Welcome to Night Vale a tabletop role-playing game by Berlynn Wohl with original illustrations by monstersanosa, moriartylaughingalonewithcrown, zenamiarts, pizza-soup, strexiest, themonsterghost, goddess-in-green, idontevenknow-anymore, astrogyaru, and female--president
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What you will need to play the Welcome to Night Vale Role-Playing Game: !ame "aster, Who #ees ll$ Bow Before %he !ame "aster$ ll &ail the !ame "aster' ()r !" for short$* )ne or more additional players, who will take on the roles of existing Night Vale characters, or original characters of their own devising$ #ome six-sided dice - two per person is sufficient #ome paper, or papyrus, or dried sheets of goat intestine, or any other surface suitable for scribbling upon$ Writing utensils are, or course, banned, but perhaps you could fashion a hollow bird+s bone and some grape am into an instrument capable of scrawling numbers, or crude maps Be sure to schedule a gaming session at least once a week$ .laying less often than this will result in character starvation and death$
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cover illustrations by strexiest$tumblr$com
Rules Whenever your character wishes to do something that re/uires more skill than, say, tuning into the local community radio station, you will roll two six-sided dice (that is, 0d1*$ 2f the total of the two dice is e/ual to, or less than, the number of points you have in that skill, your character successfully accomplished the task$ 2f it is not, you failed$ When you are competing with someone else (for example, when you are trying to punch #teve 3arlsberg in the face*, all of the involved characters must make a skill check, as follows4 3ecil+s 5ight skill is 1, and #teve+s fight skill is 6$ 3ecil rolls 0d1, and his total is 7$ #teve does the same and rolls a 8$ #o neither one of them manages to harm the other$ But #teve starts laughing at 3ecil+s blunder, prompting 3ecil to take another swing$ %his time 3ecil rolls a 6, and #teve rolls a 9:$ 3ecil tackles #teve to the ground, prompting #teve to scrape his elbow and immediately burst into tears$ ;amage is calculated by rolling 9d1$ 3ecil rolls and gets a <$ #teve had 8 hit points, but now he only has four, and doubtless runs away crying$ 3ecil can now shake his fist at the defeated, retreating #teve, while growling =Steeeeeve Carsrrrlsssberrrrg $>
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Death and Life When a character+s hit points fall to zero, the !" can determine that the character is dead for realsies , or that one of the following things happens4 ?%he character has fallen unconscious, and wakes up later, perhaps in a hospital, or a previously unexplored sector of the #and Wastes$ ?%he character is taken to safety and reconstructed$ %he extent and@or sustainability of the reconstruction will depend upon the skill of the entity who undertook the task$ ?%he character makes what is presumably an extra-dimensional leap, and reappears later, speaking a foreign language or seeming to be of a different race or species$ ?%he character can become an incorporeal entity, hereafter only able to employ skills that do not re/uire a physical body$ 3haracters can recover all of their hit points by resting for 7 hours, or can recover half of their lost hit points by eating a slice of pizza at Big Aico+s$
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Skills %here are thirteen skills$ 2f a character is called upon to perform a task that no skill applies to, it is up to the !" to decide what the closest skill is that the player should apply$ (#ee also page 9<$* Blood and nfinished Ceather skills4 Brute strength 5ight thletics (things like running, swimming, umping, climbing, aiming, throwing* %he ;read and &orror that ccompanies Dnowledge skills4 )perating mundane mechanical devices (i$e$, a car or blender* )perating exotic mechanical devices (i$e$, a black helicopter* &ide obects@Cocate hidden obects Eldritch knowledge (things like identifying dangerous obects or locations, interpreting arcane messages* #ee@&ear@#mell %rack (or void being tracked* %hin #emantic Cine Between 3ourage and #tupidity skills4 ;istribute forgeries (or ;etect forgeries* #neak around #leight of hand .ersuade (or Aesist persuasion* 2n addition to their #kills, each character has a .ower, which they can employ once a day$ (#ee characters on the following pages for details$*
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ecil Palme! &it .oints F Brute strength G 5ight 1 thletics 8 )perating mundane mechanical devices F )perating exotic mechanical devices 1 &ide obects@Cocate hidden obects 7 Eldritch knowledge F #ee@&ear@#mell 8 %rack (or void being tracked* 8 ;istribute forgeries (or ;etect forgeries* 8 #neak around 7 #leight of hand 7 .ersuade (or Aesist persuasion* F
.ower4 )nce per day, 3ecil can employ his %hird Eye to perceive something that is going on somewhere else in Night Vale that he would not be otherwise be not able to see@hear@smell in his current location$
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a!los the Scientist &it .oints F Brute strength 8 5ight 1 thletics 8 )perating mundane mechanical devices 9: )perating exotic mechanical devices 7 &ide obects@Cocate hidden obects 7 Eldritch knowledge G #ee@&ear@#mell F %rack (or void being tracked* 8 ;istribute forgeries (or ;etect forgeries* 7 #neak around 8 #leight of hand 1 .ersuade (or Aesist persuasion* 8
.ower4 )nce per day, 3arlos can ;o #cience on an obect, person, or location, to glean a useful fact about it@them without having to roll any dice$ monstersanosa$tumblr$com
