Shocktober Day 13 - Horror Gaming Fodder - The One Shot

Perhaps there is no better genre of gaming than horror to choose for a one-shot game for a Friday night. The genre lives and dies (excuse the pun) with disposable characters that get torn to shreds physically or metaphysically beyond repair. While many of the greatest horror movies are actually franchises full of monsters and a lone protagonist who simply refuses to die, there are countless others where one movie is all you need. In these one-shot stories, they can often be more satisfying than a long, drawn-out struggle of a seemingly immortal serial killer and his perennial almost-victim. There's real resolution, an ending, and completion to one-shot movies, and the same applies to one-shot tabletop games.

There are exceptions, but some of the best horror games published are keyed in specifically to present a perfect system to run a one-shot game. The exceptions are notable - the World of Darkness games, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Unknown Armies - but for the most part, games like Dread and Call of Cthulhu don't care so much about otherwise important role playing mechanics like the silly idea of advancing a character and leveling up. No, these games focus on entropy and the eventual/inevitable loss of life, limb, and/or one's mind. What does hitting level 2 matter when Cthulhu is CL Infinity?

The one-shot game is a standard for horror gaming, and for good reason. For starters, it's just plain easier to plan a single night's worth of story complete with introduction, rising action, climax, and falling action. For another, it's pretty darn satisfying to play a one-shot because, unlike I would guess most campaigns, one-shot games actually finish. One-shots for horror specifically also mean you can raise the stakes to an appropriate level to really raise the tension and show your players that anyone can die (a necessary evil/joy to get across when GM'ing horror).

The big thing about horror one-shots is that they allow you to try really weird stuff in your games. You can be as far out as you want to be when planning a one-shot because the worst you've done is waste one game night and the best you can do is truly surprise, confuse, and disorient your players with new, weird mechanics or horror concepts they've never seen before. I chose In the Mouth of Madness for the image for today's post, because I think it represents this ideal perfectly. If you've never seen it, go watch it on Instant Watch right away. John Carpenter is one of my all-time favorite directors, and I believe Mouth of Madness is a cinematic version of Carpenter trying some weird shit just to see if it would work. In my opinion, it does, but it goes way out there before the credits roll. Carpenter took a chance with futzing with the narrative to tell an interesting Lovecraftian story, and the result is a disorienting series of creepy coincidents that turn out to weave a much larger tale.

This time of year always comes with people asking for recommendations for one-shot scenarios to play for some good old-fashioned Halloween gaming. Last Friday we played a Halloween themed Call of Cthulhu game in modern day which was a ton of fun. Beyond that, I would really recommend using Dread to run your game and introduce some new players to the hobby. There is no simpler game to bring new people in, and you can explain the game in a manner of a minute or two. You can download the quick version of the rules here on The Impossible Dream's website, but I would encourage you to try to find a copy of the book or download the pdfs of their two scenario books which work just fine with the downloadable free version of the rules - Dread: Tales of Terror - Wastelands and Dread: Tales of Terror - Precious Illusions. Otherwise, go read my review of the game to see if it's for you.

Shocktober Day 11 - Retro Horror - Dreadful Buffy

(Today's Retro Horror post is a little different. I wanted to expound on the week's theme of suspicion, but didn't want to be quite as on-the-nose as I was yesterday in discussing the topic. Instead, I present to you one of my favorite examples of an unusual character. This is from a Dread scenario I co-GM'ed with my little sister, and, well, honestly... read through it and tell me - would you trust a character that was so deliberately useless and clearly a drag on the group? What is he planning?! Serious paranoia fodder going on here.)

So we played a game of Dread tonight, an original scenario written by Lil' Sis with my assistance. She's played several Dread games, but is not a fan of really spooky stuff so we based it in our hometown but in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer universe, so lots of comedy. It was a very interesting game with both ups and downs, but I came away with a lot of good lessons co-GM'ing with the squirt in her very first GM experience. I played a lot of NPC's for my part co-GM. I got to play an idiot local teenager, an idiot local vampire, and some good-natured local priests, it was awesome. The best thing? This character sheet from the sister's boyfriend. This is how characters are made in Dread, by the way, you just fill out a character questionaire. I give you, the Nerd:

1. What talent do you have that people don't know about?

I can move in slowwwww motion.

