Horror - how dark is too dark?

[gamerprinter]

I can understand your point of view - it's really a matter of taste.

Personally, having read most of the Conan books, I never really found Howard all that scary, great action perhaps, but scary, not so much.

As to your second point, ghosts in 3.5/PF have rejuvination as an ability. Meaning if you don't apply the specific means to end the ghost, by laying it to rest. You can't destroy it - it just goes away temporarily and reforms later.

I'm seeing 'ghost hunter' as being one of the possible directions players in the setting could go. In order to lay a ghost to rest, you need to know the background details, perform a specific set of actions and rituals to put it to rest. If the plan is just to meet ghostly encounter that a gaming group intends to fight then bypass and move along their way - and not lay the ghost to rest, it probably doesn't need the extra details.

Part of the goal of the setting, is that players want to earn positive karma points and doing things like laying a ghost to rest, to end the haunting and to prevent others from having to encounter it. It is in the best interests to all that is good, to lay a ghost to rest.

If you don't know the girl was ravaged and was the cause of her suicide, how can the perpetrators be brought to justice to end her ghostdom?

But as stated, I can see the subject matter could be overly disturbing to some people - horror gaming isn't for everyone.

 

[gamerprinter]

I call BS. You're afraid of spiders. You sit down to my game. I describe the next encounter of how the giant spider crawls out of the pantry and jumps on the kitchen table, eyes gleaming. And you faint.

Seriously? Your response while sitting at the gaming table with dice and pop and fellow players around you is to faint to the description of an imaginary spider?

sure, I've got a friend who darn near caused the driver to crash the truck when the driver tossed a plastic spider onto his lap. He spazzed out that bad.

But at least it was a real object in the real world. As opposed to a reference to an imaginary one, while sitting in a dissimilar environment to the story.

On right or wrong to use the spider imagery? Spiders are scary to most people, so any GM is inclined to use it for a beastie. If he hadn't known of the fear, he would be in the right to use it. Since he knew about the phobia, and the point of the spider in any case was to cause fear, it makes sense to use it. The person's own software defects are their own problem. If you're going to faint or spazz out and cause a car crash because of your phobia, you have a software defect in your head that is your problem, no one elses.

Now would I toss out a plastic spider on the batlemat with my friend* playing? No. Not because I respect his phobia, but because I don't want his overreaction to result in damaging property or causing injury as he freaks out.

*This is a good friend I've known for 30 years, heck I just talked to him on the phone. But his reaction was quite disfunctional and dangerous.

As stated, it was someone else's thread - this didn't happen to me. While I would want to be sensitive to a given players special needs, keeping spiders out the game is a tough thing to do. Spiders have been a staple to normal (not just horror) D&D since the beginning. How would one run a game based on the Lord of the Rings, if Shelob is removed just to avoid a specific phobia? I think that would be tough to deal with as a GM.

You couldn't even run a drow campaign and leave the spiders out.

 

[Janx]

As stated, it was someone else's thread - this didn't happen to me. While I would want to be sensitive to a given players special needs, keeping spiders out the game is a tough thing to do. Spiders have been a staple to normal (not just horror) D&D since the beginning. How would one run a game based on the Lord of the Rings, if Shelob is removed just to avoid a specific phobia? I think that would be tough to deal with as a GM.

You couldn't even run a drow campaign and leave the spiders out.

I know. I was speaking in the rhetorical/metaphorical You. As in put yourself as the fainter in the story. See how stupid it makes you look.

Nobody wants to look stupid. Therefore, it didn't happen. Even if it did.

Because nobody wants to be that lilly-livered simpering weak as to pass out from fright by make believe story of spiders.

 

[gamerprinter]

I was a creepy little kid. Once I caught a wolf spider and put it in a butter dish, and would catch flies in the breezeway to feed the spider. After about a week of doing this, trying to pull the lid off one day to feed the spider, it jumped out and landed on my leg, and I shot up like a rocket 2 feet in the air. Although I was by myself, I was embarrassed that a spider on my leg would do that to me. Since on face value, I think spiders are cool - I didn't think I was afraid of them.

Given the circumstance of course, I guess I am to some degree.

 

[Janx]

I was a creepy little kid. Once I caught a wolf spider and put it in a butter dish, and would catch flies in the breezeway to feed the spider. After about a week of doing this, trying to pull the lid off one day to feed the spider, it jumped out and landed on my leg, and I shot up like a rocket 2 feet in the air. Although I was by myself, I was embarrassed that a spider on my leg would do that to me. Since on face value, I think spiders are cool - I didn't think I was afraid of them.

Given the circumstance of course, I guess I am to some degree.

My wife gives a loud shriek and calls for me to squash spiders with whatever hard object I find near her that she could have grabbed herself.

I have no doubt that if spider landed on me, I would do the slappy-kill-pat-down to squash the bugger while emitting a variety of horrific sounds.

The difference being, my wife's reaction is functionally useless, my reaction protects us from spiders and puts us at war with the Minbari. YMMV.

Generally, ever horror movie I've seen puts the protagonists as freaking out uselessly. I strongly suspect my method of panicy murder is far more effective.