D&D General How do you do horror when running D&D?

[Fenris-77]

Yeah combat in a horror game is fine, but you will need to toss out the CR system. Bump it up a couple of notches and run combat encounters with multiple different types of monster and make extensive use of conditions, especially things like paralyzed and restrained. I'd design the encounters to be resource draining and I'd manipulate the narrative to make the 15 minute workday impossible and to make rests at least complicated (although this sucks when you have a SR dependant PC). I'd also find a way to use the exhaustion rules quite a bit. You can use various types of mind control as a device to limit deadly combat if you want too. If the PCs know that the 'bad guy' is actually a good guy that they need to save it changes the whole dynamic of combat.

As I mentioned in my post above, encounter design with multiple non-compatible choices about outcome is also a good horror design tool for D&D. Most parties are used to having things go their way, and encounter design can take that away without having to change the core rules any. Feels like horror with no major rules hacks.

 

[Rechan]

Yeah combat in a horror game is fine, but you will need to toss out the CR system.

See my problem is I don’t want to run combat period. D&D combat bores me to tears. And players thinking they can fight to begin with is counter to the mindset I want them to have.

 

[Krachek]

Depends on the group. When we tried 5e on deadly my players were so horrified we had to stop playing!

Maybe, but today the gaming experience is so common that nobody is frightened to see they character dying.
the time of evil Dm is way past, and trying to impose fright or doom to players won’t work for long,
the solution is to agree and role play horror, and this is style that can be very fun.
of course players must emphasis the role play over the combat or success.

 

[Fenris-77]

You'll need rules overlay for the social interaction and exploration pillars in that case. Multiple success skill challenges can help there, as can some thought put into one-off systems for running particular challenges in particular encounters (chases, whatever). As is, 5E is a weak system for running combat free games.

I have a question for you, if you don't want to run combat, and I seem to remember you saying you didn't really want to run investigation, what is it you plan to have your characters doing? I'd be better able to suggest things if I knew what you wanted to do, rather than just what you didn't want to do. IDK, maybe you don't know either, I'm just curious.

 

[Coroc]

See my problem is I don’t want to run combat period. D&D combat bores me to tears.

Then you might hit another pillar of D&D (regardless of what issue) which is covered better by other systems: Namely skills.

The best system which has skills for all sorts of mundane and not so mundane actions I personally know and love to play atm is DSA (Das schwarze Auge) German originated, The black eye in English.
They got a check on two to three ability scores for each skill (always three checks but sometimes an attribute is checked 2x) which does not result in only success or failure, but a quality of the outcome.
Each of these checks can be raised when doing "level up" (it is level less, but you get building points as reward for completing adventures)
It is also quite class-less, of course there are build-packages e.g. for the dwarven fighter or the human mage, but you could play a baker or a carpenter as well if you wanted to


With D&D otoh you got checks depending on one attribute and eventually proficiency or 2x proficiency in some rare cases. Most characters are not proficient in many skills, and to raise them other than that either requires to raise the corresponding attribute or get the skilled feat or selecting some background.

It is in no way granular, some situations where you would check for "selfcontrol" or "act of strength" within DSA are handled via saving throws rather in D&D which is very class-dependant again.

So you got the situation of a system designed for combat/magic (which is more versatile than with DSA)
when you would need a system supporting the roleplaying capabilities (which DSA does perfectly) but with D&D it is hard for the players to raise skills that would support the RP, and D&D skills are not very granular, so you got to substitute a lot, E.g. you make a medicine check to determine for whatever ails another character in D&D, whereas in DSA such a check would be split up into healing lore -wounds/poison/disease/psychic (So four different skills).

 

[Rechan]

You'll need rules overlay for the social interaction and exploration pillars in that case. Multiple success skill challenges can help there, as can some thought put into one-off systems for running particular challenges in particular encounters (chases, whatever). As is, 5E is a weak system for running combat free games.

I have a question for you, if you don't want to run combat, and I seem to remember you saying you didn't really want to run investigation, what is it you plan to have your characters doing? I'd be better able to suggest things if I knew what you wanted to do, rather than just what you didn't want to do. IDK, maybe you don't know either, I'm just curious.

