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Lon Chaney reportedly once said, "There is nothing more frightening than a clown after midnight."

And he's right. For one thing, clowns are creepy in the first place... but the main fright factor, I believe, comes from encountering something so completely out of place. Clowns belong in brightly lit birthday parties and circuses, not darkened streets long after dark. The utter unexpectedness of such an encounter is enough to immediately make the back of our minds reel with the possibilities as to why that clown is there... and none of them are likely to be good.

What got me thinking about this is the fact that one of my jobs is janitor at a local church. I need to get the place ready for Sunday, and I procrastinate, so I often end up working there until the wee hours of the morning... Late Saturday Night, or Early Sunday Morning, depending on how you look at it.
And it's spooky.
Really spooky.

The church office has a slightly-smaller-than-life doll of a child standing in one corner, with its back turned and leaning against the wall as if it were counting for a game of hide & seek.
It freaked the hell out of me for the first month or so.... and again lately since a friend told me this new urban legend he heard:

A friend of mine (or my cousin, etc) babysits to make extra money. She got hired by a new family recently, and things were going pretty well except the family had this weird statue of a clown standing in their living room. It was a wierd statue to have; about three foot tall and there was something weird about the eyes.
After an hour or so, the mother called to check up on things, and the sitter said that everything was going fine, except that the clown statue was freaking her out. She didn't want the mother to think she was weird, but she asked if it would be alright if she put the thing in a closet or something until the family got back.
The mother said: "Get out of the house, now! Grab the kids and get the hell out of there, I'll explain later.."
The sitter quickly went to the kids room, grabbed them both, and led them out of the house to the car and drove them to her place, then called the mother again.
The mother explained that they didn't have a clown statue, but that her kids had been talking about their imaginary friend ________ the Clown lately, telling the parents that this little clown came into their rooms at night and talked and played with them.
The cops showed up at the house and found that the clown was an insane midget.

After hearing that one, the next time I saw that kid doll in the office I hit it with a broom...

Also, there are several Sunday School rooms, including a nursery area with a bunch of little kids' toys in it.
There's nothing really eerie about a doll during the day, but at night it's freaky as hell having it's eyes staring at you.

And, of course, there's the sanctuary. It's so open, and empty, and still, that it's just downright creepy at times. I think it's something about the fact that a Church is supposed to be a place that has lots of people in it... beeing alone in an empty church, after dark, just seems unnatural.

In any case, BtS is a game about Horror... and that includes fear.
It occurrs to me that settings like a church after hours could work very well for building tension and suspense (it certainly works that way on me!), and that a good GM could play off of the same type of reaction that causes the fear you get when you see a clown after midnight. Stuff that should be cheery or indifferent, but that seen in the wrong place and/or the wrong time, is just downright scary.
Also, a good GM can work assumptions like the one the sitter made... that that half-sized clown standing in the living room must be a statue. That sort of thing can work really well to a GM's advantage.... Turning something relatively harmless seeming into something unpleasant is a good way to cause horror. Like biting into an apple and finding a razor blade... or maggots.

Any GMs out there have good ideas for scary things/people/places along these lines? Anybody used them to good effect? Or played in a game where the GM used these sort of devices to scare the hell out of you?

ARGHH!!!! That darn Clown story was stuck in my head all last night. My paranoia was high last night.

Misfit KotLD wrote:

LJavelle wrote:ARGHH!!!! That darn Clown story was stuck in my head all last night. My paranoia was high last night.

Good job KC.

If you thought I was paranoid before, wait until you see me when I'm trying to sleep!!

LJavelle wrote:ARGHH!!!! That darn Clown story was stuck in my head all last night. My paranoia was high last night.

Yeah... somehow midget clowns are scarier than normal clowns...

I'm on a raised bed, and the positioning is right between 2 doors. There are 2 cats at the place that will come down at random times and poke open the door, so...yeah.....

LJavelle wrote:I'm on a raised bed, and the positioning is right between 2 doors. There are 2 cats at the place that will come down at random times and poke open the door, so...yeah.....

My wife and I keep our mattress & boxsprings directly on the floor.
No clutter under the bed, and certainly no monsters or psychos...

Also, there's only one door to the room and I have the windows effectively blocked off.

But our cat does nudge the door open at night as he comes and goes.
Maybe I should put in a kitty-door...

