Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft Preparing for Horror 5E D&D

Horror Pacing in 5E D&D with Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

June 7, 2021

Dungeons & Dragons/ Game Master Tips/ Player tips/ Previews/ Ravenloft

Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons is probably my favorite setting book to date from Wizards of the Coast. It has so many great resources for 5E D&D players and Dungeon Masters alike. Among my favorites is the section walking the DM through a step-by-step guide to running a horror game.

Running horror games in 5E D&D — part 2

Running Horror Games is a lengthy section of Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. To properly give this robust material it’s due we split the coverage into two posts. In the first post I looked at building atmosphere for running your 5E D&D horror game as well as accessibility to ensure the players are as invested as possible into the atmosphere you worked so hard to build. Today I’m looking at the nuts and bolts of running a horror game. How do you set it up and what makes a horror game as amazing and flavorful as possible?

Pacing is crucial to horror as a medium. One of the most crucial points here is the emphasis on building tension and releasing it. Much like a rubberband you stretch, then let up a bit, stretch a little further and let up again. You don’t want it to snap on your first stretch.

Elements like inter-character dialogue, backstory moments and getting to know characters’ personalities are all excellent tension releases that ground the game and invest the players. This makes it all the more riveting when you pull a twist with an NPC monster or when you kill the NPC with an element of the horror you’ve built.

Cheapening life can be a necessary but difficult thing to accomplish in a horror game of 5E D&D — especially because you don’t necessarily want to kill the player characters often. This is where NPCs dying can be especially powerful. Not only can grappling with NPC loss prove an interesting character exploration but it gives the adventurers a sense of surviving, which invests the players and simultaneously amps up the stakes when their characters are in danger. By releasing the tension at the right moment you can pull off some really intense scenes to horrific effect.

