HADES' TOWN

A RAVENLOFT DOMAIN OF DREAD BASED ON THE

PODCAST "WONDERFUL WORLD OF DARKLORDS"

BY THOMAS AND RACHEL KOLAR

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other original material in this work is copyright 2022 by Thomas Kolar and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. All Art used from the Met Gallery's Open
Access Collections and the Creative Commons Commercial Use Archive.

TEMPLATE BY NATHANAËL ROUX

Hadestown (2016), and all affiliated characters and
settings property of Concord Theatrical and created by
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All Art taken from the Met Gallery's Open Access

Collection and Creative Commons commercial use
archive. Adobe InDesign template by Nathanael Roux at
www.barkalotdesigns.com

Hades' Town is a Ravenloft Domain inspired by the

Podcast "Wonderful World of Darklords: Episode 18B,
Hadestown."

https://redcircle.com/shows/the-wonderful-world-
of-darklords.

https://www.youtube.com/@WonderfulWorldofDarklord

Support our content creation on Patreon at

https://www.patreon.com/
TheWonderfulWorldofDarklords

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episodes, and free download links to all of our paid
bonus podcast content on DMsguild, as well as our deep
appreciation.

Contents
Hades' Town...........................................................................
3
Noteworthy Features.........................................................
3
Settlements and Sites..........................................................
3
Up Top.................................................................................
4
Hades' Town.......................................................................
4

Our Lady of the Underground..................................................

5
Mr. Hades' Powers and Dominion....................................
6
Mr. Hades' Torment...........................................................
6
Roleplaying Mr. Hades.......................................................
6
Adventures in Hades' Town..................................................
6
Adventure Hooks for Hades' Town..................................
7
Hades' Town Adventures..................................................
7
Other Works:........................................................................
10
Hades' Town famine and hard time "Up Top." Most people don't
remember the last time they've seen a Spring or Fall.
Domain of Machines and Walls • If you can get a train ticket to Hades' Town, you can get
a job there. Hades' Town is enormously prosperous, and
Darklord: Mr. Hades all of the workers' material needs will be provided.
• No one ever comes back from moving to Hades' Town.
Genres: Disaster Horror, Psychological Horror

Hallmarks: Industry, Greed, Control, and Insecurity

Mist Talismans: Tickets, Flowers, Coins

Report 18B: Hades' Town

During my time in Olympus, I caught sight of

a ferry coming to the shore. A handful of
scrawny, underfed indigents ran up to board it,
each clutching two coins in their hands. The
ferryman took their coins one by one, allowing
them to file onto the boat, but shoved one man
out with a sneer, tossing what must have been
counterfeit coins into the water. Then he pushed
off the coast and oared out to sea, vanishing
into the Mists.

Curious, I asked the weeping man who had been

cast aside about where the ferry was headed.
The tale he told me was a strange one, but
stirred memories of legends I had heard in
other domains: a caravan in Har’Akir, a dark
carriage in Barovia, a train in Zherisia. All
were bound for the Mists, and through them, Settlements and Sites
for Hadestown: an underground city where work
Unsurprisingly, the ruler of Hadestown is
was plentiful for the hungry and desperate. In
Hades–or rather, Mr. Hades, a fey lord of
exchange for a meal, the man told me countless
industry, wealth, and power. Once, he would
stories he had heard about it–everybody
spend half the year below the ground in
dressed in clothes so fine, pockets weighted
Hadestown with his wife, Persephone, a spring
down, sipping ambrosia wine–but admitted
eladrin. When she went aboveground, she
he could not verify them, as no one who has
brought warmth and plenty with her; when she
traveled to Hadestown has ever returned. As my
returned to her husband below, the chill of
patron will see, however, I was eventually able
autumn would set in. As time passed, however,
to find one exception to this rule, who told me a
Hades became increasingly fearful that
very different tale.
Persephone would remain aboveground forever;
after all, could a spring eladrin ever love
Noteworthy Features him enough to choose him and his underground
city over a world of sky and sunlight? Driven
Those familiar with Hades' Town know the
by paranoia, he began to call her back to
following facts:
Hadestown earlier and release her later. Today,
• This Domain centers around the relationship between the land above Hadestown enjoys perhaps
two gods. Hades is god of death, winter, wealth, and three months of summer before the winter
industry. His wife Persephone is goddess of nature, freezes it solid.
summer, life, agriculture, and abundance.
• Hades' Town has two sections. "Up Top" is a district This, of course, motivates the desperate and
of farming villages where most of the population lives. hungry people aboveground–to say nothing
"Hades' Town" is an enormous underground factory city of those in other domains–to seek out work
ruled directly by Mr. Hades. They are connected by a in Hadestown. In exchange for their labor,
railroad line, also controlled by Mr. Hades. Hades offers plentiful food and shelter to
• In the past, the two sections lived in harmony. “his children.” However, their failure to return
Persephone would be "Up Top" for half the year, for so much as a visit, to say nothing of
bringing summer and plenty with her. The winter half Persephone’s reluctance to travel below, made
of the year she would be underground with her husband. me secretly happy for my informant that he
• Mr Hades has been coming for his wife sooner and could not pay the ferryman.
sooner each year, disrupting the seasons and bringing

