Burning of haunted house

[High Priest Mikhal]

There's also the fact that items taken from a haunted house may be cursed or haunted themselves. The Amityville Horror movies sometimes centered on such items only recreating the evil. I know of a clock, a painting, and a dollhouse that have been used in the movies. There might be others but I'm not sure.

[alhoon]

Hmmm? Are these movies good? I don't know of them.

[Kraken(rpgworld)]

Unfortunately, real life was worse than any horror story.
One of the worst fires in history came after an unsuccessful attempt to burn the cursed robe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Meireki

[alhoon]

100K deaths?!? In the era of the shogun wars in Japan? What was the total population back then 25-30Millions or something? 100K would be like 0.3% of the population. Add those that had to relocate because they had no houses, the devastation, the deaths from hardships in the following years... and you have a historical impact on Japan's population!

[A G Thing]

Another aspect of this is linked to the idea that the ghost has attached themselves to the site. If you burn it down you add a new trauma for the Ghost to internalize and perhaps evolve from. More powerful ghosts also may be able to control or use the fire to their advantage or they might make the fire go out of control as it destroys the house/site. Like the cursed robe thing, imagine the PC's thinking they can control the blaze and then having everything go horribly out of control. Messing with powers they did not truly comprehend. Burning a house does not necessarily destroy a ghost as they are about preserving the negative aspects of memory. Making certain parts immune to the fire or having some small trinket survive may allow for the Ghost to be transplanted to a new location. A ghost aware of its self might also be able to stop such fires in a mundane fashion possibly using fear it has inspired in the town to have the townspeople save it. The ghost may also try to find an eye for an eye scenario so it can make the PC's stop the burning similar to others suggestions on taking prisoner. Lastly a ghost may haunt an area that is wide enough and populous enough that burning it down or such is cruel or unfeasible. If the PC's are being paid to exercise the ghost from a location they won't get anything if they torch it. If the location is valuable to the PC's or could be theirs but the building its self is important then they should have incentive not to burn it. Imagine a house where some innate magic in the structure heals the sick... Burning that to get rid of the ghost also destroys some light that could be brought to the world if the ghost could just be removed. Also refugees or people with no where else to go would be very sore if they lose their one home and will die from exposure or such now that the PC's have "fixed" their ghost problem so poorly!

Just some ideas.... Tired now... slee..ee.eee...p..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

[High Priest Mikhal]

Hmmm? Are these movies good? I don't know of them.

They vary. Amityvill 3-D was pretty good, tapping into folklore about wells in basments. The others were so-so at best, sometimes focusing on sex and gore over story (Amityville: It's About Time in particular). I'd recommend checking out rental stores for them, or online pay-per-view. Of course you can't really beat the original novel and movie. I wouldn't put too much into the literal story; yes, Ronny DeFeo did kill his family in the house for no reason, and yes, something did drive the Lutzes out just four weeks after moving in (House on Gryphon Hill anyone?). But the other stuff is too outlandish even for me to believe.

[Rucht Lilavivat]

I think all of these solutions to keeping people from burning down the haunted house are great. I particularly like Gonzoron's solutions.

However, usually in my games it's easy enough to put a McGuffin in the haunted house and that makes people not want to burn it down. For example, if there is some form of important information in the house, you don't want to burn it. You want to find that information. Other times, there might be someone to save in the house, so you surely don't want to burn it down.

But usually, I find that PCs end up in haunted houses totally by accident. You go to place X to find something important. The place looks creepy, but it's a horror game so everything's creepy. In the end, you don't find out until you're inside the house that it's haunted.

We're running Rise of the Runelords in my home game right now, and the second chapter of that series has a full-on haunted house. It didn't even occur to the players to burn down the house, because they went there to confront someone. It wasn't until they were deep inside its confines that they party realized what was going on.

[High Priest Mikhal]

One problem with just burning down a haunted house in Ravenloft. Hauntings produce ethereal resonance (often Sinkholes of Evil) with a rating equal to the highest-magnitude ghost that was there. It takes time for that to fade and even legends can sustain it if people fear it enough. The RDMG has suggestions for truly destroying the lingering taint through revisionist history to erase the memory. Other ways certainly exist for creative players and DMs.

[MichaelTumey]

One thing to consider is that originally (in lore at least) ghosts walk through walls, not because they are incorporeal, rather because when they were alive a doorway was at the place in the wall the ghost is passing through now. He is not technically walking through a wall, rather walking through door way that is no longer there. There is an old Irish ghost story of very short monks walking through an abbey. The reality was the original floor of the way was 4 feet lower than it is today. And when these monk ghosts are noticed they are walking at the level of the original floor, but their spirits are viewed as 1.5' tall ghostly monks. (I know this is not true for D&D, as ghosts are incorporeal beings, but old ghost lore suggest this is true.)

So if a haunted house burns down, the house isn't gone to the ghostly memory that still haunts the location. To us it may be a hulk of a ruin, or not even there, just a plot where a house use to be - to the ghost, it is still the place that he haunts and in his point of view, the house is still there.

[High Priest Mikhal]

One thing to consider is that originally (in lore at least) ghosts walk through walls, not because they are incorporeal, rather because when they were alive a doorway was at the place in the wall the ghost is passing through now. He is not technically walking through a wall, rather walking through door way that is no longer there. There is an old Irish ghost story of very short monks walking through an abbey. The reality was the original floor of the way was 4 feet lower than it is today. And when these monk ghosts are noticed they are walking at the level of the original floor, but their spirits are viewed as 1.5' tall ghostly monks. (I know this is not true for D&D, as ghosts are incorporeal beings, but old ghost lore suggest this is true.)

So if a haunted house burns down, the house isn't gone to the ghostly memory that still haunts the location. To us it may be a hulk of a ruin, or not even there, just a plot where a house use to be - to the ghost, it is still the place that he haunts and in his point of view, the house is still there.

That's what ethereal resonance is often times.

More ideas on hauntings and banishing ghosts can be found in the old 2e Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts. If you can find a copy (stop production of even e-versions of pre-4e material, smooth move, WotC. Right up there with Exxon Valdez).

[MichaelTumey]

I still have all my 2e Van Richten Guides, plus I have several of those super thin page books with vinyl covers that were the later Van Richten Guides in my possession - despite not having run Ravenloft in a long time...

[Steve Miller]

Burning a haunted house to the ground may give rise to an even bigger haunting... the house becomes a ghost. (The resulting adventure could be something ala "Bleak House" or the haunted house adventure in "Dark Tales.")

--Steve Miller

[High Priest Mikhal]

Burning a haunted house to the ground may give rise to an even bigger haunting... the house becomes a ghost. (The resulting adventure could be something ala "Bleak House" or the haunted house adventure in "Dark Tales.")

--Steve Miller

The house itself isn't a ghost IIRC. It's a cursed location playing merry hell with time but not a ghost.

[Steve Miller]

The house itself isn't a ghost IIRC. It's a cursed location playing merry hell with time but not a ghost.

You are correct. That's why I said "something like."

Another RL release that could be a foundation for a "house as ghost" adventure is "Castles Forlorn."

--SM