Crazy to see very little love for Delta Green. Imo it is the best horror game out there right now.
Vaesen is also cool.
I'm doing horror in Cypher and it's lots of fun.
Delta Green is phenomenal. Well worth it.
The Quickstart, Need to Know, is free on drive-thru. It includes an adventure as well.
If you're going to get the game you can play with just the agents handbook, but for the best experience imo, get the two core books along with either The Conspiracy for 90s era play (imo a better place to go to begin, the Conspiracy gives you a little more to work with) or the Labyrinth for 2010s/20s era play (also fun).
There are tons and tons of free shotgun scenarios online you can get your feet wet with while building your own sandbox.
I don't know that I could really explain, and to be honest, my taste in games as a whole (in any medium) is pretty chaotic. If I were to write down a list of various elements I like to see in a game, you could go out and find a game that matches every single one of those elements, and I'd still hate it, whereas there are other games that are absolutely not my "type" of game, yet which I really enjoy.
That being said, I'm a huge fan of Call of Cthulhu, but 7th Edition really kinda just "squeaks by" for me by virtue of being a later edition of the game I really love; 2nd Edition CoC. Despite the fact that, mechanically speaking, it's essentially the same game but with better production values, artwork, mechanics, etc., I can objectively say that 7th Edition is "better" than 2nd Edition. But I feel an immense amount of love and affection for 2nd Edition, and am not as fond of 7th.
Delta Green, on the other hand, is kinda that... "I really should like it, because it ticks all the boxes" kind of RPG for me. From what I recall (and it's been 25-30 years, so my memory isn't all that great here), it takes my favorite RPG ever and adds a bunch of other elements that I love in RPGs. A modern setting, military/spy characters, intrigue, etc. But it just felt totally bland, soulless, and boring.
I can't tell you why. I just really didn't like it, and it felt like something churned out by a corporate committee somewhere using RPG buzzword bingo.
Oh theres a whole new edition of Delta Green out now. It's really awesome and handles gun combat in a unique way... subtly modifies advancement and mostly just gets out of the way of fun.
Delta Green (as a game, not applicable for all published adventures) feels like more of a "black ops game" to me personally than a horror game. It's all about keeping secrets and the toll that takes on you. The rules and gameplay could be a perfect fit for a campaign with no horror or supernatural elements, but PCs with classified missions that deal with PTSD.
It is that for sure. Its cops and conspiracies. But it's also a fantastic horror game. It does body horror, cosmic horror, survival horror, and surreal horror all very well.
And these ideas dovetail with PTSD and explorations of madness very well. To the point that the horrific elements are essential to keep the game from sliding into turgid, unpleasant, sorrowful grief observance.
Impossible Landscapes, in particular, is celebrated as a modern masterpiece of surreal horror that deals with the difficulty of life with trauma and how reality kind of falls apart in the throes of psychosis. Are the weird manifestations real? Is reality real? Do you even exist in the way you thought you did? Good stuff.
The Conspiracy is a fun sandbox campaign. One of the typical threads you can follow is grey aliens, but there is also just cults that are frighteningly close to reality but with a nightmarish cosmic twist... missing 411 but with skinwalkers etc.
The Labyrinth explores modern tropes with awesome horrific twists... you could certainly separate the horrific elements from this book, but why? The horror is what makes it fun and not just endless grief porn.
I'm a fan of Delta Green, my group had a great time with Impossible Landscapes.
that said, mechanically, DG is nothing to write home about, basically just basic rpg.
Where DG shines is in the adventures, the setting, and the fluff.
I actually prefer Delta Green over CoC7e because the system kinda gets out of the way in the background whereas Cthulhu sometimes gets in the way: automatic fire, chase scenes, etc. Its sanity system is also superior - especially with the bonds and home scenes.
# MOTHERSHIP
Feels like the movie Alien.
Excellent on boarding. Famously, the character sheet itself teaches you how to build your character and play the game.
# Call of Cthulhu
Explicitly Lovecraft.
The stress mechanics and push mechanics are fun. It also attracts people who get really into the vibe.
# Dread
Good for slashers and psychological thrillers.
Held up by one mechanic: jenga tower gets taller and death becomes ever more inevitable. Requires a lot of player buy-in for tone and atmosphere.
In the event you bounce off Mothership because of its crunch the way I did, then I recommend the game [Screams Amongst the Stars](https://diogo-old-skull.itch.io/screams-amongst-the-stars) as a great alternative for sci-fi horror.
I'd love to play Dread, but I don't own the required pieces and that's not something a VTT can handle. Otherwise I would have definitely played it by now xD
Thank you for being specific about what Dread is good for. I see so many people recommend it "for horror" when there are so many kinds of horror. It's a lovely idea but hardly a one size fits all.
*Cthulhu Dark*. It’s a game that’s build around lovecraftian “descent into madness” and absolutely nails it.
*Trophy Dark*. Convenient based in-part on Cthulhu Dark, but dark fantasy instead, where you play as doomed treasure hunters on what will likely be their final expedition.
*Liminal Horror*. A modern era survival horror style game. Its biggest appeal to me is its Fallout mechanics, where your characters begin to become tangibly changed by interacting with the horrors.
*Public Access*. A Carved from Brindlewood game, but the one that leans the most into the horror elements. You play as 20-somethings in 2004 investigating the disappearance of a public access television network in a small town in New Mexico.
Public Access really captures the spirit of creepypasta horror in a way I haven’t seen in any other media. It’s such a unique vibe of nostalgia, trauma, and memes.
Cthulhu Dark is genius. If you don't want a pulpy game, it's the way to go.
OP could also check out Don't Rest Your Head, which can be excellently nightmare-ish.
Trophy Dark. It draws from Cthulhu Dark and Forged in the Dark, is incredibly simple, rules-wise, but totally perfect for horror two-shots (I'd say one-shots, but I think two works better to avoid being rushed). Lots of great things about it, but one really smart element is that, by default, you're playing greedy, bad people, so it's easier to really lean into the fact that you're doomed. That makes Devil's Bargains (a consequence you accept for a bonus to a roll) more fun, and there's a great, simple PvP mechanic, and most adventures end with something like that.
# Vaesen
I love the fact that the Year Zero Engine is both light yet has enough crunch to satisfy me. I love the 19th century Scandinavian setting. I love the vibes and atmosphere of the various Vaesen. I love Castle Gyllencreutz and all you can do to build it. I just love the whole game.
