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taken from /v/ game ideas thread:
>you play as a gas station attendant out in Middle-of-Nowhere, USA
>you deal with a typical day and interact with any customers
>as night falls, weird things start to happen, randomly selected from a pool
>for instance, you could deal with a wash of refugees from a zombie outbreak, or with an extradimensional mist enveloping your gas station, vampires besieging it, a coven of witches, etc.
>you can't leave your gas station for whatever reason
>the goal is to survive until help arrives, if it arrives, scrounging for whatever supplies you can find
>you have no idea what's going on, and you only have whatever information hysterical eyewitnesses and radio reports can give you
>some customers might, themselves, be monsters, or serial killers

This would make a great creepy campaign / scenario. What strange events can happen in a desolate gas station?
>>
Essentially, you run a gas station in the Stephen King universe?
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>>30729232
without baseball references, yeah.
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>>30729189
>you can't leave your gas station for whatever reason
The players are literally trapped there. If they try to leave, they just end up coming back no matter which direction they go. They run down the road, they eventually see another gas station in the distance, and as they get closer they find anyone that ended up staying behind, no doubt confused about how the others came from the direction opposite to the way they left.
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>>30729189

ice pick lodge is making a game sort of like that
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>>30729189
>>30729232
>>30729244
I approve and will use this in a WoD game.
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>>30729278
You can leave the gas station, it's just that by doing so you're now running through the dark chased by whatever is assaulting you without the benefit of a building you can defend.
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>>30729189
Radio will sometimes pick up stations from other countries, from the past or the future.
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bump with creepy gas stations
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>>30729189
Need to flesh this out:
1. What usable weapons are there?
2. How long does the calamity last?
3. Will food be important? If so how much do you have before you must start foraging?
4. Stats? How much damage do zombies do? How about players?
>>
>>30729437
1. maybe one hand gun and whatever the players may scavenge each night
2. random night shifts
3. shouldn't be with gas station supplies
4. system isn't important right now
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I really like this idea actually. If done right, I'm sure that it can be made really creepy and atmospheric, and might even have replay value if enough random encounters and characters can be generated.

>>30729437
1. I would recommend that the "default" weaponry available to the Night Shift would be a shotgun with limited ammunition secreted under the counter, as is standard in many stories of convenience stores and gas stations being defended by their employees. At the beginning of the game though, while the GM is creating the Gas Station, lets say by rolling from a random attributes table, there could be the chance for hidden caches of weapons, like a revolver and a box of bullets in the station safe, a nailbat left in an old oil drum in one of the repair bays, or even a rocket launcher wedged into the back of one of the freezers.
2. While I think duration of the calamity can be handled on a case-by-case basis, I feel like making each session one self-contained day or night might make for a fun recurring game.
3. Many gas stations include a convenience store inside, so I would imagine that food would not be an issue, unless the calamity or the circumstances of the session affected the supply of roller-dogs and twinkies in some way. Anything in the Gas Station's stock can be rolled for at the beginning, during station-creation.
4.Crunch has never been my strong suit, sorry!
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A potential table of basic Gas Station attributes might include things like when the game takes place, when the station was built, whether it has a convenience store, repair garage, or some combination of living spaces or outbuildings on-premises.

Things get interesting when you start rolling from a table of non-standard additions to the Station, things like whether or not there is a cave or basement under the building, like in pic-related, whether there might be a ham radio and antenna in the garage, a door in the back room that was nailed and chained shut, a storeroom of contraband items, or hidden weapons caches.
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>>30729278
If you're a really twisted GM, you'll tell each group seperately that "Now all you have to do is convince the others that you're 'really' who you say you are." Then give each group subtle hints that the members of the other group is NOT really the PCs who stayed / left. It'll add to the all out bat-shit insanity of the situation. After all, most RPG gamers have a hidden well of Paranoia just waiting for some GM to come along and tap into it.
>>
Possible Calamities:

- There's a zombie outbreak in progress and the shambling dead are throwing themselves against the station on all sides. The number of large windows means that sooner or later, the zeds are going to get in.

- You've heard over the radio that aliens have invaded, and your station is the nearest one to the emergency evacuation route. Scared people are flooding your station looking for gasoline and supplies which are quickly depleting, and the last few evacuees say that the saucers are headed your way.

- A rude, crude, heavily armed biker gang has roared in, ditched their bikes and have taken over the station. Most of them are bloody, and some of them have suffered grievous wounds. Whatever it is they're fighting seems to be invisible, but very, very violent.

- Every car on the road and in the garage has come to life, and instinctually hates human life. You must survive the Day of the Homicidal Autos.

- Clearing out an old store room in the back of the station, you discover a spiral staircase descending into a cavern with an old fallout shelter. The blast door ahs been locked from the inside.
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I like this idea.
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>>30733003
The key is being able to conceive of and run a bizarre, self-contained horror/adventure story in a single confined setting.
>>
>work in a shitty gas station in the middle of bumfuck
>deal on a semi-frequent basis with either snowstorms that leave it so you can't see up the street or with riots of college kids
>Circle of friends has agreed at least initially it is the rally point for the end of anything.

Stop stealing my life Op.
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>>30733142
>work in a gas station
>find a forum on the internet discussing your mundane life inside said gas station
>they start talking about things about to happen
>those things happen
>mostly
>your interfering with the events, given your foreknowledge messes with their perspective
>>
>>30733222
A perfect addition.
>>
Other ideas:
>The gas staton has a bookshelf full of cheap used books.
- one of those books is very valuable and four different collectors who arrive on the same day are ready to kill to get it.
- one of those books is a rare reprint of Abdul Alhazred's greatest work. One of the customers pick it up and reads a random part, shit happens.
- graphic novel about gas station attendants dealing with paranormal shit every night, they all die on the last page.
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>>30731963
Gas station should be as generic as possible to allow all kinds of strange events to happen. You need additional buildings/rooms? They were built overnight.
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>mfw /tg/ gets shit done
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The Gas Station Bathroom:
1. Becomes a portal to a shadow realm.
2. Seems to disappear anyone who goes in.
3. Is covered in a tremendous amount of graffiti that amounts to having a spellbook scrawled across the walls and ceiling,
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>>30732460

An interesting idea is that the Gas Station is actually in a safe place. This may have been holy ground or whatever, but you have a certain degree of protection from the shit that's going down outside.

Doesn't mean you can't be horribly murdered, though.
>>
i'd want to make it less survival horror and more creepy. less "can you withstand the zombie horde?" and more "what the fuck just happened?"

start out with very realistic weird americana. creepy rednecks. lost, desperate tourists with screaming kids. people who seem really sick or injured. skanky trailer-trash chicks with a few missing teeth who strongly hint they'd like to fuck you while their creepy husband is working on the car's engine. then get weirder.

people who seem to be confused about what year it is or what state they're in. people who seem to be hiding something they don't want you or the cops to find out about. people who seem to be very interested in asking you questions about the other group of people that came through earlier that day. people with nazi paraphernalia on their car or witchy fetishes hanging from the rearview mirror. a motor home with all the windows covered in black trash bags and a horrible smell coming from inside.

lots of hints of terrible things but you're never sure if you should act or not. and then if you call the cops they're even freakier than the freaks and you wonder if you're about to be kidnapped and taken to some cannibal rape dungeon out in the middle of the desert.
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>>30729232
>Middle-of-Nowhere
>not Maine

Not Stephen King.
>>
>Pump islands
- start pumping blood
- feeds on passengers while the driver is paying
- one of the pump islands is broken and the company doesn't want to send anyone to repair it. If the players decide to try to fix it themselves there is a corpse of previous station attendant inside the broken one
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>>30733478
>10/10 post
The point of this thing (we need a proper name for it) that you can have both campy alien invasions and mundane stuff.
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>>30733419
4. Occasionally home to intermittent cat sounds. No cats are to be found, although mouse corpses are sometimes found in the urinal. The boss assumes they ate too much of the urinal cake, but that fails to explain the purring.

5. Mirror occasionally malfunctions.

6. Using the hand drier has a small chance of causing the room to change temporal location.
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>>30733533
3a. There is space on one wall that can't be covered in graffiti. It has human shape.
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>>30733448
Maybe not the whole station but one room, like staff room would make a great safe haven.
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>>30733313
Anon suggesting >>30731963 here! I agree that the station should be almost boringly mundane at first glance, if maybe a bit dated and dusty. Any unusual features of the station would be things that would come up in the course of the game, like those weapons caches, or the basement fallout shelter, or >>30733419 's mystery bathroom.
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>>30731736
>I feel like making each session one self-contained day or night might make for a fun recurring game.
This mean that one day shift should be excellent for the lenght of the calamity. 8 hours. If even one character survives that long, everything goes back to normal, everyone returns to life, shift's over. Otherwise, news report about a mysterious disappearance.

Of course, since we are doing survival horror, this does bring up interesting connotations and possible scenarios.

>We're in the middle of Bumfuck, Nowhere, and creepy things happen in the middle of Nowhere. Yes, I am advocating stealing ideas from Courage the Cowardly Dog.
>Absolutely nothing happens, except that one of the employees slowly goes insane from the tension over the course of the night and starts trying to murderate the others.
>Nature's gone wrong and the ground itself is trying to kill you.
>A normal shift, except that the customers are now horrific monsters. Try to react like they're normal - they're a little... touchy about their appearances.
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>>30733550
3b. Sometimes there are personalized messages from someone who knows you well. They know things you've never told anyone else. Sometimes you write back, and you get the feeling you already know what to write.

Non-Bathroom
1. Milk is stocked in the convenience store, but you can never recall any being delivered. Or any being bought. But the expiration dates are always good.

2. Your boss insists on hanging flytrap paper, and occasionally replaces it. You realize now that you've never seen any flies in the store.

3. The crows that prey on the trash outside have decided to become talkative today. They warn you about the dogs.

4. Some people don't trigger the automatic door. They also don't show up on the security cameras. They don't know you know this, yet - but they will.
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>>30733581
Unusual features should be connected with calamity of the night so there is no idea to roll any table for them or to find them sooner (other than foreshadow the calamity)
>>30733589
>Courage the Cowardly Dog
Must-watch for inspiration as each episode can be translated to gas station theme.
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PC generation presets.
Because it takes a special kind of person to work the night shift.

are you
>The college kid who's desperately trying to fund his mechanical engineering degree
>The wizened old dude whose wife realized having him home all day wasn't what she signed up for so she forced him to get a job
>The former Desert Stormer fallen on hard times, who knows how to handle himself but is likely to get in over his head
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcvOhmFPxEg Video related
>Joe the convicted felon who works here because he's so goddamn lazy he can't hold down a job anywhere else


...Damnit, now I'm wanting to run one where all the ghost squads of history, the ones that disappeared never to be seen again, wander in out of the mist. Sometimes just for resupply, but sometimes pursued by all manner of horrific otherworldly abominations


Last topic switch, the delta green green box generator could be useful for whatever's inside the gas station's hidden room/basement/whatever.
http://www.palinola.com/projects/lab/greenbox/
Specifically, the mundane and weird objects
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>>30733589
>Gangsters arrive with stolen egyptian artefact. Mummy appears, warning you to "Return the slab or suffer the consequences."

