The rotting, blood-drenched horde shambles forward, filling the air with the stench of rotting flesh and fresh blood. Freddie, an accountant from the suburbs of Jackson, Mississippi, wonders how it came to this, when just yesterday his biggest worry was his chief client's exaggerated tax deductions. He looks to his fellow survivors, the uptown socialite Ariella and Linda, the south-Jackson schoolteacher, and shudders, wondering if any of them will even see tomorrow.

Suddenly, the creatures stop moaning and break into a run, snarling for blood.

Freddie whips out the Glock he took off a dead policeman and busts a cap in the first zombie's head. To his left, Ariella raises the same dead cop's riot gun and blows the top clean off of a second shrieking ghoul. To his right, Linda raises a tire iron and rushes into the fray ...

Does anyone else smell BS, or is it just me? I know I wouldn't react that smoothly to so horrific a situation, regardless of a smattering of martial arts and handgun training. But it's not just soft civilians who freeze up: in World War II, the U.S. Army estimated that 50% of soldiers shot randomly rather than actually taking aim at the enemy. They've since taken measures to reduce that number, but the point remains: people freak out in horrific situations. People don't do their best in violent situations unless they've become accustomed to them, unless they've been hardened to violence. It's all well and good to ignore that in action or fantasy games, but in horror games? No can do.

The effects of fear and horror have been handled a lot of ways in a lot of places, from Call of Cthulhu's hit-point-like Sanity Points to various coercive mechanics that can end up almost playing your character for you, to Unknown Armies' hardened notches. The last of these was the biggest influence on me, though I have to admit, I've only heard other people talk about it. I'm not sure I'm so keen on dividing Hardness and Brokenness into so many different subsets (as Unknown Armies does). It would be rare indeed for the kind of person person who'd freak out in a bar brawl to be cold and hardened toward unnatural horrors.

So, in honor of Halloween, Samhain Night, All Saint's Day, and the fact that I was too lazy to finish a review for Horror Week, I'm introducing you to a brand-spanking new Tarafore System sub-system: The Horror Factor!

My approach to Horror Factor mechanics flows from my general approach to personality mechanics, and from the Rocket House's general approach to roleplaying. I don't like – I hate - coercive personality mechanics. I can play my character well enough, thank you, and if he gets freaked out I'll freak him out myself, but I'll decide just what he does. I'm okay with action penalties based on the character's state of mind, but if the dice are playing my character for me, I'd rather be somewhere else.

To this end, I've focused my Horror Factor mechanics on the most mechanic-heavy of situations: combat. Why? Well, non-combat situations are easier to play out. It's easier to stay “in character” when you're not worrying about rolling Initiative, Attacks, and Defense. In out-of combat conversational situations, we've had PC's lose their composure, attack their friends, and even have to be killed or beaten down by other PCs (who'd previously been friends) in order to stop the carnage. In one particularly intense horror game, the PCs killed more PCs than the monsters did, and the PCs were all longtime friends.

In combat, players tend to become a little more tactical. It's not that they drop out of character, but it's also unlikely that they'll suggest penalties to act, or have a clear idea of how their characters are being affected. The system intrudes far more during combat, and it really has to – even in simulationist and gamist groups, conversations can be role-played without rules, but combat is a different matter. Action penalties and the like are still mostly seen as the GM's territory, within the realm of the game system being used. With that in mind, I wrote a sub-system to clarify things. Here goes:

Fighting the Monsters (Dealing Horrific Events in Combat)

Each character has a “Hardness” rating, which describes how accustomed he is to violence.

0 – Sedentary, Urban, “call 911” “who's in charge around here?” Most average people (including dabblers in the martial arts and occasional hunters) fall into this category

1 – Some training, seeks to take responsibility for his or her own safety: a serious martial artist, concealed-carry firearms license holder, someone who grew up in a rough neighborhood, or an athlete

2 – A boxer/MMA fighter, a rough-edged country-boy/hunter, ready to fight (or the urban equivalent)

3 – Professional training (cop, soldier, lifetime criminal), or no training and do-or-die experience

4 – Significant training (or rough upbringing and attitude), plus do-or-die experience

5 – Professional training plus do or die experience

6 – Stone cold killer, experienced Special Forces soldier, CIA deep cover operative, hitman

7 - Stone cold killer who's used to dealing with the supernatural: longtime vampire hunter, etc

Do or Die experience means you've had to fight for your life several times, and that you actually fought, not ran away or hid.

