 Cover | |
| Designers | Epidiah Ravachol Nathaniel Barmore |
|---|---|
| Publishers | The Impossible Dream |
| Publication | 2005 |
| Genres | Indie |
| Systems | custom |
Dread is a horror RPG designed by Epidiah Ravachol and Nathaniel Barmore, and published by The Impossible Dream. The game uses a Jenga tower for action resolution. [1]
Dread is a horror game, commonly played as a one-shot at conventions.[ citation needed ] It can also be used for ongoing gaming, though in practice this is less common. In order to play you need: [2]
Dread has no fixed setting - instead you can use it for any horror setting [3] where it is expected that most of the characters will not survive through the session. The examples in the Dread rulebook are Beneath A Full Moon - survival horror, Beneath A Metal Sky - sci-fi, and Beneath The Mask - based on a slasher film and in which not even the GM knows which of the PCs is the killer at the start (they all have reasons to not know they are). [2]
Character creation involves each character in the game being assigned a part (in Beneath the Mask there are the Jock, the Head Cheerleader, the Nerd, the Slacker, the Rich Kid, and the Best Friend) and each part coming with about a dozen questions, the final one being "What is your name?" Most of the questions are deliberately loaded, for example "Why do you intend to convince the others to split up whenever the opportunity arises, despite the recent events?" [2]
When you try to take a challenging action, pull one or more blocks from the tower, as dictated by the Gamemaster. If you pull and succeed, you succeed in your action. If you knock the tower over, your player character is out of the game, usually due to dying. If there is no sensible narrative way for that to happen (for instance a knock over by spilling your drink) they are the "walking dead," unable to pull any more blocks and subject to death or removal at the next plausible or dramatic opportunity. Removing more blocks makes actions more difficult to perform, which causes a feeling of suspense. [4]
Dread was the winner of the 2006 ENNIE Awards for Innovation as well as being nominated for Best Game and Best Rules. [5]
In May 2015, Dread was featured as a two-part episode on TableTop. [6] Wil Wheaton praised Dread's "very innovative device to build up tension and really put the scare in players". In March 2019, Dread and its co-creator Epidiah Ravachol were featured on the ProudGamers podcast, The ProudTable, [7] and Epidiah spoke about his inspirations behind the game.
Dread’s use of a Jenga tower to heighten narrative tension in a role-playing game later inspired the same game mechanic in the romance game Star Crossed by Alex Roberts (game designer), which won a Diana Jones Award. [8]
Reviews of the game praise the "lethal suspense" of the game and its innovation, but note that it's useful only for horror gaming and one shot games. [9] [10]
Charlie Hall for Polygon pointed out similar rising tension in Dread and Ten Candles . [11]
Paizo Inc. is an American role-playing game publishing company based in Redmond, Washington, best known for the tabletop role-playing games Pathfinder and Starfinder. The company's name is derived from the Greek word παίζωpaizō, which means 'I play' or 'to play'. Paizo also runs an online retail store selling role-playing games board games, comic books, toys, clothing, accessories and other products, as well as an Internet forum community.
Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. They are best known for the free indie RPG system Fate, Blades in the Dark, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians, all of which have won multiple awards.
Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World and later adapted for hundreds of other RPGs.
Emily Care Boss is an indie roleplaying game designer, theorist and publisher. She was a foundational member of The Forge, an early leader in the indie role-playing game movement and is considered the creator of the American Freeform genre of roleplaying games, which combine indie RPG principles and mechanics with Nordic freeform and American chamber live action role-playing techniques. She has been referred to as the "Dean" of the North American school of structured freeform game design.
Whitney "Strix" Beltrán is a narrative designer and Project Narrative Director at Hidden Path Entertainment. Her writing and design career includes the indie game Bluebeard's Bride. She also founded the advocacy initiative Gaming as Other to promote inclusivity in the gaming community.
Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game produced by Magpie Games. It is set in the world of the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, and takes place in five different time periods. It sees players take the roles of martial artists, technological experts, or benders – people who can manipulate one of the four classical elements – who fight for balance in the world while also working towards their own goals and struggling with inner balance, represented by opposing ideals held by a character.
City of Mist is an urban fantasy neo-noir detective tabletop role-playing game (RPG) designed by Amít Moshe and published by Son of Oak Game Studio. The game is set in a modern-day metropolis where ordinary people of all walks of life become modern-day reincarnations of myths, legends, and fairy tales, gaining magical powers and abilities.
The following are the winners of the 21st annual ENNIE Awards, held in 2021:
Banana Chan is a Chinese Canadian game designer and writer.
Alien: The Roleplaying Game is a science fiction horror role-playing game published by Free League Publishing in 2019 that is based on the Alien film franchise.
Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a narrative-focused tabletop role-playing game that emphasizes telling "melodramatic and queer stories". The game was funded via a 2020 Kickstarter campaign and published by Evil Hat Productions in 2021. It uses a modification of the Powered by the Apocalypse game system.
Ironsworn is an indie role-playing game written and self-published by Shawn Tomkin. Its Ironlands setting is low fantasy, set in a rugged frontier. The game received the 2019 ENNIE Gold Winner Award for Best Free Game/Product. Rob Wieland for Forbes named Ironsworn one of his favorite RPG products of 2022 and one of the best fantasy tabletop role-playing games for solo play.
Lucian Kahn is an American role-playing game writer/designer and musician based in Brooklyn. His work focuses on LGBT, Jewish, and subcultural themes, typically utilizing satire and farce. His games include Visigoths vs. Mall Goths and his music includes Schmekel.
Alex Roberts is a Canadian tabletop role-playing game designer. Her games typically lack a gamemaster (GM) and include romantic themes.
Visigoths vs. Mall Goths is an urban fantasy tabletop role-playing game with LGBTQ dating sim elements by Lucian Kahn, with art by Robin Eisenberg. The ancient Visigoths have time traveled to 1990s Los Angeles and are battling mall goths for control of the mall. The game's tone is silly and the setting has many puns. The game was inspired by 1990s movies The Craft, Empire Records, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Clueless.
Star Crossed is a two-player tabletop role-playing game about forbidden romance by Alex Roberts published by Bully Pulpit Games in 2019.
Bluebeard's Bride is a gothic horror tabletop role-playing game based on the Bluebeard folktale. It was designed and written by Whitney "Strix" Beltrán, Marissa Kelly, and Sarah Richardson, and published by Magpie Games in 2017. Players represent five aspects of a woman's mind as she explores the mansion of her frightening new husband.
Alice is Missing is a tabletop role-playing game played in silence through text messaging. Players investigate the disappearance of a high school girl. The game was designed by Spenser Starke and published by Hunters Entertainment in 2020 after raising over $138,000 on Kickstarter. In 2022, Paramount Pictures began developing the game into a movie.
Ten Candles is a horror tragedy tabletop role-playing game by Stephen Dewey. No characters survive the play session. It uses fire as a game mechanic. In the dark, players literally burn character trait cards and use ten tea candles as a countdown timer to the end of the game.
Fabula Ultima is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game inspired by Japanese role-playing video games such as the Final Fantasy series. It was designed by Emanuele Galletto, illustrated by Catthy Trinh and Moryo, and published by Need Games in 2023. The game won 2023 ENNIE Awards for Best Game and Product of the Year.