Horror

[Mister Andersen]

Delta Green? The Void Engineers?

[Gentry]

I'd also like to include a sort of government paramilitary Special Ops team (like UNIT http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIT) who get called in if some Great Old One comes bursting through a dimensional gate. Maybe the VAO could cover that requirement ?

Yeah, the VAO's probably got you covered on that front.   

[snake]

Cool, with backup like DG and VAO, how can my PCs go wrong ?

Now, something for them to fight. For my first Horror mission, I'm thinking about this type of monster:

Human/Reptillian Hybrid. Created by a sinister Hidden race. Originally human but genetic engineered by a retro-virus. Test subject for an evil colonisation project.   

Can hold breath and stay underwater for long period (in Sewer). Thick scaley armour. Can take a bit of fair damage.

A tragic creature in the mold of Frankensteins Monster. Reduced Intelliegence but still partly human. Goes Beserk. Hatred of the Hidden race who transformed him. Escaped from Lab, hides in Sewer, catches and devours passersby. Strikes quickly in combat.

Any chance you could help me flesh the creature out please Gents ?? Fancy a bit of a Challenge ??

Heres what I come up with so far:

Standard NPC - ? XP

Init VII; Atk VIII; Def VII; Resilience VI; Damage Save: VIII; Competence: II, Skills: Notice   ?, Survival ?;
Qualities: all thumbs, damage reduction ?, fast healing, fearsome, feral, improved scent, natural attack (claw ?  and bite  ? )

Thanks

[Mister Andersen]

Voormis Degenerate (standard NPC - 104 XP).
Attributes: Str 16, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 6
Sz: L (1×1, Reach 1); Spd: 30 ft.
Grades: Init VII; Atk VIII; Def VII; Resilience VI; Health: VIII;
Comp: — ; Skills: Notice IV, Sneak VII, Survival IV
Qualities: All thumbs, darkvision, diving, fast healing, fearsome, feral, improved sense (scent), nocturnal, thick hide II, tough II
Attacks/Weapons: Bite I (dmg 1d6+3 lethal, error 1-2, threat 18-20, AP 4), Claw III (dmg 2d4+3 lethal, error 1, threat 18-20)

[snake]

Awesome. Spot on. Love that claw damage. Thanks. Mr .A.

Its ironic too. Don't know if you guessed but the Hidden Race are the Serpent Men of Voormis fame anyway. 

In my Mission, disguised as humans, the Serpent Men are behind a sinister Biotech Corporation.
Their plan is to transform humans to their kind but the first test subject is a failure, turms into a savage killing machine and escapes into the sewers where he is hunted by the PCs (or maybe he hunts them ??)

Here's the monsters stomping ground http:// http://Http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1560485.ece

[Mister Andersen]

The origin of the creature had indeed ocurred to me

[snake]

Cool. I though so.

Has anyone got any preferences on Classes for a Horror game ?. The SC rulesbook lists these as Common Classes:

Explorer, Pointman, Scientist and Snoop (and they fit perfectly)

I think I'd add these as possibilities:

Sleuth.  Maybe either an Investigative Journalist, stumbling across horrifying truths or a Police Detective or Private Eye, finding that the murderer they are hunting is not all that human.......
Examples are Carl Kolchak from the Night Stalker, Tom Crane from the Omega Factor, Dt Sgt Michael Colefield from Ultraviolet and the Police officiers in the Wolfen)     

More to follow..................

(By the way, anyone ever see the UltraViolet TV series ?? I though it was agreat idea and started very well but seemed to fizzle out http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_(TV_serial))

[Mister Andersen]

The final ep was ver much a mythos infodump designed to wrap the series up if (as it turned out) there wasn't a second season, while leaving the way open if there was one.

As to classes, pretty much any class works for the genre on a larger level.

[snake]

I think you are right about the classes, still its fun to run through them and relate them to examples in  Horror fiction.

I've been thinking too about Horror Campaigns. The default era for Horror in the SC rulebook is the Modern day but its cool some times to run Horror in other eras, anytime from the distant past to the far Future.
 
To reflect this, I think I'd add the Historical Campaign Quality to the list of possible Qualities. This should allow games set in foggy, gaslit Victorian London, 1920s New England and on the dark frontier of an intergalactic empire.   

Speaking of alien horrors, I found this site quite interesting http://http://www.cthulhurising.co.uk/
 

[MugMug]

More importantly adding this movie recommended Black Sheep, which I had somehow forgotten entirely about after seeing the trailer. That went straight to spot number 1 in the que (and, conveniently, I just popped a movie in the mail today). Who doesn't have fun poking gentle fun at Wolvie and his Kiwi mates?

We watched the movie last night. Cheesy schlock, aware of its own state, and more fun for it. The best part: my two-year old running around the living room yelling "No sheep! No sheep!"

(That is, btw, why with every movie we watch we display subtitles.)

Walter

[Crafty_Pat]

I drove 30 miles to see Black Sheep in a theater - and it was entirely worth it. 

[glimmerrat]

More importantly adding this movie recommended Black Sheep, which I had somehow forgotten entirely about after seeing the trailer. That went straight to spot number 1 in the que (and, conveniently, I just popped a movie in the mail today). Who doesn't have fun poking gentle fun at Wolvie and his Kiwi mates?

We watched the movie last night. Cheesy schlock, aware of its own state, and more fun for it. The best part: my two-year old running around the living room yelling "No sheep! No sheep!"

(That is, btw, why with every movie we watch we display subtitles.)

Walter

A two year old?! Dude, there's some high octane nightmare fuel if ever i saw some... 

[MugMug]

A two year old?! Dude, there's some high octane nightmare fuel if ever i saw some... 

That's how the Mug-family rolls. Does breaking out the sheepskin at bedtime make me a bad father?

Walter

[ThunderMonkey]

Cool. What about Action Dice with Elder Signs carved on them ??

(playing catch up)

At that point you're just messing with your players.


For inspirational character archtypes.... I would recommend the defunct series "Threshold". Although it dealt mainly with an alien threat, you could see how the various roles and "specialties" could fit into a RPG.

[Krensky]

Cool. What about Action Dice with Elder Signs carved on them ??

(playing catch up)

At that point you're just messing with your players.


For inspirational character archtypes.... I would recommend the defunct series "Threshold". Although it dealt mainly with an alien threat, you could see how the various roles and "specialties" could fit into a RPG.

Complete with a character who's almost pulled from a joke about min/maxing.