The Experiment — A Story of The Shifting Nightmare

THE EXPERIMENT 

  A Shifting Nightmare Game

You came to Camp Clearwater as a documentary crew chasing a story about buried government secrets. Now your vehicles are sabotaged, the road is blocked, your phones are dead, and something is awake in the dark. Subject Zero, a child twisted by decades-old experiments, has been waiting a long time for new prey.

The Experiment is a cooperative survival-horror board game for 2-8 players. Unlike a typical haunted-house crawl, you are not simply exploring, you are being actively hunted. Subject Zero moves every round, drawn toward noise and toward the nearest survivor, growing more dangerous as the game goes on. You must search the camp for four hidden serum components, assemble the neutralization serum, and defeat Subject Zero in a final confrontation, all while staying one step ahead of a relentless pursuer.

Every game is different. The map is built from modular location tiles that shuffle into a new layout each time, so no two playthroughs of Camp Clearwater unfold the same way.

What's inside:

• Complete core rulebook (screen and print-ready booklet versions)
• The Experiment, a full standalone scenario with its own rules, setup, and climactic finale
• 8 playable survivors, each with unique stats and special abilities
• 16 double-sided location tiles, plus challenge cards, resource cards, serum components, and all tokens
• Print-and-assemble instructions

You'll need: a printer, paper (card stock recommended for cards and tiles), scissors, some six-sided dice, and one twenty-sided die.

Players: 2-8 (4-6 recommended)

Play time: 90-120 minutes 

Difficulty: Moderate

An introductory ruleset gets new players going quickly, with an optional Standard Game layer that adds character abilities and deeper strategy once you know the basics.

The Shifting Nightmare is a system built for many stories. The Experiment is the first, more scenarios to come.