My knowledge of gangs is pretty limited, as I went to a nice school and grew up in a place thankfully free of them. As such, I don't have much experience from which to draw up an upcoming gang encounter in my game.
The situation is this: one of the characters has a son in a gang, and he just found out that there's a heavy possibility that his son has been hurt and/or kidnapped and/or murdered.
The player has stated his intention to go to the gang and find some shit out. How would this be done?
Would he just walk up to their turf and bang on doors? All he really knows about them is where they hang.
I appreciate any help/ideas/pointers on this matter.
Full Version: How to contact a gang
Going to their turf and looking for some of them would be one way.
| QUOTE (Trax) |
| Going to their turf and looking for some of them would be one way. |
It definitely would, but it seems rather... unprofessional to me. Possibly even suicidal. An angry dad (with 28 dice for damage resistance) just storming into the gang's turf and demanding information is great for a Denzel Washington movie, but most likely in a Shadowrun game the only result will be said dad's (eventual, most likely headshot-caused) death.
What would be better ways of going about this?
Get a high level in street etiquette or a "guide" other wise you wont find shit and no one is going to talk to an outsider. Especially if you dress like a cop or some other uptight citizen.
A guide would be your best bet, someone that has ties to the area, someone that is known in the area. Otherwise youll get stone walled or killed.
If you have a high street etiquette skill just find a banger on the street and talk to him a bit, let him know you want to talk to the leader. Chances are youll get blown off, then youll have to convince the first guy to keep pressing the case. Bribery works well for the street guy and the leader.
Also the leader of a street gang isnt like the leader of the mafia. They dont know all killings done nor do they really ok killings. They do but not always. They dont have a code like the mafia does in general. So the best thing to do is to find the guide mentioned above and work with him. Itll be quicker really. Hell aleady have the way in, hell probably already know what you want.
A guide would be your best bet, someone that has ties to the area, someone that is known in the area. Otherwise youll get stone walled or killed.
If you have a high street etiquette skill just find a banger on the street and talk to him a bit, let him know you want to talk to the leader. Chances are youll get blown off, then youll have to convince the first guy to keep pressing the case. Bribery works well for the street guy and the leader.
Also the leader of a street gang isnt like the leader of the mafia. They dont know all killings done nor do they really ok killings. They do but not always. They dont have a code like the mafia does in general. So the best thing to do is to find the guide mentioned above and work with him. Itll be quicker really. Hell aleady have the way in, hell probably already know what you want.
1: Have a monster Street Rep and have lived in the area
2: Use Gang ID (Up there with Negotiate, IMHO)
3: Locate correct gang.
4: Use your Etiquette skill (or that of your face/fixer) to contact a ganger, usually with some sort of money bribe.
5a: <Kronk> Accidently break the neck of the ganger when he gives you lip.
5b: <Everyone else> Make successful contact in 1-2 days.
6a: <Kronk> Discard dead ganger into the ocean, eg:"Natures Wastebasket".
6b: <Everyone else> Negotiate a settlement with an eye to "gang honour" and your organised
7a: <Kronk> Repeat steps 1-5a until you have wiped out the gang you were trying to contact.
8: Success?
-Tir
2: Use Gang ID (Up there with Negotiate, IMHO)
3: Locate correct gang.
4: Use your Etiquette skill (or that of your face/fixer) to contact a ganger, usually with some sort of money bribe.
5a: <Kronk> Accidently break the neck of the ganger when he gives you lip.
5b: <Everyone else> Make successful contact in 1-2 days.
6a: <Kronk> Discard dead ganger into the ocean, eg:"Natures Wastebasket".
6b: <Everyone else> Negotiate a settlement with an eye to "gang honour" and your organised
7a: <Kronk> Repeat steps 1-5a until you have wiped out the gang you were trying to contact.
8: Success?
-Tir
| QUOTE (Trax) |
| Going to their turf and looking for some of them would be one way. |
If you want to get shot.
Have your player use his contacts. Find out any public places where the gang might hang. (a club, bar, some such). Something like that, shouldn't require too high a level of etiquette.
