Fuck yeah! I thought /tg/ had forgotten about this after like, two or three days of no threads.

Where are TV Anon and Night Shift World Anon?

>>31001124
I know, right? I thought /tg/ had just completely forgotten about it. One day everyone is talking about the night shift, and the next, nobody is. It's weird.

>inb4 minimum wage maximum weird joke

>>31001638
Well, really, we're all waiting for *World Anon or TV Anon. We would love to do something, but I'm not really sure what necessitates the thread until either of them report.

Well, well, well, another thread!

TV Anon here.

Progress on the script is coming along nicely. I'm waiting to finish it for sure before I present it to my contact.

The first draft was short, and far too fast-paced. It also wasn't in the format of a proper script. I'm rewriting it from the ground up.

Like I said, I really like how it's progressing. This is just the first episode, and already, plenty of ideas that you guys had are being put into it. I think you'll all enjoy the weirdness of it all.

>>31001837
Good. What about *World Anon?

>>31002033
I haven't heard from him in about a day or so, but our last few emails have been him helping me write the script.

Like I said, it's coming along nicely.

>>31002033

I'm here. I've hit the point where it isn't useful for me to continue plowing through new mechanics when the old ones haven't been thoroughly vetted. I'm trying to set up my own playtest, but more data is better. Any and all accounts and notes by people who've played through is useful.

This week I can work on cleaning up my current notes into a proper playtest-packet if that would be helpful for everyone.

Good to see there's a thread up, again. For my part you can never expect lightening fast results but you'll have to take my word for it that I don't abandon projects.

>>31002264
This guy is doing just fine on the script.

>>31002777
I'd run a game but I don't have the other *World books, so things you mention in the document like Drive or -X ongoing don't really make a lot of sense to me. I can figure some of it out but not all of it.

Maybe you could add a brief rundown of things like that in the doc?

Also, and I really hate to throw this out there but I think we're going to need a new name. Night Shift is already the name of some hospital drama on NBC or something.

>>31003702
Oh, who the hell cares?

>>31003686

Noted. I'll do that this week, and make a .pdf to dump here as a proper playtesting packet.

Buuuuut until then Google 'Dungeon World SRD'. It has all the rules for free.

>>31003766
Awesome thanks!

I also think we need to really reorganize the Doc. It comes up in every thread, but a lot of them still are very samey. I'm the guy that made most of the Tasks and I'd be willing to slog through it and put each one up for collaboration/voting etc. I'm not saying we need to get rid of them, but the main one hundred should all be very different and unique. As it is, there's a lot of stuff that when I roll it, it doesn't seem very great to me.

>>31003874

Part of the problem, I think, is that it isn't particularly geared towards anything in particular. It seemingly exists to cover supernatural, merely uncanny, horror, and hilarious. And that's fine, but if you're only looking for one of those its something of a mess- and if you're looking for all of those, its still a mess.

It might do to parse out what 'flavor' each entry is. If we do that, we can make it much clearer how to use the list as a gaming resource.

>>31004126
Well we've already split them into regular tables and joke sub-tables and that's good. I like that the idea can cover so many different ideas and genres. Maybe there's a way to draw a clear distinction? Or maybe we could have the twists on it be something like the first one being the idea played straight, the second idea being a twist on it, and the third idea being a joke idea of it?

>>31004126

Or we have different flavors of the same entry, so the same entry works for any genre of game you're running if that makes sense.

>>31004158
I think it's fine as the mess it is.

List Anon here. I'd been reluctant to start a new Night Shift thread myself without significant new original content to share or the ability to play test at the moment, but I've been adding bits and pieces to the Doc day by day, and have been monitoring /tg/ for the time when another Njght Shift thread would be started. Glad to see that TV Anon and NSW Anon have kept the effort up, and happy to see the rest of you all back on point!

Personally, I don't have a problem with our events Doc having a mix of supernatural, mundane, threatening and just plain bizarre happenings included in it. Adding a little bit of humor to a horror game helps keep it fresh and realistic, and adding a little horror to a humor game helps keep the players on their toes.

What I do thing the Doc could use is more condensation and more organization. I really liked the basic list structure (no big surprise) of starting with the most basic seed of the idea or description of the location on the left, and then expanding it to the right with permutations and remixes. They way, it keeps the list compact while still offering the GM options to choose from. Also pertaining to lists, I was wondering if we ought to find a sample Gas Station floor plan, label it up, and then organize the roll tables by Station location.

And of course, more art, writing, music and strange happenings are always encouraged!

Hey, am I able to jump in here?

>>31005620
Does anyone know a good map editor than? I could make one maybe, if someone knew of one.

>>31005672
Go right ahead!

>>31005761
Thanks man. When is it starting? I've never done a /tg/ project before

Anon who wrote up a short story for Night Shift here. Also the one who made the Tasks table and is running a game on the Gianttip forums. I just sent what I had typed up to NSW Anon for him to read and decided I'd post it here too. It's not a lot, mostly because I'm a slow typer and I like to write things by hand but I'll get it done in the next week or so.

Let me know what you guys think. I'm always open to criticism.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f9t6hWrvSoJxq4seho0SrYNqxiN2njzel8jrTt0QUk8/edit?usp=sharing

>>31005812
Right now we're still putting ideas together. If you have ideas that could fit in the doc, a group who'd like to play in this sort of setting or maybe just music that would go with this feel free to join.

What we need most right now is fro people to playtest NSW Anons rules up there at the top.

>>31006090
I think that what would be cool is the night shift employees don't only have to deal with weird stuff. They should also have to deal with stuff like robberies and gas leaks. Knowing 4Chan's insane logic, it would take some funny turns.

>>31006149
There's a few on there that are exactly like that. One's like

"three guys try to rob the sotre"
or
"Day Shift tries to prank the night shift with Monster costumes"

The fun happens when the mundane problems meet the weird problems.

>>31006315
That's what I like about a haphazard events roll table. The Gas 'n Go isn't just a paranormal hotspot, its also a service station where the problems and experiences Attendants have to deal with range from the completely normal to the mind-shatteringly alien.

>>31006043
I'll give it a read now.

>>31006315
That's exactly what I was thinking. If you've ever seen the (rather shitty and short-running) show Mr. Meaty, this is what that show could have been: a bunch of slackers sitting around a minimum wage joint experiencing paranormal stuff.

>>31006715
That's exactly the theme we're after here. Even though the Gas Station is a hub for the supernatural, you're still just some minimum wage schmuck living paycheck to paycheck, trying to cope with the weirdness all around you while still doing your shitty job.

>>31006043
Just finished reading your story, and I'm interested to see what might happen next. Starting it off the way you did was a good choice I think, because it immediately sets the reader's anticipations high to see how that circumstance comes about, and I really liked the combo of terror and blasé "I'm so done with this" attitude the main character showed.

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>>31007212
I'm almost embarrassed that it took so long for me to come up with the beginning that I did. I kept reading and rewriting and wondering why the opening was so boring. Then it clicked.

There's a twist or two. I have it all in a notebok next to me and I'm slowly typing it up. Really my goal here was to capture the juxtaposition of mundane and weird, as well as making the characters interesting. Kindof like, Clerks meets John Dies at the End.

MFW I realized I could kill Dave

>>31006315
I like one of the new "Additional Adventures" that was added the other day:

>Alarge, elaborately frostedsheet cake has appeared on the table in the break room. It is suitable both in quantity and quality to make a fine birthday cake, but it's no one's birthday, and no one is taking credit for bringing it into the Station.

Because by itself it is completely normal, and in anywhere else BUT our gas station, the employees would just dig in without a second thought, but because of how weird the station usually is, this cake suddenly becomes a BIG DEAL.

>>31007324
>Someone else enjoyed John Dies at the End.

MARRY ME PLEASE.
Okay, I'm gonna sign off for tonight. See you guys some other time. Keep the thread runnin'.

>>31003702
I came up with a bunch of names, but google has told me how hillariously unoriginal i am.
>Graveyard Shift?
Stephen King.
>3d shift?
Not taken, but sounds like Third watch, which was a firefighter thing.
>Counter Monkeys?
Spoony would be pissed.
>The Last Gas Station?
it's not taken! It's not... oh wait. It's a 2014 indie flick about druggies.
>Overnight Shift?

It's... untaken.

>>31007469
Maybe the name of a gas station?

>>31007538
What, like "Last chance gas"? (which i'm 99% sure is taken)

it would need to be something that is vaguely... just vaguely abnormal.

>Selected Service?
sounds militaristic, but also foreboding
>Right Turn Auto?
On a dead straight stretch of road.
>Full Service King?
Campy. Probably taken.
>Pop's Auto Service?
No, far, far too homey...
>(X)'s Gas & Service?
Nobody named (x) is in any way involved.
>Sphinx Service Station
... alliterative... odd... why a sphinx? I... i kinda like this...

Do you have any suggestions?

