Bump in the night

A minimalist horror RPG – LARA supplement

The young brunette stands still, her back to a great black tree, in the morning
mist of the forest. She breathes heavily, and seems scared out of her mind!
Unaware of her hiding, the serial killer strides past the girl; her grip tightens on
the big branch she is holding, then she strikes, and runs away. The killer, a hand
on its head, stands up, and begins pursuit again. Why, oh why did she ran instead
of finishing him off? But would you have done better?
Differences with LARA Core rules
This booklet is a LARA supplement, so you’ll need a copy of the core rules and
warehouse supplement to play. Changes from the core rules are as follow.
1. The Combat attribute is replaced with Guts, which is more or less courage
and resilience. As a consequence, combat uses PHY instead of COM to
resolve attacks and GUT instead of COM for Initiative.
2. Characters have a Mind point (MP) counter as well as an HP counter. It
represents the Amount of mental damage (fear, exhaustion, and the like)
the character can bear before being rendered, well let’s say unplayable.
3. Each character has a small amount of Soul points (SP), which are used to
bend the rules in time of dire need. The weaker the hero, the most SP he
starts with.
Classes and skills
Even if it could be fun to look at a group of lambdas get slaughtered, we propose
here three new classes, a bit more powerful.
Schmoe Enforcer Scholar
(Updated lambda) If it can bleed, it can be If someone wrote
Archetype: you, me, killed… about it, then I know
your friend who’s in Archetype: Military, it…
nursing school… criminal, police force, Archetype: University
HP: D6+10 / MP: D6+8 your kung-fu right wing teacher, antiquarian,
/ SP 5 neighbor… your nerdy neighbor…
Skills: 3 upon creation, HP: D6+14 / MP: D6+6 HP: D6+8 / MP: D6+12
general. / SP 3 / SP 3
Skills: 2 upon creation, Skills: 2 upon creation,
Fighting and/or Knowledge or general.
general.
Skills in BIM are divided in three categories: General, Fighting, and Knowledge.
GENERAL (all the skills described in the core rules fall into that category)
Acute senses: choose one of the five senses; +2 to all rolls involving that sense.
Can be chosen up to five times, with a different sense each time.
Reflexes: +2 on initiative rolls, and always go first when tied.
* Endurance: +2 (*+3) to all rolls to resist fatigue and exhaustion effects.
Tough: Can roll PHY (TN9) to ignore 1 point of damage on any injury.
*Strong mind: +2 (*+3) to resist fear and all supernatural effects.
Tinker: Can roll MEN (TN9) to make or find a simple item needed (screw, torch,
bandage…)
Ready: always have 1/6 chance to have the right tool (swiss army knife, car trunk
full of random stuff.
Bad boy/ Girl: +2 to all rolls involving illegal stuff (not combat, whatever the
background).
Punch line: If the character delivers a good punch line before an action, he gets
+1 to his roll.
FIGHTING
*Kung fu: +2 (*+3) on all rolls involving physical violence with bare hands.
* Improvised Weapon: +2 (*+3) to all rolls involving fighting with something that
is not really a weapon.
*Gun fu: +2 (*+3) to all rolls involving firearms.
*Blade fu: +2 (*+3) to all rolls involving blades.
Badass: +2 to all rolls involving violence, intimidation, or bravery.
Shoot first, think never: if wielding two weapons, may attack once with each
weapon. Both attacks must have the same target.
KNOWLEDGE
*Academics: +2 (*+3) to any roll involving something that can be learned at high
school level.
* Mythology: Always have 1/6(*2/6) chances to know something about any
“supernatural” creature or item encountered.
Doctor: can perform first aid (+2) and is never impressed by corpses or flesh
wounds.
Occultist: +2 to all rolls involving magic.
Linguistics: can always roll MEN to translate a text, even if written in unknown
language. The quality of the translation depends on the TN beaten (from 7 (a
rough idea) to 12 (full text with rhymes and all)).
Chemist: can roll MEN (TN9) to identify any compound.
Psychology: can roll SOC (TN9) to calm another character (or himself); can cure
madness and instant craze (see later).
Evolution
Well there are two different ways to handle this: If you play a campaign, do as
per LARA rules; If you play a One-off, kind of a horror movie, you may want your
heroes to toughen on the spot. So, from time to time (you choose, I’d say every
hour, but you may set twenty minutes), give them 1-3 XP, and let them shop (if
they want to). As usual, they may hoard their xp for bigger buys.
Whatever the method chosen, use the LARA XP table, adding the following line:
Learn skill out of skill set 5XP (cannot be mastered)
Opposition rolls
Sometime, an effect will request you to do an opposition roll. Well this is a
