What Scares You?

[blackshirt5]

OK, I'm looking to evoke some horror and fear in my game, so I figured I'd ask the good people at ENWorld:
What Scares You?

I'm looking for things that would genuinely frighten you, either IRL, or if you were an adventurer. Preferrably include something in the way of how you would evoke that terror in describing it, etc. Anything, even if it's a 6 foot tall demonic bunny named Frank(although please nobody say "What Scares Me? Piratecat Naked.", because my poor fragile psyche wouldn't be able to handle that.)

 

[Mark]

I wasn't going to say anything....

I mean, you and Angcuru are kinda OK...

...but that RakeRon just scares the begeebus out of me...

 

[Zogg]

Drowning, for one. Perhaps you could have some of the party members be swimming underwater and represent their breath with small hourglasses (from board games). I'm sure they will freak as the time slowly runs out.

Riding a motorcycle also scares the crap out of me - although driving my car at 100mph seems like nothing. Kinda funny that way.

 

[el-remmen]

From my Story Hour

Meanwhile, Kazrack took moment of hanging too low to help to look further down the shaft, as a shuffling and murmuring sound drew his attention. He could see that the shaft ended only twenty feet below this last ledge, but what was down there horrified him.

The bottom of the shaft was filled with the blank and rotten faces of babies struggling to look up at him. They crawled over each other’s sore-covered leathery flesh, their exaggerated jaws salivating; their little hands, most missing fingernails, some still having them twisted back and protruding from the dead flesh they punctured, reaching up to Kazrack as they took notice of him. The dead babies bubbled like a cauldron of pure horror. The dwarven rune-thrower could see that the babies were several feet deep, crawling over each other and pushing others down blindly in their vain attempt to reach him. A handful of emaciated rats crawled in and out of the pile of tiny bodies nibbling on filmy eyes and tiny tender ears and toes, squeaking delightedly.

Suddenly, one of the babies cried out that halting cry of hungry baby, and another took it up and then another, until they roiled and cried in a cacophony that rose up the shaft.

 

[diaglo]

what scares me? the same thing that has scared the older generation for eons.

the youth of today.

really.

i'm afraid they won't learn from the mistakes of the past. or that they will repeat them. or even do worse.

 

[Maldur]

That nemmerle is beyond scary!!!

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Well I'm very neurotic and have countless fears and aversions. That said:

Wild carnivores. Gory stuff, like nasty icky bodies. Strange-looking folk, like the Elephant Man or Dogfaced Boy. Demonology and the occult and such. Rollercoasters, lol.

 

[Darth Shoju]

whoah

First off, I just wanted to say that post about the undead babies creeped me right out. I mean, I consider myself a veteran Call of Cthulhu player and I found that downright chilling. Congrats!

As far as what scares me? When I was younger it was always noises and shapes in the dark. I'd say now that I'm older that is really more of a fear of the unknown. This is an element of human nature that I think Lovecraft was very talented at exploiting. Other than that, I'd say I'm pretty scared of suffocating and heights.

 

[JChung2003]

what scares me? the same thing that has scared the older generation for eons.

the youth of today.

really.

i'm afraid they won't learn from the mistakes of the past. or that they will repeat them. or even do worse.

Doesn't every generation make the same mistake of thinking the generation after it won't learn from the mistakes of the past? You know, your generation managed to survive despite what the generation before you thought of you.

 

[Oni]

Spiders, I can't stand spiders. I get the willies just fighting spiders in Dnd.