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Shhalahr Windrider
2007-03-12, 05:29 PM
Inspiration comes from the simple things...

I was in the shower when a thought struck me. It would be really fun to create a character that is so creepy, slimy, or otherwise unsavory that a PC's primary reaction would be, "Ugh! He's so slimy I have to bathe just after talking to him!"

So I got wondering how all you guys out there in the playground would play such a character. What kind of NPC would provoke such a reaction from you? As a DM, have any of you used a PC that has provoked this or a similar reaction? What techniques do you think would work?

And though it's primarily a fluff thing, feel free to mention any feats, classes, spells, abilities, etc. that would seem appropriate for such a character. Role-playing and Mechanics do reflect each other, after all.

So give me the real slime.

Truwar
2007-03-12, 05:31 PM
There is a fairly simple formula for this.

Opposite Sex (Same Sex works too, but skirts negative stereotypes) + Grotesque + Aggresively Flirty = Yech! :tongue:

Assassinfox
2007-03-12, 05:35 PM
Ooze Genasi. :smallwink:

crazedloon
2007-03-12, 05:35 PM
Hmm I can't really describe it but my friend chuck is a nasty freak. He baths once a month if we are lucky and he draws on himself all the time. If I was to play such a character I would probably emulate him. He is cool and all but the slimy feeling comes from his actual being not his actions i.e. he is nasty cus he doesn’t shower but he is cool because he isn’t creepy in action.

Anyway If was to make this as a character I would make it a wu jen from complete arcane with bathing and other such "niceties" as taboos

axraelshelm
2007-03-12, 05:36 PM
there was a npc that my dm made up called Hovis which is a obese hairy vampire that never washed his flat was covered in rubbish and he wore a female bathing suit that was about 5 sizes too small for him. that made me want to bath.

marjan
2007-03-12, 05:39 PM
There are feats in The Lords of Madness that give you some features of aberations. They give you disguisting apearance so attach them to half-orc or something like that and you are good to go. Consider also Alienist form Complete Arcane. For the playing such a character you may want him to spit when talking. That will probably make PCs want to bath after conversation with him.
If outsiders comes to play Hezrou might work like that.

HomerHT
2007-03-12, 05:47 PM
It's all in the description. Off the top of my head...
"You approach a man who looks as if he either never bathes or bathes in oil. His hair is so greasy it gleans in the sun. He glares at (female party member with the
highest charisma) with a sly, almost toothless grin."

ZekeArgo
2007-03-12, 06:06 PM
Inspiration comes from the simple things...

I was in the shower when a thought struck me. It would be really fun to create a character that is so creepy, slimy, or otherwise unsavory that a PC's primary reaction would be, "Ugh! He's so slimy I have to bathe just after talking to him!"

So I got wondering how all you guys out there in the playground would play such a character. What kind of NPC would provoke such a reaction from you? As a DM, have any of you used a PC that has provoked this or a similar reaction? What techniques do you think would work?

And though it's primarily a fluff thing, feel free to mention any feats, classes, spells, abilities, etc. that would seem appropriate for such a character. Role-playing and Mechanics do reflect each other, after all.

So give me the real slime.

As I recall there was a PrC along the lines of "Master of Ooze" or some such in the old Song and Silence book (or as I've come to call it Loots and Lutes)

Don't have it on hand at the moment, but might be what your looking for.

silentknight
2007-03-12, 06:12 PM
I had a rogue named Smee the Flea who lived in gutters fighting rats for food. He never bathed (didn't like water all that much) and just standing next to him made you think, "Did I just step in dog poo?"

draca
2007-03-12, 06:18 PM
There are a few prestige classes in the Book of Vile Darkness, a D&D supplement not for the feint of heart, or stomach, that fit that bill all over the place. For example the Vermin Lord, or la crème de la murk, the Cancer Mage. I felt like I needed a bath after just reading that one, much less meeting one in the alley behind a seedy tavern in a game.

Just giving an NPC one of those prestige classes, or even taking one or a few the derangements, (self inflicted deformities or the like) and adding other such descriptive details that are peppered throughout the book would be a fine starting point. I've found it a good supplement to help me craft villains weather I want smooth, sophisticated and dark, or just plain vile or anywhere in the spectrum that goes beyond "brutal and savage" and well into "That's just not right!"

