hi, this is inspired by the Creepy Thread at WotC. In fact, that is the only W0tC thread I have ever read....
...ever. http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=166882 (that thread where GM's would list all the freaky events to creep out pc's with. )
But i thought it was awesome, so i wanted to get somethign started over here.
I'll get the ball rolling.
1) the PCs becomes in possession of a mirror, when they look upon it, the reflection always has a hideous grin on it's faces, but otherwise mirrors the PC's action.
2) (from Heros of Horror) Somewhere in the distance, a baby cries. In a matter of minutes the sound changes to a young child shrieking, then a young woman shrieking, then an old woman choking, then silence.
as the PCs traverse through a small town, suddenly everyone in the village stops, turns, and walks towards the PC while chanting their name.
within a minute, the villagers return to their normal routine with no idea what has happened.
*claps hands* Very nice! I like the sudden change to "nothing happened" action which begins / ends these.
I'll definitely have to keep these in mind to use on my PCs (My campaign on the WOTC boards is going to become VERY dark in time)...
The PCs stand around the deathbed of a revered and elderly priest. As he breathes his last breath, a still silence falls over the group. After they start speaking of what to do next, the cadaver suddenly sits up, its eyes already focused on one of them before they even open. The corpse grabs the member's shoulder, goes through a violent fit of laughter, then falls back onto the bed, dead as a post.
The PCs are at a food stand, and they are served a peculiar looking dish. After eating the meal and thoroughly enjoying it, they ask the chef what it is. The chef smiles to reveal thick, dark blood seeping through his teeth. He falls backwards onto the floor, allowing them to get a good view of the gaping hole in his stomach and the trail of intestines leading to the frying pan in his hand...
those are good!
i love stuff, where like, the PCs eat, or bathe, in something totally normal... whcih turns out to be incredibly disgusting.
but the heros of horror but is very specific about setting the mood for these sort of things, otherwise they come off as hokey.
... ill have more, i'm sure.
Yea, I own heroes of horror...honesty, I find it a waste since I was winning awards for short horror stories long before the book ever came out...
As the PCs are making their way through a village, one member of the party suddenly feels a hand grab his shoulder and a voice menacingly snarl, "Don't move." Something blunt presses against his lower back, which he assumes to be a crossbow. Whirling about with a weapon drawn, the PC slashes, only to find his senses awakened to a totally different voice. "Excuse me, I wa-" the woman's voice is cut short by his blade, which slashes open the pregnant belly formerly pressed against his back. Her slender hand falls from his shoulder as she falls in a bloody heap at his feet. Suddenly, the PC feels a hand grab his shoulder and a voice menacingly snarl, "Don't move." Something blunt presses against his lower back, which he assumes to be a crossbow. "You're under arrest."
*the PCs awaken to find themselves in a thick fog (yes, even that guy who was supposed to be standing watch). Every direction they go, it leads back to their campsite after only a few yards. Within a couple of minutes the fog rolls out and everything seems normal.
*when the PCs wake up their animal companions are nowhere to be seen. they are easily found, but seem very hostile towards the PC. with a little coaxing, the animal calms down and seems okay.
... edit: acutally, thats not so much creepy as just inconvenient.
ill do better next time.
dude, seriously. that situation just requires animal snacks, perhaps a little petting ;)
The PCs roll into a peaceful hamlet, where they seek refuge from a long journey in the tiny local Inn. The people of the town are friendly and pleasant, but ever so slightly off.
Whenever the players make eye contact with the townsfolk, they smile and seem quite normal and happy, but when they aren't talking directly with the PCs they seem vacant and listless. They stare unblinkingly as they go about their business, and seem almost completely mechanical as they droll through their daily lives.
The only normal seeming person in the entire village (and by normal I mean at least emotionally alive) is an orphan girl, who the PCs find digging through trash cans and pig troughs for food. She's terrified of the other villagers, and goes into hysterics whever they draw near.
...you finish the story from here
-Nate-
Quote from: nastynateThe PCs roll into a peaceful hamlet, where they seek refuge from a long journey in the tiny local Inn. The people of the town are friendly and pleasant, but ever so slightly off.
Whenever the players make eye contact with the townsfolk, they smile and seem quite normal and happy, but when they aren't talking directly with the PCs they seem vacant and listless. They stare unblinkingly as they go about their business, and seem almost completely mechanical as they droll through their daily lives.
