Horror: An Attitude, Not a Genre
box on the table in front of you ... or the spider that just dropped from the ceiling on to your back, right on that spot you can't reach with either arm, where you can feel it crawling, feel its hairs brushing against yours, but you just ... can't ... get it ... off?
No need to answer.
Fear comes not just from the unexplained but from the unexpected. In a Vampire: the Masquerade game, or an All Flesh Must Be Eaten game, players are expecting to be scared -- they're revved up for it, they're hyped for it, they've got their Yoohoos in hand and they're enjoying the show.
In a Dungeons and Dragons game, on the other hand ... or a Star Wars game ... or a DC Universe game ... they'll never see it coming. But there's no reason not to switch to horror for a scene or an adventure. Everyone gets scared -- including half-elven thieves, Jedi, and superheroes. If you DON'T use fear once in awhile, aren't you knocking the legs out from under your roleplaying experience?
So use it. Make that generic horde of zombies every D&D party comes across at least once really stand out -- take a page from the horror movies and emphasize the virulence of zombie-ism. It starts with one lone zombie, who bites a henchman or other NPC valued by the party. After he turns, he converts others ... and soon the party is surrounded by their former friends, colleagues, and loved ones, now the walking dead. In the Star Wars game, focus on the vicious potential of a Lord of the Sith -- imagine the evil he can inflict with those Dark Side powers. And in the DC Universe game? Bring out Doctor Destiny -- one read of the comic book "JLA: Midsummer's Nightmare," or the first arc of the Sandman comic, should show the possibilities there.
Above all else, remember: horror is a tool. It isn't a setting, it isn't a collection of monsters, it isn't a new set of rules. It's a way to approach the game.
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