Organised Crime RPG Reviews

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Let me make you an offer you can't refuse, as I delve into the world of organised crime RPGs.

This area has always been an interest of mine, so I thought it would be interesting to look at what's out there.

For those new to my review style, I lean towards the short end of review length and tend to be more about "vibe" and setting than detailed system evaluation.

I have a list of games I'll be covering. Feel free to add suggestions, although that will largely depend on cost!

I'm happy for discussion to take place in between the reviews; don't feel the need to just read passively or anything like that.

Gangbusters (1990, TSR)

Dog Town (2005, Cold Blooded Games)

Gangster! (1979, FGU)

Made Men - Welcome to the Family (2005, Mad Moon Rackets)

Crime Network: Cosa Nostra (2010, Bedrock Games)

Mobsters (1998, Burger Games)
 
Let me make you an offer you can't refuse, as I delve into the world of organised crime RPGs.

This area has always been an interest of mine, so I thought it would be interesting to look at what's out there.

For those new to my review style, I lean towards the short end of review length and tend to be more about "vibe" and setting than detailed system evaluation.

I have a list of games I'll be covering. Feel free to add suggestions, although that will largely depend on cost!

I'm happy for discussion to take place in between the reviews; don't feel the need to just read passively or anything like that.

Gangbusters (1990, TSR)

Dog Town (2005, Cold Blooded Games)

Gangster! (1979, FGU)

Made Men - Welcome to the Family (2005, Mad Moon Rackets)

Crime Network: Cosa Nostra (2010, Bedrock Games)

Mobsters (1998, Burger Games)
An RPG that crops up in my head when you say gangster RPG, is Ghost Dog.
 
Yes, Ghost Dog was a weird release. It was Tri-Stat - like BESM - but was predicated on the notion of solo play, playing an Assassin. It certainly was based on playing in an organized crime set up, but I was left scratching my head what to do with it.

Whenever I want to play a game that involves organized crime, I tend to gravitate to horror games - Call of Cthulhu, Vampire: The Masquerade, Kult or Unknown Armies as the set up is pretty similar. I think this is actually the reason why crime based games haven’t ever really had a big hit in the hobby.

There is also Fiasco of course, although that is a different type of roleplaying game.
 
Mobsters (1998, Burger Games)
o_O

If you accept requests, could you please drop a few words about the mindset of mobsters and their day-to-day operations in your reviews? I come from an incredibly sheltered background (keeping it Finnish, think Moomin Valley instead of Mobsters) and can't for the life of me figure out what the player characters in an organized crime game would actually do. I've seen and read a few depictions of la vida loca, pop-culture as well as “realistic”, and it's all very confusing. The meagre bottom line I can figure out is a practically medieval sense of personal honour, and being deliberately and exceedingly petty to whoever you can get away with it. And for me, that's too D&D to pull off in a (faux) modern day game world. Violence was a parody RPG, wasn't it?
 
An RPG that crops up in my head when you say gangster RPG, is Ghost Dog.
Looks interesting but sadly doesn't seem to be easily available in print.
Yes, Ghost Dog was a weird release. It was Tri-Stat - like BESM - but was predicated on the notion of solo play, playing an Assassin. It certainly was based on playing in an organized crime set up, but I was left scratching my head what to do with it.

Whenever I want to play a game that involves organized crime, I tend to gravitate to horror games - Call of Cthulhu, Vampire: The Masquerade, Kult or Unknown Armies as the set up is pretty similar. I think this is actually the reason why crime based games haven’t ever really had a big hit in the hobby.

There is also Fiasco of course, although that is a different type of roleplaying game.
I'm actually happy to look at storygames if anyone has suggestions. (Not really my area). The main reason I'm not doing Fiasco is that I'd see the heist genre as a bit different. I've found Bootleggers by John Harper and The Hood (both PbtA) so I'll add those to the list.
o_O

If you accept requests, could you please drop a few words about the mindset of mobsters and their day-to-day operations in your reviews? I come from an incredibly sheltered background (keeping it Finnish, think Moomin Valley instead of Mobsters) and can't for the life of me figure out what the player characters in an organized crime game would actually do. I've seen and read a few depictions of la vida loca, pop-culture as well as “realistic”, and it's all very confusing. The meagre bottom line I can figure out is a practically medieval sense of personal honour, and being deliberately and exceedingly petty to whoever you can get away with it. And for me, that's too D&D to pull off in a (faux) modern day game world. Violence was a parody RPG, wasn't it?
Obviously, I don't have any more direct experience than you, but I'll definitely cover how much support the games give you for running a criminal organisation.

