The Culture Beneath the Stairs

Beyond the Numbers

The Darkest Hour: Whatever happened to the smart Horror game?

by Conan McKegg
October 31, 2001

Empty and hollow, the corridor to Tina's room was outlined by the faint glow of a light shining beneath the door. The three investigators crept along the dark, rotten passage knowing that there could not possibly be any source for the light even though the evidence was there before them...

Horror. My favorite roleplaying genre of all time. More flexible than fantasy, more complex than cyberpunk, horror is a genre that challenges us on both an intellectual and emotional level. Horror games are about character and interaction more than most other roleplaying games. At least that is how I see it, others may disagree. Ever since I picked up my first copy of "Chill" (The original boxed set) I realized that there was more to roleplaying than D&D and monster bashing; and I rejoiced.

Over the years we have seen a great deal of games produced that include many of the elements of Horror -- even AD&D leapt on the bandwagon. However there seems to have been a growth of "dumbed-down" horror games. Is this the fault of the games themselves, or have we as people truly become desensitized to the old horrors? This article looks at a variety of issues involving horror games, as well as my personal choices of the best of the best. As usual, this is to stir discussion and debate and I am by no means saying that my views are the best views -- or necessarily the views contained herein.

Why do we like horror?

There are several differences between the genre of horror as a game to those of fantasy or science fiction. Horror games invariably involve mystery and emotion. Driven by character interaction as opposed to combat and flashy action scenes, Horror requires the players to think about their actions. Going in with guns all blazing is not a guaranteed solution to the problem, and often can lead to more complications.

Maybe we like horror games for this very reason, a horror game is about roleplaying rather than roll-playing. Characters tend to be unique and flawed, often to the point that the entire party is splintered and barely holding together. There is a certain kick also gained from the simple building tension and fear that befalls a group of players when facing the demonic beings from beyond.

But it is here that I have noticed a change in the ideas of what truly scares us...

Bogeymen for the New Millennium

Recently when wandering through the local video store a friend commented to me that it had been a while since a movie had genuinely scared him. Now this got me thinking about horror games. When was the last time a roleplaying game had genuinely scared me? After eliminating The Sailor Moon RPG and Pokemon: My First Roleplaying Game (I will never forgive you WoTC) I realized that the same could be said about most recent games I had played. -- note that Little Fears was still in production at this time. -- This got me to thinking about why...

Part of the problem lies in the approach that is taken towards horror. Weaned as we are on games like D&D and CyberPunk, the average gamer has a "Shoot first, ask questions later" policy to roleplaying. This is an overgeneralization, yet it is an apt one. Also, horror has become more a case of visual disturbance as opposed to emotional disturbance. Read Edgar Allen Poe's Berenice then compare it to a modern horror tale. Much has changed in that time -- other than standardized spelling -- we have become a more visual society and as such our fiction has become more visual in its style.

Secondly, we aren't scared by the same things anymore. In this new millennium people have become so ensnared in the "real world" that our fears are now reflecting things we actually experience. Serial Killers, Terrorists, Rapists, Politicians, Children Show Hosts and Purple Dinosaurs are now the source of our tales of the unknown. Demons, Vampires, Werewolves; these things have been relegated to the world of anachronism and b-grade movies to laugh at. Even in highly religious circles the idea of an actual supernatural event or beast has become watered down. Science has managed to convince us that these things are simply myth. Not real. How can we be scared of something we know doesn't exist?

Fooling Rationality

For a start, a writer should aim to convince the reader that, in the case of the book, monsters do exist. Applying this to roleplaying, we need to be able to convince ourselves that within the setting of the game these things are real and possible. Note that I am not telling you to believe in monsters. I am suggesting that players become ready to accept that, for their characters, these things are possible.

Horror is also about characters, and most importantly about flawed characters. I am reminded constantly of Kult Second Edition which showed how a roleplaying game can redefine our perceptions of the modern world to create genuinely horrific adventures that left the players wanting more.

