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The concept is a big, scary fey-tainted bugbear that preys on children in their sleep. He is blind and uses the bugbear feats Scent of Fear and Sow Terror to help him. His fey taint also helps his stealth and perception (haven't figured out all his powers yet though).
Anyway, I need a name that the creepy children in the spooky town call him. If he had long claws I might call him Mr Nails; if he had a snake's tongue I might call him The Serpent Man. His thing is he's blind so I thought Mr Eye Gouge, but that's kind of lame.
His modus operandi is to act like a boogeyman, scare the child, and evoke bad dreams; once the child is in full on nightmare mode he can drain their life away. Once he's completely stolen their souls they become changelings; mindless automotons that he can use as minions. The souls themselves he keeps for future tortures.
Was gonna suggest Fuzzy Lumpkins but i think you are looking for something more serious so how about Dream Creeper?
Pale or White Eyes. Because his eyes lack pupils and irises.
You need to make up the rhyme that the children use. With this his name should fall into place.
Well considering his MO with the whole nightmare killing thingy, why not keep it simple and just call him Fredie!
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When I was a child I would have recurring nightmares about the Ooptah Monster. Looking something like a bigger Gremlin (from the 80s movie) the dream was always the same.
I wake up with a cold feeling of dread. I am being watched. I try to wake my mother up, she rolls over her eyes are completely white. The Ooptah monster has stolen her mind already. I run to my dad, but it's the same. I am alone, I catch a glimpse of movement from the window and then it's there. "Ooptah!" it rasps (the only sound it can make).
Its eyes stare into mine the yellow of it's eyes become my whole world.
Then I wake up. Terrified.
I eventually dreamed I defeated the Ooptah monster, you see it lives in windows and reflective surfaces. I dreamed I had a heavy wooden bat to deal with it >:-)
Shattered it to pieces.
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i absolutely love this concept. Mr Nails fits kinda well but I would go for something maybe not so obvious. Subtle terror is the best kind of terror, instead of Mr Nails do like Mr Scratch. Or perhaps a little more vague like the lurking shadow or have him be so feared by the people they do not dare speak his name as that is what draws him to you like doing Bloody mary in a mirror.
The childgobbler *evil grin*
In dutch there is a nice song about a monster who eats kids called the kinderverslinder.
the Dark Man
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I'm reminded of an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where she faces a monster that only children can see, that comes to them at night, killing them, and the adults don't believe it's real. The children just called it "Death", thinking that this monster really was the living embodiment of the concept.
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BBT:
Pogolo Peeps, he knows where you sleeps,
and sneaks in your room for your eyes.
Pogolo Peeps, he crawls and he creeps,
and when he visits, someone dies.
Succinct, creepy...I like it. I like the idea of my PC's wandering through town, hearing the creepy nursery rhyme, then spying some children; big, dark circles under their eyes, pale and drawn, like they haven't slept in weeks.
Now some others have brought up mirrors. The guy can't see so he wouldn't be repulsed by his own reflection but maybe he can't see 'cause...HE'S GOT MIRRORS FOR EYES!!!
Ok, not SUPER creepy but then you could have something intersting where if you hang a mirror in your window it might ward away Pogolo Peeps...until the kids started finding their mirrors hanging in the trees outside and the nightmares started coming back.
The final piece of the puzzle comes from a puppeteer that won't show his face. The title of his show is "The boy who wanted to learn to fear" and the kids flock to his performance because 1) the main character defeats "the brute" with an axe given to him by his father and 2) he secretly promises to help the kids with Pogolo Peeps.
Some other scenes: encountering a changeling wandering loose in the countryside - just a mindless kid with sunken eyes embedded with shards of mirror who attacks like an animal; a handful of goblins with pre-mirrored changelings (potential for redemption) and eventually the lair of Pogolo Peeps...
OMG troll! Is your day job scaring the souls out of children? I do like the hall of mirrors though; they're all broken and each contains a shadowy image of one of the kids' souls he's torturing.
It's not a full-on horror campaign and I want my players to be heroes, so I want to give them the chance to SAVE some of the kids. Some they'll be too late for; mirrors that are broken and dark with nothing in them represent the changelings who are fully his to command and help sow his brand of fear.
Glass/Eye golem - too much. First my guys are only 1st level and by the end of their current plot arc should be only 3rd and second I don't want to go over the top gore just yet. If I do go gory maybe the PC's bust into a room just as one of the changelings is finishing its final transformation: locked into a chair facing it's own broken mirror and staring through lifeless eyes at it's own tortured soul slowly fading in the glass as shards are pounded into those same innocent eyes...
OH MAN! I can't WAIT to inflict this on my players, two of which are fathers and the third is a doting uncle to a newborn! I may be kicked out of the GM seat permanently for this...
