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PLAYTESTERS NEEDED

>What is the Night Shift?
Night Shift is NOT a Quest!
The Night Shift is the collaborative brainchild of a number of Anons on /tg/. It is both a setting and a game system for running a surreal horror-game, and most recently, several Anons are in the process of writing a prospective pitch for a television show.

In Night Shift the PC's, known as Attendants, are employees during the titular night shift at a little old gas station on the lonely side of nowhere. They must balance the drudgery of their mundane duties and responsibilities with the uncanny, preternatural, supernatural, and paranormal events which seem to happen at this particular gas station.

>Duty Roster
There are currently three Night Shift related projects in the works. The first and most basic is a series of lists and tables that a GM can use to run a game of Night Shift in their system of choice. Each item on the list details an event or NPC that fits the theme of Night Shift, and posters are encouraged to contribute to this database.

The second project is a *World derivative being built specifically for playing Night Shift, which includes custom Moves and a resource management system. Any posters who feel like play testing this system with their group are ENCOURAGED to do so, as our game designer NSW Anon is in GREAT NEED of feedback in order to proceed.

The third project is a script for the pilot episode of a Night Shift television show being written by TV Anon and NSW Anon, to be pitched in the coming weeks to television and movie contacts both Anons have at their disposal.

Feel free to make your own contributions to either of the first two projects, and tune in for updates on the third!
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File: 1395957625888.pdf-(280 KB, PDF, 1395938078903.pdf)
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>Resource Links
Thread 1:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/30729189/

Thread 2:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/30745096/

Thread 3:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/30763437/

Thread 4:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/30796508/

Thread 5:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/30817437/

Thread 6:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/30889424/

Thread 7:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/31000979/

Thread 8:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/31066308/

Random Events and NPCs:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjU0A8WsCtScdEw0RVZIQ0pwanBfTjdxZ1cxWWtQVUE&usp=sharing#gid=0

Top 100 Events(WIP):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqMIZYn8RGlqdGhPYmJnOWttNlZsNE5wVnI4TTZsZHc&usp=drive_web#gid=0

Rough Rule Set:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wku2x8PJoB0vMfAxHaEY0X06bkpLVmsDGnrWduBx7wc/edit

IRC Channel:
#NightShiftWorld on Rizon
>>
ANYONE CAN CONTRIUBUTE.
If you have a cool idea for a monster, scenario, event or location in the Gas Station, feel free to throw it out there or put it on the open source document.

The "top 100" Document is for the top 100 events. They all need to be distinct from one another, and they all need to be scenarios that can take up a good portion of the Shift. With that in mind, feel free to suggest ones from the Doc(a lot are already up there) or from older threads that may not have made it to the document.
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>>31103676

Good job, OP. You pretty much covered all the bases.
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I don't have the time to playtest and all the ideas I have for contribution aren't terribly original (or even that good), but I read through the open docs and I love pretty much everything about this. On the off-chance this ever does become a TV show, I'd be the first person to watch.
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>>31103786
We do need more stuff on the doc.
Also, no namefagging and try to keep your posts coherent.
>>
I don't really know what to do for signs and portents here and the whole story is full of holes. I'm not much of a writer so maybe one of you guys can help flesh this out a bit more.

[Title] The Bad, The Dead and The Ugly

[Threat] The Suggins Gang, a notorious gang of immortal bandits from the Wild West, have crawled out of their graves and are laying siege to the Gas N' Go. They demand that the attendants "hand over the redskin so we can break the Shaman's curse" agreeing to spare the "fancy general store" if their demands are met quickly. Luckily something is preventing the gang from getting any closer to the station than the gas island. This won't stop them from taking pot shots at the station and "the redskin" however. They're also scaring away customers.

[Resolution] There are several ways to drive off The Suggins Gang. They can simply do what the gang says and hand over whichever attendant "the redskin" may be (Possibly one of the players if they are of Native American descent) and leave him/her to whatever fate the gang has in store for them. They can attempt to fight off the gang. The Suggins Gang is in a weakened state where their corporeal forms may be destroyed but doing so is not an easy task considering that the best weapon for the job is likely to be the shotgun and a gunfight risks causing extensive damage to the station. The "best end" would be to figure out that one of those Day Shift assholes was cleaning the graffiti in the bathroom and wiped away a portion of an old Apache ritual prayer that kept The Shamam's bloodline safe from the gang. The attendants have to find a way to perform the ritual and rewrite the prayer, hopefully with some sort of permanent ink.

[Doom] The Suggins Gang's spirits were separated from their immortal bodies by a curse placed on them by an Apache Shaman. If The Shaman's bloodline is brought to an end the curse will be broken and an immortal gang of criminals will be free to roam the earth
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>>31104093
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>>31104118
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>>31104135
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>>31103730
>Only use the green phone under EXTRENE CIRCUMSTANCES

Found a typo?
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>>31104152
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>>31103786
Inventory stuff might be nice, like a sharpie. Normally its a permanent marker, but its amazingly useful when you need to redraw that celtic rune on the bathroom wall.
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>>31104162
That PDF was a proof of concept some anon did just to get the general feel across, but yeah there's typos and it's a bit light on content right now. It'll fill up and be corrected with time.
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>>31104178
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>>31104222
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>>31104093
Who's Carl?
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>>31104359
One of the default "example" Attendants. Like Redgar and Lidda in D&D 3.0.
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>>31103786
Ex-Nightshift Employee (NPC customer)

Stops by on his way somewhere (leave it up to the GM for matter of atmosphere) to refuel and buy a snack of some sort

Mentions he used to work at the station when served but if asked about his experiences or for advice on the job he does the 1000-yard-stare for a few seconds before claiming he doesn't really remember that much


I know it's not a particularly deep event/NPC but I figured a few passive NPCs in the build up of the session'd help weird the PCs out a bit and help build the tone
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>>31104478
It's good, a lot of the atmospheric stuff like this is what makes or breaks a horror game.
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>>31104197
I am that anon, and I am fixing it now, thanks for the correction though
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>>31104672
A radio station that plays popular and trendy music, but with all the lyrics slightly off. The longer the Attendant listens, the more the lyrics change, until it becomes a cacophony of noise and static.
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>>31104776
>The longer the Attendant listens, the more the lyrics change, until it becomes a cacophony of noise and static
So any station that plays recent pop songs?

*Badum-Tsh!*
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>>31104092


Portents and (s)igns
-Something weird is going on in the bathroom. Weirder than normal anyway. (-1 Management for not keeping up with bathroom maintenance)
+ (s)The mirror is more broken than usual. You keep seeing flashes of an old looking Apache.
+(s)You hear strange chanting coming from one of the stalls.

-(S)The radio is busted, as usual. Right now its stuck on the theme from "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly".

-A delivery truck rolls up with bullet holes in its side. The driver swears he was shot by men on horse back. (-1 Paycheck for damaged goods)

-The gang's emissary shows up to talk terms. He's vulgar and crass, and keeps spitting tobacco on the ground. (-1 Management if he interaction with any costumers).

-The gang shows up in full force, taking refuge near the pumps. They start shooting up the place (-1 Paycheck for damaging on property, +1 Harm if you get show)
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>>31104877
*shot not show
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File: 1395961062496.pdf-(469 KB, PDF, Night Shift Player Guidebook.pdf)
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Night Shift Player Guide V. 2 Actually posting in the thread edition
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File: 1395961141445.pdf-(120 KB, PDF, Night Shift Application Form.pdf)
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Also Character Sheets
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>>31104923
I like the textured pages, but I think the font is a little hard to read. The atmosphere you're creating is good, but we want people to be able to understand the system.
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>>31104989
Thanks, I was debating on which font to use so I;ll try another one an see if that works better
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>>31105015
I'll
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>>31104923

Normal font is fine, it gets downright arcane when its bolded. Much as I like the look, we might need to find a new one for readability.
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>>31104954

This is a good start. I think we could make it a two-pager. The front part would be a kind of questionnaire with reference numbers for the back. The back would contain all the necessary rules.

