How do you make a horror campaign that actually scares your players?
Add Skeletons. ALL OF THEM
1.you must be a good story teller
2.learn what's spooky, play an appropriate system. If it devolves into grid based combat for an hour it will be the opposite of spooky.
3.95% of horror is build up
I've scared my players before. What you need to realize is that a horror campaign is like a horror story, you need to narrate as if you're telling a horror story, and structure it like a good horror story, with slow build up, mystery, intrigue, tension, and finally BIG BOOMING HORRORS.
The more you can get them roleplaying and in their character's shoes, the more scared you can make them.
>>46238153
>>46238199
>>46238202
This plus I'm a firm believer that less is more when it comes to horror.
>>46238229
Oh yes, this is a must if you want to really get under their skin.
>>46238153
You talk about feelings.
This threads reminds me.
Does anyone have that screencap about the mars pyramid campaign?
>>46238199
Also, use real-world atmosphere to enhance in-game atmosphere. Play in a dimly lit room. Play some dark ambient to get the players uncomfortable, especially if nothing's actually happening yet. The majority of fear is in anticipation.
>>46238544
Was just about to say this.
Pretty much any archive site out there should have it. You can't screen cap it, it's pretty much the whole thread.
It was so fucking well done, gave me the chills and I'm just reading about it. Let me see if I can find it.
>>46238153
How badly do you want to scare your players? Just unnerve them? Or do you want them pale-faced, shuddering and frantic?
>>46238199
>3.95%
If it's not even 4%, why bother?
>>46238195
The skeletons are now ON FIRE.
>>46238747
I see what you did there.
>>46238153
>>46238544
>>46238688
Found it
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/12130366/
You want to scare the shit out of these guys OP? Take some lessons from this. Everything he does, the ambient music, the use of props, forbidding outside distractions, atmosphere in the room, etc. are a masterwork on getting your players immersed.
Even if he made the whole thing up, it's still an excellent read
>>46238747
You smartass. I like you.
>>46238153
Something you've got to understand is that in the majority of cases even if you scare your players they won't turn white and be deathly afraid. The most common response to being genuinely spooked is to laugh and talk a lot. This is because dudes don't like to show other dudes that they're scared and it's easier to confront something spooky with laughter.
Keeping this in mind what you're really looking to do is get them invested which is 90% good GMing skills you already have. What's difficult is having restraint. For horror games to be most effective you actually have to have a few sessions where nothing goes into the spooky zone, otherwise your players will just see it as monster of the week.
So you make sure your players all have characters that they are happy with or even love. You start them out doing some stuff that may be marginally spooky but not outright horror. Once everyone likes their character and likes a few NPCs that's when you can get them.
I ran a game for my brother, his friend, and my girlfriend. Once I made sure they had characters they liked I lured them into the setting with a spooky problem. Kids are going missing and they aren't turning back up. Something weird is happening at the school, and in a specific neighborhood. Play detective and figure it out. Once they think they have a suspect they go to his house to rough him up if he's there, or snoop around if he's not. Bro and his Friend go into the house to look for clues, GF stays in the car. Perfect.
Once the other two are juuust out of reach to provide help quickly, someone smashes the car window and attacks GF with a crowbar. She immediately looked at me with 'oh shit' eyes and told me she crawls into the backseat. From there the assailant pulled the car keys out of the car and put them in his pocket.
Oh fuck. Now the PCs are trapped. In the woods. In the dark. They have one flashlight and one gun between them.
As soon as I got them into that situation they were spooked.
I actually ran a spooky game for two of my IRL friends in person, we had just got done watching a bunch of scary videos on youtube and reading creepypastas and stuff and we were itching to do some tabletop. I came up with the campaign on the spot.
The room was dark other than a small lamp and my laptop light, and I had ambient spooky music playing from it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCTR52B4AxM
I used the Old World of Darkness system because I homebrew that system all the time, had them roll up basic characters and just improv'd the whole thing. It was your basic "you wake up in a dark abandoned building with no recollection of how you got there" kind of story, with various monsters and mindfuckery going on. They enjoyed it, and seemed pretty creeped out by the atmosphere.
