How do you really scare the shit out of your players?
>>47937838
First you find players who will accept being scared. That goes a long way toward getting them scared it turns out.
>>47937838
place a gun on the table in front of you at the first joke you hear.
>>47937886
That won't always do it. I had a DM do something like that with a knife. He was a smaller guy and I'm a bigger guy so I pi led him up and threw him away from the knife. Took 3 people to stop me from killing the little fucker.
>>47937966
Picked*
>>47937838
Abruptly introducing really ominous and altogether otherworldly threats unlike anything in pop culture already can go a long way, especially when aided with good visual aids.
I sprung a giant skinless black-eel-muscle humanoid with a giant eyeball for a head at a character when he was alone in his apartment, after torturing him by having him see it in the corner of his eye on the tops of buildings or amidst crowds while it was seemingly invisible to others. At first he wasn't sure if his character was just going fucking nuts, and for a while the other players were sort of convinced that his PC was going off the deep end after he had them essentially search out a hospital for this thing.
There had previously been some pretty serious themes of insanity and "being hunted" in the game already, and when it busted into his apartment he flipped a little, especially when he woke up to find it in his hallway, pulling a string that was coming out of his chest. When he was within eyeshot of it, I also whent out of my way to explain that in it's presence, there simply was no sound. His character screamed and magdumped the sidearm in his nightstand at it and it just fucking glared dumbly at him until he feinted.
Later on I had an internet easer-egg hunt/ARG thing for my players that they could use to gain some fun extra backstory to the situation, and one of which was this video, which I framed as if it had been posted by a neighbor from his apartment complex the same night the gangly eye thing invaded his space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mawxHl2HOuE
You don't. Fear is an emotion and you can't actually cause an emotion, you can only make space for that emotion to happen.
The two fastest paths to that are deprivation and peril. Deprivation happens when the characters need something but they can't get it. They need information about the monster to be able to fight it effectively but they don't have it. They need to stay in the light but they're running out of candles.The infection needs medicine but they're far underground. There's only enough air in the cave in for a day. The ship is out of the elixer that keeps the rangers "little problem" in check and can't get more until port.
Deprivation works best when it starts slow and builds slowly.
Peril happens when something the party cares about is threatened. Their mentor's chronic illness is getting worse and worse. The ransomers have someone's little sister. The cave-in trapped a group of school kids but drilling straight-in might make it worse. The party are a bunch of battle hardened mercenaries but the little girl they were hired to protect isn't and every time someone puts a bullet through a window she freaks out a little more. There's a cat.
Peril works best when it's completely undeserved.
And if you're not up to either of those go crib some stuff off of Kris Straub/chainsawsuit.
There are a few solid ways to scare players.
-Tell them you want to do low-magic. Full-caster classes aren't available for PC use. But you're also looking to do high-level! And you're not taking it easy with the creatures.
-Ask them if they mind if you add a character because you're foreverDM. It won't be a hindrance or campaign focus, you *promise*.
-"Hey, you guys like 4th edition, right?"
-"Hey, you guys like 3.5/Pathfinder, right?"
-"Hey, you guys like AD&D, right?"
-"So. Shadowrun. I've had this idea. I'd like to try...an all-decker party. And we'll be using the 5th edition decking rules."
-"Soooo. We're all adults here and I want to add some 'adult' elements."
-"I like to build around strong central storylines. Choo-Choo Motherfucker!"
>>47938132
Dude that is amazing.
>>47937838
Tell them you're switching over from D&D to a rules-medium game with a focus on role-playing and giving more narrative powers to the players.
Nothing terrifies them like that.
>>47937854
Yes. One player in my group always insists on vocalizing whatever he's feeling, so he any tension always gets obliterated with him. Your players need to be willing to enter your magical realm, so to speak.
>>47938132
This is great and you're amazing
>>47937966
Very likely, my friend.
You wouldn't pass the DC to make anyone believe that even using a d100.
One time I put on a loop of Halloween sounds while playing betrayal at house on the hill.
>>47937886
I sometimes forget that people think the presence of firearms is scary.
>>47937838
Bills. Debt. Family obligation.
Cracked open your copy if fatal and ask them to roll a character.
>>47939123
It's almost like a killing machine that rednecks like to haul around IS scary.
>>47939208
To limpwristed liberal pansies, I suppose.
>>47937838
Monsters that can destroy gear.
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/12130366/
Obligatory.