>Werewolves, werebadgers, weremoles

>Snuff film crew decide to film on location in the garage

>Spirit of the harvest moon demands proper sacrifices to be appeased

>Military erects giant dome over the gas station, trapping you and whoever is around in...with something

>Robots from the cold war break out of the old blast shelter

>Night of the living snack food

>Spirits of bandits lay siege to the gas station

>Wandering vagrants attempts to persuade gas station attendees to embrace a life of "Clean living" wandering vagrant is composed of thousands of bugs

>Mutant jam
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> GUESTS
1. Every night, you get a visit from a completely unremarkable man in gray suit who buys gas and a pack of his favorite brand of candy. When the gas station runs out of it (the brand was being discontinued after all), and the customer is missing his daily dose of sweets, he gets crazy.
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>>30733478
Psychological horror, here I come!

It could be about a group of friends slowly losing their minds. Maybe some of it's real, but they're never sure.

Could even have G-Men (or people who look like G-Men) show up in blacked out vans that are gone when you look back.
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>>30733748
>dropout student with no ambition
>horror writer who likes baseball
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>>30729189
I wish I had the graveyard shift at a gas station.
Burger joint just aint my scene.
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>>30733748
>Punk girl determined to get out of this nowhere town

>Someone who was transferred over from a large city

>Meth addict
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>>30733688
5. A group of wild-eyed, bloodied people barge in and begin fortifying the store. They refuse to leave, calling you names for your willingness to abandon them to whatever's out there. They spend the next few hours doing all they can to prepare for whatever they were running from.
When you shift is almost over, they leave abashedly, saying things like, "I'm sorry, I was SURE there were raptors after me." or "I guess we were mistaken about those clowns."

6. A helicopter with a spotlight appears over the station, and a man on a megaphone demands that somebody come out with their hands up. As far as you know, there's nobody in the store, and nobody has come in all night. As far as you know.
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I really like this idea, it gets a Betrayal at the House of the Hill and Cabin in the Woods Vibe, I am going to post the "events" rulebooks so it gives ideas.
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>>30734028
and the Traitor rulebook
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>>30734061
>>30734028
cheers anon
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>>30733581
Every bill the Day Shift has left in the cash register for you seems to have something written on it, a litany of warnings and ramblings that may or may not have any bearing on the other bizarre happenings on your night shift.
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>>30734129
An ongoing antagonistic relationship with your co-workers seems like a cool thing to explore.
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>>30734028
>>30734061

Holy shit, Betrayal at the House on the Hill.

It's been a long time

Never before in a game have I watched a small girl in full plate toting a spear to pierce the heavens save the known universe
>>
>>30734216
It would be really amusing to make the division between Night Shift (you) and Day Shift a fluff thing or even a crunch thing in a Gas Station campaign. No matter which shift you set the game in, the other shift are antagonistic, and perhaps otherworldly pricks.
>>
>A man who never takes off his sunglasses (and who seems to shield his eyes from the artificial light of the fluorescents) comes in at midnight wearing a suit. He seems...wrong. He stares past things that he picks up, knocks stuff over, walks as if he's not used to moving on land (or, and you don't want to admit it, with two legs). He doesn't respond when you say hello.
>Finally buys a jerry can full of gas
>Pays with crumpled up bills that feel oddly damp
>As he's leaving, you notice he doesn't have a car
>If you run out after him, you see him disappear into the woods

>Guy comes in and asks if you have bodybags

Mundane shit can start to go wrong as the shift goes on.
>Backdoor won't lock
>TV plays static
>TV plays broadcasts from 1968
>TV plays broadcasts from 2017
>TV falls over out of nowhere and breaks (better when PCs are in different room)
>PCs come back into main area after grabbing a mop to clean up something a customer knocked over.
>>Everything is back the way it was. Customer is gone. No sign of disturbance.
>Customer uses bathroom, complains about smell
>>WTF, just cleaned that
>>>Bathroom smells like rotting meat and blood
>Grab something in other room
>>Come back, merchandise is strewn about the room. Not gone for more than 5 seconds.
>Water in sink won't work, find that the plumbing has been disconnected completely (like, rerouted and shit)
>Cash register full of cock roaches
>>
Decided to preemptively archive this thread on Sup/TG/. These ideas are gold.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/30729189/
>>
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>Two packs of LARPers/civil war reinactors stumble in out of the woods at more or less the same time, possibly from opposing sides
>One group is the real deal
>The other one hasn't realized it yet
>>
What system would you run this in?
The only horror game I know is CoC, which could work.

This sounds hella good.
>>
>>30733478

Why is America so weird?

Seriously, why.

Never before have I seen more dysfunctional families, or wandering creeps, or twitchy hobos who have too much history with psychedelics. A baglady cursed at me from an alleyway in LA. A Vietnam vet stalked a friend of mine's mother. The same friend lived in a house that used to be a mob hideaway. Hell, Scientology comes from the States.

Seriously, the USA is a weird fucking place, and I don't know why.
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>>30729189
The best part about this particular campaign is the dichotomy of the 'day shift' where everything seems hunky-dory to the night shift, where shit gets more real than you can imagine.

But since the nights are so real, would that mean that the days are fake? What's real? The horrors of the night or the blandness of the day? The interactions of the players and the day/night shifts could be a big draw if done correctly and it gives a good GM (standing here for Gas-station Manager) a bevvy of tools to work with.

Also, if I might? I suggest that whatever comes from this project be called 'Graveyard Shift'.
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>>30734510
Graveyard Shift - tales of gas and terror
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>A very pale, gangly highschool-age kid strolls on into the convenience store dressed in whatever cheap uniform the manager makes all you station attendants wear. She talks as if you and she are close co-workers: she knows little facts about your family and interests, bitches about the Day Shift and claims that she's here to relieve you.

You have never met this girl before in your life.
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>>30733448
>>30733578
Of course, you'd have to balance out 'safety' with 'serving the customers'. Because no matter how many times you loudly say it, if the station's owner sees you slacking off in the break room for hours at a time while customers are having their way with the place, you will get fired.

People who get fired....tend not to last long outside.
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>>30734501
CoC seems like a good idea, I personally will use Savage World for a more pulpy horror, more campy but still creepy when it needs it.
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>>30734573
Those subtitles ruin the first part, which is actually subtle about it. Going and saying 'tales of gas and terror' is basically rattling a chain and going OOOOOOOO~~~~OOOOOO!

Graveyard Shift is simple and holds the implications of terror without actually saying it. And given that a good GM will mix actual terror events with more mundane ones (up to and including a hold up, normal 'loonies', naked guy trying to buy and general real world abnormalities), the more subtle title works better.

IMO of course
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>>30734503

There are two levels on which America is weird, and I will attempt to address them both.

On a physical level, a here and now level, America is weird because it's a mixing pot. Every other place in the world has had its established culture, way of life and taboos for hundreds, even thousands of years. They're comparatively well established and homogenous.

America's original culture was annihilated by smallpox and hungry Europeans. The only people left to perpetuate it are too few and drunk on government reimbursement to really do it properly.

Over the last couple hundred years, America has had regular influxes from most ethnic regions of the world at one time or another, and they're all forced to work together and interact in close proximity. These different cultures had to mix and mash to fill the gap left by the original one that was wiped out. New things are created, some old ones are preserved, things compete and everything just looks weird from established view points.

It's why you have wendigos and skinwalkers and goatmen in the same realm as bigfoot and Paul Bunyan and Joe Magarac, who might have roots all the way from Russia.

Giant, man-eating catfish in the same area as vodoo zombies.

Fearsome critters.

Filk music.

It's why you have comics like this.
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>>30734742
Being subtle isn't that important in a setting where one night you are invaded by aliens and the next one a family of cannibals visit your gas station. It's pulpy and the subtitles should reflect that.
>>
I think a good mechanic would be that you have a list of shit you have to get done on your shift. It's mundane, but it's where all of the adventure hooks can come in. So in addition to making sure that group of bikers (who may also be werewolves) doesn't destroy the station, you also have to restock the ice cream cooler, clean the bathroom, and take out the garbage or the store manager is going to kill you (literally).
>>
>>30734503
I strongly suggest you read this, if you haven't already.

Then play Scion
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>>30734905
If you are going for a pulpy game, sure.
But OP post says 'creepy'-something I don't really associate with pulpy horror.
Granted, Lovecraft was pulp horror-but pulp has different connotations now.
>>
>>30734905
It has the potential to be both pulpy and/or subtle; it just depends on how the game is run.
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>>30734972
Forgot pic, fuck.
>>
>Hear a gun shot from outside in the woods
>Guy runs in a few minutes later covered in black goo, carrying a double barrel shotgun (1 shot left)
>"I TOLD YOU THEY WOULDN'T STOP! NOW IT'S TOO LATE!"
>Begins smearing black goo into a symbol on the door, barricades it
>"I'll go secure the back. You stay here."
>Runs to the back
>Hear shouting, violence. By the time you get there he's gone.
>Only a trail of black goo and the shotgun left.

>The power goes out. The fuse box is completely missing.
>There's this brand of creepy dolls the gas station sells. No one ever buys one, and you know the day shift people don't sell any. So then why is their one missing when you come back from the bathroom?
>>Alternatively, the dolls show up on your shelves out of nowhere.
>Go into the back room at 11
>>Come back out at 2.
>People keep calling the gas station. They're all wrong numbers, but they're all really, really creepy.
>>"I have her. Bring the others to the location and we can get this over with."
>>"...give us what is our's..."
>>"NO NOT TH-OH GOD-*click*"
>>>normally you'd just assume it was the day shifters being dicks, but then you check the area codes. They're all from different parts of the country. Indeed, one of them is not listed anywhere.
>Guy in a white truck with no windows buys a large amount of candy
>Going to mop closet, you find one of your co-workers brutally murdered. But they were right behind you, weren't they?
>>notice the words "NOT REAL" written on the wall in blood.
>>>"Hey, dude, what's wrong?"
>Someoneon comes in, buys shit, then freaks out because their tires have been slashed.
>Claw marks on random shit
>Find a door that you've never seen before
>The moon blinks
>You notice that you can't see Orion. And that the Big Dipper is in the wrong place.
>Your shift passes without incident. No one comes in.
>>Manager congratulates you on serving a record number of customers the next day.
>>
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>>30734951
great idea, actually, completing all tasks for the night should be awarded
>>30734981
>>30734975
>>30734905
it's not like the subtitle makes or breaks the game or, frankly, is all that important
>>
>>30735092
>The moon blinks

I don't know why but that one and this one

>You notice that you can't see Orion. And that the Big Dipper is in the wrong place.

Freak me out so fucking much.
>>
You're one lucky guy! Your Gas Station was recently installed with bars, automated locks and shatter-resistant glass! You can lock guys in or out all you want!

Of course, it is really weird that all the bars are on the outside, but you just assume that was a little mistake! R-right?
>>
>>30734951
>>30735137
I really love this game mechanic, and think that any final "score" or reward system can be based on or at least affected by how many mundane chores you manage to complete. The idea that you not only have to deal with mounting a defense against the shadow people but also have to worry about Z-ing out the cash register seems like something that could be really fun.
>>
> 2:46am
> Customer enters (didn't even hear a car.)
>Pale as death, eyes icy blue
> Dressed in black, black hair, swooshing black coat.
> Approaches counter slowly, somberly
> As he opens his mouth, the scent of death fills your nostrils
> You can't remember what he asked or bought.
> But there's several crumpled notes in the cash bin now.

