horror games that you love (that aren't 'world of darkness' or cthulhu related.)

[Hex08]

I'm currently running a Savage Worlds East Texas University campaign. It's more Buffy-like than Cthulhu but everyone seems to be having a good time.

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[aramis erak]

Likewise. Only one or two items on that list are remotely horror.

Horror is a very broad genre...
Subgenres include...

1. Suspense-horror: there's some unnatural thing, and finding out and surviving it leaves the viewer who has bought in waiting for the other shoe to drop
2. Gore Horror: less scary and more just revolting, with lots of gruesome ways to die.
3. Investigative Horror: our protagonists have to go and seek out the unnatural things
4. Urban Horror: The unnatural things are living in a hidden society ... yet that society is hidden from our own.
5. Action Horror: the protagonists are combat capable and fight in an attempt to survive the Unnatural thing.
6. Replacement Horror: The unnatural thing is replacing people... or converting them.
7. Psychological Horror: The Unnatural is plausible enough to freak out the audience

All of those have been used in Moderns, in historicals, in fantasy, and in sci-fi. Within Sci-fi, the space opera subgenre is most common for crossover. Some exemplars:

1. Life Force, some BTVS and Angel episodes, The Wax Museum. Psycho
2. Alien Franchise, The Blob.The Birds.
3. Some of the Conan stories, some Star Trek episodes (TNG has 2 or 3, Voyager has a rather good one in season 1), Dresden files.
4. BTVS, Angel, Dresden Files, Forever Knight.
   1. Some would include Highlander.
5. Aliens, Pitch Black, Stargate franchise, 2 Conan movies...
6. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the Stepford Wives, Life Force, Alien Franchise
7. Most of Hitchcock's movies, Silence of the Lambs, the Stepford Wives

Hell, there's at least one STTNG episode for each.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Though there are others I respect, and I'm going to exclude action-horror in my mind from assessment (because I think it covers so much ground its almost pointless to select beyond what I would for a generic system), probably the one I found most satisfactory is one I hesitate to recommend, not because of any mechanical or content reason, but because of issues about the author--Chill 3e.

 

[Bill Zebub]

The One Ring, 1st Edition

 

[Hand of Evil]

Chill the Box Edition, had a lot of interesting concepts to help the games atmosphere and played well for quick games.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Here’s the ones I’ve played over the past couple of years.

Mothership is survival-horror in space. Very easy system. Old school in its approach. Highly lethal for characters. The Player’s Survival Guide is available for free (though it’s the Zero-Edition version, with First Edition dropping later this year after being Kickstarted). The published materials are solid with nice variety. Also a lot of third party support for the game.

As others have mentioned, the Alien RPG is a good game. It has some very evocative elements, and the Stress/Panic mechanics are very cool. I think it likely needs a bit of work for a longer campaign, especially if you wanted to do like a colony or space-station type campaign. I imagine they’ll put out a campaign guide for that style of campaign at some point. Absent that, the game is really strong for short mini-campaigns, or “cinematic play” as they call it.

The Heart RPG is a blend of different types of horror… survival horror, body horror, a dash of cosmic horror… combined with dungeon delving. Built on the Resistance System, the game casts the player-characters as delvers into the Heart, a living, twisted tear in reality that changes to suit those who enter it. It’s a living dungeon that tries to give people what they want, but its understanding of people is poor, so what it gives people is always some weird twisted take on their needs or desires. The game is very much about the toll this lifestyle takes on those who choose it… the toll on their body, mind, and soul. It’s a great game, with a very unique setting that allows for all manner of locations, situations, and characters.

 

[Teo Twawki]

Nephilim.

 

[MGibster]

Buffy/Angel... two RPGs, one setting. Unisystem Light

Damn, games I owned and forgot about. I tend not to think of it as horror though. I'm not trying to argue it isn't or anything, it's got vampires, demons, creepy dolls, etc., etc., it's just that it doesn't strike me as scary in any way. But because of its content this isn't a hill I'm going to die on. I played and ran some great games of Buff/Angel. I can't believe I forgot about it.

 

[Tonguez]

Damn, games I owned and forgot about. I tend not to think of it as horror though. I'm not trying to argue it isn't or anything, it's got vampires, demons, creepy dolls, etc., etc., it's just that it doesn't strike me as scary in any way. But because of its content this isn't a hill I'm going to die on. I played and ran some great games of Buff/Angel. I can't believe I forgot about it.

Yeah I’d agree, afterall DnD also features vampires, demons, creepy dolls but its not horror. Even Buffys villains supplement was titled Monster Smackdown, a clear indication that horror wasnt the point

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

2300 CE isn't billed as such, but the implications buried deep in its worldbuilding about the usual fate of sapient species plants it in the cosmic horror camp.