Very rarely, a character may have a sort of “Specialization” in his Hardness rating. For example, in a Lovecraftian game, a professor who's fallen into worship of the great elder squid god things might have a low overall Hardness, but a higher Hardness for Mythos knowledge (and perhaps a high Hardness for cruelty and human sacrifice). In combat, his Hardness is low, but it would be higher for these other, unusual situations. On the other hand, a very rationalist ex-soldier (say, a WW2 veteran who's now an evolutionary biologist and doesn't believe in anything that can't be scientifically observed) might have a pretty high Hardness where violence is concerned, but a lower Hardness for openly supernatural events.

Characters with Hardness of 4 or higher tend to have a hard time dealing with average civilians (and the higher the character's Hardness, the less patience she has for insipid bourgeoisie drama). A Hardness of 6 or 7 basically means the character's become a cold-blooded killer – perhaps by necessity, perhaps out of patriotism, perhaps for all the right reasons, but nonetheless, it's happened, and it's hard for her to move in next door to the man in the gray flannel suit, his soccer-mom wife, and their 2.5 beautiful children.

Characters with Hardness of 3 or less don't tend to have too many problems – in fact, they may prosper because the trivial things that stress out average citizens just fly under their radar. I'm reminded of Andrew Vachss's comment to the effect that law school seemed easy after surviving the civil war in Biafra. I'm also reminded of the great business skill and work ethic demonstrated by the WW2 and Korean War veterans that I've known.

Determining Horror Factor

Violent and horrific events have a “Horror Factor” based on just how bad the event is.

0 – Play-fight with a friend

1 – Fistfight

2 – Serious, homicidal fistfight

3 – Improvised or small weapon used with murderous intent (pool cue, table leg, knife, broken bottle)

4 – Facing a lethal weapon (dagger, sword, gun, etc.), or a single, relatively weak, inhuman creature (a zombie, for example)

5 – Grotesque Brutality (torture, chainsaw, flamethrower), or a small group of weak inhuman creatures (a few zombies), or a fairly powerful inhuman creature (a vampire)

6 – A large group of inhuman creatures or a single very powerful creature (like a vampire lord or some Lovecraftian beast).

Certain events increase an event's Horror Factor

* If the characters are outnumbered, increase the Horror Factor by 1. This is cumulative with the “groups of inhuman creatures” above.

* An ambush increases the Horror Factor by 2 for the first turn only.

* A really creepy situation or surroundings increase the Horror Factor by 1 (rarely by 2).

If the Horror Factor exceeds the character's Hardness rating, the excess applies as a penalty to Initiative and any action other than Defense and Running Away. The character gains no bonuses if his or her Hardness rating exceeds the Horror Factor.

If a character gets an Initiative Total (Awareness (Reaction) +1d10 -1d10 -Horror factor) of 0 or less, he cannot act that turn. Further, if the character's Initiative Total is below 0, it applies as a penalty to his Defenses (parrying using Prowess or dodging using Dodge). So if a character's Initiative total is -2, not only can he not act that turn, but he has -2 to Defend as well.

Characters may spend up to 3 Willpower to “soak” the Horror Factor (reducing it by 1 for each Willpower point spent) for one turn. This Willpower doesn't come back until the character gets a good night's sleep (or a major victory or accomplishment encourages the character). If the character has to make a Willpower test of any kind (including Horror Checks) in a later turn (or after the fight), use the lower, “current” Willpower Trait. This force of will can save the character's life, but it can cost him dearly, and it can't be used for very many turns in a row unless the character has an unusually strong will.

Changes to the Horror Factor During the Course of the Fight

Horror Factor decreases by 1 for each turn after the first, but only for those characters who were able to act that turn. Those who freaked out have to face the full Horror Factor again.

Horror Factor can be increased against individual characters due to events that happen during combat. For example, events like the following would immediately increase the affected character's Horror Factor by 1 or 2 (the number listed to the left of the description. This increases the character's Action Penalty, if applicable.

1) She hits someone with a shot that should have been fatal, and they ignore it (like a zombie or vampire would).

