Quote from: Quasquetonian on February 10, 2025, 12:18:16 AMWhat tone are you going for?  What things from '80s horror movies do you want to emulate?  How do you want the horror elements to be mechanically expressed?  I think those things are important to think about when selecting a system.

I'm just starting noddling around the idea, so I'm not sure. I don't think I'd like to GM a game where the PCs are simply victims, so I first thought of making them paranormal investigators. The idea sprang from the Nightspawn setting where the character are all monster-ish, and fight the Nightlords. The Nightlords gain power from fear and suffering, so they do horrible things on earth. I was thinking about the various plots the Nightlords would be up to, and thought about the 80's horror films I love. It's easy to slot in the idea, since the Nightlords use all kinds of supernautural minions.
And then I remembered the kludgyness of the Palladium system and thought, can I get something similar but using a different system. And then I thought, why set it in that particular setting at all.
And so I came here and made a post about the idea to get some ideas about what horror type RPGs are out there besides Nightbane/Beyond the Supernatural. I only remembered Call of Cthulu and the WEG Ghost busters RPG, and both seem pretty off from the vibe I was thinking of.

There's a small press game called Dead of Night that I think does a really good job of genre emulation.  It's mainly geared for one-shots emulating movie but there's some support for campaign play.  The core system is pretty simple but there are multiple sliders for the GM to adjust to emulate different kinds of horror.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/81572/dead-of-night

Quote from: Quasquetonian on February 10, 2025, 12:18:16 AMI would recommend taking a look at Free League's Year Zero Engine and tailoring it to your needs. 

There is a horror rpg that use the Year Zero Engine.  I own it but I haven't had a chance to play it.
https://dmdavepublishing.com/products/horror-a-roleplaying-game-pdf-only?pr_prod_strat=jac&pr_rec_id=a9a5f70f7&pr_rec_pid=8212860502305&pr_ref_pid=8212859224353&pr_seq=uniform

The 2004 reboot of World of Darkness, retroactively aka Chronicles of Darkness, had a "Slashers" book. It's the only rpg book I can find dedicated to slashers. You can buy it on drivethrurpg.

Aside from that, I agree that Chill would probably work. It has investigators and stuff. You can buy the 2nd and 3rd editions on drivethrurpg.

My advice would be to use Chill, and convert Slashers to it.

I was thinking of making my own game for the genre since everything else is decades old and doesn't do it exactly right.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on February 10, 2025, 08:09:07 AMThe 2004 reboot of World of Darkness, retroactively aka Chronicles of Darkness, had a "Slashers" book. It's the only rpg book I can find dedicated to slashers. You can buy it on drivethrurpg.

I have a couple of games dedicated to emulating the slasher genre.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/60714/slasher-flick
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/457183/slash-the-horror-movie-rpg

They aren't all that suited to campaign play though.

To me, a horror game is a bit of a hard sale as a large chunk of horror revolves around the idea of helplessness (either because you don't know what the monster is, or you lack the power to properly fight it once you do know what it is).  And -typically- players want to feel like their characters are powerful and becoming more powerful as the campaign continues.

However! 

There are plenty of players out there who enjoy games like Call of Cthulhu and Midnight, where the win conditions are less "save the world from monsters" and more "save your town for another couple of months, if you're lucky."  So I'd recommend against any "bait and switch" surprises, and just ask them if they'd like to run a horror campaign using X ruleset.  You explain to them though that you will not specify what kind(s) of horror, because the genre really is diverse with all the different things people can be afraid of, and ignorance is part of the genre! 

Now that that's out of the way, what system to use?

Truthfully, system is almost secondary.  I would recommend something with high lethality though, as that plays into the theme of helplessness.  If the party feels like they can bum rush a chainsaw wielding masked maniac because they get three Death Saves, you might want a different system.
   
* I'd recommend looking into Savage Worlds (and possibly the Horror Companion).  It's fast and furious, meaning PCs might get chopped up quickly, but it's relatively quick and easy to make a new character.  Hopefully, by the time you're sick of the system your campaign is coming to a close anyway.
* Hunter the Vigil would be my choice if I wanted something with a bit more meat on its bones mechanically to start with (you'll probably want to do auto-success on Damage rolls to make combat more lethal though).  But it also acts as a gateway drug to the broader Chronicles of Darkness lines, which are treasure trove of ideas to cherry pick from.  And Hunter has a pre-made faction devoted to dealing with Slashers if you want some ideas to play with. 
* GURPS gets my final nod.  I'm not a fan of the system, but I'll admit it can work, and it also has some neat and original ideas to explore if you dig into the vastness that is the 3ed supplement collection.

Methinks GURPS is best because the 3d6 roll-low skill-based system is super-fast to play. AND, horror "protagonists" tend to be complicated characters, something GURPS can emulate easier than most ttrpgs. Plus GURPS has Fright checks and it isn't hard to butcher PCs when necessary.

Wasn't Kult specifically based on Hellraiser?