Nothing supernatural-just a goth with bad breath who is so damn boring conversationally you forgot what he said.
>>
You are the next contestant on the hit Japanese game show "Big Time Job Survivor!" Where you prove you are the best at your job or you face the consequences...
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>>30735360
That's the idea. Your stated goal is to complete this set of objectives. Staying alive, beating the aliens, and dealing with the time warp are all secondary.
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>>30735440
> Staying alive is secondary
As long as you complete 2/3 (or all, whichever) of your objectives, if you die, you simply wake up in your bed the next morning/afternoon. Of course, this next night, the events will continue from what ended up killing you the prior night, with slight differences.
>>
>>30735360
>>30735440
Maybe by completing these objectives, the GM will give out small amounts of cash (after he subtracts from rent, utilities, gas, car gas, food and other such real life needs). These rather small amounts can get you little things to help make your job easier. And I do mean little. At the most, you should only be able to buy like a box of ammo, not a gun.

Yes? No?
>>
"And you know what the worst thing about all this is?"
"What?"
"I'm not even supposed to be here today"
>>
>The security cameras show the convenience store to be jam-packed with shoppers when there isn't a soul around except for you. As soon as you notice them, they all notice you and turn to look in your direction.
>Something is moving around above you, either on the roof or above the ceiling tiles.
>Searching for a new role of receipt paper, you discover some sort of shrine set up in the back of the stock room. The candles are still lit, and the head of Randy, that Day Shift S.O.B, has been offered up upon it.
>>
>>30735307
Niiiiice.

>Dead animals strewn around station
>Criminals come in to rob place, pull guns. As you stick up their hands, they turn white with fear. They stare past you and start pissing themselves. They run the fuck out of the station, clearly scared out of their minds. But there's nothing behind you, right?
>Get a text from a dead friend, asking if you still work at the old station. Says they'll be there in 20 minutes.
>Hillbillies come in with a dead...something on the hood of their truck. It doesn't look like any deer you've ever seen. It's at least twice as big, and you think you count 6 legs, maybe more. The Hillbillies act like regular hillbillies and buy beer and shit. If you ask them about it, they walk out without a word.
>Dude walks in as a news report comes on about a serial killer on the loose in the area. They look the exact same. How do you keep your cool?
>>
Set it in the middle of nowhere American southwest for bonus points.

No cell reception, only an aging HAM radio in the back of the store for outside contact that isn't face to face, and the weirdos on the HAM net in the area aren't the most reliable.
>>
>>30735502
only if that's some kind of groundhog day calamity I'm against respawning - players should all be normal humans
>>30735523
Either things to prepare for the next day or saving to complete the life goal, different for each character - like savings to start a new life in different town, funds to publish a novel, cash needed for mechanical engineering degree, assault weapon to go on rampage, or just a huge bag of weed.
>>
>>30735601
Exactly! And you have to choose! You could put all your meager funds towards you end goal...or you could get a couple boxes of bullets.

Each character should have a life goal that requires a lot of money. If they somehow manages to get that money and survive their two weeks notice, they win!

Of course, like in all crappy jobs, once someone puts in a two weeks notice, bad shit will always happen. Always.
>>
>>30733247
I like this
>>
>>30735440
>"Look, I don't care if you're Dracula. I gotta fuckin mop or my boss will kill me. You gonna buy something or not?"
>"Fucking wendigos? Seriously? Fuck this, call the military. I got a back room to stock."
>"Ma'am, yes, I understand that the stars are right and that the Ones from Beyond the Veil have awoken, but I really don't have time for that. No, you can't sacrifice an infant in the bathroom! Who the fuck do you think has to clean that up?"
>"Yeah, yeah, Cleetus, the government probed your anus. That's great. Move so I can scrub down the counter."
>>
>>30735601
Speaking of a Groundhog Day loop:

You haven't had a customer in hours, the television is on the fritz, and you nod off. You startle awake again, certain that you only slept for a moment, but when you check the big clock on the wall and it's only 9:00 again, and that last customer you had is back again, acting as if they were coming in for the first time.

Hard mode: the night resets every time you take your eyes off that one big clock for an extended length of time.
>>
>>30735722
>No sleep.
>Horrors all around you
>Which ones are real? Which ones are from lack of sleep
>You can't look because you don't want to have to live through it all again
>And aw shit, a bunch of robbers have come in. Fuck fuck fuck.
>>
Wouldnt UA be a good crunch system for this setting?
Or modified CoC?
>>
>>30735810
Unknown armies might be good with their stress system
>>
>>30735794
"Hey! Motherfucker! I said this is a stick up! Look at me when I'm robbing you, fuck nuts!"
>>
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>>30729189
So... 2 in the AM PM meets The Mist?
>>
>>30729189
>Gas station
>Not a porn shop or video store
Do you even Clerks?
>>
>>30735906
I've wondered about it for a while. It could work with any desolated (not necessarily a lone road, though) store open 24h
>>
>>30735906
We're a little too far in to consider that now.
>>
Are we going with legitimately scary or just silly?
Because this would work really good with real horror.

It could go either way, I guess. Different "game styles".
>>
All cool ideas in this thread. Things that really stick out for me so far, that sort of come together into a scenario.

A gas station in the middle of nowhere suffers a paranormal event every single night.
The event lasts until the sun comes up.
As long as just one person survives, everyone wakes up even if they died.
The gas station is on holy/sacred ground. It grants a modicum of protection to inhabitants against some invaders but is by no means infallible.
Your boss expects to see your takings every morning. Getting the job done is as important as just surviving.
Nobody is quite sure if the dayshift is in on the secret.
Your boss probably is..

Might I suggest just a slight addition. It's more than just a gas station. There is a 24 hour diner as part of the site as well, just to boost the cast list and customer base.
>>
>>30736061
Sure. One day aliens could invade, and the next, you could be dealing with a sex crazed killer or something. It swings both ways.
>>
>>30736061
just like King's short stories, some are gory, some are silly, some are strange and some are really scary
>>
>>30736095
Like the diner.

No one actually sees the boss. They occasionally get letter signed "Management" on green paper, and sometimes little notes will appear in the station with advice, tasks, or updates on the same green paper. One time, there was even a video message the Management sent in of a person behind a desk that had his voice scrambled as he gave instructions.

There was a green censor bar over their face.
>>
>>30735906

I like the gas station because absolutely everyone from all walks of life (or unlife) has to go there.

It is a necessary perquisite for motorized travel, and it sees more traffic than a porn shop or video store would, from more diverse people.

I have to wonder... what if your gas station occupies the same spot in your realm that is occupied by the equivalent of a gas station in other realms... and because of space/time shenanigans you end up occasionally switching with those other gas stations? Then what is a weird night in that other realm is utterly terrifying for you, and vice versa for the station you switched places with in your realm. Maybe you even get to meet the "other" gas station attendants
>>
>>30735906
There's no reason why a little old gas station and quickie mart out in the middle of nowhere can't also rent videos or have a stash of pornography stashed away for a lonely day. One of the great things a out this setting/campaign is that the GM can customize the Station as they see fit, so log as they keep things within mundane reason (at first).
>>
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>>30736095

>24 hour diner

I like the concept, but you run into the problem that the dishwashers would murder anything and everything the PCs had to go up against.

Minimum wage dishwashers are hardcore people.
>>
>>30733780


Maybe he doesn't get crazy, but he does get upset and leave empty handed. And if he does, something bad will happen.
The old NPC employee who's afraid to quit working there (and who serves to initiate the PCs in various weird store rituals meant to keep havoc at bay) warns you about eating the bags of candy he's stashed away -- they're for the grey man, in case the shelf is all out of stock.

At some point when you need a way to prevent a TPK, use the grey man. Say the blood-crazed vampires have broken in and are taunting the players, preparing to spend the night having "fun" with them, and it looks like there's no way out?
That's when the grey man walks in to get his bag of candy, just like every night.
The vampires freeze, their eyes widen, and they turn and stare at him, backing away. One goes "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"
They fucking run. You sell the grey man a pack of candy, he smiles and pays, and leaves.

The grey man is indirectly responsible for the high levels of weird shit in these parts.
>>
I want to say there ought to be recurring advice, warnings or insults left for the players by the Day Shift or customers on a bulletin board in the break room, or on a notice board hung up somewhere publicly accessible.
>Eerily specific fortune cookie fortunes.
>Notes scrawled on the backs of business cards.
>Maps of the surrounding area with cryptic annotations.
>>
>>30736061
The theoretical game should give the GM tools to do both silly and scary, allowing him to interchange and interweave them for a more fulfilling game.

In theory of course
>>30736337
This man isn't lying. Min wage dishwashers are just one paycut away from killing everyone and burning the building down. DON'T fuck with them.
>>
If we're gonna Get Shit Done (TM) we oughta collate all the ideas for each night into a spreadsheet or something.

>https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjU0A8WsCtScdEw0RVZIQ0pwanBfTjdxZ1cxWWtQVUE&usp=sharing

It's empty, cause I gotta run, but if anyone's up for it they can add what we have so far.
>>
>>30736397
I think the Day Shift should have to deal with weird shit same as the Night Shift, and there'll always be traces of what happened, like spent casings on the floor, a huge dent in the floor, a ritualistically sacrificed squirrel. The same sort of crap you might have to leave for the Day Shift to take care of.
>>
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>>30736390
His suit's not grey, but I can't help but imagine this fellow here is our mysterious benefactor.
>>
>>30736337
>>30736406

Maybe there is another rule. The dishwasher always dies first. That's how you know it's starting, like a paranormal alarm clock.

Doesn't matter where he is or what he does, where he hides or how well the protect him. they always get him first.
>>
>>30735502
>>30735601

Re: respawning.
I think as long as one person survived, and all the management's orders were completed, the characters should awaken in the morning.
If the players missed one, maybe the management decided to choose a responsible PC from the dead and "let them go."

Management won't let them die - it's hard enough to keep employees from quitting after the first night. So They invoke dark magic to resurrect any "good" employees.
>>
>>30736463
They hate each other precisely because they leave grisly, mysterious shit behind for the other shift to clean up.
>>
>>30736463
Perhaps the difference between Day and Night Shifts are degrees of overtness? In the Day, its very subtle, little shit or 'mundane except' kind of things. Night is more overt but no one will ever believe you.

>>30736491
Maybe in the diner edition.

HA! 'Diner Edition'. Graveyard Shift Edition wars before it even gets started. top lel
>>
>>30736563

The day shift thinks the night shift are engaged in some kind of ongoing asshole prank competition to see who can leave the worst shit for them, or make up the stupidest story for why.

I just love the day shift/night shift rivalry idea.
>>
>>30736463
I would have it so the Day Shift don't deal with supernatural stuff, but they leave clues that are going to help later on. Like, there could be a book on cryptids in the breakroom and sure enough, that night some spooky monster from the book happens to attack.
>>
>>30736604
>>30736634

A combination of these ideas would work the best I think.
It should be left really vague if the day shift actually has to deal with anything, and if all their notes and clues are just some sort of weird prank.
>>
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>yfw a crazy bearded man bursts into your gas station asking about a board game
>>
>>30736702
I agree. Day Shift should really be "those assholes..." who you hate for leaving vaguely worrying messes for you to deal with, or "those assholes!" who leave vaguely helpful clues and hints that come in handy at the worst of times.
>>
>>30736702
I think you might be on to something. The day shift should leave behind a few vague notes, maybe a bloodstain or two, then buggers off (how do they get out? where do they go?) and shouldn't have to deal with any of the shit you do. The GM should promote animosity between the Night Shift and the Day Shift.
>>
>>30736604
>>30736634
I was the guy who said the mess thing. They will never see each other, and they despise each other, but if there's useful stuff lying around, it was probably the other shift.
So, sure, they leave the ritually sacrificed squirrel, but they also leave the spell book they used.
That blast crater in the parking lot may be a pain in the ass to fill, but the RPG-7 is in the garage with two rockets and a little sticky note that says, "Do not aim this at soft targets anymore".
>>
>>30736873
I'm all for totally normal day shift who doesn't believe in any story you have. So does the manager who leaves list of tasks for you. What's the point of graveyard shift if the day shift gets the same shit?
>>
>>30733765
An XCOM Thin Man turns up. When questioned about his... oddness, he speaks with an unplaceable accent, claiming to be foreign, although he won't say from where (something like "I don't come from around here" or "I'm from out of the country").

