Tom Waits-y rpg system?

[D20ragon]

This is mostly an idle question because I know in my little withered heart of hearts that the answer is "Any rpg, so long as you get the tone right!"
But anyway, on the off chance that anyone else shares a love of Tom Wait's marvelous madness and also neat (and niche) roleplaying systems, I figured I'd ask anyway.
I'm looking for ideas about what sort of system might best embody the sorts of settings and characters stirred up by the likes of:

Spoiler: Rain Dogs

Show

Rain Dogs

Inside a broken clock
Splashing the wine
With all the Rain Dogs
Taxi, we'd rather walk
Huddle a doorway with the Rain Dogs
For I am a Rain Dog, too
Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night
For it was all ripe for dreaming
Oh, how we danced away all of the lights
We've always been out of our minds
The Rum pours strong and thin
Beat out the dustman
With the Rain Dogs
Aboard a shipwreck train
Give my umbrella to the Rain Dogs
For I am a Rain Dog, too
Oh, how we danced with the Rose of Tralee
Her long hair black as a raven
Oh, how we danced and you whispered to me
You'll never be going back home
Oh, how we danced with the Rose of Tralee
Her long hair black as a raven
Oh, how we danced and you whispered to me
You'll never be going back home

Spoiler: 9th & Hennepin

Show

9th & Hennepin

Well, it's Ninth and Hennepin
All the doughnuts have names that sound like prostitutes
And the moon's teeth marks are on the sky
Like a tarp thrown all over this
And the broken umbrellas like dead birds
And the steam comes out of the grill like the whole goddamn town's ready to blow
And the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos
And everyone is behaving like dogs
And the horses are coming down Violin Road and Dutch is dead on his feet
And all the rooms they smell like diesel
And you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept here
And I'm lost in the window, and I hide in the stairway
And I hang in the curtain, and I sleep in your hat
And no one brings anything small into a bar around here
They all started out with bad directions
And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear
One for every year he's away, she said
Such a crumbling beauty
Ah, there's nothing wrong with her that a hundred dollars won't fix
She has that razor sadness that only gets worse
With the clang and the thunder of the Southern Pacific going by
And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet
Till you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin
And you spill out over the side to anyone who will listen
And I've seen it all
I've seen it all through the yellow windows of the evening train

Spoiler: Singapore

Show

Singapore

We sail tonight for Singapore
We're all as mad as hatters here
I've fallen for a tawny moor
Took off to the land of nod
Drank with all the ********
Walked the sewers of Paris
I danced along a colored wind
Dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me
We sail tonight for Singapore
Don't fall asleep while you're ashore
Cross your heart and hope to die
When you hear the children cry
Let marrow bone and cleaver choose
While making feet for children's shoes
Through the alley, back from hell
When you hear that steeple bell
You must say goodbye to me
Wipe him down with gasoline
Till his arms are hard and mean
From now on boys this iron boat's your home
So heave away, boys
We sail tonight for Singapore
Take your blankets from the floor
Wash your mouth out by the door
The whole town's made of iron ore
Every witness turns to steam
They all become Italian dreams
Fill your pockets up with earth
Get yourself a dollar's worth
Away boys, away boys, heave away
The captain is a one-armed dwarf
He's throwing dice along the wharf
In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king
So take this ring
We sail tonight for Singapore
We're all as mad as hatters here
I've fallen for a tawny moor
Took off to the land of nod
Drank with all the ********
Walked the sewers of Paris
I drank along a colored wind
I dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me

Spoiler: Romeo is Bleeding

Show

Romeo is Bleeding

Romeo is bleeding but not so as you'd notice
He's over on 18th Street as usual
Looking so hard against the hood of his car
Puttin' out a cigarette in his hand
And for all the Pachucos at the pumps
At Romero's Paint and Body
They all seein' how far they can spit
Well it was just another night
And now they're huddled in the brake lights
Of a '58 Bel Air
And listenin' how Romeo
Killed a sheriff with his knife

