Wow, I've just been taken up with a desire to run a session like this for my players. These tips are awesome! On second thought, i will run something like this for my players. Sci-fi setting and all. Unfortunately, it'll have to be a single session shot. Oh well, i'll be sure to let you know how it goes.
How to I scare my group?
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Imperialus
Explorer
Reminds me of a Shadowrun adventure I ran once. The team had to do a simple data retrival in a Aztechnology complex (with 250+ Karma characters this classified as a simple run). They went in and began noticeing a surpriseing lack of liveing securety personel, power, liveing scientests ect. You know all the stuff you normally expect to find in a research station. At first they simply thought that they had happened to make their move just after another team had been through. That was untill they found 20 or so jaguar guards (really really nasty buggers) crucified and disembowled arranged in a magical circle. Then they noticed a mission log stateing that the Jaguars had the exact same objective as them. It wasn't untill they finally got jumped by a force 15 free blood spirit that they really knew what was going on. It was ugly, I'll say that much. The only time I had a higher body count was when I ran them though the Archology.
One other idea might be to have them find a surviveing child who has been corrupted by the remaining psychic energies from the dead god who leads them into an ambush. Make sure you have the kid act screwed up a'la exorsist. Kids are one of the best ways to screw with the mind of a group. I mean after the Arc the Shadowrun group I mentioned earlier still twitches whenever they see a kid with a datajack.
One other idea might be to have them find a surviveing child who has been corrupted by the remaining psychic energies from the dead god who leads them into an ambush. Make sure you have the kid act screwed up a'la exorsist. Kids are one of the best ways to screw with the mind of a group. I mean after the Arc the Shadowrun group I mentioned earlier still twitches whenever they see a kid with a datajack.
DungeonKeeperUK
First Post
I've done it twice with my latest group, scareing the bejesus out of them that is...
I try not to do it too often as it seems to lose the effect, but I think its best to know your players real well, know what scares tehm, know what comforts them adn take that away from them.
Silence can be a great scarer too.. "You hear scraping on teh wooden ceiling above you" "We wait and see what it is".. then just leave them sitting, maybe follow it up with a low sobbing from behind the door....
I try not to do it too often as it seems to lose the effect, but I think its best to know your players real well, know what scares tehm, know what comforts them adn take that away from them.
Silence can be a great scarer too.. "You hear scraping on teh wooden ceiling above you" "We wait and see what it is".. then just leave them sitting, maybe follow it up with a low sobbing from behind the door....
Tar Markvar
First Post
Wanna Wendigo?
I dunno why, but one of the most frightening monsters I can think of is a sort of wendigo (based on the film Ravenous).
Basically, say the ship started to go derelict, and the crew was running low on supplies (maybe they were raided, or their food spoiled, or whatever). Well, you're in space, millions of miles form anywhere, and what chance do you have of ever getting food? The crew has set their emergency beacon, and that gives them enough hope to keep them going... now they just need to find something to keep them alive.
One crew member just goes insane and freaks out, and he decides that the mold and leather left on the ship isn't enough... he needs meat. Driven insane by hunger and desperation, he ends up eating a fellow crew member who has died of starvation. He's not evil, just mad and hungry.
The thing is, eating the flesh of a fellow human being does a number of things to the person who eats it. As legends go, it gives one the strength of the person he's eaten, in addition to his own. It makes one stronger, faster, more resilient. It may also make one more charismatic, depending on the prey. Eating eyes might give one darkvision (if the meal was an orc, say), or whatever. It also gives one an unswerving hunger for more human flesh.
You could apply a modified vampire template to the crew member that has become the wendigo. The change to wendigoness could have altered him physically, or it could have left him in his normal form. He can't change into bats or mist or anything, but he is super strong and fast, etc., and he may have some powers relating to hunting and catching humans (charm, low-light vision, Scent, etc.).
Litter the ship with bloody clothing and half-eaten body parts, or have the crew stumble upon a freezer (or a chamber poorly insulated against the cold of space) filled with the bodies of the crew. I figure from a crew of twelve people, if the bodies are kept frozen, a wendigo could survive for a few months if he's smart, getting stronger and more insane every day. He'd relish the idea of a new hunt when the characters arrive, and he may even talk his way onto their ship to get away (and kill them as they travel).
