>>30713493

Well, what's happened so far? Give us the rundown.

>>30713534
I guess I was gonna give the full after-session report later but I'll give it now, I suppose.

Fuck I can't find what I typed...

Okay give me a second (throwing on a name for tracking purposes)

God, you don't have to kill people to let them have a good time.

Sorry, back to the thread. Whats up OP?

>>30713586
>Session one consisted of them getting to the wall with gregorian chanting softly playing as abient music
>They explored the wall.. it's rather benign 350 feet wide and 70 feet tall between two black mountain ranges
>They meet two NPCs who accompany them, one is a creepy guy named cotter. The other is a rather normal middle aged man named Albett
>The PCs consist of a rather crazy herbalist with a strange imaginary friend (consist of his subconscious), a firegod-worshipping priest, a stone mason, and a forrester/hunter.
>This is low fantasy (set in a made up realm). The realm is full of legends and myths, but it's dark-ages level lore and there's no evidence that magic really exists.
>The first session consisted of a slow build of tension.

Planning to kill player characters in an open ended campaign is indeed an asshole move.

Planning to kill player characters at the end of a short, highly controlled and plot driven adventure can be epic and satisfying.

>>30713615
>While the tension built, strange things started happening.
>Handles seemed to switch side. Torches went out. They heard noises. Things shifted and moved without them seeing the movement.
>Cotter was a very old, skinny, toothless mute (his tongue had been cut out from an early age). He spooked the group by keeping to himself and staying away.
>One man went to get ale for the group to give a "goodbye toast" to life in the town and when he went to the storeroom voices (I used a LOT of audio) overwhelmed his senses.
>In addition to the whispers, the smell of burning hair also occurred whenever something very spooky happened. It was very pavlovian.
>Sufficiently spooked, they toast and notice that despite there being six of them, seven shadows were cast on the stone.
>They turn around and I blow out the candles (the only illumination around the table). The torches are extinguished by a gust of wind.
>The players are now sufficiently spooked. They get up and take smoke breaks to help relieve the tensions.
>The noise consists of the crackle of torches, the howl of wind, and crickets.
>The crickets stop chirping and the forest the wall overlooks is silent.
>They see a light in the woods.
>It might be a campfire.
>They watch the light carefully and, without explanation, it seems to get closer and closer but they can't see it move. It's just as though when they watch it, it was 50 feet closer than it was before and they don't know why.

>>30713656
thinking about it I should add: Don't kill them right away, just put them in a situation where survival is highly unlikely and see how they handle it. If your players understand what kind of game you're running, knowing the characters will be gone after the end of that final session anyway, they might just decide actions that benefit the story as a whole - even if it means dying.

>>30713703
>Eventually the smell of burning hair returns and shadowy figure appears on the edge of the forest.
>Joined by two, three, until six are standing in the darkness just outside the light of the torches.
>The group is reacting with, more or less, panic. Preparing to fight.
>They step into the moonlight, but just outside of arrows.
>Begin describing what the shadowy figures are wearing.
>Eventually they figure out all six are wearing the same clothing that they are
>They take off their helmets and a flaming arrow shot close to them reveals that the figures are in states of decay, flesh dangling from their skull.
>they let out a hollow scream and then return to the forest inexplicably.
>The crickets start back up.
>Watch as they undergo actions. Some of the characters are trying to make talismans. The herbalist is trying to make holy potions. The priest is making a makeshift altar to his god.
>My favorite is the stonemason's response. He goes into the north tower and coats the inside with flammable pitch.
>The north tower holds the only stairway leading to the ground floor. Beneath the stairway and wooden platform that serves as the exit is a deep water-filled cave which serves as their natural well.
>There is no opening to the forest. The wall is clearly intended to be a border wall.
>The mason coats the walls with this flammable material expecting to protect himself from whatever "might come"
>They sleep and then wake up to an overcast sky.
>The birds are singing.

