In this second post of the series Designing Better RPG Mysteries, we discuss horror mysteries.
In a good horror mystery, the answer should often be worse than the question. Unlike a traditional whodunit, horror isn’t about a clever “Aha!” that ties everything together. It’s about an inevitable walk toward something you don't want to see but still must see. Each clue pulls the investigators forward even as it makes them wish they had turned back.
A good horror mystery works like a menacing silhouette that gradually reveals itself. At first, you just see the outline of something worrisome. As you gather clues you, the shape becomes sharper and more disturbing.
Unlike a crime mystery, finding the “culprit” early doesn’t need to ruin the story. You still need to know what it can do, if you can stop it, and, if yes, how to stop it—and if not, how to mitigate its effects.
Players will chase clues not because they’re trying to identify a murderer, but because they want to be as well-prepared as possible before they have to face what’s coming. Or to understand. And the more they understand, the less comfortable they feel.
The good horror mystery clue can be as challenging of rationality as a murder mystery clue. But instead of pointing to a hidden rational human agenda (as in murder mysteries), their strangeness may hint at something outside the normal order of reality. The wrongness is part of the horror.
And it doesn’t need to be supernatural horror. It doesn’t even need to be truly inhuman. It can be human, just in a way that makes no sense to us, to our understanding of how being human works. Buffalo Bill or Hannibal the Cannibal in The Silence of the Lambs are great examples. They are recognisably human, but there is something bizarre, oddly cold and inhuman in them. Something you can almost understand, can almost relate to. Something that, the more you look, and the more you learn, the more it disturbs you.
Clues
So, clues can gradually or suddenly reveal the horror. I myself like the “first gradually, then suddenly” approach, or even the “suddenly, then gradually". When well executed, the change of pace can make the mystery even more disconcerting. As starting the scenario with an horrific shock.
But you can also have other types of clues in a horror mystery.
Clues that move the focus of the investigation, from one location or person to another.
Clues that serve logic, allow progress in your investigation, and make you think that rationality still works in this world.
The ones that give you hope in civilisation, kindness and order, a hope that makes its denial a much more potent brew of horror.
And there are the clues that point towards a solution, that promise you a way to defeat or endure the horror at the centre of the mystery.
The existence of these solutions is an important element, because if there is a solution, even a difficult one, then there is salvation, and there is hope.
Horror has difficulties with excessive hopelessness. If you know that nothing can be done, you are allowed to simply give up. On the other hand, a (partial, potential) solution gives you the hope that makes you endure… and potentially suffer more.
So, tl;dr: clues are about gradually revealing the uncanny, and creating and taking away your hopes of rationality, of kindness, of salvation, of survival.
Countdown to Doom
In parallel with clues, a good horror mystery should always have at least one escalating threat — something that is actively moving toward the characters or toward its own terrible outcome.
Vaesen always implements a countdown that allows the game master to create activity and avoid player analysis paralysis by increasing the pressure over the investigators.
Some examples of events to put on the doom countdown:
The killer takes another victim.
The environment becomes more dangerous.
The monster becomes more powerful.
Something irrecoverable is lost (but there is still something/someone to save).
This ensures that the mystery isn’t just static investigation: it’s a race against something that is getting closer, bigger, or harder to stop.
You should also define a final horror: an event so catastrophic that ends the scenario in defeat for the players. This is the consequence of taking too much time, thinking too much.
A countdown is more useful when the players can notice its progress (like when the killer murders one more victim) and dread the final horror, even if they don't exactly know what it will be.
Designing Clues
When designing clues for a horror RPG, avoid the mechanical “go to location, find clue, go to next location pointed by the clue” breadcrumb trail. Each clue should be an event—something that challenges the characters, alters their understanding, pushes the action forward, and/or requires a tough decision.
As a rule of thumb, a clue should have at least two of these six traits:
Challenge in obtaining it: An obstacle, risk, or cost stands in the way. A single challenge can sometimes unlock multiple clues.
Atmospheric unease: The clue itself hints at danger, weirdness, or the breaking of normal rules (these rules can be of anything: science, human behaviour...).
Foreshadowing / Despair: A taste of the endgame or of the opponent's true nature.
Practical value / Hope: Information or tool that helps stop, escape, or delay the threat.
Direction: Points to where the next significant clue can be found.
Shocking revelation: Changes the players’ understanding of the situation in a dramatic way, recontextualising past clues or raising the stakes instantly.
Notes on Clues:
Neither despair nor hope should feel absolute.
If you choose to "gatekeep" a clue behind a challenge, and if that clue is essential to the evolution of the situation, be sure to have more than one challenge to obtain it or, like in the 3-clue rule, have two more clues pointing toward whatever that clue unveils.
Since clues are not known to be essential or not, and since practical clues may be missed by failing a challenge, the players are never sure that nothing crucial was missed.
Never assume that written scenarios don't have "chokeholds". When reading a scenario, be on the lookout for key clues that are not reachable or are very hard to reach (for instance, when they assume that players will do something players are very unlikely to do).
One of the RPGs that best understands this basic structure of the horror RPG scenario—and writes scenarios according to a structure somewhat similar to what I describe—is Vaesen.
Example
In a Call of Cthulhu scenario, the investigators are trying to learn more about a series of disappearances in a coastal town. They decide to question the lighthouse keeper.
Common Challenge: The keeper is half-mad and barricaded inside the lighthouse. They must convince him to open up or break in without attracting the townsfolk.
Atmospheric Unease: The keeper’s cabin smells of seawater and decay. A large fish tank bubbles in the corner, but there’s nothing in it except a jar—and inside the jar is a human eyeball.
Foreshadowing: The keeper mutters about “the ones that watch from the deep,” and says they’re “almost ready to come ashore.”
Practical Value: He’s drawn a map of the coastline showing underwater cave exits, something the players may desperately need later.
Direction: The map marks a nearby beach where “they first arrive,” pointing the way to another investigation site.
Shocking Revelation: The same map also shows a second landing site in the town graveyard. The enemy has already been inside the town walls!
Doom countdown:
- If it takes the investigators more than 15 minutes in the lighthouse, they will notice the waves of the sea growing higher and louder (this makes the escalating threat visible to the players).
- If it takes the investigators more than 30 minutes inside the lighthouse, the sea outside floods the lower floor of the lighthouse. Exiting the house now requires swimming in the cold stormy waters to get out of the keeper's house.
- After 45 minutes, the waves get louder and hit harder. The swimming to get out of the house is more difficult (penalty die), making the chance of drowning higher. If they look outside, the investigators can see anthropomorphic silhouettes riding the waves.
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