It depends on what you want to run it as. If you want it to start in horror and end in comedy, I suggest making a terrifying experience that takes people through the rooms, (splits the party, replaces party members with dopplegangers, SPIDERS EVERYWHERE, fear of death, making them roll random ability checks, having NPCs that lie to them, hallucinations, labyrinths, enemies that do a terrifying amount of damage, buzzsaws, and more. Horror is about feeling powerless and the only thing you can do to save yourself is run but without anywhere to run. To be prepared for anything but to fail anyway.) then at the end find out the haunted house is actually a guy with a fog machine and a bunch of hired actors and malfunctioning equipment that really just got tired of people coming on his lawn. He says he had a private property sign out front but everyone seems to ignore it.
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— δ cyno • he/him • number one paladin fanδ — making a smoothie for meta ——————| EXTENDED SIG |—————— Φ • redpelt’s biggest fan :) DM, minmaxer, microbiology student, and lover of anything colored red • Φ
It depends on what you want to run it as. If you want it to start in horror and end in comedy, I suggest making a terrifying experience that takes people through the rooms, (splits the party, replaces party members with dopplegangers, SPIDERS EVERYWHERE, fear of death, making them roll random ability checks, having NPCs that lie to them, hallucinations, labyrinths, enemies that do a terrifying amount of damage, buzzsaws, and more. Horror is about feeling powerless and the only thing you can do to save yourself is run but without anywhere to run. To be prepared for anything but to fail anyway.) then at the end find out the haunted house is actually a guy with a fog machine and a bunch of hired actors and malfunctioning equipment that really just got tired of people coming on his lawn. He says he had a private property sign out front but everyone seems to ignore it.
Oh boy, this is right in my wheelhouse. What kind of game are you planning on running? Do you want it to be scary, or just set in a haunted house? If i's supposed to be scary, is it true horror, that's scary all the way through? Or something like cyno's idea? Online, PbP, or in-person?
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Darold the Mud Dauber says: _ _ it's still spooky season | )/ ) \\ |//,' it's always spooky season (")(_)---"()=--(\\ \)
Oh boy, this is right in my wheelhouse. What kind of game are you planning on running? Do you want it to be scary, or just set in a haunted house? If i's supposed to be scary, is it true horror, that's scary all the way through? Or something like cyno's idea? Online, PbP, or in-person?
Probably on like a call. I want it to be scary in a hauntedhouse kinda thing. I like Cyno's idea of it being a big joke at the end. I want it to be like a thing they miiiiight freak out about. But also have a good plot and monsters.
Invisible monster that doesn’t attack, but forces the players to make saves against being frightened. It will follow them throughout the one-shot. The players will get nervous because they don’t know what’s forcing them to make these checks.
The ghosts that try to drive off the players are actually the good guys, as the real evil is a terrible shapeshiftig creature that poses as the person that gets the players to help rescuing someone from the inside. The ghosts are actually its former victims, and the creature uses its sjapeshifting powers and ambush/hit and run tactics to kill the players one after another.
Or it could just be a house full of Ghosts that just want to be left alone to exist in peace, and the players get hired by someone who bought the old house to rip it down and build xyz in its place.
Often times, ghosts remain on the material plane because of unfinished business or something like that.
Maybe they are in a castle and the ghost of the dead king is wandering the halls calling "Who? Who? Who?" Liken this to an owl. He knew that someone was trying to dethrone him, but he didn't know who. He still doesn't know who did it and he won't rest until he finds out who and maybe why. Maybe make this like Hamlet and have the ghost appear to his son begging his son to avenge him. Then it turns out that the son was the murderer.
Maybe the ghost is the ghost of an actor or famous pirate who was widely respected/feared. Their entire life was spent cultivating that fear and respect, performing dramatically, and doing incredible deeds to insure their name lived on in legend. Then they died of something silly or trivial or through some mistake of theirs. This isn't how they wanted to die. They wanted a glorious, dramatic death scene, not a sad tale or a death that people scoff at. Now they are tormenting all they come across, ensuring that their name lives on in legend, though it is infamy.