Sans that supplement, a plain old fashioned dark imagination will get you far. I'm thinking I'd go with the festering sores in visible areas angle; plus a personality that displays extreme vanity, like they are truly convinced that they are the most attractive person in the room. At some point an insect could land on one of the open wounds and seem to start feeding there, while s/he does nothing to dislodge it or even seem to notice it at all.

To me that would have more effect if the base creature type were something once pretty.

Assassinfox
2007-03-12, 06:32 PM
I take back what I said previously. An Ooze Genasi with levels in Cancer Mage, Vermin Lord, Flayerspawn Psychic, and Thrall of Juiblex would be the most disgusting.

Foxer
2007-03-12, 06:34 PM
Le Styrge (sp?) from Michael Scott Rohan's Chase the Morning. Thoroughly unpleasant (and powerful) sorcerer who lives on a garbage tip. It is later revealed that he's had to spend a period of time wallowing in filth and debasement as part of a complex magic ritual. He really revels in his ability to gross people out.

goat
2007-03-12, 06:37 PM
As I recall there was a PrC along the lines of "Master of Ooze" or some such in the old Song and Silence book (or as I've come to call it Loots and Lutes)

Don't have it on hand at the moment, but might be what your looking for.

Oozemaster, don't think it's been updated to 3.5 though.

But there are homebrews

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=372873

crazedloon
2007-03-12, 06:37 PM
I take back what I said previously. An Ooze Genasi with levels in Cancer Mage, Vermin Lord, Flayerspawn Psychic, and Thrall of Juiblex would be the most disgusting.

oh but those are prc you need a base class so I would suggest a wu jen with a taboo against bathing until you get the required feats :smallwink:

I wouldnt touch that with a 10 foot pole

Krellen
2007-03-12, 06:47 PM
The Worm That Walks template from the 3.0 Epic Level Handbook is the ultimate in ick, I think.

Nahal
2007-03-12, 07:07 PM
that or epic pseudonatural

NecroPaladin
2007-03-12, 07:27 PM
Lecherous Kobold who doesn't bathe and makes way too much use of his prehensile tongue in everyday life.

LotharBot
2007-03-12, 07:27 PM
Also, make him have a really vile personality. Think Grima Wormtongue. Somebody who you know is devious, cunning, and who probably contaminates your brain just by speaking.

elliott20
2007-03-12, 07:52 PM
Richard "Parson" Gere, Lord Hamster

I'd go on, but I think that should say enough as is.

EvilElitest
2007-03-12, 08:33 PM
If you want to go for the player feeling mentally unclean, make a Drizzt clone who never baths.
from,
EE

Death_Knight
2007-03-12, 08:44 PM
Parson didn't seem that bad to me. I mean, obviously he's a loser, and you just know he smells like freaking cheese, but not really someone that makes me go 'ew I have to shower now'. More like someone I'd feel bad for.

I'd go with the 'doesn't bathe' angle, with EXTREMELY greasy skin and/or hair, hair is all matted and tangled. Plus a disgusting voice, that either sounds like it's coated in oil, or like the guy's just a hair's breadth from vomiting on himself. Walks in a sensual, somewhat snake-like manner.. and, of course, appears to be completely oblivious to his hygiene problems. Loves to make physical contact with the PCs, putting hands on their shoulders, wrapping an arm around their sides.. and grins CONSTANTLY..
... have I hit disgusting yet? It's so hard to tell.

Really, if you do it right, you won't even have to add deformities. Human beings can become pretty impressively disgusting all on their own. And, in fact, that might make them all the more disgusting because of it. A person who could have been quite nice looking, but chose to let themselves degenerate into filth.. that's gross in a way an ooze genesai can't match.

elliott20
2007-03-12, 08:53 PM
evidently you're focusing on a the wrong part of the post.

trust me, it's far worse than that.

Sardia
2007-03-12, 09:02 PM
Corrupt nobleman who liked to have halfling servants. Dressed as human children. Technically avoided breaking the law, but everyone was more than glad to see him go.

elliott20
2007-03-12, 09:05 PM
said nobleman used to be a dark elf, but then somehow turned himself into a Lich. Has a thing for wearing only one gauntlet as opposed to the full set.

