Are you afraid of the D'arque?

[The ChumpLump]

Right so here's the deal.
I've been workin' on this Horror Campy for some time, and am still working on it, so I was wondering if any of you lovely chaps, and loverly-er ptitsa's would like to offer some help, neh?



Here are a few questions, and explanations and such:

1) What scares you, on the most superficial non-reasonable level. Essentially what is your phobia ( or what is a more common one that you relate to)? [ I am trying to gather a list of fears and such, this will help me.]

2) What elements of game play have you seen in the past that make a game more serious or scary? I have a problem with games degrading quickly to bad puns, and old jokes. ((I.e. here are some Ideas I've picked up from others already: No books on the table, Candle Light, Physical Props, a private room for side things, and a tight policy on OOC conversation.))

3) What things would you expect from a horror campaign? (( Yeah I've read through HoH, but I find that lacking...))

4) What books bring you the most fight, that you would suggest as reading?

5) Finally any other tips ya'll have would be so greatly appreciated.

<3s, stars and such.

[Vincent Darkheart]

well, i dont need to tel you this much as you already know, so you may skip over this first bit if you need to, the usual undead, spiders, undead spiders, pretty much a lot of vermin, and in just about every horror campaign that ive run and that ive participated in, there is an overly bright room, with the creepy little girls and rainbows and stuff,

have a lot of rooms where darkvision and blindfight are useful, and if you need any help with atmosphere, ulver is a very good choice, as well as dark, slow, music that youd be able to find, classical music is good with that too, in the campaign, try to avoid using a lich or vampire as the boss, its cliched, yes, its the easiest thing to do, but a psycho you can do more with...
oh, and if a lot of undead are present in the game, allow players to make zombie characters, using ravenloft books that allow for undead is a good thing, but it makes for an interesting campaign if you make at least one of the forms up

[The ChumpLump]

Ulver...? I am afraid I am not familiar with the term.

[Vincent Darkheart]

Ulver, artist search on myspace, or windows meda player, lemme find his sight and il pm it to you

[Az]

1) What scares you, on the most superficial non-reasonable level. Essentially what is your phobia ( or what is a more common one that you relate to)?
Spiders Not big monstrous ones, my brain doesn't recognise those as spiders but as monsters. If I read about someone having a small spider tossed down his shirt I get mightily uncomfy though.
Also, things that are out of one's control or seem to have no way of fighting it are especially frightening. And I don't mean "that thing is huge, how could we ever hope to defeat it?" but just having no clue how to deal with a situation. That's usually why ghosts work well, because they're everywhere and nowhere, can't be seen, touched or smelled unless they want to and usually rule supreme over their haunt. Flash back a few visions, let the players relive a traumatic event that they can have no impact on. Taking control over the situation from people usually freaks them out (of course, not in a "I am the DM and I determine what happens" way, but in a "this horrible thing is going to happen and you can do nothing" way)

2) What elements of game play have you seen in the past that make a game more serious or scary? I have a problem with games degrading quickly to bad puns, and old jokes.
Keep a serious tone yourself and interrupt or cut into any off topic banter. Prepare some random events that can happen at any time for such things.
Pete: ..yeah this reminds me of this movie wher-
DM: A vase suddenly gets flung in your direction, roll a reflex save.

It'll bring them back to the game and show them you mean for them to stay on topic this time. Say it firmly but not angrily so they don't think you're taking it personal. Just in a way that says you mean business.

3) What things would you expect from a horror campaign? (( Yeah I've read through HoH, but I find that lacking...))
Haven't ever played one, but I'd expect ghosts, sounds, low light playing and not sleeping that night.

4) What books bring you the most fight, that you would suggest as reading?
I don't read scary books. I read happy books.

5) Finally any other tips ya'll have would be so greatly appreciated.
Whatever I could advise, I said up there. My scariest gaming experience was in Vampire: Bloodlines, the Ocean House Hotel. Full of little things that creeped me out, like shades at the end of the hallways, lights going off, then on and suddenly the room was a mess and GET OUT was scratched into the wall, I saw people walking behind pipes or their shadows through under the door but there was no-one there. At one point, I turned a corner, found myself at a dead end, turned around and for half a second, I saw a guy attack me with an axe, then he wasn't there.
Of course, these kinds of things are hard to incorporate in a PnP game where you can't make them think "Did I see that?" because you have to tell them if they did or didn't. The atmosphere though, should help you get into the mood a bit.
Generally, fighting a foe that isn't there unnerves people the most, in my experience.

