Criminal Business

The only kind of forum game known to Jailbreak Forums up until today were forum adventures. And by forum adventures, I mean multiple choice tests. I had enough of that shit at school. Sometimes, they have modifiers. Most of the time, they allow you to make your own choices. Typically, you played the hero: a vigilante, a spaceship pilot, or a soldier trying to capture the flag. But, the format is getting stale. 
 
I think its time to bring in a roleplay of sorts. Something more complex but interesting. A game that is much more in control by the players. 
 
I think it's time to get our hands on some dirty...
 
Criminal Business
 

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Arizona is a rapidly growing state, rising in prominence in the Southwest, and in the United States. However, this also comes with some organized crime in its major cities, such as Phoenix and Tucson, especially those linked to criminal organizations in the West Coast and Nevada, Mexico, and even the Midwest and East Coast.
 
Criminal Business is a roleplay centered around organized crime. Players will be able to submit as many characters as they wish, join gangs, commit heists, operate illegal properties and fronts, control the Black Markets that offer weapons, drugs, and other illegal valuables, and maybe even climb the ranks of their gangs to take control and form alliances and plan the heists themselves, in the diverse crime battlegrounds that are Phoenix and Tucson. (If you wish to combat the organized crime instead, you can ask The Hoff if you wish for your character to be a vigilante and take orders from other vigilantes and perhaps corrupt cops and politicians. It is up to you if you wish to join or create a gang, you can be a serial killer/rapist/robber for all I care but that may be boring. There will be no cop roles given to players unless with permission from the Hoff: expect police chief missions or undercover missions if you become a cop, and be expected to have more ally NPCs than gang members.)
 
However, it is not a completely free roleplay. Combat scenes will still mechnically play out in the traditional forum adventures (but without multiple choice or any shit like that). The prominent vigilantes, cops, and politicians WILL be controlled by The Hoff, the players will have to literally grind in the right direction to take control of a major gang. Only two areas may be freely interacted: Phoenix and Tucson, while other parts of Arizona, Sonora, and California are only available for certain missions. However, players are free to assume leadership of the minor gangs in the early-game, or make new gangs that will be minor in the early to mid game.
 
The roleplay is meant to last forever if people keep constantly make new, unique characters, gangs, and tactics. Even if one player has control of a grand alliance between gangs and have sizeable control of the players, another player can make as many characters and gangs as needed to break apart the alliance. Criminal Business is meant to be a dynamic semi-roleplay game that should have no ending incorporated in there, unless everyone gets bored of the game and leaves.

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Current Gang Map of Phoenix, Arizona
 

 Visit this album to see how Phoenix changed over the course of the game.


Current Gang Map of Tucson, Arizona


Major Gangs
Major gangs can not be taken over completely by the players without The Hoff's permission. They are either major players in Phoenix, Tucson, or are "chapters" of gangs that are much more powerful or originated in other places (example: the Bratvas, the Mafias, the Triads)
 
Latino Street Kings
Nationalities: Hispanic
Main Focus: Drug Trade, Racketeering, Loan Sharking
Main Rivals: Forzudos, Arizona Bloods (A-Z Bloods), Princes of Guadalupe, Brotherhood of the Ghetto
Main Allies:  Stang Gang
Nicknames: Street Kings, LSK, Kings, Latinos, Latino Shit Kinks (insulting), Shit Kinks (insulting)
Known Leaders in Arizona: El Rey de las Calles (real name unknown, potentially a rank name), El Principe (real name unknown, potentially a rank name)
Backstory: 
- The Latino Street Kings are the largest gang in Phoenix. They have almost sole control of the southern ghettos that lay below I-10 and Downtown, as well as some pockets in Queen Creek and the Far West Valley. 
- They are the middlemen of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, which use their gang to sell drugs in Arizona.
- They FUCKING hate the Forzudos. Although they have a lot of territory in Phoenix, they have next to no territory in Tucson, which is firmly a Forzudos town.
- The Forzudos and the LSK had a long, bloody, and terrible history with eachother:
    - Sometime during the WWI years, some refugees fleeing the Mexican Revolution settled in Tucson. The ancestors of the Latin Street Kings and the Forzudos formed during that time, and had equal control of the city back then
    - When Phoenix experienced explosive growth, both gangs started to grab territory. They hoped for a Tucson 2.0, where they would have 50/50 control of the city. However, the Forzudos were able to kick the LSK out of Tucson. In retaliation, the LSK conquered most of the Forzudo's Phoenix territory, resulting in the "one city per gang" situation that still goes on to this day.
 
Forzudos
Nationalities: Hispanic
Main Focus: Drug Trade, Racketeering, Loan Sharking
Main Rivals: Latino Street Kings, Princes of Guadalupe, Stang Gang
Main Allies: Arizona Bloods, Brotherhood of the Ghetto
Nicknames: Strongmen, Forzis, Zudos
Known Leaders in Arizona: El Caballero (real name unknown) [Tucson], Juan Maldonaldo
Backstory: 
- The Forzudos were one of the oldest Hispanic gangs in modern-day Arizona. 
- Although they rule much of Tucson with an iron fist, they lost a bit of territory in Phoenix to the Latino Street Kings, and more recently, the Princes of Guadalupe. 
- Much like their main rival, the LSK, they have the backings of powerful cartels in Mexico, Los Zetas, in order to get the drugs that they sell in their territory. 
- They are frequently at war with the Latino Street Kings, and are now suffering a civil war with an offshoot named the Princes of Guadalupe, who wish to focus on other things besides the Drug Trade.
 