Rabiesbunny
2007-03-12, 09:06 PM
OTYUGH! YAAAAAY!

When I saw this header, I thought it was about 'Gamer Funk'. ^^;

Demented
2007-03-12, 09:12 PM
Spot on, Death Knight. It's not enough for the character to be greasy as a static, visual trait... that grease has to interact with the players in some way, as well as their things (especially personal effects).

A single boil on someone's knuckle can be more disgusting than the tentacles of a pseudonatural horror, because the nature of the latter is so bizarre as to be unfathomable in all but a mechanical sense, while the former can easily be related to and loathed on a very personal level.

Brauron
2007-03-12, 09:28 PM
Make him an elf that's let himself go -- grotesquely obese, oily skin, oily hair, crusted gunk around his lips, a boil or two.

Diggorian
2007-03-12, 09:29 PM
So I got wondering how all you guys out there in the playground would play such a character. What kind of NPC would provoke such a reaction from you? As a DM, have any of you used a PC that has provoked this or a similar reaction? What techniques do you think would work?

In front of a mirror practice making the ugliest face you can. Speak in a high nasally voice with a sloppy lisp, make sure to lick your lips often to make them slick or chapped. Lean in close to the players whose PC he's talking to with mutiple ticks like snorting mucas, picking your nose/ear.

As PC's speak to him, he surveys them with a perverse savor, male or female. Any flesh is welcome to the touch of his gnarled fingers.

Then work the adjectives:
"His words occasionally pelt you with damp pork bits, especially when he's excited."

"An onion-laced vinegary musk hangs around him, so pungeant you can taste his sweat. The oily fishyness of unwashed nethers waft up from ... below."

*ends post to go vomit*

Wehrkind
2007-03-12, 09:41 PM
Loves to make physical contact with the PCs, putting hands on their shoulders, wrapping an arm around their sides.. and grins CONSTANTLY..
... have I hit disgusting yet?

Exactly. Gross is gross and all, but it is not extremely uncomfortable until the player has to imagine themselves as part of it. That fat greasy guy might be unpleasant to stand next to, but he doesn't fill you with revulsion for yourself. It is only after he starts rubbing your shoulders and you feel his hot fetid breath on your ear that you want to scream/stab/shower/suicide all at once.

Zeta Kai
2007-03-12, 09:53 PM
I actually made a feat for just such an occasion. It was originally designed for an odious race of slovenly people, but it could be applied to anyone, really. Behold:

Offensive Odor [General]
You stink. A lot. Oh my god, you reek. Eww.
• Prerequisite: Charisma 6 or less
• Benefit: Any humanoid, monstrous humanoid, or animal who approaches you become nauseated for 1d6 rounds.
• Special: This feat is temporarily negated for 1d4+1 hours if you become immersed in water. This becomes 1d8+2 hours if you intentionally cleanse yourself, or 1d10+3 hours if you use soap.

I think that this could easily be added to any particularly grody character. What do you think?

Variable Arcana
2007-03-12, 10:41 PM
Zeta-

Needs a Fort save... or else you'll have every melee type playing gross dwarves.

Turcano
2007-03-12, 11:10 PM
You could go for a Foul Ol' Ron clone and give him a custom improved familiar: an elemental from the Plane of Odor. It would be kind of like an air elemental familiar with the stench ability (as the troglodyte).

Shhalahr Windrider
2007-03-12, 11:12 PM
Spot on, Death Knight. It's not enough for the character to be greasy as a static, visual trait... that grease has to interact with the players in some way, as well as their things (especially personal effects).
Yeah, that's what I'd really like to hear more about... :smallbiggrin:

Krimm_Blackleaf
2007-03-12, 11:16 PM
I made him. (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/39081033/)
:smallbiggrin:

Voleta
2007-03-12, 11:53 PM
You know, none of the stuff you guys have said would really deter me from interacting with such a person. In fact, I would react so swimmingly well to them, that it would boggle their minds. Folks who are dirty and lecherous rarely know how to react when the object of their.. affection.. responds favourably, that its often the best tactic to deal with them. All you need to destroy a well thought out npc is a character to show a little cleavage, sneakilly use presdigitation, and say "oo tell me more!"

