Jump to content

Horror Hero


Deathclaw

Recommended Posts

Making my own genre, figured this would make for an interesting setting, a place where heroes, villains and even civilians are pretty much all just as powerful as one another and all in the same dilemma. I plan to make a form of campaign from this setting but trying to think of horrifying creatures that would have the feel of a superhero comic but also the feel of a horror story like Silent Hill. I want it to be a mixture of different aspects but trying not to overwhelm it all with zombies.

 

Any suggestions?

 

-Ashton Falcon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

Yea Zombies have become over-saturated in the horror genre. I would recommend looking through the powers list and removing those that do not have the right feeling to them for your campaign for the PCs and human NPCs. Of course the monsters may have things that you do not allow the players (like flight). Get a good idea of point totals and make a decision of realism (hit location, bleeding rules etc). Finally if this survival horror, I would not worry so much about Fear based PRE checks and such,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

As far as looking for Horror critters, take a look in the bestiaries in 5th ed. I know the two Asian ones have some very useful horror critters. Also, you can take a spin of horror on most Champion's villains. What is Mechannon if not an existential threat of the exterior, the foreign, the bizarre? What is the Island of Doctor Geroe (sp?) if not a classic take on Teleios? The dark arts of the Eldritch horrors are steadfast supporters of the Crowns of Krim whilst the eternal dead follow their God-King Tekofones (sp?). There is a wealth of options but the biggest part is finding a way to add the 'feeling' of horror. Even when Superman is face with proportionally strong villains as Humans vs Zombies, he does not cower in fear. We do not view this as observers and feel helpless and lost. It is a Hero's story, not a survivor's story. This element twist is what defines horror so boldly. Without it, it is just a monster mash.

 

Anyway, best of luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

Yep Horror Hero is a great book(no you cannot have mine)

The heroes need to be less powerful than the monsters at the start(add in some red shirts die in various gory fashions to give the heroes some pause)

Later after you have had them run away for a while let them try out some tactics(headshots for zombies,stake in the heart for vampires,erase a letter to stop the golem,the heel of Achilles.....)

Kill a few more red shirts and maybe a hero rinse repeat till they find the weakness then let them BARELY kill(or banish for a while)the horror at the cost of a hero or 2

Make the players WORK FOR IT

 

4ed had a campain book named Horror Hero which while systemly out of date' date=' you should look for. The subject for most of the book was Lovecraftian horror, but it was generic enougth to pull off any type of horror.[/quote']
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

I would find, an old copy of Horror Hero for starters, possible toss in some Chill, Bureau 13, It came from the Late Late Late Show, Conspiracy X, the Dresden Files RPG, and then some Call of Cthulu, round it off with the main World of Darkness (current) book, and or a copy of Monte Cooks World of Darkness for d20 (Or the Cortex Supernatural RPG).

 

Should get you rolling or I could walk you through the basics of the 6e Horror game I run every Halloween. It's pretty Detailed.

 

~Rex

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

Yep Horror Hero is a great book(no you cannot have mine)

The heroes need to be less powerful than the monsters at the start(add in some red shirts die in various gory fashions to give the heroes some pause)

Later after you have had them run away for a while let them try out some tactics(headshots for zombies,stake in the heart for vampires,erase a letter to stop the golem,the heel of Achilles.....)

Kill a few more red shirts and maybe a hero rinse repeat till they find the weakness then let them BARELY kill(or banish for a while)the horror at the cost of a hero or 2

Make the players WORK FOR IT

 

And did you forget the ever popular "we survived physically but not so mentally?". Perhaps a hero goes loses his mind for saving the world.

 

Yamamura, I think you should still have some sort of Pre attacks even in survival horror because you don't want people to just go Rambo on the monsters. Perhaps overtime they by PRE only vs "horror" to show that they are becoming immune to it. (Of course if the players are good roleplayers, then this mechanical approach may not be needed)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

many things can be read into"at the cost of a hero or 2"

Death is not the only thing you can do to a hero

 

this is why you need to use red shirts to show that doing the stupid(going Rambo)gets you killed

The Rambo character would be a great choice for killing off first and teaching the players you are going to have to figure this out and outsmart it

 

 

And did you forget the ever popular "we survived physically but not so mentally?". Perhaps a hero goes loses his mind for saving the world.