Check here if you have a criminal history [see sec. 3-B]
On the back, in section 3-B we'd have the Background rules for Felon.

That way the first session/character creation is almost literally filling out an employment form. When actually playing they'd mostly refer to the flip side for any necessary rules.

Paycheck would be tracked in 'Expected Income' or something. Management would be tracked in a box for 'Rate yourself as a Team Player!' or the like.

Just spitballin'
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>>31104923
I think Lemme Lend a Hand needs something for 6-. Should I assume it's no bonus and pick one?
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>>31105174
I was trying to figure out a way of incorporating both the setting and the rules into the character sheets, and I think this is the way to do it.
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>>31105174
Noted.
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>>31105258

Generally, in AW and its hacks, a 6 or less is the point when the GM makes his moves. usually a "hard" move, which is some form of disaster for the players.
For example: iIf the players try to examine their surroundings, a success might find what they're looking for, a partial success might find it, but find there's some setback. A 6- might let them find there's a party of ambushers surrounding them.
What happens exactly on a 6- is usually GM's discretion, in accordance with the principles and agenda outlined in the rulebook.
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Guidebook v3
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Character Sheets v3 Now readable
>>31105174
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>>31105510
You are a hero among men. Much more readable.
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>>31104877
Those are excellent, thanks.
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>>31105552
Change jobs to positions maybe?
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>>31106242
Will do
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>>31105510
small note on the map - it feels like it would make a little more sense if the utility room were entered either from outside, dry storage, or possibly the breakroom rather than from the freezer. the freezer is usually (i think, anyway) accessed through the fridge because they get progressively colder... which is weird for the room with conduits, valves, breaker box, etc.
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>>31104954
I'd rotate the polaroid on the 4th page slightly and maybe add a bit of fake sticky tape too
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>>31106371
I didn't make the map, but I'll see if I can edit it.
>>31106430
Will do
>>
>>31106371 here.

also, this game looks awesome and i wish i had people to playtest it with.

good to see shi/tg/etting done.
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>>31106430
oops, ment it was ment for
>>31105510
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>>31106446
if you can't (edit the map), i can
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>>31105510
I understand this is a rough outline, but what happened to *World anon? How's progress coming?
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>>31106476
Thanks, man, here's the map
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>>31106507
i put the door out back by the shed.

estlyrn east: no, captcha - to the west
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>>31106652
Thanks
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>>31106748
While you're updating it, a minor point. 'Have' and 'contributed' need a space on the last page
>>
An easy/more vanilla event:
[Title] – A Walk on the Wild Side

[Threat] – Customers are pouring in tonight, and the station is turning into a zoo. Literally. Most of the customers tonight are talking animals, and being such don't have the manners or tact that we expect from members of our fellow species. Yet somehow they are able to use and understand currency, and Management doesn't approve of refusing a paying customer. Try to find out what's going on before your workplace is trampled under hoof, paw, and foot.

[Resolution] – A passing hunter spilled a bottle of strange pheromones in the bathroom, and tossed the bottle in the dumpster. Clean his mess with the old janitor's secret cleaning chemical, and get rid of the bottle to end the threat. Alternatively, find a way to work with or drive off your zoological patrons until dawn.

[Portents & (S)igns]
1. Attendants hear crashing and banging outside. They soon discover the (overfilled) dumpsters have been overturned and garbage strewn all over the lot.
(S) They yelps and barks of they coyotes out in the desert sounds suspiciously like laughter.
2. They get a call from Management telling them the health inspector will be arriving tonight. Management expects the station to pass with flying colors. Or else.
(S) Why are there so many pigeons out this late at night? And are...are they heckling you?
3. In the midst of helping a customer a large animal casually walks into the store and begins browsing. It will eventually ask (if not approached) for some outrageous item that the store doesn't have (Panda wants Bamboo, Lion wants a gazelle haunch, etc). The Attendant better have a good improvisation item for the feral customer, (Failing to give the animal a satisfactory item will give -1 Management)
(S) Management called again, the apish hooting and grunting on the other end was as useful as their normal calls.

cont'd (1/2)
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>>31107362
cont'd (2/2)

4. More animal customers start showing up. And things start going downhill, fast. Wolves chasing terrified deer in the isles. A giraffe trying to squeeze through the door and demanding service, while holding up everyone else outside. Chimps swinging the pumps around, hosing everyone in gas. (No party wide affects, but the GM should be blitzing his players with non-stop animal mayhem)
5. The inspector shows up, and immediately begins slamming the book at whoever's in charge. He needs to be taken care of, and soon. Maybe by any means necessary. (-1 Management and -1 Paycheck if the inspector isn't appeased or removed by the end of the night)

[Doom] – A group of hunters has happened upon your after dark jungle rumble, and immediately go after your wild customers with a gusto. Panic ensues, causing massive property damage and loss of life if no action is taken.

The difficulty really depends on how much shit the GM wants to throw at his players, but I think it should be interesting enough for a low-powered weird event. It also really is more focused on lighthearted weird than 2spooky, but I thought it'd fit NS. Feel free to disregard this if that's the not case.
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Night Shift Guidebook Mk. IV
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>>31107395
I like it, you're right about it not being a spooky event but that doesnt mean people can't use it
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File: 1395969736045.pdf-(136 KB, PDF, Night Shift Application Form.pdf)
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And Night Shift Character Sheets
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>>31107814
as the anon that requested the sticky tape, nice one anon, better than it looked in my head
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>>31107814

I want to edit this so bad. The wording is really awful in most of the moves.
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>>31107844
also, could you do a version without the background texture? I intend on printing it out for playtesting purposes but my printer's kinda shit so it'd come out unreadable.
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>>31107869
I didn't write the moves, just copied it from the doc
>>31107886
And I will include one without the background
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>>31107886
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>>31107968
>>
>>31107968
>>31108003
Thanks man
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>>31104954
Charisma needs a line behind it, or you could adjust the stats to two separate rows.
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Fixed charisma stat
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>>31104092
How would the PC's find out about the ritual? I could see a few ways to maybe make it work.

1] An old journal in a hole in the wall, detailing the process. The PC's will need to decode the journal.

2] Ghost that haunts the bathroom awakens to try and help the PC's save the place, and by extension it's resting place. It has some knowledge of the ritual, but can't leave the bathroom.

3] Through dialog with the gang, a PC can try to trick the gang leader to spill the beans about how they were cursed. A bit tricky, but possible.

Also, It would be cool to watch as the PC's rush around the store to try and find all the reagents for the ritual, using things like a bag of dorittos, cigarettes, ect in substitute for the original materials.
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>>31108283
Guy who wrote The Dead, The Bad and The Ugly (not sure why I didn't name it this in the first place) here. Like I said, full of holes, not much of a writer. Those are all really good ideas and substituting corn chips and cigarettes for stuff like maize and tobacco is god damn genius, thank you.
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>>31108283
>>31108444
Maybe if the players are stumped on the ritual the Grey Man could come in at some point, completely unthreatened by the gang, singing or humming the rhythm that goes along with the ritual. And as luck would have it, Randy left his fucking bongo drums in the break room again.
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>>31106652
If we're going to have outside bathrooms, we don't really need to distinguish genders. We could just have them be one bathroom. Also, it might be better to have the bathroom doors inside, just so for encounters that have the PC's stuck inside, but they still need to move around the entire place. Not really an important design note, just wanted to say something.

It might be a stretch (no pun intended), but pulling out the western wall a bit to give more space might be nice. I used to work in a place kind of similar to this, and having hallways is not good design. It leads to more collisions, less room for stock, ect.

Rooms 5 and 6 could be condensed into one this way; just put a few fridges in the storage, and you have your cold storage. You really don't need two entire rooms for it.

