Dark Fudge
The Five Basic Rules of Horror Movies
This is my short, quick rules for running a horror movie based RPG, using a modified version of the Fudge rule set, generally as a one- or two-shot game. The reason "movie" is emphasized has to do with a distinct difference between the sort of horror that the written genre has versus the sort of horror that the cinematic genre has. While there are no hard and fast rules, and any general statement will turn out to be false, the following common "laws" of horror movies will be held as moderately sacred to this game. They do not have to be used, but using them will add to the flavor. Sure, since they are broken on a regular basis, or highly modified, the word "law" is inappropriate, but I just like being a smartass.
- The Law of Horror Movie Averages: Characters, no matter how skilled or how normal, will generally be about equal while fighting horror. This means that housewives can, and often will, trump trained soldiers when it comes to defending their children. This also means that a lazy punk teenager will probably end up shooting better than a cop when the time comes for it.
- The Law of Horror Movie Parsimony: Things are rarely introduced for no reason in horror movies. If a character is shown to have a particular skill, say the ability to hold their breath for a long period of time, then that character will need that skill at the end of the movie to save the day. If a character is shown working on a vehicle at the beginning of the movie, that particular car will probably be used to kill the monster.
- The Law of Horror Movies as Responsible Media: Even in the midst of a splatterpunk movie with gore all over the place, the movie will probably still hold to a sense of morality. Most people who die will die because of a personal failing. They fail to follow common sense. They engage in carnal acts. They kick puppies.
- The Law of Horror Movie Irony: Many horror movies revolve around something not being what it seems or some object being used in a way it was never intended to be used. The most painfully overused version of said law is when the characters think they have conquered the beast but the audience is given a glimpse to the fact that the beast still lives. Another way this often used is with characters that seem trustworthy turning out to be evil, or characters who seem to be a waste of space turning out to be one of the best people in the tri-state area. This is often combined parsimony as a way to sort of "anti-foreshadow" the ending by introducing something that turns out to be used in a wholly unexpected way.
- The Law of Horror Movie Law Breaking: Of course, what makes horror into horror is the fact that seemingly unbreakable rules can go right out the window. Something foreshadowed at the beginning as being the tool to take down the killer turns out not to work as planned. A person who seems like he will turn out evil actually does. Occasionally the sweet, dedicated virgin gets chopped up, too. The horror movies that use these law breaks strategically work the best.
The Basic Types of Horror Movie
There are about as many sub-genres of horror as there are horror movies, but there are some basic types that can work out well for a game such as this one.
- The Slasher: The most basic horror movie type. A group of people, most often teens, are chased around by a single killer who kills them, one by one, in generally creative ways. Works as a genre best when the deaths are inventive and unexpected.
- The Slasher Sequel, or the Supernatural Slasher: Since most slashers end with the killer being killed, the slasher sequel usually adds a twist--a new killer that does not die so easily. This can be, and often is, a resurrected version of the original killer with stronger powers and who is much harder to kill. The sequel usually has more skilled characters, a weaker plot, and a tendency to forget important aspects of the first movie. Some slashers start out at this level.
- Town's Dirty Secret: Some killer was killed years ago or some innocent person died for no reason. Something happened a decade or a century ago and is coming back, this night, to get its revenge. Can actually be a quite strong subgenre, and usually invokes elements of the slasher genre mixed in with its own flavor.
- The Curse: Characters have to survive against a series of nonpersonal events. Due to bad karma, the universe as a whole seems out to get them. Overall, follows the plot of a slasher (inventive deaths and a dwindling number of characters), but may or may not have a central antagonist. If it does have a central antagonist, killing them will remove the curse.
- The Spirit: A form of the curse in which the curse and the antagonist are the same thing. An malevolent spirit haunts and attempts to destroy the characters. Usually not as formulaic as the creature feature (mentioned below) but shares several properties with it.
- The Disease: The curse is a disease that will kill the characters. A countdown game with no happy ending.
- Torture Porn: The extreme end of the slasher genre, where it meets hard with the gore genre. The people being killed tend to be attractive and oversexed. The forms of death tend to have a sexual element tied in. Foul language is used. Lots of gore.
- Gore/Splatterpunk: Usually not a simple slasher but quite often a complex look at violence that often focuses just as much or more on the killer as it does on the victims. Most of the horror is generated by long, drawn-out death scenes. Makes this a hard genre to play correctly.