And Violence was parody, yes!
 
o_O

If you accept requests, could you please drop a few words about the mindset of mobsters and their day-to-day operations in your reviews? I come from an incredibly sheltered background (keeping it Finnish, think Moomin Valley instead of Mobsters) and can't for the life of me figure out what the player characters in an organized crime game would actually do. I've seen and read a few depictions of la vida loca, pop-culture as well as “realistic”, and it's all very confusing. The meagre bottom line I can figure out is a practically medieval sense of personal honour, and being deliberately and exceedingly petty to whoever you can get away with it. And for me, that's too D&D to pull off in a (faux) modern day game world. Violence was a parody RPG, wasn't it?

I always found true crime accounts pretty helpful. Books like Wiseguys (Nicholas Pileggi), the Underboss (Peter Maas) and Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia (Joseph D. Pistone) to be helpful understanding how things function at the ground level. There is a different book named The Underboss as well, but written by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill. That one is interesting because it was written about the FBI agent who took down the Boston mafia, but before all the corruption and his alliance with Whitey Bulger came to light (the follow-up book, Black Mass, gets into that).

Michael Franzese (a former mafia capo) has a youtube channel and talks a lot about the daily life and the lifestyle (as well as the code they lived by). The channel is very watchable and he often reviews mafia and crime movies to point out what they got right or wrong. I've also found it very helpful to watch accounts by mob associates who committed crimes like robbery (because they usually explain how their crimes fit in with organized crime). I think the Sopranos is a great show for giving GMs material to draw on for this kind of stuff as well. Assuming based on your post you've probably seen Sopranos though and a lot of the key films.
 
I always found true crime accounts pretty helpful. Books like Wiseguys (Nicholas Pileggi), the Underboss (Peter Maas) and Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia (Joseph D. Pistone) to be helpful understanding how things function at the ground level. There is a different book named The Underboss as well, but written by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill. That one is interesting because it was written about the FBI agent who took down the Boston mafia, but before all the corruption and his alliance with Whitey Bulger came to light (the follow-up book, Black Mass, gets into that).

Michael Franzese (a former mafia capo) has a youtube channel and talks a lot about the daily life and the lifestyle (as well as the code they lived by). The channel is very watchable and he often reviews mafia and crime movies to point out what they got right or wrong. I've also found it very helpful to watch accounts by mob associates who committed crimes like robbery (because they usually explain how their crimes fit in with organized crime). I think the Sopranos is a great show for giving GMs material to draw on for this kind of stuff as well. Assuming based on your post you've probably seen Sopranos though and a lot of the key films.
Sammy the Bull has a YouTube channel and podcast too. Watching 70+ year old mobsters making diss tracks on YouTube is surreal.
 
Ghost Dog was one of the more unlikely licensed games out there that was actually pretty good, despite being a total WTF in terms of it even existing in the first place.

Burger Games' Mobsters was very well done, especially for a free game. The managerial aspects of it, with rackets and finding ways to pay for everything, was an interesting strategic layer.

What about Noir, from Archon Games? That's probably hard to find in print these days, and isn't strictly an organized crime game, but I thought it was good when I came across it. I remember it had a unique way of handling perks/flaws/whatever you want to call them, where all of them had positive and negative aspects in varying degrees.
 
o_O

If you accept requests, could you please drop a few words about the mindset of mobsters and their day-to-day operations in your reviews?
Good sir, I highly recommend the book WIseguy for insight into the life and mindset of Italian-Irish-Jewish organized crime in America from 1955 to 1980. The film Goodfellas is based on the book and is also excellent.

 
Looks interesting but sadly doesn't seem to be easily available in print.

I'm actually happy to look at storygames if anyone has suggestions. (Not really my area). The main reason I'm not doing Fiasco is that I'd see the heist genre as a bit different. I've found Bootleggers by John Harper and The Hood (both PbtA) so I'll add those to the list.

Obviously, I don't have any more direct experience than you, but I'll definitely cover how much support the games give you for running a criminal organisation.

And Violence was parody, yes!

This genre is very much my jam so looking forward to your reviews.

I like Bootleggers and The Hood and would also mention the PbtA 1%er, where you play outlaw motocycle gang members
 
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Obviously, I don't have any more direct experience than you, but I'll definitely cover how much support the games give you for running a criminal organisation.

To clarify, I was asking for exactly that. Thanks.

Good sir, I highly recommend the book WIseguy for insight into the life and mindset of Italian-Irish-Jewish organized crime in America from 1955 to 1980. The film Goodfellas is based on the book and is also excellent.

