Okay, so I've been MIA for a few weeks. I was on a forced hiatus due to two factors: my new job and one vicious fucking cold. Between the two, I didn't have the time or energy to make blog posts. But, since my favorite holiday, Halloween, is fast approaching, I had to have some sort of horror post for the occasion.
Now some people celebrate Halloween by going to parties or taking their kids out trick-or-treating, perhaps watching horror flicks on television, which that's perfectly fine. But what if that's not your cup of witch's brew? Maybe you want to have a few friends over for a special game night. Now, there are plenty of options for tabletop gaming for Halloween. If you like board games, I seriously recommend Betrayal at House on the Hill and Zombies!!! Let's say, though, for the sake of argument, that you have a copy of Savage Worlds just begging for you to utilize for some All Hallow's Eve gaming. You're in luck, for this RPG has plenty of horror supplements that allow you to create the horror experience of your dreams. So let's take a look at the treasury of terror for Savage Worlds.
Let's say you don't have a lot of time and money to put together a campaign or you have players who've never played Savage Worlds before. Is there a horror filled Savage Worlds adventure that has all the components you need (including pre-generated characters and figure flats) for free? In short, yes. Just download The Wild Hunt, which was the test drive adventure Pinnacle put out for this year's Free RPG Day. The adventure takes a group of unrelated people thrown into a sleepy town that is under the thrall of a malicious spirit and his legion of zombies. It's completely self contained - all you need is the Savage Worlds rulebook, and is perfect for a quick one shot with little preparation.
If your players have already experienced the terror of The Wild Hunt and crave more zombie armageddon, look no further than Daring Entertainment's War of the Dead, which is a serial adventure of surviving a zombie outbreak. So far, three chapters have been released, covering almost 40 adventures, with a fourth chapter coming soon. War of the Dead is perfect for zombie fans looking for a long campaign.
Perhaps survival horror is not your bag. Perhaps you wish to subject your players to inevitable terror, death, and madness when they encounter the star born horrors from the works of H. P. Lovecraft. Then you should not hesitate to pick up Realms of Cthulhu from Reality Blurs. While the Call of Cthulhu RPG has been terrorizing players for decades, Realms of Cthulhu brings the minions of the Elder Gods to Savage Worlds. Whether you play in the classic era of the 1920s - 1930s or a more modern setting, you'll find plenty of cultists, forbidden texts, and creatures that defy human logic to add to your campaign. If you want to add more of an espionage element to your Lovecraftian horror (or to any modern horror campaign setting) you can also find plenty of use from Reality Blurs' latest (and long developed) setting, Agents of Oblivion. Many have said that you can create many different styles of campaigns, from an occult version of James Bond, to X-Files or Men in Black, which makes this product extremely versatile. Check out both of these titles.
Then again, your players may be less interested in monster investigating and more on monster hunting. If they also would like some Victoriana with their horror, then Pinnacle's Rippers is perfect. Imagine if the movie Van Helsing didn't suck, and you have something close to Rippers. Player take the role of Victorian era ladies and gentlemen of various nationalities and social strata who live a double life. By day, the go about their normal business. By night, they hunt the servants of a sinister organization known only as the Cabal. They gained the name Rippers from their use of Rippertech, which infuses the powers of the monsters they hunt into their bodies to give them an even playing field. However, as Nietzsche once said, "he who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster."
Regardless of which horror campaign you wish to use, any Savage Worlds gamemaster can make use of the brand new Horror Companion, which replaces the Horror Toolkits from the old edition. This handy book allows you to improve your games with new systems, tables, spells and gadgets, horror races for players (including one I've been interested in, the dhampyr), and other tools.
If you're planning on running a horror adventure for Halloween, or any other time, any of these products are a great idea. If you're interested in picking them up, make your way over to DriveThruRPG.com. You'll find them by clicking Savage Worlds in the Rule System drop down menu or typing them in the search bar. Hope you and your friends have a happy and haunted game session this Halloween.
If you're not the kind of person who prefers a little solo gaming, don't worry. I'll bring to light some of my favorite horror and Halloween video games tomorrow.
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