Character Creation: Noir World

I knew this game was trouble the minute it walked into my office. Wait, what?

The Game: Noir World
The Publisher: johnadamus
Degree of Familiarity: Plenty with the genre, plenty with the underling system, never played this game
Books Required: Just the one

Noir World had something of a trouble production. The Kickstarter gave estimated delivery dates in 2017, but I didn't mark my copy received until December 2019, and based on the most recent updates and comments, it looks like some folks still don't have it. Weirder yet, I apparently only backed at the $1 level and I literally cannot fathom why I would have done that, especially since I obviously got a POD code at some point (or did I just buy a copy? I honestly don't remember, it's been too many years). 

Anyway, what about the game itself? It reads very much like a PbtA game of its era (even has "World" in the title), but it's GMless, inasmuch as one player is the Director for each scene (so "shared GM" might be closer to the truth, but I still consider that a GMless game because of the distribution of narrative load). The Director has more of a defined role than in other games that pass that particular hat (like, say, A Tragedy in Five Acts); there are specific moves or actions they can take. 

So: Worthwhile to run this game? I dunno. On the one hand, I think this kind of format isn't bad for noir. On the other, there are other games that do it pretty well (notably Fiasco), and this particular kind of GMless game is a hard sell for some tables because it does require some GM-like skills, but spread out for everyone. Now, could you run it with one person as the Director only? I'd need to read more carefully to know.

Well, anyway, let's make a character. Let's assume we're in the 1940s, the default era (oh, also, there's references in the book to "The Replicant" and "The Toon" playbooks, presumably riffing on Blade Runner and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but I don't see them in the DTRPG downloads, so they might have been cast to the internet wilds). The next step is to pick a Role, so let's choose...the Mook (just rewatched Miller's Crossing, mooks are on my mind). Let's name our Mook Curly (it's one of the suggested names, and I like an ironic nickname, so Curly is very much bald).

Let's say Curly used to be a boxer, agreed to throw a fight, but didn't quite understand what he was agreeing to (let's further say Curly is German by birth and doesn't really speak much English, or at least didn't at the time). He won the fight, and the folks who paid him to throw it were none too pleased, so they shot him in the face. The bullet lodged in his cheekbone and fucked up his speech and vision, but didn't kill him. Curly couldn't box after that, but he can still throw a punch, so professional mookin' it is.

Right, so now we pick a stat-like (they're called Motivations here for some reason). Brains is obviously not my strong point, but what kinds of things do we use Moxie for? Social stuff, I don't need that. Let's pick the "Brains -2, Moxie -1, Risk +2" line and add 1 to...yeah, fuck it, let's just go all in and add it to Risk.

Secrets! I'll take "you're about to get a significant demotion in the underworld, and this is your last chance." Goals! "To avoid getting found out or arrested." 

Belongings! I get to pick two. I'll take casual leg-breaking clothes and brass knuckles.

Hooks! These would require other characters, but I think I can pick a couple and just fill in the name of the Role. I think I'll mark "this Role owes your employer a lot of money, and you've been assigned to keep an eye on them." Basically any Role would work there, but I think Reporter would be interesting, as would one of the Cops. I'd also take "you and this Role have done some work together in the past, and it went really well." Career Criminal, War Vet, Gangster, or Disgraced Doctor would be fun here, I think.

And, finally, I get two Role Actions (what any other PbtA game would call "moves", but whatever, gotta be different). I want the strong silent type (I can shake off the first 2 points of Injury I take) and go down swinging (if I'm already hurt I get a bonus to fight).

And that's it for the stuff on the sheet! Curly is big, muscular, but has gotten a little pudgy since he's not training as regularly. He's got a gnarly scar on his left cheek and his left eye is always half-closed and dead. He's bald (obvs), big hands, couple of tats on his shoulders. Speaks with a thick German accent, but his English has improved at least somewhat.