the Federated Nations Universe. Beginners welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

The Fermi Paradox is a great horror premise. Uranus's moon Miranda looks so weird I thought it would be a great setting for a scenario. Two great tastes that taste great together!! This adventure forces the characters to confront the insignificance and powerlessness of Humanity in the cold uncaring universe. This adventure was also responsible for me wanting to have a Federated Nations scenario set in/around all of the planets of our Solar System.

MHAR06 – On a Collision Course with Destiny Tags: SciFi, Daemons, WH40k

Blurb:

Five days ago, the battleship INV Righteous Destiny dropped out of Warp. It had been lost to the Warp for over 700 years and it is now on a collision course with the planet Scintilla, capital of the Calixis Sector. You have been hastily assembled at the behest of the Inquisition to investigate the mysterious vessel and its enigmatic message before the Imperial Navy obliterates it.

For 4-5 PCs. Set in the Warhammer 40k universe and powered by Dread. Beginners welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

The plot for this adventure was heavily inspired by the Dark Heresy adventure "Shades on Twilight" (From the Dark Heresy supplement Purge the Unclean). I originally wrote this for Dark Heresy and ran it for my friends on Halloween, 2011. I later converted it to Dread to further prove that Dread can support any form of horror.

Note that the other Handouts are located in the back of the Adventure.

MHAR07 – Arbor Day, Bloody Arbor Day Tags: Modern, Slasher, Cheesy

Blurb:

Several years ago, your good friend Sam suffered a tragic accident and died during your yearly Arbor Day celebration campout and party. Their body was never recovered. You were all stunned. From then on it never felt right to continue the Arbor Day tradition and so it was canceled. Now you are all graduating from college in a month and you will probably never see each other again. What better way to celebrate your futures and your friendships than one last Arbor Day celebration. But the past never forgets, never forgives, and never dies…

Blood makes the trees grow. Kill! Kill! Kill!

Links:

Commentary:

This is my ode to the slasher horror films of the 80s and 90s. Inspired by such "classics" as My Bloody Valentine, April Fool's Day, Leprechaun, and I Know What You Did Last Summer, I decided to write up a scenario. As I was thinking of minor holidays, I thought of Arbor Day and the tag line "Blood makes the trees grow. Kill! Kill! Kill!" jumped in my head and the rest was history.

MHAR08 – Labyrinth of Night Tags: SciFi, Zombie, Federated Nations

Blurb:

The year is 2109. You're a team of researchers on Mars for Project Star Hammer, an important terraforming project of great magnitude, when a fierce dust storm blows your shuttle off course. Can you endure the partially terraformed planet? Will you survive the secrets uncovered in the sand? Find out in the Labyrinth of Night.

For 4-5 PCs. Set in the Federated Nations Universe. Beginners welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

Technically this is the oldest adventure on the list. I ran this for my regular group on Halloween back in the early 2000s using All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Mars has always enchanted me. The Labyrinth of Night is such an awesome name for a place where something horrifying takes place. I converted it to Dread back in 2016 because obviously I love Dread and I really like this adventure.

This is also the first mention of The Federated Nations and I really liked the concept. So when I wrote Fermi Paradox, I naturally set it in that universe.

MHAR09 – Labyrinth of Night II: Dread Moon Rising Tags: SciFi, Zombie, Federated Nations

Blurb:

The year is 2110. Deimos, the second moon of Mars, is a cold lifeless rock. The ultramax prison located there was supposedly decommissioned several years ago. Yet there you are, trapped in the complex on Deimos. Will you discover the secrets hidden in this dead rock? Can you survive the suddenly hostile moon? Find out in Labyrinth of Night II: Dread Moon Rising.

For 4-5 PCs. Set in the Federated Nations Universe. Beginners welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

I can't remember when I decided to make this a trilogy, but I became fascinated by the idea. I loved the first one and I loved the idea of creating a Future History set in/around the Federated Nations. I wanted to do something different than the first one but I still liked the ideas of Mars Corp. being the bad guys and zombies being created from alien nanites. Having messed around with the surface of Mars, the moons were obviously the next place to explore. While Phobos gets the most press, Deimos struck me as the perfect place. After all it is names after the Greek God of Dread and Terror. This too was written for All Flesh Must Be Eaten. But as with Labyrinth of Night (LoN), I converted this to Dread.

Dread is perfect for a One-Shot, but its suggestions in the rulebook for a campaign are pretty weak. But I really wanted to try something. Five of the PCs for this adventure are all new. The sixth, however, is intended for one of the survivors of LoN. Their questionnaire is just three questions with the idea that one of the original players will still have their questionnaire and this new questionnaire builds off of it. The questions asked are based upon what the PC experienced in the previous adventure.

