Vendetta: Rise of a Gangster -- Reinvented

Grift is just a term and word used to define the act of obtaining money illicitly.

Here’s the full definition from an online dictionary:

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So the Black Widow isn’t a seductive assassin she’s only a street thug?

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Swindler would be a far more popular term nowadays lol :wink: . It is the sound of the world . But maybe is just me. Black widow term sounds more appropriate for this background than for the other.

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True, but @Vendetta generally does his research it may be that this term used to be much more popular in 1920’s America, particularly for female con-artists, who we just call con-artists today. It’s bits of verisimilitude like those that help the world of Vendetta feel alive, but I agree that some of the wording on the forum poll, which is directly aimed at the contemporary audience may be a tad confusing.

Seems that way, the grief obsessed, revenge-seeking killer. Which is a popular character type, as evidenced by such movies as the Crow. Although most of those roles are filled by men. But, yeah, the Black Widow shares it stats with the male Black Hand member and thus would be another combat-focused character.
I am still really hoping that if and when this project gets around to expansion DLC a less combat oriented background will be picked first, since the Soldier/Nurse is already the default, primary background.

Also, since the male black hand role is the only one I actually really dislike it would be the one DLC I wouldn’t be interested in.

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I wasn’t here when the game was around long ago, but it seems like a cool concept; I really enjoy more darker, mature stories.

For the background suggestions what about one that could work for both Male and Female?

I was thinking of Competition shooter. I did some quick research and there were olympic teams back then which trained in shooting; both men and women teams existed.

The player could have given up on it either because they lost or because they tried to cheat and they got caught. Some other sort of athlete could also work as background for both genders (maybe even instead of prize fighter for female? Was that sort of thing common with women back then?).


Also, I know that it’s a mark of the era but do we really have to use a tommy gun? I saw that it says in the description that you are reloading one but I really dislike that bulky boxy ugly piece of machinery. Will we be able to use shotguns or rifles?

Another minor thing is that the figure in the image for chapter 1 holds what resembles a Beretta 92 which was not available at the time.

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Looking forward to it.:grinning:

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Great to have you back, the new improvements sound fantastic! Keep up the good work :blush:

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Thanks guys, appreciated. :slight_smile:

You’re most welcome. Honestly, I think the lineup wouldn’t feel at all complete without our College Grad, so when I first read of the charitable foundations that used to pluck potential off the street and give them a chance at a better life, I leapt at the chance to make the implausible plausible!

It would certainly be a great Primary story to write, so fingers crossed.

Welcome to the community! And many thanks for your kind words – it always gives me a warm fuzzy when we manage to entice another diehard lurker out of the woodwork… :smiley:

And the deadly lady with the sharp stiletto now seems to be pulling ahead… I can see the eventual voting for the next pair to actually be elevated to ‘Primary’ status is likely to be a very close run thing indeed – probably either Black Widow / Black Hand or Burlesque Dancer / Political Bagman.

It’s just a question of interpretation, really – bearing in mind that her top Attribute (‘Toughness’) is defined in the current version of the game manual as…

Coglioni: Italian for testicles; Toughness. This attribute is a direct measure of your personal toughness, unarmed and close-combat fighting abilities, and willingness to see things through to the end regardless of the consequences. Those with real coglioni walk as if they own the street, while bigger men step into the gutter to avoid them… (think Joe Pesci in the roles he plays in such classic mob movies as Goodfellas and Casino).”

In essence, our deadly Black Widow uses stealth, guile and a sharp, poisoned blade in preference to anything else – although with her second top attribute being her Firearms ability, there are also very few better than her when it comes to shooting her way out of trouble, should the need arise. It’s just not her preferred way of doing things: this lady lives in the shadows.

It probably would (that or just ‘con-artist’), but this is the 1920s and “grifter” is perfect for the era and setting. You really must watch The Sting!

FWIW, in the new version of the game, when you first select a particular background to review, where it used to just ask you to go to your Modus Operandi (Show Stats) before confirming your choice, it now first displays a brief textual description of that background type and then asks you to view the M.O. for actual stats, etc. I added this bit to give the player a better understanding of each character background before going to the trouble of looking at the M.O. for each of them.

Thanks for the suggestion. With our strongest Firearms-related backgrounds already fixed and seemingly quite popular, I think we’re good for those. The weaker / less appealing ones are now being revealed as a result of this poll, so this is something we’ll need to address in the near future.

Heh, nope, not at all. The ‘introduction’ text is what it is because, well, prohibition gangsters – and nothing says prohibition gangsters better than fedoras and tommy guns, flapper dresses and cloche hats…

In actual fact the ‘Thompson Sub-machine Gun’ was still extremely rare in 1921, cost around $2,000 on the black market (the price of a very plush automobile indeed, to give this a proper comparison), and is likely not something you’ll even have opportunity to use (or have fired at you!) until the second half of the game. Until then it’s all revolvers, semi-automatics with an annoying tendency to jam at the most inconvenient times, and occasionally a WWI rifle or double-barreled shotgun.

You may well be right – I just really like that image for the opening chapter! It sets the atmosphere I was aiming for (pun intended :smiley: ). It may remain, it may not. It really depends if I can find something with the same… impact, before it’s time to submit for publication.

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About the coglioni stat The Italian take the concept of us spaniards. For us is more related to bravery and or pride of oneself or honor . Not Toughness. A weak physical person in a wheelchair could have cojones. It is the will of confront any problems you have it your way whatever it takes. If you are a man, a octopus or your physic doesn’t matter. That is weird to understand for many anglo culture people.

