Game inspiration thread

Research several types of Yokai here are a few off the top of my head.
Kappa
Yuki Onna
Oni
Yamata No Orochi (God tier)
Tengu

Here is a website for more yokai.com/

Will do, thanks a lot.

Also, don't forget that you can be vague about things like negative spirit energy.

It could be that all your spooky happenings are occurring to create enough bad karma to manifest some kind of demon/god of misfortune or calamity.

Gashadokuro

Spirits of those that died of hunger that take on the form of giant skeletons. They stalk travelers, tear them limb from limb, and drink the spattered blood.

Can turn invisible, and are supposedly impossible to destroy, but can be warded away.

The Mythos is starting to gain popularity in Japan nowadays.
Maybe start off with cultists devoted to evil Japanese gods, then start bringing in ghosts and shinigami, but make them more Mythos. Then bring in some truly alien oni and suggest the gods you're fighting are alien abominations too.
Then you bring in the Mythos.

I'm sure the Japanese have some alien stuff too.

Not bumping this thead by the way. It's too late.

You don't need the bad guys to be Cthulu or Ayy Lmaos. Make them something Japanese if the players want a Japanese game.

Like Himiko in the Tomb Raider reboot. She was plenty creepy and only directly appeared in the game for about 40 seconds, but you felt her influence all the way through it thanks to her minions, sudden changes in weather, creepy murals, documents and relics.

Is the new Tomb Raider worth it?

Ogres that live deep in the woods who eat the corpses of people who've come to committ suicide unaware that the Ogres are creating a sort of "Death field" that just heightens the desire to die.

A small town where all the people are seemingly unrealted to one another and don't actually recall how to wound up in the town but are seemingly happen non the less. When one goes missing they just assume they left but in reality a demon spider has cast a spell drawing suicidal people to live in this town and casually hunts them down at leisure as well as to feed it's children.

A botched ritual to placate the spirits of the deceased by sacrificing a shrine maiden. The shrine maiden is now a powerful and vengeful spirit.

Alternatively you could look up the various inspirations for these scenarios

>The first onimusha game
>Blood Reign
>Fatal Frame

Just to name a few.

That's pretty kickass. Not OP, but I'll be using these ideas.

Some scenarios for CoC which doesn't require you to be anything other can an average joe.

>You and your friends have been called to stay with a mutual friend who's gone through a really bad break-up with his long-time girlfriend. What's worst is she's seemingly gone missing making his anxiety for her safety even worst. What the PCs don't know is that the girlfriend snuck into his house and killed herself in his attic and her spirit is using her body as a medium to haunt him as he complains of a smell he can't quite find until suddenly they are trapped in the house.

>The PCs and their friends are on a summer vacation in a more rural area of Japan on the reccomendation of a friend. What they don't realize is that they are chosen as sacrifices to a wasp demon camping near the shrine built to them and their bodies will be used as a hive for a new brood least they take out their fury on the village nearby.

>The PCs are members of the police force and are investigating the deaths of several business men around the construction site of their new building. In all cases, only one person has survived by unknown means.

If your players are real traditional asian monster aficionados or something, don't be afraid to make up a few monsters of your own.

Throw 'em some curveballs

Runs under "forbidden siren" I think.

The video game where people are zombies?

Yes.

The interesting part is the "why are they zombies" tho.

I'd guess a virus outbreak, but I bet on ghosts.

If you're looking for monsters from a specific culture or group of cultures, consider checking out the lore origins of the monsters from the first Blood Brothers game.
Jiang Shi in particular are probably kind of what you're looking for.
This page has a bunch of Asian monsters, gods, and heroes. Check it out boss.
bloodbrothersgame.wikia.com/wiki/Familiars_origins/East_Asian_Mythology#Jiang_Shi

Actually The ancestors of the townspeople feasted on the body of an infant "god" who cursed them. There's also a stable time loop involved.

Browser the whole site.

gameplay is pretty good aside from an over-dependance on quick-time-events.

the story panders to some. rape-allegories and shit...
it suffers from the "too many collectables" bug

otherwise, not too bad...

Meh. I already got annoyed with Arkham "I must stop the Joker but also get some shitty trophies" Asylum.
I'll pass. A shame, the story sounds interesting.

That's probably shilling, but there are two things I'd recommend.
The first is a movie called Noroi. It deals with old rituals in modern Japan, and is a found footage movie. I really like it.
The second is a weird game/book, called "Higurashi no Naku Koro ni". It also deals with villages, secrets, old bloody rituals, and paranoia. The answers are disappointing but I liked the atmosphere of the first games.

Maybe one of the players who are so interested in the genre can be the keeper?

CoC really shines with custom scenarios. I mean the published stuff is really good, but it is hard to prep something as personal as an investigation into psychological terror without knowing the players. To a degree an investigation is always a sandbox. Characters get fleshed out in contact with the PCs. It is good to have ideas ready, but it is hard to carve more than a few central features in stone ahead of time. So custom IS the way to go if you have the time.

However, CoC scenarios shine with contrast, and for contrasting the infinite abyss under our beds with the best humanity has to offer, the scenarios revolve around remarkable human developments, inventions, or discoveries. Just so that the cosmic horror has something to corrupt and utterly shatter.

And to portray these themes without challenging suspension of disbelief it is vital that they are reasonably understood and can be explained to players who have never heard of the concept before as well as hold true for those who have a comprehensive knowledge of the subject themselves. You have to understand the dynamic and public perception of WW2 in its day before you can write Nazi adventures without causing the historian in the group to roll their eyes and keep playing in spite of it all being transparently contrived.

It is therefore wise to select a subject, an era, or a theme that one is more familiar with than the players are. Otherwise it takes A LOT of research. So even if you decide to do this, pick a subject that interests you. RP prep is a great way to discover a subject in the age of YT and Wikipedia.

>guy deceives a woman
>she comes back as a ghost
>she get exorcised
>the samurai get away scot-free
The morale of these stories is strange.

That game was filled with so much despair and disturbing.

>Breath a sigh of relief I was able to escape from the infested school while pursued

by impeccable scary grinning principal. Shutting doors behind me to buy me seconds.

>The next stage literally begins where I ended, but now I'm a different character

going in the OPPOSITE direction. But at least I get a gun.

>Now the enemies are more grotesque, they are walking on all fours and they have

grown new insect faces while their human face has simply stopped functioning as a

face.

>The exit has now become an entrance to a more twisted version of the stage.

>Fuck this, I'm out.

Later I end up at a LAN party, most are spent or doing their own thing but I have two

friends watching over me this time, giving me the courage to continue.

>See a flashlight in the next classroom. I remind myself I actually have a gun and

rush into the classroom.

>The flashlight enemy is nowhere to be seen. One of my friends is like WTF.

>After making it to the the escape zone, I shut the door and TURN AROUND TO FIND I"VE

LOCKED MYSELF WITH THE NOW TENTACLED FACED PRINCIPAL. (Not that it mattered much

since escape was only a door away.

Personally I found what frustration there was to have with the mechanics of the game

and such actually made it more terrifying.

God damn it, apologies for the Greentext, never had to use it before.

What the fuck