1) Machinegun fire barely misses a character, tearing up the area around her

1) An explosion barely misses him

1) An opponent draws a lethal weapon, and he doesn't have one

1) Enemy reinforcements arrive

2) He kills someone, especially for the first time

2) She's hit and hurt by an attack

2) A zombie gets into grappling range and grabs him

Horror Factor can also decrease if things go the PCs' way. These reductions happen immediately.

1) If someone can inspire the group to greater courage, the whole group's HF decreases by 1

1) The first time someone in the group drops an enemy, the whole group's HF decreases by 1

2) Whoever dropped that enemy has his Horror Factor decreased by 2

For Example

The rotting, blood-drenched horde shambles forward, filling the air with the stench of rotting flesh and fresh blood. Freddie, an accountant from the suburbs of Jackson, Mississippi, wonders how it came to this, when just yesterday his biggest worry was his chief client's exaggerated tax deductions. He looks to his fellow survivors, the uptown socialite Ariella and Linda, the south-Jackson schoolteacher, and shudders, wondering if any of them will even see tomorrow.

The GM calls for Initiative rolls, and announces that the Horror Factor is 7 (6 for a large group of unnatural enemies, +1 for being outnumbered). Freddie's Hardness is 0, as is Ariella's. Linda's Hardness is 2, partly because of dealing with verbally abusive students and parents, schoolyard fights, bomb threats, and backstabbing, scapegoating administrators who'd rather hang their employees out to dry than display one molecule of courage, and partly because she's trained in a very physical Mixed Martial Arts school for the past three years. Freddie and Ariella both have Awareness(Reaction) of Average (10). Linda's is Good (12), for the reasons I've already mentioned.

Suddenly, the creatures stop moaning and break into a run, snarling for blood.

Freddie's adjusted Initiative is 10 (Reaction) +0 (Hardness) -7 (Horror Factor) =3, plus 1d10, minus 1d10. His player rolls +5/-6, for a total of 2. He's going to be acting pretty late in the turn, but at least he can still act. However, the difference between the Horror Factor (7) and his Hardness (0) will be subtracted from any non-defensive actions he takes. In other words, he'll have -7 to hit. So much for head shots.

Ariella's adjusted Initiative is 10 (Reaction) +0 (Hardness) -7 (Horror Factor) =3, plus 1d10, minus 1d10. Her player rolls +1/-8, for a total of -4. She completely loses her head and starts screaming. Not only will Ariella not be able to act this turn, but she'll have -4 to all defensive rolls as well.

Linda's in slightly better shape. Her adjusted Initiative is 12 (Reaction) +2 (Hardness) -7 (Horror Factor) =7, plus 1d10, minus 1d10. Her player rolls +3/-5, for a total of 5. Talk about cruddy initiative rolls! Fortunately, the zombies are far enough away that they'll have to spend this turn closing the gap unless she rushes out to face them. On the other hand, her offensive actions will still have a penalty of -5 (Horror Factor of 7, minus Hardness of 2 equals -5).

Freddie steps back involuntarily. The handgun he took off a dead cop's body suddenly feels like it weighs a hundred pounds. To his right, sounding a hundred miles away, Ariella drops the shotgun and screams again and again. Linda, who's barely kept her head, barks at Freddie to grab the shotgun and run. By the time he does, Linda's already taken Ariella's arm and is dragging her down a side street, hoping to lose the zombies in the maze of city streets.

The GM rules that this has earned them two turns' time before the zombies catch up with them (turns two and three – the zombies will close the distance on turn four unless the PC's come up with something else), and continues the combat. The second turn, he calls for Initiative rolls, mostly as a check on the characters' mental states. Ariella is still facing the 7 Horror Factor (she lost her composure, so the HF doesn't decrease for her). Freddie and Linda are only facing Horror Factor 6.

Ariella's adjusted Initiative is the same as last turn: 10 (Reaction) +0 (Hardness) -7 (Horror Factor) =3, plus 1d10, minus 1d10. Her player rolls better than last turn: +8/-6, for a total of 5 Initiative. She'll still have a -7 penalty to offensive actions, but that's better than last turn.

