TheRPGSite

Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion => Topic started by: Nihilistic Mind on June 21, 2016, 01:37:19 AM

Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Nihilistic Mind on June 21, 2016, 01:37:19 AM
I just came home from seeing The Conjuring 2. Are there good games out there that could emulate the genre of paranormal home hunts by mundane folk?
Chill comes to mind but I haven't played it since the 90s.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Simlasa on June 21, 2016, 02:14:02 AM
Call of Cthulhu? Doesn't have to involve the Mythos stuff.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: JesterRaiin on June 21, 2016, 02:43:46 AM
Quote from: Nihilistic Mind;904379I just came home from seeing The Conjuring 2. Are there good games out there that could emulate the genre of paranormal home hunts by mundane folk?
Chill comes to mind but I haven't played it since the 90s.

But you don't need to seek any specific RPG for that. In addition to plethora of universal ones, any modern urban will do. See, if you think about it, it's not that the game must feature "something" by default, or that you must add "something" to it - instead, you must simply take a few things out of the picture, like PCs' powers, skills, or equipment. Even the "monster" itself doesn't have to be real, you might simply replace it with someone pretending to be "supernatural force" to mislead people, keep them out of his place.

So, All Flesh Must Be Eaten (or any other zombie-themed RPG like Dead Reign). Cryptworld, Evil Dead, Armageddon, Supernatural, Esoterrorists, Unknown Armies, KULT, Over the Edge, The Dresden Files, any Cthulhu-based (including Laundry and Delta Green). Heck, why not Leverage, De Profundis, Spookybeans, or WoD?

Take your pick - it all begins with PCs being simple "normies", who mind their own business, unaware about The Big Picture, untaught in the ways of magic & shit. They are (for various reasons, ranging from "our bro is missing" to "you all meet in a clubhouse and a mysterious chick approaches you and asks to...") tasked with visiting a third house to the left, the one that sends some bad vibe...

BTW: relevant picture. ;)

[ATTACH=CONFIG]192[/ATTACH]
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Omega on June 21, 2016, 03:47:11 AM
Call of Cthulhu:. Its pretty much made of this.

Beyond the Supernatural: Still one of my favorites. The group I GMed for were all mundanes with no psi or magic at all.

The trick is to keep things on the lower end and an eye on what the group can handle and cant with what they do have. Even if that ammounts to running away. Restricting professions, especially in BTS is another thing that is a must to do unless you know the players are all going to shy away from the magic and the high end psi.

Chill I have heard of often but never seen.

BESM and Gurps can do it. If course takes some tweaking.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Exploderwizard on June 21, 2016, 06:14:33 AM
Ghostbusters from West End Games. All you need. ;)
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Hermes Serpent on June 21, 2016, 06:34:06 AM
I'll throw in Trail of Cthulhu and its GUMSHOE system as it's built for investigating things.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: JeremyR on June 21, 2016, 06:38:56 AM
Besides the ones mentioned:

Bureau 13, though you work for the government. Rules system is terrible, but background and scenarios are top notch, if a bit campy
Dark Conspiracy (set in the near future though)
Conspiracy X
Pandemonium (play tabloid reporters)
Fright Night and Crime Scene Supernatural for d20 (from Hogshead)
Silent Legions (more Cthulhu-ish though)

And strangely, the new Gangbusters seems to have a supernatural bent.

There's also a couple of D6 implementations of it. Into the Shadows was a free one. There's Horrors in the Night (paid, though really, really cheap) and even Men in Black (though more aliens)

