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A slice of fear
Halloween is nigh, my good friends. Above and beyond all competition, Halloween is by far the friendliest gamer holiday. Christmas, for all of its elves and ridiculous magic, remains a foreign concept in the midst of battles with vile goblins and angry necromancers. Thanksgiving, with a backdrop of Western conquest and feasting, tends to be family and sports oriented, not much fodder for gaming imagination. Independence Day and New Years' celebrations are filled with “secular” parties, where gamers and non-gamers alike most likely join the masses jockeying for position for that perfect firework or blessed kiss. So, it remains – Halloween is the gaming holy day.
In my experience, horror gaming can deliver some of the creepiest, most exciting, and most satisfying gaming moments in one's life. There is something about an ongoing story of brave heroes, illuminating the night, delving too far into murky domains, and confronting terrors that cannot register on the waking imagination. There is something about a group of gamers listening to the GM's every last word for a hint that some foul creature lies waiting beyond the next corridor. There is something about the idea that your beloved character could be facing his last breath by opening the crypt before him. Horror gaming is chock full of these types of moments – mortality, fear, anticipation, awe, and courage.
I have also found that slipping an element of horror into a fantasy, science fiction, or action game can be the perfect spice around Halloween. In my own GMing experience, I've usually been in the midst of some ongoing fantasy campaign as I approach Halloween, and I have to make a decision. Do I keep things moving forward at a steady pace, or do I slip in a bit of evil from beyond to shake things up? In fact, Halloween has been the best excuse to introduce horrific plots and alien fears. Eventually, my players even began to expect it around October 31 st .
How would I shift gears from the fantastic to the horrific?
First, I let the setting do the talking. Local clergy and elders begin to warn villagers not to spend too much time out in the night and take great pains to “lock things up” before nightfall. Various superstitions spring up around town. Inquisitive characters would notice the slight changes – why has Old Man Gree begun leaving a lamb tied to the fence post at the edge of his yard? Why are there so many cloves of garlic placed above doorways? Why are the villagers hesitant to chop wood at the edge of the Old Forest ? Why is the town priest making special house calls to his parishioners, armed with holy water and holy symbols?
Second, I would devise numerous plans and rumors from the villagers that reach suspicious player ears. Some of this information would be confusing, mixed up, and just plain stupid. However, these seeds tend to get planted into players' heads rather quickly. The holiday could be ancient legend, superstition, or even a fairly new development. One villager might explain that the garlic is to ward off hellish demons that are looking for a human feast. The Old Forest might be the site of an ancient battleground of evil – for some reason during this season, lumberjacks and others have tended to disappear from the area. The lamb is a signal that the village is honoring its dead, offering those trapped in unlife a gift to move on to some other unworthy locale. The town priest might be doing his best to aid his parishioners against the coming undead onslaught that happens every Day of Dead.
Third, construct a morbid, terrible plot out of these ideas. In fact, the horror itself might be a product of the villager's continuing imagination – the more they believe, the more real it becomes. I would often allow two to three villagers to benefit off of this fear. The church might use the holiday to increase its membership, fund its coffers, and weed out the unfaithful. Village elders might use the opportunity to get rid of reckless youths who do not fear the ways of their forefathers. In fact, adding a powerful human element of exploitation can transform your game into the another realm of horror – what is more horrific than a seemingly good, peaceful village who turns out to harbor a way of life that destroys and marginalizes the weakest of its population?
Finally, you deliver the big punch in the midst of the human suffering and exploitation; the evil, disgusting creatures from beyond are very real. Will our heroes be able to banish the creatures to the netherworld from where they crawled? Will our heroes be able to rally the villagers in some acceptable defense? How will our heroes build trust among the villagers? Is the demonic invasion another ploy to keep them duped in fear? Let the entire boiling pot of horror, fear, mistrust, and courage come together in a big finale where our courageous heroes show their true mettle and prove that they literally are not afraid of a few old ghosts.
In the end, horror gaming turns into that spice that takes a great ongoing game and ratchets it up to another level. While I often turn a familiar fantasy romp into a strange, frightening feast, you can use these elements in your science fiction, action, and adventure stories – each society, no matter how well advanced, has its own frightful tales and superstitions that lurk and prey upon its citizens. Use Halloween as a catalyst, as the friendliest gaming holiday, to make your normal game a bit different, a bit frightening, and one Hell of a ride through the shadows and murky depths at the edge of our imagination.
Happy gaming!
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