Demented
2007-03-13, 12:03 AM
Oh, it's hardly about being deterred from interacting with them.
It's about that skeezy feeling that you just can't wash off with soap.

LotharBot
2007-03-13, 01:21 AM
I've been thinking more about this. There are a lot of ways to make a character repulsive. We've already focused on

1) poor hygiene

but there are others:

2) poor concept of "personal space" -- even a mostly clean person is problematic if they stand 3 inches from your face when they talk

3) creepy thought patterns -- "craft disturbing mental image", especially when done in a subtle way (Wormtongue's flirtations were like this.)

4) willingness to be extremely evil, especially in a personal way. When the evil is of the form "I blow up thousands of people" it's easy to turn into a numbers game. When it's of the form "I make individual children live in pain for years before they finally die" or "I do very cruel things to each and every one of your best friends", it's scary-creepy.

5) Effective use of nuance and innuendo. If someone you're unattracted to comes out and says "I want to f*** you" it's easy to just reject them and brush it off. If they say something that makes you wonder if they were coming on to you, it's disturbing. If they make a comment that suggests they might enjoy certain forms of torture, but they don't actually come out and say it, it leaves you to ponder it.

6) Always feeling like there's a risk they'll sell you out for money... and knowing they've sold people out into very bad situations for very little money. You just feel sleazy dealing with a guy who you know is willing to do things like steal money, food, and supplies from an orphanage.

If you're a fan of Firefly, think about Adlai Niska. Not just the over-the-top torture aspects, but just the sort of business he did. Stole medicine from places that really needed it. Killed people just for being friends of people he disliked. Intentionally prolonged torture for the sake of reputation. He was absolutely brutal in all senses of the word. That's a good "ewww, I gotta take a shower just from dealing with him" bad guy.

HeinleinFan
2007-03-13, 01:31 AM
The above suggestions are excellent, but something I've seen used in a campaign was a guy who fitted the overweight, greasy, dirty (but well spoken) discription who also had Leadership. So he occasionally scratches and something small and unidentifiable might fall off; he might notice it and pop it in his mouth without thinking, or sweep it off the table and hand it to his quietly efficient cohort, who might nibble on a bit of - whatever it is - before tossing it in a clean wastebin.

Model of efficiency. But every time my party encounters this guy, we tell the DM, "We intentionally fail our spot and knowledge (gross stuff) checks."

Oh, yeah. And as he is an efficient, highly intelligent fellow, he serves the local lord who happens to employ us. So we meet him a lot - and, of course, he wants to shake hands. His charisma is pretty good, by the way; he might be a sorcerer, but none of us want to tick him off to find out.

AtomicKitKat
2007-03-13, 02:05 AM
Bloated One PrC.

Toliudar
2007-03-13, 02:59 AM
In general, pleasure is way creepier than anger or hatred as a motivator. I found the creepiest thing about Hannibal Lector to be the intense ENJOYMENT he took in the nastiest and cruelest situations.

One of my favourite villains was a high-HP character with a strong masochistic streak. In melee with the PC's, he became increasingly excited as they whaled on him, becoming almost orgasmic in his enjoyment. They freaked, thought that they were in fact making him stronger, and retreated.

Nevermore
2007-03-13, 07:52 AM
I've played a few PCs that made my fellow players' skin crawl... In WoD, but still...

Greenfaun
2007-03-13, 09:42 AM
I think a good trick for a creepy character would be someone who's trying to be nice but so crazy and/or socially inept that they're not really able to.

For instance, the hermit wizard who's so pleased to have company that he brings out his collection of eyeballs from unusual creatures. "Go ahead and touch them, I don't mind!"

Even just totally inappropriate compliments can do the job. When the first thing the dirty half-orc says to you is "Your skin is really smooth and soft, that's nice..." then everybody needs to go take a shower, even if he was just trying to make pleasant conversation.

Probably the best example of this I can think of is Al Funo from the really good book "Last Call" by Tim Powers. In a book full of horrific supernatural foes, the villain responsible for the most skeezed-out feelings was just a mundane human serial killer who wanted to be really important to people, and would do things like awkwardly striking up conversations with his intended victims as if they were already old friends, or buying them inappropriately expensive gifts before killing them. Great stuff.

mystikphish
2007-03-13, 02:23 PM
The problem with feats and PrCs as I see it is that the players have no idea what feats and PrCs you gave Mr. Creepy, so they'll have limited impact on the creepiness feel from the player perspective.

