One Thousand Ways to Freak Out Your Players

[GILGAMESH]

748. Before starting the days campaign. The Dm should gather the players together and tell them that he intends to start taking the game alot more seriously, so they should take it as a warning. And say no more about it. Then right away in the game the DM should announce that he has failed a roll and he's about to get serious! DM pulls out a block and a good sharp knife, and takes off a part of a finger at the knuckle, wrap it right away then look at his players and say "hope your dice roll better for you." Smile ,wipe off the knife and announce what the AC(or what ever is to be rolled next) then slide the block and knife over to them. That should freak them out

 

[s/LaSH]

749 Blight Their Innocence

Introduce an NPC who resembles Bugs Bunny in every regard - except instead of carrots, he munches on kittens. This is even worse if you keep Bugs' other characteristics, because he's not a bad guy; he'll stick up for the underdog, defend woodland creatures, act as a charismatic leader when trouble looms, and eat kittens.

Now watch the PCs squirm as they wonder whether to trust this character they all know and love... sure, he acts nice most of the time, but when he's idly chewing on a kitten, even the druid is likely to try and smack him in with a shillelagh. Just keep Bugs friendly to the PCs (he's a toon, he's practically indestructible, and they can't even hurt his feelings if you play him dense enough).

 

[s/LaSH]

Three quarters of the way there...

750: Worg E. Coyote

Ever noticed that a worg is roughly as intelligent as Wile E. Coyote? They have enough strength and smarts to set up a whole sequence of death-traps in the woods. Only problem is, PCs don't have the evasive abilities of Road Runners. Worgs could, with a little persistance, set up pit-traps, rolling boulders, even seesaw-style catapults, all in a small area of hilly forest. A gifted individual could even prepare snares or trip-wires (getting a supply of rope is the hard part).

Then they hide in the bushes and call for help (remember, worgs can speak; it's a quick way to get people into your traps). PCs run into the woods to find the person in distress, fall in a hole, then have a tree dropped on their head. When they get out, there's a pack of wolves standing just out of bow shot, just staring at them. Players proceed to get more and more paranoid, and eventually conclude that they're up against werewolves.

The bad news is, werewolves are weaker than worgs.

Bonus points if you can get a PC to eat belladonna over and over (remember, it's poisonous).


See, Looney Tunes adapts quite well to RPGs with just a few minor tweaks...

 

[Jeph]

751: Hi, call me Dragon.

PCs open a door or something. Big dragon head Chomps them down, spatters blood everywhere, sickening bone crunch.....

Character jsut got teleported to some dungoen, but boy, can you bet the other PCs will be parnoid about that room!

 

[s/LaSH]

750b: Unlikely allies

What do the worgs do with people they catch in their traps? Well, they eat them of course. But what do they do with their treasure, equipment etc?

Make an alliance with a local Assassins Guild. The worgs go into town (!) every few weeks dragging a bag filled with loot. The assassins trade them a bunch of acid, contact poison, rope, crossbows... everything a trap-maker needs. If a worg is spotted in town, a guild member just pretends the worg is their dog... better yet, their seeing eye dog. People never hassle the poor blind man.

This affords the worgs an opportunity to spy on PCs with impunity. If they're making plans in the tavern, a blind man walks in with a large dog who listens to everything they're saying. If they're walking down the street, there's a large, wolf-like dog standing in an alley. If they're camping in the fields, there's a canine stalking around just outside the circle of firelight. The worgs know everything about the PCs, and never let themselves get caught. This justifies the DM asking for ridiculously difficult spot checks every five minutes... and all you say if they succeed is, "You see a large dog running down the street."

The eventual outcome: "We're walking through the woods and Tordek suddenly falls in a ten-foot-deep pit of acid? What the hell? And why didn't those mysterious dogs set off the trap?"


You'd think it would be easier to spot an evil, intelligent wolf on High Street. Sadly, dogs are very common in any medieval mileu.

 

[s/LaSH]

752: Happy Friendly Spiders

For those of you who haven't (or have) played Exile (or Avernum) from Spiderweb Software (http://www.spidweb.com), introduce a whole settlement of intelligent, talking, man-sized spiders. Who are very friendly. Honestly friendly. They all talk in high, cutesy voices, are dreadfully pacifistic, and every single one of them is named Spider. One of them shyly admits that it finds one of the PCs 'cute'. And the catch? The spiders are absolutely sincere. They really are that nice. Keep it up, and wait for the PCs to break and run screaming for the hills.

 

[Kyramus]

753: Make a journal of an npc that is written 10 years before. Make him sane at the beginning and end insane proclaiming himself to be vecna.

754: slip hidden notes between the folds of the said journal above. notes that lead the players somewhere or hints at it.

755: Make clones of the pc's. use mindwipe and make them think they are some other class. watch as the Fighter meet up with his wizard counterpart.

 

[Neo]

756. When a player dies have him Reincarnated as something silly like a Badger, or Donkey or Pixie

757. Have a magical trap which turns the PC into a clown

758. when you sue an encounter thats particularly tough and your players gripe as they struggle to get the advantage,...wait utnil they do and then bring out an Iron Golem

759. Have your players hit on by a Bearded Dwarven Belly Dancer

760. Have a Dwarf offer to buy the group a drink or lend them some coin, and see how paranoid they get.

761. Use a halfling in your game, no more details are necessary for this, the word halfling should be enough to frighten anyone.

762. Menton that that Halfling is actually a Kender, and watch how quick peoples valuables get secreted away.

763. Roleplay an NPC love interest and tell the player thier interested in that you love them....see how they squirm.

764. Use a monster that scares the hell out of the group....and then have a dragon pass by overhead.

765. Give the player an Intelligent Item that hits on them.

766. Kill the PC's families, kidnap thier siblings and generally abuse their family ties

767. Give them ar really powerful, really expensive item.....and then steal it back.

768. Have the players meet a Dragon, and once they've defeated it have them discover it had been robbed earlier in the week by another adventuring party and despite all that effort thiers no tresure to haul away.

 

[hammymchamham]

757. Start a campaign, force everyone to be of Good alignment (or Evil). Have a freak accident occur that causes the players to be thrown into the future. When in the future, have the PC's meet their future self. Have the furuture PC's be of evil alignment (or good). Then have the PC's thrown back into the past.

This could be interesting, because your players who are of one alignment could start acting of another because they think you want them to. Or they will freak out wondering what you have planned that could drastically change ALL of their alignments.

 

[BBrendolfus]

758: The kingdom goes to war and levies a 10% tax on all coinage (done)