Stang Gang/Crips
Nationalities: African, Caribbean
Main Focus: Extortion, Robberies, Prostitution, Arms Trade, Human Trafficking
Main Rivals: A-Z Bloods, Brotherhood of the Ghetto
Main Allies: none
Nicknames: Stangies, Stangs, Crips
Known Leaders in Arizona: Lil Tyris (real name unknown, presumably first name is Tyris)
Backstory: 
- The Crips' Phoenix Chapter, called Stang Gang originally to fool gangs that hated the Crips, is the largest African American gang in Phoenix in terms of territory. 
- It was even larger in the past, but it suffered a civil war as the Brotherhood of the Ghetto became a complete offshoot of the Stang Gang/Crips, unpleased with how narrowminded the Stang Gang/Crip leaders are and the unwillingness of the Stang Gang/Crips to involve themselves in the Drug Trade to catch up with the ever-expanding wealth of the Arizona Bloods. 
 
Arizona Bloods
Nationalities: African, Caribbean
Main Focus: Extortion, Robberies, Prostitution, Drug Trade, Racketeering
Main Rivals: Stang Gang
Main Allies: Brotherhood of the Ghetto
Nicknames: A-Z Bloods, Bloods, Azies
Known Leaders in Arizona: OG V.J. (real name unknown, persumably that initials are VJ.)
Backstory: 
- The Arizona Bloods is an Arizona-based chapter of the infamous Bloods gang in Los Angeles. 
- They did not focus as much on grabbing territory as with making money off of robberies, prostitution, drugs, and many other things, hence their smaller territory compared with their rivals. 
- Considering their history with the Crips, they were not welcomed by the older Stang Gang, a literal Crips ripoff, that used to control the ghettos that Arizona Bloods now control.
 
Romanian Mafia
Nationalities: Romanian, French
Main Focus: Extortion, Robberies, Prostitution, Arms Trade, Racketeering, Loan Sharking, Human Trafficking
Main Rivals: Russian Bratva, Gambini Mafia, Lucci Mafia
Main Allies: Loranzio Mafia, Ukrainian Bratva
Nicknames: Romanians, Romies, Romans, "Gypsies" (insulting), "Roma" (insulting)
Known Leaders in Arizona: Armand Fersenscu, Mita Dutu Stefan
Backstory: 
- The Romanian Mafia was the result of an influx of Romanians and people of Romanian ancestry that has moved to suburbs in the Far West Valley of Phoenix. It became the largest Romanian crime organization in the United States. 
- However, they recently faced competition from other Romance gangs such as the Italian mafias and the Hispanic street gangs, in addition to other Eastern European gangs: the East Coast Bratvas (RB and UB), who are establishing new chapters of their gangs in Arizona.
 
Ukrainian Bratva
Nationalities: Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian
Main Focus: Extortion, Robberies, Prostitution, Arms Trade, Human Trafficking, Drug Trade, Money Laundering
Main Rivals: Russian Bratva
Main Allies: Romanian Mafia
Nicknames: Ukrainians, UB, Ukies, Khokhols (insulting)
Known Leaders in Arizona: Petro Chenshenko Skrebnevich, cousin of the late Grigori Skrebnevich, who was the son of the Bratva's founder and New York Chapter leader, Zhenya Skrebnevich.
Backstory: 
- The Ukrainian Bratva were one of the two big Bratvas in New York, the other being the Russian Bratva. 
- The Ukrainian Bratva was the result of a merging between the Croat Mob, the Polish Mafia, and the Kievan Wolves in 2015, as all of those gangs hated the Russian Bratva and thought that they must unite to be able to rival the Russian Bratva. 
- Recently, the New York chapters of both Bratvas have been devastated by some vigilantes, with the leaders of both Bratvas' New York chapters dead, so as a result, some of its members fled to other cities. 
- Of course, this results in Phoenix being targeted by both Bratvas, as the Chicago chapter (now the strongest part of the UB thanks a fucking lot Jarret and Aaron) encouraged heavy development of the Phoenix and Tucson chapters.
 
Russian Bratva
Nationalities: Russian, Belarussian, Serbian, Montenegrin, Bulgarian
Main Focus: Extortion, Robberies, Prostitution, Arms Trade, Human Trafficking, Drug Trade
Main Rivals: Ukrainian Bratva
Main Allies: none
Nicknames: Russians, Ruskies, Moskals (insulting), RB
Known Leader(s) in Arizona: Vadim Nikov, former friend of the New York Chapter's leader: Boris Kolashkev
Backstory: 
- The Russian Bratva was once the only major Slavic criminal organization in the United States, named the "Slavyanskaya Bratva" (Slavic Brotherhood).
- During the 90's, tensions in the group between the Croats and Slovenes vs the Serbs and Montengrins caused the Croats and Slovenians to make the Croat Mob. 
- The Bosnians and Albanians, hating both the Croats/Slovenes and the Serbs/Montenegrins, joined different Islamic gangs. 
- The Poles, not wanting to be underrepresented in the Bratva by the Russian leaders, left and made the Polish Mafia (in New York) or joined existing Polish gangs (in the case of Chicago) such as the Polish Syndicate. 
- The Czechs and Slovaks soon joined the Polish Mafia as well due to the three groups being West Slavic.
- A few Ukrainians left and made the Kievan Wolves, however, the Euromaidan and subsequent crisis of Russian-majority provinces in Ukraine becoming rebellious republics in 2014 made ALL of the Ukrainians leave, strengthening the Kievan Wolves. Eventually all seperatist gangs that resulted from the splintering of the Slavic Bratva (now the Russian Bratva) agreed to unite into one new Bratva, with the Ukrainians on the top. 
- In 2016, the New York chapter of the Russian Bratva carried out a bombing and shooting of a university in Ukrainian Bratva territory to kill off important officials of the Ukrainian Bratva. This failed, and caused some students to become vigilantes and take down the New York chapter. 
- Now the Los Angeles and the Chicago chapters of the Russian Bratva are the strongest, and they encouraged development of new chapters in Arizona as a response to the Ukrainian Bratva doing the same.
 
