So I’d never actually read your previous WIP before, but I just read the old one and I’m so excited you’ve decided to continue/revamp it! I love your writing style, it makes me feel like I can get into the MC’s head completely and also vividly picture the environment. I’m definitely looking forward to following this WIP’s progress.
2 Likes
I’m definitely interested to see what Jim can do with a game that isn’t in my least favorite genre of fiction. XD
1 Like
Definitely like what’s here so far!
1 Like
Thanks guys for actually taking the time to say so. I’m delighted to hear this, as broadening the appeal of the game – by taking a wider range of past feedback into consideration – has been my main aim with this “reinvented” version. It makes all the extra effort seem that much more worthwhile. 
[ gulp ] I capisce. 
FWIW, while I don’t like to tempt fate these days, I’m feeling quietly optimistic about the way things are going at present – not just with the game’s development but also life in general. There’s certainly more than just a glimmer at the end of the tunnel.
Heh, yep, the combination of expert Leadership ability and very high initial Persuasion for the College Grad made our boy very adept in any situation not actually involving outright violence in one form or another. There are only some specific occasions where the Political Bagman has a distinct advantage (but he of course is quite severely challenged in terms of natural leadership, so in those situations it all balances out!).
Great choice! I hope you have a good time (and avoid a new overcoat ).
Absolutely. You don’t much like horror / zombies? [Note to self: remove zombie hitmen from the darkened alley maze scene…] Never been a big fan of the movies myself – especially the more grisly ones, oddly enough! – but I’ve always enjoyed horror novels (and virtually anything post-apocalyptic) so I guess that’s why Jim’s work appeals to me.
6 Likes
I’m also not huge on zombies and the like. I’ve tried to get into it but…nope. No Walking Dead, no Zombie Exodus, none of it.
1 Like
Zombie stories are just so played out. They tend to just mindlessly go through the motions, shambling along like a lifeless husk. Like, the new WIP “Apex Predator” is one of the few that’s actually interesting since it’s “You’re a vampire in the zombie apocalypse, save your food.” But even that has a lot of the same gaping plot chasms that tend to be the core of the genre.
3 Likes
I’ve been wondering something how does the name Salvatore become Charles?
1 Like
How does William become Bill? These are some weird times.
1 Like
It’s one of those awkward ones since it doesn’t appear to be a direct translation from Italian to English (e.g. Giacomo = James, Giovanni = John, etc.). There’s a possible connection in that Charles has Germanic roots and possibly originally meant something like “warrior”, while Salvatore means “savior”… Maybe it’s as simple as some bright spark at Ellis Island thinking that was the closest fit?
In Vendetta, that name is offered as a standard quick choice due to the significant role in American mob history played by Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano (“the father of modern organized crime in the United States”), born Salvatore Lucania in 1897, in Lercara Friddi, Sicily.
10 Likes
Wasn’t Al Capone a part of Luciano’s group? If I recall correctly, he tried to make a national wide group of mobsters that would follow a certain set of rules.
I might be misremembering the details but my main source on them is really from the movies which doesn’t really count.
1 Like
I am very happy to see this magnificent project return from the land ofd death. My favorite backgrounds were always Politic and college boy. I understand why the soldier is the primary background as it is like the most popular in this type of games, I only hope that game doesn’t end tailored specifically to combat focused characters. It os true violence and combat is big business in this genre, as it was in reality. However, most of big bosses were more knowledgeable than brute combat people. Smarts are key to success in the world.
About women inclusion, I am torn. I love playing as my genre, but I hope that doesn’t mean that the experience turn into something focused on show violence against women or something too different from male. But I am confident of @Vendetta skills and in old demo version he was very tasteful in treatment of genre and violence. And that’s a great deal for the genre.
11 Likes
They were actually boyhood friends, both belonging to the ‘Five Pointers’ street gang (named after the notorious Five Points area of Brooklyn – which was also the setting of the 2002 movie Gangs of New York, although that was set sixty years or so before Capone’s / Luciano’s teenage years). It’s entirely conceivable that they remained friends even after Capone went to work for Johnny Torrio in Chicago, given the direction both of their lives would take.
The ‘group’ you’re likely referring to is the Mafia Commission formed (and headed) by Luciano in 1931, comprising the most powerful mob leaders in the country, including Capone (their first, founding meeting was actually held in Chicago – a good indication of Capone’s influence in the commission, if not also Luciano’s trust in him to provide protection from both rivals and the law). The commission ostensibly replaced the old ‘Capo di tutti Capi’ (Boss of all Bosses) position previously held by the single most powerful boss in New York, which had for years been the source of conflict and bloodshed among rivals for the title.
