Recommend me a Horror tabletop RPG for beginners

[Kuranesno7]

My birthday's coming up,
I wanna get into Tabletop RPGs,
I give precisely two tugs of a dead dog's cock about DnD,
I've researched a few tabletop Rpgs (Call of Cthulhu, Wraith the Oblivion, etc.)
but still uncertain

recommendations, Go

thank you for the input in advance.

 

[Valanthe]

As a long time player myself, I wouldn't recommend jumping into a horror setting as your first immersion into tabletop RPG's. Such campaigns require a dedicated playerbase, and above all, a Storyteller who is able to adapt to player actions while at the same time telling a well described story. These aren't conducive to new players, as the time that it takes to look up a rule is enough to break the flow of, and spoil, an otherwise suspenseful and detailed narrative, and simple statements like, "Okay, you rolled a twelve, you hit for fifteen damage," are good for helping new players work out what all the numbers mean, but can be irritating when you're immersed in the story.

Log story short, if you're 'looking to get into tabletop RPG's' for the first time, a horror setting is probably not for you.

 

[FalloutJack]

Log story short, if you're 'looking to get into tabletop RPG's' for the first time, a horror setting is probably not for you.

It can be if he's of no mind for a normal adventure game. Where you get your start is unimportant. It's HOW you get your start. So, in your case...

recommendations, Go

I've played both Call of Cthulhu and CoC: Nocturne, which is more or less an Eldritch Horror in modern times roleplay. If you want to save money, I recommend getting the CoC core book (Sixth Edition is the most recent and most available, I believe)) and simply modifying rules for modern times.

The important thing is that you have friends who are interested as well, preferably friends with a good sense of humor. Getting a bunch of crazy people together for ANY sort of RP can be very amusing.

 

[Valanthe]

It can be if he's of no mind for a normal adventure game. Where you get your start is unimportant. It's HOW you get your start.

You're right, actually, I was being overly pessimistic (past prejudices). I have had many experiences with new Storytellers that have turned out fantastic, and I've had terrible ones with 'experienced' ST's. Your experience with a game isn't the be all end all statistic to measure how good you are, and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you end up playing a game which gives you nightmares, or get side-tracked two minutes in and end up spending the night talking about Monty Python, so long as you have fun.

I would go with FalloutJack's idea, of using the CoC: Nocturne, I've had a lot of fun with that one.

 

[Mikri Shogun]

As a long time player myself, I wouldn't recommend jumping into a horror setting as your first immersion into tabletop RPG's. Such campaigns require a dedicated playerbase, and above all, a Storyteller who is able to adapt to player actions while at the same time telling a well described story. These aren't conducive to new players, as the time that it takes to look up a rule is enough to break the flow of, and spoil, an otherwise suspenseful and detailed narrative, and simple statements like, "Okay, you rolled a twelve, you hit for fifteen damage," are good for helping new players work out what all the numbers mean, but can be irritating when you're immersed in the story.

Log story short, if you're 'looking to get into tabletop RPG's' for the first time, a horror setting is probably not for you.

I couldn't agree more and of course is really important find a party that u will feel comfortable to develope your character and have fun with.
I recommend u to start with DnD -this is how I started, borrowed by a friend the player's handbook, just to check it out and I came in a week with a cool character in my hands!- and if you want to create a more darker character you can check the Book of Vile Darkness from the DnD series.
Also, a very good pen&paper game to start is the Vampire: the Masquerade, which gives u many choices for developing a character and it happens in our 'reality'.

These, of course are merely suggestions and there are many great games -realms - to immerse in with your friends, imagine that I have tried Marvel universe and once Sailor Moon pen&paper game with my girlfriends, !!!!

 

[DoPo]

OK, as a World of Darkness junkie, guess what I'll suggest. No? Well, do I have to spell it out - I suggest Call of Cthulhu. Also World of Darkness. It depends on what you're after. CoC has a very lovecraftian feel, as you can guess and, well, other people would be talking more about it, besides I don't have too much experience.