2. You've done some independent research online about the supernatural, what's the weirdest thing you've found out that's actually true?

Slow people live longer.

3. Do you feel like you were meant for something more, why?

No. I was meant to be a pain the butt and slow everything down.

4. When you were a kid, you ran into the biggest, meanest wild dog you've ever seen. What happened and how did it affect you?

I overanalyzed the situation, debating about what I should do, accidentally moving in slow motion, and getting my arm chewed off in the process. (I asked him which arm and how much was left - he answered his entire left arm and he lost 3 ribs!)

5. What do you dream of some day being able to do to the bullies that tortured you in high school?

Sit down and have a coffee with them, listen to their life story, have the dog chew their arm off.

6. Would you ever use supernatural powers to aid you in your hunt, and if so, how?

No, my extreme slowness does nothing but make everything twice as difficult.

7. How did you find the hunter group to join up with them?

Someone texted me.

8. When intimidated, how do you carry yourself?

Curl up in the fetal position.

9. What keeps you fighting the good fight as opposed to just moving away and starting anew?

I was told by a higher power to fight the good fight?

10. What's your name?

Xerxes

Basically he just created the most nerfed Dread character ever, since your answers indicate your basic ability levels. He's slow, annoying, spiteful, and prone to falling into a fetal position in stressful times. He stayed true to character the entire game. Just awesome.

Shocktober Day 8 - Retro Horror -

(Today's post is the second in the series of retro Shocktober and general horror posts. Today features a review of my favorite horror RPG of all time - Dread. I'm a Dread evangelist, so the more I can talk about the game, the better. I chose this review for this week's theme of Isolation because Dread contains the best single essay on isolating your players for any kind of help I've ever read. It's a great little book that will open your eyes to a world of horror gaming.)


No matter what you've heard about Dread I guarantee you this: as a game, it will deliver a good time. Above all else, Dread creates an environment and conflict resolution system that keeps you on the edge of your seat. No single test is frivolous or out on its own with little impact on the greater story. Every action you take affects the plot and those around you.

Shocktober Day 6 - Horror Gaming Fodder - Isolation

Safe from the flood, but what about the serial killer hidden in the house?

For today's Horror Gaming Fodder post I wanted to look at another key principle of what can make a horror game a true success. Last week I looked at the use of props in horror games which set the tone for the rest of the week's posts.  Horror games are full of tropes we all know and love. These common characteristics are so common because they tend to work, but nothing is more integral to making a horror game work more than isolation. Whether it's physical isolation that forces the characters into a location where they can't actually access help or it's psychological isolation that gives the characters that hopeless feeling that no one out there could help you or, worse, would help you if they could even understand the problem they faced in the first place, isolation is necessary to put characters and players in the mindset that no one is going to come to their rescue. 

Gaming ADHD: Dragon Age, Dread, and Shadowrun.

I love it when I'm feeling like this. Sometimes gaming can be dull, broken, soul-destroying, and just down-right dumb. You don't want to read another page from a big thick textbook of a game setting or think about how you're going to make that fifth scene in your game for Friday night flow into the sixth. And then there are times like the kind I'm experiencing right now. I call these times "Gaming ADHD" because I've got a lot of irons in the fire and can't wait to pull one out, press some creative dress shirts, and throw it back in to grab the next one in line to press some nice genre slacks. What I'm trying to say is that Gaming ADHD is for those times when you're just on the edge of being overwhelmed but still at the point where you can be productive. So that's where I'm at. Call it Gaming ADHD or Manic Gamer Phase, but whatever it is, it's a good feeling. What's trippin' my trigger right now?

Horror Movies to Play - Miracle Mile

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While Miracle Mile isn't a traditionally scary movie in the sense that things will jump out of you with horns blazing just when you most expect it (and you're still scared!) or is it gorey or gross by any means, it still presents a very terrifying concept that will make you really ask yourself what you'd do in this situation.

It's going a little against the grain, but Miracle Mile is still quite an alarming film that does a great job of putting you into the shoes of the characters on screen. Keep Reading for more on why you should watch the movie and why it's so compelling you might just have to play it as well!

The Best of Dread From a Hopeless Point of View.

