Help with Horror

Okay. So basically, I want to add a little horror session into my non-horror campaign. My players are all big horror lovers and I want to make sure they can really feel uneasy and tense. Issue? I'm basically a first time DM and not sure what to do to unsettle my players. I've been looking into some tips for horror campaigns, but I'm not sure how to transition from the false-security bit into the real tension of it.

Basically, what I have so far is that in the middle of their boss fight (I have a rogue, paladin, and fighter at lv 3 btw) the boss' magic goes awry and they suddenly wake up on a day several weeks ago, before the campaign started. Just a normal day. All of the leads they were following are cut and all the NPCs they knew have normal, happy lives. It's as if they're insane for remembering anything else. They're gonna end up meeting up at some point, and the boss (Vince Sterling, they/them) shows up to, explaining that they don't know what he did and that they need to work together to get out of here. Vince Sterling is trustworthy and the only person other than the main fun gang that remembers anything differently. I have a premade description for if the paladin tries to use Divine Sense, which I'll include in the lil spoiler thing below. Please, any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

First thing to consider about running horror is that the most important element, by far, is atmosphere; that still applies with this less conventional horror scenario.  Based on your description of the scenario: you'll want to have this "happy vision that's actually rotten underneath" to at first seem perfectly idyllic; but also include subtle hints that things are "wrong".  Some good sources for examples of this done well: "Perchance to Dream" - Episode of Batman The Animated Series, "Turn Left" & "Forest of the Dead" Two episodes of Doctor Who that depict a "subtly wrong" world, "Hot Fuzz" is another good example from film, as is "The other world" from Coreline, the "Tranquillity Lane" quest from Fallout 3, post-death sequence in Fable II, and overall vibe of the town in We Happy Few also are good examples.  It's a tricky balance to strike: but you want to achieve "normal/idyllic with subtle undercurrent of "wrongness"."  Psychological horror is an inherently "slow burn" sort of affair; and tension is always better than shock or action.

The addition of a paladin is an interesting twist to things: since the paladin will be at an information "advantage" compared to the rogue and fighter.  Functionally: the paladin will be the ONLY one of the trio to "Know" that something is amiss at first.  You should probably lean into that; have the opportunity for the other two to "notice" something amiss; but it should be hidden behind skill-checks and observations to them; where-as the Paladin has the definitive answer.  Lean into the mystery; at first it should be reasonable for the other two to guess that they have simply time-traveled; but they can put the peices together if they care to dig further.  By that same token though; horror is very dependant upon the players' buy-in; you won't be able to scare or unnerve/unsettle them if they're cracking jokes and aren't present in the scene so to speak; so if your group is of the "wacky" persuasion you may have to crack down on that a bit.  Being "uncertain" is part of achieving the horror/unease feeling; and since your Paladin CAN be fairly certain if they have their ehad in the game; the other two will have to be the uncertain ones; you want them to question if the Paladin is just being paranoid and their cursory observations are to be trusted instead.

If you play on VTTs; audio can be a VERY powerful tool for building atmosphere; depending upon what you use for that, you can even layer or cross-fade tracks as your players dig deeper and unravel what is going on.  There's a whole science to why certain tones make us feel "at ease" or "on edge".

That's really helpful, thank you! I just got a couple questions. Should I split up the party at any point? I also kind of want to give everyone the responses to the checks seperately, so the other players only know the reaction of the person who did said check. Would that be a smart approach or could that end up being difficult?

That's really helpful, thank you! I just got a couple questions. Should I split up the party at any point? I also kind of want to give everyone the responses to the checks seperately, so the other players only know the reaction of the person who did said check. Would that be a smart approach or could that end up being difficult?

Quote from CaptainJinxed >>

That's really helpful, thank you! I just got a couple questions. Should I split up the party at any point? I also kind of want to give everyone the responses to the checks seperately, so the other players only know the reaction of the person who did said check. Would that be a smart approach or could that end up being difficult?

 I would say yes; both of those are good ideas if you think you have the skill to pull them off without disrupting the flow of play too significantly.  Giving the players different amounts of information and relying on them to share it means that they will have to be active participants in solving the mystery instead of you just giving the party the answer.  Most VTTs have a "whisper" mechanism for that sort of thing; if you're playing in person; pre-writing notes to hand out is a good substitute, or just having a second voice channel if you're using a voice-over-internet program like Discord.

Starting them off in different locatiosn will also help sell the illusion so to speak: IE: start them in the location their character would reasonably be at that point in time they believe they are waking up in.  Leave it up to the players to find one another; this can help sell the difference between them and the NPCs; that they remember something everyone else doesn't.  You want to make them feel isolated and vulnerable in a scenario that "should" feel normal so to speak.  Of course; this can be a bit challenging depending upon how you handle maps and visuals but it can be done.