WONDERFUL WORLD OF DARKLORDS | HADESTOWN

3
 Once upon a time there was a railroad line/Don't
ask where, brother, don't ask when.

Before coming to Ravenloft, this Domain was in balance.

Persephone lived "Up Top" for half the year, and there
was food and wine in abundance. Winter and summer,
those above and those below, life and death: all were in
rhythm and harmony. The love of Hades and Persephone
kept them in balance. Now, the gods have forgotten
the song of their love and the world is out of tune. "Up
Top" it's blazing hot summer a few months of the year
when Persephone is permitted to visit, and the rest of the
year is cold, hungry, and barren. Times are hard. Down
Up Top
below, in Hades' Town, the factories, mines, and refineries The flowers bloomed and the fruit got ripe/And
grow and expand, necessitating a constant influx of new brother for a moment there/The world came
workers. The people above desperately stream down to
Hades' Town, seeking out work that will provide them back to life!
food and shelter. As time passes, they lose contact with
any friends or loved ones "Up Top," and no one ever Up Top is a loose collection of farming communities,
comes back. built around the railroad tracks going down to Hades'
Town and out to the rest of Ravenloft. In the few months
Persephone can visit, there is enough food, and most
Gods and men, a'ight?/ We got some gods in people live in a spirit of joy and brotherhood. But when
the house tonight! Hades comes for her, the wind changes, and winter comes.
As the world freezes, so do the hearts of the people. They
While the basic story and conflict of this Domain is get mean, selfish, and dishonest when the chips are down.
centered around the relationship between Hades and In the ever-expanding winter, one of the most coveted
Persephone, there are two(ish) other supernatural entities items is a ticket down to Hades' Town.
that PCs might interact with in Hades' Town.

And there were three old women all dressed the same/
And they was always singin' in the back of your mind/
Everybody meet the Fates!

