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<blockquote data-quote="Jürgen Hubert" data-source="post: 2732765" data-attributes="member: 7177"><p>First of all, you have to think about how overt you want the horrors to be. Does everyone know about what dwells behind those hills, or do most people pretend there is nothing extraordinary over there? Familiarity breeds contempt.</p><p></p><p>Secondly, I dispute the assumption that you can't use most monsters from the Monster Manual. The horror lies in the delivery. You should try to present every creature not as a "random monster", but as an <em>alien life form</em>. Communication even with sapient beings should be difficult and usually very disturbing. Even lowly orcs and goblins can become horrific if they can't be argued or reasoned with. Don't neccessarily present them as <em>evil</em>, but simply as inhuman competitors for the same ecological niche. They breed rapidly, and if you don't kill them all, they will eventually swarm over your communities and kill <em>you</em>. It's as simple as that.</p><p></p><p>Dragons and similarly powerful creatures become figures of elemental terror. Only the most learned savants attempt to understand their motives and speech, and the first thing those learn is that <em>they don't think like humans</em>. Only insane cultists even attempt to open a <em>dialogue</em> with them, and they are likely to misunderstand both those creatures and the nature of their relationship.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jürgen Hubert, post: 2732765, member: 7177"] First of all, you have to think about how overt you want the horrors to be. Does everyone know about what dwells behind those hills, or do most people pretend there is nothing extraordinary over there? Familiarity breeds contempt. Secondly, I dispute the assumption that you can't use most monsters from the Monster Manual. The horror lies in the delivery. You should try to present every creature not as a "random monster", but as an [i]alien life form[/i]. Communication even with sapient beings should be difficult and usually very disturbing. Even lowly orcs and goblins can become horrific if they can't be argued or reasoned with. Don't neccessarily present them as [i]evil[/i], but simply as inhuman competitors for the same ecological niche. They breed rapidly, and if you don't kill them all, they will eventually swarm over your communities and kill [i]you[/i]. It's as simple as that. Dragons and similarly powerful creatures become figures of elemental terror. Only the most learned savants attempt to understand their motives and speech, and the first thing those learn is that [i]they don't think like humans[/i]. Only insane cultists even attempt to open a [i]dialogue[/i] with them, and they are likely to misunderstand both those creatures and the nature of their relationship. [/QUOTE]
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