The Gothic Film in OD&D

Whether due to Appendix N being the popular mélange of fiction considered key to understanding old D&D’s genre emulation or other reasons, discussion of the 1974 rules seems to bypass their debt to gothic movie cycles a lot. It’s one thing to recognize OD&D’s origins in the Blackmoor campaign and give passing note to the cheesy horror movies Arneson watched on a given weekend (very likely The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle). Quite another to read the booklets as a document that emerges in that period of gothic revival in popular film, between the ascension of Hammer, Dark Shadows and others.

Gothic old D&D has been practiced, from Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque to Ghostly Affair and many others. I’m interested in seeing how much of the writing in the original booklets evokes those movies by themselves, if briefly as I prepare a campaign around it.

Thoughts on Horror Roleplaying – Why I Do It

The genre of supernatural horror is a privileged site in which this paradoxical thought of the unthinkable takes place. What an earlier era would have described through the language of darkness mysticism or negative theology, our contemporary era thinks of in terms of supernatural horror.

Eugene Thacker, In The Dust of This Planet

“The Greatest Roleplaying Game”

There is a peculiar drive towards qualitative assessments that lead, in the end, to discussions of who or what is the greatest in a certain category. I’m positive many people who read roleplaying blogs are, for example, deeply connected to one form of art or another, and that must be familiar: which is the greatest novel, poetry collection, film, painting, comic, music album and such. Sports fans do the same with even greater passion. While obviously it isn’t a productive subject and as we mature there’s a stronger recognizing of it, we cannot always resist the siren call. We know the heat within these discussions can bring.

Play Report and Prep: Separation Anxiety

I’ve ran the scenario Separation Anxiety, from Fear’s Sharp Little Needles, for three players using Cthulhu Dark. I will break down my prep process, my decisions during running the game, and my conclusions. Get this collection if you can, by the way.

Three Stat Blocks for Horror D&D

I just can’t be bothered with stat blocks if running old D&D in a more or less mechanically faithful manner. Compared to BRP-alikes (I recommend some form of competence band), PbtA or pure fiction like some FKR, it feels weirdly off to me.

Since my gaming with D&D is shifting towards fully embracing the tenets of horror gaming (and therefore PCs have static HP as God intended), I devised three simple stat blocks to be used for most monsters. They hopefully work regardless of whether I’m doing pulp horror or a more purist approach. Small adjustments by one degree may be done by type, but this is the basis.

Thoughts on Horror Roleplaying: D&D Combat

The hobbyist’s natural instinct is to tinker, like a rules goblin. Such is natural, and, I believe, more effective as a direct result from play. A campaign is the rules text more than the actual ruleset you bring with you in many schools of gaming, and it will take priority over the written word if it can.

Notes on a Desolate Mythic Underworld

In my preparations for a megadungeon game I have among my list of Play-by-Post (or, hopefully, in real time whenever possible) campaigns I need to get out of the ground (heavily influenced by Lost Carcosa from my friend Tristyn), I gave consideration to what I want out of that, aesthetically and creatively. A game that doesn’t speak to my worldview and artistic interests is not one that I should be running.

So I set a few goals that would keep me busy and entertained both during preparation and the actual game. I gave consideration to megadungeon theory and referred back to Philotomy’s Musings, which still lays the ground of my approach to D&D as a game.

Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places. For them are the catacombs of Ptolemais, and the carven mausolea of the nightmare countries. They climb to the moonlit towers of ruined Rhine castles, and falter down black cobwebbed steps beneath the scattered stones of forgotten cities in Asia. The haunted wood and the desolate mountain are their shrines, and they linger around the sinister monoliths on uninhabited islands.
H. P. Lovecraft, The Picture in the House

OSR And Horror: An Introduction

“OSR is D&D Survival Horror”.

Tag: horror