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Petersen's Abominations - Hell Hotel questions (SPOILERS)


Merudo

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I'd like to run Hell Hotel scenario but some of its aspects confuse me.

First, how do you prevent the party from just running away? Most characters don't have a strong motivation to stay at the hotel once its decrepit state is discovered. It would make sense for most of them to bail out at the first sign of danger. 

Secondly, how is the party supposed to figure out there is a gate beneath the hotel? Even if they understand that the 7 disasters are related, it's unclear to me how they are supposed to understand that there is a gate underneath the hotel and that it can be closed.

Thirdly, one of the "solution" to the scenario is so far fetched I can't believe anyone managed to do it. Basically you have to dig out a piles of human bones and throw them through the portal, and that somehow closes the gate. I have zero idea what's the logic behind this ending, even through I read the entire chapter. How are investigators supposed to figure it out?

Edited by Merudo
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i ran this recently and has a couple of similar issues but with some careful guidance, i managed to keep them on track. its a big sandbox story so it was tricky to keep all of the background info handy in my head to respond to all of the players actions. I used the preacher a bit to add background to the area and i also created a foreman to act as a go between the party and the workers hired to fix the place up. it made it easier to have one character rather than randos. 

With regards to your question:

1) if they look like they getting ready to leave remember theres a volcano there, you could have it start to become active and block part of the valley. the other option is greed, the new owner wants to stay to fix the place up and its likely to be a safer place than the outside world by the time they realise theres some bad things happening.

2) use the workers to 'find' the gate. its only a crack at first but the painting win the cellar should be found and the gate can start to manifest by a small crack of light or noises coming from it.

3) believe it or not, this is how my players completed the game. they found the bones under the tree early on but it wasnt until quite late one of them thought about dumping them through the gate. i'll admit i can't see any logic behind why his bones specifically would close the gate. its a shame as i was looking forward to a TPK. 

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11 hours ago, CastingsofCthulhu said:

i ran this recently and has a couple of similar issues but with some careful guidance, i managed to keep them on track. its a big sandbox story so it was tricky to keep all of the background info handy in my head to respond to all of the players actions. I used the preacher a bit to add background to the area and i also created a foreman to act as a go between the party and the workers hired to fix the place up. it made it easier to have one character rather than randos. 

 

I like the idea of a foreman, and can make for a memorable character as well.

11 hours ago, CastingsofCthulhu said:

1) if they look like they getting ready to leave remember theres a volcano there, you could have it start to become active and block part of the valley. the other option is greed, the new owner wants to stay to fix the place up and its likely to be a safer place than the outside world by the time they realise theres some bad things happening.

Greed can work for the main character but not really for the five others.

11 hours ago, CastingsofCthulhu said:

2) use the workers to 'find' the gate. its only a crack at first but the painting win the cellar should be found and the gate can start to manifest by a small crack of light or noises coming from it.

The main issue is that there is no much indication that the PCs can actually close the gate. There are parts of an invocation behind the paintings but as far as the investigators are concerned it might be a invocation to open up the gate, or to make things worse.
 

11 hours ago, CastingsofCthulhu said:

.3) believe it or not, this is how my players completed the game. they found the bones under the tree early on but it wasnt until quite late one of them thought about dumping them through the gate. i'll admit i can't see any logic behind why his bones specifically would close the gate. its a shame as i was looking forward to a TPK. 


I'm sorry to say this, but do you think it is at all possible that said player was cheating and read the adventure beforehand?

Edited by Merudo
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lol. i really wish one of them had read it before, but no, i don't think its possible as they didn't have a clue most of the time, i had to endure 10 minutes of one of them RPing buying lightbulbs. two of the player had never played an RPG before, the other two had only played CoC once before. the book had only been out a few weeks before as well so its pretty remote.  I'll admit them finding the bones early was probably my fault as i mentioned the tree twice which got one of the players interested. it was him being a bit out of character saying that i had kept mentioning so was interested, but i was trying to help them visualise the scene and in horror film, they always foreshadow important elements.

I can't remember specifics but they found the bones after they'd found the room and the clues for the ritual so put 2 and 2 together that it was the artist who was buried. then when the work crew found the painting in the cellar, they figured out it was one of his. one of the new players suggested putting the bones in the cellar for safe keeping, then when it all kicked off, they completed the ritual and threw the bones in as it was his painting that was causing the problem, or so they thought. in their mind, the artist was the root of the problem, not that he was just predicting it. they got the right answer but the wrong theory.

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The characters own the hotel - they have given up their lives to rebuild and open it (per the PC backgrounds) - the ones who don't own it could run away  - but by then, there's plenty to prevent them (zombies and the like).

The workmen knock through to the gate. Also the zombies appear there - a clue to the fact something is down there. Also a possessed PC/NPC may attempt to clear through to the gate - opening the way (and making the gate obvious to all).

The bones - are a long shot - see Events (page 29) - which suggests a vision of Schiegl being taken to the tree - a clue that his remains are by the same tree.

The scenario, like the ones in the book are presented as one shots, and this scenario is apocalyptic in its scope - chaos and hell are unleashed.

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i ended it on a suitable down note in that they may have closed the gate but the rest of the world is still falling apart. if i ran it again i'd probably have more happen sooner. i enjoyed running the story but would love to expand it over a couple of sessions. all of the ones in that book feel slightly rushed for one session but is probably just my play style, i like to let my groups run around a bit exploring and getting some background info. i've run the derelict three times now and each time i've been pushed a bit for time towards the end.

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