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Silus
2011-02-02, 07:06 AM
Ok, first and foremost, I'd like to officially declare this a "DM thread". So if I see my players posting in here (Like my LAST thread), there will be repercussions. Seriously, not cool.

Anywho...here's the rest of the thread:

Ok, so for the next session of my campaign, I'm planning a horror type setting. I'm not gonna go into details at the risk of one of my players popping in here and reading this (You know who you are :smallannoyed: ), but I have found that in my planning, I've run into a pretty big problem.

As with most groups, certain players have things they're....uncomfortable with. In this case, one of the players will not tolerate anything that deals with children (so Slaymates and undead children are off the list) and the other has issues with women being involved in a similar fashion (this being in an exclusive sense. Apparently there's no issue if there are dead men, women and children, so long as one group is not singled out). And a third player, while not having such hangups, tends to get really into the games, so there's a chance that I may have to softball with the whole group (save 1).

Now, as a DM and the generally mentally unhinged plotter that I am, these two stipulations have thrown me for a bit of a loop. So I seek help from ya'll here on the Playground, how can I run a horror session that is equal parts scary (for both the players and the characters) while not touching on the things that will have the players get up and leave the session?

Or shouldI simply scrap the horror session idea all together and plan something new?

Jair Barik
2011-02-02, 07:31 AM
"As you enter the forest clearing you hear the dull crunch of leaves beenath your feet. Up ahead the sole occupant of the clearing lifts up his head and looks in your direction. Sniffing the air the squirrel runs from you skittering up one of the trees. You approach the fountain in the centre of the clearing. Crystal clear water flows from it into the pool surrounding it. Your attention is suddenly drawn to an imperfection in the water. A single drop of red floating atop the otherwise clear liquid. Suddenly another. And another. The red droplets seem to be hitting the water like a light shower of rain. You hear a noise behind you. It is another squirrel this one gnawing on an acorn. Turning your attention skyward you see strange shapes in the trees and you realise that the red rain is blood, dripping from the twisted corpses of people hanging from the branches. Stepping back in shock you hear another crunch underfoot and as you turn to look at the ground you see something beneath the leaves you had not noticed before, a carpet of human bones. Panicked you look back at the squirrel, what you had first taken for an acorn is nothing so harmless, it is a human eyeball that the creature ravenously gorges itself upon. As it finishes eating it looks at you licking its lips with hunger and a thousand pairs of red eyes stare at you from the trees surrounding the clearing with it.

So yeah something like that maybe. Given the right descriptions and an escelation from normality into horror you can make even small animals pretty scary.

Comet
2011-02-02, 07:36 AM
If the players can't handle excessive gore, threaten them with less tangible threats. Psychological horror, things moving in the shadows, people disappearing mysteriously, odd whispers in your head whenever you gaze straight at the full moon. That sort of stuff.

Silus
2011-02-02, 07:48 AM
*Laughs* Oh my God that is brilliant. I was thinking of using the escalation method, but in confined spaces.

The horror location is set to be a house that had been pulled into Carceri. Situated in a valley, surrounded by mountains, sulfur vents and all sorts of general unpleasantness, it'll have a large yard of green grass and living, green trees. The house itself is going to be a New England style house with a porch. I figure that after trudging through Carceri for a day or so, coming across the picturesque scene would be either A) comforting or B) frightening.

Anywho, the thing in question is that they have to find a key to the basement. So they'll search the house, maybe find a note or something that directs them to the kid's bedroom. They go up there and find a perfectly pristine bedroom. Upon opening the closet, they are greeted with a huge (long) space full of cuddly stuffed animals, which will be pretty on par with the rest of the room. There will be space to move in the closet, and it'll just keep extending farther and farther back. As they go, the stuffed animals and toys will slowly begin to change, turning from things too cute to put on a Care Bears cartoon to something that would give even Todd McFarlane nightmares (Think large, bloodshot eyes and a toothy Grinch smile on all the stuffed animals). As the player goes, he'll start hearing things in the vein of "Run, get out, escape, you shouldn't be here" ect. ect., with the voices getting faster and more frantic as they go. At the back end of the closet they find, sitting at an old, possibly blood satined table with bottles of medication and teacups and a teapot, a long dead child who, to avoid upsetting the guy with the hangups about children, apparently died of illness. In the child's hand will be the basement key. The voices by now will be going a mile a minute: "Runrunrunrunescaperunrunhurryrungetouthurryhurry". As soon as the player puts their hand on the key (or the child), the voices stop.

And then they hear: "Too late."

The closet door slams shut and the lights go out. The stuffed animal's eyes begin to glow, and the PC is set upon by Fiendish Animated Objects in a Low Light setting. Preferably alone.

