Pathfinder 1E Instilling horror

[Quickleaf]

One really good example I have is from a game in 2009. The party was tracking down a strigha, a type of semi-undead shape shifting monster, thru the kingdom's capital city. None of the players had ever faced a "strigha" before because I'd borrowed the idea from the Witcher game/book, and it was custom made monster. When they firs learned about the strigha it was while approaching the capital city and noticing the signs "beware the strigha" and numerous mourners clad in black carrying candles for the dead. They learned from an audience with their royal patrons twt the strigha had struck several years ago but was driven off by the knight Dame Aleera. As they investigated over the course of days there were a series of attacks, which were a bit gruesome, and suggested a political motive to the killings. This struck them as strange because the strigha was supposed to be a mindless killing machine. At one of the murder scenes, the PCs found a shattered mirror which had been mysticlaly fogged over and burned with the ghostly image of a red-haired woman. That unnerved some of the players. As the PCs investigated they were surprised to discover that their royal employers had covered up the identity of the strigha in the past - it was their daughter, princess Merisende - but the curse was believed to have been broken by Dame Aleera.

Having pieced together the most likely next target of the strigha, a judge with rather progressive values, the PCs set themselves up as bodyguards of the judge and his family. As th emidnight hour approached, I described a bloodcurdling wail, a rustle in the trees, a dead guard, terrified horses, scratching against the windows... The players were seriously unnerved and anticipating the worst. When the strigha finally struck, there was a bang in the cabin we were playing in as a gust of wind slammed a door shut. Their eyes were wide as I described the monster with its shock of red hair and inhuman eyes...the fight was very short, as the PCs forced the strigha out a window (with the party bard in the strigha's maw), and though the strigha tried to run off with the bard, he escaped with his life, the strigha vanished into the night.

It was at this point that the princess was put under protective custody with Dame Aleera watching over her to make sure she didn't transform into the strigha.

Investigating the cursed book which was believed to have unleashed the original curse on the princess, the PCs entered the "Black Library" where forbidden books from religious inquisitions of the past were stored. Within, the skeletal librarian warned them to take nothing and that they had limited time before the restless spirits of the library (sages who were sealed in alive) awoke to take their vengeance on the living. As the PCs tried to solve a codex puzzle and rummaged thru scrolls, I described the jangle of chains and dozens of ghostly feet lowering thru the rafters to reveal hanged sages. That really unnerved them, but they got out in time with th einfo they needed.

Realizing that Dame Aleera was the real villain who'd been manipulating the princess and reviving the strigha curse to kill off political enemies, the PCs traced expenditures for a new temple to Dame Aleera's deity and discovered a ritually concealed portion of the temple. Entering a dark sanctuary, the PCs confronted Dame Aleera as she performed a ritual over the princess, transforming her into the strigha. What was tense bout this encounter was the PCs didn't want to harm the princess but had to fight the strigha, and how Dame Aleera revealed she'd played them the whole time. It was a stormy night in an unfinished temple, with PCs getting forced out stained glass windows to land next to gargoyles which seemed to be coming to life. Even the stained glass shadows cast by moonlight I described as twisted and reaching for the PCs. It was a very fun battle and by the time the secret was revealed the players weren't as scared, but keeping up te immersive descriptions held carry a bit of dread from the rest of the adventure.

That was the best horror D&D adventure I've ever run.

 

[Einherjar101]

Wow thought with thread died 2 days after I made it and just checked back to find 3 pages of comments. Thank you everyone for the tips and examples!
Had a game last wednesday with my group in which they went back into harrowstone and fought 2 of the prisoners and explored the top of the prison and it turned form me trying to make a somewhat scary atmosphere to the players just laughing and joking around. Now while it was a very enjoyable season I don't think I managed to give my players the creeps even once!
Anyone have a similar experience of this and maybe any suggestions, or better in game examples of how you fixed this?

I think my main problem in that my players are well used to horror having watched, played (computer games) and even read a good lot of it.

