A Spooky One-shot RPG
Welcome to our one-shot special, otherwise known to role players as ‘side quests’.
If you are unfamiliar with the term ‘one-shot’ in regards to Role Playing Games; a one-shot is a short, contained story over a limited number of sessions or hours. This allows the players to play through a story beat or two, without committing to a full campaign. It’s a great way to delve into different characters, classes or worlds without the commitment or long term pull of a full campaign. We love a side quest at the best of times, but for Halloween, I decided to take my players to a new (if not, slightly familiar) world.
We begin by jumping into the horror genre. In the first of four parts, “All Hallows Eve” introduces Davin, Harper, Michael, Milicent and Polly, a group of aquaintences brought together in the past to defeat the myserious ‘Piper’. Called upon once more by Inspector O’Connoll, they come together to assist the police with the strange occurances and discoveries of bodies across Londonia. In the setting of Ungland, we discover how and why these individuals are special, in a world where horror literature’s own characters share a space.
“Londonia 1865.
A city familiar, yet vastly distinct from our understanding. The city itself is a beacon in the endless abyss of the darkened lands of Unglund. Surrounding Londonia is ‘No Man’s Land’; the wasteland which exists between the havens of Unglund, yet very few who travel through the roiling darkness live to see their next destination.
Industrialism at the crux of a revolution, cultivating a technological trinity of electronics, steam power and robotics. Chimney stacks, the smoking guns of industry, rise from the bowels of the city. Their grey breath seems to be permanently trapped in the streets; the acrid scent of charcoal and phosphorus lulls over every nook and cranny. The sky hangs grey and pregnant over Londonia, crushing her skyline with a full womb that waits to birth a terrible rainfall. The residents still lament the day of the last sunlight and curse the current maelstrom of the forever night, known as The Gloom.
The true events of The Gloom are known by very few people. Neighbourhood whispers led tall tales involving monsters, conspiracies and creatures only children would dream up. Very few actually stumbled upon the real tale of that night. A clandestine cult who foolishly believed they could capture the essence of the Aether to contain and to cage for their master’s sole use. The Aether however, would not be contained and could not be caged. Survivors of the cult were scarce, however the consequences were immediate. First, it was the obstruction of the sun. The sky became filled with a darkened, overcast shade and the clouds continually heavy . Next came the electrical storms; a raging tempest above the city, sporadic in timing, but nonetheless virulent.
The industrious folk built what defences they could against the blackouts caused by the storms and replaced the lost sunlight with technologies that mimicked a world that no longer existed. Most agreed it was not the same, but their need for sunlight outweighed the fading nostalgia for the sun itself. Those with a nature favourable to gossip of the occult, superstitious tendencies or fears of the unknown were quick to attribute the Gloom to Aether.
The forbidden dark veil that lies behind the mask of all things is called Aether to the people of Unglund. Its magic stems from somewhere deep and dark, in the space between spaces and thus is deemed malicious, volatile and fearful by those who do not understand it. Those who try to contain it, often find themselves shunned by the majority of city dwellers, or wind up dead in the process. The realisation that a person can come into the world holding a connection to the Aether, happens only a small number of times in a generation. These people are able to bend the Aether and shape it, but it cannot be ruled by them, and thus can have consequences to its use.”
SIDE QUEST! | "All Hallows Eve" | Part 1 – The Dragon‘s Vale Podcast
In the second part of this story, Harper, Davin, Polly, Milicent and Michael travel to St. Giles’s hospital morgue to find out more about the victims bodies.
The Dragon's Vale Podcast 
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