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RPGs / Help Scare My Players! (D&D Horror Ideas)
« on: April 11, 2013, 01:40:23 AM »
Hello Forum members,
I am a long-time lurker looking for your creativity. Recently, a player in my D&D campaign (4th ed. Eberron) informed me that he felt my games were not “scary” when compared to a Wild Talents campaign he also plays. This may be his last mistake.
For the next session, I have made an homage to horrible monsters Ross and Caleb: we’ll be playing Dread (the Jenga-tower horror RPG) while the party explores a Know-Evil inspired “scare-by-numbers” map.
The party is raiding a Cult Compound dedicated to Khyber, who I’m running as Eberron’s Draconic Elder-Thing. This sect of the cult specializes in Summoning/Mutation.
I need your suggestions for weird/evil/unnerving things to fill the map with. If you have played Dread before, mechanics to go with said things would be greatly appreciated.
Things I have so far (suggestions and criticism welcomed)
1: A wooden coffin, standing upright. Inside is a dead Warforged with human hands and feet.
2: Thick white ropes hang from the ceiling. They are actually the tentacles of a Gelatinous Cube-Jellyfish. If pulled on, it will pounce.
Mechanics: Players must make a pull to escape the Jellycube. The Jellycube will block the door the player leaves through, requiring another pull to backtrack through the room.
3: A room filled with discarded, open treasure chests. If searched, one turns out to be a sleeping mimic. My players have never met a mimic.
4: A dark room, filled with potted plants. When entered, all players’ light sources are extinguished. With an active light source in the room, the potted plants open to reveal Venus Fly Trap teeth around a large single eye, and will track the player around the room.
Mechanics: Moving through the room in the dark requires two pulls from the Jenga tower. The player is told that if they relight their source, it will only require one pull.
5: Six obsidian pillars in a hexagon. If a player looks into any of the pillars, they find themselves stuck in the center of the room, while a shade forms from their reflection and leaves.
Mechanics: The player must make a pull to break free from the center of the room, then either make a second pull or lose their next turn to leave the room with their eyes closed. If the player chooses to lose their next turn, the shade will take actions/communicate with other players during their turns. The shade disappears when the player leaves the room.
So please, present your most ghoulish fantasy thoughts!
A side note on my players’ psychologies: One is absolutely terrified of jump scares and the atmosphere of horror films, one finds body horror totally unsettling, and one is power gamer- things that threaten his character create a metagaming-fueled fear.
I am a long-time lurker looking for your creativity. Recently, a player in my D&D campaign (4th ed. Eberron) informed me that he felt my games were not “scary” when compared to a Wild Talents campaign he also plays. This may be his last mistake.
For the next session, I have made an homage to horrible monsters Ross and Caleb: we’ll be playing Dread (the Jenga-tower horror RPG) while the party explores a Know-Evil inspired “scare-by-numbers” map.
The party is raiding a Cult Compound dedicated to Khyber, who I’m running as Eberron’s Draconic Elder-Thing. This sect of the cult specializes in Summoning/Mutation.
I need your suggestions for weird/evil/unnerving things to fill the map with. If you have played Dread before, mechanics to go with said things would be greatly appreciated.
Things I have so far (suggestions and criticism welcomed)
1: A wooden coffin, standing upright. Inside is a dead Warforged with human hands and feet.
2: Thick white ropes hang from the ceiling. They are actually the tentacles of a Gelatinous Cube-Jellyfish. If pulled on, it will pounce.
Mechanics: Players must make a pull to escape the Jellycube. The Jellycube will block the door the player leaves through, requiring another pull to backtrack through the room.
3: A room filled with discarded, open treasure chests. If searched, one turns out to be a sleeping mimic. My players have never met a mimic.
4: A dark room, filled with potted plants. When entered, all players’ light sources are extinguished. With an active light source in the room, the potted plants open to reveal Venus Fly Trap teeth around a large single eye, and will track the player around the room.
Mechanics: Moving through the room in the dark requires two pulls from the Jenga tower. The player is told that if they relight their source, it will only require one pull.
5: Six obsidian pillars in a hexagon. If a player looks into any of the pillars, they find themselves stuck in the center of the room, while a shade forms from their reflection and leaves.
Mechanics: The player must make a pull to break free from the center of the room, then either make a second pull or lose their next turn to leave the room with their eyes closed. If the player chooses to lose their next turn, the shade will take actions/communicate with other players during their turns. The shade disappears when the player leaves the room.
So please, present your most ghoulish fantasy thoughts!
A side note on my players’ psychologies: One is absolutely terrified of jump scares and the atmosphere of horror films, one finds body horror totally unsettling, and one is power gamer- things that threaten his character create a metagaming-fueled fear.