Steampunk Mafia RPG.pdf

Steampunk Mafia

A RED 8 System game

By Jay Steven Uy Anyong

jast@mydestiny.net

Outline:

I. Introduction

II. The City of New Providence

III. The Heroes and Villains of New Providence

IV. Kodiaks

V. Systems

VI. GM Advice

Introduction

Terry looked down on the city of New Providence below them, the

wind whipping his hair as he squinted to get a better view.

Already the smoke from the burning buildings down below began to

mar the beauty of the city, his city. Swearing, Terry turned

from the opening of the Police Zeppelin’s launch bay to Edgar,

his mechanic.

“Is she ready?” Terry snapped impatiently, as the sound of

gunfire rattled down below. There wasn’t much time. The

Corbolli family had to be stopped.

Inside the launch bay, Edgar was hurriedly making some last

minute checks to Terry’s Kodiak power armor, the Enforcer ,

slapping down one last lever, Edgar gave a grunt, “That should do

it, Terry!” The engineer gave a thumbs-up sign, “Hop in and give

‘em hell!”

Terry took out a small, fist-sized metal punch card and stepped

into the Enforcer’s torso cockpit. Strapping himself in, Terry

slid the punch card into the ignition slot and pulled on the

activation lever. The Mitchell-Connor Hydrogen Engine thrummed

to life, various gauges dancing as the Enforcer began to power up.

Giving Edgar a salute, Terry pulled on the sealing lever, and the

3-ton steam-powered Kodiak groaned, metal plates sliding over to

encase Terry, steam hissing outwards from the steam vents on the

Kodiak’s shoulders and back to bring the Kodiak into a standing

position.

“All systems go.” Terry’s voice squawked through the Kodiak’s

built-in intercom. Before the Enforcer lumbered forward towards

the Zeppelin’s launch bay, and with a powerful blast of Steam-

propulsion jets, hurled itself into the New Providence sky,

raining a hail of hot lead down to the Corbolli family’s

legbreakers.

Welcome to Steampunk Mafia.

In case you haven’t figured it out, this is a game about two things: Steampunk devices,

and the Mafia.

To help you get a better grip as to what we’re talking about, I’ll break this down to its

component parts and discuss each one briefly.

Steampunk – Is a particular sub-genre of speculative fiction (or Sci-Fi if you prefer),

involving a bizarre mix of the romantic wonder of steam power with the gritty and grim

settings of Cyberpunk. Think Johnny Mnemonic or Blade Runner with steam engines,

and you’ve got the idea.

The Mafia – is a catch all term for a particular “family oriented” form of organized crime.

Their origins were Italian in origin when they fought back against oppressors in a sort of

city vigilante kind of way. They won the respect and love of the common people, and are

popular anti-heroes and villains of a lot of books and movies such as the Godfather and

the Untouchables.

Why put these two together? Well… for one thing, it’s unique. The second is the fact

that despite how different these are, they have the spirit of romance and potential for

stories that I find invigorating. Gritty tales of Brotherhood and Betrayal, set against a

backdrop of steamtech that only accentuates the feeling of mystery that already surrounds

the Mafia.

There’s also the potential to play the good guys. Like Elliot Ness and the Untouchables,

players can also be the police of New Providence, fighting with everything they’ve got,

from fists, to their wits to 12-foot tall steamtech mecha all in the name of justice.

Interested? Keep reading.

The City of New Providence

New providence is a stereotypical American city in the 1920’s, with a twist. Thanks to

the discovery of a cheap and abundant supply of energy with the invention of the famous

Mitchell-Connor Hydrogen Engine, steam power became the choice power source for the

world. Now the cityscape in marked with gentle clouds of steam that come from the

underground vents of the New Providence Power Plant.

Mechanical wonders practically sprung up overnight, with the invention of newer and

better automobiles, manufacturing machines, and the 12-foot tall, humanoid mechs

known as Kodiaks. Originally designed to assist in loading cargo in and out of the ships

that dock in New Providence, some these hulking iron giants were stolen by the Mafia

and modified, turning them to criminal uses. A crime wave of unparalleled proportions

hit the city, as the emboldened Mafia gangs stole entire armored trucks with their

Kodiaks, impervious to most police gunfire.

It was only a matter of time before New Providence’s Chief of Police gave the go signal

to come up with a counter-Kodiak force of specially trained police officers. These brave

men and women were the city’s only chance to stem the tide of Kodiak related crimes

that threaten to bring the once peaceful city to its knees.

The Heroes and Villains of New Providence

Steampunk Mafia recognizes the fact that in this kind of struggle, it’s tempting to side

with either the devious Mafia criminals or the stalwart police force that fight against them.

As such, we’re leaving the option of what side the players will be entirely up to them.

Since this is a role-playing game, the first step is to define what role you’ll play. This is

done by creating a character.