Room 7, the freezer, as it stands is only accessible if you go all the way through 3, 5, and 6. You need mobility and ways to get around, and like I said before: hallways suck.

I could try to draw up a sketch of what I'm thinking, but this is all just little things that I've picked up working in places like this and from architectural design classes.

>>31108444
It's a great idea, but filling up those holes would help. I would love to try it out; one guy's trying to defend the place from the bandits, while the clerk does some chanting and the stock guy mashes up the chips.

>>31108666
Sounds cool, if the PC's get stuck mid ritual and need another push for what to do.
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>>31108444
One of the attendants finds an old journal stuffed in the magazine rack while restocking it. The language used frequently switches between English and some sort of Native American language. It mostly deals with how the palefaces have moved into their land, taking everything they se as it it were theirs. In the back of the journal is a ritual for removing any white men who mean to take what isn't theirs. The ritual involves mixing together tobacco (cigarettes, American Spirits preferably), maize (any corn chip/cereal/muffin), pure spring water (bottled water), the blood of the ancestors and burning it while singing an Apache hymn, then using the burned reagents to write the ritual symbols on a suitable surface.

There you go, guy.
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>>31109198
Sounds cool, I like it.

On a side note, there needs to be more weirdness in each shift.

It would be nice to have some kind of side-problem that arises each shift that the employees have to deal with, along with the main situation at hand. Imagine being under siege by spectral bandits, while the toilet is getting clogged up with blood. Minor weird problems would make things more complicated, keep things moving, and provide challenge when things get slow.

The chips keep flying off the shelf for no reason. The slurpie machine starts dispensing glowing freezies, that give the drinker strange effects. A counterfeit twenty dollar bill starts talking, and freaks out when it thinks that you're trying to turn it in to the cops. One of the staff suddenly can't remember anything, and has a 50% chance that they just won't remember how to do something until their amnesia wears off.
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>>31106478

I've been monitoring the threads. Development has been suspended pending some playtesting reports. More importantly, the deadline for me and TV anon completing the pilot is comig up. I will be continuing work on *World once the pilot is polished up and TV anon peddles it.

That said, I will take any proposed editing or formatting of the rules as is so we can have a proper playtesting packet.
>>
I'm planning on playtesting this tomorrow night and I was wondering how is the 'weird' mechanic dealt with?

How do I determine how much weird the game starts with? What is each events weird level? Same thing with Portents, how do I know the weird level?

Will I have to just make this all up or is there actually a scale?
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>>31109703

I'd start off with a Weird equal to the number of Attendants. Each Threat in play adds 1 Weird per shift until it is resolved.

Also feel free to have additional Weird as a complication of Portents or the like- if something would inflict a permanent strangeness on the station, have it add a Weird.

Sadly, all I've got are my personal notes on the Weird. It has changed the most out of all the mechanics, but I will be basically assigning flat rates of Weird to represent how big a problem a particular Threat is. Minor Threats inflict 3 Weird when they come into play, Major 5 or something. I dunno, still mathsing.

Portents are connected to the Threat. When a shift starts or a previously in-play Portent has been resolved (fixed, the event is over, the event is rendered moot etc.) then use the "I Hate This Job" Move to see if another Portent crops up this shift.

Does that make sense? Ish? You're going to have to do some finagling unfortunately.
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>>31109919

Makes more sense then what I thought it was.

I'll probably end up giving Portents weird levels based on what they are.

Thanks for the help.
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>>31109582
I've been debating whether or not having side weirdness happening alongside the main weirdness would overwhelm the players or throw them too far off the trail of the main weirdness or something. The way I see Night Shift, it's kind of like any other episode of a TV show with an A plot and B plot except the B plot is the weirdness and the A plot is them trying to do the jobs they have for the night. I feel like having more weird stuff they have to actively sort out instead of maybe a few quirky characters or foreshadowing would be too much. This would probably all depend on how much time you spend per session I guess though.
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>>31110047

Portents are just events which occur because of the Threat, I'm not sure they need Weird levels unless they're lasting. Like if from now on the sink screams if you make the water too hot, yeah, add a Weird, otherwise you only really need to bump their Weird score for the overall Threat.

Keep in mind, with +3 Weird you're almost assured that another Portent will follow the next one from a "I Hate This Job" roll, so Weird should be used sparingly.

I'm honestly thinking that the 'tiers' of Threats should be 1/2/3. Since resolving a Threat will only, in the best case scenario, drop your overall Weird by 2 I think, having a Weird 3 Threat is actually a pretty big deal.
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>>31110160

Now I'm kinda confused on how 'I Hate This Job' works.

If a Portent ends, and I roll a 10+, does that mean two Portents start at the same time, or one after another?
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>>31110160

To explain with example;

Group's current Weird is 1.

At the start of the shift, roll 2d6+1, and on a 7-9 a single Portent activates. On a 10+, more than one might activate.

They get a 7, so a Portent activates. Now this Portent is from a new Threat with a rating of 2. Added to the groups existing 1 Weird and their new total is 3.

Once they have resolved this Portent, they roll another "I Hate This Job" with a modifier of +3.

This continues until they have resolved the Threat completely, at which time they roll a "I'm Glad That's Over" Move which is 2d6+3.

On a 6 or less, their Weird remains at 3. On a 7-9 it drops to 2 and on a 10+ it returns to 1.

Does that make more sense/is clearer?
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>>31110315

Makes 10x more sense and I thank you so much
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>>31110355

That's my problem writing these rules. I know how they fit together in my head, but sometimes when I write it out I forget not everyone has the whole thing already laid out.

Once playtesting data is in and I'm more confident in the efficacy of the rules, I'll be doing some major clarity edits.
>>
Expanding on something I came up with in one of the earlier threads that people seemed to like

[Title] Pest Control

[Threat] The local (as close to local as you’re gonna get around here) exterminator comes in on a beer run in his trademark van with a giant cockroach/ant/spider on top. On his way out, you notice that the bug on his van is missing. If you try to get a hold of the exterminator he is home, passed out drunk.

[Resolution] Find the giant bug and deal with it before it wrecks the store and eats too many customers

[Portents and (S)igns]

-There is something in the ceiling
The attendants hear something banging around in the ceiling, one of the air ducts bulges out and a pointed leg pierces through the metal
A body crashes through the ceiling. Upon closer examination it seems like something has drained the corpse of it’s bodily fluids/eaten large chunks of it

-An attendant has been taken by the bug to whatever its lair is
(S) One of the attendants takes out the trash and doesn’t come back
Huge webs start showing up in the shop/a hole big enough for a man to fit in shows up in the parking lot

[Doom] The bug makes a nest somewhere in or near the station and the attendants will have more giant bugs to deal with in the near future

It could use a few more portents but I think it would be fun seeing the attendants frantically mixing together whatever chemicals they can find around the station trying to make a workable pesticide and going tunnel rat in a giant ant hill or tearing apart the ceiling tiles looking for a huge spider
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>>31110315

Perhaps Weird should be a bit more granular? Like say, a physical stat in Dungeon World, where you get a dice modifier based on the stat.
For example, 1-3 Weird would be +0, 4-6 would be +1, 7-9 would be +2, and 10 and up would be +3 to the roll. That way you can stack Wierd a bit further before you start to get the crazy rolls on "I Hate This Job".
Just a thought.
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How about some more mundane threats to pad the horror ones a bit? Like a store robbery or a roach infestation or a meticulous health inspector?

