GMs: How do you create a feeling of horror (in an heroic fantasy game)?

[Wicht]

What I mean is for instance let's take regeneration. Is d&d its a rule, regent at a certain rate at the beginning of a turn. Break those rules, it regens whenever seems appropriate. Or don't give the monster HP, it doesn't play by those same rules.

I think thats just called DM fiat. While sometimes it can be useful, I think its a bad habit to fall into personally. If the players think or realize you are being arbitrary, then fear can turn to frustration. At the same time, if something happens because, "its in the script," even if there are no actual rules for it, I think its fair (though beforehand I do try and rationalize a way to make it work within the framework of the rules.)

However, tell me how you have done this and how it worked for you?

 

[herrozerro]

I think thats just called DM fiat. While sometimes it can be useful, I think its a bad habit to fall into personally. If the players think or realize you are being arbitrary, then fear can turn to frustration. At the same time, if something happens because, "its in the script," even if there are no actual rules for it, I think its fair (though beforehand I do try and rationalize a way to make it work within the framework of the rules.)

However, tell me how you have done this and how it worked for you?

I wouldn't use this all the time, just for those times when you need a creature that you dont want the players to understand. I'd also have opportunity through clues or other RP to figure out how to disable those advantages.

It's like when you watch a horror movie, at first the horror is the unknown, either by not knowing what it is or almost more importantly is not understanding what you are dealing with.

The regen example could be used with the Juggernaut type of monster, it just keeps coming no matter what you do. the only way to deal with it is to find the weakness or deal with it in unconventional means.

I have used this in a limited fashion, the one thing you need to impress upon the party is conventional means are not the answer, frustration come in when you start hammering screws instead of looking for the screwdriver.


Edit: also, I think its less like fiat because while the threat might not play by the PC rules I'd have before hand the rules it does play by.

 

[Wicht]

Edit: also, I think its less like fiat because while the threat might not play by the PC rules I'd have before hand the rules it does play by.

So long as you know what the rules are, the monster does not break the rules. It only appears to break the rules, as understood by the players.

Which is a potential element of horror - not knowing what the rules are.

 

[herrozerro]

So long as you know what the rules are, the monster does not break the rules. It only appears to break the rules, as understood by the players.

Which is a potential element of horror - not knowing what the rules are.

If you wish to view it that way then yes, it plays by rules but not necessarily the ones that the players are used to.

 

[Rune]

Here's one thing I did a long time ago that worked like a charm. I ran a campaign that had gone several levels (by then) and still no undead. Finally, I threw a zombie at them. Just one.

Thing is, every time they would take it down it would get right back up, maybe stick its arm back in its socket or whatever, and keep on coming. They just could not kill it. I don't think it ever even landed a blow.

But it sure did freak the players out! They were terrified not of being hurt, but of being unable to win.

 

[edgewaters]

Here is a question I am both personally and professionally interested in: How do different GMs go about (successfully) creating a feeling of horror in what would otherwise be an heroic fantasy RPG? Certainly some game systems are geared towards horror (Call of Cthulhu, Dread, etc.), but heroic fantasy games such as Pathfinder - not so much. Yet at the same time, the pulp genres of horror (as mastered by Lovecraft) and sword & sorcery (Howard, et. al) were brethren in arms and there was much cross-over.

There's a clue in your post, you mentioned Robert E Howard, who did this very thing quite well. There were two ways in which he did this, and the first was to create a world in which the supernatural was almost invariably evil. There are few gods friendly to humanity, most are diabolical, or at best, do not care about earthly affairs.

The second way in which he did it was to place evil and horror in unexpected places and make excellent use of betrayal as a plot device.

The main character avoids supernatural evil only by avoiding all things supernatural and trusting in nothing but steel. Because in that world, there is nothing to cling to that is safe, except oneself (and not even that, should one tamper with magic or gods or the like). This can be seen more clearly by studying characters other than Conan himself.

That, I suppose, is true horror - where the universe itself is existentially hostile and even the most powerful of men are little more than fleas.

 

[Jhaelen]

Conversely, however, the monsters you can throw at the PCs at higher level are a lot more horrific than those you can throw at them at low level. I actually disagree that 1st level is the sweet spot for horror in heroic fantasy.