I've actually read that book and was suprised by how tedious, pedestrian and lacking glamour mob life is. I mean, Henry Hill, big man in the outfit, and what does he do for a living is hold up trucks coming from the airport, kick out the driver and presumably cruise around the neighbourhood selling the stolen TVs or whatever for a tenner. (And I can't understand how any of that that works; of course, everybody wants a brand new tube for next to nothing, but adding the risk of the police kicking down your door and doing time for accepting stolen goods I wouldn't think it's worth it, but maybe that's just my Moomin Valley upbringing.) And what he is aspiring to (and can never reach due to the fact that he's not of Italian descent) is rising high enough in the hierarchy so that he does no longer have to do his own robbing but lives off kickbacks from the robbers on his turf; basically extorting protection money from his own outfit. Or maybe I'm misremembering.

I've only watched a few episodes of the Sopranos, with a similar experience. They drag an informer or whatever into a warehouse, torture and kill him, and then one's like “hey, nice jackets in this box here” and they all help themselves to what my entirely fictitious CSI contacts would call “100% court-proof incriminating evidence”. Also, for how they are all rolling in the dough (and I know, it's never enough, but:smile: they are absolutely averse to spending any of it. Pauley and Christopher go to a fancy restaurant and Pauley freeloads on him, running up a $1200 bill. And then they kill a waiter who complains about the meagre tip Christopher gives as a cost-cutting measure. Or Pauley has an argument with gardeners, beats them up to make his point and then goes on to rob their wallet and a lawnmower. It's behaviour so incongruous I don't think I could emulate it in an RPG without assistance from the system.

And the violence doesn't seem to be what you see in the Hollywood flicks either, killing snitches, mob wars and running battles with the police. It's more like misunderstood silly quips and bad impulse control, punches thrown and somebody pulls a gun and then there's a dead body and everybody is standing around like “oh well, he had it coming”. Perhaps Fiasco is the better mafia game; I don't know.
 
I've actually read that book and was suprised by how tedious, pedestrian and lacking glamour mob life is. I mean, Henry Hill, big man in the outfit, and what does he do for a living is hold up trucks coming from the airport, kick out the driver and presumably cruise around the neighbourhood selling the stolen TVs or whatever for a tenner. (And I can't understand how any of that that works; of course, everybody wants a brand new tube for next to nothing, but adding the risk of the police kicking down your door and doing time for accepting stolen goods I wouldn't think it's worth it, but maybe that's just my Moomin Valley upbringing.) And what he is aspiring to (and can never reach due to the fact that he's not of Italian descent) is rising high enough in the hierarchy so that he does no longer have to do his own robbing but lives off kickbacks from the robbers on his turf; basically extorting protection money from his own outfit. Or maybe I'm misremembering.
Yeah, actually real life organised crime really isn't that glamorous!

It's an illegal business first and foremost.

Look at something like drugs, a major money spinner for the mob. A lot of that is sorted out wholesale prices, keeping a list of your dealers and how much they owe you, shifting product around effectively. At that point you're dealing with a lot of bookkeeping and accountancy.

With violence, even there it's a business transaction. You only really see random shootings etc. at the lower street gang level. It's notable that while they still occasionally clash with their rivals for old time's sake, the Hell's Angels have got less violent as they've got more serious about the business side of things.

All of which is to say none of these games are "realistic" because nobody wants to actually run through the day to day business of a mob soldier! Even the most gritty still have a lot more in common with films and television than real life.

(I should be getting Gangbusters up later).
 
To clarify, I was asking for exactly that. Thanks.



I've actually read that book and was suprised by how tedious, pedestrian and lacking glamour mob life is. I mean, Henry Hill, big man in the outfit, and what does he do for a living is hold up trucks coming from the airport, kick out the driver and presumably cruise around the neighbourhood selling the stolen TVs or whatever for a tenner. (And I can't understand how any of that that works; of course, everybody wants a brand new tube for next to nothing, but adding the risk of the police kicking down your door and doing time for accepting stolen goods I wouldn't think it's worth it, but maybe that's just my Moomin Valley upbringing.) And what he is aspiring to (and can never reach due to the fact that he's not of Italian descent) is rising high enough in the hierarchy so that he does no longer have to do his own robbing but lives off kickbacks from the robbers on his turf; basically extorting protection money from his own outfit. Or maybe I'm misremembering.

