Part of me thinks this is awesome and I would totally be down for it, no questions asked.

Another part of me would be bringing a loaded handgun to the game, just in case this wasn't just a clever method of scenesetting and you intended to wear my skin like a sundress.

>>14309657
Does it help to know I'm an insomniac who suffers from extreme, recurring nightmares who wrote the majority of the necessary concepts for the last game after a five day period of getting maybe a total of three or four hours of sleep?

I'm currently debating running it very late at night, to make them even more off-balance, but that might be a little much.

>>14309704
Don't do it at night; do it at a time when you know the campus LOOKS empty.

Additionally, see if you can get a friend who looks like he's from some Eastern Bloc shithole, dress him up to look like he's from the bad part of Yugoslavia (the one with marginally more rape and killing), and have him stand as a doorman giving them the evil eye as they walk in the door. Give him the go ahead to leave after the game starts, but have him drop a few drops of a corn syrup/food colouring mix (red) where he was standing before doing so.

>>14309741
I know the exact guy to do this. He's actually from Slovak, and is a theater major. None of the people playing know him. There's some good fake blood mix, as well.

So, I suppose this is now a thread about DRYH shenanigans, and how far is too far when creating immersion within this game.

>>14309766
If its possible, see if you can make a fake blood arc spatter, along with a drag trail that leads into some bushes.

More shenanigans:

After the group disbands, wait a minute or two. Then, grab your gear and run as if you've got a couple of Promising Students hot on your trail. Motor right past your players; don't stop, don't acknowledge them past "GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY WAY", don't even look back until you get to your car.

When asked about it later, look around nervously while denying it ever happened. If possible (and you get asked in person), have the Slovak be seated somewhere nearby in similar clothes; when you see him, go white as a goddamn sheet and hurriedly say you have to go. Alternately, you can have him call you while you're having a conversation with one of the friends from the group, go white as a sheet, and look around in a paranoid fashion. Then, freeze on him for a couple seconds, say you REALLY need to be somewhere else right now, and leave. Cue Slovak following you 15-20 seconds later.

When asked about it next game session, look at them blankly as if you don't know what the fuck they're talking about.

>>14309741
>>14309851
not to be an asshole, but don't do these ideas op.
They're corny and embarassing, and your original idea was solid.
Sorry to be a downer.

>>14309928
But... But... I THOUGHT THEY WERE GOOD ;_;

Well, maybe not the second one, but I thought the first one might work.

>>14309928
Probably going to at least have my friend act as a doorman. It's a bit out of the way, and I'd love to have it so they don't get lost navigating the building. He will, however, leave something behind; probably a bottle of empty liquor or something.

The second is a bit too ARG for what I'm doing; I'm looking to put these guys off-balance and show them how psychological these sorts of things can get, not run a Vampire LARP.

>>14310069
Can you have him speak nothing but Slovak for a bit, then say in broken english that you're waiting for them inside?

Oh yes, one more note; the announcement inviting them to play the game is essentially a sixth-generation photocopy. The original was made using cut-out letters, an old marker, and a ragged piece of paper.

This was then photocopied. It was faxed to one fax, then faxed back. Then, it was photocopied one more time, scanned, opened by a computer with an incompatible program, and then printed with an ancient, shitty printer.

The document looks worn, fragmented, grainy, and broken. They're currently sitting in a small box, buried in my front yard, which is a sea of mud right now. I'll dig them up tomorrow, let them dry, then put 'em in the envelopes of confusion and terror.

Once again, I'm worried that I'm taking this a touch too far.

>>14310120
You wouldn't happen to be somewhere on the west coast, would you, OP?

>>14310120
Depends on your reputation. If you're a good friend, I'd find this AWESOME. If you're that creepy fatbeard with no social skill we only keep in our circle because he's the DM... That would be my cue to get the fuck away from you.

>>14310156
Midwest, though I have job prospects in LA right now, and have to weigh cost-of-living versus my desire to branch out a bit in life.

