On Running a Horror Game

[Umbran]

I recently backed the Old Gods of Appalachia crowdfunding campaign, and as that goes through fulfillment, I realized that I haven't actually run much horror, and played only a little.

Which is not to say that I haven't run and played games with traditionally horror tropes and enemies. But most of the time these end up in the space of "adventure, with some creepiness". I haven't often made the feeling of horror the major goal of a game.

So, that's the topic - What techniques can you use to generate the feeling of horror in a tabletop RPG?

 

[Lanefan]

@Clint_L - you might want to answer this. (Clint ran some of us in a horror game earlier this week and it flat-out rocked)

 

[MGibster]

So, that's the topic - What techniques can you use to generate the feeling of horror in a tabletop RPG?

My group just ended a Night's Black Agents campaign (modern spy-thriller combined with vampire hunting), and it was one of the best horror games I'd ever played in. I've run a lot of horror games over the years, but your post really got me thinking about what makes a good horror game.

Make good use of the uknown. In the NBA campaign, we, the players, only had a vague idea of what the vampires and their thralls were capable of which added a layer of tension to every encounter we had. There was a level of paranoia because we never knew if someone was regular person or a vampire thrall. And since we were never quite 100% about the nature of the threat or how to neutralize it really kept us on our toes. Ideally, the PCs should never go against the supernatural and think to themselves, "Oh, yeah, we got this in the bag!"

Make the world a place worth caring about. I find the best way to do this is to make sure there are NPCs the players can depend on, sometimes even when they least suspect it. Maybe the PCs call the police because there's a supernatural threat and instead of arresting them for wasting his time he actually helps in some way? Maybe someone they helped in the past likes to return the favor on occasion by providing them with something valuable like a safe place to stay out the country. If the PCs care about the NPCs around them it can heighten the tension when they're threatened.

Don't be afraid to make the PCs powerless at times. We were playing Esoterrorist and our characters failed to discover the secret to defeating a supernatural threat in a timely manner. Because we were late in discovering the weakness, we had to sit there and wait for five random people to be murdered before the entity was vulnerable again and we were able to take care of it. That was a sobering session and the GM reminded us, "This is a horror game, after all."

Make sure you get players to buy into the fact that they're playing a horror game. I once ran a Call of Cthulhu campaign where PCs did everything they could to avoid intestigating supernatural threats. Their PCs refused to read any spooky books our journals and they were extremely adverse to risk going so far as to contemplate burning down a house instead of doing any investigation to uncover the nature of the threat. This is no fun. This isn't really a technique, but it's important everyone is on the same page about what you're expected to do.

Old Gods looks like it's going to be a fun game and I really hope you enjoy your campaign.

 

[Committed Hero]

It's extremely hard to scare players. The best you can hope to achieve is to worry them about their PCs not accomplishing their objectives, or harassing NPCs the players come to care about. Games like the ones McGibster cites use mechanics to this effect.

Give the PCs a selection between two poor choices, and make sure they know the bad ramifications of choosing each - or none.

Make sure the players know that within the framework of the campaign, their PCs are supposed to confront the horror, and to a lesser extent, believe in them. It's hard to accommodate cautious players and skeptical PCs for an extended period of time.

Horror benefits from a quiet table with few distractions. Ominous music can help this, if you have the capability.

Good luck!

 

[prabe]

I've had success, leading the players to care about the people, etc., in the world and then doing horrifying things to those people, etc., with the strong implication of such risks to the PCs.

Also, I'd expect there to be good, actionable advice on the topic in the game book. Judging on their horror sourcebook for Cypher (Stay Alive!) they know the genre and how to do it in TRPGs.

 

[Velderan]

Make sure you get players to buy into the fact that they're playing a horror game. I once ran a Call of Cthulhu campaign where PCs did everything they could to avoid intestigating supernatural threats. Their PCs refused to read any spooky books our journals and they were extremely adverse to risk going so far as to contemplate burning down a house instead of doing any investigation to uncover the nature of the threat. This is no fun. This isn't really a technique, but it's important everyone is on the same page about what you're expected to do.

