New York Noir - sexy noir mystery

Started by RedEve, January 29, 2012, 09:51:02 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

RedEve

New York Noir



The idea for this game will be an old-fashioned style noir. The setting would be the mid to late 1940s, shortly after the war. Most of the action would take place in and around New York City.

The cast of characters are the usual you can expect to find in a noir: hardboiled detectives, dirty cops, mobsters, femme fatales, the seemingly out of place ingenue...

I would aim to keep this game limited to four to six players, and add a cast of NPCs according to our needs. Some smut will naturally be part of the game, but it should not be the main focus.
The idea is to weave our own little noir between the stories we tell through our characters.

As with all such tales, we need a good MacGuffin... In our case, the object of desire will be a mysterious ruby necklace each of the characters is after (each with their own unique motivation, naturally).



We will be starting the story in 1947. The 1st of March.

The city's seedy underbelly is brewing with excitement as the story of a precious ruby necklace circulates. The jewel is said to be worth well over a million dollars (adjusted for inflation, that is closer to 10 million dollars in today's money). Each hoodlum, streetwalker and gambler has his own tall tale about its origin and whom might currently possess it. None of them know the truth, or even if it exists. Our story follows a handful of individual who desperately covet the jewel, each within their own back story and motivation.


The template for the character sheet:

[float=right][img]Replace this text by the link to your character image[/img][/float]
[b]Name: [/b]
[b]Date of birth: [/b]
[b]Character archetype: [/b]
[b]Biography: [/b]



"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

Reia

Sounds very interesting. I'd definitely sign up. :)
[tr][td]

Updated: 03/24/19
[/td][td]
Updated: 06/24/12
[/td][td]
Updated: 07/20/15
[/td][td]
Posted: 11/24/14
[/td][td]
Updated: 03/04/19
[/td][/tr][/table]

RedEve

Quote from: Reia on January 29, 2012, 11:40:12 AM
Sounds very interesting. I'd definitely sign up. :)

Great, I added the CS template, feel free to make a character and send it my way. :)
"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

RedEve

Name: Kristina Krasovsky
Date of birth: February 17th 1921
Character archetype: Femme Fatale
Biography: Kristina’s parents left Russia shortly after the revolution. They arrived in NYC in 1918 and settled in Brooklyn. It was there that Kristina was born and raised. Her father got a job working at the docks, her mother combined a series of smaller jobs with her care for her three children – two girls and a boy, with Kristina as the middle child. At the age of 14, Kristina was sent out to work full time as well and provide for the family, but the jobs her mother had picked out for her never suited her well. Kristina had dreamed of a glamorous life from the moment she was old enough to go to the pictures. Even as a young teen, the notion of working her entire life at a dress maker – her first job, where she lasted only three months – or a kitchen help – her second job, five month – had disgusted her. As she bounced from job to job, her mother grew increasingly irate at her daughter’s lack of commitment until they argued almost non-stop. It lead to Kristina leaving home at the age of 17 to move in with a man nearly twice her age.

Her dreams of glamor did not come to fruition, though she did live a more relaxed life as the girlfriend of a series of deadbeats and small-time criminals. That is, until she got a job she bothered keeping, as a hostess at the 123 Club. The 123 was really a front for a criminal organization, but the pay was good and every week a handful of movie stars would pass through the place. The club and its less legal affiliates – drug dealing and prostitution – were owned by the O’Leary clan, Mick mobsters who had arrived from the old country around the same time as Kristina’s parents, only they had quickly made a fortune for themselves. Whilst working at the 123, Kristina became the paramour to Roy O’Leary, the youngest and shabbiest of the three O’Leary boys. Their father Duncan was the leader of the entire clan, their uncle Malcolm his right-hand man and the guy who was said to be the brains behind his brother’s brawn.

