Like any genre, horror is well-trod and full of cliches and standard tropes (things which show up a lot). You've got your vampires, your werewolves, your stalkers and slashers, your evil children, your Things From Beyond. Every horror standard risks becoming cliche -- and with the big ones, as a GM you risk repeating ideas your players may already be familiar with. If that's deliberate, it's one thing -- that's a lot of the appeal of Call of Cthulhu, after all, roleplaying in a horror world that's been around since the 1920s. But if it isn't -- if you set out to "update" the vampire legend, for instance, by making vampires descendents of Caine, the first murderer ... and you don't realize White Wolf beat you to it with their Vampire: the Masquerade game ... your game isn't going to go the way you want.
What's your best defense? Familiarize yourself with the genre. Let's start with the books: the major works of the field, the standard-bearers, if you will. This time around, we’re going to focus on …
Stephen King. King’s written all over the horror map. If you’re a horror fan, you’ve certainly read something by him – a lot of people, for some reason, “outgrew” him some years back, but I really recommend looking into his recent books. Once he ran out of horror standards to rewrite, he really started to stretch himself: Bag of Bones is easily my favorite ghost story.
Must-reads:
- The Shining – don’t just watch the movie (although it’s very good, too), read the book. King’s take on the haunted house story, and a masterful look at the horror and claustrophobia of isolation.
- Salem’s Lot – King does vampires, and does them well. Still one of my favorites, and very useable for gaming. King is best when he’s writing about communities, which is good news for gamers. You can get your players ready for a Salem’s Lot game in twenty minutes: pick your favorite “generic” or modern-day system (I find GURPS and Everway work very well for Stephen King – give the players 100 points or less for GURPS, and don’t allow any magical powers for Everway) and have the players make regular people. A high school student, the town doctor, the local constable, a visiting author. Take it a step further, if you like, and have them play themselves. Now move the villains from the novel into town …
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