Best horror RPG, bar none!

[Celebrim]

I don't know much about Chill. What's it like?

It was the Esoterrorists before there was the Esoterrorists, right down to the benevolant global conspiracy with a latin name dedicated to saving the world. Chill was a little bit Cthullan mixed in with some personal and intimate horror. It was different in that the villains from outside were truly evil rather than merely amoral and completely alien. Think cannibal spirits and vampires rather than mind destroying aliens from beyond the stars. They were interested in you. I thought the second edition was a rather good game system. Good times.

 

[Nareau]

Thanks for the review and pointer, PC: I'll be sure to check Dread out at GenCon this year.

I've still got a spot left in my GenCon Dread game, if anybody's interested.

Nareau

 

[lukelightning]

I'm only familiar with Call of Cthulhu and that old game CHILL (remember that one?).

I really like CoC, both D20 and Chaosium versions (both have their good features). One problem is that people are too familiar with the Cthulhu mythos, which may detract from the game ("I know this thing, it's a deep one..."). If I were to run a CoC game I'd use homebrew monsters, or change their descriptions.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

....Call of Cthulhu, eh...I think I just never got it. It is not scary at all to me, ....I would be interested in hearing why people like this game so much.

I think that a great deal of the appeal of the Cthulhu mythos can be summed up in the following points.

1) The concept that knowing the Truth would drive you insane.
2) Defeat is inevitible, all you can do is delay it.
3) The concepts have largely become Iconic.

The evil in Cthulhu is not the temptation of Satan and the damnation of hell. It is the evil of a human being stepping on an ant meerly because the ant is an annoyance. You are that ant.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Plane Sailing]

Besides, if you run it, you never have to pull...

I ran Dread four times this past weekend, for 28 people. I had about half that number comment that it was the best horror game they'd ever played in. For me, that's a good sign.

One of the fascinating things to me is how the same game was remarkably different all four times, because the same questionnaires produced completely different characters.

I played in Dread this past weekend, and I have to say that I've never come across game mechanics that so brilliantly reinforce the kind of pacing that you're looking for in a horror themed game.

I consider Call of Cthulhu to be a strong setting, and I've seen it done with BRP and d20 flavours... but I'd bet my hat that a CoC adventure played with Dread mechanics would be really intense

(and I've got a good hat)

- it is worth mentioning that the Jenga mechanic not only works as a quantification of relative (and increasing) risk, it is also a neat way for the GM to sidestep questions that are not relevant to the game... e.g.

Adventurer: "Can I write down all the names on the headstones?"
GM: (thinks - I've not got any of that written down) "Do you want to take a pull?"
Adventurer: "uh, no, I'll not bother at this time..."

Cheers

 

[Pbartender]

'paranoia,' of course.

Hrm... Dread Paranoia...

I think I know what I might be running at the Chicago Gameday this fall...

 

[Matchstick]

I ran a couple Chill games back in the day that I was told were very scary. At one point we realized that two of the guys playing were actually trembling as their characters stumbled through fog with a werewolf somewhere on the loose.

I don't remember too much about the system at this point, but I still have it at home. I recall liking the setting quite a bit.

 

[DragonLancer]

What in your educated opinion is the single best contemporary horror game ever published? Please include the reasons for your choice.

Call of Cthulhu (non D20) is IMO the best horror RPG by far. Lovecraft's works work so well and Chasoium have incorprated them into a suitable system very well.

 

[lukelightning]

My problem with Chill was that I am not a big fan of the "you belong to a secret organization fighting against the Darkness" thing. I prefer my horror campaigns to be about unlikely heroes, not people in some Super Spy agency.

 

[Edgewood]

My problem with Chill was that I am not a big fan of the "you belong to a secret organization fighting against the Darkness" thing. I prefer my horror campaigns to be about unlikely heroes, not people in some Super Spy agency.

The second edition of Chill came out in the early 90's and the setting was about the destruction of that secret society. Basically they removed the secret society backdrop and expanded the classes to include police officers, reporters, scientists, and a whole crop of real world professions that you could play. I believe therre was an adventure (can't remember the name of it to save my life) where the players were thrust into an adventure simply because they were witness to a horrific event.