Horror campaign help.

[Xavrias]

I'm starting up a horror campaign for my group and they've just accomplished there first adventure. It wasn't horrifying, or even scary, but it wasn't slightly out of the ordinary. They are now traveling with a pair of Merchants and there caravan. The merchants won't tell them there names and they have entrusted the pcs to guarding a locked and trapped box with odd sigils on it. Also, this campaign takes place in the dark age of magic in this world. There are no pc casters, clerics or wizards. There are only the occasional npc caster. Magic items are harder to come by etc. It adds a feeling of danger to the game I find when there is no cleric to stitch your body parts back up with the snap of his/her finger. The next adventure is going to be a good old-fashioned werewolf adventure. With an investigation etc, the werewolf can't remember the previous night. also in an added house monster, lycanthropes grow more powerful the closer they get to the full moon. By the time the full moon comes by the werewolf is quite literally unstoppable for the pc level. Even during a normal night he is an extremely challenging fight. He has wolf buddies and all, So the pcs must attempt to kill him during the day.
I need help with making the werewolf adventure more horrifying, tips for running horror adventures, atmosphere techniques, music, what should be in the box and at the end, I'm planning for one of the pcs to become afflicted by lycanthropy. The merchants have a ritual to help cure the pc, but for the ritual a horrible crime must take place. Such as the merchants need 3 gallons of innocent childrens blood or something.

I look forward to your advice and ideas.

[Yora]

Look for Diablo soundtracks. There have some tracks been released for Diablo 3. You can't listen to them for more than half an hour before getting slightly nutty. :smallbiggrin:
If you ever get to descend into hell, look for Quake. A bit electro-industrial, but it does the job very well.

Even if you have pretty much no magic, you could make use of mundane magic. Herbs and metals that supposedly protect against evil and monsters. And have the PCs be told "NEVER lose them!!!" When they constantly start checking if all their charms and amulets are still in place, you've been doing it right. They don't need to actually have any effect.

If you plan for a longer campaign and not just one or two adventures, I recommend hunting down Heroes of Horror. The fluff-sections are actualy quite good.

[Talionis]

I think it's good to bring in a higher level npc. Have him adventure for a very short time with the group. Then let him die to the werewolf. This will reenforce that the werewolf is stronger than the PCs and make them start looking for out of the box solutions. Things should feel dangerous for your PCs before you kill any of them off.

[motoko's ghost]

I think it's good to bring in a higher level npc. Have him adventure for a very short time with the group. Then let him die to the werewolf. This will reenforce that the werewolf is stronger than the PCs and make them start looking for out of the box solutions. Things should feel dangerous for your PCs before you kill any of them off.

You should only use the worf effect sparingly though, the box should have very faint scratching/sobbing coming from it at random times and possible small children singing nursery rhymes, it should always seem slightly cooler or slightly oily when the pcs touch it and the sigils shift and change imperceptibly over time. Have the werewolf be the kindly looking old grandmother in the woods, the PCs might even try to protect her...and be far too deep in the woods to run when night falls.:smallamused:

[lord pringle]

As far as music goes I like any of the tracks from old aperture science or I am not a moron (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1gsKeTi1Bg) from Portal 2.

[Xavrias]

Ok, I have heroes of horror and I've been reading all the time.
Yora I like the whole amulet things.
And Motoko's ghost the box thing is really creepy.
I like the diablo soundtracks and I've used them in other campaigns in creepy parts.
Also, I'm thinking about using the Amnesia: the dark descent soundtrack and ambient sounds. IS it good?

Please put in more suggestions for horror adventures, tips etc. Even ideas for later adventures would help. I need a large playlist too so more music is good.
Also I need help with the atmosphere, should I play during the dark with candles? Light incense? etc.

[DonutBoy12321]

Have the were-wolf be the friendly neighborhood healer.
Other terrifying ideas:
Have half of the party be indicted into a cult by a Fiend of Blasphemy. Have then be forced to perform mass killings, with the threat of death if they stop.
Use the taint system, and have taint accumulate on the party. Hopefully, insanity takes one.
Bring in a cult of Elder Evils, and have them try to bring about the world's end.
Have a paladin order go insane and initiate a genocide of anyone they deem "unpure."

I'm sure to bring more ideas as I think of them.