Edit:



If the players can't handle excessive gore, threaten them with less tangible threats. Psychological horror, things moving in the shadows, people disappearing mysteriously, odd whispers in your head whenever you gaze straight at the full moon. That sort of stuff.

I was going to pull a Rats in the Walls thing on them after doing a "Those things we thought were horrifying paintings were actually windows" thing. A sense of paranoia and the feeling that they're constantly being watched.

Silus
2011-02-02, 07:58 AM
One problem that I'm having is that I really want to throw in a Saw type situation, where the Players have to make one of two unsavory choices to continue on, but I can't seem to do that without steeping into the "women and children" zone.

Example: The door leading to the BBEG is powered by blood. The BBEG has hooked up a kidnapped child to the door to both allow the PC's entry and to mentally damage them. The choices presented are:

1) Kill the child to power the door and attack the BBEG at full strength.

2) Unhook the child from the machine and perma-lock the door.

3) Unhook the child and hook up one of the party members, killing them, saving the child, and letting the players at the boss at partial strength.

The only reason I'm intent on using a kid for the situation is because an adult male or female wouldn't have quite the same psychological "oomph" as a kid. If it was Jim the Villager hooked up to the machine, I figure they'd be more inclined to kill him to continue than to kill Little Billy.

Of couse, I could always throw in an "out" where they can save the kid and open the door without killing one of their people, but I highly doubt the BBEG would be so careless as to leave a gallon of blood just laying around.

I just realized that I may have the mentality of The Dark Knight Joker DMing a Call of Cthulhu game.....

Jair Barik
2011-02-02, 07:59 AM
Some creature ideas for you.

Caller in the darkness (psionic undead). Multiple ghostly heads in perpetual anguish, has an ability that causes players to try and commit suicide.

Cranium rats. Swarms of telepathic psychic rodents. They can speak to you in your head but wether or not you know what is talking to you is another question...

Brain in a jar. For the lols but also anything that can dominate players into tricking one another/killing one another without giving away its location is good (plus it can levitate!)

Any non horror creature fluffed in a horrific way, such as the above example.

Combat Reflexes
2011-02-02, 08:17 AM
In my games I have found there are two kinds of horror stories: the short gorey story (scaring the hell out of the PCs in the fastest time possible) and the long attrition story (the PCs are in an alternate, gray world, constantly encountering new horrors and losing their grip on reality / will to live). The former one being best on a one-shot and the latter being more of a depressing (for the characters, not the players) campaign.

Horror works best on low-level, preferably nonspellcaster PCs, when lvl 1 commoners can still pose a bit of a threat to them.
Higher level PCs are designed to do heroic stories and suck at horror:
''Someone in town is a werewolf - so what? I have over 100 hp and a +16 Fort save.''
or:
"so what? I can blow him away as a swift action"
(my players actually said this)

Also, do you have access to Heroes of Horror? There are over a hundred creepy effects descibed on page 7-8, IIRC.

.
.
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ps: guys, your horror stories are awesome :smallamused: I'll be using them in my game next week.

Jair Barik
2011-02-02, 08:24 AM
Yeah in low level games horror works but in higher not so well. The book of Bad latin has some good variant rules for undead as poltergeists and for exorcisms, plus some of the templates for standard undead in the back can make them a lot more scary (e.g. flaming skeletons, fast zombies, regenerating zombies and diseased zombies).
Also if you do zombies make sure that nobody is a Dragonfire adept with entangling breath, that just ruins a zombie game.

Silus
2011-02-02, 08:57 AM
Yeah in low level games horror works but in higher not so well. The book of Bad latin has some good variant rules for undead as poltergeists and for exorcisms, plus some of the templates for standard undead in the back can make them a lot more scary (e.g. flaming skeletons, fast zombies, regenerating zombies and diseased zombies).
Also if you do zombies make sure that nobody is a Dragonfire adept with entangling breath, that just ruins a zombie game.

I'm actually thinking a group/squad/platoon of Evolved Shadows that stalk the party through the house, and then pounce on someone when they're alone.

Outside of the closet that is. They don't screw with that sort of stuff.



Horror works best on low-level, preferably nonspellcaster PCs, when lvl 1 commoners can still pose a bit of a threat to them.
Higher level PCs are designed to do heroic stories and suck at horror:
''Someone in town is a werewolf - so what? I have over 100 hp and a +16 Fort save.''
or:
"so what? I can blow him away as a swift action"
(my players actually said this)

Also, do you have access to Heroes of Horror? There are over a hundred creepy effects descibed on page 7-8, IIRC.

.
.
.
ps: guys, your horror stories are awesome :smallamused: I'll be using them in my game next week.

The players are all going to be around level 6-7, though I don't think they've ever encountered a horror setting, I think I have that in my favor...

