Silent Hill Inspired Horror

Visible, throbbing, bulging parasites.

A maniac school shooter like type dude that desires affection but doesn't know how to do it.

Heaps of sexual epiphets.

And above all, as with all horror, no lucid responses. Make 'em like an animal.

I'd disagree, user, if only because when players have it, say as part of their backstory, they are not confronting it. It is "safe" because they do not need to face it, they "control" it, so it has no power.
In creative medium, I wouldn't even call it overused or that it has any bearing, because subjecting your players to that possibility is far different. It's why the rape in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was far more visceral than in most novels.
Be careful, you run the risk of desensitizing the player. The examples double down on female vulnerability.
However, I like much of because many of them carry themes of the unknowable mystery and brazenly weird element that is male sexuality towards women.
I would further break expectations by changing it to this
>A shadowy man, finely dressed but features are a blur. It moves innocuously, if a little furtively. Allow it to get too close and it spouts vitriol whether you attack or flee--not literal vitriol, but insults, how you're ungrateful for its attention, crazy for rejecting it, a bitch for not doing what it wants.
The real line is making it threatening enough to discourage a violent response, but innocuous enough for it to not be immediately disregarded. The balance line between enforcing the classic horror theme of "You are helpless to stop it" and real life societal norms, but I worry that this would piss a female player off too much in the long run.

>I worry that this would piss a female player off too much in the long run.

Some of them are based on complaints I've heard from women, like "He grabbed my ass, and when I called him on it, he said I was making things up for attention!"

So, you know, some of them might hit a little close to home for some people.

Hard to base oppressive fear on sexual harassment alone, you gotta amp it up.
I find that coming close to the bullseye, but skirting around it to let the players jump on it themselves is best.

It's sort of interesting that all these ideas highlight the female as the victim, while things like Silent Hill's Nurses or Mannequins highlight the male as the predator.

What would a monster that plays with the role of female as predator be like?

That depends. What did the woman trapped in Silent Hill do that she feels guilty about, and specifically makes her feel like a predator?

I would say Maria in SH2 is such. She is constantly drawing James in, tempting him to her, for the precise purpose of punishing him by dying before his eyes.
You mean Angela in SH2?
She was molested by her father, and either she killed him, or her mother did, and she fled to SH.

I dunno, it could be lots of things. You could play with elements of guilt over breaking up relationships marriages, jealousy, guilt from or desire for infidelity, guilt over promiscuity. Really anything that a girl could feel bad about.

Gotta know your audience, as well.
Being able to tap into personal fears is a good way to evoke the response you are looking for.
I once had a player who HATED feet, found them disgusting, so I, for a lark, had their character attacked by disembodied stone feet, narrating how they could feel the TOES digging into their skin.
After returning to the table to cuss me out, I responded that I can, and will, use personal elements if I feel it is warranted to force the emotional response I want. Gross emotional manipulation is in the GM's toolbox.

I disagree with pretty much all of this for anything silent hill inspired. It's supposed to be about what the monster represents sexually. James didn't just fight various flavors of his own fetishes. They were representative of his sexuality overall, both his masculinity and his views towards femininity. And having them vocalize in any way the player can understand makes it less alien, and takes away from the psychological aspect of it.

This is kind of drawing from personal preference, so maybe this isn't universal for all women. Some of the key points I can think of for the masculine sexual element are feeling protected, feeling devalued, feeling overpowered, feeling desired, and feeling like you're outputting some sort of use to the other person Guess my fetishes. I dare you.

For femininity, there's innocence and maternal instinct. There's also a pretty severe fear of abandonment, or being replaced. I find this to be pretty common among friends of mine who grew up with younger sisters. That being said, these are some monsters that come to mind immediately.

>a monster that looks like a traditional, athletic male body. I'll call it the Abuser. Its behavior will vary depending on what monsters are around. I'd see it being completely helpful around the "masculine" monsters, fighting them off. When no monsters are around, it stays close to the player, forcing them down paths and hallways it chooses. If the player tries to go somewhere else, it drags them back. IF the player continues to do so, it attacks them (just once, at first). If they continue to go against the monster, it will kill them, but with enough pauses that the player could go back the way they're "supposed" to go and be "forgiven". The Abuser will also frequently abandon the player in dire situations (the odds of this go up if the player intentionally activates enemies or tries to exploit the Abuser's help.

