bcaplan Posted December 23, 2007 Report Share Posted December 23, 2007 Has anyone ever run a Horror Hero game without any supernatural element? I ran a one-shot naturalistic horror scenario, and it worked very well. One player even said it was the most truly horrifying horror game he'd ever played. But perhaps there's the rub. Naturalistic horror is just too scary. Supernatural stories play to our sense of "of course this could never really happen." Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 Re: Horror Hero Without the Supernatural Yup. I ran a crime adventure once that was almost like a modern day Jack the Ripper. Creepy stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 Re: Horror Hero Without the Supernatural One word. "Deliverance." That is all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirLordCoake Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 Re: Horror Hero Without the Supernatural Yup. I ran a crime adventure once that was almost like a modern day Jack the Ripper. Creepy stuff I had the joy of playing in this game. IIR, it was during late October a few years ago. It was truly scary. Speaking for myself, I remember trying desperately to find or add the "supernatural" angle to the story. Alas, it wasn't there. There was no way for us to use the "of course this could never really happen" defense. The "naturalistic horror" was... naturally horrifying. And of course, Sketchpad hadda set the story in our hometown. Nice touch, till your evening commute moves you through some key locations in the story. I went home that game night with the jitters. This town has not been the same for me since. Thanks for that, Sketchpad. There is definately something to be said for playing in a "naturalist horror" game. If you bring in all the realism... it'll leave a mark. SLC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Re: Horror Hero Without the Supernatural I'd run a Horror HERO game that way. I think the realistic stuff is a lot scarier than the supernatural because it actually does happen in real life from time to time. Basing villains on Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez (The Night Stalker) or Jim Jones would make for a distubing campaign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbullet Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Re: Horror Hero Without the Supernatural I ran a very cool One-Shot (that turned into a two shot, but hey!) where the Characters believed they were turning into Werewolves. I did some research on various psychedelic drugs and various chemical compounds that could temporarily heighten senses—at some fairly high cost to the individual, health-wise, I mean. It was a great game; most of my players are used to the supernatural element so it came as a shock to look for a scientific solution… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narratio Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Re: Horror Hero Without the Supernatural I was a PC in one a long time ago... problem was that the GM, despite the best of intentions couldn't get his head around a 'non-supernatural' horror story. And he'd created it. It turned into a sort of police procedural drama and I re-learnt that valuable lesson once more; If you're fully not comfortable in the genre, don't play it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadmaster Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Re: Horror Hero Without the Supernatural Sort of, I was in a horror game and the GM threw in a non-supernatural "demon", it was just a guy in a rubber suit. Being on edge from the real monsters we had dealt with in the past and thinking a demon must be pretty nasty, we unloaded on it with everything we had, guns, stake launchers, garlic spray etc. The characters ended up doing 20 to life in a mental ward but it did make us as players a little less shoot first and ask questions later with our replacement PCs. I've seen a number of movies that would fall into non-supernatural horror, madmen, cults, and just plain evil people are pretty darn scary because they are not made up. Its easy to blow off the horror of a zombie but a crazy canniballistic devil cult is something I could read about in tommorrows paper (sorry online blog, I need to stay up with technology). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Re: Horror Hero Without the Supernatural I once ran a Call of Cuthulu game which turned out to be a Weird Mystery, all the non-PC supernatural aspects were faked. "And I would have gooten away with it if not for you meddling kids!" Worked by going against the player expectations, but doubt that I could have gotten away with it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roter Baron Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Re: Horror Hero Without the Supernatural I did some research on various psychedelic drugs and various chemical compounds that could temporarily heighten senses—at some fairly high cost to the individual, health-wise, I mean. quote] Yeah, did the same once, too. But do you know how much time it takes and what the prices are for goo speed, acid and freebase over here in my part of Germany? And I still have this ticking of my right eye when I see red or blue. Nah, it's just not worth it for a one-shot. A campaign - different story entirely ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starblaze Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Re: Horror Hero Without the Supernatural You know everytime this subject comes up I keep remembering a certain X-Files episode. In this one Scully gets captured and terrorized by the bad guy of the week, except that this bad guy was just that. A guy. No monster, no alien, no government experiment gone wrong. Just a serial killer with no powers. A yet that experience is what caused Scully to have a temporary breakdown forcing a leave of absence. Sometimes real horror is more scary than the supernatural. And if you ask me I would rather have Dracula or Frankenstien after me that Hannibal Lector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted December 26, 2007 Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 Re: Horror Hero Without the Supernatural Y Sometimes real horror is more scary than the supernatural. And if you ask me I would rather have Dracula or Frankenstien after me that Hannibal Lector. Not that Hannibal Lector is any more real than they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverbullet Posted December 26, 2007 Report Share Posted December 26, 2007 Re: Horror Hero Without the Supernatural Yeah, did the same once, too. But do you know how much time it takes and what the prices are for goo speed, acid and freebase over here in my part of Germany? And I still have this ticking of my right eye when I see red or blue. Nah, it's just not worth it for a one-shot. A campaign - different story entirely ... *Chuckle* So for a campaign of this type, do you make your players turn around randomly and scream "Stop following me!" to the invisible no-one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gangrel44 Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 If you ask me....horror without the supernatural would be the same as having a bloody mary without the vodka.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted November 3, 2013 Report Share Posted November 3, 2013 If this were a full-fledged campaign I imagine the PCs would gradually get more and more deeply paranoid. A serial killer or slave-taker would look and act just like anyone else most of the time -- they wouldn't last very long, or be very effective, if they couldn't. And encountering evil of that sort is likely to shake a person to their very core. If you're really sadistic, you can play up the seductive nature of evil as well. Giving in to your baser impulses can be fun -- until it drives you to deeper and deeper levels of depravity to get the thrill you have come to crave. To my mind, the greatest horror novel ever written is Nineteen Eighty-Four. A revolution devouring itself, but inflicting massive cruelty and causing unimaginable suffering in the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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