The Three Families
- The Three Families are a coalition of Mafia syndicates, all three of them being more or less equal in power. However, the three mafias have different sources of income, thus leading to some wealth inequality between the three. The three mafias are specialized in one or a few particular activity/activities per family, and the coalition is just an economic alliance to balance the strengths and weaknesses of the families' focuses on certain activities.
Similarities:
Nationalities: Italian, French (lesser extent)
Main Rivals and Allies: it is usually unclear and unpredictable, given the 1984-esque alliance system of the Three Families. Sometimes, there can be a "2v1" era, sometimes the three families can be pitted at eachother, and sometimes, all three families can get along. Other then that, the Three Families tend to isolate themselves from matters of the other gangs unless they directly threaten the Families. Hence, they have little, if any, allies and rivals besides eachother.
 
The Lucci Mafia
Main Focus: Extortion, Robberies, Drug Trade, Loan Sharking, Racketeering, Money Laundering
Nicknames: Luccis
Known Leaders in Arizona:
Backstory:
- The Lucci Mafia is the Family that originated from Chicago. 
- The "grandfathers" of the organization were once part of the infamous Chicago Outfit led by Al Capone. 
- When the Outfit weakened, Luciano Lucci, a former goon of Al Capone, kickstarted a new gang in 1933, and decided to focus on other activities similar to the alcohol scene that the Outfit dominated, such as the Drug Trade. 
- In 1956, Don Antonio Lucci, Luciano's son, had been invited by then head of the Loranzio Mafia, Benito Loranzio, into the Three Families Coalition. Antonio accepted.
-Starting in the 60's, due to the gains in power and money they got from being one of the Three Families, they expanded into other Midwestern cities, such as Minneapolis, St. Paul, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. 
- Today, the presence of the Luccis have severely diminished in Chicago, partly as a result of the divertion of resources to other cities in the Midwest and the US, as their Chicago territory has been carved up by the Polish Syndicate and the Bratvas in the West Side, as well as Hispanic and black street gangs in the South Side. 
- However, due to the funding and support from the Three Families, they managed to expand to the East Coast, where the Loranzio Mafia is based in, and the Southwest & California, where the Gambini Mafia once dominated, as well as hold their ground in the Midwest.
 
The Loranzio Mafia
Main Focus: Extortion, Robberies, Arms Trade, Smuggling, Money Laundering
Nicknames: Loranzios, Lories, Loris, Zios
Known Leaders: Don Loranzio (real name unknown)
Backstory:
- The Loranzio Mafia is the Family that originated from New York.
- They are a very old mafia, originating from Sicilian immigrants sometime between 1880 and 1914.
- For the longest time, up until the year 1970, they were the largest mafia in New York. However, when they saught to expand to other East Coast cities like Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Boston, resources were diverted from the New York chapter, making the Loranzio territory in New York shrink. This allowed other Italian mafias to finally gain prominence in the city.
- Officials in notable Italian firearm companies Beretta, Franchi, and Benelli that have worked in the USA have ties to the Loranzio Mafia. This allows the Loranzio Mafia to have easy access to their firearms for their own use, and for the arms trade, where they trade it in for other weapons.
- Much like their counterparts in the Three Families, they manage to expand beyond their original territory in the East Coast to the Midwest and the Southwest.
 
The Gambini Mafia
Main Focus: Extortion, Robberies, Prostitution, Loan Sharking, Human Trafficking, Smuggling, Gambling.
Nicknames: Gambler Mafia (pun + a reference to the Gambini Mafia's ownership of Vegas casinos) [may be insulting], Gambinis, Binis, Gammies, Gams
Known Leaders in Arizona: Luigi Coranzo Gambini, the younger son of Sebastian Gambini and Giovanna Coranzo. 
Backstory:
- The Gambini Mafia is the newest of the Three Families, forming in 1952 (Luccis formed in the 30's, and the Loranzios formed in pre-WWI years) as a result of the banding of several investors, representative of many different Italian mafias, who wanted to cash in on the growing gambling business in Las Vegas, under the leadership of a New Yorker named Sebastian Gambini. 
- During the 70's, the original Third Family, the Sardello Family of Detroit, had their leaders and business empire compromised by the government. The Luccis and Loranzios thought that the Sardellos were too weak and dangerous to keep in the Three Families, so they replaced them with the Gambinis. The Sardello territory was eaten up by the Luccis, and some of the members that wished to go off the grid but keep working for the Three Families joined the "underdog" Gambini Mafia.
- They were the first of the Three Families to expand into Phoenix, however, they gave away 2/3rds of their Phoenix territory to the Luccis and Loranzios to satisfy the "Third Per Family" territory quota established in the Three Families.
 
Ledung Triad
Nationalities: Chinese, Taiwanese, Singaporean, Mongolian
Main Focus: Money Laundering, Extortion, Loan Sharking, Gambling, Human Trafficking, Drug Trade, Arms Trade, Robberies
Main Rivals: Yakuza, Ke-chan Triad
Main Allies: Stang Gang
Nicknames: Ledungs, Leddies, Dungs, Chinese, Chinks (insulting), Dongs (insulting)
Known Leaders in Arizona: Zhuzi Li (real name unknown)
Backstory:
- The Ledung Triad originated from Chinese intellectuals and opium addicts fleeing the crumbling Qing empire for San Francisco.
- They were one of the ruling triads in that area for many years (the other being the Ke-Chan Triad), running a drug and prostitution empire. However, they also used less suspect tactics such as opening and buying Chinese restaurants and supermarkets as "fronts."
- One notable supermarket that they run is the Mekong supermarket, a literal Mecca of fronts for the Triads and Asian gangs of Phoenix (excluding the Muslim and Indian gangs), located in West Mesa. At first, it wasnt a front for criminial gangs, but the Triads were all over it soon enough to establish legal fronts that can be disguised as illegal businesses (ex: restaurants as a front for drug trade, beauty parlors and massage places as a front for prostitution, etc.). The Ledung Triad eventually brought out the marketplace itself, and with the help of the Stang Gang that took control of the neighborhood the market was in, driven out the competitors from the marketplace.
- Upon the Yakuza's entry, the balance was thrown off, so a "Three Families" situation developed, except none of those East Asian gangs wish to officially help eachother (unlike the Italian mafias in the Three Families). They focused on making eachother the strongest instead of creating a delicate balance that benefits all the gangs involved.
 
