Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
[Dread] Jenga beat up my dice! My results from the indie horror RPG.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="woodelf" data-source="post: 3496029" data-attributes="member: 10201"><p>It depends on what style of campaign you want. With no significant alterations, it will be high-lethality. So you'll never get a game with a feel like <em>Supernatural</em>, <em>X-Files</em>, <em>Kolchak: The Night Stalker</em>, or <em>Friday the 13th</em> (the TV series), because you can't count on the main characters being around from session to session. Then again, that's a large part of why <em>Supernatural</em>, in particular, has failed to be good horror, for me (and i never really considered <em>X-Files</em> to be horror, either).</p><p></p><p>However, high-lethality doesn't necessarily mean "everybody's gonna die every session" or anything to that extreme. Typically, at a convention game (i.e., 4hrs, including filling out the questionnaires), we get 0-1 deaths, unless somebody decides to sacrifice themselves. I can't prove this, but i suspect the rate of heroic sacrifice is inflate at convention games, 'cause the coolness factor is still there, but there isn't the downside of losing character investment in an ongoing game, since it's just a one-shot. And the group, especially the host, has a lot of power to adjust the overall pacing and thus number of pulls, so, with a little practice, it's likely that typical-length sessions (4-8hrs) would still be in the 0-2 deaths per session range--with 0 actually a fairly likely possibility for a 4 or 5 hour game. Nonetheless, you'd need to have some structure to stitch the campaign together <strong>other</strong> than main character continuity. A setup like Chill's SAVE would, of course, be perfect: operative dies, the head office sends you a replacement next week. </p><p></p><p>Then we get into the realm of rules modifications. As others pointed out, you could allow non-permanent removals to be reversable: someone who goes insane could be cured; you chickened out last week, but after you thought about the consequences to your grandmother if you don't continue, you've steeled yourself to return; she miraculously survived the implosion of the sub and made it to an escape pod; given a high-magic game, even resurrection could be possible. </p><p></p><p>If you do this, probably the best way is to incorporate it into the additional questions that provide character development. Causing the tower to fall should still be it for the rest of the session, and should be a character-transforming event. It could generate a significant new weakness, or eliminate an old one; at an extreme, becoming a new being (a channelled spirit, say) would be appropriate.</p><p></p><p><em>Dread</em> <strong>is</strong> designed for campaign play, as written, and both we and others have done it. But that's probably the biggest failing of the rulebook--we apparently don't get that across very well, because a lot of people conclude that it's only designed for one-shots, and would require modification for long-term play. Really, it's only going to require modification if you want to keep characters around longer. And, even then, it could be very minor modification--just allowing in-game-world-reversible removals to be reversible over time. If you're OK with the high character turnover, no changes whatsoever need to be made. And, even then, that could still likely mean that you get to play a given character for 3-6 sessions, on average (depending on the size of the group, the nature of the scenarios, how the group plays, etc.), not just 1. That's why there's discussion of additional questions after/between scenarios. </p><p></p><p>In fact, one of the games i'm tryin to push for my group's next campaign would be a dark fantasy game, in the mold of Conan and other warriors-against-evil-magic stories, run with <em>Dread</em>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="woodelf, post: 3496029, member: 10201"] It depends on what style of campaign you want. With no significant alterations, it will be high-lethality. So you'll never get a game with a feel like [i]Supernatural[/i], [i]X-Files[/i], [i]Kolchak: The Night Stalker[/i], or [i]Friday the 13th[/i] (the TV series), because you can't count on the main characters being around from session to session. Then again, that's a large part of why [i]Supernatural[/i], in particular, has failed to be good horror, for me (and i never really considered [i]X-Files[/i] to be horror, either). However, high-lethality doesn't necessarily mean "everybody's gonna die every session" or anything to that extreme. Typically, at a convention game (i.e., 4hrs, including filling out the questionnaires), we get 0-1 deaths, unless somebody decides to sacrifice themselves. I can't prove this, but i suspect the rate of heroic sacrifice is inflate at convention games, 'cause the coolness factor is still there, but there isn't the downside of losing character investment in an ongoing game, since it's just a one-shot. And the group, especially the host, has a lot of power to adjust the overall pacing and thus number of pulls, so, with a little practice, it's likely that typical-length sessions (4-8hrs) would still be in the 0-2 deaths per session range--with 0 actually a fairly likely possibility for a 4 or 5 hour game. Nonetheless, you'd need to have some structure to stitch the campaign together [b]other[/b] than main character continuity. A setup like Chill's SAVE would, of course, be perfect: operative dies, the head office sends you a replacement next week. Then we get into the realm of rules modifications. As others pointed out, you could allow non-permanent removals to be reversable: someone who goes insane could be cured; you chickened out last week, but after you thought about the consequences to your grandmother if you don't continue, you've steeled yourself to return; she miraculously survived the implosion of the sub and made it to an escape pod; given a high-magic game, even resurrection could be possible. If you do this, probably the best way is to incorporate it into the additional questions that provide character development. Causing the tower to fall should still be it for the rest of the session, and should be a character-transforming event. It could generate a significant new weakness, or eliminate an old one; at an extreme, becoming a new being (a channelled spirit, say) would be appropriate. [i]Dread[/i] [b]is[/b] designed for campaign play, as written, and both we and others have done it. But that's probably the biggest failing of the rulebook--we apparently don't get that across very well, because a lot of people conclude that it's only designed for one-shots, and would require modification for long-term play. Really, it's only going to require modification if you want to keep characters around longer. And, even then, it could be very minor modification--just allowing in-game-world-reversible removals to be reversible over time. If you're OK with the high character turnover, no changes whatsoever need to be made. And, even then, that could still likely mean that you get to play a given character for 3-6 sessions, on average (depending on the size of the group, the nature of the scenarios, how the group plays, etc.), not just 1. That's why there's discussion of additional questions after/between scenarios. In fact, one of the games i'm tryin to push for my group's next campaign would be a dark fantasy game, in the mold of Conan and other warriors-against-evil-magic stories, run with [i]Dread[/i]. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
[Dread] Jenga beat up my dice! My results from the indie horror RPG.
Top