Hello fellow survivors! Before we dive in, I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has already followed and shared the campaign. We only announced Ink Ribbon a few days ago, but the response so far has been almost overwhelming. It’s awesome to see there are so many people out there who want a game like Ink Ribbon, so thank you!

For our first update, we want to introduce the designer of Ink Ribbon — me! My name is Emmet Byrne, I’m an Irish game designer living in Ireland, and I’ve been working in the tabletop game industry for over 8 years. I’ve worked on a lot of games over the years, including Doctor Who, The Lord of the Rings, Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere RPG, and every flavour of Warhammer. 

Ink Ribbon is a game that’s been swimming around in my head for years, in one form or another. I’m a huge fan of survival horror video games, particularly the Resident Evil series, and though there are a ton of horror tabletop RPGs I love, none have quite managed to capture the feeling of creeping through the Spencer Mansion or the RCPD, scrounging for supplies, and frantically trying to reorganise your inventory so you can carry everything you need.

With Ink Ribbon, I wanted to bring all my favourite mechanics from survival horror video games to the tabletop. When I started designing it, I made a list of the things I loved or felt iconic about my favourite games. You can see the list below (but good luck reading my handwriting!)

If you’ve taken a look at the Quick Start Demo, I think you’ll see all of these things in there! Translating these beloved tropes to the tabletop has been one of the most enjoyable challenges I’ve had as a designer. In particular, I struggled with the logic of why enemies don’t just bust into safe rooms and was trying to create rules to justify it. Until I decided to just lean into it — there’s no logic to it; that’s just how it works! Once I had made that decision, everything flowed much more smoothly. Embracing the genre's weird quirks gave me way more freedom. I didn’t need to explain why Gunpowder + Resources = Handgun Ammo; the people this game is for (you fine folks) would just get it!

I’m so happy to finally be able to share my shambling mutant creation with you all. As a huge fan of the genre, I want to give other fans the survival horror TTRPG they’ve always dreamed of — so I want to hear from you! Comment down below or join the discussion on Discord and let us know what you want to see. Cordyceps infected humans? A monster with geometry for a face wielding a giant sword? A town that succumbs to the whims of a pulp horror author? Let us know what you want and what type of games you’re planning on running with Ink Ribbon.