I'm soon to be hosting a level 2 survival campaign where the main threat will be a tribe of cannibalistic neanderthals. Without being too edgy, how can I go full "Green Inferno" and makes my PCs as scared as possible of these primitives?
>>46466140
Pulling off fear in an RPG isn't an easy thing to do.
Take queues from survival-horror video games. Limit supplies, make odds overwhelming unless carefully met. Foreshadow. Have detailed surroundings both in your descriptions and maps. Basically plan the shit out of it, so that the players have a vivid picture.
But don't be super formulaic, or anything. Just because you have something planned doesn't mean it has to be used that way. It's just that losing your pacing can fuck things up, so it's better to have it planned to a T before you change it, than to try to wing things.
Break up your suspense. The whole thing can't be one, ultra-gritty slog through "the most terrible terror of terrifying terror to ever terrorize," or shit loses its appeal as you keep trying to one-up your last piece with "well this time he drinks blood out of three skulls, instead of two!" Snore.
Have little mysteries and details that are off, that you'll get back to later. Scratching behind walls that disappears after a little while. Two scenes later they find the bound corpse of someone who suffocated around a gag out of panic, and that they now realize was doing the scratching. But in-between they found something dark and mysterious in a hole that turned out to be an adorable monkey who becomes a familiar and poops on things.
And have enemies retreat. Enemies that players know are there, and can't fight yet, and might attack them at inopportune moments? Those are nice.
>>46466396
Supplies will for sure be limited, as they're playing in a tundra wasteland.
I'm also going to pace foreshadowing, because that alone is going to be a threat to them.
A part of what I needed help for is scenarios for con checks. I plan on making them do con checks every time they see something messed up, like a NPC getting eaten alive. If they fail it, they temporarily lose 2 charisma.
Watch Cannibal Holocaust, not Green Inferno first of all.
>>46466543
>A part of what I needed help for is scenarios for con checks. I plan on making them do con checks every time they see something messed up, like a NPC getting eaten alive. If they fail it, they temporarily lose 2 charisma.
I strongly urge you not to do this. Trying to force mechanics on them to tell the players how scared they are is insta-breaking immersion, because every single player's response to being told how their character feels is instantly "nuh uh!"
>>46466604
Gotcha. Hey, I made this post to make sure.
Still, how can I pull off an atmosphere of screwed up shit?
>>46466633
Correction:
> That makes the players care about what I'm describing
>>46466633
Include screwed up shit.
But seriously: don't overwhelm your players with it. If there aren't breaks from it, then it stops being ominous and becomes plodding.
Tell us your setup a bit. Is it a camp in the tundra? Trappers or something? Is there a safe and peaceful place for them to get back to? There's not a lot of wood in the tundra. Scary dark nights made safe by firewood that runs out and players have to go on an over-night run to replenish? Great for the first night when the fire runs out. Then the day as they explore a vast, majestic wilderness of awe-inspiring cool shit. Find plenty of food and something worth lots of cash and a good haul on a good day. Then it's night-time and they have wood to stay in the light, and have two events. Maybe one a straight-up fight with a tiny portion of the threat that they know is out there. Then the second one seems like it's gonna be a fight, and isn't, and they're not sure what happened or where the enemy went. Then the next day and back to camp where they're safe and the moment's heroes. Then next adventure into creepy-darkness.
Whatever it is--just break it up. If there aren't good, funny, wholesome and rewarding things happening in-between fucked up events? Then you can't scare your players, because who gives a shit if their character in a game of ultra-depressing-grim-dark gets killed, anyhow? The hero who gets the gold and the girl and the poop-monkey pet? That guy you want to hold on to.
Oh, and make sure there's enough NPCs around so that a player can rise from their faceless ranks, once you kill one of the PCs.
>>46466818
have the PCs perceive the neanderthals as supernatural
also, have their eyes glow in the firelight
>>46466140
Have you seen the movie bone tomahawk? Go watch bone tomahawk
>>46469034
Looks awesome, I'll watch it on the weekend.
>>46466140
Will there be a third tribe that shows up a little later?
Maybe with a blue theme going?
Neanderthals am very peaceful actually.
>>46470630
not true, there's archaeological evidence that they practised cannibalism on members of other clans.
>>46469034
Since it's film's-o-clock, I'm going to reccomend The Descent, The 13th Warrior and Ravenous.
Look into myths surrounding Wendigos, Sawney Bean's family and so on.
I'm also going to shill my homebrew. It's set in the ice-age, and has neanderthals AND cannible stuff!