I think that LotharBot's suggestions are a really good place to start. Focus on the roleplay aspects of the character instead of creepy powers.

I personally find that the characters that creep me out the most are the those like Hannibal Lechter and Adlai Niska... very smart, HIGHLY charismatic, and total sociopaths. I would not go to the "gross, fat, disgusting" description, but rather an immaculately dressed, confident person. Just make sure that he has some recognizable 'schmutz' on him somewhere (blood probably) and have him casually/dismissively wipe it away with a comment like, "oh, just some personal diversions before dinner. Won't you join me? The chef's prepared a wonderful repast, a very YOUNG, TENDER roast I assure you..."

If I was going to use this NPC is a campaign (well, am now...) I'd go for the high CHR but not good too looking, maybe slightly unkempt and greasy. This kind of person would probably know they are more powerful "behind the throne" as it were, so I'd make him an advisor to someone powerful. This means you can make Mr. Creepy nearly untouchable from the PC perspective without having to make him overtly powerful. I think the Leadership suggestion is a good one, these guys always have willing lackies/playthings.

I would also focus on roleplaying the "hints" of greater evil. He looks just a little to long at the stable boy. He gets messages from pages/runners who are afraid to approach too near him, but once they do they submit to inappropriate invasions of their personal space. Nobody that works for him has a name; they are all "my boy", "my girl" or even just "this servant" like they are only things.

If I had to pick a class... evil Bard all the way. With ranks in Perform(Torture), etc. Only he prefers to charm people into participating "willingly". Load up on the compulsion spells etc.

Lastly, I would also find a way to introduce the PCs to other NPCs that should be more powerful than Mr. Creepy, but are significantly afraid of him anyway, enough fear that they won't directly speak against him...

clockwork warrior
2007-03-13, 02:42 PM
the boil comment reminded me of this

the necrotic cyst (LM)

have the npc have a part of the body (shoulder or something) contain a swelling that sticks out with grotesque vain that seems to pulse slightly as if it had a mind of its own

That Lanky Bugger
2007-03-13, 03:02 PM
Mental dirt can't be scrubbed off.

The creepy noble with halfling servants dressed as children is a good start, but you need to take it a few steps further.

- Have a creature with regeneration for which he has a particularly nasty hatred. He cuts meat off him for cooking not because he likes the taste, but because "I like the fear in it's eyes as I choose my nightly meal. One might even think it has sapience with it's cries. Dirty little thing."

- He might have a wonderful collection of statues he bought off of an adventurer who defeated a Gorgon. If (let's face it, it's When) the PCs raise the fact they could be petrified people, have him wave them off with a "I can't be bothered to check, and the detail work is far to lovely to lose."

Quietus
2007-03-13, 04:00 PM
That cyst is a lot of fun... I have a character who's got one, makes for a very scary encounter. Sure, I have to "waste" a turn implanting it, but once I do... well...

Have you ever seen the effects of a lump of undead tissue exploding out from a host's body, spewing horrible fleshy bits on everything around him? The effect is quite beautiful, I assure you - rather like fireworks, except with less ooh's and aahs, and more screaming.

Vodun
2007-03-13, 08:01 PM
A thought just occured to me, what if you had a blind NPC that had to find his way about through feeling, because he lost his cane a long time ago, but hes not exactly clean, his tongue hangs when he speaks, psoriasis, bad breath, greasy, skeezy, his mouth makes this wierd *shlk* sound whenever he opens or closes it, and whats worse is that whenever he feels around to see where he is, and a PC happens to be where hes feeling, he might spend a little *too* much time in the process.

Or maybe Im a little bit messed up. No?

NecroPaladin
2007-03-13, 08:46 PM
You know, none of the stuff you guys have said would really deter me from interacting with such a person. In fact, I would react so swimmingly well to them, that it would boggle their minds. Folks who are dirty and lecherous rarely know how to react when the object of their.. affection.. responds favourably, that its often the best tactic to deal with them. All you need to destroy a well thought out npc is a character to show a little cleavage, sneakilly use presdigitation, and say "oo tell me more!"

