How to Write Horror for D&D
13,569
Published 2021-10-25
Kelsey from The Arcane Library talks about the three critical elements for writing and running horror adventures for 5E D&D.
1. Suspense: "We don't know what's going to happen."
2. Powerlessness: "We can't directly attack or defend against the source of danger."
3. Mystery: "There are secrets we want to understand."
🔪 Download The Night Hunter: www.dropbox.com/s/v3rh6383wt6qul6/The%20Night%20Hu…
Check out Lantern's Light Maps: www.patreon.com/lanternslightmaps
01:09 - Suspense
02:28 - Powerlessness
04:31 - Mystery
05:39 - The Night Hunter adventure walkthroug
All Comments (21)
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How to give someone PTSD in a fantastical world 101!
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Your adventures have helped me immensely in learning how to be a DM. It can be really intimidating to have to come up with a whole world and being caught off-guard by player actions. The structure helps me just focus on combat, interactions, and enjoying the game before getting more into a grand narrative adventure. Really appreciate all your work and the amount of detail those goes into each adventure. Also, thank you for emailing me back your customer service is great!
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I love how you use D&D to teach us how to be better writers and storytellers. Happy almost Halloween, Kelsey!
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Thank you for the amazing information. I’m writing my first horror one shot right now. Your Poe inspired one shot was my first GM experience and it was a blast!
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Kelsey, I love the way that you explain your methodology and the passion that you bring to your adventures. I love the cursed magic item. I think there need to be more items like this in D&D. Maybe even a sentient weapon. I will try to run this for Halloween (If I can) and report back the results. Awesome work as always!
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I just recently became acquainted with your work via your appearance on Questing Beast. I really appreciate your insightful advice and the eloquence and contagious enthusiasm with which you present it. Keep up the great work!
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Thanks, Kelseys, loving yours tips to how be a better GM.
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Very helpful. I passed this along to a fellow DM who loves to run horror! Thank you for another great (and free!) adventure!
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Great video! The Night Hunter sounds super fun to run! I hope I get a chance to run it.
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Thank you so much for this!! I'm DMing for the first time and doing a mystery and this is so helpful!!
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Uhohoh I'm gonna have fun adding this to my upcoming campaign and fucking with my players! Thank you SO very much! This is a Wonderful addition! Your demeanor is a very stark contrast to what's in this adventure and it's getting me hyped😂
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Thank you. Love the way you write your adventures.
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Thanks so much! I'm a newer DM and your content is the most helpful and accessible. I've been feeling the pressure of preparing new content for my group. Your advice is so solid, bringing it back to key ideas makes it much simpler to understand what I need to do next. Feel like I learn so much :) Love your work!!
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Great video! I'm running a Halloween one shot this weekend and I'll definitely put your tips to good use.
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One the campaigns I DM is very much a grim dark/horror based campaign. Setting the proper tone using 5e can be difficult and these are excellent suggestions. Thank you for sharing!
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Thank you! Hope to get good at the horror side of things! DMing and adventuring ⚔️
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This is such a good video - super helpful, and your one shot looks very cool. Thanks!
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Love the cursed magic item idea!
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Great stuff! Thanks Kelsey!!!!!
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Nice! Also reassuring, because your approach is very close to how I’m running Tomb of Annihilation as a horror campaign for my friends.
