After reading over the entire Foxglove Manor section of chapter 2,I'm concerned that the sheer number of haunts, without any "physical" encounters (until Aldern) may bore even the heartiest of RPers. Has anyone else run into this issue and if so, how did you remedy the situation.
If your group doesn't like haunts, change a few of them for wraiths, shadows, allips ir other undeads. A fire infused zombie manticore for example
You could also "shrink" the house and leave out the attic (move Iesha to another room).
It also really depends what route your players will take to explore the house.
Ruyan.
Bore them?
Seriously?
Well, that depends. Are you reading it in a monotone voice without adding any atmosphere or suspense? Are you playing it as just another monster?
Or are you building an atmosphere of horror? I mean, you should speak in hush tones... possibly have many lights off to darken the room and help build suspense and tension. You should play this as The Haunted House. And while some of these Haunts are more the Cat in the Wall type situation... they also tell a tragic tale meant to draw your group in and let them learn, piece-by-piece, some of the story behind the story.
Who wants to roll dice and smack at disposable monsters all the time? This is a moment for groups to shine, to be IN the story for a change. Hell, play down the negative aspects of the Haunts - let players save the person trying to toss themselves out the window without requiring rolls and the like.
If your group is into roleplaying at all, they will latch onto this and run. If they are still new to roleplaying... this is their gateway drug that will let them do something new.
Hell, I might someday just run the Manor alone with premade characters and run it for a small group for a Halloween one-shot game. Just for fun.
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I also played the haunts a little different and only let the designed person live through the "vision". This gave everybody his time in the spotlight.
Otherwise I agree with Tangent.
Ruyan.
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I have a combat-centric group, but I don't think they found it dull. I had a paladin in the party too, so once they realised what was going on he was always right at the front - not many of my players were actually affected by the haunts.
I had the extremely useful handouts available (that typically i can't find right now) and designated GMing responsibilties to the player affected by the haunt in question, inasmuch as I got them to read out what they saw and describe how they were affected. They (mostly) really got into it.
One of my players really got into the back story and had a little family tree going on and tried linking each of the haunts to the respective family member.
As a further difficulty we can only play 2.5 hour sessions, so at the beginning of each week we were at Misgivings I had each player describe one aspect of the house that stuck in their minds to get them back in to the horror mode.
My advice: give it a whirl. If your players hate it, you have learnt something, but they might just surprise you and enjoy it as much as a combat fest.
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The Haunts were great. They reveal parts of the Foxglove story a little at a time while building an atmosphere do suspence. My players got more paranoid the longer they stayed in the manor. With no enemy to actively combat, they really struggled with how to handle a haunted house.
I really used the Haunts to traumatize and torment my players and to show them that there are problems that can't be solved by stabbing them.
-Skeld
The haunts are great, and full of clues. I expanded on those clues each time it seemed possible, and since our last (June) session ended with the players having finished
They are now trapped in the house by the
Something to make it seem even more satisfying and climactic.
The characters may have felt a little frustrated by the haunts at times, since the paladin never though of using his powers, and they even got stuck fighting each other on several occasions. But the descriptions are creepy in the extreme, and what with trying to figure out who is who in the family tree, they were really sucked in to the atmosphere.
It's also the first time I've ever played spooky music during a session. Great call, whoever it was who suggested that.
YMMV.