I'm having some trouble figuring out what I'm supposed to do with this place.
I have Rule of Fear. There's stuff about "the rooms feel too small", and stuff about "a thousand suicides" and "stuff in the walls", and a map that, as far as I can tell, is utterly useless to me (unless I'm missing something). To top it all off, it says it's ruled over by the "Laughing Man" who is a Chain Devil...
What are people doing with this? Maybe my creative spring is running really dry at the moment, but I don't get what direction the authors were hoping we'd take with this. None of the teaser bits really fit together in any way, and I really don't see what we're supposed to do with that map.
I've had random ideas ranging from making the house a living being (and people get digested from going inside of it), to it being partially phased to another dimension and the PCs have to "turn it inside out" (by going into the walls) in order to escape, but nothing really concrete.
What are you doing?
While I do have plans to use Saffron House, I've hit a similar rut. I can make some use of the map and the sort of critters that the snippet hints towards... but all I currently have is a jumble of disassociated ideas and what I do have is pretty rough. I still need to shake them up and push them into something that resembles coherency.
I'm a bit hesitant to put everything up here in case any of my players wind up peeking but if it could possibly help I would gladly post up any plans once they solidify.
The Saffron House is one of my favorite parts in Rule of Fear, but I've found the same problems. There's so much meant to be going on that it's hard to figure out how to tie it together.
The obvious inspirations are "Pigeons From Hell" and "The Yellow Wallpaper", but I think that it helps to toss a little Hellraiser and Thirteenth Ghost (2001) in there.
So what does that mean?
My take is
-The reason Thord can't die is because the shape of the House acts as a supernatural perpetual motion machine. His suffering and madness are channeled by the House, to the Laughing Man, and rechannels again to Thord, keeping him alive, well and ready for whatever torments the kyton has come up with.
-The Laughing Man is a kyton obsessed with mental torture before the physical, and also the architect of the Saffron House. He toys with those that fall into his clutches, driving them to madness and trapping their bodies and souls within the walls, where he torments them further. While he doesn't possess the House itself, he exists in Shadow Plane version of it, where he grows powerful on the energy the House produces. He only keeps Thord alive because he needs to have someone in there to keep the House always running, and the Laughing Man is an expert at keeping his victims from reaching a point where they don't care anymore.
-By interpreters, I take it to mean people that the Laughing Man has somehow infected or broken. Perhaps this would be a good place to make a template...
-The Colour of the House is the result of the engine "running" for so long. It's constant "motion" has caused reality to become stained, and people that spend too much time in it begin to take on the same tinge as well.
-An idea I had for making the Laughing Man and the Saffron House a less localized threat is to tie them to the Canterwall villages that have been going missing. The kyton has been using the energy he gets from the Saffron House to allow him to draw the villages into the Plane of Shadow, or even individual Demiplanes, turning each one into a Silent Hill type village where the inhabitants are trapped and forever haunted (and hunted) by monsters that represent their fears and sins.
Oh, and the Laughing Man should have DR 50/ Bullets of Lead.
Interesting...
My take on the Saffron House is thus:
It is a quasi-living thing, yes, and it exists between dimensions as its own demiplane. Like all living things it needs to eat so it has a symbiotic relationship with a creature (I'm thinking maybe a dimensional shambler or something similar) who's job is to subtly lead people to it. Now, the house can draw the most sustenance from those who have lived exciting and full lives. Since those aren't exactly in abundance in Ustalav, adventurers make the tastiest targets.
The door to the house has a number of locks. Now, I have been having the shambler leave strange keys in odd places for the PCs to find (usually among or even inside the remains of those who have died horribly, to add an idea of importance to them). As they progress and kill horrible things and further prove themselves worth the time and attention of the Saffron House they will find more keys. The house will appear to them when they have them all and when they are next alone in the forests or swamps or even the mountains.
Now this explains why a group of adventurers haven't gone around and turned Ustalav into a bright and happy place. Ustalav remains the horror-choked realm it is because this damn house keeps eating them before they can make too much of an impact. Let's see if it gets one more meal.
That's my set up at least, a sentient house of horrors that specifically eats do-gooders with class levels.
My take is ** spoiler omitted **...Regarding those missing Canterwall villages...
** spoiler omitted **
Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to look at that.
As for Saffron House itself, if you look at its map, the place really does have a baffling floorplan. Try following the various hallways, staircases, and secret doors - the layout makes zero sense and is clearly the work of someone who's not particularly stable. This aspect reminds me of the spooky-as-heck, real life Winchester Mansion.
I think the "inhabitants" are important to consider too. The animate dreams, gremlins, and juju zombies give the place a classic haunted house feel, while the shining children, hounds of tindalos, and totenmaskes hint at otherworldly (perhaps Lovecraftian) elements.
As for the Laughing Man himself, my first thought was Hellraiser. Or more specifically, the story on which it was based, "The Hellbound Heart." In that book, the main antagonist opens a gate to another realm in his home, and is dragged there by monsters with striking similarities to kytons. There he is doomed to an eternity of horrific torture, and all the while, he is taunted with a window that looks back into his old home (a constant reminder of his former not-always-being-tortured life).
If you went with the Hellbound Heart approach, Saffron House's builder - Cleid Thord - is being gruesomly tortured by the Laughing Man in an extradimensional space, and perhaps the only way he can free himself is to lure others to his former residence so that they can take...
I went back and re-read the short story pigeons from Hell (which gives a couple of ideas, such as why there are the three coffins in the secret space in the attic).
If you want to draw more of that story in, the Laughing Man could very well be a relative of Thord's, one that was given to the Kytons for some reason, such as revenge. After his "Conversion", he was released back and now torments Thord, returning what was done to him a thousand fold.
The gremlins come to watch tall folk suffer and throw in their own bits, while the Laughing Man animates Ju-ju zombies to keep some victims around and better torment others. The animated dreams, shining children and other Lovecraftian beasts are drawn there by the dimensional barrier wearing thin.
Your ideas of the extra dimensional space definitely works. The basement room lacks a door, so I would suggest that the reason someone might stay in that room is that it is a "safe" zone. Nothing can bother them as long as they stay there. Forced into that small corner, they eventually have to decide to face the torments of the House or go mad from the isolation and inactivity. Throw in an extremely small antimagic field that only covers that space if you're feeling particularly sadistic.
Saffron House ideasAll very cool stuff. I really like the idea of the House having a Silent Hill-esque "shadow version" of itself and the surrounding area. Like a tumor on reality, it continues to grow, fueled by the Laughing Man's wicked machinations. I could see all kinds of adventures where the PCs travel through Saffron House itself at lower levels, until they are able to pierce its Material Plane shell and enter its dark, otherworldly heart.
This also calls to mind Stephen King's "The Shining." In the book (as opposed to the movie), the hotel is possessed by an otherworldly entity that feeds off the psychic energies of those within. Hmm, so many ideas...
And as cool as I found Saffron House, I think I liked Bastardhall even more. Ustalav is definitely a Hell of a place - literally.
I think Saffron Hall and Bastardhall are the two big "Flesh This Out" pieces in the book. So much potential, so much flavour.
Besides, Any castle that has a single tower stuck in the middle of the air with only a single thin staircase to support it is ok with me. So long as the clock tower is well populated by beheaded Medusa.