TEXT: BY 
  DOMINIC COVEY
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   PLAYTESTING: 
  DOMINIC COVEY, CHRIS DAVIS, CHRIS DERNER, 
  CHRIS HOOVER,  RYAN KELLEY, ETHAN RIPPLINGER, 
  AARON WIGGINS, CHRIS COVEY. 
  ART: J. LONGENBAUGH, DOMINIC COVEY
  CARTOGRAPHY: DOMINIC COVEY
  EDITING: CHRIS VAN DEELEN, CHRIS DAVIS 
  LAYOUT: CHRIS DAVIS
  
  2
  METROPOLIS RHO: URBAN DECAY
  Urban Decay is a collection of source material for 
  the Metropolis Rho campaign setting as described in 
  the adventure Humanity In A Bottle, which depicts 
  a degenerating society in the far future, more than 
  two hundred years after the nuclear holocaust known 
  as “the Fall”.  Isolated from the desolate world 
  outside by its own ancient city dome, Metropolis Rho 
  presents an ideal Degenerate community for GMs to 
  base new campaigns in.
  The material herein is intended to serve as 
  background information for both GM and players 
  alike, giving a history of the city, an overview of 
  its culture and inhabitants, class divisions, and 
  a glimpse of the elements that make it an iconic 
  Degenerate community.  In addition to “setting the 
  stage”, Urban Decay presents guidelines for making 
  characters from the city, including suggestions on 
  how standard Darwin’s World occupations and even 
  variant backgrounds can be incorporated into the 
  setting.  A number of new weapons and items are 
  also introduced here, as well as three new advanced 
  classes that make an appearance in the Humanity In A 
  Bottle adventure.
  HISTORY OF METROPOLIS RHO
  Metropolis Rho, one of several ultra-modern cities 
  that sprung up in the growing desolation of the 
  American interior during the few decades preceding 
  the great Fall, was one of the more populated urban 
  settlements that formed during the ﬁnal ﬁnancial and 
  economic crisis of the late 20th century, as former 
  croplands and bread basket production territory 
  slowly turned into dust and sand.
  The metropolis, like many others, adapted 
  to the growing acidity of the world climate by 
  implementing strict social and security programs to 
  curb and control the inﬂux of outsiders that began 
  to emerge from dwindling communities in outlying 
  regions, hoping to get food and security from the 
  city.  In these times, with the threat of global war 
  escalating by the year, cities such as Rho became 
  virtual police states.
  By the 2000s, Rho was over-populated, over-
  drawn, and out of luck.  When the nukes began 
  to fall all over the world, desert metropolis like 
  Metropolis Rho were, unavoidably, among the 
  targets.  Although defense batteries of anti-missile 
  warheads and ground-based lasers did an effective 
  job of eliminating the nuclear threat against Rho (the 
  same cannot be said of its sister cities to the west, 
  which were almost entirely obliterated), with minimal 
  damage from distant airbursts over 20 miles away, 
  the second wave was by far more effective.
  A second wave of strikes hit the region near 
  Metropolis Rho, this time the missiles being the 
  carriers of another, more sinister weapon - disease.  
  Biological warheads managed to pierce through the 
  city’s aging and stressed automated defenses, and 
  it was only a matter of time - a few weeks - before 
  mutated plagues were rampant.
  In only two weeks, three quarters of the population 
  of Rho were dead or dying.  The silence that 
  shrouded the world prevented the panicked folk 
  of the city knowing what happened to their fellow 
  citizens elsewhere in the country.  By the third week, 
  motivated by massive food shortages, rampant 
  disease, and hundreds of thousands of dead lying 
  in the streets, the population abandoned the city 
  altogether.
  So the city remained for several years, left to blister 
  under the wasteland sun.
  A new community, however, soon came to 
  claim the city as its own.  A community was set up 
  generations ago when a large number of survivors 
  of the original exodus, horriﬁed by the endless miles 
  of desolation that they had found in the wastes, got 
  together and returned to the intact but abandoned 
  “domed city in the desert”.
  Using knowledge brought with them, they erected 
  a powerful barrier of robotic turrets and motion 
  sensors that effectively made the city an island in the 
  wasteland.  For the next few years the last remnants 
  of humankind, dying from mutation, disease, and 
  radiation sickness, came to hopefully take refuge in 
  the city but were killed or turned back each time; 
  eventually Metropolis Rho alone survived, as all life 
  died off outside leaving those fortunate souls within 
  as the last enclave of Man.
  As the years passed, the populace of Metropolis 
  Rho discovered that the city had, in fact, a working 
  nuclear reactor beneath it, and with it they were 
  able to revive the city’s power, transport systems, 
  etc.  With this piece of technology they immediately 
  set about reviving the city, rebuilding a culture that, 
  though it attempted to resemble the government from 
  before the war, was tainted and twisted by the terror 
  and horror of the post-holocaust world.
  It was not long before tyranny and greed became 
  the rule of the day, and the inhabitants of Metropolis 
  Rho became prisoners in their own paradise.
  THE METROPOLIS TODAY
  The people who began the revival and brought life 
  once more to the Metropolis attempted to design a 
  society based on the civilization of the past.  With 
  an entire city’s resources brought back on line, they 
  
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  attempted to create a way of life similar to that of 
  America prior to the Fall, producing what they 
  needed and scavenging the rest from the outlying 
  rubble (slowly stripping the outer reaches of the 
  city and focusing on building up the heart of the old 
  Metropolis, within the conﬁnes of the original dome).
  Part of their self-designed future was to recreate 
  a system of democracy, law, and order.  In time, 
  however, the concepts behind these cherished ideals 
  would slowly fade, degenerate, and run afoul of 
  themselves.  No one can say when or how things 
  went bad, went so askew, but it was almost certainly 
  a slow process.  The city is no longer the democratic 
  ideal its founders had hoped for, a protected enclave 
  from the madness of the world outside.  Government 
  has slowly changed into something terrible, a 
  mockery of what it once was, a study in how good 
  intentions can turn rotten if left alone to fester 
  without opposition.
  The Metropolis is now a much different place.  
  Though the old system of government is much the 
  same on the exterior, it is also changed.  City politics 
  are now run by several powerful “maﬁa” or “gangs” 
  – who run for ofﬁce (and are voted into power).  
  Each gang’s inner circle of leaders generally lives in 
  absolute luxury, inhabiting the fabulous penthouse 
  apartments that survived the war or have been 
  refurbished – just like rich politicians of the past.
  Each ganglord has his own personal “army”, with 
  hitmen and hired killers being commonplace - and 
  even legal.  Open assassination and street warfare 
  is totally legal in the city; it’s the way the system 
  works.  As such, powerful men surround themselves 
  with bodyguards and crack shots.  Loyal servants 
  - bodyguards, hitmen, etc. - are rewarded with lavish 
  privileges in the city; grateful (or just simply smart) 
  employers give their best men their own expensive 
  apartments, an endless supply of drugs (manufactured 
  
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  en mass on the city streets by one or more gang 
  organizations), and beautiful women (known 
  amusedly as “furniture”, yet giving one a remarkably 
  accurate idea of how they are treated).
  Electricity is still generated in the city.  Neon lights 
  still glow over the degenerate streets much like the 
  cities of the past.  People run shops, enjoy recreation 
  in preserved parks, etc…  The gangs, however, have 
  the city pretty much divided into their own territories, 
  demanding protection money and/or military/political 
  support in their constant wars, whether above ground 
  or beneath the social surface.  The sewers are home 
  to rebels who seek to betray the system or radicals 
  with their own vision of how things should work; 
  other parts are given over to the advanced power 
  station complex that powers the city, grungy factories 
  producing narcotics for the public, or the food 
  processing complex that produces the limited supply 
  of tasteless nutritional food products consumed by 
  the masses in huge “farms” along the tepid riverside.
  WHERE IS METROPOLIS RHO?
  In the “Twisted Earth” setting of Darwin’s World, 
  Metropolis Rho is located in the forbidden region 
  known as the Graveyard of Bone Cities, a former 
  part of the eastern Great Plains that became the 
  heart of a pre-Fall effort to build more living space 
  for America’s growing population.  Metropolis Rho 
  was just one of many hastily constructed domed 
  cities, built in pre-fabricated sections with an almost 
  identical layout to its sister cities.
  In the Twisted Earth setting the Graveyard is now 
  a desolate region of high radiation and little or no 
  life.  The placement of Rho inside this “dead zone” 
  is integral to its current existence, as it is part of 
  what has convinced the inhabitants of the city that all 
  intelligent life has gone extinct outside their dome.  
  While their enclave is protected inside the titanic 
  dome of the Metropolis, outside the sand storms 
  and radiation so abundant to this region virtually 
  surrounds them like an impassable wall.
  The placement of the city inside the region of the 
  Graveyard also explains why no one from outside the 
  Metropolis (namely, the denizens of the wasteland 
  more familiar to players of this setting) has ever truly 
  discovered it.  Considered forbidden by the primitive 
  inhabitants of the desert, including the rare traders 
  who venture this far north to visit the scattered 
  tribes of the Desert of Nowhere, no one enters this 
  region knowingly due to tales of the “red fever” (i.e. 
  radiation sickness), and the widely-held belief that 
  nothing survived the Fall in the ruined dome cities of 
  the plains.
  On the Darwin’s World map of the Twisted Earth 
  (featured on the inside cover of the Darwin’s World 
  2nd Edition rules), Metropolis Rho can be found in 
  the Graveyard of Bone Cities region, between the 
  ruins of St. Louis and Springﬁeld (its closest sister 
  cities are Metropolis Beta-Delta and Metropolis 
  Omega).
  WARDS
  The streets and neighborhoods of Metropolis Rho 
  are broken down into nine main districts or “wards”, 
  which have become the province of the city’s gangs.  
  Long ago each ward was ruled by its own gang, but 
  over time splinter groups and breakaway factions 
  turned this fragile order on its head.  Now a given 
  ward, while ostensibly governed independent of its 
  
  5
  neighbor, will often be contested by two, three, or 
  even four gangs at a given time.
  The nine wards of Metropolis Rho are described 
  below, along with a list of those gangs that vie for its 
  control (listed in order of majority).
  DOWNTOWN
  Local Gangs:  South Side Killers, Midtown Angels, 
  West Side Gang, East Side Boys, Nightcrawlers, 
  Sodomites, Juvies, Chuds.
  Downtown is just like any other sector of the city, 
  except that the population density is much higher 
  (there are more people downtown than anywhere in 
  town, by a ratio of 3:1), and the living is much, much, 
  more dangerous.
  Downtown is where its at, as far as the citizens 
  of the city are concerned.  Although the wonderful 
  and majestic Titan Tower overlooks the downtown 
  area from the dark domed sky, illuminated at night 
  by proud searchlights, it is the glow of twisting neon 
  signs and ﬂickering light pillars that reveals the true 
  nature of this district.
  Downtown is convoluted with streets, alleys, and 
  a maze of sewers.  All sorts of businesses can be 
  found here - normal shops (generally open during the 
  day), drug warehouses, scavenger emporiums, car 
  dealerships, “furniture” outlets, virtual reality escape 
  parlors, love shops, etc. - everything and anything.  
  Even the sewers are home to all manner of decrepit 
  souls - gangs use pockets of the sewers to create 
  natural alcohol for consumption, or drugs (in the case 
  of minor gangs who can’t afford to show their face 
  above ground), while beggars, lepers, and mutants 
  thrive in darkness.  It is even said that some bars, 
  clubs, and whorehouses are actually situated in the 
  sewers, and thrive on a bizarre clientele of misﬁts, 
  vagabonds, mutants, and escaped convicts in hiding 
  
  6
  (such underground dens might be a good place to ﬁnd 
  a lost soul, a wanted man, or someone with priceless 
  secrets).  The sewers are a dangerous place, and dead 
  bodies often turn up at the entrance to those dark 
  tunnels.
  A number of gangs ﬁght over control of the 
  downtown area.  There are a larger number of 
  minor gangs in the area, living in old warehouses 
  or the sewers.  The larger, more powerful gangs 
  (such as those that generally contend for Mayorship 
  of Metropolis Rho) generally have a stake in the 
  businesses of this area, and have extensive holdings 
  not only Downtown, but also elsewhere in the city 
  (such as the Zones).  Generally, with so many gangs 
  touching in the downtown area, gang wars are 
  frequent, bloody, and often involve more than two or 
  three factions at a time.
  GOVERNMENT
  Local Gangs:  West Side Gang, Uptown Playboys.
  Maintained since the ﬁrst years following the Fall, 
  the Government quarter of Metropolis Rho is in itself 
  a museum piece, a snapshot of what life was like 
  during the golden era of the Ancients.  At the heart 
  of the Metropolis the city planners long ago set up 
  a convenient gridwork of broad streets and parks, 
  crowning this model of urban efﬁciency by the tallest 
  and most beautiful high-rises in the entire dome.  To 
  this day the government of the city takes great pains 
  to keep up the beauty of this, the city’s true “heart”, 
  so that even from the furthest of the outer Zones the 
  people can look towards the sky and be reminded of 
  how great the Ancients were.
  Today the Government quarter is something of 
  the “private reserve” of the ruling Mayor and his 
  gang, with several key structures dedicated to city 
  institutions (such as the Council of Gangs, and of 
  course Titan Tower, the traditional residence of the 
  Mayor himself).  Because it’s well policed, ﬁghting 
  here is rare, and since the complexes located here are 
  largely administrative ones (and not ﬁnancial), few 
  gangs have any inclination to despoil the beauty of 
  this one intact remnant of the city’s past glory.
  INDUSTRIAL ISLAND (“THE ISLAND”)
  Local Gangs:  South Side Killers, Dr. Jones’ 
  Candymen, Chrome Cadre, Metal Freaks.
  The industrial sector of the Metropolis is a narrow 
  strip of built-up land on an irregularly shaped island 
  on the main river.  This area of the city, once the 
  heart of the Metropolis’ industrial facilities, has since 
  become the primary manufacturing area since the re-
  habitation of the city by post-war survivors.
  Much of this area gave in to decay and rust decades 
  ago, but the structures, nearly one and all, remain in 
  working order (though the degree of maintenance 
  varies, depending on which gang is in control of 
  what street and their relative stability).  The buildings 
  here are hotly contested by the two or three gangs 
  that control the industrial sector, as they continue 
  to produce mechanical and electronic goods for the 
  consumption of the citizens.  Open street ﬁghts are 
  very rare in the industrial sector, however, since 
  any damage done here not only threatens the gangs 
  who control the facilities, but the fragile balance of 
  resources in the city as a whole.  Though ﬁghting is 
  uncommon here most streets are fortiﬁed, blocked, 
  and trenched to keep out sabotaging rivals and 
  roving anarchists.  Many, if not all  the sewers 
  are blocked up and isolated from one another to 
  deter underground inﬁltration.  Metal catwalks and 
  post-war observation towers permit gang guards to 
  patrol the area and ﬁre on intruders, and to monitor 
  technicians who come in daily to work in one factory 
  or another.
  Among the various factories and manufacturing 
  plants in the sector are the battery factory (churning 
  out a small but steady supply of civilian power 
  sources of all domestic kinds for public use), the 
  metal foundry (creating metal beams and supports 
  for architectural uses), more than a dozen industrial 
  chemical plants (selling their bulk stock to the 
  various gangs of the city for use in drug production), 
  two or three working car factories (production, 
  however, is limited to about ten cars a month per 
  plant), a glassblowing plant, at least a dozen packing 
  factories, and more than a score of miscellaneous 
  production facilities.
  MIDTOWN
  Local Gangs:  Turf Cowboys, Uptown Playboys, 
  Cats, Switchblades.
  Flanking the Government quarter from the south, 
  “Midtown” has long been home to the ﬁnancial 
  institutions that kept the city running.  In ancient 
  times this included over ﬁfteen separate banks, 
  many of which still operate today in one capacity or 
  another.  Of all the city quarters, Midtown is the most 
  like the streets of a modern-day city - dangerous, but 
  not necessarily deadly.
  Midtown is densely populated, and while subject 
  to the same violence that afﬂicts the rest of the 
  Metropolis, Midtown seems to fare the decay 
  better than most.  Largely due to the optimism of 
  the ambitious gangs that made this district what 
  it is (that is, a successful model of how the gang 
  system should work), Midtown has avoided the total 
  economic collapse that has been observed in other 
  parts of the city.  Here the lucrative businesses of the 
  native gangs have generated real wealth, which in 
  turn has allowed the gangs to evolve from thugs and 
  
  7
  oppressors to become the closest thing the city has to 
  true “political parties”.
  The shining headquarters of the Enforcers of 
  Metropolis Rho is located in Midtown, a silver-
  and-steel skyscraper that towers over all else in the 
  district.
  NORTHSHORE
  Local Gangs:  None.
  This barren region lies across the River along the 
  long and narrow north shore.  This part of the city 
  was once home to some of the poorest neighborhoods 
  of the Metropolis, and were completely abandoned 
  during the chaos of the war.  After the Fall, when 
  people returned to Rho to make a new home, they 
  left this district deserted (with a much smaller 
  population, they preferred to keep to the heart of the 
  city and leave the outer areas empty) but not before 
  dismantling virtually everything usable and moving it 
  to the southern shore of the River.
  Today the Northshore district remains almost 
  entirely abandoned.  The old ghettos here have 
  largely fallen apart, due to decades of neglect and of 
  course looting early in the city’s post-Fall history.  
  Every few years armed parties are sent across the 
  River on government orders to scavenge for scrap 
  metal or anything else useful to the city’s industries, 
  but by now (200+ years after the fall) this area is fast 
  becoming a wasteland.
  RIVERSIDE
  Local Gangs:  West Side Gang, East Side Boys, 
  Capbusters, Mavericks.
  This old district was once a part of the industrial 
  heart of Metropolis Rho, with dock facilities serving 
  the river trafﬁc going through the domed city to 
  destinations near and far.  Today the docks stand 
  empty (the ships were taken apart one by one until 
  none were left, long ago), though the crowded web of 
  warehouses, degenerating apartment complexes, and 
  other destitute structures still appear bustling despite 
  the quarter’s age.
  Riverside is one of the most heavily populated 
  parts of the city, with a large blue collar 
  representation.  Unproductives are generally despised 
  here, and when not rooted out by the local gangs 
  they are chased out by armed gangs of civilian 
  “vigilantes” who consider them nothing more than 
  animals, a burden on the already fragile economy.
  Though the truly destitute poor of the city have 
  little representation in most of Riverside, they do ﬁnd 
  homes among the more shabby structures nearest the 
  city Power Station and, beyond that, the ﬂooded canal 
  neighborhoods at the eastern end of Riverside.  Here, 
  in buildings condemned due to water damage (many 
  are slowly sinking into the canals), and among streets 
  that have become totally ﬂooded, the district’s small 
  population of Unproductives live, traveling the streets 
  in small ferryboats and only under the cover of night.
  SLAM
  Local Gangs:  East Side Boys, Turf Cowboys, 
  Destroyers, Nightcrawlers, Metal Freaks.
  Due to its somewhat central nature in the city heart 
  the so-called “Slam” quarter has long been the 
  battleground of many gangs.  Once one of the most 
  luxurious parts of town, over the generations the 
  constant urban warfare of the city’s gangs have left 
  this place a depressed shadow of its former self.  The 
  Slam quarter is congested with towering skyscrapers, 
  futuristic apartment complexes, old decaying 
  “skyways” (elevated walkways that soar over the city 
  and connect building to building, sometimes up to ten 
  or twenty stories over the street below), and gray and 
  withering parks that were once favorite retreats of the 
  city’s wealthier citizens.
  Though the Slam is still heavily populated by a 
  wide range of social classes, it has become a much 
  more dangerous place in the past few years for 
  everyone as numerous gangs have taken to using its 
  streets to conduct their battles.  The residents of the 
  district, conﬁned to their isolated skyrise apartments, 
  can only huddle in fear at the sound of regular 
  gunshots, screams, and the distant sound of car 
  bombs or drive-by shootings.
  WESTBANK
  Local Gangs:  Zone Rangers, Juvies, Sodomites.
  Like Northshore, the Westbank district lies across the 
  River and this has largely resulted in its continued 
  abandonment for almost 200 years.  Unlike 
  Northshore, however, Westbank does have a few 
  areas of interest among its sprawling, empty ruins.
  Primary features of Westbank include the sole 
  bridge connecting both sides of the city (still 
  maintained to this day), as well as the city’s food 
  processing plant and Krestal Fuels (formerly the 
  Ancient-era reﬁnery of Metroleum Oil & Gas).  
  While the majority of the district is abandoned, with 
  mile upon mile of rust and rubble, several key arteries 
  connecting the city proper with these vital outlying 
  facilities are kept up to provide secure transport for 
  weekly truck convoys.  These “arteries” generally 
  consist of a single long avenue or a network of city 
  streets, blocked off from side streets by walls of 
  concrete to provide safe routes for convoys to drive 
  on.  Regular vehicle patrols have orders to assume 
  anyone coming near these roadways to be potential 
  saboteurs (since fuel and food are rare, ambushes on 
  