Names are the hardest damn thing.

>>31005620
Scion Anon here, I am not able to try the game, IRL Bullshit happened and they removed my rights to DM because of reasons, I will try next week

>>31007822
8-12 or 6-10
AM to AM gas
All Night Gas
Jose's Pueblo
Last Stop Gas

I'm pretty bad at names too. That's why I just called it the Gas 'N' Go. There's probably a milion Gas 'N' Go's scattered across the highways of America. It's simple and unassuming.

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So I was skipping over these threads at first, my mistake. This setting tickles my Everyman-in-over-his-head bone quite a bit. I do love my horror settings. After reading through everything people have compiled I'm looking at building a test scenario and seeing how well it goes. I have been breaking down the lists of events and ideas into something more manageable for my tastes, namely into People - being anyone or anything that comes to the store; Internal Events - anything that occurs because of the store; and External Events - things that occur around the store.
There is some crossover between them, like certain monsters coming to the store might be an External Event and a Person because of what they want. Its not that hard and fast.

Rules wise, I'm not too much of a fan of using Dungeon World as a base. That system is a little too hack and slash for what I am thinking. You don't fight the monsters in a horror game, not with your fists or a weapon. Amusingly I am turning to the nWoD/ST system, modifying the Morality system into a Sanity one. Play testing will see if it works.

Additionally, I have thrown together a few lists, including some Regular customers as well as Irregular customers. You always need the odd ordinary night person/hobo wandering through. Irregular customers tend to be strange and often supernatural.

The scenario I have worked out is tentatively titled Skinwalker Wants a Hotdog.
Of course it can't just go in and buy one. Its a grotesque supernatural horror that steals other peoples' forms, mimics voices and is the manifestation of greed in the physical realm. Its not about to pay money. Should be quite interesting as things go from bizarre to plain dangerous for the night shift crew.

Have a terrible map I drew up for the game based off some gas station designs I found online. I saw some people asking for one. Might make a good base to start with.

>>31008246
>Irregular Customers
I like this way more than I should

>>31008246
This works almost perfectly. Just move the dumpsters behind the building.

>>31005254
I'm with this guy.

I wouldn't be opposed to spinning off more refined lists as separate docs, but I like the central jumble doc as a jumping off point/dumping ground.

>>31007356
It's a classic reversal, and I love that kind of thing. Innocuous Objects Under Mysterious Circumstances. Use with caution and it's way more effective than a blood curdling scream, or a forlorn tricycle rolling across the parking lot.

Also,

>A battered and worn tricycle rolls forlornly across the parking lot. It's only seen by Attendants inside, who are never quite able to see where it might have come from, and something always obstructs their view of it exiting the lot. Guests have tripped over it on occasion.

>>31007359
I'm a big fan as well, and had already been working on a separate idea for a Modern-thulhu game built around it and the Soy Sauce.

Rolling some of those ideas and things here now, to see what comes of it. I'm not thrilled with Generic World rules, but at least it's unobtrusive and easy to ignore.

>>31008246

In regards to not using Dungeon World as a base- make sure you take a look at what NSW anon has put together. Its come up in a couple of the threads that there really isnt a combat system, and there's one Move that covers getting your shit pushed in by the monster.

>>31008246
>>31011419
This really is almost perfect. It's big enough to give a range of playable locations, but not so big as to take away from the sense of isolation we're going for. There are a couple things that I would tweak, like putting the dumpsters behind the station and including a few more doors or a hallway for added storeroom/freezer/machine room access, but those are really personal preferences. You've done a great job here!

If we put a floor plan like this on the Doc, we could reorder the roll tables on a room-by-room basis: every bathroom terror on one table, every convenience store event on another, every break room quirk on another.

>>31011419
>>31012501
The dumpsters are where they are for a few reasons: 1) personal preference, 2) you need to be able to have the garbage truck access them at some point (probably, you never know with this place), and 3) they are far enough away to be a challenge to get to under the right circumstances.
>Its 12:10am, you needed to have the garbage thrown out by 12, and there is a thick fog surrounding the station. You are fairly certain there is something out there in the fog, moving around.

Mostly its personal preference. I'm not holding a gun to anyone's head over it. Stick them wherever you like. I just happen to like them in a dark corner that is difficult to get to if you are in fear for your life.

As for more doors or hallways, I went for maximum space saving while including everything that was necessary. I think the only things missing are a back door to the place, or maybe something that allows access to the Utility room from the outside (I put it through the cold room and freezer for dramatic purposes. The power is out, the only way to get to the fuse box is through a dark, cold room, and the freezer yeti is waking up...).
But yeah, the map contains every room and object necessary for a near modern gas station. How, or even if, you want to organise it is entirely up to you.

>>31012702
I know what you mean, Everyones games are a little different. I like having it behind the building because it's darker back there, and even a bit more claustrophobic. Hell, they may move the dumpsters every night, and the players have to find the damn dumpsters to throw them away.

>Related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESv5AUjXDZw

So glad to see another Night Shift Thread. Bumping it!

>>31007822
TV Anon here. In the script, we've been referring to it as the Stop N' Gas.

>>31014349
Stop N' Gas is a completely prosaic name, and therefore perfect.

Bumping to keep the thread going until:
a. I am awake enough to make worthwhile posts.
b. Other posters appear.

>>31007822
Seconding Stop 'n Gas

>>31015360
I sort of like Gas N' Go a bit better actually, but I can't say why.

>>31015445

I'm halfway between the two, and I rather like that they both have completely opposite connotations.

>"Hey Management, its Dave. We uh, got a problem with the sign. It read Stop N' Gas and now it reads- Carl, would you say it reads Gas N' Go?"
>"I'd say it reads Gas N' Go."
>"Carl would say it reads Gas N' Go. We was just wondering, y'know, which name is the right one."
>"Company policy is very clear on the nomenclature, and you can access company policy using the employee handbook and correct protocol."
>"Alright, but the handbook says we need ritual candles and- oh, they hung up. Hey Carl, where can we get a goat at this hour?"

>>31016102
I rather like that.

>>31016102
Always loved Dave and Carl. Or was it Dave and Carla? Anyways, we could split the difference:

In N' Out Quickstop

>>31016270
Not the requestor, but I think it looks pretty boss.

>>31014349
Stop N' Gas works like a charm. It's utterly innocuous and perfect for this.

>>31016270
Problem is that there's a In N' Out Burger chain, and a Quickstop gas station chain. But it's a nice compromise.

Really, really dumb idea:

>Dale's Gas N' Go

The letter "L" lowercase, has allways been... lopsided on the sign. more of a Da\e's than a proper Dale. And rummaging around the back room, one of the employees finds a pair of spare l's for the sign... but those look like they also need to be hung cattywumpus... like they were meant to make da/e's... with an odd joint at he bottom, like they should go together... that would almost make it...

da\/e's....

Dave will firmly remind them that his name is Zeke.

Currently thinking about items to add to strange Books/cds and stuff in the gas station.

> Speaking with your cat:
A book that explains how to comunicate with cats, It features a strange recipe which includes LSD you need to prepare and drink in order to comunicate with cats
Cats still can ignore you and say just "Meow" if you don't motivate them.
Also to speak with cats the player must do something stupid (DM choice) iRL

Do you think that the Gas station should have some sort of mini-restaurant in it? It would be interesting to include people calling the phone to order stuff.

>Yeah hello?
>[Heavy breathing]
>Listen, if you're trying to spook me, I get calls like this every fifteen hours. It isn't working.
>What?
>You were just breathing into the phone!
>No I wasn't. Could I get a Generic BigBurger please?

It would also be interesting to include random people from around the world having their calls directed to the station

>>31017139
There was talk about the Station being able to have a attached diner, repair garage, or motel, depending on how complicated a game the GM wanted to run. The Gas Station with its own convenience store is sort of the "baseline" setting.

>>31017139
>It would also be interesting to include random people from around the world having their calls directed to the station

"Hello? I'm looking for Amanda Love!"
"Anybody got Amanda Love here?"

>They get a prank call that asks if their refrigerator's running
>Turns out the fridge just sprouted legs and is trying to escape

>>31017212
>Hello, is your refrigerator running?
>Yep.
>Well you'd better catch it.
>We're trying, sir.
>[Click]

The more I hear about this, the more I'm falling in love with it.

>>31017139
>>31017192
Also, one of the entries on the event list, if I remember right, is the idea that the station would one night spontaneously manifest a new department. Or hell, why not say that on certain nights out of the week, an old-fashioned rail-car style diner appears across the highway?

Yet another idea, now with namefagging because I'm gonna get pretty involved in this.
Every so often, the employees find a stray dog rooting through the trash, and no matter what they do it won't leave. Tension heightens as the crew decides to make a bet to who can rid the dog first. The GM only knows what will make the dog leave, and can drop hints.

>>31015445
I picked it fore the alliteration because I'm a writefag and dumb words you vaguely remember from high school poetry make me hard.

