Best game for a gunfight

[King CMOS]

I'm just getting back into RPG's after some time away, and I'm slowly working on writing a campaign to GM for the first time. I'm trying to make a modern crime/mercenary campaign, with the action level somewhere between Heat and Black Lagoon. Unfortunately, most RPG systems seem biased toward melee combat and magic. My current contenders are:
GURPS, which is big and clunky, but really understands what I'm interested in with its High Tech sourcebook. I also have no idea how to run combat or generate enemies for GURPS.
and Shadowrun, a game not really designed for the modern world, but could probably be adapted without too much trouble. I really enjoyed combat in SR3, but I've had no experience at all with it for SR4.

both are pretty decent, but don't feel optimal. D20 Modern has been ruled out already.
So, RPPR, I put the question to you, what do YOU think is best?

[Setherick]

It depends on how much number crunching you want to run. If you want extra crunchy, I would stay with GURPS. If you want smooth and creamy, maybe BRP.

[Dom]

An alternative to GURPS which has less number-crunching could be Savage Worlds. Granted, the combat tends to be more pulp than realistic, so I'm not sure if Heat could be recreated. (Haven't watched Black Lagoon, so I can't comment on that.)

[clockworkjoe]

There's a BRP universal system rpg out http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=6561

For hardcore gun rules, you might use Twilight 2000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_2000 - you can get a used copy for cheap

You could also use Wild Talents - just ignore the stuff on superpowers - it has decent rules for gun fights and the rules are 10 bux http://www.arcdream.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=6

NEMESIS is a free horror ORE rpg but it has some stuff for gun fights http://www.arcdream.com/pdf/Nemesis.pdf

Feng Shui is a cinematic gunfight/martial arts system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Shui_%28role-playing_game%29

Conspiracy X also comes to mind. Leverage too, perhaps (just a guess though) http://www.margaretweis.com/mwp-online-store/leverage/30-leverage-the-roleplaying-game

[Setherick]

Oh man, I completely forgot about Twilight 2K. I must go flagellate myself.

[clockworkjoe]

question: do you want John Woo or Tom Clancy style gunfights?

[King CMOS]

Oh wow, I always thought Twilight 2000 was a module for Delta Green. It looks totally interesting, and they apparently even made a mercenary spinoff of it. I have no idea about the actual crunchiness / mechanics, but it's probably worth looking into. At least I know the sourcebook is going to be interesting.

I'm assuming BRP is the same system that they use for Call of Cthulhu, and all I remember about combat in that is that it's awesome when Ross mows down crowds of cultists with a Maxim gun. I don't know how that'd translate to a modern gunfight with advanced sights, rifles, vehicles, and body armor, but it's probably worth looking into. I remember some actual excitement in the underground fight against the hillbilly cultists in that puppet-people one-shot.

I like over the top combat, but Feng Shui is the only system that will penalize you for NOT diving over a table while you're shooting. I can't imagine a whole campaign of that.

As for realism, it really falls somewhere on that scale. I want it to be closer to John Woo, but not so far in that direction as to be Feng Shui. Actually, I'll just say right now, Shadowrun 3/4 would be my perfect system, I just can't find sourcebooks for the game without elves, dwarves, and implants, and I'm not sure how empty the game would be with all its futuristic stuff missing.

Also I have no idea how to stat out a Predator drone but that is a problem in every system.

[clockworkjoe]

The BRP rulebook has rules for all kinds of gun stuff.

have you thought about the new world of darkness? Just use the core rulebook (mortals only), Armory and and Dogs of War. Bam straight up gun fight game with no supernatural stuff.

[King CMOS]

Ah, it looks like BRP will be my first stop, then.

I was totally not aware that there even was a WOD book that wasn't all goths and furries. Except for, like, Hunter.

Thanks for the help, everyone, it looks like I've got some reading to do.


Edit: I just got Feng Shui confused with Wushu, didn't I? I keep doing that.

[clockworkjoe]

Wushu is a free rules light system that is great for one shots but not campaigns.

nWoD is a good modern system that's extremely modular - you can do an entire game without any supernatural elements in it.

[Ezechiel357]

A good system develop for gunfighting with could easily be transfered to modern time is the one from Deadlands as it was designed to simulate duel at dawn (or noon or... whenever).

It is a bit heavy on the dice rolling to my taste and players should know what they have to do otherwise fights could slow to a crawl. But it is very efficient at killing stuff quickly.
It has rules for quickdraw, speed reloading, shooting from the hip, fanning, aiming, burst weapon, single-shot, etc. Well, every possible option you are expecting from gunfights.

A combat steps include:
"Speed", which determined how many actions per round you have (a round being 6 or 10 s - I don't remember), going from 1 to 5.
Each PC/NPCs draws one card from a 52-card deck for each of his action, the rank of card giving when he can take one of his action.
The GM calls action starting with Ace (highest) to deuce (last) and each character with the called card takes his action (when there is tie, there is a colour order).

There is some interesting strategy here where you might want to concentrate all your actions without being interrupted, so somebody with the risk skill (Leadership I believe) can allow people to swap cards so the one who is running can take two actions to run away before somebody throw the grenade and whatnot.

As I said, a bit heavy on the dice rolling, but every corner has been covered.

[King CMOS]

Yeah, upon further notice, Feng Shui is really probably pretty good for gunfights and tons of mooks and all that kind of thing. It's not what I want out of this campaign, but it sounds amazing. It sure does have a big plot, though, when all you need is Chow Yun-Fat and a bunch of guys in cheap suits. I think it's kind of cool that most of the guns have the same stats.

Easy .357 - that sounds like the Dread people making a dueling game. It sounds pretty amazing, but also pretty specialized for the wild west, at least thematically.