>continued

>Abstract daddies are already a silent hill enemy made from female psychosexual trauma, so use them wholesale. The Abuser will fight these if he's around

>An amalgamate of "girlhood" symbols. thin legs in ballet shoes, a tutu, proportions of a doll, "frolics" instead of walks, etc. The idea is to represent innocence, and the corruption thereof. The Abuser ignores these entirely, and may even lead the player into their path (whether directly or by blocking other routes).

>A monster that has a metal frame like a bondage rack, with hands on the connecting ropes. The hands try to pull the player onto the rack, where they strangle them to death. The Abuser will fight these if he is around.

>Monsters that look like a fetus with a large, shackle-like limb reaching off of it. They latch onto the player, slowing them down and making them easier to hit. After both hands have been shackled (and assuming the player doesn't struggle free), the last shackle will close around the players throat, pinning them down to be overwhelmed by enemies. The Abuser will not attack these enemies, but will kill the player if they are fully "locked down" and he is around.

>This one might be less feminine, but it's a personal one. Something that represents whatever the character is, but better. I'll call them Pretties. Probably a sexy nurse expy at first glance, but essentially, it'd just take the main character, make them hyperidealized sexually, and then add the monster bits. For me, it'd be a "sexy" artist (however you want to imagine that. I imagine it'd change depending on the girl). The Abuser will abandon the player to protect one of these Pretties, leaving the player to either fight them both or to flee. Aside from this, the pretties would move with shocking grace and fluidity. They would attack by grabbing and tearing at the player's skin.

Just wanted to say I'd totally a blobhead nurse

>spoiler
>DD/LG

>taking notes, this is good shit
How personal is the line when it comes to the GM using your own headcase as a hinge for the horror?
What is something they could use on you that would cross the line of good scary to bad scary?

I was being sarcastic. I basically threw the answer up in neons.

Here's the thing. If my fiance ran a horror game for me (which he has), and used my personal traumas against me just because he knows they'll get a reaction, that's bad. That will never not be a dick move.

The way to do it right is to remember that whatever horror your presenting is supposed to be horrifying to the character. If the player is roleplaying correctly, they'll be plenty scared, because they'll be in the mindset of their character. That being said, if your players make characters that share some of their traumas, it's pretty likely that they want those things to be explored. In that case, it swings full circle, and you should definitely incorporate those elements into your horror.

Since this is anonymous and only one person I know goes on Veeky Forums, I'll be open with my example.

If I make a middle-aged male archeology professor who cheats on his wife with his students, the horror should represent that. It shouldn't represent my mother shooting me up with strange substances when I was 9 or flushing my still-living goldfish down the toilet when I was 6. Those are really extreme examples, but it should demonstrate the divide pretty clearly.

>I was being sarcastic. I basically threw the answer up in neons.
Was I right? >:3
>It shouldn't represent my mother shooting me up with strange substances when I was 9 or flushing my still-living goldfish down the toilet when I was 6
I can use this, yes I can. This is soooo educational.
I feel bad because most people won't know what that is from.
Alright, so take it easy on the blatant ripping of real life... unpleasantries. Would you count using a person's anxiety or body issues as a fulcrum alongside that?

Have moments of hope and relief so you don't beat down your players.

Make them question their own actions.

Everybody would.

>Was I right
Yes.

>anxiety or body issues

Those are pretty universal to be honest, so I'd say they're fair game

Make them question each other.

>Things that would scare you personally.

That's what silent hill is made out of, desu. It's super cheesy, but my internal self is like shirou from FSN, in that I actually have a pretty severe martyr complex and try to save everyone I can. Having shit that proved that I was powerless to help anyone, or punishing me for my altruism would be pretty good for my personal silent hill. would probably get me pretty good if it looked a little more like a crouched over human and less like a puddle of flesh and legs

Yeah, everybody is trying to make extremely scary or ugly monsters for girls, but forgetting that everybody genuinely adores the nurses. They're perfect qts.

