One Thousand Ways to Freak Out Your Players

[Zappo]

97. Have a PC killed and replaced by a doppelganger or similar creature, but do it stealthily and don't allow other players to know that. Let the PC's player keep playing the doppelganger. See how long it can go.

IMC, it went on for a couple of months. On top of that, the creature wasn't a doppelganger, but a visage from Dead Gods. Whose illusionary powers are almost limitless, and can Dominate at will. So, every now and then, in critical moments, a character would get dominated and attack the others, and the players would freak out trying to understand who or what did it. They never found out until the end of the adventure.

Not to be pedantic, but the point of the thread seems to be to creep out the players, not to kill the PCs... so I don't know if killer tactics for villains are what we're looking for...

 

[The Sigil]

Clichéed, but...

98.) This may be a bit clichéd, but go watch Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey... why?

That's right, have the PCs meet "themselves", ostensibly from the future. Except these are the "evil us's" who are bent on destroying the party. Fun lines are things like, "yeah, we thought it was weird when we us's were you us's and we us's were telling us us's what we us's are telling you us's right now."

Of course, the idea is that the "evil PCs" play along and even help the PCs out... until it comes time to off them.

Which reminds me... nothing works better to frustrate a party than an NPC party that is clones of that party. The PCs - especially the munchkins - HATE facing themselves.

99.) Similar to the above, but have the PCs travel forward in time to an alternate universe where they are bad guys. Now the question becomes, "since we're now the bad guys, do we kill ourselves?" Furthermore, the PCs should think, "hey, we can't lose; if the bad versions of us kill the good versions of us now, the bad versions of us will never exist and we get a paradox."

Of course, since this is an alternate universe, there IS no paradox if a PC is killed.

For even more fun, you might try to talk the party into committing suicide to stop themselves...

Ah, the mind games.

--The Sigil

 

[The Sigil]

#100!

For good measure, here's #100....

100.) Use an airlock - big enough for 1 PC at a time only - to restrict access between levels of a dungeon. Pulled this on my PCs and it took them three real-time hours to figure it out and get everybody through.

Why do they freak out? They wonder, "why do we have to be separated? What's in the airlock? Was the guy who went through replaced by a doppleganger?" The list goes on and on.

--The Sigil

 

[Craer]

I'll turn this into a netbook if we break 125 or so, or if the thread drops off the second page. Or something.

101. When describing a scene filled with suspence/horror, dim the lights and whatnot, but always keep moving. Walk behind players, lean down and whisper in their ears, turn around, but always keep moving. Very disturbing if done right.

-Craer

edit - you people post so quickly that the number was off by two.

 

[HalfElfSorcerer]

Craer - I would love to see this become a netbook. However, check the name of the thread: "One THOUSAND Ways to Freak Out Your Players." It would be advisable to see how far we get towards our goal first. I'll do my best to keep this on the first page by posting my new ideas. Speaking of which...

102. Have the Manual of the Planes out and open to some Lower Plane. Whenever a character does ANYTHING, roll d% dice. At some point during the session, have the party sucked into the plane the book is open to after you roll the dice.

 

[Xarlen]

This works extremely well. I had a party of 15th level (Psion/Slayer, Rogue, Barbarian, Cleric) who were walking down a corridor hall. One of them spotted a lone kobold who was ducking back behind a door and slammed it shut. That kobold had two friends with him. They were a 16th level adventuring party. One barbarian, one wizard (already had improved invis. up) and a cleric. Needless to say when my group of badasses came in and saw only two kobolds they laughed. The kobolds told them to leave or die so my PCs decided it was time to teach them a lesson. Once the Kob Cler. Flame Striked a few times and the barbarian had gotten buffed up by a mage they couldn't see the characters finally started to understand they were in for the fight of the session. It was great fun and now my players think hard about every encounter because they never know what I may throw in there next. I know: kobold succubus, Dire kangaroo, and a chupacabra Dire Lemur.

I *Love* kobolds.

Here's a little suggestion. A kobold Clr7/Bar1 or 2. Buff him with Endurances, Divine Favor, so forth. Then drop a Divine Power, and Rage. Str of 22 kobold.

 

[SonOfLilith]

102) Say "are you sure?" befor the PC's do anything. Works really well if you have a reputation of being an evil DM.

103) Start to say somthing like "Think about it..." "Or you're character knows that...", But then just say "Forget it. What are you doing now?"

104) Repition. Always point out something that seems to be occuring everywhere. For example, always mention that the door knob is a greenish-silver. If the PC's felt the wrath of a trapped door (or even better, a couple), they'll always think twice befor touching it.

 

[DM with a vengence]

105) More of an annoyance than a freak, when they fight against small humanoids, make then crouch in 5' high corridors through the entire dungeon.
After all, why should goblins make a 10' ceiling just to make us happy.

106) As there walking along, they hear a rustling in the bush. When they go to investigate they find a small, harmless forest animal who runs away. Repeat until they ignore rustling in the bushes. Now hit them with an ambush.

 

[Kitsune]

107. Have the party find an item that is distinctive to one member but not unique enough to make them suspicious (i.e. a holy symbol of the cleric's religion, a coat of arms with the fighter's family crest). Then put the party way back in time and put that one member in mortal danger. Works best in ancient temples of evil with sacrifice-happy priests.

I managed to really freak out the cleric when, in the middle of a fight in the temple's main room, an iron golem grabs him and starts dragging him back to the room where they found the holy symbol. Only then did it dawn on him...

 

[novyet]

108. Have ordinary objects become possessed by demonic spirits, and influence normal people, ala the dolls in shadowrun.
109. Remember the demon from the movie Fallen? Heh heh. Try using that on a group of players and see what happens. Try explaining that one to a magistrate or a paladin afterward.