Best Horror Tabletop RPGs, Ranked

Summary

Monster of the Week draws inspiration from TV shows like Buffy and X-Files for a tongue-in-cheek horror experience.
Dread replaces dice with a Jenga tower to add suspense and consequences to actions in one-shot sessions.
Ten Candles creates a hopeless atmosphere by having players share a story around flickering candles in a world already overrun by monsters.

Tabletop RPGs are truly one of the best ways to spend time with friends, as together, they can collectively tell a story of a genre to their liking — and have the freedom to create characters that will be the main protagonists of the tale. There are countless systems, each offering their own lore, world-building, and themes to choose from, leaving players quite spoiled for choice.

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For those who prefer everything horror-related, they will find a wealth of suitable tabletop games, ready to thrill and chill any who dare look between their pages. From vampires and werewolves to eldritch monstrosities and more, everything that could and does scare people has been included in one system or another, and these are the best of the bunch.

7

Monster of the Week

Face Up to Monsters from Urban Myths and Legend

Original Release: 2012
Publisher(s): Evil Hat Productions
Designer(s): Michael Sands

As most may know, monster of the week is normally a name for a formula certain TV shows might follow, in which the characters face another supernatural threat every week, even if there is an overarching plot connecting each episode. Shows such as Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files follow this formula and act as the inspiration behind this particular horror tabletop game.

In this game, the Games Master known as the Keeper will throw monsters at the players who each play a different character concept normally found in monster-hunting media, and then, they have to find the courage to face up to these monsters. Though definitely more of a tongue-in-cheek horror fantasy, Monster of the Week gives the Keeper enough freedom to lean more into the horror angle if they wish to truly terrify their players.

6

Dread

An Appropriately Named Game

Dread RPG game cover, the game title and bloody fingerprints

Original Release: 1981
Publisher(s): Chaosium
Designer(s): Sandy Petersen

Dread in name and nature, this is one unique tabletop game that doesn’t require lugging around big bags of dice to ensure the player has enough to cover the session (and a couple extra because it is just impossible to decide what sets to bring). Designed around one-shots rather than campaigns, players use a jenga tower to measure the success of their actions, which adds a tense yet somewhat humorous addition to the game.

Every time a player takes an action that calls for a skill check, they must remove a jenga block. If the tower remains standing, they pass, but should the tower collapse, then the character most likely dies, and the player is out of the game. It is certainly a unique way to play a tabletop game, and it definitely adds suspense, especially as the game goes on and the tower becomes more and more unstable.

5

Dungeons & Dragons

The Domains of Dread are Ripe with Horror

dungeons-and-dragons-series-game-tabletop-franchise

Franchise: Dungeons & Dragons
Original Release Date: 1974

As one of the most versatile tabletop games with tons of books that cover a wide range of themes, Dungeons & Dragons is definitely a game that can be altered for a more horror-aligned experience. Crafty DMs could make up their own world and plots, but for those who don’t have the time or even the desire to homebrew, there are sourcebooks designed around horror.

Dungeons and Dragons_ Best Domains of Dread, Ranked

Dungeons and Dragons: The Best Domains of Dread, Ranked

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Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft offers plenty of resources for creating a campaign set in one of the Domains of Dread, with each offering a different genre of horror, such as the gothic horror of Barovia or the whimsical horror of the Carnival. There is also Curse of Strahd, a very famous pre-written horror campaign that is sure to both delight and terrify the players with its dark and haunting material.

4

Call of Cthulhu

Investigate Eldritch Mysteries Without Losing Sanity

Original Release: 1981
Publisher(s): Chaosium
Designer(s): Sandy Petersen

As one could surmise from the title, Call of Cthulhu is based on the fictional works of H.P. Lovecraft, the grandfather of cosmic horror who penned many stories bending the laws of reality and what is possible as eldritch creatures preyed on the sanity of humans. And sanity is exactly what players risk, along with their lives, as they investigate cosmic mysteries in this horror tabletop game.

The setting, the challenge, and themes all make Call of Cthulhu a gothic, cosmic horror experience players are sure not to forget, as the players witness things no human ever should, running afoul of dangers such as cults, forbidden arcane knowledge, ritualistic murders, and whatever else their Lore Keeper sees fit to throw at them, and players must do all they can to keep their body and mind safe. Though the system can be a little daunting from first glance, it can be perfect for beginners should they take the time to read through the rules.

3

Alien: The RPG

The Xenomorph Will Always be a Terrifying Enemy

Original Release: 2019
Publisher(s): Free League Publishing
Designer(s): Brandon Bowling, Paul Elliott, Andrew E. C. Gaska, Tomas Härenstam, Nils Karlén, Kosta Kostulas, Dave Semark, and Matthew Tyler-Jones.

The Alien franchise has terrorized people since the original movie release back in 1979, which introduced the audience to the terrifying alien creatures of their universe. It was so effective that many sequels were spawned, as were spin-offs, novels, game adaptations, and even a tabletop game, simply titled Alien: The Roleplaying Game.

As one might expect, players take on the role of a starfaring crew that will, at one point or another, find themselves face to face with the terrifying extraterrestrial being, and they must do what they can to survive the encounter. There are many different types of Xenomorphs that all have their own special actions and attacks, which makes every encounter a guessing game. Panic and stress are not only game mechanics that will make the actions of player characters more difficult, but things that the players themselves feel every time the GM drops another alien on them.

2

Vampire: The Masquerade

Become a Creature of the Night

Since the early 90s, Vampire: The Masquerade has been embracing fledglings into their ranks, bringing them into the fold of their secret society existing in the shadows of humanity. Whereas most games task the player to hunt the monsters, here, they are one, forced to grapple with the beast within and their humanity night after night.

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Though there are traditional threats such as hunters and rival vampires, there is also the pressing to need to slake their thirst while resisting the fall into becoming a true monster that has little care for how many drained bodies they leave in their wake. The latter makes up the bulk of the horror aspect, as what can be more unsettling than seeing oneself devolve into a mindless monster that has forsaken everything they once were?

1

Ten Candles

Survival is Impossible

Original Release: 2015
Publisher(s): Cavalry Games
Designer(s): Stephen Dewey

In most tabletop games, players are fighting for survival, be it their own or that of an entire city — or even an entire world. They are doing what they can to stop the machinations of evil from rising and threatening the lives of every single person, but Ten Candles takes a completely different approach to the monster apocalypse story. Instead, the monsters have already overrun the world, cut off power, and have slaughtered any who step into the dark. The flickering lights of the candles are all that keeps them safe.

Players literally gather around a table lit by tea candles, and it is them sharing a story of their last time on Earth, as when the candles die, any who haven’t already succumbed in their game will die as darkness is a death sentence. This sense of hopelessness and knowledge everyone gathered is going to die is more chilling than anything any other story could manage, as hope is something other games always have, as death is not a guarantee, but in Ten Candles, it is an inevitability.