A customer turns up. Each time a PC looks at him, he seems slightly different - smaller, larger, brown eyes instead of gray, his hair darkens. The next night, this happens again. And again. And again. Hoever, the events of each night seem... familiar, somehow, and anyone who passes a fairly simple test will work out that while the events are not literally repeating themselves, they are conceptually the same (a slip rather than a trip, it's still someone falling over or even just stumbling - the concept of downwards motion is still there).
>>
>>30736823
>Don't forget the candy
>Knives can't kill zombies
>Eat this garlic if the moon is half full and there are no clouds
>Don't forget the candy!
>Three layers of cardboard and a ceiling tile can't stop any blunt force!
>Rub the door handles with water from the break room at 3 P.M
>DON'T FORGET THE CANDY


>>30733765
I like you
>>
>>30736936
Both options are perfectly viable, the option of them being completely normal and the option of them having to deal with some degree of shit and clues left behind.

What shouldn't be optional is that they, the Day Shift, are the biggest assholes.
>>
>>30736936
Well, neither shift ever meets. I think that should be part of the mystique. Also, it opens up the opportunity to be kind to the players, and also, the possibility to run one group as the night shift, and one as the day shift.
>>
>>30737011
This candy thing is getting annoying. Don't push it so hard guys.
>>
>>30736873

But that might make the players think that the Day Shift is dealing with similar stuff as the players themselves, and thus make them sympathetic, instead of faceless dicks, whose existence is only known due to the vague clues and crap they leave for the players.

Both the day shift, and the manager should be enigmatic, and faceless to the players. Day shift's existence would only show in the form of the notes and other random stuff they leave when their shift ends (none of which is necessarily even creepy or clue like), while the Manager would only be known trough the instruction notes he leaves for the players, about the tasks they need to do.

Also, making it blatantly clear that the Day shift deals with the same issues as the night shift reduces some of the mystery of this whole premise, like the anon here said:>>30736936
Vague hints about weird shit going on during the day could work, but it should always be left unclear.
>>
Man a "Evil deady" kinda series about this, would be awesome
>>
>>30736179
I like this idea for the management. Less of a "Better do what the boss says," and more of a "Jesus Christ, if I don't preform well I might die,".
>>
>>30737042

Yeah, the candy is important, but don't overplay it.
After all, it's mostly just $LONG_TIME_EMPLOYEE's superstition, 'cause one time the grey man didn't get his candy, and THEN something bad happened. It's not certain that the bad thing happened because the grey man didn't get his candy, right?

Right?

>>30737022
>>30737048

I don't know if they should be faceless. I think they should maybe meet the one guy from the day shift, closing out the till before the next shift starts.
I just think he should hate you idiots on the night shift, always wrecking stuff and goofing off.

The manager should definitely be faceless, though.
>>
>>30737048
>Vague hints about weird shit going on
If the players check the security tapes, they will see nothing strange. The thing is, tape shows exactly the same thing every day.

>>30737081
It makes the management look like a big mysterious organization which takes away the feeling of being an underdog attendant in the wrong place at the wrong time while worrying about the paycheck. It would be a perfect idea for a calamity with some important gov guys posing as the manager to experiment on players.
>>
>>30729290
My favourite WoD game I was ever part of was based in a trailer park.
>>
>>30737151

Actually, I really like the idea of meeting one of the day shift guys at the beginning of the session.
See him/her finishing off his tasks, and then give the station to the players, perhaps snickering coldly as he leaves the station, or doing other creepy stuff like that.

Also, perhaps for a number of sessions, the day shift guy is always the same. Then, if the GM feels like a dick, the person would be suddenly different one at the start of a new session.

He might come back at some point, but act like he was always there to give the station to the night shift people, or something.
>>
>>30737171

Hmm. so how about there's a floor manager, a somewhat-regular joe who is the $LONG_TIME_EMPLOYEE who tells the PCs about all the odd superstitious rituals and things, basically the rules to stay alive, but he answers to a faceless Owner, who is the mysterious one whose demands must be met?

What if the Owner is the Grey Man, or some sort of retired trickster/chaos god, and that's why things are fucked up?
>>
>>30737267
You could do that, or you could go all Cabin in the Woods and make it so that the weird shit happens there so it doesn't spread and happen anywhere else.
>>
>>30737171

I don't think that the management should be made more creepy than what occurs during the night. While interacting with the night shift only via notes left to the worker's room bulletin board might be slightly creepy, it is also explainable. Perhaps the manager is just lazy, and doesn't bother overseeing and giving out tasks for the night shift personally, and instead prefers to get a sound night of sleep.

Basically, the manager, nor the day shift, shouldn't be made overtly creepy. Just somewhat unnerving, to set the tension to the night shift even if nothing actually creepy has happened.
>>
>>30737267
This. Think the owner should be some sort of faceless, formal organization. I think the weirdness should remain inexplicable.
>>30737171
I am also down with the idea that vague hints could be the way to go.
Alright, so no RPG-7 in the shed, but maybe a note that says "Don't worry if the power goes at at 3".
>>
>>30737267
I rather like the idea that the manager/owner knows about all this shit but plays it off as day to day happenings. Still gets pissed when something you do ducks the store up though. "Why the shit did you blow a hole in the concrete outside!?" "I had to blow up (whatever)" "Whatever, it's coming out of your paycheck, don't fucking do it again"
>>
>>30737392
>faceless formal organization

...you mean like a gas station franchise?
>>
>>30737310
>>30737267
Explaining things kills the mystery. I'd go the simplest route: weird things happen at night because whatever, you've got your job to take care of, rent to pay and dream to follow. Older attendants mentioning rituals and rules is a nice creepy touch but please don't turn this into global conspiracy or Cabin in the Woods stuff because that's running away from the general idea: stephen king:the game.

>>30737393
>>30737365
>>30737392
muh negros
>>
>>30735092
>You notice that you can't see Orion. And that the Big Dipper is in the wrong place.
>>30735193
>Freak me out so fucking much.
I know. that's possibly the most terrifying one of the entire lot...

>>30735658
>Of course, like in all crappy jobs, once someone puts in a two weeks notice, bad shit will always happen. Always.
Once someone puts Two Weeks Notice (yes, it is totally worth capitalising it) in, the focus of the events changes. Suddenly, every two or three events results in the focus being the coworker. Suddenly, it's not a random serial killer walking in, it's a random serial killer who's decided his next target is that one character. Suddenly, it's not a zombie horde, it's the zombified ancestors of that one character, despite the fact that he can call at least one of them and they're alive. Suddenly, the crabs that just keep crawling out of the ducts are all moving towards that one character.

>>30735711
Joyous. I like you.

>>30736193
Yeah, see that's one way you can take the campaign: do the characters just want to finish their own personal goals, or do they actually become nightmare fetishists, sticking around out of some sick sense of curiosity as to what the hell they're going to deal with next... or even what's causing the events.

>>30736390
>Dat spoiler
I LIKE YOU.

More ideas.

>All of the doors keep swinging open. No matter what you put in front of them to stop it, the next time you check that door, it's open... and the shit hasn't moved.
>A group of nuns comes in. They're all blindfolded. Should the blindfold be removed from one, it reveals... well, you're not too sure, but there must have been something there, right? Right? And you can explain the scratches on your arms and the bite marks, honest...
>A dude walks in, buys something completely mundane, then leaves after you have a pleasant chat. About five minutes later, one of the other workers asks "So, were those two twins or something?" You only saw one person.
>>
Don't metastory it.
You and your buddies are normal dudes working the Graveyard Shift. You've got a list of shit that needs to be done, same as every other night.
But what the fuck was that? Sounded like fucking bears.
Where did Pete go? Fucker just left. What a bastard.

Slowly but surely ramp up the horror. Weird shit starts happening. There isn't any explanation, and those Day Shift douches don't know shit. Management doesn't give a shit.

There is no "reason" behind anything, because that ruins the scare factor.
>>
> Note left by day shift

"If asked, don't get in the bag"
>>
>>30737472
HAHAHA
no
>>
>>30737465
Creeeeepy stuff happens in Nowhere! It's up to you to save your new job!
>>
>>30733533

>Mirror occasionally malfunctions

You, I like you.
>>
>>30737548
>>30737465
>>30737427
I agree. Day Shift are the biggest assholes.
>>
>>30737548
Manager: Stupid employees! You made me look bad!

>>30737465
Rule one of horror-terror: NEVER FUCKING EXPLAIN THE REASON.

I mean shit, look at Stevey King! Man makes a mint off of his beginnings and shits it all away on the reveals!
>>
>>30737427
>>30737420
>>30737465
That's a good point. And it wouldn't be the whole global conspiracy thing, that worked once for one movie. It would just be another weird thing to add to the checklist. While it should be Inexplicable: The Total Lack of Understanding, I still feel that there should be some structure to it, no matter how vague it is.
>>
>Everything is completely normal
>No monsters, aliens, nothing
>Next day, there are passive aggressive notes from day shift about the mess
> NPCs reference "crazy shit" that happened last night
>Noone remembers anything
>>
>>30737624

Yeah, if you give an "explanation" for things, make sure it doesn't make anything better, and it doesn't help them survive. It should raise more questions, if possible.
>>
>>30733869
>>30733688
7. Upon arriving to work, you never see the employee who had the previous shift, although the store is open and everything's in order
>>
>>30729189


I just realized I could run an expy of Silent Hill using a gas station as the backdrop
>>
>>30733765
You forgot
>chickens with ray guns assault store.After first attack, they drop a picture of kfc bucket in your apartment

>drivers commit suicide in parking lot at night. you can hear cannon shots and giant thuds at from the darkness

>a new snack, some new type of flan, turns costumers into zombies seeking more.

>a old farmer comes running in with a war mallet. He barricades the door behind him. Do you have enough courage to fight off whats out there.

>A anthropomorphic duck, wearing a toga, walks in looking for chocolate and flowers. Starts throwing cars when he can find one
>>
>>30737997
>"car broke, phone yes"
>>
>>30737930
A bit too normal, I don't think that would freak me out, maybe it's because my friends are dicks and play tricks like that
>>
>>30737171
>If the players check the security tapes...
You see a day shifter or colleague that works on a different night murdered. The murdererer takes the from of the employee.

In general:
>You hear fingernails scratching the window. When you turn around, nothing is there.
>At night,you see Latin text written with some-glow-in the-dark-marker.
>You discover snuff films on the shelves.
>The fax or answering machine produce all kinds of gibberish and strange messages, or photo's off dead people.
>You hear some very creepy music playing. Can't see where it's coming from.
>An ice cream truck passes the gas statin every night. There's something very wrong with the truck's jingle.
>As a customer is driving away from the station, you notice a
bound human or corpse in the car. Or the car is leaving bloody tiremarks
>>
>>30737701
That could be something individual Managers (GMs. Yes, it's a terrible name) could add.