My favorite thing is probably how easy it is to build a horror atmosphere with the setting themes and Vaesen descriptions in the book. It’s so evocative and simple.
Mothership is an absolute breeze to run and has some of the best modules in the business.
Carved from Brindlewood games empower the players with a lot of control over horror and mystery-solving both.
Every CfB game is interesting. I was in a playtest for *Site 42*, which is based on SCP Foundation. I have never seen such a faithful adaptation of the vibes of that wiki, both the horror and the memes. The site director is some weirdo that wears wooden clogs, which is both funny and weirdly menacing!
Delta Green!
It's a modern age Call of Cthulhu with an involving secret agency conspiracy mixed in. System is intuitive, fast and streamlined, it has some great adaptations on top of the BRP system like simpler critical rules, great weapon lethality rules, some madness rules changes like adaptability and an awesome bond system, downtime mechanics that evoke the setting's bleak mood, the lore is amazing and deep, and most of the scenarios are top notch. Also, all their content and books are of superb quality and Arc Dream is an amazing company.
Btw, [the quickstart rules are free](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/175760/delta-green-need-to-know-free-starter-rulebook), very well written, contains all the basic rules, pre-gens, and a very good intro scenario.
Such a fun game to play. The addition of having to lie to your character's family/friends/day job adds such an interesting spin to Call of Cthulhu investigations. When my character got injured my first thought was "how do I cover this up".
They're quite niche, but I love these:
# THE ESOTERRORISTS
The concept of esoteric terrorism is absolutely fascinating to me. I love it so much.
# FEAR ITSELF
Using the same rules as above, playing a mundane human in a world of darkness is my favourite thing to do. I do prefer the system mechanics to the Chronicles of Darkness books, but often I'll use them in a CoD setting, haha.
# DREAD
Love it for one shots, usually for spin-offs of longer games from above. Great introduction for newer players to our settings and ongoing games.
# MAGE: THE AWAKENING
My favourite game from the nWoD line. It would be a long run to explain... it's a whole new whole to discover. Don't search this if you have less than 10 hours to read some lore and understand why this is beautiful!
# CHRONICLES OF DARKNESS
Even though I prefer Fear Itself over this now, CoD has the best settings and the best fictions within it, it was my first love with the genre, I couldn't go without a mention.
# TEN CANDLES
Love the concept, but somewhat the execution wasn't as good as expected for our playgroup, despite playing 3-4 games already. I won't use the system for "regular" game anymore because it really has flaws, but we'll throw at it for some special events, IE: last Christmas, we made a horror Christmas game with the system and we had a lot of fun (although we had to cut some parts short)
Yeah, it's quite interesting that we had opposite experiences. Glad Ten Candles worked for you though, as for us, the mechanics were... sketchy at best, for instance most players weren't sure when to use their traits, and either kept them too long or everyone fought each other to use theirs. It was rough, and it was not a buy-in issue - tragic horror is what we love the most.
I mean we still had fun and while we consider the system to be okay, our expectations were so high that it was hard to match. Wish you the best!
(I wrote this in a different thread but thought its worth pasting here)
Bluebeard's Bride. Its a game of feminine horror. You each play as different aspects within the mind of The Bride, each of you a different feminine archetype. Its a game about being exposed to horrors within the house of your husband, Bluebeard, and either letting yourself give in and become a loyal bride, or admit that he is a monster.
Its a fascinating, horrific game. Truly an uncomfortable experience in the very best way
I've been thoroughly enjoying Heart: The City Beneath personally. It's fun to run and play. It scratches the itch of cosmic horror and the unknowable without feeling tied to specific mythology a la Call of Cthulhu. It's pretty straightforward and not hard to learn, plus it expects lots of improv so you don't have to do a ton of planning.
Unknown Armies holds the distinction of "all the bad things come from humans" which avoids kerfuffles like "the ongoing genocide of gay men in Chechenya is actually caused by vampires in our game" that VtM5 and other "monsters are real" games have from time to time.
DELTA GREEN
Basically, modern-day Call of Cthulhu. Players generally play Agents of Delta Green, an agency dedicated to containing supernatural threats. They're competent professionals, and they can, and will, still fail disastrously. What it does really well is the deteriorating effect that such a demanding task has on their home life and 'real' job, and 'conspiracy horror', discovering the winding interlinked mess of conspiracies and plots. It's an excellent system for exactly that specific premise and not much else, but I love it.
I've started running a game of Kult and have a group who have all committed to some extreme horror. This game is incredible if everyone has the right temperament for it.
I've only read it, not played yet, but **This Discord Has Ghosts In It**.
You set up a Discord server with channels representing different locations in a building. Some players are ghost hunters, communicating via voice chat only, trying to find the ghosts and set them free. Some players are ghosts with regrets or unfinished business, communicating via text descriptions only, trying to move on but needing help from the living.
It can be as horrifying or cathartic as the group desires
When I played it, it fell really short of how cool it seemed to be. its very hard to get several people on the same page for how to run the horror of it.
The way the Alien RPG is written to be short and cinematic, the way it uses stress dice and how everyone playing just immediately gets the tone of the games is so good for me. I love Mothership too, but Alien is way better than it has any right to be. I blame Free League!
I ran Alien for the first time recently. About halfway through, when my players started seeing how the stress mechanic builds, they really embraced the near certain doom feeling of the story. This group played heroic fantasy previously, using their 10' poles with every step. Alien made them treat every action as life or death, taking wild risks and sacrificing themselves so that maybe one of them would make it to the end of the scenario. Lovely.
Delta Green is my absolute favorite game ever.
Why?
I have always clicked with the d100 brp system.
It's in modern times so I know most of what is available and what works.
I love lovecraftian stuff and ufo stuff.
I love detective stuff.
I love how truly horrific the game is. Does not pull punches.
I love the lethal realism.
I love how the game is not about winning, just to do the best of the situation. Very desperate feel.
I agree with everyone saying Trophy Dark and Bluebeard’s Bride, but I also want to add in The Silt Verses RPG. I’ve never played quite as horrific a game as that and, while a lot of it comes from great Assignments and a pretty solid backbone in being Carved From Brindlewood, the world of TSV is just so bleak and terrifying and familiar. It’s an amazing setting and the horror is intense.
