Character Creation: Horror Show

In the old Nightlife game, "horrorshow" was slang for "cool" because apparently it's similar to the Russian word for "good" or something. I dunno, that's been a while. 

The Game: Horror Show
The Publisher: Bedrock Games
Degree of Familiarity: Lots with the concept, none with this particular game
Books Required: Just the one

I realized this morning as I was reading this game with my first cuppa that I was grouchy about it, but I wasn't sure why - I'd never really looked at it before (I'm actually not even sure when I bought it), so what did I have against it? Thinking about it, it's probably because its generic title is very close to The Horror Game, which I thought was pretty flimsy.

Much like The Horror Game (and Horrors, and Fear Itself, and lots of other games), Horror Show is a setting-agnostic horror RPG. It has a little more identity than Horror Show, in that it very specifically seeks to emulate horror movies, which raised the question of why "show" is in the title since that's more commonly associated with TV, but then again, Horror Movie as a title for an RPG is just weird somehow. 

The game goes through the same kinds of genre discussion that we'd do in Chill 3rd a couple of years later, and even talks about the terror/horror/revulsion trifecta, so it drew from the same wells that we did because I guarantee I'd never heard of this game before working on Chill. The system is "roll some dice, take the highest" using d10s, so that's fine. Some traits are passive, meaning, for instance, you don't roll Stealth, you have a Stealth rating and the GM rolls against your Stealth. I don't know if I like that - I really prefer the players to roll the dice so that if things go pear-shaped for them it's their own fault, as it were - but the intent behind it is to build tension and emulate the "OH SHIT HE'S GONNA FIND THEM" kind of moments in horror, and that's kind of interesting. 

All in all, I think it's another game that would work just fine and that I don't need because I have games that do the same thing that I like better. But with that said, let's make a character!

I need a campaign framework, of course - can't just make a character for "horror." Are there any in the book? THERE SURE ARE. There are five of them, so howzabout I just roll a d5 and see where that gets me? (I think I actually do have a d5, but I'm gonna roll a d10 and divide in half for expediency's sake.) My result is...Blackout!

That sounds pretty cool, actually. With a good group I can see this being an awesome horror game premise (it'd definitely work in Dread or Chill or Fear Itself, offhand). Let's get into it!

So, all of the PCs in this scenario were present at a hit-and-run in which a man was killed. They weren't involved necessarily, just there. Since then they've been experiencing blackouts. I think my character is an Uber driver, and was taking a fare from the airport when they passed the accident site (or witnessed the accident, whatever the GM decides). My guy's name is Lance Petula. He's about 40, and was laid off from an office job a year ago and has been getting by on gig work ever since. 

Now we select a Role: Soldier, Athlete, Bookworm, Leader, Scientist, Survivor. Well, I think Lance probably isn't a Soldier and he's definitely not a Bookworm. Athlete and Scientist don't seem to fit. You know what, let's make Lance a Leader, maybe he could be played by the biggest name they could get for this movie. He's a little older than I'm picturing Lance, but I can see Michael Rooker in the role.

I get Mental as a primary skill group, and then I get to pick one more primary and 4 secondary groups. Oh, so all skill groups are either primary or secondary. Sure. Well, let's take Physical as my other Primary, how about. 

I get to pick an Occupation, and "Driver" is on the list, so that's fine. I get a free rank in Drive. Of course, "Drive" is not a skill. Perhaps they mean "Vehicle?" Yes, I suspect they do. Right, so I get a free rank in Vehicle (Car).

Record Karma; this starts at 2. Easy enough.

Skill points! I have 12 points to spend on primary groups and 9 in secondary. Is that each group? Yes it is! Costs are cumulative, meaning I have to buy each rank separately (so buying 1 rank costs 1, buying 2 ranks costs 3, 3 ranks is 6, that's the max). 

Well, let's start with Mental and Physical skills, since those are my primaries. I get 12 points in each one. I really wish these skill descriptions were in alphabetical order. Grumblebrumble. Anywho.

Mental, then! Let's buy one rank in Bully, one in Manipulation, one in Lying, three in Empathy, and two in Detect. That's all 12. That goes fast.

Over in Physical, I'll spent two to buy up Vehicle to 2, and what the heck, in movies if you can drive you can drive well, I'll spend three more to go to 3. That's 5 points. I'll buy Athletics 2, Speed 1, and Endurance 2. 

Defense skills! Let's do...Wits 2, Resolve 2, Hardiness 1, Stealth 1, and Evade 1.

Combat! Erm. I think maybe I'll Gut these. That means I sacrifice them all and I get 3 more points to spend elsewhere. I just don't see Lance being much of a combatant, and I doubt it'd matter for this scenario. 

Specialist! I'll put 2 in Computers, 2 in Finance, 1 each in Medicine, Security, and Talent (Drums).

Knowledge! These are broken down pretty specifically. Let's say 1 each in Occult (Secret Societies; Lance listens to a lot of podcasts), Science (Computer Science, Statistics, so that actually eats 2 points), Places (North America), Law, History (North America). That's only 7 points. Well, let's spend the other 2 and put Law up to 2 points and say that Lance actually went to law school but failed the bar and never got around to taking it again.

That gives me 3 points from gutting Combat Skills to spend. I'll buy Muscle 1 and Reasoning 2. 

Next step would be to buy Expertise, but I didn't save any points so screw it.

Now we pick an Acquaintance. This is a person that can do favors for me (as written, you have to roll to activate an Acquaintance, which I think kinda sucks). Let's say that Lance's old boss, Delia Vargas, was always kind of salty that Lance got let go (wasn't her idea). She'd probably be willing to give Lance a hand if he needed one.

Select Shortcomings. These are optional, I can take up to two, and then I get more Skill Points. I think Lance is Lazy, which gives me -1d10 on Speed rolls, which is a stupid mechanical expression of laziness. 

And then I'd get cash, but I don't wish to shop, that so that's basically it! Lance is about 40, like I said. Bald or balding, maybe a smattering of red beard fuzz. Sleeve tattoo that he got after he took the bar; it has the scales of justice on it (he was sure he passed). I think in the movie Lance is likely to trap the demon in himself and drive off something high, perhaps.