Roy’s two older brothers were Robbie and Andrew, and in a way they were younger versions of their father and uncle. Robbie was all brawn, picking fights here and there and having a notoriously short temper. The story goes that he once shot a man for cutting in line in front of him at the movie theater. Whether or not the story is true, the fact that it is even told tells its own tale. Andrew is more calculated and subdued, but no less dangerous. Roy is the black sheep of the family, to the point that his father has yet to assign any part of  his transition to the lad, even though he is nearly 35. By contrast, both of his brothers are being groomed to take over for Duncan and Malcolm, when the time arrives. This is an endless source of frustration to Roy, much to Kristina’s chagrin.
"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

Featherfall


Name: Chen Long-Yu
Date of birth: September 1, 1921
Character archetype: Ambitious Triad Enforcer
Biography: Chen Long-Yu is not much for Taoist sorcery, but even he would have to admit that, as one born in the year of the Metal Rooster where the White Tiger holds sway, he couldn't possibly have been a better candidate for its authenticity. Confident, blunt, and concerned about his outward appearance; aggressive, self-reliant and ambitious to the point of near treachery; strong, rigid, and unyielding in both opinions and beliefs; and finally, he is the king of beasts in the Octagon Triad's holdings of the West.

Chen Long-Yu was not his birth name; in fact, he's not even sure that he HAD a name at birth. All he remembered was being on the streets of Hong Kong, cold, hungry, and alone. He lived in this misery, watching those who were either successful or lucky or both, Chinese and foreigners, laugh and party all day long while throwing a few scraps his way and thinking themselves charitable. The young man looked at this and vowed that one day, he would BE one of those lucky, successful people, and that he would never go hungry again.

Young, angry, ripe for picking; is it any wonder then that one of the many Triad groups found a use for such a boy? The only wonder was that it took them until he was ten to notice, and even then he had to pick the pocket of Chen Wong, the Boss of the Octagon Triad.

The normal price for picking a Triad boss' pocket was three fingers, if you were lucky. And few were considered "lucky" to be caught by the self-proclaimed "Taoist Sorcerer" Chen Wong If that was the case, then the gods themselves must have been watching out for Long-Yu, because instead of being crippled and sent on his way, Wong was feeling unusually compassionate that day, and "adopted" the boy, giving him his own family name.

Chen Long-Yu may have "officially" been in the Chen family, but it was quite clear that blood relations meant more, or at least allowed for leniency. Wong's natural children were for the most part, lazy opium addicts and spendthrifts, a luxury Long-Yu wasn't allowed. He was instead ruthlessly integrated into the world of the Triad; forced into training in Piguaquan and Bajiquan martial arts until his body scarred and his bones cracked; hours on the shooting ranges with a 1921 Luger, a sharp blow from a bamboo cane for every shot missed; forced to learn English so as to better interact with their British buyers. And the ambitious Chen Long-Yu would become quite good at anything he was asked to do; nightmares of the streets were all to real to allow failure.

Then, a telegram from New York reached Chen Wong, a telegram from perhaps his only competent child and the head of Octagon Triad's American Branch [which was as close to a banishment as Wong's heart could give to his rebellious daughter, who's own ambitions rivaled Long-Yu's], his daughter Chen Pingyi. She told him that she may have finally found the location of the object he had been searching for, the object that would give him the ultimate power over the Tao that he had sought even as he attained power over Hong Kong; the Eye of the Dragon.

Chen Long-Yu had stopped believing in magic long ago. To him, Wong's Taoist "magic" comprised of parlor tricks and the charismatic sway an old man held over opium-addicted fools, but Wong wanted it, and what the old man wanted, he sent Long-Yu to collect.

Now, in America, Long-Yu is looking for the Eye, partially to appease the old man, and partially for his own ambitions of setting up his own family, and partially to stick it to Pingyi, who has come to see him as a hated rival yet "source of forbidden desire", whatever THAT was supposed to mean. Long-Yu would get the Eye, and Heaven help any who tried to stop him.

Xunzar

The list below is mostly up to date. To be honest, you can assume there is little that is a hard no.
A list of kinks

RedEve

Great!