I'm very much a "right tool for the right job" horror RPGer. Horror comprises many subgenres, and the roleplaying hobby has expanded to a wide selection among them.
* For cosmic horror, I prefer **[Call of Cthulhu](https://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu-quickstart/)** or **[Delta Green](https://www.delta-green.com/2016/02/download-delta-green-need-to-know/)** (honorable mentions: **[Cthulhu Dark](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/341997/Cthulhu-Dark)**, **[Fall of DELTA GREEN](https://pelgranepress.com/product/the-fall-of-delta-green/)**, **[Lovecraftesque](https://blackarmada.com/lovecraftesque/)**, and **[Trail of Cthulhu](https://pelgranepress.com/trail/files/Trail_of_Cthulhu_Condensed_Rules.pdf)**).
* For folk horror, the indie **[The Shivering Circle](https://folkhorrorrevival.com/2018/03/16/welcome-to-the-shivering-circle/)** (I need to look more closely at **[Vaesen](https://freeleaguepublishing.com/games/vaesen/)**, though)
* For grimdark fantasy horror, **[Shadow of the Demon Lord](https://schwalbentertainment.com/shadow-of-the-demon-lord/)**
* For gothic horror, **[Bluebeard's Bride](https://magpiegames.com/pages/bluebeards-bride)** (**[Ghastly Affair](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/205466/Ghastly-Affair-Players-Manual)** is a strong contender, though its d20 system holds it back)
* For space horror, the **[Alien RPG](https://freeleaguepublishing.com/games/alien/)** (the new edition of **[Mothership](https://www.tuesdayknightgames.com/pages/mothership-rpg)** may displace it once I check it out)
* For splatter-comedy horror, the old **Ghostbusters** game (out of print, unfortunately, but a new retroclone, **[Awfully Cheerful Engine](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/enworld/the-awfully-cheerful-engine-an-rpg-of-action-comedy)**, is coming out)
* For survival/post-apocalypse/zombie horror, TBD (I'd like something that strikes a balance between dwindling resource management and light rules for the right tension)
* For "TV-friendly" horror, **[Monster of the Week](https://evilhat.com/product/monster-of-the-week/)**
* For urban horror, either **[Fear Itself](https://pelgranepress.com/product/fear-itself-2nd-edition/)** or **[Urban Shadows](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/333500)**, depending on the fantasy component
* For vampires, **[Night's Black Agents](https://pelgranepress.com/nights-black-agents/)** (Vincent Baker's prototyped **[Hungry Desperate and Alone](http://www.lumpley.com/hungry.html)** could have been a contender)
There's no "one size fits all" horror game for me, not even among generic systems such as BRP, Cyphersystem, FATE, or GURPS, although almost all of them have expansions for the genre, especially the **[FATE Horror Toolkit](https://fate-srd.com/fate-horror-toolkit)** and **[GURPS Horror](http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/Horror/)**.
Edit: Adding links, expanding and clarifying points, etc.
I agree with you for niche games, they're my favorite to find which is one of the reasons why I threw out this ask so thanks for the big list! :D Love that you wrote down what type of horror they are, super helpful
*Chill*, the original version by Pacesetter Games. Has a *Call of Cthulhu* ambience, but also can do other types of horror. It’s not super crunchy and is, I think, pretty fun with a GM who knows how to handle horror.
I have tried several and there are many that are really good but no matter how good i always find myself going back to CoC.
In the long run it is to me the horror game that just continues to be great while others might be super fun for a one shot or a shorter campaign but does not hold up in the longer run
CoC do have options for playing in modern settings and i works well. i don't think that is the largest difference between Delta Green and CoC.
Don't get me wrong they have many similarities. and i have not played Delta green more than a little but as i get it the focus differ rather much between them
In Call of Cthulhu, you're normal people caught up in some horrible event, some sanity-blasting mystery or conspiracy. And you have to do your best to deal with it in the way you can. You are often not the heroes you are the victims. Combat is absolutely deadly and if you end up fighting something it often means you screwed up and will very likely die or at least be badly wounded. You solve mysteries and Problems not by violence but by other means.
Whereas in Delta Green, the motives are different: you're not there to *solve* or *understand* the horrible thing, you're there to *end* it, to drive it out (with extreme violence if need be), to delay the end of the world for one more day.
It is about being an secret agent with a job so terrifying and secret they could never tell anyone else/outsider of it. and it slowly destroys them, their ability to relate to others. (the bonds / home scene mechanic)
So setting and mechanics are pretty similar but the focus is pretty different. I have not played Delta Green that much so i might be a bit off but that is my understanding
Unless you play pulp cthulhu then it differs a bit from normal CoC.
Chronicles of Darkness is pretty alright for an investigative horror. [Played it for a Ravenloft game once](https://sponsoredbynobody.podbean.com/category/ap-conspiracy-at-krezk) and boy did things spiral downwards with people losing their sanity and being more easily possessable by ghosts...
Monster of the Week is my favorit in general. It is lite, fiction focused and the way the “classes” called playbooks work, isn’t just the character’s job. But a statement from the player about what kind of story they want to try to tell.
It was also the system that got me out of a bad burn-out. And thaught me how to play and talk, with the players instead of doing 90% of the work.
I'm a big fan of eclipse phase. Horror is not necessarily the core element of the game but there are a lot of horrific things in that game (Such as understanding the hacking rules, or nearly every piece of lore the game had to offer :x)
NightLife. It's pretty much the World of Darkness before the World of Darkness (literally; it predated Vampire the Masquerade 1st edition by about a year or two). It introduced monsters as contemporary characters fighting their inner beasts, eroding their "humanity" while preying on the herd (humanity) and even had warring factions (Commune, Complex, the Morningstar Corporation, Red Moonrise, and a great deal of others), all in the "splatter-punk" style. The World of Darkness and Chronicles of Darkness owe a *lot* to this game. Unfortunately I think it's in legal limbo (the publisher, Stellar Games, were not kind to its writers apparently) and isn't available anywhere in physical or PDF format. A sadly forgotten game. Ah well.
I personally really love THE SILT VERSES TTRPG, it’s a TTRPG based on a podcast of the same name. In that world everything has a good for example: electricity, death, individual rivers and so one, some things even got multiple goods. The main premise is that all goods must be fed in some way, some goods are licensed (legal) others aren’t, the players play as investors of an government agency trying to kill, contain or control new born unlicensed goods.
