A few more ideas: Heart exploding out of a chest, target turning into a swarm of flesh eating scarab, flesh turned to glass that begins to break as target moves, chains ripping apart the target, crushed by unseen hand,etc.
Laughing with the players is the MOST important advice I've ever heard. I love running horror sessions in my regular game, and my players always seem to get as rattled as I want, even though they're a bunch of yucksters most of the time. Sometimes, laughing with the players at something, and then immediately doubling down on your tense narration can add a little whiplash that helps knock everyone else off kilter and back into that tense mood. Sometimes the ghost you thought was scary is just funny. Sometimes your players roll really well and start clobbering it for a turn or two. One of my favorite moments was when my players got more scared that the monster was running away instead of attacking. It was this big alien lizard that could turn invisible briefly at will, and the fighter had just dealt more than a third of its health in damage in one turn. It had been terrorizing their backliners for several rounds, and when it started to run away his reaction was priceless
So much good advice! The slow reveal of monsters, switching to other players at a dramatic moment; I really want to learn from this & try it. Also, the re-skinning of spells was a golden tip! Thanks :-)
Really awesome point about fantasy phobias, I'll have that question in mind next time I run a horror game for sure! Also, even though it isn't a specific requirement (or rather it's brought about due to sanity loss) in Call of Cthulhu I usually have my players roll randomly for a single phobia for their Investigators at the start of the game just to add a few more ways to elicit RP-ed reactions when they run into their characters' phobias.
I had a very unfortunate incident last year where I used body swapping as a plot device only to discover one of my players actually suffered from pretty uncomfortable dysmorphia. We pretty much had to abort. I learned my lesson and checked in with the players before trying horror again. We are now doing a pulp Cthulhu 1960s bond ask campaign which also uses body swapping, but notably among the villains not the heroes which is working fine.
I wish I could have watched this before we started our Curse of Strahd game last year. I am glad that I do some of these things already, but now I have more to work with.
Genuinely would be interested to see if you cover Kult 4th more deeply. I do consider it a very rough system to even read, let alone the idea of running or playing it, because of how the themes tend to run across the line of what I could stomach in a RPG setting quite thoroughly (e.g. nothing like the subject of paedophilia to murder the mood of the game hard). However, the art work and writing is still just astoundingly impressive that even when it does cross the line it doesn't feel cheap or abusive, but rather to hammer home the over-arching narrative of the setting. The style also does mean I kind of struggle to think of how to even run a Kult 4th adventure.
My first time GM’ing ever was running the recently released Quietus system with a scenario I had designed myself (also my first time). It’s a game that’s designed for maximum two PC’s. I ran it via Zoom and had prepared visuals and a soundscape and it was awesome! My friend (it was just him as a PC) was creeped out of his mind and most importantly LOVED the experience, which ended in an epically desperate moment where his character juuuuust managed to save the day! I really recommend checking Quietus out as it’s perfect for horror games. Next, I’ll be trying my hand at Things From The Flood. Have you tried either of those games? Thanks for the tips!
I'd like to note something about your example with fish=man. Sure, when you show it like this, players will be imagining the scariest thing possible, but wouldn't they be disappointed later on when they find out that it's just a fish-man?
I love old hollywood horror movies that were about a slow, suspenseful build up & character development & revelation along the way unlike over the past 30 years where it's about monster effects & mindless gore. I don't mind gore itself (as I can sit & eat spaghetti while Hannibal Lecter convinces a guy to eat part of his own brain), but it should be used for precise effects as in the parenthesized example.
The scariest moment I ever ran in RPGs was in Temple of Elemental Evil. They were in the room with the two Leucrotta. The game said that they mimiced the voice of their last victims. I had them crawl out of their lair speaking in a child's voice saying "mommy, mommy I'm scared" while a second one creeped after it saying "get behind me, and close your eyes" and whie they fought they would scream the agony of their last victims and their cries as they lept around the room. I wasn't intending horror but as my players reacted I just fed into it more.
I've had TOEE evil in the shop for a while. Took out the elemental theme and installed demon cults. This baby begs for more horror so that's what I'm giving her. He's one for fun: Have a newlywed couple beg the players to find their missing baby ( it should be the talk of the town ) , then when they find that baby skeleton on the ground floor... they will know.
I always thought it was the same reason I write them into my stories: I use it a lot, and it just feels wrong that it never gets mentioned, at all, in most stories. Heck, Runescape and Stardew Valley, two of my favorite games, don't even have toilets existing in the game, at all. Someone actually made a mod to add bathrooms to houses in Stardew Valley, just because humans poop, darn it! But now, I learned that I can have that (for me), and USE that (also for me, I suppose), and Yay! Thanks, Seth!
I always have bathrooms be there but my player don't use them when we play something like DnD they just shit in the woods. So they get Wolves and Plant monsters trying to bite their ass off instead
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown... and of the Irish." -Lovecraft
Weird? Yes. Common, and definitely going to start a trend of people demanding it? Absolutely! I mean, everyone who subscribes to his channel is "weird," right? We're all gamers, and gamers are, by definition (according to the rest of society, at least), weirdos. And, yes, I would watch the heck out of that! I freely admit that while I love all the advice, and game reviews, my absolute top favorite part of all his videos is The Gang. Also Jack. Jack and The Gang. And his War Stories. Featuring: The Gang! For Thor! For Thor! For Thor! I have actually started shouting that, just randomly, sometimes. Fortunately, everyone in the house saw the story, so they know what's up. I just thought of it, and had to say it, because DANG! Either that, or I'm only "shouting" in the "Did I say that out loud? Or was it just in my head? Or did I whisper?" sort of way that leaves you feeling very vulnerable in public, because you suddenly don't know if everyone THINKS you're nuts, or KNOWS it. Maybe that's why I've had the motto, for decades, "Never trust a man who never talks to himself.."
The rule of laughter that I have with my players when I'm running a horror game is that I ask them to not laugh at or make fun of the horror. They can tell jokes, make nervous wise cracks and it's all good. But the moment they start calling Cthulhu "tentacle hentai boy" the mood is gone for the rest of the game. So joke all you want but keep the horror sacred.
