Night’s Black Agents won two silver ENnie awards for Best Game and Best Writing, and was nominated for Best Rules, Best Interior Art and Product of the Year. Find out why!
Night’s Black Agents puts you in the role of a deadly secret agent, taking down the forces of darkness.
Bring your favorite high-octane spy thrillers to the table with Night’s Black Agents from legendary designer Kenneth Hite (Trail of Cthulhu). Have friends who love console shooters? This is the tabletop RPG for them! Access the eyes-only Resources page for blank agent dossiers, quick-reference sheets, a 20-minute demo and more — but sweep for tracking devices first.
The Cold War is over. Bush’s War is winding down.
Then you got out, or you got shut out, or you got burned out. You didn’t come in from the cold. Instead, you found your own entrances into Europe’s clandestine networks of power and crime. You did a few ops, and you asked even fewer questions. Who gave you that job in Prague? Who paid for your silence in that Swiss account? You told yourself it didn’t matter.
It turned out to matter a lot. Because it turned out you were working for vampires.
Vampires exist. What can they do? Who do they own? Where is safe? You don’t know those answers yet. So you’d better start asking questions. You have to trace the bloodsuckers’ operations, penetrate their networks, follow their trail, and target their weak points. Because if you don’t hunt them, they will hunt you. And they will kill you.
Or worse.
Night’s Black Agents brings the GUMSHOE engine to the spy thriller genre, combining the propulsive paranoia of movies like Ronin and The Bourne Identity with supernatural horror straight out of Bram Stoker. Investigation is crucial, but it never slows down the action, which explodes with expanded options for bone-crunching combat, high-tech tradecraft, and adrenaline-fueled chases.
Updating classic Gothic terrors for the postmodern age, Night’s Black Agents presents thoroughly modular monstrosity: GMs can build their own vampires, mashup their own minions, kitbash their own conspiracies to suit their personal sense of style and story. Rules options let you set the level of betrayal, grit, and action in your game. Riff from the worked examples or mix and match vampiric abilities, agendas, and assets for a completely custom sanguinary spy saga.
The included hook adventure gets the campaign going; the included city setting shows you what might be clotting in Marseilles’ veins even now. Rack silver bullets in your Glock, twist a UV bulb into your Maglite, and keep watching the mirrors … and pray you’ve got your vampire stories straight.
“It’s very well written, basically allows you to run or play in every spy thriller subgenre with vampires or not, and it adds a lot to the Gumshoe system without feeling too complicated. If you are interested in spy games you should definitely check this game out, I doubt you’ll find anything better anytime soon.”
“If you want to feel like a badass, get this book. If you’re sick of Twilight, get this book. If you want compelling player-versus-player that doesn’t ruin campaigns or friendships, get this book.
Hell, if you like roleplaying games, get this book. It thoroughly deserves its spot as a nominee for Best RPG of the Year, and I’m very much looking forward to giving it a try.”
“I liked last year’s preliminary version of Night’s Black Agents, and this confirms and extends that. It’s a brilliantly assembled volume with amazing layout and compelling writing. It’s certainly my favorite of the line.”
“Filled with innovative features that help create a unique gaming experience”
“If you like scary vampires, if you like espionage games, if you’re looking for a dark, modern game of horror investigation, I heartily recommend you pick up this book“
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Cover Artists: Alessandro Alaia, George Cotronis, Chris Huth, Phil Reeves
Pages: 232
Cover Artists: Dennis Detwiller
Interior Artists: Stefano Azzalin, Francesca Baerald, Gennifer Bone, Jeff Brown, Tyler Clark, Nyra Drakae, Dean Engelhardt, Melissa Gay, Brittany Heiner, Jérôme Huguenin, Chris Huth, Christian Knutsson, Anna Kryczkowska, Erica Leveque, David Lewis Johnson, Pat Loboyko, Rich Longmore, Amanda Makepeace, Juha Makkonen, Angelus Nex (Tina X Filic), Olivia Ongai, Margaret Organ-Kean, Nathan Paoletta, Jen Estirdalin Pattison, Brittany Pezzillo, Jeff Porter, Danielle Sands, Biddy Seiveno, Patricia Smith, Ernanda Souza, Marc Steinmann, Ashley Vanchu, Alicia Vogel, Britney Winthrope, Olivia Catroppa, Will Jobst, Gill Pearce, Joachim de Ravenbel, Simon Rogers, Ralf Schemmann
