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Bladewind
Master of Realmslore
Netherlands
1280 Posts |
 Posted - 08 Jan 2013 : 22:57:52
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Have you ever considered running a horror story in the Realms. What element did you use and focus on to scare your players? In which locale did you run it?
Also, did you ever came across a horror session unintentionally, either because of player action or a spur of the moment inspiration?
I remember running a stealthy yuant-i spellcaster NPC who really haunted his quarry and used insidious silenced curses. He was able to harrass the party unnoticed but some players got horrific curses that caused subtle paranoia over multiple sessions. I liked describing 'seemingly mundane' things as being slightly off. I regrettably never got to give the story the pay-off I'd planned and I got the impression the player didn't really buy into the clues... Ah, the tragedy of games cut short prematurely... *Sighs*
Perhaps I was too subtle.
Got any tips how to pace a scary or horror session?
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My campaign sketches
Druidic Groves
Creature Feature: Giant Spiders |
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jan 2013 : 23:26:35
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I used Ravenloft for my horror rpg sessions.  |
Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way. -Steve Martin
Amazon "KindleUnlimited" Free Trial: http://amzn.to/2AJ4yD2
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Bladewind
Master of Realmslore
Netherlands
1280 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jan 2013 : 23:42:05
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I need to give credit to Lord of Bones (the Gent) for inspiring this thread with his interview with Sandy Peterson of Ctulhu fame.
An example of a highlight: mr Peterson explaining how he scared his players by making them realize the mob with pitchforks they lead towards the castle is not human.
Ravenloft done by the White Wolf was kinda interesting, but I never did purchase those tomes. Definately need to rectify that. |
My campaign sketches
Druidic Groves
Creature Feature: Giant Spiders |
Edited by - Bladewind on 08 Jan 2013 23:46:18 |
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BlackAce
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
358 Posts |
Posted - 09 Jan 2013 : 00:43:34
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I HATE pantomime villany but I've always found real horror hard to do in role playing games as players often bring real world baggage with them. That's not necessarily a bad thing but I do get tired of the sidelong glances players sometimes give me when I create really twisted characters.
Case in point; I had a villain called the 'Body Snatcher' a psychopathic serial killer who would pretend to be a nobleman and seduce and abduct young women, murder them, then leave their severed heads on their families doorsteps. Worse, he would reanimate their headless corpses and put them to work as his servants. I wanted the players to find him creepy and repulsive and be determined to hunt him down, but instead they were just thoroughly put off the game and didn't want to play. So we went back to the Alan Rickman style BBEGs.... |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 09 Jan 2013 : 05:26:45
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I've successfully terrified one player when he realized an "ally" was a rakshasa. With the other players present. It was wonderful with the other PC's going, what's this cat-guy, and why are you so terrified.
"My last group of associates were delicious... errr... disappointing." This was done as the Rakshasa got out of the bathtub they accidentally stumbled on, at level 1. I like the oh no moments at low levels, because these same NPC's gain the same respect at higher levels. This is a light version of horror.
The other is the unknown island where nothing made sense and the island was part of a dead goddess, and it left them with the horrified thought whether the goddess were alive or not. (Leira) Three challenges, riddles actually, and the PC's were allowed off the horrific island. Riddles are always hard, so I made them simpler due to the format (roll20/G+), but they worked really well and a good time was had.
Horror is hard to do in any setting, but if you can put the fear in early, and help the players remember it, it becomes part of the campaign. If not, it gets dropped. If it's a long-term game, it's about the moments where everyone gets engaged (which I succeeded partly with the Rakshasa, fully with the island). That's the hard part, is making it engaging and being open and honest about what you are doing. (Me: Lantan+Proto-Girl Genius+the new Sherlock Holmes movies (less boom), and a bit of C'thulu).
