D&D General How do you do horror when running D&D?

pming · Jan 17, 2020

Hiya!

Focus on the Players...not the Player Characters. The PC's will more than likely be kicking butt and taking names...or they will be slaughtered as they try and attack ineffectually. So don't make it an 'either/or'.

Play to the Players perceptions...not their PC's. Describe things that are creepy to the Players. "Lead" the players minds to where you want them to do...don't "shove" them in that direction because I guarantee that if you do that, they will rebel...and your NPC's will pay the price (and your campaign/game, in all likelihood). You have to slowly raise the tension and suspense of what is going on in the Players minds, first and foremost. Play on their fears and use their imaginations against them.

Please note that if this is relatively new to you (the whole 'running a horror game' thing), you ARE going to fail. Just accept it as it is; a learning experience. If you can, video the session and re-watch it. Watch how the Players expressions, voice and body posture changes when you say various things.

Learn to use the Players connotations of words against them. If your group thinks the term "moist" is disgusting...USE IT. If your group thinks the term "grandiose" sounds pretentious and silly...DON'T use it. Over time, you will get a 'feel' for what words to use to describe things.

Pacing. This is SUPER important in a horror game. I have found the most effective way to run a session is to do it in 'stages':

Start: Be laid back, relaxed, even nonchalant about the session. Easy going and smooth is the key. You want to make your Players feel like "Oh, this is a casual game. There'll be some spooks, a bit of gore, a couple jump scares...but it's all in good fun. No worries". You WANT them to relax and let their guard down. The goal is a feeling of "relaxed familiarity".
Beginning: Be 'mundanely descriptive' of things. It's not "The setting of the sun brings a chill to the air, and dead leaves rustle as zephyrs play at the edge of your vision, at the edge of the forest, at the edge of the forest that seems to be getting swallowed up by shadows and secrets". Too descriptive and puts everyone on the 'defense' in regards to mindset. No, too early for that. It would be "The sun sets normally, shadows start to get darker, and lights start to flick on around the few houses, the inn, and the tavern. The warm glow from the blacksmith's forge can be seen in the distance, at the top of the hill, on the road where you guys came in". Don't even mention the forest yet. The goal is to get the Players imagination "warmed up", don't just jump in cold. The goal is a feeling of "uneasy uncertainty".
Middle: This is the longest and most important part. Start mixing both 'mundane' descriptions with 'detailed' descriptions...more or less randomly. Doing this will make your Players uneasy because they may initially think "Oh, simple description. Nothing to worry about. Not important", and then think "Oh, detailed description. We should be ready for something important". Then back to simple, then important, then not important, then unusual, then mundane, etc. This will drive up tension SIGNIFICANTLY in your players! It's...'confusing' to their minds and don't know if they should be relaxed or not...leading to them being caught in the middle of "OK, I don't know WHAT is going on...I'm confused...". BE CAREFUL!!! You don't want to completely frustrate your Players to the point where they throw up their hands and mentally check out of the game. That'll kill it right quick! (as I said...your first couple horror game sessions will fail...most likely because of this).
Meaty Middle: This is the nigh-end of the session. This is where you start to 'lead' the Players minds to the place you want them to be. This is where everything gets the same 'medium' amount of detail. Describe things...slowly...and deliberately. Don't "tell the Players" what their PC's are feeling or thinking! Don't do it. Just don't. It won't work and will, again, jar your Players out of the mindset that THEY are in that situation...not their PC's. You want to fully engross your Players into the setting and situation. You want them to 'fill in the blanks' with whatever terrifies/scares/unnerves them. One person might hate the idea of dark water, churning seemingly on it's own, unable to see what is causing the waters disturbance. Another person might hate the idea of dark water, smooth as glass, hiding...nothing? Or is something waiting to pounce? So a description of "The water smells stagnant, decaying vegetation and odd discoloration at it's edges"...the first player will imagine it as active water, with small waves and little disturbances....the second will imagine it as motionless glass. Unless the Players specifically ask about it's 'movement', it doesn't matter. Let them imagine it the way they want...let them creep themselves out. You don't have to do anything other than use words and tone that give them the opportunity to do it. The goal is generally a feeling of "dread".
End: The end. Yup, this is when you want short, quick descriptions. This is tricky. You want to keep the tension up, but you DON'T want to overload them with too much info...that will shut them down again. The only time this MAY be ok is if everyone is currently in Panic Mode...they're already panicking, and their own brain 'shutting down' on them could simply just add more panic. The goal is a feeling of, obviously enough, "panic and horror".

And there you have it. Simple!

I guess the TL;DR version would be... "Start normal, build uncertainty and tension, show (don't tell) the potential horror, reveal the horror to them in all it's stark glory.

Good luck! And remember, jumping out and saying "BOO!" to someone isn't scary...it's just startling. But saying "No, YOU go to the basement. The first light is out, but the one in the far corner is ok, where the wine rack is. Go get one, but don't trip on the way back up the stairs because there's no back to them and you'd never find the bottle there...too dark". That? That will get a persons anxiety going just thinking about it.

Imaculata · Jan 17, 2020

When I ran my Call of Cthulhu campaign, I followed this structure:

1. The campaign is a small sandbox, taking place in one city, with a strong focus on investigation and not on combat. Players are provided with black envelopes from which they pick a secret, which they must try to keep. This secret will come into the plot eventually.

2. The campaign starts with a brief introductory sequence that allows the players to meet up and establish their characters. No horror elements take place during the intro, to ground the story and provide contrast later on. This is where the players get to describe their characters for the first time.

3. I then establish an initial spooky mystery with plenty of plothooks. The players are free to chase down any of the clues, and they can even split the party if they want, since it is a small setting and they are never far apart. All clues eventually point in the same direction, and the success of the investigation is not dependent on following up on any single clue. There are backup clues to the backup clues.

4. As the players progress in their investigation, the stakes are raised. The players are placed in a life threatening situation, and now their lives depends on the success of their investigation. Villains are revealed and start taking notice of the players. A timeline of events starts kicking in, allowing the plot to progress regardless of how well the players are doing. From now on, every day something will happen that either endangers the players or provides further clues. The plot becomes like a ticking timebomb.

5. There is a plot twist or some grand revelation as the players unravel the mystery, or they fail to solve the mystery and our narrative timebomb goes off. Failure is always a possibility, and there's an entire scenario ready in case they fail. There might be a fight at the end, or the players may have to run for their lives.