 

Yamamura, I think you should still have some sort of Pre attacks even in survival horror because you don't want people to just go Rambo on the monsters. Perhaps overtime they by PRE only vs "horror" to show that they are becoming immune to it. (Of course if the players are good roleplayers, then this mechanical approach may not be needed)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

As far as looking for Horror critters, take a look in the bestiaries in 5th ed. I know the two Asian ones have some very useful horror critters. Also, you can take a spin of horror on most Champion's villains. What is Mechannon if not an existential threat of the exterior, the foreign, the bizarre? What is the Island of Doctor Geroe (sp?) if not a classic take on Teleios? The dark arts of the Eldritch horrors are steadfast supporters of the Crowns of Krim whilst the eternal dead follow their God-King Tekofones (sp?). There is a wealth of options but the biggest part is finding a way to add the 'feeling' of horror. Even when Superman is face with proportionally strong villains as Humans vs Zombies, he does not cower in fear. We do not view this as observers and feel helpless and lost. It is a Hero's story, not a survivor's story. This element twist is what defines horror so boldly. Without it, it is just a monster mash.

 

Anyway, best of luck!

 

Hmmmm perhaps I can explain my intentions further to gain a true feel as to what I'm planning. As true as it is above, Sougen, Superman is an extremely powerful super hero if not almost like a deity in certain aspects. Would make perfect sense he had nothing to fear. But even a deity has his weak spots, his deepest darkest fear being the death of Lois Lane or his parents or failing. You can get to a person not just physically but mentally. THEN, in his mentally weakened and docile state he can be slaughtered or a slave. It's not always to bring horror to the being you play as but merely to bring horror to the player by how cruelly you break what he had created.

 

On that note I don't think I would ever have a player that is like a "superman" if ever their were a group of people who had a sort of alignment to other's it would be a list much like this one...

 

Instead of Superman it would be Kratos from god of war

Instead of The Hulk it would be Rick Taylor and his Mask of Horror from Splatterhouse

Instead of Wonder Woman it would be Alice from Alice Madness Returns

Instead of the Green Lantern it's more around the lines of the Exorcist with a bit more power

Instead of Iron Man it would be Isaac Clarke from Deadspace 2 [added this one because last one wasn't a very original example ;) ]

Instead of Batman it would be... Er well... Batman :P

 

 

Supervillains would be much like the ones here below

 

Instead of Lex Luthor it would be a man that was much like Jigsaw but with higher tech

Instead of The Joker it would be Sweet Tooth (though Joker could work too)

Instead of The Mandarin it would be Pinface

Instead of any silly version of a lady supervillain it would be Alma from FEAR

Instead of Bizzaro it would be Jason Voorheez

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

For a different take on horror' date=' try getting ahold of the [i']Asian Bestiaries[/i]. They're loaded with weird Asian... things. Also, for a super-powered heroes versus strange monstrosities, you might want to take a look at Shadows Angelus: http://surbrook.devermore.net/index/worldbooks.html

 

I actually scooped you to the shameless plug. ^^

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

DeathClaw:

 

I think perhaps the essence of what I said didn't get communicated properly. My main point was the nature of the game. Every character has weaknesses and they can all be exploited. Superman can lose Lois Lane. Such an event would be a true trial upon the soul of Sups. BUT even at his lowest (alternate Earth when he kills Luther, for example), it never quite matches up with the hopeless feel of "horror". At the end of the day, A champion's story (a Superman story) is one of trial and tribulation but with a strong sense of right n' wrong. A horror story, however, focuses on the desperation of survival. What would you do to survive? The fact that this is not a constant choice in a Champion's game is a key separation for it from Horror. Even against the character's I listed, It would best if it was almost a Post Apoc HERO setting (by the way, this is a great buy!) with those characters having taken over. IIRC, Lord Laiden has a write up for sever post apoc worlds where even the bad guys become simi-good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

I don't really care for the Horror Hero SB, but they did have one interesting point: The difference between fantasy and horror demons. In fantasy (or superherodom) a demon is a big dangerous brick/killer. In Horror, a demon is probably a possessor. So your best hero, with his cosmic level power punch is helpless to stop a demon inhabiting an innocent body with a BOD of six. Sure, you can kill the meatsack, but they demon just laughs and grabs another ride, and gives the "hero" a nice helpling of negative karma in the bargain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

And did you forget the ever popular "we survived physically but not so mentally?". Perhaps a hero goes loses his mind for saving the world.

 

Yamamura, I think you should still have some sort of Pre attacks even in survival horror because you don't want people to just go Rambo on the monsters. Perhaps overtime they by PRE only vs "horror" to show that they are becoming immune to it. (Of course if the players are good roleplayers, then this mechanical approach may not be needed)

 

This right here is the thing that I think makes the Survival Horror game one of the hardest to get to work/play right. As you mentioned, unless the players are exceptional role-players, or the GM tried to hold them to exceptional role playing, you just don't get that sense of fear or any kind of emotion out of it.

 

 

 

I remember watching the first (or maybe it was the second) episode of Walking Dead. Rick had met up with the one guy and his son. The man's wife had just risen as a Walker and the episode ends with, after Rick has left, him taking his rifle up to the top of the house he and his son are camped out in and him dropping the scope's sights on his wife's head. For a good solid minute we watched him struggle with the thought of ending her and in the end, he couldn't do it.