[The ChumpLump]

Right right... hmm with all of that taken into account... I think it may be time to run a demo....

I like the idea of small non-rule scary things. Spiders... ants and such.. perhaps in odd places...I also like the concept of helplessness. Thanks for all the tips Az. I'll be sure to look into them.

[Vincent Darkheart]

oh, with the pscho thing that i mentioned, make the entire thing pyschological on he players as well, lead them in different directions, have it play out like a movie if you can

[The ChumpLump]

A few more questions, my Ducks, Dragons, and Droogs,

1) Do any of you fine folk think anything is over used cliche' in Horror-shows? ((not horrorshow, but Horror [space/hyphen] shows))? What are some of them?

2) Does Horror need to send a message?

3) Do find that some light humor between terrible things increases the horrible things effects? (( I've heard literature idea's that are similar....c'ept t'were about tragedy and not horror...))


Thanks, me Droogs.

[Az]

1) Do any of you fine folk think anything is over used cliche' in Horror-shows? ((not horrorshow, but Horror [space/hyphen] shows))? What are some of them?
Cheerleaders, axemurderers that won't die, suspense moments you can pinpoint to the second.

2) Does Horror need to send a message?
Yes, that sometimes you get fuckin' scared over nothing.

3) Do find that some light humor between terrible things increases the horrible things effects? (( I've heard literature idea's that are similar....c'ept t'were about tragedy and not horror...))
In my experience, if you let sillyness enter the campaign, it's hard to get back to serious. Of course, I don't know your playing style, or how serious your players are about playing.


Thanks, me Droogs.[/quote]

[marilynda]

I'm not very experienced in this area, so I'll only suggest a couple of things. Read some of Stephen King's old stuff like The Shining which I think is one of the scariest books I've ever read. Or read Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House.

In both those you know the horror is right there ready to jump out and get you, but you only ever see it out of the corner of your eye and you don't know where it really is or what it is. I like that kind of suspense and it seems to me it could work in a game.

[The ChumpLump]

Thanks for the tips and books. Bloody performance anxiaty.. I'd hate to get DMD. Dungeon Master Dysfunction! However I hear Dicezyte, the 1/daily Natural twenty enhancement, can be picked up at the local apothecary.

Alright... so I know I'm totally asking a lot of questions, but I really want this to work well, what of the following scares ya'll?
1) Unwitting and Uncurable Disease
2) Biological Experiments designed to replace the common-folk?
3) Deadly Contact toxins that grow inside anyone they kill?
4) Overtly Cruel Tyrant like policing?
5) Twisted Candy Men (( Think Willy Wonka and Hannibal Lector chillin' in the same body))
6) Angry Ex-girl/boy-friends
7) Nightmares that sometimes affect you in real life, and somtimes don't?
8) Survival Murder?
9) Dominating and blood crazed political figures?
11) Attempting to make a deal that you know will be twisted horribly
12) New cultures that involve more violent, or morbid traditions?
13) Jack-o-laterns
14) The loss of tools (( Think all types of tools.. thought, memory, arm, weapon, horse, friend)) that you depend on
15) A day by day killing of people close to you, growing closer with each day
16) Carnies
17) Trading Souls
18) Killing the wrong person

[The ChumpLump]

And hey, is anyone interested in playing? I intend to playtest this HorrorCamp online, here in the Mansion. L.5 3.5e DnD Campaign anyone? I'm looking for serious players who can constructively criticize.

Message me if you are interested with a charry concept.

[marilynda]

I doubt if I am experienced enough to critique anyone. I did think of something that does scare me. Vampires. I hadn't really thought about it until the discussion about Stepehn King, but vampire stories and movies do elevate my blood pressure! Bram Stoker scared the h**l out of me when I read it in college. There is just something about vampires. . .shudder.

[The ChumpLump]

Well I mean, you don't really need to be experience with DnD to play, it's pretty simple as long as you keep it simple. Vampires I have, and most other cliche' monsters... I am beginning to fear it won't be very scary. Maybe I will implement sanity points ( Barf. Works well for eternal darkness... but this is PbP and PnP, not as many visuals. )

[ShadowDucky]

Hee hee hee! I hadn't read this list before you experimentally ran it . . . and I'm going to repeat myself: the campaign was absolutely rockin', chum . . . *minidwarf runs screaming in circles*