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"You walk into a stone chamber and you see blood pus and ichor strewn across every imaginable surface. Rusty torture implements, hooks, and picks lie on a table with the remains of a carcass so mutilated that it is hard to tell head nor tail of its features...
All of a sudden...you hear a loud thud and a bang as the door on the opposite side of the room swings open and slams against the wall. You see a hulking figure garbed in tattered rags, his head stooped low and his pale blue flesh bulging with grotesque physique, lumber into the room.
Clutched In his hands lies the dreaded artifact you and your friends have suffered for...and one has died for. An artifact horrendous and evil that IF its power were unleashed...ALL of humanity would be cast into an eternal darkness.....
In his hands....
In HIS HANDS..
Is a skeleton being dragged by its leg, playing its ribs like a xylophone.
"Spooky scury skely-ons.."
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Seriously tho, I am working on a Tegel Manor remake right now so I I have some spoopy ideas to throw at ya.
1) An undead Ravener dragon. Make the room so dim that it is hard to make out until they are close to it.That gave my players an "Oh shiiiii..." kinda feel.
2) Perhaps cheesy but leave micro lore that makes you "feel". I left a note in a room written by a mom to her newborn. In the letter she mentions a ring that will protect the child. The players eventually find a ghoul with a hole in her gut and in the next room is a bloody poem left for the baby and a ring of protection from evil. Made a player tear a bit...
Sahkil are a faction of outsiders that personify this.
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Check out The Golemworks Incident. That scenario does a really good job at gradually telling you more about the person you're getting closer to, and that he's really messed up.
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I'd guess it could use the same ingredients as a horror movie:
* Subtle hints of something evil, slowwwly increasing to open aggression. Start with a blood trace, increase to a devastated corpse, then to a pile of such corpses, afterwards noises of a monster busy with such a corpse - then an ambush.
* Said evil intrudes your (supposedly) safe places, e.g. night rest or your comrades. Even your clothing might attack you, or the door you passed through simply disappears.
* A horrible fate of someone you can relate to. So a random human with his heart cut out works better than a spider with the same fate.
* A feeling of despair because people / things get hurt / lost and you can't do anything about it. Tentacles from the dark (with no chance to track down the creature), invisible thieves during rest and deadly traps are examples.
* Fitting music and speaker voice should add a lot to the atmosphere.
So the feeling of lost control is central here. This is quite different from (at least my) usual GMing style, where players have the chance to bring their order to the world. In a horror world they usually can't, it resists most of their attempts to reveal or change things. Maybe at the end they will be able to understand and fix everything - or at least something. Maybe not.
Now I am tempted to make up such a session, too...
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The PC's fight their way to the very heart of the Dungeon of The Golden Hoard. This once dragon occupied cavern system had been usurped by a power lich in an attempt to bolster his arcane resources.
The PC's had not anticipated the sheer number of undead that crawled, moaned, and shambled towards them. But through sheer determination, they reached the Lich's Master Arcane library and Treasure hoard.
"Alas Heroes, your end draws near! How pitiful you were to come here, now you will serve me in the undeath for eternity!"
At that the lich lets out a flurry of crackling dark energy at the PCs. Skeletons start to swarm the room. The walls start oozing green slime. Even the PC's very shadows seem to be lunging at them!
Wary from a long dungeon delving adventure, The PC's try to decimate the undead hoard in an attempt be able to land a killing blow on the lich.
However, the holy water has run dry, the cleric's healing has been expended, and the Party's fighter is on his last leg.
"Hear me lich! Today will not be your demise, but now, without your undead army it will be you who will be fearing our return!"
At that the Party tactfully retreats. Circumventing traps, and killing what ever stray creature they had missed on their way down.
A day goes by, and the Party rested up, and resupplied delve into the liches lair again.
As they enter the dungeon and eerie silence fills them with dread.
The whole dungeon is quiet.
"Cast see invisibility!" The rogue barks at the wizard.
With that the party carefully moves through the dungeon, surprised at the emptiness and morbid calm.
The traps had not been reset. Monster remains lay where they were slain. Door left Ajar with each room encounter.
Finally, the PC's enter the Lich's domain. The cleric in anticipation warded his party members with a series of boons and enchantments that would aid in the last battle with the lich.
The door bursts down, and the Fighter wielding his mighty greatsword challenges the Lich.
