DM-Nastics #22: Desire to Inspire/Make Nightmare Fuel

hmm, the terrasque fortress remindedd me of tribality.com/2015/01/27/system-agnostic-the-city-of-salt-in-wounds/

I think my idea is inspired by playingt he amazing TellTale games.

Lesser of Two Evils: Essentially have the players be in a post-apoc setting. Be that zombies, plague, mad max style drought, etc. From here you will need to make them make hard choices. Rather than they are the valiant heroes strutting their way across the land smiting evil they have to fight for every inch. Which person doesn't get to eat today? This NPC has the plague do we send them out into the wilderness to die alone, or risk the group? Family of the players are now invested with the zombie virus. I suppose my fear factor comes from putting some stark realism into a game. I don't know how many groups it would really work for, or if it could be sustainable throughout a campaign. In fact, I think it would be best in one shot format so that things can be ramped up properly to give the right feel.

I really like doing changing dungeons and often include moving sections. This is one where I went whole hog on it:

The Rotating Labyrinth
A devil was summoned by an over ambitious wizard long ago. After killing his brotherhood of wizards in their remote manor, the devil was able to begin summoning an army. The local gnomes and dwarves became aware of the growing army and marched to confront it. The war was taxing on their armies, ultimately leading to the downfall of the gnome empire, but not before they were able to lock the demon away. With the help of Korgaran, God of Machinations, they were able to imprison him, nullifying his ability to summon. The prison was contained within a changing maze to prevent evil men from releasing it. Since that time, the devil has been able to tear small rifts, summoning his minions throughout the maze. The players must find their way through and destroy the devil before an evil group of adventurers can free it. They've managed to beat the evil party to the maze, but can they beat them through it?

I've run this with three different groups of players, and it's always a good time. Party splitting happens inevitably and when the evil party ambushes them, things get crazy.

I had been thinking of a few Ideas, as well as going through past campaigns for some of the creepiest I've ever used.

1) Mad Scientist Necromancer: I used this in the beginning of my current campaign. As they were burying in old friend in a crypt, the crypt doors busted open revealing dwarf and human skeleton, that has been folded over eachother and banded together bone-by-bone. This lead them to explore the crypt, only to find a room with two Morhgs, fused back to back at the spine, with the back Morhg distinguished by having no legs. After defeating the enemy, they discover a broken phylactery and a bunch of necromancy equipment, including a journal of a necromancer performing perverted experiments. The entries included:

"People are terrified lately of the rash of murders, we may have serial killer on our hands."
"I managed to track the Tinderbaum Butcher down, and what I found was astonishing. The Tinderbaum Butcher is actually a pair of Butchers. A married couple as it looks like. I will have to plan for that."
"I have finally captured my newest creation. The beauty of their love would have torn me asunder to tear them apart... Now they will always be together..."

If you don't know how a Morhg is created, this might not make a lot of sense. But if you do, that is terrifying. By the way, the necromancer? Still at large.

2) My God! What did I do? - In my world, I have decided, that instead of the humans being the a-holes. That it's time for the Elves to share. I have taken inspiration from Terry Pratchett, and have made Elves unrepentant Psychopaths. Don't worry, there are some playable Elves, but, particularly the Seelie Elves are a force to be scared of. They feel no physical pain (Though that does not mean they cannot take so much damage that they die, in spite of not feeling it), have resistances, and are only weak to Cold Iron (They become sick at the sight of it). But their most fearsome ability, is the power of Glamour. When Glamour is activated, all must make a Will Save, or come under the control of the Elf. The explanation here, is that the beauty and the grace of elves will overcome any senses of the person, and they will become enraptured with them.

Now, think about this for a second. You have come under the control of an unrepentant Psychopath, whose only interest in you is how you can amuse them. Do you have family? Loved ones? Draw your own conclusions.

3) The Drug Run - Another that I am bringing from a past game I ran. Through a convoluted set of circumstances, the heroes ended up accidentally coating a town with a highly addicted drug (It was called Vlek). What had happened, is that they had tracked down a warehouse in a floating city with thousands of gallons of this stuff, and, without thinking, they blew it up. (The full story is really funny, involving a guy with a one-shot character, and an entire campaign lead by a power-hungery high functioning Sociopathic priestess). Well, the main city didn't get a lot of it, but the city below experienced a sudden Vlek rain. After leaving the floating city, and being separated by a teleport spell malfunction, the come upon this wasteland that used to be a main gate-city to the floating city. Who was not dead from over-dose, was driven mad by the high levels of Vlek in their system. The result was that they were being attack by frighteningly crazy junkies. Barbarians were in a constant state of rage (One actually one-shotted one of the characters), Clerics drew upon their holy power, believing in the Vlek-driven delusions that their God sent them to cleanse the world. And now, not being able to go back to the floating city, and caught in a Vlek driven city. They had to run and fight their way out, surrounded by insane towns members that they helped create.

These are just a few nightmare fuels I've used in my years. Feel free to use them yourself.

The rotating labyrinth is pretty awesome. I've never played at a table where someone was expected to act as group cartographer, but that would be a mind job in such a case.

I recently joined a new group, and we're going to be rotating DMs every month or two. I've been mulling over what I want to do when my turn comes up. The idea I'm leaning toward is inspired by the 90's horror flick Sphere. In the movie, the characters encounter an alien artifact that makes their thoughts and dreams come true, but no one realizes this is happening until the end.

The premise for my game is that the gods have abruptly disappeared, and a great plague sweeps across the land. The characters are able to identify the point of outbreak to a specific location and travel there. They discover a bizarre artifact with some 'clues' around the area to suggest the artifact's origins, how it got there, etc. However, these clues are actually the thought-made-real conjectures of the first (and prior to the PCs, only) person to encounter it. I haven't hammered out all the details yet, but the artifact is in fact the gods (all of them) made manifest on the prime material plane, and trapped, though the clues will not point to such an origin. The great plague was the result of the first person to discover it, and his fears made real after interacting with it. At the end of the first session, I will casually ask the players, "What does your character think is going on?"

Whoever gives the answer I like most, that is exactly what is going on, and this answer dictates the content of the next session, because the artifact is making their thoughts come true... it is the only way for the combined gods to express their power while trapped, and hopefully be released. I'll be paying close attention to what the characters are saying and doing during the session, and when convenient or dramatic, manifest in game whatever I can infer from their speech/actions. Then I'll repeat my casual inquiry at the end of each session... "So now what does your character think is really going on?" trying to keep the players oblivious to the fact their characters are dictating the events. It may be a challenge if their ideas become inherently contradictory, but also increases the weird/confusion factor. I may have an NPC along that also determines what the artifact creates. Not sure how long it will take the players to figure it out, and when they do the story is going to take a major change in direction, but I think this artifact should provide plenty of fun.

I can imagine having so much fun with this. Would the party think each other are demons?

Adventurer: "Hey guys! Have you seen Jimmy? I killed a demon last night and wanted to tell him".
Innkeeper: "Sorry, John. Jimmy was killed by a demon last night".
Adventurer: "Which demon?"
Innkeeper: "The one just outside our inn".
Adventurer: "Funny! I just killed a demon last night, outside your inn".