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Horror in pen and paper games is hard. It's like math. But both are worth mastering. Especially mathematical horror. Some systems are centered firmly on horror, but this meandering blog is more for the gamemaster out there that wants to add some scary spice to his traditional fantasy campaign. The techniques outlined below aren't the only way, but they are a way and it seems to have worked for me. On with the blog.
The number one key ingredient to running a good horror session is the same ingredient necessary for running any good session in my book: the players. Really good players can have an entertaining evening fighting their way out of a paper bag. But sadly, even a good gaming group may have troubles with horror. Why? Because horror requires mood and patience. Combat-focused players might very well find a well-executed horror segment to be boring. Or players that are more focused on rules. Role-players like horror the best. And even if your play group is up for the challenge a stray Monty Python reference can derail everything.
So all those caveats aside, how do you do it? I'm a great believer in Alfred Hitchcock's style of horror. A monster is much scarier when you never see it. So if you hear the monster's ominous heavy breathing, when you see the torn apart remains of a once valiant hero, or when the monster skitters around out of sight (a la Aliens) that's scary. That philosophy flavors everything below.
