NIGHT TRAILS
By NathanKlas
Photo by Eberhard Grossgasteiger: Mountain Peaks During Night Time
OVERVIEW
Landscape photographer ALLAN HART disappeared in a blizzard during a solitary, multi-day hike through Devil’s Peak. Agents are helicoptered in to find him, posing as search-and-rescue officers. They aren’t told why.
After reading The King in Yellow, Allan found future polaroids from Hyades, then travelled to take them. The Agents’ handler saw them in those polaroids, then covertly activated them, fearing a deadly official response.
GAMEPLAY
Agents explore Devil’s Peak until sunset, then survive Hyades.
- Agents describe their worst Nightmare.
- 10AM: Agents land. Clear skies. 4pm pickup.
- 2PM: Surprise snowstorm delays pickup until morning.
- 6PM: Night falls. Agents enter Hyades.
- ALL LOCATIONS EXPLORED / SESSION ENDING: Begin the Finale.
HYADES
A surreal mountain turned nightmare dreamscape beyond space, time, or reason. There are many intentionally loose threads; reinforce player interpretations in strange, unexpected ways.
In each area – Trails, Caves, and Halls – Agents keep travelling between random locations, which are generally only used once. Encounters divide and guide Agents to new locations and areas as needed. Improvise the finer details.
- DEATHLESS: Agents ignore insanity and injury here. Secretly track SAN loss.
- 0 HP: Further damage absurdly reduces both WP and SAN (floating to safety, light spilling from wound).
- DREAM LOGIC: When Agents interact with Hyades, secretly roll 0/1 SAN.
- Success: Logical consequences, like backtracking.
- Failure: Illogical consequences, like bleeding statues.
- RADIO: Occupied by static, distant sobbing, and loud chewing (-1 SAN).
JUDGEMENT
Classify and record Agents’ actions on the Annals of the King. Clarify intent if unsure.
| PHILOSOPHY | ACTION | REACTION |
| Optimist | Investigate. Interact. Help. | ENCOURAGE |
| Pessimist | Fight. Destroy. Intimidate. | PUNISH |
| Realist | Ignore. Run. Hide. | PROVOKE |
DEVIL’S PEAK
RIVERSIDE TRAIL
Agents land here, at Allan’s last-known GPS signal. Separate footprints lead 2 hours either direction: uphill (Castle Passing) and downhill (Sawmill).
- Alertness – Discarded GPS: A polaroid in the empty battery compartment.
- Polaroid: [Agents + 1] figures, climbing a staircase in a clearing. The back reads: “Losing their chains. [All Agents], Allan.” (0/1 SAN).
- Backtracking: More footprints appear while unobserved.
2PM: Whiteout obscures footprints.
- Travel – Navigate, or: Get lost, emerging somewhere impossible 2 hours later (0/1 SAN).
NIGHT: From the peak, a blinding spotlight disorients Agents. Enter the Trails (-1 SAN).
CASTLE PASSING
Twin waterfalls flank a one-room cave entrance. Footprints lead in, and endlessly up the trail.
CAVE: Overflowing with oddities. Bloody sheets stretch between chairs, coffins, minecarts, and marble statues.
- Dungeon: A ‘bottomless’ hole, roughly 4’ wide.
- Search: An oil-soaked polaroid in an empty coffin.
- Polaroid: An Agent, caving, shining a light on their Nightmare. A shadowy silhouette is circled. The back reads: “Leave me alone. [Agent], Bob.” (0/1 SAN).
- Alertness: Charred handprints move unobserved objects (0/1 SAN).
NIGHT: From the dungeon, brilliant sunlight disorients Agents. A new passage enters the Caves (-1 SAN).
SAWMILL
A mill whose adjoining cabin has long since burned down. Footprints lead in, and behind.
MILL: Colonial. Waterlogged. Graffitied. Ruined, rusty metal.
- Search: A polaroid, jammed between gears.
- Polaroid: Four sheet-wrapped figures, one child-sized, playing with wooden animal toys in a firelit parlor. The back reads: “Rest well, little sheep. [Two Agents], Sally, Bob” (0/1 SAN).
