Pickpocket Tales
The House Always Wins
Premieres November 1, 2026November 1, 2026
A vampire lord invites three adventurers onto the 917th season of his game show. Win five games and claim any prize from the cabinet. Lose, and you become dinner. There's just one catch: the host can't lie about the rules. A homebrew D&D story with a ready-to-run vampire game show one-shot for 5e.
Free DM kit
Drops with the episode
The Host's Oath and the Blood Meter, Lord Valerian Voss (CR 13, with legendary actions), all five games with their win conditions, penalties and answers, and printable handouts: the contestant contract, the house inventory, guest cards and Traitor's Table envelopes. Seven pages, 2024 rules.
Free DM kit
Steal it for your table
The Host's Oath and the Blood Meter, Lord Valerian Voss (CR 13, with legendary actions), all five games with their win conditions, penalties and answers, and printable handouts: the contestant contract, the house inventory, guest cards and Traitor's Table envelopes. Seven pages, 2024 rules.
Steal This
- The host must follow his own rules. He could kill the party outright, but he can't lie about the rules or the official game records. Make it magic, not a gentleman's agreement. And keep the games fair, even when the vampires aren't: clear victory conditions, clues the players can find, and failure that builds up, so no one dies to a single bad roll.
- Reward the cheaters. Well, the clever ones. If your players find a loophole, or a spell you didn't plan for, let it work. These vampires worship the rules, not your intended solution.
- The Traitor's Table. Give every player a sealed envelope, and tell them someone may have been offered a deal. Nobody has. A unanimous, accurate verdict wins. And if anyone asks whether an offer was really made, the host has to tell the truth.
- Hide the prize in plain sight. Put the manor's deed on the prize list from the very first scene. Your players don't have to take it. What matters is that the rules support whatever clever choice they make.
- Scale the horror. For lower levels, make the games the threat, and swap death for blood loss or a prison cell. For tougher parties, add deadlier games and let the audience interfere. And if your party decides to fight the host? Have his stat block ready.
- All five games, the host's stat block, the contestant contract, and the House Inventory.
Inside the kit
Chapters
The DM kit includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2 ("SRD 5.2") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.