maxinstuff
Supporter
Posts: 1,939
Preferred Game Systems: DCC RPG, Shadowrun 5e, Savage Worlds, GURPS 4e, HERO 6e, Mongoose Traveller
Favorite Species of Monkey: Proboscis
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Post by maxinstuff on Dec 1, 2013 21:22:21 GMT -8
This thread makes me want to run some sort of Sin City hardboiled crime game..... If someone says "Hey! You should run that in Savage Worlds!" they're getting punched in the junk. Repeatedly. I would've said it myself but I have the awareness to know that I am in the WHITE WOLF sub-forum. Besides, the LARPers will band together and hunt me down if I do that. LIGHTNING BOLT!
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HyveMynd
Supporter
Dirty hippie, PbtA, Fate, & Cortex Prime <3er
Posts: 2,273
Preferred Game Systems: PbtA, Cortex Plus, Fate, Ubiquity
Currently Playing: Monsterhearts 2
Currently Running: The Sprawl
Favorite Species of Monkey: None
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Post by HyveMynd on Dec 1, 2013 22:01:27 GMT -8
Damn straight. I've got my pouch of birdseed all ready.
This is a bit of a tangent, but I am firmly in the "system matters" camp. With nWoD's dice mechanics and Morality scale/mechanic, I really feel it is a great system for doing dark, gritty, morally grey stories. Like noir detective stuff, cop dramas, and hard crime stories.
After we'd played both Vampire: the Requiem and Hollow Earth Expedition (which are very similar, as they both use dice pools and modifiers increase/decrease number of dice rolled), @chrisinkobe mentioned that he was scared to do things in Vampire because the chances of failure was so high. Each die has a 40% chance of success (7+ on a d10) in nWoD while each die has a 50% chance of success in HEX. He said he liked HEX better because he felt more competent. I said that I felt each system fit its setting well; Vampire is meant to be dark and tense, while HEX is pulpy and heroic.
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1d4cast_James
Apprentice Douchebag
Podcaster
Posts: 90
Preferred Game Systems: GUMSHOE, Fate, Cortex Plus, Dread, Mythender, Savage Worlds, L5R, and Shadowrun
Currently Playing: Whatever I can get into
Currently Running: V20 inspired by Mote of Sin
Favorite Species of Monkey: Jacker Monkey????
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Post by 1d4cast_James on Dec 2, 2013 5:38:10 GMT -8
This thread makes me want to run some sort of Sin City hardboiled crime game..... If someone says "Hey! You should run that in Savage Worlds!" they're getting punched in the junk. Repeatedly. If you want it be more investigative, I would like to recommend Mutant City Blues. The GUMSHOE system is quite nice.
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fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Dec 2, 2013 9:16:20 GMT -8
I react badly to Twilight EVERYONE reacts badly to Twilight. Even those of us who are Vampire players who play PCs that are trying to retain their Humanity and adopt the "live and let live" mindest. Not liking Twilight doesn't save you bloodsucking scum from the fires. Only us Mage players and those poor simple Hunter players (you may realize at this point, I never made it to the New World Order Darkness) have any right to life. Reality for the Humans! Be Vigilant Be Pure Behave!
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Post by The Northman on Dec 8, 2013 22:04:44 GMT -8
On the off chance anyone wants some police reality in their police show, I'm always open for a question or PM.
(It's what I do.)
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Post by ericfromnj on Dec 9, 2013 6:25:36 GMT -8
North man I would be interested in your take of 13th precinct
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Post by The Northman on Dec 11, 2013 22:30:50 GMT -8
The sourcebook? Firstly I have a soft-spot for it, since the first area I ever worked in was the area formerly covered by Detroit's 13th precinct (They changed to regional districts shortly before I arrived).
I don't currently have a copy, but from what I remember they did a really good job on outlining some of the more common crimes committed by player groups, how they are investigated, and what the potential penalties are. You can only get so detailed when you're working with an Anytown concept because of how much laws change from state to state or even city to city, but it was a really solid book, and maybe the only nWoD book that I'd recommend for anyone running any of the core or splats. Players don't often think about how many things they could get in trouble for before the obvious action scenes start, or how many police officers can materialize in a few moments inside of even a small city when you factor in neighboring agencies or county sheriffs.
Simple things like traffic stops are widely underutilized, and can create some terrific tension.
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Post by Grog on Dec 12, 2013 19:43:44 GMT -8
This thread makes me want to run some sort of Sin City hardboiled crime game..... If someone says "Hey! You should run that in Savage Worlds!" they're getting punched in the junk. Repeatedly. Deadlands: Noir? *troll face* ericfromnj I'm really digging your idea, so much so that I might very well steal if for my next "one-shot" in my Precinct 13 universe, if that's okay of course. If it's not too late, I would suggest making the connection by having one of the victims have a handout or something from the jazz band. If they are really dense you could write one of the jazz member's phone numbers on it. They'll inevitably try to find out who owns the receiving phone. Or separate the two and have one victim have the hand bill and another have a phone record that shows them calling the same number a dozen times in the last few hours they were alive. If the ghouls are hunting these victims down it stands to reason that they might very well create relationships with these people, rather than just stalking them from a distance and jumping them in the street. I highly recommend the use of the handbill. Props subtly (or not-so-subtly) signal to the players, "hey, this is significant!" and also really ramps up the immersion. After I finished my procedural I got multiple comments from multiple players that the props made the game significantly more awesome. I'm thinking the phone route, because the thing that broke the case in my game was a burner phone that the character's found as part of a chain of yes-ands (I call in the police dogs to search for a trail - you find her shoes - I keep going - uhh..you find a broken phone - didn't we already find her phone - um, yes. This is a second phone...) that then definitively linked the victim to a secret boyfriend and his crazy family (one of whom killed her). There can be so much information with phones that your "detectives" will leap all over it. I think the key to the procedural is to decide what happened, but not necessarily what the clues and evidence are. After the props, I made it a rule that I never said "no, you don't find anything." There was always something, unless they straight-up failed a roll. I found that this kept me from falling into the trap of "well, you didn't think of it like I thought you would so...". Of course, they still spent a lot of brain-juice puzzling out all the clues, which is where much of the fun is.
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Post by ericfromnj on Dec 14, 2013 14:34:50 GMT -8
Thanks for all the input, Grog, and everyone else who has been involved.
The story is nailed down as above and I just need to make characters in which case I will be using the suggestions in Precinct 13 for the officers and detectives.
Hyve, I am interested if you have read the God Machine rules updates at all, since it seems there is this thing where failure can get you XP, which makes me think of a game I played in with you...
but that's on another thread.
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