Café de Nuit

As some of you may know I am running a campaign involving the hexad, the requiem, van richten bleak house, and many other minor side quest. I will add up adventures as I see fit, but so far I noticed that since my player will need to travel a lot, I think they will need some safe house around the lands.

Do you have any advice about what kind of safe house could I use? Should I let them build their own?
Between adventure they will need to rest and the possibility to reinforce their gear and prepare themselves.
Is there any society who has many houses around the world?
I could even use more than one society to full fill this, since they could earn more than one ally.
I already planned to make them meet watermay-foxgrove twins and make them join VRS by helping Van richten.

Running water is a vampire deturant so how about under a waterfall?

Sacrifice a frog to Death House for a self resurrecting base.

Wereraven network of safe houses.

I like:

clearing a house/keep/ruin of monsters and using that, refurbished

&

building a safehouse/stronghold.

But what do your players like? What do they want to do?

If a society extends an offer of membership, what if the PCs say ''no thanks''?

if you have access to heroes of light check out the end part regarding peasant followings which could haunt the PC as the complete the Hexes.

Are you talking a 'bolthole' or a proper 'safehouse'.

A bolthole is temporary in nature but is easily replaceable/disposable. Boltholes are easy to build wether using magic (Leomonds Shelter spells, Rope trick, etc) or a pre stocked cave, abandoned building, or even a forgotten maintenance room in the sewers. And if they are compromised, it's annoying but finding another is not hard.

A true safehouse has a lot more invested in it and it is not easily replaceable. But on the other hand there is a lot more resources available to the PC's. If they are using someone else's (a society safe house) there will be obligations they have to uphold, funds to pay, rules to obey, and if they compromise it a lot of people will be unhappy.

A potential idea is to have something like the 'Abelard Sanction' from the TV miniseries Brotherhood of the Rose. The Abelard Sanction was essentially an international agreement where a series of 'safehouses' throughout the world are set up where _any_ agent - regardless of affiliation - can rest, recuperate and trade notes (eg: the CIA, KGB and Mossad could happily talk shop over tea). The primary rule is no action can be taken against anyone while they are in the safe house (neutral ground), and any breech of the sanction is met with a worldwide kill order from every spy agency under the Abelard Sanction against the offender.

Thanks all, you gave me a lot of nice ideas!

Nalfien wrote:Running water is a vampire deturant so how about under a waterfall?

Sacrifice a frog to Death House for a self resurrecting base.

Wereraven network of safe houses.

I like how it sounds, but Could you explain me deeper the Death House? What do you mean with "self resurrecting base"?

ewancummins wrote:I like:

clearing a house/keep/ruin of monsters and using that, refurbished

&

building a safehouse/stronghold.

But what do your players like? What do they want to do?

If a society extends an offer of membership, what if the PCs say ''no thanks''?

I think they could like the same as you do, but since they will be traveling a lot it would be hard to keep a single stronghold-safehouse.
It could work this way if there would be a way to reach it from everywhere, but I dont want to have many portals or teleportation around in my ravenloft.
If they say "no thanks", well they just don't get access to those houses. It mainly depends on the kind of society (secret evil society could try to kill them in order to keep the society secret, but it's highly situational).


When Nalfien said to sacrifice a frog to have the "self resurrecting base" it come to my mind some sort of Ghost house, who could appear if a sacrifice is made with a particular ritual. Ex. Player sacrifice an animal and say aloud some specific words, or something like this.
Obviously this kind of ritual would call a sinister (but almost safe) place.

I could make them meet some strange old woman (or decrepit man), who will teach them the ritual. I could use the post about Dom Rassveta (In the community project) and make the house change every time they call it. The house disappears as soon as they exit the house and turn their eyes away, as if it never had been there.
Obviously my player would rather prefer not to do this ritual (since it is clearly evil, and the house will always be creepy and gloomy), and so they would not call this house that often. I suppose they'll use this house just as an emergency safe house (like if they are lost in between a blizzard).

Hamiclar wrote:if you have access to heroes of light check out the end part regarding peasant followings which could haunt the PC as the complete the Hexes.

