A Possessed House

[quozaxx]

Possessed houses are the staple of many horror movies and television shows.

 

But how would you build one?

 

The house should be intelligence and probably have an EGO, so would you build a "base" and then an AI or would you build it as a character?

 

I'm not that familiar with bases, computers, and AI's as I'd like to be. So any help would be valuable.

[Nothere]

Re: A Possessed House

 

Well it depends on what sort of possesion your talking about. A base with an ai would more be a living house than a possesed one. If your talking about a ghost or a demon who pops into some part of the house to attack people. Something more along the lines of a transform, or attack with a speicalk effect limited to whats in the house would be more in order.

If you are talking about a living house the ai wouldn't really be necassary. Int and ego would cover it.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: A Possessed House

 

The most prominent power a possessed house is likely to have is Mental Illusions. It would use that power to try to scare the inhabitants into doing what it wishes. A nastier variation uses Mind Control to compel such situations as one member of a family attempting to parboil the rest. (I believe the mountain resort in The Shining had that effect, though I haven't seen the whole movie).

 

While many "haunted" houses simply want to be left alone, and thus use their powers to try and drive out any new inhabitants, I find that would be a somewhat simplistic and even cliched motivation for the house. Surely a resourceful GM can come up with something better, or at least unexpected, for the house to want.

[Folded]

Re: A Possessed House

 

I would say that an AI would be the best way to work this in mechanical terms. They possess DEX (for determining actions and base SPD), INT, EGO, SPD and CVs. Give it a Base to use as a body, with any Powers requiring that Base as a Focus (OIF, Immobile). If they manage to evict the spirit, it can't use its powers until it possesses a new building (acquires a new Focus). If you think Incorporeal Intelligence instead of Artificial Intelligence, it works quite well. Given that AI's inherently have no BODY or STUN, you might want to purchase those Characteristics as Powers, then specify means by which it can be affected. Mental Powers would be automatically effective, since it does have an EGO score, but special effects of other kinds (Magic, Divine, Interdimensional), might have an effect as well.

 

What that gives you, ultimately, is a being that is separate from the building, but tied to it. Specify a means by which it can be evicted with or without destroying the building, and you've got your adventure hooks set.

[Badger]

Re: A Possessed House

 

The most prominent power a possessed house is likely to have is Mental Illusions. It would use that power to try to scare the inhabitants into doing what it wishes. A nastier variation uses Mind Control to compel such situations as one member of a family attempting to parboil the rest. (I believe the mountain resort in The Shining had that effect, though I haven't seen the whole movie).

 

While many "haunted" houses simply want to be left alone, and thus use their powers to try and drive out any new inhabitants, I find that would be a somewhat simplistic and even cliched motivation for the house. Surely a resourceful GM can come up with something better, or at least unexpected, for the house to want.

 

Not the whole movie? Come on, man, you got watch The Shining.

 

 

Sadly, I can do an imitation of the little kid saying "redrum". (sadly, or is it friggin' cool)

[Pizza Man]

Re: A Possessed House

 

Rose Red is a good resource movie. The land the house was built on was bad to begin with. Once a fabulous mansion was built the house began to eat people. Men it just murdered outright, Women simply disappeared (the only clue to their fate was a purse torn in half, soaked in blood). The house (Rose Red) identified itself as female and had a taste for latent and active psychics.

 

The spirits of the deceased were never allowed to pass on, but lingered as slaves to the house (as it continually fed on them).

 

The house would change its interior structure on a whim. No map could be made of the house, getting lost was always a danger. The explorers used a rope to find there way back, and discovered a wall had grown across a corridoor they just used. The rope was useless.

Statues would animate. Floorboards would break like waves because something immense was moving underneath. Doors and rooms would appear where none had been before.

 

----after the mansion had finally been abandoned for being too dangerous, two new wings were added. No one knows just who built them.

