Does A Horror Game Need A Horror RPG?
I love me some Call of Cthulhu, but I've been able to scare and be scared through other systems not dedicated to the Horror genre. If you are running a Horror game, sometimes things that are part of a dedicated Horror RPG tend to get in the way. The inclusion of a Sanity mechanic in CoC tips off many Players that something scary will inevitably happen. Now while that is an important rules mechanic for inclusion with the Lovecraftian genre, it can be counterproductive in a non-Lovecraftian Horror genre.
So which is better for scaring your Players? A Horror game for a Horror adventure? Or a non-Horror game for a Horror adventure?
Some of my best times scaring my players have been while playing non-horror RPGs. I just slowly added the horror elements and watched the players freak out. Most of them were horror fans so they picked up on the cues pretty quick, but when a vampire shows up in the middle of a Top Sercret spy mission, or a swamp shows every sign of being haunted by a werewolf in a Gangster game...
I have also scattered what look like clues to supernatural and horror in non-genre games that actually had quite innocent explanations, but didn't tell the players that.
No, not necessary. I could probably accomplish it with the most renfair feathered hair Dragonlance module with nothing but kender as PC and NPC options. Actually that almost writes itself, I'll need a better example.
IMO if you run a horror RPG, the players expect some horror and thus diminish the effect. It's better to put horror on their plate when they aren't expecting it.
My long-time example - I LOVE Lovecraftian horror, but I only got to use "Call of Cthulhu" a couple of times before my group decided they didn't want to play anymore because they're averse to no-win scenarios. This bummed me out until I figured out that the trick is to make the games they do like to play a "secret" Cthulhu game - the powers behind what is going on are the Elder Gods, the cults, etc.
Most games I run have a Lovecraftian undercurrent to them... assume a cold uncaring universe where all of human history is a brief blip that goes unnoticed. Whether the players/PCs ever realize that will vary.
I don't think horror requires any special rules (though it's easy enough to drop in a Sanity mechanic or something like Unknown Armies 'Madness Meter').
D&D is just as capable of scaring players who are in the mood to be scared. Like I've said elsewhere, I mostly run CoC as a crime & conspiracy-style game, where the PCs aren't always on the side of 'good'... most of the threats are relatively street-level and PCs can win a lot of battles, even if the overall war is hopeless.
I use a variation of the original TSR Marvel Superheroes system with a sanity mechanic tacked on to run Call of Cthulhu adventures (for about ten years using the Unknown Armies sanity mechanics, the last 3 years one based on the Tarot), and it works great and has no bearing whatsoever on how scary my games get (and mine get pretty scary, two panic attacks in different players thus far, and one of my players, a cop whose been roleplaying since Mentzer says I've run the only games to ever disturb him).
There are mechanics like Dread's use of Jenga that can contribute to tensions to some degree (I found Dread worked great for one shots with a small closed environment and escalating threat, but less so for the more sandboxy games I run). But I think it's mostly up to the GM getting the players emotionally invested in in-game events. A good soundtrack, otoh, is near essential.
Does a horror game have to scare, frighten, or just horrify? The last one is almost more disgust than fear.
So I'd say no.
Nah, I don't think so. I've done horror with D&D, with Hero System (admittedly low-points), with Savage Worlds (well, the Tri-Stat system), etc.
It's all in how you pitch your story as a gamemaster, really.
Sometimes all you need are some Jakarta Street Apes....
http://www.ufunk.net/en/photos/street-apes-jakarta/
Quote from: JeremyR;701547Does a horror game have to scare, frighten, or just horrify? The last one is almost more disgust than fear.
So I'd say no.
I generally go light on the outright transgressive revulsive stuff... I mean, it's out there and it comes up... but too many
Serbian Film moments and folks are gonna either walk away or get numb to it.
I've been in games that imploded when the GM got too heavy-handed with the squicky Body Horror.
I aim for weird and creepy... long-term uncertainty spattered with moments of outright panic. More Dario Argento, less Jörg Buttgereit.
To my mind a horror game is actually a liability as it makes the players far more resistant to the effects of the genre. Far better a generic game and a red herring direction.
Really, I'magine if Year of the Phoenix had used Alien as the basis for its bait and switch. Set them up for near future coldwar hard sf action and then punch them low with xenomorphs.
While you can give your game horrific elements without adding rules, I think there is a benefit to horror mechanics.
For example, the Unknown Armies Madness Meters provide useful information to the player for role playing as well as information that affects your character effectiveness. The existence of the rules doesn't negate you ability to instill a feeling in your players.
I don't think that I've ever run a horror specific RPG, but I've had some pretty good success at it running SilCore, ORE, etc.
A good hoor game can benefit from a good horror setting, and sometimes that can be found in a horror RPG.