Still, I'd probably suggest using Call of Cthulhu and throwing out Cthulhu & Company. There are some sourcebooks for "real" parapsychology, though I don't think demons and such. There seems to be a strange lack of games dealing with real life demonology
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: ragr on June 21, 2016, 06:51:18 AM
Darkly Through The Labyrinth simulates 80s investigations into cults, albeit ones that are not supernatural. It reads well but I can't testify to how it plays, although I've something in the pipeline.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: brettmb on June 21, 2016, 09:17:21 AM
Ghostories (http://www.pigames.net/store/default.php?cPath=86) (paranormal as myth, the fantastic, or reality) and the the upcoming Bloodshadows 3E (http://www.pigames.net/store/default.php?cPath=129) (paranormal as magic and monsters).
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Nihilistic Mind on June 21, 2016, 10:21:50 AM
Thanks, guys! Great suggestions all around. From what I can tell there isn't something that addresses specifically what I'm looking for.
I'm very familiar with Call of Cthulhu so that might be my first choice if I were to make an attempt at simulating a paranormal investigation game. My second choice might be a 1st edition Kult, taking out the cosmology, or twisting it so much it would be unrecognizable.

It seems like there isn't something that specifically addresses the haunted house investigation thing. To me, this sort of game would be best served with something fairly light on rules, for it is best if the atmosphere at the game table is taut and players are not distracted with endless rolls.

Players would essentially play a party of paranormal investigators, mild psychics, audio/visual techs who have a knack for this sort of thing, maybe even a Catholic (or other) priest, facing their fears, or debunking frauds, creating their own case files, essentially, with each session. That seems like it would be fun.

I might add the ideas running in my head into a little game design project. A hack of Call of Cthulhu might be a good start.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Naburimannu on June 21, 2016, 10:23:30 AM
Maelstrom: Domesday is ordinary people investigating supernatural events in 1086 still-adjusting-to-Norman-Conquest England.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Nihilistic Mind on June 21, 2016, 10:34:32 AM
Quote from: Naburimannu;904416Maelstrom: Domesday is ordinary people investigating supernatural events in 1086 still-adjusting-to-Norman-Conquest England.

That sounds absolutely amazing!
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: mightyuncle on June 21, 2016, 10:53:49 AM
I just use B/Ex and run everyone as 0-levels while keeping this article (http://strangemagic.robertsongames.com/2011/03/5-tips-for-horror-in-d.html) in mind but if you're wanting to keep things modern then you could just strip the D&Disms away even further.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: talysman on June 21, 2016, 11:28:22 AM
Quote from: Nihilistic Mind;904415It seems like there isn't something that specifically addresses the haunted house investigation thing. To me, this sort of game would be best served with something fairly light on rules, for it is best if the atmosphere at the game table is taut and players are not distracted with endless rolls.
Personally, I go with InSpectres and play it serious. Probably using the UnSpeakable variant, even though that is specifically intended for Cthulhu Mythos investigation. But on the other hand, the unmodified InSpectres has rules centered around your paranormal investigation business. You investigate mysteries to build your franchise, and the risk players take is that their characters will take too much stress and will need a vacation or other recovery time paid out of the franchise budget.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: brettmb on June 21, 2016, 11:55:55 AM
Quote from: Nihilistic Mind;904415It seems like there isn't something that specifically addresses the haunted house investigation thing. To me, this sort of game would be best served with something fairly light on rules, for it is best if the atmosphere at the game table is taut and players are not distracted with endless rolls.

Players would essentially play a party of paranormal investigators, mild psychics, audio/visual techs who have a knack for this sort of thing, maybe even a Catholic (or other) priest, facing their fears, or debunking frauds, creating their own case files, essentially, with each session. That seems like it would be fun.
That's exactly what Ghostories is for. You can play psychics, occultists, clergy, etc.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Skarg on June 21, 2016, 12:01:39 PM
GURPS Horror, and/or other books depending on the style of play you want and/or the types of things to investigate.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: daniel_ream on June 21, 2016, 12:41:32 PM
talysman ninja'ed me on InSpectres.  Monster of the Week is designed for exactly this.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Omega on June 21, 2016, 01:04:12 PM
Beyond the Supernatural can cover haunted house style adventures pretty well.

