“This is nice,” began the anonymous feedback of my short story submission to a horror anthology, “but it reads more like an episode of the Twilight Zone than an actually scary story.”

That feedback was particularly galling, because I had tried damn hard to write something scary. It involved an organ grinder. And a monkey. No seriously, it was scary.

Anyway, ever since then I took that criticism as a personal challenge to craft horror in a way that was successful. The measure of success is up to the reader; I suppose causing someone to piss their pants would qualify, but I’ll settle for “dude, that was freaking me out!”

I’ve since written a few horror gaming supplements, but that’s not the same thing as a horror story. It’s not scaring people, it’s giving other more talented game masters the opportunity to scare people. Besides, all of the accessories I’ve written have had tongue firmly in cheek. It’s like I can’t be scary without cracking up.

But I’m skipping ahead. My foray into horror role-playing started, oddly enough, with the birth of my son.

My wife was an active player in my Dungeons & Dragons home campaign set in Arcanis. We simply weren’t going to be traveling down to Long Island to visit my gaming buddies of over twenty years, so it was time to take a break. Fourth Edition was on the horizon, my wife wasn’t planning on role-playing anytime soon, and my brother and his girlfriend had dropped out of the game due to lack of interest in the fantasy genre.

So I asked him what he wanted to play, and he said he wanted to fight zombies.

I presented the notion of an action-horror game to my existing players, who mostly embraced the idea enthusiastically. As a bonus, we gained another player thanks to the game itself; a modern game meant not only my brother (Joe T) would be back in the fold, but his friend (Bill) would be joining us too.

There was just one problem: None of my players had any experience playing a horror game.

I took inventory of my players. Here’s a little profile of each that will prove instructive in future columns as to exactly who I was trying to scare:

• We’ll start with me. I’ve read almost no horror novels, watched a lot of horror movies, and write crappy horror short stories. I’ve also written a bunch of RPG supplements about horror but, I’m ashamed to admit, never actually got to play in a long-running horror campaign, just short scenarios for games like Beyond the Supernatural.
• Joe T: My little brother has always been a big fan of horror. He isn’t much for gore, but he loves the idea of fighting for his life. His previous character was a lizardman barbarian in our D&D game, who pretty much acted like a superhero rather than a fantasy hero. Joe T’s philosophy will hopefully carry the horror part of our game.
• Matt: I met Matt at work and have known him for about five years. Matt’s an old school D&D gamer. Plays human, sword-and-shield fighters. Point him at a monster and he rolls dice until it dies. He’s not big for role-playing, but he’s exceptionally good at investigating because he’s very clear-headed. Also, if you make him angry he can snap you in half. I’m not kidding.
• George: I’ve known George since high school. He game masters his own Shadowrun campaign that’s been running for years. He also GMed a long-running Champions game. Of all the players, he’s the one most likely to sympathize with a game master’s plight. He tends to play brooding types – in our D&D campaign he played a half-fiend warlock.
• Bill: Joe’s friend from high school who I’ve known for awhile. He didn’t play in my D&D campaign. Compared to everyone else in the group, he’s probably the newest to gaming. Mostly played Palladium games and is very critical of horror (very few things scare him). But loves the idea of a modern game and recently returned from his stint in the military. If Joe T will be my horror barometer, Bill will gauge my military accuracy. The only thing more horrifying than trying to pull off a horror game for non-horror gamers is trying to pull off a military game for military gamers.
• Joe L: Like Matt, an old school hack and slasher. Likes playing dwarf warriors. He also GMs his own D&D campaign, but it’s all dungeons and killing and looting. He can be thoughtful and role-play when the mood strikes him, but tends to stay in the background.
• Jeremy: Every group has a drama queen, and Jeremy’s ours. Like Joe L and George, he’s a high school buddy. Jeremy played a psion/rogue who wielded two flintlock pistols. Jeremy’s not only difficult to scare, he actually dislikes horror gaming in general. He’s also ex-military and knows his stuff.

We only get to play once a month, and one of the reasons that the Living Arcanis scenarios were so useful for our group was that we had limited time to play. A lot of time passes between games, so quick scenarios with clear goals were just what we needed. Any horror game we played would have to be in suitably short installments.

It’s tough being an adult.

I had the players. I knew what they wanted to play. Now I just had to come up with a campaign we could all agree on: GURPS Black Ops, D20 Modern, Conspiracy X, or Delta Green? I picked all of the above.

Lesson Learned: Players are the lifeblood of a long-term role-playing campaign, so it’s important to tailor the game to their playing style.

Resources

• About Me: http://michael.tresca.net
• GURPS Black Ops: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1556343337/michaeltrescaA
• D20 Modern: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786928360/michaeltrescaA
• Conspiracy X: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891153536/michaeltrescaA
• Delta Green: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1887797238/michaeltrescaA
• Beyond the Supernatural: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1574570838/michaeltrescaA