since everyone was so kind in offering advice on how to run a horror game right on my other post I thought I would post my game as it goes on and see what you all think of it, again if I shouldn't do this tell me and Ill delete it but until then hope you enjoy and please feel free to comment :)
before game started:
I decided to make it a game where people had multiple characters, 3 to be exact and this way I could split them up later and use their other characters against them in the horror scenes also it gives me a quick way if someone dies to just continue the game since most things will be all in there heads for the first part of the game. I did all home brew classes since I wanted it to be low magic, the only trouble came about when I set the gold at 900 to outfit all three characters because they were buying passage to a new world on a ship, well one player figured out a way to exploit the rules and get there all on his own with his family only so he demanded his LV 3 gold back, he was upset that I told him he had to follow the game plot like everyone else and could not be starting with more gold. other then that the start went off without a hitch, I put them all on three different ships, the one player on his own since he figured out how to get there on his own, and everyone else was split 4 on one, 3 on another.
On the ship:
I allowed one magic class called a cultist in my game it has very limited spells but is a very powerful class if you play it right, they tend to blend into other society but some have been found sill the existence of magic is not known and most think these cultist are just crazy, however people being people will always think "what if?" So when the ships had become becalmed in the middle of the ocean and hadn't moved for over two weeks with an ever present mist that could not be explained and all compasses spinning out of control instead of pointing north rumor turned into a cultist hunt, it was great a scramble for each member of the family who was a cultist to hide their book, while the others were ransacking the rooms. One player got very clever and being hidden marked an npcs coat with arcane mark it glowed so to most this was a HORRIBLE thing! The npc was quickly beat down and as that happened a storm kicked up out of nowhere and everyone had to make a reflex save, most failed and got tossed from the boats, the ones still on there tried to grab the wheel, but not knowing what they were doing, managed to crash ship 1 into ship 3. They sank, presumed dead. Ship 2 was having better luck until the first horrifying thing happened, a short gimps of a great old one (just had to), everyone made a fear check and was mesmerized by the sight letting their ship just get tossed about all but 2 characters both from the same player who had been making very good rolls up until this point. One of his characters rolled a nat 20 meaning they could keep focused and act the other one rolled a nat 1 failing the fear check and going to a horror check his check resulted in him loosing grip with reality and going into a primal rage, this caused him to jump over board and try to attack the great old one. his other character tried to save him and both were swept out to sea. separation success!
The Abbey:
After the separation I had everyone roll a D3 to see what character they would be starting the game with, with the promise of being able to find the others later. They all woke up on a beach and were lucky to find their starting equipment being weapon, ammunition, armor, but no food or water. They spotted an Abbey up on a cliff which none found odd even though I told them where they were going was uninhabited with no buildings, so blindly they walked up thinking their family members would be there. they were able to find tracks but when the tracks entered the front gate of the Abbey they all split into different directions. (I had figured I would have to coax them into splitting up with a lot of logic since no one wants to split the party but....) They didn't even once question the action and split up into groups of 2, 3, and 1 alone, and went in different directions. (some times the party does what you want?) so now I had 4 groups to work with. they rolled initiative to see who I spent time with first and things played out.
the front door:
the group of two going into the front door consisted of a human, ranged class I called the adventurer, and a halfling cultist butler. they were searching the halls, the butler for his kids, and the adventurer for his sister and friend, they came into a large room with a bunch of barrels, opening one up it was filled with a horrible stench that caused them to be sick, looking inside the thing making the stench was an odd red and blue ball of stuff, they couldn't figure out what it was, like string but soaking wet and dripping an odd red liquid, as they tried to examine it the center split showing a huge eye, (they eye cast a fear aura and each had to make a saving throw, it was a weak creature but the butler failed and had to run away) the adventurer followed the butler into the full nest of these things and they opened up fire with shot guns as they continued to run the butler under the effects of a fear aura the adventurer just scared.