Sorry, i did not get what you mean

DustBunny wrote:Are you talking a 'bolthole' or a proper 'safehouse'.

A bolthole is temporary in nature but is easily replaceable/disposable. Boltholes are easy to build wether using magic (Leomonds Shelter spells, Rope trick, etc) or a pre stocked cave, abandoned building, or even a forgotten maintenance room in the sewers. And if they are compromised, it's annoying but finding another is not hard.

A true safehouse has a lot more invested in it and it is not easily replaceable. But on the other hand there is a lot more resources available to the PC's. If they are using someone else's (a society safe house) there will be obligations they have to uphold, funds to pay, rules to obey, and if they compromise it a lot of people will be unhappy.

A potential idea is to have something like the 'Abelard Sanction' from the TV miniseries Brotherhood of the Rose. The Abelard Sanction was essentially an international agreement where a series of 'safehouses' throughout the world are set up where _any_ agent - regardless of affiliation - can rest, recuperate and trade notes (eg: the CIA, KGB and Mossad could happily talk shop over tea). The primary rule is no action can be taken against anyone while they are in the safe house (neutral ground), and any breech of the sanction is met with a worldwide kill order from every spy agency under the Abelard Sanction against the offender.

A bolthole is not a problem, as you said it could be accomplished by spells, it could be a cave, or anything else who would "protect" the players. I'm talking about safe houses.
I like your idea about the "Abelard Sanction", but since many of the society out there are evil I dont know if it could be coherent.
Obviously there is no canon society so large to have a safe house in every region on RL. I still could use the abelard sanction only for some (or all) of the good aligned society around the lands.
So far i know only the Van richten society, if you would be so kind to suggest me some other good aligned society it would be awesome.

If my player want to build their own safe house do you have any advice on how I could do it considering they travels a lot?
Maybe should I let the players solve the problem?

Nox wrote:I like your idea about the "Abelard Sanction", but since many of the society out there are evil I dont know if it could be coherent.
Obviously there is no canon society so large to have a safe house in every region on RL. I still could use the abelard sanction only for some (or all) of the good aligned society around the lands.
So far i know only the Van richten society, if you would be so kind to suggest me some other good aligned society it would be awesome.

In the book/series the reason Abelard was set up was because 'todays allies can be tomorrows enemies' so it worked for all sides involved (it was set up and the end of WW2). So Good and Neutral groups could easily agree, and quite possibly even some 'lawful evil' or amoral groups if they follow the rules - it is in their own interest. Negotiations would be painstaking of course, but if they keep everyone happy, or at least doesn't upset them it seems it could work.

In some cases maybe even the Darklord knows about it, but leaves it alone (or even protects it quietly) as it allows him/her/it to keep tabs on things and allows his own agents safety. Dominic and Jackie seem like obvious candidates as they want to keep their political power, the Falkonovian spy agengies would be a yes (as long as Drakov doesnt know or find out), Tristen/Malken and Az are maybes, Godfory seems unlikely as he is too much of a self absorbed snob and Strahd no.

Or the PC's could be the ones to set up the Sanction - as they bounce across the land chasing the GC, they could get some of the groups to work together for a mutual benefit and form the "<Insert Party Name> Sanction". As other groups find out, they ask to join up and before you know you have your network. This also solves the problem of PC's having to teleport back to their safe house every time.

The Death House was recently introduced in the 5e Curse of Strahd as a level 1-3 mini adventure. Here's a spoiler.

DustBunny wrote:

Nox wrote:I like your idea about the "Abelard Sanction", but since many of the society out there are evil I dont know if it could be coherent.
Obviously there is no canon society so large to have a safe house in every region on RL. I still could use the abelard sanction only for some (or all) of the good aligned society around the lands.
So far i know only the Van richten society, if you would be so kind to suggest me some other good aligned society it would be awesome.

In the book/series the reason Abelard was set up was because 'todays allies can be tomorrows enemies' so it worked for all sides involved (it was set up and the end of WW2). So Good and Neutral groups could easily agree, and quite possibly even some 'lawful evil' or amoral groups if they follow the rules - it is in their own interest. Negotiations would be painstaking of course, but if they keep everyone happy, or at least doesn't upset them it seems it could work.

