A year ago Geek Native ran a list of the best selling horror RPGs on DriveThru RPG and RPGNow. The question was; “Are these the best horror RPGs of all time?” and many people thought not.
This year we’ve the top 10 best selling horror RPGs from the last poll up to the start of month. It’s out with the evergreen and in with the new. Only one book makes most lists and that’s White Wolf’s World of Darkness that came in #7 last year and #6 this. You don’t find Call of Cthulhu in the top 10, although it did make the top 20, along with Cubicle 7’s Kuro and “Your Story” and “Our World” from the Dresden Files RPG.
So what do you make of this year’s top 10 best selling horror RPGs? Are they the best of the year? The best ever? Use the star rating system if you know the game.
#1: Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition
This is the book that gives you the ultimate V:tM experience. All thirteen clans, variants and bloodlines along with disiplines up to level nine. Character creation from Neonate to Methuselah, classic rules updated from Vampire’s revised edition and new colour art from Tim Bradstreet and other classic Masquerade artists.
#2: Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition
This anniversary edition of Werewolf gives us all thirteen tribes, variants and the Lost Tribes along with signature Gifts and Rites. There are rules for chargen, advancement and Gifts from level one to six using rules updated from W:tA revised. The modern nights section is updated and there’s new colour art from the likes of Ron Spencer, John Bridges and Steve Prescott.
#3: World of Darkness: The God Machine Chronicle
A new book from White Wolf that first appeared at DriveThru RPG in April 2013. This is not a book with answers; just options and an idea. What if everything that was going on in the World of Darkness was controlled or influenced by some powerful “god machine” that lurked in the background.
#4: Mummy the Curse
Mummy was the first new World of Darkness game since 2009. This edition appeared online in March 2013 and comes in at number 4 in our sales chart. This is the story of beings that are dead and yet deathless, that sleep while the civilisation that gave them birth crumbles and decays only to awaken and serve their Judge’s will before once again returning to the death-sleep.
#5: Geist: The Sin-Eaters
White Wolf secure all top 5 slots with Geist; published in 2009 and the last World of Darkness game until Mummy the Curse. Geist is the story of people who died, struck the Bargain and now walk with the ghosts. Death is a door and you are the one with they key.
#6: World of Darkness Rulebook
The World of Darkness rulebook acts as the basis for White Wolf’s core setting. This is a modern world in which the supernatural lurk in the shadows, plot against man and against each other. The book contains rules for character creation, combat, task resolution and all that you need to explore a dangerous word.
#7: Deadlands Noir
New Orleans in 1935 and things that go bump in the night. Written by John Goff, running Savage Worlds and published by Pinnacle Entertainment, Deadlands Nior extends Deadlands with new Edges, Hindrances and powers. Just how useful is your trusty .45 automatic?
#8: Changeling: The Lost
A World of Darkness book in which characters have been taken from their home, transformed by the power of Faerie and then kept as the Other’s slave or pet. Finding their way home, back through the Thorns, characters discover that home is no longer theirs. They’re lost and have to find themselves.
#9: Hunter: The Vigil
We’ve seen this top ten dominated by the terrors of the World of Darkness. Now, in this book, we see mankind fighting back. The book contains rules for playing hunters and paths for violence, investigations or even rehabilitation.
#10: Delta Green
The last book in this year’s top 10 list is Cthulhu’s only appearance. Delta Green is Call of Cthulhu’s largest sourcebook and deals with the mythos from end of the millennium in America. This means you’ve UFO study groups getting closer to the truth than they know, Nazi hunters in dangers beyond their understanding and men in black.
What do you make of this year’s top ten? Your favourite RPGs? Is there a horror game that’s missing but you think should have made the top of the charts? Let us know in the comments below.