Also, more mundane tasks like taking inventory of the storage rooms or the freezer or cleaning the pumps/toilets, small maintrnanc of the slushie machine/hotdog stand, counting the cash in the register,checking for expired foodstuffs, all those events can either be the start of the creepyness or nothing at all, being menial tasks the attendants have to do as part of their job. Just tossing my two cents.
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>>31113801
luverly! have we decided on a name for the station? is it gas'n'go or stop'n'gas?
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>>31113801
That's bretty kool
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im crossing my fingers for TV anon to get a pilot episode on the telly. Quality horror is missing these days.
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i was just reading the backgrounds, what exactly does have a dog offer? does the dog actually help or is it merely cosmetic? can the station have a dog without said background? maybe at the back (so it dies horribly)?
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i would like to clarify a few things about AC Prime in case anyone has question. AC Prime is a reccuring "character" in the form of a company. What does it do? Up to you. Want to make them your delivery firm, their trucks dripping black liquid on the asphalt and their drivers looking doomed? Sure. Wanna make them antagonists to the gas station in the form of a rival nearby station? Green light. Want to make them a shady company ran by demons that forces their "employees" to do horrible atrocities for their amusement? Yep. Want to make them be a normal gas delivery truck that just does their job by supplying you? Do it.

AC Prime has the potency to be the meaner of troubles or just another asset of the job.


About the Grey Man now, Another recurring character, this one comes in the store in the middle of the night, no car parked outside (or maybe he does?) and always buys a certain candy. What happens if you dont have it anymore? Is it really candy he needs? Is he even real? Notice the potential here.

Finally, the last recurring character is the 80s girl assistant. Looking her up, PCs can find that she was employee of the month for three consecutive years, Ergo, she has developed an obsession with the station. That is both good and bad news, depending on how much the PCs care for the maintenance of the place. She might even turn hostile if anyone willingly damages things.

Nightshift world offers you limitless options on how to build your session. Roll on the events chart, make it into a rough story, add portends and signs and youre good to go. Anyone having any questions i can try to answer.
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just came up with an adventure, critics welcome. Also because im still not very confident with the system if anyone wants to stat this feel free to. (management/weird)

[Title]
Sleepyhead

[Threat]
Everyone seems to be so tired today...so tired. Anyone that closes their eyes wakes up having aged rapidly, or with scratches and bruises on their skin. Can the PCs get to the bottom of this before they sleep permanently?

[Resolution]
Characters are haunted by "something" in their dreams that saps their vitality in order to manifest. The way to banish it is to either defeat it in the dream world (where it is strong) or force it to manifest in the real world (where it is weak). Manifestation will occur once the Thing has absorbed enough vitality.

[Doom]
Either the PCs cannot defeat the Thing in due time and die in their sleep, their life drained from them, or the Thing manifests and they are too weak to fight it.

[Portends]
1.Everyone feels a bit low on energy today, things taking longer to accomplish.
-(S)The coffee machine and energy drinks will do little but put everyone on edge
-(S)Those doing nothing will feel more and more tired. Those doing any sort of work can fight off exhaustion by focusing on their work
2.A random PC drops on the floor and sleeps on the spot. Doing anything requires conscious effort now, even for the simplest of tasks
-(S)When someone wakes up at this stage, they notice signs of fighting on their body, like bruises or lacerations
-(S)Customers walking in will not get serviced properly and the Management will hear about this
3.At this point, nothing but self mutilation or REALLY strong stimuli can keep anyone awake. The PCs are allowed a relevant roll to determine they are lucid dreaming and take control of themselves in the Dream World.
-(S)The Dream World is exactly the same as the Real, only with slightly off geometry and nothing outside the station.
-(S)PCs can get finally face the Thing and figure out a way to defeat it
cont.
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>>31115177
cont.
4.Played entirely in the Dream World, this phase involves confronting the Thing with whatever means the PCs think will do them good
-(S)The Thing will keep absorbing their life (and probably kill at least one PC) before it manifests)
-(S)The key to killing it is mirrors, which will temporarily imprison it. Shattering the mirror will banish it for good.


NOTES: The PCs do not have control of their character until phase 3. Instead, action skips to their waking up with whatever wounds they have sustained from unconsciously battling the Thing.
They can figure out that it doesn't like mirrors from the way it avoids going near any reflective surface.
Penalties to actions should be applied only after having sustained wounds. Penalties do not apply in the Dream World.
Those with low willpower do not even fight the Thing until phase 3. Instead they age 1d6 years everytime they wake up due to their life force sucked away. No penalty (besides shock) for aging characters until they start to get past 60
I feel this scenario is more appropriate for expendable characters or as a one-shot due to the heavy damage or permanent aging some characters will receive. Hit me with your questions/criticism now.
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>>31113801
That's amazing!
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>>31113801

>Watermark

No.
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>>31115381
suggest an alternative site without a watermark then
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>>31115418

Just do it in photoshop.
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>>31114983
My own personal preference is to vaguely portray the Assistant Manager's Ghost, the Grey Man and A.C. Prime as good, ambiguous and bad, respectively.

Where the Assistant Manager's Ghost is concerned, our Gas Station is a pretty hostile place to work, and has a rather rich history of weirdness behind it, and having a benevolent link to that past appeals to me. You can construe the girl's AM status and her three years' stint as Employee of the Month as showing her skill at dealing with the Station's dangers and mechanically, she works really well as a GM mechanism.

The Grey Man is our oldest NPC, having shown up in the first thread, and he more than any other exemplifies the themes of the Night Shift, and I feel like his impact on the Attendants' shift ought to be directly proportional to how well or how poorly they treat him on his nightly visits. If the Attendants are polite, professional and precise the Grey Man remains amiable and almost fatherly, and may act as a stabilizing force during crazier shifts. If the Attendants are rude, unprofessional and lazy, the Grey Man is cool and disappointed, and may make things subtly worse for them.

A.C. Prime's role in a Night Shift game is the most nebulous of the three, at least for me, and I really like how you present us with more possibilities for their inclusion. While not every Night Shift GM is going to want to include a Big Bad, A.C. Prime has a lot of potential as an "evil" mirror opposite to the aloof but caring Management, threatening the status quo either subtly or overtly with their saccharine disregard for the Station's and Attendants' wellbeing.
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>>31115435
i would like to know more about your opinion the the AM girl. i cannot imagine her included in a story because for me it is an easy way for the GM to deus ex machina with her, something which i consider bad roleplaying. Any other things we could realistically use her instead of a goody two shoes helpful ghost?
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Can we expand a bit on the Day Shift Randy and the Crow from the special NPC list? they hardly have any fluff/purpose
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>>31115463
Aside from her capacity in acting as a PC guardian or GM-fiat NPC, the AM ghost girl's value lies in her being:

- An (in)tangible link to the Station's past. The remnants of her tenure as AM, eerie Employee of the Month photos, entries in the occult Employee Manual, bowling trophies with her name on them from the Station's tourney against their alternate-universe counterparts, etc., demonstrate to the current Attendants that their place of business has been a frightening and dangerous place to work for a very long time.

- Her Employee of the Month photos and her current status as a helpful ghost haunting the Station are also subtle, unnerving threats about what can happen to an Attendant once the Station grabs hold of them. Her progression in the photos from an awkward but normal highschooler to a haggard, weary, veteran would be visible, and the fact that she still can't leave the Station after her death is more than a bit frightening.

- Finally, she's good for a couple good scares aside from any story potential she has. Seeing a girl wearing a uniform that's 30 years old, mopping up on the security feed is spooky. Having a pale, gangly coworker you've never met before pass you a pack of cigs for a customer or the Station keyring and then not be there when you go to thank her works in this setting.
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>>31116087
Good fluff. Very good fluff. I tended to think her as the station personified, but that is way better.
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>>31112757

That's worth investigating. Either that, or have better ways for the group to reduce Weird that way it doesn't snowball.
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>>31116243
how would you do that tho besides fighting whatever's causing the weird?
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>>31116303

As is, you only reduce weird by ending Threats, but it might be good to include reduction of Weird as a reward for successfully resolving certain Portents.

Like any Portent which has the potential to add Weird if unresolved instead reduces Weird when resolved.

