You fool, Warren is DEAD!...oh I mean deactivated.

[Groffa]

As "System Shock 2" was released over at GOG.com the other day, it got me thinking about horror in sci-fi games. And when I think about sci-fi games, Icar tends to pop up in my skull.

So, have you ever run any weird-horror-in-space in Icar? What elements would you incorporate/change?

[Rob Lang]

Hey Groffa,
Sorry for the slowness, I totally missed this forum!

I have done horror in RPGs before but it has been of the more human kind of horror, rather than the supernatural horror. Humanity doing horrible things to each is pretty scary as the capacity of the human mind is so large.

Icar began as a zombie-hunt-fest. Genus 2 humans (that the Droids were created to kill in the first place) are quasi-zombies, caused by a rare genetic mutation. Healthy humans can give birth to Genus 2 babies, which infect everything on touch. That can be pretty nasty.

Horror for me is more about the setup. Action scenes can be tense because there is an element of danger. Horror scenes are tense because of the unknown and a feeling of frailty. Horror scenes can turn into action ones, after there has been some sort of reveal but there is no need to do that - the players can just run away.

So, I've done horror in Icar quite a lot and it does work. Genus 2 give you a horror stereotype (there are no aliens in Icar) and scene setting can give you the feel of horror.