So instead, I'll focus on WoD. Now, WoD is a really wide ranged - Wraith fits in there but also Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Hunter, and so on. To top it off, most gamelines come in two flavours - new and old (old WoD blew up and was rebooted into the new) which means some minor differences in the flavour. But each gameline feels different to the others, while still being set in the same world. You could even just play a normal mortal for that helplessness feel. The question is: what exactly are you looking for in a game?

Since you mentioned
Wraith, that gives me something to work with. See, Wraith is probably the bleakest and most depressing gameline overall - you are dead from the beginning, after all, and things only get worse. The game really isn't any sort of heroic fantasy where you conquer the evil and save the day, it's about a more personal kind of tragedy[footnote]Although, to be fair, the Doomslayers supplement does turn it into a more "typical" fantasy. It's not bad, mind you.[/footnote] I don't know if it really tickles your fancy but it can really be an enjoyable game, provided you find a group to play. I think Wraith is still pretty popular, so it shouldn't be a huge problem. To play it, you'd need the Wraith: the Oblivion core rulebook [http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/351/Wraith-the-Oblivion-%282nd-Edition%29?it=1] (you might also find a hard copy somewhere).

I'll do a quick rundown of the other gamelines and separate them into new and old sections for convenience

oWoD

Vampire: the Masquerad - you may know it from Bloodlines, and it's a pretty cool game, especially if you want to play a vampire. Trouble is, finding a more horror focused game - some are more political, others focus on other aspects, still horror should be underlying somewhere. Fortunately, it's still very popular, so you shouldn't have a big trouble finding games. I'd recommend picking up the Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition (a.k.a. V20) - it's probably the best WoD book ever (for now) and has all the information you need in a convenient place.

Werewolf: the Apocalypse - if you want something more action packed, I'd recommend it. Aside from the fact that you're playing a shapeshifter, you are fighting to stop that apocalypse in the subtitle. The trouble is, that you are fighting a losing battle only trying to delay the inevitable. It's mostly guerilla tactics against foes more numerous than you know and horrors beyond mortal reason. After all, the werewolves fighting literally the embodiment of destruction and corruption and its minions. However, if I were you, I would wait until October to straight get W20, since judging by Vampire, it would be totally kickass.

Mage: the Ascension - this game has a very wide range of play stiles. Some of them focus on horror, some don't. I don't know if you'd like it based on that. But I can tell you that the magic system is amazingly flexible and fulfilling. This is my favourite gameline ever, based on that, and the fact that as horrible as the world is, you can at least do something about it.

Hunter: the Reckoning - although it may play as "kill the monster of the week", it should be more of a horror than that. Basically, the player characters are ordinary folk - taxi drivers, clerks, cashiers, etc, who were suddenly shown that real monsters (vampires, werewolves, etc) not only exist, but they prey upon humanity. And from that point on, the PCs lives are never the same and thy are constantly pushed to do something about this inhuman menace.

Demon: the Fallen - I'll put it this way - you are playing fallen angels who just escaped from hell and now must face other of their brethren who have been out for centuries and are, for all intents and purposes, eldritch abominations with massive corrupt cults around themselves. It's pretty much Lovecraft but the PCs don't need to die horribly (right away).

nWoD

World of Darkness - it allows you to play a mortal character and face whatever the Storyteller throws at you. It gets a honourable mention, since you need that book to play any of the others.

Vampire: the Requiem - pretty much take what I said about VtM here. Also, no trouble finding games.

Werewolf: the Forsaken - similar to WtA but a slightly different tone - the werewolves are not losing the battle but they aren't going anywhere, either. And there isn't the end of the world looming over. Horrific things still occur on a regular basis.