Portent:
1) The sink won't stop screaming when hot water is used. +1 Weird so long as this Portent is unresolved, -2 Weird when resolved.

something like that. Maybe. I dunno.
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>>31116128
There has been some scraps of writing done on her in previous threads using more or less this backstory. Two were from her/your perspective, and one was from a current Attendants' perspective, looking at her Employee of the Month photos.
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>>31116527
any knowledge on day shift randy/Crow?
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>>31115842
So far, the crux of Randy's character seems to be that he was once a part of the Night Shift, was perhaps even an Assistant Manager like the ghost girl, and was somehow good enough at both getting the job done and surviving that he was able to put in a transfer to the Day Shift. As we all know, the Day Shifters are all assholes, the sort of minimum effort, minimum intelligence stereotypes that minimum wage jobs sometimes attract.

At first, Randy tried to share what he'd seen on the Night Shift with his new coworkers, and explain just how much like night and day the Night and Day Shifts really are. He was, of course, met with ridicule and mockery, and his insistence on the paranormal nature of the Station eventually came to jeopardize his position. As is often the case, the only way Randy found to fit in with the Day Shift assholes was to become an asshole himself, disavowing his previous stories and decrying all later tales of Night Shift weirdness as crazy bullshit.

However, despite that new asshole veneer, Randy hasn't quite forgotten what it was like to be working the Night Shift, and does secretly worry about the Attendants forced to work it. To these ends he might have made extensive annotations in the occult Employee's Manual which no one on the Day Shift has ever bothered to read, and may continue to leave notes or caches of useful items for the Attendants to find, give warnings during the changing if the guard before the Night Shift starts, or might even do one or two minor tasks at the end of his shift to give Attendants a jump on the night.
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>>31116525
partially resolving a threat, in your example turning off the hot water, which doesnt solve the problem but stops the screaming could reduce weird by a small amount. completely negating the threat, like finding out what actually causes the screaming could wipe out the weird completely
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>>31116695
>>31116841
There was also a blurb that was written about Randy seeing a shrink for PTSD.
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Preparing some fluff for the Crow, will be back with it later.
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>>31116847

I think that might be the solution; whatever 'Weird Rating' a Threat has is added to the group's Weird when the Threat enters play- so long as it persists. Once it is resolved, you immediately subtract its Weird Rating from the group's total Weird.

THEN you make a "Glad That's Over" roll to see if the group's Weird is FURTHER reduced.

That means that particularly Weird Threats will still lead to more and more shit piling on, but that gets fixed whenever a Threat is resolved. So it snowballs circumstantially, and that's precisely the kind of craziness I think Night Shift World wants.
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>>31116982
good one. Lets make sure NswAnon sees this.
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>>31116695
As to the crow? Not a lot has been said about him. He was added to the List by some Anon off-the-cuff, and wasn't really discussed in-thread. My take on him is, given that he nests somewhere in or on top of the Gas Station, he is at least smarter or mire long-lived than your average bird, even if he has no powers or other weirdness attributed to him.

I can imagine that his interactions with the Attendants are of a similar nature as the Grey Man's and that he is neither good nor bad, but tends to reciprocate good or bad acts done for or against him in kind: try and evict him or harm him and he will retaliate as only a crafty bird can. Leave him be or allow him to come and go as be pleased, and he might alert Attendants to coming danger or trade stray trinkets or currency with them.
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>>31116998

Haha, that was me who posted it. I'll make sure I see it, though.

Good work, me.
>No problem, other me
You should thank the other anon.
>But we did all the heavy lifting!
Shut up, no we didn't.

Thank you anons, all this feedback is super helpful.
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>>31114176
I've been using Gas N' Go for the manuals and character sheets, but I don't think it really matters
>>
Ok, in order to progress the thread a bit more than detail crunching, here is 1d20 table of random background problems/solutions to add to the mix. Could also be left as notes from Management

1 AC breaks down
2 A toilet clogs (again)
3 Someone has shifted around all the magazines in the rack
4 Some liquid is spilled on the floor and needs mopping
5 The hot-dog machine is empty
6 The slushie machine is empty
7 Freezer is malfunctioning
8 Someone beeping outside, client
9 Someone beeping outside, delivery truck
10 Lights go out
11 Trash cans are full and need emptying
12 Something missing from the rack, restocking needed
13 There is a leak somewhere
14 Set up a display for new product
15 Generator starts spluttering
16 A bright light shines outside
17 The radio starts playing good music
18 An hour passes in an instant
19 The PCs feel more energetic
20 Any two

comment, add, ditch.
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>>31118239
obviously last 5 events are to help to PCs but i cant stat them because i dont know how to balance them. NSWanon?
also >>31115177 needs stating as well if anyone bothers
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>>31111152
Remember that portents should include some mechanical effect. Signs are atmosphere and fluff. So in your example:

Portents:
-The bug situation is getting out of hand. You're smashing more than usual and the Raid has mysteriously vanished. -1 Management for not keeping an supply levels

-There is something in the ceiling. It is doing damage to the buidling. -1 Paycheck for breaking things in the station.

-You slip and fall in weird bug secretion. You smell awful for the rest of the night. -1 ongoing for all interactions with costumers.

-An attendant has been taken by the bug. Running the store short handed is way harder than you thought. -1 on all rolls until you get them back.
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>>31115177
>>31115248

Portents:
-Everyone feels a bit low on energy. -1 Effort forward on any task.

-Doing anything requires conscious effort -1 ongoing on all rolls.

-You're too tired to properly attend to customers. -1 Management for not following one of the cardinal rules.

-At this point, nothing but self mutilation or really strong stimuli can keep anyone awake. If you have the background DEALER or FELON you can roll to see if you can find strong stimulants. If the player can choose stimulants or self harm, each of which will inflict -1 Harm. Otherwise, the players fall asleep and enter the dream world.
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>>31114176

TV anon is using Stop'n'Gas in the script.
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so many -1s on stuff. Anything the PCs can do to get some bonuses? Correct tool usage? Human interaction? Teamwork? Inner strength?
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>>31118607
Sure, just not in Portents. This is where things get fucked up.
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>>31118607 brings up a good point in questioning how the players will get bonuses. How about, everytime a PC completes one of the non-normal, esoteric or occult tasks they were assigned, they get a buff of some sort? Or they find some strange item or other that helps them out?

Like, you're not going to gain super strength or something from mopping the floors, but if you leave an offering of some change at the strange little shrine built inside one of the lockers, or find a lucky rabbit's foot, your lowest stat gets a +2 for the night?
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>>31118810

+2 is a big statistical advantage in any *World system. Remember anything higher than a 6 on 2d6 is considered a success. Without any bonuses, you're still likely to succeed just from the die averages.

If you want a small but not-insignificant advantage simply allow the PC's to roll best of x number of dice. Roll 2d6 twice, take the higher or roll 3d6, take the highest 2 etc.

All bonuses in Night Shift World cap at +3, which means you'll succeed so long as you don't roll a snake eyes, and on average your successes won't even have a cost associated with them. Its one of the reasons I have a question in the playtest materials concerning PC ability. As is, I'm concerend its far too easy for PC's to stack a +3 mod and circumvent the 'success with cost' which is central to the design philosophy.
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Thanks >>31119005, I wasn't quite familiar with how the World system worked, but your mechanics explanation made it pretty clear. I guess the real meat if my idea is that any bonuses, lucky breaks and do-overs the PCs can get should depend on the. Actively doing something or finding something or figuring something out.
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>>31119005

Yeah, generally you don't want to overdo +/-x adjustments, most of the times benefits and setbacks should flow from fiction, rather than being directly mechanical.

Like "you dumped salt all over the carnivorous slugman, he's now writhing on the floor, helpless. You don't have to roll to hit him now, let's see some damage dice."
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>>31118607
>>31118632

Service with a Smile

Threat: Tonight is a great night! All the Attendants seem to be in an especially good mood, and everything seems to be hunky-dory! Well, except for the fact that the toilets are backed up with blood again, and there's a robbery in progress, and poltergeist activity out the wazoo! The Attendants just cant seem to care about any of that though! Just let it happen! It's just such a great night tonight, isn't it?

