Steps of The Dark Tower: A Stephen King Campaign

Every person that has gotten bit by the GMing bug has had at least one idea for a campaign that feels like a white whale. Either it's too big for them to realistically make it happen, they can't find players enthusiastic enough to see it through to the end, or it's just so bizarre that it would take a huge amount of brain juice and willpower to convert all the ideas and options into math and stats so the game could actually be played.

For me, this campaign is something I'm calling Steps of The Dark Tower: Chasing The Black Rainbow, and I thought that since this is Monday I'd share some of my thoughts, and see if this is something someone out there would like to try if they're a madder lad or lass than I am.

Did someone call for a ka-tet?

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

All Things Serve The Beam...

The basic idea behind this campaign is that the PCs are among the hundreds (if not thousands) of small events taking place in the background of the central quest of Stephen King's Dark Tower universe. Roland and his ka-tet seek the room at the top of the tower, and they are being opposed by the Crimson King and his servants. They walk through realities the way you or I might step through puddles, and there are a thousand times a thousand reverberations that fill the worlds. Ancient wizards and corrupt technologies seek to stop them, as do common thugs, vampires, orders of mystic bugs, rad mutants, invisible men, shapeshifting monsters, and so, so much more!

And that's just a sample of some of the nonsense that exists!

When I originally conceived this idea, it was inspired by some of the plot of the novel Black House, where our protagonists' actions set the scene for the gunslinger and his companions to complete their own quest. In Chasing The Black Rainbow, our protagonists are drawn to the last remnants of Gilead. Consumed by civil war and death, the place is a smoldering ruin, much of which has been destroyed or abandoned. There are things left there, however, to test the mettle of those who have the spirit, if not the blood, of the Eld. Once our protagonists fight past the shades of the old order, besting the undead remains of Cort, they find themselves before the shattered throne. The last vestiges of the old king sits there, refusing to move on, using the last of its strength to assign a quest to those worthy. The remnants of Maerlyn's Rainbow have been scattered across the various levels and worlds of the tower, and for reasons beyond his understanding, the party are the ones who have been selected by ka to track it down.

The characters could be drawn from any world attached to King's Dark Tower series, with the exception of 2. Characters could not be from Keystone Earth, where Sai King writes all these books, and they could not be from Roland's world. Any other world, no matter how mundane or how absolutely terrifying, was fair game as long as there was a definite connection to the Dark Tower from that story and world.

And depending on which stories and worlds the players picked for their characters, the Game Master should distribute the remaining spheres of Maerlyn's Rainbow so that at least a few of them were found back in the PCs' home worlds.

For example, if a PC wanted to be from the world of Salem's Lot, then they might find the Crimson orb in possession of a vampire like Barlow. Alternatively, they might have to hunt through the wreckage of the world of The Stand in search of the Pink ball, as that was where Randall Flagg had it last. Is the Yellow ball in possession of the strange government entities that may be coralling psychics in Hearts in Atlantis (separate from the Low Men and the Beam Breakers, as Ted revealed himself to the U.S. government before his mysterious disappearance)? Is the Green ball lurking in the burnt out ruins of the world of Cell, and the players have to find it while avoiding the bizarre zombies and irrational humans who still wander that world? Is the Pearl Gray ball somehow connected to the bizarre gunk in the story Gray Matter found in Night Shift?

All of these are options, and that doesn't even touch things like time travel, killer clowns, evil hotels, aliens putting domes over towns, and all the other bizarre stuff that takes place in King's sprawling Dark Tower setting! The key is to decide which balls are still around, with a low number of 6, and a high number of all 13. And since so many of the balls' powers are left undefined and vague, the Game Master could use each of them to give the party some kind of boon, and to point the way to the next piece of the quest.

No matter which version of the quest one does, however, the end goal is always Black 13, and it's always located in the same place... the hellish darkness of the world we see in The Mist. Maybe it was messing with the ball that split the barriers between worlds, letting in the monstrous things from the outside to run rampant over earth. Maybe the event was manipulated by servants of the Crimson King. However, whatever the case is, the PCs need to get to that last ball before the Crimson King uses it for his own ends.

