Desdichado
Hero
Pielorinho said:
Nice!! So what kinds of stuff have you used it for? I'm curious about that one.
Oh, and I also just wanted to save this from the second page, because it's one of my favorite threads in some time!
Do you like horror with your fantasy?
Nice!! So what kinds of stuff have you used it for? I'm curious about that one.
Oh, and I also just wanted to save this from the second page, because it's one of my favorite threads in some time!
I'm not sure how I want to implement it, probably via Meta-Magic Feat, but I'm considering adding a more classical magic feel by allowing spells to act on a target (who's otherwise out of range) if the caster has an important token from the victim: a lock of hair, a wedding ring, something like that.
Pielorinho
Iron Fist of Pelor
Joshua Dyal said:
Well, I've used it twice:
-Once, a villain was wanting to sacrifice a town to fuel a spell, and the PCs were meddling. He wasn't confident about taking them on in a fair fight, so he crept outside the inn they were staying in and sent them each a nightmare containing a Suggestion that they leave town right away.
The nightmares were similar: each PC was in some quiet location with someone close to them who had died, and it started very peacefully; however, as the dream went on, the dead person began warning them that they were in great danger, and that they should leave soon before the Black River broke over them and drowned the dry dry earth -- language similar to prophecies they'd encountered earlier in the adventure.
PCs who made their saving throws realized that the dead person was an impersonation, and was evil, and the dead person would hiss and attack them. Those who failed woke up with an overwhelming dread and a desire to leave town ASAP.
-I've used it one other time: a demon with a grudge against the party realized that one of them had been infected with lycanthropy. He followed them, and on the night of the full moon, sent a dream to the PC he hated the most (who wasn't infected, BTW) in which she killed several people in the inn they were staying at. When she woke up, those people had been savagely murdered.
(I was actually feeling nice, and made the real infected PC just wander through the woods killing rabbits & such).
mmadsen, I like the idea of the distance-spell feat; that sounds very cool.
Daniel
Ralts Bloodthorne
First Post
Do I mix horror in?
I'm a Ravenloft DM, first and foremost. What do you think?
Man vs Nature-Definately. Nothing makes a PC feel all alone than horrible weather. Your +22 vorpal wounding lightning burst sonic scream fire burst life draining icery Long sword won't do crap against a pouring thunderstorm with 100MPH winds, where the axle to the carriage has broken, and the driver, who knows the way to town, and how to get back to the mansion the rest of your party is in, was thrown clear, and lies dead of a broken neck in a muddy ditch. Hehehehhehee.
Man vs Man-The serial rapist/ritual sacrificer is stalking the city. The noise behind you, is it him, or a rat? There is the sound of a low chuckle, and a sudden breeze blows out your candle, leaving you alone, in the dark, dressed only in your night clothing. The hairs stir on the back of your neck. Is it him? Has he come to rape and kill you in the name of whatever demonic forces he worships?
Man vs Monster-The creature bursts through the cottage door. Mismatched limbs are crudely stitched onto a torso criss-crossed with thread into a bizarre pattern that draws at the eyes. The face, full of madness and cruelty, is made up of at least a dozen pieces, and the mismatched eyes stare at you with malevolent hatred. With an inarticulate roar of rage, the huge, corded muscles on the cobbled together arms bulge, and you know at last you have found the Mangler of Stravich Road.
Man vs the Unknown-The small, huddled body of the child lay curled at your feet. It had been dark, and it's face twisted with a feral hunger, not even resembling the small, innocent face that looks up at you with total surprise from the dirty cobbles of the alley. The twisted club is revealed as a tattered doll with a lopsided smile that leers at you with knowledge of what you have done.
Buy why did the infant attack you? Why did it leap from where it was feasting on the flesh of the dog that lies dead a mere 3 or four paces from you?
And was that a child's giggle behind you, or wind chimes?
Man vs Himself-The hideously grinning face of the demon dissolves, and the spiked tongue that was tearing at your arms is revealed to be your comrades nails, that relax as unconsiousness claims him. He is beginning to froth at the mouth, and your forearms ache from the grip you hold on your friends throat.....
I love it all, and so do my players. Some times we do the splatterhouse bit, ala Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees, but mostly we stick to the gothic, subtle stuff.
It's more fun.
I'm a Ravenloft DM, first and foremost. What do you think?
Man vs Nature-Definately. Nothing makes a PC feel all alone than horrible weather. Your +22 vorpal wounding lightning burst sonic scream fire burst life draining icery Long sword won't do crap against a pouring thunderstorm with 100MPH winds, where the axle to the carriage has broken, and the driver, who knows the way to town, and how to get back to the mansion the rest of your party is in, was thrown clear, and lies dead of a broken neck in a muddy ditch. Hehehehhehee.
