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View Full Version : Ideas for creating disturbing atmosphere/DM covering new territory!



DragonWitch
2016-10-02, 02:13 PM
Hello! New to this forum, forgive me if this is the wrong place to post for help.

I've been a DM for years but I've always gone for classic adventures (you know, an artefact is stolen and needs recovering, a dragon is killing off the locals, etc.) and I was getting pretty bored of it, but it was comforting and easy. I am trying out something new and for me really exciting, but I'm also running out of ideas and I need help!

The game is meant to be disturbing/creepy and less combat focused. I've written a few good strong scenes but I am also running out of ideas and feeling like I need advice from seasoned DM's who know their ****.

Game plot - Four characters wake up in cells with no strong memories, just vague recollections of pain and torture. A cellmate appears to have escaped and bust them out - the jailor lies dead on the floor with his guts stinking. They then have to make their way through a complex of an insane mage who has filled his place with traps and riddles. I really need more ideas for;

Crazy/magical rooms that contain puzzles and riddles
Dark/creepy potential scenes
Disturbing puzzles/riddles

Also, I'm torn between making it obvious that the escape was planned by having dark riddles like a key hidden inside a living persons skull or keeping it subtle. Currently I've written the game as having both sides but I feel like it's a bit clumsy... Why would even an insane mage go to that lengths to pretend they are escaping while also having really obvious puzzles/riddles to solve? But dark puzzles are so fun to write! But then if they know they aren't really escaping does that take some of the thrill out? Help me guys.

As time goes on they will begin to notice weird glitches and looping in the complex. Repeating rooms, objects defying physics and acting bizarrely, recurring characters, etc. Especially when they get to the third floor. They might guess the complex is illusion but they might not. They will have weird dreams that hint at them really being alive somewhere else. If they die they will go to a strange 'afterlife' that is really them waking up, then be sent back. If they "escape" the illusion will start to break apart and they will all begin to wake up in a totally different but real complex. I actually have no fricking clue what will come after that but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

AtlasSniperman
2016-10-02, 05:22 PM
My recommendation is to look through some of the GOOD creepypastas for inspiration.
I also agree with just about everyone who is GOING to comment; describe more. The more effort you put into descriptive texts(but don't stop a player from acting in order to read your text), the scarier it can be. I also personally like to make their own senses scary.

Coventry
2016-10-02, 07:29 PM
Game plot - Four characters wake up in cells with no strong memories, just vague recollections of pain and torture. A cellmate appears to have escaped and bust them out - the jailor lies dead on the floor

Do you intend to give the players their gear? (This is a pet peeve of mine as a player - spending days working on the character concept, only to "wake up in jail" with no stuff.)

If you are planning on giving them their gear, then you can have a bit of fun with that:

"Behind the corpse of the jailor, someone has scrawled and arrow pointing at a smashed door barely hanging on its hinges, and the words 'this way!' in common. You are pretty sure that the words and arrow were finger-painted using the jailor's blood."

"In the next room, you see six more corpses. Four are strapped to rickety chairs, bound with leather straps, and have tubes with some kind of sickly green liquid stuck in their arms. Two of the corpses have been torn free of the chairs, and were stripped naked before being left to molder on the floor."

"With a start, you recognize the gear that one of the corpses is wearing - it's your stuff ... on your own dead body. The others in the room seem to be having the same reaction as you to their own chair and body."

(Let the players poke and prod, and eventually decide it's safe to reclaim their stuff. Describe the dead bodies as being identical to the players, except that they have been experimented upon in some way. All look like their souls have been stolen from their bodies.)

(Ask each player what their spot/perception bonuses are, and then roll a d20 for each - without showing or telling them the result. For whoever gets the highest roll, pick an item that person would know like the back of his/her hand, such as a fighter's weapon, priest's holy symbol, or wizard's spell book. Pick something important. I'm going with the spell book as an example.)

"As you are collecting your gear, you notice that something seems ... 'off'. You stop and take a very long look at your spell book, and it finally hits you what's wrong: it looks brand new. Your real spell book has been used every day, and should have a worn spot, and a few corners turned down. The book you are holding in your hands? None of that. Even the handwriting in this book is too perfect."

"Everyone else sees (Player) inspecting his gear, and each of you starts to notice the same kind of thing. Your boots have no scuff marks, your socks are not worn through, your hat is perfectly clean. A half-drunk bottle of wine is now completely full, and looks like it has never been opened. A cheese wheel in your rations is pristine. Any dents in the armor are gone, as if they never existed. The edges on your weapons look like they just came out of the smithy where it was made.

"It is your gear, but it is all too perfect. It just feels wrong."

(If they ask if anything has been added or is missing, roll a hidden spot/perception roll, again -> "Not that you can tell.").

That should put them on edge.

Let the wizard try to memorize spells - it works exactly as it should. But the smudge on page 72 is gone.

What you do with their dead selves is up to you. I recommended that the player feels any damage they do to their corpse - burning it feels like the new body is on fire, stabbing it leaves a sharp pain in the same spot. Play them up like giant voodoo dolls. Depending on your players, you may need to have damage done to any corpse be transmitted to *all* of the players to discourage players from being mean to each other (and never making it into the adventure you've planned.)

LudicSavant
2016-10-02, 10:01 PM
GOOD creepypastas

Do you have some examples?

DragonWitch
2016-10-03, 02:16 PM
Ahh, they definitely aren't starting with useful gear, but they are level one and only one player is experienced in D&D, two are total newbs and one has played twice... My plan is actually to make items scarce and valuable, even a staff is like a prized weapon haha. I'm cruel. I also like forcing characters to be resourceful.