Tie my shoelaces together and tell me to run if I'm wrong.. but I don't think someone has invented this yet.

Typically a Dungeons and Dragons game relies on some kind of geeky dweeby theme that a "dungeon master" narrates to the group of players. I'm no expert on role playing games, and yes I have seen various spin off's to the original. Delete me if I'm wrong, but they have yet to come up with a kind of "Grand Theft Auto" version of this game. In other words, the common out of the box game is usually like Star Trek or Star Wars or some kind of weird mystical setting or characters. Well why not make it more realistic and totally pimped out? Create characters like "Crack Fiend Sally" or "Harold the Hobo" and a gang of thieves with missions to steal cars, rob banks, deal drugs, drive over crowds of people, get arrested, pimp prostitutes, buy totally sweet rides, beat up cops amongst other illegal activities. Instead of a dungeon master, you have a gang leader or drug lord. It doesn't even have to take place in the city, could be anywhere, the idea though is to make it more realistic and criminal minded. Sure you could buy a video game and play fantasy with a screen, but this is much more personal and could be a lot of fun face to face with friends.
-- IdeallyFourWord, Jun 29 2007

GURPS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GURPS
Whatever you want it to be. [zen_tom, Jun 29 2007]

PimpStreet http://www.pimpsstreet.com/
Online RPG based on the themes you describe. [zen_tom, Jun 29 2007]

Maybe I missed the point, but in my formative years, we used to subvert the rules of existing roleplaying games to do (among many other things) exactly what you describe.

Any 'packaged' roleplaying game provides backstory, ideas for characters and the sort of themes and encounters players might discover in a particular gameworld - but why limit yourself to someone else's ideas?

I remember having one game where serial killers, drug dealers and all manner of hoestry were quite abound - in the sort of traditional Hobbits and Holes gameworld - but who wants to deal with Dragons when a whole peasant village can be subverted into zombie-like drug fiends willing to do your every bidding?
-- zen_tom, Jun 29 2007


I think I once made up a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles one when I was a kid. Did all the drawings and everything.
-- theleopard, Jun 29 2007


There was one called "Over The Edge" that had elements of this.

You won't get this from one of the major game companies. They are very shy of offending the parents of the kids who buy a lot of their product. But as someone pointed out, GURPS could easily achieve this.

I would also point out that Shadow Run was a sort of a hybrid.
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Jun 29 2007


We played D & D in my college, and had the adventure take place in one of the campus buildings (with the teachers replaced by giant stench-breathing monsters)
-- phundug, Jun 30 2007


//Well why not make it more realistic //

On this topic, I once (WHY?????) began to create a game in which your character had to solve simple math problems (e.g. compute the roots of a quadratic expression). But the character had different skills (e.g. addition skill, multiplication skill, ability to remember negative signs, neatness, etc.)

The thing was solved by rolling dice and the object was to obtain the correct solution. BORING!
-- phundug, Jun 30 2007



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