Mansions aren't used as much as castles, towers, keeps, crypts, temples, caves and whatnot, but they do offer an uneasy sense of comfort when exploring. However, they... do have technical problems, such as fragile walls, flammable furnitures, limited spaces, a huge amount of preparation to dress each and every room, and finally a rather restricted encounter table.
So, what are your tips and tricks for [literally] building a mansion that will serve as a dungeon for your players?
For instance, about the "rather restricted encounter table", well, you can use undead creatures, possessed objects, animated objects and disguised NPCs.
What kind of monsters or theme are you going for here?
Trap mastermind who built it as a murder house?
Haunted mansion belonging to an ancient vampire?
House of a political leader with guards patrolling the corridors?
Alchemist’s manse full of golems and other constructs?
Some other thing?
Edit: the answers to your question are kinda dependent on the answers to mine.
a number of the Adventure paths use mansions as the "dungeon". Book 2 of Carrion Crown is one.
However, they... do have technical problems, such as fragile walls, flammable furnitures, limited spaces, a huge amount of preparation to dress each and every room, and finally a rather restricted encounter table.
You could address most of the problems by making it a pillaged mansion, formerly inhabited by giants, now populated by various creatures.
But these technical problems can also be used as constraints to make the experience more special: Fragile walls might be easily breached, but this could draw unwanted attention. Flammable furnitures is something both sides could use. Limited spaces forces the players to adapt, offers some opportunities to very small opponents and might result in odd encounters with powerful but spatially handicapped big creatures. The encounter table could become more varied thanks to guards, personnel, slaves and visitors - depending on the mansion's owner, maybe few of them are humanoid. Intruders, summons and living trash removers (think otyugh etc.) add to the mix.
Dressing the mansion can be time consuming, yup. But personally I'd leave most of it to the imagination of the players - APs do that, too. Alternatively Gabriel Pickard (madcowchef on DeviantArt.com) creates very detailed maps, including separate furniture to place at will.
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There is a 'Museum' flip mat available that works well for a mansion set up, but it does have obvious musem features, like a lecture hall & display areas. PFS uses it for all the Blakros Museum modules.
If the mansion is large, you might want to put some sort of hive in it, and have other creatures avoid that particular area. Then the party can explore/loot half the place and avoid the hive if they think it's too much all at once.
You could address most of the problems by making it a pillaged mansion, formerly inhabited by giants, now populated by various creatures.
The difference is that an abandoned mansion throws every constraint I've mentioned out of the window. Technically speaking, since the mansion is destroyed, PCs wouldn't care much if they broke it further ^^;
This is why I asked for a mansion that PCs can investigate in any city, on a remote island and such.
But these technical problems can also be used as constraints to make the experience more special: Fragile walls might be easily breached, but this could draw unwanted attention. Flammable furnitures is something both sides could use. Limited spaces forces the players to adapt, offers some opportunities to very small opponents and might result in odd encounters with powerful but spatially handicapped big creatures. The encounter table could become more varied thanks to guards, personnel, slaves and visitors - depending on the mansion's owner, maybe few of them are humanoid. Intruders, summons and living trash removers (think otyugh etc.) add to the mix.
I think the problem is that GMs and PCs can feel like bulls in a China shop :P, hence why I'm asking for tips and tricks.
Dressing the mansion can be time consuming, yup. But personally I'd leave most of it to the imagination of the players - APs do that, too. Alternatively Gabriel Pickard (madcowchef on DeviantArt.com) creates very detailed maps, including separate furniture to place at will.
The reason is that PCs can search every inch of a room, hence why it needs to be dressed accordingly.
I use Donjon for creating random dungeons when precision doesn't really matter. But when I do custom maps where I need things to be a certain way, I use an Excel spreadsheet to draw my dungeons so I can customize everything. You can slide the rows and columns to be skinny or fat, and then fill color them black to form walls, rooms, and corridors. And then once you're finished with the PC map, copy and paste the whole thing to another tab in the Excel document, and this is where you add in all your Traps, monsters, and Secret doors, so that way you have a blank map that you can hand the PC's (and cover unexplored areas with 3x5 notecards) while still having a DM's map with all goodies you don't want the PC's to know.
