Hey all,

I'm working on creating a short adventure, hopefully, one that will take no longer than half a year to run, and I wanted to see if anyone had some fun, spooky ideas that I might be able to steal incorporate into this adventure. Original monsters, cool items, or even if you think of something that sounds fun!

WIP name is Escape from the Funk House, inspired by things like Sexy Brutale, Haunted Mansion (yeah... disney), Crypt of the Necrodancer, and probably some other things I am not thinking of! The Funk House is not marked on any map and can appear anywhere. It is a huge mansion consisting of 2 stories, an attic, a basement, and ya know... floors beneath the basement. There will definitely be a casino, an opera show room, a ballroom, a bar, a library, and more. My framework is the BBEG is a wizard/bard who sold his soul to (insert a devil/demon/something here) in order to find the most beautiful song in existence. In doing so, the BBEG's mansion has become its own plane (demi-plane?) and it travels in the multiverse luring unsuspecting, musically inclined people... This might sound familiar, and I am not even ashamed.

Each wing of the mansion will feature a specific type of music, mostly electro swing, big band, jazz, soul, etc., have its own kind of encounters, and have stylish bosses, who are ghosts of the BBEG's friends that are trapped within the mansion, that can either be brutally taken down or can be saved via solving puzzles and doing the battle in a specific kinda way. Along the way, the PCs will learn about the mansion's dark history, the BBEG's sad tale and why he wanted to find the most beautiful music in the universe, and if they survive, they might get cool items.

Obviously, I am bringing in as many ghosts as I can for this campaign. There will be various rooms where there will be haunted instruments doomed to play catchy tunes forever... I'm just wondering if there is any way I could jazz this up a bit. PCs will start at lv 5, and I am requiring most of them to have some sort of musical background. A part of me almost wants to have the party roll straight bards of different kinds and see how that goes!

The BBEG wins when he successfully has the characters die under certain conditions. Feeling right now that when the characters die any other way, they come back to life, but suffer a negative effect as outlined in the DMG for Madness.

I've built my own adventures before, but usually standard fantasy. I would really like to try to make something like this since it combines some of my favorite things: horror and electro swing/big band. 

What sort of things do you think I should include? PS: Most of the people I play with IRL would eat this up. They enjoyed a lot of the weird, similar-ish things I've done in previous campaigns, so I figure having an entire adventure trapped in a haunted mansion would be a fun Halloween experience... 

If you don't mind using a song from a different genre, you might be able to do something with I See Fire. 

Molly Malone even has a ghost in it already. 

Quote from Matthias_von_Schwarzwald >>

If you don't mind using a song from a different genre, you might be able to do something with I See Fire. 

Molly Malone even has a ghost in it already. 

Nocturne might be good, too. 

For NCP's and possible enemies, look up some famous swing/jazz musicians and the ways they died. Make them a character, or make a character based on them. You don't have to name them, but maybe if your group is into the same music they'll get your homage. Just to fill the house with ghosts if nothing else.

Making the BBEG's origin a devil pact is a good way to go. Everyone's heard of bluesman selling their soul for skill, and your idea would be a neat twist on the myth. Fill the house with devils and infernal creatures, some who are just there to listen to some tunes, some who are looking to book the next gig (your players). Gotta have hell hounds to drag those souls back to the mansion, too.

Ohh, I like your style. Having hell hounds sounds cool! Perhaps in the different rooms that seem like they would've been for public use, like the casino or bar, there are just demons hanging out, drinking, and won't fight unless provoked. That would be kind of entertaining to see.

And thanks! The BBEG is definitely based on characters like that. I kind of want the final epic fight to be something like The Devil went down to Georgia by the Charlie Daniels Band. Or, depending on if I run this with my goofyass players, like Tribute by Tenacious D. Some kinda deal where they face off with the BBEG with instruments or something. Maybe that is going too far, though I know most of my friends/players would also love it.

If the ballroom and/or dance studio doesn't have a Michael Jackson-themed Werewolf or Necromancer and a bunch of zombies doing Thriller, you've made a major mistake.

This could be a dance-off competition or the party could do a normal-ish fight where they are also suffering from an altered version of Otto's Irresistible Dance that still technically allows them to move as long as they do so describing a form of dance, but conferring all the rest of the spell's negative effects.

Quote from Metamongoose >>

If the ballroom and/or dance studio doesn't have a Michael Jackson-themed Werewolf or Necromancer and a bunch of zombies doing Thriller, you've made a major mistake.

This could be a dance-off competition or the party could do a normal-ish fight where they are also suffering from an altered version of Otto's Irresistible Dance that still technically allows them to move as long as they do so describing a form of dance, but conferring all the rest of the spell's negative effects.

I feel like the lack of a Soul Train reference would be sad, but I can't think of a good way to fit in an actual spectral boogie train into this somehow. However, the show runner Don Cornelius has just the kind of name that would fit great as the name for your Wizard/Bard BBEG.

EDIT: Other Funk luminaries to maybe work in -

• James Brown - Progenitor of funk music and "Godfather of Soul."
• George Clinton - Of Parliament Funkadelic fame.
• Chaka Khan - The undeniable "Queen of Funk."

James Brown was always gonna be the boss of his own wing. :) He is too cool not to be!

Thanks for the other links tho, omg. I am so excited to sit and start writing out all the NPCs that will be present in this game...