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I put this at the bottom of a dead thread a couple weeks ago (taking inspiration from something someone else posted), so I thought I'd re-post it to see if anyone has any comments or suggestions. I start running this AP tomorrow night.
The Five Recurring Nightmares
Each of the PCs will have a recurring nightly nightmare associated with one of the 5 ghosts, starting the first night in Ravengro. I have 5 PCs in my group, so it works out perfectly. During each nightmare the PCs will have a feeling of helplessness and/or paralysis.
These are the nightmares I’m considering:
• The half orc rogue will be haunted by The Piper of Illmarsh. She will hear the Piper’s mournful flute dirge while numerous stirges suck the blood from her body.
• The half elf cleric will be haunted by Father Charlatan. She is repeatedly beaten with a heavy chain with her religious symbol attached to the end.
• The human ranger/alchemist will be haunted by The Mosswater Marauder. He will have the sensation of his skull being crushed by a hammer and he will observe (floating above the bed, out of his body) as a dwarf picks through the remains of his skull.
• The human barbarian/oracle will be haunted by The Lopper. He will lie helpless as a deranged man with long arms and twisted legs hacks off each of his limbs with a bloodstained hand axe.
• The human wizard will be haunted by The Splatter Man. Glowing hands hold the wizard’s spell book and rip out the pages one by one. As each page is ripped out the wizard feels a sensation like a sharp spike is piercing his heart.
TSM’s imprisonment nightmare would of course be on top of the above, so that unlucky PC might wake up from his/her recurring nightmare to find himself/herself imprisoned. If I deliver these nightmares as lain out above I will obviously be giving significant hints about the identity of the five ghosts, but I think that will help increase the sense of dread and better tie the adventure together. The wizard’s nightmare obviously gives a pretty big hint as to how to use the book against TSM but, considering the extent of the book’s curse and the challenge posed by TSM, I think it is ok.
I’m considering having the PCs make rolls each morning to gauge their level of fatigue. If they fail a DC 12 roll, then they are lightly fatigued (-1 to STR and DEX), if they fail the roll again the next day they are fatigued (-2 to STR and DEX), and if they fail the next or subsequent days they take 1 pt of CON damage for each failure. I’m also considering that the DC increases by 1 each day after failures (so it is DC 13 the second day in a row, DC 14 the third day, etc.). Of course, it all resets each time the PCs get a good night sleep or can be relieved by magical means.
I’m also considering that each PC will have to save against a fear effect when they encounter the ghost associated with their respective nightmares. Maybe a DC 15 to avoid being shaken and a DC 12 to avoid being frightened. Perhaps the character can repeat the will saving throws each round to shake off the effect.
My campaign starts tomorrow night (Thursday). I’d love to hear any reactions or suggestions.
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I put this at the bottom of a dead thread a couple weeks ago (taking inspiration from something someone else posted), so I thought I'd re-post it to see if anyone has any comments or suggestions. I start running this AP tomorrow night.
The Five Recurring Nightmares
Each of the PCs will have a recurring nightly nightmare associated with one of the 5 ghosts, starting the first night in Ravengro. I have 5 PCs in my group, so it works out perfectly. During each nightmare the PCs will have a feeling of helplessness and/or paralysis.
These are the nightmares I’m considering:
• The half orc rogue will be haunted by The Piper of Illmarsh. She will hear the Piper’s mournful flute dirge while numerous stirges suck the blood from her body.
• The half elf cleric will be haunted by Father Charlatan. She is repeatedly beaten with a heavy chain with her religious symbol attached to the end.
• The human ranger/alchemist will be haunted by The Mosswater Marauder. He will have the sensation of his skull being crushed by a hammer and he will observe (floating above the bed, out of his body) as a dwarf picks through the remains of his skull.
• The human barbarian/oracle will be haunted by The Lopper. He will lie helpless as a deranged man with long arms and twisted legs hacks off each of his limbs with a bloodstained hand axe.
• The human wizard will be haunted by The Splatter Man. Glowing hands hold the wizard’s spell book and rip out the pages one by one. As each page is ripped out the wizard feels a sensation like a sharp spike is piercing his heart.TSM’s imprisonment nightmare would of course be on top of the above, so that unlucky PC might wake up from his/her recurring nightmare to find himself/herself imprisoned. If I deliver these nightmares as lain out above I will obviously be giving significant hints about the identity of the five ghosts, but I think that will help increase the sense of dread and better tie the adventure together. The wizard’s nightmare obviously gives a pretty big hint as to how to...
I like what you have.
I've done a little of these like pipes being heard at night, a womans playful giggle that then turns into a scream, a dream of seeing a hidden man lopping off Kendra's head.
It has given them a little fright but I like the idea of fatigue, fear and shaken.
The dreams are like showing the monster in a horror movie. By letting the PCs have dreams about it, and showing them what happens in the dreams, they see the monster early and it's not actually frightening when it shows up. It lacks tension, and it lacks something at stake. Especially because, from a metagame standpoint, the PCs know they're asleep and dreaming, and they know nothing bad will happen. Movies fall into this trap, too. Dreams are best segued into when the audience doesn't know that they're watching a dream.