...god this makes me miss my old friends from my hometown, and the coziness of hanging out with them in one of said friends's house all the time.
>>46238153
The important thing to remember about horror is that it is, at it's core, about corruption. It's about taking what is considered safe and making it unsafe. This is why so many horror movies are set in homes and why so many introductory/climactic scenes are in kitchens, living rooms, and bedrooms. They are where we feel safe and comfortable, so the movie shoves the fact in our faces that it's possible for them to not be.
They don't happen in bathrooms because typically we are already in a vulnerable position while in a bathroom anyway. It doesn't have the same impact.
Another part of corruption is making the familiar alien.
A good idea might be to run a campaign in a previously used setting, but change some things. Subtle things at first, just so they'll notice that things are a little off from the last time they were here, but maybe they'll chalk it up to things having changed in the intervening time. Then turn up the dial gradually.
>>46238859
Cont.
Now they were riled up and feared for their characters' safety, but they weren't truly scared of the assailant yet. Upon coming out to the car they found that the dude had run when he heard their approach. GF decides not to split from the party from then on, but they can tell they're being stalked from afar. They shine their light into the bushes and oh shit, the guy has no face. I let them think whatever they wanted to
>Omg it's slenderman
Was the first theory. In actuality it was a mannequin animated by some stupid bullshit I made up on the spot as they uncovered more about the mystery. Learning a shotgun blast didn't kill it made them flip the fuck out, and for a while they were scared.
Thing is once the players understand what they're dealing with they cease to be afraid of it. Not calling a vampire a vampire or a mannequin a mannequin is useful because they come to their own conclusions. If you're a lazy GM like me you might even change your original concept and go with whatever theory they're the most worried about. I fucking hate Slenderman so I didn't do that, but you could.
The point is, for that reason, once the PCs have the needed info and fight (assuming they're supposed to win...) this should be the shortest part of the adventure. It shouldn't be without challenge, but no horror movie has what I would call a good ending because once it gets to the confrontation stage the horror is gone.
Understand that in the beginning you build up, in the middle the terror is there, and in the end you wrap up with danger but little fear. To keep the players scared you have to keep them on their toes. That's why a common trick is to give them a "safe place" which protects them from harm and then one day just fuck their safe place up when they least expect it. Changing patterns scares people, atmosphere matters, and not being able to solve a problem with senseless killing is utterly alien to most players and makes them afraid.
>>46238747
you gotta be a scary person
One thing the thread failed to mention that's really important is that part of good story telling is your out of game actions as GM. If you're animated when story telling, like me, then you need to be consistently animated. Not just when danger's afoot, but also when they're nowhere near the spookfest. If you can be calm, maybe even deadpan about everything, while still being engaging then your players won't know what to think.
Bonus points if there's an npc acting as a guardian that flips his shit, goes berserk, then acts like it never happened.
>>46238153
Kill one of them randomly. Strap the rest in to their chairs and continue whacking them when their characters die.
>>46238153
play this on loop during your sessions OP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgbmZO53OiU
>>46238153
Strip in front of them.
Awake
Awake
Awake
Don't let the players make badass characters. I'm usually against reducing player agency but this is important.
You gotta make them feel like they are in danger or have something to loose.
I've been playing zombie games for a long time but I still felt like in a horror story when my DM let me jokingly play a little girl and I stuck to character.
>>46238153
If the players character dies they have to email their browser history to their immediate family
/panic intensifies
>>46240242
Why not let them play badasses, and have the horror just not care about it? I don't see how an Operator will be able to kill a ghost any easier than someone else.
>>46240945
You can do that, but most often than not you'll end up with players convinced they should be hot shit and frustrated they are weak compared to the horror.
It's not bad to have an operator in your ghost hunting team but in my experience players live it more fully when they make characters of low powerlevel.