  8
  Krestal trucks have been a problem in the past), and 
  open ﬁre with impunity.
  Westbank covers a lot of area, but its distance from 
  the inner city (imposed by the River) means that 
  much of its neighborhoods are nothing more than 
  crumbling ruins.  Many Barrier scavs make their 
  homes in the Westbank district due to its proximity to 
  the Dome, as well as larger communities of so-called 
  “Unproductives” who live, by and large, outside of 
  the system.  Other than the paramilitary forces to be 
  avoided on the roads connecting Krestal and the fuel 
  processing plant with the heart of the city, the district 
  is largely theirs to rule.
  ZONES
  Local Gangs:  Midtown Angels, East Side Boys, 
  West Side Gang, Marbreds, Lifers.
  The broad region known collectively as “the zones” 
  consist of a mass of buildings and neighborhoods that 
  were once inhabited by the Ancients for commercial 
  and residential purposes, and lie primarily on the east 
  side of the river.  Though rundown, condemned, and 
  in some cases even ruined, these parts of the city are 
  where most of the Metropolis’ surviving citizens live, 
  in protected “arcologies” (old apartment buildings 
  that now house dozens of squatter families), fortiﬁed 
  residences, apartments of various qualities, etc.  The 
  alleys and more extensively run-down areas are 
  home to the urban poor, homeless, and vagrants, 
  the so-called “Unproductives” that are becoming 
  an increasingly large presence in the city.  Old 
  warehouses here and there are the headquarters of 
  minor gangs vying to make their niche in the city’s 
  illicit economy, or house crumbling drug labs that 
  churn out dangerous chemical gasses that soar high 
  into the city sky, day and night.
  Travel in the Zones is a danger depending on the 
  exact neighborhood, and the exact gang that controls 
  the sector (much like old-style “ward bosses” of early 
  American history).  In some parts of the Zones, the 
  gangs let their neighborhoods degenerate into chaos 
  while they conduct their businesses and wars (and 
  plots against more powerful factions), and in these 
  areas street crime and random violence is likely to 
  be higher than elsewhere.  In others, the gangs are 
  so well-established or reliant on public sympathy 
  that the gang actually serves its ofﬁcial purpose (that 
  is, administering to the public needs), and in these 
  neighborhoods law and order is strongly enforced, 
  street crime is rare, and city utilities are actually 
  maintained.
  An exception to the lawlessness and varying degree 
  of chaos in the Zones are the food distribution centers 
  located in every city ward.  These are regulated 
  and maintained in a “federal fashion” - that is, the 
  ruling gang leader of the entire metropolis (i.e. the 
  Mayor) is responsible for maintaining these centers 
  for allocating food rations to the public.  Because 
  food shortages are not uncommon (and thus food 
  riots are equally frequent), such centers are usually 
  well fortiﬁed with barbed wire fences, guards, and 
  pillboxes.  This is also to ensure that local gangs do 
  not compromise the leading faction’s food stores in 
  the area, of course.
  SPECIFIC LOCATIONS
  There are a few speciﬁc locations in the Metropolis 
  that are worthy noting separately from the general 
  description of the city.  This section gives an 
  overview of the more signiﬁcant locales.
  BARRIER, THE
  The city itself is surrounded by a “dead zone” several 
  miles wide, erected long ago by the original refugees 
  who migrated here in search of an escape from the 
  wasteland.  Known as “The Barrier”, this complex 
  killing zone was erected as a means of ensuring 
  no one (or no thing) could ever intrude, invade, or 
  otherwise discover the paradise that was to be rebuilt 
  inside the city dome.
  The Barrier is a literal dead zone.  For over a 
  mile in every direction there is no substantial life 
  whatsoever in this broad band of broken land, except 
  for the odd vermin or scurrying creature that manages 
  to somehow survive there.  In most cases the old 
  buildings in these areas have long decayed and 
  crumbled, leaving an irregular and uneven expanse of 
  rubble stretching into the distance towards the deserts 
  of the Outside.
  At various key points the original reconstructors 
  of the Metropolis placed mountainous berms, dug 
  deep trenches, and installed varied energy defenses 
  and mineﬁelds.  To this day there is no known way 
  to avoid these defenses, as they are continuously 
  maintained and monitored by automated, robotic 
  drones set in place generations ago.
  Midway through this dead zone, the mineﬁelds 
  become interspersed with tall metallic turrets that 
  stand nearly two to four meters from the rubble; 
  these turrets are thereafter situated every one hundred 
  meters or so.  Each turret is equipped with a certain 
  type of heavy weapon (all the heavy weapons 
  brought by the original city dwellers were used to 
  create this overlapping defense layer, and as a result 
  heavy weapons are almost non-existent in the City 
  itself).  Each turret is also automated, and will track 
  and engage the nearest target, ﬁring at maximum 
  range and continuing until out of ammo.  Each turret 
  is capable of 360-degree ﬁre, with relatively good 
  ascension and declination (they can engage targets 
  on the ground or in the air no less than ﬁve meters 
  away), and is covered in an armoring of corrosion-
  
  9
  resistant stainless steel.  Though the activation or 
  destruction of any turret automatically triggers a light 
  alarm at the appropriate computer control station in 
  the City, no one remains in these control stations to 
  recognize or react to such a threat.  Still, the Barrier 
  remains a signiﬁcant deterrent to intrusion, though 
  with the inevitable extinction of all life in the radiated 
  wasteland outside (it is believed all human life 
  died outside of the city in the ﬁrst few generations 
  following the nuclear war), the usefulness of the 
  Barrier has been questioned in recent years.
  BATTERY
  This massive site, located on the abandoned north 
  side of the Metropolis, was formerly a military 
  station - a grouping of powerful laser batteries and 
  anti-missile missile sites.  The battery, and one or 
  two others like it (now completely gone due to ruin), 
  served to protect the Metropolis from missile attack 
  during the days of the Fall.
  Today the site is an abandoned ruin.  The hard 
  ferrocrete that surrounds the place is cracked and 
  broken.  The large spherical turrets that once threw 
  laser ﬁre (from one million watt laser generators) 
  into the sky have long rusted in place and fallen 
  into serious decay.  The old missile batteries are 
  completely empty, their missiles long used.
  None of the old defense weapons can be used, as 
  the populace has let them rust and deteriorate.  The 
  power links to the old city power plant, however, 
  remain intact, and connect to a control station 
  located somewhere beneath the site, underground, 
  its entrance likely buried beneath tons of rubble.  
  No one has ever located this control room, or the 
  underground complex it is likely connected with, and 
  it is conceivable that some technology still remains 
  within, wherever it is.
  CITY COMPUTER
  The City Control Computer (or “City Computer” for 
  short), one of the oldest surviving structures in the 
  city, was constructed long ago to house a series of 
  super-powerful computers deigned to aid and assist 
  in the daily operations of the city.  From controlling 
  the timing of trafﬁc lights to the dispatching of 
  police units to emergency, from controlling the 
  power grid to monitoring and ﬁne-tuning the dome’s 
  environmental systems, these computers were - and 
  still are - the only thing that allows life, law, and 
  order to exist in the crowded space beneath the 
  Metropolis dome.
  The computers of the City Control building 
  (located deep underground in a nine level 
  subterranean facility) are each monolithic 
  constructions, housed in individual “vaults”.  These 
  computers were designed and constructed over 200 
  years ago during the height of the Ancients’ reign on 
  earth, and each is a testament to the ingenuity and 
  true genius of Ancient man.  Though the computers 
  here are not technically 100% artiﬁcially intelligent 
  (they were designed to activate only when accessed 
  by human technicians, and thus are not fully 
  cognizant of their surroundings or events taking 
  place around them), it is almost certain they have 
  developed in ways their original designers never 
  intended...
  In fact there are rumors (mostly among members 
  of the Tech Union, who come here to perform 
  repairs) that the City Control Computer building 
  is haunted, for every now and then technicians on 
  the upper levels will report the sound of voices on 
  the levels below.  Some in the know speculate that 
  these are in fact the computers talking to one another 
  - something they are not supposed to be able to do 
  - communicating in some fashion, though no one has 
  ever actually heard what it is they are talking about.
  The City Computer building is generally off-
  limits to all levels of Metropolis society, since the 
  machinery here is so vital to the continued existence 
  of the city.  Only Tech Union staff and a handful of 
  experts from the Enforcers have any regular access 
  to the City Computer, and then only the ﬁrst two or 
  three levels of the complex.  Few are aware of what 
  (if anything) remains operational deeper within the 
  facility.
  COTTON CLUB
  Famous among the gangers of the city, the “Cotton 
  Club” is an Ancient-era nightspot that has remained 
  the “place to be” despite its incredible age.  Located 
  near Downtown, the Cotton Club manages to retain a 
  classy and almost digniﬁed reputation despite being 
  the city’s largest (and most expensive) brothel.
  Traditionally the Cotton Club has been the hangout 
  of choice of the city’s long line of Mayors, who come 
  here to relax (with armies of henchmen to provide 
  security) in the luxurious club’s interior.  As such 
  its membership is exclusive, and few ever get the 
  opportunity to mingle with the stable of fabulous 
  faces that regularly appear on its stage or dance ﬂoor.  
  Real alcohol, the ﬁnest furniture, and the month’s 
  most popular party chems are all available on request.
  The Cotton Club has gone through many changes 
  over the years, and is currently themed as an 
  ambiguous mix of 1920s speakeasy and 1940s jazz 
  club.  Regardless of its ever-changing identity and 
  atmosphere, the club remains the favored high society 
  hangout to this day.
  FOOD PROCESSING PLANT
  Metropolis Rho has one large food-processing center, 
  a massive complex partly concealed beneath the 
  earth.  It is here that the bland and mundane food 
  
  10
  rations of the city are manufactured and churned-out 
  on a weekly basis.
  Above ground, the processing center looks like 
  a reﬁnery complex, with tall smokestacks, massive 
  storage facilities, truck pools, and factory buildings.  
  An electriﬁed fence surrounds the entire complex, 
  preventing the poor from raiding in case of possible 
  food shortages.  The huge algae pools (where algae 
  is captured or grown, and allowed to mature) are 
  themselves located on the west bank of the river, 
  away from the heart of the city (see below).
  The food center was set up generations ago around 
  the core of a pre-war fusion food replicator factory 
  (such facilities were distributed to each domed 
  Metropolis in the Midwest in the last few years of 
  civilization in hopes of making up for the shortages 
  in natural foods; however, such devices were prone 
  to breaking down after four or six months) located in 
  a large industrial complex above ground.  Although 
  the replicator provided food for the early citizens of 
  Rho for several months after their return to the city, 
  it eventually burned itself out and the factory stopped 
  producing.
  With the death of the replicator the inhabitants 
  of the Metropolis were forced to confront a serious 
  dilemma; they had to do something to avoid mass 
  starvation.  Unable to ﬁnd any substantial foods 
  reserves in the city (these were long exhausted 
  after only a few weeks after the wars broke out), 
  and unwilling to take chances with the radiated and 
  mutated denizens of the wastes from which they ﬂed, 
  the city government got together its best scientists 
  and chemists to formulate a lasting solution to the 
  food crisis.
  The answer was quick in coming.  Using a complex 
  chemical process, vegetable and other organic matters 
  were successfully broken down and reconstituted into 
  highly nutritious (and easily life-sustaining) “chips”.  
  Although traditional vegetables were diminishing 
  in number, they came up with an alternative:  algae.  
  Hydroponic algae farms had been in operation before 
  the war, and it was decided to construct natural algae 
  collection farms along the city’s riverbanks.  The 
  algae, combined with chemical additives necessary 
  to provide for base nutritional needs, as then 
  reconstituted as hard, cracker-like chips that were 
  distributed to the citizenry.
  The ambitious plan paid off, and has since solved 
  the food needs of the populace.  Though tasteless and 
  odorless, these chips keep the men and women of 
  the city alive.  However, food production is limited, 
  and the balance of supply-and-demand so ﬁnite, that 
  rationing has been a necessity of everyday life for 
  more than 200 years.
  Armored buses and trucks take workers to the 
  algae ponds morning, noon, and night, along well-
  established and highlyprotected routes.  In recent 
  years, diseased members of the poor population have 
  begun moving out to these “dead sectors”, raiding 
  passing convoys of workers and guards to steal arms 
  and/or to attempt to smuggle themselves into the 
  algae farms to steal food rations.  None have so far 
  succeeded, and the guards on the trucks now simply 
  shoot at anyone approaching their route in these 
  sectors.  As such, it is not uncommon to see dead 
  bodies - in various states of decay - rotting by the 
  side of the main route to the algae ponds.
  HIVE, THE
  Though it has never been proven, rumors abound on 
  the streets of a place known as the “Hive”, a refuge 
  for the outlaws and outcasts of Metropolis society 
  who somehow manage to evade the city’s laws their 
  entire lives.  Wanted (and hunted), these modern-day 
  “untouchables” continue to defy the law by living in 
  hiding far from public scrutiny.
  Though three successive Mayors and the entire 
  labors of the Enforcers have at various times been 
  bent on discovering the location of this legendary 
  “Shangri-La” of the criminal underworld, it has 
  so far eluded all efforts to be found and rooted 
  out.  According to stories the “Hive” is a city unto 
  itself, located either in an isolated part of the Zones 
  or, as some claim, underneath the city itself.  By 
  all accounts the city is populated by beggars and 
  prostitutes, gun dealers and thugs, as well as rumored 
  cells of the so-called “Mutant Underground” and 
  other deviant, anarchist groups.
  KRESTAL FUELS
  Located across the river from the congested 
  Downtown, the sprawling complex that is Krestal 
  Fuels (named after a now-defunct gang that 
  purchased the facility from a previous Mayor and 
  went “legit”) is the sole producer of vehicle and 
  domestic fuels in Metropolis Rho.  Built on an even 
  older fuel production plant, Krestal Fuels has been 
  at the forefront of researching fuels to keep the city’s 
  vibrant vehicle trafﬁc going for over 200 years.
  Currently Krestal Fuels has begun an advertising 
  campaign to sell its newest product, a vehicle fuel 
  distilled from grass grown in plots throughout the 
  city.  Though widely toted as the “fuel alternative of 
  the future”, this “grass-gas” has been responsible for 
  many highway breakdowns and accidents; many even 
  speculate the current operators of Krestal Fuels are 
  working in conjunction with the car manufacturers to 
  make a fuel that will force people to buy cars more 
  often!
  The major gangs, as well as the Enforcers and Tech 
  Union, have special contracts with Krestal Fuels to 
  receive standard gasoline instead of “grass-gas” for 
  their ﬂeets of vehicles, since none of these important 
  groups can afford to take risks with their equipment.
  
  11
  LIFECENTER
  LifeCenter is a famous institution in the Metropolis, 
  a hospital megaplex near the center of the city that 
  boasts state-of-the-art medical facilities enjoyed by 
  no other clinic in the urban sprawl, whether privately 
  run or government funded.  The LifeCenter was 
  founded only a few decades ago, as part of the city 
  government’s plan to begin “breeding a healthier 
  population for the Metropolis”.  This is now the 
  slogan of the LifeCenter, seen in numerous T.V. 
  advertisements, billboards, and other government-
  funded forms of media.
  The LifeCenter itself is a gargantuan building that 
  from the exterior looks like any grim high-rise, but 
  inside provides a warm and soothing atmosphere for 
  patients to visit.  Unlike normal hospitals, however, 
  the LifeCenter is dedicated to only one form of 
  medicine:  childhood medicine.  In particular the 
  physicians of the ‘center specialize in the delivery of 
  babies, early childhood testing for genetic anomalies, 
  and easing those exhibiting fatal diseases or defects 
  on to the next world.
  The ‘Center offers escorted ambulance service, 
  an emergency delivery room, numerous levels for 
  patients and their newborns to recover, outpatient 
  therapy for up to ﬁve years, comprehensive genetic 
  testing laboratories, and a complete staff of nurses, 
  pediatricians, and genetic scientists.  In short the 
  LifeCenter is a government-sanctioned and funded 
  birth center, where all children in the city are now 
  born (by law, thanks to an ever-tightening policy 
  against allowing mutation to arise in the city’s 
  populace).  Children born here are tested for mutation 
  at birth, and kept isolated in any of the ‘Centers state-
  of-the-art maternity wards (each of the ten separate 
  wards occupies an entire level, with its own staff of 
  genetic physicians, nurses, and robotic caretakers) 
  while tests are conducted.  Once the child is deemed 
  healthy and ﬁt they are released into their mothers’ 
  care and sent home.  Accommodations exist so that 
  mothers (and fathers) can remain at the ‘center for 
  several days for recovery if need be.
  Those children deemed “unhealthy” are euthanized 
  in what spokesmen for the LifeCenter call “humane 
  termination”.  It is not clear how exactly these 
  children are put down (the methods are a closely 
  guarded government secret), but the entire process 
  is handled quickly, quietly, and as expediently as 
  possible, without embarrassing the parents (though 
  those parents who do give birth to mutants are kept 
  on ﬁle and never allowed to conceive again) or 
  subjecting them to any potentially horrifying aspects 
  of the procedure.  A team of the city’s most qualiﬁed 
  psychiatrists and therapists are kept on staff to help 
  parents deal with such a loss, and the day-to-day 
  nature of euthanasia has become a part of Metropolis 
  culture.
  METROPOLIS COLISEUM
  The “Coliseum” of Metropolis Rho is one of the most 
  popular attractions for the public.  An Ancient-era 
  structure, fully-automated with electric conveniences 
  (a mini-reactor powers the place), this enormous 
  stadium is capable of supporting 80,000 patrons.
  The Coliseum is home to the same games today 
  that were played decades ago when the Ancients 
  came here for bloodthirsty recreation.  These days 
  the inhabitants of the city come here to watch 
  Bloodsport, a popular and exciting game of life and 
  death.  In the game, armored players equipped with 
  hover boards, rocket skates, and scythe-carrying 
  motorcycles participate in a bloody game to move 
  a time-detonated “ball-bomb” (like an explosive 
  football) around the racetrack playing ﬁeld.  The 
  object of the game is to make as many goals as 
  possible before the ball explodes; anyone caught 
  holding the ball when it detonates is, of course, 
  blown to bloody pieces (as is anyone close by, 
  increasing the colorful visuals of the sport).  Beyond 
  this, there are few rules, and each team can literally 
  kill the other as they see ﬁt, with razor-edged hockey 
  sticks, hand-held pistols, and close-in shotguns; 
  however, only three players from each side can be 
  killed per ten minutes of game - any more kills results 
  in a penalty to the opposing team.  Flash, concussion, 
  and frag grenades - for taking out players or cyclists 
  - can sometimes be used in speciﬁc matches, though 
  these usually constitute special events.
  Games of Bloodsport are brutal, sadistic, and 
  fast-paced.  Players knocked from the track at high 
  speeds will often ﬁnd themselves plowing into the 
  crowd, either being killed on impact or in turn killing 
  patrons of the sport.  Sometimes excited fans will 
  open ﬁre on the players, and thus there is always a 
  threat of being mowed down during play.  Sabotage 
  and cheating is always rampant, and seldom cracked 
  down on - it’s all part of the game.  Special nights 
  during the height of the season see the track being 
  specially modiﬁed to further increase the danger of 
  the game; at random intervals lasers ﬁre across the 
  track, mines are dumped onto the ﬁeld, or walls are 
  ﬁxed with razor blades and spikes (thus anyone being 
  thrown against the wall during play is impaled or 
  sliced in half).
  Favored players of Bloodsport are often heroic 
  ﬁgures, virtually worshipped throughout the city.  
  Women, drugs, money, and rare luxuries are often 
  lavished on favored players by one or more factions 
  in city politics or advertising.  Some long-term 
  survivors and players of the game often retire with 
  actual pensions, living in comfort for the rest of their 
  lives.
  
  12
  PEN, THE
  The ruins of this ancient building have stood since 
  well before the Fall, a testament to the fact that 
  the rosy civilization of the Ancients had its darker 
  side.  A massive prison complex, the Metropolis 
  Penitentiary (or, as it is more commonly known, 
  the “Pen”) was almost completely obliterated either 
  during the Fall, or in the years soon afterwards.
  The current populace of Metropolis Rho knows 
  very little of this ancient ruin, though it is widely 
  believed that the inhabitants of the prison either died 
  off when the city population ﬂed (starving to death 
  in their cells), or escaped on their own and put the 
  facility to the torch before ﬂeeing into the wilderness.
  Today the ruins of the Pen are fast crumbling into 
  nothing, and only a handful of vagrant Unproductives 
  ﬁnd any shelter among its broken buildings.
  POWER STATION
  The Power Station is the true heart of the Metropolis, 
  the vital installation that keeps the city running.  
  Although the politicians would like to think they 
  were the blood of the city, if the plant ever stopped 
  churning out power, the city would be ﬁnished.
  The Power Station was (and is) a massive 
  underground nuclear power plant, with three separate 
  reactors located beneath the surface of the city along 
  the south bank of the river.  All Metropoli (not just 
  Rho), which were largely pre-fabricated cities and 
  followed similar if not identical architectural design, 
  were equipped with A60 underground ﬁssion plants, 
  capable of producing a steady source of power to 
  supply the needs of the entire urban metroplex.  The 
  trio of A60 reactors (an advanced development of the 
  earlier A50, which had a disastrous ﬂaw that tended 
  to cause tremors and minor quakes) were housed in 
  completely safe and structurally-sound underground 
  “bunkers” that were designed to last for at least 500 
  years.
  When the ﬁrst survivors of the war came to 
  Metropolis Rho, they found that the city’s ﬁssion 
  plants were still operable, though reduced to minimal 
  power.  The facility beneath the earth, located among 
  ruins, was almost completely intact.  These ﬁrst men 
  and women brought with them the knowledge of the 
  Ancients (as survivors), and thus were able to locate 
  the plant and, more importantly, re-activate it.
  With the reactivation of the Power Station and the 
  subsequent discovery of at least 200 years of nuclear 
  propellant in a connecting subterranean fuel storage 
  facility, Metropolis Rho was able to support its own 
  power, defenses, and the growth of its population 
  once again.
  Now, after so many years, the plant is still 
  operational, and provides virtually 100% of the 
  power needs of the citizens, although in some areas 
  of the Zones the power still ﬂickers or dims at times 
  (this is not due to reactor inefﬁciency, but rather bad 
  power connections in the decaying city).  Some 40% 
  of the plant’s power goes directly to the Industrial 
  Sector; the rest is unevenly and irregularly dispersed 
  throughout the Metropolis.
  Above ground the plant appears to be largely 
  ruined and abandoned, with only a few buildings 
  of the original complex intact - though the large 
  cooling towers still stand ﬁrm against the dismal sky, 
  teetering on the edge of the river.  Even the buildings 
  ringing the plant complex are largely abandoned 
  (most people fear possible radiation contamination 
  from the plant, though in reality there is little danger 
  of the reactors melting down any time soon), giving 
  the whole are a “deathly silence” during the day.
  Trucks enter regularly, morning, noon, and night 
  bringing in workers from the Tech Union to operate 
  the three reactors; some 150 men are employed in the 
  plant’s daily operations.  A huge concrete tunnel leads 
  from the surface to each of three bunker-like reactor 
  buildings; only around these entrances have the 
  buildings above ground been repaired and the eerie 
  green neon lights restored, serving largely as above-
  ground garages and maintenance shops, as well as 
  guard houses.  Lookout towers overlook the entire 
  dead zone surrounding the plant, and guards regularly 
  patrol the place on the lookout for potential sabotage.
  RIVER
  The old river is a squalid body of water that meanders 
  through the city lethargically, convoluted with 
  pollution and debris swept from upstream.  However, 
  at the entrance of the river into the domed city there 
  is a city water station - much like a hydroelectric 
  dam - that not only processes and puriﬁes drinking 
  water for the city, but also prevents potential 
  mutated monsters from entering the city along the 
  waterway.  The ancient lock system, which was 
  once fully automated, has long ceased to function 
  due to deliberate sabotage generations ago, further 
  barricading the river.  These barriers, generally 
  out of reach of the civilized areas of the city itself, 
  are typically overlooked by automated turrets and 
  screened with barbed wire fences; only a handful of 
  workers from the Tech Union ever see the interior of 
  these plants, and then only to perform maintenance 
  work when needed.
  TITAN TOWER
  Majestic and commanding in its presence (the 
  tallest skyscraper still standing inside the dome of 
  Metropolis Rho), Titan Tower has always been the 
  site of the city’s administrative bodies.  Certainly the 
  most architecturally appealing building in the city, 
  Titan Tower was created to house the pre-war city 
  