To tie up our discussion of Dread for Shocktober 2010, the three of us have decided to reflect upon our great experiences over the years with the game. I'm not going to give too much of a pre-amble here as this is just a bit of reflection on our parts. The take home message here is that Dread has taught us a lot about tabletop gaming. I believe it's in large part to the free-form aspect with light rules that allows players and GM alike to experiement. Interestingly enough, both Chuck and Andrea chose to write about the same game, but as you'll see, they each took very different lessons away from it. On with the flashbacks!

Andrea

While we've run plenty of scenarios at home, some of my favorite Dread memories have come from Gencon games. My all-time favorite was a scenario where we were hired henchmen on an evil villain's island. I was playing the wife of the lead henchman, and when things started to go bad (as they often do in Dread games), I decided to be as true to my selfish character as possible. My character abandoned the rest of the team, leaving some of them in some pretty dire situations. I don't want to give away too much of the scenario, but while everyone else was trying to find a way to quarantine bad news on the island, my character made a ton of pulls to find a boat and escape... to naively wreak havoc on the rest of the world. It was a great lesson in letting go of the urge to meta-game... even though the scenario probably didn't go exactly how the GM anticipated, she did an amazing job adapting and we all had a blast.

Chuck

For the last five years (at least) we have played Dread at GenCon. Sometimes we play with the group that created the game and sometimes with an independent GM. Both experiences have been very fun, but one game stands out above the rest. We played a scenario called “Henchmen” at GenCon 2009. The GM created a great atmosphere of terror and suspense by effectively switching between characters/scenes and using concise, dramatic descriptions to bring terror and dread to every aspect of the game. I especially appreciated her juxtaposition of the main villain’s obsession with cleanliness and the absolute, rotting description of the aftereffects of his experiments.

The GM’s techniques changed the way I run games. I used her techniques in running Digging for a Dead God both with my usual play group and while running the scenario at Cons. The key, I learned, is to take quick scenes with each group of characters and leave switch to the next group as soon as you have tension filled moment. This changing focus allows everyone to fell connected to the game and interested in what happens next. So, in addition to a great scenario, I learned a lot about running games in general, and horror games in particular.

Paul

It was very difficult to pick a favorite moment of Dread as it's something we make sure we get in at least one game every Gencon. My favorite player moment (versus GM's moment) would be the second game we played the year we played in the Henchmen game mentioned above. It was a WWII setting game where we played a group of U.S. soldiers that dropped into Europe on D-Day. As we were forming up, we realized we weren't in our version of Europe anymore but somehow fell into a fae world. It was a very deadly setting but provided a lot of great role-playing moments.

My character was insubordinate as a result of not believing our commanding officer (another player character) was competent enough to lead us. It was a character trait I picked as a result of my questionnaire. At one point I made the mistake of saying my officer's name in front of a goblin. The goblin then subvertly controlled the player character (names have power!) to order me to let the goblin go. I was ready to resist the officer's order by pulling a block from the tower when I realized my insubordination was a strength. Instead of pulling a block to resist, I recognized how this order was even more incompetent than usual and hit the goblin with some iron we found earlier (goblins hate that!). I came away from that game with a great feeling of accomplishment and really realized how important the character questionnaire is to think your answer through. It was also a rare occurence of playing a competent and serious character myself (I usually play idiots), so it was a great experience.

Review: Dread House: “A Game for Kids and Brave Adults”

If your regular gaming group includes kids who might get too spooked by a standard Dread game, or if you’re just looking for another fun thing to do with a Jenga tower, you might want to give Dread House a try. Dread House is a new 2-6 player game from Dig A Thousand Holes Publishing in which you play a group of teenagers exploring a haunted house. It’s mostly a board game, but includes an appropriate amount of narrative role-playing for an 8+ age group. The rulebook also includes suggestions for incorporating younger kids into your games.

Tips for Terror - Advice for Running Dread and other Horror Games

Everyone always says GM'ing a good horror game is one of the hardest things to do. Are there difficulties and special considerations that need to be taken into account? Of course, but like any genre it just takes a litttle bit of prep, knowing the source material, and knowing what buttons to push in your players to make the whole thing click.