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There are children stuck within the mirrors, their souls bound within, fueling the power of Pogolo Peeps. Some of the mirrors are animated objects, brought to life with the angriest of children's souls.
Actually, I used to babysit for cash as a teenager. So, in a sense, scaring the souls out of children was a day job.
This is one time I highly suggest: quit your day job.
Angry animated child mirror monster; possible just as an animated object. It would be a really fun fight too for many reasons. Psychologically: you can't just blow it up; there's a kid in there! Tactically: party includes a maneuver master monk with an emphasis on grapple and a whip-tripping rogue; all those sharp edges...OUCH! Physically: I imagine a "shard whirlwind" special attack as the kid screams silently in silouhette in the glass, the sheer terror and rage exploding the glass out and back again. So much potential...
The whole thing begins when the party notices the kids at their rhyme. Since this is a side plot the PC's have the opportunity to follow the creepy kids as they run off. If they do they're rewarded at finding the puppeteer's caravan. "but he's sad today mister," one of the kids pleads; "his puppets've run off!"
When the game was less creepy in the initial plan I had a mischevious gnome stealing the dolls. Now they're animated by "something" and as the pc's recover the dolls around town they find it curious that each of the dolls' eyes are fashioned from mirrors.
They help the guy get his puppets back, listen to the story, and then the hooded puppeteer greets them afterward. He gives the kids a new nursery rhyme and tells them to hang mirrors in their windows to help them sleep at night.
The plot could concievably end there and pick up later. Otherwise they find out from the puppeteer that because he's immune to fear he was cursed to inflict fear on all who see him; thus the mask. He also confides that in the real version of the story he DIDN'T defeat the brute and his axe is still in it's hands. Perhaps if he got his father's axe back the curse would be broken.
He sends them off to fetch it. Wierdness ensues and eventually it leads to Pogolo Peeps. They defeat it, save who they can and get back to the puppeteer. I'll make a point of saying how Pogolo's left hand is shrunken and misshapen; when they give the axe back to the puppeteer he takes it in his right hand...which is shrunken and misshapen.
Looking at the crowd of kids gathering for the next performance the PC's can't help but notice they're just a listless as before. All around the town they see that the kids' mirrors are hanging uselessly in the trees.
Oh yeah...the kindly puppeteer is cursed all right. He IS Pogolo Peeps. He knows he is but its a jekyl/hyde thing; there's nothing he can do to stop it. Pulling the guy's mask off reveals mirror shards embedded in his eyes.
In the end the dude begs for death but he knows they can't kill him; as long as kids sleep and dream he'll live on.
Do you think, since I want the players to be heroes that I should offer a final ending to this tale of sadness; perhaps a way to kill him once and for all or a redemption for him or something?
Pogolo Peeps knows where you sleeps
He sneaks in your room for your eyes...
I like the idea of the PCs believing they killed him, but bring him back later. You do not need to have him actually bring him back as a big bad.
Just a brief appearance, to let them believe he may still be around.
Truly spook the PCs.
That actually made the hairs on my arms stand on end.
Most players would assume that once they came up with (or were told about) the brilliant plan to put down Poglo Peeps, that it would be a classic open-n-shut case...nothing more to see here...where's our xp?
Then later on, have some random rumor in a tavern mention something in passing about some occurances in another town/city/village/burg (also a great way to get PC's to go someplace you need them!), that sound a lot like good 'ol mister Peeps.
Might even be a fun "calling card" of sorts in other campaigns/adventuring parties. Slowly build up a history of the dread Pogolo Peeps.
Good stuff!
So who's going to come up with the lyrics to a nice pile of old-fashioned skipping rope rhymes? I'll go first...but I'm not much of a poet...
Baby baby back to bed
Pull the covers up over your head
Momma and poppa are fast asleep
They don't know about Mr. Peeps
What's that sound by the kitchen door
Pogolo Peeps crawling 'cross the floor
Baby baby back to bed
Now too late you'll soon be dead!
*shrill and joyous giggles as a kid gets tangled up and falls down*
This whole thing is a side plot to a game my players said they wanted to be like an Indiana Jones movie (they all belong to an Archivists Guild and their first OFFICIAL mission is to explore some old ruins for relics to preserve) so I don't even know if they'll take the plot hook and go after the kids.
If they DO however, and they end up getting into this plotline as much as I'm enjoying conceptualizing, I may just bag the rest of the stuff I'd planned for the next couple of levels.
Imagine, after they think they've dealt with Mr Peeps; they get to the next town for more relic hunting and the place is near-lifeless. After wandering about they notice that everyone's huddled in their homes. There's a tinkling in the air...lots of wind chimes...wait a minute. Those aren't just any old wind chimes, they're MIRRORS!