What's funny about this is some of the most memorable encounters are either the comic relief, or the absolutely disgusting in horror types. The other part of horror is when the Players know something the characters do not. This helps, in my games, to bring them in and make them care more. The session(s) become more engaging. |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 09 Jan 2013 : 05:54:57
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Much material from Ravenloft can easily be imported directly into the Realms. Obviously if you simply cut&paste Strahd's domain onto some vacant patch of land near Cormyr you'll dramatically change your campaign world. But there are innumerable minor island-domain lords and "bosses" and monsters and problems which can easily be inserted into all sorts of sparsely- or heavily-populated terrains and settings. Simply replace the cruel and hungry Dark Powers of Ravenloft with Shar, Talos, Malar, etc.
An advantage of Ravenloft is that it is basically a framework of isolated mini-worlds which don't necessarily have anything in common beyond a D&D horror theme. Some of these are populated by peoples/monsters, magics, and technologies which aren't suitable for the Realms ... others are more generic.
Alternately, go for the Cthulhu angle. Bring on the illithids and fiends and creepy alien tentacle abominations! Hordes of orcs were once excellent for instilling a sense of brute horror, and drow were once well-suited for creating a sense of subtle mystery/thriller horror - but these days they've become rather ordinary "people" and have lost their fear factor. A masterful DM/author might be able to dehumanize these creatures back to their properly horrible glory, but it would be difficult to pull it off while avoiding an endlessly repetitive stream of copycat champion/prestige monster NPC bosses. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 09 Jan 2013 : 15:05:46
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I like Ayrik's ideas on Ravenloft material...when I play "horror" in my games, I usually try to take into account what a character has encountered before and then go from there with Horror Checks.
Strahd is one of my all time favorite vampires...and he fits very nicely into The Forgotten Realms for me. A party taking travel on a mountain path can go through a thick fog and suddenly find they are in Strahd's realm...and after the adventure is complete just as easily find a similar fog enables them to leave that realm...especially if we take into account that powers of Darkness could use that Fog as an actual Portal. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 09 Jan 2013 : 15:58:51
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I actually created a horror adventure for The Realms, and have run it a couple of times, around Halloween. The vibe definitely fits with RL though.
If I had to do a back-cover blurb, it would be, "What IS wrong with the Innkeeper's Wife?"
That and the "missing children in the next village over". Missing Children always works in horror.
And by the way, its not at all what you might think. Its MUCH worse.  |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 09 Jan 2013 15:59:15 |
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Bladewind
Master of Realmslore
Netherlands
1280 Posts |
Posted - 09 Jan 2013 : 17:16:08
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Several organisations in FR can be presented with a classic horror element to be used in a Horror campaign. The Kraken Society (in a "It came from the Beneath the Sea"-like campaign), the Cult of the Dragon (in a '28 days later'-plot or 'Cloverfield'-like one shot), Abolethic Sovereignity (C'thulhu), Knights of the Shield (the Devil's Advocate) and the Zhentarim (American Psycho) all posses terrifying abilities like fiendish (pact)magic, necromancy or divination that can be fueled by sacrifices. The schools of thought and motivations amongst the cultists are scary as well; they could be unfathomable, bonkers, frenzied, otherworldy or greedy. Those are emotions that can lead to horrifying behaviour.
The Cult of the Dragon can be used as a big monster horror movie, with the low level characters experiencing an attack on a city by a great wyrm dracolich. The cultists themselves make great midlevel 'deranged mastermind antagonists' who are supernaturally gifted in tracking survivors of greater dracolich assaults. Tweaking their spelluse in some way, describing it as being more dark and allowing them unique necromantic spells can scare players too. |
My campaign sketches
Druidic Groves
Creature Feature: Giant Spiders |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jan 2013 : 05:00:31
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I like this idea of the Cult of the Dragon being part of the big monster horror movie. That's really a fun idea.
Another thought I've had along the c'thulu mindset would include Grimlocks and Illithids for mid-level adventurers underground. Something about the illithids drove out x dark race to the surface, so the horror of Duergar or Drow slaughtering everything in sight (at night, of course), followed by "what caused this." Something of Ghaunadar would fit this bill as well. |
"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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The Madmage
Acolyte
26 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jan 2013 : 15:38:49
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The crossover Forgotten Realms-Ravenloft adventures: Castle Spulzeer and the Forgotten Terror are a good start. The first part of Castle Spulzeer where you are traveling to the Castle itself is lackluster at best, but things get interesting once the players actually start exploring the manor home before being caught in the Mists.