>>46238924
>no horror movie has what I would call a good ending because once it gets to the confrontation stage the horror is gone
Everything you said, yes.
However there is a vital trope that you seem to forget: After everything is done and the survivors have prevailed, have faced the unthinkable, and have emerged on the other side with the unthinkable presumably banned, that's when you sow doubt again.
It's subtle, and in no way definitive. It can be the hook for the next adventure, but that's not what it's there for. It just questions the conclusions we have reached with the protagonists and undermines the sense of safety gained from victory.
It's the camera drawing back on the happy end and revealing that the vampire bar was really just the top of an ancient pyramid which remains intact and unexplored. It's the black ashes of the incinerated creature carried by the wind to spread around town and touch the skin of everyone out in the open. It's the missing remnant of the defeated foe which surely must be safe now but that nonetheless has disappeared ominously.
This releases the audience not at the bottom of the last hill, our showdown, but on the first incline of the next, which remains undefined.
>>46238747
>>46238747
>>46238153
Ensure that the players enter your Magical Realm. A lot.
May not work so well if the players share your Magical Realm.
>>46238153
Horror doesn't work on it's own. You have to build an engaging world before anything else gets done. Horror can only function when something is at stake and something can only be at stake when there is sense of value in the game.
Intriguing character's, a perplexing mystery the chance of fabulous reward, all built on a world that feels alive. This is the core of a scary game.It gives the characters a reason to care and a reason to move forward into darker territories, it also gives them something to lose.
If the world feels cheap why bother surviving in it?
>>46238153
flashbang grenades.
Everything can be made better by flashbang grenades.
When the players arrive go to the toilet while they preparing their papers and stuff and casually throw a flashbang grenade into the room, I guarantee that they will be scared
>>46238761
stop, you're making me scared.
>>46242642
Cont...
The other thing is that a game is significantly different medium than literature or film and many trappings of horror have to be changed to fit it. I would say it is vitally important that players have control over their characters. The decisions they make are the most tangle link the players have your world, robbing them of that weakens their investment and potential for fear.
I would also say that the choices the player makes should be a bit more important than die rolls. Dice should only fall in dramatic or tense moments.
The trick is to create angst. As the game goes on the players should feel more and more weight to their actions. They should fear the implications of their choices and despair over the fallout of their failures. This is a game, the game is played by making decisions, use that.
Hopelessness and futility are tricky to use in TTRPGs, I would say they really shouldn't factor in until the very last stages of the game. The burden of choice losses it's edge when it doesn't matter what you choose. Most of the time I find games focused around futility come off as shallow wankfests for the G, there are exceptions but they are very rare.
>>46241377
>>46238809
That reminded me of Ted the Caver (http://www.angelfire.com/trek/caver/page1.html)
It had the same sense of
>just gonna explore this claustrophobic environment
>that's kind of weird
>OK that's really weird
>I'm starting to think something's out there
>SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY OUT THERE OFUCKOHFUCKOHFUCK
fear of intimacy
driveby bump
>>46238153
A lot of it depends on finding good players. Players that don't want to be scared can't be scared.
body horror
>>46238153
Do some IRL stuff. Like find a way to rig the lights so they go out at some point, or maybe set an alarm on your phone somewhere in the room to play spooky whispers or someshit.
Oh, try playing by candlelight too.
Pacing is everything. The main dimension to do this in is tension. Tension comes from intangibly vague threat.
Horror always subverts something, preferably something that symbolizes safety or innocence. In the end it is a metaphor for or parallel to the lack of control in the human condition.
The less shown the better. This creates tension. The moment the horror is confronted any tension evaporates and turns into action. Break up your fear and foreshadow its elements. Tease your players.
The other big part of horror is immersion. Players need to identify with their character's fate. They have to own it. Because only then can you really threaten it. Without immersion this threat remains hollow. Set a baseline for normal before you start destroying it. And use that time to bring your players closer to their characters. Get them emotionally invested. Humor them. Show them that the story understands and supports them.
