How do you terrify your players?

[SixWingedAsura]

The thread title says it all. How do you make your players metaphorically (or literally for some cases) s**t themselves?

I was playing a Pokemon Tabletop Adventures game set as a Crime Drama, leaving slight hints of the region champion (Cynthia) all about the city, always one step ahead of them and working against them (albeit, unknowingly). It got to the point where I was able to make all of my players very nervous and quite jittery when I so much as mentioned the mere scent of her perfume.

Any other examples for you guys?

[Segev]

I give them 2 wishes to use as they please.

[Brookshw]

It usually starts with me smiling

[Silus]

With regards to my current group...

"Don't worry guys, I have a plan."

[Segev]

Another thing I could do is ask for a listen check. When they succeed, I tell them, "Don't worry, it's nothing. It's just a wolf."

[Spacebatsy]

It usually starts with me smiling

this


And also, mentioned it before in different threads but: Sound effects
I’ve had players screaming as they’ve failed to notice the monster that now announces it’s attack with a terrible roar (cougars work nicely)
I’ve had players screaming at another PC to RUN! Simply by gradually adding crows cawing while he walked further out in a dark wildness (in his defense spotting eye-less crows that had appeared to be “watching” the group for some days contributed to that)
I’ve had players generally freaked out by the sound of a creature eating tearing and chewing at something, footsteps, doors creaking open, a soft lullaby being hummed and something that they could not identify

Good times

[scurv]

The thread title says it all. How do you make your players metaphorically (or literally for some cases) s**t themselves?


Any other examples for you guys?

I ask for copies of their character sheets to 'stress test' a homebrew before i introduce it to them.

[Jakodee]

Have a really hard dungeon. On the last room ask for a bunch of spot checks. Then tell them the room is empty.

[saxavarius]

BUILD UP! Watch any older horror movie (Psycho is a good one) and notice how long it takes for anything "scary" to actually happen, but for almost the whole movie your are being slowly drawn into how creepy it seems.

Jump scare tactics don't work you gotta put in the effort and build the scene.

[draken50]

I had two of my players begin an investigation while the third went to get food.

They were investigating a bunch of deaths that had been occurring, one player was pretty much going through the motions. She plainly assumed it was all filler to kill time until the other player got back. So the players find a shiny silver eyeglass. When one of the players looks through they see the blurry image of a naked dwarf woman. Neither player is overly intrigued, and place it in their pack as an oddity to sell later.

They continue on their way to a blacksmiths forge that had practically exploded when lit in the morning, burning him quite badly. They were pointed to the local police, as the constable's wizard had already investigated and mentioned some theories related to "fo-ser-puss?" After arriving at the watch house and heading up stairs to talk to the wizard. The wizard explained that it was caused by a sort of chemical compound, and this injury and other reported deaths seem related to a cult dedicated to a prankster god that had been turned insane. One of the players then brings up the eyeglass they found and hands it to the dwarven wizard, who in turn whistles appreciatively and turns the mechanism to bring the image into focus.

The players hear a wet "Thunk" and blood runs down from the eyeglass as the wizard collapses, dead, blood dripping down from his eye, where his lifeless hands still clutch the eyeglass.

Both of my players turned white, covered their mouths with their hands, looked at each other, and promptly freaked the hell out. "Is there a window we can jump out of!?" "Crap! all the guards saw us come in!" "WhatdowedoWhatdowedoWhatdowedo?" "I DON'T KNOW!!!"

It... was... awesome...

[(Un)Inspired]

My players were being led into a trap by a murder. The killer knew that she couldn't take the pcs in a head on fight so she was nude rearing townsfolk to lure the pcs into a trap.

The party followed tracks she had left to a sleepy little house on the edge of town. They knew it was a trap. They knew she was somewhere in the house. They knew she was waiting for them.

I had the lights around our gaming table turned down low and the party started getting anxious as they were exploring a decrepit wine cellar beneath the house.

What my party didn't know was that I had my little brother hide in the closet near our gaming table while the party took a break for dinner.

In the middle of their cellar exploration my brother burst out of the closet and scare the ever loving crap out of them.

[Jay R]

"Nothing apparent happens."

[the OOD]

this


And also, mentioned it before in different threads but: Sound effects
I’ve had players screaming as they’ve failed to notice the monster that now announces it’s attack with a terrible roar (cougars work nicely)
I’ve had players screaming at another PC to RUN! Simply by gradually adding crows cawing while he walked further out in a dark wildness (in his defense spotting eye-less crows that had appeared to be “watching” the group for some days contributed to that)
I’ve had players generally freaked out by the sound of a creature eating tearing and chewing at something, footsteps, doors creaking open, a soft lullaby being hummed and something that they could not identify

Good times

you have mentioned the crows before (in another thread) and it sounds wonderful! can you share what sound software you were using to adjust separate sounds?

