Welcome to Night Vale

a tabletop role-playing game

by Berlynn Wohl
with original illustrations by
monstersanosa, moriartylaughingalonewithcrown, zenamiarts, pizza-soup,
strexiest, themonsterghost, goddess-in-green, idontevenknow-anymore, astrogyaru,
and female--president

zenamiarts.tumblr.com

What you will need to play the Welcome to Night Vale Role-Playing Game:
A Game Master, Who Sees All. Bow Before The Game Master. All Hail the Game Master!
(Or GM for short.)
One or more additional players, who will take on the roles of existing Night Vale
characters, or original characters of their own devising.
Some six-sided dice - two per person is sufficient
Some paper, or papyrus, or dried sheets of goat intestine, or any other surface
suitable for scribbling upon.
Writing utensils are, or course, banned, but perhaps you could fashion a hollow bird's
bone and some grape jam into an instrument capable of scrawling numbers, or crude
maps?
Be sure to schedule a gaming session at least once a week. Playing less often than this
will result in character starvation and death.

zenamiarts.tumblr.com

cover illustrations by strexiest.tumblr.com

Rules
Whenever your character wishes to do something that requires more skill than, say, tuning
into the local community radio station, you will roll two six-sided dice (that is, 2d6). If the
total of the two dice is equal to, or less than, the number of points you have in that skill,
your character successfully accomplished the task. If it is not, you failed.
When you are competing with someone else (for example, when you are trying to punch
Steve Carlsberg in the face), all of the involved characters must make a skill check, as
follows:
Cecil's Fight skill is 6, and Steve's fight skill is 4. Cecil rolls 2d6, and his total is 8. Steve
does the same and rolls a 7. So neither one of them manages to harm the
other. But Steve starts laughing at Cecil's blunder, prompting Cecil to take another swing.
This time Cecil rolls a 4, and Steve rolls a 10. Cecil tackles Steve to the ground, prompting
Steve to scrape his elbow and immediately burst into tears.
Damage is calculated by rolling 1d6. Cecil rolls and gets a 3. Steve had 7 hit points, but
now he only has four, and doubtless runs away crying. Cecil can now shake his fist at the
defeated, retreating Steve, while growling Steeeeeve Carsrrrlsssberrrrg.

themonsterghost.tumblr.com

Death and Life

When a character's hit points fall to zero, the GM can determine that the character is dead
for realsies, or that one of the following things happens:
*The character has fallen unconscious, and wakes up later, perhaps in a hospital, or a
previously unexplored sector of the Sand Wastes.
*The character is taken to safety and reconstructed. The extent and/or sustainability of
the reconstruction will depend upon the skill of the entity who undertook the task.
*The character makes what is presumably an extra-dimensional leap, and reappears
later, speaking a foreign language or seeming to be of a different race or species.
*The character can become an incorporeal entity, hereafter only able to employ skills
that do not require a physical body.
Characters can recover all of their hit points by resting for 8 hours, or can recover half of
their lost hit points by eating a slice of pizza at Big Rico's.

pizza-soup.tumblr.com

Skills
There are thirteen skills. If a character is called upon to
perform a task that no skill applies to, it is up to the GM to
decide what the closest skill is that the player should apply.
(See also page 13.)
Blood and Unfinished Leather skills:
Brute strength
Fight
Athletics (things like running, swimming, jumping, climbing,
aiming, throwing)
The Dread and Horror that Accompanies Knowledge skills:
Operating mundane mechanical devices (i.e., a car or blender)
Operating exotic mechanical devices (i.e., a black helicopter)
Hide objects/Locate hidden objects
Eldritch knowledge (things like identifying dangerous objects
or locations, interpreting arcane messages)
See/Hear/Smell
Track (or Avoid being tracked)
Thin Semantic Line Between Courage and Stupidity skills:
Distribute forgeries (or Detect forgeries)
Sneak around
Sleight of hand
Persuade (or Resist persuasion)
In addition to their Skills, each character has a Power, which they
can employ once a day. (See characters on the following pages for
details.)

zenamiarts.tumblr.com

Cecil Palmer
Hit Points 9
Brute strength 5
Fight 6
Athletics 7
Operating mundane mechanical devices 9
Operating exotic mechanical devices 6
Hide objects/Locate hidden objects 8
Eldritch knowledge 9
See/Hear/Smell 7
Track (or Avoid being tracked) 7
Distribute forgeries (or Detect forgeries) 7
Sneak around 8
Sleight of hand 8
Persuade (or Resist persuasion) 9

Power: Once per day, Cecil can employ

his Third Eye to perceive something that
is going on somewhere else in Night Vale
that he would not be otherwise be not able
to see/hear/smell in his current
location.

monstersanosa.tumblr.com

Carlos the Scientist

Hit Points 9
Brute strength 7
Fight 6
Athletics 7
Operating mundane mechanical
devices 10
Operating exotic mechanical
devices 8
Hide objects/Locate hidden objects 8
Eldritch knowledge 5
See/Hear/Smell 9
Track (or Avoid being tracked) 7
Distribute forgeries (or Detect
forgeries) 8
Sneak around 7
Sleight of hand 6
Persuade (or Resist persuasion) 7

Power: Once per day, Carlos can

Do Science on an object, person,
or location, to glean a useful fact
about it/them without having to
roll any dice.
monstersanosa.tumblr.com

Old Woman Josie

(Josie is always accompanied by an Angel,
whose assistance is reflected in her Skill
points)
Hit points: 7
Brute strength 2
Fight 3
Athletics 3
Operating mundane mechanical devices 8
Operating exotic mechanical devices 9
Hide objects/Locate hidden objects 9
Eldritch knowledge 9
See/Hear/Smell 9
Track (or Avoid being tracked) 7
Distribute forgeries (or Detect forgeries) 8
Sneak around 7
Sleight of hand 8
Persuade (or Resist persuasion) 9

Power: Once per day, Old Woman Josie can

ask for additional assistance from an Angel,
and add 4 points to her Skill for one roll
only. She must announce that she is using
this Power BEFORE she rolls the dice.
monstersanosa.tumblr.com

Tamika Flynn
Hit points 8
Brute strength 4
Fight 9
Athletics 9
Operating mundane mechanical
devices 7
Operating exotic mechanical devices 6
Hide objects/Locate hidden objects 7
Eldritch knowledge 7
See/Hear/Smell 8
Track (or Avoid being tracked) 10
Distribute forgeries (or Detect
forgeries) 6
Sneak around 9
Sleight of hand 6
Persuade (or Resist persuasion) 8
Power: Once per day, Tamika Flynn can
Intimidate an opponent into
submission during an opposing Skill
check (example: her Persuade versus
another character's Resist persuasion)
by brandishing the severed hand she
wears around her neck. Tamika must
announce that she is doing this BEFORE
the Skill check would have been rolled.

monstersanosa.tumblr.com

Pamela Winchell
Hit points 9
Brute strength 5
Fight 4
Athletics 6
Operating mundane mechanical
devices 9
Operating exotic mechanical
devices 7
Hide objects/Locate hidden objects 8
Eldritch knowledge 8
See/Hear/Smell 8
Track (or Avoid being tracked) 8
Distribute forgeries (or Detect
forgeries) 9
Sneak around 7
Sleight of hand 5
Persuade (or Resist persuasion) 9

Power: Pamela Winchell can force

any other character to re-roll any Skill
check. The first roll is disregarded
and the second roll is used.

monstersanosa.tumblr.com

Hiram McDaniel
Hit points 12
Brute strength 10
Fight 10
Athletics 10
Operating mundane
mechanical devices 7
Operating exotic mechanical devices 6
Hide objects/Locate hidden objects 5
Eldritch knowledge 8
See/Hear/Smell 8
Track (Or Avoid being tracked) 5
Distribute forgeries (or Detect
forgeries) 9
Sneak around 2
Sleight of hand 3
Persuade (or Resist persuasion) 9

Power: Once per day, one of Hiram's

other heads can re-roll a Skill check that
he failed.
monstersanosa.tumblr.com

moriartylaughingalonewithcrown.tumblr.com

Creating an original character

The characters on the preceding pages are just a few of Night Vale's colorful and
varied inhabitants. You are welcome to create others.
A character with no Power gets 110 points to distribute among their skills. A character
with a Power gets 95 points to do the same.
When distributing Skill points, keep in mind that 6-7 points represents average ability for
a citizen of Night Vale.
The character's Power must be approved by the GM.
Hit points are determined by rolling 2d6 and adding 3 to the result.

GM's section all hail the GM!

The best part about the rules is,
they always apply *unless the GM
says otherwise.
Please use this power responsibly.

astrogyaru.tumblr.com

For example, as the GM, you may decide

that the characters on pages 6-11 are not
playable. If you fear that the fight over who
gets to be Cecil would result in bodily harm,
property damage, and/or a rip in the fabric
of space-time, you may decide that all
players must create original characters.

female--president.tumblr.com

idontevenknow-anymore.tumblr.com

Creating an adventure
An adventure can be broken down into four parts:
Introduction
Uh oh
Futile scramble to fight fate
Resolution???
For example, take a look at the way Episode 37, The Auction, unfolds:
Introduction: Cecil informs the town that the Sheriff's Secret Police are holding
an auction.
Uh oh: Cecil discovers that he is Lot 37 one of the items available to bid on.
Futile scramble: Cecil makes his way to the auction to acquire Lot 37.
Resolution??? - Cecil fails to successfully bid on Lot 37, nor can he discern
the winning bidder.
Remember that tabletop role-playing games are about having fun and telling a story
together. If everyone is not having a good time, and they tell you that it is your fault,
please reconsider your life choices.

GM's section continued

Items
Reward your players for their hard work with valuable Items. While the characters are
adventuring, they should occasionally find and acquire Items which will raise their Skill
scores. For example, a lens that allows them to more accurately perceive the insanityinducing terror which even the most ordinary-seeming objects are capable of holding. (That
is, +2 to Eldritch knowledge.)
Making decisions that are not based on Skill checks
There's no need to complicate the game with a hundred tables full of numbers to crunch. If
you have to come to a decision about something and you'd prefer to leave it to chance, just
roll a d6. If you roll a 1-3, that means No. If you roll a 4-6, that means Yes. (If you roll a
number that is not between 1 and 6, consult with your blood-stone circle for further
instruction.)

goddess-in-green.tumblr.com
back cover illustration by zenamiarts.tumblr.com

The Welcome to Night Vale role-playing game is not a production of

Commonplace Books, nor was it written by Joseph Fink or Jeffrey Cranor, nor
produced by Joseph Fink. It is a transformative work, from which no one
involved has profited in any way.
The instructions were written by Berlynn Wohl (berlynn-wohl.tumblr.com).
Artwork by:
monstersanosa
moriartylaughingalonewithcrown
zenamiarts
pizza-soup
strexiest
themonsterghost
goddess-in-green
idontevenknow-anymore
astrogyaru
female--president
All artwork is original and was created especially for this manual.
Today's proverb: Roll to see if your puny human mind has the ability to
correlate its contents. Just kidding! It doesn't.