Bogeymen Ideas

[Tobias Blackburn]

After reading through Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends and The Book of Sacrifices, I've started to do some rough work on a few new bogeymen. Here's an example.

The Proper Lady

The Proper Lady appears to adults as a stately matron, dressed in the most conservative noble fashion from the surrounding domain. She looks both strick and kindly, ready to offer praise or a blow with her ever-present parrot handled umbrella at any moment. To children, she is a hideous crone with darting eyes, and looms over them with an air of malevolent authority. The umbrella appears tattered and black, with a vulture's head handle.

She preys on "naughty" children who have forgotten their manners or act or dress immorally. She comes at night, flying down the chimney with her enchanted umbrella (or through the bedroom window) and screams at the child, telling them how bad they've been and demanding that they make amends. This can mean anything from writing the truth over every surface of their room (for liars and vandals) to burning their most prize possessions (for bullys and thieves). The entire time, she yells and hollars and beats the child. By the end of the night, most of her victims have either been beaten to death or have gone completely mad. For what she terms "hard cases", The Proper Lady kidnaps the child, taking them off to her School for Naughty Boys and Girls where they spend the rest of their lives under her tutelage.

In cases where she cannot get to the child, she may appear in the day and offer her services as a Nanny. At this point, she works subtley to distance the parents from the child. When they are no longer protected, she strikes.

Powers: Flight (with her umbrella), Silence in a similar way to the Scissor Man, a bag that always has what she needs to deal out her punishments. She is able to issue commands as per the command spell, as well as suggestions. She is particularly cruel in making her suggestions, and her victims usually have to make madness or horror checks. She is able to target those who have not yet entered into adulthood, but sit at the cusp of it.

Vulnerabilities: Works under the same constraints as other bogeymen. Victims must also have forgotten manners or acted/dressed immorally as dictated by their region (She can go after Mordentish girls for wearing pants, but not in places where it is an accepted style). She cannot be seen by a child whose parents/guardian has kissed them goodnight. She cannot be heard by a child whose parents/guardian have told them they are loved. She cannot touch a child whose parents/guardian given them a goodnight hug.

Notes: I didn't realize until I as finished typing that I had included so much Mary Poppins. When I realized this, I threw in a umbrella and the tactic of pushing parents away from their children.

The tormenting night stalker idea came from vague memories of an old The Shadow comic I saw when I was ten. The Shadow breaks into a couples home, makes the gossiping wife write all over their bar and their ten year old son burn all his toys for stealing. As a kid, being forced to burn all of your toys (and the kid's screams as his favorite, a giraffe, went up in flames) struckly me as utterly terrifying.

Comments? Questions? Bogeymen of your own?

[ScS of the Fraternity]

Hey, that's not bad. I especially like this idea of a school for children. Sounds like a pretty keen pocket domain.

[Tobias Blackburn]

Hey, that's not bad. I especially like this idea of a school for children. Sounds like a pretty keen pocket domain.

After reading about Mr. Fox's House a the End of the White Road, I figured that one of the best ways to offer combat against a Bogeyman is to allow the heroes a chance to give chase to their mythical homes.

Of course, once you get to say, the School for Naughty Boys and Girls, who knows what would happen. I'm of the view that the place resembles something out of the Nightmare Lands, and is full of the children who have long since become the Proper Lady's servants (a la Village of the Damned). Perhaps once at home, the Proper Lady even gains the ability to turn adults into children, like Malonga could in the Ghetto.

[Cole Deschain]

I always thought Pumpkinhead would make an interesting RL element...

Mostly because of the way he forces the people of the community to ignore the suffering and death of his victims, lest they become part of the same buffet...

[Olly]

I don't know if anyone besides me remembers or, for that matter, even knows of the Judderman from the old Schnapps advert, but must rank as one of the most disturbing and creepy advertising campaigns in the history of the world. I've thought that he'd make a good bogeyman for quite some time, but since I'm not very good at making monsters, I've never been able to do him justice.

For those of you who are not aware of the Judderman, you can watch his evil antics by clicking the appropriate movie on the following link: http://www.glassworks.co.uk/search_arch ... judderman/

Even now the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end!

[Scott C. Bourgeois]

I've been working on one of my own:

THE WHITE OWL

A large, white owl sits perched on a branch overhead. It makes no sound, but stares unblinking at you, its unnatural yellow eyes damning you with the weight of guilt.

The White Owl appears as an unnaturally large great-horned owl, with feathers as white as pure snow. It has a four-foot wingspan, and talons sharp enough to rend armour and flesh alike. It has unblinking yellow eyes that seem to accuse everything they look at with the same damning judgement, and its stoic silence can unnerve even the most innocent soul.

The White Owl is a terrible bogeyman that preys upon the innocent by driving them to suicide. It appears to ‘naughty’ boys and girls and torments them with guilt until they are so overcome with shame and grief that they are unable to go on living. As bogeymen prey upon the innocent, the naughty children the White Owl torments are not truly evil. Stealing toys, fighting with your siblings, disobeying your parents, playing pranks or bullying… under the gaze of the White Owl, these seem as terrible as the deadliest crimes, the most foul evils.

The White Owl will chose its victims carefully. Only those who have secret petty crimes will attract its attention. Nocturnal like the bird it’s based upon, the bogeyman comes to them in the night. It perches outside their window and glares at them unceasingly, damning them with its gaze. Their sleep will be twisted into terrible nightmares that force them to relive their crimes, but twists them so out of proportion as to leave its victims unsure of how bad they truly are. When they are finally scared awake, they often awaken to see the Owl perched outside their window, gazing at them with its damning stare. Slowly, over the course of weeks, or even months, the Owl whittles away the victim’s will until they either run away from home, or kill themselves.

