“At dusk the untended cornfields began to ripple and heave. We expected the creatures to spill into the bare patch of backyard that separated the house from the fields. But they didn’t.
Their wheezing howls, that inhuman crescendo, like teeth on chalkboards … We had only a dozen or so shots left and Grant, who had swallowed the last of his medicinals earlier that morning, began to shake. He kept asking, “Why won’t they come? Why won’t they come?”
Dread. A fitting name for this RPG as it succinctly captures the feeling it invokes. The game uses a non traditional system in order to create a constantly mounting since of impending doom, until everything comes crashing down around you.
Dread does not have a strict setting. It is a system, a set of rules that allows any setting you can imagine to be adopted into a chilling tale. It does, however, lend itself to a more modern setting in much of its writing and explanation, bringing forth the shadows in what we find familiar to us.
Dread is a game of Horror, and Hope. Your characters are broken in one way or another, in a vulnerable state dealing with things beyond their understanding. The world around them is terrifying and strange, but they cling to the hopes that they can overcome the mounting odds.
In lieu of dice, Dread uses a tower of blocks (Jenga blocks) to represent the chance of success and failure in trying tasks. Blocks are pulled whenever an action is to be taken that incurs some level of risk. The more difficult the task, the riskier it is, the more blocks are pulled. Should the tower fall, then a life is lost.
The apprehension that comes every time a block is pulled, and the foreboding presence the shaking tower has it what makes this game so unique. A problem with all horror games is the ability to keep all players in character. In the mood, if you will.
The whole purpose of a horror game is to evoke the emotions of fear and dread, but human nature makes us want to avoid those feelings. And so we remind ourselves that things aren’t real and do what we can to break up those emotions through humor and breaking character. But the tower counteracts a lot of this. Even in the midst of jokes and humor, the tower is always at risk of collapsing and dooming a life.
The other aspect of this system that keeps the fear raw is the way character creation is handled. The Host prepares a questionnaire that the players will fill out about their characters rather than a mechanics based sheet. This focus on the story as opposed to the mechanics, along with providing the Host such direct insight into the fears and vices of the characters, allows the game to tailor its frights to the characters… and the players.
It’s definitely a great game, especially for Halloween. Because it doesn’t require any dice and doesn’t have any mechanics, it’s incredibly simple to bring anyone into it, even if it’s last second. The setting can be our own world, meaning there is no world lore players have to bulk up on. At the end of the day, it’s the most approachable game you can get in regards to the ability to just pick up and play. Only the Host has a significant amount of work to do, as it is up to them to build the story framework and prepare the character questionnaires. And even that has plenty of online resources available if time is ever an issue.
As an added bonus, a lot of the basic rules and resources are available online for free, and the book itself is small and inexpensive.
I’d say that the only drawback is the gimmicky nature. It’s definitely a fun game, that can be incredibly thought provoking and push the boundaries of your story-weaving abilities, but at the end of the day you’re still playing Jenga during the game, and while the tower collapsing is supposed to represent doom, I think you’ll be hard pressed not to also feel that rushing relief and giddy excitement at the clatter of blocks.
At the end of the day, its effectiveness is tied to the group. But if you want something fun to bring out a party, especially with a group that might have pretty wide experience gaps when it comes to RPGs, this is a great choice.
titsay
germansingergirl
gummygunk
dededos
theartofmadeline
jacobvanloon
blakekathryn
