Barbabianca - Rumour and silence in a town that is no more

Created by NessunDove

A GMless game for 3-4 players set in the deep Italian countryside at the turn of the 20th century. Think Pavese, Calvino, Buzzati. Or imagine the secrets buried beneath the stones of any village where decades go by and nothing ever seems to change.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Building boxes & waiting for Soledad
about 1 month ago – Wed, May 06, 2026 at 09:00:41 AM

The bells are ringing, gather round! Barbabianca is here!

We've received the printed boxes and sheets, in Italian and English,to complement the pins and postcards.

This video of Chiara having fun with the boxing process says more than we could ever write.




What's the plan now?

We'll ship out Italian copies first, then go ahead with Europe and the rest of the world. Our goal is to handle everything before Play Bologna, so by May 21.

For US copies, we're coordinating with Indie Press Revolution, who will handle domestic delivery. We'll update you as soon as possible.

Thank you again to all neighbors of Barbabianca, for your support and your patience. As you can see, assembling the boxes requires some handiwork and there's only three of us (or two more often than not, as we have a wonderful three-year-old to take up our attention!). Still, we'll do our best to stick by the deadlines we set.


It was especially crucial to us to make sure everything is in place with Barbabianca before launching our next campaign. Tomorrow we'll be launching The Roots of Soledad, the magical realism rpg we're working on with Matthijs Holter. Are you ready to witness the mysteries that lie beneath the black kapok tree?

You can already preview the rules by following the campaign. And there's a little homage waiting for those who back in the first 48 hours: Maria has prepared some stylish stickers for early birds.


Production & Digital delivery
about 2 months ago – Fri, Apr 17, 2026 at 10:16:24 AM

Dear neighbours of Barbabianca,

we have great news on basically every front!

Barbabianca is being printed, and this means the digital edition is ready! Shortly after this update we'll start the distribution of PDF files, including the Greetings from Anna minigame designed by Oscar. A lot of fine-tuning went into the production, and we hope you're as happy with the result as we are.

The pins are being delivered to us! Here's the final picture with their little card. We can't wait to see them in person.



And then there's the postcards. Here's a video of Chiara selecting sets, so you can see what a collection of small relics this is- there's a lot of wonderful stories in there. Forgive us for keeping one as a memento-- it's a picture of Bergamo, NessunDove's own city, and it's directed to Mr. Astolfi the accountant, teased by his sister for spending too much time away from home. Who know what stories each of you will get?




Expect another update when we get the print copies. Then we'll have fun folding lots of boxes!

Surveys & Art
2 months ago – Wed, Mar 25, 2026 at 10:28:08 AM

Dear villagefolk,

BackerKit's trusty mailmen should have delivered the surveys that will give us the data to fulfill your pledges straight to your inboxes. 70% of you has already completed it, and we hope everyone will find the time to do the same soon. As a reminder: the game will first be available for Local Pickup at Bologna Play 2026, May 22-24. If you want to come say hi during the con, remember to select local pickup in the survey!

Meanwhile, work on Barbabianca is right on track. We have your vintage postcards and the pin manufacturer has sent us a sneak peek at your village souvenir, ready to ship home. Isn't it gorgeous?


As for the game itself, layout and proofreading are done. Maria is working on the additional art for characters unlocked during the campaign as well as some extra spot pieces, and after that we'll be ready to go into print.

We're aiming to send off the files by the second week of April. Keep an ear out for the village bell: we'll call you to the square to keep you updated on how things are going.

Cristian, Barbabianca & Soledad
3 months ago – Mon, Mar 02, 2026 at 10:46:01 AM

Here we are! It took a few days to catch our breath, as always happens after a town festival. Thank you again, all of you. This time we'll be brief, and leave the parting words to Cristian.



But there are two questions we want to answer.

When will Barbabianca get to you?
In May. The Italian edition will launch for Bologna PLAY on May 22. We'll get shipping sorted right before or right after the con, so we'll hopefully be done sending out copies by June at the latest. The preorder store is open for those who missed the campaign and would like to receive it at the same time as backers.

When's the next festival?
Here is a proper rumour, a preview: on May 7 we'll be joining Pocketopia to launch a new game by Matthijs Holter, the Norwegian author of Archipelago and Society of Dreamers. We've always loved his games and recently found out we share the same passion for South American magical realism, à la Hundred Years of Solitude. Come unearth The Roots of Soledad, starting with the extraordinary cover art by Columbian street artist Soma Difusa.

The last week begins!
4 months ago – Fri, Feb 20, 2026 at 09:23:14 AM

Fellow villagers, there’s only one week left before the end of this small, grand adventure together. The truth is we have no more big goals to announce: the village is complete, and with Greetings from Anna it has also gone beyond our initial designs.

This doesn’t mean that getting the best possible outcome from this campaign won’t make a difference. Let us get sentimental for a bit and tell you a little about our story.

NessunDove was born to publish our personal projects, and particularly our chamber larp anthology Crescendo Giocoso. That’s where we discovered we like working alongside other people. So, as the pandemic limited a lot of other activities, we started working on Italian game adaptations— and especially with indie authors, for whom we’ve often been the first outsider voice to discuss a game. So it felt natural to become the publisher for the designers we had an affinity with, even in their international editions, like with The Magus and Our Queen Crumbles.

But Barbabianca is a different sort of challenge. Just like you’re doing with your support, we decided to put our faith in Cristian, a debuting designer, and Barbabianca, a project with polished design that still needed work to come together in term of texts and art. All February long you’ve been proving that investing this kind of time and energy is worth it. We could never thank you enough for that.

So, if you happen to strike up conversation with a friend that’s on the fence, you can tell them a new pledge won’t unlock new playbooks or fancy cover finishes— but it will make it easier for us to work on more projects like this one. We’re lucky to be surrounded by many creative people, in Italy and all around the globe, who just need a little push to make their talent shine.

A little push for Barbabianca is a call to arms for us at NessunDove, saying something along the lines of: “we want more radical, surprising games like this one!”. The only thing we can promise is that the call won’t fall on deaf ears.

So let’s roll up our sleeves, ring the village bells in celebration, and remind all roleplaying wanderers out there that Barbabianca is waiting to tell a terrible, wonderful story together.