RPG set in the ghetto

[chuckman1]

So being an rpg fan and someone who's lived in the ghetto before (South Phoenix Arizona's hood) I've always wondered why there aren't any rpgs set in the ghetto it seems like a good setting.
You could start out in your mom's house and have to move your way up, different factions are different gangs (including police), you could buy guns, buy cocaine and baking soda and cook it up and sell it, learn to cook meth, all sorts of things in the ghetto you learn a lot of things.
Do you know of any rpgs in the ghetto and would you get one?
Maybe I should make one.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Well it undoubtedly sounds fun, however a game like this would never release due to the fact that it would seem to be glorifying crime. San Andreas is about as close as we'll ever to get to a big release game anywhere near this

 

[distortedreality]

San Andreas is about as close as we'll ever to get to a big release game anywhere near this

Beat me to it.

Also, lol at the chance of game involving -

...buy cocaine and baking soda and cook it up and sell it, learn to cook meth, all sorts of things in the ghetto you learn a lot of things.

Yeah. Not gonna happen.

 

[lRookiel]

I don't think the industry needs a game like this, it would just give the press more "fuel for the fire" against us. >.>

It's an interesting idea but the press/government would just go mad about this, starting another "Stop violent games" campaign. :/

 

[TephlonPrice]

Ok... that could work for an RPG.

Though if anything, I'd kinda build one around this:

-Safe house raids, police wanted levels, federal assaults, bribing the right people, blackmail, etc.
-Competition from rivals & even truces & the like (didn't work, but hey, it was worth trying...?)
-Combat engine that builds itself around melee & weapon combat that allows for improvised weapons at any moment, even using the environment as a deadly tool & around multiple fighting styles, allowing for disarms, locks, holds, & more
-Gun combat that makes for dual-wielding, modified weapons (converted Glock 17s to full-auto, drums on AKs, imported heat, lasers, extended clips, lights, bayonets, etc.) & the fact there's a LOT of weapons that seem to slip into criminal hands
-Team-based approach allowing for control of a squad of gang members in combat
-Special abilities based on gang, drugs used in battle, etc. (cocaine jacks up senses to extreme levels & allows for mark-and-execute; liquor increases damage resistance & stamina in combat, etc.; gang bonuses as well)
-Drug-making that allows for designer drugs to get made, along with the usual staples (coke, X, weed, pills, etc.)

... assuming that someone would actually bother touching this game... or as someone pointed out, GTA:SA having done a bit of this, or the fact this does sound like you're glorifying the street life.

But honestly, it sounds like an idea for a good RPG, if only because no one's bothered to touch the idea.

 

[chuckman1]

San Andreas is about as close as we'll ever to get to a big release game anywhere near this

Beat me to it.

Also, lol at the chance of game involving -

...buy cocaine and baking soda and cook it up and sell it, learn to cook meth, all sorts of things in the ghetto you learn a lot of things.

Yeah. Not gonna happen.

If I can enslave somebody in fallout 3 and I can shoot hundreds of civillians in MW2 why not be able to cook up some rock in Ghettoblivion I'd say gaming already has worse stuff as the norm in mant games.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Sounds pretty damn fun actually. San Andreas gets boring very quickly, so another game like this would be great. As long as it had lots and lots of dialogue. Oh man, I love ghetto slang language.

 

[DoPo]

San Andreas is about as close as we'll ever to get to a big release game anywhere near this

Beat me to it.

Also, lol at the chance of game involving -

...buy cocaine and baking soda and cook it up and sell it, learn to cook meth, all sorts of things in the ghetto you learn a lot of things.

Yeah. Not gonna happen.

If I can enslave somebody in fallout 3 and I can shoot hundreds of civillians in MW2 why not be able to cook up some rock in Ghettoblivion I'd say gaming already has worse stuff as the norm in mant games.

Hey, remember how much shit MW stirred up with that? Remember how the BioWare games promote the gay lifestyle just because they feature a purely optional gay romantic choices? Remember how ME was a rape simulator?

