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What is the deal with the Butler? Did I miss a page?

  • The butler and the elevator seem to be Late Victorian/Edwardian, but the rest of the adventure takes place in a 20th century government office (complete with loudspeakers, paperwork and a power-drunk administrator.) The two being seemingly out of place, I presume they aren't part of the Interdimensional Services Bureau. Is this correct? What happened to their original (presumably Otis-style) elevator?
  • Speaking of elevators, the adventure mentions a staircase (well a door that looks like it leads to a staircase,) but then never expands on it. I can tell the players it is locked, but you know how persistent they can be. Any advice on preventing them from just going to the top floor?
  • The butler seem to be in charge of the elevator, but a controlling a Paternoster is not a thing (there is nothing a trained elevator operatorcan do with it- starting and stopping them isn't a thing and using precious second closing and opening doors is a safety hazard.) So what is going on?
  • The butler observes the players keeping track of their progress and even landing a hand, if asked. The GM is told to keep track of how much help players get, but that never plugs into anything later. So why am I doing it? Is this a red herring, and I should ask players to mark it on their sheets to distract them?
  • Butler is perhaps the most important NPC of the module, but he doesn't have a stat-block (not a problem) or any discernible motivation. Is he testing the PCs to see if they can defeat the Administrator? For what purpose? Does he want his timeline saved? Or is he doing sabotage for a rival organization? Or wants the Aministartor personally taken out, but without it being traced back to him? 
  • Butler comes back from the dead, none worse for wear (this isn't normal, right?) Does that hurt the butler (getting physically unalived has got to be painful?) Or is it merely annoying to him (like having to retrace your steps after a respawn?) Or does the butler not mention it (and in fact refuses to discuss such "dreadful misunderstandings" with the PCs?)

most of these are open to the interpretation of the GM, although here are some thoughts about how i would or did handle it in my games: 

  • generally, players will not take the staircase if something as fun as a paternoster is at hand; but if they do, you can always introduce other obstacles or just let it lead them to similar challenges as if they'd taken the elevator. a door with a glass window, where they can see someone they need to help, comes to mind. 
  • i had the butler tell them which floor they should go on (they of course demanded to go all the way up, but he told them they had bsuiness to take care on floor <x> first) and it looped there forever until they got off. nobody thought about tricking this, but if they have clever ideas, let them and give them some new obstacles based on it. 
  • i had the administrator be less impressed by their actions if they used the butler's help a lot; and by extension offer them a worse deal when they got to him. 
  • i played the butler as a lackey to the administrator or maybe even an extension of the building itself (or a manifestation of the PCs fears, in one session). but i like your ideas as well, so i suggest to go with whatever feels fun to you and/or your group. 

and i will investigate the difference between the english and german version, thanks for pointing it out!