Information imbalance at the heart of horror?

[macmoyer]

I loves me some Trail of Cthulhu. I ran a one-shot for Halloween that I think was pretty successful. I'm thinkin' of writing up the scenario for some form of publication, I liked it so much. But that's not what this post is about.

Comments

[pjack]

Well, when I'm playing a character in a well-run horror RPG, I often feel a sense of "dreadful inevitability". It's not that I choose for my hapless investigator to walk directly into the nightmare, but more the sense that no matter what my character does, the nightmare is waiting at the end.

In a less well-run horror RPG, that sense of dread is often lacking. Such games often turn into an action movie.

Aweseome Halloween game, by the way!

[gwyd]

I'm with Pjack here. In a good horror rpg, one does get a sense of dreadful inevitability. The best Chuthulu game I even played* in culminated with our characters trapped in a house with something that was going to eat us. The Priest had confined it to a room. There were things outside, but we had faith in that Priest. He went to the door, looked out, and collapsed, saying calmly, "We are all going to die." It was chilling, it really was. The being trapped, the relief, and then the horror of the collapse of the Priest.

*A one shot run by Dave Plunket.

[macmoyer]

Really, I am, too. I do think horror RPGs can capture threat, suspense... horror. But that particular kind of interplay between audience knowledge and character knowledge that Lovecraft is so good at is one particular source of suspense that can't be enjoyed in quite the same way in an RPG as it can be enjoyed in literature and film. Calling that the definition of horror is surely not right, but it's an important little engine of suspense we can't use in quite the same way.
I think RPG players can enjoy that interplay in a different way (I know I have), and I think it's a valuable thing to consider on the endless path to running a better game. I think roleplaying is in many respects a better way to enjoy fiction than literature and film... and in many respects worse. I'm constantly making an effort to understand what mechanically works in literature and film, how it can be borrowed, how it can't, and what's unique about RPGs that I can use to make fiction that's enjoyed in a new and interesting way.
I just haven't run much horror myself

[gwyd]

Well, in situations where the characters can't get out, for one reason or another, I think you get something mighty close. For example CofC characters on a remote archaeological dig don't know they are in jeopardy, but we do. The effect is similar to the first act of Quarantine where they are messing around at the firehouse.

[macmoyer]

Aweseome Halloween game, by the way!
Thanks!
Obviously, you're totally right that suspense and threat can work in RPGs.
no matter what my character does, the nightmare is waiting at the end.
That's an interesting point. Indeed, now that I think about it, in horror film and literature protagonists often seek outside help, try to get somebody else to fix the problem for them. That's a common structural device in lots of stories -- refusing the call to adventure -- that is in fact hyperdeveloped in horror. When the police blow it off, or the psychic can't chase the ghosts away, it emphasizes that the problem belongs to the protagonist, and that they can't escape from it. Perhaps we should encourage RPG players to have an episode of refusal, to remind the players that they can't escape.

[gwyd]

Exactly. The archaeologists run to the plane to discover it's been sabotaged. The police, priest, psychic fails, the doors are locked (Rose Red, Quarantine), the radio has been sabotaged (The Thing). You get the idea. There is that moment of relief that deepens the horror when the characters realize there is no escape except to go through.

In RPG, there is the added advantage that unlike in most Hollywood movies, there may be no surviving. This gives a sense of jeopardy that say, Jurassic Park, doesn't have. Going in, you know that they will likely kill lots of people, but it won't be the annoying children or the lead couple. In an RPG, especially CoC you can have a total party kill or survivors can be anyone. No one has top billing.

I do think this is a valuable exercise. I think Pjack and i are pointing to exceptions, because the exceptions show important correlaries or new lines of inquiry.