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How I Invoked True Terror In My Campaign
I’ve been running a campaign for a few months.
My players are now level 12 and are unstoppable
badasses.
They tend to blow through any challenge I
give them, even when I drain their resources
a little.
We have been gaming for months and we are
getting close to the end of this long-standing
campaign arc.
So I decided to give them a true challenge:
a real life Wisdom Save.
The players reach the lair of a strange and
evil orc, named Baphir.
It is said that Baphir is the embodiment of
hatred and his name strikes fear into the
hearts of his enemies.
They have heard rumors of him stealing people
at night and performing twisted dark rituals
on them.
They have been hunting him for weeks and are
ready to put a stop to his evil reign of terror.
They ambush the guards with the help of their
followers.
The battle is fierce with multiple hits exchanged,
but in the end the players win and start to
move into the lair when they feel a strange
pulse of magic.
They are curious but shrug it off completely.
After all, they haven’t been really scared
of any encounter.
Yet…
One by one their followers become enraged,
aggressive, withdrawn, nervous, and scared.
While the players are trying to calm the followers
down and figure out what’s going on, one
follower turns to another and blows his head
off of his shoulders.
The players begin tackling followers and trying
charisma checks which only sort of works.
It is very different from how effective their
attempts normally are.
After a few rounds of rolls and panicking,
everyone is calmed down except for the warlock.
He won't chill out so they're dragging him
along like a clockwork cat.
They stride forward heads high, still confident.
Their boots sink a few inches into what feels
like clay or mud and it smells like a butcher
shop.
The incantation for Light is muttered, bathing
the cave in brilliant white light.
It reflects off of dark crimson puddles of
blood on the floor.
The walls have a strange fleshy texture which
is covered in thick streaks of blood.
The players hear a steady drip, drip, of blood
falling from the ceiling, sending ripples
through the puddles.
The followers are terrified, and rightly so.
This orc is a regular boogeyman for the region
they are in.
A follower curiously pokes at the fleshy wall.
The wall splits open with a gush of blood
and a hideous monstrosity of flesh and fang
clamors out, dripping gore and viscera.
The followers evacuate their bowels and huddle
together while the PCs make quick work of
the strange flesh monster.
Still unfazed they move further into the cave.
They come to the end of the cave, where they
find one of their former party members, alive
again, and reanimated into a horrible flesh
monster.
Immediately I begin messaging the player on
Discord to voice what I type to them, to help
the authenticity.
The former PC, now an eldritch horror, starts
laughing, talking about how they have seen
the light, and how much they were used by
the party.
Horrified at their long dead companion shambling
toward them, the players attack with abandon,
hacking and cleaving the monstrosity into
unrecognizable chunks of flesh.
With the fight won the players get ready to
search the rest of the cave when, I describe
how the wizard falls over -- unconscious.
The players look around trying to find the
cause of the wizard’s collapse but find
nothing but stone walls and each other.
Then I ask her to start rolling death saves.
Perfectly, she rolls a 1.
The PCs begin to panic immediately rushing
to her side to help her.
But they can't find anything wrong.
They can’t get her back up.
This is saying something for a level 12 life
cleric.
They pick her unconscious body up and try
to run out the cave, only for the cave to
loop back in on itself.
They turn to their followers for help, only
to see them standing motionless, watching
them with an unsettling, unwavering gaze.
Another players goes down and they begin to
roll death saves as well.
The players are horrified, desperately trying
to find out what's happening.
I describe the unconscious bodies as convulsing,
their chests compressing rapidly as if someone
invisible and incorporeal was trying to resuscitate
them.
The remaining party members still standing
start attacking the empty air over their fallen
companions in desperation.
I tell the players straight up -- “if you
don't find a way out, you will all die and
the campaign ends here.”
I wasn't lying.
Players are panicking, unable to figure anything
out.
A third player goes down.
All that's left is the bear barbarian.
"This can't be real, it has to be an illusion!"
I pause the game.
Suddenly, they are brought back to the entrance
of the cave.
Only the barbarian is conscious, blood dripping
down his nose.
Their followers, all of them alive, are looking
worried at the players, trying desperately
to bring them back up.
All the other PCs are at 0 HP and making death
saving throws, and the barbarian is the only
one still with HP, albeit little.
In case you couldn't guess, the magical pulse
they thought was an aura of anger from this
magical orc was actually an act of illusion
magic, trapping the players in a damaging
nightmare.
I hinted at this constantly throughout the
cave: having their followers not act quite
right; bringing a horrible nightmare; their
dead PC as an eldritch horror to their sights,
and having them start dropping dead; then
describing how their followers were attempting
to revive them physically, though they couldn't
see them.
The final nail in the coffin was a constant
psychic damage their real bodies were taking
-- 4d6.
They were one roll away from the campaign
ending without them even knowing why.
This worked because I had always given them
a strong feeling of control, because I had
always been "fair" as a DM, even when it is
sometimes unrealistic.
In this one instance, I took away their power,
and left them helpless.
They could not power through this in their
normal way, and it wasn't fair.
Once they had all been picked back up in-game,
the players needed to take a break in real
life.
Even a week later, the biggest moment the
players were talking about wasn't killing
a god that session -- it was talking about
how terrifying it was to almost lose their
PCs, without them having any clue why.
Altogether, it was probably my most favorite
moment in DnD so far.
How would your players react if they were
dying in a lucid nightmare?
Have you almost killed your party or killed
your party in an unconventional way?
And WITHOUT THEM EVEN KNOWING WHY?!
Please tell us of your experiences and comment
your reactions below!
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