For decades, the ruined mansion south of town has been the source of furtive whispers and ill omens. While many have forgotten the night the sky burned red and the old halls fell to flame, all know that now its grounds are a dead place, where only fools and the suicidal dare tread. Yet those who do remember that fateful night nearly forty years ago can tell another tale: a tale of generosity, good intentions, and an unlikely romance, but also of jealousy, blasphemous curiosity, and demoniac insanity. The mansion to the south wasn't just some fop's manor house, they say, but a hospital an asylum of the insane. Now the heroes must infiltrate the long-abandoned, fire-scarred, and cursed halls of Haverthold Asylum. Can they put to rest the spirits that still stalk the ruin's halls?
If you enjoy this adventure, look for the rest of the Dungeon Crawl Classics series!
Features:
Produced in cooperation with the award-winning musicians from Midnight Syndicate
The print edition includes Gates of Delirium, a complete soundtrack on CD specially cued to the adventure! Each room instructs the DM to cue the appropriate track, providing a truly immersive roleplaying experience
The PDF edition does not include Gates of Delirium, but the CD may be ordered here
A truly unique adventuring experience that mixes puzzle-solving, mysteries, NPC interaction, and combat like you've never seen it before
Written by Dragon editor F. Wesley Schneider with cover art by TSR legend Erol Otus
Copies of the print edition purchased from paizo.com will be autographed by Dragon editor Wes Schneider!
Writer: F. Wesley Schneider
Cover Artist: Erol Otus
Back Cover Artist: Michael Erickson
Interior Artists: Ian Armstrong, Jason Edwards, Doug Kovacs, Cliff Kurowski, William McAusland, Brad McDevitt, Jesse Mohn, Stefan Poag
Cartographer: Jeremy Simmons
64 pages
Product Availability
Fulfilled immediately.
Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at
store@paizo.com.
Apparently there's a burnt-out old mansion to the south of town, about which there are all sorts of rumours, fuelled no doubt by the fact that it used to be a mental hospital. Who in their right mind would go near a place like that? The party, that's who, given sufficient incentive.
The background material for the DM includes a detailed backstory explaining just what's going on there, a list of monsters, scaling information and more... and if you pick up the print version there's a CD with appropriate mood music keyed to different locations and events in the adventure. If you have bought the PDF version, you don't get this but are provided with a link to where you can pick up a copy. If you like background music to your games, this is a neat opportunity to have something specifically tailored to it - there are detailed instructions as to what should be played when.
If you haven't guessed yet, this is a horror story. The hooks provided to get the party involved bear that out, ranging from a dying member of staff scared that their spirit might be drawn back there to merchants and town officials concerned about a malign influence on the town. Like any good haunting, the way to deal with the spooks here is to find out how to grant them rest, so there's a fair bit of thought involved as well as combat. The backstory is quite extensive and, rather neatly, opportunities are provided for the DM to share it with the party by means of visions. It's a massive place to explore, and there's a lot to find (and fight) - given the large number of undead clerics and other pious characters are recommended for your party.... and how do you fancy being accosted by an animated straitjacket that just wants to give you a hug?"
Descriptions are evocative, and there's a wide variety of encounters to keep the party on their toes. Some of the ghosts are even prepared to talk rather than fight, and may have useful information to impart. The adventure ends when all the spirits are enabled to rest, and the remants of the mansion fall into even more ruin. A good spooky adventure.
I have to say, I have ordered a few Dungeon Crawl Classics, and I'm very pleased with them. They are, as stated, games that pay tribute to the old "dungeon crawls" and "hack and slash" games during D&D's early stages. This makes these generic games so easy to adapt and use in your current D20 campaigns. This module also has the bonus feature of being keyed to the "Cage of Delirium" CD created by Midnight Syndicate. These guys do a great job with gothic music, complete with sound effects that tell a story. This game fleshes out the story to their CD and it works great. In addition, though this is a "crawl," the back-story of the haunted asylum works great, especially for my current Ravenloft campaign, which I plan to run this game in. Take my advice and pick up a copy of this game, it's a lot of fun.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
