Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-15: The Haunting of Hinojai (PFRPG) PDF

4.10/5 (based on 18 ratings)

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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 5–9.

Ever seeking long-lost secrets, the Pathfinder Society sends a team of agents to explore a reportedly haunted house in the Dragon Empires nation of Minkai, hoping they can uncover the secret behind the legendary location's tormented past.

Written by Jim Groves.

This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This scenario is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This scenario is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

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4.10/5 (based on 18 ratings)

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4/5


Solid haunted house

4/5

Looking for a scenario to scare your players? This is it! Be it halloween or a creepy evening session, this scenario has tons of atmosphere. Its easy to turn the creepiness up to 11 and have everyone's skin crawl.

Only downside is that some of the encounters are quite hard, and player deaths are most likely to happen. Not that that is a bad thing per se, but the wrong kind of party could easily end up with a TPK.


3/5

Played this scenario at the lower tier.

The scenario attempts to pull off a nice Asian themed haunted house scenario. In some areas it works really well and in others not so well. At times it feels as though it is still trying emulate a traditional dungeon crawl scenario by having monsters in different rooms. Less of that and more atmosphere would have been better in my opinion.

It was fun to play but I'd have preferred more atmosphere and less monsters.


Jim Groves Shows How to Use Haunts

5/5

Jim Groves does it again!

Expect interesting, flavorful combats that provide a nice challenge and a setting that demands a colorful GM that knows the haunt rules well.

Go out of your way for this one; it's worth it.


Creepy House

5/5

I love this scenario. It is has memorable fights, memorable haunts, and a great story and vibe to it.

More Jim Groves please!

Bad Guys:
The first real encounter is usually people running out of a haunt trying to get away from it, and finding a wayang looking through a telescope. When they decide to murderhobo him they realize he has quite a few tricks up his sleeve. The next two fights are challenging for other reasons, but equally memorable. Combined with the haunts in-between it makes for a great scenario! When my VC ran this people hit the first haunt and decided that the best solution was to rest, in front of the haunted house. As you can guess, that ended well...


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Announced! Cover image is a mockup.

Paizo Employee Director of Game Development

Nice! Another one from Jim!

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Yes! I'm trying my hand at a little horror. I hope to get people past that post Halloween depression.

Have yourself a very merry haunting!

Owner - House of Books and Games LLC

And at levels 5-9, too! I'll be curious to see the result :)

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

gbonehead wrote:
And at levels 5-9, too! I'll be curious to see the result :)

Me too!

Which is to say, Developers are unsung heroes in the process.

I certainly hope it rocks!

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Quoted from the Midnight Mauler thread, this will be available 6 PM PST!

Get your fear on!

Shadow Lodge Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8

Ooh! There's a Wayang on the cover!

Liberty's Edge

Can't wait to run this one today!

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Rickar Caremond wrote:
Can't wait to run this one today!

Enjoy Rickar! Make sure you give it a good read first! Let me know how it went.


Rickar Caremond wrote:
Can't wait to run this one today!

And???.....And?????

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

NorthernOkie wrote:
Rickar Caremond wrote:
Can't wait to run this one today!
And???.....And?????

I know what you mean. :D

I have not been bumping this thread on purpose, because after a point its childish and immature, but I've been checking every few hours for days.. to see whether people have enjoyed it, or if there is something I could clarify. Though you never want to beg for feedback, because you usually get all the negative stuff. ;-)

Again, I am earnestly hoping folks have fun with it.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Benchak the Nightstalker wrote:
Ooh! There's a Wayang on the cover!

That's pretty disgusting language!

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

@ Thea,

Thank you for your great review! I'm glad you had a good time!

If you have the time, I'd love to know what I could do to get that 5th star!

Again, I appreciate your time and kind words!

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Benchak the Nightstalker wrote:
Ooh! There's a Wayang on the cover!

At least there isn't a Wayans on the cover....