But I thought...Didn't we...
a lone figure is staggering down the deserted main street, small and frail, singing softly to itself slowly, deliberately:
Pogolo Peeps knows where you sleeps
He sneaks in your room for your eyes...
It could go on forever, but I don't know if I want it to. For one I know I don't have it in me emotionally to sustain a horror campaign long term and for another my players would kill me if I brought Pogolo back more than once. Still, I wouldn't have to bring him back all at once.
Mirrored wind chimes; the occasional kid w/nightmares; an adult victim found on the side of the road, his eyes literally torn out pre-mortem with cart tracks leading away from the scene; all indicators of Mr Peeps waiting for them, just waiting, for them to go to sleep...
I'm creeping MYSELF out now.
Nogbad the Bad
Check out the pathfinder module "The Midnight Mirror" from paizo, it might give you inspiration or you could use this as a way to lead the party into the events of the module.
Also remember that eye-trauma is very horrible. See that nasty Japanese film 'audition' to get the idea.
Dotting. Pogolo Peeps is just brilliant and I will find a way to work it in to my current campaign.
Dotting, I love this, My players just love a good horror and we have enough recurring people but this time its more than a fear of a Level 17 monk or something. Now its better.
I'm also glad to have given so much inspiration. BBT thanks for your now infamous name and suggestions!
I ran the name past a buddy and he said it sounded silly. I thought "That's PERFECT!" My players would never expect to be scared of a guy named Pogolo Peeps...but that's the point.
I think too, since my world is a homebrew, it will really help connect my players to the game world when, after they think they've beaten PP and ended the horror, his evil will pop up somewhere else. I've had recurring villains before but this one is different somehow...special.
Ok, here's a challenge to everyone loving 'Ol Pogolo Peeps right now: in meeting the puppeteer at the beginning of the quest he gives a little "counter-nursery-rhyme" to the kids in the audience to keep away "the Brute" from his show (canny observers will notice in retrospect that he never NAMES the brute in his show OR in the counter chant). I'll start:
"So remember kids; when there's boogeyman out there and you want to not be afraid like Aldous, just sing his merry tune and the mean 'ol brute won't come anywhere near."
I'm off to play
and keep you away
villainous, verminous, vile
so by night or by day
while you stay at bay
virtuous, valorous smile
Dotting and listing. I may borrow this guy for my current campaign =D
How about a game played by little street urchins? It's like a variation of zombie tag.
The kids play it in the evening just before supper/time-to-go home. It starts when one kid is picked to be Pogolo Peeps. But unlike some games, kids dread being picked. They do it via randomisation of some kind (dice, flipped coin, drawing straws, bullying, etc). Then "Peeps" has to wait until "nightfall" by waiting/counting for a designated time. Meanwhile the other kids spread through the town/neighborhood/orphanage/etc and hide.
The goal of the game is for Peeps to find every other kid before they all have to go in for the night. If he/she doesn't find all of them, then he/she has to be peeps again the next evening. And as we all know...that's a good way to call the real Pogolo Peeps' attention. So, it's not uncommon for some kids to risk getting in trouble by staying out past go-in time to find everyone. Sometimes a hiding kid just doesn't get found...ever. And sometimes the child playing Pogolo Peeps is last seen franticly searching for the last kid in the group...who already bailed from their hiding spot, collected their trinket (see below) and gone home...and the searching child is never heard from again. Thus leading to the dread of being picked as Pogolo Peeps. And a reason that most kids tend to hide close to one another.
During play, if Pogolo Peeps finds a hiding child they have to stand up and wrap a peice of cloth around their eyes since they are now blind. Then they have to stumble around trying to follow Pogolo Peeps because only when he/she shouts "Change!" can they remove the blindfold. Once they do, they become the "Mirror Children" and have to help "Peeps" find other kids. And because Peeps is the only one that can unblindfold the kids found by the Mirror Children, they all tend to stay pretty close (generally a single city block or within sight of a common group of houses).
So what's the competetive angle? Well, at the start of the game every kid throws in something. It could be a bit of money, a cool toy, whatever trinkets and treasures kids hang on to. If a kid manages to stay hidden until dinner/time-to-come in is called out...they get their trinket back and then get to choose any one other thing in the pile. So, kids want to stay hidden, and hidden well. Because...new cool stuff!
Pogolo Peeps doesn't have a chance to win any of it, but if he doesn't find all the kids then he/she has to be Pogolo Peeps the next evening. So his/her driving goal is to shrug off the title of Peeps. They don't have to be Peeps again for a span of time that varies by group of kids.
The Quiet Man
I wish to steal this idea for a creepypasta. May I have permission, BBT?
Are you posting him or putting him in writing somewhere or something? Or is it just dinner...