Ke-Chan Triad
Nationalities: Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Thai, Burmese
Main Focus: Money Laundering, Extortion, Loan Sharking, Gambling, Human Trafficking, Drug Trade, Arms Trade, Robberies
Main Rivals: Yakuza, Ledung Triad
Main Allies: None
Nicknames: Kechies, Chans, Vietnamese, Gooks (insulting)
Known Leaders in Arizona: none
Backstory: 
- The Ke-Chan Triad also had its origins from Chinese immigrants in San Francisco. The rivalry between the Ledungs and Ke-Chans started very early on. 
- They employed similar tactics to the Ledung Triad. The Ke-Chans and Ledungs tend to copy eachother than one-up the rival. However, despite the same tactics being deployed, the Ke-Chan Triad had less competent leaders. However, they made up for it with their connections to Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese businessmen who funded their ventures and had partial discretion over them. Those businessmen would end up moving in to the territories the Ke-Chans controlled and take full control, finally making the two triads equal.
- Upon the Yakuza's entry, the balance was thrown off, so a "Three Families" situation developed, except none of those East Asian gangs wish to officially help eachother (unlike the Italian mafias in the Three Families). They focused on making eachother the strongest instead of creating a delicate balance that benefits all the gangs involved.

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Minor Gangs
Players can immediately take control of these gangs. Not much is known of these gangs, so the players have the liberty to set the businesses, rivals, and allies of these gangs.
 
Indian Power and Hindu Mob: Two rivaling Indian gangs in the Far West Valley (default rivals of eachother)
Alesaba: A Muslim gang, majority of which are Arabs, Afghans, Persians, and Pakistanis, but there are sizable minorities of Turks, Bosniaks, Albanians, and Muslim Africans. They focus more on religion than anything else. Prepare to be mistaken for ISIS.
Brotherhood of the Ghetto: a "third" African-American gang that is seperating from the Stang Gang due to the Stang Gang's strife, decline, and incompetence, and the opposing agenda of the seperatists (focus on other shit like prostitution, arms trade, fronts, etc., and move away from drugs) (default at war with Stang Gang)
Princes of Guadalupe: practically the Hispanic version of the BOTG (see above), but seceeding from the Forzudos AND Latino Street Kings for similar reasons (agenda focused on other activities) (Default at war with Forzudos and Latino Street Kings)
Yakuza: a Southwest-based chapter of the legendary Japanese criminal organization, the Yakuza; inheriting its name. (Default at war with Ledung and Ke-Chan Triads)
Crimson Mafia: A third Bratva that is smaller than the other two; is mainly based in Fountain Hills, but is growing rapidly.
White Bears: a redneck, white-supremacist, biker gang from mainly the South and the rural Plains and Midwest. (may have hostilities to non-white gangs due to white-supremacist members, but not at war with anyone)
 
in addition, players can form their own gangs. here's the gang application form:
Gang Name
Gang Nicknames (optional)
Gang Ethnicities (optional)
Gang Focuses (activaties)
Gang Rivals and Allies (two seperate parts. If gang has no rivals and/or allies, write None.)
Known leaders of gang (in Arizona only is implied): (if no known leaders, write None.)
Backstory (optional, but encouraged)
Be sure to keep this word: MINGANG, at the beginning or end of the application, for easier search in the thread for analysis.

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Weapons and Items:
There is a wide variety of weapons in this game. 
- Some of them can be found in your usual gunstores with mediocre prices, stats, and quality (ex: M9 Berettas, AK47s, MP5s, Double-barrel shotguns). They are legal.
- Some of them can only be found in police and military bases, and will mostly have much better stats and quality. (ex: P90, M4, AWP, SPAS-12) They are illegal for citizens to have, but not for police officers or military of any sort: off-duty, deployed, or undercover.
- Some rarer weapons can be found in the Black Market with variable availability, price, and quality. Some of them are weapons with better stats but worse quality than gunstore guns. Some of them are police weapons but perhaps with worse quality. Some of them are exotic and from other countries (ex: a Vepr from Ukraine, a Mateba revolver from Italy, or a QBZ bullpup rifle from China), once again with extreme variations in stats and quality and will be frequently used in certain gangs depending on their origin. They are all illegal.
- A few weapons can be found in niche shops, like sports shops (crossbow, axe, hunting rifles), antiques shops (WW2-era Soviet, British, American and German guns), and even anime or music stores. (katanas and electric guitars). They are usually legal.
- Finally, some major crime bosses may have golden weapons, with their damage and firerate being triple the damage and firerate of their non-golden counterparts. They also have about 85-100% quality. The only golden weapons available are: M9 Beretta, Desert Eagle, Uzi, Colt Python, Double-Barreled Shotgun, AK-47, AWP, and M60. They are illegal.
 
