History NightmareFuel / OldWorldOfDarkness

* In the ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' sourcebook ''Technomancer's Toybox'', one of the items on display is a VCR developed by the Technocracy that makes the viewer believe whatever he sees on the video. It was originally developed to facilitate LaserGuidedAmnesia for the group's TheMenInBlack enforcers. Then a group of them decided to experiment on some guy by making him watch his kid's ''[[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney the Dinosaur]]'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' videos. Now the poor bastard spends all his time in front of his TV waiting for his little friends to come out and play with him again...

** The first edition of ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' featured the Seventh Generation, a cult that [[AdultFear kidnaps children]] and uses them as human sacrifices to the Wyrm. To the fandom's delight, King Albrecht and his allies slaughtered the cultists in the revised edition.

* In the ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' sourcebook ''Technomancer's Toybox'', one of the items on display is a VCR developed by the Technocracy that makes the viewer believe whatever he sees on the video. It was originally developed to facilitate LaserGuidedAmnesia for the group's TheMenInBlack enforcers. Then a group of them decided to experiment on some guy by making him watch his kid's ''[[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney the Dinosaur]]'' and ''TheSmurfs'' videos. Now the poor bastard spends all his time in front of his TV waiting for his little friends to come out and play with him again...

** And it gets worse. ''Wraith'' had an entire book dedicated to the Holocaust's effect on the world of the dead. The scariest parts of the book aren't related to the game, though; it's the passages describing what actually happened in real-life.

* [[EldritchAbomination The Earthbound]] from ''Demon: The Fallen''. Unlike the player characters, the lesser demons, these demons got out WAY before the [[WhamEpisode Avatar Storm,]] some almost millennia before. Unfortunately, they got stuck in ornate or symbolically important objects rather then humans with weak souls. How's that a bad thing? Well, they had no barrier to their own rage and bitterness like the demons released by the Avatar Storm and that eventually drove them to the deepest depths of madness and depravity. To make this worse, the first ones who got summoned from the Abyss? They were the big guns, the Five Lieutenants of Lucifer. All of them, down to the last one, either want to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy the world]] or [[EvilOverlord control it.]] And every single one them is not only [[PhysicalGod SUPER powerful,]] far more powerful then the average demon, but their tendrils stretch across into every facet of society. But, thankfully, most of them had gone to sleep and were still asleep for a couple of centuries before the Avatar Storm. Then the Avatar Storm, you know, happened. Now, they're starting to wake up.

* [[EldritchAbomination The Earthbound]] from ''Demon: The Fallen''. Unlike the player characters, the lesser demons, these demons got out WAY before the [[WhamEpisode Avatar Storm,]] some almost millennia before. Unfortunately, they got stuck in ornate or symbolically important objects rather then humans with weak souls. How's that a bad thing? Well, they had no barrier to their own rage and bitterness like the demons released by the Avatar Storm and that eventually drove them to the deepest depths of madness and depravity. To make this worse, the first ones who got summoned from the Abyss? They were the big guns, the Five Lieutenants of Lucifer. All of them, down to the last one, either want to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy the world]] or [[EvilOverlord control it.]] And every single one them is not only [[PhysicalGod SUPER powerful,]] far more powerful then the average demon, but their tendrils stretch across into every facet of society. But, thankfully, most of them had gone to sleep for a couple of centuries. Until the Avatar Storm came by to wake them up.

* [[EldritchAbomination The Earthbound]] from ''Demon: The Fallen''. Unlike the PCs, these demons got out WAY before the [[WhamEpisode Avatar Storm,]] some almost millennia before. Unfortunately, they got stuck in ornate or symbolically important objects. How's that a bad thing? Well, they had no barrier to their own rage and bitterness like the demons released by the Avatar Storm and that eventually drove them to the deepest depths of madness and depravity. To make this worse, the first ones who got summoned from the Abyss? They were the big guns, the Five Lieutenants of Lucifer. All of them, down to the last one, either desire the [[OmnicidalManiac destruction of the world]] or [[EvilOverlord control of it.]] And every single one them is not only [[PhysicalGod SUPER powerful,]] far more powerful then the average PC demon, but their tendrils stretch across into every facet of society. Oh, and the Avatar Storm? ''That'' was what started waking them up again.

