Futile Soldiers - Military PCs in Horror Games
Creating a combat class in a genre averse to combat
I’ve recently been running Mothership; specifically taking a group through Silo-15, a short module from the Dissident Whispers anthology. The horror genre is a bit of a departure from our more commonly played ‘heroic’-style games and this has been highlighted by the group’s approach to combat.
In the Mothership 1e Player’s Survival Guide, the text specifies that combat should be a last resort. The ‘How to be a Great Player’ box-out at the very start of the rules section reads “If you’re fighting, you’re losing. Violence is deadly, and should be avoided at all costs” (emphasis mine), and the start of the ‘Violent Encounters’ section later on repeats this second sentence almost verbatim.
Influenced by films like Alien and The Thing, Mothership is a sci-fi horror game and thus, more than perhaps most, is beholden to some narrow genre tropes. The horror genre in general relies on characters not being able to solve their problems with bullets and simply shoot their way out; the characters (and the audience/players) need to feel vulnerable to experience fear.
However despite this genre aversion to combat, the game devotes one of its four stats and one of its four classes to it; the Combat stat and Marine class respectively. Beyond this, there is a full spread of weapons, two spreads of combat rules, and even a special rules box-out for military training. For a game that wants to eschew combat, it sure devotes a lot of specifics to it. Mothership is of course not alone in this, most TTRPGs devote pages or whole chapters to fighting, but few begin by telling players to avoid it.
“If you’re fighting, you’re losing. Violence is deadly, and should be avoided at all costs.”
Mothership Player’s Survival Guide - 16.1 How to be a Great Player
Military personnel are, of course, a mainstay trope in sci-fi horror; as are guns and explosives. Frequently though their use is in demonstrating the futility of that firepower, or indeed the entire institution of the military, in helping the characters overcome the horror. Often, the military is portrayed as an obstacle or even an outright threat, rather than a solution (unless of course they arrive at the very end, after they would have been most useful). When the protagonist(s) of the story are military trained it’s rarely their skills with firearms that resolve the plot, and if a group consists of just one marine it’s a fair guess who’s dying first.
However we’re not writing a film script, we're playing a game, and we have a subset of characters whose core identity is largely redundant thanks to genre expectations and rules text instructing you to avoid situations where they would be brought to the forefront. So instead of focusing on their warfare prowess, can the spotlight shift to illuminate other aspects of the trope? Can we make a fighter class that’s not about fighting?
Obviously, yes. Below are some areas of focus for a sci-fi horror marine class, followed by some draft ‘class abilities’ which don’t fit into Mothership’s style of characters but could be used in a hypothetical other sci-fi horror game.
Weapons Outside of Combat
Include weapons which have applications outside of just shooting the enemy. This could include utility weapons such as harpoon guns to retrieve objects or create a way to get across a gap, explosives to clear a path, or bladed weapons to use as a tool.
You could also include weapons that hinder or slow an enemy, rather than trying to kill it outright (letting the characters escape for now but keeping the threat ever present). Tranquilliser darts, smoke grenades, and netting guns are all options here.
The best options would be weapons that have multiple uses, such as a taser to stun an enemy or overload electronic systems, or a goo-gun to stick things together - either a monster to the floor or a sheet of metal to an exposed opening.
Specialist Knowledge
Make knowing about weapons relevant. The marine character should know how to shoot an SMG, but also the inner workings and perhaps the history of them. Perhaps they can identify the allegiance of another military unit by the brand of weapons they’re using, or they know how to disarm a bomb or missile; using those weapon skills towards a non-lethal outcome.
You can also give the soldier characters non-combat skills. In reality, soldiers are often multi-disciplined. First aid, IT, engineering, even cooking. Shift focus to these skills to keep them relevant.
How granular this knowledge is represented would be up to the game in question. Mothership has a flow-chart of skills, with all marines starting with a +10 stat bonus (on a d% roll-under check) to basic Military Training and Athletics, as well as either two other skills, or the opportunity to improve one of the base skills up to a +15 in Hand-Hand, Firearms, Wilderness Survival, or Explosives. The two additional starting skills do let a marine character diversify, but it would be good to see Military Training also having the option to lead into skills like Mechanical Repair or Field Medicine.
‘Social’ Privilege
Often a military background grants a perceived authority in tense situations. Among civilians and non-combat personnel, someone with training for dangerous circumstances might be elevated to a leadership role, or they might take it by virtue of being the one with the gun. This ‘leadership’ might simply be a narrative device, or it might carry mechanical weight; a bonus to rolls when instructing people, or granting a bonus to others when they do as instructed.
Military personnel can also gain access to places where a normal person might not by having a higher clearance level, or be able to communicate through jargon, understand specialist codes, recognise call signs, etc.
Military Abilities
Below are some rough sketches of abilities to give a solder-type character in a horror game where you want a military archetype but also avoid a focus on fighting. They’re are incomplete and not for any specific system; in fact I’ve gone out of my way to make them follow different ‘templates’ (one’s a PbtA-style move, another references a Will save, etc.). There is however a focus more on narrative than on mechanics.
Cover Fire
When you open fire indiscriminately to help your crew escape a desperate situation, roll+Firearms. On a hit, the crew gets to where they’re trying to go. On a 7-9, choose one:
Your bullets hit something they shouldn’t.
You get left behind.
On a miss, the crew is pinned and you’ve escalated the situation.
Straight Shooter
When bluntly using your weapon to persuade somebody into giving you what you want, use Force instead of Cunning.
Battle Within
When the current horror stirs a deeply buried memory, make a Will save. On a success you push it deeper and focus on the now, you have advantage on your next action roll. On a fail, gain one of the following conditions until you take time to process it:
Guilt: You feel ashamed, causing you to shun others.
Rage: You feel anger, causing you to lash out.
Haunted: You feel haunted by something intangible that appears in your peripheral vision.
Shoot the Breeze
When you lower your weapon, and your guard, in a quiet moment with another character, share your soul with them. Pick a prompt from the list, or invent one:
A fond memory of someone who died.
A memory of a similar situation from your time in the military.
A regret you harbour from your adolescence.
A secret from your time in training that you’ve never shared with anyone.
When you’ve finished, recover d6 stress and clear a mental condition.
Bite the Bullet
When all else has failed, grab your gun and face the enemy onslaught head on. You die, but give the others an opportunity and a glimmer of hope.