The effect of Dracula might be the best likened to that of nightmare. One cannot touch a nightmare, weight it, measure it, but no one would deny the reality of the fear it provokes in our mind. Like a bad dream Dracula set off the signal, an alarm, which is at once false and real, a subtle yet disquieting reverberation to which our rational minds are deft, but which is the more sensitive apparatus of our subconscious mind bring in loud and clear.
Fear, Horror and Madness are essential to Ravenloft.
This guide shall help you to have your characters experience all aspects of fear and to roleplay them accordingly.About Players, DMs and FearBefore we start I want to point out three aspects again from the Ravenloft POTM Codes of Conduct for players:
To Accept that Horrific Events will Happen to Them: In a horror campaign, not every ending is a happy one. The PCs will, at times, encounter opponents too powerful and too terrible for them to defeat. They will not always be able to prevent their loved ones from suffering. They won't have as high a survival rate as characters in other campaigns. They should not expect every fight to be winnable and every plotline to end on a positive note.
To Create Horror-Appropriate Characters: Horror works only when the characters have something to lose. A character with a rich background, goals and ambitions, and friends and family is a much better choice for a horror game than the stoic loner with no emotional attachments. If a character fears nothing, then nothing inspires fear, and while that might fit certain heroic archetypes, it doesn't encourage horror roleplaying.
To Avoid Metagame Thinking: A character in a horror game who thinks, “Dear gods, that creature utterly ignored my fireball! It cannot be a normal troll!” is fine. A player who grows irate at the DM for creating a flame-breathing troll is not. Fear is about surprises and the unknown. Trust the DM enough to accept that she has a reason for making changes. Further, don't assume that the DM won't let a character die; this is a horror game, after all. The danger is real, and players should treat it as such.
There are many players who really do a great job about this. But also there are some really refusing to play fear at all. In Ravenloft even paladins sometimes fear. This doesn't mean that they are not brave. But it means that they have some kind of intelligence. If a foe is too strong at a specific moment, what is won if the paladin dies? He could do more, if he would flee at one time, think of a tactic and then come back to defeat the foe.
To clarify some things: DMs don't try to frustrate you players when they spawn a creature, which you can't beat on sight or which has abilities to brake your spells or abilities. If you could succeed in every encounter by just to hack and slash or spell it to dust - where would be the difference to other servers?
Ravenloft is about thinking. Without any tactics or thinking you are going to lose some encounters by 99%. Thinking , exploring, making plans will be the way to succeed.
Ravenloft is subtle but cumulative. If your character always ignores wolf-howling, ghost-moaning etc. Wolfs, ghosts or viler beings may come and haunt him. And if your character doesn't flee, they might hurt or even kill him.
The Ravenloft hero is greater than the one in other worlds / other servers. What makes a hero in Ravenloft is his wit, his intelligence and his sense to survive. This doesn't mean everyone has to play the super intelligent mage. It means your character will survive by his tactics, by his intuitions and by his plans. You can play the most stupid character ever seen, and he will survive, if you play him having some sense of survival. This sense is called:
Fear.
FearWhat is fear?Fear is an emotional response to threats and danger. Fear should be distinguished from anxiety, which typically occurs without any external threat. Additionally, fear is related to the specific behaviors of escape and avoidance, whereas anxiety is the result of threats that are perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable.
Fear is often connected to pain (e.g. some fear heights because if they fall, they may suffer severe injury or even die upon landing). Many theorists, such as Watson and Ekman, have suggested that fear is one of several basic, innate emotions (e.g. joy and anger). Fear is a survival mechanism, and usually occurs in response to a specific negative stimulus.
A character can become frightened when he sees a truly powerful monster, learns of a terrible evil, or finds himself alone in a dangerous place. Fear comes to everyone, adventurer or commoner, at one time or another. If the heroes encounter something that is dangerous but has no great supernatural overtones to it, the Dungeon Master should assume that it merely inspires fear.
