Guest posting by Tim Brannan   My kids got me into SCP . Or, more accurately, they told me all about it, pointed me toward the Wiki, and then left me standing there staring at what appears to be several lifetimes’ worth of lore. I am very new to SCP. The sheer amount of material is honestly a little overwhelming, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. But I am a horror RPG designer. So once I started reading, one thought kept coming back to me: Can I run this with NIGHT SHIFT ? That answer is absolutely yes . Running this with NIGHT SHIFT: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars? I would say yes. In fact, the more I look it over, the more I am convinced NIGHT SHIFT is already a near-perfect fit for an SCP-style campaign. Now, I do not mean in the sense of replicating every scrap of SCP lore or re-creating each Foundation department and classification. The old hands at SCP know that side of things far better than I do. What I have in mind is the game's fundamental structure. You have...

 Well, folks, the Elf Lair Crew has gone our separate ways once again (we're scattered across three states) and are back home, settled, and (at least in my case) fighting off the old CON CRUD(TM). The con was an absolute blast, with tons of highlights, and I'm not ashamed to say that in a very real way, it may have saved Elf Lair Games.  Resurrecting the Cabal Back in my Eden Studios days (which I honestly still have strong hopes will come again one day - I would dearly love to work on some more Unisystem stuff in the future), I hooked up with two of the greatest guys and game designers you could ever hope to work with: Timothy S. Brannan and Derek Stoelting. Many of you follow Tim's blog, The Other Side .  My main role at Eden was to work on All Flesh Must Be Eaten! sourcebooks, of which I wrote or co-wrote three. Derek also did most of his work on AFMBE, and he was a convention organizer and GM wrangler for cons. Tim was heavily focused on the cinematic end of the spec...

 So this week on social media, we at Elf Lair have been doing a series of "But How Do I...?" posts regarding some popular settings, things to which we don't have a license and cannot provide official rules, but for which most of what you need is already there.  The question, then, remains, "how do I take those encyclopedias of text and flavor, and use them with the O.G.R.E.S. rules?" It's deceptively simple, and it all starts with the basics. Let's break down how you can turn the flavor text and setting material in your favorite video game, novel, television series, or movie into a swords and sorcery, high fantasy, urban fantasy, or gritty horror game using the Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars or Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age Rules. Start with the Basics Starting with the basics means looking at what you've got in front of you. For the most part, you'll need very little new  to use your favorite settings. A warrior character, for e...

Derek Stoelting wrote the new starter adventure in the Quick Start Kit, Tainted Blood . Here he provides additional background material on one of the locations from the kit. We'll let him do the typing. . .  I wrote the starter adventure in Elf Lair Games's   Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars Adventure and Quick Start Kit . One of the locations in the scenario is the Mandragora Book Store. My original write-up on the Mandragora went far and above what was necessary for the scenario. So, I cut it down to just what was necessary for the scenario. After all, I didn't want to completely overwhelm someone new to the game.  This should give you a little more flavor for your games. You can read the original background after the photo and there's more information on the Adventure and Quick Start Kit after the gates. . .  Landscape Photography of Gray and Brown 2 Storey House 82936526   ©   creativecommonsstockphotos   |   Dreamstime.com...

  Elf Lair Games has officially signed on with Studio 2 Publishing to distribute English language tabletop RPG product, beginning with  Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars .  I couldn't be more excited about this partnership. It stands as the next big step in expanding our reach as a publishing company, and we look forward to getting our games into the hands of as many players as possible. Studio 2 is just the company to make that happen. Making this transition was a big step for Elf Lair and signing on with Studio 2 is a huge development for us. This represents a vital move towards what I hope will be a bright and exciting future for the company. The partnership will greatly expand the reach of  Elf Lair Games , allowing its presence in physical gaming stores and major online retailers. Elf Lair recently made the transition from a small PDF and print-on-demand company to a traditional offset publisher thanks to a successful Kickstarter in October 2019....

Elf Lair Games has officially signed on with Studio 2 Publishing to distribute English language tabletop RPG product, beginning with Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars .  I couldn't be more excited about this partnership. It stands as the next big step in expanding our reach as a publishing company, and we look forward to getting our games into the hands of as many players as possible. Studio 2 is just the company to make that happen. Making this transition was a big step for Elf Lair and signing on with Studio 2 is a huge development for us. This represents a vital move towards what I hope will be a bright and exciting future for the company. The partnership will greatly expand the reach of Elf Lair Games , allowing its presence in physical gaming stores and major online retailers. Elf Lair recently made the transition from a small PDF and print-on-demand company to a traditional offset publisher thanks to a successful Kickstarter in October 2019.  About Night Shi...

 Let's be honest: It's more than likely that there's a supers supplement for Night Shift: VSW on the horizon some day in the future. Here's the trick, though: you don't really need it to do supers with the game as it stands. You could do a street level supers game with NS:VSW exactly as it sits, and you'd still be well within genre. Look at TV shows like Arrow or Batwoman  on the CW or the Netflix Marvel shows for examples of how street-level supers can be dark urban fantasy at its finest.  Hell, consider Blade as an example of how the superhero genre can be mixed with horror. It's certainly not outside of the wheelhouse of Night Shift to experiment with superheroic games, particularly if you keep it at "street level" abilities.  Let's check out the easy ways you can do superheroes with Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars Start with the Supernatural Race In Night Shift: VSW, you have essentially two options for your character ...

  This is one of the most common questions game designers get in the modern era of game design. Everyone's looking for the latest, new and unusual thing, and that's understandable. So what do I answer when people ask me what's so innovative or new about Night Shift: VSW?  Nothing.  That's right; there's nothing in the mechanics or system that's particularly new or innovative in  Night Shift: VSW.  Now, before you throw up your hands and say, "Why bother, then?" Let me elaborate.  There's No Such Thing as Innovative Mechanics The simple truth of the matter is, the  vast  majority of designers who use "innovative" as a claim to fame for their game are at least one of two things, and very often both:  1. Trying to be different for no other reason than to say they're being different, often at the expense of playability. 2. Simply wrong.  Most so-called innovative mechanics are smoke and mirrors at best . The truth is very simple: dice exi...

Well, folks, we have officially fulfilled our first Kickstarter! Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars has completed shipping (save for a couple local hand deliveries and a few stragglers who haven't paid for shipping).  Our original target date for release was May. Due to a printer delay (that's the middle of their busy season) we actually released and started fulfilling around late June. I'm given to understand that completing fulfillment within 2 months of the target date may be a Kickstarter record!  Okay, that's a bit hyperbolic, but still. Given how many companies take 6 months, a year, even longer to fulfill, I'm pretty pleased that our first one was done that quickly. Doing it myself without the help of a fulfillment service was a challenge, but I only really had 3 hiccups where I overlooked increased pledges for extra books--those were corrected immediately by sending out the extra books.  Next step: complete the few books and works I have in devel...