Heroes of horror 3.5 pdf download

Heroes of horror 3.5 pdf download

D& D 3.5 Heroes Of Horror,Item Preview

D&D ª Edition - Heroes of blogger.com - Free ebook download as PDF File .pdf) or read book online for free. Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site. Open navigation 28/06/ · Heroes of Horror contains information for DMs and players to use traditional fantasy and horror monsters, such as alike. The first three chapters focus on advice for the You may be offline or with limited connectivity. Try downloading instead Check D&D - Heroes of Horror [OEF] from Chris Winnower here. Like D&D - Heroes of Horror [OEF]? Just add D&D - Heroes of Horror [OEF] of Chris Winnower to My Download PDF - Heroes Of blogger.com [7l5renvmozqk]. This is a non-profit website to share the knowledge. To maintain this website, we need your help ... read more

The PCs might be able to attack with surprise. In either case, Grandmother and Uncle Chortle use the same tactics once combat is joined. They attempt to flank the PCs, or at least stay far enough from each other that they cannot both be caught by a single offensive spell. They have the bleak ones attack from all sides, using knives or slings. Grandmother and Uncle Chortle often team up against a single opponent with their spell-like abilities, draining both Strength and Charisma. If a foe clearly relies on one ability or the other, however, they will redirect their tactics accordingly to eliminate him or her swiftly. In either case, they abandon the bleak ones to their fate; the children have standing orders to fight until slain. In the cupboard is the accumulated treasure of this pair of horrors: gp worth of various coins and baubles, a child-sized silver bracelet worth 75 gp an heirloom of one of the families back in Dunford , and gloves of arrow snaring neither Grandmother nor Uncle Chortle knew what these were.

The PCs should gain experience appropriate to the encounter if they defeat both Grandmother and Uncle Chortle. PCs receive no XP for slaughtering the bleak ones but do receive a bonus of XP for each child they return to Dunford; this increases to XP for each child that they somehow succeed in restoring to mental health. Each character should also receive XP if they choose to return the bracelet rather than keep it. The strange effects of the region sounds, reflections, and so on grow less common after the horrors are driven off but, due to the remaining taint, they never vanish entirely.

Two villains feature in this scenario, but the PCs might only ever know of one. The entity in question is an unholy scion see page It is more than likely that the PCs assume Jonah is the only villain, but clever players and DMs can and should find a way to work the truth into play, even if it comes a little too late to save Jonah. As a ghost, Jonah Parsons is a CR 5 creature. The true evil in Eastbrook, the unholy scion inside Eve, is only a CR 2 creature, due to the fact that its host is a newborn baby. When the PCs arrive in Eastbrook, it is just before dusk and the town is all but deserted. The DM should play up the eeriness of trotting into a pleasant-looking village in the late afternoon but not seeing a single man, woman, or child out in the streets. A woman and her child, a boy of about ten, are running to the church on the other side of the square.

They pay no heed to the PCs unless the PCs call out or otherwise draw attention to themselves. Many of the townsfolk hover around one person in particular, a grayfaced woman holding an infant. This is Annalee Parsons and her daughter Eve. The townsfolk explain to the PCs that an evil spirit is on the loose, and they relate the tale of Jonah Parsons, a man who tried to kill his wife and unborn child in life and who has returned from beyond the grave to fi nish the job. For two days now, most of the town has been spending the hours of darkness inside the safety of the church with Annalee and Eve, where they believe the undead menace cannot reach them.

Allow the PCs to ask any questions of the townsfolk before heading out to find Jonah, but remember—they know only the story that Eve through her mother wants them to know. Less than a year ago, Jonah and Annalee Parsons were a happy couple in a happy community. They had just found out that they were expecting a child. Not long into the pregnancy, however, Jonah began to notice a change in his wife. The one person in whom he could confide his concerns blamed them on the combination of the changes of pregnancy and the anxiety felt by every expectant father.

But before he could discover what was really going on, and perhaps find a way to bring back the Annalee he once knew, the thing inside her sensed his suspicion and contrived a way to silence him. The unholy scion made its mother, now some five months pregnant, scratch and beat herself before running in terror to the local constable. She claimed her husband had gone mad and locked himself into his study after nearly killing her. a mile from the church. It is a wooden structure, largely featureless and quiet but for the occasional slapping of one of the barn doors in the early evening wind. The PCs hear THE ENCOUNTER The story picks up some five months after the death of Jonah no sound coming from within.

When they enter, they see Parsons. His daughter, Eve, was born recently, and with her a large wooden desk dominating the center of an open area birth came the return of her father as a ghost. What Jonah between two rows of unused horse stalls. The hay and dirt has had begun to uncover is that inside his barn dwelled a dark been cleared away, leaving a rather tidy and spacious study entity that began to take over the unborn child growing area. for him. Unknown to anyone, the site had once been the He is dressed in the simple, practical clothes worn by location of a shrine dedicated to Cas, the demigod of spite, other townsfolk in Eastbrook, and a pair of spectral specand that lingering taint was an open invitation to demonic tacles rests at the very end of his nose. England CHAPTER 1 Johan discovers a way to save his wife believes might be a way of saving his wife. Given his temperament, however, he does not react well to the sudden intrusion of armed individuals into his private study yet again.

Even if he fails the first save, allow him another, should the PCs refrain from attacking. If the PCs are cautious enough to want to speak with the spirit, and the spirit is rational enough to want to speak, have Jonah explain his side of the story. The DM can have him roll Diplomacy, if a random element to the success of his plea is required. If the PCs listen and agree to help him, it will mean agreeing to help an evil creature slay a human baby girl. Should the PCs not listen, or if combat begins before Jonah gets the chance to speak with the PCs, Jonah fights to the last but tries to reason with them even while combat goes on. The book is called Dark Doorways, and it is open to a page that contains an entry about a type of demonic force that inhabits unborn children and forces the host to submit to all manner of diabolical influence.

He is the moose-headed god who nurses rage and fosters frustration. The scattered priesthood of Cas maintains that beneath the veneer of civilized folk lies the accumulated fire of all the injustices he or she has ever suffered, just waiting to be released; that all secretly worship Cas, even if only in their deepest, truest subconscious. Legend maintains that Cas was once a mortal man a farmer, if such tales are to be believed , and that he lived in quiet peace with his friends and neighbors for many years. Due to social politics, the offenders were never properly punished. In his rage, Cas appealed to the higher power in whom he had always believed. After slaking his thirst for vengeance on the town that wronged him, Cas transformed into the freakish deity of spite he is today. Portfolio: Spite, vengeance. Symbol: A rack of blood-tipped antlers.

