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Balance Sheet
Income that shows up in your Bank line is clean money, and can be used for paying mortgages. It should also be high enough to explain your lifestyle and discretionary purposes, otherwise it'll start tripping some red flags with the tax boys.
This particular character is rolling in it for this example, but don't expect a wallet this thick.
Taxable/Untaxable Income: All of your income goes to your Bank account for the first turn (since you all have legal jobs) - you can decide this first turn how much of that income you want to be taken off-the-books cash instead. That income gets a percentage bonus added to it depending on your tax bracket (and CUN skill), and goes into the Vault instead. The vault can be used for any purposes regular cash would be, except for big ticket items (dwelling/transportation), and paying mortgages. Using purely cash money and never touching your bank, of course, can also get the tax bureau on you.
Businesses:If you run a business, you'll get a bonus to your income depending on your ADM skill, and will see an income stream for your Discretionary Spending account as well. The company, of course, makes more money than this, but that's going to things like overhead, and I don't feel like coming up with spreadsheets for everybody's fictitious legal/illegal businesses. You can, of course, funnel as much money from the DS account into your Vault as well, but going from Vault to Bank will cost about 30% of those funds.
Lifestyle: Your character (and family) will want a certain standard of living, and it's up to you to earn enough to afford it. When you start making more money, depending on your character and dependents' personalities, they'll start spending more money. You can always crack down on them, and perhaps try some belt-tightening yourself, but too much, and you'll be facing weekly Rep losses, as people will begin to think you've run into hard time, or become a cheapskate.
Dwelling and Transportation: Your dwelling gives you a base Rep level - with nicer dwellings, Heat can also periodically dissipate - but at the same time, so will Cred. The further you live from downtown Anaheim, the more you'll pay for vehicle upkeep, but honestly, that's a pittance and I don't even know why I care enough to charge you guys for gas.
Like your dwelling, fancier transportation options give you more base Rep. Unlike dwellings, you'll never lose Cred for having nice cars.
Consumption
Civilian legal arms and armor, transportation, and other will be purchasable from a store thread. Military grade stuff, you're gonna have to import - see Smyg, Huo, or Snacks for help. You can also go through representatives of the Colombian cartels, biker gangs, Koreans, or yakuza. But you know, that's probably not a great idea.
Conspicuous consumption will raise your Rep, and sometimes Cred. Because buying shit is the Pacific authenticity of American dream.
This is your turnly balance sheet. Bank covers your clean money, Vault is dirty cash, and the Discretionary Spending Account is off-the-books cash your front organization may be holding.Bank: $20,000 (+$5,000 p/week) [+3,175 total income]
Vault: $15,000
Legitimate Businessmen Social Club Discretionary Spending Account: $30,000 (+10,000 p/week)
Lifestyle: Lavish [-$300 p/week]
Dependents: Wife [-$300 p/week], Son [-$100 p/week], Mistress [-$100 p/week]
Dwelling: Irvine McMansion [+200 Rep, -$1000p/week]
Transportation: 1 Fancy Car [+15 Rep] (-$25 p/week)
Income that shows up in your Bank line is clean money, and can be used for paying mortgages. It should also be high enough to explain your lifestyle and discretionary purposes, otherwise it'll start tripping some red flags with the tax boys.
This particular character is rolling in it for this example, but don't expect a wallet this thick.
Taxable/Untaxable Income: All of your income goes to your Bank account for the first turn (since you all have legal jobs) - you can decide this first turn how much of that income you want to be taken off-the-books cash instead. That income gets a percentage bonus added to it depending on your tax bracket (and CUN skill), and goes into the Vault instead. The vault can be used for any purposes regular cash would be, except for big ticket items (dwelling/transportation), and paying mortgages. Using purely cash money and never touching your bank, of course, can also get the tax bureau on you.
Businesses:If you run a business, you'll get a bonus to your income depending on your ADM skill, and will see an income stream for your Discretionary Spending account as well. The company, of course, makes more money than this, but that's going to things like overhead, and I don't feel like coming up with spreadsheets for everybody's fictitious legal/illegal businesses. You can, of course, funnel as much money from the DS account into your Vault as well, but going from Vault to Bank will cost about 30% of those funds.
Lifestyle: Your character (and family) will want a certain standard of living, and it's up to you to earn enough to afford it. When you start making more money, depending on your character and dependents' personalities, they'll start spending more money. You can always crack down on them, and perhaps try some belt-tightening yourself, but too much, and you'll be facing weekly Rep losses, as people will begin to think you've run into hard time, or become a cheapskate.