That is basically how the book was. Henry Hill was half italian, which wasn't enough to be made. I would just add there is still a lot of glamor even at his level, just in terms of the money and lifestyle he was able to lead (he was making money hand over fist). He was an associate, which means he wasn't an inducted member of the mafia. So one thing to keep in mind with Wiseguy is its a very low level portrayal of the street level. If you have characters in an RPG who are all made, that is a bit different because they aren't allowed to just go killing each other (you probably remember this from the book or a movie but you can't kill or hit a made man: even a boss isn't supposed to strike a made man who is lower than him on the hierarchy). Also even strict level killings, in theory I think, are supposed to be sanctioned. Obviously, it probably isn't always (Tommy DiSimone killed a bunch of people on a whim in Wiseguy), but the organized part of organized crime is it isn't just total chaos (and notably Tommy DiSimone was killed for his behavior, including killing a made man). Donnie Brasco gives a much clearer sense, for RPG purposes at least I think, of what the day to day life of a crew is like because Donnie Brasco is interacting with soldiers and a capo regularly. If you want to get a sense of how much the code is actually followed, I highly recommend the Michael Franzese youtube channel. He really gets into all that kind of stuff. Ultimately though it is all about making money. People rise and stay alive by making money. And the structure is about sending money up the chain (almost like a crime tax). Again Donnie Brasco does a good job of illustrating what this means for someone who gets advanced higher into the organization when one of the characters becomes a capo and explains how much he has to send to the boss every month (and there are just lots of scenes showing the men trying to make money in a variety of ways). The book goes into way more detail but the movie is good for gaming purposes.

You might check out Larry Lawton's youtube channel. He is a former jewel thief, who worked with the mafia a lot (most of his videos are about prison, but he has quite a few explaining how robberies work which I think a GM would find helpful). He even has an interview with the real life Joseph D Pistone.
 
Sammy the Bull has a YouTube channel and podcast too. Watching 70+ year old mobsters making diss tracks on YouTube is surreal.

We live in very surreal times. I actually find these youtube channels and the many online interviews with mobsters available on youtube more helpful than a lot of the crime books I used to read for the purposes of managing an organized crime campaign.

The book about Sammy the Bull, The Underboss, is very worth reading. Another one I remember liking is Sins of the Father.

The only thing I would say if you read books like this (crime or true life memoirs about gangsters written with the help of an author, or even without the help of an author) is read with a skeptical eye. There are a lot of rehearsed narratives in these kinds of books (which you get in any oral history but they seem particularly prevalent in this genre). And the people behind them often want to be seen a certain way or explain themselves a certain way, and I think that frequently leads to a distorted perspective. Same goes for the youtube channels.
 
Crime Network: Cosa Nostra (2010, Bedrock Games)

I may never get to it (like a lot of things) but I am definitely interested in thoughts, both good and bad, as I've long wanted to redo Crime Network (but probably going to call it Bullet to the Head if it gets released): it was actually written for another system initially and I feel some of the lethality got lost making it a network game (there is also just a lot I would want to revise in general since I learned a lot playing it over the years in terms of how to make it work). The system needs to be stripped down a bit. I've just never been completely happy with how it came out.

A lot of people are not aware but there is a supplement called Orlando's Guide to Organized Crime which does get a lot more into details about things like the lifestyle, crime and other criminal organizations that mobsters would have to deal with (it also describes real life mafia families, whereas the original book was all fictionalized mafia families in a fictional city).
 
I may never get to it (like a lot of things) but I am definitely interested in thoughts, both good and bad, as I've long wanted to redo Crime Network (but probably going to call it Bullet to the Head if it gets released): it was actually written for another system initially and I feel some of the lethality got lost making it a network game (there is also just a lot I would want to revise in general since I learned a lot playing it over the years in terms of how to make it work). The system needs to be stripped down a bit. I've just never been completely happy with how it came out.

A lot of people are not aware but there is a supplement called Orlando's Guide to Organized Crime which does get a lot more into details about things like the lifestyle, crime and other criminal organizations that mobsters would have to deal with (it also describes real life mafia families, whereas the original book was all fictionalized mafia families in a fictional city).
I own Orlando's as well and will definitely be covering it. (Especially as so much of it is system neutral).
 
I can't remember which book, but one of the Dark Champions supplements went into detail about different criminal groups (Mafia, Yakuza, Triads, etc). Steve Long also contributed to a Mage supplement, and replicated this material in that book. I found that info useful when I was running a Dark Champions game
 
To clarify, I was asking for exactly that. Thanks.



I've actually read that book and was suprised by how tedious, pedestrian and lacking glamour mob life is. I mean, Henry Hill, big man in the outfit, and what does he do for a living is hold up trucks coming from the airport, kick out the driver and presumably cruise around the neighbourhood selling the stolen TVs or whatever for a tenner. (And I can't understand how any of that that works; of course, everybody wants a brand new tube for next to nothing, but adding the risk of the police kicking down your door and doing time for accepting stolen goods I wouldn't think it's worth it, but maybe that's just my Moomin Valley upbringing.) And what he is aspiring to (and can never reach due to the fact that he's not of Italian descent) is rising high enough in the hierarchy so that he does no longer have to do his own robbing but lives off kickbacks from the robbers on his turf; basically extorting protection money from his own outfit. Or maybe I'm misremembering.