But, no one answers. In fact, there is no sign of life in the room. Upon closer inspection the room seems cleared of any treasure, and right in front of the main treasure box of the treasure horde lays a pile of bones inside what used to be the lich's robe!
The party opens the treasure box and inside they cannot believe their eyes.
A carefully written note on a scrap of parchment that reads:
"Thanks for clearing the way, and the awesome loot! lololol XD"
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Rust monsters man. You wanna scare a party, rust monsters.
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This one works better the older your players are:
Children.
Dead children, cries of children, child ghosts and above all: possessed children the party may have to confront. Never fails the unnerve me.
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This one works better the older your players are:
Children.
Dead children, cries of children, child ghosts and above all: possessed children the party may have to confront. Never fails the unnerve me.
This.
In fact, I've been playing with a build based entirely on this concept that I've intentionally not taken as dark and creepy as it could go, but could so easily get there...
Halflings can get Childlike and Pass for Human as feats that make them damned hard to tell aren't actually human children.
The Gravewalker Witch is a necromancy class that gets their spells from a poppet, basically think a doll. They have to commune with their poppet every morning for their spells. They also have Hexes that are not spells but supernatural abilities that don't have components and can't be readily identified by spellcraft checks.
Halflings can also get Jinx as an alternate racial trait that lets them give -1 penalties to the saves of just about anybody they want, and feats that can expand that to groups of people at a time and/or just about any roll people can make.
So have a Childlike Halfling Gravewalker Witch who has a stuffed animal for a poppet. She has little tea parties with it every morning and talks to it like her imaginary friend. And for some reason the party starts failing their checks and rolls more than they should lately...
Ends up with the innocent scared little girl saying something along the lines of "Mister Bear says he's bored of you now. Mister Bear says its time to turn you into pretties!" as she starts bringing in hordes of undead and dropping curses and hexes on the entire party.
You want creepy and disturbing? Having the party have to kill the cute little girl they've been protecting for the past couple of floors because she turned out to be a necromancer with far more years under her belt than her outward appearance would suggest that has just been toying with them because she was bored is pretty damned high up on that list!
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You are sitting down to run a game. Across from you your psychopathic friends prepare their character sheets. You know you are in for a long evening of them destroying or avoiding everything from the hours of prep work you have put into getting ready for the session.
You go to the fridge and realize you are out of beer!
Da Da Dum
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Oh, and if you really want to frighten the players, advise them "You should probably bring a backup character or two..."
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If anyone in the group is afraid of spiders, I've always found the Skinwalker dragon to be quite...nope. Basically, its a dragon thats constantly hungry, has spiders crawling in its eyes, mouth, and under its scales, its breath weapon is a cone of spider spores, and it hoards bodies, not treasure, in a form of larder after it paralyzes the prey. I told the group I play with about that one, and the general reaction to that was a resounding "eff that."
Alignment/Paladin threads... They are evil incarnate! XD
Lots of great suggestions here. Set the tone by describing the proper atmosphere whether it's a "dark and stormy night" or describing the bridge made of skulls that the PCs have to cross.
In-game, creatures like wraiths put a lot of fear into players, because no one likes ability damage or level drain.
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Play a Rogue and don't pick up Iron Will. You'll be running in fear fr9m just about everything!
But seriously. Here's a module called "From Shore to Sea" that has lovecraftian themes and plenty of offputting creatures. It is just dripping with atmosphere. It can have some spooky tones if the DM puts in the extra work and the players are willing to go along and roleplay characters who can get spooked.
Emphasis on the GM part.
There's also an old 3.5 book, Heroes of Horror I think it was, that is all about how to build a horror campaign. Mechanics on stuff would probably need updating, but most of it is more thematic than anything.
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In general:
1.) little safe ground to stand on. Swampy terrain is unsettling.
2.) Bad environmental effects. Total freezing cold is unsettling.
3.) Monsters that cannot be dealt with diplomatically. Oozes, undead, etc. are very creepy.
4.) Darkness in concert with doors slamming shut.
5.) unaccounted for old gore.
The most feared monster, is of course the Rust Monster, because it can destroy a character's equipment.
Vivisectionist with some of his subjects for experimentation. What aren't corpses, are disgusting insane stitched up creatures. I always did like the island of Dr Moreau. Maybe check up on Lovecraft style creepiness?
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A few suggestions:
Corpses. They are always good to punch into the players' minds that things are going to get serious. They can be as mutilated as you wish. But what is even worse is when the victims are STILL ALIVE, and just as mutilated. Bodies that have been reshaped. These things make people want to burn the place down.