normal roll, except the TN is the result of another roll. This method is usually
used to represent a character trying to resist something, or two characters
opposing each other; Arm wrestling, for example, or riddle contest.
Opposition rolls are noted [opp. used attribute]; opp.PHY for an opposition
Physical roll, for example.
Soul points
One Soul point may be expended to generate one of the following effects:
- Ignore one damage roll and apply a terrible hit instead (see below);
- Ignore one roll and apply a critical instead;
- Be at 1 HP instead of dying;
Damages
Terrible hit: When a weapon (cutting or power tool) does its maximum damage,
it is called a terrible hit. This means that the limb hit is torn or cut off, or so
damaged it becomes unusable. Roll in the table to determine the limb
concerned. Remember that rolling head usually means death, but if you feel
playful, just gouge an eye, or enlarge the mouth; body may be torn in half, or
eviscerated. Anyway, the character bleeds (see critical effect later) until he
dies or is patched up, and his HP total is reduced by 2.
Horrible hit: Now, and this is even more fun, if a critical hit does its maximum
damage, the target is dead, and you have to get a bit graphical about it. We
are talking split in twain or torn off rib cage or heart, something gory like that.
Patch-up and regeneration
A character that suffered a terrible hit won’t start to heal until he has been
patched up. Another character must roll MEN (TN9) and have the necessary
supply at hand. If so, the bleeding stops, and the character will start to heal
naturally.
One hour of rest brings back D6 HP, whereas a full night of sleep gives back all
lost HP.
 EQUIPMENT
Since weapon skills in BIN are really broad, and consider categories instead of
specific weapon types, you should stick to the standards used in Lara core. Two
main topics still need to be discussed: one, detailing firearms (modern age and
all), and power tools (gore and all).
Depending on the background, you’ll have a lot of improvised weapons, and a
few guns (cabin in the wood style) or a plethora of diverse firepower (Blade
style), or even no weapons at all (Dario Argento, anyone?). Your choice.
Fire arms
Most fire arms you’ll find in the context will be Hand or shoulder ones (pistols
and guns, namely); most of those will have particularities which will differentiate
those from one another.
Any gun may be small (-1damage), big (+1 damage), light (+1 init), equipped
with a laser pointer (TN -2 to hit), repetition (range -1, Damage +2, critical
DamagexD6), easy to load (you may move and load in one round), precise (+2
range ranks), weighted (may be used efficiently as a blunt contact weapon),
automatic (2 shots per round), single loader (one shot then recharge), dual
loaded (two shots then recharge).
Any shoulder gun may also be sawn off (-2 range ranks, [+D6+2] damage,
critical gore), or pump action (-1 range rank, +D6 damage, critical gore, init -2).
Since Lara is light, bookkeeping-wise, and I like it that way, let’s abstract
ammo: a gun has two possible statuses, loaded and unloaded. A loaded gun
becomes unloaded when it fumbles and gets the out of ammo result; to reload
it, the character needs to spend one full round (he can do nothing else), and
expand a “load” item.
Power tools
Most power tools are at least vaguely usable as a weapon, even if most won’t be
very efficient. Say a brush cutter or driller, very cumbersome for its use. So we
will differentiate 2 general types: the “combat” power tools (Chainsaw, hedge
cutter, Saber saw and the like, which are roughly blades or “cutting clubs”), and
the “non-combat” ones (lawn mower, brush cutter, hand driller…).
The combat ones are considered “normal” weapons but no combat skill may
apply to their use; the non-combat ones are used as improvised weapons. As
you’ll see by the profiles below, Power tools have a very wide damage range,
and devastating critical, but also terrible fumbles.
Special results
All firearms and power tools critical on 11 or 12, and fumble on 2 or 3. As always,
critical produce more damage or special effects as described in Lara. When a gun
or power tool fumbles, roll on the following table instead of the usual one.
1 Hit ally * A jammed weapon cannot be used until un-
2 Hit ally (critical) jammed, which takes 2D6 full rounds.
3 Hit self ** If you roll for a power tool, read “Out of power”;
4 Weapon jammed* an unloaded gun cannot be shot until it is reloaded.
5-6 Out of ammo**
New critical
We introduce in BIN the new critical effect, gore. Gore simply means that any
critical is also a terrible hit, regardless of the actual damage. As usual, a horrible
hit means instant death, just particularly gruesome and painful.

