The Forge Archives

Well, I took some time of from the vampire game and decided to do a little concept work on a game called Beat the Streets, where players play as police officers in a major city of their choice.

It's only got a little bit laid out so far, and I just wanted some initial input from some people who might be interested in looking at it.  I haven't seen any other police roleplaying games out there, but there may be one somewhere.

Anyways, here's the link to take a look at the .PDF for it as it stands.  I've outlined the skills, stats, and drawn up a character sheet for it so far.  http://www.geocities.com/kittrbj82/ .  Let me know what you guys think, if anything.

I like the idea, and the stuff available so far looks great. I does seem neither too complex nor too simple and I had a feeling of immediately "getting" it. My only problem so far is I can't "see"/ visualise myself playing the game, though I'd like to. Maybe my imagination is too limited, but I can only think about (a) classic car-chases and low level police work or (b) thorough investigations as "adventures". I can't see how (a) would be interesting to play, and I can see (b) degenerating into a murder mystery, where all your stats become essentially meaningless and character becomes secondary, because the players are "only" trying to solve the puzzle, using their own wits.
I guess you have a better idea what play should be like, but you might consider offering some more help to the imaginatively-challenged, to get them to share your vision. I'd suggest making the rest of the rules "more of the same", they're fine the way they are.

Sure, not a problem, montag.  It involves both player wits and the character's statistics both in all things.

Situation 1: Car Chase

For the classic car-chases, the player has to think to use his skills in the situation.  For instance, the player would say he wants to look at the car in front of him.  So, the character would roll Observation + Automotives to determine what he could from the car or perhaps Observation + Investigation to read the license plate against a set difficulty factor, normally 15.  He sends it to the dispatcher, and the dispatcher tells him that the car is reported stolen.

He turns on his siren and strobes, and the cars pick up speed.  The player decides how he wants to begin handling the situation, and he decides that he will try to ram the back right side of the car so that it will go slightly out of control, forcing the driver to go off into a field on the left.  The player would roll Coordination + Drive against the NPC's Coordination + Drive to see if the officer is successful, if the NPC remains in control, or if the officer applied too much force and went out of control himself.  In this situation, the officer beat the NPC's roll, and the car goes off into the field, running over a barbed-wire fence and stopping.

The player then gets out of the car and decides what he will do next.  Being a smart officer, he decides to roll Coordination + Cover to use his door as a shield against possible incoming bullets, and succeeds.  Using his Charisma + Manipulation to order the suspect from the vehicle, to put her hands in the air, and to surrender.  The officer succeeds, but when he attempts to put cuffs on the girl, she struggles.  The player then must roll Coordination + Restraint against the girl's Coordination + Fracas to restrain and arrest her.  Since she is very young and not in better shape than the veteran cop, the player subdues her and makes the arrest.

Situation 2: Murder Mystery

The player is a detective working on a major crime, and a lead has come in for him to investigate at 1069 Redbrick Rd.  So, off he goes.  When he arrives, he sees that the fence is broken down, as if a car had been through there.  The player rolls the character's Observation + Awareness, and does so well on the roll that he happens to see a license plate that has flown off.  He reads the tag number to the dispatcher, and the dispatcher identifies the car as one of the recent victims in a brutal murder in the case he is working on!

Not wanting to take a chance, the player puts his car in a position to block off the gated driveway that has been broken.  He then rolls the character's Intelligence + Estimation to determine if he thinks the car will stop anyone from escaping, and he comes to reason that it will.  He then proceeds to enter the house with his pistol drawn and his flashlight ready.  An Observation + Awareness roll indicates that there are some red splotches on the wall inside the house.  Though the player then fails his Observation + Investigation roll to determine the origin of the splatters or what they are, the player still feels like it is probably blood splatters, but he cannot prove it.

After a while of playing, thinking, and investigating the house, the player comes upon the murderer holding a victim with a knife.  The player decides that a peaceful resolution is still possible, so he rolls Charisma + Negotiation vs. the murderer's Observation + Awareness to sweet-talk the murderer into letting the victim go and surrendering.  Something goes horribly wrong and the murderer cuts the victim, but the victim bites his arm, allowing the player one moment of opportunity.  The player rolls his Coordination + Pistol at a higher difficulty to miss the victim and hit the murderer in a neutralizing spot.  A body shot is easier, but the player's nature and personality dictate that he should bring the murderer in.  He takes the shot, the murderer falls to the ground, and the arrest is made.


