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<blockquote data-quote="Keeper of Secrets" data-source="post: 2212968" data-attributes="member: 13836">This is a really great thread.&nbsp; While this post is not directly related (in the sense of sharing stories) I had some thoughts.&nbsp; There is some difficulty in doing horror in a fantasy game.&nbsp; Or at least a fantasy game where the characters are rather powerful.&nbsp; In some ways, horror is a lot like comedy - its pretty hard to pull off because what is scary to one person is not really scary to another.&nbsp; Also, like with comedy, a horror scenario has to be met half way by some of the players.&nbsp; They have to allow themselves to be creeped out.In reality, if anyone was faced with actual members of the walking dead, we would be scared out of our minds.&nbsp; Fifth level D&amp;D characters with a cleric may have something of a different view because players (in the back of their minds) often think in terms of 'hit points' and it is kind of hard not to.&nbsp; In my experience, if you want to pull off horror correctly you have to establish a few things.&nbsp; First, you have to be able to establish that horror is 'real' and as a GM you ARE willing to kill characters.&nbsp; Second, you have to also establish that there is a fate worse than death (torture, maiming, very creepy villains).&nbsp; Third, and this is one of the most important elements, is the concept of 'what you can't see or what you don't know is terrifying.'Remember the film Alien?&nbsp; I'm talking about the first one, not the subsequent ones.&nbsp; The first was actually a horror movie as opposed to the others which were really action films.&nbsp; The first was was so frightening because you did not see the creature much at all until close to the end.&nbsp; Also, the characters never knew what was happening once their friends disappeared.&nbsp; This same concept can be taken to an RPG.&nbsp; The players conjure up their own images of what it is they are facing (either due to darkness or evidence left behind or shattered sanities of the victims that survived).&nbsp; Sure, a GM can throw something in that actually scares the players from a mechanics stand point (like level draining) but it is not the same thing.In short, kudos to everyone who is sharing moments of terror and horror as these are all great snippets of how to do horror in a fantasy setting (which is honestly pretty hard).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Keeper of Secrets, post: 2212968, member: 13836"] This is a really great thread. While this post is not directly related (in the sense of sharing stories) I had some thoughts. There is some difficulty in doing horror in a fantasy game. Or at least a fantasy game where the characters are rather powerful. In some ways, horror is a lot like comedy - its pretty hard to pull off because what is scary to one person is not really scary to another. Also, like with comedy, a horror scenario has to be met half way by some of the players. They have to allow themselves to be creeped out. In reality, if anyone was faced with actual members of the walking dead, we would be scared out of our minds. Fifth level D&D characters with a cleric may have something of a different view because players (in the back of their minds) often think in terms of 'hit points' and it is kind of hard not to. In my experience, if you want to pull off horror correctly you have to establish a few things. First, you have to be able to establish that horror is 'real' and as a GM you ARE willing to kill characters. Second, you have to also establish that there is a fate worse than death (torture, maiming, very creepy villains). Third, and this is one of the most important elements, is the concept of 'what you can't see or what you don't know is terrifying.' Remember the film [I]Alien[/I]? I'm talking about the first one, not the subsequent ones. The first was actually a horror movie as opposed to the others which were really action films. The first was was so frightening because you did not see the creature much at all until close to the end. Also, the characters never knew what was happening once their friends disappeared. This same concept can be taken to an RPG. The players conjure up their own images of what it is they are facing (either due to darkness or evidence left behind or shattered sanities of the victims that survived). Sure, a GM can throw something in that actually scares the players from a mechanics stand point (like level draining) but it is not the same thing. In short, kudos to everyone who is sharing moments of terror and horror as these are all great snippets of how to do horror in a fantasy setting (which is honestly pretty hard). [/QUOTE]

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