As the title says, I was wondering what’d make for good horror in the medium, and thought I’d try to ask here!
You must log in or register to comment.
Resist the urge to run Pathfinder or Dungeons and Dragons. Those systems empower the PCs to fight evil, and win. That power undermines the horror so completely, it may as well just be a coat of paint. You might think “hey, what if I just make the monster too strong to actually fight?” That’s going to lead to a TPK 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time, the spellcaster will pull a wild move you didn’t anticipate and come out on top anyway.
Trajectory of Fear is a must read: https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Trajectory-of-Fear.pdf
And it’s really important that the table has at least somewhat common understandin of what kind of narrative they are trying to achieve.
This is excellent. Most of the answers here are what game to play, in other words, what mechanics can be used to force the horror feeling. This is purely about narrative, which can apply to any system. Thank you for sharing.
Honestly, this is sort of exactly what I wanted out of asking this, thank you so much!
I’ve run 10 Candles a number of times and had an absolutely fantastic time every single time. It’s perfect for a horror one shot and character creation is built right into setting up the game. Definitely talk with the group beforehand whether you all want to play a more light hearted comedic horror or something scarier.
My favourite tip take your time. Start with the boring life. The danger about online dating is to meet a walking soviet-parade of red-flags, not to meet a vampire who want to suck your blood. Spending a night camping in the wood is pretty fun, what you really fear is to be snitched on and get fined for “illegal camping” and an unplanned thunderstorm can definitely turn a fun evening into a bad experience, nobody really fears the witch from the woods, it’s a talefor kids isn’t it ?
Then once you took the time to play some “normal” elements, slowly put some uncany elements, a_ctually while you’ve feel like you spoke for hours with your date your watch tells you only 5 minutes passed, and your coktails are still full_. The night camping was pretty fun, but why is the forest so silent in the morning.
This help ensuring that there is a strong link between Player and character, and avoid falling in the comedy horror where fighting Zombie with blood up to knee is the new normal (Note that comedic horror is a genre by itself, and can be pretty fun to play too, but it’s different than real horror)
Choose a genre of horror first. Choose a system that emulates it well. Choose an intensity. Is horror the main focus, or do you just want a splash of it here and there? Make sure everyone is on board obviously. Resarch works from the specific genre. A psychological horror is gonna play out differently than a slasher movie inspired session.
Not a DM / etc but our DM had us all fill in a horror questionnaire to gauge what can and cannot be included in campaigns. We never did run a horror TTRPG (yet) but it was a nice thought.
Dread is commonly recommended but I haven’t tried it myself yet.
Trophy is another one. Listening to their podcast, I found it creepy indeed.
+1 for Dread, it’s so easy to play
Instead of dice, you play with a jenga tower. It’s a physical manifestation of narrative tension, and that goes a long way in getting the players into the vibe
As another user said, find a system that fits horror. Some are more accommodating than others and it all depends on the quirks of the system you use. I have a horror session planned for my Gamma World campaign and it only.works because death is always one bad dice roll away in Gamma World.
If you want to use dnd 5e sandy Peterson did a couple adventures and a base ruleset called Cuthulhu Mythos. Theyre a lot of fun and totally built around suspense. Page 70 starts the chapter where they review insanity and dread. I love the dread mechanic.
Great points by other people here so I won’t reiterate, but did want to throw in Mothership as a horror game. It’s quick and easy to run and play. Would highly recommend.
Yeah, I remember backing it on kickstarter.