Domains: Destruction, Pain, Spite, Strength. The Pain domain appears in Book of Vile Darkness; the Spite domain is new and is detailed on page Cleric Training: The Lord of Spite is perhaps unique in the way that he gathers his flock. Although many cults devoted to his worship do exist, Cas prefers to come to those who seem to call out to him with their private thoughts and repressed urges. The soundless laments of those who seek vengeance for wrongdoing are as clamorous gongs to the ears of He Who Balances the Scales, and he is drawn to them even more than he is to those who already revere him and revel in his purpose.

Quests: Cas cares most for the repayment of dark debts. He will go to great lengths to ensure that his followers do their utmost to fulfi ll that end. When they do conjoin, his followers form cabals devoted to a single, specific end. Once that end is completed, they often disband until the next time their hunger for revenge is aroused. The Lord of Spite expects a would-be suppliant to complete a quest of her own before being indoctrinated fully into his congregation. Such quests always revolve around the subject pursuing some unfinished business for which she harbors great rage. Prayers: Prayers to Cas are almost always spoken only after the supplicant has worked herself into near-hysteria with the pain and frustration of unrighted wrongs.

As a deity of secrecy and hidden pain, Cas actually prefers that most of his worshipers keep him nowhere but bottled up inside their own souls, where he is free to stoke the embers of their rage and discontent. When an actual temple to Cas does get built, it is usually in a quiet, unassuming location, far from the prying and judgmental eyes of others. The church of Cas teaches that true catharsis comes only in righting a festering wrong. Herald and Allies: The herald of Cas is a Huge devourer Monster Manual, page 58 with 36 Hit Dice and a number of special abilities befitting its status.

The foul thing makes off with the trapped soul of whomever it was sent to destroy or receive as an offering to Cas. If the devourer has a name, no one has ever learned it. On rare occasions, he also works with evil outsiders of all types. Favored Weapon: Heavy mace. A successful DC 18 Knowledge local check or a successful DC 21 Knowledge history check enables a PC to recall something about a man named Anderton Rollings, a local farmer, being linked with some dark god in the time after his disappearance from Eastbrook about ten years ago. Jonah Parsons will return in 2d4 days, just as eager as ever to renew his hunt for his own flesh and blood. If the PCs agreed to hear him out, and believes that his baby daughter might indeed be some demon-spawn, then this encounter is but the first act in a much longer story. How it plays out is up to the DM—and, of course, the players. See the full item description on page The avatar of Cas, demigod of spite What stands before you is a tall, crimson-skinned figure with the head of a moose, and a rack of blood-soaked antlers jutting from his skull.

His eyes are deep pools of black, which smolder with a crimson spark of malignant intelligence. The menacing figure brandishes a large mace with an antlered head much like his own. A sinister blend of man and beast, the Lord of Spite appears in a form that combines humanoid cunning with bestial fury. He stands over 12 feet in height, and his vast antlers stretch some 8 feet from point to point. Cas carries an enormous heavy mace, stained black and topped with antlers of its own. He usually uses his mace, the ebon rod of ill will, and gleefully charges into melee.

He sometimes feigns weakness or an inability to hit opponents in order to lure a group of foes close enough for him to unleash a devastating attack combining both his Whirlwind Attack and Power Attack feats. He can subtract as much as 35 from his attack roll and add as much as 70 to his damage roll. Well, not necessarily. A horror adventure is not just a standard adventure with a big scary monster or truly vile villain lurking at the heart of it all. After all, most well-designed adventures will have that, anyway. Nor is a horror adventure simply a string of horror encounters lined up together. In a single encounter, the focus is on maximum impact with minimal time. The encounter needs to hit hard, hit fast, and then be over so the DM and party can move on to the next one. A horror adventure, by contrast, is a far more patient and methodical animal. It builds to a horrific culmination, often with false peaks and releases in the tension before the final climax.

Horror adventures often include multiple horror encounters, but they should be placed with a deliberate rhythm rather than scattered about randomly; building up bit by bit to a finale with greater punch than any of its component parts. These stories should have their own feel, a sense of mood and theme that can only be obtained through careful selection of the specific encounters, rather than a random hodgepodge of even the most frightening events. Adventures, after all, are the building blocks of a campaign. Not every adventure in a horror campaign need be or even should be a horror adventure, but most of them ought to be.

See Chapter 3: A Horror Campaign for more on putting together entire campaigns. But when is it most appropriate to do so? Let the villain demonstrate the depth of his wickedness with actions far more horrific than anything previously seen in the campaign. Ensnaring the PCs in a Story Hook: Horror, by defi nition, has an emotional punch to it. The suffering of the innocent or of loved ones, the anguish inflicted by a terrible villain or monster, should ignite a burning need to make things right in the guts of all but the most selfish characters. Sometimes, power goes to the heads of even the best players. The PCs are the center of attention and, in higher-level campaigns, possibly among the most powerful people in the campaign world.

While the DM can accomplish this through such simple means as throwing ever tougher monsters at them—the tarrasque has to be good for something, and the notion of an unbeatable beast is scary enough in its own right—it can be far more satisfying to pit them against a weaker, or even mundane, opponent. The need to methodically follow a trail and separate false leads from true, yet find yourself unable to stop or even identify the perpetrator as he continues to maim and kill, is truly a humbling if frustrating experience. And that is exactly why DMs should be careful not to overuse this technique. Frustration—when brief, and balanced by a great sense of accomplishment after the evil force is finally vanquished—is a powerful motivator. A DM should have a good working knowledge of the various personalities comprising her gaming group before making even the occasional adventure more than briefly frustrating.

Some games are dungeon crawls, some full of political intrigue, some mysteries, some intense roleplaying sessions. Unless the DM is doing a specifically themed campaign, variety keeps the game from getting stale. DESIGNING A HORROR ADVENTURE Putting together a horror adventure is, at its core, like putting together any other single story. The DM must determine a starting point or variety of plot hooks , a general plot sufficient to guide the NPCs and events, but not so ironclad as to make the PCs superfluous , and an anticipated end point or at least a sense of what the consequences will be, based on how the players wind up concluding the scenario. Throwing in tougher monsters and vats of blood is only the start. Bringing the players to a sense of true, shuddering horror requires stories and techniques designed from the ground up to evoke precisely that reaction.

