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Post by joatmoniac on Jul 8, 2015 8:07:56 GMT
So after Team Nightmare Fuel's string of terrifying ideas, I figured that our collective awesomeness could take a crack at adding a bit more Fuel to the fire! Here is a doc that I have been compiling of from the Creation and Inspiration episodes. www.dropbox.com/s/r48b8mmm9owh54k/Creation%20and%20Inspiration.docx?dl=0This way we can easily see what has come before. Granted some of the ideas don't have the best notes to them, and may require listening again to the ones that sound interesting. I know that Nevvur has already posted some of his Top 10s in another thread, and that further inspired this idea. So try your hand at creating some Nightmare Fuel! It could be some you have already used, have in the works for your current players, or just a dream you have of springing on some unsuspecting players at some point in your DM career. Link to DM-Nastics Segment #17
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Samuel Wise
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Post by Samuel Wise on Jul 8, 2015 15:39:22 GMT
I'm not sure if you wanted my top tens, but here are two...
1.) Mimics Can't Read (Because there has to be mimics): Arcwelon's libraries are very extensive. Tens of thousands of books crammed into shelves upon shelves. One of these libraries was mysteriously left abandoned. If some poor soul ever andered into the library, however, he would notice that there are still books there, tens of thousands of books. There is only one problem, the books are really all mimics, tens of thousands of mimics.
2.) A Nesting Battle (just because I'm vying for the creepiest): There is an old croon that sells trinkets (she may or may not have cats or ramble on about 'forbidden valleys'). The old croon gives the players a Nesting doll. Of course, the Nesting doll is evil. On each of its faces are a new, grotesque enemy. The Nesting unhinges the 'cask' the first 'face', a girlish cackle escapes it, and then the monster who is on the face of the Nesting forms. Even worse, the doll keeps coming back, whenever the players try to get rid of it, or to destroy it. The final face of the Nesting Doll looks like a normal doll... but it's not, it is actually an evil sorceress trapped in the Nesting doll, which the players would have to defeat.
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Post by frohtastic on Jul 8, 2015 18:10:28 GMT
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Post by joatmoniac on Jul 8, 2015 23:51:45 GMT
Yeah, I was figuring we could each toss out an idea we had. Helps get the creativity flowing as well as seeing how the other people on the forum mess with their players, haha.
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Post by joatmoniac on Jul 9, 2015 23:18:55 GMT
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.
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Post by joatmoniac on Jul 12, 2015 8:36:30 GMT
So my last idea was a little too vague in hindsight, so let's get a tad bit more specific! Bait and Switch: The adventurers set out on a classic "Please help us! The (insert monster name here) is attacking our village!" quest. The party is potentially over equipped to handle a group of inserted monsters, so they think it will be a simple task. They may also assume that something more will come of this breadcrumb type quest. As they set out, roll for perception, and everyone succeeds at seeing the huge object falling from the sky. Those with high enough perception can guess that it is headed in the party's general direction, but how close it gets is entirely up to the DM. As it gets closer additional perception checks reveal it to be a vaguely humanoid shape, but that doesn't make too much sense given the size. The closer it gets the louder the sounds, and what is thought to be the sound of the object falling can actually be heard as maniacal laughter. Are there creatures riding this larger creature to the ground? BOOM! The giant creature hits, and the players could be knocked unconscious. The awake to find their surroundings changed. Everything is cast in shadow from the dust and smoke from fires. The one familiar noise though is the maniacal laughter that seems to be coming from all around the party. A bit more specific, and hopefully inspiring to some!
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Post by rorrik on Jul 13, 2015 18:50:10 GMT
I really like doing changing dungeons and often include moving sections. This is one where I went whole hog on it: The Rotating LabyrinthA 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.
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Samuel Wise
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Post by Samuel Wise on Jul 13, 2015 19:06:12 GMT
That is Awesome, Rorrik! As if Labyrinths needed to be anymore confusing .
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dmjack
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Post by dmjack on Jul 13, 2015 21:45:58 GMT
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.
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Samuel Wise
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Post by Samuel Wise on Jul 14, 2015 0:29:34 GMT
Mad Scientist Necromancer I know what my next username is going to be! Awesome ideas.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2015 1:25:53 GMT
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.
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Post by kjmagle on Jul 14, 2015 2:49:30 GMT
I was thinking that the adventurers would make it to a town to stay at. However they find some demons/monster at night and fight them. Porbably same number as the party.
Next morning news will come that some towns people were kiled by demons/monster that night. Have the party mention they fought some also. Get them hired to stabd watch for a couple days.
Every night they fight demons/monsters and every morning towns people are killed.
Well what it turns out is the town is curse. The towns people look like monsters to visitors at night and vistors look like monsters to townspeople at night. Only the few that decide to go out at night end up in a battle.
Depending on how inquisitive the party is i think they could slaughter a whole town because at some point you make a mob of townspeople but look like an army of monsters
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Samuel Wise
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Post by Samuel Wise on Jul 14, 2015 3:02:31 GMT
Well what it turns out is the town is curse. The towns people look like monsters to visitors at night and vistors look like monsters to townspeople at night. 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".
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Post by joatmoniac on Jul 14, 2015 7:35:39 GMT
I really like doing changing dungeons and often include moving sections. This is one where I went whole hog on it: This is amazing. I have something like this on the horizon, but certainly not to this scale, or awesome factor. I might have to up my game a bit! I really like your #3 dmjack! Self induced terror is some of the best kinds, because there is an increased level of comittment given that the players are the ones that caused the issues in the first place. Not only that, but there is already so much blood on their hands because of who already died. Nevvur, that sounds like an awesome idea, and I hope that it's one where people don't figure it out too quickly. Hopefully everyone gets a chance at saying what they think it is. I would be interested to hear if one of them has a really off the wall idea that you still implement. All around this thread has turned out freaking amazing!!
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Post by kjmagle on Jul 14, 2015 10:27:14 GMT
Well what it turns out is the town is curse. The towns people look like monsters to visitors at night and vistors look like monsters to townspeople at night. 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". No. Like just to the towns people the party will look like demons and visa versa. Thats why they will go i to their house before sunset because they are scared of demons that come at night. Only Sunrise will they look normal. Not to many times have i heard people dragging the bodies of their kills around so they will probably wont see them change back. I also want to make one escape to tell of the tale of the demon attack and where is happened. Also have to make sure they killed an NPC they liked from the town... You know For fun.
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