More Tentacles than you can shake a Fist at

Characteristics in Horror Genre Gaming
More Tentacles than you can shake a Fist at
There are five main genesis points to the modern horror genre in gaming, as far as monsters as protagonists are concerned. They are illustrated below with details to follow. This refers to the protagonists/threats distinction made already. These are the easiest to find examples of, to use and implement in your own gaming as well. Several of these fall or cross over with the Grotesqueries category of protagonists as well.

So the 5 main starting points are as follows:
Point 1 are Mythological Creatures such as The Medusa, Werewolves (also present in Point 2), The Kraken, etc.

Point 2 are the examples that come from the Gothic Novels. This includes the traditional monsters of Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Jekyl and Hyde, Jack the Ripper, The Invisible Man, etc. These will often overflow with the Grotesqueries form of the protagonist.

Point 3 are the works of HP Lovecraft and to a lesser extent Edgar Allen Poe (Who can fall into the Gothic perspective at times easily). These are the things man was not meant to know or understand, aliens, things from other places in many instances.

Point 4 is the modern slasher/gore/madman/monster type. More than the others these will often overflow with the Grotesqueries form of the protagonist.

Point 5 are the modern monsters classification. The prime examples of these are the 1950s monster movies, the Aliens from the movies by the same names, all the things that are found in outer space, etc. Also aliens and abductions fall into this category while things like giant mutant crocodiles also fall into this distinction, which is mostly time based (more recent) than anything else. This is to separate out the axe wielding inbred family monsters from the giant crocodile monster or the alien space virus that creates shambling hordes of brain eating things from each other.


Of course there are variations to all the themes.