Now, an overview on Weapon Stats:
Damage: Self-explanatory. Its how much health lost per shot, or pellet. 
Rate of Fire: How fast the weapon will fire per turn in combat. (ex: a Revolver can fire only every second action, a RPG can only fire once per five actions, a machine gun can be fired multiple times per action)
Accuracy: The chance of your shots to hit where you intended it to hit/where you aimed the gun at.
Range: How far will the bullet last or remain accurate.
Clip Size: How long the weapon can be fired before reload
Reload Time: How many turns/actions it will take to reload.
Quality: The chance the weapon has to malfunction/jam. 
Mobility: How much slower/faster the player can move with the weapon equipped
Weight: How much inventory space it will take up (if "I can't carry all of that" modifier is selected)
(The above three mechanics are scrapped)
Armor Penetration: How much armor points each shot takes away
Fire Modes: The modes that the weapon has to fire differently, such as Semiauto, Auto, 3-Round Burst, etc. Each firemode can tweak some of the stats, so change firemodes accordingly if needed.
Special Traits: If the weapon has any special traits (example: sets people on fire, explosive, can fire underwater), then those traits are listed. Otherwise, this field is omitted.
 
Here is the Weapon Stat Cheatsheet
 
Now as for other items, they will work differently. 
There will be armor, the quality of which depends on the armor type and source. 
There will be drugs that will change the player's health pool, weapon stats, vulnerability, and other traits temporarily. They can only be found in the Black Market, and are illegal.
There will be attachments that can be added to a weapon to improve some stats (mostly at the cost of other stats).
There will be supportive and combative items, such as medkits (heal teammates), grenades of different kinds, and more.
All items will be known as the game goes on. (I dont feel like explaining them in the OP)

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Player Mechanics:
Now here's the overview on Player Mechanics.
Health: Obvious. Some drugs and items may alter health, health regen, or maximum health.
Armor: A "reserve" health pool that will reduce damage. The armor points and damage reduction depend on the armor, while the armor points reducted per shot (armor penetration) depends on a weapon's armor penetration stat.
Pocket Money: How much money is currently in their character. On death, all their pocket money is dropped to be looted. They are prone to more independent and small-scale robbers, muggers, kidnappers, and scammers.
Reserve Money: How much money is in their bank account(s). They are safe from being dropped on death, but may be vulnerable to economic fluctuations (i.e. interest rate) and bank robberies conducted by other characters or gangs. Upon a character's death, the bank may negotiate a split between the character's family and friends, or will just take it for themselves if they can't give it away to the dead one's friends and family.
Police Priority: How dangerous the character is considered by the police. The police priority can be reset by hiding from the cops in alleyways, safehouses, dumpsters, etc.
0-star: Cops don't give a shit about you. Vigilantes can depending on your vigilante priority.
1-star: Only cops nearby will try to go after you.
2-star: More organized cop squads on the ground will go after you.
3-star: Helicopters will assist the cop squads.
4-star: The FBI is called in. They can be disguised as citizens, vigilantes, or even gang members of any sort. They tend to be just as armed as regular police, but some can be more heavily armed (not as much as SWAT)
5-star: SWAT is called in. They are much more armed and armored than police or FBI.
6-star (rare): the Military is called in. God bless your heart.
Once caught by the police, the character must offer a bribe ranging from one thousand dollars to one million dollars depending on the police priority level in order to escape jail. Otherwise, he will be locked up in jail and can only escape by rolling a d6 to escape (explained later), or to be jailbroken by anyone (even unsuspecting rivals).
Vigilante Priority: How dangerous the character is considered by vigilantes on average. Unlike Police Priority, this can build up from illegal action to illegal action. The more illegal actions you do and the higher your police priority tends to get, the more likely the character can be assassinated either by a very sneaky vigilante, or by a heavily armed group of vigilantes.
0-star: Vigilantes don't give a shit about you.
1-star: Only vigilantes nearby will try to take you out.
2-star: Some vigilantes will try to intercept you and take you out unless they are too far.
3-star: Vigilantes start becoming more heavily armed.
4-star: Some vigilantes may resort to surprise, ambush, or sniper tactics to take you out.
5-star: Vigilantes will start grouping up to take you out. Individual vigilantes will either get even more heavily armed and armored, or will employ even more complex stealth/surprise/ambush/sniper tactics.
6-star: Every vigilante in the city, perhaps the state, wants you dead or jailed for personal satisfaction or lots of money, and will use any means. Good luck.
Vigilantes will either submit you to the police to collect a reward (thus employing the bribe or jail mechanic), or will straight up kill you if you personally fucked up their life or their loved ones' lives.
Equipped Weapon: Obvious. The equipped weapon may affect the mobility of the user.
Inventory: All the items and weapons that the character has. There is a weight limit depending on the backpack/portable storage item used. 

