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Snow_Fox
Ever notice the world seems studded with creepy houses for heros to enter-Scooby Doo, Abott and Costello, bad slasher flicks.

Have you ever run into one of these? if so what were the conditions?
Fix-it
there's a few around chicagoland. some operahouses, a few "Phantom houses" (only show up at such-and-such a time/condition).

never felt like actively seeking paranormal trouble.
tisoz
QUOTE (Snow_Fox)
Ever notice the world seems studded with creepy houses for heros to enter-Scooby Doo, Abott and Costello, bad slasher flicks.

Have you ever run into one of these? if so what were the conditions?

Quite a few actually. Many times the elderly owners died and the estate took time to settle or when it did, the inheritors didn't want to move in and the place was put up for sale. Many times the property needed repairs or modernized, or at least the grounds cleaned up and trimmed. The conditions made them look overpriced.

A bunch of older empty homes are in what used to be the wealthy part of town a hundred years ago or more when they were built. Some are being restored, but many are empty and will stay that way for a while as they are in high crime areas. The homeless will camp out in them and relieve themselves where they feel like it, as the plumbing is many times looted for scrap copper, and the water has long been turned off. A friend inherited one of these old mansions and said the entire inside had been stripped of anythin of value - things like light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, copper pipe and wire, the staircase, moldings, etc.. It was in a historic district, so he couldn't even tear it down. The city gets a bunch like that for back taxes.
Wounded Ronin
Yeah, as a rule of thumb I'd be less concerned about ghosts when entering a creepy house and more about any of the following:

1.) Falling through a floor and breaking a leg
2.) Stepping in squatter poo
3.) Having a drug crazed squatter stab me with a shard of glass and eat my innards
4.) Ghouls
Calvin Hobbes
That'll happen.
Smiley
Also, you can never be too careful about Grue attacks.
fistandantilus4.0
Please bring this to a Shadowrun topic .
Wounded Ronin
QUOTE (fistandantilus3.0)
Please bring this to a Shadowrun topic .

That's why I mentioned the ghouls. In SR abandoned buildings are filled with ghouls. And they eat you.
fistandantilus4.0
biggrin.gif *no ghoul emoticon. Pretend the teeth are pointy.*

* Makes not:Need ghoul emoticon*
hyzmarca
First rule of Shadowrunning: No matter how tempting the loot may be, never do something that would probably get a trideo character killed. This includes wearing a red uniform on your first mission with a group of experienced vets, letting your defeated foe have one last request, gloating, expositioning, employing elaborate automated deathtraps, and exploring creepy houses.

ShadowDragon8685
How do Shadowrunners explore creepy houses?

They burn them down/blow them up with rockets from outside and sift through the remains for anything of value.
PBTHHHHT
That's what I was going to suggest too. Exploration by explosives. smile.gif

This reminds me of a scene from one of the Harry Dresden novels (yeah, yeah, it's not bad actually).
[ Spoiler ]
tisoz
In SR there are going to be a bunch of derelict buildings due to relocation after the tribal victory, due to VITAS and then the crash making it impossible to locate heirs, and even due to goblinization as the house next door stands empty for a week and then some ork or troll shows up claiming to be the previous owner - even going so far as to present the former ownes ID, which loks nothing like the trog who no doubt mugged your poor neighbor to get it and the keys to his house..
lorechaser
QUOTE (tisoz @ Mar 12 2007, 09:23 AM)
even due to goblinization as the house next door stands empty for a week and then some ork or troll shows up claiming to be the previous owner - even going so far as to present the former ownes ID, which loks nothing like the trog who no doubt mugged your poor neighbor to get it and the keys to his house..

That is the best idea I've ever heard.

"Yeah, dat's me. I wuz Ste-fen Haw-king. I got bigger. Yous wanna take da keys from me?"

Even if the troll has logic 6, I think that's the voice that should be used, for effect. wink.gif
sunnyside
In real life you get lots of abandond houses out in the country. Rural populations are dropping and so old farmsteads and the like go abandond. When I was a kid we would sometimes go out to a place like that. It was mostly sound but had split in two roughly down the middle so you had to jump from one side to the other.

In SR the less structurally sound buildings in barrenish areas would be abandond as even squatters wouldn't want to stay there. Also there are some high rises in squatter areas. And I'm betting squaters don't do more than six floors of stairs.

