Horror at the gaming table, part 1: Why doesn't it work?

[macmoyer]

I've been reflecting recently that I've never really played a horror RPG that felt like horror. That's led me to consider what the horror genre is, what makes it feel like horror, and why that's hard to translate into an RPG.

Comments

[karjack]

A lot of horror games I know of play as comedies. Horror Rules comes to mind, and it's a hoot of a game, but it's funny. It's funny because you know what's coming, and instead of trying to avoid the inevitable, the pay off is to see how bad you can make it, to the hilarity of all involved

[macmoyer]

Horror Rules also includes the excellent Stupid Things mechanic, that rewards players for intentionally choosing to make suboptimal choices. I haven't really seen it work consistently well in Horror Rules, but I think there's something to it. It will be considered in part 2.
"There's something a guy I used to game with did when suspense was the thing. He took out a deck of cards, and over the course of the scene, everyone took a turn turning one over. [...] I'm not sure how that would translate in a horror game, but in games where that system was used, every time the GM said, 'Turn a card,' everyone held their breath."
Dread does something similar, but with Jenga instead of a deck of cards. Failing the Jenga test results in player-elimination.
I think a game-mechanics solution has to be smooth and natural... it can't overwhelm the game. I also prefer some real tactical meat to it.
"One answer is to create, as a GM, a threat where, really, it doesn't matter what you do."
In a way, I think you're dead on. In another way, I think it's a

[karjack]

I think a better way of saying 'it doesn't matter what they do' would be to say scale the threat to the precautions. Obviously what the players choose to do should matter, but if they're using high tech measures, present them with a threat that is up to the challenge. The choices matter, but the players don't have overkill on their side, because the baddies are just that good. After all, if everything you do works, and if the threat is no match for your tech, why bother? Yawnsville.

[gwyd]

I think Call of Chuthulu often works but there you have fairly ordinary, often incompetent characters, an expectation that characters will be picked off one by one, and suspense created by the layer knowledge of how bad it will likely get

[macmoyer]

When I wrote, "some of the most popular and successful RPGs published are horror," I was thinking specifically of Call of Cthulhu. CoC uses an investigation structure in which the building action involves the PCs learning more about what the evil did to someone else. There may be minor threats to the PCs along the way, but for the most part they're separated from the evil force while they learn about how dangerous it is, and gain information they need to oppose it... gradually moving toward a confrontation with it.
This is a very valid way to create suspense, and it sets very high stakes, but it's not a very common structure in horror fiction. The Ring is an exception... it follows the CoC investigation structure very closely, and I think for the same reason: the evil force is so powerful, so inevitably fatal, that confronting it directly multiple times throughout the story just isn't an option.
Your anecdote about the kidnapped PC and the cultists is very interesting. It sets up a pattern of knowledge about the stakes that the

[gwyd]

Oh, I wouldn't over use it, but it did instantly raise the stakes and create an atmosphere of general suspense knowing really bad stuff could happen.