Wally DM

This Is Halloween

It is the spooky season and today I’ll provide you with a couple of Japanese Yokai to add a dash of scary to your game. I won’t be giving you a direct one-shot but I will provide some example ideas to work with. I may be open to creating a one-shot in a Japanese setting if enough interest is shown. In this article, I will be providing you two homebrew monsters you can use for your games. Bonus points if you know what standard D&D monsters these are based on, leave a comment with your guesses. I do provide links to yokai.com so you can learn more about the featured yokai.

This Is Thriller

https://yokai.com/teketeke/

First off is a yokai called a Teke Teke. This is a famous zombie-like creature that has many urban legends about it in Japan. Teke Teke is an onomatopoeia sound involving the sound of fingernails on asphalt. The above link will give you more in-depth details but some stories speak of a woman that was murdered on some desolate road.

This yokai is supposed to be way faster than the speed I gave it. If you want a speed variant in your game, you can make that change.

The Teke Teke makes for the perfect ambush to throw at the party. Normally this yokai will only attack at night, but it can also attack during the day.

An easy example can happen when your party is traveling on any road. It doesn’t need to be in Japan but flavor it to your needs. Have the party do Perception checks to notice the faintest hint of “teke” sound. Space it out and let the uneasiness of the unknown fuel their imagination. If no one has the Alert feat, you can then ambush the players with a couple of these yokai.

Spooky Scary … Centipedes?

https://yokai.com/oomukade/

The second yokai is one found in any forest or mountain. These are giant centipedes that are very destructive to the environment. This pest gives you many opportunities for a quest.

Here is the second statblock you can use. This is a standard version of this creature, but you can add a variation that uses Lair actions with tremors, earthquakes or other similar attacks and spells. You can also increase the amount of hp to make this a “boss” creature.

Here you can have this take place in a forest or cave. The party will see all the “silk” around and may mistake it for spider silk. If a player can do a nature check, they can learn that this isn’t a spider. I didn’t add it in the statblock but the silk is flammable.

A Tale Of Yokai

These two yokai are creatures that I’ve used in my current campaign. I have many other yokai I’ve made along with other cryptids planned out. The game takes place mostly in Japan but now the party is being led to other countries to deal with things.

If you find these creatures interesting, I can release more in the future. Japan has so many fun cryptids and folklore to make a campaign from. This is an example of how you can find inspiration from these old stories that really bring fun to Halloween.

Please leave comments here or on WallyDM’s discord to give suggestions or give ideas. Happy Halloween!