Maybe an artist stands at his unfinished portrait weeping and stroking it with a dry paint brush. It was to be his masterpiece, but he died before he could finish it. He will stop tormenting the household if he is allowed to possess someone for one night and use them to finish his painting. This could also be done as a writer, sculptor, musician, or other artist.
Maybe an elderly man dabbled in eldritch teachings and the occult. When he died, he saw his soul drifting into the gaping maw of some eldritch entity and he fled back to the material plane as a ghost. Now, not only do the players have a ghost to deal with, they also have a swarm of aberrations who have overrun the land.
Maybe the ghost is a child who is unwilling to admit that they are dead. They continue to play in their house with their toys and try to play with anyone they come across but that just freaks them out. Because they are a ghost, most people can't see them or hear them and so they throw temper destructive tantrums.
Maybe when they enter the house they don't realize that it is haunted at first. Everything looks lively and warm with plenty of people, but they do all seem to have a hint of sadness. Then, when they discover that there is a horrible monster or spirit sleeping in the cellar the illusion is stripped away and the people are all skeletons and corpses and the house is run down and empty.
I ran an haunted house scenario with a little twist in my last campaign.
The tower of a wizard gone missing was boarded with a sign saying KEEP OUT and rumored to be haunted by undeads spirits. After a pair of kids broken into it and one of them managed to escape, saying his friend was still in after he fled when a piece of furtiiture moved by itself. The party enventually went to look for the other missing child and fought multiple animated rugs, table, chair, knife etc...as well as a carionette. They found the boy hidden in a closet during their search after battling many animated furnitures. Most items were not the result pf spirits but a protective magic system in the basement that upon detecting intruders was animating objects within as guarding constructs.. They eventually found the panel downstairs, and after a skill challenge, managed to figure out how to disable it and neutralize the threat.
I wrote up a Scooby-Doo one-shot a couple years ago. I'll dig up the notes and see if there's anything useful for you in there. My group enjoyed it.
Short version: The players built monster characters (Jason Voorhees, the alien from Alien, etc) and had to deal with a murderous Mystery Inc adventuring party in a haunted house.
Here it is! The notes for the one-shot! I feel like it was maybe level 5?
I broke the plan down into roughly timed sections, on the advice of The Alexandrian. It worked like a charm. My session was set to run 3 hours, so I planned 2 hours 30 minutes of stuff.
BEGINNING (15 minutes) - Viktor von Evil, a demilich, introduces the villain PCs over a business meeting. (Give them some time to get in character and mess around.) He's brought donuts made of worms and blood. He uses his laser eyes to point at his slideshow presentation which explains the plan: An adventuring party called Mystra's Ink must die tonight. They will be sacrificed to the evil god of evil. The evil cult has built a trapped mansion to lure them in. The evil PCs will go there ahead of the adventurers, explore, and form a plan to kill them. Whenever the moment seems to be stalling, you drop the floor out of the room and reveal that they've been hovering over the mansion the whole time and it's time to go. Go, go!
FIRST BATTLE (60 minutes) - The PCs need to prepare the mansion, and the first step is clearing out some pests. I used 2 phase spiders, 6 dretches, and a gray ooze. I wish I could tell you why. My notes say this should be a medium challenge. I don't really know where the fight happened, either. Pick a spot, I guess.
PUZZLE (30 minutes???) - Viktor the demilich returns and gives the PCs their brief on Mystra's Ink. This is what the cult has discovered so far about their strengths and weaknesses. All the members of Mystra's Ink are immune to damage from weapons and spells except under specific conditions. Give the players this:
The demilich tells them that soon the heroes will arrive, and he will delay them. He's going to pretend to die, to give the heroes a false sense of security. While he does this, it's imperative that the PCs move about the mansion and explore. They won't win in a fair fight, but the place is full of things to help them.