  13
  government (including the city hall, ofﬁces of the 
  Mayor, etc.) and the metropolitan court complex, 
  while at the same time to stand as a monument to the 
  original founders of the Metropolis.
  The great structure has somehow managed to 
  survive the nuclear war, the elements, and the 
  countless gang wars that have ravaged the city for 
  generations.  And it is still used to house the city 
  government.  The Mayor resides in the ‘Tower in 
  the luxurious apartments near the top (the penthouse 
  level, complete with power, running water, luxurious 
  personal apartments, etc.), while other ﬂoors contain 
  paneled oak meeting rooms, dining halls, ball rooms, 
  kitchens, walk-in freezers, lounges, and recreation 
  centers.  In addition there are various “guest” 
  rooms (for other members of the ruling gang, or as 
  holding cells for rivals), city administration ofﬁces, 
  legal records storage, a mid-level cafeteria, the city 
  courthouse, a small city jail, the city government 
  council chambers, various luxurious meeting rooms, 
  and a larger cafeteria/restaurant on the third ﬂoor, as 
  well as a magniﬁcent marble-ﬂoored lobby entrance 
  (complete with metal detectors to prevent ﬁrearms 
  from being smuggled into the tower) with a media 
  center dedicated to expounding the virtues of the 
  governing Mayor.
  Titan Tower usually hosts the Mayor and the elite 
  members of his gang, some two to ﬁve hundred 
  citizens working to help administer the city, a vast 
  secretarial pool, and a cadre of “Praetorian”-style 
  commandos who, by tradition, act as the protective 
  force for Titan Tower.
  Titan Tower also has a subterranean parking garage 
  (limited to visitors to the courts and employees of 
  the city), and it is rumored there is a working power 
  generator somewhere in the building that can switch 
  on in a power failure and keep the security systems 
  and monitors in the halls and city chambers working 
  indeﬁnitely.
  UNIVERSITY OF METROPOLIS RHO
  Located in a part of the Zones that used to be 
  heavily populated, the University of Metropolis Rho 
  was a pre-war institution built to serve the higher 
  educational needs of the city.  Before the Fall, it had 
  actually attained the status of a leading university in 
  the Midwest.
  When the Fall came the University was abandoned 
  and badly damaged by the same ﬁres that destroyed 
  much of the old city.  In time, when survivors of 
  the exodus returned to the shell of Rho and began 
  construction of a new society away from the rubble, 
  the University was rebuilt, and once again became an 
  institution of learning.  It served to produce some of 
  the most educated and inﬂuential members of early 
  Rho society, but over time (and with the degeneration 
  of their own civilization into chaos and gangland 
  anarchy) the University lost funding and was once 
  more abandoned.
  The University grounds are now haunting and 
  empty.  Old buildings of magniﬁcent Romanesque 
  architecture are cracked, eroded, and dismal.  Trash 
  and debris litter the cold echoing halls and empty 
  classrooms.  The impressive university library was 
  long ago ransacked by the few students and faculty 
  who cared to preserve the knowledge within; the rest 
  was burned by vagrants for warmth, or by hateful 
  vandals for pure amusement.
  The University has been “condemned” as a 
  hazardous structure for the past ﬁve years; it has 
  been abandoned much longer than that.  There 
  are currently no plan to rebuild the University or 
  anything like it – stark evidence of the decay and 
  marked degeneration of Rho society.
  VICTORY TOWER
  Victory Tower, a magniﬁcent high-rise pre-dating 
  the Fall, is the brother of Titan Tower, a building 
  that has long served as a seat of the entrenched city 
  government.  Victory Tower, in particular, is the 
  headquarters of the “Council of Gangs”, a legislative 
  body consisting of appointed representatives of 
  the city’s major gangs.  The Council has long been 
  portrayed as a balancing agency against the autocratic 
  rule of the Mayor, an institution that represents all of 
  the political forces in the city, no just the leader.
  The Council of Gangs meets regularly in Victory 
  Tower to discuss legislation and to cut deals, as well 
  as to announce campaigns or ofﬁcial declarations of 
  gang war.  It also used to broker peace, and many 
  negotiations between warring gangs have been 
  televised publicly from the council meeting chambers 
  all across the city.
  LIFE IN THE CITY
  To help the players understand a little more about life 
  in the city, this section will brieﬂy deal with various 
  aspects of Metropolis living, and the populace’s 
  general outlook, from nutrition to mutation.
  FOOD AND WATER
  Food and water in the city are provided by three main 
  sources, all of which are strictly controlled by the city 
  government, overseen by the Council of Gangs, and 
  operated by the Tech Union.
  The ﬁrst (and main) source of sustenance in the city 
  is the river that meanders through it like a grand and 
  tepid sewage duct.  This highly polluted waterway 
  is ﬁltered by an ancient automated water plant on 
  one end, which continues to provide reasonably safe 
  drinking water for the city.  Beyond this, on the west 
  side of the city where the river bends, the ancestors 
  
  14
  of the current city population constructed a large 
  algae-collecting facility.  This is a fortiﬁed area under 
  strict control by the authorities; the various ponds 
  here collect algae from the river, which is harvested 
  by poorer city labor and packed into heavy trucks 
  for transport beneath the city to the underground 
  processing center.  Here the stuff is subjected to a 
  certain wavelength of UV radiation that ﬁlters out 
  all potential parasitic and biological infestation in 
  the algae, and is strained and compacted into brown 
  or orange crackers or chips, which are distributed 
  to the populace of the city for consumption.  These 
  algae “chips” form a major part of the city diet, 
  providing vital vitamin C (which prevents a number 
  of degenerative ailments such as scurvy, beriberi, 
  etc.) and other nutrients - though they are notoriously 
  bland and ﬂavorless.
  To a limited degree, other forms of more “natural” 
  foods are still available in the city - animals are raised 
  and slaughtered in highly controlled urban farms 
  by the government, making real beef a delicacy of 
  great value in the city.  Likewise, packaged, canned, 
  freeze-dried, etc. foods from before the Fall have 
  long been expended from the City’s abandoned stores 
  and groceries, and to discover a cache among the 
  ruined parts of the city is like ﬁnding a lost treasure.  
  The sense of taste, which has long been deprived of 
  these people, is one that is only rarely enjoyed.
  DISEASE
  Disease does exist in the City, though it is a problem 
  that is deliberately overlooked by the general 
  populace.  An unnatural diet, generally poor sanitary 
  conditions, and the remnants of the plague that 
  originally wiped out the city’s populace create a 
  ready atmosphere for the spread and thriving of 
  disease.
  It is not uncommon to pass by diseased citizens 
  in the streets, usually members of the poor labor 
  force (also known as “Unproductives”) living in the 
  decaying and abandoned sections of the city.  Citizens 
  often protect themselves when they hit the streets by 
  wearing surgical masks or by obscuring their mouths 
  and noses with cloth bandanas.  Breath masks are 
  common among the urban elite, such as the highly 
  paid soldiers and bodyguards of the gang crowd.
  DRUGS
  Drugs have long been an important part of the life of 
  the average citizen of Metropolis Rho.  Originally, 
  the technology to reﬁne and produce drugs was 
  brought to the city by a few prized scientists who 
  survived the Fall, though their efforts were geared 
  more towards life-saving drugs and medicines than 
  for the more recreational drugs now widely used 
  throughout the city.
  Today drugs are an everyday facet of Metropolis 
  life.  While medicinal and pharmaceutical drugs 
  are still produced in some quantities (for a limited 
  number of ailments), medical technology has 
  inevitably declined (except for all but the richest 
  citizens), and turned recreational - that is, it no longer 
  attempts to solve problems, but rather appease the 
  masses’ taste for newer and fancier drugs - and the 
  escape they bring.
  Drugs are widely available in the Metropolis, and 
  are all quite legal.  Almost like living celebrities, at 
  any given time a wide number of drugs are popular, 
  in the “limelight” so to speak, while others soon 
  fall out of fashion, or are just now becoming all the 
  rage.  The use of drugs, in addition to easing physical 
  pains and dampening the mind to the horrors of city 
  life (including the ingrained sense of claustrophobia 
  many have, knowing that the city is an “island” in the 
  radiated wastes), has become a kind of “fashionable” 
  thing, a trend that has given birth to a number of 
  THE STREETS
  The streets of the city are still home to foot trafﬁc and dispersed vehicle trafﬁc at all hours of the day and 
  night.  The streets are ﬁlthy and decayed (no real maintenance has been kept up since the days before the 
  Fall), and they are usually cluttered with street vendors selling cheap junk salvaged from the abandoned 
  parts of town, small shops specializing in rare hard-to-get goods, and government food distribution centers.
  At night the streets are kept lit by a functioning power grid powered by the Power Station.  Thousands of 
  neon signs throughout the city are still operational, as are several skycar warning searchlights near the city 
  center (around Titan Tower), which are generally switched on to illuminate the tower and the sky around, 
  lending more majesty to the Mayor and his ruling elite.
  An interesting feature of the streets which may be important to note are “sweeps”.  Sweeps occur 
  when the Enforcers conduct a violent “combing” of a street or ward, whether ordered to or simply for 
  their own sadistic amusement.  Anyone found on the street is likely to be ﬁred upon at long range, and 
  anyone unlucky enough to be nearby to the squad will likely be killed or beaten.  These events could be 
  a legitimate taking in of wanted “criminals” (known enemies of the local ruling gang), perhaps with the 
  Enforcers raiding a known hangout or hideout with brutal force.  Or, they could simply be a sweep of a 
  decayed section of town in an attempt to thin the population of diseased and ragged Unproductives.
  
  15
  different drugs, pill shapes, colors, sizes, and names.
  Nearly every citizen of the city is, in one way or 
  another, a user of drugs.  Whether it is a drug to dull 
  fear and depression, or to enhance sexual pleasure, 
  the citizens of Metropolis Rho use a lot of it.
  MUTATION
  Mutation and genetic defects are a phenomenon that 
  is just now beginning to appear in the Metropolis.  
  The ﬁrst citizens who rebuilt the city after the Fall 
  feared that, eventually, the fallout and general 
  atmospheric radiation they had been exposed to 
  during their exodus would inﬁltrate every nook of the 
  surviving population, and that it was only a matter 
  of time before they, even isolated from the dying 
  mutants in the wasteland, likewise became affected.  
  However, over time the durability of their genes 
  proved more resilient, and the overwhelming fear that 
  their offspring would be born as mutants eventually 
  vanished.
  Over the years, however, a new genetic threat 
  became evident, one that offered no easy solution.  
  Instead of mutation as a result of earlier radiation 
  exposure, the people began to realize that their 
  own seclusion would in and of itself bring about 
  the proliferation of genetic problems.  Effectively 
  “inbred”, and with no source of “new blood” to 
  replenish the communal gene pool, in time the 
  appearance of genetic illnesses would be fact of life. 
  In response to these concerns, years ago the city 
  government conducted a study to catalog and track 
  the genetic history of the city, to formulate a plan of 
  action to prevent the future occurrence of mutation.  
  This study led to the establishment of “humane 
  termination” laws, which not only legalized but also 
  made mandatory the euthanization of all children 
  born with any form of genetic mutation or defect.  
  These laws, while once controversial, are now taken 
  for granted, and their legacy has led to a healthier and 
  “purer” population free of disorders and mutation.
  MUTANT UNDERGROUND
  While the “humane termination” laws have remained 
  in force for several decades, rumors persist that some 
  mutants do exist in the city, living side by side their 
  human counterparts, or according to some stories, 
  dwelling in the dark recesses of the Ancient-era sewer 
  systems.  While the government has taken great 
  pains to prove the so-called “Underground” to be 
  miniscule threat at best, there is little doubt that the 
  movement continues to fester in unseen parts of the 
  city.  Composed of rejects of society and outlaws, the 
  mutants of this movement are widely feared since no 
  one is quite sure of their motivations.
  RIGHTS
  Rights, as they were once known before the Fall, 
  are almost completely non-existent in the city of 
  Metropolis Rho.  Men are dominant, and powerful 
  men make the decisions.  There is a hierarchy in 
  every gang and city organization, usually headed by 
  he who is most physically powerful - or who has the 
  most connections.  Might, in the city, makes right.
  Power, too, is the ultimate factor of worth in the 
  city.  While a single man can rise to great fame and 
  notoriety for brutality or expertise in his given ﬁeld, 
  even a weakling can be more feared if he has a 
  following of loyal guards and thugs alongside him (or 
  lurking in the shadows).  As such, everyone is always 
  concerned with watching their backs, as there is no 
  telling who has paid off whom, who is loyal and who 
  is not, etc…
  THE ROLE OF WOMEN
  In Metropolis Rho, the role of women as equal 
  members of society has deteriorated over the years.  
  As Metropolis society has become more and more 
  violent, by and large women are gravitating towards 
  extremes juts to survive.  Because the value placed 
  on human life is fast becoming insigniﬁcant, most 
  women these days become professional playthings 
  or possessions, while others are forced into pathetic 
  labor jobs; only a few manage to break the norms 
  and excel in their desired ﬁelds.  Because of this 
  mentality, women are developing into two distinct 
  “types” in the city.
  The ﬁrst and most visible group of women is that 
  of beautiful or even modestly attractive females.  
  From a very early age (usually as teenagers) women 
  of this category by and large either become street 
  prostitutes to support their local gang (girls are 
  generally “conscripted” to serve their “ward boss”, 
  and every girl is expected to perform her “duty” at 
  some point after she turns 18), or enter into exclusive 
  circles where they are trained in the arts of pleasure, 
  etiquette, and elite pampering.  While the former 
  are more common in the run-down neighborhoods 
  of the city (hookers not only serve the public, but 
  also serve to collect information and funds for 
  whatever boss runs that part of town), the latter are 
  generally reserved for the more well to do citizens.  
  Such women typically do nothing but sit around the 
  apartment of their owner (a man who either buys 
  them from an advertising circuit, from a friend, or 
  from an agency), spending her time looking beautiful 
  and seeing to her master’s “needs”.  Most of the 
  time “furniture” is kept busy tidying up her owner’s 
  residence, making it look nice, or - in the rare event 
  that real food can be obtained - preparing an exotic 
  meal.  They also administer pleasure and relaxation 
  drugs for their master when he retires for the evening.  
  
  16
  There is generally no limit to the number of such 
  companions a citizen can own, though he will usually 
  only have one since feeding and supporting her will 
  likely be a heavy ﬁnancial strain.
  Women of this ﬁrst category are often passed on, 
  sold, etc. at the whim of their masters, since in this 
  twisted society they are consider no more important 
  than “goods” - luxury goods, but goods nonetheless.  
  It is not uncommon for a woman to actually pass on 
  from one owner to another after the former dies (for 
  instance, she could be willed to a son, or passed on 
  to the next tenant of a home).  Masters who actually 
  treat their women as equals are quite uncommon, and 
  tend to be looked upon by their fellow citizens as 
  being “relics” (this kind of relationship, however, can 
  sometimes be very beneﬁcial as few people pay much 
  attention to docile “furniture”; thus, a willing female 
  servant can serve excellently as a spy).
  The second group of women are those that lack the 
  social graces or appeal of those mentioned above.  
  Whether ugly or merely too spirited to be forcibly 
  controlled, these women generally end up in the 
  city’s labor ranks, working with elderly men and 
  other urban poor at the processing plants or algae 
  farms.  Many are also employed as street cleaners 
  and civil servants, or working in factories.  Women of 
  this category are generally treated like cattle, and the 
  death rate among them is astonishingly high, since 
  few care if they live or die.
  FASHION
  Fashion among the citizens is diverse but futuristic 
  nonetheless, a reﬂection of their degenerating cultural 
  tastes.  Capable of rising above the need for survival 
  over style due to the general “security” the city’s 
  dome offers them, the populace of the city have come 
  to develop their own unique “look” that often sets 
  them apart from the people of the past, a fashion that 
  exempliﬁes their growing hedonistic mindset.
  The citizens of the city do not, in general, believe 
  in using armor for protection.  The proliferation of 
  Kevlar-penetrating “cop killers” in the early days 
  made the use of armor pointless in the bloody gang 
  wars that are still near-constant in the city’s decayed 
  streets.  Citizens generally have a “live-for-today” 
  attitude as a result, preferring to set heavy and 
  cumbersome armor aside in favor for fashionable 
  clothes or perhaps light leather gear for absorbing 
  blows in brawls and knife ﬁghts.  Only a few 
  individuals who perhaps prefer the menacing look of 
  armor (or the fact that it might conceal their identity) 
  will opt for donning armor in the city.  
  In general light or translucent fabrics are favored 
  throughout the city, as they tend to exaggerate or 
  advertise the physical forms of those who wear them.  
  Gossamer shirts and dresses, or “shimmering velvet” 
  attire, are most widely used by those who either 
  don’t expect to get into a ﬁght (elite gang leaders, 
  scientists, and high-class “furniture”), or those who 
  are just keen on dying with a ﬂair.  Still others wear 
  sturdy latex or rubber bodysuits, outﬁts that harkens 
  back to popular “sex clubs” of the carefree pre-Fall 
  era.  Players of the popular sport, Bloodsport, wear 
  daring costumes that are a hodge-podge of armor 
  and revealing body stocking, regardless of their 
  gender.  Gangers, for their part, are just as varied in 
  their tastes; some tend to favor old-fashioned styles 
  (a current fad has been to adopt the attire of 1920s 
  and 1930s gangsters, complete with pin-striped suits 
  and fedora hats), while others look no different than 
  punks and vagabonds from the late 20th century.
  The poor urban masses, such as those that live in 
  the less populated sectors of the city or even in the 
  sewers, must be content with rags and makeshift 
  clothes of their own handmade design.  Cloth bits 
  scavenged from waste piles are used extensively by 
  the poor as well.
  TECH UNION
  The so-called “Tech Union” is a sophisticated 
  association of thinkers that was founded in the 
  city’s early years during the reconstruction of the 
  Metropolis after the Fall.  Composed of the last core 
  of technicians and scientists, personnel drawn from 
  the Tech Union were responsible for constructing the 
  Barrier, rebuilding the city’s dilapidated power grid, 
  and preserving the technological skills that, while 
  dated, still manage to keep the “island-city” aﬂoat 
  today.
  Today the Tech Union is something of an 
  independent organization, not unlike the Enforcers, 
  but entirely civilian.  The Union provides highly 
  skilled personnel who maintain the city’s high-tech 
  equipment and installations (examples include the 
  UNPRODUCTIVES
  “Unproductive” is a broad term used by the citizens of Metropolis Rho to describe the vast unemployed 
  and disenfranchised masses that infest much of the city’s darker neighborhoods.  These people are 
  members of society who have fallen through the cracks, either stepping outside the gang system willingly 
  or forced there due to circumstances beyond their control.  Without jobs they contribute nothing to 
  Metropolis society (and in fact merely leech off of the city’s dwindling resources), thus their unﬂattering 
  title.
  
  17
  power station, the food processing plant, the city 
  control computer complex, etc.).  Granted their own 
  charter to govern their own affairs separate from 
  any government intervention in exchange for total 
  neutrality in city politics, they operate like an old-
  style “union”, providing skilled labor and expertise to 
  those companies and gangs that pay them.
  Those groups that refuse to pay the Union’s prices, 
  or in any way violate their charter of independence 
  (such as stealing Tech Union equipment, kidnapping 
  Tech Union personnel, or trying to force the 
  Union into doing some act that would violate their 
  neutrality), are generally censured, a term that 
  means a total denial of access to the Union’s pool of 
  technical expertise.  For many gangs and industries 
  such a censure could spell ﬁnancial disaster, and 
  though there have been instances in which the 
  Union’s determination has been tested, today very 
  few gangs dare test them for fear of destroying 
  themselves in the process.
  In Metropolis Rho, virtually all technically 
  skilled personnel come from the Tech Union, which 
  is similar in operation to the trade houses of the 
  wasteland.  The Tech Union usually selects children 
  born in the city from an early age (following aptitude 
  tests that show if the child is worth investing in), 
  and trains them in secluded schools for much of 
  their early life.  Once they graduate, Tech Union 
  technicians are “leased out” to various gangs 
  (including the Enforcers) or civilian industries where 
  their skills are needed, usually for a period of two to 
  ﬁve years.  The Tech Union teaches - and in doing so 
  preserves - all sorts of skills and advanced sciences, 
  ranging from the maintenance of complex electronic 
  devices to advanced genetic medicine.
  Though the gangs and Enforcers of the city hog the 
  fame and prestige of keeping the Metropolis intact, it 
  is probably more accurate to say it is really the Tech 
  METROPOLIS TERMINOLOGY
  There are a handful of slang terms frequently heard on the lips of Metropolis citizens, which help differentiate 
  their particular brand of Gutter Talk from the language of the Ancients.  Some of these terms may be familiar 
  to players of Darwin’s World:
  Barrier:  A legendary ring of automated and robotic defenses constructed soon after the Fall to keep the 
  city and its dome safe from outside attack.  The Barrier lies beyond the dome, a place where only a few 
  foolhardy souls ever go anymore (see Barrier Scav, below).
  Barrier Scav:  One of a breed of cutthroat loners who dwell in the outer Zones and are said to be able to 
  slip through passages in the Dome to scavenge scrap metal and other junk from the fringes of the Barrier.
  Bloodsport:  The deadly, fast-paced sport that has many Metropolis fans addicted.
  Bronze:  A somewhat derogatory term for an Enforcer.
  Cat:  Short for “electro-impulse subdual catalyst”, a popular and highly addictive drug that dulls one’s 
  perception of the city’s true degeneration and isolation.
  Dome:  The dome that encloses the entire city, constructed during the time of the Ancients; perceived by 
  many to be the only thing that keeps the city safe from the radiated world outside.
  Enforcer:  A member of the powerful organization of “Enforcers”, the city’s version of a “police force”.
  Furniture:  Once a derogatory term for women, now a part of the common language of the city.
  Ganger:  A slang term for a gangster, any member of one of the city’s numerous gangs both large and 
  small.
  GrassGas:  The less-than-clever name for the poor-quality fuel produced for the city’s vehicles, distilled in 
  a complex process from regular lawn grass.
  Line:  As in “The Line”.  An Enforcer slang term for the “line of duty”.
  Underground:  The alleged coalition of mutant-born who live secretly in the city.  They are hunted by 
  the law, since all mutation was outlawed long ago to preserve the genetic legacy of the future.  All face 
  extermination if captured.
  Unproductives:  A blanket term for the vast number of people who contribute little to Metropolis society, 
  including the homeless, elderly, and crippled, as well as many youths orphaned by the city’s gang wars.
  Ward:  Any part of the city; a district, quarter, or neighborhood.
  Ward Boss:  The ofﬁcial title of whoever legally runs a given district of the city; usually the leader of 
  whichever gang is dominant in a particular ward.
  Zones:  A slang term for the vast run-down parts of the Metropolis that ring the heart of the city; closer to 
  the city center these areas are home to the majority of Metropolis citizenry, living in old apartment buildings 
  and the relatively hollow shells of skyscrapers.
  Zones, Outer:  As the Zones (above), except these are located close to the Dome itself, and are usually 
  only inhabited by a smattering of homeless, but sometimes populated with gang-operated drug mills and 
  warehouses.  A very dangerous area.
  
