Well put!
D&D 5E Thinking on Horror
- Thread starter Lanliss
- Start date
Building on that, and the element touched on in movies like Jaws and the aforementioned Tremors, is that humans tend to think in just 2 dimensions, or barely acknowledge that something might attack from above in a city or woods.
When you have a foe that can attack from an angle you weren't expecting, it freaks you out. A side you think is safe is suddenly a vulnerable flank.
In Tremors, it was the ground walked upon.
In Jaws, it was the deep, dark below that- for the most characters could not see into for any real length of time. In a FRPG, a character underwater could be attacked from any angle, above or below. Ditto the aerial environment.
Remember how Vermithrax used clouds and terrain to obscure his line of approach in the climactic battle in Dragonslayer? I once had a high-level party aboard an airship get attacked by a huge ancient adult blue dragon as they were traversing a cloudy sky. He'd swoop out of one cloud, strafing, and disappear into another, only to reappear at a completely different angle. The final move was when he came from directly below, grasped the airship's hull, and then reached over the sides to attack the deck with tail-sweeps, claw attacks, bites, and the occasional blast of lightning.
And when he failed to finish them off, he simply let go and dove into the clouds, never to be seen again...
In other horror/fantasy fiction or RPGs, you see the same issue arise in creature that can walk through walls, travel via shadow or mirrors, and the like.
When you have a foe that can attack from an angle you weren't expecting, it freaks you out. A side you think is safe is suddenly a vulnerable flank.
In Tremors, it was the ground walked upon.
In Jaws, it was the deep, dark below that- for the most characters could not see into for any real length of time. In a FRPG, a character underwater could be attacked from any angle, above or below. Ditto the aerial environment.
Remember how Vermithrax used clouds and terrain to obscure his line of approach in the climactic battle in Dragonslayer? I once had a high-level party aboard an airship get attacked by a huge ancient adult blue dragon as they were traversing a cloudy sky. He'd swoop out of one cloud, strafing, and disappear into another, only to reappear at a completely different angle. The final move was when he came from directly below, grasped the airship's hull, and then reached over the sides to attack the deck with tail-sweeps, claw attacks, bites, and the occasional blast of lightning.
And when he failed to finish them off, he simply let go and dove into the clouds, never to be seen again...
In other horror/fantasy fiction or RPGs, you see the same issue arise in creature that can walk through walls, travel via shadow or mirrors, and the like.
MechaPilot
Explorer
I do NOT claim to be "the best" at running horror games, nor do I claim that my way of doing so is the "proper" way to run a horror game or that my thoughts on running horror games are somehow more profound than those of other DMs. I am not so arrogant as to presume others cannot and are not better at things than I am, and I frankly don't have a high enough sense of self worth to support the notion that I am fantastic at anything.
That said, Ravenloft is my favorite campaign setting, and I like to think I'm pretty good at the whole gothic horror shtick. At least in part, this comes from receiving good advice to guide me. The 2e and 3e Ravenloft books are very good at giving advice on running a horror game, as well as giving examples of moments when horror elements come into play (the 2e Van Richten's Guides were especially good for this). However, some of this is also from personal experience and insights, which I will share below.
Player Buy-In
It's been my experience that even for an experienced DM creating fear/terror, or a good horror mood requires player cooperation. Specifically, these things are often not possible if a player has little to no attachment to her character, or is unwilling to set aside distractions that detract from the mood.
Atmosphere
With horror, as with romance, setting the mood is key. Can you inspire fear, terror or horror without dimming the lights, or playing by candlelight? Sure you can, but it's more difficult. I've described horror at the gaming table as a rare flower that is difficult to cultivate. Flowers can grow in poor soil, or with less than ideal access to sunlight and water, but they grow stronger and more readily where their preferred conditions exist.
When I run a horror game, I prefer to run it by candlelight. I disallow snacks at the table, though beverages are fine if they are in suitable drinking vessels (i.e. a bottle of Mountain Dew is a no go, but pour it in a wine/champagne glass or other suitable non-plastic cup and you're good).
Familiarity
When trying to frighten or horrify your players, there is no substitute for being familiar with who they are. As a shy person, I tend to observe people instead of injecting myself into conversations. When you observe people, you get to know their quirks, and to learn their various emotional tells. When you have more insight into what a player is thinking or feeling, you can more readily evoke fear, dread, or horror. I like to refer to this as "weaponizing empathy."
Description
When you DM, you are the channel through which your players experience the game world. You need to be evocative in your descriptions. And don't neglect the senses other than sight and sound. The feel and smell of things can make a described creature or thing feel more real, and can even set up callbacks in later moments of the adventure/campaign. Examples of this can be found in nearly every good source of horror literature.
At the same time, brevity is your friend. Description should be evocative, but it shouldn't feel like you're droning on and on, ad nauseum. You should probably use the most verbose descriptions when a thing first comes into play, or when it first transforms from something thought to be ordinary into something threatening or malicious. Then, shorter descriptions can cause a recall of what your described previously.
That said, Ravenloft is my favorite campaign setting, and I like to think I'm pretty good at the whole gothic horror shtick. At least in part, this comes from receiving good advice to guide me. The 2e and 3e Ravenloft books are very good at giving advice on running a horror game, as well as giving examples of moments when horror elements come into play (the 2e Van Richten's Guides were especially good for this). However, some of this is also from personal experience and insights, which I will share below.
Player Buy-In
It's been my experience that even for an experienced DM creating fear/terror, or a good horror mood requires player cooperation. Specifically, these things are often not possible if a player has little to no attachment to her character, or is unwilling to set aside distractions that detract from the mood.
Atmosphere
With horror, as with romance, setting the mood is key. Can you inspire fear, terror or horror without dimming the lights, or playing by candlelight? Sure you can, but it's more difficult. I've described horror at the gaming table as a rare flower that is difficult to cultivate. Flowers can grow in poor soil, or with less than ideal access to sunlight and water, but they grow stronger and more readily where their preferred conditions exist.
When I run a horror game, I prefer to run it by candlelight. I disallow snacks at the table, though beverages are fine if they are in suitable drinking vessels (i.e. a bottle of Mountain Dew is a no go, but pour it in a wine/champagne glass or other suitable non-plastic cup and you're good).
Familiarity
When trying to frighten or horrify your players, there is no substitute for being familiar with who they are. As a shy person, I tend to observe people instead of injecting myself into conversations. When you observe people, you get to know their quirks, and to learn their various emotional tells. When you have more insight into what a player is thinking or feeling, you can more readily evoke fear, dread, or horror. I like to refer to this as "weaponizing empathy."
Description
When you DM, you are the channel through which your players experience the game world. You need to be evocative in your descriptions. And don't neglect the senses other than sight and sound. The feel and smell of things can make a described creature or thing feel more real, and can even set up callbacks in later moments of the adventure/campaign. Examples of this can be found in nearly every good source of horror literature.
At the same time, brevity is your friend. Description should be evocative, but it shouldn't feel like you're droning on and on, ad nauseum. You should probably use the most verbose descriptions when a thing first comes into play, or when it first transforms from something thought to be ordinary into something threatening or malicious. Then, shorter descriptions can cause a recall of what your described previously.
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