Pay special attention to letting the players make relevant decisions. They decide the fate of their character, you decide how it plays out. It is helpful to prepare several endings or NPC constellations, different ways to approach specific problems, and to remain flexible during play. Definitely let the players pick their characters' friends and foes. You can give them clues, but they have to make the decision. If they ever feel like you don't then you lose immersion and thereby tension, making it all pretty pointless.
>>46238214
>Dat spooky ass shadow behind him
For some reason I'm getting the shakes looking at that.
I mean, the skeleton is hilarious. The shadow just unnerves him.
>>46243175
>Ted the Caver
God DAMN that's some Web 1.0 shit.
Was there ever any closure?
>>46242548
Can't say why, but the kids play structure in the background creeps me out more than the dogs.
>>46238290
I ran some creepy shit to knock the cockiness out of my CoC players. Anyone want me to post it?
>>46253979
Ah, Hell I've got shit to do tonight, might as well post it regardless.
I ran a CoC campaign, the players were in the stereotypical new England town, they went about meeting characters, and solving mysteries. They started uncovering shit, they beat a few monsters using extensive research, luck, and a fuckton of explosives. They were getting cocky. They started dissing people at random, starting fights, pissing people off, doing no research. A solution was needed.
So it showed up at their window.
Throughout the game I have dream sequences. The sessions are split between night and day. That night the thing came crawling up to their window. A thin, wiry, humanoid, about 25 feet tall, hairy, like a chupacabra almost. It had a painted wooden mask, with no slits. On its mask was a smile with no eyes. One character, Christina, woke up.
>hello friend.
Oh fuck what's that.
>hey, buddy, how's it going? Saw you take down that cult leader the other week, that was so cool!
Christina's player tried to brush it off, oh thanks she said, being friendly.
>Well friend, how about you...
>Let me in.
I'll have to pass Christina said.
The beast flicked out a thin claw. It tapped on the window, it unlocked with a click.
It's neck began to elongate. Bones and cartilage cracked and slid into place as the beast's spine slid over its shoulders so it could fit it's hideous painted grin into their room.
The school teacher, Simon burst out of his bed, his eyes and mouth shone a silvery blue. He shouted in many voices;
>tamsi planeta sėdi ant dangaus, ji mato visa tai žino visi. ji nėra jums pakenkti šiuos liaudies, jų laikas atpildo neatėjo!
The beast screeched and shrunk away from the window. The bones of its neck and spines.cracking into one another, like rings of a slinky falling into place. It's knees bent backward. It's legs cracking as it fell on all fours, and scuttled away backward.
>>46254104
They were a bit shaken, Simon, however felt blessed, he saw a dark planet in the sky and knew it had protected him for whatever reason. If only he could speak Lithuanian. Which isnt bullshit, it's actually an important language in the setting. Some shit is about to go down in Lithuania, and the buzzing man will come upon them. But I digress.
The beast started to harass them more often. Christina had stolen a gold sundisk from the cult of the Smiling God a while ago. The beast started following them after that. Simon had worked his butt off to get a meeting with the shadowy Brotherhood of the Strange. They had books and leads that might help them stop some mysterious group from summoning a creature. Christina's player described it as, an evil space fetus.
They went to meet with the brotherhood, but when they got their, there was blood. Soo much blood. The brothers were dead, and a creature with a wooden mask was hunched over in the corner.
>Hello friend.
After a narrow escape with the beast elongated it's backward knee legs into stilt like things chasing them at a speed equal to if not faster than their car.
They made it back to the hotel safe. They waited the night.
They saw the creature prowling the rooftops nearby. Standing nearly 60feet tall on its teetering stilt legs. Standing still. Watching. Waiting.
For some reason, perhaps previous success or frustration at having been so close to such a valuable lead, Christina made some poor decisions.
>>46254130
A new church had opened, the church of starry wisdom.
Christina's player decided to throw a Molotov cocktail at it. The other players inside the church nearly died but made it out. Police and fire department arrived and Christina ran into the woods. And soon she was lost. The sun started to fall low in the sky. The light was turning red.
