Comments on: Horror Improved!

By: Stargazer's World » Blog Archive » Lovecraftian posts from the archives

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 07:49:07 +0000

[...] Horror Improved! [...]

By: Stargazer

Stargazer — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:43:36 +0000

Thanks a lot. But you have to praise the creator of that sweet theme for that not me. I am just the guy who types in the words.

I agree on you fully but it's much easier to get into their heads if you create the right enviroment.

By: Ripper X

Ripper X — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:45:14 +0000

First off, Wow! this is a SWEET looking webpage. Seriously. It looks great!

Now for the topic, I play horror games exclusively. But I play all games like horror games. We have to be really careful about the dork factor. I do use props from time to time, such as a Ouija board, but good lighting is important, everybody needs to see their stuff, and I've got to see die rolls all the way across the table.

More important then any sound effects or mood setting lighting is that players CARE about their characters. If they don't then you can't play. Horror games need to be more personal, and the DM has to know when to speed up the game, and when to slow it down to build tension.

This is mind theater, we have to attack them psychologically. Isolating the characters, letting them know that they are overwhelmed and full frontal assaults will NEVER work, and keeping them running because the monsters that they are hunting are also hunting them. If you can get into their heads, then the game will work every time.

By: Jack Phillips

Jack Phillips — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:31:00 +0000

Actually, other than promethean, I believe I've played or run every WoD game including a mortal chronicle (that was easiest for horror).

Our mage game was more of an adventure/intrigue game so that didn't really go for horror. In my last run of Changeling I tried to create a more horrific atmosphere, but the mood kept getting broken.

By: Stargazer

Stargazer — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:50:18 +0000

May I ask what WoD game are you playing? Vampire, Mage, Werewolf? I have played a lot of Vampire some years back and we almost never had a scary mood. But that's perhaps because our campaign was focussed on action and intrigue.

By: Jack Phillips

Jack Phillips — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:46:42 +0000

Good advice.

I know I've had problems when trying to establish a scarier mood when playing World of Darkness. The cell phone thing was an issue for sure, and I think I'll have some creepy music in the background next time – sound seems like a great way to go to create a good ambiance.

By: Stargazer

Stargazer — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:30:08 +0000

I remember one evening when we started to play CHILL. Our GM used music for the first time (it was the "Nightmare on Elm Street" soundtrack) in a roleplaying session and it was awesome. The music, the great adventure and our anticipation created a great atmosphere. We were almost trembling in fear the whole evening.

The next session, when we tried to complete the adventure was a total failure though. We had almost no atmosphere, everyone was making jokes and it was very disappointing.

I still remember the first CHILL sessions as one of the most intense roleplaying experiences I had in my life.

By: Ishmayl

Ishmayl — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:13:33 +0000

I'd had very little luck running any sort of spooky until I started using sound effects. In one FR campaign I ran, where the characters were trying desperately to escape the ruins of an alhoon's castle, they got lost in the tunnels below the castle. While going through the tunnels, I had the lights turned down, several candles lit, and on my laptop, just played a loop of dripping water, with the occasional sound effect of pattering feet in the distance. When the group was attacked by three shadows, they were appropriately freaked out, and we had a nice intense battle. However, it turned out similar scenarios later turned that into a one-trick pony, because they never worked the same way afterwards. Oh well…