Are we writing rules or just making lists of shit that could go down and running it with CoC or something?

Anyway, more things that could happen:
>You've been having rat problems for the past couple of weeks. You'd hear them crawling around the walls, and run across the floor and shit.
>>Today though...today there are no rats.
>Someone pays with money you've never seen before. It looks authentic, but it's got different pictures on it. The money in the cash register is different too. In fact, all of the money is different.
>RV with a family in it asks for directions.
>>As they drive down the road, something goes horribly wrong and the RV crashes into a tree and explodes. The fire department, if called, finds no bodies of evidence of occupation.
>>
>>30738081
I was thinking more of the god duck. For the evil duck

>as you fill up a customers tank, you notice he is duck in disguise.He gets out to grab something inside, at that time a radio transmission warns of a similarly dressed thief wanted for murder

>a pump breaks down. The managers said a repair man would be coming. You get le quack, who does something inside the tank.
>>
>>30729189
Things should remain somewhat isolated. If an employee goes to other stations, they don't suffer any problems. Cops always show up late whenever weird shit is going on because you are in a somewhat rough part of town. the franchise heads/store owner not only doesn't believe you, they don't give a good goddamn as long as money comes in. No news will cover any story about weird shit from a gas station (except the Inquirer)

Only exceptions are events directly caused by a player. Then the world acts frighteningly normal.
>>
>>30738156
Managers! I like this.
>>
Couple from a friend of mine:
>You head out the back for whatever reason. Spot sparks coming from the power box. You open it up. To your surprise, it looks rusted and ancient inside, like it’s been left unrepaired for decades. It looks completely non-functional, and yet…
>Everything still works and is powered…the lights are still on inside…

>You see someone standing in the road opposite the gas station. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t respond to your actions or attempts to communicate. He just stands…and stares. He does turn and look at you, and always keeps his gaze locked on you, but he never moves from his spot. Somehow, even indoors, you are always certain he is looking at you.
>If there is anyone else in the station, they all notice him too, and they are all sure he’s looking at you. They might get scared of you…what does this guy want with YOU?
>If you shoot him, he falls as if he has died. The moment you look away for long enough, he’s back where he was before as if nothing ever happened.
>If anyone approaches him, a vehicle passes by on the road between them, and when it has passed, the figure is gone. He doesn’t come back this time. If there are others there with you, no one else remembers the figure was ever there.

>You hear music echoing from an indeterminable spot in the woods beyond the gas station. It's a song that is important to the character somehow. It loops.
>>
>>30738195

You're not in a town proper, but out on the highway, in a lonely little spot in the American southwest. Of course it takes a while for police to arrive.

>>30738220
Yeah, and it plays in to the Manager NPC who warns the players that shit is liable to go down.
"Well, son, I'd tell you to just quit and run, but it's nightfall now. You're not going anywhere until tomorrow. Me? I'm not leaving ever, I've been here too long."

Be clear we're talking about the Night Manager, though. The Day Manager is an asshole.
>>
>>30738156
There's a spreadsheet further up someone started where people have put some stuff. No rules yet, probably CoC
>>
>>30738116
cont.
>you hear scratching and moaning under the floorboards.
>Innsmouth people come in, buy a lot of fish products and fish bait, leave.
>>
>>30733765
This is sounding more and more like Courage the Cowardly Dog.
>>
>>30738275
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjU0A8WsCtScdEw0RVZIQ0pwanBfTjdxZ1cxWWtQVUE&usp=sharing#gid=0
the google doc
>>
>>30738276
cont. again.
A customer walks up to the entrance, insists that you invite him/her in, won't come in otherwise.
>>
>>30738275

I don't know about the CoC sanity mechanic, though. People going crazy after a while? I think they'd just end up like the Night Manager. Jaded, and resigned to the fact that life will never be safe or make sense ever again.
>>
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>>30729189
that's pretty much the plot of that movie Legion. And while watching it, I did think it felt very much like a party going through a campaign, complete with DMPC.
>>
>>30738309
Are you saying with the right twist, that shit would not be terrifying?
>>
>>30738272
>Day Manager
>DM
Well, that a good enough moniker for the person running the game? Or they could just be referred to as Asshole.
>>
>>30734028
>>30734061
Is there any way to play this online? Always wanted to try it with my online group.
>>
4 main character types.

The Counter Clerk
The Cook
The Mechanic
The Waitress

Each has it's own skills and abilities. There are different builds for each one with different emphasis so The Waitress could go down different routes.

The Bimbo
The Single Mom
The Fading Beauty
The Fat Bitch
>>
>>30738309
>more and more
It IS Courage the Cowardly Dog

>PC's discover a hidden lab in the sewer under the basement
IT'S DOC GERBILS WOOOOORLD
IT'S DOC GERBILS WOOOORLD
>>
>>30738326
>There is another gas station on the opposite side of the road. Strange stuff happens there.
>>
>>30738156
The general structure of the game seems to be something like this:

-Create a character, one who would have a reason for working at a shit gas station
-Each character has a Life Goal. The Life Goal is a character's individual win condition.
-The Life Goal usually involves getting enough money from this shitty job to be able to obtain it
-Each shift, you get a number of tasks that need to be done by the end of the shift.
-Events, such as customers, guests, weirdness, etc, interfere with you accomplishing you tasks.
-At the end of the shift, you get money. Money is added for particular events or excellence in your job doing. Money is deducted for damages, complaints, balancing the register/checkbooks, because you pissed off the Manager, etc
-Between shifts, you can choose to spend money on either in-game items or put it towards your Life Goal.
-If at any time you get enough money to get your Life Goal, you may put your Two Weeks Notice in. At this point, you need to survive two more weeks. During this time, events will be unusually focused on your in addition to the manager riding your ass so they don't have to pay you the last couple of paychecks.

If you manage to get enough money to get your Life Goal and survive your last Two Weeks, you win!
If you don't, then you probably die or stay there forever or something.

How's that guys?
>>
>>30738275
>CoC
>Not UA
>>
>>30738275
>>30738331
>>30738448
Maybe Nemesis?
>>
>>30738398
All he had to do is look at my post here >>30737997
to see that is all i posted in response to his
>>
>>30738414
>no unnecessary meta
bretty gud
>Two Weeks Notice
seems kinda long but then again supernatural stuff shouldn't happen every night
>>
>>30738414

I guess you might expect people to put up with the job if it was a station out by a crappy small town with no jobs available.
I'd like to think that after the first night, you get a kind of Stockholm syndrome with the crazy-ass Night Manager, who tells you that it's not safe to leave, 'cause weird stuff will still follow you, but you won't have the safety of the station.
Instead, you can only leave "safely" after an elaborate set of conditions (half of which are probably just his fevered imagination) are met.

>>30738507

In some parts, two weeks notice is just a courtesy, not a law. I imagine if the stars were right for you to leave, the Night Manager would tell you to pack your shit tonight, and drive like hell away from town, first thing in the morning.
>>
>>30738507
Two Weeks Notice is a good term for the general thing, but it might just be a single session where things go south.
>>
- You discover a young girl in the store, she says she is lost and looking for her mother. Just who or what the mother is is unknown, but it seems adamant to claim the child.
>>
>>30738414

Are we going with the resurrection thing?

>If all the tasks are completed and at least one PC lasts the night, everyone wakes up in their beds in the afternoon like nothing happened

Or is that too meta
>>
>>30738603
maybe they just pay really well?
>>
>>30738659
I'm against it, unless that's a one thing of the night's calamity. Gas company isn't some kind of supernatural organization and the players are humans.
>>
>>30738659

It's not meta if the owners are doing it to keep "turnover" down. As in >>30736561

>>30738702

That's assuming it's a franchise, and not a small indy station owned by some weirdo sorcerer. Those used to be a thing back in the day.
>>
>>30738702

It's not the gas company though it's the place. It's weird. Weird shit happens. And you accept it and never find out why.

Also the resurrection thing for me is vital. Else why would you stay with the job. It's kind of like a safety net, that makes the scenario of the actually sticking with the job bizarrely more realistic. Also it can help a load of normals actually win these scenarios.
>>
>>30738354
i think the person running the game would be the General Manager
>GM
>>
>>30738659
>>30738702
I think it would be better if characters could definitively die and leave their job after completing their life goal. PCs would rotate in and out of the gas station and then the manager hires another person who's looking for work and down on his luck. The new guy becomes the character for the player who's previous character died or escaped.
>>
-A young man enters the store and approaches the counter. In a flat tone he asks you to ignore him but the look in his eyes is one of begging. He proceeds to stand, fixed to a spot in the store. If any further attempts are made to converse with him after an initial five minutes he screams aloud as he slowly begins to disappear, glitching out like a tv signal.
>>
In the end it turns out it was all the Day Shift guys pulling an elaborate prank using smoke, mirrors and holograms.
>>
>>30737701
If you've ever read John Dies at the End, I think it should be along that tone. You're the new guy, but the NPC(s) that have been working there have a lack of care about the whole thing. They've been dealing with this weird shit for so long that it's just part of the job and they just go with it.
>>
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>>30738863
Pic related. Something about these unsettles me.
>>
>>30738900
I have, and that actually makes things a lot clearer. Also makes me think it would be cool for Dave and John to be employees.
>>
>>30738507
>>30738617
Most jobs prefer a two weeks notice, so I just went with that as an example. It might be a day or so. Really, it depends on the group.

Maybe the GM rolls a dice to see how many shifts the character in question has to survive in order to 'get out'?

>>30738603
I was thinking in a more mundane way. Namely, even if weird shit(tm) happens, you quit after your first day on the job? NO ONE will fucking hire you back. And if you don't have a reason to go to work, then you just...don't. The Life Goal is an abstract of that, something that's worth fighting for, worth going through hell for dismal pay.

Of course, one supposes that you could just want to stay but why would you want that?

>>30738659
I have no real opinion personally on the rezzing thing. Maybe they could do that or maybe all deaths final and you have to make a new sheet. It could play either way, really.
>>
>>30733247
What if one was secretly the Necronomicon? Or some Cthulhu-mythology-based book, and some dumb bastard ends up summoning a shoggoth because he read it?
>>
>>30734216
>>30734301
>>30734129
I always wanted to try a game with two groups interacting with the same setting as I encouraged them to effect the other's play in meaningful ways without telling them. I was thinking putting them in cryosleep at different intervals on a spaceship, but this is more plausible and relatable for my two groups. Thanks, /tg/
>>
>>30738659
I like the resurrection thing, especially if you spring it on the players after their first major fuck-up. Adds to the "weird shit" factor, and gives the GM a bit of leeway with the lethality of events.
>>
>>30739033
Umm..
>- one of those books is a rare reprint of Abdul Alhazred's greatest work
>>
>>30738659
Personally, I think we should if only because it seems like it would be pretty necessary. Otherwise, players will be making new characters pretty much every other session.

