NIGHTCRAWL
There's something inside you
It's hard to explain
They're talking about you ...
But you're still the same
* a nocturnal RPG created by Paul C and Tom M. *
[press play for background audio:]
Your Character
Two poles: Drive (driving and action, most likely brutal) and Being (social, mind, etc.).One number: Choose a number between 2 and 5.
The lower the number, the more Drive you have but the less Being. A higher number means more Being and less Drive.One type: choose stringer (freelance video journalist), wheelman, chauffeur, cabbie, first responder (paramedic, ambulance driver) (other types coming soon... one day)
The Game
You'll need two six-sided dice (2d6) and a deck of playing cards.To test your Drive, roll 2d6: each die equal to or less than your number is a success.To test your Being, roll 2d6: each die that equals or exceeds your number is a success.When you roll doubles on any test, a complication arises. Decide what it is based on context. It might be a practical problem such as a mechanical breakdown, or something more personal such as a fraying relationship with a loved one.Phases: sunset, night, dawn
Not necessarily consecutive dates, but we do not concern ourselves with the time in between.
Sunset
Test your Drive and spend 1xp/cash to meticulously prepare your vehicle and equipment. Each success gives you a gear re-roll. Hard mode: specify what the gear is, limiting its utility.Test your Being and spend 1xp/cash to connect with friends, colleagues and contacts. For each success, choose one:
Create a new relationship (starts out tense)
Strengthen a relationship by one step (bad -> tense or tense -> good)
A relationship reduced below bad is over.
Night
Choose which district you start out in tonight.
♦️ rich people ♣️ nightlife and retail ♠️ industrial ♥️ working classEvents
The flop: draw three cards, face up. These are the calls on your scanner early in the shift. You may try to cover/respond to one of these.
The turn: draw one card face up, a new event around midnight. Follow up or not, your choice.
The river: draw one more card, an event in the small hours. Again, you choose if you want to respond to it.Stringer/First Responder events:
The suit determines which area of the city it's in. Events in ♦️ pay double but have one extra obstacle.A - shooting
2 - fatal vehicle collision
3 - multiple homicide
4 - overdose
5 - pedestrian hit by car
6 - house fire
7 - industrial fire
8 - driver trapped in crashed vehicle
9 - cops pursuing suspect
10 - hit & run
J - wild animal
Q - armed standoff
K - armed home invasionDraw a card representing the xp/cash reward and tuck it under the event. (FACE CARDS are special rewards, e.g. 10 + a serial killer strikes again)Draw one more card and place it on top of the event. This is an obstacle: ♣️ cop trouble, ♠️ car trouble, ♦️ money woes, ♥️ peopleEach obstacle has two kinds of fallout attached - shot, robbed, wasted time, damaged relationship, etc. You test Drive or Being and use successes to buy off fallout.But first you have to get there: To get to an event in the district you're currently in, test Drive to buy off the following fallout: gain a condition (e.g. tired, hungry, out of fuel), add an obstacle to the event.If you're not in the same district as the event, you need to do this to move one space closer.E.g. event is in Diamonds, and so are you: test Drive once. Event in Diamonds and you're in Hearts, test four times: once on Hearts, once on Spades, once on Clubs, once on Diamonds.
Dawn
Describe your return home in the morning.xp/cash. Add up the total, to be spent in the next Sunset phase, and reflect on the night's events.Conditions - buy them off one for one by moving your number a point towards Drive or Being. But you can only go in one direction per Dawn phase.
Contact & Miscellanea
Backdrop photo by Van MendozaMovie night: Nightcrawler (2014), Drive (2011), The Driver (1978), Strange Days (1995), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Collateral (2004), Taxi Driver (1976), The Follow (short, 2001)Online dice rolling and virtual card deck: rollforyour.party