I recently watched The Woman in Black and it's got me thinking of an adventure I'd like to write up for Lamentations of the Flame Princess.
The back-story: The Humphrey House was a most unhappy home. Thaddeus and Susan Humphrey were joined through an arranged marriage, but it was a union destined to end in mutual loathing. Thaddeus was madly in love with another women, but his parents coveted the generous dowry attached to young Susan. For her part, Susan did not desire a husband or domestic life--she wanted to go to university, but was sacrificed on the marital altar by a family who cared far less about her dreams than they did about connecting their family line to the influential Humphreys.
The tragedy: After a solemn, joyless marriage ceremony, the new Mr and Mrs Humphrey retired to a vast family home on the coast. The Humphreys must have fulfilled their conjugal duties as within a year a son, Nathaniel, was born to the parents. However, mysterious circumstances conspired to insure the family's ruin: Nathaniel died on his tenth birthday and his mother was found hanged in the attic. Thaddeus began to appear in the village pub, complaining that his ancestral home was haunted by the ghosts of his son and wife; after his rantings became too severe, he was locked away in an asylum where he died a man broken in both body and mind.
The house: The house is an excuse to use all the trappings and conventions of a good haunted house tale in a game. The spectral phenomena will start small but build the longer the characters stay within it. They will hear unexplained sounds emanating from the attic, they will catches glimpses of unnatural things in mirrors, objects will go missing only to re-appear in odd places, and strange chills will descend suddenly upon anyone straying too close to the family's papers. The phenomena will culminate in two apparitions (one a woman dressed in mourning garb, the other a young boy) who peer at each other through the windows of the house: the mother from the attic in which she was found and the son from the doorstep. If the characters interfere with certain things within the house, they will be attacked by Susan. If the characters interfere with certain things near the marsh, they will be attacked by Nathaniel.
The twist: There will be two layers of clues in the house. The more obvious layer of clues will reveal that young Nathaniel's body is somewhere in the nearby marsh, but was never properly laid to rest. These clues will indicate a course of action: find the boy's body (preserved by the boggy marsh) and bury it in the crypt that houses the remains of his heart-broken mother.
Following that first layer of clues is a mistake. The second layer of clues, which will be a bit more obscure and require a keen eye for detail, will reveal that Susan hated her child because he reminded her too much of the husband that was forced upon her. In fact, there will be signs that indicate that Susan drowned her son in the marsh with her own hands and was subsequently driven to suicide by his ghost. Following the logic of this second layer of clues will also presuppose a solution: one set of remains (either Susan's or Nathaniel's) must be desecrated to appease the other's unquiet spirit. It will be up to the characters to discern which ghost poses the least threat and which is the more malevolent spirit in need of banishment.
Points of inspiration: The Woman in Black, The Haunting, Bram Stoker's "The Judge's House," H. P. Lovecraft's "Dreams in the Witch-House," The Others, Ringu
Cross-posted to my blog (http://talesofthegrotesqueanddungeonesque.blogspot.com/)
I've already had a good question on my blog about why the character might get involved with this haunted house scenario. Here's a few plot-hooks:
If they are greedy dungeon delvers, they might be attracted to explore the house in hopes of finding the precious lucre that is said to be hidden away in the house.
Or, in tried-and-true Call of Cthulhu fashion, less greedy characters might inherit the house and get embroiled in the mystery when they visit their new home.
Or, in Rocky Horror style, perhaps that's a light on in the Humphrey House when the characters emerge lost and disoriented from a spectral mist.
Haunted Houses are always good - especially if they mysteriously lock down. My favourite Call of Cthulhu adventure, the one I somewhat perfected, is a Haunted House variation (except there's no haunting, but the brother of one of players' characters trapped in the cellar by said player's character, after the two changed souls by means of terrible ritual).
Quote from: Rincewind1;514458Haunted Houses are always good - especially if they mysteriously lock down. My favourite Call of Cthulhu adventure, the one I somewhat perfected, is a Haunted House variation (except there's no haunting, but the brother of one of players' characters trapped in the cellar by said player's character, after the two changed souls by means of terrible ritual).
Have you read Clark Ashton Smith's "The Return of the Sorcerer"? I just read that yesterday and it would make an awesome Call of Cthulhu scenario that reminds me of what you detailed above. (It even has the Necronomicon in it...)
Quote from: misterguignol;514460Have you read Clark Ashton Smith's "The Return of the Sorcerer"? I just read that yesterday and it would make an awesome Call of Cthulhu scenario that reminds me of what you detailed above. (It even has the Necronomicon in it...)
