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Reluctance
2010-06-16, 04:37 AM
I'm planning a one-shot/short arc (3.5, not that it matters), and as a nod to one of the players I'm trying to make the foot soldiers of Evil be hideously warped mockeries of nature. The thing is, while I can do "too perfectly normal" just fine, the rest of my bag of creepy tricks consists of pretty much "add tentacles". Which feels too cliched to be properly wrong.

So I'm curious, what are some good tricks to present these as Things That Should Not Be?

Yora
2010-06-16, 04:54 AM
I bit more difficult than adding tentacles, but even more effective, is to make their behaviour odd. In some ways they act like people, but in other situations their actions are contradicting what a human would do.
Something that "should be human" by appearance but "can't be human" by behavior is something that is scary on an instinctual level.
The zombie is a prime example: It has all the appearance of a human and is supposed to act like a human, but you can't interact with it as you are used to. With a person or an animal, you can talk or at least expect how it will react to you. With a truly alien being, you have no idea what to expect and how to react to its behavior, you can't control the situation. This always scares people the most.

J.Gellert
2010-06-16, 05:20 AM
Do a google image search for Warhammer Chaos Chosen / Warriors / Nurgle and so forth.

Example:
http://vnmedia.ign.com/screenshots/warhammer/38410417.jpg

tsuuga
2010-06-16, 07:52 AM
Some suggestions:

Weird eyes. Not red glowy eyes, which are just silly by this point. Just weird. Goat eyes, for instance.
They never talk. Not because they're brainwashed, but because they have neither teeth nor tongues. Instead, their lips conceal a retractable beak.
Incredible stubborness. They pay absolutely no heed to injuries. So make them lowish level, but they don't drop until -20 HP.
Weird choice of pronouns. Refer to themselves as "this" and other beings as "it", for instance.
Not using what you've got. The mooks let their right arms hang limply at all times, or leave their eyes closed while still looking right at the players.

Pronounceable
2010-06-16, 07:53 AM
More tentacles sprouting from the tentacles? Tentacles made of smaller tentacles? Tentacles with mouths on them? Possibilities are many.

KillianHawkeye
2010-06-16, 08:00 AM
More tentacles sprouting from the tentacles? Tentacles made of smaller tentacles? Tentacles with mouths on them? Possibilities are many.

There are so many possibilities. Clearly we have just seen the tip of the iceburg. :smallwink::smallbiggrin:

Runestar
2010-06-16, 08:08 AM
Now that you mention it, anything weird or otherworldly in dnd seems to involve tentacles to some extent...:smalleek:

Ashiel
2010-06-16, 08:12 AM
Now that you mention it, anything weird or otherworldly in dnd seems to involve tentacles to some extent...:smalleek:

Unless you consider that 99% of the monster manual is in fact weird and otherworldly...at least outside of its context in the game. :smalltongue:

MachineWraith
2010-06-16, 08:15 AM
I personally have always found the sight of an eyeless person particularly unsettling. For instance, have you ever seen the movie Pan's Labyrinth? It has a beastie (http://images.teamsugar.com/files/usr/1/13839/panslabyrinth2_0.preview.jpg) that just creeps me right the hell out.

Also, just take a page from H.P. Lovecraft. Give them vaguely unsettling features. Saggy, greyish skin. Slightly oversized eyes. Odd folds of skin on the neck (gills?). They don't have to be obviously alien to be creepy. It's all in the presentation.

I like a lot of the suggestions in this thread. Perhaps I'll use 'em for my CoC game :smallamused:

2xMachina
2010-06-16, 10:34 AM
Hmm, for me burst speed is also rather unsettling.

It slowly turns towards you, staring for a moment before suddenly moving towards you in a burst of speed as if hasted.