The only normal seeming person in the entire village (and by normal I mean at least emotionally alive) is an orphan girl, who the PCs find digging through trash cans and pig troughs for food. She's terrified of the other villagers, and goes into hysterics whever they draw near.
...you finish the story from here
-Nate-
I'm pretty sure I saw that on a Twilight Zone episode a while back... :)
One I've used before in a campaign with daggerhart and brainface:
PCs, wandering through a forest, hear the terrified voices of men in battle, fighting for their lives. They can never find these men, or even signs on a combat.
The PCs find a mirror in an abandoned house. When they look through it, they see an image of someone they know being brutally murdered by a dark shadow. When they go to find that person and investigate, he is perfectly okay.
Expanding on that:
A few days later, the PCs receive news that their friend (whom they saw in the mirror) has been murdered. The details of the murder are exactly as they saw in the mirror.
QuoteI'm pretty sure I saw that on a Twilight Zone episode a while back...
Pure coincidence...I never watch (or have watched) it particularly much. Although it does have that Twighlight Zone feel deosn't it?
-Nasty-
QuotePCs, wandering through a forest, hear the terrified voices of men in battle, fighting for their lives. They can never find these men, or even signs on a combat.
That's quite interesting. Very open ended and simple, yet quite creepy. I like it.
-Nasty-
These two are stolen from the WotC thread, but I liked them enough that I brought them here (yes, I know, another mirror one):
In a mirror, a young girl, terribly beaten, is watching the PCs. When they see her, she comes towards the mirror and bangs on it, mouthing "Help Me," and leaving bloody hand prints.
The PC's are chasing a bad guy, and keep losing sight of him, but are still following him, when suddenly he is there, killed in a negligent, yet gruesome, manner. Carved into his chest are the words "You are welcome."
Quote from: daggerhart1) the PCs becomes in possession of a mirror, when they look upon it, the reflection always has a hideous grin on it's faces, but otherwise mirrors the PC's action.
Quote from: IshmaylThe PCs find a mirror in an abandoned house. When they look through it, they see an image of someone they know being brutally murdered by a dark shadow. When they go to find that person and investigate, he is perfectly okay.
Expanding on that:
A few days later, the PCs receive news that their friend (whom they saw in the mirror) has been murdered. The details of the murder are exactly as they saw in the mirror.
Quote from: IshmaylIn a mirror, a young girl, terribly beaten, is watching the PCs. When they see her, she comes towards the mirror and bangs on it, mouthing "Help Me," and leaving bloody hand prints.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall... :)
I'm trying to think of stuff, I think something broke. :knock:
its frightening to look upon yourself and see something extremely wrong.
mirrors can be very terrifying, considering everyone has a specific expectation before standing in front of one.
you may want to go from "creepy" to "horrific" from time to time. think about the players having to watch while a friend is tortured and killed and has his body mutillated. This works best when the friend is a gnome, a bard, or an otherwise "harmless" seeming character.
The following method is suitably sick, but you may want to tone it down, depending on what you're comfortable with...
1. removal of muscles by small holes in the skin. sinews severed one side only. tortured revived from unconsciousness by electrical shock. (this process may last for hours, so feel free to go with vivid description).
2. testicles inserted into windpipe, body hanged by intestines.
3. death spasms will look like a bunch of dancing pink bananas, fading to purple. unattached muscles for the win.
I'm not a big fan of horrific, myself. My PCs, and I, would 'shut off' during that torture scene, and no longer feel creeped out.
One of my ideas:
No matter where the PCs go, they hear the sobbing of a woman. After awhile of searching for her, she suddenly lets out a scream of mortal terror. Next corner they turn, the find a dead woman laying there, her face fixed in a mask of terror. No amount of searching reveals her identy.
I used this one once, though it's not terribly original...
The PCs are inquiring about a battle that has recently taken place outside a city. Everybody has heard of it, as it just happened recently, but nobody seems to know where it is or wants to lead them there. Eventually, the PCs find a friendly young soldier who offers to lead them there; he brings them to the battlefield's edge, and says he must be going. No sooner does he leave than the PCs, investigating the field, find a corpse pinned to a tree by arrows amid the carnage - the exact likeness of the soldier who led them there. Back at the town, the soldier is nowhere to be found, and the townsfolk don't seem to remember him being there.