Not every event of the game needs to feed into this mood, but the majority of scenes and details should lean in this direction. A few specific examples follow, though this is by no means a comprehensive list. Betrayal and Distrust: The heroes have no idea whom to trust. Old allies have turned on them, and it seems that the entire world is made up of a web of lies. This mood often ties into the mood of confusion, discussed below. With an experienced group of players, this might even involve betrayal by one or more of the PCs. Claustrophobia: The PCs are trapped in some shape, form, or fashion—literally, such as being stuck in a confined space, particularly one that limits their actions and abilities, or metaphorically, such as being forced into a particular task or situation.

Phillippi No way out! inability to bring all their talents to bear against oncoming threats, or from distaste for the activities the circumstances force them to take, or from their inability to escape some threat confi ned with them. They cannot seem to find out why certain events are occurring, or what those events mean. Things do not appear to make sense, and people they know seem to act out of character. This mood is appropriate for a mystery or conspiracy-oriented plotline. Desperation: The villains seem to be on the cusp of complete victory. Nothing the characters have done has worked, but they know of one possible hope, a single spark in a darkening world. Examples include a race against time, a series of difficult decisions, even a situation in which the PCs are forced to choose the lesser of two evils and act against their normal moral code.

The people in town seem never to smile. The wood is silent, with no sign of chirping or animal noises. The air feels alive—the calm before the storm. This mood is useful as a buildup to something more overt, or to instill a false sense of danger that causes them to lash out inappropriately when confronted with someone entirely innocent. Helplessness: The forces arrayed against the PCs seem utterly unstoppable, and the goal they seek appears unattainable. Every success turns into a failure; every answer raises more questions. This mood is appropriate primarily for shorter stories, or for a brief, brutal portion of a longer one, since the goal is to stun the characters; maintaining it too long breeds frustration in the players.

Internal Struggle: The PCs are faced with confl icting needs or desires throughout the story. Collaboration with the players to create appropriate PC backgrounds and goals is essential to make this mood work. Isolation: The PCs are absolutely alone. They cannot call for help. They cannot restock their supplies. They have no one on whom they can call, no matter what they face, no matter what threat arises before them. As their resources begin to dry up, however, and they can find no aid between encounters, they soon discover that even the smallest threats cannot be ignored when they have nowhere to run. This mood works very well in conjunction with claustrophobia. Self-Loathing: The PCs themselves somehow become the source of evil or suffering in others.

Perhaps they were tricked into committing some vile act, or some supernatural force lycanthropy or dominate person or possession drove them to it. The enemy within is often the most horrifying, particularly if circumstances are such that the players cannot be sure they will not do it again. This mood differs from internal struggle, above, in that the players are not conflicted; they know that what they did was wrong. Shock: The horror of this mood comes primarily from surprise, shock, and gore. The mood is not a slow escalation but a sudden explosion as the PCs stumble into something they could never have imagined seeing, and would never want to. Shock works best when used to support one of the other options, rather than carrying a story itself.

Spiraling Despair: Everything is slowly but surely falling apart, on either a personal or setting-wide level. Living conditions worsen, loved ones find themselves in straitened circumstances, war ramps up between nations. And nothing the PCs do—at least not initially—seems to be able to stop it. This sort of story should become less and less pleasant for the characters, not the players as time passes and frequently leads to one of the other moods presented here. Violence: Everything seems to result in bloodshed. Diplomacy breaks down. Wars erupt. Horrible creatures stalk the streets, slaying all they come across until they are slain in turn. The PCs might even be forced to shed innocent blood in self-defense, if they are blamed for ongoing crimes or faced with mystically controlled crowds. This is a good mood to intertwine with others, or for players who want a taste of horror without dramatically changing playing styles.

Weight of Suspicion: The heroes find themselves on the wrong end of the law, on the bad side of the Church or the Crown, or facing down an angry mob. Everywhere they turn they find enemies, not because they are surrounded by evil, but because they are seen as evil themselves. And how do you fight an entire community? SETTING The setting, like the mood, characters, and plot, plays a large part in evoking an atmosphere of dread. An adventure set in an old, drafty castle during a lightning storm certainly implies and encourages a different sort of unease than a sudden spilling of blood in the midst of a sunny sylvan hamlet.

When deciding on the setting for a horror adventure, consider the following salient points. Bring the Heroes to the Story, or the Story to the Heroes? Putting the PCs in an unfamiliar environment helps to build tension. The characters are strangers in a strange land, with nobody on whom to call. They have little knowledge of local customs, laws, or lurking threats. People are, by nature, most comfortable in areas they know well, so removing that familiarity removes that cushion of comfort. Additionally, bringing the PCs to exotic locations enables the DM to introduce elements unavailable in more familiar grounds—environmental hazards for which the heroes are unprepared, monsters the likes of which they have never seen, and so on. Perhaps the heroes are stuck on an enormous ship, being stalked by an undead or undersea horror even as the vessel is slowly sinking into the ocean.

On the other hand, the corruption of the familiar can bring about a shatteringly horrific experience. An evil hidden in the midst of an area the players consider safe is the most dangerous of all, because it is totally unexpected. The heroes might initially feel they have the home field pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrs HORROR-ORIENTED SETTINGS Chapter 3 discusses, in some detail, designing settings specifically for horror campaigns, environments in which almost every imaginable story is going to include at least a few horrific elements. While these settings are well suited to horror adventures that are part of larger horror campaigns, they are not usually appropriate to a horror adventure that occurs in a standard campaign. Quite simply, most horror-specific settings are broad enough to contain more than a single adventure. PCs in such realms should usually encounter multiple horrific plots and villains, rather than just one. For a horror adventure that is meant solely as a break between other types of stories, it is far better to work the horror into a more mundane or apparently mundane setting.

In the span of a single adventure, it is easier to explain the PCs entering and leaving a haunted castle, or confronting a possessed murderer hiding among the clergy, than it is to have them locate, enter, adventure through, and leave an entire nation of undead-haunted moors. Exceptions exist, of course. Maybe the PCs are traveling cross-country, and pass through a small kingdom of demonworshipers. Maybe they are plane-hoppers who land briefly in a domain of intrinsic evil. Perhaps they simply wake up to discover themselves in a blasted wasteland occupied by aberrationlike mutations of all they used to know and must find a quick means of escape before they, too, begin to warp under the effects of taint. For the most part, however, a stand-alone horror tale should occur within a setting that, except for the horror elements, resembles a standard location. Reserve the truly twisted and abnormal realms for long-term, campaignlength horror. Unless, of course, the entire region is in the grip of famine, which is a whole different sort of alteration to the setting, but no less appropriate.