First of all, it’s important to note how characters are defined. Each character has a set

number of Stats:

Body – The body stat reflects the over-all physical health and strength of a character

Dexterity – Dexterity determines the coordination and grace of a character

Charm – Charm is how personable the character is, and how good her people skills are

Intelligence – Determines that character’s wit and raw intellect, as well as perception

Will – Is the measurement of a character’s ability to push himself beyond his limits

Each Stat begins with a score of +0. This doesn’t mean that a character is inept, but

merely average in each category. Each character has 4 points that they can add to their

Stats. Players may choose to put all 4 points in one Stat, or distribute it among the Stats

according to their concept of the character. Players may also choose to decrease a Stat

below 0 in order to gain points that they would like to spend on another Stat.

In addition, each character will also have one or more Descriptors, which are usually

Nouns or Adjectives that modify a particular skill or ability. These can be specializations,

broad descriptions and other adjectives that will shape a character. For example, a Mafia

assassin might have Stealthy as a descriptor, or perhaps a Police detective might have

Perceptive as a descriptor. Mechanically, descriptors serve as a bonus to actions that will

involve that adjective, if the character is attempting it. Like Stats, a player has 5 points to

distribute among their character’s descriptors.

As an option, a player can choose to add a Negative Descriptor which penalizes a

character’s ability in exchange for a point that they can add to either a Stat or Descriptor.

This exchange is done on a 1:1 ratio, to a maximum of 3 points. For example, the Mafia

legbreaker might have the Negative Descriptor, Dim-Witted: -2 but gets an additional 2

points to either add to his Stats or Descriptors.

Example:

Bob wants to make a character for the Steampunk Mafia. He decides that he wants a

strong, Mafia Thug named Eddie for a character. Starting with 4 points on Stats, he

decides that his best bet is to put a lot of points into his body and willpower. Putting 3 in

body and 1 in Willpower, Eddie is a powerful character who refuses to give up.

Satisfied for now, Bob moves on to descriptors. He decides that Eddie is a master of

grappling techniques, and so adds “Grappling” as a descriptor followed by +3, a bonus

worthy of his skills. Bob also decides to put a +1 to both “Lifting” and “Intimidation” as

Eddie is fond of picking up his opponents, and is a fearsome wrestler.

Looking over Eddie’s stats, Bob thinks that he wants more points to add to Eddie’s Stats

and Descriptors. To compensate, Bob decides to add a –1 Negative modifier to Eddie’s

Charm stat, and add a +1 to Dexterity, since Eddie is a fairly unappealing individual, but

has the quickness to help him get the jump on his opponent. As for descriptors, Bob

gives Eddie a –2 for “Lying” as Eddie isn’t very convincing when he tries to lie. To

balance it out, he adds +1 to both “Lifting” and “Intimidation” again to make sure that

Eddie makes an impact.

Finishing it up with a history of his character, Bob finishes Eddie and has a final

character sheet that looks like this:

Stats:

Body +3

Dex +1

Cha -1

Int +0

Will +1

Descriptors:

Grappling +3

Lifting +2

Intimidation +2

Lying –2

All humans start with a Health Chart:

-2

-3

-4

Each box is marked off according to the number of damage taken. More on this will be

explained in the Combat chapter.

With all these modifiers for stats, descriptors, and weapons, it’s easy to lose track of what

you’re doing. Hence we recommend that you keep a running total for each of your most

used actions. Something like:

Action

Stat

Descriptor

Weapon

Bonus Total Mod

Attack w/ Pistol Dex +2 Firearms +2

Punch

Dex +2 Martial Arts +2

Haggle

Cha +2 Personable +1

Dodge

Dex +2 Martial Arts +2

Lift

Str -1 Weakling -1

-2

This way, you won’t lose track of the bonuses and save time, simply roll your two dice

and add the total for the action you’re performing.

Kodiaks

Kodiaks are 12-foot tall, 3 ton iron giants piloted by a single individual. Once used only

for commercial purposes, they have been stolen and used by the Mafia families as

walking tanks used in their overt operations. When outfitted with tommy guns and

howitzer cannons, combined by their speed, strength and tough armor, they can keep an

entire squad of pistol wielding police officers at bay. Since these hulking weapons carry

a miniature version of the Mitchell-Connor Hydrogen Engine, they are easy to maintain,

and have an operative range comparable to that of an airplane.

Body: The toughness of internal functions of a Kodiak, protected by its Armor Rating.

Spd: The speed by which a Kodiak can move.

AR: The toughness of a Kodiak’s Armor. Damage done to a Kodiak in a turn is reduced

by its armor rating. Any extra damage spills over to the Kodiak’s Body.

Mafia Kodiaks are really patched together in some hidden warehouse rather than mass

produced. This gives the Mafia an edge as well as a disadvantage. While they can

salvage captured Kodiaks for parts and find a way to add new and unconventional

weapons to their Kodiaks, repair is more costly, and their technology is insufficient to

allow for the more advanced systems found in police Kodiaks.

A Mafia Kodiak starts with a base of:

Body: 10

Spd: 5 hexes

AR: 6

Each Mafia Kodiak can begin with any number of weapons, with a total size no greater

than 10.

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