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Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion => Topic started by: Batjon on August 12, 2022, 05:22:28 PM

Title: Gothic horror campaign preference
Post by: Batjon on August 12, 2022, 05:22:28 PM
If you really wanted to run a gothic horror campaign or play in one in the style of the Hugh Jackman Van Helsing movie meets Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing Hammer Horror movies which would you choose from the below options? I'm trying to decide, as I own each of these.

Rippers for Savage Worlds
Leagues of Gothic Horror for the Ubiquity system
Shiver Gothic -new horror TTRPG that was Kickstarted recently with a Gothic expansion on the way soon
Title: Re: Gothic horror campaign preference
Post by: Effete on August 12, 2022, 06:09:38 PM
Only one I've played was Rippers. I had a blast, although I felt the rippertech rules were overly punishing. I get tbat turning yourself into a monster is supposed to have drawbacks, but the rules just discouraged most players from even engaging with the tech... which is arguably a core part of the setting (it is called "Rippers" afterall). If I were to run the game myself, I would err on the side of "cool" and loosen the penalties for getting rippertech. To compensate, I might ramp up the enemy threat range from time to time.
Title: Re: Gothic horror campaign preference
Post by: GeekyBugle on August 12, 2022, 06:17:44 PM
Never played any of those, but I love the White Box Gothic and IMHO it does everything you'd want for such a campaign.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/200487/White-Box-Gothic-Swords--Wizardry (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/200487/White-Box-Gothic-Swords--Wizardry)
Title: Re: Gothic horror campaign preference
Post by: Rob Necronomicon on August 12, 2022, 07:38:58 PM
Whit box gothic is cool as Geeky said. I ran it once and really liked it. It's quite low fantasy so that may not be the Hugh Jackman gothic style you're after. If you wanted a more detailed and 3.5 type then you could go with A Ghastly Affair.

SW is good too. I like Rippers a lot.

That said if I was running it now I'd probably go with the Ubiquity system. As there are lots of excellent supplements that cover everything and Ubi is a great and simple system.

To be honest all three choices are good.



Title: Re: Gothic horror campaign preference
Post by: Thornhammer on August 12, 2022, 10:29:54 PM
There was a trio of books called Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque that were really good for Gothic Horror stuff (from the guy who wrote Krevborna), but they don't appear to be available any more.

Damn, it's just about that time of year for them chill winds to start blowing, isn't it?
Title: Re: Gothic horror campaign preference
Post by: ForgottenF on August 13, 2022, 11:26:03 AM
I'm a bit familiar with both the Triple Ace games and SWADE. Tough call between the two. Both have lots of supplemental material you could pull in (Leagues of Adventure/Leagues of Cthulhu and Regime Diabolique for Gothic Horror, and the Accursed, Victorian Era, and Solomon Kane lines for Rippers), and both are aiming for that kind of pulpy action-horror. They even both have a lot of Paul Wade-Williams involvement.

Personally I'd go with Savage Worlds, just because I like the underlying systems a bit better. And if your players like it, there are settings available for just about any campaign you can think of.

You could possibly look at Vaesen from Free League Publishing, too. That's more aiming at folk horror than gothic, but it's set in the Victorian Period. And you might find some useful material in Chaosium's Cthulhu by Gaslight line.
Title: Re: Gothic horror campaign preference
Post by: HappyDaze on August 13, 2022, 12:32:07 PM
IME, Ubiquity has fairly predictable outcomes. This is what I would prefer for such a setting, as Savage Worlds often produces wild outcomes (can be fun, can also be mood breaking for horror).
Title: Re: Gothic horror campaign preference
Post by: Omega on August 13, 2022, 04:21:09 PM
Personal favourite is Masque of the Red Death for D&D. It is set on Gothic Earth and actually does a damn good job of it.

Runner up is the Orrorsh cosm book for the original Torg. Works overall just not as elegantly as Masque.

There is also one for Call of Cthulhu which I have called Cthulhu by Gaslight. As with alot of early CoC books its a treasure trove of info and I use it to help better explain the era.

There are others. But those are my Go-Tos.