Leverage Noir
Introduction
Criminals and detectives, dirty secrets and dirty
deals…and everybody lying about something, even the
“good guys.” Noir looks a lot like the historical 1920s,
1930s, and 1940s, but with a seamy underworld of
crime and corruption—think The Big Sleep, The
Maltese Falcon, Rififi, and Chinatown. The more things
ii
change, the more they stay the same, and the world
of noir fiction is Leverage’s Crime World, just in an
earlier era—hate, envy, and murder, all to a swing beat.
It doesn’t matter how bad the economy gets, or who’s
winning what war; in the end, the rich and powerful
take what they want.
 A Brief History
of Crime
Setting your Leverage game in the early Twentieth Century will
take a bit of work, but we’ll take it decade by decade, and
you’ll see how this noir setting is distinct from your present-
day Leverage game. By the end, you’ll have plenty of ideas for
crimes and plots to suit a noir game.
 Crime World in the 1920s
The Twenties roared! Business was booming, the
Industrial Revolution was in full swing, and cities were
growing faster than ever before. The Jazz Age was more
than just new music; it came with new fashion, culture
and technology, too. The automobile, motion picture
“talkies” with recorded sound, and radio all changed
the shape of American society. In fact, it was radio that
popularized the music that gave the Jazz Age its name,
broadcasting the previously niche genre to a wider (and
whiter) audience.
The 1920s saw the death of Victorian
clothing. The corset and the bustle disappeared,
replaced by short skirts, straight lines, and bobbed
hairdos; flapper fashion was born. Men tossed tailcoats
and tapered pants for loose-fitting trousers with cuffs
and short jackets with narrow lapels. Hats were still de
rigueur for men, though, and you could tell his social
class by his headwear: top hats or homburgs for the
upper crust, fedoras or narrow-brimmed trilbys for the
middle class, replaced by a fashionable straw boater in
summer months. Working men and the poor wore flat
caps with short bills, or went bareheaded. Sportswear
as casual wear became fashionable for the first time;
many young men appeared in crisp tennis whites with
no intention of picking up a racket or breaking a sweat.
Who cares about fashion? It’s more important than
you think. In this era, clothes really do make the man
(or woman)—just ask Jay Gatsby. You can get by on
wardrobe alone, as long as you have the attitude to go
with it. Just be careful when you’re around people of the
social class you’re impersonating, though; they’ll notice
the details others might miss.
2 Leverage Noir
It wasn’t all fun and games. Prohibition began in 1919,
with the passage of the Volstead Act, making the sale,
export, or transportation of alcoholic beverages illegal
within the United States. Owning (and drinking!) booze
was still perfectly legal, though, and the private stocks of
the wealthy made it easier to explain where an otherwise
unexplainable bottle or barrel might have come from, if
questions were asked.
The 1920s also saw the beginnings of organized crime
in America. The Five Points Gang of New York City’s
lower east side, the Sicilian Black Hand, and many other
small criminal gangs took advantage of Prohibition by
moving into the bootlegging business—importing and
selling illegal liquor. This quickly made them both rich
and powerful.
You can’t bring up crime in the Twenties without
mentioning Al Capone; the name itself is basically
synonymous with “gangster.” That stereotypical image
of a mobster in a pinstriped suit and a fedora comes
from Alphonse Gabriel Capone’s personal fashion
sense. Although born in Brooklyn, Capone shot to
infamy smuggling liquor into Chicago from Midwestern
moonshiners and Canadian distilleries. As Capone
said, “When I sell liquor, it’s called bootlegging; when
my patrons serve it on Lake Shore Drive, it’s called
hospitality.” Demand for booze was high, and Capone’s
Outfit fought a bloody turf war in Chicago with “Bugs”
Moran’s North Side Gang over control of the illegal
liquor trade throughout the 1920s.
The Chicago Police turned a blind eye toward this
rampant gangsterism—they were in Capone’s pocket,
after all. Bribery and the occasional threat of blackmail,
or worse, kept the law off the bootleggers’ backs. The
only law enforcement Capone ever had to fear was the
Feds. In 1929, President Hoover appointed Eliot Ness
to head a group of eleven Federal Agents, hand-selected
by Ness from the entire Treasury Department for
their incorruptibility; the media nicknamed them “the
Untouchables.”
 Crime World in the 1930s
Smart crooks never do time for the real crime.
Al Capone was put away for tax evasion in 1931 for
eleven years, the longest sentence ever handed down
for that felony, no doubt reflecting how the court felt
about his other extra-legal activities, such as ordering
the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Did putting away the
underworld’s most iconic figure slow down the growth
of organized crime? Not even a little bit.
Prohibition ended in 1933, but it had already turned
illegal alcohol sales into a million-dollar industry in
almost every city in the United States. New York’s Mafia
families and the Chicago Outfit were rolling in it, all from
the sale of bootleg hooch. When that source of income
dried up, the organizations had to diversify.
They turned to illegal gambling, numbers running,
prostitution, bribery, extortion, kidnapping, and even
murder. Corrupt police and government officials worked
hand-in-hand with the mob, keeping news of what was
really going on out of the public eye. Violence between
individuals and organizations could break out at any
moment. That’s the kind of rich background you can
expect for a game set in this period. Playing a Crew of
criminals just trying to make a dishonest living while
staying downwind of rival mob bosses, or a semi-
reformed Crew reluctantly working for the FBI, has great
noir potential.
Powerful figures such as Capone and Ness
make excellent Foils for a noir campaign.
