Free Download Death House
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Death House is a 2017 American horror film written by Gunnar Hansen, who has a cameo in the film, and directed by Harrison Smith. The film features an ensemble cast of horror icons including Kane Hodder, Barbara Crampton, Bill Moseley, Dee Wallace, Tony Todd and Camille Keaton. Originally written by Hansen, the film started as a concept intended to bring as many well known horror actors together as possible.[4][5][6][7] This is Hansen's final film performance, as it was released two years after his death.
FBI agent Toria Boon arrives at Death House, a federal prison and research center where prisoners are confined to virtual environments whose crime simulations allow their behavior to be studied. Upon arrival, Boon is taunted by neo-Nazi criminal Alois Sieg, who she went undercover to capture, but killed a mother and her son to keep her cover. Captain Victor Galan greets Boon before introducing her to Dr. Eileen Fletcher and fellow agent Jae Novak. Galan escorts Boon to a holographic cell where she confronts and executes the serial killer who murdered her mother, after watching a live re-enactment of her mother's death.
Fletcher introduces Novak and Boon to her colleague, Dr. Karen Redmane, who explains that Death House uses drugs, machines, and simulations to keep inmates such as "Leatherlace" and "the Icicle Killer" docile. Boon and Novak then take a virtual tour of Death House, where they learn that the facility consists of nine levels. The lowest level houses the facility's most dangerous prisoners, the Five Evils, who are supposedly immortal. While showering together, Boon and Novak realize they don't remember details of their lives outside of their work. They later learn that homeless people are used as sacrifices in Death House's murder studies.
Sieg and other Death House inmates break loose and begin slaughtering guards. Despite being shot and gutted, Sieg survives and rallies the inmates together to go down to the ninth level and gain freedom through the Five Evils; the inmates kill Dr. Redmane on their way. Boon, Novak, and Dr. Fletcher escape the elevator and fight their way through rioting prisoners, hiding from Sieg by clinging to bodies hanging in a staging room of homeless victims, but Fletcher loses her grip and falls to her death.
However, this last sacrifice created more than just some undead in the basement. It also turned Walter into a horrible monster that the players will have to face in order to free the house of its curse.
Death House is a fantastic house of horrors adventure for low level PCs and a great introduction to Curse of Strahd and the atmosphere of Barovia. While not as general purpose or introductory as the Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure included with the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set, Death House is a superbly written and fun adventure to move D&D into the realm of gothic horror.
With the wolf fight under our belts, our players have had a nice challenging fight before they start exploring Death House. Combat-focused players might not like all of the investigation and NPC interactions with the two kids if they haven't gotten a fight in so the wolf fight helps calm them down for some nice non-combat roleplaying and exploration of the main house.
And they might do so easily with Death House. The key is not to have that matter too much. The Death House wants them. The house itself is the main villain in this adventure, like a giant enormous mimic. Like an angler fish, it dangles the very realistic illusion of two children out to bring in sacrifices for the evil that lives in the depths of its bowels.
Most players know that if you have an adventure called "Death House" that its a freaking trap and that they're going in anyway. Good healthy players who want to have fun know that, as much shit as they give it, they should walk into the mouth of this house anyway. Some might be pains in the asses about it but it is likely rare that a group will simply bypass the house.
And if they do? Let them. Sure, you'll all miss out on a cool haunted house adventure but the players may be telling you they really don't want to play it if they all decide to give the two little frightened children the finger as they pass on for loftier goals. There are probably ways you could trick them into the house if you wanted to but why not give the players some agency and let them skip it if they decide to skip it.
This adventure is going to be a big test for our ability to evoke horror as we facilitate the story. Every blowing drape appears like a screaming specter. Every chime of the servants bell whispers of an evil awoken and on the prowl. If done right, our players will seek these moments to go along with the haunted house feeling. They'll volunteer to peek under the beds, unwrap the bundle in the black-veiled baby basket, and play the strange harpsichord in the music room. Do they investigate the rotted lion-skin rug by turning it over? Bugs! Hey, are those stuffed wolves moving around the room when we're not looking? Fun-loving players will seek out opportunities to get scared because they want to.