>Yes.
I could never find a girl into that, despite my interest. I'll withhold my envy.
>fair game
One of the girls is overweight, the other has anxiety issues such that I literally broke her, ooc by criticizing a decision she made, for an hour. She had a full fledged panic attack. I have little guilt about it, however, as at the time, we were bringing up the things that was causing us to enjoy the game less.

Because the nurses are the only qts in the game. They're joined by the "lusty lips" (or fiendish lips, I don't remember), the mannequins, and Mary herself in SH2. They're in the minority of actually-not-terribly-horrifying to look at.

Mannequins are cute too.

Till you get surrounded by 3 and they beat you to death.
It's like Homecoming nurses, tits, ass, and legs everywhere, until 2 of them straight up gank you.

...

>>What kinds of things would scare you personally?

I dunno, a Trump monster might be too close home.

Seriously tough, I don't think a silenthillesque game should have a normal "party". Id' shift the focus on (mostly) isolated players, each one prowling his personal nighmarescape.

>I could never find a girl into that, despite my interest

Probably because you have a sense of self-preservation and avoid the stereotypical red flags associated with crazy women They're true. I was a lost cause when we met. It took literal years of my fiance talking me out of hysterics before I could accept that I liked something that was basically reenacting my childhood abuse, and several months before I could get the big softy to actually be rough with me the way I like

But yeah, look for crazy-dyed hair, piercings, dangerous malnutrition, and drug abuse. Then spend 6 years being driven absolutely nuts being someone's personal psychiatrist/big brother/life coach/father figure. And then you too can have a girl whose into DD/LG who won't snap and kill you while you sleep! Out of the two friends I have who I can admit aren't crazy, neither of them are into it. The ones who look like we should all be in the same band have almost identical fetishes to me.

It's probably better this way.
It took almost 10 years for me to get enough bile in myself to focus my uncontrollable temper, perfectionist tendencies and self loathing towards making my life better, overcoming alcohol abuse, smoking, years worth of bad blood with my parents, the molestation and just as many years of bitterness about my childhood.
The end result was a moderately acceptable new me that I can proudly say I did myself, by myself, for myself. Now I just wanna settle down and be a family man, lol. My proclivities, however, were something I came to grips with a long time ago, and I still carry the fear that I would take someone that needed... care, and concern, and just try to mold them into what I wanted them to be, breaking them further.
I think I've already done that several times, and it honestly wears on my heart more than anyone knows.
As it comes to personal horror for myself, I know that a few big ones are fear of failing my loved ones and companions, the abuse of trust, being denied my own competence or personal strength, the fear of helplessness.
A GM once intentionally rung one of those bells, and I never let him know just how much it stung me.

I beg to differ.
Silent Hill had some of it's best moments when you intruded on someone else's nightmare.
Every scene with Angela, for instance. Shit, all of SH1 was Alessa's nightmare, literally everything she was afraid of thrown at Harry.

Subtlety is important too. The monsters in Silent Hill are representative of fears, worry, guilt, desires, etc etc, but not openly. Sure Nurses have tig ol bitties but they also do more fucking damage than any of the other enemies at that level and swing pipes that knock a third of your goddamn health down in a single swing and are horrible masses of meat.

Mannequins look like sexylegs yeah, but they also look like fucking mannequin legs.

Lying Figures represent illness but that's only AFTER you learn everything about James' story and life with Mary.

Just throwing in monsters that basically scream THIS IS YOUR CHILDHOOD TRAUMA, LIVE IT, FAGGOT isn't Silent Hill. Put some effort in.

That's true, but I think they shone brightly because they were far and far between in a ocean of literal solipsism.

At the very least, I have problems thinking about the encounters the characters make in SH3 -all the "what game is THIS one playing?"- with a group of PCs.

Not sure if I would.

I think about it haven't been able to draw any conclusions...

Something I found personally scary was that pretty boy from SH3 I forget his name "They look like monster to you?" What got too me was this one line he had where he says he finds the demon world fascinating.
Now imagine that there's this guy who as far as you can tell is perfectly normal yet he somehow is just right at home in this nightmarish place. He moves about freely, the monsters seem to ignore or maybe even welcome him and he's not bothered by any traps or puzzles that might hinder the players. Here you are fighting for your life and there he is just going about his day like any other.
Plot twist: in the end it turns out he was one of the monsters, he represents envy for people who have it better than you. He doesn't attack, just distracts you from what's important.

