Need help with 'Haunted Manor' adventure

[brunswick]

Hiya folks,

I'm at the early stages of writing a 'Haunted Manor' adventure for my players (i.e. I have drawn the maps of the Manor and surrounding grounds).

The gist of the adventure is that the house has attained a certain amount of evil sentience, because of an ancient vampire trapped within the cellar (a holy order sealed and blessed the entrance to the vampire's crypt a century or so ago). The barrier to the crypt is beginning to disintegrate, and the more that it falls apart, the stronger the vampires influence is becoming, hopefully culminating with an encounter with the Vampire himself towards the end of the scenario.

The reason that the PCs are here is because they need to access a portal hidden within the ancient attic of the manor. A number of magical crystals are required to activate the portal but the house, controlled by the Vampire, has scattered the crystals throughout the house and grounds, more out of perversity rather than to consciously stifle the heroes.

Here is where I need some help. My players are all experienced gamers and I fear that they would be underwhelmed (to put it mildly) by the cliched 'haunted' effects I might throw at newbies - animated furniture, 'sheet ghosts', blood dripping from the walls etc., Not only are some of the above cliched, I think they would lend an almost comedy atmosphere to the adventure and, ideally, I'd like the characters/players to get a bit of a scare when playing the adventure. I'm not necessarily looking for CoC levels of fright (e.g. SAN type checks etc.,) but I'm trying to come up with some sort of original 'haunted' effects to make the adventure memorable and frightening.

Any ideas welcome!

Thanks,


Bruns.

 

[Neubert]

How about introducing a monster that they can't kill? Perhaps it drains healing surges (which could get dangerous quite quickly). I am visualizing a ghost-type monster, but it might be good if the players are able to physically bar it from getting to them. If you go with the ghost, perhaps it chases them and then suddenly disappears into the floor. Then whenever the players start to relax again, it phases through a wall or something.

Edit: Of course you would have to be quite clear with them that their attacks does nothing (even radiant, if doing undead). The problem might be that the players will think they just have to figure out its weakness and the right way to kill it.

 

[Leif]

Neubert's ghost sounds like a pretty good idea to me, but I hasten to point out that you should probably never put a monster in an adventure that your characters have no chance of defeating. Perhaps there is some magically blessed talisman that the characters must use in order for their attacks to affect the creature. Or perhaps the talisman itself should be used to attack the creature. Or perhaps the talisman is the "ghost's" link to the material plane and must itself be destroyed to banish the creature once and for all.

Maybe some combination of some/all of these three possibilities would work best?

 

[Neubert]

Double post, pardon.

 

[Neubert]

In most cases I would agree Leif, especially with 4e. I guess it is up to the OP to decide if the players can handle an obstacle like this. A twist on your medallion idea would be to have the creature ignore anyone wearing the talisman (perhaps it has a hide from undead spell on it?), and there are a number of talismans(?) scattered throughout the manor. If you do go the route of 1 talisman that can destroy/banish the creature, don't make it a fight where only 1 pc is effective. Let them automatically banish it or weaken it and then do combat.


Just had a thought. If we follow on the ghost, it could be the classic story of someone having to be put to rest. That is an alternate way of defeating it. Would that be a satisfactory solution Leif?
I also have the word "dream monster" in my head. Instead of using the cliche ghost, it could be a dreamer that has to be woken?

 

[zoggynog]

I can't recommend enough the purchase of "Good Little Children Never Grow Up" by Matthew J. Hanson.

Good Little Children Never Grow Up - Sneak Attack Press | DriveThruRPG.com

I bought it and ran it as a one off on a camping trip, it was awesome.

Now, this is about a haunted orphanage...but many of the ideas hold true. I would throw out some of the ideas listed in the module, but I think the author deserves to get a few bucks on this one. $3.45 well spent.

 

[brunswick]

Thanks for the replies. I like the ghost/Talisman idea and will probably incorporate it into the adventure in some way. I'll also be taking at look at that "Good Little Children Never Grow Up". Cheers!

 

[Leif]

In most cases I would agree Leif, especially with 4e. I guess it is up to the OP to decide if the players can handle an obstacle like this. A twist on your medallion idea would be to have the creature ignore anyone wearing the talisman (perhaps it has a hide from undead spell on it?), and there are a number of talismans(?) scattered throughout the manor. If you do go the route of 1 talisman that can destroy/banish the creature, don't make it a fight where only 1 pc is effective. Let them automatically banish it or weaken it and then do combat.


Just had a thought. If we follow on the ghost, it could be the classic story of someone having to be put to rest. That is an alternate way of defeating it. Would that be a satisfactory solution Leif?
I also have the word "dream monster" in my head. Instead of using the cliche ghost, it could be a dreamer that has to be woken?

Your idea is certainly satisfactory to me, but, ahh, I don't have much say in how this idea is actually used. *shrug*

Thanks for the replies. I like the ghost/Talisman idea and will probably incorporate it into the adventure in some way. I'll also be taking at look at that "Good Little Children Never Grow Up". Cheers!

Glad we were able to provide some help! Neubert got the ball rolling, I added a bit, and Zoggynog finished things off. Maybe the three of us should work on adventures more often?

 

[Neubert]

Our newest adventure: The case of the mysterious squid people!

 

[fba827]

if you take some of the basic cheesy ideas and make them more than just ambiance, it might put some fear into the players which might then bleed in to fear for the characters.

- an eerie haunting melody starts playing and echoing through the hallway/chamber. it's from some small music box. make a roll vs. will. but here's the thing, the will attack will fail (just don't tell the players that), but the rolling of the dice behind your DM screen when you then ask "what's your will defense currently?" will make them worried about the music and want to destroy the source of it. else, make it an actual (real) wil attack and then when the PCs are next in combat the 'hit' PCs are dominated by the haunted music box.

- just every so often describe how it feels like you are being watched. yet they don't see anything. in truth it's really the house itself / vampire that is watching them. but the feeling might add some paranoia

- shadows of people yet no one is there

- a whole lot of ghosts in an area, these are the ghosts of the people that the house has claimed over the years. but don't make them individual stats, just (using the idea from "Ghost Legion" in MM2) make them all share a single hit point total so they get bloodied together and die together. they do attack but it is their way of trying to scare/push the PCs out towards the door rather than further in as a way to save their lives from being bound to the house. if the pcs have some way to speak with dead this could turn from a combat to noncombat situation if they realize the motives of the attackers

- elite ghosts who each represent a different personality and/or stage of life from the vampire trapped below. so you can have the creepy little kid who is holding a teddy bear but has the smile of the devil, or the calm and cool and collected young adult who seems to have everything under control, and the older man who shows contempt and regret for getting trapped here and takes it out as pure fury. all the while they may say things that reveal bits about the vampire's personality but won't make any sense until they actually meet the vampire and understand his fate.

- the walls don't drip blood, but rather, they bleed and the blood forms into letters... spelling the name of one of the PCs. Pick one PC whose name would have been spoken earlier in the house (so that the house could have heard it) and so the house is just trying to scare that one PC. Don't try and cycle through all the PC names, that will kill the effect. just go with one PC and use it about 2-3 times depending on how big the house is.


hmm. i had some more ideas but i've forgotten them over the course of typing. If i remember them later i'll add more.