  18
  Union’s knowledge and dedication to preserving the 
  last remnants of technology that keeps Metropolis 
  Rho from falling apart.
  METROPOLIS GANGS
  In Metropolis Rho there are a handful of major gangs 
  and over a dozen minor, disorganized gangs dispersed 
  throughout the city.  The main gangs are, of course, 
  bitter rivals, and pit their considerable forces against 
  one another all the time.  The lesser gangs, usually 
  splinters off the main groups (for instance, a younger 
  son who tried but failed to usurp the birthright of 
  his elder brother for control of the gang goes and 
  makes his own organization – along the same lines 
  of the gangs of America’s “Roaring ‘20s”) or groups 
  of disgruntled anarchists who seek only to prey off 
  the system, are far less powerful mainly because 
  they lack the steady income and prestige; generally 
  unlikely to get elected (a majority popular vote is 
  required), they are unable to match the recruiting 
  and enslavement power of the larger groups and can 
  thus not afford to garrison large and efﬁcient drug 
  production factories (or large sectors of the city for 
  protection skimming).  As such, they are usually 
  very small and generally insigniﬁcant - though they 
  are certainly still brutal and capable of creating a 
  noticeable threat when roused to action.
  In essence, gangs operate much like the organized 
  criminal families from pre-war history, “maﬁa” of 
  a legalized and accepted kind.  While it should be 
  noted that many gangs are no better than armed street 
  thugs who terrorize their part of the city, many more 
  in Metropolis Rho are actually doing good for their 
  “constituents”, providing safety, security, jobs, and 
  even a semi-decent future.
  Gangs represent the people in various parts of the 
  city.  In some parts, such as the majority of slums, 
  they have very little control over their community (or 
  even care), simply skimming proﬁts off businesses 
  with extortion or blackmail.  In others, such as in 
  the more well-to-do wards, they protect the people 
  in their quarter allowing them to prosper in peace 
  and grow, so long as they pay their dues and buy 
  gang goods.  In others, the gangs are looked up to 
  by the citizens (many children long to be in a stylish 
  or elite gang), and turned to for protection and even 
  employment.
  THE MAYORSHIP
  In the Metropolis the strong make the rules, and 
  this is a given.  Democratic processes and equal 
  rights have bled away into a joke that bears little 
  resemblance to what was ﬁrst intended when the city 
  was rebuilt.  As such, the gangs ARE the law, they 
  ARE the power.  In turn, the gangs have evolved 
  into more than predators, but as providers and even 
  administrators (the rule here is that to be a strong 
  gang, you have to have strong support, and the best 
  way to garner strong support is to make sure the 
  people you govern like you).
  Every once in a while, the ruler of the Metropolis 
  dies (usually by another faction’s hand, either 
  through assassination or an all-out war), and the 
  gangs get together and campaign.  Much like political 
  campaigning in the past, the gangs take to the streets, 
  act their best (or their worst, depending on how 
  they try to gain votes), pass out pamphlets, escort 
  TABLE 1-1: GANGS OF THE METROPOLIS
  Name
  Ranking
  Primary Activities
  West Side Gang
  1
  Drugs, furniture dealing, information brokering, protection
  Enforcers
  2
  Protection, fencing
  East Side Boys
  3
  Drugs, black market weapons, furniture dealing, protection
  Turf Cowboys
  4
  Drugs, fencing, furniture dealing, protection
  Midtown Angels
  5
  Drugs, fencing, furniture dealing
  Destroyers
  6
  Armed robbery, black market weapons
  Uptown Playboys
  7
  Drugs, fencing, furniture dealing
  Chrome Cadre
  8
  Black market cybernetics
  South Side Killers
  9
  Black market weapons
  Cats
  10
  Burglary, information brokering
  Switchblades
  11
  Protection, furniture dealing
  Nightcrawlers
  12
  Burglary, kidnapping, information brokering
  Dr. Jones’ Candymen
  13
  Drugs, information brokering
  Metal Freaks
  14
  Black market weapons, black market cybernetics
  Capbusters
  15
  Armed robbery
  Zone Rangers
  16
  Local anarchy, protection
  Marbreds
  17
  Drugs, petty theft
  Chuds
  18
  Petty theft
  Sodomites
  19
  Petty theft, armed robbery
  Lifers
  20
  Local anarchy, protection
  Mavericks
  21
  Local anarchy, protection
  Juvies
  22
  Petty theft, armed robbery
  
  19
  their gang head to speeches, etc.  Much expense and 
  fanfare follows, of course, and during these times the 
  “candidates” (only one candidate for Mayor per gang 
  - no exceptions), usually the family head, confront 
  each other either verbally, or, in many cases, in open 
  warfare.
  Campaigns for Metropolis Mayor are often 
  broken by open, violent warfare (not altogether 
  legal, but during these times the police force is 
  stretched thin and is unlikely to get in anyone’s 
  way; they certainly protect the incumbent, 
  who by tradition is owed their loyalty).  
  Candidates often send their cronies to bust up 
  other gang members putting out pamphlets, or 
  bomb the area of a speech, or simply attempt 
  to assassinate each other.  Once in a while, 
  supporters of one cause will spill over into the 
  ward of a rival, create mayhem (burn down 
  businesses, kill locals, overturn cars, etc.), and 
  generally continue to massacre any semblance of 
  civilization or sanity in the process.
  A Mayor can only ﬁnally be elected when the 
  populace votes - majority wins (no matter by what 
  margin, though a re-count may be called to verify 
  results).  Of course, those wishing to become 
  mayor are usually the most popular or most 
  powerful gang bosses, and often have one or 
  two smaller gangs under their belt - all secretly, 
  of course - to do their dirty work, assassination, 
  and rioting.
  Once a Mayor is elected, he’s elected for 
  life (though this often doesn’t mean very long, 
  since he can always be killed).  Although a 
  dangerous job, it is a prosperous one, as the 
  Mayor gets ofﬁcial say-so in the affairs of the 
  city, as well as the management of the city 
  treasury - he can skim as much as he likes, though 
  to endanger the basic costs of city maintenance has 
  always been a criminal offense, so just enough to live 
  the posh life is usually embezzled – no more, no less.  
  The elected Mayor always lives in absolute luxury, 
  gets the best of everything from the city’s diminished 
  resources for himself and his loyal supporters (i.e. his 
  gang), and is served by the entire police force (which 
  by “law” and tradition always remains loyal to the 
  elected Mayor when he comes to ofﬁce, regardless 
  of his past afﬁliations and any ﬁghting that may have 
  occurred between them).
  The Mayor is also far more likely to be able to 
  wage effective war against past enemies, because the 
  Mayor becomes de facto “ruler” of the city police 
  force.  As such he can use the police to brutal effect 
  against whomever he deigns.  He can easily muscle in 
  on any territory he likes (leading to more violence), 
  dominate businesses and industry, etc.
  GANG ACTIVITIES
  The gangs of Metropolis Rho are in the business 
  of making money, not only supporting their 
  vast armies of gangland thugs (who without 
  the gangs would be members of the caste of 
  “unproductives”) but also their tyrannical 
  leaders and, in the process, creating a brutal and 
  merciless laissez faire society.
  Typical gang activities range from policing the 
  streets to enforcing their own mandates within a 
  given district.  In addition, all gangs create wealth 
  to support themselves through any of a number of 
  activities.  In Ancient times many of these activities 
  were illegal, but today in the Metropolis they are 
  legitimate businesses.
  Armed robbery gangs specialize in hitting rival 
  gangs or civilian businesses with armed parties, 
  taking money and/or valuable goods (such as drugs 
  from a manufacturing plant) at gunpoint.
  Black market cybernetics involves the 
  trafﬁcking of the city’s few rare and expensive 
  relics of cybernetic technology.
  Black market weapons involves the buying 
  and selling of weapons (virtually any kind) 
  
  20
  without registering the transactions, paying legal 
  fees, and securing required permits - which are often 
  costly.  Though illegal, the trade nets a lot of money.
  Burglary is a trade undertaken by gangs who 
  specialize in breaking into fortiﬁed or heavily 
  guarded areas (high-rises or even rival gang 
  headquarters) for a speciﬁc target - usually stealing 
  priceless valuables but also planting incriminating 
  evidence, bugs, etc...
  Drugs involve the manufacturing, distribution, and 
  dealing of medicinal and recreational drugs.  Because 
  of the city population’s widespread dependence 
  on drugs, this is one of the single most lucrative 
  activities a gang can pursue.  It is similarly one of the 
  most dangerous, as the market is tightly controlled by 
  the gangs with the most power and inﬂuence.
  Fencing involves the movement and selling of 
  stolen items (anything from weapons to expensive 
  jewelry to rare luxuries such as real alcohol and 
  food), trafﬁcking them illegally.
  Furniture dealing is the Metropolis version of 
  prostitution, a system in which the city’s natural-born 
  women are basically traded as objects for pleasure 
  and entertainment.  A big, legitimate business that is 
  an integral part of Metropolis culture.
  Information brokering generally involves buying, 
  selling, gathering, and trafﬁcking information 
  pertaining to virtually any sensitive topic in the 
  city, from monthly proﬁts of a particular gang’s 
  activities to the schedule of bank shipments or a 
  rival politicians’ appearances during a campaign.  
  Information can be extremely valuable, and those 
  gangs that deal in it are usually quite powerful.
  Kidnapping is a dying art, in which a gang targets 
  speciﬁc individuals to hold for ransom.  Though they 
  stand to make a great deal if they kidnap the right 
  person, repercussions for such activities are usually 
  quite extreme.
  Local anarchy is a general term applied when a 
  group disregards the traditional customs governing 
  the behavior of a gang over the constituents of its 
  district.  Such gangs typically rule their turf like 
  lawless brigands, dishing out violence on a whim and 
  taking whatever they want from the local populace 
  on threat of death.  Such gangs typically only exist in 
  low population (or unimportant) ‘zones, since a larger 
  gang would certainly move in and destroy them to 
  win the voters in that area.
  Petty theft is a general term for quick hit-and-run 
  robberies, hold-ups, and small-time burglary, usually 
  for small money and performed at random.
  Protection involves pressuring a neighborhood, 
  district, or (in the case of the Enforcers) the entire 
  city into paying taxes and exorbitant fees (or 
  privileges) for “protection” from other gangs.  A gang 
  that offers “protection” promises to keep its paying 
  customers safe.  If they fail to pay (or refuse to pay), 
  they are usually ruthlessly punished as a result.
  THE GANGS OF METROPOLIS RHO
  Metropolis Rho is ruled by its native gangs, whether 
  in the form of the lowest street dealer on the corner 
  passing out propaganda portraying his “boss” as a 
  champion of the people, to the politicians at city hall 
  who have scaled the corrupt and violent ladder of 
  MetRho’s unique brand of “democracy” to reach the 
  pinnacle of city power.
  Below is a list of the 22 major gangs of Metropolis 
  Rho listed by name, with a brief description and 
  sample statistics of the typical ganger of each 
  particular city faction.  Many of these gangs are old 
  and well-established, with origins reaching back 
  before the Fall (when the Metropolis, like many other 
  cities, was a haven for powerful organized crime), 
  while others are new, rising from the ashes of other 
  gangs either made defunct by political maneuvering 
  or outright destroyed by their rivals.
  The Enforcers are listed here because they too are 
  technically a gang, despite their unique situation in 
  the city.
  WEST SIDE GANG
  The current “top dogs” of Metropolis Rho, the West 
  Side Gang rose to prominence primarily through 
  information brokering, avoiding the more violent 
  activities of their fellow gangers on the streets of the 
  Metropolis.  While the others fought and bickered, 
  the West Side Gang quietly crept its way up the 
  political ladder to the top before anyone could stop 
  them.
  Unlike many gangs, the typical West Side Ganger 
  is unquestioningly loyal to the gang’s internal 
  hierarchy, a fact that stems from the unusually 
  good treatment the average footman receives from 
  his superiors.  Knowing that the strength of their 
  organization lies in the footmen who comprise their 
  vast network of moles, snitches, informants, drug 
  peddlers, furniture sellers, and gunmen, the West Side 
  Gang takes great pains to make sure their people are 
  the best paid gangers in the city.
  West Side Ganger, Strong Hero 3:  CR 3; Medium-
  size humanoid; HD 3d8+6; HP 20; Mas 14; Init +2; 
  Spd 30 ft; Defense 17, touch 14, ﬂatfooted 15 (+0 
  size, +2 Dex, +2 class, +3 equipment); BAB +3; Grap 
  +5; Atk +5 melee (1d6+4, riﬂe butt), or +6 ranged 
  (2d6, M9 Spectre); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ 
  none; AL West Side Gang; SV Fort +4, Ref +3, Will 
  +2; AP 1; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, 
  Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation:  Predator (Intimidate).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Streetwise]).
  
  21
  Skills:  Intimidate +5, Knowledge (Current Events) 
  +2, Knowledge (Popular Culture) +2, Knowledge 
  (Streetwise) +6, Knowledge (Tactics) +2.
  Feats:  Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Armor 
  Proﬁciency (light), Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, 
  Post-Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive Technology, 
  Weapon Focus (M9 Spectre).
  Talents (Strong Hero):  Melee Smash, Improved 
  Melee Smash.
  Possessions:  Expensive clothes, M9 Spectre, one 
  box of ammunition (50), undercover vest.
  ENFORCERS
  The ostensible “police force” of Metropolis Rho is 
  made up of the brotherhood of “Enforcers”, men 
  (and rarely women) who are renowned for their 
  ruthlessness and utter brutality - even more so than 
  the vicious gangs that infest every quarter of the 
  Metropolis.  The typical Enforcer traces his loyalty 
  as follows:  to his squad, to the Enforcers, to the 
  Mayor, and then to the Metropolis as a community.  
  The tight-knit fraternal organization of the Enforcers, 
  as well as their lucrative beneﬁts and heady prestige, 
  make them extremely dangerous for even the most 
  powerful gangs to stand up against.
  Enforcer, Strong Hero 3/Enforcer 1:  CR 4; 
  Medium-size humanoid; HD 3d8+3 plus 1d10+1; 
  HP 23; Mas 13; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; Defense 20, touch 
  15, ﬂatfooted 18 (+0 size, +2 Dex, +3 class, +5 
  equipment); BAB +4; Grap +6; Atk +7 melee (3d6+4, 
  stun baton), or +6 ranged (2d8, Wildey .44); FS 5 ft 
  by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ none; AL Enforcers; SV Fort 
  +4, Ref +4, Will +2; AP 1; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 15, 
  Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation:  Predator (Intimidate).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge [Tactics]).
  Skills:  Climb +4, Drive +4, Gather Information 
  +0, Hide +3, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (Streetwise) 
  +2, Knowledge (Tactics) +2, Move Silently +3, Sense 
  Motive +2.
  Feats:  Intimidating Strength, Personal Firearms 
  Proﬁciency, Point Blank Shot, Post-Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Primitive Technology, Weapon Focus 
  (stun baton).
  Talents (Strong Hero):  Melee Smash, Improved 
  Melee Smash.
  Talents (Enforcer):  Riot Formation, Uniformed 
  Fighter.
  Possessions:  Civil security suit, Wildey .44 
  Magnum, 2 boxes of .44 magnum ammunition (16), 
  stun baton, power beltpack.
  EAST SIDE BOYS
  The East Side Boys rose to a prominent position in 
  the city through business acumen and timely political 
  maneuvers; though not necessarily one of the most 
  violent gangs, their rabid pursuit of any opportunity 
  to make a buck has bought them a lot of clout in 
  city politics.  A common trait of the East Side Boys 
  is a love for the “good life”, personiﬁed in each 
  individual ganger’s obsession with ﬂashy attire, 
  fancy cars, sleek new weapons, and an abundance of 
  “furniture”.
  Despite having the money to buy real respect, 
  the gang’s sleazy “wannabe-maﬁa” image persists.  
  Many urban gangs see the East Side Boys as little 
  more than “ghetto playboys”, which is not far from 
  the truth.  Regardless, they are so numerous that as 
  a single entity the East Side Boys are second only in 
  power and clout in Metropolis Rho to the West Side 
  Gang.
  East-Side Boy, Strong Hero 1:  CR 1; Medium-size 
  humanoid; HD 1d8+2; HP 7; Mas 14; Init +2; Spd 30 
  ft; Defense 13, touch 13, ﬂatfooted 11 (+0 size, +2 
  Dex, +1 class); BAB +1; Grap +2; Atk +2 melee (by 
  weapon), or +3 ranged (2d6, Parker Hale IDW); FS 
  5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ none; AL East Side Boys; 
  SV Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +1; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 12, 
  Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 8.
  Occupation:  Predator (Intimidate).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Streetwise]).
  Skills:  Hide +3, Intimidate +1, Knowledge 
  (Streetwise) +2, Listen +2, Move Silently +3, Spot 
  +2.
  Feats:  Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Personal 
  Firearms Proﬁciency, Post-Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Primitive Technology.
  Talents (Strong Hero):  Melee Smash.
  Possessions:  Expensive clothes, Parker Hale IDW, 
  one box of 9mm ammunition (20).
  TURF COWBOYS
  Renowned for their vicious reprisals against 
  gangs who try to operate in their “territory”, the 
  Turf Cowboys have earned themselves a violent 
  reputation over the years.  Primarily interested in 
  the manufacturing and supply of recreational chems 
  (“drugs”), the Turf Cowboys operate numerous mills 
  and provide a solid 15% of the city’s entire drug 
  supply.  On top of this they ﬁeld one of the more 
  effective “armies” in the Metropolis, with some of 
  the most elite footmen of any Metropolis gang ready 
  to enforce their will.  Even the city’s more powerful 
  gangs tend to avoid the Turf Cowboys, preferring 
  to use diplomacy to solve ﬁnancial or territorial 
  disputes, knowing that any clashes with the gang will 
  likely lead to unacceptable damage to the city.
  Turf Cowboy, Tough Hero 6:  CR 6; Medium-size 
  humanoid; HD 6d10+6 plus 6; HP 45; Mas 13; Init 
  +2; Spd 30 ft; Defense 17, touch 15, ﬂatfooted 15 
  
  22
  (+0 size, +2 Dex, +3 class, +2 equipment); BAB +4; 
  Grap +6; Atk +6 melee (1d6+2, combat knife), or 
  +7 ranged (2d6, HK MP5); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 
  ft; SQ none; AL Turf Cowboys; SV Fort +4, Ref +4, 
  Will +3; AP 3; Rep +2; Str 15, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 8, 
  Wis 12, Cha 10.
  Occupation:  Predator (Intimidate).
  Background:  Degenerate (Drive).
  Skills:  Drive +5, Intimidate +3, Knowledge 
  (Current Events) +2, Knowledge (Popular Culture) 
  +2, Knowledge (Streetwise) +2, Listen +3, Spot +6.
  Feats:  Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Alertness, 
  Armor Proﬁciency (light), Brawl, Knockout Punch, 
  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Post-Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Primitive Technology, Streetﬁghting.
  Talents (Tough Hero):  Robust, Damage 
  Reduction 1/—, Damage Reduction 2/—.
  Possessions:  Functional clothes, HK MP5, two 
  boxes of 9mm ammunition (60), combat knife, 
  leather armor.
  MIDTOWN ANGELS
  One of the more rough-and-tumble gangs of 
  Metropolis Rho, the Midtown Angels shy away 
  from the bright lights of the inner city and tend to 
  do much of their business with the Unproductives 
  and “less desirable” elements of the Metropolis.  
  Though once situated in the Downtown area, the 
  ‘Angels have migrated over the years to the fringes 
  due to the encroachment of other, more organized 
  gangs on their traditional turf.  Partly crippled by the 
  rabid love of freedom (which prohibits them from 
  regularly participating in the Council of Gangs, as to 
  them it means a willingness to accept someone else’s 
  authority over their activities), the ‘Angels have been 
  marginalized in city politics.
  Despite this the gang remains strong, selling drugs 
  and stolen goods (such as weapons) to the people 
  who need them the most:  the poor of Metropolis 
  Rho.
  Midtown Angel, Tough Hero 2:  CR 2; Medium-
  size humanoid; HD 2d10+4 plus 3; HP 18; Mas 14; 
  Init +2; Spd 30 ft; Defense 14, touch 14, ﬂatfooted 12 
  (+0 size, +2 Dex, +2 class); BAB +1; Grap +2; Atk 
  +2 melee (1d6+1, riﬂe butt), or +3 ranged (2d6, Uzi); 
  FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ none; AL Midtown 
  Angels; SV Fort +4, Ref +2, Will -1; AP 1; Rep +0; 
  Str 13, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 12.
  Occupation:  Predator (Sense Motive).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Business]).
  Skills:  Intimidate +4, Knowledge (Business) 
  +2, Knowledge (Current Events) +1, Knowledge 
  (Popular Culture) +1, Knowledge (Streetwise) +2, 
  Sense Motive +1, Spot +1, Survival +1.
  Feats:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Point 
  Blank Shot, Post-Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive 
  Technology, Toughness.
  Talents (Tough Hero):  Second Wind.
  Possessions:  Functional clothes, Uzi, two boxes of 
  9mm ammunition (40).
  DESTROYERS
  One of the most bloodthirsty gangs in the city, the 
  “Destroyers” are an anarchist faction that rules its 
  part of the city in a state of virtual chaos.  Having 
  scared-off legitimate businesses and industries 
  through their wanton plundering, they have turned 
  their part of the city into an abandoned ghetto.  
  Only the most desperate Unproductives dare 
  live as squatters among the hollow and empty 
  neighborhoods claimed by the gang, having too little 
  to attract the attentions of the district’s “overlords”.
  Because they have driven away all wealth from 
  their part of town, the Destroyers habitually wage 
  war on neighboring wards (and neighboring gangs) 
  for the things they need to stay in power, venturing 
  into outlying territories on large, well-armed “raids”.  
  The Destroyers ransack businesses, loot stores, and 
  play havoc on their rivals whenever it suits them.  
  Hated by the more established gangs, the Destroyers 
  manage to keep themselves sufﬁciently armed so 
  that only punitive action has ever been taken against 
  them (usually the capturing of homeless people from 
  the Destroyers’ part of the city to be “executed” 
  in a neighboring ward for crimes their overlords 
  committed).  The Destroyers typically restrict their 
  activities to raiding other undesirables such as the 
  Marbreds and the Metal Freaks (they once battled the 
  Enforcers in a three-day “street war”, but neither side 
  relishes the idea of repeating that incident in the near 
  future).
  Destroyer, Strong Hero 3/Raider 2:  CR 5; 
  Medium-size humanoid; HD 3d8+3 plus 2d10+2; 
  HP 30; Mas 13; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; Defense 22, touch 
  15, ﬂatfooted 20 (+0 size, +2 Dex, +3 class, +7 
  equipment); BAB +5; Grap +7; Atk +7 melee (1d6+4, 
  riﬂe butt), or +8 ranged (2d8, M16A2); FS 5 ft by 5 
  ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ none; AL Destroyers; SV Fort +5, 
  Ref +5, Will +1; AP 2; Rep +1; Str 15, Dex 14, Con 
  13, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 8.
  Occupation:  Predator (Intimidate).
  Background:  Degenerate (Drive).
  Skills:  Climb +4, Drive +6, Gather Information 
  +1, Hide +3, Intimidate +2, Jump +4, Knowledge 
  (Current Events) +3, Knowledge (Tactics) +8, Move 
  Silently +3, Repair +5, Survival +2.
  Feats:  Armor Proﬁciency (light), Armor 
  Proﬁciency (medium), Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, 
  Post-Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive Technology, 
  Weapon Focus (M16A2).
  Talents (Strong Hero):  Melee Smash, Improved 
  