[Otomodachi]

First off, try to use monsters that will play on your PLAYER'S real fears. Odds are someone in your group has trouble with spiders, centipedes or some other type of bug; giant vermin, swarms or vermin or a (maybe homebrewed) bug that lays eggs in your face while you sleep will get the ball rolling.

Secondly, there is a very important consideration when trying to get a real scary atmosphere- you need to balance a certain level of hopelessness without making your players wonder why they bother. I wish I could be more specific here, but it'll depend on what types of gamers your players are, and for the RP fans, what the motivations of their characters are. Does someone have a family member that can be taken by a dark cult, and have pieces of them delivered by animal messenger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/animalMessenger.htm)? Would your players be actually affected by a loved NPC pulling a DnD equivalent of blowing his brains out when faced with whatever situation your plot requires? If you can find someone to tap to be a secondary DM for a session or two, then you can perhaps succesfully split the party; isolation can be scary. If you try this, make sure the play happens in separate rooms of your gaming area if possible. The essence of horror, in my opinion, is making the characters seem powerless but making sure the PLAYERS don't FEEL powerless. It's tricky, and it might take some time to find the balance.

Some plot hooks from media I've seen recently you could maybe safely grep without being caught :P -

The PCs seek shelter from a storm of monsoon intensity, or a blizzard, whatever type of weather fits the region; they find a town that is obviously inhabited but the streets are empty. A church bell rings; the PCs discover the town is actually the home to a cult that was been trading their humanity for the physical boons of a dark god for generations and generations. And, eventually, one of the PCs discover he is of the bloodline.

OR

Develop a town to be a base of operations for the PCs for a while; one day, every single fire in town begins to hum. Anyone who looks at the flames or hears the hum WILL eventually go insane (escalating Will saves or something else) in a psychotic, aggressive manner. The PCs must decide whether they even dare risk trying to investigate and stop this curse or if they just need to bug out with their lives and minds intact.

OR

If you have one player who stands out as running the "ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK!" type of character, they start having dreams every night where they live the lives of everyone they killed the previous day. Bookmark some minor historical figures on wikipedia, gloss over their bios, save yourself some headaches. :)

OR

Something as simple as blindness or deafness can be very effective. Obviously, eventually, the players will find a way to overcome it and probably cure it; in the meantime, it's a great way to make them squirm. With-holding information, making the players operate without as clear a picture as they're used to, can be effective. Players are ready to deal with dark rooms; a dark or silent WORLD is scarier.

Hope some of this helps, it's New Years Day so I can't be bothered to go back and try to improve readability. :P

EDIT: I guess I want to add some semiotics? In my opinion the difference between horror and scary is that horror is a visceral reaction to something shocking; walking into an active torture chamber is likely to provoke horror. Scary things are more cerebral, to me- being locked in a cell where all you can hear is the screams from the torture chamber down the hall leaves your mind free to fill in the blanks. It's a nervousness, and something that will frequently build slowly, whereas when I think of horror I imagine it as a sudden shock. Regardless of how well my interpretations fit the actual definition, I'd still say that the key to getting the type of atmosphere you seem to want is to mix those two types of tools; it can't all be blood, violence and scare chords, but without those the players aren't really going to be imagining the REALLY scary things when you leave them to wonder, either.

[Reltzik]

The two basic rules of horror are:

A) There is a very real chance that someone, anyone, or everyone will suffer and/or die horribly, and...
B) The most terrifying thing is the partially glimpsed but not-fully seen.

EVERYTHING should be set up with rules A and B in mind.

For example, the charms, herbs, and protections mentioned?

Rule A says: They are of limited effectiveness. Maybe they'll only hold the monster at bay for a short while. Maybe they have negative side-effects -- how easy is it to fight with, say, the sickened condition? Maybe there aren't enough of them. If you have five PCs, give them four protective charms and force them to figure out who goes without one. Better yet, give them five charms... and halfway into the adventure, give them a little kid to protect. Or six kids to protect.

Rule B says: The effectiveness is questionable or uncertain. They're crude dolls made of dog fur and hide thrust into their hands by the village beggar, babbling about how only these totems will save them from the Sickness. Is the beggar a madman or does he know something the rest of the village doesn't? Maybe they have a limited number of charges. The PCs KNOW this... but have no way of determining the number of charges left. The werewolf attacks and the charm fends it off. How many charges are left now? One fewer than five minutes ago.


