First time DM here. How do I build a horror campaign? I'll

>>52310468
Basically, don't shove monsters in the players face, keep them stalking, lurking in the shadows.

Don't name the monster, describe the monster- preferably without naming anything else like 'dog-like.' Fear of the unknown > fear of Page 51 of the Monster Manual

You don't have to have monsters, either. Inexplicable shit like sinister messages sent to the players allegedly by other players can be good. Give them a safe space, then make it uncertain if it's actually safe.

FInally, don't worry about it too much. If they players don't want to be scared, they won't be, so it's as much up to the players to make the experience work as it is up to you.

>>52310468
>start the PCs off in a safe place

>first omens and forshadowing, weird occurences which are linked to the threat but are not themselves threatening

>then the plot hook is introduced, the players have to leave the safe area, to go through a known dangerous area, to another safe zone

>once they leave, start a hidden countdown, when it advances the oppossition becomes more dangerous and more information about the threat is revealed

>once the players figure out what's going on, they should become aware of the clock, what casues it to advance, and how to stop it

>the clock completing should trigger a highly dangerous event, not a definite tpk, but a chance of one

>>52310468
Know the difference between fear, dread, and anxiety.

You Fear things that you know are scary. Dread is the more vauge feeling you get when you suspect a scary thing but don't know what that thing might actually be. Anxiety is when you have a dread/fear and you just don't know what to do about it.

Generally speaking, Dread is what you're going to go for most of the time. Try to think of Resident Evil, or Silent Hill. You want your PC's to be able to handle whatever monsters you might throw at them, but you also want your PC's to know that every vicotry expends dificult to replace recources. You want them anxious about when to fight, and when to run. You want them dreading the next monster you throw at them. You're only go to generate real fear in your players with quick jump scares when BBEG or Unknown's catch up to them, then they'll step back ooc and start being gamers rather than their characters.

Use a module.

Building your own plot? Don't bother yet, you don't know how and it's not your fault. You'll need help with that.

First times are always like that.

>>52315722
Where can I find good modules to run?

Try to use terror and horror.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_and_terror

I have a question /tg/. What do you think about doing stuff out of the game, like using a certain lighting in the room you guys are playing in or something?

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Don't forget, there are things worse than a quick death.

What does /tg/ think about the DM trying to find out about the player's phobias?

>>52319713
What kind of magical realm is this?

>>52310468
What other fucked up shit has that character done?

>>52319615
as someone who uses very faint background music/sounds to add atmosphere and who used candles in conjunction with a pitch-black room to capture the feel of a secret meeting I can say two things.
1- nothing sets the mood like cheap theatrics
2-you can freak your players out with sound alone.

>>52319713
it's an interesting experience and really adds a LOT to make things more unsettling. I use phobias and discomfort zones as a tool to make demons or devils more genuinely creepy. just be careful about going overboard or singling out one player too much.

>>52310468
You should probably just try stuff and see how it goes. I'd definitely recommend NOT doing stuff on the fly, because if you give the impression that you aren't in complete control, the discomfort the layers feel is going to instantly vanish. What's weird about horror settings is that even if you do them well, players will usually still laugh and tell jokes. This is just normal behavior people do to cut tension. So like the best result is moments of awkward silence and concerned expressions, then giggles, repeated over and over.

>>52319778
I wouldn't know. I thought that getting wrapped up by a giant spider would be a good image to go with bringing up real generic phobias. It hits a fear of spiders, a fear of being trapped, and maybe also fear of being eaten alive. With that type of picture in mind, the picture I used is the most suitable picture I found in the time I was willing to look.

I assume that picture if the picture was supposed to be fap-fuel, I'm guessing it caters to the (soft) vore fetish. Also maybe bondage.


Of course, finding what's left of a human corpse cocooned in spidersilk might be rather horrifying. No time to rescue a person that is already been dead for who knows how long. Plus it demonstrates that this thing, whatever it is (probably a giant spider), considers humans on it's menu. Maybe the DM could add some parasitoid wasp nonsense into it. You see a human shaped and sized cocoon wiggling around, so a heroic PC cuts it open to rescue who's inside, only for a bunch of fist sized 'baby' spiders to spill out and attack the person while his blade is caught in the cacoon

>>52319846
All of them.

>>52310468
We already have this discussed here:
>>52291511
>>52291511
>>52291511

>>52319846
Fran's a good girl.

It's everyone else who aren't specific enough when asking for help, or too impatient to listen to a full warning/rundown of what's about to happen.

>>52323470
>Implying a horror campaign needs monsters

>>52324115
>Fran goes to a deli, asks if I'd like anything.

I'll take a turkey sandwich on rye with pickles, lettuce and mustard.

>I remember how weird things can get with her

And, AND. I don't want any zombie turkeys, I don't want to somehow become a turkey myself, or any other weird surprises.

>She nods, leaves and comes back a bit later with lunch. The sandwich is good, save for one thing... The turkey is a bit dry.

OH FOUL ACCURSED BEING, WHAT DEMON FROM THE PITS OF HELL CREATED THEE?!

>>52319856
>you can freak your players out with sound alone
specifically 18.9hz

http://www.cracked.com/article_18828_the-creepy-scientific-explanation-behind-ghost-sightings.html

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>>52316072
Hi.

Rule #1: Don't let them know they play in a horror game until shit hits the fan.

