Don't Look Back

What is Don’t Look Back

Don’t Look Back is “a tabletop miniatures game of 1980s horror,” written by Matt Burns and published by Black Site Studios. It came out in 2020 and was Black Site’s first game. The current rulebook is the second edition.

You play the people in the horror movie. Up to four players, or one on their own, each take a random Character and try to survive the night against The Killer, who runs on its own rules. Every Character has strengths and weaknesses, so the group has to work together to finish the Plot’s objective before time runs out.

It’s set in Northwood, a town grown up around a forest where killers, beasts and spirits were always said to roam. For decades nothing happened and the teenagers stopped believing the stories. Then, on January 1st, 1990, people started going missing again.

How it plays

Roll under on a D20. Most actions are a D20 roll, looking for equal to or under the Character’s skill. On activation a Character takes one long action and one short action, or two short actions.
You only see what you’re aware of. Characters only know about things within their Awareness stat in inches. The Killer can drop out of sight and strike from the shadows, which is where the slasher-movie moments come from.
Killers built from three parts. The Visage sets how tough The Killer is and how it attacks. The M.O. sets where it appears and who it goes after. Two Traits add special abilities. Plots can supply a themed Killer, or you can roll one up when it first steps out of the shadows.
Plots. The core book has five ready-made Plots and rules for generating your own, from the turn length and objectives to how The Killer can appear.
Trilogies. Link three or more Plots and follow the same Killer and Characters through a series of Pursuits or Returns.
Other ways to play. Advanced rules let a player take The Killer (“Antagonist Mode”) or act as “The Director,” a GM who runs the game. There are optional rules for vehicles, and Characters can bring Companions.

How to start

Get the rulebook. The Core Rulebook is a 270-page hardback with the PDF included, for $59.99. The PDF alone is $29.99. It has the eight core Characters (the six originals plus Mia Green and Keen Houser), rules to make your own, and the cards and reference material to play straight from the book. The old Trilogies, Final Call and Pack Hunt expansions are folded in as Advanced Rules.
Bring minis and dice. Black Site’s list is a miniature for The Killer, some Characters (“4-6 is a good number to have on hand”), D20, D10 and D6 dice, and a 3’ × 3’ table with some terrain. Any figures will do.
Or buy the official ones. The Starter Bundle ($129.99) is the hardback plus the Core Heroes and Core Killer packs. On their own, the Core Heroes Pack ($43.99) has 8 resin Characters, 8 Character cards and 28 Item cards. The Core Killer Pack ($36.99) is a multipart kit that builds two Killers, with 6 Visage, 6 M.O. and 11 Trait cards. The resin minis are cast in the USA. Some ranges, like The Killers of Northwood, are also sold as STLs.
Grab the free extras. The resources page has the errata, print-and-play tokens, free scenarios like The Spirit Furnace and A Terrible Way to Pie!, and a Multiple Killers expansion.

There’s also a boxed version on the way. Black Site ran a Gamefound campaign for the Core Box that closed on March 18, 2025. The box has single-piece PVC miniatures, a new Killer called the Beaumont Man, Quick Start Rules (a fast-play version of the full rules), tokens, dice, cards, terrain and a mat, all set at Camp Black Pine. Estimated delivery was June 2026.

Expansions

1698 takes the game back to Northwood’s colonial past. The 1698 Expansion Book is $29.99 for a 58-page full colour softback plus the PDF, or $14.99 for the PDF alone. You need the core rulebook to play it. It adds:

New lore on the history of the Northwoods and John Loughton, the man Loughton High is named after.
Optional rules for horses.
Minor Characters, which let a player swap one Character for a group of three.
Optional Faith, Superstition and Paranoia rules.
New Plots, a Jumpscare table and notes for the Director.

Everything in 1698 also works in regular games. The miniatures come as separate VHS packs, starting with The Founding 1698 Core VHS ($36.99), which has four new Characters, a new Killer with two Visage cards, and a 1698 item deck.

The modern-day VHS expansions add more Plots, Killers and Characters. They include The Gourd Reaper, Sideshow Slaughter, The Curse of Oak Hill, Death on the Line, Attack of the Greys, Darkhearts and Supporting Characters. They’re all on the Black Site store, along with gaming mats and a lot of Northwood terrain.