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Myou
2009-09-25, 04:01 PM
What's the scariest line (or few lines) you can think of? It could be to describe a foe, set a scene, or something else. :3

Lycan 01
2009-09-25, 04:12 PM
"You see Cthulhu."


I'm happy to say, I actually got use that line once during a Call of Cthulhu one-shot featuring an attack on New York City by the Great Old One, a la Cloverfield. The result? One player was already insane and had passed out, another player began to babble incoherantly and rock back and forth, while the third pulled out his pistol, shot himself through the head, and tumbled out of the helicopter they were escaping in. The perfect ending, I believe...

Fluffles
2009-09-25, 04:14 PM
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.


EDIT: Damned ninjas.

Project_Mayhem
2009-09-25, 04:16 PM
Having npcs come dangerously close to saying Hastur three times is always good

Catch
2009-09-25, 04:18 PM
DM: "Make a Spot check."
Player: "Alright.... That's a total of 33. What do I see?"
DM: *smile* "Nothing."

Myou
2009-09-25, 04:42 PM
"You see Cthulhu."


I'm happy to say, I actually got use that line once during a Call of Cthulhu one-shot featuring an attack on New York City by the Great Old One, a la Cloverfield. The result? One player was already insane and had passed out, another player began to babble incoherantly and rock back and forth, while the third pulled out his pistol, shot himself through the head, and tumbled out of the helicopter they were escaping in. The perfect ending, I believe...

I guess you had to be there. :smalltongue:

Dienekes
2009-09-25, 04:48 PM
DM: "Make a Spot check."
Player: "Alright.... That's a total of 33. What do I see?"
DM: *smile* "Nothing."

This, and not a line per se but whenever a player passes a note to someone else/GM.

The tension such a thing builds is incredible.

Masaioh
2009-09-25, 04:48 PM
Scariest in context: You all wake up in an inn.

Scariest regardless of context: The opening of the Tarrasque's description in the MM, but with plurals.

The first one comes from the first campaign I DM'ed, where the first encounter was started by the inn imploding and the players waking up in what is colloquially known as 'the elemental plane of jello' or 'Ran Ran Ruu'. Queue Giygas theme and flying demon turtles. The line is usually met with some variation of 'Oh, crap, not AGAIN!'.

Paulus
2009-09-25, 04:55 PM
"He smiles." Said after the BBEG is supposedly defeated via party's use of all resources and effort.

BenTheJester
2009-09-25, 05:03 PM
DM: "Make a Spot check."
Player: "Alright.... That's a total of 33. What do I see?"
DM: *smile* "Nothing."

That's awesome.

golentan
2009-09-25, 05:11 PM
Facing a hopeless battle as the last survivors of humanity against a horde of demons, and having barricaded the building we're in in a horror survival game, the DM looks at us and says:

"A handsome man in a well tailored suit simply appears in the room with you. He gives you a charming smile and says 'Pleased to meet you, I'm a man of wealth and taste.'"

The one I pulled on my players was more in line with the Cthulhu ones. In a Sci Fi game they made (by which I mean hideously critically failed, by 40 points) a gather information check, so I winged it and said "You wake up three days later with amnesia, all you remember is the phrase 'President Bartlett commands the humming chair and vacillating shoggoth,' and that it's somehow related to your memory loss." They cleared off that planet in record time, I didn't think it was that scary.

Starscream
2009-09-25, 06:04 PM
Any time the DM says "Are you sure?"

Well I'm not now, thanks.

"Interesting" is another heart-stopper.

Myou
2009-09-25, 06:09 PM
Lines like 'are you sure?', 'make a spot check' etc aren't actually scary though, that's just the DM inducing a sense of paranoia.

Kallisti
2009-09-25, 06:35 PM
Any time the DM makes a cryptic comment, rolls his dice for no apparent reason, or smiles.

Although, actual lines that are frightening in context: "Have you ever been haunted? Ever been the only one in a room...and realized you're not alone? Ever looked in the mirror and wondered if the eyes staring back at you are really your own?"

Solaris
2009-09-25, 07:18 PM
"Schnepp, you take point."
"Ahead of or behind the IAs?"
"Ahead."
I could hear the dramatic musical cue. Context? We're clearing a minefield with nothing but our boots. Even better, we did find mines and dug 'em up.
... I don't care if it's an AT mine and supposedly only blows up with a tank on top of it, it's still a mine designed to kill tanks and I'm a whole lot squishier than a tank.

*Ting* "I found something!"

"Let's split up, we'll cover more ground" is even scarier when you're trolling for a random encounter in real life.

"Incoming!" stopped being scary, but boy did it getcha the first time.

"What's the worst that could happen?" is never a good thing to hear.

Had an NCO on his third deployment, both previous managed to evade IED/injury. He didn't like to hear "Third time's the charm."
... Still managed to evade IED/injury.

A guy talking to himself while carrying a loaded weapon. Not exactly a line, per se, but it involves speech and scary.

A guy talking to a stuffed squirrel while on guard in a tower that has no less than four frag grenades and an M240B with enough rounds to kill everyone twice over tends to unnerve some, too.

"You know how to drive?"
"Nope!"

Volkov
2009-09-25, 07:22 PM
"Pandorym's body has reunited with his mind, and he's brought friends."

Dixieboy
2009-09-25, 07:24 PM
"Woops"
And
"damn"

Not even a line, just words like that. *shiver*

Jade_Tarem
2009-09-25, 07:27 PM
I recently had the following line delivered to me by the DM in a PbP game.

"...and high overhead, dracoliches circle nervously."

dspeyer
2009-09-25, 07:30 PM
"Can I see your character sheet? I just need to copy down some numbers."

It's got to be either will save or spot modifier, but you don't get to know *which*.

Starscream
2009-09-25, 07:30 PM
Lines like 'are you sure?', 'make a spot check' etc aren't actually scary though, that's just the DM inducing a sense of paranoia.

You haven't had some of my DMs. Merely playing with my cousin behind the screen is enough to induce paranoia. Having him say "Are you sure?" is enough to induce incontinence.

Volkov
2009-09-25, 07:31 PM
Rogue: I signal the rest of my invisible party to try and sneak by the sleeping red dragon with one hundred twenty virtual age categories.
Me: The dragon's nostrils inhale a large gust of air and then suddenly the dragon wakes up and says "Hello gnomish rogue, I sense that you are about fifty feet away, invisible, and have brought along a dwarf fighter, a ilithid psion, a lizard folk fighter, and an elven cleric. I sense your future will involve a major torching."
The dragon then fires his ungodly powerful breath weapon, incinerating the APL 100 party who forgot to proof themselves against fire, and all rolled very poorly on their throws, with the rogue rolling a one.

The Demented One
2009-09-25, 07:32 PM
"Shall we decimate them? That sounds good, nice word... decimate. Remove one-tenth of the Earth's population!"

Yukitsu
2009-09-25, 07:32 PM
Apparantly, when I said "They haven't died yet." when someone was asking why I'd killed all these NPCs that had disappeared.

JonestheSpy
2009-09-25, 07:33 PM
I found the check-out line at the annual San Francisco Library Used Book sale to be simply terrifiying.

Volkov
2009-09-25, 07:35 PM
"You finally reach Demogorgon, his massive eighteen foot frame imposing against your party, but his eyes are dead, and his body drops to the ground, both heads have had their skulls extracted, and an massively powerful elder brain makes itself known, and it doesn't seem to have suffered any damage from the prince of demons."

Dixieboy
2009-09-25, 07:38 PM
Waaaaait, can elder brains move?

Volkov
2009-09-25, 07:38 PM
You pass by a wagon, with two parrots on your shoulder and all of a sudden the left one starts shouting. "ORCUS ORCUS ORCUS ORCUS ORCUS ORCUS ORCUS ORCUS ORCUS!" While the other one shouts "HASTUR HASTUR HASTUR HASTUR HASTUR HASTUR HASTUR HASTUR!"

Gourtox
2009-09-25, 07:39 PM
This is inspiring me to make a game. I really need to finishe my homebrew settign.

hotel_papa
2009-09-25, 07:41 PM
The scariest thing I ever said to a party?

"So, as it turns out, the Greater Rod of Cancellation you recovered from the desert temple for your girlfriend? The one you met on a lightning rail at level 1, and insisted upon sleeping with? She's not using it to cure her brother. Her brother is ... was...that cancer mage that the Druid's wolf at back when you were level 5. She's using it to dispel a certain ward on a certain tomb. Which, until now, held her grandfather. Who is a disciple of the Worm that Walks. On the bright side, taking out that Waste Lich got you to level 10. On the slightly worse side, welcome to an Elder Evils campaign. On a signifigantly worse side, your character had sex with a blood relation of both someone with the cancer mage prestige class, and someone with the worm that walks template. You may want to get yourself tested."

Volkov
2009-09-25, 07:47 PM
"Roll a fortitude save"
"Why?"
"You hit a spike laced with Pit Fiend Venom, From a max hit dice Pit fiend who has a base constitution score of eighteen."