I have to fundamentally disagree with the "never split the party" rhetoric.  That's meta-advice for players; not an absolute rule for DMs.  The idea that because the spotlight isn't equally shared by everyone at all times is somehow ane xcuse for players to "wander off to the fridge" is a mark of disengaged players, not necessarily bad DM work.  Players that are engaged with the story and scenario SHOULD care about the state of their companions.  Some great moments in my games have arisen from one half of a split party desperately trying to reach and assist the other half.  Combat is one thing; then you have a disconnect between one set of players and another; but ina  story-heavy scenario; mingling at a party, infiltrating a hideout, shopping in town etc.; it's incredibly inorganic and immersion breaking to have a arbitrarily chain all your party together.  The party should WANT to stay together out of comradery and mutual assistance; not be forced to by DM mandate.  And when it IS required they split up, which will happen for reasons of party specialisation; the Paladin in plate mail is not going to be helping the Rogue sneak into a gate-house to open the door for them; then that's fine.  It's especially important for this scenario: to achieve a horror atmosphere, players need to FEEL (not necessarily "be" but that helps) vulnerable; and it's hard to feel vulnerable if you have several heavily armed guys ready to dog-pile anything that leaps out at you; part of why combat in survival horror games is actually aided by being "awkward" or "clunky"; it aids in the feeling of vulnerability; that your character isn't ready for anything.  Anyone who has played games like Lethal Company can tell you nthe moment one of the group gets inadvertantly seperated is when the tension ramps up.

Yes; it is true that part of a DM's job is to "herd the cats" as you said; but it is also part of the players' job to be mentally present.  Just because it isn't presently "their turn" isn't an invitation to be AFK or to start browsing Reddit.  That's the case in "Roleplay/Story time" and "Exploration/Investigation time" just as much as it is in "Combat time".

Thank you SO SO MUCH! This is incredibly helpful! I'm in y'all's debt!

Quote from SunIsGettingRealLow96589 >>

The key to horror, best as i can tell, is the unknown.  

 This. The most intense situations in my campaign have been cases where no ones life has been in immediate danger, but the players haven't known what to expect.

Two special examples: First, they were ambushed and magically knocked out and teleported (pure narrative). When they woke up, they were all in individual cells somewhere with all their equipment missing. They had to escape the cells and find each other. No one was in any great danger, but they were alone and had to find each other on their own.

The other example is that I homebrewed a monster from the Shadowfell, who possesses other creature. One such creature possessed a player and ran into a shadow crossing. I'm not sure whether it's canon or not, but in my game, the shadow crossings close immediately when introduced to any sort of light. So, naturally one of my players grabbed a torch and chased the possessed character into the Shadowfell... except the crossing closed immediately when the torch light hit it trapping the one character into Shadowfell. Inside Shadowfell the trapped character just had to solve one puzzle to get out, but the frozen looks of shear terror when I just took the door prop away from the table saying the crossing closed were worth every penny.

Horror doesn't come from extreme action. A combat against an army of dragons might be intense, but in terms of horror it's nothing compared to a single "what the f*** is going on?" moment.

Quote from Scruvy >>

Horror doesn't come from extreme action. A combat against an army of dragons might be intense, but in terms of horror it's nothing compared to a single "what the f*** is going on?" moment.

 Seconded entirely; part of why at the start of all this I pointed out that atmosphere is king over action or even "real threat".  As the old adage goes: what someone imagines will always be scarier to them than whatever it is you can actually put before them; the "Alien is scarier when you don't see the alien" bit; because then every dark shadow is a potential alien.  Once again; tone and atmosphere are king: an undead horde in Army of Darkness or Van Helsing is a promise of action to be had, the same undead horde in 28 Days Later is harrowing and terrifying, and in World War Z (the book anyway); is more akin to a force of nature.  Same basic "thing" as a "stat block" if one wants to think of it that way; but achieving vastly different impacts based largely upon framing.

I have been brewing some horror aspects for a oneshot which I hope will genuinely concern my players.

The Unknown is a massive thing. If you use any monsters who are commonly known (EG a Troll) then the party will think they know the answer. When the Troll responds to fire by bubbling up and sprouting a new arm, wreathed in flames, the party will panic.

Examples ideas for my horror brews:

A creature which lurks at the edge of darkness. You can never see it, but it reduces light and darkvision every turn, letting it draw closer. When it kills someone, they instead become stable, gain 2 short-term madnesses, and the thing disappears. Leave it up to them to theorise and worry over why.

Foreshadowed dread. They go past a room full of darkness, then someone does something which unlocks all the doors, and the next time they pass, the room is dimly lit - the darkness has gone.

Unknown to Known to Unknown. Take something they don't know and make it scary. Then they work out what it is, and feel safer. Then they work out that they don't actually know, and it becomes scary again. Setting expectations, subverting them, re-establishing them and then sweeping the rug again. Example:

• Players find trolls, think "that's ok, we'll use fire.
• Fire doesn't work. Players panic, as they can't work out how to kill it.
• Players establish Poison kills them. Proceeds to kill them all with poison.
• Players find some documents about the trolls they killed which says "unless burnt after death, they mutate". Something outside moves.

If you have the time, play the long game. My campaign centres around fighting giants who can make zombies with blue flames where their eyes are. The party left them behind to quest in a new land, and for a while, they got caught up in a side quest to find a murderer. When they did, they fought them (a tough fight), and they found blood on the floor and a smashed window. Then they saw the skinned corpse of a drake (which they had killed and skinned last session) with glowing blue eyes approaching down the corridor, dripping congealed blood. Their faces as they realised that whatever was causing this had caught up with them was a peach.

It also helped that they thought that the murderer was undead, so communed with nature to ask if there was undead near, and nature said yes, back the way you came from, about 2 miles away. They didn't twig until the zombie-drake emerged what that meant.

woahhhhh that's epic, man. thank you so much!