You Find Yourself in a Haunted House

Whether a windswept manor on the moors, a dilapidated hut on the outskirts of town, or a castle on the verge of ruins, haunted locations are ripe areas to introduce backstory, side plots, clues, atmosphere, or some undead infestation.

A distinguishing feature of haunted locales is dependence on mood. Fear is a typical goal, but haunted locations aren’t always threatening. A sorrowful or even playful haunting presents different opportunities. Mood is a mix of pacing, description, and encounters, so to determine the right mood for your purposes, try answering the following questions before introducing PCs to a haunted locale:

• Why is this place haunted? Even if the PCs don’t find out, you should know.
• Who is haunting it? These may or may not be creatures the PCs can encounter.
• Is the haunting atmospheric or hostile? A haunted locale can exist as a background entity for the sake of atmosphere or information gathering while the true threat is something else, or it can fully be about PCs escaping evil spirits with their souls intact.