Black Flies: How TTRPGs Turned Me Goth
Venturing into a world of darkness after being a silly goose for too long
Black Flies is the first horror TTRPG I've created. It's a gm-less, hidden objective game where you play as members of a cult trying to gather the most followers, resolve omens, and seek your fortune. For up to 5 players with premade characters and quick start rules, Black Flies is a breezy 1-2 hour session of horror and hijinks you can put together on the fly. Back it now on BackerKit
The Beginning
It all started with a question: “What if players were the creepy ones?” You may already be creepy, but what I’m questioning is the dynamics of the players and the gamemaster (GM). In a horror game, the GM is the one that sets the scene, and guides the players through spooky events. What if it was flipped on its head, where the players were the scary ones and the GM were helpless non player characters (NPC)? Would that be fun? Would that be scary? What if it was GM-Less instead?
A TTRPG that leaves you buzzing for more...
I toyed around with this idea when I was vending at PAX East. I thought about cultists that could turn into a cloud of flies, like vampires turning into bats. Mere minutes after having this thought, David Szilagyi stepped up to my booth and showed off his horrific Pokemon drawings. I took one look at David's demented Chansey and knew I had to make Black Flies a game.
The Goal
In Black Flies, your goal is to score the most points by having the most Followers, performing Abilities, and completing your Fortune (your hidden objective). Black Flies is a unique TTRPG where players are pitted against each other, however, a lot of the actions you could take involve collaborating with other players. To have a better action roll, you have to get help from another player, causing you to both share a Follower.
Snippet of a playthrough with Help(Action)Needed (All the followers were Jason)
Black Flies is still a TTRPG, however, so the underlining goal is telling a good story. Black Flies oozes with cult horror vibes, and dances in between paranormal, psychological, and body horror. The goals are there to help guide players what are new to TTRPGs, but leaves enough space for plenty of role play opportunities, and flexibility to create your own adventures. What I'm most excited about are the ways you can craft stories. I introduce Boons into the game, which dramatically change how the game is played, allowing for many game sessions right out of the book.
The Mechanics
With the theme and game feel down, along with amazing art to set the mood, I now needed to figure out how Black Flies actually plays. When I think about my games, I try to picture the setting that the players are in. For a game about little black flies, what would the base mechanic be?
The answer hits me immediately: Dice Pool. A bunch of six-sided dice feels like the perfect mimic to a swarm of flies. I want there to be tension on the time, and a dice pool feels like a great countdown. Time is measured by player actions. Each die used is the ticking of the clock, building to a climatic scene. It's a natural way to tell players that it's time to wrap up.
I find it interesting how we pigeon-hole dice into these positive and negative values, where in reality there is no true “good” and “bad” thing to do. It’s all a wash of gray, skewed by our own experiences and biases. In Black Flies I got rid of outcome rolls. When you roll dice in Black Flies you’re rolling to see who has narrative control. What happens to the active player is up to the person narrating. Will the narrator be helpful or devious? There are a lot of possible outcomes, but I help the feeling of being overwhelmed by adding extra tables and thematic elements.
The crowdfunding campaign for Black Flies has just started, so to celebrate I decided to go goth for the entire campaign. It is a complete tonal shift from the bright neon pastels I typically wear. I am still as goofy as ever.
Black Flies is one of the funniest and terrifying games I’ve yet to play. The sheer horrific silliness that you can create in this world plasters a layer of humor over every action you take. A gm-less game gives you freedom of creativity, and creates a deeper collaborative nature between the players.
The best way to play Black Flies is around the campfire, light flickering off your faces, wildlife buzzing all around you.
Back Black Flies today on BackerKit and have a scary good time!
