The Well of Fears

Hmm. What's this I've "found"? What could we use it for? HMMM.

Seriously though, I found a few really good screenshots of the board and the weird tarot cards of the characters and compiled them for anyone brave enough to attempt this project. The board itself is the best quality I've managed so far and should be as accurate to the original dimensions as possible. I may some day take a shot at recreating the art myself since I do have a spare Nightmare board floating around, but for now at least we finally have this.

Gordon's over here looking like AVGN
Seriously though, this looks interesting!

Nons wrote:Gordon's over here looking like AVGN

You know, I thought the exact same thing!

John looks uncannily like James Sunderland from Silent Hill 2 lol

Incidentally, I've never seen 'Beyond The Gates' myself (though I'll probably add it to my Halloween watch list), but how similar is the game in the movie to Nightmare classic based on what's said about it in expository scenes? Just curious to know now heh

It's not really. The basic plot is that a pair of brothers find the game in their father's office at a video store he ran until he died or vanished or something. It's extremely obvious from the first appearance that they used an actual Nightmare I box and board to make the game. They go to play it and get a creepy personalized host who comments about their father and then it falls into that "is this really happening? Should we keep playing?" type of plot as some weird stuff happens. As you can see from the compiled image of the board it's just a few rooms which mostly line up to the house the film takes place in and around. Outside the "you need to collect X keys to save your father's soul" and the imagery of a large gate with some gravestone-like stuff around it that appears near the end there isn't really any direct parallels to the Nightmare franchise specifically. It doesn't even feel like they're playing a game so much as real life being reflected in the game they're supposed to be playing. Basically imagine the school-yard "rumors" of creepy stuff happening if you play Nightmare on a full moon or something equally silly and make a movie about that. The game is just the catalyst for what happens.

All that said though, it's very enjoyable for a low-budget horror flick. Acting is good and there's a lot of winks and nods to the rules and concepts of video board games. Barbara Crampton is as good as she ever is in low budget films. However, if it wasn't for the fact that the game in the movie's universe is so obviously a redeco'd Nightmare game with some random bits and pieces thrown in we probably wouldn't even be talking about it. MST3K would have fun with it.

Sounds interesting

I guess I just expected a less abstract “transported into a board game come to life” premise after growing up with movies like Jumanji and Zathura along with the whole “they made the assets with pieces of the Nightmare box” thing, but having the game inform the real world and vice versa seems cool too

I do wonder then how a proper “cursed” nightmare tape would play out...I’m picturing something like the Ringu tape or ‘The Walten Files’ found footage series where strange images and surreal sounds provide vague instructions in place of a definite game host for an overall more grizzly and disturbing analog horror tone.

I'd watch that! Personally I'd go with something more akin to the players being hunted one by one and evidence implying it was the Harbinger characters trying to kill them off so they could escape from The Other Side. Maybe having the keys prevents you from becoming prey but being killed lets that Harbinger go free? Except have the twist at the end be that instead of the keys locking them away it summons the Gatekeeper who, obviously, BANISHES THEM TO THE BLACK HOLE!

marr0w wrote:I'd watch that! Personally I'd go with something more akin to the players being hunted one by one and evidence implying it was the Harbinger characters trying to kill them off so they could escape from The Other Side. Maybe having the keys prevents you from becoming prey but being killed lets that Harbinger go free? Except have the twist at the end be that instead of the keys locking them away it summons the Gatekeeper who, obviously, BANISHES THEM TO THE BLACK HOLE!

Ooh hmm, now you got me thinking: I imagine this as something of a competitive co-op spin on the Vampire expansion.

Every player starts as a sleeping “human” trapped in the nightmare world of The Other Side. The human’s goal is simply to survive until the tape ends and help their fellow human partners survive too, lest they be hunted down by the “Harbingers”. If a player is moving the Baron’s token, that means they will be the target prey for the Baron over the course of the game and must avoid their wrath from the tape, the cards and the spaces they land on. If a human is caught, they become possessed by a Harbinger, whose job is then to help corner every other human so they can become a Harbinger before the tape ends. Keys can provide protection for a human but they’re not entirely foolproof, since Harbingers can use keys to make themselves stronger too.

Any and all characters can appear on the tape with their haunting visuals and cryptic almost ritualistic instructions applying to Humans and Harbingers in different ways. Dunno how it would work in regards to finer gameplay details or if it would serve as an add-on to an already existing game in the series, but it’s fun to think about at least

It would be nice to see some of the concepts unique to one game branched off to be shared across the other games in the series. If nothing else it would make things feel a little more consistent. I'm more of a story guy than a stat nerd so my feedback on the specific rules won't be very helpful, but concept-wise it's a good starting point. Honestly as much focus is given to whom these characters are, it's weird they don't have some sort of series-wide specific abilities tied to who they are. Spreading vampirism, casting spells, dancing in the Cathedral of Jive... I mean it wouldn't take much but it could go a long way.