Behind the Mask is useful because it’s a deconstruction of horror tropes that’s still quite scary. This can be a big problem when trying to make them split up, go on long walks in the woods, or make out in an abandoned house with the power out. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie VernonĪs every GM knows, players are genre savvy. You can even tell that Sam spent points in Academics and Persuasion, while Dean went with Occult and Deceit. Supernatural is also great because it feels like a televised game of Hunter: The Vigil. GMs who can make their scenario scary even as the PCs work to defeat it will go far indeed. Instead of running away and hiding, the characters react to horror by trying to defeat it, even when the odds are stacked against them. That’s a much more player-character reaction than you’ll find in most horror movies. In addition to some excellent monster ideas, Supernatural is especially useful as roleplaying fodder. The final confrontation also takes place in the unconventional environment of an airplane midflight, meaning that Sam and Dean are taken way out of their comfort zone. It’s a great method to use in roleplaying games. This personally invests them, and the audience, in the story. Instead of going straight to the exorcism, the brothers must learn about the demon and figure out its motivations. In Phantom Traveler, Sam and Dean have to stop a demon that’s taken up the hobby of crashing commercial jetliners. This made the encounter far more disturbing than a normal monster hunt. While Supernatural strays from the original stories somewhat for the sake of budget, * they kept the idea that the Wendigo was originally a human, transformed through a monstrous act of cannibalism. Wendigo features… well, a wendigo a human devouring creature from Anishinabe Native American mythology. In particular, episodes like Wendigo and Phantom Traveler make for great horror. Not only that, but the monsters were legitimately creepy and inhuman, and their actions made just enough sense to be terrifying. Before Sam and Dean could kill anything that moved, they were constantly coming up against enemies far more powerful than themselves. The First and Second Season of SupernaturalĬW’s drama about a pair of hunky yet emotionally vulnerable brothers hunting down monsters is now known as the show that may never end, * but back in the day it was actually scary. If that doesn’t motivate you to watch them, then nothing will. These shows and films, while not perfect, offer valuable insight that will help you scare the pants off your players. That won’t work for your party of half a dozen players who all expect the spotlight.įortunately, there are still options out there for the GM looking to kickstart their horror game. They also tend to focus heavily on a single character, as horror is a very personal thing and is often best in isolation. Most of them depend on tropes that genre-savvy PCs will figure out in a heartbeat. There are many great horror films out there, but few are useful for roleplaying games. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy if your game is of the horror genre. GMs have long used films like Star Wars or Lord of The Rings * to inspire their works of fantasy and scifi. Using media to inspire roleplaying games is a tradition that goes way back.
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