That was pretty much the rule in making Friday The 13th Part 6: Jason Lives. The director watched all five previous movies back to back and said "There's no way that I can make a sequel to this and do it seriously. Is it okay if I were to make the movie funny?" To which the producers said, "That's okay. Just don't make fun of Jason." And the director said, "I won't. That's why it'll work. Jason's been dead so long that he's thought of as an urban legend. The kids at the lake don't think he really exists, they think that he's just a campfire story. So they laugh and joke with each other, but Jason is super serious." And it worked. Most Friday The 13th fans name Part 6 as one of, if not their top, favourite movie in the franchise.
I hereby pledge to add old people giggling to my next horror adventure. I'm planning on doing Curse of Strand, after the current game. Any ideas where to add old-person giggling?
@@AuntLoopy123 Have a old man cackle the PCs are doomed before falling over dead. And have vermin crawl from the corpse before scattering to the winds.
That shower room cliffhanger was perfect and I learned a lot from it. The old simpsons treehouse of horror with the zombies was the most terrified I ever been I think. I was 5, and the idea that people you love or know could suddenly want to kill you (or your friends) in your own house just... messed me up for two weeks. And two weeks when you're 5 feels like forever.
The one that terrfied me for months after was Terror at 4 1/2 feet. The one with the gremlin on the side of the buss and nobody believed Bart that it was happening. I'd stick my head out the window of any car I was in to make sure nothing was there.
@@ArawnNox That one was scary too, I would do the same. Though it wasn't the same kind of fear since you *could* do something about it if you did see it.
"I don't think zombies are an actual threat that I'm gonna have to face."-- Seth Skorkowsky I'm just going to write this down on a slip of paper and hold on to it. Just in case.
You mean you think that he might someday have to fight a soulless monster that consumes people's brains and spread disease and violence? That seems highly unlikely....
Me as the DM: "Okay guys, we're doing a horror game this week, but that doesn't mean we can't crack a joke now and again." The Players: *emulate their inner Adam Sandler that's deadlier to their health than any monster short of Nyarlathotep*
The first monster I set my PCs against in ravenloft campaign was a ghoul. not a hoard of ghouls, just one. they defeated it easily--it just ran away from them. but when they defeated him they found out his name, his family, something of who he was before he became a ghoul. The only treasure on the ghoul was a doll made out of hair that he used as a substitute for his child. a horde of zombies is threatening, one zombie is scary, a zombie with a backstory is horror.
I had a campaign I was running before, the players came across a cursed church full of zombies with the priests having been turned into ghouls. The party had a bard, the player was rather new to the game and wasn't sure about a lot of stuff, asked if she could cast Hideous Laughter on a ghoul, I encouraged her to try. No one in the game knew that ghouls had enough intelligence to be effected by that spell, or that they could talk. The look on their faces as I gave a hacking screaming laugh before screeching "FUN-NEEEE" was real something. They focused that one down just to stop the laughter.
As a director, wish I could remember them, said with regards to why he included funny moments in horror films was because, as you said, it's natural for humans to just suddenly break out in laughter at the most inopportune times as a natural coping mechanism, when all your surrounded with is horror, eventually you crack and just burst out laughing, you won't know why you find it funny, it's a natural brain response. So by including those breaks in the horror for levity he can control WHEN you laugh and it acts as a release valve for it rather than having you suddenly laugh at a deeply tragic scene.
The funny character in a tense, scary story is usually the one who voices what the audience is thinking. They're the one who thinks that going into the creepy cabin at sunset is a terrible idea, but they're overruled because the more serious, capable characters don't take them seriously. It's a way of lampshading the illogical behaviour of horror characters by making the goofy/cowardly member of the group be the only one saying "Hang on a minute..." That's why Hudson is the comic relief in ALIENS, and why Marty the stoner is the most sensible one in THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (although that film also provides an in-universe explanation for why he's the only one thinking straight).
Or it's when you know they're gone so far that all they can do is laugh at how wrong everything is. "In the end, I alone fled laughing and wailing through those blackened arcades of antiquity." - The Ancestor, Darkest Dungeon
I've said it before and I'll say it again: i see Seth, i smash like. This is seriously one of the best rpg channels on the tube. Great to see you again, Seth
You want horror?! Try playing with my 8 and 10 year olds! Cheetos covered fingers touching dice and character sheets! Dice flying everywhere causing difficult terrain! Spilt drinks on dads new hand drawn map! Pencils with teeth marks and missing erasers! Icy dagger like stares across the table when deciding who gets to pouch the latest potion of healing! Wandering mom on crumb and mess patrol could enter the room at any moment! Good thing dad likes horror!!!
Oh, which episode was it on Critical Role where Taliesin spilled his coffee all over his paperwork? "What are the stats on this magical item? I don't know!" Unexpected horror. This is why, when I'm at home, I ALWAYS use one of those insulated cups with a lid and straw. Because I am clumsy. Can't do that when I'm dining out, of course, or visiting friends. But I can make sure that Cheetos is not the snack I bring to game night. I love Cheetos, but those are a special-time treat, when you won't be touching anything but your mouth. Maybe break them, in bag, with a dull knife, and then eat them with a spoon? Hmmmm, I'll have to try that, next time I buy a snack-bag, instead of full sized bag. Soooo, like, never.
I like Berserk. The creator of berserk said he didn't think monsters should be angry, he said he thought they should be sad. His monsters therefore have a subtle lonesome melancholy quality or a woe-some expression and it's kinda freaky.
My daughter is absolutely creeped out by anything zombie/undead related. Unfortunately, we didn't discover this until I had started a campaign where the big villain was a necromancer. The campaign took three years of real-time to play out and the undead showed up in the first 6 months of the campaign. In the next campaign I ran I promised her "No Undead". Well until they ran into a very old vampire. She was able to handle that better than zombies and skeletons.
The scariest movie monster I ever saw, even ahead of the recurring nightmare gremlins, was 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. That is some existential horror to lay on a kid. And between Artax and Gmork they frame that shit so a preschooler'll grok it.
The things that freaked me out were people being taken over by another alien being, like Planet of the Spiders (Den Who episode originally1974, but released in the states much later) & Invaders from Mars (1986)....a PG film I saw at a friend's house with no parental guidance included.
damn, I will have to come back later, atm I have a class to teach, see you soon! And I am back, amazing video as always, now if I could only get a few weekends cleared, but we are running soo hot on the cyberpunk red rush atm.
@Naren Gurrier-Jones well, to be honest some students are sometimes scared when I say that I teach "unconventionally" sadly teaching history atm in lockdown is soo bad. I can't make any of the activities I like to do, but well it is what it is.