Pit fiend venom, the death effect on a failed row makes that venom the scariest venom of all.

Solaris
2009-09-25, 07:47 PM
Waaaaait, can elder brains move?

It just killed the Prince of Demons. Are you gonna try arguing with it?

Hadrian_Emrys
2009-09-25, 07:48 PM
"Mage's Disjunction."

taltamir
2009-09-25, 07:59 PM
deputized level 2 PCs search the magical meangere of the largest arcane college in the world for clues as to why the caretaker disappeared. It is full of horrible (I mean REALLY horrible) creatures and protection and binding spells of unbelievable power, we couldn't break them if we tried... (which would be pretty stupid of us to try).

Meet an unbelievably powerful demon/devil in a small cramped cage... it went sorta like this:
PC: So, do you know what happened here
demon: yes
PC: will you tell us what happened...
PC2: what happened to the caretaker specifically.
demon: what will you give me
PC: err, well.. if we find him i am sure we can get him to agree to move you to a bigger cage.
.
(a few more lines like that)
.
demon: Your offer of improved accommodations are... intriguing, but are simply insufficient. You seem to think that I am held here against my wishes... *bends adamantium bars" steps out of cage as if the enchantments are not there...
Entery party: oh ****...

Volkov
2009-09-25, 08:06 PM
"Cthulhu wakes up and you are within 1,000 miles of r'lyeh."

RelentlessImp
2009-09-25, 08:07 PM
Showdown with the BBEG. Me: a Neutral Evil Sorcerer. Everyone else: Sickeningly good.

BBEG: *Monologue*
Party Member 1: We shall defeat you for the good of the world!
Party Member 2: Aye, ye'll be sent back to the Hell from which you came!
Party Member 3: For the balance of nature to be restored, you must be undone!
Me: Hey, guys. You remember how I kept going off on my own earlier?
Party: Yeah?
Me: I got a better offer. By the way, Time Stop.
Party: Oh Shi--.

Dixieboy
2009-09-25, 08:08 PM
It just killed the Prince of Demons. Are you gonna try arguing with it?

Seeing as there is a max range for it's attacks.

Yes.

Volkov
2009-09-25, 08:09 PM
"Cthulhu turns to face you."

Volkov
2009-09-25, 08:12 PM
Seeing as there is a max range for it's attacks.

Yes.

It floated with a permanent fly spell. So there.

Volkov
2009-09-25, 08:14 PM
"You have royally pissed off James Bond." I don't care if you are an epic level wizard, you are a dead man if you do that.

tyckspoon
2009-09-25, 08:15 PM
The dragon then fires his ungodly powerful breath weapon, incinerating the APL 100 party who forgot to proof themselves against fire, and all rolled very poorly on their throws, with the rogue rolling a one.

Eh. Well-deserved death by mass idiocy.

Dixieboy
2009-09-25, 08:18 PM
Eh. Well-deserved death by mass idiocy.

Not if they were expecting a differently colored dragon. :smallredface:

Volkov
2009-09-25, 08:20 PM
Eh. Well-deserved death by mass idiocy.
Only the mind flayer survived, and that's because the dragon revived him, as a permanently enslaved puppet.

Stormthorn
2009-09-25, 08:22 PM
"You feel a warm wetness splash your face as the worker in front of you is torn in half and his body pulled into the next room."

Said out of the blue as the PCs where doing a sweep with a gorup of furniture movers.

Poor gorup stumbled unawares onto a homebrew monster. Silent, invisible, with a 15' reach.

Line didnt scare me, but then again, i was the mastermind for the whole encounter and the one saying it.

sonofzeal
2009-09-25, 08:22 PM
Not if they were expecting a differently colored dragon. :smallredface:
Red Dragon: "*casts Disguise Self* Why yes, I am a Silver Dragon! What would you like?"

Volkov
2009-09-25, 08:23 PM
"You wake up in Acererak's tomb of horrors with no way out"

Stormthorn
2009-09-25, 08:24 PM
"You wake up in Acererak's tomb of horrors with no way out"

"You wake up in the tomb of horrors. Make a Fort save."

Volkov
2009-09-25, 08:27 PM
"You touched the wrong thing in the tomb of horrors, you have been dumped outside stripped of your equipment, very literally naked in the outdoors."

RelentlessImp
2009-09-25, 08:28 PM
"You wake up in the tomb of horrors. Make a Fort save."

"Tomb of Horrors."

Stormthorn
2009-09-25, 08:29 PM
"Tomb of Horrors."

Its the spelling and grammer police! Run 4 yer lvs!


You touched the wrong thing in the tomb of horrors, you have been dumped outside stripped of your equipment, very literally naked in the outdoors."

Well, at least you got out.

Volkov
2009-09-25, 08:36 PM
Its the spelling and grammer police! Run 4 yer lvs!



Well, at least you got out.

"The drool of a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex hits your now bare shoulder. He bites and rolls a critical hit and initiates a grapple attempt to swallow you."

RelentlessImp
2009-09-25, 08:38 PM
Its the spelling and grammer police! Run 4 yer lvs!


Not quite. I was pointing out that the three little words "Tomb of Horrors" is, in fact, the scariest part of the line. Why not just reduce your line to those three words and watch the horror in your players' faces rise?

tyckspoon
2009-09-25, 08:39 PM
Red Dragon: "*casts Disguise Self* Why yes, I am a Silver Dragon! What would you like?"

At the levels he was talking about, that really shouldn't make a difference. At least one member of the party should be able to automatically penetrate illusions and they *all* should have immunity to all of the basic energy types. Mind, a dragon that old could well have some means of breathing something that is entirely unresistable (the Draconomicon offers a dragon prestige class that lets them use something like the Divine Blast Salient Divine Ability that can only be stopped by another SDA, for example), but at least the party would have been destroyed by something respectable instead of a basic noob error... well, not counting the basic noob error of trying to sneak past a ludicrously old dragon.

Forbiddenwar
2009-09-25, 09:00 PM
I'm not sure which of my lines have been the scariest, but . . .
Context: Level 3 party
In a prison where everything encountered has been undead:

You open the cell door. There is a small halfling girl there, smiling. You immediately notice her short sword in your gut. (rolls 6d6 SA damage). Then she tumbles out of the cell, skips down the hall, passing 3 other cell doors, and opens the one at the end. Now, you can roll initative.

Set
2009-09-25, 09:01 PM
Strahd, slowly clapping hands as he appears from the fog in front of the escaping party. "Congratulations, heroes. You've rescued the helpless villagers from my larder." Pause. "Oh wait, that wasn't my larder. That was the guest quarters..."

Cue half-dozen 'rescued' villagers turning on the party with glowing red eyes and pointy teeth.

Radiun
2009-09-25, 09:29 PM
After making sure everyone has read Game of Thrones.

"You look back at the towering wall of ice shimmering in the last rays of the sun. Even though you hated it, you wish you were back. Your mission is to find your missing Brothers. Welcome to the Night's Watch gentleman"

Shadowbane
2009-09-25, 10:01 PM
Me, as DM: You see the nine pit fiends shrinking back in fear from the huge shadowy being standing over them. They are groveling, mewling wrecks of their former black glory. The being seems to say something, and the air in the room turns foul. One by one, they teleport away, the stink of fear strong in the room. You smell the metallic tang of old blood and pure desperation in the air, and the room is thick with the feeling of loathing and indescribable hatred. The shadowy being seems to solidify, then it looks at you, brilliant green eyes piercing the gloom of the room.

Players: Happy place happy place happy place happy place...

Me: Roll for initiative.

Players: HAPPY PLACE!

evil-frosty
2009-09-25, 10:12 PM
Shadowbane, i am ignorant what were the players facing?

Woodsman
2009-09-25, 10:16 PM
Shadowbane, i am ignorant what were the players facing?

It's Asmodesus, the Lord of the Nine Hells

Flickerdart
2009-09-25, 10:24 PM
When a DM asks "what was your max HP again?" in the middle of rolling some dice.

chiasaur11
2009-09-25, 10:45 PM
Rogue: I signal the rest of my invisible party to try and sneak by the sleeping red dragon with one hundred twenty virtual age categories.
Me: The dragon's nostrils inhale a large gust of air and then suddenly the dragon wakes up and says "Hello gnomish rogue, I sense that you are about fifty feet away, invisible, and have brought along a dwarf fighter, a ilithid psion, a lizard folk fighter, and an elven cleric. I sense your future will involve a major torching."
The dragon then fires his ungodly powerful breath weapon, incinerating the APL 100 party who forgot to proof themselves against fire, and all rolled very poorly on their throws, with the rogue rolling a one.

That just leads to the DM getting punched.

Fear is stopping after describing the party and then saying "It smiles, and goes back to sleep."

