I am trying to run a one-shot from my boyfriend who is a Forever DM. We have been playing in a group for over a year now and I just want him to be able to have a break, make his own character, and have fun playing for once in a little adventure just for him. However, the other side of the DM screen is uncharted and kind of daunting territory for me. I'd like to do a one-shot, because it's a bit less intimidating and where he will be the only player, it just makes the most sense to me. It will also allow me to run something very personal, sort of a love letter of an adventure. I'm hoping to run something that will take a few hours so that we can make a day of it.
So far, I have given him a bit of information to inspire his 6th level character who I asked for him to base on himself:
"Your character building prompt is that you had recently come into a great sum of wealth over your last few adventures. Enough wealth that you feel you could retire your weapon for a while and settle into a quaint, comfortable life, free of danger, with your fiancé. Your Real Estate Wizard had scryed on several available houses across nearby towns and one really tickled your fancy. A beautiful, cozy manor just north of town! It's a bit large for just the two of you but you have a few friends that you know you would often entertain as guests, and your fiancé has dreamt of having a small family one day for many moons. This house is perfect and the price is just right. The previous owner passed away and the bank has placed it on the market quite reasonably. Together you've decided that this will be your new forever home. And our story will begin on the big move-in day."
I'd like to turn this into a haunted manor adventure where the objective is to cleanse the house and reclaim it as your home. I want to use a lot of items around the house for storytelling/creating a mystery. Perhaps as key objects are disturbed the spirits grow more active, and through the story pieces hidden about he can either try to solve puzzles and help the restless spirits move on, or if he angers the spirits, he will have to fight his way out and ensure the survival of him and his fiancé.
NOTE: She will be an NPC/ DM PC that allows me to guide him and have *some* control over the direction of the story but I will make her much lower level and less adventure savvy so that she doesn't become an OP DM PC...Where this is a love letter of an adventure, I want to be a lil part of it, but by no means do I want any time in the spotlight, this is an adventure for him she will be there to interact with, provide some support AND since these characters are representations of ourselves, it will allow me to create more tension in combat scenarios, more weight to his decisions and make him care more for these characters
I'm really into the idea of a wintery setting. I envision a large manor in a snow-dusted sleepy town and I just dig the idea of a seedy dark mystery hidden within a beautiful home. I have taken to calling this town Frosshollow. I have also been looking at the floorplans of old Victorian manors to try and find a layout for the house that feels true to a home (and it's less work that trying to build a mansion from scratch).
Mystery wise, I was thinking that the previous owner, a little old human woman named Agnes, had many a secret. I'm thinking she was a pretty normal lady up until a tragic house fire that claimed the lives of her husband, and child as well as their maid, gardener, cook, etc. Feeling lost and having not been able to say goodbye, Agnes began dabbling in necromancy and conjuration type stuff in order to contact the spirits of her deceased family and friends. However, evil spirits (undead spooks and maybe demons? idk) saw her desperation as opportunity. The presented themselves to her as the lost souls she was seeking and once they were invited into the home, they began tormenting her. They broke her will and finally possessed her. In this state, she enacted some sort of spooky ritual that took her life and made the spirits stronger... and now there is a new family moving in...
So yeah, we start on move-in day, we explore the house and find that it has been mostly untouched for months, scattered belongings of the previous owners are starting to accumulate dust. We'll find some family relics, ya know letters, clothing, etc. I’d like to include a child's bedroom that seems dustier yet better preserved than the rest of the house to imply that the previous owner suffered this loss years ago. Maybe a few vague nods to the occult stuff hidden around the house. I'm thinking somewhere, hidden well, there will be a deed to the house in the name of Agnes Ambrose, a complete floor plan that differs from the one the real estate wizard has given him because it includes a cellar and that will be where the spooky ritual took place and maybe that's where the key to sealing away the evil spirits that were accidentally summoned will be.
I like the idea of having trapped souls of husband, child, cook, maid, and gardener still be in the house as sort of helpful ghosts who can still do ghost stuff and add to the spooky atmosphere but their ultimate goal is to guide him through the mystery and put Agnes' soul to rest so that they can all move on or whatever. Maybe since Agnes died in a tragic way, her spirit turned into something scary (like the nighwraiths from the Witcher 3). Then finally, the actual danger would lie in the deceptive evil spirits in the house.
To keep this fairly self-contained I had the idea that he will start just inside the door, with all of their possessions in moving boxes and crates. He would have seen the house through the globe of the real estate (divination) wizard, but not actually set foot in the house until today. Once we begin, I will mention that it has started to snow and suggest that it is showing no signs of stopping any time soon. If at any point he tries to just leave I'll have him walk out into this blizzard, the snow almost blinding him and in the distance he can just barely make out the shape of a building. he will trudge through the snow only to find himself standing once again on the porch of the house type deal.