And they all jump when they hear the sirens
But Romeo just laughs
All the racket in the world
Ain't never gonna save that copper's ass
He ain't never gonna see another summertime
For gunnin' down my brother
And leavin him like a dog
Beneath a car without his knife
Romeo says: hey man gimme a cigarette
And they all reach for their pack
And Frankie lights it for him
And pats him on the back
And throws a bottle at a milk truck
And as it breaks he grabs his nuts
They all know they could be just like Romeo
If they only had the guts

Romeo is bleeding but nobody can tell
Sings along with the radio
With a bullet in his chest
And he combs back his fenders
And they all agree it's clear
And that everything is cool
Now that Romeo's here

Romeo is bleeding
He winces now and then
He leans against the car door
Feels the blood in his shoes
And someone's cryin' at the 5 Points
In the phone booth by the store
Romeo starts his engines
Wipes the blood of the door

And he brodies through the signal
With the radio full blast
Leavin' the boys there hikin' up their chinos
And then they all try to stand like Romeo
Beneath the moon cut like a sickle
And they're talkin' now in Spanish
All about their hero

Romeo is bleeding
As he gives the man his ticket
He climbs the balcony at the movies
And he'll die without a whimper
Like every heroes dream
Like an angel with a bullet
And Cagney on the screen

And Romeo is bleeding
Romeo is bleeding hey man
Romeo is bleeding hey man
Romeo is bleeding hey man
Romeo is bleeding

Andele pues
Hey pachuco
Hey pachuco
Hago la lucha!
Dame esa pistola hombre
Hijo de la chingada madre
Ay que pinche pancho
Hey man
Hago la lucha
Hago la lucha
Vamos a dormir hombre
Hey man

and of course Jockey Full of Bourbon, Mr. Siegal, Swordfishtrombones, Gun Street Girl, Heart Attack and Vine, and on and on.

Basically, I love the weird, magic, violent, humorous, tragic, human stories that Wait's music conjures, I love roleplaying games, and I'd love a system that's conducive to marrying the two.

I've been considering Don't Rest Your Head and Blades in the Dark, but they both seem more team focused than I'd like, considering how many of Wait's conceits revolve around the singular drifter. A Dirty World seems like it would be suited to handle the more noir aspects, but it revolves around investigations and also couldn't handle the magical realism Wait's likes to toss in.

So yeah, thoughts about this probably pointless exercise that extend beyond "use whatever system you like" or "make your own system" ? (trust me, I'll probably end up doing one of those two )

[Xuc Xac]

The Waitsverse is very colorful--at least, it's as colorful as you can get with chimney red, Halloween orange, the color of bone, and a million shades of grey--but what would PCs do? It's not much of a game if they just sit around smoking and drinking in a dive bar.

[D20ragon]

It’d have to be a game mostly about interpersonal conflict and strange experience: wandering around a city that whiskey has made strange to you, burning down your wife’s house, that sort of thing. The idea would be to maintain the aforementioned colour in whatever adventure the GM figures out. FIASCO with a custom playset might handle this well actually, but it’s not much for ongoing play... GUMSHOE has struck me as another option; it’s focused on investigation, but that can be worked with. I don’t know the system well enough to fully gauge it though.

EDIT: on the other hand, really leaning into the “smoking and drinking in a dive bar” would be interesting, having the action take place in memories and stories that each PC tells... that’d be something I’d have to brew up myself tho. It’s an intriguing concept: a bunch of broken down lowlives with a long night, a few drinks, and regrets enough to spill out over the side to anyone who will listen...

[Xuc Xac]

Maybe a really sad and seedy version of the Baron Munchausen game then?

[Nifft]

Maybe a really sad and seedy version of the Baron Munchausen game then?

Barren Ruminateshack.

[D20ragon]

Now that could be some proper fun right there... still suffers the logevity problem but maybe that’s unavoidable.