What setting works best for a horror game?

jeff37923 · December 19, 2024, 09:46:52 PM

One that isn't horror.

Everyone expects horror with Ravenloft or Call of Cthulhu, so if you really want to bring across the feeling of horror during play you should use a setting or system that isn't known for horror. Make it an unexpected surprise for your Players.

Trond · December 19, 2024, 10:04:02 PM

I find that a sense of dread works well in pretty much anything. E.g. I used in Middle-Earth (and besides, Tolkien did too)

HappyDaze · December 19, 2024, 10:17:01 PM

GW-based RPGs weren't bad. I had fun running horror-themed campaigns in both WFRP2e and Dark Heresy. I tried playing in a Black Crusade game, but it just didn't click and we dropped it after five or six sessions (depends on if a session 0 with about an hour of actual play counts as a session).

unclefes · December 19, 2024, 10:50:00 PM

One setting I've always been intrigued to run a horror campaign within would be the colonial period (say, 1740 to Napoleon). There not much available for it but I can't help but think that a period that is sort of on the edge of the scientific era would be fertile ground for eldritch horror.

Thornhammer · December 19, 2024, 11:27:10 PM

What setting works best? A message forum...where a thread dead for damn near twenty years ARISES FROM ITS GRAVE!

Fuggit, though. I have been digging space horror lately, a lot of Mothership stuff. Gradient Descent in particular.

HappyDaze · December 20, 2024, 12:08:04 AM

Quote from: unclefes on December 19, 2024, 10:50:00 PMOne setting I've always been intrigued to run a horror campaign within would be the colonial period (say, 1740 to Napoleon). There not much available for it but I can't help but think that a period that is sort of on the edge of the scientific era would be fertile ground for eldritch horror.

Witch Hunter: The Invisible World comes close, but it's set in 1689.

Mishihari · December 20, 2024, 12:09:21 AM

I've always found the best horror comes from freaking out the players, not the characters, so whatever is most immersive for your players, usually modern.

unclefes · December 20, 2024, 02:14:36 AM

Witch Hunter: The Invisible World comes close, but it's set in 1689.
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I'll check that out, thanks! There's also an RPG called Nations and Cannons set during the AWI, which could be a good source.

yosemitemike · December 20, 2024, 02:42:48 AM

I don't think setting is really a major factor in what makes a horror game work. A big part of it is player buy-in. If the players are constantly undermining the atmosphere, then a horror game won't work regardless of setting. Horror games only work if the players want them to work. The rules are a big part too. It's hard to sell the horror if there's isn't much sense of danger. That's why Curse of Strahd winds up being more gothic tinged D&D fantasy that gothic horror. It's hard to maintain a horror atmosphere when you can get rid of a ghost by just stabbing it and there's almost no chance of your character actually dying.

MoFoCThat · December 20, 2024, 02:58:18 AM

Early modern is great for most Horror campaigns, but I agree that isolating your players is the best practice. That's why we have those horror tropes; the log cabin in the middle of nowhere, the eerie forest at night, a seemingly abandoned space station, the house in the corner of the neighborhood that no one dares to go near, a newly discovered cave system. Any scenario can become horror/mysterious if the players can feel that something is off on what should be a familiar place.

I · December 20, 2024, 05:04:09 AM

The sole thing against modern is that it's harder to isolate people, but that of course can be overcome. You either engineer a way to isolate the players, or make the threat itself one that no amount of technology/no amount of soldiers or cops/no amount of people around is going to make a difference. Examples of this can be seen in movies like "The Ring," "Hereditary" or "Smile." In "The Ring," modern technology itself was even used to add to the horror -- VHS tapes, telephones and televisions were all used to great effect.

Bubu · December 20, 2024, 07:29:45 AM

Quote from: Thornhammer on December 19, 2024, 11:27:10 PMGradient Descent in particular.

I'm hoping to get this on the table soon!

T5un4m1 · December 20, 2024, 07:51:29 AM

IHMO - Sci-fi.

I understand that we are talking about TTRPG, but first I would like to tell about "Black Mirror". Although it is not exactly a horror, it is scary precisely because it is almost already in our lives.

Sci-fi TTRPG for Horror? Mothership. Why sci-fi may be most interesting for horror? Boundless worlds that may be different from the Earth. Space, frightening in nature. Other creatures alien to us. Artificial intelligence, not under the control of humanity. and much more. All these factors can only be imagined in the future.

So sci-fi may be not the ideal setting for horror. But it is the one with the largest room for scary ideas.

RI2 · December 20, 2024, 09:54:01 AM

Quote from: Kyle VOltti on March 02, 2006, 08:51:38 PMFantasy? Sci-Fi? Modern?

Colonial America, pre-War of 1812.

I might be biased, however.

RI2 · December 20, 2024, 09:54:58 AM

Quote from: unclefes on December 20, 2024, 02:14:36 AMWitch Hunter: The Invisible World comes close, but it's set in 1689.

I'll check that out, thanks! There's also an RPG called Nations and Cannons set during the AWI, which could be a good source.
[/quote]

Well, there is Colonial Gothic...