Another paranormal investigator RPG is Dark Matter which came out for the Alternity system and I think had a d20m conversion by WOTC?
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: daniel_ream on June 21, 2016, 01:23:34 PM
Also Conspiracy X (there's a bunch of supernatural sourcebooks; you can play it entirely without aliens if you're so inclined) and the OOP Supernatural RPG.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Nihilistic Mind on June 21, 2016, 01:57:13 PM
I am going to look at Ghostories and InSpectres, with Beyond the Supernatural next on my list. Those three, upon further research, seem like the closest choices.
SO MANY RPGs OUT THERE!
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Bren on June 21, 2016, 01:58:26 PM
Quote from: Nihilistic Mind;904415It seems like there isn't something that specifically addresses the haunted house investigation thing. To me, this sort of game would be best served with something fairly light on rules, for it is best if the atmosphere at the game table is taut and players are not distracted with endless rolls.
Justice Inc. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice,_Inc._(role-playing_game)), a supplement for the Hero system had some good rules for paranormal. A haunted house was one of the sample scenarios.

According to the Wikipedia article
QuoteUnlike several other products in the "Hero" line, Justice, Inc. was not revised or republished in the decades after its release. However, Hero Games finally published a Pulp Hero genre book that covers much of the same ground at the end of 2005.
I haven't seen the 2005 Pulp genre book so I can't speak to how much of the psychic rules were included.

Quote from: Nihilistic Mind;904415Players would essentially play a party of paranormal investigators, mild psychics, audio/visual techs who have a knack for this sort of thing, maybe even a Catholic (or other) priest, facing their fears, or debunking frauds, creating their own case files, essentially, with each session. That seems like it would be fun.
I ran the haunted house scenario and I used some of the psychic rules and abilities from Justice Inc. and adapted them to Call of Cthulhu.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: daniel_ream on June 21, 2016, 04:35:40 PM
Quote from: Bren;904461I haven't seen the 2005 Pulp genre book so I can't speak to how much of the psychic rules were included.

The Psychic rules in JI were  one-offs.  They didn't use the Champions power build system and were idiosyncratic.  The 2005 book goes for the "you can build any power with the RAW" approach, so although it includes rules for low-grade psychic powers, they're mechanically different.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Bren on June 21, 2016, 05:44:52 PM
Quote from: daniel_ream;904488The Psychic rules in JI were  one-offs.  They didn't use the Champions power build system and were idiosyncratic.  The 2005 book goes for the "you can build any power with the RAW" approach, so although it includes rules for low-grade psychic powers, they're mechanically different.
Thanks Daniel. Too bad, I liked the one off powers in Justice Inc.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: daniel_ream on June 21, 2016, 07:32:04 PM
There's a certain amount of flavour that's lost when you try to shoehorn an effects-based point buy system into doing everything.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: finarvyn on June 21, 2016, 07:48:57 PM
James Ward did a haunted house adventure in an old issue of Dragon Magazine. (Just checked. Issue #42.) It's called "The Mansion of Mad Professor Ludlow" and is basically an old D&D (or AD&D) adventure where you play cub scouts or boy scouts who investigate the haunted house. Very cool.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Spinachcat on June 21, 2016, 08:08:05 PM
CoC is perfect for Conjuring / Insidious / Exorcist stories.

Chill / Cryptworld is a good option too, but the system is a bit wonky and the PCs are gifted with minor powers.

Regardless of whatever system you eventually choose, I highly recommend picking up Sine Nomine's SILENT LEGIONS as a sourcebook. The geeknative.com site has a good review of it. In fact, if you like OSR systems, Silent Legions comes with a fast, rules light OD&D inspired system.


Quote from: Exploderwizard;904399Ghostbusters from West End Games. All you need. ;)

Hell yeah! That's such a fun game.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Omega on June 21, 2016, 08:37:10 PM
With BTS we went with the Parapsychologist, Latent Psychic, Psychic Sensitive(limit the PPE can spend to purchase powers) and the optional normal humans. Even just a group of normal people can work as long as you limit whats encountered.

Havent seen 2nd ed past a quick glance through someone elses copy.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Omega on June 21, 2016, 08:48:59 PM
Quote from: finarvyn;904515James Ward did a haunted house adventure in an old issue of Dragon Magazine. (Just checked. Issue #42.) It's called "The Mansion of Mad Professor Ludlow" and is basically an old D&D (or AD&D) adventure where you play cub scouts or boy scouts who investigate the haunted house. Very cool.