Some other applications of Rule A:

There are fates worse than death. Don't be afraid to give one or more of the PCs lycanthropy. (But not, repeat, NOT all of them.) Better yet, have a conspiracy to FORCE it on one or more of them. Maybe the real villain is the cultist who cursed the werewolf in the first place, and now sees another worthy of "elevation". Maybe someone offers a PC the power to defeat the werewolf... by becoming one. This works well with Rule B. DON'T tell them they're becoming a werewolf. Drop hints. Make will saves to keep them from doing anything horrific during their changes; secret will saves behind your DM screen.

Put in a support mechanism. A questgiver that will give the PCs support, access to the community, access to healing, etc. Maybe someone who will introduce them around and essentially give the community a reason to trust them. A lorekeeper who can provide valuable hints or an arms dealer that has a weapon for everything... if only the PCs know what they want. Then turn these into the monster's victims. One day the PCs have a secure base of operations. The next day? The kindly old healer who knows how to fix their wounds is dead in a monster attack... and someone has slit the lorekeeper's throat and stolen some choice books. Too bad the PCs didn't know what they contained. The local lord and PC-employer dies... and suddenly the townsfolk feel less cooperative. The players should feel more vulnerable and more exposed with every attack. And no, not the Worf effect; the PCs should always be the second-biggest game in town, right after the big bad. They should feel more vulnerable because their capabilities are being eroded, and because the task is much larger than they had initially thought.

Death should be real, personal, agonizing, and above all arbitrary. Don't script out who dies in the attacks. Randomize it. Best of all, let the players see the dice rolls for the combat; let them KNOW that if you'd rolled a 13 instead of a 14, Old Hodger would still be alive today. If the players don't care about the NPC deaths, give them the task of explaining to a loved one what happened. Each and every NPC is there for the characters to care about... either to mourn over if they die, or to fight to keep them alive.

However, don't make the mistake of making the PCs impotent. Some or all might be doomed to die, but they must have a fighting chance (albeit a longshot) and realize it.


Some applications or Rule B:

First. Do not. I repeat. DO NOT. Tell the PCs that they are up against a werewolf. The monster is seldom-glimpsed and poorly seen. The werewolf attacks at night; it is fast and dark colored. Witness accounts are sketchy and contradictory. Was it a barbarian in furs? A wild bear? Was it six feet tall or ten? Let the rumors and ghost stories run wild, and let the monster grow in the telling. When the PCs encounter it, they know it is big, humanoid, hairy, and toothy. Is it a werewolf? A gnoll? A troll? Something homebrew? That they are fighting a werewolf -- and, any corollaries to that fact, such as how to kill it -- is information that the PCs should only win after much difficulty and at high cost. (If the PCs guess werewolf early on, don't get spooked. If you haven't been dropping too many hints too quickly, they're just guessing. Drop a few hints that they can misinterpret and they'll soon be guessing something else.)

Frequently take away one or more of a PC's senses. Sight is a good one. The attacks occur at night; a torch illuminates a five-foot circle around the PC, making him or her a target more than showing what's out there. A smart dark-dweller will use a surprise round knocking a lantern out of a person's hand and plunge the party into darkness. I personally like fog and mist. An empty thirty-foot square room is much more scary when the party can barely see five feet in any direction. Sound is another good one. Loud sounds -- like an explosion or a church bell -- leave the PCs unable to hear anything for five rounds. Tell them they can see dimly in the darkness, but they can't hear anything but a loud ringing... even when they see each other mouthing words. They will know that they are vulnerable... and that brings us back to rule A.

Maybe what they don't have is key information. Suppose they suspect that a party member has lycanthropy, but they don't know which one. Force them to live with that suspense. They can figure it out... in time... if they devote time and resources to the task. Time and resources that might be better spent hunting the BBEG. To make things really interesting, privately give each party member small hints that they can interpret to mean that THEY are the lycanthrope, and let THEM be the ones to withhold information. For example, the ranger casts about for tracks... and discover that they lead to his bedroll. Drop the suggestion that they look a bit off... perhaps as if someone found a way to fake them. And then let the ranger's player decide how little of this to reveal to the rest of the party. Let the Knowledge checks give them reasons NOT to let anyone else figure out what's going on.

