Horror

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I was 15 years old and a buddy of mine who lived down the street owned a video store. Ok, his parents owned a video store. He was 15 just like me. Not only did we have access to a huge array of VHS, but he also had a Laser Disc player.

The Laser Disc was the precursor to the DVD and it was really cool.

In the summer while his parents were working, I would ride my bike to his house and we would fire up the laser disc player and watch all kinds of movies we probably shouldn’t have. Movies like Friday the 13th and the one that scared the shit out of me.

The Exorcist.

To me the Exorcist is one of the perfect and most terrifying horror films ever made. The 1973 film directed by William Freidkin from a novel by William Peter Blatty has been called the scariest movie ever made.

I will never forget the bright summer sun streaming in through the gaps in the curtains while I sat huddled on the couch watching a nightmare unfold in front of me.

I think that’s probably why I find myself trying to bring horror elements into my roleplaying games.

Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length ... which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". Horror intends to create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the reader. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for larger fears of a society.

From authors like Edgar Allen Poe, Shirley Jackson, Clive Barker, HP Lovecraft, Richard Matheson, and Steven King to Filmmakers like John Carpenter, James Wan, We Craven, and Guillermo Del Toro Horror is a big part of our lives.

Whether we like it or not.

And that’s what makes Horror such a perfect genre.

Today, Mike, Christina, and I are going to be talking about the Horror Genre, what we like about it and how to incorporate it into your roleplaying, because of all the topics we have discussed so far, horror is the one you have to be careful with.

Christina, what was your first horror movie?