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Cover of the ALIEN RPG from Free League Publishing<\/p><\/div>\n
The ALIEN RPG repeatedly highlights that it is a horror game, and it briefly outlines three different kinds of fear (and how to use them). Combined with an understanding that the tension of fear has to periodically be released, I see a lot of potential here. The three stages of fear the game points out are Dread, Terror, and Horror. Here\u2019s how they are described in the ALIEN RPG (Note that the game refers to the GM as the Game Mother):<\/p>\n
\n\u201cCreating horror in a roleplaying game is not\u00a0always easy. Overdo it, and the players aren’t\u00a0scared anymore\u2014downplay it, and the game\u00a0drags on. The key to Game Mothering horror is\u00a0to manage pacing properly and keep the major\u00a0threat hidden as long as possible. To do this\u00a0effectively, you need to carefully manage the\u00a0stages of fear in the game: dread, terror, and\u00a0horror.<\/p>\n
DREAD: The sense that something bad is\u00a0about to happen, but no-one is really sure what\u00a0or why. Dread is the first stage of fear in the\u00a0ALIEN roleplaying game and should be employed\u00a0as often as possible. The key to using\u00a0dread is planting seeds and watching events\u00a0unfold. The players know something terrible is\u00a0about to take place, but without knowing what\u00a0it is, they can’t do anything about it. This dread\u00a0may evolve to the next stage, but sometimes it\u00a0won’t\u2014and that’s fine. Examples of dread:<\/p>\n
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- A control panel indicates that the airlock was\u00a0just cycled manually whilst all of the crew are\u00a0accounted for on the bridge.<\/li>\n
- Someone finds blood on the walkway. The\u00a0ship\u2019s cat is missing.<\/li>\n
- A strange and leathery egg is found in a\u00a0crashed derelict ship. It\u2019s like something is\u00a0alive in there.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
TERROR: You feel terror when you know\u00a0something bad will happen any moment now. It\u00a0is no longer a question of if but rather when it\u00a0will take place. From a roleplaying perspective, the feeling of terror is the most effective feeling\u00a0of fear as the PCs are at their most helpless state.\u00a0Therefore, terror often involves the scariest moments\u00a0in a gaming session. Use it selectively for\u00a0maximum effect. Examples of terror:<\/p>\n
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- A squad of marines investigating an old mine\u00a0steps into something slimy. One of the marines\u00a0hears a hissing sound. She realizes that something\u00a0is directly above her.<\/li>\n
- A colonial marshal following a killer in the deep\u00a0bowels of a space station realizes that she is the\u00a0prey.<\/li>\n
- A pilot on a stranded shuttle barricaded in the\u00a0cockpit hears pounding on the access hatch.\u00a0Something wants in.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
HORROR: The ultimate form of fear is horror.\u00a0Horror is the moment when the danger reveals\u00a0itself. It is the moment of climax. The payoff\u00a0that the earlier stages of fear have hinted at. But\u00a0because of this, it is also less scary than terror.\u00a0When horror hits, the game mechanics take over.\u00a0You draw initiative and fight it or try to escape.\u00a0Horror is vital to the game, but it should be used\u00a0rarely and is often best utilized late in a game\u00a0session rather than early. Examples of horror:<\/p>\n
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- A corporate agent turns around and stands face to face with an alien baring its teeth.<\/li>\n
- The egg opens and a crab-like creature lunges at\u00a0the closest crew member, attaching itself to her\u00a0face amidst the screams of her friends.<\/li>\n
- Black, lightning-quick creatures crawl through the walls and roof towards the marine squad.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n
After reading this a couple weeks ago, I immediately began thinking of ways to incorporate this into how I GM. Then, this morning, I realized this also helped explain one of my more successful scenes from a previous game.<\/p>\n
Last year, I ran the Peru Prologue for Masks of Nyarlathotep. (I used it as a test for my WIP alternative to CoC\u2019s mechanics: Our Terrible Fate.) The players were my two children and my mother. This was still fairly early in the scenario, but they were already a little paranoid \u2013 not freaking out or overreacting, but generally distrustful of everyone. (Also note that I used two play aids during the game that came in towards the end of the scene. I had a printed card showing what the monster looked like \u2013 not always appropriate for CoC but worked in this case \u2013 and I had Syrinscape\u2019s MoN audio program on my laptop.)<\/p>\n
(Spoiler alert: This won\u2019t reveal any big details from the scenario, but it may ruin this scene if you intend to play it.)<\/p>\n
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- The investigators were visiting a professor at the local university museum. The professor\u2019s assistant was translating an old journal that may provide important clues. They are introduced to the professor and are having a conversation. As that wraps up, the professor mentions that his assistant should have arrived already. He suggests that the investigators could go down to the archive room and check on her. (Dread: What happened to the assistant, and what are we walking into?)<\/li>\n
- The investigators head down and discover her dead body. (This initially provided a small bit of tension relief.)<\/li>\n
- Then they looked over the body and discovered the nature of the strange wounds and emaciated state. (Dread: What could have done this?)<\/li>\n
- Then they notice bloody footsteps leading away from the body to another exit from the room. \u201cWe are NOT following those footsteps!\u201d (Dread: What left the footsteps, and where did it go?)<\/li>\n
- The investigators then hear screaming from upstairs. (Dread)<\/li>\n
- Rushing upstairs, they hear signs of a struggle from inside the professor\u2019s office. (Dread leading into Terror)<\/li>\n
- Heading inside, they see what appears to be a man clutching the professor. His back is to them. (Terror: It\u2019s right there. What is it, and what\u2019s it doing?)<\/li>\n
- The strongest investigator, a boxer, decided to grab the figure from behind to pull him\/it away from the professor and restrain him. I narrated that the figure easily broke free from the investigator\u2019s grasp and flung him back a few feet. It then turned and snarled at the investigators, revealing at strange mouth on an otherwise human-looking face. (At this point, I played the snarling sound effect in Syrinscape and showed the players the card so they could see the monstrous form of the villain.) (Horror: Big reveal.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
At this point, my son actually got up from the table with an \u201cOh, hell no!\u201d and started pacing around. Everyone was on edge up to that point, and I think it was the snarling sound effect that really pushed him over the edge. This was immediately a big tension relief in terms of fear, but some of that tension was immediately replaced by the tension of \u201cOkay, now that we\u2019re face to face with this thing, what do we do?\u201d<\/p>\n
This scene was easily one of the highlights of our session. (Though admittedly, that may have been because I screwed up some other scenes. But that\u2019s another story.)<\/p>\n