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Lyra Reynolds
2010-06-16, 05:18 PM
Hi! Long post is long. Sorry for that...

I'm currently running a short horror campaign (5 or 6 sessions). I've broadly mapped out where I want to go, but I'm unsure as to the crunch, how to work out the rules. I've got one player who's a bit of a rules lawyer (which she knows, thankfully) and I usually try to avoid fudging or houseruling too much so as not to 'cheat'. So rules-based stuff is best. :)
I've got the PHB, DM1&2, Monster Manual 1-4 and Heroes of Horror, by the way. (And I learned through experience that reading HoH at 2AM when you can't sleep isn't the wisest thing to do. Some of those atmosphere suggestions are CREEPY... which is the point of course.)

I DM a Steampunk campaign with shorter adventures that explore different genres, but with the same characters who are based in a city but travel to different countries. I did a city-based to start (think Sherlock Holmes), then a desert one (Indiana Jones/The Mummy) and right now we're on horror. I mainly take my inspiration from Sleepy Hollow, there's just something about those New England towns in the fall... but anyway. The party is made up of a human female fighter, halfling female rogue, halfelf female cleric, dwarf male paladin and human male druid.

Right now, they traveled from the city to a charming little village so the cleric can meet her in-laws (she's set to marry an NPC - the fighter and paladin are already married and the fighter has a child!). Besides that, the fighter has also been contacted by a gentleman living in the village. It turns out that there have been strange occurences in the village: people hearing voices without seeing anybody, objects moving on their own accord, people sensing there was somebody there but not seeing anyone... The gentleman can't figure out himself what's going on, and since he heard from a reliable source (the fighter's brother) that the party was used to weird stuff, he decided to ask them to come and find out what's wrong. So basically two plothooks: figure out the weird stuff and meet the inlaws.
Meeting the inlaws was fine, if awkward (it's a shy cleric and a shy npc). She even got a ring from her intended, and I was nice enough to give the player a ring, too. The party has also been asking around the village about the strange things. Turns out the voice is that of a woman, who usually sounds melancholy or sometimes cheerful. She talks (but so softly that it's unintelligeble) and sometimes sings. The party asked the older people in the village and the local priest about any young women who died. Turns out a couple died in a fire; their young son is now being raised by his grandmother. A local woodchopper was engaged but broke off the engagement some years ago for reasons nobody knows; his fiancee moved to a city not too far from the village. There used to live a husband and wife in the house currently rented by the Cleric's inlaws, but they moved out about a decade ago, nobody knows where. I think currently the party is most interested in the woodchopper and the inlaws' house.
The mysterious gentleman turned out to be a vampire, which they figured out rather quickly (out of game tho, I don't think the characters themselves know yet). He has only heard about the happenings from his servants, as he has never heard any voice: strange stuff usually leaves him alone after all, and the servants acknowledged they never had anything happen on the grounds of the gentleman's house. (In hindsight, I shouldn't have done this as it immediately removed (or seemed to remove anyway) the vampire gentleman from the suspect list. The party unanimously decided to leave him alone since he was 'obviously' not the cause.)

But back behind the DM screen...
The woodchopper will turn out to be a werewolf. The druid, who is gay and has no concept of monogamy (not because he's gay but because he was raised literally by wolves, which has caused him problems several times), has already shown interest in him (me: "it's a woodchopper, chopping wood." Druid: "is he shirtless?!" Me: "... yes. And muscled and sweaty and oh stop pawing at him."). That of course led the party to think that the man was gay as well, and that was 'obviously' the reason he broke off the engagement. So I'm going to make him a werewolf - he's already established as being rough and a bit... uncouth. So werewolf fits, and it gives them something to fight, and then the druid can have a lover who is both man and animal. I hope he likes that. (And if not, well, no skin off my nose. ;))
The vampire gentleman... I still want to have a twist with him. Right now the party has basically dismissed him, and I just think that's a shame of a good character. Roughly, I used Dracula as character inspiration, so he's gentlemanly but still with an air of fierce power, and he definitely drinks human blood. But I kind of need to figure out a way to bring him back into the story. The Paladin did detect evil with him because, well, he's a vampire, but right now he seems a pretty harmless vampire.
The Cleric is possessed. This is the biggest twist and it fills me with glee how the rest of the party just basically pats her on the head and more or less ignores that plotline. The Cleric's player is in cahoots with me, and I give her pointers on how to act. We're sloooowwwlly twisting her character, and hopefully the party will notice before she goes off the deep end. Right now she's already been targeted the most by the mysterous ghost. The ghost is that of a young woman who lived in the Cleric's inlaws' house several decades ago. She gave birth to a baby, but the child was evil/an abomination/Just Wrong, and it either died or was locked away in a disappointments room (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MadwomanInTheAttic) kind of thing. The woman eventually died of grief. Her husband moved away, trying to put this whole sad affair behind him. A couple of years later an elderly couple, wanting to settle down, decided to rent the house - the cleric's inlaws. What do you know, they found this pretty ring, and Fiance NPC ended up giving it to the Cleric. The ring used to belong to the young woman who died, and her ghost/spirit is tied to it. Now the Cleric is wearing it, she'll start seeing the young woman more and more and she will eventually be taken over by the ghost. She'll be drawn to the house where 'she' used to live. Eventually (and hopefully not too soon - don't want to show all my aces too soon) the party will discover the room the baby was locked up in, with a box with some old photographs, a baby bonnet and letters from the woman, happy that she married, that she got pregnant, that she got a beautiful baby girl, then sad that there's something wrong with the baby, that it died... (I love having props for my games.) And then!
... and then I dunno.