- The Mostly Empty Room: Characters wake up in a room that is mostly empty, at least that's the classic form. The storyline mostly revolves around characters having to play a game of cat and mouse with the killer. Usually the room or the area has a puzzle like element to it, and the game is about solving the puzzles before you die.
- The Labyrinth: Characters are trapped in a maze of some sort. A cross between the slasher and the mostly empty room subgenres. This maze could be catacombs, sewers, or a city whose doors are locked. Survival is largely about moving fast and relying on luck.
- The Chase: Related to labyrinths. Characters are in a vehicle (or series of vehicles) and try to outrun a badguy who is in the same. The killer is often not seen to the end.
- The Anti-Oasis: Characters stop off for the night at some motel or at a stranger's house. Surviving the night (dawn almost always means something like salvation, though keep in mind the Law of Irony) usually involves the characters using the killers' own lair against him. Strong elements of the labryinth show up, but involves less running and more hiding and planning.
- The Haunted House: A version of the anti-oasis in which the killer is supernatural, almost always a demon or ghost. The start of the story is usually more about voluntarily entering the house. The two classic endings are fleeing the house or vanquishing the evil and watching the house crumble upon itself.
- The Creature Feature: An honest to goodness monster is after the characters. It is almost always a single monster, of immense power, but who has one particular weakness. The game would mostly involve finding out and using this weakness before everyone dies.
- The Nemesis: A subgenre of the creature feature subgenre. Characters are hunted by a creature that can probably only be stopped by killing its owner. Involves a much stronger labyrinth element than most creature features.
- The Cult: The machinations of a cult lead the characters on a goose chase to try and stop them. Involves red herrings and betrayals, as well as a good sense of paranoia.
- The Clan: The creature is a series of creatures, usually a family, that team up to fight the characters. Usually the characters, akin to an anti-oasis, are trapped in the lair or homeland of the clan.
- The Machine: The creature is a machine or series of machines created by either an accident or for evil intent. Overall plays out just like a creature feature but has a slightly different flavor.
- The Swarm: A huge number of small things attacks people. Individually not that bad, but as a whole involves quite a bit of trouble. Classic swarm movies involved animals going crazy, though movies involving, say, a group of children that turn evil can also work by swarm rules.
- Science Horror: A mix of creature feature and labyrinth horror. On a space ship, or alien planet, characters must continously evade some alien creature or result of science gone bad.
- Action Horror: Usually mixes in aspects of SH. Stronger and more physically able characters battle it out with a creature in an environment that offers a good degree of interactivity.
- Demonic Possession: A character, or a friend/relative of a character, is demonically obsessed, possessed or otherwise controlled. Flavors of creature feature mixed in with puzzlelike elements of saving the friend/relative while getting rid of the creature. Teddy bears will try and kill you. Windows will shatters. Priests might be involved.
- Descent into Hell: Sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally. A town/house/region is the new home of a spawning horror. Everyone is going crazy or people are changing into something horrific. This subgenre is isolationist. Characters are trapped inside the region by some mystical power, or the army quarantines them in. Conditions get worse as time goes on.
- The Plaques: A descent into hell that most often uses biblical imagery. A series of "plagues" or other strange events takes over a small region, driving the people insane and leading to a lot of collateral damage. Has a sense of counting down, with the final plague (often a tenth one) being the end. Sometimes this means that the plagues are over and survived and sometimes this means that the world is wiped out.
- Survival Horror: One of the best of the descent into hells. The world/region is taken over by a plague, usually spawning zombies, that are unstoppable. It is no longer a matter of vanquishing the evil, but surviving for indefinite periods of time. A hopeless genre that has a lot of other elements in place. Other survivors might try and kill the characters. Running through deserted cities might be required. Some SH elements and action elements fit well inside surival horror.
- The Apocalypse: A descent into hell in which something bad happens to everyone. Not usually used as a horror but can be used in a sense. Some apocalyptic storylines are staged as only the first step into an even worse descent into hell. These are definitely usable as horror.
- Journey of Dark Discovery: An investigation (amateur or otherwise) involves increasingly weird events eventually reaching a climax where the protaganist turns out to be part of the evil. Probably best for a single character game.
Written by W Doug Bolden
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