Years ago a friend and I were discussing the 80s version of movie The Thing. The head stretching off the body, sprouting out legs and running off didn't bother him because it was too weird and unrelatable, but the cutting of their hands with the xacto knife terrified him because he CAN imagine his hand being cut. I think that was part of the reason old Stephen King's stories worked. He placed common people in everyday setting facing the bizarre and unknown horror.
It's also why you can watch a movie where someone gets hacked up with a machete and be all "Meh" but then a character gets a papercut 2 minutes later and everyone winces in sympathetic pain.
One of my favorite RPG-specific horror things to do is to set up situations where the characters would want to go look, but the players absolutely know not too. That tension is funny.
Man, a bit to late, I just finished my post apocalyptic horror adventure with my group. But this video was still great to watch and to take a look where I could improve. If someone is interested: my group tried raiding an old hospital that had been nearly covered by a landslide. And every level had its unique horror setting. Psychological horror, body horror, slasher horror and science fiction horror. Were currently playing online so that was a challenge, but also a great opportunity to feed the players with different information. Like soundclips only certain players could hear or pictures that appeared differently to some members of the group. Long story short it was a blast and I had to relearn a bunch of stuff about storytelling.
It was amazing how easy it was to shift my game group into the horror mood when I tried. I had 1 new and 2 inexperienced players, so it was an intro to roleplaying type adventure. I picked the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh for the setting... By the time they got done with the phantom noises, pictures whose eyes may have been following them...eerie noises and other factors... they almost burnt the place down before instead of continuing to investigate. Everyone was very happy with the adventure... but letting imaginations fill in blanks and giving people time to think can do wonders.
He does also wear a Total Chaos tshirt occasionally...so I'm not sure about his tastes! :D (Ok, now I can't remember was it Total Chaos or The Casualties. Either which way....)
Dude, you really can't leave us hanging on that story. Does Dweebles play with the entity on the mattress? How does the shower go, is soap dropped and if so, by whom?
This may sound odd. I have never run or played in a D&D or other roleplaying campaign, yet I very much enjoy Seth's videos about them. I wonder if I'm the only one.
I'm going to have to use that coins coming out of the eyes thing. "The old man keeps rubbing his eyes, letting out out of cough you see a single gold coin fly from his mouth and strike the floor with a high pitched *PING*."
There is only one element that works both 100% as Fantasy Fear and as Real World Fear: Clowns! They are creepy as hell in fiction... and in real life. Stephen King you ruined my childhood.
I was thinking to myself "Wow, it has been awhile since a new Seth video was uploaded." Lo and behold, one appears! And a perfect topic too, it will be watched while I work on terrain for my haunted cemetery tonight.
A really good one shot game system which involves 10 lit candles, set in a world where the sun has died and burning aspects of your character sheet in order to gain benefits. Everyone dies at the end of the session so it's more about creating a tragic story or doing as much as you can before the world ends. I've run it twice and it's brilliant. It works off a pool of 10 dice with a set number of scenes and an antagonist that changes every time you play (partially determined by a player), and as the game goes on more candles go out and the game master gains gradually more and more control as things get more and more dire until the climax. I'd play it more, but covid got in the way. It also is the only game I can think of which heavily benefits from zero prep.
I find the system to be incredibly boring. I think it's the concession that your character is always going to die. It loses a lot of the tension when in the back of your mind you know that all the choices you're making are futile
@@Skullkan6 do you have a link to the rules? Video or website will do. I GM for Call of Cthulhu, I think that system might be a cool change for some of my players.
I also do not like spiders, but having been trained some time ago as an infantry commander, my reaction is more along 'hulk, smash' lines. Once while getting ready for bed I snapped back the covers and was just about to lay down when I saw a skittery shadow. Turning the light back on I saw a rather large spider in the middle of the bed. Where I live spiders the size of a dime are common and every so often, a quarter. This one was about an inch of body, maybe two inches with legs. It had its two front legs up, ready to fight. I can not voice precisely what went through my head, but it was a combination of, "oh, hell no" and, "so that's what YOU think". I grabbed a handy can of Raid (don't like spiders, so, yeah) and gave it a full blast to the face. It took it like a champ and started crawling off, but I wasn't having that noise. I flipped the can over in my hand and once it crawled closer the frame I used the can not as directed, but to excellent effect, with a couple very stout and satisfying "clangs". I then employed the other side of the can and gave it another dose of neurotoxin. "Scared of" can mean "top target".
Small groups are great. The most successful CoC one shot I’ve run had 2 players. There’s something about the isolation & powerlessness that amps up the dread. And it really helps with pacing. It’s surprising how much time gets eaten up having to deal with 4+ players.
Horror is a difficult genre to run. It requires enthusiastic participation on the part of every player at the table. In a medium filled with escapist, power fantasy craving players, it is a tough sell. When it works though....some of the best times I've had gaming were horror games.
Yeah, when the players catch the "power fantasy" disease, it can be tough to get any role playing going. A somewhat cure is to discuss the problem with the players, and ask them to relieve that craving at computer games.
I used your trick of switching between players at tense moments just last night and it worked excellently! Thanks for the tips and for this video altogether 🤘
That part about fantasy fears I think is the most insightful part of this. I've never seen anyone bring that up before, but it is great advice. Also, loved the reactions from switching scenes. So funny!
I think I will wait until I have some audio mixing software. Then record in character dialogue, especially the laughter. Then play back the distorted audio and warped laughter. Now I kinda want to make a monster like The Gentlemen from Buffy, but rather than stealing everyone in towns voice all at once I'd like to have it so that mid scream their voice fades down to a dry rasping death rattle. The more voices they steal the more dissonant whispers, cruel mimicry and zones of silence they can project until they can encompass an entire town or village.
8:48 Oh my god the Darkest Dungeons movie, what a bible-thumping trainwreck that movie was. 5 star reference because that movie was horrifically bad lol
I mean, it was a parody of the famously bible-thumping Chick Tract. The funniest aspect of the whole thing is that they got Chick Publications to let them use the rights.
pointed my friend towards your channel! hes has DM twice now. one Dnd and one cypber punk red! hes doing really good and i dont think i am back seating to much! having a blast being a player and the group is to! a million thanks!!!!!!
In Traveller, refueling at a gas giant scares me. What if something goes wrong that keeps you from leaving the atmosphere? I genuinely have a phobic response to the idea of the Long Dive.
