The party I run sessions for accepted a job that I didn't expect them too. (due to their disposition towards anything undead and unexplained horror. In the past they have burnt buildings to the ground rather then deal with it.)
Their Job is to enter a abandon and run down estate and retrieve two items a book on planer travel and a relic bearing the crest of the former owners , The Estate was formerly owned by a wealthy merchant family known as the Serpentines.
The current information the players have is as follows.
The Serpentine family was not liked by local nobility due to their "lack of class." in truth the nobility was envious of the vast wealth the Serpentine.
Roughly 5 years ago the family consisting of 3 children and two parent along with all members of the estate vanished overnight. A Search lead by the local guards proved futile. Reporting only an uneasy feeling within the boundary's.
This is also all I have planned and need help designing a the estate or maps to borrow for it. I have literally no idea what to have the party face. The party is well equipped and varied but has never faced more then skeletons and zombies.
I have a small gothic castle map product available on DrivethruRPG. It only has 3 upper floors and roof, as well as a cellar and dungeon level and is furnished with gothic flair, which might fit a mansion more than an actual castle making it just right for your location. There is also a grounds map with stable, coach barn, well and servants quarters surrounding by walls, towers and a gatehouse.
There's an excellent Rite Publishing product that I think can make your haunted mansion adventure really unique called 101 Mystical Site Properties which slightly alters magic within a specific area (such as a mansion or specific chambers within). I've used them in my adventures to great effect, especially to tie in a specific theme applicable to the Serpentines.
Of course you'll need to include haunts. Rite Publishing offers #30 Haunts for Houses, a collection of 30 haunts, which you guessed it are especially tied to haunted houses. Another Rite Publishing product which might require some reflavoring to be a better fit is #30 Haunts for Kaidan (for the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror). While your haunted mansion is probably not influenced by Japanese horror themes, this supplement offers multiple haunts that are closely tied together with the same background story (in 9 separate stories for a total of 30 haunts). Creating a series of related haunts is a good plan for a haunted mansion. Read the reviews for all 3 products to get a good idea what these supplements have available to you.
I'd also consider Legendary Games Gothic Campaign Compendium which gives you many tools to help you meet a more haunted atmosphere and mechanics.
These are among the tools I use to match this style of adventure.
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I'm playing a curse of the crimson throne AP. The DM likes to go of the planned course quite a bit. Currently we have found Glorio Arkona's haunted summer home haunted by Glorio's grandfather. He's thrown a few really good encounters at the party. So here is one he's thrown at us that were really fun.
Enter the ballroom where we found an Azata chained and bounded by runes that we could not dispel due to the high DC. However the Azata knew that if we could out perform her she would be set free. BATTLE OF THE BANDS TIME! The party setup on a stage opposite to the Azata, and start to perform. We had five rounds to perform her at the end the total score of the one performer v. Azata would be totaled up and the winner declared. One of the members Bard cohort took center stage, and the rest of us declared that we would be using Aid Another actions. However after the first round a ghostly audience appeared in the ballroom, and started to attack the party (a few at a time). On second round ghost hellhounds entered the room and started to attack the party. All the while the Azata was getting commanded somehow to use spells to buff the ghosts and attack the party. She got a save to see if she would attack us each round. After we set her free she came over to help us mop up the ghosts.
This lead to half the party trying to help the bard cohort with Aid Another and the others trying to fend off the ghost attackers. Also the Nature Oracle's bear animal companion doing Aid Another perform (Dance) which the DM allowed because it was both hilarious and the Oracle attained the bear from a circus.