>>52319615
I tend to use a lot of sound. When I played Curse of Strahd I had a full soundboard of horror movie effects loaded up and ready to go. First time they heard the rusty gate sound half of them jumped.

>>52330295
Whenever Strahd appeared, I started playing Toccata and fugue in D minor. It produced a nice "oh shit" effect, and next time I'm going to use it again.
I also used the narrator's voicelines from Darkest Dungeon both in combat and out, it was also received very positively.

>>52328319
>posting a link to Cucked.com

>>52319846
She's done some stuff. Usually not on purpose/without knowing that what she's doing could be considered inhumanly evil.

Stuff like:
>Turns a girl into a giant caterpillar; girl tries to have sex after turning back to normal, eats guy alive;
>Gives eyes to blind painter; everything is lovecraft, dude falls in love with only girl that is still normal (which probably is an actual lovecraftian creature, a la Saya no Uta);
>Revives guy's girlfriend as a walking head; girl isn't actual girlfriend, kills the guy after getting monstruous body;
>Transforms dogs into people (see OP) and people into dogs (completely unrelated though);
>Invents new way to birth babies: by wrapping them in cocoons; turns out giant maggots are great for wasp eggs AND extremely delicious for cats.

The manga is called Franken Fran. It's both absolutely hilarious and extremely squicky.

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>>52319846
>>52332962
Oh, and here's an excerpt from the maggot babies chapter.

If you're no good with wasps, you might not want to open the spoiler.

What RPGs are good for horror? I'm assuming Call of Cthulhu is among them.

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>>52333867
I was about to post this myself.
>my melanin-enriched friend.

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This has a LOT of tips, and even an encounter you can look over for execution.

>>52334961
fuck the dark souls mimic-memes, this shit is pure evil.
Even with no sense of right or wrong, what wizard would do this shit?

>>52335221
Is that even a question?
>A bored one.

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>>52334961
Well I suppose I'll be posting some more monsters then, some proper ones.
Ones that suggest we've left the monster manual behind.

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It's a dark-souls meme as >>52335221 stated, but it's a personal favourite.
Give a player 3 turns to get away from the ladder he is stuck to, se how he reacts as the warm breath gets ever closer.

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Anyone whom have not read the bloodvine copypasta should now do so; it's eerie as all hell.
I don't have it myself, but if anyone would care to post it I'd be happy-

>>52335795
Am I the only one that thinks that the worst thing in this image is how those foot-veins drag the ground? I can almost feel how badly that should hurt.

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>>52335809
I personally think the worst thing about that picture is the imaginary sensation of tendrils boring it's way through your nails, fingers, arms and skin, like neverending papercuts.
And then forcibly and painfully puppetteering it's victim until they rot away.
>Good ole' crypt horrors.

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>And here is one straight out from the concept art of "The Void"
>At least it could be.

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>It's not strictly a monster-monster, but arcane monstrosities are also partially cool.

You should know horror is the most difficult genre to do on the tabletop. My advice is to get some practice with something else first - or mix it with action, ala Bloodborne (though there are no good games with which to actually run Bloodborne).

>>52335772
Why is it a meme? I tried looking at the dark souls wikis and it looks like mimics are always disguised as treasure chests.

>>52340337
Public reaction define memes, not source works. Here it's an exploitable concept (X is mimic) that led to dozens of "funny pictures".

>>52310468
Small details that I remember worked well for me (and my players):

-Real world atmosphere is important. Of course it's the characters which are suppossed to be scared and the players are only roleplaying, so it's not like you need to jumpscare them, but still, I found setting the mood is very important so that it's taken seriously. Maybe play with lighs a bit down, or something like that.

-Having some weird running theme. I don't know how to describe it. In my Call of Cthulhu game I was always using the "teke-li-li" thing that is heard near shoggoths. They actually never fought one, but I remember them wondering wtf could that be, if it had any meaning, etc.

>>52332962
>Gives eyes to blind painter; everything is lovecraft, dude falls in love with only girl that is still normal (which probably is an actual lovecraftian creature, a la Saya no Uta)
I wasn't aware any other piece of fiction had done something like what Saya no Uta did. Is there some kind of mythological origin for this? I don't mean something as generic as the concept of sirens, but more specifically a character seeing everything as hideous except for one individual who turns out to be evil/crazy.

>>52340572
>-Real world atmosphere is important
Here I am stuck playing online. Kill me.

>>52340572
>Of course it's the characters which are suppossed to be scared and the players are only roleplaying
Yeah, but the whole reason I enjoy horror is because it scares me. If I, the real person, am not being scared (at least somewhat) I won't find it as enjoyable.

>>52340589
The Snow Queen, I guess? Boy named Kai saw everything but snowflakes as twisted reflections due shard of cursed mirror in his eye, and then he met snow milf.

>>52340724
Hm, interesting. I never knew the actual origin of of the modern ice queen archetype. I always assumed it was the Norse goddess Skadi or something. Thank you for replying!

>>52340639
Well, still there are things to be considered. Like not falling on a slippery slope of stupid jokes or stuff like that. Keeping the tone, etc.

>>52340653
Yes true. Actually my friends still remember that game we had cause they were legit scared. So it's true that one needs to scare also the players themselves, that's why I think settin the real atmosphere is important, and sometimes using cheap tricks like music, light or even jumpscares of some sort are cool. I just think that they should be done in a way that it's part of the story and not just some kind of spooky theme park attraction.