- Alertness: A massive mountain man walks by, then disappears. His footprints continue for miles (0/1 SAN).
BEHIND: 11 unintelligible tombstones. A wooden toy horse is freshly placed before one.
NIGHT: Light beams outline the door’s frame, disorienting Agents. It enters the Halls(-1 SAN).
TRAILS
TRAVEL
The blinding blizzard rages. Follow footprints uphill between locations.
- CON*5 or Survival: Resist 1 damage (frostbite).
LOCATIONS
- CABIN: Seemingly abandoned. A man sobs inside.
- Inside: Rotten sheet-wrapped bundles hang from meat hooks. A discarded backpack holds a sobbing tape recorder, a permanently-broadcasting radio, and a polaroid. A door enters the Halls (-1D2 SAN).
- Bundles: Contain loved ones’ corpses (-1D2 SAN).
- Polaroid: The handler, through their apartment window at night. The back reads: “DO YOU FEEL SAFE?” (-1 SAN).
- Development: Hunter returns.
- Ignore – Alertness: Avoid bear trap (1D6 damage, trapped).
- ELEVATOR: The snowstorm intensifies. Oil-slickened marble statues of miners (including likeness of Pessimists) line up outside an elevator cage painted on the mountain.
- Painting – Dream Logic: Enter the Caves (-1 SAN).
- Ignore: Take 1 damage (frostbite). Unobserved, the cage squeals open (-1 SAN).
- STAIRCASE: Isolated in a clearing.
- Touch: A floating door appears, connected to the staircase by swimmable cloud waves. Then an Avalanche begins.
- Door: Leads anywhere (-1D4 SAN).
- Ignore: Repeats every second location (-1 SAN/repeat).
ENCOUNTERS
- HUNTER: A massive mountain man. Bear mask. Nonverbal. Slow. Targets one Realist.
- Invincible: Stunned by 10 Damage.
- Axe: 60%, 1D8 damage, stun. Then seeks to wrap the victim in sheets and hang them on a hook (1D4 damage, -1D2 SAN).
- AVALANCHE: Explosion! Rumble… Avalanche!
- Athletics: Avoid 2D6 damage, -1 SAN, and isolation.
CAVES
TRAVEL
Uneven pitch-black passages down between locations.
- Luck: Flashlight works.
- Darkness: Isolate Agents. A charred, warm hand guides them (-1D2 SAN).
LOCATIONS
- CHISLER: A spotlight illuminates an empty marble pedestal. In shadows, a curtain has a sign: “Leave me alone.”
- Place Something on Pedestal: A marble duplicate slides under the curtain (-1 SAN).
- Curtain – Open: A little mole-masked man chars to a crisp (-1D4 SAN).
- Avoid: Pedestal shatters, causing an Earthquake.
- NEST: Moonlight spills from an exit to the Trails. In an alcove, within a nest of oiled marble limbs, a giant glowing egg begins hatching.
- Egg: Holds a trembling, transparent, oily lizard. Its visible heart shines.
- Nurtured: Leads Agents to their greatest desire (-1D4 SAN).
- Otherwise: The Angler Maw returns.
- WELL: Above a large pool, light shines from a hole in the ceiling, where a bucket lowers. Then a wooden toy horse falls in, and a girl shyly calls down.
- Pool: Brackish, corpse-filled water. CON*5: Resist 1 damage (burns).
- Bucket: Climb rope into the Halls (-1 SAN).
- Girl: Wants her toy. Scared of strangers.
- Ignored: Girl falls and drowns (-1D4 SAN).
ENCOUNTERS
- ANGLER MAW: A floor-to-ceiling gaping maw silently creeps forward, hidden behind the glare of the light beaming from its throat. Looks like a flashlight (-1D4 SAN).
- Bite: 60%, 1D10 damage, -1D2 SAN, and wake oil-slickened elsewhere.
- EARTHQUAKE: Oily rockslide.
- DEX*5: Avoid 2D6 Damage, -1 SAN, and pinned.
HALLS
TRAVEL
Wooden hallways. Bright lamps. Traverse absurd geometry between locations (-1 SAN):
- CONVEYOR BELT: Dumping furniture, statues, and Poisoned Pilgrims into the Caves.