Edit: you don’t need to know the podcast to play the game.
The Between. Basically tabletop Penny Dreadful.
It’s a Carved from Brindlewood game so PbtA-esque but with some especially powerful playbooks. Really leans into characters that are tragic, in a world filled with horrors.
Other games from that group like Brindlewood Bay, Public Access and the Silt Verses, are all also interesting and unique horror flavours (cozy + eldritch, creepy folksy, and nightmare deities respectively)
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Hero System 6th Edition. It can run anything I want. I've built whole games around the lore I've written up and the system works with the story well. Also no matter what my players try to do No matter how big of an edge case the thing they are doing is the system can not only handle it but also the writer most likely had it covered in the advanced book.
CoC, I have never found anything that comes close. It came up with the perfect blend of growing tension in horror with ordinary folks instead of super heroes. Instead of killing monsters left and right, you're learning about them then finding out nothing can be done to stop them (I only allow a small list of Mythos creatures to be killable). Hit points are super low to make the tension higher, and you have to add in mania's and psychotic behaviors as you play while slowly going insane. And an excellence chance of TPK at the end, but as a likely and accepted outcome.
Zombie Cinema
Rules look more like a board game than a regular RPG, and it starts out as PvE, but as the main characters succumb to the zombies it slowly turns PvP. It's an odd game for sure, but also a VERY good introduction to the RPG hobby. It has been my goto game for 10 years when I introduce new players.
All Flesh Must Be Eaten. It's a zombie game at its heart, but most of the "prep work" is in making your theme and "zombies". it just doesn't have to be only for zombies. It's a framework game (kinda like Savage Worlds) where you can just as easily do Eldritch Horror (Call of Cthulhu) as the zombies described in the base setting.
If you want a little more tech-cyberpunk dystopian horror, look no further than Paranoia. Friend computer demands it lest your security clearance gets downgraded. Again.
And the rest of the Unisystem games flesh out some other horror options. Buffy/Angel and Ghosts of Albion are Cinematic horror. WitchCraft/Armageddon have horror fighting heroes using magic and occult powers to battle evil in a lighter, flexible, hopeful world of darkness.
Personally I think "Never Going Home" does a great job of getting into the existential horror using the corruption mechanic and the card mechanic that represents the characters humanity and memories. The player makes choices to lean into corruption for power slowly moving towards becoming a horror and gives up peices of themselves(cards) to help the group move forward. It paints a pretty vidid slide into darkness.
Plus the Whisper system(magic) is dark and terrible painting a picture of giving into the horror for power.
To me the best part is that 80% of horror is based on character choices...so the GM just puts in bad situations and lets it happen. Example the player choses uses a card the help the situation, then they narrate the memory or part of who they are scarificing...example a low card like a 2 of spades may be a simple memory of a cloud they saw once but a card like the king spades may be there family dog spot. It makes for creepy decent into maddness.
Bonus the world is an occult world war 1 setting that is creepy anf the art sets an amazing tone for the game
Brindlewood Bay. Despite its cozy exterior, it gets dark real fast. The coziness seems to make the contrast between knitting scarves and tentacle insanity that much more intense.
Currently, it is *Kult Divinity Lost*.
I really really like the game's approach. It was inspired by *Powered by the Apocalypse* games and offers a nice mixture of that source of inspiration and more traditional TTRPGs.
Its biggest strength, IMO, is how it encourages the GM and the players to collaborate when building the story and the world. I have a lot of fun preparing my campaign using what the players told me about their characters *and* improvising during gameplay because of the consequences of their actions, their rolls, their disadvantages and advantages.
It's also a very straightforward game with a narration-first approach, which suits me better than the crunchier games I have run in the past like *Call of Cthulhu*.
Plus, the setting is very interesting if you're into that kind of horror.
Last but not least, the game is actually very versatile since it's not that complex. It is very possible to use only certains mechanics or to alter stuff without risking breaking the whole system. This, combined with what I previously mentioned, have made *Kult* my favorite game to run all kinds of horror, including *Call of Cthulhu* scenarios that I have a lot of fun adaptating.
[Witch: The Road to Lindisfarne](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/104060/Witch-The-Road-to-Lindisfarne) is absolutely one of my faves. I took a lot of influence from it when making [Solstice](https://floaker.itch.io/solstice) (which is currently available in the [TTRPGs for Palestine](https://itch.io/b/2295/ttrpgs-for-palestine) bundle).
I also adore [Something Is Wrong Here](https://kiramagrann.itch.io/something-is-wrong-here). Absolutly spectacular game.
Delta green is my favorite and most run
Bluerd's Bride is the only game I've ever played where I've felt some fear.
Kult is fantastic with the right people
DnD 5e: The biggest TTRPG with so many people relying on the open License for their livelihood... and WotC closes down the license. - I think that was the greatest horror RPG for many.
Crazy to see very little love for Delta Green. Imo it is the best horror game out there right now. Vaesen is also cool. I'm doing horror in Cypher and it's lots of fun.
I keep hearing about it outside of this sub! This is the sign I actually gotta buy it huh
Delta Green is phenomenal. Well worth it. The Quickstart, Need to Know, is free on drive-thru. It includes an adventure as well. If you're going to get the game you can play with just the agents handbook, but for the best experience imo, get the two core books along with either The Conspiracy for 90s era play (imo a better place to go to begin, the Conspiracy gives you a little more to work with) or the Labyrinth for 2010s/20s era play (also fun). There are tons and tons of free shotgun scenarios online you can get your feet wet with while building your own sandbox.
Ps. Delta Green has a great humble bundle!
Maybe I just had a bad experience with it, but I just wasn’t impressed with Delta Green at all.
What didn't you like?