I've only watched a few episodes of the Sopranos, with a similar experience. They drag an informer or whatever into a warehouse, torture and kill him, and then one's like “hey, nice jackets in this box here” and they all help themselves to what my entirely fictitious CSI contacts would call “100% court-proof incriminating evidence”. Also, for how they are all rolling in the dough (and I know, it's never enough, but:smile: they are absolutely averse to spending any of it. Pauley and Christopher go to a fancy restaurant and Pauley freeloads on him, running up a $1200 bill. And then they kill a waiter who complains about the meagre tip Christopher gives as a cost-cutting measure. Or Pauley has an argument with gardeners, beats them up to make his point and then goes on to rob their wallet and a lawnmower. It's behaviour so incongruous I don't think I could emulate it in an RPG without assistance from the system.

And the violence doesn't seem to be what you see in the Hollywood flicks either, killing snitches, mob wars and running battles with the police. It's more like misunderstood silly quips and bad impulse control, punches thrown and somebody pulls a gun and then there's a dead body and everybody is standing around like “oh well, he had it coming”. Perhaps Fiasco is the better mafia game; I don't know.

T.J. English writes excellent true crime books, everything he's written is worthwhile but Paddywacked, the wide-ranging history of Irish gangsters and their intimate connection to American political corruption is really great, as is his history of the Mob in pre-revolutionary Cuba.

51TzBFyKjRL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

51CJdthxrgL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Savage City is a more the history of an individual case of racism and miscarriage of justice but also paints a vivid picture of the deep corruption within the NYPD in the 60s and 70s.

the-savage-city.jpg

For a devastingly unglamourized vision of the mafia in Italy itself the classic is Excellent Cadavers.

It covers the pre and post-War mafia and focuses on the shockingly violent conflict in 70s Italy between incredibly brave reporters, police, lawyers and judges who risked their lives in an attempt to dismantle the institutional corruption of the mob and how the mafia in Italy, in contrast to the US, turned to a campaign of horrific public assasinations and bombings in attempt to cow the State itself.

Very disturbing but insightful stuff, after reading it one is never going to think of the mafia in romantic terms ever again.

654444.jpg
 
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T.J. English writes excellent true crime books, everything he's written is worthwhile but Paddywacked, the wide-ranging history of Irish gangsters and their intimate connection to American political corruption is really great, as is his history of the Mob in pre-revolutionary Cuba.

View attachment 35222

Seconded on Paddy Whacked
 
Yeah, actually real life organised crime really isn't that glamorous!

It's an illegal business first and foremost.

Look at something like drugs, a major money spinner for the mob. A lot of that is sorted out wholesale prices, keeping a list of your dealers and how much they owe you, shifting product around effectively. At that point you're dealing with a lot of bookkeeping and accountancy.
Excellent comment. I was just going to add that a lot of "exciting" careers are largely mundane and boring because life is largely mundane and boring. Anyone who was in the military will tell you that military life involves a lot of drudgery, even in theaters of war the old adage "war is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror" holds true. That's why most RPGs are structured like television shows- they fast forward or gloss over the mundane while focusing on and exaggerating the interesting.
 
Look at something like drugs, a major money spinner for the mob. A lot of that is sorted out wholesale prices, keeping a list of your dealers and how much they owe you, shifting product around effectively. At that point you're dealing with a lot of bookkeeping and accountancy.

Yeah, just look at Stringer Bell's community college lessons. Would have worked, too, if he hadn't been at cross-purposes with Avon.

All of which is to say none of these games are "realistic" because nobody wants to actually run through the day to day business of a mob soldier! Even the most gritty still have a lot more in common with films and television than real life.

That's true. However, if you only do the big heists, wouldn't you be better off with a heist game like, say, Leverage? I'm really looking forward to seeing how the games maintain verisimilitude without breaking genre.

Anyway, thanks for all your suggestions, folks, looks like I've got some reading to do….
 
Gangbusters

I thought I'd start with perhaps the best known of the organised crime RPGs.

This is the 2nd edition of Gangbusters from TSR (which was mislabled the 3rd edition by TSR and has come to be known as that!). My understanding is that it's the 1st edition with some additional setting information from the scenarios but no serious changes.

There's also a B/X edition. I'm not reviewing that as I'm not personally that much of a fan of B/Xing everything but it's easily available, unlike the original which fetches a pretty penny on Ebay.

System

The system is reasonably straightforward, being based on roll under percentile stats.

Character gen is similarly straightforward, being random but with some modifiers to make the chances of getting a useless character less likely. The stats are similarly straightforward, Muscle, Agility, Observation, Driving and Luck. There's also two derived attributes, Hit Points and Driving.

Gangbusters uses what is essentially a class and level system, although it calls them "careers".

They can be divided into subcategories. You have Law Enforcement classes (Prohibition Agent, FBI, City Police), Private Professions (Private Investigators, Newspaper Reporters) and Criminals (Independent Criminal, Gang Member, Organised Crime Syndicate Member) .

