Simple "haunted" house

[Gilladian]

I'm running a short term game for 4 players at my local library (where I work). I have 3 teenage girls with virtually no experience playing or really roleplaying at all and a guy who is a bit older and quite an experienced player. He's really my "plot assistant".

This week the PCs will be stumbling across a farmhouse that appears to be "haunted". Since we only have 2-2.5 hours to play and I want to encapsulate the whole scenario in one session, it must be quite short.

I'm figuring the farmhouse has about 3 rooms on each of 2 floors and the lure is a light seen through the shutters on the upper floor. What suggestions can you make as to what could be in the house? There'll be a living/work room, a kitchen and a pantry/storeroom downstairs, while upstairs will probably be two bedrooms and another work/storeroom.

I'm playing with the idea of a faery dragon or something like that upstairs, but there ought to be something also downstairs.

Oh, and the PCs have 3 dogs with them. I'm wondering if I can get the dogs "out of the way" of any combat that might happen by having a farm cat show up and the dogs chase it "off-stage" while the PCs go through the house. Or would that be unfair? Maybe the dogs are simply afraid and refuse to go upstairs? I don't want them to steal the fun of the fight / scene from the PC's. Also, a fight with seven on one side takes a lot longer to run!

Gilladian

 

[Baron Opal]

Well, you can have things happen to the dogs first as an example of lost saves. Since the antagonist is a faerie dragon, the PCs will likely get their dogs back unharmed when they take care of it. It's creepy when you are talking to someone, turn away, and they have disappeared when you turn back. Particularly if you can then hear then faintly for a moment, and then nothing.

 

[Carpdiem]

Depends on how creepy you want it to be. You could always have the faery dragon "trapped" upstairs by something evil that was accidentally brought into the house by its former, rather unfortunate occupants.

 

[Wraith Form]

Darn. teenage girls =/= any of my creepy ideas, LOL

 

[Joël of the FoS]

Why not a ghost and a faerie dragon?

If you want them to grab the adventure, make the ghost a teenage boy or girl with a tragic past - was a keeper of babies in a 'farmhouse' type of kindergarden, and it cought fire; tragic love; etc. There could be a clue in the house on how to make the ghost at peace with its destiny (and make him/her leave the house).

Joël

 

[godawful]

1. dogs are smarter than people, if they know a house is haunted they run in the other direction.
2. creepiness factors are fun:
a. bloodstain that starts at the front door and ends where you need it to
b. mirror that only reflects an image of the pc in decayed form
c. zombie in chains downstairs (former occupant lost his wife and tries unsuccesfully to raise her with a cursed/faulty item)
d. any chance to use floating undead babies where their entrails have formed into tentacle appendages is especially fun (maybe the wife was pregnant when she died)
e. make the light a 'ghost carrying a lantern' that always repeats an action every night which reveals some clues to the pc's
f. spots in the house that feel cold can help with a 'you're getting warm' approach to searching for clues
g. don't forget the giant rats. you always need rats.

 

[big dummy]

I like this idea, but a faerie dragon seems to be a bit too harmelss or not scary enough. You can have a lot of fun with something a bit more sinister like an Imp or a Quasit, especially taking advantage of their shape-changing abilities.

BD

 

[qstor]

You might add a ghost template to a 1st level wizard? Not sure of the CR of that off the top of my head or an alip. And use some of the "evil" effects from the BoVD for areas around the house, like dead vegatation, cold areas, lots of regular worms, or a rat swarm...creaking boards. Some of the creepyness might be in your descriptions if they don't play D&D a lot then it might heighten the effects of the horror...regular players might be so what I can take it

Mike

 

[Gilladian]

Thanks! Some great ideas so far. I like the idea of the faery dragon being trapped upstairs by something. A ghost could be a good idea, but would be too strong... I'll see what else looks good.

The farm's occupants were killed/driven off by an orc army. Why the house remains in perfect condition probably relates back to the haunting.

I really like the blood trail idea. Maybe someone dead in the yard, with blood leading back into the house. Or a grave, freshly dug, and blood in a pool on the porch trailing back into the house.

Dogs refusing to enter is perfect. Scary but not totally off-putting. And several doses of hauntish description will be fun. Cold, small spiders, mystery noises, etc... And the faery dragon's telekinesis mixed in.

The light will be the faery dragon, then. And then the haunting creature is possibly an ancestor of the occupants, who takes the faery dragon to be an intruder and has thus trapped it.

So the PCs have to distract the haunt and let the faery dragon get away...

Okay, it's loose, but this has possibilities. More suggestions welcome.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

If you want them to grab the adventure, make the ghost a teenage boy or girl with a tragic past - was a keeper of babies in a 'farmhouse' type of kindergarden, and it cought fire; tragic love; etc. There could be a clue in the house on how to make the ghost at peace with its destiny (and make him/her leave the house).

For some reason I get scenes of Kindgarden Cop running through my mind as I read your post.