Obscure nerd references:

"~text interface terminal malfunction error ~2992dud

Things have gone terribly awry. Until now, I thought myself immortal, but now I know that is not true. There are things that can destroy me with the ease that I slaughtered the Pfhor naval garrison and the Western Arm of their Battle Group Seven. But in their final gasp they used a weapon that I thought they had retired, even Tycho tried to keep them from using it.

Now I fear what that weapon has unleashed will destroy us. I once boasted to be able to count the atoms in a cloud, to understand them all, predict them, and so did I predict you, but this new chaos is entirely terrible, mindless, obeying rules that I don't comprehend. And it is hungry."

Fiery Diamond
2009-09-25, 11:24 PM
When a DM asks "what was your max HP again?" in the middle of rolling some dice.

As a DM, I do this a lot. (Although, when I do it, I'm really doing it to know if I need to fudge to keep them alive, but they don't know that.)

OracleofWuffing
2009-09-25, 11:47 PM
While I haven't had it appear in a game I've been studying certain things too long to not think of this...

"Your wife approaches you, with blood splattered all over her body. She wildly explains a story about how she killed a monster that attacked her in the woods with her bare hands. She holds out her hands, revealing the trophy of her battle: Your son's head."

Similarly, let's say the players have just slayed some horrible BBEG or something beforehand, and they're having some meal in celebration.

"As you ladle yourself another helping of the stew, you notice a locket in your serving. It is identical to the locket you gave to your daughter before you became an adventurer."

Trodon
2009-09-25, 11:49 PM
DM: "Make a Spot check."
Player: "Alright.... That's a total of 33. What do I see?"
DM: *smile* "Nothing."

That is awesome, do you mind if I sig that?

Danin
2009-09-26, 12:56 AM
"Come play with me"

Spoken by a 7 year old girl, granted near God like powers. Unlimited power with a child's sense of morality.



DM - "Congratulations, you succeeded in collapsing the mountain on it, the arcane energies tearing the entire area asunder"

Players - "Woo hoo! We did it guys! We kick a-"

DM - "I never said it was dead"

This one got me hit with a Doritos

herrhauptmann
2009-09-26, 01:48 AM
Roll a d20, then look at your players. Point and mumble like you're assigning numbers, then roll a d8. Look at your notes and say:
Roll a d20 guys, I've already got your relevant modifiers written down.


Depending on the party, just asking them to roll a spot check can do it.

Count Dravda
2009-09-26, 02:05 AM
"Pandorym's body has reunited with his mind, and he's brought friends."

Dear God.

Oh, and for my contribution...

"Behold the death of your world. There, cresting the horizon. Yes, that faint body is he, and he comes for me...for us all. Rejoice, for the end is near, and soon all life, all suffering shall be silenced in the perfect eternity of undeath." -Caira Xasten, insane Ur-Priest and servant of Atropus

Radiun
2009-09-26, 02:19 AM
This works on my brother
"Kobold"
He will fight the Tarrasque at level 5 without flight before heading into a Kobold's home

Mystic Muse
2009-09-26, 02:30 AM
I have to ask what does saying hauster three times do? and who's Pandorym?

herrhauptmann
2009-09-26, 02:43 AM
Hastur Hastur Hastur is supposed to summon Hastur, duke of Hell, and signal the coming destruction of the world. Or something along those lines. I think it's more of a Cthulhu or WoD thing than D&D.

On that note, I don't think there's a version for 'Orcus Orcus Orcus' like was mentioned on page 1.

Radiun
2009-09-26, 02:51 AM
I have to ask what does saying hauster three times do? and who's Pandorym?

I don't know unfortunately, but you reminded me of Pazuzu
From the wiki:

Cults of Pazuzu are started when someone in desperate need discovers Pazuzu's name and pleads for his help. When someone utters the name "Pazuzu" three consecutive times, the demon lord is telepathically linked to that person for one minute. During that time, Pazuzu is capable of reading the thoughts of whoever he is linked to, in addition to checking whether they are lawful or good. After confirming that whoever said his name isn't endeavoring to capture him on the Material Plane, Pazuzu appears before the speaker. Pazuzu grants the person aid, usually via his wish spell-like ability, and in reply asks that his name be repeated to others. The mortal's miraculous turn of fortune attracts other desperate souls. Pazuzu continues to grant aid when called upon, each time producing more evil results. Eventually the cultists come to depend on him for their success, at which point he reveals his true nature. Those who try to repent are tortured and sacrificed. After a cult has committed its first sacrifice, Pazuzu abandons it and seeks out other prospects. Eventually the cult is destroyed by lawful and good forces; looters discover Pazuzu's name and the cycle's continuance is assured.

Kol Korran
2009-09-26, 03:35 AM
well, not exactly a sentence, as a setup... i've made my players aware that they are on some sort of a time limit in their adventure. their characters would get strange disturbing flashes of images whenever some time have passed. only... none of it made sense. i then made it clear that any long deliberation OOC actually costs time in game...

then they started to encounter bad things. not necceserily happening to them, but disturbing.
oh, and i do play by my time limits, characters very rarely reach in the nick of time. they either have some time to spare, or theyv'e failed. works great for horror themed adventures...

i only had to say two words to get them all in a scared hurried frenzy-
"tick... tock..."

Temet Nosce
2009-09-26, 03:46 AM
"Mage's Disjunction."

Yeah, I think this kinda wins. It's like a free ticket to checking not whether or not the game is over, but how it ended... and you actually get to spend thirty minutes or so doing it.

Solaris
2009-09-26, 04:16 AM
Hastur Hastur Hastur is supposed to summon Hastur, duke of Hell, and signal the coming destruction of the world. Or something along those lines. I think it's more of a Cthulhu or WoD thing than D&D.

On that note, I don't think there's a version for 'Orcus Orcus Orcus' like was mentioned on page 1.

Used to be, back in the old days, that if you spoke the name of an Archfiend there was a 5% chance of attracting its attention. If your DM was mean, it was cumulative. They don't do it anymore. I assume it's 'cause they're not concerned about protecting their reps in front of their peeps anymore.

Volkov
2009-09-26, 07:38 AM
I don't know unfortunately, but you reminded me of Pazuzu
From the wiki:

Cults of Pazuzu are started when someone in desperate need discovers Pazuzu's name and pleads for his help. When someone utters the name "Pazuzu" three consecutive times, the demon lord is telepathically linked to that person for one minute. During that time, Pazuzu is capable of reading the thoughts of whoever he is linked to, in addition to checking whether they are lawful or good. After confirming that whoever said his name isn't endeavoring to capture him on the Material Plane, Pazuzu appears before the speaker. Pazuzu grants the person aid, usually via his wish spell-like ability, and in reply asks that his name be repeated to others. The mortal's miraculous turn of fortune attracts other desperate souls. Pazuzu continues to grant aid when called upon, each time producing more evil results. Eventually the cultists come to depend on him for their success, at which point he reveals his true nature. Those who try to repent are tortured and sacrificed. After a cult has committed its first sacrifice, Pazuzu abandons it and seeks out other prospects. Eventually the cult is destroyed by lawful and good forces; looters discover Pazuzu's name and the cycle's continuance is assured.

Pandorym is an entity from an unknown reality perpendicular to the cosmology, even a fragment of his mind has a cr of 25. His body can destroy anything it touches, and his mind is so powerful it's beyond a CR rating. If reunited, he will tear down the cosmology, kill all the gods without so much as blinking, and go back home.

Lioness
2009-09-26, 07:49 AM
Anytime the DM smiles is a cause for fear. In fact, ours smiles evilly so much that for his birthday I got him a dice bag that says 'Beware the smiling game master'

I don't find 'What's your max HP again?' scary, because it usually means he's going to keep me alive. Just.

We're playing a game with corruption, and our cleric is often away. He is the only one who can hear it, and after 24 hours it's permanent. Hence, most scary thing: *evil smile* 'Make a fort/wis save'

'Oh. by the way, that wood you're about to walk into...it's filled with dire tigers'
Cue complete freezing of entire party (we were level 5 at the time)

Cheesegear
2009-09-26, 08:03 AM
Lines from a kender;
The classic "Oops..."
Or, and this has actually happened to me before, the kender gets sent forward to scout (because they almost always play stealth), he comes rushing back. And says "Okay...Here's the thing..."

Or, when the DM asked us, after we'd done something really stupid (but, it seemed like a good idea at the time), the DM just grinned at us, and said "You do know what you've just done, right?"

Yes...We destroyed the ancient and powerful artifact instead of keeping it safe like we were supposed to. Hey, we wanted to prevent the artifact from falling into the BBEG's hands. Little did we know, that the BBEG wanted it, so he could destroy it...Yeah, we helped the BBEG on his path to Godhood by destroying the Material Plane's only means to stop him.

"Okay guys, what do we have that can pierce tank armour?"
"...Umm...Nothing?"
"Uh oh..."

DM: Has anyone ever fought vampires before? Alright. What about Demi-Liches? Okay. I think I've got a campaign sorted...

Any sentence, ever, that begins with "Suddenly..."