Now, we all know that Sai King receives a lot of crap for his terrible endings. So the thought I had for the end of the campaign (though I don't actually recommend anyone do this as it is deliberately anticlimactic) is the following.

As you all close the bowling bag over the shimmering, malignant surface of Black 13, you breathe a sign of relief. You have it, now. Your quest is done, but for the epilogue. Five shots ring out, a deadly salute that sprays blood, bone, and brain matter everywhere. Bad luck manifests as a single set of footsteps approaches the circle of corpses. As he lifts the bag in the hand not holding a smoking gun, the Man in Black smiles, and speaks a phrase as simple as it is nonsensical.

"Bool, the end," he says.

My Recommendation For Running This

Now, if this absolute madness is the sort of thing that fires your imagination, and gets you interested in giving it a whirl, far be it from me to stop you. However, I've had a lot of thoughts about this game over the years, and there's a recommendation I'd make for turning this thing into a reality.

Namely that you should really consider using the Savage Worlds system for it.

Versatile, powerful, and user-friendly.

I don't make this recommendation lightly, either. Because while it's true that this RPG system is flexible enough that you could make all of the things the universe of the Dark Tower might boast, there's also enough existing content that you can fold into the game with a few little changes here and there that you don't have to do all of the work yourself.

As an example, if you have someone who wants to bring a character from the world of The Eyes of The Dragon, you have the Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion to help you. If you need to drag in threats from stories like The Little Sisters of Eluria or The Wind Through The Keyhole, then you have Deadlands you can pull creatures, magic, and even fear level rules from. There's even stuff you can grab out of the Savage Worlds RIFTS game, or even the basic Savage Worlds Horror Companion.

No matter which part of the Dark Tower your party ventures to, or what decisions they make, this is the game I'd say is flexible enough to provide you all the options you could want, while making sure the playing field is level enough that you won't have all your players choosing to be from the same part of the King-verse.

So go forth, and may ka be with you should you attempt to walk this path!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Why Game Masters Should Understand Terror, Horror, and Revulsion

For those just joining us, I like horror games. Not only that, but I'm also a big fan of introducing horror themes and stories into settings that are not explicitly horror games themselves. So while I've got plenty of World of Darkness content out there, such as Evil Incorporated: 10 Pentex Subsidiaries for Werewolf: The Apocalypse lovers, or 100 Resources and Rumors to Find on SchreckNet for Vampire: The Masquerade players and STs, I've also got modules for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition like The Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh or The Curse of Sapphire Lake. That's in addition to writing horror short stories for years, and incorporating a lot of elements of the genre into my other, longer books.

It's why I wanted to talk this week about how a lot of Game Masters out there misunderstand what makes a horror game work, and to discuss some of the terminology of what makes horror work in a way that might make things clearer, and easier to understand.

And if you need a bit of a guide, grab some of my supplements!

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!

Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Dread, Terror, Horror, And Why It Matters

One of the primary mistakes that I think a lot of Game Masters make when they decide they want to run a horror game (whether it's specifically written as a horror game or merely one that will have horror themes and elements) is that they focus on trying to actually scare their table. To shock them in some way, shape, or form.

I want to start this off right now by saying that is precisely the wrong attitude to take to running a quality horror game. It's the equivalent of a movie putting in a lot of jump scares to keep the audience's blood pressure spiking, or including gross-out or exploitative content for no reason other than to make the audience uncomfortable. Your goal shouldn't be to slap your players across the face with what's going on... rather, it should be to draw them into the dark waters, and make them wonder what's swimming in there with them.

No, seriously guys, did you hear that?

This is where we get into the terminology. And while it isn't perfect, this is a setup discussed in Danse Macabre by Stephen King. put it pretty well. I'm paraphrasing, but his breakdown took the following, basic form:

- Terror: Terror points at future events that haven't happened, but which one is afraid of happening. It could be specific ("Oh god, what if the minotaur finds me in this labyrinth?") or vague ("Ships disappear here all the time, and no one knows why... what if we're next?"), but it's future-focused. Might be the distant future or the immediate future, but the situation in question hasn't happened yet.

- Horror: Immediate. Horror is what most of us think of as that point where we jump, we scream, and where the event is here, right now (when the werewolf charges out of the mist, the graboid explodes from the ground, etc.).