Specific equipment
In the context, a lot of special equipment can be made (say wooden stakes,
crosses, ashes), stolen (holy water, blood) or bought from most grocery store
(salt, cinnamon, knife, candle).
If you need someone more specific, it will usually be background dependant (UV
grenades from blade, a mummy finger…) and whether will be easily available and
priced fair (magic concoction in Buffy context, just go to the magic box) or nearly
impossible to obtain and as such, priceless (magic wands in Bright, antic pazuzu
stone figurine). Obtaining such an item may become an adventure in itself.

Type range damage critical price

Handgun D+ D6+1 shock 15
Shoulder gun D++ D6+2 Shock 20
Combat Power tool C+ 4D6 Gore 20
Non-combat Power Tool C 3D6 Gore 15

Type of ammo Effect Pr/load

Standard -- -- 5
Explosive ammo Damage +D3, critical becomes gore 15
Incendiary ammo damage –D3, sets the target on fire 15
Rough salt Damage becomes 2, critical becomes stun 1
Silver TN +2 to hit, reputedly damage supernatural 25
 FEAR AND MADNESS
Every time the hero witnesses something horrific, he must roll MEN (TN9); the
more successful the roll, the more complete the apprehension of the event, and
with it, the scare.
Madness Roll Effect
When the current MP total falls to 0 (or Fumble No effect
less), the hero must roll for an instant Missed Lose 1 mp
craze, which lasts for 5d6 minutes (5-30 Success Lose 2 mp
minutes); at the end of the craze, his MP Lose d6 mp
Critical
max total is reduced by one, and his + permanent craze
current total is raised to match his max. If
this happens more than once in a single hour, the hero must roll a permanent
craze. When the max total of a hero falls to 0, he is irremediably mad (catatonic,
raving, mumbling, hallucinating, whatever).
Healing madness
MP are recovered naturally, one per day without seeing anything horrifying; lost
Max score points are only recovered one per year without seeing anything
horrifying, up to a maximum of [10- numbers of permanent crazes].
A hero with the psychology skill can try to ease another character’s craziness by
rolling SOC. The TN, number of rolls and frequency, depends on the expected
effect.
- Give back 2 lost MP; TN is [5 + target’s MEN]; once per 6 hour, per target.
- Stop an instant craze; TN is 8; in case of success, the crazed hero gets calm
again; this can be attempted once per instant craze.
- Heal a permanent craze; TN is 12; this can be attempted once a week, each
success lowers the TN by 1; when TN becomes 6, the craze is healed.
D Instant craze Permanent craze
1 Laugh/ cry manically (or both) Physical sequelae**
2 Hurt self (1hp) Nervous tic
3 Faint Hallucinations***
4 Panic attack Phobia (GM’s choice)
5 Vomit Paranoia
6 Do something stupid* Bat shit crazy!****
* run in the monster infested woods with the only car key, open the door…
** White lock of hair, muscular pain in one arm or leg…
*** Talk to someone who isn’t there; see shadows in the corner of your eyes…
**** Roll your eyes, scream on people, foam at the mouth, break stuff.
 OLDER HEROES
Older heroes are not uncommon in the horror genre: how many librarians,
strange shopkeepers, old professors and decrepit priests of varied religions have
fought the forces of evil? To cite a few, Father Merrin, Doctor willet, Rupert
Giles, Dr Gabrielle martin, Elise Rainier and why not, Karl konrad Koreander.
To partake in this long and noble tradition, you first need to create a normal
character, and then age him, which will require a bit of thinking about his life.
1- Remove 1 from PHY score, and add 1 to GUT.
2- Lower HP and MP totals by 4, dispatched as you want (0-4, 1-3, or 2-2) ;
3- Choose up to 3 skills to represent the character’s previous experiences,
adventures and employments. Those can come from any category, and are
mastered if they can be mastered.
4- All XP upgrades cost 1 more XP to buy.

