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Shinizak
2011-09-24, 12:30 PM
So here's my problem, I have 2 good role players and 1 hack and slash player. unfortunately I want to run a supernatural horror game for Halloween, but hack 'n slash players don't mix with that genre. I know there are ways to incorporate horror and hack n' slash in the same adventures (because flat out forcing a player into a genre he doesn't like sucks). So, how do I run a hack 'n slash horror?

The Endbringer Xaraphim
2011-09-24, 12:55 PM
Ever see Alien? :D

Hack 'n slash plus horror needs to have combat, of course, but you need to make the players afraid at the same time. Be descriptive. Include all five senses. Put them up against something you made yourself so that they have no OOC knowledge to fall back on.

Isolate the characters from civilization somehow (weather, stranded in a desert/space derelict/etc). Don't show the monster(s) except by the occasional glimpse. Maybe it jumps out, snatches an NPC who was with them. Maybe the players don't notice this until much later.

Radar
2011-09-24, 02:02 PM
You could alternatively make it similar to zombie movies (or the second Alien movie): it's not like a single monster is unbeatable, it's just there are way too many mosters for the PCs to deal with - run and hide or be swarmed and die. In general, combat should be always possible (and sometimes inevitable), but dangerous and not that good of an idea (you use up amunition, risk getting killed or maimed, gain unwanted attention, if there are more monsters).

Movies, that might be relevant: Tremors, Predator (could be made into a horror), Planet Terror (for a typical zombie slash-fest; gore heavy).

Neverman
2011-09-24, 03:33 PM
You might also take the "Pyramid Head" route. Among many monsters that the PC's can handle, put one that even the hack'n'slasher needs to learn to fear.

dsmiles
2011-09-24, 05:03 PM
Movies, that might be relevant: Tremors, Predator (could be made into a horror), Planet Terror (for a typical zombie slash-fest; gore heavy).Alien, Aliens, Critters (bad horror, good action), CHUD, The Thing (John Carpenter version), They Live!, The Fog (again, John Carpenter version), and many more...

Steward
2011-09-24, 08:35 PM
The horror from a horror movie doesn't just come from the creatures that appear in it -- it comes from the helplessness that the main characters / audience feels. The main characters in the movie generally aren't especially strong, fast, or intelligent; they're just ordinary people who have to go toe-to-toe with zombies, mummies, vampires, etc. The hack-and-slash system weakens this effect since the PCs generally can actually dish out serious damage to the monsters. Horror movie protagonists can be overwhelmed and horrified by even one zombie; try throwing one zombie at a

One good way to balance things out more is to make use of supernatural abilities of the monsters. A fistfight with a zombie isn't that much different than a fistfight with a bank robber or a ninja. But if the bad guy can shapeshift or vomit up clouds of disease or drive the victims insane, that can ratchet up the tension. You don't want to go far as to create a situation where hack-and-slash is worthless but by giving the bad guys unconventional ways to attack the characters some of the time you create an environment where fighting is sometimes effective but not always.

Silus
2011-09-24, 09:14 PM
You might also take the "Pyramid Head" route. Among many monsters that the PC's can handle, put one that even the hack'n'slasher needs to learn to fear.

That's a bit tricky unless you stat it out to be a nightmarish deal. DR out the wazoo, enough SR to deal counter an Epic Wizard, that sort of thing.

Or just roll some dice and, regardless of the outcome of said dice, have a cutscene of sorts where the monster does something, well, monstrous.

"Oh my God! That thing just ripped that ogre's spine out through his full plate and chain shirt!"
"I think we should run now."