See Chapter 3: A Horror Campaign for more on the use of setting in a horror story. Some DMs prefer not to create overarching stories, instead simply presenting the PCs with the environment and allowing them to do as they will. Horror might be at least partly about fear and helplessness, but that does not mean that your players should be helpless to steer the game. Player choice must be as viable and important here as it is in any other game; if the DM designs a story so rigidly that the PCs can do nothing but follow from point A to B to C, without changing anything with their decisions, they might as well be reading a book or watching television.

The best way to design a plot in a horror adventure and many other types of adventure, for that matter is for the DM to know the objectives and methods of the villains and NPCs fairly well, set them in motion, and determine how they will turn out if the PCs do not interfere. If they are not stopped by outside factors namely, the PCs , they will eventually succeed in locating her and turn her over to the vampire, who will doubtless slay her immediately. With this information, the DM is equipped to decide what happens after the PCs interfere. But by the same token, they have plenty of loved ones, friends, and allies who are suddenly in danger.

They also have more to lose—they cannot simply turn tail and run if the going gets too tough. This fact can make the horror more immediate than an adventure that occurs in an exotic setting, because the game itself feels more real. The more clearly a player can picture the environment, the harder the horror hits home. If she only has one such adventure in an otherwise traditional campaign, an alien or foreign setting is just fine. If she intends to include multiple horror sessions scattered throughout the campaign, most of them should probably take place in more mundane settings, with the exotic environments used only to add spice. Otherwise, the players come to expect and prepare for horrific plots if they always find themselves in odd locations before one occurs, whereas fear is more potent when the players have no time to prepare for it.

Any horror the DM concocts will have less impact if the players think of it as something that only happens to them outside the normal confi nes of the campaign. Enough horror occurs in the real world; surely any campaign has villains and monsters that can wreak their terror in even the most pristine and innocent regions of the setting. Mix and Match Environmental Elements: Chapter 1 offers suggestions on using the environment to create a sense of impending horror, with supply shortages, increasing weather hazards, and the like. Consider using a combination of these elements when running a horror adventure.

A sense of urgency can develop when a series of environmental circumstances lead into or feed off one another. For instance, geographical isolation can be accompanied by extreme weather, which can lead to growing shortages of food and fuel. Alternatively, the PCs might be stalked by a foe they are just barely strong enough to fend off. Unfortunately, their food and water grow scarce as they try to find their way back to civilization. Each time they are attacked, they are just a bit hungrier, a bit more tired and thus a bit weaker , and a little lower on expendable magic than the previous time. The precarious balance is slowly tilted out of their favor; if they cannot find some way to rest, replenish their supplies, or escape their pursuer s , they will soon be unable to ward off their enemy at all.

How Do the Plot and the Adversaries Mesh with the Environment? If a story revolves around figuring out which member of a community is secretly a wererat who has been killing local leaders, the community must be large enough to present a reasonable range of suspects. Continue to serve the vampire? Turn on him? The DM should decide ahead of time what the Guildmaster is like, and therefore how she is likely to react to such circumstances. If the PCs flee with the intended victim, they might escape the guild, but the vampire lord will follow. Can the PCs confront the vampire lord directly? Have they a chance of slaying him, or even of survival?

Can they at least wound him enough to force him to retreat, giving them opportunity to hide the woman elsewhere? Clearly, while the DM has a plotline planned for the story, the actions of the PCs definitely have an impact on where it goes. Perhaps most important, the DM must be willing to let the story take its course, even if the PCs do something completely unexpected or succeed in defeating a foe she never thought they could. It can be hard for a DM to let go of a favored plot, but better that than to make the players feel useless. Given the above example, suppose the PCs do slay the vampire lord. Is the story over? Well, yes—for now. Are they willing to wait around and fi nd out? After all, it was because of her—even though she has not yet been conceived, let alone born—that the vampire lord encountered the PCs in the first place.

Mystery in a Horror Adventure Mystery and horror go together so perfectly that some people automatically associate the two. Both are based on the unknown, on hidden danger and a desperate struggle to snatch victory from overwhelming odds. Authors have written entire books on how to craft a good mystery, something well beyond the scope of Heroes of Horror. The following pointers should, however, form a sufficient foundation to get you started in the right direction. First, when planning your game and dropping hints and clues during it, it is always better to include too many clues than to include too few.

As the DM, you have the advantage of seeing the big picture; your players do not. It might seem a bit unrealistic for a masterful, intelligent villain to leave hints as to his presence, identity, and plans all over the place. Any one of those is a bad mistake. All three, and your villain might seem more criminally stupid than criminal. They might never know that you planted other trails. If you only have one string of clues to the solution of your mystery, the players and the plot are in trouble if they miss it. If you have several, they might find the second even if they missed the first, or the third if they missed the second. Along similar lines, conundrums and puzzles that are too easy are better than those that are too hard. Still, a game in which the players feel they are accomplishing nothing bogs down very quickly, and the frustration can reduce their desire to participate in a similar mystery in the future.

The players will feel a sense of accomplishment rather than resentment, and you can always make your next mystery harder. Finally, too much of anything—including mystery—gets stale. Intersperse investigations and mysteries with more action-oriented or political stories. Bored players can bring down any game, of course, but mysteries are particularly vulnerable to player malaise. Use other sorts of games between mysteries, and be sure to include pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrs BAITING THE HOOK Nothing ruins a good story like having the PCs just walk away from it, and this is especially true of a horror adventure, into which the DM is likely to have put a great deal of thought and preparation. Some, however, require a bit more encouragement to involve themselves in dangerous or frightening situations. Alternatively, the DM might offer a prize too great to ignore—perhaps an item the PCs have sought since the start of the campaign. Sometimes the horror comes to the PCs.

If they are being stalked through a haunted foundry or trapped on a ship, they cannot simply walk away; in fact, escape might be the greatest prize they can hope to win. Perhaps the monster they face here is the ghost of someone they allowed to die years ago, or a demon they failed to fully destroy. Whatever the case, do not worry about sidetracking the mystery with scenes of combat or other action. Types of Villains Villains in horror stories can generally be categorized into several broad types. Nevertheless, the following are useful generalizations; deciding which one suits the game you wish to run is the first step in developing an appropriate and memorable adversary for your PCs. The Hidden Danger: Perhaps the most common trope of horror, this villain is nearly impossible to detect. She kills from concealment and engenders mistrust and suspicion among all who would thwart her. This archetype is particularly appropriate for games with moods of betrayal and distrust, confusion, shock, or the weight of suspicion see Mood, page Its arrogance might be due to sheer power and confidence, arrogance, lack of intelligence, insanity, or a simple lack of interest in its effect on others.

