One of my players is starting a new character, and wanted to be a member of the Ancients as part of his current background. This is a more street level game we're starting up, but its not a gang campaign. I couldn't find anything on starting in a gang, so after some discussion i decided that it'd be a 4 point edge to part of the Ancients, since the benefits (in my eyes) outweigh the drawbacks.

Does anyone think this is too steep? too cheap?

the character is a dog shaman, so magically assisting the gang is going to happen a lot. besides that, we discussed the potential pros and cons of being a member of such a large and influential gang, coming up with a short list:

pros:
gang has your back occasionally.
access to protection, shelter, smuggled goods.
noteriety.

cons:
expected to put gang interests first more than occasionally.
doing jobs for the gang for free or at a much reduced cost.
noteriety.

does anyone have any other ideas of potential drawbacks and benefits?

Cons:
Access to all the gang's rivals.

I would also consider having him take 'day job' for what else is a gang than a street level orginized crime, and all those protection rackets and shakedowns take time out of his day. "Sorry guys, can we meet later, I have an apointment today to burn down this appartment building, ends up this little old lady won't move."

He might have the Criminal Record and Distinctive Style (he's gotta be wearing the gang colors all the time) flaws. You might balance off these BPs with giving him a few Extra Contact edges.

Wearing ancients colours all the time would not be distinctive style, in face it could /almost/ qualify you for bland as anybody looking at you will only see the gang colours.

True you would be easily tracked threw good suburbs but get close to your territory and there are a large group of gangers most of which mach the description. Even in a good aria after a few days they wont be able to tell if it was you or another member of your gang or a different gang with vaguely similar colours (so a suit might make a mistake).

I think that angle balances out.

Back in SR2 I have heard there was a contact type, gang. There may have been a good reason for its removal but it is probably a good place to start, as well as the day job flaw, and taking the leader (and maybe the lieutenant and head gear person) as contacts.

Edward

One of the characters in my campaign is a ganger. The only mechanics we have for him are as follows:

He has a Lvl 1 Contact, the leader of his "cell" of the gang. This guy acts as a johnson/fixer. Sometimes he wants the character to do stuff, sometimes he can score a gun, ammo, armor, etc. for the character. Once he was kind enough to loan the character $100 UCAS.

He has a Lvl 1 Day Job, protecting the gang's hookers and doing odd jobs for the gang's pimp.

Primarily I use these mechanics as game hooks, rather than tangible benefits or penalties, so everything works pretty well. At least, no one is complaining.

In first edition (don't remember if it also exist in second ed), you could start as a gang member. Edges didn't exist, so you had to pay 200000 nuyens to be part of a gang. The major benefit was you could call the other members for help.

For the Ancients, I think this would be a quick and dirty way to handle it.

*3 Extra enemy -3
Distinctive Style, Ancients gang colors -1
Day job(figure 20 hours a week with the gang) -2

Total of -6

extra contacts (basically, level one for the whole gang) +5
Two buddies +4
Friends in high places (access to safehouses, smuggling routes, etc.) +2

Total of +11
for a net of 5 points.

What do you think?

i still don’t think distinctive style belongs.

Another point on that is wether your going to be wearing colours while on a run or while socialising outside of the gang as a whole (if you do socialise outside of the gang).

Edward

In Second Ed. being a member of a gang or tribe cost 50,000. Having followers cost 200,000 plus their gear.

Quote p.44 SR2

"Gang or Tribe
The Character may be a member of, or have close ties to, a local gang or tribe. There are 2D6 members of the gang or tribe available at any time. They come when called (arriving in 1D6 10 minutes) and are very loyal. All gang or tribe members have skill and attribute ratings of 3"

Edward, I understand your point about the Distinctive Style, but let's examine the three points of the flaw:

1. Will the character have a flair for the dramatic in dress?

2. Will the character have a flair for the dramatic in behavior and speech?

3. Will the character not be able to stand not being recognized for his/her work?

When I think of a ganger, I think I would have to answer "yes" to all three of these questions. Dramatic dress being the gang's colors. Dramatic behavior and speech being the more aggressive or belligerent attitude associated with most gangs. And gang behavior seems to thrive on the third point... who's the baddest, done the worst crime, is top dawg?

I'd argue that its an appropriate flaw.