Scaring players... tips needed!

[Bibliophile]

Well, I'm organizing the next step of my modern campaign, which will be an overnight session, with the players onboard a cargo-ship, investigating an "arms shipment." Unknown to the players, the government was meddling in the occult, and the arms-shipment is the result of one of their experiments. (some demon-ish creature)

Before the PCs snuck onto the ship, but while it was at sea, the "experiment" escaped and wiped out most of the crew. The session starts with the PCs boarding the ship from their zodiac (rubber raft, deployed from a helocopter). Hopefully, it'll end with a final-confrontation (tm) with the experiment.

I've already planned on having a ominously large storm (tm) set in soon after they board, and wipe out their raft (and prevent outside communications). But as far as planning the rest of it, i'm stuck.

Basically, I need help scaring the players for the session. This will be their first encounter with a supernatural aspect of the campaign world, and i want them to fear/respect it. So, if any of you have suggestions on doing that, from encounter ideas, to setting the atmosphere, to whatever, they're welcome

 

[Xarlen]

Some movies you might want to check out.

Ghost Ship. Deep Rising.

Both take place on a ship (Ocean Liners, though). Good suspense, and creepiness factor.

First, have the thing kill the majority of the military personel. The crew doesnt' know what's happened, what's going on, so they're nearly as lost as the players. Then maybe one of the PCs finds a military dude, who's wounded, and half concious, and babbling. They could be in a secure place... And while he starts to speak, a banging comes. Or a groaning along the walls. And it gets louder. And louder. And something's Coming.

Maybe the Demonic Thing has the ship's course set to some rocks where it will undoubtably crash. The PCs then have to get to the control room and change the course, while there is still time, and deal with The Evil Thing.

 

[Napftor]

Well, I don't know if you use music in your campaign, but now would be a good time to whip out some scary soundtracks. The quieter bits of Aliens for instance, or the chanting from Temple of Doom for the final battle. Also use near eye-damagingly-low lighting in your gaming area.

I'm not sure what your demon can control, but maybe he can have some whacky effect on the ships electrical system. While the storm's doing its thing outside and everything's dark, suddenly have the lights go on full brightness where the PCs are and have everything be eerily quiet (even though nothing is there). The reverse would also be spooky. For whatever reason, the PCs light source is extinguished for a short time and the only lighting comes from the storm's violent flashes. Hmm, a strobe effect wouldn't be bad either with minor vision penalties.

If your demon hasn't eaten (or otherwise desposed of) the corpses of the crew, position them graphically about the ship's interior. Maybe the thing likes its trophies with no eyes or ears and hanging from the rafters, blood dripping like water onto the deckplates.

Roll discreetly behind your GM screen for no reason. Follow some of these nonsense rolls by asking a player, "What is your PC doing right now?" Have them roll many Listen and Spot checks as well for no reason. You'll also want more obvious displays of its power before getting to it, like steel doors ripped from the hinges and claw marks gutting the machinery.

There's some off the cuff suggestions. I'm sure more will follow.

 

[-Ekimus-]

As for the monster, I suggest watching The Thing, or playing it on PS2 (if u have it). Make some of the crew members have a breaking point, and kill themselves. If u want to go farther, make some of the NPC's inflicted with a mutation disease to turn it into a "monster minion". The game itself is quite scary

 

[DM with a vengence]

Never state facts, always use words like "looks" and "appears" in your descriptions. Instead of "The hallway is clear." use "The hallyway appears clear." While this will drive them crazy, it will also scare them a lot.

Have them make constant listen or spot checks, which will allow them to hear strange noises in the depths of the ship or see shadows flitting around the edges of their vision.

"As you advance between the cargo container, you hear metallic clanking sounds from above your head, like something is walking on the cargo container next to you."

"There's something perched on the radar mast, but a sudden flash of lightening blinds you, and when you can see again it's gone."

They find a dead crew member. He's been ripped to shreds, and next to him is a 12 gauge shotgun and five empty shell cases.

The ship is plauged with strange electrical faults, the lights and air conditioner go on and off more of less at random.

Their equipment is sabotaged when it is left alone. Flashlights will have their batteries removed and put in backwards, ropes will come undone, doors will lock and so on.

Make them split up. You need a man on the bridge, and someone in the engine room, and someone has to seach the crew quarters to see in their's anybody left alive, and someone has to compile the data on the experiment. Make sure that each of these duties splits them up.

Let them find one survivor who's completely crazy, have him talk only about one aspect of them demon.

 

[nameless]

Tone of voice is also important in this kind of setting. During the lulls in terror, make sure to use a controlled, slightly monotone voice, and speak softly. (If you're really good, the players will lean in closer to you to compensate for your low speaking voice) When the action rises, your voice gains momentum and volume, it really does something to subconsciously put the audience on edge.

One technique I also learned from a lot of scary movies is to have suspense build as the demon inevitably approaches closer (i.e. rumbling steps from down the hall. Think T-Rex from Jurassic Park), only to suddenly disappear just before being seen.