Finally I'm betting between VITAS, mass relocations and the fact many Native American tribes went back to basics there are probably whole ghost towns out in those territories.
cristomeyers
Towns, heck, I would imagine some smaller cities going abandoned...
mfb
when i was in third grade, i spent an entire day in a creepy abandoned house, skipping school with some sixth-graders. it was actually really, really boring, after the initial thrill.
lorechaser
QUOTE (sunnyside)
In real life you get lots of abandond houses out in the country. Rural populations are dropping and so old farmsteads and the like go abandond. When I was a kid we would sometimes go out to a place like that. It was mostly sound but had split in two roughly down the middle so you had to jump from one side to the other.

In SR the less structurally sound buildings in barrenish areas would be abandond as even squatters wouldn't want to stay there. Also there are some high rises in squatter areas. And I'm betting squaters don't do more than six floors of stairs.

Finally I'm betting between VITAS, mass relocations and the fact many Native American tribes went back to basics there are probably whole ghost towns out in those territories.

It doesn't even have to be the country. In Austin, there are any number of abandoned houses just on the edges of town. Not 5 minutes south of me, still within city limits, there are at least 10 abandoned buildings in various states of disrepair. They just finished bulldozing an old vanilla extract plant that was *creepy* as anything.
nezumi
Heck, in Baltimore there are entire blocks of abandoned old rowhouses. Just bad houses in bad neighborhoods. I would call any of them 'creepy'. All the windows are busted out and a quarter of them the second floor has collapsed into the ground floor. But there are plenty of them, and they're well within city limits.
Kyoto Kid
...one of the creepiest houses I know of is at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington DC...

if the walls there could only talk...
Wounded Ronin
QUOTE (nezumi)
Heck, in Baltimore there are entire blocks of abandoned old rowhouses. Just bad houses in bad neighborhoods. I would call any of them 'creepy'. All the windows are busted out and a quarter of them the second floor has collapsed into the ground floor. But there are plenty of them, and they're well within city limits.

Well in the urban abandoned places that's where you *are* more likely to find squatters and/or gang members.
John Campbell
QUOTE (ShadowDragon8685)
How do Shadowrunners explore creepy houses?

They burn them down/blow them up with rockets from outside and sift through the remains for anything of value.

I recall reading somewhere of a group of Call of Cthulhu players who took that approach to an investigation. When they were done, they returned to their van, feeling quite pleased with themselves, and discovered that while they'd been distracted playing urban renewal on the creepy house, something had come by and peeled the top off the van like a sardine can.
bibliophile20
QUOTE (John Campbell)
QUOTE (ShadowDragon8685 @ Mar 12 2007, 07:05 AM)
How do Shadowrunners explore creepy houses?

They burn them down/blow them up with rockets from outside and sift through the remains for anything of value.

I recall reading somewhere of a group of Call of Cthulhu players who took that approach to an investigation. When they were done, they returned to their van, feeling quite pleased with themselves, and discovered that while they'd been distracted playing urban renewal on the creepy house, something had come by and peeled the top off the van like a sardine can.

975 Things Mr. Welch can no longer do during an RPG:

#38: When investigating evil cultists not allowed to just torch the decrepit mansion from the outside.

#566. When confronted with a haunted house with bleeding walls, no converting it into a self supporting blood bank.

#694. Search the old castle means enter it, not level it with artillery and dig through the rubble.



biggrin.gif
Fix-it
frankly that's a lot easier to do in Delta Green than in Call of Cthulu. You can't call in Snake And Nape in the 1920s.

Portable nukes are also a favorite, but I like to save them for special occasions.
Kyoto Kid
QUOTE (Fix-it)
frankly that's a lot easier to do in Delta Green than in Call of Cthulu. You can't call in Snake And Nape in the 1920s.

Portable nukes are also a favorite, but I like to save them for special occasions.

...I don't know, a couple of revolutionaries with some well placed molotovs could burn most old houses of the day down. As "insulation" back then a lot of victorians were built with paper between the outer and inner walls and the wood used was usually rather dry. Also lath & plaster burns much more readily than gypsum board, as do lace and velour curtains (there was no flame retardant treated fabric back then and at best, early extinguishers here hand pumped "soda" units that were fairly ineffective once even a small a fire really got going).

True it took longer but it usually was thorough since most fire departments were literally "bucket brigades" and hose pumpers were steam or human powered. Police departments then also didn't have arson or CSI units.

If the house was fairly "new fangled" it also had piped in gas. A break in a line + a molotov = *boom*

Yes, I've played a bit of CoC and on our last assigmnment we did just that.
cristomeyers
hehehe...

