Welcome to Night Vale (11/15/2025)

GM: Yeldar Zhurgenov
Players: Sean Nittner, Mike Hutchinson, Michelle Bancroft, Laura Quinn, June Harless, Peter Hymel
System: Welcome to Nightvale

I was excited to play Welcome to Night Vale the moment I spotted it on the schedule, and it did not disappoint. Here was the pitch for the game:

Welcome to Night Vale: The Case of the Vanishing Street

One morning, the citizens of Night Vale wake up to discover that Somerset Street has simply disappeared. The players must investigate: Is it still there but just somewhere else?

Yeldar set out a bevy of characters that came with the game (and a few Kickstarter extras) and we got started with:

• CJ Navarro – Three armed jovial barista with a huge crush on Carlos (Sean)
• Deja Taylor-Smith – Skateboarding civil engineer who has to build her own projects because the city always shuts them down (Laura)
• Margaret Briarwood – Flower girl and a friendly face in Night Vale. Floats. Veteran of the Blood Space war.
• Cormac O’Sullivan – Four headed dragon running for mayor. Each head practices a different form of law (Amanda)
• Brad – Tiny scorpion security guard at Ralphs. Knows better that to go into the hole where people are huddling (Peter)
• Tawney D’Angelo – A salt of the earth kind of gal. Car park attendant and veteran of the Blood Wars. (June)

The game started with the realization that we were all going to visit a friend at Somerset Street but Somerset Street didn’t exist (so aid the Sheriff’s Secret Police over their megaphones when we arrived) and none of us could remember who our friend was.

Eventually, by visiting the Library, Community Radio Station, the Museum of Forbidden Technology, Carlos’ Lab (how dreamy!), Rico’s Pizza, the pit behind Ralphs, the house that doesn’t exist, the Dog Park, the City Council, and then the Dog Park again, we renewed the permit for Bloom and Bonbons (revoked on account of having never existed), entered the pocket dimension (like an omelette?) and found our friend Miranda, who had trapped everyone inside a never ending Hour of Wonder festival.

Laura took much more detailed notes that I copied after class. Here’s some highlights she captured and/or that I remembered:

• Being chased by a roving pack of paper bags
• The the people in the pit saying “no one wants to huddle with me” when we declined entering.
• Pamphlets on ripening and unripening bananas in the library
• Three slobbering librarians with claws, tentacles, and the smell of burnt coffee
• Finding billionarre Markus Vanstrom trapped in a cocoon. Once rescued he put huge stacks of cash in our hands (despite being naked) and the walked away as we were all too poor to talk to him.
• Brad’s driving (having to go back and forth between the petal and the wheel). Our best driver.
• Brad making paper mache sign of approval out of money for Deja who never got any approvals on paper before.
• The calculator section in the Museum of Forbidden Technology being set inside the exhibit on practical application of lasers. Oh no!
• Carlos… so dreamy.
• Big Rico’s pizza. With no crusts. Just cheese and sauce in a bowl. As all pizza always is. mmmm…pizza.
• Leaving a cup of coffee for Claire, who was facing some really existential dread with a label that said “Claire, it’s okay”. And thus getting our permit signed instead of denied.
• Scientists street fighting. Hurling theorems and knives.

Thoughts on the game

This was a delightful tour de force of Night Vale. We probably didn’t hit ever part of it, but everywhere we went was delightfully reminiscent of the show. Yeldar and everyone at the table did a great job of making the quirky, spooky, cozy town come alive.

Having played it once, I’m not sure I’d do it again though. I feel like almost any second game would feel repetitive (revisiting the same features of the city) or just a let down in comparison to the fun we had. CJ gives it three thumbs up!