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Roleplay Rules and Applications
1. Do not metagame. Metagame is the sharing of any ingame information either off-topic, and use of such ingame afterwards. The character must act upon what HE or nearby people know or have acted upon. Metagamed actions WILL be ignored by the OP.
These examples are okay if they are all done ingame without the use of OOC information:
- Jill died. Jill's brother, Jack, after finding her body, passed the news of Jill's death to his Indian superior, Mama Shruti, by the telephone. A thug who was friends of Jill thinks that Jill is still alive since he did not get the news.
- In the middle of a gang war, one gang decides to send in a heavily armed person. The other gang does not know of these due to the lack of informants in their enemy gang, so they were caught by surprise when he showed up to the battlefield.
- A vigilante named Bob is given a mission by another legendary vigilante named Jarret, to assassinate a man named Grant. Jarret told Bob that the most likely places to find Grant is in a bar named Joey's and the Arrowhead Mall. He goes to Joey's, doesnt find Grant. He goes to Arrowhead Mall, comes up to Grant pretending to sell something. He gets Grants attention, and thats when the vigilante pulls off a surprise attack and headshots Grant with a silenced pistol.
These examples are not okay.
- Jill dies. Jill's brother, Jill's friend, and Jill's boss, Mama Shruti, immediately knows.
- In the middle of a gang war, one of the gangs deploys a heavily-armed member. The enemy gang immediately knows their plan despite the lack of intelligence from scouts, agents, spies, or informants and set up an ambush.
- A vigilante named Bob is told to kill Grant. His superior, Jarret, doesn't tell him any information. Bob miraculously finds Grant at Joey's (aka Bob's player sees a post that says that Grant is going to Joey's) and Grant fights back immediately since apparently he knows that Bob is a vigilante.
2. If a character is dead, HE'S DEAD.
- Not even begging to The Hoff enough will revive your character.
- Once a character dies, he can no longer be interacted with. You can interact with his legacy via other characters.
3. No godmodding aka make sure your characters are balanced
- dont make your character as strong as Arnold Schwarznegger, charismatic as Obama, smart as Albert Einstein, and agile as Usain Bolt at the same time. Instead, it is encouraged that you submit 4 characters, each being strong at one thing and weak at the other. So you can submit a ripped guy, a charismatic slut, a nerd, and a young agile guy.
4. You may utilize PM's
- If needed (to stem metagaming or other reasons), you can use PM's to communicate with other players, or to do interactions with things such as the Black Market, the Gunstores, and the Banks (PMing The Hoff) in secret. However, you must inform the Hoff of what you are doing or things may not go as you expected.
5. Do not twist or bypass mechanics.
- If you have to do a shop interaction, or combat, without the supervision of The Hoff, be sure to conduct it accordingly. Don't just take a weapon without paying for it or getting into trouble for stealing. If an enemy damages you in combat, do so accordingly. If you are not sure of the stats and numbers behind the combat or shop interactions, try your best and I may fix it accordingly.
6. Five characters at a time.
- You can only have five characters active that are not dead, missing, captured, or jailed. 
- You can submit new characters IF:
    - A character gets arrested and imprisoned by the police by any means (busted or turned in by a vigilante)
    - A character dies
    - A character is captive by another character (of any player)
    - A character is captive by NPCs that are either independent or working for a gang.
    - A character goes "missing" 
- However you can only submit as many new characters as the amount of characters that died/got captured/got arrested/went missing, until you have 5 active characters again.
- Any character application submitted when the player has 5 active characters will be denied, but will be put on some sort of waitlist, for it to be active as soon as a character slot opens.
7. Inactivity/Bannage
- If a character has not been used in 7 IRL days, than its owner can be notified the first few times to use it. After that, if a character is inactive for a IRL week, they will be shoved away.
       - If a character was fighting cops/military in a mission, they will be arrested.
       - If a character was fighting an enemy gang in a mission, they will be killed or captured (depending on the situation).
       - If a character was NOT in a mission, they will die to some other cause, like suicide, car accidents, or heat.
- If a player is banned from the forum, than ALL OF THEIR CHARACTERS WILL BE KILLED OFF REGARDLESS OF CIRCUMSTANCE.
8. If you die, you have a new character, a new allegiance.
- If a character that just died was a member of a gang, than the owner can not put characters in that gang or some of its allied gangs (depends) for a specified amount of updates, from 5 to 25 depending on the characters' reputation in the gang.
- If a character that just died was the leader of a gang, than the owner can not interact with that gang directly or indirectly (i.e via allies) for 50 updates. 
- If a character that just died was the leader of a gang made by the same owner as the character that just died, than the gang can NOT be interacted by that owner ever again, and it will be led by an NPC or another player.
- If your character was captured, all of the above applies, except the duration of the effect is indefinite until the character dies (in which case the effect's duration begins at how many updates left, not from the beginning) or is freed by any means (in which the effect stops).
    
A rulebreaking action will be ignored. If the player constantly breaks the rules, all his actions will be ignored by The Hoff. (the closest we got to a ban for a forum game)

and yea those are the rules for now. More will be added if needed.

Character Application:
fields in red are mandatory
Name:
Nicknames:
Age:
Gender: (no joke genders, there are only two genders)
Ethnicity/Race:
Religion: 
Gang:
Residence (within the state of Arizona):
Strengths:
Neutral:
Weaknesses:
Backstory:
BE SURE TO KEEP THIS WORD FOR EASIER TRACKING! DO NOT CHANGE IT!: CHARACT

Only Religion, Ethnicity/Race, Age, and Backstory are optional.

PLEASE NO SHITPOSTS (that means you Khan)

WARNING: Since school has started for me, expect lackluster updates (if any) and/or delays with questions/interactions going through me. If you need to interact with NPC things like gunstores, black market, banks, etc., go ahead and just do the damn interactions yourself if I am inactive as long as it keeps to the rules. If I do see anyone exploiting this to break rules, they will be "banned" (aka all their things ignored and possibly retconned) from Criminal Business.

Name: Carl Bad
Age:23
Gender: (no joke genders, there are only two genders)Male
Ethnicity/Race:White/Native American
Religion: None
Gang:The Gambini Mafia
Residence (within the state of Arizona):Scottsdale
Strengths: Charisma,shooting,luck,sneaking
Neutral: Intelligence,running
Weaknesses: fighting(hand to hand),climbing
Backstory: A smart kid that started hanging out with the wrong people and the wrong family. Next thing he knows is that he is helping run on of the biggest casinos. But after a while a man starts asking Carl to do some favors. After doing a lot of the favors he is asked to join the Gambini family. (Pretty shitty backstory but what do I know)

The Genghis Khan
Age: ergfdrg
Gender: male
Ethnicity/Race: Mongol-European
Religion: dfgsrgegd
Gang:
Residence: uh, fountain hills
Strengths: ????????????????????????
Neutral: ??????????
Weaknesses: wearfthrhrtjr

oh wait

in addition, players can form their own gangs. here's the gang application form:
Gang Name: Neo-Mongol Empire
Gang Nicknames: awerytgfhy
Gang Ethnicities: All of em
Gang Focuses: Complete raids and focus on conquering other gangs
Gang Rivals and Allies: None and None
Known leaders of gang:  (can i choose myself)
Backstory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire
Be sure to keep this word: MINGANG, at the beginning or end of the application, for easier search in the thread for analysis.

