It can be but it doesn't inherently have to be. Your characters are generally more competent, so you can throw more combat at them, but not as much as you would in, say, Pulp Cthulhu
I got Mothership but I don't really get the hype around it. It seems to me that the horror mostly comes from the character being fairly weak and prone to fail rolls (which increases Stress). Ran a combat between two characters I had created, and it took like 20 rounds to finish, because most attacks failed miserably. I'm also not sure how to run those pamphlet adventures. They seem incredibly short. Are they supposed to be played in 1 or 2 hours? Thanks for any advice.
I haven't read the pamphlet adventures specifically, but with short/one page stuff, if you focus on the interactions and build suspense and atmosphere youd be surprised at how much game you can get out of a surprisingly small word count.
But yeah, combat sucks in mothership. You're not really gonna get the horror from the ruleset though. The characters being squishy helps, but it's about setting the mood.
Dead of Night (very modular with great rules for any kind of horror. The rules are simple but work really well)
Chill (first edition best edition)
Stories from the Grave (new anthology rpg)
It Came From The Late Late Late Show (old anthology rpg with meta rules as you play an actor in movies and have celebrity status, stunt doubles, etc.)
Beyond the Supernatural&Nightbane (best with Victim rules. I know I know Palladium, but BtS and Nightbane are good. Nightbane is basically Clive Barker's Nightbreed the RPG)
Maléfices (French rpg about fighting occult forces in the late 1800s/early1900s. Has it's own special tarot deck to go with it)
Silent Legions is fun.
Heart
Delta Green
That's essentially just Call of Cthulhu though.
Isn't Delta Green more action?
It can be but it doesn't inherently have to be. Your characters are generally more competent, so you can throw more combat at them, but not as much as you would in, say, Pulp Cthulhu
Core CoC7e is way more of an action game than DG. Combat really fricks you up in DG.
Mothership, Alien RPG
I got Mothership but I don't really get the hype around it. It seems to me that the horror mostly comes from the character being fairly weak and prone to fail rolls (which increases Stress). Ran a combat between two characters I had created, and it took like 20 rounds to finish, because most attacks failed miserably. I'm also not sure how to run those pamphlet adventures. They seem incredibly short. Are they supposed to be played in 1 or 2 hours? Thanks for any advice.
I haven't read the pamphlet adventures specifically, but with short/one page stuff, if you focus on the interactions and build suspense and atmosphere youd be surprised at how much game you can get out of a surprisingly small word count.
But yeah, combat sucks in mothership. You're not really gonna get the horror from the ruleset though. The characters being squishy helps, but it's about setting the mood.
Fear Itself and Esoterrorists
Paranoia with no clones played straight.
Session length: 20 minutes max including character creation. Then you die. If you're lucky.
That wouldn't be a very long game.
Dread.
Kult 1st edition and Delta Green new edition are my favorite so far.
Delta Green is just the SCP version of CoC.
It’s X-Files zoomzoom.
Unknown Armies 2e
All Flesh Must Be Eaten
i been a big fan of don't rest your head recently
What's it like?
Cthulhu's Call
Esoterrorists, Fear Itself, and Paranormal Order which is basically just an unofficial spinoff of Esoterrorists).
Dead of Night (very modular with great rules for any kind of horror. The rules are simple but work really well)
Chill (first edition best edition)
Stories from the Grave (new anthology rpg)
It Came From The Late Late Late Show (old anthology rpg with meta rules as you play an actor in movies and have celebrity status, stunt doubles, etc.)
Beyond the Supernatural&Nightbane (best with Victim rules. I know I know Palladium, but BtS and Nightbane are good. Nightbane is basically Clive Barker's Nightbreed the RPG)
Maléfices (French rpg about fighting occult forces in the late 1800s/early1900s. Has it's own special tarot deck to go with it)
Chronicles of Darkness
whats the best comedy rpg?