Lighthearted Horror Guide

How to run 80s horror in Lighthearted (Part 1)

Some of our favorite horror movies came out of the 80s and with Halloween approaching we've been thinking about how to bring our favorite horror tropes to a game of Lighthearted. Our first look at horror in Lighthearted focuses on the Characters and setting them up for success.

The Characters

No Chosen: For a horror vibe the characters will need to be outmatched by the darkness and their Chosen abilities make them a lot more heroic. If this is a one-shot, make characters who have not been chosen. If this is part of a regular campaign, an eclipse or some other event robs them of their chosen abilities for the duration.

New Malfunctions: The standard malfunctions are all about growing up, but to dig into the tropes of the genre we'll need new malfunctions that push the characters towards those horror archetypes. You'll need to write a new malfunction to explore each of the archetypes present in the type of horror story you want to tell. Each character keeps one of their cliques malfunction and takes one of the horror malfunctions for the session. Below are 5 slasher movie malfunctions you can use or take as examples to write your own.

Slasher Movie Malfunctions

• Love Interest: gain a Heart when you flirt with or touch someone suggestively but don’t go all the way. Gain XP when you Take Control of a sexual encounter.
• Scream Queen: gain a Heart when you let out a blood curdling scream. Gain XP when you witness something horrific and stay quiet. 
• Prankster: gain a Heart when you trick, scare, or prank someone. Gain XP when you let someone in on the joke. 
• Horror Buff: Gain a Heart when you point out an obvious horror trope. Gain XP when you subvert a horror trope. 
• Suspicious: Gain a Heart when you say something suspicious. Gain XP when you prove you're not the killer. 
• Independant: Gain a Heart when you go check something out on your own. Gain XP when you go get the others.

Objectives vs Ties: Character creation usually involves a series of Ties that give the characters a history, If this is an ongoing campaign those relationships are already established, but if this is a one-shot we suggest foregoing ties in favor of objectives. Examples of which can be found in Uncle Ash's Cabin in the Woods' out the window monologues. Each character should have something they want to say or do to another character. "I'm going to tell [blank] how I feel" or "I'm finally going to scare [blank]!"

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Check back for Part 2 where we'll explore the tropes of 80s horror films and how to work them into the setting of Lighthearted.