So, I just watched Gangs of New York for the first time, and it was amazing. My favorite parts were the backdrop (the way the city and it’s people were portrayed was one of the most gorgeous settings ever) and the villain. About half way through, I got the impression that if the backdrop of the movie was made into a Pathfinder setting (move the city to a fictional world and add magic, basically), one would have stupendous world to set a game in. I have now set to brainstorming how I would go about it:
I want my city somewhere beautiful and tropical, to serve as a contrast for how gritty and brutal this city is.
The government is mostly interested in graft, and most officials can be paid off. The bureaucracy is staggeringly massive and obstructive. The country is supposedly a democracy, and holds itself to lofty ideals of freedom, but corruption is a gigantic problem.
The police departments (there are several) are private companies that have government contracts allowing them to conduct law enforcement duties. They are as corrupt as one would expect from such a system, and they fight to establish who is the best performing, which can get very nasty.
Fire brigades are also private, and tend to fight each other over who has the right to a fire if multiple brigades arrive at the same one. Looting is also a problem. So, basically the exact same situation as the movie and real life.
The slums, gangs, and crime rate are as close to the movie as can get (that backdrop was the best thing in any movie ever), except the gang alliances are much more fluid. Basically, lots of colorful street gangs making and breaking deals with each other in an effort to gain money and power, and lots of backstabbing and betrayal. Also, gang fights can be massive when you've got, like, a dozen gangs involved in one altercation.
Orc bands were put down as the firearm became common and their warriors could no longer match the civilized world’s armies, and then enslaved to “civilize them”. They were freed a long time ago, but now they form a generally hated underclass.
Elves are viewed as plutocratic, aristocratic, and arrogant, most of them being high ranking or rich, and half-elves tend to be treated as unworthy bastard children. You see them all the time in the slums.
Dwarves aren’t welcome, being viewed as people who need to get back to their mountains and stay there. You see them occasionally, but mostly as exiles from the various personal fiefdoms in the Dwarfholds.
Basically, this is not exactly a racially open minded society. It’s not that ethnically open minded, either, but it is multiethnic. That is definitely problematic.
The PCs are poor urban thugs, so wealth by level should be a point value, and magic items should instead be inherent bonuses bought with those points. Even when the PCs get a ton of money, it’s nothing compared to a typical dungeon haul. To them, a lot of money means enough cash to splurge on a massive party.
Pathfinder gun rules would work fairly well if no advanced guns were allowed. Guns are the weapon of the military, but poor urban denizens can’t really afford them, and they only have one shot anyway.
Bows and crossbows aren’t accessible, because guns took over. This means that people like the PCs either use throwing weapons or go into melee.
Thrown weapons need to be at least as dangerous as an arrow.
Swords aren’t a weapon of street gangs. PCs fight with clubs, hatchets, knives, bats, and such. Damage values should change to reflect that. Improvised and homemade weapons are basically the default weapons, and therefore should not carry penalties.
I don’t see armor being used, so armor bonuses instead.
Mad scientist alchemists and werewolf serial killers. Hell yes.
Alignment isn’t right for this setting. Too much black and black or black and grey morality.
So, am I on to something good?