The Black Box
*personal side project
*game design
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*game design
Credit to Stefan Koidl for the above artwork.
Background
Playing TTRPGs or Tabletop Roleplaying Games (ex. Dungeons & Dragons) and watching horror movies are two of my greatest passions.I realized that there was an unseized opportunity to combine the two genres under one banner, providing a new experience for oldschool gamers and a familiar cultural touchpoint for those just entering the roleplaying hobby.
The Concept
The Black Box is a tabletop roleplaying game based on 80s B-horror movies and occult divination rituals. The players take control of custom horror movie victims and attempt to save their souls in an epic showdown against a near-unconquerable evil.The victims are fated to die, but through player ingenuity, teamwork, betrayal, and chance, some may yet find a way to survive.
Shoutout to Ryan Cuming (CW) for collaborating in initial concepting, early art design, and social media marketing tactics! Additional thanks to all my playtesters!
Methodology
Like any other project, I created a plan, conducted extensive research, prototyped, analyzed, strategized, and iterated.
- Read more than 22 TTRPG books (16 rule books and 6 adventure modules, most being over 200 pages long - great creative output requires great creative input)
- Secondary research (read and watched dozens of articles and videos and prowled through hundreds of forums and blog posts about game design, adventure design, and rule systems)
- Watched & analyzed countless 80s horror movies (as well as horror films from different decades)
- Prototyped 8 different game systems for the Black Box
- Created 5 unique story scenarios, confining settings, and terrifying monsters
- Playtested with 6 different rulesets (each with 3-7 players, some were TTRPG experts and others were newcomers)
- Conducted 6 focus groups (feedback sessions from players in each playtest)
- Made 6 post-mortems (assessing how the playtests worked, unexpected outcomes, and how well the rulesets completed the desired design objectives)
Example of one of my favorite TTRPGs. Blades in the Dark is about a group of scoundrels pulling off Ocean’s 11-style heists set in a dark fantasy city (most easily described as Peaky Blinder’s Birmingham, but haunted).
Design Objectives
While these objectives might initially seem simple to a hobby outsider, to any designer familiar with TTRPGs, they are daunting. Below each of the listed objectives is an explanation of its underlying challenge.
1. Each game can be completed in a single sitting (called a One-Shot in TTRPG lingo)
Most TTRPGs are not completed in a single sitting but instead are played over the course of dozens of multi-hour sessions lasting months or years.
2. Intuitive rules that can be understood by someone who has never played a TTRPG before The Dungeons & Dragons 5E Player’s Handbook, the most popular “entry-level” TTRPG, is 320 pages long and could take years to fully master.
3. Each game has a non-linear, player and chance-driven narrative (never a story on a railroad)
Pacing a TTRPG to be completed in a single sitting is generally considered near impossible for non-linear story structures.
4. The game’s rules need to be highly replayable with many different story scenarios Creating a game which is both simple to play and still fun after many sessions requires a level of hidden depth within the rules that is difficult to achieve.
5. Evocative 80s horror movie theme to allow for quick and easy player buy-in Immersing players in the theme of 80s horror within each scenario requires early and clever use of pop culture references and tonal details.
Most TTRPGs are not completed in a single sitting but instead are played over the course of dozens of multi-hour sessions lasting months or years.
2. Intuitive rules that can be understood by someone who has never played a TTRPG before The Dungeons & Dragons 5E Player’s Handbook, the most popular “entry-level” TTRPG, is 320 pages long and could take years to fully master.
3. Each game has a non-linear, player and chance-driven narrative (never a story on a railroad)
Pacing a TTRPG to be completed in a single sitting is generally considered near impossible for non-linear story structures.
4. The game’s rules need to be highly replayable with many different story scenarios Creating a game which is both simple to play and still fun after many sessions requires a level of hidden depth within the rules that is difficult to achieve.
5. Evocative 80s horror movie theme to allow for quick and easy player buy-in Immersing players in the theme of 80s horror within each scenario requires early and clever use of pop culture references and tonal details.
The Rules
Rather than listing the entire rulebook for this case-study, I will instead show a tailored selection of some of the most impactful rules and the design thinking behind them. Some game terms are not defined in this document, but can be found in the full ruleset. A copy of the current rules can be found in this document.
The Basics of Roleplaying
The Black Box is a roleplaying game at its core and functions similarly to other roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons. It is played by a group of people around a table who create a collaborative story together with the help of chance (often in the form of rolling dice).
The particpants of roleplaying games include players and one Game Master. The players control the main characters of the story, act as they would, and help tell the story through the decisions they make as these characters. The Game Master is in charge of the overall plot, describes the setting, narrates events, plays supporting characters and villians, and adjudicates the rules. Their primary function is to make sure the players are having fun and that a great story is being told.
The Black Box is themed as an occult ritual and as such refers to itself as the Ritual, its players as cultists, the characters they control as victims, and its Game Master as the Shaman. While the specific rules of the Black Box and its terminology may differ, it is still a roleplaying game at heart.
The particpants of roleplaying games include players and one Game Master. The players control the main characters of the story, act as they would, and help tell the story through the decisions they make as these characters. The Game Master is in charge of the overall plot, describes the setting, narrates events, plays supporting characters and villians, and adjudicates the rules. Their primary function is to make sure the players are having fun and that a great story is being told.
The Black Box is themed as an occult ritual and as such refers to itself as the Ritual, its players as cultists, the characters they control as victims, and its Game Master as the Shaman. While the specific rules of the Black Box and its terminology may differ, it is still a roleplaying game at heart.
Victim Creation
Each victim is made up of a combination of cards which have written descriptors on them. There are no numbers, attributes, or stats like in normal TTRPGs. Instead, cultists make arguments for why the cards in their hand should make it easier for their victims to perform certain tasks. If the argument is accepted by their fellow cultists and the Shaman, they add one additional die to their roll for each relevant card, increasing their chances of success in that task.To create characters, the Shaman will ask the cultists a series of questions. Each cultist will write 2-3 answers to each question on seperate blank cards and then put them in a bowl in the center of the table. Once everyone has put in their answers to a question, each cultist will draw one card at random from the bowl. This card becomes a core part of their victim’s personality. The process continues until each question is answered and every cultist has a full hand of cards (3-5 depending on the scenario).
EXAMPLES OF VICTIM CREATION QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
What is your name & major in college?
- Dabel Dennis, Theatre major
- Track club
- Smooth talker
- Anger Issues
- Lost the college championship table tennis match on purpose so I could go out with a member of the opposing team
The bulleted items above would be the cultist’s cards and makes up the personality and skills of their victim.
DESIGN THINKING
This character creation system is designed to function similarly to the start of many improv games and should be an entertaining part of the process itself. By allowing cultists to create their own descriptors, it helps make each Ritual feel unique to every group. By randomizing which cards the cultists ultimately recieve, it ensures that no “min-maxing” can occur - this means that cultists cannot purposefully create a victim who is perfectly tailored to succeed. Every victim will be unique and strange and unpredictable.
This character creation system is designed to function similarly to the start of many improv games and should be an entertaining part of the process itself. By allowing cultists to create their own descriptors, it helps make each Ritual feel unique to every group. By randomizing which cards the cultists ultimately recieve, it ensures that no “min-maxing” can occur - this means that cultists cannot purposefully create a victim who is perfectly tailored to succeed. Every victim will be unique and strange and unpredictable.