I had the opposite experience in the 1 Call of Cthulhu game I've ran so far. The players were very interested in investigating everything, so drip-feeding them information did a pretty good job of creating suspense. When they started to encounter things that were an actual threat, they knew just enough to have an idea what to do but since they weren't 100% sure it made them afraid to make a mistake and die.

 

[prabe]

I had the opposite experience in the 1 Call of Cthulhu game I've ran so far. The players were very interested in investigating everything, so drip-feeding them information did a pretty good job of creating suspense. When they started to encounter things that were an actual threat, they knew just enough to have an idea what to do but since they weren't 100% sure it made them afraid to make a mistake and die.

It's been a while, but my experiences in CoC were that there were characters who Just Didn't Want to Know, and characters who Had to Know Everything, in the same parties. That didn't, that I remember, damage play much. I'm not sure how relevant CoC is to Old Gods of Appalachia, though--I'm unfamiliar with the game or its source material.

 

[MGibster]

It's been a while, but my experiences in CoC were that there were characters who Just Didn't Want to Know, and characters who Had to Know Everything, in the same parties. That didn't, that I remember, damage play much. I'm not sure how relevant CoC is to Old Gods of Appalachia, though--I'm unfamiliar with the game or its source material.

OP is running Old Gods of Appalachia but asked for advice on running horror games in general. A lot of advice that is applicable to running a Call of Cthulhu campaign will port over quite nicely to most other horror games. Everything I wrote is applicable to running a game of Vampire, Beyond the Supernatural, Chill, or Alien.

Don't be afraid to hurt and maim the players. Uh, don't be afraid to hurt and maim the player characters. Maybe instead of killing the PC, the ravenous beast gnaws off their left arm or chews off half their face. Maybe the witch's nephew runs a bank in town, you know, the same bank that hold's the deed to the PC's family farm.

 

[prabe]

OP is running Old Gods of Appalachia but asked for advice on running horror games in general. A lot of advice that is applicable to running a Call of Cthulhu campaign will port over quite nicely to most other horror games. Everything I wrote is applicable to running a game of Vampire, Beyond the Supernatural, Chill, or Alien.

Don't be afraid to hurt and maim the players. Uh, don't be afraid to hurt and maim the player characters. Maybe instead of killing the PC, the ravenous beast gnaws off their left arm or chews off half their face. Maybe the witch's nephew runs a bank in town, you know, the same bank that hold's the deed to the PC's family farm.

While there are things horror games will have in common, different games/settings will have tonal differences. Alien is different from The Body Snatchers is different from Hellraiser is different from The Stand ...

My inclination based on the name is to suggest you go read you some Manly Wade Wellman.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

First, I would hunt down Ken Hite's Nightmares of Mine, which is nothing but advice on how to run horror games. Barring that, an abridged version of his advice is in one or more editions of GURPS Horror.

Second, I disagree about it being hard to scare players, but I think it's important to set one's expectations appropriately. You're probably not going to make anyone scream, soil themselves or run out of the room. You cannot compete with a slasher flick for jump scares. But what you can do is make their imaginations work against them and put in suggestive things that make them come up with scarier stuff all on their own.

Aim for The Blair Witch Project instead of Halloween: Take away the shaky cam stuff, and it's a horror movie where 99% of the horror is what the viewer imagines is happening, rather than what's seen on the screen. People vanish. There are some noises in the woods. Some creepy crude dolls are found. An abandoned house is discovered. All of that tabletop RPGs can do, and do well.

Go with subtle creepy stuff -- the travelers go past an abandoned farmstead in Appalachia and see that someone has disturbed the local family graveyard, digging up the corpses of the young children buried there -- and then don't explain it. Not knowing what the hell is going on is a lot scarier than someone opening up an RPG bestiary, pointing to a picture, and saying "you see that. Roll for initiative."

I've run a bunch of scary games over the years, for both friends and strangers, and this is what's worked for me.