Pages: 368
Cover Artists: Jérôme Huguenin
Interior Artists: Juha Makonnen
Pages: 488
Cover Artists: Denis Detwiller, Jérôme Huguenin
Interior Artists: Stefano Azzalin, Francesca Baerald, Gennifer Bone, Jeff Brown, Tyler Clark, Nyra Drakae, Dean Engelhardt, Melissa Gay, Brittany Heiner, Jérôme Huguenin, Chris Huth, Christian Knutsson, Anna Kryczkowska, Erica Leveque, David Lewis Johnson, Pat Loboyko, Rich Longmore, Amanda Makepeace, Juha Makkonen, Angelus Nex (Tina X Filic), Olivia Ongai, Margaret Organ-Kean, Nathan Paoletta, Jen Estirdalin Pattison, Brittany Pezzillo, Jeff Porter, Danielle Sands, Biddy Seiveno, Patricia Smith, Ernanda Souza, Marc Steinmann, Ashley Vanchu, Alicia Vogel, Britney Winthrope, Olivia Catroppa, Will Jobst, Gill Pearce, Joachim de Ravenbel, Simon Rogers, Ralf Schemmann
Cover Artists: Alessandro Alaia, Phil Reeves
Pages: 144
Cover Artists: Alessandro Alaia, David Lewis Johnson, Phil Reeves
Pages: 128
Cover Artists: Jesús Blones, Luigi Castellani, Raina Kuptz, Margaret Organ-Kean, Miguel Santos, Biddy Seiveno, Patricia Smith, Jeff Strand
Pages: 112
Cover Artists: Mary Lillis, Jesús Blones, Luigi Castellani, Raina Kuptz, Amanda Makepeace, Olivia Ongai, Margaret Organ-Kean, Miguel Santos, Alicia Vogel
Pages: 192
UNCLASSIFIED
The following materials are available for use by all agents. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Special Activities Division through PERISCOPE NORWAY channels.
A link to a third-party site doesn’t mean that we agree with or endorse all of the opinions on that site. The resources are available under the Community Use policy, and all are copyright Pelgrane Press Ltd unless otherwise noted.
- Online Character Generator – The Black Book
- Basic blank character sheet (pdf)
- Much cooler blank character sheet (pdf) by Matt Breen
- Much cooler blank character sheet in German (pdf) thanks to Matt Breen for the creation, and Andreas Meier for the translation
- Super-cool, calculating character sheet thanks to Matt Breen – needs Acrobat Reader 11, and make sure to turn on the “highlight existing fields button.”
- Fillable character sheet by Spencer Sanders
- Modified fillable character sheet (adjusted to reflect the changes in Double Tap) – by Spencer Sanders
- Fillable character sheet replacing “Vampirology” with “Fringe Science” (to support a game dealing with alien invasion in the 60’s) by Spencer Sanders
- Google Sheets character sheet by Michael Parker (this is an external link – we accept no responsibility for any issues)
- Another Google Sheets character sheet by Yago Roig (this is an external link – we accept no responsibility for any issues)
- Blank agent dossier (pdf)
- Blank agent dossier (pdf) by Karl Fordham
- 6 pre-generated characters (xls) – doubles up as a character generator courtesy of Kevin Kulp
- 6 pre-generated characters in dossier format
GM Advice
- The Quick and Bloody Guide to Bluffing Night’s Black Agents at Conventions
- How to design a Night’s Black Agents adventure
GM Resources and Cheat Sheets
- Blank Conspyramid (pdf)
- Appendices, including tables and quick reference sheet
- Thriller Chase Lead Track US letter
- Thriller Chase Lead Track A4
- Player Rules Handout for conventions including GUMSHOE 101
- GUMSHOE cheat sheets
- GUMSHOE 101 for players and GMs by Kevin Kulp (useful for all GUMSHOE games but specifically Night’s Black Agents)
- The Zalozhniy Quartet – Flowchart of scenes and events from The Zalozhniy Sanction by Pedro Ziviani
- The Zalozhniy Quartet – Flowchart of scenes and events from Out of the House of Ashes by Pedro Ziviani
- The Zalozhniy Quartet – Flowchart of scenes and events from The Boxmen by Pedro Ziviani
- The Zalozhniy Quartet – Chart of NPCs from Out of the House of Ashes by Pedro Ziviani
- The Zalozhniy Quartet – Chart of NPCs from The Boxmen by Pedro Ziviani
- Thriller Combat Action Cards in English, by Tim Charzinski
- Thriller Combat Action Cards in German, by Tim Charzinski
- German translation of the advice to players from (S)Entries, by Tim Charzinski
- Dracula Dossier Resource page – featuring articles and downloads specific to the Dracula Dossier
Chase Cards (pdf) – from Aleksi Nikula
- Night’s Black Agents GM Tips – by Kevin Kulp.
