Last one for now.  Same rules as the others, list your top five and give reasons for each entry, the reasons are what makes it interesting.

Here's mine:

Call of Cthulhu, you play realistic characters, you're basically doomed, there are no cool powers though you can get spells that will ultimately mess you up just as much as anything else, the system is intuitive and easy to run, it just gets it right.  Streets ahead of all the rest IMO.

Chill, great for fun horror, CoC is dark and awful, Chill is more a Saturday night at the movies horror game, slightly campy but a lot of fun.

Unknown Armies, horror seems as good a genre to put it in as any.  Great mechanics, interesting twists on magic and on many occult staples, wonderful rules on sanity and obsession.

NWoD, great production quality, tons of folk obviously have tons of fun with it, the new books have great advice on running games for mortal characters with supplements like Mysterious Places or the Ghost Stories book.

Nightmares of Mine, technically not actually an rpg at all, rather it's a book of advice on running horror games.  Kenneth Hite is the author, and it is full of really good solid practical advice.  Highly recommended.

Over to you.

My favorites horror RPG list begins and end with Call of Cthulhu.  I've never seen much of a need to find another game in tthis genre.

1.  Call of Cthulhu (duh).

Does Angel/Buffy count?  If so, then:

2.  Cinematic Unisystem (especially Angel).  (However, I kind of view this as 'low powered' supers more than genuine 'horror'.)

Quote from: Akrasia1.  Call of Cthulhu (duh).

Does Angel/Buffy count?  If so, then:

2.  Cinematic Unisystem (especially Angel).  (However, I kind of view this as 'low powered' supers more than genuine 'horror'.)

It's got vampires, that's good enough for me.  I'm not really a purist on these things.

Good one.

1) Call of Cthulhu

2) Call of Cthulhu d20

3) Buffy

4) Can I put in a shout-out to Delta Green here?

5) Beyond the Supernatural 2nd (for all that it's incomplete, the bits that are there are fun.  If it were complete, it's rank higher.)

Call of Cthulhu(Chaosium):  I have never wanted to kill a librarian so badly after failing so many crappy "Library Use' rolls.  Great modules/"campaign" sets. Accept.No.Substitutes.

Chill (Pacesetter):  Ok, the good: fighting well known horror adversaries: Vampire, Werewolf, etc.  The Bad:  fighting well known horror adversaries. "We're going to manufacture several thousand silver bullets"..Wheeee....good times.


I sort of run out of steam at this point....

Kult would have to be somewhere in there, by virtue of the setting which is both immensely evocative and almost unbearably bleak.

• All Flesh Must Be Eaten:  Ok, I'm a fan of zombies and this game hits the sweet spot. Nice easy to learn system, the writting in the book sets the mood. In fact this is the only RPG that I everhad a nightmare after reading it.


• Unknown Armies: quick and dirty rules, and a mind twisting setting.


• Vampire (NWoD OR OWoD: I like the pool system and since I like vampires almost as much as zombies.  This is no question the best vampire RPG. I really don't see all the digs against the agnstyness of this game.


• Kult: Maybe the best non-american Horror RPG. All the relgious stuff is sort of creepy


• CoC: H.P. Lovecraft style horror? has to be top five. I like the BRP system and the fact that you are not meant to survive. It's a matter of how long you stay sane.

Quote from: Mcrow

• All Flesh Must Be Eaten
• Unknown Armies
• Vampire
• Kult
• CoC

Reasons, the reasons are key.

My top horror game is Dread!

As part of a small RPG club in NYC, we run regular gaming events including theme nights. The most popular theme nights are horror games! We've had groups of over 50 people including authors of official Cthulhu modules, playtesters for unisystem, published game designers, and people completely new to RPGs. We've run Cthulhu, WoD, Unknown Armies, Buffy/Angel, Under the Bed, and more. And I have to say that the most popular horror game that we have run is Dread. Why? Immersion. The game invokes dread perfectly. The game is pure emotion, great for building atmosphere, great for building and releasing tension, and you can learn the rules in less than 5 minutes and character creation takes less than 10 minutes. I love this game! I also love Nightmares of Mine. So much so that I had to buy 2 copies because I wore out the first one. Dread is a fantastic companion for Nightmares of Mine. It's a perfect rule set to apply the techniques taught in Nightmares of Mine (both books are also about the same size and page count). It also just won the 2006 ENnies Innovation Award at Gencon. If you love immersion like I do, once you play Dread you will see why it is my number one horror game.

It's not a widely known game so for anyone who is interested, check out...

Official Blog: http://dreadthegame.wordpress.com/
Official Site: http://www.tiltingatwindmills.net/
Review: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/11/11974.phtml
Buy: http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/products.php?publisherLink=impossibleDream

My next picks would be Unknown Armies (simplicity of Cthulhu with obsessions that fix the percentage dice issues as well as a kick ass sanity system), Buffy/Angel (super flexible character creation and I love drama points!), and Cthulhu (mainly because I've gotten so much joy from it the last few years and the source material, modules, and publisher and community support are top notch).

Rock,
John

Quote from: BalbinusReasons, the reasons are key.

oops. fixed

Call of Cthulhu - A design classic really... it set the bar for horror gaming.

Kult - Great setting, great character creation rules, system that varied wildly from niughtmarish to slick depending upon which edition you look at.

Unknown Aries - Another design classic, it's also one of the few horror games to really look at contemporary fantasy/horror crossovers.  I think the supplements spoil it a bit but it's a great GREAT game.

Buffy/Angel - Horror at its postmodern best.  Followed the approach to horror in the late 90's which was to use it less as a genre in and of itself but more for an atmosphere for other genres such as contemporary fantasy, sci-fi and thrillers.  Is a great game... but each time I look at it I think it's more and more of its time.

Whispering Vault - Weird dark fantasy game, eminently swinish but a lot of fun if played with the right kind of crowd.

Quote from: jenskotMy top horror game is Dread!
**Snips Praise**

Howdy new guy.  I actually got really excited about Dread, bought the book and ran an adventure.

It did not work as advertised.  It felt like, as another poster put it, a freeform roleplaying exercise with occasional breaks for Jenga.  

I still want to give the game another try, but it does not make my top 5.

I gotta go Pacesetter Chill. my group at the time was more "Creature feature" type guys. give em some busty vampire chicks Ala the Hammer films and we were good to go.

Never much into CoC (yup, I know-Blasphemy!) but I never had a good time hunting a screaming Nylanthroppoop or a "hundred eyed puddle of Dargoth."

I'm not that much into horror gaming, but here it goes, in no particular order:

- Kult: The rules are a bit wonky, but the background is pretty decent. I like the old creature features, but they don't do much for me in a serious horror game (Risus Hammer might be great, though). Also Lovecraftian Old Ones are a little to vague for me. The Hellraiser style of Kult had a nice balance between tangible evil and unlimited horror.

- Bureau 13: Speaking of wonky rules... It's not the game itself, but the idea of paranormal investigators (before there were the X-Files). And while I wouldn't be able to use the whole book, it's a treasure trove of ideas.

- Ravenloft. Now, in a fantasy setting, creature features are great. I even liked parts of the Van Helsing movie...

- Seventh Seal: Nice game where you're in the archangel's employ, fighting creatures of darkness. This could've been a very pretentious WW game...

- Psychosis: Well, it's a weird little game that even uses friggin' Tarot Cards (originally), but it's a nice simulation of a descent into madness.