>>47937838
Smile over the GM screen after telling them something good has happened in game.
>>47939241
This too.
>I'm pregnant with one of you
----------------------------------------------------------
FRIENDLY REMINDER
This is a troll thread.
>It pops up in slight variations as soon as it sages out.
>OP never replies.
>/tg/ has made PDFs on this which get posted in relevant threads where people want to discuss actual games actually being played in real life.
It doesn't hurt anyone but you, wasting your time.
That is all.
----------------------------------------------------------
>>47939566
I mean, if the thread drives relevant discussion, then is it really a waste of time? Or more so than posting on /tg/ at all.
>>47939313
That really is an anomaly as far as RPGs go. A real diamond in the rough.
>>47939566
God damn you people are fucking useless twits.
You can't even figure out which threads are troll threads and which are /pol/ shit.
>>47939229
It's not the gun I fear, it's the retards using them.
If some asshole thought that bringing a loaded gun to game night was a good idea, then I would be concerned.
>>47939918
They aren't mutually exclusive.
>>47938802
> rules-medium
>giving more powers to the players
See: "making shit up as you go along"
>>47939566
>This is a troll thread.
>>47938132
Wow. 10/10 would cry and get in fetal position.
>>47939941
Agreed. If my redneck as hell friend brought a gun, I'd be fine because I know he's smart enough to take gun safety seriously. But some random schmuck with a gun, I don't know how retarded he is.
>>47937966
WOW this sounds believable, did you throw him dozens of feet with your incredible strength, was a super model giving a bj while you did it?! :D
>>47939057
What are Halloween sounds, link?
>>47940033
>See: "making shit up as you go along"
As opposed to what? Scripted role-playing?
start inserting my magical realm, slowly at first and with ample set up so that it doesn't feel contrived, then once they're slightly uncomfortable but used to the idea and just passing it off and general weirdness, I hit them with the full force of it.
Splitting the party can work, in ine of my sessions the paluer pissed off a particularly nasty hongoblin and they tyen proceeded to sleep in separate locations across town
The hobgoblin visited tye wizard and rogue first, nearly killing the rogue and then hunting the wizard through the forest which created a very tense atmosphere. The wizard escaped and the hobgoblin proceeded to attack the warlord and the monk nearly killing the warlord, until the monk entering combat forces hik to flee
I dont know how it happened really as i did not mean for it to be so tense and scary but it ended up that way
>>47941182
Hours of this kind of shit
https://youtu.be/t6LCtiPSHL4
Laxatives are a good start.
>>47941235
>"For fuck's sake anon you were meant to crack a joke at the funeral of the king! Let's start again."
>>47942159
just don't go overboard with dosage desu
>>47939941
>If some asshole thought that bringing a loaded gun to game night was a good idea, then I would be concerned.
They or you may live in a bad part of town and get home late at night. They may not be carrying it to YOUR house, but carrying it for the walk/drive there and back.
If you're not comfortable with it, and it's in your house, you have every right to tell him to leave it at home or to leave your house, but understand that people may carry a gun for reasons you don't understand.
Give the guy a chance to defend his choice, is all. It may be more rational than you think.
>>47937838
Free rolling consecutive natural twenties outside the screen in response to player actions.
>>47937838
Video playlists of damage and scary sense events.
>>47940221
This is /tg/.
Every thread is a troll thread.
>>47938742
>"Soooo. We're all adults here and I want to add some 'adult' elements."
I feel sorry for anybody scared of this.
>>47942625
>They or you may live in a bad part of town and get home late at night. They may not be carrying it to YOUR house, but carrying it for the walk/drive there and back.
Then why are they putting it out in my house in my game to prove a point?
You gun-fellating retards completely lost it.
>>47938742
Reading this I've finally realized no matter what game I play I'll get ridiculed for it by autistic bastards like you. No matter what edition of what game I'm going to get shit on by the fun police for liking a game or edition of a game you or someone else doesn't.
>>47945222
>no matter what game I play I'll get ridiculed for it by trolls
FTFY
They're called trolls, and they get replies by shitting on whatever seems to be well-liked.
>>47945163
Way to somehow twist it from "the GM pulls out a gun so scurry lol XD" to "WHY DID YOU COME TO MY HOUSE AND PUT A GUN ON MY TABLE", retard
Maybe if you had a gun you would be less a fucking dumb pussy. I mean it doesn't really matter to me I guess, I'll conceal carry to anyone's house whether they like it or not, and they won't even know because what are you going to do, try to strip search me?
