The Death House
Gaspard Xenos
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. The film is also the final film performance of Cody Longo before his death in 2023.
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.
Outside, a mysterious boy attacks a perimeter guard and plants an electronic device inside the dying guard's stomach. A doctor discovers the electronic device while performing surgery on the injured guard. Removing the device triggers a power failure throughout the facility, trapping Boon and Novak in an elevator with Dr. Fletcher.
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.
Reasoning that the Five Evils offer the best chance of escape, Boon and Novak descend down an elevator shaft to the facility's lowest level. When confronted, prisoner Hirace Giger explains that there are multiple Death Houses being used to breed a new race that is neither good nor evil with technology as their new god. Boon and Novak realize that their memories are false, and they were former prisoners and subjects of Death House's experiments. Giger tells the agents that the Evils need to be released so the agents can pursue them in order to maintain the balance of good and evil in the world. Sieg interrupts their meeting and reveals that he has followed the Five Evils to become immortal like them, but Giger replies that Sieg is only a pawn in the Five Evils' escape plan.
Gas releases throughout Death House, causing inmates to collapse and Sieg to disintegrate. Boon and Novak escape as the facility comes back online. Outside, the two decide to go find out their true identities.
The film was originally written by Gunnar Hansen and he intended for it to feature as many horror legends as possible. The most notable horror icons confirmed include Kane Hodder, Barbara Crampton, Bill Moseley, Dee Wallace, Camille Keaton, Sid Haig, Felissa Rose, Tony Todd, Adrienne Barbeau, and Michael Berryman.
With the release of Curse of Strahd, the latest rewrite of the excellent Dungeons & Dragons adventure, I6 Ravenloft; Wizards of the Coast also released the book's introductory adventure, Death House, online for free. If you haven't grabbed a copy, do so now.
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.
I've mentioned it before and I'll say it again here; level 1 is the suck when it comes to playing fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Experienced players often hate the over-simplified and super squishy nature of level 1 play and new players are going to hate how fast they drop to zero, or just plain die, because of their low hit points.
Consider either starting the PCs at level 2 or give them ten extra hit points at level 1. Those ten hit points won't matter much at level 8 to level 20 but they will sure help out in the low levels when D&D is at its most lethal.
Death House is no less lethal to level 1 PCs. There are some really tough monsters in this adventure and level 1 to level 2 PCs are likely to get beaten bloody if they're not super careful. If you want to run your adventure Dark Souls 3 style, that's up to you and your players but there's also nothing wrong with beefing up the PCs a bit so everyone has a more enjoyable time. It's always easy to up the power of monsters if they're having too easy a time (hint, maximize their hit points and give them an extra attack if you want to quickly power up a 5e monster).
I am a huge fan of the original introduction to Ravenloft with the Vistani dropping off the note that looks like it's from the Burogomeister but is actually from Strahd. It's a fun campy traditional introduction that players can have a lot of fun with even if they know it's a trap. Later, when the PCs find the bloody note of the real Burgomeister, it's a fun way of trapping the PCs in the land of Barovia.
Death House doesn't start this way on its own but there's no reason you can't run it that way anyway. It's a great way drop some handouts on the players with some clues as to their origins (the penmanship of Strahd and the Burgomeister are quite a bit different). If you need some handouts for this part of the game, look no further.
There's another fun approach to introduce the PCs to Barovia. Stage an ambush around the messenger who holds the bloody note of the real Burgomeister. Wolves are a good choice for this since there is a lot of wolf imagery in the adventure overall and they're a nice challenge for hte PCs.
When the PCs find the mangled body of the messenger (be as graphic about his state of rot and disembowelment as your players are comfortable with), a pack of wolves descends on the PCs. These wolves fight with clear intelligence; they're not just mindless beasts. Standing behind them, watching the battle unfold is a powerful dire wolf with red glowing eyes. This wolf never attacks but just watches as his wolves test the PCs. This wolf is secretly Strahd out to take a first-hand look at these new heroes.
The wolves will never go in for a killing strike since Strahd himself doesn't want the PCs dead. Even if they could kill a PC with massive damage, they will hold their kill on the dire wolf's barked command. This is a special trick since wolves hit way outside of their weight class. They're only CR 1/4 but they hit for 7 damage, have pack tactics, and can knock prone on a failed saving throw. Generally with level 2 PCs you'd want one wolf for every PC on the table.
If anyone attempts to attack the red-eyed direwolf, it will use spells like shield, greater invisibility, and counterspell to avoid the attacks. That should certainly get the players' attention. This is no wolf. This is the master of Barovia himself who has come to see the mettle of these new adventurers himself. When the wolves are slain, the dire wolf fades off into the mists before the PCs can approach him.
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.
Players are smart. Anyone who plays with experienced players knows that you can't slip much by them. You have one smart mind working against five other smart minds working together. There's a reason they always sniff out your doppelgangers and succubi before you ever get a chance to use them. They can smell traps and illusions a mile away.
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.
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