D&D 5E The popularity of horror adventures/settings for 5e

[MGibster]

But, some people view horror only through the lens of "Horrible things happen and then (almost) everyone dies". Which, if that's your definition of horror, then no, D&D doesn't do horror all that well.

While I won't spend a whole lot of time arguing over whether something belongs in one particular genre or not, seriously, I'm not going to argue with someone who says Aliens isn't science fiction, I don't think D&D is well suited for horror. Which is odd given that the original Ravenloft is my favorite module of all time. Part of the problem is audience expectation. In the Baldur's Gate 3 CRPG, there's quite a bit of what we might consider to be body horror, but I don't view it as a horror game. Lot's of things in fantasy would fit fairly well into a horror game. The basic plot of Dragonslayer (1981), a monster demands virgin girls be sacrificed to it twice per year, could make for a fine horror movie. But it's fantasy, and the audience just doesn't view it as horror.

 

[Older Beholder]

If you've ever seen the miniature for Sibriex, it is pretty horrifying.

 

[Minigiant]

Horror in D&D is hard because horror is based on inducing a fear or disgust response. There is little in the gameplay loop to force player or PC reaction. and loss of PC control is frowned upon.

D&D is a Terror game,not a Horror game.
D&D at its core of fear is dread of what's coming not revulsion and panic when you reach it.

 

[Hussar]

Well, horror, fantasy and SF are all part of the same umbrella of Speculative Fiction, so, there is considerable bleed over between the genres. Alien is straight up horror. Aliens? SF, certainly, but, I'm not sure I'd call it horror really. But, again, genre tends to be pretty porous, so, I'm not going to die on the hill of whether or not Alien is horror.

It's mostly an issue when people insist that genre is more fixed than it really is.

 

[Hussar]

Horror in D&D is hard because horror is based on inducing a fear or disgust response. There is little in the gameplay loop to force player or PC reaction. and loss of PC control is frowned upon.

D&D is a Terror game,not a Horror game.
D&D at its core of fear is dread of what's coming not revulsion and panic when you reach it.

See, this is rather the genre hair splitting I was talking about. There are lots of stories solidly in the horror genre that are a dread of what is coming story. So, it's not like calling some versions of D&D horror is really wrong. But, genre discussions can get pretty lost in the weeds pretty quickly.

 

[Autumnal]

Some influential critics, like David Hartwell, argue that horror is a mode of storytelling, not a genre. Aliens is sf and horror. The Lord of the Rings is fantasy with horror scenes when the characters intrude on deep places and nameless things. And so on.

 

[Hussar]

Some influential critics, like David Hartwell, argue that horror is a mode of storytelling, not a genre. Aliens is sf and horror. The Lord of the Rings is fantasy with horror scenes when the characters intrude on deep places and nameless things. And so on.

That's not a bad way to look at it. Although, I think it's a bit unnecessarily complicated. After all, horror is a speculative fiction story where you are trying to scare the audience. The only real difference between horror and, say, fantasy, is horror is trying to be scary and fantasy isn't. Nor is SF. I tend to look at it more like a triangle with each sub-genre at the points and most stories falling somewhere in between.

 

[Distracted DM]

Some of it may also be a question of definition. Castlevania games get listed as "Horror" even though, at least through the NES/SNES era, they were "Platform and kill monsters" where the monsters happened to be themed around "serves Dracula in a massive castle." Very little true horror, at least possibly until later titles.

From the review I read of Drakkenheim, it's not so much horror as "adventure in a post-apocalyptic city" with perhaps horror elements from mutations...but not much more horror-y than, say, Fallout 1-2 with Ghouls and Mutants and such.

I'd weigh in on this side of things- it's not so much "horror" in the sense of "terrible things that will kill you if they catch you" as much as it is "horror things that you'll kill."
A power fantasy, which D&D feeds quite well into.

 

[GrimCo]

As someone who primarily runs grim dark horror games, D&D, specially 5th ed, isn't really that good. Out of the box, without house rules, it just doesn't mesh well. To put it bluntly, PCs are just to powerful. Lv 5 party can have long or short rest when ever and where ever they want with use of Rope trick and Leomunds tiny hut. There isn't enough sense of danger.

Ravenloft, as a setting, was cool cause every Domain was different thematicly and culturaly. From Tristenora (primitive iron age) to Barovia (medieval) to Richemoult (chivalric).

Curse of Strahd is popular because it's good adventure. Plain and simple.

 

[Zardnaar]

As someone who primarily runs grim dark horror games, D&D, specially 5th ed, isn't really that good. Out of the box, without house rules, it just doesn't mesh well. To put it bluntly, PCs are just to powerful. Lv 5 party can have long or short rest when ever and where ever they want with use of Rope trick and Leomunds tiny hut. There isn't enough sense of danger.

Ravenloft, as a setting, was cool cause every Domain was different thematicly and culturaly. From Tristenora (primitive iron age) to Barovia (medieval) to Richemoult (chivalric).

Curse of Strahd is popular because it's good adventure. Plain and simple.

That and it has a Vampire on the cover.

Adventures with Dragons and Vampires have sold a lot. Think it's kinda that simple and online buzz for CoS.

Horror mayber not super popular but maybe a bit more gritty? 5E is kinda terrible at it.

Dungeons of Drakjenheim the DD's have been pushing it for a long time and popular youtube channel.