D&D 5E Scariest Monster Ever

[Will Doyle]

The scariest monster I ever ran was a mundane wild boar in WFRP. One of the characters came up against it while hunting in the woods, got chased, gored, and eventually ended up almost bleeding to death while hiding up a tree. It sounds simple, but the whole episode felt like a medieval version of Jaws.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

8. Little Girl Wandering Alone in a Bad Place. (Enough said.)

In a Call of Cthulhu game our group investigated strange lights in the mountains of a remote community far from the city. We interviewed an old hermit and throughout the interview he kept bringing up his cabbage garden while honing his axe. The GM played it so creepy and spooked us so much that we made a logic leap that the old man was murdering people and burying them in his garden. One night myself and another player sneaked onto his property to find evidence of his murders, were caught by the old man, and killed him in a gunfight.

He was terrifying to us but it turns out he was just a socially awkward old gardener who was murdered during a home invasion.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

As someone above said...a "What the hell is that thing!?!?!" moment. Turned out to be a giant, tentacled Rot-Grub 'queen'...she spat rot grubs at you... when you stabbed/shashed her, rot grubs would spurt out onto you...and when she died, she exploded into a 'rain of rot grubs'. hehe....good times...good times...

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Nemio]

Fear of the unknown, coupled with CrEePy music, has always won out in our games. It's like the tension on an rollercoaster before you actually plunge down, that's the part that scares them.

Any music that you can recommend?

 

[Nebulous]

Any music that you can recommend?

Oh, God, I wouldn't know where to begin. No, that's not true, I know where to begin, I don't know where to STOP recommending! Big difference. I used to collect music and soundtracks specifically for roleplaying games, and I used RPG soundmixer to queue up entire sessions, and then save them, and tracks are instantly retrievable with the touch of a button. You'd print out a .txt file of all the tracks and what key it was tied to, and you could mix and match files for example, raindrops with wind and a creaking door and a baby crying, etc. The possibilities were endless, it was just a matter of how much time you wanted to invest. But the GOOD news is that any time invested was saved in the program, so you could go back and use the same preconfiguredd sounds for years and years. For $20 RPG soundmixer is probably the best rpg supplement i've ever bought.

Anyway, to answer your question, a few soundtracks come to mind for scary:

Born on the Fourth of July
http://www.song365.cc/track/john-williams-the-shooting-of-wilson----294383.html

Penderecki the Awakening of Jacob (from The Shining)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItQShdCSY3k

Session 9 (one of my top 10 horror films ever)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0ZM641hvSM&list=PLQLQoFN2vW1EnEx82BgtWTJzQlfICqKPO

 

[ranger69]

A group of first level I DM'd for years ago came across a badger that was protecting it's young. A few rounds later 3 of the 6 characters were dead from critical hit after critical hit. (Could'nt fudge as dice rolls were in the open.) The rest were running away. Ever since the group has been very wary around "small furry creatures".

 

[TarionzCousin]

Level Drain. Especially on Unholy Ground where the Cleric can't Turn Undead.

Oh, this should have been one of the categories.

In 1E, I ran one encounter where a Shadow (?) drained one character a level. Back then, even though we played every week, it had taken over six months to gain one level. The other players were terrified and ran.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Yeah, rot grubs are generally the more feared creatures we had ever faced.

 

[Blue]

Story told to me about a 4e gaming group. They were in the heroic tier and in a fight and one PC ran though a portal. There was a dragon on the other side. The DM rolled and asked innocently "Does a 54 hit your fortitude?".

They got out FAST.

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

I have used the "Unseen Somethings" to great effect in the past.

D20 Modern campaign, the PCs are leading a group of marines through an abandoned spaceship. Their only lights are flashlights, when the NPC marines start screaming and getting picked off one by one. Meanwhile, I have this music playing in the background - Seizure of Power. The critters in question were grimlocks - blind, but able to use the darkness to their advantage.