Murder House! is a funnel designed for 6 to 12 0-level characters, ideally with players running no more than 2 or 3 characters each. The thematic elements of the adventure give homage to some of the greatest works in horror and haunted house literature and film, namely classics such as The Haunting of Hill House, House on Haunted Hill, Fall of the House of Usher, Pigeons from Hell, and Hell House to name a few.
Part investigative mystery, part escape room challenge, and pure DCC, this adventure is challenging for both PCs and players alike as they must contend with otherworldly monstrosities, mind-bending puzzles, and cunning riddles throughout.
Today, I bring you a short conversation with Marzio Muscdere. You may know him from his own work under Marz Press or the work he’s done for Goodman Games. He’s the author of such amazing adventures as the Star Wound of Abaddon, The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen, and The Doom That Came to Christmas Town!
So Ives Manor is also called the Murder House. I imagine the PCs might know some rumors about why it has that name. Care to share anything extra about the premise? The campaign page shows a handout which invites them all to the reading of a will but that's about the only real hint we get at the story.
This adventure is very much an homage to gothic haunted house fiction. Replete with suspense, mystery, and dread. In my opinion, nothing screams a haunted house story or a Vincent Price movie more than the reading of a will at a mysterious mansion. So naturally I could find no better way to start the adventure than with a simple letter.
Each PC receives a handwritten letter addressed to them specifically. Inside the mysterious envelope is an invitation to attend Ives House for the will reading of the late Master Ives, an eccentric halfling merchant tycoon. Fueled by the opportunity to change their lives, simple curiosity, or just plain greed, the adventure begins when the PCs answer the call and accept the invitation to Ives House.
The adventure takes place just outside the somber and lonely town of Ravens Hollow, but the mansion can easily be placed atop a hill or on the outskirts of any town or city of the judges’ choosing.
As for what rumors the PCs might know. How about we make some rolls on the rumor table, one for you Stefan, and one for you, the good reader of this newsletter.
Here we go (2d8)…
The eccentric halfling merchant tycoon is never seen about town. Only his ancient elven barrister goes about on his official business.
The rich halfling has a fortune in gold and jewels hidden somewhere within the house.
Hmmm, curious indeed….
A haunted house mystery is perfect for handouts and clues. The campaign page says there's 20 handouts for the players? That's a huge amount! Can you share one or two of your favorites?
I have always loved handouts in adventures. So much of RPG gaming is theater of the mind, I just think it is so cool to have a tactile piece of the game in your hands. So what the heck, why not provide 20 of them!
This adventure was written during the height of covid lockdowns (talk about horror!), and played over Roll20, so having a lot of handouts was easy to do. I’ve been slowly commissioning artwork for some of these as well as creating some on my own. I really like the way they are turning out.
As for my favorite handout, I’ll keep that a secret (sorry, I just hate spoilers), other than saying it is a nifty little riddle. But be warned, only one person figured it out during the playtests, so there is that to look forward to...ha!
You describe this as "part investigative mystery, part escape room challenge, and pure DCC". I'm curious how you handle mystery, clues, and puzzle solving in the adventure. Do you riddles/puzzles have one solution or are they more open ended? I've found creators can have pretty different design philosophies on this subject.
Now we are talking! I try to incorporate mystery, investigation, exploration, history, and problem solving into all of my adventures. All of them I say!! I can’t stand when an adventure locale feels like it was created just for the PCs to conquer, like some kind of amusement park ride. These adventure locales are often centuries old, and they should have a history. Who built it? Who has come here before? What was its original purpose? What is really going on here? The answers to these questions are part of the investigation and exploration, so rather than dump a bunch of exposition on the players, I allow them to piece the story together from what they find and observe. In the case of Murder House!, the clues and riddles hold a dual purpose of not only helping the PCs put together the overarching story, but also help them escape the mansion (in one piece hopefully).
As for my philosophy regarding clues and puzzles, rest assured they were created with good game design in mind. Puzzles and riddles can be tricky, what is easy for one person can be seemingly impossible for someone else. That being said, a simple rule I use is that if the answer to a clue or puzzle is essential to the adventure (let’s say entering a locked door) there are going to be multiply ways of solving it or different opportunities to achieve that goal. Now, if the clue or puzzle leads to a cool item or a tasty bit of backstory, then it might be more pass or fail. Hey man, let’s not get it twisted, failure is good in a game. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. When characters fail, it makes their success all the more meaningful, plus the real possibility of failure keeps everyone sharp and on their toes, and tells them that their actions have real meaning and consequences. I mean isn’t that why we play RPGs to begin with?
This adventure also has a new PC class called "the Revenant". Can you tell us about that classes powers and how thematically tied to the adventure they are?
Over the centuries much blood has been spilled and many have met a cruel and underserving death within the mysterious halls of Murder House. Some of these unfortunate souls have managed to will their way back from the beyond and returned as revenants - troubled souls who seek to avenge their death and finally escape the shadowy halls of the accursed mansion. In game terms, the revenant class is reserved for zero-level characters that perish during the adventure, and allows for a thematic opportunity for players to replace their lost characters (but shhh, don’t tell the players that).
I guess it is worth pointing out that Murder House! is intended to be run a little differently than your average funnel. Where most funnels sometimes end up being a total meat grinder where players comically lose umpteen number of characters in the process, Murder House! is intended to be played with each player ideally running no more than 2 characters each. After all, not many horror stories have 20 characters running around in them. And instead of the usual “let’s see how many of these PCs die”, I challenge the players to try to keep their characters alive. Call it a horror survival game if you will.
You've obviously gone deep into classic haunted house stories with this adventure. You list a ton of influences on the KS campaign page. Some are pretty well known like The Haunting of Hill House, but do you want to recommend a hidden gem for folks out there?
The book that I kept going back to time and again was the Haunted House Short Stories volume of the Gothic Fantasy Series published by Flame Tree Collections. I think I picked up the book at Costco several years back. Even though the plot to Murder House! is very much my own, I couldn’t help but dive deep into the book to get a sense of what a scary mansion should feel and look like. As for hidden gems, I really enjoyed Hell House by Richard Matheson and Usher’s Passing by Robert McCammon. I almost had forgotten how much I enjoy McCammon’s writing.
Thanks for taking the time to share this with folks. Anything else that you want to share or tell us about?
Just wanted to say thank you Stefan for the opportunity to talk about Murder House! and share it with your readers. Although I have been writing for Goodman Games for a while now, Marz Press is a relatively new thing for me, and this is my third Kickstarter following on the heels of The Shadows About Hope and Blood and Thunder/The Deck of Mighty Peasant Deeds. Murder House! has been so much fun to play and run, I really think people are going to enjoy it...a lot!
I would be remise if I didn’t throw out a special thank you to your readers for taking the time to check out my game, and to all the backers for their support. Cheers everyone, I sincerely hope we cross paths at a gaming table one day.
What’s your favorite haunted house adventure? And does this sound like it might usurp that #1 spot?
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