Opinion: Ranking the best horror tabletop role-playing games

The consequences of playing too many tabletop roleplaying games. Art by Basil Allen.

The most famous Tabletop Role-Playing Game (often referred to as TTRPGs), so ubiquitous to the genre it overshadows others in almost every conversation, is Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), with players nowadays usually diving into its 5th edition. However, the high fantasy D&D offers is just one of many kinds of narratives tabletop RPGs can tell, and with Halloween coming up soon, the time is never better to look into some spookier alternatives.

Running a horror game with friends quickly becomes a comedy. Watching friends get themselves killed in stupid ways will always be funny — as long as it's not real. With a wide variety of horror games available, each geared toward a different experience, here are some of the best horror-themed RPGs.

5. Vaesen

I have only had the pleasure of playing this game once, but it was a very good time for everyone involved. Like many horror tabletop RPGs, Vaesen has a focus on "investigative horror,” straying away from combat and more towards solving a mystery. It makes itself distinct with a unique setting of industrial Scandinavia, pitting the new innovations of humanity against the "vaesen," magical creatures like fairies and mermaids and werewolves. The players’ job isn't necessarily to fight against these vaesen, as the creatures aren't strictly evil, and most are exceedingly difficult to kill. Players are instead intended to investigate the situation — typically a conflict between vaesen and humans — and often perform some kind of ritual to sate or banish the vaesen. 

For a horror game, most of which are typically light on character customization due to their high lethality, Vaesen has quite robust character creation. While it has a rather small bestiary in the base book, every monster is given a generous amount of interesting flavor and mechanics.

4. Kids on Bikes

While not strictly a horror RPG, I personally believe the rules and suggested setting for this game best lends itself to small-town horror. Kids on Bikes takes clear inspiration from 80s movies like “E.T.” (1982) or “The Lost Boys” (1987). The system is built to be a uniquely collaborative experience, where the players and the Game Master (GM) work together to build the town where all the characters live. Players also don't have to play as kids; there are rules for all ages, and I think the system works best when trying to emulate that “Stranger Things” feel with a wide variety of characters. 

Kids on Bikes lacks a robust combat system and is far more focused on building characters and a world together. This can be a pleasant break from D&D, which is a primarily combat-based game, or other horror RPGs where lives are cut short constantly from fights that shouldn't have been picked … like No. 3 on this list!

3. Mork Borg

More in line with a traditional fantasy game, Mork Borg is easily the deadliest RPG on this list, perhaps the deadliest I've ever played. It takes place in a doomed dark fantasy world, inhabited by terrifying monsters and paper-thin protagonists. Characters have hit points in the single digits, and instantly die if these hit points fall into the negatives. This is not a game for month-long character arcs. This is a game of constant death and tragedy, which makes it a pretty solid horror game.

Mork Borg supplements have been created for a massive number of genres. Most of the Mork Borg I've played has been with Pirate Borg, which is a more nautical spin on the original. The general mechanics are similar, with additional rules added for firearms and boats. Surprisingly, my group hasn’t had a hero die yet. But if my character had taken just one additional damage in the second fight, she would’ve.

2. Liminal Horror

This has become my go-to game for one shots — campaigns that last only one game session. First, the PDF for the base rules is free on itch.io. The rules are quite simple yet have a hidden depth, using a mere four base stats that each work as their own health bar. As the title suggests, Liminal Horror is focused on stories in liminal spaces, but the title also has a double meaning: the game focuses on how characters are changed by their encounter with horrors, with psychological damage making the characters physically and mentally stranger through the Fallout system.

Liminal Horror is an extremely versatile system, and it's remarkably easy for GMs to prepare while also being open to substantial customization. Its few rules make it easy to learn for new players, and I personally think it makes a very strong introductory RPG for this reason.

1. Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu is arguably the most iconic horror tabletop RPG. Directly based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft and his peers, this cosmic horror game is a step more complicated than the others on this list, primarily due to an expansive skill system and unique sanity mechanics. These gameplay elements complement the aesthetics of cosmic horror well — competent, curious academics looking into something they shouldn't and being driven mad because of it. Call of Cthulhu has an impressive bestiary, its own grimoire of occult spells, and a constant pressure of insanity and death that keeps the game from getting stale.

Call of Cthulhu also has several interesting supplements, including my personal favorite, Pulp Cthulhu. This supplement provides rules to shift away from Lovecraft's hopeless world, making characters stronger, more durable, and less likely to go insane at catching the whiff of a shoggoth's deodorant. I have also found it relatively easy to adapt Call of Cthulhu’s mechanics to other horror worlds, such as analog horror worlds like Vita Carnis. With that being said, this system is definitely best for Lovecraftian horror.