>>30713615
>>30713703
>>30713781
Sounds pretty damn spooky

>>30713781
>a fog is building in the forest and the ranger, who is carefully watching over the wall smells burning hair.
>The hair on his neck stands up
>(I play the monolith on the moon track from 2001 a space oddesy)
>The whispers slowly return as well as the sound of their hearts in their ears, pounding (also play that on loop)
>The fog begins to billow and roll up the wall
>Eventually their vision is overwhelmed by the milky opacity of the air. They can't see the walls next to them. Eventually they can't see their hand in front of their face.
>A scramble and Albett starts screaming. He clatters to the ground begging for help.
>He's dragged past some of the PCs reaching out for help. Most let him get dragged away and make no effort to help him. The ranger tries, but he slips from his grip
>they hear his screams go up as though he were lifted up the tower until they stop, he takes a sharp inhale, begins hyperventilating, and then silence.
>The fog clears
>The whispers stop
>That's when the group notices that the doorways that connect the various portions of the wall (a middle, north, and southern wall segment divided by towers as well as a living quarter beneath the middle segment) are all missing.
>The doors are replaced by stone walls. Each character is trapped in a different section of the tower (the mason is actually trapped in the now-pitch-black norther tower).

Session one ends.
Anyone interested in the second session?

>>30713862

AHA! IT'S YOU! I remember you posting session 1, where it turned into a skinwalker thread. Would love to hear how the other sessions went.

>>30713862
Yes

>>30713899
>>30713912
Alright, I'm posting this off the cuff, sorry it's taken so long.

>>30713732
That's a good point.

>>30713656
Definitely the latter and the players are aware. Not aware that they'll die. i'm not sure to kill them either.

>>30713862
/tg/ demands more!

I say you should let the mood decide. Have both paths ready and then just pick the one that will fit the mood of the room.

>>30713966
Not a bad idea.

>>30713955
continuing
>session two begins with them on their various sections of the wall.
>The priest is sharing the north section with Cotter, a character that scares the living shit out of him
>The herbalist is on the south wall, with Theodore, his imaginary friend nowhere in sight.
>The forrester is on the middle portion of the wall
>The mason is still in the pitch-black interior of the north tower. He coated the walls and now could either fall past the stairway into the cave below or light himself on fire.
>The mason (Thadeous) feels around for the stairway. At first he tries to chip away at the wall and succeeds, but the stone he pushes away is replaced by another one, inexplicably.
>He begins descending the stairs and hears whispers from above.
>The whispering grows in intensity and he smells burning hair.
>He scrambles down the stairway to the wooden surface that would normally lead to the ground-level entryway (now just wall).
>He lights a rag on fire and throws it up
>The entire inner tower ignites, lighting the stairs on fire.
>The voices are oppressive now, loudly hissing in the fire above.
>It becomes apparent that the fire will soon consume his footing.
>He climbs down the long rope before it lights and snaps. He drops into knee deep water, suffering nothing more than a bruise.

>>30713995
>The herbalist hears Theodore, his imaginary friend weeping from the forest.
>A shadowy figure leaves the forest, walking, stooped over before bending backwards and planting his hands on the ground.
>It begins walking up the wall.
>He panics and draws his blood to make a protection sign. I improvise and tell him it hisses and evaporates. He interprets this as a bad thing.
>Finally the strangely-bent man reaches the ascent and is revealed to be Theodore with a hollow look on his face.
>Everything the PC says, Theodore does echolalia (it’s an actual symptom of schizophrenia). So the PC (Thomas) would say something like, “Are you okay?” And Theodore would say, “Away. Decay. Flay. To the grave.” Etc. This goes on for a while
>Finally Thomas sees that the cliff face has a handle in it.
>Theodore, whenever he speaks, two voices come out of his mouth, implores him not to open it saying something along the lines of, “Don’t do that, we’ll never be alone. Don’t go there.”
>Thomas, not recognizing Theodore as the friend he knew, goes ahead.
>Theodore rushes the door and lets out a scream much like a red fox call. The door shuts.
>Richard, the priest of the fire god, passes me a note saying he intends to kill Cotter.
>Cotter’s behavior changes. Normally he would muble to himself, holding his arms close, rocking rhythmically back and forth. Now he stopped, stares at the PC with milky cataracts and lets his mouth drop open.