They have a broad and persistent influence on the
setting, and they can make the Crewmembers’ lives
very interesting. A noir Foil should take on some
of the aspects of the genre itself: its gray morality
and perilous balance between light and darkness.
Portraying a mobster that way is easy, but even an un-
bribable Federal Agent of sterling character can have
shades of gray. Sometimes he might be an enemy;
other times his unwavering honesty might turn him into
a reluctant ally.
Ch. 1: A Brief History of Crime
Need a gun? No problem. Weapons were
much easier to get in the 1920s and 1930s than they
are today, with almost no legal restrictions on gun
ownership. Semi-automatic weapons like the Tommy
gun were, for the first time, readily available.
The Thompson submachine gun defined the gang
warfare of the era. It was the iconic weapon of the
mobster: heavy, loud, and extremely dangerous. A
Tommy gun could throw six hundred .45 caliber rounds
a minute, and the drum magazines held 50 round
apiece. It was also an accessible weapon—all you
needed was cash. For $225, the Thompson Company
would ship one to you mail-order, no questions asked,
no license required.
Prohibition was over, but it was replaced with the
Great Depression. The stock market crash of October
29, 1929, affected the whole world. Local income, tax
revenue, corporate profits, retail prices—all dropped
like a lead balloon. Then, international trade dropped to
half its former value. Twenty-five percent of Americans
were unemployed—in other countries, unemployment
reached thirty-three percent.
We still don’t know exactly why it happened, but it’s
easy to see how the Depression affected individuals: both
wages and prices dropped, but wages dropped faster.
People had trouble paying for basic things like food and
shelter. Between record droughts across the Midwest
(the “Dust Bowl”) and agricultural prices tanking, people
fled to the cities, looking for work. But with no money
to buy goods, the demand for manufacturing was down,
and there were fewer jobs to be had. Many thousands
of Americans defaulted on loans and mortgages. Banks
failed, people lost their life’s savings, and shantytowns
3
 nicknamed “Hoovervilles” sprung up at the fringes of
urban centers, occupied by desperate, homeless families.
Some people lost everything, and many never fully
recovered. Americans had lost faith in their government
and their leaders. Desperate people looked for answers
to their economic woes, and alternative political parties
gained strength. Communist and Socialist movements
worked to unionize the auto-workers, sharecroppers,
longshoremen, and other trades. Class conflicts, spurred
by worker strikes, sometimes got violent. Upper class
Americans, having seen the Russian Revolution only
decades before, feared that they faced a similar fate. The
FBI looked on in alarm, gathering dossiers on potential
radicals that rivaled any they had on the bosses of
organized crime.
As the Depression worsened, abuses by banks were
common; exorbitant interest rates, fraudulent loans, and
brutal foreclosures made “lending institutions” villainous
in the eyes of the common folk. Corporate robber barons
used “company scrip” and “company store” tactics to turn
employees into indentured servants; yet jobs were scarce,
so what choice did people have? It was so bad that John
Dillinger, “Pretty Boy” Floyd, and the bank-robbing
duo Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were hailed as
“modern-day Robin Hoods” by the victims of the banks
they robbed, even if they seldom followed through
with the “give to the poor” half of Robin Hood’s motto.
The Crewmembers in your game might do likewise
(hopefully with better justification).
4 Leverage Noir
Haves and have-nots: those were your options in
the 1930s. While Europe cared more about royalty and
nobility, money determined your social class in the
United States more than family or breeding. The upper
classes lost money in the stock market crash, sure, but
they still had a lot more wealth than the disenfranchised
poor, who blamed the economic collapse on the wealthy,
accusing them of reckless financial management. And
the middle class? It very nearly ceased to exist during the
Depression, as small businessmen, farmers, and skilled
tradesmen lost their incomes.
Life in the 1930s was pretty good, as long as you were
white, male, Protestant, and wealthy. The fewer of those
traits you had, the less social status, real income, and
political power you had, even though several Federal
programs tried to reduce discrimination against black
and Hispanic Americans. Racial inequality was the norm
even in the “progressive” North. And even though women
finally had the vote, not many were in the workplace,
outside of a few select careers.
There were exceptions, of course. Extraordinary
people can often break free from some of society’s
conventions. Mary McLeod Bethune, Mildred “Babe”
Didrikson, Amelia Earhart, Jesse Owens, and Frances
Perkins were well known during that time, despite being
black, female, or both. The Crewmembers in a Leverage
game are by definition extraordinary people, so players
have no reason to feel constrained by the social politics
of the day; their Crewmembers can be pioneers of social
change if they want them to be.
 Crime World in the 1940s
World War II defined the Forties. The United States
joined the war in 1941 after Pearl Harbor was attacked,
and while the war ended in 1945, its effects were felt for
years afterward. The world was a very different place; the
war drove sweeping technical advancements, along with
equally sweeping social changes, as nations did whatever
they could to preserve their ways of life.
There weren’t many able-bodied men over the age
of 18 around during the war, with the Draft in effect.
For the first time, large numbers of women entered the
workplace in factories and industry. They were expected
to return home after the war, freeing up jobs for returning
veterans, and many did, but women had become fixtures
in the workplace, their numbers never again dropping to
pre-war levels.
There’s certainly room here for a wartime
game based around an all-female Crew. The
nickname “Rosie the Riveter” for women in wartime
industrial jobs came into vogue in 1942 thanks to a
Big Band song. Imagine a group of “Rosies” with an
eclectic set of skills picked up during their wartime
employment, reluctant to return to their humdrum
“happy homemaker” lives as the war is winding down.