Personally, I once ran an adventure in Suzail where priestesses of Umberlee were killing thieves and turning them into aquatic zombies as part of a plan to strike the city by pirates of the Sea of Fallen Stars in the fallout of Azoun's death. No one cared about the disappearance of criminals and in fact the city guard were more than enthusiastic to take credit for the drop in crime.
I clued in the players on the plot by having city guards be shown to be green or full of youngsters as the more veteran purple dragons had been dispatched to the country side to restore the peace. NPCs would hail the new guards for their great success in fighting crime. Guards would harass the players because they had nothing better to do. Some would speculate about a vigilante in the night that fought crime for the common man à la Batman. As things progressed, the rogue's contact in the city, a fence, was giving slightly better deals on stolen goods because he had so little business. Had the players been really dense, I kept rolling each time the rogue character tried pick pocketing or the like to determine if the Umberlee underpriests identified him as a potential target.
As for the adventure itself, having low level players without swim skills or magic to breathe underwater is a great way to scare them when you have arms grabbing at them from below the surface of the water. |
Edited by - The Madmage on 18 Jan 2013 15:49:32 |
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jan 2013 : 16:18:05
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| I think the main thing to focus on when running a horror campaign is to appeal to your player's senses. Have some creepy music playing in the background at a low-medium volume, exercise your story telling skills and really create an ominous enviroment, make your players experience things that they can't directly attack, and please remember that something can be scary without being gory. |
Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way. -Steve Martin
Amazon "KindleUnlimited" Free Trial: http://amzn.to/2AJ4yD2
Try Audible and Get 2 Free Audio Books! https://amzn.to/2IgBede |
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The Madmage
Acolyte
26 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jan 2013 : 16:34:14
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| In my experience, I've found that if you go over the top (i.e. creepy music or candle lighting for example), players tend to not take things seriously as it plays too much into the negative stereotypes of gamers. Instead, I prefer a well-lit and very quiet area so it's more effective when I raise my voice or make a sudden move to grab the group's attention. |
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Artemas Entreri
Great Reader
USA
3131 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jan 2013 : 16:45:07
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quote:
Originally posted by The Madmage
In my experience, I've found that if you go over the top (i.e. creepy music or candle lighting for example), players tend to not take things seriously as it plays too much into the negative stereotypes of gamers. Instead, I prefer a well-lit and very quiet area so it's more effective when I raise my voice or make a sudden move to grab the group's attention.
What are some negative stereotypes of gamers??  |
Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way. -Steve Martin
Amazon "KindleUnlimited" Free Trial: http://amzn.to/2AJ4yD2
Try Audible and Get 2 Free Audio Books! https://amzn.to/2IgBede |
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Marco Volo
Learned Scribe
France
204 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jan 2013 : 15:02:47
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Being prisoner of an asylum full of mad races escaping from their cells can be a big horror session, for example.
In the Realms, the Great Swamp of Cormyr is terrifying if your players find a group of lichs in it or a mind flayers on command of an hobgoblin tribe.
Another creepy place could be Myth Drannor... |
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Bladewind
Master of Realmslore
Netherlands
1280 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jan 2013 : 20:39:28
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Myth Drannor is an intersting choice, as elves can be unfathomable which can evoke terror if used right. The fiendish outlanders can provide plenty of both over the top gore enduced fear and subtle evil presence like suspence. Minor planar disturbances, wyld magic surges in the failing mythal, demonic assaults, elven traplike artifacts...
Adding traps early into a dungeon is also an effective way to add tension to a simple dungeoncrawl. The best ones set the pc's up with a disability like poison or disease to make them more susceptiple to even more traps further inside. |
My campaign sketches
Druidic Groves
Creature Feature: Giant Spiders |
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Doing Horror in the Realms right
