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<blockquote data-quote="xXxTheBeastxXx" data-source="post: 5326228" data-attributes="member: 90543"><p>I'm wondering just how "horror" this campaign is. I mean, yeah. Undead are often used in horror campaigns, but they aren't what "makes" a horror campaign. I would assume that a horror campaign (having never run one) would be about ambiance. How the world feels and acts around them. It would be about vivid imagery in the setting and the action. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it's near-impossible to actually scare your players. But making them feel like they're in a horror story...no offense, but that's less about feeling epic facing a hundred skeletons and more about vivid setting and mystery, in my opinion. Tension and suspense.</p><p></p><p>But back to the topic at hand. Would minionizing the skeletons make your players feel epic? Maybe. I did the same thing with zombies once. Ran a little over a hundred and threw them at the party in a gauntlet-esque fashion. It felt like tedious work, cleaning them all up, rather than epic slaughter-fest fun.</p><p></p><p>My suggestion is that you give them something to do while they fight off the skeletons. Maybe they have to guard a cleric (or two, or three) who's putting up a giant circle of protection from evil around the local church/inn/whatever. Maybe there are children inside and the skeletons are hungry (constantly chanting "fresh meat" or some such thing). </p><p></p><p>If you want to actually build tension over the course of the combat, then maybe use something I call the "compounding interest" strategy: the first wave has 1 HP, the second has 2, the third has 3 and so on. Yeah, your players will feel awesome fighting off the first few waves of skeletons with one swing each, smiles on their faces as bones fly. But when they start surviving the hits? When it takes two hits to kill each? Or three? Or four? When they're forced to retreat deeper into their defenses because the enemies are just becoming too much to handle?</p><p></p><p>Also, when it comes to horror/tension building, I find the idea of undead grappling your characters and attempting to bite them or scratch out their eyes fairly useful. Maybe one of the skeletons grapples a player, then another grabs hold (I can't recall whether this is allowed in the standard rules, but in this case, who cares?). Then another and another until he's completely surrounded, being chewed on my six or seven walking skeletons, flesh still hanging off their pearly white bones. What then? The other players have to save him. But that means abandoning the clerics (or the orphans, or whatever) while they fight off the invaders. What do they do? What do they do?</p><p></p><p>Get it? "Compounding interest." At first it seems easy, maybe even fun. Then slowly it gets harder and harder and harder until you're neck-deep in clawing hands and gnashing teeth.</p><p>It works for credit card companies...they scare the crap out of people all the time, and all they have to use is a piece of paper with some numbers on it. Just imagine what you can do if you used the same tactic with skeletons.</p><p></p><p>Regardless of how you do it, good luck and good gaming,</p><p></p><p>-The Beast</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="xXxTheBeastxXx, post: 5326228, member: 90543"] I'm wondering just how "horror" this campaign is. I mean, yeah. Undead are often used in horror campaigns, but they aren't what "makes" a horror campaign. I would assume that a horror campaign (having never run one) would be about ambiance. How the world feels and acts around them. It would be about vivid imagery in the setting and the action. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it's near-impossible to actually scare your players. But making them feel like they're in a horror story...no offense, but that's less about feeling epic facing a hundred skeletons and more about vivid setting and mystery, in my opinion. Tension and suspense. But back to the topic at hand. Would minionizing the skeletons make your players feel epic? Maybe. I did the same thing with zombies once. Ran a little over a hundred and threw them at the party in a gauntlet-esque fashion. It felt like tedious work, cleaning them all up, rather than epic slaughter-fest fun. My suggestion is that you give them something to do while they fight off the skeletons. Maybe they have to guard a cleric (or two, or three) who's putting up a giant circle of protection from evil around the local church/inn/whatever. Maybe there are children inside and the skeletons are hungry (constantly chanting "fresh meat" or some such thing). If you want to actually build tension over the course of the combat, then maybe use something I call the "compounding interest" strategy: the first wave has 1 HP, the second has 2, the third has 3 and so on. Yeah, your players will feel awesome fighting off the first few waves of skeletons with one swing each, smiles on their faces as bones fly. But when they start surviving the hits? When it takes two hits to kill each? Or three? Or four? When they're forced to retreat deeper into their defenses because the enemies are just becoming too much to handle? Also, when it comes to horror/tension building, I find the idea of undead grappling your characters and attempting to bite them or scratch out their eyes fairly useful. Maybe one of the skeletons grapples a player, then another grabs hold (I can't recall whether this is allowed in the standard rules, but in this case, who cares?). Then another and another until he's completely surrounded, being chewed on my six or seven walking skeletons, flesh still hanging off their pearly white bones. What then? The other players have to save him. But that means abandoning the clerics (or the orphans, or whatever) while they fight off the invaders. What do they do? What do they do? Get it? "Compounding interest." At first it seems easy, maybe even fun. Then slowly it gets harder and harder and harder until you're neck-deep in clawing hands and gnashing teeth. It works for credit card companies...they scare the crap out of people all the time, and all they have to use is a piece of paper with some numbers on it. Just imagine what you can do if you used the same tactic with skeletons. Regardless of how you do it, good luck and good gaming, -The Beast [/QUOTE]
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