 

 

 

I turned to my wife and said, you just can't get that type of emotional reaction out of our group. Some of us might have been able to pull it off but others would've just shrugged and taken the shot.

 

I think it can be done but the GM needs to sit down with the players and everyone needs to agree to try and get that type of mindset going. Otherwise, you won't get the feel that you're looking for and, ultimately, might not have any fun with the game.

 

::Frowns:: I hope that makes sense 'cause it did it my head . . .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

many things can be read into"at the cost of a hero or 2"

Death is not the only thing you can do to a hero

 

this is why you need to use red shirts to show that doing the stupid(going Rambo)gets you killed

The Rambo character would be a great choice for killing off first and teaching the players you are going to have to figure this out and outsmart it

 

Only problem with Red shirts is that people might go "well its a red shirt, that won't happen to my pc". Now a friend of mine was talking and we never got to do this, but this should fix this. He was going to have a red shirt character, which I was going to kill off. (And then he gets to use his real character) The con, as it is, is that the rest of the group shouldn't know what happened. The group should now have real fear that since a pc already lost a character, there could be a real death in the game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

the red shirts should be just as competent and skilled as the PCs

killing them should look like they where in the wrong place at the wrong time

it was luck(GM placement)that killed them

the point is that killing them show the rest how invincible the horror is

 

Only problem with Red shirts is that people might go "well its a red shirt' date=' that won't happen to my pc". Now a friend of mine was talking and we never got to do this, but this should fix this. He was going to have a red shirt character, which I was going to kill off. (And then he gets to use his real character) The con, as it is, is that the rest of the group shouldn't know what happened. The group should now have real fear that since a pc already lost a character, there could be a real death in the game.[/quote']
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

the red shirts should be just as competent and skilled as the PCs

killing them should look like they where in the wrong place at the wrong time

it was luck(GM placement)that killed them

the point is that killing them show the rest how invincible the horror is

 

It could be a ymmv thing but I know some gamers that you could have a more powerful red shirt bumped off, and they still would have no fear. They think that their characters have plot immunity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

And that is where you prove them wrong

sometimes an example needs to be made

from the start you need to let them know they may die especially if they do dumb things

 

the Darwin school of horror gaming

 

It could be a ymmv thing but I know some gamers that you could have a more powerful red shirt bumped off' date=' and they still would have no fear. They think that their characters have plot immunity.[/quote']
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

I'm running something similar, a setting superficially similar to a Champions setting, but more like Urban Fantasy underneath. Vampires and their ilk find costumes a way to cut loose in public without 'breaking the Masquerade', which is more devoted to scatter-shooting so many other plausible explanations for things that it seems like a kitchen sink world like Marvel or DC. Even the supernatural types can't be sure anymore that their worldview is the only explanation for super powers. Humans being what they are, plenty of them are participating in the sub-culture, with varying degrees of success. The players didn't initially realize what sort of game they were in, but it's come out and I'm starting to lead them down the rabbit hole of what that implies. For instance, someone who seems to be a hero is much more likely in this setting to just be using the heroic identity as a front to work out grudges or line up future meals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Re: Horror Hero

 

Only problem with Red shirts is that people might go "well its a red shirt' date=' that won't happen to my pc". Now a friend of mine was talking and we never got to do this, but this should fix this. He was going to have a red shirt character, which I was going to kill off. (And then he gets to use his real character) The con, as it is, is that the rest of the group shouldn't know what happened. The group should now have real fear that since a pc already lost a character, there could be a real death in the game.[/quote']

 

That is a great way to instill and reinforce the idea that "PCs can die" without it causing any hurt feelings as in "I can't believe you killed my character in session 2."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

The problem with using Red Shirts is that PC/Players expect them to die.

 

When we first started the original Gatecrashers game, we had a bevy of Red Shirts of that exact reason.

 

And because of the cliche of the red shirt, even having one walk off and get ganked off camera or even in front of everyone, loses impact because "that's what red shirts are for".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Horror Hero

 

The problem with using Red Shirts is that PC/Players expect them to die.

 

When we first started the original Gatecrashers game, we had a bevy of Red Shirts of that exact reason.

 

And because of the cliche of the red shirt, even having one walk off and get ganked off camera or even in front of everyone, loses impact because "that's what red shirts are for".

 

There are some Stupid GM Tricks one can pull to increase player attachment to NPCs

Having your players write them up is one.

Another I've posted before (which can tie in with the first) is the "teaser" scene, where you have the players play a squad of lower powered characters right at the beginning so you can give a nice preview of the opposition and hit them with the gloves off. Any survivors of the scene can be brought in later as NPC's

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...