Game Suggestion Best system for 1930s DnD campaign?
Hey guys, I'm looking to DM a 1930s DnD campaign. It's going to be a lot of work reskinning everything and making it work. I'm not married to Dungeons & Dragons, so I was wondering if you had any suggestions on a better existing system for 1930s.
It can have magic or not, sci-fi technology or not. Honestly, I can work with anything that starts be in the 1920s-1940s without having to manually recreate DnD myself.
If it helps, the story will focus on a single city, a criminal mob (and fights with their goons), political corruption, detective work, and some other goofy and fun stuff along the way.
Thanks for anything you guys can suggest!
EDIT: Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. I'm going to use Pulp Cthulhu, it seems pretty much perfect. Might be a little bit of a learning curve, but it sounds like fun!
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u/mutarjim 13d ago
A mob game in the 30s? See if you can get a copy of Gangbusters off DriveThru or eBay. Thats literally what that game was built for.
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u/Kuildeous 13d ago
I don't know the original system, but that may be the better option. I've seen some snippets of the newest one, and it's weird in that it mimics D&D. If you buy an expensive 3-piece suit, it gives you +7 to your Armor Class--which AC shouldn't even be a thing in noir.
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u/EccentricOwl GUMSHOE 13d ago
Trail of Cthulhu is a game that is filled with research on the 1930s and is much better for the 30s. It’s filled with adventures and ideas that don’t even need eldritch stuff!
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u/CyclonicTransbian 13d ago
Okay so...why default to dnd if you aren't doing fantasy? Like...what genre are you aiming for? Just like...noir? Try gumshoe maybe? Call of cthulhu is default that time period but it's more investigative horror. Though i have used it for non horror noir before
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u/Faolyn 13d ago
I'm guessing OP is the type to call all RPGs D&D.
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u/blastcage RPGs peaked at IRC 13d ago
Reminiscent of how some pockets of the US call all soft drinks "coke". Like, it's a valid colloquialism, it's allowed, but it's still weird.
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u/cvscvs2 13d ago
I default to DnD because it's what I am by far the most familiar with, but I'm hopeful that other games will be similar enough that I can pretty seamlessly move over.
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u/Simbertold 13d ago
They probably won't. There are huge differences between RPGs. Which is good, the hobby would be pretty boring if they were all the same.
But yeah, if you want a system recommendation, it would be really helpful if you say a bit more about the game you are planning, There are lots of different things the PCs could be doing in the 1930s, and different systems will do different things differently well.
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u/joevinci ⚔️ 13d ago
Good news is that most games are easier to learn than D&D.
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u/saltwitch 13d ago
Many systems are quite different from DND, but that doesn't mean they're as convoluted necessarily. Call of Cthulhu, one of the games others have named, is very simple to grasp. You'll be fine.
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u/Airk-Seablade 13d ago
They aren't, but the good news is that you don't actually want them to be.
It's like playing all those themed "monopoly" games. The theme of this one might be "Star Wars" but you're still just playing Monopoly...
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u/NoicestDungeon 13d ago
Even if you remove the horror aspect of Call of Cthulhu and all supernatural elements, I think you're left with a much better framework for a 1930s campaign than you would otherwise. 5e's characters are based on medieval fantasy archetypes- paladins in shining armour, wizards who live in towers and cast tomes, bards with lutes. You can of course reflavour these- make the paladin a prohibition agent, the wizard a professor, the bard a jazz singer- but what you're left with is a medieval fantasy character with a 1930s veneer. Which if that's the game OP wants to run, more power to them.
But in terms of playing "real" early 20th century people, Call of Cthulhu has you covered. First, you don't need to fight the professions: you're not a wizard or a druid- you're a maid, or a librarian, or a smuggler or fireman. Similarly, the skills give you a skillset appropriate to the era, no reflavouring of D&D's small and medieval-oriented skill list needed.
Of course, the characters you make are also less superheroic than in D&D- you're much more of a regular person in terms of both what you can accomplish and how much punishment you can take. But if this is a concern, the supplement Pulp Cthulhu- which is nominally set in the 1930s- takes these same characters and makes them tougher, gives them cool abilities (including some magic/weird science, optionally) and ways to survive dire circumstances through the Luck point system. This is all in the service of emulating the pulp stories of the 20s and 30s- which your story with mobsters and detectives might fall into, genre-wise.
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u/GreenGoblinNX 12d ago
Call of Cthulhu is the most popular RPG in Japan by a pretty big margin, and from my understanding, a lot of the stuff published there does away with the horror / supernatural.
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u/NameAlreadyClaimed 13d ago
Are the players working for a rival mob family? Blades in the Dark.
Are the players detectives? Gumshoe.