The idea that the gas station can change it's name is good one too. Players would just refer to it as the Gas Station anyways.

>>31017407
The dog is looking for something in the trash and once it finds it, it leaves. But the players are trying to get it away form the dumpsters because it's making a mess.

They chase it of for a bit and head back inside. Several minutes later there's a massive CRASH from behind the building. They run around to see that the dogs back, and has tipped the entire dumpster on it's side.

>Totally ypshile
A Ypshile is a type of Antarctic crocodile.

>>31017407
Mundane, or very nearly mundane encounters are also welcome. The sorts of things that, at any other place of business, would be completely innocuous or merely an annoyance, but at this particular Gas Station, during the Night Shift, is instantly a much bigger deal, and much more suspicious.

>>31017617
>All the Toblerone is missing.
>We just restocked it.
>I know, but now it's missing. Did someone buy all the goddamn Toblerone?
>Well, it is pretty good.
>I wasn't disputing that fact, but it's all fucking gone!

>>31017617
> a strange looking school girl comes by.
>She is very upset, hungry and weary of everybody.
> If asked what happened she will tell something about alines or witches.
>The truth is that she just escaped from home, but don't want to admit it.

>>31018400
we need more stuff about cats.
cats are awesome.


Also we should make people afraid to go out to throw the thrash.
Like
>When they trash collectors comes they not only take the trash but every one near it.

>>31018677
add to the books shelf.

>"How to calculate the date for the next END od the WORLD" the date calculated turns out being the one for the DOOM of your current trouble.

Who the hell is deleting all the crap on the events table?

>>31019495
I noticed that too, don't know why it's happening though.

List Anon here again. I'm going to try and think up a few mundane events that could happen over the course of a Night Shift as well. It can't be yeti and eldritch angles all the time.

1. A bird or bat gets into the Station and Attendants have to attempt to shoo it out.
2. A tour bus on its way to a local vacation destination makes a rest stop at the Station and unloads all its passengers, crowding the store for half an hour or so.
3. You're pretty sure that the kindly looking old woman browsing the aisles is shoplifting, but damned if it won't be awkward to confront her.
4. You've run out of XYZ, a popular soft drink, because those assholes on the Day Shift forgot to order more.
5. The current shift has been awfully slow, and a stack of board games has been left in the break room.
6. One of the large plate glass windows fronting the station has been broken somehow.
7. A surprising number of products are about to expire, and you have been told by the Management that they ought to be pulled from the shelves early, leaving you with a bounty of snack foods and drinks that, while still good, you aren't allowed to sell.
8. A family in an old station wagon pulls in. They seem to be lost, and are stopping for directions.

>>31019685
These are all pretty good. I especially like the idea of the players sitting down and playing Monopoly.

>This game is so bullshit.
>I'd rather be fighting Satan right now.
>SCREEEEEEECHHHH
>Not literally!
>Dave you owe me 500
>Fuck this game, I'm gonna go clean the windows again

>>31019685
I got some mundane here...

9. The tour bus for a rock band that is / was HUGE 15 or 30 years ago pulls into the station. It's just a snack run.

10. Apparently, the local High School won a football game. Woo. You really, really don't care (having not attended that school). Expect lots of roudy, quasi-drunk teenagers.

>>31020318
11. A group of fursuiters/otakus walk into the store and start acting weird. While trying to net get groped/glomped, the group has to cater to their tastes.
>Do you have pocky?
>What the fuck is that?

>>31011946

What you want is to have the list grouped, like 10 groups of 10 lists. Then you can roll 2d10 for total random (one for which list, one for the entry in the list), or just pick a sublist manually and roll 1d10 for random entry within a theme.

Also:
>>31000979

Dammit, OP, you had two jobs: One, make sure the thread doesn't look like a quest thread, so people won't just scroll past or worse, pop in to say "plz put quest in OP so I can filter your shit" like they did in most of the past six threads.
Two, put "PLAYTESTERS NEEDED up there, maybe in the subject line. Because that's what we need the most right now.

I'll expect the next thread to be started better.

>>31008246

The only problem with night people/hobos wandering through is that we're out on the highway, in the middle of nowhere, miles away from help.
A hitchhiker might walk up, but pretty much everyone who's not the Grey Man is going to drive up in a car.

>>31020962
I think that the Gas Station can work anywhere, not just a desert. Some of the woods up in the Pacific Northwest have some pretty spooky gas stations. I see what you mean though.

Wait, so this isn't a quest?

>>31020583
12: Something must be going on, because you've had a fresh cop in here every ten minutes. Store policy is that they get free coffee, but this is getting ridiculous...

13: People keep wishing you "good luck"... instead of "good bye" or "thank you" at the end of transactions. it's getting fucking creepy.

14. The bathroom is out of order. Coincidentally, at least one of the snacks chosen by an employee will give them violent, but short-duration, food poisoning

>>31020583
15. Strange, non-native animals are being seen around the station, such as cheetahs and aardvarks.

16. The station's bathroom is full of large, threatening, spiders. They just sit there and stare at you while you take a shit.

>>31021493
Not yet, we're setting up ideas. Join in.

>>31021493
It's more of a make-a-game.

You know, like engine heart, or Nightlight, or Dungeons the Dragoning... where a bunch of people work together to produce awesome.

>>31006043
Besides the rhythm of the narration being somewhat janky, and the MC not freaking out enough sometimes, it seems fine, keep at it. You should probably edit it afterwards though.

>>31007324
Does Dave come back the next day as if nothing ever happened? I mean, Dave is an universal constant, there is no such thing as no Dave

>>31021849
If dave is a PC, i think we worked under the assumption that, if at least one PC survives to the end of the night shift... and doesn't get fired, then the next day, everyone just wakes up in their beds, just ahead of when they have to go to work.

>>31019685
Boardgame scenario, GM's Discretion:
One of the boatdgames is a little "weird," but that's not really a problem for seasoned employees. Just how weird the game is is up to the GM, ranging from "Some of the dice are either non-Euclidean or just plain non-standard," to "All/any of the above weirdness, except it also works like Jumanji, IE leaks into the real world. Somebody needs to win for things to be restored to normal, or at least as normal as they get here."

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>>31021849
>>31022098
>Tfw my PC name is Dave.

>>31022158
Oh, and it's not a real-world boardgame. It's something none of the PC's have ever played before. OR it's a board game based around working the night shift at a gas station where paranormal events keep occurring.

>>31021849
Yes

>>31022098

The general consensus was that that would happen IF the players completed all tasks that night. The Management will expend precious resources to keep good employees on this side of death, but if you're screwing up too much, they'll let you hang, and the next day there will have been a "robbery" or accident, or something.
That way the players are super motivated to take risks in order to complete tasks, rather than turtle inside the station through the worst events.

Of course, AC Prime, Inc, will be doing its best to ensure lots of dangerous stuff happens, to weaken Management and bankrupt the station.

>>31022435
This though is just one possible interpretation of events. Other possibilities have included death being permanent, of course, which in previous threads was the idea that received the most support. Another option was that the characters would be woken up for the shift change by the Day Shift assholes, leaving them wondering whether it was all a dream or not.

Other than that, I don't personally care for the ideas that Attendants are being resurrected by the Management specifically, or that AC Prime Acquisitions is purposefully trying to murder our PCs or cause the supernatural events that occur during the Night Shift.

If used at all, I feel like AC Prime Acquisitions ought to be a vague threat that happens in the background: newspaper articles about them buying up old Mom and Pop roadside rest stops, rumors about them letting these new subsidiaries go immediately out of business, a painfully plain courier delivering thick manila envelopes containing buyout offers to the Management. Maybe the proposed "paranormal survey" taker is an AC Prime employee or contractor, searching for the Station.

>>31023083

No, AC Prime doesn't cause supernatural events. At least not often. They do take advantage of them, though.

The problem with waking up "just happening" is that it takes the fear of dying away too completely. If waking up is something that is done to you, and which might not be possible every night for every employee, you have to worry.
Of course, I don't support telling the players about it; let them figure it out on their own, when they fail in some duties and one of the dead guys isn't all right the next day.

>>31022158
I like this. Any normal happenings still have the chance of becoming supernatural.

Captcha: Posawi Township

Hey, everyone. TV Anon here. I may be meeting my contact as soon as next week, and by then, with the help of NSW Anon, we should have something presentable for him.

You guys have no idea how excited and nervous I am for this.

>>31024798
This is my first Night Shift thread, could you tell me what's going on, Mr. TV Anon?

>>31024867
Sure!

Basically, Night Shift World Anon, who has a degree in writing, is teaming up with me, an amateur writer who has a contact in the TV industry, to try and make The Night Shift into an actual TV show. The plan is to finish up the script, and eventually present to my contact the pitch for the show. If he likes it, great! That means we're one step closer to /tg/ making a TV show. If not, NSW Anon actually has a friend who's an indie movie maker, so we can maybe make a Kickstarter for that.