Freddie's adjusted Initiative is 10 (Reaction) +0 (Hardness) -6 (new Horror Factor) =4, plus 1d10, minus 1d10. He rolls +6/-3, for a total of 7 Initiative. He'll have a penalty of -6 to offensive actions.

Linda's adjusted Initiative is 12 (Reaction) +2 (Hardness) -6 (new Horror Factor) =7, plus 1d10, minus 1d10. Linda gets a great Initiative roll, not that it does her much good: +9/-3, for a total of 13. She'll have a penalty of -4 to any offensive actions.

Linda's basically taken the leadership position. She keeps them running, but once Ariella's stopped screaming, Linda gets Freddie to toss her the shotgun.

The GM doesn't even call for the third turn's Initiative. He just reduces the Horror Factor by 1 more (down to 5 for Freddie and Linda and 6 for Ariella) and describes the zombies getting closer and closer. Next turn, the fastest two zombies (a blood-drenched high school cheerleader and a skeletal bicycle messenger) will be within attacking range.

Linda's grip tightened on the cold steel of the crowbar as she steeled herself for what she had to do. If any of them had a chance to get away, it was here in this narrow alley where the zombie's couldn't rush past and surround them. As the two fastest zombies gained on them, Linda spun and swung, nearly taking Little Miss Evil Spirit Stick's pigtailed head off of her quarterback-hickeyed neck

Fourth turn's Initiative. The Horror Factor is down to 4 for Freddie and Linda and 5 for Ariella.

Freddie's Initiative is 10 + 0 -4 =6, and his player rolls +6/-3, for a total of 9. His action penalty will be -4 for all offensive actions.

Ariella's Initiative is 10 +0 -5 =5, and her player rolls +3/-7, for a total of 1. Her action penalty will be -5 for all offensive actions (her Horror Factor of 5 minus her Hardness rating of 0 is her penalty).

Linda's Initiative is 12 +2 -4=10. But her player spends 2 Willpower to reduce the Horror Factor by 2. That means her new Initiative is 12 +2-2=12. Her player rolls +8/-4, for a total of 16. He will have no penalty to actions, because she's temporarily reduced the Horror Factor to 2, equal to her Hardness. However, Linda's reduced her Willpower from 10 to 8, and it will stay there until she rests.

The GM rolls Initiatives of 10 and 13 for the two lead zombies.

Linda spins and strikes at the nearest one (the cheerleader), calling the shot to the head (-3 to-hit, counts as an Exceptional hit). She hits, and rolls an Exceptional Wound result, killing the zombie. The bike messenger zombie lunges at her, but she rolls well enough on her defense to stay out of its clutches (For more details, see Tales from the Rocket House, Part 4: How Do You Do?).

Because one of them took out one of the zombies, proving it can be done, the whole group's Horror Factor is reduced by 1 (in addition to the drop of 1 HF per turn), and Linda, the one who did it, has her Horror Factor reduced by 2. Linda's Horror Factor drops to 2, and will be at 1 next turn. Freddie's drops to 3, and will be at 2 next turn. Ariella's Horror Factor drops to 4, and will be at 3 next turn. Each characters Action Penalty is reduced immediately, not at the start of the next turn.

Linda shouts “run,” but instead she sees Ariella kneeling with the shotgun, and Freddie standing over her with the pistol, both taking aim. Bike messenger's head explodes to the deep thunder of a 12-gauge shotgun. A pistol shot splats defiantly into the onrushing mass of putrescence.

Ariella and Freddie both burn Willpower to reduce the Horror Factor and Action Penalty. Both “call” head shots, but only Ariella hits. That's one less zombie and two fewer bullets. Right now, the GM needs to be sure he knows just how many zombies there are in a “horde,” and how many cartridges are in each gun.

Lingering Effects

If a character is overcome and can't act (gets a zero or negative number), s/he freaks out and may suffer psychological issues. If he recovers in a later turn, this will often lead to Hardening. If not, it most often leads to psychological instability and eventual breakdown. For the groups I play with, roleplaying will be the best way to resolve this – trust me, they'll do worse things to their characters than the dice will.

The higher a character's Hardness, the less able he or she is to fit in with normal “civilian” society (look at the high-hardness characters – experienced Special Forces soldiers, long-term soldiers and mercenaries, contract killers, vampire hunters, etc. These aren't normal people, and don't have much in common with accountants and schoolteachers).

