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<blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 9106924" data-attributes="member: 11760">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 &quot;you see that. Roll for initiative.&quot;I've run a bunch of scary games over the years, for both friends and strangers, and this is what's worked for me.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Whizbang Dustyboots, post: 9106924, member: 11760"] 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 [I]can [/I]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 [I]don't explain it.[/I] 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. [/QUOTE]

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