...

Sounds like something I'd get in my personal Silent Hill...

A creature representing sexual frustration would be interesting but not like the lying figures or nurses. Something more like a figure that looks like the ideal form of what you want in a romantic partner at a slight distance but as you get closer it changes. If you detest smoking it begins to exude an acrid tobacco/weed scent and occasionally has a horrendous bout hacking while lurching, hating drunkness will cause it to smell of it and stumble about gracelessly, etc.

When you get away from it though it once more resembles what you most desire and signals you to come closer or slowly approaches you...

I'm likely spending my Valentine's Day alone and single...

I've got my own ideas of silent that I want to share:
The environments represent different stages in the development of psychology as a science.
>starting area:
Tiny demons piloting human meat suits, having to crack open heads to release said demons, begging for help from mysterious figures, "holy men" binding and dragging monsters and humans into isolation cells
>middle area:
fused masses of human and animal body parts that birth monsters, perfect families that kill or attempt to lynch deviants based on esoteric trials, doctors armed with syringes fighting back swarms of patients
>End Area:
Graffiti of genetic sequences and chemical equations are scrawled on surfaces, various sources of light filtering through MRI imaging printed on film, monsters shapeshift based on hormone injector implants, the level of damage that characters have received determines their perception

Now imagine having to depend on this guy with your life and progress through the nightmare.
I'm imagining a segment where you have to get a key from chamber filled with monsters. You could use up a lot of resources to get it yourself but the "partner" is willing to do it for free.
Only problem is that the key is chained and locked to the wall and and your partner has to solve a puzzle by communicating with you over radio and closed circuit TV. He cooperates initially but then starts making demands or fooling around.

Each area asks the player character to define themselves in a new way:
>Starting Area:
Occupation, hometown, gender
>middle area:
race, ego-archetype, id-archetype
>Final Area:
Psychological Disorder, Neurological Disorder

Depending on how they answered determines abilities and difficulty

>Starting Area:
>>Occupation, hometown, gender
>middle area:
>>race, ego-archetype, id-archetype
>Final Area:
>>Psychological Disorder, Neurological Disorder

This combined with what was shown by is a great fucking template for figuring out how to psychologically torture a character.

Xenomorph. They're more female presenting than male presenting.

The twist at the end is that you created the nightmare by either:
>Being a medical historian who overdosed on painkillers, you were hallucinating as you slowly died
>suffering from dementia because you are 100 years old, born in a poor country and then moved to a rich one
>you didn't create the nightmare, you got caught in the fused hellish mindscape of the above characters and can thus escape back to reality

Aw shit, I meant ask you what you thought of my ideas, but I forgot to type it in.
Thank you, now I'm nervous but I'm going to continue sharing ideas

Anyways I'm putting the ideas I've previously posted under the title "Silent Hill: Progress" or something like that

I got this other idea: "Silent Hill: Tower"
>Player Characer wakes up in a hoarders house filled with trash
>PC goes outside, the sky is grey with fog or brown with ash
>Starting house is on a little cul-de-sac, the other houses are boarded and barricaded
>Following the street, it separates a park from a grocery store
>Tall electrified fences intertwined with barbed wire stand behind everything seen
>Asphault street ends in front of a skyscraper that reaches into the clouds
>Each floor of the tower is configured differently and hosts different kind of monsters
>PC alternates between dungeon crawling the tower and recovering at the cul-de-sac

Continued:
>You don’t buy food at the grocery store
>Each time you encounter an enemy, a new item in the store appears that corresponds to the monster
>When you put the item into check out, the store goes into lockdown, the monster appears
>different configurations of monsters unlocks special things

What system(s) would work for an SH style game?

Have an attractive female NPC that seems friendly, and endears herself to the party, becoming an asset to them over time. Slowly have her become insane, asking unreasonable things and getting very angry at them if they disagree with her requests. A loving voice that grinds away your will is scary, man...

