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

[Nebulous]

It appears to me that the situation, as you describe it, is unresolvable.

You want to run a game that is fundamentally not D&D (you would prefer to run a game that is actually not D&D, but have been unable to do so). The players in your area (social circle? network reach?) want to play D&D.

This is going to lead to a bad time.

Ultimately I agree. D&D has a very certain feel to it, heroic fantasy, and most people who want that will want lots of fighting.

 

[Oofta]

I did. The suggestions were:

1. Advertise a non-D&D game (I have)

2. Play D&D until you can convince your fellow players to play something else.

3. Run D&D.

Believe me, if I could Not play D&D I would. But my options are D&D or nothing. So I come here asking how I can force D&D into what I want: basically PCs playing NPCs with no combat skills, so combat is a last ditch thing to try and avoid, delay, escape.

Which the consensus seems to be “don’t play”

I am truly sorry, I just don't think a bait and switch will work either. If you honestly advertise, it would have to include something like "Horror D&D with no combat". I don't think you'll have any luck there either. The only option is for you to accept combat but if you hate it then it's just not going to work for anyone.

You can't force, or trick, people into playing a game they aren't interested in.

I wish there was a better answer.

 

[Rechan]

if I get accused of baiting and switching/tricking people one more time I am deleting this thread.

No one will sit down without knowing what are getting.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

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

I want players to feel powerless. But I don’t think anyone willing to play D&D will accept feeling powerless. I’m afraid it will alienate players because D&D is about being g powerful.

I don’t know how to advertise a D&D game where they don’t get to use anything but skills. I don’t think anyone will show up to that.

It's always tricky to find players who gel and like a similar sort of game. I have one player in my group who would probably like your sort of thing better than my sort of thing (pulp action adventure). I think you need to make compromises and mix things up. Slip some of your horror into a standard game and see how your players react. If they are okay with it do more, if they don't have fun take it in a different direction. I find that so long as the players are having fun the DM has fun, even if it's not what you originally planned.

Or you can hold out for a Call of Cthulhu group. It doesn't have as many players as D&D, but it has some, and when you do find them they are more likely to like the same sort of thing.

Also remember that in horror combat should still be an option. A very poor option for the players, but the option should still be there.

 

[jayoungr]

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.

So, what would your ideal storyline look like, without reference to the rules? Are you thinking survival horror, with lots of stealth? PCs trapped somewhere and they try to find the keys to get out alive while avoiding the monsters, that sort of thing?

Give us an idea of what you'd like the game to look like, and maybe we can offer some suggestions on tweaking D&D to do it.

D&D has a very certain feel to it, heroic fantasy

D&D does heroic fantasy well, but I do think it is more versatile than a lot of people give it credit for being. Last GenCon, I played a straight-up, no-combat heist scenario in D&D, and we all had a blast.

 

[Rechan]

So, what would your ideal storyline look like, without reference to the rules? Are you thinking survival horror, with lots of stealth? PCs trapped somewhere and they try to find the keys to get out alive while avoiding the monsters, that sort of thing?

Give us an idea of what you'd like the game to look like, and maybe we can offer some suggestions on tweaking D&D to do it.


D&D does heroic fantasy well,] but I do think it is more versatile than a lot of people give it credit for being. Last GenCon, I played a straight-up, no-combat heist scenario in D&D, and we all had a blast.

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

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...

www.enworld.org

 

[Nebulous]

D&D does heroic fantasy well,] but I do think it is more versatile than a lot of people give it credit for being. Last GenCon, I played a straight-up, no-combat heist scenario in D&D, and we all had a blast.

Well one-shot yes, D&D can do a lot. I was thinking more an extended campaign with no fighting. That would be more problematic. Although I've heard of some groups going heavy on the roleplaying and political intrigue. So it can be done.

 

[Rechan]

I will say it warms my heart to hear people at “D&D is this, it is this experience. doing that in it doesn’t work”. I argued this back in the 3e days, when people here would try to force heavy economics and diplomacy games et all into it, because they wouldn’t try other systems.

I’m aware of the irony that I’m trying to do that now, but here its out of necessity. :/

I feel like I’m trying to make lemonade out of lemons, but in this analogy I’m diabetic.

 

[hawkeyefan]

@Rechan Probably the most basic change you will need to make is to change how PCs get XP. 5E is set up to grant XP for killing monsters. So that’s what players are going to try and do.

If you want them to do something else, you need to incentivize that. All the other advice here may be useless if when it’s all said and done, the PCs are still only going to progress by killing things.

Start with that.

 

[Oofta]

Last GenCon, I played a straight-up, no-combat heist scenario in D&D, and we all had a blast.

I've had one shots and sessions in ongoing campaigns that had no combat and they can be a lot of fun. But that's different than an ongoing campaign that never has combat.

I've even played "kids" for several sessions where the closest we got to combat was a snowball fight and running away from Old Man Russel's scary dog. Well, and a ghost or two but that's a whole other issue.

But sooner or later I wanted to see mechanical PC growth.