Halucinogenic Grain

[impworks]

I just read this BBC article Pont-Saint-Esprit poisoning: Did the CIA spread LSD?and obviously its a bit too modern for Ravenloft but it could make for an interesting inspiration for an adventure. Pretty much any of the more civilized domains could be affected. Not sure why but an outbreak in Falkovnia or Demetilieu seem the most interesting.

Maybe a merchant selling infected grain during a shortage for profit could make for an interesting complication to an otherwise ordinary adventure. The merchant could be doing so accidentally or deliberately.

Alternatively a fiend of some variety traveling across the land who poisons the local food as it goes could be interesting. The PCs could be hunting it based on reports of incidents or it could be a beneficial NPC traveling with the PCs (maybe a healer?) leaving chaos behind them till one day the angry mob/troops come looking for them.

[Deewun]

Ooo, mix it with Children of the Corn! A fiend, trapped in a plot of land, and is infection/possessing the people who eat the grain/corn/whatever that is grown on that infected plot of land!

Cool find, lots of neat ideas here.

[The Lesser Evil]

Some theories posit that the craziness that caused the Salem Witch trials were caused by the ergot fungus, although others believe this to be erroneous since the fungus would be much more widespread. In Ravenloft such a scenario would be ripe for the picking, can you imagine another witch hunt or inquisition n Tempest or Nidala being spawned by an outbreak of these hallucinations?

The initial infestation and its wide effects need not be of purposeful or supernatural origin (sometimes mundane and accidental bad things just happen). If you wanted to include a supernatural element, well, superstition has a way of achieving a life of its own in Ravenloft (see the bogeyman, for instance.)

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Well, Falkovnia is a known cesspool of disease AND a breadbasket of the Core. Coincidence?

Actually, there was an apocryphal RL article a while back that posed biowarfare using Drakov's grain.

[impworks]

I like the idea of the witch hunt or inquisition in Tempest or Nidala. One of Drakov's minions attempting to soften up a neighbour for invasion with tainted grain could be fun.

I'm not sure why (and its the wrong sort of horror) but I can see something like this working for a John Windhamish scenario with a village.

[Sareau]

This event-ergot tainted grain-has happened perhaps a handful of times a century. While Drakov is an example of someone who'd try and profit off it, bear in mind it accidentally happening is just as good an adventure-getting through a town where everyone's actively hallucinating could be an evening in itself, especially if Terror Tracks are adhered to.
Probably happens all the time in Borca...

[HuManBing]

Well, Falkovnia is a known cesspool of disease AND a breadbasket of the Core. Coincidence?

Not coincidence, and very likely correlation. Areas of fertile ground not only yield up enough grain for human existence, but with agriculture also supports a significant herd and pet population.

Having humans in such close contact with animal species raises the chance of epidemic bacteria and viruses mutating into human-threatening strains. China and Egypt historically had huge agricultural territories, along with a very broad range of domesticated animals. Both had legendary plagues (the Black Death, though famously accountable for killing between a third and a half of Europeans, came out of Central Asia or China).

This sucks for the immediate populace at Ground Zero of the plague, but it actually strengthens the population in future generations, who will be resistant to the disease. This will give them a major advantage over cultures that have never encountered it - see Pizarro and Cortez in South America, depopulating vast swathes of Aztec and Inca states with influenza and other common colds.