  23
  Melee Smash.
  Talents (Raider):  Chaps and Chains +1, 
  Bloodthirsty Cry.
  Possessions:  Functional clothes, M16A2, 
  two boxes of 5.56mm ammunition (60), one 
  fragmentation grenade, tactical vest.
  UPTOWN PLAYBOYS
  On seeing a member of the Uptown Playboys one 
  wouldn’t suspect he (or sometimes she) was in fact 
  a ganger.  The Uptown Playboys are one of only 
  a handful of gangs in Metropolis Rho who have 
  dragged themselves off the mean streets and turned 
  themselves into a “semi-legitimate” organization that 
  uses tact, diplomacy, and negotiations to solve their 
  problems rather than outright violence.
  The Uptown Playboys ﬁll a niche - they cater to 
  the needs of the city’s wealthiest citizens, providing 
  top- notch drugs, objects d’art, and quality furniture, 
  for the right price.  While all of their “services” are 
  extraordinarily expensive, the Playboys have made 
  a reputation of never disappointing their clientele in 
  any transaction.  The gang holds numerous contracts 
  with industry giants (such as Krestal Fuels) and 
  individual citizens, offering regular services and even 
  insuring paying customers against possible mishaps 
  from the use of their “products” (in the rare event 
  of a drug overdose, brain damage from a bad batch 
  of DreamSlide, catching an STD from a piece of 
  furniture, etc.).
  Uptown Playboy, Charismatic Hero 2:  CR 2; 
  Medium-size humanoid; HD 2d6+0; HP 7; Mas 10; 
  Init +1; Spd 30 ft; Defense 12, touch 12, ﬂatfooted 11 
  (+0 size, +1 Dex, +1 class); BAB +1; Grap +0; Atk 
  +0 melee (1d3-1 nonlethal, unarmed), or +2 ranged 
  (2d6, TEC-9); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ none; 
  AL Uptown Playboys; SV Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +1; 
  AP 1; Rep +2; Str 8, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 13, 
  Cha 15.
  Occupation:  Slaver (Gather Information, 
  Knowledge [Business]).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Streetwise]).
  Skills:  Bluff +7, Diplomacy +9, Disguise +3, 
  Gather Information +9, Intimidate +7, Knowledge 
  (Business) +7, Knowledge (Current Events) +7, 
  Knowledge (Popular Culture) +7, Knowledge 
  (Streetwise) +7, Listen +2, Perform +7, Spot +2.
  Feats:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Post-
  Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive Technology, 
  Silver Tongue, Trustworthy.
  Talents (Charismatic Hero):  Fast-Talk.
  Possessions:  Expensive clothes, TEC-9, one box 
  of 9mm ammunition (32).
  CHROME CADRE
  A powerful gang by virtue of their violent nature, 
  the Chrome Cadre specializes in the sale of black 
  market cybernetics - rare artifacts that predate the 
  Fall but are still in great demand among the city’s 
  more war-like gangs, where any edge can mean the 
  difference between life and death in the daily battle 
  for turf.  The ‘Cadre boasts the largest collection of 
  cybernetics in the city (the Metal Freaks come in 
  a close second), and their foot soldiers bristle and 
  gleam with “chrome” parts - bionic arms, cybernetic 
  eyes, biomechanical targeters, etc., with all parts 
  and requisite surgery ﬁnanced by the gang.  ‘Cadre 
  followers are renowned for their absolute loyalty 
  to the organization, and rumor has it that each new 
  recruit is required to have a chip implanted in his 
  brain that will explode (taking off his head) if he 
  betrays the ‘Cadre.
  Chrome Cadre, Fast Hero 3:  CR 3; Medium-size 
  humanoid; HD 3d8+6 plus 3; HP 23; Mas 14; Init 
  +1; Spd 30 ft; Defense 17, touch 15, ﬂatfooted 16 
  (+0 size, +1 Dex, +4 class, +2 equipment); BAB 
  +2; Grap +4; Atk +4 melee (1d6+2, weapon), or +3 
  ranged (1d6+0, weapon); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; 
  SQ electricity vulnerability, susceptibility to attack, 
  massive damage effects; AL Chrome Cadre; SV Fort 
  +3, Ref +3, Will +2; AP 1; Rep +1; Str 15, Dex 13, 
  Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation:  Predator (Intimidate).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Technology]).
  Skills:  Drive +3, Hide +3, Intimidate +3, 
  Knowledge (Current Events) +2, Knowledge 
  (Streetwise) +4, Knowledge (Technology) +4, Move 
  Silently +3, Repair +2, Sleight of Hand +3, Tumble 
  +5.
  Feats:  Double Tap, Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, 
  Point Blank Shot, Post-Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Primitive Technology, Toughness.
  Talents (Fast Hero):  Evasion.
  Possessions:  Functional clothes, MAG-7, three 
  boxes of 12-gauge ammunition (15), dermal plating 
  +2 (see The Foundationists).
  SOUTH SIDE KILLERS
  The South Side Killers are a ruthless organization 
  that makes the majority of its gang money from the 
  sale of weapons, with some small drug peddling and 
  prostitution enterprises on the side.  In a city whose 
  very existence thrives on violence (as much to keep 
  the population under control as anything else), the 
  demand for weapons is always high; as such, the 
  South Side Killers remain a strong and politically 
  powerful gang due to their assets, connections, and 
  popularity with the people living on the Metropolis 
  streets.
  
  24
  South Side Killer, Tough Hero 2/Fast Hero 2:  CR 
  4; Medium-size humanoid; HD 2d10+4 plus 2d8+4 
  plus 3; HP 31; Mas 14; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; Defense 
  21, touch 18, ﬂatfooted 19 (+0 size, +2 Dex, +6 class, 
  +3 equipment); BAB +2; Grap +3; Atk +3 melee 
  (1+1, brass knuckles), or +4 ranged (2d6, TEC-9); 
  FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ none; AL South Side 
  Killers; SV Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +0; AP 2; Rep +0; 
  Str 13, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8. 
  Occupation:  Predator (Intimidate).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Business]).
  Skills:  Drive +4, Hide +4, Intimidate +3, 
  Knowledge (Business) +5, Knowledge (Current 
  Events) +3, Knowledge (Popular Culture) +3, 
  Knowledge (Streetwise) +5, Listen +2, Move Silently 
  +4, Sleight of Hand +4, Spot +6, Tumble +6.
  Feats:  Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Alertness, 
  Armor Proﬁciency (light), Personal Firearms 
  Proﬁciency, Post-Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive 
  Technology, Toughness.
  Talents (Tough Hero):  Remain Conscious.
  Talents (Fast Hero):  Evasion.
  Possessions:  Functional clothes, TEC-9, one box 
  of 9mm ammunition (32), undercover vest, brass 
  knuckles.
  CATS
  A unique organization among the gangs of Metropolis 
  Rho, the “Cats” consider themselves scholars and 
  gentlemen - and behave as such.  Professional 
  burglars and thieves, the Cats have risen above the 
  violent methods of their peers, turning the crime of 
  theft into a true art form.
  Though they claim to be descended from criminals 
  released from the Pen sometime before/during/after 
  the Fall, the Cats are largely mercenary these days, 
  selling their skills as burglars, art thieves, and 
  safecracks to those gangs (and sometimes wealthy 
  individuals) who are willing to pay for them.  The 
  Cats almost seem to “play” with their targets, 
  adhering to cavalier codes of conduct (doing as little 
  collateral damage as possible when blowing a safe, 
  for example, using sleeping gas on guards instead 
  of killing them, etc.) and often leaving calling cards 
  that are as much a way to brag about their skills as to 
  advertise their services for future customers!
  In addition to stealing valuable material goods, 
  the Cats also offer “information gathering” services, 
  installing bugs and other secret surveillance devices 
  to gather information for paying customers from even 
  the most secure highrises and gang hideouts.
  Cat, Fast Hero 2/Charismatic Hero 1:  CR 3; 
  Medium-size humanoid; HD 2d8-2 plus 1d6-1; HP 
  10; Mas 8; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; Defense 16, touch 16, 
  ﬂatfooted 14 (+0 size, +2 Dex, +4 class); BAB +1; 
  Grap +1; Atk +1 melee (1d3 nonlethal, unarmed), or 
  +3 ranged (2d6, Beretta 92F); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 
  5 ft; SQ none; AL Cats; SV Fort +0, Ref +7, Will +1; 
  AP 1; Rep +2; Str 10, Dex 15, Con 8, Int 12, Wis 13, 
  Cha 14.
  Occupation:  Predator (Sense Motive).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge [Current 
  Events]).
  Skills:  Balance +7, Disguise +5, Escape Artist 
  +7, Gather Information +5, Hide +9, Knowledge 
  (Business) +3, Knowledge (Current Events) +2, 
  Move Silently +9, Sense Motive +2, Sleight of Hand 
  +9, Tumble +7.
  Feats:  Lightning Reﬂexes, Nimble, Personal 
  Firearms Proﬁciency, Post-Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Primitive Technology, Stealthy.
  Talents (Fast Hero):  Evasion.
  Talents (Charismatic Hero):  Charm.
  Possessions:  Black coveralls, Beretta 92F, one 
  box of 9mm ammunition (15), suppressor, tear gas 
  grenade, ﬂashlight, autograpnel, two power cells.
  SWITCHBLADES
  The Switchblades are a large and violent gang, 
  who have risen from mere thugs terrorizing a 
  particular part of the city to become “legitimate” 
  members of society.  Though they retain a tough 
  edge (using a switchblade to slice a rival’s throat 
  remains their favored form of gangland execution), 
  the Switchblades primarily operate as legitimate 
  protectors of the constituents of their part of town 
  - ﬁghting for and defending the citizens from attacks 
  by neighboring gangs (for a fee).  Gone are the 
  days of intimidation to make money; with the many 
  violent gangs that threaten the average citizen, 
  the Switchblades don’t have to ask to get paying 
  customers.
  Switchblade, Strong Hero 1/Tough Hero 1:  CR 2; 
  Medium-size humanoid; HD 1d8+1 plus 1d10+1; HP 
  13; Mas 13; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; Defense 14, touch 14, 
  ﬂatfooted 12 (+0 size, +2 Dex, +2 class); BAB +1; 
  Grap +3; Atk +4 melee (1d6+3, combat knife), or +3 
  ranged (2d8, MAG-7); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ 
  none; AL Switchblades; SV Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +0; 
  AP 1; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 10, 
  Cha 12.
  Occupation:  Predator (Intimidate).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Streetwise]).
  Skills:  Intimidate +3, Knowledge (Current Events) 
  +1, Knowledge (Streetwise) +1, Knowledge (Tactics) 
  +1, Spot +2.
  Feats:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Post-
  Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive Technology, 
  Weapon Focus (combat knife).
  Talents (Strong Hero):  Melee Smash.
  
  25
  Talents (Tough Hero):  Second Wind.
  Possessions:  Functional clothes, MAG-7, one box 
  of 12-gauge ammunition (5), combat knife.
  NIGHTCRAWLERS
  A particularly loathsome gang, the “Nightcrawlers,” 
  are mercenaries and kidnappers who sell their skills 
  to paying customers, such as the city’s major gangs 
  and less scrupulous industrial companies.  The 
  Nightcrawlers are often hired to break into heavily-
  guarded establishments to abduct key members 
  of one faction or another, and hold them “on ice” 
  until “negotiations” can be conducted that are 
  satisfactory to their current employer.  Wives, favored 
  concubines, and even the children of a gang leader’s 
  own family are all fair game for the Nightcrawlers.  
  They have numerous secret safe houses throughout 
  the city where they hold their captives, and the 
  identity of these hideouts is well-guarded.
  Nightcrawler, Fast Hero 2: CR 2; Medium-size 
  humanoid; HD 2d8+4; HP 13; Mas 14; Init +2; 
  Spd 30 ft; Defense 16, touch 16, ﬂatfooted 14 (+0 
  size, +2 Dex, +4 class); BAB +1; Grap +1; Atk 
  +1 melee (1d6, combat knife), or +4 ranged (2d6, 
  Glock 17); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ none; AL 
  Nightcrawlers; SV Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1; AP 1; 
  Rep +-3; Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 
  8.
  Occupation:  Predator (Sense Motive).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Business]).
  Skills:  Balance +7, Escape Artist +7, Hide +9, 
  Knowledge (Business) +3, Knowledge (Streetwise) 
  +3, Move Silently +9, Sense Motive +3, Sleight of 
  Hand +4, Tumble +4.
  Feats:  Low Proﬁle, Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, 
  Post-Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive Technology, 
  Stealthy.
  Talents (Fast Hero):  Evasion.
  Possessions:  Functional clothes, ski mask, Glock 
  17, one box of 9mm ammunition (17), suppressor, 
  handcuffs, combat knife.
  DR. JONES’ CANDYMEN
  The legendary “Dr. Jones” who established this 
  gang over 200 years ago no longer exists, but the 
  organization he created in Ancient times persists to 
  this day.  The “Candymen” are descended from a 
  long line of drug cartels that once infested Metropolis 
  Rho in its early years, carrying on the tradition of 
  supplying the public with recreational narcotics and 
  even more dangerous chems.  The Candymen stand 
  above the other gangs of the city (most of whom have 
  a hand in the drug trade in one shape or another) in 
  that they are reported to have access to every drug 
  imaginable, and are willing to part with them - for 
  a price.  In addition to more conventional drugs 
  (like Cat, DreamSlide, and Eros), the Candymen 
  have old-fashioned drugs (cocaine, crack, etc.) and 
  even combat drugs (such as stimshots, hercurin, and 
  hemochem) for sale.
  Candyman, Smart Hero 3:  CR 3; Medium-size 
  humanoid; HD 3d6+0; HP 11; Mas 10; Init +2; Spd 
  30 ft; Defense 13, touch 13, ﬂatfooted 11 (+0 size, 
  +2 Dex, +1 class); BAB +1; Grap +0; Atk +0 melee 
  (1d3-1 nonlethal, unarmed), or +3 ranged (2d6, 
  Parker Hale IDW); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ 
  none; AL Dr. Jones’ Candymen; SV Fort +1, Ref +3, 
  Will +3; AP 1; Rep +1; Str 8, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 15, 
  Wis 13, Cha 12.
  Occupation:  Academic (DW) (Knowledge 
  [Business], Knowledge [Streetwise]).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge [Popular 
  Culture]).
  Skills:  Bluff +3, Craft (chemical) +8, Craft 
  (pharmaceutical) +11, Diplomacy +3, Intimidate 
  +3, Knowledge (Business) +8, Knowledge (Current 
  Events) +8, Knowledge (Popular Culture) +8, 
  Knowledge (Streetwise) +8, Listen +2, Research +8, 
  Sense Motive +3, Spot +2, Treat Injury +3.
  Feats:  Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Burst Fire, 
  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Post-Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Primitive Technology, Resistant*.
  Talents (Smart Hero):  Savant (Craft 
  [pharmaceutical]), Trick.
  Possessions:  Expensive clothes, Parker Hale IDW, 
  one box of 9mm ammunition (20), ready syringe 
  (with one dose of Psycho).
  METAL FREAKS
  The only real competition of the Chrome Cadre, the 
  so-called “Metal Freaks” offer discount cybernetics 
  for low prices - but the quality of their goods is 
  questionable at best.  The ‘Freaks have a reputation 
  for shoddy merchandise, with rumors circulating 
  that some of their hardware’s neural connections, 
  if installed incorrectly, can drive a man insane with 
  only a few hours of use.  The ‘Freaks deny these 
  allegations, but their own record of unprovoked 
  attacks on the Chrome Cadre and other neighboring 
  gangs lends a lot of credibility to the rumors that they 
  are just a bunch of psychos trying to turn everyone in 
  the city into “half-metal cyborgs”.
  Metal Freak, Strong Hero 3/Smart Hero 1:  CR 
  4; Medium-size humanoid; HD 3d8+6 plus 1d6+2; 
  HP 26; Mas 14; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; Defense 20, 
  touch 14, ﬂatfooted 18 (+0 size, +2 Dex, +2 class, 
  +6 equipment); BAB +3; Grap +8; Atk +9 melee 
  (2d6+7, crusher arms), or +5 ranged (by weapon); FS 
  5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ electricity vulnerability, 
  susceptibility to attack, massive damage effects; AL 
  
  26
  Metal Freaks; SV Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +3; AP 2; 
  Rep +1; Str 21, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 
  8.
  Occupation:  Predator (Sense Motive).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Technology]).
  Skills:  Craft (electronic) +3, Disable Device 
  +3, Knowledge (Current Events) +2, Knowledge 
  (Popular Culture) +2, Knowledge (Streetwise) +2, 
  Knowledge (Tactics) +2, Knowledge (Technology) 
  +4, Repair +8, Sense Motive +3.
  Feats:  Armor Proﬁciency (light), Armor 
  Proﬁciency (medium), Post-Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Power Attack, Primitive Technology, Weapon Focus 
  (crusher arms).
  Talents (Strong Hero):  Melee Smash, Improved 
  Melee Smash.
  Talents (Smart Hero):  Savant (Repair).
  Possessions:  Functional clothes, crusher arms (see 
  The Foundationists), tactical vest, can of Tufn-Up.
  CAPBUSTERS
  The Capbusters are a Metropolis gang closely allied 
  with the West Side Gang and South Side Killers, 
  who rely on outright banditry to stay alive.  From 
  their ward in the city the Capbusters stream out to 
  raid neighboring districts, hitting banks and other 
  ﬁnancial institutions with lightning precision.  
  Despised by their neighbors (who often come to the 
  Council of Gangs with protests), the Capbusters have 
  too many powerful allies (namely the ruling gang, the 
  West Side Gang) to be brought to justice.
  Grandiose and carefree to the point of folly, the 
  thugs of the Capbusters have come to rely on the 
  protection of their allies, and it remains to be seen 
  whether or not they will simply be absorbed by the 
  West Side Gang in the coming years.
  Capbuster, Strong Hero 2:  CR 2; Medium-size 
  humanoid; HD 2d8+4; HP 13; Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 
  30 ft; Defense 17, touch 14, ﬂatfooted 15 (+0 size, +2 
  Dex, +2 class, +3 equipment); BAB +2; Grap +3; Atk 
  +3 melee (1+1, brass knuckles), or +5 ranged (2d8, 
  Remington Streetsweeper); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 
  ft; SQ none; AL Capbusters; SV Fort +4, Ref +2, Will 
  +0; AP 1; Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 10, 
  Wis 10, Cha 12.
  Occupation:  Predator (Intimidate).
  Background:  Degenerate (Drive).
  Skills:  Drive +7, Intimidate +6, Knowledge 
  (Streetwise) +2, Knowledge (Tactics) +3.
  Feats:  Armor Proﬁciency (light), Personal 
  Firearms Proﬁciency, Post-Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Primitive Technology, Weapon Focus (Remington 
  Streetsweeper).
  Talents (Strong Hero):  Extreme Effort.
  Possessions:  Expensive clothes, Remington 
  Streetsweeper, 12 rounds of 12-gauge ammunition, 
  brass knuckles, undercover vest.
  ZONE RANGERS
  The so-called “Zone Rangers” are a loose 
  brotherhood of scavs; men who inhabit the most 
  obscure outer Zones in almost complete isolation.  
  Here, among the ruins of parts of the Metropolis long 
  forgotten by the citizenry, the Zone Rangers scrounge 
  for lost artifacts and junk to bring back into the city 
  and trade for the things they need to survive.
  Typical Zone Rangers are cruel opportunists; 
  scavengers who would gladly murder another man 
  for his shoes if he thought the odds were on his 
  side.  Life on the outskirts of the city is rough and 
  resources so thin that killing for one’s next meal 
  is not uncommon.  They are also highly territorial, 
  even among their own members; any ‘Ranger who 
  wanders into another ‘Ranger’s part of the ruins is 
  fair game.  Despite this (or perhaps because of this) 
  the Zone Rangers have a dreaded reputation, and 
  few of the major city gangs bother venturing into the 
  Zones these days for fear of being hunted down by 
  these legendary “shadows”.  Masters of stealth and 
  survival, Zone Rangers are said to always be invisible 
  - until they want to be seen.
  Rumors persist that individual Zone Rangers know 
  of ways through the city’s great outer dome, and 
  using secret tunnels can access the Barrier beyond to 
  scavenge the defenses for antiquated weapons such as 
  lasers and mines.
  Zone Ranger, Fast Hero 3/Skulk 3/Barrier Scav 1:  
  CR 7; Medium-size humanoid; HD 3d8 plus 3d8 plus 
  1d8; HP 32; Mas 11; Init +2; Spd 35 ft; Defense 19, 
  touch 19, ﬂatfooted 17 (+0 size, +2 Dex, +7 class); 
  BAB +4; Grap +5; Atk +5 melee (1d6+1, combat 
  knife), or +6 ranged (2d10, 7.62mm pipe riﬂe); FS 5 
  ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ none; AL Zone Rangers; SV 
  Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +3; AP 3; Rep +1; Str 12, Dex 
  15, Con 11, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 8.
  Occupation:  Guide (Navigate, Survival).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge [Tactics]).
  Skills:  Balance +3, Handle Animal +1, Hide +23, 
  Jump +3, Knowledge (Streetwise) +3, Knowledge 
  (Tactics) +8, Listen +5, Move Silently +10, Navigate 
  +4, Search +15, Sleight of Hand +8, Spot +5, 
  Survival +4.
  Feats:  Dead Aim, Far Shot, Improved Dead Aim, 
  Post-Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive Technology, 
  Stealthy, Track, Vulture.
  Talents (Fast Hero):  Evasion, Increased Speed.
  Talents (Skulk):  Sweep, Sneak Attack +1d6.
  Talents (Barrier Scav):  Survival Instinct +1, 
  Urban Shadow.
  