I’ve been watching Chaotic Neutral/No Rolls Barred, and they have zany characters included in their CoC games, yet it works. It’s amazing how they all cooperate to weave a story despite their jokes.
Another thing is, if your players said " i am okay with my phobia xy being used" and later say "okay i am NOT fine with it" dont be angry or annoyed. Accept it, it will happen and its not the players fault. The idea of something and the "reality" are two very different things. Another tip for effective horror look at movies/games what worked and what didnt and be inspired by it.
Would you be willing to share a copy of your lines a veils sheet? I would love to use something like that for my groups! First video I'm seeing here. I made sure to subscribe. Glad to join this community :)
lil tip for Lines and Veils, they're way more useful for a campaign but not for one-shots bc you spend way too much time considering triggering topics for the amount of time you'll actually play. Just prepare to be more liberal with your X-Card as needed. You can also do what's called "brake" or "slow-down" which is a bit like a Veil applied on-the-fly
Now I want to run a game with a Kuo-Toa Wizard whose fireball is turned into a flooding. The victim's bodies become so bloated with water so it gushes from their mouths, eyes, and skin. By the way, I love spiders which are fascinating and beautiful animals. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to make any normal animal scary to me. Children, on the other hand, are the most terrifying entities, from Anthony Fremont in "It's a Good Life" to the Midwich Cuckoos.
The bit about crossing lines reminded me of the KOTD where Weird Pete took the players on a homebrew game that was entirely based on the movie Deliverance.
As someone who is arachanaphobic, I will say Seth is 100% right about not adding someone's phobias into the game. Phobias are an irrational fear of something, and can be triggered even if the player knows they aren't actually dealing with that thing in real life. You're very likely to have someone walk away from the table until the encounter is done if you try to exploit an actual phobia... even if they love horror.
I love your sensitivity as a story teller. When saying you are not scared of demons you don't say why. Is it because you are a devout Christian? An atheist? But why give offense when you do not have to. Great job illustrating how to speak to our audience effectively.
Oh damn Seth, spiders, heights and zombies, all phobies of mine (okay you didn't say zombies were a phobia but, I'm on a roll) just don't tell me you're also afraid of sharks when you're swimming? Also, I like this video, it gets the creativity flowing for non-horror themes too.
*Hurriedly scribbles down "Ancient Roman coins bursting from peoples eyes"*
Yeah thats gold, almost a shame I dont run cthulu
@@justinsaunders4068 "Yeah that's gold"
ACTUALLY Ancient Roman coins were silver and bronze. /s
A few more ideas: Heart exploding out of a chest, target turning into a swarm of flesh eating scarab, flesh turned to glass that begins to break as target moves, chains ripping apart the target, crushed by unseen hand,etc.
@Jing Bot Everybody gangstar until the floor eats 1 of ya friends and gives another an epileptic fit.
If you ever end up using this, please call it "Denar-eye".
Laughing with the players is the MOST important advice I've ever heard. I love running horror sessions in my regular game, and my players always seem to get as rattled as I want, even though they're a bunch of yucksters most of the time.
Sometimes, laughing with the players at something, and then immediately doubling down on your tense narration can add a little whiplash that helps knock everyone else off kilter and back into that tense mood.
Sometimes the ghost you thought was scary is just funny. Sometimes your players roll really well and start clobbering it for a turn or two.
One of my favorite moments was when my players got more scared that the monster was running away instead of attacking. It was this big alien lizard that could turn invisible briefly at will, and the fighter had just dealt more than a third of its health in damage in one turn. It had been terrorizing their backliners for several rounds, and when it started to run away his reaction was priceless
So much good advice! The slow reveal of monsters, switching to other players at a dramatic moment; I really want to learn from this & try it.
Also, the re-skinning of spells was a golden tip! Thanks :-)
Really awesome point about fantasy phobias, I'll have that question in mind next time I run a horror game for sure! Also, even though it isn't a specific requirement (or rather it's brought about due to sanity loss) in Call of Cthulhu I usually have my players roll randomly for a single phobia for their Investigators at the start of the game just to add a few more ways to elicit RP-ed reactions when they run into their characters' phobias.
I had a very unfortunate incident last year where I used body swapping as a plot device only to discover one of my players actually suffered from pretty uncomfortable dysmorphia. We pretty much had to abort. I learned my lesson and checked in with the players before trying horror again. We are now doing a pulp Cthulhu 1960s bond ask campaign which also uses body swapping, but notably among the villains not the heroes which is working fine.
I wish I could have watched this before we started our Curse of Strahd game last year. I am glad that I do some of these things already, but now I have more to work with.
Genuinely would be interested to see if you cover Kult 4th more deeply. I do consider it a very rough system to even read, let alone the idea of running or playing it, because of how the themes tend to run across the line of what I could stomach in a RPG setting quite thoroughly (e.g. nothing like the subject of paedophilia to murder the mood of the game hard). However, the art work and writing is still just astoundingly impressive that even when it does cross the line it doesn't feel cheap or abusive, but rather to hammer home the over-arching narrative of the setting. The style also does mean I kind of struggle to think of how to even run a Kult 4th adventure.
My first time GM’ing ever was running the recently released Quietus system with a scenario I had designed myself (also my first time). It’s a game that’s designed for maximum two PC’s. I ran it via Zoom and had prepared visuals and a soundscape and it was awesome! My friend (it was just him as a PC) was creeped out of his mind and most importantly LOVED the experience, which ended in an epically desperate moment where his character juuuuust managed to save the day! I really recommend checking Quietus out as it’s perfect for horror games. Next, I’ll be trying my hand at Things From The Flood. Have you tried either of those games? Thanks for the tips!
I'd like to note something about your example with fish=man. Sure, when you show it like this, players will be imagining the scariest thing possible, but wouldn't they be disappointed later on when they find out that it's just a fish-man?
I always love the NPCs.
I love old hollywood horror movies that were about a slow, suspenseful build up & character development & revelation along the way unlike over the past 30 years where it's about monster effects & mindless gore.
I don't mind gore itself (as I can sit & eat spaghetti while Hannibal Lecter convinces a guy to eat part of his own brain), but it should be used for precise effects as in the parenthesized example.
well done
The scariest moment I ever ran in RPGs was in Temple of Elemental Evil. They were in the room with the two Leucrotta. The game said that they mimiced the voice of their last victims. I had them crawl out of their lair speaking in a child's voice saying "mommy, mommy I'm scared" while a second one creeped after it saying "get behind me, and close your eyes" and whie they fought they would scream the agony of their last victims and their cries as they lept around the room. I wasn't intending horror but as my players reacted I just fed into it more.