So do many undead, dictatorial kings, church inquisitors, evil necromancers sequestered in their towers, most bestial humanoids such as goblins or orcs , golems, and the utterly mad. This villain type is a particularly appropriate choice for games with moods of claustrophobia, desperation, helplessness, isolation, revulsion, or violence see Mood, page The Poor Fool in Over His Head: Sometimes, the greatest of horrors are unleashed by the most ignorant or the most well-meaning people—individuals who have dabbled in powers beyond their comprehension, or whose hubris CHAPTER 2 While the PCs are the central characters of any roleplaying game, the villains are arguably almost as important, especially in a horror game. Random monsters, no matter how dangerous or grotesque, are rarely as powerful or memorable as adversaries with well-planned goals or burning motives. With sufficient planning and detail, a single villain can drive an entire campaign.

But when he refuses to stop against all advice, he might become a true villain in his own right. This category includes the cultist who summons his demonic lord without taking the proper precautions to contain it, the sorcerer who attempts to cast a complex ritual for which she is not prepared, the petitioner who feels he can get the better of a devil or an evil god in a bargain, the summoner who makes a careless wish of an efreeti, or the classic Frankenstein archetype of the man who allows his obsessive need to complete some task to blind him to the repercussions. Then again, perhaps it is because the game provides so many truly horrific creatures as points of comparison that terrible acts committed by normal people truly strike home. For advice on using members of adventuring classes as villains, see page As a particular shock to your players, consider making a truly average person—a commoner or expert—your perpetrator.

Given the abilities available to most PCs, a commoner is never going to be particularly frightening as an opponent in face-to-face combat. Instead, play up the horror of his actions, and the investigation required to figure out who he is. Not every mystery must end with a terrible battle. Take a few moments to research real-world serial killer Ed Gein, for example. The Decoy: This is a bait-and-switch combination of the other techniques, in which one villain or type of villain appears to be another. Decoys and misdirection can add to the atmosphere of stories that play up the rules in order to keep this secret hidden. They also players do finally learn that their compatriot betrayed them, work when combining a number of moods in bizarre ways, they are likely to take it better if they feel the player of the as one mood gives way to another with the discovery of evil character and the DM both played by the rules. Those each deception. who feel they should have known and were cheated out of The Treasonous Loved One: The villain of the story a chance to make the discovery might not react well, and stands revealed—a friend, relative, or lover of one of the with good reason.

She could have been corrupted and turned to evil. She might have embraced taint or been transformed into telligent, you should always have your adversaries act in a a vampire. Perhaps she has always been evil and has been creative, intelligent manner. Nothing creates a sense of fear and paranoia in players more than the realization that the deceiving the heroes all along. Whatever the case, this discovery has a personal impact beyond that of the standard villain they are facing is willing and able to take advantage hidden danger. of their weaknesses. Have the villain strike while the heroes are distracted with another task. Target their loved ones. This sort of villain can do substantial damage to the Take hostages. Frame the PCs. Attack them with methods PCs both physically and psychologically. She knows their secrets and their vulnerabilities. on player actions and appearances. somehow considered unfair to take advantage of PC weakThe Evil PC: Recommended only for groups of players nesses.

Such a concern is inappropriate for a horror game. who are truly comfortable with one another, who trust Your villains are not or should not be invulnerable. They the DM, and who are experienced roleplayers, this can have weak points the PCs can attack. Do not be afraid to be the most shocking and unexpected twist of an entire turn the tables. In this variation, the villain is none other than one of the PCs! Perhaps he has been possessed, or replaced Unstoppable Villains by an evil duplicate see The Evil Duplicate Ploy, page The adversary who seems unstoppable is a mainstay of horror Even more disturbing, however, is the notion of a PC who tales. Powerful evil wizards evil geniuses, every one of the story. Not all villains share this trait, of course, but those cooperation.

Only make use of this technique in groups that do are among the scariest. Of course, it need not be immediate justice, and exploitable weakness, and you should drop sufficient clues the DM might decide to keep the character around as an for your PCs to eventually find it. The ments and weaknesses, making betrayal and distrust an illithid sorcerer can anticipate almost any action the PCs ideal mood choice. To pull anticipate. Whether because of the various spells and abilitwo examples from the same series of classic literature: The ties designed to detect evil or deception, or sheer random dragon Smaug could only be slain by penetrating the one luck, the traitor might be caught passing information to weak spot in his otherwise impenetrable armored hide; others or simply revealed for the nasty person he is. Except under truly attempts to do so.

What makes a villain horrific is the combination of her motives, her goals, and her means of carrying out those goals. Motive is the need or desire that causes a person to take action. Like everyone, villains always feel that they have something to gain or that they are striving for what they consider to be a greater good. In some cases, commonly referred to as tragic villains, circumstances beyond their control have driven them to evil. Their actions are no more excusable than those of any other villain, but perhaps they are more easily understood. The following list of possible motivations is far from comprehensive but should provide a strong starting point. Enrichment: One of the simplest motives, this is nothing more than the desire for personal gain.

The common thief is often spurred by a desire for treasure, but so are many dragons or invading armies willing to slay hundreds and level towns to gain the wealth within. Freedom: The desire to be free of an oppressive government or ruler is a justifiable one, and those who struggle against such regimes are often considered heroic. If the means by which they fight grow too violent or indiscriminate, or if someone fights for freedom from lawful imprisonment, they become rather less admirable. The terrorist who targets the civilians living under the government she wishes to overthrow, or the prisoner who slaughters guards and bystanders alike in his quest to escape punishment for his crimes, is ostensibly seeking freedom. Hatred: Be it racial, religious, or cultural, hatred and prejudice motivate a substantial number of villains in fiction and in the real world as well. It often overlaps with the desire for purification see below.

Illness: Plague and the fear of contamination have inspired all manner of horrific acts. To avoid contagion, otherwise good-hearted people will turn away from those who suffer, burn them to ash in their own homes, imprison quarantine them in isolated camps. Those infected might also commit horrific acts in a search for a cure, or in the madness brought by the raging fevers. The simple act of seeking human contact can spread the plague to others, resulting in more suffering. Illness rarely stands on its own as a motive, but often inspires others, such as hatred and madness. Justice: The need to redress past wrongs leads obsessed individuals to take inappropriate actions. A woman hunting for the criminals who murdered her husband, with violence on her agenda, is something most people can understand, if not support. Justice is subtly different from revenge as a motive see below , but the one often leads to the other.

