Fear Itself
Horror (Supernatural) Modern Horror Crime Horror (Cthulhu Mythos)
Description Based (Narrative more so than Dice) Dice (Primarily d6) Point Based (allocate points to get skills, powers, etc) Skill Based (buy or gain skills) Trait / Aspect Based (personality affects gameplay)
Fear Itself plunges ordinary people into a disturbing contemporary world of madness and violence. Players take the roles of regular folks much like themselves, who are inexorably drawn into confrontation with the creatures of the Outer Black, an unearthly realm of alien menace. With or without its distinctive mythology, GMs can use it to replicate the shudders and shocks of the horror genre in both film and literature. It's powered by the GUMSHOE system introduced in The Esoterrorists.
Fear Itself serves as an ideal platform for one-shot games, in which, like any self-respecting horror flick, few, if any, of the protagonists are expected to survive the climax. It can also be employed to run ongoing campaigns in which the leading characters gradually discover more about the disturbing supernatural reality hiding in the shadows of the ordinary world. Over time, they grow more adept at combating them, or spiral tragically into insanity and death.