[Lord Torath]

Weeping Angels. And my kids haven't even seen "Blink." (Yes, I DM for my kids).

I had them terrified to pass a portion of woodland trail with rustling noises and half-seen shadows.

[kyoryu]

Powerlessness.

Since a game built on overall powerlessness is going to suck a lot, it's probably better to make something that the players cannot directly oppose, but they *can* evade (or possibly move against in a more indirect way).

Powerlessness doesn't just have to be bigger numbers, either - an enemy that is *always* one step ahead of them can have the same impact. But you need the players thinking "we can't win here" if you want them to be scared. As soon as they think "we can beat them", terror goes byebye.

[Red Fel]

Powerlessness.

This.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: I find the best way to terrify the players is to remove their characters as intermediaries.

Whether they're fighting dragons, infiltrating a megacorp, or piloting their way through a hostile sector, the players can rest comfortable in the knowledge that between them and certain death is a list of numbers and words known as a character. As long as that character exists as a mechanical construct, the player has nothing to fear.

So I make the mechanics irrelevant.

I invent a scene in which the characters' powers and skills are meaningless. Where being able to throw a fireball won't help you. Where knowing seventeen ways to disable an opponent with your thumb won't accomplish anything. Where thermal imaging and sub-sonic scans reveal nothing.

I create scenes where the players know something is off. It's creepy. The wind rattles through the rafters. The ship's engines grind ominously. Comms are picking up unusual static. All perfectly explicable, all nonetheless creepy. I have my players run checks - Knowledge, Spot, Listen, Perception - and turn up nothing unusual.

All that power, all that knowledge, all of their abilities and skills and experience - and it's useless against atmosphere.

And just like that, the entire construct of the character vanishes. It's no longer a comforting shield of numbers and words between the players and this little mental world I've constructed - it's just the players, alone, defenseless, and frightened.

[valadil]

1. The unknown. My players know the rules inside and out. Throw some rule defying horror at them that comes from your sadistic mind, not a sanctioned WotC source book.

2. Close brushes with death. I don't mean combats that they barely survive. I mean let them bump into some strange situation. Only when they've gotten out of it let them figure out what it was. I'm thinking the hobbits hiding from the black riders and then finding out what Nazgul are. I've seen players get goosebumps when this is done right.

[Millennium]

It usually starts with me smiling

I tend to throw in an "Eeeexcellent" with folded hands, like some twisted cross between Mr. Burns and Gendo Ikari.

[jedipotter]

Any other examples for you guys?

1. Character Death. This is a great one. Let the players know: your character might die, at any time.

2. Random Rolls. This is a great unknown. And the idea that a single roll might cause something bad....

3. No information. I reduce the usefulness of things like knowledge rolls or any other game way for a character to get free information. The unknown is scary by it self, but it also sets up the following...

4. The unknown. When you don't know what something is, a mind and make up all sorts of things. This works really well in games with even medium rules. A player takes great comfort knowing what a thing or creature is, and knowing what might or might not happen rule wise. But take that comfort away....

5. Powerlessness. Not only ''in character'', but also ''playing the game''.

It goes without saying, I run a terrifying game. And that is what makes it great fun.

[Segev]

1. Character Death. This is a great one. Let the players know: your character might die, at any time.

2. Random Rolls. This is a great unknown. And the idea that a single roll might cause something bad....

3. No information. I reduce the usefulness of things like knowledge rolls or any other game way for a character to get free information. The unknown is scary by it self, but it also sets up the following...

4. The unknown. When you don't know what something is, a mind and make up all sorts of things. This works really well in games with even medium rules. A player takes great comfort knowing what a thing or creature is, and knowing what might or might not happen rule wise. But take that comfort away....

5. Powerlessness. Not only ''in character'', but also ''playing the game''.

It goes without saying, I run a terrifying game. And that is what makes it great fun.

Sorry, none of this is horror-inducing. It isn't atmosphere-creating. It's just frustrating and anti-immersive. "What's this we're facing?" "You don't know!" "Okay, what's it doing?" "Attacking you with its [description of things]." "So it's a [whatever]?" "Stop metagaming, and no." "Okay, um... I use my ability?" "You died because you guessed the wrong ability to use." "Well, that's lame. Let me get out my next character sheet..."

