How Our Thief Stole the Tiara Without Touching It

"I regret to inform you that this tiara is a forgery." Sophie smiles as she delivers these words to the gallery owner, who visibly pales. She has spent three days studying every detail of the jewel, and now, elegantly dressed as a respected Christie's auction house expert, she's about to complete the cleanest heist of her career.

Meanwhile, Vincent lies hidden in the ventilation system, ready to replace the genuine tiara with a perfect replica - as soon as the gallery owner removes it from its case to "verify its authenticity".

In The Gentleman Thief's Guide, you're not just playing at being a thief. You're orchestrating a perfect ballet where elegance and wit triumph over brute force. This is a game where violence isn't just discouraged - it's unnecessary. True mastery lies in completing your heist without anyone realizing they've been robbed until you're long gone.

A Dance of Elegance and Strategy

Every heist unfolds through three distinct phases:

• Planning: Study your target, establish contacts, and prepare your tools. Success here grants Flashback points - brilliant preparations you can reveal at just the right moment.
• Execution: Where your elegance truly shines. Use disguises, technology, and pure charm to navigate security.
• Escape: The grand finale, where style matters as much as success.

Game Elements That Make Every Heist Unique

• Elegance Points: Measure your ability to maintain composure and class even in dire situations. Use them to improve your chances or avoid complications with style.
• Flashbacks: Reveal brilliant preparations at crucial moments. Did you bribe that guard last week? Plant a device in the ventilation system? With Flashbacks, you can show how you anticipated this very moment.
• Alert System: A dynamic tension meter that shifts from Green (business as usual) to Yellow (heightened security) to Red (everything's gone wrong - but with style, even this can be overcome).

Style Over Force

In The Gentleman Thief's Guide, every challenge has multiple solutions, and the most elegant one is always rewarded. A guard approaching isn't a combat encounter - it's an opportunity to showcase your charm, quick thinking, or masterful disguise.

The game's mechanics actively reward:

• Creative problem-solving
• Non-violent approaches
• Team coordination
• Stylish execution of plans

Join Our Development

The Gentleman Thief's Guide is a project born from my passion for crafting unique roleplaying experiences. As an independent designer, I’ve created this game to explore a very specific niche: the world of gentleman thieves, where style, elegance, and cunning take center stage. While there are non-violent RPGs in Italy, I’ve always searched for one that would let me play a group of thieves in the vein of Arsène Lupin—charming, sophisticated, and resourceful—without resorting to violence or relying on supernatural abilities.

This game is about extraordinary people, but not because of magical powers or superhuman feats. The characters in The Gentleman Thief's Guide are masters of their craft, excelling through creativity, intelligence, and flawless execution. It’s a world where every heist is an art form, and success is measured by how cleverly you achieve your goals, not by brute force. The focus is entirely on ingenuity and theatrical flair, with violence being completely out of place.

However, designing and spreading a game like this comes with challenges. A non-violent RPG about elegance and style—one that avoids the usual power fantasies and instead celebrates subtlety and creativity—isn’t the easiest concept to pitch, especially in a world where action and combat often dominate the genre. That’s why I’m reaching out to you, the community, to help refine and share this project.

How You Can Help

• Playtest the Game: Download the current version, try it with your group, and let me know how it works in practice. What excites you? What feels unclear?
• Provide Feedback: Whether it’s mechanics, phrasing, or flow, your suggestions are vital to improve this game—especially as I work on refining the English version.
• Spread the Word: Help me share the idea of a game that values wit over weapons, and style over force, with players who might love this unique approach.

This project is deeply personal to me, and your support will make all the difference. Together, we can create a game that celebrates the art of the heist, where every success is a story worth telling, and every moment is an opportunity to shine with elegance.

Download now, and let’s transform a simple theft into a masterpiece of style:

The Gentlemen Thief's Guide (english edition) by Vas Quas Editrice