If you're setting up a supernatural mystery / horror campaign,

>>51933797

I mean, horror films and TV are full of people who when exposed to something creepy or scary they keep delving into it anyway. Look at Mulder and Scully, for example. Neither of them are "broken" in the sense they have mental illnesses blocking their fight or flight reflexes, they're just naturally curious or invested in breaking the mystery. They really only turn tail and flee when they're going up against something which directly threatens them.

You don't need to jump through a shit load of hoops to justify why your character is ballsy enough to hang out in the haunted house for longer than ten minutes.

With RPGs in that kind of genre (and a lot of other genres, frankly) you need to obey the genre conventions for things to make sense. Make characters with that in mind and ensure everyone is on the same page, because the worst thing in that sort of game is someone who didn't get the memo and suddenly does something that completely breaks the tone of the game.

>>51933797
Maybe they could have someone they're trying to rescue or meet up with to get the information they need to stop the spooks from happening ever again.

>>51933797
Well well well, what an interesting question... As mainly a CoC keeper, I have been tormented by this question many times. In addition to what you've said, I feel that involving the character in a situation where they will want to find the solution can be great. For example, in a recent game I played, the players are bootleggers trying to seize the wisky production in a remote farm in the countryside. There is some creepy stuff going on (not that much) but they manage to take the farm, but then, as they make the farm run, they start to mutate and stuff, and HAVE to investigate if they want to stay human. Another hook is pure curiosity, seriously. Even if the player might run away from an eldritch monstruosity, or will not go down this crypt of doom, they will come back, because they need to know. There is always the related character hook, like saving family, a debt, big trouble with the mob, continuing the legacy of your father... Your players might also realize that if they don't do it, nobody will do it, and thus, cause the death of the village/town/world. You might also add more motivations, for example an investigator might try to find a forbidden book because its the only way to resurect his deceased wife. There is also the famous trick of "everything seems ok and manageable until you can't go back". Also, think of a lot of horror movies : characters stuck in horrible situations that cannot be fleed, so they have to face the danger, on way or another. Remember also , for more "greedy" backstories, that actual criminals take sometimes really high risk for profit, even if they might die in the process : even if there is a shoggoth in this basement, there is also the tiara of fgat'haar, that could be sold in order to be independant of an income for a long time...

>>51935905
Easiest thing to do.
Also, it's definitely the gm's job to create a compelling scenario that will involve the pc, he can't just say "solve the f*ing case because nothing".

>>51933797
Really difficult to say without any information on the campaign... Hope your gm will have good idea.

>>51935905
>>51937749
These definitely, but you're also on a good track by making a character who has a reason to actually want to get to the bottom of whatever weirdness is going on. With games like these it's the GM's job to make an interesting setup to get the players involved, but at the same time it's equally the players jobs to make characters who have as few reasons as possible to cut and run as soon as things start getting weird.

>>51933797
If they try to walk away from the mystery, just have the mystery follow them home

Honestly I think isolation and unavoidability is the best way to do it.

If it's somewhere abnormal make it so they can't just leave. They're in a pyramid in the desert, they're being stalked by a killer in the woods, people sense the death mark on them and instinctively avoid them, however you want to do it they're all alone and there's no way out but forward.

It can be hard to do properly but done right the isolation and helplessness is way scarier than any way you can describe some tentacle eyeball thing from le other dimension

>>51937847
Mystery in a small town in the Northwest, I'm a forest ranger recently assigned for a seasonal gig. Just "my job is here" didn't feel like a good reason to keep looking into the mystery when my life is on the line, you know?

>>51937749
It is, but I want my PC to not go "fuck this, I'm out" when things get 2 spoopy. I know I can just be cornered / isolated but I'd prefer an actual reason.

>>51938982
Right. I want to have an actual reason to get to the bottom of the weirdness. I don't want to always be the one reacting, I want to be proactive, I'm not proactive enough in these kinds of games.

>>51939195
That's not a motivation for the character, though. They're still going to try to / want to run, they just can't.

>>51937640
>Curiosity
I considered this, but it didn't feel rational when my character's life would be on the line, unless I do "looks fine until point of no return"

I do like "we are the only ones who can do it" and "we have to solve it to fix something about ourselves", both are good.

6 hours, and its not archived? huh