Originally my bed was on the floor and one side of the room with both doorways in line of sight, so I could just sleep facing the doorways. But after redoing my room with my bro's help(we moved a lot of stuff in and reorganized everything). But I do have several baseball bats in arms reach, so that makes things semi easier.

Back to the topic (more or less)...

Another, more humorous example of this sort of thing is in MIB... the scene where Will Smith shoots the little girl with the quantuum physics books during training because she was so out of place...

Yeah, that was hilarious.

Other things could be like.....you're at a parking lot, and everything is dead still, except like parking tickets(or the little pamphlets that people put underneath your wipers or whatever) that flap back and forth even though there's no wind.

Dammit KC!!
I'll never get a good nights' sleep now.
You've got to come to my apartment, and check it for clowns and monsters.
This is all your fault: now take responsibility.

And, if you come over wearing a clown suit, there's going to be inner city violence.

cripes that was scary.

I hate clowns more then ever now.

reminds me of when I was a teenager and living on a farm. Old farmhouse with lots of creaky floorboards. I got to know every sound the house made and could tell the difference between the house settling or creaking because of temp changes, and someone walking around. I would be able to follow my parents around the house just by the creaking.

Sometimes I would be alone in the house at night, parents away and all animals accounted for, and hear someone walking in the hall upstairs. I would go look and find nothing. My parents would come home to find me sitting in the den with the dogs and every gun I owned around me. I still get a chill just writing about it...

One fun idea, Cats. Not a 'cat scare' or a 'revenge of the animals' thing, but if the PCs are at someones home resting or planning, have a cat sitting in the yard or in a tree watching the house, not doing anything odd, just watching. If the PCs approach it, it runs away, but later they see a different cat watching them...

Borrowing an idea from Ghostbusters, the closed stacks of a library. I worked for the minneapolis library for several years and the stacks got quite creepy at night. two sub-basements, filled with wall to wall shelving units. because of book preservation concerns, the lighting was 'as needed' the main halls were lit, but you turned the lights in a given shelving area on when you entered and off when you left, so there were lots of shadowy places and dark corners. during the evenings, you could work an entire shift and not see another person. we had a couple of people quit because they couldn't handle it, and there were several reports of ghost sightings in the building.

One incident that nearly gave me a heart attack. I was shelving in the sub-sub-basement and came around a corner just in time to see [/i]something[i] scutter silently into a darkened aisle. it was the size of a large rat, but flatter and had twisted, matted fur that looked almost red in the dim light. My heart was in my throat as I approached the aisle and hit the light switch. the light came on to reveal....


A janitor with a dust mop. He had been walking backwards down the aisle, not bothering with the lights and pulling the mop along behind him to sweep....

Kalinda wrote:Borrowing an idea from Ghostbusters, the closed stacks of a library. I worked for the minneapolis library for several years and the stacks got quite creepy at night. two sub-basements, filled with wall to wall shelving units. because of book preservation concerns, the lighting was 'as needed' the main halls were lit, but you turned the lights in a given shelving area on when you entered and off when you left, so there were lots of shadowy places and dark corners. during the evenings, you could work an entire shift and not see another person. we had a couple of people quit because they couldn't handle it, and there were several reports of ghost sightings in the building.

One incident that nearly gave me a heart attack. I was shelving in the sub-sub-basement and came around a corner just in time to see [/i]something[i] scutter silently into a darkened aisle. it was the size of a large rat, but flatter and had twisted, matted fur that looked almost red in the dim light. My heart was in my throat as I approached the aisle and hit the light switch. the light came on to reveal....



A janitor with a dust mop. He had been walking backwards down the aisle, not bothering with the lights and pulling the mop along behind him to sweep....

That's Great!
I'll throw that into a game sometime...

I tend to not react like that since my usual reaction to fear is aggression.. and Then I go do my Hulk smash impression..

hmmm Nightbane Circus clown guilds.. Hmmm that's gotta be really interesting....

Clowns are not all evil in my game!

I made a Game where my Player Characters are part of a small Circus in Europe in the 20s and 30s they use the Circus as a Cover for ther fight against Supernatural Evil.

The Major of the Circus is made up of Ordinary people but ther is a number of psychics who use ther powers in ther Acts but not too much!

