{"id":1968,"date":"2008-10-29T11:00:55","date_gmt":"2008-10-29T16:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=1968"},"modified":"2008-10-29T18:56:28","modified_gmt":"2008-10-29T23:56:28","slug":"gm-advice-scaring-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=1968","title":{"rendered":"GM Advice: Scaring Players"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve never run a horror game, so I can’t really author much genuine advice<\/em> of value on the topic of scaring players. But it’s still a subject of great interest to me. With that in mind I offer the following:
\n
\nConsider these two passages:<\/p>\n

You are standing in a huge stone chamber. If the map is right, this is the “tomb” of Gul Morgath, the Dead God. Here his followers gather to worship their ever silent master, and offer him unwilling sacrifices that can join his congregation in oblivion.<\/p>\n

There is a sacrificial pit in the middle of the room, long stained with blood. A table straddles the pit, beneath a web of chains that stir slightly from some unknown force. Crude iron weapons are stacked by the table. Skulls decorate the room, peering out from crude grinning totems. <\/p>\n

The legends that drew you here tell you that this is the famed “Altar of a Thousand Screams.” <\/p>\n

Beyond the pit is a great wooden door with evil symbols written on it in the Forbidden Tongue. You recognize enough of it to know that this is the Last Gate. This is where the curse was wrought. You can undo it, but only if you have the strength to open this door and face whatever awaits you on the other side.<\/p>\n

You reach out to open the door…\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let that stew for a second, and then read this one:<\/p>\n

The white, two-story farmhouse is silent. The front door hangs open like a lolling tongue, waving gently in the late afternoon breeze. Occasionally the stillness is broken by a gentle thud as the door knocks against the porch swing. The sound travels far in this wide open space. <\/p>\n

You look back down the long gravel driveway to the quiet road below. Not much traffic this far out into the country. The sun is low on the horizon. The door bangs again, listlessly. There are no birds. No animal sounds. No sign of activity from the gaping house. <\/p>\n

Inside, it’s simple and very rustic. The living room has a large, busy bookshelf and a tiny old television. In the kitchen the woodburner stove is dark and quiet. The fire appears to have gone out hours ago. Atop the stove is a pot of congealed soup, cold and untouched. <\/p>\n

You glance around upstairs and find two tidy bedrooms. One smells of Old Spice and has a double bed. The other has a pair of small beds and an overstuffed toybox. <\/p>\n

In the backyard, fluttering laundry clings to the clothesline. A few things have been blown loose and tossed about the yard. The doghouse is empty and the leash is coiled in the grass nearby. As you head back inside you notice the basement door. Shallow fingernail scratches have been clawed into the door frame. The doorknob is wreathed in bloody fingerprints.<\/p>\n

You reach out to open the door…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tastes vary, but the second one just works<\/em> for me on a level the first one doesn’t. I’m not sure if it’s just me though. Nearly all videogame and tabletop settings aim for the style of the first when they want to scare you. <\/p>\n

Discussion topic: According to your own tastes, which of the above seems like it is \/ could be more frightening? (In whatever medium: Book, a tabletop scenario, videogame, etc.) <\/p>\n

Alternate \/ bonus topic: A gaming story. Did you ever have a time where the players at the table (maybe including you) were scared in a game which was not<\/strong> designed to be a horror campaign? (That is, you weren’t playing Cthulhu or its ilk.) What were you playing?<\/p>\n

Happy Halloween. <\/p>\n

Edit: Don’t miss this great story<\/a> from Dev Null below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve never run a horror game, so I can’t really author much genuine advice of value on the topic of scaring players. But it’s still a subject of great interest to me. With that in mind I offer the following:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[126],"class_list":["post-1968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tabletop-games","tag-gm-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}