Finished up a four part campaign in James Mullen’s The Hood.

Originally shared by Seth Harris

Finished up a four part campaign in James Mullen’s The Hood. I came in with very moderate expectations but ended up falling in love with this variation on the *World system. 

In the game I was running we had The Neighbor, The Blur, The Schemer, and The Mover. Our first session established the streets and important locations in the neighborhood. We had some interesting conflicts off the bat and players really took to dealing with the problems around them.

I found the basic moves intriguing as even on a 10+ there is still a choice that must always be made that is detrimental. To me, that simulates characters who have become embroiled with crime. You may succeed in knocking out your rival on the block and making sure he never threatens you again, but you can draw unwanted attention to yourself or waste your day dealing with him or need to enlist a buddy to help who you now owe.

We had a PC’s sister kidnapped by angered organized crime thugs, a priest defrocked and replaced with PCs posing as clergy, a scheme to collect money under the auspices of a fund for a fallen police officer, forging papers to set up an elderly neighbor as suffering from dementia, framing a local thug for murder, and more. If you feel like your group would enjoy playing something in the vein of The Wire or The Shield this is a perfect fit. It takes the saying “crime doesn’t pay” to heart.