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Message: <blockquote data-quote="snarez" data-source="post: 5171128" data-attributes="member: 89917">Bump, sort of rezzurect, +100 respect for thread and my first post, all in one XDJust to throw in a few ideas I used as a way of saying thank you all for great inspiration.First of all, I don't run a horror campaign; it is a "regular" campaign, set in my world. I draw inspiration from lot of sources, then change it a bit (or a lot); but the best moments were improvised, hope you'll like 'em as much as my players did <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Generally, I like to keep players uncertain most of the time - sometimes sinister and creepy stuff is just a decoration, sometimes it's really evil. Here are more or less random bits of creepy / weird stuff:There are 2 statues in the dungeon. The first one is of a young man, a little bit bent, as if pressing something down with full force and weight of his body. It is situated in furthermost corner of the room. There are scratches on the floor as if the statue was dragged into the room, but it's impossible to figure out exactly from where (marks fade around middle of the room). The party quickly deducted that statue looks as if it was running somebody through with a sword, so one of them decides to put her own bastard sword in place. I gave her a look that questions her sanity, and everybody expects the statue to come alive or something. Nothing happens.Some time later, they get to another statue. This one is of a royal looking elderly person, laying on the back with a beautifully crafted bastard sword pierced through his chest. 3 of them decide it would be great idea to put the obviously moved statue in its original position, while the cleric frantically protests, detects evil (nothing there really) and whatnot. First statue is heavy, but 2 people (STR 17) can carry/push it across half the dungeon without too much difficulty.When they put it next to fallen king, so that the young man is running the king through, i tell them to roll. This is my favourite way of keeping the tension up - they never know what they are rolling for, and a lot of times it is just for the sake of tension. I even sometimes pretend I'm trying to roll in secret while they're not paying attention, just to make them wander what will happen. Most evil thing you can do to players <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />So, the statues are in position, but still nothing happens. They figure out these are just statues, and the afore-mentioned fighter decides to take the nice looking bastard sword (ooo, shiny) from the statue. A few seconds later, it starts to rust very quickly, turning into rust, and lights from all sources start to dim. Behind her, a gost appears, and it bears quite a resemblance to the statue. It points in her general direction, more like THROUGH her, and says "You! BETRAYER! Your destiny forsaken, for what? For THIS?".Any attempt to communicate with the ghost is in vain; it will follow the person who took the sword out, but will not attempt to interact with party in any way. It won't answer any questions, and neither will I as DM. They get back to exploring the dungeon, ocasionally asking wether the ghost is still following. It is.Now, here comes a bit of cheating. They get to an archway with some kind of symbol inscribed above it. Trying to dechiper it, curious as they are, they trigger Symbol Of Sleep. The cheat is that the DC was not fixed in any way; I decided that the DC would be 1 + whatever ghost-following person rolled. She was the only one who failed. They decide to rest (had quite a bit of fighting earlier). It was great, because nobody actually looked her way, so when she woke up, she was the first one to notice the ghost is now gone... Wanna gues if they'll encounter it again? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />During the break, I got a moment of inspiration, the fighter affected with Sleep had a dream, it went something like this:You're running through the night, the grass oddly warm on your bare feet. The sky is clear, but there are no stars or moons*. Still, you can see clearly enough to avoid the trees that are made of glass. You're getting closer... Suddenly you can feel him BEHIND you. You turn around, reaching for your weapon, but you realize you have no arms. It is getting colder as the laughter in your head grows louder. You try to scream, but only centipedes exit your mouth and start crawling across your face made of stone towards your eye sockets...* this is not a typo, there are 3 moons present in the worldAnother one, thought up ad-hoc:They were teleported to a forest in an unknown part of the world. As the night falls, they choose not to light a fire as it might attract a GKW (GodKnowsWhat). During the dinner, they notice that shadows (cast by a moon) are behaving strangely, although it is impossible to define exactly what is amiss. I roll a d4 (as there are 4 of them), and whoever is chosen, starts feeling cold. After 3 stacks of debuff (yes, I play WoW sometimes <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />), the person falls unconcious, visibly shaking. Just as second person was about to fall, he fired an arrow with Lght cast on it towards nearby tree. As the arrow flew, their shadows grew longer and thicker, and then second person falls (cleric, to make things worse). As the flickering shadows cross, a screaming whisper is heard, and a new shadow arises and starts attacking remaining 2 members. Now, they had only 1 stack of "shadow cold" on them, so when they're touched by shadow they begin to feel VERY cold. I doubt I'd let them fall too, but they surely didn't feel that way. After a pair of swings went sthraight through the shadow, duskblade finally gets the idea and casts Dancing Light into the shadow, which dissapears with earpiercing hiss.They attempt to wake up 2 sleepers, which are cold to touch, but to no avail. So they set up a fire and put them near to keep them warm. A few minutes later, there is a crashing sound, and out of the darkness the GKW appears. It has a spider-like lower part of body. The upper part is vaguely humanoid; he's got huge mouth across his whole face and one eye on a tentacle sprouted from his chin. In one of his 3 arms he is wielding a whole young tree, complete with roots, and is kicking with his legs which have bull-like hooves at the end. They managed to survive the encounter, and with first rays of sun, other 2 woke up...A few details found in dungeons, which haven't (yet) tried to harm players:* A huge pile of teeth in a corner* A casket hanging from the ceiling, 4 ropes are holding it by the corners. When opened, inside is a beautiful young woman with pearls in place of here eyes* A room completely burnt (scorches on walls, floor and ceiling). Only thing found in this room is a picture frame, completely intact, but without a picture (looks like it has burned down). It doesn't look like the frame was brought here, it seems it somehow survived the flames completely intact.* Albino beholder who is blind; it doesn't attack the players, but just mumbles some crazy stuff about future and past.That's all for now...</blockquote>

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