  27
  Possessions:  Rag clothes, dust mask, goggles, 
  7.62mm pipe riﬂe, 3d6 rounds of 7.62mm 
  ammunition, combat knife, ghillie suit.
  MARBREDS
  The Marbreds occupy a small part of the Metropolis 
  Zones, operating with textbook efﬁciency the 
  remnants of a sprawling cigarette factory that 
  survived the Fall.  Though the conditions at the 
  plant are miserable at best (resembling the worst 
  of pre-Fall sweatshops), the Marbreds boast of 
  100% employment in their ward (virtually everyone 
  under their dominion works at the plant) and, more 
  importantly, offer a priceless luxury to those citizens 
  of the Metropolis who can afford it:  cigars and 
  cigarettes.
  As a gang the Marbreds are not particularly 
  powerful or even inﬂuential, but they are a ruthless 
  brotherhood that will do virtually anything to 
  maintain control over their part of the city.  Those 
  people, who live in Marbred neighborhoods, while 
  subjected to terrible working conditions, are given 
  free housing and supplemental food rations by the 
  gang, so that while things are bad in their part of 
  town there are always enough people willing to work 
  to keep the Marbreds in business.
  Marbred, Strong Hero 1:  CR 1; Medium-size 
  humanoid; HD 1d8+1; HP 6; Mas 13; Init +2; Spd 
  30 ft; Defense 13, touch 13, ﬂatfooted 11 (+0 size, 
  +2 Dex, +1 class); BAB +1; Grap +3; Atk +3 melee 
  (1d6+3, riﬂe butt), or +3 ranged (2d8, M4); FS 5 ft by 
  5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ none; AL Marbreds; SV Fort +2, 
  Ref +2, Will +1; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 14, Con 
  13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation:  Slaver (Intimidate, Knowledge 
  [Business]).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Streetwise]).
  Skills:  Craft (pharmaceutical) +1, Intimidate +3, 
  Knowledge (Business) +2, Knowledge (Popular 
  Culture) +2, Knowledge (Streetwise) +2.
  Feats:  Advanced Firearms Proﬁciency, Personal 
  Firearms Proﬁciency, Post-Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Primitive Technology.
  Talents (Strong Hero):  Melee Smash.
  Possessions:  Functional clothes, M4 Carbine, one 
  box of 5.56mm ammunition (30), box of matches, 
  box of cigarettes.
  CHUDS
  Little is known of this ambiguous gang, though 
  rumors among the city’s street people persist that 
  “people” do live in the sewers beneath Metropolis 
  Rho.  These “people” (known as “Chuds” after 
  some obscure movie from the 20th century) are 
  said to be “changed” from living underground, 
  having acquired cannibalistic tastes and 
  animal-like hunger.  Though there is ample 
  evidence that these people do in fact exist 
  (enough that the gangs of the city no longer 
  dare to use the sewers for their activities), 
  the Chuds - whoever they are - have avoided 
  all opportunities to make their presence known 
  and claim a seat on the Council of Gangs.
  Chud, Fast Hero 2:  CR 2; Medium-size 
  humanoid; HD 2d8+2; HP 11; Mas 13; Init +2; 
  Spd 35 ft; Defense 16, touch 16, ﬂatfooted 14 (+0 
  size, +2 Dex, +4 class); BAB +1; Grap +3; Atk +4 
  melee (3d4+2, dicechain), or +4 ranged (3d4+2, 
  dicechain); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ medical 
  incompatibility, darkvision, blindness in light, phobia 
  (open spaces); AL Chuds; SV Fort +1, Ref +4, Will 
  +1; AP 1; Rep +0; Str 14, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 10, 
  Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation:  Predator (Hide).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge [Tactics]).
  Mutations and Defects:  Sensitive Sight x2, 
  Photosensitivity, Phobia (open spaces).
  Skills:  Escape Artist +6, Hide +9, Knowledge 
  (Tactics) +1, Listen +3, Move Silently +9, Spot +3.
  Feats:  Exotic Weapon Proﬁciency (dicechain), 
  Post-Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive Technology, 
  Stealthy, Weapon Focus (dice chain).
  Talents (Fast Hero):  Increased Speed.
  Possessions:  Rag clothes, 
  dicechain.
  
  28
  SODOMITES
  Just one of many minor gangs that infest the 
  Metropolis, the “Sodomites” are a particularly 
  deviant group whose members model themselves 
  after S&M fetishists.  With only a small following, 
  the Sodomites are generally conﬁned to parts of town 
  where their kind ﬁt right in - such as the sex clubs 
  and anarchist hangouts of the Downtown quarter.  
  Relying primarily on petty theft and armed robbery, 
  the Sodomites are by and large an insigniﬁcant 
  presence even in their own part of town.
  Sodomite, Strong Hero 1:  CR 1; Medium-size 
  humanoid; HD 1d8+2; HP 7; Mas 14; Init +0; Spd 
  30 ft; Defense 13, touch 11, ﬂatfooted 13 (+0 size, 
  +0 Dex, +1 class, +2 equipment); BAB +1; Grap +3; 
  Atk +3 melee (1d6+3, metal baton), or +1 ranged (by 
  weapon); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ none; AL 
  Sodomites; SV Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +1; AP 0; Rep 
  +0; Str 15, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 8.
  Occupation:  Predator (Hide).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Streetwise]).
  Skills:  Hide +4, Intimidate +0, Knowledge 
  (Popular Culture) +3, Knowledge (Streetwise) +3, 
  Listen +2, Move Silently +3, Search +2, Spot +2.
  Feats:  Armor Proﬁciency (light), Post-Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Primitive Technology, Stealthy.
  Talents (Strong Hero):  Melee Smash.
  Possessions:  Metal baton or combat knife, leather 
  armor.
  LIFERS
  The so-called “Lifers” are a minor Metropolis 
  gang.  Unable (or unwilling) to invest in the kind of 
  industries that make minor gangs into major players, 
  the Lifers seem content with ruling their turf as petty 
  dictators, using terror to steal from (or blackmail) the 
  few businesses that manage to persist in their part of 
  the city.  Riding around in beat-up vehicles (spray 
  painted and covered in obscene grafﬁti), sightings 
  of “convoys” of these violent gangers are not 
  uncommon in the poorer parts of the city.
  Lifer, Tough Hero 1:  CR 1; Medium-size 
  humanoid; HD 1d10+1; HP 7; Mas 13; Init +2; Spd 
  30 ft; Defense 13, touch 13, ﬂatfooted 11 (+0 size, 
  +2 Dex, +1 class); BAB +0; Grap +2; Atk +2 melee 
  (1d6+2, riﬂe butt), or +2 ranged (2d8, Remington 
  Streetsweeper); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ ; AL 
  Lifers; SV Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +0; AP 0; Rep +0; 
  Str 15, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8.
  Occupation:  Predator (Intimidate).
  Background:  Degenerate (Drive).
  Skills:  Drive +6, Intimidate +3, Knowledge 
  (Current Events) +3, Knowledge (Streetwise) +3, 
  Pilot +4, Spot +4, Survival +2.
  Feats:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Post-
  Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive Technology, 
  Vehicle Expert.
  Talents (Tough Hero):  Second Wind.
  Possessions:  Remington Streetsweeper, 12 rounds 
  of 12-gauge ammunition, can of Tufn-Up.
  MAVERICKS
  The gang known as the Mavericks have been in 
  trouble with the Council of Gangs for years.  Once 
  the recognized administrators of an entire district, 
  the Mavericks have slipped in the eyes of their more 
  powerful (and prestigious) peers through their own 
  reckless brand of rule - a style of governorship that 
  largely leaves the people to fend for themselves, and 
  the Mavericks to merely skim what they want when 
  it strikes their fancy.  Ignoring the needs of their 
  district, their brand of “government” has allowed the 
  neighborhoods under their control to dissolve into 
  chaos and anarchy, where outlaws (those hunted by 
  society) can ﬂee to for safety.
  Discussions are under way by the Council of Gangs 
  to dissolve the Mavericks’ charter to rule, a move that 
  will strip them of any remaining political clout in the 
  city, and reduce them to the status of a former power.
  Maverick, Strong Hero 2:  CR 2; Medium-size 
  humanoid; HD 2d8+4; HP 13; Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 
  30 ft; Defense 17, touch 14, ﬂatfooted 15 (+0 size, +2 
  Dex, +2 class, +3 equipment); BAB +2; Grap +3; Atk 
  +3 melee (1+2, brass knuckles), or +6 ranged (2d6, 
  Colt M1911); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ none; 
  AL Mavericks; SV Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +1; AP 1; 
  Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 
  8.
  Occupation:  Predator (Intimidate).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Streetwise]).
  Skills:  Intimidate +4, Knowledge (Streetwise) +5, 
  Knowledge (Tactics) +5.
  Feats:  Armor Proﬁciency (light), Personal 
  Firearms Proﬁciency, Post-Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Primitive Technology, Weapon Focus (Colt M1911).
  Talents (Strong Hero):  Melee Smash.
  Possessions:  Functional clothes, Colt M1911, two 
  boxes of .45 ammunition (14), undercover vest, brass 
  knuckles.
  JUVIES
  A sad but inevitable product of Metropolis culture, 
  the “Juvies” are a loose organization of street kids 
  and violent youths who have turned to opportunistic 
  crime just to survive.  These children come from 
  various sectors of the city’s poor and impoverished 
  masses; the sons and daughters of Unproductive 
  families, kids orphaned by the endless gang wars, 
  
  29
  or simply rebellious youths and teens who ran away 
  from abusive homes to ﬁnd an even less desirable 
  place on the gritty streets of the city.
  The Juvies, though comparatively weak and poorly 
  organized, are among the most vicious and sadistic of 
  Metropolis gangs, similar to youth gangs of the late 
  20th century.  Initiation rites usually involve mass 
  beatings and/or the gang rape of would-be gangers, 
  and after joining individual members live in constant 
  fear of older members of the gang (who rule their 
  individual neighborhoods as petty tyrants).  The gang 
  recruits children of any age below 16; boys and girls 
  alike are forced to beg, pick pockets, snatch purses, 
  shoplift, and even prostitute themselves for the “good 
  of the gang”.
  The Juvies infest some parts of the Zones closest to 
  the city; these neighborhoods are typically abandoned 
  and heavily damaged, having nothing of value (if 
  they did, more powerful gangs would drive the Juvies 
  out and take the territory for themselves).
  Juvie, Fast Hero 1:  CR 1; Medium-size humanoid; 
  HD 1d8-1; HP 4; Mas 8; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; Defense 
  15, touch 15, ﬂatfooted 13 (+0 size, +2 Dex, +3 
  class); BAB +0; Grap +1; Atk +1 melee (1d6+1, 
  combat knife), or +2 ranged (2d8, MAG-7); FS 5 ft 
  by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ none; AL Juvies; SV Fort -1, 
  Ref +3, Will +2; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 12, Dex 15, Con 
  8, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 13.
  Occupation:  Predator (Sense Motive).
  Background:  Degenerate (Knowledge 
  [Streetwise]).
  Skills:  Escape Artist +6, Hide +8, Knowledge 
  (Streetwise) +4, Move Silently +8, Sense Motive +4, 
  Sleight of Hand +4.
  Feats:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Post-
  Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive Technology, 
  Stealthy.
  Talents (Fast Hero):  Evasion.
  Possessions:  Rag clothes, MAG-7, one box of 12-
  gauge ammunition (5), combat knife.
  CHARACTERS WITH GANG ORIGINS
  In a setting like Metropolis Rho, many characters 
  will likely have ties to, or at least origins with, the 
  gangs of the city.  Even Enforcers and members 
  of the Tech Union often have shady pasts, either 
  having been raised by one gang or another, or 
  having been employed by a gang (willingly or 
  otherwise) before starting a “new life” in their 
  current occupation.
  The best way to reﬂect the gang origins of 
  most characters from Metropolis Rho (and to 
  encourage players to actually read up on and 
  choose a gang to be from) is to offer gang-
  speciﬁc bonus feats.  Depending on the gang the 
  character originally comes from, the following 
  feats should be added to the list of available 
  bonus feats (normally determined by whatever 
  class the character is in).  Table 1-2 lists the bonus 
  feats available to members (and former members) 
  of each Metropolis gang (feats in italics are new 
  feats introduced in this sourcebook).
  TABLE 1-2: GANG ORIGIN BONUS FEATS
  Name
  Bonus Class Feats
  West Side Gang
  Market, Renown, Silver Tongue
  Enforcers
  Attentive, Peacekeeper, Weapon Focus (any)
  East Side Boys
  Deceptive, Market, Silver Tongue
  Turf Cowboys
  Conﬁdent, Toughness, Weapon Focus (any)
  Midtown Angels
  Brawl, Iron Will, Streetﬁghting
  Destroyers
  Armor Proﬁciency (any), Toughness, Weapon Focus (any)
  Uptown Playboys
  Concubine, Silver Tongue, Trustworthy
  Chrome Cadre
  Chromed, Gearhead, Market
  South Side Killers
  Gearhead, Market, Weapon Focus (any)
  Cats
  Acrobatic, Stealthy, Trustworthy
  Switchblades
  Intimidating Strength, Renown, Weapon Focus (any)
  Nightcrawlers
  Cautious, Nimble, Stealthy
  Dr. Jones’ Candymen
  Iron Will, Resistant, Silver Tongue
  Metal Freaks
  Brawl, Chromed, Streetﬁghting
  Capbusters
  Drive-By Attack, Toughness, Weapon Focus (any)
  Zone Rangers
  Animal Afﬁnity, Stealthy, Vulture
  Marbreds
  Alertness, Gearhead, Market
  Chuds
  Exotic Weapon Proﬁciency (dicechain), Stealthy, Troglodyte
  Sodomites
  Brawl, Intimidating Strength, Streetﬁghting
  Lifers
  Drive-By Attack, Vehicle Expert, Weapon Focus (any)
  Mavericks
  Brawl, Streetﬁghting, Weapon Focus (any)
  Juvies
  Filthy, Low Proﬁle, Stealthy
  
  30
  THE ENFORCERS
  Of all the factions that populate Metropolis Rho, 
  making it the diverse canvas of criminal masterminds, 
  gang lords, and corrupt ofﬁcials that it is, none are 
  more iconic to the setting than the “Enforcers”.  The 
  city’s sole police force, the Enforcers have evolved 
  from the valiant civil servants of the past to become 
  a paramilitary force of unprecedented prestige 
  within the city, holding in their hands the keys to the 
  Mayor’s power and the last vestiges of law and order.
  This section is intended to brieﬂy touch upon the 
  Enforcers, with a look at the Enforcer hierarchy, rank 
  system, pay scale, and a general overview of how the 
  term “crime” has evolved in this degenerate locale.
  HISTORY
  The Enforcers of Metropolis Rho are the ofﬁcial 
  protectors of the city.  Generations ago, even before 
  the Fall, this elite police force was established to 
  keep peace and order in the city during the turbulent 
  times predating the collapse of human civilization.  
  Later, after people returned to re-populate the city 
  and close off from the world, the Enforcer were 
  re-established to continue the same mission.  They 
  monitored food distribution during the ﬁrst years of 
  rebuilding (when things were particularly rough), and 
  fought destructive or anarchist factions that stood 
  to gain from the collapse of the central order when 
  the new Metropolis society was young.  It is through 
  their efforts, many believe, that Metropolis Rho was 
  able to survive those harsh early years to become 
  what is today, a secure haven for the last remnants of 
  mankind.
  Over time, the Enforcers have stuck somewhat true 
  to their original mission, but they have evolved from 
  a civilian enforcement agency into a paramilitary 
  mercenary force due to the changing nature of the 
  city.  The Enforcers now represent a very powerful 
  institution (much more powerful than the law-
  enforcing branch of civil servants on which it was 
  originally designed to resemble), clinging to illusions 
  of tradition and maintaining their place through a 
  mantle of city wide respect and fear.
  Members of the Enforcers are brothers of a 
  “fraternity” of sorts, well-armed and well-trained – a 
  boy’s club with guns, authority, and led by a string of 
  cunning and strategically-minded leaders who serve 
  only the most powerful group in the city, the Mayor’s 
  ofﬁce.  The Enforcers are organized as a single large 
  body, ultimately loyal to the elected Mayor himself, 
  whoever he may be at the time.  In addition, the 
  department is further broken down into precincts, 
  located in various sections of different gang 
  territories, responsible for maintaining order and the 
  laws and edicts of the city’s long line of Mayors.
  THE REALITY
  In reality the Enforcers are more accurately described 
  as the legal “army” of the Mayor.  Although they do 
  have more traditional duties (patrolling the streets, 
  cracking down on wanton crime, investigating 
  strange circumstances, gathering information, etc.), 
  their real purpose these days is to protect the Mayor’s 
  administration, and enforce his decrees.
  The methods of the Enforcers have also changed 
  over time, reﬂecting the spiraling violence of the 
  city’s degenerating culture.  For example, if a local 
  ruling gang does not make the traditional payments 
  or political gestures towards the government as 
  expected, the Mayor will likely give the order for the 
  local precincts to either conduct “random searches” 
  of gang headquarters (usually arresting gang leaders, 
  destroying gang facilities, etc. - in effect, a form of 
  legal blackmail), or simply “stand down” and not 
  interfere when the Mayor’s own private army of 
  thugs comes in to take over the action.  It is thus 
  wise, even for bitter rivals of the ruling Mayor, to pay 
  him political complements or actual cash payments 
  regularly to avoid having the police force ordered 
  against them.
  The Enforcers do serve the public, however.  They 
  act to cleanse the city of anarchists, radicals, and 
  delinquents who threaten the fragile balance (political 
  order and resources alike; both are precariously 
  delicate).  The Enforcers may even be called in to 
  break up warfare between two gangs, but usually they 
  refrain - wisely - from intervening.  When they do, 
  however, they come in force, with dozens of heavily 
  armed ofﬁcers in armored paddy-wagons with orders 
  to sweep the streets clean, no questions asked.
  Enforcer ofﬁcers are generally very loyal to their 
  comrades, and there is a very strong community 
  sentiment among their ranks.  They enjoy special 
  beneﬁts and privileges that other citizens do not enjoy 
  - they have an established base from which to work 
  from, established rights and the beneﬁt of the doubt 
  in almost every legal dispute, as well as the Mayor’s 
  unspoken (but universally felt) approval in what they 
  do.  They are protected by others of their own kind, 
  and are, by law, guaranteed a place to live along with 
  regular rations.  And, more importantly, they are paid 
  commissions (or “bounties”) on their work, making 
  them among the highest-paid individuals in the city.
  Perhaps because of their close-knit fraternal 
  mentality and their cart-blanche permission in all 
  police matters, the Enforcers have become corrupt 
  over the years.  Individual ofﬁcers often display 
  subtle or overt cruelty in apprehending criminals, 
  and little or no care is taken to ensure the public 
  safety when the Enforcers make a raid or sweep 
  the streets.  Rape, torture, beatings, and murder by 
  police ofﬁcers is not uncommon, and members of 
  the force have also been known to supplement their 
  
  31
  incomes by skimming off the businesses in their beat 
  (if a business owner does not pay, the police will 
  unfortunately be mysteriously absent when a bunch 
  of masked men come and burn it to the ground, 
  harass the proprietor, etc.), dabbling in extortion 
  of drug manufacturers in their precinct, or simply 
  looting stores to sell the stolen merchandise in the 
  chaos following street sweeps or riots.
  Still, the Enforcers are perhaps the single-most 
  prestigious institution in the Metropolis, next only 
  to the Mayorship.  Promises of power, prestige, 
  and glaring wealth (in comparison to the vast urban 
  poor) attracts many to the Enforcer fold.  Similarly, 
  the unquestioning brotherhood-mentality, which 
  gives ofﬁcers a free hand and grants protection from 
  reprisals, also attracts many who have already grown 
  up in the savage streets.  Keeping themselves neutral 
  when they can, throwing their weight and inﬂuence 
  in only when it suits them best, has ensured the 
  Enforcers have become the city’s real ruling “gang”.
  ENFORCER HIERARCHY
  The Enforcer organization is broken down into 
  “precincts” (similar to gang “wards”), which are as 
  much as a way to police the entire city as to disperse 
  Enforcer resources over a broader area, so that a 
  single strike by an enemy gang or vengeful rival 
  can’t do too much damage.  Likewise the Enforcers, 
  as a whole, are arranged in a rigid hierarchy that 
  has withstood the test of time relatively unscathed, 
  allowing them to resist the chaos of coup and 
  counter-coup that has seen the rise and fall of 
  countless gangs in the city.
  PATROL OFFICER
  Prerequisites:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency.
  Monthly Pay:  1,200 credits.
  Patrol ofﬁcer is the lowest Enforcer rank, but it is 
  by no means an unworthy position; in fact, many 
  citizens strive their entire lives hoping to become 
  patrol ofﬁcers, if not for the promise of lucrative 
  wealth, then for the security of the uniform and the 
  sense of belonging in so tight-knit a brotherhood.
  New Enforcer “rookies” are only selected from 
  the top candidates that apply each year.  While 
  the requisites are well known, the application and 
  acceptance process has long been rife with corruption 
  and bribery.  As such it is expensive even to apply 
  (the combination of numerous “application fees” 
  can be crippling to someone without the right 
  connections), and to make matters worse, most 
  candidates who apply and are found wanting are 
  usually rejected in either a humiliating way - or are 
  injured or even killed during the early phases of their 
  training.  Despite this, the city’s fascination with the 
  Enforcer organization (and all the privileges that 
  being a member offer) means that there is never a 
  shortage in potential recruits for the Enforcers.
  Due to the abundance of Enforcers at this rank, 
  patrol ofﬁcers are called on to ﬁll a number of roles 
  in the city.  These roles range from foot patrol (the 
  ENFORCER EFFICIENCY
  The Enforcers of Metropolis Rho are notorious for their brutality and efﬁciency as the sole enforcers of the 
  city’s laws.  A single Enforcer is said to be the equal of three or four gangers, and to make sure this claim 
  is true the Enforcers train continuously with a multitude of weapons and vehicles throughout their careers.  
  Much of this “training” is true, live-ﬁre exposure, and though the death rate of rookie Enforcers is high, 
  those that survive even one or two missions as Enforcers are like the modern-day equivalent of hardened 
  soldiers.
  The mere presence of a single Enforcer is intimidating to most citizens of Metropolis Rho, since every 
  Enforcer is effectively judge and jury rolled into one.  While there are rules Enforcers must operate by, 
  the degeneration of Rho society as a whole has given them a broad range in which to interpret the law.  
  Investigations of Enforcer brutality - and excesses - have long gone unpunished, and the resulting effect has 
  only made the Enforcers that much more fearsome.  Since they are above the law, the best thing to do when 
  an Enforcer is around is to just do what he says and hope the encounter is brief.
  While at times they may seem like little more than just another violent gang themselves, individual 
  Enforcers are easily distinguished against the city’s colorful lineup of gangs.  Recognized by their 
  distinctive uniforms - a heavy suit of armor plate, with protective leg guards and arm greaves, and a 
  menacing helmet that conceals their faces - there is no mistaking an Enforcer for the thugs that make 
  up most gang armies.  Their favored sidearm is the Wildey .44 Magnum, a powerful automatic pistol 
  that is second to none in the Metropolis.  Most Enforcers ride around in squad cars like the venerable 
  “Terminator”, a souped-up Crown Victoria that has been the hallmark of the Metropolis police force since 
  the time of the Fall.  Larger squads travel in “Peacemakers”, heavy armored cars also from the time of the 
  Ancients.  These vehicles speak volumes of the kind of anarchy that reigns supreme in the city, requiring 
  the maintenance of such massive vehicles to keep the “peace”.
  