But.
You can garner horror from so many sources that its down to personal pref and imagination. Though everyone has different ideas of what horror is. Some only see gore and blood as horror, others look for the cereberal and unseen horror.
D&D itself lends easily to all manner of horror. There are so many horrible ways to die in it. Really. There is utterly no lack for horror in D&D if the DM is so minded.
You could play Bunnies & Burrows as horror. I wouldnt be surprised of someone out there played TOON! as a straight up horror RPG. If someone has the mind its going to happen.
I will say that Mayfair Game's CHILL Companion is a master class in GMing horror games of various subgenre a and an essential read for anyone looking for suggestions on running a horror game.
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???
Quote from: Reckall;702166I guess you need the right combination of story, players and atmosphere.
YES.
Horror requires lots of immersion. More than other genres of roleplaying. Immersion requires suspension of disbelief which only occurs when the GM sets up great atmosphere and a solid setting AND (far more importantly) gets the buy in from the players.
The big advantage of a Horror RPG is the players who sign up to play a Horror RPG want to be scared. They want the horror experience and thus they are the most likely to give you the suspension of disbelief.
There is no reason for people to be scared in a horror movie. A movie is just 24 frames per second of made up images synced to fictional sounds and actor's voices. Everyone knows whats up on the screen is not real, but just by the virtue of you buying a ticket to the movie and joining in the communal viewing experience, you give your permission to suspend your disbelief.
It's up to the filmmakers to take that gift of suspension and deepen immersion through good storytelling, acting and visuals. If you do it right, the audience grants you more and more suspension, eventually permitting the filmmakers to scare the audience.
I saw the Conjuring last night at a 2nd run theater with about 60 people. Plenty of them were scared, but only because we wanted to be.
Quote from: Spinachcat;702295YES.
Horror requires lots of immersion. More than other genres of roleplaying. Immersion requires suspension of disbelief which only occurs when the GM sets up great atmosphere and a solid setting AND (far more importantly) gets the buy in from the players.
The big advantage of a Horror RPG is the players who sign up to play a Horror RPG want to be scared. They want the horror experience and thus they are the most likely to give you the suspension of disbelief.
There is no reason for people to be scared in a horror movie. A movie is just 24 frames per second of made up images synced to fictional sounds and actor's voices. Everyone knows whats up on the screen is not real, but just by the virtue of you buying a ticket to the movie and joining in the communal viewing experience, you give your permission to suspend your disbelief.
It's up to the filmmakers to take that gift of suspension and deepen immersion through good storytelling, acting and visuals. If you do it right, the audience grants you more and more suspension, eventually permitting the filmmakers to scare the audience.
I saw the Conjuring last night at a 2nd run theater with about 60 people. Plenty of them were scared, but only because we wanted to be.
I want to be scared in a non horror swords and sorcery game.
Wanting to be scared does not make me scared.
I think its all about the gm and players, but I don't see how choosing to play CoC makes anyone scared.
Quote from: SpinachatPlenty of them were scared, but only because we wanted to be.
In a sense I agree with this idea - we suspend our disbelief in order to be scared when watching a horror movie - but I'm not sure we're always in conscious control of our suspension of disbelief. It's something our brains seem wired to do, or perhaps that's accultured into us, but I think it's hard to just "stop being scared" of a movie (or video game or whatever). You can remind yourself of the thing's fictionality in an attempt to break your own immersion to an extent but at a certain point a jump-scare is still a jump-scare, disgust is still disgust, and even something as subtle as suspense or dread is difficult to consciously "turn off." If I see a close-up of a zombie's rotting flesh, I can remind myself that it's only makeup, but I still probably had a visceral spasm of revulsion upon seeing the zombie. If something onscreen bursts out of a closet at the right time my heartbeat will still be accelerated even if I remind myself that it's just an actor. At a certain point horror media is playing with some pretty raw, irrational affects that're hard to suppress
entirely in some contexts.
A good example: the other day I was playing
Outlast with headphones on. My wife walked by just as an inmate burst out of a darkened hallway. Just the sudden sight of the guy startled her pretty badly. She wasn't playing the game, there was no sound for her, she wasn't "immersed," but she was still affected. Her comment was something like "How the hell can you play games like this?"
Quote from: Bill;702529Wanting to be scared does not make me scared.
No, but actively NOT wanting to be scared might work against any atmosphere created to bring the scary... and if you give voice to your I'm not scared!' then it can drag others out of that mood as well.
QuoteI think its all about the gm and players, but I don't see how choosing to play CoC makes anyone scared.