Dwelling and Transportation: Your dwelling gives you a base Rep level - with nicer dwellings, Heat can also periodically dissipate - but at the same time, so will Cred. The further you live from downtown Anaheim, the more you'll pay for vehicle upkeep, but honestly, that's a pittance and I don't even know why I care enough to charge you guys for gas.
Like your dwelling, fancier transportation options give you more base Rep. Unlike dwellings, you'll never lose Cred for having nice cars.
Consumption
Civilian legal arms and armor, transportation, and other will be purchasable from a store thread. Military grade stuff, you're gonna have to import - see Smyg, Huo, or Snacks for help. You can also go through representatives of the Colombian cartels, biker gangs, Koreans, or yakuza. But you know, that's probably not a great idea.
Conspicuous consumption will raise your Rep, and sometimes Cred. Because buying shit is the Pacific authenticity of American dream.
Spoiler
Show
You gotta make money to spend it, and sometimes that calls for aggressive expansion.
Jobs
Anything from "receive drug shipment" to "escort drug shipment to buyer" to "double cross buyer and kill all the dudes at the drug deal" is a job. In some cases, like the above, you can have the same guys do every step of that.
To get dudes to do a job, just pick out the banners and associates you trust for it, let them know what sort of cut they'll be getting (flat fee before or after the job, a percentage of the take, goods or services, or some combination of the above), tell them what to do, and point them in the right direction.
If you've got a particularly heavy job on hand and need more dudes to help out, you can tap your banners or associates to bring along friends they particularly trust (and you can screen them beforehand if you want). You can also borrow members of another player's or NPC crew if they're friendly with you. For another player's crew member, you won't need that player's okay - this is an opt-out situation, not opt-in. You can specifically forbid characters in your organization from working with another Banner's crew for whatever reason. Some characters won't agree to a job if they dislike you or your crew, of course.
Gaining Turf
You can gain unclaimed turf easily. Just declare it as part of your shit. Holding onto turf, that's the hard part.
Empty lots, parks, and parking garages will naturally be fairly easy to claim. Residential and commercial lots, you'll have to get the residents/tenants to agree one way or another. Most of the time, an offer of protection is generally good enough.
Libraries, industrial lots, and offices will require you to supply a number of the building's employees or patrons. Actually holding them? Probably not gonna happen. Industrial centers can also be used to stash illicit goods, and getting in with the bosses is easier than most other locations.
Combat
Or, "Yes, your stats actually do stuff."
The stats are rough approximations more than hard and fast rules. In general, Mtl + Half Adm is your base combat score. This score, plus equipment bonuses, plus a dice roll, determines how well you do in combat. When ambushing someone, the difference between your Cun and the target's Cun is added to your initial roll as well. Extra bonus points are provided depending on how you plan things, and even still, the end results are more just an indication of roughly who should win/lose a confrontation. GM fiat determines the final result, and just how badly either side's losses are. More often than not, you'll live to see another day.
Gear
This sorta fits into the Jobs and Combat section, but probably deserves its own.
Gear grants additional bonus points to your combat score, and can turn relatively low-level altercations into fatal ones. While everybody gets free flavored melee weapons, you'll only be able to carry pistols and some melee weapons around ready to use. Slightly heavier weapons like SMGs, sawed-offs, and takedown rifles can be carried about, but won't come into play on the first roll if ambushed. Military grade weapons are generally only used in ambushes, major offensives, or static defense, since you can't exactly be seen strolling around town with them. Also to be noted - using weapons increases the heat gained from each action as well, and can possibly result in jail time if a character is caught with an illegal weapon.
Each class also has added proficiencies with certain weapons. Tanks and Brawlers prefer heavier weapons - machine guns, shotguns, high caliber pistols. Snipers and Assassins prefer heavy weapons that hit first - rifles and heavy or silenced pistols. Rangers prefer mobile weapons - assault rifles, submachine guns, sawed-offs, and lighter pistols. Scrappers are a special class gear-wise, and have a smaller bonus to all weapons. If left to their own devices, your characters will grab weapons that fit their proficiencies. They'll get additional bonus points in combat when using them.
Melee's a little different - each character will generally bring their own melee weapon if the job doesn't call for anything larger, but sometimes they won't have a personal weapon on them. In these cases, they'll fight with whatever they find on hand. Scrappers again have a bonus to improvising melee weapons.