I intend to not give them a proper target to kill until it's too late. Just strange noises, "rats in the walls", and movements out of the corner of their eyes.

And then the Evolved Shadows attack while the Fiendish Animated Objects kill whoever took they key from the closet.

And I do have the Heroes of Horror book =D It's what got me into the idea of running a horror session =D

wayfare
2011-02-02, 09:08 AM
I will second brain in a jar as a foe, couples with some flesh golems and a berserk and addled necromancer for taste -- its extra great as the players may never recognize the real threat! A brain in a jar is pretty much window dressing in any necromancer lab.

Silus
2011-02-02, 09:32 AM
I will second brain in a jar as a foe, couples with some flesh golems and a berserk and addled necromancer for taste -- its extra great as the players may never recognize the real threat! A brain in a jar is pretty much window dressing in any necromancer lab.

The Flesh Golems and the Brain in a Jar would probably work for already present enemies, but not as minions/underlings of the BBEG.

The BBEG is just using the location as a "nexus" to open portals/gates in an attempt to gain access to Nessus.

Silus
2011-02-02, 09:40 AM
Oh hey, here's an idea =D


Take 1 Basement, fill it up to ankle height with water, and add an Invisible Stalker. =3

/Amnesia

Jair Barik
2011-02-02, 09:40 AM
I will second brain in a jar as a foe, couples with some flesh brain golems and a berserk and addled necromancer for taste -- its extra great as the players may never recognize the real threat! A brain in a jar is pretty much window dressing in any necromancer lab.

Fixed that for you :smallamused:
Nothing says crazy like large lumps of brain matter trying to punch the players to death.

kamikasei
2011-02-02, 09:49 AM
Horror works best on low-level, preferably nonspellcaster PCs, when lvl 1 commoners can still pose a bit of a threat to them.
Higher level PCs are designed to do heroic stories and suck at horror:
''Someone in town is a werewolf - so what? I have over 100 hp and a +16 Fort save.''
or:
"so what? I can blow him away as a swift action"
(my players actually said this)
You could try threatening things other than the characters themselves. Of course, it's hard to do "oh god, I wasn't able to save them!" if the players can't be made to care about NPCs, and it's hard to manipulate trust and paranoia if killing all the inhabitants and razing the village seems like a proportionate response to "maybe they're not what they seem!".

Silus
2011-02-02, 09:58 AM
You could try threatening things other than the characters themselves. Of course, it's hard to do "oh god, I wasn't able to save them!" if the players can't be made to care about NPCs, and it's hard to manipulate trust and paranoia if killing all the inhabitants and razing the village seems like a proportionate response to "maybe they're not what they seem!".

Hate to say it, but the players in my group wouldn't consider killing innocents. Not the characters, the players (and the characters by extent I suppose). Like, most of their brains seem to be wired for the "Good" alignments. Makes things difficult when I can't throw questionable things at them.

Like, I can't throw children into the mix lest I lose a player, and I can't throw women into the mix lest I lose another player, and if I used an adult male for whatever Saw based questionable nastiness, it doesn't have the same psychological punch.

Isn't the point of horror games/session/campaigns to scare both the player and the character? How am I supposed to do that when I can't play on the things that make the players uncomfortable?

Kaww
2011-02-02, 10:05 AM
In a distant future I might steal some of the ideas presented here. Are you OK with that? My players are more tolerant towards DMs evil.

Silus
2011-02-02, 10:06 AM
In a distant future I might steal some of the ideas presented here. Are you OK with that? My players are more tolerant towards DMs evil.

I've got no problems with that =D

kamikasei
2011-02-02, 10:07 AM
Hate to say it, but the players in my group wouldn't consider killing innocents.
I'm not sure why you'd hate to say that...

Perhaps you can expand a little on the parameters of what's out of bounds with the players. The first one would find any unpleasant treatment of children unacceptable? Or just wouldn't want to have to fight evil children, or childlike creatures? The second is okay with women being treated unpleasantly, so long as it's not only women being treated unpleasantly?

Both angles I suggested should still be viable, then. The threat may not seem to pose a physical danger to the PCs themselves, but helpful NPCs can still be found dead, dismembered or simply vanished. You could have them become (somewhat) comfortable with a place or certain people, and then suggest (in a way that leaves as much as possible to the imagination, and lets the players do most of the figuring-out) that not only are things not what they seem, but that things that already happened and, ideally, already involved the characters somehow were much more sinister than they seemed. (Friendly innkeeper: "I have some wood that needs chopping." A while later: "the villagers have been doing what to the local sylvan fey?")

Silus
2011-02-02, 10:15 AM
I'm not sure why you'd hate to say that...

