Nightmare Fuel Into Game Ideas

[Crion]

I had a discussion with a fellow GM regarding the cold I caught and how the common cold is technically a plague due to it's qualities. This got us thinking about how bad it COULD get if the symptoms were worse, which became nightmare fuel for him.

For me, it's a brilliant idea for games, both campaigns and one-shots. The current one has the plague being a tool of an ancient civilization. It is a hive mind, acquiring memories and knowledge as it "infects" people. After a set period of time, the infection shifts and begins to transform people into members of that civilization (possession meets transformation), killing almost everyone else. The survivors are either immune (and fight back for the planet) or are only "resistant," still able to be infected and transformed at a moment's notice. Added bonus when you can't tell one from the other.

Now I think I have someone afraid of the common cold. . .



What other "nightmare fuel" discussions or events have you run into to inspire your games, or have even come up in a game you've played in? Have you had the chance to implement your ideas yet, or are they simply on the backburner waiting for a good game to drop them?

[Magicpockets]

So, it's Skynet with Zombies?

[Crion]

So, it's Skynet with Zombies?

Sort of but not quite. More like a hive mind of a sentient race that is just imprinting itself onto humans. Closer to a possession done en masse with the virus as a way to open the door to allow the infection to occur.

The guy I was having that conversation with is going to use the idea for a post-apocalyptic game, either with the Common Cold becoming lethal and killing about 90% of life on Earth (as it is adaptable enough to hit other species as well), or being the next zombie virus.

[Mrmdubois]

I have honestly just never run into anything that fueled my nightmares.

Well, not in a chilling rational way anyway.  More in a "I'm being chased by Shredder to the beat of my heart through my ear canal with the rest of the turtles."

So I'm not sure I understand the request...

[S1C0]

try giving them the fears of the old humans the unknown like weather and strangers add a mix of base emotions for flavor a touch of loss off higher brain functions and now you have cavemen cowering in sewers and bashing in the "lucky" ones heads with a rock

[Crion]

I have honestly just never run into anything that fueled my nightmares.

Well, not in a chilling rational way anyway.  More in a "I'm being chased by Shredder to the beat of my heart through my ear canal with the rest of the turtles."
<@r />So I'm not sure I understand the request...

Sorry about the odd wording. At my game table, "nightmare fuel" is basically something that would be mundane or something we would normally overlook, but once you twist it or go into more details, someone's bound to be afraid of it. It is also used for something that is just downright creepy, frightening, or disturbing; added bonus if it could feasibly happen in the real world.

In the example I listed, by twisting the common cold just slightly, we have something that made someone afraid to catch a cold. Some could argue that the concept of Slender Man is an example of nightmare fuel as well.