Resolution: A miss-stacked pile of merchandise has fallen over onto an old sheet-covered jukebox in the storeroom and now, the song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" is playing on an endless loop. Normal emotionality will be restored once the song stops playing.

First Portent:
All Attendants begin the Night shift in an unusually cheerful mood, ready, willing and able to work. [+1 to all nightly tasks]
Signs:
- Attendants feel optimistic about the night's shift.
- Attendants hum or tap their feet unconsciously.
- Attendants catch themselves smiling to each other.

Second Portent:
The customers stopping by the Station begin to pick up on and appreciate the Attendants' happy, eager demeanors. [+1 to customer relations and services.]
Signs:
- Pet peeves held against fellow Attendants and regular customers no longer seem annoying.
- Attendants feel a bit excited each time a new car pulls up to the Station.
- Attendants occasionally catch muffled snippets of music playing somewhere.
>>
Why has it gone dead suddenly?
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>>31120888
Third Portent:
As the Night Shift wears on and the evening's weirdness begins to manifest in earnest, the Attendants just can't manage to get too upset about what's going in around them, whether that be petty theft and vandalism or minor supernatural occurrences. [+1 to "....", -1 to Effort, -1 to Paycheck or Management if minor threats manifest.]
Signs:
- Snippets of lyrics and a tune play through the Attendants' thoughts.
- Tasks started are left incomplete, spills aren't cleaned up, and the cash register is left open.
- Worried thoughts and feelings have grown hard to hang on to.

Fourth Portent:
The Attendants are nearly entirely beyond caring or worrying about anything now, which is a very bad thing if a more dangerous threat decides to rear its ugly head. [+2 to "....", -2 to Effort, -1 Harm, -1 Paycheck, -1 Management.]

Signs:
- Attendants find themselves having a hard time focusing on any given task.
- Tragic past events, when focused on, seem to provide temporary clarity if thought.
- The words "Don't Worry, Be Happy" echo in the Attendants' minds.

Doom: As the Night Shift continues, the Attendants grow happier and more carefree. If no other threats manifest: -1 Management or -1 Paycheck for lack of Station upkeep. If minor threats and hassles present themselves, both -1 Management and -1 Paycheck are incurred. If a major threat occurs, -2 Management, -2 Paycheck and risk of death are present.
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>>31120891
Work or preparations for the weekend maybe?
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>>31120888
I stand corrected. That's a pretty good Threat, especially if its mixed with something else.
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This sounds a lot like a quest.
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>>31120934
I assure you, it isn't a quest. What it is is a group of Anons fabricating a rules system and set of prefab scenarios with which to play an episodic horror game.
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>>31120926
That's exactly the aim. It's a threat that compounds every other threat present until its resolved. The Portents' mechanical affects and the Doom might need tweaking though.
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>>31103676
>>31103730
>>31103786

I just want to say thank you so very much for doing something that really benefits this board.
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>>31120934
Really, how does this sound in any way like a quest?
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I'm working on a few more Threats to contribute, but its slow going typing these out on an iPhone, especially at work.
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>>31118277
I figured that was the case, I just left them out because I am not familiar with the Worlds system. Good ideas though, I'll add them.
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since so many of us seem unable to comprehend the system and thus making it harder to make content, can someone make an outline with an example so we feel less stupid?
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>>31121753
Anything specific you have questions on? Like, "I don't know how character creation works" or "I don't know Management, Paycheck, Effort, or other stats mean"?

I'm not the NSW anon, but his rough rules aren't super complicated right now.
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>>31112830
This is something that's covered under the "Tasks" section of the documents. It's assumed that each night, management leaves a green piece of paper with everything the attendants need to get done by the end of the night. Failure to do so means that the dayshift will complain and management won't be happy.
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So I heard you liked playtesters, and I'm available.

I'm willing to GM but I'd prefer to be a player the first few times around. I've been told by my friends I have a fucking terrifying imagination and I am a self-proclaimed nightmare smith.

To the anons working on the TV script: if you're not disinclined, I have experience with writing novels and short stories (unpublished but well liked in the communities I've shared them with, one of which being a horror book club), and I want to branch out into writing scripts. So like I said, if you're not disinclined to having another hand...
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>>31122596
lol no contact information

Skype thoadthetoad skype name DinoCzar, e-mail in the field. Sorry for bumpin', but this is more interesting than the quest threads anyway.
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>>31122596
I'm willing to try running a game or play in a game. I'd like to try playing first since I'm not really familiar with the *World system entirely though.
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>>31103676
Considering that the chart's already been filled out to 100, I can tell that there's a lot more that we can do using this chart system and the randomly generated horror system.

There's a lot that goes into horror. There's the event, yes, but there's a lot of build up and tension necesarry to get there. Perhaps we should have multiple charts for varying levels of unaparent danger? For instance, having one chart determine the overall event with a vague description no longer than the title. Demon trickster, Alien Invasion, zombie apocalypse, etc. Then you roll for a bit more specifics and "twists", such as one of the friendly NPCs being the cause of the entire event.
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>>31103676
also, why isn't the chat available in the documents? might make for a bit of easy accessibility.
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>>31122729
This
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>>31122729
Could be an interesting way to do a modular system. I think the hardest part would be that each component is just too generic., and that everything that falls under that would have to work with every other scenario.
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>>31120934
Where do you see anything like a quest? Or are you the retard that keeps saying it's a quest every thread and then disappearing?
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>>31122888
That's the primary problem I see too, but that can be fixed by just decreasing the size of each chart from being 1d100 to being 1d50 or any other variation of smaller dice.
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>>31122918
More or less the same idea I came up with too. 1d20 for the primary antagonist, 1d20 for helpful allies(if any). 1d20 for twist(if any) and some other stuff I guess could get a lot of different results. I might try throwing one together as a concept tonight.

Still going through all the old threads for unique ideas for the top 100 document. What does everyone think of them by the way? ANy that are on there that you don't think should be on there? Any twists for ones that don't have a twist?
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I'm reading over the rules system so I'll give my thoughts on that.

Typo in the second paragraph, "Pwred by the Apocalypse"

You forgot to mention what passive buff is given for the expenditure of an Effort point. I think it should only give a +1, and though that might be the common thing to assume it still needs to be written down. The management levels are confusing, I'm not entirely sure what they mean. So when my management is lower than max, I'll get a vaguely useful item, but when it's maxed out I get nothing? That seems counter intuitive to what the game wants me to do. Note that I like the management mechanic and I think it's a great way to put comedy relief when the players remember that amidst the horror they're still having to do their jobs and will be reprimanded coldly for not dealing with the zombies outside the door.

Instead of rolling 2d6 to generate modifiers for our attributes, let's just roll 1d6 and count 4, 5 and 6 to be +1, +2 and +3 while 1, 2, and 3 are -1 -2 and -3. No one should have a 0 for an attribute, as that can lead to unflavorful gameplay.

I like the backgrounds too, but they should also affect a player's inventory to an extent. People like to keep shit in their desks and cubbies, usually stuff relating to themselves. The survivalist might have a swiss army knife he keeps on hand, the redneck might keep a hunting knife in his truck, the cheerleader might have a megaphone and the nerd might have a computer.

I dislike the idea of not having a combat system. Regardless of whether or not someone's a regular schmoe, they can still hit with many pounds of force and improvise weapons to assist them. It shouldn't be combat focused, but it's still something that needs to be addressed and able to play with when we're dealing with events like zombie and alien apocalypses. How are you going to defend your gas station from ornery zombies except for killing them?

