RPGPundit Reviews: Miami Under Fire

This is a review of the short RPG adventure-campaign book "Miami Under Fire"; for the D20 Modern system, a Quickplay Adventure by Small Niche Games. Whew, that's a mouthful!

Anyways, here's the deal: Have you ever wanted to run an RPG version of Miami Vice? I haven't!
But if you have, if its always been your dream to recreate the Don Johnson adventures of your youth or whatever, this would be the ideal product to do so.

What you get in its slick 50 or so pages, besides a full-colour pink-and-blue-pastel-logo action packed cover (featuring a pair of Miami-Vice-cop clones and a car blowing up in the background), is a complete guide to just about everything you'd need to run an 80s cop show short-campaign.

First, you get a complete guide to the 80s, or as complete as you can get it in about five pages.  The emphasis is on the practical stuff, like knowing a year-by-year breakdown of what the cool movies were (ah, 1985: Back to the Future, Beyond Thunderdome, National Lampoon's European Vacation, the Goonies!), TV shows and their runs, popular music, fashions, tech, cool cars, and cost of living; not to mention a lexicon of the weird 80s lingo explaining for the youngsters what things like "gag me with a spoon" or "spazzing out" meant.

Next you get a guide to 80s (fictional) Miami in particular, what the police department was like, the Vice division, corrupt cops, and the major drug lords (all with appropriate Hispanic names like "Paco Noguera" and "Joze Vasquez").
Then we get right into the adventure itself, which is a story that could easily have been taken right from an episode of Miami Vice. In fact, I'm pretty damn sure it was.

Its got pretty much every cheezy 80s stereotype in the books; a gang of juvenile delinquent "Punk rockers" with mohawks, meth labs, a gang war among the Drug Cartels (one of the Drug Lords is trying to murder all of the others to take absolute control over the Miami crime scene); and eventually, the PCs have to travel to Columbia themselves. Finally you end up with a showdown with the drug lords and a group of dirty cops in your own department.
Pretty well every detail is included, and the reality of the adventure being played is not that of history, but of 80s television; right up to and including the fact that any slightly crashed car will explode in a spectacular fashion.

The book includes 11 pages worth of NPCs to populate the adventure with, all fully stated-out. You also get a complete list of 80s weapons and vehicles.
Finally the book ends with a good road-map of Greater Miami (looking like its been taken right out of a travel guide), and a bunch of miniatures-ready floorplans for all kinds of buildings used in the set, as well as a map of the luxury yacht featured in the adventure.

A group of sample PCs are also included, including a pair of detectives that are obviously meant to be the two main characters of Miami Vice; so if you've ever wanted to know what Don Johnson's stats are, here you go...

This book is similar in style and scope to the Operation:Jedburgh product which preceded it. However, I'd say that the production value, the quality of the book itself, has gone up considerably in comparison with that earlier book, and the attention to detail, one must admit, is impeccable.

The Good: If you want Miami Vice, this is all you'll ever need!

The Bad: If you don't want Miami vice, this book is pretty well useless to you.

The Ugly: Only the 80s themselves. Fuck I'm glad that decade is long gone...

RPGPundit
 

Hi!  As always, thanks for the review.  This adventure was originally written for Vice Squad: Miami Nights that uses Precis Intermedia's genreDiversion i system, but we've had some delays in getting that version out.  

I'll just mention that like Operation Jedburgh, Miami Under Fire is also available in PDF and print format (from lulu.com).  

Thanks again for the rad review.

Pete

I have Pete's Miami Nights supplement for GD-i, and it's a fine, fine sourcebook.  I'm not so interested in this particular d20 product because I don't play d20, but as it includes material from Miami Nights, I can recommend it right away.

Pete's a good writer and he captured the whole "Miami Vice" vibe very nicely in Miami Nights.  Why should Miami Under Fire be any different?

Quote from:  The RPG PunditThe Ugly: Only the 80s themselves.

Uh, no.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!I have Pete's Miami Nights supplement for GD-i, and it's a fine, fine sourcebook.  I'm not so interested in this particular d20 product because I don't play d20, but as it includes material from Miami Nights, I can recommend it right away.

Pete's a good writer and he captured the whole "Miami Vice" vibe very nicely in Miami Nights.  Why should Miami Under Fire be any different?

Thanks, Doc.  I think the setting has tons of fun potential, but I think we might be in the minority--doesn't seem like there are too many MV/GTA:VC fans out there who want to game.  

Quote

Oooh.  Phoebe.  Nice.  

Pete

EDIT:  Rhyme alert - I sent an email to your gmail.  Heh.

It's great.
I have MUF as well, and I found it a great scenario full of details and very enjoyable.
I have not time to do a full rewiew, but I already reviewed WWII:Jedburgh and I can say that MUF is another valid product by Pete.
Thumbs up!