As explained here, it is a combination of many things involved to solve a murder case properly, to get that speeding suspect to stop, and to solve other crimes.  I will admit that the game has the possibility to fall into that abyss of disregarding the stats of a character, but it is all a matter of how a Chief runs the game.  If the Chief disregards the stats all the time, of course, the game will suffer, but if the Chief keeps a pleasant mixture of rolling and making the players themselves think a little bit, it keeps the depth and excitement that is intended.

Hope this helped, and sorry for the long-windedness.  hehe

Brian,

I definitely think you are on the right track.  I think gaming is burned out on vampires, but this more down to earth RPG is something I can see some interest in.  

However, you probably do need to decide what your "creative agenda" is.  

1) Are you going to portray the character's day to day police work and life on the force?  

2) Are you going to emulate cop shows?  

3) Are you going to rely on the player's intellectual skills to "solve the crime"?  

4) Are you going to have the players directly address the deep moral issues involved?

All these play styles are valid, but be aware that they have their difficulties.  1) assumes that the players (particularly the GM) have considerable knowledge of police life.  2) could easily lead to railroading.  3) is perhaps the most difficult because the GM needs to come up with intellectually challenging crimes that are consistant and have no holes and 4) may not be a style of play that a lot of veteran RPG players are comfortable with, though you might check out Unsung for a good example of this type of play.

The examples in your last post look like 1 and 3 respectively, but your text with its emphasis on "seasons" looks like 2.  I don't think this is a problem, but people who want a real slice of life 1 might find the 2 and 3 elements contrived and problematic.  People who just want to be hot shot cop show officers like 2 might find 1 and 3 boring.  And people who want an intellectual mystery 3) will probably find the other elements diverting from the real point of play: "another traffic stop?!?  I just want to solve the case we are working on."  Anyway, I look forward to seeing more.

Talk Soon,
Mark

It seems that you are looking for a more cinematic cop style than realistic. If so, this is fine, but it is definitely a distinction that you should make clear. There are some definite differences between your descriptions and real-life police procedures. If you are going for the cinematic, then you'll want to have elements of the rules which encourage the players to take ballsy, action-oriented risks like the various cop movies out there. If you want to go for more realistic and gritty, then some research on police procedures and terminology would be in order, with mechanics which encourage a more cautious, professional approach to whatever comes their way.

Either way, your two examples seem to be a good start. One technique that is recommended here often enough is to write up how a session would go, complete with dialogue between the players and GM, but without any reference to specific rules. This will help you decide what you want to focus on, and help you create rules which encourage that focus.

Yeah, I'd agree that there's a very important issue, where your design lies between Gritty and Cinematic. It's best to be consistant on that, but remember that it's a highly variable scale.

How realistic do you want your game to be? Though I can never get your PDF's to work, I assume you're operating with little academic or personal expiereince about police? This can actually be the best place to operate from if what your aiming is versimitude, because alot of the realities of the police, plugged into the game, would make people shrug their shoulders in disbelief.

Not only would mirroring how cops operate on TV conform to the players expectations, but it has a definate tint of what people -want- to believe, as well as what they are most -likely- to believe, so it can be highly effective.

I've gamed with someone who had intense work expiereince with cops, and was playing the most realistic cop I have ever seen(Gotten from my extensive expierence dealing with cops as a miscellanous-rabble-rouser.). It was terribly boring. Going from investigative procedure to investigative procedure. No outbursts of clever sherlock-holmsy methods of discovery. No obligatory spunky latina partner.

From a realistic perspective, a person being a responsible cop expresses very little of themself through their job, therefore it would be a pretty bad roleplaying avenue. It's the most railroaded posistion possible: You're called up and told to do something that has been built up to be vaguely good, and you personally have no idea of the legal realities beyond what's nessecary to function. You refuse and you're closer if not completely being off the force(Game over).

The only times they can express their own personalities in such situations, is through corruption. Now that's an intereasting angle; You're told what you're supposed to do, and you attempt to follow those guidelines superficially while enjoying the length of leash you're given to pursue your own ends. Henry can express his dislike of certain individuals by beating them to a pulp.

