I would like to dedicate this article to the month of April.  A time for flowers, fertility, love, and chocolate egg laying mammals.  As you are likely unaware, I am a Whedon fan.  I admit, he has produced some garbage, but every dog has his day, and he had his.  That is why, in honor of spring, I would like to delve in to the most frightening of depths.  What is the connection, you ask?  Why, bunnies of course.

I spoke of suspense and it’s effective uses to further your games, in a recent article.  Deftly building and executing suspense is of great importance in almost every genre, but is applied in slightly different ways.  I illustrated an example of suspense in a fantasy/action scenario, but today….today, we are going to delve in to the realm of nightmares, the land of monsters true.  Today we are going to discuss the genre of horror.

Every GM has, at one time or another, thought about or ran a horror themed game. While it is possible to run a horror themed adventure in almost any game, some are easier than others.  If you are a storyteller for White Wolf, you almost certainly have some experience in the realm of Gothic horror.  Our Lovecraft fans out there are sure to have experienced the madness that is the Call of Cthulhu.  If you have been a fan of Dungeons & Dragons, you are sure to be familiar with Ravenloft.

Speaking of Ravenloft, WotC has yet to release a 4th edition translation of the popular setting.  Paizo has taken up the cue and released their answer to Ravenloft with a few different source books, notably Rule of Fear.  A book centered around Ustalav, and dedicated to the integration of classic horror.

This article isn’t going to be a review of any of these products, per se.  I would love to write a review or two on these, but I already have too many open projects at the moment.  Instead, I would like to discuss some of the basic elements of the horror game and how you can apply them to your adventures.

The Thousand Horrors

Before we delve in, we need to understand a few key ingredients to horror.  Horror comes in every flavor of the rainbow.  There are almost as many genres of horror as there are genres of metal.  Some of the popular genres of horror include:

• classic
• zombie
• gothic
• slasher
• psychological
• lovecraftian

Classic – classic horror has your mummies, vampires, and “frankensteins”  By today’s standards, these types of horrors don’t scare most people.  This is often enjoyed by cult classicists and “monster movie” enthusiasts.

Zombie – Technically a sub-genre of “survival horror,” zombie flicks have earned a status all of their own.  Incredibly popular and easily reproduced in almost any game setting.

Gothic – Dating back to the late 1700′s, the gothic horror genre involved elements of horror and romance.  It is easy to see why this genre has been applied to many vampire dramas.

Slasher – The slasher flick is a classic.  Some big, inhuman sob is running around with something pointy and lots of half naked co-eds are winding up dismembered.  I won’t begin to psychoanalyze this genre, but if it is used correctly it can be an easily implemented horror tool in most games.

Psychological- Decidedly more subtle than the other genres of horror, psychological horror involves thoughts, perceptions, and other elements of atmospheric horror to fully draw in the audience.  This genre can be used in conjunction with others to devastating effect.

Lovecraftian – This genre of horror involves “alien” horror.  The fear of the unknown and unseen and revolves around concepts that things are not as they seem.  Indeed, there is already a game dedicated to the works of Lovecraft, but we can apply these elements to any game.

The Secret of Horror

Okay, so it isn’t exactly a secret, but it might not be immediately obvious to everyone.  It is a simple truth of horror.

Power is inversely proportional to terror.

What does this mean exactly?  Well, the more empowered your players, the less scared they are.  Drop a well armed fighter and cleric in to a room full of zombies and it becomes more of a fodder-fest than a game of horror.  There are ways to disarm your players and limit their power.  This is not recommended, unless your players are aware of the type of game they are going to be playing and all agree to be powerless. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, depending on your game.

• You can give them average or diminished stats/abilities.
• Limit their equipment.
• Put them up against things they can not possibly defeat.
• or use any other combination of strategies to overpower them.

Through use of this strategy, you basically aim to render your players no more powerful than mere mortals.  Obviously, this method makes more or less sense, depending on the game you want to play (doing this in say, aberrant, for instance)

If you are okay with your players level of power and want to run a game without limiting them (and therefore avoiding a possible uprising) this is indeed possible.  You need only change your approach.  Maybe, an example is in order…

Beefy McBroadsword returns home after his latest adventure.  He singlehandedly wrestled two dire bears to the ground, tied a beholder’s eyes together, and beat a dragon in a fist fight.  After receiving his accolades, he returns home for some much needed rest.  Upon opening the door he is greeted by Lela, his 5 year old daughter.  Delighted at the return of her father, she exclaims in delight, “Father, you’re home!”  Running full speed at her bewildered father, a strong wind slams the shutters tight and extinguishes the candles.  The child passes through the stunned figure.  He turns to regard her passage, seeing nothing he turns his gaze back upon the dark room.  The twisted and disembodied visage of his long passed child greets him, it’s cold and noxious breath bearing down on his face, “YoU’lL nEvEr LeAvE mE aGaIn!”

