Fear in board games

This might be what you are looking for: http://www.shutupshow.com/post/12325502497/review-escape-from-the-aliens...

Also, at one point I was developing a coop game where players played astronauts trying to repair their ship before it crashes into the sun, while running out of fuel, oxygen, power, etc. I had one idea in which players had to actually hold their breaths when leaving an airlock, and could only breath again when they had finished all their tasks for that turn. Might have been taking it too far, though.

There's a number of games with a secret Traitor player - Shadows over Camelot, The Resistance, Battlestar Galactica, etc. It would be really interesting to have a game like the movie The Thing, where the Traitor character moved from person to person. I'd play that.

Maybe taking the traitor mechanic - and having it applied each turn. There being a alien deck that is dealt out each round - then the villain would change each turn to a hidden player. The struggle would be having that player then being able to change their strategy without alerting suspicion.
For The Thing style idea there would have to be some other mechanic running that would allow the infected player to easily have goals as the alien without them doing something to alert suspicion. ie - casually reaching for the game manual or taking separate cards.
You could have event cards played each turn with two missions on them - one for the humans and one for the alien - that way they would be accessible for all.
A hidden vote or some other similar idea would defiantly get a nice level of suspicion and paranoia going - fear is a lot harder to do - as your players will not feel in jeopardy.

I think that having a overwhelming enemy force always present in game and players know that they are fighting against something not easy to strike (or unbeatable) could inspire a sort of fear (think about the ancients of Chtulhu: you cannot kill them with guns, ...).

Another mechanism which could bring some fear is time shortages: if players are running against time the actions will be more frenzied and if the life of their pawns are in danger, it could bring fear feelings.

Said this I think that the sound element is the most effective one.

I feel that there are a lot of different forms that elicit some form of fear or tension. The overwhelming force that has been suggested seems like a good suggestion and I imagine it would lead players to feel sort of a constant dread. I kind of like the mounting tension that happens in horror flicks or the short bursts of fear. It feels like push your luck mechanics and bluffing are elements that might tie into it.

In my current game Pleasant Dreams I try to emulate sort of the rising dread that can happen when a dream slowly changes into a nightmare by having the deck (dream) that players play through slowly get infested by nightmare cards. Instead of the game doing this, it's actually something that happens due to the player's actions.

Having said this, I feel that there is also a difference between the game dictating what happens and the players playing an active role in it. Finally you might want to consider setting the difficulty level of your game. I personally feel more dread in difficult games than in easy ones.

That being said, good luck with your endeavors. I really like what you're going after!

Unless, you're interested in creating a game that spans over multiple sessions like Risk Legacy.

I usually use "Permanent Loss" as my main horror mechanic. Start the game with full ammo, a full team etc. This leads to the opening of EVERY horror movie where everything is alright... we are safe and happy. We can win this game...

But as the game proceeds people will die, you spend ammo... and you'll NEVER get it back. Dead people stay dead, wasted ammunition is gone forever, surviving monsters continue to hunt. The entire game can only move in one direction... from bad to worse.

The player will be taken through the same steps as classic horror. They'll start in the safety that they understand... but things will spiral out of control. They aren't "Winning" the fight and gaining ground... they are simply delaying their inevitable death. The player starts in control, but tumbles into desperation. Nothing will ever get better... it only gets worse.

Obviously, this won't be a "fear for your life" emotion, but I've found this to be the best simulation on a tabletop.

I'd probably go more for real world creeping dread, somehow, than the more sense based scares of other media. But I think a bigger barrier than that is getting the players to not think about the game in a purely mechanical framework. With board games - even those with themes I actively embrace (e.g. Mice and Mystics), I don't think I've found one that lets me forget about the mechanical space sufficiently to create strong emotional resonance. Without creating that sort of investment, I don't think you'll get a sense of fear no matter what you do (Unless the players are actually have some sort of stake - be it money (Poker) or a collectable component (Magic, Marbles, Pogs).

Granted, it's the creeping dread stuff in other media that stays scary after the film, or whatever's, over for me than the more sense based scares - and that doesn't just apply to cat scares either, so I'm not unbiased for that.

I do admit I'm expecting, should he survive long enough that sort of sense of loss over my Dwarf character, Gimold, in a recently started Warhammer Quest campaign, though I think that's more enhanced tension than actual fear, and that might even apply to games with stakes.

Space Hulk offers a great deal of fear and suspense, in my opinion. The endless waves of genestealers scurrying down the halls towards you, the tight quarters, the limited ammo for some guns... It's amazing.

Fear in a board game can come in two different flavors: to YOU or to the CHARACTER.

From the answers on this thread, I see that people are trying to cause fear in the player themselves. Of course bluff mechanics, traitor, uncertainty are good elements, but I would venture to say that all people have different horror tolerances. Something will have to go beyond normal game mechanics (i.e. Ouija or Tarot Card readings) in order to achieve "true" horror in a player.

The last time I experienced "fear" was when I was playing Forbidden Island and I was afraid of revealing that next card...knowing that a "Waters Rise" card would end the game. Maybe you can take something from that story...

If you can make your game so that, at any one time, your game can end unexpectedly, you might be able to invoke some kind of fear. But that can make for a very un-fun experience early game.

But...if your game had characters you assume control of, you can use a game mechanic to give THEM the aforementioned fear elements and that can affect them in the game. In the recent X-Wing miniatures game, when you are damaged, you take a card, if it's critical, flip the card over which will reveal (at random) a particular additional effect. THAT effect can hinder/help the character the player is assuming the role of.

Hope this helps.