First, an introduction:

 
is a black and white comic book published by Dark Horse Comics and written and drawn by Frank Miller that takes the pulp/noir genre, sets it in the modern day, and takes it to its darkest and most violent extremes. Sin City is a dark and desperate place in which grimy back alleys and seedy bars sit alongside the mansions of the rich and corrupt, where life is cheap and money, power, and pleasure are the only things that matter. Basin City, in which the stories are set, gets its nickname from its famous red light district, Old Town, a unique place in which the prosititutes have created a sort of independent district in which the cops and the mob are not welcome, and in which they themselves are the law. Miller delves into the dark  underside of humanity in Sin City, telling tales of greed, lust, perversion, and murder in a hard-boiled voice and with lurid detail. Sin City is not all that unlike the films of John Woo and Ringo Lam, both in theme and in action, and the heroes are just as flawed, if not moreso. Sometimes it is only the sheer evil of their enemies that makes them good by comparison.
     The original Sin City appeared over the course of 13 months in Dark Horse Presents. This was followed by three Sin City miniseries which appeared on their own: the 6-part "A Dame To Kill For" the 5-part "The Big Fat Kill," and the 6-part "That Yellow Bastard." All of these miniseries as well as the original Sin City story have been reprinted as trade paperbacks. The latest Sin City comic, "Family Values," was released directly as a 128 page trade paperback. There have also been two, single-issue short story collections: "The Babe Wore Red," and "Lost, Lonely, and Lethal," and two one-shots: "Silent
Night," and "Sex and Violence. The various Sin City stories and miniseries deal with different characters who tend to overlap from one story to the next, giving the work as a whole a finite setting in place and time while varying the cast of characters and their prominence. A main character in one story may only appear in the background of one panel for another, linking the current story to the continuity as a whole. Sin City tends to be somewhat darker and grittier than Feng Shui as a whole, and of course it lacks the magical and supernatural elements. If you want to run a game in the Sin City setting, you'll have to bear this in mind. Things that would be at least questionable, if not unacceptable in a typical Feng Shui game would be commonplace here. The best way to understand this is to see it for yourself. Unless you're easily offended I recommend that you go and check it out. You won't be disappointed.


Dwight McCarthy
Journalist

"I'd give anything. Just to cust loose. Just to feel the fire. One more time."
Dwight... angry...
Bod 7 (Tgh 8), Chi 0 (For=5), Mnd 7, Ref 7

Skills:
Guns 13, Journalism 12, Info/Sin City 11, Martial Arts 11, Driving 11, Detective 10, Intrusion 10, Intimidation 8, Seduction 8

Schticks:
Both Guns Blazing, Unique Journalist Schtick

Weapons:
Two .45 automatics

Wealth Level:
Poor

Hook: At the start of A Dame to Kill For: Recover the remnants of his shattered life. Afterwards: Repay his debt to the women of Old Town.

Dwight first appears in A Dame to Kill For. Formerly a newspaper journalist, a series of bad events has reduced him to snapping pictures of cheating husbands in order to make ends meet. He is broken shell of his former self, betrayed by the woman he loved and destroyed by his own failings. By the end of the story he's been given a new face and a chance to start over again. He's on his way back to what he once was, but he's had to pay a high price for it, including the blood of an innocent man on his hands. Dwight is a man with many weaknesses, chief among them alcohol and women. The two make him lose control of himself and act irrationally. Though exactly what happened is never fully revealed, we learn that Dwight fell in love with a woman who coldly left him for a richer man. What followed was a decent into hard drinking and self-destructive behavior that left him a broken man. When we first meet Dwight, he lives a lonely life, haunted by his past and unwilling to let himself live again. However, Dwight also posesses a number of strengths as well. He's tough, smart, courageous, loyal, and resourceful, and he goes out of his way to protect women in danger. This has made him a number of friends in and out of Old Town who come to his aid when he needs them. With their help he's able to overcome the demons from his past and start anew, but he also now owes them a debt which he knows he will never fully be able to pay off. Dwight is muscular and bald and appears to be in his early 30's. Although handsome, he gets battered quite a bit in A Dame to Kill For. By the end of the story he has had surgery to change his appearance, which includes the addition of a mop of dirty-blonde hair. He wears a long army coat under which he conceals a pair of .45's (in Family Values he wears an expensive wool coat). Besides being the hero of A Dame to Kill For, Dwight is also the main character of The Big Fat Kill, Family Values, and the short story The Babe Wore Red. He has also made cameo appearances in other Sin City stories.
 


Marv has a smokeMarv
Big Bruiser

"All I've ever been good at is killing so I might as well enjoy it."
 

Bod 11(Tgh 12), Chi 0, Mnd 4 (Wil 9, Per 6, Cha 1), Ref 7

Skills: Martial Arts 12, Intimidation 12 (This is based on Bod, not Cha.), Guns 10, Driving 9, Intrusion 9, Info/Sin City 7

Schticks: Signiature Weapon (Gladys), Big Bruiser Unique Schtick

Weapons: Gladys - Signiature .45 automatic (11/2/7+1)

Wealth Level: Poor

 
Hook: At the start of Sin City: To find out who murdered Goldie and to avenge her death.
 