A taste for excitement and a craving for social
justice are powerful motivators, and there are plenty of
wrongs to right in post-war America. War profiteers,
corrupt politicians, and mob bosses all tend to have a
blind spot when it comes to women: a fact which the
Crew can use to their advantage.
Ch. 1: A Brief History of Crime
The war years were business as usual for organized
crime, with one additional twist. Axis spies and saboteurs,
predominantly German and Italian, were everywhere.
At a time when “loose lips sink ships,” there are lots of
opportunities for Jobs that turn crime into patriotism.
It’s not as far-fetched as you might think; there
are rumors that the Mafia allied with U.S. Intelligence
agencies during the war. The story goes that when
Nazi spies infiltrated the New York docks, trying to get
the workers to strike, “Wild” Bill Donovan of the OSS
contacted mob boss Charles “Lucky” Luciano (arguably
a Mastermind) in prison. Donovan offered the gangster
a deal. Luciano would be deported back to Sicily after the
war, with no further criminal charges; in exchange, the
dock worker’s union, which Luciano controlled, would
not go on strike for the rest of the war. Meyer Lansky, a
Jewish accountant and Luciano’s top lieutenant, became
the unlikely Hitter of the operation. Lansky lead patrols
through the shipyards on the lookout for saboteurs
and broke up meetings of Nazi sympathizers. Lansky
recounted one particular rally: “We threw some of them
out the windows. Most of the Nazis panicked and ran
out. We chased them and beat them up. We wanted to
show them that Jews would not always sit back and
accept insults.”
The 1940s also saw the birth of the film noir genre
itself. Classic noir stories are melodramas about morally
ambivalent characters drawn into dangerous and often
criminal situations. Sound familiar? The main difference
between Leverage and noir is that Leverage episodes
generally have happy endings.
5
 Period Slang
Here’s a brief list of gangster-era slang, especially
useful for a period Leverage game. It’s mostly street and
underworld terms, with only a few “general usage” bits
of slang for color. Pepper your Supporting Characters’
speech with these words to add some authenticity,
but remember that less is more; use too many bits of
period slang at once and you could sound corny, or
unintelligible. If your Supporting Characters sound like
they came out of the classic Star Trek episode “A Piece of
the Action,” you’ve gone too far.
Good egg/bad egg: a good or bad person.
Grilled: questioned intensely, interrogated.
Gun moll: a female thief (from the yiddish gonif),
sometimes also used to refer to a mobster’s girlfriend.
Gunsel: a submissive homosexual male (the term is used
as an insult, not a literal description). Due to a common
misunderstanding of dialog in The Maltese Falcon, most
people today think this word refers to a gunman or a
low-level criminal.

Flathead: someone who doesn’t tip.

Big house: Federal or State Prison.
Hock shop: a pawn shop.
Brace (someone): to grab, or shake down.
Hooch/booze: liquor.
Broad/dame/doll/skirt: a female, usually young or
Horn: a telephone.
attractive.
Juice, vig, vigorish: the interest on a loan shark’s loan.
Bulls: police (or, more commonly, prison guards).
Lettuce: folding money.
Button man: a professional killer.
Lothario: a sleazy “romantic” type.
Canary: a female singer.
Newsie: a newspaper vendor.
Carry a torch: unrequited love.
On the make: looking for a sexual encounter.
Cats/hepcats: fans of swing music.
Packing heat: carrying a gun.
Cheese it!: hide, or hide incriminating evidence.
Pal: used insincerely, toward someone who is not an
Chicago overcoat: a coffin.
actual friend.
Chicago typewriter: a Thompson submachine gun.
Palooka: a boxer with limited skills, but lots of endurance.
Chisel: to swindle, or cheat.
Rube: an unsophisticated person.
Copper: a police officer.
Skid row: a slum street frequented by homeless drunks.
Dick/gumshoe/flatfoot: a detective, private or otherwise.
Stool pigeon: a police informant.
Dingus: thing.
Tomato/dish: a very attractive woman.
Duck soup, piece of cake: an easy task.
Torpedo/trigger man: a hired gunman.
Gat/rod/heater: a gun (these words were apparently not
Yegg: a safecracker with limited skills.
as commonly used in real life as they were in the movies).

6 Leverage Noir
New Talents for
Leverage
 New Talents are provided below for a Leverage
game set in the gangster era. Many of them are tailored
to a specific feature, technology or social role for the time
period, but some of them could be added into a modern
Leverage game with a bit of tweaking.
Even the period-specific Talents might be useful for
a Crewmember who maintains an antiquated skill set
because it might turn out to be useful, or for someone
who is just “old school.” (Jimmy Ford, I’m looking at you.)
While many of these assume male characters because
of the time period, feel free to adjust them to suit the
Crewmember you want to play.
Open Talents
These Talents work for any Crewmember active in
the ‘20s through the post-war ‘40s. While most Talents
represent things a Crewmember knows how to do, these
represent who a Crewmember is, and how society reacts
to that.
Of this set, only Hardboiled, Rube (likely renamed
“Hick”), and Wise Guy work well for a modern-day
Crewmember.
Hardboiled
You’ve seen it all, out here on the mean streets. Not
much ruffles your feathers any more.
Role: Any
Activation: You are the target of an intimidation
attempt through violence or the threat of violence.
Effect: Add a d8 to your roll. Spend a Plot Point to
make it a d10.
8 Leverage Noir
Just a Dame…
It’s a sad fact that the further back in history you go,
the harder it is to be taken seriously when you’re a
woman. Still, women of any time period learn to use
the tools available to them to their advantage.