Quote from: IshmaylThe PC's are chasing a bad guy, and keep losing sight of him, but are still following him, when suddenly he is there, killed in a negligent, yet gruesome, manner. Carved into his chest are the words "You are welcome."
Ohh, that's brill! I gotta find a way to use that one.
Any simple noise can be creepy if it's constant and everywhere, but out of sight.
Maybe the PC's are walking through a tunnel or a building, and the whole time they keep hearing water dripping and it gets quieter and louder with no apparent pattern. Needless to say, they never find it.
Or (a very simple one) have the PC's being constantly followed by very low and menacing growls that seem to come from everywhere.
If you want horrific, one of the best is having the victim strapped to a table with a solid wooden box on his stomach. In the box is a big rat and the box has a hole in the bottom. The box is then lit on fire and the rat starts pannicking and has no way out, except for tunneling through the victim's torso.
That is nasty, Supa... I shudder to use this, but the image is quite effective. Wow...
QuoteIf you want horrific, one of the best is having the victim strapped to a table with a solid wooden box on his stomach. In the box is a big rat and the box has a hole in the bottom. The box is then lit on fire and the rat starts pannicking and has no way out, except for tunneling through the victim's torso.
What movie is that from? It's on the tip of my tongue... :smoke: oh well I guess I'll just smoke another one, and it'll either come to me or I'll forget the question...either way I'm happy
-Nasty-
It may have been referenced in "Saw," nastynate, but where I remember it from is in the "Wheel of Time."
Quote from: nastynateQuoteIf you want horrific, one of the best is having the victim strapped to a table with a solid wooden box on his stomach. In the box is a big rat and the box has a hole in the bottom. The box is then lit on fire and the rat starts pannicking and has no way out, except for tunneling through the victim's torso.
What movie is that from? It's on the tip of my tongue... :smoke: oh well I guess I'll just smoke another one, and it'll either come to me or I'll forget the question...either way I'm happy
-Nasty-
Freakyest part is, that was an actual torture technique. I have a pretty exenstive knowledge of things that were actually used as tortue techniques (don't ask how). All of them are pretty horrific, but the rat one is the only one I'd actually use in a game: it's horrifying enough to be scary without crossing the line. Other things are more gross than creepy.
Oh, just a thought: if you want horrific, have a PC dominated and kill and eat a loved one.
Or have them watch a hannibal scene, where they are forced to watch someone eat their own brains: or maybe even they are fed there own.
See, it's easy to be gross. I'm not impressed by gross. Creepy without gross is what impresses me, and that is what lasts, as well as works best at the gaming table.
@nasty: i don't know of any movie, but it was an actual torture technique historically (ancient chinese i beleive. they had some crazy torturers man. i mean, whoah! :blink: ), and it was also used (or maybe just threatened) in one of the Drizzt books. i think it was Spine of the World. the one where Wulfgar if running around as a bandit with his theif buddy.
well, for non-horrific creepy... I see the "illogical" done way too often. I've played in games like that, and it really just annoys me. I like violence or advancement of plot. anything else usually has a word limit. looking back at what I typed, I can see how a torture scene is out of place, but it's nicely atypical as disfugured bodies go. I always liked Neon Genesis Evangelion creepy. Not the "we have a low budget so let's spew dialogue with recycled animation" but "OMG angels are destroying the world and God doesn't like us" or "Lilth is freaking NAILED TO THE WALL" or "Man, why I gotta kill my BFF?"... yknow?
Yeah, I suck at creepy, so I'm gonna be getting alot of use out of this thread. The most I ever scared my players was an Alternity StarDrive game, where someones evil assassin brother had shown up (yeah I know, it sounds lame, but I did lame things back then) and started eviscerating people. They all holed up in the bridge of the ship, and somehow the assassin had tapped into the ship's comm. and was talking to them. Something about the disembodied voice of a man who had removed several people's lower jaws was enough to scare the beejeezus out of them.
And if it's one thing I learned from Doom (the game and books, not that horrendous movie) is that religious symbols like angels and demons can evoke great emotion in people; especially fear.
One of the PCs is standing guard at night when he notices that a thin fog is rolling in. Shapes seem to form in the fog, then quickly disappear. The PC turns to his companions to awaken them, and finds them all looking at him, all of them obviously still asleep (they are laying down in the same position they were in while sleeping), but their eyes are wide open and their mouths are opened in silent screams of fear.
PB: That is going to give me nightmares, thanks. :P
That scared you? Damn man, that barely made me blink... That rat thing though... I seriously retched at that...
