Quote from: jeff37923;701528So which is better for scaring your Players? A Horror game for a Horror adventure? Or a non-Horror game for a Horror adventure?

A GM that can run a horror game session is better.

I've run some great horror scenarios with AD&D.

Quote from: jeff37923;701528Does A Horror Game Need A Horror RPG?

Does a horror novel require horror paper?  

Quote from: Arduin;701609Does a horror novel require horror paper?  

Aww, look! The baby has shit itself again.

It's probably more difficult to scare or horrify a player when you use a horror system and the player knows it.

Metagamey players are fairly horror proof as well.

But I think mostly its a matter of the gm figuring out what might horrify the players.


You can't force horror.

The most scary I ever ran was GURPS Cyberpunk + Psionics. When the player realised how the usual secret experiments by the usual evil megacorporation about the usual serum that unlocks the usual PSI powers in the brain had tapped into... something else, and this something else was now "awake" the players shat themselves.

What followed was the most rentless horror experience everyone had since The Exorcist. When the party found itself trapped in an elevator a female gamer suffered a claustrophobia attack - in the real world I mean. Another, after the session, had nightmares... That kind of stuff.

I was never able to pull that again. I guess you need the right combination of story, players and atmosphere. I was, however, able, to reach some horrifying moments with CoC. And it was interesting to see how in the "No Man's Land" scenario, set in WWI, the war itself was horrifying even before the cthulhoids arrived on the scene. Having the Things from Beyond facing characters already suffering from PTSD was simply terminal.

No. I have run an Samhain space-zombie special within a superhero campaign; which was awesome! It is all about the GM. I also think that is why generic fantasy RPGs and even campaign settings tend to be more popular. You can go from horror to sci-fi within being tied to a specific genre. Also, see Ravenloft. If you are within an D&D game then suddenly those mists appear and you have your party broken witnessing some Elves being burnt for withcraft - there is nothing more pleasing. If they were playing an Horror RPG they may expect that, so lessening the impact.

Quote from: Bill;702157It's probably more difficult to scare or horrify a player when you use a horror system and the player knows it.

I dunno. It makes sense... and I do keep to a fairly 'normal' baseline in my CoC games (little overt consistent/proof of anything beyond the pale) to keep the weird stuff WEIRD... but people watch horror movies, read horror novels, visit haunted houses to be scared... they go in with that assumption and it still works on them (to some extent). I'm thinking the desire to be scared trumps whatever contrary effects knowing it's supposed to be scary might have.
 
Also, how much horror can you put in to a non-horror game before it becomes bait-n-switch? When you propose a horror game like Kult you (hopefully) know the players are on board for that sort of thing... but dropping those elements into the middle of a traditional fantasy game could easily annoy folks, particularly if they don't like horror like most of the guys I play with.
I don't mean just tossing in some scary undead now and then, I mean revealing that the nature of the universe is much darker than the players assumed... as with CoC, Kult, etc.

Quote from: Simlasa;702235Also, how much horror can you put in to a non-horror game before it becomes bait-n-switch?

D&D, PF, et al are agnostic in that context.  You can do it without any bait and switch.

Quote from: Simlasa;702235I dunno. It makes sense... and I do keep to a fairly 'normal' baseline in my CoC games (little overt consistent/proof of anything beyond the pale) to keep the weird stuff WEIRD... but people watch horror movies, read horror novels, visit haunted houses to be scared... they go in with that assumption and it still works on them (to some extent). I'm thinking the desire to be scared trumps whatever contrary effects knowing it's supposed to be scary might have.
 
Also, how much horror can you put in to a non-horror game before it becomes bait-n-switch? When you propose a horror game like Kult you (hopefully) know the players are on board for that sort of thing... but dropping those elements into the middle of a traditional fantasy game could easily annoy folks, particularly if they don't like horror like most of the guys I play with.
I don't mean just tossing in some scary undead now and then, I mean revealing that the nature of the universe is much darker than the players assumed... as with CoC, Kult, etc.

Speaking only for myself, I don't think I a more likely to be scared or horrified just because I am playing in Raven loft ot CoC (I love both fyi)

The gm might be more likely to do potentially scary and horrifying things though.


Afterthought:

Scared and horrified are different.

I can read a horror novel and be horrified, but it can't scare me.

A bus about to hit me will scare me, but not horrify me.

Quote from: Arduin;702236D&D, PF, et al are agnostic in that context.  You can do it without any bait and switch.

Sure, for isolated incidents, but can you toss in something like the assumptions in Kult, disorienting and strange and all-encompassing as they are, and then just go back to the regular D&D?
Part of the 'horror' of Kult and CoC are the universes they reside in... and I'm not sure they can be bitten off in bite-sized chunks for a single evening of scares in an otherwise traditional high fantasy game.
"OK, the Mi Go are all dead... back to saving the princess!"
"What's the point? The universe hates us and we're all doomed"

Quote from: Bill;702238Speaking only for myself, I don't think I a more likely to be scared or horrified just because I am playing in Raven loft ot CoC (I love both fyi)

No, the game itself doesn't bring the scary... but the setting does set up a continuity for a generally darker mood... which might be conducive if players go in desiring that sort of thing.

QuoteAfterthought:
Scared and horrified are different.
I can read a horror novel and be horrified, but it can't scare me.
A bus about to hit me will scare me, but not horrify me.

A book can scare me if the writer creates a character I start to care about and then puts them in danger... if they're suddenly eaten by some monster. I'm not going to scream and drop the book... but it can be a shock. Some second-string 'red shirt' is not going to have the same effect because I'm not expecting any plot immunity for them.

Quote from: Simlasa;702243Sure, for isolated incidents,

Nope.  All the way 'round if you want to.

Quote from: Bill;702238Afterthought:

Scared and horrified are different.

I can read a horror novel and be horrified, but it can't scare me.

Same with horror films.  That's why I don't pay to see them.  What's the point?

Quote from: Arduin;702245Nope.  All the way 'round if you want to.

Well, yeah... but then you're playing Kult/CoC with D&D... which is fine, but I was arguing against the point of playing something 'not horror' so the horror will be a surprise for the players. Not whether or not D&D could do horror. D&D doesn't insure the scares any more than other games but any game can be turned towards horror gaming.
Starting off a game as normal old D&D and them revealing the setting to have a full on horror-continuity (not just dropping them in Ravenloft for the night) does seem a bit tricky... as in the players might feel tricked.

Quote from: Arduin;702248Same with horror films.  That's why I don't pay to see them.  What's the point?

Just because they don't work for you doesn't mean they don't work for lots of other folks. But that's one of the reasons I won't run horror games for people unless I know they actually like horror and WANT to be scared. It only takes one joker in the group to deflate the atmosphere... drown it in comedy.
Being scared, in the face of something that cannot actually hurt you, is a willful surrender... kind of like ignoring how ridiculous magic is in most games or any of a gajillion other bits of nonsense.

Quote from: Simlasa;702250Just because they don't work for you doesn't mean they don't work for lots of other folks.

Where did I state that it doesn't/can't work for others???