Perhaps you can expand a little on the parameters of what's out of bounds with the players. The first one would find any unpleasant treatment of children unacceptable? Or just wouldn't want to have to fight evil children, or childlike creatures? The second is okay with women being treated unpleasantly, so long as it's not only women being treated unpleasantly?

Both angles I suggested should still be viable, then. The threat may not seem to pose a physical danger to the PCs themselves, but helpful NPCs can still be found dead, dismembered or simply vanished. You could have them become (somewhat) comfortable with a place or certain people, and then suggest (in a way that leaves as much as possible to the imagination, and lets the players do most of the figuring-out) that not only are things not what they seem, but that things that already happened and, ideally, already involved the characters somehow were much more sinister than they seemed. (Friendly innkeeper: "I have some wood that needs chopping." A while later: "the villagers have been doing what to the local sylvan fey?")

They seem to be against singling out of either women or children. Like....

It would be questionable to have a woman run up to the PC's, begging them to save her. Cue rapidly growing Necrotic Cyst in her shoulder, she staggers back, screaming and crying, then boom, the cyst explodes and kills her. Cue Necromancer stepping out and being all "lol oops". In that situation, the guy that's opposed to women being used in such a way would throw a sh*tfit until I made it clear that the Necromancer is putting cysts in EVERYONE, not just women.

As for the guy with the issue with kids, he's just opposed to anything dealing with causing harm or supposed harm to kids. Like I can't run zombie children or anything like that unless I throw in zombie adults as well. For the sake of argument, I can't really do anything with regards to kids that does not end with "Rescue them and see them safely home to their loving parents".

kamikasei
2011-02-02, 10:40 AM
My first suggestion would be to talk to the players in advance and ask them to trust you and not freak out on you on the assumption that the worst interpretation of what you're doing is the first one they should go for.

My second suggestion would be to not attempt horror with people who won't give you the benefit of the doubt. Of course, if the first suggestion plays out well this shouldn't be a big issue.

some guy
2011-02-02, 10:44 AM
Like, most of their brains seem to be wired for the "Good" alignments. Makes things difficult when I can't throw questionable things at them.

Like, I can't throw children into the mix lest I lose a player, and I can't throw women into the mix lest I lose another player, and if I used an adult male for whatever Saw based questionable nastiness, it doesn't have the same psychological punch.

Isn't the point of horror games/session/campaigns to scare both the player and the character? How am I supposed to do that when I can't play on the things that make the players uncomfortable?

Well, you don't need things that make players uncomfortable to make a scary game. You know the borders of your player's comfort zone. That's great. Don't cross it. Think of something else.
Whispers at night, scratching behind the walls, missplaced items, characters doing strange things when they're sleeping. General weirdness.

In my CoC campaign I use cliff hangers when my group is split up, I ask for Listen and Spot rolls even when there isn't anything to hear or see. I hint at things but leave them unexplained.
If you describe monsters, don't give a whole discription. Describe one aspect of the thing with great detail, leave the rest undiscribed.

Also, I'd guess the characters need to lack the ability to take on whatever monster you have planned. Unless they are well prepared. Make sure your players know it's a horror session. Things aren't as scary if you think something is just a CR suitable challenge for your character.
I'm not really sure if DnD is a great system for horror*, as it is mostly about adventurers looting treasure or heroes slaying monsters. Might I suggest trying an evening of Call of Cthulhu (http://www.chaosium.com/article.php?story_id=87)? The link provides the basic rules and a free classic scenario.

*It's not that I think it can't be done, I think it's harder as players have a certain expectancy of how a session of DnD should go and what it should entail.


EDIT:


My first suggestion would be to talk to the players in advance and ask them to trust you and not freak out on you on the assumption that the worst interpretation of what you're doing is the first one they should go for.
Yeah, this.

Chuckthedwarf
2011-02-02, 10:48 AM
"As you enter the forest clearing you hear the dull crunch of leaves beenath your feet. Up ahead the sole occupant of the clearing lifts up his head and looks in your direction. Sniffing the air the squirrel runs from you skittering up one of the trees. You approach the fountain in the centre of the clearing. Crystal clear water flows from it into the pool surrounding it. Your attention is suddenly drawn to an imperfection in the water. A single drop of red floating atop the otherwise clear liquid. Suddenly another. And another. The red droplets seem to be hitting the water like a light shower of rain. You hear a noise behind you. It is another squirrel this one gnawing on an acorn. Turning your attention skyward you see strange shapes in the trees and you realise that the red rain is blood, dripping from the twisted corpses of people hanging from the branches. Stepping back in shock you hear another crunch underfoot and as you turn to look at the ground you see something beneath the leaves you had not noticed before, a carpet of human bones. Panicked you look back at the squirrel, what you had first taken for an acorn is nothing so harmless, it is a human eyeball that the creature ravenously gorges itself upon. As it finishes eating it looks at you licking its lips with hunger and a thousand pairs of red eyes stare at you from the trees surrounding the clearing with it.