MHAR10 – Labyrinth of Night III: A Princess of Mars Tags: SciFi, Zombie, Federated Nations

Blurb:

The year is 2110. The Pan Solar Cruise Lines cruise ship Princess of Mars heads to the Earth-Moon system with two precious cargos. The first is some forbidden xeno-based technology that Mars Corp is transporting from its secret lab on Deimos to its main lab on the Moon. The second is James Wu’s, Mars Corp’s Director of Terraforming, teenage daughter D.J. What happens when the technology gets loose within the ship? Will the innocent young woman survive? Find out in Labyrinth of Night III: A Princess of Mars.

Links:

Commentary:

The Labyrinth of Night series couldn't be a trilogy without the third installment. It took me a while to come up with what the plot should be, but finally in 2020 I was struck by the Muses. The daughter of our old friend James Wu, the main bad guy in the previous two scenarios, gets trapped on a ship filled with zombies headed to Earth. This also was my ode to the 1986 SciFi classic Aliens. For a change of pace this was originally written for Dread.

Like Dread Moon Rising, a questionnaire is provided for one of the surviving characters from the previous adventure to continue on in this one, including one from the first.

MHAR11 – It's the End of the World as We Know It Tags: Modern, Cosmic, Cheesy

Blurb:

It’s December, 1999. The employees of a small, locally owned record store come into possession of a very strange record. What happens when they listen to its preternatural music? Who else wants it and why? What happens when the record reaches its end? What horrible fate lies in store for our heroes? Will you feel fine? Find out the answers to these questions and many more in... It's the End of the World as We Know It!

For 4-5 PCs. Beginners welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

One day I was listening to the One Shot podcast. They were playing Cthulhu Dark (episode 203). I thought this was a fantastic idea for an adventure. I also hadn't done a Lovecraftian/Cthulhu/Cosmic horror adventure yet. So thank you very much, James D'Amato, for heavily inspiring this adventure.

MHAR12 – Love & Death Tags: SciFi, Disaster, Federated Nations

Blurb:

The year is 2112. The Cytherea Project. Humanity’s bold attempt to colonize the skies of Venus. Today is the day that the first platform of what will become the city of Cytherea comes online, and you have been invited to witness the Opening Ceremony. It is a beautiful day among the cloud tops of Venus and you can’t help but feel that you are the King of the World! But what happens when the platform suffers a catastrophic failure? Find out the answer and more in... Love and Death!

For 4-5 PCs. Set in the Federated Nations Universe. Beginners welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

This scenario came about due to a mishmash of three ideas. Firstly, I hadn't done a disaster horror style adventure yet. Secondly, what if everyone could have been inadvertently responsible. And lastly I wanted to set an adventure on a planet in the Federated Nations series as a continuation of my plans to have one set on, or near, each planet in the solar system. Colonies on Venus was an obvious choice as it would compliment the Labyrinth of Night series on Mars.

MHAR13 – A Dreadful Fairy Tale Tags: Fantasy, Faeries, D&D

Blurb:

Once upon a Dreadful time, a band of intrepid adventurers returned from a dangerous dungeon delve. On their way back to the small town of Biarton, they encountered some of the local fairies. Such capricious, alien, curious, and inscrutable beings can easily have their interest in mortals quickly turn to fury if they are spurned or offended. Naturally the fae were dissatisfied with the way those interactions panned out. Unfortunately for our heroes, the local Fairy Lord decided a punishment was in order. Find out what happens in... A Dreadful Fairy Tale.

For 4-5 PCs. Beginners welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

This scenario was inspired by an One Shot episode (unfortunately I can't remember the specific one or what game system used) where the PCs are shrunk in a tavern and have to survive an encounter with a cute fluffy house cat. As it turns out, cats are horrifying murder machines if you are itty bitty. This obviously stuck with me. And this was over a year before I got my first cat!!! It took a bit to come up with a good reason for the characters to be shrunk. Eventually I came upon the idea that they pissed off a Fae Lord. I wrote this around the same time I wrote Love & Death which is obvious in retrospect as I continue the idea that each PC in their own way cheesed off the powerful fairy.

As an Easter Egg, I set it in the same fantasy setting as my D&D adventure: MA1 - The Siege of the Lonely Maiden Inn.

MHAR14 – A Horror Borealis Tags: SciFi (1950s), Aliens, Mind Control

Blurb:

On a clear February evening in 1952, the inhabitants of the small northern town of Ashen Falls, Minnesota were treated to a strange sight. The night sky was bathed in an eerie crimson glow. Authorities were quick to claim it was just a rare red aurora borealis and that there was nothing to worry about, even though it reappeared every night for the next few days. Why then, several days later, did the government suddenly claim it was the result of top secret atmospheric atomic testing and dispatch the military to the town? Find out what really happened during those intervening days in… A Horror Borealis!