  32
  most dangerous assignment), to being assigned to 
  either a two- or three-man Terminator patrol unit, or 
  in some cases, a ﬁve-man Peacemaker unit.  Patrol 
  units generally move through a pre-designated area 
  (known as a “beat”), keeping an eye out on the 
  citizenry and responding to crimes as they happen.  In 
  addition, motorized patrol units can (and often are) 
  called upon by a central dispatch to reinforce foot 
  patrols or react swiftly to citizen calls for Enforcer 
  assistance.  Other duties include riot duty, guarding 
  important city facilities, etc.
  Patrol ofﬁcers form the backbone of the Enforcer 
  organization, serving as its rank-and-ﬁle and 
  general “footmen”.  Patrol ofﬁcers assigned to given 
  precincts form unique and lasting bonds with their 
  fellow ofﬁcers, bonds that often transcend their 
  loyalty to the Mayor, the city, and even Enforcers of 
  other precincts.  Unique customs and traditions often 
  develop as a result of this “fraternity mentality”, 
  ranging from painful hazing of new recruits, to 
  vowing never to leave a fallen comrade behind in the 
  line of ﬁre.
  ASSAULT OFFICER
  Prerequisites:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Point 
  Blank Shot, Room-Broom.
  Monthly Pay:  1,300 credits.
  Members of the elite assault teams of the Enforcers 
  are seasoned ofﬁcers who have experience in urban 
  combat techniques.  In the crime-infested city of 
  Metropolis Rho, dangerous gangers leave a high toll 
  on the ranks of the Enforcers, and any bronze who 
  survives more than a few raids is often considered 
  “elite” - and rightly so.  Facing a steep learning 
  curve, the assault Enforcer must quickly learn how 
  (and how not) to conduct raids, including breaking 
  down doors, sweeping rooms, and ﬁghting in close 
  quarters against multiple foes.
  Assault ofﬁcers are usually looked-up to by 
  their fellow Enforcers, as they are men who have 
  volunteered for some of the most dangerous duties 
  an ofﬁcer can perform.  Still, their do-or-die attitude 
  often develops into a macabre detachment from life 
  (even more so than your average citizen in Metropolis 
  Rho), forming bonds among assault squads that can 
  be extremely prejudiced against “outsiders”, even 
  against other (non-assault) Enforcers.
  TECHNICAL
  Prerequisites:  Educated (or Gearhead).
  Monthly Pay:  1,500 credits.
  Members of the technical branch of the Enforcers are 
  collectively known as “technicals”, but their skills, 
  specialties, and level of experience are quite diverse.  
  Trained in various scientiﬁc ﬁelds by the city’s Tech 
  Union, they commit their considerable skills to 
  helping solve crimes or developing new and more 
  efﬁcient law enforcement technology and techniques.  
  Typical technical divisions include forensics, 
  ballistics, and research and development.
  Most technicals are highly skilled and highly 
  trained individuals leased to the Enforcers by the 
  Tech Union.  A typical lease usually runs from two 
  to four years, and, if the technical performs well, 
  his contract is often renegotiated without a hitch 
  to prolong the technical’s service to the Enforcers.  
  While new technicals assigned to the Enforcers are 
  often ﬁrst viewed as outsiders, and treated roughly 
  by their lay brethren, more often than not a technical 
  who has served with the Enforcers soon earns the 
  trust and grudging admiration of his peers, and ﬁnds 
  his new home a welcome one.  Few technicals protest 
  having their leases continued when asked to stay 
  on by the Enforcers, seeing in the organization an 
  opportunity to shine in an environment typiﬁed by 
  “low-brows” with a “stormtrooper” mentality.
  Technicals enjoy many of the same privileges of 
  Enforcer ofﬁcers, but without any of the danger.  
  Because they are usually more valuable in crime labs 
  or behind research computers, technicals rarely leave 
  their precinct headquarters, instead preferring to do 
  their detective work from the security of a fortiﬁed 
  station house.  On the rare occasion a technical may 
  be called into the ﬁeld (for example, when a highly-
  trained electrician is needed to defuse a bomb), but 
  when he does he is usually assigned a heavy Enforcer 
  bodyguard consisting of 2-3 Assault ofﬁcers.
  DETECTIVE
  Prerequisites:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, 
  character level 2+.
  Monthly Pay:  1,200 credits.
  Over the past 200 years the statistical landscape of 
  the city’s unsolved crimes has changed drastically.  
  With a legalization of many formerly illegal 
  activities, as well as a trend towards the kind of 
  violent crimes that are easily traced (such as gangland 
  killings, drive-by shootings, and revenge slayings 
  where tracing motive is usually a sure bet), the 
  need for real detective work has become something 
  of a secondary concern to the resource managers 
  of Enforcer precincts.  And with a much greater 
  emphasis on ﬁelding ever increasing numbers of 
  ofﬁcers with heavier and heavier ﬁrepower (and 
  armor), the efforts of the Enforcers over the past two 
  centuries have been focused on making tougher cops 
  - not smarter ones.
  Still, detectives are needed to solve the rare crime 
  in the Metropolis that cannot be easily traced, glossed 
  over, or forgotten - the kind of crimes that attract 
  the attention of the public or, even worse, powerful 
  
  33
  individuals who demand answers and swift justice.
  Detectives are usually former patrol ofﬁcers or 
  technicals promoted from their previous duties due 
  to either a record of continued success, exhibiting 
  an unusual investigative aptitude, or cashing in 
  favors they may have with their higher-ups.  The 
  assignment to detective brings no raise in pay, but 
  it does offer other beneﬁts making the promotion 
  desirable.  In addition to being pulled from the front 
  lines of Enforcer work (which in and of itself is often 
  enough to make most men envious), detectives are 
  given much greater freedom to pursue their work, 
  authority to pursue investigations into the affairs of 
  private citizens, and the opportunity to enhance their 
  regular wages through “skimming” (see Enforcer 
  Pay, below).
  The relationship between detectives and the patrol 
  ofﬁcers of their own precinct can vary from a mutual, 
  professional respect to friendship or even rivalry and 
  hatred.  Detectives who openly ﬂaunt their newfound 
  status (and their safety, being far removed from the 
  chaos of the streets) are often reviled by the rank-and-
  ﬁle, though some do manage to avoid rubbing the 
  common footman the wrong way and curry contacts 
  among the uniformed cops of the ‘force.
  SERGEANT
  Prerequisites:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, 
  Reputation +2, character level 2+.
  Monthly Pay:  2,000 credits.
  Due to the dwindling resources of the city sergeants, 
  like patrol ofﬁcers, ﬁll a number of roles.  In some 
  precincts there are numerous sergeants permitting 
  each to have a specialized job, while in others (where 
  manpower may be low), sergeants are depended upon 
  to shoulder a lot of responsibility.
  By and large the duties of a sergeant include 
  supervising Enforcer activity within a precinct’s 
  territory.  This ranges from coordinating the activities 
  of individual patrol squads, to assisting higher-
  ranking ofﬁcers in conducting and executing raids 
  or other large-scale actions, to running jail blocks 
  and seeing to the protective custody of witnesses.  
  Sergeants are also responsible for a great deal 
  of paper work, being personally involved in the 
  assignment of new recruits, rotating troublesome 
  squad members around, and ﬁling reports on the 
  behavior and record of individual Enforcers under 
  their command.  Sergeants also serve as the patrol 
  ofﬁcers’ conduit to the higher-ups, processing 
  complaints, materiel requisitions, and requests for 
  transfers, as well as recommending their ofﬁcers for 
  promotions.
  Generally speaking sergeants do not leave precinct 
  headquarters, but for large operations they are 
  expected to don armor and join their fellow ofﬁcers 
  when needed.  Many sergeants see this as a prized 
  opportunity to “leave the desk” and “crack some 
  skulls”; others loathe revisiting the mean streets they 
  so viciously fought to get away from.
  LIEUTENANT
  Prerequisites:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Int 
  13+, Reputation +2, character level 5+.
  Monthly Pay:  3,000 credits.
  Like other members of the Enforcers, the lieutenant 
  shoulders a broad workload, with duties similar to 
  the sergeant but usually involving a larger number 
  of ofﬁcers (or technicals, if the lieutenant is part 
  of an investigative branch) or an entire section of 
  his department.  The lieutenant assigns ofﬁcers to 
  various cases, oversees their progress, allocates 
  funds appropriated with the captain’s approval, 
  and generally acts as the captain’s daily liaison to 
  the rank-and-ﬁle, making sure things are running 
  smoothly (and vice versa, working closely with a 
  precinct’s sergeants to keep a ﬁnger on the pulse of 
  the station).
  Lieutenants are also often called on to act as 
  spokesmen for their individual precincts (when 
  captains aren’t available - or are unwilling to be 
  harassed by the press), addressing the public - 
  including the media - whenever necessary.  This 
  usually puts junior lieutenants in the spotlight, and 
  because of this they are often regarded as the public’s 
  source of information on police affairs.  Needless to 
  say this exposure also attracts less savory elements, 
  and many lieutenants work as Enforcers on the 
  surface and as informers for the city’s major gangs 
  behind closed doors.
  This kind of corruption is generally kept subtle and 
  low-key; in exchange for a steady stream of bribes 
  lieutenants will keep their gang contacts appraised 
  of planned investigations, raids, or arrests, but only 
  under the condition that the information is never used 
  to bring harm to the Enforcers (either individually 
  or as a whole).  This kind of “white bribery” is 
  generally harmless enough that the corruption is 
  seldom cracked down on (in fact many lieutenants 
  have come to rely on gang bribes to supplement their 
  income), though in the rare case that a gang violates 
  the trust and uses the information to kill Enforcers, 
  the lieutenant in question is usually “eliminated” by 
  his own peers...if discovered.
  CAPTAIN
  Prerequisites:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Int 
  13+, Cha 13+, Reputation +3, character level 7+.
  Monthly Pay:  10,000 credits.
  While the captain sometimes has superiors of his 
  own, for the most part he is looked up to (or in 
  
  34
  some cases, despised) by the common Enforcer 
  as the ultimate say-so in police affairs.  Captains 
  in the Enforcers are picked from the ranks of 
  lieutenants, and only promoted after many years of 
  experience and proven loyalty to the Enforcers.  In 
  addition, an aspiring candidate’s record of service 
  and administration is scrutinized; his political 
  views tested and examined, so that only the most 
  competent ofﬁcers (with an unshakable vision for 
  the future of the Enforcers that doesn’t challenge the 
  organization’s history) are ever placed in so high a 
  command position.
  Needless to say, in an organization where 
  ruthlessness, terror tactics, and the remorseless 
  struggle for self-perpetuation are the ultimate goals, 
  the men selected to lead whole precincts are usually 
  the cream of the crop.  Most captains in the city 
  have either proven themselves under ﬁre as patrol 
  ofﬁcers, through acts of loyalty either in the ﬁeld, 
  or as administrators that somehow preserved the 
  integrity (and status quo) of the organization.  All 
  captains, regardless of their talents, can claim to have 
  been owed favors by their higher-ups when they were 
  promoted - it’s the only way to get the job.
  The captain’s duties range from day-to-day 
  administrative duties, to involvement in important 
  investigations.  Captains assign the ofﬁcers under 
  their command as needed, whether in the form 
  of patrols for their part of town or in the form of 
  investigative teams or additional manpower needed 
  by the technical departments in their precinct.  They 
  sort through all requests and communications from 
  the rank-and-ﬁle, and work directly with other 
  captains (in other precincts) for joint operations or in 
  cases where crimes committed come under more than 
  one jurisdiction.  This cooperation with other captains 
  sometimes leads to rivalry, but more often than not 
  allows captains to cultivate personal and professional 
  relationships with their peers that quickly evolve into 
  political power (i.e. “favors”) that can be called upon 
  in the future.
  Captains usually aren’t corrupt, despite the 
  corruption that infests the lower ranks.  The simple 
  reason is that while they may have former afﬁliations 
  and gang ties, captains are powerful enough that once 
  they reach this rank they begin to tell the gangs what 
  to do, and not the other way around.  Captain pay 
  is high enough to keep them comfortably situated, 
  and since an entire precinct’s resources and funding 
  is at their disposal they can (and are expected to) 
  complement their pay as needed to keep them loyal to 
  the organization.
  Captains are still involved in politics, however, 
  even though the Enforcers are ofﬁcially “neutral”.  
  Captains are often looking out for the future, knowing 
  that with each new election the political landscape 
  of the city changes and former enemies must now 
  become friends.  Smart captains use their new power 
  to keep themselves detached from the affairs of 
  gangs, adhering to what everyone expects to be their 
  duty, so that in the end whatever happens they can 
  claim they were “only doing their job”.
  Each precinct in Metropolis Rho is run by a single 
  captain, and collectively these experienced ofﬁcers 
  (who have their own hierarchy, based on aptitude 
  and seniority) make up the “Police Commission” 
  - an administrative body that uniﬁes the Enforcers 
  as a single organization and sees to its continued 
  existence.  A “council” that effectively rules the 
  Enforcers, the Commission meets as needed (at least 
  once each month, but sometimes two or three times a 
  week), allowing a sharing of information, a pooling 
  of resources, and opportunities to plan short and  
  long-term strategies for the Enforcers.
  Since there are a limited number of precincts, 
  there are a limited number of captains, and as a 
  result openings are few and far between.  Still, an 
  ambitious ofﬁcer can ensure his rise to prominence 
  by sabotaging the career of his own captain, framing 
  him for crimes or disloyalty, or outright assassinating 
  him.  While these are certainly illegal methods they 
  are not unknown in the world of Enforcer politics, 
  but more often than not a smart candidate will curry 
  connections (and favors) from rival captains in the 
  city, using these connections to call for a vote of no-
  conﬁdence to have the current captain thrown out and 
  himself elected in his place.
  COMMISSIONER
  Prerequisites:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency, Cha 
  13+, Reputation +6.
  Monthly Pay:  15,000 credits.
  Elected by the Police Commission for life, the 
  commissioner of Enforcers is a carry-over from the 
  law enforcement hierarchy of the past.  Today the 
  commissioner serves as the Enforcer organization’s 
  “public face”, a liaison between the city’s sole law 
  enforcement agency and the people of the Metropolis. 
  While long ago commissioners were only selected 
  from among the captains of the Police Commission, 
  the job required so much attention and constant 
  public scrutiny (ranging sporadically between being 
  trusted by the public to being viliﬁed and made a 
  scapegoat), as well as people skills to assuage the 
  populace, that it became a position none of the more 
  serious Enforcer commanders even wanted.  As a 
  result, the tradition of selecting a commissioner 
  from their own ranks was retired, and instead the 
  Police Commission began accepting any individual 
  who could not only do the job (personifying the 
  image of the Enforcer that the public wanted and 
  demanded), but also suited their needs best.  This 
  usually involved being little more than a ﬁgurehead, 
  
  35
  an individual who could be easily controlled by the 
  Police Commission, taking the ﬂak for the Enforcers’ 
  antics and failures while allowing the true culprits - 
  the captains - to continue unmolested.
  While the commissioner is rarely anything more 
  than a demagogue thrown into an impressive 
  Enforcer uniform, his position often allows him to 
  make powerful contacts with various gangs, the Tech 
  Union, and the Council of Gangs.  In addition, while 
  most Enforcers are pragmatists, some rookies still 
  look up to the commissioner, refusing to believe the 
  “stories” that portray him as nothing more than a 
  puppet.
  ENFORCER PAY
  The wages Enforcers make are detailed in Enforcer 
  Hierarchy (see above); below are detailed two other 
  primary sources of Enforcer income, known as 
  bounties and “skimming”.
  BOUNTIES
  In addition to the regular wage they receive from 
  their organization, the Mayor of Metropolis Rho 
  typically keeps the Enforcers happy - and loyal to his 
  administration - through the dispensation of what are 
  known as “bounties”.  Bounties are almost identical 
  to the payments of the same name from the ancient 
  past; they are cash rewards given to individual 
  ofﬁcers for bringing down “criminals” wanted by the 
  Mayor of the city.
  Bounties are usually only collected on individuals 
  (or entire gangs, in which case bounties are paid 
  “per head” almost like cattle) who have wronged a 
  Mayor, or else committed a crime that warrants the 
  Mayor’s personal wrath.  The assignment of bounties 
  is entirely the domain of the Mayor, but when a 
  Mayor does publicly declare a bounty on someone’s 
  head he is bound to pay (through the city treasury, or 
  from his own personal funds if necessary).  Needless 
  to say, the Enforcers have come to rely on bounties to 
  supplement their pay, and look forward to collecting 
  bounties any way possible.  This has been one of 
  the main factors for keeping the Enforcers in line 
  over the years, instead of de-evolving into a separate 
  paramilitary force, an independent “super-faction” of 
  its own.
  Actual bounties can range considerably, from a 
  mere twenty credits for every low-level ganger taken 
  out in a Mayor’s war against his rivals, to hundreds of 
  thousands of credits for taking out personal enemies 
  of the Mayor, such as enemy gang bosses or public 
  ﬁgures who threaten to oppose/embarrass/bring harm 
  to the administration.
  SKIMMING
  Established as a police tradition during the last 
  anarchic years prior to the Fall, the custom of 
  “skimming” by the law enforcers of Metropolis Rho 
  has been one of the most effective tools of keeping 
  the job of Enforcer lucrative and attractive.
  Skimming is the tradition in which investigating 
  ofﬁcers are permitted to take valuables from a crime 
  scene as personal “loot”, usually divided equally 
  among all members of the investigating squad.  
  The amount of loot a squad will skim depends on 
  its involvement in the investigation; usually the 
  ﬁrst patrol squad takes only a token amount, while 
  detectives can (and usually do) help themselves to 
  anything they deem “irrelevant” to the case at hand.  
  Depending on the crime being investigated, this can 
  range from the cash found in the wallet of a back-
  SPECIAL ENFORCER BENEFITS
  In addition to belonging to a tight-knit brotherhood, having squadmates in the ﬁeld, reinforcements to call 
  upon when in trouble, as well as resources that supply free weapons, armor, and medicine, Enforcers also 
  share in other beneﬁts as well.  These beneﬁts are listed below:
  • 
  Regular monthly wages in credits (the precise amount depends on the character's rank);
  • 
  One food ration card each month;
  • 
  Communal living space at the precinct headquarters (if needed);
  • 
  The right to refuse any order to disarm or be disarmed (unless ordered to by an Enforcer of superior 
  rank);
  • 
  Free legal protection and representation by Enforcer lawyers;
  • 
  In the absence of overwhelming evidence, automatic beneﬁt of the doubt in legal disputes;
  • 
  Judged only by a jury of Enforcer peers, with at least one member of the jury being a current 
  squadmate;
  • 
  Automatic reduction of all legal punishment to the minimum sentence (except for crimes committed 
  against the Enforcers, which always receive the maximum punishment);
  • 
  If convicted, punishment and incarceration to be overseen in an Enforcer-run facility (i.e. not a public 
  facility).
  
  36
  alley corpse, to valuable furnishings, decorative art, 
  and rare luxuries taken from a highrise murder scene.
  The two rules of skimming are as follows:
  1. Anything taken from a crime scene must still be 
  reported to the precinct or investigating ofﬁcer, in 
  case it is later needed as evidence.  There is usually 
  a required waiting period as well before anything 
  skimmed can be sold on the open market, in case 
  the item(s) in question is needed for the crime’s 
  investigation.
  2. The patrol unit that ﬁrst arrives at a crime scene 
  is usually permitted to pick one item for itself to be 
  shared by its Enforcers. Ultimately, however, the 
  investigative team has the say-so on which items 
  can and cannot be taken from a crime scene (though 
  this often leads to the patrol unit taking items and 
  not reporting them, but the penalty for being caught 
  doing this can be quite steep).
  Skimming complements the regular wages and 
  bounties Enforcers already receive and most 
  Enforcers have come to rely on the tradition as part 
  of their standard “beneﬁts”.  In addition, the custom 
  has curbed the ﬂagrant misuse of Enforcers by the 
  average citizens, who know that when Enforcers 
  arrive they never leave without taking something “in 
  payment for services rendered”.
  CRIME
  The penal code of Metropolis Rho is not a static 
  thing, but a set of laws and legal traditions that evolve 
  and deviate with every ebb and ﬂow of its degenerate 
  society.  While many of the crimes bear the same 
  names as they did before the Fall, the 200+ years of 
  self-imposed isolation by the people of Metropolis 
  Rho have left them with wildly deviant ideas of what 
  is right and wrong.
  Below is a summary of the most serious crimes 
  in the city, a general description of each, and typical 
  punishments and attitudes towards that crime by the 
  city’s population.
  ARSON/GROSS DESTRUCTION
  The offense of arson (or “gross destruction”, which 
  covers any crime that causes irreparable large-scale 
  damage to public property) is one of the most serious 
  in the controlled environment of the Metropolis.  
  Underneath the dome all things have become scarce, 
  and without an inﬂux of outside resources everything 
  used today is recycled and re-used tomorrow.  As a 
  result, damage to this fragile balance of environment 
  and resources can be potentially devastating, even 
  life-threatening, to society as a whole.
  Actions that endanger the physical well being 
  of the city itself are generally punishable by death, 
  both to underscore the severity of the consequences 
  of such wanton crimes, as well as to provide a strict 
  example for others that gross destruction will not 
  be tolerated.  These executions are always televised 
  publicly.
  BRIBERY
  The crime of bribery generally only applies to public 
  ofﬁcials (Enforcers included), and is more serious for 
  the ofﬁcial implicated, assuming he accepted, than 
  the individual who attempts a bribe.  The penalty for 
  TABLE 1-3: CRIMES AND SENTENCING
  Crime
  Priority
  Sentence
  Arson/Gross Destruction
  Top
  Death
  Controlled Weapons Trafﬁcking
  Top
  10 years to Life
  Controlled Weapons Use
  Top
  Death
  Counterfeiting
  High
  Death
  Drug Bootlegging
  High
  5 to 25 years
  Termination Violation
  High
  Varies (usually Death)
  Improper Product Labeling (Accidental)
  Moderate
  5 to 10 years
  Improper Product Labeling (Intentional)
  Moderate
  Life
  Manslaughter
  Moderate
  1 to 5 years
  Murder
  Moderate
  10 years to Life
  Bribery (Offering)
  Low
  1 month to 1 year
  Bribery (Accepting)
  Low
  1 to 5 years
  Harboring
  Low
  Varies
  Larceny
  Low
  3 to 6 months
  Grand Larceny
  Low
  1 to 10 years
  Obstruction of Justice
  Low
  Varies
  Rape
  Low
  3 months to 10 years
  Robbery
  Low
  10 years to Life
  Theft, Embezzlement, Trafﬁcking
  Low
  3 months to 10 years
  Unlawful Assembly
  Low
  1 week
  Vagrancy
  Low
  1 week
  
