[Index]
Cypher Bestiary
Abandoned and unloved, haunted houses aren't just buildings plagued by a ghost or two, but an intelligent, malevolent force unto themselves.
Health: 50
Damage Inflicted: Major wound
Movement: None
Modifications: Stealth as level 8; causing fear as level 7
Combat: A haunted house does not fight in any conventional sense.
GM intrusion (group): Dozens of small objects whip around the room, striking at all characters for a minor wound each round.
GM Intrusion: The character's feet are stuck to the floor and they cannot move unless they can break free with a successful Might task.
GM Intrusion: A large piece of furniture or other object animates and attacks as a creature of level 6.
GM Intrusion: Spectral hands come forth from a closet, grab at a character, and attempt to drag them into the vast darkness within.
Adventure Seed: A valuable antique or artifact is traced to a buyer who lives in an old house in a nearby town. No one answers several communication attempts, so the only thing for it is to go to the house.
Very rarely, the inhabitants of an old house (or perhaps another structure) awaken the house to its own subtle sentience. While this might start as a positive process, wherein the house loves its inhabitants and feels protective of them, eventually people leave. They die or move and the house is left alone. Years of loneliness and isolation become a festering malevolence, and the house begins to know nothing but hate for other beings.
Haunted houses can't typically move or hunt victims, but rather lure people inside. Sometimes, though, a house doesn't seek such things and only awakens if disturbed, in which case, woe to those who have caused it to stir.
Haunted houses are frequently much larger than they should be, containing rooms and spaces that don't make spatial sense.
These abilities can help the house to communicate with, torment, confuse, or terrify those inside. (PC tasks to defend against, understand, or escape from these manifestations are eased two steps during the day.)
| d00 | Sinister Means Ability |
|---|---|
| 01-03 | Create a sound or voice |
| 04-06 | Open or close a door |
| 07-09 | Fling a book or knickknack |
| 10-12 | Turn on/off an electric appliance |
| 13-15 | Slide furniture |
| 16-18 | Create cold spot or drastically increase heat |
| 19-21 | Summon swarm of flies/roaches/spiders |
| 22-24 | Change the reflection in a mirror |
| 25-27 | Create a brief shadowy image or scene |
| 28-30 | Fill a room with darkness |
| 31-33 | Create putrid smell |
| 34-36 | Start a small fire |
| 37-39 | Cause a PC's possession to vanish briefly |
| 40-42 | Slam a door so that it might strike a PC |
| 43-45 | Cause an outlet/appliance to create shock |
| 46-48 | Grasp with rug/curtains/sheets/towels |
| 49-51 | Cause blood to drip from ceiling |
| 52-54 | Create writing on the wall/rug/mirror |
| 55-57 | Change the appearance of artwork |
| 58-60 | Change the view through a window |
| 61-63 | Change the view through a doorway |
| 64-66 | Topple a bookcase/shelf/heavy object |
| 67-69 | Animate a weapon |
| 70-72 | Animate a toy |
| 73-75 | Animate an image in a painting |
| 76-78 | Control the image on a TV/computer screen |
| 79-81 | Alter the condition/age of objects in a room |
| 82-84 | Create a strong wind gust |
| 85-87 | Make one of the PC's devices stop working |
| 88-90 | Change the text in a book/magazine |
| 91-93 | Recreate the image of an event from the house's past |
| 94-96 | Blast flames from the fireplace |
| 97-99 | Spray broken glass from a window or mirror |
| 00 | Show a PC a vivid (but harmless) vision of their own death |
Many of the sinister means and spectral dominion powers may require defense rolls by PCs. Treat these as attacks by the house.
Sinister means and spectral dominion powers work well in conjunction. For example, after learning a PC's greatest fear, or a scene from their nightmare, a house can use its ability to create images of something that will terrify them.