"When all else fails, use fire."
-Legend of Zelda 2

Little did Nintendo realize they were training a new generation of pyros and demolitionists.
PBTHHHHT
QUOTE (cristomeyers)
hehehe...

"When all else fails, use fire."
-Legend of Zelda 2

Little did Nintendo realize they were training a new generation of pyros and demolitionists.

Yes, we gotta thank Zelda for the use of fire for everything.
cristomeyers
Hehehehe...

Do you think Sims feel pain?
Kagetenshi
Do clams?

~J
Straight Razor
50. Not allowed to use thermodynamic science to asphyxiate the orcs' cave instead of exploring it first.

i did that one...
Thane36425
QUOTE (hyzmarca)
First rule of Shadowrunning: No matter how tempting the loot may be, never do something that would probably get a trideo character killed. This includes wearing a red uniform on your first mission with a group of experienced vets, letting your defeated foe have one last request, gloating, expositioning, employing elaborate automated deathtraps, and exploring creepy houses.

Unless the red shirt is the only one who brought a gun.
Thane36425
QUOTE (Snow_Fox)
Ever notice the world seems studded with creepy houses for heros to enter-Scooby Doo, Abott and Costello, bad slasher flicks.

Have you ever run into one of these? if so what were the conditions?

I've been in plenty. As other people have stated, there are many of them in rural areas and often these are older houses. Many of them are still very attractive places, so I used to take pictures inside and out. Had a couple of odd things happen, too. The most frightening thing was worrying about falling through the floor or having the place fall down with you in it. Some places were so bad I didn't bother to enter, save maybe a step through the door to get an interior shot, but with some even that wasn't possible.

Only rarely was there worry about running into people. I was in one old place and found a room with the walls plastered with porno from magazines and some Poloroids and 35mm pics. Just about anything you could think of was somewhere on that wall, even some really nasty stuff. Most worrisome was the jumbo sized tub of Vaseline in the middle of the floor, mostly empty. Now that place was the creepiest place I'd ever been in.
bibliophile20
QUOTE (Thane36425)
Only rarely was there worry about running into people. I was in one old place and found a room with the walls plastered with porno from magazines and some Poloroids and 35mm pics. Just about anything you could think of was somewhere on that wall, even some really nasty stuff. Most worrisome was the jumbo sized tub of Vaseline in the middle of the floor, mostly empty. Now that place was the creepiest place I'd ever been in.

You're right... that... is... disturbing.

So, judging by your post, I'm guessing you're a photographer or a film maker of some sort?
Thane36425
QUOTE (bibliophile20)

You're right... that... is... disturbing.

So, judging by your post, I'm guessing you're a photographer or a film maker of some sort?

Not really, nothing professional anyway. I had been thinking about publishing a book with the pictures and some history about the houses but never finished the project.
hyzmarca
QUOTE (Thane36425)
QUOTE (hyzmarca @ Mar 12 2007, 03:18 AM)
First rule of Shadowrunning: No matter how tempting the loot may be, never do something that would probably get a trideo character killed. This includes wearing a red uniform on your first mission with a group of experienced vets, letting your defeated foe have one last request, gloating, expositioning, employing elaborate automated deathtraps,  and exploring creepy houses.

Unless the red shirt is the only one who brought a gun.

Yeah. That doesn't work well, either. Bringing a gun and wearing a red shirt together simply guarantees that you will draw it at the wrong time or on the wrong person. I do remember this one episode in which Ensign Ricky or whomever was accompanying Kirk, Spock and McCoy on a diplomatic mission to a privative planet. He saw a Klingon, draw his weapon, and one of the natives threw a razor-edged discus through his chest.

The best way to exploring old houses is to use hoverdrones and miniblimps. If you don't have any of those, you can tie a rope to the guy no one likes and make him go in, promising to drag him out if something tries to eat him.
Thane36425
QUOTE (hyzmarca)

Yeah. That doesn't work well, either. Bringing a gun and wearing a red shirt together simply guarantees that you will draw it at the wrong time or on the wrong person. I do remember this one episode in which Ensign Ricky or whomever was accompanying Kirk, Spock and McCoy on a diplomatic mission to a privative planet. He saw a Klingon, draw his weapon, and one of the natives threw a razor-edged discus through his chest.

The best way to exploring old houses is to use hoverdrones and miniblimps. If you don't have any of those, you can tie a rope to the guy no one likes and make him go in, promising to drag him out if something tries to eat him.

Actually that was a reference to a Robot Chicken episode.

