An open source TTRPG about grifters and con artists.
The Long Con is an RPG I started writing in 2010. It was always my intent to "open source" the game to allow people to contribute to make it better but, at the time, the only way I knew to do that was through a self-hosted MediaWiki site, which proved cumbersome and not very easy to use. Ultimately that server and the database died and the internet presence of The Long Con died with it.
In 2018, going through old files, I rediscovered my original source material (a .docx file) and moved it to Google Docs so at least if the file disappeared or got lost, it was somewhere accessible and searchable.
In 2020, I decided to put it up on GitHub to allow a true collaboration on content with the intent of, someday, possibly putting it up on DriveThruRPG.com when it reaches something resembling a final version.
The Long Con is based on TV shows like Leverage and Hustle and films like the Oceans series. These stories glorify the life of a con artist, particularly teams of con artists, who, typically, target rich and often corrupt individuals and liberate some of their goods or funds through deception, cunning and luck. I was particularly interested in a role-playing game with this premise because it plays well to the group setting that most TTRPGs are run in, and it's a unique type of story to tell, that could be told over a long time (e.g. several interconnected heists in a campaign), and I hadn't then (nor still haven't) seen any other systems that tried to tackle this particular genre of fiction.
Are we glorifying criminals? Sure!
Does that make it any less fun? Absolutely not! That's the fun of role playing, after all.
I tried to build a system (d10-based) that would be simple to learn and easy to apply to different situations, while also being open ended enough to allow for some interesting stories.
The majority of the core mechanics have been written and it is, I believe, in a playable (or at least a play-testable) state. That said, a lot of content could use some polish, there's room for some flavor content, art, and refining of some sections.
While I can see the benefit of using a system compatible with the world's most popular role playing game, there are elements of that system that would either over-complicate or not have enough specific details for a game of this type. Nevertheless, it's not out of the realm of possibility to develop a d20-compatible version in the future.
I put this on GitHub to allow contributions through Issues and Pull Requests. If you're familiar with Git, you can clone the repository down and use your local Git client to push up your suggested changes. But if you aren't, you can contribute if you have a GitHub.com account using the built-in editor and Pull Request system.
A "pull request" (or PR) is a version of a file that you have modified and are saying "hey, this is ready for you to take a look at." In this case, your PR would be a modification of one of the .md files with your changes. GitHub will show a "diff" of the updated version of the file against the old version of the file to compare those changes. The repository owner (that'd be me) can then review the changes, choose to "merge" them into the repository or request changes.
To submit a change request, go to the file you want to change and click the edit icon (shaped like a pencil). Make your changes to the file, then scroll to the bottom of the page. Add some notes about the change you are making (more information is always better) in the "Commit changes" section and select Create a new branch for this commit and start a pull request. Then name your branch. That will send a notification to me that something is ready to review and I will follow up in the PR ticket.
- Write introduction
- Write some kind of conclusion
- Flavor/story text
- Resources/examples/inspiration section
- Art
- Refine Basic Mechanics
- Expand the concept of "GM-less" games/campaigns (mentioned but never wrote rules for this) or else remove entirely
- Use GitHub pages to build an actual site for this to live
- Resources & money
- Items and equipment
- ???
Pushed to new GitHub repository