Rolling for Initiative is a weekly column by Scott Thorne, PhD, owner of Castle Perilous Games & Books in Carbondale, Illinois and instructor in marketing at Southeast Missouri State University.  This week, Thorne discusses some of the most frightfully fun games of the year for Horror Week.

It is horror week at ICv2, so it's time to step away from real life horrors, such as tariffs, Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy out-of-stocks and the continued lack of Pokemon TCG in the retail channel, and look at some games which might prove suitable for Summerween parties (see "Summerween").  Much like Festivus, Summerween seems to be on its way to securing a space on the holiday calendar so here are some games appropriate for the season:

Call of Cthulhu RPG.  Likely the oldest of the horror-themed games on the market, there is good reason it has remained in print ever since its release back in 1981 and why it and its expansions have won two dozen awards over the decades.  The rules system is well-designed and the writing and editing top notch.  My prime caveat with the system is its focus on the Cthulhu Mythos, requiring some knowledge of Lovecraft’s writings in order to get the most out of the game materials.  GMs can, of course, use the system to run non-Cthulhu games but the system shines when venturing into the Arkham region.

Old Gods of Appalachia RPG.  This is another historically based horror RPG based on the podcast of the same name, this is a great example of folk horror and has sold steadily since its release.  The major problem I have seen with Old Gods is its spotty availability as it goes in and out of stock in distribution with annoying irregularity.

Betrayal at House on the Hill.  If someone comes into the store looking for a horror-themed game, this is the first one our staff points them towards.  It is well designed, and due to the number of scenarios included, offers lots of replay value.  I had hoped that the Betrayal: Deck of Lost Souls would prove as popular, since it utilizes many of the same themes and mechanics, albeit in a card game, but we still sell four times as many copies of the original game.

Thousand Year Old Vampire.  This journal game allows the player to chronicle the life of a vampire living for centuries, starting with the loss of mortality and ending with the player's eventual destruction.  We have stocked it for several years and sell two to three copies a month.

Horrified.  The very name of the game states what it is about.  Players cooperate to defeat classic monsters, whether from the Universal movies, Greek myth, American cryptids or Dungeons & Dragons.  Sales have slowed over the past couple of years, but we still restock regularly.

Alice is Missing.  Similar to Horrified, sales of this game have slowed dramatically since we were able to stock it on a regular basis.  However, the concept that one of your friends has vanished and players are limited to text communication lends an oppressive isolation to the game play.

Other games that come to mind are Monster of the Week, Zombies!, Last Night on Earth, Shadows Over Brimstone, The Night Cage, Vaesen RPG and of course, the entire World of Darkness line.

Your thoughts on horror games, especially smaller press items?  Contact castleperilousgames@gmail.com.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.