‘Tis the season to get spooky! For those looking for some Halloween chills to bring to the table, I’ve got five suggestions for games to bring some fun and some fright.
My favorite for the Halloween season. Bluebeard’s Bride uses the Powered by the Apocalypse System, rules-light and easy to pick up even for players not familiar with the system. The game is unique in that all the players control the same character, the doomed bride.
Inspired by Bluebeard's fairytale, players explore their new husband's haunted manor, facing nightmares, ghosts, and the remnants of broken lives. Working together or sabotaging one another, the players all guide the bride through her new marriage home and make the final decision: will she be a faithful bride or a disloyal one?
I ran this game once for several friends and most of them have said they won’t play it again because it cut a bit too deep. It’s a delight and perfect for those chilly October nights.
Based on the creepy, wonderful podcast of the same name, this game is a newer release that runs on Monte Cook Games’ Cypher System. This system primarily focuses on three stats: Might, Intellect, and speed which keeps things relatively simple. While it can take a little to get the hang of, the Cypher System truly lets descriptions and ideas create the characters and the world.
I have a special place in my heart for Appalachia and a deep love for those strange, ancient mountains. With haunting artwork and one of the most beautiful TTRPG books I’ve seen, this game captures the feeling of awe perfectly.
While the price of this book is high, the free guide provides everything you need to start playing and enjoying an October game. I’m quite looking forward to getting to enjoy a game of this.
I can’t think of Halloween adventures without thinking about Dungeon and Dragons’ classic Curse of Strahd. The gothic horror vampire adventure has a cult following (ba-dum-tish) and has a great one-shot adventure, The Death House.
Serving as an introduction to the world of Barovia and the Curse of Strahd, the Death House gives low-level players a chance to test their luck against the dangers lurking in the mists. If you are planning to run it as a purely one-time adventure then I would strongly suggest allowing players to start at level 2 or 3. The Death House can be a brutal adventure and level 1 adventurers are going to struggle with some of the later fights.
Then again… Barovia is a brutal place for the unprepared.
Ten Candles is not a game about triumphing over monsters. Instead, this game is a tragic horror where all the characters will die. The game has a physicality to it so I recommend it not be played virtually. Set in a pitch-black room with only the candles for light, the atmosphere of the game makes it really feel like a horror movie brought to life.
Character creation is relatively quick, consisting of deciding on the character’s vice, virtue, moment they hope for, and a breaking point. The 10 candles each represent a scene in the game and as those scenes play out, the candles are snuffed out until there is only darkness.
With the impending end, there is a tragic and horrific fight against time itself throughout the game and when only one light is left, it truly has become the very embodiment of fear.
A twist on a dungeon! Instead of the adventurers fighting through the depths of the unknown, you play as guardians of these dark places. With each new invasion, you begin to remember more of your life before this skeletal eternity.
Rules light but with so many unique opportunities, this is a unique twist on a tabletop game to mix things up for long-time gamers wanting to try something new.
Like Ten Candles, this one has a few physical play moments of sitting in darkness and silence (just as the skeletons do) until another invader arrives. I love the characters that arrive through the game and the answers you find about the dungeons and all the monsters that call it home.