A city with a dark underbelly. Narrow alleys. Seedy dives. Back room deals. That’s the world of Shakedown City, and it’s one you get to build and explore with your friends. The Kickstarter campaign for this story game is up and running now.
From the campaign:
Shakedown City is a Story Game in which players create a decadent city populated by shady and intriguing characters fighting a violent battle for power that will culminate in the coronation of a new boss.
Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Sin City, Ocean’s Eleven, Scarface, Carlito’s Way, Black Dahlia, Machete, Breaking Bad, Big Trouble in Little China, and Mission: Impossible are just a few movies that inspired Shakedown City.
In the vein of The Quiet Year, Shakedown City is a collaborative game where there’s no Game Master and narrative authority is shared with all of the players. Designed to be played in just one session of 3 or 4 hours. In a few simple rules, Shakedown City embraces a full world-building experience that is also compatible with other games.
Shakedown City is a game for 2-5 players, it doesn’t need preparation, and only requires a normal deck of playing cards plus some paper and pencils. A full session takes from 3 to 4 hours, but the manual also contains the rules for a short version offering a satisfying experience of about 2 hours.
Being a game with dark and violent themes, the use of security tools that set the game tone based on players’ sensitivity is strongly encouraged: the city and its stories can be bloody and brutal, but also more oriented to noir comics and fiction.
Shakedown City is a totally independent game compatible with any other title of a similar genre. The metropolis and the situations that will arise in the game can serve as a setting and starting point for your pulp-noir stories with other RPGs.
The campaign is up and running now with 27 days left to go.
Source: Tabletop Gaming News