Logistics. Killing the pacing of this post a bit is the point of putting this section here (besides its order of appearance in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft). See how your investment in horror elements felt unceremoniously halted by this abrupt section shift? The same thing happens when you’re playing in a horror game and then break for snacks. The book recommends planning your schedule to accommodate these breaks in strategic ways. I think it makes sense to do food prior to the session, as leaving the session on a cliffhanger — a common trope in horror — can leave players without an appetite. It also ensures hungry bellies don’t distract from the game. For some groups dietary compromises must be made here or you might choose to have food in the middle as a means of breaking up the horror and allowing a stretch to relax a bit. Either way I find incorporating the food itself into the story can be a really interesting and special way to keep these breaks feeling seamless with the horror pace you’ve built. While I can firsthand recommend Heroes’ Feast as a viable option you can also lean into some creepy recipes from a favorite Halloween cookbook, or (my personal choice) The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell on Netflix. Regardless of how you deal with logistics and pacing, a little forethought goes a long way. [NERDITOR’S NOTE: Nerdarchist Ted shares his enjoyment of A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking here on the website too. Perhaps you’ll find more inspiration here.]
Undermine Reality. Undermining reality is one of the key elements of horror defining the genre for me. Many horror movies establish a sense of normal then shift the tone and get the pace rolling when something abnormal or even downright supernatural happens. In a world where magic, monsters and mayhem are staples of the everyday, cultivating a horror theme can prove difficult for many. By codifying the supernatural in standard 5E D&D fare, undermining reality may prove a steep incline. However the mechanics codifying supernatural elements can greatly augment the ability to undermine reality. After all, if magic and monsters adhere to certain rules and laws then it’s especially freaky when something doesn’t obey those strictures. A green hag might be only a CR 3 creature but this becomes disproportionately disturbing when the players can’t deal damage to her until her heptagon of black candles is snuffed. This compounds if her visage and face warp to copy other players or if her hold person manifests as nearby ropy rags animating to constrict and gag the target. Adding flavorful descriptions and weird puzzle mechanics to existing monsters can prove especially effective in this way.
Idle Uneasiness. Drawing out your sensory descriptions and prolonging ominous yet harmless environments is another great way to build tension in your 5E D&D games. If you occasionally draw this tension to its extent then release with nothing dangerous happening you further compound the horror effect. One thing I’d note here is to never tell players how their character feels unless specifically influenced by a spell effect. This is partly because stripping players of their agency — especially in a horror game — feels particularly scummy. Instead of telling players how their characters feel internally instead focus on external descriptions of physical sensations. By letting players draw their own conclusions the horror atmosphere intensifies. One way to guide players’ feelings and conclusions is through word choice. Describing something that flops evokes a silly tone but describing that same thing as writhing or wriggling paints it in a struggling or painful light, core elements of horror. As you focus on how you describe things make a point to draw out sensations besides the traditional eyes and ears. Smells and physical touch sensations can evoke special tensions particularly if drawn out and incongruous with other elements of the surroundings.
Out of Time. When action surges in your horror game focus on short, extreme language and sentences. Give objects and adjectives action to emphasize urgency. Instead of saying, “You feel the ooze digesting you as it absorbs your arm,” try something like, “The ooze creeps further up your arm, its acrid composition sizzling and foaming your numb skin.” The way you describe things can completely transform how your players perceive it. Rushing players in these moments or disallowing out of character speech in these intense scenes can further cement your players into the action and amp up the excitement to 11.
Parallel Scenes. Remember the old Scooby-Doo cartoons where Fred would always suggest, “Let’s split up, gang?” Yeah… Bad idea in D&D. There’s literally a whole song about never splitting the party. However, in horror it sometimes happens, either by agency of the players or by the DM to give a sense of uneasiness. This section of Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft recommends keeping these scenes short and cutting away frequently. While I agree with this I would add to it. Firstly I recommend having a sort of initiative order where each player gets a turn and the turns are grouped so one group in one area each take their turns (including any enemies) then cut to the next group and play out those actions. This prevents long swaths of time before certain people get to interact. If you can tie the events of both groups together in some way this can add interesting elements to the encounter. Perhaps when one group triggers something in their area the other group sees a secret passage reveal or a door open. Exploring these sorts of encounters can stretch a DM’s skills and the players’ creativity.
Reliability and Trust. Avoiding paranoia is difficult in D&D if you’re the sort of DM who frequently has NPCs betray the party or who tricks their players with in-game facades. A key element of horror is establishing reliability and trust in certain NPCs, locations or what have you. Not only is it important for the tension release we discussed earlier but these key people and locations can also be threatened by danger, raising the stakes of danger encounters. An especially useful tactic in this scenario comes from damseling such NPCs and locations. Rather than killing or destroying them outright try having them become captured. Maybe the secret grotto where characters had been long resting is discovered and now they must either siege and refortify or find a new location. Perhaps the players’ favorite reliable shopkeeper is discovered by the villains and kidnapped. The players are forced to choose between a rescue mission or finding a new place to purchase that will be even less likely to help them in secret, given what happened to the last one. Whatever you use be sure to use reliability and trust well in your games.
Just Enough Hope. Horror can be intense but unrelenting horror breeds nihilism and apathy. While running horror games in 5E D&D keep a spark of hope alive at all times. The brightest lights are those shining in darkness and even the dimmest of lights appear bright in the ebony shadows. Even if the characters have only a sprig of solace give them something to cling to.
End on Cliffhangers. Uncertainty and uneasiness are staples of the horror genre. In the post about wrapping your 5E D&D games in horror I wrote about horror pacing and how ending on an offbeat can be especially effective. Hinting that a threat still looms or this adventure paved the way for something bigger are both excellent tropes to lean into. Ending an individual session on a cliffhanger is a fantastic way to immerse the players out the gate for the next D&D session. Describing the previous cliffhanger in excruciating detail as your introduction for the following session is a great way to rapidly invest players in the session and simultaneously paint a picture to draw out the dread and tension.

What are some of your favorite tips for running horror in 5E D&D?

Have you picked up your own copy of Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft? What do you think of it? How do you manage pacing in your own horror games for 5E D&D? Comment below or connect with us on Facebook!

*Featured image — During a seance, a spirit makes itself known to the Keepers of the Feather. Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft includes resources to make sure your 5E D&D game is both spooky and safe in ways right for your specific group. [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]