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[Pipeweeeeed]

According to Cado's Magical Journey, they are just critters of the 'shadow realm' which is merged together with the prime material plane at nighttime. But I agree that they should stop attacking as they become training dummies after a while 

[Stormcloudy]

That's the thing though. Why should they? We know your Legendary+26 Axedwarf in full steel will use a training sword on them to grind easily and fearlessly, but what concrete threshold do you pass to reach that point?

Perhaps a kill count? A Mother Beast that will occasionally spawn for short periods of time, with a different message - like the mothership in Space Invaders - the death of which would label you "too dangerous" or have a stink of death, or a trinket or title or Secret?

I like the bogeymen, myself. Even if I am autoattacking them. The peasants make note that it just takes a strong enough fighter to kill them. I agree that they seem like a collective consciousness thing. Like hot food and not going to the toilet near camp.

What I do find strange, though, is that bogeymen still attack Necromancers and Vampires. At least this adventurer. I would think that being a night creature myself I'd be immune to that.

[Neonivek]

Night creature is more of a sweeping common theme like the word "Monster" or "Alien".

They arn't really on the same side.

[Supersnes]

I do agree that it would make perfect sense if the Boogeymen couldn't manifest to those who do not fear the dark (Such as nocternal creatures).

I will say that I believe the dark is supposed to be a primal fear that cannot be normally overcome. As well that non-intelligent creatures should also not see boogeymen.

So yes I support that Nocternal creatures should not be visited by Boogeymen... or creatures that wouldn't fear them anyhow (as a reason why Dragons for example arn't killed by boogeymen)

An interesting viewpoint that I had not considered. I always assumed they were some fairy-esque creature, like malevolent wilo wisps.

I agree with Cheesemaker though, I don't think they should outright vanish.

Perhaps if they are a manifestation of your fears, they should provide a noticeable effect on your combat capabilities. Instead of 'X strikes the bogeyman' it will say 'X flails mindlessly at the bogeyman' and you suffer some sort of damage penalty. After all, if you're scared out of your mind you're not going to be able to deliver a sturdy strike. Willpower should allow you to resist this.

Maybe they're a manifistation of fear of the dark, but not neccessarily your fear of the dark.  As long as some timid prey shivers in the night they'll still exist.

They are part of the collective consciousness. So long as you share that Primal fear, you can be attacked.

Following the idea of the boogeyman being a manifestation of fear and a hive mind, could the boogeyman be a creature the merely takes on the form of what the character/npcs fear to feed and prolong/increase its power and decrease the player/npc ability to retaliate.  Areas with high levels of night creature will have large amounts of boogeymen since they have plenty of villagers that will be under constant anxiety and fear.  The boogeyman could be an almost Freddie Kruger/Paranoia Agent (Lil' Slugger) esque entity whose power/influence is determined by "scavenging" on the amount of people who believe/fear in that area.  Even in areas with low amounts of fear, boogeymen can scrape along by attacking wanderers and if desperate other night creatures.

[Radiant_Phoenix]

Following the idea of the boogeyman being a manifestation of fear and a hive mind, could the boogeyman be a creature the merely takes on the form of what the character/npcs fear to feed and prolong/increase its power and decrease the player/npc ability to retaliate.  Areas with high levels of night creature will have large amounts of boogeymen since they have plenty of villagers that will be under constant anxiety and fear.  The boogeyman could be an almost Freddie Kruger/Paranoia Agent (Lil' Slugger) esque entity whose power/influence is determined by "scavenging" on the amount of people who believe/fear in that area.  Even in areas with low amounts of fear, boogeymen can scrape along by attacking wanderers and if desperate other night creatures.

If this is done, it should respect [NOFEAR] and similar tags, as well as the presence or absence of other creatures that spook people in the dark and the light. e.g.:

• Creatures with [NOEMOTION] never add to bogeyman strength, and are unlikely to be attacked when traveling without fear-feeling creatures
• Dragons decrease the strength of non-draconic bogeymen in their areas (Why would I be scared of that when there's a DRAGON out there!)
• Vampires make bogeymen stronger in their area when they drain people to death at night
• having a high ratio of party combat strength to party fear susceptibility (determined by both [NOFEAR] etc, WILLPOWER, and personality values) should make bogeymen less likely to attack you when other targets are available

Additionally:

• [EVIL] and/or [SAVAGE] biomes generally strengthen bogeymen
• [GOOD] and/or tame biomes generally weaken bogeymen
• If your fortress is sufficiently weak, and its members sufficiently frightened, bogeymen should be able to siege
• If bogeymen are strong enough, they should attack (fearful) merchants, which should either cause future merchants to send more guards (if there's profit), or stop coming (otherwise)
• Sufficiently large (dark) indoor areas should be able to spawn bogeymen
• It should be possible to create light sources and other items (such as weapons and armor) and features (such as sentry towers) that reduce the fearfulness of those in range

[NW_Kohaku]

Night creature is more of a sweeping common theme like the word "Monster" or "Alien".

