How disturbing are your games?

[Nareau]

During a round-robin DM game at GenCon, I got to wrap up the session with a big battle. Basically, I decided to have the Lord of Corruption possess the body of a newborn (ie, 5 seconds out of the womb) baby. He had a black serpent for an umbilical cord, coal-black eyes, telekinesis, and an ear-splitting wail.

After the game, a couple of players commented on how dark and bizarre that battle was. I was shocked. Demon-babies are pretty standard fare for our games. We've seen PC's make demonic pacts, commit suicide, kill captives in cold blood, eat halfling brains...and all from good-aligned characters!

So I'm curious--without offending Eric's grandma--do y'all play in campaigns that have strong elements of horror? Or do you typically go for the standard "kill the dragon, take his stuff" plots?

Spider

(Incidentally, it turns out a couple of those players had rather pregnant wives back home. Oops!)

 

[Corsair]

I think if you use "horror" elements too much, they lose much of their horrificness. Our group is a bunch of jaded 20-somethings who have no problem dealing with "adult" topics, but when it turned out the cultists were a bunch of folks who took advantage of just about everything the BoVD had to offer, it did wierd us out a bit.


But in a good way.

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

I tend to run horror as horror.

But after reading Nightmares of Mine, a little guide to horror, I intend to make every game have elements of horror somewhere. It by it's nature means investment in character, which I like.

 

[Blue_Kryptonite]

If you can't find it on Hercules, Xena, Star Trek, or Stargate, you're unlikely to find it in my games. I like to keep a "TV Action Adventure Hour" feel to our campaigns, and we structure adventures by acts, with timed "Commercial Breaks" for food, potty, etc.

 

[Hjorimir]

We've seen PC's make demonic pacts, commit suicide, kill captives in cold blood, eat halfling brains...and all from good-aligned characters!

Well, we have very different views on what is and is not good. If that is how the good guys act I can see why you think those things are the norm.

 

[Corsair]

Well, we have very different views on what is and is not good. If that is how the good guys act I can see why you think those things are the norm.

Eating halfling brains is just good use of survival skill, if marooned on a deserted island with your recently deceased halfling friend.

 

[ThirdWizard]

The only real disturbing things in my game arn't overtly strange. They're more of a "something isn't right with that, something is just off..." kind of feel. They're the occasional exception to this, but that's mostly how it goes.

 

[demiurge1138]

My games tend to be a little dark, with some "disturbing images", as the MPAA would call them. It depends on the session, and on the plot.

Demiurge out.

 

[caudor]

I can't say that any of my games have been 'disturbing'. I do like run a good mystery, but I tend to avoid things that are grossly dark, like having something bad happen to babies.

I guess the reason is that I'd end up getting more disturbed than the players--being that I'm baby sensitive now. It chills me to imagine something harming a baby, even in a game.

I haven't always been baby sensitive; it started about 2 years ago when my grandson was born.

 

[ForceUser]

I love injecting elements of the horrific into my campaigns. I want players to quail a bit from the terrible things they face. You have to know your group though--some groups like lots of disturbing imagery, while others want things more fresh-faced. Luckily, I get to run three campaigns, so I can indulge myself across multiple groups.