A Dirty World
A downloadable game
Explore the rain-slicked streets of Film Noir.
Cynical P.I.? Mesmerizing femme fatale? Dead-hearted hit man or pure-hearted reformer raging against the dark? A Dirty World has them all. It also features...
- An entirely reworked One Roll Engine, relentlessly focused on character.
- A unified conflict mechanic where courtroom drama, gunfights, and the duel of seduction work the same way -- and transition seamlessly from one to another.
- Instant character improvement in response to his circumstances and your decisions.
- A system for sparking convoluted noir plots with a single die roll.
In A Dirty World, the rules don't just support drama. They are drama.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $10 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Comments
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It's GREAT conceptually! It's the only noir game I've seen that feels like it would run exclusively noir stories. It just doesn't give me enough to know HOW to RUN the game. Any chances there could be more play examples somewhere? Or, more clarity on larger low sets vs. smaller high sets in the One roll engine?
OK, lessee what I can do for you...
1) Play examples! Well, there's a couple podcast actual plays out there, if those interest you. Caleb Stokes' THE DANGERS OF FRATERNIZATION is set in postwar Berlin, while my own SHADES OF GRAY is a more typical hand-wavy movie-esque noir mystery.
2) Large low vs. small high: OK, this is always a bit of a moving target and work in progress in ORE, but the key thing to remember is that any jabroni with some luck can get a 2x10, while only someone who is committed to a path can get a 5x1. So I tend to privilege the wide low set. But mainly I think the rules handle it without needing too much GM or player interpretation.
3) How to run ADW specifically: The hard-boiled fictions that inspired it almost always have the same structure, which is, the detective solves the mystery and gets no joy out of it. The point of the exercise is kinda to solve the whodunnit, but it's really to gouge deeply into the characters involved. At the end of CHINATOWN, Jake knows what's going on, he's solved the mystery, but he can't really do anything about it and the truth uncovered is horrifying. So the movie goes internal at the end, what does it mean to engage with injustice and sometimes take the L? Everything in ADW is built to work off the characters -- their angers and lusts and ambitions and nobler natures. If you leave room for that to breathe, even a very minimal mystery can be satisfying. Especially if it's not a clean "good and bad" but a very messy complicated ethical disaster.
Hope that helps!
-G.
Great stuff! It looks like a fascinating system. I've had a copy of this game for a couple years but was too intimidated to run it. I really appreciate!
What is the minimum amount of players needed? This sounds good.
I'd say three. Four's probably optimum. Six can get a little cumbersome in practice.
-G.
this is really good!
Thank you!
-G.