Criminal Sandbox or "Crimepunk" idea I want to run here

[steelsmiter]

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 that 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, and Mafia video game franchises, along with countless others. 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:​

• Broadly what era you're up for (within about a 400 year span centered on this year)
  

  • The book has a fairly extensive timeline and that's not necessary for nailing this part down, once you've indicated interest the book can provide context for recent and near future events that occur. Some specific events (such as the KFJ Incident, which is Playa Determined) very strongly imply a need for magic, or at least a specific Special Ability. It can also be implied that The Inquisition wiped out or nearly wiped out certain types of powers for a long time. The chapter on Superpowers indicates they can be earned on a temporary basis as well (peyote, energy drinks, one I thought of was prohibition homebrew), so a mundane game where playas can occasionally cut loose, but not do so on the regular.​
• Whether there are powers that exceed normal human potential (More than those emulated with the GTA special ability mechanic)
  

  • what sources can those powers come from (tech, magic, psi, morality, being a humanoid "inhuman" such as a goblin or demon) For those of you who don't read sigs because you don't care or turned that setting off, or just haven't got my books yet, this mainly means is the game mundane, magically influenced, or cybernetically influenced.​
• how wacky/mundane do you want the game (due to the above range of mentioned games)​

 

[steelsmiter]

Randomly thought I'd post a few ideas to springboard off of

• 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, a war between 1860 and say... 2164 is reasonable. The players participating in The Sexbot Uprising in the Shenlong Empire might be a bit too wacky. I don't actually have a war explicitly mentioned after Murica was nuked in 2023, but nothing fleshed out.

 

[steelsmiter]

Here is my discord where the files are. There is a dice roller channel there as well