I may show them here Later.

o={=redemption=> wrote:I can't remember who told me this story, but years ago in the Palladium Chatroom I was told a story that happened to a GM and his players. The usually played BTS 1st Ed. late at night and either by very little light or candlelight. Anyways, the players were looking for some sort of serial killer that used a chainsaw to kill his victims (Texas Chainsaw Massacre-Type thing). Well the players were coming up on the area that the killer was last seen. As the adrinaline was pumping through the players (good GMing there) they all jump and nearly soiled themselves (GM included) as a motorcycle roared by. I take it that the motorcycle sounds alot like a chainsaw when the mood is right.

Once A Marine- Always A Marine.
Semper Fi
0331

I've toyed with the idea of running something like that, then having a friend outside start up a chainsaw (without the chain) and run into the room.

But that would most likley end up in something bad happening.

gaby wrote:Clowns are not all evil in my game!

I made a Game where my Player Characters are part of a small Circus in Europe in the 20s and 30s they use the Circus as a Cover for ther fight against Supernatural Evil.

The Major of the Circus is made up of Ordinary people but ther is a number of psychics who use ther powers in ther Acts but not too much!

I may show them here Later.

Interesting!

Having GOOD clowns is a decent idea for an adventure, if only because the players would never suspect...

Have them notice a clown staring at them from time to time...
They'll just assume he's evil.

Killer Cyborg wrote:

o={=redemption=> wrote:I can't remember who told me this story, but years ago in the Palladium Chatroom I was told a story that happened to a GM and his players. The usually played BTS 1st Ed. late at night and either by very little light or candlelight. Anyways, the players were looking for some sort of serial killer that used a chainsaw to kill his victims (Texas Chainsaw Massacre-Type thing). Well the players were coming up on the area that the killer was last seen. As the adrinaline was pumping through the players (good GMing there) they all jump and nearly soiled themselves (GM included) as a motorcycle roared by. I take it that the motorcycle sounds alot like a chainsaw when the mood is right.

Once A Marine- Always A Marine.
Semper Fi
0331

I've toyed with the idea of running something like that, then having a friend outside start up a chainsaw (without the chain) and run into the room.

But that would most likley end up in something bad happening.

I volunteered at a charity haunted house for a couple of years and although we had some good, scary rooms in that thing, the guy dressed up like Jason and wielding a chainsaw (no chain.) consistently scared the pee out of the customers.

Literally.

Every single night we had to get out the mop and bucket at least twice to clean up a mess in that room

Kalinda wrote:

Killer Cyborg wrote:

o={=redemption=> wrote:I can't remember who told me this story, but years ago in the Palladium Chatroom I was told a story that happened to a GM and his players. The usually played BTS 1st Ed. late at night and either by very little light or candlelight. Anyways, the players were looking for some sort of serial killer that used a chainsaw to kill his victims (Texas Chainsaw Massacre-Type thing). Well the players were coming up on the area that the killer was last seen. As the adrinaline was pumping through the players (good GMing there) they all jump and nearly soiled themselves (GM included) as a motorcycle roared by. I take it that the motorcycle sounds alot like a chainsaw when the mood is right.

Once A Marine- Always A Marine.
Semper Fi
0331

I've toyed with the idea of running something like that, then having a friend outside start up a chainsaw (without the chain) and run into the room.

But that would most likley end up in something bad happening.

I volunteered at a charity haunted house for a couple of years and although we had some good, scary rooms in that thing, the guy dressed up like Jason and wielding a chainsaw (no chain.) consistently scared the pee out of the customers.

Literally.

Every single night we had to get out the mop and bucket at least twice to clean up a mess in that room

That would count as the "something bad," then.
At least if we were gaming at my place..

Surely you can afford to buy some Resolve, KC.

I thought all clowns were vampires...they certainly seem to suck the fun out of anything.

Just wanted to say that i love telling this Urban Legend to people...it's actually scared some people.

ash_wednesday wrote:lol.."You're going to die clown!!"---Happy Gilmore

Who, me? I'm already dead...on the inside.

I once worked at an office in Hampton, Virginia and was "briefed" about (let's call him) Ted. No one was to make a remark about clowns around Ted because he suffered from a extreme, emotional fear of clowns. The mere mentioning of them would send him into a fugue-like state. Someone, years ago, had slipped up and said to Ted something about not "Bozo-ing around." Ted's legs gave way and he found himself on the floor writhing in a frenzy of self abasement to the shock of office coworkers. There are some seriously troubled people out there in the world... deathly afraid of clowns. Apparently Ted had been "attacked" by a puppet clown as a child. Most likely it just fell onto him from a high perch in the closet. Or maybe, just maybe... his fear is well founded. Eitehr way, you may want to avoid placing toy clowns in precarious locations in your home, or at least lock it up so it won't wander through the shadows after midnight...