If someone DOES die, though... they lose all of their savings that went towards their Life Goal putting them firmly back to square 1.
>>
so basically this as an RPG session;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y894QNtX0VA
>>
>>30739104
If there is rezzing, I would recommend this. Make it so that death is threatening, even when its not permanent.
>>
The Stop'N'Gas is an independent gas station/convenience store a few miles outside the small southwestern town of Nowhere. Unbeknownst to the people driving past on the highway, it sits atop a magical node of great power. This node was discovered by a neophyte sorcerer on a drive through the region in the 1950s, and he promptly bought the land and put up a gas station above it.
The owner is rarely seen, but by repute is a weedy man with thick coke-bottled glasses, and a severe demeanor. He is usually only seen by the General Manager, who collects the funds, papework, and something from a locked chamber in the basement below the staff room, and delivers it to him weekly.

The staff room sits above the node, and is supposedly a safe place. Employees are advised to seal themselves in the room if events outside become too uncontrollable.

Be warned that the owner insists on a tight ship. Failure to complete your duties may result in dismissal. However, an exemplary performance record may result in special aid, should you be killed in the line of work.
>>
>inspiration
2 in the AM PM
Stephen King's short stories
Clerks
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Neil Gaiman - American Gods
>>30739104
Even though you saw a fellow attendant blow up, he shows up to work next day, saying those were just minor wounds and nothing a local clinic couldn't help.
>>
>>30739070
I'm sorry, I didn't know who Abdul Alhazred is.
>>
>>30739251
>there is one dude whos been with the gas station for years
>always the first one to die
>died so many times he doesn't even care any more
>doesn't leave because he isn't qualified to work anywhere else
>trying to save up for some learning
>always pissed because his money keeps disappearing
>talks shit to monsters as they kill him
>>
>>30739403
Abdul Alhazred, also referred to as The Mad Arab, is the author of the necronomicon in lovecraft's stories.
>>
>>30733520
>Proper Name
Here's some possibles
>The Last Stand
>Gas, Grass, and the American Dream
>John's Gas (John is your boss, the only seemingly 'normal' human being in the area and is completely unaware of what's going on)
>The Graveyard Shift (works especially well if zombies/skellingtons get involved)
>The Station
>John's Gas and How it All Went to Hell
>>
>>30739455

I like just "The Night Shift." It's less overt than "The Graveyard Shift", but still creepy, and it could go either way: quiet creepy horror, or over-the-top crazy antics.
>>
>>30739527
Gives a good lead in to the Nigh/Day shift conflict, too.
>>
“A man walks into the store wearing brass plated heavy medieval-looking armour, with light blue fabrics trimming it. He also wears a bronze mask which takes on the form of an angry or determined looking bearded man with long hair. He carries a huge sword (weapons experts may be able to identify it as a Zweihander) and has a green shield on his back like a backpack. The green shield emits a strange glow, but otherwise, nothing seems out of the ordinary. The man walks up to the counter, and asks if you have any Weeds. If you say yes, and give him ANY green plant, he takes it and leaves. If you say no, he asks what rings you have. Regardless of how you answer, he begins to make threatening and taunting gestures towards you, kinda like “come at me bro” sort of thing. He does this constantly for about five minutes, and if you try to get away, he follows you and continues. After the five minutes are up, or if he is attacked at any time, he will attack the player, or whoever attacks him. His sword ignites whatever it hits, and he no-sells any attacks made against him, including gunshots. He may also gout out a burst of fire and smoke if multiple people attack him at once.”
>>
>>30739586
The Legend is too much anon. He never dies....except in two days.
>>
I think it's important that authorities DON'T believe the players.
In fact, no one does.

This shit is PROBABLY in their heads, but they can't know for sure. They slowly go crazy, and no one believes them.

It's the horror of being isolated, of being alone against the darkness. It's just you and your co-workers, and you can't even trust them because they might be monsters.

The list of jobs that they have to accomplish should be used by the Manager to put PCs in places where they can fuck with them.

>"Mop out women's washroom"
Oh god it's full of snakes.

The only equipment PCs should have is stuff they can either steal or buy from the store.

The PCs probably won't last long. They're just normal humans, after all.
>>
>>30733479

>Suggesting Maine is not the middle of nowhere.
>>
>>30739383
Oh, right, because after seeing cyptids and aliens and fighting horrorterrors from the cracks in between reality, you would still be weirded out when someone who was dead comes back.

Implying in this setting that shit doesn't happen on a fucking daily basis...

Also, it just makes things easier on the PLAYERS as well. Makes it less unfun. Maybe they don't know why they're back either. They distinctly remember dying as much as you do, but they'll be fucked if they're going to whine about it.
>>
>>30739410
"Oooo, look at the big bad monster, with his sharp te- Ow, goddamn, watch the leg, I just got these pants."
"Aaaand down I go. I hope you choke."
"Hey, guys, it's another vengeful ghost. What are you going to do, bleed on- I didn't know I had that much intestine."
>>
If you're going with the whole "wake up Resurrection" thing (which I don't like), then don't have them wake up in bed.

They get woken up by one of the Day Shift fuckers making fun of them for falling asleep on the job.

They don't know what the fuck just happened. Was it really a dream?
If it was, why is the graffiti in the bathroom still covered in pentagrams? Steve is alive, so it must have been. Shit. What the fuck.

Keep 'em guessing. They go back the next night, thinking it was all a dream. Kinda weary, but yeah, it was probably just a dream.

AND THEN IT HAPPENS AGAIN.
They start having insomnia, hallucinations, paranoia, all that shit.
>>
>>30740024

This is an improvement over waking up in your bed, IMO.

The "wake up resurrection" is important if you're going to have a high mortality game, though. Tying the waking up to the bosses happiness with you gives an incentive to risk yourself by going off to complete the chores despite the dangers.

I'd say in that event, have the player wake up in a room in the basement, with the General Manager mad at you for making the owner have to fix you. Going with the (unavoidable, IMO) opinion that even if the cops and everyone else is oblivious, the owner and management MUST know that something's weird, and are probably in on it.
>>
>>30735193
>>30737459
>The moon blinks

If that happen I would be so happy. I find her to be rather fascinating. Luna I mean.
>>
>>30740181
It was clearly a wink, Anon. She likes you.
>>
>>30739352
Nah, too explanatory.
It should just be "crazy shit happens. Who cares, you have the gas tank to fix."
>>
>>30740340
Pretty much this.
>>
>>30740340

I wrote that as more an an explanatory text so the GM can keep shit together, you shouldn't tell the players all that stuff.
>>
Are anybody going to keep this saved? Its too great to lose now, since it got potential. It could get some basic rules n' everything!
>>
>>30740396
well there's the suptg archive, we could always whip up a pdf
>>
>>30740340
>"Dammit Craig, what did I tell you about not refilling the stocks?"
>"But there was a bloody great shambling eldritch abomination! And zombies! And a weird guy in a mask! Steve DIED!"
>"I don't care, screw up like that again and you're out."
>>
>>30740417
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/30729189/
>>
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>>30733780
Agent Cooper.
>>
>>30740396
>rules
Please no. Nothing kills brainstorming threads faster because everyone always underestimates how much time and effort it takes to homebrew a system.

And it's not like there aren't plenty of modern horror RPGs to choose from already.

So let's stick to fluff, GM resources, and general guidelines. We're aiming for "campaign module", not "rulebook", assuming we even get that far.
>>
>>30735555
>Dude walks in as a news report comes on about a serial killer on the loose in the area

Sort of related, but I think the gas station should be on the players' "side" in regards to getting maintenance done, helping in minor ways such as turning the TV on for them to see this broadcast, or dropping merchandise off a shelf at a convenient time. Nothing too dramatic, obviously, for the sake of the game, and because otherwise the building would just do maintenance itself.

nice quints
>>
>>30738116
>You see a day shifter or colleague that works on a different night murdered
>day shifter murdered
Eh. Asshole deserved it.
>>
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>>30735555
>>
>>30735906
>>30735965
Players, after deciding their own characters, should decide what store they got the job at from the DM's list. Certain shops will provide certain quirks (video store provides events based off the movie last checked out/bought? diner has serving customers their meals in addition to the ongoing genocide?) and you can upgrade the store until it's more like a deserted shopping mall than a lonely convenience store.
>>
>>30740261
And so goes the story about the man on the moon.
>>
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A few brainfarts:

>A old guy forgets his Suitcase in the Gas station. (There are only clothes, a few Papers from a Museum and a weird little Medaillon inside) About a few minutes later,the plant life starts growing over the streets and it seems, the phenomena only stops around the store. After an hour, the station is in the middle of a thick rainforest, full of wild animals and tribals.

>You can hear a explosion outside. In the next moment,a wounded German WW2 pilot comes in and asks you in broken english where he is. He also curses about the weird giant "things" who shot him down with "light-rays". His crashed plane can be found a few hundred metres away on the street,surrounded by weird looking Creatures who are watching the gas station as if they were afraid of the neon-lights.

>A attractive Woman appears, paying for a few gallons,and leaves. A hour later, she appears again,buying exactly the same amount of gas. She will deny that she was there before. This happens again and again. As you start following her, or if you try to break the circle by confronting her or stopping her,bad things start to happen.

>The people are suddenly speaking a weird language you never heard, everything is suddenly written in hieroglyphs and nobody seems to understand you anymore.

>A terrifying humanoid Creature with glowing skin enters the store and buys some Coke,not giving a fuck,paying with normal money and leaves.

>And my favorite scenario: Its literally raining Men.
>>
>>30740803
luckily you can justify a Gas Station having almost anything in it, there's one in my town(Murrieta, CA) that shares half it's space with a Mexican Restaurant

also something for the Gas Station Generation should be what else is nearby(basically a Town of Nowhere generator if you roll enough times), like Middle of Desolate Highway, or Semi-Prosperous Shopping Center, or Small Retail Area with several business that are owned by the Gas Station's owner(Motel, Video Store, Diner), or even across the street from Creepy Abandoned Carnival for a couple of examples
>>
>>30741018

Have you guys ever seen a Chinese restaurant attached to a gas station? The food was decent in the one I went to
>>
>Is it just me or does everything look blue in here?
Nothing else happens and is a fairly normal shift other than everything being tinted blue..
>>
>>30734301
Both shifts think the other shift have it easy. You can try to change shifts, but you've never even seen the manager.
>>
>a man with horribly mangled limbs shambles in
>>he is perfectly polite and pays in exact change, then tips his hat and leaves
>>>better yet, he invites you to come by his farm sometime and help him chip wood
>Tree suddenly grows directly in between the two filling stations
>>it moves around, and if you try to cut it down it bleeds
>bizarre temp. fluctuations. It's 70*f in one room and 40*f in the other
>find guns and ammo stashed in odd places
>>crappy cereal boxes, ramen boxes, etc.
>>
>>30740664
>campaign module
Okay, so what kind of stuff do we need?

We need a bunch of "daily tasks" for the players to complete, some possibly linked to the night's happenings.
We need a bunch of random events, probably ranked from "mundane" to "supernatural", with the idea that things start out normal but get weirder as the campaign progresses.
We need something to determine what features are present in the player's gas station, with associated player positions. A station with an attached diner would have dishwashers, waitresses, et cetera.

Anything else I'm forgetting that might be useful?
>>
>>30736936
You manage to switch to the day shift. You arrive at work, sun outside. You step through the doors. Day Shift cashier says "So they stuck you on the night shift, huh? You wouldn't believe the weird shit we have to put up with."
>>
>>30741400
Possibility for cached weapons/weird items? Greenbox generator might be handy for that.
>>30741401
>You manage to switch to the day shift. You become an asshole.
FTFY
>>
>>30741400
Things you could buy with your spare cash. Needs to be rather good if only to tempt you away from your Life Goal money.

