RPGs like Penny Dreadful (TV show)

[R Karan]

I would also recommend Cthulhu by Gaslight. The low-level grittiness of BRP fits nicely with the theme. If you combine Cthulhu by Gaslight with After the Vampire Wars (for Mythras/BRP) you probably get pretty close.

There’s also ’Hudson & Brand, Inquiry Agents of the Obscure’, published as a supplement for Call of Cthulhu. I have heard good things about it and Stygian Fox usually makes excellent books.

 

[el_stiko]

The Between, written by Jason Cordova (from The Gauntlet) is specifically aimed at this vibe. It's not out yet, as far as I know, but the thread begins here:
https://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/blog/design-diary-the-between-01

 

[Jhaelen]

WoD, shifted in time?

This is what I'd use.

 

[MGibster]

As much as I like Call of Cthulhu, it's just not a very action oriented game. And Penny Dreadful is a television show featuring an American cowboy in London gunning down vampire minions with his six shooter. The OP doesn't want to do a whole lot of work and I feel using CoC would be like trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole.

FATE Accelerated might be a good choice. It would be trivially easy to adapt it to something like the television show. It's not my favorite system, I'll play in game using the rules but I won't run it, but it's an easy system to use and very easy to get it to do what you want it to.

 

[Fluerdemal]

I'd run it using timeshifted Witchcraft/Unisystem - or Boot Hill and just make a crap-ton of stuff up as I went along.

D.

 

[R Karan]

As much as I like Call of Cthulhu, it's just not a very action oriented game. And Penny Dreadful is a television show featuring an American cowboy in London gunning down vampire minions with his six shooter. The OP doesn't want to do a whole lot of work and I feel using CoC would be like trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole.

Call of Cthulhu might not be action oriented but Mythras (After the Vampire Wars) has a wonderful, gritty combat system. As both are BRP-based, they are easy to combine.

 

[cthulhu42]

Blades In The Dark would be my bet. I'm a big fan of Penny Dreadful and BitD is as close as I've come to the show with an RPG. Might work straight out of the box, or with minimal hacking.

 

[thomkt]

Thanks for all the suggestions. We're leaning towards Savage Worlds with the Horror Companion, but a couple other suggestions look promising as well.

 

[Alexander Kalinowski]

Honestly, I'd use World of Darkness as a base - you got all the monsters in there, in astonishing detail. And then all you need is some more source material for the era, which you can draw from other RPGs.

 

[CapnZapp]

More subtle than a pack of naked witches attacking you?

+1