Nightmare Generator

Use these d100 tables to generate disturbing nightmares for investigators who sleep. Nightmares can serve as:

🌙 Nightmare Themes (d100)

Roll for the central theme of the nightmare:

d100	Nightmare Theme
01-05	Being chased by something unseen through endless corridors
06-10	Falling through darkness forever, never hitting bottom
11-15	Unable to scream or call for help despite danger
16-20	Watching loved ones die, unable to intervene
21-25	Drowning in viscous liquid that fills lungs slowly
26-30	Body parts detaching and crawling away independently
31-35	Mirror reflection acting independently and malevolently
36-40	Teeth falling out one by one, endless and painful
41-45	Being buried alive, soil pressing down relentlessly
46-50	Childhood home warped into nightmare version
51-55	Everyone you meet has the same blank face
56-60	Your words come out as incomprehensible sounds
61-65	Paralyzed while something approaches your bed
66-70	Realizing you're already dead and don't belong here
71-75	Doors and exits vanish as you try to leave
76-80	Insects crawling under your skin, visible movements
81-85	People you know accusing you of terrible crimes
86-90	Witnessing your own death from outside your body
91-95	Time loops: reliving same terrifying moment repeatedly
96-00	Something pretending to be you in your life

Roll for where the nightmare takes place:

d100	Nightmare Setting
01-05	Abandoned hospital with flickering lights
06-10	Endless library with impossible architecture
11-15	Childhood school after dark, empty
16-20	Foggy cemetery with moving shadows
21-25	Derelict subway station, trains never arrive
26-30	Family home with rooms that shouldn't exist
31-35	Underwater city of impossible angles
36-40	Forest where trees bleed and whisper
41-45	Carnival or fair after everyone has left
46-50	Church with inverted crosses and backwards prayers
51-55	Empty city streets, wrong colors in sky
56-60	Basement that goes down infinitely
61-65	Museum where exhibits come alive
66-70	Theater showing a play about your life
71-75	Meat locker filled with familiar faces
76-80	Office building, all coworkers are corpses
81-85	Beach where ocean is made of darkness
86-90	Asylum where you're told you've always been
91-95	Void with floating doorways to nowhere
96-00	Investigation site, but everything is wrong

Roll for specific disturbing details to add:

d100	Nightmare Element
01-05	Clock ticking backwards, time running out
06-10	Writing that changes whenever you look away
11-15	Laughter echoing from everywhere and nowhere
16-20	Photographs of events that haven't happened yet
21-25	Hands reaching from walls, floors, ceiling
26-30	Your face on other people's bodies
31-35	Objects aging and decaying before your eyes
36-40	Gravity shifts randomly, physics don't work
41-45	Everyone speaking in unison
46-50	Symbols burning themselves into surfaces
51-55	Blood seeping through walls like sweat
56-60	Dolls or mannequins turning to watch you
61-65	Music box playing same tune endlessly
66-70	Shadows where there should be light
71-75	Voices of the dead calling your name
76-80	Your hands covered in blood, source unknown
81-85	Eyes opening on walls, ceiling, floor
86-90	Screaming that won't stop, gets louder
91-95	Realization you're the monster everyone fears
96-00	Entity from investigation appears, knows things it shouldn't

Optionally, roll on this table to include a clue to the investigation (presented symbolically):

2d10	Prophetic Element
2	Vision of next victim, but face obscured
3	Symbolic representation of killer's identity
4	Location of next event shown in distorted way
5	Date and time appear repeatedly everywhere
6	Warning from dead victim about what's coming
7	A name spoken over and over in different voices, never clearly enough to catch
8	The culprit's hands, doing something incriminating, without the rest of them visible
9	A map or route shown in reverse, as if traced by something fleeing
10	An object - mundane but specific - that will appear at the scene before the investigators recognize its significance
11	The same door appearing in multiple scenes; what's behind it is never shown
12	A conversation between two people whose faces can't be seen; the words are almost intelligible
13	Symbols or writing visible in reflections but not on direct surfaces
14	A sequence of numbers that corresponds to nothing obvious yet
15	The victim's perspective in their last moments, but compressed and scrambled out of order
16	A location seen from an impossible angle - underground, above the ceiling - revealing something hidden
17	Everyone in the dream looks wrong in the same specific way; the wrongness is the clue
18	A figure that is clearly not human moving confidently among people who don't notice
19	The sound of something that should be silent - a photograph, a painting, a page of text
20	The dreamer sees themselves from outside, doing something they have no memory of and no desire to do