It doesn't, but choosing that game implies a buy-in to the sort of game it's overtly designed to promote... vs. D&D which can be widely different things to different people (though the default I've most often experienced is not oriented towards horror at all). Also, the implied setting jumpstarts a general mood of parania & despair. If you wanted that in D&D you'd have to bring it... which isn't a big deal.
Quote from: Bill;702529I want to be scared in a non horror swords and sorcery game.
Wanting to be scared does not make me scared.
I think its all about the gm and players, but I don't see how choosing to play CoC makes anyone scared.
It is more about being open to being scared, lowring your defenses and not holding the horror at a safe distance (sort of like you can make a decision before watching a horror movie to laugh or let it do its thing). If you have your defenses up, even the most frightening movie probably wont scare you. If you drop your defenses, then you can be scared. But the thing still needs to be scary in the first place.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;702556. But the thing still needs to be scary in the first place.
Which sometimes doesn't take much... I've been quite scared in game situations where I'm pretty sure the GM wasn't even going for scares... but since I was in the mood for frights, and nothing was actively working against it (no shitty Terry Pratchett references from the other players) I interpreted the situation as horror.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;702556It is more about being open to being scared, lowring your defenses and not holding the horror at a safe distance (sort of like you can make a decision before watching a horror movie to laugh or let it do its thing). If you have your defenses up, even the most frightening movie probably wont scare you. If you drop your defenses, then you can be scared. But the thing still needs to be scary in the first place.
No. No matter what attitude I go in with, horror movies don't scare me.
Quote from: Arduin;702566No. No matter what attitude I go in with, horror movies don't scare me.
Some people aren't affected by horror movies. Me, i go in and out depending on my attitude. I have more fun if a movie scares me.
Easiest to spook out guy I ever met was a former Marine Force Recon guy I played with. He'd killed more men than cancer. Not a fearful bone in his body. And yet, a handprint on a pile of grave earth, a corridor filled with mist and the slight shape of a woman at the end, or an empty house filled with forgotten medical devices got to him. His combat ready warrior would start moving ever so slowly.
It's just about those few little details that get your imagination moving.
Of course, if you decide that 'spooky stuff is stupid kids stuff' it won't matter, but it says a lot more about you than it does about fear.
Quote from: ArduinNo. No matter what attitude I go in with, horror movies don't scare me.
Interesting. Some people are very susceptible to horror movies, others not much, but I've never been convinced that anyone's "immune." Have you seen
The Descent? It's on my short-list of actually-scary horror movies.
Quote from: Steerpike;702577Interesting. Some people are very susceptible to horror movies, others not much, but I've never been convinced that anyone's "immune." Have you seen The Descent? It's on my short-list of actually-scary horror movies.
That cave movie? Yes, at home with my wife. I was never afraid of the dark as a child. Maybe it is genetic. I wasn't particularly afraid the 1st time I came under fire either. Concerned would be a better descriptor.
Perhaps you're the exception that proves the rule. Have you ever found any media (writing, movie, game) that scared or at least unnerved/disturbed you or do you seem pretty much impervious to the lot?
I think anyone claiming imperviousness to fear, probably isnt the norm for the purposes of gauging a movie's fear level.
The reason we need game rules at all is to allow a consistent approach to in-game situations that threaten the characters but not the players. Having a big blood-spattered guy with a whacking great chopper chase you and try to cut off your limbs would send all of us into screaming heebie-jeebie fits if it happened in real life. (At least it would me.) But that's just a melee session in a sword and sorcery game. So how do we make that exact event work as a horror encounter when the setting is no longer the streets of Lankhmar but is now the storage area under the British Museum? We use a game mechanism of Sanity or Fright checks to force the players to have their characters act as if it were really happening in a horrible way that has an effect on how the character can act.
And any game system that incorporates fear/sanity/humanity checks or measurements in its basic stats is by definition a horror game. And any game system that does not quantify this type of damage or inability to act is by definition unable of adequately governing play in a horror setting because it cannot account for the effects of terror on the player characters.
You may have a gentleman's agreement with your players to conduct their characters actions as if they are really being scared, but if you do not have a mechanism in the game structure to limit the characters abilities based on how frightened she is, it's not a horror game, it's just hack and slash in a modern setting.
Quote from: teagan;702610The reason we need game rules at all is to allow a consistent approach to in-game situations that threaten the characters but not the players. Having a big blood-spattered guy with a whacking great chopper chase you and try to cut off your limbs would send all of us into screaming heebie-jeebie fits if it happened in real life. (At least it would me.) But that's just a melee session in a sword and sorcery game. So how do we make that exact event work as a horror encounter when the setting is no longer the streets of Lankhmar but is now the storage area under the British Museum? We use a game mechanism of Sanity or Fright checks to force the players to have their characters act as if it were really happening in a horrible way that has an effect on how the character can act.