The Fates are a constant presence in this Domain, three

women that appear in different guises, in different places
and times. In some versions, they seem to be three women
who each have a distinctive piece of amber jewelery. When
they speak to you, it always seems natural, and the people
of this Domain never seem to notice the strangeness of
these women appearing to them again and again. No
matter where and when they appear, the Fates always have
a message of temptation, corruption, and cynical despair.
They always push and cajole people to be their worst selves
and to make harmful, self-destructive choices. The Fates
Hades' Town
thus seems to have a connection the the Dark Powers Everybody hungry/Everybody tired/Everybody
of Ravenloft. Perhaps they are a unique manifestation
of those Powers, or perhaps servants of those Powers.
slaves by the sweat of his brow/The wage is
Whatever they truly are, they seem to have the same goal nothing and the work is hard/ It's a graveyard
as the Dark Powers: temptation and corruption. in Hadestown
And a man with feathers on his feet/Who could help
The underground city of Hades' Town is a vast, booming
you to your final destination/Mr. Hermes, that's me!
industrial necropolis lit by the bright neon lights and
Mr Hermes is an outsider to this Domain, not subjected heated by the refineries and factories churning out a steady
to the powers and limitations placed on mortals. He drumbeat of goods, minerals, fuel, and all of the treasures
appears as an older man in silver clothes. His true form under the earth. The trains of Hades' Town endlessly
is a Guardinal, an eagle like-Celestial from Elysium, the export those treasures around the rest of Ravenloft,
Neutral Good plane of Nature's splendor. He is a friend to while bringing in mountains of wealth and the stream
Persephone and seems grieved by her plight. He is able of desperate souls looking for work. Everyone allowed
to move freely through out Hades' Town, but he does not in Hades' Town works for Mr. Hades, and all of their
seem to be able to interfere directly with mortals. He can material needs are met. However, over time all of their
guide them, give them advice, and show them the secret
memories that are not useful to Mr. Hades, not relevant to
back way to Hades' Town. He sets them on their path, but
never takes them directly. work and industry, fade. The citizens of Hades' Town are
comfortable, but they are interchangeable cogs in the great
machine.

WONDERFUL WORLD OF DARKLORDS | HADESTOWN

4
 Although it may have been possible for me to
travel to Hadestown, and I certainly could have
taken a Mistway to the land above it, I doubted
my patron would approve of me abandoning my
itinerary to gallivant about on a side project;
therefore, while these tales intrigued me, I
resigned myself to gathering information within
Olympus. Luckily, I was able to find a woman
named Alcestis, one of the few who had taken
the ticket to Hadestown but returned to tell
Our Lady of the Underground the tale. Apparently, her husband Admetus
had foolishly agreed to travel to Hadestown,
I got the wind right here in a jar/I got the rain on but fearing the tales she had heard of it, she
tap at the bar/I got sunshine up on the shelf/Allow stole his ticket and went there in his stead.

me to introduce myself. Unfortunately for her husband–but fortunately

for her–Mr. Hades had written up the contract

The one place in Hades' Town not devoted to labor, for Admetus and Admetus alone, and refused to

Our Lady of the Underground is a speakeasy run by accept the signature of a thief with no respect

Persephone. It's a place where the workers can meet for his laws. However, Alcestis had gotten a

outside of the scrutiny of their boss, and can (for a fee) glimpse of Hadestown and could help me sift

taste a little of the life of the surface world, and the one reality from rumor.

place they can talk freely. Persephone insists that she's

found a crack on the wall, and that she is doing the The people of Hadestown, she told me, did

workers a kindness by giving them a reminder of nature, have all of their material needs taken care

life, and the surface world. However, this reminder acts as of–but nothing more. She described a town of

kind of narcotic and oblivion. Perhaps her act of rebellion people moving in perfect unison, every swing

is defying her husband and his ordered world, or perhaps of their hammers timed together like a dance,

