I've fallen out of the Paizo Community over the past year, but I hope to stay on the gaming wagon as my kids go through their teens. :-P
Long ago I was following a thread that reviewed the Call of Cthulu system and I was inspired to accomodate horror rules into my game; can someone recommend the best d20 sourcebook for me?
To me, all outsiders (demons, devils, celestials, etc.) and abberrations should invoke a strong visceral reaction in mortals...something that is grossly underrepresented in current rules systems. A simple fear radius is giving them short thrift!
IMHO, higher level outsiders should rival Dragons in power, at least on their own planes; they should inspire overwhelming horror and fear for more than just their mortal safety!
Thanks for any input!
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Let's see if the forum doesn't do something strange, it's the fifth time I try to post...
For horror rules, factoring in fear factors, insanities and other related stuff, I strongly recommend "Darkness and Dread" by FantasyFlight Games (Legends&Lairs line), written by Mike Mearls.
It includes excellent and easy to implement rules for protraying scary and otherworldly creatrures along a ready to use list of values for MM1 creatures, hints to develop a dark/gothic themed campaign and a very interesting list of low-power classes (useful to replace NPC classes ina standard game too).
Also, it's really interesting "The Demon Hunter's Handbook" by Goodman Games, though this product is more focused in giving help to flesh out a campaign (themes, atmosphere, plots, etc.) and is quite rules-light in comparison.
Along the aforementioned book, they are an awesome combo.
There are Sanity rules in Unearthed Arcana, you can read about them at d20srd.org . I've heard Heroes of Horror isn't bad.
Heroes of Horror, beyond a doubt. I never regretted the 30$.
Lilith, nice to see you again; hey, is it a fair guess that the Stat Block Bank will remain 3.5/Pathfinder, or will you open up a 4.0 bank in parallel? ;-)
I'll certainly look into these sources, everyone - thanks!
Marc
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I recently picked up Heroes of Horror, and although I haven't read through it in it's entirety, it seems to be a very good source book for that. If you want something else, Ernest Mueller posted a link to his essay on horror in roleplaying in another thread on here, which can be found here
It was a very good read, and I suggest you at least look through it for inspiration when designing a horror adventure.
True20 Companion has some OGL rules for Fear/Terror. Basically, monsters have a Fear/Terror check DC equal to 15 + Hit Dice. Results depend on the creature type (Aberrations, Outsiders, Dragons, Undead, etc., cause Terror, while Animals, Humanoids can cause Fear).
The Sanity Save itself can be scaling (equal to Will Save) or static (Wisdom bonus only). Anyhow, there is a whole chapter in that book on Horror campaigns.