The Secrets of Horror in D&D
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- Ever wondered how to make your D&D game scary? Let's take a look at how you can step up the horror in your game to send chills down characters' spines.
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Dungeons & Dragons has had many horror adventures throughout its history. But as an RPG system, D&D is anything but a horror game. It's a power fantasy. In this video, I go over how you can leverage horror in your Dungeons & Dragons game by using suspense, imbalances of power, and materials from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.
#rpg #dnd #dungeonsanddragons
You could also subvert your players expectations. During a Curse of Strahd session my groups dm did this by taking an NPC who had previously wanted to kill the party and reintroducing him as an ally and a fiancé to my character in an arranged marriage. We naturally didn’t trust him and I actually made it clear that, at least for the moment we were not allies. A few hours later he shows up dead in the woods and we go to investigate. We learn that Strahd wants to settle a score with this guy and others because the NPC turned out to be helping the party. When emotions were high and some of us were overwhelmed who would show up but Strahd himself! It was like a perfect storm. We were trying to get out of the initial shock of the revelations the new ally NPC brought to us and trying to figure out what to do next when Strahd shows up in Vallaki during a festival and says “I look forward to seeing you all very soon.” Let’s just say the whole session was cathartic.
My perspective is that people care about their characters and will respond to meaningful threats to those characters in a much more natural way than if you try to tell them to be afraid of something that they know can't hurt them. The threat doesn't need to be immediate, but it needs to be there. Cutting off escape routes is terrifying to a PC.
This is great and really needed to be covered. Horror in d&d is symbiotic with the DM and players. Players need to run character that have fears and play into them while roleplaying.. otherwise no one is going to care about that ghoul stalking them. It’s so much more rewarding to play into fear and create obstacles for characters. The Hound in GoT was an excellent fighter.. but he was terrified of fire. Nothing says you can’t have a half Orc barbarian run at the first sign of a spider!
I recently had an encounter in one game that was far more terrifying than I had any expectation of. We're level 13 characters - a paladin, a gunslinger, a bard and a sorcerer. So we hit like trucks but don't have much of a medic. We also have some major tactical flaws in our characters.
-My character, the sorcerer, is not the brightest, he tends to stick fairly close to what he thinks of as the front lines.
-The bard is not particularly interested in combat, and is played as something of an absentminded librarian (lore bard, specifically) so if he sees something interesting or has friends in even the remotest amount of danger who he doesn't think can defend themselves (ie: generally not the party), he's apt to wander off and largely ignore combat until it decides to get in his way.
-The paladin has a tendency to fixate on a target, and if that target runs, he runs after them. He also has a soft spot for dogs of any size.
-And the Gunslinger seems to follow in Percy's footsteps in that she's hell on wheels until something gets within stabbing distance, and basically screwed after that.
So we picked up in a tavern, with a messenger looking for the bard. The letter is quite cordial, but if you can read between the lines, it says that two of the bard's friends who work at his library have been kidnapped and taken to a mine a couple days from our starting town, being held hostage until he shows up to 'talk.' After a short bit of planning, the bard teleports us to his library, where tea and snacks are out and on the table, but long since cold. My character was a local hunter, so I can guide the party to the mine without issue, and we head there as quick as we can.
Mine is guarded by several halflings, all of whom wield unusually large weapons for their size and are accompanied by a pair of direwolves. I could twin Greater Invisibility, but since it only lasts a minute, and there's 4 of us, that's a problem. Eventually we decide against trying to sneak in, and make our presence known. We're led to a particularly imposing halfling woman named Ophelia Cork. She, and the rest of the Cork Clan, tell our bard that he and all his kin are dangerous and must be killed. She tells a story about a child of the Cork Clan being killed by one of the bard's ancestors, using the psionic abilities that run in the family. We try to reason with her, but she refuses to relent in any way. (The DM apparently thought we'd be more diplomatic, but when the starting premise is "let us kill one of your party because we think someone in his family murdered someone in our family 300 years ago," none of us players are sure how she expected us to give diplomacy a serious chance, even with the fact that they don't treat their prisoners like chattel if they're not from the family they're trying to kill off.)
