I could use some wisdom from all the sages here. I've got the following pieces of a game that I need to string together but can't seem to do so. I've tossed out three or four versions of my own ideas and can't seem to come to something useful. Here's what I have:
1. 4 1st level PCs, 1 2nd level PC
2. A just-robbed caravan
3. They follow the bandits' trail
4. They find a crumbling manor house in the woods
5. Inside is a dollhouse in perfect condition
6. Perfect tiny porcelain dolls of various creatures
7. If characters stay in the house until sunrise they turn into dolls
8. How to keep them in the manor house so the threat of such might occur
9. How do they get out of the manor house before sunrise
10. Would also like to throw in a beastie or two to keep things interesting.
Thanks in advance!
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So follow the dredd movie and have it so all the exits are sealed either by magic or physical obstruction. Now they need to disarm that before they can leave. The "defense" kicks in and the beasties are let loose.
Right. That's a scenario that didn't feel right but having someone else mention it makes it seem like a viable option. Thanks! So what would you offer as some of the low-level beasties and a possible way to escape their fate? I know this is at its heart a pretty simple adventure but I'm having a creativity block where making it a little different or more inventive is hampered.
You'll want to consider what happens if they smash / burn / otherwise attack the dollhouse. That could be an easy way to disarm the trap (maybe too easy).
If they can escape without destroying the dollhouse, you'll want to consider what happens if they pick it up (or just the dolls) to take with them when they leave.
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There is a soul bound doll. Honestly I would cheat and just use small zombies and flavor them as dolls. To diffuse the barrier maybe they find a creepy room that has a older lady who passed away. Maybe they need to bury the body or hand her a doll. Her spirit passes on and the barrier falls
There is a soul bound doll. Honestly I would cheat and just use small zombies and flavor them as dolls. To diffuse the barrier maybe they find a creepy room that has a older lady who passed away. Maybe they need to bury the body or hand her a doll. Her spirit passes on and the barrier falls
I do like that idea.
You'll want to consider what happens if they smash / burn / otherwise attack the dollhouse. That could be an easy way to disarm the trap (maybe too easy).
If they can escape without destroying the dollhouse, you'll want to consider what happens if they pick it up (or just the dolls) to take with them when they leave.
It's crossed my mind that by removing the dolls the curse is lifted and they return to life. I know that's a very simple solution but that's another spot I'm having a block on. But maybe it takes something else. There is no one in the party who has remove curse at the current level and I also see this as a task for a higher level cleric than they have in the party, anyway. Which takes away the usefulness of the spellcasters in the game.
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It's crossed my mind that by removing the dolls the curse is lifted and they return to life. I know that's a very simple solution but that's another spot I'm having a block on. But maybe it takes something else. There is no one in the party who has remove curse at the current level and I also see this as a task for a higher level cleric than they have in the party, anyway. Which takes away the usefulness of the spellcasters in the game.You'll want to consider what happens if they smash / burn / otherwise attack the dollhouse. That could be an easy way to disarm the trap (maybe too easy).
If they can escape without destroying the dollhouse, you'll want to consider what happens if they pick it up (or just the dolls) to take with them when they leave.
Hmm. One of the dolls is a high-level cleric (a Knowledge(religion) check can tell this from their regalia) capable of dispelling the entire curse... if only the party can turn him/her back first.
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So follow the dredd movie and have it so all the exits are sealed either by magic or physical obstruction. Now they need to disarm that before they can leave. The "defense" kicks in and the beasties are let loose.
I'unno about that. I don't think that a physical obstruction would delay a party of PCs for long - the blighters get creative. Same for magically sealing the exits. The players are liable to go through a wall, or, should that prove too difficult, dismantle the load-bearing innards of the house so it can't keep itself upright and hide in a bag of holding while the building collapses around them. The party's level one, so they probably don't have extradimensional hidey holes, but the general concept still stands. (Or, rather, falls.)
If I needed to provide an incentive for not leaving the dubious safety of the building, I'd probably focus more on making the building seem downright hospitable compared to what's outside it - that way, instead of feeling trapped and prying up the floorboards in a desperate bid to tunnel for freedom, the players will instead feel grateful for the meager shelter it provides. Examples of what I mean:
1 - When night falls it brings with it a cursed fog that deals WIS damage for every minute of exposure. With some minor fortifications (stuffing blankets under the doors, boarding broken windows) the house can stave off the fog. This would work best with some foreshadowing beforehand - the mindbreaking fog bank probably shouldn't just roll in with no explanation.
2 - When first they enter, the players find lines of powdered silver drawn along the house's doorways and windowframes. When the full moon rises in the sky and the werewolves begin to circle outside, the single-hitdie PCs (likely without a single silver weapon between them) realize just how screwed they are.
