Nightingale: The City of Stolen Dreams

The City hums. Neon bleeds into gutter water. Forgotten gods trade favors in smoke-filled rooms. Dreams rot under streetlights.

You are a Hexer; thief of secrets, broker of magic, breaker of rules, carving your name into a City that will never remember you kindly.

Nightingale: The City of Stolen Dreams is a narrative-forward tabletop RPG for stories of struggle, power, loyalty, and the price of ambition. Built for high-risk heists, dangerous magic, and the slow, brutal poetry of survival.

In This Game, You Will...

• Forge your fate with a fast, flexible D6 dice pool system.
• Risk it all with a card-driven ritual magic system where every spell is a gamble.
• Carry your burdens through Vice and Stress mechanics — or burn bright and final with The Night Bird’s Last Song.
• Shape the City through Contracts, Patron allegiances, and the blood-earned legends of your Coven.
• Walk the line between ambition and oblivion in a world that devours the bold and forgets the meek.

If you're ready to deal, dream, and bleed... The City is waiting.

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How Nightingale Plays

Core Resolution:
Players roll pools of six-sided dice (D6s) built from their Attributes. The more 5s and 6s you land, the harder you hit. Rolls are cinematic, dangerous, and meant to push you into bold choices.

The Four Attributes:
- Might: Strength, force, grit.
- Sharps: Cunning, knowledge, sharp edges.
- Duel: Agility, reflex, steel nerves.
- Charm: Influence, empathy, manipulation.

Card-Based Ritual Magic:
Rituals are gambles. You build poker hands from a standard deck to cast spells — the better the hand, the more powerful (and dangerous) the magic. Players can Ante Coin for more draws, or go All In and face the City's judgment if they dare.

Vice and Stress:
Every Hexer has a Vice that keeps them standing — drink, love, violence, faith. Ignore it too long and Stress piles high. Hit your limit, and you might crash hard — or call on the Night Bird’s Last Song to blaze your final legend into the City’s bones.

Patrons and Covens:
Hexers survive by forging Covens — loyal (or not-so-loyal) crews — and cutting Contracts with powerful Patrons. Patrons offer coin, power, and damnation in equal measure. Every choice stains the City a little deeper.

Oracle Elements:
Omens, signs, lucky draws — the City speaks if you're willing to listen. Loose, narrative-driven, never mechanical unless you choose to make them bite.

Campaign Play:
Built for sharp, blood-bright seasonal arcs or long-haul campaigns where the scars pile up and the streets remember every betrayal.

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Credits

Written and Designed by: TR GRIMM 

Developed for: Twisted Crystal Games' 2025 Street Grimoire Game Jam

Special Thanks: To every City that dared us to dream in neon and broken glass.

Unofficial Spotify Playlist: Listen to the Nightbird's song here