In Old Korvosa, nightmare-spawned horrors begin stalking the district's shiver addicts, sparking a manhunt to bring those responsible to justice. What role does the strange cult known as the Brotherhood of the Spider play in the mysterious deaths, and why is the veil between the dreaming and waking worlds so thin? To solve these mysteries and others, the heroes must walk the unseen paths of Bridgefront's occult underworld, and even enter the Dimension of Dreams itself to unravel the web of intrigue concealing the cult's deadly machinations. But what will happen when the heroes' own dreams turn against them, and what becomes of those who uncover esoteric secrets too terrible to know? Beset by dangers from their own minds, the heroes must race against time to save Korvosa—and their sanity.
Designed for use with Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Occult Adventures, this adventure is packed with terrifying thrills! Written by fan-favorite author Brandon Hodge, The House on Hook Street is a deluxe adventure for 6th-level characters, and includes 64 action-packed pages of engaging combat, urban investigation, and a new monstrous foe, plus a gorgeous double-sided poster map featuring an overview of Korvosa's Bridgefront neighborhood and a miniatures-scale battlemap.
Players can expect to reach 9th level upon completion of this adventure—if they can survive the nightmares of a menacing dreamscape!
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-790-1
The House on Hook Street is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (344 kb zip/PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
The House on Hook Street is a phenomenally good adventure. I’ve recently started running it as part of my Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign (it’s actually relatively easy to modify it to take place during the adventure path instead of several years after), and my players and I have been enjoying it immensely so far. I highly recommend it!
I ran this Memorial Day weekend for PFS at Kublacon in the Bay Area. We finished the whole PFS sanctioned module in a run that took about 21 hours. And to do so I had to skip some encounters and simplify others. For a home game this would have easily been 30-40 hours of play over many long sessions.
With that context - this was among the most fun I have had as a GM. It took the most prep I have ever done (I would guess about 20 hours of prep) and even with that there are still encounters and items and combinations of powers and effects I would need to revisit for any future run.
As a module this is atmospheric with tons of opportunities for a creative GM to engage with the party as they conduct an investigation and as they explore the strange environs. It will have moments for all types of characters and players to shine. Though it will reward (and really require) a party with solid damage dealers (close and ranged) and it is best with a party without any gaps in roles. In PFS play I would encourage the party to be closer to the max than the minimum levels. In a home game I would be sure to level as indicated.
If I run this again I would probably also prefer a four or five player group (I ran for a group that was six players with three companion animals which could bog down combats).
If you are unfamiliar with the Occult Adventures rules much of your prep time will be in learning the ins and outs of those rules (PCs do not need to be Occult classes though a party with one PC that has Occult Adventure classes and skills might come in handy)
I also agree with the criticism of how the ending leaves a key NPC in an unclear state. For a home game following up on the loose threads this adventure leaves could spark a lengthy campaign. For a group that has played through Curse of the Crimson Throne this also has some great call backs to that AP and is set years after the conclusion of that AP.
Strong flavor and a consistent theme - great story!
I like adventures that have a strong flavour and explore a defined theme and this one fits the bill perfectly. The atmosphere throughout is creepy and threatening in an unusual way. Conventional characters will be challenged in ways to which they are unaccustomed. The occult theme owes a lot to Dennis Wheatley, Fritz Leiber and H P Lovecraft. Many of the "monsters" are of a particular type and that creates a threatening focus. The clues lead the players through the mystery, step by step but they will need a notebook to keep track of the evidence. I had to make a timeline for myself in order to get to grips with the back story, the cast, and the likely train of events. This is probably the most complex module I have every had to prep, as a GM, but it is well worth it. It is a masterpiece.
Please sanction it for PFS soon. I have a waiting list of players and it has been out since Autumn 2015.
This is one of my favorite Pathfinder modules to date.
There is a lot of material contained in these pages.
The story is vibrant, alive and terrifying. Yes, the plot is complex, but I see that as a positive aspect. There are many characters and several factions, which that makes this urban setting feel very realistic.
I agree that it would have been nice if the employer's final actions had been described in a bit more detail, but I assume there simply wasn't room to do so, since the module already contains so much material.
It was a pleasure to revisit Old Korvosa and see how its citizens have evolved in the aftermath of Curse of the Crimson Throne.
One of the main NPC's really gives the characters a reason to like her and is so much more than just a generic quest giver.
The interaction of the dream world and the real world was used superbly by the author to foreshadow many of the adventure's memorable encounters.
The House itself is extremely spooky. I especially liked the horrific encounter H6... that is *messed up* (in a good way :) ).
I really, really liked reading the description of the House and discovering its horrors, room by room.
The poster map shows the section of Old Korvosa where the adventure takes place. That will surely be very useful as the PC's investigate the district's various locations.
The other side of it shows the location of one of the adventure's most epic battles.
Wow. This might be my most anticipated module since Doom Comes to Dustpawn! Brandon writing and Dimension of Dreams, it's like Pathfinder peanut butter and chocolate!
Dang it, wish they would have let me take vaca then as I wanted, thanks for the reply though!!