The door on the left:
the next group of 2 consisted of another adventurer and cultist team were searching one of the doors to the left, as they walked down the halls they saw that all the torches were lit but the cobwebs and dust was piling up, this was odd, odder still was the room they found themselves in after, ringed around by suits of full-plate armor it had a central table with 18 chairs around it, it was set as if for dinner but every plate was covered in dust and webbing, the only thing that looks like it had been touched were the candles still burning, dripping their wax on the fine table but seeming to have been replaced recently, they searched around the room for a while then found a suit of armor that was walking around, thinking they had found a guard they questioned it. "what are you doing here" it asked, they explained they needed to find their families, the adventurer his two wives, and the cultist his two adopted brothers. The armor didn't care and ordered them out, the cultist ran for the door and made it out, the adventurer tried to talk more and was attacked, he then turned for the door but it was too late, another suit of armor had moved to the door blocking his way, he shot it with his two pistols knocking the helmet off and showing that there was nothing underneath. Seeing this from outside the cultist threw caution to the wind and cast a spell shrinking the armor, inside the adventurer didn't see who or what cast the spell but he did see the spell take effect. Seeing a headless empty armor attacking him was one thing seeing MAGIC in action he had to make a fear check. He is now fully frightened and has to run away.
The fancy door:
I described one door on the right as being very fancy, three people took the bait on this one, they looked around a few rooms finding nothing but empty space until they found a stair case leading downstairs, again all torches lit in the Abbey, down the steps they heard a little girl crying off in the distance, though none of them had any kids in their family they figured this could lead them to some clues and rushed off besides its a kid. finding a large room they see the little girl on her knees, hunched over, her face buried in her hands crying as her brown hair cascaded down to cover her face. They didn't look at anything else and went up putting their hands on her shoulders to console the poor child, at the faintest touch she fell over, the crying stopped as the clatter of bones on stone echoed around the room and the skull of a child looked blankly up at them out of empty sockets, now rolling perception they see the room is filled with bodies in different forms of decay but most old and rotted to nothing but bones, rats scurry here and there, and a few snakes have made homes in the skulls. one player an inspector takes out his gun and just starts shooting randomly screaming, I figured I didn't need a roll for him since he was fully in the scene, the brawler tried to calm him as the scientist heard scraping of stone on stone, (this was the player who wanted more money)he rushed out the door that closed behind him sealing the others inside, he then took out an admanti drill and said he was dismantling the wall, I told him things had shifted oddly and it didn't look like the wall he had seen coming in but he kept at it so two hours later he finds a hall to his left and finds out he had been tunneling into one of the load bearing walls and his friends are not there, he has moved without moving it seems and the crying started up again, he followed it with his shot gun ready. but not before pocketing the sconces for a bit of selling later.
The door on the right:
the last player a brawler took a door all by himself on the right of the building and found a store room for wine finely aged and tasty, then he found the store room for potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables and he had a short snack before moving on and finding the main dining room where a lavish meal has been set for any who want it complete with two full turkeys and all the fixings, he made himself a nice sandwich and then went off to find the others, going down a hall he finds the scientist who was tunneling now on the first floor again somehow without having gone up any steps. the brawler brings him back to the room and offers him food but all he does is take a turkey leg and leave to find the others examining it with fear and suspicion. (a few players are giving me grief for giving this player the nicest set of rooms but I ran out of time for the night, he is actually in the worst room he can be in but has made his saves so far and can enjoy it)
and that was the first night so far, hope you enjoy and again please comment! If I spelled anything wrong I'm sorry. I'm dyslexic and spell phonetically.
oh final note. Everyone said they had a lot of fun and the one who had wanted more money complimented me on running a good game and getting creepy right :D
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That's great to read Faylon. Everyone had fun so you did your job well. Huzzah!
The Abby pleasently reminds me of Scooby Doo. "It's raining! Hey, let's take shelter in that spooky looking abby."
-MD
lol thank you, I love Scooby Doo and the gang, I was pleasantly surprised when my group all split up without any prodding. made it so much easier to set the mood
I think there comes a time in every game when the dm looks around the table and has to step aside and know his vision of a story is not going to take place, because lets face it with so many minds interpreting the surrounding world the story is bound to go differently then you expected, however I didn't think this would happen ON MY SECOND GAME DAY!!
It all started when:
The group was split up and each had experienced a different horror except for the brute who was enjoying his meal while being surrounded (unknown to him) by a group of creatures that can hypnotize with but a thought, they were able to keep themselves out of his mind and unseen but were unable to influence him because of his lucky will rolls,the most one could do was to place an illusion on him that would make him see any friend as a threat but the threat was for his mind to decide, meanwhile another character the inspector who was shooting around the room and not looking shot and killed a fellow PC. (this was tossed in because the player who owned said PC had to drop the game and said to use them for the horror scene any way I could) the inspector seeing what he did was shaken with fear and began looking for a way out, he found one and decided to see if the one with him had any guns or ammo he could use upon turning around he saw the person he had shot was now naked, moving to inspect this he found the person he had shot had bite marks on him, not caring too much about this the inspector looked around for what might have done this and then looking back saw the body was mostly eaten even though it was just a short time by his perspective,the inspector took the leg bone from the now half eaten corps and moved on down the tunnel.... no I don't know why he took it.
