Gangs of New York

[The Grumpy Celt]

This is perhaps a wee bit off topic, but have you seen “Gangs of New York.” Let us table for a moment tirades about its accuracy...

The view of 1863 New York that the movie presented is basically my view of Waterdeep or Grayhawk – ugly, crowded, filthy, swarming, not so much “class conscious” as “caste conscious” and with a grab-bag of hateful, petty local war lords.

The bad guys wear bright, plaid pants and big top hats and are still unnerving and possibly even scary. Bill Cutting can function as nearly any local heavy while Tweed was a walking, talking Khelben or Mordenkainen type – he kept a kind of order that served the nobles well.

There was relatively little gunplay – people mostly fought with knives, swords and shivs.

Any thought of using this movie as at least visual inspiration?

 

[Viking Bastard]

When I was watching the opening sequence (where Liam Neeson gets offed) I was thinking the exact same thing.

Except I was thinking of my homebrew.

 

[John Crichton]

There was relatively little gunplay – people mostly fought with knives, swords and shivs.

There was a little thread on this a little while back. But it just has a few thought on the flick.

As for the non-gunplay, it was because of the rules of gang fighting. Guns weren't used as per the rules.

And it makes sense that it would mirrow a Greyhawk or Waterdeep as it was NY (or any other major city) that inspired their creation. A metropolis. But yeah, the visuals were quite good and could be used in a fantasy setting. I never thought of it that way. Cool.