Role: Any
Activation: You’re female (or disguised as a female)
interacting with one or more males, and trying to
appear innocuous.
Effect: Add a d6 to any Face Action that depends upon
your “helpless/hapless female” persona. Step it up to a
d8 if you actively flirt with one (or more) of the men
in the scene.
Juvenile Delinquent
Crooks often get their start at a young age, either
mentored by an older criminal, or out of necessity by
living on the streets. It’s a rough life and a dangerous
one, but you learn things that most adults never know.
Simple survival becomes a crash course in theft and con-
artistry. There are advantages to being small and easily
overlooked.
Role: Any
Activation: You’re a child (or small enough to be
mistaken for one), and trying to look like an innocent
bystander.
Effect: You gain Just A Kid as a d6 Asset; this can be
stepped up with Plot Points normally. The Asset is
lost if you take an Action that shows your true nature.
Rube
Well, in your case, ex-rube. You were born in a small
Hitter
Hitters throughout history have all done the same
town, somewhere far away from the bright lights of the
things. Only the tools change—and those don’t change
big city. Like a moth to a flame, you were drawn to those
very much. A gun is a gun, modern laser-sights or no;
lights. Nowadays you’re as savvy as any city slicker, but
and a knife is a knife all the way back to the Bronze Age.
the “Yes, sir; no, ma’am” way of speaking and the country-
Hitters in this time period can use almost all the
fried accent are always right on the tip of your tongue. In
Talents in the Leverage rulebook and the Hitters,
this business, the best thing of all is to be underestimated.
Hackers, and Thieves supplement, except some of the
Role: Any
modern fighting styles; most fights are settled with
Activation: You’re rolling in a Face Action that
straightforward boxing, or less civilized moves.
involves pretending to let someone take advantage of
Firearms are common and easy to get, and mobsters
you.
aren’t reluctant to use them. A Hitter in your game might
Effect: Add a die equal to your Grifter die to the roll. If
be, though; killing people attracts attention from the
the Fixer gives you an Opportunity when he tries to
cops, and killing the wrong people can attract attention
raise the stakes, step up the additional die (maximum
from the mob—very, very bad attention.
of d12) for the rest of the Action.
Most of the new Talents listed here can make the
Wise Guy transition into the modern day unchanged.
You are, or were, a close associate of organized crime. Covering Fire
Maybe you were a member of one of the Five Families, or
Killing is all too easy, and all too permanent. Usually
maybe you just know people who know people. Knowing
you can find better ways to solve your problems. When
who’s connected to who gives you an edge when you’re
there’s a lot of lead in the air, though, anything can
navigating the city’s dark underworld.
happen—most of it bad. One good thing about all those
Role: Any
bullets: it makes the other guys keep their heads down.
Activation: You spend a scene making contacts with
Role: Hitter
the seamy side of society (or spend a Plot Point to
Activation: You are taking a Fight Action using a
narrate a flashback to such a scene).
firearm.
Effect: Create a d8 Asset that describes how you are “in
Effect: Create a d8 Raining Bullets Asset. If you
the know” about the current situation. Alternatively,
have an automatic weapon (such as a Tommy Gun)
step back a Complication related to organized crime
in hand, spend a Plot Point to make it a d10 Asset.
that is affecting a member of your Crew.
Enforcer
You’ve got mob associations; maybe you even have
a fancy nickname. That comes with a downside, sure,
but striking terror into the hearts of anyone you get
introduced to is a pretty potent upside.
Role: Hitter
Activation: When you take an Action to intimidate
someone, and you mention your name.
Effect: Add a d6 to your die roll, and include a third
die in your result.

New Talents for Leverage 9

 First Round Knock Out
Most boxers, modern-day gladiators that they are,
want to put on a good show. The paying customers want
to see a fight that at least seems to be in doubt until the
final rounds. Unfortunately for your dreams of a boxing
career, you’ve never developed that particular skill.
Role: Hitter
Activation: You are making a roll in a Timed Action
using your Hitter die.
Effect: On a success, you use no beats. On an
Extraordinary Success, you drop your opponent so
fast that you actually gain a beat.
Palooka
Some guys excel at this job because they’re good at
fighting, some because they’re hard, cold, and scary. You
survive the hardest way of all—you only know one thing:
how to take a punch and stay standing.
Role: Hitter
Activation: You’re taking a Fight Action against an
opponent who is using fists, brass knuckles, or other
hand-load weapons.
Effect: Add your Vitality die to your roll, and include
it in your result.
Veteran
Whether you’re a veteran of the Great War or World
War II, those who served are shown a degree of respect
during this entire era.
Role: Hitter
Activation: When you interact with a Police or
Government official who is aware of your service record.
Effect: You may use your Hitter die in place of your
Grifter die for the Action.
10 Leverage Noir
Hacker
In the days before computers, there were no
“Hackers,” but every crew needs someone who can do
the technical work. Forging documents, counterfeiting
stock certificates, and whipping up the occasional fake
antique are skills as old as time.
The 1930s were the beginning of the modern era, and
the first networks were growing. The telephone network
stretched all the way to Europe, via the trans-Atlantic
cable, and there were telephones in many households.
Only a few big cities had automated telephone exchanges.
Calls in rural areas went through switchboard operators
(as did calls into large companies, even in cities). News
services, Police Departments, and the FBI were beginning
to link stations to one another with teletypes, so urgent
bulletins could be printed out remotely.