It also becomes very frustrating when there is just one opponent who constantly evades the PCs due to DM fiat. Throw some other minor challenges in to add a sense of accomplishment and progress. Maybe the demon is using some of the crew as thralls to keep its connection to the world strong. Only by finding and killing the hiding (and completely dominated) soldiers can the party actually weaken the demon enough to kill/banish it. Or something like that . Of course, you may be more creative in your challenges, but don't skimp on them.

 

[Xarlen]

Maybe the thing is not just an outsider-type demon, but it's got some biological aspects to it.

If you've played Resident Evil 2, consider the main badguy for Leon. He continually mutates.

One scene he injects this 'thing' into a character, and later it bursts out of him and gets rather big and ugly.

This thing could do something like Aliens, or Slaad. Plant a *thing* in it, and have it start to play with the NPCs, until it just... well, BURSTS out.

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

Nothing better to scare a gamer than to show your willingness to use homebrew material.

How about a possesing spirit. It could be just about any sort of Devil/Fiend/Undead you like, dependant on party level. The catch is that any thing you use against it, it posses for D3 rounds. I'm not sure how things work in D20 Modern, but imagine a Paladin's +5 Holy Avenger just turned into a Backbiting sword. The Cleric tries to turn, and his eyes start glowing red. I'm sue there is a way to make it fit in this campaign.

Turning a party's equiptment, or better yet themselves, against them will scare them good, or atleast mess with their heads.

 

[s/LaSH]

There's always the good old chestnut of a message painted on a wall in blood. Typically some thing like BEWARE THE D------* (huge streak of blood spattered down the wall; nobody ever finishes those messages). Bonus points for someone leaning against a wall and everyone else seeing this huge bloodsplat behind them in a burst of lightning.

Then there's the fact that you can play up the dichotomy between the mechanical and the supernatural. Perhaps the presence of this creature is continually perverting the natural order of things. About halfway through the adventure, start describing how things are turning weird. Perhaps all the lights start flickering, not because of power loss, but like you're underwater (you know the cool patterns water forms, right?); or the PA speakers all over the ship start whispering to each other. Build up to demonic chanting. Towards the end, blood (or something less tired, like pus or bony growths) starts coming out of the walls, and some pieces of equipment start coming to life - but only for one round, so when someone else asks why you're beating the crap out of that microwave oven you've got no good answer.

A little detail: wildlife. It's going to sense this beast, and it's going to run away. No seagulls. Pets in cabins either escape their cages or run overboard when 'rescued'. If you have an opportunity to do so, describe barnacles abandoning the ship. You could probably do something interesting with spiders too... a half-finished spiderweb hanging in a doorway is always an interesting puzzle.

Do the players even know what's on the ship? If not, then they shouldn't. Not at first, and possibly not even by the end; let them put their own conclusions together. Nothing's more fun than watching players debate what that thing was. "It was a demon!" "It was a mutant!" "It was something worse!" If you don't label it, they will, and if you've done your job properly, they're guaranteed to come up with something to massage your DM ego.

Finally, there's something essential to all horror: pacing. The players know they're going to see something hideous, but they don't know when, so keep 90% of the adventure low-key and quiet, just decribing things like the tap-tap of dripping water or the pools of light like islands on a sea of darkness extending down a corridor. Then when something nasty happens, emphasise it somehow. (If you're sitting next to the light switch, you have a great opportunity to earn bonus points.) I cannot emphasise this one enough; buildup is key to effective horror.

 

[Bagpuss]

I ran a spooky Resident Evil type game on Halloween that had a similair "Go in expecting normal mission, find everyone dead then weird stuff happens".

I had the room lit only by one main lamp which I set on a timer, so part way through the evening the room plunged into darkness. Then I broke out the glowsticks I bought earlier. Depends if you are willing to spend a few quid and have time to prepare such things.

Suspence is the easiest way to build fear. Hint at things in the best horror movies you never get to see the monster long enough to realise its some CGI effect or guy in a rubber suit. Slowly reveal the story of whats happened on the ship.

Start with a ghostly quiet ship a drift (or if you prefer locked on auto-pilot heading for a major population centre), then they should hear noises, some scrapping on metal, banging thats hard to locate. The discover blood, buckled doors, and eventually a body.

Get handouts prepare of crewmen's diaries, ships logs or research notes from the occult scientist that have been travelling with their creation, clues that point towards the creature.

You need to introduce some disposable NPC's perhaps they find a surviving crew member babbling about the horror, or the pilot for the zodiac / helicopter, etc. Some NPC's you can kill off (either they disappear after completely screaming something over the radio, or their corpse is discovered horribly disfigured missing the liver or something) before the creature turns its attention to the party.

The party should not be able to kill the monster with conventional weapons, drive it off for a short time perhaps, but killing it will take more thought or resources. They must come to the conclusion that they have to some how get off the ship, or find some special method to kill the creature (be it blowing up the whole ship, or performing a banishing ritual for example). The players will probably come up with a number of solutions, not just the one you had in mind, don't rule out thier ideas.

That's how I'ld play it.