Three days from now, Ladies and Gents, the Walls between this world and the Other grow thin and Those that have passed and other critters will walk among us...

 

So, I had a chance to meet a great new player who was curious as to what and how and how I ran Horror Games and ideas for Halloween.

 

It allowed to brag and reminisce, so what do you guys do. Do Holidays actually impinge on your ideas?

Also, how "logical" is your occult, we humans are natural storytellers, we perceive something and make up a story to explain it. Many Ghosts are like this, someone believes they saw something, the tries to put it into context a way to explain.

 " WE heard the Weeping LAdy last night"

"poor soul, maybe she was the lady they said disappeared a centuary ago"

Often Occult stuff happens, I sometimes just drop something on the players in a horror game that has nothing to do with the advenure. Not a red herring, really. " Where did the Giant Head Fall From?"

 

One of the Classic Haunts I have used is the Horseman, Headless of course. There are many stories of headless ghosts but with Irving and many interpretations this haint, is easy for a lot people to understand, the problem is that many being swayed with modern ideas. This Ghost always stays the same. A Headless Rev war soldier. With Sabre at ready seeking for heads to chop.

 

Heads are something, Headhunting Celts, and head hunting hessians. I started with a old news story from the 1920's about several men found headless on a main street. It was not known who or why was chopping heads, and why along this area. But of course the richness of the ideas. ( another thing I ran was the other way, how about a living head. Like the head of Bran?? Once I had the group hired to take an object, a gold and jewel encrusted "box" to Mexico. Inside was living head of an ancient Indian Holy Man. All sorts fo people wanted that Head. Criminals wanted the box certain factions wanthed the head, the box the magic."

 

There is another hunter , or hunters that I have used with great success was the Wild Hunt, and even updated them to modern times. As Faceless Men in Darkened Helmets on top of Powerful Motorcycles. What is  more terrifying than being chased down by Men in Motorcycles and The Blank Faceplate of some though that obviosuly means you harm???

 

Like above man has reinterpretted myths and ideas, to fit his comfort zone. What scares us? Being Lost and alone and hunted down has played well, at least for some , as we see in the Blair Witch. I thought it was weak, but I spent a lot of time in the woods, but for most that live so far away from the wild, I supposeit could be frightening. Unless you think it is silly. I suggest sometime in the summer or late fall, go out of town, to fields of corn. Turn off the car, and stand admsit the rows. The whispers of the corns. The complete silence.  For a person used to being surrounded by the subtle sounds of s city, could be unnerving. ( I actually took players into the rural areas, and some city folk cant handle it. Too quiet)

 

So we have haunted house,the basis of the city,  the walls that should protect you are actually a place of terror. And Like I said before, we rationalize, explain away what happens. How do you play hauntings?

When the dead awaken and start to call for new members, in a house, how do we protect ourselves?

 

Of course in our collective consciousness we have knowledge of the great Five , Frank, Drac, Wolfie, Mummy, and the Creature.

Some of these play well.

If you ignore the whiny angst ridden Vamp and reawakeen the horror of the predator Drac can Play well.

And if you have vamps that are not the Rice fantasy , things get scary.

I once ran a campaign where Five vampires where coming together to do some major magic to reawaken a sixth more powerful vamp. The vampires were coming from different places, So the group didnt ralize they were dealing with more than one until late in the game.

 

Frank can be hard to swallow, unless you explore zombies. We all know where things have gone with that. But what about the "Real" Frank, intelligent, articulate, a monster, or something else?

 

With Wolfie, I threw a curve at the players. In an older part of town where there was once fields and woods a werewolf hunted. It was stopped, now It's Ghost has returned to continue it's rampage. Imagine a bunch of characters(players) thinking it was a wolf, wild dog, discover it is a werewolf, then as they confront it, It disappears, lol.

 

The Creature from the lagoon. We have had in cryptozoology a couple witnessing claiming to see something like this, the Loveland frog, and a couple sighting in europe and the pacific west coast.

I have lived on the coasts, and along the lakes and rivers. Now I live along the Ohio river. The idea of an intelligent reptile man living in water sounds insane. Then, you go by the river, look into it's muddy waters, and wonder. Walking at night along the creeks and even in the city. It is easy to imagine the possibilities of horror.

 

As a reader and players and GM in horror games. I look at the black windows and wonder. What secrets do these houses hold. Mutated people living among us. Another green river killer, another Dahmler? Or even something else.

 

 

Want a true ghost story. Here is one. Truly happened, call me a liar I dont care. But here it is.

I just moved to Louisville a few weeks earlier and was walking my dog along bardstown road past highland. It was a couple weeks before halloween, so I didnt think anything of a man dressed in top hat and tails slightly ahead of us. WE were walking late, and there were other people moving around. In fact a couple smiled at him, and moved aside as he strode along. He didnt move fast, but he seemed to walk with purpose. My dog who loves everyone was acting weird, pulling and whining at the same time. So I followed this guy. A Block along the man Turned towardCherokke, then walked through the fence into  cave hill, he  walked through the bars. And promptly disappeared.

True story, I got more, lol