How to Create TRUE Horror in D&D

#shorts

Dungeons and Dragons, XP to level 3 with Davvychappy, potentially a bit a Critical Role with dungeoneering, tabletop community next to tabletop RPG, dungeons and dragons, Fjord, Beau, Jester, Yasha, Caleb, Nott, 5th edition dragons, 3.5e, dungeon dudes, DM GM, dungeon master, game master tips sprinkle a bit of Caduceus, Mollymauk in the Mighty Nein. Matt Mercer.

[dark-neo-dante]

I will never forget about the story on reddit that a dm made a creature that kept chasing his party making sure that the party wouldn't thing twice about fighting it

[thatonenoob]

Extra Points if you serve the head of a beloved NPC on a plate.

[sonnywilkinson]

I ran a false Hydra in my first campaign, and damn do I love that thing. The party lost their minds when the window they just locked was unlocked, cracked open, and fogged up. Same with the door to their room, which they locked, and when they double checked it, it was unlocked.

[craigerz]

"The Tarrasque pulls a glock on the party"

[songbird]

My favorite table top moment to this day has been me, describing a horned devil that the party has been hunting down for three sessions straight(it was supposed to be a one shot). I described him, perched perfectly behind a glowing pool of liquid fire, a flaming, devilish battle axe between his fists, his skin stone, hardened, like lava that had cooled and formed into some unholy humanoid, liquid veins of magma and fire lacing through his skin all up to a flaming smile. “Well, it’s about time”
I had an entire party that were staring at me with their mouths wide open, until one player just went, “that’s terrifying”.

This was my first time DMing, and I think the response is what solidified my love for the craft.

[sharalakid]

"That will be 328 damage, what now Dungeon Master?"

[probablygeorge]

As a horror writer, I gotta say the most terrifying thing you can show someone isn't YOUR creation, but their own. Idk what you fear, but you know what you fear. And I'll give you JUST enough information about the monster so that you mold it into your head as one of the most terrifying things you could think of. Your brain will fill the details i intentionally left blank.
When you see eyes in the dark, your brain begins to imagine all the possible shapes behind those eyes. What's hard is getting JUST the eyes written. I try to show the eyes, so the reader can terrify themselves.
Hp lovecraft is easily the goat at this. "The strongest emotion in man is fear. And our most primal fear is fear of the unknown." Who's eyes are those in the bushes?

[hammond]

Back in the old days of D&D, I ran a one shot for a party, and had them terrified. They could not figure our what they were tracking through the city. A dragon, because buildings and people were left burning? Or maybe a goblin clan or Orcs? Lots of foodstuffs were vanishing. After weeks of searching and setting traps, they found it was a giant fire beetle living in the sewers.

[lythrum]

True horror would be not getting an update on Steinhardt‘s today. Just kidding, these are some great tips!

[aretailcashier]

My favorite type of dnd horror is the surprise albino red dragon instead of the frost dragon everyone thought

[darksentinel]

I did something like that. Basically a pitch black ruins where even with a light spell they could only dimmly see up to 5 ft around them. And then had Xenomorph esc monsters climbing around making skittering noises, have the tail be visible for a second at the very edge of this light. All the wile passing corpses, blood, scratch marks and the like. And beyond the light is pitch black with strange noises, when suddenly a roaring from deep underground can be heard, and then silence

[pigeonleadre]

My DM improvised a session where there was an angler fish sort of monster in an enchanted forest. Basically it was the size of three elephants with arms sticking out all over it and a bloody corpse instead of a light on the lure.

[LordLeif]

I once described a scene:
"As you walk deeper into the forest a rancid scent fills the air. The further you travel the more putrid the stench becomes. The path through the forest curves and winds; just as you come around a bend you notice the srouce of the foul odor. From the over looming branches a few corpses hang by the neck, their bodies jerk back to life with strangled moans they attempt to reach out and grap you, to no avail. You press ever onward deeper through the woods, and with nearly every step revealing more and more Zombies hanging. Each tree having 3 or 4 Zombies, some full bodied writhing after you. Others missing their lower portions; guts spilled out amongst the leafs. A few lay headless on the ground near your path. As you reach the center of this desecrated place the groans of corpses is drowned out by the sounds of a large crowd of people crying out. Finals prays, screams of pain, terror, and anger fill your ears. With a jolting galance upward you see a Gallows Speaker decend on the party." Roll for initiative.

[minedark]

I made the human melter colossal spider, basically a huge spider which stacks humans on top of each other and bones of its victims around its body which make a rattling sound.
Its main stich was that nobody knew how it killed but it left nothing but a headles body, emptied of bones. Whenever I wanted to, I could throw in a "you hear a sound" players learnt to always listen closer and start running when that sound was a rattle.
Soon they found out that enemies started using rattles to deter heroes from their lairs.
Couple sessions later they start hunting the rattle noises and found lairs full of thieves and loot, this continued... Until they were met with the real deal.

[ShadowKick]

Oh yeah i do that often, works very well with my group.
I also like to describe their actions in combat in a very realistic and often graphic way. That way they start wondering about morals. I poke around with various graphic ideas to see what makes them wince, then I know what to use when I want them scared.

[somememeguy]

“It’s hard to be afraid of something when it kicks your ass.”


New favorite quote.

[lockwoan]

Some Horror Comody -

I like writing Science-Fantasy stuff. One thing I have is Dungeons and Monsters. Background is that humans found out that the Monster World exists. Gamers found out that the monsters have their own counterparts of various games, like D&D. Monsters also have access to Immersion Magic - it's like VR - where the player directly controls their character, and the character is similar to the player - basically, Carl the Player is playing as Carl the Character.

Anyways, Carl the Player gets invited to the group, which is filled with monster players. Due to how Immersion Magic works, Carl finds himself as a Level 5 Rogue Thief, as humans largely lack the ability to use magic themselves, although there's plenty of magic items to be found and used.

The group ends up in a town, and there's some downtime, so the party splits up. Thing is, Carl finds a woman being attacked by someone. Turns out, the attacker is a Vampire Lord. Carl, lacking any magical items at the moment (they're at the inn), does the only thing he can do that might distract the vampire long enough to save the woman - kicks him between the legs *Nat20.* This distracts the vampire long enough for Carl to grab the woman and run back to the inn, where he lets the rest of the party (a dozen level 5s) know about the trouble. The party manages to drive the vampire away, but not before the vampire vows revenge.

Later encounters with the vampire seem to indicate that the vampire really hates the human rogue (not that I blame him).

[KoboltBlue]

how to do true horror
We're doing the defense of Greenest as a one shot. Based on the original books description. Ranger class only, no supplement books, original Beast Master subclass only. Also I rerolled your pets, everyone gets a Sea Horse.

[mollianarts]

I do horror by my extremely graphic descriptions, I once described a kind of ghost lady as never flinching even when being hit by the barbarian's battleaxe and bleeding chunks of greenish black liquid that would splash on the player, they remained terrified

[schoolacount]

"Horror. Horror has a face… and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies." - Colonel Kurtz's speech from Apocolypse Now