The only reward for doing good at your job should be money, I think. Spend money on equipment, spend it on Life Goal or on buffing your....stats? Perks? idfk
>>
>Artillery fire sounds in the distance
>tanks begin rolling up the street in front of the store
>later, tanks go back down the street, smoking and on fire
>A soldier comes in and asks for medical supplies
>just behind him are several fine examples of hostile non-Euclidean geometry
>They attack the store, and all who gaze upon them can't look away
>If they get out of sight, players/npcs are compelled to find them
>>
>>30741183
But the Day SHift DOES have it easy! All they have to deal with is rowdy and underpaying customers.

WE, on the other hand, had to exorcise the women's bathroom for the sixth time this week all while Steve was gibbering in the corner because he read that book that spoke to him.

What's even worse is that we ran out of coffee filters so we had to go get another box from the stockroom and change EVERY. SINGLE. MACHINE.

You know how hard that is? I mean, combatting the spectral forces of the dead I can do... but do you know how many coffee machines this place has?! Shit is crazy.
>>
>>30740673
This is neat. PCs can't fight vampires? TV turns on to the SyFy channel so they hear "and if you rub garlic on your hands you can punch 'em real good."

Serial killer 'bout to find you? Sprinkler system turns on and distracts him so you can escape to the impenetrable Staff Room

Is the entire party about to die? Man in Grey suit walks in, foes disappear. As he walks up to the counter he see's how roughed up you are and says "Rough night, huh?"

My idea is that the Man in the Grey Suit is the spirit of a man who once built a saloon where the gas station is now and had to deal with the same shit the General Manager for the gas station does now. He only found about the crazy shit when he stayed inside the saloon, so now he helps you from beyond the grave. And he really, really likes your modern candy bars

Or better yet, GMs can choose to do whatever they want with Man in the Grey Suit.
>>
>>30741515
You call a mountain-troll a "rowdy customer?"

Dude!HE FUCKING ATE PETER!
>>
>>30741467
Are we sticking with the "you can only use what you can find on-hand in the store" idea (with whatever you use being taken out of your paycheck, of course), or can we get away with the PCs having a personal locker or stashing some equipment in the break room?

And either way, you'd just use current real-world prices, right? Of course, that's not accounting for non-mundane items.
>>
>>30741583
Using real prices would encourage a bit of creativity in PC gear. Nail bats and the like.
>>
>>30741572
Peter was an asshole anyway.
>>30741583
You get what you can find in the store (but there will be SOME weapons, hidden in retarded places) with it deducted, but in between shifts you can buy stuff, within reason. No automatic weapons or crazy explosives.
>>
>>30741572
>Mountain Troll during the Day Shift

Why is it people keep trying to make it so the Day Shift deals with the weird shit? It defeats the whole damn point of the night shift being spooky and weird.

The day shift is normal. No spooks, no monsters, no nothing but real life woes. The day shift is a bunch of assholes.
>>
>>30740673
I'm not sure if it would up the 'creepiness factor' or anything, but when the station does something like turning on the TV, the remote is suddenly in one of the players' hands- and they know they didn't pick it up.

Or if the fire sprinklers come on for no reason, a guy who's resting his arm on the wall accidentally pulled the fire alarm or whatever- but there wasn't a fire alarm there before.
>>
>>30741583
I don't know but either/or works for me.
>>
>>30741572
A troll? during the Day?

Seriously? stop making things up!

>>30741742
Hey, did you forget the one time when the night-shift guys lost the Toilet-mimic?
>>
>>30741742
Examples of day shift problems
>Serial killer on the loose is in the gas station
>Hill billies being dicks
>Pissed of customers
>Wild animals
>Chores

Night shift problems
>Vampires
>Zombies
>Satanic Hillbillies
>Invisible Man
>>
>>30741752
That would up the creepy factor. The station manipulating the PCs for their own survival...
>>
>>30741847
Dude, I think he means a "troll". Like... he's clearly insulting us. The Day Shift never believe us about the fucking zombie hordes and that weird hivemind family that came in the other day.

...Fucking assholes.
>>30741858
Night shift problems
>Vampires
>Zombies
>Satanic Hillbillies
>Invisible Man
>THE DAY SHIFT BEING ASSHOLES

FTFY
>>
>>30741971
>Hivemind family

Did you remember their daughter? I was just about joining their collective for that chick. Until i saw the fangs. And what they did to that woman...
>>
>>30740997
>After an hour, the station is in the middle of a thick rainforest, full of wild animals and tribals.

Jumanji?
>>
>>30742102
What? No, man, she was perfectly normal..? R-right?

There were a happy family. A happy family is a normal family.
>>
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>>30741847

>Toilet-Mimic
>>
>>30742248
Fuck no. I tried to tell Randy about it, but he was all "There's no such thing as a hivemind!" and "The sprinklers can't sprinkle fresh blood to put out hellfire!" God, Randy is a dick.
>>
>>30742351
>the sprinklers can't sprinkle fresh blood to put out hellfire
That's unnervingly specific.
>>
>>30733313
Something that always concerns folks is messing with the recollection. "Of course we always had that storage shed out back," said the manager as the two gas attendants exchanged worried glances.
>>
>>30742102
>Until i saw the fangs.
Not exactly a dealbreaker.
>And what they did to that woman.
Still non-specific enough to not be a dealbreaker.
>>
>>30739383
more inspiration
>Welcome to Night Vale
>Twilight Zone
>Alfred Hitchcock Presents
>>
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>>30742422
who's idea was that anyway? No wonder we have to deal with vampires every night.

And those other Bloodsuckers.
>>
>>30742501
don't forget the Night Shift episode of Spongebob(Hash Slinging Slasher anyone?)
>>
>>30742501
ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD
>>
>>30742539
>TV turns on of its own accord to show a confused anchorman
And that's all we have on the description of the-
The slash singing-
The hash ringing-
The flash stringing-
The trash bringing-
The, uh, crash dinging-
Some serial killer with a spatula for a hand
>>
>>30742513
The hell if I know. It started after some funny smelling guy calling himself Nick came in, and one thing lead to another, and there was a succubus fucking Craig, and then the whole floor was on fire...the sprinklers came on about then, if I remember rightly.
>>
Do the Night Shifters even know for sure that this shit is real? They keep waking up after shit goes south.
>>
>>30742351
A happy family is a normal family.
A happy family is a normal family.
A happy family is a normal family.
A happy family is a normal family.
A happy family is a normal family.
>>
So, what happens if they survive the night shift? Like, say the end of the night shift is 6 AM (I wouldn't know the times, let's just go with that.) Once 6 AM rolls around, do the things attacking just vanish? Do the characters pass out and wake up, wondering if it was all a dream? Or does it only ever reach 6 AM when they all 'die' (if we're going with resurrection here)?
>>
Hey guys? I'm at the station right now. Anyone speaks latin? I could need some help here!!
>>
>>30742788
A bit, not much. The hell is it now?
>>
How would the player complete objectives? Would they roll d20? Just say "I do this"?

I might try and run a prototype with my group but id need to know how a session would play out.
>>
>>30742786

I imagine 90% of the things will scurry off before sunrise. Some would vanish, some might lurk during the day, but wait until night to really monster the fuck out.
>>
From the doc:
>Your boss has given you a budget to spend on restocking the store; the kinds of merchandise you choose might effect the visitors you get. Though, some of the items in this catalog are not what you'd expect to find at a convenience store...

What kind of weird things are they selling, /tg/?
>>
>>30742829
This isn't a system. Just a campaign module. You can use whatever mechanics you like, this is just a fun setting
>>
>>30742829

Most likely, narrate how you accomplish stuff. Roll where there's a chance of failure or something bad happening to you.
That's all rules related, though, and should be left to the individual system you run this with.
>>
>>30741401
Ha! There's what I was talking about. Maybe Night shift is more horror, whereas dayshift has to stop terrorists on the run.
>>
>>30742854
Pigs in a blanket- that is, a live pig literally wrapped in a blanket.
>>
>>30729189
>PCs are inside gas station buying snacks and such.
>The walk outside.
>Really foggy for some reason.
>Here this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6TNP6cjN0U
>>
>>30742854
Im guessing some books filled with ancient magical texts, a couple bottles of soda that seem to have strange effects, so on and such.
>>
Hash-Slinging Slasher.
>>
Using this we could make a sort of fun /tg/ thread game, sorta like a quest but one-shots contained in one thread.

Set up dozens of different tables, get the first 20 or so posts to roll, then the QM starts gas-station quest.


Just an idea for a common game like the civ-threads.
>>
>>30742940
*Hear

I can't do the English tonight.
>>
>>30742854
http://www.scp-wiki.net/experiment-log-261-ad-de

Anything from this would be appropriate.

My favorite is "Hyper Chicks" - A small container with a dozen marble-sized white eggs. Packaging with instructions in a variant of Spanish, and translated to microwaving instructions. After thirty seconds on high, the eggs hatched and small, chick-like creatures emerged. These creatures were apparently intended to be eaten alive. Chewy, and vaguely teriyaki-flavored
>>
>>30742963
Ohh, I like it. Set up a CYOA type image.

And QM's could give rewards if the players survive the night for uses in the next threads/


Will somebody make this happen or should I?
>>
>>30742971
Shouldn't time management be crucial in this? Maybe even an actual timer until dawn comes.
>>
>>30742963
Four actions per turn, one for each employee. Anyone can suggest actions for any employee. Most liked/supported action for each employee is chosen, as long as it's feasible in-universe.
>>
God damn it and here come the questfags to come in and steal a decent possible homebrew. Every fucking time.
>>
>>30743070
Suck a dick, why is that such a bad thing?

Your dick gonna feel too small if someone uses your idea?
>>
>>30742351

Randy is an NPC. He used to be on the night shift, but somehow (nobody's quite sure), he got switched to day shift by the General Manager. At first he tried to convince the day guys that the night shift wasn't kidding. Then he stopped talking so much for a couple of months. Eventually, he decided that maybe all that stuff WAS just some prank nonsense.

He's one of the day shift guys now.

>>30743070

I know. When will moot make a damn quest board? "typing things on an internet forum" is not a traditional game, dammit.
I bet the day shift likes quest threads.
>>
>>30743064
This is happening.
>>
>>30743107

You want to do a quest thread? Great. Go do it. But don't spam up this thread with your quest rules discussion. We're still hashing out the Night Shift setting in here.
>>
>>30743070
Other people want to have fun with an idea somebody made!

They want to have fun in a way you don't agree with!

Won't somebody please stop them!?
>>
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>>30743160
>Boohoo pay attention to me
>>
>>30743107
Maybe he just doesn't want to see a potentially interesting idea turn into a circlejerk like every other quest thread ever.
>>
>>30743168
Nooo! Those bastards!
Someone call the internet police!
SOMEBODY HAS AN IDEA I DON'T AGREE WITH
>>
>>30743168
That aside, this thread is definitely no place for quest discussion. Keep it contained.
>>
OK, since this is the one and only general consensus to the degree that it should actually be a fixed point in the campaign setting...

should we add "The Day Shift is a bunch of assholes." to the doc?
>>
>>30742813

just a bunch of Legionnaires, but those fuckers are setting up a camp out there!
>>
>>30743229
Definitely
>>
>>30743229
Yes, of course
>>
>>30743229
Absolutely
>>
>>30743229
I'd probably just put that they're never seen.
>>
>>30743107
>>30743168
>>30743188
>>30743220

LITERALLY, shitting up the thread.
>>30743229

Yeah, it adds a feeling of camaraderie between PCs if they have some (non-supernatural) rivals around.
>>
....just three times and you assholes have to fucking flip. Its fucking skub again
>>
>>30743229
Yes. Who cares if they leave weapons helpful notes behind for us? It's not like we like them or anything. Baka.
>>
>>30743255
>>30743264
>>30743266
Done and done, then.
>>
>>30743270

I'd argue that you'd have to see them sometimes. I mean, do the day shift lock the doors and leave before the night shift starts?