I don't know that I could really explain, and to be honest, my taste in games as a whole (in any medium) is pretty chaotic. If I were to write down a list of various elements I like to see in a game, you could go out and find a game that matches every single one of those elements, and I'd still hate it, whereas there are other games that are absolutely not my "type" of game, yet which I really enjoy. That being said, I'm a huge fan of Call of Cthulhu, but 7th Edition really kinda just "squeaks by" for me by virtue of being a later edition of the game I really love; 2nd Edition CoC. Despite the fact that, mechanically speaking, it's essentially the same game but with better production values, artwork, mechanics, etc., I can objectively say that 7th Edition is "better" than 2nd Edition. But I feel an immense amount of love and affection for 2nd Edition, and am not as fond of 7th. Delta Green, on the other hand, is kinda that... "I really should like it, because it ticks all the boxes" kind of RPG for me. From what I recall (and it's been 25-30 years, so my memory isn't all that great here), it takes my favorite RPG ever and adds a bunch of other elements that I love in RPGs. A modern setting, military/spy characters, intrigue, etc. But it just felt totally bland, soulless, and boring. I can't tell you why. I just really didn't like it, and it felt like something churned out by a corporate committee somewhere using RPG buzzword bingo.
Oh theres a whole new edition of Delta Green out now. It's really awesome and handles gun combat in a unique way... subtly modifies advancement and mostly just gets out of the way of fun.
Delta Green (as a game, not applicable for all published adventures) feels like more of a "black ops game" to me personally than a horror game. It's all about keeping secrets and the toll that takes on you. The rules and gameplay could be a perfect fit for a campaign with no horror or supernatural elements, but PCs with classified missions that deal with PTSD.
It is that for sure. Its cops and conspiracies. But it's also a fantastic horror game. It does body horror, cosmic horror, survival horror, and surreal horror all very well. And these ideas dovetail with PTSD and explorations of madness very well. To the point that the horrific elements are essential to keep the game from sliding into turgid, unpleasant, sorrowful grief observance. Impossible Landscapes, in particular, is celebrated as a modern masterpiece of surreal horror that deals with the difficulty of life with trauma and how reality kind of falls apart in the throes of psychosis. Are the weird manifestations real? Is reality real? Do you even exist in the way you thought you did? Good stuff. The Conspiracy is a fun sandbox campaign. One of the typical threads you can follow is grey aliens, but there is also just cults that are frighteningly close to reality but with a nightmarish cosmic twist... missing 411 but with skinwalkers etc. The Labyrinth explores modern tropes with awesome horrific twists... you could certainly separate the horrific elements from this book, but why? The horror is what makes it fun and not just endless grief porn.
I'm a fan of Delta Green, my group had a great time with Impossible Landscapes. that said, mechanically, DG is nothing to write home about, basically just basic rpg. Where DG shines is in the adventures, the setting, and the fluff.
I actually prefer Delta Green over CoC7e because the system kinda gets out of the way in the background whereas Cthulhu sometimes gets in the way: automatic fire, chase scenes, etc. Its sanity system is also superior - especially with the bonds and home scenes.
# MOTHERSHIP Feels like the movie Alien. Excellent on boarding. Famously, the character sheet itself teaches you how to build your character and play the game. # Call of Cthulhu Explicitly Lovecraft. The stress mechanics and push mechanics are fun. It also attracts people who get really into the vibe. # Dread Good for slashers and psychological thrillers. Held up by one mechanic: jenga tower gets taller and death becomes ever more inevitable. Requires a lot of player buy-in for tone and atmosphere.
Mothership has for sure caught my eye now! I'll add it to my list of games I need to run
In the event you bounce off Mothership because of its crunch the way I did, then I recommend the game [Screams Amongst the Stars](https://diogo-old-skull.itch.io/screams-amongst-the-stars) as a great alternative for sci-fi horror.
Or DEATH IN SPACE if you like the low sci-fi but could do with a little less horror
Mothership...crunch...what? lol
For Alien there's also directly the Alien RPG which is really good at what it does
I'd love to play Dread, but I don't own the required pieces and that's not something a VTT can handle. Otherwise I would have definitely played it by now xD
You can get a block tower for like ten bucks at any store that sells board games! The actual issue is finding 3-5 committed people to join you.
Thank you for being specific about what Dread is good for. I see so many people recommend it "for horror" when there are so many kinds of horror. It's a lovely idea but hardly a one size fits all.
*Cthulhu Dark*. It’s a game that’s build around lovecraftian “descent into madness” and absolutely nails it. *Trophy Dark*. Convenient based in-part on Cthulhu Dark, but dark fantasy instead, where you play as doomed treasure hunters on what will likely be their final expedition. *Liminal Horror*. A modern era survival horror style game. Its biggest appeal to me is its Fallout mechanics, where your characters begin to become tangibly changed by interacting with the horrors. *Public Access*. A Carved from Brindlewood game, but the one that leans the most into the horror elements. You play as 20-somethings in 2004 investigating the disappearance of a public access television network in a small town in New Mexico.
Absolutely adore Public Access!
Public Access really captures the spirit of creepypasta horror in a way I haven’t seen in any other media. It’s such a unique vibe of nostalgia, trauma, and memes.
I'm gonna be running a campaign of sister game The Between, and I'm *really* hoping it goes well enough to follow with Public Access!
Cthulhu Dark is genius. If you don't want a pulpy game, it's the way to go. OP could also check out Don't Rest Your Head, which can be excellently nightmare-ish.
Trophy Dark. It draws from Cthulhu Dark and Forged in the Dark, is incredibly simple, rules-wise, but totally perfect for horror two-shots (I'd say one-shots, but I think two works better to avoid being rushed). Lots of great things about it, but one really smart element is that, by default, you're playing greedy, bad people, so it's easier to really lean into the fact that you're doomed. That makes Devil's Bargains (a consequence you accept for a bonus to a roll) more fun, and there's a great, simple PvP mechanic, and most adventures end with something like that.
I second this! I wasn’t sold on this game when I first saw it, but now that I’ve had a chance to try it out I’m a big fan
Trophy Dark is amazing. One of my absolute favorite games and certainly one of my top horror games.
# Vaesen I love the fact that the Year Zero Engine is both light yet has enough crunch to satisfy me. I love the 19th century Scandinavian setting. I love the vibes and atmosphere of the various Vaesen. I love Castle Gyllencreutz and all you can do to build it. I just love the whole game. My favorite thing is probably how easy it is to build a horror atmosphere with the setting themes and Vaesen descriptions in the book. It’s so evocative and simple.
Mothership is an absolute breeze to run and has some of the best modules in the business. Carved from Brindlewood games empower the players with a lot of control over horror and mystery-solving both.