Continuing in future posts...
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>>31122972
I don't really like #6. It doesn't seem to fit well with the ideas behind the Night Shift if it separates you from the gas station that much. Maybe if it was just that the gas station slips into a type of pocket dimension and you have to figure out how to get out of it, or get out of it WITH the station?
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>>31123142
The reason that it's 2d6 is so that the average is a 6-7.

As for the inventory thing, A lot of the stuff players can buy or obtain in game. I know it doesn't flat out SAY you start with a swiss army knife, but if I were to run a game I would usually let players outright have items like that as long as it makes sense and they declare it in the first session. But other than that, the players build up there inventory over the course of the game. When one player reaches their goal, they could even leave a lot of it behind for their next character or for the good of the whole station.

If Management reaches 0, someone is getting fired. That's not a good thing. Calling Management should always be a last ditch effort too. Just calling them makes you lose management.

Gas 'n' Go values employees with initiative and problem solving.

Don't take this to mean that you aren't right or wrong about any of your points by the way. The healthiest thing for a growing system like this is criticism and posts like yours are an excellent way to get that.

>>31123224
Not sure if it was clear, but the Gas Station goes with you. Or is it still bothersome?
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>>31123306
>but if I were to run a game I would usually let players have items like that as long as it makes sense and they declare it in the first session
That shouldn't be a necessity. The game as written should state that certain backgrounds have certain possibilities for starting inventories and the like.

I understand that when management reaches 0 someone gets canned, and I like that, and I like that calling management reduces that, but the descriptions for the different management levels are confusing and could probably be rewritten. As for the gas station going with you, that does make a lot more sense and it isn't really bothersome anymore as it's essentially what I said but a different place to send the players/gas station.

>>31123142
In regards to the "Customer Service" check, it should be that the player gets clear and concise answers for the questions they ask. Upon a bad roll they would not notice the customer or shut them down and not listen to them, but on a higher roll they would be able to conversate normally, but their response is determined by the roll. The "Let me check" check is very confusing. I roll to check for it, and I have the option to choose from one of the three things or all of the three things?

I dislike how the "lend me a hand" check can permanently inhibit the party and the players. It seems like that makes it not worth the risk associated to help the rest of your team. Maybe it should be different so that instead of getting subtractions to paychecks it gives subtractions to the check they're assisting? Like, they're getting in the way of or distracting who they're trying to help instead of actually helping them?

Also, why would the green phone punish me MORE for a 7-9 than a 6 or below on the green phone? I get that there's the 2d6 bellcurve, but I really hope that people realize that bellcurves and predicted chance sort of go against the whole idea of chance and probability to begin with, making 2d6 a flawed dice mechanic.
>>
Much love to all you Night Shifters!
>>
Nobody's on the IRC, so nobody but that one guy on there I was talking to will ever hear my opinion.

Here's a log:
pastebin com/sjjsp54c
>>
>>31121861
I think the general problem some people are having, myself included, is that we're just not familiar with the *Worlds system. These threads are the first time I've ever heard of it. Is it just an easily modified system like BRP or RIFTS or what?
>>
I deeply regret having to raise this great thread without new content, but I do it just the same. Keep up the good work, Posters.
>>
>>31126139
There's a lot of discussion in the IRC channel now
>>
Just keeping the thread bumped for right now but I'm working on fleshing out some ideas I had into the episode/session/weirdness/whatever we're calling it format. Stay tuned, nerds.
>>
This has been discussed before, but never really answered and discussion in the IRC channel has brought a few questions to mind, primarily this:

>What is causing all the weirdness at this particular station?
>>
>>31126800
I think it was mentioned in an earlier thread that the station is on some sort of paranormal crossroads/Hellmouth type of thing
>>
>>31126844
TVanon said he agreed with this on some level. It's important to keep this in consideration when writing or presenting ideas for characters or events.
>>
>>31126800
>>What is causing all the weirdness at this particular station?

Maybe I'm missing the point, but it seems to me that as an Attendant yours is not to question why... etc.
And as a GM it seems irrelevant unless there is supposed to be some way for the Attendants to rid the station of is weirdness thus destroying this nifty world that everybody seems to be working so hard to build.

>TheWeirdnessJustIs
>>
>>31127274
This is not a question from the perspective of the Attendant, but the writer of a TV series or a writer of a book of rules or lore. The GM doesn't have to know and the players don't have to know either.
>>
>>31127309
I don't see your point... I mean, if it's for the show, shouldn't TV anon and NSW anon be in charge of that?
>>
>/tg/ is writing a tv show

Beautiful.

They never write episodes and instead use actual games as the basis for their scripts
>>
>>31127309
Continental drift has caused it to fall within the Bermuda Triangle.
>>
>>31126800
>What is causing all the weirdness at this particular station?
Who knows? Who cares?

Everything and nothing: Ancient Indian burial ground, meeting of ley lines, the piece of land was part in a faustian deal, the stars have aligned...
>>
The thread has been archived on Sup/tg/.

>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/31103676
>>
>>31123142

First off, thanks for taking the time to give a critique of Night Shift World.

1) Effort can be used either specifically - Moves, Jobs, Special Moves - in which case its effects follow whatever that instance says. Generally I planned on it giving a flat +1 bonus, or... something else. I honestly haven't been able to pin down a generic use for Effort yet. I'll plug it into the doc as +1 for now, unless I can think of something better.
2) Management perks really just need to be better formatted. Currently they are supposed to have 'tiers'. At X Management you get Perk A. At Y Management you get Perk A + Perk B. Et cetera et cetera. Unless noted, perks are cumulative so the more The Management is pleased the easier your life will be.
3) 2d6+modifiers is the core system element of 'Powered By The Apocalypse'. If it isn't broken (I don't think it is) I'm not gonna fix it. I will likely remove the derived Attributes though. Instead of having 16 Strength, which grants +2 modifier, you'll simply have a +2 modifier. That should be simpler.
4) Currently I have no plans for a granular inventory system. You won't be tracking whether or not your character has a switchblade or a lighter or something- if it is dramatically appropriate or narratively interesting for your character to have an item, they will. And I think I just thought of a possible use for Effort; they can be generically expended to claim something.
>"The door is locked and you hear Carl screaming on the other side."
>"Could I smash it open?"
>"You could. Roll 2d6-1 for your pussy Strength modifier."
>"I'm going to spend an Effort and say that Dave finds a crowbar nearby."
>"Alrighty, with that your Strength modifier is less important than getting leverage. Roll+Dex."
5) Sorry, no combat system. You can still Roll+Str to bash the Hollow Man in the face, and it will default to the standard 6 = failure, 7-9 = success with cost, 10+ = unqualified success.
>>
>>31123142
Continued.
If zombies have beseiged the store, you've probably hit a Threat's Doom. You've fucked up bad, and fighting is probably gonna get you nowhere.

To be clear, Night Shift World's default assumption is that there is a .0000001% chance that fighting or attacking a problem head-on will help.

6) "Customer Service" has the PC asking the GM questions. Any answers he gives can be relied on by that PC as true and accurate. How you roleplay them GETTING that information within the fiction is entirely up to the particular GM and PC. I lifted it almost wholesale from Dungeon World's "Discern Realities" which has a comparable function.
7) "Lemme Lend A Hand" probably deserves a second look. Its original intent - to have a reliable way to sap the PC's of Paycheck and Management - is something of a moot point. Its since been superseded in function by Portents' consequences.
8) On a 7-9, you get advice from Management. Don't underestimate that. Its basically a Deus Ex Machina moment. Failing to get that on a 6 or less is pretty rough, on top of which you still take -1 Management for bothering them in the first place.

>>31124955
http://www.dungeonworldsrd.com/
Totally free. Lovely system. Take a look.