Man vs Man-The serial rapist/ritual sacrificer is stalking the city. The noise behind you, is it him, or a rat? There is the sound of a low chuckle, and a sudden breeze blows out your candle, leaving you alone, in the dark, dressed only in your night clothing. The hairs stir on the back of your neck. Is it him? Has he come to rape and kill you in the name of whatever demonic forces he worships?
Man vs Monster-The creature bursts through the cottage door. Mismatched limbs are crudely stitched onto a torso criss-crossed with thread into a bizarre pattern that draws at the eyes. The face, full of madness and cruelty, is made up of at least a dozen pieces, and the mismatched eyes stare at you with malevolent hatred. With an inarticulate roar of rage, the huge, corded muscles on the cobbled together arms bulge, and you know at last you have found the Mangler of Stravich Road.
Man vs the Unknown-The small, huddled body of the child lay curled at your feet. It had been dark, and it's face twisted with a feral hunger, not even resembling the small, innocent face that looks up at you with total surprise from the dirty cobbles of the alley. The twisted club is revealed as a tattered doll with a lopsided smile that leers at you with knowledge of what you have done.
Buy why did the infant attack you? Why did it leap from where it was feasting on the flesh of the dog that lies dead a mere 3 or four paces from you?
And was that a child's giggle behind you, or wind chimes?
Man vs Himself-The hideously grinning face of the demon dissolves, and the spiked tongue that was tearing at your arms is revealed to be your comrades nails, that relax as unconsiousness claims him. He is beginning to froth at the mouth, and your forearms ache from the grip you hold on your friends throat.....
I love it all, and so do my players. Some times we do the splatterhouse bit, ala Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees, but mostly we stick to the gothic, subtle stuff.
It's more fun.
pseudo_hero
First Post
the only thing that works
It dosn't matter what you say, how dim the lights are, what rules your using, what characters are being played. If your players are in a familier surrounding that thier minds have deamed "safe and secure", its all for nothing. It pretty much impossible to put fear into your buddy you've been friends with and gaming with for several years when he's sitting in his favorite chair at the table in your mom's basement or your new house etc...
You wanna run a game gauranteed to mess with heads, you do it in an unfamilier place. Preferably un-inhabited. Or at least the home of a stranger (to the players) in a heighborhood they don't know. Best places are abondoned houses (that don't look like they will fall apart at any moment), old hospitals are REALY good, barns, construction sights, cabins... Any place that the players havn't been or only been two once or twice. Then you set up candles or whatever to create your mood and go to town.
I know by experience, this is the hands down best tool for running horror games.
It dosn't matter what you say, how dim the lights are, what rules your using, what characters are being played. If your players are in a familier surrounding that thier minds have deamed "safe and secure", its all for nothing. It pretty much impossible to put fear into your buddy you've been friends with and gaming with for several years when he's sitting in his favorite chair at the table in your mom's basement or your new house etc...
You wanna run a game gauranteed to mess with heads, you do it in an unfamilier place. Preferably un-inhabited. Or at least the home of a stranger (to the players) in a heighborhood they don't know. Best places are abondoned houses (that don't look like they will fall apart at any moment), old hospitals are REALY good, barns, construction sights, cabins... Any place that the players havn't been or only been two once or twice. Then you set up candles or whatever to create your mood and go to town.
I know by experience, this is the hands down best tool for running horror games.
hellbender
First Post
A good source for mixing horror and fantasy are the original Robert E. Howard Conan stories. As Howard has pointed out in his letters to fellow author H.P. Lovecraft, the Conan stories ARE part of the Mythos Cycle. Those early stories are pretty freaky, too, Howard is a fantasy/horror author not to be overlooked.
hellbender
hellbender
hellbender
First Post
Another source for horror and fantasy working in tandem is the Warhammer Fantasy rpg. The forces of Chaos set an eerie and unsettling tone, as do the dark elves and the lizardfolk, for that matter. It is, after all, a grim world of perilous adventure. The thing I like about the Warhamer rpg is that survival is the basic theme, much moreso than loot, kill, grab treasure.
Chaos never sleeps,
hellbender
Chaos never sleeps,
hellbender
They manage to be both grim and heroic. Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane tales manage to even grimmer and perhaps as heroic.
I'm not sure I'd call Howard's tales "freaky". They're certainly primal, and part of that primal energy comes in the shape of horror, but they don't have that "alienness" that characterizes HPL's work. (They don't have the same verbosity either...)
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