It all depends on which way the wind blows.

>>31025060
Oh, shit! That's really cool! If you do the Kickstarter, I'll definitely contribute.

the trend is everyone will put thei ideas in the list on google docs or someone is selecting them and putting them up there?

I mean should i post my ideas here first for aproval or I can directly post them there?

>>31025290

Post 'em here. If they're shit we'll tell you.

>>31025290
A lot of people post straight to the document, but I would say post them here first. If only because someone might come up with new ideas or twists based on your idea.

>>31021849
When we refer to the medium employer PC can we call him "Kenny" or "john"?

>>31022158
i like it.

Breaking the 4th wall: Jumanji palyed by guys who resembles players very much.

>>31025379
We had the "Sample" PC's named in one of the other threads. It was Dave, Carl, and two others. One of them was a girl I think.

Anyways, Dave is the most boring guy on the(and other) planets. He is the one constant between all universes.

Of course, in my story Dave is a little more interesting than that because there's only two characters and because his name is actually Zeke.

>>31025466

Dave, Carl, Jenny, and Evan.

>>31025060
wow. Freaking cool, good luck with that.

>>31025490
Yeah that was them. Dave was the painfully boring one, Carl was the straight man, Jenny was the Girl... And I don't think we ever came up with an archetype for Evan.

I think Evan should be a stoner conspiracy theorist.

Okay my group will probably play it next weekend.

I will let you know the results in a week.

Meantime let me post cool stuff from my Changeling folder:
>Every mirror a specifi c PC looks at suddenly cracks, always in the same pattern.

>The perfect murder, completely unsolvable! Only minor (minor!) problem is that it's your murder. Purchaser will return to the gas station to find all the evidence of a killing, complete with misleading evidence and their own body artfully arranged.

>A cheap plastic snow-globe, containing a perfect replica of the opener's house. Shaking the globe causes the water within to turn bright red; expertly-detailed miniatures of the opener's family their bodies crushed and mangled drift lazily through open doors and windows.
Change your hous with the Gas station and the PCs.

>>31025490
I thought there was an Alex, since it could be used either as a male or female name. Or something.

>>31025590

TV Anon here. In the show, the main characters are named Chris, Jenny, Carl, and Evan.

Plus the outgoing assistant manager, Shaun, but he's only in there for the pilot.

I don't want to give out too much information, though. So I guess you guys will just have to wait and see what happens.

>>31025690
you can make one of them like Kenny
he revives every night and dies every shift.

A little bit cliche but I think it is a nice touch.

>>31025740
One of the older threads had this as a gag, where one person would die every night and lose all his savings. Eventually he got so jaded he just started going with it.

>Oh yep, here I go guys. Yeah, I hope you choke on me.

Was a quote that stuck out.

>>31025490
>>31025653
I remember an Anon using the names Alex/Alex, Carl/Carla, Brent/Brenda and Dave as generic Attendant names because they all had male and female variants, except for Dave the Constant.

>>31025767
I think the main point that anon was trying to get across was that across multiple universes, there's will always be a Station, always a Night Shift, always attendants, and always Dave. So the same sort of thing can be applied to the TV shift, IE, alternate universe Evahn, Jhenny, Cahrl, and Dave, who work at the Stohp n Gahs on the Nhight Shihft.

>>31026027
Of course, Dave is a constant, but he is constantly normal. So in the robot-verse, Da-V3 is the most unassuming, normal robot in their universe.

>tfw Dave dies so you go to a different reality and grab their's
>tfw no notices the difference

>>31026199
>One universe just has 4 Daves
>Nothing ever happens there.

>>31026275

>"Hello Dave? It's Dave. We've got a bit of a problem here. One of the deliveries is late- Dave, would you say one of the deliveries is late?"
>"I'd say one of the deliveries is late."
>"Dave says one of the deliveries is late."
>"Make sure to follow up with the distributor."
>"Alright but Dave here wants to buy- oh, they hung up on me. Hey Dave, tell Dave we can't get him a Diet Dave until Dave gets the delivery in."

>>31026275

>"Hey dave."
>"Hi, dave."
>"Theres a bunch of zombies outside, they look like nazis, too.
>Just ignore it, it'll go away.
>Alright, dave.

>>31025766
Hey, that was me! Good to see you remember that.
>Ooo, this one's got big teeth. Good. Needle teeth hurt like a bi-ITCH QUIT CHEWING ON MY LEG!

>>31026381
>>31026414
I can't even top these two. This is the funniest mental image I've had all day.

>>31026381
There is, of course, no confusion on anyone's part. Not even because of subtly different pronunciations, or dave mind, or anything.

>>31026275

>"Dave?"
>"Yes dave?"
>"There appears to be a cosmic entity-would you call it a cosmic entity, dave?"
>"I'd call it a cosmic entity."
>"Dave would call it a cosmic entity, we were debating wether or not to call management, but Dave disappeared last time we called them. about the coke shipment."
>"Just ignore it, Dave."
>"Sure thing, boss."

>yfw entire universe of Daves
>yfw it's the safest place because nothing ever happens

>>31026381
The format for the Management calls is hilarious.

>>31026602

Someone should screencap all the calls to Management. I think NSW anon wanted to use them for the final product or something. Plus they're fucking hilarious.

>>31027096
They should fit nicely into the show.

>>31025060
/tg/ really does get shit done. Wow.

I might be able to get my Dungeon World group to run a one-shot of this next weekend.

I'm good at silly games. Any tips on making this legitimately scary?

Somebody go fix the doc, whoever was deleting sheet was a dipshit.

>>31027096
No need to screencap as long as someone archives this thread on Sup TG. Six threads have been archived so far, so there's already a format to follow while doing so:

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=night+shift

>>31027270
Don't feel the need to explain everything to them.
Make sure they know just how fragile their characters are. A lot of players think that their characters are immune to harm in an RPG(depending on the GM).
Music/sounds add a lot to atmosphere. You could try getting some 'Muzak' to really set the tone.
Snacks and drinks from gas stations only.
Random rolls for no reason
pass notes to characters
split the party
Make "mistakes" when narrating such as:
>The five of you are standing around the register when
>Player: There's only four of us
>(laughs) sure, sure. So the five of you are standing around the register...

I used to run a lot of CoC and these kindof things were always big hits. Let me dig out my old notebooks and see what else I can dredge up for you.

The most important thing to remember is that there's a very fine line between scary and narmy. Atmosphere is a huge part of this.

>>31027270

>Any tips on how to make this legitimately scary?

First of all, make sure to describe something scary as actually being scary. If there's a Wendigo, don't just say "There's a Wendigo." Describe it. How does it look, smell, sound? You can also use sound effects or music to heighten this.

Secondly, don't give your players a lot of information. Give them clues as to how to deal with the situation, but don't tell them everything. You can say "The Wendigo is attacking the gas station," but don't say why. You can leave an obscure message from Management that gives them a clue on how to defeat it, but don't make it too obvious. Example, if you want the Wendigo to be killed by fire, just have Management say something like "You're in a gas station. Just use the resources you have available to you."

Lastly, keep them paranoid! Maybe pass notes to the players every once in a while, but make sure that nobody reads anyone's note but their own. Even if these notes say nothing at all, it will make them distrust each other.

>>31027417
>The most important thing to remember is that there's a very fine line between scary and narmy.

One great thing about Night Shift is the way you can cross from goofy to scary and back again. The setting supports both pretty well.

>>31027444
>>31027417
Also keep in mind the old writers rule of thimb: Show, don't tell. Instead of telling them a big monster walked through the door, describe it. Instead of saying it's deadly, have it rip someone in half with it's claws or melt them with a laser or something.

You could also run a comedic game of The Night SHift as well, if you'd rather do that.

>>31022209
Nah... go full Jumanji. if anything, it should be an utterly ridiculous board game concept, that will, in turn, effect the events of the overnight shift.

Pick a theme, and roll (no pun intended) with it.

"Ask the Wizard" board game. Comes with 2d6, and a plastic wizard in a plastic dome. Put your hand on top of the dome and ask the wizard a question, and he responds in magic-8-ball / horoscope fashion. Roll dice, land on spaces, draw cards, players must ask the wizard the questions on the card.

"Does my secret crush know I exist?"
>"Most certainly young one!"

>2spooky

The questions are, at least partially, grim and foreboding.

"Will I live through the night?"
>"Outlook uncertain, ask again later"

>3spooky
The questions go *way* out of line.

"Have they forgiven me yet?"
>"No, there is no chance of that."

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351 KB JPG

Thread now archived on Sup/tg/ Archive:

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

>>31027500
>The wendigo just wants some milk, eggs, bread, and cigs.
>It's a vegetarian, it quit eating people years ago after getting kicked off the reservation.
>God help you if you don't have his brand, though...

