Episode 2: TTRPG Horror Expert: Ian E. Muller

How would you best implement horror into your own TTRPGs?

Ian is the founder of Gehenna Gaming as well as Jackson on The Vampire the masquerade Actual Play ATL by Night, half of SugarAxe (which he runs alongside his partner Ellie Collins), Co-Creator of Virtual Horror Con, and writer and producer for a variety of TTRPGs and Actual Plays, You can catch him on Twitch, YouTube and all tons of other locations! A master of horror story telling in the TTRPG space, Ian has been writing publicly since he was 11 years old!

What was the first thing you remember writing and putting out to the public?

“*laughs* It was more impressive than the stuff I do now! No, It was an opinion piece about something going on in our town, in the town I grew up in, from a kids perspective, it was about supporting local libraries...”

From writing about supporting local libraries, to studies about the religious and spiritual implications behind body modification, all the way to writing for cybersecurity and technology companies, Ian has done it all. His outreach even prior to jumping into the TTRPG space was seen far and wide and has now transitioned into fiction and horror writing for the masses. Many writers and creatives get their start young and Ian is no exception.

Complete noobies all the way to veteran gamers, Gehenna Gaming has you covered!

Ian goes over the many facets of Gehenna Gaming which includes an extremely welcoming and inclusive group of wonderful individuals ready to not only play but more importantly teach those who want to play horror based TTRPGs. Ian and the Gehenna gaming crew has put out several written supplements to help support and encourage new players including 75 Pre-Generated characters for Vampire The Masquerade, a quick start guide for Vampire 5th Edition and most importantly a Horror TTRPG fillable consent form that goes over the many things that a horror game might encounter.

Player consent is the most important thing to remember when Horror gaming.

“Your games will ALWAYS be better when your players have bought into the horror and you can't do that without getting consent and understanding what their lines and veils are... You will run a better horror game working within those guidelines than working against them and using something that's actually problematic and triggering for a player..."

Indie developers listen up!

We talk about how new Indie developers may better improve their games by including quick start guides, a well laid out format that's easy to digest and understand, and links or videos of people playing their game in person and also playing their game online! With online game's huge uptick due to the pandemic, a clear cut instruction on how to play their horror games over sites like Roll20, Foundry or even Discord seems like a smart move in our eyes.

You can find Ian E. Muller a.k.a. Ravnos on his website www.ianemuller.com/ttrpgs or the company website at www.gehennagaming.com You can also find him trolling around Twitter as Ravnos or GehennaGaming