TheAlkaizer
Game Designer
Many others have already mentioned the tropes of horror that can be used. Horror is very much achieved through mood, limited information and using the player's imagination against them.
Here is an example of one horrific scene that worked splendidly when I used it with my players a few months back.
The group had met a caravan of some forty or fifty individuals. Carts and chariots pulled by horses and donkeys. Soldiers atop steeds. Folks walking with bags over their shoulders. Anyway, the group joins the caravan and spend about two sessions travelling with them, getting to know them.
Location
Then the road leads them into a large valley between two mountain range. They can see the road making its run through a gargantuan forest that runs until the mountains break the horizon. They see a tower next to the road maybe halfway into the valley. The caravan stops and everyone sets camp.
Setup
Later in the evening, most folks are either sleeping, eating, playing dice or other activities. I took a good moment to describe how fog came down from the mountain and enveloped the caravan. How the cold light from the moon and the warm one from the fires of the caravan clashed and densed through the fog and how they could hear folks yelling, snoring and singing around them in the fog.
Then I changed the music (I use spotify for mood) and described how they feel a very slight gust of wind that makes their campfire swirl for a moment. Then they hear a flapping sound, but can't tell where it's coming from. And a moment later, another slight gust of wind and the flapping sound. At that point, my players were quite curious and tried to look around and pay attention but didn't want to go into the fog.
I then described how they spot a shadow move quickly through the fog and they hear a terrible shriek coming from the head of the caravan where the horses were tied up. My group decided to move cloak first into the fog towards the sound only to find one of the horse fall right before them, its flesh teared apart and disembowelled. In the background they hear the yelling of soldiers that gather their sword and set up around the caravan to try and find out what's lurking.
Payoff
I could have had the creature attack them right now and have a cool encounter in the fog, but at that point I mostly had described things to them and they didn't have much agency. So I decided to take another path. They heard a shriek again and then the sound of flapping than slowly faded away in the night.
Not willing to chase the creature through the fog, my players spent the rest of the night very restless. The following day, when the fog had mostly gone away, they decided to make their way to the tower (only apparent location of interest) to find more. By the time they reach it, it is dusk. The moody setup I had done earlier communicated to them how fast the creature was, how strong and dangerous it was and that it was potentially flying. At that moment, they imagination was running wild and they imagined much scarier creatures than anything I could throw at them. The tower was not especially big, but they slowly made their way through it, finding bones of varying size, hardened feces and other clues. They really did not want to make noise and spent many moments waiting in silence.
The tower scene itself was in itself quite mundane, but it benefited immensely from the setup of the previous scene.
In the same way, most dungeons are really not that scary. But if do a good setup before hand and are not too explicit about what they'll find inside, their imagination will do the rest.
Here is an example of one horrific scene that worked splendidly when I used it with my players a few months back.
The group had met a caravan of some forty or fifty individuals. Carts and chariots pulled by horses and donkeys. Soldiers atop steeds. Folks walking with bags over their shoulders. Anyway, the group joins the caravan and spend about two sessions travelling with them, getting to know them.
Location
Then the road leads them into a large valley between two mountain range. They can see the road making its run through a gargantuan forest that runs until the mountains break the horizon. They see a tower next to the road maybe halfway into the valley. The caravan stops and everyone sets camp.
Setup
Later in the evening, most folks are either sleeping, eating, playing dice or other activities. I took a good moment to describe how fog came down from the mountain and enveloped the caravan. How the cold light from the moon and the warm one from the fires of the caravan clashed and densed through the fog and how they could hear folks yelling, snoring and singing around them in the fog.
Then I changed the music (I use spotify for mood) and described how they feel a very slight gust of wind that makes their campfire swirl for a moment. Then they hear a flapping sound, but can't tell where it's coming from. And a moment later, another slight gust of wind and the flapping sound. At that point, my players were quite curious and tried to look around and pay attention but didn't want to go into the fog.
I then described how they spot a shadow move quickly through the fog and they hear a terrible shriek coming from the head of the caravan where the horses were tied up. My group decided to move cloak first into the fog towards the sound only to find one of the horse fall right before them, its flesh teared apart and disembowelled. In the background they hear the yelling of soldiers that gather their sword and set up around the caravan to try and find out what's lurking.
Payoff
I could have had the creature attack them right now and have a cool encounter in the fog, but at that point I mostly had described things to them and they didn't have much agency. So I decided to take another path. They heard a shriek again and then the sound of flapping than slowly faded away in the night.
Not willing to chase the creature through the fog, my players spent the rest of the night very restless. The following day, when the fog had mostly gone away, they decided to make their way to the tower (only apparent location of interest) to find more. By the time they reach it, it is dusk. The moody setup I had done earlier communicated to them how fast the creature was, how strong and dangerous it was and that it was potentially flying. At that moment, they imagination was running wild and they imagined much scarier creatures than anything I could throw at them. The tower was not especially big, but they slowly made their way through it, finding bones of varying size, hardened feces and other clues. They really did not want to make noise and spent many moments waiting in silence.
The tower scene itself was in itself quite mundane, but it benefited immensely from the setup of the previous scene.
In the same way, most dungeons are really not that scary. But if do a good setup before hand and are not too explicit about what they'll find inside, their imagination will do the rest.