Here's a little secret: the first game I ever GM'ed (or even played) was Dread. I ran the very first Story, Beneath the Full Moon, for one of my friends, Chuck, Andrea, our little sister, and her boyfriend. It was safe to say that it was a safe place to mess up and experiment with this wholee role-playing thing... whatever it meant to us complete rookies at that time.

This post has a bit of a focus on hosting a game of Dread, but it's really a culmination of our experiences playing any games with horrific events. Given the post's lack of focus on any one system and the fact that I hate not having any pictures in our posts, I've decided to just tack on some movie posters from some of my favorite Lovecraftian horror movies for your visual pleasure. Some of them aren't even creepy: I just like 'em a lot. Keep Reading for the tips!

Dread Scenario - The Swimming Hole

I mentioned a little while ago that the World of Darkness book Mysterious Places is a fantastic source for horror one-shots. In that post I made a point that the very first scenario, The Swimming Hole grabbed me right away and inspired me to start working on a scenario with Dread.

It only being the first week of Shocktober, I unfortunately haven't had much of an opportunity to plan or run this game, half of this tragedy will be avenged today with this very post!

There's a couple of notes before you Keep Reading following this short paragraph that also acts as filler to fill this space because the first note is that anyone who may find themselves playing this in the future *cough Andrea cough Chuck cough cough cough* should stop reading now. It will do you no good, and you will be much worse off in the game having read this. The second note is that this write up requires two more books: Dread and Mysterious Places. I'm definitely not going to be giving up the goods on Mysterious Places, but you will see some notes.

Review: Dread - Tales of Terror Sourcebooks

Windmill Game Company produced two issues of Dread Tales of Terror sourcebooks for the Dread Roleplaying game. Each issue contains an introduction, 2 scenarios, and a tip section for running games with the same theme as that issue.

Issue 1: Wastelands contains the scenarios Devil in the Dust and Dead City. Devils is a post apocalypse scenario similar to the Mad Max movies where the conflict revolves around the terror that mankind can present when resources are low and tensions are high. This scenario focuses on the action/adventure horror genre. This scenario would be a good introduction to Dread for adventure RPG gamers. If your players liked the adventure from the first book, Devils is likely a good candidate for a follow up one shot.

Dead City presents a somewhat different horror mentality from Devil. In this scenario, the six characters wake up after a strange occurance in a large city that is completely abandoned. They need to focus on the mystery behind the place while escaping a hidden horror. The threat here is the unknown. Dead City is all about the setting and the terror inherent in in not knowing what will happen next.

The last few pages are devoted to exploring the different types of wasteland stories and the horrors that can be encountered. This section is fairly useful for developing your own wasteland scenarios. While useful, it feels somewhat added on to fill out space.

Issue 2 - Precious Illusions uses the same format as issue 1, introduction, 2 scenarios and an advice section. As the title suggests, these stories are about the horror of childhood and children. The idea of child horror quite freaks me out more than any other genre of horror. Something is just purely wrong about innocent children as the agents of evil like Children of the Corn, Chuckie, and Precious moments statutes (seriously, those things are freaky!).

Little White Birds takes place in a children's mental hospital in the center of the US. Delusions, Illusions and confusions abound in this scenario based loosley on Peter Pan. I am not going to go into further detail about the story to avoid spoilers, but it is fairly good. My main concern is the number of possible encounters and the somewhat disjointed introduction to the scenario.

Beneath the Surface is based on Alice in Wonderland, a fairly distrubing setting in its own right. It reminds me somewhat of an excellent GenCon game I played in a few years ago. The same GM ran a horror movie game that I also enjoyed at GenCon this year. This scenario seems like it might be the hardest to run out of the four presented in these two issues. Plenty of encounters present themselves, but I would recommend having more than your standard groups time for playing dread. It could also be very deadly, so be careful with the pulls if you want your characters to have any real chance of finishing the scenario.

The final section covers the terrors children present and how to run a game focusing on the psychology behind a terrifying children's scenario.

Both issues are available in print format (for $13.00) and at rpgnow (for $6.66). Issue 1 and Issue 2

Review - Dread: The Game of Wooden-Blocked Terror

No matter what you've heard about Dread I guarantee you this: as a game, it will deliver a good time. Above all else, Dread creates an environment and conflict resolution system that keeps you on the edge of your seat. No single test is frivolous or out on its own with little impact on the greater story. Every action you take affects the plot and those around you.