Marv is, as Dwight puts it, "Seven feet plus of muscle and mayhem." He's a thug and a killer and not completely sane, and he's a danger to be around. Marv is a monster in combat, both with his fists and with a gun. He's capable of taking on several men at once and he can shrug off injuries that would fell a normal man. Marv is also the hero of the original Sin City miniseries. Marv embarks on a mission of vengeance after Goldie, a beautiful prostitute who befriends him, is murdered only hours later while in bed with him. Marv is framed for the murder, and so he begins his search for the real killer. This is what sets Marv apart from the rest and makes him a hero; he continues on his quest to the bitter end out of a sense of duty, out of guilt at his failure to protect Goldie, and because, as he puts it, "She gave me something I didn't even know existed." Marv may be a fearsome figure, but he's also human, with human fears and frailties. Several times he considers giving up, but he continues nonetheless. He has to take medication to keep his head clear. Also, he's something of a sadist, yet, ironically, he's at his calmest when he's at his most violent. Yet, as bad as he can be, Marv is nowhere nearly as twisted or evil as those he opposes. Marv is loyal to his friends and will never hurt a woman. In fact, he is protective of the opposite sex, and gets angry when he sees a woman being insulted or hurt. He is particularly fond of a dancer named Nancy, and as a result no one will dare harm her. He can often be found at Kadie's, a seedy Country bar where Nancy works. He's done a lot of favors for the owner, and so he always drinks there for free. Marv is tall and massive, with a blond crew cut and a face so ugly that he can't even buy the services of a prostitute. His weapon of choice is a .45 he's named Gladys after one of the sisters from his old school. Marv is the main character of both Sin City and Silent Night, and he appeared as a supporting character in A Dame to Kill For.
 


Miho & DwightMiho
Killer

"She'll cut you quick, She'll kill you quiet. You won't feel a thing, not unless she wants you to."

Bod 6, Chi 0, Mnd 5 (Cha 8, Wil 8, Per 9), Ref 10

Skills:
Martial Arts 15, Intrusion 15, Guns 10 (For bow and arrow only; Miho never uses guns.), Seduction 12

Schticks:
Razor-Edged Senses, Quick Draw, Both Blades Flashing x 3

Weapons:
Paired Ninja-To (9), paired kama (8), shuriken (5), bow and arrows (10), throwing knives (6), manriki-gusari (6) and virtually anything else possible.

Hook: To protect the women of Old Town.

Small, silent, and deadly is the best way to describe Miho. A tiny, beautiful, Japanese prostitute who apparently never speaks, she's also one of the most lethal individuals in all of Sin City. Miho is an expert killer, capable of dispatching a houseful of armed guards with little effort. She carries a wide variety of edged weapons, and is quite handy with all of them. She moves with incredible stealth, taking down her victims quickly and quietly - that is, when she wants to. If Miho can be said to have a weakness, it's that she will sometimes toy with a victim before finishing them, and when she does, it is often with a ghoulish and sadistic sense of humor (such as slicing through a victim's throat, then punting their head off their shoulders like a football). She doesn't display much emotion, except perhaps a hint of boredom when she's not actively killing someone. Miho is utterly devoted to her companions in Old Town, and will not hesitate to kill on their behalf. She also owes a debt to Dwight, who saved her life when she was outnumbered by a gang of Tong hoods. Miho is included here, not because she's a major character, but because she's probably the closest thing in Sin City to a Feng Shui character. She's best described as a killer, though in truth she doesn't fit the archetype exactly, and is probably more like a hybrid with the Ninja archetype. Compared to the typical staring PC in Feng Shui she's not that extraordinary, but in the world of Sin City she is the deadliest thing around. Imagine Jet-Li - playing one of his usual roles - into a John-Woo style movie and you get the idea. Miho just barely stands 5 feet tall, with a slender, sinuous body, catlike eyes, and straight dark hair that reaches to around her chin. She usually wears a black kimono in which she conceals a number of weapons. Her swords rest in a sash at her waist. Miho has appeared in A Dame to Kill For, The Big Fat Kill, Family Values, and in a short story in The Babe Wore Red.
  



 
You'll see my take on it in a moment. I did Miho as a killer with weapon schticks instead of gun schticks (if you're not familiar, the weapon schticks are something I brewed up which the good folks on this list seem to have warmed to a bit. You can find 'em on Bryant's Feng Shui page). I mention it in the write-up, but basically I didn't do Miho as an Old Master because allthough she's Death on Wheels (literally!) in Sin City, the whole power level of the comic is a bit lower than a typical HK movie - but only a little bit. She's like putting Jet Li into a John Woo flick, hence her extreme ass-kickedness. In Feng Shui, however, a lot of PC's are like Miho.

On further consideration, I realized that Sin City has quite a bit in common with with HK cinema, especially John Woo and Ringo Lam. It just seems darker, but then again HK cinema can get pretty dark too. I guess I tend to think of FS as somewhat more light in tone, but the game can just as easily be played dark and nasty.
 
 
 

Adapted by David Eber
 
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