>>30714047
>Richard tries to convince him to turn around. Cotter doesn’t seem to be responding to any of his stimuli.
>Cotter slowly shuffles forward and Richard starts vomiting uncontrollably. It’s grainy and black and seems to move like thick oatmeal.
>He stops long enough to open his tear-filled eyes and see Cotter standing directly in front of him.
>The tongue-less mute, who had been unable to make a word before this time says, “Your God has abandoned you”
>The vomit erupts from the ground. It’s apparent that the black grainy ichor were actually live flies. When the swarm of flies clears Cotter is nowhere to be found.
>The mason is continuing down the darkened cave. The walls are only sparsely lit by the torch he carries.
>The cave narrows. The water is only about waist deep. Finally the only way through is a small space, maybe the size of half of a standard doorway.
>From beyond the narrow tunnel of stone he can see the flicker of a fire.
>He decides to crawl through and notices an open portion of the cave with a small island in the middle. The island is illuminated by two torches
>He inspects the island to find a constructed stone altar with a slain goat. It’s hard to tell how long ago the goat was killed, but the blood is still wet inside of the goat and in thick black clots.
>The torches begin to dim and he starts to hear the whispers grow.
>The scent of burning hair returns

>>30714085
>He is able to spot, beneath the entrails, a blood-soaked parchment
>As the last of his torchlight flickers out he sees that the parchment has the name of the PCs written on it like a list.
>The light goes out and the whispers end. He only hears the slosh of water as the cool, still cave water creeps slowly up his body. The water fills the cave but makes no noise. His only sensation is the feeling that the water is getting higher and higher.
>He takes a deep breath and jumps under water.
>A hand reaches out and grasps him, then another, and another. He’s dragged into a now deep pool of water. He feels the sensation of drowning described to him in careful detail.
>The forrester maintains his post on the wall. He explores his immediate surroundings and ravens begin to appear in dense flocks. He shoots arrows at them, killing a few before noticing the door leading to the south tower (the way to the dormitory and storeroom) is back again.
>Unwilling to see what the ravens might do, he goes into the dorm
>Everything is normal until he hears a noise from the storeroom
>He spends a few minutes making sure his surroundings are unchanged (they are) before inspecting it.
>The storeroom is filled with rats.

>>30714137
>The rats ignore him, feasting on the food instead.
>He’s reminded just how hungry he is.
>The rats seem to eat until they literally burst open wide, grain spilling among their entrails
>He tries to kill the rats, and kills many.
>He throws a fire arrow into the store-room. Despite me warning him that the fine grain would be as flammable as gunpowder, he ignites it. The provisions explode and burn wildly knocking him out.
>The rats are all dead, at least.
>When he wakes up, he’s on the wall. A raven has picked a small hole into his cheek but is easily scared away.
>Getting his bearings, he looks to his left and sees the mason, Thadeous, laying beside him. Soaking wet. And breathing.
>Thomas explores the hallway and finds a room with a similarly built wooden altar. On the alter are a number of roots and berries, coins, trinkets, and a bowl.
>Inside of the bowl are pieces of parchment. Written on them include phrases like, “For an easy winter” “To spare the life of my sick mother”, “For the sake of my unborn child, my wife has lost two before” “For a good harvest”.
>He recognizes these as the written wishes of a party or unknown parties.
>The room starts to get creepy and the PC playing Thomas is actually very easy to scare. He immediately runs back from where he came and finds his way to the wall easily. The door he left disappears as soon as it slides shut.

