The House is built on a point-buy system based on the number of players. I’m not sure how many points The House will get per player, but I’ll probably figure that out during playtesting.

Here’s a list of possible rooms and the types of dangers and occurrences that might belong in them:

The Garden

• Vines which wrap around ankles
• Snakes
• A swarm of insects
• A maze which seems to have no exit
• Glimpses of phantom children playing

The Woods

• A feeling of being followed
• Wolves
• Ravens perched on branches following the intruder
• An ancient cemetery with the crypts broken open and the bodies removed
• A translucent woman in white who darts in and out of view

The Chapel

• The candles light or extinguish upon entry
• The statues cry tears of blood
• The crucifix is upside down
• The font is filled with blood
• A deep disembodied voice chants in Latin, but it’s a black mass

The Conservatory

• Some needed item is found beneath a stone

The Grand Hall

• Music from the piano
• Footsteps
• Spectral dancing
• The floorboards are rotten and someone falls through (maybe into the basement)

The Grand Stairwell

• A young woman descends

The Dining Room

• The wine glasses are constantly and inexplicably empty or full
• Cow eyeball in the soup
• A finger in the soup, discovered after everyone has finished eating, of course
• Dishes fly across the room

The Library

• Books fly off the shelves
• Books open to auspicious pages

The Salon

The Kitchen

• Pots, pans, and knives fly around
• The sink fills with blood
• All the food is covered with maggots, though it was fresh a moment ago

The Wine Cellar

The Basement

• A shallow grave
• A walled up tomb
• The staircase falls in
• Rusty nails to stick into feet

The Lavatory

• A hand reaches up from the toilet
• Sink fills with blood
• Messages written on the mirror
• The reflection of the Intruder as old, young, or dead
• Bloody shower that turns out to be a normal shower

The Servants’ Quarters

• Phantom Singing

The Study

The Master Bedroom

The Child’s Bedroom

• Children’s voices
• A ball rolling from inside the bedroom into the hallway

Guest Bedroom

• Someone climbs into bed with the intruder

Hallway

• The classic painting with following eyes

…and the other things that usually happen:

• Faint voices
• EVP (electronic voice phenomena)
• Scratches or welts
• Lights popping or turning on or off

Eventually I’m going to give all of these things a point value, but for now I’m just brainstorming.

Again, if anyone has any additions or suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Start with a name and a concept…then…

Traits and Skills

Assign the following numbers to the six traits: 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0

• Athlete – Athletics, Fighting, Allure, Intuition
• Intellectual – Lore, Reason, Will, Perception
• Performer – Creativity, Allure, Athletics, Spirit
• Engineer – Creativity, Fixing, Reason, Will
• Freak – Stealth, Lore, Spirit, Intuition
• Delinquent – Fighting, Stealth, Fixing, Perception

Skill ratings are a combination of the total score for each trait the skill is listed under. For instance, if you had Athlete 3, and Delinquent 3, then you would roll 5 dice for Fighting.

• Allure – Sex appeal, charisma, influence
• Athletics – Running, jumping, climbing, swimming
• Creativity – Invention, improvisation, singing, drawing
• Fighting – Guns, Knives, Fists
• Fixing – Making stuff, breaking stuff (on purpose), fixing stuff, picking locks
• Intuition – Knowing when something isn’t right
• Lore – Myths, legends, folklore, rituals
• Perception -
• Reason -
• Spirit -
• Stealth -
• Will -

Initial Physical Endurance is Athletics, Psychological Endurance is Will, and Spiritual Endurance is Spirit

Costumes and Props

Each Intruder gets to choose 3 points worth of costumes and props

• Holy Symbol (+1 to Spirit)
• Holy Book (+2 to Spirit)
• Moleskine Notebook (+1 to Creativity)
• Large Tattoo (+2 to Creativity)
• Swiss Army Knife (+1 to Fixing)
• Multitool (+2 to Fixing)
• Glasses (+1 to Reason)
• Laptop (+2 to Reason)
• Pentagram Pendant (+1 to Lore)
• Forbidden Tome (+2 to Lore)
• Knife (+1 to Fighting)
• Gun (+2 to Fighting)
• Short (+1 to Stealth)
• Goes Barefoot (+2 to Stealth)
• Sneakers (+1 to Athletics)
• Big Muscles (+2 to Athletics)
• Dressed in Black (+1 to Intuition)
• Tarot Cards (+2 to Intuition)
• Shaved Head (+1 to Will)
• Goatee (men) or Hairy Legs (women) (+2 to Will)
• Very Quiet (+1 to Perception)
• Shifty Eyes (+2 to Perception)
• Silver Tongue (+1 to Allure)
• Sexy Clothing (+2 to Allure)

If anyone has any suggestions for additions or changes, please speak up.

So The House is trying to either kill the Intruders, scare them away or possess them. The House can accomplish this at once, if the intruder is weak enough, or the intruder can be slowly worn down.

The Intruder resists these attacks with her Psychological Endurance (Composure or Courage), Physical Endurance (Stamina), or Spiritual Endurance (Faith or Skepticism). The intruder rolls the resistance against The House’s Attack. If the Intruder wins, then she gains an amount of  points in that pool equal to the margin of success. If she loses the roll, she loses an amount of points from that pool equal to the margin of Failure.

Once any pool reaches 0, the intruder is removed from the game.