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There are actually a few things I'd like to ask of those here on the Paizo forums, but I will try to my questions relatively short and simple:
What resources, Pathfinder proper or third-party, would those here recommend when it comes to running a campaign of Occult and Horror themes?
With this question, of these themes, would they conflict or could they blend together well? How are the themes of Occult and Horror different as well as different?
Some books I am already considering the Gothic Campaign Compendium, Occult Adventures, Occult Bestiary, Occult Realms, and The Tome of Horrors Complete.
I think this sounds like an amazing idea for a game, as far as resources I would suggest any of the call of cthulu rpg books just for inspiration I guess, occult and horror go hand in hand very well together and I think it should work fine
Also check out WotC's Heroes of Horror for 3.5. It's out of print, but it's on DriveThruRPG.
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Also check out WotC's Heroes of Horror for 3.5. It's out of print, but it's on DriveThruRPG.
One idea I enjoyed from this was that of monsters that could only be killed or defeated in a particular way. Allowing for a reoccurring threat that did not seem to stay dead/defeated as well allow players to continue getting experience from said monster until they figure out how to take it out permanently.
Another consider is Paizo's Horror Adventures, Horror Realms, the Strange Aeons series of Adventure Paths.
Horror Adventures should be at the top of your list. I used it extensively through the past Halloween season. I added several Horror templates, utilized the Hive, started a corruption, used expanded fear and madness rules and found many uses for the environments.
You could do worse than looking up old Ravenloft material, particularly the Arthaus Gazetteers and the Van Richten guides. The former are a collection of useful settings, the latter have a LOT of ideas for working with classic monsters.
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So far I have the Occult series, the Horror series, and the Strange Aeons series by Paizo. Gothic Campaign Compendium by Legendary Games, The Tome of Horrors Complete by Frog God Games, the Van Richten Guides* and Heroes of Horror by WotC with additional converted Ravenloft resources for Pathfinder.
*These are very much my go to guides when it comes to classic horror monsters, particularly vampires.
Classic Horrors Revisted is another excellent resource for horror campaigns as it reworks the classic horror monsters for Golarion and beyond.
So you've got...
Horror Adventures
Occult Adventures
Horror Realms
Occult Realms
Occult Bestiary
The first three volumes of Strange Aeons
Legendary Games' Gothic Campaign Compendium
Frog God Games' Tome of Horrors Complete (which, by the way, is a bestiary; probably about a quarter of the monsters therein have already been incorporated into official PFRPG bestiaries.)
You might want to look into the Carrion Crown Adventure Path and Classic Horrors Revisited
Also along those lines would be WotC's Expedition to Castle Ravenloft and the aforementioned Heroes of Horror (both of which are for 3.5, but can be used with PFRPG with minimal conversion).
My next question is what style of horror are you shooting for? (Gothic horror? Survival horror? Cosmic horror? Body horror? Demonic horror? Slasher horror? Something else?)
That will influence which resources I'd recommend next.
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Probably a mix of a few of the above. Cosmic, demonic, and body horror for the PCs with that of gothic horror more for NPCs. Survival or slasher horror I don't think would works very well, at least not without drastically changing the mechanics of the game.
My thoughts being more of what the party can experience as they go about their adventures. Strange horrors from realms far beyond, of the demonic, of the alien, and of more classic monsters of horrors. With this as the party suffers from possible insanity or corruption which may warp or twist their body and mind.
Perhaps With the party playing the roles of heroes we fight back against the darkness and madness, playing their parts in keeping chaos and evil from overtaking the land or in bringing hope where others my try sniffing it out.
Perhaps a campaign that follows after a similar style to the Diablo series might be of consideration, as well perhaps others.
Again though, I feel "suvival horror" may not work using Pathfinder rules as part of how that works is there is least a degree of actual fear and helplessness as you try to survive the danger.
For survival horror, it's all about restricting resource availability and not letting the party have a proper rest. The normal rule of thumb is that a CR-APL encounter should expend 20-25% of the party's resources, so four or five major encounters per day. If you're running survival horror, make them have ten or more, and don't let them have any idea when they'll get a chance to stop. Make them stay up and active for more than 24 hours, so they start having fatigue effects. Restrict food, so they're also facing starvation. And there's nowhere to acquire new equipment easily. In that mindset, the PCs have to second-guess everything they do. I only have six silver arrows left... Do I use my last Channel Energy for the day?... We're running out of spells...Our healing wand is down to 10 charges... In that mindset, stumbling across an abandoned cottage in the haunted woods might be a major blessing, as they'll be able to barracade themselves in for the night... or will they?
If you want to get into horrors from the Outer Planes, check out the three Book of the Damned volumes. They're not fully fleshed-out encounters, but there are some very frightening demon-focused adventure seeds in the Campaign Settings Demons Revisited, Lost Cities, and The Worldwound.
For more Gothic adventure seeds, check out the Campaign Setting Rule of Fear.
The nightmarish Dominion of the Black appear in the Iron Gods AP Valley of the Brain Collectors, and their twisted alien technology is all about the body horror; they have weaponized diseases, after all. Also along those lines, there are more technological horrors to be found in Numeria: Land of Falling Stars, (especially the Kyton-run Temple of Rent Flesh; Crowhollow, the lair of the techno-lich Ailing Third; and Hollow Gardens, a demon-infested holodeck controlled by an insane AI.)