In some cases maybe even the Darklord knows about it, but leaves it alone (or even protects it quietly) as it allows him/her/it to keep tabs on things and allows his own agents safety. Dominic and Jackie seem like obvious candidates as they want to keep their political power, the Falkonovian spy agengies would be a yes (as long as Drakov doesnt know or find out), Tristen/Malken and Az are maybes, Godfory seems unlikely as he is too much of a self absorbed snob and Strahd no.

Or the PC's could be the ones to set up the Sanction - as they bounce across the land chasing the GC, they could get some of the groups to work together for a mutual benefit and form the "<Insert Party Name> Sanction". As other groups find out, they ask to join up and before you know you have your network. This also solves the problem of PC's having to teleport back to their safe house every time.

Sorry, what is the sanction?
EDIT: Oh, i'm dumb. "Abelard SANCTION". right, my bad.

Nalfien wrote:The Death House was recently introduced in the 5e Curse of Strahd as a level 1-3 mini adventure. Here's a spoiler.

VIEW CONTENT:

The haunted house rebuilds it's self from ashes if burned down, and it has been burned many times. The house seems pretty easy going once you put a few spirits to rest so long as you sacrifice life by spilling blood on the alter. I doubt it's portable if you scoop up and transport all the ashes...

This suggestion was mostly a joke. My players are level 3 and I didn't force them into that sub adventure. When they learned there was a house that could rebuild itself after a disaster, they instantly saw that as a great feature in a village where terrible stuff happenes. They asked if anyone had attempted to move in, and to be quite honest, if you want to live in a haunted house it seems pretty tame on the first and second floor. Of course, the house wouldn't like permanent visitors. It would try and kill them unless it's brought a consistent stream of sacrifices.

If my players take up residence in Death House, I'll let you know how it goes.

Nice, I am gonna take a deeper look at it!

I had similar questions for the forum a while back (do your players have a place of their own or are they always on the move?) and the results were typically mixed. I had/have a recent GC campaign where the players are based out of Darkon (for now) and are actually supported by . I could see them gaining some support from safe houses in the future while they are hopping all over the Core until they realize what is going on or become a threat to the 'overall plan'.

I was a player in another system (Birthright, but that's not too important to this story) where the group was given a semi-permanent item that was a Leomund's secure shelter that could be used a couple times a week for 8-10 hours (something like that). While not a 100% perfect, it allowed the players to have shelter in the wilderness and a place to keep larger items that would be hard to transport otherwise (limited bag of holding capabilities) like a table, beds, chairs, fire place, etc. It was a miniature house when not 'in use', but something like a key that gets placed against a wall and turned to make a magic room or a thing that enlarges into a tree house that has to be planted in soil for the item to work are nice little limitations for the magic to be limiting (if the players are in an underground dungeon, fresh soil is hard to come by and being stuck on an island without 'walls' would make that key less useful).

Dark Angel wrote:I had similar questions for the forum a while back (do your players have a place of their own or are they always on the move?) and the results were typically mixed. I had/have a recent GC campaign where the players are based out of Darkon (for now) and are actually supported by

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Azalin and his people under the guise that they are in a secret society trying to free the people of Ravenloft from the 'Misty Prison'

. I could see them gaining some support from safe houses in the future while they are hopping all over the Core until they realize what is going on or become a threat to the 'overall plan'.

I was a player in another system (Birthright, but that's not too important to this story) where the group was given a semi-permanent item that was a Leomund's secure shelter that could be used a couple times a week for 8-10 hours (something like that). While not a 100% perfect, it allowed the players to have shelter in the wilderness and a place to keep larger items that would be hard to transport otherwise (limited bag of holding capabilities) like a table, beds, chairs, fire place, etc. It was a miniature house when not 'in use', but something like a key that gets placed against a wall and turned to make a magic room or a thing that enlarges into a tree house that has to be planted in soil for the item to work are nice little limitations for the magic to be limiting (if the players are in an underground dungeon, fresh soil is hard to come by and being stuck on an island without 'walls' would make that key less useful).

They have no place of their own, they just woke up in a cave without any memories and find themselves in the events of NotWD.