Combat begins fairly quickly. We're quite confident, we've faced large groups that seemed intimidating before. I cast haste on the paladin and the gunslinger to give them both an extra attack and some fringe benefits (why be a sorcerer if you're not going to twincast the best buff spells you have access to), the paladin uses hold person on Ophelia, some scuffle ensues, I drop a disintigrate spell into Ophelia. She's paralyzed, she gets no save. She makes the save to shake off the spell and retreats. The paladin charges after her, and gets embroiled in a fight with their kennelmaster and 3 direwolves, so we don't see him until combat's almost over. The bard throws up a force wall, cutting off half the enemies from the party, then slips away to check on his friends (also so he doesn't get smacked out of concentration. Leaving the sorcerer on the front line with the gunslinger behind. Neither of us even remotely competent in melee. With about 5 reasonably high level barbarian style enemies beating on us. Between quickened spell castings (we have a house rule that allows 1st and 2nd level spells mixed with larger spells, and casting shield every turn to stave off some of the axe hits, I'm chewing through my spell slots like mad, while the gunslinger's pinned down in melee. I run off at a weird angle to catch her attackers but not her with a lightning bolt, which kills one and softens the rest up that the gunslinger stands a chance, but one of the other barbarians screams in rage, charges after me, yelling at me to fight fair. I run deeper into the cave, using misty step to stay ahead of her, and shooting chromatic orbs of lightning over my shoulder as I run. Eventually I reach a dead end, so I run up to her, hit her with shocking grasp, and misty step away. I eventually brought her down with another cantrip, but by that point:
Haste was in round 9. After round 10, both our physical damage dealers lose a turn due to the aftereffects of the haste spell.
I had 3 spell slots left and 2 sorcery points. I'm also at half health, and probably the healthiest member of the party except the bard who slipped away to rescue his NPC friends.
We still have almost as many enemies as we fought in a wall of force that's still got 9 minutes left. We also have another group about that size outside guarding the entrance.
The one good thing about the situation, and the thing that everyone except the DM and the Bard forgot: the Bard still has his 7th level spell slot for the day (since it took us a 3 day hike on foot to reach the mine) and teleports us back to his library.
But holy hell, the only time I've been that scared for my character in a D&D game is when I played tag with a mindflayer and the DM decided that this mindflayer could grapple and brain-eat in the same turn. (This was a different group, and we'd figured out that the ritual symbols around the battlefield were the real threat, and all the creatures that were spawning in were a distraction. But we had a souped up mindflayer as one of the spawned distractions, and I was playing interference.) And that wasn't a session going from our nice peaceful start to increasing levels of unease to the growing terror of "I'm burning through all my stuff and there's way too many enemies left", that was a single moment of panic.
That is quite the story! Thank you for sharing, and good to hear you all made it back to the library in one piece. 😀
7:15 Alfred Hitchcock has a great explanation about the difference between Shock and Suspense. If a movie starts with two people playing cards at a table, talking, and then 3 minutes later a bomb goes off killing them, that's Shock. But if the camera starts low, looking at the underside of the table at the bomb, and then comes up, showing the actors playing cards, for the next 3 minutes your audience is experiencing Suspense.
Amazing video as always!
I ran Durst's Manor the other week an something that helped me was to emphasise describing a certain aspect of a creature:
The wetness of the shambling mounds slime, the twitching of a giant stinging barb, the coldness of the creatures touch around your ankles.
I also like using the right audio to set the mood, but that may not always be available.
Keep up the amazing work! You've been an amazing resource for my first CoS playthrough.
Great video... until the end. I almost fell out of my chair!!
Mission accomplished!
The worst part about trying to make a scary part of a campaign is when this happens:
DM: "You stumble upon a dank, wet, and moss-covered cabin. The wood rotting away from years of exposure. As you walk closer, you see the door slightly ajar. As you peer through the cracks of the crumbling door, you see a black pit beyond the threshold. A gust of wind suddenly rattles the branches overhead and..."
The Elven Rogue: "Actually, I have darkvision so I can see inside the cabin, I just can't make out color. So, what do I see inside?"
DM: "Ummm... Actually, it's a magical darkness...."
Warlock: "I have Devil's Sight..."
DM: "Fucking kill me please!"
good thing I was ready taking a poop when I was watching this video. I might have pooped my pants a little otherwise
Timing is everything
I really appreciate the focus on foreshadowing details of coming horrors. Letting players discover small, creepy details before the big horrific description does wonders. For what it's worth, it looks like this video really struggles with low light. I assume you were going for some atmospheric lighting but it ends up looking like a low quality cell phone recording. Also RIP headphone users at the end of this video lol.
Love the new lighting! Takes your videos to the next level.
Thanks! Now if only I could get the brightness dialed in. :-D
Need to overhaul my lights and camera.
I've been running a 5e game with heavy horror elements. They hit level 20 over a year ago and they're going into Epic levels, but the power gain isn't a problem for maintaining horror I've found. What you have to focus on, primarily, is finding ways to unsettle your players and weave in their characters' fears. Like the video said you also have to have players willing to play realistic characters who have fears, despite their incredible power.
Lovecraftian entities provide excellent bad guys for such high tier play. They always feel beyond the players' reach, and like they could strike in any dark corner or hide in unseen places.
But with all that darkness, what's equally important is to have a contrast. Have light. Have humour. Have colour and fun, so that when the world desaturates, the lush green grass turns to maggot-infested earth, and the trees twitch, as if alive, the darkness _matters._
I wish more horror was in d and d . The aliens game module is a amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. Thank you for sharing and I can relate to my players. Thank you
Glad I stayed to the end
Thank you so much for posting. I'm going through alot and your videos are a great distraction and make me smile.
