Happy October. Let's talk how to do Horror in RPGs.
Genre vs Tone
First, let's talk about horror as a genre and horror as a tone. These are not the same.
First, let's talk about horror as a genre and horror as a tone. These are not the same.
- Genre means style or aesthetic. Horror as a genre can be spooky, creepy, or it can be gory.
- Horror as a tone means effect by creating circumstances that elicit or evoke a fear or disgust response out of the audience / participants.
Expectations
Second, know that there's no easy way to evoke fear, but you do have to get your players on board with the idea of doing horror because fear, like fun, is subjective, and expectations need to be managed.
Second, know that there's no easy way to evoke fear, but you do have to get your players on board with the idea of doing horror because fear, like fun, is subjective, and expectations need to be managed.
For instance, there are people who fear getting sick and having to worry about money, and there are people who fear waking up in the middle of the night to a phone call from the police telling them their loved one was found in a gutter. These might be unwelcomed fears in escapist entertainment.
There are also people who are desensitized to things like slasher horror and even cosmic horror by now.
Desensitized people might be bored. Sensitive people might be disturbed. These aren't the reactions we want.
How to Evoke Fear
Let's ask ourselves how we feel fear in any typical RPG. The easiest answer is losing your beloved player character. However, emotion is important. If you're emotionally attached to your character, more fear. If you're emotionally detached from your character, less fear.
Let's ask ourselves how we feel fear in any typical RPG. The easiest answer is losing your beloved player character. However, emotion is important. If you're emotionally attached to your character, more fear. If you're emotionally detached from your character, less fear.
Therefore, invite your players to fall in love with their character concept before play. Seriously. Tell them to bring something they're proud of; Bring something they're already invested in. No disposable characters.
Players can't feel like they've signed up for a meatgrinder one-shot. The goal isn't to die in a thrilling way. You want the players to be nervous or afraid to make a bad choice in play that could get their character hurt.
Also consider that horror is about survivors and victims, not heroes. Therefore, D&D 5e might not be the best choice for a game system because D&D 5e characters are expected to feel powerful. You want vulnerable characters. If you use 5e, I suggest keeping the characters at low levels and throw high CR monsters at them.
Threaten Things the Players Like and Need
Create NPCs who represent security to the players. If the NPC dies, the players lose their security. If players develop a fondness for a non-player character and the opportunities, resources, or the story that the NPC represents, that NPC goes on the list of things you can hurt the players with. Sounds horribly manipulative, doesn't it? Well, that's good storytelling.
How to Run a Horror Game
First, tell players you're doing horror and get their buy-in. You need people to be willing participants in horror. They have to be willing to lower their emotional guards and be open to the emotional experience.
Second, mood enhances horror. Forbid jokes, side-conversations, cell phones, distractions, or forms of relief during the game. Turn your session into a crucible where only stressors are allowed.
Third, emotional investment - we already covered that. You start with an emotional investment in a character or outcome. Then hang the sword of Damocles over their heads (I know it's not a perfect metaphor, but I like the reference).
Fourth, choose the right game system. D&D 5e for instance is a game about balance. Horror is not about balance. Horror monsters are bigger, stronger, and faster than you. Their motives are simple (they're hungry or they want your soul) and they can't be reasoned with, so a charisma check won't work. They have powers you can't understand and secret weaknesses that a lore check won't reveal. Also, D&D 5e offers players too many spells or features that could spoil a challenge and therefore deflate the tension.
Try a system that keeps Hit Points low and keeps player character powers in a range where success isn't a certainty. I suggest Index Card RPG of all things because it's also pretty rules-lite and very flexible. You could also use Cairn or Liminal Horror RPG which is a horror reskin of Cairn.
Fifth, pacing. Horror needs room to breathe. Slow pacing builds dread; rushing kills it.
Sixth, player agency is important. The players choices must matter. Spontaneous bad outcomes with no clear causes feel cheap. Telegraph danger and give players the choice for how to engage with the situation, or to try and avoid it. The players should feel like bad things happen because of choices they made, even if they only had bad choices.
Telegraphing danger doesn't mean revealing the threat, it means revealing the stakes. This builds dread, tension, anticipation, and responsibility. A pool of blood under the door says the door is dangerous.
At the end of the game, don't tell them what would have happened if they chose something else; let them wonder.
This one is important. It is a cheap effect to roll a die and tell the players they're scared. Don't use a fear mechanic. The feeling of fear must come from the game organically.
The Unknown
Lastly, the unknown is scary. Do not use monsters from a monster catalog or book, or monsters they are familiar with (goblins cough cough). The monster or antagonist should be unfamiliar and strange. Do not tell the players the name of the monster, describe it instead, but delay that moment when they are actually face to face with it and can see it. Do not let them roll intelligence to see if they know what they're dealing with. Tell the players their characters have no idea. Make sure that monster feels unstoppable. Give the monster a secret weakness, tell the players the only way to stop it is to learn the secret weakness, and to kill the monster according to their secret weakness. For example, were-wolves and silver weapons or vampires and stakes to the heart or sunlight. Their swords don't work, their magic doesn't work, those things are only good for the minions. The monster must be seemingly undefeatable; its attacks can auto-kill, permanently maim, cause sickness, or curse the PCs just by touching it or looking at it.
Conclusion
Horror has power over you, not the other way around. Horror in TTRPGs isn’t about gore or darkness, it’s about tension, vulnerability, and the fear of losing something you care about. Build emotional stakes, control the mood, keep the unknown truly unknown.
Related: Hyper-Gratuitousness in Fiction and TTRPGs is a post about dark subject matter in art. You may find it valuable for your horror RPG.
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