- Night’s Black Agents achievements – by Will Plant
- Refreshing Monologues – by Jonathan Turner
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Click the thumbnails below to go to the image – they may require adjusting, depending on your device.
- Excess Baggage – Kevin Kulp’s 20 minute demo.
- No Choice, Pal – A full scenario by Alasdair Sinclair
- Pleasures of the Flesh – Another full scenario by Alasdair Sinclair
Downloads
- Download the Night’s Black Agents Dracula Dossier character sheet here
- Download a Blank Conspyramid
- Download Perveniet Calix, a Dracula Dossier Series Pitch by Ryan Macklin
- Download the Dracula Dossier theme tune by James Semple
- Download a cross-referenced PDF of nodes, characters, and places in the Director’s Handbook, by Rickard Gudbrand
- Download a Director’s Screen, by Ben Riggs
- Download the Scapple and XML files for datavisualising the Dracula Dossier here
- Download an Edom Suspyramid (Repeat) and Edom Suspyramid (Refer) by Nick Ingham
- Download a Dracula Suspyramid (Repeat) and Dracula Suspyramid (Refer) by Nick Ingham
Adventures
- The Free RPG Day adventure Swords Against the Dead/The Van Helsing Letter now available for download.
Character Sheets
- Download a blank 1890s Edom Files character sheet
- Download the Stoker: First Blood character sheets
- Download The Slayer Elite character sheets
- Download the generic Cold War-era Edom Files character sheets
- Download the generic modern-day Edom Files character sheets
Articles
- Read the original 1894 Agents’ character stats here
- There’s a discussion on rpg.net about how to tackle running the campaign
- Ken explains how to use Icons and 13th Age Relationship rules in the DD
- Scenario writer Ruth Tillman wrote up her thoughts on the Dossier so far
- Gar writes up prompts for Dracula NPCs
- Ken looks at how to integrate Dracula movies into your game in 31 Days of #Dractober
- Bringing a bibliomantic element to your Dracula Dossier (or Bookhounds of London) campaign with the sortes Virgilianae
- Gar suggests video-game-style Achievements for your Dracula Dossier campaign (and **FOR GMs ONLY, FOLLOWING LINK CONTAINS SPOILERS** some secret ones, too)
- Gar looks at how mind maps can help you plan sandbox campaigns like the DD
Things that were left out of the Dracula Dossier due to lack of room
- Ken’s Quick and Dirty look at Varna
- Ken writes up the Ring of Dracula
- Gar writes up The Vordenburg Diary
- Ken looks at Hawkins’ Aeneid
- Not left out, but there’s a Hand of Glory in Whitby Museum
Actual Play
- Ken ran a Night’s Black Agents game for the One Shot Podcast, and all four parts are now up. Bonus Intro * Part 1 * Part 2 * Part 3 * Part 4
Interviews
- Ken & Gar interview each other on io9
- Ken & Gar answer questions on obskures.de
- Ken features on the Ideology of Madness and On RPG podcasts
- Ken is interviewed by the Blurry Photos podcast
- Ken is interviewed by The Escapist and Saving The Game podcast
- Ken’s favourite Dracula Dossier interview, on the Plot Points podcast
- Gar joins The Adventuring Party podcast to talk about vampires
- A transcript of Ken and Gar answering audience questions on RPG.net
- The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast’s four-part series on Dracula features an interview with Ken
Fan-created extras
- A write-up of Dorian Gray, by Nick Ingham
- A write-up of Good Lady Ducayne, by Nick Ingham
- Write-ups of the Edom Field Manual‘s szohordoks as innocents, by Nick Ingham
- A write-up of The Countess Sarah Kenyon, by Michael Daumen
- A write-up of Mrs. Amworth, by Michael Daumen
Free previews
- The Hungarian
- The Earthquake Machine
- Argentina
- Director’s Handbook preview
- Dracula Unredacted preview
Social media resources
- Dracula Dossier Actual Play Facebook page
- @NBAgents on Twitter
- @SISDRO on Twitter
- Night’s Black Agents Facebook page