But you are a member of the very few who knows how to deal with these types effectively. Most PCs aren't the "out-of-the-box" thinker type when it comes to social interaction with NPCs.

Kriel
2007-03-13, 08:46 PM
I never thought I'd have input from my days at ShopRite, but this would work perfectly if you were going purely for ugliness. This one customer had... I don't know how else to describe it... SOMETHING growing on top of his fingernails. Green, caked on in layers totalling to about a half-inch thick and I swear I could see it moving. I had to supress my gag reflex whenever he came into my line, especially when I had to give him his change... *goes to wash hands for an hour to get rid of skeezy feeling*

Scott Haley
2007-03-13, 09:00 PM
Just make sure that the other players are still having fun. Sometimes if a player plays a really unpleasant character, I don't enjoy the game.

--Scott

ASCIISkull
2007-03-14, 12:17 AM
Tim Curry in fishnets. And his naked flesh golem, Rocky.

Pocket lint
2007-03-14, 02:55 AM
For some reason, I seem to mostly gross out my players with their allies. Starting with the reformed BBEG whose body was slowly rotting to pieces (my description managed to almost cause vomiting), their friendly ally who kept all these little shy "pages" serving them throughout their visit (no evidence of anything, but it had them gnashing their teeth).

But I think my coup de resistance was one guy... well, I could go into detail, but in summary I was hard put to find one single sympathetic characteristic in him. After one character narrowly escaped a seduction/rape attempt and got beaten unconscious in retaliation, the players really went out of their way to wipe him off the planet's surface once they got the chance.

Shhalahr Windrider
2007-03-14, 07:46 AM
Just make sure that the other players are still having fun. Sometimes if a player plays a really unpleasant character, I don't enjoy the game.
Good thing I'm the DM, then. Use these for NPCs, and I can control the "screen time" for them a lot better... :smallbiggrin:

Voleta
2007-03-14, 07:49 AM
Tim Curry in fishnets. And his naked flesh golem, Rocky.

That was clearly a bard with ranks in- Cant finish joke, morally objectable even to me.

Tim curry in fishnets and/or Rocky = HOT

The_Werebear
2007-03-14, 05:31 PM
That was clearly a bard with ranks in- Cant finish joke, morally objectable even to me.

Tim curry in fishnets and/or Rocky = HOT

I have to second that one. And my girlfriend thirds it.


Anyway, have him slober so much that spittle starts to build up on the corners of his mouth and beard. Then have him lick it off. And his tongue is crusted in icky yellow stuff.

I have had to work with someone like that.

Voleta
2007-03-14, 06:12 PM
Work with? I dated someone like that. For almost a year.

Mattarias, King.
2007-03-14, 08:13 PM
I must say, I play an extremely hygine-loving character, and quite frankly, this thread.. just.. ugh.. *sudder* my skin creeps at the mental images i'm getting from these posts. :smalleek:

soo.. congrats, whatever you're doing, it's working.

...:smallsigh: on that note, i need a shower now.. *shudder*

goat
2007-03-14, 08:18 PM
An otherwise perfectly normal, devout Paladin, who's a little too "friendly" with his mount and makes approving glances at other horses.

AtomicKitKat
2007-03-14, 11:07 PM
An otherwise perfectly normal, devout Paladin, who's a little too "friendly" with his mount and makes approving glances at other horses.

Likewise a Druid/Ranger/Beastmaster with their Animal Companion(s), or a Wizard/Sorceror/Hexblade with their Familiar.

The_Werebear
2007-03-14, 11:58 PM
An otherwise perfectly normal, devout Paladin, who's a little too "friendly" with his mount and makes approving glances at other horses.

A la the end sequence of Clerks II?

And Voleta...*uncontrolable shudder at the thought*

Krimm_Blackleaf
2007-03-15, 12:11 AM
Now let's try to combine everything into one person that's been mentioned here in this thread. Then even the most mentally fortified of us might need a good scrubbing.

The_Werebear
2007-03-15, 01:40 AM
Now let's try to combine everything into one person that's been mentioned here in this thread. Then even the most mentally fortified of us might need a good scrubbing.

Congratulations. The thought of that curled my hair from across the internet.