These work really well for me. This covers anything I can think of I might want in a gangsters game.

To round off your character more, you get a skill. Singular. This allows characters to specialise. Something somewhat notable here is that the range of skills available at 1st level are pretty limited. Want to start off as a safecracker? Maybe consider lock picking as you won't be getting the safe cracking ability until level 3.

Despite this rather idiosyncratic approach, it does help personalise the characters more and distinguish two FBI agents from each other.

Something I do really like is that the experience system gives different careers experience for doing different things. The law enforcement careers naturally get exp for stopping crime. Criminals get it for making money (not killing people, notably. Well, unless it's a mob hit or something). That not only works well, but feels pretty innovative for a game first released in 1982.

It is worth noting that characters don't really change that much mechanically as they progress aside from a handful of new skills. While possible, raising stats is far too expensive to be worth considering most of the time (I'm not sure if this is a bug or a feature). What your exp does is double as social status. A 1st level policeman is a mere rookie. At 7th level he's a Major, watching over several wards. I actually really like this. For a modern historical game, it's a quick but satisfying way of allowing the characters to become more important where it most matters, in the eyes of their peers.

On combat finally (i'm not doing full rules rundowns, just bits that take my interest) it's deadly, but suffers somewhat from the whiff factor. Expect lots of bullets flying around. Often, it may just be quicker to crack that wise guy with a baseball bat. On top of that healing is slow. Wounds (what you get from being shot) especially. Spend an entire day doing nothing and you get one hit point back. I like that. It does move the game somewhat away from a full action movie, but adds a level of danger that should get the characters a bit more careful about going in guns blazing.

That's it for today! Tomorrow I'll look at some of the other bits and bobs in the rules and how the game is structured in general.
 
Excellent comment. I was just going to add that a lot of "exciting" careers are largely mundane and boring because life is largely mundane and boring. Anyone who was in the military will tell you that military life involves a lot of drudgery, even in theaters of war the old adage "war is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror" holds true. That's why most RPGs are structured like television shows- they fast forward or gloss over the mundane while focusing on and exaggerating the interesting.

A brilliant book about street-level drug dealing is Richard Price's Clockers. Nothing else I've read gave such a good idea of the day-to-day life of real-life drugdealing.

41PpxxrExwL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

The Spike Lee film is also good but very different, ironically it focuses more on the cop whereas the book is far more about the young crackdealer.

On a related note, Ethan Brown's Queens Reigns Supreme's first half is a really good history of the crack 'kingpins' of NYC in the 80s. I see some striking similarities in this history and the early seasons of The Wire, not sure if Simon was drawing on the same history/cases or those details are just common across the US.

71A012bSkTL.jpg

Similar to Price's novel and as was suggested in The Wire, Brown notes how hard it was for black gangsters to successfully launder their riches, this is something the Jewish, Irish and Italian gangsters of the early 20th century were able to do via their immigrant communities and corrupt connections to 'legit' business, politicians and police. These connections to politicians and police was the trumpcard for Irish gangsters particularly early on.
 
Our "crime is a lot less glamorous than you think" discussion was bouncing around in my head while I was shopping today. I remembered reading an article about a graduate student who learned something shocking during a deep dive on crack gang economics. The typical street-level gang members made less than minimum wage and lived with their mother. The people at the bottom take the biggest risks and make the least money. I want to say the article was in the LA Times but all I could find was this.
 
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Our "crime is a lot less glamorous than you think" discussion was bouncing around in my head while I was shopping today. I remembered reading an article about a graduate student who learned something shocking during a deep dive on crack gang economics. The typical street-level gang members made less than minimum wage and lived with their mother. The people at the bottom take the biggest risks and make the least money. I want to say the article was in the LA Times but all I could find was this.
I think you're talking about this book.
 
Gangbusters Part 2

A veritable smorgasbord of rules


This is possibly one of the most impressive things about Gangbusters. The rules may be compact (148 pages of which a 74 are setting information) but they fit an awful lot in. To pick just some at random; income for criminal businesses, public opinion, car chases, criminal trials, NPC reactions. It feels remarkably complete. Admittedly some are more detailed than others but this should be enough for any GM to be able to adjudicate almost any situation that could arise.

Arranged rather idiosyncratically

However, the book can be a bit eccentric in its ordering, which can make things hard to find. The aforementioned criminal income? 10 pages just after the criminal career is explained, before it goes into explaining how exp works. Public opinion? Inserted into the settling fluff for some reason, straight after an explanation of the Great Depression and just before the details of how to take out a bank loan. In some ways I find it charming, but it's not always easy if you don't know the rulebook very well. And of course this is aggravated by the total lack of an index and a very sparse table to contents.