Choices. This doesn't work on a micro-scale, they will just try to do both. No, give them a choice to travel to one of two places, giving them time enough to solve ONE problem... but the other will haunt them. Especially if they later see the consequences. Yes, they will fail no matter what they do. But who said there was always going to be a way? Just don't blame them for it, that's unfair.
Change something in the concept. If they are traveling around on a flying ship, let them see the villain make off in it. If they work from a central guide's orders, have the guide change, disappear or die. If they know a villainous organization well, have them change leadership and methods. Hell, just shutting them inside a tomb they are exploring will instantly change most things about their assumptions.
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One of the most horrifying things is unfortunately anathema to gaming: helplessness.
Except, you will note, for horror based game systems.
We found Serpentfolk to be scary in Serpent's Skull. The ability to cast domination with an evil scheme, the yellow glowing cold eyes, the mystery around them... Felt like a Conan's novel with strange monsters in the jungle. Really nice.
Ogers are awesome too. Blood, stupidity, violence, incest... Good combination!
And Childrens. Make a good NPC Nosferatu Alchemist with dead babies hanging at the walls of his laboratory and a flesh golem pet. You'll see your players scared, sad but imbued with an holy wrath against the NPC. Epic!
And Foxglove's Manor! Read it for inspiration. Probably one of the best dungeon in a adventure path.
Also it's very important to the atmosphere to add music during your sessions. Use the OST from The Exorcist, Scream and the like.
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I love how half the posts are breaking the 4th wall and making fun of pathfinder communities Deadpool style.
We fought monsters for too long, and have become the most scarey monsters ourselves...
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General idea:
Make them older each level they decent... Middel age, old, venerable... Rember to make the wizard senile and give the fighter artrosis and a cane.
Traps:
Trapdoor in the floor leading to a 20 ft. deep waterpit with wrights in it.
Tactics:
Split up the party and allow them to hear each others yells for help.
Monster:
Intelligent ones who know the player characters names and backgrounds.
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The scary things from level one are fleeing the scary things from level two. Diseased rats fleeing an ooze-infested flood, for instance, or giant spiders fleeing awakened spider-eaters, or deformed mutated goblins fleeing a troll alchemist who has been experimenting (and snacking) upon them, or whatever. The nasty of one level is thus tied to the nasty of the next level, thematically.
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This.
In fact, I've been playing with a build based entirely on this concept that I've intentionally not taken as dark and creepy as it could go, but could so easily get there...
Halflings can get Childlike and Pass for Human as feats that make them damned hard to tell aren't actually human children.
The Gravewalker Witch is a necromancy class that gets their spells from a poppet, basically think a doll. They have to commune with their poppet every morning for their spells. They also have Hexes that are not spells but supernatural abilities that don't have components and can't be readily identified by spellcraft checks.
Halflings can also get Jinx as an alternate racial trait that lets them give -1 penalties to the saves of just about anybody they want, and feats that can expand that to groups of people at a time and/or just about any roll people can make.
So have a Childlike Halfling Gravewalker Witch who has a stuffed animal for a poppet. She has little tea parties with it every morning and talks to it like her imaginary friend. And for some reason the party starts failing their checks and rolls more than they should lately...
Ends up with the innocent scared little girl saying something along the lines of "Mister Bear says he's bored of you now. Mister Bear says its time to turn you into pretties!" as she starts bringing in hordes of undead and dropping curses and hexes on the entire party.
You want creepy and disturbing? Having the party have to kill the cute little girl they've been protecting for the past couple of floors because she turned out to be a necromancer with far more years under her belt than her outward appearance would suggest that has just been toying with them because she was bored is pretty damned high up on that list!
... I absolutely am going to use this in some future game.
Also gives me an idea for another, perhaps her sister, that is a deranged psychic (standard fits for the kids from Akira and mutation mind would be creepy on its own) or an occultist of sorts, possibly necrocultist to compliment the gravewalker. Heck, any of the occult classes could work as the gravewalker witch's twin.
It would even be creepier if the twin showed up later but gave no indication that she was anyone other than her now-deceased sister.
CR APL+3 encounter. No loot.
3spooky5me
I agree that Foxglove Manor from Rise of the Runelords has really great ideas. Sounds of sobbing children upstairs (related to the story of the house) really freaked my players out. Lots of other great sections in there that actually gave me chills as a DM.
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Cthulhu.
