I'm a huge horror fan and own a ton.  The best rules-lite one that is actually robust and is now one of my favorite games is Shiver by Parable Games.

https://www.parablegames.co.uk/

Dave Thaumavore review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1TwWu6-hJs&t=4s&ab_channel=DaveThaumavoreRPGReviews

Review and Page-Through by The Gaming Gang:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GbuLn_N4Ts&ab_channel=TheGamingGang

Shiver YouTube Channel with Game Tutorials
https://www.youtube.com/@shiverrpg

If it's Vengercon, may I suggest his own The Outer Presence?

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/154781/The-Outer-Presence?manufacturers_id=5876

Quote from: Batjon on January 13, 2023, 05:05:47 PM
I'm a huge horror fan and own a ton.  The best rules-lite one that is actually robust and is now one of my favorite games is Shiver by Parable Games.

https://www.parablegames.co.uk/

Dave Thaumavore review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1TwWu6-hJs&t=4s&ab_channel=DaveThaumavoreRPGReviews

Review and Page-Through by The Gaming Gang:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GbuLn_N4Ts&ab_channel=TheGamingGang

Shiver YouTube Channel with Game Tutorials
https://www.youtube.com/@shiverrpg

ah yes, forgot about Shiver

One game I was intrigued with, though never ran, was a small rpg called Slasher Flick. While designed to mimic horror films from the 80's, it's easy enough to switch out tropes for what you desire. Players have a character, but can also take turns playing secondary characters and victims of the Big Threat.

There's a survival mechanic that determines whether you survive an attack from the threat. No one is overpowered, and no one can just kill the villain in the first encounter. I thought it was an interesting take on adapting horror films to a tabletop rpg.

I'd suggest reading some reviews to get a better idea if it fits what you need. Rules light, but there's stats and abilities. It's not just a simple Fiasco story game bullshit.

Quote from: Itachi on January 12, 2023, 04:06:27 PM
Cthulhu Dark.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/341997/Cthulhu-Dark

I'll second this game. Fantastic.

Still pretty fond of Cryptworld, Rotworld & Majus. Played a long-running combo game with those.

But my favorite was always Mayfair Chill 2E.

I put out a rules light Chinese horror RPG called Strange Tales of Songling: http://www.bedrockgames.net/Strange-Tales-.html

Definitely rules light and I even timed character creation during playtest to make sure people could jump into the game quickly. Not sure if it has too many over the top fantastical elements for you (it does have a lot of supernatural and quite a bit of stuff you might expect from a movie like A Chinese Ghost Story).

If you were looking for space horror I'd say In Those Dark Places is worth a go. Mainly because the rules are very light but are also pretty flexible. It's quite sparse in detail so you can customize the setting very easily.

Cthulhu Dark is very cool as was already mentioned.

Quote from: danskmacabre on January 11, 2023, 11:23:14 PM
Silent legions ticks all those boxes.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/145769/Silent-Legions

I absolutely and most highly recommend SILENT LEGIONS.

Even if you never the game. It's the best Horror RPG supplement I've ever read.

For decades, I ran Chill 1e at cons. Extremely easy for noobs to grasp and play.

Cryptworld is the retroclone, but I haven't played it.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/118860/Cryptworld

The Cthulhu Hack, unless the publisher is considered problematic for some reason.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/182803/The-Cthulhu-Hack

I'm familiar and have played or ran a lot of the games mentioned in this thread, including Chill 2e, Cryptworld, Slasher Flick (so much fun), etc.

The best is Shiver, hands down.

Mothership ticks every box, as long as you're down with space horror: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/245017/Mothership-Players-Survival-Guide

It's rules light, fast, simple, and very atmospheric. Character generation is fast and the character sheet itself contains instructions on how to make a character.

The player's guide is also 'pay what you want' right now, though the GM's book isn't available yet.

Quote from: phydeaux on January 16, 2023, 09:59:26 AM
Mothership ticks every box, as long as you're down with space horror: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/245017/Mothership-Players-Survival-Guide

It's rules light, fast, simple, and very atmospheric. Character generation is fast and the character sheet itself contains instructions on how to make a character.

The player's guide is also 'pay what you want' right now, though the GM's book isn't available yet.

Mothership is awesome if you want space horror ala Alien or Event Horizon.  I'd wait for the new first edition, though, that was recently Kickstarted.  I backed it and it is great.

Shiver can do all genres of horror, btw, from Gothic to Lovecraftian to Stephen King to Zombies to space horror to psychological, etc.

Quote from: Rob Necronomicon on January 15, 2023, 11:42:05 AM
If you were looking for space horror I'd say In Those Dark Places is worth a go. Mainly because the rules are very light but are also pretty flexible. It's quite sparse in detail so you can customize the setting very easily.

This game looks incredible (full discover, I also have a book published by Osprey). I haven't had a chance to run it yet so I can't speak to actual play but I was very impressed reading the book and it felt like a game that I could easily run (and I agree with the sparseness being a plus here, as it is where he chose not to create mechanics that it seems to open up more freedom to adapt to the genre). Also the system itself is quite clever and the book is a very fast read. It is not a game where you are going to have to sink in tons of time reading and re-reading the book. I think you could probably read it just before a session and start without much of an issue.