Dead of Night

Get rid of the rules review.

Victim Creation

Four Attribute Pairs define all Victims, and Creatures and other things that go bump in the dark. You have Identify/Obscure, Persuade/Dissuade, Pursue/Escape, and Assault/Protect. These cover the basic concerns of horror movie roles. You divide 10 points between the two Attributes in each pair, rating each Attribute from 1-9. Then you write down your five Survival Points and your Victim is done. Yup, that's basically it, and yes, protagonist characters are called Victims in Dead of Night.

Specializations

No skills then? Not really, but you have Specializations that you can buy by reducing an Attribute Pair by 2 points. Either by 1 point per Attribute in the pair, or 2 from one of them. Then assign your selected Specialization a value equal to the highest value in the Attribute Pair prior to your reduction plus two. As you probably deduced already, it never pays to deduct 1 from each Attribute, you always get a higher value in your Specialization by making the low pair what you want it from the start, then deducting 2 points from the higher Attribute. Specializations can be anything you want, but should fit the Attribute Pair it goes with. A sample Victim:

You can see how I started with Identify/Obscure: 7/3, and lowered the Identify by 2 to 5, making my Specialization 9. That is the highest Attribute value in the pair, prior to lowering it (7+2=9).

You can also select Deficiencies for your Victim, but as they have no impact on the game apart from pure color, you might just as well insert these on the fly into the story during game play.

Why not a sample Creature (which is what the game calls its antagonists):

Resolution

The game's Attributes are all usable in various broad situations. They are not a specific quality, like in many other games. In Dead of Night they measure the Victim's general competence in a wide array of flexible situations. The player with the Initiative determines which Attribute to use for Resolution.

Identify	Can I figure out what's going on?
Obscure	Can I conceal information?
Persuade	Can I convince others that there are benefits to helping me?
Dissuade	Can I convince others that there are penalties for resisting me?
Pursue	Can I catch my prey?
Escape	Can I evade a predator?
Assault	Can I inflict harm on others?
Protect	Can I prevent others or myself from suffering harm?

Task Resolution

The game features both Task and Conflict Resolution mechanics. If you want to perform some action that isn't opposed by anyone else, such as library research, rummaging through the deserted house for a weapon, etc. Then you make a Task Check. Roll 2d10 plus the appropriate Attribute and try to beat 15.

Conflict Resolution

To resolve a conflict that someone is opposing, you must make a Conflict Check. The one with the initiative decides which Attribute to use for the conflict. Roll 2d10 + your Attribute or Specialization versus 10 + your opponent's relevant Attribute or Specialization. Fitting Specializations from any Attribute Pair can be used, but normally you're opposed by the other Attribute in the pair you selected to use.

The Conflict Resolution rules are interesting and different from most by how symmetric they are. You do specify your intent, that is what you want to accomplish, prior to rolling the dice, but not what's at stake. In other words, you don't determine what could go wrong until after resolution. However, the mechanics are symmetric. If you win, it's good for you and bad for your opponent, and the other way around. Losing a Conflict Check means that your opponent gets a positive outcome, and you a negative.

Combat Checks

Alright, so you think this sounds like every other game? Not so (well sure there are some others), but Dead of Night even uses this for Combat Checks (Conflict Checks using the Assault/Protect). So if you roll to shoot the Creature, and miss, that means he's instead hurt you. Combat Checks always result in the loser losing a Survival Point. Dang! An eye for an eye and all that...

There are absolutely no situational modifiers in the game, and since attacking and defending is pretty much the same thing, you can forget teaming up against the Creature. You might as well follow the horror movie cliché of splitting up. A cool rule is that the winner may always call for a an Escape versus Pursue Conflict Check with his opponent, to get out of harm's way — for now...

I feel the need to make another point about the coolness of Dead of Night combats. There are no combat rounds, nor anything that dictates that a combat goes on until one of the combatants runs out of Survival Points. Instead, if your Victim wins a Combat Check against a Creature, he might knock out the Creature. Obviously your Victim will think he's defeated the Creature, this is a good chance to earn Survival Points for the clichés "Whenever a monster seems dead, it's never dead," or "After injuring a monster with a weapon, said weapon should be dropped to hasten your escape."

Initiative

So who rolls the dice? The player that states an action first gets initiative, and it should be the players making the majority of the rolls, not the GM. However, the same player may not make consecutive rolls without paying for it with Survival Points. If a Creature enters the scene it automatically gains the Initiative, but the GM is restricted by the same rule regarding consecutive rolls.