It's getting hot in here
A hidden Global Heat stat (or, maybe I'll make it visible) tracks just how bad the gang situation is. The higher the Global Heat, the more heat you'll incur from criminal actions, the more you'll have to bribe cops to reduce heat, and the more restrictive laws will come into effect.
To prevent heat from going too high, escalate on the following scale: Verbal intimidation > Physical intimidation > Melee-only conflict > pistols only conflict > civilian-legal weapons only conflict > automatic weapons conflict > use of explosives/military weapons. Of course, you'll never know if the other side is going to keep with the rules of war themselves, so you'll want to be prepared.
Jobs
Anything from "receive drug shipment" to "escort drug shipment to buyer" to "double cross buyer and kill all the dudes at the drug deal" is a job. In some cases, like the above, you can have the same guys do every step of that.
To get dudes to do a job, just pick out the banners and associates you trust for it, let them know what sort of cut they'll be getting (flat fee before or after the job, a percentage of the take, goods or services, or some combination of the above), tell them what to do, and point them in the right direction.
If you've got a particularly heavy job on hand and need more dudes to help out, you can tap your banners or associates to bring along friends they particularly trust (and you can screen them beforehand if you want). You can also borrow members of another player's or NPC crew if they're friendly with you. For another player's crew member, you won't need that player's okay - this is an opt-out situation, not opt-in. You can specifically forbid characters in your organization from working with another Banner's crew for whatever reason. Some characters won't agree to a job if they dislike you or your crew, of course.
Gaining Turf
You can gain unclaimed turf easily. Just declare it as part of your shit. Holding onto turf, that's the hard part.
Empty lots, parks, and parking garages will naturally be fairly easy to claim. Residential and commercial lots, you'll have to get the residents/tenants to agree one way or another. Most of the time, an offer of protection is generally good enough.
Libraries, industrial lots, and offices will require you to supply a number of the building's employees or patrons. Actually holding them? Probably not gonna happen. Industrial centers can also be used to stash illicit goods, and getting in with the bosses is easier than most other locations.
Combat
Or, "Yes, your stats actually do stuff."
The stats are rough approximations more than hard and fast rules. In general, Mtl + Half Adm is your base combat score. This score, plus equipment bonuses, plus a dice roll, determines how well you do in combat. When ambushing someone, the difference between your Cun and the target's Cun is added to your initial roll as well. Extra bonus points are provided depending on how you plan things, and even still, the end results are more just an indication of roughly who should win/lose a confrontation. GM fiat determines the final result, and just how badly either side's losses are. More often than not, you'll live to see another day.
Gear
This sorta fits into the Jobs and Combat section, but probably deserves its own.
Gear grants additional bonus points to your combat score, and can turn relatively low-level altercations into fatal ones. While everybody gets free flavored melee weapons, you'll only be able to carry pistols and some melee weapons around ready to use. Slightly heavier weapons like SMGs, sawed-offs, and takedown rifles can be carried about, but won't come into play on the first roll if ambushed. Military grade weapons are generally only used in ambushes, major offensives, or static defense, since you can't exactly be seen strolling around town with them. Also to be noted - using weapons increases the heat gained from each action as well, and can possibly result in jail time if a character is caught with an illegal weapon.
Each class also has added proficiencies with certain weapons. Tanks and Brawlers prefer heavier weapons - machine guns, shotguns, high caliber pistols. Snipers and Assassins prefer heavy weapons that hit first - rifles and heavy or silenced pistols. Rangers prefer mobile weapons - assault rifles, submachine guns, sawed-offs, and lighter pistols. Scrappers are a special class gear-wise, and have a smaller bonus to all weapons. If left to their own devices, your characters will grab weapons that fit their proficiencies. They'll get additional bonus points in combat when using them.
Melee's a little different - each character will generally bring their own melee weapon if the job doesn't call for anything larger, but sometimes they won't have a personal weapon on them. In these cases, they'll fight with whatever they find on hand. Scrappers again have a bonus to improvising melee weapons.
It's getting hot in here
A hidden Global Heat stat (or, maybe I'll make it visible) tracks just how bad the gang situation is. The higher the Global Heat, the more heat you'll incur from criminal actions, the more you'll have to bribe cops to reduce heat, and the more restrictive laws will come into effect.
To prevent heat from going too high, escalate on the following scale: Verbal intimidation > Physical intimidation > Melee-only conflict > pistols only conflict > civilian-legal weapons only conflict > automatic weapons conflict > use of explosives/military weapons. Of course, you'll never know if the other side is going to keep with the rules of war themselves, so you'll want to be prepared.