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I love mining SCP for campaign ideas!
Link for those of us not in the know?http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-682
SCP is a gold mine.
Especially for a modern setting Cthulhu or even the old Dark Matter game from Second Edition days. There are few things that can creep me out in fiction, but some of the stuff on that site.... yeesh.
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Lots of warnings Ebola, disease, biohazard,
Bodies etc.....
Disease isn't as scary to a guy playing a game. They view it more as 1.) Irritating at best, but more frequently 2.) Hillarious.
A rogue going through a swamp contracted filth fever, and malaria twice. The cleric just started doing triage on the party routinely. The rogue is apparently the plague carrier since he's got a low fort.
After one adventure he came out with filth fever, ghoul fever, and tetnus. The ghoul fever was the worst of the lot.
Ghoul fever, varghoul transformation and mummy rot are diseases that actually worry players since they're hard to get rid of, degenerative, take their character away and actually do things to them.
Having your dungeon be diseased though does assist with eating up magical resources for healing it.
I like the bunny SCP the most. :)
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Especially for a modern setting Cthulhu or even the old Dark Matter game from Second Edition days. There are few things that can creep me out in fiction, but some of the stuff on that site.... yeesh.Link for those of us not in the know?http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-682
SCP is a gold mine.
Yeah, some of the stuff I see on SCP is cool, but I have to be careful with it - especially what I read and what time I read it - or I end up giving myself trouble sleeping.
The best/most disturbing SCP is easily 231.
The ones that bother me the most are the clown kids' show, the pregnant woman, the "turn-food-human" thing, and maaaayyyybe that one you have to stare at ("or else").
Been a while, and I don't remember their numbers.
Trap the door. But that's just a decoy. The REAL trap is when they first step through the door into the next room.
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Me thinks... I'll be avoiding that site in general. I find my tolerance for things much less these days the more often I find myself stressed. Rather depression, as I used to laugh at such things as 'two girls and a cup'....
Back on topic....
Within a single room of the dungeon, put a shiny red ball on a pedestal. The room is thirty by thirty feet, completely dark, save for one beam of light illuminating this ball. When the party enters, the room is sealed off with a collapsed ceiling, and the room lights up, revealing skeletons and bones just littering the floor, mostly congregated around the ball.
The ball starts to get glowing, spidery runes appearing on it. They appear slowly, one line at a time. The walls are stone arches, with marble walls, and covered with scorch marks, and a few body outlines.
The ball was put there by the wizard who has a secret door within one of the arches. The bones are real, the scorch marks are real, and the runes appearing on the ball are real. He simply didn't want to be bothered.
The party has 1d20 rounds to figure out how to get out. Otherwise, the runes on the ball finish inscribing themselves. When finished, all creatures in the room are subjected to a Dominate Monster spell, DC whatever you want it to be, to stare at the ball. Those that fail are Geas'd into following the shiny red ball wherever it goes, with a constant (whatever the spell was that lets you pinpoint the direction of a creature) centered on the ball. The pedestal then collapses, revealing a 5 foot hole in the floor, of which the ball falls.
It's a drop to the lower level. The ball then starts bouncing and rolling a straightforward route out of the dungeon, and then off in some random direction away from the dungeon.
Or, in other words.... Make them chase the shiny red ball... Literally.
LOL
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The best/most disturbing SCP is easily 231.The ones that bother me the most are the clown kids' show, the pregnant woman, the "turn-food-human" thing, and maaaayyyybe that one you have to stare at ("or else").
Been a while, and I don't remember their numbers.
Yeah...you might want to avoid 231 completely, then.
Funnily enough, after reading it, 231 didn't really seem to bug me.
Off the top of my head, the one that bothered me the most was the "Shyguy" - the bizarre little critter that lived in the Himalayas that suddenly turned murderous and would chase you FOREVER if you ever saw its face. And the part that was the creepiest was that apparently tons of people might have been exposed because its face took up two freaking pixels of a photograph posted somewhere publicly - to the point where you couldn't even make out that something was actually there.
But it knew. And it would find you, even if it had to chase you across the entire planet. And it would kill you. For no other reason than you happened to have "seen" its face.
On the other hand, the room that animated chairs which then demanded people sit on them is one of the more amusing ones.
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On the other hand, the room that animated chairs which then demanded people sit on them is one of the more amusing ones.
I so should have made my musical chair encounter with animated chairs...
