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Darkness & Dread vs. Heroes of Horror
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<blockquote data-quote="jdrakeh" data-source="post: 2737854" data-attributes="member: 13892"><p>On the contrary, I've thought about it quite a bit. I didn't mean to imply that it's not possible to <em>scare</em> players in a D&D game or that it's not possible to mingle elements of horror into High Fantasy, merely that full-on Horror (as a genre) requires some additional rules past what is in the core books, while simultaneously loosening your grip on the 'can do no wrong heroes of legend' worldview that the core books default to. </p><p></p><p>Sure, you can run a spooky D&D campaign (see Ravenloft), but you're still playing largely flawless heroes in a world surrounded by horror. Which to be fair, is really not common at all in Horror as it exists as genre outside of D&D. This (I suspect) is why the Taint rules in HoH were introduced. Note that scary moments exist in a lot of books and movies that aren't classified as 'Horror' by genre. </p><p></p><p>That's the thing that a lot of people don't understand - as a genre, Horror has some very specific tenets. It isn't just window dressing or sweaty palms. Those are <em>parts</em> of Horror as a genre, but they aren't the whole show. And I submit that the whole show and D&D are mutually exclusive, as many of D&D's sacred cows trump required Horror genre tropes and vice-versa. </p><p></p><p>HoH, Ravenloft, etc are <em>High Fantasy</em> first with a bit of Horror slapped on for effect, not <em>Horror</em> colored by High Fantasy. That is, in all of these products, High Fantasy takes precedence over Horror (but as I mentioned, given the nature of D&D, that's pretty unavaoidable). Now, some 3rd Party stuff (like Midnight, Darkness & Dread, Grim Tales, Fear Effects, etc) <em>are</em> more focussed on Horror, but specifically because they move away from many default assumptions of D&D. </p><p></p><p>So far, I've heard lots of people say that this isn't true now (and many of same said people have accused me and others of not being able to understand why that is) but none of them can explain their position when put on the spot (well, past a 'Neener-neener! You can't think!' ad-hominem), so I have a hard time taking them seriously.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jdrakeh, post: 2737854, member: 13892"] On the contrary, I've thought about it quite a bit. I didn't mean to imply that it's not possible to [i]scare[/i] players in a D&D game or that it's not possible to mingle elements of horror into High Fantasy, merely that full-on Horror (as a genre) requires some additional rules past what is in the core books, while simultaneously loosening your grip on the 'can do no wrong heroes of legend' worldview that the core books default to. Sure, you can run a spooky D&D campaign (see Ravenloft), but you're still playing largely flawless heroes in a world surrounded by horror. Which to be fair, is really not common at all in Horror as it exists as genre outside of D&D. This (I suspect) is why the Taint rules in HoH were introduced. Note that scary moments exist in a lot of books and movies that aren't classified as 'Horror' by genre. That's the thing that a lot of people don't understand - as a genre, Horror has some very specific tenets. It isn't just window dressing or sweaty palms. Those are [i]parts[/i] of Horror as a genre, but they aren't the whole show. And I submit that the whole show and D&D are mutually exclusive, as many of D&D's sacred cows trump required Horror genre tropes and vice-versa. HoH, Ravenloft, etc are [i]High Fantasy[/i] first with a bit of Horror slapped on for effect, not [i]Horror[/i] colored by High Fantasy. That is, in all of these products, High Fantasy takes precedence over Horror (but as I mentioned, given the nature of D&D, that's pretty unavaoidable). Now, some 3rd Party stuff (like Midnight, Darkness & Dread, Grim Tales, Fear Effects, etc) [i]are[/i] more focussed on Horror, but specifically because they move away from many default assumptions of D&D. So far, I've heard lots of people say that this isn't true now (and many of same said people have accused me and others of not being able to understand why that is) but none of them can explain their position when put on the spot (well, past a 'Neener-neener! You can't think!' ad-hominem), so I have a hard time taking them seriously. [/QUOTE]
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