The House of 99 Souls

By Danilo Frontani
Hellwinter Forge of Wonders
OSE
Levels 2-4

Until two hundred years ago, Brightmoore Manor stood as a beacon of splendour and harmony. It was home to the noble Lord Faulken Brightmoore, his enchanting elven wife Lady Narielle, and their children. But envy and fear of mortality twisted Lord Faulken’s heart, leading him toward forbidden magic and unspeakable sacrifice. Now, the manor is a shadow of its former glory, shrouded in a curse. Somewhere beneath its decaying halls lies the Orb of Souls, a malevolent artefact that feeds on life itself. The adventurers are the final piece of this haunting tale. Can they unravel the secrets of Brightmoore Manor, break the curse, and end Faulken’s ritual before his ultimate ascension — or will they, too, be consumed by the darkness within? Enter the manor, uncover its horrors, and face the price of immortality!

This 36 page adventure uses about twelve pages to describe 22 rooms in a ruined manor house. It’s going for a Spooky Haunted House vibe. The writing and interactivity are quite poor though and it comes off as a forced effort.

I am clearly missing some piece of pop culture knowledge, either in film or fiction. The large number of adventures featuring some person in an abandoned manor collecting souls/making sacrifices towards some demonic-laughter-end can only mean that there is some famous book or Hammer film that I never caught on to. In any event, this this another in that genre. Old decrepit mansion and 99 people need to die inside of it and 95 have died when the party shows up. 

There are a couple of the usual things to talk about with this, but before I do that I want to focus on one of the hooks. I know that a decent number of people don’t care about them, but, also, I want to use one of the adventure hooks as a note on human behaviour and the suspension of disbelief/verisimilitude. One of the hooks here has the region being abandoned and settlers moving back in to the area. Everyone knows about the house but “no one has yet dared approach it.” This is not human nature. Everyone has dared approach it. _I_ would approach it. Jewels? Gold coins? And that’s in a world without magic carpets and djinni in lamps running around.  A draft adventure I saw once has villagers knowing that their kids were in an abandoned house, and yet they hired the party to go in. Nope. That’s not human nature. They mob up and go in. Maybe a bunch of them get killed, but they mob up and go in after their kids. This outright blatant ignoring of the way humans work is So distracting in an adventure. Sure, we all want to play D&D tonight so we ignore it. But the word verisimilitude runs around the RPG circles, and the OSR circles in particular, so much for a reason. It puts the players in the game in a play that is invaluable. Getting the players investment, instead of the characters, is so much more valuable to a rewarding game.

Ok, so, old manor house. Doors slam shut and lock behind you when you enter. And, also “All the doors and windows leading outside are magically locked and impossible to open or pick.” So, we’re off to a strong start here. Also, no mention of burning the place down. Not that any of that really matters, because thee’s no description of the manor as you approach. You looking for a backdoor? A veranda? Widows walk? Old well nearby? How about ANY description of the house AT ALL from the exterior? Nope. We just start out on room one. I find it hard to believe that this was ever playtested; those notes would HAVE to come back. 

A feature of the adventure is the clock in the first room. It counts the souls, on its way to 99 and the looming evil about to be unleashed. A centerpiece of the adventure with a section all its own, we get this magnificent description of the adventure cornerstone “7’ tall, is made of wood except for its single hand, crafted from an unrecognisable black metal.” Revel in the opulence of its description! Now that’s what I call music! But, let us not cherry pick! “As soon as the last PC crosses the threshold, the heavy

entrance door slams shut behind them. From this moment on, the curse of the Orb of Souls prevents the adventurers from leaving the house. There is no light within the manor. Frescoes depicting rural scenes adorn the walls. Two curved staircases lead to a balcony on the upper door. To the east and west are two large doors. Between the staircases stands an enormous clock. Two skeletons are seated, slumped against the wall near the entrance door“ The skeleton thing isn’t bad. Slumped is a good word. The rest of the description though is just a dry factual description of the room that fails to give us the vibe that the adventure is so desperate to communicate: creepy haunted house. 

The houses interactivity falls in to two categories. Either something creepy happens or you need to stab something. There is VERY little other than that. A rooms window is dirty ”: If the PCs attempt to clean it, the face of a young human girl appears for a brief moment.” I’m going to excuse the if/then clause, but I still think it should be rewritten to remove it. Anyway, that effect is irrelevant. Its just meant to be creepy. And so, so many of the encounters are just that. “Bed: Finely crafted; the mattress appears sagged, as though someone is resting upon it. When the PCs move away from the bed, they hear a faint, mournful whisper saying: «Free me!».” Sure thing buddy. 

In another room the floorboards are weak! “If they fail, they must save vs paralysis when moving through the room; on a fail, the oor collapses under their feet, and they can’t move for 1 round” Yeah, You don’t actually fall through or anything. I note that in Strahd, in the appendix starting adventure, my kids used their crowbars to go through the floor to get to the hidden basement instead of going all the way to the fucking railroad attic to get there. In another place, the kitchen, there’s a sink. If a “PC dips a hand in the water, a skeletal arm grabs it and begins to pull it in, trying to drown them.” I don’t even know how that works. The sink is … eight feet deep? Four feet deep? I mean, good energy here. Creepy. But how the fuck does that work with a kitchen sink?

I could go on and on with the irrelevance of the creepy stuff, but let’s cover combat. I’m pretty sure everything here is undead, as I recall. Almost all 1 HD with some 2 HD scattered in. If the baddie wakes up he’s 7 HD, so that a TPK, I hope four people don’t die inside the house before then. Anyway, 1 HD and 2HD undead. Do we all see the problem? What’s our level range again? Two to four? That an auto-turn at level 2 for 1 HD and and auto for ones and twos at level three, the midrange points.  I swear to fucking god, it’s like people have never played D&D before. 

So, no good descriptions. A mostly lack of interactivity beyond stabbing. The stabbing is vulnerable to clericing. Gimping the party and no real effort in creating a holistic environment to adventure in. But, hey, go hard on those production values, yeah? That’s a pass.

This is $3 at DriveThru. No preview is available.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/503147/the-house-of-99-souls?1892600