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17:50, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Adult "Crime Punk", or  Criminal Sandbox [IC]

Posted by steelsmiter
steelsmiter
member, 2150 posts
BESM, Fate, Indies, PBTA
NO FREEFORM! NO d20!
Sun 29 Aug 2021
at 16:20
  • msg #1

Adult "Crime Punk", or  Criminal Sandbox [IC]

I began writing an RPG several years ago that I at the time called a "criminal sandbox", which was based on several video games in which the player takes the role of a character takes it upon themselves to bring down one or more entities or organizations that control the region using er... less than legal methods (hence Crime Punk). Examples of this go all the way back to the True Crime series, and include the likes of the Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row, Far Cry, Watch Dogs, LA Noire, Red Dead, and Mafia video game franchises, along with countless others I can't claim I drew any particular inspiration from. I've recently gone on a several month long binge of updating the game, and it now has a main book and a separate campaign setting (combined about 145 pages) with a multi-millennial timeline that allows for the Shot Caller (GM) and Playas to decide amongst themselves what genre conventions and level of wacky they want to lean into. It allows for a completely mundane, albeit cinematic world, all the way on up to a full on demonic/alien invasion, and every level in between. You want to play a completely mundane game where that beggar over there might just secretly be a goblin? more power to ya! You want to play a game that has superpowers but there is no such thing as goblins, demons, the undead, or aliens? Great! You wanna ignore all that and just capture the essence of some particular criminal heyday? Awesome, I'm all in... Now I just need to know how many of you (up to about 5) are in, and what you're in for!

EDIT: be mindful I believe character calling is not allowed, so respondents should avoid that. However I am in part looking for a yes/no on whether non-human humanoids should be allowed.

EDIT 2: This game emulates other games where decapitations and other graphic violence are commonplace. As a result, it's most likely ADULT.
This message was last edited by the user at 17:21, Mon 30 Aug 2021.
LordIce
member, 275 posts
Superheroes, D&D, Zombies
Best DM in the world
Thu 2 Sep 2021
at 22:58
  • msg #2

Adult "Crime Punk", or  Criminal Sandbox [IC]

I've played steelsmiter's rules in a game before. It emulates games like Grand Theft Autor or Saints' Row very well.
steelsmiter
member, 2152 posts
BESM, Fate, Indies, PBTA
NO FREEFORM! NO d20!
Thu 2 Sep 2021
at 23:36
  • msg #3

Adult "Crime Punk", or  Criminal Sandbox [IC]

I don't remember if you were in it during the dice pool days or whether you played with the 2d10 set, but the rules have expanded significantly since you played either way (and have their own campaign setting now :D). Might wanna go redownload if you're down for a game.
steelsmiter
member, 2153 posts
BESM, Fate, Indies, PBTA
NO FREEFORM! NO d20!
Sun 5 Sep 2021
at 20:34
  • msg #4

Adult "Crime Punk", or  Criminal Sandbox [IC]

LordIce:
I've played steelsmiter's rules in a game before. It emulates games like Grand Theft Autor or Saints' Row very well.

Something's kind of been burning on me since you posted that, but I feel like this post has some implication of interest and I've found that I don't always read implications correctly (this is one of the problems of my neurodivergence). It would be helpful for people who do have interest in the game to make a more explicit statement to that effect (although this is pointedly not a criticism of that post, just seeking clarity on my part).

Further muddling around and also putting an ad to run a lateral game on a different site has also given me the impression that I should also seek information about what themes, eras, and regions players might want that sometimes show up in this genre of video games. It also might be somewhat worrisome that some of you don't have the books, but they're not necessary to answer these questions in ways like "I want this aspect of GTA/that aspect of Red Dead/those aspects of the Watch Dogs series" and so on or "How about Prohibition era/train robbing/bank heists/future technology". there's also the discussion of superpowers as those sometimes show up, like "which ones, if any do we include" and "do we limit them to special circumstances". Also in canon GTA there's evidence of past alien and bigfoot existence, so some of the less game breaking non-humans would be on the table unless players took them off.

What I can tell you before putting up the game and hiding the link to the books in a group 1 post, is that it works best in scenarios that are about as mundane as GTA V (and includes far more special abilities than that game) set in a roughly 400 year span centered on this year, although the timeline only is fleshed out to 2169.

TLDR; read the bold, seek clarifications on the points in primarily paragraph 2.
steelsmiter
member, 2154 posts
BESM, Fate, Indies, PBTA
NO FREEFORM! NO d20!
Sun 12 Sep 2021
at 17:07
  • msg #5

Adult "Crime Punk", or  Criminal Sandbox [IC]

Randomly thought of a few ideas that might pique interest:
  • Post Civil War- I'll admit this one was inspired by the meme of Abe Lincoln with a chain gun on his arm. But it also has potential for squabbling factions, and classical western tropes (of which I'll admit I'm not super familiar with, but can hack it.)
  • 1920s and 30s- Heyday of the Chicago Typewriter. Could involve a decent amount of moonshining (with or without anything special in the homebrew to grant someone a Power Ability on a temporary basis) bank robbery (the system doesn't particularly have Heisting rules, but those can be winged with what it does have)
  • The KFJ Incident- Murica has a different President. His assassination attempt takes a more occultish turn, during a different period of time, when he goes to see some nuclear testing done. The outcome of the attempt, and whether the extra occultism means anything is up to playa consensus
  • "Black Friday" on Moonbase Luna- Rioting in 2035 leads to the creation of factions which are eventually united and bid for independence in 2047. Due to the fact that the Moonbase is in a glass/polycarbonate dome to protect the delicate scientifically created ecology, all firearms are replaced with the Frickin' Lasers optional rule.
  • War- This game has a feature called Crysis Mode that is meant as a nod to the last several Far Cry games (of which the earliest I've played is 2). It's even reasonable to assume the character might get nabbed up in a Cutscene because that's literally an Advantage within the game. That being said, I probably won't be that cruel. BUT wars are about capturing locations and objectives, and that's one of the components in the game, so it bears mentioning. Anyway, there's a few points where the real US is explicitly at war, and also a couple in the timeline (one in 2023 where America is nuked and another 2164-9. That's not really a general audience war though, so might have to ask about that once we get enough players to jump in on things)

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