Imagine if like, Ripley had a dream about the xenomorph. Where it was explicitly showcased and used most of its schticks to kill her. Wouldn't be nearly as scary.
On top of that, well... dreams are kind of boring. Nobody is interested in other people's dreams unless they're really perverse. If you want to have these dreams show up and leave an impression, maybe dread, have the PCs wake up with a start, explain to them their vague half-memories of the dream, maybe show them something startling-- like, maybe a holy symbol has fallen off the wall in their room in the Lorrimor house and dinged their armor, or their nose is bleeding, or maybe they lose their spellbook and it takes an hour to find it.
Whatever you do, I wouldn't ever come out and tell them what happens in the dream. "You wake up with your legs aching and the bedsheet twisted around you. You have a vague feeling of relief, but you don't know why, and when you inhale you realize your nose is full of dried and cracked fluid. When you open your eyes, your pillow is covered with blood, and you feel a moment of recognition and realization, but you can't tell why." Later, downstairs, Kendra is tenderizing meat for breakfast, and the PC feels this nagging fear when they look at the hammer...
The dreams are like showing the monster in a horror movie. By letting the PCs have dreams about it, and showing them what happens in the dreams, they see the monster early and it's not actually frightening when it shows up. It lacks tension, and it lacks something at stake. Especially because, from a metagame standpoint, the PCs know they're asleep and dreaming, and they know nothing bad will happen. Movies fall into this trap, too. Dreams are best segued into when the audience doesn't know that they're watching a dream.
Thanks, Ice Titan. I really appreciate the constructive criticism. I'd still like to do something, because I don't think the module does enough to tie together the concept of the five ghosts. I see what you mean by taking away the horror if I describe the ghosts (even in part), although it is much less information than they would get from making the DC 25 knowledge checks in researching the five ghosts (if it occurs to them to do so).
I think it will be scarier for the PCs when they realize there are 5 ghosts if they've already had some sense of them in nightmares. Same for the reaction to the skipping song. But I do need to find ways to make it less explicit.
I'm a good bit less creative or silvery tongued than you, but here are some ideas inspired by your comments. Thus:
• The half orc rogue will be haunted by The Piper of Illmarsh. She will wake with the Piper’s mournful flute dirge vaguely in her head and a dozen raised wounds on her body (from the stirges).
• The half elf cleric will be haunted by Father Charlatan. She will wake up with bruises all over her body shaped like her religious symbol.
• The human ranger/alchemist will be haunted by The Mosswater Marauder. He will wake up with a tremendous headache and blood all over his pillow.
• The human barbarian/oracle will be haunted by The Lopper. He will will wake up and be unable to feel or use his arms or legs for 10 minutes, as if they were gone.
• The human wizard will be haunted by The Splatter Man. When he wakes up his heart will feel piercing pain, and his spellbook is at the foot of his bed, instead of where he put it the night before.
These are more explicit than your suggestions, but I think still vague enough to create fear without giving anything away.
Any further thoughts?
How about the fatigue idea?
I like dreams but I wouldn't use any which gave any real specifics. And the best way is to run it so the Players don't realise its a dream
I like dreams but I wouldn't use any which gave any real specifics. And the best way is to run it so the Players don't realise its a dream
** spoiler omitted **
I get your point and your specific idea would be a lot of fun, but I know I couldn't pull it off. We all have to recognize our own limitations, and I know I'm not the greatest storyteller/dramatist, so it makes sense for me to try to increase the creepiness factor in a way that is more direct but I can actually pull off...
I get your point and your specific idea would be a lot of fun, but I know I couldn't pull it off. We all have to recognize our own limitations, and I know I'm not the greatest storyteller/dramatist, so it makes sense for me to try to increase the creepiness factor in a way that is more direct but I can actually pull off...
I'm working on a whole list of "creep" which I am going to use...when I've finished I'll put it up.
A classic from Kingsport:
You hear a noise in your room...
Open my eyes...
You see something glistening in the moonlight on your stomach...looks like intestines...
Ewww...Push them off!!!
It hurts...they are yours...
SCREAM!!!!!!
and then
You here a noise in your room...
*gibber* Open my eyes...
You see nothing...
EDIT: My top tip... describe scenes using at least three senses...air smells musty and tastes acrid...motes of light sparkling in the air..
and because the players are prolly aware that werewolves are going to turn up (it is Ustalav after all!) start describing the cycles of the moon early...nothing gives away a werewolf plot more than the GM suddenly saying "and tonight its a waxing moon...it will be a full moon in a few days..."
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I also used similar dreams in my campaign, and I used the fatigued rules, but I didn't have the dreams physically affect them like you are suggesting. I think that might a bit much, especially if you want to repeat them.
