For the 3^rd week of October, I have another encounter that is perfectly suited to fill a Halloween game night. With a few minor tweaks, there is really nothing that would stop you from using this at other times of the year.

This is typical of something that I might throw together for an in-between session, on the heels of the party completing an adventure and deciding what to do next. This does not require a great deal of prep and works great for times when your session may need to be shorter than usual. It is also handy to have something like this ready for times when some of your players will be absent.

The Festival

The premise here is simple. The party stumbles onto a harvest festival being held on the outskirts of a settlement. This is a joyous time and the whole community has turned out to celebrate a bountiful harvest. The key to this type of encounter is to really sell to your players that there is a lot going on.

The are a number of activities for your party to explore but I suggest that you weave in bits from your own campaign. This is a great place for the party to bump in to an NPC that they haven’t seen in quite a while. Someone might notice them from their previous exploits. Perhaps some lackeys from the BBEG turn up to spoil the fun. There are all sorts of possibilities.

Your party should hear the sounds of the festival as they approach. Even if you do not normally incorporate music into your sessions, I think you should consider it for this encounter. Simply playing an appropriate track in the background will go a long way toward setting the stage. There are countless options but in the past I have used this Joyful Festival track from The Ambiance Channel on YouTube. They have a lot of great stuff and are worth a listen.

There will be a number of food and drink vendors at the event. Be sure to at least jot down a few different culinary delights that might tempt your party members. If you want to go the extra mile and actually prepare something for your players, I have included some suggestions in this post.

The Hedge Maze

The main attraction of the festival is the hedge maze. Depending on the size of your party, either break them up or start each member at one of the 4 different starting areas. Once you are ready, they will race to see which group or individual can be the first to make it to the center.

Have each group roll for initiative and from there I would run it like an old school dungeon crawl. Starting with the first group, describe what they see, up until the need to make their first decision. For instance, “The path goes east for fifteen feet and then turns south. You now have to decide whether to proceed to the west or east.” While they are deciding, move on to the next group and continue on like this until someone makes their way to the center.

The winning team will be presented with:

• The Medallion of Autumn’s Grace: This intricately designed bronze medallion is adorned with autumn leaves and acorns. When worn, it grants its wearer the ability to cause colorful autumn leaves to whirl around them once per day as a bonus action.

Puppet Show

There is a raucous puppet show set up in the center area of the hedge maze. There are a couple fun things that I like to do with this. The puppet show can be used as an opportunity to lay down some foreshadowing for future events in your story. Perhaps it helps to illustrate just how downtrodden the people are by the BBEG of your campaign. Alternatively, you might use the puppet show to tell the story of some local legend or some bit of lore that you want your players to have.

The other thing I occasionally do is have the puppet show actually be telling the story of some of the party’s exploits. This becomes extra entertaining if the puppets accidentally mess up the story in such a way that it embarrasses some of the party members.

Apple Bobbing

Also located in the center of the hedge maze is an apple bobbing station. Full disclosure, I have seen oodles of takes on this over the years. I do not want to copy anyone but the easiest thing that comes to mind would be to give each player 5 attempts at a DC 12 dexterity check. Every success indicates that the character successfully grabbed an apple with their teeth.

The character with the most apples at the end of the contest will win:

• 3 Packets of Pumpkin Spice: All nonmagical food and drink sprinkled with one of these spice packets will be rendered free of poison and disease.

The Hatter & Haberdasher

I know that this seems incredibly mundane but trust me on this one. Yes, your players could potentially buy a hat or new clothing pretty much every time they are in a town or city. No, these are not magical hats or clothing.

However, unless you run with a group consisting solely of jaded power gamers, give this a shot. Describe some fanciful hats and garments. Create a colorful NPC, who is hawking his wares and I will bet that you hook at least one of your players who suddenly becomes interested in some new finery.

The Portrait Artist

This one is more of a slow burn but it really pays off in the end. I have done this twice now and it was a hit on both occasions.

A skilled artist calls out to the party and offers to create a portrait, either of them individually or as a group. The artist explains that they only need the party to pose long enough to make some charcoal sketches. Once that is complete, they will work on the piece over the following weeks and produce it for the party once completed.

I have used this as a great opportunity to commission an actual picture of the party from an online artist (of course I do not tell them this at the time). When I present it to them a few sessions later, it’s usually right around the holidays and everyone gets a big kick out of it.

The Tattoo Artist

While some systems feature magical tattoos that enable various abilities, this is purely mundane. However, much like with the clothing options above, I find that this is a hit. Presented with the idea of getting tattoos for their characters, players often take the bait. I enjoy seeing what they com up with, regardless of whether they opt for something to make them look fierce or something in remembrance of a fallen comrade.

Fortune Teller

No Halloween themed harvest festival encounter would be complete without a fortune teller. You can go as deep with this on as you like. If you want to use props, a quick Google search should yield plenty of ideas for using a deck of playing cards, tarot cards, or even something more customized. Alternatively, you could just have the fortune teller use a crystal ball or simply “feel” the spirits.

I like to have fortunes ready for each player ahead of time. Fortunes do not need to be accurate; it’s all in good fun.  However, I have found it best to weave in little bits of the story while leaving things vague enough to allow the players to draw their own conclusions.

Conclusion

Those are just some ideas that you could include in a Harvest Festival encounter. Have you ever done anything like this? What else would you add to the mix? Leave me a note in the comments.

That is all for this week. Two more weeks until I head up to the Irvington Halloween Festival in Indianapolis, IN! Thank you for taking the time to stop by and have a great week!

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