A question of size…
So I’ve been thinking about my crew’s upcoming conflict with the Grinders. The Grinders are ranked Tier II and checking the magnitude on pg. 221 I see 2 on the table shows gangs of 12 people. Does that mean the Grinders are only 12 people? or the gangs they send out are 12 people?
I’m definitely making them bigger than 12 people, I’m just wondering how the mechanics are meant to work with rules as written.
I believe it means that their gangs are ~12 people, but the whole crew is certainly much larger. Like, a PC Crew that was Tier 2 would have Cohorts of ~12 people, but they could very well have multiple cohorts.
Thomas Berton , if this is the case (for PCs) why would you need to spend coin and 2 DTAs in order to rebuild a destroyed cohort? You’d just say your reserves came in for the next go.
The way I’ve been running NPCs factions is that their core membership is roughly equal to their Tier’s scale, and any additions/losses are covered by DTAs. So they can, if taking the time, bring more to bear. If I need to see how well an acquisition goes, I make a fortune roll modified by any circumstances that would impact bolstering/replacing members. This means they can’t work on other things, so whittling away at a faction’s forces is a good way to hamper their other projects, provided they focus on replacing troops.
For example, due to the actions of the PCs in our game, the Lampblacks and a few fortune rolls, the Red Sashes are Tier 1 weak and hurting. They have no coin to spend on bolstering themselves in the war, so their fortune roll is 0 dice. It would normally be 1 for their Tier, but their entire war treasury was stolen and they can’t improve their chances with coin. I rolled a 3, so any allies they have aren’t coming to help, at least for now. If this series of unfortunate events (yes, I did that) continues, the Red Sashes will be a footnote.
The Cohort is the full scale though. There aren’t reserves: if you’ve got a cohort of Tier 2 thugs, there are about twelve of them. When some of them get killed, they can’t act at full Tier 2 strength, so that’s why they get reduced effect or fewer dice.
Thomas Berton , it was the reference to multiple cohorts that prompted the question.
Oh, well you could shift guys around I guess, but the other cohort would get damaged then, wouldn’t it? You just be robbing from Peter to pay Paul
“Like, a PC Crew that was Tier 2 would have Cohorts of ~12 people, but they could very well have multiple cohorts.”
That’s what threw me off. The way I read it is that a Tier 2 PC crew can have multiple cohorts, each 12 peeps strong, but can only use 12 at a time. If I’m understanding it correctly, that contradicts the logic of needing to spend time and money on replacing lost cohorts.
In the end it’s a nuanced balance of logic, desire and what works for your game.
Oh no, sorry, that’s not really what I meant. Was typing from my phone and probably misphrased something. I don’t think there’s anything in the rules to suggest that you can’t use multiple Cohorts at once.