Finally, remember the value of suspense. Telegraph maybe half of the fights they're in. Give them hints that something Bad is about to happen... but not hints of what. Maybe they hear a great many Somethings around the corner up ahead... maybe they are warned that no one who passes This Point returns alive... or maybe (especially if you've done a good job so far) their paranoia is getting to them... and they know, KNOW, that something's going to strike. The longer that moment lasts, where they know something's going to happen but not WHAT, the longer you're in rule B's sweet spot. The anticipation is its own form of horror. Draw it out.

(Only do this half the time, though. The rest of the time, the attack should be completely unexpected.)

Above all remember that role playing is about the choices that the players make and the deeds that the heroes do. Never take those choices and deeds away from them. If anything, force them to make choices -- the harder and more agonizing the better -- and let what they do define the story.

PS: In a campaign I'm in, the DM just let my healer cleric figure out that a party member contracted Ghoul Fever. Maybe a bit more obscurement was called for, maybe not. But what is... interesting... is that I don't know how effective my heal check was or if the Remove Disease spell worked, and I'm wasting time and my highest-level spell slots on this while Off Screen Things Are Happening.

[motoko's ghost]

Ok, I have heroes of horror and I've been reading all the time.
...
And Motoko's ghost the box thing is really creepy.
...
Please put in more suggestions for horror adventures, tips etc. Even ideas for later adventures would help.

Good thats a really good book for horror.

Oh trust me it gets creepier:smallamused: (I am quite literally banned from DM-ing a horror campaign though:smallfrown:)

Perhaps the box contains a mirror, when the first chacter looks in though they see their reflection get brutally slaughtered,coving the "inside" with blood, when the player checks again however, they have no reflection... over the next couple of days the players starts having blackout, waking up with strange blood on their clothes or gripping a holy symbol so tightly its cut into their hand, starting to lose their appetite over the course of things, a strange fascination with blood starting... well you see where I'm going, your players have to stop the advance of the vampirism or else be slaughtered in their sleep, maybe they can only halt it and the player becomes some sort of half-vampire(there's a template in dragon 313 for that, also on crystalkeep)

[Xavrias]

You guys are great!
Otomodachi and reltzik, that's a lot of writing but i Read it all very carefully. That is some really good stuff. Stuff I hadn't really thought of before.
Motoko's ghost, once again awesome stuff, I like the mirror thing, but Im not sure about someone becoming a vampire. After all at least one pc is gonna become a werewolf so..... Yeah, it'll be all vamp vs werewolf.
PLEASE KEEP THE IDEAS COMING.

I said earlier how the merchants were going to perform a ritual to try to cure the lycanthropy, but in order to do that the pcs have to commit a horrible crime or 2. What should they be? What should be needed for the ritual?

[lord pringle]

I said earlier how the merchants were going to perform a ritual to try to cure the lycanthropy, but in order to do that the pcs have to commit a horrible crime or 2. What should they be? What should be needed for the ritual?

Killing children. Have a kid look up at the PCs and ask them if they are the kid's mother.

[Lord Tyger]

A trick I've found that really creeps players out- speak in a really calm, soothing voice. If you pick the right turns of phrase it's incredibly disturbing. I once had a bugbear dreamily tell the party that he loved playing with elves, it was like picking the petals off of a flower.

[georgie_leech]

MUSIC

Seriously, if you're trying to create something as intangible/atmospheric as horror, do NOT underestimate how much difference music can make in your players' minds. Look for MP3's or other files you can throw on repeat, or just use youtuberepeat.

Need them to explore a creepy part of town as the sun sets, crows cawing at each other through the fog, where the locals shun them and hurry away, muttering prayers under their breaths? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgeGkDMW3Cw

They found a creepy, empty mansion, showing signs of having long been abandoned on the outside yet with an unsettling sense of being watched within? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FpqvCI7eZQ

The Dark And Stormy Night (tm) in the seedy tavern? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlOJr1csOR4 (This is my favourite. The last party I used it on unwittingly played along with it. '"What's the worst that could happen?" *Thunder*')

[Reltzik]

Hmmm. Mood and ambience.