 

as to how to build a possessed house? Its too big. Make it a GM plot point, and just write out the scary effects you want to happen. Its big, intelligent and wants to eat the PCs...the players will pick that up right away.

[Badger]

Re: A Possessed House

 

Rose Red is a good resource movie. The land the house was built on was bad to begin with. Once a fabulous mansion was built the house began to eat people. Men it just murdered outright, Women simply disappeared (the only clue to their fate was a purse torn in half, soaked in blood). The house (Rose Red) identified itself as female and had a taste for latent and active psychics.

 

The spirits of the deceased were never allowed to pass on, but lingered as slaves to the house (as it continually fed on them).

 

The house would change its interior structure on a whim. No map could be made of the house, getting lost was always a danger. The explorers used a rope to find there way back, and discovered a wall had grown across a corridoor they just used. The rope was useless.

Statues would animate. Floorboards would break like waves because something immense was moving underneath. Doors and rooms would appear where none had been before.

 

----after the mansion had finally been abandoned for being too dangerous, two new wings were added. No one knows just who built them.

 

as to how to build a possessed house? Its too big. Make it a GM plot point, and just write out the scary effects you want to happen. Its big, intelligent and wants to eat the PCs...the players will pick that up right away.

 

I take it that it isnt a good place to live.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: A Possessed House

 

This would bring down the property values of the neighborhood just a little.

[Pizza Man]

Re: A Possessed House

 

I take it that it isnt a good place to live.

Or die...

This would bring down the property values of the neighborhood just a little.

Whats a neighborhood without house that eats people...

 

This is the perfect month to rent this masterpiece as well. Rose Red.

[Brother Chaos]

Re: A Possessed House

 

Not the whole movie? Come on, man, you got watch The Shining.

 

 

Sadly, I can do an imitation of the little kid saying "redrum". (sadly, or is it friggin' cool)

 

Yep. That was a classic. Jack at his crazy best. With Halloween coming up, it woul dbe a great view.

[phoenix240]

Re: A Possessed House

 

An odd approach would be to build the house as a character with size and appearance appropriate for making it resemble a house and things like Shape shifting, mental illusions and Change environment for the scary effects. It could have Duplication to represent the ghost or entity that is possessing the house.

 

A simpler approach might be to just build the entity with MI and other abilities and give a symbiotic link to the house as Disadvantage(s): like physically bound to the house, takes damage if it does, etc.

[Lucius]

Re: A Possessed Hotel

 

Hunted: Bankers Very Frequently (Mo Pow; Extensive Non-Combat Influence - they hold the mortgage; PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find - they know where you live. Obviously.; Foreclose) - 35

 

Oh wait, that's "About-to-be-REpossessed House."

 

 

 

I'll trade in these possessed houses and build a possessed hotel. Do not pass Go. Do not collect 200 Character Points. Go directly to -

 

 

Hotel California

 

Tiffany Twisted

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

 

14 DEX 12 12- OCV: 5/DCV: 5

20 INT 10 13- PER Roll 13-

21 EGO 22 13- ECV: 7

4 SPD 16 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12

 

 

Total Characteristic Cost: 60

 

Cost Powers END

49 Then she lit up a candle: Telekinesis (15 STR), Fine Manipulation, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (49 Active Points)

44 she got the Mercedes Bends: Sight, Hearing, Touch and Smell/Taste Groups Images - objects and people about the Hotel 1" radius, MegaScale (1" = 1 km; To cover building and grounds; +1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (44 Active Points)

 

Perks

40 Welcome to the hotel california: Base

 

Skills

7 Mirrors on the ceiling, The pink champagne on ice: Seduction 11-

 

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 140

Total Cost: 200

 

200+ Disadvantages

20 Psychological Limitation: Her mind is tiffany-twisted - No longer remembers what she - or he, or it - is, who built the hotel and left her in charge, or what her purpose is (Common, Total)