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Vic Wertz wrote:
Benchak the Nightstalker wrote:
Ooh! There's a Wayang on the cover!
At least there isn't a Wayans on the cover....

You know I want to add onto that joke, or chime in and say something funny builds on it.. and I'm just stopped cold.

Cold as the grave. Cold as the $7.50 cash I think I spent to see that movie!


*shudder* I actually taped it, so I could watch it more than once... What a waste.


I'll be running this one in two weeks; prepping it now, so I'll be sure to throw up a review once it's done.

I have, however, noticed three typos in it, and I'm afraid I'm going to be a jerk and point them out. I know that the editors are really busy, and I know that sometimes these things slip through, so I mean no disrespect to their fine efforts, but the OCD in me forces me to hope they'll find a few moments to fix them at some point in the future. :)

Page 3, column 1, paragraph 2, line 12: "defined the it"
Page 5, column 2, paragraph 1, line 6: "chimney's" (want "chimneys")
Page 5, column 2, paragraph 1, line 9: "officials)"

That being said, Jim, I love the premise, and I'm looking forward to

Spoiler:
throwing some Haunts at the players.
From the prep side, it looks great! Nice work. :)

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Thanks Feegle!

I appreciate your kind words.

As for the typos, spare the Editors, I take full and complete responsibility. Speak no ill of them and Mr. Moreland. I should have read this out loud, AND had someone else proof-read it. There were a fair number of boo boos (I know because I heard about them). As they say- "not Superstar".

Hence forth:

1.) I'm reading every turnover out loud twice before I hit send.

2.) I'm copying every turnover into a different document with a different font and size as part of that proof-read, so that the brain is forced to look at the text differently, and errors stand out better. That's a Brandon Hodge Pro-Tip for ya!

Hope you have fun!

Lantern Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber
Jim Groves wrote:


2.) I'm copying every turnover into a different document with a different font and size as part of that proof-read, so that the brain is forced to look at the text differently, and errors stand out better. That's a Brandon Hodge Pro-Tip for ya!

Ooh, I love that one. Going right there with my searches for passive voice and "that."

And, I'm really looking forward to running this one, but I just had some new players join my PFS group, so we're headed back to 1st level for a bit. Good think I can run them through some modules to get back to 5th :-)


Point of clarification:

Spoiler:

In the Blind Man's Bluff haunt, a character is struck blind and is the subject of the Phantasmal Killer spell.

1) According to that spell, only the target can see the attacker, but that target is blinded--yet a description is given. Should the rest of the party be able to see the spectral image?

2) The subject is blinded--do they still get the Will save to recognize that the image is unreal?

Thanks!


Okay, so first thing's first: Groves, you're now up there on my list of "authors whose scenarios I will schedule to run sight unseen." That was frikkin' awesome.

Hints and Suggestions for GMs

Act I:
The village scene is really open-form, and I think it suffered for me being slightly under-prepared. In hindsight, a little extra work from me to sketch out the village, think about how to describe it, and put in a few iconic locations might have benefited the feeling of the village. That being said, you can't spend too much time here without running the danger of the session going long - try to limit the time in the village to 30-40 minutes. The players are here for faction missions and to gather information on Hinojai; don't waste their time.

Minasako works in the inn, but this isn't really mentioned (that I found) until later in the scenario, and the inn is named, but also not until later in the scenario. Make a note of the inn's name (if you want to keep that consistent) on these pages so you don't have to flip through stuff looking for it later.

Act II:
There are a LOT of empty rooms, or rooms with broken furniture and things. In your preparation, try to add some haunted house atmosphere to the rooms that lack it - there was a point where for about four doors the conversation went "I listen at the door. I open the door. I move into the room. Next." Like, literally, the players said, "Next," out loud. I feel like part of this was my lost opportunity to really build a sense of dread.