- Revulsion: Revulsion is a third category that's usually referred to as the cheap thrill, or the attempt to hit the gag-reflex. It's a quick shock that puts adrenaline in your system, or which attempts to go right for the lizard brain. Revulsion can also be backward-looking, however, where one thinks of things they've already seen or experienced (Kurtz moaning, "the horror... the horror," in Heart of Darkness is a good example).

There are discussions to be had on this, and some people might suggest alternative terminology, phrasing, etc., but I find this structure tends to work pretty well. Also, despite the name of the genre (horror), it's actually more important to cultivate terror in order to make one of these games work... both in the short and in the long-term.

Plant The Seed, And Let It Grow

The thing with a horror game (as opposed to horror the emotion) is that you can't just sit people down and throw a bunch of decaying zombies, masked serial killers, and threats to life and limb down on the table and expect them to have a positive reaction. Or even much of a reaction beyond, "... okay?" A horror game more than almost any other kind of game requires investment from your players. You need to establish the stakes, and make sure they've bought in as completely as anyone can.

And then you need to start priming the pump.

This is the end goal, not your starting point.

As the Game Master, you need to use all the elements at your disposal to begin inducing that necessary terror. Sometimes it can be heavy (the small hamlet on the swamp with the mist rolling in, and locals telling tales about monsters kidnapping people) or it can be subtle (local news reports in the background, or gossip at a frat party about some kind of fracas in one of the dorms), but you need to lead the table down into the muck. You don't start with horror or revulsion, because those things with no build-up is just a jump scare; cheap, forgettable, and often annoying. Horror or revulsion with build-up, though, becomes the thing players talk about for ages once they've put their dice away and moved on to something else.

There's an old saying about horror movies; the monster is more frightening the less you see of it. From Jaws to Alien, there's nothing scarier than the viewer's mind filling in the blanks on their own. The same is true when we talk about horror games. Because terror is often a result of little hints being dropped, or of the temperature being increased bit by bit on the pot that is the game. It's is what you get when the PCs stumble across the band of renegade orc warriors they were planning to fight, only to find them torn limb from limb by something far more dangerous. It's what happens when they meet an NPC with just enough knowledge to be afraid of what's coming, and who tells them it's already too late... if they know this much, they've been marked. It's what starts making them paranoid that the terror hasn't come upon them yet, but knowing in their hearts that it will... sooner or later, it will.

The benefit of terror is that it acts like a marinade for the horror to come. If you just took your monster reveal, or your big scare, and served it up all by itself, you probably wouldn't get too much of a reaction. But if you spent some time marinating your table in terror, making them listen to legends, having them hear the screams, watching as they tried to go deeper and deeper only to wonder too late if they can turn back, then even a minor horror is going to be enhanced by all that lead up.

Something to think about when it comes time to run a "horror game" and you want to have clearer language. Because while it might be more accurate to say you want to run a game with dark themes relying on building dread as the PCs circle ever-closer to the reveal of horror, and then have to live with what they experienced and survived, that isn't the way a lot of us talk about what we expect from a game.

But clear communication can often be a big help in getting you from concept to execution!

Also, for those looking for more GM advice, don't forget to take a flip through 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master!

Need More Horrific Supplements?

For all the folks out there who need some extra resources and tools for adding to their games and settings, I've been putting out all kinds of horror-related content the past few years. In addition to the examples in the intro, consider checking out:

- 13 Fiends: A Baker's Dozen of Devils: If you want unusual outsiders just waiting to make bargains with the unwary, then this one has you covered. References to it also show up in 100 Cults to Encounter, for those who are looking for shadowy organizations to pepper your world with.

- 100 Kinfolk Bundle: Kinfolk are the backbone of garou society in Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and this bundle has over 1,300 NPCs for you to fill your setting with! And if you enjoy this game, consider picking up a copy of Tales From The Moot as well!

- 100 Strange Sights to See in The Hedge: An entry for all my Changeling: The Lost fans out there, this one is for the storytellers who just can't pluck out surreal events off the top of their head. It pairs quite well with 100 Hobs To Meet in The Hedge as well as 100 (Mostly) Harmless Goblin Fruits and Oddments to Find in The Hedge should you want a more complete package!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!