[ACTION] Gangsters

[Onkl]

Hi guys

My players would love to play a campaign in which they are gangsters. They want the campaign to be cinematic so I will be using the ACTION rules. I envision a sandbox game which takes places in a TL8 city, along the lines of GTA with Liberty City or San Andreas.

The Caper campaign type from A1:6 is a start but is too tight a scope for the campaign I have in mind. The party should be able to engage in the following types of activies:

• Bribing
• Blackmail
• Kidnapping
• Theft
• Robbery
• Murder
• Weapon trafficking
• Drug trafficking
• Human trafficking
• Prostitution
• Fraud
• Loansharking
• Gambling
• Money laundering
• Money counterfeiting

These activities can be "unlocked" by aquiring assets, eg. a "Strip Club" would allow Prostitution or an NPC Fence would allow to unload stolen goods at. The assets would be the property of the Crew (the Party) which would also have a Reputation stat.

Which templates do you think are most suitable for this kind of campaign? Here's the list I came up with, what do you think?

• Assassin
• Face Man
• Hacker
• Infiltrator
• Investigator

Marginal:
Shooter (Probably too messy, even for a street gang)
Wheel Man (While there will be chases, I don't envision them to be as dominating as in the GTA computer games)
Wire Rat (Will be usefull but as with the others, probably not in every session)

NPCs:
Cleaner (Only needed when things get too messy)
Demolition Man (I don't see them blowing stuff up every session)
Medic (Since this role is reduced to healing rolls and the occasional sampling of drugs)

Obviously some suggested disadvantages from the templates are less desirable in this kind of campaign and would have to be exchanged, eg. Compulsive Plotting [-5*] for the Investigator and get rid of Honesty.


I think I'll be using my HEAT system as well, it would have to be modified to fit the campaign though, I think it makes sense to let the assets the Crew possesses raise HEAT.

I hope to be posting updates to this thread as I get more ideas and play a test session or two.

If you have any input (comments, movies to watch, books to read, RPG systems that deal with this kind of campaign..) please let me know

Cheers

Onkl

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Onkl

Hi guys

Hey.

Originally Posted by Onkl

Which templates do you think are most suitable for this kind of campaign? Here's the list I came up with, what do you think?

You're picturing these guys definitely needing a sniper, but not-so-much a driver or a guy who destroys evidence? I'd keep the Face Man and the Investigator among the must-haves, then elevate the Medic there, too, if I plan for there to be any violence at all in the game (can't exactly go to the ER for a bullet wound you were seen fleeing the scene of a shoot-out with). The Cleaner, Wheel Man, and Wire Rat I'd consider highly probable. Infiltrator, probably not; if this kind of gang wants into a building, they find somebody with the keys and shove a gun in his face. I'd leave the Hacker and the violent specialties out entirely - the former is too white-collar to be of much assistance in most of the crimes you listed, and the latter wouldn't have much to do, there, either, unless this gang is operating in the middle of the Mexican drug war or something where gun battles are a routine complication of normal rackets.

[Figleaf23]

Personally, I would advise against over-emphasizing templates in this campaign.

[Kromm]

For a gangland campaign loosely inspired by video games, but stopping short of the outright urban warzone that most video games seem to favor, I would recommend the following:

• Experts at finding and exploiting people and situations. A successful crew is only as good as its face man! An investigator in the form of a corrupt cop or former cop – to stake out targets and misdirect the authorities – would also be valuable.
  
  
• Experts at getting away with crimes. The crew wants a cleaner to destroy the evidence and a wheel man to help them flee the scene. That cop-gone-bad investigator would be a huge edge here as well – he would know how the authorities work and be able to head them off at the pass.
  
  
• Thugs. For casual threats, this means the big guy or the fast guy. When weapons get involved, this means the shooter.
  
  
• Lookouts and scouts. Yet another good use for the investigator! The traceur would be really cool here as well.

The crew might want a medic in the form of a crooked doctor. As others have pointed out, you can't walk into an ER with bullet wounds from a gangland war! A doc-turned-criminal is a huge asset if you deal in drugs, too: Pharmacy at 17 and Chemistry at 14.

The demolition man is another "maybe." Blowing things up left and right isn't wise, but gangs do use bombs to settle scores (we had a gang war here that was fought with nail bombs and stolen dynamite as often as with firearms), and breaking into armored cars, safes, vaults and so on calls for explosives. Finally, remember that this profession covers arson, which plays a significant role in a lot of scams and evidence cover-ups.

