September 20, 2026

TTRPG Forum

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Tips for Running Horror

At Shadomain we love having discussions with anyone interested in games and having more fun. We’ll suggest interesting topics for discussion in our groups and publish comments here and talk about them in our YouTube channel. You can watch and comment on today's show here. If you want to add some comments to our discussions, join our private email group by sending an email to shadomainrpg@gmail.com or join our Discord

Our guest is Arcus from the Qedhup YouTube channel. He’s finishing up a great, and pretty substantial RPG called Voidhome

Some Cool Responses

One Word: CONSENT 

Crazy Weazel Gaming

It requires buy-in and a similar energy from all of the players. While having a lighter moment here and there can enhance the horror moments through juxtaposition and comparison, the game's tone can be entirely broken by having one or two players not taking it seriously. 

Sir James

Well, each time I've tried running horror, the players have turned the theme song to scooby doo. So ... 

Keybounce

Same. I do find that I have a hard time keeping tone, except in the one game that was actually scooby doo. lol 

Crazy Weazel Gaming

Calibration is key. I ran a Halloween game and asked ahead 1-10 how hard should I go. Settled on around a 7.

Prof Murder

Wrapping It Up

As I mentioned in the video, I love reading and writing horror TTRPGs, but I am horrible at running them. I just have a need to voice any silly joke that comes into my head, so I’m more likely to break the mood than my players. I understand this and work on it, but I’ve got a long way to go. 

And if you want to join our discussions, join our private email group by sending an email to shadomainrpg@gmail.com or join our Discord