The Blackened Crown:
Where Medieval Intrigue
Meets Noir Despair

Mention noir to most people and the first thing that comes to mind is a black and white film narrated by a hard-nosed detective or cynical narrator with a couldn’t-care-less attitude (possibly Humphrey Bogart or James Cagney). Already skeptical of everything around them, the main character is thrown into an investigation that slowly starts to unravel deep conspiracies and dark, far-reaching plots that eventually make the initial crime seem almost irrelevant.

In a fantasy TTRPG setting, this trope would be a refreshing tool for a GM to bring to the table. Possibly a royal guard or even a mercenary tasked with investigating a murder or theft of some relic who finds himself running into the PCs during his investigation. Skeptical of everyone, this character initially doesn’t trust the PCs or may even suspect them of being the guilty party, but he pulls a thread that uncovers something larger that the PCs can no longer ignore.

Generally tied to the hard-boiled detective, the femme fatale is usually the person who hires the hero, or she may be someone whom the hero runs into during his investigation. Usually a sensual seductress, this woman has the power to use her charms to make men do whatever she pleases... even murder! And this is why she usually becomes a prime suspect, but not before hooking the hero and embroiling them into the larger plot.

The femme fatale in a TTRPG could be a young widow, the daughter of a nobleman, or even a commoner who is generally disliked around town by the other women. She dresses just slightly too inappropriate, is overly confident, and doesn’t pull punches when calling someone out on their bullcrap.

This character can be the one who approaches the heroes with the task, she may have initially hired someone else to investigate and has now found that that person has also gone missing, or she may be someone who leaves breadcrumbs for the PCs to toy with them and amuse herself.

Noir usually begins with a small crime or mystery: the disappearance of a bird statue, a missing husband, or a mysterious item left for the victim that has ominous meaning, but seems otherwise mundane. But as the investigator digs deeper, hidden plots begin to reveal themselves, and everyone seems to be involved in some way.

In a TTRPG setting, the corruption should be obvious and almost openly known. An excellent example of this is the police captain Renault in the classic film Casablanca. Other than openly taking bribes from just about everyone, he was one of the key people involved in the gambling ring inside Rick’s Cafè Americain, but during the Nazi invasion, he famously raids the gambling room calling out, “I am shocked, shocked that there is gambling going on here!” It is one of the most memorable scenes in the movie.

The overhanging tension that moves the story forward by pulling it back and forth in noir is the suspicion the main character starts to feel everywhere he turns: discovering some dark secret about the femme fatale that suddenly makes her a suspect; the clocking of heavy footsteps while walking through an empty street at night; long shadows cast against walls in dark alleys. And the dark moment when someone the main character trusted reveals their true colors, leaving the detective broken and helpless.

Tread carefully with this one in a TTRPG setting. The atmospheric stuff is easy, but you want corruption to be pervasive, although not at the expense of the trust PCs have with key NPCs. Make sure there are plenty of clues laid out in the PCs’ paths for each character that may be involved by making that character an obvious suspect early enough that the PCs don’t fully trust those characters early on. Have one of those characters openly betray someone else in front of the PCs, have another get handed a secret note, read it, and pocket it without another word. When asked about it, openly deny ever even getting the note.

The plot is so twisted and dark that it is generally impossible for the villains to keep everything secret. Notes revealing something about an NPC, the revelation of the existence of a secret society, a statue that has always been at the entrance of the bar that now has a new meaning because of some clue the hero discovered.

In your game, you want to plant the clues early. Casually mention the portrait of the burgomaster smiling, wearing a pendant with a unique symbol... then later drop that symbol in a clue: the waitress accidentally drops a coin with that very symbol while serving the PCs, and won’t explain what it is. Perhaps when the PCs kill the mysterious sniper, they find him wearing a signet ring with the same symbol.

Have the PCs find one of their sources dead in their home at their desk with quill in hand, with a blank stack of parchment on the desk. The sheet on top shows some ink bleed-through that can possibly be deciphered with an intelligence check. This note may reveal something that opens the door to a larger part of the plot.

And noir stories are full of these choices.

In your game, don’t make the mistake of making everything black-and-white. It’s easy to fall into the, “the PCs are heroes, this band of orcs is evil. Bring forth annihilation” scenarios. But adding a small twist, a moral dichotomy, will completely change it all for your players. This band of orcs doesn’t have to suddenly turn out to be inclusive of marginalized groups and now the PCs feel bad killing them. What I’m saying is they can be pure evil, or just a destructive force, but their raids into the town may actually be controlling what could become unmetered commerce, leading to bands of bandits filling the void. The orcs’ favorite food may be owlbears, and killing all the orcs now leaves the owlbears to reproduce and destroy the region. Or the orc blood in the ground may be the final component for a dark wizard to cast the world in shadow.