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What is Killer Thriller?

Published by Timeout Diversions, Killer Thriller is a short, concise, role playing game of bloody murder that seeks to emulate the American 'slasher film' genre. Weighing in at 28 pages and costing a mere three US dollars, Killer Thriller has a low overhead cost, both in terms of new rules to learn and actual money.

The Physical Thing

Normally, I'd discuss the physical aspects of a role playing book at this point in my capsule review - but since Killer Thriller is a PDF-only affair, I'll only be talking a bit about the art and layout.

First, the art - there is none, save for the cover. This might be a bit of deal breaker in a larger product or a printed product but, for some reason, cover art seems sufficient when dealing with a 28-page PDF. In the case of Killer Thriller, the cover art depicts the Grim Reaper, a graveyard after dark, some undead thing crawling out of a coffin, and a devil head in a glowing, upside down, pentagram that looks a bit like a tattoo pattern. The cover art doesn't reflect the specific nature of the game particularly well, though it does let the reader know that this is a horror RPG.

Second, the layout - it's utilitarian, yet easy on the eyes. The publisher has chosen to go with a single-column layout, as well as large-ish and legible fonts. All of these are good choices for obvious reasons. There are no issues with overly decorative and, thus, illegible text. The text flows well from one page to another. The text is big enough for one with deficient eyesight (such as myself) to easily make out.

The Characters

There are two types of characters in a game of Killer Thriller - Victims and Monsters. Monsters are created and controlled by the Director (GM) and Victims are created and controlled by the other players. Victims are created using the rules outlined below. It is suggested that players other than the Director create three Victims - remember, Killer Thriller is a game of bloody murder!

First, Victims are primarily defined by their weaknesses, rather than their strengths - their Inabilities. These are: Unwise, Unluck, and Undone. Unwise represents the inherent stupidity of all b-movie characters, Unluck represents the inherent misfortune of such characters, and Undone represents the inevitable panic reflex of such characters. Scores of seven, eight, and nine are allocated amongst these Inabilties.

The next factor that defines a Victim in Killer Thriller is their Unharm - the more Unharm a character has, the less injured they are. The less Unharm a character has, the closer they are to ending up with a machete through their noggin. A Victim's Unharm is determined by rolling 1d6 and adding six to the result.

Next, you choose a Stereotype to define your Victim. A Stereotype is just what it sounds like - a word or phrase that broadly defines what your character is in the context of the game. For example: Rebellious Teen, Slutty Cheerleader, or Class Clown. This Stereotype does offer one small benefit during actual play, as discussed later in this review.

Finally, if you so choose to use them, Killer Thriller also offers optional rules for advantages and disadvantages (respectively named Unreal and Unthinkable, in keeping with the rest of the text). Advantages are things like "Hardy" that give your character an additional point of Unharm, while disadvantages are things like "Foible" that represent a vice your Victim is particularly susceptible to in actual play.

The rules for character definition are, as you can see, short but sweet. They get the job done with a minimum of fuss and do so with a tongue-in-cheek sense of macabre humor that establishes the tone of the game and fits the subject matter perfectly.

The Basic System

The basic system that drives Killer Thriller is a simple affair, though effective.

Whenever the Director sees an opportunity for your character to do something stupid, suffer from some bad luck, or panic in the worst possible way, they will ask you to roll 2d6 and check the result. If the result is less than the rating of the appropriate Inability, then your character acts stupid, runs into some bad luck, or flies into panic mode accordingly. If the roll result is equal to your Inability rating, then you trigger Epic Fail.

Epic Fail is pretty much just what it sounds like and, in addition to making your character act incredibly stupid, fall prey to horrendously bad luck, or temporarily lose all control of your faculties, also causes them to to lose an amount of Unharm equal to the Inability being rolled against (something that can easily kill a character outright). Epic Fail is just that, man - EPIC Fail.

Now, remember that I mentioned your Stereotype would grant a mechanical benefit in actual play? Well, here it is: Your Stereotype allows you a one-time 'free pass' to successfully complete a single action or task associated with said Stereotype (for example, your "Greasy Mechanic" Stereotype might allow you to get that broken down car running before the hockey mask killer runs you through with his pitchfork).

Killer Thriller further offers a rule that allows you to earn extra Unharm for your next Victim based on how gruesome your description of your current character's death is, while also allowing you to add the full value of the deceased character's Unharm to yout next Victim's Unahrm rating (ensuring that your characters are able to take more of a beating as the game goes on).

That pretty much sums up the basic, underlying, mechanic of Killer Thriller. There isn't a lot there, but it does get the job done and is especially appropriate given the subject matter. Which brings us to...

Additional Complications

For the most part, Killer Thriller operates as outlined above - but Monsters get to play by a different set of rules. Well, sort of.

Monsters are, for the most part, defined just like Victims, as previously discussed. They have the same Inabailities as Victims and they are rated the same. Minions (lesser Monsters) have 1d6 Unharm, while Bosses (greater Monsters) have 1d6 + X Unharm, where X is equal to the starting number of Victims.

Monsters also get unique Gimmicks instead of Stereotypes (although they effectively function the same way). For example, a Boss Monster might have the Gimmick "Cannot Be Killed". That said, these Gimmicks should be balanced out by flaws so, for example, our Monster that "Cannot Be Killed" may have the accompanying flaw "Except by a silver bullet!"

Now, the biggest difference between Monsters and Victims is that a Monster's success is almost always presumed when they take action - Victims must roll against their Inabilities to avoid the consequences. For instance:

Jen's Victim is being chased by the Lake Bluestem Slasher and ducks inside of a cabin to hide. The Director has Jen roll Unluck to see if the killer finds her or not. If she rolls less than or equal to her Victim's Unluck rating, Bad Things happen. If she rolls above that rating, she remains hidden.

The only time this situation changes is when a Monster squares off against Last Survivors. A Last Survivor is, simply, the last remaining character of a given player. When a Monster faces off against Last Survivors, their own Inabilities kick in, as do their Gimmicks and corresponsing flaws. Why? Well, how many slasher films have you seen where the killer wasn't hoisted on is own petard in the final action sequence? Killer Thriller admirably emulates this longtime staple of the genre in actual play.

Everything Else

The rest of Killer Thriller is padded out with useful information such as a list of potential ways to die, a choice selection of killing implements and the amount of Unharm that they can sap, a rogue's gallery of potential Monsters to flesh out your own games, and two one-page scenario seeds. Really, all of this is just icing on the cake (Killer Thriller could have omitted it all and still been a very playable game).

Conclusions

Although it is short, Killer Thriller is elegant in its brevity and absolutely nails its target genre in terms of mechanics and tone. If you're looking for an inexpensive, simple, and fun way to recreate slasher flicks on your tabletop, look no further than Killer Thriller. For three dollars, it's a hell of a good deal.