in and share some successful tactics that have worked for me.quick note: if you have anything at all you would like to contribute to this mega-thread of horror stuff...creatures, rules, maps, setting, music, at all....please post here.
Most important things to remember BEFORE running:
1-atmosphere (its all about mood, and atmosphere)
2-setting
3-rules to get the genre running right and smoothly
4-dm (or gm)
5-players
6-preperation
Most important things to do WHILE running:
1-atmosphere (I cant stress it enough)
2-setting (putting the players there)
3-word play
4-leading and following
5-show no mercy
6-don't show them the edge
So, lets get some details on those shall we. First things first, get the right atmosphere. I accomplish this in 4 ways:
a-music
b-how I run (i certainly don't act silly)
c-the players i pick to invite
d-character sheets (i made my own and used a cool font...oooouuuu)
Next is the setting, do you want your players running around modern day new york city, 1920's new york city, standard fantasy, or the future. Think about this, really think about this. You see, if you pick a modern time with nothing but humans (esp. earth as a setting) then your players will connect better with them and relate better to the world leaving that much easier to be scary.
Now the crunch...rules.
I like to use the following rules and recommend so my self. I like to use the a variant of the Wound point/Vitality point sys, a sanity sys, and d20 modern for the rest. I have just never felt that a fantasy setting can sustain a horror setting for any real length and thus don't use it.
Now, besides the obvious, of act like you want your game to run and invite only players who want to play and wont disrupt game for the sake of his character being better. It all boils down to mood. Run game at night, don't break character, describe things in detail, but without giving it away. Another words, don't say:
'you see a fast zombie charging you at a 90 ft movement'
say
'you see a injured and bloody man with a glazed look in his eyes running full speed at you. He sounds like he is trying to say something under a blood filled mouth'.
DO NOT FREAKIN' RAILROAD THE GAME FOR ANY REASON
trust me, leave it all up to the players where to go. Why? Simple, because if you railroad, they'll call you an evil dm/gm who just likes to kill his players. If you force them to make ALL (and I don't mean most) ALL of the decisions of where they go and what they do (just have all the monsters/npcs react to them) they'll be much more afraid to do anything stupid because it'll get them killed by their own hands. Now, feel free to set up a "board for them to walk" but don't railroad...don't lead them through, follow them through. Oh, and never leave their perspectives...it helps keep in character if all they know is what their characters know.
ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE
show them no mercy. Have a system in place to keep things moving in the eventual case of player (character) death, so you're not afraid to chop the ax when it comes time to.
My personal system that works sooo well is this:
1-The game starts off with a certain number of npc's that follow them
2-There are survivors through out the game
3-If a pc dies, they can pick up any of the remanding npc's, in their current condition...no NEW pc characters. Think of the npc's like extra lives that fight with you and can die before you.
AN INVISIBLE WALL IS STILL A WALL
don't show them the edge of the game by saying "you can go that way", let them try, just have contingencies set up in case they do. Oh, you follow the main highway till you get to the edge of the city only to find...wait...what!...What do you mean the bridge is out and theres suddenly a huge gap in the earth as if someone just made a rather large section disappear.
Now...I know thats alot to read and even I dont like reading that much but trust me...its all useful stuff. For those of you who did read the whole thing and was like "OMG i already knew all of that"...heres some kewl things for you.
Music I recommend for any horror game
Midnight Syndicate (almost anything by them is good, but I'll list some of their best). Vampyre: Symphonies From The Crypt (really good), Born of the Night (ok), Gates of Delirium (really good second half).
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Withing OST...this cd is amazing for horror games
Marilyn Manson's Resident Evil Theme (like him or hate him this songs just down right creepy)
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust OST (good luck finding it)
Silent Hill OST (good luck finding this as well)
Font's I recommend for your horror sheets
creepy girl
nosferatu
both of which can be found for free at www.dafont.com
if you have anything at all you would like to contribute to this mega-thread of horror stuff...creatures, rules, maps, setting, music, at all....please post here.