The key to good horror, and one of the main reasons we like it so much, lies in the manipulation of the emotive states of the reader/player/viewer. Tapping into that part of us that does not reason or rationalize, Horror gives us that adrenaline rush of fear in the comfort of our own homes. We have turned the fight or flight instinct into a form of addiction -- the rush of terror that our lives may be at risk when, in reality, they aren't.

Horror: The Desensitizing

Unfortunately there has been less of this "smart" horror in recent years. Horror games have moved away from the fear of the unknown by producing a sensation of familiarity with the very things we would usually fear. The fixation on the powers as opposed to the characters involved has meant a shift in focus of games. Degenerating into a more "Splatterpunk" genre than a horror genre, games have begun to lose the very things that made them smart and original.

Of course this tide may be turning -- I need only look through Little Fears for evidence of this, but one game is not enough. For every game like Little Fears there are half a dozen Munchkin: the Bashing games -- not that I'd disparage everything that White Wolf produces. Hunter: The Reckoning has a great deal of scope to allow for Horror style gaming as do most of the World of Darkness games. However, none of the material shows smart horror in action. Here there is also another problem that arises... players.

With settings such as WoD there is an massive amount of information available to players. The problem with all this information is that, while splat books and such allow players to better understand their characters, they also make the unknown elements become familiar. Storytellers are forced to be creative if they want to be genuinely scary -- and most simply take the easy way out by portraying violence, rape and murder rather than concocting a more sinister storyline.

I often find that I create my own antagonists for my games -- creatures and people who are not in any rulebooks, because then it leads the players into finding that they have no idea what they are up against. In my Tribe 8 games there is Koh-Ti and in my World of Darkness games there is the enigmatic "Taliesin Corporation." These additions use the most common rule of horror -- as stated in Kult Second Edition - make the familiar unfamiliar.

So what is the best horror game on the market? Which game of bone-chilling terror has... well... bone chilling terror?

It is my view that while the World of Darkness is a great setting -- or at least was until the revised versions raised their mutated heads -- it never truly invoked fear or terror. The only game that was truly disturbing enough was Wraith: The Oblivion. Unfortunately this game proved to be too disturbing for many people and ended up suffering from poor sales -- or at least that is the general view.

Vampire and Werewolf have great potential for horror, but more often than not they simply become games of "Look at me! I'm a [insert supernatural creature]!" Mage, Hunter and Changeling have a great deal of scope for horror, but again the material doesn't actually provide sufficient advice on how to do so.

Taking a step into the more surreal, Whispering Vault, Little Fears and Tribe 8 use strange and bizarre views of the world to generate fear. Whispering Vault and Little Fears provide some great guidelines for effectively portraying horror within the context of a roleplaying game, and also provide some great story ideas as well...

Call of Cthulhu is considered the great grand-daddy of horror roleplaying, and it is indeed a masterful game. Yet I am reticent to call it the best game ever. Simply put, the gibbering hordes of Cthulhu and its vision of a callous world never came across too well due to a slightly clunky game system. Many people may take issue with me over this, but I simply feel that I should point out a particular game that, for me, epitomizes everything that is good and intelligent about horror. Kult.

Kult, in particular the second edition that was produced by the now defunct Target Games -- come on now people, Chronopia? Puh-lease. -- What made Kult so different and superior was that, not only was the main rulebook all you actually needed to play the game, but there were no huge lists of monsters. Kult gave example creatures throughout the book and provided rules on how to make your own monsters to fit within the game. Using a mere four pages GMs were able to create a limitless range of bizarre and frightening beasties ranging from serial killers to beings-from-beyond-our-realm. Add to this the character creation rules that placed character over system and the actual system itself which was elegant and simple to use and you had the perfect game of modern horror.

Fortunately Kult and The Whispering Vault are currently being revised again and we may soon be seeing a return of the smart horror game. Games where there is less dice-rolling and more characterization by the players. On the flip-side though I must point to how these games are often pushed to the sidelines by the more visceral RPGs and question, how long will these games last? While games like Tribe 8 and Exalted have proven that creative and different games can thrive in the roleplaying market, will others be able to? I guess this remains to be seen.