Yeah but they impregnate you which seems like a more female fear.

Definitely use the hospital elevator trick from the first SH. I love this one and it translates great into RPG.

Something representing a hurt children perhaps?

So what are some ideas for worldbuilding in a Silent Hill like horror setting? It's easy to make everything a big haunted wasteland with wandering monsters, but what if the creatures had their own religions or civilizations?

Bad idea, you are making them knowable and relatable, which greatly impedes the fear factor.

How did that go over?

On one hand, I agree, on the other couldn't PCs already know each other and be some kind of group? Then you could play on their group's past, guilts and fears as well as on their individual ones. Sort of like in King's Dreamcatcher. Also what other user said.

The point of it all was to place the character in a maximum stress situation to trigger a plot point.
I got what I was looking for.
The player in question never really said much, but another player said she was engrossed, repulsed, and terrified for the victim in equal measure, and horrified that I would actually go down that road.
>The downside is that the player has since always been a little hesitant to engage with me when I run a game, so maybe I pushed a little too far

WoD I think is the obvious choice.

the uncanny works great for me, you know, when things are kind of normal but something feels just off.

You know I bet you could work with that if you had a character with major social anxiety. I'm imagining in the final act the whole town is full of people that look like this just going about their day even with the monsters running around attacking the player. His escape gets cut off by a group just standing around in an alleyway. In order to solve puzzles he has to interact with these people who have sort of odd customs.

>no eyes to see your tiny weeny
>no mouth to tell anyone about either

Don't. For one thing this isn't the case for silent hill its not one large wasteland it's a town and it is only like this for the main characters, for people not being punished or dragged in everything is pretty normal(Lara from SH2 confirms this), another thing to think of is that SH2 shows that in that kind of situation the town looks different for all being punished, James, Eddie, and Angela all see things differently, Eddies world looks like his boss room, and Angelas looks like the flaming stairwell at these points they are overlapping their nightmare to James, so you can work with that.

While their is a lot of talk of sexuality in the monsters this is not as common as people think, only SH2, and SH3 of the original games use this and 3 uses is sparingly, pic related

>sexy and offputting for females?

Abusive relationships? Girls are told they should be attracted to "bad boys", and since 50 shades of grey became a mainstream culture phenomenon, a lot of girls are even more open to this mindset. I mean, "choke me daddy" is a fucking mainstream meme now.

The thing is, the "bad boy" archetype is completely based on the idea that somewhere deep inside him he really cares for you, and all the almost-abusive bullshit is just an act to try and impress his girl. When you take that out, it's just a sick relationship.

Make a "perfect" guy. He's confident, agressive, takes what he wants and is in every way the cliche alpha male. He's also a cannibal. He has a harem of girls with an arm, an ear or a leg amputated and eaten, but they still want his dick.

Maternal figures.
I grew up in a very abusive household. I wasn't beat very often, but we didn't pass a day without my mother shouting at me and humiliating me for a reason or another. That may sound tame, but when you grow up in this situation all your life, it just... chips away at your emotional resistance, you know?

To this day I feel extremely unconfortable when in "family" environments, because I know how much abuse is happening just below the surface. I'm a fucking 22 year old man and I stil panic a little when my mother screams at me.

I place a lot of pride in my intellect and observational skills, so the best horror for me is the kind that fucks with the senses and makes them untrustworthy.

The whole "am I seeing things? What was that movement?" "I heard a noise but there's nothing else around to make that noise" "my eyes say this is a cliff, but I can clearly feel a floor." "I'd swear this door went somewhere else." Sort of thing.

If I can't trust my own information gathering tools then I'm really in danger.

t. Norman Bates

Fantasy Flight's The End of the World
Dogs in the Vineyard
Dread is perfect if you have a Jenga tower
Gumshoe
CoC

To be fair, you can take a lot of horror from social situations, like said.

I mean, Kafka's works are social horror to the core. The Metamorphosis is all about feeling small and powerless before your family and society.
BUT I don't see much of a point in making monsters and social horror in the same place, because in social horror humans are already monsters. Trading them for bubblehead nurses kinda numbs the impact.

Bumping, because it's a quality thread.

I'd say Don't Rest Your Head. I think it even got a Silent Hill hack.

