Characteristics

Good Day // Good Evening, as it will pertain to the kindly reader

Next I would like to discuss what I see as some of the salient characteristics of the genre as it pertains to Roleplaying Games only. Naturally there is cross-over, between literature, films, stage, and RPGs, no denying this. I am going to talk about my own perceptions of it, from over 30 years of being a gamer.

Characteristics in Horror Genre Gaming
Protagonists / Threats
These come from 3 main areas. There is a natural overlap, none have only a single one that I can see.
That said there are 3 main types:
• Psychological
• Monsters
• Grotesqueries (Macabre/Surreal/Unnatural)
So in example in the fiction of HP Lovecraft, he has all three at one point or another. Psychological is in the Rats in the Walls story, Monsters are all over the place naturally, while Grotesqueries show up in the Dream Stories of Kadath that I have noticed. The line between Monsters and Grotesques is tenuous and thin at best. That distinction is more evident in Film I think than RPG settings.

Psychological:
This is more terror than horror, the fear of the unknown, the uncertainty of what is happening. It is often a component leading up to the climax and battles with monsters and grotesqueries.
The scary elements, the clues, the hidden messages in ancient tomes, all part of this element.

Monsters:
These are the staples, the things that go bump in the night. These are the elements most often found in a non-horror genre game system or setting. One example is Vampires in the Victoriana Game Setting of Gaslight (Both the Savage Worlds and OGL editions). It is not a horror game setting per se, but with Vampires and Monsters in it, drawing from the literature of the time, which lends to Horror like elements included.

Grotesqueries:
These are often monsters themselves, or the changed and strange. Examples would include hunchbacks, circus performers, sideshow freaks, the misshapen from birth, those are the grotesque things. Sometimes they are monsters; sometimes they are simply misunderstood to the point of turning them into monsters. Also these include those that appear normal, but in their heads they are not. So an example of this is that Jack the Ripper would fall into the Grotesqueries category, while Werewolf or Spring Heeled Jack would fall into the monsters category.

These are the three main elements to Horror Gaming and what sorts of challenges are encountered. It of course has omitted traps and natural disasters. Those do not fall neatly into these categories. So with these elements in mind, you the person running the game can see which you prefer to use in your game. A later article will start discussing the stock versions of these elements.


So it has come this point, here is a master / consolidated listing of extant Horror Genre Roleplaying Games, being as inclusive as I can make it. I am sure there are many others I am missing, small and obscure ones I have not heard of, or ones in progress I am unaware of. So this list will expand as time permits.

Master List of Horror Genre Roleplaying Games
All Flesh Must Be Eaten
Beyond the Supernatural (Palladium)
Call of Cthulhu®
Chill
CJ Carella’s WitchCraft
Code Black (BTRC)
Conspiracy X
Cyberpunk 2020 Alternate World (R Talsorian)
Dark Conspiracy (Far Future Enterprises)
Dark Heresy (Fantasy Flight Games)
Dark Matter (Alternity Edition and d20 Editions)
Dread
EABA Code:Black
Etherscope (Goodman Games)
Feng Shui®
GUMSHOE System (The Esoterrorists, non-mythos Trail of Cthulhu)
GURPS, GURPS Horror, GURPS Undead, GURPS Spirits
Kult (Unknown as of this time)
Little Fears
Little Fears Nightmare Edition
Monte Cook's World of Darkness
Nephilim
Nightbane (Palladium)
Nightlife (BKM)
Over the Edge®
Ravenloft (AD&D)
The Hunt: Rise of Evil (Mystic Eye Games d20)
The Mutant Chronicles (Target Games and CMG version Fantasy Flight Games)
The Whispering Vault (I forget right now)
Torg (West End Games)
Unhallowed Metropolis
Unknown Armies®
World of Darkness (especially Hunter: The Vigil)