I have that one in my collection. Nice little adventure showing off just how versatile AD&D could be.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Jame Rowe on June 21, 2016, 09:29:09 PM
I've been doing the Dresden Files version of FATE. It's capable of doing what you'd like, though it'd need some tweaking.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: daniel_ream on June 22, 2016, 12:33:30 AM
Quote from: Spinachcat;904519Hell yeah! That's such a fun game.

The first edition is.

To this day I consider the 2nd edition to be an E.T.: The Video Game level event in game design.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: urbwar on June 22, 2016, 07:06:07 AM
You could probably do this with Conspiracy of Shadows Revised (http://www.lulu.com/shop/keith-senkowski/conspiracy-of-shadows-revised/paperback/product-205179.html)
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: zanshin on June 22, 2016, 07:20:22 AM
A vote for Dark Conspiracy from me. Very flavourful life path character generation system, and a cool near future setting.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Warboss Squee on June 22, 2016, 07:52:19 AM
There's a game set in Berlin shortly after the end of WWII, called Hot War (don't quote me on that), where you are investigating occult monstrosities left over from Nazi experiments as well as supernatural happenings.  All while jumping the wall into Soviet held Berlin and trying not to piss off the Reds.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Alzrius on June 22, 2016, 12:04:58 PM
There's a d20 Modern game called ExorSystems Inc. (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/28408/ExorSystems-Inc-TM-Core-Rulebook?it=1) that's basically Ghostbusters with the serial numbers filed off (the biggest change is the existence of other organizations that are also involved in the paranormal investigation/elimination field). It also has an appendix on using the game in a fantasy setting.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: tenbones on June 22, 2016, 12:12:51 PM
Kinda surprised no one mentioned Hunter: the Vigil? I've had an absolute blast running that for my players doing paranormal investigators.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: JesterRaiin on June 22, 2016, 12:25:37 PM
Quote from: tenbones;904619Kinda surprised no one mentioned Hunter: the Vigil? I've had an absolute blast running that for my players doing paranormal investigators.

I did. Unless H:tV isn't part of WoD anymore, and/or you might have banned me, in which case: shame on you. ;)
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: tenbones on June 22, 2016, 12:29:27 PM
Quote from: JesterRaiin;904623I did. Unless H:tV isn't part of WoD anymore, and/or you might have banned me, in which case: shame on you. ;)

DOH! Sorry man. Missed that. I really like H:tV as it's own standalone.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: JesterRaiin on June 22, 2016, 12:35:09 PM
Quote from: tenbones;904624DOH! Sorry man. Missed that. I really like H:tV as it's own standalone.

It's ok. TRS is still far from embracing the depth of my knowledge. :D

...I'll see myself out.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Nihilistic Mind on June 22, 2016, 04:15:15 PM
Quote from: tenbones;904619Kinda surprised no one mentioned Hunter: the Vigil? I've had an absolute blast running that for my players doing paranormal investigators.

I've only ever played Vampire (masquerade and requiem) as far as WoD goes, but have heard great praise of Hunter: The Vigil, so I might have to look into it as well.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: tenbones on June 22, 2016, 05:08:24 PM
I was pretty skeptical of it - until I ran my first prolonged "prelude" for Vampire where the players were just mortals doing stuff that would later get them into supernatural hijinks that would make them dead/supernatural.

It was shockingly fun and interesting/scary. When Hunter:The Vigil came out - it was exactly what I was looking for (though I didn't use any of the in-game conspiracies for the PC's. I adapted the Classic WoD Arcanum for them) - but it was a great success. It handles the low-end of regular folks with perhaps some extra ability rather well.

