Horror Adventures

Plan to Be Frightened

Characters who aren’t afraid of anything — or who are incapable of emotion — are the worst characters to play in a horror adventure. If the slasher bursts onto the scene and no one’s startled or frightened, that’s a bad sign for a horror game. Fight-or-flight responses, instant reactions, and expressions of revulsion are key components of a terrifying scene. In horror adventures, it is the GM’s job to set up grim scenarios, and it is part of your job to consider how your character would actually react to these situations.

That doesn’t mean your character needs to be a shrieking coward, though. Your character likely is skilled with weapons or has the power to magically manipulate reality. By the same token, your character should also be a person. In the face of a terrifying encounter, consider how your character would respond.

If you decide that your character would probably have some sort of startled reaction to a scene, consider expressing that. Your character’s actions might even intersect with specific game rules. but in other cases you just want it to be flavorful and not impede a more strategic response.

  • Cast a Protective Spell: You gird yourself with magic.
  • Draw a Weapon: Usually done while taking a step back, you both prepare for and distance yourself from danger.
  • Gape: You hold your ground, but look on in shock.
  • Guard: Moving into position between the threat and an ally, you try to prevent another from seeing the scene.
  • Pray/Swear: You call upon the gods or verbally express shock.
  • Retreat: You seek escape if the situation is overwhelming.

Screaming might also be an obvious reaction, but that tends to be the domain of victims, not heroes (though, everyone has the occasional less-than-heroic moment). Retreating also seems distinctly unheroic, but in a horror game, that might occasionally be the prudent choice, especially if it is clear that a threat outmatches your group. Remember that in horror games, combat is not always be the surest path to victory.

Fear

Levels of Fear

Lesser Fear

  1. Spooked: The nature of your surroundings or events that you have witnessed makes you uneasy.
    • -2 penalty on save vs Fear and Perception
    • -1 initiative roll on first round
  2. Shaken: Fear has taken hold of you and you are no longer thinking or acting clearly.
    • -2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks
  3. Scared: You are noticeably afraid, jumping at shadows and easily panicked by odd sights and unexplained noises.
    • -4 penalty on save vs Fear
    • -2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks
    • In addition, if being subject to a lesser fear effect would increase your fear level, you are staggered for 1 round instead.

Greater Fear

  1. Frightened: You are so afraid that you must flee from the source of your fear.
    • All penalties of scared
    • On your turn, you must move away from any source of fear you perceive. You can use special abilities, such as spells and equipment, to flee and must resort to such abilities if they seem like the only way to escape.
    • If unable to flee, you can fight.
  2. Panicked: This functions as the frightened condition, but you drop anything held whenever you are forced to flee and you flee in a random direction. In addition, you treat all sources of danger as fear sources and must flee from them as well. If unable to flee, you cower in fear.
  3. Terrified: This functions as panicked, but you do not treat any other character as an ally and thus must attempt saving throws against spells that allow them, even if the spells are beneficial. Once you have fled from fear each round you roll on the following table to determine your course of action.
    • 01–25% Continue to flee, moving away from any known source of danger.
    • 26–50% Find a place nearby to hide, using Stealth as normal. You do nothing until you are discovered (and forced to run again) or you are no longer terrified
    • 51–75% Lash out at the nearest creature, even an ally, attacking it with whatever weapon is available.
    • 76–100% Do nothing. If you get this result in two consecutive rounds, you no longer need to roll on this chart starting on the third round and can act as normal unless you encounter a source of fear or danger, in which case you are still terrified and act accordingly.
  4. Horrified: You are transfixed with fear and can take no actions.
    • -2 penalty to your AC and flat-footed
    • considered helpless