** Strangely, this item also breaks the game if it ever turns up. The world of Mage centres on the idea that whatever enough people believe actually is true. The ability to make people believe in magic again would instantly solve all of the PCs problems.

* [[EldritchAbomination The]] [[CompleteMonster Earthbound]] from ''Demon: The Fallen''. Unlike the PCs, these demons got out WAY before the [[WhamEpisode Avatar Storm,]] some almost millennia before. Unfortunately, they got stuck in ornate or symbolically important objects. How's that a bad thing? Well, they had no barrier to their own rage and bitterness like the demons released by the Avatar Storm and that eventually drove them to the deepest depths of madness and depravity. To make this worse, the first ones who got summoned from the Abyss? They were the big guns, the Five Lieutenants of Lucifer. All of them, down to the last one, either desire the [[OmnicidalManiac destruction of the world]] or [[EvilOverlord control of it.]] And every single one them is not only [[PhysicalGod SUPER powerful,]] far more powerful then the average PC demon, but their tendrils stretch across into every facet of society. Oh, and the Avatar Storm? ''That'' was what started waking them up again.

* [[EldritchAbomination The]] [[CompleteMonster Earthbound]] from ''Demon: The Fallen''. Unlike the PCs, these demons got out WAY before the [[WhamEpisode Avatar Storm,]] some almost millennia before. Unfortunately, they got stuck in ornate or symbolically important objects. How's that a bad thing? Well, they had no barrier to their own rage and bitterness like the demons released by the Avatar Storm and that eventually drove them to the deepest depths of madness and depravity. To make this worse, the first ones who got summoned from the Abyss? They were the big guns, the Five Lieutenants of Lucifer. All of them, down to the last one, either desire the [[OmnicidalManiac destruction of the world]] or [[EvilOverlord control of it.]] And every single one them is not only [[PhysicalGodSUPER powerful,]] far more powerful then the average PC demon, but their tendrils stretch across into every facet of society. Oh, and the Avatar Storm? ''That'' was what started waking them up again.

* [[EldritchAbomination The]] [[CompleteMonster Earthbound]] from ''Demon: The Fallen''. Unlike the PCs, these demons got out WAY before the [[WhamEpisode Avatar Storm,]] some almost millennia before. Unfortunately, they got stuck in ornate or symbolically important objects. How's that a bad thing? Well, they had no barrier to their own rage and bitterness like the demons released by the Avatar Storm and that eventually drove them to the deepest depths of madness and depravity. To make this worse, the first ones who got summoned from the Abyss? They were the big guns, the Five Lieutenants of Lucifer. All of them, down to the last one, either desire the [[OmnicidalManiac destruction of the world]] or [[EvilOverlord control of it.]] And every single one them is not only SUPER powerful, far more powerful then the average PC demon, but their tendrils stretch across into every facet of society. Oh, and the Avatar Storm? ''That'' was what started waking them up again.

* [[ElderitchAbomnation The]] [[CompleteMonster Earthbound]] from ''Demon: The Fallen''. Unlike the PCs, these demons got out WAY before the [[WhamEpisode Avatar Storm,]] some almost millennia before. Unfortunately, they got stuck in ornate or symbolically important objects. How's that a bad thing? Well, they had no barrier to their own rage and bitterness like the demons released by the Avatar Storm and that eventually drove them to the deepest depths of madness and depravity. To make this worse, the first ones who got summoned from the Abyss? They were the big guns, the Five Lieutenants of Lucifer. All of them, down to the last one, either desire the [[OmnicidalManiac destruction of the world]] or [[EvilOverlord control of it.]] And every single one them is not only SUPER powerful, far more powerful then the average PC demon, but their tendrils stretch across into every facet of society. Oh, and the Avatar Storm? ''That'' was what started waking them up again.

** Strangely, this item also breaks the game if it ever turns up. The world of Mage centres on the idea that whatever enough people believe actually is true. The ability to make people believe in magic again, would instantly solve all of the PCs problems.

* Ken Meyer's illustrations for the original ''Players Guide to the Sabbat.'' Blood parties. Chainsaw artists. Creepy chicks emerging from mirrors. Evil jesters with bloody-mouthed kiddies? almost every image in this book embodies this trope to maximum effect.