she is unknowingly helping Hades' Town by anesthetizing every step as synchronized as a Falkovnian
the discontented workers. military drill. They never laughed, or spoke,
or even looked at one another, but worked as
On the Road to Hell there was a Lightning silently and efficiently as a hive of insects.
Rail line... I could not help but imagine Hades as a
necromancer commanding an army of mindless
One obvious source for this Domain is the world of undead servants, but Alcestis assured me
Eberron. Eberron would provide the more "technological"
that the people of Hadestown were still
elements of Hades' Town- trains, factories, power plants,
alive; they simply lacked everything that made
etc. Eberron also has a conception of the Fey that can fit
the story of Hadestown very well. In this version, Hades' living worthwhile. Mr. Hades tended to them
Town began as a Feyspire of Eberron. It was ruled by a as meticulously as a clockmaker tending to
pair of Archfey, Hades and Persephone. Like all realms of the gears in his devices, but their time in
the Fey world of Thelanis, this realm and its rulers were Hadestown left them as mindless as those
the manifestation of a fairytale, an ancient and archetypal gears as well.
story. In this case, one of the oldest and most primordial
stories, the story of the seasons- summer and winter, life
and death, the cycle of the seed and the sickle. However,
the story got corrupted. The Fey realms of Thelanis and
Mr. Hades
their Archfey reflect stories in the material world, change
those stories, and are changed by them. Perhaps Hades' But for half of the year with Persephone gone/His
heart grew to jealousy and possessiveness when the loneliness moves in him, crude and black/He thinks
mortals learned to use technology and magic to master the of his wife in the arms of the sun/And jealousy
natural world, or perhaps his jealousy caused the mortals
to seek that mastery. Either way, Hades broke his deal with fuels him and feeds him and fills him/With doubt
Persephone, and the Feyspire of Hades' Town was drawn that she'll ever come back.
into Ravenloft.
Mr. Hades truly loves his wife, the lady Persephone, and
You also have the option of dropping the "Ravenloft she truly loves him. However, year by year the time
Domain" element of this setting and just having it a
she spent away from him weighed heavier and heavier
corrupted Feyspire in Eberron. Perhaps people from all
over Eberron, particulary the poor and desperate, hear
on his heart. One year he came after only five months,
tales of the abundent work and food available in the breaking his own agreement with her, the deal that their
underground city of the Archfey Hades. The nice thing marriage was based on. In violating his own moral code
with doing it as a pure Eberron setting is that you can do and harming those "Up Top" for his own selfishness and
a full redemption arc for Hades if you wish, as he's not envy, he brought their realm into Ravenloft. Now, he
trapped in Ravenloft Darklord narrative stasis. keeps her almost the entire year, heedless of the emotional
toll it takes on Persephone or the physical toll it takes on
the world above. While she is gone, he drowns his fear

WONDERFUL WORLD OF DARKLORDS | HADESTOWN

5
 and jealousy in work, expanding Hades' Town, increasing Mr. Hades' Torment
his wealth, and attempting to secure his kingdom. He
is projecting that same jealousy and fear of loss into his The more he has, the more he holds/The greater
wealth and his kingdom, building more and more defenses the weight of the world on his shoulders/See how
around them to attempt to protect himself from losing he labors beneath that load/Afraid to look up, and
them.
afraid to let go.

So he keeps his head low, he keeps his back bending/

He's grown so afraid that he'll lose what he
owns/But what he doesn't know is that what he's
defending/Is already gone.

Hades loves Persephone, and is jealous and lonely when

she is gone. He is terrified that one autumn she will refuse
to come back, leaving him alone. And so he tries to exert
Mr. Hades' Powers and Dominion greater and greater control over her, keeping her close to
him. But in doing so he makes Persephone miserable, and
King of shadows/King of shades/Hades was king resentful of him. This is turn makes him resentful of her,
of the Underworld. poisoning the time they have together. The same vicious
cycle applies to his kingdom. He seeks absolute control
Mr. Hades has stats similar to a Winter Eladrin. He over the workers in Hades' Town, but in doing so pushes
also has the following special powers stemming from his them to greater acts of rebellion and resistance, increasing
supernatural connection to the Domain. his sense of desperation for control.

Everything and everyone in Hadestown, I own/But I only Roleplaying Mr. Hades

buy what others choose to sell. If someone willingly signs
Trait. "I don't think we've met before/You're not from
a contract with Mr. Hades, he has mystical possession
around here, son/Don't know who the hell you are/ but I
of their very self. They can not leave Hades' Town
can tell you don't belong."
without his permission. Furthermore, Mr. Hades can
Ideal. "Give them a piece and they'll take it all/Show them
cast Command targeting them, and they do not get a
the crack and they'll tear down the wall/ Lend them an ear
Wisdom Save.
and the Kingdom will fall."
Bond. "Take it from a man no longer young/If you want to
Everyone, come look and see/ What becomes of trespassers/
hold a woman, son/Hang a chain around her throat/Made
with no respect for property! Mr. Hades is surrounded by
of many carat gold."
minions who will drop everything to fulfill his commands,
Flaw. "Son, I too, was left behind/Turned on one too
including heedlessly attacking anyone he tells them to
many times/Now I sing a different song/One I can
attack.
depend upon/A simple tune, a steady beat/The music
of machinery."
In the mine, the mill, and the machinery/Your place on the
assembly line/Replaces all your memories. Those who are
contracted to Mr. Hades are only useful to him as workers,
interchangeable machine parts for the great engines of
Hades' Town. Over time, their memories fade until their
entire existence is their labor.