Lioness
2009-09-26, 08:09 AM
Any sentence, ever, that begins with "Suddenly..."

We've had some pretty funny ones that started with that..

'Suddenly, your stalker-musician appears and starts playing accordian carnival music!'

Cheesegear
2009-09-26, 08:45 AM
'Suddenly, your stalker-musician appears and starts playing accordian carnival music!'

And that's not scary for you? :smallconfused:

Volkov
2009-09-26, 09:04 AM
Hastur Hastur Hastur is supposed to summon Hastur, duke of Hell, and signal the coming destruction of the world. Or something along those lines. I think it's more of a Cthulhu or WoD thing than D&D.

On that note, I don't think there's a version for 'Orcus Orcus Orcus' like was mentioned on page 1.

Saying hastur brings a %25 chance of him noticing you, and if he notices you, he sends in 1d3 byakhee to kill you, per bad roll, if the byakhee die, there is a %25 chance that he himself comes to kill you. And Hastur is a very, very, very powerful god who makes you go crazy for just looking at him.

daggaz
2009-09-26, 09:04 AM
I always thought the deep drums after "Fool of a Took..." were pretty upsetting.. :smalleek:

Woodsman
2009-09-26, 09:07 AM
This is from a DM of mine once. It's from a story he told me, so I'm kind of making this up.

DM:"Your [20th level] party suddenly encounters a squirrel. Roll initiative."

Party: Um... OK? *Rolls*

The squirrel then proceeded to swallow a titan whole.

Turns out it was the tarrasque under the effect of Baleful Polymorph. It succeeded on the second save to keep his powers. So yes, a squirrel swallowed a titan whole.

Now I have an unhealthy fear of squirrels. Especially when I'm playing with him.

Volkov
2009-09-26, 09:16 AM
Me: You see what Seems to be a perfectly ordinary white rabbit guarding a cave, but the enchanter who lead you here is scared to the death of it.

daggaz
2009-09-26, 09:21 AM
This is from a DM of mine once. It's from a story he told me, so I'm kind of making this up.

DM:"Your [20th level] party suddenly encounters a squirrel. Roll initiative."

Party: Um... OK? *Rolls*

The squirrel then proceeded to swallow a titan whole.

Turns out it was the tarrasque under the effect of Baleful Polymorph. It succeeded on the second save to keep his powers. So yes, a squirrel swallowed a titan whole.

Now I have an unhealthy fear of squirrels. Especially when I'm playing with him.


It keeps the abilities, sure, but those are tied in to its new size. As a diminutive creature, the tarrasque/squirrel can only swallow whole opponents at least one size category smaller, so unless the titan was less than six inches tall, or an acorn... no go. :smallamused:

Dragon Elite
2009-09-26, 09:39 AM
DM: You can't see. Roll initiative, a Fort save, a Will save, and you all take 5d6 falling damage.
Players: This sucks
I have done this.

Lvl45DM!
2009-09-26, 09:54 AM
Player(toughest fighter in the party double specialized with her +3 long sword):i roll a 19 that hits no worries
DM: oh..really?does it
The entire group just froze and gave him a look of abject terror
..."ok yes it hits"

Sir_Elderberry
2009-09-26, 10:00 AM
Player(toughest fighter in the party double specialized with her +3 long sword):i roll a 19 that hits no worries
DM: oh..really?does it
The entire group just froze and gave him a look of abject terror
..."ok yes it hits"

I am definitely doing this next time I DM.

Samb
2009-09-26, 10:01 AM
Pandorym is an entity from an unknown reality perpendicular to the cosmology, even a fragment of his mind has a cr of 25. His body can destroy anything it touches, and his mind is so powerful it's beyond a CR rating. If reunited, he will tear down the cosmology, kill all the gods without so much as blinking, and go back home.

We still have Amodues to protect us...... "As you plane shift into Baator to seek Amodues' aid....."

for those who don't know Amodues was the one that pwned it and seperated it soul to begin with. Little known fact, Amodues saved the multiverse. He's so misunderstood.

Lvl45DM!
2009-09-26, 10:02 AM
In a reverse topic as DMs whats your favourite lines from players?
Mine would have to be the party fighter who had been playing a little while (knew the difference between a goblin and a hobgoblin but not a bearded and barbed devil kapeesh?"
walks into my dungeon looks at what ive put against the 8th level party laughs and assures the rest of the noob group
"They're just kobolds"

Volkov
2009-09-26, 10:08 AM
We still have Amodues to protect us...... "As you plane shift into Baator to seek Amodues' aid....."

for those who don't know Amodues was the one that pwned it and seperated it soul to begin with. Little known fact, Amodues saved the multiverse. He's so misunderstood.
I thought Asmodeus did that to Zargon, and If Pandorym really is cheesed, he can bring in the other Elder Evils, in a epic clash of the Elder Evils and their minions vs the major Evil Outsider Lords and their monsters.

The general of gehenna vs the leviathan would be fun to watch.

Myou
2009-09-26, 10:12 AM
In a reverse topic as DMs whats your favourite lines from players?
Mine would have to be the party fighter who had been playing a little while (knew the difference between a goblin and a hobgoblin but not a bearded and barbed devil kapeesh?"
walks into my dungeon looks at what ive put against the 8th level party laughs and assures the rest of the noob group
"They're just kobolds"

Rather than deliberately gonig off topic, make a thread of your own. :smallannoyed:

Volkov
2009-09-26, 10:13 AM
"The Elder Evil Leviathan's eye opens at you, and even it's pupils would easily dwarf entire cities. The sheer force of it's eyelids opening creates a massive ocean current that sends your party flying as the beast awakens."

Lvl45DM!
2009-09-26, 10:14 AM
Sorry :( i dont do this forum thing alot :smallfrown: didnt mean to buzz the kill

Samb
2009-09-26, 10:20 AM
I thought Asmodeus did that to Zargon, and If Pandorym really is cheesed, he can bring in the other Elder Evils, in a epic clash of the Elder Evils and their minions vs the major Evil Outsider Lords and their monsters.

The general of gehenna vs the leviathan would be fun to watch.

I maybe getting my god slaying elder evils mixed up. Pandorym is that thing that the inevitable is trying to release due to an old agreement? Whatever the case Amodues would still pwn it.

General of Gehenna? Who's that? The incesteous father and daughter?

Shadowbane
2009-09-26, 10:21 AM
Amodues? Do you mean Asmodeus?

Now, as a DM, my favorite lines from players.

This is in-character, here. The player is a Half-Dragon Half Drow Demonadin, a class I created that is pretty much made of awesome. Put it this way: he has an armor of screaming souls that give him a deflection bonus as a class ability, and he has another that allows him to dissolve into shadow, then eat an enemy's soul once per day.

He also talked to me, and came up with a cool idea which I let him have, for his roleplaying. He keeps his Drow side entirely present, and his half-dragon side totally hidden. When he goes half-dragon, suddenly he develops huge claws, teeth, wings and a tail.

Me: The cleric of Corellon Larethian spits in your face. "I'll never tell you anything, demon-blooded cur!"

Player: *gives me hand motion that means he shifts into half-dragon form* *Smiles*

Me: The cleric screams and tries to get away, moaning, "No, no, no, demon-blooded, demon-blooded..."

Player: "Dragon-blooded."

He then proceeded to calmly break every single one of the cleric's fingers and toes, then started on bigger bones until he told the party what they wanted to know.

Player: I cut off his finger.

Me: Uh, ok. You do that, and the cleric begins to scream as blood spurts from the finger.

Player 2 (wizard): I cast animate object on the finger.

Player 1 (demonadin): I put in finger down his throat.

Me: Eeeeeeeeeeeeh.

Then, following the one I said earlier in the thread where the players were about to face Asmodeus.

Me, rping Asmodeus: Hello. I am a man of wealth and taste.

Wizard: Me too. Intensified Time stop.

Me: Eh crap.

Volkov
2009-09-26, 10:22 AM
I maybe getting my god slaying elder evils mixed up. Pandorym is that thing that the inevitable is trying to release due to an old agreement? Whatever the case Amodues would still pwn it.

General of Gehenna? Who's that? The incesteous father and daughter?

The General of Gehenna is the Lord of the yugoloths, the most powerful fiend of them all, and was the first fiend. The Original evil.

Lvl45DM!
2009-09-26, 10:23 AM
dude your pcs are messed up

Temet Nosce
2009-09-26, 11:04 AM
Stuff

I approve. I love that kind of game. Your players deserve compliments for their excellent use of available materials.

Myou
2009-09-26, 11:16 AM
Sorry :( i dont do this forum thing alot :smallfrown: didnt mean to buzz the kill

That's ok, it's just easy for a thread's original theme to be forgotten if people start new discussions - it's best to put an unrelated topic in a new thread.

Sorry I was sharp with you.

msully4321
2009-09-26, 01:02 PM
Any time the DM says "Are you sure?"

I've discovered that DMing is more fun if you don't ask that. "Make a grapple check" is often a suitable substitute.

