Scary Games to Play - How to add horror elements to non-horror RPGs

While there are several role playing games out there that are geared towards the horror genre, adding elements of fear to other games can be appropriate to certain story lines or quests. Sometimes, you just want to shift away from epic multi-galactic wars and politics, or heroic combat between archmages and dragons, or superheroic conflicts against empowered adversaries and plunge the characters into a situation a little scarier. There are plenty of reasons to do so; maybe your group wants to start a new game with a horror element, perhaps inspired by a book, movie, or video game of the genre. Perhaps a new villain needs an introductory quest that will really get the players worried about its plans. Or maybe the players are getting a bit cocky in the power of their characters, and you as the GM want to remind them that they have their limits before they push them too far.

Whatever the case, there is no need to buy and learn a new system just to play a scary game. Even RPGs based on mighty characters and heroic quests can be brought into the horror genre. Naturally, there is more too it than making undead and demons the monsters of choice (especially since most players will be intending to battle such supernatural evils as a matter of course in games where those things are common).

Rather, the goal is to set the game up so that it not only breeds caution, even fear, in the players, but also makes them feel more challenged - ideally, more challenged than they actually are. To that end, there are a few good options to use to make the game more scary, without falling into the trap of ending the game by getting all of the characters slaughtered.

The players have to be attached to their characters. This is an easy goal to meet when turning an otherwise normal game into a scarier quest, but even in a new game, having players spend some extra time working on their characters' backgrounds, personalities, and descriptions will make them that much more invested in their characters' survival. Aside from that, though, the point of attachment is one that should guide your actions as a GM. If players feel that their characters are doomed to die, there is no reason for them to feel attached or to fear anything. And, unless they are willing to actively work to enjoy playing through their predestined destruction, chances are they will only lose interest in the game. Likewise, if there is no chance of losing their characters, there is nothing to fear and no reason to maintain any degree of caution.

So on the surface it's the classic rule: make things challenging but winnable. But of course, you've been playing that way the whole time, so the question becomes: how do you play that way and make the game scary?

Know how to manage your players' resources. The goal isn't to overwhelm the characters with vastly more powerful opponents, but to wear them down inexorably. Of course, this means that they can't be allowed to retreat, rest, and restock, so naturally you may have to give them a reason to keep progressing forward. If you want to avoid the typical heavy-handed tactics (kidnapped loved ones, magical wards preventing teleportation, etc), consider a force that recouperates faster than the characters do - every time they retreat to restock, any benefits they might have gained are not only undone, but the enemy is stronger than before.

Once the players can't easily recoup their losses, opponents that might normally not be much of a challenge become much more threatening. A single fireball or grenade becomes a valuable resource when you know you won't get it back.

Build the NPCs right. Anyone can make a game "scary" by sending in opponents far beyond the characters' power, but doing so is a great way to quickly cause the players to lose interest unless they are actively working at enjoying a game where they are doomed to fail. Remember that in RPGs, you are working with stats. An NPC that can kill the character in two combat turns is going to do so if it mounts any sort of credible attack. For the characters to survive - and, thus, the game to go on - in these circumstances, you are caught making the enemy tactically inept, creating the suggestion that you are to some degree protecting the players. Any challenge that the players can - just barely - win on their own is going to be scarier than one they are doomed to lose unless the GM wants them to.

So when designing or selecting NPCs, go with those that can make the battle particularly tough without being overwhelming. Two excellent options stand out. First, a foe with particularly strong defenses, but offenses just credible enough to be a threat, is a great choice either as a single elite enemy or (with weaker creatures) in numbers. In the case of a more powerful adversary, it should become quickly apparent that it is going to bring the characters down through attrition before they will defeat it. This gives them time to mount a good effort, see that it isn't going to work, and come up with a plan for escape. Once the players flee, they know to fear that enemy, allowing you to use it to increase the tension during the quest. This is particularly effective when the enemy has the ability to regenerate or otherwise recover from its battle, so that next time it challenges the players, it is again at full strength, while they are already weakened. In numbers, high-defense middling-offense foes are just tough enough to beat and enough of a threat that they can drain the party's resources, which, as explained above, is a key goal in a horror game.

The alternate option is a more aggressive, lethal option. While this article has been pointing out that blatantly slaughtering the characters is generally detrimental to the game, it's often a classic of horror. If you want higher lethality, you can't beat high-offense, high-stealth, low-defense enemies. This combination of capabilities comes closer to your classic horror movie, where the enemy can and will utterly destroy whatever party member it catches alone and vulnerable. However, owed to its low defenses, it is likely to lose in a straight fight with a combat-oriented party. Knowing that any shadow could contain a death sentence keeps the fear factor high, while having a good chance to bring the enemy down in short order means that the characters aren't doomed to a total party kill the instant it shows its face.

As a third suggestion for NPC use, consider foes that can apply status damage, neutralizing effects, compulsions, and other powers that can bring the characters out of the fight without killing them instantly. This emphasizes the idea that the characters are growing steadily weaker while giving plenty of time for them to make an escape or come up with a new strategy.

The heroes do still win...usually. In many horror movies and games, the protagonists do typically come out on top in the end. And, if the players are attached to their characters, they will probably have fonder memories of a game that pushed them to their limits but they eventually triumphed over, rather than one that was just a slow, inexorable descent into abject failure. With that in mind, scary games are less likely to involve victory or total party survival. The goal is to give the players a chance - assuming they play smart, don't get overconfident, and have a modicum of good luck. You keep the tension high not by letting the players know that their characters survive at your sole discretion, but rather, by letting them know that they are overpowered, but also giving them the chance to escape, circumvent, and eventually, defeat their tormentors. Assuming, of course, that they don't wear their resources out too early.

Scary Games to Play - A list of horror video games and RPGs