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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joël of the FoS" data-source="post: 2598029" data-attributes="member: 17665">I’d humbly suggest going back to the roots of horror in RPG, i.e. Ravenloft… (inspired from the infamous Ravenloft black box*)-    You need to add detail. Not just “you are fighting a ghoul”, but add the details on the stench of the undead, the shadows possibly hiding other threats, etc. Help them visualize the scene.-    Ask your player for developped background. A page is enough. Then orient parts of your campaign around these backgrounds, to hit the players where their personal life is. They will care more.-    Strange yet familiar. Take an ordinary scene but add a few odd details to put them on their toes and make sure they ask themselves if something is wrong. Describe the creature they are fighting instead of saying "you are fighting a troll". Let them guess!-    Isolation. Make them foreigners in a gloomy scene, where their foreign language will make them alienated and unable to communicate. Or put them in an isolated place.-    Put the control in the villain’s hand. Everybody hate a game of cat and mouse when they play the mouse part!-    Assault on the body. Fot example, make a woman pregnant while she is sure nothing happened to put her pregnant, or similar strange event...-    Hit them in their nightmares, or maker them hear somebody else’s voice in their mind.-    Make the villains fully developed characters, i.e. not only people waiting for the players to arrive in their room. Make it a scary recuring villain.Use these advices with parsimony. Do not overuse these advices!For more advice, read more Ravenloft stuff (Ravenloft DM Guide is a good idea) or the Black Box. You can also read other DM advices for Ravenloft there: <a href="http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/Salon.html" target="_blank">http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/Salon.html</a> (get in the Evil DM Tricks ™ parts!)Joël</blockquote>

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