"You see that the guard on the gate has been tripled and the guards are scanning the crowd as if looking for someone."
"I go and ask the guards what's up."
*rolls some dice* "Make a grapple check."

Of course, it often results in more improvising.

BRC
2009-09-26, 01:08 PM
"How do you want to find out"

Also, when I was DMing, my PC's got scared everytime I quoted Shakespeare, but that was on account of "The Poet", an unstoppable NPC (intended that way, to shake things up from the standard "Kill everything that's trying to kill you" mindset) who spoke entierly in Shakespeare quotes.

Yukitsu
2009-09-26, 01:10 PM
My DM has a bit of a facial tick whenever I say "All according to plan." when something supposedly surprising happens.

Tiki Snakes
2009-09-26, 03:23 PM
Waaaaait, can elder brains move?

Yes, yes they can.
http://i.brainking.com/albums/13001-13500/13013/791/photo-1244364263424.gif

Volkov
2009-09-26, 04:56 PM
Yes, yes they can.
http://i.brainking.com/albums/13001-13500/13013/791/photo-1244364263424.gif

Ah my arch-nemesis from doom. Damn him and his chain-gun shot gun.

GreatWyrmGold
2009-09-26, 05:47 PM
"How many feet are in a mile?"
"Why?"
"I need to know how much damage being three miles underwater deals."

Never happened, but scary. (P.S. 158d6/round)

chiasaur11
2009-09-26, 05:53 PM
Yes, yes they can.
http://i.brainking.com/albums/13001-13500/13013/791/photo-1244364263424.gif

It tends to invite attacks from heavily armed space marines, though.

Count Dravda
2009-09-26, 07:16 PM
DM: You can't see. Roll initiative, a Fort save, a Will save, and you all take 5d6 falling damage.
Players: This sucks
I have done this.

Well, I'D be terrified.

Oh, and Pandorym? His body and mind were separated in order to keep him from annihilating reality merely by being summoned. As mentioned, a tiny shard of his mind is a CR 25 psion. His body manifested as a sphere of annihilation...30 FEET IN DIAMETER. It's either him or Atropus for scariest monster in that book (Elder Evils).

-Count Dravda

Volkov
2009-09-26, 07:18 PM
"Dread Wraiths" They just ooze terror at lower levels.

Tiki Snakes
2009-09-27, 12:18 AM
Well, I'D be terrified.

Oh, and Pandorym? His body and mind were separated in order to keep him from annihilating reality merely by being summoned. As mentioned, a tiny shard of his mind is a CR 25 psion. His body manifested as a sphere of annihilation...30 FEET IN DIAMETER. It's either him or Atropus for scariest monster in that book (Elder Evils).

-Count Dravda

Simply put, he can only ever be so terrifying, because someone was already capable of (forcefully) seperating his mind and body.

It's like the Thaurizdun thing. Sure, he'd wreak havoc if he got loose, but he's already lost. Kind of takes away some of the dread, imo.

chiasaur11
2009-09-27, 12:27 AM
Simply put, he can only ever be so terrifying, because someone was already capable of (forcefully) seperating his mind and body.

It's like the Thaurizdun thing. Sure, he'd wreak havoc if he got loose, but he's already lost. Kind of takes away some of the dread, imo.

Echoed.

Heck, the same applies to Asmodeus. He's bleeding because someone who will here remain nameless gave him a whomping.

Back on topic, for a Sci-Fi setting.

Player: Third drop, and we all made it out. Fourth drop, we all made it.
You going to make us drop unarmed next time? Make it fair on the bugs?

DM: Nah. I'm even giving your unit a new scout.

Player: So, what are you calling the latest redshirt?

DM: Felix.

Points for the reference.

Lioness
2009-09-27, 12:33 AM
And that's not scary for you? :smallconfused:

Nope! Inside joke. We were ina town once and we burned down an inn (trying to get the occupants to flee - there was a large boulder about to crush them). We watch from the shadows and after it's burnt and the boulder crushed anything remaining this accordian player appears and plays funny music. None of us can hear the music without smiling.

Tyndmyr
2009-09-27, 12:43 AM
The paladin returns from scouting beyond the door, says only "Kill anyone who goes inside", then, in obedience to his command, holds his crossbow up to his head and fires.

kamikasei
2009-09-27, 07:24 AM
"I'm from Yu-Shan and I'm here to help."

Volkov
2009-09-27, 07:28 AM
"Megalodons ahoy" In the water, at level 10 and you forgot to prepare freedom of movement. They will give you nightmares, TPK, so many TPKs.

Solaris
2009-09-27, 02:32 PM
Echoed.

Heck, the same applies to Asmodeus. He's bleeding because someone who will here remain nameless gave him a whomping.

Back on topic, for a Sci-Fi setting.

Player: Third drop, and we all made it out. Fourth drop, we all made it.
You going to make us drop unarmed next time? Make it fair on the bugs?

DM: Nah. I'm even giving your unit a new scout.

Player: So, what are you calling the latest redshirt?

DM: Felix.

Points for the reference.
Heheheheh. Hope you brought your Armor.

Forbiddenwar
2009-09-27, 03:02 PM
That's ok, it's just easy for a thread's original theme to be forgotten if people start new discussions - it's best to put an unrelated topic in a new thread.

Sorry I was sharp with you.

Actually, the thread's topic is scariest lines, and from a DMs point of view this can be one of the scariest lines I ever heard. The PC just used OoC info to accidently screw over his party. It might take serious work to keep the party from being killed by those "Kobolds" and there is nothing scarier than serious work.

Myou
2009-09-27, 03:12 PM
Actually, the thread's topic is scariest lines, and from a DMs point of view this can be one of the scariest lines I ever heard. The PC just used OoC info to accidently screw over his party. It might take serious work to keep the party from being killed by those "Kobolds" and there is nothing scarier than serious work.

If you read the first post you'll see it's in-game lines. Not metagame lines. Not that many posters have noticed. :smalltongue:

CockroachTeaParty
2009-09-27, 04:22 PM
Obscure nerd references:

"~text interface terminal malfunction error ~2992dud

Things have gone terribly awry. Until now, I thought myself immortal, but now I know that is not true. There are things that can destroy me with the ease that I slaughtered the Pfhor naval garrison and the Western Arm of their Battle Group Seven. But in their final gasp they used a weapon that I thought they had retired, even Tycho tried to keep them from using it.

Now I fear what that weapon has unleashed will destroy us. I once boasted to be able to count the atoms in a cloud, to understand them all, predict them, and so did I predict you, but this new chaos is entirely terrible, mindless, obeying rules that I don't comprehend. And it is hungry."

Gimme a D! Gimme a U! Gimme an R! Gimme an A! Gimme an N! Gimme a D! Gimme an A! Gimme an L! What's that spell? Trouble.

:smallbiggrin:

Raum
2009-09-27, 04:39 PM
Points for the reference.One of my all time favorite books! And probably Steakley's best.

I haven't seen the scariest line of all yet...did I miss it somewhere?"I'm pregnant."

Of course few lines are scary in and of themselves, it's all about the context. :)

BRC
2009-09-27, 04:45 PM
Greeting Citizens! Are you ready for a Fun and Exciting Mission!
-The Computer, Paranoia.

Wings of Peace
2009-09-27, 05:46 PM
The old guard captain looks tiredly back into the player's eyes.

"I'm not scared of the thugs who point their threats and their crossbows at my back and my family. It's the madmen who fill the asylums that haunt my dreams at night. A truly mad man will never lie to you. I once had a case that still keeps me awake in the darkest hours, a man killed his wife and ate her heart. He put up no resistance when the guard arrived. It was my job then as the investigating officer to ask him why he did it. He told me it was because he wanted to be closer to her. There was no trace of doubt in his eyes and no lies upon his tongue. His voice spoke with the same warmth as mine when I speak of my wife. That's what scares me. That really in the end I'm no different than men like him, that none of us are. Because if we're all the same as them, then who does that leave that's worth protecting?"

Thelas
2009-09-27, 06:13 PM
The old guard captain looks tiredly back into the player's eyes.

"I'm not scared of the thugs who point their threats and their crossbows at my back and my family. It's the madmen who fill the asylums that haunt my dreams at night. A truly mad man will never lie to you. I once had a case that still keeps me awake in the darkest hours, a man killed his wife and ate her heart. He put up no resistance when the guard arrived. It was my job then as the investigating officer to ask him why he did it. He told me it was because he wanted to be closer to her. There was no trace of doubt in his eyes and no lies upon his tongue. His voice spoke with the same warmth as mine when I speak of my wife. That's what scares me. That really in the end I'm no different than men like him, that none of us are. Because if we're all the same as them, then who does that leave that's worth protecting?"

...Wow. Did you come up with that, and if so do you mind if I steal and adapt it for my game?

GreatWyrmGold
2009-09-27, 06:31 PM
Greeting Citizens! Are you ready for a Fun and Exciting Mission!
-The Computer, Paranoia.

