Horrific Hooks
Hello folks; welcome back to another exciting edition of Grave Plots, where I provide you with new plot hooks and adventure ideas each and every week. Today I would like to talk about adventures with a horror theme.
Horror stories make for some of the most fantastic and compelling adventures, as well as for some of the most memorable moments you will have during a game. Horror-themed adventures enjoy several major advantages over traditional adventures – firstly, they have an extremely large and diverse pool of source material; secondly, the tone of your average horror adventure is extremely well-suited to building suspense and therefore drawing players more into the story; thirdly, virtually any type of game can incorporate horror elements, and conversely any horror game can incorporate other styles with only minimal effort. Horror games can also suffer some disadvantages, though. For example, if you let the mood falter you will lose the attention of your players, and the adventure will suffer for it. In addition, it’s all too easy to fall into a trap of killing your players’ characters to accomplish horrific effects; this is really no good, however, because while it might work once, the higher the number of characters flying through the game, the less attached players become to them and so they will likely lose attachment with the story and whatever you do will simply have less impact.
There are some important things to remember about horror-driven adventures. You should keep players on their toes, guessing at what will happen next and just a little bit afraid of what might lie around the corner. Moreover, while you should be trying to tell a scary story, you aren’t there to reduce unsuspecting players to tears, or make anyone feel like they want leave. It’s important to try and find a balance where your players feel a sort of excited nervousness with occasional bouts of up or down, and … well, I could go on forever about what I think horror games should be like (and if you’re interested in something like that just send me an email and I’ll see what I can do), but I should really be getting on with what this article is about. So without further ado, here are just a couple adventure ideas among a nearly infinite supply.
The Haunted House
Yes, we open with a classic: the haunted house. (You can substitute virtually any dwelling for house – personally I like castles) The haunted dwelling hook will let you play around with extremely creepy environments, mystery elements, and strange happenings, all as a means of conveying a wonderful little sense of dread. For a set-up it’s only really important to get the PCs into the haunted abode. A few good ways to do this include: a mysterious cry for help that seems to come from just inside the structure (or from a third story window), a formal request to investigate the strange sights and sounds emanating from a local landmark every full moon, or even the old “you’ve inherited a castle, provided that you spend one night within its walls” angle.
Once you get the PCs inside you need to be able to keep them there, so give them a reason to investigate. Perhaps once inside the PCs begin to hear voices in the next room, but once they arrive they find the room long abandoned and covered with layers of dust, or perhaps have the door slam shut and lock behind them. Include plenty of scary effects like creaking floorboards or doors (could even just be rats), curtains that blow in the wind despite the windows being closed, or even portraits that change subtly every time one of the PCs passes by. Now that you have the PCs poking around it’s time to start revealing a little bit to them. You could include the diary of a suicidal ex-resident, or maybe they stumble upon the soul of child trapped in an unusually well-preserved mirror who begs the PCs to help her, and warns against a great terror lurking in the basement, attic, or spare bedroom.
Now, the more you reveal in the adventure the more opposition the PCs should encounter. For instance, after speaking with the little girl they might head off to the basement to deal with whatever monster is lurking about only to discover the basement to be empty; returning to the mirror that once contained the little girl, they find it empty, the words “Get Out” painted in blood fresh on its surface. Or perhaps when the PCs split up to find more clues you take steps to isolate them, or visit a desperate battle on one group and by the time the groups have rejoined all traces of the battle have vanished. After a suitable period of exploration and running the gambit of creepy phenomena, the PCs should be given a chance for resolution. They perhaps find the maddened ghost playing tricks on them and learn enough about him to set his soul to final rest, or they slay the monster keeping the little girl trapped in the mirror and she is finally free of her prison. Perhaps, though, the conclusion is a little less satisfying than the PCs imagined; perhaps in freeing the little girl from her prison they find her to be the scion of some dark god, or a demon in disguise now free to wreak havoc on the world, or in laying a spirit to rest they find that an action they believed to be simple and harmless will actually have reaching and dire consequences later.
The Dark Secret
Another popular horror staple, this hook happens just as the PCs arrive in what seems to be an ordinary community, with one subtle difference. To get this hook working simply have the PCs pass through what seems to be an ordinary community just like all the other ones they’ve passed through until now, but change some minor detail to tip off the PCs that something’s just a little bit off here. Maybe the people all greet the PCs in exactly the same way, with the same tone of voice, or perhaps everyone seems a little too friendly or eager for the PCs to hang around until supper. Perceptive PCs might notice the townsfolk all avoid looking at the local temple, or talkative PCs may notice that none of the townspeople really have anything to say and that any rumors they relate are several months or even years out of date.
Depending on how subtle you feel like being and whether or not the PCs feel up to investigating the matter themselves you could do something at this point to make moving on from the town impractical. Perhaps a storm is coming or one of the PCs animals suddenly takes ill and can no longer move on; either way have the PCs spend the night. Now you just need to decide on a terrible secret for the town to have and reveal it to the PCs. Perhaps the PC’s snooping reveals that the townsfolk seem to keep little or no food around, in a flash of stereotypical insight they discover the town is full of cannibals. Or some townsfolk might attempt to kidnap the PCs in the night for use in a ritual to a dark god, or perhaps you have something cleverer in mind. Whatever route you take, a not too well-kept secret (or if your players like to do a little investigation, a well-hidden secret) in a town where not all is as it seems can make for a good night of adventure.