MUP Ep 358 – MUP Ep 358 – Survival Horror w/ Matthew Dawkins

This episode, Keepers Bridgett and Evan discuss Survival Horror with Matthew Dawkins!

Patreon Plug & Update

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This episode is brought to you by Grandma Sally’s Soap Shop, your online source for handcrafted soaps, beauty products, and other personal care items. We make our products in small batches using traditional methods, natural ingredients, and Grandma Sally’s own proprietary premium tallow blend.  

Unlike mass-produced corporate soaps, Grandma Sally’s products are rendered slowly over an open fire in an authentic iron cauldron. Quality is assured by the watchful gaze of powers older than mankind. Customers describe our cleansers as “surprisingly fresh,” “deeply satisfying,” and “uncomfortably personal.” At Grandma Sally’s, we put a little bit of ourselves into every product. And sometimes… a little bit of somebody else.

The Discord Plug

MUP has a Discord and we are all there! We invite all of our listeners to come and enjoy the community of horror gaming and cute pet pics. Link in the show notes: MU Discord server invite link: https://discord.gg/vNjEv9D 

And thank you to our editor NATE for editing this episode. 

Main Topic 

Welcome everyone to the Main Topic! Tonight we are discussing Survival Horror. What it is, what it isn’t, what makes it unique, and how to use this subgenre of horror as a vehicle to enhance and diversify your storytelling. 

And to help, we’ve brought on prolific writer, award winning content creator, and honestly one my favorite GMs of all time, Matthew Dawkins! Matthew, please introduce yourself to the people!

So, we’re jumping into Survival Horror. Before we proceed, let’s first define it- Matthew, what is survival horror?

1. What is it NOT? Let’s clarify by contrast, what is survival horror compared to cosmic horror, investigative horror, apocalyptic, or psychological horror?

1. What type of core elements can you expect from survival horror? According to the internets: 

• scarce resources,
• Isolation  
• unreliable combat, 
• unexpected attacks, 
• puzzle solving, 
• evade versus confront enemies, 
• vulnerable characters, 
• maze-like environments, 
• perception limitation