RETURN TO THE CARNIVAL OF THE DAMNED – SPECIAL RULES – GAMEHOLE CON 13 2026

THE DARK CARNIVAL OF THE DAMNED HAS RETURNED TO SPREAD ITS EVIL!

Use these special rules for The Return to the Carnival of the Damned American Cancer Society Charity event to save your children, drawn into the Carnival for the Damned for a dark purpose! The children left trails of waxed paper candy wrappers to the mouth of the now menacing Carnival. Surrounded with pink, billowing mist smelling of sickly sweet cotton candy, the cries of lost children shout and fall silent! These bonuses will help you to survive and save your children from the maligned forces within THE CARNIVAL OF THE DAMNED!

SPIRIT BONUSES

The more players gathered around the Carnival map in the quest will provide more powerful advantages from your spirits’ strength! Refer to the table below for your in-game bonuses. These will give your 0-levels hope in the faith of the neighbors! RECRUIT your fellow friends to the cause – donate to play at any time (Gamehole has allowed us to collect walk-up players!), or roam the Carnival for 30 minutes with our golden ticket character!

Crawlers CompetingBenefits to the cause!
5+1 to hit at all times, pay $1 to imbue spirit into your hit and effect as magical weapon against challenges!
10every player gets a +1 magic bonus (total) to hit and damage with the spirit imbued
15every player gets a +2 magic bonus (total) to hit and damage with the spirit imbued
18Additionally, all attacks and spells move up the die chain one, however, so do any fumbles

THE CURSE OF THE MONSTER (dUNGEON DWELLING CREATURES)

The Carnival plays host to many facets of evil. The repugnant forces have drawn creatures of darkness within its walls to inhabit the mist. These beings seek to Curse the scrappy 0-levels with their essence. Some characters walk into the Carnival with the Curse within their hearts, other will fall victim to their affliction and be twisted and transformed into a monster – can your characters use this Curse as a force for good?

We’ll be using Rugby Melee Games’ Dungeon Dwelling Creatures this year as our “avatar” aspect to give you advantages in defeating the masked evil behind the Carnival of the Damned. Push these depraved monsters to do good – but watch out: will the monster consume your questing peasant’s humanity? (Note: in the following, “Monster”, “Beast” and “Creature” are the same entity for rules purposes.)

Rules for the Calling on The Curse of the Monster

  • Spirit Check is rolled – Current Spirit Bonus (Personality Bonus) + Spirit Burn (As Spellburn – Minimum 1!), for a DC 13 Spirit Check, or a $5 donation will bring the Monster within into being automatically (Spirit Burn still required without Bind the Beast donation).
  • Ending the Personality Spiral – You may donate to bond the monster’s essence with your current character. (See Bound to the Beast donation) Your current character no longer needs to Spirit Burn to summon their beast. (But you may Spirit Burn for the bonus!) Your character gains a +3 Spirit Check bonus + Personality Bonus for calling your infused monster.
  • Length of Monster Possession – The spirit of the beast will overtake your mortal vessel! The creature will manifest with all its skills. The beast awakened by Spirit Check has a possession duration of 2 + 1d4 rounds, however, if you donated $5 to bring the Monster into being, you transform into the Monster for 6 rounds!
  • Maintaining Monster Possession – After the Creature’s time has ended, roll a Spirit Check (with the same requirements) with an additional +1 to the DC per additional round the Monster has been extended. A failed check breaks the connection unless a donation is given.
  • Maintain the Monster Possession Through Donation – If you fail to maintain the beast, you may give to the cause keep the Beast in your flesh! The donation schedule is as follows:
    • 1st round – $1 donation
    • 2nd round – $2 donation
    • 3rd round – $4 donation
    • 4th round – $8 donation
    • etc
  • The Beast Sleeps! – The Monster within will return in their fully restored form when you call another tranformation however, when you have reverted to your 0-level, you must wait a round to bring the Monster back.
  • Judge Meddling! – A donation of $5 from a Judge or other participant will give a -2 penalty to the Spirit Roll! An equal donation will negate this penalty!
  • The Beasts Remain – To maintain the momentum of the game, found Monsters remain with the party that has been Cursed should a controlling player need to leave.