Little Fears: Nightmare Edition
When was the last time you were really, really afraid? Most people would say childhood. Little Fears is exactly about that. Little Fears is a game of childhood fears. The monsters are real; they hide in your closet and under your bed. The scary old lady down the street really is a hag. But don’t worry. You are protected by Belief, and items that seem mundane or meaningless to grown-ups can help you. Little Fears is based on a simple system, as befitting its nature of school children fighting monsters that adults can’t see.
Little Fears also has the notoriety of being one of three RPGs that one of my FLGS will not sell openly. You can order it, but they don’t stock it. I disagree, but I respect their choice.
Little Fears is a game of Childhood Horrors. Simple enough. As a father, I have been up many nights, sleepily fighting one bogeyman or another. Thankfully, most bogeymen are terrified of my "huh? go back to sleep" speech cause I have never seen them. But maybe once upon a time I did. I am reminded of a Charmed episode where a little girl was being attacked by little bogey-like creatures, and the Charmed Ones, being adults, could not see them. They had to cast a spell to be more childlike (with accompanying wackiness) to see the threat. That was the hook I was going to use to get my group to play Little Fears one day. Turn their characters into kids, and to keep them off guard, I was going to take their Unisystem sheets and give them Little Fears sheets instead, and then not tell them all the rules. The Little Fears book makes a big issue about kids living in an adult world and not knowing or understanding the rules. Frankly, I thought it was brilliant, but it never happened.
Little Fears plays like that. Only more so. Monsters are defined by the character's fear but also by their belief. In some ways, playing LF with adults is a bit like playing D&D with really young kids. They want to be the player AND the DM. In LF the characters and players can change the nature of the game in overt or subtle ways.
The rules are very simple, really. The system is a d6 dice pool based on abilities or qualities. Monsters are built similarly to characters, though they are tougher, generally speaking. The damage system reminds me of Mutants and Masterminds a bit and is also pretty simple. Emphasis, though, in this game is not how many monsters you can kill, but how well you role-play the monster you nearly escaped from and lived to tell your friends about (because they have seen the same monster, but have been too afraid to tell you). Little Fears is one of the most role-play-heavy games I have read in a very long time. If you only like to hit things with pointy metal sticks or throw fireballs, then this might not be your game. If the idea of playing something that is akin to "Kult Jr." or "C.J. Carella's WitchCraft Babies," then this is the game for you.
There is an overarching malaise, though, over Little Fears. I get depressed reading it, I have to admit. Maybe it is because I am a father and I know how those little kids feel to be afraid, alone, and powerless. I guess the counterargument is that they are not powerless or alone, really.
The Lifespan Campaign
One idea I’ve toyed with is the Lifespan Campaign: taking characters from childhood through adolescence, young adulthood, and into older years across different horror systems. Each stage of life would utilize a different RPG: Little Fears for childhood, perhaps Dark Places & Demogorgons, Monsterhearts or Buffy for the teenage years, WitchCraft for adulthood, and Kult or Call of Cthulhu for the endgame. I love this approach because each game has a distinct “rule set” that reflects how life feels at different ages.
Childhood is governed by Belief. Adolescence by Drama. Adulthood by Responsibility. Old age by Fragility. Or something like that. I reserve the right to tweak these ideas.
It’s a long campaign dream, but Little Fears is the perfect opening chapter.
Larina Nichols for Little Fears
Let's try out this idea. I have already established that Larina began to hear The Call of the Goddess when she was six years old. Around the same time, children have imaginary friends. In this universe, that would be the same time a Little Fears game would begin.
 |
| Little Larina and a ghost. |
I am a 6-year-old girl.
My birthday is October 25.
Concept: Outsider/Quiet kid
Abilities
Move: ØØOOOO 2
Fight: ØOOOOO 1
Think: ØØØOOO 3
Speak: ØØOOOO 2
Care: ØØØOOO 3
Traits
Good: I can Fight well when I am angry.
Bad: It’s hard for me to Think when I'm scared.
