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I’m very fond of gothic horror. After Carrion Crown was announced, I immediately thought of a bunch of different campaigns I’ve run set in that milieu, and made plans to run it on the ‘slow’ advancement rate to fit in adventures between the main AP segments. This is the result of my prep, and I hope other GMs find it useful.
I’ve included links to the items in the Paizo store, or failing that, a third-party vendor. I don’t own all of these- the germ of this was a to-buy list (recommendations are appreciated!)… No link means no straightforward source—used is your best bet.
Pathfinder
1-2 The Vile Worm of the Eldritch Oak Brave Halfling
1-10 Tales of the Old Margreve Open Design (8 adventures)
5-6 The Haunting of Soldragon Academy Headless Hydra
d20/3.5/OGL
1-6 Tales of Zobeck Open Design (8 adventures)
6-8 Cage of Delirium Goodman Games
6-8 Escape from Ceranir Green Ronin
6-10 Expedition to Castle Ravenloft WotC
7 Where Madness Dwells Inner Circle (Free!)
8-9 Blood of the Gorgon Open Design
10-11 Castle Shadowcrag Open Design (unfortunately unavailable, grumble)
AD&D – almost all of these are Ravenloft modules. I’ve included only the better ones that seem at least partially compatible with an Ustalavic setting. If anyone wants to note some missing/disagree—please do!
1-3 Night of the Walking Dead TSR (Grand Conjunction part I)
1-4 Neither Man Nor Beast TSR
2-4 The Created TSR
3+ Book of Crypts TSR (9 mini-adventures)
3-5 Howls in the Night TSR
4-7 The Evil Eye TSR
4-7 Feast of Goblyns TSR
5-7 Ravenloft TSR
5-8 Terrible Trouble at Tragidore TSR
5-12 Bleak House TSR
8-10 The House on Gryphon Hill (Ravenloft II) TSR
7-13 House of Strahd TSR (D&D 2.0 version of Ravenloft)
9-12 Roots of Evil TSR (Grand Conjunction VI)
D&D
3-6 Castle Amber/Mark of Amber TSR
(Set in Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne. That setting was also explored for Call of Cthulhu in Worlds of Cthulhu magazine).
Dungeon Magazine
1 “Funeral Procession” Dungeon 135
1-3 “The Beast Within” Dungeon 65
1-5 “Shut-In” Dungeon 128
2-4 “Horror’s Harvest” Dungeon 38
2-4 “Jacob’s Well” Dungeon 43
2-4 “Last Dance” Dungeon 64 (nice cover!)
3-5 “Unkindness of Ravens” Dungeon 65
3-6 “The Ghost of Mistmoor” Dungeon 35
4-6 “House on the Edge of Midnight” Dungeon 76
4-6 “Jigsaw” Dungeon 61
4-6 “The Price of Revenge” Dungeon 42
5-9 “Laughing Man” Dungeon 52
6 “Tammaraut’s Fate” Dungeon 106
6-9 “Felkovic’s Cat” Dungeon 50
9 “And Madness Followed” Dungeon 134
10 “Chains of Blackmaw” Dungeon 135
Supplementary Material: Pathfinder
Alea Publishing
Insanity Rules
Alluria Publishing
Creepy Creatures: Bestiary of the Bizarre
Avalon Game Company
Haunts and More
LPJ Designs
Horrific Fears
Two Dozen Dangers: Haunts
Open Design
Kobold Ecologies: Volume 1
Kobold Quarterly 7
Kobold Quarterly 11: “Ecology of the Vampire”
Imperial Gazetteer
Tales of the Old Margreve Web Compilation
Rite Publishing
#30 Haunts for Houses
Evocative City Sites: Bedlam Asylum
Evocative City Sites: Burial Vaults of House Blackwood
Super Genius Games
The Genius Guide to the Harrowed
Mythic Menagerie: Kingdom of Graves
Supplementary Material: d20, 3.5, OGL
Fantasy Flight
Grimm d20
Green Ronin
Fang & Fury
White Wolf/Sword & Sorcery
Blood Bayou
Dark Tales and Disturbing Legends
Masque of the Red Death
Ravenloft 3rd edition. I believe a Pathfinder compatible fan project called Mistwalker is active on the boards here.
WotC
Ghostwalk
Libris Mortis
Heroes of Horror
Supplementary Material: AD&D
TSR
Carnival
Also, see here.
