Thread replies: 9
Thread images: 1
Thread images: 1
File: dead-space-3third-person-shooter-video-game-with-survival-horror-gameplay-elements-600x375.jpg (76KB, 600x375px) Image search:
[Google]
76KB, 600x375px
Heya /tg/, I've been slowly forming ideas for a short horror campaign I want to run but I've somewhat hit a brick wall which is called 'I can't invent a cool monster worth shit'. I want to draw inspiration from the first Alien, Dead Space, The Thing and Event Horizon. Thing is, I really don't want to use some horrible body horror monstrosity, zombie or some insectoid monster because it's what the players would expect. I'm stumped because I'm trying to imagine some creature (or creatures) which would be at home in those dark, cramped spaces.
I'm thinking of setting the game on some extremely remote planet, obviously, maybe some early terraform facility and/or archeological expedition. The universe might be high tech but most of the gear of the player character would be rather crude, less fancy-cutting-edge and more its-designed-to-last. Both to show how rugged and demanding their job is but also to limit what they can do. One potential setup is that whatever they are doing take decades, so they regularly freeze the personnel that isn't active until, say, the next maintenance cycle. So when the PC wake up it's because the whole system has gone haywire and unfreezing them due to the emergency detected. So, similar to the start of Alien 1 I suppose, at least in that regard. That mean their characters would know about the place enough to be familiar with it but because everyone has specific jobs and it's a large facility, there would be part of it they don't know. Maybe I could even give some 'screentime' to the base BEFORE they get frozen and then unfrozen.
Still no idea what the monster could be however and I don't want zombies, that much I know.
>>
>>51136621
Personally, me? I would make the enemies the still human inhabitants, just change them to make them more disturbing. The isolation, demand and claustrophobic conditions have caused the inhabitants to snap
There will be hints and clues referencing to the time in which the inhabitants degenerated. They hear voices, aggression rises, violence breaks out and they turn on each other. Groups form and many die in the process, but now those that are left are animalistic and have resorted to unspeakable methods of survival
They are low to the ground, have sharper teeth and nails. Rarely do any of them use open catwalks or traverse over open ground, they are conditioned by the tribal warfare not to. This change has happened over several generations, so as to ensure the survival of the colonists
>>
>>51136941
Hope this helps you out, or at least inspires some ideas of your own if you don't like it
>>
>>51136621
>>51136941
I suggest Hadal. Homo Hadalis is a primate in the "Descent" book by Jerry Long.
They are the source of myths regarding Hell and Devils.
>>
>>51136621
It's difficult to create a monster from the ground up that's definitively scary. It's generally about delivery. Set the stage and anything you can think up will be scary.
But anyway, if you really need inspiration, it's good to poach on common fears people have. Lovecraft went after big scary unknowable thigs that live in the depths of the ocean. Even if you aren't scared of the water, imagining something great and powerful and hungry down at the bottom of the ocean just snoozing isn't a comfy thought.
Alien goes after feelings of violation, like rape. Facehugger force baby aliens down your throat, for one. The aliens themselves look like giant walking bugs, which creep out plenty of people.
Pick a fear, even better if it's a personal one (Although not so personal it wouldn't be relatable), and blow it out of proportion until you get something from a nightmare, visualize it in a horror film, and put it against your players.
I'm not very eloquent, but I hope I got my point across, and I hope it helps.
>>
>>51136621
S K E L E T O N S
>>
The players were the monster all along....
Seriously though, how about an insane AI using the facilities and various robits to sacrifice colonists in demonic rituals. Droids flaying people alive and wearing their skin. Butchering people and force feeding prisoners. Hell run by robos.
>>
>>51136941
Just like the film Pandorum. Recommend checking it out if you go for these theme for the game. Pretty good movie.
>>
>>51136621
If you don't want to spook them with weird and alien stuff go for something more familiar. Maybe one of the crew brought a dog and it get registered by the terraformer and changed, reverted, something more of a wolf now, but even stronger and with more claws and teeth than it should have. Just for shits and giggles It created more of them and infected their blood and saliva with various bacterias from storage. Now the crew is being hunted by a sentient, poisonous monster wolf pack around the station.
Play them smart, they know how to cut people off, they know how to surround and how to ambush, maybe the first one they meet will approach them with a wimper and a limp until their close enough to bite.
Thread posts: 9
Thread images: 1
Thread images: 1