Hopefully, in my ideal game world where the players do exactly what I want them to do (i.e. never gonna happen), the cleric will get frantic and will end up 'having' to fight the party because she wants the box with the keepsakes, because it's HERS. That will (hopefully) put the fear of god/St Cuthbert into the players and freak them out.
I'd also really like for them to have to fight the baby somehow, too. Is there a kind of monster that can appear in baby form and fight a party? Preferably WITHOUT the Paladin immediately casting Turn Undead, thus ending the entire thing in a major anticlimax.
I'm also not entire sure what I want to do with the young woman. Destroy the baby (man, that sounds so evil) ends the ghost's ties to this world? Somehow doing something with the keepsakes? Promising to use them for another baby, thus giving them a purpose? (That would certainly give me a reason to have the Cleric roll often for pregnancies. ;)) Not quite sure. The young woman was buried at the local graveyard so it's not as if she literally needs to be put to rest.
Are there any rules for possessed items and characters? I read Heroes of Horror but I'm not quite sure if there are any clear rules about it. I might just have to wing it, but I'd rather not. The possessed ring can't be taken off, anyway, so there's that. And a possessed PC? How to do it without being totally obvious at first? My main concern is that, sure, I can call for listen checks and have her hear stuff the others don't, but she usually rolls the lowest of the entire party so that gets a bit conspicuous! And what about Detect Evil? The Paladin cast it as soon as the party first encountered the ghost. I said he didn't detect any evil (because as far as I'm aware, ghosts aren't authomatically evil like vampires are?) so the party was all "lalala oh it's not evil so it can't harm us, let's take our time". So 1) how can I still pester them? 2) Can the possession be detected through any means but noticing that something is decidedly... off, about the Cleric? And how can I let her be 'off' without immediately having a big neon sign go off with "HEY, THIS IS NOT WHAT USUALLY HAPPENS WITH OUR CLERIC". :p

And then in the end I wrap it up with a PC/NPC wedding (I'm sure Mrs Inlaw has some pretty dress stashed away somewhere, or else the cleric'll just have to go in her St Cuthbert robes. Or raid the ghost woman's closet) and a pretty bow, and xp and treasure for everybody.



Cookies if you read this far! So, anybody still alive/awake... got any tips?
And just general horror tips are welcome, too. I already read through this forum and found some excellent music/atmosphere tips. :) Bit of a shame that I'm running this campaign in the summer - bit hard to get spooky when it's still light out!

hamishspence
2010-06-16, 05:29 PM
There are rules for possessed items and characters in several books.

Fiend Folio has the fiend PRC Fiend of Possession.

BoVD, The Eberron Campaign Setting, and Fiendish Codex 1, all have the rules for fiends which possess objects & creatures, and don't have the PRC (the possessor ability adds +2 to the CR of the fiend).

Of these versions, FC1's version is the most recent- and has one extra ability- the ability to transform the victim into the fiend.

If you want ghosts which aren't actually undead, and can possess victims, the Ghostwalk Campaign Setting can do it. The ghosts in that are outsiders, and can take ghost-only feats. It's 3.0 but has a free online WoTC 3.5 update.

Loren
2010-06-16, 06:53 PM
The sounds like an excellent story, but it could use a bit more twisting to make it complete.
As a possible reading suggestion try, The Dunwich Horror( http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Dunwich_Horror ), a short story by HP Lovecraft. It sounds like a similar story, but... the baby didn't die.
As a plot twist, I'd have the gentleman creating/manipulating the situation for some nefarious purpose. Why would he want the clerk possessed? Does he want something from the woman? maybe she has a cursed soul, and her offspring will all be aboritions he hopes to use.
If the characters don't know he's a vampire he doesn't have to be. Maybe he's the baby. Perhaps he was born aware (like Alia in Dune) or just fast maturing and a caster. He survived and is seeking revenge for being abandoned (maybe he killed his mother and now wants to torture her). Or maybe he was made a vampire when he was a baby (not that in the original legends vampires/revanants often were the result of improper burial, not a passed on condition).

