not
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 1
Favorite Species of Monkey: but
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Post by not on Nov 8, 2015 18:06:40 GMT -8
I'm running a D&D 5e campaign. The characters are going to be entering a place where a powerful being from a 3,000 year old war has fallen. My idea is that the presence of these residual magics should mess with player characters' minds as they get closer to the epicenter. I want them to see things which aren't true, get paranoid about party members and other mind-bending fun.
What advice would you have for running a session where characters are being influenced psychologically, without their knowledge?
My players are pretty good about being in character with this stuff like this. They performed well when I had them fall under the influence of a bad guy (girl technically) and switch sides temporarily. To introduce more unknown, I plan on passing them notes, which will on occasion say "smile knowingly and nod", just so they never know if the note others are reading is real or not.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2015 21:55:25 GMT -8
As the DM, your job is to tell the players what their characters can see and hear, which is different from telling them what's actually there. Maybe they hear a sound coming from around the corner, but when they get there it has no source. Maybe they see something horrible in a mirror, but when they turn around it's gone.
Don't put anything where they can actually interact with it. Just make it seem like there's something, wherever they can't actually see it.
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Post by uselesstriviaman on Nov 9, 2015 10:15:58 GMT -8
Myself, I'd type up a selection of note cards ahead of time. In addition to the mess-with-their-heads stuff, I'd also include completely harmless statements like "You catch a whiff of something truly foul. Did the dwarf just fart?" or "You think you catch a glimpse of something moving up on the ceiling. For a split second you think it's a spider, but then with a sigh of relief you realize it's just a trick of the light." Include the "nod your head knowingly" too, for extra metagame-y fun.
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ino
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 27
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Post by ino on Nov 9, 2015 18:54:49 GMT -8
My buddy ran a horror one shot. We found tapes of music that reflected the creepy rooms of bodies we found. He found some songs on YouTube and slowed it way down to make it creepy. He played it only in clips so it wouldn't distract in games.
I think adding elements of surrealism would help too. Add things they could interact with that would change subtly but unexpectedly. Maybe one character comes into a room and sees a lost weapon of his or his family's. He takes it as a blessing, but weird things keep happening and the he'll sudden horrific realization that the weapon isn't what it appears. He abandons it, only to have it appear in his possession again. Or a door they closed before they went to bed but is oddly open again. They go to lock the door and see something in the distance moving away into the trees. They chase after it leaving the door open and find nothing, but they come back to the door closed and their possessions scattered everywhere.
Just don't overdo it and frustrate them.
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Kveld Ulf
Apprentice Douchebag
Warning : Just skilled enough to be dangerous
Posts: 56
Preferred Game Systems: Eclipse Phase, Feng Shui, Savage Worlds, Fate, and most anything else
Currently Playing: L5R
Currently Running: D&D 5th
Favorite Species of Monkey: Bonobo
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Post by Kveld Ulf on Nov 10, 2015 10:57:35 GMT -8
I will say this. Horror games are my favorite. Done well, they can affect a player enough that they will talk about it forever.
If you want to make them paranoid, some previous suggestions work well.
Dont ask for rolls and perception checks. Just add things they notice from time to time.
The water has a copper taste to it. A light flickers, dims, goes out, or flares slightly. It gets warm or cold. They catch movment in the corner of their eye. But at the early stages, you give them a plausible explanation.
The water is stale or is running off through rocks. A breeze rolls in. There was cold or warmth due to a natural feature. The shadow was a cloak in the wind.
Then take out the plausible. Somethinf flickers, but there is no wind. A shadow was there... but it is a bright day and there is a wide open space.
Take the normal and twist it. I once told a character they felt the presence of eyes on them. And when they looked around, they saw a cat staring at them. And then another. And as they turned to take it all in, a hundred cats were sitting still, staring at them, following them with their eyes. Have them walk past a house where they hear singing, but nothing is there. They feel a brush on their shoulder as if someone was wiping off dust. They see footprints that disappear in the middle of a room.
Then twist things further. The healing potion tastes like blood, and as they drink it, they feel their teeth shift. As a friend crits a bad guy, the friends face shifts for a moment, looking demonic. They hear whispers at night when they are alone, or their friends sleep.
Be evocative with description, detail the minutae, but paint evil in broad strokes.
They are crawling down a tunnel, and gobs of worms and maggots fall upon them. The air stinks of decay, and a sludge forms at their feet as they trudge through the water, dirt and bones in the tunnel.
But when they come to the end, it is "larger than you comprehend at first. A mass of flesh and bone, but things dont sit where they should. Many of it's mouth start to open and drool." Just a few cents.
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Post by jazzisblues on Nov 10, 2015 20:16:00 GMT -8
Ok, here are my basic rules for doing this sort of thing: - Describe do not name - Naming a thing takes away any mystery it might have. It's not a wolf, it's a shaggy shape barely seen flitting in and out of the shadows
- Perception is NOT reality - Describe what they perceive not necessarily what's real, but describe it as if it were real.
- Let them live with their own assumptions - When you describe a thing and they think it's much bigger and nastier than it is ... let them, that's exactly what you want.
- Do not control their actions, only their perceptions.
- In the case of mind control or influence suggest a course of action but don't force them. If they're good players they'll take the cue and run with it.
Example of a mind control situation Evie (a player character) has a book that the bad guys want. One of them has mental powers and uses them to influence Evie. I have Evie's player roll a spirit check (Savage Worlds) and she fails. What I tell her is, "It seems like a really good idea to give the book to that very nice German fellow." The player totally went with it and started to give the book to the Nazi commander and had to be physically restrained by her allies making the combat they were in much more complicated for them. There will be players who will resist such things, and won't want to do things because, "Their character wouldn't do that." Here's the deal in my opinion, yes the character would, the dice just said so, it's up to the player to figure out how and why that happened, and to act on it accordingly. Just my 2 krupplenicks worth, your mileage may of course vary. JiB
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G.I. Joe
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 147
Preferred Game Systems: L5R, FATE, GURPS
Currently Playing: Isawa Miriko: Split soul made whole again... with memory issues. Homura (Formerly Isawa Kiyoi) - wandering fire Priestess; Girart - a GURPS low-tech combat monkey w/19ST
Currently Running: Fushigina Ronin (L5R 4th ed)
Favorite Species of Monkey: Winston
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Post by G.I. Joe on Dec 2, 2015 19:32:40 GMT -8
Heehee... definately going to use some of these things in my Anime Campaign that I'm running right now. >
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