I'm in the process of preparing to run Misgivings from the Skinsaw Murders adventure and have been trying to figure out how to best run the Haunts.
I have been advised to possibly tone down some of the earlier Haunts in an effort to keep the players from going in to a total defense posture. What do people that have run this already think of that idea?
Second I was thinking as written I would assign one type of Haunt to each PC (I expect to have 4-6 players) and then making the rest universal. But once a Haunt has been encountered making it Universal. Has anyone done this and what would the implications be?
Thanks
JD
|
Having recently run this, here's what I can recommend.
1. There's a thread around here somewhere (don't ask me which one) where someone did first person write ups of what happens when each haunt is triggered. ie "You see this". I printed these out and handed out little slips of paper to people as things happened, so that they'd know what was going on, but the rest of the group wouldn't, except when the affected person described it. Having the players reacting to each other without metagame knowledge added a fun extra dimension to the whole thing.
2. Survey your players in advance about their characters, so you know which haunt to assign to which PC. Even though we're doing the full campaign, there were a couple I wasn't sure of in advance, so asking things like "Is your character especially afraid of sickness?" was helpful.
3. Get them to each roll a d20 about 40 or 50 times in advance, and write down the results for you, all on the same sheet of paper. Get their initiative and perception bonuses on the same paper. This will save time on each haunt, as you'll be able to look at your paper and announce what happens, instead of slowing down the game for an init and perception check from each person on each haunt.
4. I don't like your idea of changing them to universal after they're first set off. On the other hand, I don't believe they reset for a day, so it probably won't matter unless they're in the house on more than one day.
5. For any unassigned haunts that you treat as universal, I'd recommend just having the first person in range set it off and be affected by it, as if it was their assigned type. Don't have everyone in range affected by it. These haunts are designed to only affect one party member, so keep it that way.
6. Remember that haunts are mind affecting fear affects. Some PCs might get bonuses for that, such as the standard halfling bonus on saves vs fear. Paladins are completely immune, starting at level 3. However, I'd still let the paladins experience the haunt, just not have any chance of being harmed by it. In other words, treat them like any other PC for experiencing the haunt, but assume that they always make the saving throw. That way, they can still participate in seeing visions from the haunt and getting the back story.
7. As for your original question, don't tone down the haunts. Scaring the players into being totally paranoid is the whole point! And just when they think they're safe because one PC entered the room and didn't find a haunt, the person assigned to that haunt type can go in and set it off! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!! *evil GM laugh*
Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences.
I had found write ups of the Haunts and have all except one of them ready to print. The list I found didn't have Dance of Ruin as the one before it was duplicated.
I like the idea of getting dice rolls ahead of time and will do that. This will work well with the fact I don't plan on using miniatures while the party is in the house to try and keep the experience more story telling than a tactical exploration.
Though I am still trying to decide if I will have some kind of map for them to reference while inside (just no grid or minis being used). Any thoughts?
Also I plan to have a map and go back to a normal setup for the fights in the caverns. Would this work or will it spoil the effect of not using a grid & mini's for the rest of it?
I'm all for paranoid so I may pass on my planned changes to the haunts.
JD
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Re: Foxglove Haunts. That was me. Didn't even notice I posted the Worried Wife haunt twice. Let's fix that!
Ah, the flamenco! You rarely get to dance it these days, living so far from the people. The last time you danced it was in this very room for your husband, though he was just a noble at that time. You leap into the air, twirling about the room in tight fast circles, and a cry of joy is upon your lips as you let your soul be free, even though he has imprisoned you here alone while he is off in Magnimar.
But not today! You don't know how someone else has stolen into the manor, but you quickly begin dancing with her as well. She is a beauty, a vision of Varisian beauty if ever there was one. Long curled hair, dark pools for eyes, curvaceous and graceful – she would be a catch for any man! But tonight she dances with you, and she matches your step beat for beat.
As the dance continues, she proves to be a remarkably skilled dancer, almost anticipating every step you take about the parlor. And why wouldn't she? After all, she is you. Who else would know your next move? You take her into your arms, and you dance even more frenetically to the increasingly fast tempo echoing from the piano. You don't notice the change upon your partner at first. The mark upon her skin is tan at first, but quickly resolves into an angry blue-black bruise about her throat. Her eyes begin to bulge and water, her mouth contorts in pain, and her tongue protrudes as she gasps for air.
(You will be dancing for the next 1d6 rounds – go ahead and roll it. You take 1 point of Strength damage right now, and will be taking that damage every round until the dance ends. You may make a DC 15 Will save at the start of each turn to end the dance early.)
|
|
I used a full grid map for the entire house. I drew the exterior walls of the house in advance, and filled in the interior as we went. That meant the awkward parts were drawn in advance, since most of the rooms are simple rectangles, other than some diagonal exterior walls.
This also meant that there was no metagaming about when combat would start, since they were on a grid the whole time.
And it made it easier to just have them show me who was entering a room and who was waiting outside each time, so I'd know who was in range for each haunt. For the couple of haunts that can affect everybody, or which do cause combat to break out (misogynistic haunt), this mattered.
@Misroi - Thanks for posting that, I had posted a request on the Community thread and was mentioning it here in passing, but thanks for sure.
@Fromper - That makes sense to me, I'm just hoping to do something a little different with the encounter to help get the effect of it. Plus tit will be a good test of my GM'ing & RP skills.
JD
I just used your haunts 3 days ago, Misroi, and I loved them (the PCs were less thrilled about how damaging they were). I wish I'd seen your Dance of Ruin version earlier, damn.
Anyone who's run Foxglove Manor, did you have the issue that the PC's start opening the doors to the rooms and refusing to enter any of them?
|
|
Anyone who's run Foxglove Manor, did you have the issue that the PC's start opening the doors to the rooms and refusing to enter any of them?
I had the opposite problem. I gave people slips of paper with info of what their PC experienced that the others didn't see. The one guy playing the cavalier with the lowest will save in the party didn't get any at first, so he got jealous and started rushing into every room just to be the first one in and hopefully get haunted. Then he failed the will save on the misogynistic haunt and attacked the party sorceress.
|
|
Only one, Bakaninja. The elven fighter was suggesting that they should leave and burn the whole place down, long before we got to the first haunt. She was also the only person to notice the Worried Wife haunt. She took one look at the footprints rising in the dust, thought for a moment, and declared, "I'm out." The character refused to enter rooms for the rest of the adventure. And, from her perspective, I can see it. She's a warrior. She hits things and makes them fall over. She can't hit something like this, so she's completely unable to protect the party.
Fortunately, the rest of the party realized that they were learning more of what was going on by subjecting themselves to the haunts. The paladin/cleric was able to knock out the one in the kid's room through channeling, but when he realized that they were depriving themselves of clues, he stopped. They also got pretty lucky on saves. All of the really bad ones they were able to resist.
Thanks for the information all, its very helpful.
I normally run a very tactical game as I think I mentioned above, but my players and I are working on getting more role playing in to our games.
Based on some conversations with friends that have run or played Misgivings I thought this would be a good place to try and push my limits.
I hope to give the session a bit of an old school feel and make it more about the characters and the story being revealed than the maps and minis.
I'm not sure it will work, but have told the players we have an upcoming session that will be done differently and they all seem open to it and at least one is excited about it. To make it even crazier I think I have 3 new players starting this session (Saturday) and they will get to Misgivings the next session.
So please keep the ideas and experiences coming.
JD