Someone throws a well-known one-liner and the whole mood gets shot until everyone gets over it. Generally it's best to let the funny stuff run its course before trying to get everyone to be serious again. In this case, going with the flow (even if it mean going off in a whole new direction) is the best. That doesn't mean that the players get to ruin every encounter so you should talk to them if you are really feeling like your time is being wasted. But it does sometimes indicate that perhaps something more light-hearted needs to be done.
Horror works best when it's personal. Having a series of monsters/encounters or longer adventures focus on one player at a time is a great way involve everyone in a horror campaign. There should be something in each character's background that would explain the animosity. This is particularly good if your player's like to write backgrounds for their PCs. Even something simple such as inheritance from relative (not to mention a funeral and lots of dead things), or unrequited love [undead girlfriends/boyfriends], having a responsibilty thrust upon a PC [a child, a residence or a pet] can all be twisted into something horrible.
Good horror has a bit of tragedy at its core. Hauntings, killing sprees, fire staters all should have a bit of a tragic story behind it. The driving force of most undead shouldn't be merely a hatred for the living but a hatred born of jealousy, or fear, or rage at a perceived unjustice.
Shapeshifters (were-creatures, dopplegangers and so forth) may have a different motivaton. They want to keep their nature a secret. The Jekyll/Hyde motive also comes in hand wherein a monster knows it is sometimes bad, but is powerless to overcome its nature (usually after it has befriended at least one party member). It's true nature doesn't appear until a stressful event triggers it. It could be anything (from the mundane having enough sleep, being too cold for a long period of time, going hungry for too long to the sublime having to witness the death of a friend or lover). The trigger should always have some connection to a PC even it is a tenous connection such a friend, lover, old class mate, former landlord, tenant, student, teacher, etc.
Then there is the messenger of doom (a banshee, the huntsman) a creature which is targeting a PC because the PC has done a bad thing in his or her past. This can be used to foreshadow other creepy events to take place.
That's all I can think of for now.
Debby
Also, try to think outside the box a little bit when it comes to horror if you don't want to be clishe. Examples:
-Water can be very scary, try using it as a reacurring theme.
-As above but fire, ice, snow, cold, caves, or rusty metal.
-Instead of supernatural, maybe aliens but not in a "sci-fi" sort of way. Think half-life
-Maybe their not undead, but infected (much more believable)
-Or none of the above but instead there is a new street drug thats causing people to become extremly violent and "not themselves". Who knows what these addicts will or can do (bite, claw, punch, or worse).
-Finally, throw a kicker at them such as your already dead, your in limbo (think silent hill, pyramid head being a demon lord)
-Water can be very scary, try using it as a recurring theme.
M. Night Shyamalan fan?
By the way, what did you mean by:
Well, seeing how our good 8 year old friend is on his dieing days before fourth ed comes out
?
And, they MIGHT be referring to 3x edition.
Could you please say what those images are? Some idiot here blocked Photobucket.
Would posting the links work?
Sorry, it wouldn't. I've tried. If you could just describe them, that'd be nice; and maybe when I can get on another internet connection, I'll be able to see them.
and yes, I was refearing to 3.x ed. Its been around sense 2000, here it is 2008 and 4th ed comes out June 6th. 3rd ed has been a good friend, me and my friends have had some good times with 3rd ed and I will be very said to see it go. However, the genre that is horror lives on.
i get the pics...and quite nice
and yes, I was refearing to 3.x ed. Its been around sense 2000, here it is 2008 and 4th ed comes out June 6th. 3rd ed has been a good friend, me and my friends have had some good times with 3rd ed and I will be very said to see it go. However, the genre that is horror lives on.
3E and 3.5 will still be here; heck, there's people that still play in 2E or earlier. That's the great thing about this kind of game; it isn't make obsolete by changes in the system.
I have too many good ideas for a campaign to revise here when the time comes.