>>31025466
Sample PCs were

Alex (boy or girl)
Brad (or Brenda)
Carl (or Carla)
and Dave (Whose actual name is Zeke. But everyone calls him Dave.)

>>31028043
>"Hey, boss?"
>"I'm busy with the floats, what is it?"
>"Well, uh. Remember that guy in the frog suit who came in half an hour ago?"
>"Yeah, why?"
>"We found his frog head."
>"Okay, so he took it off. Just give it back."
>"He, uh. He's walking around without a head."
>"... I think it's time for a break."

And let's not forget Dave. Dave Shifter. Who actually IS subject to confusion by what shall be known as the Multiple Daves Conundrum, or MDC.
Dave Shifter doesn't get anything done either.

To the anons reading the short story I posted earlier, I'd like some actual critisicm. If you hated it, tell me why. If you like it, tell me which parts and why. Did I capture the setting well enough? Did something seem out of place? I'm slowly typing up the rest of it and then I need to edit it again and again.

Not to be a whore or anything, I just feel there's a lot I could improve on.

NSW Guy, you don't have a suptg link to Thread 6.

>Video of employees
>Pass spot check
>One employee's upper body is never on-screen

>>31029968
>If somebody mentions this, subject's upper body actually disappears.
>It doesn't seem to affect the subject physically, but it still looks weird.
>If any PC takes a marker and "Fills in" the subject on the security tv, subjects upper body re-appears. Covered in marker.

Someone messed with the Doc again/

Just a thought, am I the only one who prefers the more mundane side of the horror?

The creepy rednecks, the RV with trashbags in the windows, people who seem a little "off?"

Not saying the more overtly supernatural isn't good or can't be mixed in, just that the mundane stuff is more scary to me.

>>31031608
Tried to clean things up just now.

>>31031719
It's like I've thought from the first thread:

The beauty of the Night Shift setting is that it exists with a pair of built-in sliding scales between both the mundane to the surreal, and the comical to the horrific. On its most basic level, this setting is a gas station where the player characters are faced with challenges above their pay-grade. What those challenges are and how the player characters are permitted to handle them is completely up to the DM's discretion, meaning that two DMs can run Night Shift and have two VERY different games. I love that.

>>31028916
Courtesy of a drawfriend in the weekend drawthread. Thank you, drawfriend!

And now some asshole is systematically deleting the entire events Doc. What the HELL!

>>31032678
I saved the Doc after the first wave of shitty edits were made and before this second attack. Tomorrow, when I'm not so exhausted I can try to rebuild things, or the original creator, if he's still browsing these threads can restore the Doc from a previous revision, but this is grade-A bullshit.

>>31032397
That looks great!

>>31032790
Really. What sort if asshole did that? I thought we were free and clear of dicks like that after the second thread.

>>31035128
Not sure who, and they didn't end up trashing everything, but they deleted the first twenty entries on the first list and might have messed things up on other lists and made crude edits. Last night I kept trying to edit things back the way they were supposed to be, but I couldn't keep up with the damage and had to get some sleep.

>>31035211
The second list should be a help.

>>31035219
That will be a big help. I can try to fix things once I get into work, unless someone else is able to do it faster. I the mean time, we oughtn't let this kill our enthusiasm for the setting. There are still things to do, if people are still willing and wanting to do them.

>>31035219
You mean we should make a second list in which only people with admin privilege can modify stuff?

>>31035809
On the Doc there's a duplicate of the first list that can be copied over, though it might be a good idea to create a master list and organize it the way we would like the final product to look.

>>31035128

This is probably why *World anon hasn't made his doc avialable to edit.

I'm beginning to re-organize the rules for Night Shift World, and at the bottom of the document I've included several questions that I'd like playtests to address. These are merely things I specifically am interested in knowing; by all means if there are other problems or criticisms arising from a playtest I want to hear about that too. I'm posting those questions here, as well. There may be more later, we'll see.

>>31036760

1) Do Backgrounds feel impactful for character creation? Is there any Background which is blatantly more useful than any other?
2) How often does Management/Paycheck loss come up in a single session, and in what amounts?
3) How often was Effort spent, and did the PC’s ever feel at risk of ‘burning out’? Did Effort feel generic, or was the manner of its use too vague?
4) Did the Move list seem adequate? Was there any activity the PC’s engaged with enough that it might warrant its own codified Move? How broadly did GM’s apply Moves like ‘Customer Service’ and ‘Let Me Check’?
5) How hard/easy was it to construct Threats with the advice given here? How often did Portents manifest, and how many occurred per shift?
6) What did a single session of play encompass; less than a shift, one shift, more than one shift?
7) How capable and competent did the Attendants feel? Were they rolling a lot of 10+? How easy was it for them to leverage +3 modifiers to their rolls?
8) Relatedly, how threatened did Attendants feel when weird stuff started going down? Did the rules prove conducive or intrusive to the atmosphere of uncanny horror?

>>31036760
>>31036767
I really wish that I had a group on deck ready to play this.

>>31037544
Likewise. How many Anons out there planning in running Night Shift? You folk had better reassurection this thread or start another with your play test stories!

>>31038489
I'm really looking forward to running the Night Shift, myself. I might also try GMing a game.

>>31037544
>>31038489
>>31038520

I spend a lot of time on the suptg IRC channel. How helpful would it be to make a room like #NightShiftWorld or something? You might find it easier to organize a playtest that way.

>>31038737
That would ascend the realm of helpfulness and shoot into the stratosphere known as "Incredibly helpful."

I think one of the options on the "night-people/customer" table should be Boxcar Joe.

>"I'm from SPAAAAAAAAACE"

>>31038746

It'll be done tonight.

>>31038895
Thanks, anon.

>>31038489
me
in a week more or less.

>>31038779
Hell yeah.

>>31036454
Well, at least the doc is better now.

As someone who works a graveyard shift at a gas station here is a mundane thing that you can spin into strange.

Sober bro-dude on break from collage comes into the store and smiles eagerly, grabs some beer to buy, but by law is too late to sell. He offers to give you 30-50 dollars for it "You can pocket that man I won't tell anyone, you'd be doing me a solid, bro."

You can A) Pocket the cash and tempt fate, hope that the cameras aren't working again and no one finds out.

B) Refuse the sale and hand back whatever money he gave you, in this case he is likely to just steal the beer he has.

To make this a bit odd and make your character more nervous, if you accept the money and do the after hours 'sale', he comes back the same night 3-5 more times, still sober as the first time, and always willing to pay more.

>>31040482
Any weird stories to share?

>>31040670

Define strange.

You can summon a customer by doing any of the following, no matter how slow or how bad the weather. Mopping the floor and trying to count cigarette inventory.

>>31040482

When the PC [tells the sober bro-dude that it is too late to sell him that beer] roll+Cha
10+ He offers you a lot of money for it. +2 Paycheck.
7-9 He offers you more money for it. +1 Paycheck
6+ He makes a scene

The sober bro-dude will return several times over the course of the shift, and each time use the above Move. At any point after the first time, if a 6 or less is rolled, Management finds out. -1 Management per Paycheck gained from this Move.

>>31040798
That's certainly strange enough. What about customers?

>>31040911

Didn't really read the docs so thanks for that.
Really should have a "When the PC mops the floor while doing cleaning for the night a random thing will walk into the store, always. Sometime just someone wants to buy smokes, sometimes jit's a girl just looking for directions, sometimes it's not even human

>>31040201
On DM discretion, once Boxcar appears, all dice rolls are fudged 1 point in the direction of either 6 or 1, whichever is closest. OR, for hardmode, all dice rolls are changed into a coin toss.

>>31041134
Boxcar Joe inevitably dies at the end of the fateful encounter, however, in a way that leaves no body to be recovered.

>>31041009

Customers are drunks looking for something to eat and your the only place open, or local insomniacs that can't sleep, the other people who work graveyards and has this day off but has to keep their sleeping schedule off the norm. Drug users that also don't sleep when other people do, cops driving by that come in to get some coffee or snack, an unfriendly recluse that hates people more then most but has to buy stuff sometimes, and on and on...

Night shift tends to see some strange folk, but after years of it, some of the strangeness becomes normal and problems fall into three categories.

1) I can deal with this problem on my own in the next few hours, as annoying as it might be.

2) Let upper management know of the problem, either because, you can't fix it, or you are not allowed to.

3) Call the cops and let management know of the incident when one of them comes in the mornings, or if really needed, wake them up.

TV Guy here.

I have two possible days for dinner with my contact; either April 4 or April 11.

Keep your fingers crossed that I'm able to pull off the pitch.

>>31042826
Fantastic news.

>>31042826
I wish you luck.
don't panic

>>31042826
Hey TV Guy,

You're doing a really great thing here. You've got a solid idea of with lots of inspiration, and it sounds like you and NSW Anon have got the writing down pat. You've got all our support here on /tg/, so you go and make that pitch with confidence and gusto!