25 Psychological Limitation: Relax, said the night man, We are programmed to receive. - Compelled to lure travellers in and trap them (Very Common, Total)

20 Dependent NPC: She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends - becomes attached to long term residents, once their minds have broken and they become passive drones, and will actually protect them from other "guests" 8- (Normal; Group DNPC: x4 DNPCs)

 

 

Hotel California

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

 

4 BODY 2 10-

 

48 we are all just prisoners here, of our own device: 8 DEF, Cannot Be Escaped With Teleportation (+1/4), Hardened (+1/4), Affects Desolidified Any form of Desolidification (+1/2) (48 Active Points)

 

Total Characteristic Cost: 68

 

Perks

10 On a dark desert highway: Location: Distant

0 How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.: Grounds (x1 Base Size)

 

Skills

7 I saw a shimmering light: Seduction (To lure travelers in) 11-

 

Talents

2 I heard the mission bell: Absolute Time Sense (3 Active Points); Visible (audible) (-1/4)

 

 

Cost Powers END

20 this could be heaven or this could be hell: Extra-Dimensional Movement (Any Dimension Intersecting the Twilight Zone, Any Location) (30 Active Points); Costs Endurance (-1/2) 3

 

53 My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim: (Total: 55 Active Cost, 53 Real Cost) Transfer 1d6 (END to END), Ranged (+1/2), Line Of Sight (+1/2), Invisible Power Effects (Fully Invisible; +1) (45 Active Points) (Real Cost: 45) plus Endurance Reserve (50 END, 5 REC) Reserve: (10 Active Points); REC: (5 Active Points); Limited Power Only when Transfer END is used (-1/2) (Real Cost: 8) 4

 

5 Some dance to remember: Eidetic Memory, Usable Simultaneously (up to 2 people at once; +1/2), Area Of Effect (8" Radius; Courtyard; +1 3/4) (16 Active Points); Activation Roll 11- (-1), Some dance to forget: Side Effects (INT Drain; -1/2), Limited Power Only works on those dancing (-1/2)

 

8 Plenty of room at the Hotel California: +2 Size, Invisible Power Effects (+1) (8 Active Points)

 

29 They livin' it up at the Hotel California: Life Support (Some of those dimensions are very....alien) (Immunity: All terrestrial diseases and biowarfare agents; Safe in High Pressure; Safe in High Radiation; Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat; Safe in Low Pressure/Vacuum; Self-Contained Breathing)

 

2 So I called up the captain, please bring me my wine: Life Support (Room Service) (Eating: Character does not eat) (3 Active Points); Limited selection we havent had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine (-1/4)

 

60 And in the masters chambers, They gathered for the feast They stab it with their steely knives, But they just cant kill the beast: Physical Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75%, Usable Simultaneously (up to 2 people at once; +1/2) (90 Active Points); BODY Only (-1/2)

60 And in the masters chambers, They gathered for the feast They stab it with their steely knives, But they just cant kill the beast: Energy Damage Reduction, Resistant, 75%, Usable Simultaneously (up to 2 people at once; +1/2) (90 Active Points); BODY Only (-1/2)

 

18 And in the masters chambers, They gathered for the feast They stab it with their steely knives, But they just cant kill the beast: Healing 3 BODY, Can Heal Limbs, Resurrection, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (110 Active Points); No Conscious Control (-2), Extra Time (Regeneration-Only) 1 Turn (Post-Segment 12) (-1 1/4), IIF Immobile Unbreakable (Focus (The rooms and halls of the hotel itself); -1 1/4), Self Only (-1/2)

35 Equipment Doubling for Healing power: all 125+ rooms (35 Active Points)

 

39 I had to find the passage back To the place I was before: Shape Shift (Sight, Touch and Hearing Groups, limited group of shapes: Any Hotel), Instant Change, Costs END Only To Change Shape (+1/4) (39 Active Points) 3

 