Well, that's true, but most of the monsters for Heather have a "feminine" side to it.

God is unwanted pregnancy; the closer is a symbol of greed, but it's female figure (like, the temptation of shopping? Vanity?) with a labia for a face; missionary/scraper might be or might be not considered as such, but the abortion connection is worth talking about; don't even get me started about the split worm; insane cancer always had this "big disgusting naked guy suffocating Heater" thing for me, though people mostly connect it to cancer/growth of something inside you; slurpers are baby-like; numb bodies are embryos/stillborn babies; and the sewer monster is a fucking umbilical cord, at least for what we see of it.

So... I guess pendulum and double heads are more generic? I see people connecting pendulums to giving birth (babies are born with the head first) but it's kinda of a stretch to me.

Oddly enough, I think Alessa herself is kinda out of that jazz. Uh.

Soooo, what about male fears? Well, in S2 there is a metric ton of them. I dare to say every single of them is a manly fear, execpt from the creeper and possibly the prisoners. But, interestingly, they seem to be something James fears about himself: all these themes of violent sexualization of others, with SM tones. Even Pyramid Head himself to me always felt like what he fears he himself might be deep down, or what he did to Mary.

This sounds true to me, as an adult (and hopefully not that much crazy) male. I mean, it is something extremized by his personal story, but a "manly monster" angle for sex might be something like this.
Heather's ones are perhaps too kid-like to generalize much?

(notice that Angela's Abstract Daddy seems kinda like a mirror of his fears, in reverse. If she sees what James and we see, of course. Still, this might be interesting for thematically describing monsters for each player in a SH rpgs)

BTW, found the Don't Rest Your Head Hack, but surprinsingly enough it's something from my country, and apparently was never translated into english.

>Soooo, what about male fears?

Bear with me here, but cucking. Not "I started dating this girl two months ago but found out she's been sleeping around!?". I mean someone you've been with for years, to whom you recently popped the question. Someone who you thought was truly special, and who (you believed) saw something truly special in you.

Then you walk in on her getting plowed by some other guy and clearly enjoying herself. Not only that, but she later tells you she cheated on you with the other guy because of something really superficial.

Although, you may want to be careful here. Apparently, this is some people's magical realm. I can't imagine why.

>Even Pyramid Head himself to me always felt like what he fears he himself might be deep down, or what he did to Mary.

I figured it was something like this. I don't really buy the "James is secretly a rapist" angle. I think it's more his guilt over the euthanasia, and his mixed feelings about the motive behind it. PH was like someone telling James that he's no BETTER than a rapist - someone who violently uses women and discards them when it's convenient.

Hrm, I guess. Tough it's not a male-only fear.

Some monster abducting the girl, but as the game progress, perhaps...

1) it's clearer that she prefers "it".
2) The monster is the player character (when he loses control?), or more precisely a distorted (or BETTER) version of him.
3) It becomes clear that the monster itself is somehow a project of the PC desiders.

Mix or select. Don't do the actual scene of her having sex, of course, and dialogue (a là James with Maria) should be incoclusive.

To be more faithful to the games this shit should be about the past of the character, of course...

>personally I don't think he's a rapist: he feels guilty about how he treated her during Mary. I'm not even totally sure he DID kill her, felt a little ambiguos.

It's less "another man's bangin mah gurl" and more "everything I felt and trusted and valued has been a cruel lie".

You should work the betrayal angle instead of the sexual inferiority one. Have a monster with an angelic (masculine or feminine, as this isn't exclusively a male fear although I don't think, speaking in broad strokes, women experience as much anxiety specifically focused on it as men do) that heals the pcs or something. Maybe it could work like a "save point" - it gives the player a jewel that can teleport them to it.

About 3/4 of the way through the campaign, have it try to feed the player to a bigger boss monster. It could look on, laughing, as the player fights the new beastie.

Nah, women can be jealous alright. The problem is that they're more focused on the emotional aspect, so in a way the threat they perceive is less... hrm, frequent, perhaps? in a society where you have to work distant from home. They probably have more problems, oddly enough, with us having female friends (which both part of the couple know).

Like the angel thing.