Don't explain the haunt mechanic unless you have someone who has a reason to know it. (Knowledge: Religion or somesuch) The first haunt scared the bejeesus out of my characters, because they didn't know what was going on. "You see this, then you're fatigued." "No save?" "Nope." By the end of the module, those that made their perception check on a haunt and had the initiative to move before the haunt were running as fast as possible out of the Haunt's vicinity before it could trigger. The one on the balcony saw three players jump off the balcony down to the garden, sometimes taking falling damage just to avoid whatever the Haunt was going to do to them.

Specific Gripes:
Minasako is a bit crazy if she gets a bomb off first try. I caught my players with Black Tentacles on the first round, and everyone got grabbed, two of them didn't have the CMB to escape. (Casters) That's the beauty and viciousness of the save-or-suck mechanic - but I was staring down the barrel of a TPK with two players unable to escape tentacles, one of the fighters blind, and the other fatigued. This fight could really go wrong for the players.

The Balcony Haunt is pretty crazy in consequence - save or die? At level 5? It's not a difficult save (DC 16), but it's still pretty harsh. The Haunt says it targets one of the people in the area - I would highly recommend randomizing the target, in view of the players, just to avoid hard feelings.

Dark Archive

Since I haven't read it and have only just played it, I can't give any nitpicks or suggestions as of yet. However, I really enjoyed the atmosphere of exploration that came into this scenario. My character ended up pocketing several factions' mission items (the ones who weren't around), because we were in such a cool place with so much neat stuff.

Spoiler:
The haunts were hilarious (and yes, frightening), but I credit myself with the idea of running away from them. No damage in the pool room, flew away from the phantasmal! :D

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

redward wrote:

Point of clarification:

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks!

Hi there,

Sorry for the delay, I've been in the hospital (home now, doing well).

Spoiler:
First and foremost, my use of phantasmal killer is a variant of the literal spell. That is, I'm not playing fast and loose with the rules (i.e. the effect isphantasmal killer), but the "hollywood special effects" a little different.

The 'creature' for the target is confronted is being sick and blinded, poisoned by the one you love, to whom you just made love.That awful feeling and knowledge is the horror that confronts the target. And that's a lot! Except the duration is instantaneous. So for an instantaneous duration the target it blinded, which if you take to its logical conclusion is harmless or irrelevant in game terms.

So you absolutely get a Will Save (as the target), to realize that these awful feelings and experiences are not your own, but something that is being projected on you. If you Fail the following Fort Save your neck is either psychosomatic-ally broken, or you suffer the raw physical shock of having fallen blindly from a height.

Yes, the rest of the party showed be able to see the images (in fact, the target can still hear the spectral voices!). But the duration of the effect is instantaneous! These little "movies", or snippets of ghostly interactions are practically 'free actions' of the haunt, which tell the story. They clue the rest of the party (as the target could die!) into what just happened. That's how I try to use the haunts as story-telling devices. So the other players see what happens, but there is little they can do about it, unless they get the drop on the haunt in initiative.

Does this make sense and/or help?

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Feegle wrote:

Okay, so first thing's first: Groves, you're now up there on my list of "authors whose scenarios I will schedule to run sight unseen." That was frikkin' awesome.

Hints and Suggestions for GMs

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **...

Feegle,

Thank you for your review!

Act 1

Spoiler:
Yes, Act 1 can get away from you. I feel its a sometimes necessary challenge to the 10 faction missions. Especially if you want to avoid foolish faction missions. On the bright side, Act 1 does offer a lot of creative latitude for the GM to do impromptu role-playing. It can also leave the less experienced GM wishing they had more prep work, or prep work done for them on their behalf. Alas, word count is a cruel mistress!

Minsako's appearance was originally mentioned twice in the manuscript, but one mention was taken out for brevity. Her strange pre-scenario appearance is meant to be freaky fore-shadowing, as her peculiar nature allows her to go to town with little cause to fear discovery. It's a little tool for the GM to mess with the players if they want. ;)

Act 2

Spoiler:
You're right, I would not explain the haunt mechanic, unless the players need it for some reason (or they just don't trust you). The mansion is roomy and can be a great suspense building tool. Also, some groups are going to be just more business-like.