Name: John Will
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Ethnicity/Race: European
Religion: Christian
Gang: The Lucci Mafia
Residence (within the state of Arizona): North Scottdale
Strengths: Teamwork, Plan A (stealth), cracking boxes.
Neutral: Plan B (Loud), firearms, melees.
Weaknesses: Crafting, being charismatic and running.
BE SURE TO KEEP THIS WORD FOR EASIER TRACKING: Will
Didn't really get the strengths, neutral and weaknesses things. Can you explain it please?

All applications besides Genghis' are accepted

you just make up skills that are the strengths and weaknesses of your characters. neutral is for skills they are ok/decent with but not a pro with.

---

I will make my own application as an example to take over one of the Indian gangs.

Name: Shruti Dinprayja
Age: 76
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Indian
Religion: Hinduism
Gang: Hindu Mob (leader)
Residence: North Phoenix north of 101
Strengths: Intimidating, Intelligent
Neutral: Charisma
Weakness: Strength (shes old and may fall sick anytime soon)
Backstory: Shruti Dinprayja was born in British India. Her parents died to a famine during WW2 but she barely survived. The chaos of the early independent years of India toughened her up and introduced her to running a gang. She moved to Phoenix with her finest thugs from India, and started a new gang named the Hindu mob to unite the Indians of Phoenix. She became known as Mama Shruti.

wow an actual good forum game for once ,_,

Name:  Dimitri Vikenti
Age:  29
Gender:  attack helicopter Male
Ethnicity/Race:  Caucasian 
Religion: None
Gang:  Russian Bratva
Residence: Phoenix AZ  oh fuck wait im retarded
Strengths:  Firearms, good at making things (whether it be drugs or a drill to crack a safe), stealthy, smart
Neutral:  Strength, melee combat, picking locks, technology
Weaknesses:  charisma, not a trustworthy guy, teamwork
Backstory:  I'll think of some later (none)
BE SURE TO KEEP THIS WORD FOR EASIER TRACKING: CHARACT

we better be able to do some fucking cool heists and shit

All applications besides Genghis' are accepted

you just make up skills that are the strengths and weaknesses of your characters. neutral is for skills they are ok/decent with but not a pro with.

strengths: stealing
neutral: charisma
weakness: everything else

Name:  Dimitri Vikenti
Age:  29
Gender:  attack helicopter Male
Ethnicity/Race:  Caucasian 
Religion: None
Gang:  Russian Bratva
Residence:  Phoenix AZ  oh fuck wait im retarded
Strengths:  Firearms, good at making things (whether it be drugs or a drill to crack a safe), stealthy, smart
Neutral:  Strength, melee combat, picking locks, technology
Weaknesses:  charisma, not a trustworthy guy, teamwork
Backstory:  I'll think of some later (none)
BE SURE TO KEEP THIS WORD FOR EASIER TRACKING: CHARACT

we better be able to do some fucking cool heists and shit

accepted

and genghis your character app was a shitpost

---

existing characters will shortly be pm'd the first missions.

The first missions are released.

If you will do roleplay in PM's, inform me or else things may not go as you planned. it is ok to roleplay in this thread for as long as you are not metagaming

and keep in mind that you don't have to wait for The Hoff to do the missions for you completely. 

you have control over the missions unless specified. However, the Hoff will still need to control some NPCs if needed. As of now, act out your characters (be mindful of their strengths, neutralities, and weaknesses)

but remember to follow mechanics and roleplay rules. If you are unsure, just do your best and I will correct accordingly from time to time. 
I would understand your pain of trying to understand how the game works, so I will be more leninant for now

---

EDIT AS OF 9-16-17: I will put those missions here just for readers wondering what the fuck happened:

Dimitri Vikenti:
(FYI, your character speaks Russian. Thus you can understand Russian or similar Slavic languages.)


You drive to a store named Yasha for Russia, going to get your usual kovbasa, ingredients for your lovely Russian dishes, kvass, and Polish chocolates.

As soon as you walk in, the butcher stares at you...

Butcher: "Эй, Сергей, этот новый парень!" (Hey Sergei, that new guy is here!)

An underweight man donned in a tracksuit walks out of an employees-only area, and walks up to you. 

Sergei: "Привет, приходите за мной." (Hi, come follow me)

He leads you back to the area that he came from, and shows you the stairs to a secret second floor. You are led into a meeting room of sorts, with three other people decked in white and green already seated.

Man: "Добро пожаловать в Русскую Братву, Димитрий! Мы ждали вас. Я - Сергей Великанов, нижний босс главы Феникса. Теперь появились подозрения, что есть еще один восточно-европейский продуктовый магазин, европейский рынок Маши, который является фронтом для наших фашистских противников Хокала.

Николай. Коля. Вы будете входить в магазин со спины и проверять зоны обслуживания для любых секретных сделок, которые могут совершать хокалы.

Влади. Димитрий. Приходите впереди, навязывайте контроль толпы, ломайте их телефоны. Если они попытаются провести 911, убейте их. Получите наличные деньги с аванса.

Не трахайте это.
Ura! Слава Братве!"
("Welcome to the Russian Bratva, Dimitri! We have been expecting you. I am Sergey Velikanov, the underboss of the Phoenix chapter. Now, there were suspicions that there was another Eastern European grocery store, Masha's European Market, that is a front for our fascist Khokal enemies.


Nikolai. Kolya. You will be breaking into the store from the back and checking out the maintanence areas for any secret deals the Khokals may be conducting.