By investigations I mean lengthy and procedural.

But mainly what I am hoping for is 1) survival and 2) exploration.

Singular one shots are easier (the townsfolk in village x), but I kind of want multiple sessions/campaign. Since characters aren’t going out to Adventure or Solve Crimea,finding motivation to make them Go Forth is tougher, but I was thinking either lost/stranded travelers, scavengers looking for resources in a fantasy post apoc deal (“We’re running out of food/water/medicine, maybe there’s some in the Cursed Village Of the Damned”), or the Mystery angle of say, waking up in an underground lab in some complex.

One campaign. I was in long ago was a modern game where during the day everything was normal life, but then at night we all were in a weird nightmare version of reality. Our actions at night impacted the world during the day. The goal was to figure out wtf, how to stop ourselves from going into the other realm at night, and just weather the events together. I think that was GURPs.

 

[Oofta]

See my problem is I don’t want to run combat period. D&D combat bores me to tears. And players thinking they can fight to begin with is counter to the mindset I want them to have.

Then don't bother running D&D, there's no point. It would be like advertising a steak house that only served vegetarian dishes. If you advertise a horror based D&D game, people are going to expect Ravenloft where the PCs are fighting gothic horror monsters.

Thing is, I find straight up horror games boring. I've tried a couple of video horror games that came highly rated, I played for a couple of hours and quit. Hiding in a closet waiting for the unkillable monster to walk by may induce edge of the seat terror in some, for me it was just boring. Your game, no matter how good a GM you are, would not be worth my limited time.

I run a pretty combat light game much of the time, but combat is still pivotal to the story. I would no more want to play D&D with no combat than play D&D that was only combat. Different people play for different reasons.

So advertise for all those like minded people. Don't pretend to be running a game you are not.

 

[Nebulous]

See my problem is I don’t want to run combat period. D&D combat bores me to tears. And players thinking they can fight to begin with is counter to the mindset I want them to have.

I think this is going to be your biggest hurdle, finding D&D players who don't want combat either. That's like...nearly impossible.

 

[Imaculata]

This is what I want to do. But I feel that this will upset and frustrate anyone who shows up.

If you already have an established group, then it is most important that everyone in the group is on board with what you want to play. When I proposed a pirate campaign to my group, they were hesitant, because they had never played anything that far outside their comfort zone. Fantasy with guns? No thanks!

But after explaining my plans for the campaign to them, they were willing to give it a go. I explained to them that it would still be fantasy, with plenty of magic, but with a nautical theme and nautical creatures. In other words, a chance to play a fantasy campaign full of new interesting ideas and cool locations. We've been playing this pirate campaign for several years now. I think it's their favorite campaign.

So it might take some convincing to get your group on board, which is why you should probably think about what would make the campaign compelling to them. What do they want out of a roleplaying campaign? Think of a sales pitch... but also consider if this is for them to begin with. Do they even like horror? If so, what would they like to see? Roleplaying is a collaborative effort after all.

I think this is going to be your biggest hurdle, finding D&D players who don't want combat either. That's like...nearly impossible.

I don't think that's true at all. You just have to convince people to try something outside their comfort zone. Get them on board for one session and see if they like it. Explain to them that the usual combat will be replaced by skill/ability checks, roleplaying and with a heavy focus on their decisions. Maybe it will be like a detective, where they have to find clues? Get them to understand that you're not just taking out one of the most fun aspects of D&D, but replacing it with something far more compelling.

And honestly, if you want to get players to try something new, I find it best to use the system they are already familiar with, and just run the campaign with that. It makes it less of a hurdle.

 

[Rechan]

So advertise for all those like minded people. Don't pretend to be running a game you are not.

This os what happens when you reply to the first post of a thread, whiinch can’t explain everything.

1. If I don’t run D&D I can’t find players. I got zero response to advertising non-D&D games. But if I run D&D, as you say it won’t work.

2. I have no intention of tricking people. I want to be clear what game they’re getting before get even show up.