The basic electrical technology of the time made
as much sense to Joe Average as computer networks
do today. Constant-voltage alarm loops, telephone
exchanges, stock tickers, teletypes—when you look at it
through the lens of the technically-adept opportunist,
anything can be hacked.
Lots of standard Hacker Talents simply don’t exist in
the pre-digital-computer era. Consider adapting some of
those to work with early telephone networks or telegraph
systems if you want to include them in your noir game.
Hacker Talents that rely on the environment, or non-
hardware exploits, fit into this era unchanged. The new
Hacker Talents below show off what an early “Hacker”
can do; some of them remain applicable to the modern
day.
Bells and Whistles
High-tech for their time, electric alarm systems need
special skills to breach, and have special vulnerabilities
that a savvy electrician can exploit. The real risk is that
your teammates may not know which wires not to cross.
Role: Hacker
Activation: You successfully shut down an alarm
system as part of a Timed Action.
Effect: Add a d8 and a d4 to your rolls for the rest of
the Timed Action.
Bootlegger
Maybe you really did earn your chops outrunning
Revenue Agents, or maybe you just spent some time as an
inner-city cabbie. Either way, you know every shortcut,
back road, and cut-off in the state like the back of your
hand, and you can shake a tail like nobody’s business.
Role: Hacker
Activation: When you are driving during a vehicular
chase, and taking Action using your Hacker die.
Effect: Add your Intelligence die to your roll.
Scrounge Artist
The Depression makes it hard to get the things you
need; money is tight, but often times the goods just aren’t
there, even if you can afford them. You’ve learned to
adapt, make connections, and cultivate sources of hard-
to-find items; it’s all part of the job.
For games set after the economic recovery, remember
that wartime rationing had much the same effect as
Depression-era scarcity on the availability of basic
goods, so this Talent is still applicable.
Role: Hacker
Activation: When you face a Complication involving
a shortage of materials or limited access to some item
that you need. You must spend a Plot Point to activate
this Talent.
Effect: Eliminate the Complication. You may narrate a
flashback showing your resourcefulness in acquiring
the necessary item.
Wheelman
Lots of people can drive a car. Race drivers can drive
cars very fast. You can do things with a car that put
them all to shame. You also take meticulous care of your
vehicles, even the one’s you’ve just stolen. Any car, truck,
or motorcycle that stays in your possession for more
than a couple of days winds up tweaked for maximum
handling and maximum speed.
Role: Hacker
Activation: When you are driving a vehicle (an Asset)
and take an Action using your Hacker die.
Effect: Step up your vehicle Asset by one (maximum
of d12).
Wireman
In 1957, Joe Engressia, a blind 7-year old with perfect
pitch, discovered that if he whistled into a telephone
in certain ways he could make the phone system do
interesting things. Let’s just say that you’re ahead of your
time.
Role: Hacker
Activation: You’re interacting with a telephone
or teletype system in some illicit way; placing or
diverting calls, creating false busy signals, remotely
ringing a phone or printing a bulletin, etc.
Effect: Add an extra d8 to the roll; if there is a
switchboard operator involved, add your Grifter
die instead.
New Talents for Leverage 11
 Thief
Ah, the good old days! No video surveillance, laser
trip-wires, pressure pads, electronic locks, or silent
alarms, just good old-fashioned tumblers and pins. All it
takes is a good ear, a few lock picks, and maybe just a tiny
bit of dynamite, and you’re golden!
Of course, there are downsides; no lock pick guns, no
nylon-geared rappelling rigs, and no laws against police
brutality, for example.
I Want To Be Alone!
Your Crew means well, but they’re as loud as a herd of
stampeding rhinos! You prefer to do your reconnaissance
by yourself; it helps you concentrate.
Role: Thief
Activation: You fail to raise the stakes on a Notice
Action while working alone in a scene.
Effect: You may roll your Thief die and add it to your
Notice Action result. If your Thief die is already in the
roll, use a d8 instead.
Looking This Good Is a Crime
You are a gentleman (or lady) thief: suave,
sophisticated, and always impeccably dressed. Your
manners and style help convince people to do things for
you that they wouldn’t do even for family.
Role: Thief
Activation: When you are rolling a Face Action while
either setting up or committing a theft.
Effect: Substitute your Thief die for your Grifter die.
Nothing’s Illegal—’Till You Get
Caught
When you get caught, you get sent to the big house;
not that you’d know anything about that. You’ve never
been caught, ever. There was that one time in New Jersey
when you thought the jig was finally up, but….
Role: Thief
Activation: You are involved in a Contested Action to
escape a crime scene.
Effect: Add a d8 to your roll. However, any
Complications that arise from your attempt to escape
start at a d8.
Other People’s Money
You always seem to have a ready source of cash. How
much may vary, but one thing remains the same: when
you’re spending other people’s money, you might as well
buy the best thing they can afford.
Role: Thief
Activation: You purchase or legally acquire something
intended for use as an Asset.
Effect: Step up the Asset by one die size. It is
automatically persistent, lasting until the end of the
Job.
Sandpapered Fingertips
Some safecrackers rub their fingertips over fine-grit
sandpaper in order to sensitize them, right before they
get down to work. You’ve never bothered; your sense of
touch is good enough to read the raised ink on a business
card.
Role: Thief
Activation: You attempt to open a classic tumbler
lock, or perform some other Action that depends on
having a light touch.
Effect: Add a d6 to your roll. You may reroll any 1s.