Fear is a natural aspect of the human psyche. This valuable safety mechanism often overrides all other factors, leading a character to flee or hide from something that might prove injurious, fatal, or even damning. Like a doctor's prescription, fear can be a life-saving draught when taken in moderation. Sometimes, however, truly terrible events can push a person beyond the bounds of normal fear and into a state of panicked terror. Such an excessive volume of fear, like an overdose of otherwise beneficial medicine, can lead only to ruin and disaster. Fear checks are a game mechanic designed to simulate the often catastrophic effects of fright on adventurers.
When is it appropriate to play fear?In PnP there is a check system for fear, horror and madness. Since on POTM it's all about your roleplay I quote some circumstances under which you normally would have to roll a fear check:
The Hit Dice of the monster total more than twice those of the entire party confronting it.
Translated: A very very tough enemy!
The monster can inflict enough damage in a single round to kill the character with the most hit points.
Translated: You see your enemy killing several NPCs with just one hit. Perhaps it already killed another player.
The monster is immune to all of the party's weapons and spells.
Translated: Your spells works not or weirdly.
The monster is at least two size categories greater than the largest member of the party.
Translated: Even the DM's description is fearsome and when you see it on your monitor you think "Wow! That looks awesome!".
Unexpected Traps
Whenever a character triggers an unexpected trap, it has a chance of breaking the party's nerve. The key word here is "unexpected". If the heroes are watching a thief search for traps, they are not usually too surprised if he sets one off.
Sudden Isolation
When a group of adventurers is suddenly split up or an entire party finds itself cut off from its expected escape route, the nerve of even the bravest adventurer is tested.
Consider the case of a party moving along a narrow tunnel in search of some terrible monster. One by one, the characters move through the darkness keeping a careful watch ahead and behind, when suddenly, the first (or last) person in line falls through a trap door and slides down a long chute. As the victim reaches the pitch black area at its end, a fear check might well be in order. After all, while the character has no reason to believe that he is in any immediate danger, his imagination will almost certainly whip up a few terrible fates that might be looming around him.
Of course, if the character who vanished down the chute was the most powerful member of the party, those left behind might be the ones who feel isolated. In that case, they might well feel overcome with panic while the fallen character is standing up and dusting himself off calmly.
Witnessing something sinister
Ravenloft is a haven for macabre and sinister things. When a hero happens upon something dark and terrible, it may be more than his nerve can bear. In such cases, a fear check is mandated. If while exploring the jungle island that looks to be their new home, the survivors of a shipwreck come upon the remains of a cannibal's feast, they are likely to become frightened. This is especially true if the evidence indicates that the cannibals greatly outnumber the adventurers.
Dark Secrets
Just as the Demiplane of Dread has its share of monsters and beasts, so too is it rich with mysteries and puzzles. From time to time, discovering these secrets can fill any adventurer with fear. A group of heroes caught in a terrible storm might count themselves lucky to find refuge in a monastery. When they stumble across a tome that records the demise of a similar group and reveals that their hosts are vampires, however, it may be time for the Dungeon Master to mandate a few fear checks.
HorrorWhat is horror?
Horror is a somewhat more intense feeling than fear. In order to create horror, the situation must cause a character to reject what his senses tell him. He must be confronted with circumstances that confound logic and common sense. In some cases, it might be terribly gruesome; in others, it could just be something that the hero believes impossible.
Because AD&D is a game in which magic and the supernatural are commonplace, it cannot be assumed that any magical encounter (even a sinister one) would necessarily engender horror. Dungeon Masters who keep in mind the following example, however, should be able to separate fear and horror fairly quickly: If a hero watches as someone he does not know transforms into a werewolf, he should probably experience fear; if he watches his wife do the same thing, it is time for horror.
In most RAVENLOFT games, there comes a time when the heroes are forced to confront something so terrible that they can scarcely believe it to be real. Perhaps they must watch as a loved one undergoes a terrible transformation at the hands of a vile beast, or endure the loathsome kiss of some bloodsucking creature as it feeds upon the nectar in their veins. Whatever the cause, horrified characters will be slow in recovering from the terror in their hearts.
