Could A Tabletop Game be genuinely scary?

[robsaundersParticipant 1810xp 1]

I am a huge horror fan.  I love all types of horror from cheesy slasher movies, the cosmic horror of Lovecraft and the more visceral and psychological horror of films like The Exorcist or The Thing.

I know that there are genuinely scary movies, books and video games but do you think there is or could be a genuinely scare board games, RPG or miniatures game?  I know there A LOT of horror games (I wonder how many Cthulhu based games there actually are) but have any really given you the cold, spine chilling  that certain movies or novels can.

I have played some games where there is great tension built like the RPG Dread or the slasher inspired board game Last Friday and Escape The Aliens From Outer Space.

What do people think of this?  Has anyone ever played a game that has actually scared them?

[mageParticipant 20596xp 1]

Me? Kinda. Call of Cthulhu the RPG defo but that is down to the GM.

 

I played D&D Castle Ravenloft the boardgame. I guess if it was more horror themed it might be scarier and if the game had better AI for the monsters but as it stands, if it were more horror themed and difficult I imagine Kingdom Death kind of is.

[robsaundersParticipant 1810xp 0]

Yeah I guess with RPGs it all depends on the GM, doesn’t it?  I wonder if there are many games where the horror is part of the mechanics of the game rather than reliant on the people running/playing the game.  I think with genres other than RPGs this would be trickier as a good GM will make a horror game scary.

[somegeezer 18431xp 0]

Same here. One Call of Cthulhu game genuinely gave me that “reality falling away” feeling as the unspeakable horror is revealed. Just for a second but exactly as Lovecraft and his peers would describe in the books.

Between the quality of the writing and the storytelling ability of the GM it’s certainly possible.

[hobbyhubParticipant 4169xp 0]

I think the right environment would help, low level lighting, perhaps some sound effects and music to set the scene.
One could do a jump scare as a sound effect, eg unexpected scream.  Those sound board apps for RPGs seem to be quite good these days.

 

[sundancer 42985xp 0]

Can it be scary:

Boardgame – no

Miniature Wargame – no

Cardgame – NO!

RPG – If the DM is good maybe.

Conclusion: No, most games can’t be scary. They can be stressful and have a lot of tension but fear and scare are something completely different because fear and scare relies way to much on timing.

But that’s just my two…
BOOOOH!
see? No one got scared. 😉

[chaingunParticipant 1939xp 0]

Can a game be scary?

Have I genuinely been scared playing a game?

The answer to these questions is no, but @robsaunders you ask an interesting question which has got me thinking.

You mention the films, books etc you like and some games that gives you tension while playing. You have to ask yourself what makes the films / books scary for you, after all it’s only fiction.

This is is where I think it’s not been done in gaming as set of mechanics for a game, as our brains know that it’s only fiction and we are only playing a game and I think it’s that, that stops us from having that scary feeling.

Now, as others have pointed out RPG games are your best bet by having an excellent DM who creates the tension with low lights, ambient music / sound effects and if you can have a projector project images around the room. These ideas could work for board games and miniatures games but I really think not though.

So I think the bottom line in this is definitely no, based on game mechanics alone, however visual aid with sound effects will give a better experience. But again it’s all about tricking our minds.

[hobbyhubParticipant 4169xp 0]

What if a miniature moved by itself (or remotely) and your opponent wasn’t expecting it?

Would have to be a big miniature, and the setup for it would have to be just right….

 

[onlyonepinman 18062xp 0]

My own personal experience of this is no, they can’t.  I don’t personally find books or Boardgames to be scary because of the level of detachment between the player/reader and the medium.  I think TV, movies and videogames have a different (better?) level of immersion that enables fear to be generated that RPGs and Boardgames simply can’t achieve.  I do think that they can create tension but not actual fear.   For example the Space Hulk mechanic is very good at creating tension with its “roll 6 or die” mechanic.  You know, as the Space Marine player that if a genestealer gets in combat with you you’re toast.  At best the sergeants have a sort of 50/50 chance in melee but everyone else is likely to be cut to shreds. Your only hope is that you can roll a 6 on a D6 before the gribbly reaches your square; the closer your adversary gets the more tense it feels before you roll the dice.  However, as tense as it can be, it’s not fear.  You don’t feel fear for the life of the Marine,  or that you will witness some kind of grizly, violent death – you just take the model off the board.

