Hi guys,
This has to be one of our most long awaited books for quite a while now. Well, the waiting is almost up. The book is beginning to move to distributors this week, and will be appearing in your local games store around the middle of next week.
Written by Mongoose writer Gareth Hanrahan, OGL Horror is a 256 page, full colour hardback, intending to provide a complete toolkit to GMs and players alike who want to enjoy scenarios in the horror genre, from the 1800's to a few decades in our future (or further, if you combine these rules with OGL Cybernet!). For those who like to keep track, the core SRD used in this book is Modern, but Gareth has done a lot of tinkering with the rules to scare the willies out of you. . .
The rulebook kicks off with a look at what the horror genre should entail, in terms of roleplaying, and the basic d20 rules - being an OGL book, this includes character generation, experience and all the rest of it, making OGL Horror completely stand alone.
For Character Creation, professions have remained intact, though the selection will be more useful for horror roleplaying. The actual classes, however, have been changed radically. You now get the choice of using trying the Combatant, the Scholar, the Investigator or an Ordinary Person (who may actually not be all that ordinary. . .). Gareth has done well here - try to think of a core class in your favourite horror show that this little spread does not cover!
Skills and Feats will seem very familiar, though many have a bent towards the genre and new features include ways characters can handle terror and the fear in those around them - this will be important, as you will see! Selective Ignorance will become very popular in some games. . .
Beyond the Equipment, Hazards and Combat chapters, Fear & Loathing brings to the game the rules for inflicting horror and stress upon characters. Gareth has broken fear down into three forms in this game, allowing the GM to select the right level of discomfort for his players. Panic saves happen when a character is in immediate danger (psychopath coming!), Fear saves when the character is in a disturbing situation (something is lurking in the dark. . .), and Madness saves are called for when the barriers holding reality in check come crashing down and the character looks long and hard at institutional life. Shock points ensure that characters become progressively more traumatised as time goes on - just right for the big climax in a horror scenario! There are all sorts of modifiers and additional levels of stress in these rules for GMs to play with, a look at long term effects and a very comprehensive disorders list, with full rules for each.
Magic, Mysteries and Phenomena adds a touch of the supernatural to the game. This is broken down into Rituals, Spells, Psychic Powers, Faith and Artefacts, allowing you to mix and match these rules to suit the setting of your horror games. From exorcisms and summoning demons to speaking with the dead and uncovering the Black Grail, it is all here.
The Cults and Conspiracies adds a few natty little rules for handling shadowy organisations that will start appearing in games other than horror, I think. At their root, each organisation is assigned a stat block that includes Organisation HP, Force, response, resources, Information, Occult, Influence, Skills and Feats. For example, the FBI is rated as having 30,000 HP and, among others, the Private Hospital, Secure Base and Emergency Response organisation feats. Other organisations are provided for GMs to place straight into campaigns, including Group 23, the Cult of Unity and the Fable Institute.
Turning the Screw is a 20 page treatise on just how to run horror games effectively - a useful reference for GMs who may be wondering how to convince their players to actually run from evil creatures rather than just clobber them. Speaking of nasties, the Monsters chapter contains all the rules GMs will need to create their own beasties, as well as providing the likes of Sewer Beats, Animated Corpses, Nightmare Engines, Demon Children, Werewolves, Greys, Ghosts, Vampires and many, many more. Non-Player Characters are also featured, allowing GMs to quickly insert suitable soldiers, priests, serial killers and the like.
In Sample Horror Campaigns, Gareth covers some likely avenues GMs may like to try in their first horror games. The rulebook winds up with a beautiful character sheet (that will stand up to photocopying, I promise!), a complete index and some of Gareth's thoughts on the game and genre.
OGL Horror is a 256 page, full colour hardback priced at $39.95, and will be available in all good games and book stores from the middle of next week.
This has to be one of our most long awaited books for quite a while now. Well, the waiting is almost up. The book is beginning to move to distributors this week, and will be appearing in your local games store around the middle of next week.
Written by Mongoose writer Gareth Hanrahan, OGL Horror is a 256 page, full colour hardback, intending to provide a complete toolkit to GMs and players alike who want to enjoy scenarios in the horror genre, from the 1800's to a few decades in our future (or further, if you combine these rules with OGL Cybernet!). For those who like to keep track, the core SRD used in this book is Modern, but Gareth has done a lot of tinkering with the rules to scare the willies out of you. . .
The rulebook kicks off with a look at what the horror genre should entail, in terms of roleplaying, and the basic d20 rules - being an OGL book, this includes character generation, experience and all the rest of it, making OGL Horror completely stand alone.
For Character Creation, professions have remained intact, though the selection will be more useful for horror roleplaying. The actual classes, however, have been changed radically. You now get the choice of using trying the Combatant, the Scholar, the Investigator or an Ordinary Person (who may actually not be all that ordinary. . .). Gareth has done well here - try to think of a core class in your favourite horror show that this little spread does not cover!
Skills and Feats will seem very familiar, though many have a bent towards the genre and new features include ways characters can handle terror and the fear in those around them - this will be important, as you will see! Selective Ignorance will become very popular in some games. . .
Beyond the Equipment, Hazards and Combat chapters, Fear & Loathing brings to the game the rules for inflicting horror and stress upon characters. Gareth has broken fear down into three forms in this game, allowing the GM to select the right level of discomfort for his players. Panic saves happen when a character is in immediate danger (psychopath coming!), Fear saves when the character is in a disturbing situation (something is lurking in the dark. . .), and Madness saves are called for when the barriers holding reality in check come crashing down and the character looks long and hard at institutional life. Shock points ensure that characters become progressively more traumatised as time goes on - just right for the big climax in a horror scenario! There are all sorts of modifiers and additional levels of stress in these rules for GMs to play with, a look at long term effects and a very comprehensive disorders list, with full rules for each.
Magic, Mysteries and Phenomena adds a touch of the supernatural to the game. This is broken down into Rituals, Spells, Psychic Powers, Faith and Artefacts, allowing you to mix and match these rules to suit the setting of your horror games. From exorcisms and summoning demons to speaking with the dead and uncovering the Black Grail, it is all here.
The Cults and Conspiracies adds a few natty little rules for handling shadowy organisations that will start appearing in games other than horror, I think. At their root, each organisation is assigned a stat block that includes Organisation HP, Force, response, resources, Information, Occult, Influence, Skills and Feats. For example, the FBI is rated as having 30,000 HP and, among others, the Private Hospital, Secure Base and Emergency Response organisation feats. Other organisations are provided for GMs to place straight into campaigns, including Group 23, the Cult of Unity and the Fable Institute.
Turning the Screw is a 20 page treatise on just how to run horror games effectively - a useful reference for GMs who may be wondering how to convince their players to actually run from evil creatures rather than just clobber them. Speaking of nasties, the Monsters chapter contains all the rules GMs will need to create their own beasties, as well as providing the likes of Sewer Beats, Animated Corpses, Nightmare Engines, Demon Children, Werewolves, Greys, Ghosts, Vampires and many, many more. Non-Player Characters are also featured, allowing GMs to quickly insert suitable soldiers, priests, serial killers and the like.
In Sample Horror Campaigns, Gareth covers some likely avenues GMs may like to try in their first horror games. The rulebook winds up with a beautiful character sheet (that will stand up to photocopying, I promise!), a complete index and some of Gareth's thoughts on the game and genre.
OGL Horror is a 256 page, full colour hardback priced at $39.95, and will be available in all good games and book stores from the middle of next week.