And anything you could share about this you can think of is fine I bet with most of us :) I'm quite curious how it all works out with the new classes, and if one does not have all occult PC's in the party per say..... Might there be a minimum number to have for specific classes perhaps?
Regardless, looking forward to this one to tide us over for now.
The adventure is definitely not written to require PCs to play any of the new classes. Quite the opposite, actually, in that the setting in Old Korvosa and the changes it has undergone since the events of Curse of the Crimson Throne serves as a perfect way to introduce the occult into games where these themes may not have been previously explored. Your PCs will get to witness this occult underworld firsthand, and delve deeper and deeper into it as the adventure continues, mirroring the concepts and themes of Chapter 6 of Occult Adventures ("Running an Occult Campaign") that doesn't require previous experience with those concepts.
So with all that said, there's certainly a lot of materials from Occult Adventures, along with exposure to some of the new classes in the form of NPCs, with no expectations of PCs having to have those classes to excel at overcoming the adventure's plot.
As for the name, it is not a homage to The Horror at Red Hook. Maybe the name's origins *are* best left for con-talk over beers. =-)
The adventure is definitely not written to require PCs to play any of the new classes. Quite the opposite, actually, in that the setting in Old Korvosa and the changes it has undergone since the events of Curse of the Crimson Throne serves as a perfect way to introduce the occult into games where these themes may not have been previously explored. Your PCs will get to witness this occult underworld firsthand, and delve deeper and deeper into it as the adventure continues, mirroring the concepts and themes of Chapter 6 of Occult Adventures ("Running an Occult Campaign") that doesn't require previous experience with those concepts.
So with all that said, there's certainly a lot of materials from Occult Adventures, along with exposure to some of the new classes in the form of NPCs, with no expectations of PCs having to have those classes to excel at overcoming the adventure's plot.
As for the name, it is not a homage to The Horror at Red Hook. Maybe the name's origins *are* best left for con-talk over beers. =-)
LOL, I just re-read the description and got it. Not HPL, something more..modern
The adventure is definitely not written to require PCs to play any of the new classes. Quite the opposite, actually, in that the setting in Old Korvosa and the changes it has undergone since the events of Curse of the Crimson Throne serves as a perfect way to introduce the occult into games where these themes may not have been previously explored. Your PCs will get to witness this occult underworld firsthand, and delve deeper and deeper into it as the adventure continues, mirroring the concepts and themes of Chapter 6 of Occult Adventures ("Running an Occult Campaign") that doesn't require previous experience with those concepts.
So with all that said, there's certainly a lot of materials from Occult Adventures, along with exposure to some of the new classes in the form of NPCs, with no expectations of PCs having to have those classes to excel at overcoming the adventure's plot.
As for the name, it is not a homage to The Horror at Red Hook. Maybe the name's origins *are* best left for con-talk over beers. =-)
Wait... is this post-Crimson Throne? I was going to run it as part of that campaign...
Wait... is this post-Crimson Throne? I was going to run it as part of that campaign...
As written, it is indeed set 7 years after the events in Curse of the Crimson Throne, exploring, primarily, the fallout from the blood veil riots and the quarantine and Old Korvosa's turn toward the occult in the absence of support from Korvosa's established religions and terrible treatment by the authorities. You'll see some familiar callbacks as well.
BUT, it would be an easy matter to adjust a couple of key things to fit it right into CotCT. Essentially, it will simply be a matter of assigning this upsurge in the occult to other previous factors, including but not limited to the blood veil riots. There will be a couple of minor issues to adjust, but overall very easy to work into CotCT, by design! =-)
Wait... is this post-Crimson Throne? I was going to run it as part of that campaign...
As written, it is indeed set 7 years after the events in Curse of the Crimson Throne, exploring, primarily, the fallout from the blood veil riots and the quarantine and Old Korvosa's turn toward the occult in the absence of support from Korvosa's established religions and terrible treatment by the authorities. You'll see some familiar callbacks as well.
BUT, it would be an easy matter to adjust a couple of key things to fit it right into CotCT. Essentially, it will simply be a matter of assigning this upsurge in the occult to other previous factors, including but not limited to the blood veil riots. There will be a couple of minor issues to adjust, but overall very easy to work into CotCT, by design! =-)
Hmm... maybe. It'd be a shame to have to leave out any of the content, though. ^_^
Just heard the only thing mentioned in Know Directions podcast at GENCON
Something about a "haunt gone wrong" or something like that, quite interesting and looking forward to running my players though it.
Hope to see more Module themes like this, besides the 2nd 1016 PF Campaign noted at GENCON, not quite Occult but horror I beleave does run though with similar themes....
I'm really excited for everyone to get their hands on this one! As we get a little closer to its debut, I'll be sharing some tales from playtesting, what elements you can expect to see from Occult Adventures, and what it was like to work with one of my best friends as developer!
I'm really excited for everyone to get their hands on this one! As we get a little closer to its debut, I'll be sharing some tales from playtesting, what elements you can expect to see from Occult Adventures, and what it was like to work with one of my best friends as developer!