u/Logical_Ad_5424

Hello, I'm an aspiring DM and I've also loved the Fears to Fathom franchise for years, in particular my favorite being the fourth entry: Ironbark Lookout. A few months ago I decided to make a D&D or D&D-adjacent TTRPG based on it and I have some ideas already, but I'm wondering what insight might work to make the story make sense or feel scary for my players. (My current plan is to use Monster of the Week and have 3-4 players in a non-magic/low-magic setting)

Firstly, the current premise is essentially that it is set in a massive rural western pine forest in 1888, the forest (called the Everbarrens forest) is currently being ailed by a Last of Us-style parasitic fungus that is infecting wildlife and turning the forest into a dangerous place, and the party needs to examine and neutralize the threat. The entire campaign takes place in this forest. The underlying plot however, is that there is an unnamed cult stalking the players throughout that is secretly controlling the parasite and they are revealed in the finale as the true, mysterious villains you must survive, not defeat. The party is made of pre-written characters for player to choose from, and you travel through various forest locations to meet certain NPCs and achieve certain goals, like talking to a fire lookout in Tower 26, acquiring a syringe or specimen containment device from the mines, all the while wondering why you're feeling watched.

That's a basic run-down of the idea I had in mind (although I have many more) for my inspired goal, that being: to create a TTRPG that captures the same original mystery, horror, and engaging atmosphere that Ironbark Lookout produced, and to make the premise similar in the sense that you are vulnerable while being stalked by a secret cult in a rural old-growth pine forest. This is also not set in the F2F universe itself, it is just very heavily inspired by the idea from episode 4. I've been wondering what I can do, like maybe scrapping the Last of Us parasite idea or changing the base time period, but any ideas for making this work would be very welcome, including but not limited to:

• Story ideas
• Backstory/lore ideas
• Tips on running a horror TTRPG
• Which game system to use (ie: modified D&D 5e, Monster of the Week, Call of Cthulhu, etc)
• How to replicate an atmosphere from a video game in a TTRPG

^ Unfinished map of the Everbarrens:

^ Idea for a Last of Us style zombie enemy infected by the parasite being controlled by the cult, plus some concept drawings of Ironbark-inspired cultist hoods/masks:

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As a follow up for anyone interested in reading my personal opinions and other ideas, I'll just start by saying that this campaign is not based on Scratch Creek or any other F2F episodes because it simply aims to capture the same specific atmosphere as episode 4. Ironically, even in the past 2+ years I've known of this franchise, I was only inspired a few months ago to put my idea into action... right before Scratch Creek came out. This is kind of a problem for me since in my opinion, while Scratch Creek has interesting lore revelations and I understand Rayll's desire to build upon an existing idea, I think the lore reveals and inclusion of the cult in the latest episode kind of takes away from the mystery and horrifying atmosphere that episode 4 had and retroactively taints the premise of Ironbark Lookout, (like finding out the name of the cult and who is in it) as well as the idea that these stories are not just separate events anymore, since the existence of the same cult kind of makes the series feel more like a cinematic universe rather than a realistic analog horror series.

This also kind of makes me feel conflicted about my own campaign since while I started writing it and developing the ideas about a month before episode 6 came out and I was solely basing it around episode 4, I've wondered if my players, if they know of F2F, will expect references from Scratch Creek or if I should include references or foundational lore ideas myself just for the sake of the worldbuilding and atmosphere. In truth, I would prefer to just keep it based on episode 4 due to that being my original plan anyway on top of the fact that I don't really like episode 6.

Let me know what you guys think

Hello, I'm an aspiring DM and I've also loved the Fears to Fathom franchise for years, in particular my favorite being the fourth entry: Ironbark Lookout. A few months ago I decided to make a D&D or D&D-adjacent TTRPG based on it and I have some ideas already, but I'm wondering what insight might work to make the story make sense or feel scary for my players. (My current plan is to use Monster of the Week and have 3-4 players in a non-magic/low-magic setting)

Firstly, the current premise is essentially that it is set in a massive rural western pine forest in 1888, the forest (called the Everbarrens forest) is currently being ailed by a Last of Us-style parasitic fungus that is infecting wildlife and turning the forest into a dangerous place, and the party needs to examine and neutralize the threat. The entire campaign takes place in this forest. The underlying plot however, is that there is an unnamed cult stalking the players throughout that is secretly controlling the parasite and they are revealed in the finale as the true, mysterious villains you must survive, not defeat. The party is made of pre-written characters for player to choose from, and you travel through various forest locations to meet certain NPCs and achieve certain goals, like talking to a fire lookout in Tower 26, acquiring a syringe or specimen containment device from the mines, all the while wondering why you're feeling watched.

That's a basic run-down of the idea I had in mind (although I have many more) for my inspired goal, that being: to create a TTRPG that captures the same original mystery, horror, and engaging atmosphere that Ironbark Lookout produced, and to make the premise similar in the sense that you are vulnerable while being stalked by a secret cult in a rural old-growth pine forest. This is also not set in the F2F universe itself, it is just very heavily inspired by the idea from episode 4. I've been wondering what I can do, like maybe scrapping the Last of Us parasite idea or changing the base time period, but any ideas for making this work would be very welcome, including but not limited to:

• Story ideas
• Backstory/lore ideas
• Tips on running a horror TTRPG
• Which game system to use (ie: modified D&D 5e, Monster of the Week, Call of Cthulhu, etc)
• How to replicate an atmosphere from a video game in a TTRPG

^ Unfinished map of the Everbarrens:

^ Idea for a Last of Us style zombie enemy infected by the parasite being controlled by the cult, plus some concept drawings of Ironbark-inspired cultist hoods/masks:

------------------------

As a follow up for anyone interested in reading my personal opinions and other ideas, I'll just start by saying that this campaign is not based on Scratch Creek or any other F2F episodes because it simply aims to capture the same specific atmosphere as episode 4. Ironically, even in the past 2+ years I've known of this franchise, I was only inspired a few months ago to put my idea into action... right before Scratch Creek came out. This is kind of a problem for me since in my opinion, while Scratch Creek has interesting lore revelations and I understand Rayll's desire to build upon an existing idea, I think the lore reveals and inclusion of the cult in the latest episode kind of takes away from the mystery and horrifying atmosphere that episode 4 had and retroactively taints the premise of Ironbark Lookout, (like finding out the name of the cult and who is in it) as well as the idea that these stories are not just separate events anymore, since the existence of the same cult kind of makes the series feel more like a cinematic universe rather than a realistic analog horror series.

This also kind of makes me feel conflicted about my own campaign since while I started writing it and developing the ideas about a month before episode 6 came out and I was solely basing it around episode 4, I've wondered if my players, if they know of F2F, will expect references from Scratch Creek or if I should include references or foundational lore ideas myself just for the sake of the worldbuilding and atmosphere. In truth, I would prefer to just keep it based on episode 4 due to that being my original plan anyway on top of the fact that I don't really like episode 6.

Let me know what you guys think