Definitely drop journals or logs from the crew as they hide and try to evade the wendigo. Show signs of struggle (a chamber in which the wendigo held prisoners before killing them, with nail marks in the walls where they tried to scrape their way out), etc. Definitely have them imagine the wendigo as a horrifying, disfigured creature, so when they meet him finally, they're more likely to trust that he's a hapless human. Keep in mind that the creature is cunning and intelligent as a human would be, just driven mad by the insatiable hunger.
I'm considering doing this in my own Dragonstar game (inspired by your idea of the derelict ship
), so I might work up a wendigo template myself.
Tar
edit: Changed HTML code to vB so it works
I dunno why, but one of the most frightening monsters I can think of is a sort of wendigo (based on the film Ravenous).
Basically, say the ship started to go derelict, and the crew was running low on supplies (maybe they were raided, or their food spoiled, or whatever). Well, you're in space, millions of miles form anywhere, and what chance do you have of ever getting food? The crew has set their emergency beacon, and that gives them enough hope to keep them going... now they just need to find something to keep them alive.
One crew member just goes insane and freaks out, and he decides that the mold and leather left on the ship isn't enough... he needs meat. Driven insane by hunger and desperation, he ends up eating a fellow crew member who has died of starvation. He's not evil, just mad and hungry.
The thing is, eating the flesh of a fellow human being does a number of things to the person who eats it. As legends go, it gives one the strength of the person he's eaten, in addition to his own. It makes one stronger, faster, more resilient. It may also make one more charismatic, depending on the prey. Eating eyes might give one darkvision (if the meal was an orc, say), or whatever. It also gives one an unswerving hunger for more human flesh.
You could apply a modified vampire template to the crew member that has become the wendigo. The change to wendigoness could have altered him physically, or it could have left him in his normal form. He can't change into bats or mist or anything, but he is super strong and fast, etc., and he may have some powers relating to hunting and catching humans (charm, low-light vision, Scent, etc.).
Litter the ship with bloody clothing and half-eaten body parts, or have the crew stumble upon a freezer (or a chamber poorly insulated against the cold of space) filled with the bodies of the crew. I figure from a crew of twelve people, if the bodies are kept frozen, a wendigo could survive for a few months if he's smart, getting stronger and more insane every day. He'd relish the idea of a new hunt when the characters arrive, and he may even talk his way onto their ship to get away (and kill them as they travel).
Definitely drop journals or logs from the crew as they hide and try to evade the wendigo. Show signs of struggle (a chamber in which the wendigo held prisoners before killing them, with nail marks in the walls where they tried to scrape their way out), etc. Definitely have them imagine the wendigo as a horrifying, disfigured creature, so when they meet him finally, they're more likely to trust that he's a hapless human. Keep in mind that the creature is cunning and intelligent as a human would be, just driven mad by the insatiable hunger.
I'm considering doing this in my own Dragonstar game (inspired by your idea of the derelict ship
), so I might work up a wendigo template myself.Tar
edit: Changed HTML code to vB so it works
Last edited:
UD
First Post
Ok here I am, post first session, it went very well... The PC's didn't actually get onto the astral plane to about halfway through the adventure, and then they got jumped by Githyanki pirates, I thought they were going to be dead after I did a ton of damage with lucky rolls on my dice. But the PC's gunner on the ship rolled 2 natural 20's (insta-kill in my campaign) and the ship exploded.
Any way when they finally get to the ship they find that there is no power and they can't scan it properly. They dedect 'probable' human life signs.
Going through the cargo bay doors they enter and see the guy without a head and a blood splattered wall. (A couple of PC's freak out here anyway without my help).
Now I turn the lights down and describe stepping out into the corridor, explaining the deadly silence and dark atmosphere. I make them roll spot checks and listen checks and basicly tell all those nearest the corridor that the could have been something down there.
Starting off down the corridor they flash there torchs around walking till they come to a lift shaft (for some reason they decided to go to the bridge to turn the power on...) They stop here and I pass out notes to a couple of players saying that they are pretty sure they heard a sound like swift moving feet.
They carry on down the passage till one of the PC's hears a sound coming from a storage cubard, as they try to open the door I get the others to make a spot check, one PC (who is really freaked out by now anyway) rolls high and I tell him he sees a thin ghostly face with stretched out skin floating in mid air 30 foot down the corridor. He responds by unloading his entire energy weapon clip into it, shortly followed by everyone else who fire wildly down the hall because he did (the face disapeared quickly). One PC who is really getting into it continues firing down the hall after everybody else has stopped.
Turning back to work on the door they spot a figure shambling towards them from the other direction. I describe that it is wearing a scientists uniform and has a huminoid figure, but the skin is tight on his features and he seems to have sharp fingers. This wight lasts about half a round under the torrent of gun fire, turning it in to a thick red paste coating the walls. Finally opening the door the PC's notice a man sobbing quietly in a corner holding his legs a head in a fetal position. The PC's try to talk to him but he dosn't respond, (a couple of PC's ready their weapons) eventually he looks up at them a stares (I do this acting out, looking nervously and twitching from one to anougther). The NPC eventually moves reaching for something on the floor that the PC's can't see. Two trigger happy PC's bless him with death.
They find out what the NPC was reaching for was a gun. A gun with only 1 bullet. Now the fun really starts as I posses a PC and take him to one side telling him hes been possessed by a insane ghost and should act accordingly, but cautiously. The PC has so far been leading the party and takes them in a different dirrection until the PC's start to complain. I let the ghost leave the PC (there was a bit of tension between PC's when they realised that they were been led the wrong way). They set of the right way and I explain that they find a body hanging from the ceiling, I tell the PC that was possessed that there might be something down a corridor. He opens fire into nothing for a round until he is distracted by laughing. Turning he sees the ghost laughing at him. The other PC's turn and they all shoot him (the ghost), while he laughs as the shoots pass through him and into the wall behind. The monk/ranger trys to attack him and passes right through.
Now the ghost uses his horrific apperance abilitry and 3 PC's loose 2 wisdom points. This is not good for the Gnome who only has 5 wisdom. He now has three and goes scuttering off down a random corridor. The PC who was possessed opens fire onto the ghost as he fades out, the monk only getting out of being hit by using evasion. A argument ensures and they then notice the gnome has gone. He found his way into a store room and dived behind a crate. I said he starts to calm down and he can't hear anything, but something smells foul in this room. He says he turns around slowly. As he says this a discribe the sceen of a wall speckled in blood, a man lieing on the floor in front pistol in hand, and 10 foot a way anougther man lies the same again, both looking to have died in a duel. The gnome screams and hides in a corgo container.
The PC's come to the conclussion that they probably want to head to the engine room rather than the bridge if they want to get power back. I tell them they hear a scream in the distance. They ignore it and open the elevator shaft, floating down (astral plane remember) they begin to cut through the door, until I tell the wizard he thought there was a movement in the shadows at teh top of the elevator. He panics and uses magic to open the door.
The gnome who is hiding in the crate is now possessed and starts walking the floor looking for his 'friends', and this is where the session ended. It went really well, the PC's really got into it and I haven't even used most of the cool encounters, really looking forward to next weeks session.
Thanks a lot guys!
[must proof read]
Any way when they finally get to the ship they find that there is no power and they can't scan it properly. They dedect 'probable' human life signs.
Going through the cargo bay doors they enter and see the guy without a head and a blood splattered wall. (A couple of PC's freak out here anyway without my help).
Now I turn the lights down and describe stepping out into the corridor, explaining the deadly silence and dark atmosphere. I make them roll spot checks and listen checks and basicly tell all those nearest the corridor that the could have been something down there.
Starting off down the corridor they flash there torchs around walking till they come to a lift shaft (for some reason they decided to go to the bridge to turn the power on...) They stop here and I pass out notes to a couple of players saying that they are pretty sure they heard a sound like swift moving feet.
They carry on down the passage till one of the PC's hears a sound coming from a storage cubard, as they try to open the door I get the others to make a spot check, one PC (who is really freaked out by now anyway) rolls high and I tell him he sees a thin ghostly face with stretched out skin floating in mid air 30 foot down the corridor. He responds by unloading his entire energy weapon clip into it, shortly followed by everyone else who fire wildly down the hall because he did (the face disapeared quickly). One PC who is really getting into it continues firing down the hall after everybody else has stopped.