Unfortunately for Capone, just months later he was convicted on the income tax charges and sentenced to eleven years and change, so he was never to play a pivotal role in the commission’s affairs. That would fall to his successors in the ‘Chicago Outfit’, and the organization he had built would remain a powerful force in the national picture for at least the next half a century, going so far as, for example, dominating the labor unions in Hollywood’s movie industry.
Not so much on the actual Commission though. Luciano was himself convicted in 1936 (and would eventually be deported to Italy). The Mafia Commission restructured itself to be represented by just the bosses of the Five Families of New York, Sicilians all. Capone was Italian – his family came from Naples – so even had he not been convicted it’s likely he would have been inched out, much as other non-Sicilian bosses were in 1936.
I’m not certain he would have gone without a fight – his ego often overruled his common sense. But we’ll never know for sure.
It’s great to see you’re still around, Mara.
As I mention in Dev Blog #6, two posts down from the OP, the opposite is true – the deeper we head into the story, the more optional violence actually becomes, with often better routes to success than always pulling out a gun. Of course, sometimes you simply don’t have any choice in the matter… so being better prepared for such eventualities is probably a good idea, regardless of your starting Background / personal Firearms skill.
It’s a difficult line to walk, this being the 1920s where many men were at best chauvinistic, at worst misogynistic. To not at least give a sense of that in the narrative would be tantamount to pretending inequality never existed in that era, and therefore belittling of all the strong-willed women, from that day to this, who have fought to gradually change things for the better.
In writing the female side of things I’ve tried not to go overboard with showing just how truly unequal things were back then, but as always it really will be a case of relying on feedback to make sure we have the balance right. At the end of the day these things are supposed to be entertainment, after all, and plowing through page after page of ‘TMB’ style encounters (see my earlier post on this subject!) really doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun to me…
15 Likes
Maybe this is just a personal preference, but in terms of how unequal gender rights were in the day- I actually appreciate them being acknowledged, because it makes for a stronger character, in my opinion. Being able to play a character who uses social stereotyping against them as a way to be strong (pretending to be a naive woman in order to manipulate people, people presuming your innocence because one is female, and ‘couldn’t be a killer’, etc), at least within this setting would be something I’d enjoy to see.
While I wouldn’t want an excess of TMBs, being able to put them down would be great, or being able to show a person who may have originally TMB-like qualities the strength the female MC would have, and having them come to respect her and other women for this potential would be something I’d love.
Either way, you look like you’re gonna do great. ^^ So excited!
15 Likes
I agree with your good points, However as @Vendetta has said a balance between a fun game and realistic setting is needed. This is not a history lesson, is a game with reality elements. I want my character struggle with them but still have fun and have adventures even if some are unrealistic for a woman in the setting. I mean is just my personal opinion.
19 Likes
I can do nothing but embrace characters with charisma and intelligence in near equal measure, or more essentially, a beauty with brains. While the politico, who oft leads with a slick tongue, and may be imbued with more confidence than knowledge, feels to me as slippery as a snake oil salesman. I’m quite impressed how the backgrounds can change their colors even when on the same tier. For the dancer, while using her strength in her charms inspires my sympathy and is much closer for me to identify with as adapting this small power society gives to her in order to surpass and shift the balance of her place in the boys club, just as the collegiate may upend the expectations of the poor, rough and tumble Butch. And of course if he were to then seek the companionship of Adamo…
3 Likes
Popping in to say I’m excited to see this game come back. Vendetta was always one of my favs.
I always liked playing a gangster who solved his problems with careful planning, fast-talking, and strategically applied wads of money, but going in guns blazing was always fun too. 
2 Likes
POLL ADDED TO OP ABOVE
Classic afterthought…I’ve added a poll to the OP above enabling you to choose (up to) the three female backgrounds you find most appealing overall. There’s also an option to indicate if you would likely stick to male backgrounds only.
Partly curiosity, partly a bit of fun, but mostly I’m especially keen to see if we can find any real weaknesses in the lineup – and perhaps do something about that before things are set in stone.
11 Likes
You’ve done a brilliant job of summing up my actual overall intentions / aims. I hope we’re not in the minority with this approach. Time will tell.
Very well put – I’ll consider that to be my overall guiding principle with this aspect of the game, and rely on playtesters to keep me on the path!
Sneakily done!
Thanks for taking the time to do so – your idea of what the game should be gels perfectly with my own.
10 Likes
So @Vendetta , I was wondering, you said that a WW1 veteran keeps a trench knife with him, can we get to make that our signature weapon ?
1 Like