Friday, December 24, 2010

The Gift of Fear

"As he pries the gem out of the eyesocket, gas sprays out and he falls to the floor-kthud-"
"AAAH! FUCK!"
"...then these black leeches start falling, one by one, out of the eyesocket onto his face. -thhup, thhuupp--the statue must be full of them."
"Aaaaaohmygod! Let's get out of here!"

And then, a few rounds later, the White Octopus...

"OhMyGodI'mSoScared. I'm. So. Scared. I. Don't. Even. Think. I. Can. Keep. Playing."

But, of course, she did.

_________

Do your players still get scared? I hope they do. It's the finest gift a DM could ever get--once they're scared, it's all cake after that, really. They win, it's awesome because they overcame their fear, they lose--well, they felt it.

Jaded, wisecracking nachomunching grognards are all well and good (or they'd better be or we're all in big trouble), but my Christmas wish for each and every DM reading this is that you still have at least one high-strung brave little toaster with an overactive imagination at your table.

Merry Christmas.
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4 comments:

  1. mordicaiDecember 24, 2010 at 8:53 PM

    Nothing is better savoring the fear of your players. So true.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Adam DicksteinDecember 24, 2010 at 8:57 PM

    Ghostbusters/InSpectres.

    I had one player creeped out to the point of discomfort and another teary eyed over the 'deceased'.

    Too. Effing. Cool.

    ReplyDelete
  3. thekelvingreenDecember 25, 2010 at 2:27 AM

    I do have a couple of credulous players, and got them into a blind panic in a Call of Cthulhu game with nothing more than an inbred axeman.

    Merry Chrimble to you all!

    (chop, chop)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Trent_BDecember 25, 2010 at 4:41 AM

    I live next to a power distribution station.. had an intense cthulhu game regarding the mythos-driven redistribution/time-shift of the Hiroshima bomb going on.... the much smaller targetting bomb that was dropped first had already come through and the players were investigating that. They had just come to the conclusion that it was a military bomb of some kind when one of the transformers next door blew, prompting a huge explosion and everything going black.

    Amazing coincidence that ended up terrifying almost everyone, given the subject matter of the game.

    Not exactly the same as inspiring fear myself, but it was a pretty incredible emotional response definitely influenced by the game.

    Happy Whatever-You-Like! I for one am recovering still from Saturnalia and will be sleeping some more today.

    ReplyDelete