>>30714180
>The doorways are all back.
>The party reunites in the center of the wall.
>They share stories and hypothesize about why they are dead.
>They are convinced Cotter is a demon and Albett isn’t dead. They think that they were set up.
>They come to the conclusion that they must be some sort of offering to an evil demon or god.
>They notice that the forest is now on the other side.
>It gets darker out.
>They all hear whispers
>They smell burning hair
>A fog grows in the forest like before
>2001 moon monolith music starts up
>The party decides that they will all die together, fuck the fates.
>They link arms and pray to their respective Gods.
>A time passes and the fog lifts with no other incident
>That’s when they see Cotter’s body broken in front of them. His entrails are exposed, his stomach ripped open.
>The gaping hole in his chest fills with lung as he takes deep, exaggerated agonal breaths.
>He appears awake, his mouth gasping for air, gurgling.
>He stares at the PCs with fear in his eyes.
>Richard slits his throat, mercifully
>They start to notice some unusual signs. There’s blood under their fingernails. Gristle in their teeth.
>Blood on their palms.
>They realize that they aren’t hungry any more.

The session ends.

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Sorry about the lack of detail. Normally I'd add more and include more PC responses but I wanted to get the whole story out there to ask you guys for advice on how to proceed.

What would be maximum spooky?

>>30714294
Do you have it planned out what exactly is going on? Or are you just kinda winging it?

>>30714294
I don't really know how to make that spookier. You sound like you'be got it pretty well handled, I've got goosebumps reading that. Nice use of atmosphere also. Are you sure that they have to die, maybe instead of death they just end up as those versions of themselves they saw in the woods?

>>30714348
Kinda winging it. Some of the scary bits I pre-write.

As for overall arc? Nope. Thinking the final demon will be some sort of skinwalker.

>>30714356
> Nice use of atmosphere also.
Thanks. Normally I'd post the music and ambient stuff that I use. It's pretty effective.

>Are you sure that they have to die, maybe instead of death they just end up as those versions of themselves they saw in the woods?

Huh, interesting thought. I could run pure improve and let the PCs do their thing.

A few end scenarios I had in mind (anyone feel free to chime in)

1. The demon shows up as Albett-skinwalker and attacks them. Kills them horribly.

2. They never see what kills them. Something terrible happens leading to their deaths.

3. I give them the option to survive by giving them clues that they make a sacrifice of all except one. The cart rolls up and returns the remaining PC to the village, unharmed and shattered by the event.

4.They find an innocent family in the woods. They are given clues that if they sacrifice the family, they might buy their survival.

If OP wrote a book I'd read it.

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>>30714294

Maximum spooky, huh? Idk, you've got it up there, man.

Albett should make a return, and maybe Cotter should, too. Albett could reappear with bite marks on him, screaming "IT WASN'T RIGHT! IT WASN'T RIGHT!!!" before pitching himself over the wall and into the flock of decaying copies who devour him. Cotter could appear in the same way, too. Time doesn't seem to matter here, nor death or disappearance.

They could have to fight off hordes of their own decayed selves, who are statistically paper, but there are so many that it could lead to confusion as to who is who.

Blood. More blood. The bricks begin to bleed, and the rusty metallic scent pervades the air. Crows and vultures circle overhead, and scraping metal-on-metal sounds can be heard from below. Manic laughter might be heard inside the towers, or the rooms. It's the PCs' laughter, but they don't realize it until the end.

There should be worms too, and maggots. Albett could reappear, his eyes covered with gauze. When they are uncovered, streams of maggots writhe where his eyes were, falling out as he ambles about, worms falling form his mouth like vomit.

>>30714568
This is goddamn golden. Thank you! I will likely use all of these in some way or another.

>>30714480
Haha! Thanks!

>>30714294
>Go out into forest
>Get lost
>Flesh starts to rot
>Stumble across fort
>see six people on the wall
>Flip table
>Out the door
>On the floor
>Dinosaur

>>30714434
What about just complete insanity? At this point they are close to, if not already, broken. The characters going insane wouldn't be too far fetched. Perhaps you could drop clues to each person that something is wrong. For each person, a part of the scenery is different. For each person, the other party members act strange, and so the PC's think that they aren't together, but all separate and just stuck with things that look like the other PC's. If any of them try to kill the "fakes" they are with, at the end have it be revealed that they WERE together, and they had just gone insane to the point they couldn't sort reality from fear, and so they end up killing each other. Insanity can lead to some crazy shit.