RECON (45 minutes?) - The PCs explore as they see fit. Maybe halfway through, Viktor's death screech reveals that Mystra's Ink is now entering the mansion proper. The gang splits up, naturally, and moves slowly through the place. Friedrich stays put and works on traps. Here are some things the party can find (maybe roll for it? Make a note on the main map for each room, what's in it): - Oscar the Ghost was unable to walk in life so he's unable to fly in death. He tells the PCs that he'll use his Horrifying Visage on anyone they bring in here though. And he will. (This is important for defeating Daphniriel.) - Grossilda the Green Hag has a big cauldron. She won't fight (probably) but she'll make food if you bring her eyeballs. (I could not begin to tell you why I wrote eyeballs here. I guess the monsters they killed earlier have some.) (The food is important for defeating Shoggis.) - Goblin traps: "Spirits of Mayhem" (use the goblin stats) operate traps in the mansion. They'll activate them against villains and heroes alike. If the spirits are killed, the traps can still be operated by PCs. Sample traps: Crushing Pillars (DC 15 DEX save, 2d10 and prone, or half and not prone). Poison Spray (DC 15 CON save, 4d6 and poisoned, or half and not). Bear Traps (+8 to hit, 1d10 and reduce speed to 0. DC 15 STR to escape.) - Loot hideaways. I didn't write any items here but I guess you could put simple magic items in places.
CHAOS (the rest of the session?) - At some point the adventurers will find the PCs. You can probably let them escape once or twice but pretty soon things need to hit the fan. After this, it's basically just a giant battle. Make the adventurers move around a lot, even if it provokes attacks of opportunity. When it gets close to the end, you might have to accelerate things. I did this by having Volmar horribly transform into a tentacled monster and go on a rampage as the ritual was nearly complete.
CONCLUSION: The mansion is destroyed so the PCs can see the sky fill with unholy fire or tentacles or whatever and the world probably ends. Victory!
Below the spoiler are the handwritten stat blocks for Mystra's Ink.
Additional notes: I wouldn't call the heroes by their names right away. Instead describe them by their masks. Fred's traps are intended as abstractions. If he has a trap, he can spend it to attack using his trap option. When he does, you should describe some Rube Goldberg nonsense. I'm pretty sure "Short Things Camoflauge" in Shaggy's stat block is meant to give him the ability to hide when obscured only by things that are short. I think that was a joke, but it didn't land. I think Velma's Expose The Truth feature is the funniest piece of rules text I've ever written though, but I may be biased. I shouldn't have to tell you that Shaggy and Scooby travel as a pair, and they will both drop everything they're doing to eat any food they see. You should have Shaggy get there first, though.
Final notes: My names are inconsistent but here are what I think are the "correct" names for Mystra's Ink: Friedrich von Jelsing (described as a sort of knight in shining armor), Volmar Sphinxley (a witchy mage type), Shoggis (barbarian, possibly a cannibal), The Beast (huge gnarly dog), and Dauphiniel V'Laek (frankly, I don't recall).
Also, apparently Volmar can cast spells. I genuinely think this was probably a mistake, she's complicated enough. But here's her list: Cantrips: minor illusion, ray of frost 4 per day: magic missile, charm person, expeditious retreat 3 per day: hold person, magic weapon, see invisibility (she already has truesight???) 2 per day: greater invisibility (cool anti-synergy), blink (haha because eyes) 1 per day: confusion, fire shield (she didn't use this slot when I ran it)
I realize looking at this that Daphne can't attack at all. I think that was on purpose? I don't know.
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I've been trying to come up with a good haunted house one shot but can't think of any good ideas for it. Plz share if you have any ideas!
I play a lot of characters
Morvius Thexire, Gold, Ara Pebble, Teko, Serenity, Rena, Cado .....Pokemon Master!