>Hello friend.
Christina scampered up a tree,
>Oh, its not nice to run from your friends, hasn't anyone told you that.
The beast twisted it's bones around the tree, hugging it like a huge serpant.
It brought it's face up to Christina's.
>Well friend, I would like to make a deal with you, no windows or school teachers to protect you now.
Christina shot it in the face with a shotgun.
To give Christina's player credit…. They rolled well.
There was a short nasty period of unspeakable horror, Christina was on the ground now her muscles in her right arm replaced entirely with soft cartilage, and a lot of blood. A lot of blood. How is there this much blood.
She lay dying on the forest ground as the night set in.
>Well friend, this is quite the predicament you got yourself into. Sorry for losing my temper, but you know, you always hurt the ones you love.
>how about you make a deal, hows that sounding right now?
Christina's player made a deal.
The beast got its “invitation”, now it can see them any time Christina is with them. They are not safe, no matter where they run.
They aren't so goddamn cocky any more.
>>46254153
God damn, Anon. That's pretty fucking spooky.
There is a pdf made by fa/tg/uys about spoopy stuff.
If someone have please share it.
>>46254153
Pretty good, Anon. Shit ending, but only because the rest was good enough that I expected better than ' she shot him, he mauled her, she acquiesced, we spy now'
>>46255553
this one?
>>46256258
That one.
>>46256218
Oh, the campagin is still going, I just had to end it there for brevity, this was a huge wake up call for the players to get serious about danger since it had such huge consequences, now they are preparing to uncover the secrets of the Blackridge Quarry and are fucking terrified because the beast is helping them attack the quarry. The goals of them and their allys have alligned with the beast, and that makes them VERY uncomfortable. Especially seeing what it does to those that oppose them. For example turning an annoying secretary inside out, or devouring the quarry wardens bones so he fell into a pile of inactive flesh.
>>46238214
Looks like another case of bloods being gunned down by Crypts
>>46256693
Do you have any plans for it, or is it just a thing there to unnerve them?
Use this:
http://100777.com/nwo/barbarians
It will scare the shit of the players.
PS: read the link entirely or dont read at all (check the size first to see if you can handle everything and dont read at all if you cant handle the entire size of the thing)
>>46238153
Depends on the game, but let's say DnD 3.5
What you do is you make everything rust monsters
That skeleton? Rust monster in his ribcage
That giant? Rust monster tapped to his club
That princess in the wizard's tower? Rust Monster princess
The wizard? his shoes are Rust Monsters
That treasure chest? Rust monster baby carriage
That quaint farming village? Rust Monsters instead
of oxen
>>46256783
Oh, I have plans, a lot of my campaigns are built by random encounter, but I generally don't let them stay random. The beast is a demon, as the figured out pretty quick by it having some set of rules. It wants them to enter the portal set deep in the quarry, the beast has unfinished business with one of their "allies" the buzzing man. He hasn't been harmful, per say. Just unnerving. He has given them aid. But their closest and most trusted Ally, a secret agent, Milligan, doesn't trust him and tells them that he is "not from here" or that he "isn't right". The thing that started off the case was a mysterious prophesy regarding a mask and a man who is not from here. So while my players haven't peiced it together yet, I'm sure you can predict the cluster fuck that is about to go down when the buzzing man,(who they think is from 1983 Lithuania) (and are correct) and the beast of the Smiling God, meet in the mysterious otherworld in the quarry.they players have some magical macguffins that are powerful, but fuck you up, big time. And they will have to decide which group to aid. The world will end in 1983. Which coincidentally is when the other simultaneous CoC game I'm running is taking place.
>>46238153
You fake your death
Then turn it into a surprise LARP.
>>46257067
I love it when a plan comes together
>>46238809
>>46256722
for fuck's sake.
>>46256722
i had a giggle
>>46238153
kill yourself and become a ghost and then spooky your players by shaking their rulebooks and rattling their dice
>>46257750
Can confirm this works, I did this to my players once and it made for a great scare all around.