[kiranamida 5791xp 1]

I think that most games would struggle to be truly frightening experiences because of the amount of control that they give players.

I would posit that most horror is predicated on a lack of control. Whether it’s creatures from beyond or a mad killer, most horror works as the protagonist has a lack of control over what is happening in the world around them and has limited agency against it. This anything-could-happen situation is what drives most scary situation and the question of what-if.

By design, a lot of games don’t have this as they have a codified set of elements and rules on how to use those elements, meaning the scope of what can happen is typically a finite thing. I agree that role playing games can get away from this with a good GM as that anything-could-happen vibe exists but with your typical board/card/war-game you have a known set of pieces and a known set of rules over what they can do. It’s hard to be scared of something if you know the limits of what it can do.

Addendum: and I don’t mean scared in the “that thing is scary because it could wipe out an entire squad sense”, I mean in the “oh god, oh god, what is going on, why is this happening, where did it go” sense.

[soulman 2945xp 0]

Most games workshop games are scary… I mean have you seen the prices..!!!!   my eyes bleed..

Creepy like  mansions of madness i would say….

[robsaundersParticipant 1810xp 0]

These are all great replies! Thanks.  I find it a really interesting subject,  I am fascinated with horror (mostly movies but I’ve recently got into Junji Ito’s horror Manga, after having no interest in Manga at all). Most of you are right that a board game or miniatures game could never be properly scary but I would be fascinated to see if someone could come up with something that could put the willies up you (that one is for @warzan )

[greyhunter88 1654xp 1]

I’d argue that an RPG certainly can, it just entirely depends on context.

A video game or movie is more thrilling or exhilarating, no doubt. There’s live feedback and response, there is sound design, jumpy visuals, etc. It doesn’t require much engagement from you, because you are kind of ‘trapped’ by the medium itself. You’re staring at a screen, wearing headphones.
You don’t have to give the game or movie permission to scare you, because you can’t help it. If it blasts some loud scream through your headset, it’s going to startle you.

A role-playing game is more collaborative. You have to go into it willing to suspend your own disbelief. If you aren’t willing to co-operate, there’s no way it can be scary. No more than a movie can be scary if you don’t look at the screen.
Things suggested here like music, low lights, and the sort, are all aids to immersion, because they help remove real world distractions and let you put more focus into the game itself, which in turn makes it easier for you to ‘turn your mind off’.

Horror entirely depends on this engagement. This ‘contract’ between viewer and source. RPG’s by nature tend to be more loose in this regard, because you are sitting around a table, eating snacks, with your best friends, etc. The most emotional scene can be interrupted in an instant by someone getting up to grab a drink or making an off-colour joke. If you view other products in the same environment, they’re equally unintimidating.

I produce, distribute, and license genre (mainly horror) movies for a living. I promise you, that of the hundreds I watch every year, not a single one of them is even remotely scary when we’re sitting around in the office playing it on the TV. At BEST you’ll get the collective “Ooooooh” when something gross happens, but that’s it. Sitting around the office table, eating lunch and riffing about the movie is the same kind of environment most people are in when playing RPG’s.

That being said, I’d say my RPGs are about 75% ‘horror’ themed. Have I ever genuinely scared my players? No. Of course not. None of them actually feared for their lives or anything, just like nobody in a theatre is actually really ‘scared’.
Have we gotten goosebumps, or the chills, or jumped at noises? Hell yea. I’ve played World of Darkness around the campfire in the woods, far from civilization, and I promise you that once players really get hooked, and allow themselves to feed off of the environment and the other players, it can be close to what you’d call “scary”.

Is that partly because being out in the woods at night is eerie? Of course. So is being in a dark room. So is facing a bright screen in a dark room, wearing noise-cancelling headphones and wondering if something is moving around behind you right that very second.
Having played in the woods, in old trailers, in abandoned apartments, and in other strange places, I can tell you that playing RPGs there is certainly a lot scarier than hanging out there and talking, so in my books I’d say that counts.

Your mileage may vary, as with everything, and of course some people will genuinely lack the ability to engage with their imagination in a way that would allow them to feel real emotions in something like a game, but they can definitely be just as scary as any other form of entertainment in certain conditions.

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