I’m working on a new podcast project, one that involves pairing up horror movies and TTRPGs as a sort of “double feature” experience. The first movie we’re looking at is Children of the Corn (1984). Which TTRPG would be a good fit for telling a similar kind of story: outsiders trapped in a remote town, a creepy cult, Lovecraftian vibes at the end.
I have my own ideas, but I’m curious what other folks think.
First, might I say that I am very here for this mission. If you’re ever looking for guests, I uh know a guy (and also the UK based Evolution of Horror Podcast team).
In specific here, I’d say the dwindling pools of a GUMSHOE would make for a nice slow burn claustrophobia, and the Sanity / Stability split suits the variety of fear in the film
There are probably less traditional suggestions, but honestly this sounds like the reason “Call of Cthulhu” was created.
If the PCs are the outsiders, then Trophy Dark, I believe, would work just fine, requiring little to no tweaking. The Rings procedural abstraction can be used to somehow account for the fact that the characters can’t (or won’t) just get the hell out of Cthulhuville, as this genre seems to invariably demand. Rings would work there as a predominanly emotional rather than spatial sort of restriction, as a representation of the character’s inability to let go of whatever mysterious eldritch evil lurks in town. In fact, their ascending Ruin could even be used to bind them to specific Rings.
Now, for a game in which players act as the cultists, I’d go with Soth, at least for inspiration.
Come to think of it, combine the two and go with “Cthulhu Dark”.
Depends on what kind of story you want to focus on: Psychological horror? Quietus by @SinisterBeard might be the right game. Or should it be more Survival horror? That might be achieved with Cthulhu Dark, personally, I’d run it with Fate (no stress boxes, use Core with few skills), because I know that game better.
Or I’d go freeform, maybe with the Archipelago cards as randomizer (and more 'No’s in the deck).