So yeah something like that maybe. Given the right descriptions and an escelation from normality into horror you can make even small animals pretty scary.

Squirrels are pretty scary as it is (and they do eat meat and animal products, so human eye isn't so strange).

But, yeah. Just focus on the creepy setting and be descriptive. You don't have to get gory, but have a lot of veiled spooky threats that do actually unveil themselves and do something when it's the right time. Try to cultivate paranoia, basically.

Jair Barik
2011-02-02, 10:56 AM
Yes bizarley whenever somebody asks how to do horror I always bring up killer squirrels:smallconfused:
I mean fluffy bunnys, pidgeons, ferrets, mice anything small and relatively harmless could be used but I always pick squirrels for the 'anything can be made scary' point. Weird.

You could always have something 'pretend' to be a child. A ghost/demon masquerading as a posessed child would be interesting from a roleplay perspective and it would make perfect sense. The monster plays off the characters sense of morality and tricks them into a moral dilemma. Would that be acceptable?

Silus
2011-02-02, 11:02 AM
@ some guy

I've been thinking that I'm better suited for CoC than D&D with this sort of stuff, but I'd need to find a new group. As previously stated, they're kinda anti-squicky.

I just like having all my options open. Sure, I could have creepy stuff happen with mirrors or items popping up where they shouldn't, but what if the situation calls for something that is on the player's "no go" list?

But taking the general scares out of the equation (and the morally questionable no-win situations), I do intend on running this like a horror movie. Divide and conquer and all that. Split the party and pick'em off (or scare them witless into doing something stupid =D ).

@ kamikasei

I suppose I could give them a......warning? Disclaimer?

I'll probably need to get an alternate session planned if this falls through due to squeamishness.

Silus
2011-02-02, 11:09 AM
You could always have something 'pretend' to be a child. A ghost/demon masquerading as a posessed child would be interesting from a roleplay perspective and it would make perfect sense. The monster plays off the characters sense of morality and tricks them into a moral dilemma. Would that be acceptable?

Hehehehe, I actually planned to do something like that, but more as a "Hey, learn to make the tough choices" thing*. There is that thing in the back of the Fiend Folio I could use...

*
Or as an in game smack upside the head. Seriously, you find a CHILD on CARCERI hooked up to a BLOOD SUCKING DOOR, and you don't question it?


But, yeah. Just focus on the creepy setting and be descriptive. You don't have to get gory, but have a lot of veiled spooky threats that do actually unveil themselves and do something when it's the right time. Try to cultivate paranoia, basically.

"Rats in the walls", stalking Evolved Shadows, a library with journals from the previous owners on how they slowly went mad, killed their children, and began luring villagers to their how so they could kill them and use the corpses in their experiments and rituals. Also, a knick-knack that constantly shows up in a player's gear. Even after they leave the Plane.

Jair Barik
2011-02-02, 11:18 AM
Oh no, not the fiend of posession. You see as I understand the players problem is they don't like you using children as it upsets them and they are uncomfortable with such issues. In this case you can get around it by having something pretend to be a child. After the session/when the players work it out they will find they haven't been fighting a child at all but have been misled into thinking they were. It makes perfect sense IC and may avoid potential OOC problems. The issue with using a fiend of posession or the 'door' is that beyond the OOC reason of 'GM is trying to squick us out' there is little IC reason for it happening. A fiend of possession would likely aim for someone physically strong or of some importance, an adult would be a much better battery for the door.

Asheram
2011-02-02, 11:25 AM
Ever played Shadowrun?

Go "Bug City" on them. That story freaked me out so badly when I calmed down to think about what had actually happened.

Silus
2011-02-02, 11:27 AM
Oh no, not the fiend of posession. You see as I understand the players problem is they don't like you using children as it upsets them and they are uncomfortable with such issues. In this case you can get around it by having something pretend to be a child. After the session/when the players work it out they will find they haven't been fighting a child at all but have been misled into thinking they were. It makes perfect sense IC and may avoid potential OOC problems. The issue with using a fiend of posession or the 'door' is that beyond the OOC reason of 'GM is trying to squick us out' there is little IC reason for it happening. A fiend of possession would likely aim for someone physically strong or of some importance, an adult would be a much better battery for the door.

I suppose I could use a "regular" Demon. Gonna have to browse the lists for a shapeshifter though. Maybe a Fiendish Doppleganger? I could see Demons pulling the "Oh help me I'm a child" thing more than Devils. I dunno, I'll figure it out, but I am loving the "It's a trick, get an axe" thing.