I have a youtube just type 'meaplord' im the first thing
It depends on what you want to run it as. If you want it to start in horror and end in comedy, I suggest making a terrifying experience that takes people through the rooms, (splits the party, replaces party members with dopplegangers, SPIDERS EVERYWHERE, fear of death, making them roll random ability checks, having NPCs that lie to them, hallucinations, labyrinths, enemies that do a terrifying amount of damage, buzzsaws, and more. Horror is about feeling powerless and the only thing you can do to save yourself is run but without anywhere to run. To be prepared for anything but to fail anyway.) then at the end find out the haunted house is actually a guy with a fog machine and a bunch of hired actors and malfunctioning equipment that really just got tired of people coming on his lawn. He says he had a private property sign out front but everyone seems to ignore it.
— δ cyno • he/him • number one paladin fan δ —
making a smoothie for meta
——————| EXTENDED SIG |——————
Φ • redpelt’s biggest fan :) DM, minmaxer, microbiology student, and lover of anything colored red • Φ
I love this. This is a really good idea.
I play a lot of characters
Morvius Thexire, Gold, Ara Pebble, Teko, Serenity, Rena, Cado .....Pokemon Master!
I have a youtube just type 'meaplord' im the first thing
Oh boy, this is right in my wheelhouse. What kind of game are you planning on running? Do you want it to be scary, or just set in a haunted house? If i's supposed to be scary, is it true horror, that's scary all the way through? Or something like cyno's idea? Online, PbP, or in-person?
Probably on like a call. I want it to be scary in a hauntedhouse kinda thing. I like Cyno's idea of it being a big joke at the end. I want it to be like a thing they miiiiight freak out about. But also have a good plot and monsters.
I play a lot of characters
Morvius Thexire, Gold, Ara Pebble, Teko, Serenity, Rena, Cado .....Pokemon Master!
I have a youtube just type 'meaplord' im the first thing
Invisible monster that doesn’t attack, but forces the players to make saves against being frightened. It will follow them throughout the one-shot. The players will get nervous because they don’t know what’s forcing them to make these checks.
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!
The ghosts that try to drive off the players are actually the good guys, as the real evil is a terrible shapeshiftig creature that poses as the person that gets the players to help rescuing someone from the inside. The ghosts are actually its former victims, and the creature uses its sjapeshifting powers and ambush/hit and run tactics to kill the players one after another.
Or it could just be a house full of Ghosts that just want to be left alone to exist in peace, and the players get hired by someone who bought the old house to rip it down and build xyz in its place.
Often times, ghosts remain on the material plane because of unfinished business or something like that.
Maybe they are in a castle and the ghost of the dead king is wandering the halls calling "Who? Who? Who?" Liken this to an owl. He knew that someone was trying to dethrone him, but he didn't know who. He still doesn't know who did it and he won't rest until he finds out who and maybe why. Maybe make this like Hamlet and have the ghost appear to his son begging his son to avenge him. Then it turns out that the son was the murderer.
Maybe the ghost is the ghost of an actor or famous pirate who was widely respected/feared. Their entire life was spent cultivating that fear and respect, performing dramatically, and doing incredible deeds to insure their name lived on in legend. Then they died of something silly or trivial or through some mistake of theirs. This isn't how they wanted to die. They wanted a glorious, dramatic death scene, not a sad tale or a death that people scoff at. Now they are tormenting all they come across, ensuring that their name lives on in legend, though it is infamy.
Maybe an artist stands at his unfinished portrait weeping and stroking it with a dry paint brush. It was to be his masterpiece, but he died before he could finish it. He will stop tormenting the household if he is allowed to possess someone for one night and use them to finish his painting. This could also be done as a writer, sculptor, musician, or other artist.
Maybe an elderly man dabbled in eldritch teachings and the occult. When he died, he saw his soul drifting into the gaping maw of some eldritch entity and he fled back to the material plane as a ghost. Now, not only do the players have a ghost to deal with, they also have a swarm of aberrations who have overrun the land.
