Here is the final map for October, it nearly killed me getting it done over the last few days but it’s here now and I think it’s turned out great! I went with a haunted house theme and created a manor house that could be used for a ghost/haunting encounter.
I love researching old house designs and architectural maps, there are some amazing blueprints around the internet. I got the idea to have an arboretum from one of those old designs as well as getting a good idea of what types of rooms are normally present in these manor houses.
Thank you all for your support and kind words. Have an amazing weekend (and Halloween if it’s not already over) and as always happy adventuring!
Introduction
The local children had been taunting you from the moment you entered town. Walking beside you making snide comments about the quality of your adventuring gear, your lack of magical items and general shabby appearance. It wouldn’t bother you so much if it wasn’t partially true. Maybe you shouldn’t have risen to the jibes, maybe you should have been the bigger person, the adult in the room.
Now here you are, breaking and entering, after being dared to spend a night in the local ‘haunted house’. The kids stand by the fence, as you glance back one of them sticks her tongue out at you, you hold back the urge to do the same back. The house is old, dusty and seems to have been abandoned for years. Some of the windows are broken, others are boarded up, the wood has taken on a silvery grey hue from age and mold. Most of the furniture remains, covered in dust sheets, waiting for their owner to return. As you enter the entrance hall the sun, already low in the sky, shines through the doorway illuminating the interior in a warm crimson light, before draining away as the sun sets behind the trees outside.
The interior is dark, the smell of mildew and rotten wood fills your nose. You decide to head upstairs, planning to wave at the brats from an upstairs window, when you hear a creak from somewhere deeper in the house. As you reach the top landing you could swear you hear a low chuckle, maybe an exhaled breath. The noises appear to be coming from a room at the end of a long dark corridor. It seems that you are not alone in the house, those nasty little goblins must be trying to unnerve you. As you move forward you begin to hear low mumbling and sobbing, if you didn’t know it was a bunch of snot nosed children it would be really unsettling. You reach the doorway to the room and with a triumphant ‘ah ha!’ you push the door open to reveal your pint sized tormentors, except it isn’t children you see standing (floating) before you, its something very much worse and before you can react it rushes towards you with a wail that you find yourself echoing as you scream in terror.
Notes and tips
- 30×30 Grid map (Each floor)
- I’ve left the outside of the house blank so it can be used in urban locations or in its own grounds.
- There are multiple ways to enter the manor. The main entrance, the arboretum and the kitchen backdoor. You can also enter through the many windows and the library and arboretum both have skylights.
- The house has two levels, which can be accessed by the main stairs and also through the library’s and arboretum’s upper windows. Both of these locations span both levels.
- Getting through a broken window can be tricky, use a skill check to see if its done silently and if its a significant failure there maybe some injury.
- If the party doesn’t move with care they could kick up dust that could make them sneeze, roll constitution not to sneeze!
- This house is perfect for the many cool ghosts and ghoulies in the monster manual of any setting. Remember you are not restricted to standard mobs. Try creating unique ghosts with specific goals and needs.
- Ghosts often appear to not notice a living person unless they interact with them. Have them float through walls, do mundane activities they would do in life, or just make them cry in a corner.
- The whole point of this type of encounter is to creep your players out, so use every trick in the book. Get inspiration from horror films and books!
Variants
For those of you weirdos that want to run a haunted house encounter in the daytime! Or maybe you have your own lighting system 😉
A nice version of the Manor, all clean and probably not haunted.. Both day and nighttime lit versions.