If you're Excel-averse, you can always take some 11x17 printer paper and draw everything out with a sharpie. I've done that before too, and it works just as well.
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I don't know if this is exactly relevant, but in the OTHERLAND series some of the characters go to a world that's a never-ending mansion. I thought it was a really cool concept that could be fun for a game.
So, what are your tips and tricks for [literally] building a mansion that will serve as a dungeon for your players?
For instance, about the "rather restricted encounter table", well, you can use undead creatures, possessed objects, animated objects and disguised NPCs.
I guess the first thing to think about is where the mansion is - are you in a town? When the Sorcerer starts throwing fireballs around are the town guard going to knock on the door? Are they trying to stop something getting out and into the town? Are the PCs trapped inside the mansion somehow?
This might all be more high-level than you're looking for, but the basic "where is the mansion?" question at least probably needs to be answered. If it's in town then presumably any obstacle the PCs encounter should be something they can't solve by buying something from the market down the street ...
The nature of the "dungeon" very much depends on how the PCs came to the building, and what their objective there is. There are actually quite a few Pathfinder Society scenarios that have encounters set in residences, if not the entire scenario. Here are a few non-spoilery examples off the top of my head:
* The PCs need to meet an NPC at their home, but that person is absent or dead when they arrive, so the PCs have to break and enter, find clues about what happened here, find the item or info they came here for in the first place--all while avoiding attracting the attention of suspicious neighbors or watchmen.
* The PCs are invited to a party or celebration, which serves as cover for a mission of espionage, sabotage, and/or robbery.
* A social or political gathering becomes the scene of a murder, kidnapping, or coup, and the PCs end up having a running fight through the rooms and halls of their host's home.
The Noble Estate and Pathfinder Lodge maps are the most common flip-mats used for these scenarios. Both present a great deal of detail in each room, which can give both players and GM ideas for how to make use of "dungeon dressing" in a mansion.
If you make it the mansion of a wizard (or wizarding family) they could have some real f%#!ing crazy stuff in there that would let you justify it with "a wizard literally did it".
Gremlins in the walls... or whatever else particularly compact civilization that could have their own lives, trials, and tribulations going on almost completely behind the scenes.
Attic Whisperers in the attic... I always liked the creepy cherubs in a movie called The Haunting from like 1999... bodies sealed in the walls, fun stuff.
The mansion, itself, could be an enemy... not unlike a certain witch's hut...
Answering some of the inquiries:
1) Reinforcing the walls is a good idea. Same with doors :P
2) The encounter table is mostly for monsters, not NPCs. You can readily have guards, butlers, maids and whatnot, which are likely NOT going to lead into a fight, but monsters are a little more tricky to add without looking out of place. If you enter a room being currently cleaned up by a maid, there's a good chance you'll talk to her instead of drawing your weapon... I hope XD That's not going to be like that if the glorious suit of armor starts walking on its own though.
3) A mansion can be anything, from normal to magical to haunted. My question is mostly about how to run it without making it frail. Your barbarian is gonna treat walls, doors and barriers like suggestions :P
Not quite sure why/how my mind made this jump, but now I really want a campaign to Fraggle Rock!Gremlins in the walls... or whatever else particularly compact civilization that could have their own lives, trials, and tribulations going on almost completely behind the scenes.
Attic Whisperers in the attic... I always liked the creepy cherubs in a movie called The Haunting from like 1999... bodies sealed in the walls, fun stuff.
The mansion, itself, could be an enemy... not unlike a certain witch's hut...
Nice ^_^
I went to The Borrowers ... or The Carpet People. I guess The Carpet People isn't really "in a house" anymore in any meaningful sense, so we can probably table that one. But The Borrowers sounds like a cool idea for PCs or NPCs .
Assuming a "typical" High Medieval type game setting, most mansion/castle walls aren't all that frail. Where talking solid wood at the very least, if not plaster over bricks and packed stone. Modern sheetrock walls with just a few studs in between, aren't really a thing. So, it may not be caves or dwarven halls, but the barbarian's going to have to try a bit harder to bust through the walls.