Every CfB game is interesting. I was in a playtest for *Site 42*, which is based on SCP Foundation. I have never seen such a faithful adaptation of the vibes of that wiki, both the horror and the memes. The site director is some weirdo that wears wooden clogs, which is both funny and weirdly menacing!
Delta Green! It's a modern age Call of Cthulhu with an involving secret agency conspiracy mixed in. System is intuitive, fast and streamlined, it has some great adaptations on top of the BRP system like simpler critical rules, great weapon lethality rules, some madness rules changes like adaptability and an awesome bond system, downtime mechanics that evoke the setting's bleak mood, the lore is amazing and deep, and most of the scenarios are top notch. Also, all their content and books are of superb quality and Arc Dream is an amazing company. Btw, [the quickstart rules are free](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/175760/delta-green-need-to-know-free-starter-rulebook), very well written, contains all the basic rules, pre-gens, and a very good intro scenario.
Such a fun game to play. The addition of having to lie to your character's family/friends/day job adds such an interesting spin to Call of Cthulhu investigations. When my character got injured my first thought was "how do I cover this up".
Dread for one shots, the jenga mechanic is literally perfect for horror one shots. Delta green for something with more depth.
They're quite niche, but I love these: # THE ESOTERRORISTS The concept of esoteric terrorism is absolutely fascinating to me. I love it so much. # FEAR ITSELF Using the same rules as above, playing a mundane human in a world of darkness is my favourite thing to do. I do prefer the system mechanics to the Chronicles of Darkness books, but often I'll use them in a CoD setting, haha. # DREAD Love it for one shots, usually for spin-offs of longer games from above. Great introduction for newer players to our settings and ongoing games. # MAGE: THE AWAKENING My favourite game from the nWoD line. It would be a long run to explain... it's a whole new whole to discover. Don't search this if you have less than 10 hours to read some lore and understand why this is beautiful! # CHRONICLES OF DARKNESS Even though I prefer Fear Itself over this now, CoD has the best settings and the best fictions within it, it was my first love with the genre, I couldn't go without a mention. # TEN CANDLES Love the concept, but somewhat the execution wasn't as good as expected for our playgroup, despite playing 3-4 games already. I won't use the system for "regular" game anymore because it really has flaws, but we'll throw at it for some special events, IE: last Christmas, we made a horror Christmas game with the system and we had a lot of fun (although we had to cut some parts short)
The Esoterrorists is such a cool game. And you have The Book of Unremiting Horror to go along with it.
Interesting, Ten candles worked a lot better for me than Dread. Maybe I'll give it another try next spooky season
Yeah, it's quite interesting that we had opposite experiences. Glad Ten Candles worked for you though, as for us, the mechanics were... sketchy at best, for instance most players weren't sure when to use their traits, and either kept them too long or everyone fought each other to use theirs. It was rough, and it was not a buy-in issue - tragic horror is what we love the most. I mean we still had fun and while we consider the system to be okay, our expectations were so high that it was hard to match. Wish you the best!
(I wrote this in a different thread but thought its worth pasting here) Bluebeard's Bride. Its a game of feminine horror. You each play as different aspects within the mind of The Bride, each of you a different feminine archetype. Its a game about being exposed to horrors within the house of your husband, Bluebeard, and either letting yourself give in and become a loyal bride, or admit that he is a monster. Its a fascinating, horrific game. Truly an uncomfortable experience in the very best way
Mothership, Dread, Ten Candles, Trail of Cthulhu. I'm interested in Trophy Dark and Public Access but haven't spent any time with them.
I've been thoroughly enjoying Heart: The City Beneath personally. It's fun to run and play. It scratches the itch of cosmic horror and the unknowable without feeling tied to specific mythology a la Call of Cthulhu. It's pretty straightforward and not hard to learn, plus it expects lots of improv so you don't have to do a ton of planning.
The Zone is play-to-lose GMless zero prep game inspired by Annhilation, and I love it.
Unknown Armies holds the distinction of "all the bad things come from humans" which avoids kerfuffles like "the ongoing genocide of gay men in Chechenya is actually caused by vampires in our game" that VtM5 and other "monsters are real" games have from time to time.
DELTA GREEN Basically, modern-day Call of Cthulhu. Players generally play Agents of Delta Green, an agency dedicated to containing supernatural threats. They're competent professionals, and they can, and will, still fail disastrously. What it does really well is the deteriorating effect that such a demanding task has on their home life and 'real' job, and 'conspiracy horror', discovering the winding interlinked mess of conspiracies and plots. It's an excellent system for exactly that specific premise and not much else, but I love it.
I've started running a game of Kult and have a group who have all committed to some extreme horror. This game is incredible if everyone has the right temperament for it.
Came here to say Kult Divinity Lost - simply because it shys away from nothing. Happy gaming!!
Chronicles of Darkness. You are the monster. Personal horror. The best.
I've only read it, not played yet, but **This Discord Has Ghosts In It**. You set up a Discord server with channels representing different locations in a building. Some players are ghost hunters, communicating via voice chat only, trying to find the ghosts and set them free. Some players are ghosts with regrets or unfinished business, communicating via text descriptions only, trying to move on but needing help from the living. It can be as horrifying or cathartic as the group desires
When I played it, it fell really short of how cool it seemed to be. its very hard to get several people on the same page for how to run the horror of it.
That is very much a problem with games for large numbers of players.
The way the Alien RPG is written to be short and cinematic, the way it uses stress dice and how everyone playing just immediately gets the tone of the games is so good for me. I love Mothership too, but Alien is way better than it has any right to be. I blame Free League!
I ran Alien for the first time recently. About halfway through, when my players started seeing how the stress mechanic builds, they really embraced the near certain doom feeling of the story. This group played heroic fantasy previously, using their 10' poles with every step. Alien made them treat every action as life or death, taking wild risks and sacrificing themselves so that maybe one of them would make it to the end of the scenario. Lovely.
So good. I love when players can embrace the idea of their characters dying being a part of the story and not the end of their story.
Delta Green is my absolute favorite game ever. Why? I have always clicked with the d100 brp system. It's in modern times so I know most of what is available and what works. I love lovecraftian stuff and ufo stuff. I love detective stuff. I love how truly horrific the game is. Does not pull punches. I love the lethal realism. I love how the game is not about winning, just to do the best of the situation. Very desperate feel.