Turning back to work on the door they spot a figure shambling towards them from the other direction. I describe that it is wearing a scientists uniform and has a huminoid figure, but the skin is tight on his features and he seems to have sharp fingers. This wight lasts about half a round under the torrent of gun fire, turning it in to a thick red paste coating the walls. Finally opening the door the PC's notice a man sobbing quietly in a corner holding his legs a head in a fetal position. The PC's try to talk to him but he dosn't respond, (a couple of PC's ready their weapons) eventually he looks up at them a stares (I do this acting out, looking nervously and twitching from one to anougther). The NPC eventually moves reaching for something on the floor that the PC's can't see. Two trigger happy PC's bless him with death.
They find out what the NPC was reaching for was a gun. A gun with only 1 bullet. Now the fun really starts as I posses a PC and take him to one side telling him hes been possessed by a insane ghost and should act accordingly, but cautiously. The PC has so far been leading the party and takes them in a different dirrection until the PC's start to complain. I let the ghost leave the PC (there was a bit of tension between PC's when they realised that they were been led the wrong way). They set of the right way and I explain that they find a body hanging from the ceiling, I tell the PC that was possessed that there might be something down a corridor. He opens fire into nothing for a round until he is distracted by laughing. Turning he sees the ghost laughing at him. The other PC's turn and they all shoot him (the ghost), while he laughs as the shoots pass through him and into the wall behind. The monk/ranger trys to attack him and passes right through.
Now the ghost uses his horrific apperance abilitry and 3 PC's loose 2 wisdom points. This is not good for the Gnome who only has 5 wisdom. He now has three and goes scuttering off down a random corridor. The PC who was possessed opens fire onto the ghost as he fades out, the monk only getting out of being hit by using evasion. A argument ensures and they then notice the gnome has gone. He found his way into a store room and dived behind a crate. I said he starts to calm down and he can't hear anything, but something smells foul in this room. He says he turns around slowly. As he says this a discribe the sceen of a wall speckled in blood, a man lieing on the floor in front pistol in hand, and 10 foot a way anougther man lies the same again, both looking to have died in a duel. The gnome screams and hides in a corgo container.
The PC's come to the conclussion that they probably want to head to the engine room rather than the bridge if they want to get power back. I tell them they hear a scream in the distance. They ignore it and open the elevator shaft, floating down (astral plane remember) they begin to cut through the door, until I tell the wizard he thought there was a movement in the shadows at teh top of the elevator. He panics and uses magic to open the door.
The gnome who is hiding in the crate is now possessed and starts walking the floor looking for his 'friends', and this is where the session ended. It went really well, the PC's really got into it and I haven't even used most of the cool encounters, really looking forward to next weeks session.
Thanks a lot guys!
[must proof read]
Last edited:
Ace32
Explorer
My post might be a little late to help you any, but for other horror DMs, but the best advice I have heard to make a monster thrilling, was from some interview with Speilburg about Jaws. One of the things he made sure of, was that the viewers didn't actually *see* the creature until halfway through the movie. It builds suspense, mystery, and when the thing finally shows, people aren't sure what to think..
Edena_of_Neith
First Post
How do you scare your group?
Tell them the gnomes have started an industrial revolution in their world.
Works every time.
Heh, and if you don't believe me, consider the fate of those worlds where said gnomes did said thing ... it wasn't pretty ...
Tell them the gnomes have started an industrial revolution in their world.
Works every time.
Heh, and if you don't believe me, consider the fate of those worlds where said gnomes did said thing ... it wasn't pretty ...
Kesh
First Post
Sounds like it's going well! I only have two things to add:
1) Scaring the players only works if they want to be scared. This is why I haven't run a Ravenloft game yet. Most of the people I could play with only want hack 'n slash, and would goof off in a frightening game.
2) Event Horizon could have been such a good movie!
I swear, it feels like the screenwriter wrote a rough draft, turned it in, and the suits immediately took that out to be filmed. A few revisions would have improved things dramatically. As it stands, it's a great idea that was just rushed into production, and lost a lot of its potential that way. Still, it's good for ideas.
1) Scaring the players only works if they want to be scared. This is why I haven't run a Ravenloft game yet. Most of the people I could play with only want hack 'n slash, and would goof off in a frightening game.
2) Event Horizon could have been such a good movie!
I swear, it feels like the screenwriter wrote a rough draft, turned it in, and the suits immediately took that out to be filmed. A few revisions would have improved things dramatically. As it stands, it's a great idea that was just rushed into production, and lost a lot of its potential that way. Still, it's good for ideas.Similar Threads