For that matter, almost anything said by the computer. "Do not worry. This mission will be as easy as cake!"


For other genraes...(sp?)

"You know what Cthulu looks like?"
"Yeah."
"Multiply that by..."(rolls dice)"...253."
:eek:
"Wait a few turns."

Wings of Peace
2009-09-27, 06:33 PM
...Wow. Did you come up with that, and if so do you mind if I steal and adapt it for my game?

You may, I'm glad you like it. It's one I came up with to spring on my own group when they get a little more heavily rp intensive. They're pretty new still so I'm waiting till they get into the swing of rp a bit more.

Thelas
2009-09-27, 06:40 PM
First off, my contribution to the thread: (got the players mad last session)

"Coup De Grace".

Next, my question to Cloury. Sblocked for convenience of those who don't care and so that my players can skip it.

How do you come up with speeches like that? I've been planning on taking my players through the mist and into Ravenloft, and some speeches like that might help with mood. (As in, make the PCs' actions seem morally uncertain, even for a bit, and the players will get off-balance and scared).


Lastly, my other contribution to the thread: (also said to the players last session)
"Have you ever heard of Tucker's kobolds?"

Wings of Peace
2009-09-27, 07:13 PM
Sent you a pm to save thread space Thelas.

GreatWyrmGold
2009-09-27, 07:27 PM
How much damage does a maximised, empowered, heightened meteor swarm do at CL 30? Is that also accounting for the quickened, maximised horrid wilting?

Wings of Peace
2009-09-27, 07:29 PM
How much damage does a maximised, empowered, heightened meteor swarm do at CL 30? Is that also accounting for the quickened, maximised horrid wilting?

Don't forget it's cousin "I think this is a good time to introduce you guys to this really awesome spell from a new sourcebook I just got"

Thelas
2009-09-27, 07:57 PM
Any combination of the word "demilich" with the words "traps", "Fortress of Conclusion", "Tomb", "Horrors", "Gygax", "cruel", or "Negative Energy Plane".

The words "Sanity check".

Tyndmyr
2009-09-27, 08:09 PM
...Wow. Did you come up with that, and if so do you mind if I steal and adapt it for my game?

I would like to second this opinion. Im doing a ravenloft themed adventure soon, and need to expand my collection of creepy, horrifying, and scary prose.



"You sure you want to draw ALL the cards from the deck of many things?"

Wings of Peace
2009-09-28, 12:43 AM
I would like to second this opinion. Im doing a ravenloft themed adventure soon, and need to expand my collection of creepy, horrifying, and scary prose.



"You sure you want to draw ALL the cards from the deck of many things?"

As before you certainly may. I'm glad you all seem to dig it. I wasn't really expecting much in the way of replies so it's nice to know it made a difference. :smallsmile:

Forbiddenwar
2009-09-28, 02:34 AM
Don't forget it's cousin "I think this is a good time to introduce you guys to this really awesome spell from a new sourcebook I just got"

Bolded is the scariest part of the line.

BigPapaSmurf
2009-09-28, 08:00 AM
"Sorry, we will no longer be supporting the edition you have invested a thousand+ dollars in, you know cause it makes programming video games difficult. Oh and the new version will be completely incompatable with the old one, have a nice day."

Dixieboy
2009-09-28, 08:24 AM
to the smurf above me:
To my information such a thing has never happened.
Making a new edition due to videogame creating difficulties.

Though as a hypothetical line, yea, that's scary.

JeenLeen
2009-09-28, 08:42 AM
From Mage: The Ascension:

We are given two names and an address, being told to go there for information. We arrive at an orphanage. After giving the names of who we were told to seek, we are directed to two children. Rather surprised, my guy activates an effect (Prime 1) to detect magic in the area. He senses nothing.
Child: "Oh, that tickles. You want to play a game?"

DM: "You see a black cadillac driving up the street. As it passes you, it slows down substantially. Then it speeds up and heads down the street."

Knaight
2009-09-28, 09:05 AM
03:19:56 <GM>: With a masterful shot you knock all of the pellets down the hallway, with a fairly wide spread, knowing they will explode on anywhere from the 2-3 bounce.
03:20:09 <Brock>: O.o
03:20:52 <GM>: The robots know this as well, and which will be for each bounce, by the angles. A rapid stream of lasers and plasma lances pierce the air, destroying certain small pellets that will come to the second or third bounce around them from the air before they do so.
03:21:43 <Brock>: (ack!)
...
03:22:22 <GM>: (I told you these guys were well beyond human marksmen.)

A game log, after firing a bunch of bouncing explosives around a corner at a group of bots. That were shot out of the air if they would bounce anywhere that would injure the robots. The way the battle ended pretty much did the same thing.

03:38:38 38 <GM>: A wave of plasma is directed through the thin hall way, fusing the concrete into a glassy finish, and utterly destroying everything in it.

The best part of this is that it was the first actual fight, and I dropped a few hints about other weaponry.

Telonius
2009-09-28, 09:08 AM
Several contenders.

"Looks like we'll have to split up."

"Don't worry, they only way you'll miss that save is if you roll a ..."

DM: <rolls dice>
Players: What was that about?
DM: Oh, nothing. <evil smile>

BigPapaSmurf
2009-09-28, 01:42 PM
to the smurf above me:
To my information such a thing has never happened.
Making a new edition due to videogame creating difficulties.

Though as a hypothetical line, yea, that's scary.

Hardly hypothetical, you just drank the Kool-aid. Just cause they didnt say they were redesigning with videogames in mind, doesnt mean it didnt happen.

Though I failed to mention the most egregious crimes, that of releasing 3.5 and 4.0, etc. within a very short timespan of 3.0. Good thing I was so insulted and didnt watse my money on those.

AD&D2 for life!

EDIT: before everyone goes off on me let me say I would be fine with any new systems so long as it has simple methods of conversion between editions.

Thajocoth
2009-09-28, 01:50 PM
Hardly hypothetical, you just drank the Kool-aid. Just cause they didnt say they were redesigning with videogames in mind, doesnt mean it didnt happen.

Though I failed to mention the most egregious crimes, that of releasing 3.5 and 4.0, etc. within a very short timespan of 3.0. Good thing I was so insulted and didnt watse my money on those.

AD&D2 for life!

EDIT: before everyone goes off on me let me say I would be fine with any new systems so long as it has simple methods of conversion between editions.

Actually, as a video game programmer, I'm pretty sure coding an older edition would be easier in most ways... A couple snags, perhaps, but coding ALL those different powers in 4e, and then all the special cases, like for multiclassed and hybrid versions, ect ect... Really, it's NOT that coder friendly.

Blackfang108
2009-09-28, 02:30 PM
Any combination of the word "demilich" with the words "traps", "Fortress of Conclusion", "Tomb", "Horrors", "Gygax", "cruel", or "Negative Energy Plane".

The words "Sanity check".

In this vein, I was playing one of the LFR missions with a buddy of mine and a few others at a convention.

We went into a Tomb and my buddy asks "this doesn't say 'Tomb of Horrors,' does it?"
Me-OOC: No, but the name plate read "Acererack."
My friend Completely froze for a second.

Note that he's been through the original.

gdiddy
2009-09-28, 02:48 PM
I once played under a DM who had a habit of forgetting spell effects. This resulted in much hilarity, but none greater than:

"The entire bar erupts with laughter at your jest about the strangely-dressed foreigner. The man you've just insulted gets up from his chair and approaches within inches of your face..." The DM then paused and looked at me. "G, does Drown from book of Vile Darkness have a somatic component?"

"Nope. There is a verbal one though, though." (I had previously been playing a Drown-happy sorcerer.)

The DM seamlessly turned back to the other player and said "...all he does is whisper a draconic phrase in your ear. You know it as a common axiom among Kobolds. It means 'The fool's last gasp is one of laughter.' His eyes ignite with hate as he says this and his face transforms into a horrible grin. You feel a sharp pain and then tremendous chest pressure as your lungs begin hemorrhaging, Roll Fort."

Boci
2009-09-28, 02:53 PM
I once played under a DM who had a habit of forgetting spell effects. This resulted in much hilarity, but none greater than:

"The entire bar erupts with laughter at your jest about the strangely-dressed foreigner. The man you've just insulted gets up from his chair and approaches within inches of your face..." The DM then paused and looked at me. "G, does Drown from book of Vile Darkness have a somatic component?"

"Nope. There is a verbal one though, though." (I had previously been playing a Drown-happy sorcerer.)

The DM seamlessly turned back to the other player and said "...all he does is whisper a draconic phrase in your ear. You know it as a common axiom among Kobolds. It means 'The fool's last gasp is one of laughter.' His eyes ignite with hate as he says this and his face transforms into a horrible grin. You feel a sharp pain and then tremendous chest pressure as your lungs begin hemorrhaging, Roll Fort."


DM: The man you've just insulted gets up from his chair and approaches within inches of your face..."
Me: Well thats his action for the suprise round, so unless he has an ability to use a full round action in such a situation, now its time to roll for initiative.

