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House Conditions and Player Actions Guide

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
17 views2 pages

House Conditions and Player Actions Guide

Uploaded by

Justin Price
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

CONDITIONS IN THE HOUSE

o No easy exit. Doors, windows, and walls to the outside are impermeable and indestructible.
o Sleeping characters suffer a Rating 5 mental attack from the house.
o No contact with the outside world. Attempts result in contact with the house instead
(see page 55).
o No magical or technological communication with other characters in the house.
Attempts result in contact with the house instead (see page 55).
o The house “resets” damaged, destroyed, or moved objects (and even many inhabitants)
within the house, although not those belonging to the PCs.
o All languages are understood in the house.

ACTIONS
Don’t have players roll for meaningless actions, such as for things that are routine, or things that
are impossible.
o Player rolls 2d6, adds them together, and adds character’s Rating. If the result is equal to or
higher than 7 + the Rating of the action (or target if an attack), the action succeeds.
o Boons allow player to roll 3d6 and use the highest two dice, and Banes force the player to
roll 3d6 and use the lowest two dice. Remember that since only players roll, a Boon for an
NPC is a Bane for a PC and vice versa.
o Players must also roll the House Die (another d6) and tell you if it is the highest of the
three dice. If yes, regardless of any other outcome, the house acts.

CALLING UPON THE HOUSE


A player can always choose to add the result of the House Die to their total roll, after the
roll is made. Doing so automatically results in the house acting, and the PC gains a Doom
(see page 24).

DAMAGE
o Player rolls 1d6, adds their Rating, and subtracts the Rating of the opponent. The result
is the Rating of the wound inflicted. If the result is zero or less, the hit didn’t inflict
significant damage—perhaps their armor protected them or they just are really tough.
o Damage can have a Boon or a Bane, in which case the player rolls an extra die and takes
the higher of the two with a Boon or the lower of the two with a Bane.
o A wounded PC who gains another wound must roll against the Rating of their worst
wound. Failure means they are unconscious or equally debilitated. After a minute or
so, such a character must make another roll against their highest Rated wound to avoid
death. The player must subtract their character’s current Doom from this final roll.
o NPCs can suffer wounds with a total Rating of 3 x their own Rating before they die.
o A wounded character can rest for a minute or two and roll against the Rating of a wound
to see if that wound heals. They can attempt this on a given wound only once per 24 hours.
PAIN AND WOUNDS
There is a special event that occurs if all of the PCs ever have at least one physical wound equal
to or greater than their own Ratings at the same time. So, if all the characters have a Rating of 4
and each has at least one wound Rated 4 or higher, the event is immediately triggered and they
all disappear from where they are and reappear in a special room called the Fountain of Pain in
the Amator section of the house.

DOOM
o Doom’s main effect happens when the PC leaves the house (see page 24).
o When a wounded character rolls when unconscious or debilitated to see if their wound
results in their death, they must subtract their Doom from their roll.

HOUSE ACTIONS
Use these actions in order. They escalate in severity and implication. If one is inapplicable (such
as there being no inhabitants wounded for #2), skip it and move to the next. If you reach the end
of the list, start over, but try to vary your description of it.
1. Creaking sounds, footsteps, or similar noises can be heard. The entity tied to that section
of the house is coming closer.
2. A wounded inhabitant of the house is fully healed.
3. A cold draft blows. If the characters are using torches or candles for light, they go out.
One or more beneficial ongoing effects (spells, powered items, etc.) inexplicably ends.
4. Whispering can be heard. A character’s name is mentioned amid some indecipherable
words. That character is subject to a Rating 2 attack that inflicts mental damage from
the creepiness.
5. Every character fails their next action. Everyone can somehow sense that something
horrible is getting close. (This is the entity tied to that section of the house.)
6. Unseen, icy fingers seem to run up one character’s spine and they are subject to a
Rating 5 attack that inflicts mental damage (in the form of unreasonable terror).
7. A translucent image appears, and the characters see a scene that they cannot interact
with. For example, they see a scene of a man in that very room watching his family
suddenly transform into monstrous, hungry creatures that attack him. Or they see the
scene of a brutal murder. Or the looming presence of a monstrous being. Or anything
that seems horrible and appropriate to the house. The vision fades, but it is a Rating 4
attack that inflicts mental damage on all the PCs.
8. An object in a character’s possession grows a fanged mouth, hisses horribly, and attacks
like a snake with a Rating of 4. Alternatively, it grows spider legs and scuttles away
into the darkness. Or begins screaming with a humanlike mouth. Regardless of what
happens, the object is no longer usable.
9. The entity of that section of the house arrives. There is a section of text in each room
devoted to what happens if this occurs.
10. An object important to a character is now cursed. Whenever the character uses it, they
fail the next roll they make immediately after (or in conjunction with it).

©2021 Monte Cook Games, LLC. THE DARKEST HOUSE and its logo are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC
in the United States and other countries. Permission granted to duplicate for personal use.

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