Virtues
Belief 7
Wits: scared ØØØØØ|ØØØOO calm
Spirit: dark ØØØØØ|ØØØØØ light (whole)
Qualities
I am the smart girl +2
- I know words the teacher hasn't taught yet. +1
- I love books. +1
I am Curious +1
I am Brave +1
I see Scary Things -2
I don't fit in -1
I feel (Care)
fine ØØØØØØØ|OOO
sore ØØØØØØØ|OOO (-2)
bad ØØØØØØØ|OOO (-4)
cold ØØØØØØØ|OOO (-6)
My Stuff
My "Book of Monsters" +3
- "Names" monsters so they can't hurt me +1 to Armor
- Gives me advice on how to beat them +1 to Fight
- lets me talk to Monsters +1 to Speak
Pendant +2
- Glows when danger is near
- Protects me +1 to Wits
"Dragon tooth" (really some baked clay) +2
- Lucky +1
- Protects me +1 to Care
Questionnaire
My best friend is...Aurora. She is a year older.
The One Grown-up I can Trust is...Mrs. Jess, my 1st grade teacher. I think she used to be a witch.
Once I Lost...my stuffed bunny Jackson.
He was special because...he would protect me from ghosts.
The One Place Monsters can't get me is...Dad's library. They are afraid of his books and music.
The One Thing Monsters can't touch is...my star pendant.
I Don't Go near...basement.
Beacuse...the Shadow-girl lives there and she is not like other ghosts.
My biggest fear is...fire.
A Little About Me
The Thing I like Least about Myself is...kids make fun of my hair and nose.
The Thing that always gets me into trouble is...when the ghosts bother me and I yell at them to stop.
When I get scared I...bite my nails. My mom hates that.
Family
I live in a one-story house with an attic and a basement that's a bit scary. With my mom (Stephanie) and my dad (Lars). I have a kitten named Cottonball who is small, white, and super fuzzy. The ghost of an old woman lives in the attic, but she is not mean and keeps the other ghosts away.
The Shadow-girl lives in the basement. She looks like a ghost, but isn't. She tells me she is going to take me and live as me. Shadow-girl will sometimes do bad things around the house, and I get blamed for it.
Goals
Short-term: I want to be braver around the older kids.
Long-term: I want to get rid of the Shadow-Girl
Secret
Knows her friend Aurora is being abused. She told a teacher, and then Aurora was gone for a long time.
-
This is quite a good system for figuring out who your character is, or rather, was back then. There are things here I have thought about for Larina that I have never actually explored in other games; her fear of fire yes, but also how she sees ghosts all the time, and her interactions with "The Shadow-girl" a demonic presence in her early life.
Going through this, I also decided that in a modern game, she would have been advanced a grade due to her intelligence, but was she emotionally ready? AND how does all of this affect the character I would play in Buffy, Chill, or Kult?
As a reminder that it is a weighty game with some weighty issues, I went ahead and put in Larina's secret about Aurora. Larina feels like it is her fault that Aurora was gone for so long. As mentioned above, this game challenges you to confront a range of childhood fears.
Final Thoughts
Little Fears: Nightmare Edition isn’t just “kids fight monsters.” It’s about capturing that liminal space between innocence and terror, where imagination and fear are indistinguishable. It’s a heavy game, sometimes even depressing, but it’s also brilliant in its design and focus.
While it is a game about children, it is not a game for children. The subject matter of abuse and death can be a bit much for some adults, let alone kids. So consider this your warning about the issues covered here.
Little Fears might also be one of the most effective horror games I have ever played. Chill, Kult, WoD, CoC, WitchCraft are all great and I love them all, but Little Fears is different and the power structure between what you can do and what you need to do is such that it is a scary, scary game.
If you want a horror RPG that digs deeper than gore and jump scares, one that makes you feel vulnerable again, this is it. Buy it. Play it. Even if it unsettles you. Because once you’ve cracked open Little Fears, you’ll never look at butterflies (or teddy bears, or shadows) quite the same way again.
No comments:
Post a Comment