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 Both Sides of the Screen #1:

Horror is Hard Work

Hey everyone! Craig here. Welcome to Both Sides of the Screen. As a fan of RPGs, I find that I go back and forth between wanting to play and wanting to GM. I decided to take that indecision and make it work for me. The goal of this column is to take a look at RPG topics from both the GM and player perspectives. I have experience with both that I’ll draw on to discuss whatever topics come up.

Since it's October, it seemed fitting to take on the topic of horror at the RPG table. Let’s be honest. For some of us (like me), it’s hard to be scared of a story. Even when we’re watching a horror movie in the dark with no distractions, or we’re reading a great horror author with no one else around, we are only scared if a couple of things are present. First, the atmosphere of the horror has to evoke emotions from us. Second, we have to allow ourselves to be immersed in the setting and the situation the characters find themselves in. Finally, we have to make an effort not to break that immersion. How do we achieve these things at the gaming table? It’s a mutual effort from the players and the GM. 

GMs:

How do you create emotions of fear in your players? Well, I would suggest a couple of starting points. First, assess what scares you. I am not easily scared. I can only count a few movies whose atmospheres really bothered me. I am a voracious reader, and there’s only been one book that really disturbed me on a fear level. If I want to create something scary for my players, I need to make sure I’m buying into the story I’m telling too. I’m going to take those things that worked to scare me and make them my jumping off point. The next thing I would do is talk with your players about the same thing. What has scared them, and how can you tap into it for your horror adventure? Knowing your audience is a powerful tool, as all GMs know, and getting specific about what scares them gives you more to work with. 

 

As to the second ingredient, a GM can’t make the players buy in. However, you can craft a story with care and deliberation that has enough intrigue and enough hook, so any player who really WANTS to be at the table will buy in. Something I take into consideration: the reveal is almost never as scary as the anticipation. Let the fear of the unknown drive your story. Some horror relies on body count to create fear, but since body count is the stock in trade of a lot of RPGs, it’s not likely to get you the results you want at the table unless you find a truly novel or macabre way to present it. If your horror session is part of a larger campaign, another way to get players to buy-in is to hinge serious character consequences on the session. Of course, that could backfire too, but it’s something to ponder.

Finally, how do you maintain immersion? The GM sets the tone. If your group is laid back and no one minds people on and off of their phones, that’s cool. However, it will be incredibly difficult to keep immersion in that environment, and for horror to work, immersion is everything. In a typical adventure, immersion can wax and wane as your players are making decisions without too much detriment to the session. If you want your horror to be effective though, that isn’t going to work. So, again, set the tone. Set it with your story. Set it with your expectations. Set it with your own behavior.

Players:

Why did you come to the session? Chances are, you came to game and hang out with friends. If so, you need to recognize your responsibility when coming into a horror game. You have to come in with an enthusiasm for the setting if you want to game night to be great. Not into sc-fi? Then playing Star Wars or Starfinder probably aren’t going to be for you. Not into westerns? Skip the Deadlands game then. The same is true for horror. If the setting or concept will be hard for you to get into, let the GM know that up front. It may be worth it to let others play without you. Maybe you think that’s a crap answer, but buy-in has to be there for horror to work, and the people who want a horror game usually REALLY buy-in which makes the setting work. Someone at the table who’s ambivalent or worse, hostile toward the setting will ruin the night in a heartbeat. 

How are you going to keep that immersion? Look, we live in a world of distractions. Each of those breaks immersion. Therefore, you’ve got to make the concerted effort to eliminate as many of those distractions as possible. Silence the phones. Unless there’s an underlying factor, most of us can survive without our phones for a few hours. It makes the event better for everyone. Create space before and after the game to catch up on life. Deepening friendships in that way is one of my favorite aspects of gaming, but there’s a time and a place. If we’re heading into a cave, following a trail of body parts, it’s not the best time for someone to talk about the jerk at work or the new Steam game you’ve been devouring. Those may be conversations worth having but not at that time. 

Finally, for both, I would suggest that character creation happen on a separate day, so it doesn’t distract from the story-building of the evening. That’s just personal preference. 

If you’re still with me, thanks for reading. I hope this gave you some things to consider. Horror doesn’t have to be cheesy. It can be immersive and amazing, but everyone’s got to play their part. 

-Craig Phillips (Lead Designer, Editor, Board Game Genius)