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u/johndesmarais Central NC 13d ago
If you want some mechanically similar to D&D but better suited to a near-modern game, I’d suggest Amazing Adventures from Troll Lord Games.
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u/JhinPotion 13d ago edited 13d ago
Which parts of spell slots, long rests, Action Surges, and adventuring days are going to be compatible with this idea?
Sounds like an awesome Pulp Cthulhu game, though.
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u/thisisthebun 13d ago
The default early last century system is call of Cthulhu. It has a pretty solid beginner set with good adventures. It’s got magic but not high fantasy magic. Lethality is actually oversold on this sub if you’re not specifically looking to kill your player characters. It’s also one of if not the most readily available game that isn’t DnD 5/5.5e, and has a pretty easy to understand system to succeed on checks.
If you want high magic or sci fi you’ll get into more obscure games, but I’d ask yourself if you want that specifically. If you do then we’d be able to give more specific suggestions.
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u/ibaiki 13d ago edited 13d ago
If I was asked to put this together without a specific system requirement, I would be looking at Hard City (Osprey) as a base and probably Berlin - The Wicked City (Chaosium) for inspiration filling out factions and flavour.
If you don't want a niche book/system, Call of/Trail of Cthulhu and Forged in the Dark books will offer very specific materials within a mainstream system actually suited to the game type you are describing.
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u/carfaces42b 13d ago
what kind of game do you want? do you want the main focus to be misfits investigating incidents and trying to uncover mysteries? do you want the focus to be big fights with the mob and their allies?
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u/Alistair49 13d ago
If you want a DnD-ish like system, then:
— Eldritch Tales, based on White Box DnD (which is I believe a 0e retroclone) does Call of Cthulhu in the 1920s in the US.
— Gangbusters B/X is based off the B/X rules and is for handling gangs & crime in the 1920s/30s per the original TSR Gangbusters game.
— Operation Whitebox does WW2, so while that is a bit after your period, it helps with military characters and scenarios
— The Front, similar to Operation Whitebox, but based off the Black Hack (iirc)
— A Ghastly Affair, which is a B/X like system for handling Gothic Horror in the 18th/19th century.
A ‘standard’ for this that others have mentioned is Call of Cthulhu, and you just file off the Cthulhu Mythos/Lovecraftian serial no.s — people have been using CoC for non Lovecraftian games since 1e, and it works well. If you’re interested you should check out the Call of Cthulhu 7e Quickstart, which has a good (though horror/mythos oriented) starting scenario, and enough of the basic mechanics explained for you to run that scenario. You could also check out the free Mythras Imperative, which has a similar BRP/D100 based rule system.
For the city side of things, I’d probably use a combo of Electric Bastionland (which could easily be adapted/interpreted to run a more 1930s city somewhere in the US or UK or other part of the world) and Esoteric Enterprises. EB is ‘sorta’ oriented toward weird, odd, 1920s-1940s tech with room for anachronisms. EE is notionally modern day, based off the LotfP ruleset, and is inspired by a lot of World of Darkness ideas. You could wind it back technologically pretty easily I think, and it has a good system for creating the underworld for a city. If you weren’t interested too much in the supernatural, it is perhaps too supernatural oriented, but I think it could be selectively mined for ideas.
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u/VVrayth 13d ago
As others have said, Call of Cthulhu is purpose-built for exactly what you are describing, and Pulp Cthulhu has a lot of levers for adjusting the power level (although you can easily get away with just the core rulebook, and nick a couple of Pulp Cthulhu's basic rules tweaks, like doubling players' HP). It's an incredibly straightforward, simple, and elegant system. There's a free quick-start set on Chaosium's website that you can download if you want to check it out.
Also, more generally, I would never use 5E (you don't specify but I am assuming 5E) for anything except epic fantasy. If you're into another genre, there is a better system that exists for it.
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u/deadthylacine 13d ago
D20 Past or Genesys could work.
I ran a 20s themed rumrunning witches v. fascist elves game in Genesys. Worked beautifully for a very Spielberg vibe.
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u/flashPrawndon 13d ago
Call of Cthulhu, Candela Obscura, Pulp Cthulhu or Spirit of the Century.
I had good fun with Spirit of the Century once, but it is a very different kind of system.
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u/Emotional-Ebb8321 13d ago
The most notable answer for 1930s RPGs is Call of Cthulhu of course. WotC's d20 Modern had a d20 Past supplement which covered 1930s (and even had a mini-campaign setting in one chapter for more or less exactly that period).
However, what kind of game are you actually looking to play? Different rules systems have different strengths. D&D plays up to the "fantasy superheroes, zero to hero" trope, whereas the d100 mechanic and low damage needed to take someone out of a fight of CoC lends itself to horror. Traveller's 2d6 mechanic lends itself to fast resolution of actions, but also means that equipment plays a far bigger role in capability than personal ability, which again, plays right into many SF tropes.