Chai

I used to live in a really old house, it was built in something like 1905, and had been the first house in the town to be built. My parents and I had spent a lot of time renovating the place, but we never got around to fixing up the basement. That damn basement had to be the worst one in the world. It had a low ceiling, the cement on the floor was cracked, crumbling, and in some place, had worn away leaving only dirt on the floor. The lighting wasn't so great either. I went down to the basement to fetch some canned stuff my mom had made. I made my way to our cold storage room (which was at the far end of the basement from the stairs) when I heard a faint sound, like tiny feet on the floor, so me being inquisitive, I looked around to investigate. There was a little area behind the storage room, kind of like a small hallway that led no where, I poke my head around the corner to look and see two glowing yellow eyes. I'm totally frozen in fear, and rationality has gone out the window at this point.

I stand there for a few more seconds, trying get a grip and calm down...when my ****ing cat jumps out at me.

Needless to say, I hate cats to this very day. I don't fear them, just have a strong hatered for them.

I just had a thought...

What if a guy or small group of people (3-4) had a clown fixation. Maybe they were professional clowns, having attended the clandestine clown academy in southern Ohio, --that kind of thing. They traveled around the country in a touring van, performing for high end clients and doing nightly comedy shows to packed houses. And then, during an excursion at a campsite, one (or more) of them was attacked by a werewolf. Perhaps one of them was killed even. But, more importantly, the survivors are now werewolves. And they still travel the country in their van... performing shows for children and astounded adults. Only, now... they have a taste for blood and flesh and the terror that precedes the feasting. Now... they entertain their prey.

VISUAL: Imagine a man in a clown outfit at night in a moonlit park... his breath smoking from his mouth and nostrils like steam. He has the traditional clown face paint on, only it seems oddly, strikingly sininster in this dark, backlit setting. His eyes slightly glow amber as his face changes slowly before your eyes. It's like an evil trick of moonlight... and suddenly you see before you the visage of a wolfen murderer... this impossible being still clad in the bright garment of a circus entertainer. The hunt begins and you hear someone's maddening laughter echo throughout the maze of play equipment in the park... and realize it's your own... The scene fades into black as the impossible creature leaps at you and the world fades to black.

Could be spooky...
Chai

You're right, by the book, that wouldn't work; that's why I tend to use the books as guidelines when it comes to monsters. If the players in my game all "know" that werewolves can only be born into it, then when one of them gets bitten and starts to turn into one... Then the horror factor is multiplied exponentially. I mean, there's SO MUCH "unknown" out there, that I tend to filter that sense of uncertainty into the game by slightly altering statistics, origin theories, etc. This keeps them on their toes; after all, none of us *ordinary* people really do know the true honest-to-goodness particulars about how werewolves are generated; not really. That's my take on GM-ing a BTS game: keeping the "unknown" a little more cloudy, obscure and ambiguous and not letting the letter of the books have too great an influence in the horror of the story, but again, that's my style; sticking to the letter of the rules works better for some people!

Ash Wed: I noticed in your profile that you're at a Canadian AB; that's great! I'm in the US Air Force and was once stationed in Minot, North Dakota (Brrrrrrrrrrr!). We went up to Winnipeg several times. Canada's a great country!

Chai

Great point; I like the slant of unexpected that you pointed out. Imagine the ruckus at a child's large birthday party... The very wealthy parents throw the party, spending thousands on performers, top-notch catering, live bands, etc. These are *wealthy* parents throwing an extravagant birthday party for their 12 - 16 year old and his/her friends.

