Headless Horseman Good or bad adventure choice?

[jimjams]

I'me currently running my players through the Grand Conjunction adventures and was looking for a small adventure to run for them while they have a break from fulfilling prophecys. I like the idea of a Horseman adventure but having trouble bringing the Horseman to life and not making the adventure too large.

Suggestions greatly appreciated.

[Lost Heretic]

Well, the Horseman is already in the "prelude" of From the Shadows. Perhaps you could replace that scene with a longer scenario in the Winding Road?

EDIT: I definitely misread this. If you're looking for inspiration, there's a Headless Horseman short story in Tales of Ravenloft.

[thekristhomas]

Well if you're running the Hexad, then the Horseman features in the early section of FtS.

Generally though, it can be tricky using the Headless Horseman as written in a non-TPK way, he is a powerful foe.

My suggestion is to take a leaf from Azalin's book and have somebody else gain control over him, this allows you to change the emphasis of the adventure away from defeating the Horseman and place it on discovering and neutralising whoever might be controlling him.

How you would go about controlling him? Possession of his head seems like a likely method, as the quest to regain his head is what drives him. Another way might be to identify others as being connected to his death somehow, vengeance being his other motivating factor.

In terms of how to introduce him to your PCs, I would advise the indirect approach, have someone else be the target. By having an NPC be the target of the Headless Horseman's wrath you allow the PCs to face him in combat, see his near unstoppable might, but be able to survive as he pretty much ignores them.

For myself, I would throw the Horseman at a villain NPC first, maybe even one that the PCs have been tracking or a recurring villain, thus when the PCs fail to stop him, no real harm done.

Next, I'd warn the PCs somehow that the Horseman will strike again, maybe a fortune telling, but if that's too cliché, maybe those targeted by the Horseman are marked for death, in a manner the PCs would recognise from the first encounter, this would give them some time to investigate, try and find a link between the first victim and the marked man.

If this is not enough, then the Horseman should again attack but this time something should give some greater clue to the person controlling him.

Finally, a PC or important NPC ally gets marked making it vital that the PCs neutralise whoever is controlling the Horseman.

Depending on what you need, these could be split into a series of interludes as IIRC the Horseman only hunts during the sickle moon.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

The Horseman and his domain got a 4e rewrite in Dungeon Magazine #174. I regret to say that I haven't actually read it yet all the way through, but it's by Ari Marmell, who knows his Ravenloft well.

[The Lesser Evil]

You don't necessarily have to have the actual Headless Horseman to have a Headless Horseman adventure. You could deal with the aftermath of the Horseman's attack, helping the deads' survivors pick up the pieces or figure out why the dead were targeted. Perhaps his victims become a unique kind of headless undead that seek to take the heads of the living and claim them for their own. Or heck, a previous victim might pay the party to find his/her lost head.

And of course fellow decapitator and head enthusiast Jacqueline Montarri might want to learn more about the Horseman and if he knows where her real head is.