Its worth noting that things get significantly creeper as the PCs explore the house. The lower floors are clean and pretty, although there are bits of creepiness all around. As the PCs go up the house, things get dirtier, older, and definitely more creepy. When the PCs discover the secret room with Strahd's letter, thats when things turn around. That room is where the PCs really see the veil pulled back and at that point the house itself knows that the PCs know and does less to hide its malevolence. Strahd's letter itself is a good way to invoke some madness. Whoever reads the letter must make a DC 13 charisma saving throw or suffer short-term madness as described on page 258 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. This madness effect is a great equalizer among all groups of PCs, whether they be powergamers or not.
Death House, and all of Curse of Strahd for that matter, can seem really bleak if you don't add a little bit of humor. The fact that this is a haunted house filled with armed and armored adventurers is already in a good state for some laughs. Do what you can to add and reinforce some humor intermixed with the horror, desperation, and hopelessness of Death House. One example is the animated broom on the third floor. It's an odd encounter but, if handled right, it can be good for laughs. Was that broom really animated or did it simply fall on the knight and he overreacted Three-Stooges like?
In the adventure itself, PCs are free to enter and leave the house but if they leave, they might never come back. It also doesn't make sense that the house would let them leave. If the house itself is the villain, why wouldn't it trap them inside so it can digest them over thousands of years. If the PCs need a rest, there are a few good places they can do so. The best place is likely in the room with the children in the attic once they've made peace with the real ghostly children and not the monsters outside who are little more than a lure. When the PCs try to leave, the doors slam shut or maybe even turn into a mimic. The railings around the balcony raise up and aim their barbed tips at the throats of the PCs.
The Death House is a perfect place for us to sprinkle in discoverable secrets. Some of these are built right into the game, like the note from Strahd to the Dursts (see the handouts) calling them a bunch of losers. Others we know as the DM but might not be as easily discovered by the players. Here are examples of secrets we can drop into the game, either through the mouths of the ghosts and specters in the house, as torn journal entries, or as strange visions that flow into the heads of those mortals within. Keep in mind that, while many of these are reinforced in the adventure itself, some I simply made up because they sounded cool.
Unlike the upper house, the dungeon has many combat encounters. If you want to ensure the PCs get to see most of the dungeon, put a door that leads down to the lower level that can only be unlocked by a key hanging from the neck of the ghast version of Gustav Durst. This way the players won't miss some of the fun to be had in the upper levels.
When the PCs succeed in ridding the house of the horror below and make their escape, the house can end up swallowing itself just like the house in Poltergeist. When the PCs step away, they might notice a sign, pointed the wrong way that says "Death House. Don't Talk to the Children!" just before a voice echoes out from one of the houses with a drunken slur "welcome to Barovia!"
One NPC that doesn't get much love in the adventure is the poor housemaid. First of all, we can avoid the uncomfortable topic of how she became impregnated by Gustav by suggesting that he convinced her that she could bring light into a dark house with a child born of their love. Second, we can conclude her part in the story by giving the PCs a vision of the poor housemaid after the collapse of the house who lifts a hand in thanks atop the ruins of the accursed house.
The house itself was made with an FDM 3D printer, and everything within, 136 parts in total, was printed in resin. All painted by me. The pictures on the walls, as well as the stained glass in the conservatory were done with water slide decals. All in all, this took about eight months to complete.
I'm preparing to start a new campaign of 4 players in 1 week, with players I have not run any games with before.
I have read most of the main beginning parts, the adventure hooks, death house, and VoB, as well as overview of the other areas.
I'd like to start them going through a balanced Durst Manor (death house is too flashy a name), which I will place outside the gates. (mostly using the house for a good first session, has lore and combat so it would be a little of everything)
I am having trouble deciding if I need to use an adventure hook to get them started.
Creeping Fog seems like it can be a good general way to get them there but I also like the idea of them having another hook that will come up later in the plot, like the letter from Arrigal.