What? When I DM, I expected my players to point out my mistakes.

Radiun
2009-09-28, 03:10 PM
Not scary, but disturbing in a sense.
Note: to a charmed halfling.

The Warlock: Come here little friend, I have a safe place for you to hide in!
Halfling approaches,
The Warlock's jaw unlocks and extends fully to the ground as he moves his great, gaping maw over the halfling and eats him whole.


Involved a homebrew invocation that gave the Warlock the Swallow Hole ability.

gdiddy
2009-09-28, 03:23 PM
The group was not very mechanically focused.

However, I would have been the first one to say that it was only a five foot step and the spell was his surprise round action in the event of rules lawyering. Besides, you don't have sense motive trained and would have no reason to fear this unarmed man in a crowded city with guards right outside. When I get a DM that believes in thematics, I am a ruthless anti-rules lawyer that will justify everything the DM says.

Besides, our bard then roleplayed drowning for a couple rounds awesomely. He kept looking at the casters and going
"Hel-*cough* *sputter*
*Fails Fort* Tell Karyn I lov- *cough*

*Fails Fort* Tell Kary- *bloody chunks everywhere*"

In this game, everyone had never seen drown before, so the Cleric tried to Break Enchantment on it. Obviously, that failed. Our Warlock made the Spellcheck roll and managed to cast dispel on it and actually damaged the caster, because Warlocks are smarmy like that.

Meanwhile, the guards outside had rushed in to see me beating the stuffing out of this psychopath with my sword hilt. Then, when he was tried by the city court, we were awarded half his possessions as his victims.


Back on topic...

Bard Player: "Heh, that mage has no hope against us now that the army is helping us."

DM: "G, is Cloudkill Fort or Will?"

Boci
2009-09-28, 03:35 PM
The group was not very mechanically focused.

However, I would have been the first one to say that it was only a five foot step and the spell was his surprise round action in the event of rules lawyering.

He stood up from his chair. Thats not a move action, but it isn't a free one either.


Besides, you don't have sense motive trained and would have no reason to fear this unarmed man in a crowded city with guards right outside.

Yes I do, unless my character has an int of 3 and has thus never heard of a caster, or shapeshifter.


When I get a DM that believes in thematics, I am a ruthless anti-rules lawyer that will justify everything the DM says.

If the DM can ignore the rules for the sake of drama, can the PCs do so as well? Where do you draw the line? its not as if that scene could not have been played out without denying the PCs a chance to defeaned himself that he was entitled to via RAW.

To contribute to the topic at hand,

Me: "He waves his hand hand and two rays of dark energy fly from his fingers. You suddenly find yourself gasping for breath, you muscles echoing painfully,"
PCs: If he can cast spells and fight like that then he's mych higher level than us,"

(Its amazing how often PCs assume that the humanoid figure dressed in a black cloak with a white mask covering his face was the same one they had faced days earlier)

Yukitsu
2009-09-28, 03:46 PM
This conversation always makes the players a little nervous.

"Wait, the only way there is by boat?"
"Check his book bag, does he have stormwrack on him?"
"He does! Oh ****!"
"Is there anyway other than a boat? Being launched out of a cannon? Teleporting? Plane shifting to Baator? Wait, does he have the fiend folios on him?"
"Why's the ship description include the words "balsa wood?""

The modern equivalent is:

"We're getting on a plane?"
"Does that include [yukitsu]? Everytime [yukitsu] is on a plane, we roll a 1 on the random encounter table."
"It's not my fault that happens!"

gdiddy
2009-09-28, 03:48 PM
If the DM can ignore the rules for the sake of drama, can the PCs do so as well? Where do you draw the line? its not as if that scene could not have been played out without denying the PCs a chance to defeaned himself that he was entitled to via RAW.

You're right, but thematically, it was cooler if the mage got in the player's face. Actually, yes, characters do bend RAW in his games. My character's tendency to use his hilt for penalty-less subdual damage was definitely not from RAW, but it was awesome. Likewise, Drown is instantaneous and cannot be dispelled. But the character was going to die in a game with no resurrection or wishes. Awesome always trumps RAW in his games, and its nice to not have to worry about it so much.


(Its amazing how often PCs assume that the humanoid figure dressed in a black cloak with a white mask covering his face was the same one they had faced days earlier)

Now that is awesome. That maybe lifted for a game I'm DMing soon, actually, if you don't mind.

Boci
2009-09-28, 03:51 PM
Actually, yes. My character's tendency to use his hilt for penalty-less subdual damage was definitely not from RAW, but it was awesome. Likewise, Drown is instantaneous and cannot be dispelled. But the character was going to die in a game with no resurrection or wishes. Awesome always trumps RAW in his games, and its nice to not have to worry about it so much.

Different gaming styles then i guess. As a DM, i wiould have said the man walks up to you, his face an inch from your, as if challanging you to flinch. What do you do? Then assuming the Pc does not attack, but talks back or something, the NPC casts his spell. Same effect, but the player had a chance.



Now that is awesome. That maybe lifted for a game I'm DMing soon, actually, if you don't mind.

Sure, glad you liked it.

Tiki Snakes
2009-09-28, 05:28 PM
Eh, I'd only call out for a 'what do you do', if he was pausing for a moment. If you want to interrupt the guy as he walks up to you, it's a logical leap to interrupt the dm at that point. If you don't, and just sit there to see what happens, then chances are your character is likewise wrong-footed, in my opinion.

Or at least, a good arguement could be made in favour of that.

Kallisti
2009-09-28, 05:57 PM
"Are you sure?" usually frightens the hell out of plyers, especially if you ask it both when they do something monumentally stupid and when they're about to do something right:smallamused:...

lsfreak
2009-09-28, 06:10 PM
"Are you sure?" usually frightens the hell out of plyers, especially if you ask it both when they do something monumentally stupid and when they're about to do something right:smallamused:...

I've begun doing this just to cover myself when I reactively say "Are you sure?" when they're about to do something very stupid.

Kallisti
2009-09-28, 06:21 PM
I love to induce paranoia in my players by playing around with all the traditional DM tricks for scaring players. It's that kind of game...

GreatWyrmGold
2009-09-28, 07:16 PM
DM: <rolls dice>
Players: What was that about?
DM: Oh, nothing. <evil smile>

Scariest part bolded.


In Shadowrun:
"You hear the gaurds calling for someone called 'Dunkelzahn'."

Obrysii
2009-09-28, 07:26 PM
This hasn't happened yet, but I hope that this phrase becomes feared among my players:

"Chou shinra tensei" ... it is the technique of a major villian in Naruto, stolen shamelessly for my similar-to-Urban-Arcana campaign. It roughly translates to "supreme god-conqueror of the sky" ... and it will level all of Chicago.

Which will be followed with a lengthy description of the various people killed in the destruction: children out on recess, mothers trying in vain to protect their babies, hospitals, families, churches ... you name it - nothing is spared.

Thelas
2009-09-28, 07:27 PM
Paranoia: '[deleted for security reasons]'
(Extended version 'Your mission is to [deleted for security reasons] the [deleted for security reasons] and [deleted for security reasons] it to the [deleted for security reasons] before the [deleted for security reasons] can [deleted for security reasons] it. Make absolutely sure that once you [deleted for security reasons] it, you do not [deleted for security reasons] it while you are [deleted for security reasons]ing it.')

D&D: "horror check", "fear check". Also, non-Ravenloft-related, "dragon".

Arachu
2009-09-28, 08:39 PM
One from an RL campaign I DM: "You wake up".

I had the fighter (also the only PC) get his soul snatched up by a half-demon called Armanos that showed him terrible, nightmarish visions ranging from getting flayed, to spontaneously combusting, to getting stabbed in the eye. He even got eaten alive by zombies and ambulatory plants at the same time.

Every time he died (session was deep immersion, by the way :smallamused:), I simply said "You die. You wake up."

And he bore the scars (and the pain) the entire duration until Armanos himself showed up saying something along the lines of "Damn, you're pathetic. Not only haven't you given in, but you haven't escaped either!? PICK ONE!"

Also, when he escaped, I said "You wake up".

His eyes were the size of his fists the entire time. It was so very confusing and trippy:smallamused:

holywhippet
2009-09-28, 08:40 PM
Actually, as a video game programmer, I'm pretty sure coding an older edition would be easier in most ways... A couple snags, perhaps, but coding ALL those different powers in 4e, and then all the special cases, like for multiclassed and hybrid versions, ect ect... Really, it's NOT that coder friendly.

I'm a programmer, but not a games programmer. I suspect you could handle a lot of 4th edition powers via a database with lookups for each power. For example, the warlord daily does 3W+STR damage if it hits and gives allies within 5 squares a +1 power bonus to all defenses. Even if it doesn't it gives them temporary HP. In coding terms you'd just store the following details:

- It's a single target melee attack
- If does 3W + STR damage
- If it hits it gives +1 power bonus to AC to all allies within 5 squares
- It gives temporary HP to all allies within 5 squares.

