MGibster
Legend
If Home Depot, Michael's, At Home, and other retail outlets can start selling Halloween stuff in August then it's not too early to talk about horror gaming now! All Hallows' Eve is the time to tell ourselves scary stories and drink a lot of beer according to the National Beer Wholesalers Association. You know what that means? It's time to talk horror games!
Just what is horror anyway? In short, horror, as a genre, is designed to disturb, frighten, or scare the audience. But sometimes it's not easy to figure out what is or isn't horror. The dragon Vermithrax Perjorative from the movie Dragonslayer (1981) is a frightening beast whom the kingdom appeases by sacrificing two virgin girls each year whom are devoured. While that's pretty scary, disturbing even, I don't know anyone who classifies this movie as horror instead of fantasy. Alien (1979) is a science fiction/horror movie set on a spaceship in the distant future, but I've had people tell me it was science fiction and not horror. With a straight face even.
For the purpose of this thread, I'm going to take a very broad definition of horror. Most typically I'm going to allow the authors of these games to identify whether it's horror or not. AD&D generally isn't considered a horror game, but the classic I-6 Ravenloft module (1983) is gothic horror while Call of Cthulhu (1981) is a horror game in and of itself. I just don't find it particularly constructive to have a discussion about horror revolving around whether something is within the genre or not.
For a moment, let's take a brief look at horror games from the early days of gaming when the Cold War was in full swing, compact discs were for rich people, and Huey Lewis and the News taught us all about "The Power of Love," I am referring to the 1980s. Looking back, I was surprised to find there was a dearth of horror gaming in the 1980s.
In the 1990s, interest in horror games increased with 1991's Vampire the Masquerade probably being the most successful one of the era. There are too many for me to list but among them were Kult (1990), Don't Look Back (1994), Conspiracy X (1996), and All Flesh Must be Eaten (1999). Again, I'm only counting standalone games here but AD&D 2nd edition had their gothic horror setting of Ravenloft in 1990. I don't know why there were so many more horror games produced in the 1990s compared to the 1980s, but I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on that.
How is running a horror game different from running any other genre? Like I said, horror is designed to disturb, frighten, or scare the audience, and as such it often deals with difficult and unpleasant subjects. The Delta Green campaign God's Teeth (2024) deals with child abuse, Curse of Strahd (2016) contains a myriad of disturbing subjects including child abuse, addiction, cannibalism, domestic abuse, and even sexual assault, and White Wolf even released a supplement for their Wraith RPG called Charnel Houses of Europe: The Shoah (1997) based on the Holocaust - far more tasteful than you might have expected but not a game I'd ever play.
Because horror can be disturbing, I think it's important to speak to your players about what they can expect in any game you run. If you're running God's Teeth for Delta Green, make sure the players understand the subject of child abuse comes up. Me, personally, I'm not so worried about anyone being triggered, but you don't have to be triggered by something to want it excluded from any game you're playing. When I run a horror game, I always ask my players to let me know what can't be included in the game in any form and what would be okay to allude to. i.e. Better known as lines & veils. A line means certain content will never be included in any form in the game while a veil means it might be mentioned but we're not going to play any scenes out. For example I will never run a game where we play through a scene involving sexual assault, but it could come up during the game in one form or another indirectly. That's a veil. One of my players suffers from arachnophobia so I will never include spiders in the game. That's a line. There are other safety tools of course, X-Cards for example, and while I'm not a fan, I do encourage you to use whatever tool your group is comfortable using.
This most is reaching a length of Snarfic proportions. I'm curious to learn what horror games you like, how do you prepare for them, how is it different from running games in other genres? Is it really all that different?
Just what is horror anyway? In short, horror, as a genre, is designed to disturb, frighten, or scare the audience. But sometimes it's not easy to figure out what is or isn't horror. The dragon Vermithrax Perjorative from the movie Dragonslayer (1981) is a frightening beast whom the kingdom appeases by sacrificing two virgin girls each year whom are devoured. While that's pretty scary, disturbing even, I don't know anyone who classifies this movie as horror instead of fantasy. Alien (1979) is a science fiction/horror movie set on a spaceship in the distant future, but I've had people tell me it was science fiction and not horror. With a straight face even.
For the purpose of this thread, I'm going to take a very broad definition of horror. Most typically I'm going to allow the authors of these games to identify whether it's horror or not. AD&D generally isn't considered a horror game, but the classic I-6 Ravenloft module (1983) is gothic horror while Call of Cthulhu (1981) is a horror game in and of itself. I just don't find it particularly constructive to have a discussion about horror revolving around whether something is within the genre or not.
For a moment, let's take a brief look at horror games from the early days of gaming when the Cold War was in full swing, compact discs were for rich people, and Huey Lewis and the News taught us all about "The Power of Love," I am referring to the 1980s. Looking back, I was surprised to find there was a dearth of horror gaming in the 1980s.
- Call of Cthulhu (1981)
- Stalking the Night Fantastic (1983)
- Chill (1984)
- Ghostbusters (1986) -remember, I'm taking a broad approach to horror-
- Beyond the Supernatural (1987)
- It Came from the Late, Late, Late Show (1988)
In the 1990s, interest in horror games increased with 1991's Vampire the Masquerade probably being the most successful one of the era. There are too many for me to list but among them were Kult (1990), Don't Look Back (1994), Conspiracy X (1996), and All Flesh Must be Eaten (1999). Again, I'm only counting standalone games here but AD&D 2nd edition had their gothic horror setting of Ravenloft in 1990. I don't know why there were so many more horror games produced in the 1990s compared to the 1980s, but I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on that.
How is running a horror game different from running any other genre? Like I said, horror is designed to disturb, frighten, or scare the audience, and as such it often deals with difficult and unpleasant subjects. The Delta Green campaign God's Teeth (2024) deals with child abuse, Curse of Strahd (2016) contains a myriad of disturbing subjects including child abuse, addiction, cannibalism, domestic abuse, and even sexual assault, and White Wolf even released a supplement for their Wraith RPG called Charnel Houses of Europe: The Shoah (1997) based on the Holocaust - far more tasteful than you might have expected but not a game I'd ever play.
Because horror can be disturbing, I think it's important to speak to your players about what they can expect in any game you run. If you're running God's Teeth for Delta Green, make sure the players understand the subject of child abuse comes up. Me, personally, I'm not so worried about anyone being triggered, but you don't have to be triggered by something to want it excluded from any game you're playing. When I run a horror game, I always ask my players to let me know what can't be included in the game in any form and what would be okay to allude to. i.e. Better known as lines & veils. A line means certain content will never be included in any form in the game while a veil means it might be mentioned but we're not going to play any scenes out. For example I will never run a game where we play through a scene involving sexual assault, but it could come up during the game in one form or another indirectly. That's a veil. One of my players suffers from arachnophobia so I will never include spiders in the game. That's a line. There are other safety tools of course, X-Cards for example, and while I'm not a fan, I do encourage you to use whatever tool your group is comfortable using.
This most is reaching a length of Snarfic proportions. I'm curious to learn what horror games you like, how do you prepare for them, how is it different from running games in other genres? Is it really all that different?
