tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post3426696899018105067..comments2023-10-30T09:58:01.179-04:00Comments on Tankards & Broadswords: Horror RPGs Other Than CoCJack Badelairehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10932441028544500024noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-64672977065804681642009-08-17T10:27:47.751-04:002009-08-17T10:27:47.751-04:00Thank you everyone for a ton of great comments - I...Thank you everyone for a ton of great comments - I'm going to have to start working towards acquiring some of these over the next few months.<br /><br />Sigh...going to need more shelves, I think.<br /><br />Any other suggestions?Jack Badelairehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10932441028544500024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-63439637674359726172009-08-14T14:13:53.059-04:002009-08-14T14:13:53.059-04:00Usually do to the relationship between gamers at a...Usually do to the relationship between gamers at a table, horror RPG forays are frequently doomed to turn silly rather than be horrific.<br /><br />The only game I know of that ensures this won't happen is Dread. It's got very unusual mechanics which force a strange, immersive atmosphere and ongoing rising tension. It's really nothing short of brilliant, how the author was able to come up with a mechanic that enforced the correct mood into the game, no matter where you play it.<br /><br />One guy I know claims to have run a great session of Call of Cthulhu, in a great setting (an old Boston university building, full of books, mooseheads and other weirdness, at night, by candlelight during a storm) and run a game of Dread at a Con in a loud, brightly lit room, and found Dread to be by far the more engaging game in terms of evoking and keeping a sense of suspense and fear in the players.Desdichadohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14774274812688958457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-28793276886631999482009-08-14T10:31:56.319-04:002009-08-14T10:31:56.319-04:00I have to disagree that "Kult" is the on...I have to disagree that "Kult" is the only serious horror RPG. I live and breathe the horror genre and I can tell you from personal experience that the only way the games you mentioned in comparison Mark, would be trips to Disney Land is if you have only had crappy GM's running your games. IMHO a game is only as good as it's GM. Not trying to piss in anyone's cornflakes just stating my opinion. I love BTS and Bureau 13,and Ravenloft (which hasn't been mentioned yet) and have been led through quite a few creepy and nasty adventures by our GM.Lili Des Ghouleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03696529059477915841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-85238315198789450252009-08-14T02:37:21.879-04:002009-08-14T02:37:21.879-04:00Wonderland and The Book of Knots involve an unrave...<b>Wonderland</b> and <b>The Book of Knots</b> involve an unraveling of reality that might be a bit grimmer than Kult (judging from my superficial impression of the latter).<br /><br />Although published as a two-part supplement for JAGS, the situation should be easily adaptable to other rules-sets.Dwayanuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07388657516129827977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-56082015804871126012009-08-12T22:34:29.595-04:002009-08-12T22:34:29.595-04:00I will second the inclusion of Kult at the top of ...I will second the inclusion of Kult at the top of the list. I was lucky enough to snag a copy of the 1st edition rules a while back. Since then, my imagination has run wild every time I skim through that book. I've never run an actual Kult game, but the book itself has given rise to dozens of campaign ideas and concepts. Very, very awesome.Patrick W. Rollenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12832604648690667589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-72608626512183909552009-08-12T19:02:38.223-04:002009-08-12T19:02:38.223-04:00@Timeshadows: I agree that CyberPunk would make a ...@Timeshadows: I agree that CyberPunk would make a great horror game... just inject a big proboscis full of <i>Videodrome</i> and your almost there... Heck, dial up the squirm factor and call it CronenPunk!<br /><br />@The Badger King: <i>Unknown Armies</i> was going to be my pick, but again I would play up the biological rebellion angle.rainswepthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06165059567790555748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-20535389072982944122009-08-12T16:51:09.294-04:002009-08-12T16:51:09.294-04:00There's that weird Kultesque one for Burning W...There's that weird <i>Kult</i>esque one for <i>Burning Wheel</i>, based on an At the Gates album, where you win by committing suicide. <i>Under a Serpent Sun</i>, I think.thekelvingreenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-72041890174298472782009-08-12T15:51:48.505-04:002009-08-12T15:51:48.505-04:00The best horror game, possibly the *only* serious ...The best horror game, possibly the *only* serious horror game ever made, is Kult. If you can find it, 1st Edition was mind-shattering to read and play. 2nd/3rd Edition has a somewhat tidier universe, and provides fewer incentives to really push yourself into a dark and terrible place.<br /><br />You have to have a taste for Clive Barker, and no problem playing sexually mature and disturbing situations, and the GM needs a good grounding in Gnosticism.