From the introduction: The Noir Hack is a tabletop roleplaying game, played with paper, pencils, and dice. It’s based on David Black’s The Black Hack, which is itself based on the Original 1970s Role-Playing Game (yes, that one…) However, elements have been added and taken away to make it a distinct, streamlined variation of the original. In addition, elements have been added from David Black’s blog and other Hack publications to help the system properly convey the style and concepts of the Film Noir genre. Films noir (“black film”) are stylized crime films made primarily in Hollywood from the early 1940s to the late 1950s and known for dark and cynical worldviews, usually illustrated by innovative — and often disturbing — directing and lighting techniques. Films noir highlighted social post-war angst and insecurity and featured such tropes as corrupt authority, deeply flawed protagonists, dark urban settings, dangerous women (the femme fatale, often contrasted with the “good girl”), an obsession with the characters’ pasts, unflinching looks at human turpitude, and helplessness against one’s fate.