Happy to help and entertain!
Running my Icewind Dale game tonight, this was very well timed and welcome advice. Going to really drive home the foreshadowing 😁
Lmao the ending got me!
Run a hard core version of d&d where character mortality is real. Kill a couple of characters and that realization will do wonders for your horror game. They'll see demons in every shadow and mimics in every piece of furniture.
*Spoiler*
The jump scare at the end gave my dog a fright! 🤣
Curently running CoS. We're in the 28'th session thus far, and I'm using a lot of your tips. Would love to play in your version of CoS. Thanks for another great tips. :)
Working up a campaign right now where the Shadowfell is seeping into the Material plane, causing shadows and horror creatures to stalk the streets of Neverwinter late at night, or even have the players get pulled into the Shadowfell for a short time. I really wanna push to scariness and dread of that experience. Hoping to use good lighting and descriptive text to build up atmosphere.
You can have scary monsters at any level of play if you their means of defeat to their backstories.
Have an half elf doctor that was burned alive for witchcraft by xenophobic villagers? She can only be damaged by the scalpel she used to heal in life.
One character has to damage her with scalpel while the rest try and hold off the hordes of diseased undead coming through the walls. Etc...
I would love to see your take on Castle Amber.
Another incredible video. The ending tho.... haha 🤣
Another great, helpful video.
You help me a lot with running Curse of Strahd, and I think your ideas made our campaign enjoyable not only for me but for my players as well. Thank you a lot 🙌
Do you have any plan with expanding any other module ? For example Descent into Avernus ?
I am really looking forward for that one. 🔥
If not maybe, you can suggest any other channel with some advices about fixing DiA?
Given the poor reception to anything that's not Curse of Strahd, I don't know if we'll do another module guide like that. I think Eventyr Games did something with DiA, but not on UA-cam.
3:00 What makes them turn heel? How about an offer to join the 4 Horsemen, after they kicked out Lex?
Good video and advice
I need to use foreshadowing in my games more
Foreshadowing is everyone's friend!
Jumpscare at 8:12
Don't listen to @Jumpscare. They know not what they say. 8:12 is perfectly safe.
@@LunchBreakHeroes Delightfully Devilish Lunch Break Heroes.
Horror is about disempowerment, D&D 5e is about empowerment. This is the dichotomy which needs to be balanced.
Fear is mankind's greatest emotion. Fear of the unknown is the strongest fear.
Use a sanity system that reflects the humanity we struggle to maintain. No, you will not "get used to it" and gain invincibility. Nobody really does. I would argue that level of apathy comes with other mental ailments.
'I am a Dhampir from Barovia, what you got?'
Great vídeo, but why put a jumpscare...
You scared me!! 😱
Boo!
There is always that one player that is to proud do has his character act scared. Excuses like, my character is trying not to show fear, my character is scared but hides that very well, my caracter read Stephen King's books and can not be scared bye the likes of you! etc, etc. Over all good advices man, keep up the good work!
Would rather have that or the person who overplays it into the over reluctantly hero
@@davidlewis5312 wanna swap? But yeah, I hear you. Neither is good.
@@milosplazic1656 yes, the stone face hero as long as they aren't killing the mood for the table is way less problematic than the guy who has to be talked into going into the dark scary adventure for an hour. One is just a flavor element, the hero is just there for the game and table and doesn't care for the horror. The other is stalling out the game for everyone else
I do find it hard to imagine any dnd game going deep before it becomes Underworld or Hugh Jackman's Van Helsing. More to the discussion, how do you sell horror d&d to your table?
"Y'all wanna play a horror game?" usually works for me.
Thanks for the video It will most likely help but I have a player who’s character is a bit of an edgelord who if he hears anything remotely close to sounding like a threat he immediately threatens them, this also destroys a lot of the roleplay as he often times just pulls out his weapon and shoots stuff that looks dangerous, he often backtalks npcs, and lastly his character got into a blood pact with another player because this player wouldn’t craft him his musket unless he entered a blood pact so that he can’t betray the other, this pact originates from devils and the ritual didn’t go as planned and now they have some side effects should I do something with that? I forgot to mention this pact was made while they were playing waterdeep dragon heist which we played before this. Also sorry about the length and my grammar mistakes
Have you had a chat with your player?
Getting the right setting/tone takes cooperation, horror campaigns are good if a player isn't focusing too hard on the power fantasy.
Have a chat with them and settle things like grown ups
Believe I did but I don’t know if that will change unless I am more blunt I have talking to him in mind I just want to know if there is something else in mind
461 like
Ttrpg itself is not scary. Gross yes, well describe yes, but scary doesnt work