First rule: Cel phones OFF. Laptops OFF, unless they hold the character sheets, in which case that's ALL they're used for. Television, radio, etc OFF. Get the pizza delivered and divied up BEFORE you're at the truly tense moments. Relegate things like stepping out for smokes, getting food, checking email, etc to designated break times.

Music is overdone in my opinion. If you do pick something, have something that plays quietly, barely discernable. The music should NEVER grab the players' conscious attention. That's yours. Instead, pick music that will sink its claws into their subconscious. Same with scent. I DO recommend turning off lights and drawing curtains... except for one very bright light at the table. You need to be able to read books and char sheets, after all, and the sharp contrast between island of light and surrounding darkness will do more for the mood than dim light will. Give your players night-blindness.


Next, rituals and crimes. What you want here is something so horrific that it rends at our ideas of right and wrong... but is either a better option than letting the werewolf run amok, or isn't immediately apparent in all its evil.

Killing children is a cliche, but a decent one. If they refuse, have the werewolf kill five children, and have the NPC ask if they'll let the werewolf kill five more the next night or kill one today. I suggest sacrificing a litter of puppies instead. Cute puppies that whimper and lick the PCs faces. Children have been done to the point that it's lost a bit of oomph, and puppies actually make sense here. It might break the mood if done wrong, though, so do this cautiously.

Instead of a hard good vs evil choice, try order vs chaos. What if their crime is that they must burn the town's Doomsday Book. It contains everything -- birth and death records, marriage records, tax records, land titles, notarized debts, promissory notes from other townships and a hefty one from the merchants in question. Without the official information there, the town's governance will collapse. The ashes are needed as a sacrifice to empower the ritual. This is something that the PCs might breezily accept. Give them hints at the suffering it might cause ahead of time... and if they go through with it, bring this cost home with a vengeance.

[motoko's ghost]

You guys are great!
Otomodachi and reltzik, that's a lot of writing but i Read it all very carefully. That is some really good stuff. Stuff I hadn't really thought of before.
Motoko's ghost, once again awesome stuff, I like the mirror thing, but Im not sure about someone becoming a vampire. After all at least one pc is gonna become a werewolf so..... Yeah, it'll be all vamp vs werewolf.
PLEASE KEEP THE IDEAS COMING.



Not a full vampire just one of the LA+1-2 half-vampire crossbreed things.
Also its not just a werewolf, its a psuedonatural werewolf!:smalltongue: that will suddenly explode into a writhing mass of eldritch tentacles in the vaguely werewolf shaped way:smallyuk:

[Xavrias]

Ok so still excellent ideas thank you all. If you think of more stuff please post.

2 of my characters, there good at rping but they are bad at putting together backstories etc. They want some help from me.
1 is a normal old swahbuckler, high dex and intel uses a rapier.
The other is a barbarian who always uses a scythe. Both are human.
Let your imagination run wild guys and think up every possible awesome backstory you can for these guys. I'm sure they'll be grateful, and they'll be willing to rp just about anything.
Get typing!

[JackRackham]

@ the OP: Their several times instead of 'there.' I'm sorry, but I couldn't not correct you. It was driving me crazy.

Carry on.

[Xavrias]

lol it's okay. My bros are english freaks. They do that all the time.

[EagleWiz]

One thing NOT to do is repetedly target people the PCs care about/like, or at least not often. It might motivate them the first time it happens, but by the sixth time it happens people start rolling up orphened loners. Not to say that a villain that specificly targets the PC's loved ones wouldn't work, but not if it was just coincidental.

On giving one of the PC's lycanthropy, handle with care. What if the player nat 20s his save? What if the entire party becomes afflicted? You have to be willing to abandon "X happens to the PCs" plots if the players find some clever/lucky way arround it, or risk railroading.

Another way to ratchet up the horror is by overwhelming the PCs. Maby the werewolf happens to be the only person protecting the town from (insert bad thing here). Maby the werewolf knows exactly what he is and is clever enough to frame an innocent. Maby there are multiple werewolves.

[Otomodachi]

How much DnD experience does your group have, OP? How long have you been playing with them? I mean do they know the stat blocks or at least weaknesses/abilities of large chunks of monsters?