Welcome to Lakefront City

Lakefront City is the default setting for Gangbusters and it's a... ok, look, it's 1920s/1930s Chicago. It's blatantly Chicago with the serial numbers filed off. It's actually really decent though. It only details the first ward, but it gives a lot of gameable content including important questions like how good the FBI crime lab is and which newspapers take which positions. A list of businesses with income and the protection they pay and who to. All important NPCs with full stats. It also gives a briefer but still useful overview of the Third Ward waterfront, a wonderful campaign setting complete with corrupt trade unions bought off by the Irish mob and a gang of Trotskyist agitators with explosives.

So far so good. I really like Lakefront City as a campaign setting. It's got a lot of potential hooks and feels like a live city (probably because it's Chicago). It comes at a bit of a cost though. There's not really any support for making your own city. Not a problem for experienced GMs, but if you're new to the genre and don't like Lakefront City you're a bit stuck.

The Campaign

"A Day in the Neighborhood" is the series of related adventures in the back and I'm actually really impressed with it. It largely focuses on the struggles between the traditional mafia Toledo Mob and the upstart newcomers of the O'Connor Gang. (Interestingly, it puts any PC criminals in the O'Connor gang). Obviously, what focus this takes will depend on whether the PCs are on the side of the law or the criminals (or possibly just want a headline story). But without going into spoilers too much it's a well paced and interesting campaign with an explosive finale. It's interesting to note two things here. It assumes that the players will be split between the various sides and it recommends you play the campaign with 8-12 players. Neither of these are bad things obviously, just out of fashion with modern RPG sensibilities.


Scenarios

TSR also produced five scenarios for the game, which I don't propose to go into in detail. They vary in quality. My main issue with them is that they seem to assume that most groups will focus on the law enforcement side of things. All I can say is that if your group mostly wants to play cops in a mob game they're very different than the players I'm used to.


We like our murdering racketeers wholesome and family friendly

This will seem petty to some, but it's my main gripe with the game. In typical late TSR style, the game insists on being family friendly despite the subject matter. The otherwise complete ruleset pretends that drugs and prostitution simply don't exist. And there's no hint of racial tensions. (Obviously, not everyone wants that in their game but it seems an odd omission considering how much of the traditional Mafia insists on Italian men only for full membership). TSR's patronising style mostly stays out of the game at least, although it has a few moments. The introduction tells us that one major differences between criminals and the law is that the former value "disloyalty" rather than "loyalty". Despite it being loyalty that keeps the mafia coherent at the time. And I don't know that much about the era, but I'm cynical about the idea that FBI agents were 95% incorruptible square jawed types. This kind of sanitisation will be irrelevant for some and a deal breaker for others. I'm somewhere in the middle. It grates, but not enough to spoil my enjoyment of the game.

Overall


Gangbusters is justified in its status as one of the better known organised crime games out there. It's solid, packed full of content, has a great campaign and has stood the test of time.

Recommended: If you want a reasonably rules light mafia game set in the glory days of the 20s and 30s. If the Lakefront City setting and campaign appeal. If you want to play characters shutting down the mob rather than be the mob.

Not Recommended: If you prefer your gangster games on the gritty end of the spectrum. If you hate old school design techniques like random character generation.
 
Be a few days before the next review is up. Partly because I have a book review elsewhere. But mostly because my god have you seen the size of Dog Town and its supplements?
 
Be a few days before the next review is up. Partly because I have a book review elsewhere. But mostly because my god have you seen the size of Dog Town and its supplements?
Yes, I've read it. While reading Soylent Green's posts, my first thought was DogTown...where crooks have vices they have to indulge in:thumbsup:.
 
One of the things I loved about Dog Town was that there was a character archetype that was just called "Asshole". Like, that's what they were best at; just being an all-around mean bastard.

More seriously, though, it's a unique game that drives home the idea that the characters aren't necessarily a bunch of smooth professional operators with mirrorshades and cool guns. They're desperate low-lifes with little to lose trying to make one big score, with few (if any) redeeming qualities. Little fish in a nasty pond (in which someone is getting bribed to dump toxic waste, most likely).
 
A fun subject and good first review!

I was a little surprised you described Gangbusters as having an unusually dangerous combat system; while i love the game, I found it problematic that it's basically impossible to kill someone with a single gunshot, played RAW. Perhaps a small detail, but quite frustrating when you realize a gun pointed at you isn't actually an existential threat.
 
A fun subject and good first review!

I was a little surprised you described Gangbusters as having an unusually dangerous combat system; while i love the game, I found it problematic that it's basically impossible to kill someone with a single gunshot, played RAW. Perhaps a small detail, but quite frustrating when you realize a gun pointed at you isn't actually an existential threat.
That's a valid point and I should have been clearer that I meant it's deadly for a cinematic game rather than compared to more realistic games. (One reasons I think it's deadly is that for a level/class game higher levels don't significantly increase survivability).
 
