Crime Time

Crime Time is a multiplayer heist rpg that starts as a play-by-mail and then turns into a play-in-person.

It's 8 pages, with a clean readable layout and some helpful graphics.

Crime Time has sort of an interesting slow-burn to it, in that it's card-based, but you have to create each card before you can launch your heist.

You do that by mailing a bunch of blank cards back and forth, slowly adding art or text.

This is a really cool element in its own right, and the cards are all story prompts, so ultimately what you're doing is determining the elements that will make up your heist. For example, if someone draws a dog and labels it "golden retriever," your heist could end up being about stealing a canine with transmutation fur. 

Once you have your deck built, you meet in person to play the second half of the game. Like the first half, this is mostly freeform storytelling, but you use the cards to determine your characters, their advantages, and the tasks in their way. The deck even forms a sort of pseudo-dungeon; you lay it out in a pyramid and have to navigate through it to get to the conclusion.

Overall, Crime Time doesn't have a lot of crunch to it, but it has stellar ideas in spades. Building a playable deck is a lot of fun. Slowly drafting a pool of story elements for the heist is really cool too. Navigating the deck like a dungeon is excellent. Plus, the PDF is well-written and engaging.

If you like narrative games, innovative mechanics, and pulpy fun, check this out. It's worth your crime time.