I'd prefer it if everyone first PM'ed his or her character to me for approval. I will let you know when you are approved so you can share the character sheet with everyone else.
"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

Reia

Quote from: RedEve on January 29, 2012, 12:09:21 PM
Great, I added the CS template, feel free to make a character and send it my way. :)

Awesome, I'll send you one tomorrow.
[tr][td]

Updated: 03/24/19
[/td][td]
Updated: 06/24/12
[/td][td]
Updated: 07/20/15
[/td][td]
Posted: 11/24/14
[/td][td]
Updated: 03/04/19
[/td][/tr][/table]

SugarAndSpice


Name:Dorothy Wharvey
Date of birth: November 16th 1923
Character archetype:  The "Good" Girl
Biography: Dorothy is the youngest of the three daughters of Simon Wharvey, New York police commisioner, as such she has always had the best her father can afford. Her mother died when she was around five years old, her father worries that of the three girls she has suffered most because of the lack of a mother, even though there have been countless maids, nannies and tutors. Dorothy has always been the most headstrong of the three girls.

The eldest sister Gwendolyn,36, is married to a politician with three children. The middle sister Sarah , 32, is married to an investment banker with one little boy. Dorothy however has ignored all the boys and men that her father has nudged her towards.

To her father's dismay Dorothy has taken a liking to Francis "Frankie" Donovan, an arts and jewelery dealer, of rather shady repute. She met Francis when he came to the house in repsonse to rumors that her father wanted someone to come and value a collection of her mother's jewelery. Her father scoffs whenever Drothy insists that there is love in their relationship, he claims that he has just used his "mick" charm on her. This only makes Dorothy want to see and help Francis more.

[Thanks Eve :D Glad you like her]


Aiden

OHHH I like this, I would love to be a Sicilian made man, looking to set a foot hold in NYC after the events that went on over seas.

RedEve

Quote from: Aiden on January 30, 2012, 02:31:41 AM
OHHH I like this, I would love to be a Sicilian made man, looking to set a foot hold in NYC after the events that went on over seas.

I can accommodate a character like that, just make sure there is a way to tie him to the search for the ruby necklace. That will be the thing that is supposed to tie all of the characters together. :)
"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

SugarAndSpice

Just a quick question, characters that we've mention, like Simon and Francis, do we play them too?

Aiden

Well a personal goal, perhaps locating such a treasure can help him raise to the ranks and give the bosses back home all he needs to proclaim him a Boss in the states.

Go go Ambitious characters!

I'll work up a sheet and send it for approval/review later.

Watch out with those Micks, my guy will do all he can to make them hurt =D

RedEve

Quote from: SugarAndSpice on January 30, 2012, 02:41:06 AM
Just a quick question, characters that we've mention, like Simon and Francis, do we play them too?

Each player is allowed to create several NPCs to help in establishing their own back story. So yes, you would be playing those characters.
"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

Kendra

Hun I am so keeping my eye on this, if I don't feel bogged down by the end of the day then I might throw something up for a dirty cop character perhaps ;)

SugarAndSpice

Cool :) Also what order are we going to be posting? or are we not going to have a paticular order?

RedEve

I don't intend to have a very rigid posting order, no, just as long as we all keep more or less in the same time frame and we leave no one behind.
"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

SugarAndSpice

Fair enough :) Looking forward to whenever it gets rolling.

Le Immortelle

Oh god, I love this.

I would love to play either 1. Female Mobster. 2. Hardboiled Detective or 3. Dirty Cop depending on what you're looking for right now since quite a few people have already joined the game lol. :)

RedEve

Kendra already expressed interest in playing a cop, but we could still use a tough PI.
"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

Chrystal

Me too? Please say you have room for one more?

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!

Aiden


RedEve

Quote from: Chrystal on January 30, 2012, 01:27:59 PM
Me too? Please say you have room for one more?

Is there a particular role you are interested in?
"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

RedEve

A more general remark: even though I want every individual to covet the ruby necklace for his or her own reasons, I don't want everyone to have a personal bond to the item. To some it should just be an easy means to a large sum of money. To others it might mean more than that, but the idea is not that every character has a prior personal connection to the ruby.
"I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination."
My ons and offs- My F-list

Chrystal

I'm putting you a character sheet together, but...

Amazon and I can't help but notice that there is a great similaritry between this plot and our own The Gorgeous Gumshoe.

As you already said she should be a PI, we are both thinking of reprising our characters from that story.

To that effect, Ivy Bowman would be the "Foreign agent of an allied power", looking to ensure her government's interest in the ruby were not compromised...

Please check out my latest A/A post.
I would rather watch a movie then have dinner than have dinner then watch a movie!