[Gentleman Bastards] System for Renaissance Heists?

[icemaster109]

So the Gentleman Bastards series of books seems so ripe for an RPG. For those of you who don't know Gentleman Bastard is a mix of Oceans 11 but set in a fantasy renaissance era. Its very "gritty" and involves a lot of thievery. What system would you recommend to emulate some of it's themes and styling?

Thanks

 

[innerdude]

I've read all three of the Locke Lamora books written to date, and I'm not sure there's a system out there that's hands down, far and away the best choice to emulate what you read in the novels.

The actual plotting of the heists, and the setup material for the heists, will largely need to come from the brain of an ingenious GM, paired with a group that highly trusts that GM so the two can play off of each other. That kind of GM and group dynamic is pretty much system-neutral.

That said . . . .

If put to it, I'd probably say that one of the mechanically crunchy, generic, universal systems like HERO or GURPS would probably fit best, maybe GURPS 4e, which includes more "cinematic" rules elements that might hit the notes you're looking for.

Savage Worlds, my system of choice, could probably do it, but would need some house rules to beef up of the skill system, and probably some new edges to represent the character abilities.

I don't know the system at all, but I imagine Leverage mixed with the Cortex+ Hacker's guide to get the medieval feel of the setting would probably work very well, but would be a lot of houseruling.

 

[Neonchameleon]

So the Gentleman Bastards series of books seems so ripe for an RPG. For those of you who don't know Gentleman Bastard is a mix of Oceans 11 but set in a fantasy renaissance era. Its very "gritty" and involves a lot of thievery. What system would you recommend to emulate some of it's themes and styling?

Thanks

The question is how you want to run it. If it's an age of planning followed by very detailed execution, GURPS. If it's with ridiculous plans, twists coming from all sides, and being countered, Leverage with death mechanics added - or possibly Fate. Locke is after all much larger than life and I wouldn't call Lies of Locke Lamora gritty so much as grand guignol.

 

[Matchstick]

Perhaps something like GUMSHOE that has a Preparation skill. I think you'd have to have some way for the characters to say "ah, but that's the guard I bribed yesterday", or "good thing I was ready for this and hid the lockpicks behind the loose brick in the cell". Some way for them to change things to mold to the plan. To some extent.

There were some player created Heist rules for Savage Worlds posted on G+ not too long ago. I haven't read them, but they might be worth checking out.

 

[Khaalis]

Hands down I think the best option here is the Cortex system, taking liberally from the Leverage setting using Cortex. If you want to go even more simplistic you could use the Marvel Heroic Rolpeplaying (based on Cortex) and use the MHR Hack for the fantasy feel and again adapt liberally from Leverage. We just ran a fantasy campaign using mostly MHR with some items from the Hack such as magic items, a few specialties, etc and it worked fine. Again, I have to point to Leverage for a Lemora series game.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I would say HERO (I always say HERO is the system to go to) or FATE.

For the same reasons Neonchameleon said.