![]() I then spent the rest of the playing as my deceased character's dog, barking at other players to try and give them clues like a very morbid Lassie. “I had conspired with the Director of the game to have my character killed in the opening scene for dramatic effect. Indeed, instead of following the typical victim based format, you could always add in the amusing option Menzies himself took in one of his favourite moments during a playtest session. The book includes hints and tips on how best to reduce the scary horror if you prefer to, and even their actual play podcast live on their website sees one character take inspiration from ET rather than The Shining – with notably enjoyable artwork that never pushes too many boundaries for those who might be uncomfortable. The appeal of the book is therefore much further reaching – you need not be a hardcore horror fan to enjoy, or have a desire to be part of a typical horror film to enjoy its plot possibilities. We have hidden so many little references to things we love across the books and hope players have fun hunting for them.” The works of creators like Mike Mignola and Alan Moore have also inspired us. “Our influences don’t just stem from film however, as you can likely tell from SHIVER’s artwork we’re also big comic fans. “John Carpenter is one of the big influences on Charlie’s writing, you can definitely see this in The Lost Ship, a snowy arctic tale which pays homage to a certain famous one of his films.” Menzies does clarify though. In fact, the subsequent question of inspirations has come up frequently enough that Menzies has a prepared list of 24, including the likes of Nosferatu, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Universal Horror Films, Castlevania, Bloodborne, and more. But my brother will happily play with some diehard horror fans with gore and scares galore.” Stories where monsters and darkness are present in the plot but not to an overpowering degree. I much prefer to play a light horror comedy style story with a feel akin to films like The Mummy or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Jaws, Jurassic Park, Scooby Doo, all these titles fit within the Horror genre just not in the gorey axe wielding murderer way that maybe you see picturing a ‘traditional’ horror film or tv show in your head. ![]() “One thing that I learnt through this project is that the definition of Horror is extremely broad. “I’m not great with a super scary story”, he admits. Thankfully, for those of us who grew up on Scooby Doo rather than Nightmare on Elm Street, “Horror is extremely broad”, Menzies says. Of course, half the fun of such adventures is making almost exactly the same decisions as those on screen – yes, I will go alone, no, there’s plenty of battery left in my torch, that noise absolutely was nothing – a good chunk of giddy excitement comes from knowingly making horror film decisions, as opposed to a viewer hidden behind the sofa. “Want to play your favourite horror movie and try to make better decisions than those on the screen? SHIVER lets you do that and then some, with space to make your own sequels and explore your favourite spooky and strange franchises.” “Players take on the roles of archetypal characters found in stories across time and attempt to survive whatever strange and horrific things they may encounter.” Menzies explains. ![]() Horror isn’t new to RPGs, in fact D&D’s venture into different horror world building options in Van Richtens Guide to Ravensloft was considered a success, and amidst hundreds of Zines created in this Zine Quest replacement's Zine Month, there was a visible saw a surge in Mothership (Sci-fi Horror) based RPGs, but it’s the inspiration from a generally small budget yet extravagant plot media that we all know and love, that sets Parable Games’ SHIVER apart. ![]() To start at the very beginning, SHIVER launched onto Kickstarter last year as an RPG that has a foundation in pulp TV shows and horror films, bringing their stories to life in an interactive manner. Immortal words that point the finger at the next victim for any good horror-based or spooky film plot, we’re pointing the finger at Barney Menzies from Parable Games, for details on the new expansion to their horror based roleplaying game, SHIVER.
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