Writing My First TTRPG Adventure: "The Manor on the Crimson Coast"
Welcome foolish mortals
I felt like whipping something up on the creative process of writing my first TTRPG adventure: The Manor on the Crimson Coast, which has gone through more rewrites and restructures than I care to admit (and will probably go through a few more).
In this blog I will
How It (Reluctantly) Started
So, it all started when I finally decided to bite the bullet and run games myself. I had been playing TTRPGs (im 5E babey) for about three years, always as a player. My then-boyfriend, who’d been running tables for a while, kind of hinted and/or nudged me to try GMing. But I was nervous, and let’s be real, a bit too comfortable as a player. Then his best friend started running Blades in the Dark, and well, I couldn’t just let that slide, right? I can start immediately, boss.
Now, some people may say that new GMs should start with a pre-written adventure. Makes sense, right? If you’ve never sat in the GM’s throne chair, how can you expect to design an engaging game? But I’m a stubborn fuck (and once willfully ignorant, but I like to think I’ve grown out of that), so naturally I wrote my own adventure. And that’s how the dice started rolling on The Manor on the Crimson Coast. The actual narrative content of my first adventure started way back in 2020, a full year-and-a-half before I actually ran my first table as GM.
Haunted Houses and Gothic Horror
I’ve always been obsessed with haunted houses. They’re one of the few things that can make my overexposed, ADHD-riddled brain feel genuine excitement. But I’m not talking about those jump-scare, gore-fest haunted houses (miss me with that Universal's Halloween Horror Nights shit). Nah, I’m all about the ambiance—the spooky, romantic, terrifying kind of (gothic) horror. Think The Fall of the House of Usher — the epitome of a haunted house tale: a decaying mansion, a family cursed by its own sins, and an atmosphere so thick with doom that it seeps from the pages as oily black ichor (yummy!). The house isn’t just a setting; it’s a living, breathing entity, reflecting the madness and decay of its inhabitants.
Now, here’s where it gets a little bit silly—I love Disney’s classic dark ride The Haunted Mansion. I know, I know, not exactly Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, with its 999 happy haunts and all, but the environmental storytelling, the iconic scenes like the hitchhiking ghosts, Madame Leota’s seance, the eerie bride in the attic, the ambiance, the music, oh the music! (let’s not get into that now, I’ll save my swooning for another blog) — all this makes my brain make the happy juice I so sorely need.
But when it comes to haunted attractions, Disney nailed it: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (lots to say, let’s also save it for another time), and the Haunted Mansion(s) are absolute classic (dark) rides. And the absolute best Haunted Mansion version is Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris – Ghosts haunting you in French just hits differently (revenez...revenez). This ride leans fully into the gothic horror vibe and has a focused and dedicated storyline, which sets it apart from the OG Haunted Mansion. It's also a great example of what Imagineers call a 'parlor-room ride.' You can ride these a dozen times and notice new props, effects and animatronics every time you ride it, as the scenes are so densely decorated. Disney doesn't make 'em like that anymore, sadly.
I missed out on experiencing Phantom Manor during my first visit to Disneyland Paris in 2018 because it was undergoing a major refurbishment—upgrading the technical systems, adding LED lighting, and remastering the soundtrack. I had no idea what I was missing out on at the time, but maybe if it had been open, or if I’d visited sooner and seen the original version, I might have written my first adventure earlier. But hey, that’s faith (or Disneyland’s very slow and drawn-out maintenance schedule).
Now, I haven’t had the chance to visit the OG Haunted Mansion in Anaheim or Mystic Manor in Hong Kong (but from what I’ve gathered, it doesn’t quite fit the spooky, horror-themed vibe of the original Haunted Mansion, so I’ll skip comparing it here). And the differences between the OG Mansion and the Magic Kingdom version (which I did ride) should be subtle at most. If you don’t agree with this, you are free to buy me a plane ticket to California and proof me wrong.
It all came together to create one of my Core Memories (yes, at 25 years of age, Nostalgia already found her way into my brain — bless her heart). My then-boyfriend and I probably rode it five times in two days. It was that good.
Riding Phantom Manor with company that could appreciate the beauty on display, all before the world shut down — absolutely made be the person I am today.
I’m totally not a Disney Adult, I swear!
Crafting the Adventure: From Phantom Manor to My Own Gothic Tale
With Phantom Manor fresh in my mind, I knew I wanted to write an adventure based on its themes. I started with the basics: ghosts(!), a tragic bride (inspired by Mélanie Ravenswood from the ride), a sinister father figure (Henry Ravenswood, The Phantom), and of course, a fortune-teller like Madame Leota. I dove deep into the story of Mélanie Ravenswood, the ride’s main protagonist — a woman cursed by the deaths of her fiancés, left waiting for a groom who would never arrive, and haunted by the sins of her father.
To give you the quick and bloody dirty version: Mélanie was the daughter of Henry Ravenswood, a wealthy mine baron who wasn’t too thrilled with the commoners she kept falling for. Her suitors had a bad habit of dying in strange accidents (thanks to dear old dad), and just when she was about to marry the love of her life, an earthquake hit, killing her parents and leaving her to wait for a groom who never showed. Years passed, and Mélanie became a reclusive ghost, still humming songs of lost love in her father’s decaying mansion. Locals claim one could hear her singing if one would listen closely on quiet nights. Source: Phantom Manor - Haunted Mansion Wiki
This story is told through environmental storytelling and the bits of pieces you can find through promotional material, ambiguous and open to interpretation. To make a comparison: it’s like Dark Souls with a 10-foot pole (I cringed while writing that phrase). Perfect for a dungeon-crawl!
