I have to admit that I was born in 1977, so much of the early 80's is a but hazey to me. However, CHiPS and other cop shows were among my favorites as a kid. So, when Peter ask me if I would like to review it, I was more than happy to do it.So I downloaded the comp copy at work, I couldn't even wait to get home, and started to read it during lunch.

The first thing you notice is the cover, I mean this thing reeks of 80's Miami cheese. The "cool" suits in the ussual colors a mid 80's corvette and of course the "i'm a baaad man" pose with a gun. The cover really sets the tone for the book (whether you think it is good or bad). What Miami Nights does best is give you the 80's crime series feel.

Next the Character section goes over all the different types of characters you can play. There are many good options like Yakuza, Mafia, Gangs, beat cop, Vice Squad, SWAT, and many others. Each has a description of how they fit into game and 1985. The section also include ideas for NPCs like terrorist and informants. As in other GDi settings, a customized list of new gimmicks and skills are also provided.

the crime section is full of great stuff, whether you use GDi or another system. It covers all kinds of crimes like theft,fraud,Illegal goods and services, racketeering, and sex crimes.  There is full description of all of them followed by a handy guide to the punishment for getting caught. There is a page a half drug section giving street names, cost and other info about the common drugs seen in Miami.

Some good optional rules are added on to the system to make the characters survive better without armor. The one I liked best was the "Phantom Injury" rule. Basically it a rule to play out those characters that seem to get maimed in one episode and in the very next they are back at it 100%. What it does is  makes it so that if a character survives a combat, they always start the next one with no more than 1 grade of fatigue or injury no matter how badly hurt they are. Besides the fact that it emulates the genre, it also makes the game a little more cinematic.

Cliches are new to me, but just seem to be gimmicks with more setting flavor added. These provide even more of that 80's flavor people like so much. Some examples are:

Armor Prop: You know when a character is shot and everyone thinks hes dead, but he sits up and reveals his bullet proff vest that he was wearing?

Fiery Wreck: every car they shoot seems to blow up right? Well if you have this Cliche every parked or wrecked car you shoot blows up!

Wake Up Call: bad guys always seem to have shitty aim, don't they? Well with this they will miss you the first time everytime.

I really like the addition of cliches, it brings out the feel of the setting even more.

Then comes the saving grace for those of us who are a bit to young to have a good memory of what the 80's were like, the culture section. All the biggest movie,TV series,fashions,vehicles and technology. I almost pissed myself becuase I was laughing so hard while reading this section along with the 80's lexicon. I didn't realize how much of the 80's lexicon I still use. "no shit,Sherlock" is one my most used phrases and now know why my younger brothers thing I'm getting old.

Obviously since the game is set in Miami it would be good to fleshout the city. The author give Miami a full 10 pages of work. It describes several locations that you can plug directly into your game. The best part is the radio stations article. Listed are the main radio stations along with the top ten hits @ the time. Some song are:

Fairies Wear Boots (Black Sabbath)
Whip It (Devo) that ones for you Bill =-0
Mr. Roboto (Styx)
876-5309 (Tommy Tutone)

The Miami chapter is followed by a bunch of plot hooks to get your game started. It is very thorough and you can find a hook that would work for almost any episode of most 80's crime series. Several sample locations are also provided, to go along with the  plot hooks.

Another strong point of GDi addons like Miami Nights, is that they generally have lots of NPCs. There are about 15 NPC written up followed by great "groups and oraganizations" section that covers all the major players in mid 80's Miami.

A must ,in my opinion , in any game is a sample adventure. "The Deal" fills that slot very well. The Deal throws the characters inbetween two gangs in doughnut shop and seems ripe with action and suspence.

One oddity is that "never a dull moment" section that gives sample "random" encounters to plug in between major events. This section seem usefull enough to be seperate from the adventure and in with the main text.

The rest of the book used up for character and vehicle templates ( that can be used as NPCs or pregened characters) along with 80's trivia test.

The Good: Captures the 80's crime series feel. Provides a lot of info on 80's culture. Cinematic play makes it exciting.