>>30714643
>For each person, a separate part of the scenery is different.
FTFY

>>30714568
Forgot to mention. Scaring people is pretty awesome. The PCs are enjoying being scared and enjoy the game (they keep telling me) a couple of them actually were shaking after the session.

Saying things like, "I was thinking about this game all week." before starting session two?

Shit like that makes me GM, guys. I love when players get to experience an interesting story and have fun with the theme.

>>30714626
Fuck me. This is happening.

>>30714643
As far as they know they might be insane. I've definitely been working the "your sense of reality is constantly failing" theme the entire two sessions.

I do like this outcome.

>>30714696
Tell us how it goes!

>>30714696
Are you using a system for this? I'm curious.

>>30714759
of course. I love the ideas you gave me. I definitely don't take credit for the whole game. It's really good to get these ideas from fellow creative minds

>>30714812
I actually stole that loop idea from an old story in the archives.
It involves a party on a wall, as well...

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>>30714869
Yup, me too. From the suptg wall thread.

>>30714812
They leave the wall together, as the REAL party. They walk a ways until they come upon another wall. They walk out of the tree line, see six people on the wall. One of the people on the wall shoots a fire arrow (that's what happened, right?), and gives the REAL party enough light to see themselves. They see they are decayed and what not. So what do they do? They scream (the hollow scream) and run back into the woods. In the panic they separate from each other, and once they find they're way back to each other, it's the whole "fake" party deal, that leads into them killing each other, or themselves, from insanity. Just an idea.

>>30714626
Combine this with #4 from >>30714434

>>30714618

Want a little more?

The stockroom has Albett's and Cotter's corpses, stacked high. Bite marks and chunks of flesh have been torn off, seemingly by human teeth. The corpses begin to shift, not alive, but definitely not dead, just... unsettled.

The sound of a child, singing some old nursery rhyme, can be heard. The voice travels throughout the wall, moving from location to location, like there was a child actually skipping around singing macabre, out of place songs. When anyone tries to address the voice directly, it screams "MOMMY!!!" and they are flung backwards by a powerful blast of air.

Skinwalker-creature BBEG appears. His hand-claws drip with blood and bits of tattered flesh, his arms long and toned. Everything about him bears a distinct wrongness, form his dark-black blood eyes to his wider-than-normal fanged smile.

Hands burst from the bleeding masonry, attempting to grab the party by the ankles or clothes. Moans can be heard, and then chanting in a lost tongue. More distinct, whispers of "Murderers", "Rapists", "Cowards".

They get in their little circle and begin to pray again. There is a newcomer in their circle, though...

Requesting cap.

>>30715065
Perhaps better...

Let them leave the wall, return to town, and try to live normal lives.

Absolutely nothing sketchy is up. They just do their jobs. The forrester is out cutting trees, hears a twig snap immediately behind him. Panics and kills(or at least scares the shit out of) his partner. The priest hears angry howling in his room - there's just a crack in the wall, it's just the wind; but does he know that? The mason goes home, and the wooden floorboards creak throughout the night. They did before, but does he remember that now?

A normal life, or even adventuring, would be hellishly difficult for them(the PCs and probably your players) mentally. It's perfect.

This is just my opinion (of course), but while I can appreciate horror games and unavoidable impending doom I really hate it when I play in games where theres nothing I can do. There's no choices, cuz, in the end I just die. I feel like I'm just sitting there watching the DM play with himself and I get all apathetic and bored and just sit there waiting for whatever is going to happen to happen. Which is how I guess I would respond to actual impeding doom in my real life. Thanks for making me realize that!

>>30715206
Oh shi-

>>30715529
So many options, so hard to pick?

>>30715529
The wall loop part, detailed in:
>>30714940
which follows into them running to the village part here:
>>30715206
which results in them murdering one of the townsfolk because he acts funny and shifty, but is really just a minor thief or maybe has an affair somewhere. Or maybe it's someone who looks like Albett that they keep seeing every where, and it drives them insane.

