Ideas for random encounters in a hiking horror adventure

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Wicked Cool Games

Wicked Cool Games

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Looking for ideas or inspiration for my CoC/BRP One-Shot adventure
Setting: 1980s Northern Maine forest
Characters: Hikers, not investigators of the paranormal
Opening Scene: PCs come across a murder scene - does not seem supernatural in nature
Next Step: Tension and trouble will escalate - it's CoC afterall. Regardless of what the characters choose, they will have to spend several days in the creepy forest because they are in wilderness not near any roads

Question: What would be a good random nighttime encounter? - could be normal or supernatural, but must be interesting. I'm making a short list.

Many thanks.
 
Cultists.

The 1975 movie Race with The Devil freaked me the fuck out when I was a kid, especially since we had an RV. Something along the line of Race . . . crossed with The Blair Witch Project, with some Mythos undertones could fit the bill. A little foreshadowing with people in town or at the trailhead who are . . . odd - strangely curious or studiously disinterested - then something like byakhee figures made from bundles of sticks hanging from the trees, disturbing hunters with their "game" wrapped tightly in tarps on pack horses, an empty campsite with . . . something wet . . . wrapped up in an old shirt covered with leaves . . . and then, a campfire, with them in the center . . .

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A full-grown bull moose stands in a moonlit clearing. It sways its head slightly if the hikers approach, but otherwise does not move or make any sound. If the hikers get close enough — definitely closer than one should get to an adult moose — they can see that it is not even breathing. Close inspection reveals that its body is riddled with some sort of fungal infection and partly rooted to the ground. The fungus could be an active threat, or just a passive health hazard, or just a macabre curiosity that poses no danger to humans. Is one of the hikers a mycologist? No? Then there's no way to tell. If touched, the moose collapses into a pile of corruption, fruiting bodies, and spores.
 
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The hikers awake to the sound of something rooting through their campsite. They emerge from their tent(s), shine flashlights, and see a largish raccoon amidst their belongings. Then they realize that it is not bothering the food; it has somebody's copy of Lord Foul's Bane (or the book of your choice) open and has apparently been reading it...
 
The haggard and starving characters stumble into a clearing after weeks on end with frayed nerves and unseen horrors lucking on the edges of their vision.

One of the rich kids (think Eric from the D&D cartoon) pulls out his massive brick cell phone and low and behold he gets a signal. He goes to mash the buttons and a call comes in.

"Hello, we've been trying to reach you about extending your Yugo's warranty. To whom am I speaking?"

Sounds fairly terrifying if you ask me...
 
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Wicked Cool Games said:
Question: What would be a good random nighttime encounter? - could be normal or supernatural, but must be interesting. I'm making a short list.
Click to expand...
By "random," you mean something not necessarily related to the plot, I assume. Or at least tangential.

Just hearing sounds in the dark around them can be a less-is-more sort of thing. Hearing rustling in the bushes. Then hearing quiet laughter coming from certain points beyond illumination. Then maybe a little weeping. Or frightened panting. Etc.

That works even better if the night before, they heard some rustling in the darkness, and it turned out to be just a raccoon.
 
Michael Gentry said:
A full-grown bull moose stands in a moonlit clearing. It sways its head slightly if the hikers approach, but otherwise does not move or make any sound. If the hikers get close enough — definitely closer than one should get to an adult moose — they can see that it is not even breathing. Close inspection reveals that its body is riddled with some sort of fungal infection and partly rooted to the ground. The fungus could be an active threat, or just a passive health hazard, or just a macabre curiosity that poses no danger to humans. Is one of the hikers a mycologist? No? Then there's no way to tell. If touched, the moose collapses into a pile of corruption, fruiting bodies, and spores.
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I really like this idea. It gave me inspiration for another idea that fits the story. Thanks!
 
White Mountain Rescue is wrapping up its last campaign playtest. The first playtest is recorded here.

It's set in the White Mountains which are in New Hampshire and Maine. I've been living in Maine for 16 years and work with local game wardens (there is a warden playbook based on my friend who was in North Woods Law).

It is more about a search and rescue team who keep finding weirder and weirder happenings out in the forest.
 
Each of the characters has a dream that one of the other characters is plotting against them.

Also, if you haven't already, watch the first sequence of The Empty Man (I enjoyed the whole thing, but the opening 20 minutes is right in your ball park).

 
-objects/lights that blinker and move
-noisees, screams, etc
-bear?
-people frantically telling them to get away
 
Picaroon Jack said:
Thanks for remembering me and my project!!
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Oh, I've been tracking your project. I don't know that I would ever run the game, but the idea is just so cool for this New Englander (as in I was born and grew up there, not that I live there now) that I fully intend to purchase your game when it's out. I'll find some way to use it...
 
The hikers spot a group of lights, clearly the flashlights of other hikers, on top of a nearby hill. Maybe the wind carries the faint impression of voices, but nothing can be made out. If they decide to investigate, it takes about 30 minutes to get to the top of the hill. When they arrive, there are no signs that anyone was ever there. However, now lights can be seen at the bottom of the hill, at the exact spot where the hikers were when they first spotted the lights. Moreover, the hikers' watches have all inexplicably gained 30 minutes, as if they have somehow traveled half an hour into the past. The lights begin to move up the hill, towards the hikers, but when they get about 1/3 of the way up they suddenly vanish. The wind carries the faint impression of screams, but nothing can be made out.
 
Wicked Cool Games said:
Looking for ideas or inspiration for my CoC/BRP One-Shot adventure
Setting: 1980s Northern Maine forest
Characters: Hikers, not investigators of the paranormal
Opening Scene: PCs come across a murder scene - does not seem supernatural in nature
Next Step: Tension and trouble will escalate - it's CoC afterall. Regardless of what the characters choose, they will have to spend several days in the creepy forest because they are in wilderness not near any roads

Question: What would be a good random nighttime encounter? - could be normal or supernatural, but must be interesting. I'm making a short list.

Many thanks.
Click to expand...

I am working on a new england horror game and Maine has some interesting lore. Two that leap to mind are the Spectral Moose and Agropelters. Cultists are of course always a good choice in New England. I would also throw in things like bears. I don't live in Maine, but when I am in woods in this area my biggest concern is usually bumping into a black bear. Hunters are also another consideration to add (though that should be seasonal I believe). I used to go to my cousin's cabin in Maine in the 80s and I remember a woman who was wearing a fur coat being shot accidentally by hunters. We used to wear orange vests and speak very loud or sing so hunters would know we were around.
 
Biting insects are a standard part of many real outdoor adventures. Maybe a strange looking fly instead of mosquitos. Make them vary at times from thick to nonexistent. Eventually, they realize that the flies tend to be around dead bodies, especially those who died for Mythos reasons. Then you can use the flies as foreshadowing, making them so thick you can't see far as they close on the final scene.
 
The killer/monster? It's horror so the BBE should be stalking early and often. Jaws, Friday the 13th, Alien. Let the players have it.

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During the day, there is something large moving in the woods. Not smashing its way, but not taking care to be quiet either. It is making an odd whistling trilling noise. If ignored, it parallels the hikers for a while then goes away. If chased, it cannot be caught.
That night there is a short, sharp LOUD whistle right outside their tent.
 
  • Landslide, maybe falling onto the campsite or ripping it away
  • Wandering hunters who happen to run into the camp
  • Falling tree, maybe trapping some hikers
  • Animals running through the campsite, smashing into the tents/hikers, then the hikers realise that they are running away from something
  • Escaped convicts who happen to run into the camp
  • Forest fire
  • Police/rangers looking for escaped convicts
  • "You've got a purdy mouth"
 
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