[Xavrias]

No, not really. I'm the one who owns like every book so... They know plenty about the main core monsters but other than that they have no clue about any monsters form mm2-mm5, lords of madness etc.

[Fyermind]

Homebrew an honesty skill. Make it free for everyone.

The point to this is, if players want to have ranks in sense motive (and someone should, if they don't feel free to make them regret it. Have them get lied to and led astray a few times and they'll be retraining by third level) make it an active choice. It might look like this in play:

They players have finally found the werewolf, or so they think. They confront the butcher in his back room. Describe the blood splatter from his job, the pigs head, etc. Mention rings on the wall in passing, like they don't mean anything.

Butcher: "I know why you're here. But you have the wrong guy. He's probably out there right now plotting his next kill."

PC: Is he telling the truth? I sense motive
Behind screen: PC fails check
DM: It appears he is.

PCs now certain of the true culprit, the obvious pick, someone nobody will miss. Miserly old man or something. Hates kids. They throw rocks at him.

PCs come after him. He claims innocence.
PC: really? I sense motive
since the character is so shifty, he is unconvincing. PC can't tell

PCs kill him. But he puts up a surprisingly good fight. That night they hear a wolf howl, and see blood trail to/from the butcher's shop.

[OracleofSilence]

Actually consider reading through the Lords of Madness book. Even if players never fight an aberration in the game, the mentality behind it should be exactly what you were looking for.

Players should never REALLY win. At best? a temporary reprieve. At worst? not only do some of them die, but they are left with the terrible burden of knowing that they let thee horrors into the world.

More importantly, don't let them just have travel montages. Make them describe what they do while they wait. Make them talk to other NPC's to pass the time. As this occurs play vagualy menacing music in the background and give Heart f Darkness style descriptions of the background. This will MASSIVLY increase tension, particularly if they just KNOW that something is about to make a spirited effor to rip their face off and use it as a fashionable hat (hell maybe one of THEM might do it if you play it right).

[motoko's ghost]

Remember not to go too far though, otherwise no-one will want to play.

[OracleofSilence]

Meh in a horror game, to much fun is well...

Not fun. Some real nihilism is kinda required to get the ambiance right.

[Xavrias]

Ok guys. I think I got what I need for my werewolf adventure. I'll be posting later for new adventures ideas.
MY players still want help with their backstories plz help. If you didnt see the entry, the 2 players who want help are a swashbuckler and a barbarian whi uses a scythe. They'll rp almost anything so please make some epic backstories and post them up.

[DigoDragon]

For a bit of paranoia, I like to occasionally call for a saving throw (Fort and Will are my fav choices) or a spot check. Generally when a PC does some action like opening something, walking into an odd room, etc. Fort checks are good.

Then when they tell you the result, you just nod and pretend the save was good or that they didn't notice anything from the shadows. Sometimes I pretend something happened but that they'll "know later".

Use sparringly and it'll put the PCs on edge. :smallsmile:

[Xavrias]

Ok guys, I'm back. My werewolf adventure went over extremely well and now I need something else for my players. Anything horror will do. But preferably it will take place in the city. Cause that's where it is right now. Please post ideas.

[Machinekng]

Ok guys, I'm back. My werewolf adventure went over extremely well and now I need something else for my players. Anything horror will do. But preferably it will take place in the city. Cause that's where it is right now. Please post ideas.

A serial killer.

Have it so that the serial killer targets people much like one of the party members. To prevent the PCs from fleeing the city, have them encounter a murder victim, right before the cops do, making the PCs suspects and preventing them from leaving the city legally.

The serial killer doesn't need to be human, some sort of incorpreal undead or abberation would work.

[onemorelurker]

Ok guys, I'm back. My werewolf adventure went over extremely well and now I need something else for my players. Anything horror will do. But preferably it will take place in the city. Cause that's where it is right now. Please post ideas.

Spinning off Machinekng's idea a bit, a serial killer is killing people in the city, seemingly at random. When the PCs investigate, they find that all the victims were part of the same evil cult and the killer is something the cult created/summoned that went rogue on 'em. If it manages to kill all the cultists (especially if the PCs let it do so in the hope of making it go away/punishing the evil cultists/whatever), then something even worse happens: it metamorphoses into a stronger monster and starts killing innocents, or it summons a bunch of friends, or it starts raising all the city's dead, etc.