The rat thing made me shrug first time I heard it. Like I said, gross doesn't bother me much. But things like that, stareing eyes and silent screams, get to me on a deep level.
Yeah, I agree with Xanthan... I've heard the rat thing before, and sure, it's gross, but it's really not scary... it's just sort of "panicky" more than anything.
I should clarify, I was not scared by the rat thing, it just made me ill. The silent screams thing doesn't really bug me, although I suppose it could be done well...
Here are a few that are the result of being a bagboy at a grocery store built next to a highway :o
1) A carton of eggs somehow holds 13 eggs instead of 12.
2) Transports drive by towing trailers full of cars for dealerships or scrapheaps. The only problem is that there is no cab. Just the trailer moving at high speeds down the highway...
number 2 would be really, really creepy. *shudders slightly*
Everyone stops and looks at the PCs, then begin to scream horribly, before stopping and resuming their normal business. When questioned, they have no recollection of the incident.
In the spirit of creepiness that advances the plot:
1) A villain that uses animate objects in a toystore. Because dolls are scary as hell, especially after they've been beat up a little (broken porcelain faces).
2) On the same note, there doesn't even have to be a fight. Have you ever seen one of the workshops where porcelain dolls are made? It's all arms and legs on sticks and grey clay busts of youngish faces and eyes of many colors and sizes neatly organized in tiny drawers. There are those lights with lenses and tiny brushes for the makeup. You can even stash the artist's corpse in the kiln. All this neatly stored in somebody's basement, with all the finished work displayed in glass cabinets upstairs.
Arise thread! Arise! (woo necromancy)
All of the faces and physical appearances of all thwe folk in a town keep changinc, but only a little bit and very slowly and subtly. Maybe their freckels are slowly changing places, or their hair gradually changes colour, of people keep switching from right handed to left. This can either be played for creepy or funny, depending on the mood of the rest of the encounter and the way you use it.
Everyone one in the town is leaking blood from their eyes, nose, and ears. When questioned, they disbelieve the PCs, and when the PCs wipe up the blood, the cloth comes away clean. Suddenly, the towns people start screaming that the PCs are bleeding, but the PCs can't tell.
OR: the whole bleeding thing with refusal to acknowledge it, and people start dropping dead from blood loss. Everyone just steps over the bodies of those who die this way.
OMFG!!! This is AWSOME i was never any good at creepy and some of these will work hella awsome. One that i think would be good would be: When the PC's are in any house in a village they hear a scratching noise on the windows. On inspection they discover nothing, but when they return to the house they discover a beasts hand nailed to a door with a note that says "Your Next".
QuoteOne that i think would be good would be: When the PC's are in any house in a village they hear a scratching noise on the windows. On inspection they discover nothing, but when they return to the house they discover a beasts hand nailed to a door with a note that says "Your Next".
That's pretty good, but the "you're next" thing is a bit cliched. What i think could work a lot better would be for the note to say "you're welcome" and then this dead parts with "you're welcome" notes start to turn up all over tha place. Mostly on monsters, but also on anything that may have even made the slightest threat at the PC's (like a shopkeep yells at them and then is later found with a note).
Quote from: beejazzIn the spirit of creepiness that advances the plot:
1) A villain that uses animate objects in a toystore. Because dolls are scary as hell, especially after they've been beat up a little (broken porcelain faces).
How about if the faces on the dolls eerily mimic the face of a recently departed loved one in the PCs' lives.
Quote from: supadupamanAll of the faces and physical appearances of all thwe folk in a town keep changinc, but only a little bit and very slowly and subtly. Maybe their freckels are slowly changing places, or their hair gradually changes colour, of people keep switching from right handed to left. This can either be played for creepy or funny, depending on the mood of the rest of the encounter and the way you use it.
different[/i]... but they can't tell how they're different. Something just seems askew. Then they finally figure it out; the NPCs in town appear to be mirror images of themselves. A man who parts his hair on the left is now parting on the right; a woman who always had a crippled right leg is now crippled on her left leg; A paladin who had a greusome scar down the right side of his face now has it down the left side. No one in town seems to comprehend it's happening except for the PCs.
