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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thondor" data-source="post: 9692808" data-attributes="member: 31955">I've seen some mechanic's that specifically represent/gameify tension in RPGs: Dread's Jenga Tower -- you pull when you need to do something it falls, you probably die, and the tension resets for everyone else. This one didn't work particularly well for me when I got to play it, but it is interesting (I think it can be hard for the GM to adjudicate good times to make you pull.) <a href="https://composedreamgames.com/marketplace/all&filter=30" target="_blank">SHIVER (Parable Games)</a> has a "doom clock" that ticks up, and spawns "doom events" at certain thresholds. I've found this pretty effective when I have run it. Players have some agency to tick back the clock too. (It also has fear checks -- any PC failing ticks up the doom clock, and moves them from "stable" into "afraid" or "terrified.") The doom clock is a nice visual representation of tension -- the "Director's Screen" has a clock along the top that you can move a marker along. <a href="https://composedreamgames.com/marketplace/publisher/random-alien-games-publisher" target="_blank"> Free Spacer (Random Alien Games)</a> -- not typically a horror game, but you can run it that way. It has a complication pool that the GM can use to increase the threat against the players. Just representing that pool with a stack of poker chips and having it slowly grow towards the climax of the game can be quite effective in providing tension. These all have a visual element that shows the tension during play. Weirdly adjacent thought -- The Warren -- a pbta game of "normal" rabbits who can just talk to other animals, has a panic mechanic that works great. I never felt like it was a horror game though. Probably down to the style of how it tends to be run. I mean if you were humans who had been turned into rabbits . . .</blockquote>

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