*Gets a big vat of Lye and a psychic loofah*:smalleek:

Quietus
2007-03-15, 04:07 AM
Now let's try to combine everything into one person that's been mentioned here in this thread. Then even the most mentally fortified of us might need a good scrubbing.

You underestimate the ability of some of us to withstand the horror of certain mental images. :smallamused:

Krimm_Blackleaf
2007-03-15, 04:10 AM
You underestimate the ability of some of us to withstand the horror of certain mental images. :smallamused:
True. Looking the list over again I could probably handle that guy with a smile and a song in my heart.

Dratsabre Tsabala
2007-03-15, 05:23 AM
I've always been a fan of psychological (rather than shock-value biological) horror. You've got to make people afraid on some visceral level, twiddle with a taboo that goes against their deepest social foundations or biological notions of wholesomeness. Try not to overdo the sexual stuff. Jerry Springer and Tom Green burned the public at large out on sick fetishes over ten years ago-- pedo-, bestio-, necro-, whatever-- unless you do it REALLY well, it becomes an NPC's sole defining characteristic and comes off as a heavy-handed attempt at imposing deviancy. The best stuff, imo, is more subtle:

The withered, emaciated body and deep-lined face of a young girl of 22. Once a breathtakingly beautiful courtesan and dancer, the life-draining attack of an undead has left her a spurned husk. Her finery of old hangs shabbily and loosely about her bony body, and she attends obsequiously to the PC's, murmurring to herself and digging quite obviously for compliments on her beauty with a sad and simpering smile constantly plastered to her ticcing face. Every now and then she'll make a desperate come-on to one of the PC's, and when rebuffed, however politely, she bursts wailing into tears and runs from the room.

The kind, shy, well-mannered wizard, a man who'll laugh and smile with any who take the time to get to know him. He's a meek but lovable man, Neutral Good through and through, rumored to have moved into the tower on the high bluff ten years ago after his family was brutally slaughtered in the final campaign of the southern war. He was a dedicated family man, and among close friends or after a few pints of ale, he'll wistfully (and spontaneously) regale a listener with heartwarming stories of his wife's courtship or his children's hijiinx before sinking into a deep melancholy and withdrawing to his tower. On making an impromptu call on the wizard, perhaps because he hasn't been seen for weeks, the PC's finally get to meet his family-- their bodies ten years decayed, matted hair and gray flesh pulled tight across exposed bone, still dressed in their Sunday best. Little Toban, ankle chained to a chessboard, always ready for a game with the old man. Bonny young Elsie, legs shackled to a rock in the garden, one hand holding her detatched lower jaw; the other, a brush that she absently runs over the last trailing wisp of her golden locks. And ravishing Elena, at a desk upstairs in the drawing room, gossamer white gown glowing like angel's fire in the eternal moonlight filtering down through the room's low-vaulted skylights... ankle chained to the bed.

(As an alternate to the above, try the meek, unobtrusive shopkeeper who's taken up the priesthood of Wee Jas so that he can cast Speak With Dead every day on the body of his Gentle Repose'd wife or child so that he can hear once again how much they love him.)

If you go the route of biological shock, you've got to shoot for something deeply dissonant with the notion that the body is a temple and it's flesh is inviolable. Parasites are good for this... a festering wound or a cancerous lesion are both well and good, but how much better is a deep and ragged laceration across somebody's bare back, the edges of which are being forced apart by a clutch of insectoid eggs, pulsating and glistening in dull transluscence like the glistening juicy innards of some pearlescent pomegranate?

Someone else said it, but it bears repeating: work the adjectives and you completely alter the situation. As a matter of fact, that's the driving idea behind horror campaigns.

Quietus
2007-03-15, 05:24 AM
I've fought creatures from the Far Realm... hell, I've BEEN to the far realm. Took, and failed, a disintegrate, and lived for the remainder of that battle as a floating cloud of sentient dust, with a disembodied blue goblin psion of indeterminate level in my head. While fighting heconatiers (I know that's spelled wrong, but can't be bothered to look that up), random nasty spellcasters that I designed myself (that were scary as hell...), and other pleasant far realm beasties.