So now you can roll up PCs. Here's a sample table for those who like random ideas:

1. caterer (d4: 1.apprentice, 2.chef, 3.server, 4.cake-baker)
2. pop band member (d4: 1.vocal, 2.lead guitar, 3.bass, 4.drums)
3. party attendee (friend of birthday guy/gal)r
4. mother
5. father
6. party attendee (friend of birthday guy/gal)
7. brother/sister
8. male/female cousin
9. step brother/sister
10. house nanny/butler
11. party attendee (friend of birthday guy/gal)
12. videographer (does weekend gigs only to finance paranormal research)
13. photographer (see above)
14. vallet (actor who earns extra money on gigs like this; possibly psychic)
15. family pool lifeguard/med-tech
16. family doctor
17. grounds attendant
18. party attendee (friend of birthday guy/gal)
19. uncle/aunt
20. clown (not one of the bad ones)

Music plays. Rubber chickens fly. Food is served and eaten. It's a great party... that is... until people start vanishing. The sun sets and suddenly this horse ranch mansion (or other similarly isolated place) takes on a spooky, scary air. The secluded, large grounds become killing grounds for the clown werewolves.

Bozo has great, long teeth. Blazing eyes. Horrific snarls. Yeah, this is a gruesome victim scenario, but you might want to throw in some kind of salvation for the PCs, such as an elder PC grandparent who collects silver weapons and bullets (perhaps he/she encountered werewolves during The War and could not stop preparing for the day they'd meet up with the blasted creatures again).

Could be lots of fun. Werewolf clowns at a birthday party that happens to occur on one of the nights of the full moon.

Chai

Ash, are you still a security officer in the Canadian military? What can you tell us about your job?

I'm a graphic artist in the USAF. Yeah, believe it or not, they need graphic artists in the military. It's fun, though, get to play with Photoshop and Illustrator and draw for a living. And roleplay during the off time.

Clowns are cool!

Chai

My bad. I'd read "security officer" and thought you were in the Canadian military. But hey, in this day and age, what with bad guys trying to infiltrate into Western countries an all, security (especially for what we consider *unlikely* targets) is PARAMOUNT.

Zombie Clowns... Great concept. Maybe there's an unreported accident; a van filled with clowns going to a gathering of clowns runs off the road and they all die. Then, somewhere along the line, a necromancer-type raises them. With his new "army" he'll ensure his foes die laughing!

Don't forget about rubber chickens and a flare-gun/skateboard combo.

Don't feel bad; me either. It sounds like a movie worth watching, but then again, so did Mars Attacks by Tim Burton. My goodness, I've never seen such a wasted effort. I mean, to take THAT MANY great actors/actresses and put them into a TERRIBLE movie... I almost got up and left. I only stayed in case the movie suddenly got better somehow... but those hopes faded when the credits rolled. The only other movie that made me feel this way in a theater was THE THIN RED LINE. That was a WASTE too.

BTW: PEARL HARBOR and WINDTALKERS are great WW2 movies!!! I happened to have been stationed in Hawaii when they filmed those two. Hey, it's cool when you can sit back, relax and watch dogfights over Ford Island while having a cold brew at sunset from your balcony.

I just like "Clown after midnight." Seriously, if several of you live near each other, that'd be a great way to mess with people.

Break into a team, one dressed as a Clown. Go out ona weekend night when the clubs are all open. You gotta have one person in the getaway vehicle, maybe another person working a camera. Good ideas for the vehicle... Van (large doors are always a bonus for rapid entry) or better yet, a HEARSE.

The idea is to have your Clown standing in a dark alley, across the street from the vehicle. When people leave the club/bar/latenight restaurant that you're "camping" the clown rushes out of the alley, laughing. Past whatever victims, and leaps into the awaiting vehicle. Like I said, a hearse would be serious bonus How creepy would it be for a clown to run out of a dark alley, and dive headlong into the back of a hearse?

The further from Halloween, the better. People don't expect evil clowns Labor Day weekend.

bar1scorpio wrote:I just like "Clown after midnight." Seriously, if several of you live near each other, that'd be a great way to mess with people.

Break into a team, one dressed as a Clown. Go out ona weekend night when the clubs are all open. You gotta have one person in the getaway vehicle, maybe another person working a camera. Good ideas for the vehicle... Van (large doors are always a bonus for rapid entry) or better yet, a HEARSE.

The idea is to have your Clown standing in a dark alley, across the street from the vehicle. When people leave the club/bar/latenight restaurant that you're "camping" the clown rushes out of the alley, laughing. Past whatever victims, and leaps into the awaiting vehicle. Like I said, a hearse would be serious bonus How creepy would it be for a clown to run out of a dark alley, and dive headlong into the back of a hearse?

The further from Halloween, the better. People don't expect evil clowns Labor Day weekend.

You are disturbed.
I like it.