I have a little project going on, and it would be nice to make a formal introduction to the NIGHT SHIFT Veterans of the Supernatural Wars Role-Playing Game.
What is NIGHT SHIFT Veterans of the Supernatural Wars?
NIGHT SHIFT Veterans of the Supernatural Wars is a modern urban fantasy role-playing game with horror roots but with multi-genre elements as well. It is designed to be played the way you want, from light and fast to gritty and complex. It also features of examples of play thanks to our various Night Worlds. So you can be a student in Chicago's only school for Magical Youths and partake in various magic-fueled hijinks, all the way to a post-apocalyptic Earth where the forces of Good and Evil battle it out in the skies above and the streets below. Or to play a supernatural creature that just wants to live and get by in a world full of humans trying to hunt them down.
Play it silly, straight, dangerous or just fun, NIGHT SHIFT can do it.
Wait. What is a Role-Playing Game?
Role-playing games have a LONG history. But the modern role-playing game (RPG) began, roughly, in 1974 with the publication of the Dungeons & Dragons rules. You can read more about what a role-playing game is in this excerpt from the NIGHT SHIFT core rules book.
NIGHT SHIFT Veterans of the Supernatural Wars is self-contained. Meaning every rule you need to play is found in the covers of the core book. You will need dice (available nearly everywhere now), some paper, some pencils, but most of all some good friends to play with. No computers, no phones, and if your internet goes down, you can still play!
What Can I do With NIGHT SHIFT VSW?
Anything you want! As a multi-genre game NIGHT SHIFT VSW is open to all sorts of situations and ways to play. Have a favorite TV show, movie, or book series? NIGHT SHIFT VSW with its varying degrees of play difficulty (Cinematic, Normal, and Gritty) allows the players to set the tone of the game.
Players take on the roles of various characters of their own creations. It's the game of Chosen Ones, Survivors, Witches, and Something Weird. YOU decide what you want to play and how to do it.
NIGHT SHIFT is an urban fantasy, horror, and dark modern supernatural game that uses a brand new system of old-school mechanics inspired by and derived from the original, basic, expert, and advanced versions of the World's Most Famous Role Playing Game. It allows you to mimic all the tropes of just about any film, TV series, or novel you like.
All of the following are possible with NIGHT SHIFT VSW:
- Cheerleaders that are chosen to slay vampires
- Sisters imbued with the power of chosen witches
- Worlds where Fae of all manner battle in the politics of light and dark
- The great-grandniece of a famous gunslinger inherits the legacy of the demon hunter.
- A world where two brothers armed with knowledge and weapons hunt the supernatural in their father's name
- And more!
What is Old-School Play?
Old-school play in RPGs refers to a style that emphasizes fewer rules and more freedom to play. This is why NIGHT SHIFT VSW is complete as a single book. Players familiar with new RPGs can still do all the same things they had done before or want to do; now it just depends on how they all want to do it. It is more about how you play with each other rather than how you play with the rules.
But if you want more details here is co-Author and lead designer Jason Vey on what Old-School play means for NIGHT SHIFT VSW over on his blog for Elf Lair Games.
- What Does Night Shift: VSW Bring to the Old School Table?
- Why Re-Use Old Mechanics? Why Not Create a New System?
What is O.G.R.E.S.?
O.G.R.E.S. stands for Oldschool Generic Roleplaying Engine System. It is the system that powers NIGHT SHIFT. It sits somewhere between the "rulings not rules" freeform of OD&D and the simple mechanics of d20. The end result is something that feels very familiar and new at the same time.
O.G.R.E.S. features three main subsystems as described by my co-author and designer Jason Vey. They are:
- Percentile checks
- d20 checks
- The Rule of 2
The first two are likely self-explanatory, but here is Jason explaining all three in detail.
Percentile checks are used to check anything that requires a straight probability. Some class abilities use percentile checks (thief skills, for example, and the ranger's tracking). Other class abilities (the druid's nature lore ability) simply work. For the most part, however, any class ability requiring a check will use percentile dice. Also, just about every table in the game (with a few exceptions) uses a percentile roll.
d20 checks are used for anything combat-related. To hit rolls, saving throws, and turning undead are rolled on a d20.
The rule of 2: this is my name for a sub-system in D&D that has never been precisely codified, but is buried deep in the bones of the game. Any time a situation needs to be adjudicated in D&D for which there is not another system, throw a die, and on a result of 1 or 2, it happens. Listening at a door (and not a thief)? You hear noise on a 1 or 2. Looking to notice a secret door (and not a dwarf or elf)? Roll a d6 and you find it on a 1 or 2. Surprise? 1 or 2. The only thing that changes, for the most part, is the type of die--rangers, for example, use a d8 surprise die--and some character types may adjust the probability (elves noticing a secret door without searching is a 1 on a d6).
Three very simple subsystems. Of course, all of these can be reduced to d% rolls. But really it is all simple. That is the point. In a game like NIGHT SHIFT action can happen very fast and you don't want a system of dice rolling to get in the way.
There is a hierarchy here of sorts. Most things will be a d%, followed by combat-related actions with a d20, and finally the Rule of 2. For everything else.
The Night Companion expands on this and gives you more options for play.
Sounds Great! How Do I Get Started?
Well, start with some friends who all want to play. One person (maybe you!) will be the Game Master or the one that builds the adventures that everyone goes on. They are like the writer, director, and producer of a movie or TV show. As everyone gets more familiar with the rules you switch off Game Master roles so everyone has a chance to build your new world. Unlike watching a movie or reading a book, everyone playing gets to decide what is happening in the world.
You can certainly buy the NIGHT SHIFT VSW core rules and supplements. But in the meantime here are free resources to get you started right now.
Not to mention all the free NIGHT SHIFT content found on the authors' personal blogs and websites.
If you are a fan of physical books you can get NIGHT SHIFT VSW directly from the publisher or if PDFs are your thing you can buy NIGHT SHIFT VSW from DriveThruRPG.
We hope to see you on the NIGHT SHIFT!
Links to More Content
Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age is coming to Kickstarter end of June 2023.
ReplyDelete