The celebrated noir comic book series Blacksad has been adapted into a tabletop roleplaying game. The new TTRPG is published by Nosolorol Ediciones and is now available on DriveThruRPG.
Blacksad, created by writer Juan Díaz Canales and artist Juanjo Guarnido, is an Eisner Award-winning series known for its stunning watercolour art and gritty detective stories set in 1950s America. The world is populated by anthropomorphic animals, with private investigator John Blacksad, a black cat, at its centre. The comic has already been successfully adapted into the popular video game Blacksad: Under the Skin.
The new Blacksad: The Roleplaying Game core rulebook is a comprehensive guide designed to bring the comic’s unique atmosphere to the gaming table. The publisher, Nosolorol, claims that the system is fast and intuitive, enabling players to create complex characters in just minutes. The rules are built to handle the key themes of the source material, including tense action, chases, seduction, and the moral quandaries that define the noir genre.
Fans of the series will be pleased to find that key characters from the comics are included with game stats and biographies. Players will have the option to step into the trench coat of John Blacksad himself or play as allies like Commissioner Smirnov. Antagonists such as Hans Karup and Ribs are also detailed, ready to be deployed by the Game Master.
The book also provides extensive advice for designing noir stories, complete with ready-to-use settings and non-player characters to populate the gritty world. For groups wanting to dive straight into the action, the rulebook contains a full-length adventure, four shorter scenarios, and numerous adventure seeds.
The original comic book series was first published for the French market by Dargaud before being released in the creators’ native Spanish. It has since been translated into dozens of languages, with Dark Horse Comics publishing the English editions, which are available from retailers like Waterstones.
The franchise’s first interactive outing, the video game Blacksad: Under the Skin, was developed by Pendulo Studios and released in 2019. It put players in control of Blacksad for an original story, combining investigation, puzzles, and dialogue choices that influenced the narrative. The game was praised for capturing the look and feel of the comics and is available on Steam.
Based in Madrid, Nosolorol Ediciones has over fifteen years of experience, publishing Spanish-language editions of major international TTRPGs, such as Vampire: The Masquerade and Dune: Adventures in the Empire, as well as developing its own successful games.
Quick Links
- Blacksad The Roleplaying Game.
- Blacksad in hardback.
- Blacksad: Under the Skin.
