Halloween Tips for Running a Horror RPG

 

 

Nuremberg Chronicle

A notion I see thrown around a lot is that roleplaying games just can't be scary. I used to think that myself. The logic is similar to the one applied to Co-op video games: it's too hard to be scared when you're goofing off with your friends. In hindsight, I think that spoke more to the games I was running and the systems I was playing.

Not only are there a host of RPG systems designed with horror specifically in mind, most notably Call of Cthulhu, I've found that this medium is in a unique position to embrace horror. After all, no other art form gives the audience the level of agency a roleplaying game does. Even video games are constrained by code and technical limitations, whereas the only limits of an RPG are those imposed by the table.

And that can allow for a damn scary story.

The Right Tools for the Job

Contrary to what you might expect, I don't think you necessarily need a horror system to run a good horror game. It certainly helps and that's where you should look first. But other systems can be used to bring the genre to your table, if you keep in mind what makes dedicated horror rulesets tick. My most successful horror game (which managed to give one of my players nightmares) was run in Star Wars: Age of Rebellion of all things. 

 

Drawing from the undmade Yuuzhan Vong Clone Wars episode and an enduring obsession with The X-Files, I had two Rebel PCs uncover an apparent conspiracy between the Rebel Alliance and an otherworldly, truly alien threat.

Or maybe it was all a plot by Imperial Intelligence to trick them into revealing military secrets.

Decades of Golden Demon - A COMPENDIUM Volume One Review

 

The Miniatures Compendium

Golden Demon has long been a major institution of the Warhammer hobby, a miniature painting competition first held at the 1987 Games Day, Games Workshop's premier convention in ages past. It was eventually untethered from the trademark event, which disappeared in the warp around 2014. Golden Demon lived on, though COVID has given us a 2 year hiatus.

The Miniatures Compendium/David de Blas

It's hard to described the importance of Games Day, both personally and otherwise. It's especially hard perhaps because I've never been a particularly good painter. Golden Demon winning miniatures have been intimidating just as often as they've been inspiring. But I suppose that's part of the mystique.

Games Workshop injected plenty of pomp and ceremony into Golden Demon without making it too daunting for hobbyists: the titular leering demonic trophies became a symbol of a truly accomplished painter, with the best in show awarded the Slayer Sword, a steel replica weapon.

I certainly never imagined myself winning a Golden Demon, much less triumphantly holding the Slayer Sword aloft. Even so, trawling through the Golden Demon galleries as a neophyte hobbyist a decade ago is a memory I treasure dearly.