Exactly what causes someone to become horrified varies greatly from person to person. The mere sight of an undead creature will require normal men and women to make a horror check and may well have the same effect on a low-level adventurer. Indeed, a dead body, especially one that clearly died a terrible death, might also overwhelm such characters.
As a rule, horror is a much more emotional state than fear. The latter is a basic survival instinct which, to some degree, every person experiences. Horror, on the other hand, occurs in moments of great anguish, grief, or repugnance. Horror, it can be said, forms the boundary between common fear and the collapse into madness.
Some stereotypical examples for horrifying experiences:
Warriors
A warrior's world is built around arms and battle; magic that defies the rules he has come to live by will certainly rattle him. Macabre and supernatural things which a
wizard might accept without blinking are more than the average warrior is used to dealing with. Witnessing the effects of a medusa's gaze, watching the vile feeding of an illithid, or feeling the chilling touch of an ethereal, invisible creature might horrify even the most stoic of warriors.
Wizards
On the other hand, a wizard does not have the warrior's taste for battle, death, or blood. Sights of carnage and gore generally revolt them. Also, because of their keen intellects, wizards can sometimes sense the true terrors of a situation long before their allies really understand what is happening.
Priests
It is the very strength of the priest that also proves his weakness, however. A priest is always especially sensitive to those things that challenge his religious beliefs or the teachings of his god. Acts of terrible blasphemy can traumatize even the most pious cleric. This is especially true if the horrific scene causes the priest to believe that his god's power is limited or even nullified in a given area.
Rogues
Whatever their chosen profession, however, all rogues depend upon secrecy and stealth. Nothing is more frightening to argue than the sense that he is exposed and vulnerable. A carefully hidden rogue who has watched a nosferatu drain the blood of a young woman might be able to bear the sight with only minor revulsion. Should the dread creature then turn and look directly at him, making it clear that he will be the next victim, the true horror of what he has just seen comes crashingdown upon the hero.
MadnessWhat is madness?
Beyond fear and horror lies the realm of madness. Unlike those lesser states, madness is not a passing phase. A character experiences madness when his mind has been exposed to things beyond his ability to accept or even understand. While a resourceful character can cope with fear and come to terms with horror, he will find madness a most debilitating state.
Luckily, few and far between are those who feel the debilitating touch of madness. The term madness, as used in this text, is not meant to cover all forms of mental illness. Only conditions brought about by trauma, shock, or abuse fall into this category. Further, the descriptions given here are not meant to convey overly factual information about mental conditions. While an effort has been made to accurately reflect the conditions described, great liberties have been taken to promote their inclusion in the game.
Roleplay Tips
How can I play fear?Different ideas you can use for your character:
Fumble - jump back and drop things you hold
Gape - standing paralyzed staring
Scream
Stagger - backing, tripping, falling
Hide
Flee
Faint - collapsing
horror - you can also react in horror to a fear scene (see below)
madness - you can also react with madness to a fear scene (see below)
How can I play horror? Aversion - the scene is just too much, the character whirls, flees and can't go back
Nightmares - the character is haunted by constant nightmares of the scene
Revulsion - compared to Aversion, but the character can't also stand with things similar to the scene
Obsession - the character will speak about the event constantly and repetitively
Rage - blind rage on everything
Mental Shock - the character seems simply shut down for a certain time
Fascilation - every thought is spent on the things seen - the characters character slowly changes into something different - connected to the scene
Madness - the character can also react with madness (see below)
Fear - a horrified character can react with great fear / very intense fear(see above)
How can I play madness?If your character really becomes mad, most likely a DM will tell you so.
Depression
Catatonia
Delusion
Hallucinations
Schizophrenia
Paranoia
Amnesia
Multiple or split personalities
This guide is to help you playing fear, horror, madness - essential elements of every Ravenloft character.
Source: Domains of Dread, Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide 3rd Ed., Wikipedia.org