Loss and Desperation: Even the best of people can be driven to commit horrors under the proper circumstances. If the life of a loved one is at stake, for instance, they might take any actions necessary to protect it. Consider a noble lord whose daughter has taken ill with a plague that seems to resist magical cures. When he leaves home to quest for the cure, he is heroic. When he determines that he will acquire the cure no matter the cost, even taking it from the hands of those who are equally sick, or slaying others who seek it lest they find it first, he becomes a villain. Tragic, yes, but a villain nonetheless. Or consider the young apprentice wizard learning magic from her father, whose soul is eventually claimed by the demon lord with whom he dealt many years ago. Madness: Some villains have no easily understood motives. They are driven by madness, an insanity incomprehensible to those whose minds are relatively whole. Many serial killers fall into this category.

Madness frequently results from illness or loss and desperation. Order: The villain seeks to bestow order on what she views as a chaotic world or society. She believes she has the best interests of the people at heart, that all the death and pain she causes now will be worth it when she rules. The vigilante who slaughters even the most minor of lawbreakers and the tyrant usurper who imprisons any who would dare speak against her might both be motivated by a need to impose order. Personal Power: Sometimes the villain seeking to rule over others is not driven by a desire to make the world a better place or a need for order.

A PC without silvered weaponry will find it difficult to kill a werewolf; trolls are nasty when fire and acid are nowhere to be found; and a group without magic and holy weapons is in great trouble when faced with a powerful demon. On occasion, a villain can be truly invulnerable to harm. In none of H. Even in such a case, however, a road to accomplishment should exist for the PCs. They might not be able to slay the awakening evil deity, but perhaps they can disrupt the ritual calling it and send it back to slumber. Unstoppable need not mean undefeatable, and the heroes should always have at least a chance of coming out even, if not ahead. The patriot who sees foreign spies once they achieve it.

or fanaticism. Possession: Villains might not be evil of their own accord. Someone possessed by a demon or ghost or mentally con- Adventuring Classes as Villains trolled such as with a dominate spell is hardly responsible Horror villains need not be monsters or inhuman fiends. for her own actions, yet she still can be the primary villain Humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and any other humanoids of a game or even a campaign. can be villains, with the proper motivations and actions. Purification: A close cousin to hatred, this is the motive Presented here are a few suggestions for motives or plot hooks when someone believes that a specific group—be it a race, for villains in each of the core adventuring classes. religion, gender, or even profession—is responsible for Barbarian: A barbarian chieftain seeks to destroy any corrupting society. The desire for purification often motisigns of civilization farms, villages, cities anywhere near vates ethnic cleansing or religious persecution.

The rage ability of a particular barbarian comes to hatred as a subcategory of it. from a burning internal anger and madness, leading her to Revenge: A step down from justice as a motive, revenge lash out with lethal violence at any slight or even imagined refers to those villains who seek to redress a past wrong offense. An outsider new to the city is enticed by the luxuries against themselves or others but are not particularly selective of civilization and seeks to gain immediate power and wealth regarding whom they target for their vengeance. The angry by any means necessary. ghost that lashes out at every living being in retribution for Bard: A bard is using his magic to seduce entire crowds its murder, the king who sends his army to invade a nation into turning over their wealth, their possessions, and because a citizen of that nation tried to kill him, or the witch even their daughters.

A criminally minded bard uses who curses the entire family of the priest who ordered her charm spells and bardic knowledge to learn the secrets of burned at the stake are all examples of villains with revenge powerful individuals and then blackmails them into doing as their motive. her bidding. A research bard is delving up long-hidden Self-Gratification: One of the most primal villainous lore and selling it to powerful and evil wizards. A jealous motives, this is nothing more than the fulfi llment of some performer is slitting the throats of all the other singers personal desire. The addict who commits violent crimes in town. to attain her drug of choice, the rapist whether he seeks Cleric: The cleric of an evil power is kidnapping the sexual release or feelings of power and dominance , and the poor off the streets for hideous sacrifices.

A high-ranking hot-tempered killer who slays out of rage and frustration are cleric of a good church instigates an inquisition against all examples of self-gratification. This situation works best in a world where Social Change: Some individuals are willing to turn to the alignment of the cleric is not tied to that of the god, and violence in an effort to change the society around them. a cleric can commit evil acts while believing he serves a While this might be justifiable under certain circumstances, greater good. The EBERRON setting is an example of this way it becomes inarguably villainous when innocents suffer for of handling alignments. The insurrectionists who target anyone who order at the expense of the natural order and the freedom lives under or supports the current system, and the governof the townsfolk.

ment that uses violence to put down those who seek change, are both motivated by social change. Though one seeks to Druid: A druid sets the animals of the wood to overrun cause it and the other to halt it, both are equally villainous a nearby town, which she believes threatens her territory, in their methods. and slaughter all within. A mad druid declares that all Survival: Even individuals motivated by little more animals should be raised to sentience; he casts awaken on than survival can become horrific villains under the a growing number of forest creatures, and teaches them to lie, murder, and even use magic to gain what they want. A proper circumstances. As mentioned under illness, people will go to truly unpleasant lengths to avoid conferal druid sees no difference between human and animal, tagion. If all the people of a community believe that a hunting the fringes of civilization and consuming all those certain man is responsible for a rash of crimes, he might she encounters.

feel compelled—even if innocent—to kill everyone who Fighter: A mercenary general seeks to carve out a kingdom comes across him, lest they report his location to the growfor himself, no matter how many communities he must overing mob. One could even argue that certain monsters, such run, enslave, or conscript to do so. A veteran of many wars as vampires, have no choice but to slay others in order cannot adjust to civilian life and goes on a killing spree. A to survive. A powerful monk has hired her services out as a paid assassin, and local law enforcement is ill equipped to deal with her abilities, especially since many of her victims die days after contact with her due to her quivering palm ability.

A monk scholar believes the secrets of spiritual ascension and enlightenment are found in the physiological differences between humanoids and outsiders and is killing, examining, and dissecting many specimens of each in his studies. Paladin: A great paladin undertakes a quest to purge the region of a particular type of lycanthrope terrorizing the area, not distinguishing between the newly infected who could still be saved and the long corrupted. The PCs have been well and thoroughly framed for some horrible crime, and their pursuers include well-intentioned paladins loyal to the local ruler or churches. Perhaps an evil god or a demon lord is maintaining his powers without his awareness. Ranger: A ranger known for hunting dangerous game has decided her next challenge will be hunting select human targets such as high-level adventurers ; her killings appear to be random and without purpose.

