House on Hook Street (spoilers)

[Rycaut]

I am prepping to run this complex module at Kublacon here in the Bay Area later this year. Lots of time to prep (which I suspect I need) but a bunch of questions.

Non-spoiler bits first - Looking forward to running this highly complex module - but worried that with all of the encounters and interactions (especially some that are implied to happen multiple times) running this in a single day for the first two chapters and in 9 hours for the second day may be challenging.

How long has this run for others who have run it? (especially for PFS with PFS characters not as a campaign game)

Now for some spoilers and PFS rule questions:

Is this a case of the SPECIFIC overriding the general PFS rules? Specifically are Occult Rituals and other rules from Chapter 6 of Occult Adventures LEGAL for a PFS sanctioned run of this module? I'm going to try to create a handout to give the players to help with running the ritual when we do.

If not, I'm not sure how to run this module - as learning, casting and then casting a second time the occult ritual seems like a very key component of the module. And the rules about the Dreamscape and the Dimension of Dreams are also key and referenced heavily. Clearly no PFS characters will have the Lucid Dreaming feat (since it isn't legal) but it seems like to run this module using the published rules about the Dimension of Dreams is important).

Did I miss some special rule somewhere? The Chronicle sheet for this module doesn't clarify anything though it does imply that the ritual is legal as it notes that the Key players get acts as a focus for the ritual in question.

Also - there is an apparent mistake in the guidelines for this module - the "Master of Dreams" boon is on the chronicle sheet for the third part of the module NOT on the bonus chronicle sheet as the rules indicate (about counting the number of dream haunts the PCs defeat)

I'm also worried about how to keep up the tension and craziness of the module which is communicated to the players not just from the specific encounters but also from the encounters in the dreamscape of the town or via interacting with NPCs in the "real" town - which I'm looking forward to for the role playing opportunities but which could take a lot of time in a module run that has a LOT of complex encounters. It is also key I suspect that the PCs sleep and that actions take place over many days - which means also allowing time for players to reselect spells for prepared casters etc.

As I finish my prep I'll post further questions - looks like some useful resources on PFSPrep already exist for the monsters - I'll probably try adding everything to Hero Lab and will try to share the results if they are useful.

[Neriathale]

I have played it in PFS mode and it took us three full days (spread over two conventions) at the end of which we *still* had to call it quits and bug out due to lack of time. Our party was well equipped for the investigative/roleplay/mystical parts of the adventure, but not very combat oriented.

It's probably in my top 5 RPG adventures, but I would be very cautious of running it in a convention setting with time constraints because there is a lot of potential for characters to spend extra time roleplaying, and it would be a shame to cut that short.

[Rycaut]

If you don't mind sharing how many players and what levels? Did being not combat focused slow down any of them any combat encounters? And where did you end up? (Also I aaaume Yu do the chronicle sheets in the middle and leveled up?

[Rycaut]

For reference it looks like the author's own estimate is about 50 hours of content so even two full days at a con is likely going to be tight (at most 25 hours). I'll likely sit down some of the random encounters to descriptive not combats. But there is still a lot.

[Dokomo]

I ran this at a convention over 20 hours and had to cut at least half the module and really bark and bear down at the two most notorious laggards in our area to get it accomplished.

[roysier]

The first part is investigative, be sure to keep players on task don't let them sputter and lose time. If they run into dead ends and don't know where to go help them summarize clues and tell them their options.

Consider ahead of time which encounters should be cut as not being very dangerous and not important to the plot.

From my understanding there are allot of dream type random encounters in part 1, cut most of those out.

I played this, part 1@2 took about 14 hours and almost half the module was cut out. Our party was not very optimized and encounters took forever to resolve. Telling players they should be ready for everything included having a way for ranged attacks will help. Also the players themselves were not efficient and when their turn rolled around they were undecided on what action to take.

We wasted allot of time in the investigative area not knowing what to do next and making choices that were off book or choices where we would unnecessarily go back to someone or someplace. These can be resolved by the GM saying OK you do that and you find nothing new instead of playing them all out.

There were lots of clues handed out at the beginning and because we didn't pick up on a few we lost time by missing sections of the plot and running around in circles. This is where the GM can help by summarizing what we know and what clues have not been followed up on.

Part 3 we finished within 8 hours.

[Rycaut]

Thanks good to know input. Unfortunately there is a mechanical cost to cutting some of the encounters (impacts a chronicle sheet boon) and I'm always reluctant to cut stuff when running for PFS. But I will try to keep things moving and may resolve some encounters easily depending on the party composition. I hopefully will have a fairly experienced group which will help.

[roysier]

Your other option is to cut off at 12 hours no matter where your at.

[Neriathale]

Rycaut wrote:

If you don't mind sharing how many players and what levels? Did being not combat focused slow down any of them any combat encounters? And where did you end up? (Also I aaaume Yu do the chronicle sheets in the middle and leveled up?

Witch (non combatant buffer/debuffer)

Rogue (underground alchemist)
Oracle (healer)
Warpriest (negative channeling tank)
Sorcerer

I think we were all either 5 or 6, and levelled up, but didn't get chronicle sheets midway (it hadn't been sanctioned when we started). We got to the final (?) encounter before being kicked out of the venue due to time.
Combat did slow us down, because of DR in one case, and enviromnent/positioning in another.

There was another table running at the same time which had a heavily optimised barbarian, and chewed through the combats, but got lost in the other sections. They did finish an hour or two ahead of us, but I am not sure how much, ior what, they skipped.

[roysier]

For us: we had a Cleric, a Paladin with zero ranged attacks, a Spiritualist again with almost no ranged attacks, and a Character with a large snake(no ranged attacks). We played for about 14 hours and almost all the encounters in the House in part 1 had to be cut out and all but one of the dream wondering encounters were cut out.

Again we spent allot of time trying to figure out clues and heading down the wrong route or going back to places we already visited seeing if we missed anything because we were stuck on what to do next.

Any encounter that needed range to reach lasted forever (45 minutes to an hour). Specifically the water trap encounter and an encounter where creatures with reach and hanging on ceilings and out of out of our 5 foot reach stood out as being super long combats.

[Rycaut]

When people have run this have they used the full dream haunt rules to trigger a combat for each dream haunt. Or have they just resolved the spell like effects and used hem mostly for role playing and atmosphere?

Also for GMs who have run this any encounters that surprised you at how long they took? Seems like a lot of combats that potentially could be lethal or very long for an I'll prepared party. My prep is nearly done but I am very worried about time on this module

[Andrew Mullen]

Most of the dream haunts are basically just spell effects to help reinforce the "dream stuff's leaking into the real world" thing and foreshadow the 3rd part. For the majority of the haunts I just described what happened when the party triggered them, had them roll their saves, asked what PCs did based on save results, then narratively summed up what happened over the ensuing 7 rounds (in the case of ongoing effects).

I haven't gotten into part 3 on my non-PFS run, but the only haunts in parts 1 and 2 that might slow you down are the Fever Dream Alley haunt, the one in Myra and Nahum's bedroom in G9, and the well in G19.
Not sure on PFS strictures, but I'd say the G9 bedroom haunt could definitely be turned into a "this happens" thing, rather than waiting for folks to channel it away. My group got hung up on it quite a bit. They didn't go down to the G19 catacomb well, but I could see that just eating up times as folks fail save after save falling and then trying to climb out.
Not sure on the Alley haunt as it feels like it "needs" to be a combat. I'd move it to be more narrative for time's sake, assuming that's ok in PFS.

EDIT: "basically just spell effects" sounds dismissive - those haunts are important for building tension, but you've probably got other concerns in a convention setting!