"ld Woman #osie (Hosie is always accompanied by an ngel, whose assistance is reflected in her #kill points* &it points4 8 Brute strength 0 5ight < thletics < )perating mundane mechanical devices 7 )perating exotic mechanical devices F &ide obects@Cocate hidden obects F Eldritch knowledge F #ee@&ear@#mell F %rack (or void being tracked* 8 ;istribute forgeries (or ;etect forgeries* 7 #neak around 8 #leight of hand 7 .ersuade (or Aesist persuasion* F
.ower4 )nce per day, )ld Woman Hosie can ask for additional assistance from an ngel, and add 6 points to her #kill for one roll only$ #he must announce that she is using this .ower BE5)AE she rolls the dice$ monstersanosa$tumblr$com
$amika %lynn &it points 7 Brute strength 6 5ight F thletics F )perating mundane mechanical devices 8 )perating exotic mechanical devices 1 &ide obects@Cocate hidden obects 8 Eldritch knowledge 8 #ee@&ear@#mell 7 %rack (or void being tracked* 9: ;istribute forgeries (or ;etect forgeries* 1 #neak around F #leight of hand 1 .ersuade (or Aesist persuasion* 7 .ower4 )nce per day, %amika 5lynn can 2ntimidate an opponent into submission during an opposing #kill check (example4 her .ersuade versus another character+s Aesist persuasion* by brandishing the severed hand she wears around her neck$ %amika must announce that she is doing this BE5)AE the #kill check would have been rolled$
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Pamela Winchell &it points F Brute strength G 5ight 6 thletics 1 )perating mundane mechanical devices F )perating exotic mechanical devices 8 &ide obects@Cocate hidden obects 7 Eldritch knowledge 7 #ee@&ear@#mell 7 %rack (or void being tracked* 7 ;istribute forgeries (or ;etect forgeries* F #neak around 8 #leight of hand G .ersuade (or Aesist persuasion* F
.ower4 .amela Winchell can force any other character to re-roll any #kill check$ %he first roll is disregarded and the second roll is used$
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&i!am 'cDaniel &it points 90 Brute strength 9: 5ight 9: thletics 9: )perating mundane mechanical devices 8 )perating exotic mechanical devices 1 &ide obects@Cocate hidden obects G Eldritch knowledge 7 #ee@&ear@#mell 7 %rack ()r void being tracked* G ;istribute forgeries (or ;etect forgeries* F #neak around 0 #leight of hand < .ersuade (or Aesist persuasion* F
.ower4 )nce per day, one of &iram+s other heads can re-roll a #kill check that he failed$ monstersanosa$tumblr$com
moriartylaughingalonewithcrown$tumblr$com
!eating an o!iginal cha!acte! %he characters on the preceding pages are ust a few of Night Vale+s colorful and varied inhabitants$ Iou are welcome to create others$ character with no .ower gets 99: points to distribute among their skills$ character with a .ower gets FG points to do the same$ When distributing #kill points, keep in mind that 1-8 points represents average ability for a citizen of Night Vale$ %he character+s .ower must be approved by the !"$ &it points are determined by rolling 0d1 and adding < to the result$
G'(s section ) all hail the G'* %he best part about the rules is, they always apply *unless the GM says otherwise $ .lease use this power responsibly$
astrogyaru$tumblr$com
5or example, as the !", you may decide that the characters on pages 1-99 are not playable$ 2f you fear that the fight over who gets to be 3ecil would result in bodily harm, property damage, and@or a rip in the fabric of space-time, you may decide that all players must create original characters$
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idontevenknow-anymore$tumblr$com
!eating an ad+entu!e n adventure can be broken down into four parts4 2ntroduction h oh 5utile scramble to fight fate Aesolution 5or example, take a look at the way Episode <8, =%he uction,> unfolds4 2ntroduction4 3ecil informs the town that the #heriff+s #ecret .olice are holding an auction$ h oh4 3ecil discovers that he is Cot <8 J one of the items available to bid on$ 5utile scramble4 3ecil makes his way to the auction to ac/uire Cot <8$ Aesolution - 3ecil fails to successfully bid on Cot <8, nor can he discern the winning bidder$ Aemember that tabletop role-playing games are about having fun and telling a story together$ 2f everyone is not having a good time, and they tell you that it is your fault, please reconsider your life choices$
G'(s section continued 2tems Aeward your players for their hard work with valuable 2tems$ While the characters are adventuring, they should occasionally find and ac/uire 2tems which will raise their #kill scores$ 5or example, a lens that allows them to more accurately perceive the insanityinducing terror which even the most ordinary-seeming obects are capable of holding$ (%hat is, K0 to Eldritch knowledge$* "aking decisions that are not based on #kill checks %here+s no need to complicate the game with a hundred tables full of numbers to crunch$ 2f you have to come to a decision about something and you+d prefer to leave it to chance, ust roll a d1$ 2f you roll a 9-<, that means =No$> 2f you roll a 6-1, that means =Ies$> (2f you roll a number that is not between 9 and 1, consult with your blood-stone circle for further instruction$*
goddess-in-green$tumblr$com back cover illustration by zenamiarts$tumblr$com
%he Welcome to Night Vale role-playing game is not a production of 3ommonplace Books, nor was it written by Hoseph 5ink or Heffrey 3ranor, nor produced by Hoseph 5ink$ 2t is a transformative work, from which no one involved has profited in any way$ %he instructions were written by Berlynn Wohl (berlynn-wohl$tumblr$com*$ rtwork by4 monstersanosa moriartylaughingalonewithcrown zenamiarts pizza-soup strexiest themonsterghost goddess-in-green idontevenknow-anymore astrogyaru female--president ll artwork is original and was created especially for this manual$ $oday(s p!o+e!,: Roll to see if you! puny human mind has the a,ility to co!!elate its contents #ust kidding* .t doesn(t