OMG, INSANE Jeff! Thanks so much for pulling this together! Super useful. I'll totally be checking some of these out!
(And one particularly nice add in your OGL list. :P)
Yet more resources for Carrion Crown
Complete map of Bran Castle (so-called Dracula’s Castle) in Transylvania.
Maps of Hermannstadt (now Sibiu), Kronstadt (now Brasov), and a link to a map of Transylvania, from a Baedeker’s of 1883.
Boldavia was the Mystara version of Transylvania; it was one of the principalities of Glantri. It was also the site of Castle Amber, mentioned in my earlier post. There were not any adventures specifically set here, however, as far as I can find.
It seems to me that the best equation of Whitby in Dracula, btw, (Mordentshire in Ravenloft II) would be Thrushmoor in Ustalav. A map of Whitby is here.
Other Game Systems
Sylvania (WFRP)
The whole ambiance and style of WH tends to fit well with Ustalav. Thus many published books for the various incarnations of the RPG could be mined for content.
a map of Sylvania
another map
This site has a number of free adventures and resources appropriate to Gothic adventures.
This section of the Liber Fanatica website has a lot of useful Middle-European style maps.
Call of Cthulhu
Lovecraft myself mentions a ‘Mr. H’ (alias Edward Hutchinson) of Transylvania in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. H was a correspondent of the wizard Curwen. Later, Ferenczy (later becoming a part of the CoC game in Fungi from Yuggoth, a noble and immortal vampire sorcerer from Klausenburg, appears, apparently the same figure, having lived since well before 1754…
Vampire: The Masquerade
This game explored Transylvania in a series of publications that began with the Dark Ages (sic: High Middle Ages) with Transylvania by Night and continued with three sequels which took the story through the present day. The narrative was strongly linked to the overall story-arc of this edition, including the Jyhad and Gehenna. Dracula appears intermittently. The Transylvania setting was partly inherited from Ars Magica, including the presence of vampiric wizards called the Tremere. The new version of the World of Darkness featured an Ordo Dracul which combined aspects of the Tremere with their foes, Dracula’s clan.
Thanks, Prashant.
I'll list some of my unabashed favorites from my gaming history:
* Ravenloft/House of Strahd. I played a paladin in this when the original came out. It was one of my best gaming experiences as a kid. "Expedition" doesn't quite measure up, partly because it may be too sandboxy (the PCs don't feel the sense of urgency, in my experience). I ran it for my group a couple years ago and I ended up borrowing details from the original to give it some semblance of storyline.
The rest are from my later gaming career:
* Tales of the Old Margreve. This inspired me to plan an Ustalav/River Kingdoms campaign before CC was even officially announced.
* The Ghost of Mistmoor. Classic adventure from an early Dungeon -- this is well reviewed around the net.
* Tammaraut's Fate. Another Dungeon classic, this from 3.5. Would either need to be on Lake Encarthan or shifted to an inland setting.
* "And Madness Followed" is based on the King in Yellow and to see it shine, I recommend some serious study of Chambers and the multitude of Hastur based adventures out there for CoC-- the Curse of the Yellow Sign series and Tatters of the King adventures in particular. There are multiple versions of the play this references available that you can pick a choose from. I prefer James Blish's from More Light!.
* Grimm d20 - quite inspired and very old school Ravenlofty. Not in print (even pdf), however.
* Feast of Goblyns and The Created are rightly considered among the best Ravenloft adventures, but they are pretty railroady. They have some great ideas that can be lifted straight into a game, however.
A few other comments:
"Funeral Procession" and "Cage of Delirium" resemble elements of CC part 1 quite a lot, at least in motifs-- so you have a choice - pillage for ideas or save them for a different campaign. The second one should be pretty easy to use for expanding the Haunting, however.
And... for a totally neglected Vampire novel, there is Paul Feval's Vampire City, originally published in French in 1867-- which features very strange, dreamy sequences closer to Poe than to Stoker. His vampires are a sort of hive mind, with multiple bodies, clones, and creepy ability to absorb others' identities and bodies. Plus the party in the story sounds like a PC group.
Here's a 1.0 adventure to add to your list.
