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Message: <blockquote data-quote="steenan" data-source="post: 5194658" data-attributes="member: 23240">What kind of horror do you want it to be?Survival horror, with monsters that are hard to kill, surprise attacks and death waiting around every corner? Supernatural horror, where characters are faced with things they didn't expect and can't understand?Psychological horror, where the supernatural is only a background for human characters and for inhuman things they do?Personal horror, where you use the situation to confront characters with their own weaknesses and the darkness in their hearts?Also, do you want the game to be immersive (in case of horror: do you want to scare the players)? Or do you want to play a horror story, where the players have their characters act scared, because that is the genre you all agreed on? The first is extremely fun for players that like it, but uncomfortable for ones that don't. The second approach is much easier to do, but less satisfying, at least for me.If you aim for immersive game, use fast, simple and transparent mechanics. Unknown Armies is perfect, in my opinion. If you aim for story, Fate or one of its variations is a good choice.For survival horror, make sure that the typical success rate in the mechanics is low, around 30-40%. Create a group of NPCs and have them go with the PCs; you may then have them killed, or have PCs killed, with players switching characters. Control tension; make sure that you have parts with strong pressure and parts when the players may relax. Also, make sure that the most horrid things happen without warning, when the player thought the worst is past.Supernatural horror does not seem to be what you are going for, as the characters already know that they will face vampires.For psychological horror, have lesser supernatural creatures to create a constant danger and the main vampire that won't be encountered until the very end. The vampire will affect minds of your mercenaries, confusing them, tempting, leading to betrayal. There should be a returning question: "Who is more dangerous? The zombies, or the men with guns in my team? This guy is looking at me in a strange way. Is it my paranoia, or should I send him to his death before he kills me?". Don't be afraid of tempting and/or killing the PCs. Horror loses its teeth if you artificially increase their chance of survival. Just make sure that the worst comes during the last hour or so and that the game is interesting enough that players of killed characters won't be bored by listening to it.For personal horror, have your players create characters with painful and dark things in their backgrounds. Then build on these. You don't really need any kind of "monster" in the castle; it's enough if if it reflects desires and fears of whoever enters, twisted by echos of whatever happened there earlier. Read Lem's "Solaris" for an example of such story. You want the characters to spend more time talking about what they think and feel, sharing their dark secrets of trying to hide them, than exploring the physical place.</blockquote>

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