- FRAMED POLAROID: Twelve animal-masked people (including likeness of Optimists) sail towards a shimmering city. Repeats 12 times. Details change every time.
- OUTDOOR BRIDGE: Cloud waves descend into the Trails.
LOCATIONS
- PARLOR: Twelve partying Poisoned Pilgrims pressure Agents (especially Realists) to drink with them.
- Drink: Brackish water. Heal 1D6, bleed from mouth (-1 SAN).
- Resist: Pilgrims escalate.
- WORKSHOP: An active sawmill. Two Poisoned Pilgrims stop playing to shyly mimic Agents.
- Sawmill: Swinging saw and exposed rotating machinery entangle loose clothing (1D10 damage).
- Playing: Acting out an Agent’s Nightmare with wooden toy animals (-1 SAN).
- MAZE: Tall bookstacks form labyrinthine walls. In the middle, a blonde girl plays with matches, standing in oil.
- Scared/Ignored: She screams, instantly engulfed in flames (-1D4 SAN). Cue Fire.
- Rescued: She becomes a blonde sack doll (-1 SAN).
ENCOUNTERS
- POISONED PILGRIMS: People wrapped in sheets. Bloodstained mouths. Sweet-rot musk. Nonsense croaking (-1 SAN).
- Exposed: Collapses. Reveals a loved one’s corpse (-1D2 SAN).
- Sheet Wrap: 40%, target disappears under sheet, emerging anywhere (-1D2 SAN).
- FIRE: A burning support beam falls, splitting the party.
- DEX*5: Avoid 1D4 Damage/round (fire). Repeat to jump across.
FINALE
Regroup Agents by Philosophy. Run finales in order.
ESCAPE: Suffer delayed SAN loss and injury.
- 0 SAN: Stuck in Hyades forever.
- 0 HP: CON*5 to survive.
- 0 HP + 0 WP: Dead on arrival.
REALISTS – RETURN
Agents Escape from the Sawmill at dawn.
PESSIMISTS – DESCEND
A crashing wave of black oil sweeps Agents away (1D4 Damage, -1D4 SAN). They wash ashore an underground skeletal city. Towers of charred corpses shake as distant, colossal creatures prowl. The heart illuminates the city with a beam of light.
HEART: The golden, tank-sized machine powering Hyades. Gushes oil between heartbeats.
- Deals 1D6 damage/Agent/turn (sunburns, vomiting oil, manifesting Nightmares).
- 0 WP: Turn to marble.
- Armor: 3.
- HP: [Agents*10].
- Destroyed: Hyades implodes. Pessimists regain +2D6 SAN.
Dead or alive, Agents Escape, trapped in the Dungeon for 12 days (1/1D6 SAN helplessness).
OPTIMISTS – PEAK
Agents ascend a mountaintop island above fluffy cloud waves. A longboat points towards a distant, shining city. A “home” sign points down the trail. Between, the Shepherd reigns upon his wooden throne. Snowy footprints approach the throne, then the longboat (-1D10 SAN).
- HOME: Agents Escape, lost in the mountains for 40 days (1/1D6 SAN, helplessness).
- SHEPHERD: Goat-masked. Yellow cloak. Communicates calmly through gestures.
- A gloved hand extends towards Agents. He requires meaningful payment to board. In exchange, Agents receive an animal mask (player’s choice).
- LONGBOAT: 12 seats, as many empty as there are Agents boarding.
- Bear-Masked: Massive mountain man. Holds whittling tools.
- Mole-Masked: Small charred man. Holds a chisel.
- Raven-Masked: Modern man. Weeps, holding a polaroid of this moment.
- Shepherd: Holds a red pen. Ferries everyone to Carcosa. THE END.
ANNALS OF THE KING
| Agent |
| Nightmare |
| Starting SAN |
| SAN Lost in Hyades |
| Optimist Actions |
| Pessimist Actions |
| Realist Actions |
| Notes |
Credits
Night Trails was written by NathanKlas for the 2025 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aYo4lrhIBB3FBjjgQZK6GXNBEqAa34isXvzYhCb5bpQ/edit