If you do get H:tV - I *highly* recommend getting Slashers as well and giving it a good read for some potential horror love. It's not necessary, but it's definitely worth the price of entry.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Ronin on June 22, 2016, 06:03:02 PM
Quote from: Warboss Squee;904595There's a game set in Berlin shortly after the end of WWII, called Hot War (don't quote me on that), where you are investigating occult monstrosities left over from Nazi experiments as well as supernatural happenings.  All while jumping the wall into Soviet held Berlin and trying not to piss off the Reds.

Your thinking of Cold City. Hot War is the same writer/company but takes place in the aftermath of WWIII. Cold City's setting is awesome. Love it! But I hate the system. Run it with another system and bam. Straight awesome.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Nihilistic Mind on June 22, 2016, 06:18:57 PM
Quote from: Ronin;904674Your thinking of Cold City. Hot War is the same writer/company but takes place in the aftermath of WWIII. Cold City's setting is awesome. Love it! But I hate the system. Run it with another system and bam. Straight awesome.

I own Cold City! Never read it... :p
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Ronin on June 22, 2016, 06:27:57 PM
Quote from: Nihilistic Mind;904675I own Cold City! Never read it... :p

Definitely worth giving a read. Like I said, the setting is great.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: jan paparazzi on June 22, 2016, 07:08:33 PM
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Omega on June 22, 2016, 07:23:01 PM
Theres also Wraith: The Oblivion. Who better to bust ghosts than other ghosts?
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Warboss Squee on June 22, 2016, 09:19:38 PM
Quote from: Ronin;904674Your thinking of Cold City. Hot War is the same writer/company but takes place in the aftermath of WWIII. Cold City's setting is awesome. Love it! But I hate the system. Run it with another system and bam. Straight awesome.

That would be it. Thanks for the correction.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: The Butcher on June 22, 2016, 09:51:05 PM
Quote from: Ronin;904677Definitely worth giving a read. Like I said, the setting is great.

It is. I've used setting bits from both Cold City and Hot War with Ye Olde CoC to great effect.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: 3rik on June 23, 2016, 08:02:52 AM
I believe The Unexplained from Carnivore Games hasn't been mentioned. It runs on Fudge.

link to the pdf on DriveThruRPG (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/101134/The-Unexplained) (it's also available in print)
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Nihilistic Mind on June 23, 2016, 11:07:27 AM
Quote from: 3rik;904766I believe The Unexplained from Carnivore Games hasn't been mentioned. It runs on Fudge.

link to the pdf on DriveThruRPG (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/101134/The-Unexplained) (it's also available in print)

That looks like that's right up my alley. Thanks for the suggestion!
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: tenbones on June 23, 2016, 01:19:18 PM
DAMN that reminds me - I need to pick up Witchcraft!!!!
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Omega on June 24, 2016, 09:57:04 PM
Probably would not be too hard to advance Masque of the Red Death from TSR from 1890 to more modern times. Drop or reduce the mystical classes and its fairly viable.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: RPGPundit on June 29, 2016, 01:04:27 AM
As someone mentioned Maelstrom: Domesday, I would also mention Servants of Gaius, where you play occult investigators in the Roman Empire.

Also, my own upcoming Dark Albion: Cults of Chaos features the set-up for an "Inquisitors Campaign", where you play agents of the church, crown, or some lord, sent to investigate cases of Chaos Cults, heresies, witchcraft, and monsters.
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: Alzrius on June 29, 2016, 08:52:04 AM
Quote from: Omega;905129Probably would not be too hard to advance Masque of the Red Death from TSR from 1890 to more modern times. Drop or reduce the mystical classes and its fairly viable.

You mean like Gothic Earth Eternal (http://fraternityofshadows.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7858) or Fellowship of the White Star (http://www.fellowshipwhitestar.com/aboutus.html)?
Title: RPGs that emulate paranormal investigators
Post by: 3rik on June 29, 2016, 02:23:16 PM
Quote from: Nihilistic Mind;904796That looks like that's right up my alley. Thanks for the suggestion!
It's specifically aimed at emulating real-world investigation into "real" paranormal phenomena with sections on Ghost Hunting, Ghost Ships, Cryptozoology, Parapsychology, UFOlogy and Magic.