I feel like a very important part is having players that are ready and willing to get spooked. Ultimately everyone knows you're sitting around a kitchen table in your buddy's house in the suburbs telling a story together. Your players gotta be willing to immerse themselves in the mounting unease and terror. And not crack a joke or pun every minute. Fuck you Tyler.
>>46257995
Fuck you too pal.
>>46252078
That was a great read, back in the day. That and Dionaea House. But no, no closure.Not as such, anyway. The vague ending was fully intentional. Because it is fiction though, the author is alive and well. See https://grahamjw.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/ted-the-caver-mystery/ for an explanation.
>>46238153
RULE ONE
YOU DIE IN THE GAME, YOU DIE IN REAL LIFE
There's some PDF with solid advice, anyone have it?
More interesting was it referenced a 1990s web page with way better advice (the PDF described it as "extreme" or something). But really it had lots of solid ideas. Stuff like banning jokes and forcing the players to stand for the entire session.
Everything is spiders.
>>46258872
>try to walk forward
>character falls down because everything is spiders
>check for injuries
>spiders leaking out of the wound
>try to bandage wound
>wound is spiders
>leg is spiders
>character is spider
>health starts going down
>roll fortitude savedice is spiders
>>46256809
oh wow, a lot of this is hilariously out of touch
>some years later, AIDS was developed
says the guy talking about something that happened in 1969
>>46256809
>This is an avowed atheist speaking
>I recall then only of thinking, "no they won't!" and remembering our Lord's words where he said to Peter, "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church, and gates of Hell will not prevail against it."
>>46238153
Was running a Dark Heresy one-shot for two players in our campaign as the rest of the party was either sick, working, or bitchy girlfriends said "no fun for you tonight, we need to go to my parents house."
It was a warm summer evening in Georgia. The tree frogs and cicadas were out in force, and it was dark out.
They were on a ship in the warp when suddenly LOLWARPBREACHDAEMONSEVERYWHERE.
They get to the saviour pods.
They along with a few ratings from the ship crashland on a jungle planet along with a few other pods.
A great perception check (the guy rolled a 1) noticed what looked like a landing platform on the way down, about 20 km away from where they landed.
The ratings want to stay with the savior pod, the players leave them to go find help.
I make them roll awareness every so often.
Each time one of them makes it....the sounds outside (the animals and stuff) go dead silent. I'm talking dead-fucking-quiet. That type of quiet when there's a predator about.
They find one of the other pods, ripped asunder....from inside.
Fast foward awhile, every time they make an awareness check, nature obliges when they succeed by going quiet.
By the time they get to the landing strip, the hairs on their arms and back of their necks (the players, not the characters) are standing up. They are both freaked out right now.
Ever heard a rabbit's death scream?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-3z-TjnqB4
That sound happened just as the Daemon made it's appearance.
tl;dr
Get nature to cooperate with you, because nature can be spooky as all fuck.
>>46259437
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYKPdNvH800
More gloriousness please
>>46256722
nice
>>46238747
>>46238153
Bust out the F.A.T.A L. Rulebook. They'll be pissing themselves yet.
rather enjoyed this one.
>>46238153
Bang on the table and throw things at them.
>>46261275
http://johntynes.com/revland2000/rl_mofo.html
Start the game with one syringe for every player. Every time their character fails or dies, you withdraw one syringe full of blood from the player and squirt it into the fire you use for light. Make sure to have refreshments available, so players don't get too woozy.
Also, spike the refreshments with something.
Your players will be so spooked!
>>46262620
wjat
>>46262620
In other words, kill your players if they die too much
>>46262620
I had an idea for a Dune drinking game that went like this. Every time someone takes the spice, take a hit of LSD. Every time someone takes the water of life, hit of heroine. Fun for everyone!
>>46240185
Oh man, even if Awake doesn't show, his stuff is a prime example of quality horror GMing.
>>46262672
You are a child.
>>46262701
No.