12 Leverage Noir
Grifter Roper
It’s all about the sales pitch, really. Some people say
Grifting is probably the world’s third-oldest
you’re just a snake-oil peddler. True enough, but you’re
profession. There have always been gullible suckers, and
the best the world has ever seen. When you oil a snake,
cunning liars to take advantage of them. The Depression
it stays oiled.
was a heyday for grifting; desperate people willing to
You’re adept at convincing other people to get involved
take risks, getting into “the life” because they feel that
in your plots or scams. Even if it’s a little outlandish, you
they have no other choice. Likewise, with money tight
can sell a Mark on the idea of a golden opportunity that’s
and jobs scarce, potential Marks are plentiful: lots of
about to come his way.
people looking for a way to recoup their losses.
Role: Grifter
A modern grifter has to put a lot of effort into creating
Activation: When you are rolling your Grifter die and
a false identity, but in earlier times a new identity was
attempting to sell someone something, or convince
as easy as a new name and a new town. As long as you
someone to join you in a venture.
could outrun word of mouth, you could stay ahead of
Effect: Add a die to your roll equal in size to your
your own reputation.
Grifter die. If you spend a Plot Point, step up the extra
Most of the Talents from the Leverage core book
die one step.
and the Grifters and Masterminds supplement work just
as well in the gangster era as they do in the present. The Silver Spoon
new ones below depend on the social norms of the time, You are “to the Manor born,” or at least you can fake
so most of them don’t translate well to modern day. it. It’s all in the voice and the mannerisms; you don’t
Passing give orders, you make statements of fact. Disobedience?
Unthinkable.
Depending upon your gender, sexual orientation,
Role: Grifter
ethnicity, religion, or even your accent, there are plenty of
Activation: When you take a Face Action toward
places in the world of the 1920s-1940s that won’t admit
someone who is the “social inferior” of your current
“your kind.” However personally hurtful or infuriating,
persona.
that’s just the way things are—not that you’ve ever let
Effect: You may add a d8 to your roll and include a
that stop you from getting into the places you want to be.
third die in your result. If you roll a 1, you may spend
Role: Grifter
a Plot Point to prevent the Fixer from turning it into
Activation: You’re attempting to pass as someone you
a Complication.
aren’t, in order to gain access to a location.
Effect: Add a d8 and a d4 to all rolls you make while
inside the location.
Note: This Talent is generally used by Grifters trying
to pass as members of the white, Anglo-Saxon,
Protestant majority. Using it to pass as a member of
a disenfranchised minority is harder; those societies
tend to be insular for their own safety. Add a d6 and
a d4 in such cases. Complications generated by the
d4 should be described as cultural faux pas that an
outsider might commit.

New Talents for Leverage 13

 Blow-Off Artiste
A “blow-off ” is an exit strategy for a con, designed to
Mastermind
The Role of Mastermind doesn’t change much
keep the Mark from realizing that he has been victimized
in this time period; somebody’s always got to be in
until all the principals are clear. A classic version is to
charge. The biggest difference is that without modern
have phony policemen break in and “arrest” the con
communications, keeping tabs on a Crew is much harder.
artists at the climax of the grift, but there are many other
Any Talent from the Leverage core book or its
methods.
supplements that depends on electronic communication
You have enough friends in the life that you can pull
will be useless, or at least severely limited. In this era,
together a blow-off almost on the spur of the moment.
there are only certain circumstances where being on the
Role: Grifter
phone with one of your Crew will be helpful, or even
Activation: You use an Establishment Flashback to
possible.
show that you have assembled and briefed a group of
These new Talents are designed to give your low-
fellow con artists.
tech Mastermind ways to help your Crew, even in
Effect: You can create a d8 Asset representing a group
circumstances when face-to-face communication is the
of grifters who are in on your plan. If you spend a
only communication. As with some of the others, they
Plot Point, they are a d10.
can be used by modern Masterminds as well.
Working Stiff
Criminal Cadence
It’s the average Joes that make the world run—the
You have a sense of tempo that any musician would
factory workers and maintenance men, the garbage
envy. You might even have the habit of “conducting” an
collectors, sandhogs, and sewer workers; the waitstaff,
imaginary orchestra, humming, or whistling to keep pace
housekeepers and bartenders. They’re not glamorous,
with the segments of your master plan as they unfold.
but they’re your kind of people.
A little eccentric, yes, but it’s very handy in situations
Nobody ever pays any attention to these guys. By
where the members of your Crew must act while out-of-
hanging around in the background, mixing in with the
contact with one another.
regular folks, you wind up in a perfect position to nudge
Role: Mastermind
events in your Crew’s favor.
Activation: You, or a member of your Crew, are
Role: Grifter
making a roll in a Timed Action.
Activation: When you are in disguise as an ordinary
Effect: Add a d6 to the roll. If the roll succeeds, add
working stiff, and a Crewmember is taking an Action
a d8 to the next roll in the Timed Action (yours
in the scene you are in.
or another Crewmember’s). On an Extraordinary
Effect: Any Crewmember in the scene may add your
Success, the follow-up die is a d10.
Grifter die to their roll. In addition, you may spend a
Plot Point to turn any Complication that arises into
an Asset, assuming that you can come up with a good
rationalization for how you turn the tables.

14 Leverage Noir
Just Like We Rehearsed
In the days before earbud comms, cell phones, or
other forms of instant communication, a Mastermind
had to rely on training and rehearsal.
Role: Mastermind
Activation: A member of your crew fails a roll that
is part of a Contested Action or Timed Action. You
must spend a Plot Point to activate this Talent.
Effect: You narrate a brief flashback to a time when
you were observing the Crewmember rehearsing the
action in question. The Crewmember can add your
Mastermind die and reroll for the Action.