3 - Nasty weather. Mundane, but it does the trick. Pathfinder's environmental rules are brutal on low level characters , and temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit will kill a first level character extraordinarily quickly. The stormclouds roll in and begin dropping hail, sleet, and lightning, and the PCs are more or less trapped.
As to how the PCs would escape such a pickle, perhaps there are talismans inside the house that can protect them from the fog. Perhaps there is a secret stockpile of silver and alchemical weapons in the basement. Perhaps the weather breaks in the very early morning, after the PCs have discovered the house's secrets and know to run as soon as is feasible.
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To diffuse the barrier maybe they find a creepy room that has a older lady who passed away. Maybe they need to bury the body or hand her a doll. Her spirit passes on and the barrier falls
If the party hands her a random doll it grows, animates, and attacks the party. If the one right doll is handed to her, she's satisfied and the curse is broken. The right one is (they have to figure this out) the original doll, the only one that was made by a dollmaker instead of transformed from a creature, and therefore the only one the old woman recognizes. She is not able to communicate coherently enough to get this requirement across, just "bring me the doll, bring me the doll" over and over.
Cool! Everyone has some great notions, all of which are very useable. I knew I could count on the collective creativity that abounds here! I'm hitting the bunk pretty soon but keep the ideas rollin' in. And many thanks!
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bumping for future use, thanks guys
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It is indeed nice to know the bandits' connection to the house. But I can make a set-up for when the bandits do not have a connection.
This requires the bandits to have an headstart. They stumbled upon the manor a day before your party gets there and suffer the curse themselves. When your party gets to the house (at the end of a day preferably) they can get in to investigate. Inside the manor they will find signs of struggle, but no bandits (as they are in the dollhouse). They do find the loot scattered about, some blood here and there, broken thieves tools near the window (as they tried to get out).
So the "guardian" of the manor is an Ahkhat, a being that more a less IS the house. It tries to prevent anyone from leaving, emerging from the doors, walls, ceilings, floors, etc to prevent any escape attempt (sunder thieves tools, attack but don't kill, closing doors, being the door). Its sole desire is adding to the dollhouse collection, and it defends it with his life. In the case the party tries to damage the manor to get out, the creature can fix the manor.
Your party can enter the house, do all the research they want to investigate what happened, and only trigger the guardian when they try to leave. If they know the appearance of the bandits, they might find and recognize the tiny dolls in the dollhouse. In order for them to realize that there is a curse in the house, mention their slow transformation (their skin gets a porcelain tint/hardness to it, their hair starts to get fixed in place, etc). This might urge them to leave the house, which triggers the guardian, trying to keep them in.
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I once played in an adventure where tiny figurines grew and came to life when removed from a diorama, the trick was that the key to leave the room was actually a shepherd figurine's crook which didn't grow. Made for an interesting encounter, something like that could be the key to escape.
Why is one pc 2nd level while the rest are 1st level they should all be the same level.
After the first adventure in this new campaign, the 2nd level character dismissed a haunt forever by figuring out why it kept appearing and giving it the necessary commands it sought to ease the spirits. The rest of the players unanimously voted to give him and only him the XP for it. It was enough to bump him over the hump into the 2nd level.
I once played in an adventure where tiny figurines grew and came to life when removed from a diorama, the trick was that the key to leave the room was actually a shepherd figurine's crook which didn't grow. Made for an interesting encounter, something like that could be the key to escape.
I like that!
Right-o. I have plenty of ideas from all of you to run the adventure. Thanks to you all for your input!
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Glad to help, however much I did.
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This setup is ripe for a Scooby Do episode style mystery.
It could be that the bandits are the spirits of the humanoid dolls that nightly wander off raiding the nearby trail. The loot collected is placed in the dollhouse room, and each hour a part of it shrinks and teleports into the dollhouse.
The non-humanoid spirits could be spirits that provide the beasties that cause trouble in the house. All exits when opened turn out to have a bestie that watches for a few moments before attacking. This gives the PCs time to close the door/window before the attack, and the bestie cannot get in to attack, since that is not its task.
To fully lift the curse, you have to bury the aged woman in the greenhouse that is at the top of the building, or otherwise only accessible from within the house.
/cevah
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I ran it on Saturday night. I ran it like the house was caught between planar realities and was intelligent, using illusion magic to lure people to it. The players tracked the bandits there and once inside had to figure out how to get out before becoming porcelain dolls themselves. They managed to do it just after one player had changed and another was in the process. By using the shepherd's crook mentioned above they unlocked the front door on the house and escaped with their unfortunate friends, who changed back once the house had been left behind.
Again, thanks to everyone who contributed. And man, do I wish I'd thought of a Scooby-Doo angle!