>>31126800
>>31128514
No clue. Night Shift World will offer no definitive answer. I doubt the TV show will, either.
>>
>>31129594

I wanna add, when reading the SRD for Dungeon World, don't skip the game mastering section. In Apocalypse World and its hack (like DW), much of the system's magic involves what happens behind the GM's screen. The GM has specific rules and things that he has to do for the system to work as intended. Skipping over the GM section is traditional, but mostly because the average RPG only includes a generic "DM advice" pile of boilerplate. * World does'nt work like that.
>>
Oh yeah, I was listening to some music today and it ocurred to me that Slough Feg's "Insomnia" is totally Night Shift appropriate, being all about a guy awake late at night, terrified to fall asleep because he knows there are things out there just waiting to get him, no matter what everybody else says.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLSAPYfP2Kg
>>
Any chance to make an updated PDF with the reworked mechanics or the beta testing charts?
>>
If you use threats like these every night, do people get fired constantly? It seems like "-1 management" gets thrown out there a lot.

Your starting management is just the number of people in the group, right?

Just a thought, but what if you have "Management as a stat", and that can vary over time but it takes a lot to raise or lower it (maybe it responds to weekly performance evaluations)? And then everywhere that people say "-1 management", that's more like, "1 management damage", if you take too much in one night someone gets shitcanned but assumign they don't burn the place down it refreshes the next shift, because management is perfectly aware of all the crazy shit they're making you deal with?
>>
>>31132412

That's the kind of thing that playtesting is meant to figure out.
>>
>>31132412
im thinking of using NightShift as one-shot adventures. In that mindset, the very fact that PCs survived the night is a victory. Got paycheck as well? Bonus for you. Getting fired the next day? Bummer, but youre still alive so sush. see? major and minor victories. losing your life is the only way to be defeated.
>>
>>31123474
inventory wise, i won't give my players anything. They work in a gas station, there is plenty of things to take when the need arises (yes, with management penalty because everything is on tape). Need a weapon? shotgun under the counter, fire axe in the box, hell even the mop handle. Want something to eat or drink? there is a hotdog machine, slushie machine, a whole rack of packets of crisps and a cooler full of drinks. Need medical attention? first aid box somewhere.

Players don't need items. They can forage for what they need in the station. also rewarding creative thinking.
>>
>>31133077
I thought the emergency revolver loaded with fruit-flavored rounds was a hilarious entry into the other, smaller game. Way better than the emergency shotgun under the counter. The players are the workers OF a convenience store though, so yeah, I agree that they don't need any items of their own except maybe some odds and ends actually belonging to them.

>anon #3 is The Thing!
>wait, no i'm not!
>BLAM
>i see a light... it tastes like grape
>>
>>31118239
we gonna use these?
>>
>>31133319
There's a task tabs in the document, go add them.
>>
>>31132895

That's an interesting angle, sure.
>>
>>31133185
>>31133077

Seen Spirited Away?

Remember the stink spirit that she helps out (she totally doesn't have to as part of her job, she just does), and it turns out to be a river spirit, and then it gives her the purifying widget which turns out useful later?

That kind of shit is going to happen all the time in my games.
>>
Wishful Thinking: Tinychat NightShift edition

NSWanon (or anyone with familiarity with the rules could host a couple of games on TC and we can spectate in order to get a deeper understanding (and some constructive feedback). Mute anyone but the players so the session isnt interrupted and give it a shot?
>>
The Jinx

Threat: Someone's car has broken down RIGHT outside the station, and he's
stuck here until a tow truck arrives... which isn't gonna be until morning.
Plus his car is blocking one of the pumps, stuff seems more broken than usual
tonight, the store-room fridge that was bolted to the ground just suddenly
tipped over and a micrometeorite just punched a hole through the cash register!
Of all the rotten luck...

Resolution: The tow truck will arrive at the end of the shift, at which point
The Jinx will be someone else's problem. Alternately the Attendants can
assemble enough good-luck items and garner enough mojo to counteract the Jinx's
aura of ill omen... or maybe find some OTHER way to get him the hell outta here.

First Portent:
All Attendants begin the shift with a mild case of butterfingers. [-1 to all Nightly Tasks]
Signs:
-Items seem to fall off the rack/shelf after being restocked
-The Jinx offhandedly talks about his car being unreliable and needing to be towed often
-Attendants note an unusual prevelance of minor hazards

Second Portent:
Multiple minor maintenance issues happen, and are unusually difficult to fix [+1 Effort forward to resolve problems or -1 Paycheck if unattended]
Signs:
-Non-vital equipment is less functional than normal (TV and radio get only static, lights are buzzing annoyingly, etc)
-Every customer accidentally drops a coin under the counter, even if paying by credit/debit
-The Jinx talks about his travels. He was present at multiple major disaster sites shortly before the disasters they were known for and is smilingly oblivious to the fact.
>>
Third Portent:
Accidents start happening with abnormally abnormal frequency and the general frustration factor of the compounded annoyances is wearing on the Attendants' nerves [+1 Harm, -1 Let Me Check, -1 Customer Service]
Signs:
-Any attendant that picked lotto numbers for a drawing that occurred in the past week will have the numbers come up.
-Spills, leaks and tripping hazards seem to regenerate if not constantly monitored
-The Slushie Machine works for everyone except one person. It will not dispense for said person even if he/she has someone else operate the machine
Fourth Portent:
The Jinx's aura of unluck reaches Unshielded Improbability Drive levels of chance-fuckery[+1 Weird, -1 Management, +2 Harm]
Signs:
-Items move when not conciously observed, appearing in spots where they can cause accidents/injuries
-Attendants that reach 6 Harm do not die, but are left with injuries that will result in a small fortune in medical bills.

Doom:
The Jinx's influence permeates the station if he is not nullified or ejected before the shift ends. -2 Glad That's Over, -2 I Hate This Job
>>
File: 1396096186489.jpg-(1.35 MB, 1024x1442, taxi-driver1-grande.jpg)
1.35 MB
1.35 MB JPG
What about a taxi driver supplement
>>
File: 1396106398818.jpg-(351 KB, 1600x900, f07dd7b0c7826522dd1641eb7(...).jpg)
351 KB
351 KB JPG
>>
File: 1396106552217.gif-(1.99 MB, 400x247, 1395498665383.gif)
1.99 MB
1.99 MB GIF
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>>31134393
>>31134412
I love everything about this threat, and am really happy to see that the Portent + Sign format seems to be easily implemented.
>>
>>31133694

I will consider doing just that once the pilot is finished. We have a deadline coming up in a week or so; I am not doing any significant work on Night Shift World until the pilot is done.

>>31134393
I'm seeing a lot of Threats like these, and I'm not sure how I feel about them. The idea behind Threats was that, like Dungeon World's Fronts, they would be a good structural and organizational tool. You could look at it, see the one-sentence blurb with parenthetical suggesting the stakes of the Portent, and you're good to go.

Threat: A man who carries bad luck with him breaks down outside the station
Resolution: Jinx Man's truck is fixed, towed, or he is removed.

Portents; incremental
1) Butterfingers abound. (Roll twice for everything, take the lower result)
2) Maintenance issues. (-1 Management if not fixed)
- TV only gets telemundo, now
- Pumps suck gas instead of dispense.
- Cash register can't into math
3) Working hazards. (+2 harm whenever harm is taken, -1 Management per hazard)
- Emergency revolver accidentally discharges
- Fire in the office
- Water leak from freezer, slipping hazard
Doom: The Jinx might be gone, but he's left his mark. +2 Weird.
>>
>>31132412

I might simply add the rule that you can sacrifice Paycheck instead of Management unless otherwise noted- you can always pay for your fuck-ups out of pocket.

But if I do that, it will be after playtesting.
>>
>>31137208
>pilot episode will be submitted soon
hype.jpg
>>
>>31132238
Wait, where's the reworked mechanics and the beta testing charts?
>>
>>31137693
I should mention I'm the anon who made the Character sheets and the player's guide, and am planing out the GM's guide now.
>>
>>31135434
That doesn't sound very conducive for group play.


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