When PCs are outmatched

[Gold Roger]

NPC sacrifices are a good thing for a horror campaign (or any villain introduction).
A more powerfull (and well liked) NPC sacrificing himself so the PC's can live:
1. Shows them they can't defeat the horror atm
2. Let's them see it and survive
3. Makes the really hate that thing and want to come back at it

Think the situation of the fellowship and the balrog, just with a different aftermath.

 

[Li Shenron]

One little specific thing which I have learned that could help instill fear in the characters (but mostly in the players, who fear to lose their PC), it to use powerful monster abilities which the monster uses only ever few rounds.

At least it worked with us, when you face for example a dragon. The first breath is like a warning of the power of your opponent. Then the dragon has to wait a few rounds before breathing again, and the characters may think "perhaps it was a 1/day ability, let's keep fighting". But the second time the dragon breathes, the characters hopefully still alive, there's usually a turmoil among the players who get the feeling that they actually need to beat the monster within a certain time.

Anyway this worked when we were newbies, of course now all of us knows dragons, but it could work with a never-seen-before creature.

One other thing that is scary is always level drain. The chance of losing levels is more scary to that of dieing outright, because when you die you may just be allowed to roll up another character, but if you lose many levels you feel like stuck for a long time with a crippled PC before you manage to get back.

If you want to be mean, let your group meet a Shadow Dragon...

 

[Jdvn1]

How do you help the party know when to run, so they don't stumble into a TPK?

One way that immediately comes to mind is the use of Sense Motive mentioned in... Complete Adventurer? It lets you gauge how tough an enemy is.

 

[Seravin]

There's also opponents whom the PC's might only be able to take by killing - but who they don't want to kill.

In a 2ed game my players encountered goblyns who turned out out to be polymorphed children. This wasn't discovered until the first goblyn was killed and transformed back to her original form. The PC's couldn't get out of that room fast enough to bar the door.

Large numbers (mob from DMGII?) of charmed/dominated allies/villagers/whatever intent on pulling the PC's down to the floor and then beating their brains out could serve the same purpose. Sure the party could kill a few, but it might be harder to do if they know these people. If the charm effect is supernatural then it's not dispelable either. The attacks of the charmed people could be as effective or not as you choose based on weapons at hand (perhaps they're slowed because they keep fighting the effect).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

One particularly effective way to get players to "realize the danger of the situation" (other than including a "redshirt" NPC, that is) was actually pulled off in a 2Ed high-level adventure (Hand of Vecna, or some such).

The players either get to play or get to see the Council of Mages take on Vecna and handle him pretty well...only to see the entire Council slain in seconds by the REAL Vecna.

In other words- give them BIG BOLD HINTS that they can't handle the BBEG.

If they don't get the hint, let at least one PC become the redshirt.

 

[cwhs01]

Most of you seem to agree that horror campaigns are mostly about overwhelming odds and opposition, meaning big and dangerous monsters for the pc's level. I'm not sure i entirely agree. In my experience, the actual monsters isn't really as important, as the gradual search and discovery process.

In my experience (having played a couple of campaigns and several oneshots of Call of Cthulhu and a few other horror games), meeting and confronting the opposition isn't as "scary" as not knowing what is actually after you. In horror campaigns, ignorance is never bliss... The pc's should be aware or learn that they are followed/watched/hunted or that their foes are so imensely powerful that they don't care about them. Going up against these odds, knowing or slowly realising that the outcome will likely be fatal (or a pyrrhic victory), but also knowing they have no choice as to wether or not to confront the enemy, is usually a good way to create a lovely atmosphere of despair, paranoia and fear. letting the players realize that strange things are happening, not really knowing what or entirely sure why, is another often effective horror gimmick.

IMX Horror campaigns seem to rely on creating a "mood" for the campaign, focussing on feelings of paranoia and fear (defining the genre?). Character interaction also focusses more on this, and campaigns tend to be more rp and investigation intensive, than standard fantasy. I'd asume DnD's timeconsuming boardgame'esque combats makes it difficult to maintain this, so DnD horror campaigns would presumably have fewer combats?

Ofcourse, as a climactic final battle, a strong foe IS needed.

Also, killing pc's left and right doesn't really help to create an atmosphere of fear, as they'll be probably more focussed on being anoyed and thinking about the crunchy details of their newest character build, than care about the game IMO. It also requires tweaking of logic and metagaming for the rest of the paranoid pc's to embrace new characters with open arms every few minutes.