Also, here's what I may be throwing at the PC's, would like to get some feedback. I'm thinking 3-5 of these against a party of 4 lvl 7's:


Shadow (Advanced Hit Dice) CR 5
Always Chaotic Evil Medium Undead ([Incorporeal])
Init +2

AC 14 FF 12 Touch 14
(+2 Dex, +2 deflection)
HD: 9
HP: 58 (9d12+0)
Fort +3 Ref +5 Will +7

Speed Fly 40 ft. (good) (8 squares)
Base Atk +4 Grp +4
Attack: Incorporeal touch +4 1d6+0
Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +4 1d6+0
Space 5 ft. (1 squares) Reach 5 ft. (1 squares)

Abilities Str -- Dex 14(+2) Con -- Int 6(-2) Wis 12(+1) Cha 15(+2)
Stat Points Gained From Advancement: 2

Total Feats: 4
Feats: Alertness, Dodge

Skill Points: 24
Skills: Hide +8, Listen +7, Search +4, Spot +7

Create spawn(Su): Any humanoid reduced to Strength 0 by a shadow becomes a shadow under the control of its killer within 1d4 rounds.

strength damage(Su): The touch of a greater shadow deals 1d8 points of Strength damage to a living foe.

Darkvision(Ex): 60 ft.
incorporeal traits(Ex):
+(Ex): 2 turn resistance
undead traits(Ex):

Fast Healing 3

Spell-Like Ability: Creeping Doom as Caster Level (9 HD), saves are Charisma Based

Advancement [4-9(Medium)]
Link for 3.5 version of creature
Link for Pathfinder version of creature

Beelzebub1111
2011-02-02, 01:09 PM
One problem that I'm having is that I really want to throw in a Saw type situation, where the Players have to make one of two unsavory choices to continue on, but I can't seem to do that without steeping into the "women and children" zone.

Example: The door leading to the BBEG is powered by blood. The BBEG has hooked up a kidnapped child to the door to both allow the PC's entry and to mentally damage them. The choices presented are:

1) Kill the child to power the door and attack the BBEG at full strength.

2) Unhook the child from the machine and perma-lock the door.

3) Unhook the child and hook up one of the party members, killing them, saving the child, and letting the players at the boss at partial strength.

The only reason I'm intent on using a kid for the situation is because an adult male or female wouldn't have quite the same psychological "oomph" as a kid. If it was Jim the Villager hooked up to the machine, I figure they'd be more inclined to kill him to continue than to kill Little Billy.

Of couse, I could always throw in an "out" where they can save the kid and open the door without killing one of their people, but I highly doubt the BBEG would be so careless as to leave a gallon of blood just laying around.

I just realized that I may have the mentality of The Dark Knight Joker DMing a Call of Cthulhu game.....
Option 4: Unhook the child and search the rest of the dungeon for another mook to knock unconsious and hook HIM up to the machine. Seems kind of simple in retrospect

Silus
2011-02-02, 01:17 PM
Option 4: Unhook the child and search the rest of the dungeon for another mook to knock unconsious and hook HIM up to the machine. Seems kind of simple in retrospect

Problem is is that the dungeon consists of a two story New England style house and a multi-level basement. They're not going to really be running into anything that bleeds. Well, maybe one thing...
A Blood Golem of Hexor

They either will need to bottle the proper amount of blood, or drag the whole thing to the door. And they have a 10 minute timer as soon as they enter the room.

Grendus
2011-02-02, 01:48 PM
The horror location is set to be a house that had been pulled into Carceri. Situated in a valley, surrounded by mountains, sulfur vents and all sorts of general unpleasantness, it'll have a large yard of green grass and living, green trees. The house itself is going to be a New England style house with a porch. I figure that after trudging through Carceri for a day or so, coming across the picturesque scene would be either A) comforting or B) frightening.

Anywho, the thing in question is that they have to find a key to the basement. So they'll search the house, maybe find a note or something that directs them to the kid's bedroom. They go up there and find a perfectly pristine bedroom. Upon opening the closet, they are greeted with a huge (long) space full of cuddly stuffed animals, which will be pretty on par with the rest of the room. There will be space to move in the closet, and it'll just keep extending farther and farther back. As they go, the stuffed animals and toys will slowly begin to change, turning from things too cute to put on a Care Bears cartoon to something that would give even Todd McFarlane nightmares (Think large, bloodshot eyes and a toothy Grinch smile on all the stuffed animals). As the player goes, he'll start hearing things in the vein of "Run, get out, escape, you shouldn't be here" ect. ect., with the voices getting faster and more frantic as they go. At the back end of the closet they find, sitting at an old, possibly blood satined table with bottles of medication and teacups and a teapot, a long dead child who, to avoid upsetting the guy with the hangups about children, apparently died of illness. In the child's hand will be the basement key. The voices by now will be going a mile a minute: "Runrunrunrunescaperunrunhurryrungetouthurryhurry". As soon as the player puts their hand on the key (or the child), the voices stop.

