Mansion of Madness: three-act horror

In this episode, Jon and Seth talk about their favorite published modules that they've run across a gamut of games.

Jon's Favorite Modules:

• Death Duel with the Destroyers -- 1982, Bill Willingham, Villains & Vigilantes, 20 pgs
• • Art! Art! Art!
  • Great set-up, straight to the action
  • Well written to escalate the danger from the opening scene to the final showdown
  • Comic book tie-in with Elementals comic by Bill Willingham, published by Comico
• S3 - Expedition to the Barrier Peaks -- 1980, Gary Gygax & Rob Kuntz, D&D (TSR), 32pgs
• • Two books -- module and handouts
  • Art! Art! Art!
  • Sci-fi in Fantasy blend
  • Sandbox
• Hope's Last Day -- 2019, Dave Semark, ALIEN, 16 pgs. In ALIEN core rulebook
• • Sandbox
  • Lends itself well to a horror setting
  • Leverages off player's experience from watching Aliens movie
• Spawn of Azathoth -- 1986/2005, Keith "Doc" Herber, Call of Cthulhu, 200 pgs.
• • Sandbox campaign - 7 chapters (1 opening chapter, 5 middle chapters in any order, then 1 closing chapter)
  • Small variety of Mythos monsters to challenge the investigators
  • Good variety of horrors to present to the investigators
  • Easily updated to 7th Edition rules and for the sensibilities of modern players

Seth's Favorite Modules:

• Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh - 1981 Dave Brown Don Turnbull, AD&D, TSR UK

• Haunted house (not really)
• Can be dropped in a variety of locations. (could even make modern)
• Gives a sense of larger story with lizard folk preparing for war
• Made for low level PCs, but still lots of risk (most modules started at 3rd level)
• Roleplay with Ned.
• 2 adventures with one leading into the other.

• Thicker than Blood - 1993, Alison Brooks, Atlas Games Cyberpunk 2020, 47 pages

• Investigation
• Many tips on what to do if the PCs miss something, get stuck, are difficult, try something sneaky.
• Layered plot (complete investigation first. Then discover who employer is)
• Incorporates skills rarely used
• Taught us a different way to play.

• Mansion of Madness - 1990, Fred Behrendt, Chaosium, Call of Cthulhu, 25 pages

• 3-act mystery that cleanly works out into 3 acts
• Unpredictable investigation with 2 warring wizards and a mythos entity
• Varied backdrops with travel. Go to museums, speakeasy, small pennsylvania town, decrepit mansion.
• Dark. So deliciously dark.
• One that really stuck with me. Was surprised that it isn't highly regarded, but for me was first large CoC adventure that was a smash hit. Talked about years later.

• Murder on Arcturus Station - 1983, J Andrew Keith, GDW Traveller

• Murder mystery
• 54 pages, but can be short or long.
• Toolbox to create the mystery. 9 suspects, each with multiple ways to do it, alibis, various ways might react to PCs.
• Even suggestions on how to work with a player who is the secret killer
• Loved it so much I instigated the revised reprint

Huge THANK YOU to our editors, Max Mahaffa and Edwin Nagy.

Special thanks to our logo artist, John Sumrow! Check out his Facebook page, official website, and Patreon page.

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnsumrow
• Website: http://www.johnsumrow.com
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JohnSumrow

Shout-outs and thanks go out to The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets for their generous use of their song, Gluttony, for our intro and outro music! Check out their BandCamp and official website.

• BandCamp: https://thedarkestofthehillsidethickets.bandcamp.com/
• Website: http://thickets.net/