>>30715579
Essentially.

Given that I'm rolling off of character assumptions. They are convinced that they are offered up as sacrifices.

I think the arc might be something like this: a lot of the freaky shit occurs, culminating in the reveal of a skinwalker. He'll use one of the albett/cotter corpses as a puppet to reveal that he demands a sacrifice.

Leading to option 4 where they discover the refugee family. They can offer the family refuge on the tower.

The family will die. The cart will return. They will return to the villiage.

The villiagers will be excited to see them, exclaiming that they "did it", celebrate.
The Lord of the town will invite them up and speak with them. The main priest will joint he discussion and apologize for not revealing. He'll explain that the village chose the purest of heart to defeat the demon.

They reveal that the skinwalker brought terrible disease and death to the land and they created the wall to offer it sacrifices, sparing the villiage. It wasn't until they stopped offering sacrifices that they realized the skinwalker lost its power.

They intended for the PCs to kill the skinwalker, knowing that because of the protective goat and alters, the skinwalker would not be able to harm them. Cotter and Albett were the last who served on the wall, they were condemned criminals with terrible pasts, but they were the first to learn this information.

Then a brief epilogue where the skinwalker appears for each of them.

Thoughts?

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>>30715739
Perfect.

>>30715739
I feel like its too much of a resolve, depending on how the skinwalker presents itself. I wanted a bad end.

>>30715739
I like it.

>>30715785
I mean the skinwalker appearing could almost certainly imply their doom. He's, presumably, appearing at each of their houses and then rushing toward them.

The thing that changes would be I would probably not include gory details of their death.

Now, that being said, there's nothing to prevent them from dying before this planned conclusion.

>>30715739
Maybe instead of the skinwalker appearing for each of them, several skinwalkers begin to show up within the town, but unknown to the towns people. End the game with the sound of deep manic laughter echoing within each player's head.

>>30715739
How about this... Their actions somehow changed the game and they are now going to become the skinwalker's successors.

But how?

>>30715839
Maybe instead of the skinwalker, C
otter or Albett are waiting for them when they get to their homes.

>>30713493
>I'm not sure if I should kill my PCs next week.
Man, I know how you feel.

>>30715898
How's your campaign going?

>>30715936
Poorly, but I am to blame as much as they are. I can't say any more because some of them browse /tg/, but I might drop the story in a thread after it is all over.

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm headed to some friends now, so I'll be gone to post updates. I'll keep this thread open for when I return.

Feel free to offer any input or feedback if you like.

Enjoyed the discussion and I hope you enjoyed the story!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of one of our oldest spooky /tg/ threads.

OP, it sounds like you've got a good thing going here, but please, let me strain that you SHOULDN'T GIVE ANSWERS. Horror works mostly on the unknown, and you've done a great job with that so far. If you do feel compelled to 'explain' what happened, let the players settle and then immediately contradict it all with new developments.

If you go the sacrifice route, be as vague as you can. You want the players to jump to a (terrible, evil) conclusion. Revulsion and panic combine excellently.

>>30716625
By the way, excellent use of the 2001 soundtrack. If I had to give a quick and dirty suggestion, have them do the sacrifice, cut off the spoopy for a bit - maybe they get word by bird or something that the cart is coming, got delayed.

They go about their routine, start making answers. Then some subtle shit starts going wrong. At first mundane, but rapidly worsening. That night, when the fog comes, it comes hard - and all the way up the wall.

>>30716668
Ooh. Things get answers, start making sense... Until they don't. They think a Skinwalker is behind the happenings? They find its corpse hung in a clearing in the forest, dead to the world. Then reality glitches, hard. Might be a hard reset so they're back on the wall. But the glitch might be too hard and caused very jarring, obvious weirdness, such as the shadow of the wall not moving at all, even as the sun moves. Make it seem like they're in a matrix simulation... Only to have them wake up gasping from the nightmare. It was a dream, they're in a modern version of the wall... But then strange things happen...