I seriously doubt that a crew would require an assassin (gangs beat people up and shoot them in the face; they rarely use garrotes, poisons, and rooftop snipers), a hacker (totally different and unrelated kind of crime), an infiltrator (like the assassin, that's way too James Bond for a gang, which will have a face man steal the keys or talk the crew in the back door, a big guy or a shooter intimidate the gatekeeper, or a demolition man smash the door), a ninja (for similar reasons to the assassin), a weapon master (ditto), or a wire rat (for similar reasons to the hacker).

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Onkl

These activities can be "unlocked" by aquiring assets, eg. a "Strip Club" would allow Prostitution or an NPC Fence would allow to unload stolen goods at. The assets would be the property of the Crew (the Party) which would also have a Reputation stat.

I don't think it's realistic to do a hard binary lock/unlocked distinction. It'd be simulatively preferable if such activities are always possible, but the acquisition of assets can enhance them, often drastically, even often to the point where it's not worth the bother (and the risk of getting caught) to do them un-enhanced relative to the profit, at least for relatively smart people (who have a choice as to how to earn their illegal profits).

Enhancement can also come in multiple levels, e.g. a basic bar or night club that allows for medium-level prostitution (and exploitation of the trafficked), later upgradeable to an advanced facility that facilitates high-level versions of those activities, maybe eventually (with much effort) to a superb facility that's even better.



I'd also urge you to consider if all the options you've listed are actually appropriate, by the way.

Organized prostitution doesn't have to be bad. A good pimp can take care of his girls, protect them, and make sure they work under decent and well-ordered conditions, and live healthy lives and manage their finances (even if most pimps are at the opposite end of the moral scale). But... Are you sure none of your players have a problem with that?

Human trafficking even more so. Keep in mind, it's definitionally different from people smuggling, which is moving people who want to be moved across borders. Human trafficking is modern day slavery. And, realistically, a lot of trafficked prostitutes will be underage, in part because that makes for easier victims, and in part because they cater to wealthy ephebophiles.

If all your players are fine with it, though, then it's okay.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

You're picturing these guys definitely needing a sniper, but not-so-much a driver or a guy who destroys evidence? I'd keep the Face Man and the Investigator among the must-haves, then elevate the Medic there, too, if I plan for there to be any violence at all in the game (can't exactly go to the ER for a bullet wound you were seen fleeing the scene of a shoot-out with). The Cleaner, Wheel Man, and Wire Rat I'd consider highly probable. Infiltrator, probably not; if this kind of gang wants into a building, they find somebody with the keys and shove a gun in his face. I'd leave the Hacker and the violent specialties out entirely - the former is too white-collar to be of much assistance in most of the crimes you listed, and the latter wouldn't have much to do, there, either, unless this gang is operating in the middle of the Mexican drug war or something where gun battles are a routine complication of normal rackets.

Some kind of secondary specialty system might be good, where every PC has a primary specialty, one of the "recommended templates", but also a "minor" or "secondary", which could be Medic or Wheelman, Cleaner or the like.

There are several ways of doing modifying GURPS Action to handle that, but I'm not sure which is best.

[Onkl]

Thank you all for your thoughts.

When I wrote the list of activities, I asked myself the same question Peter Knutsen asks: Is it fun to play such despicable characters who would force other human beings into prostitution... My players won't have a problem with it, though I can speak for my group when I say that we will not allow any "stuff" be done with minors. That's where we draw the line because that will make us all uncomfortable.

I think I will handle these delicate matters much like hollywood action movies handle it. Lots of violence and no sex... and above all, NO CHILDREN GET HURT!

[dcarson]

One of the reasons that gangsters classically own restaurants, pizza places etc is they do a lot of cash business. This lets you turn illegal cash into legal cash via fake customers. So thats another thing they'll want to aquire as they get bigger, ways to launder money.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by dcarson

One of the reasons that gangsters classically own restaurants, pizza places etc is they do a lot of cash business. This lets you turn illegal cash into legal cash via fake customers. So thats another thing they'll want to aquire as they get bigger, ways to launder money.

You may still need to be able to "prove" revenue, to pass as a legit business. That you actually have in-going commodities, such as flour for the pizza dough, and wine or soft drinks. Hence the Accounting skill.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

You may still need to be able to "prove" revenue, to pass as a legit business. That you actually have in-going commodities, such as flour for the pizza dough, and wine or soft drinks. Hence the Accounting skill.

This is another reason pure or near pure service providers are a good bet; movie theaters, gyms, casinos (those are really, really, good for the purpose, that being the original reason for the existence of Las Vegas), etc. There's no physical product, and it's very hard to prove how many people did or didn't come see a particular show or what have you.