>>47939123
It's not the weapon that's scary,it's the man who has it. A lot of really fucking stupid people have guns and the point of the comment was more focused about that fact that he drew it at a joke. That hints at him not being the most mentally stable person and more likely to get pissed off over something stupid and put a bullet in someone
>>47948974
Who is more stupid, the stupid person with a gun or the person that's stupid enough to be around a stupid person while not having a gun of their own that they're prepared to use?It's the latter, anon.
>>47937838
Roll your dice behind the screen periodically, even when you're not actually rolling anything.
Scares them better than anything.
>>47946000
No, but they might stop inviting you into their homes if they find out.
If you brought a weapon into my home unannounced I'd not let you back in.
>>47937838
>"Hey, what's your will save?"
>>47949320
>randomly throw dice behind my screen
"What was that for Anon?"
>"nothing. Continue on."
>>47937838
Point a gun at them.
>>47938393
>There's a cat.
Nice.
Another great source of fear is Anxiety, which happens when characters expect something terrible to happen, but for some reason it hasn't happened yet. This works alongside deprivation because characters are, obviously, going to be anxious about the consequences of what happens when they run out of their scarce resource, or can't acquire the necessary resource.
However, anxiety can also be produced by temporarily removing Peril. For example, the characters escape a werewolf by reaching a cabin in the woods and barricading the door, and after a minute of banging and howling the noises stop. Are they safe, and if so, for how long? Is it gone, or is it just looking for another entrance, or waiting for them to leave so it can pounce on them? Even without an immediate threat, or a specific scarce resource, the characters are on edge, perhaps more terrified than when the beast was chasing them.
This leads to another excellent source of fear, Danger. This is different from Peril, because whereas Peril is an immediate threat they have to deal with, Danger represents the risk inherent in a course of action. You could look outside to see if the werewolf is gone, but that might let it get inside. You could shoot a flare into the sky to signal for help, but that might draw the axe-murderer towards you. Danger creates action paralysis, and when time is a scarcity, that makes it even more effective, but shouldn't be over-used or characters will just assume that everything is a death-trap and they'll just give up.
What's excellent is that Anxiety and Danger work extremely well together, because they focus on a strong, primal source of fear - the unknown. You don't know what'll happen next, or when, or what kind of danger it'll even be. You don't know whether doing something will put you in MORE danger. Will fire kill the monster, or will it just make it angry? Two great flavours that go great together.
>>47939941
Lol, everyone in my gaming group carries to the group. We have a gun bucket in the middle of the table so no one has to sit with a gun digging into their side for 4-6 hrs.
>>47949220
When you die in the game, you die in real life.
>>47946000
>whether they like it or not
what a dick.
If you know they wouldn't like it, and you still do it, you deserve the lack of friends you'll have.
Suspenseful surround music that instantly changes to panic-y music only when the jumpscare reveals itself to the player, or the player triggers it in game. Little or no human interaction, and a very limited HUD. Think Dead Space 1.
when we play DnD or any game that involves being out at night or camping, I like to periodically make rolls for each characters' perception/equivalent skill.
When we do wh40k rpgs I like to play around with insanity points and making the characters "see" things.
>this murrican gun discussion
I have never even seen pulled out gun in my life, is easy to be europoor.
Ask for hit points
pretend your rolling dice
say oH shit
then continue on as normal
By breaking the 4th wall with special effects
For me? Futility.
Doing everything right, getting the best gear, having the best strategy and high stats... and your foe is simply too clever or strong or god forbid both for you and your party.
You did all the quests, you beat the bandits, saved the towns, explored the tombs and obtained the Mystical Staff of MacGuffin and are now at the gates of the Necromancer's lair ready to lay the smackdown in an epic showdown with your party... but you were too late. The ritual's complete, he's basically a demigod, he now has innumerable hordes of undead to subjugate you and the Kingdom.
By all rights, this should have been your triumphant conquest, but all your efforts were for nothing.
You did your best. And you failed.
>>47956173
to me this is on the wrong side of the line between despair and fear. If the players never had a chance of defeating the the bad guy then why should they care? if death is unavoidable then there's no reason to fight it, if there's no reason to fight it then there's no tension and without tension there's no fear.
>>47952299
>THE player
>a very limited HUD
Anon, this board is for traditional games. The OP is about traditional games.
If you want to talk about video games, go to /v/.
