Teen Noir TTRPG 2e #Zinequest

Content warning - harm to teenagers

This page below includes one non-graphic image that implies harm to a teenager. More generally, this is a game set in the teen noir genre and so playing this game will often involve references to violent crimes where teenagers are the victim and sometimes also perpetrator.  

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Teen Noir TTRPG - A Game Without Master

Just because you're not guilty, doesn't mean you're innocent.

Teen Noir is a tabletop roleplaying game intended for one-shots or a small number of linked sessions about a group of friends. Well, they used to be friends at least. Each story revolves around a central crime to which the teens are linked by secrets from their past and present. By the end, one will have their guilt revealed, one will take the blame, and sometimes they may even be the same person.

Noir can be many things. For me, noir is stories of the excluded, the outsiders, the betrayed, those who feel they have place in their communities or who have had that place taken from them. Within our teens’ community there are those who care very deeply about how things look. They care more about how things look than how they really are. With the help of others, they enforce a code of silence to conceal anything that mars the community’s reputation. Their reputation. Each game will define who dictates the code, who enforces it, a specific group who has suffered because of it and who resists it. As the game progresses and secrets are revealed, each teen is pushed further and further away from the protection of obedience and towards the fringes where they may choose to defy the code but risk everything to do so.

This is a Game Without Master, its engine is the revolutionary ttrpg Swords without Master by Epidiah Ravachol. This kickstarter is from the same designer as last year's Overboard Adventures on the Rampageous Sea. 

The finished zine will include:

• full rules
• example characters
• play advice
• plus a brace of setting concepts (communities and their codes) for your group to make your own.

FAQ

Is this a Veronica Mars TTRPG?

I love Veronica Mars, but this is not a game about spunky teen detectives outwitting the didactic headmaster, corrupt police chief or scandal-ridden mayor. While our teens do investigate the central crime of the game, they do not choose to be detectives, they do it because they are the suspects. This is a game with characters who have known each other their whole lives and yet are now wondering if they truly know each other at all.

Is the solution to the crime / mystery set in advance?

No, Teen Noir is an emergent mystery game. None of the players at the start of the game knows the truth of the crime. Instead, this is developed through procedures during the course of the game.

Why is this a second edition?

I wrote the original Teen Noir many years ago primarily as a design exercise. I put the 'ashcan' version of it up on sale and, without any promotion or marketing on my side, it proved to be a consistent seller. Players, including myself, are curious about this genre. The rules however were written during a time when most gaming was face-to-face and involved a particular card mechanic which was difficult to use online. I'm doing this second edition for two reasons: one to add some artwork from the awesome Aviv Or, second to completely overhaul the rule-set to make it easier to play online and incorporate improvements in ttrpg design, especially around mysteries, since the first edition.

What about safety tools?

Certainly. The Noir genre often includes mature, challenging and even distressing content. Using teenage characters can amplify this as the victims (and sometimes perpetrators) are on the cusp of adulthood and can, in some ways, still be seen as children. While the teenagers within the game may often be harmed or at risk, the players should never be so. There are certain elements to the game design that support safer play, but I will also encourage groups to use those player safety techniques with which they are most comfortable. 

What counts as financial hardship for the financial hardship pledge?

It's entirely your call as to your own situation. I will ask no questions and will not be treating backers at the financial hardship level any differently from the PDF level.

Will you or the artist be using AI in any way in this project?

No.

Credits

Epistolary Richard - he did the writing

Called a 'stalwart' of the UK indie ttrpg by some, Richard has run or aided various different projects supporting the hobby in his time such as producing the What's Hot in Indie TTRPGs seminars and Year in Review retrospectives, organising networking events for ttrpg writers and publishing The Playmakers zine back in the very first Zinequest. Last year's Zinequest he funded and published Overboard Adventures. Many years ago he wrote a few Warhammer novels.

Aviv Or - she did  the art 

Aviv Or is a UK-based illustrator with a focus on characters and comics. She works mainly in the tabletop games industry, and is the co-creator of the TTRPG webcomic and Savage Worlds setting Crystal Heart. Her portfolio is at avivor.com, and she shares art and makes silly word games as @avivor on Bluesky.