A woodsman seeking a reputation unleashes several captured wild animals and monsters on an unsuspecting populace, so he can hunt them down and become a local hero. A trio of evil rangers acting as snipers lay siege to an isolated small town; their goal is to eventually kill every last inhabitant. Rogue: A small band of rogues has developed a unique method of running a murder-for-hire business: They engage in a series of murders that appear to be the work of a serial killer, hiding the specific victim amid the others so nobody realizes she was the intended target. Sorcerer: Persecuted as a child for her strange faculty with magic, a sorcerer has returned to her hometown to seek vengeance on the entire community. Having decided that sorcerers, with their innate ability to cast spells, are a superior form of life, a powerful sorcerer and her allies set out to exterminate all sentient humanoids who are not sorcerers.

Wizard: An archmage has uncovered an ancient spellbook of incredible power, created by inhuman beings of the ancient world; as he learns the new spells within, he grows ever more powerful but also quite mad. Splitting the party means that no single portion of it is at full strength, and that PCs who fi nd themselves in trouble have no idea if help is anywhere nearby. You can handle splitting the party in two different ways, each of which has its own advantages in a horror game. One way is to continue to describe events with all the players present, alternating swiftly between groups. In combat, you might even run the entire encounter together, with everyone involved in the same initiative order, but the events occurring far from one another. If the situation does not involve battle, you might spend just a few minutes with one group, then cut to the second, then back to the first.

This technique keeps all the players involved, and allows you to increase the tension by letting everyone know out of character what sorts of horrors beset their companions but leaving them no way to help them out in character. You might even end each scene on a cliffhanger, leaving one group in dire peril for a few moments while you shift to the other. The problem with this approach, however, is that you cannot hide events from the players, and this knowledge—even if known only out of character—can hinder your plans or weaken the tension. The other option is to physically separate the players into two or more groups. Take one group into another room, or ask the uninvolved players to step outside for a few minutes while you deal with the other group. Each of these should be used sparingly, of course, but when presented at the right time, each can ratchet up the tension and the horror dramatically. It also allows you to execute maneuvers that require players be unaware of some crucial piece of information, such as replacing a missing companion with a doppelganger or shapeshifted fiend.

The downside, of course, is that if the separation lasts for longer than a few minutes, then the uninvolved players can grow bored, and nothing kills any in-game mood—let alone something as fragile as horror—faster than boredom. You should use this technique sparingly, and preferably only when the uninvolved players have something else to occupy them such as a snack run. A wizard who strove for centuries to become immortal—perhaps through wish spells or by becoming an undead creature such as a lich—has decided he is tired of life and fi nally ready to die, but he will take every last person who ever wronged or offended him with him; he intends to find a way to obliterate every living thing, and perhaps even the world itself. The Psionic Classes: A powerful psion has dominated the leaders of several communities and kingdoms, making herself secret master of an entire region.

A psychic warrior takes advantage of his abilities to hire himself out as a wizard-killer and develops a taste for the murder of spellcasters. A wilder believes that killing all sentient beings he encounters will silence the voices he has heard in his head since his powers first manifested. Withholding a description works well when the PCs are either hunting something they know is in the area or are trapped in a confined space with something hunting them. In either case, the creature will eventually be revealed, if only for a fi nal confrontation. Until then, consider having it strike only with surprise and then vanish into the darkness. Alternatively, perhaps it never reveals itself to PCs so long as they remain in a group, only closing when it can catch a character alone and be certain of killing him or her outright, leaving behind no witness.

You could also throw several monsters at the PCs, none of which is the true threat. THREATEN FRIENDS, ALLIES, AND LOVED ONES Very little has a stronger emotional impact than threatening or harming those people the PCs love best. Whether the loved one is merely threatened, harmed, or killed is, of course, up to both the dictates of the plot and the actions of the characters. This last is particularly brutal on characters, because it has the added element of guilt. The wizard can only wonder, did my familiar die because of something I did? The bond between master and companion is a strong one, as strong as any friendship between characters and NPCs particularly in the case of the familiar, whose death can cause emotional trauma so severe that the caster loses experience points. Such an event could play out over the course of a full-length adventure or might itself be the inspiration for the adventure. Can the heroes find and destroy the source of the taint before their friend is utterly lost to corruption?

Can they cure, or at least contain, their maddened relative before she hurts herself or someone else? And are these just symptoms of a greater problem, a larger malady that threatens the entire community? Threatening characters to whom the PCs are well disposed still has the impact of making them feel they are losing connections and allies, which can be enough to lay the groundwork for horror. It can be an effective story, particularly in a horror adventure. However, it poses its own set of problems. The DM cannot just play the evil duplicate as another NPC and expect the PCs to go along with it. A shapeshifter taking on the form of one of the PCs, then tormenting or killing other NPCs, is a fantastic way of landing the PCs into seriously hot water. Not only must they prove their innocence—despite numerous witnesses who saw with their own eyes the PC committing crimes—but they must try to avoid slaughtering innocent if misguided townsfolk in the process.

If you want to play a trickier game and actually fool the players as well, the best variant is to let the player of the replaced character in on the deal. The player continues to play the character but takes her cues from the DM, doing her best not to let on that anything is wrong. This can be a lot of fun, for the PCs in general when they finally learn the truth, and for the player in particular, who has the presumably temporary opportunity to play the bad guy. This is still not a flawless technique, however. Even if the player is capable of handling it, it can be difficult for you to convey what you want her to do without the other players catching on.

This technique, then, is most useful when you want to keep the PCs fooled, but only in the relatively short term. The fi nal variation is the trickiest to pull off. It requires a group of experienced roleplayers, players who trust their DM implicitly, and a DM who knows not to abuse the power that trust brings. If you have all that, consider the possibility that one of the PCs has been replaced by an evil duplicate and that even the player of that character remains unaware of that fact. Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses. Search Metadata Search text contents Search TV news captions Search archived websites Advanced Search. remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. EMBED for wordpress.

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Home Add Document Sign In Register. Heroes Of Horror Home Heroes Of Horror. Contents Introduction. Download PDF. indd 3 Chapter 5: Heroes and Antiheroes. Tainted Feats. Vile Feats. Feat Descriptions. Archivist of Nature. Bane Magic. Blood Calls to Blood. Corrupt Arcana. Corrupt Spell Focus. Debilitating Spell. Debilitating Strike. Deformity Skin. Deformity Tall. Deformity Teeth. Deformity Tongue. Disease Immunity. Draconic Archivist. Eldritch Corruption. Font of Life. Forbidden Lore. Greater Corrupt Spell Focus. Haunting Melody. Improved Oneiromancy. Lunatic Insight. Mad Faith. Master of Knowledge. Pure Soul. Spirit Sense. Surge of Malevolence. Tainted Fury.