So when i read Thoughtness I was thinking the typical rude hard brute that goes everywhere doing Hulk smash. That was I thought it wasnt a very widow style. That and the fact the black hand was very brutal no stealth mode organization.

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I kinda wonder if some of the popularity of the preconceptions of the name. As @poison_mara said, it does tend to imply seduction, not so much stealth.

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I do see your point but this is probably very similar to the ‘grifter’ issue, in that in the criminal underworld (which is the important bit here) ‘coglioni’ was / is perceived as being a lot closer to what I describe “Toughness” to mean in Vendetta, rather than the overall cultural (and rather more civilized) interpretation you seem to be describing there.

In Vendetta, that would be the Intimidation attribute – the appearance / act of toughness, perhaps, but not the actuality… That’s an important distinction made in the game (and in many situations throughout the story), hence two completely different Attributes.

Quite possibly, in which case it’s just as well that the recent poll was devised to find the least-appealing backgrounds (while there’s still time to maybe do something about that). I think we managed that much at least, beyond any shadow of a doubt!

The ‘real’ poll (to actually vote on future possible Primary backgrounds) definitely won’t be instigated until after the Public Demo has been released and everyone has had a chance to read any / all of the expanded descriptions and individual backstories, and to actually then play whichever ones most take their fancy.

That said, I should add that our Black Widow is not at all averse to what you guys seem to be suggesting. Here we have a young woman whose chosen vocation (and particular talent) is to stalk and kill without remorse, and for money. It’s entirely conceivable that she would use every possible advantage to do so swiftly and silently, with the least fuss or cause of alarm along the way. Depending on the situation and the target, that may call for guile, deception, manipulation, charm and, yes, perhaps even seduction. To her the end result is what’s important – everything else is just a means to an end.

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Black widow won’t be the only female background will it?

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No, not at all, we’re just discussing the possible reasons why it has steadily crept into the lead as the most popular overall in the recent poll…

All eighteen (nine female, nine male) backgrounds will be playable – although it does look like one or two of the female ones could do with a title change / different focus (while there’s still time to edit / rewrite backstories and flavor text accordingly), in hopes of widening their appeal and balancing things better.

And on that note –


Thinking Caps On, People!

The recent poll seems to be suggesting we may (or may not?) need a “new look” for the current Ex-Pinkerton at least, and maybe also The Prizefighter. I’m open to suggestions!

The starting Attributes for each are as follows, and for obvious reasons we need to come up with interesting replacement titles bearing these firmly in mind, since they’re fixed for overall game balance purposes.

Ex-Pinkerton: Awareness (50), Streetwise (45), Firearms (40), Toughness (35), Intimidation (30), Persuasion (25), Contacts (20), Business (15), Leadership (10).

The Prizefighter: Intimidation (50), Awareness (45), Toughness (40), Firearms (35), Streetwise (30), Leadership (25), Contacts (20), Business (15), Persuasion (10).

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Wildly impractical (but potentially fun) ideas? :smiley:

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So is the Black Widow a stealthy assassin for the Black Hand?

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Definitely more freelance (at least at the start), especially since, for some reason, La Mano Nera members tend to make enemies and leave resentment and grudges in their wake – and if there’s one thing our girl is very good at (for the right price) it’s settling old scores…

In her backstory, ‘Uncle Luigi’ (Chuck) acts as her discrete contact within the underworld: she never meets her clients face-to-face, never accepts payment except from his hands (minus his “handler’s fee”, of course), and no one other than Chuck’s top guys even know who she is – otherwise you’d have to start the game with a whole host of vendettas against you, and that would be distinctly unfair!

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Lurker here, just to say as so many others have that it is awesome to see this up and running again, and I love the fact that the new female MC option is so distinctive and era natural without feeling forced. Will definitely be playing both genders in any case.

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Great can’t wait for the update. The Black Widow seems alot more interesting and menacing than the male counterpart for me, she will definitely be the one I play as.

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@Vendetta out of curiosity, is Big Jim inspired by Big Jim Colosimo ? I noticed that both of them like prostitution

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I understand. However would a nurse be suited for a firearm related background? I did a quick research and it seems they all served as nurses; wouldn’t that make them more suitable for some sort of medical skill or persuasion instead of firearms?

Even if the Veteran Nurse is selected as a firearms based skill you still have lots of other stats you could mix around for many backgrounds so it’s an idea :slight_smile:

If I have more ideas for backgrounds I’ll throw them your way.

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I’m really glad that the new female options struck that particular note with you as it’s exactly what I was aiming for.

Great to hear that you’ll be playing both genders, too – variety is the spice of life, after all. :slight_smile:

She does seem remarkably popular. Interestingly enough, this particular MC is vaguely similar in some ways to Angel, the most popular NPC in previous versions of the game… I wonder what Sigmund Freud would have to say on the subject?! :thinking:

He was indeed – this subject came up a few days ago (although from a different angle, by @Shoelip) and I talk about it somewhere in the middle of this post.

The Firearms skill for the Nurse is explained in her well-traveled backstory (she hasn’t actually been in the neighborhood for the past five years, having left on something of a soul-search immediately after Billy was killed).

The Nurse is also actually the only female role it is already too late to change… Being the first female ‘Primary’ background (see Dev Blog #6 in the third post down from the top of this thread), her enhanced story – like that of the Veteran Soldier counterpart – is already well developed through the first few chapters of the game.

It’s not however too late for the markedly less popular Ex-Pinkerton or The Prizefighter – see my post a couple above this one… Any suggestions for possible alternatives would be most welcome.

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