4 You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave!: Life Support (Longevity: Here for a long stay..... 1600 Years)

 

 

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 352

Total Cost: 420

 

372+ Disadvantages

10 Distinctive Features: There were voices down the corridor, I thought I heard them say... (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses)

10 Physical Limitation: And still those voices are calling from far away, Wake you up in the middle of the night Just to hear them say... (Frequently, Slightly Impairing- lost sleep)

25 Accidental Change: Any attempt to escape. Last thing I remember, I was Running for the door. Always (Common)

5 Reputation: Any time of year, you can find it here - like Shangri La or Brigadoon or Irem, a place said to appear and disappear mysteriously., 8- (Extreme; Known Only To A Small Group)

5 Reputation: are all just prisoners here, of our own device, 8- (Extreme - place of no return; Known Only To A Small Group)

 

Total Disadvantage Points: 420

 

Background/History: Hotel California is but one of its names. Eagle's Rest, Fort Nonsense, Sterling Inn, are but a few of the names on the sign in different times and places. Usually it appears at twilight, or whenever a traveler's head grows heavy and sight grows dim...

 

More than a building, it is an entity, ancient and alien. The mind that inhabits this phenomenon – which for now thinks of itself as “Tiffany Twisted” - no longer remembers its origin, if indeed it had a genesis and is not an eternal manifestation of the powers of dream and nightmare. It could be the product of some primal magick or of an unimaginably advanced technology. Or as the Guardian of Forever said, “Both. And neither.”

 

It will appear in some lonely place, perhaps beside a dark desert highway, in the form of some inn or hostel, castle or convent, usually as something that looks as if it belongs – indeed, as if it had stood so for years or centuries – and welcome in some traveling band or solitary pilgrim. Once admitted, the new “guest” will find it very hard to depart – and if someone does escape they may find they are no longer in the world or time they knew....

 

Not all of the guests are Human – or recognize one another as such – and many of them are insane, sometimes violently so. Sometimes a gang of them will focus on the one they perceive as strangest and blame that person for their situation, accusing them of being the evil force in control. Lacking the ability to destroy or escape from the Hotel itself, they turn savagely upon a chosen scapegoat, and are only likely to be confirmed in their delusion if they “just can't kill the beast.”

 

No matter how many are already resident, it seems there's always vacancy at the Hotel California. Perhaps after centuries of being drained for power, the guests simply fade away, becoming the ghostly images sometimes seen haunting the halls.

 

Powers/Tactics: "This could be heaven or this could be hell.”

 

It is possible that, in the myriad rooms of the Hotel, lurk people who are both happy and still sane. After all, the Hotel will provide for your basic needs for food and shelter (even if you do have a few sleepless nights listening to the other guests.) No one here grows old or gets sick (except for those occasional dizzy spells and mild headaches.) Nothing from outside can harm you, and the Hotel even acts sometimes to protect the guests from one another – or themselves. If you're on the run and can't go home again anyway, checking into the Hotel California may be the best thing that can happen to you....

 

Except that there is no way out. One day the view out the window may make you shudder and draw the curtain, and the next it may be breathtakingly beautiful – but either way, it is out of reach. The Hotel itself changes constantly, and is bigger than it looks – but is still finite. To many guests, it seems to combine the monotony of prison with the terror and confusion of an unstable and unpredictable environment. People go crazy here.

 

Tiffany will appear “in person” (Image combined with Telekinesis) to welcome new guests, and will usually have hit them with the END Transfer even before they reach the gate. At first she will be welcoming, perhaps even seductive, as long as no one tries to leave or do anything hostile. Anyone trying to retrace their steps will find that the architecture has changed.

 

If someone tries to attack another “guest” the Hotel will probably extend the protection of its Damage Reduction to the target. Anyone who seems like a possible troublemaker will get multiple doses of the END Transfer, and anyone who attacks the structure of the Hotel itself will become the target of both the END Transfer and Telekinesis. If someone seems too dangerous to handle, the Hotel will actually let them escape – after having moved to a dimension where the environment is suitably hostile.

