I'm surprised Blades in the Dark got a series. Is it really that popular compared to all other non-licensed RPGs?

I would describe Scum and Villainy as Paranoia lite without a computer to explain why you are that way but more of a mechanic that you just accept as " you are a jerk and so it everyone else, this is how jerks are" and when you fail rolls to varrying degrees it makes a sort of plot timer/ai tell the DM how to screw you and it has an enemy force that is activated and affected by how you fail and succeed which sets up new goals and encounters so it is kind of trying to automate the formula for a team caper show and get the crew in the mind set that they ought to be looking for opportunities to use each other as shields or sell them out or rip them off or put them in danger as a distraction to get the maximum experience of the game. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Still reading through. Think of this as me looking at the pseudocode and not the syntax or assignments.

Books:

Fantasy:
Lies of Locke Lamora (1st book)
Taltos books - seconded...

Real World:
The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld  2008
The Real Peaky Blinders: Billy Kimber, the Birmingham Gang and the Racecourse Wars of the 1920s
Crime City: Manchester's Victorian Underworld
The Mysteries of London, by George W. M. Reynolds

Quote from: Rob Necronomicon on September 06, 2021, 06:29:33 PM
Setting was good... But it felt like a very cookie cutter game beyond the mechanics. Game play was very samey too.

Not really my thing.

PBtA and BiTA games do have a very laser focused genre playstyle. Very much the PC's are "on mission" all the time. No side quests, no time outs for PC doing in-character nonsense. The play is expected to be driving and on-point, All The Time.

This style of play is not for everyone.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on September 07, 2021, 03:48:48 PM
I'm surprised Blades in the Dark got a series. Is it really that popular compared to all other non-licensed RPGs?

I would say that it is fairly popular. Making the BiTD game engine OGL from the beginning is a big key to its success and proliferation.

IMHO - its popularity is due to the fact that it echoes elements of old school D&D style play in a lot of areas.

As an IP for Movies/Tv...

As a Theme it is not unique, but I doubt much money changed hands for the rights. But it has a catchy name and the "world" is both quasi-unique and vague enough that the creatives have enough to grab on to, yet plenty of room to add things themselves.

All the following recommendations are set in a more traditional fantasy environment, but - for starters, Thieves' World might be worth a look to you. It's the godmother to all of those "thievery" fantasies. Andrew Offutt's work on that series is some of the best 80s fantasy has to offer.

If you're looking for more recent stuff, I'd personally recommend you the "Ryria" series for more heisty, cheeky stuff, and the "Powder Mage" and "Greatcloaks" series for more "gunpowder fantasy"-oriented tales. In my opinion, "Ryria" is the weakest of the three series I named, and "Greatcloaks" is the best.

Wait a minute... isn't Evil Hat one of those psycho woke companies?

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on September 08, 2021, 10:21:15 AM
Wait a minute... isn't Evil Hat one of those psycho woke companies?

They are the Queen of woke companies.

Quote from: Godsmonkey on September 08, 2021, 11:19:12 AM

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on September 08, 2021, 10:21:15 AM
Wait a minute... isn't Evil Hat one of those psycho woke companies?

They are the Queen of woke companies.

Yup. They're absolutely horrid.

A shame, IMHO BiTD is a decent game, and does some things worth looking at - I picked up my copy years ago before I started really paying attention to company politics.

If you want to take a look at it now; Buy Used.

Don't put a dime in their pockets.