Initial Dread...

So I've watched two horror movies in the space of one weekend and of course, that gets me thinking about horror RPGs. I've come to ths realization that there's a definite dearth of horror systems I actually like, and a dearth of them in general. You have the venerable old Call of Cthulhu with both d20 and percentile, and the goofiness of its insanity system has already been well-documented. Though it's true that people in Lovecraft's tales tended to lose their grip on reality, they tended to do it at the climax of the tale rather than just any old time - but the sanity system tends to produce random results that can very well result in somebody going mad over the first minor critter they witness. Many other systems use fear checks or whatever with similarly random results. So, instead, I've decided to put fear in the hands of the GameMaster (GM).

And so we have the beginnings of Dread, which will theoretically be my horror system.

There are several thoughts I came up with thinking how to design the actual system.

• First, the creature(s), situation, mcguffin, whatever the players face is called the Horror.
• Direct conflict with the Horror is intensely undesirable. However, avoiding conflict with the Horror is inevitably even worse.
• Physical combat takes a backseat in this system. Mental damage is even more important than the physical. Physical combat should be undesirable in general, and contain crippling or lethal consquences.
• The game will be more adversarial than most. The GM will be forced to be unrelenting in taking characters apart, and things like 'fudging' should be discouraged.
• The system is made for one-shots. Campaigns will be supported but ultimately things like character creation are shallow in order to facilitate on-the-spot creation (especially with the relatively high fatality rate for a game).

Character's attributes will be roughly measured from 0 (pitiful) to 6 (master).

One of the key mechanics will be Marks. What Marks do is represent the enroaching doom the characters face when confronting (or being victimized by) a Horror. Characters will recieve Marks for all sorts of situations, and it should be noted that the GM should be handing them out like candy during a typical session. A Player Character should theoretically gain 3 or 4 Marks a session, with a bottom end of 1 or 2 or a top end of 5 or 6. PCs can gain Marks for the following situations, for example:

• Being the first person in the group to be noticed by or come into contact with the Horror.
• Deliberately confronting the Horror, physically or otherwise.
• Becoming isolated from the group.
• Killing another human being.
• Performing any task which is acquiescing to the to the Horror's need.
• Making a critical failure on a task.

Specific Horrors may inflict Marks for specific situations. A serial killer that haunts people's dreams may cause players to earn a Mark for every night they sleep. An otherdimensional, undefinable apparition may cause people to earn Marks for simply witnessing it. A haunted house may cause Marks for each time you open a door. Hordes of zombies may inflict Marks for every day you spend in hiding. And so on.

Ultimately, Marks will build up to a point where a GM will want to use them. Ultimately, Marks can be used in a wide variety of ways, but their ultimate purpose is to give players the sort of bad luck and situations that horror characters inevitably get themselves into. By expending a player's Marks equal to an attribute, the GM can inflict a minor Terror on them. If he spends Marks equal to twice an attribute, he can inflict a major Terror, and if he spends Marks equal to three times an attribute, he can inflict a catastrophic Terror. Terrors are meant to represent the moment in horror where something goes wrong. Let's say a player is fleeing from a pack of hungry, hungry zombies and the GM has decided to inflict a Terror on him (a particularly good moment to do so) using his Meat attribute (the attribute which governs physical actions). A minor Terror might be that suddenly he comes to the end of an alley, and there's a fence, and has to make a successful check to flee up the fence before the zombies get to him. A major Terror might be slipping and falling, and he has to engage in combat with a zombie or two to successfully flee again. A catastrophic terror is that he slips on a piece of trash and hits his head - at which point only another PC can save him. As a rule, minor Terrors tend to inflict more skill checks, skill checks with the potential to make the situation worse. Major Terrors tend to force a major error of one sort or another. Catastrophic Terrors essentially means the GM forces more or less whatever he likes on your character, whether that be injury, madness, or worse.

The only way to truly rid oneself of Marks (outside of Terrors) is to overcome the Horror. When the Horror is overcome, all Marks go away. At least until the next Horror.

More to come.