General Gripes

Spoiler:
Yes, this scenario has some teeth. I admit to reading many reviews about easy scenarios, so I wrote this one intending for it to be a little tough. I hope it didn't go too far! Let me know!

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Acheronzero Thank you for your review!


Jim Groves wrote:
redward wrote:

Point of clarification:

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks!

Hi there,

Sorry for the delay, I've been in the hospital (home now, doing well).

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks, that helps a lot. Glad you're doing okay. Now get back to work and write some more scenarios!


Jim,

Thanks for the comments. You've been really forthcoming about the process of writing scenarios all over these forums, and it's really interesting to have that kind of window into the process.

When you're finished with Murder's Mark, please write some more PFS scenarios. :) Please please please.

Unless they gave you an AP to write.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Feegle wrote:

Jim,

Thanks for the comments. You've been really forthcoming about the process of writing scenarios all over these forums, and it's really interesting to have that kind of window into the process.

When you're finished with Murder's Mark, please write some more PFS scenarios. :) Please please please.

Unless they gave you an AP to write.

You're welcome! I'd love to do AP Work (especially in a theoretical Baba Yaga / Irrisen storyline) but that privilege has to be earned. Its a helluva a big responsibility, and I never would begrudge James, Wes, Rob, and Adam from being super selective in their choice of authors. A freelancer can always continue to grow and develop towards doing one of those- I sincerely believe they're doing an author a favor (as well as doing themselves a favor obviously) by not assigning one of those until that author is ready. Heck, there's always the next one. You can go forward but you can't go backwards. :D

I am finished with Murder's Mark though! And your wish is granted, I am doing another PFS scenatio right now.. but I can't discuss anything about it (i.e. which season or the title).

I am GRATEFUL to you Feegle! :D

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Thanks to Magical_Beast and Mourne for their kind reviews! Glad you enjoyed it!

Grand Lodge

Played it on a dark and wet day yesterday! It was amazing!

Spoilers:
My ever-curious Tengu arcane duelist chased after the Wayang and ended up getting fried by a lightning bolt, followed by a ferociously placed ice storm that smacked much of the party around. Our witch doctor had a glorious aerial battle with the Wayang, complete with a arcane Shocking Grasp slapping match in mid air.

The final boss battle was horrific. It was the nastiest use of Black Tentacles I've ever seen. I thanked my lucky stars that I had maxed out Escape Artist to get me out of the danger area. My shirt reroll was the only factor that saved me from being Cursed (which probably would have lead to a TPK). The GM teased us constantly as we failed our saves and floundered uselessly against both temporary hit points and fast healing. Our switch-hitter ranger battled valiantly, using Vital Strike when he could, but was rendered incapable by the tentacles until he was strangled to death. The witch doctor received two Vampiric Touches via the disgusting familiar. He was knocked unconscious and was strangled in his sleep.

By the end of the battle, we had only two Pathfinders out of four left alive. We were wounded and worried that there were still some unspeakable horrors left in the basement [ominous music]. We walked down the steps, turned the key, and shed light into the dingy room. As soon as we saw the torture tools, we screamed, hightailed it out of the house and fled back to town, never to return again.

You have blood on your hands, Groves!

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

OMG.

I've been in a two day slump. You just fired the ol' writing engines right back to life!

BLESS YOU SIR!

Thank you again, glad you had a good time.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

@ Wolfrick - Thank you for a five star review! Especially from one of our esteemed 5 star GMs. That means quite a lot to me. I appreciate it.

I encourage you (and everybody else) to check out The Golden Serpent coming out in July and in time for PaizoCon. The product description is nice and safe, and non-spoilery...

...as it should be...

...but it has lots of cool surprises! I promise some cool role-playing and good ol' monster bashing and a whole lot more. Its a scenario where I really tried to incorporate a lot of community feedback. I think everyone will enjoy it.

Thanks again!

