Post/Author/DateTime	Post
saankiip 03-18-06, 03:49 AM	I am wanting to do a scary house/horror-type game for D&D and I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas for me to use/get inspiration from. Or has anyone run this type of game before? Maybe certain books to use? Thanks! SaanKiip
hawaiianbrian 03-18-06, 07:29 AM	I have an adventure I've run twice, now, and it always gets good results. If, by "good results," you mean "players getting freaked out." You could call it a "haunted house," because that's really what it is, even though it is a dungeon. The characters are part of an expedition put together by a bunch of dwarves who have been sent by the dwarven council to see if a particular anceint dwarfhold deep in a mountain can be reclaimed after a century sitting fallow. What they haven't told the characters is that a terrible curse befell the dwarfhold when a priest of the dwarven god was tempted to do something very evil for what he thought was a good reason. The exact reason is really up to you. But the net effect is that his actions caused the death of all the men, women, and children in the dwarfhold. His punishment by the gods was to be made into a huecuva and be forced to dwell in the earthquake-shattered ruins of his dwarfhold forever to contemplate his sin. All the other dwarves, in the meantime, all met their horrible ends simultaneously and their spirits joined into a horrible gigantic ghost. I used a modified version of the Caller in Darkness from the Psionics book, combined with the Allip from Monster Manual. But you need to make this thing HUGE and virtually unstoppable, far beyond what the characters could simply hack to death, because they aren't there to kill it. So the expeditionary force, consisting of quite a number of dwarf NPCs as well as some assorted NPC backup, all go into this massive place. In the front room they encounter some run-of-the-mill baddies. While they're distracted with this, one of the hired NPCs slips back outside. The moment the battle is done, they turn to see the guy slam the doors shut and arcane lock them. He shouts through the door that he was hired to kill the leader of the force, wishes him to rot in eternity, etc. then leaves. So the characters are unable to leave the dungeon, now (make sure they're low enough level they can't dispel the lock). The only way is forward to find another way out. The mongrel men turned out to be the creation of a wizard who stops the battle and invites the characters to have a meal with them. He poses as being nice because he wants to poison them all and use them as test subjects (think The Island of Dr. Moreau). They notice a huge pair of double doors covered with all kinds of magical wards, chained with heavy chains, and barricaded behind random debris. Of course, the characters will want to know what's back there, but the guy won't tell. He lives there with his sultry rogue wife, his mongrelmen creations, some meenlocks whom he also created, and a (I broke the rules a little for this one) chimeric human who wants to die. I had a great scene with that last one, where the characters decided to unbarricade the door and go through it anyway. The wizard sealed it all shut again, and when the characters wanted to get out, their pounding was answered by someone they could barely see through the crack who huffed and snorted strangely and promised to "let them out if they'll free him." Played up for creepiness, of course. Before they could see who he was, he was chased off by the wizard. In the lower levels they find an earthquake has partially flooded the place. I really like the extra effect you get when the characters are wading through waist-deep water in a deep, abandoned dungeon. So evocative! Plus they can't move very fast or fight well, so it adds to the effect. Down here, they discovered the huecuva, who warns them about the "spirit," and just as he gets done telling his sad tale, they begin to hear the sound of hundreds of people screaming and a cracking sound. "It's here," the huecuva says, and then a door behind him begins to swell and tendrils of black evil grow through the crack like vines. The characters will now be chased by this thing which cannot be killed and moves forward at 2 squares a round. They can outrun it, but it will always find them. The only way to get rid of it is to kill the huecuva, thus ending the curse. (Mad XP!) The first time I ran it, they never figured it out, but fled deeper into the caverns through the forge level and down a huge sinkhole into the bottom level where a dragon lives in a cave. The only way out of the dungeon, since the doors are locked, is past the dragon and out through his underwater access into a mountain lake. Nice. I had every member of the expeditionary party, all the NPCs, have hidden agendas. The dwarves were actually duergar who were sent to capture a spirit from a magical forge. Their disguise finally started to break down when the characters first reached the flooded level. As soon as a duergar stepped into the water, the characters noticed some sort of pink powder washing off his skin to reveal gray underneath. Of course, in a magic world he would just use disguise self, but this was more effective. Nice suprise for the PCs. Maybe some of that will give you some ideas. But here's what made it so effective for me (one of my players still hates me for that adventure): being locked in. If they can leave at any time, that takes away so much of the fear. Also, by having an earthquake in the past damage and partially flood the place, it removes the safety of familiarity by making the architecture seem a little more alien and unpredictable. The water adds claustrophobia. Having things IN the water (like bloodbloater oozes!) makes it even worse. I'd recommend using the books Heroes of Horror and Book of Vile Darkness to really ratchet things up. Also, thumb through a copy of the Ravenloft book, because its the best fantasy horror game out there, imho. Hope that helps! -Bri
hawaiianbrian 03-18-06, 07:37 AM	I just re-read my post and there were a couple gaps in my story I should fill in. First, the "run-of-the-mill baddies" were mongrelmen. Second, the door behind the wards, locks, and barricade was the way into the lower level, where the Caller in Darkness and Huecuva reside. I used the WotC module "The Forge of Fury" for the map and general layout the first time, then the second time I ran it I made my own place to better suit my needs.
dungeonmasterblog 03-18-06, 07:51 AM	I recommended you read an old book by Stephen King, the Shining. That'll give you some of the creep aspects of a haunted house. But maybe have something where the keeper of the house ends up being tormented by the spirit of a demon. So he'll be friendly to the party, yet also secretly plotting to kill them. Dungeon Master http://www.dungeonsdragonsblog.com