New York Noir is a cooperative, narrative, tabletop detective game in the tradition of Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, set in 1930s–1950s New York City.
You're the detective. You solve the case.
New York Noir is meant to be played offline, device and distraction free. All of the materials are freely available.
Alternatively, you can play and author cases on this website using our online map and directory tools.
In the heart of New York City, the high and low of society mingle uneasily side-by-side. Murder... Robbery... Blackmail... Fraud... Every crime tells a story, and not every story has a happy ending.
Sometimes the best you can do is learn to live by a code of your own, and hope you make the right decision when you’re staring down the barrel of a gun.
New York Noir was designed from the ground-up to facilitate fan-made cases.
On this website you'll find guides and tutorials for writing your own cases. Our tools will do the layout and publishing, you can concentrate on the writing. Volunteer editors and playtesters will help you polish your case until it shines. Join our discord to talk with other authors.
High & Low · June 1915
This is a short tutorial case for New York Noir, told as a flashback from the 1930s to the early 1900s. It is meant to introduce new players to the world of New York Noir.
High & Low · Nov. 1932
When a fifteen-year employee who's never missed a day of work goes missing in Yorkville, Detective Jack Deverell expects a simple case. November has other plans.
High & Low · Dec. 1941
What initially appears to be a simple heart attack may not be what it seems.
High & Low · Mar. 1948
The Wrong Book is a 3-day case set in 1948 New York City, around the Times Square neighborhood. Jack Deverell is a private investigator hired to recover a valuable book stolen under mysterious circumstances.
The Collector · Part 1
When you arrive at the station you receive bad news. Your partner has been knocked out and is now in the hospital, unconscious. Was it a random mugging, or is his life still in danger? And is it connected to a mysterious person called the “Collector”?
09/03/1932
Derek Brooks, manager of The Bitter Edge comedy club on Bleecker Street, in Greenwich Village, comes face to face with the ghost of a murdered detective. What Derek really wants is to enjoy some laughs at his club, but he's forced to investigate. Soon, he's mired in the dark mud of the dead detective's last case.
The Collector · Part 2
THIS IS THE CONTINUATION OF CASE 1: THE ROOKIE - You’re ready to finally put some time into chasing the Collector—pull on that thread, see where it leads. But the city’s got other plans. Someone got shot at the art school. The same one you were in yesterday.
6/13/1935
Loyal fixer Mask finishes preparations for a party being thrown by his boss Golding, while torrential rains plague NYC.
The Collector · Part 3
THIS IS THE CONTINUATION OF CASE 2, and the final case of the trilogy, so it's time to catch the elusive Collector. You also have to investigate the case of a missing actress. It seems she was kidnapped and the perpetrators demand a big sum of money for her.
“Why stomp on the tail of the snake, when you can go for the head?”
