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[Grakelin]

Hello all,

I'm trying to find a pen and paper RPG dealing with organized crime, a subject touched upon in our media through shows like the Sopranos and movies like the Godfather. I've had no luck, so maybe somebody else has heard of one (or, better yet, played one!). There's a bonus if it covers some level of police investigation into crimes the characters may commit, even in a relatively abstract way, so as to encourage subtletly.

Conversely, an RPG based around police and detective work would actually work equally well.

[GlyphGryph]

Huh. I actually new one of these, but damned if I can't remember the name.

Admittedly, there's quite a few I can think of WITH organized crime and organized crime campaigns, but most are science fiction or fantasy, and it sounds like you want something more contemporary... hmmm...

The only one I can think of there is Crime Network: Cosa Nostra, and I've never actually played it, so I have no idea if its any good.

[Viken]

Not that I've ever heard of, Grakelin.  An RPG where the players set up a Syndicate or join a Mafia Family would be cool though.  I got my start into 'most' gaming through pen-and-paper RPGs, but I"ve never seen or heard of a organized crime or detective-based RPG before.  Sorry omae.

[Skeeblix]

Shadowrun is a game in which player actions are majorly crime focused, though the ruleset allows plenty of leeway to play from the other side of the badge. The setting might be a little out of the scope you're looking for though.

[NRDL]

Why don't we invent something like that?  With hard-set rules, but with enough flexibility so that the game is more fun? 

I can imagine a sort of D&D campaign with this. 

[Tilla]

You may want to check out Grimith's Liberal Crime Squad Tabletop game for some inspiration, it's pretty cool and available on the Voltron Army forums - don't have a specific link handy.

[Grakelin]

Why don't we invent something like that?  With hard-set rules, but with enough flexibility so that the game is more fun? 

I can imagine a sort of D&D campaign with this.

Great idea. I don't have the time commitment available to produce anything like this, though.

If you go ahead with this plan, can you make its own thread for it? For now, I want to use this thread as a place to leave RPGs I find on the theme, as well as to continue getting suggestions.

So far, I've found Leverage, apparently based on some TV show. Will give the previews a look, though the Cortex systems never get any support. Also, this seems more 'Super Spy' than 'Street Criminal'.

There are 38 core rulebooks in the 'Modern, Detective/Crime' genre. Most are not quite what I'm looking for, either (with bits like time travel superhereos tossed in). Mean Streets looks like a mid-20th century take on the concept.

Dogtown, is a game which is now free (though you have to log-in. It looks to be a part of RPGnow, so I will check to see if my RPGDriveThru account will work), that seems to be set in the 70s.

Found a sourcebook called 'Mobsters' using something called the 'Scorpio system'. Unfortunately, the only place I can find info on either of these things is inside somebody's massive collection of pirated RPGs, so there's no link. It seems to me like enough of an indication that's it's probably not the best choice anyway.

There are multiple sourcebooks for the mafia in d20 Modern, but that goes without saying.

[Sensei]

Well, there's always Liberal Crime Squad (if you aren't familiar with it already).

Derp, PnP. Hmm, needs to be a LCS PnP game...

[Grakelin]

There is one, according to Tilla. Haven't gone looking for it yet (not quite what I'm looking for in theme anyway).

Found the Scorpio Mobsters game. It's near the bottom.

Mob Justice has a flashy website, but Outbreak: Undead indicated to me that a flashy website doesn't equate to a well-written book (Outbreak: Undead has a decent rules system, probably the best among the zombie genre, but it is a terribly edited sourcebook. Wish I'd gotten it in .pdf instead of print).

[gimlet]

You could mangle some of the espionage RPGs to leave out whatever you don't think will fit - if you want a high-tech worldwide shadow syndicate, then actually you wouldn't leave out much...

[ductape]

you could just use d20 modern. The theme (gangsters) is the setting, not the ruleset.  You probably dont need your books to have pictures of gangsters for it to be a gangster game.

you just need a modern ruleset to deal with guns, vehicles, etc. The rest is RP and flavor.

[EuchreJack]

Shadowrun is a game in which player actions are majorly crime focused, though the ruleset allows plenty of leeway to play from the other side of the badge. The setting might be a little out of the scope you're looking for though.

The GMs on Deckeon (A Shadowrun MUD) organize crimes, and the players commit them.  But that's not really what you mean.

...Although, I've really enjoyed the two kidnappings I've participated in on the server.

[Grakelin]

you could just use d20 modern. The theme (gangsters) is the setting, not the ruleset.  You probably dont need your books to have pictures of gangsters for it to be a gangster game.

you just need a modern ruleset to deal with guns, vehicles, etc. The rest is RP and flavor.

I'm not a big fan of d20 Modern. I've used nWoD in the past, but the main problem with both is that killings are impossible to do cleanly, so the characters always go to jail whenever they got into a fight.

[Yoink]

This game isn't particularly serious, so it may not be suitable, but I remembered it from a while ago:Violence the Roleplaying Game.
Oh, it links straight to the PDF file, so it's kinda a big file.

Doubt that's really what you're looking for, though. This sort of setting sounds like fun, though.

[Deadmeat1471]

There is one, according to Tilla. Haven't gone looking for it yet (not quite what I'm looking for in theme anyway).

Found the Scorpio Mobsters game. It's near the bottom.

Mob Justice has a flashy website, but Outbreak: Undead indicated to me that a flashy website doesn't equate to a well-written book (Outbreak: Undead has a decent rules system, probably the best among the zombie genre, but it is a terribly edited sourcebook. Wish I'd gotten it in .pdf instead of print).

This Mobsters PFD looks really good for this, I too would like a Mob/Crime related rpg