Gangs of Magnimar

[theStormWeaver]

I was wondering if someone had an idea about the sizes of the various gangs in Magnimar?

My rough estimate, based on the number of Tower Girls given in Shattered Star #1, is that the weaker gangs probably number ~45 (figuring that, with about 20-30 members after a lost gang war with the Wreckwash Blades, the girls were probably at about 45-50 at full strength).

So; Tower Girls, Wreckwash Blades, Doolun's Lads: ~45.
Creepers: 60-70 (although unpopular, their leader is 7th level and they've managed to be quite successful).
Gargoyles ~100
Night Scales ~100 (they are elite members of the criminal underworld, and thus can afford exclusivity).
That Gang Whose Name Escapes Me: ~150 (most powerful of the Sczarni gangs).

It'd be nice to know, so I have some reasonable guideline when building them out. My players have gleefully abandoned the rails of Shattered Star, coming back once in a while out of pity for me.

They are on the verge of a full blown gang war (they've taken over the Tower Girls, recruited the contingent of Gray Maidens from #2, slaughtered Doolun's Lads, and obliterated the Creepers) against the Night Scales and any other gang's that get in the way.

[Major_Blackhart]

Ok, that's friggin awesome.
Have they run into the cleric of Norgorber who basically runs the underworld?

[Shiftybob]

The gang whose name escapes you are "The Gallowed".

[theStormWeaver]

Major_Blackhart wrote:

Ok, that's friggin awesome.

Have they run into the cleric of Norgorber who basically runs the underworld?

Thanks :)

Staunton Vhain a.k.a The Forever Man, and no. Vhain likes to stay in the shadows and let subordinates do the management.

I don't imagine he'll step in until things get really nuts. If the players manage to displace the Night Scales or The Gallowed, Staunton may step in and tell them how things work in Magnimar.

@Shiftybob: Thanks :)

So... anyone have an idea if these numbers look right? Official Word would be the best, but I'll settle for a second opinion.

I'm just worried my numbers are way off or something.

[Major_Blackhart]

They don't seem off.
The big question is how, and if, they operate so openly and brazenly at times. There's definitely some palms that need to be greased, so a good curveball you could throw is that the town guards are rather very hungry, could also be an opportunity to get the guards to take down rivals as well.

You could also have them do gruntwork and legwork for the fella who runs that tavern with the auroch's head on the wall, a disagreeable fellow who got gored by it, and is alleged to run illegal blood sports.

[The NPC]

"Gangs of Magnimar" coming this play season to your local play houses.

[W E Ray]

You've got 6 volumes of Shattered Star full of cool NPCs to use. You can always grab random NPCs out of various volumes and incorporate them into various parts of Magnimar. Play with ideas for their backgrounds and such and throw them at the PCs.

This way you still get to use the AP and enjoy it, saving lots of time coming up with stuff from scratch -- and your PCs get to do what they want in Magnimar.

[theStormWeaver]

W E Ray wrote:

You've got 6 volumes of Shattered Star full of cool NPCs to use. You can always grab random NPCs out of various volumes and incorporate them into various parts of Magnimar. Play with ideas for their backgrounds and such and throw them at the PCs.

This way you still get to use the AP and enjoy it, saving lots of time coming up with stuff from scratch -- and your PCs get to do what they want in Magnimar.

That's... not at all an answer to my question, but thanks for the advice anyway. I've found the NPC Codex to be quite useful, I've already used the Sacred Killer, and intend to use two other Assassins and two Rogues. I'm sure I'll find more of them to be of use.

[W E Ray]

True.

There wasn't anything I could add about Magnimarian gang sizes -- the numbers you projected seem okay and I don't think Paizo would publish specifics on something like that (should be the DM's domain, big cities should have lots of room for DM design.)

What caught my eye from the OP was that the PCs went off the rails so you were looking for help with the gangs. And from me, whatever numbers you come up with, use NPCs and combat encounters from Shattered Star.

Ultimately, though, I know how you feel, I often ask specific questions on the Boards and get seemingly crazy-unrelated answers. Good luck.

And there are LOTS of really cool NPCs in SSAP that could make for great gang members/ leaders in Magnimar's underside. So you can stay on SS a bit even if your Players won't.