Capturing the Mood/Help Me Scare the PC's

[DarrenGMiller]

As I prepare to restart my game, I am looking for advice on dealing with a player who injects enough metagame thinking into his PC that it becomes impossible to "scare" the party. The PC's just will not run because the player laughs at my choice of villain, degrades my BBEG's and encourages the party to not be wusses and run... fight! You can beat this pansy creature.

Okay, the obvious things are the "wolf-in-sheep's-clothing approach" and the "unconquerable foe approach." Also, we are disucussing it out of game. Is there anything else constructive anyone has done or would do in this situation?

DM

 

[Seeten]

Tell him straight up he'll be getting xp penalties in game if he tries to influence ingame behaviour with out of game tactics?

Even if it were a good friend of mine, I'd say, "Metagaming at the table will cost you 500 xp per incident. And you buy the beer/pizza next game."

 

[Carpe DM]

I'd use neither.

The unknown (as opposed to the known but hidden -- wolf in sheep's clothing) is the best way to scare hell out of an experienced party. When stuff starts happening to the party that they can't look up or categorize, they get wierded. And I don't know that I'd do it through monsters. Strange and incurable curses, diseases, recurring nightmares, flashbacks, mind-control are just a few options.

Don't be afraid to step outside of the rules.

Death isn't the scariest thing in D&D -- that just causes suspension of disbelief to fail. The scariest thing is being threatened by something you don't understand . . . and being given the option to run. When you run, you get scared. Paradoxical, isn't it?

very best,

Carpe

 

[Wraith Form]

The old trick of asking the players to roll random dice (for no reason, but they don't know that) can be effective. The matter of when and where you have them do this will produce different effects--obviously if you do it in a dungeon crawl, they'll think it's for traps. If you do it while the PCs are having some sort of social interaction or walking through a town, it's a different "feel". You don't want to over-do it, and you have to master the "I'm smirking but trying to look like I'm hiding it" look.

Also, describing the feeling of eyes on the players, watching them even when there shouldn't be someone there, can be a subtle but effective way to ratchet up the paranoia & tension. Occasionally you might even have an NPC appear to be following the PCs when they're in bigger cities/towns. Of course, when the PCs confront the "follower" s/he will deny it....

The key is to not over-do it, as mentioned.

Does that help?

 

[MonkeyDragon]

Does your metagamer have lawyer tendancies? If he knows all the rules and every monster in the book, this could be contributing to the feelings of not really being threataned. That makes screwing with them all the better.

Change stuff. I think the suggestion for diseases and stuff is nifty and am filing it away for future larceny. Make up new monsters. They'll get weirded out if they don't know what something is. Or, take a monster and change it. Let them use their metagame assumptions and freak when they don't work. "But X monster has vulnerability to Y energy!" "Not these X monsters." Giving simple critters class levels can help, since it's harder to tell exactly what it is.

One of my favorite ploys is the Lone Kobold. The funny thing is, my players know I use it, but they still fall for it every time. Once the lone kobold was replaced by a Lone Kitten. Just a small, harmless creature in the middle of an empty room. It's obviously too easy. So...what else does it do? Does it explode? Is it cursed? An illusion? Have a million levels of wizard? Why is just standing there? WHATS GOING ON?!? Nothing. You run the combat as normal, they kill it in one hit, and it dies. Then smile, and say "ok." Some players won't fall for it, but others will just wonder...and wonder.

 

[DarrenGMiller]

Does your metagamer have lawyer tendencies?

Yes.


Another though I had was to introduce a fear/sanity mechanic, but I don't really think it is a solution. My thought for using was when metagame thinking causes the lack of fear, invoke the mechanic. Somehow it just doesn't sound like it will fix it though.

DM

 

[Slife]

Whenever they are in a dungeon, have them hear patters of little feet just at the edge of hearing. Occasionally, have an animal behind them. Just an ordinary, everyday cat/dog/mouse, whatever. If a party member is seriously wounded, describe how it licks the blood off the floor. If they give chase, it outruns them, turns a corner, and disappears. Running after it, however, is probably noisy enough to attract some monsters. Ranged attacks could probably kill it, and if examined have the party roll some fort saves, and then say that it's "apparently ordinary". Refuse to comment any further.

Throw in a room now and then that has some weird characteristic, like the walls are bleeding.

Play with templates. Rename the creature, change its description around.

If you kill an enemy wizard, have him pledge an oath of eternal vengence upon the rulemongering player's character. Next time you have zombies, mention a resemblence to someone he had seen before. If the wizard had distinctive (mundane) robes, for instance, mention that the tattered rags it wears are the same colour. If the wizard had any spells left, give 'em to the zombie. Even if (or especially since) it isn't in the RAW, it should enhance the mood.

 

[Bryon_Soulweaver]

Create a creepy little girl with "some" levels, say 14 with a template that gives her "special" powers. Let her be something like quarter shadow, give her the ability to appear and disappear in the darkness, even for those with low-vision and darkvision. Her age, doesnt matter, and when they think she is dead, she will blink her eyes at the players as her body and head reattach themselves within seconds then she disappears. Make it a villian worth remembering, and keep on encountering it, I just put the scary little girl one up for an idea.


EDIT: what are the players races and classes?

 

[Crothian]

Characters really can't be scared unless the palyers are. Sure the players can act scared but that is a different think then if the players are scared. I have found that one player in a group is easier to frighten then the rest. This is the person I go after. Having one person become scared and not at ease makes it easier to scare the other players. If you know what scares the players in real life this could help. But becareful, I once presented a guy with arcanophobia with a small spider to try to represent what his character fear was like and he bolted from the table and didn't speak to me for a week.

 

[Schmoe]

Yes.


Another though I had was to introduce a fear/sanity mechanic, but I don't really think it is a solution. My thought for using was when metagame thinking causes the lack of fear, invoke the mechanic. Somehow it just doesn't sound like it will fix it though.

DM

Adding another mechanic that the player understands will not frighten the player. He obviously is comfortable because he (or she) understands the capabilities and limitations of the opposition. To combat this, the most effective solution is to add things that the player (not character) cannot know through metagame thinking. One thing you can do is delay introducing an opponent for as long as possible. Instead, show the effects of the opponents actions, such as coming across scenes of slaughter or other ill-doings. Dissappearing allies, unexplained noises, fleeting shadows, these are some the things you can do to have make the opponent threatening while keeping the player in the dark.

Since you are the DM, you can also introduce curses, diseases, magic, deities, and anything else that the players don't know about. Just so long as you know how it works, that's all that matters. Opponents with class levels, advanced and templated monsters, or even using existing monster stats with wildly different appearances, are all additional ways to keep the players in the dark.