It's just a frustrating grind. There's no fear; I know from the get-go that trying to do anything is futile.

Horror movies stop being horrifying when the characters give up hope. Hope, and a sense that you CAN do SOMETHING meaningful, but it's hard and risky, is critical. Your description of how you run your games lacks this. It is just waiting for the DM to decide how you're going to die this time. It honestly sounds like it has more in common with Numberwang meets Dokuro-chan than, say, Mirrors.

[Angelalex242]

Abusing character death leads to a 'tomb of horrors' mindset.

Characters become disposable commodities, and players get detached from their characters.

"Tell me who your character's parents are." "Why should I care, he's gonna die in 15 minutes anyway..."

You might get away with demanding extensive background the first time, but the second or third time a character dies and doesn't get rezzed, the player starts calling his character 'redshirt' with no background whatever.

That said, you don't have to terrify people with lack of knowledge. Perfect knowledge of 'inappropriate ECL for our level' is just as good.

You see a Beholder.

But we're only level 4.

I know.

[kyoryu]

Abusing character death leads to a 'tomb of horrors' mindset.

Characters become disposable commodities, and players get detached from their characters.

"Tell me who your character's parents are." "Why should I care, he's gonna die in 15 minutes anyway..."

You might get away with demanding extensive background the first time, but the second or third time a character dies and doesn't get rezzed, the player starts calling his character 'redshirt' with no background whatever.

On the other side, if characters succeed at everything they accomplish, all of the time, there's no tension or excitement in the game.

It's almost like there's an excluded middle.

[Angelalex242]

There is an excluded middle...

And that middle, I think, is NPC death.

If you demanded a 5 page background, you don't have failure to do X kill the PCs off, you kill off Family Member A. Or lover B. Or child C, if they're parents.

This is similar to the concept, in Order of the Stick, of the Black Dragon threatening Vaarsuvius's spouse and children. This led to a deal with the devil, because V got that scared.

Then again, overdoing that leads to the very common perception of "NPC stands for No Point Crying."

[Silus]

Clever use of a Modify Memory spell and Suggestion. Start screwing with the PCs with what they know, what they don't know, and what they don't know they don't know.

As petty as it sounds, I'm gonna pull this in my campaign as way of revenge on some of the PCs who pulled a similar thing on me during our Palladium game.

[jedipotter]

Sorry, none of this is horror-inducing. It isn't atmosphere-creating. It's just frustrating and anti-immersive. "What's this we're facing?" "You don't know!" "Okay, what's it doing?" "Attacking you with its [description of things]." "So it's a [whatever]?" "Stop metagaming, and no." "Okay, um... I use my ability?" "You died because you guessed the wrong ability to use." "Well, that's lame. Let me get out my next character sheet..."

It's only frustrating and anti-immersive to the problem player. Your paragraph describes just that type of person, and what will likely happen in my game. But only to the problem player. The good player has no problem.

[Angelalex242]

All of that is based on a will save...so the party cleric, especially, is going to laugh at that. Possibly the party Paladin too, especially in Pathfinder. And if you arbitrarily rule all the saving throws to be natural 1s, expect player revolt.

[kyoryu]

There is an excluded middle...

And that middle, I think, is NPC death.

So, PCs should never ever ever die?

That seems to be what you're saying. Is it?

[Angelalex242]

Nah. They should die when they want to, mostly. If my Paladin dies, it shouldn't be by accident. Rather, I want him to die singlehandedly fighting off hordes of demons straight from the Abyss while the Casters seal the portal behind him. Ya know. Book of Exalted Deeds 'martyrdom' type stuff.

Player:*rolls percentile dice* And my paladin that was left behind killed...43 demons before they finally take him down. Cool.

[kyoryu]

Nah. They should die when they want to, mostly. If my Paladin dies, it shouldn't be by accident. Rather, I want him to die singlehandedly fighting off hordes of demons straight from the Abyss while the Casters seal the portal behind him. Ya know. Book of Exalted Deeds 'martyrdom' type stuff.

Player:*rolls percentile dice* And my paladin that was left behind killed...43 demons before they finally take him down. Cool.

So, PCs should only die when the player says they can?

And if the player doesn't say they can, then they should be unable to die?

[Angelalex242]

Well, PCs are like characters in a novel. They die when they're supposed to die, not, ideally, by random accident. Nobody wins when the player dies in a random encounter because he rolled a natural 1 at the wrong time.