Crime Drama is a tabletop role-playing game designed to capture the tension, emotion, and complexity of your favorite crime stories. It draws inspiration from TV shows and films like Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Godfather, Training Day or even Dexter and Fargo. Crime Drama is about weaving dramatic, character-driven narratives where every decision carries weight, consequences are impossible to predict, and the stakes are always high.
The game uses a mixed-dice pool system, meaning players roll everything from d6s to d20s depending on their character’s abilities, resources, and the cinematic tone of the scene. Once dice get rolled, all of them over a certain number count as successes, while all those under that number are failures.
Characters are built with layers: their outward Facade (how the world and their loved ones see them), their real (criminal) self, their skills and traits, and their relationships. These include a Social Circle (family, friends, coworkers, and others) and Contacts (criminal acquaintances and other shady connections).
To establish the same cinematic feel these shows and movies have, Crime Drama incorporates mechanics inspired by filmmaking, such as Lighting and Camera Angles. These elements will immerse the players in the drama by shaping the mood and focus of each scene, making the game at least as much about storytelling as it is about strategy. This blog will come out weekly or bi-weekly during development, as new mechanics get developed, tested, and refined.