2 questions :
1. from a non native english speaker : can someone explain to me what “Local Graft” means? i’m having a hard time explailing what it is to my players
2. world building : in order to help them sell drugs to the workers in Coalridge, my players have made allies of the local foremen. Can you please suggest a faction level for the foremen or the factory bosses?
English teacher here!
1. Graft is people gettng their hands on public funds they shouldn’t have, through corrupt or deceptive interaction with officials.
For example: I get the city councilwoman of Charhollow to publicly fund a “Sevrosi Social Club,” or maybe even just sign over an abandoned property to use for the purpose. In fact, I run a Blue Cloud drug den in the basement and naked goat races upstairs (the jockeys are naked, not the goats). I give the councilwoman a cut of these activities, or maybe just do favors for her, and she keeps the “social club” from being investigated too closely.
Another example: The gondoliers request funds to dredge the canals, the Dockers are given the city contract to do it, they do it with substandard practices for a fraction of the actual contract cost and pocket the difference, probably splitting it with the Gondoliers who helped them get the labor contract in the first place.
2) The factions that already exist in Doskvol that resemble corrupt trade unions (dockers, lampblacks, etc) are all 2 to 3. I’d say tier 2 if your new faction has power localized to a particular district, 3 if their influence extends out into the city.
Hope that helps!
yes thanks!
i was actually thinking of having the foremen have an rating of 3 in Coalridge, but of 2 outside, as they would have as much influence. does this make sense?
Eureka Be Strictly speaking, I don’t think gangs have different Tiers at different times, but there’s no reason to say you couldn’t introduce such a mechanic (“Treat as a Tier 2 elsewhere, Tier 3 in Coalridge”).
If anything they could have a claim that gives them +1 tier for the purposes of calculating…scale? Maybe a rough and tumble bar where the worker’s union meets up? In Coalridge even the normally honest workers that usually just go about their day to day would protect their own within that district only. Then the PCs could even potentially usurp their influence before going to war. They are officially Tier 2, but if you try to fight them on their home turf, they can muster up a LOT more tough guys under the guise of “protecting their homes.” This makes it a power that can be taken, if the players come up with a way to undermine their influence (aka steal that claim.) Maybe they even incite a worker’s revolt, before going to all out war with the Foremen.
Swap out Scale for Quality and maybe the claim gives them access to a group or craftsmen who make them higher quality equipment instead, if that would better stymie the players. Turns out all the locks on their headquarters are much more intricate than their resource level would normally indicate, and all their thugs are equipped very well.
Christopher Bedford Another reason why I love this idea is that by giving them a Holding like that, it’s something that the player can theoretically attack to take that bonus for themselves, or to lower that gang’s effective Tier if trying to destroy them. (We did a lot of this in my game when taking over The Docks).
i like the idea…
Currently, they are starting at a +2 with the Foremen (i’ll be setting their tier at 2) as they are selling a stimulant to the workers (nicknamed “late shift” or “wide eye”). But a change in management could mean the formen become greedier in the cut they expect from the crew, for essentially selling on “their turf”…
so either they increase their status and get turf through “Accord” or bring the foremen to heel and gain it that way…