And any game system that incorporates fear/sanity/humanity checks or measurements in its basic stats is by definition a horror game. And any game system that does not quantify this type of damage or inability to act is by definition unable of adequately governing play in a horror setting because it cannot account for the effects of terror on the player characters.
You may have a gentleman's agreement with your players to conduct their characters actions as if they are really being scared, but if you do not have a mechanism in the game structure to limit the characters abilities based on how frightened she is, it's not a horror game, it's just hack and slash in a modern setting.
I am all for horror mechanica, but also the aim really should be scaring the players, not simlulating it through their charcters. Any mechanics ought to be in pursuit of that. I dont really care if Rob's character is spooked and acting like a character from a horror movie, I care that rob is spooked.
Quote from: Steerpike;702590Have you ever found any media (writing, movie, game) that scared or at least unnerved/disturbed you or do you seem pretty much impervious to the lot?
Reading details about the holocaust as a child made me angry & sad. I've never been made to feel afraid by any media.
The answer is no. The reasons why vary depending on whether what you WANT is a game where the theme is "scaryness" or where the players themselves are actually scared, but in either case, no.
RPGPundit
I'd say no with a but--
In some games there are mechanics that aren't going to help you at all: D&D, once you get past sixth level or so, becomes the realm of John Maclane heroics. A lone stalker with a hatchet just isn't threatening. Once some of those higher level spells get kicking off, well, mundane threats just aren't an issue.
There's also the issue of linear progression: in D&D and it's servitors, there's the assumption that you'll become more powerful as you level, and that the enemies you face will be more powerful as well. Horror and power fantasy are like water and oil.
Ravenloft didn't work very well under 3e, and was effectively impossible under 4e. Characters became so powerful, so fast that mundane threats and mysteries were a non-issue from first level.
Contrariwise, the smallest game systems can dramatically adjust how a player approaches a problem, and adjusts the assumptions of the game. Sanity in COC inverts the power structure of D&D. As you adventure and solve mysteries, you'll become more vulnerable to failed sanity roles. Your general level of fragility means that it's rarely worth it to use violence. Skills increasing through use means that you get better at what you engage in, but there's no across-the-board improvements. CoC players are as cautious as OD&D players, but without the carrot of a level gain to drive them forward.
In the NWoD, the Virtues and Vices system for regaining spend Willpower works well for sleazy criminal campaigns, because the players are always weighing the rewards for being skeezy. (I can't speak for Vampire or its ilk, I only ever used NWoD for criminal conspiracy horror games.)
So no, you don't need a horror RPG, but every system has it's boundary conditions, and some of those boundaries make certain types of games hard to maintain without discounting big parts of the system.
Quote from: JonWake;703455There's also the issue of linear progression: in D&D and it's servitors, there's the assumption that you'll become more powerful as you level, and that the enemies you face will be more powerful as well. Horror and power fantasy are like water and oil.
I don't think the whole 'zero to hero' motif meshes well with horror. At least not what I'd call 'horror'.
It depends on how "need" is defined. Technically, no, but then how many games goes the hobby need? How many editions does any particular rule set need? It may not be needed but human nature makes it inevitable.
Quote from: ArduinI've never been made to feel afraid by any media.
Very interesting! I wonder if this means you're just wired a bit differently than most people. In a way I kinda feel bad for you - I've had a lot of fun over the years being scared by various media!
Quote from: JonWakeRavenloft didn't work very well under 3e, and was effectively impossible under 4e. Characters became so powerful, so fast that mundane threats and mysteries were a non-issue from first level.
I definitely agree with this. I've run sessions of Ravenloft with some Pathfinder players (they're normally in the Planescape setting - if I was running a straight-up horror game I would not use any variant of d20) and it is very challenging to keep things remotely threatening. I've adopted a few tactics to try and mitigate the problem:
- Consistently using higher-powered monsters than would normally be expected. There are ways of making the "lone pyscho" threatening too (like giving him a whack of class levels).
- Impossible odds, like huge hordes of zombies - though I make sure to give the players a way to evade/delay/debilitate the threat.
- Grafting on Sanity mechanics (quite easy to do).
- de-emphasizing combat and emphasizing exploration, atmosphere, story, and description.
- using monsters sparingly but "teasing" them a lot by showing signs of their presence (mangled bodies, for example) or brief glimpses of them (through the bars of a portcullis, in a window, in the distance, etc).
- creepy handouts ("blood-stained parchment" etc), music.
- playing in the dark with candles.
- engineering sitations where PC equipment is missing (this can verge on railroading so I do this with great care, and infrequently).
These are all imperfect solutions, of course - d20/Pathfinder is not set up well for horror at all - but I've found they do help somewhat.