Mr. Hades is a mighty king/Must be making some mighty

big deals/Seems like he owns everything. Hades is the literal
god of wealth, and has access to astronomical financial
resources with all political, social, and economic power
that entails.

Closing the Borders. When Mr. Hades closes the borders

of the entire Domain, terrible storms drive any travelers
back to the interior. He can also close the borders of the
underground city of Hades' Town, sealing the tunnels so
that only those with train tickets can get in. There is a
back way that he can not close, fraught with dangers. This
represents his lack of control and serves as a manifestation
of his torment. Mr. Hades can, however, stop anyone who
has signed a contract from leaving the underground city
without permission.

WONDERFUL WORLD OF DARKLORDS | HADESTOWN

6
Adventures in Hades' Town Adventure Hooks for Hades' Town
It seemed that I had gathered as much Ain't no compass, brother, ain't no map/Just
information about Hadestown as was possible
a telephone wire and a railroad track/Keep
without visiting it personally, so I set about
preparing for the next leg of my journey.
on walkin' and don't look back/'Til you get to
I enjoyed one final meal in Olympus before the bottomland.
departing, and it is with great reluctance that
I admit that the blue-haired huckster Hades There are numerous reasons for PCs to come to Hades'
of this domain was correct: the lamb was Town. It's a center of industry and commerce, and so they
delicious. As I ate, three old Vistani women could come as part of a caravan delivering or receiving
wearing identical gray dresses and amber supplies. If you have a PC that is connected to nature such
jewelry sat across from me at the table. I as a Druid, the disruption of the seasons might call them
confess that at the time, nothing seemed odd to Hades' Town. Mr. Hermes is an Outsider, theoretically
about them joining me. able to travel to other parts of Ravenloft. Perhaps the PCs
meet him somewhere else, and he persuades them to come
“Alcestis didn’t tell you about the wall,” said to Hades' Town. Finally, plenty of people in Domains
the first of them across Ravenloft are desperate for safety and security.
“What wall?” I asked her. Perhaps an NPC the PCs previously befriended gets a
ticket to Hades' Town and the PCs have to travel there to
“Oh, none of them told you?” asked the second. rescue them.
“That’s what they’re working on down in
Hadestown. They’re building a wall, high and
thick. The wall keeps them free.”

“The wall keeps out the enemy,” said the third,

but her voice sounded like my own: the version
of my voice that I hear in my own mind, as my
own thoughts.

The wall keeps out the enemy…Suddenly, I saw

Hadestown in a new light. I have no need for
food or shelter, but Hadestown offered more
than that. Hadestown offered safety.

One of the old women began toying with her

amber jewelry, and I could see, flashing
in her hand, a pair of coins. The coins for
the ferryman. The coins that would take me
somewhere with a strong wall to protect me, Hades' Town Adventures
to keep the death and darkness and fear away
from me forever…
You're on the lam, you’re on the run/Don't give
your name, you don't have one/And don't look no
My ring of protection went cold on my finger, one in the eye/That town'll try to suck you dry.
and I saw something dark and dead moving
under the skin of the women’s faces. The three The core adventure of Hades' Town is the classical,
women. The three witches. mythological descent into the underworld. The PCs have
to get to Hades' Town (presumably through the secret
With a scream, I leaped to my feet and hurled back way). That dangerous back way can serve as a classic
an eldritch blast at them, but they were already Dungeon Crawl for more combat-focused players. The
gone, their laughter echoing in the air around PCs will journey there for two main possible reasons.
me. I didn’t realize that
I had summoned my They need to get someone back from Hades' Town, or
form of dread until I saw the inn’s patrons they need to get Persephone to come back "Up Top" to
cowering in terror. Flushing, I grabbed my restore the seasons. Or you could do the full Hades' Town
things and made a hasty retreat. and have both of those reasons interconnected. One way
to connect the two stories would be to have the PCs trying
to bring back spring by rescuing Persephone from Hades'
Town--but in so doing, they threaten Hades, causing
him to take one of their loved ones as retribution. In this
imagining, Hades would have taken Eurydice as deliberate
revenge for Orpheus's plan to "bring back spring"
(which, to him, can only mean stealing his wife for more
of the year).