Consider how conscious the ghost is. Is it a static mind, or does it know where it is and what it is experiencing? could it be evolving, so that as it discovers the possiblity of living through possession it becomes increaingly draw towards that option, switching its alignment in the process? What would it's goals be once it achieves control? Resurrect its old body, revenge, a new life and love?
Another question is why was the child an aborition? was it something the mother did, such as a fertility ritual honouring a fell diety? Was it something to do with the location, an ancient evil spirit that lives in the woods that tried to take a physical form?

I think you should also consider how information may be passed on to the characters. You've already used rumours. How about finding a diary from the husband that will hint towards some of the darker secrets (like they were in fertile, he started to notice that the wife was not in bed at odd hours of the night, there would be strange icons hidden in the house, One morning he found her in the woods totally delerious and when she can to her desire was unsatiable, she became pregnant and her behaviour became normal, but the fetous grew fast and was born in 6 monthes). A diary like this would give some information, but it raises many questions. Dreams might give more information, but again try and keep things veiled. I'd be inclined to run an open dream for the clerk where she experiences the last moments of the woman's life. Make it a terrifying confusing event. Maybe she was smothered in her sleep.
Soit'd be something like, she'd feel resticted by her blankets. She can't breath. There is something soft in her face. It's her pillow. she tries to free herself of the blankets and remove the pillow. She gets her arms free, but feels so weak. The pillow is hard to move, something powerfull is holding it in place. It moves a bit and she sees a pale child like face grinning above her. Her world is reeling It looks familiar but, but she can't... quite... remember and it all fades to blackness.
To make it really scary, run it like it like a normal encounter for that player, starting with a listen check and making checks for strength and int so that they think the character is really being attacked. Have the character awake dripping sweat.

Remeber that fear is rooted in knowing that one does not know. Always try to keep the story broken up so that they need to piece it together. I'd also be sure that they all know that there will be unique things in your game, so reading all the materials printed by Wizards won't help them solve the mystery (even if this is not infact the case). It can help keep metagaming down.

OK, sorry for the long random response.

Edit,
a woodsman werewolf seems, somewhat pedestrian (vampires and werewolves it's starting to sound like Underworld or Twilight). I understand it in your story, but I like exotic/unexpected creatures. A changling or doppleganger could be your woodsman. The Oriental Adventures book also has lots of things that look like humans but are far more sinister.

An alternate to one of my ideas above, the husband was doing the rituals. Maybe he drugged her and took to covens to try and overcome stirility. In which case have them find her diary. this may be a good idea as I think you want the players to feel sympathy for the ghost and the horrors she's been through, victim of her husband (who may have been the dupe of an ancient evil cult), an unusual birth, and a ghostly existance. At the sametime she could be shifting towards evil. First she attempted to destroy her child. Now she's trying to claim someone else's body. This scenario can then create three or four opponents; the ghost, the father, the cult/ancient evil, and possibly the child (gentleman, if you take my other suggestion). When the players overcome one opponent they can be rewarded with info about the others. They never get the whole story at one place, as nobody knew the whole thing... except possibly the elder evil.
-addition she may have sought the aid of good clerks during her unsual pregancy, which disurpted the elder evil's plan, giving the child independence, but not removing the taint of its mis-conception

big teej
2010-06-16, 07:11 PM
on horror/setting the mood


being a HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE horror movie fan. and someone who (according to my players) is good at setting a creepy mood, i shall endeavor to help.

first, my suggestions for causing creepy to skyrocket
game later in the day (this may not be possible) my group routinely games past midnight. the later it is, the easier it is to push the right buttons to make people's hackles rise.

mood music - play something extremely dark and creepy, easiest to find best bet is probably nox arcana.

soundboards - i dm and play with a laptop, so (when i actually look for them) my resources for sound effects are nigh infinite. a squeaky door, rusty metal grinding around, a metal on metal screech, boot scuffing, moans etc. sky's the limit. it's all a bout tone and descriptions

inspiration - go rent a few dozen horror movies, and watch them at the time of day you normally play (or plan to play in order to maximize the fear factor)
take note of what freaks you out. why? figure out how to implement it, repeat.

ASK YOUR PLAYERS - what freaks them out in real life? if something bothers them bad enough it WILL come out in character, period. any recurring nightmares? make it fit. any phobias? make it fit. then you do the same things with their characters.


