Quick, Dirty, Desperate Cosmic Horror

NIGHTSTALKERS – A Rules Light Roleplaying Game of Investigation, Horror and Pulp Action is a light roleplaying of Lovecraftian investigative horror as if H.P. Lovecraft had written for the pulp detective magazines rather than the pulp Science Fiction ones. Think Marlowe versus the Mythos, Sam Spade gets scared, and Mike Hammer faces down the horror of the unknown. The Player Characters will not just be detectives, but also police officers, journalists, scholars, or even plain ordinary folk caught up in a situation beyond their understanding. Whatever their background, they not only want to know more, but they also want to make sure that whatever the threat is, put a stop to it so that nobody else can suffer or fall victim to its vile, often inhuman predations and designs. NIGHTSTALKERS – A Rules Light Roleplaying Game of Investigation, Horror and Pulp Action is published by Farsight Games and is designed by the creator of Those Dark Places, the Blue Collar Science Fiction horror roleplaying game from Osprey Games.

A Player Character in NIGHTSTALKERS is simply defined. He has ten Skills. These are Agility, Charisma, Close Combat, Drive, Knowledge, Medicine, Perception, Ranged Combat, Strength, and Subterfuge, and they range in value between two and eleven. In addition, he has Hit Points starting at twelve and then modified by his Strength. In addition, he can have an extra specialist or hobby Skill which lies outside the scope of the standard ten. To create a character, a player simply assigns each of one of the numbers between one and eleven to one of the Skills and decides on a specialist or hobby Skill, if any, a name, and an occupation. Character generation can be done in thirty seconds.

Urszula Sikorska
Journalist
Agility 8 Charisma 10 Close Combat 6 Drive 6 Knowledge 7 Medicine 3
Perception 11, Ranged Combat 3 Strength 2 Subterfuge 9
Speciality: Writing 6
Hit Points 14
Sanity 0

Mechanically, NIGHTSTALKERS is a simple. To have his character undertake a task, a player selects the most appropriate Skill and adds its vale to the roll of a twelve-sided die. If the result is thirteen or more, then he has succeeded. It is as simple as that. If the Player Character has failed, his player can temporarily spend points from the appropriate Skill on a one-for-one basis to increase the result to equal the target number. Alternatively, the Skill points can come from any number of different Skills, but the player can only do this once per Act. There are no other rules than that for the core mechanic, although the simplicity does leave plenty of scope for the Game Master to add more without overly complicating the core mechanic. Combat is handled as opposed rolls, with the highest roll indicating the winner. Thus, Close Combat versus Close Combat in a fist fight, but Ranged Combat versus Agility if the defendant wants to dodge. A punch does 1d2 plus Strength in damage, a blade 1d4 plus Strength, a pistol 1d6 plus six, and a rifle 1d12 plus six. Most Player Characters will last a punch up, even a knife fight, but once firearms start being used, the best thing a Player Character is to get behind cover as a rifle can kill in a single shot. Rules are also added for vehicles. The only thing missing from the base rules are damage rating for shotguns and submachine guns because they are exactly what a player is going to ask about.

When it comes to conducting investigations, the players will be using their characters’ Perception and Knowledge Skills to uncover clues. Clues are seeded throughout each act, which can number between two and six, with there always being a clue present that will lead the Player Characters onto the next act. If a roll to find the pertinent clue to get the Player Characters is failed, the players have another option. This for all of them to each temporarily spend one point from their highest Skill to gain the lead, otherwise the investigation ends there and then. Skill points expended in this way and to increase the likelihood of succeeding at a task are recovered at the end of an investigation.

Being a roleplaying game of Lovecraftian investigative horror, NIGHTSTALKERS needs a means of handling the mental stress of encountering the unknown. Sanity is rated on a scale of zero to eighteen. A point is gained for reading a forbidden text, discovering a dead body, or suffering a scare, and two for taking eight more points of damage or seeing something grisly. The Sanity gained from encountering or seeing cosmic monsters is measured by die type. For example, seeing a Deep Thing is two-sided die whilst seeing a Spawn (of the Great Spawn who sleeps awaiting the day when the stars come right), a four-sided die. Gaining Sanity temporarily reduces the effectiveness of all of a Player Character’s Skills; if it rises above twelve, the reduction is longer lasting; and if it reaches eighteen, the Player Character descends in madness. Unless it is permanent, Sanity can be lowered through complete rest.

NIGHTSTALKERS includes some sample cosmic horror monsters—bit no sample forbidden tomes—as well notes on cultists and rules for magic. In essence, reading forbidden tomes inflicts Sanity gain on the reader, but casting magic from such tomes inflicts a permanent Sanity gain on the caster. It also requires a Knowledge Skill test, which still inflicts a permanent, but lesser Sanity gain on the caster if failed.

In terms of setting, NIGHTSTALKERS suggests the Big City, thronging with people and shadows. This can be London or New York or Paris or Cairo. It is lightly drawn in its detail, whilst a table provides twelve hooks for mysteries and a single adventure is included. This is ‘The Thing in the Old Bank’. It is a three-act affair which begins with the discovery of the dead body of a banker under suspicious circumstances. His chest has been cut open and his heart is missing. How did he come to die in such a macabre fashion and who was responsible. Much like the rest of NIGHTSTALKERS, this a quick and dirty adventure that the Game Master can run in a single session that lends itself slightly towards a pulp style rather than a purist one.

Physically, NIGHTSTALKERS – A Rules Light Roleplaying Game of Investigation, Horror and Pulp Action is a tidily laid out with dome decent artwork. It needs a slight in places as well as a reorganisation to make clear how some of the rules connect to each other, such as Skill Point Spends, which comes a page or two after the explanation of Skill rolls.

Much of the setting and world building for a game of NIGHTSTALKERS is going to be down to the Game Master, who will ideally need some experience with Lovecraftian investigative horror roleplaying games to get the very best out of its fairly light rules. Similarly, both Game Master and her players will need some knowledge of the period and the noir genre to bring a sense of setting alive, though that need not be anything more than watching a few period films. That aside, as intended, NIGHTSTALKERS is quick and easy to grasp and get playing as soon as the Game Master has a mystery for the Player Characters to solve. More than the single one included in NIGHTSTALKERS would fully support that. For the Game Master and Player Characters wanting simple, straightforward Lovecraftian investigative horror roleplaying that requires low preparation time, NIGHTSTALKERS – A Rules Light Roleplaying Game of Investigation, Horror and Pulp Action is a quick and dirty option.