Contacts in the building I'm using mean that I can also get all the lights shut off where I'll be playing. They're on motion sensors, but I know where to access the hard resets that just shut them off based on a building timer, then turns them back on. So, essentially, when they leave the room, it will be pitch black, then lights will flicker on, one by one.

Creepy, or a little bit much?

>>14310168
Oh god, I'd hate to see that sort of socially-inept guy try this. No, I have a life outside of gaming, a girlfriend, and regular exercise. Admittedly, I'm an insomniac with recurring nightmares, but that's part of why I love running DRYH; I can channel the shit that's fucking me up and let other people beat at it in manageable chunks.

>>14310189

>>14310189
Can you get it EXACTLY timed?

If so, synchronize your watch with the timer and end your session about 1-2 minutes before they're set to flicker back on (to give them time to gather their gear). Then, about 20-15 seconds before the lights are set to flicker on, walk to the door with them. If timed right, you should have time to gesture down the hallway before the lights start flickering on in sequence down the hall.

>>14310245
Yes, I can. As it's an academic building, class "chimes" occur at regular intervals. I simply set the lights to flicker on five minutes after the 'bell' goes off after a few hours of game time. I'll talk to the guy, make sure he gets things set up, and I'll do a dry run of it some night.

Additionally, I know the building manager well enough that he can set the elevator overrides for me. As in, no matter what button they press, the elevators will go to their default floor (in this case, the loading dock of the building). That is ALWAYS pitch black at night, and the lights snap on a few seconds after the elevator doors are opened.

There is just something wonderful about working in nice, new buildings and chatting with the guys who do all the maintenance work.

I just wonder; is this getting too extreme and ridiculous?

>>14310317
Are you sure none of your players has a pre-existing heart condition?

>>14310317
Too extreme and ridiculous would be plastic skulls. Messing with lighting and elevators sounds great. (Assuming >>14310168)

>>14310317
the only way to go is up

So far, I like every one of your ideas. The suggestions, well only the Slavic guy struck home with me. I really wish I could participate in this game! Your players will have a story to tell for years to come.

I hate to say this, but here everyone consider this awesome and, what the hell, me too, but when you are some dude who barely sleeps, playing rpg and doing creepy shit,you dont need some internet guys encouraging you. That will feel like "yep, everything is great, continue on that way" and thats a door open to some serious mental fuck. I would shut up if I believe that you are a balanced, rational guy, with a bunch of rational, balanced players, but i dont know shit, probably even you dont really know some dark secrets on your players, or even some deep shit of yours. And the imsoniac thing. Guy, this is awesome? Yep. I would be in? Totally, fuck me, life is meant to be lived. Its the best thing to you, or the risk is totally worth? No, my friend. Some serious shit and no sleep could fuck you. Or someone. Seriously.

>>14310356
None of my players have a pre-existing heart condition.

Finally; I've done some work as a party magician, doing sleight-of-hand stuff. I plan to simply bring the pain dice out of nowhere, and when players accumulate points of permanent madness, switch the dice out for them. The plan is to get the lights to flicker a bit and have something distract them.

The Coffers for the coins of Hope and Despair are being made of shattered (then carefully, carefully smoothed and blunted) glass goblets. One is clear, the other is smokey. The glasses are being made by a friend right now.

Finally, one of the guys smokes. I have a cigarette case exactly like the one he uses. The plan is to switch out his case for mine. Inside will be several hand-rolled cigarettes, each with a few things written on them.

Any of this getting too stupid, or is it still good to roll with?

I like your style OP

>>14310578
>Normalfag that can't handle someone channeling a condition for the sake of awesome

>>14310643
Sounds great, OP. I can only dream of a game like this.

>>14310578
I appreciate your concern, but this is part of how I deal with my issues. I write down my nightmares as a method of exorcising them. I create situations where I control the terror and fear that others feel so that I can regain a sense of power that's stolen from me.

This would be different if any of my players suffered from the same thing I do. I would never, ever run this for someone like that. This is the kind of game where, if I do it right, I might manage to scare my players fairly well.