<br /><br />But once you've played Kult, Call of Cthulhu, Chill, Unknown Armies, and everything else look like a trip to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion with the kids.Mark Hugheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05325140104622317511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-71962343309416370592009-08-12T15:21:45.490-04:002009-08-12T15:21:45.490-04:00How about Savage Worlds: Rippers / Deadlands reloa...How about Savage Worlds: Rippers / Deadlands reloaded?<br /><br />Curious what people make of them as I'm thinking of purchasing them! ;o)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-68959582986565135562009-08-12T13:04:26.218-04:002009-08-12T13:04:26.218-04:00I think you could probably include Atlas Games'...I think you could probably include Atlas Games' UNKNOWN ARMIES in the horror caegory, although "weird" might be a little more descripive. A very adult themed take on how all the modern weirdness of the world draws together (pornomancers, anyone?). I love this system, because it has one of the coolest ways of describing skills I've seen, but the mechanics are a little tough to grasp. Also, I have yet to find a "mature" enough group to play this with.The Badger Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09020950272210873449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-55876391342246090462009-08-12T09:57:33.005-04:002009-08-12T09:57:33.005-04:00Chill has always been my favorite horror RPG! Esp...Chill has always been my favorite horror RPG! Espeicially the first edition, you can't beat it. It's basically like Hammer House of Horror and Universal Monster movies. There's no real on going story other than the occult investigations society that the characters belong too. But if your in the mood for werewolves, vampires, mummies, zombies, ghosts, etc... this is a good place to start!Chad Thorsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15084711824869449643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-15824840966817573122009-08-12T09:46:52.123-04:002009-08-12T09:46:52.123-04:00* CarWars: The Dream's corpse has been run-ove...* CarWars: The Dream's corpse has been run-over so much that even the flies know better than to swarm its corpse -- "Live Fast. Die Young. Leave Them in a Burning Wreck." "It's More Than Just Soy! :D" "Crazies. Yup, I heard of dem. Wot thm that's been runnin' this here valley wot since DC went tits over ass back when I was just knee-high-to-a-locust, it did." "Let's show the world what it means to Buy American! once again! :D"<br /><br />* Cyberpunk: "We have met the enemy, and they are us." -- The 'Real' is so...UnReal. "My lover may deserve more. I demand it." Society is only a corpse maintained by machines; humanity cedes to the machine through willing self-sacrifice and excisement of flesh and brain; isolated personality, as 'ghosts', exist within the artificial otherworld of the Net; we have made the Demiurge, and he has spawned the Aeons within the Net, and is reaching out to kill the flesh in the 'real world'. Is love real? Who cares? etc.<br /><br />* Underground: "War is Hell." "...and makes for a great stocking stuffer, too!" "But wait! There's more!" "Weak? Puny? Get into shape with the TorqeMaster 5000, guaranteed to transform your body into a hardened fighting machine in just 30 days* or a refund** to your next of kin or life partner." "You wanted revolution? Take your pick! :)" "So the Corps are using us to kill ourselves so they can plunder us. So? Gimmie' that StimDose and my Pocket Howitzer, those frakken kids won't get off my front lawn."<br /><br />* TorqeMaster 5000 is only to be used by those healthy enough to meet its full-on hardcore fighting training. Death, internal bleeding, psychological trauma, and chemical poisoning may all result from misuse. TorqueMaster 5000 is a product of Mitsibushi Health in conjunction with CiscoMetrix and KellogBattleCreek GmbH.<br /><br />** Only Shipping and Handling shall be Refunded, and only within the first 29 days from date of credit purchase.<br /><br />'nuff said?Timeshadowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09952601433965644275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646163054327608765.post-25861517170831494312009-08-12T09:16:09.113-04:002009-08-12T09:16:09.113-04:00You could consider Bureau 13: Stalking the Night F...You could consider <i>Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic</i>, <i>Beyond the Supernatural</i>, and <i>Chill</i> to be "generic" horror RPG's - and they're all excellent and fun games, IMHO. The interesting thing about RPG's - horror RPG's especially - is that even among generic RPG's the system provides a lot of flavor to the game. The differing approaches to human powers (magic and/or psychic abilities) in the games I mentioned make for a different style of play in each system. (Powers in B13 tend to be very utilitarian and sometimes a bit goofy, in BtS the PC's are often minor superheroes, and in Chill PC powers are generally very weak in comparison to those of their supernatural enemies, making for a bit more unease in the players.)<br /><br />Like most good supernatural horror fiction, I believe a good game (at least one that's going to continue over multiple sessions) needs to have a good "mythos" to back it up, but this can just as easily be of the GM's creation as something that is a built-in part of the game.Christopher Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17368794259249607299noreply@blogger.com