Anyway, don't want to sound like /pol/, so back on topic. Suppose that I would like to try to have my cult a little less christian-cenric, at least aesthetically. Suggestions? Was thinking about shinto-like features, the forest/nature theme (I realized it's not really silent-hillish, but whatever, woods can be scary alright) but I'm not sure about the angle to use for the myths.

It depends on where you're setting the campaign. The SH cult had christian-like imagery because it was a splinter from the local religion.

The spoopy shit from Silent Hill is something alien and sadistic that adopts twisted versions of familiar forms.

I don't know much about Shintoism, so I can't give you anything specific. Maybe take something monstrous and disturbing, but give it faint resemblance to a sacred Shinto symbol so that the cult takes this as evidence they're unquestionably in the right.

Any kind of paganism would fit, frankly. These new age neopagans talking about pachamama or whatever don't understand how actual paganism worked.

Out of Dharmic or Abrahamic, most religions are very clear about who the gods are: creatures that exist, are powerful beyond imagination and very short tempers. Just look at the greek and celtic myths.
Old-school paganism was much more about appeasing the gods and striking deals with them than actual worship. You worshipped your ancestors because they cared about you, and appeased the gods because they see you as insignificant and WILL fuck your shit up if you don't show proper respect.

youtube.com/watch?v=BnvyKHMBipc
I recommend this video and a few of Ragnaroxs other work on Silent Hill. Might be good for inspiration.

Also, I always liked the idea of a cult pulling an unwilling god out of the ether. Like, instead of worshipping it lovecraft-style, they actively chain the god to earth to do their bidding, and this is obviously painful for him.

Mediums incarnating the god weep and moan nonstop, asking again and again to be left alone. If they get the chance, they will commit suicide.

Actual physical manifestations of the god are pitiful malformed things with misshappen limbs, that emit a droning welp and live for weeks at most before convulsing and dying, unless chained to a special machine. Their eyes are disturbingly human and emit an almost unbearable sadness.

The cult is so obsessed with worshipping the god's repeated incarnations, martyrdoms and sacrifices that they don't even understand that the poor thing just want to be left alone. Their rituals feature plenty of rusty surgical tools, as well as a bejeweled forceps.

Pros: actually kinda related to shintoism (the gods of the earth weren't chained, unless by stupid marriages, but it fits; the stillborn thing is related to izanami and izanagi's first son)

Cons: don't really see the connection with the hallucinogenic/reality bending SH qualities

I always saw the reality bending of SH to go hand in hand with the japanese view on karma and hauntings.

Do you know how karma works in japanese culture?
The "good actions bring good karma, bad actions bring bad karma" view is Hindu, not buddhist. In buddhism, ALL karma is "bad". It's like... a miasma you gain from interfering with the wordly matters - and since buddhism is all about leaving the physical world, they consider all karma to be ultimately bad for you. The more you have, the more you will be bound by your Fate, for better and for worse. Your actions will have greater consequences both physical and spiritual.

But even in this view some karmas are worse than others. Things such as stealing, lying and murder of both humans and animals will give you LOADS of Karma, that will stick not only to you but to the place such acts happened. Put enough evil acts in a place, and the Karma begins doing weird shit such as portals and reality bending.
That's why japanese ghosts are so weird. Western ghosts are someone's spirit incapable of moving on, japanese ghosts are creatures from lower realms that came to feast on the evil karma.

This spiritual view is the essence of Silent Hill, even if it was mixed with psychology. It's also a very good hand-waive when trying to explain reality fuckery.

Shinto is VERY syncretic, and the buddhist view of karma fit perfectly with Yomi, the underworld. Yomi is an underground realm hidden between the roots of the Earth, from wich all physical life comes and to wich everyone goes when they die (unless they achieve illumination or reincarnate... it's complicated) Yomi, as both the place of origin of all that is living and breathing and the place of resting for the dead, is BURSTING with karma. That's why it's full of demons and monsters. Also, you got Izanami there suffering for eternity because Izanagi rejected her.

So what I'm saying is... if you're going full shinto, it's very easy to make reality fuckery. Just say the accumulated karma generated, like this idea about the cult torturing its god, made the place come alive.