Post by pineappleleader on Apr 24, 2010 2:26:41 GMT -6
Talking about using Gangbusters to play a game of Bladerunner got me thinking.
Bladerunner is a Sci-Fi film, but the dialog and costume style are very much 1940's to 1950's film noir. If you watch the international release of the film Rick Deckard does a "voice-over" that could have been written by Raymond Chandler for Philip Marlowe.
Raymond Chandler wrote about Los Angeles, California in the period from the late 1920's to the early 1950's. His character, Philip Marlowe, was very much a hard-boiled detective. He had his own code of behavior. He did what was right, but not always legal. He spoke softly and took his lumps. Rick Deckard could be a younger and less world weary Philip Marlowe.
Dashiell Hammett wrote about San Francisco and the little towns around it. His most famous character is Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon (and the great Bogart movie). He has an "office bottle", a partner he doesn't like and women trouble. Spade is a hard-boiled detective.
A less well know book by Dashiell Hammett is Red Harvest (pub. 1929). It is more of a "cops & robbers" story and has more violence in it.
In Red Harvest the Continental Detective Agency is hired by the town's founder to rid him of his gangster partners, who have gotten too greedy. The main character is an employee of the agency whose real name is never given. He cleans up the town, but not in the way the client or his boss expected - he starts a gang war. By the time it's all over most of the gangsters are dead or in jail, and the city is under martial law. He has his own code of behavior. He does what is right and takes his lumps along the way. He is a hard-boiled detective.
Gangbusters evokes this "cops & robbers" atmosphere very well. Trouble Brewing can be played both as a gang war and as a cops & robbers game. There are some rules to limit the violence, but it really depends on how far the PC mobsters are willing to go.
On another level Gangbusters can be played as a hard-boiled, film noir detective game. PC detectives get special cases. These cases can be played with minimum violence as the detective follows the clues and solves the case.
If there are enough players and the referee is a glutton for punishment, both styles of play can be run simultaneously. Does your hard-boiled detective go about solving his case and ignore the gang war. Or does he help clean-up the city while solving his case?
We played our Bladerunner game as a shoot'em - up, but it could have been played as a film noir detective story. More investigation, less violence.
Gangbusters is a very good set of rules and it offers several options for style of play.
Bladerunner is a Sci-Fi film, but the dialog and costume style are very much 1940's to 1950's film noir. If you watch the international release of the film Rick Deckard does a "voice-over" that could have been written by Raymond Chandler for Philip Marlowe.
Raymond Chandler wrote about Los Angeles, California in the period from the late 1920's to the early 1950's. His character, Philip Marlowe, was very much a hard-boiled detective. He had his own code of behavior. He did what was right, but not always legal. He spoke softly and took his lumps. Rick Deckard could be a younger and less world weary Philip Marlowe.
Dashiell Hammett wrote about San Francisco and the little towns around it. His most famous character is Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon (and the great Bogart movie). He has an "office bottle", a partner he doesn't like and women trouble. Spade is a hard-boiled detective.
A less well know book by Dashiell Hammett is Red Harvest (pub. 1929). It is more of a "cops & robbers" story and has more violence in it.
In Red Harvest the Continental Detective Agency is hired by the town's founder to rid him of his gangster partners, who have gotten too greedy. The main character is an employee of the agency whose real name is never given. He cleans up the town, but not in the way the client or his boss expected - he starts a gang war. By the time it's all over most of the gangsters are dead or in jail, and the city is under martial law. He has his own code of behavior. He does what is right and takes his lumps along the way. He is a hard-boiled detective.
Gangbusters evokes this "cops & robbers" atmosphere very well. Trouble Brewing can be played both as a gang war and as a cops & robbers game. There are some rules to limit the violence, but it really depends on how far the PC mobsters are willing to go.
On another level Gangbusters can be played as a hard-boiled, film noir detective game. PC detectives get special cases. These cases can be played with minimum violence as the detective follows the clues and solves the case.
If there are enough players and the referee is a glutton for punishment, both styles of play can be run simultaneously. Does your hard-boiled detective go about solving his case and ignore the gang war. Or does he help clean-up the city while solving his case?
We played our Bladerunner game as a shoot'em - up, but it could have been played as a film noir detective story. More investigation, less violence.
Gangbusters is a very good set of rules and it offers several options for style of play.