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

I wanted to thank Amber Valdis for the review and feedback. It is much appreciated.

One regret I do have is not trying to use the visions in the haunts to tell a more linear story. At the time I wasn't assuming a specific path the PCs would take through the manor, so I was worried that it would be disjointed with an artificial progression.

But, as you point out, it couldn't have hurt. So I take your feedback seriously.

Thanks again for your time!

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Xarga,

Thank you for the review!

Regarding loot.. It was less than perfect. Loot distribution has been an issue I've struggled with, and this was my second scenario. I have a much better handle on it now (though there is always room for continued improvement).

Glad you had fun!

Silver Crusade

I just played through this scenario at a convention, and I will not play anything by this author again. We had a fairly diverse party (Levels 5, 6, 6, 7, and 8 respectively) and played the high tier.

Needless to say, we did not enjoy this scenario. The opening curse crippled our group severely and left us exhausted for the rest of the encounter. Several times throughout we had players who were one-shotted to negative HP, and my character was killed (actually dead, past my CON and had to be resurrected) by what should have been a relatively weak enemy - with a single attack. One of my party was hit with a spell that causes instant death (but thankfully got his save roll).

There's a difference between difficult and just malicious. The number of high-level, high-difficulty enemies and haunts seemed wildly disproportionate and just plain unfair. It felt to me as though the author was actively trying to kill the party by pitting them against caster levels much higher than them.

Long story short - I felt this scenario was wildly unbalanced in favor of the GM, our group did not enjoy it at all, and I will never play nor GM another PFS by this author.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber

Well, you'll miss out on some of the best stories in PFS due to going into a scenario with an out of tier party, but that is your call.

I feel you would have had a better time with the 8th level character swapping for a 7th or lower and playing the low tier.

Silver Crusade

TriOmegaZero wrote:

Well, you'll miss out on some of the best stories in PFS due to going into a scenario with an out of tier party, but that is your call.

I feel you would have had a better time with the 8th level character swapping for a 7th or lower and playing the low tier.

We didn't choose to play high tier - PFS rules dictated it. At least that's what our GM told us. If he was mistaken, then we all had a horrible time because of him, and not the scenario. I haven't looked at the low tier to see if it would have been less brutal.

I find it tacky to blame me for not enjoying a scenario in which I was hammered and then killed.

Verdant Wheel

I like it more when is brutal hard. Bring it on. i ll ask my GM to schedule it now.

Silver Crusade

Draco Bahamut wrote:
I like it more when is brutal hard. Bring it on. i ll ask my GM to schedule it now.

If you play high, you won't be disappointed.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook Subscriber
TechieMoe wrote:
We didn't choose to play high tier - PFS rules dictated it.

Again, if the 8th level player had played a 7th or lower, you could have played low.

I did not blame you for not enjoying the scenario. I blamed the party composition for making you play an inappropriate subtler.

I had the same problem happen when I ran The Disappeared for a bunch of 2nd-3rd level characters at 4-5. It was a horrible time, but every time I have run it afterwards has been with appropriate level parties and been a blast to play.

Silver Crusade

TriOmegaZero wrote:
TechieMoe wrote:
We didn't choose to play high tier - PFS rules dictated it.

Again, if the 8th level player had played a 7th or lower, you could have played low.

I did not blame you for not enjoying the scenario. I blamed the party composition for making you play an inappropriate subtler.

I had the same problem happen when I ran The Disappeared for a bunch of 2nd-3rd level characters at 4-5. It was a horrible time, but every time I have run it afterwards has been with appropriate level parties and been a blast to play.

Fair enough. It was definitely an inappropriate challenge level for where our characters were. It's a shame too - the haunts and creatures themselves were actually pretty cool, but I couldn't enjoy it because I was too busy trying not to die or rage quit the table. :/


I loved this one. It is my favorite adventure to date. It was super challenging, a bit terrifying, and the story was straight-forward but rife with intrigue. I would play this again if I could!

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