Time for one last update before Dirt City Blues hits Backerkit Crowdfunding on October 21.
First things first: If you still haven’t downloaded the free Quickstart, grab it right now [HERE].
Second: if you think you’ll back the campaign, now’s the time to lock down the dry-erase city map. It’ll be available during the campaign as a 15€ Add-On or included in the All-In pledge—but right now, during pre-launch, you can get it for just 1€. When the clock runs out, so does the deal.
In this update:
What’s inside The Folder
Episode 3 of Raffaele’s Dev Diary
A quick peek at the Pledge Levels
Strap in. One last ride before the chaos begins.
The Folder
You might’ve noticed that the Slipcase comes with a weird yellow thing stuck to the side. What the hell is that?
We call it The Folder—and it’s where the secrets of Dirt City go to die.
Designed to look like a real detective’s case file, The Folder is a collection of bonus content, unlocked primarily through Stretch Goals. At launch, it’ll already include:
A Problem called “Living and Dying in Fort Reagan”
A new District for Dirt City: “Sparkling Hill”
Each of these comes as its own insert: several pages of hooks, NPCs, complications, and scenes you won’t find in the Core Book. And we’ve got more in the works, including content in wildly different formats… but we’re not blowing that surprise just yet.
Almost every Stretch Goal in the campaign will end up in the Folder, except for certain chapter expansions and (maybe) an alternate play mode that fits better in the Core Book itself. You’ll get all the details when the campaign goes live.
Dev Diary – Episode 3
So, funny story: Raffaele actually wrote four parts for his Dev Diary, but we’re almost out of pre-launch runway, and I don’t want to hijack your inbox.
So we’re saving the final chapter for the live campaign. Until then, here’s Episode 3, straight from the mind behind the madness.
Take it away, Raf.
In Dirt City Blues, by now you’ve probably figured it out, you’re stepping into the blood-soaked boots of a classic, hard-boiled Badass. The kind of tormented antihero ripped straight from a certain type of action cinema.
Now, don’t let the ‘80s setting fool you. These aren’t your clean-cut, jingoistic muscleheads from early Reagan-era blockbusters. We’re dealing with damaged goods—closer to the morally bankrupt legends of Sin City, or the dysfunctional wrecking balls in The Boys. Sure, those started as comics, but once they hit the screen, they felt like home. Grit, guts, and more than a little guilt.
And yeah, throw Kill Bill in the mix (the greatest movie of all time, don’t @ me). That thirst for revenge, the trail of trauma, the deadly beauty of consequences catching up with you? That’s Dirt City Blues in a nutshell.
You want more recent examples? Try Reacher, especially that killer second season where the old crew gets back together for one last dance. Or Nobody, with Bob Odenkirk dropping bodies like baggage he thought he left behind. That character might as well have rolled out of our rulebook: a man trying to escape who he was, only to find he still is… a Badass.
As for RPG influences, there are two big ones.
First, Cthulhu Dark by Graham Walmsley—an elegant horror-investigation game that gave me the push I needed to flesh out the structure of Problems in Dirt City. Huge thanks to Graham for being generous with feedback and offering sharp advice when it mattered.
Second? Dogs in the Vineyard by Vincent Baker. That game showed me, probably for the first time, how damn fun it is to drown your players in responsibility, and then sit back and watch what breaks first: their morals or their minds.
After all, in Dirt City, the Badasses are the last unleashed dogs in a city that forgot how to bark.
Pledge Levels
You came here to see the goods, so here they are.
We had two simple goals with this campaign: keep it tight, and keep it affordable. No second mortgage required. Whether you’re a PDF purist or someone who likes the feel of bloodstained cardboard in your hands, there’s a pledge level for you—even if you live in a country tormented by dumb tariffs and weird shipping rules.
Pledges start at 19€ for digital, and top out at 85€ for the All-In. No bloat. No filler. Just the best damn game we could make, packed with love, grit, and the occasional shell casing.
Two quick things before I vanish into the alley:
The campaign goes live October 21 at 18:00 CET / 9:00 AM PDT
We’re doing a 60-minute livestream to celebrate, chat, and answer your questions starting 15 minutes after launch (18:15 CET / 9:15 AM PDT).
Set a reminder here (it will be broadcasted also on the campaign page):
