Barbabianca is a storytelling game about how hard times and easy answers can destroy a community

Barbabianca is a collaborative storytelling game about an old man and an angry mob. The designer debut of Cristian Sisto - with illustrations by Cecilia Ferri (Brindlewood Bay, Lost Roads) and Maria Guarneri (Glitch, Crescendo Giocoso) - Barbabianca will be released by NessunDove, an independent Italian publisher specialising in unconventional RPGs - including The Magus & The Oracle by Ennie-nominated designer Momatoes, and Crescendo Giocoso: a collection of live action roleplaying games written by Oscar Biffi & the Italian Chamber Orchestra.

Taking inspiration from Italian anti-fascist authors like Italo Calvino and Cesare Pavese, and Neorealist film directors Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica, Barbabianca is a rich exploration about the essential need for community, and how hard times and easy answers can turn people against each other - topics that are as relevant now, as they were 100 years ago.

In Barbabianca, players take the role of villagers living in a quiet town set in the Italian countryside, at the turn of the 20th century. Over the years, this town has hoarded, hidden, and held onto a bounty of secrets and suspicions, many of which revolve around Barbabianca: an elderly mute who becomes a sacrificial lamb for the sins of the whole community. Many years ago, the village was forever changed by a cataclysmic event that threatened to reveal the truth about exactly behind the old man and the true soul of the village.

Playing Barbabianca requires zero preparation. Almost everything players need is found within the game box, which contains both the rules and game materials as a collection of laminated sheets that can be used and reused across multiple playthroughs.  

The game begins with players choosing from a selection of roles; such as the mayor; innkeeper; and local school teacher. The group then creates their own village by drawing out key buildings onto a laminated map, with each building set to be the site of an encounter with the titular Barbabianca. As their respective roles, players will take turns sharing their memories of Barbabianca, acting out various scenes where they might come across the old man, witness him doing something, or see someone else interacting with him - but never hearing him speak.

Between tales, players will write down rumours about Barbabianca or another role on a sticky note, whether true or false, that can be shared or twisted by the rest of the group. Players are also tasked with writing down their characters’ most shameful secret, knowing they might be revealed along with Barbabianca’s own.

At the end of the game, each player decides whether to reveal their shameful secret or keep it hidden. Choosing to share a secret could save Barbabianca from mob justice, at the cost of forcing the village to confront the harsh truth about themselves. Refusing to confess has the players setting their secrets alight with a match or lighter, representing the burning of Barbabianca’s beard by the village mob, the erasure of the truth, and the refusal to do better.

Barbabianca is unlike anything else - an entirely unique storytelling, map-making, roleplaying game created by a team of talented creatives who are keen to continue telling meaningful stories, whilst expanding beyond their passionate Italian-language fanbase.

A crowdfunding campaign for Barbabianca was launched on February 2nd as part of Zinetopia 2026, an event that highlights and celebrates smaller tabletop RPGs made by smaller creators. There will also be a seperate one-page game that's thematically tied to Barbabianca, called Greetings From Anna, available exclusively for backers to pick up during Zinetopia. Additionally, anyone who backs the campaign in the first 48 hours will receive a bonus enamel pin.