Greatwyrm
Been here a while...
Upfront
I received a free copy of this game to review. I did not work on this product, but I have done playtesting for the author in the past.
The Basics
Killer Thriller a game of cinematic horror stupidity. Your players’ characters are the poor saps who Fate has placed in the path of a slasher flick nutjob. It’s a 28 page pdf, 23 of which are rules and play aids. It’s black-and-white throughout. There’s no artwork, but the layout is simple and clean. I wouldn’t say it’s an “adult” game, but I’d rate it at least PG-13.
Character Creation
The character creation is simple and very well tied to the genre. Your stats don’t reflect how strong or agile you are, so much as how likely you are to do something stupid, be unlucky, or just panic.
Next, you pick a victim stereotype, like “Nosy Reporter” or “Creepy Old Guy”. This makes it easy for everyone to get a hang of what the character is like and give you one “free pass” for something that would be out-of-character for someone like that to do.
Finally, there are a few advantages and disadvantages. Each is very much in keeping with the theme and none are unusually powerful.
Then you go back through the process a couple more times. Each player is recommended to have two or three characters. You’ll be going through them quickly and possibly on purpose (see below).
For as easy and streamlined as it is, I think it does a good job of capturing the genre.
The Game System
The system is a little counter-intuitive at first, but fits. Basically, you want to fail. You want to fail to be unlucky, stupid, etc. You want to fail to do the myriad of things that get people killed in slasher flicks.
A neat little setting concession is how you handle a dead character. The player who controlled the victim adds the starting hit points of the character to another they control. This is a simple way to replicate how the farther you survive in the movie, the more abuse you can take along the way. And if you’re the sole survivor, you get a few extra perks.
As with character creation, the mechanics of the system are in line with the movies the game reflects. Things happen fast and get bloody in a hurry.
Opponents
There’s a pretty good representation of things trying to kill you. It’s not so much a bestiary as an outline of what they do, why they do it, and how to arrange the stats to get the monster you’re looking for.
GM Advice
There are a few pointers on getting the feel of the game right, but this is the part of the book I’d probably like to see expanded just a bit more.
Sample Adventure
Not one adventure, but actually a double feature. Two B-movie plots and an assortment of things that want to add to the body count.
Bottom Line
Overall, I like this game. The charm really lies in how it doesn’t try to be a monster smashing combat simulation, but instead embraces the schlock. It’s a beer-and-pretzels game and it knows it. Am I going to run this every week? No. But the next time our D&D group is short a healer or a defender, I think I’ll pull this out. I want to see some college kids get chased and eaten by a radioactive zombie astronaut.
I received a free copy of this game to review. I did not work on this product, but I have done playtesting for the author in the past.
The Basics
Killer Thriller a game of cinematic horror stupidity. Your players’ characters are the poor saps who Fate has placed in the path of a slasher flick nutjob. It’s a 28 page pdf, 23 of which are rules and play aids. It’s black-and-white throughout. There’s no artwork, but the layout is simple and clean. I wouldn’t say it’s an “adult” game, but I’d rate it at least PG-13.
Character Creation
The character creation is simple and very well tied to the genre. Your stats don’t reflect how strong or agile you are, so much as how likely you are to do something stupid, be unlucky, or just panic.
Next, you pick a victim stereotype, like “Nosy Reporter” or “Creepy Old Guy”. This makes it easy for everyone to get a hang of what the character is like and give you one “free pass” for something that would be out-of-character for someone like that to do.
Finally, there are a few advantages and disadvantages. Each is very much in keeping with the theme and none are unusually powerful.
Then you go back through the process a couple more times. Each player is recommended to have two or three characters. You’ll be going through them quickly and possibly on purpose (see below).
For as easy and streamlined as it is, I think it does a good job of capturing the genre.
The Game System
The system is a little counter-intuitive at first, but fits. Basically, you want to fail. You want to fail to be unlucky, stupid, etc. You want to fail to do the myriad of things that get people killed in slasher flicks.
A neat little setting concession is how you handle a dead character. The player who controlled the victim adds the starting hit points of the character to another they control. This is a simple way to replicate how the farther you survive in the movie, the more abuse you can take along the way. And if you’re the sole survivor, you get a few extra perks.
As with character creation, the mechanics of the system are in line with the movies the game reflects. Things happen fast and get bloody in a hurry.
Opponents
There’s a pretty good representation of things trying to kill you. It’s not so much a bestiary as an outline of what they do, why they do it, and how to arrange the stats to get the monster you’re looking for.
GM Advice
There are a few pointers on getting the feel of the game right, but this is the part of the book I’d probably like to see expanded just a bit more.
Sample Adventure
Not one adventure, but actually a double feature. Two B-movie plots and an assortment of things that want to add to the body count.
Bottom Line
Overall, I like this game. The charm really lies in how it doesn’t try to be a monster smashing combat simulation, but instead embraces the schlock. It’s a beer-and-pretzels game and it knows it. Am I going to run this every week? No. But the next time our D&D group is short a healer or a defender, I think I’ll pull this out. I want to see some college kids get chased and eaten by a radioactive zombie astronaut.
