With Halloween coming this month, we wanted to take a moment to highlight some of your favorite spooky titles to prepare for a weekend of terrifying (and fun!) frights! This is one of our favorite holidays, and with so many options, we needed to inquire with the community about their favorites.
We asked, and you responded on our socials. We were not only excited to see some of our own favorites but also learned about new games, too! Thank you, everyone, for participating and shouting out your favorites
Here is a round-up of the top suggestions!
Call of Cthulhu
There is a wide variety of Call of Cthulhu choices on Roll20 + DriveThruRPG. You can even get started for free with the Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Quickstart Rules. With so many choices, we wanted to focus on the most recent release. Perfect for those of you who are currently loving Silent Hill f, this is perfect for western modernity versus traditional values, beauty in the monstrous, mid-90’s Japanese horror, and cosmic horrors through the lens of local folklore.
Call of Cthulhu: The Sutra of Pale Leaves – Carcosa Manifest contains four scenarios for the unique setting of 1980s Japan. These scenarios can be played stand-alone or strung together and combined with the scenarios from Twin Suns Rising to create a long-form campaign experience.
- All maps, handouts, art, and character sheets are fully integrated and ready for the virtual tabletop.
- Maps with GM layer information and dynamic lighting support (requires plus / pro subscription).
- The Sutra of Pale Leaves Carcosa Manifest Module (2-6 investigators plus Keeper)
- The Sutra of Pale Leaves Carcosa Manifest Compendium (drag and drop supported NPCs, spells, and items from the campaign)
- The Sutra of Pale Leaves Carcosa Manifest Token Pack (50+ tokens ready to be used in your Call of Cthulhu campaigns)
ALIEN: The Roleplaying Game
ALIEN: The Roleplaying Game is available on Roll20, Demiplane, and DriveThruRPG. You can get all three at a discount through cross-platform bundles (further discount if you own the PDF through DriveThruRPG). Alternatively, if you own ALIEN: The Roleplaying Game on Roll20, you can sync your account to get the Demiplane versions (if available on that platform) for no additional cost.
Gamma rays and neutrino bursts erupt from dying stars to cook you alive, black holes tear you apart, and the void itself boils your blood and seizes your brain. Try to scream and no one can hear you – hold your breath and you rupture your lungs.
The official ALIEN tabletop roleplaying game – a universe of body horror and corporate brinkmanship, where synthetic people play god while space truckers and marines serve host to newborn ghoulish creatures. It’s a harsh and unforgiving universe, and you are nothing if not expendable.
Mothership®
Welcome to Mothership®, the award-winning sci-fi horror RPG where you and your crew try to survive in the most inhospitable environment in the universe: outer space!
Mothership Starter Bundle on Roll20 gets you what you need for your one-shot adventure!
- Contains the entire rulebook in an easily searchable format.
- Share elements of the rules, or the entire rulebook, with your players.
- Create complete characters step-by-step with the Mothership Charactermancer.
- Drag and Drop weapons, armor, and equipment directly to the sheet.
- Drag and Drop ship profiles directly to the ship sheet.
- A complete scenario (The Haunting of Ypsilon 14) has been fully converted into linked and searchable handouts.
- Full floor plans for the scenario, including GM-only layer information.
- A relational map, showing the layout of the scenario in an easy-to-read flowchart format..
- Tokens for all major NPCs.
- Complete, rollable character sheets for the scenario’s adversaries.
Additionally, there are a ton of third-party products on DriveThruRPG, including Cloud Empress Core Rulebook (free!) to browse through to enhance your Mothership campaigns.
Old Gods of Appalachia
Based on the award-winning and amazingly popular fiction podcast, the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game is a complete, standalone TTRPG powered by the Cypher System. Old Gods of Appalachia’s unique take on cosmic horror is personal, intimate, and atmospheric.
Venture into the dark, eerie past of an alternate Appalachia and enjoy a fluid, story-based role-playing experience with an intuitive, concept-driven character generation system that gives you limitless options. With loads of lore, dozens of creatures and NPCs, and two complete adventures to launch your campaign, the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game has everything you need to experience your own stories of horror, hardship, and heart in this immersive, narrative, and deeply chilling setting.
Try the Quickstart for free or complete your collection on DriveThruRPG!
Vampire: the Masquerade
The original role-playing game of personal and political horror
You are a vampire, struggling for survival, supremacy, and your own fading humanity – afraid of what you are capable of, and fearful of the inhuman conspiracies that surround you. As a vampire, you suffer the pangs of the Hunger, the relentless and terrible thirst for human blood. If you refuse to deal with it, it will overcome your mind and drive you to terrible acts to slake it. You walk this razor’s edge every night. This is the original and ultimate role-playing game of personal and political horror.
Save 40% Now!
All through October, select Vampire: the Masquerade 5e titles are 40% off on Roll20, Demiplane (use checkout code: MOD40), and DriveThruRPG for Month of Darkness! If you own a VtM title on Roll20 and it exists on Demiplane, you’ll unlock it for free with cross-platform sync.
Additionally, you can use both Roll20 and Demiplane Sheets in the Roll20 VTT today.
Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying
Welcome to the Mythic North – northern Europe of the nineteenth century, but not as we know it today. A land where the myths are real. A cold reach covered by vast forests, its few cities are lonely beacons of industry and enlightenment – a new civilization dawning. But in the countryside, the old ways still hold sway. There, people know what lurks in the dark. They know to fear it.
The entire Vaesen Collection is available on DriveThruRPG!
Can’t find a group? There are solo rules available, too.
The Vaesen Sheet is gorgeous, and we recommend checking it out in your campaigns on Roll20!
Chronicles of Darkness
Chronicles of Darkness is a game where ordinary people encounter the supernatural, developed from the World of Darkness, and has many supporting lines. After a decade, there have been more than 10 game lines released – each with its own flavor and experience.
With so many lines, we wanted to zero in on one we love!
Hunter: The Vigil Second Edition is a standalone game that can be played by new or existing players. The lore has been updated to not only reflect the uptick in monsters but also the fact that hunting monsters is not exclusive to a location, group of people, or time period. There may be more monsters than ever before, but now there are more ways to fight them, too.
In Hunter: The Vigil, anyone can be a hunter — provided you are committed to the hunt. It is a game of personal horror and sacrifice that tests relationships and encourages teamwork within a cell, compact, or conspiracy.
Sale up to 40% now!
Also part of the Month of Darkness, Chronicles of Darkness lines (including Hunter: The Vigil Second Edition) are on sale at up to 40% off on Storytellers Vault. This is going on all October, so make sure to finish your collection or find a new favorite!
Honorable Mentions
- Fallout: The Roleplaying Game from Modiphius
- Tales of the Spectre from Chaosium
- Walking Dead from Free League
- Maximum Apocalypse RPG from RockManorGames
- InSpectres from Memento Mori Theatricks
Tell Us What You Need
We love hearing what would improve your play experience. If you have ideas about how to make the tabletop better for your games, let us know by posting on our Forums or joining our Discord server, where you can hang out with other community members and connect directly with staff for brainstorming, troubleshooting, and announcements. Follow us on Socials for more info!