It is an example of highly invested players.
The GM skills demonstrated lack severely, the story goes nowhere, and the game is painfully mismanaged.
If you try to emulate that it will not go well unless you get very lucky with players.
>>46238809
>yellow clearance PC in a ultraviolet-clearance zone
I'd be scared too
I always find stuff like this unnerving. the movements are unnatural and, while abstract, it takes things that look familiar and makes them enter the space of the unknown. the uncanny valley is your friend when it comes to adding the buildup factor. what i'd like to know is how to properly pull off the payoff.by the way the video it's from is called METACHAOS. took me a while to find that tidbit.
On the subject of horror, does anyone have that gif of arms melting through the ceiling? it was really found footage looking and creepy.
>>46238153
Throw skeletalcliffracersat your PCs and watch them shit themselves
>>46265104
what the fuck...
This thread is cool. Now I want to run a campaign in a Zelda: Majora's Mask-like world.
>>46265763
Search "metachaos" on youtube.
You can't. To make something scary, you have to take away the person's sense of self-agency of some aspect of life.
To take away someone's agency in a tabletop rpg is to be the highest of dicks and will get you called a rail-roading prick.
>>46238153
I gave a player nightmares by accident while playing a really simple Pathfinder campaign with a sp00ky skelington raising more skelingtons and stuff.
After giving some thought, I realized the reasons:
A. I narrated what the character felt and saw -only-, usually leaving the player wondering about what was going on, increasing the mystery, and that developed in the next point.
B. The horror didn't actually happen before him, hell most of the situations weren't that spooky, but since he wasn't sure of what was going on he began to imagine things: The mystery developed into uncertainty, and the horror happened inside of his head, imagining all the possibilities of what was going on and how he was unable to work against all of them.
>>46270511
Very important details here:
Don't explain to the players but describe what the characters' senses perceive. Prepare some details.
> Moist, warm air with a pungent aroma of rotting feces and a sweet note of raw meat with vinegar pushes against the hairs on your skin as you enter.
conveys more immersion than
> There's a putrid stench.
and never do
> There's a half eaten corpse in the corner covering a trap door, and it stinks.
And then: NEVAR show your creature until the showdown. You can show its shadow disappearing in the night, have its sounds unnerve the investigators through a closed door, even poke its talon through the crack under it. But that's pushing it. And it is much more effective to use inexplicable paw prints, stammered descriptions from survivors, gruesomely disfigured corpses, or just a huge boulder pushed out of the way carelessly.
It's all about the atmosphere and the player investment. I ran a Call of Cthulhu campaign during a power outage once. It was fantastic. We had candles, rain, everything.
Now, the players had in their possession a relic that, among other things, gave them nightmares. At first, I described them as surreal, unnerving scenes that gave them vague clues about the plot. But then the nightmares started seeping into real life. I remember one particular instance; one of the characters had just woken up and was describing his morning routine. I like getting them into the habit of describing the details of their characters behavior, not only because it adds to the character, but because it creates opportunities for horror. After all, horror often comes from something familiar being horribly wrong.
So the character gets dressed, makes some coffee, and starts to shave. And then the face in the mirror stops moving. And then the man in the mirror starts smiling a rigid, frozen smile, and he takes the razorblade up to his eyes, and cuts them out. The mirror-man then opens the cupboard at the side of the mirror, still smiling and with bleeding sockets, and he puts the eyes in. The corresponding cupboard next to the character then opens, and the eyes are there.
It could have been a cheesy, even clichéd moment, but it worked like a motherfucker because the player was invested in the story and his character's actions. Apparently the player was unnerved by mirrors for weeks afterwards. I love doing scares like this, using routines and familiar actions and character as basis for the horror. After all - being chased by a monster is scary, but having a talk with your mother and suddenly seeing her face shatter like broken porcelain as the monster's face emerge from under it is a lot scarier.
>>46238153
encourage them to play their special snowflake
threaten to permanently maim them if they fuck up
Powerful hallucinogenics