The Lost City - TSR
The first half or so of the module was rather typical and straight forward dungeon run, not too horror filled. It's when you got deeper into the dungeon, having to deal with 'helpful' people stab you in the back, and fighting a huge lovecraftian monster that will continue to regenerate from the indestructible horn he leaves behind when defeated, that things get more on the horror genre. There is a cursed scroll that permamently turns the reader into a mini version of that same lovecraftian horror and fights the party unless they got a remove curse. In order to destroy the horn, you got to use the cliche of tossing it into a volcano where the creature came from. But the volcano is in the middle of an underground city ruled by a cult who worships the creature and controls the population with drugs(refined mushrooms the drugged populace harvests). It was a shockingly in depth and dark module for only 30-50 pages.
Granted I am not sure how much the module actually gets in depth on these matters. According to my DM, the module was designed to be very vague on many things while giving some background info for the DM to flesh out.
Yeah. You're right. I had to think back to this one. It had a desert setting (and a sequel in Dungeon 142, called "Masque of Dreams")-- but this is actually incidental to the story. It does have a pulp-horror thing going on strong (compare Castle Amber for a different experience of this genre).
It's a lot of work to put on-- the city is huge and only briefly described. It definitely has had an influence, I think, on the Underdark in later D&D and PF.
PS.
I also think "Carnival" is pretty awesome (Carnivale being one of my favorite shows)-- though a lot of the fluff doesn't work outside the Mists. The actual freaks in the show could be used for a bizarre encounter, however.
2 obvious omissions, after looking over my copy of Carrion Hill:
The Styes in Dungeon 121 (level 9) and its sequel The Weavers in Dungeon 138 (level 10) are closely linked to Carrion Hill- they are all by Richard Pett. The map of Carrion Hill itself makes clear that "The Filth" is "The Styes."
Both are highly recommended. Note that CH is a level 5 adventure, so you'll have to bridge the gap with some other scenarios.
Three notes:
1) I really enjoy that Jeff said "Lovecraft myself mentions"
2) Prince of Wolves is awesome and really fun reading if you want a tour of some of the same lands Carrion Crown's going to be treading.
3) TOTALLY WEIRD that Cage of Delirium might have some overlaps with Carrion Crown. (And though no one's seen it yet, TOTALLY WEIRD that Haverghast asylum and Havenguard asylum in Caliphas utilize the same Kirkbride design.) :P
Three notes:
1) I really enjoy that Jeff said "Lovecraft myself mentions"
Oops...
Rumors that somehow my cousin* has migrated into my body are unfounded. Wholly unfounded.*Yep
I would like to suggest these haunts and agree that 'the Styes' is one of the best adventures I'v ever seen.
(snip)
3) TOTALLY WEIRD that Cage of Delirium might have some overlaps with Carrion Crown. (And though no one's seen it yet, TOTALLY WEIRD that Haverghast asylum and Havenguard asylum in Caliphas utilize the same Kirkbride design.) :P
Interesting. First thought: "What's a Kirkbride?"
Second thought. Hmmm. Includes maps.
Thanks, golem101.
Here are my notes on just what to use, where:
Interpolating Adventures into Carrion Crown
Carrion Crown, in common with all other PF APs, assumes a medium experience track. Adding adventures to extend the campaign is easiest done with the slow experience track.
Note that each module for the AP assumes a starting level: thus:
#43 The Haunting of Harrowstone starts at level 1.
#44 Trial of the Beast starts at level 4.
#45 Broken Moon starts at level 6.
#46 Wake of the Watcher starts at level 9.
#47 Ashes at Dawn starts at level 11.
#48 Shadows of Gallowspire starts at level 13.
The difference between #43 and #44 is thus about 9,000 XP; between #44 and #45 is about 14,000 XP; between #45 and #46 is 42,000; between #46 and #47 is 80,000; and between #47 and #48 is about 160,000 XP.
Changing advancement to slow introduces a deficit in XP as follows:
#43-#44 5,000 XP (approximately 1 scenario of 3rd level which raises the PCs to 4th+1,000 XP)
#44-#45 7,000 XP (5th level scenario leading to 6th)
#45-#46 28,000 XP (8th to 9th, +4,000 XP)
#46-#47 40,000 XP (10th to 11th, -10,000 XP)
#47-#48 80,000 XP (12th to 13th, -15,000 XP)
#48 interlude 260,000 XP? (14th to 15th, +70,000 XP)
Ideally this XP is given in the course of the AP segment through a side-adventure close to the conclusion, since the level assumptions in the adventure will be that the characters are 3rd level prior to the end of #43, 5th level prior to the end of #45, etc.
