Using Betrayal at House on the Hill in D&D

This experiment started when a buddy of mine who normally DM's our D&D games approached me and asked if I would DM a scenario for his Birthday. Heck Yes! He wanted to play the character he created to cameo in a campaign I play with my sister's husband and kids and I was more than happy to oblige. We played at Mox' Boarding house in Bellevue you can see our setup and the delicious food to the left.

I had always wanted to make my own scenario but I had never really had the push to get it started. I had read about other people taking their D&D characters into the House on the Hill. They did a great job and you can read about it here. I wanted to take it the other way, instead of playing Betrayal with D&D Characters I wanted to play D&D in the haunted house of Betrayal.

I started by thinking of a scenario that would take all my characters there at the same time. You can just drop the characters in the Mansion, but I had another thought in mind. 2 of the players characters had just finished a campaign and were teleporting back to Waterdeep, and for my buddies character who was still in my family campaign I used his connection to his deity.

Bringing the characters together:
I decided that the characters teleportations would get interfered with, and they would all end up together in a summoning circle surrounded by cultists. I wanted the players to face an immediate threat, something easy that lets the players get into the scenario, lets the characters have a fight together that they can bond over. I find combat a great way to bring a group of strangers together.

Bringing Betrayal into the game:
The summoning room was the Pentagram chamber. I built the house before the game using the room tiles from betrayal, and as the players moved from room to room they flipped the tile and discovers what room was next.

I assumed all rooms were 30' X 30' and drew out blank rooms on a play mat (pictured right) so that for combat or encounters the players could be on the mat, but then as they explore they use the tiles like a mini map. This made the players first task to get out of the haunted house. I made exploring the house a 4 hour encounter, during which they learned the plot of the scenario. Some rooms had monsters they had to fight, some had items to find. The house was haunted by ghosts that just wanted their house left alone and they gave the players a quest to protect the house from the monsters attacking it (the players thought that meant the cultists until they realized the cultists were trying to keep something scarier from breaking down the door to the basement.)

While no event cards or omens were used, having the tiles as a mini map as well as taking influence from the different haunts in Betrayal, (how many haunts had traitors trying to summon some evil into the world in this house) It made for a fun experience for my players.

I loved the experiment of using Betrayal in D&D and it gave me the opportunity to make my own encounter. You can find both games at your local game store or Betrayal at House on the Hill here, and the D&D Players handbook here and basic rules here.

I really hope you try this out!