Fantasy? Sci-Fi? Modern?
close to modern, 1920's to near future, setting closer to home, it gives players a closer idea of everything.
Agreed. Modern.
Although, the most successful horror adventure I ran was in 1E D&D. I think that had more to do with it being a solo game and the player taking it seriously, instead of wise-cracking, though.
For me it's not a setting specifically. It's a genre that I can do well. The fear of the unknown. Doesn't mater if it's a fantasy setting with some unknow horror stalking the group or a sci-fi setting with a seemingly unstoppable alien force. It's that level of certain doom that I like to keep hovering, yet untangible. I then use that to try and keep their paranoia up.
I use Modern. It allows me to concentrate on horror and gameplay without worrying about setting. Also, on those occasions where I do need to research the setting, it's just a wikipedia link away. :)
-O
Modern makes it easier to twist the familiar.
But pre-modern makes it easier to create isolation and helplessness. You don't need to make the phones stop working or the gun to jam because those don't exist. Travel and communication times are incredibly slow. Sending a rider to get help from the next village to get help would take hours or a day - that's harder to do in modern. Not impossible but hard to do repeatedly without feeling contrived (like Star Trek which has to continually invent reasons why transporters wouldn't help).
I'd really like to run Cthulhu Dark Ages some time.
Quote from: kryystFor me it's not a setting specifically. It's a genre that I can do well. The fear of the unknown.
I agree, the specific setting I don't find particularly important. The important thing is that the PCs don't have a lot of control over events and maybe aren't even sure what's going on. That can be modern, fantasy, 1920s, sci-fi, whatever. I've always thought of movies like Alien and Blair Witch Project as glorified CoC adventures, and they both work within their settings just fine.
Quote from: cranberryI agree, the specific setting I don't find particularly important. The important thing is that the PCs don't have a lot of control over events and maybe aren't even sure what's going on. That can be modern, fantasy, 1920s, sci-fi, whatever. I've always thought of movies like Alien and Blair Witch Project as glorified CoC adventures, and they both work within their settings just fine.
Precisely. It doesn't mater if you are in the past with swords or the future with guns. If something is out there and you don't know what the hell it is or how to stop it/them. That's what terror is. The 'it' doesn't even have to be a physical thing. It can just be an imagined circumstance that's also got to be stopped. Much of CoC horror isn't even based on killing the big bad the real obstacle is on preventing the big bad from even showing up.
Maybe I should have said.. "easiest" Which is easiest to keep your players involved with the horror and not cracking knights of nee jokes. personaly I think near modern settings are best. fewer elements to distract the players.
Quote from: Kyle VOlttiMaybe I should have said.. "easiest" Which is easiest to keep your players involved with the horror and not cracking knights of nee jokes. personaly I think near modern settings are best. fewer elements to distract the players.
Yes, I think the familiar tends to lull people into a false sense of security. MUHAHAHA.
Isolation works the best. If the players feel there is a more powerful organization or group that could/should take care of the horror that can be contacted it takes away from things. They must be cut off from alerting any significant amounts of military, police, etc...
I think any setting that feels "fantastic" in any sense runs a real risk of taking away from the suspense. So for my preference, modern or recent history. CoC picked out three good eras when they published material for 1890, 1920 and "now".
Quote from: Kyle VOlttiMaybe I should have said.. "easiest" Which is easiest to keep your players involved with the horror and not cracking knights of nee jokes. personaly I think near modern settings are best. fewer elements to distract the players.
I know what you are getting at but it wouldn't really change my position. The setting doesn't mater. It's about being comfortable in a genre. If you can make what is going on believable and engaging then the players are more likely to get caught up in the moment.
But I actually find modern to be the most difficult setting to do horror in. Players just expect too much of how things should work, they use real life logic more frequently in the game because, well the game is mimicing technology and settings that they are familiar.
So with that in mind if you take them out of their familiarity to a fantasy or future setting you've already introduced an 'alien' element. You can use their lack of knowledge with the time period to build the horror. One other bigger advantage to a fantasy setting is that they don't have guns. Sure they may have magic but the big bad is going to feel a lot more personal when you've got to get right up to it and stab it.
Sure you can do the same in modern, make something immune to bullets or set up specific circumstances. But that also gets old if every monster can't be shot or every encounter is in a space limiting situation etc..
I isolated the hell out of the characters in my modern CoC game a few times...
(1) An huge, Elder Thing complex a mile under the Sonora Desert. (One way in/out, and cell phones sure as hell don't work)
(2) Aulavik Park on Northern Banks Island.
(3) A temporal shift to a hidden shrine, only accessible under the light of Polaris.
Finally, they work for the "big guns" against supernatural threats. If I take out their bosses, or make them distrust their bosses, it's an effective degree of isolation even though they're in the middle of a city.
-O