Seeds Horror

[Crothian]

Seeds Horror

Horror is possible the hardiest genre of role playing to do. It takes very little to pull people out of horror and it is hard to set up everything so that the players get truly scared. Horror also is not about blood shed, the decimated bodies or the loan organs. Horror is an idea, it’s a twist on things that makes people not sure what to expect or what will happen. It’s a mix of suspense and other qualities that are hard to define because horror is a genre that can over lap anything else. I may not be able to define horror that well but I do know it when I see it. And for the most parts Seeds Horror is not.

Seeds Horror is a new idea from Expeditious Retreat. It is the first one of the line that I have seen even though there is by now at least a dozen of them. The idea behind the product is to offer adventure seeds, the ideas behind the adventure. Then it is up to the DM to flesh it all out and fit it into their campaign. Seeds Horror comes in a half meg zip file with different version of the book inside. It has the cover as a separate file and one version of the book designed to print and one designed to read on the screen. There are no book marks in this six page PDF and really with the size and nature of the book they are not needed. This is not a book the DM needs to reference in the adventure. This book is used in the planning stages.

Seeds Horror is a few dozen adventure ideas. And while there are some good ideas in here few of them are really horror. They are supernatural, they are mysteries, and they deal with the unknown. But they really are not the scary. They have potential to be scary but I any adventure seed can become scary. Also it should be noted that this is actually modern horror. Many seeds pull things right out of modern day and mythology. There are some good seeds in here. They have some nice creative ideas. Some are encounters and some are better fitting for a campaign or at least a good multi adventure arch. There are some what if ideas here, some is it truly evil or is it just something mundane. There is a good potential of gore in many of them as well. But few of them alone really struck me as pure horror.

This was a tough little product to review. It has good ideas but to me it failed in its most basic goal and that was adventure seeds that were horror. Horror is the toughest of genres though. There are some nice supernatural and modern mythology ideas here. I think they will serve many people well, but it will be up to the DM to provide the horror for these.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Welcome to Seeds and to this second product in the new line by Expeditious Retreat Press. Seeds are story ideas, plot ideas, creature ideas, adventure hooks, anything that can grow into an enjoyable gaming experience. Each seed is small (only a paragraph or two at most) and each Seed product will be small as well (only four to five pages), but just like their namesakes, they have great potential when provided with the right environment.

Horror Seeds is roughly four pages packed with adventure ideas suitable for mondern gaming. We’re also collecting seeds for four other genres (modern, supers, fantasy, and the newly added pulp) and there will be future Seeds in these categories. We’ve gathered this first bunch of seeds through a paid open submissions call at Enworld and RPGnet, but we hope that you’ll be inclined to send us your seed ideas for perusal and possible inclusion in future Seeds products. We’d love a continual series of Seeds created by the very people who enjoy reading them the most.


So drop by the Expeditious Retreat website, checkout our submission guidelines to find out more about the process, and then send us your seeds. Hopefully you’ll soon be reading the latest Seed containing your successful seeds. Whew! Enough with the alliteration already, on to the fun! For a free sample, check out our Seeds: Fantasy available here at RPGnow.com!Don't forget to pick up these other Seeds products

 

[GameWyrd]

There is a host (a garden, if you will) of seeds from Expeditious Retreat Press and Seeds: Horror is the 5th product.

Seeds: Horror (which I always refer to as Horror Seeds) is a quick hit from the d20 publisher. You're looking at a mere US $1.35 in exchange for the PDF. That'll be below the minimum checkout of e-tailers and must be bought as a "top up".

At best, Seeds: Horror is a top up. Each seed suggestion is a couple of paragraphs and there five pages of them (the sixth page being gobbled up by the demon of legal foo).

The first thing to note - and perhaps the only note of significance - is that Seeds: Horror is best used with d20 Modern and not the fantasy core rules.

The PDF appears in landscape (long edge along the top and bottom and short edge on the sides) and has green grass sidebars (which are removed in the print friendly version). The style immediately makes me think of Ronin Arts/Ronin Studios products. The inclusion of a printer friendly version is nice and perhaps not something I'd take for granted at the sub US $2 price range.

Seeds have a wide scope; some are campaign world suggestions - where demon possession is a fact of life and a style choice, whereas others are scenario based - such as a start up coming designing trading cards based on unfortunately accurate runes and some of the seeds are one off games - like haunted zoos.

I think Expeditious Retreat Press would benefit from tightening up on this. Let's have seeds for campaigns, seeds for scenarios and seeds suitable for time consuming/filler scenes. Although the current series is divided by genre it doesn't feel like quite enough. Since there are no new game rules here or any pre-made NPCs, plot twists or even resources (such as ready to print handouts of Runic CCGs) you have to make the most of the high level suggestions. If these high level suggestions can be discounted at a glance then you quickly whisk through the PDF. It's easy to be left wondering what you've paid for here.

There's a nice mix of horror in this short product. As someone who plays plenty of World of Darkness as well as d20 (as well as other systems and settings) I've a bugbear about horror. Gore and splatter is just a sub-section of horror. In fact, gore and splatter is possible without any horror at all (the movie Starship Troopers springs to mind). If you want "chiller" horror (the best, but hardest to write for, I think) then there are seeds for that. It would have been easy to succumb to a series of splatter suggestions and I'm glad Expeditious Retreat Press held off on that.

I can't imagine paying for anything less than Seeds. In fact, it seems a bit like paying for the easiest and most fun part of being a GM and that's a little strange. On the other hand at less than $1.50 Seeds: Horror is practically a give a way. It's hard to grumble. If all you need is a couple of ideas to toss around the Seeds: Horror is spot on.

In short, Seeds: Horror does what it promises it will do and you get what you paid for. Don't go out to buy this as you'll have to stock up your cart with other products but if you're trying to make the checkout value and especially if you're buying other horror products then toss this PDF in and you can't really regret it.

* This Seeds: Horror review was first published at GameWyrd.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

"Don't go out to buy this as you'll have to stock up your cart with other products but if you're trying to make the checkout value and especially if you're buying other horror products then toss this PDF in and you can't really regret it."

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I hate to say this, but when reading this, almost all I see is "Don't go out to buy this." I know what you mean, certainly, but even with the caveat at the end, it just seems really awkward.

Nick

 

[GameWyrd]

Yeah, I can imagine if you're not into horror at all and don't particularly care that they've a spectrum of horror styles in the wee product then all the Pros will become "Blahs" and you'll be left without any reason to buy the PDF.