Haunted house

[random11]

Not connected to any specific game system.

The heroes get a side-quest about a haunted house, and are tipped that a demon in the house is responsible for everything.
When they get in, it doesn't take them long to discover that there was a slight miscalculation; the demon is not in the house, the demon IS the house.

Anyway, it is a creature that feeds on human fear, so his intentions are not to kill (unless threatened) but to frighten his victims as much as possible.


I need some ideas, both classic and original, of ways that can frighten the heroes, and if possible also the players...
The demon cannot read minds, so there will be nothing against a specific hero, but he can hear and see everything in the house and in a short range outside, and can also react according to any input he gets.
No fear spells are allowed, good ol' natural fear only.

this is what I have so far:

- Messages in blood.
What can I say, there is a reason it's a cliche.

- Every room has it's own extreme temperature.

- Changing rooms. Just because you remember the door led somewhere, doesn't mean it will stay that way next time.
Also used to prevent anyone from leaving the house before it is satisfied.
It also means that if the group decides to split up, there is no easy way to join again.

- It was summer when they entered the house, but out of every window all you can see is darkness and a thunderstorm. Any attempt to open a window created a horrible wind, and the heroes can see nothing outside except the rain; No village, no lights, nothing on the horizon and not even a ground.

- Random doors that grab the one who opens them, preferably with slimy tentacles...


Oh, and just in case you're wondering, there is a way to beat the house. I actually thought of three ways if the players will be smart enough to think about them.

[Famine]

Things charecters see in the corner of their eyes, but when they turn there is nothing there? Possibly a very fast creature or one with the etheral jaunt abillity.

One charecter sees something in mirrors around house, when he shows it to other players they can't see it, he could also see it anywhere he could see his reflection?

Very narrow hall ways have to move through sideways, hallway starts to grapple with arms?

If you could get some creepy music it would add to it, maybe something from the Resident Evil/Silent Hill games?

What are the ways to beat it? This is so awesome i'm going to use it on my players

[Serenity]

A bowl of fruit in the kitchen that casts suggestion to get a PC to eat it; when they bite in, blood sprays down their throat.

[Blackdog]

I think a big part of making this work is to make it interactive -- I get the sense you're aiming for something more than just a Tomb of Horrors series of traps. Let the players fight or think their way past a few obstacles -- then alter things -- slowly! At first they should feel like they're fighting demons in a demon's lair: gradually it should dawn on them that they are really in the belly of a whale. The House can't read their minds, but it should be able to observe their actions. It may well try to provoke the party into crafting its own (supposed) demise!

[ocato]

Illusions a plenty. That's not a wall, it's a door! That's not a door, it's a wall! That's not an armchair, it's a g-g-g-g-g-ghost!

[tahu88810]

Have them meet another group of adventurers who have suffered the same fate (getting trapped within the house).
The other group is now the thralls of the demon.
Something like...
A male elf fighter (or monk or bard), a female elf rogue, a female human wizard (or sorcerer or bard), and an incompetent human druid with an equally incompetent canine animal companion. Make the rogue fall into pits and the like with almost uncanny bad luck, and have her take people with her. Have the male elf clearly be the leader of this "gang". The wizard is, of course, their brainy person. The druid and the dog are just there.


Perversion of childhood memories can go a long way in creeping people out, or at least it does in my group.

[Pie Guy]

Have a phone ring; the answer sounds like a computerized voice telling them there is no escape, then the line goes dead.

[Calinero]

Food set out on the tables with silverware and stuff. The silverware and bowls cannot be moved, and if any of the food is eaten, it will not seem to be diminished at all. However, every time the players leave or look away, the forks and knives will be slightly moved, and some of the food will be gone (eaten, perhaps? Who knows?!?)

If you want more advice, look up The Haunting on the free sample of the Cthulhu Game on Chaosium.com.

[Prometheus]

Guys, he said it wasn't D&D specific. Although we will probably need to know whether this is a modern setting or a medieval one (or another one).

If you go with the illusions and teleporting doors, I say do it with a pattern. For example, perhaps there is a room that is really scary. It has a horrible scene of slaughter or some kind of visible horror. Whenever a character opens a door, it has a random chance of opening up to this room. If they are smart, they will subsequently close it only to find themselves encountering it again and again later.

Once they get used to the eerie nature of the storm (same for temperature), use it to more dramatic effect. Perhaps certain spots or rooms of the house cause the storm to rage or to die down suddenly. It will make the characters pay attention. If they try to figure out the pattern, you can use it to set them up by putting them right in front of something incredibly scary (it's coming from the sink -> blood sprays out and covers them) or by leading them to a certain place (it wants us to go in here, should we?). Alternatively, it would just be dramatic effect (a room with nothing in it but a smiling doll and all the thunderstorm is at a dead silence. Where they players were yelling to hear each other, they now feel like they are transgressing on the silence of the place). One way or another, you are playing mind games with the PCs which is exactly what a sentient being trying to scare people would do.