So, more or less, we would need adventures of 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th, 12th, and 14th level to make the adventure path work at slow.
3rd level, from the list I posted above: “Ghost of Mistmoor” (AD&D). Adding in much of Cage of Delirium is probably the easiest route.
5th: The Haunting of Soldragon Academy, “The Griffon Hatchling Heist” in Tales of the Old Margreve, “Tale of the Mouse King” and “The Maiden in the Glass” in Tales of Zobeck. From AD&D: “The House on the Edge of Midnight,” “Jigsaw,” “The Laughing Man,” and “The Price of Revenge” and Feast of Goblyns. Carrion Hill is a Golarion-canon adventure, but involves a major side-trip.
8th: House of Strahd (Ravenloft)- probably shortened. Placing Barovia between The Furrows and Ilmarsh is an appropriate side-trip. Alternately, “And Madness Followed” could be used to introduce some early Mythos horror. Blood of the Gorgon (if you can get it) is an urban adventure of the right level.
10th: “The Styes” and “The Weavers” are both obvious choices, but one would have to backtrack towards Carrion Hill from Ilmarsh before returning south to Caliphas. Castle Shadowcrag, again, if you can get it. If you ran House of Strahd, The House on Gryphon Hill could be cannibalized to give that adventure a sequel.
12th and 14th- here we are stuck with homebrew (Horror just seems more effective against lower-level characters, it seems). I’ll discuss my choices and thoughts in another post on these. If anyone can recommend a possible module for these sections, let me know!
Ha!
<--- Might know more about asylums than even he is comfortable with. :P
Interesting. First thought: "What's a Kirkbride?"
one of my favorites, Gates of Firestorm Peak
My post on the Conversions board is linked to my current plans for filling the 12th level gap between 47 to 48 with a homebrew stop in Averoigne (or perhaps an ersatz "Azerone") and an homage to Castle Amber by creating a CA Smith inspired "Chateau Douleurs."
one of my favorites, Gates of Firestorm Peak
Many of the creatures from this one come from Castle Amber, incidentally.
Since I referenced Castle Amber I should add Night Howlers to the list, since it also details part of Averoigne. It's for D&D/Mystara and is mainly a guide to playing or running were-creatures.
I am planning to use the the Styes and Carrion Hill. Some old faves i would also consider would be The Lost Temple of Tharizdun module and The Mad Gods Key from one of the Dungeon magazine.
Exellent adventures all . Also "Escape from Meenlock prison" Dungeon 146.
Adamant Entertainment's Bloodlines has new sorcerer bloodlines for vampires and ghouls which I have used to create a side quest with twin dhampires with the vampire bloodlines.
I would like to suggest these haunts and agree that 'the Styes' is one of the best adventures I'v ever seen.
What magazine is the styes in. I have heard enough about it to see if I have it, but never noticed it. If I don't have it then I might try to hunt the mag down.
Fantasy Flight had a few other books you might consider:
Necromantic Lore - A book of undead creatures
Twisted Lore - Aberrations, Oozes and Shapechangers
Darkness and Dread - Heavy handed in places but a good source for horror advice.
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Changing advancement to slow introduces a deficit in XP as follows:
#43-#44 5,000 XP (approximately 1 scenario of 3rd level which raises the PCs to 4th+1,000 XP)
#44-#45 7,000 XP (5th level scenario leading to 6th)
#45-#46 28,000 XP (8th to 9th, +4,000 XP)
#46-#47 40,000 XP (10th to 11th, -10,000 XP)
#47-#48 80,000 XP (12th to 13th, -15,000 XP)
#48 interlude 260,000 XP? (14th to 15th, +70,000 XP)Ideally this XP is given in the course of the AP segment through a side-adventure close to the conclusion, since the level assumptions in the adventure will be that the characters are 3rd level prior to the end of #43, 5th level prior to the end of #45, etc.
So, more or less, we would need adventures of 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th, 12th, and 14th level to make the adventure path work at slow.
