Death House Tweaks (spoilers, obviously)

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'm gearing up to run a published campaign for the first time--I've been talked into Curse of Stradh, and that means starting with the infamous Death House. Because a nice railroady dungeon is a good way to kick things off and get the party used to interacting, and because it looks bloody fun to run. The group will start at level 2 with a feat-- there will be five PCs. But, I've also heard some things about it, so I'm thinking a few thoughts.

Most importantly, I'm thinking major changes to the ending. There will be mists seeping downwards all through the house, and they'll be visibly collecting around the alter. The alter will also hold an obviously magical glass ritual dagger; if any of the PCs are possessed, the ghost will start whimpering and crying in pain at the sight and touch of the blade. Four apparitions will appear, blocking the doors and chanting "Take the knife! One must die!" The knife can kill a ghost without hurting the PC too badly; alternately, they can break it without too much trouble. If they do, instead of waking a shambling mound, the four apparitions attack with shadow stats. When each dies, the flow of mist weakens; when all four are gone, the mists cease to flow and the house starts to collapse.

Otherwise, there are way too many enemies in way too little space in the dungeon-- I'm thinking about cutting the grick, mimic, and the shadows around the statue. Maybe the ghouls, too. None of them feel particularly plot-centric, and the first two just seem utterly random in here. The animated armor and broom upstairs feel unnecessary too. Might also replace the specter with something less likely to cripple a PC with one hit or annihilate them with two...

Does the revised ending, in particular, make sense? Any other ideas or advice?

[Trask]

I think cutting some of extraneous monsters would be good, but I think the ghouls are nice since its implied that these are the lord and lady. I had them burst out from behind their respective portraits instead and described them as wearing finery and having similar hair to their portraits.

Otherwise, your alterations to the downstairs are fine, although 4 shadows seems a little weak for a 2nd level party. The shambling mound is absolutely terrifying and strange and will probably be ran away from rather than fought, and i think thats to the benefit of the horror adventure climax. of course they CAN fight the shambling mound, but its going to be deadly. It makes the choice between sacrificing or not a lot more meaningul.

I STRONGLY recommend that you drop the house's built in railroad where it only reveals the next area once it feels like it. I found that the players really didnt like that, and when ive run this and havent used it, people had a lot more fun and commented on how labyrinthine the house felt.

Id still use the bit at the end though when the house becomes hostile, because at that point its the end and very climactic.

Other than that, I will just add creepy stuff to replace some of the monsters but keep it thematic. For example,

In the master bedroom bathroom I had the faucet when turned dislodge an ooze that i described as having moaning faces pushing out from inside

under the master bed i had a strange sacrificial curved greatsword blade that the lord imported to better perform sacrificial rituals (looks like a ram-dao) and gave it some strange occult power

I changed the haunted armor to be creepier so the wolf head helmet begins to snarl and the upper lip curl when someone gets close

in the library i created a short table of weird books i could roll on and generate. whenever you say theres a library, players are going to want to read. An example is a book with glass panels where dissected animals are pinned up, as well as some dissected pixies

i made it so the undead maid only appears at the cradle and she is silently rocking it with her back to the door. Perhaps put something enticing in the crib, like a golden rattle. This is just because as written the ghost is extremely deadly and frankly not all that interesting. This makes it creepier.

I make attic have about 7 mannequins under sheets that slowly creep towards the party and try to grab them and drain their blood with a passive perception check to notice them slowly creepy while the party isnt looking.

Basically just mimize the "attack on sight" until dead encounters and make more things that are optional, creepy, but also enticing, or just nonstandard.