11 tabletop horror games for Halloween.

Greetings!

As Halloween is fast approaching I thought I would talk a bit about tabletop games that you can play this Halloween. They may not necessarily be inherently Halloween-themed games, but I think they will fill the purpose anyway. :)

So, let's get started! You can click on the heading for each game to get to a site where you can learn more about the game and buy it should you so wish.

Call of Cthulhu

The classic horror-themed tabletop role playing game from Chaosium. Comes warmly recommended. :) There are a lot of Cthulhu games out there, other than the classic Call of Cthulhu, so I am sure your gaming group will be able to find one that suits its need. H.P. Lovecraft's mythos is very popular.

Dread

Another strong contender is Dread, a tabletop role playing game that takes a slightly different approach to horror in its mechanics.Published by The Impossible Dream, it uses a tower of Jenga bricks, with the players drawing a brick each time they attempt to do something. The player can also refuse to draw, but then automatically fails whatever it was they were attempting to do. If the tower falls, the character dies, which helps add extra tension to the game play.

Arkham Horror

A horror themed board game from Fantasy Flight Games that I haven't had a chance to play myself but have heard a lot of good things about. Using the H.P. Lovecraft mythos to great effect. It's a game for 1-8 players.

Kult: Divinity Lost

The original Kult tabletop role playing game was a Swedish horror game from the early 90's. It is now getting a new edition courtesy of Swedish game-developer Helmgast (website is in Swedish). I am not sure if this has been released yet, but I wanted to put it in here anyway as I used to really like the old Kult game.

All Flesh Must Be Eaten

A tabletop role playing game in the survival horror genre from Eden Studios where you fight for your survival in a world where the dead has risen again. Pretty straight forward really.

Noctum

Noctum is a tabletop role playing game designed by Mischa L Thomas, and released through his company Wicked World Games 1.1 - although some sources claim that Mongoose Publishing has the 3rd edition of this game I have not been able to find anything about it on their website. Either way, while I haven't had a chance to play it myself yet, I do like the look of it and I have only heard people speak positively about it. Read up on it by following the link and if you like it I would suggest getting it. :)

Don't Rest Your Head

A tabletop role playing game from Evil Hat Productions where you all play as insomniac protagonists with super powers. Just make sure your character doesn't push him- or herself too far...

Curse of Strahd

Curse of Strahd for 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, made by Wizards of the Coast, have been a huge hit so far with the D&D community. It is classified as a Fantasy Horror game, and one I highly recommend.

Outbreak Undead

A zombie survival tabletop role playing game, from publisher Hunters Books. It presents itself as a "Zombie Survival Simulation RPG" on the website. I haven't tried this one myself, but it looks interesting and the few bits I have heard about it seems promising.

Slasher Flick

Are you a fan of movies such as Friday 13th, Halloween, and other such "slasher" movies? If so, then this tabletop role playing game from Spectrum Games might be what you are looking for.

Witch Hunter

Tabletop roleplaying game from Alligator Alley Entertainment, according to DrivethruRPG. I have unfortunately not been able to find an official website for the game, so the link leads directly to the DrivethruRPG webpage for it. I haven't looked at the second edition myself yet, but the first edition seem interesting. If you enjoy hunting demons and other things in the late 1600's (the first game is set in 1689, I think it was), then this is a game for you. It labels itself as a horror game, which is why it is on this list.


The links I have posted for these games go to the developer's website, with the exception of Witch Hunter where I couldn't find one. That one instead links to DriveThruRPG.

I know that Halloween isn't quite here for another week or so, but I wanted to compile this list in advance to give people a chance to look up these games in their own time and possibly decide on one they would like to play for Halloween with their friends.

See you all next time!

A look at a few tabletop roleplaying genres

Greetings!

Today, I thought I would talk a little bit about different genres in tabletop roleplaying games. If you are new to the world of tabletop roleplaying, then perhaps you think that it is all about wizards and warriors fighting against demons or dragons. That however, is not the case. The fantasy genre is but one of a multitude of genres that exist within the realm of tabletop roleplaying games.

I'll cover a few, but covering all of them is pretty much impossible as any type of setting or genre can be adapted for a tabletop roleplaying game. This is a subject I might return to later though in another post.

Fantasy

Let's start off with Fantasy. The classical setting, if you will. It's been a thing since Tolkien's days, and is probably the most popular roleplaying genre out there. There are a lot of different types of Fantasy though, for example:

• Dark Fantasy
• High Fantasy
• Low Fantasy
• Urban Fantasy

.. and many, many others. I included links in there to Wikipedia pages about the individual types of fantasy. Personally, I really like fantasy. It's a broad genre, that pretty much can cover almost anything. I mean, who doesn't want to be able to cast cool spells, or defeat a dragon with a sword? ;)

Some examples of Fantasy games include: Dungeons & Dragons (various editions, 5th being the latest) and Symbaroum (Swedish tabletop rpg which has gotten an english release. More leaning towards Dark Fantasy), 

Steampunk

Steampunk is a genre that I find very interesting. It is a good way to take a break from the 'standard' fantasy settings and look at something often a little bit different. I suppose it is 'technically' counted as a sub-setting of Fantasy, but I still want to give it its own section here. Steampunk games deal with the idea of steampowered technology, but taken to the next level. They also often include magic in the setting. 

Some examples of Steampunk games include: Iron Kingdoms (GREAT steampunk game, in my humble opinion) and Victoriana (Victorian age steampunk game with magic. Looks good but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.).

Horror

Horror is a genre that has been around a while. There are plenty of horror tabletop games out there, of varying kinds. Call of Cthulhu might be the most well-known, but there are others as well. It's a genre that I don't think requires much extra explanation beyond that.

Some examples of horror themed tabletop roleplaying games include: Call of Cthulhu and Dread (a slightly different take on normal roleplaying games in that it doesn't use dice and instead uses a tower of jenga-like bricks. Interested? You should be.).

Science Fiction

A very popular genre. People are probably familiar with things like Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, and many many other TV-shows, movies, books, etc that takes place in a sci-fi setting. 

Some examples from this genre include: several Star Wars games (too many to pick one to link to here, but if you search I am sure you will find one), Stars Without Number and Traveller.

Beyond these four, there are many other genres as well. Too many for me to cover here, in this post, but I might return to this subject in another post further down the line and there cover some other genres. Hopefully you will have found this somewhat helpful at least.

Until next time!