Okay, yeah. That would be horrible. Like that bear from that Natalie Portman movie.
I've had TOEE evil in the shop for a while. Took out the elemental theme and installed demon cults. This baby begs for more horror so that's what I'm giving her. He's one for fun: Have a newlywed couple beg the players to find their missing baby ( it should be the talk of the town ) , then when they find that baby skeleton on the ground floor... they will know.
Thanks for the idea
@@nolgroth Annihilation. A damn good cosmic horror film.
@@nolgroth Lest we forget the original horror from Fullmetal Alchemist
I just realized that Ducktales is essentially Pulp Cthulhu with Disney Characters...
And Tail Spin is Hollow Earth Expedition with Disney Characters :D
Looney Toons is what a show would be like if Cthulhu was the main character, Bugs Bunny is a truly terrifying and powerful being
@@kingduckie9135 Bugs is a capricious god.
@@kingduckie9135 What do you mean? Bugs Bunny is an avatar of Nyarlathotep
Ya might've solved ah mystery there? Or at the very least rewrote history....
Today is the day Jack the NPC finally gets his answer on why Seth has a strange interest in adding bathrooms and npc's needing to use the bathroom.
Jajajaja
Probably why Jack isn't in the video, he would have busted in with an "Ah-ha!"
I always thought it was the same reason I write them into my stories: I use it a lot, and it just feels wrong that it never gets mentioned, at all, in most stories. Heck, Runescape and Stardew Valley, two of my favorite games, don't even have toilets existing in the game, at all. Someone actually made a mod to add bathrooms to houses in Stardew Valley, just because humans poop, darn it!
But now, I learned that I can have that (for me), and USE that (also for me, I suppose), and Yay! Thanks, Seth!
Just roll a con check to see who gets ambushed in the bathroom
I always have bathrooms be there but my player don't use them when we play something like DnD they just shit in the woods.
So they get Wolves and Plant monsters trying to bite their ass off instead
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown... and of the Irish." -Lovecraft
"Outside the door you hear a loud thump, and then something heavy being dragged like... like... LIKE A BAG OF POTATOES!"
@@polishedpebble4111 H. P. Lovecraft: the man that had a panic attack when he found out his grandmother was Welsh
And math... and fish.
@@thebolas000 My grandma broke down crying when she learnt our last name came from scotland
@@Meatball996 bruh
Thank you for including Delaware. But why is it yellow? You guys are pretty hard core! Delaware is usually a hard line in my groups.
I lol’d at that, too.
Is that a reference to another video?
@@vampthethief you'll find the answer at 22:41
Have you seen the yellow sign? 😱
Do I ask the context of Delaware?
Am i weird in that i'd happily watch a """live""" play of an RPG with Seth as every player + GM?
No, and now that you mentioned this I need it now.
@Seth Skorkowsky This needs to happen
Weird? Yes. Common, and definitely going to start a trend of people demanding it? Absolutely! I mean, everyone who subscribes to his channel is "weird," right? We're all gamers, and gamers are, by definition (according to the rest of society, at least), weirdos.
And, yes, I would watch the heck out of that! I freely admit that while I love all the advice, and game reviews, my absolute top favorite part of all his videos is The Gang. Also Jack. Jack and The Gang.
And his War Stories. Featuring: The Gang!
For Thor! For Thor! For Thor! I have actually started shouting that, just randomly, sometimes. Fortunately, everyone in the house saw the story, so they know what's up. I just thought of it, and had to say it, because DANG! Either that, or I'm only "shouting" in the "Did I say that out loud? Or was it just in my head? Or did I whisper?" sort of way that leaves you feeling very vulnerable in public, because you suddenly don't know if everyone THINKS you're nuts, or KNOWS it.
Maybe that's why I've had the motto, for decades, "Never trust a man who never talks to himself.."
No I do believe that’d be an enjoyable game as well lol
Lol I would watch that too... 👍🏻
The rule of laughter that I have with my players when I'm running a horror game is that I ask them to not laugh at or make fun of the horror. They can tell jokes, make nervous wise cracks and it's all good. But the moment they start calling Cthulhu "tentacle hentai boy" the mood is gone for the rest of the game. So joke all you want but keep the horror sacred.
That was pretty much the rule in making Friday The 13th Part 6: Jason Lives. The director watched all five previous movies back to back and said "There's no way that I can make a sequel to this and do it seriously. Is it okay if I were to make the movie funny?"
To which the producers said, "That's okay. Just don't make fun of Jason."
And the director said, "I won't. That's why it'll work. Jason's been dead so long that he's thought of as an urban legend. The kids at the lake don't think he really exists, they think that he's just a campfire story. So they laugh and joke with each other, but Jason is super serious."
And it worked. Most Friday The 13th fans name Part 6 as one of, if not their top, favourite movie in the franchise.
Children giggling has become a trope in horror. if something will be terrifying, small kids will be giggling.
Have you ever seen the old 1960's Village of The Damned? Not a lot of giggling, but no shortage of creepy children.
@@wardkerr2456 great movie.
I hereby pledge to add old people giggling to my next horror adventure. I'm planning on doing Curse of Strand, after the current game. Any ideas where to add old-person giggling?
I had a split party run into child ghost. It haunted one pc for several days. Nothing like a disembodied voice demanding you play with it.
@@AuntLoopy123 Have a old man cackle the PCs are doomed before falling over dead. And have vermin crawl from the corpse before scattering to the winds.
That shower room cliffhanger was perfect and I learned a lot from it.
The old simpsons treehouse of horror with the zombies was the most terrified I ever been I think. I was 5, and the idea that people you love or know could suddenly want to kill you (or your friends) in your own house just... messed me up for two weeks. And two weeks when you're 5 feels like forever.
The one that terrfied me for months after was Terror at 4 1/2 feet. The one with the gremlin on the side of the buss and nobody believed Bart that it was happening. I'd stick my head out the window of any car I was in to make sure nothing was there.
@@ArawnNox That one was scary too, I would do the same. Though it wasn't the same kind of fear since you *could* do something about it if you did see it.
