Horror's Harvest sequel idea

[Satyrwyld]

In my 2E campaign, I'm doing a highlights-of-Ravenloft-chronology-tour, focusing on the Conjunction and Van Richten's career. The PCs are happy to be periodically joined by the famous hunter as they lack a thief PC, and his latest visit was to the old Dungeon module Horror's Harvest, to help deal with the number of traps therein. For those not familiar, the plot revolves around a doppleganger plant and the ensuing fear and paranoia it engenders.

Since the adventure ends with ominous foreshadowing in the form of a meteor shower implied to be more doppleganger plant seeds, I was thinking of running a sequel. Van Richten contacts his comrades, warning them he has discovered another plant, this time in Darkon, and backed up by other alien vegetation in addition to humanoid slaves. He attempted to destroy it, but his companions were lost and he was driven off before he could kill it. In desperation, and against his better judgment, he has also contacted Azalin, and the two of them agree this is not something that can be allowed to continue. Azalin has once more granted VR control of a group of undead to clear out the infestation and return the village to its rightful master, but VR would be more comfortable with some living allies backing him up, particularly some that have faced this threat before and beaten it.

The adventure becomes a combination of resource management - Azalin's bequeathed forces are not infinite - against point defense, trying to take out key structures, defenses, and mind-slaves with minimal losses. Yes, it's a fight where the undead try to plow through killer gardens to secure the fate of the brains of the people inside...

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wait for it...

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I've titled the adventure "Zombies vs Plants."

Happy April Fool's everyone!

[Joël of the FoS]

Great idea. You got me until the appearance of zombies. I was thinking "this is really weird"

But a sequel to this adventure is a great idea

[De Montour]

I absolutely loved Horror's Harvest and think that, despite this being your April Fools prank, the ideas mooted are fantastic.

I haven't managed to lay my hands on a copy of CoS yet, but I reckon that the village of Delmunster would be easily reskinned as a Barovian location, rather than a Falkovnian one. Perhaps in the Svalich Woods to the south of the Luna River(?).

Thull Arksum might be reimagined as a Thaani, nervously watching the skies for the return of his previous masters.

Has anyone made an attempt to Stat the Doppelgänger Plant for 5ed?

I am also considering 'a visit to Granny's House', based on the Gray Jester/Green Hag combo from Heroes of Horror.(3.5ed) I'm wondering if the tropes explored in that little adventure are covered elsewhere in CoS? (old Bonegrinder?). I'm actually thinking that the Gray Jester and a handful of Bleak One children might, in fact, be the lure that brings my PCs through the mists and into Barovia.

[Dark Angel]

I absolutely loved Horror's Harvest and think that, despite this being your April Fools prank, the ideas mooted are fantastic.

I haven't managed to lay my hands on a copy of CoS yet, but I reckon that the village of Delmunster would be easily reskinned as a Barovian location, rather than a Falkovnian one. Perhaps in the Svalich Woods to the south of the Luna River(?).

That's exactly what I did. I put it in Barovia (near Krezk) and used the adventure as a home town for the campaign. I just kept thinking, "Just make it to 5th level and then they can do whatever they want to this place". It really helped when they got to know the townsfolk better and had an easier time realizing something was wrong. The only real change I made was the knocking down the number of soldiers and turning them into militia (a father and two sons). I integrated the PCs into the town, but the only actual one was the kid of the smelly old crazy person in town.

[Joël of the FoS]

When I DMed HH, it was set in Mordent. Went very well, it was fun!

[Satyrwyld]

I absolutely loved Horror's Harvest and think that, despite this being your April Fools prank, the ideas mooted are fantastic.

To be fair, the first paragraph of my post is completely true, and I came up with the sequel idea as a legitimate thing to do to my players. I thought "what if the Dop Plant took over a werewolf or vampire... like a member of the Kargat?" which proceeded to an image of Azalin sending a swarm of undead to reclaim his town, and that led to "well, I've got my April Fool's Ravenloft idea for this year."

[Garudos Celestar]

I haven't managed to lay my hands on a copy of CoS yet, but I reckon that the village of Delmunster would be easily reskinned as a Barovian location, rather than a Falkovnian one. Perhaps in the Svalich Woods to the south of the Luna River(?).

Thull Arksum might be reimagined as a Thaani, nervously watching the skies for the return of his previous masters.

Delmunster never made much sense in Falkovnia anyway - it never acknowledged any of the themes of the domain (Where are the Talons?) I like the idea of connecting Thull Arksum to the Thaani, but I always felt the most appropriate domain for this adventure is Hazlan. The name "Delmunster" reminds me of Mulmaster in the Forgotten Realms (a city that has an alliance w/ Hazlik's homeland of Thay), and there have always been various subtle references to Hazlan being influenced by eldritch horror, thanks to its previous border w/ Bluetspur and the Nightmare Lands (and Immol is right across the border, if you want to get the Thaani involved).

Also, I point out this quote from the Book of Souls article on Abelhous Nicholsi: "...until the year 743 when reports of a meteor shower in Hazlan, led Abelhous to led a university expedition to attempt to locate the cryptobotanical legend, the doppleganger plant." This adventure totally needs to be set in Hazlan.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Wow, you got me.... and yet, I agree this could be a great adventure! Sometimes inspiration comes from unlikely places. I love Van Richten, I love Azalin, I love Horror's Harvest, and I love the "enemies must work together" trope, so you really got your chocolate in my peanut butter, so to speak.

Rather than a bunch of mindless zombies, or in addition to said zombies, I'd add in some Kargat vampires or other intelligent undead. It would be an interesting dynamic of the PCs trying to save everyone, and the Kargat just trying to kill the Dopp Plant, no matter the cost in innocent lives.