I have been working my game towards a spooky mansion for a few weeks, nothing overt, but just in my mind building some evidence towards it. I expect the group to hit the mansion this week.
The mansion is a noble's estate. The noble family has gone over to the dark side and gotten in bed with demon's, basically corrupting the family over the past years. Now, their estate is a hot bed of bad stuff.
I'm wondering if there is a good mod or source that I can look to for some inspiration and ideas. I am currently drawing from Castlevania (Symphony of the Night and what I remember of other ones I used to play) as well as the really fun Living Greyhawk Duchy of Urnst game Last Dance at Heron House (thank you to the convention coordinator for running it for my group way back at Unlikely Allies 2001).
The group should is level 4 right now, and might be level 5 (on some of them) by the time they start investigating this locale. I'm hoping I might figure something else for them to do before they get here so more of them can be 5th, I think it would be pretty helpful to them, but not really certain what I should throw at them.
In another request, I'm looking for an earth creature fight for the ruined arcane academy that the group is finishing up right now. I had placed a group of gargoyles in a room, but realized that they would fit so much better at the mansion, fitting with the spooky elements that are going on.
Last part (for now), I'm looking for some sort of self actualizing torture device. In LDaHH, there were cages that ratcheted shut and were powered by the person's breath. It was a pretty intense scene, but my wife played the game with me, and so I'm hoping to come up with a different torture method that maximizes the suffering of the victim while keeping it very hard to rescue them.
Not sure if there is anything better than bird cages in the conservatory that slowly crush their victims and the scene that came from it at the table we played. My wife's character had nightmares of it for the rest of her days.
Thanks for help in advance.
Check out Pathfinder #2, "The Skinsaw Murders." Foxglove Manor is a truly inspired haunted house and a perfect design to steal from for creepy effects and encounters.
Got both of those, will give them a flip. Thanks.
Last part (for now), I'm looking for some sort of self actualizing torture device. In LDaHH, there were cages that ratcheted shut and were powered by the person's breath. It was a pretty intense scene, but my wife played the game with me, and so I'm hoping to come up with a different torture method that maximizes the suffering of the victim while keeping it very hard to rescue them.
I'd say Animate Object on a good old-fashioned choke pear/pear of agony would do the trick. It's a torture device shaped like a pear with a little wheel you turn that makes the sections move apart. Placed in the mouth, it's a choke pear which will eventually painfully dislocate the jaw and should also inhibit all verbal spellcasting while it does so. Placed in another orifice, it's the pear of agony, and, um, well, it won't silence spellcasting, but it sure as hell will be painful and eventually deadly.
Now imagine adding the wings taken from a golden snitch, or maybe just a little propeller so it can fly around like a miniature helicopter.
Anyway, that should maximize the suffering while also making it very hard to rescue them. I mean, think of the rogue going, "It flew where? And you want me to do a Disable Device check?"
But you don't even have to craft a special evil magic item like this when simply an old off-the-rack one will do. One of the old standard medieval tortures was forcing a rope down someones throat, pouring water on it to make it expand, then pulling it out again to tear them horribly. Then imagine what you can do with magic when you have a Rope of Climbing which you can command to move any which way you want, including threading itself through the intestinal track and out the mouth of any incapacitated victim. Then when they're awake, you can command your rope to knot and unknot and perform all sorts of tricks.
So their friend rescues them. Set up a Contingency Disintegrate to turn your corpse to dust so they can't question you with Speak with Dead to find out the command word. You've got a Clone set up with your favorite necromancer so it's all good.
Without the command word, I think the only way to save someone from such an off-brand use of a Rope of Climbing would be Dispel Magic followed by Animate Rope to unthread it as gently as possible, along with a Ring of X-Ray vision so you can understand whatever creative macrame the villain did in their stomach.
Hell, a wizard could do it with just Animate Rope and a ball of yarn, commanding it to form a neat ball in someone's stomach. There's a cheap and agonizing death curse right there.
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Maybe the mansion doesn't look haunted at all, in fact it's stunningly beautiful, the lawn is meticulously trimmed as are the hedgerows. Birds sing, the sun shines...and it's all an illusion.
The mansion is the monster, luring your weary travellers in for the night, while devouring them one by one ala Rose Red.
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I'm wondering if there is a good mod or source that I can look to for some inspiration and ideas. I am currently drawing from Castlevania (Symphony of the Night and what I remember of other ones I used to play) as well as the really fun Living Greyhawk Duchy of Urnst game Last Dance at Heron House (thank you to the convention coordinator for running it for my group way back at Unlikely Allies 2001).
If you have access to any Ravenloft stuff, I'd try that. Everything I have for it is 2E, but I know they did some 3E (and I think 3.5E) stuff as well.
Barring that, contact Pett or Logue - they're both twisted, evil geniuses, with a talent for creeping people out.
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One of the greatest adventures I was ever in was an AD&D adventure wherein the party was tasked with clearing out an abandoned wizard's keep. One of the items we had to move was an old mirror with a cloth over it. Of course, it's impossible for adventurers, when they see a large object covered by a sheet, to not look under the sheet. So, the party Rogue (of course) peeks under the cloth, and the entire cloth flies off the mirror (as if by magic), and we all see ourselves in the mirror.
Later that night, we are attacked by none other than shimmering, green-glowing doppelgangers of ourselves, which had crawled out of the mirror. It was a tooth and nail fight, I'll tell you. Made for some harrowing moments.
It's be easy to incorporate something like that in any type of Wizard's Keep/Haunted Mansion setup.
I second the Skinsaw Murders AP module. I had a blast running the haunted mansion, and the players were scared to do ANYTHING in that house. The big things that disturbed them was that
1) There was nothing directly for them to attack for most of the house. They were fighting figments, and themselves...
2) The unknown. They felt like they had no control, since they didn't know what they were facing with the haunts. They were actually scared! And
3)... the Crows. So... many crows outside....
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If you have access to it U1 sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is a low level ADnD 1st ed module that takes place in a haunted or spooky old dilapidated mansion.
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If you have access to it U1 sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is a low level ADnD 1st ed module that takes place in a haunted or spooky old dilapidated mansion.
I second bigkilla's suggestion. While some supernatural aspects might be lacking it still would be an excellent read as inspiration and setup.
Also for the creeps or weirdness
-X2 Castle Amber - filled with some good bizarre encounters/creatures and a nice map of the estate -it's not really a castle, so it may actually work for you.
For some good movie inspirations on some hideous deaths/torture The Abominable Dr.Phibes and Dr. Phibes Rises Again! could be mined for some ideas. Might be able to see these movies for free on the internet via hulu, etc.