Rooting for you,
List Anon

>>31042826
Even if this doesn't become a series, Just knowing something like this still is given a consideration is enough to make my year.

>>31042826
Here's hoping, my fingers will stay crossed until I hear news.

Should I put the events from the "Additional Adventures" table onto the new D100 list on Sheet 1?

>>31045530
Yes.

>>31045013

Even if this doesn't get taken up by a network - or even get close to one - we will still have a pilot script. I (this is NSW anon) can expand that into a movie-length script and pitch it to one of my director friends.

I'm discussing with TV anon the possibility of posting an excerpt from the pilot script here, as a show of good faith.

>>31045721
Ohmygawd, that would be amazing!

>>31042826
good luck

and if it ever come to something please leave a /tg/ tribute somewhere.

Like in the name of some product /tg/ will be written or something.

>>31045634
Done. Now we can use the "Additional Adventures" tab for some organizational purpose perhaps, or something else.

>>31045721
We're all real glad to have you on this project NSW.

>>31045721
btw if it features supernatural how are special effects in TV series now days?

I hear they are costy, so who does SUpernatural and stuff does them?

>>31046071
Make it even more obscure. Here's an idea. Print out the cover for the Angry Marines Codes, and have one of the characters reading a book that has that same cover. It would be pretty cool.

>>31046210
Actually /tg/ reading material or other media on the shelves and traditional, obscure boardgames in the break room might be good.

We need more events on the subtables.

>>31046413
Should we actually combine the sub-table sheet and the Location-table sheet somehow?

>>31046413
I'll put on my thinking cap. What kind of stuff were you thinking of?

1. All the candy in the store suddenly tastes like meat.

2. Dead celebrities faces start to appear on the bathroom walls. They're cleanable, but seriously, it's really annoying.

3. Where the fuck is all the Captain Crunch I left in the break room?

>>31046542
Nah. I don't really see the value of the location sheet anyway. I get it, but I think it's superfluous.

>>31046584
Sure. Just put it on the doc. Nobody really cares as long as it's not pure crap.

>>31046584

Non-human creatures are trying to purchase products with precious stones, or other items that won't help balance your paperwork/drawer.

They sound like people, so when they say they will 'call management and complain about the service', or something similar it might actually reflect badly on your reviews/ability to get a raise.

>>31046654
That's a valid point! I'm just trying to figure out what the best way is to organize things for the Management in the future.

Evening, employees of the REDACTED.

We here at AC Prime Acquisitions would like to send you this brief letter addressing some concerns we have heard you might have had regarding your place of work and our intentions with this new buyout.

While it is true we have recently gone on a spending spree buying out various "middle-of-nowhere" establishments, we assure you they are in no way related to the supernatural or occult. It just so happens that one of our subsidiaries is a candle-making company that had overrun on black candle stock. We felt that we could potentially make more money by moving them out to our new stores in the hopes that we could sell our excess stock there. Unfortunately, we cannot account for the grossly incorrect and frankly hurtful rumours of tortured screaming coming from the premises in the dead of night.

We here at AC Prime Acquisitions value all of our employees safety needs and would assure you that all risks are thoroughly minimised and that none of our higher staff engage in ritualistic torture.

We duly hope this has put your mind at ease and welcome you to the AC Prime family.

PS: Don't worry. We looked over your requests and you won't change shifts. Everything will still be normal.

Sincerely
REDACTED

>>31046789
>The Night Shift Crew finds out that AC Prime Acquisitions is partially controlled by the SCP Foundation
Good or bad idea?

>>31046821

Up to the GM I think, if they exist in the same universe SCP at least has hands/eyes on this.

>>31046821
A very bad thing for the Attendants, yes, but I don't think that A.C. Prime ought to have connections with a pre-established mythos, or even be overtly menacing or otherworldly in and of themselves.

>>31046905
That's true, they should probably just be your generic dickish corporation, albeit one that has to deal with stuff about paranormal happenings.

>>31046821
One of the nights people dressed in hazard suits with written SCP on them enter and take away one of your costumers or an object from your store.


They make strange questions to you but if you asay you never interacted iwth it they leave with no further consequence

>>31046984
In my imagining, I can see A.C. Prime as a sort of mirror-opposite to the Management in charge of the Gas Station, in sort of the same way that Night Vale is the mirror-opposite of Desert Bluffs. While neither the Management nor A.C. Prime ever directly acknowledge the supernatural nature of the Gas Station, and both are faceless and inscrutable organizations, the Management seems to care about the Attendants in a spooky, aloof, tough-love sort of way, while A.C. Prime's friendly, touchy-feely micromanaging ways do little to hide a callous, cruelly corporate design for Attendants and Gas Station both.

>>31047272
I love it.

>>31000979

Instead of your assortment of delivery drivers, Frito-Lay, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Budweiser, Coors, McLane, GSC, ect.

The same unmarked truck starts to deliver all your products, they don't need you to sign any forms, print any money orders, or otherwise pay for the delivery. They always stock the products they deliver in a timely fashion, and thank you for following The Contract, and it's a pleasure doing business with you.

>>31047272
If you must include AC Prime, this is the way to do it. Not SCP agents, just strange, smiling men in suits that insist on following you and correcting every move you make.
Smile.
The cameras are watching.
AC Prime is a Happy Corporation.
We love you.

>>31046584
Alternatively,
>Where the fuck is all this Captain Crunch coming from?

Are we still writing ideas for events? Fuck it here's a few I came up with

>An exterminator with a big model cockroach/ant/spider on top of his truck stops in to grab some food. When he leaves you notice the bug on his tuck is missing

>A guy rushes into the shop headed for the bathroom, after a few minutes you hear a loud noise that sounds like a wet sponge being torn in half come from the toilet followed by silence. Whoever goes into the bathroom next finds one of the stalls is covered wall to wall with blood. Out of the corner of their eye they notice something close the AC vent cover just above the stall

>A group of film makers have snuck into the garage to shoot a snuff film. Little do they know one of the stars is an actual bloodthirsty serial killer

>>31049224
That first one is probably my favorite out of them all. It's simple, funny, and creepy all at once.

>>31008246
Are those bathrooms on the outside?

So with the current rules, how exactly do holds work? Say someone used the green phone and got an 8, said fuck it and didn't spend them, then got a 10+ on a "Well that ain't right", can they now spend 5 holds to know exactly what caused it, what's wrong etc.?

>>31049723
Yeah, a lot of rural gas stations, or just shitty gas stations in general have bathrooms outside, sometimes with a key you get from whoevers working there. It's a popular spot for methheads and such.

It works well here because to go clean the bathroom you have to go outside. Although most gas stations with outside bathrooms only have a single, unisex bathroom it's not a huge deal.

>>31049852
I was just wondering because i have never seen the bathroom being on the outside of a gas station. I agree it goes with the theme but there is something else that could be done with them. For some reason both bathrooms have one-sided mirrors or tinted windows that allow them to see out of the bathroom with the male looking outside and female into the store. Other than the normal freaky shit that happens in the bathrooms they can also see freaky shit happening like seeing ghosts and shit running about the store that aren't there when you go back inside.

>A 7 foot tall viking with thick furs and snow in his beard enters the store. He declares this place his new meadhall and you are all his new serfs.

>A man with a massive two handed sword and wearing fullplate is standing outside. He's scaring customers off by demanding to duel them. The only way to drive him off is to defeat him in an honourable duel. Of course, if you spare his life, he may swear his loyalty to you, and challenge others to a duel if people seem to disrespect his lord.

>A huge, hungry Ogre comes into the store and buys all of your meat. He pays with bones and leeches.

>A friendly goat farmer stops by with his herd. He starts filling up the goats with gas and buys a few loaves of bread. But when he goes back outside, all his goats have been drained of fluid and he blames the store.

>The night is going slow and boring, much to the players enjoyment. Until the clock strikes twelve and they look out the window to notice that OH SHIT they're in hell in the middle of Satans yearly grand prix 666!

>>31049765

Holds not spent are lost. They apply only to the Move in which you gain them. Even though they sound like a generic resource, they are not. Clarification will be added to the final playtest document.

>>31045991
Alrighty shitnerds, here's an excerpt. Two scenes from the first five minutes of the pilot. Chris, our POV character, has just barely been introduced to the other employees. There aren't any plot spoilers, but it should give you an indication of the show's overall tone.

Formatting is low priority until the entire script is finished. Enjoy.

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>>31050375

Goddamit, forgot the .pdf.

All along I thought you all were the shitnerds, but... the shitnerd was really me.

>>31050400
It's barely showing up for me. I had to copy and paste the text into word to see it.

Maybe I really am the Shitnerd.

Maybe we're all shitnerds.

>>31050400
This is nice. As someone who doesn't write scripts, why are the props/set stuff in all caps?

>>31050375

I could see a justification for hanging onto the hold from the green phone. Management gave you a cryptic message, spend the hold in a tight spot and suddenly you know what they were telling you.

