From issue #66 of Dragon (October 1982) comes this full-page advertisement for Gangbusters. I haven't played the game in decades, but it was a favorite of mine for a couple of years after its original release back in 1982. Though I haven't (yet) done so, I occasionally get the hankering to pull it off the shelf and play it again. It's a fun little RPG with a lot to recommend it.
That was a game that I always wanted to try…in some ways that was an easier fit in the 80s than Westerns. The western film had declined to a degree, whereas the gangster film took off anew in the late 60s. It never really went away, I guess.
ReplyDeleteWould live to hear about what some of those Gangbusters games of yesteryear were like.
Loved this title, but only played a few times circa 1982, since everyone wanted to get back to D&D. I now see great potential to use this game to cover much more than just the Chicago waterfront. One could set adventures in Shanghai or Berlin too and draw from a rich historical record for both.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea. Different settings. Different cities. Different countries and eras.
ReplyDeleteI would love to play a Victorian era setting, or an SF setting.
What is the go-to game for playing gangsters and G-men now?
Savage Worlds or BRP/Pulp Cthulhu. I could easily be tempted into a game of Crimefighters for old time's sake. Much fonder of that game than Gangbusters.
DeleteThis is one I’ve long wanted to run as a faction-type game. I’m not sure exactly how that would look, since weekly sit downs around the table wouldn’t make much sense.
ReplyDeleteMaybe play electronically, only meeting when two factions collide through play (FBI trying to stop the bank heist, or Prohibition Agents raiding the bootleggers, etc.
Perhaps, at that point, uninvolved faction players could control some of the lesser characters involved in the action at hand?
I suppose it’s the same conundrum with a political/factional Boothill campaign (or even D&D, for that matter).
I’ve been more and more interested in attempting a Braunstein-type campaign, of late.
https://fluiddruid.blog/2024/08/10/gangbusters-braunstein/
ReplyDeleteI found this blog post by a guy who did just that!
Awesome! Thanks!
DeleteThe game has been redone using the B/X rules in 2019. The author, Mark Hunt, is a fan of the game and a former law enforcement officier.
ReplyDelete