Xor’Veil is Neo Noir Fantasy Role-playing with Pulp Action Adventure, in a Richly Detailed and Fully Realised world. You will play the investigator in a world where the politics is as murky as Machiavelli and danger can come from where you least expect it. However, you are not alone, your friends join you for intrigue, daring, and drama in your own cinematic experience.

It’s a game which mimics the style of classic noir movies. It does this by adopting a film like structure with rules for dramatic scenes, fight scenes, and investigations scene. This works hand in hand to make an accessible system which blends theme and rules.

Drama scenes are social conflicts with mechanics for wise cracking deduction, wispy guile, or hard-edged intimidation. It can be tricky to play the vampy femme fatal, wise cracking smart guy, or the scarred guy smiling in the corner. Some people would have difficulties with these scenes, but Xor’Veil allows for anybody to play any role.

Fight scenes are built around the language of cinema, each person has an action reel with each turn representing a frame in that reel. This encourages players to visualise, what would be fun, what looks cool, rather than math and rules.

Investigations scenes are many and varied, from chase scenes, to crime scene investigation, or montages of combing through the clues for the eureka moment. Investigations can be challenging for those who run the game and the investigators, but Xor’Veil allows anyone to play the master detective or flat-footed gumshoe without being one.

All of this gives you Xor’Veil, but who will you be? The vampy fem fatal on a mission of mercy in the city Grand Port where a soul isn’t worth a coin. The wise cracking detective trekking the wretched under city alleys to the gilded towers of Barzon, all for an answer. Or perhaps you’re the scarred man going into the wind scorched desert of Tebnet because you’re the only one who can, the only one left alive anyway. All of this and more await you inside Xor’Veil.

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The Influences behind

What is Neo Noir?

Noir (literally black), sometimes called Film Noir or French Noir, was a style of film characterised by a morally ambiguous society and a morally decent, but hardened, outsider - the detective. It has an intense, dark, and sinister cinematography about it.
Neo (literally new). Neo Noir is a fresh spin on the concept of Noir, taking the genre in new directions. Examples of this would be Blade Runner, Drive, or Chinatown. Neo Noir has a similar style to Noir, with updated themes, content, and media, while attempting to stay true to the heart and style of Noir.

What is Pulp?

Pulp magazines were named for the cheap wood pulp material they were printed on. Pulp fiction was seen by many as trashy, lurid, and disposable. Despite this, they were extremely widely read, offering exciting and imaginative entertainment at an affordable price. Many popular authors (including Robert E Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, and Raymond Chandler) wrote for the pulps, and many of their works are now widely regarded. Popular genres included crime, high adventure, and horror.

Who is Machiavelli?

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469 – 1527) was an Italian diplomat, writer, politician and philosopher. He is most widely known for his work ‘the Prince’, a book of political theory which advocated pragmatic, and occasionally ruthless action. During Machiavelli’s time, Italian politics were renowned for turbulence, instability and treachery, and his work can be seen to reflect that, however its deeper meaning is still debated to this day.