I like the leomund's secure shelter, but i find it very powerful for my players. I find it quite high fantasy for my standard, and 2 times a week is a lot (depending also on the campaign you were running). I still prefer the option of the "ghost house" for emergency, since it requires a sacrifice and player will use it only if they really need it.
I still need some Real safe house, the kind of safe house they can use in bigger cities. I was thinking about the abelard sanction (I just realized what he meant with "sanction" in the last comment ). I think i'll work my way to something similar later in the campaign, so they can join (or found) some kind of society and use them.

Nox wrote:They have no place of their own, they just woke up in a cave without any memories and find themselves in the events of NotWD.

I like the leomund's secure shelter, but i find it very powerful for my players. I find it quite high fantasy for my standard, and 2 times a week is a lot (depending also on the campaign you were running). I still prefer the option of the "ghost house" for emergency, since it requires a sacrifice and player will use it only if they really need it.
I still need some Real safe house, the kind of safe house they can use in bigger cities. I was thinking about the abelard sanction (I just realized what he meant with "sanction" in the last comment ). I think i'll work my way to something similar later in the campaign, so they can join (or found) some kind of society and use them.

It is higher fantasy (even for Birthright which is another lower magic world, but more so than Ravenloft). It doesn't have to fulfill the spell specs of the spell, just be an empty room/rooms at first and they have to stock and supply it. A mundane means to fulfill your requirements and allow them flexibility that they will appreciate: Have them work with a sailing vessel that travels the coastal waters of the Sea of Sorrows. Not give them a ship, but have them book passage out of Souragne and develop a positive relationship to the point where they can purchase a permanent space aboard the ship (ideally offering money or services in exchange).

Then at higher levels they can get the 'magic house' and you can definitely add a sacrifice must be made for it to work element. In another campaign setting, I had a PC stay at an inn where a ghost was anchored to. Not a bad/scary ghost, a helpful one who maintained weapons, armor, and cleaned clothes, etc. Adding a spectral servant of sorts as a manifestation of the house itself or as a trapped ghost (who maybe didn't pay the 'toll' in blood when the device was activated) who may or may not be as helpful (or at least not harmful or really annoying, else they may not use it at all). Definitely a cool concept, regardless.

Dark Angel wrote:

Nox wrote:They have no place of their own, they just woke up in a cave without any memories and find themselves in the events of NotWD.

I like the leomund's secure shelter, but i find it very powerful for my players. I find it quite high fantasy for my standard, and 2 times a week is a lot (depending also on the campaign you were running). I still prefer the option of the "ghost house" for emergency, since it requires a sacrifice and player will use it only if they really need it.
I still need some Real safe house, the kind of safe house they can use in bigger cities. I was thinking about the abelard sanction (I just realized what he meant with "sanction" in the last comment ). I think i'll work my way to something similar later in the campaign, so they can join (or found) some kind of society and use them.

It is higher fantasy (even for Birthright which is another lower magic world, but more so than Ravenloft). It doesn't have to fulfill the spell specs of the spell, just be an empty room/rooms at first and they have to stock and supply it. A mundane means to fulfill your requirements and allow them flexibility that they will appreciate: Have them work with a sailing vessel that travels the coastal waters of the Sea of Sorrows. Not give them a ship, but have them book passage out of Souragne and develop a positive relationship to the point where they can purchase a permanent space aboard the ship (ideally offering money or services in exchange).

Then at higher levels they can get the 'magic house' and you can definitely add a sacrifice must be made for it to work element. In another campaign setting, I had a PC stay at an inn where a ghost was anchored to. Not a bad/scary ghost, a helpful one who maintained weapons, armor, and cleaned clothes, etc. Adding a spectral servant of sorts as a manifestation of the house itself or as a trapped ghost (who maybe didn't pay the 'toll' in blood when the device was activated) who may or may not be as helpful (or at least not harmful or really annoying, else they may not use it at all). Definitely a cool concept, regardless.

I like the idea of the boat and the traveling safe house concept. Vistani would not take them that easily, but a boat is perfect. i will work on it! it's a good safe house to start with. thanks!