The point is, no matter how much of a badass you are, there are certain things that will, for lack of a better word, “freak you the hell out”.  This is a type of horror, that takes advantage of a parent’s love for his or her deceased child and twists it in to a horrid nightmare.  Utilizing the human instincts for parental love and conflicting them with the fear of the unknown and panic of being trapped, this scene has captured gothic, psychological, and even some lovecraftian elements.  In this example, no matter if he was a 15th level fighter, there is still a good chance he couldn’t even injure a ghost, and that is assuming he wanted to.  Obviously intense roleplaying is required in most horror settings of this nature.

If you prefer a more straight forward sort of “hands-on” horror, you can turn to my friend Bruce Campbell for an example of how it is done.  I won’t go in to a dissertation of his films, but I will say this:  If you haven’t seen the Evil Dead trilogy, I highly recommend them.  The first film is an attempt at psychological/survival horror.  The second film is a remake of the first focusing more on action/slapstick. The third film (Army of Darkness) is more of a dark comedy horror/action/fantasy film.  I know, it’s a bit convoluted of a description.  The third film especially, is a prime example of how a badass can interact with a horror setting.  As the rule states, the power of the badass makes for a less frightening story.  I have yet to find a classification for this genre of heroic horror.

Horrific Suggestions

Horror requires more roleplaying than typical games, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t integrate mechanics in to your theme.  Almost every game can accommodate the application of horror with little difficulty.  As the GM, you might want your players to know what kind of game they are going to be playing, before hand.  If you want to limit their power in the above mentioned ways, everyone needs to be in agreement.  Even if you keep the baseline of power the same, you may want to institute some house rules to keep in lines with your setting.  A few examples of possible rules follow:

• Fear checks – This can be done by any means you deem logical.  Will saves, composure, conviction, integrity, willpower, or any other system that is already in place for your game will work just fine.  Failure at a check indicates that the character is shaken, suffering a -2 to checks (d20) -1 internal penalty (white wolf), or some other similar effect.  You can allow the use of hero points, willpower points, or other similar expendable resources to counter the effects of the fear.  If used correctly this can render even the strongest of wills in to a puddle of jelly, given enough time.
• Horror checks – Similar to fear, but greater in effect, horror checks involve traumatic experiences.  Failure indicates the suffering of larger penalties, and/or loss of actions due to panic and distress.
• Sanity – One of my favorite games on the N64 made use of a sanity meter.  Once full, you started to freak out.  This can be made, much like the limit break system of Exalted.  Fail enough rolls (fear or horror) and your sanity bar fills up, causing penalties and/or derangement.

Deciding to include systems such as these can help set your game apart.  Your players know that not only is this a game where scary things can happen, it makes them afraid of encountering them, due to the debuffs they can apply.  In this way, you truly capture the spirit of FDR’s enemy (no, not stairs).  Your PC’s have nothing to fear, but fear itself.

The Horrific Party

When designing a horrific adventure or campaign for your game, you have to bear in mind that there is a distinction between your game and almost every horror venues you have witnessed.  The party.  In most horror films all but one or two characters are going to die.  Odds are, you don’t want this to happen to your game.  You can include extras in your game, but this becomes tired and stale after a couple of adventures.  They begin to take on an expendable “red shirt” type of persona and the PC’s will begin to have a reputation for being cursed.  “I wouldn’t hang around with those guys, Bob.  Everyone that gets close to them always ends up mutilated.”

Deciding how to handle your group cohesion and party dynamic is paramount to the horror campaign.  There are some successful examples to take note of and they mostly fall within television.  Movies tend to kill off the extras, whereas television builds group dynamics over many seasons.  For this reason, I would recommend Buffy/Angel, Supernatural, X-Files, and hell, even Scooby Doo (why not?)

As always, turn to movies, books, and television for inspiration.  Below are some examples of recommended reading/watching.

• Evil Dead Trilogy
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Supernatural
• X-Files
• All things Lovecraft
• Those stupid haunted house/ghost hunter shows
• Anything that has zombies in it