Well according to THIS PAGE a Strong Wooden Door has a Break DC of 23, an Iron Door is 28, and a Masonry Wall 1 foot thick is 35.
That's going to pose a significant problem for the average person, but a mid-level Barbarian with the Strength Surge rage power should be able to get through those without much trouble. The Masonry Wall might take a couple of tries but the others have a better-than-average chance of crumbling in the first round.
Yes buildings were tougher, but Hercules/Sampson/etc exist in this world.
Assuming a "typical" High Medieval type game setting, most mansion/castle walls aren't all that frail. Where talking solid wood at the very least, if not plaster over bricks and packed stone. Modern sheetrock walls with just a few studs in between, aren't really a thing. So, it may not be caves or dwarven halls, but the barbarian's going to have to try a bit harder to bust through the walls.Well according to THIS PAGE a Strong Wooden Door has a Break DC of 23, an Iron Door is 28, and a Masonry Wall 1 foot thick is 35.
That's going to pose a significant problem for the average person, but a mid-level Barbarian with the Strength Surge rage power should be able to get through those without much trouble. The Masonry Wall might take a couple of tries but the others have a better-than-average chance of crumbling in the first round.
Yes buildings were tougher, but Hercules/Sampson/etc exist in this world.
Then again, if he wants to go through the wall on purpose. Getting flung into a wall isn't going to turn your barbarian into a wrecking ball ;)
Usually mansions have something they need inside. So burning or smashing through the place is a great way to break, accidentally kill or destroy what they are looking for.
Unfortunately, for the party's cartographer, the mansion is enchanted... either by preprogrammed algorithm or by its own semi-intelligence... it shifts its anatomy, changing the size and location of the rooms and hallways within. Maybe you have to play through the entire mansion again/twice, but it is upside down the 2nd time... like Castlevania: SotN.
Think how the prison changes shape in The Cube. Or how the Winchester Mansion has dead hallways, stairs the lead to the ceiling, and doors that open to solid walls.
The classic never-ending hallway illusion, except there's obviously some sort of pit trap under the rug, or the mirror at the end of the hall used to make the illusion is one of those mirrors that traps people who might touch it. Was it once a Rogue's mansion? Have Rogues been through here before us?
Have you put much thought into the current or previous owners/occupants of the mansion?
Maybe the mansion was once an old church, or built upon one, and you can access some ancient catacombs through the basement. Here you can find a ritual room with a slab of white limestone that has been blackened by absorbing the blood of dozens, if not hundreds, of priests.
Is there a courtyard/statue garden/hedge-maze available? Maybe a large, covered greenhouse if they must stay "inside". Possibly an aviary?
What about opening doors that lead to other planes? Or dreamscapes? Oh, the possibilities...
Any mansion worth its salt is going to have the Big Three enchantments: Forbiddance, Mage's Private Sanctum, Alarm.
Unfortunately, for the party's cartographer, the mansion is enchanted... either by preprogrammed algorithm or by its own semi-intelligence... it shifts its anatomy, changing the size and location of the rooms and hallways within. Maybe you have to play through the entire mansion again/twice, but it is upside down the 2nd time... like Castlevania: SotN.
Think how the prison changes shape in The Cube. Or how the Winchester Mansion has dead hallways, stairs the lead to the ceiling, and doors that open to solid walls.
The classic never-ending hallway illusion, except there's obviously some sort of pit trap under the rug, or the mirror at the end of the hall used to make the illusion is one of those mirrors that traps people who might touch it. Was it once a Rogue's mansion? Have Rogues been through here before us?
Have you put much thought into the current or previous owners/occupants of the mansion?
Maybe the mansion was once an old church, or built upon one, and you can access some ancient catacombs through the basement. Here you can find a ritual room with a slab of white limestone that has been blackened by absorbing the blood of dozens, if not hundreds, of priests.