Either outcome satisfies the Owl. It feeds on the guilt and fear of children who hide their secret shames, and the terror of their final terrible moments. If they chose to run, the Owl follows them into the night, and kills them with its terrible claws. They die in guilt, and the Owl moves on to a new victim.

Combat

The White Owl is unafraid of combat as it has a powerful body and razor-sharp talons. It prefers to crush its foes with psychological torment, however, visiting them in the night and tormenting them with nightmares of their own ‘crimes’ until they are driven mad with grief.

Eyes of Innocence (Su): To adults, the Owl appears as nothing more than a normal great-horned owl, innocently perched at night. If shoed, it flies away, but returns later when the coast is clear. Only the innocent and its victims see the monstrous bogeyman for what it is.

Frightful Presence (Su): The steady, unfaltering gaze of the White Owl can strike terror into the heart of even the boldest of its victims. Those who it fixes its eyes upon must make a DC 18 Fear save. This is a mind affecting fear effect, and those who make their save are immune for one day.

Nightmares (Sp): By staring at the sleeping form of its victim, the White Owl can plant in their mind terrible nightmares where they relive their crimes at night. These nightmares blow the events out of proportion, making its victims seem more evil in their actions, forcing them to see what they did through the eyes of those they harmed, seeing those they care about condemning them, and worse.

The physical effects of the White Owl’s nightmare ability are identical to the horror effect as printed on page 81 of the Ravenloft Player’s Handbook.

Suggestion (Sp): Once per night, the White Owl can make a suggestion as the spell, placing it upon any sleeping victim under the effect of its nightmare ability. The suggestion is simple and always the same, merely that the victim continue to keep his terrible shame a secret for fear of rejection or punishment. Usually this merely reinforces the existing fears that children have about being punished by adults.

The White Owl casts this as a 5th level sorcerer, with the Will save being at DC 16. Obviously, children (especially those who’ve been plagued with nightmares for several days) are more susceptible to this ability.

Talons (Ex): The talons of the White Owl are unnaturally sharp and act as keen daggers +2. Armour only offers half its normal protection against the raking claws of this bogeyman.

Vulnerability (Ex): The White Owl is utterly defeated by nothing more complex than honest forgiveness. This forgiveness must come from someone with the authority to forgive a child (parent, guardian, authority figure, priest, victim of a prank or bully, etc…) and must be given in plain sight of the White Owl at night. If this occurs, the White Owl silently fades away into nothingness for a generation, only to return when children again break the rules and need to be taught a terrifying lesson of guilt.

[Olly]

That White Owl is awesome! Post the stats up as soon as possible!

[Scott C. Bourgeois]

As requested, I wrote up some crunchy bits for The White Owl.

The White Owl
Small Fey (Bogeyman)

Hit Dice 4d6+8 (25 hp)
Initiative +7
Speed 10 ft, fly 40 ft.
AC 16 (+1 size, +3 Dexterity, +2 deflection)
Base Attack/Grapple +2/+4
Attack Talons +4 melee (1d4+4)
Full Attack Talons +4 melee (1d4+4)
Space/Reach 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks n/a
Special Qualities Eyes of innocence, frightful presence, nightmares, suggestion, vulnerabilities
Saves Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +6
Abilities Str 14, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 17
Skills Hide +10, Intimidate +10 Listen +12, Move Silently +10, Spot +12
Feats Alertness, Improved Initiative
Environment Any
Organisation Solitary
Challenge Rating 4
Treasure None
Alignment Lawful Evil
Advancement 5-7 HD (Small)
Level Adjustment n/a

[Olly]

As requested, I wrote up some crunchy bits for The White Owl.

Scott C. Bourgeois, you're my new best friend!

[Hrtofdrkns]

I don't know if it's already been done, but I like der kinderstod(sp?) (the child death) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's a boogyman that feed of the life force of sick children, killing them as they scream in terror.

It is normally invisible, but unlike other boogymen it can't be seen by normal children or the innocent. It can only be seen by people of any age who are very sick (high fever and the like). To them he appears as a hidious old man with a bowler hat (I think thats what it's called), jagged teeth, a beaklike nose, and bone white eyes. These eyes move out of his head on eyestalks, opening up into small suckers that attatch to the forehead of the victim when he feeds.

In game terms he would be very strong (at least Str 18 ), and have an energy draining attack usable only against a pinned victim. He apparently dislikes the taste of adults and only attacks them if they can see him or are healing the children through magical or mundane means.

[Olly]

Agreed, Der Kinderstod would make an excellent bogeyman for Ravenloft. The name alone is creepy enough!


Ugly devil.

[Brandi]

Agreed, Der Kinderstod would make an excellent bogeyman for Ravenloft. The name alone is creepy enough!

And I remember S being taken aback by the child mortality in Falkovnia...

[Olly]

Agreed, Der Kinderstod would make an excellent bogeyman for Ravenloft. The name alone is creepy enough!

And I remember S being taken aback by the child mortality in Falkovnia...

I love the way your mind works...

[Georg Kristianokov]

I had an idea for a boogey man...

Sgt. Pepper

(maybe this is more of a dark lord than a boogey man, but)

The Sgt. was a lamordian militia man, who had a great love for music. He finally got a gig in Dementlieu, but was ruined by a child who couldn't stop sneezing. Now, he wanders the dread realms, and if a child doesn't cover their nose when they sneeze, he chops it off with his rapier. He still plays music, with the people that try to stop him. They are his lonely hearts club band, never aloud to see anyone but the Sgt.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

Don't be so down on Sgt. Pepper.
He just needs a little help from his friends.