Author: Mr. Spooky (---.mindspring.com)
Date: 11-01-2001 01:52
Conan brings up some very good points about intelliegent horror gaming, and rightly points out a few of the problems that have plagued the genre. I'd like to take this opportunity to expand upon some of those points and bring up a few of my own. I feel I'm qualified since I just spent a good chunk of the last year writing Spooky: The Definitive Guide to Horror Gaming for Hex Games (www.hexgames.com). As the perhaps overly pretentious title implies, I feel that it falls into the realm of "intelligent horror." To find out for sure, I guess you'll just have to buy a copy (cut me some slack for the plug--my payment's based on sales).
First off, we need to define horror. In this day and age, it's a pretty broad spectrum--Army of Darkness is a pretty far cry from The Shining. In Spooky, I tried to cover all brands of horror and horror-esque gaming, but it's clear that Conan is specifically talking about what I call "dramatic" (as opposed to "action," "comedic," or "campy") style horror; stories that are very character-driven and intended to elicit the emotion of horror. So I'll try to stick with that variety.
There are a lot of decent horror games out there. Many present some very good ideas for intelligent horror adventures and campaigns, and even the worst of them have a few good ideas. Unfortunately, all have their failings. I think this is in part due to the "industry standard" of what a game book "should" be.
-Rules, Rules, Rules: If you've read the Hex literature (from our games, on our page, or in The Death Cookie) or attended one of our panels, you already know that we're not big on rules, so I'm probably a bit biased here. But I think the focus on rules in RPGs is one of the main reasons genre guides haven't worked. Most genre guides don't tell you "this is how to run a game from X genre." They tell you "this is how to use our rules system for X genre." They give you lots of skills, special rules, character types, equipment, and god knows what else. Sadly, this leaves very little room for explaining what the genre is all about.
-Settings: Most genre guides are basically setting guides. When a genre is essentially a setting (Old West, for example--though not necessarily "Western"), this works. Some genres (for example, Horror) are NOT setting-based. While some information on common settings (or, more importantly, sources for such information--remember, game books are not always the best place to research your game) might be necessary, it should not be the primary focus of a book where many settings are possible.
-Worlds: I'm distinguishing original worlds (the Weird West, the World of Darkness, or Ravenloft) from "real-world" type settings (Victorian England, 5th Century China) here. Lots of games are based around specific, unique world settings. While a good marketing strategy (becasue of the time constraints/laziness/ignorance/whatever of many gamers, it's easier to sell them a whole world that doesn't require much active work on the part of the GM), this seriously cuts into the amount of space that can be used for more basic stuff (which I'll get to in a minute).
Beyond taking up a lot of space, worlds present a few other big problems in horror. One is mystery. A big part of horror is a fear of the unknown, and when any schmuck with 25 bucks can know all the ins and outs of the world, that disappears. Another is something along the lines of relativism--what scares me may not scare you. The world where the bounds of reality are fluid and ever-changing might scare the crap out of an accountant, but be "just the way things are" to a magician, acidhead, conspiracy theorist, or even physicist. Of course, what is or isn't scary to one person doesn't even stay consistant. The new vampire-based game might be terrifying if I've just seen Nosferatu, but isn't likely to get me very scared after a Kindred: The Embraced marathon (and if I've just watched Near Dark, screw this "vampire hunter" stuff--I wanna be a bloodsucker). Finally, there's the whole "communicating the mythos" problem. If you're not familiar with the Cthulhu mythos, the horror value of the game falls entirely upon how well the GM communicates the implications of what the players are discovering (and if you are familiar, you lose the mystery--kind of a catch 22).
In short, most game books focus on the "Who, When, and Where" of the genre. It's the "How" and "Why" that are missing.
These two are closely tied. For Horror, the big "Hows" are (1) "How do I scare my players?" and (2)"How do I let the GM scare me?"
Many games do indeed give tips on #1. Unfortunately, these are usually just that, tips: use mood lighting or attack them with this scary mosnter we've created (and who won't be that scary after all, since the players have read the book and know its weaknesses). By answering the "Why" behind these "Hows," you can get to the really important stuff. When a GM understands why a lighting trick or a particular monster is scary, he can expand this understanding to other tricks and methods to make his players wet themselves.
A related question to #1 that is rarely covered well is "How do I keep my players scared?" Some games try to do this in terms of mechanics, which doesn't work. Keeping players scared and involved is highly situational. Luckily, by understanding the "Whys" of fear, a GM has a much better chance of pulling it off.
#2 is very rarely covered, which leads to serious problems in RPGs. If the protagonists are never scared, you're playing with horror trappings, not playing horror. In order to allow themselves to be frightened, players have to understand that they're playing a very different kind of game. Since most RPG characters are fearless, adventure-seeking weirdos, it's vital to communicate to players that a change of style is needed. In addition to the "Hows" (making less overtly "heroic" characters, realizing that, unlike Ike the Paladin, your horror character probably doesn't see monsters and magic on a daily basis), the "Whys" (being scared is fun, characters who overcome great adversity result in better stories, etc) can be important here.
Since I'm posting this, you've probably guessed that Spooky tries to address these problems. Sorry for any disorganization, confusion, or whatever--I might try to clean and expand this into an article for the Death Cookie (ahh, the privilages of being an Editor). I'll let you know if that happens.
Steve
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