To kick off the 20-Twenties, Craig Campbell launched a Kickstarter to fund a traditional print run of his CAPERS Core Rulebook, “A Super-Powered Game of Gangsters in the Roaring Twenties.” To draw attention to Craig’s project (and because I need to play CAPERS), I’m using my RPG-View Copy of the game for this review.
WHO IS CRAIG? WHAT’S A NERDBURGER GAME?
Nerdburger Games is the home of the 2018 BAMFsie award winning CAPERS RPG and its family of expansions, Die Laughing, Murders & Acquistions, and more. Craig Campbell is the one-man-show behind Nerdburgers Games, the co-host of the Nerd Burger Show podcast, and is Secretary of the Indie Game Developer Network (IGDN). With a focus on unique settings and original systems, Craig is building an RPG gaming library. On the Tessera Guild, I interviewed him about CAPERS (here) and his horror-comedy movie RPG, Die Laughing (here). He attends a variety of conventions across the year. In fact, I have a print on demand copy of CAPERS I grabbed when I attended a pair of conventions with Craig (Conapalooza and Multiverse Con).
CAPERS: THE SETTING
It’s the 1920s. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution and the Volstead Act are in place prohibiting alcohol in the United States of America. But you have superpowers and a thirst. In CAPERS, you’re a gangster, or a member of law enforcement, standing on one side or the other of the two great issues of the day: Booze and powers. Will you use your abilities to subvert the Temperance Movement or enforce its aims?
CAPERS: THE ENGINE
For this RPG, each player and GM needs a standard deck of cards, 52 plus the Jokers. No dice. I love the use of the deck because, in this setting, it evokes the world. This was an era where card games held sway as both pastime and vice. Basing the game play around them starts the process of getting you into the setting.
For character creation, I’ll call out some of the differences for CAPERS versus a standard RPG. Your character has three anchors: Identity, Virtue, and Vice. These help to flesh out the type of person your character is. All of these can be created or, if you want to let the fates helm your PC’s creation, you can draw using a deck of cards. Like many RPGs, PCs have attributes called Traits: Charisma, Agility, Perception, Expertise, Resilience, and Strength. Each Trait has a rank of 1 to 3 with 4 and 5 being available if you have a specific Power. Each Trait also has a defense (8 to Queen) that an opponent must overcome in a contest. Depending on whether you chose to play a Caper (superpowered) or an Exceptional (action star), you get access to either Powers or Perks and Trem-Gear. While there’s more to the characters than what I’m listing, it’s mechanics like Speed that veteran players would expect. The last piece I want to mention is Moxie, your pool of advantage points that you’ll spend to augment your actions.
Back to the cards. As mentioned, each Trait has a rank of 1 to 5, this represents the number of cards you can flip, one at a time, to see if you meet or exceed the Target Score. However, there’s another dimension, the suit plays a factor in your success. A success with a spade means you get a Boon while a success with a club means there’s a Complication. Failure with a spade or club has additional penalties over and above failing with, say, a heart or diamond. In play, the suit and color are factors. For combat, clubs generate the least damage, spades the most. Generally, black cards are better than red.
One of the complications with deck-based RPGs is the strategy around when you are allowed to reshuffle. Some games have complicated requirements to trigger a reshuffle with some going far enough to make reshuffling something of a reward. By contrast, CAPERS makes it easy: End a combat or a scene with some trait checks, reshuffle. This ends your table having the same forty-five-minute card counting conversation every week where you all know that Milo is full of $#!% when he says that he’s only got face cards and three deuces remaining to draw!
POWERS
You’re playing a game of superpowered gangsters so let’s talk about the powers. Starting out, you get one or two minor powers (depending on your rank) or one major power. You have a limited number of powers and, it should be noted, that you’re not so powerful that mere mortals can never stop you. A Thompson submachine gun is not going to cause you to snicker. Your powers give you an edge, not a pass.
What types of powers should you expect? Let’s look at two minor powers and two majors. For the minor powers, Acid Stream lets your character shoot acid, while Dimensional Pocket gives you a Bag of Holding to keep your Green Lantern in when you aren’t recharging your ring. With the major powers, they’re options like Animal Affinity where you take on animal traits or transform into an animal or Super Expertise where you’re the smartest person in the room. There’s a long list of powers, but these are fair examples of the power-level to expect.
RULES ONE-PAGER
Beyond the additional rules describing combat options and the like, there’s the gear and services of the era, a number of NPCs, story hooks, and, of course, the settings. Among those settings, the book offers three multi-page cities: Atlantic City, Chicago, and New York City complete with description, maps, and NPCs. Beyond those cities, there are one-page write ups for Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit, Kansas City, Louisville, Miami, Milwaukee, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. Again, NPCs and locations are included.
As cool as everything in the book has been to this point, my favorite part of the whole book, one of the reasons this RPG is a winner to me, is the second to last page: “CAPERS Rules Summary.” Once you’ve read the rules and just need a one-stop reminder, there it is. Want to read the page for yourself? It’s free on DriveThruRPG (here).
A CRIME SPREE
CAPERS is not a standalone, closed world. Instead of focusing solely on the Prohibition Era, that setting is merely the most famous moment of this universe. To go along with, and expand upon, it, there’s:
- CAPERS Pirates takes the concept to the high seas during the golden age of piracy
- CAPERS Noir, set in the 1940s, this supplement takes you to a world where “the veil between this world and the world of the dead has thinned. Monsters have crept in”
- CAPERS Covert moves the timeline forward another twenty years to the 1960s and combines powers with the Cold War superspies of James Bond
- CAPERS Offworld (coming to Kickstarter in 2020) will offer “space gangsters with super-powers”
GETTING AWAY WITH THE CRIME
If you want to play as a superpowered gangster using a system that feels right for the era and is easy to understand, yet has some depth to strategize with, I recommend CAPERS. Find Nerdburger Games at their website, at DriveThruRPG, and Kickstarter. Want to try out some Nerdburger Games before you buy? Here’s a list of free options at DriveThruRPG:
- CAPERS Quick Start Guide
- CAPERS Rules Summary (“One-page summary of the core rules”)
- CAPERS Core Design Guide (“Insights for designers wishing to modify or build off of the game system”)
KICKSTARTER
Back to why I did this review, the CAPERS Hardcover Edition Kickstarter runs from January 7th to February 6th, 2020. Because Craig and I are friends, I wanted to put a spotlight on his work and, hopefully, encourage you to try out the Kickstarter. I asked Craig what to expect from his first print run (as opposed to the print on demand edition he’s offered up to this point):
“The deluxe hardcover will feature glossy paper, richer colors, sewn binding, endpages and inside covers printed with useful game tables and info, and two satin ribbon bookmarks. We may upgrade the quality further depending on how the Kickstarter performs.”
If this interested you, I recommend checking out the Kickstarter for deals on CAPERS products including the upcoming hardcover.
NOTE: This article includes affiliate links to DriveThruRPG. As a DriveThruRPG Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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- New Gamemaster Month 2023 - January 20, 2023
CAPERS RPG Deluxe Hardcover
End Date: Thu, February 6 2020 9:00 PM EST.
High-Quality Hardcover of the Award-Winning Tabletop RPG CAPERS, a Super-Powered Game of Gangsters in the Roaring Twenties
Direct Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1582756696/capers-rpg-deluxe-hardcover