16 D&D Horror Plot Hooks to Spook Your Players

Published on October 15, 2024

Need some insidious inspiration to get your spooky juices flowing? Here are 16 plot hooks to write your own horror adventure!

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Write Your Own Horror Adventure

We have already covered horror in D&D, the different horror genres, and the best premade horror D&D adventures, but what if you want to write your own chilling tale to terrify your party?

Below are some random tables containing plot hooks for each tier of play in D&D 5e to get you started.

1st – 4th Level

Roll (d4) Plot Hook
1 The Bloody Butcher – On the anniversary of his death, the town’s late butcher arises from the grave and goes on a rampage.
2 Haunted House – The party is invited to a dinner party but the host never arrives. Instead, players begin to suspect that the house itself is alive and is trying to consume their souls.
3 Make Yourself At Home – After an accident on the road, the party awakens at a remote manor where their injuries are being tended to by a solitary host. Once the party tries to leave, they discover they are being held there against their will.
4 Guests for Dinner – During a party at a noble’s remote hunting lodge, guests mysteriously disappear before suspicious meals are served. 

5th – 10th Level

Roll (d4) Plot Hook
1 Monster Hunter – A town has been ravaged by a vicious beast during the last full moon. The party is sent into a nearby woods to track the beast as another full moon approaches.
2 The Mad Scientist – The party wakes up in a scientist’s lab after being experimented on, having their body mutated in the process. They must escape the dungeon-like lab filled with monstrosities. 
3 Who Ya Gonna Call? – The party is a group of experienced paranormal hunters that have been called to a large city overrun by the restless spirits of the damned.
4 Night of the Living Dead – A terrible curse has been placed on the people of a remote town. They now wander the countryside infecting other settlements with their curse. If they are not stopped, their numbers will grow out of control.

11th – 16th Level

Roll (d4) Plot Hook
1 The Scourge – The party arrives in a town to find that the residents are living in a state of fear. People have been disappearing in the night ever since the new governing family came into power.
2 The Devil Inside – The party is hired to find out what is going on with strange events happening in a rich merchant’s home. They begin to suspect that the family’s children have been possessed.
3 Dangers in the Dark – The party has heard of treasures located in a cave system nearby. When inside, they find strange cave paintings and evidence of an earlier expedition. Then they learn they are not alone. Underground predators inhabit the crevasses, and they have a taste for human flesh.
4 Nightmare Land – Residents of a town have begun having nightmares that come to life. The party is hired to find out what is at the center of this anomaly. 

17th-20th Levels

Roll (d4) Plot Hook
1 A Deadly Escape – The party has been hired to raid the tomb of a long-dead wizard. Getting through the maze-like tomb was easy enough, but when the party arrives in the center they discover that getting out is the hard part.
2 The World After – The party consists of a number of patients who were in comas. They all mysteriously awaken and find that the world has been overrun by a terrible disease that turns all who contract it into demons.
3 Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble – A witch has made a deal with the devil to return her two sisters to the mortal plane. Once there, they begin to cast a spell that will transport half of the world’s population to hell as repayment.
4 The Prophesized End – An elder god has been released from its prison. The sun is blotted from the sky, demons crawl through shattered earth, and the seas begin to boil.

Mike Bernier

Mike Bernier is the lead content writer and founder of Arcane Eye. He is a Adamantine best-selling author of Strixhaven: A Syllabus of Sorcery on DMs Guild and is a contributing author at D&D Beyond. Follow Mike on Twitter.

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