If you have high enough an etiquette rating, you could have the contact arrange a meeting on neutral territory, again preferably a public place.
| QUOTE |
| They dont have a code like the mafia does in general. |
Not true. Many gangs have customs or ideals they use to dictate behavior or to arrange a hierarchy of leadership. The prevalence of "macho" among many Latino gangs is a good example.
| QUOTE (DeadNeon @ Jun 25 2006, 12:23 AM) | ||
Not true. Many gangs have customs or ideals they use to dictate behavior or to arrange a hierarchy of leadership. The prevalence of "macho" among many Latino gangs is a good example. |
Which is a new phenomenon. Most gangs are loose associations tied together by locale and not much more. The street gangs usually only had a leader and maybe a couple lieutenants. Of course they are going to have a custom to determine who is leader, even the high school football team has a heirarchy.
Certain gangs, mostly the latino gangs have started to organize in a Mafia style organization. One of the reasons maybe because they are largely gangs that have emigrated to america from central america and have their roots there. They are more involved in international crime as an effect. With drug running and people smuggling. Black gangs werent/arent that way. The newest threat the FBI sees are the asian street gangs. Like Loasians and camodians. They have proved to be more brutal and bloody then most american street gangs and have ties to asian homes, that puts them in position for drug smuggling and people smuggling among other things.
In general a Blood is not going to run back to his leader to see if its ok to kill a Crip or latin king if they are walking past them. The Mafia on the other hand have very strict rules on who you can kill, who you cant and how you go about getting permission to kill them. So when I said they dont have an organization like the mafia in general, I meant they arent as strict and all that. Of course their is a culture in each group, all groups have a culture.
To kind of illustrate my point, the FBI just recently started a new department on street gangs, because they are just now starting to organize like organized crime families. This is the agency that has departments on all the ethinic famlies, like the mafia, yakuza, vory and so on. Even during their largest and most powerful times in the late 80s early 90s the FBI didnt really think the bloods or crips, or latin kings were much of a threat to make a department to watch these guys. Which they do now.
The FBI said they only watched gangs like the Hells Angles and Choosen Sons because of their mobility being a biker club (they hate when you call them gangs). Being mobile made them perfect for smuggling and their whole out look on things makes them a tough bunch to deal with. Their heirarchy only recently, say late 70s has become super organized. And they have went international. So they are really now on the FBI watch list.
Just re-read the original post. How much was the runner father in the sons life? I mean if he was around often enough he should already know a couple of the gang members, seeing that his son was in the gang. Im sure a few of them stopped by once in a while.
Most definitely go Denzel Washington after his little girl charge gets kidnapped and presumably killed. This is Shadowrun, baby! Play the game the way it was meant to be played!
If you don't like that answer:
Do some legwork through your contacts. Find out where the gang leader stays and what his defenses / schedules are like. Work up a detailed plan, ghost your way in, do what you need to do, and ghost your way back out. This is Shadowrun, baby! Play the game the way it was meant to be played!
Or perhaps:
Hack your way into every commlink and mobile phone they've got. Squeeze out every last bit of information they have. Let them know what you've got and that you'll spread it to everyone they don't want knowing about it unless you and the leader get a chance to sit down (virtually) and hash things out. This is Shadowrun, baby! Play it like it was meant to be played!
I could probably think of a few more, but I'm getting sleepy. The point is to not worry about how someone else would do it. Figure out how the character would do it and go that route. Stories can be made with any premise, not just the "typical" ones.
--
Short followup: rereading the original post I see that you're the GM? If so, don't worry about how you think he should do it. Let him tell you how he wants to do it. If you're not good at extemperaneous running then have him tell you a week before the game session so you can work some details out. Otherwise just run with it and see where it goes.
One thing to suggest might be that he ask the other teammates to help him and turn it into a full fledged adventure. If they're a business team and not close friends, maybe he could hire them.
If you don't like that answer:
Do some legwork through your contacts. Find out where the gang leader stays and what his defenses / schedules are like. Work up a detailed plan, ghost your way in, do what you need to do, and ghost your way back out. This is Shadowrun, baby! Play the game the way it was meant to be played!
Or perhaps:
Hack your way into every commlink and mobile phone they've got. Squeeze out every last bit of information they have. Let them know what you've got and that you'll spread it to everyone they don't want knowing about it unless you and the leader get a chance to sit down (virtually) and hash things out. This is Shadowrun, baby! Play it like it was meant to be played!
I could probably think of a few more, but I'm getting sleepy. The point is to not worry about how someone else would do it. Figure out how the character would do it and go that route. Stories can be made with any premise, not just the "typical" ones.
--
Short followup: rereading the original post I see that you're the GM? If so, don't worry about how you think he should do it. Let him tell you how he wants to do it. If you're not good at extemperaneous running then have him tell you a week before the game session so you can work some details out. Otherwise just run with it and see where it goes.