Is there a courtyard/statue garden/hedge-maze available? Maybe a large, covered greenhouse if they must stay "inside". Possibly an aviary?
What about opening doors that lead to other planes? Or dreamscapes? Oh, the possibilities...
This is the kind of thing I had in mind.
A magical mansion (it is a wizard's after all!) You can have a greenhouse with plants that have become sentient!
The mansion can magical rearrange itself!
Doors can be magical portals to other planes!
It's really only limited by your creativity.
So yes, it's a mansion. But you can go crazy and do whatever you want with it.
Personally I like the idea that it's a mansion of a long dead (or at least unseen) wizard, but everyone is too afraid to explore because they've either been nearly killed, killed, or never heard from again. Locals now just ignore it, aside from the odd monster that occasionally finds it way out. Which can be exactly what prompts the player characters to explore it in the first place. The town has put out some sort of bounty to deal with a slew of monsters that have managed to get out of the mansion. The bounty doesn't include anything about going in the mansion, but hopefully the players will be enticed. If you make it an intelligent enemy that has escaped, I'm thinking maybe mephits causing trouble, they can leave clues about great wealth and magic, and artifacts hidden away inside.
A Wood Colossus can be a mansion that come to live too ;)
A Wood Colossus can be a mansion that come to live too ;)
OOoooo
A Wood Colossus can be a mansion that come to live too ;)OOoooo
The alternate form for this Colossus is a cozy manor house. However, as it changes, it kicks out anyone in it (no damage).
The creator... technically counts as being subjected to expulsion, but it can ride the Colossus on its shoulder... which can be one of the rooms :P
A typical mimic has a volume of 150 cubic feet (5 feet by 5 feet by 6 feet) and weighs about 900 pounds. Legends and tales speak of mimics of much greater sizes, with the ability to assume the form of houses, ships, or entire dungeon complexes that they festoon with treasure (both real and false) to lure unsuspecting food within.
I would almost encourage them to use a Fireball or something similar...
Having a section of the house go up in flames could make for some interesting chase-type time-crunch scenes.
If the house is alive, it could react with both pain and anger to the flames.
Lots of potential with the whole lighting it on fire, thing.
Maybe they move on, forget that they left half the house on fire, but they get turned around... open the next door, and behold the inferno is back...
As WombattheDaniel said above, it's quite difficult to be prescriptive without understanding more of the context, such as who the owner is, what is the building's purpose etc. What is known from the OPs post is that the place isn't abandoned and that the OP considers constructs, automatons, and similar animated items to be reasonable.
In general terms a mansion, manor house, palace etc. would have:
Formal and informal gardens, possibly including any of a maze; menagerie; family graveyard; lake etc.
A party area for large events, such as a grand dining hall, a ballroom, possibly a small arena or theatre room
A public area for more intimate gatherings, including a dining room, lounge, games room as well as accommodation suites for guests.
A private area including master and family bedroom suites, private dining and lounge areas. This area may include a chapel or shrine
Offices and a boardroom, where the senior staff and the owner work
Servants area, kitchens, prep areas, dining areas sleeping quarters, lounge, as well as dedicated servants corridors between the prep areas and the party and public areas
Stabling and garaging for horses and coaches
Storage areas and waste disposal areas
An inner sanctum where the owner conducts their private activity.
The party, public and servant areas are unlikely to have anything particularly nasty built into the design except for some anti-theft measures in a gallery, museum or trophy room. After all maiming the people you are trying to impress, or killing your staff, is hardly in your best interests. Similarly the family and office areas are more likely to be guarded than trapped. The inner sanctum however, should be trapped and guarded.
As others have mentioned there is scope for more outlandish features, such as rearranging rooms etc, but the suitability of that is really dependent on the owner of house. What might suit a wizard, would be different to vampire, which would be different to a merchant prince and different again to a cult.
As others have mentioned there is scope for more outlandish features, such as rearranging rooms etc, but the suitability of that is really dependent on the owner of house. What might suit a wizard, would be different to vampire, which would be different to a merchant prince and different again to a cult.
Well, vampires and cultists will likely have a secret basement.