>>31050525

Camera directions. If the writer specifically wants the camera to call attention to, focus on, or include a close-up of something it is in all caps. The director is always free to ignore them, but they're useful ways of indicating what is important visually in a given scene.

>>31047363
Or maybe you could use /tg/ fictional brands as cameos. Like, say, Burger Emperor or Skub. Okay, I don't know much about them fictional brands, but we could think some up.

>>31050680

There's already a system like that in DW and AW; it will generally give you a series of questions or give you answers. Thereafter, you take +1 forward when acting on that information.

I haven't included a lot of those in NSW because I'm concerned that its already too easy for PC's to bump rolls to their maximum bonus of +3. Playtesting will either allay or confirm that fear.

>>31050721

Except that that example shouldn't be +1, it should be "understand the cryptic message, getting a hint from Management about the problem you're facing."

>>31050694
We need WH40k references in the game. A lot of them. You'll still talk to us when you're all famous and stuff, right TV anon?

>>31050400
Looks really good. Several parts made me chuckle. Definitely an homage to John Dies at The End.

>>31038895

IRC channel is up. Its on the suptg server, channel is called #NightShiftWorld

>>31050106
>>31049723
Yeah, I recognise that isn't a common set up for the US. Internal/unisex bathrooms are more common in the inner city down here.

I live in a fairly rural place, so every service station is set up with external bathrooms all over. Even them being locked normally and you needing to ask for the key is a fairly new phenomena. Hell, we still pump before paying.

But, I went with it mostly because its both outside and isolated; and isolation is one of the three pillars of true horror.

I have run the scenario now, not using the Dungeon World rules though. It went well. Players want more.
Anyway, here's a vague list of Regular Customers, in that they aren't freakishly supernatural at all:
Man going home
Man going to work
Woman going home
Woman going to work
Bored college students
High teenagers
A regular hobo
Late-night trucker
Local Rednecks
Parent driving an awake baby around, looking for caffeine
Late Night Lovers getting some midnight snacks, and protection
Lost Tourists
Late Night Pizza/Fast Food Delivery Guy
A Working Girl in need of smokes, or with a John
A regular robber. The poor fool.
A delinquent pre-teen with a troubled home life.
Security Guard or Traffic Cop

Add it to the doc if any of you feel like it.

>In the corner of the breakroom is a small shrine with a number of offerings on it. A pack of smokes, a lighter, a necklace, a nametag from someone named Tim, a small plastic buddha, a toy dinosaur and more crowd the tiny space. No ones sure if it actually does anything, but it sure does make you feel better.

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>>31032397

Woah. She must have been killed by a Paul Bunyan pounding her into the ground like a tent spike.

I kid, I kid. It's a good drawing, certainly better than I could ever do.

Although now I'm wondering, what if one minute they come outside to see there's a giant Paul Bunyan outside where there wasn't one before? And did it just change poses?

This is the hotel-fag reporting in after being stuck in the damn hotel for so long.
Did we all together drop the idea of the game running in other places or was there ever a consensus reached about making that option be a home brew done by whoever wants to go the extra mile?

Same question posed to the small town idea.

Loving all this new creativity coworkers!

>>31047272
Strikes me as something that can be worked into the crunch as well as the fluff. I remember several threads back someone was asking about how to implement a hard-mode into the game, and it seems to me like having the Management get bought out by A.C. Prime might be a good way to do it. The buy out would mean that:

>Attendants can no longer call on the Green Phone for advice.
>Nightly tasks are more numerous, more difficult, or are held to a higher standard.
>Events and anomalies are generally more threatening in nature.
>Attendants receive a paycut.

>>31053121
I don't think that the idea was ever dropped, but it wasn't codified either.

>>31053121

Night Shift World will eventually include settings/expansions beyond just the gas station, but that won't happen until the rules have been ironed out.

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>>31053313
I'll be waiting until the game gets further along and lurking for more, or waiting until I no longer work 56 hour a week between two sleep schedules.

>>31049224
good.

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>>31050400
I LIKE IT

>>31050375
>>31050400
Great work so far!

Though not necessary at all for the basic, episodic Night Shift game, I really like the option of including "End Game Threats" like A.C. Prime, or another like the storeroom another anon suggested that appears only on leap years and has some variety of big-bad monster inside for groups that prefer their campaigns to have direction toward an end game.

>>31056920
The kind of stuff that starts showing up once an Attendant puts in their two weeks notice, right?

One night day shift writes a note saying one pump is broken. Middle of the night someone walks in, no car outside, no can in hand, and pays for a gallon of gas. You can watch as he walks outside to the broken pump, puts the nozzle in his mouth and drinks what flows out then wanders into the darkness. You swear you can hear the pump, or something inside the pump, crying afterwards.

>>31056989
Possibly, yeah! An "Endgame Threat" might only manifest once an Attendant, or most of the Attendants, have saved up enough Paychecks to quit and one of them has put in their Two Weeks Notice. However, I wouldn't want such a huge Threat to just blow up without warning. At least, not most ofthe time.

I would create an Endgame Threat (this really should have a more Gas Stationy name), that was presaged by a slew of Portents right from the very beginning of the campaign. If we're using an A.C. Prime buyout as an example, Portents might include:

- Newspaper articles about A.C. Prime acquiring roadside relics, bringing "modernity" and "prosperity" to rural America.

- Day Shift Assholes at the change of shift wishing that the Station should get bought out, while Randy cautions that he's heard that all A.C. Prime's acquisitions have been run into the ground.

- A painfully dull man, or a group of painfully dull men in suits enter the station. They look around, poking and prodding and studying, taking notes on tablet computers, as their "leader," a smiling, prosaic, balding man presents the Attendants with a questionnaire.

- These men leave as the Grey Man comes in, and he remarks idly that he doesn't like their look.

- Thick Manila envelopes start arriving at the Station, addressed to the Management and delivered by more achingly average men in nice suits. If opened, the envelopes contain increasingly extravagant buyout offers.
Etc. Etc. Etc.

>>31057590
From a previous thread:

>>30911385
Every four years, on Leap Day, a particular iteration of the storeroom appears. Since sometime around the 1980s or oerhaps even earlier, this storeroom has been used as "longterm storage" for something dangerous. Uour campaign takes place in the February of a Leap Year:

- Any Leap Year calendars, old or new, the Attendants find all have ominous demarcations on the date of February 29th.

- The concept of the storeroom having different iterations based on odd or even numbered days is established.

- Old security tapes in the VHS library show nothing but static and distortion for footage of February 29th Night Shifts.

- The "run book" ledger left to future Attendants by the 1980s Assistant Manager is full of cryptic warnings about pulling out two Night Shifts' worth of stock in the 28th and barricading the storeroom door as soon as your shift starts on the 29th, as well as advice on what to do if the Thing escapes.

>>31052557
Larry is an endless pit of ravening.

Not to steal from King of the Hill, but I've been calling it Strickland (or Slickland) Gas, except part of the sign has faded or broken leaving it as S ickland gas.

As for mood music, I use the http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz90Cur_1cU it fits the area and sometimes plays normally, but occasionally the yodel repeats and becomes warped when weird stuff happens.

>>31050400
I really, really like it.... the stuff about the phones, and how 9 doesn't work... And the basement... and the FOV... and... and....

That's damn good stuff anon.

>>31057727
>>31057590
Does anyone else have any more ideas for grande finale style events like these? I might try and run Night Shift with some friends and knowing them, they're going to want some sort of climax to things, in addition to the "threat of the shift" style gameplay.

>>31057881

I appreciate it. I've been working pretty hard on this with TV anon.

>>31058917
Great contribution!

Just started listening to "Night Vale".

I love you guys.

>>31058917

I like it. The only thing I didn't like about the other version was that it sorta kinda said Night Shit.

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>>31059043
Yeah, that was really a sticking point for me too. Love the background picture, love the aesthetic, but it says "Night Shit," and that can't be unseen.

I really like it! Its like Clerks, John Dies at the End, and Evil Dead all came together to make a thoroughly weird pilot.

>>31060383
Those were honestly three of the five things I was keeping in mind when writing this. The other two were Twin Peaks and Odd Thomas.

You skid to a halt in front of the grimy green door at the back of the break room, forcing yourself to pause, one tremulous hand outstretched toward the tarnished brass knob, breath hitching in your chest as those familiar words stenciled in chipped gold and green paint on the frosted glass catch your eye.

General Managers' Office.

You shudder involuntarily and take a moment to collect yourself, straightening out your Assistant Manager's uniform, carefully picking a few stray glass shards out of your bun and slapping your cheeks a couple times to try and bring some color to that pale face of yours. Donning your best Employee of the Month smile, you take a deep breath and open the door, stepping inside the Office as you hear Carlos howl and the rest of the storefront windows shatter, your makeshift barricade breached by the... Things... surrounding the Station.