And that's about where the ideas have stopped flowing. Solid enough...but now what do I do?
I am only really familiar with the monsters he has thrown at my friends and I in the campaign we are playing and we rarely deal with ghosts, so I'm not really sure where to find stats for all the ghosties I will need to haunt this haunted house. He has DMed for years as well, so I'm scared that he will know more about them than I do and he may be able to outwit me. I have all of his books at my disposal when he is not home and I'm also very open to homebrew stuff. ANY TIPS, be they related to my story, where to find some relevant monsters, or just tips on how to do this whole DMing thing would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thank you so much to anyone who took the time to read through that and may be willing to help me out!
This is very ambitious for a first-time DM. It sounds like it will take many, many sessions.
General advice for first-time DMs is it's best to run a published adventure.
I have come across a cool haunted mansion adventure called A Manse of Special Purpose. The writing of the adventure is a bit quirky and confusing, but once it makes sense, it's a pretty cool adventure. You might be able to adapt it to include some of the elements you have in mind.
Thank you for taking the time to read all of that! I totally appreciate the concern, I know it's pretty ambitious, but I really want to give it a try. Referencing a published adventure is a really good idea! I have lots of time to plan and work on this, I don't have a deadline or anything like that so I do really want to build something mostly my own.
If I stumble along the way, or bite off more than I can chew for a one-shot, I'm sure he'll understand and I don't think he'd mind playing over the course of a few sessions. I've been playing the campaign with him as the DM for over a year now consistently and I had played with a different group in high school as well, so I'm not a complete newbie to how all of the mechanics work, I'm just used to being on the other side of the table.
I'll definitely look into some haunted mansion adventures, including the one you mentioned and use bits and pieces that I like.
To be honest, I did not start DMing with stock published adventures. I modified published one-shots for my setting and NPCs until I had cut my teeth, then started building my own plots and dungeons.
Castle amber/chateau d’amberville is an old (1e) mod that got a 5e update from Goodman games. It might fit what you’re looking for. The original was amazing, though I don’t know if the new version is good. It’s kind of spendy, and might take more than one session.
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Hello wonderful people!
I am trying to run a one-shot from my boyfriend who is a Forever DM. We have been playing in a group for over a year now and I just want him to be able to have a break, make his own character, and have fun playing for once in a little adventure just for him. However, the other side of the DM screen is uncharted and kind of daunting territory for me. I'd like to do a one-shot, because it's a bit less intimidating and where he will be the only player, it just makes the most sense to me. It will also allow me to run something very personal, sort of a love letter of an adventure. I'm hoping to run something that will take a few hours so that we can make a day of it.
So far, I have given him a bit of information to inspire his 6th level character who I asked for him to base on himself:
"Your character building prompt is that you had recently come into a great sum of wealth over your last few adventures. Enough wealth that you feel you could retire your weapon for a while and settle into a quaint, comfortable life, free of danger, with your fiancé. Your Real Estate Wizard had scryed on several available houses across nearby towns and one really tickled your fancy. A beautiful, cozy manor just north of town! It's a bit large for just the two of you but you have a few friends that you know you would often entertain as guests, and your fiancé has dreamt of having a small family one day for many moons. This house is perfect and the price is just right. The previous owner passed away and the bank has placed it on the market quite reasonably. Together you've decided that this will be your new forever home. And our story will begin on the big move-in day."
I'd like to turn this into a haunted manor adventure where the objective is to cleanse the house and reclaim it as your home. I want to use a lot of items around the house for storytelling/creating a mystery. Perhaps as key objects are disturbed the spirits grow more active, and through the story pieces hidden about he can either try to solve puzzles and help the restless spirits move on, or if he angers the spirits, he will have to fight his way out and ensure the survival of him and his fiancé.
NOTE: She will be an NPC/ DM PC that allows me to guide him and have *some* control over the direction of the story but I will make her much lower level and less adventure savvy so that she doesn't become an OP DM PC...Where this is a love letter of an adventure, I want to be a lil part of it, but by no means do I want any time in the spotlight, this is an adventure for him she will be there to interact with, provide some support AND since these characters are representations of ourselves, it will allow me to create more tension in combat scenarios, more weight to his decisions and make him care more for these characters
I'm really into the idea of a wintery setting. I envision a large manor in a snow-dusted sleepy town and I just dig the idea of a seedy dark mystery hidden within a beautiful home. I have taken to calling this town Frosshollow. I have also been looking at the floorplans of old Victorian manors to try and find a layout for the house that feels true to a home (and it's less work that trying to build a mansion from scratch).
