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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Are There Any "Legit" Old School / OSR Horror Settings?

Ravenloft was NOT a horror setting, no matter the trappings. It was more of a "horror fun house".

Tainted Lands for C&C looks like Ravenloft with a different set of paints.

Midnight (for 3e) is a dark setting, not horror.

Is there a horror setting for Old School gaming that I've missed?
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20 comments:

  1. maasenstodtOctober 30, 2013 at 8:39 AM

    The surest setting for horror that I can think of is that presented in Better Than Any Man.

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  2. Timothy S. BrannanOctober 30, 2013 at 9:36 AM

    I guess it depends on what you mean by horror.

    Dark Sun has a strain of post-apocalyptic survival horror in it.
    Same with SSS's 3.x Scarred Lands setting.
    There is Gaslight for d20 from Battlefield Pres and the AD&D and d20 Ravenloft Masque of the Red Death, all set in Victorian England.

    But for real Old-School horror you have have to move out of the D&D world into CoC or even Chill. Or just use those ideas in AD&D.

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  3. ChazOctober 30, 2013 at 10:10 AM

    Not necessarily a campaign setting, but many of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess modules are excellent for scary games. The God that Crawls, Better than Any Man, Death Frost Doom, etc.

    Also there is a guy writing a horror-hack for DCC RPG called Transylvanian Adventures. He's got a module on RPGNOW called "The Winter Home." Have not read it but it's reviewing well.

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  4. petespahnOctober 30, 2013 at 10:28 AM

    I've never read it, but I always hear Carcosa brought up when people start talking about fantasy horror.

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  5. Reverend DakOctober 30, 2013 at 10:35 AM

    It's pretty subjective, I have to say, since horror as a genre is so diverse. Torture? Gore? Zombies? Ghost? Scary monsters? I think a typical D&D adventure plays out as horror for the characters, maybe not so much for the players.

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  6. UnknownOctober 30, 2013 at 10:35 AM

    Now that I think about it, not really. However, I think that's because Call of Cthulhu dominated the horror genre and people didn't see a need or desire to make a D&D adaption.

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  7. mbeacomOctober 30, 2013 at 10:45 AM

    I quite like Tainted Lands, even if it doesn't quite meet what you're looking for. I think it's more than just a Ravenloft wannabe.

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    1. mbeacomOctober 30, 2013 at 10:55 AM

      Also, forgot to mention that this could be combined with the very dark stuff (spells/monsters/class) presented in Dark Libram of Nartarus. Also, there's some good stuff in the Freeport setting (insanity and what not). Which is also available for C&C.

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  8. James MishlerOctober 30, 2013 at 10:48 AM

    Goblinoid Games has the Realms of Crawling Chaos supplement for Labyrinth Lord. It presents the Cthulhu Mythos (or at least, that portion in the Public Domain) for use to run a Lovecraftian LL game. It is not really a setting, but makes it easier perhaps to create a true Horror setting for LL.

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  9. Sine NomineOctober 30, 2013 at 11:02 AM

    Quentin Bauer is doing Raiders of R'lyeh as Edwardian-era BRP-inspired old-school, and that's due out in a few months. My own Silent Legions for SWN is modern-day, but I'm not expecting to see that until Q2 next year or so.

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  10. Matthew MillerOctober 30, 2013 at 11:36 AM

    I'm not sure if there is such a thing as a horror "setting." Horror generally works best in mundane, familiar settings into which the horrifying element is injected.

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    1. TheShadowKnowsOctober 30, 2013 at 11:47 AM

      Agreed. Settings that set out to be self-consciously "scary" usually fail in my opinion. There's no contrast, so the horror elements lose their impact.

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  11. DesaOctober 30, 2013 at 12:16 PM


    Honestly, I don't know if a true horror setting is possible in roleplaying games. The main conventions of horror are isolation, life being cheap and almost impossible odds against the unknowable enemy. The teamplay, balanced rules of rpgs makes that very hard to do. Plus a lot of the effect of horror can get lost with a bad GM.

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  12. DerikBOctober 30, 2013 at 2:47 PM

    What about Jack Shear's Gothic Earth stuff?

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    1. David BaymillerOctober 31, 2013 at 9:23 AM

      goood one.

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    2. AnonymousNovember 2, 2013 at 10:57 AM

      Agreed, that is some scary stuff that can be adapted to most any game.

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  13. BlUsKrEEmOctober 30, 2013 at 8:39 PM

    I'd say Chill / Cryptworld would be your best bet. I've been a Chill fan for years, but I think I actualy prefer Cryptworld's generic approach. If you haven't read it it's worth checking out.

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  14. UnknownNovember 1, 2013 at 12:24 PM

    Check out our free to download adventure at www.RPGnow.com, search for Wrath of the Morning Star

    http://www.rpgnow.com/product/120697/Wrath-of-the-Morning-Star-Hargraves-Tavern

    We'd love to have your thoughts. Thanks!

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  15. Marvin the MageNovember 7, 2013 at 8:03 PM

    Scott Mathis just came out with Transylvanian Adventures for DCC RPG. It's horror in the Universal Monsters/Hammer Horror vein...

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  16. Marvin the MageNovember 7, 2013 at 8:03 PM

    Scott Mathis just came out with Transylvanian Adventures for DCC RPG. It's horror in the Universal Monsters/Hammer Horror vein...

    ReplyDelete