@@ArawnNox That one was a nod to the Twillight Zone, when the dude saw the creature on the wing of the airplane :P
@@Taricus I know.
"I don't think zombies are an actual threat that I'm gonna have to face."-- Seth Skorkowsky
I'm just going to write this down on a slip of paper and hold on to it. Just in case.
All too true.
Oh he is aware that he will face zombies. They just aren't an actual threat for him.
You mean you think that he might someday have to fight a soulless monster that consumes people's brains and spread disease and violence? That seems highly unlikely....
I was totally looking for this comment the moment he said this .... :)
All it would take is for the internet to go away. All those unsocialized people without phones...
Me as the DM: "Okay guys, we're doing a horror game this week, but that doesn't mean we can't crack a joke now and again."
The Players: *emulate their inner Adam Sandler that's deadlier to their health than any monster short of Nyarlathotep*
My friends always manage to make any situation into an Adam Sandler movie scene, we always end up getting screwed because of it
The first monster I set my PCs against in ravenloft campaign was a ghoul. not a hoard of ghouls, just one. they defeated it easily--it just ran away from them. but when they defeated him they found out his name, his family, something of who he was before he became a ghoul. The only treasure on the ghoul was a doll made out of hair that he used as a substitute for his child.
a horde of zombies is threatening, one zombie is scary, a zombie with a backstory is horror.
I had a campaign I was running before, the players came across a cursed church full of zombies with the priests having been turned into ghouls. The party had a bard, the player was rather new to the game and wasn't sure about a lot of stuff, asked if she could cast Hideous Laughter on a ghoul, I encouraged her to try.
No one in the game knew that ghouls had enough intelligence to be effected by that spell, or that they could talk. The look on their faces as I gave a hacking screaming laugh before screeching "FUN-NEEEE" was real something. They focused that one down just to stop the laughter.
As a director, wish I could remember them, said with regards to why he included funny moments in horror films was because, as you said, it's natural for humans to just suddenly break out in laughter at the most inopportune times as a natural coping mechanism, when all your surrounded with is horror, eventually you crack and just burst out laughing, you won't know why you find it funny, it's a natural brain response.
So by including those breaks in the horror for levity he can control WHEN you laugh and it acts as a release valve for it rather than having you suddenly laugh at a deeply tragic scene.
The funny character in a tense, scary story is usually the one who voices what the audience is thinking. They're the one who thinks that going into the creepy cabin at sunset is a terrible idea, but they're overruled because the more serious, capable characters don't take them seriously. It's a way of lampshading the illogical behaviour of horror characters by making the goofy/cowardly member of the group be the only one saying "Hang on a minute..."
That's why Hudson is the comic relief in ALIENS, and why Marty the stoner is the most sensible one in THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (although that film also provides an in-universe explanation for why he's the only one thinking straight).
James Wan is who you're thinking. He said that about Insidious
Or it's when you know they're gone so far that all they can do is laugh at how wrong everything is. "In the end, I alone fled laughing and wailing through those blackened arcades of antiquity." - The Ancestor, Darkest Dungeon
Sometimes I just rewatch Seth's videos to feel the tranquility, safety and fun he somehow manages to always convey.
Yup. They’re a comfort watch for me, for sure. I’m probably on my fifth watch of this video alone.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: i see Seth, i smash like. This is seriously one of the best rpg channels on the tube.
Great to see you again, Seth
Definitely deserves a like, unless I reach the end of the video
You want horror?!
Try playing with my 8 and 10 year olds! Cheetos covered fingers touching dice and character sheets! Dice flying everywhere causing difficult terrain! Spilt drinks on dads new hand drawn map! Pencils with teeth marks and missing erasers! Icy dagger like stares across the table when deciding who gets to pouch the latest potion of healing! Wandering mom on crumb and mess patrol could enter the room at any moment!
Good thing dad likes horror!!!
Haha, that was so triggering I almost couldn't finish reading past the Cheeto covered fingers. I hope you keep the books behind the GM screen.
[SHUDDERS]
Rule one in our irl group is drinks on a side table
Good on you to face that horror to bring a new generation of players into the hobby. I salute you.
Oh, which episode was it on Critical Role where Taliesin spilled his coffee all over his paperwork?
"What are the stats on this magical item? I don't know!"
Unexpected horror.
This is why, when I'm at home, I ALWAYS use one of those insulated cups with a lid and straw. Because I am clumsy. Can't do that when I'm dining out, of course, or visiting friends. But I can make sure that Cheetos is not the snack I bring to game night. I love Cheetos, but those are a special-time treat, when you won't be touching anything but your mouth.
Maybe break them, in bag, with a dull knife, and then eat them with a spoon? Hmmmm, I'll have to try that, next time I buy a snack-bag, instead of full sized bag. Soooo, like, never.
I like Berserk. The creator of berserk said he didn't think monsters should be angry, he said he thought they should be sad. His monsters therefore have a subtle lonesome melancholy quality or a woe-some expression and it's kinda freaky.
My daughter is absolutely creeped out by anything zombie/undead related. Unfortunately, we didn't discover this until I had started a campaign where the big villain was a necromancer. The campaign took three years of real-time to play out and the undead showed up in the first 6 months of the campaign. In the next campaign I ran I promised her "No Undead". Well until they ran into a very old vampire. She was able to handle that better than zombies and skeletons.
The scariest movie monster I ever saw, even ahead of the recurring nightmare gremlins, was 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.
That is some existential horror to lay on a kid. And between Artax and Gmork they frame that shit so a preschooler'll grok it.
The things that freaked me out were people being taken over by another alien being, like Planet of the Spiders (Den Who episode originally1974, but released in the states much later) & Invaders from Mars (1986)....a PG film I saw at a friend's house with no parental guidance included.
I love your example of the re-skinned Fireball spell. This makes it so much easier to create new, level appropriate spells, too.
there isn't anything fireball can't fix
As I just got the call of Cthulhu starter set for Christmas. You have impeccable timing on getting your audience what they need!
damn, I will have to come back later, atm I have a class to teach, see you soon!
And I am back, amazing video as always, now if I could only get a few weekends cleared, but we are running soo hot on the cyberpunk red rush atm.
@Naren Gurrier-Jones well, to be honest some students are sometimes scared when I say that I teach "unconventionally" sadly teaching history atm in lockdown is soo bad. I can't make any of the activities I like to do, but well it is what it is.