There is always a single way to bring the terror of a haunted house to an end (other than just escaping).
| d20 | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Destroy a hidden book |
| 2 | Locate a lost piece of art |
| 3 | Smash the locket in the attic |
| 4 | Kill the beast in the basement |
| 5 | Burn the original blueprints of the house kept in a secret room |
| 6 | Travel back to a better time for the house |
| 7 | Get the former occupants to return |
| 8 | Perform a ritual in the secret sub-basement |
| 9 | Send it to another dimension |
| 10 | Get a priest to consecrate each room |
| 11 | Inscribe a secret phrase on every wall |
| 12 | Clean the house top to bottom |
| 13 | Learn the true history of the house |
| 14 | Bring an evil former occupant to justice |
| 15 | Collapse the house into the sea |
| 16 | Celebrate the birthday of the forgotten child |
| 17 | Convince the house to love rather than hate |
| 18 | Cause the house to be hit by a meteor |
| 19 | Enter the mirror version of the house (through a mirror) and destroy it there |
| 20 | Defeat the house in a psychic battle |
Use this table and roll at least 3 times to populate the house with former occupants.
| d00 | Former Occupant |
|---|---|
| 01-03 | Artist |
| 04-06 | Writer |
| 07-09 | Musician(s) |
| 10-12 | Architect |
| 13-15 | Recluse |
| 16-18 | Squatters |
| 19-21 | Factory worker |
| 22-24 | Famously wealthy person |
| 25-27 | Mortician |
| 28-30 | Actor |
| 31-33 | Dysfunctional family |
| 34-36 | Craftsperson |
| 37-39 | Politician |
| 40-42 | Art collector |
| 43-45 | Hoarder |
| 46-48 | Gamers |
| 49-51 | Farmer |
| 52-54 | School teacher |
| 55-57 | Sex workers |
| 58-60 | Widow/widower |
| 61-63 | Soldier |
| 64-66 | Orphans |
| 67-69 | Delusional person |
| 70-72 | Parents of deceased child/children |
| 73-75 | Family with one abusive parent |
| 76-78 | Jilted lover |
| 79-81 | Sadistic cult |
| 82-84 | Serial killer |
| 85-87 | Band of thieves |
| 88-90 | Pet dog/cat/rat |
| 91-93 | Escaped convicts/mental patients |
| 94-96 | Occult expert/witch/sorcerer |
| 97-99 | Very happy family |
| 00 | Child with psychic powers |
Although most haunted buildings are houses, sometimes other (usually abandoned) locations take on a similar nature. Haunted locations always have multiple rooms or areas and are typically quite large.
| d20 | Location |
|---|---|
| 1 | Office building |
| 2 | Experimental lab |
| 3 | Remote cabin |
| 4 | Mausoleum |
| 5 | Train tunnel |
| 6 | Mental hospital |
| 7 | Elementary school |
| 8 | Cave |
| 9 | Lighthouse |
| 10 | Zoo |
| 11 | Prison |
| 12 | Dance hall |
| 13 | Movie studio |
| 14 | Factory |
| 15 | Cruise ship |
| 16 | Theatre |
| 17 | Slaughterhouse |
| 18 | Supermarket |
| 19 | Space station |
| 20 | Hotel |
While it might be handy to have a map of the house, it's actually not all that important, as haunted houses can rearrange their layout and even add or subtract rooms.
At night, a house can use one of these abilities up to three times. When someone within nears its key to destruction (literally or metaphorically), it can use these powers three additional times that night.
| d20 | Spectral Dominion Power |
|---|---|
| 1 | Cause a doorway to lead to a new location |
| 2 | Seal all exits absolutely |
| 3 | Create a new room/change size of room or corridor drastically |
| 4 | Move to a new location |
| 5 | Learn PCs greatest fears/weaknesses/nightmares |
| 6 | Open a portal to hell |
| 7 | Possess a PC |
| 8 | Learn a deep secret of a PC |
| 9 | Change gravity in one or more rooms |
| 10 | Submerge one or more rooms in water |
| 11 | Cause ceiling to lower and crush occupants |
| 12 | Send a PC into the house's past |
| 13 | Conjure PC's dearest loved one |
| 14 | Convince PCs they should never leave |
| 15 | Drain the lifeforce of one PC |
| 16 | Put PCs in a time loop |
| 17 | Rearrange layout of rooms |
| 18 | Animate and control PC shadows |
| 19 | Manifest limbs from its structure |
| 20 | Teleport a PC from one room to another |