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Funnily enough, after reading it, 231 didn't really seem to bug me. ** spoiler omitted **
Unless there's some subtle horror about it I'm missing?
The real horror in 231 isn't coming from the Eldritch Abomination, or even its effect on the little girl. Its from the implications of what the Foundation considers the lesser of two evil, Montauk-101. And when you read between the lines to realize it's most likely a pre-teen girl (the estimated age range is censored....but the first number was a single digit).
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Ever read Ray Bradbury's short story "Fever Dream?" I'd call that creepypasta material.
Anyways, something else to put in a dungeon....
Slander Man: A mischievous lich follows you invisibly around the dungeon, making generous use of ventriloquism to tell the PCs nasty lies about each other.
Or maybe you just find this guy!
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A trapdoor that leads to a prison that is the equivalent of a human sized hamster cage. A running wheel, giant water bottle, etc.
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The real horror in 231 isn't coming from the Eldritch Abomination, or even its effect on the little girl. Its from the implications of what the Foundation considers the lesser of two evil, Montauk-101. And when you read between the lines to realize it's most likely a pre-teen girl (the estimated age range is censored....but the first number was a single digit).Funnily enough, after reading it, 231 didn't really seem to bug me. ** spoiler omitted **
Unless there's some subtle horror about it I'm missing?
It probably tells you something about me that not only did the implications not register when I read through the actual 231 article a few times, but it took a handful more rereadings of both the article and your post to actually get what you were implying.
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Ever read Ray Bradbury's short story "Fever Dream?" I'd call that creepypasta material.
Anyways, something else to put in a dungeon....
Slander Man: A mischievous lich follows you invisibly around the dungeon, making generous use of ventriloquism to tell the PCs nasty lies about each other.
Or maybe you just find this guy!
Slander man appears often in illusions created by Pœdi-py, a bard who has amassed a huge following in the realm of Yu-tüb (A plane where bards place their illusions to show them off to the public)
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Put an anomalous very attractive man/woman in the dungeon who fawns one (or more) of the PCs. He/she could be a prisoners or just appear wandering around with no memory. Make the would be paramour's affections seem pretty fishy, especially when he/she asks for a kiss. Hopefully you can play up the possibility of the evil trickster/tempter incubus/succubus. Now just make the person a normal person (albeit a little bit flaky.)
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To enter a certain room they have to find "The One Coin", which is of course in a treasure hoard somewhere. Problem is, there's a hoard of (fake, actual treasure is in mentioned room) coins throughout the rooms.
Enjoy spending time finding the coin, while monsters could wander around.
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A theater that puts on a new play every day, but every one of them is poorly-acted and terribly-written, with the cheapest costumes, sets, and props imaginable - it's almost like whoever set this up went out of their way to establish the worst theater ever. There are all of three individuals in attendance, sitting in the front row: A plain-looking human male, a talking raven, and a homunculus. If the PCs decide to watch the show for a bit, they will discover that while the plays are not entertaining, the endless heckling coming from those three are.
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A theater that puts on a new play every day, but every one of them is poorly-acted and terribly-written, with the cheapest costumes, sets, and props imaginable - it's almost like whoever set this up went out of their way to establish the worst theater ever. There are all of three individuals in attendance, sitting in the front row: A plain-looking human male, a talking raven, and a homunculus. If the PCs decide to watch the show for a bit, they will discover that while the plays are not entertaining, the endless heckling coming from those three are.
Repeat after me. "It's just a show, I should really just relax."
Anything pertaining to Words of Power. Word Scrolls, Word Potions... A Word Sorcerer as an encounter, even.
Pit your party against a bad guy with Words of Power, and watch them scratch their heads for five or ten minutes trying to get a finger on this guy's abilities.
Bonus points if you can make her race ambiguous, or seem as if she's a polymorphed creature of some kind.
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Anything pertaining to Words of Power. Word Scrolls, Word Potions... A Word Sorcerer as an encounter, even.
Pit your party against a bad guy with Words of Power, and watch them scratch their heads for five or ten minutes trying to get a finger on this guy's abilities.
Bonus points if you can make her race ambiguous, or seem as if she's a polymorphed creature of some kind.
To add to this, if it was a wordcasting wizard take a look at what words he had prepared for the day and combination words and put them in a crossword puzzle for the pc's to figure out. Just hand it to them and then go out to grab food while they fill in the blanks.