The more broken or unstable a character is, the more he's prone to depression, paranoia, anxiety, panic attacks, denial, delusions, or nervous breakdown. You may wish to track this on a scale of 0 to 6, mirroring the Hardness scale, with 0 being normal and well-adjusted and 6 being almost catatonic, completely delusional, and otherwise nonfuctional. Such a scale would most likely get in the way for my players, but some groups may find it helpful.

In the example above, Freddie, Ariella, and Linda all faced their first “do or die” experience, and any of them that survived gained 1 level of Hardness. Even though Ariella freaked out at first, she ended up fighting through and taking down at least one zombie. If they had just let Linda make her “last stand” and buy them time to get away, Ariella would have almost certainly become more broken, suffering survivor's guilt, possible delusions, depression, anxiety, and paranoia, spending all of her time trying to justify running away, trying to convince everyone around her that it was the right thing to do,so that they could perhaps convince her. If Freddie had run off, he'd have probably moved to the more broken side of things, but perhaps not as severely as Ariella (since he didn't break down during the fight). Alternately, he could have become more Hardened, but convincing himself that Linda threw her life away, and surviving is the only worthwhile thing to do in a screwed up world like that.

Horror Checks

If you want to have a mechanical method to determine “Hardened” or “Broken,” do this: the character makes an Average(10) difficulty Willpower Test, modified by the Horror Factor (the initial Horror Factor, not the reduced one from later turns) and the character's Hardness Rating. If the character passes, he is hardened. If he fails, some part of him is broken, and his new fear, pain, and anxiety should be roleplayed. An Exceptional Failure can cost a character one level of “Hardness,” as his mental barriers break down.

Horrific events happening outside of combat can either be handled solely by roleplaying, or by the use of the Horror Check mechanic above. For example, a contagious zombie bit Linda and Freddie or Ariella had to shoot her in the head to prevent her from becoming one of them, that would certainly be a traumatic event. Some players and groups (like mine) would prefer to play out the longterm effects without rolling dice, but others would prefer to make a Horror Check. The GM would most likely assign a very high Horror Factor, because having to shoot a friend in the head to prevent her from turning into a mindless, bloodthirsty monster is just plain bad for one's mental health.

Gaining "Hardness"

If a character grows Hardened to danger because of his exposure to horror, his Hardness rating should increase by 1 per incident until it reaches the level that best describes his level of training and past experience:

3 – No training and do-or-die experience (Freddie and Ariella, from the example above, would max out here)

4 – Some training plus do-or-die experience (Linda, from the example above, would max out here)

5 – Professional training plus do or die experience

6 – Stone cold killer, experienced Special Forces soldier, CIA deep cover operative, hitman,

7 - Stone cold killer who's used to dealing with the supernatural: longtime vampire hunter, etc

Past that point, Hardness should increase more slowly, as the character becomes not just someone that violence happens to, but someone who's involved in a life of violence as an ongoing thing. Granted, this is a somewhat subjective process, but suffice it to say that if the characters continue to fight through the zombie hordes and wander the wastelands, their Hardness ratings will slowly rise. Even Freddie, a flabby whitebread accountant (Started at Hardness: 0, increases at 1 per Hardening incident until he reaches Hardness: 3) can reach Hardness: 7 (stone cold killer of the undead) if his sanity holds out, but it will be because he's no longer a flabby whitebread accountant, but a hardened, stone cold zombie fighter.

Losing “Hardness”

Part of re-integrating into civilian life is losing some of the Hardness that kept you alive in the war zone. It's possible to lose up to half your total Hardness, but it takes literally months, if not years, of peaceful life in a non-combat zone. For characters with Hardness above 5, it will most likely require therapy (which is, by the way, quite useful for anybody who's trying to re-adapt to safety and stability). If the character has post-traumatic stress disorder (almost all survival horror characters should have at least a mild case), the process will be slower and may well require psychological help. This is a very subjective process, and there's not really a game rule for it.

The way to maintain Hardness during long periods of peace or inactivity is to practice and maintain a warlike or crisis-oriented mindset. Not every character will even want to return to who they were before. After all, somebody has to guard the gates of Eden.