Interview Brian Heins interviewed by Rocket Beans TV and GameStar at Gamescom 2016

Darkzone · Aug 26, 2016

AwesomeButton said:
That's a great subject to think about, but I don't think classical noir themes can't be adapted to an RPG. It will just be a very unusual rpg, likely focused on exploration and interacting with elements of the environment and with other characters.

That are a lot of problems concerning this in my opinion, but perhaps this is due to my definition of an RPG: Recurring situations are solved by application of certain skills, which leads to reinforcement of this skills that we call character development or leveling.
My definition has quite a long rat tail of hidden consequences for an RPG, at least in my view. That does not mean that an classical Noir (40s - 50s) is impossible for RPGs. It just let me think, that it will fail to capture the main pillars of classical Noir.
Also in my opinion this setting is so specific that it will have only a very limited target group. So to speak: It will be a money grave.
Sadly even L.A. Noir revenues have not compensated for the costs of the development for Team Bondi (1.4 million debts), despite the good reviews (and very good sales). We will see if Take-Two Interactive will make a sequel to L.A. Noir.
Neo Noir in form of CP2077 is currently the best chance of an Noir RPG in my opinion, since CDPR has enough talents on board to pull it off.

Neanderthal said:
“Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.
“He will take no man’s money dishonestly and no man’s insolence without a due and dispassionate revenge. He is a lonely man and his pride is that you will treat him as a proud man or be very sorry you ever saw him.
“The story is this man’s adventure in search of a hidden truth, and it would be no adventure if it did not happen to a man fit for adventure. If there were enough like him, the world would be a very safe place to live in, without becoming too dull to be worth living in.”
― Raymond Chandler

I have to admit in shame that i have only watched Philip Marlowe films (only these that have been made in the 40s), but if i have the time i will definitely read the books to close this gap.

ERYFKRAD · Aug 27, 2016

Darkzone said:
I have to admit in shame that i have only watched Philip Marlowe films (only these that have been made in the 40s), but if i have the time i will definitely read the books to close this gap.

They're not huge books either, so hop to it.

AwesomeButton · Aug 27, 2016

The books and short stories are the main source of inspiration for a big number of less famous noir writers, and endless parodying all the way up to present day with for example Sin City (2). They are simply classics.