>>30743307

That's probably left by elder employees and the Night Manager.

We still need to work out some tasks that need to be performed.
>>
>>30743288
What are you, some kind of anti-skub maniac?
>>
>>30743344
Stocking, cleaning, repairing/patch job-ing things that break, pumping gas, doing the books.
>>
>>30743344
Stuff like
- Clean up the bathrooms (try not to get killed like dave did)
- Sign for and bring in the night deliverys.
- Stock the shelves
- backup the security footage
>>
>>30743403

Those are good, basic things. Maybe there's a generator outside that needs to be serviced once a week.

We need some creepier stuff that the owner requires. Possibly magical ritual stuff disguised as ordinary (if weird) chores?
Possibly some superstitious stuff that the Night Manager wants you to do, because he thinks it'll keep the Wendigos away or something.
>>
>>30743241
I like the idea that occasionally something goes on outside that the players aren't really effected by.

The PC's are sitting at the counter reading a magazine and look out the front windows to see a battle between The Holy Roman Empire and France going on. The soldier's never damage the store or cross the road at that. All the screaming and clashing of steel on steel is getting kind of annoying though.
>>
>>30743344
Stocking, cleaning, record keeping, assorted small repairs, pumping gas(depends on location), dealing with customers, taking out the trash, minding the shop, etc.
>>
>>30743476
No. I'm not a fan of an NPC manager even being around except at the start and end of the shift.
>>
>>30737151
I think it would be interesting to add a system that might mess with the nights outcome with the candy, if the gray man shows up.

Leaving candy (no change)
No candy (some change)
Eating candy in front of gray man (Grey man rekts your night)
>>
>>30743476
Such as hanging up the dream catchers, setting down food as an offering, burning some herb to keep the spirits calm
>>
>>30743344

Night shift needs to lock up after closing time. Also, >>30742539 brings to mind the part where he has to run the trash out in pitch black ocean, and I just remembered the health inspector episode where he has to go around back to get ice.
>>
>>30743545

Well, there's the Owner (never seen), the General Manager (boss of the day and night managers), and the day and night managers, who are basically regular employees who are more senior, and have cool hats.
>>
>>30743568
I'm not a fan. Grey Man should be made by the GM, not as a universal rule.
>>
With the Gas Station being a magnet for the weird, bizarre and horrific, and the building itself potentially helping the PCs out of situations they might not otherwise survive, we should definitely make a table of potential quirks of the building and grounds that the General Manager can roll from during each session. That way, while the basic layout of the Station can remain (mostly) the same across the campaign, the players can uncover new secrets and perhaps loot as the nights go on.

>One wall of the convenience store is covered in employee of the month pictures dating back to when the Gas Station was first opened in the late 1950s. Taped behind one photo of a smiling highschool age girl wearing an Attendant's uniform from the 1980s is a wad of wrinkled, mismatched bills totaling $437, and a hastily written note explaining that "I've sent the guys back to the break room. I'm going to face them this time" and that the girl's life savings the players just found ought to be saved for emergencies only.
>>
Keep in mind there's more to working at a gas station than just working there. You have a life, too: A boyfriend with a hero complex. The bowling team who absolutely NEEDS you. Your overprotective father. And then there's the activities you aren't required to go to, but its a good idea to go to them anyways, like joining the company softball team.
>>
>>30743618

Yeah, no mechanics, it's just a superstition that you don't want to have the Grey Man leave unhappy. One time it happened, and then something bad happened later. It probably wasn't even connected, right?
(But the Grey Man absolutely is something unspeakable.)
>>
>>30743691
As in, shouldn't even be in the rulebook, except in the list of example scenarios. No need for details like this.
>>
>>30743481

as long they stay outside. Nothing more annoying than drunken vikings who are smashing stuff in the store..
>>
>>30743730

Yeah, I like that. Although I think maybe stuff like that should probably be hallucinatory. (Unless you're running a light-hearted game)

Hallucinations should be a constant worry, though. From little things up to full blown episodes. Keeps the players wondering if that guy back there by the liquor is real or not.
>>
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>>30743631
>>30734589

>A very pale, gangly highschool-age kid strolls on into the convenience store dressed in whatever cheap uniform the manager makes all you station attendants wear. She talks as if you and she are close co-workers: she knows little facts about your family and interests, bitches about the Day Shift and claims that she's here to relieve you.

>You have never met this girl before in your life.

These two girls are now one in the same, and can be used as DM Fiat alongside the Grey Man and the Day Shift Wakeup Call when shit gets a little too much for the players to handle.
>>
>>30743241
Are they wearing football gear and saying "Ave, true to Caesar"? If so, ensure that you're not in a desert.
>>
>>30743730
A few soldiers from either side enter the store. The browse the store a moment before purchasing a few items each with gold coins. They then leave the store and loiter around the front entrance the rest of the night.
>>
Why is it this setting reminds me of Persona for some reason?

And no, not JUST the whole gas attendant thing. I mean the whole theme of trying to balance the mundane and the magical.
>>
>>30743878
>Manager's instructions include getting rid of loiterers
>>
>>30743828
this. in one moment there is a caveman shouting at you, a second later its just a hobo.

And if players start thinking "Its just a illusion, anyway" They get eaten by Alien-Spiders.
>>
>>30743915
Aww shit

And now you have to deal with an angry legionnaire, and you'll be fired killed if he isn't gone by morning.
>>
>>30743638
One of the possible personal plots should be going from normal person to crazy paraveteran. Your rantings about the supernatural have alienated your family and friends, and you are no longer capable of living without these strange occurrences and otherworldly laws (think Rachel from the Animorphs). You exist for the odd.

Maybe once in a while, your boyfriend comes in and tries to convince you to come home and take your medication

Maybe he's a mimic luring you to your death.

Maybe he's not.
>>
>>30743915
Can you speak centuries old German/Latin/French? If not the soldiers just stare at you and go back to eating their gas station jerky and energy drinks.
>>
>>30735711
I have been this person, years ago. It was a convenience store, not a gas station, and it was mostly alcoholics and meth-heads I had to deal with, but the attitude is 100% on the money.
>>
>>30743631
>At the back of the garage, behind a few old boxes and oil drums, there is a ladder that leads up to the flat roof of the Gas Station through a trapdoor. In the middle of the roof, unseen from below, is a small, beat up wooden shed or weather-proof container, housing a number of doomsday / last stand supplies including weaponry, 20 year old canned goods and a stack of pornos.
>>
>>30744064

But those guys are not used to it! Do you know how Neanderthalers act after five cans of red bull?
>>
I think Maid RPG would work surprisingly well for this sort of thing. The 6 attributes still apply in this sort of situation and Favour does a pretty good job of being the "do I save-it or spend-it?" kind of resource that it seems we want Savings to be. Spirit and Stress Explosions would likewise require surprisingly little change. The rest of the system just needs to be refluffed a bit to make it more slightly more serious:
>Maid types need to me renamed, and maybe a few more could be created, but their attributes can remain the same.
>The Special Qualities, Maid Roots (this would be replaced with Life Goals), and Powers tables have a few interesting ideas worth stealing but for the most part they would need to be rewritten.
>Head maid would change to Shift Manager, the mansion would be the gas station, the Master would be the owner (although I would consider allowing satisfied customers and/or the gas station itself to award Favour as well).
>A new random encounter table would need to be drawn up using this thread.
>>
>>30744695
we have like 38 encounters already on the spreadsheet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjU0A8WsCtScdEw0RVZIQ0pwanBfTjdxZ1cxWWtQVUE&usp=sharing#gid=0
>>
>>30744764
>The Day-Shift guys put on Zombie-masks for a prank on the night-shift. Everything is fun until a traveling voodoo-priest with bad humor uses a little magic trick on them.
>>
Friends, I see we're in autosage now, and just to be safe I've started a new thread reiterating the basics of the setting here:

>>30745096
>>
>>30740997
>You can hear a explosion outside. In the next moment,a wounded German WW2 pilot comes in and asks you in broken english where he is. He also curses about the weird giant "things" who shot him down with "light-rays". His crashed plane can be found a few hundred metres away on the street,surrounded by weird looking Creatures who are watching the gas station as if they were afraid of the neon-lights.

What if the normalish, like the pilot, people survives the night and is in the gas station?
>>
>>30746196
We need a "Clean up" crew or something.

The Management has to call the MIB, or the SCP foundation,Torchwood or whoever is responsible for such stuff.
>>
>>30736463
>>30736563
>>30736598
>>30736604
>>30736702
>>30736823
>>30736871
>>30736936
>>30737022
>>30737048
Guys, guys.

What if, ok?

What if, guys?

What if there are three 8-hour shifts, okay?

And they're all the night shift. Time and perception are fractured so that the workers of each shift perceive the other two shifts as the day shift. They all go through the same abysmal supernatural routine every night, they all think the things left behind by the other night shifts are just the things left by the "day shifters" fucking around. But the light never beams around the station, and one man's dawn is another's dusk.
>>
>>30746196
They could end up as yet another poor bastard working the graveyard shift.
>>
>>30746751
"Heil Hit-"

"Thats Nice javik, but we really need you to restock the freezers"
>>
OP here, thank you very m\uch for this thread
>>
Several thoughts...
1-some tasks need to be completed at certain times. Garbage by midnight, sandwich rotation by 5am, full coffee pots for 6am. At least that's how it was when I worked night shift.

2-the Grey Man (despite not wearing grey) is not a "all monsters destroyed" effect, he is not a weirdness magnet, he's Normality itself. When he arrives, everyone stops, watching him. He expects prompt service, and he may breifly converse with whomever is at the counter. His mechanical purpose is to give some of the players a handful of actions where the monsters either do not act, or act very cautiously. However, any overt action while he is in the room is an automatic fail.

3-The Dishwasher. There are almost no customers at night for the diner, so there is no dishwasher. He clocks in at 6:55am every morning, without fail. That's the Adventure Ends signal-Luiz the Dishwasher punching in. Any tasks not completed are now failed. All horrors disappear when everyone turns to see Luiz punching in. The store is still a mess, but the badies are gone.

4-simple mechanic from elsewhere on [tg]. Use Jenga. Want to do something risky/challenging/difficult? Take a block from the bottom and put it on top. Knocking the tower over is a critical fail.
>>
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>>30743875
>be me
>working night shift because I can't stand the shitters who work days
>restocking soda fridges
>having to take all the goddamn racks out to put the new shipment in
>"First in first out" GM says
>rack gets fucking stuck
>pulling bottles out manually, don't need a hit to my paycheck, hard enough to save already
>suddenly fridge fills with orange light
>bottle at the back looks like it hasn't been replaced since the 50s
>reads "Nuka Cola: Vic-"
>suddenly 600 pounds of partially exploded mutant chameleon come flying through the front window
>some tryhard fucker in a trenchcoat and gasmask walks in and asks if we accept bottlecaps
>mfw


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