Noir World RPG
Apr 1, 2017 20:56:46 GMT -8
Post by bobknob on Apr 1, 2017 20:56:46 GMT -8
Noir World is film noir as powered by the Apocalypse. Around your table you'll choose from 20 Roles, create relationships between them, build a City, and maybe solve a Crime, all while trying to create the best Movie possible.
It's powered by the Apocalypse, the same mechanics found in Apocalypse World, Dungeon World, Headspace, and Monsterhearts, but it's different - there's no set single person acting as a GM. Here, everyone will have a chance to be the Director, everyone is the GM.
Aside from stretch goals, art, and an appendix or two, the text is ready to go, so let's make this book happen.
Noir World is your chance to explore hardboiled and crime fiction and film noir using a combination of Apocalypse World stylings and the vocabulary we've all gained by watching television and movies.
Film noir is all about telling stories where characters who don't neatly fit into the binary of good and evil live with the terrible consequences of their emotionally fueled choices. Noir World reflects that throughout the game.
There are 20 Roles to choose from (noir classics like the Fatale, Private Eye, and the Dirty Cop, but also more neo-noir Roles like the Disgraced Doctor and the Attorney). Taking a big step away from the source material, there are no restrictions or gender, race, identity or orientation when it comes to Roles - make them your own, no matter what.
There are 6 types of Crime: Murder, Blackmail, Fraud, Arson, Kidnapping, and Robbery.
There are 10 Decades to play in: starting in the 1920s and proceeding upwards to the Near-Future.
In short: Noir World can be played by anyone anyway they want, in any time they want.
Let's take a look at one of the big parts of Noir World, the Hook system. Every Role has an entire page of Hooks available to them, and instructions to build 2 Hooks among the other Roles at the table.
Here's how a Hook is built:
If we have The Starry Eyed Kid, then we have a Hook called "Golly, you’re pretty sure that if you just spend more time with this Role, they’ll stop doing all that bad stuff." This sounds interesting to them, so they suggest to the Attorney that this is part of their relationship.
The Attorney digs this idea, and looks at their own sheet for a Hook. They choose, "One drunken night, you told this Role your Secret, and you’ve been begging them to stay silent about it." The Starry Eyed Kid thinks that's a great idea, creating a dynamic between them where there's guilt, regret, and likely some annoying earnestness.
That relationship, that Hook, counts as ONE of the Starry Eyed Kid's two Hooks, because the Kid instigated it. The Attorney's response DOES NOT count as one of their Hooks, because it was part of the Kid's relationship.
The Kid then chooses a different Hook and a different Role to have that second relationship with. You can't repeat Hooks between Roles, and you can't Hook the same Role twice.
That's the Hook System.
It's critical to know that this game would forever remain in the abstract without the tireless work and support from an incredibly talented team of creatives.
JOHN ADAMUS wrote Noir World. He worked very hard on it, and is very proud of it. You can follow him on Twitter at @awesome_john
JASON PITRE made the book look very pretty and answered many of John's questions about publishing. He is a game designer and professional ecologist from the wilds of Canada. As the mind behind Genesis of Legend Publishing, he has designed and laid-out many fine roleplaying games for professional publication. You may know him from his cosmopolitan planar fantasy setting of Sig: Manual of the Primes, or his PBTA game of social justice wizards titled Circles of Power. Check him out on twitter @genesisoflegend!
JEREMY MORGAN edited the book and is an experienced RPG editor that's worked on multiple projects from publishers like Galileo Games and Green Hat Designs. He keeps two things in his desk. One's a red pen, and he keeps it loaded. The other's a six-pack of Dr. Pepper, and it keeps him loaded. You can find him on twitter at @triskaljm
PAULOMI PATRAP made the logo happen and steered John through the sorcerous process of talking to artists as Art Director. Born and raised in Texas, Paulomi loves tabletop games and RPGs almost as much as she loves her dog… or Tex-Mex… or Star Wars… or puns. Oh man, she really loves puns. You can check out some of the other projects she's working on at paulomipratap.com, or get updates on twitter @paulomisp
The art in the Kickstarter and on this page is by Rekka Jay, who should draw more things for more people.
I admit that I just copied and pasted this from the Kickstarter, but I played this game three times and had a blast every time. It is a PBTA game that has a heavy dose of Fiasco mixed in. Starting out, you have no idea what you are getting into and every game is entirely different. The game mechanics are completely finished and this Kickstarter is mostly to get a nice looking book with lots of great art.