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My DM once used the old Mastermind game as the means for figuring out how to open a door to escape from a white dragon that was looking for us (For those who don't know it's a game where you have to guess what combination of 6 colors belong in 4 slots. You have 10 attempts, if I recall).
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A theater that puts on a new play every day, but every one of them is poorly-acted and terribly-written, with the cheapest costumes, sets, and props imaginable - it's almost like whoever set this up went out of their way to establish the worst theater ever. There are all of three individuals in attendance, sitting in the front row: A plain-looking human male, a talking raven, and a homunculus. If the PCs decide to watch the show for a bit, they will discover that while the plays are not entertaining, the endless heckling coming from those three are.
This could actually fit quite well into Chapter 2 of the Council of Thieves . . . Just make it so that the theater director and the pompous actors really believe that this is great art (and take extreme umbrage at the hecklers).
The best/most disturbing SCP is easily 231.The ones that bother me the most are the clown kids' show, the pregnant woman, the "turn-food-human" thing, and maaaayyyybe that one you have to stare at ("or else").
Been a while, and I don't remember their numbers.
That last one is either SCP-173 or SCP-689. Either one of them would make for good dungeon hazards, in a "Roll incrementally higher will save/concentration check not to blink" fashion. Since SCP-689 is persistent, the adventurers might have to break a curse before they continue.
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Bloody scenes and notes, describing a breakout of "something", the writer and colleauges/friends couldn't stop. They will find a room with broken chains, eviscerated cattle, its reinforced adamantine door bashed and partially ripped. A note describes a particular sound to be the herald of its approach, said sound is illegible. Have them hear a variety of sounds to the point where they don't care until it's too late.
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SCP-173
Where did this come from, and when? I knew I'd chanced upon this BEFORE Dr. Who introduced the Weeping Angels (seriously, that show has been riddled with creepypasta material since it came back under Eccleston).
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The adventurers stumble into a dungeon timeshare presentation and get locked inside.
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Have them have visions with decent disbelief DC, where they are sitting in a straight jacket in a padded room with a doctor carrying pen & paper.
He asks them why they insist they are [insert class], why they think they are in [insert place] and that they've been treating them for it for several months now.
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BBEG lookalikes/Doom bots- there's a lot of options for shenanigans pull on a group who prefers to go right for the jugular. (At least until they get scrying)
rogues in disguise
wax golems
doppelgangers
shapeshifting fiends like succubi
Simulacrums
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Have them have visions with decent disbelief DC, where they are sitting in a straight jacket in a padded room with a doctor carrying pen & paper.
He asks them why they insist they are [insert class], why they think they are in [insert place] and that they've been treating them for it for several months now.
Oh gods, it's like that one "it's Riker's turn to be tortured" Star Trek episode...!
My contribution for the day:
This isn't really a "Thing To Put In A Dungeon," but have your players roughly re-enact The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, except never tell them that that's what they're doing; wait until one of them "facepalms" after seeing the pattern.
I was in (what turned out to be) a 1-shot game a little like this, where midway through the dungeon, one of my fellow players slapped his forehead, groaned and said, "It's the Scarlet Monastery*!"
* = Bear in mind, this was years ago, when World of Warcraft was still worth playing.
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My contribution for the day:
This isn't really a "Thing To Put In A Dungeon," but have your players roughly re-enact The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, except never tell them that that's what they're doing; wait until one of them "facepalms" after seeing the pattern.
I was in (what turned out to be) a 1-shot game a little like this, where midway through the dungeon, one of my fellow players slapped his forehead, groaned and said, "It's the Scarlet Monastery*!"
* = Bear in mind, this was years ago, when World of Warcraft was still worth playing.
I did something similar with a dungeon from the first Neverwinter Nights server I played on. The other players who played there recognized it about three rooms in, when the first wave of halfling rogues and alchemists attacked. (Mastermind's Lair, if Cylyria or any other ex-RDR players happen to wander by this thread ;) )
Honestly if you can get a map for them, at least for the GM to follow if you don't use MapTool or something like I do, WoW dungeons are great for riffing for material, at least for layout and enemy placement. And reflavoring them to fit whatever you're doing usually isn't hard.
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A child's nursery rhyme scrawled on a wall in blood.
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For all the SCP horror and scary room dressing, there is something everyone is overlooking that monumentally messes with a PC's mindset.
An empty room.