And then they hear: "Too late."

The closet door slams shut and the lights go out. The stuffed animal's eyes begin to glow, and the PC is set upon by Fiendish Animated Objects in a Low Light setting. Preferably alone.

A few things I would suggest:

First, instead of having just a child's corpse, have the father's corpse - to avoid the mother/daughter trope which might effect player 2 - sitting on the opposite side of the table with a steak knife through his temple. The child's cause of death is unknown. High enough spot check reveals that, based on the angle of the stab wound, the child stabbed him. High enough spellcraft check reveals that the child is actually a deactivated flesh golem, or some other kind of construct, made to look like a child. The table is set with items that would make no sense at a tea party: scalpels, saws, needles, butcher knives. The teapot is filled with regular water, if opened, that turns to blood if any of the characters pour it out (and thus, a way to circumvent the door lock if they take it with them). The crumpets tray is covered with small dead animals, their necks obviously snapped. Surrounding the table in the other chairs are mutilated puppets from the front of the closet, the happy kind, plus a single evil puppet on the side opposite the players, grinning like a cheshire cat.

Later on, when you get to the door, have it be the actual child who's supposed to be used to power it. The BBEG drew his power from psychologically torturing the family, and dozens of others like them, before finally murdering them in horrific ways. If they successfully cut the knot and open the door without killing the child, the BBEG should be weaker to reward them or should have a slightly more tailored loot table.

Have them encounter the mother's corpse somewhere disturbing, like burned to a crisp in the oven, or maybe stuffed in the icebox (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StuffedIntoTheFridge?from=Main.StuffedInTheFridge) . If they try to treat the remains with respect, have her ghost come out and give them clues as to what's happening.

After they kill the BBEG, suggest that they resurrect the family and offer them something, like a one-time-use item of mindrape, to let them make the entire family forget the horrors and let them return to their normal life and return the house to where it was before being pulled into Carceri. It's not uncommon for horror movies to have a "happy" ending for the survivors, after all.

Silus
2011-02-02, 02:00 PM
A few things I would suggest:

First, instead of having just a child's corpse, have the father's corpse - to avoid the mother/daughter trope which might effect player 2 - sitting on the opposite side of the table with a steak knife through his temple. The child's cause of death is unknown. High enough spot check reveals that, based on the angle of the stab wound, the child stabbed him. High enough spellcraft check reveals that the child is actually a deactivated flesh golem, or some other kind of construct, made to look like a child.

Later on, when you get to the door, have it be the actual child who's supposed to be used to power it. The BBEG drew his power from psychologically torturing the family, and dozens of others like them, before finally murdering them in horrific ways. If they successfully cut the knot and open the door without killing the child, the BBEG should be weaker to reward them or should have a slightly more tailored loot table.

Have them encounter the mother's corpse somewhere disturbing, like burned to a crisp in the oven, or maybe stuffed in the icebox (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StuffedIntoTheFridge?from=Main.StuffedInTheFridge) . If they try to treat the remains with respect, have her ghost come out and give them clues as to what's happening.

After they kill the BBEG, suggest that they resurrect the family and offer them something, like a one-time-use item of mindrape, to let them make the entire family forget the horrors and let them return to their normal life and return the house to where it was before being pulled into Carceri. It's not uncommon for horror movies to have a "happy" ending for the survivors, after all.

I will defiantly consider the Flesh Golem thing, as I think it leads to some Fridge Horror moments (maybe). I'll probably take your suggestions, but change'em around a bit. I don't intend the BBEG to die just as he is introduced for the first time =P I actually plan him on escaping via a Gate or something, forcing the PC's to chase him to Nessus (and throwing the PC's into the first experience with the politics of Hell.

But all in all, I fething love the ideas =D

Sipex
2011-02-02, 03:08 PM
While I understand your plight (I have players with phobias) I wouldn't even dare touch on your players limits. Sometimes people with these sorts of limits are completely understandable, othertimes all it takes is the allusion of their limit and they're up in arms.

Grendus
2011-02-02, 05:44 PM
I will defiantly consider the Flesh Golem thing, as I think it leads to some Fridge Horror moments (maybe). I'll probably take your suggestions, but change'em around a bit. I don't intend the BBEG to die just as he is introduced for the first time =P I actually plan him on escaping via a Gate or something, forcing the PC's to chase him to Nessus (and throwing the PC's into the first experience with the politics of Hell.

