[Cthulhutech]

So I was thinking about what to do with my planned Miami-based campaign, and I got to thinking...what would a ganger campaign look like?  So I dusted off my old 3rd edition Shadowrun Companion and took a gander at the short section they have on one.  My question is has anyone ever tried a ganger campaign, and if so do they have any advice on the best way to run one?

[Tecumseh]

My favorite campaign that I've ever run was a ganger campaign. They are generally lower-powered so I would suggest some limitations on the character creation process. I would cap skills at 3 or 4 (including specializations), put strong restrictions on equipment availability (nothing higher than 8R, for example), and limit the amount of starting nuyen/cyber/Magic. This generally forces the players to reallocate their points toward a broader set of skills and contacts. This rounds them out and makes them more complete characters, which makes it fun as they evolve and move up the ranks. It's not the best place for some of the more exotic character creations so I would gently curb a player who really wanted to try out that seal shapeshifter.

A ganger campaign is generally more vanilla, which I mean in the best way. Their day-to-day concerns are about turf and reputation, which simplifies and streamlines the game somewhat. You probably won't find yourself hopping between metaplanes or hacking Zurich-Orbital. I've been in absolute heaven in a street brawl that features toughs swinging baseball bats and lengths of chain instead of gunning each other down with APDS on full auto. (Note that there is a significant distinction to be made between smaller, local gangs of maybe two dozen members versus larger franchises like The Ancients, who might indeed break out the automatic weapons when the mood strikes.) Ammo might be scarce, weapons improvised, with combat boosts coming from street drugs. Resourceful players will thrive.

Ganger campaigns have good continuity and provide a ready supply of ongoing opponents and recurring personalities. It gives the group a base to work from (hello, Home Turf quality) and it can be fun for the players to expand their range as the gang grows in size and consequence. I would make a detailed map that they would get to know well. Mark out the players' territory and figure out the size and characteristics of bordering gangs. Not all confrontations have to be physical; with an established cast of characters you can introduce political machinations that shift and play out over time. All this is true for the internal gang relations too. I would probably start with an NPC gang leader who would act as a Johnson of sorts, issuing commands and providing leadership. Longer term, one of the players could aspire to the position, either by deposing a weak leader or maybe becoming the anointed heir of a beloved mentor after a back-and-forth power struggle with a hotheaded lieutenant. The game could become more of a sandbox, with the players providing the strategy and direction that they want to take the organization.

I've had a campaign like this brewing in my head for two years now that I'd love to run someday. I recognize that my enthusiasm reflects my own preferences in the game but I just wanted to offer my encouragement in trying it. If you have a group that can be happy without 3 IPs each turn and 9P DV every simple action then it can be a great experience. Best of luck! I want to know how it goes.

[Nath]

I used to play a few games like these, but they were not really serious ones (think about Grand Theft Auto San Andreas silliest missions to get an idea).

Character creation started with those three questions: How do the police officers call you ? How do the gang members call you ? And how do you mother call you ? Squatter lifestyle also meant "living at your mom's" (requiring the character to hide its automatic weapons under his bed) and Low was the highest lifestyle available at creation anyway.
The characters were all living in Hollywood in Redmond (aka "The Real Hollywood"). Their gang was part of the Crimson Crush, but there was some internal rivalry within the gang. There was also two subgroups within the gang : "Northside" (latino and filipino orks whose grand mother attend the catholic church north of Hollywood) and "Southside" (black ork whose grand mother attends the protestant church south of Hollywood). That North and Southside thing was only for making fun of each other and some lame display of pride (like continuously making N or S signs with your hands during the game).

At character creation, they had to pick at least one "useful" skill or specialization like Virtual Games, Basketball, Hip-hop MCing or DJing, Low-Ride Automotive Mechanics or Sound System Hardware. I actually allowed one Adept, who had his entire power set dedicated to hip-hop vocal performance.

Among other rules, they were barred from ever carrying a spare clip on them, as those keep on falling in your underwear (though they could have some in the car if heading for a drive-by shooting). I did not establish clear rules regarding availability and augmentations, but all the players kept it low level enough.