Touch of Taint. Unnatural Will. Willing Deformity. Cloak of Hate. Detect Taint. Dream Sight. Dream Walk. Dreaming Puppet. Familial Geas. Fire in the Blood. Harm, Greater. Harm, Mass. Imprison Soul. Manifest Desire. Manifest Nightmare. Mantle of Pure Spite. Oath of Blood. Pact of Return. Plague of Undead. Pronouncement of Fate. Resist Taint. Restful Slumber. Rigor Mortis. Summon Undead I. Summon Undead II. Summon Undead III. Summon Undead IV. Summon Undead V. Vile Death. Beyond Gothic. The Vampire. The Wolf-Man. The Mummy. Animals and Vermin. Monstrous Humanoids. The first three chapters focus on advice for the Dungeon Master on incorporating horror elements into a campaign. The last three provide a variety of new mechanics to help bring those horrific visions to life. Dread Encounters Chapter 1 : Every horror campaign starts with a single encounter. Dread Adventures Chapter 2 : Sometimes an entire adventure will revolve around a horror theme. This chapter describes moods, settings, and plots that make for horrific adventures, as well as discussing ways of creating villains who can dominate an entire horror adventure.

This chapter describes ways to establish that trust, as well as describing settings, plots, and villains that work well in horror campaigns. It also presents a new rule set, the taint mechanic, to represent ways in which exposure to evil eventually causes both physical and moral decay, known respectively as corruption and depravity. Other new rules describe tainted locations, haunting presences poltergeists , and mortuary terrain, as well as alternative alignment rules more suited for horror gaming. Finally, it discusses ways that divination magic and resurrection magic can be warped by the pervading horror of the setting. Heroes and Antiheroes Chapter 5 : This chapter presents two new standard classes, the archivist and the dread necromancer, as well as half a dozen new prestige classes, from the fiend-blooded, who embraces the evil inherent in her ancestry, to the purifier of the Hallowed Doctrine, who strives to stop the spread of taint.

This chapter also details more than thirty new feats, some of them powered by taint and others useful in fighting tainted creatures, and a like number of new spells, including corrupt spells that inflict ability damage upon their caster and oneiromancy spells, which allow the caster to manipulate the dreams of others. Creatures of the Night Chapter 6 : This chapter is divided into two parts. The first describes ways in which to use traditional fantasy and horror monsters, such as a vampires, giants, and dragons, in new and unsettling ways. The second part details thirteen new monsters and templates suitable for horror adventures, from the taint elemental and the dusk giant to the tainted minion and the unholy scion. Adventure Sites: Heroes of Horror contains eleven maps depicting various environments in which a horror encounter or horror adventure could occur. TAINT One of the principal new mechanics is a revision of the taint system originally presented in Oriental Adventures and updated in Unearthed Arcana.

At its heart, the taint system is based on the idea that exposure to horrific evil—even if that exposure is limited to fierce combat in an unceasing crusade against the forces of darkness—has a corrupting influence on even the purest of hearts. This idea is a staple of fantastic horror literature and film. Some heroes of horror will continue to struggle against that corruption until they take their dying breath, but others will eventually embrace the darkness, becoming sinister figures who resemble the monsters they hunt perhaps a little too closely. This book is intended for both kinds of characters, as suggested in the title of Chapter 5: Heroes and Antiheroes. A number of prestige classes, feats, and other elements rely on the taint system. Both of the new standard classes work fine without the taint rules, and many of the feats, prestige classes, spells, and other mechanical elements do not rely on taint.

In addition, it revises and updates material originally presented in Oriental Adventures, Unearthed Arcana, and Book of Vile Darkness. Though possession of any or all of these supplements is not necessary, they can enhance your enjoyment of this book. Polak ordek gripped his waraxe tightly, his jaw set and his hollow eye sockets gleaming with green light, as the vampire spawn circled to surround them. Mialee clenched her dagger, pressing its point into her skin as she prepared to draw the blood she would need to fuel her next spell. The spawn had them surrounded and began to close in hungrily. They took only a few steps, however, before they stopped in their tracks, shuffling uneasily, some glancing back over their shoulders. He wheeled to face her, then turned his eyeless gaze to follow hers. Silence spread through the gathered vampire spawn, and the horde seemed to part like water as their master strode forward.

Heroes Of Horror,

Check D&D - Heroes of Horror [OEF] from Chris Winnower here. Like D&D - Heroes of Horror [OEF]? Just add D&D - Heroes of Horror [OEF] of Chris Winnower to My D&D ª Edition - Heroes of blogger.com - Free ebook download as PDF File .pdf) or read book online for free. Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site. Open navigation Download PDF - Heroes Of blogger.com [7l5renvmozqk]. This is a non-profit website to share the knowledge. To maintain this website, we need your help Contents Introduction What’s In This Book Heroes of Horror contains information for DMs and players alike. The fi rst three chapters focus on advice for the Dungeon Master on incorporating horror elements into a campaign. The last You may be offline or with limited connectivity. Try downloading instead ... read more

The PCs hear THE ENCOUNTER The story picks up some five months after the death of Jonah no sound coming from within. A mad druid declares that all Survival: Even individuals motivated by little more animals should be raised to sentience; he casts awaken on than survival can become horrific villains under the a growing number of forest creatures, and teaches them to lie, murder, and even use magic to gain what they want. Dreaming Puppet. If a second PC does the same, the portrait again changes to mimic his features, but this time the face shown is clearly that of a long-dead corpse in an advanced state of decay. The PCs awaken after camping or resting for a night; one PC has bite wounds on her neck, arms, and legs, while another feels far too full to eat breakfast.

The enemy within is often the most horrifying, particularly if circumstances are such that the players cannot be sure they will not do it again. The path continues north, cutting heroes of horror 3.5 pdf download swath through the otherwise thickening forest. Mialee clenched her dagger, pressing its point into her skin as she prepared to draw the blood she would need to fuel her next spell. Beyond Gothic. As the PCs watch, the children carve small pieces off the girl with tiny knives and feed the quivering, bloody chunks to the old woman! Vile Death. Bring the Heroes to the Story, or the Story to the Heroes?