I've written 4 system-agnostic horror oneshots so far,
originally to be played in Dread (my personal favourite horror TTRPG). They should be easily adaptable for other game systems, and have a range of settings and premises.
Each oneshot comes with an array of character concept cards, as well as a one-page summary of the adventure, the adversaries and how characters might survive, escape, or defeat the threat.
Final Chapter
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A will reading at a deceased author's country mansion, a slew of colourful and untrustworthy guests, and more than a few secrets... That is how our story begins...
In this oneshot players take the role of guests at the will reading of recently deceased (and incredibly wealthy) horror author Harold Brooks. Originally envisioned within an early-industrial era, the setup and specific mechanics mean that it can be easily adapted to fit within various historical periods, depending on the feel you are aiming for.
Sleepwalking
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The Delirium Hotel was meant to just be a place to stay the night, a comfortable refuge from the winter’s chill outside. As you gather in the foyer, well past midnight, a few things strike you as odd. Why is such a lavish place so empty? Where are the staff? And where is the way out?
In this oneshot players take the role of guests at the mysterious and empty Delirium Hotel. As they explore, searching for the staff, a way out, or even other guests, it becomes clear that this is no ordinary hotel. The rooms are strange, what people they find in a deep slumber, and there's something worse waiting in the depths of the hotel...
SYSTEMS FROZEN
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You are a group of researchers in a remote lab, high in the Alps. To those outside the lab, it is a simple weather station. To you, however, it is a place to research whatever the world governments might… disapprove of.
Among the projects in progress here is an experimental artificial intelligence, known to the researchers as S.A.M. You are woken in the dead of night to find a snowstorm hammering the station, the power on the fritz, and the chief researcher working on S.A.M, Mathias Fischer, missing.
In this oneshot players take the role of researchers and staff in an isolated alpine base, full of unethical research and experiments, where one such experiment has just gone badly wrong. With the power of the station low, and the weather outside deadly, it's up to you to kill the rogue AI before it kills you...
The Depths
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Delve into a cave system long undisturbed beneath the Amazon rainforest in this system-agnostic horror oneshot.
In this oneshot players take the role of explorers on an archaeological expedition to investigate a newly-discovered cave, a collection of misfits with secrets aplenty. Originally envisioned as set within an early-industrial era, the setup and specific mechanics mean that it can be easily adapted to fit within a variety of historical periods, depending on the feel you are aiming for.
The Depths was the first piece of TTRPG material I ever published, and I still love it. It takes established tropes and turns them on their head, uses assumptions players make implicitly about the situation, then forces them to reconsider them. It's among my favourite things I've written in terms of narrative.
I wrote the first draft for it on a scrappy piece of lined paper an hour before running it (in Dread, my absolute favourite horror TTRPG). I made up multiple of the locations on the fly. My three players loved it. Somehow, despite a whole bunch of close calls throughout the session, only one character died before the end. I'm pretty sure that session will stick with me for life.
I'm still proud of the others - Final Chapter was my choice to run for a local charity event a couple of years back - but there's nothing that can compete with The Depths. Each of the other 3 were written in the run-up to halloween 2023, with unique mechanics linked to their respective threats in much the same way I did with the original.
What I said at the time
The video most of these supplements were first released with