Whatever abilities the characters have, they doubtlessly feel safer together. If for no reason other than the fact that they have better odds not to be the first to die and therefore have advance warning. Therefore, you should probably split them up. You don't need to have everyone apart, just one straggler or the entire group split in half. Than, when someone screams, they will hear each other but not be able to help. If no one screams, make illusory screams that mimic the player's voices just to screw with them. Doors that go to different places or grab people are good ways to split a group up, but not the only way. Clever communication (see below) might be able to do it. A chaotic moment where all the characters run in different directions (because something scary falls in between them) might be the best way to do it, because it would be organic, but it might also fail.

Blood on the wall is one way of communication, but not the only way. The house should communicate with the characters, if in an indirect way. A haunted magic eight-ball, letters written on fogged glass, the aforementioned changes in the storm, a disembodied voice, a talking parrot, television/radio static, and a book with changing letters are all ways to communicate to the characters. It should be cryptic, giving ambiguous or unreliable information so the players get anxious over it.

RL background music doesn't have to be all negative however. For example Devil's Haircut would be appropriate even while being upbeat. Some techno that uses unfamiliar sounds might also qualify. Or you can break out the Halloween sound track with the wolf howls and the cheesy evil laughter.

[random11]

Thanks for the ideas so far.

Just two small things:

1) I should have mentioned it earlier, but it is a fantasy-medieval setting.

2) Like Blackdog said, I'm not looking for a "tomb of horror" traps. If something will also cause some damage (like the grabbing doors), so be it, but the main goal is psychological fear without anything against a specific character (unless he is stupid enough to reveal his phobias in the house).

[Kami2awa]

- Changing rooms.

That show is enough to drive anyone to gibbering madness...

[BobVosh]

Mindrape: Phobia of everything. Chain it, and move on.

Play the Silent Hill stuff. Watch silent hill movie. Read most anything to do with Call of Cthulu. You should get great stuff from these.

[goram.browncoat]

I did a wizards tower once that used some of your initial ideas. Stairs that went up actually ended up a floor down and vice versa. Every floor showed another time of day outside the windows (dawn, high noon, dusk, night). There was a cupboard that *swallowed* (no damage, just containment) whoever failed a save and then teleported to another floor.

Those things worked reasonably well to create a "weird house" atmosphere. But theres a difference between that and horror/fear. I think youll find its incredibly hard to get actual fear because youre among friends who have gathered to make merry and play some games. Horror is just about the hardest thing to do convincingly in pnp rpg.

Having said that, heres some stuff you could try:
- Make sure you describe things in great detail. If youre not much fo a writer yourself (i know im not) read short stories/novels by horror authors and blatantly rip off their fancy wordmakin'
- Try to use metagame knowledge against the players. Make them roll listen/spot checks (or whatever your game system equivalent is) only for them to hear/see nothing. This will probably work much better than just saying, "you think your heard something" because the game mechanics will have indicated that they were in fact supposed to hear something but didnt. If somebody does roll a ridiculously high check it would be self defeating to not have them hear anything (they might catch on to you if its too unrealistic to have failed) so have a few cryptic sounding sentences ready that can whisper in the background.
- The house doesnt need to be a mindreader for you to be able to use character knowledge. For example, one party member has an irrational fear of bats lets say (child trauma, whatever). When he/she makes one of the ridiculously high spot checks that you do nothing but say he saw something, tell him he saw what he thaught (knowledge check of game equivalent) was a bat. This is not the house mind reading, this is just the character superimposing his own fears on a frightening situation. People actually do that in real life, why not in your game.

[only1doug]

I have a board game that seems eerily close to ideal for you.

Betrayal at the house on the hill there is a online demo.

[DigoDragon]

I'd suggest to sprinkle a few illusionary monsters, especially if the house can imitate the party's fears and turn them into encounters. An illusion of an infamous villain the party has fought, but has yet to slay or capture is a great way to throw a red herring into the plot (The players might think the villain is behind it).

One of my favorite elements of any haunted house is the "Secret Passage" that uses magic to defy physics. I had one house where there was a horizontal secret passage in the basement that led to the billards room on the second floor. A couple spells can even hide the magical aura if you want to keep them guessing.

I just hope no one attempts a Disjunction.
That'll kill property values quick.

[TheCountAlucard]

You might look at Heroes of Horror's ideas for spooky stuff. Your reflection is violently attacked by a hideous monster, and for the next several days, you have no reflection. Spoooky...

[Holocron Coder]

You might look at Heroes of Horror's ideas for spooky stuff. Your reflection is violently attacked by a hideous monster, and for the next several days, you have no reflection. Spoooky...

After sleeping for a time, the group wakes up to find painful (but mechanic-less) bites all over one of the team members, while another is too full to eat breakfast...