Intrigued yet? Wondering why it looks like I have a deathgrip on the book itself to the right here? Keep Reading to find out more about this unusually excellent horror game and what I'm hiding underneath my hand!

Dread Week - Black Cod Island Scenario

A while ago Paul created a scenario involving a CDC (Center for Disease Control) and military medical task force sent to search out and hopefully stop a mysterious epidemic. Eventually, it turned out that the epidemic was really a Deep One transformation and possible summoning of Dagon. This scenario started me thinking about how to evolve his Deep One idea further and not have as much military power in order to create more mystery from his original idea. To do so, I turned to a new reference source from one of my favorite settings, Delta Green. Keep Reading to learn the secrets of He-Who-Swims-With-Corpses!

Gaming Hoopla - 8 Commandments for Running Your First Con RPG

This past weekend was Gaming Hoopla just outside of Janesville, WI (South Central WI 30 min south of Madison). Gaming Hoopla moved from Lake Geneva due to space restrictions. They apparently halved their facility cost while doubling space, a double win. (Triple win if you count moving to within ten minutes from my house). Gaming Hoopla is primarily a boardgame con. In fact, I was the first person to register ANY roleplaying events ever. I signed up to run Fiasco, Dread and Call of Cthulhu. Unfortunately, I had no takers for Dread on day 1, but I did get a small game of Fiasco in on the first day with Paul, our friend Dan Hauser and myself. It was a great game, but I get to play with these guys regularly and was looking forward to trying a different group and running a game for mostly strangers. Keep Reading to see how it went!

When the player fails, the story wins.

I've been thinking a lot lately about some of the basic assumptions of a role-playing gaming. The thing that's sticking in my craw is character failure. There are some really great GM and game mechanic reactions out there, and there are some that just completely ignore character failure (and I'm being polite here in not saying that these are lame (although they are)). I really want to make my players look forward to their failures - afterall tabletop gaming is about fun, and there's no reason we can't make failure fun!

Dreadful Buffy

So we played a game of Dread tonight, an original scenario written by Lil' Sis with my assistance. She's played several Dread games, but is not a fan of really spooky stuff so we based it in our hometown but in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer universe, so lots of comedy. It was a very interesting game with both ups and downs, but I came away with a lot of good lessons co-GM'ing with the squirt in her very first GM experience. I played a lot of NPC's for my part co-GM. I got to play an idiot local teenager, an idiot local vampire, and some good-natured local priests, it was awesome. The best thing? This character sheet from the sister's boyfriend. This is how characters are made in Dread, by the way, you just fill out a character questionaire. I give you, the Nerd:

1. What talent do you have that people don't know about?

I can move in slowwwww motion.

2. You've done some independent research online about the supernatural, what's the weirdest thing you've found out that's actually true?

Slow people live longer.

3. Do you feel like you were meant for something more, why?

No. I was meant to be a pain the butt and slow everything down.

4. When you were a kid, you ran into the biggest, meanest wild dog you've ever seen. What happened and how did it affect you?

I overanalyzed the situation, debating about what I should do, accidentally moving in slow motion, and getting my arm chewed off in the process. (I asked him which arm and how much was left - he answered his entire left arm and he lost 3 ribs!)

5. What do you dream of some day being able to do to the bullies that tortured you in high school?

Sit down and have a coffee with them, listen to their life story, have the dog chew their arm off.

6. Would you ever use supernatural powers to aid you in your hunt, and if so, how?

No, my extreme slowness does nothing but make everything twice as difficult.

7. How did you find the hunter group to join up with them?

Someone texted me.

8. When intimidated, how do you carry yourself?

Curl up in the fetal position.

9. What keeps you fighting the good fight as opposed to just moving away and starting anew?

I was told by a higher power to fight the good fight?

10. What's your name?

Xerxes

Basically he just created the most nerfed Dread character ever, since your answers indicate your basic ability levels. He's slow, annoying, spiteful, and prone to falling into a fetal position in stressful times. He stayed true to character the entire game. Just awesome.

terrifying jenga tower for "funsies" since 4 of us already made it back home from the fae realm

another oddball dread picture from last night! terror-ible.

dread last night - dr. cain slaughtery (me!) won through!