In practice the Initiative system leads to a high-tension game full of action. Because if the players run out of ideas, they hand over the Initiative to the GM. The players have all the control they want until in direct confrontation with a Creature. Dead of Night players will learn to fear when the GM reaches for his dice. Here's a summary of how it works in play:

In practice the Initiative system leads to a high-tension game with lots of actions.

1. The player to first announce an action gains the Initiative, and has committed to performing the action. No take-backs!
2. The player with the Initiative states his Victim's intent and which Attribute he wants to use. All other participants must comply.
3. Whenever possible the player, not the GM, rolls the dice. If both parties in a Conflict Check are players, the one with the Initiative rolls.
4. A player may not roll the dice in two consecutive Checks. Unless a player pays a Survival Point to keep the Initiative.
5. A Creature always wins the Initiative when it is in a scene, but even the GM may not make two consecutive Checks.

Survival Points

Your Survival Points (SP), remember you start with 5, represent how close you are to meeting your end. They are also a measure for the GM to decide whom to pressure most. If you start losing SP, be sure that you will find things going against you, and the Creature will smell you out.

SP are not just hit points, but any type of negative effect on your Victim. Yes, this of course includes injuries, but also getting tired, exasperated, equipment breaking down, running out of ammo, what-have-you. Once you're at 0 SP, the next SP loss will remove your Victim from the game.

Earning Survival Points

Now for the good news. You can earn more SP, and they're also the currency with which you as a player can affect the game. So you know that losing a Combat Check results in the loss of a SP, but how do you gain them? Let me count the ways:

• Fortune's Favor — Rolling double in a successful Check grants 1 SP.
• I Did It! — The player who most advanced the plot in the just completed scene gets 1 SP.
• Running with Clichés — Following horror movie clichés nets you 1 SP.
• Artistic License — The GM can grant 1 SP for colorful description of your actions.
• Well Rested — Resting for a full scene earns 1 SP.
• I’m Still Kicking — Surviving (yeah right!) a scenario nets 2 SP.

Spending Survival Points

Here's a list of the effects you can spend your SP to invoke:

• Inspiration — Flip an Attribute Pair for a full scene.
• That Never Happened! — Re-roll the last Check.
• Vying For Attention — Buys you the initiative, allowing you to interrupt another player.
• Hold It! — Negates another players SP expenditure.
• What’s This? — Introduce new elements into the story.
• I’ve Got Just the Thing! — Procure a useful item.
• I’m Special — Some Specializations require one SP to activate, or cost 1 SP if you fail a Check.
• Make Me Special — Buy a new Specializations for 2 SP.

Advanced Play

This chapter is very nice, even if some of the concepts could be fleshed out further. The chapter consists of tons of options for how to run Dead of Night. Such as how to evoke the kind of horror you want as a group, or if you want to scare the players or the Victims. In all this is a great chapter, if somewhat half-baked. Unfortunately not even the book's authors use all the ideas to the fullest in the rest of the book (see my comments on Scenarios). The chapter also introduces Tension.

Tension Rating

The Tension Rating is a measure of the suspense level of your story. Tension 1 is relatively tame, while the maximum rating of 15 is Lovecraftian to the extreme! As the GM you use the Tension Rating to color your descriptions. When a Creature enters the scene the current Tension Rating is increased by its Survival Points, boosting the horror-level until it exits stage left.

Tension Points

Tension Points (TP) are the GM's currency to affect the game. Every time a Victim uses or loses a Survival Point, it is converted into a Tension Point and increases the game's Tension Rating. When you begin a game of Dead of Night you decide upon the Starting Tension; how many Tension Points the GM has available at the start of the game. You must also set the Mood, or how freely SP are awarded by the GM. Lastly Circumstances and Intensity determine how TP may be used by the GM, and an explanation of the desired impact on actual play

TP can be used to modify Checks on a 1-for-1 basis up or down, but exactly how many TP can or must be used, how and when is what those Circumstances and the Intensity decide. The game gives you lots of cool suggestions, but you can come up with lots more ideas of your own — trust me.

The authors also point out how the same scenario with different Starting Tension, Mood, Circumstances, and Intensity will play out completely differently; giving Dead of Night scenarios replay value. They are right, but unfortunately miss the ball, and provide no such commentary in the included scenarios.

Creatures

The Creatures chapter is full of cool antagonists and monsters straight out of horror movies, but with the license numbers filed down. There are also rules for Advanced and Creature Specializations, and Creature Vulnerabilities. All very fitting. The Creatures are very inspiring, making it simple to just pick one of them and winging the rest of the game session.