* ''Kindred of the East'' has the sourcebook ''The Thousand Hells'', which details some of the [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Yomi Kings']] abyssal realms. Some are weird, some are depressing, and some are NightmareFuel on super-steroids. One of the ''nicer'' hells is basically a cosmic death camp, where the souls of the damned labor naked in salt mines for millennia until their very personalities are ground down into dust and mined by their replacements. And suffer all the [[HumansAreBastards venality, sadism and abuse]] of the corrupt trusties chosen from among their own numbers in the meantime, as these feverishly flaunt their petty little powers, and both they and the even more degraded masses of prisoners they oppress desperately struggle to survive for another week, day or even minute.

* The [[CircusofFear Midnight Circus]]. No PC is safe from it, no matter which game you are playing. Approach at your own risk.

* The first edition of ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' featured the Seventh Generation, a cult that [[AdultFear kidnaps children]] and uses them as human sacrifices to the Wyrm. To the fandom's delight, King Albrecht and his allies slaughtered the cultists in the revised edition.

* ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'' was ''made'' of this trope. The entire game was about psychological horror, screwed up internal conflict, evil shadowy voices constantly whispering your worst fears to you, an all-consuming eldritch power wanting to snack on your soul like a tic tac and make you into one of its soulless faceless soldiers, and, oh yeah, did we mention that you're ''dead when the game starts'', and that you're trapped in a dark, dreary, hopeless afterworld populated by other tortured souls? This is really just scratching the surface mind you. ''Wraith'' isn't just nightmare fuel, it's a frigging Nightmare Fuel perpetual motion machine that [[SerialEscalation runs off of nightmare fuel and then produces more nightmare fuel than was put it to get it started!]] ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' is the only White Wolf game that might have been more grim and depressing. ''Might''!

** In relation to that: Cathedral of Flesh. Which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. It's hard to tell what's more nausea-inducing, the fact that it's a freakin' flesh-church where the pieces are ''still alive'' or the fact that the Tzimisce who's talking about it is doing so with such [[CompleteMonster loving nostalgia]].

* ''WraithTheOblivion'' was ''made'' of this trope. The entire game was about psychological horror, screwed up internal conflict, evil shadowy voices constantly whispering your worst fears to you, an all-consuming eldritch power wanting to snack on your soul like a tic tac and make you into one of its soulless faceless soldiers, and, oh yeah, did we mention that you're ''dead when the game starts'', and that you're trapped in a dark, dreary, hopeless afterworld populated by other tortured souls? This is really just scratching the surface mind you. ''Wraith'' isn't just nightmare fuel, it's a frigging Nightmare Fuel perpetual motion machine that [[SerialEscalation runs off of nightmare fuel and then produces more nightmare fuel than was put it to get it started!]] ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' is the only White Wolf game that might have been more grim and depressing. ''Might''!

** In relation to that: Cathedral of Flesh. Which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. I don't know what's more nausea-inducing, the fact that it's a freakin' flesh-church where the pieces are ''still alive'' or the fact that the Tzimisce who's talking about it is doing so with such [[CompleteMonster loving nostalgia]].

* ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' has Fomori, people infested by Banes (spirits corrupted by the Wyrm). BodyHorror aplenty, twisting the poor soul into something horrifying. Once infested, it is all but impossible to separate the Bane from the person's soul (especially without killing them), meaning that when they finally die they probably get to spend the rest of eternity in Malfeas, where they will be tormented and tortured for the rest of time. And the worst part about them? Just how easy it is to become one; if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, you can have one shoved down your throat. If your soul suffered damage through traumatic events, a bane can sneak in those cracks and corrupt you from the inside out. And most horrifying of all, an entire umbrella organisation, Pentex, is dedicated to spreading these things through their subsidiaries. Get IVF through one? The baby is born a Fomori. Buy TabletopGames from [[TakeThatUs Black Dog]]? Have fun as they turn you into a monster. Want to stop for some fast food? Enjoy the unwanted passengers. And once they're in, you're doomed to a FateWorseThanDeath.

The HighOctaneNightmareFuel page for ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness''