Beasts in The Night

21 Oct, 2026

You are dead.
Cursed to live only in darkness,
and eat only blood.
Your master is dust and forgotten on the interstate,
but you are not alone.
The night is yours.

CHARACTERS

STATS

Strength - raw physical power

Dexterity - agility and motor skills

Roll 3d6 for each, taking the lowest score. Discount triple results.

When exerting oneself, roll a number of d6 equal to the relevant stat. A result of 5 or 6 is a success.
Difficulty is measured in opposing dice. A mild task rolls 1 opposing die, a difficult task rolls 2, a very hard task rolls 3.

To succeed, roll more successes than the opposition.

SAVES

Dodging - used to avoid danger.
Dexterity 3+ adds +1 to Dodging saves.

Body - used to resist physical toil and poison.
Strength 3+ adds +1 to Body saves.

Saves begin at a base value of 1, versus a difficulty of 1.

SANITY

Characters maintain their sense of being through the things they hold to be true (There is a loving deity, man has free will, theirs is the greatest country in the world, etc). A character may not have more than 6 of such core beliefs.

A character that encounters something which may invalidate one or more of their core beliefs must test Sanity, rolling as many dice as they have total [SAN].

If they get a success on any of the dice, they maintain their sanity.

If they fail, the threatened beliefs are abandoned.

Sanity tests may be rerolled if the character either attacks the threat until it is destroyed, or refuses to engage with the threat until it has gone away.

KNOWLEDGE

There are 5 disciplines of knowledge that may be used to comprehend the languages of a sophisticated world:

• Social Sciences
• Formal Sciences
• Natural Sciences
• Humanities
• Professions

Assign 1d6 specialties to these disciplines.

• Mastery of a specialty may be halved, establishing a flawed but working knowledge of its principles.
• If a specialty is known twice, the character has a keen understanding of its principles and their application in the world.
• As a rule of thumb, specialties are described in at least two words.
• Specialties - not their disciplines - may be held in reserve until relevant.

A character may roll for Insight into an object of study rather than interrogate it by normal means. If they have a specialty relevant to the task, they roll 1-3 dice depending on their level of comprehension versus difficulty 2.

Relevant specialties at the same level of comprehension add an extra die when rolling for insight.

Characters with 0 SAN have -1 dice when rolling for insight.

ADVANCEMENT

Characters improve by taking on obligations, and forcing others to break theirs.

An obligation is an ongoing commitment to another group or entity. Once sworn, a character gains +1HD or new additional Sanity. The same applies when forcing someone to break their own oath.

A character does not break a sworn obligation simply by dying.

STARTING PLAY

All characters begin with:

• 3d6x10 Dollars to spend on equipment. Anything not spent is lost.
• 1 Hit Dice. This is rolled when taking damage.
• 1d6 specialties
• 3 SAN
• A car with 50 miles worth of fuel.

EQUIPMENT

For standard items, see https://www.walmart.com/

An illegal handgun costs $100 as starting equipment.

WEIGHT

Characters can hold 2+STR items at once. Worn or held items do not count toward this limit. Characters carrying more than this amount may fall or drop items. Characters carrying double this amount are overburdened, and are exhausted by sustained activity.

WEAPONS

All weapons have an Attack Bonus relevant to combat.

A weapon's damage can be considered minor, significant, or dire.
Minor weapons take the lower of 2d6.
Significant weapons roll 1d6.
Dire weapons take the higher of 2d6.

All weapons also have minimum stats to use effectively.
A character using a weapon that they lack the required stats for cannot attack until the next round of combat.

These are not the only instruments of death in the world, but many are similar.

A character that meets one of the requirements for a weapon's use (but not the other) can use a specialty to be trained in handling it, negating normal penalties.

ARMOUR

Dense clothing or other civilian armours can negate damage once, becoming ruined.

Soft body armour negates damage results less than 6 from knives or melee weapons, and increases difficulty of dodging saves by 1.

Ballistic armour negates damage results of less than 6 from bullets, and increases difficulty of dodging saves by 2.

COMBAT

Combat occurs when two parties resolve conflicts by violence. Unequal participation in this process is called murder.

When sequence is in question, combat is resolved in order of ranged attacks, then melee, then other actions.

Direct combat is rolled in opposed dice pools made of the AB of the weapon used and its dominant stat. Success means the opponent takes damage as indicated.

COMPLICATIONS

Unaware enemies die if the attack would ensure a killing shot, bypass armour, supernatural resistance, etc.

Gain +2 AB if flanking or outmanoeuvring the target.
If you "spray and pray" with an automatic weapon gain +1 AB, but require a full action to reload.
If grappling, roll opposed dice pools equal to strength.

MONSTERS

Tough monsters add 2 to their Body saves.
Agile monsters add 2 to their Dodging saves.

Monsters with 3-5 HD take an additional action on their turn. Monsters with 6+ HD take 2.

HP & HEALING

Ordinary healing is irrelevant to vampires.

Everything else rolls its HD when hit for the first time and takes the highest result. A character at 0HP is dead. A short rest heals 1 HP. A full day spent doing nothing heals all HP.

SUBSTANCES

Most narcotics alter the properties of SAN by +/-1, and increase or decrease other rolls inversely. Opiates reduce SAN, but increase Body saves. Hallucinogens increase SAN, but make dexterity more challenging.

VAMPIRISM

HUNGER

Vampires are defined by Hunger - which never decreases below 1. Each time they wake, they roll 1d6 above their level of hunger. Failure increases hunger by 1. A vampire with 6+ hunger is dead.

FORTITUDE

Vampires have supernatural resistance to harm. Only results of at least 6 matter when calculating damage. If these results equal more than their total HD, they perish.

These injuries persist, unless healed. A vampire may heal 1 HD of damage at the cost of a hunger roll.

WEAKNESSES

Contact with sunlight requires a Body save with difficulty equal to the vampire's HD. Success postpones another save for roughly five minutes. Failure means perishing in flames.

Blood animates a vampire's body. If they are drained of blood, they die.

FEEDING

Vampires feed on the blood of the living. Roll up to the total HD of the victim. If the result is higher than current hunger, it is reduced by that much. Feeding results less than current hunger do not affect it at all.

Willing victims and animals only ever roll 1HD.

The blood of animals, as well as any ordinary food put into the vampire's body, require a Body save to keep down. In the case of food, this save must be made every 2 hours until expelled.

Rolling 7+ on feeding leaves the vampire stricken. They must roll SAN to wake up each day. Surviving contact with the sun is the most reliable way to end this curse.

PROGENY

Animating a dead body as a vampire requires sacrificing 1HD as blood fed to the corpse, and immediately raises hunger to 5.

Roll for reanimation:

-1 to roll for each day the subject has been dead. a result lower than 0 means the attempt fails.

TRAVEL

Distance is measured in hexes 20km across.
Noted time passes in 2 hour shifts.

CARS

Cars have a score describing their current condition, ranging from 0-6. Condition 0 cars are new, super functional machines. Condition 6 cars are galloping wrecks, liable to break every shift.

Recently acquired cars start at 1d6-1 Condition. Value, service, and quality parts may reduce this to 1d6-4.

Facing a car at significant speed, make a dodging save.

#OSR #bitn #game design #vampires