# Recommendations for a Modern Horror RPG tags: #thoughts ![[Loner Cthulhu (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Breathless - Frightmare Edition (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Weird Heroes of Public Access (cover).jpg|300]] ![[Urban Shadows (cover).jpg|300]] ![](https://x.com/AdventuresSun/status/2072634118945517791) > My daughter is interested in having me run a modern day horror rpg for her and her friends. > What game suggestions do you all have? It turns out that this sort of thing is on my mind a lot these days. Up front, let me say that I am more inclined to lighter mechanics than I am crunchier ones, which will illuminate my choices. It's why Call of Cthulhu is not going to be on that list. But there are some good options. --- [[Loner]]: Cthulhu! (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/572931/loner-cthulhu) - All right, I know what you're thinking. Loner is a solo RPG framework. Why would I suggest that? Mainly because it's really good, and frankly, the mechanical architecture works just fine for multiple players, as long as you're willing to lean into the fiction. The mechanical traits are qualitative, not quantitative, so they can be very descriptive rather than dealing with a bunch of numbers. There are plenty of tables to act as inspiration as you go. Plus, it talks about building the story out, which teenagers will take to like a duck to water. Because it is largely narrative, you're not strictly bound to the 1920s for play either. Let the fiction lead. It can be Cthulhu in the modern day without a problem. If you really do want to see a little bit of a hack for group-based play, you can pick up Ensemble (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/550068/ensemble) for free, which is effectively Loner with some more verbiage about multi-user play. It's absolutely worth having in your toolkit. --- [[Breathless]]: Shoot. Loot. Survive (https://farirpgs.itch.io/breathless) - I've always enjoyed a good zombie apocalypse survival horror game, and the fact that this is one that can literally fit on a couple of pages goes a long way toward me feeling particularly positively inclined to it. It's based on the Breathless mechanical framework, which sets traits to d4, d6, d8, d10, d12. As you use a trait, it drops in die level until you rest, and resting creates a narrative complication. It doesn't hurt that you can have the game for free unless you want the upcoming Frightmare edition, which is in final editing at the moment. If your daughter is down for some kick-ass zombie survival with her friends that doesn't entirely focus on combat, then this might be something you want to take a look at. It doesn't hurt that it's free. --- [[Weird Heroes of Public Access]] (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/429340/public-access) - Looking for something a little more modernist, a little less apocalypse, and more classically and traditionally designed? You might want to check out public access. The underlying system uses Powered by the Apocalypse, so it is a little bit narrative forward, but it is a deeply strange game in which the protagonists grew up watching TV in the early 90s and also a public access television station, which has since literally disappeared. They come back to town to investigate what happened, and things get very odd indeed. This is another pay what you want game, which is great because recently a Kickstarter came to have some more content, though there is quite a bit available already, and an updated layout. This leans very heavily into the surrealist and the odd, rather than the directly horrific, but it is relatively unique in the field of modern horror RPGs, both in setting and in approach. I would definitely suggest that you check it out. --- [[Urban Shadows]] (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/495581/urban-shadows-2nd-edition) - This is going to be the second Powered by the Apocalypse game that I point to in this list, but it's very different from Public Access. Rather than surrealist experiences happening to very normal people as they search for answers, Urban Shadows is more of the vampire/mage/werewolf World of Darkness school of, "you are the monsters." Out of the box, you have playbooks for the aware (a normal person who has stumbled into an understanding that there are supernatural creatures and things beyond what they think of as normal experience), the fey, the hunter (the relatively normal person who hunts supernatural entities, perhaps with or without the help of a significant secret society), the imp (a devil that makes deals), the oracle (a seer of the future and advisor to the powers that be), the specter (your ghosts, for good or ill), the sworn (someone who is empowered by a greater organization to whom they have sworn allegiance), the tainted (you can think of it as a modern D&D warlock, someone who owns a debt of power to a corrupt entity), the vamp (it's a vampire). The veteran (the old and grizzled and overly experienced member of the circle). The wizard (a wizard did it), and the wolf (it's a werewolf, yeah). There is a supplement which adds the angel, which is kind of fun. Needless to say, the game is about the political and social machinations which permeate the city and dealing with the fact that this is an entire set of societies which are driven by owing debts to one another and calling them in. If you were intrigued by classic World of Darkness game design and wanted something a little more mechanically enjoyable, but maintaining that air of supernaturals rubbing up against one another on a regular basis, I would definitely say this is something you should check out. It's not cheap, but it is kind of cool. --- Anyway, those are the things that come to mind right off the top of my head. Your particular needs and interests may take you in different directions, but it's a good place to start, especially since most of these are free or very low cost. Good luck!