Quote from: IshmaylQuote from: supadupamanAll of the faces and physical appearances of all thwe folk in a town keep changinc, but only a little bit and very slowly and subtly. Maybe their freckels are slowly changing places, or their hair gradually changes colour, of people keep switching from right handed to left. This can either be played for creepy or funny, depending on the mood of the rest of the encounter and the way you use it.
different[/i]... but they can't tell how they're different. Something just seems askew. Then they finally figure it out; the NPCs in town appear to be mirror images of themselves. A man who parts his hair on the left is now parting on the right; a woman who always had a crippled right leg is now crippled on her left leg; A paladin who had a greusome scar down the right side of his face now has it down the left side. No one in town seems to comprehend it's happening except for the PCs.
Reminds me of a Steven Wright joke that could easily inspire all manner of creepiness - "One day I woke up and found that during the night someone had stolen everything in my apartment and replaced it with an exact duplicate. Couldn't believe it. I called up my best friend, I said, 'Look, someone has stolen everything in my apartment and replaced it with a duplicate.' He said, 'Do I know you?'"
Here's a moment which can be modified to be creepy depending on the setting, the ambience, or even the number of people present - walking down the street, the PCs see a dog with three legs hobbling toward them. It looks at them just once, sadly, before lurching out of sight into an alley.
Edited to correct spolling histakes
hooray for stuff that actually might happen
Here's a fun one that got pulled on me once, and I later got the monster stats and turned around and used it on a different group. It's less horror-story and more monster-encounter than most things in this thread, but it's still the creepiest damned thing I've ever seen in a game.
This monster is called the flesheater. It is created out of a humanoid, via a curse. When the curse takes effect, ideally right in front of the PCs eyes, they see its victim retch and spasm in agony. Its spine twists, its fingers and toes elongate into claws, its teeth become pointed fangs... and the mind behind their former friend is gone, replaced by madness.
The creature is fast and agile. It can climb and cling to walls and ceilings. It can jump with ease and proficiency. It can claw your skin, and bite your head. Depending on your level of sadism when you run this encounter, it may also have DR/magic, or even DR/Good.
It kills and eats people, and does it quickly. It rapidly loses HP if it hasn't fed on fresh meat in five minutes, but it heals itself when it does eat. Of course, this should not be readily apparent to the players. In a city encounter, they might smash it up fairly badly, but it is smart enough to escape over a wall, through a building, or in other ways the PCs can't easily follow (remember, climbing and jumping monster), kill a few more civilians, eat them to heal itself, and face the PCs again with renewed vigor.
A fight against one of these creatures can last, in game-time, for days.
Now for the really creepy part. The curse spreads, sort of. Creatures wounded (but not killed) by the flesheater must make a saving throw or, after 30-60 minutes, turn into lesser flesheaters themselves: shambling, bloodthirsty creatures with fangs, claws, and bad posture of their own. (The lesser flesheaters don't spread the curse to their own victims, but there's no reason your players have to know that.) Lesser flesheaters also do not regenerate health by feeding. Generally, they are scary cannon-fodder.
This means there are at least two moments of horrible, gut-wrenching revelation whenever you use a flesheater encounter.
The first happens after the PCs have been chasing the creature around the city for some time. They still think there is only one enemy. For the moment, it has eluded them, but wait! That sounds like a struggle, down the street over there! They arrive to see the city guard (or whomever) fighting off half a dozen similar-looking monsters, all wearing the claw-shredded clothes of the first monster's victims. This is colloquially known as the "Holy shit, it's reproducing!" moment.
The second horrible, gut-wrenching moment comes shortly afterward, when the PCs have seen that the flesheater's victims become bloodthirsty monsters themselves. From there, it's only a matter of time before one of the PCs turns to another and says, "Whoa, man, wait... it's wounded you, too."
Now, normally, I don't care for game sessions of the "check out this mean, tough monster!" variety, but I'll always be indebted to the DM who wrote the flesheaters.
Quote from: Luminous CrayonThis is colloquially known as the "Holy shit, it's reproducing!" moment.
Yeah. That's the reaction I have every time Britney Spears has another kid.
Quote from: IshmaylOne I've used before in a campaign with daggerhart and brainface:
PCs, wandering through a forest, hear the terrified voices of men in battle, fighting for their lives. They can never find these men, or even signs on a combat.
expanded: the voices seem to be place-specific, so the PCs eventually start to notice theyre getting closer to or further away from the "battle". after awhile, they eventually find the one point where, no matter what direction they take, they go further away from the battle. as they turn, they notice old, moss-covered, rotted arrows plunged into previously untouched trees.