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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheSword" data-source="post: 8101442" data-attributes="member: 6879661">Perhaps instead of seeing HP and AC as a barrier to PC death, try looking at HP and AC as a way of tracking the physical trauma that the PC endures.I agree that vulnerability is important but there are several methods of creating this...<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Isolation</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Removal of safe places</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Inability to effectively hurt or stop your foes</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">An enemy that seems to know your tactics and weaknesses and effectively hits them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">An enemy that hits you when you are not expecting it, or when you feel safe.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">An enemy that hits you when it’s least convenient.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">An enemy that defies And confounds you expectations.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">An inability to predict or use logic to anticipate outcomes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The doomsday clock that takes control of pace away from PCs.</li> </ul>I’ll give a few examples of how this occurred when I DMd curse of Strahd.1. When the PCs travelled through the mists it was clear that they were not in the real world... they wandered for what seemed like hours in thick fog eventually having to sleep up against a tree, the trees were far too twisted to find rest in the branches, and the mist seemed to make the iron-hard bark-heavy branches and damp earth resist kindling. Bestial grunts and howls in the night made it clear that there were things out there. The atmosphere was a very isolated “we’re not in Kansas anymore” mood. From a thematics point of view it was accentuated by candlelight on the table, blue mood lighting, an atomizer picking up the blue light of night and the Syrinscape sound system. One player said this opening scene in the Barovia set the tone for whole campaign for him.2. When crossing a bridge, hurrying to reach the next settlement before nightfall, the PCs met farmers hurrying the other way. The farmers stoped and said the PCs were mad for heading into the woods that they were dangerous. They asked if the PCs had silver weapons because there were said to be wolves that walked as men to the west that could only be harmed with silver. When the PCs said they didn’t the farmers said “good” and transformed into werewolves. The PCs were at first suspicious, then reassured by the conversation, then horrified that they’d admitted their own weakness.3. Night was a doomsday clock. When the party were caught at night after the werewolf attack they started to come across individual zombies, a couple at first then more. It became clear with an attack as they tried to rest that the woods were teeming with them and they seemed to be drawn to the warmth and meat of the party. Take a leaf out of The Walking Dead and make sure all zombies have a bite attack and change slam attacks to piercing. The PCs had to press on to the destination through the night resources slowly depleting until they saw the lights of the winery ahead. Only to find it under attack by a different foe.Horror rpg adventuring is about the setup and the buy in from players willing to be scared. Sure the party wizard could have taken rope trick and undermined all this. However, the session zero made it clear for the players to bring along characters that were flawed and willing to be scared. That was the deal. They stuck to it, I stuck to it the campaign worked. It was without doubt my most satisfying and enjoyable campaign to DM. No characters died, that wasn’t what made it work.Another leaf out the Walking Dead book was to play in a world without zombie films. Essentially for The Walking Dead to work the characters can’t have been brought up on Zombie Slasher films, so there is a conceit that this doesn’t exist. The player characters will be built on the conceit that they had never heard of vampires, werewolves or zombies. They just hadn’t come across those things in their careers.</blockquote>

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