The first adventure was about stealing some simsense equipment from a pron studio to record a hip-hop concert live. In the second one, they had to intimidate someone selling a new drug called tempo in a nightclub on the gang's turf. In the third, the PC basically were contacts of a runner playing a Ghost Cartel adventure : a former member of the gang, now a pro runner, came in his SUV and told them it would be cool if they shoot some First Nations who recently started selling drugs in Northern Redmond (and create a distraction for the team by the way). And in the fourth and last game to this date, they tried to get a tempo deal the Koreans, when the First Nations stroke back.

[TheCommanders]

I kinda like the idea of the low powered campaign, but more in a regular shadowrunner's world. ie. you really are Shadowrunning newbies, and are pretty much on your last legs when you get your first job offering. From there you can build up your skill set and rep among shadowrunners. Just an idea.

[nakano]

My experience when running a ganger campaign on several occasions led to the following rules at character gen:  300-350 build points, no magic or resonance above 4, no availabilty above 8R, contacts must make geographic sense.  The magic/res restriction is a big one.

[Ddiddy]

I started my own thread and then found this one.  I am also looking to start a "Ganger" campaign, but I don't want it to stay all ganger, I want them to eventually become runners.  I like the idea of starting them with limited gear, and limited stats, but how do I get the ball rolling?

[John Shull]

Might check out Sons of Anarchy as a source or framework for this game.  Netflix is your friend.

[CanRay]

Or watch it as it comes on. 

Honestly, great show, highly suggest it.  Biker Soap Opera, with Nose Biting!

[Weldûn]

My experience when running a ganger campaign on several occasions led to the following rules at character gen:  300-350 build points, no magic or resonance above 4, no availabilty above 8R, contacts must make geographic sense.  The magic/res restriction is a big one.

I've been running what I call a "Saints Row-esque" campaign, mainly to make it easier for my players to wrap their heads around it. The PCs are playing the Leaders of the gang, so please keep that in mind. The reason for the quote is because of the similarities between these guidelines and mine.

400 build points, Magic/Resonance Limit of 4, no more than 2 power points spent on a single adept ability, No Availablity above 8. Like in nakano's case, the magic/res restriction is important, but the limit on adept spending is also important. Many players like to boost their character's reaction as high as they can, and without the limit the Adept will beat out the Cyborg, making the adept a lot more tempting to such players. I agreed with the availability restriction with regards to the value, but not the code. The numerical value is a measure of how hard the item is to track down, but the R/F value is how much trouble you'll get into for having it, so I saw no reason to restrict that.

[Kontact]

I'd do 300-350bp for a ganger campaign, dependent on how competent the players were at making characters.  Probably need to loosen up the "max of half BP spent on attributes" rule to keep from having a squad of Orks and Trolls though (unless that's what you want.)

Cap skills at 3 with two 4s or one 5.  Cap special attributes at 4.  Magic, edge and resonance.

Probably want to drop avail to 6, since, when you hit avail 8 you've got dudes with AK-98s launching HE grenades at the opposition, and it becomes another level of violent.  8R is where all the James Bond stuff starts up.

Might actually want to just do a scaled availability thing.  Something like unrestricted gear up to avail 8, restricted and forbidden gear at 6.  That way, people can have most things that aren't controlled, like armor options and non-offensive cyber (shouldn't break a guys ass over a math spu or anything) but they can't have ready access to explosives, silencers, and such.  It also limits their selection of weapons to the point where they'll feel good about upgrading their guns through play, rather than the usual of feeling bad about losing that perfect 3000 nuyen tricked-out AR that they bought at char-gen.

Also, limit the amount of scratch they can spend on gear.

[Weldûn]

Huh. I guess it also comes down to your players. One character in my game started with an AK-97, but it's stock. All my players decided to grab more than the two contacts, despite my giving them 2 (pre-determined) to start with, the gang itself and a local bartender. They all selected the Home Ground advantage but other than that, they all selected skill levels and gear/spells that were reasonable. So in my case, my players got on board with the concept and didn't give their GM any headaches.

In the end, tailor the guidelines not only to the style of campaign that you wish to run, but also to your players. If they're the type who gleefully hunt down every little exploit they can, then you need a heavier hand. If they're the type to trust in the GM's vision for the style of campaign, then you can afford more relaxed guidelines.