When activated it will just run through the list and call relevant procedures to trigger each effect.

For fourth edition though, to do it well you'd need to make it a turn based combat game like Final Fantasy Tactics. Real time would require too many trade offs.

Gamgee
2009-09-28, 08:43 PM
There is an immense figure in front of you. He has fists bigger than yourselves, and has starship plates for armor. Through the black visor slits you can see hungry red eyes, and a foul smell of blood and death touch your nostrils. This immense hulking humanoid looks at all of you and laughs.

Player 1: Who is this guy?
Me: Make a Knowledge Galactic Lore check.
*Player 1 rolls*
Me: His name is Lurr...
*Player 2 interrupts*
Player 2 (A Mandalorian): Pffft... I think we can take this pussie.
Me: ... Destroyer of Worlds.
Players: ???
Me: Lurr, Destroyer of Worlds.
Player 1: Well.... that's... that's... quite bad... *fist bigger than him to the face*

*10 Minutes Later*

Jedi Player: I think I can bring down a Starship from orbit to crash into it and kill it. Cover me!
"Several Rounds after a Star Destroyer crashed into the ground, and all the players were all severly wounded and lucky to be alive."

You all rest and recover near a large field of debris from the ship you brought down. The light has finally faded and only the fire from the explosions and crash light the area. In the field of debris you see some of the wreckage get flung out of the way. You can see the hulking form of Lurr.

Now the scariest **** they can hear is Lurr. I think at one point in the game they fired a missile equivalent to a 65 megaton nuke at him and he still lived.

FunnyMattress
2009-09-28, 09:11 PM
I think at one point in the game they fired a missile equivalent to a 65 megaton nuke at him and he still lived.

This reminds me: d20 Apocalypse campaign I finished up about a year ago, the party was being hunted across the blasted landscapes of post-apocalypse America by Jeyhergh'an, a demonic bounty-hunter emobdying Wrath (yes, it was a Supernatural Apocalypse. So?) Every time they hit him with mundane weaponry, he actually healed.

The one time they get creative was the one time I scared the hell out of them, but especially the comic-book-fan in my group. They rigged up a nuke to go off right next to him, while they were in a nice, nuke-proof bunker.

Two days later, Jey (as they took to calling him) ripped the bunker hatch off. His response to the nuke?

"Not enough Gun."

Tackyhillbillu
2009-09-28, 09:18 PM
"Hold my beer and watch this."

Don't care what context, 6 scariest words in the Human Language. Nothing good ever comes of them.

chiasaur11
2009-09-28, 09:45 PM
There is an immense figure in front of you. He has fists bigger than yourselves, and has starship plates for armor. Through the black visor slits you can see hungry red eyes, and a foul smell of blood and death touch your nostrils. This immense hulking humanoid looks at all of you and laughs.

Player 1: Who is this guy?
Me: Make a Knowledge Galactic Lore check.
*Player 1 rolls*
Me: His name is Lurr...
*Player 2 interrupts*
Player 2 (A Mandalorian): Pffft... I think we can take this pussie.
Me: ... Destroyer of Worlds.
Players: ???
Me: Lurr, Destroyer of Worlds.
Player 1: Well.... that's... that's... quite bad... *fist bigger than him to the face*

*10 Minutes Later*

Jedi Player: I think I can bring down a Starship from orbit to crash into it and kill it. Cover me!
"Several Rounds after a Star Destroyer crashed into the ground, and all the players were all severly wounded and lucky to be alive."

You all rest and recover near a large field of debris from the ship you brought down. The light has finally faded and only the fire from the explosions and crash light the area. In the field of debris you see some of the wreckage get flung out of the way. You can see the hulking form of Lurr.

Now the scariest **** they can hear is Lurr. I think at one point in the game they fired a missile equivalent to a 65 megaton nuke at him and he still lived.

Are you sure you didn't mean Lrrr?

PersonofJid
2009-09-28, 10:23 PM
"You turn a corner. You see a rust monster."

Never used one, but I want to.

Tyndmyr
2009-09-28, 10:42 PM
I use them....all the time. I find the reactions hilarious.


The "watch this" line is usually a sign of impending doom, followed by "Betcha five bucks I can..."

Thajocoth
2009-09-29, 12:43 AM
I'm a programmer, but not a games programmer. I suspect you could handle a lot of 4th edition powers via a database with lookups for each power. For example, the warlord daily does 3W+STR damage if it hits and gives allies within 5 squares a +1 power bonus to all defenses. Even if it doesn't it gives them temporary HP. In coding terms you'd just store the following details:

- It's a single target melee attack
- If does 3W + STR damage
- If it hits it gives +1 power bonus to AC to all allies within 5 squares
- It gives temporary HP to all allies within 5 squares.

When activated it will just run through the list and call relevant procedures to trigger each effect.

For fourth edition though, to do it well you'd need to make it a turn based combat game like Final Fantasy Tactics. Real time would require too many trade offs.

Yeah, but you'd need a large csv or database, which means a really annoying amount of data entry, and to still code in plenty of special cases for combinations of things that should still work but aren't exactly any one thing...

Ceridan
2009-09-29, 01:05 AM
This works on my brother
"Kobold"
He will fight the Tarrasque at level 5 without flight before heading into a Kobold's home

Is your name by chance Tucker???? *Shivers*

Ceridan
2009-09-29, 01:31 AM
There is an immense figure in front of you. He has fists bigger than yourselves, and has starship plates for armor. Through the black visor slits you can see hungry red eyes, and a foul smell of blood and death touch your nostrils. This immense hulking humanoid looks at all of you and laughs.

Player 1: Who is this guy?
Me: Make a Knowledge Galactic Lore check.
*Player 1 rolls*
Me: His name is Lurr...
*Player 2 interrupts*
Player 2 (A Mandalorian): Pffft... I think we can take this pussie.
Me: ... Destroyer of Worlds.
Players: ???
Me: Lurr, Destroyer of Worlds.
Player 1: Well.... that's... that's... quite bad... *fist bigger than him to the face*

*10 Minutes Later*

Jedi Player: I think I can bring down a Starship from orbit to crash into it and kill it. Cover me!
"Several Rounds after a Star Destroyer crashed into the ground, and all the players were all severly wounded and lucky to be alive."

You all rest and recover near a large field of debris from the ship you brought down. The light has finally faded and only the fire from the explosions and crash light the area. In the field of debris you see some of the wreckage get flung out of the way. You can see the hulking form of Lurr.

Now the scariest **** they can hear is Lurr. I think at one point in the game they fired a missile equivalent to a 65 megaton nuke at him and he still lived.

Dude, Love you're sig.

Leon
2009-09-29, 04:07 AM
D&D:"dragon".


No, not really for core D&D at any rate.
Now a Iron Kingdom Dragon evokes much more scary thoughts.

For one of my games the most fear provoking line would have to have been

"<<extensive dialogue>> the figure that was standing braced between the ceiling and the wall transforms into a bat and flutters out of the room"

It was then that the paladin's player realized what they were up against, they had just trashed the house of a vampire at night and he was pissed

Closak
2009-11-17, 04:52 PM
"You see a man in a black cloak walking towards you with catlike grace and hatred burning in his eyes"

I damn near pissed myself there.

Every time i hear any variation off that in a game i freak out and have my character make a wild run for it.

Might have something to do with how a guy matching that description caused a TPK 4 times in a row.

Cisturn
2009-11-18, 03:34 AM
"You hear the ground shake underneath you" still scares one of my players, he was playing a level 7 soulknife at the time, and went out alone to fight a horrible monster, a CR35 nightcrawler, the point of it was to provide a challenge that needed strategy and planning to defeat. Instead he ran straight into battle, and was knocked into negatives on the first hit. :smallsigh:

dsmiles
2009-11-18, 05:28 AM
DM: "Make a Search Check"
*player rolls die*
Player: "I got a 33! Yeah!"
DM: "The door does not appear to be trapped."
Player: "Oooooohhhh..."

Ruinix
2009-11-18, 10:00 AM
trying to save a party member on MERP. my DM said

"u can save him if get anything over 3 (D100)"

i roll a 2 ¬¬ (on a D100)

another hilarius line ...

"we should left 1 alive" - the party was totally clueless of what to do next, this happened several times xD

Ormagoden
2009-11-18, 11:25 AM
"...and then the dragon rages."

"As far as you know...(The door isn't trapped, There is no one following you, ect.)"

"You notice your decker has blood coming out of his ears."

If at any point in time, no matter the game, I'm sitting at the table with you and I start shaking my head and I say "Shut the door!"

An NPC to the PCs "The last adventuring group I was with only made it to the last room before they kicked it! I wonder what's in the next room!"

"Lets play rifts!"

"So how much paradox do you get for turning a statue of Stalin into a dragon anyway?"

"So you wake up kind of groggy and the twins are in your bed."