magic at work:
The inspector met up with the butler cultist as they were going down the hall trying to escape their personal horrors, the butler lost his other companion from last time (another player who had an appointment and couldn't make it) after walking for a while they found two doors, and the inspector had high enough perception to notice runes (to him just scribbles) inscribed on the door, the cultist upon having them pointed out to him noticed they were spells turned into traps one of alarm and one of teleportation that would take them into another part of the abbey, with this new information the cultist knew he was hopelessly lost since he had not clue how many they had gone through, the inspector just went through a door and ended up meeting the brute now sleeping off dinner. the inspector walked up and still under the hypnosis of the ones in the room with the skeletons took a bite out of the sleeping brute he doesn't remember taking the bite and the brute woke up in pain as his shoulder bled, he looked around for how did it and the illusion took effect making the inspector look like a wolf.
Thinking in character?:
upon seeing the medium sized, hungry, growling wolf, with blood dripping from its muzzle from already taking a bite out of him the brute declares he is going to ignore the wolf and just eat turkey....... the other players explain this is not a smart thing to do to which the brute points out his intelligence of 6..... a half hour later we can start again and the brute attacks the wolf which is in reality the inspector, after the first attack the inspector runs for the door and the illusion wears off.... this was supposed to be the shock moment of "oh dear I attacked my friend"..... but when the illusion wore off and the brute saw the inspector he states "I wonder if he tastes better then turkey" and tries to kill the inspector..... his attack misses but he does fail his dark powers check for attacking a friend and his alignment is no longer chaotic good.
Meanwhile:
The adventurer and the cultist who were fighting the suits of armor make it away from them easily enough and end up finding the meeting room where the brute has now forgotten about the inspector who ran away and who he almost killed, and is eating more food, the others sit down and again everyone is overly lucky with the saves and don't get dominated. The inspector after going through a teleportation door meets up with the butler and the butler patches him up, they then search a room that was marked with an alarm that the cultist scratches out first to disable the magic, the inspector is the first ever to get as high enough will save to not only see but remember the creatures that have been watching them this whole time, he is horrified and begins trying to burn the thing but it is immune to fire and the inspector manages to set the room on fire much to the creatures delight not that anyone could tell since they are faceless humanoids with long fingered hands, the butler can not keep this creature in his memory so he just thinks the inspector is crazy, as the creature taunts the inspector by doing things like teasing the butlers hair, dusting his coat, even pulling butlers gun and putting it to his head, the inspector decides enough is enough and shoots at the creature...... which is right behind the butler...... see the problem with that? so after the butler runs for his life sure he has been shot because he was shot at and he is now covered in blood from the wounded creature he can not remember he dashes through a teleportation door and meets up with the others.
NEVER EVER PUT EXPLOSIVES NEAR CHILDREN:
Ok so my players are not kids considering the youngest is 14 and the one who found the room with the aged wet gunpowder is in his 40's, but still he gets the brilliant idea that since I have a room with high explosives he is going to blow the room up..... add in the inspector who now is traumatized and yes they manage to blow up a quarter of the abbey...... so yes to all those DM's out there if you think its good to put in a room for players to be careful around and not to touch because it could go BOOM and kill everyone...... don't.... just don't they will blow it up....
Facepalm:
so the abbey was now in ruins this was a good time I thought to move everyone to their secondary characters, now waking up on a beach in the past before the abbey was built, they know nothing of the other characters, and are going looking for them, they find the same cliff but up top is an area recently cleared of trees and brush and staked out for the beginnings of building a wall, this will be the abbey but they could not know that so I didn't say so. they saw smoke in the distance so most of the party ( this party consisting of a female brute named Gretta, a cultist named Netalia, a scientist named professor Ugenhind, a cultist named lucus, a cultist/scientist named erringunner, and another brute named Arkin) Lucus decided it was good to go through the woods, Erringunner who has a machine that can fly takes point keeping everyone in sight as she fly's over the trees, arkin and netalia follow lucus who then decides he doesn't want to be followed and rushes off to hide from everyone.... the professor picks up the rope from the stakes to sit down and make a trap, Gretta try's to reason with him but his will not listen so she knocks him out and follows the others, a few hours later the professor wakes up and the group is at a small town with a grand stone wall around it, the wall is 30 feet and they are all waiting outside the gates, they are informed they can either stay in the woods or they will have to be sequestered in the church for the night, netalia who pretends to be a priest says she has no problem with that the professor argues but enters anyway, lucus takes this opportunity to, step back from the group and stay outside the gates, he pulls out his book in full view of the guards on the wall and begins casting a spell, obscuring mist, but is shot almost dead for doing so..... cultist need to keep secret.... the rest of the party is told that the shots must have been a wolf getting too close to the gates as they couldn't see who was shot and had at this point given up on lucus who just seemed to want to be left alone they moved on with the seven guards.