Yes, I've read it. While reading Soylent Green's posts, my first thought was DogTown […]
I'm very sorry to hear that.

While Dog Town rests in my measly 16GB of mostly unread PDFs, I found among it a file named Dog Town Stripped (cbg_2000.pdf), which seems to be a 52-page rules-light version.
 
I'm very sorry to hear that.

While Dog Town rests in my measly 16GB of mostly unread PDFs, I found among it a file named Dog Town Stripped (cbg_2000.pdf), which seems to be a 52-page rules-light version.
I hope you're sorry because I (or Autocorrect) misspelled your name:smile:?

I mean, what's there to dislike about a game about criminals having them subject to vices:wink:?

And yeah, Stripped is the kinda-quickstart, kinda-second edition. IIRC, it changes the core mechanic to the one which was later used by the same author in different games:grin:.
 
To clarify, I was asking for exactly that. Thanks.



I've actually read that book and was suprised by how tedious, pedestrian and lacking glamour mob life is. I mean, Henry Hill, big man in the outfit, and what does he do for a living is hold up trucks coming from the airport, kick out the driver and presumably cruise around the neighbourhood selling the stolen TVs or whatever for a tenner. (And I can't understand how any of that that works; of course, everybody wants a brand new tube for next to nothing, but adding the risk of the police kicking down your door and doing time for accepting stolen goods I wouldn't think it's worth it, but maybe that's just my Moomin Valley upbringing.) And what he is aspiring to (and can never reach due to the fact that he's not of Italian descent) is rising high enough in the hierarchy so that he does no longer have to do his own robbing but lives off kickbacks from the robbers on his turf; basically extorting protection money from his own outfit. Or maybe I'm misremembering.

I've only watched a few episodes of the Sopranos, with a similar experience. They drag an informer or whatever into a warehouse, torture and kill him, and then one's like “hey, nice jackets in this box here” and they all help themselves to what my entirely fictitious CSI contacts would call “100% court-proof incriminating evidence”. Also, for how they are all rolling in the dough (and I know, it's never enough, but:smile: they are absolutely averse to spending any of it. Pauley and Christopher go to a fancy restaurant and Pauley freeloads on him, running up a $1200 bill. And then they kill a waiter who complains about the meagre tip Christopher gives as a cost-cutting measure. Or Pauley has an argument with gardeners, beats them up to make his point and then goes on to rob their wallet and a lawnmower. It's behaviour so incongruous I don't think I could emulate it in an RPG without assistance from the system.

And the violence doesn't seem to be what you see in the Hollywood flicks either, killing snitches, mob wars and running battles with the police. It's more like misunderstood silly quips and bad impulse control, punches thrown and somebody pulls a gun and then there's a dead body and everybody is standing around like “oh well, he had it coming”. Perhaps Fiasco is the better mafia game; I don't know.

Keep in mind there are two sides to most crime games, players might be crooks, but often they will be law enforcement trying to put the mobsters away. The reality of that isn't all glamor either with long boring stakeouts, weeks / months of wiretaps and pouring over mountains of documents being the reality of most of the big prosecutions. Al Capone died in prison for tax evasion, not for murder and mayhem.

Even most of the fiction that these games are more likely to emulate, don't really make crime all that alluring. Sure there may be the trappings that comes with with money and power, women, fast cars, big houses etc, but other than those at the very top there is little real security, double crosses and set ups, being ordered to wack a guy who was your wingman last week for some indiscretion causing him to fall out of favor with the bosses, unsavory co-workers, corruption breeding more corruption (payoffs to politicians and crooked law enforcement) and lots of paranoia or maybe everyone is out to get you.

How many times has Joe Peschi ended up in a hole in the desert?

Along with organized crime in many games you also have the independent operators the bank robbers, train robbers, high end cat burglars and jewel thieves etc. In the 1930s these would be John Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, Machinegun Kelley, Ma Barker etc.
 
Along with organized crime in many games you also have the independent operators the bank robbers, train robbers, high end cat burglars and jewel thieves etc. In the 1930s these would be John Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, Machinegun Kelley, Ma Barker etc.
And most of them also end up in a hole in the ground, BTW. Whether it was due to FBI or a "sanctioned" hit:thumbsup:.
 
I haven't forgotten about this, just been a bit busy! Expect a new review at the weekend.
 
I feel like someone should at least mention Blades in the Dark, which is specifically a game where you play members of an organized crime group, and which has also been hacked into a bunch of real-world settings. If I were going to run a mafia game, BitD would be the rules set I'd use. YMMV, naturally.
 
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