Vlady. Dimitri. Come in the front, impose crowd control, break their phones. If they try to conduct 911, kill them. Get the cash from upfront.

Do not fuck this up.
Ura! Glory to the Bratva!")

You: Dimitri Vikenti
Health: 100/100
Armor: 0/0
Pocket Money: $0
Reserve Money: $0
Police Priority: 0 stars
Vigilante Priority: 0 stars

Assault Rifle added: AK-47
Damage: 40
Rate of Fire: up to 5 times per action
Accuracy: 50%
Range: 40%
Clip Size: 30
Reload Time: 1 action
Quality: 60%
Mobility: 20% slower
Armor Penetration: 4
Fire Mode: Full Auto
Pistol added: Makarov
Damage: 23
Rate of Fire: 1 time per action
Accuracy: 45%
Range: 20%
Clip Size: 8
Reload Time: instant
Quality: 44%
Mobility: no speed reduction
Armor Penetration: 0
Fire Mode: Semi-auto
Melee Weapon added: Kitchen Knife
Damage: 20-30. 100 on neck, heart, back, or top of head. Can cut off limbs.
Rate of Fire: 1 time per action
Quality: 90%
Mobility: no speed reduction
Armor Penetration: 0

Current Mission Objective: Get the cash from the front by any means.
Teammates (you can control them but the Hoff may control them too)
Vlady.
Health: 100/100
Armor: 0/100
Equipped weapon: AK-47

---

John Will
You pull up at the Lucci Manor somewhere in Scottsdale. Upon your entry, a Lucci bodyguard stops you.


John: "I'm here to see the Don. I was told to be at the Manor immediately. Here's his word."

John shows a text sent to him by Don Lucci on his telephone to the bodyguard.

Lucci Bodyguard: "If its urgent, go quick." 

After navigating through the many corridors and rooms of the Manor, you come across a large room guarded by two more heavily armed bodyguards. You show them the text, and reason with them the same, and they let you in.
The room is very crowded. Lots of Lucci goons are standing around, drinking wine, and sitting at a large circular table. The Don of the Luccis sits at the front of the table with a map.

Don Lucci: "Come in, come in. Make yourself at home, but don't get too relaxed. We got important news, hence why all the goons are here."

John sits down at the table.

Suddenly, Don Lucci fires a revolver at the air, signaling silence.

Don Lucci: "Alright, the time has come. For long, the Loranzio family has been intruding into our business. I received news from the Gambinis that the Loranzios are starting to do drug deals. Initially this hasn't bothered us, but they really wanna do this shit. They are breaking the old conduct of the Three Families, that no family should take away the business of another family, and to keep monopolies. The Loranzios. Are. Breaking. The Conduct. Here's the deal. We will be taking sniper and ambush spots at this warehouse..."

the Don points to a spot on the map

Don Lucci: "This is where the Loranzios will be conducting a drug deal with some guys that we don't know or ever cared about. When they are about to trade the drugs for money, fire upon them. The Gambinis will worry about people trying to escape and securing the drugs and money during the ambush. Capsice? Now, all of you, GET THE FUCK OUT AND GO GET THOSE LORIES!"

Carbine Rifle Added: Ruger Mini-14
Origin: United States
Damage: 35 on semiauto, 50 on single-fire.
Rate of fire: Once per second action on single fire, Once per action on semiauto.
Accuracy: 50%
Range: 50%
Clip Size: 6
Reload Time: Two actions
Quality: 45%
Mobility: 25% speed reduction
Armor Penetration: 5
Fire Modes: Semiauto (for close-mid range), Singlefire (for long range)
Attachments:
Basic Scope
- 30% increased accuracy and range
- Only usable on singlefire

Revolver Added: Mateba Revolver
Origin: Italy
Damage: 60
Rate of fire: Once per action
Accuracy: 30%
Range: 30%
Clip Size: 6
Reload Time: 2-3 actions
Quality: 50%
Mobility: 5% speed reduction
Armor Penetration: 3-4
Fire Modes: Semiauto

Teammates:
Lucci Goon #1
Lucci Goon #2
Lucci Goon #3
all of them have 100 HP, no armor, Ruger Mini 14s with Basic Scope, and Matebas.

Current Mission Objective: Snipe as many Loranzios and the guys they are dealing with as possible.

---

Carl Bad
You are driving on your way to Talking Stick Resort for another "shift", as the totally-not-Gambini-Mafia owners of that place would say. But you know you just have a meeting with the Gambini dons and consigileres.

Upon entry of the employees only area of Talking Stick Resort, you hear chanting coming from what was the second conference room, only used for Gambini affairs...

"Fuck Loranzios!"

You quickly run into the room to investigate the commotion. It was Gambini consigilere Antonio "Tony" Madeli, hyping up the Gambini goons for what you assume is another war with the Loranzios.

Madeli: "Those Lories are breaking the long-established rules of the Three Families. The drug trade, its the Luccis' business, but they are sticking their noses in there, expecting some nosebleed from us and them once we roll around. I got the word from the Don of the Luccis that they will be ambushing the Lories and those other guys. We just have to block off all escape routes, kill any escapees, and take the shit for ourselves when we are done. AM I FUCKING CLEAR?"

The goons shout yes, in English, Italian, Spanish, or an variant of it. 

Madeli: "Let's remember the address: Hayden and Cactus. Hayden and Cactus. There is an abandoned grey warehouse there where the deal is going down. Run to that armory next door. Let's go!"

You try to run to the armory, but all the other goons beat you to it. The only guns left in there was a Benelli M3, an M16, and two Beretta M9s. Arm up wisely, you will be going into the ambush hot.

Mission Objective: Arm up, go to the warehouse on Hayden and Cactus and take part in the ambush. Secure the drugs and money.
Optional: Find out who were the Loranzios dealing with.