They saw a tavern and asked for some food the guards explained they would get some at the church and went to keep walking but the professor pulled out an bomb and demanded food, every guard who had their guns out pointed them at the party, Gretta knocked the professor out again.... his bombs now confiscated they moved to the church which the guards showed there as a hidden staircase below the stone stage, also a strange door that had the lock completely encased in the door so you could only lock it or unlock it from the inside. food was delivered and everyone sealed inside the door that hey could unlock when ever they wanted but couldn't get through the stone stage, they began to settle in for the night but the professor dismantled his bed to make a gun that was spring loaded and could shoot cards because there were two decks of cards in the room. after annoying everyone trying to sleep by belting them with cards Gretta knocked him out again they spent the night quietly....
Lucus on the other hand now after patching himself up with a heal check attempted to climb the wall, it took him many tries but he managed it, he got into the guard house from there and found a light source not the least bit bothered by no guards around or the entire town pitch black he continued along outside, he saw a few houses oddly enough all with the same enclosed locks but the locking mechanism was on the outside, anyone could open it from the street but the occupants could not. he immediately found a blacksmiths shop and got a bag of coal, matches and started up the smithy to make a weapon since everything was just laying around for anyone who wanted to use it. having no crafting skills he injured himself three times but made a rather lousy knife..... he then sat down because he was very hungry and tried from all the work he had been doing and it was the middle of the night. He sat down and to stop his hunger he ate a piece of coal..... (I don't know why, it wan't my idea it was his!)not paying attention to anything but his "meal" he was attacked by the weretiger guards and killed thus gaining the template and being cursed to forever be in this town and never be able to leave or he dies for good.
They saw a tavern and asked for some food the guards explained they would get some at the church and went to keep walking but the professor pulled out an bomb and demanded food, every guard who had their guns out pointed them at the party, Gretta knocked the professor out again.... his bombs now confiscated they moved to the church which the guards showed there as a hidden staircase below the stone stage, also a strange door that had the lock completely encased in the door so you could only lock it or unlock it from the inside. food was delivered and everyone sealed inside the door that hey could unlock when ever they wanted but couldn't get through the stone stage, they began to settle in for the night but the professor dismantled his bed to make a gun that was spring loaded and could shoot cards because there were two decks of cards in the room. after annoying everyone trying to sleep by belting them with cards Gretta knocked him out again they spent the night quietly....
Lucus on the other hand now after patching himself up with a heal check attempted to climb the wall, it took him many tries but he managed it, he got into the guard house from there and found a light source not the least bit bothered by no guards around or the entire town pitch black he continued along outside, he saw a few houses oddly enough all with the same enclosed locks but the locking mechanism was on the outside, anyone could open it from the street but the occupants could not. he immediately found a blacksmiths shop and got a bag of coal, matches and started up the smithy to make a weapon since everything was just laying around for anyone who wanted to use it. having no crafting skills he injured himself three times but made a rather lousy knife..... he then sat down because he was very hungry and tried from all the work he had been doing and it was the middle of the night. He sat down and to stop his hunger he ate a piece of coal..... (I don't know why, it wan't my idea it was his!)not paying attention to anything but his "meal" he was attacked by the weretiger guards and killed thus gaining the template and being cursed to forever be in this town and never be able to leave or he dies for good.
WHY ME!?:
The game ended there with the rest of the party waking up and being greeted by the now happy guards who will be glad to show them around town as long as the sun is up..... at which point I would have ended there but the professor wanted to state he is going to craft.... and I quote.... a butt gun.... hopefully he will forget about it by next week.... more after Saturday if the game doesn't blow up that is
The encounter with the little girl is my favorite. Few things are creepier than children lol...