Mage: the Awakening - well somewhat different to MtAs. Really shortly - in the days of old the mages became too proud and tried to reach the heavens. Think DA:O. But a catastrophe struck, and some made it, while others were trapped on earth. The ones who made it out now don't want to share anything with the rest, so they locked the entire world into a false reality. Also, due to the nature of the catastrophe, the magic became somewhat unreliable and downright dangerous. Other than that, the magic system is still pretty awesome.

Hunter: the Vigil - now, this has more horror in it. In the other games, the characters have some kind of an edge over the rest of humanity, including in HtR, where the hunters could do some pretty wicked stuff and just see monsters whenever they want to. In HtV, however, you are just playing a random shmo who is trying to keep inhuman monsters from eating him and he's armed with pretty much a pointy stick. No fancy powers, no extra abilities, damn, some don't even know what and how are they supposed to be killing. Well, it should be noted that Tier 3 hunters do have some fancy stuff. Not a lot, but at least they aren't totally helpless on their own.

Changeling: the Lost - I take my words back, this has horror in it. From the get go, your character was kidnapped by the Fae, then went through physical and/or mental torture, abuse, slavery and/or rape but somehow managed to escape. And then they find out that the experience changed them into something not quite human. Oh, and apparently a doppleganger was left in their place to live their life so nobody would miss them. So now, the changelings try to find their own place in the world and maybe try to reclaim their life back, or at least a life. And by the way, the thing that kidnapped them is looking to get his possessions back. I'd recommend this gameline if you want lots of horror. The fae are, after all, inhuman eldritch monstrosities at least in thinking if not looks.

Honourable mentions - Slasher introduces serial killers from slasher flicks; Proverbial Monsters and Antagonists add, well, antagonists for any game; Immortals adds rules for immortal beings - be they body jumping, reincarnating, or bathing in blood; Inferno takes a closer look at hell and some demons, also allows you to play a Possessed - a guy (or a girl) who has a demon inside.

 

[Victoly]

I don't consider any of the World of Darkness games to be "horror". They're more about playing as a monster than being afraid of them - they are to a horror game what an Anne Rice novel is to one of H. P. Lovecraft's stories. More "gothic fiction" than "horror".

I'd suggest the following:
Get a Jenga set. Set it up. If a player does something risky, they take a pull from the Jenga pile (and put the block on top). If they knock over the Jenga pile, they die. If two players compete over the same action (e.g. "When you break into the security officer's abandoned office, you find a handgun on the desk." "I grab the gun." "No, I grab the gun!") then the players take turns pulling from the Jenga stack until either one player gives up or one player dies (e.g. "As you're struggling over the gun, it 'accidentally' fires off, leaving Pat with a bullet in the stomach."). If a player wants to make a heroic sacrifice, they can push over the Jenga pile to kill themselves, but whatever action they were attempting automatically succeeds.

 

[GrandmaFunk]

I haven't played a tabletop RPG in over a decade, but back then the WOD system was by far the best mechanics I had ever used, especially the Mage magic, and the setting is great.

I also agree that CoC is not something that total newbies can jump into, you DO need an experienced GM/DM/Storyteller

 

[Tallim]

I really love Call Of Cthulhu but you need someone experienced to run it or it will just all fall apart and become a horrible experience for all involved.

Not saying you shouldn't try it but it's not what I would call a "beginner" RPG. The mechanics are simple enough but keeping it engaging is tricky and a gun-ho player can ruin it entirely.

Alternative I would suggest Conspiracy X. Lot of fun with that.



Hmm I've just realised that in 20 odd years of roleplaying (yeah I know :/) I've only actually been a player twice......

 

[eimatshya]

I don't see any reason a new player couldn't join a Call of Cthulhu game. The rules are pretty simple, so if you want to join someone else's group, being new to PnP shouldn't be a problem as long as you understand the basics of role playing a character. If you want to start a campaign of your own, well that might be a bit trickier. As the other posters have mentioned, GMing a horror game can be more difficult than GMing a dungeon crawler. The GM needs to be able to establish mood and adapt to players' actions. This makes it more challenging for a new GM.