Maybe the ghost is a child who is unwilling to admit that they are dead. They continue to play in their house with their toys and try to play with anyone they come across but that just freaks them out. Because they are a ghost, most people can't see them or hear them and so they throw temper destructive tantrums.
Maybe when they enter the house they don't realize that it is haunted at first. Everything looks lively and warm with plenty of people, but they do all seem to have a hint of sadness. Then, when they discover that there is a horrible monster or spirit sleeping in the cellar the illusion is stripped away and the people are all skeletons and corpses and the house is run down and empty.
These are all amazing. I'm so thankful. Thank you all wonderful beings
I play a lot of characters
Morvius Thexire, Gold, Ara Pebble, Teko, Serenity, Rena, Cado .....Pokemon Master!
I have a youtube just type 'meaplord' im the first thing
For a while death house was free. I think as an adventurers league season start option.
Death house is the intro adventure for curse of strahd (levels 1-3) I really like how it's handled with a couple of caveats.
1. Let the players rest before going into the basement
2. Use the dark gifts if a player dies.
3. Reward appeased route. Even if they get creative and sacrifice an animal or bug.
Ain't that the truth.
Shadows on the Long Road on DMs Guild is entertaining and can be ratcheted up if you need a higher level
Name ideas?
I play a lot of characters
Morvius Thexire, Gold, Ara Pebble, Teko, Serenity, Rena, Cado .....Pokemon Master!
I have a youtube just type 'meaplord' im the first thing
Qrath (que-wrath)
Hi, I’m DrakenBrine, here’s my Sig and characters
I am The Grand Envisioner!
I ran an haunted house scenario with a little twist in my last campaign.
The tower of a wizard gone missing was boarded with a sign saying KEEP OUT and rumored to be haunted by undeads spirits. After a pair of kids broken into it and one of them managed to escape, saying his friend was still in after he fled when a piece of furtiiture moved by itself. The party enventually went to look for the other missing child and fought multiple animated rugs, table, chair, knife etc...as well as a carionette. They found the boy hidden in a closet during their search after battling many animated furnitures. Most items were not the result pf spirits but a protective magic system in the basement that upon detecting intruders was animating objects within as guarding constructs.. They eventually found the panel downstairs, and after a skill challenge, managed to figure out how to disable it and neutralize the threat.
Bleeder.
I’d look at the House of Lament from Van Richten’s Guide to Everything. Wonderfully amazing for 1st level adventurers.
I wrote up a Scooby-Doo one-shot a couple years ago. I'll dig up the notes and see if there's anything useful for you in there. My group enjoyed it.
Short version: The players built monster characters (Jason Voorhees, the alien from Alien, etc) and had to deal with a murderous Mystery Inc adventuring party in a haunted house.
Here it is! The notes for the one-shot! I feel like it was maybe level 5?
I broke the plan down into roughly timed sections, on the advice of The Alexandrian. It worked like a charm. My session was set to run 3 hours, so I planned 2 hours 30 minutes of stuff.
BEGINNING (15 minutes) - Viktor von Evil, a demilich, introduces the villain PCs over a business meeting. (Give them some time to get in character and mess around.) He's brought donuts made of worms and blood. He uses his laser eyes to point at his slideshow presentation which explains the plan: An adventuring party called Mystra's Ink must die tonight. They will be sacrificed to the evil god of evil. The evil cult has built a trapped mansion to lure them in. The evil PCs will go there ahead of the adventurers, explore, and form a plan to kill them. Whenever the moment seems to be stalling, you drop the floor out of the room and reveal that they've been hovering over the mansion the whole time and it's time to go. Go, go!
FIRST BATTLE (60 minutes) - The PCs need to prepare the mansion, and the first step is clearing out some pests. I used 2 phase spiders, 6 dretches, and a gray ooze. I wish I could tell you why. My notes say this should be a medium challenge. I don't really know where the fight happened, either. Pick a spot, I guess.