Chillies evolved to repel animals from eating them but then along came humans ... a horror story for capsicum audiences.
2:40 I often refer to horror as "spicy fiction."
"I have waited a loooong time for this moment..."
Years ago a friend and I were discussing the 80s version of movie The Thing. The head stretching off the body, sprouting out legs and running off didn't bother him because it was too weird and unrelatable, but the cutting of their hands with the xacto knife terrified him because he CAN imagine his hand being cut. I think that was part of the reason old Stephen King's stories worked. He placed common people in everyday setting facing the bizarre and unknown horror.
It's also why you can watch a movie where someone gets hacked up with a machete and be all "Meh" but then a character gets a papercut 2 minutes later and everyone winces in sympathetic pain.
IT is the most unscary thing I've ever seen.
One of my favorite RPG-specific horror things to do is to set up situations where the characters would want to go look, but the players absolutely know not too. That tension is funny.
Man, a bit to late, I just finished my post apocalyptic horror adventure with my group. But this video was still great to watch and to take a look where I could improve.
If someone is interested: my group tried raiding an old hospital that had been nearly covered by a landslide.
And every level had its unique horror setting. Psychological horror, body horror, slasher horror and science fiction horror.
Were currently playing online so that was a challenge, but also a great opportunity to feed the players with different information. Like soundclips only certain players could hear or pictures that appeared differently to some members of the group.
Long story short it was a blast and I had to relearn a bunch of stuff about storytelling.
I definitely have a hard line at Delaware.
Great video. I also enjoy horror themed one shots. I've had them in D&D and CofC to great success.
Is it the Mason-Dixon?
I just saw that. Blue Hens are scary.
It was amazing how easy it was to shift my game group into the horror mood when I tried. I had 1 new and 2 inexperienced players, so it was an intro to roleplaying type adventure. I picked the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh for the setting...
By the time they got done with the phantom noises, pictures whose eyes may have been following them...eerie noises and other factors... they almost burnt the place down before instead of continuing to investigate.
Everyone was very happy with the adventure... but letting imaginations fill in blanks and giving people time to think can do wonders.
Enthusiastic consent to slavery but possible consent to Delaware? Couldn't imagine the story behind that.
Delaware was in the Union, so that might explain it?
I just noticed that Todd wears a Ramones shirt. Todd’s got good taste in music.
so do you bud, cheers! aha
He does also wear a Total Chaos tshirt occasionally...so I'm not sure about his tastes! :D (Ok, now I can't remember was it Total Chaos or The Casualties. Either which way....)
Yep! The Ramones are awesome. 😎😁
The scariest horror RPG is probably FATAL.
13 Candles.
And the scariest movie is "Last Jedi"
@@Tony-dh7mz I'd say that's more stupid than uncomfortable.
@@Tony-dh7mz Wasn't really a "Movie" just nothing happening, with bad pacing, and a decent duel scene.
According to Jayne Cobb, pain is scary.
Dude, you really can't leave us hanging on that story. Does Dweebles play with the entity on the mattress? How does the shower go, is soap dropped and if so, by whom?
Does Mike GTFO and leave that mess behind?
This may sound odd. I have never run or played in a D&D or other roleplaying campaign, yet I very much enjoy Seth's videos about them. I wonder if I'm the only one.
I'm going to have to use that coins coming out of the eyes thing. "The old man keeps rubbing his eyes, letting out out of cough you see a single gold coin fly from his mouth and strike the floor with a high pitched *PING*."
Sounds like Greed from The Binding Of Isaac.
Great video as always I hope you keep making these, I love watching them, one of my favorite UA-cam channels.
There is only one element that works both 100% as Fantasy Fear and as Real World Fear: Clowns!
They are creepy as hell in fiction... and in real life.
Stephen King you ruined my childhood.
I was thinking to myself "Wow, it has been awhile since a new Seth video was uploaded." Lo and behold, one appears! And a perfect topic too, it will be watched while I work on terrain for my haunted cemetery tonight.
Have you tried "10 candles" system? Perfect for one-shot horror stories.
What is 10 candles?
A really good one shot game system which involves 10 lit candles, set in a world where the sun has died and burning aspects of your character sheet in order to gain benefits. Everyone dies at the end of the session so it's more about creating a tragic story or doing as much as you can before the world ends.
I've run it twice and it's brilliant.
It works off a pool of 10 dice with a set number of scenes and an antagonist that changes every time you play (partially determined by a player), and as the game goes on more candles go out and the game master gains gradually more and more control as things get more and more dire until the climax. I'd play it more, but covid got in the way.
It also is the only game I can think of which heavily benefits from zero prep.
I find the system to be incredibly boring. I think it's the concession that your character is always going to die. It loses a lot of the tension when in the back of your mind you know that all the choices you're making are futile
@@Skullkan6 do you have a link to the rules? Video or website will do. I GM for Call of Cthulhu, I think that system might be a cool change for some of my players.
@@TheGreatBryan25 letmegooglethat.com/?q=10+candles+horror+game
"Did you come here to play?" I love it, Seth!
10:02 - 12:06 That skit had me rolling on the floor laughing.
Ironically, I had to skip through the parts where you were talking about spiders, because I'm pretty arachnophobic.
Me too!
I also do not like spiders, but having been trained some time ago as an infantry commander, my reaction is more along 'hulk, smash' lines.
Once while getting ready for bed I snapped back the covers and was just about to lay down when I saw a skittery shadow. Turning the light back on I saw a rather large spider in the middle of the bed. Where I live spiders the size of a dime are common and every so often, a quarter. This one was about an inch of body, maybe two inches with legs. It had its two front legs up, ready to fight. I can not voice precisely what went through my head, but it was a combination of, "oh, hell no" and, "so that's what YOU think". I grabbed a handy can of Raid (don't like spiders, so, yeah) and gave it a full blast to the face. It took it like a champ and started crawling off, but I wasn't having that noise. I flipped the can over in my hand and once it crawled closer the frame I used the can not as directed, but to excellent effect, with a couple very stout and satisfying "clangs". I then employed the other side of the can and gave it another dose of neurotoxin. "Scared of" can mean "top target".
Small groups are great. The most successful CoC one shot I’ve run had 2 players. There’s something about the isolation & powerlessness that amps up the dread.
And it really helps with pacing. It’s surprising how much time gets eaten up having to deal with 4+ players.