Mystery wise, I was thinking that the previous owner, a little old human woman named Agnes, had many a secret. I'm thinking she was a pretty normal lady up until a tragic house fire that claimed the lives of her husband, and child as well as their maid, gardener, cook, etc. Feeling lost and having not been able to say goodbye, Agnes began dabbling in necromancy and conjuration type stuff in order to contact the spirits of her deceased family and friends. However, evil spirits (undead spooks and maybe demons? idk) saw her desperation as opportunity. The presented themselves to her as the lost souls she was seeking and once they were invited into the home, they began tormenting her. They broke her will and finally possessed her. In this state, she enacted some sort of spooky ritual that took her life and made the spirits stronger... and now there is a new family moving in...
So yeah, we start on move-in day, we explore the house and find that it has been mostly untouched for months, scattered belongings of the previous owners are starting to accumulate dust. We'll find some family relics, ya know letters, clothing, etc. I’d like to include a child's bedroom that seems dustier yet better preserved than the rest of the house to imply that the previous owner suffered this loss years ago. Maybe a few vague nods to the occult stuff hidden around the house. I'm thinking somewhere, hidden well, there will be a deed to the house in the name of Agnes Ambrose, a complete floor plan that differs from the one the real estate wizard has given him because it includes a cellar and that will be where the spooky ritual took place and maybe that's where the key to sealing away the evil spirits that were accidentally summoned will be.
I like the idea of having trapped souls of husband, child, cook, maid, and gardener still be in the house as sort of helpful ghosts who can still do ghost stuff and add to the spooky atmosphere but their ultimate goal is to guide him through the mystery and put Agnes' soul to rest so that they can all move on or whatever. Maybe since Agnes died in a tragic way, her spirit turned into something scary (like the nighwraiths from the Witcher 3). Then finally, the actual danger would lie in the deceptive evil spirits in the house.
To keep this fairly self-contained I had the idea that he will start just inside the door, with all of their possessions in moving boxes and crates. He would have seen the house through the globe of the real estate (divination) wizard, but not actually set foot in the house until today. Once we begin, I will mention that it has started to snow and suggest that it is showing no signs of stopping any time soon. If at any point he tries to just leave I'll have him walk out into this blizzard, the snow almost blinding him and in the distance he can just barely make out the shape of a building. he will trudge through the snow only to find himself standing once again on the porch of the house type deal.
And that's about where the ideas have stopped flowing. Solid enough...but now what do I do?
I am only really familiar with the monsters he has thrown at my friends and I in the campaign we are playing and we rarely deal with ghosts, so I'm not really sure where to find stats for all the ghosties I will need to haunt this haunted house. He has DMed for years as well, so I'm scared that he will know more about them than I do and he may be able to outwit me. I have all of his books at my disposal when he is not home and I'm also very open to homebrew stuff. ANY TIPS, be they related to my story, where to find some relevant monsters, or just tips on how to do this whole DMing thing would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thank you so much to anyone who took the time to read through that and may be willing to help me out!
This is very ambitious for a first-time DM. It sounds like it will take many, many sessions.
General advice for first-time DMs is it's best to run a published adventure.
I have come across a cool haunted mansion adventure called A Manse of Special Purpose. The writing of the adventure is a bit quirky and confusing, but once it makes sense, it's a pretty cool adventure. You might be able to adapt it to include some of the elements you have in mind.
Hello!
Thank you for taking the time to read all of that! I totally appreciate the concern, I know it's pretty ambitious, but I really want to give it a try. Referencing a published adventure is a really good idea! I have lots of time to plan and work on this, I don't have a deadline or anything like that so I do really want to build something mostly my own.
If I stumble along the way, or bite off more than I can chew for a one-shot, I'm sure he'll understand and I don't think he'd mind playing over the course of a few sessions. I've been playing the campaign with him as the DM for over a year now consistently and I had played with a different group in high school as well, so I'm not a complete newbie to how all of the mechanics work, I'm just used to being on the other side of the table.
I'll definitely look into some haunted mansion adventures, including the one you mentioned and use bits and pieces that I like.
Thank you so much!!
To be honest, I did not start DMing with stock published adventures. I modified published one-shots for my setting and NPCs until I had cut my teeth, then started building my own plots and dungeons.
Castle amber/chateau d’amberville is an old (1e) mod that got a 5e update from Goodman games. It might fit what you’re looking for. The original was amazing, though I don’t know if the new version is good. It’s kind of spendy, and might take more than one session.