I didn't, no. I did read Case of Charles Dexter Ward, but the scenario itself was most influenced by one of my favourite Lovecraft's tales - Pickman's Model. The whole idea is that the brother (who is actually the other brother in a wrong body) receives a package from himself, a heavy iron key, which sets him on the track of discovering what happened to the brother that went missing lately. He's also a painter with a very dark motif (painting the cancerous remains of his brother), so the investigation takes the PCs through some shady locales as well as causes them to see paintings that haunt them.
An interesting motion is a fact, that so far, 3 out of 3 groups that run through this scenario in such manner (earlier I had just a Pickman's model, with ghouls in the house), opened the heavy metal doors from which they heard scratching of nails against the metal - allowing the ghoulish remains of the Brother 1 in Brother 2 body (which was consumed by cancer - also identified by a bullet mark from the duel that brothers had about a woman) to consume Brother 2 in Brother 1 body. The PCs aren't really locked in - they just ALWAYS forget to declare that they remove the key from the gate after opening it, and I presume that the wind (which they mistake, in their already quite damaged Sanity ratings, due to Painting haunting them, for "movements" in the yard.), seals the gate. Come dawn, they see the key on the other side of the gate/lying in the grass. The gate & fence has a lot of spikes & also barbed wire (Brother 2 precautions against Brother 1 escaping), which rules out getting out without the key.
I hope to write the adventure up someday - it's rather linear (there are just a few places to collect the clues, and they point out to each other) and easy to connect the dots for the players, but it also has just the right amount of tension and scariness, and lasts 5 hours tops, making it a perfect one - shot.
While somewhat on the topic, MG - allow me to advice (though I suppose you are doing it already), to take advantage if a player does not give you character history. Abuse the s*** out of it, by making him the Deep One descendant, Last Delapore, witch's brood, etc. etc.
Not only it teaches the buggers to write their chars' stories, it's also great stuff for weird/horror games.
Quote from: Rincewind1;514480While somewhat on the topic, MG - allow me to advice (though I suppose you are doing it already), to take advantage if a player does not give you character history. Abuse the s*** out of it, by making him the Deep One descendant, Last Delapore, witch's brood, etc. etc.
Not only it teaches the buggers to write their chars' stories, it's also great stuff for weird/horror games.
To be honest, I don't mind if players show up without a backstory for their characters. I'm fine with letting it emerge in play. I'd rather have no back-story than pages of back-story!
Quote from: misterguignol;514523To be honest, I don't mind if players show up without a backstory for their characters. I'm fine with letting it emerge in play. I'd rather have no back-story than pages of back-story!
Well, I'd rather have the latter ;). I'm not saying it's wrong (though for me it is a small signal that someone is a bit lazy & uncaring for the campaign), but I'm saying that it's a great thing to exploit in Weird/Horror games.
Quote from: misterguignol;514523To be honest, I don't mind if players show up without a backstory for their characters. I'm fine with letting it emerge in play. I'd rather have no back-story than pages of back-story!
I endorse this post. Also be advised, the player most willing to write pages and pages of back story is the player least likely to read even a paragraph of setting material. However, he will ask you every session, "Have you read my back story? why haven't you worked any of that stuff in yet?"
Quote from: Aos;514527I endorse this post. Also be advised, the player most willing to write pages and pages of back story is the player least likely to read even a paragraph of setting material. However, he will ask you every session, "Have you read my back story? why haven't you worked any of that stuff in yet?"
Lack of setting's knowledge can be a good thing. I much prefer GMing for people who know just a bit of Lovecraft, rather then those who read all the books & RPGs, as it makes the suspension of disbelief easier.
Quote from: Aos;514527I endorse this post. Also be advised, the player most willing to write pages and pages of back story is the player least likely to read even a paragraph of setting material. However, he will ask you every session, "Have you read my back story? why haven't you worked any of that stuff in yet?"
Exactly. I invite people over to play a game, not to be a captive audience to their NaNoWriMo.
Quote from: Rincewind1;514529Lack of setting's knowledge can be a good thing. I much prefer GMing for people who know just a bit of Lovecraft, rather then those who read all the books & RPGs, as it makes the suspension of disbelief easier.
I agree one hundred percent.
My current Colonial era Labyrinth Lord game has several references to Ramsey Campbell and Goatswood. The Player's have no clue, they know something mytho-ish is going on and are busy enjoying their characters and the mystery. Meanwhile I'm getting great pleasure out of running them and my own 'clever' references to Campbell. That part's all for me baby. :D
Quote from: Aos;514527I endorse this post. Also be advised, the player most willing to write pages and pages of back story is the player least likely to read even a paragraph of setting material. However, he will ask you every session, "Have you read my back story? why haven't you worked any of that stuff in yet?"
This has been my experience as well. And it pisses me off.
It is certainly annoying as hell, but these days it makes me feel more weary than angry.
Quote from: misterguignol;514523To be honest, I don't mind if players show up without a backstory for their characters. I'm fine with letting it emerge in play. I'd rather have no back-story than pages of back-story!