Instead I made the dreams a bit more "dreamlike" and way more bloody/horrifying. For example, I had one character walking down the street like it was any other day when suddenly they noticed something was wet on their neck. They looked down and notice there was blood on their neck. And then as they examined their neck they noticed a gash. And then slowly the gash was getting larger and larger. Meanwhile everyone in town is starting to scream and panic, running away from the PC while his head is slowly getting cut right off his head.
In the end his head is completely decapitated, there is blood pouring out of his still-standing body, and people are screaming and crying all around him.
And then he woke up! That one worked quite well. (I have other similar dreams, like Stirges feeding on someone until they exploded in a mess of blood and gore).
Also I told each dream to each person in private and then let them decide what they did or didn't share with the others. That also worked well as they were almost embarrassed by what they saw, and it was interesting to see how they changed their dream in their mind.
Anyhow, just my 2 cents on how to handle this.
I put this at the bottom of a dead thread a couple weeks ago (taking inspiration from something someone else posted), so I thought I'd re-post it to see if anyone has any comments or suggestions. I start running this AP tomorrow night.
The Five Recurring Nightmares
Each of the PCs will have a recurring nightly nightmare associated with one of the 5 ghosts, starting the first night in Ravengro. I have 5 PCs in my group, so it works out perfectly. During each nightmare the PCs will have a feeling of helplessness and/or paralysis.
These are the nightmares I’m considering:
• The half orc rogue will be haunted by The Piper of Illmarsh. She will hear the Piper’s mournful flute dirge while numerous stirges suck the blood from her body.
• The half elf cleric will be haunted by Father Charlatan. She is repeatedly beaten with a heavy chain with her religious symbol attached to the end.
• The human ranger/alchemist will be haunted by The Mosswater Marauder. He will have the sensation of his skull being crushed by a hammer and he will observe (floating above the bed, out of his body) as a dwarf picks through the remains of his skull.
• The human barbarian/oracle will be haunted by The Lopper. He will lie helpless as a deranged man with long arms and twisted legs hacks off each of his limbs with a bloodstained hand axe.
• The human wizard will be haunted by The Splatter Man. Glowing hands hold the wizard’s spell book and rip out the pages one by one. As each page is ripped out the wizard feels a sensation like a sharp spike is piercing his heart.TSM’s imprisonment nightmare would of course be on top of the above, so that unlucky PC might wake up from his/her recurring nightmare to find himself/herself imprisoned. If I deliver these nightmares as lain out above I will obviously be giving significant hints about the identity of the five ghosts, but I think that will help increase the sense of dread and better tie the adventure together. The wizard’s nightmare obviously gives a pretty big hint as to how to...
+1 I've been doing similiar things to my pc's and they really seem to be enjoying the added flavor.
I also used similar dreams in my campaign, and I used the fatigued rules, but I didn't have the dreams physically affect them like you are suggesting. I think that might a bit much, especially if you want to repeat them.
Instead I made the dreams a bit more "dreamlike" and way more bloody/horrifying. ...
Also I told each dream to each person in private and then let them decide what they did or didn't share with the others. That also worked well as they were almost embarrassed by what they saw, and it was interesting to see how they changed their dream in their mind.
Anyhow, just my 2 cents on how to handle this.
Interesting. You and Spacelard have different views on this, since you suggest communicating the content of quite specific dreams. In this instance, I want to have the content of the dreams connect to the specific ghosts, and I think Spacelard is right that to describe them would reveal too much.
You're right that the physical effects might be too much on a repeat basis, although I think it would be ok if I say the physical effects (bruises and wounds, head and heartaches, bloodstained pillows, and missing limbs) dissolve after 10 minutes. In that case, the effects would be sort of a lingering illusion from the dream state.
Definitely a good idea to tell each player in private. It might be interesting to see what happens in Kendra's house that first 10 minutes after waking, especially if I say that all PCs wake up at the same time.
A related question: How many spare rooms does Kendra have? Are the PCs sharing rooms, 2-3 in each? The module says she has space but describes the house as modest.
A related question: How many spare rooms does Kendra have? Are the PCs sharing rooms, 2-3 in each? The module says she has space but describes the house as modest.
I'm using the manor from Quelkin's Quandry an old Dungeon scenario. There is enough room for two PCs in the guest room as the obligatory butler and maid live in...
The rest of the PCs will have to stay in the inn, who's name escapes me at the minute. Kendra will pay for the lodgings for sure but as GMs the world over know.... The players HATE splitting the party and forcing this a little will make them feel very uncomfortable and vulnerable.
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I used dreams as clues and misdirects. I had each player roll a will save. Under 15 - failed and believed their dream, over - realized that something was not quite as it appeared. The dreams were directed at each player's backstory and/or how they played.
One person had chosen the debt theme and his dream saw the Prof. coming back from the dead to collect. Another was given a dream where she believed another party member had started the fire at the town hall meeting (she's still suspicious).
It helped create a little suspense and set the players off on research topics to see what may have given them the dreams.
One of the players rolled a nat 20 so his character was given a portent dream of what they would see in the prison (they hadn't started searching Harrowstone yet). I incorporated hints of what it was like at the prison during the fire.
Fiona
