36 thoughts on “Are there any police procedural hacks out there? Something for a tough as nails police officers or detectives?”

  9. Ive often said Tremulus, restricted to the more toned-down playbooks, would easily nail an investigative drama — specifically Bones, with its plethora of cults, cannibals, and obsessive supervillain killers. Beyond that, there’s City of Mist, if you’re down with super powered noir detectives… No reason at all that couldn’t be hacked up very easily to make some more down to earth detective drama.

  14. Aaron Griffin I don’t think the game should be about the mystery but more about the relationships and hardship of these people on the force. The mystery could be created at the table with a couple moves like the workshop move or Perilous journey from DW.

  15. I think the Mystery tools from Monster of the Week would work fine. As it’s been said, it’s not about the actual mystery… It’s about the characters and propelling them into action. That’s how the tv shows work. We the audience are surprised by twists and turns, just like players are whenever the GM makes moves, but there’s never any doubt about whether our heroes will find out info.

    Maybe tremulus’ tools cover mysteries well too; I admit I’ve never read the GM section for the game, having only been a player.

  17. A few playbooks that make sense to me:

    The Veteran

    The Rookie

    The New Guy/Girl

    The Genius

    The Maverick

    The Conformist

    All of those could be detectives so you wouldn’t have to worry about adding the lawyer side if you wanted to focus.

    I feel like I started a hack along this line at one point but I can’t find it…

  18. Jared Hunt what’s the difference between the Rookie and the new guy?

    I was also thinking about the Veteran. The guy that’s on his last investigation before retirement seems to be a common trope.

  19. Not sure if those are the best names, but the Rookie is the person who just joined the force, while the New Girl is the person who just got transferred and doesn’t know anyone yet but brings all kinds of baggage from their old job.

  20. Maitre Sinh​ just gave Berlin XVIII a quick read. It’s good! Perfect to do exactly what I envision. My only problem is the kinda cyberpunk future europe setting which I know comes from the original game. I could easily reskin it thought since it’s more a matter of flavor than mechanics as far as I see.

    Also, glad to discover there’s a PbtA french scene/translation movement. Here in Quebec most people I know just play with the english version of the games.

  22. Also the Bad/corrupted cop.

    He might seem like an antagonist at first but there’s definitely a reason he’s acting this way. A good source of sweet PvP for sure.

  24. I’ve been working on a game called Bad Streets that is about the gritty lives of police detectives. It can be run as a procedural, though the focus of the game is the interactions between the detectives.

  25. As for the Rookie vs the New Girl, the rookie can either be new to the force or new to the detective corps, either works with a Rookie, the point being that they are new to the unit.

  27. jim miller Spirit of 76 focuses more on the over the top action films of the era, cops play a small role in it. The focus is more on disregarding the law than enforcing it. Characters generate Heat, if it reaches a certain level the cops come looking for you.

  29. I might add:

    The Hitter

    The Shady Guy

    The Old Timer

    The Hottie

    The Convert (grew up in a bad neighborhood, former Gangster)

    That’s all assuming the characters are investigating cops.

    The tough part, I think, is narrowing down the PCs and the peripheral characters: Is the forensic guy a one/two scene guest for each episode (Law and Order) or is he a primary character (CSI)? That can definitely change the scope of the Playbooks. So, the scope of the game will matter a lot.

  30. John Ughrin I think the composition of the Playbooks chosen by the players would modify the kind of story you would tell. Kinda like in The Sprawl where a story including a Hacker and a Driver would be different than the ones including a Reporter and a Hunter.

  31. I think this conversation and reading Berlin XVIII makes me want to have a try at it.

    Maitre Sinh Is there a problem if I borrow / get inspired by Berlin’s playbook? This is just for fun with no intension of profit of course.  

  34. Just came across this post, hope it’s OK to butt in. Not PbtA, but I am developing a The Wire-inspired police procedural game called Probable Cause, based on the Mouse Guard system (a very streamlined MG in fact). I am writing and playtesting the 3rd revision right now. I was VERY close to choosing PbtA as my rules fundament, but in the end went with MG. Probable Cause features character packs, which are templates much like PbtA playbooks, like The Techie, Mr Ambition, The Brainerd, The Action (Wo)Man, etc.

  36. Not quite there yet – there are early versions, but I have done some major tweaks this week ahead of the next playtest round, mostly filing more and more off the MG engine block. I will certainly keep you posted 🙂

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