Have to agree. Now most of my characters have around a half a page to a page of background. I don't want the cool stuff to be in my character's past though. I want it to be played.
Vampire is a bit of an exception to me because I really like playing characters who were embraced in centuries past (NB which is by the way where Requiem's rules for Blood Potency and shit are so cool because you can make a super old character with a Blood Potency ● and just a few discipline dots and it still remotely makes sense, unlike the system of generations in the Masquerade, unless your character has been completely inactive in the remote past. Anyway). One of my favorite characters must have around 12-15 pages of background. Another character I'd really want to play would be Joseph Severn as a pawn of the Giovanni. And there would be some awesome background to write right there, I can tell you. :D
But in any case. Yeah. Even with those characters the background informs actual play. The GM can use it, leave it, I'm cool with it. Some other people on the other hand come up with gigantic backgrounds and expect you to basically run the whole show for them. Spotlight huggers, in a way.
Generally speaking, having a remote idea of what your character's like, a few personality traits, a habit maybe or whatnot, is enough to get down to business, and it'll be preferrable to huge encyclopedias that just clutter the game itself and trap your character into a box before it even starts.
The Woman in Black actually provides two great reasons to force the PCs to stay at the house.
1) It's their job. They have some task that must be completed at the house.
2) Some environmental event traps them there, like the tide and fog in tWiB.
Yeah i'm in the little to no backstory camp, too. A little bit of story and situation to hook into the initial game and then a lot of blank space.
GM: "why is your PC indentured to the evil wizard?"
me: "i don't know. the wizard must have done him some kind of favour, I guess. It'll come to me."
On subject of character backstories - when I make one (usually I do, except rare cases when I am lazy), it's usually one - two pages, three tops. And that includes a list of NPCs important to the character, his foes, friends, colleagues, etc. etc.
Of course - if the character is lower level/lower competence, the backstory is usually a page tops.
And yeah, as a GM I work that stuff in usually - but there's no "entitlement" of working that stuff in for my players.
Quote from: Rincewind1;514763On subject of character backstories - when I make one (usually I do, except rare cases when I am lazy), it's usually one - two pages, three tops. And that includes a list of NPCs important to the character, his foes, friends, colleagues, etc. etc.
Of course - if the character is lower level/lower competence, the backstory is usually a page tops.
And yeah, as a GM I work that stuff in usually - but there's no "entitlement" of working that stuff in for my players.
I won't even read a back-story over a paragraph long.
Three pages? Hahahahahahahahahahaha. No.
Quote from: Aos;514817Three pages? Hahahahahahahahahahaha. No.
Right? I would say that most of my adventure notes are three pages, with maps.
yeah, I'm a one or two page guy unless I'm sand boxing which requires a little more coverage. anyway, sorry for the thread derail.
Quote from: Aos;514837yeah, I'm a one or two page guy unless I'm sand boxing which requires a little more coverage. anyway, sorry for the thread derail.
No worries, I don't think this thread had anywhere to go so I don't mind the drift at all.
Miss out on backstories - your loss, wimps :P. As I said, the story itself is usually a page long tops, with npcs going in later. I like a good backstory as a GM, as it sends me a signal usually of what the player, and the character, will be interested in pursuing.
As for notes - I write as much as time allows me. Especially the descriptions of locations. It matters not to me if the players will go there or not - it's good training, and when they go in there, I'll need but a quick skim, to remind myself how the location's supposed to look.
And as a player? If a GM doesn't read my backstory, his loss. I need the backstory, to flesh my character out. Sure, I may reference from time to time to it, and if it's sandbox, I'll probably try to go back to my family for a visit or smth (unless, as in case with one of my mercenaries in WFRP, the backstory was "One day, being tired of life as a merchant after retirement, I left my fat wife and 12 kids to resume life as a mercenary".)
Then again, an important notion is the fact that I actually enjoy making the world, npcs and the plots - even if they won't see the light of game.
Change the name. It makes me think of
a. The Horror of Humphrey Dumpty House
b. The Horror of Humphrey Bogart House
c. Humphrey Bogart stars as Humphrey Dumpty perched precariously on the roof of his horrific house.
Quote from: _kent_;514874Change the name. It makes me think of
a. The Horror of Humphrey Dumpty House
b. The Horror of Humphrey Bogart House
Both 2 first ones sound like a good adventure. Humphrey Dumpty is such a terrible, disgusting thing.
Quote from: _kent_;514874Change the name. It makes me think of
a. The Horror of Humphrey Dumpty House
b. The Horror of Humphrey Bogart House
c. Humphrey Bogart stars as Humphrey Dumpty perched precariously on the roof of his horrific house.
As long as it didn't make you think of Mr. Humphries from Are You Being Served? we're okay, I think. "I'm freeeeee, Captain Peacock!"