"Doesn’t matter if it’s June or December. The story’s always the same. It starts on a dark and stormy night, and it ends with someone bleeding in the gutter..."
We at Epic Table Games have been working diligently to bring Dark Noir to life, carefully planning our BackerKit campaign to ensure a successful launch. Dark Noir is more than just a game—it’s a global effort. While we are based in the United States, our team of writers and artists spans the world, reflecting the truly international nature of the tabletop role-playing community.
However, the current economic uncertainty, particularly concerning tariffs and international trade, has made it impossible to establish price points that align with our commitment to affordability and sustainability. Rather than compromising on quality or accessibility, we have made the difficult decision to delay our crowdfunding efforts until the global marketplace stabilizes.
This is not a cancellation—Dark Noir is still coming. The streets of Ironport City may never be safe, but they will always be waiting.
In Dark Noir, you play an investigator navigating the rain-slicked streets of Ironport City—a sprawling, fractured metropolis where power lies in the hands of the corrupt, and the supernatural thrives just out of sight. A maze of shadows and intrigue the city is a place where creatures of myth walk five steps behind us, hiding behind the veil of modern life. Some rise to the dizzying heights of power, while others scrape by in the back alleys, doing whatever it takes to survive.
Your case files are filled with chilling accounts and unsettling mysteries. A young man found dead in a locked apartment, his body twisted and desiccated, as though drained by unseen hands. A taxi driver vanishing mid-shift, leaving behind a blood-streaked cab with no sign of struggle. A broken building on the outskirts of the city that no one remembers entering, but from which people find themselves leaving with fractured memories and the strange sensation of missing time.
The supernatural isn’t distant or otherworldly—it’s deeply intertwined with the city. The vampires aren’t hiding in remote castles; they’re cutting deals in Ironport’s boardrooms and stalking prey in rain-drenched alleys. Werewolves moonlight as gang enforcers, while other, stranger beings lurk in the shadows, manipulating the city’s undercurrents for their own gain.
But you’re not here to save the city—it’s too far gone for that. The edifice is rotten, it’s streets soaked in blood, and the darkness is a force to be reckoned with. But in this damned place you can still push back against the tide. Solve one more case. Save one more life. Maybe even offer the people of Ironport a moment of hope before the shadows take you down.
The more you investigate, the clearer it becomes that these aren’t isolated cases. Each discovery leads to another, revealing threads that tie the mundane and the supernatural into a web of danger that threatens not just the city but the fragile world it holds together.
How long can you keep fighting, knowing the house always wins?
The Dark Noir System is a simple D20 system akin to D&D or Pathfinder where your hunches are the difference between uncovering the case or being silenced before you get closer to the truth.
