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."
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
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
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.
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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