Idea for a 1920's to 30's RPG

Let me start by saying this is NOT a recruitment thread for a game. So please do not post here saying that you want to be a part of this or asking when it is running. I may run it in the future but I will post in the games section of the site when I do. So I had an idea for a game/campaign where the players are either members of the US Marshals or people that work for them (informants,hired muscle, ect.). They would be dealing with everything from moonshine runners to immigrant and cartel problems to high profile criminals. The time period is rife with material to work off of that could make for several interesting and fun situations. The question comes though, what system to use? I personally want a system that is a little more combat tactical and uses a battle map and the like. That is just the kind of games I prefer instead of the more "abstract" systems such as Burning Wheel or something like that. My first instinct would be to use d20 modern but I would prefer to use something a little more lethal and preferably with some material already based on the time period. I know Cthulhu has some stuff from that time but that just seems like the wrong choice as this would be realistic not pulp. So any ideas on system to use, at the very least as a base to work off of. Any other ideas on this would be helpful as well. Including good sources of information on the actual period, like information on guns used then, organizations that where around, that sort of thing. I know a good bit about the era already but more info can never hurt.

My instant suggestion would be to use Savage Worlds. It has everything that you are looking for all inside. <a href="http://www.peginc.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.peginc.com/</a> <a href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Worlds" rel="nofollow">http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Worlds</a>

My only experience with Savage Worlds so far is Deadlands but I had thought about it as an option.

Savage Worlds could work. The lethality of the combat can be adjusted with genre rules. You may consider the One-Roll Engine, it's got a nice bit of tactical combat, while not normally using a grid, and can be quite fatal. Probably not quite what you're after, but if you want to take a look at something a little different the Leverage RPG does 'highly-skilled individuals working as a team' quite well.

Savage Worlds does look good but It also looks like I would have to do a bit of work on genre specific stuff. I don't mind doing that at all I just don't know if I would want to do that with a system I don't know to well or just use a system I do know well as a base to build from. One-Roll looks interesting and im going to look into it, though gut feeling says it is not complex enough for my taste.

Most of the Savage Worlds settings are a bit more fantastic than I think you're looking for, so you'll probably have to do a bit of work, as you've mentioned. ORE games, especially those that use Martial Paths, can get pretty complex, but of course, what I consider 'complex' might be much less than what you do. I've no experience with the system, but there's always GURPS. Have you considered using a squad-level wargame at all? It might give you the level of complexity that you're looking for.

Well so you get a better understanding of the "complexity" I am talking about. My favorite systems are Dark Heresy, Warhammer Roleplay, and L5R. That is just for mechanics that they are my favorite. Yes looking at it Savage Worlds does seem a bit... cartoony, for this.

I'd suggest giving GURPS a good look, perhaps with supplements such as GURPS Cops, GURPS Special Ops, and maybe GURPS Modern Weapons. Again, I've never used the system, but from all accounts, it's quite the toolkit, and, depending on how much of the toolkit you use, can be as complex as you'd like it to be.

GURPS Pulp Guns and GURPS High Tech would be more specifically useful than GURPS Modern Weapons . GURPS Mysteries (a 4th ed. book) has supplanted GURPS Cops (a 3rd ed. book), and is excellent. GURPS Tactical Shooting might be appropriate, depending on the campaign, or GURPS Martial Arts (which does not confine itself to Eastern martial arts). I like FATE, but it is not the way to go for tactical detail.

Would GURPS High Tech not be a bit out of setting? I have never actually looked at the GURPS rules. I tend to head strait for the new shinny things when picking games, but I will take a look at it. So all of the books just add more rules modularly to the game?

No, GURPS High-Tech somewhat surprisingly covers tech and gear from the Industrial Revolution up to about 2010. The 1920s to 1930s in the Western world are the upper half of GURPS tech level 6, where High-Tech covers TL 5 to TL 8. Futuristic stuff is in GURPS Ultra-Tech .

Just thought I'd mention that there's a Noir-era corebook in the works for Savage Worlds called Deadlands: Noir that might interest you. <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/545820095/deadlands-noir" rel="nofollow">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/545820095/deadlands-noir</a>

I second Savage Worlds but there's a classic TSR rpg Gangsbusters which is exactly about what you described. I can't remember how its combat works, though.

I have looked at the Gangbusters stuff and have tried to get it but can't find it anywhere. I figured if nothing else it would be a good reference. All of it is way OOP now though.

Would GURPS High Tech not be a bit out of setting? I have never actually looked at the GURPS rules. I tend to head strait for the new shinny things when picking games, but I will take a look at it. So all of the books just add more rules modularly to the game? That's right. The GURPS Basic Set, consisting of Characters and Campaigns is a fully (perhaps even profusely) functional game. All the rest is additional modules providing extra detail in specific areas. GURPS Fantasy and GURPS Space are handbooks for designing settings. GURPS Powers is a handbook for designing superpowers, psionic abilities, etc. (sometimes called "the third core GURPS book"). GURPS Thaumatology is a handbook for designing magic systems and fitting them to game worlds. GURPS Supers , GURPS Mysteries , and GURPS Action are books about particular genres, how to run them, how to use the rules for them etc. GURPS Low Tech , GURPS High-Tech , GURPS Ultra-Tech , GURPS Bio-Tech , and GURPS Pulp Guns etc. are gear catalogues. The GURPS Spaceships series is mostly gear (i.e. spaceships), but also contains some material on running space naval campaigns, space exploration campaigns, and space trading campaigns. GURPS Martial Arts and GURPS Tactical Shooting add bunches of extra detail (character abilities, rules procedures etc.) for more detailed hand-to-hand combat and range combat respectively. And then Transhuman Space , GURPS Banestorm , GURPS Infinite Worlds , GURPS Traveller Interstellar Wars , GURPS Adventures of the Space Patrol etc. etc. are game settings in different genres. You certainly don't need it all for every campaign, or even any campaign. In fact, some of the most important material in the genre books is the bits that tell you which pieces to use and which to leave out.

What's wrong with Call of Cthulhu? It's originally designed for 1920s...and combat gets deadly fast. Just leave out the mythos stuff, and you have a ready-made system with source books etc for the time period. Just saying it's "pulp" is doesn't explain what your issue with it is, a lot of the source material is closely based on 1920s history (check the Keeper's Companion (1 & 2)). The system works well for realism, it can be used entirely without the mythos (in fact this is how I played it back when I was a teenager - around 20 years ago!). PDFs and physical books available from <a href="http://www.chaosium.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.chaosium.com/</a> Enjoy!

It was always explained to me that the fear system and pulp stuff was what made Call of Cthulhu system any good. So if I used it for this I would be stripping all of that out. I guess that wouldn't be as big a deal as I was lead to believe. Great info on GURPS, thank you.

Nah - I love the skills system of CoC and the system is quite realistic and deadly, which seems to meet your needs. The fear system is very cool (and can also add to realism even if played in a "realistic" way) but you don't have to use it. Basically the fear (well "sanity") system allows you to simulate how people will react when they see things (or learn things) that most normal people would never encounter. For example, anyone coming across a mutilated body should be at least a little traumatized, and CoC allows for that - almost all other systems tend to ignore the effects of horrific gore and slaughter on the mental well-being of the characters.