 

While it is possible to break out by main force, doing so should be a challenge even for a superhero. A Killing Attack with two levels of Penetrating is probably the best bet to breach a wall – and the Hotel will probably put several walls between the character and the outside if it can.

 

On the other hand, if the players figure out that the Hotel can be communicated with, there may be a way to talk or trick their way out. Perhaps Tiffany will offer a bargain - “I'll let you go if you bring me one person (or two, or three?) to replace you.” Might the character try to find someone who would welcome the chance to check in? Or refuse the bargain as dishonorable? Or simply promise and not return? Ah, but what if it's “Bring me four more guests and you can all go. But remember that your three friends remain here. They will be my guests forever if you fail to return with the four.”

 

Finally, escape could be a matter of solving a puzzle or mystery of some kind, a matter of exploration or observation. Secrets could be hidden about the Hotel or learned by talking to other guests. Perhaps a key hidden in the Master's Chamber will allow someone to return to the time and place from which they came. Perhaps a complex computer terminal behind the front desk will allow someone with the right skills to reprogram Tiffany Twisted. Maybe an incantation found in the library or dredged up from some scholarly character's memory has the power to force Tiffany to obey three commands. Or there is a window of time every 13 hrs when the front door is visible and unlocked....but does not necessarily lead back to your own world....

 

Campaign Use:

Depending on the abilities of the player characters, checking in could be the beginning of a brief surreal vacation, or the start of an entire campaign. If one or more characters have means of interdimensional travel, the Hotel could get them temporarily lost; at the other extreme escape could be the long term goal of a game including dozens of adventures centered on exploring the Hotel and interacting with its residents or with whoever - or whatever - comes in from Outside. It can be the plot device powering a crossworlds game in which the characters visit one world after another, probably just trying to get home. And what if it's the character's DNPC that was spirited away?

 

 

Quotes: What a nice surprise

 

You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave!

 

[ATTACH]31106[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]31107[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

 

The song "Hotel California" is by The Eagles.

 

Character sheet by

 

Lucius Alexander

 

copyright Palindromedary Enterprises.

 

Edit: Originally posted in Susano's Song Based Character thread in Dark Champions

[Badger]

Re: A Possessed House

 

That's pretty good.

 

On the other hand the song will probably be in my head until I go insane.

[Badger]

Re: A Possessed House

 

Of course, if you promise to bring replacements and dont return, the hotel could always just teleport to where you are and lure you back in. I suppose.

[Lucius]

Re: A Possessed House

 

That's pretty good.

 

On the other hand the song will probably be in my head until I go insane.

 

They aren't voices down the corridor......

 

they're in your head

 

Lucius Alexander

 

They stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast

[Badger]

Re: A Possessed House

 

They aren't voices down the corridor......

 

they're in your head

 

Lucius Alexander

 

They stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast

 

What they got against badgers?

[tkdguy]

Re: A Possessed House

 

What they got against badgers?

 

I wonder about that myself. Badger hair makes for great bristles on a shaving brush.

 

What?

[Badger]

Re: A Possessed House

 

I wonder about that myself. Badger hair makes for great bristles on a shaving brush.

 

What?

 

So, you were the one that......when I was passed out........DAMN YOU!!......you know how cold my backside was bald?

[tkdguy]

Re: A Possessed House

 

So' date=' you were the one that......when I was passed out........DAMN YOU!!......you know how cold my backside was bald?[/quote']

 

Not guilty! I only go for the throat (the fur is finer there).

[Badger]

Re: A Possessed House

 

So what happens to Hotel California when Chuck Norris looks for a place to stay the night?

[Folded]

Re: A Possessed House

 

So what happens to Hotel California when Chuck Norris looks for a place to stay the night?

 

He's the reason you can never leave.