NWoD Slasher is/was a great system. I actually *love* Hunters stuff from NWoD. Great material.

Could easily do any 80's/90's horror with great fidelity. Horror movies, to X-files type stuff with little problem.

Radical High.

I reviewed it a few month back.  The system is simple and clean but has enough depth for PC growth.  At the time I was baffled as to how I would use it but I'll be damned if it isn't perfect for just about any 80s horror.

With what I've got on the shelf, probably Call of Cthulhu.

I've run some fun Horror games using the HERO system, and of course there's Ravenloft.  Heck, I ran a couple great Horror sessions using FASA's old Star Trek RPG, set in the TOS universe.  But CoC is the best thing I currently own for dedicated Horror, I think.

I'd probably use Call of Cthulhu (or "gold book" BRP with rules cherry picked for the setting/tone I had in mind). I might consider using Fear Itself.

I find the sanity system in Unknown Armies 2nd ed to be both quick and practical. It is adequate for a street level horror campain ignoring any supernatural element.
I really like Gavriel Quiroga's Hell Night for the feel of cinematic 80s, however the system would not fit the slasher genre.

Has Monster of the Week been mentioned? It uses PbtA. It looks okay if you don't have anything specific in mind, but it doesn't have any decent settings that I could find.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on February 10, 2025, 02:17:45 AMI'm just starting noddling around the idea, so I'm not sure. I don't think I'd like to GM a game where the PCs are simply victims, so I first thought of making them paranormal investigators. The idea sprang from the Nightspawn setting where the character are all monster-ish, and fight the Nightlords. The Nightlords gain power from fear and suffering, so they do horrible things on earth. I was thinking about the various plots the Nightlords would be up to, and thought about the 80's horror films I love. It's easy to slot in the idea, since the Nightlords use all kinds of supernautural minions.
And then I remembered the kludgyness of the Palladium system and thought, can I get something similar but using a different system. And then I thought, why set it in that particular setting at all.
And so I came here and made a post about the idea to get some ideas about what horror type RPGs are out there besides Nightbane/Beyond the Supernatural. I only remembered Call of Cthulu and the WEG Ghost busters RPG, and both seem pretty off from the vibe I was thinking of.

You said in a previous post that you want the characters to be amateur investigators, so something like Fright Night, Lost Boys, Phantasm, and (maybe especially) Phantasm II?  I know that you referenced Hellraiser and Puppet Master, but I'm just thinking about how you're imagining the characters and party.  It seems like you're aiming for that place where '80s horror movies almost border on '80s action/adventure movies.

If so, I think you're right about Call of Cthulhu not being a good fit.  It's made to emulate a completely different type of horror.  That's true of Chill, too, or at least the Pacesetter version I've run.

The reason I asked you how you want things to work mechanically is because when you look at slashers, most of them wouldn't be as threatening to even minimally prepared adventurers as they are to their victims in the movies.  I was just trying to think of how you'd translate their abilities (errorless stealth, a teleportation-like ability to appear in the worst possible place for their victims, etc.) into game mechanics.  To find a game that does everything you want to do, it'll probably make more sense to build up from an existing base.

Quote from: D-ko on February 10, 2025, 03:05:18 PMWasn't Kult specifically based on Hellraiser?

Some of the aesthetics and monsters are inspired by Hellraiser, but it's more of an urban Gnostic dark modern fantasy thing.

Call of Cthulhu published two collections of one-shots inspired by classic horror movies: Blood Brothers 1 & 2. The volumes were under the label "CoC - Non Mythos".

I have them here on my shelf. Some of the genres that inspired the scenarios are:

"Haunted Ghostly Places", "Vampires", "Theatrical Mad Men" (Phantom of the Opera...), "Land of Dinosaurs", "Mummies", "Killer Dolls", "Gremlins", "Mad Scientists", "Zombies" (classic ones, not the superfast contemporary ones), "Werewolves", "Fish People" (OK, here "It is not Cthulhu!" it is a bit of a stretch), "Pagan Cults" (the original Wicker Man), "Horror Planet" (Alien/Cyberpunkish), "Silent Horror Movies!" (the players have to write their dialogue in classic B/W cards and emote the rest!), "Hammer Horror Films", "Aliens from the 1950s", "Detached Body Parts", "Mexican Wrestling Horror Movies", "Horror Westerns" and others.

Each scenario is meant to be "A night at the movies", with pre-generated characters who can just die (and actually should). If you are creative, you can even mix genres, taking inspiration from the classic "College Girls & Jocks in a Cabin in the Woods, 1982" only to change Michael Meyers into the Alien (with facehuggers amid the trees and stuff).

There are even rules for "Horror according to Abbott and Costello" with stats for both if you are inclined to try that. However, I don't think that I ever played one of these scenarios the way it was written. I usually started with two rival bands of cowboys looking for gold in dead cities/cemeteries, Sergio Leone-like only to meet... well, the Alien (I was not that creative...)