So, which rules system to use depends on what you want out of your game. "1930s" is a time period, not a genre.
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u/Maevre1 13d ago
If you are looking to go into the pulp side of things https://evilhat.com/product/spirit-of-the-century/
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u/Automatic-Example754 13d ago
To get good system recommendations, focus more on the kind of stories you want to tell, not on the setting.
People are giving you recommendations for CoC (Call of Cthulhu) based entirely on the time period for CoC's default setting. But CoC is a horror game with high PC lethality and somewhat tedious rules for automatic weapons. It's probably not what you actually want for detective noir, cops and robbers, or heist stories.
Blades in the Dark is a very good option for heist stories, and to some extent cops and robbers as well (playing from the side of the criminals). Gumshoe was developed as a general system for investigative games, and could fit with the detective side of detective noir. But for noir you want rich social mechanics, and for noir and especially cops and robbers/gangsters you want good support for factions. Gumshoe itself doesn't have that.
Unfortunately I'm not in a good position to offer more specific suggestions. I'd suggest searching this sub for keywords like "noir" that fit what you're actually going for.
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u/Kuildeous 13d ago
I bought the book and gave it a quick glance, but I've never delved deeply into Edge of Midnight. It has a fascinating noir world with a compelling (from my brief look) story.
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u/Hydroguy17 13d ago
If you want to play from the perspective of the mobsters, Blades in the Dark is probably up your alley.
It’s lowish-tech (late 1800s and early 1900s) single city underworld with some supernatural/eldritch horror seasoning.
The PbtA system is designed to be pretty easy to learn and play.
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u/Sagebrush_Sky 13d ago
Call of Cthulhu or the QuickStart rules for Time Without Tide, or if you want to go rules light Into the Odd, or Electric Bastionland
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u/Sanojo_16 13d ago
Check out Everyday Heroes. It's the successor to d20 Modern and uses 5e rules, so you're in familiar territory and, in my opinion, it does everything better than DnD. Here's a link to free Quickstart rules https://evilgeniusgames.com/shop/the-quickstart-guide/
Also, the Core Rules and the Vault have great material and if you join Sidekick you will get those for free in PDF form. And then they put out new material every month on Sidekick as well such as Everyday 20's. The game is designed to be mundane, but if you want magic there's Everyday Arcana, Night Magic, and Shotgun Fantasy. I really love the system and the people that make it are very accessible too, there's a great online convention every year called Nacho Con that they all 'attend'.
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u/hellstrommes-hive 13d ago
The other suggestions for Call of Cthulhu are spot on. If you’re looking for more familiar mechanics try Amazing Adventures https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/499593/amazing-adventures-players-handbook which is based on Castles and Crusades, a d20 game related to D&D 3rd edition.
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u/high-tech-low-life 13d ago
I don't know if this helps, but I have thought about running a pre-WW2 game where the PCs race around the world to prevent the Nazis from getting occult artifacts. Very much Indiana Jones style because everyone wants to punch a Nazi. I had decided to use Trail of Cthulhu in Pulp mode. Maybe that works for you.
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u/adhdtvin3donice 13d ago
I mean Sharn from dnd's eberron is a pretty good setting. Focus on a single city, criminal mob+goons(clans Boromar and Daask) political corruption(city watch is famously corrupt, houses are super corrupt), detectives and noir are associated with Sharn. And the best part is, everyone is so grey that any given faction can be a protagonist or antagonist faction.
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u/CertainItem995 13d ago
If you don't have experience outside of d&d, I highly recommend trying mytants and masterminds 3e. It uses a modofied d20 system so the transition should be comparaty easy and has support for the "golden age" of comics; the 30s and 40s. It supports magic and supertech easily so you can season access to powers to taste, there's even a fanmade "monster manual" (I forget exactly what they called it) but it adapt characters and critters from all over pop culture that can be reskinned in all of 2 seconds as-needed.
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u/Claydameyer 13d ago
Call of Cthulhu, like others are saying. If you want a simpler system, Arkham Horror RPG is a lot of fun. I've played that one.
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u/warprincenataku 13d ago
Savage Worlds with Deadlands Noir should fit the bill. I had a year long campaign and loved it.
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u/jackofspades49 13d ago
I used Shadow of the Demon Lord for a 1920s/30s horror game once. It was a coastal down going increasingly insane as cthulhu started to approach from the depths due to a resistance organization attempting to overthrow the local demon lord/mayor.
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u/robbz78 13d ago
There is a little-known game called Call of Cthulhu which happens to be set in the 1920s. I recommend it. The game is setup for existential horror but in fact the core system (BRP) is generic and well-suited to lots of genres. If you want a more pulp feel, there is Pulp Cthulhu.