WONDERFUL WORLD OF DARKLORDS | HADESTOWN

7
 This is why we don't have Orpheus and Eurydice in this By all reports, Hadestown is a trap. Mr. Hades
Domain setting: because the PC's job is to be "the Orpheus" builds his massive wall to protect his wife and
in their version of the story. his “children” from the outside world–which
means protecting them from leaving him. I can
Other than the Dungeon Dive descent, Hades' Town is only hope those disgusting witches do not
going to be primarily a social/roleplay encounter. The PCs follow me on the next leg of my journey, but
won't belong there and will draw immediate attention of from what I have heard, there is little room for
the authorities and eventually Mr. Hades. One important their brand of vague mysticism in the lights,
location for those unauthorized PCs is "Our Lady of the machines, and chaos of San Fransokyo.
Underground. It's the one place they can hide safely and
without scrutiny, and is an easy way to connect them regards,
to Persephone. Whatever the PCs motivation for the
descent, it will eventually lead to a confrontation with

D
Mr. Hades. This is, as mentioned, a social/emotional
.
encounter- the PCs can;t beat him into submission. They
have to convince him to let them leave with whatever
their goal was. Perhaps they appeal to his empathy by
reminding him of his love for Persephone, or perhaps they
find some deal that appeals to the businessman in him.

Once again, you can go full Hadestown/mythology

and set the "don't look back" condition. In that case,
inform the PCs of this and run the journey back with 2-3 Now Dani was a frightened young girl/
Wisdom saves. If so, those saves should represent the But hid her fear down where it wouldn’t show/
Fates whispering to the PCs and tempting them to look
She tried to pit herself against the world/
back by playing on their flaws and self doubts. The PCs
should understand that the Wisdom Saves represent an To show it couldn’t scare her anymore.
opposition to an active enemy, and not simply being forced
to roll what should normally be a roleplaying decision ("do
you look back or not?") which will hopefully help them not
feel frustrated if they fail those saves.

WONDERFUL WORLD OF DARKLORDS | HADESTOWN

8
Until now, I have only learned of Hadestown from is the design of these misty prisons, he craves the
bardic ballads and legends. Frustratingly, there has same things.
been sparse evidence of its existence. No doubt,
the little Eladrin keeps the truth of his empire
close to his chest. For who among the living would
willingly delve into the depths of Hadestown if
they knew the truth?

My servant is resourceful, or perhaps simply

fortunate, to encounter a soul that escaped Mr.
Hades’s grasp and was brave enough to share her
tale. One would think that mindless undead would
be preferable for the purpose of continuous,
remedial labor required to construct a massive
wall. Afterall,A horde of zombies care naught for
worldly comforts.

Yet, Hades utilizes people that must eat, drink, and

waste countless hours each evening in deep sleep to
survive. Perhaps he requires one in possession of a
soul to power some unseen element of his empire.
Or he simply desires control and power over those
beneath him. The wall, as my servant astutely
observed, is to keep his subjects within Hadestown
and the symbol of Hades control. As long as he can
force them to build it, his ‘children’ cannot leave
him.