Policemen’s Benevolent
Association
You’re well connected, in a period of Crime World
history when half the cops are on the take and the
only incorruptible Feds work for Eliot Ness. You have
the inside track when dealing with that sort of law
enforcement professional.
Role: Mastermind
Activation: You attempt a Face Action involving a
suspicious or reluctant police officer or government
official. Activating this Talent requires a Plot Point
(and some ready cash).
Effect: Your “charitable donation” buys you some
breathing room. So long as you make no further
suspicious moves, the heat is off; the officer or official
will turn a blind eye to your previous activities. This
benefit vanishes if you do something obviously illegal
in their presence.
The Name of the Game Isn’t
Chess—It’s Poker
Risk is a part of life, and a part of your planning.
When things go sour—not “if,” but “when”—you’re
always ready. Dealing with setbacks is easy when you’ve
got the resources; and when you don’t, you can always
bluff. You never let them see you sweat.
Role: Mastermind
Activation: You attempt a Face Action to convince
someone that you are in a superior position, and it’s
pure bluff.
Effect: Add a d6 to the roll. If the target of your bluff
gives you an Opportunity, you may turn it into a d6
Asset that supports your story. You may spend a Plot
Point to step the Asset up to a d8.
Walking Encyclopedia
You’re a bookworm, plain and simple. You’ve worn
out more than one library card, and you worked your
way through the encyclopedia, volume by volume, out
of sheer boredom. You’d read an old newspaper that was
used to wrap fish if the alternative was to read nothing
at all.
So, you’ve collected a skull-full of facts—not all of
them particularly important, most of them not really
useful at all. Except, of course, when they are. Sometimes,
knowing that a ‘32 Rolls Royce Phantom only has
synchromesh transmission on 3rd and 4th gear, or that
laughing gas is heavier than air, not lighter, makes all the
difference in the world.
Role: Any
Activation: You make a roll including a Role other
than Mastermind and fail to raise the stakes. You
must spend a Plot Point to activate this Talent.
Effect: Roll your Mastermind die and add it to your
result.
New Talents for Leverage 15
 Distinctions for the
‘20s, ‘30s, and ‘40s
It was a different world back then. Casual racism, For characters with mob or underworld connections, a
sexism, and other “-isms” were commonplace. Characters stereotypical Mafia nickname makes a great Distinction.
for a Leverage noir game can come from virtually any Nicknames like “Pretty Boy,”“Machine Gun,”“Lucky,”
background, social class, or ethnicity, and variety is “Bugsy,” “Kid Twist,” “Tea Bags,” and “Lord High
encouraged. However, Crewmembers who are not white, Executioner” say a lot about the men who bore them.
male, and Protestant should expect to face some degree If a player wants their Crewmember to have a nickname
of discrimination from Supporting Characters, if only as a Distinction, the other players in the game should
to capture the atmosphere of the period. This doesn’t pick it for them (preferably during The Recruitment Job).
have to be a major theme of the game, unless the players
at your table want to explore it. If nothing else, the
expression of such nasty attitudes can be used to show
who the real villains are. Generally, criminals showed
less prejudice toward others than mainstream “straight”
society did; after all, once you’re on the wrong side of the
law, you’re all outsiders together.
Here are a few Distinctions that evoke the flavor of
the era, and the darker tone of noir fiction. Pass the list
around during The Recruitment Job, to give your players
some inspiration.

Carny Lothario
Union Goon Mob Accountant
Strikebreaker Heartbreaker
Okie Finishing School Girl
Canary Gambler
Femme Fatale Down On Your Luck
Flatfoot Broken Hearted
Widow Ambitious
Stool Pigeon Mad Dog
Hobo College Educated
Made Man Independent Woman
Romany Drug Addict
Tinker Southern Gentleman
Irish Traveler Vengeful
Flat Broke

16 Leverage Noir
 Making Your
Game More Noir
 The typical Leverage game, despite having some
dark themes, is a relatively light-hearted affair. The good
guys win, the bad guys get their comeuppance, and
generally no one dies.
Noir fiction isn’t like that. In a typical noir plot, there’s
crime aplenty, along with corruption, dark desires, and
betrayal. The principal characters may make it out
alive, but no one gets out unscathed. Life is bleak and
unforgiving, and cities are dark, barren landscapes of
rain-slicked streets populated by strangers with uncaring
faces.
Since the spirit of noir fiction is at such odds with the
spirit of Leverage, you probably shouldn’t go whole-
heartedly noir unless all the players at your table are on
board with the idea. Instead, take some of the style of
noir fiction, and mix it into the upbeat tone of Leverage
for a historical campaign with both a dark edge and a
twinkle in its eye.
18 Leverage Noir
Instead of a full campaign of Leverage noir, you can
stage a single episode of your ongoing campaign as a
“generational flashback.” An elderly acquaintance of one
of the Crewmembers can be used as a framing device;
an Supporting Character reminiscing about the “good
old days” sets the stage for your players to create new
Crewmembers for a Job that took place over seventy
years ago—one that, no doubt, has some bearing on
their current circumstances! Old family diaries, photo
albums, or the clues to a long-lost treasure can substitute
for reminiscence if you prefer, and having a “McGuffin”
that spans two eras lets you do two parallel cons: one in
the present as your current Crewmembers pursue their
goal, and one in the past as they discover (by playing it
out) what their predecessors did, and ultimately how
those predecessors failed. That actually gives you the best
of both worlds: a full-on noir ending for the period team,
and a brighter outcome for the modern Crewmembers.