As a quick aside, and as blantant self-promotion, I'd like to point to Unsung, which, in its latest incarnation, is pointing at police-style play. Check out the Unsung threads in Actual Play for snapshots of a SWAT-oriented campaign I'm running with it.

As your system, I'm not sure I understand what part of the system encourages the whole restraint, control, and ethics aspect of things. Is that one of the bits you're still working on? I do think the current mechanics are reasonably solid, in a basic Simulationist kinda way...

Alot of good input here from everyone.

Let me begin by saying that the game will be procedural and as "rule lite" as possible.  The guidelines for play and what is and what is not allowed (according to the rules, anyway) will be a basic guideline.

Basically, the game is to be generic enough to fit into any major city a Chief decides to play in, but will be more than enough to go on.  If a group wants to grab a local police manual for their area and a state lawbook, that is fine, but not required.

The guidelines in the book will represent a more general set of rules that cops tend to go by: making an arrest is better than shooting a suspect, taking a shot on someone holding a hostage is not advised unless it is absolutely necessary, and the like.

So, I imagine it will be more of a cinematic-style game, according to what everyone's definition of that is, where the cops have personalities that play in more than their memorization of rules, roleplaying more than mundane, repetitive tasks.

If anyone has played the "Police Quest" series of games by Sierra, that is sorta the direction I'm leaning towards.  The players receive a call that comes in over the radio, and then they decide what to do according to their own personal knowledge and their character's abilities.

To answer Mark, the rules will allow for a combination of all 4.

To answer Wolfen, yes, it will seem more cinematic than realistic, but will be placed in the real world with consequences to one's actions.  The rules will allow for gameplay across the spectrum, but it is up to the Chief and the gaming group to decide how far one way or another they want to go with it.

To answer sirogit, the detective job in the game is exactly what players who want independence and freedom will need to take.  The Chief may assign them to a case, but solving that case, accumulating evidence, and so forth will be up to them as it comes along.  And, yes, I am operating from no academic knowledge of the law or police forces, and even if I was, I would not plug much of how it really works into the game, as it would probably be boring. lol

To answer xiombarg, there are certain ground rules that cops should adhere to while on the job: as stated above, making an arrest is better than annihilating a bunch of suspects that you could have arrested, injuring civilians in high-speed car chases is not a good thing, shooting into a crowd of people is not good, and so forth.  It is encouraged by the fact that the public will deem you in a different regard for each bad (and good) thing you do.  If you shoot someone's wife, they'll probably become your enemy, leading into a whole new line of the story.  If a car hits a group of people that you were chasing wrecklessly through the crowded streets, people might start to dislike your methods and planning.  Eventually, the public relations factor could get so bad that you would get suspended, thrown in jail, ousted from the force, and so forth.

Also, I want to impress upon everyone that the game will include "off-duty" life of the players in the game.  Stress is an important factor in that you must do things off-duty to relax to reduce your Stress rating received while on the job.  If your Stress gets too high, your rolls receive penalties, and etc.  So, the game could open new venues into the underlying social network of cops in Beat the Streets, as well as relationships that could develop off-duty in bars, clubs, pool halls, and the players' homes.

Any other questions or anyone need clarification further?

Not-very-useful feedback:

Police Quest! Woo! As a mainline Sierra adventure game junkie, I am now looking forward to this. ;) I'll have to take a look at the rules in that light and see how well they stack up.

Also, as a clarification to my most recent post, players must keep in mind that what they do is not a part of some official record; if there are no witnesses, the cop can say whatever he or she wants to say to whomever he or she has to report to.  Since situations can go many ways, if there are no witnesses, the player can decide how they want to explain what went on.  And, sorry to say it, but in this world we live in, there are instances of cops setting up crime scenes to play out the way they want them to.

Also, I'm sure you've heard of drug busts on television or radio that begin something like, "Police, today, stopped a truck on its way to Nowhere, USA, and it was reported to be carrying 770 lbs. of marijuana!"  Perhaps the truck was really carrying 800 lbs. of marijuana, but the police took a little for themselves.

There are many situations in which the characters have a bit of freedom in what they do, just as criminals do.  I hope this clarifies things a little bit.