Fantasy horror setting help

[Rechan]

Just thinking of some familiar movies from which you could draw inspiration

You know there’s a number on your list I don’t recognize at all.

And yeah, trust me, I ha e a hefty movie list to reference. The choice really is whether I go modern or this fantasy setting I’m discussing here.

As far as your other post about the Safe Havens, I’m thinking that the reason they are safe is because if pacts that have been made with other forces, so it is demons/necromantoc magic/etc defending or holding back the Bad. And the price the community pays is what’s renewing it.

That said. That doesn’t have to be the only factor at play. Say the town is beholden to a lich keeping the Bad our. He doesn’t care one wit about what happens Inside the borders; governance and comfort and laws are for the living. So if a werewolf (or equivalent) is among them, it’s not his problem.

 

[Rechan]

I'm going to play the part of devil's advocate here a bit, and say that I'm not a fan of this trope. I don't like the memory loss plot device. It is in my opinion a bit cheap and unoriginal, no offense intended.

Before I respond, I have to ask what you mean here. It’s my understanding that the devil’s advocate is not speaking their earnest opinion. They are objecting on the grounds that rhetorically there can be an opposing viewpoint taken, and that since no one is genuinely arguing that point, they will do It themselves as a stand-in. It’s volunteering to be a sparring partner for your argument because no one is against it and this you should have to defend it

Then you go on to say you object based on how you feel about it, and your preference.

So are you objecting simply to present a different potential viewpoint without genuinely feeling that way, or because you in fact personally personally dislike the trope and want to object and offer something different?

Because “I dislike this because” and “someone could possibly dislike this because” require two different responses.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You know there’s a number on your list I don’t recognize at all.

And yeah, trust me, I ha e a hefty movie list to reference. The choice really is whether I go modern or this fantasy setting I’m discussing here.

As far as your other post about the Safe Havens, I’m thinking that the reason they are safe is because if pacts that have been made with other forces, so it is demons/necromantoc magic/etc defending or holding back the Bad. And the price the community pays is what’s renewing it.

That said. That doesn’t have to be the only factor at play. Say the town is beholden to a lich keeping the Bad our. He doesn’t care one wit about what happens Inside the borders; governance and comfort and laws are for the living. So if a werewolf (or equivalent) is among them, it’s not his problem.

Ask me about any movie, and I can tell you why i recommended it. (IMDB could help on that, too, of course.)

As for the sanctuaries...look at the Shannara series- the barrier keeping the demons penned up away from the world is failing because the Elcrys is dying. A new Elcrys must be planted to renew the barrier, and that requires venturing out,

In 30 Days of Night, the townsfolk must somehow defeat the vampires themselves because they can’t hold out for a month of night.

In Tremors and many others, all of the sanctuaries are ultimately illusory of flawed in some way.

In countless Sci Fi and horror flicks, the town or city may have safe hidey-holes, but their doomed to eventual discovery. The only true safety is in getting to an evacuation to somewhere else. That means running a gauntlet.

 

[generic]

@Rechan play Agony if you want to experience Hell in its most accurate video game form.

 

[Rechan]

Danny, I just don’t see a way to work that from how I want them to work and what they represent.

And remember, the characters aren’t heroes. There’s not a reason they among a community would go out, especially because they are poorly suited. You don’t send the baker the butcher and the candlestick maker to save the town.

in your examples, those are just a few people stuck in that situation , not a whole town’s worth.

 

[generic]

So, an idea, in regards to the characters not having real means of defending themselves. I would encourage you to represent this with challenges that must be solved using ingenuity and, occasionally, retreat, rather than locking victory away from the group. In the latter example, the game is no longer fun, it's you telling a story with no player input. In the former, the characters cannot just smite any of the horrors they find, but must, instead, evade them.

If you use D&D to represent this world, you could award XP and advancement for evading enemies, using clever solutions, and staying alive (if you're going for survival horror).

 

[Rechan]

No,

So, an idea, in regards to the characters not having real means of defending themselves. I would encourage you to represent this with challenges that must be solved using ingenuity and, occasionally, retreat, rather than locking victory away from the group. In the latter example, the game is no longer fun, it's you telling a story with no player input. In the former, the characters cannot just smite any of the horrors they find, but must, instead, evade them.

If you use D&D to represent this world, you could award XP and advancement for evading enemies, using clever solutions, and staying alive (if you're going for survival horror).

No.

These are strings one shots. Characters will not be advancing because they’re Not being played again. Most horror RPGs have no form of advancement because they are 1) typically single session games and 2) emulating a genre where usually one character survives. Call of Cthulhu is the sameway. You can’t fight Cthulu. Your character is destined to die or go insane. There’s no victory condition.

Final girls for instance, the person who lost the most characters decides and narrates how the final confrontation with the killer goes, which can include the last character’s death. Granted, characters there are communal, no has to play the same one scene to scene, and whethe a character does os who has the higher card.

I’m running the game the way the horror game systems direct.

This may not be fun To You, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to others.

 

[generic]

No,

No.

These are stringsof one shots. Characters will not be advancing because they’re Not being played again. Most horror RPGs have no form of advancement because they are 1) lethal and 2) emulating a genre where usually one character survives. Call of Cthulhu is the sameway. You can’t fight Cthulu. Your character is destined to die or go insane. There’s no victory condition.

Final girls for instance, the person who lost the most characters decides and narrates how the final confrontation with the killer goes, which can include the last character’s death. Granted, characters there are communal, no has to play the same one scene to scene, and whethe a character does os who has the higher card.

This may not be fun To You, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to others.

Yes, I understand all of this, but you've said that you were running this under the conventions of D&D, so that was my initial baseline. It might, indeed, be fun to play in a game like the ones you referenced. However, as you have not made clear exactly what you're asking for help with (other than "fleshing it out"), I can't help you.

Tell me precisely what you need help fleshing out, and I can try to give you ideas.

 

[generic]

This may not be fun To You, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to others.

Sorry, I should have been more clear, I was stating that the particular convention I referenced was not good (IMO) for D&D as a baseline. I've played other games, many with horror themes, and I enjoy those play styles immensely. I shouldn't have made D&D my baseline assumption, but, I seemed to remember you making reference to running a horror game using 5E in an earlier thread.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Danny, I just don’t see a way to work that from how I want them to work and what they represent.

Not quite sure what you mean.

And remember, the characters aren’t heroes. There’s not a reason they among a community would go out, especially because they are poorly suited. You don’t send the baker the butcher and the candlestick maker to save the town.

in your examples, those are just a few people stuck in that situation , not a whole town’s worth.

The ones I cited in which you could point out true heroes- as in people trained to handle weapons or with significant “explorer” skills- are quite few.

In Tremors, you’re talking a couple of survivalists, a couple of odd job laborers, a grocery store owner, a single mom, and a couple kids.

In the Mist, it’s whomever was trapped in and around the grocery store and other nearby buildings.

In 30 Days of Night almost the entire town is eradicated before they even realize there’s a problem.

In The Thing, they’re climate researchers and the pilot who got them to the research station. Eggheads, yes, but not adventurers.

Etc.