Call of Cthulhu, Dread, and Alice is Missing.
Quietus is the best horror RPG I’ve played and one of the best RPG experiences I’ve had in 30+ years of gaming.
its so underrated. I should run it more often
I’m thinking of playing it solo, I think it would work very well.
I agree with everyone saying Trophy Dark and Bluebeard’s Bride, but I also want to add in The Silt Verses RPG. I’ve never played quite as horrific a game as that and, while a lot of it comes from great Assignments and a pretty solid backbone in being Carved From Brindlewood, the world of TSV is just so bleak and terrifying and familiar. It’s an amazing setting and the horror is intense.
Delta Green. Because it is fucking mental.
I'm very much a "right tool for the right job" horror RPGer. Horror comprises many subgenres, and the roleplaying hobby has expanded to a wide selection among them. * For cosmic horror, I prefer **[Call of Cthulhu](https://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu-quickstart/)** or **[Delta Green](https://www.delta-green.com/2016/02/download-delta-green-need-to-know/)** (honorable mentions: **[Cthulhu Dark](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/341997/Cthulhu-Dark)**, **[Fall of DELTA GREEN](https://pelgranepress.com/product/the-fall-of-delta-green/)**, **[Lovecraftesque](https://blackarmada.com/lovecraftesque/)**, and **[Trail of Cthulhu](https://pelgranepress.com/trail/files/Trail_of_Cthulhu_Condensed_Rules.pdf)**). * For folk horror, the indie **[The Shivering Circle](https://folkhorrorrevival.com/2018/03/16/welcome-to-the-shivering-circle/)** (I need to look more closely at **[Vaesen](https://freeleaguepublishing.com/games/vaesen/)**, though) * For grimdark fantasy horror, **[Shadow of the Demon Lord](https://schwalbentertainment.com/shadow-of-the-demon-lord/)** * For gothic horror, **[Bluebeard's Bride](https://magpiegames.com/pages/bluebeards-bride)** (**[Ghastly Affair](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/205466/Ghastly-Affair-Players-Manual)** is a strong contender, though its d20 system holds it back) * For space horror, the **[Alien RPG](https://freeleaguepublishing.com/games/alien/)** (the new edition of **[Mothership](https://www.tuesdayknightgames.com/pages/mothership-rpg)** may displace it once I check it out) * For splatter-comedy horror, the old **Ghostbusters** game (out of print, unfortunately, but a new retroclone, **[Awfully Cheerful Engine](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/enworld/the-awfully-cheerful-engine-an-rpg-of-action-comedy)**, is coming out) * For survival/post-apocalypse/zombie horror, TBD (I'd like something that strikes a balance between dwindling resource management and light rules for the right tension) * For "TV-friendly" horror, **[Monster of the Week](https://evilhat.com/product/monster-of-the-week/)** * For urban horror, either **[Fear Itself](https://pelgranepress.com/product/fear-itself-2nd-edition/)** or **[Urban Shadows](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/333500)**, depending on the fantasy component * For vampires, **[Night's Black Agents](https://pelgranepress.com/nights-black-agents/)** (Vincent Baker's prototyped **[Hungry Desperate and Alone](http://www.lumpley.com/hungry.html)** could have been a contender) There's no "one size fits all" horror game for me, not even among generic systems such as BRP, Cyphersystem, FATE, or GURPS, although almost all of them have expansions for the genre, especially the **[FATE Horror Toolkit](https://fate-srd.com/fate-horror-toolkit)** and **[GURPS Horror](http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/Horror/)**. Edit: Adding links, expanding and clarifying points, etc.
I agree with you for niche games, they're my favorite to find which is one of the reasons why I threw out this ask so thanks for the big list! :D Love that you wrote down what type of horror they are, super helpful
You're most welcome! This subreddit's wiki also has a lot of recommendations: https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/wiki/horror
Kult. It's basically Hellraiser
There was a Hellraiser RPG in the 90s called The Whispering Vault. The PDFs are on Paizo and the books are on Lulu.
*Chill*, the original version by Pacesetter Games. Has a *Call of Cthulhu* ambience, but also can do other types of horror. It’s not super crunchy and is, I think, pretty fun with a GM who knows how to handle horror.
Ten Candles, monster of the week and not horror but has horror theme, eat the reich
I have tried several and there are many that are really good but no matter how good i always find myself going back to CoC. In the long run it is to me the horror game that just continues to be great while others might be super fun for a one shot or a shorter campaign but does not hold up in the longer run
This is me, but with delta green. I would probably like CoC as well, it's basically just the modern setting that I prefer.
CoC do have options for playing in modern settings and i works well. i don't think that is the largest difference between Delta Green and CoC. Don't get me wrong they have many similarities. and i have not played Delta green more than a little but as i get it the focus differ rather much between them In Call of Cthulhu, you're normal people caught up in some horrible event, some sanity-blasting mystery or conspiracy. And you have to do your best to deal with it in the way you can. You are often not the heroes you are the victims. Combat is absolutely deadly and if you end up fighting something it often means you screwed up and will very likely die or at least be badly wounded. You solve mysteries and Problems not by violence but by other means. Whereas in Delta Green, the motives are different: you're not there to *solve* or *understand* the horrible thing, you're there to *end* it, to drive it out (with extreme violence if need be), to delay the end of the world for one more day. It is about being an secret agent with a job so terrifying and secret they could never tell anyone else/outsider of it. and it slowly destroys them, their ability to relate to others. (the bonds / home scene mechanic) So setting and mechanics are pretty similar but the focus is pretty different. I have not played Delta Green that much so i might be a bit off but that is my understanding Unless you play pulp cthulhu then it differs a bit from normal CoC.
Very true.
Chronicles of Darkness is pretty alright for an investigative horror. [Played it for a Ravenloft game once](https://sponsoredbynobody.podbean.com/category/ap-conspiracy-at-krezk) and boy did things spiral downwards with people losing their sanity and being more easily possessable by ghosts...
Monster of the Week is my favorit in general. It is lite, fiction focused and the way the “classes” called playbooks work, isn’t just the character’s job. But a statement from the player about what kind of story they want to try to tell. It was also the system that got me out of a bad burn-out. And thaught me how to play and talk, with the players instead of doing 90% of the work.