Imagine if any of those were core mechanics. Now re-evaluate that statement of yours.

 

[krazykidd]

That sounds so stereotypical. And no way it won't be viewed as slightly racist . Don't let a American developper get their hands on that idea , it's gonna be riddles with black people doing drugs and killing people . Then Again rockstar did the same this with San andreas . Looking back ( since i really liked that game back when i was in highschool ) that game is full of racism and very offensive ,not that it wasn't also extremely fun.

 

[Smooth Operator]

That just sounds incredibly depressing, and if there is one thing I don't turn to games for is to be depressed.
The only reason I liked San Andreas is because they go mad enough to make up for all the horrific "gangsta" shit.

 

[chuckman1]

That sounds so stereotypical. And no way it won't be viewed as slightly racist . Don't let a American developper get their hands on that idea , it's gonna be riddles with black people doing drugs and killing people . Then Again rockstar did the same this with San andreas . Looking back ( since i really liked that game back when i was in highschool ) that game is full of racism and very offensive ,not that it wasn't also extremely fun.

You can't set a game in the hood without it being racist? Besides it's not like every hood is mostly black.
South Phoenix is mostly latino
Some hoods are mostly white or asian too it's not like it has to be set in detroit (a mostly black hood).
Why not let an american developer get their hands on the idea? Ghetto cultures big in America.

 

[Silent Anima]

Remember how ME was a rape simulator?

ME? As in Mass Effect? Rape simulator?

 

[lacktheknack]

Remember how ME was a rape simulator?

ME? As in Mass Effect? Rape simulator?

Hyperbole. It was supposedly a "pornographic sex simulator".

 

[malestrithe]

A Mage the Ascesnsion Supplement called Destiny's Price deals with exactly the kinds of things your interested in talking about.

Add to that the Bone Gnawers Tribe book and the Book of the City from Werewolf the Apocalypse, and any of the city by night books from vampire and you have enough raw information to at least fake the game you want to play.

 

[Shrapenel92]

I can't imagine any big publisher is going to pick up a game like that for fear of being stereotypical and as such; racist. Also a game where you could cook meth and perform other dubious activities. As everyone else here seems to have said, the closest you're going to get is San Andreas, but even if you look back at that game, and more specifically at the 'Hot Coffee' mod that was produced for it (a virtual sex simulator mini-game for those that are unaware), Rockstar totally freaked out, and patched the PC version of the game so that this mod could not be installed. Looking back it seems rather hypocritical for them to block a mod that allows you to have sex, but you can walk out into the street and shoot people until your heart's content, or walk into a Police station and pick up a giant dildo and beat people to death with it.
I think basically the issue is that publishers wont pick it up, although there may be a hope, looking at games such as the Saints Row series which has hard drugs, sex and violence - maybe it's a relatively untapped market!

 

[CaptOfSerenity]

As long as it doesn't glorify crime, it could work. It would take really ballsy developer to touch it and make it right.

 

[MisterM2402]

Remember how ME was a rape simulator?

ME? As in Mass Effect? Rape simulator?

No, he means "ME" as in "myself"; he's saying that *he* was a rape simulator! :O

 

[DustyDrB]

I know Chris Avellone has stated several times [http://www.avclub.com/articles/avc-at-gdc-10-an-interview-with-alpha-protocol-cre,39091/] that he'd love to do an RPG based on The Wire. I'd be supremely excited for that, as I love RPGs, The Wire, and Avellone.

But the only answer I can give you isn't what you're looking for really. Shadowrun is set in some slummy locations, with gangs and all of that. But it is also a cyberpunk RPG with orks, dwarves, elves, trolls, and dragons. So...

 

[Cheesepower5]

Ehhhh, I'd rather not. Although really, this sounds alot like San Andreas Multi Player.

In my opinion, the sooner "gangster" and "hood" culture dies the sooner Earth isn't a total shit hole. And you know, solve starvation and war. But mostly gangster culture.