Gilded Dark
Noir · Pulp · Gothic · 1920s–30s
The city runs on two economies: the one in the newspapers and the one nobody prints. Jazz clubs over speakeasies over smuggling tunnels. Old money with new debts. Corrupt aldermen, crooked cops, and mob accountants who know too much. Beneath all of it, something older than the city itself — patient, present, and not particularly interested in human law.
For Pulp-era mysteries, 1920s noir campaigns, gothic conspiracies, and any game set in the long shadow between the Jazz Age and the Depression.
🎲 Generators
Character Concepts
Generate complete character concepts — detective, criminal, socialite, reporter, occultist, soldier, or grifter — with background, traits, and period-accurate names.
Name Generator
Period-accurate names with ethnic variety — Irish, Italian, Jewish, Eastern European, African-American, and WASP families.
NPC Generator
Generate fully-formed NPCs with personality, motivation, and a secret worth keeping — beat cops, mob accountants, speakeasy singers, corrupt aldermen, and more.
Location Generator
Speakeasies, mansions, warehouses, jazz clubs, churches, and tenements — with atmosphere, dark secrets, and built-in adventure hooks.
Factions
Mob families, corrupt precincts, secret societies, the press, labor unions, and occult cults — with public face, true nature, and hidden agendas.
Case Hooks
Murders, missing persons, blackmail, heists, conspiracies, and supernatural investigations — complete with clients, initial leads, complications, and dark truths.
Complications
Mid-scene complications for when things go sideways — police interference, criminal pressure, personal crises, and things that shouldn't be happening.
Secrets
Criminal cover-ups, political corruption, personal histories, and supernatural truths — with implications for what happens when they come to light.
Equipment
Period-accurate weapons, tools, investigation gear, and occult supplies — with era notes, concealment ratings, and price ranges.
Vehicles
Cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, and private rail cars — from the Ford Model A to the Packard Eight, each with their own social implications.
Occult Elements
The dark undercurrent of the setting — always present. Phenomena, entities, rituals, signs, curses, and visions with manifestations, danger levels, and investigation clues.
Artifacts
Tomes, mirrors, relics, paintings, devices, and weapons with histories that don't quite add up — apparent powers, true natures, and costs.
Rumor Mill
What they're saying at the bar, on the corner, and at the society pages — each rumor with its source and the GM-only truth behind it.
🎬 Inspiration
Film & Fiction:
The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Chinatown, L.A. Confidential, Boardwalk Empire, Peaky Blinders, The Black Dahlia, Inherent Vice, Milkman, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James Ellroy, Dorothy Sayers
Games & Systems:
Call of Cthulhu (1920s era), Trail of Cthulhu, Gumshoe, Gangbusters, Pulp Cthulhu, Rippers Resurrected, Vampire: The Masquerade (historical), FATE (Noir), Hard City, Bullets & Bourbon
🎮 Running Gilded Dark
The Occult is Always There
Every case has a mundane layer and something older underneath it. Characters don't have to pursue the occult — the occult is there regardless. What they do with what they find is the real question.
Everyone Has a Patron
The city runs on obligation. Someone is always owed something. Use the Factions generator to establish who owes whom before the first session, then let those debts complicate everything.
Secrets Drive Everything
The Secrets and Rumors generators are your session-prep backbone. Plant a secret early, layer in a rumor that's partially true, and let the players discover which part.