 Sources of Inspiration
If you’re looking for ideas on how to portray a noir
setting for Leverage, why not go to the classics? Noir
fiction and film are perfect preparation for just such a
foray into the seedy and shadowy world of noir.
Noir Fiction
If you are looking for the origins of noir, the novels
and short stories of William R. Burnett, James M. Cain,
Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner, Dashiel
Hammet, Elmore Leonard, and Cornell Woolrich are
a good place to start. Essentially, anything written by
anyone who was ever published in the pulp mystery
magazine Black Mask.
Film Noir
A comprehensive list of movies in this genre would be
vast; this list is much smaller, and focused on examples
that can be mined for plot ideas for a Leverage noir
game.
Little Caesar (1931)
The quintessential gangster movie and the one
that made Edward G. Robinson a star of the genre.
The character he portrays, Rico Bandello, is obviously
inspired by Al Capone, though Rico’s rise and fall are
even more meteoric.
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
A classic film and one of Humphrey Bogart’s best. He
looks nothing like the Sam Spade of Hammet’s novel, and
it doesn’t matter a bit—he exudes the world-weariness
that typifies noir. This movie provides perfect Leverage
noir fodder if you consider telling the story from the
other side; Guttman is the Mastermind, Joel Cairo is the
Thief, Wilmer is the Hitter, and Brigid O’Shaughnessey
is the Grifter…
Journey into Fear (1943)
A wartime spy story of a man in the wrong place at the
wrong time. Central character Howard Graham makes a
perfect client for a Leverage Crew to try and help.
Making Your Game More Noir
The Big Sleep (1946)
Another Bogart film, and one proving that sunny
California can be just as dark and noir as the rest of
the country. The convoluted plot would be ambitious
to emulate in a game, but look to the stylish reveals as
inspiration for improvising Complications.
The Third Man (1949)
Orson Welles’ finest performance on film, as the
enigmatic Harry Lime. Without giving away any spoilers,
it’s worth noting that the most dangerous Mark for a
Crew to try and take down is a rival Mastermind.
Strangers on a Train (1950)
It’s the plan for the perfect murder, or pair of murders.
All you have to do is place absolute trust in a complete
stranger. Alfred Hitchcock’s deft direction turns an
outlandish plot into an ever-tightening web of fear.
Rififi (1955)
A dark caper movie, filmed in French, and the perfect
example of how a period “Hacker” goes about his work.
The nail-biting thirty-two minute robbery scene is so
detailed that it’s been used as a model for more than one
real crime.
The Sting (1973)
Not technically in the noir genre, but required viewing
for anyone running a Leverage game in the 1930s,
regardless of style or theme. Actually, required viewing
for anyone running a Leverage game, period.
Chinatown (1974)
A modern film noir set in 1930s Los Angeles. Proof that
noir is a state of mind, not just a style of cinematography.
Jack Nicholson’s character is not so much a Hitter as a
“Hit-ee” throughout the film, but you have to admire his
tenacity.
19
 Credits
Writing: Photography:
H. M. ‘Dain’ Lybarger Page i: The Mark, Morris Beck (played
by William Russ) © 2011
Leverage 4 Holdings, Inc. All
Editing: Rights Reserved.
Sally Christensen Page ii: The local sheriff (Played by
Timothy Hutton) comes to
young Charlie’s rescue. © 2011
Development: Leverage 4 Holdings, Inc. All
Cam Banks Rights Reserved.
Page 1: Parker is about to confront the
Layout & Production: freezing security vault © 2011
Leverage 4 Holdings, Inc. All
Daniel Solis
Rights Reserved.
Page 4: Nate (played by Timothy
Based on the LEVERAGE Roleplaying Hutton) is in a tight spot © 2011
Game by Cam Banks, Rob Donoghue, Leverage 4 Holdings, Inc. All
Rights Reserved.
and Clark Valentine with Tiara Lynn
Page 7: Tara seduces the mark with
Agresta, Matt Forbeck, Stephanie Ford, a tango © 2011 Leverage
Laura Anne Gilman, Fred Hicks, and 4 Holdings, Inc. All Rights
Ryan Macklin Reserved.
Page 8: Parker and Hardison look over
the party © 2011 Leverage
4 Holdings, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
Page 9: Eliot and Sophie discuss the
team’s future, and their own. ©
2012 Leverage 5 Holdings, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
M A R G A R E T
WEIS
PRODUCTIONS, ltd.
Margaret Weis Productions, the Cortex System, Cortex Plus, and the Cortex Plus logo © 2012 Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd.
© Leverage Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
TNT logo and key art ™ & © Turner Network Television, A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Page 10: Young Charlie (played by Aldis
Hodge) faces enemy fire in the
nazi-occupied France © 2011
Leverage 4 Holdings, Inc. All
Rights Reserved.
Page 11: Scott Roemer (Carey Elwes)
sits in the cockpit of the Spruce
Goose © 2011 Leverage 4
Holdings, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
Page 13: Parker zero-ing on our mark,
Erickson © 2012 Leverage
5 Holdings, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
Page 15: Hardison is testing Eliot’s
patience © 2012 Leverage
5 Holdings, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
Page 16: Spurred on by the sheriff, young
Charlie makes a life-altering
decision © 2011 Leverage
4 Holdings, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
Page 17: Nate is framed for the murder of
Morris Beck © 2011 Leverage
4 Holdings, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
Page 18: Charlie (played by Danny
Glover) returns to his hometown
© 2011 Leverage 4 Holdings,
Inc. All Rights Reserved.