The Bad: "Never a Dull Moment" being out of place. Maybe plays to much to the 80's cheese and not not enough the more dark side of 80's crime. I recognize that this may be a plus to many people. The layout and general looks of the book are not quite as good as many of PIGs other game, but still pretty good.

The Ugly: an 80's based game...........psych! I'm no major barf bag, Vice Squad is bitchin'.

VSMN's first review!  Thanks, Mcrow.  Great review.  Glad you liked the game.  I just wanted to make sure it was clear up front that I obtained the rights to Vice Squad and published this myself so any layout and/or editing gaffs are my fault alone.  I knew I could never match Brett's eye for layout and design, so my goal was to make the layout clean and readable and not detract from the setting.  

The Good: Captures the 80's crime series feel. Provides a lot of info on 80's culture. Cinematic play makes it exciting.

That's just great to hear.  I mean, that's the way I felt, of course, but it's nice to see someone agrees.    My target audience for this are actually fans of Miami Vice and/or GTA: Vice City.  That was the feel I was shooting for throughout the game.  And of course, the 80s section was a blast to write.

The Bad: "Never a Dull Moment" being out of place.

I actually did this on purpose.  For one thing, without some prompt to explore other hooks, the scenario feels far too linear for my tastes.  These random events help break up the adventure and keep it from going neatly to point A to B to C.  I know I could have lumped it in with the other plot hooks and sample crime sites, but I hate flipping pages when I run a game.  If I were to run that scenario I would find it much easier to run one of the hooks listed in the Dull Moment section than flip all the way back to the plot hooks section.  In any case, I may change it when it goes to print.  

Thanks a lot for the quick review.  I didn't expect one so soon.  If you ever run it, please do let me know how it goes.  

Pete

You know, if the "Never A Dull Moment" section were in a shaded box, that'd help to differentiate it from the adventure.  Better yet to move it, say, after the adventure; most people who are gonna run a game will probably read the adventure first, so you can stick in a note during the adventure which says, "Now would be a good time to go look at the Never A Dull Moment... section which follows this adventure.  Go on, I'll wait." or something like that.  

Having it stuck in the middle of the adventure confused me, frankly, and I am super, super brilliant.

And handsome.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!so you can stick in a note during the adventure which says, "Now would be a good time to go look at the Never A Dull Moment... section which follows this adventure.  Go on, I'll wait." or something like that.  

I included a similar list in the Shady Gulch adventure "A Day in the Gulch," but perhaps that worked better because the town was smaller and the events were more contained.  I'll probably just stick the Never a Dull Moment events into the plot hook/sample crime site sections and include a prompt referring back to that section.  

Thanks for the feedback,

Pete

To be honest when I came across the Never a Dull Moment piece, I said "WTF".

Its just the sort of thing that I expect to see mixed in with the plot hook section since it is a hlepful tool for any VC:MN adventure.

Quote from: McrowTo be honest when I came across the Never a Dull Moment piece, I said "WTF".

Its just the sort of thing that I expect to see mixed in with the plot hook section since it is a hlepful tool for any VC:MN adventure.

Just for the record, I think the section itself is awesome -- it's not only a bunch of plot hooks and springboards to further crazy goodness, but it's also a wonderful way to inject flavor into your game.  Little slices of life.  

And the radio stations, man.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Just for the record, I think the section itself is awesome -- it's not only a bunch of plot hooks and springboards to further crazy goodness, but it's also a wonderful way to inject flavor into your game.  Little slices of life.  

And the radio stations, man.

Thanks Rotwang.  This type of setting lives or dies on flavor.  Otherwise, people can just play cops and robbers using their own favorite system.  So, I tried to put as much flavor into it as I could, without being too restrictive.  If you noticed, I used the same "drag and drop" theory for the sample crime sites that I used for Amherth's interesting sites.  Glad you liked it.

Pete

Quote from: McrowIts just the sort of thing that I expect to see mixed in with the plot hook section since it is a hlepful tool for any VC:MN adventure.

Just wanted to point out that this is why feedback/reviews are so helpful, especially for PDFs that have yet to go to print.  It allows us to address any potential issues beforehand.  So, thanks again.  

Pete