01-11-2024, 05:32 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Harlem, New York
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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!
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01-11-2024, 05:37 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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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.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
01-11-2024, 02:39 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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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.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
01-11-2024, 02:56 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: fantasy gang war
Anything that gets people out of the D&D mindset that lethal fights are the first and proper way to resolve all conflict.
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01-11-2024, 04:12 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: fantasy gang war
Quote:
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
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01-12-2024, 06:15 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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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).
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GURPS Overhaul |
01-12-2024, 07:32 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: fantasy gang war
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01-12-2024, 07:50 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
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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. |
01-12-2024, 08:03 AM | #9 |
Join Date: Mar 2021
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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 |
01-12-2024, 08:27 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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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.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
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