Night Desert

Night Desert is a timed  two player nightmare fixing TTRPG (formerly called goodnight desert)

You need c.30 min., 1D6, 1 Player, 1GM, Safety Tools (Lines & Veils, XNO cards)

You close your eyes, you fall asleep, you wake up in the Night Desert. 

The Night Desert is the liminal space within which all dreams live, and all nightmares. Like this one, hi, hello, you’re in a nightmare, and unfortunately just waking up is not an option. 

 Night Desert was inspired by my own experience with lifelong chronic nightmares ranging from ridiculous to bone chilling and learning how to 'fix them' as a cathartic coping mechanism. However, it doesn't always work.

This game revolves around problem-solving, the GM will have an obstacle table they will use on their turns to continue changing and evolving the nightmare as the player tries to keep up and outwit,  outlast  or escape it.

Player and GM go back and forth between the player reacting to the nightmare, rolling to see the success or failure of their choices, the GM narrating the reaction of the nightmare to the player, rolling the obstacle table, implementing said result, rinse, repeat. Until either the timer goes off or you defeat/fix the nightmare entirely. 

Besides using the obstacle table it is the GM who will begin the game by narrating the beginning of your nightmare using the premise and setting the player has rolled to set the scene before the players first turn begins. You are storyteller, monster puppeteer and npc’s, you come up with the reactions and consequences to the player's actions according to the rolls of the dice. You are not antagonistic to the player nor their ally, you are in all of this closest to the personification of dream logic, so have fun with that!

This game was designed live on the podcast 10Min TTRPGs (read: Ten Minute TTRPGs) March 2024. I really hope you enjoy this game (please do let me know how it goes!) and the show! 

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As always I implore you play Safely, using TTRPG Safety Tools, for example XNO cards (digital or you can write cards that say X, N or O.  X means 'Stop immediately'. Before playing  discuss off limit topics to  not touch upon when playing and topics you might be okay with if you can discuss it before. When an X is used or a player says it it calls for an immediate time out, possibly end of the game if that's best, where you can take a breather, discuss what feels safe and what doesn't, how you'd like to proceed and generally take care of yourself and your fellow players after someone somehow crosses a line. 'N' means 'No Further, pivot' which is to say whatever the line of play is you stop it there and segue into a different direction, avoiding whatever was carded. O means Okay, and can also be used throughout play by asking O? or typing O? or holding a card that says O? to ask if everyone is okay and happy with how things are going and if everything's okay then players respond with O or Okay! It's just not fun if everyone doesn't feel safe!