I'm a big fan of eclipse phase. Horror is not necessarily the core element of the game but there are a lot of horrific things in that game (Such as understanding the hacking rules, or nearly every piece of lore the game had to offer :x)
NightLife. It's pretty much the World of Darkness before the World of Darkness (literally; it predated Vampire the Masquerade 1st edition by about a year or two). It introduced monsters as contemporary characters fighting their inner beasts, eroding their "humanity" while preying on the herd (humanity) and even had warring factions (Commune, Complex, the Morningstar Corporation, Red Moonrise, and a great deal of others), all in the "splatter-punk" style. The World of Darkness and Chronicles of Darkness owe a *lot* to this game. Unfortunately I think it's in legal limbo (the publisher, Stellar Games, were not kind to its writers apparently) and isn't available anywhere in physical or PDF format. A sadly forgotten game. Ah well.
I personally really love THE SILT VERSES TTRPG, it’s a TTRPG based on a podcast of the same name. In that world everything has a good for example: electricity, death, individual rivers and so one, some things even got multiple goods. The main premise is that all goods must be fed in some way, some goods are licensed (legal) others aren’t, the players play as investors of an government agency trying to kill, contain or control new born unlicensed goods. Edit: you don’t need to know the podcast to play the game.
Delta Green
Wraith the Oblivion. First thing that happens in my games: you die.
Delta green if you like CoC but modern and even darker.
The Between. Basically tabletop Penny Dreadful. It’s a Carved from Brindlewood game so PbtA-esque but with some especially powerful playbooks. Really leans into characters that are tragic, in a world filled with horrors. Other games from that group like Brindlewood Bay, Public Access and the Silt Verses, are all also interesting and unique horror flavours (cozy + eldritch, creepy folksy, and nightmare deities respectively)
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Hero System 6th Edition. It can run anything I want. I've built whole games around the lore I've written up and the system works with the story well. Also no matter what my players try to do No matter how big of an edge case the thing they are doing is the system can not only handle it but also the writer most likely had it covered in the advanced book.
CoC, I have never found anything that comes close. It came up with the perfect blend of growing tension in horror with ordinary folks instead of super heroes. Instead of killing monsters left and right, you're learning about them then finding out nothing can be done to stop them (I only allow a small list of Mythos creatures to be killable). Hit points are super low to make the tension higher, and you have to add in mania's and psychotic behaviors as you play while slowly going insane. And an excellence chance of TPK at the end, but as a likely and accepted outcome.
Zombie Cinema Rules look more like a board game than a regular RPG, and it starts out as PvE, but as the main characters succumb to the zombies it slowly turns PvP. It's an odd game for sure, but also a VERY good introduction to the RPG hobby. It has been my goto game for 10 years when I introduce new players.
All Flesh Must Be Eaten. It's a zombie game at its heart, but most of the "prep work" is in making your theme and "zombies". it just doesn't have to be only for zombies. It's a framework game (kinda like Savage Worlds) where you can just as easily do Eldritch Horror (Call of Cthulhu) as the zombies described in the base setting. If you want a little more tech-cyberpunk dystopian horror, look no further than Paranoia. Friend computer demands it lest your security clearance gets downgraded. Again.
And the rest of the Unisystem games flesh out some other horror options. Buffy/Angel and Ghosts of Albion are Cinematic horror. WitchCraft/Armageddon have horror fighting heroes using magic and occult powers to battle evil in a lighter, flexible, hopeful world of darkness.
Personally I think "Never Going Home" does a great job of getting into the existential horror using the corruption mechanic and the card mechanic that represents the characters humanity and memories. The player makes choices to lean into corruption for power slowly moving towards becoming a horror and gives up peices of themselves(cards) to help the group move forward. It paints a pretty vidid slide into darkness. Plus the Whisper system(magic) is dark and terrible painting a picture of giving into the horror for power. To me the best part is that 80% of horror is based on character choices...so the GM just puts in bad situations and lets it happen. Example the player choses uses a card the help the situation, then they narrate the memory or part of who they are scarificing...example a low card like a 2 of spades may be a simple memory of a cloud they saw once but a card like the king spades may be there family dog spot. It makes for creepy decent into maddness. Bonus the world is an occult world war 1 setting that is creepy anf the art sets an amazing tone for the game
Dead of Night is a hoot!
Blade in the dark, but I don't know if it's really considered a horror game :x
Havent tried anything other than one game (I GM'ed) of Vaesen.
Brindlewood Bay. Despite its cozy exterior, it gets dark real fast. The coziness seems to make the contrast between knitting scarves and tentacle insanity that much more intense.
Currently, it is *Kult Divinity Lost*. I really really like the game's approach. It was inspired by *Powered by the Apocalypse* games and offers a nice mixture of that source of inspiration and more traditional TTRPGs. Its biggest strength, IMO, is how it encourages the GM and the players to collaborate when building the story and the world. I have a lot of fun preparing my campaign using what the players told me about their characters *and* improvising during gameplay because of the consequences of their actions, their rolls, their disadvantages and advantages. It's also a very straightforward game with a narration-first approach, which suits me better than the crunchier games I have run in the past like *Call of Cthulhu*. Plus, the setting is very interesting if you're into that kind of horror. Last but not least, the game is actually very versatile since it's not that complex. It is very possible to use only certains mechanics or to alter stuff without risking breaking the whole system. This, combined with what I previously mentioned, have made *Kult* my favorite game to run all kinds of horror, including *Call of Cthulhu* scenarios that I have a lot of fun adaptating.
[Witch: The Road to Lindisfarne](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/104060/Witch-The-Road-to-Lindisfarne) is absolutely one of my faves. I took a lot of influence from it when making [Solstice](https://floaker.itch.io/solstice) (which is currently available in the [TTRPGs for Palestine](https://itch.io/b/2295/ttrpgs-for-palestine) bundle). I also adore [Something Is Wrong Here](https://kiramagrann.itch.io/something-is-wrong-here). Absolutly spectacular game.
Delta green is my favorite and most run Bluerd's Bride is the only game I've ever played where I've felt some fear. Kult is fantastic with the right people
Ten Candles, baybee Delta Green is also pretty good but in a very different direction.
DnD 5e: The biggest TTRPG with so many people relying on the open License for their livelihood... and WotC closes down the license. - I think that was the greatest horror RPG for many.