 

[tylermalan]

The only way I've ever been able to curb the silliness is to make sure everyone is on the same page before the game starts. Even THAT didn't work for a long time, though, and I ended up having to have a fairly serious talk with my group about how atmosphere is EVERYTHING in horror, and that even a single joke at the wrong time can ruin the entire session. I just made it clear that, if they wanted horror, they had to work with me.

So, I had a few bad sessions/campaigns where the horror elements didn't work so well, and then I had a GREAT time with the single best campaign I've ever run.

One additional thing to mention is that I had to be ON POINT. Meaning, I really had to be at my best, I really had to be serious. I couldn't joke around or anything - I was the DM and leader, and if I didn't lead my group to act serious through example, there's NO WAY they would have been able to do it. I really had to turn myself as much as possible into a professional actor. It was hard, but it was worth it.

So, my specific advice:

1) You, as the DM, need to act the way that you want your players to act.
2) Make sure your group knows what it takes to create and maintain the type of campaign that they want to play. Some types (like horror) require more work in that regard than others.

 

[Matthias]

I would add this to what Tylermalan just said:

3) Make sure all players are on board with and willing to contribute to the horror style of gameplay. If someone would really rather prefer to cut up and goof off during a session because that's how he likes to play, there isn't much you can do as GM except ask nicely for him to go with the flow, or else threaten to sanction him for doing his own thing (which could lead to bad feelings or resentment), or simply ask him to voluntarily bow out of the campaign so you and the other players can have the kind of atmosphere you want.

 

[tylermalan]

Yeah, totally. You gotta make sure they want what you want. That "serious talk" that I mentioned was basically just me making sure that they wanted a horror game, and then telling them what it will take to make it successful.

 

[Celebrim]

I would add this to what Tylermalan just said:

3) Make sure all players are on board with and willing to contribute to the horror style of gameplay. If someone would really rather prefer to cut up and goof off during a session because that's how he likes to play, there isn't much you can do as GM except ask nicely for him to go with the flow, or else threaten to sanction him for doing his own thing (which could lead to bad feelings or resentment), or simply ask him to voluntarily bow out of the campaign so you and the other players can have the kind of atmosphere you want.

Matthias is on the money there.

To really make the scares real, you need someone committed to a fantasy/narrative/exploration agenda that enjoys emmersion in to the scene and into the emotional or philosophical conflicts raised there by.

If you have someone with primarily a challenge/recreation/empowerment/fellowship agenda, then he's going to without meaning to ruin it, because as far as he's concerned he's there to play a game and have some laughs and "OMG why is everyone being so serious."

But there are other real 'on board issues' as well any time you are trying to inflict real emotions on people. Make sure that person IRL who is phobic of spiders is on board for your arachnaphobia scene. Some players may be ok with children as psychopathic killers; some might find violence against children a place you should never go even in a game. Make sure everyone is on board the whole aborted babies scene, because IRL you may have had people with miscarriages and abortions and all sorts of trauma. Those occult themes may seem like window dressing to you, but won't to someone whose left an occult or particular an abusive occult background. What's intellectual fun for you may be really too close to home for someone else. You don't want to risk blurring that line between fantasy and reality too much. It's a good idea to hand out questionaires before you even get into the details of campaign conception and ask people, "What MPAA rating are you comfortable at?", "What scenes or places do you just never want to the story to go?", and make sure you are ready to abandon ship or go elsewhere if someone says, "You know, I really can't do this."

We have to take our hobby seriously, especially when we are the sort of people who say, "You know, this game it can be art, it can be powerful dramatic and engender all sorts of emotions in people, and it can deal with serious subjects in a serious thought provoking way." Because, let's face it, role-playing isn't just a game - it's a teaching and psychotheraphy tool that we've turned into a game. We don't want to run wild like mad surgeons with the power and responcibility we've been given doing unlicenced and potentially abusive or unintentional psychotheraphy on each other and trying to pretend its 'just fun'.