Hadestown is far from the only realm within the

Mists that is lorded over by an insecure overgrown
child unable to let go of the one they claim to
‘love’. Bah! Hades may distract himself with
colorful songbirds, but he shall never realize that
it is the warmth of Persephone that his people
crave, not the cold grip of winter. Of course, as

WONDERFUL WORLD OF DARKLORDS | HADESTOWN

9
 Other Works: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/410729/The-
Headless-Horseman-of-Barovia?affiliate_id=241770
This domain write-up is based on Episode 18B of our
podcast "Wonderful World of Darklords." It's a monthly
That was a project that came out of the podcast, and we
podcast where we adapt a Disney movie into a Ravenloft
did another project for our "Treasure Planet" episode.
Domain of Dread. You can find it on spotify, apple
"The Raven Nebula" is a conversion of Ravenloft into
podcasts, youtube, and most podcatchers.
a Spelljammer setting with a number of plot hooks for
sailing the Astral Mists.
https://redcircle.com/shows/the-wonderful-
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/418215/The-
world-of-darklords
Raven-Nebula?affiliate_id=241770
https://www.youtube.com/@WonderfulWorldofDarklord
If you’re the kind of person running spooky adventures,
and you know kids, there’s a good chance you’re in the
For the podacst, I've written an adventure based on the
market for Halloween and spooky stuff that’s kid friendly.
Toy Story Trilogy, available here.
I’d like to pitch Rachel’s amazing Halloween Mother
Goose book.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/450987/To-Barovia-
and-Beyond-A-Story-of-Toys?affiliate_id=241770
https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Ghost-Nursery-
Rhymes-Monsters/dp/1585363928/
For more "adapted media into horror gaming." I’ve
adapted John Carpenter's 1980 nautical horror film “The
For more D and D specific spooky kids stuff, Rachel and I
Fog” for three adventure settings. Something in the Fog
wrote a guide to children’s horror games. We go through
is setting neutral, Fog Over Saltmarsh for Ghosts of
each of the “Genres of Horror” from Van Richten’s Guide
Saltmarsh and Fog over Barovia for Curse of Strahd.
to Ravenloft and discuss how to adapt them for young
players. We look at examples of each genre from books,
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/387249/Something-
shows, or movies of children’s horror, and then discuss
in-the-Fog?affiliate_id=241770
adapting a couple famous children’s horror stories into D
and D adventures. This is going to very useful for running
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/359994/Fog-over-
any of these Disney Ravenloft adventures for kids.
Saltmarsh?view_as_pub=1
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/369751/Ravenloft-
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/359997/Fog-Over-
Gives-Me-Goosebumps-Genres-of-Horror
Barovia?view_as_pub=1
On the topic of kid’s horror, I did a guide to running a
Speaking of John Carpenter, I also adapted the original
more young player friendly version of Curse of Strahd
1978 "Halloween" for two settings. "You Can't Kill the
with guidelines on horror-themed games for young players
Boogeyman" is setting neutral and "Barovian Boogeyman"
(ages 8-12) called “Strahd gives me Goosebumps.” It can
is for Curse of Strahd.
be useful for running with adults if you have some players
who are not comfortable with all the child murder.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/385363/You-Cant-
Kill-the-Boogeyman?affiliate_id=241770
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/348639/Strahd-
Gives-Me-Goosebumps?view_as_pub=1
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/385365/Barovian-
Boogeyman?affiliate_id=241770
Speaking of Curse of Strahd I’ve also got a re-write of
Death House for Curse of Strahd on the DMs guild.
A final note on John Carpenter, I also adapted "Prince
It’s made to be a better introduction for new players.
of Darkness" (1987) for two settings. Setting Neutral
It’s a totally new, tighter, less lethal ghost story (the
("You Will Not Be Saved" and Strixhaven ("Prince of
chambermaid is the stepmother is the murderer is the
Annihilation."
boss ghost, no cult, no dungeon) with ghost PC rules and
resurrection at the end.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/409219/You-Will-
Not-Be-Saved?affiliate_id=241770
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/311769/Another-
Death-Another-House
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/409215/Prince-of-
Annihilation?affiliate_id=241770
Happy Gaming!
Just to prove I don't only do John Carpenter, I adapted
the classic story "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" into two
adventures. Setting Neutral ("Sleepy Hollow") and Curse
of Strahd ("Headless Horseman of Barovia").

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/411750/Sleepy-
Hollow?affiliate_id=241770

WONDERFUL WORLD OF DARKLORDS | HADESTOWN

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