My latest tabletop wargame project, When Nightmares Come, is an occult investigation/supernatural warfare game. Set in the modern era, vigilante monster hunters work together to track down and put an end to an otherworldly threat before it puts an end to them.
Another solo and cooperative game like Exploit Zero, Nightwatch, and Insurgent Earth, Nightmares is the latest iteration of the same, core mechanics but modified to accommodate an enhanced narrative element. Calling it a ‘tactical RPG’ makes it sound more sophisticated than it is; it’s still just an excuse to put cool minis on the table and start rolling dice. Nightmares offers a tool box for generating a campaign story line to go along with the epic battles, and introduces some consequences for the non-combat scenes and challenges.
MINIATURES?
When Nightmares Come is also another ‘open-miniature’ game – which is biz-speak for “doesn’t have an official line of figures” – and I wonder if that will hurt or help the game in the long run. I get a kick out of tracking down or converting miniatures for game scenarios. But unlike sci fi or standard fantasy minis, there’s not a lot of modern era monsters or non-military monster hunters out there. I suspect I’ll see a lot of repurposed Zombicide minis representing the heroic but misunderstood civilian vigilantes of today’s Nightwatch.
For creatures though, that wretched diversity of Cthonic, Demonic, Cursed, Afflicted and otherwise vicious and ugly beast that terrorize humankind from the shadows, I’m guessing boardgame figs will be a good source. Ebay has helped me out in this regard. But it’s still tough to locate themed figs for every tier of adversary. Maybe the game will get enough traction, enough press and table time, that one or two of the outstanding 3D sculptors out there will whip up a range of themed baddies. I’d be all for that.
WHEN?
Good question. Slated for Osprey Wargames’ Blue Book range, Nightmares’ release window is early next year. The full rules are complete and with the editor, so now we’re in the trim the fat, tighten the flow, exterminate those typos phase. That should be enough time to hammer it into shape for the wargaming public.
There are other hobby-projects in the queue, but for the foreseeable future, I’ll devote some writing time to a couple fiction projects that have languished. Including Part 2 of the post-apoc fantasy, Shattered Worlds.
That’s all for now. Game hard. Have an excellent day.
STALKER7 
I’m going through a sci-fi cop/detective show theme at the moment, so although “When Nightmares Come” is set in the modern era, I imagine that I will happily shoehorn into a more Bladerunner/Robocop themed environment without much concern about plausibility.
I love seeing these iterations of the Exploit Zero/Nightwatch/Insurgent Earth engine being assigned to themes that I enjoy.
Keep ’em coming please!
Hey, good to hear from you.
Nightmares is Nightwatch for the modern era. Add a twist of horror and a bit more detail for the narrative component. Monster Hunt in a Supernatural/Kolchack the Night Stalker kind of way.
Oddly enough, I have a Sci-Fi police game in the queue for late this year. Farlight: Law and Order at the Ragged Edge of the Galaxy. (working title) More on that story, later though.
Have a good weekend.
I guess you’re not following the monster hunter international game KS, otherwise you would know that there will be lots of figures for ‘hunters’ and of course ‘monsters’ players can use for your game.
Of course, there’s always the concern they’ll want to play in that setting and not yours, but I think the blue-book Ospreys have enough moxie that they’ll appeal.
Link to KS:
Hunh… No, I hadn’t heard of it. But now just spent ten minutes looking up the game, the books, the author. I’ve never read them. Or anything by Mr. Correia, in fact.
Nightmares is a reskin of my Nightwatch game with an additional layer for the narrative component. Open-miniature, open-world, there’s no proprietary setting to speak of. I took my cues from the old ‘Kolchack the Nightstalker’ series and the John Steakly book, ‘Vampires’. (BTW, have you read ‘Armor’?)
Have to confess my first thought was not concern over competing for tabletop time but if he’s going to threaten litigation like WJW did over ‘Hardwired’ because he somehow trademarked the phrase ‘monster hunter’ or somesuch nonsense. The trend I see in these KS miniature board games is they make a huge splash but end up parted out on eBay a year or so later.
Nothing new under the sun, I guess. Thanks for the heads up. Have a good day.
Nay, no worries Monster Hunter International is the name of the series, but monster hunters is not trademarketable, and Larry is cool. Write a gripping story too.
Anyhoo, the figures were what I was thinking of, you can get a whole bunch of them from the late backer kit options.
Sounds like I’ll need to keep my eyes open for appropriate miniatures. It’s a shame that almost everything (miniatures and terrain) that’s reasonably modern tends to be post- apocalyptic. I suppose it will give me another use for the terrain I’ve been collecting for Insurgent Earth and superhero gaming.
Hi Adam,
I hear you. I’ve had good luck finding hunters at Hasslefree, and some of the Zombicide figures work. Anvil Industry modular figs could do the trick as well. For ‘not-ruined’ terrain, I suspect superhero games would be a solid source. I’m having a tough time finding themed sets of adversaries that represent the different tiers/castes of creatures, vermin up to BBEG atrocity though. Still hoping to inspire a couple of those 3D sculptors.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a good one.