Night's Black Agents — Vampire spy thriller

"Burn your cover. Kill the conspiracy."

Diced6 (GUMSHOE)

Players2–5

Prep~30 min

Foundry VTTOfficial

Complexity

What is this system

Night's Black Agents drops burned spies into a shadow war against a vampire conspiracy that has infiltrated Europe's intelligence services. Built on the GUMSHOE engine, it fuses Bourne-style tradecraft with Stoker-style horror: Investigative abilities guarantee the clues that keep the mystery moving, while crunchy combat, chase, and thriller subsystems handle the violence. Heat, Trust, and Cover track the paranoia of life out in the cold. Directors kitbash their own vampires from four secret natures, so no two conspiracies unravel the same way.

Setting

There is no fixed metaplot. The action ranges across a contemporary Europe of safehouses, night trains, and offshore accounts, from the Marseilles docks to Baltic capitals. Somewhere beneath the intelligence agencies, banks, and criminal networks, a vampire conspiracy pulls the strings, and its true nature — Supernatural, Damned, Alien, or Mutant — is decided by the Director. Agents map their contacts and cover identities, then follow the blood upward through the conspyramid to the monster at the top.

What it looks like at the table

Your agent crouches over the corpse in the Vienna safehouse. You have Forensic Pathology, so there is no roll — the Director simply tells you the bite wounds were made after death, and a 1-point spend reveals traces of an anticoagulant used in blood banks. Minutes later a vampire scion crashes through the door. Now the risk bites: you push three points from your Shooting pool into the attack, roll a d6, add three, and beat Difficulty 4 — your rounds punch home before it closes the distance.

Playstyle

Mystery Action Horror Modern Weird

Key mechanics

Investigative Abilities

Abilities like Forensics, Streetwise, and Notice never fail. If your agent has the skill and looks in the right place, the Director hands over the core clue automatically — no roll required.

General Abilities & the d6

Fighting, driving, and hacking are risky. You spend points from an ability pool, roll a single d6, and add them together to beat a Difficulty the Director may keep hidden.

Heat, Trust & Cover

Loud jobs raise Heat and draw the authorities down on you. Trust binds the cell together but can be burned to betray it. A blown Cover identity is gone for good.

Four Vampire Natures

The enemy is never fixed. Directors secretly build their vampires as Supernatural, Damned, Alien, or Mutant, deciding which legends are true and which are lethal misdirection.

What people say

However, if you ever wanted to play James Bond beating the crap out of Dracula, you're never going to find a better game for it than this.— Dave Chalker, Critical Hits

Night's Black Agents comes bearing gifts. And you should invite it in.— Justin Alexander, The Alexandrian

Every version of the GUMSHOE rules improves on the last and Night’s Black Agents is no exception.— Rob Wieland, Flames Rising

Art & materials