One thing to suggest might be that he ask the other teammates to help him and turn it into a full fledged adventure. If they're a business team and not close friends, maybe he could hire them.
You all are all over thinking this. The criminal world is not that complicated especially on the street level.
If you want to know whats going down in a neighborhood, find the little old ladies that are sitting on their stoops and ask them. Youd be suprised what makes its way around the hen house.
As a former criminal, life on the streets isnt that complicated. Every ganger wants to be tough, wants to be known on the streets. So they tend to have big mouths, Ill bet almost everyone in that neighborhood knew who killed the runners son within hours of it happening.
The only time youll possibly have to bother with the gang is if they decide you are too snoopy. Or you decide to get revenge for the kids death.
You can always ask your fixer to find a street fixer in that neighborhood, Ill bet 10 million nuyen hell know. Most people that play shadowrun see Fixers as the johnny mnemonic style fixer. Sits in a bar with bodyguards and deals with johnson for the runners. The term fixer has been around, well, in one form or another a fixer has been around forever. They are just people that know things.
I was never in a gang, but I knew who was who and where to get what. If it was availible in my neighborhood or one close by, and sometimes far away I knew who to talk to. And suprise suprise, I dont know any "human resources" people in any corps. On more then one occasion I was stopped in the alley by beat cops looking for info. Mostly who was where becasue they had a warrent, most times I told them to take a hike, but occasionally I gave them a junky, I hate those people, trying to break into my garage. lol
I know its a game and you are suppose to have adventures, but finding that info isnt a real ordeal. Cops have it harder because they cant arrest on hear say, and certainly cant get convictions on it. But a runner is judge jury and executioner. The real adventure comes to be in the what next category. Like the son was killed by his own crew, but why and is pop going to get even. The son was killed by another gang, whats pop going to do? The son was set up by some fixer on a cannon fodder run while hes A-Team sleazed in the back way unopposed, whats pop going to do? That sort of thing.
If you want to know whats going down in a neighborhood, find the little old ladies that are sitting on their stoops and ask them. Youd be suprised what makes its way around the hen house.
As a former criminal, life on the streets isnt that complicated. Every ganger wants to be tough, wants to be known on the streets. So they tend to have big mouths, Ill bet almost everyone in that neighborhood knew who killed the runners son within hours of it happening.
The only time youll possibly have to bother with the gang is if they decide you are too snoopy. Or you decide to get revenge for the kids death.
You can always ask your fixer to find a street fixer in that neighborhood, Ill bet 10 million nuyen hell know. Most people that play shadowrun see Fixers as the johnny mnemonic style fixer. Sits in a bar with bodyguards and deals with johnson for the runners. The term fixer has been around, well, in one form or another a fixer has been around forever. They are just people that know things.
I was never in a gang, but I knew who was who and where to get what. If it was availible in my neighborhood or one close by, and sometimes far away I knew who to talk to. And suprise suprise, I dont know any "human resources" people in any corps.
On more then one occasion I was stopped in the alley by beat cops looking for info. Mostly who was where becasue they had a warrent, most times I told them to take a hike, but occasionally I gave them a junky, I hate those people, trying to break into my garage. lol I know its a game and you are suppose to have adventures, but finding that info isnt a real ordeal. Cops have it harder because they cant arrest on hear say, and certainly cant get convictions on it. But a runner is judge jury and executioner. The real adventure comes to be in the what next category. Like the son was killed by his own crew, but why and is pop going to get even. The son was killed by another gang, whats pop going to do? The son was set up by some fixer on a cannon fodder run while hes A-Team sleazed in the back way unopposed, whats pop going to do? That sort of thing.
| QUOTE (Frag-o Delux) |
| If you want to know whats going down in a neighborhood, find the little old ladies that are sitting on their stoops and ask them. Youd be suprised what makes its way around the hen house. |
On a similar note: Bartenders, waitresses and other pub staff tend to hear things. When I bounced for a few local places, I had more than one drunk decide he wanted to tell me their life story.
Of course, determining the accuracy of the word on the street might be a bit hard. Especially if they need exact details. Of course, this is SR, so word on the street can usually tell you who you need to kidnap and torture for more complete information.
Your first contact is likely to be a street corner dealer. Buy from him a few times; facilitate a deal for him; use in front of him if you dare. That might help...
I'd imagine one of my first fixers would know the score. If possible, it pays to keep street level contacts. The guy you buy guns from might know too.
The guy you buy guns from might know too.
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