My advice would be to find a Call of Cthulhu or similar group that you can join. This way you will be able to get a feel for what a PnP game is like and will give you a better idea on how to run your own game. If you can't find a group that interests you, I don't think it's hopeless to try to run a game with your friends. Most rulebooks come with a section on advice on GMing (at least I know the WoD books do; I've never GMed a CoC game), and these can be pretty helpful. If you spend a lot of time preparing, you should be able to run a horror game, especially if your friends are patient with the fact that you're learning as you go.

Anyway, if you want a horror game where you are playing as a normal human confronted with horrifying supernatural entities of some sort, Call of Cthulu is a good choice, but I would also recommend the core book for the new World of Darkness.

Spoiler: World of Darkness core rulebook

It provides everything you need to run a horror and/or paranormal investigation game including advice for GMs. The rules are fairly simple and are very adaptable (the only downside is that you will need a lot of ten sided dice, but you can easily buy these at a gaming store or online). Also, there are a lot of horror-themed supplements for it that you can use to spice up your game if you so desire.

 

[Kuranesno7]

So far, I'm seeing a great number of shout-outs to Call of Cthulhu type stuff.

Maybe I fucked up when I said "beginner". I've read extensively on these games, just never actually played one.

I got interested in this whole thing when a dude from college downloaded me a PDF of Geist: the Sin eaters, but could never find the time to play it.

As a side note, anyone ever heard of or played these two RPGs and if so, thoughts:
"Don't rest your head" (insomniacs stay up long enough to find doors to Wonderland as designed by American McGee and Satan)
and
"The Whispering vault" (former humans becoming eldritch abominations in the sense of Cenobites as a police force to keep other, scarier abominations from fucking up our world)

Not trying to be a Hipster Tabletop man looking for the stuff no-one's heard of, I'm just looking for stuff off the beaten path to work with.

I mentioned Wraith in that first post since I was told it was damn near the classiest bit of roleplaying out there in the sense of emotional weight and depth.

just to pull a 180, anyone here ever played this one called Paranoia?
s'posed to be pretty fucking funny to play, since it encourages you to backstab the other player characters in some Dystopian computer controlled future.

 

[DoPo]

I got interested in this whole thing when a dude from college downloaded me a PDF of Geist: the Sin eaters, but could never find the time to play it.

Geist is...I don't really know what to make of it. Sure, your character died, but now is back to life. And is actually supposed to be enjoying themselves. In fact, they can do pretty much whatever they want back on Earth - they can fuck off and exploit ghosts for money - there is nothing to make them help the dead things. Or whatever. On top of that, there is some seriously disturbing stuff - the Neverborn are "ghosts" or at least dead things which have never been alive in the first place (as the name suggest), but again, they don't do anything. They are just chilling and looking weird. I'm not saying it can't make a good game, but it doesn't give you much to work with - some guys who went back from the dead and enjoy life. Oh, and there is this incomprehensible ghost inside of them but that just wants them to go ahead and party. And they get powers to boot. Weird. The powers system is really kickass, though, I really dig it.

As a side note, anyone ever heard of or played these two RPGs and if so, thoughts:
"Don't rest your head" (insomniacs stay up long enough to find doors to Wonderland as designed by American McGee and Satan)

Heard of it, it's supposed to be really good and/or interesting. I've been meaning to have a look at it for a while now but I never got around to it. I finally forgot about a month ago, so cheers for the reminder, I'll make sure I finally give it a read.

"The Whispering vault" (former humans becoming eldritch abominations in the sense of Cenobites as a police force to keep other, scarier abominations from fucking up our world)

Haven't heard of it.

I mentioned Wraith in that first post since I was told it was damn near the classiest bit of roleplaying out there in the sense of emotional weight and depth.