But all in all, I fething love the ideas =D
Ahh. I thought this was nearing the end of the campaign.

One thing you may consider if any of the party members have a problem with the generic torture victims would be to replace the random family with the family of one of the characters (presuming they aren't all generic "orphan raised by <x base class>" adventurers). As they encounter different details (the tea party, the door, etc) they begin to "remember" clues and traumatic events which often contradict their other memories. The fake child is a five year old version of the player him/her self.

Once the BBEG escapes, the fake memories start fading away as the house and landscape begin to crumble, forcing them to follow through the gate and into yet another crapsack world. For some reason, people aren't as disturbed by the hero being tormented, which may make this easier on the players, unless the one with child issues is the only one who had a normal childhood.

Silus
2011-02-02, 06:11 PM
Ahh. I thought this was nearing the end of the campaign.

One thing you may consider if any of the party members have a problem with the generic torture victims would be to replace the random family with the family of one of the characters (presuming they aren't all generic "orphan raised by <x base class>" adventurers). As they encounter different details (the tea party, the door, etc) they begin to "remember" clues and traumatic events which often contradict their other memories. The fake child is a five year old version of the player him/her self.

Once the BBEG escapes, the fake memories start fading away as the house and landscape begin to crumble, forcing them to follow through the gate and into yet another crapsack world. For some reason, people aren't as disturbed by the hero being tormented, which may make this easier on the players, unless the one with child issues is the only one who had a normal childhood.

:smalleek:

Marry me? lol

We have a Deathless Necromancer (former coroner), a Gnoll Barbarian, an Owlbear Rogue, and an Elf Ranger/Monk Gestalt. Out of all of them, I'd think the Deathless would probably be the best target for the memory messing.

With regards to the BBEG, I'm thinking of importing a pack of Torture Dogs from The Book of Unremitting Horror. And when they chase after him, I'm thinking of having the Gate go haywire or get stuck on "Random" so they don't follow the BBEG directly to Nessus. Make them trudge through a layer or two of Hell before they hit Layer 9. I'll be throwin'em softballs at that point. No matter how ****-sure they may be, they're not going to survive an attack by a Pit Fiend.

Re'ozul
2011-02-02, 07:04 PM
Having just come from the creepypasta wiki, I would like to throw some ideas in there.


There exists a splendid house. Two stories tall, and several deep. The merchant it belongs to is known for his kindness and passion for life. His festivities known for their lavishness and good cheer.
Even now can one hear the occupants reveling in good cheer.
"Come on then" you say and knock heartily at the door. The good cheer continues, but answer you recieve not.
Not wanting to intrude, you wander around to the windows that, while shutters are closed, have an aura of light to them, as is expected at such festivities. The smell of roast and a tinge of good smoke wafts to your nose. The shutters are closed too tightly for you to see inside, but your resolve is bolstered.
Once more you walk to to door. Upon knocking you find it gives slightly. Of course, it must have been unlocked all along. As you wander in, you can still hear the good cheer, though it now comes from upstairs. You could have sworn it came from here. The late hour must play tricks on your brain. You call out, but with such festivities going on no one hears you. If only you knew the door to the stairs. It is not like you to simply trespass, but the merchant is known for his kindness. He would not mind.
This house is one of great splendor. Every door you open leads to a small room with a nice if small bed and a table. Truely this man must have many friends and guests. So far you count 5 of these rooms and there are ever more doors appearing around the next corner.
The festivities seem to ebb. The number of voices becoming smaller and smaller as you search for the stairs only to find more rooms. The house, while magnificent did not appear this large from the outside. The smell of roast is getting stronger though, in your mind, you find it to be slightly stale.
There are now maybe 5 distinct voices left upstairs.
Perhaps the other have succumbed to alcohol?
Even the women?
A corner, more rooms. This house is not this large.


The last two voice talk fast and full of joy.
Another room.
One voice remains. The roast gone stale, beyond such even, rotten.
A corner.
The voice beckons.
A door.
It is so friendly, so kind.
A flight of stairs.
Perhaps you should stay the night?
A door.
A knock.
A voice.
"Come in good friend. And stay with us. Guests are always welcome."

Silus
2011-02-03, 06:23 AM
On a semi-related note, I've discovered another problem of sorts.

What to do about those players that insist on reading marked DM planning threads when they know they shouldn't?

I'm a bit vindictive when it comes to stuff like that, but I'm thinking do nothing unless the players act on the knowledge? Maybe a negative level or something, I dunno.

Conners
2011-02-03, 07:40 AM
Have them dragged off and eaten by a horror monster? Or more, give undertones that if they DO act on meta-game knowledge, this might happen. If they actually looked at the thread, it should increase the scariness for them.