Yup. I think the key is to create a feeling of helplessness in the players. A conflict that cannot be solved by them, no matter how powerful they are can do that. In D&D that usually means something that cannot be defeated in combat - at least initially. Encountering an invincible foe that seems to be unstoppable, requiring research or unorthodox methods to defeat.

One of players in my 3e campaign once mentioned how the only thing that ever really scared him in the campaign was an encounter against a Teratomorph (a gargantuan ooze that causes reality to fluctuate and breaches between planes to form) close to the finale of the campaign. As usually, I had beefed up the description quite a bit (my inspiration being Yog-Sothoth) and foreshadowed its appearance by a trail of dead or partially transformed/disntegrated storm giants...

I also quite fondly remember the Half-Life video game which featured a couple of unbeatable, huge monsters, e.g. kraken-like thing in a rocket test lab that constantly banged against the sheet metal walls, making me terribly nervous.

Another approach is to threaten something that is dear to the pcs while they're unable to protect it. As has been mentioned, sometimes it can be quite effective to demonstrate an enemy's powers on an npc ally or companion.

Putting the players under pressure can also help, e.g. giving them little time to think, forcing them to decide on their actions while counting down seconds or describing the progression of certain events, i.e. putting them under stress.

 

[Stormonu]

Buy in is huge. The players must be willing to be horrified.

Atmosphere helps. Dim the lights. Play spooky music. A slow, almost lethargic DMing voice. Highlight the senses. Slowly build to the big reveal - things should go from normal to unusual with a growing peculiarity that spins into bizarre and finally drops into terrifying.

Finally, hide the mechanics or distort them. As long as the players are dealing with the unknown, there will at least be an edge of uncertainty and unknown.

Now that you've reached the clock room, you realize that the wood of the house was never naturally dark - it had been singed and still smells of smoke. The blood-red carpet you stand on is frayed and worm-eaten at the corners. Even the old, overstuffed chairs and couch in the room are mildewed and water-stained, signs of an old fire once put out in desperation.

That's when you hear the broken Grandfather clock in the next room chime. Once at first, like the last tick of an old man's final heartbeat. Then it chimes again, and then thrice. The clock finally rings out thirteen times, each chime seeming louder and quicker than the last. With the last tick, the walls of the room erupt from floor to ceiling in dazzling red flames, blocking out any exit. And on the creaking stairs that led you to this room, you hear heavy footfalls - and the thumping sound of iron chains dragged along with each step.

 

[Hand of Evil]

You got to know what will freak out your players. This could be atmosphere of the game room (change the color of your lights), creepy music in the background (sound effects or low voices too), to stuff in game.

The stuff in game? Well you have to look at your game and see what you can change, one of mine is define what is evil. Now a hint I got from Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light; evil is what we turn away from, it is ugly or disturbing to us.

Make your players fear death. Change up your system if needed.

Last, check out horror books and movies and take scenes from them. Use them in your game, come up with your descriptive adjectives to use to let the players know what they are getting into. Add smells, talk to them in a low voice and low light. Put them in front of a campfire and tell them a ghost story.

 

[Fetfreak]

I once scared my player really good. They showed me the goosebumps!
Here is how it went:

They were staying at the inn in some remote village. They just finished a quest and they weren't expecting anything to happen.
I told them that some noise wakes them up, coming from below. Simple floorboard creaking and stuff like that. One of the players was curious, since it was really late, and just took a sword and went down to investigate. The inn was empty and she couldn't find the bartender. It was almost pitch dark.
I told her that she hears a muffled sound, like a painful moaning. She took a candle and went towards the basement.
I took her step by step through the inn, describing things as much as I could, to build suspense.
She went into the basement and saw 6 hanged villagers. She moved between them and when she was in the middle, all of the hanged villagers "came to life" snapping and trying to grab her.
They were actually recently risen undead.
She panicked and moved backwards, away from the basement. As she was climbing the last step, the bartender taped her shoulder and with his deep voice he said:"They've been like that for a while."

By the end of the scene, they were biting their nails. It was great.