Well, it really depends on the game and the group. You can have a deep and emotional game regardless of what you play. But yeah, Wraith does dig more into it.

just to pull a 180, anyone here ever played this one called Paranoia?

You're joking, right? Everybody should have heard of it. If they haven't, this is considered treason and Friend Computer would like them to report to the nearest termination booth. And then have a pleasant daycycle.

 

[Wanderer787]

I think Dark Heresy can pull off horror well if you've got a good GM and have a little background about Warhammer 40k. It lends itself to mystery, intrigue, and evil cults without sacrificing combat, and the critical hits tables are just phenomenal!

 

[eimatshya]

*snip*

Lovecraft is one of the seminal figures in the horror genre, and a lot of people love the Cthulhu Mythos, so Call of Cthulhu is a popular game as a result. I have more experience with WoD games than with CoC, but I mentioned it because it is such a classic when it comes to horror games. It will probably be easier to find a Call of Cthulhu group than most other horror settings (although you never know). That said, generally it is the GM and the players that make or break a campaign, rather than the rule set, so in the end, the choice of game may not be the key element in your enjoyment of it.

I haven't heard of Don't Rest Your Head or The Whispering Vault, so I can't comment on them. I've heard only good things about Paranoia!, but I haven't played it myself. The lore behind Wraith: the Oblivion is pretty neat, but I've never played it, either.

Anyway, as for the beginner thing, if you've read a lot about role-playing games, you should have a leg up when it comes to actually playing one for the first time, but there are still things that may only become clear with experience. Like you, I read about a lot of different games and systems before I eventually ended up finding a group. While I felt pretty prepared for my first game and handled myself fairly well, I did find that my understanding of what it means to role-play a character in a PnP RPG evolved a lot during that first campaign.

If you aren't planning to GM the game yourself, I would recommend looking for a horror-themed game to join and basically making your choice based on what's available. If you decide you want to try Wraith, but can't find a Wraith group, the rule book won't help you much. On the other hand, if you're planning to GM a game with your friends, then you may want to find one that all of you want to play and go with that.

 

[Valanthe]

and above all, a Storyteller who is able to adapt to player actions while at the same time telling a well described story.

I am not trying to be rude or disrespectful but ever since I encountered a 'storyteller' guiding some people through a tabletop RPG I kinda got the giggles. I can so picture a fat, stinky guy with a balding-induced mullet speaking with a false british accent about goblins creeping through the forest hahahahe-haw-he-haw

It's odd that I've gone through a dozen ST's, and not a single one of them have ever fallen into that description. It's weird, seeing as how that image is still seen as the stereotypical 'geek image.'

 

[toolman19]

I would suggest Ravenloft for DnD. If done right that is . And my personal favorite is original Deadlands, the spaghetti western with bite.

 

[Rack]

As a rules system I'd recommend Savage Worlds. The maths is a touch screwy but less so than most other systems I've played and it's certainly less of a monster of completely unnecessary rules. The setting I'd recommend is something like Ravenloft though, fantasy adventures taken over by horror. This should take the edge off having to craft a pure horror which can be very difficult. The fantasy angle gives you a way to get players invested in their characters so you can ramp up the horror as you go along. In order to do this there are a few supplements you could consider. There's a Savage Worlds Horror companion which should help out, or a complete (but out of print and kind of expensive) campaign called Evernight. You could also look into getting the original Ravenloft books and doing a system shift or (shudder) run them in D&D.

If you want to run pure horror there is Savage Cthulhu just be aware it's not a little challenging. On the other hand the book would probably come in useful for running any kind of horror in Savage Worlds.

As an alternative if you fancy it Legend of the Five Rings is a great system, probably the best I've ever played and could be twisted to run a horror game quite easily. Now the concepts of Samurai and honour are baked deep into this so you'd absolutely have to run it in Rokugan, but it does have some excellent mechanics and ideas that would make it a great horror setting. You'd have to tweak a few things but it would go very well.