Nice analysis Jeff. +1
I would point out, however, that switching to the Slow XP point progression wil leave the party at 2nd level during a portion of THoH when the party must be 3rd level in order to survive. Without putting too fine a point on it? It will be a TPK if you use the slow progression track and do not compensate for that change by reducing the lethality of encounters considerably.
I have done an exhaustive XP analysis for the podcast purposes, and I can confirm that the XP point breakdown in The Haunting of Harrowstone is extremely precise, both with a view to the post-adventure XP points to be awarded to a party of 4, and, interestingly, within THoH itself.
The phases within THoH of when, exactly, the party should level up is precisely determined with level-ups at both logical breakpoints within the module. This aspect of the module's mathematical design necessarily assumes that everything this is "supposed" to have been encountered when it was intended has been encountered - and it was defeated with maximum XP earned. There is almost ZERO wiggle room built into the module's default XP point design.
Two things flow from this, namely:
A) XP for random encounters or ad hoc bonus points will change the intended point in the module when the party levels up. Similarly, should the party miss the available XP points gathered from researching or earning other XP points that might be missed from earning XP points for trust awards, these events will throw off the module's design.
1st Point: Pay attention to what XP points the Player's MISS as well as those they EARN. Adjust as may be necessary with random encounters or bonus XP. This becomes critical when the party hits 3rd level. IF they hit it too early, it may not be a problem. If they hit it even two encounters too late? A TPK is very possible. Pay attention!!
B) XP point awards for earning "Trust" MATTER to The Haunting of Harrowstone's design. If you do not award XP points for Trust (most especially the final two "stages" of Trust awards for Trust of 31 and higher, the PCs will not earn 4th level at the end of The Haunting of Harroswtone.
2nd Point: If you don't want to use the Trust mechanism in THoH, then don't; HOWEVER, the 2,400 XP points the players are supposed to be able to earn from this mechanic are central to the module's XP point design and are not "extras" to the module. They are built in. Do not ignore or overlook these intended XP awards. (They are noted in the far right column on the bottom of page 58.)
I do not, in any way, intend or desire for the above to be viewed as a criticism of the module's XP point design. The very close and precise XP point design in the module is, frankly, a WELCOMED change to Paizo's AP design and development. Too often, in the past, Paizo has left XP point awards to be far too "loosey goosey". Rob McCreary and Mike Kortes have addressed this issue with precision in THoH.
At the same time, many long-time readers and GMs of Paizo's APs may assume the same "loosey goosey" XP point awards as have been used in the past are present in Carrion Crown. So far, that appears to NOT be the case and the XP points awarded are precise, exacting and intentional. GMs who are used to "messing with the XP" or "eyeballing" XP progression in AP modules should not be doing this in THoH -- or at least -- not doing so without understanding there are consequences for doing so in The Haunting of Harrowstone.
Thanks, Steel Wind, that's very useful.
I would like to suggest these haunts and agree that 'the Styes' is one of the best adventures I'v ever seen.What magazine is the styes in. I have heard enough about it to see if I have it, but never noticed it. If I don't have it then I might try to hunt the mag down.
Dungeon 121; see my post a bit above this one.
Nice!!! Thanks Jeff, great list...
I would like to suggest these haunts and agree that 'the Styes' is one of the best adventures I'v ever seen.What magazine is the styes in. I have heard enough about it to see if I have it, but never noticed it. If I don't have it then I might try to hunt the mag down.
Here you go, the other adventure are also quite decent
You can get it in PDF or Print.
Thanks, Steel Wind, that's very useful.
Based on what he stated above, our best bet if we want to add to the campaign using the slow advancement is to insert similar material (with the required XP) from homebrew of published works into the midst of the story. Wesley's module "Cage of Delirium" seems oddly appropriate for Haunting of Harrowstone. We will have to wait and see what works best withe modules as they come out, though there are probably are some highly appropriate ones in the list we're building that we can speculate on.
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Having, at long last, entered book 5 of Rise of the Runelords, my players have begun asking what's next, most of them eyeing Carrion Crown when they do so.
One thing I know I will be doing is adding a little village and a little road to Varno - The Old Svalitch Road that runs through the village of Barovia.
How I'm going to integrate it, I don't know, but it will be there.
So, I'm running Harrowstone myself, and I don't see how the PCs are supposed to reach the mentioned trust.
** spoiler omitted **
Here's one thread on trust points. Here's another. There might be more but I missed 'em.