Sadly, while the visual effect of all that far outdoes anything we've come up with here, I'd have to give the total creepy thing to the "greasy car salesman who likes to put an arm around your shoulders a bit too much" type. Weird? Gross? Been there, done that. I've fought gibbering mouthers, but those weren't mouths. They never made me want a shower afterward. The abovementioned car salesman, on the other hand, would probably be enough to make my character (And me, as an extension) want a shower.


::Edit:: Dratsabre, I just want to say : Well said. Very well said. *Round of applause*

Caelestion
2007-03-15, 06:23 AM
I have a friend who absently picks his nose and eats it when talking to you. This is particularly bad when he's GMing.

draca
2007-03-15, 01:21 PM
I've always been a fan of psychological (rather than shock-value biological) horror.

Unfortunately, for a lot of people, you go too psychological, and well you loose the intent. If the idea is to get someone to want to literally batheafter just taking to this person then you have to have them do something or be someone that makes the player (or their character's) skin crawl.

For instance: The life drained debutant. That doesn't make me want to bathe, it makes me want to cry and get her a recovery spell of some sort. Just sort of shabby and tragic, not slimy or creepy, although unwanted attention and violation of personal space is highly uncomfortable. :yuk:

And a wizard, with the Norman-Bates-style family? That certainly doesn't make me want to bathe after just talking to him. Heck, I'd never even find out anything just by Talking to him... and after seeing a scene like that described: I'd want to hit him with a shovel until he stops twitching, but I'd only bathe after that to get the blood off me. :belkar:

What seems to make people want to go bathe just from speaking with someone is a feeling of skeeziness, from contact with someone that's nasty. Nasty in a way so palpable that you either just feel violated, or are worried that it might be infectious (biologically or spiritually)... even if you know it's not.

Cruiser1
2007-03-15, 06:46 PM
The withered, emaciated body and deep-lined face of a young girl of 22. Once a breathtakingly beautiful courtesan and dancer, the life-draining attack of an undead has left her a spurned husk. Her finery of old hangs shabbily and loosely about her bony body, and she attends obsequiously to the PC's, murmurring to herself and digging quite obviously for compliments on her beauty with a sad and simpering smile constantly plastered to her ticcing face. Every now and then she'll make a desperate come-on to one of the PC's, and when rebuffed, however politely, she bursts wailing into tears and runs from the room.


For instance: The life drained debutant. That doesn't make me want to bathe, it makes me want to cry and get her a recovery spell of some sort. Just sort of shabby and tragic, not slimy or creepy, although unwanted attention and violation of personal space is highly uncomfortable.

I agree the above image is very sad, and makes you feel more compassion than repulsion. :smallfrown: It's still a great example of creating an emotional response in your players. After all, a "withered, emaciated, bony body" describes half the fashion models in America. :smallwink: The only "ugly" aspects are a deeply lined, gray, ticcing face, which is unfortunate for one so young, but will happen to many of us when we get old.

Anyway, I can see a whole adventure centered around her. For example, tracking down the evil undead that hurt her and terminating it, or determining if there was any reason behind why she was attacked in the first place. There's also figuring out how to help her:

If she's just level drained, cast (Greater) Restoration on her. If it's been too long since the level drain, meaning those spells don't work anymore, and her body is permanently withered, then a Regeneration spell should work, just as it restores amutated limbs and such. If she's more than just level drained, casting Dispell Magic, Remove Curse, or Break Enchantment should remove whatever's affecting her. If none of the above work, can always give her a Hat of Disguise to make her look like someone else, i.e. like she used to.

If even that doesn't help, then let her know she's beautiful inside, where it doesn't matter what you look like externally, and convince her to take a level of Cleric and devote her life to healing others. It would be interesting how she acts if you do heal her. Will she be extremely grateful, and come on to you stronger than before, or realize there are many others in the kingdom who also need healing? Or maybe she'll forget about you right away and go back to being a stuck up courtesan (assuming she started out as one in the first place)?

Tor the Fallen
2007-04-02, 03:53 PM
A beautiful, voluptuous, nubile, sexually arroused female.

That's roleplayed by the archetypical nerd DM.

Ew.

Pocket lint
2007-04-02, 04:59 PM
A beautiful, voluptuous, nubile, sexually arroused female.

That's roleplayed by the archetypical nerd DM.

Ew.
http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=951

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