- Joined
- Aug 23, 2018
I don't know how much of that I agree with, but I ran modern horror, not Ravenloft, so it's different.
One bit of advice I'd give would be to have fun with perception checks. If a player fails a perception check, they see something move out the corner of their eye. They succeed a perception check, the see something at the window that runs away when noticed. Having a failed check do nothing can be fun as well.
I might as well suggest some adventures I've run that I think can be adapted to Ravenloft. At very least the basic concepts can work. These adventures are free so you can find the details online.
I've heard of the Ravenloft adventure The Death House. Never played it.
I've been told there's a haunted house adventure where the twist is the house is actually a giant mimic and the PCs are running around inside it. I don't know the name, but it sounds like fun to me.
One bit of advice I'd give would be to have fun with perception checks. If a player fails a perception check, they see something move out the corner of their eye. They succeed a perception check, the see something at the window that runs away when noticed. Having a failed check do nothing can be fun as well.
I might as well suggest some adventures I've run that I think can be adapted to Ravenloft. At very least the basic concepts can work. These adventures are free so you can find the details online.
The Haunting.
A introductory adventure for Call of Cthulhu and available in free quickstart rules. There's lots of fan material online if you want maps and handouts. The plot is the PCs are hired to investigate a house where the residence either die or go insane. The first part is an optional investigation. The second part is going into the house itself.
Turns out there's a undead wizard in the basement and is scaring away people who might find his body. So early on it's a creepy house, and as the players investigate you scale up the scares. The three big set pieces are the bed attacks, a floating knife tries to stab them in the basement, and finally you have the undead guy himself.
The Mutator.
A Silent Hill inspired one sheet adventure for Savage Worlds that used to be free on the SW website. It seems to have a small fanbase. I think the boss being a one hit kill is overpowered, but easily fixed. It might be good for flexing your improv muscles.
The premise is that the PCs wake up in a rusty, dilapidated hospital, though it could be anywhere. The PCs have to escape or they will become a mad doctors surgical experiments. Sounds Frankenstein-like to me. The PCs start tied to a bed, so ask them how they want to escape and think of an appropriate check. After a few rounds I had the nurses enter, even if some PCs were still tied to their bed. The PCs will have to fight these foes without their gear, so it's a good time to use any improvised weapons rules.
After they kill the mad doctor, the adventure ends. I personally had the Silent Hill air raid siren sound, the PCs pass out and wake up in the real hospital, but that's easily changed too.
Some other horror adventure I forget the name of.
This was a free adventure with basic Savage Worlds rules included. I don't know the name. In the modern version, the PCs are taking a long distance bus ride. The bus breaks down at a small village. The PCs hang out at the store until it closes while the driver tries to fix the bus and calls for a tow. The driver sneaks away at some point when he goes to make a phone call or use the shitter or something.
Night falls, fog surrounds the village, a hunting horn is heard, and hellhounds and zombies appear.
The plot is that years ago, a skilled hunter caught his wife having an affair. He killed her lover, and tried to kill her, but she escaped. On learning of her lovers death, the wife killed herself. Making her the only prey that escaped the hunter. Now every year the ghost of the hunter kills people. The village lures strangers in and let's them get killed to appease him. Those victims are the zombies, and the hellhounds are his hunting dogs. Anyone who helps the PCs is killed, so villagers won't help and will fight the PCs if pressed.
Eventually the PCs make it to the church. The priest, tired of letting innocent people die, lets the PCs rest in his church and gives them the backstory. The PCs need to find the wife's grave (it's not at the church due to her death being a suicide). The PCs find the grave, the hunter sees it and disappears.
If you change the bus ride to a boat or coach, this could work in a fantasy setting. The fog that traps people in the village is an established feature of Ravenloft.
A introductory adventure for Call of Cthulhu and available in free quickstart rules. There's lots of fan material online if you want maps and handouts. The plot is the PCs are hired to investigate a house where the residence either die or go insane. The first part is an optional investigation. The second part is going into the house itself.
Turns out there's a undead wizard in the basement and is scaring away people who might find his body. So early on it's a creepy house, and as the players investigate you scale up the scares. The three big set pieces are the bed attacks, a floating knife tries to stab them in the basement, and finally you have the undead guy himself.
The Mutator.
A Silent Hill inspired one sheet adventure for Savage Worlds that used to be free on the SW website. It seems to have a small fanbase. I think the boss being a one hit kill is overpowered, but easily fixed. It might be good for flexing your improv muscles.
The premise is that the PCs wake up in a rusty, dilapidated hospital, though it could be anywhere. The PCs have to escape or they will become a mad doctors surgical experiments. Sounds Frankenstein-like to me. The PCs start tied to a bed, so ask them how they want to escape and think of an appropriate check. After a few rounds I had the nurses enter, even if some PCs were still tied to their bed. The PCs will have to fight these foes without their gear, so it's a good time to use any improvised weapons rules.
After they kill the mad doctor, the adventure ends. I personally had the Silent Hill air raid siren sound, the PCs pass out and wake up in the real hospital, but that's easily changed too.
Some other horror adventure I forget the name of.
This was a free adventure with basic Savage Worlds rules included. I don't know the name. In the modern version, the PCs are taking a long distance bus ride. The bus breaks down at a small village. The PCs hang out at the store until it closes while the driver tries to fix the bus and calls for a tow. The driver sneaks away at some point when he goes to make a phone call or use the shitter or something.
Night falls, fog surrounds the village, a hunting horn is heard, and hellhounds and zombies appear.
The plot is that years ago, a skilled hunter caught his wife having an affair. He killed her lover, and tried to kill her, but she escaped. On learning of her lovers death, the wife killed herself. Making her the only prey that escaped the hunter. Now every year the ghost of the hunter kills people. The village lures strangers in and let's them get killed to appease him. Those victims are the zombies, and the hellhounds are his hunting dogs. Anyone who helps the PCs is killed, so villagers won't help and will fight the PCs if pressed.
Eventually the PCs make it to the church. The priest, tired of letting innocent people die, lets the PCs rest in his church and gives them the backstory. The PCs need to find the wife's grave (it's not at the church due to her death being a suicide). The PCs find the grave, the hunter sees it and disappears.
If you change the bus ride to a boat or coach, this could work in a fantasy setting. The fog that traps people in the village is an established feature of Ravenloft.
I've been told there's a haunted house adventure where the twist is the house is actually a giant mimic and the PCs are running around inside it. I don't know the name, but it sounds like fun to me.
