I tried to run this IRL once before, but it ran into trouble essentially because the players were in the same room and could not help but hear each others' secrets.

The setting is a mid-sized American town in the early 1920s. This game is not intended to be historically accurate, but rather to make a broad set of historical events into an interesting game.

You might be aware that the United States created near-absolute rules against the sale of alcoholic beverages, creating an instant black market for them. Gangs of criminals supplied this demand. These gangs used coercion, bribery, and violence to fight against each other and to increase in power. Law enforcement agents struggled to cut off the smuggling of liquor that was the fuel of these gangs' power.

The game plays like this:

One group is the bootleggers. Their job is to brew & smuggle the newly-prohibited liquor into a town. They will use every tool at their disposal to increase in money and power. They will have to battle law enforcement as well as rival gangs while keeping the precious liquor flowing.

Another group is the marshals. Charged with maintaining order in their society, they must adopt new and innovative strategies. In addition to facing off against the bootleggers, they must also run the risk of corrupt cops. Or perhaps they will become them...

I'm considering using Pathfinder Modern RPG for this game, modified to fit the period.

I like a good party against party romp. Other players make the best enemies...provided they're in on it. I'm not the 'slit the fighter's throat and sneak off in the middle of the night with as much of the dragon's hoard as you can fit on a horse' type.

Plus, The Roaring Twenties is a pretty fascinating time in America's history and I don't think I've ever roleplayed it before. So, yeah, I'm game. Just learning PF and never made a modern character with it though.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 10:05, Sat 24 Jan 2015.

Love the premise but not Pathfinder. ;^(

Now if you ran it in GURPS Action! I would be so there.

Count me in for bootlegging. My family used to do that irl. They told me plenty of stories.

PF modern might work... the house rules will make or break this. Not to mention circumstance modifiers for planning and preparation should play a much bigger role than statistics.

Gangbusters (old TSR) is designed this exact way. Opposing players, cops and criminals, with a fairly simple system. I've thought about running it in the past. I'd be interested in that system for sure.

I'd be in if it isn't a d20 system game in any regard. I like GURPS Action, but I have no opposition to learning a non-d20 system.