Paizo's 13 Omens Brings Re-Animator and Three Classic Hammer Horror Films to the Gaming Table

Paizo's new horror roleplaying game, 13 Omens, is embracing its cinematic influences with an expanding collection of officially licensed horror adventures. Currently raising funds on crowdfunding site Kickstarter, the game is already three times over its funding goal, currently sitting at just over $330,000. Recent updates have seen a flurry of announcements bringing plotlines from classic horror cinema to the game in the form of story zines - written to play a complete horror adventure in a single session.

Following an initial announcement of Re-Animator, 13 OmensHalloween Kickstarter update turns the spotlight onto three classic Hammer productions associated with CLC and STUDIOCANAL.

The development brings together four films spanning two very different eras of horror cinema - the colourful gothic chills of Hammer's 1970s productions and the outrageous, gore-soaked black comedy of Stuart Gordon's 1985 cult favourite.

Designed by Jason Bulmahn, with additional design and development from Erik Mona, James Jacobs and Joe Pasini, 13 Omens is a rules-light horror game intended to recreate the atmosphere and escalating tension of horror films. Rather than lengthy campaigns, individual stories are designed to be completed in a single session, using a shared dice bag in which increasingly dangerous Omen Dice are added as the story progresses.

Re-Animator (1985)

Director: Stuart Gordon

Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton

Released in 1985, Re-Animator is a cult horror-comedy loosely adapted from H. P. Lovecraft's Herbert West - Reanimator. It follows Herbert West, an obsessive medical student whose experimental serum can restore life to dead tissue. Unfortunately, the resurrected are rarely cooperative, and his experiments descend into increasingly bloody chaos.

Combining grotesque practical effects, outrageous black comedy and mad-scientist horror, the film became a cult classic and a defining example of 1980s splatter cinema.

Based on the classic Stuart Gordon movie itself based on the original set of tales written by H.P. Lovecraft, this officially licensed 13 Omens Re-Animator adventure puts 13 Omens players in the shoes of medical students who have discovered a serum capable of animating dead bodies back to life1 Of course, there are those who have nefarious plans for the serum, and simply controlling your own experiments will get messy. After all, death is only the beginning!

Scars of Dracula (1970)

Director: Roy Ward Baker

Stars: Christopher Lee, Dennis Waterman, Jenny Hanley, Patrick Troughton

Released in 1970, Scars of Dracula sees Christopher Lee return as Hammer's most famous vampire. After Dracula is resurrected, a young man disappears inside his remote castle, prompting his brother and companion to investigate. Their search leads them into a nightmare of vampirism, cruelty and supernatural terror.

Thank God the people of Karlsbad have burned down Dracula’s castle at last! Now you and your friends, English tourists in Translyvania, can look for love without guarding your necks! Don’t worry about all the stories of mysterious bat attacks in the area, they’re probably just rumours. This thrilling 13 Omens story retells the events of Hammer Studio’s classic Scars of Dracula, a strangely effective psychological horror tale - with a bite!

Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)

Director: Seth Holt

Stars: Valerie Leon, Andrew Keir, James Villiers

Released in 1971, Blood from the Mummy's Tomb adapts Bram Stoker's novel The Jewel of Seven Stars. The story centres on Margaret Fuchs, a young woman whose remarkable resemblance to the ancient Egyptian Queen Tera becomes increasingly disturbing as supernatural events unfold around her.

Following an archaeological expedition that uncovered Tera's tomb, dark forces begin manipulating those connected to the discovery, threatening to bring the long-dead queen back into the modern world.

Join the ill-fated Professor Julian Fuchs on his expedition of crooked Egyptologists, scheming psychic investigators, and mind-broken historians as they explore the dreaded Valley of the Sorcerer on the hunt for the time-lost tomb of the ancient mummy Tera - She Who Has No Name, the God to Come, the Queen of Darkness. This exciting 13 Omens story explores the initiating events of Hammer Studio’s classic Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb.

The Horror of Frankenstein (1970)

Director: Jimmy Sangster

Stars: Ralph Bates, Kate O'Mara, Veronica Carlson, David Prowse

Released in 1970, The Horror of Frankenstein offers an unusual reworking of Hammer's original The Curse of Frankenstein from 1957. Ralph Bates plays a younger, arrogant Victor Frankenstein, whose determination to conquer death leads him to murder, body theft and increasingly unethical experiments.

His scientific ambitions culminate in the creation of a monstrous artificial human, played by David Prowse, years before the actor would become internationally famous as Darth Vader.

Young Victor Frankenstein - freshly expelled from the finest science academy - returns to his ancestral Bavarian castle to continue his grim experiments outside the view of disapproving eyes. There he allies with old friends, conniving household servants, and foul corpse-collectors to discover the scientific secrets of artificial life - so long as he and his friends don’t murder each other first! Horror of Frankenstein, based on the popular Hammer Studio classic, puts players in the role of Victor Frankenstein and his immoral allies. A new Treachery subsystem adds an element of PVP betrayal to the 13 Omens rules and ensures a spectacular back-stabbing finale unlike any other 13 Omens scenario!

Bringing Classic Horror to a New Generation

The inclusion of these films is an interesting direction for 13 Omens, particularly given the differences between the properties. Re-Animator provides frantic scientific horror and splatter comedy, while the three Hammer films offer more traditional gothic monsters.

There’s an obvious appeal for a number of roleplaying fans, given the cult nature of the movies there will certainly be a crossover base of existing fans, but many will be discovering the movies for the first time.

The move also represents an intriguing use of older film licences. While modern horror franchises frequently receive tabletop adaptations, Hammer's extensive catalogue contains numerous lesser-utilised properties that could work particularly well as self-contained adventures. I know it’s certainly not the first time the idea of using the Hammer back catalogue for tabletop RPGs has been mooted, but this is the first time it’s actually officially being done. The three Hammer titles announced in Paizo's Halloween update could therefore be an appealing starting point for a wider exploration of classic horror cinema.

13 Omens is currently funding on Kickstarter, with the campaign running until Friday 13th November 2026.