The Snake Pit - A Vampire One-Shot Scenario

Arizona, 1999. A killer dust storm forces you to shelter at a run-down roadhouse casino. You barely make it in. If you're lucky, you'll barely make it out.

You and your crew of small-time vampire crooks barely escaped a robbery gone wrong, and the law is closing in. Then a killer dust storm turns the sky black.

With nowhere else to go, you hole up in the Powder Keg, a run-down casino and the only shelter for miles. But armed strangers inside have taken control. Turns out, the storm outside is the least of your worries.

Welcome to The Snake Pit.

What Is The Snake Pit?

The Snake Pit is a tense, system-neutral one-shot for vampire TTRPGs, built around roleplaying, bluffing, hard choices, and sudden violence. The adventure takes place over the course of one disastrous night in the summer of 1999.

Most of the action takes place inside one contained location. Think of it as a “bottle episode”, filled with tension and a lit fuse, ready to blow.

As the GM you'll get a loaded situation: a detailed location, a cast of characters with conflicting agendas, a ticking timeline of trouble (a.k.a., a clock), and a collection of event prompts to crank up the pressure whenever things get a little too cozy.

The adventure uses system-neutral guidance, so you can use the vampire RPG you already play, including Vampire: The Masquerade. Of course, I suggest my favorite vampire game: Bloodstarved, but any system where you play blood-sucking monsters will do. (Note: As the creator of Bloodstarved, I could be a little biased 😜).

A Casino Full of Trouble

The Powder Keg Casino is a pressure cooker packed with opportunities, hazards, and secrets. Outside, the storm tears at the building, threatening everyone's safety. Inside, every new problem shifts the balance of power.

The scenario includes GM tools to keep the pressure up:

• A timeline for what happens if the players do nothing
• Storm events that worsen as the night wears on
• Hostage events that force difficult choices
• Ongoing news reports that threaten to expose the players
• A flashback mechanic that lets you jump back in time while starting the action in media res

What's Included

Every pledge for The Snake Pit includes a complete, ready-to-run adventure designed to help the GM bring a tense, white-knuckle situation to the table.

The Snake Pit includes:

• Full-color, approximately 32-page adventure zine in US half-letter format
• Complete timeline of the night's events
• Maps and a detailed, room-by-room guide to the Powder Keg Casino
• Cast of distinctive NPCs with motives, fears, and roleplaying hooks
• Flashback rules and ready-made flashback prompts
• Escalation tables for the storm and the hostages
• News segments that tighten the net around the players
• Guidance for adjusting the scenario to different group sizes

I'll be doing the interior art for The Snake Pit. Expect a mixture of illustration and collage. Here's a sample of my work from Bloodstarved:

Rewards

• Digital Edition:The Snake Pit PDF and any digital unlocks.
• Print Edition: Everything in the Digital Edition, plus a full-color print copy.
• Retailer tier, 5 books: Friendly rates for our favorite local indie game stores

Outside the US – Print copies ship within the US for this campaign. International backers can pledge for the digital edition. We're working on a print-on-demand edition for international readers, planned after the campaign. Please get in touch and we'll let you know when it's available.

Add-ons

• Printed fold-out map: a full-color 11x17 print of the Powder Keg Casino map (US shipping)
• Pair it with the game that inspired it. Add Bloodstarved at a backer discount:
  • Bloodstarved print edition: $18 (normally $20)
  • Bloodstarved digital edition: $13 (normally $15)

About the Team

The Snake Pit is a creative collab between Michael Medaglia (Handbasket Games) and Dark Future, both based in Portland, Oregon.

Michael Medaglia/Handbasket Games, the writer/game-designer, brings the terror, moral ambiguity, and a sprinkle of twisted fun. Michael created Bloodstarved, the vampire TTRPG for which The Snake Pit was originally written.

Dark Future, the game store and independent publisher, brings the years of experience shipping tabletop games. Following campaigns for Bestial Hordes and Bloodstarved, Dark Future brings the practical expertise that turns a pledge into a finished book arriving at your door.

Content Warnings

Vampirism, hostage situations, alcohol consumption, blood, gore, and violence. We believe everyone should have fun at the table, and we encourage using safety tools, like lines and veils, an X card, etc.