For 4-5 PCs. Beginners welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

I came across an actual play Monster of the Week podcast titled A Horror Borealis set in 1996 Alaska. It is good and I totally recommend it. But I really fell in love with the punny nature of the title and I had to use it. Now in my quest to try to make a Dread adventure for all flavors of horror, I hadn't made an alien invasion scenario, nor one in the 1950's cheesy sci-fi milieu. I thought that title would marry up well with a 50's anti-communist science fiction horror story about a small town being taken over my a mind-controlling monster from space. And what better location than northern Minnesota.

MHAR15 – The Call Center of Cthulhu Tags: Modern, Cosmic, Cheesy

Blurb:

Working at Hyades Tech doing IT support over the phone is certainly not where you envisioned you’d end up, but it pays the bills. When the quirky CEO, “Petey” Sanderson, decided to throw a Halloween party, you figured you couldn’t turn down some free booze and “hors d'oeuvres”. But when the night starts to get creepy, are you able to keep your cool and your job? Find out in The Call Center of Cthulhu!

For 5-6 PCs. Beginners welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

Ever since I heard about the old Original Ghostbusters cartoon episode titled "The Collect Call of Cthulhu" (Season 2, Episode 28) I was instantly infatuated and I never forgot it, despite never actually watching it. If you can't tell by now, I do love a good nerdy pun. Then one day in 2023 as I was mulling over what Dread adventure I wanted to write for that year's KantCon, this title struck me - The Call Center of Cthulhu. It was a callback to that old cartoon but it also related to my work at a help desk for Sprint.

I don't remember why I chose Hastur as the big bad despite the name. I have always been fascinated by the King in Yellow. It is probably my second favorite Mythos god (my favorite is Azathoth - that dreaming nuclear chaos at the center of the universe). I guess I just wanted to do something other than Cthulhu (who is my third favorite).

MHAR16 – A Double Date with Dread Tags: Modern (1970s), Ghost, Cheesy

Blurb:

The last Prom for the Lakewood High Class of ‘79 (GooOOO Wildcats!) has just ended, but you are not ready to call it a night. Ignoring the oncoming clouds and ominous distant thunder, you and your friends head out to Lover’s Lane for some “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.” You won’t let the old legends of the ghost at the nearby Hollowbrook farm scare you off from your post-party plans. Besides, the last unexplained death was a few years ago. But what happens if the stories turn out to be true?

For 4-5 PCs. Beginners welcome. Content Warning - Possible adult situations and language.

Links:

Commentary:

I was listening to an One Shot AP episode (I don't remember the episode number nor the game system) where the premise was two people on a date at a lover's lane. That got the wheels a turnin'. I immediately thought of the old move "Date with Death" and thought of a title for my adventure = "Date with Dread." Now I like to have a four or five players so I the title became "A Double Date with Dread." I then had an idea for the PC composition - A Power Couple and an Odd Couple. The fifth pc would, of course, be a Fifth Wheel (instead of a third wheel, get it?). I then decided that each couple should have a pair of questions about their relationship that they could answer together. The Fifth Wheel got some additional questions too.

And then as a bit of spice, I decided to throw in a Scooby-Doo style option where the ghost is actually a person trying to scare away the kids. This way the GM could decide on the fly which way they wanted to go - real ghost or old man withers in a mask. And since Scooby Doo came out in the 1970s I had to set the adventure in that decade too.

MHAR17 – The Greening Tags: Modern, Cosmic

Blurb:

Several days ago, the E3 corporation facility located deep in the Sahara went offline. It was testing new mining technology at a recently discovered petroleum field. The last communications from the base indicated that an unusual organic substance was found. Shortly afterwards, the installation and surrounding area became engulfed in a sudden explosion of preternatural vegetation. You have all been assembled and flown out to the area to establish connection with the station and its crew as well as determine what caused this seemingly spontaneous… Greening.

For 4-5 PCs. Beginners welcome.

Links:

Commentary:

The inspiration for this scenario came from listening to The Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast. I don't remember which episode, but one of the hosts, Scott Norwood, suggested an idea for an adventure that showcases the Mythos entity Shub-Niggurath. His concept was that some miners drilling and coming across some goo that caused plants to spontaneously grow and obviously it was related to the Great Mother. I liked it and I ran with it.

As an Easter Egg, I had the main corporation as E3 which also happens to be the company that the PCs in MHAR05 - Fermi Paradox work for. So this implies it is set in The Federated Nations future history. Or is it a coincedence?

MHAR18 – Haunt Hunters Tags: Modern, Ghost, Cheesy

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

MHAR19 – Fractured Continuum Tags: SciFi, ???, ???

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

MHAR20 – The Call Center of Cthulhu II: Dread Rave Tags: Modern, Cosmic

UNDER CONSTRUCTION