Astral projection is another good way to explore an old house. This is especially good if the mage is an initiate and can jump to the metaplanes as a means of quick escape.
Moon-Hawk
QUOTE (Thane36425)
Astral projection is another good way to explore an old house. This is especially good if the mage is an initiate and can jump to the metaplanes as a means of quick escape.

Not too launch into a tangent, but I thought astrally projecting magicians had to go straight from their bodies to the metaplanes, and that spirits were the only ones who could go there from astral space.
Am I just making stuff up again, or is this old-edition, or what?
Herald of Verjigorm
That's for metaplanar questing (I think, I vaguely remember something like that), not regular astral projection. Regular astral projection is hopping out of your meat for a few hours and zipping around looking at the shadow of the physical world and the astral states. Metaplanar questing is only available to initiates and makes spell research much easier.
Moon-Hawk
I get the feeling I'm not making myself clear.
I understand how regular astral projection works. I understand what metaplanar questing is.
My assertation was that an initiate who is already astrally projecting can not then travel to the metaplanes without stopping off at his meatbod first. But I'm not sure my assertation was correct.
Thane36425
QUOTE (Moon-Hawk)
I get the feeling I'm not making myself clear.
I understand how regular astral projection works. I understand what metaplanar questing is.
My assertation was that an initiate who is already astrally projecting can not then travel to the metaplanes without stopping off at his meatbod first. But I'm not sure my assertation was correct.

The rules seem to assume that the mage is deliberately deciding to go on a quest from the outset, meaning they ste from their bodies straight into the metaplanes. However, I don't recall seeing anything about a mage not being able to jump to the planes while projecting.
Moon-Hawk
Hmmm, interesting. I had it in my head that the projecting initiate could not escape to the metaplanes, but like I said originally, I may be pulling that from old editions or making it up completely.
nezumi
QUOTE (Thane36425)
QUOTE (Moon-Hawk @ Mar 14 2007, 04:08 PM)
I get the feeling I'm not making myself clear.
I understand how regular astral projection works.  I understand what metaplanar questing is.
My assertation was that an initiate who is already astrally projecting can not then travel to the metaplanes without stopping off at his meatbod first.  But I'm not sure my assertation was correct.

The rules seem to assume that the mage is deliberately deciding to go on a quest from the outset, meaning they ste from their bodies straight into the metaplanes. However, I don't recall seeing anything about a mage not being able to jump to the planes while projecting.

I believe the rules specify you cannot go to the metaplanes without going on a 'quest' for something. You can't just go on a metaplanar jaunt for fun.
Thane36425
QUOTE (nezumi)

I believe the rules specify you cannot go to the metaplanes without going on a 'quest' for something. You can't just go on a metaplanar jaunt for fun.

You're right, but the rules also had a mechanic for rolling for a random difficulty, which seemed to contradict that. However, a mage could always have a quest idea in mind to use if they needed to escape to the metaplanes, something simple so they wouldn't be tide up too long doing the quest.
nezumi
QUOTE (Thane36425)
QUOTE (nezumi @ Mar 14 2007, 04:34 PM)

I believe the rules specify you cannot go to the metaplanes without going on a 'quest' for something.  You can't just go on a metaplanar jaunt for fun.

You're right, but the rules also had a mechanic for rolling for a random difficulty, which seemed to contradict that. However, a mage could always have a quest idea in mind to use if they needed to escape to the metaplanes, something simple so they wouldn't be tide up too long doing the quest.

Right, in which case they'd need to return to their body, since you can only go to the metaplanes by leaving your meatbod.
hyzmarca
If there is something so dangerous there that you need to immediately escape from it, the best course of action is for the magician to attack himself in astral combat, choosing to do stun damage, essentially punching himself in the face until he is knocked unconscious. Once unconscious, the magician will instantly return to his meat body. Stunbolting oneself in the foot also works, but there would be visibility penalties due to the fact that you can't see all of yourself.
Herald of Verjigorm
QUOTE (hyzmarca)
Stunbolting oneself in the foot also works, but there would be visibility penalties due to the fact that you can't see all of yourself.

You could just use an unresisted 1D stuntouch. 1 karma to learn, instant astral retreat, and no visibility questions.
nezumi
I have argued that since "touch" or "self" are more restrictive than LOS, they can work in place of LOS. In other words, you get no penalties for casting increased reflexes on yourself in the dark, nor for casting 'compel truth' or stunbolt. I suppose that's a house-rule, but it makes sense to me.

On the other hand, knocking yourself unconscious as a safe retreat from astral exploration doesn't make so much sense.
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