YOUNGER HEROES
Old people are not the only ones who tend to get dragged in horror stories. How
many kids, pre-teens and teens have tackled the supernatural with mixed
success? To mention a few, Bastian, Hansel and Gretel, Randall Peltzer and Kirsty
cotton.
If you want to play a kid, follow those guidelines:
1- Kids before ten have all attributes to 0; for each year over ten, you have one
CP to put in any attribute you want (which gives 7CP at age 17.. And then you
play a normal character).
2- Kids have no class yet, so they start with D6HP, +1 for each year over 10; Kids
have D6MP, but they never lose any from their starting total. A kid which falls to
0MP rolls for an instant craze (or just make it cry), and stays that way until he
can have a rest. He then recovers his starting total.
3- Kids have no skills per say, even if they know things, nothing is sufficiently
precise to really be a skill.
4- kids win XP as usual, but they cannot use them. A kid that reaches 10XP can
use those to buy a class. He keeps his attributes (and keep winning 1 CP per year
until he’s 17) but can reroll his HP / MP with those of his class (the new total
cannot be less than the previous). He can now use his XP as he pleases.
 GM Advice
Mythology: I’m not talking religion here, but immersion. Fear comes from the
knowledge of one’s environment or the absence of such knowledge. If you have
no environment, or if it is impossible to know it, you cannot be afraid, it is as
simple as that. The trick is to preserve internal coherence, so the heroes can
“know” the background, and be surprised when you want them to, by changing
the rules.
Example: Your heroes partake in yet another Ghost hunt, so they took salt, for
they now very well it does stop ghosts; well it doesn’t stop this one! So it is not a
ghost, and they are scared for, once again, they don’t know what they are facing.
Field: horror comes in many flavours, but there are three main fields for it to
express itself; Magic (say monsters, spirits, undead), fringe science (say aliens,
killer robots, most zombies…), and Madness (serial killer, stalkers, maniacs of all
sorts…). Of course, there are crossovers from one field to the next: Jason started
as a simpleton and is now an undead monstrosity, Lovecraft monsters are aliens,
but you can summon them with spells and chants, and, sad but true, Sadako
Yamamura is a computer virus. It is always preferable to stay in one field, and if
you really must, dab in one of the others, but just dab, and never in all three
(unless you are Robert Silverberg, of course, but who is?).
Pull from the dark: If your background has a “dark side”(think star wars, Lord pf
the rings…) you may need to add some kind of morality indicator, and specify its
effects in game; Methods already seen include:
- Star wars D6: you gain points of Dark side when you do bad stuff, and must
roll every time; if you roll equal or lower than your dark side score, you
become a bad guy (and as such, a NPC);
- AD&D²: you have an alignment chosen from 9, which defines your morality,
from law to chaos and from good to bad; if you make decisions
inconsistent with your alignment, the GM may give you a new one, which
can take most of your powers away in some cases; some spells and special
skills target specific alignments;
- Elric and Stormbringer: You have three counters, law, balance, and chaos,
and you gain points in one or the other according to your actions. This
impacts the way you do magic, and the kind of relations you have with the
local “gods”, and the members of their cults (which is more or less
everybody in Elric’s world).
LARA © pierrot and Robertson Sondoh Jr / Bump in the night © Pierrot 2018