Ok, don't just use Cthulhu directly, but use that soul-crushing knowledge that the world is ultimately doomed. Any of the Great Old Ones themselves should be too much for anything shy of a very high level mythic party, and even then, they should come back - but cults led by crazed sorcerers (not specifically the class, but magic tied to that great power from beyond) with outsider/aberrant minions doing bizarre acts in horrific settings, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, each more terrible than the last, uncovering layer after layer of mind-numbing strangeness that threatens the PCs sanity until the final desperate climactic scene in a desperate attempt to temporarily stave off oblivion...
Er...IOW, steal all you can from Call of Cthulhu. :p
Another Witch villain possibility is a high-level White-Haired Witch who enthralls great massed mobs with voodoo proclamations that seem to be completely mad ravings, but when you analyze them carefull in context, you realize that said insane proclamations and other crazy actions are in fact very carefully planned. Normally he avoids combat himself, although he is no slouch at it, ferociously attacking opponents with intimidation and spells and grappling them with his hair (which is actually blond, and you can't be sure if it is really his own hair or a toupee). As you race against the growth of the fraction of the population that he has enthralled, you will find that nothing works. Even his apparent irrational fear of Kitsune town criers turns out to be but another of his masterful manipulations. Eventually it will be enough to drive you to . . .
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Another Witch villain possibility is a high-level White-Haired Witch who enthralls great massed mobs with voodoo proclamations that seem to be completely mad ravings, but when you analyze them carefull in context, you realize that said insane proclamations and other crazy actions are in fact very carefully planned. Normally he avoids combat himself, although he is no slouch at it, ferociously attacking opponents with intimidation and spells and grappling them with his hair (which is actually blond, and you can't be sure if it is really his own hair or a toupee). As you race against the growth of the fraction of the population that he has enthralled, you will find that nothing works. Even his apparent irrational fear of Kitsune town criers turns out to be but another of his masterful manipulations. Eventually it will be enough to drive you to . . .
LOL!
Read some H.P. Lovecraft for inspiration. That's what our sadistic GM did.
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I like this story from Daelkry 1/2 blood from 3.5 D&D:
Animals have been disappearing from the local town for a while now. At first hunters only noticed this in that they were seeing much less game then they used to. There was a real worry that people might start starving. Then recently, livestock and pets started to disappear. But as the town druid was quick to note...only female animals. Alarmed, the town put together a reward for any adventuring group willing to investigate.
*Fast forward*
After fighting their way through bestial, warped creatures that must have once been human (the cultists perhaps?) the party has finally reached the center of the network of tunnels in Khyber beneath the town. There is a large building made out of some kind of metal with small pinkish-red fibers creeping across the walls from the open door. The party goes in.
There is no metal inside. Only flesh. Living, breathing, pinkish-red flesh that undulates slowly as if in a mockery of breath. What was once a fortress is now a place not suited to any resident from a sane world. As the party ventures in they see an enormous hole in the central room. Around the hole are fleshy mockeries of blasphemous religious paraphernalia. the walls inside the whole are scribed with sigils...Gatekeeper sigils. Almost filling a third of the whole are corpses of various stretched animals, their bellies slit open. The hole currently seems to be trying to digest them.
As the party moves on into the back of the fortress they open a door to find...
Hundreds of babies peacefully sleeping in a bloody, fleshy "nursery". Seemingly untouched by the general devastation. The only sign of abnormality among the babies are the thick black leeches each of them has attached.
What will the party do?
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GM: Hi everyone! Thanks for coming together for this small "horror" campaign of ours.
Now I know you have many questions, so let's get started!
First things first, YES! The Book of Erotic Fantasy is legal and we will be using everything from it.
Now, on to roleplay questions...
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Notecards.
CR APL+3 encounter. No loot.
3spooky5me
B#!~@, please. "You must play CRB only monk on a 15 point buy!" is way more scary than anything in this thread!
Wonder who remembers Darksun campaign setting for 2nd edition. The very beginning even before character creation is a few sentences on how dangerous the setting was. The gist of it was make three characters expect to lose two and don't expect them to survive past level three.
The characters actually started at level three. I liked the setting, it was different and interesting. Somehow we never really got any longtime campaigns going.
Dark Sun was brilliant. Keeping a campaign going could be difficult, though. Mostly, I think, because there was so much there about the novels storyline, and little else.
If you want horror background music, you don't have to go any further than Midnight Syndicate.