Horror is a difficult genre to run. It requires enthusiastic participation on the part of every player at the table. In a medium filled with escapist, power fantasy craving players, it is a tough sell.
When it works though....some of the best times I've had gaming were horror games.
Yeah, when the players catch the "power fantasy" disease, it can be tough to get any role playing going.
A somewhat cure is to discuss the problem with the players, and ask them to relieve that craving at computer games.
Ah yes, the part that leads up to the video, “the into”
Like the video so far tho!
Fixed. Thanks.
Internet: Hello Seth!
I used your trick of switching between players at tense moments just last night and it worked excellently! Thanks for the tips and for this video altogether 🤘
I love when Seth and Megamind dovetail on their advice: PRESENTATION!
Awesome video as always.
Can I get that lines and veils spreadsheet?
What do you have against Delaware?
Seth: I don't think zombies are an actual threat I'll have to face.
2021: GUESS AGAIN!
Scooby snack for the UA-cam algorithm.
Thanks for the excellent video, Mr Skorkowski
I particularly appreciate the "fireball conversion"
That part about fantasy fears I think is the most insightful part of this. I've never seen anyone bring that up before, but it is great advice. Also, loved the reactions from switching scenes. So funny!
Every time you post a video I know I'm about to up my GM game a little bit. Today was no exception.
I think I will wait until I have some audio mixing software. Then record in character dialogue, especially the laughter. Then play back the distorted audio and warped laughter. Now I kinda want to make a monster like The Gentlemen from Buffy, but rather than stealing everyone in towns voice all at once I'd like to have it so that mid scream their voice fades down to a dry rasping death rattle. The more voices they steal the more dissonant whispers, cruel mimicry and zones of silence they can project until they can encompass an entire town or village.
8:48 Oh my god the Darkest Dungeons movie, what a bible-thumping trainwreck that movie was. 5 star reference because that movie was horrifically bad lol
I mean, it was a parody of the famously bible-thumping Chick Tract. The funniest aspect of the whole thing is that they got Chick Publications to let them use the rights.
pointed my friend towards your channel! hes has DM twice now. one Dnd and one cypber punk red! hes doing really good and i dont think i am back seating to much! having a blast being a player and the group is to! a million thanks!!!!!!
It would be awesome to have an entire video of you and the gang playing different games.
In Traveller, refueling at a gas giant scares me. What if something goes wrong that keeps you from leaving the atmosphere? I genuinely have a phobic response to the idea of the Long Dive.
Don't expect it to be like a scary movie. That's rule #1 for me.
Ahh a new Seth video more like a godsend
I've always told students that Horror is not about fear, it is about dread.
E
Best Mood setting location, Used book store late at night.
I’ve been watching Chaotic Neutral/No Rolls Barred, and they have zany characters included in their CoC games, yet it works. It’s amazing how they all cooperate to weave a story despite their jokes.
Is there somewhere I can actually get that Lines & Veils sheet?
Another thing is, if your players said " i am okay with my phobia xy being used" and later say "okay i am NOT fine with it" dont be angry or annoyed. Accept it, it will happen and its not the players fault. The idea of something and the "reality" are two very different things.
Another tip for effective horror look at movies/games what worked and what didnt and be inspired by it.
Would you be willing to share a copy of your lines a veils sheet? I would love to use something like that for my groups!
First video I'm seeing here. I made sure to subscribe. Glad to join this community :)
Prepping for a "one-shot" horror. Had to comeback and visit this video again because it is so full of good tips and reminders.
Thanks Seth!
Best of luck with the game.
lil tip for Lines and Veils, they're way more useful for a campaign but not for one-shots bc you spend way too much time considering triggering topics for the amount of time you'll actually play. Just prepare to be more liberal with your X-Card as needed. You can also do what's called "brake" or "slow-down" which is a bit like a Veil applied on-the-fly
I appreciate you not improvising the material. I feel like my time is appreciated.
Now I want to run a game with a Kuo-Toa Wizard whose fireball is turned into a flooding. The victim's bodies become so bloated with water so it gushes from their mouths, eyes, and skin.
By the way, I love spiders which are fascinating and beautiful animals. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to make any normal animal scary to me.
Children, on the other hand, are the most terrifying entities, from Anthony Fremont in "It's a Good Life" to the Midwich Cuckoos.
I recently downloaded Mothership so this is timely.
The bit about crossing lines reminded me of the KOTD where Weird Pete took the players on a homebrew game that was entirely based on the movie Deliverance.
The cutaways! BRAVO! you had me at "and now lets check with..."
Can we appreciate that "Delaware" is included (and marked as "possible consent") in the lines/veils list at 22:39
"I don't think zombies are an actual threat that I'm going to have to face"
Weren't you anticipating a zombie incursion at the end?
This video is gold, I've must have seen it about 10 times already. Lol
Space Truckers! Hell Yeah!!
I got arachnophobia and when I see a black widow it's like they got a good pointed at me and I can feel their intent to kill me.
I'm thinking of trying a horror game using Toon...
In a way, most of the Pepe Le Pew cartoons are horror-based, at least for the cat.
Here's the real question. How do you run a Horror Heist?
You start in the fortress trying to avoid the dragon, and the treasure is your lives
@@thebolas000 and the friends you made along the way
It begins as a simple (or not-so-simple) heist, but the item turns out to be something VERY different than what was expected.
I had no idea, in all this time, you were an author man. 😦 blew my mind. Makes sense, after watching so many of these videos though
As someone who is arachanaphobic, I will say Seth is 100% right about not adding someone's phobias into the game. Phobias are an irrational fear of something, and can be triggered even if the player knows they aren't actually dealing with that thing in real life. You're very likely to have someone walk away from the table until the encounter is done if you try to exploit an actual phobia... even if they love horror.
I don't know... I think we should only ever mention Delaware and then quickly pan away.
Hay Seth, just got my hands on you novel "Ashes of Onyx" I'm really looking forward to reading it.
I love your sensitivity as a story teller. When saying you are not scared of demons you don't say why. Is it because you are a devout Christian? An atheist? But why give offense when you do not have to. Great job illustrating how to speak to our audience effectively.
Oh damn Seth, spiders, heights and zombies, all phobies of mine (okay you didn't say zombies were a phobia but, I'm on a roll) just don't tell me you're also afraid of sharks when you're swimming?
Also, I like this video, it gets the creativity flowing for non-horror themes too.