They arn't really on the same side.

The thing is, again, what this functionally does is make vampires afraid of going out into the night.  Because of all those scary bogeymen, vampires are terrified to go out into the streets at night to drink helpless victims' blood.

There should be a point where you are considered a "creature of the night" and are not so much afraid of the dark as more comfortable in it.  This goes not just for vampires, but also for things like sneak-thieves.  If you've ever played the Thief series of games, darkness is not scary, darkness is safety.  It's what hides you from the guard and the zombies and whatever. 

If thieves are suddenly afraid of the night, the entire genre of daring night-time raids as a lone cat burgler ceases to exist.

The people of the dark haunted all lonely places in the black of night. Sudemong spoke of a dimension of darkness haunted by countless legions of these creatures. Knowing no true form, they borrowed their shapes, woven from shadow. Light was poison to them, and they were evil.

These things sound most like Grues, to me, though.  Maybe building a campfire should be all it takes to send them back?

[Superior_Tomato]

I personally feel that the numbers of the bogeymen are kind of a problem with the whole fear thing. Right now it's more: "Don't go out into the night because you will be swamped by a horde of bogeymen", rather than "Don't go out into the night because the bogemen will get you".

What I reccomend, is reducing the numbers dramatically. Then pumping up their power dramatically, so they're about minataur level dangerous. Bogeymen should be something you run from, not try and fight your way out of. They could also be based on the adventurer's fears, which would make them much cooler.

Another thing to do is to make it random, say, 2 out of 5 times you go sleep outside during the night, in an unsafe place. If you don't have a campfire. And if you do have a campfire, say, 1 in 15 chance. Also, you should not be immune just because you have companions, just reduce it to to around 1 in 15 again, or 1 in 30 if you have a campfire.

A very important thing is that bogeymen are your fears. When you face them you should be alone. For example, if you're off adventureing with your miniture army, they should all be completely asleep when this happens, and you unable to wake them, however you would go about doing that. And, if, for example, you ran into a city with a bogeyman pursueing you, all the doors should be locked.
The only way to get rid of the bogeyman is to run away for long enough, wound him enough then run away, or defeat him in battle. Defeating him in battle should be hard, and you should suffer penalties for being absolutely pans-wettingly scared. But, if you do manage to beat the crap out of this bogeyman, you will never be troubled by him again.

I just realised that I've been refering to the bogeyman as him all the way through that. I guess that's how I personnify my horrors.

[Neonivek]

Their numbers are 5 everytime. Except when they teleport they in fact substitute another boogeyman in

Which means the Magic Kungfu Babies are in fact a tag team.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Actually, what if these bogeymen were a hallucination of the adventurers?

I mean, he doesn't see these when with others, but alone, at night....
This might indicate that the adventurer is on the fringe of losing his/her sanity.

[Neonivek]

Actually, what if these bogeymen were a hallucination of the adventurers?

I mean, he doesn't see these when with others, but alone, at night....
This might indicate that the adventurer is on the fringe of losing his/her sanity.

It would explain why NO ONE OTHER THEN ADVENTURERS EVER EVEN SEE A MAGIC KUNGFU BABY!

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Either adventurers, or those who have been pushed to the brink of sanity.

[robertheinrich]

Why so complicated? Bogeymen are just another race who happens to roam the night and prey on solitary adventurers. And since they are pretty invincible if you are not a skilled fighter the average citizen fears the night and being alone.

[Neonivek]

Why so complicated? Bogeymen are just another race who happens to roam the night and prey on solitary adventurers. And since they are pretty invincible if you are not a skilled fighter the average citizen fears the night and being alone.

Because they obviously are not that.

With you know... the inability to exist during the day and the ability to just poof into existance at night centered around a person.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Alternatively, they are idiotic night genies with no sense of humor except for killing fleshies.

[Neonivek]

Alternatively, they are idiotic night genies with no sense of humor except for killing fleshies.

I prefer the imagry that they are Magic Kungfu Babies who break the 4th wall in that they just love making the player angry.