Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-11-2024, 05:32 AM   #1
muduri
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Harlem, New York
Default fantasy gang war

Hi team, the DF-ish campaign I'm running has made it to the big rotting city, and seems to be headed for a gang war based on which allies and enemies they've made. Any ideas about what could make a gang war different from just a dungeon combat? Any ways I can get some atmosphere from The Godfather or the original West Side Story—without getting too hokey or wink-at-the-audience? The city's Hârn's Golotha and basically everyone's human at TL3 and magic-rare, if those make any difference. All ideas much appreciated—thanks!
muduri is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2024, 05:37 AM   #2
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: fantasy gang war

I would suggest going to an older source: the conflict of the Capulets and the Montagues in Romeo and Juliet. It's already set in a big city, and has teenage punks from rich families stabbing each other in the streets.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2024, 02:39 PM   #3
jason taylor
 
jason taylor's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
Default Re: fantasy gang war

Read "Shiraz in the Age of Hafiz" by John Limbert. Actually that is a whole universe you can construct. Persia at the time was in a Mad Max kind of situation because the Mongols had come riding through with somewhat uncharitable purposes. The local province was disputed between four families of warlords. While in the city there were several power bases including the gangs.

If you wish to "Yrthianize" that you can set it in Tredroy just after the Yrthian Crusades.
__________________
"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison
jason taylor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2024, 02:56 PM   #4
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: fantasy gang war

Quote:
Originally Posted by muduri View Post
what could make a gang war different from just a dungeon combat?
Anything that gets people out of the D&D mindset that lethal fights are the first and proper way to resolve all conflict.
  • Extended time period. It's a war, not a single battle. Not every person in every gang on both sides will gather in one place to settle everything in one fight.
  • Limited consequences. Real gangs are rivals, and that rivalry can have lethal expression. But they're not really total war scenarios with both sides utterly devoted to the death of every other member, as soon as possible. "Rumbles" can be as much about posturing and demonstrating bravery as they are about killing people. Causing someone to lose face is seen as worthwhile, and has real effects (such as peeling away support for the loser). Give the PCs a way (or several) to win without necessarily leaving bodies on the floor.
  • Typically there's an external authority (the police, the city ruler, the big warlord, the syndicate of crime families that just wants to get on with business) that doesn't want a gang war piling up the body count on their turf -- and that authority does in fact outweigh any of the gangs. If the PCs insist on murdering their way across town, they get swatted by the 800-lb gorilla. This is one reason for only occasionally picking off enemy button men, instead of everyone you meet wearing their colors.
Anaraxes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2024, 04:12 PM   #5
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: fantasy gang war

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
[*]Typically there's an external authority (the police, the city ruler, the big warlord, the syndicate of crime families that just wants to get on with business) that doesn't want a gang war piling up the body count on their turf -- and that authority does in fact outweigh any of the gangs. If the PCs insist on murdering their way across town, they get swatted by the 800-lb gorilla. This is one reason for only occasionally picking off enemy button men, instead of everyone you meet wearing their colors.[/list]
When Romeo and Juliet end up dead, the Duke reads the riot act to the heads of the feuding families . . .
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2024, 06:15 AM   #6
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: fantasy gang war

At least in fiction, there can be a degree of ritual involved in confrontations between gangs that might be worth focusing on. Consider the knife fight from Michael Jackson's "Beat it," where the two fighters each have a knife in one hand and their other hands tied together. You could also take inspiration from tribal warfare - something akin to Counting Coup could be in play (particularly useful if they're trying to avoid the law coming after them for leaving bodies in the streets).
__________________
GURPS Overhaul
Varyon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2024, 07:32 AM   #7
Stormcrow
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
Default Re: fantasy gang war

Quote:
Originally Posted by muduri View Post
Any ideas about what could make a gang war different from just a dungeon combat?
Is dungeon combat really all that different from a gang war in the first place?
Stormcrow is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2024, 07:50 AM   #8
dcarson
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Default Re: fantasy gang war

It's about territory more than kill monster and take loot. So overwriting they gang symbol with yours to demonstrate to the bakers in <ethnic> neighborhood that you have control so they pay you protection instead of them.

Finding where they have their counting has that bagmen bring the collection to to count and divide. Which is after you know that is more kill monster, take loot. But first investigation in hostile territory.
dcarson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2024, 08:03 AM   #9
TerryW
 
Join Date: Mar 2021
Default Re: fantasy gang war

Large fights will tend to be either ambushes or arranged rumbles. Rumbles are often ritualistic and might involve matches between the toughest fighters in the gangs. Ambushes are more like what people think of when they talk about gang wars; armed combatants springing out of the crowds on the street to attack targets.

In either case the gangs invoved in planning the fight will want lookouts, watching for cops or military police or whatever authority runs the area. Everyone involved will have to be ready to run when the law shows up, no matter what that law might be.

Another option to open fighting in the streets is small brawls at venues controlled by more powerful gangs. Consider Kit Burns, one of the leaders of NYC's Dead Rabbits. He ran a popular rat-baiting and dog fighting saloon in New York, which also doubled as a major meeting place for organized crime. Fights were common, but if you didn't want to be killed for causing a disturbance to the bigger gangs you had to keep the violence down to a dull roar. In this kind of setup you could arrange to have a potentially lethal argument reduced to a one-on-one match under Broughton Rules. Or London Prize Ring Rules, if the combatants less interested in pounding each other into a coma. One side offering a fight at London Prize Ring Rules (your fantasy equivalent) and the other counter-offering with Broughton Rules (fantasy equivalent) could be an interesting contest of Intimidation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_Burns
TerryW is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2024, 08:27 AM   #10
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: fantasy gang war

There are some great scenes of gang violence in Streets of Fire, which I think is one of the best movies ever made. The climactic duel between Code and Raven with sledgehammers is brilliant.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:39 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.