The Writing Process: From One-Shot to World-Building Gone Wild
So, I had this idea in my head for over a year before I finally got around to writing it. The first iteration of the adventure was called Till Death Do Us Part, I convinced myself (or was convinced) to run a session as DM for D&D 5E, the system I knew best, and started with the haunted mansion in the form of a small-scale dungeon. But then I realized, you can’t have a dungeon one-shot without a village nearby (it’s like an unspoken rule, right?), and that village needed a backstory, and that backstory needed a whole world… and before I knew it, I’d created a sprawling setting with cities, politics, and a history that spanned centuries.
What was supposed to be a simple one-shot adventure quickly turned into a full-blown campaign setting. I started brainstorming the architectural style inherent to this world — was it Gothic Revival, or Second Empire. Gothic Revival is characterized by medieval-inspired, vertical and ornate designs, while Second Empire features opulent, symmetrical facades with mansard roofs, reflecting 19th-century French elegance. Naturally, if my adventure is inspired by Phantom Manor I gotta go with Second Empire. But then the question arises if the setting should be Victorian, or something else entirely? And what about the capital, the Holy City of Mournhurst —should it be ruled by a queen, or maybe a pope? What’s the local religion, and how do they get their food? What are the neighboring countries like?
Yeah, I went a little overboard. At some point, I had to stop myself and remember that this was supposed to be a one-shot, not a novel (though I’m definitely saving all that worldbuilding and lore for a novel maybe, stay tuned).
To be frank, this blog post is turning out just like the adventure did —starting off as a simple announcement that I’ve got a published adventure you can check out maybe, but getting way too long and detailed as I keep adding stuff. Does BearBlog have a word count limit? Guess we’ll find out! Thanks for sticking around <3
The Adventure Itself: From "Till Death Do Us Part" to "The Manor on the Crimson Coast"
Eventually, I pulled it together and focused on the core of the adventure (kind of). The players start in the city of Mournhurst, where they can choose between two very different taverns—one dark, dusty, and religious (The Dusty Tomb), and the other light, happy, and debaucherous (The Chapel of Love). From there, they travel to the village of Ravenswick, home of the cursed manor.
The original adventure, Till Death Do Us Part, was pretty straightforward: ten rooms in a haunted house where the players had to lift a curse by marrying the bride. My latest version, The Manor on the Crimson Coast, has twice as many rooms, a much more detailed backstory, and a curse that requires more than just a wedding to break.
So, how did it play out? Well, I expected it to take about three sessions for my first time DMing. I gathered some friends (including my then-boyfriend) and set the stage. I figured we’d spend one session in town, including travel time with wilderness encounters, and two in the dungeon. But nope— game design is hard, and my players had other ideas. A full session was the party trudging through town, the travel montage, and already entering the dungeon and the next session was them just climbing straight up to the tower room where the bride was, bypassing most of the dungeon entirely. There was barely any dungeon-delving, they ended up wrapping things up in just over a session 1,5. And the 0.5 was them interacting with the dungeon. It was a bit of a mess, but I learned a lot from it.
After reflecting on my initial setup, I realized it needed a serious rewrite. In particular, I reevaluated the curse's resolution mechanics. Originally, Fiona, the bride, was trapped in a cycle where her father wanted her married off after her suitors were killed off (by him). Fiona’s undead, banshee-like look turned potential suitors away unless she herself chose them. Which would lead to the marriage with a random (player) adventurer, which, honestly, felt pretty off since it lacked any real love. But it was one way to resolve the curse.
Wanting to give Fiona more control of her own story, and emphasize her autonomy, I introduced a new character, Emma - a serving girl Fiona truly loved. After her father murdered Emma, Fiona ended her own life, cursing the manor and its lands. This added a sorely needed feminist perspective (can you find the Charlotte Perkins Gilman reference???) and a deeper mystery on how to lift the curse.
I also put together a OSR version. I stripped out the Mournhurst location and the travel, focusing on a more straightforward, dungeon-crawl adventure. This version sticks to the OSR mantra: just get gold and fame lmao, no need worrying about solving any curses - but you can if you want to! Also more traps, meaner monsters , more deathly, more (sweaty) fun.
Conclusion: Lessons Learned
So, what’s the takeaway here? First off, I find myself deeply indebted to my ex for introducing me to the world of TTRPGs. This hobby has become a seamless extension of who I am, blending creative writing, acting, socializing, music and the unique joy of watching others navigate the worlds I create — there’s nothing quite like it. It was the missing puzzle piece and I'm so happy he helped me find it.
Crafting The Manor on the Crimson Coast has been a profound learning experience. It began as an unwieldy concept that gradually transformed into a project that fills me with pride, despite me still not being done with it (I grab every chance I get to playtest new ideas and make the adventure better with each run). Through this process, I've gained invaluable insights into managing scope, honing focus, and the critical importance of refining your vision.
Also, hehe, It’s not lost on me that I should get to mastering tools like Adobe InDesign (curse you, Word!).
Hurry back, hurry back, be sure to bring your death certificate...
You can find the D&D 5e version of The Manor on the Crimson Coast here
and the OSR version here