It's like confronting your fears, in a way. I've gone through a lot of different methods for dealing with this insomnia, and the best method has always been writing out the nightmares that plague me. Yes, it started LONG before I was a gamer, and periods where I have stuff like this to vent emotionally is great.

I know where the lines between reality and fantasy lie, and I know when you need to cut off something like this.

>>14310674
Disregard the tripfaggotry, left it on from another thread.

>>14310643

You need to set up a camera in some corner of the room and film this shit. Vids or it didn't happen...and I really, really want this to happen.

I wish the people who ran games in my group were willing to do this crazy shit for immersion.

I applaud your efforts for immersion and wholeheartedly encourage you to play around with it as much as possible.

>>14310693
Context will not help with the choice of name, meethinks...

Also, love your idea, OP. Go for it.

>>14310707
I will attempt to do so, barring the wishes of my players for privacy.

At the very least, this game will be given a full retelling, based on both the pre-game preparations and the game itself. Pictures of the various props and the setting will be taken, and any extra things used during the game will be made available.

Guys, if I can derail this momentarily into a Random Encounters thread, I just had a great idea. Me and a friend go down town, dressed a bit differently than normal. Maybe longer coats or something. I'm carrying an old book filled with arcane symbols and illegible writing and whatnot. My friend is positioned further down the street, and neither of us act like we know the other. I would chill in a coffee shop or cafe for a while, skimming through the "tome". I walk out when the street is moderately crowded, and my friend spots me. He calls out, ordering me to stop or something, whilst also reaching for his phone like he's trying to alert someone. He would be on one side of the road and I on the other. As he approaches, I frantically flip through the book, find what I'm looking for, and then raise my arm and shout out some fake words of power at him, sending him flying onto his back while I make my escape. Maybe I use a flash paper launcher for effect or something.

Figured I would also adopt a trip, so that I might storytime this better next week, as well. Watch for this in a week, I suppose.

Two of my players are cool with a taping, and the other two don't want it because they don't want their identities out on the internet. My apologies to those who wanted footage of this event.

Suggestions for ambient backgrounds are suggested; much as I love my susurrus loop, I'd like to have a few other background noises for people, and it's a large amount of work to record a large amount of my own voice speaking.

I'm debating using some ambient noise, as I know a guy with good connections to that particular scene of music. Should that eventually be decided, a .zip of all the important files and documents used for this game will be made available for other to use should they want to attempt the same.

>>14311079
You are an amazing person.

>>14311079
>and the other two don't want it because they don't want their identities out on the internet.
If that's really their only concern, then just agree to keep those two players anonymous. Blur their faces in the footage, distort their voices and don't give out their names. Problem solved.

>>14311192
This, depending on if that's acceptable to them. Don't push it too much, though; I'd hate for something to disrupt this masterpiece.

>>14311079
Would I-Doser be an option?

>>14311192
I'm not an AV wizard and have no clue how to do that sort of editing. Additionally, the game is planned to take roughly 3-4 hours, and I don't think a still camera angle for that long would be particularly interesting. Finally, I do not have access to a video camera, thus making this process considerably more difficult.

As wonderful as taping this would be, there are several obstacles to doing it in a way that would be interesting for the players. I will, however, provide extensive documentation, a photographs of the event as it is set up along with the various props being used, and all available resources for those who wish to perform the same type of game.

>>14311257
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/12130366/ - Proof that camera footage is not needed if you describe the session well enough.

>>14311481
http://owlmandius.livejournal.com/1242.html

I hate linking to a blog that I don't update regularly, but here's an example of my writing, and one of the recurring nightmares I have.

Hopefully, this will assuage people that my writing skills are up to par for describing this session.

I'd simply post the story, but it takes a while to get all the text in the limited fields here, and so a link is slightly more convenient.

>>14311542
I don't come on /tg/ too often, maybe once every couple of days, but I'd really like to see how this turns out. Would you mind posting links to threads/archives on your blog as they happen?
I've archived this thread at
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/14309619/

>>14311667
That will be no trouble. Thank you for archiving this; I'll utilize the feedback provided by people.

Now, amusingly enough, I'm going to go get some sleep. Thank goodness for sleep medication.