I'm on the way out the door so i'm afraid i cannot be quite as verbose as i'd like, but if you find this helpful i will do my best to expand

DoodlesD
2010-06-16, 07:16 PM
If you've got a case of a Paladin who constantly uses Detect Evil (and most do), you should try this strategy. Have the Paladin detect Evil for one round and describe the evil as incredibly great. Then Roll 1d4 or 1d6 and tell the paladin that the evil was so great he or she was unable to stand it and is stunned for the rolled number of rounds. This way, you don't give away a whole lot of information about the evil itself. You don't specify the location or number of evil presences, but do give the idea that what they're dealing with is bad business. This is a legitimate rule found in 3.5 rules somewhere. I've used it before and its not a bad way to get your party worried a bit.

I don't know what level your party is, but if you want them to fight the baby, you could have a demon of some kind manifest in that room. At first, it could be like the ghost of the baby or maybe a baby zombie, but as soon as somebody attacks it or tries to use turn undead, BOOM! Demon time, and then they have a real problem to deal with.

Lyra Reynolds
2010-06-17, 05:56 AM
@ Hamishpence: thank you! That's very helpful for my ghost lady. :) I do have Ghostwalk as well, and will have to look up Fiendish Codex 1.

@ Loren: whoa, lots of ideas. I love the suggestion of the gentleman secretly being behind it all. It was definitely my idea to have the ghost lady be sympathetic, so a Secret Plot of which she is the victim is a good idea. Heh, maybe I can have her baby be a vampire - they all either read or saw Twilight, so I can make it a twist on Renesmee. ;) Then again, they all hate her anyway so it isn't exactly scary to them. :p Right now I'm thinking I'll not make the gentleman a vampire but something else. He has been established/suggested as not eating cooked food (they asked his servants what they do all day, and they said they 'prepared' his food - the party immediately noticed I didn't say 'cooked') and he lives in a dark, ominous house so that's why they all think he's a vampire. But he might very well not be - ooh now I'm getting Buffy flashbacks... what was that episode with the Gentlemen...
I think the only problem with a fertility ritual kind of thing will be that people will think I got it from Sherlock Holmes. :p Particularly the beginning. Eh, not entirely sure that's a bad thing!
Hmm, werewolf ís standard, yes. On the other hand, standard is sometimes nice, and the woodchopper isn't supposed to be a main focus anyway. He was supposed to be a minor NPC until the Druid latched onto him, so any expansion of his character is more or less a case of 'throw it in'.

@ Big Teej: thanks! I already found Nox Arcana and will definitely be playing that music. I also got the soundtracks for Bram Stoker's Dracula, Sleepy Hollow and American McGee's Alice. I think I got more music than game time. ;)
Sadly, playing until well into the night isn't possible as one of my players lives 45 minutes traveling away by train from where we usually play, so we have to break up around 10PM. We'll just have to close the curtains then I suppose. :)

@ DoodlesD: thanks! That's very helpful. The party is level 5. I'll look into demons. :)

panaikhan
2010-06-17, 07:39 AM
The Ravenloft campain material includes some nice crunch for horror games (though a lot of it was lost in the 2.x - 3.x translation) and some nice ideas for mood. If you have the World of Darkness world-book, that may provide some ideas for atmosphere, even if the crunch doesn't fit. And there's always D20 Cthulhu, if you -really- want to send the party spiralling into paranoia...

Lyra Reynolds
2010-06-17, 05:19 PM
Ah thanks. :) I got all the Ravenloft books as well and did look through them a bit. They definitely did look promising.

I had a game session today. The paladin cast Detect Undead on the gentleman and I last minute made him not a vampire. He'll just be a human who dabbled in too much Dark Arts for his own good.
And they found an old bathroom which, on closer inspection, turned out to house a load of cockroaches. Lucky coincidence: the player who discovered the roaches (the far too nosy rogue) turned out to really HATE cockroaches in real life, so that was a bit of easy horror. ;)

big teej
2010-06-20, 02:01 PM
@ Big Teej: thanks! I already found Nox Arcana and will definitely be playing that music. I also got the soundtracks for Bram Stoker's Dracula, Sleepy Hollow and American McGee's Alice. I think I got more music than game time. ;)
Sadly, playing until well into the night isn't possible as one of my players lives 45 minutes traveling away by train from where we usually play, so we have to break up around 10PM. We'll just have to close the curtains then I suppose. :)


the solution to music > greater than game time is simply have it playing at all times in the background (just loud enough to impinge on the player's consciousness) and scale it up during dramatic moments or as necessary...

obviously not knowing how you're gaming area/house/whatever is not set up, this may not work, but is certainly worth a try

if there is a room in your house that has no windows. (or very small ones) use that. and if you have one of those little.... -techncial term i don't know- = slidy thingies ...grr. sliding scale light switches... yea we'll call it that. if you have a sliding scale light switch in aforementioned windowless room, even better, just turn the lights down as low as you can without hampering reading dice, sheets, and sourcebooks, and then play the creep music in full surround sound... -lightbulb-

and now i've gone rambling....

.... the game room in my dream house is totally going to be set up like this... I need to go write this down