Even as the Assistant Manager with two years' experience on the Night Shift, you still find going into the General Managers Office to be one of the most unpleasant and unnerving experience the job has to offer. Calmly crossing the shabby carpet to the desk in the center of the room, you cant help but think that the feeling is pretty close to what being inside a fish tank must be like, what with the furnishings that seemed to serve a purely decorative purpose, the diffuse greenish light that bathed everything, and the unshakable feeling that you were being closely watched.

You reach for the handset of the sickly green telephone set atop the battered metal desk, neither bothering nor needing to enter any particular contact number on the rotary dial. There are the usual clicks and pops, a dial tone and a low whistle before you hear the receiver pick up on the other end of the line, your breath once more catching in your throat, your heart hammering in your chest as a chill runs up your spine.

"You haven't had to call us in some time, have you Sarah. What seems to be the problem?"

>>31060722

>"Well Management we've got a problem. There are- Carlos would you say these are time-demons from the Nether Earth?"
>"AAAAAAAAUUUGHHOHGODOHGODMYLUNGS"
>"Well I'd say they were time-demons from the Nether Earth, at least."
>"If you're having trouble with unruly patrons, please consult the Employee's Handbook for emergency contact information and services. We are sure there is a Department that can handle your problem."
>"Well they've got razor sharp- oh, they hung up. Carlos, quit bleeding and grab something heavy, we need to get the handbook and a phone."

>>31060383
>>31060433
Very good influences here! I might also suggest "The Lost Room" for Night Shift viewing as well.

>>31060921
I love this Management Call format so much.

>>31061344
Ah my favorite miniseries/comic trapped in development hell.

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Just threw this together for inspirational purposes...

>>31062546
This is pretty much perfect. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

>>31062546

I think we've found the chapter page to the player's guide in Night Shift World's eventual final product

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>>31062546

>>31062854
Alright, this works too.

>>31062854
I like this one a lot. The picture of the Gas Station (presumably) back in its heyday, really adds something to the presentation.

>>31062854
For some reason, I feel the need to scratch alchemical symbols, cryptic doodles or the words "Night Shift" on this in ballpoint pen, as if it were a real old copy of the employee handbook passes down through the decades.

>>31063282
>For some reason, I feel the need to scratch alchemical symbols, cryptic doodles or the words "Night Shift" on this in ballpoint pen, as if it were a real old copy of the employee handbook passes down through the decades.
That is the idea: What once started out as a legit employee manual (standard working procedures, all that stuff) in the 50s, has been handed down to each new generation of employees, scrabbling their edits in, tacking on additional pages and post-its, photos of common "customers" etc.

>>31063370
Now, I want the rules first, but the second that happens, we need to get a graphic design anon or SOMEONE to do that.

>>31059183
Wasn't that the point?
Because the Night Shift is shit. Like, it's a really shitty job, and you really, really don't want to be there because you'll probably die horribly.

>>31063407
Well, yeah, but its still not exactly ideal to literally have "shit" in the title.

>>31063445

I think the problem is that it only just works as a play on words. Say the phrase 'night shit' aloud. It doesn't precisely sound like 'night shift'. Takes a bit to make that jump. And until someone makes that mental jump, they're thinking about dropping a deuce in the dark.

Sorta replaces the eerie atmosphere we want with something absurd.

>>31062546
>>31062854
>>31063370

This design aesthetic is exactly what we should aspire to.

>>31063370
So... we're presenting it like the DFRPG? With, like, hand-written notes and doodles and all that sort of jazz?

Also, loving that my old captcha has sort of spawned a big bad for the setting in AC Prime. I feel like I actually contributed rather than being a shitty little lurker.

>>31064480
I know, right? I came up with the Management. The green phone is the greatest feeling ever.

>>31064480
>>31064512
I created the first joke table. It was originally below the normal table. It's a weird feeling knowing that something I made was only helpful for a few days and was changed within hours.

>>31064512
Yeah, about that. I've been wondering... should we just make the "sickly green" just the colour of Management, not just the phone. It could act as a subtle hint to players in useful items or helpful shelters while flavour-wise showcasing the fact that while management may seem cold, distant and heartless they really do care, unlike the false kindness of AC Prime or whatever.

>>31064559
>Yeah, about that. I've been wondering... should we just make the "sickly green" just the colour of Management, not just the phone.
I already assumed that was canon for some time...

>>31064586
Alas, being a Britfag means I miss a lot of new developments from these threads. After the third one, I've fallen way behind in keeping up with all the new shit that gets added to both the docs and the lore.

>>31064586
Yeah, the management phone has been... in my head... a disgusting shade of green since... since the first call to management.

Its one of those collective unconscious things about horror, there is a *bad* color for most things. And for our management phone, It is that sickly green.

>>31064411
I agree.
Everything should feel like it has history. The old handgun under the counter with the silver-cross inlay and the weird brown stain on the handgrip that only works about half the time and has the words "DON'T BEND DOWN" scratched into it. Or the mop that has been passed down from one assistant manager to the next since the station opened. The computer with the Cyrillic keyboard that was outdated in the 90s but that can run CrySis with no lag thanks to the myriad of upgrades that have been forced into its primitive shell. The bulletin board that, in accordance with the ancient laws of the Clerk, shall never have a bulletin removed from it. If you look far enough back you can find Missing Persons posters from 1978. The vending machine that doesn't take coins minted after 1986 and still has a few "Cholo Colas" that no one ever bought in the back.
You could spend a lifetime just reading the bathroom graffiti.

The stuff you have is not the best tool for the job, but it's what you've got and it's what we've been using since as long as anyone can remember.

>>31064480
>>31064512
>>31064558
I love how almost everyone in these threads has contributed something to this. Especially List Anon, NSW Anon, and TV Anon. We can't thank them enough, I think.

I love you, /tg/. <3

>>31064586
>>31064559
It is. The first idea was that Management sent green notices, and that any film of them would have green face censors.

>>31064480
>>31064512
>>31063370

It really is great to see the ways in which all these little ideas have come together over the course of the threads to flesh out the Night Shift setting and create the "character" of that run down piece of 1950s Americana, the Gas Station itself: Management, the spookily normal GM's Office and their Green Phone, the ghost of the 80s Assistant Manager, the Grey Man and his nightly visits and now, the paranormal scrapbook and survival guide that is the Night Shift Employee's Manual.

Having been participating since the beginning of these threads, I have to say that the Night Shift is my favorite thing that /tg/ has ever created. You are all awesome, should feel awesome, and should continue contributing to this bit of greatness.

>>31065232
>>31064861
Well, as good as it SHOULD be, let's not get cocky here. The rules have yet to be finish, and this could still stutter and die on us at any time now.

I was around since the original thread and really liked the idea. I created the Tasks section and everytime I see someone add something to it fills me with a sense of pride.

>>31065321
Also, I have a group set up this weekend with my brother and another friend of mine. I'll be taking copious notes. What do you guys think the Portents and Doom should be? As in, what would be the one scenario that symbolizes "Night Shift?" to you? I was thinking Aliens, Chupacabra or Zombies but really I'm not too sure.

People, get on the IRC
Its just me and someone who might be the World rules guy and IT'S AWKWARD AS SHIT.
I-I love you, Night Shift World-senpai.

>>31065359

The NSW rules use a faulty AC being the cause of an alternate reality crossover. But that's my bias, since I wrote the damn thing.

I have a huge preference for subtle, uncanny, and unexplained.

>>31065359
I think aliens and time travel are some of the mainstays. Zombies seems like they could fit easily into many settings, but a family from the 1930s rolling up in a jalopy, or a guy in a hover car oogling at the price of gas seems uniquely Night Shift to me.

>>31065399

Someone should add the IRC channel and directions on how to connect to it into the header of the next thread.

>>31065359
I would recommend a trio of weird events for a first time run. Maybe something like:

1. Grey Man Candy Encounter
2. Misadventures Cleaning Out The Freezers
3. Malfunctioning Mirrors Create Aggressive Doppelgängers

???

>>31065441
>>31065404
I could do that. The ALternate reality seemed like it was full of cannibals too. I think the smaller events like the Grey man showing up will show up too, but those don't really relate to any particular doom. It's just something that happens.

I think I will stay away from zombies. I will do two themes though...Ones that are very different from each other. Dopplegangers is a good one and could tie into an alternate reality/mirror world. Hmmm.

This thread is almost done and I can create another, but is there anything I should add to the information links? I'm going to have to try and rewrite it to make it clear what the Night Shift is (not a quest thread) and what needs to be done.

>>31065721
Play testers wanted! I think that Rules Anon is waiting on more play data before they add to their doc.

>>31065788
Roger that. Does anyone have the IRC information? I'm having a ditzy moment and can't seem to find it.

>>31065814

It's on rizon, same as suptg. Channel is #NightShiftWorld

>>31065788
Playtest is the big thing. NSW won't be going anywhere without data.