PUZZLE (30 minutes???) - Viktor the demilich returns and gives the PCs their brief on Mystra's Ink. This is what the cult has discovered so far about their strengths and weaknesses. All the members of Mystra's Ink are immune to damage from weapons and spells except under specific conditions. Give the players this:
The demilich tells them that soon the heroes will arrive, and he will delay them. He's going to pretend to die, to give the heroes a false sense of security. While he does this, it's imperative that the PCs move about the mansion and explore. They won't win in a fair fight, but the place is full of things to help them.
RECON (45 minutes?) - The PCs explore as they see fit. Maybe halfway through, Viktor's death screech reveals that Mystra's Ink is now entering the mansion proper. The gang splits up, naturally, and moves slowly through the place. Friedrich stays put and works on traps. Here are some things the party can find (maybe roll for it? Make a note on the main map for each room, what's in it):
- Oscar the Ghost was unable to walk in life so he's unable to fly in death. He tells the PCs that he'll use his Horrifying Visage on anyone they bring in here though. And he will. (This is important for defeating Daphniriel.)
- Grossilda the Green Hag has a big cauldron. She won't fight (probably) but she'll make food if you bring her eyeballs. (I could not begin to tell you why I wrote eyeballs here. I guess the monsters they killed earlier have some.) (The food is important for defeating Shoggis.)
- Goblin traps: "Spirits of Mayhem" (use the goblin stats) operate traps in the mansion. They'll activate them against villains and heroes alike. If the spirits are killed, the traps can still be operated by PCs. Sample traps: Crushing Pillars (DC 15 DEX save, 2d10 and prone, or half and not prone). Poison Spray (DC 15 CON save, 4d6 and poisoned, or half and not). Bear Traps (+8 to hit, 1d10 and reduce speed to 0. DC 15 STR to escape.)
- Loot hideaways. I didn't write any items here but I guess you could put simple magic items in places.
CHAOS (the rest of the session?) - At some point the adventurers will find the PCs. You can probably let them escape once or twice but pretty soon things need to hit the fan. After this, it's basically just a giant battle. Make the adventurers move around a lot, even if it provokes attacks of opportunity. When it gets close to the end, you might have to accelerate things. I did this by having Volmar horribly transform into a tentacled monster and go on a rampage as the ritual was nearly complete.
CONCLUSION: The mansion is destroyed so the PCs can see the sky fill with unholy fire or tentacles or whatever and the world probably ends. Victory!
Below the spoiler are the handwritten stat blocks for Mystra's Ink.
Additional notes: I wouldn't call the heroes by their names right away. Instead describe them by their masks. Fred's traps are intended as abstractions. If he has a trap, he can spend it to attack using his trap option. When he does, you should describe some Rube Goldberg nonsense. I'm pretty sure "Short Things Camoflauge" in Shaggy's stat block is meant to give him the ability to hide when obscured only by things that are short. I think that was a joke, but it didn't land. I think Velma's Expose The Truth feature is the funniest piece of rules text I've ever written though, but I may be biased. I shouldn't have to tell you that Shaggy and Scooby travel as a pair, and they will both drop everything they're doing to eat any food they see. You should have Shaggy get there first, though.
Final notes: My names are inconsistent but here are what I think are the "correct" names for Mystra's Ink: Friedrich von Jelsing (described as a sort of knight in shining armor), Volmar Sphinxley (a witchy mage type), Shoggis (barbarian, possibly a cannibal), The Beast (huge gnarly dog), and Dauphiniel V'Laek (frankly, I don't recall).
Also, apparently Volmar can cast spells. I genuinely think this was probably a mistake, she's complicated enough. But here's her list:
Cantrips: minor illusion, ray of frost
4 per day: magic missile, charm person, expeditious retreat
3 per day: hold person, magic weapon, see invisibility (she already has truesight???)
2 per day: greater invisibility (cool anti-synergy), blink (haha because eyes)
1 per day: confusion, fire shield (she didn't use this slot when I ran it)
I realize looking at this that Daphne can't attack at all. I think that was on purpose? I don't know.