A large, empty room, that serves no discernible purpose.
I didn't believe this until I had an area listed as 'disused storage space' on a map once, it was relatively large (essentially a small empty warehouse for an abandoned facility). The only content was some random nonsense I rolled up, like a book, a hammer and whetstone in like an 80X80 room.
I figured they'd open the door crack wise over the contents and head on, but no..
Thus began the forensic investigation. They hunted for secret doors. Detected magic. Sought around. Laid down flour. They refused to sleep in the room later for fear of something in it coming to get them.
They sealed the door to it.
They left the whetstone, hammer and book (it was a how-to on building stairs) behind.
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For all the SCP horror and scary room dressing, there is something everyone is overlooking that monumentally messes with a PC's mindset.
An empty room.
A large, empty room, that serves no discernible purpose.
I didn't believe this until I had an area listed as 'disused storage space' on a map once, it was relatively large (essentially a small empty warehouse for an abandoned facility). The only content was some random nonsense I rolled up, like a book, a hammer and whetstone in like an 80X80 room.
I figured they'd open the door crack wise over the contents and head on, but no..
Thus began the forensic investigation. They hunted for secret doors. Detected magic. Sought around. Laid down flour. They refused to sleep in the room later for fear of something in it coming to get them.
They sealed the door to it.
They left the whetstone, hammer and book (it was a how-to on building stairs) behind.
I freaking love doing this to players.
Of course, once they get complacent with the empty rooms... I'll shake it up and have some nightmare creature from beyond the stars make an appearance.
Or sometimes I'll just tell them to roll perception checks while I act like I'm skimming over my notes, looking for the DC. I'll roll behind the screen while they're walking into the room.
It's particularly fun to make the doors trapped. Or have some random trap smack dab in the middle of the room for no reason. Literally, let the rogue find it, and let it have a totally crappy DC that they can fail like, only on a 1 or something.
Go grab a drink and a slice of pizza while they're trying to figure out the significance of the room.
I did the following and am going to use it lateron:
A girl from the city's university gave the party a survey about phobias, educational purposes of course. (Not, there would be no such thing)
But they will at one point encounter what they filled in as unsettling/scary.
You could have rattling floors with cries along with it; "DEAD BY DAWN, DEAD BY DAWN!!"
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Tons of creepy old toys along with terrifying wooden statues that look like they could come to life and eat you.
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Tons of creepy old toys along with terrifying wooden statues that look like they could come to life and eat you.
** spoiler omitted **
Hmm... cool. I thought you were going to go with the Hall of Wooden Men kind of thing.
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A large room containing a village of animals that talk, have building suited for them, politics, etc.
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This one's a little DM-vs-Players, but I hope it's adversarial in a fun way.
A BBEG with the ability to predict the future, and the players need to enter his lair to get something, or maybe just dangle him out the window for information.
Wherever the rogue looks for traps (Tiles, walls, privy, ect) there are no traps, but there's bolt-holes and dust to indicate that the trap was moved. Wherever the rogue forgets or simply neglects to look for a trap, there's a trap.
On the door to the BBEG's inner sanctum, there's a note that says "On vacation until you murderhobos leave" with free drink vouchers for a local tavern. Because, yes, if a guy like that sees a team of adventurers coming, he's going to take a vacation in Monte Carlo until the storm blows over.
Bonus points for turning the note into a booklet that lets the players have a conversation with the BBEG.
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A large room containing a village of animals that talk, have building suited for them, politics, etc.
Mickey Mage's Tomb Town, ha-HA!
Yes, let's have a dungeon with a bouncy-room (and a badass combat encounter in it)!
Every corporeal, surfacebound being in it gets a -2 attack roll penalty, a 5-foot penalty to land speed and cannot run, a +1 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves, and a +10 circumstance bonus to Acrobatics checks!
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Like the japanese, a room dedicated to childs dolls, lined perfectly upon scarlet silk cloth on top of a stairing set of planks. Along with candles.
DC 25 perception reveals the PC's are being observed.
Someone ever read the manga Franken Fran?
Plenty of ideas there, plenty of ideas.
That last one is either SCP-173 or SCP-689. Either one of them would make for good dungeon hazards, in a "Roll incrementally higher will save/concentration check not to blink" fashion. Since SCP-689 is persistent, the adventurers might have to break a curse before they continue.
Then add in a weeping angel and watch the mayhem...