  37
  bribery is entirely variable, however, depending on 
  what harm came as a result of the bribe.
  CONTROLLED WEAPONS TRAFFICKING AND/OR 
  USE
  While there are virtually no gun laws to speak of 
  in Metropolis Rho due to the willing acceptance of 
  violence in society, highly destructive weapons (that 
  is, weapons that cause a lot of collateral damage) are 
  still generally illegal due to the potential to destroy 
  priceless and irreplaceable resources.  This includes 
  virtually all explosives, ﬁre-starting weaponry or 
  devices, as well as weapons that by their use can 
  cause signiﬁcant structural damage to buildings, 
  streets, etc.
  The trafﬁcking in controlled weapons is a serious 
  crime, but actually using such a weapon is an even 
  more serious offense, usually resulting execution (see 
  Arson/Gross Destruction).
  COUNTERFEITING
  Due to the potential disruption this crime has on 
  the fragile balance of economics (and politics, 
  which, like the past, seems to go hand-in-hand with 
  money) in the Metropolis, counterfeiting is a serious 
  crime.  Throughout Metropolis history various gangs 
  explored counterfeiting as a means to supplement 
  their income and were censured for their activities, 
  but when it became clear just how catastrophic the 
  dissemination of false money could be, the sentences 
  involved skyrocketed.  Counterfeiting is now a 
  capital offense.
  Because the gangs of the city now agree to 
  an unofﬁcial “ban” on counterfeiting activities, 
  occurrences of this crime are few and far between, 
  usually limited to small groups of desperate 
  Unproductives trying to cook up “funny money” to 
  pay for their next meals.  As a result most counterfeit 
  jobs these days are rough and easily detected.
  DRUG BOOTLEGGING
  Unlike in the days predating the Fall, the 
  manufacturing of narcotics and hallucinogens 
  is no longer illegal in the Metropolis, and in 
  fact contributes immensely to the very fabric of 
  Metropolis society.  In addition to providing addictive 
  recreational alternatives, drugs also serve a vital role 
  - dulling the senses to the miserable reality of life 
  inside the dome (see Cat under New Drugs for one 
  example).
  Due to the large-scale nature of the drug industry in 
  the city, the production of sub-standard or dangerous 
  drugs is a serious offense.  While guidelines are put 
  forth by the Council of Gangs that outline how drugs 
  should be made to meet certain standards, in reality 
  these rules are in place not to protect the consumer, 
  but to protect the companies and larger drug gangs 
  from “drug bootleggers” who threaten the market 
  with their cheaper alternatives.  Since many of these 
  bootleggers cut corners during the manufacturing of 
  their drugs, impurities and sometimes even dangerous 
  chemicals are left in the drug when they hit the 
  streets.
  Drug bootlegging is usually punishable to the 
  extent of the law, since the prospect of bad (and 
  possibly lethal) drugs ﬂoating around is bad for 
  everyone.  Bootleggers are usually shut down, 
  imprisoned, and their ﬁnancial backers ﬁned heavily 
  for their role.
  HARBORING
  Individuals or groups that knowingly harbor (protect, 
  aid, or assist) wanted criminals are, by law, subject 
  to the same punishment that the criminal faces, 
  regardless of whether or not the offender was aware 
  of his assistance.  This is to instill in all citizens the 
  sense of responsibility for ﬁnding out who they hire, 
  who they allow as tenants, and who they look the 
  other way for.
  IMPROPER PRODUCT LABELING
  A seemingly minor crime that can have terrible 
  consequences, improper product labeling has led to 
  more mass deaths than any other form of corporate 
  negligence in the city.  In Metropolis Rho this has 
  manifested over the years in the absent-minded 
  bottling of industrial chemicals and poisons as 
  common medicines, or caustic acids as ingested 
  drugs and food additives.  The government comes 
  down hard on individuals or companies that violate 
  these laws (as they shake the public’s conﬁdence in 
  industry), and sentences are noticeably higher if the 
  violation is proven to have been intentional.
  LARCENY/GRAND LARCENY
  Larceny involves the opportunistic theft of goods of 
  no great value, usually with a cap around 50 credits 
  (above this and the crime becomes grand larceny); 
  examples include picking pockets, purse snatching, 
  and shoplifting.  Unlike with the trafﬁcking of stolen 
  goods, larceny is considered more of a “nuisance 
  crime”, and since it affects virtually everyone in the 
  city (including the largest gangs), it is not generally 
  justiﬁed as “economic Darwinism”.  Since the city’s 
  youth gangs seem to have no fear of even the largest 
  gangs, the crime eats away at the patience of virtually 
  every level of society.
  MANSLAUGHTER
  Manslaughter is the lesser offense in which a 
  human being was killed as the result of another’s 
  
  38
  actions.  In the Metropolis manslaughter includes 
  accidental killing, as well as industrial accidents 
  that can be traced to an individual’s carelessness 
  or oversight, and even unintentional slayings from 
  trafﬁc accidents, faulty building construction, etc.  
  In general, manslaughter is the charge when an 
  individual’s actions end up costing the lives of others, 
  even though this was not the perpetrator’s intention.
  MURDER
  While the focus of the Enforcers has evolved to 
  narrow in on property crimes, the ugly face of the 
  classic murder investigation has never been fully 
  forgotten.  Though Enforcers show little regard 
  for the countless beatings, stabbings, and armed 
  robberies that lead to death every day in the city, 
  more suspicious murder cases draw public attention 
  fast - and demand justice from all corners of 
  Metropolis society.
  The tenacity with which Enforcers pursue murder 
  investigations also depends on the nature of the 
  individual killed, political pressure from the Mayor’s 
  ofﬁce, and of course public opinion.  Generally 
  speaking the Enforcers tend to gravitate towards 
  whatever conclusion will bring a swift close to a 
  given case, a sad reality that often leaves telling 
  evidence uninvestigated, leads unexplored, and 
  justice unrealized.
  OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE/RESISTING ARREST
  While this is hard to prove, any individual who 
  hampers or resists an Enforcer while performing his 
  sanctioned duties can be held on obstruction of justice 
  charges.  Mostly this merely involves increasing the 
  sentence of a criminal, who resists being brought in, 
  but “resisting arrest” is also justiﬁcation enough for 
  an Enforcer to bring his quarry down - with whatever 
  force he deems necessary.
  RAPE
  The crime of rape has evolved over time in the 
  city, keeping pace with the slow degeneration of 
  women’s rights.  While it is still technically a crime 
  to “rape”, the emphasis has moved away from the 
  actual pain, injury, and violation incurred on the 
  victim, to focus more seriously on the damage the act 
  does to a woman’s ability to generate income.  More 
  importantly, furniture dealerships that rent women 
  out to private citizens rabidly pursue rapists in court, 
  since their crime (which is often violent) usually 
  leaves the dealership’s “property” worthless.
  The punishment for rape in the Metropolis can vary 
  depending on the circumstances, but by and large 
  the sentence usually involves heavy ﬁnes, ﬁnancial 
  compensation, prison time, and being put on a watch 
  list by all brothels and “furniture dealerships” noting 
  the offender as a potential “problem customer”.
  ROBBERY
  Robbery and armed robbery are no longer 
  distinguished from one another in the city, since 
  with the rapid propagation of ﬁrearms virtually all 
  crimes committed today are violent ones.  Like the 
  trafﬁcking of stolen goods, robbery is not a crime 
  that is enforced in practice, though anyone with the 
  legal acumen or clout can push an investigation (and 
  conviction) through.
  TERMINATION VIOLATIONS
  Laws instated long ago to protect the genetic well-
  being of the city’s inhabitants, the so-called “humane 
  termination legislation” made it mandatory for all 
  expecting mothers to deliver their children in the 
  controlled environment of the city’s LifeCenter.  
  Under these laws, those children exhibiting a 
  greater than average likelihood of developing a 
  genetic defect during life (i.e. a “mutant”) are to be 
  terminated in a humane fashion, so as to be unable to 
  threaten the genetic integrity of the city’s populace.
  These laws are violated in one of three ways:  
  either by failing (deliberately or otherwise) to deliver 
  a child in the proper manner (i.e. in the LifeCenter), 
  removing a child before he/she can be terminated, 
  and simply by just being a mutant.  The ﬁrst case is 
  considered a lesser crime, since many Unproductives 
  continue to have children outside of the LifeCenter 
  in far corners of the city.  Children born in this illegal 
  manner are taken into public custody and properly 
  tested; those exhibiting signs of mutations are 
  terminated, while those deemed healthy are returned 
  to their parents, who are then ﬁned.
  In the latter two cases the offending party is subject 
  to capital punishment (i.e. execution), without 
  exception.
  THEFT, EMBEZZLEMENT, AND TRAFFICKING IN 
  STOLEN GOODS
  Once considered a relatively serious crime, theft 
  (including embezzlement and the trafﬁcking of stolen 
  goods) no longer holds much penalty in Metropolis 
  Rho.  Long ago the early gangs of the city tried to 
  hoard resources to starve out their rivals, an act that 
  (following their eventual destruction) forced the 
  creation of a new system that made theft an accepted 
  - if unsavory - part of life.  Underscoring the general 
  belief that “might makes right”, the laws of the city 
  no longer make much of a fuss against individuals or 
  even companies and gangs stealing from one another 
  - it’s a kind of natural selection.
  Still, anyone with money can push the old laws into 
  action.  An individual with enough clout (or enough 
  money) can convince the Enforcers to investigate and 
  prosecute.  Since the process is usually frustrating 
  
  39
  and time-consuming, only truly dedicated people 
  ever do this, or else hire third parties (i.e. lawyers) to 
  pursue the case.  Generally speaking civilians prefer 
  to avoid the hassle and instead pay protection money 
  to their local gang to keep their businesses and homes 
  safe from theft.  If the “victim” of theft is a gang, 
  they usually prefer to exact “vengeance” personally 
  anyway, leaving the Enforcers out altogether.
  UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY
  Usually reserved for riots, unlawful assembly 
  has become a catchall term for any unsanctioned 
  gathering of people, especially when such a gathering 
  has the potential to cause damage, disrupt law and 
  order, and incite civil disobedience.
  The punishment for unlawful assembly is usually 
  just a weeklong stint in jail; however, since many 
  resist in the process of being arrested (or have 
  no means of surrendering), crackdowns on such 
  assemblies often leave hundreds dead.
  VAGRANCY
  Vagrancy is considered a form of theft, since it robs 
  a potential landowner the income he might otherwise 
  make charging rent from the vagrant.  This is not 
  a serious crime, one that cannot usually be strictly 
  enforced, but the threat of Enforcer action is often 
  enough to make vagrants move on.  Not only because 
  of the prospect of being incarcerated, but rumors 
  abound of particularly sadistic Enforcers using 
  vagrants to test their stun baton swing, or even for 
  target practice.
  MAKING CHARACTERS FROM 
  METROPOLIS RHO
  This sourcebook presents the idea of an all-inclusive 
  Degenerate community, a setup that by its nature 
  requires the players to make characters from a 
  speciﬁc community.  Though this may seem to limit 
  the players to a speciﬁc “type” of character, the 
  following section is intended to offer guidelines, 
  suggestions, and alternatives that will allow each 
  character from the Metropolis to be different and 
  unique despite their shared origins.
  BACKGROUND
  The background of all characters hailing from 
  Metropolis Rho is, by default, Degenerate, since 
  the city as presented is after all the model of a 
  Degenerate society from the Darwin’s World 
  2nd Edition rules.  Still, some players may feel 
  “shoe-horned” by the dictation of their characters’ 
  background, so you may want to consider the 
  following as a few optional alternatives:
  Radical:  Some of the more nihilistic gangs of 
  Metropolis Rho may have attitudes that place them 
  closer to this category than Degenerate, at the 
  GM’s discretion.  Examples include the Sodomites, 
  who openly disdain the conventions of their fellow 
  citizens, the Metal Freaks, who care only about 
  sowing wanton destruction, and some members of the 
  Mutant Underground who have begun to espouse the 
  idea of casting off the culture of the city in favor of 
  rebuilding a simpler, “purer” form of society for their 
  kind.
  Resurrector:  It is possible that a character from 
  Metropolis Rho has ideals and ethics that have deﬁed 
  the tide that has swept the rest of society.  Believing 
  in the benevolence of the past, a character of this type 
  might be one of only a few men and women in the 
  city who long for the “good old days”.  A character 
  of this background might be an idealist, looking 
  for a way to steer the city away from its degenerate 
  downward spiral and rebuild it in the image of its 
  former glory.
  Guardian:  Guardians might exist at the GM’s 
  discretion in the form of individual men and women 
  who desperately cling to any reminder of the Ancient 
  past, despite the endless destruction and nihilism 
  of their fellow citizens.  Guardian characters will 
  typically focus on protecting something, anything, 
  saving that one thing from the violence and 
  destruction of the endless gang wars and anarchy, 
  even if it costs him his life.
  Hedonist:  The society of Metropolis Rho, while 
  violent and cruel, is not far removed from the typical 
  Hedonistic culture presented in the rules.  The 
  rampant abuse of drugs, the open sexuality, and the 
  objectiﬁcation of human beings for the pleasure of 
  others are all hallmarks of this character background.  
  Characters could conceivably make characters with 
  this background; this should be reﬂected by a drug 
  habit, a sex addiction, or simply a devil-may-care 
  attitude that precludes all other concerns.
  OCCUPATIONS
  While this sourcebook is intended to portray a sample 
  Degenerate community background for characters to 
  be from, and the standard occupations from Darwin’s 
  World are certainly appropriate, you may need to 
  adapt them a little to ﬁt this particular setting.  Below 
  are a few suggested ideas:
  Academic:  Academics in Metropolis Rho are 
  almost exclusively drawn from the ranks of the 
  Tech Union, since advanced learning has all but 
  diminished outside that organization’s private 
  training programs.  Still, the Tech Union does train 
  
  40
  new recruits in drug manufacturing, computer 
  operations, and more advanced sciences (such as 
  genetics and medicine), and the Academic occupation 
  more than adequately represents these uncommon but 
  nonetheless prestigious lines of work.
  Caravan Guard:  Though there are no real 
  “caravans” in Metropolis Rho, the Caravan Guard 
  occupation could conceivably be used to represent 
  mercenaries hired to protect gang holdings, private 
  security of the Tech Union paid to defend the Food 
  Processing Plant or the Power Station, or even 
  Enforcers with a vehicular emphasis.
  Corium Prospector:  Though corium holds no 
  value in Metropolis Rho (nor does it even exist), 
  this occupation could still represent any kind of ruin 
  scavenger or urban scrounger, or even a researcher 
  hired by the city government to pore over maps of the 
  old ruins in search of the most likely places to ﬁnd 
  lost stockpiles and untapped resources.
  Craftsman:  Rare and precious, Craftsmen in 
  Metropolis Rho are usually trained experts drawn 
  from the ranks of the Tech Union, though there are 
  some private citizens who still cling to the knowledge 
  of how to build and repair objects of technology.  
  They are as rare as Academics, however.
  Demagogue:  Men trained to rally a crowd are a 
  high-priced commodity in the city, paid big bucks by 
  the various gangs to sway public opinion.  Characters 
  from the Demagogue occupation could be gang 
  propagandists, television personalities (there is 
  still an operating T.V. station in the city, complete 
  with its own studios), charismatic street vendors, or 
  even loud-mouthed barkers advertising their gang’s 
  exploits from a street corner soapbox.
  Furniture:  Furniture is a common occupation of 
  women in the Metropolis, and remains virtually the 
  same as elsewhere on the Twisted Earth.
  Guide:  Guides might be Unproductives who know 
  their part of the city like the back of their hands (and 
  sell themselves out as guides), scavs who navigate 
  the ruins near the Barrier with some frequency or 
  even former cabbies or limo drivers (working for 
  one gang or another) who know the city’s layout by 
  memory.
  Healer:  Healers are in widespread demand in 
  the city, useful for mending wounded members 
  of virtually every gang.  A few individuals of this 
  occupation could instead work at one of the city’s 
  few hospitals, or even the LifeCenter.
  Herdsman:  This occupation probably only applies 
  to characters who worked as hands-on technicians 
  in one of the city’s few remaining dairies or animal 
  farms, raising animals for the tables of the wealthy 
  elite.  Most are trained in the ﬁelds of animal 
  handling and animal healthcare by the Tech Union.
  Merchant:  Though the activities of the city’s 
  gangs certainly drive the economy of Metropolis 
  Rho, there are those who manage to make a 
  living less violently by either operating their own 
  businesses, or merely managing those of the gangs.  
  They are the “gentler” face of the Metropolis 
  economy.
  Military:  There is no real “military” in Metropolis 
  Rho, but this occupation could be used to represent 
  privately funded and expertly-trained security forces 
  (security guards, building guards, or even Enforcers 
  could be from this occupation).
  Predator:  By far the most common occupation in 
  the city, Predators make up the majority of gangers, 
  Enforcers, and even the urban homeless who are 
  forced to prey on one another to survive.  Those 
  few civilians who sell themselves as bounty hunters 
  might also be of this occupation, as might be urchins, 
  beggars, and the rare mutant.
  Repairman:  Anyone with the Repairman 
  occupation is likely to have been trained by the 
  city’s Tech Union and either lent out to a gang 
  or the Enforcers due to the value of his skills.  A 
  character of this occupation could be a maintenance 
  man, building superintendent, computer operator, 
  mechanic, technician, or even a gunsmith working for 
  one of the city’s arms-dealing gangs.
  Slave:  Slavery doesn’t technically exist in the city, 
  but the Slave occupation could conceivably be used 
  to represent the downtrodden such as domesticated 
  women, Unproductives, and members of the 
  unskilled labor force.
  Slaver:  A good example of a Slaver in Metropolis 
  Rho would be a ganger who specializes in “furniture 
  dealing”, acquiring young women from the streets to 
  turn out a few bucks for his gang.
  Wanderer:  Wanderers could include 
  Unproductives, scavs on the outskirts of the Zones, or 
  any of the vast population of homeless that live in the 
  city, moving from one area to the next in search of 
  shelter and the next day’s meal.
  Alternatively, at the GM’s discretion, characters 
  can be made using d20 Modern occupations instead.  
  Many of these occupations would ﬁt well in the 
  setting (Athlete for Bloodsport heroes, for example, 
  or Celebrity for famous public ﬁgures), albeit with a 
  little modiﬁcation.
  ALTERNATE RACES
  Metropolis Rho, as a domed city pre-dating the Fall, 
  offers a unique opportunity (or at least unique from 
  the standpoint of Darwin’s World) for players to make 
  characters from an almost exclusively “pureblood” 
  human community.  The alternate races of the game 
  - namely mutants and androids - are not likely to 
  appear in the setting without careful consideration by 
  the GM and players alike.  Here are a few suggestions 
  for incorporating these possible racial variants in the 
  human-dominant Metropolis Rho setting.
  
  41
  ANDROIDS
  While Metropolis Rho personiﬁes a society in which 
  technology and resources are winding down, if a 
  player wants to play an android (see Metal Gods for 
  details on making androids as characters), it may be 
  possible to work that angle in.  The GM can either 
  decide that the PC in question is one of a dying breed 
  of unique life forms dating from the time of the 
  Ancients, or a “new model” (see android occupations 
  in Metal Gods) created in the city in recent years with 
  the last bits of technical expertise remaining.  A kind 
  of repository, the character would be a priceless asset, 
  however, and would only likely exist to ﬁll very 
  specialized functions (for example, working with the 
  Enforcers to solve crimes).  Or the GM can merely 
  make it that androids are just as common as people 
  in the domed city of Metropolis Rho, with PCs being 
  from the countless laborer and entertainer models 
  created long ago that managed to survive until today.
  Being an android in the Metropolis offers some 
  unusual advantages, not the least of which are the 
  abilities to repair damage and ignore radiation (useful 
  if the PCs venture near the Barrier).  Certain features 
  can provide other unique beneﬁts as well, such as the 
  ability to navigate in the sewers without a light (if the 
  android has Infrared Photoreceptors, for example), or 
  detect hidden enemies with a Bio-Sensor.  You may 
  even want to adapt certain robot features so that they 
  prove more useful in this setting (for example, an 
  android Enforcer with the Computer Link feature can 
  make all Research checks through the police force’s 
  computers using their Computer Use skill instead).
  MUTANTS
  Since this is Darwin’s World, the temptation to play a 
  mutant may be strong for some players familiar with 
  the game.  Keep in mind that this setting is designed 
  from the perspective of creating a “mutant-paranoid” 
  society, and justifying a mutant character - who has 
  somehow evaded the law for so many years - may 
  take some imagination.  Here are two possible ways 
  of having mutants as playable characters:
  • 
  The character was born before the euthanasia 
  laws were put into effect, and once the laws were 
  passed, either he (or his family, before they died) 
  took great pains to destroy his birth and medical 
  records to avoid being hunted down.  The PC 
  will have to be an older individual, of course, 
  and one that is always aware that if his identity is 
  ever found out, he is as good as dead.
  • 
  The character was born in secret among the 
  Unproductives, where health care (and exposure 
  to genetic scans) is non-existent.  Escaping 
  the gauntlet of the government by his illegal 
  birth, the character grew up on the streets 
  acutely aware of the danger he will be in if ever 
  discovered.
  Also note that since the gene pool of the city is 
  limited, so too are the possible mutations and 
  defects a player can choose for his mutant character.  
  See the Mutants - What Do They Look Like? for 
  typical mutations and defects found in the mutated 
  population of Metropolis Rho.  Player characters 
  should not stray from these set parameters without 
  good cause.
  MUTANTS - WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE
  Because of a shrinking gene pool due to the 
  inbreeding of 200+ years inside the domed city of 
  Metropolis Rho, certain mutations (and genetic 
  defects) crop up more frequently than others in the 
  city; the combinations listed below are merely the 
  most common.  For ease of use the GM can just pick 
  a sample “mutation package” if and when the PCs 
  encounter a group of mutants during their adventures, 
  applying these mutations and defects to each member 
  of the opposing group:
  
  42
  MUTATIONS (PICK ONE)
  • 
  Abnormal Joint Flexibility - the mutant has an 
  extra joint in her arms between the elbow and 
  wrist; or the mutant’s spine is segmented;
  • 
  Autism - the mutant has mild mental retardation;
  • 
  Extreme Resilience - the mutant has tough 
  leathery skin reminiscent of an elephant’s hide; 
  or the mutant has the beginnings of bone-like 
  “scales” growing out of her skin;
  • 
  Sensitive Sight - the mutant’s eyes have adapted 
  to living in dark alleys and/or underground 
  tunnels, and seem to be slightly luminous;
  • 
  Skeletal Fortiﬁcation - abnormal bone growths 
  give the mutant unusual durability and strength.
  DEFECTS (PICK ONE)
  • 
  Aberrant Deformity - the mutant’s eyes, nose, 
  or ears shifted or out of place; or a foot has 
  developed backwards, causing the mutant to limp 
  noticeably; or instead of a regular hand one of 
  the mutant’s hands is small and underdeveloped, 
  like an infants; etc.
  • 
  Bilirubin Imbalance - the whites of the mutant’s 
  eyes are a striking yellow, and seem slightly 
  luminescent in low light;
  • 
  Bizarre Pigmentation - the mutant has dead 
  white or gray hair that grows in patches on the 
  scalp; or her skin has ugly grayish melanin 
  blotches;
  • 
  Blindness - the mutant’s eyes are fogged over 
  with cataracts and she must feel around with her 
  hands to “see”;
  • 
  Hemihypertrophy - the mutant’s body seems 
  “slouched” to one side (in reality one whole 
  side has not developed physically past the age 
  of 10 or so), and as a result she walks with a 
  pronounced limp;
  • 
  Skeletal Deterioration - bone ague causes parts 
  of the mutant’s body to be badly deformed, with 
  the underlying bone jutting through or stretching 
  the outer skin like tightly-drawn rubber; or the 
  mutant’s bone structure is merely weakened, 
  prone to breaking or splintering unless proper 
  protective gear is worn;
  • 
  Underdeveloped Organ - the mutant has no nose, 
  only slits over the nostrils that open and close 
  with each breath; or the mutant has no lower jaw, 
  and must feed through a straw or some other 
  specialized utensil.
  Similarly, certain mutations and defects do not 
  exist in the Metropolis Rho setting.  Non-existent 
  mutations include Accelerated White Blood Cell 
  Activity, Energy Immunity, Energy-Retaining Cell 
  Structure, Gamma-Ray Visual Sensitivity, and 
  Radiation Immunity.  Non-existent defects include 
  Cannibalism, Cystic Fibrosis, and Sensitivity (any).  
  As such players cannot select any of these mutations 
  or defects for characters from the Metropolis.
  ADVANCED CLASSES
  As with any campaign, the GM should be actively 
  involved when characters reach a high enough level 
  to begin selecting advanced classes.  In Metropolis 
  Rho, consider at all times the atmosphere of the city, 
  its technological level, and the party’s place in its 
  rigid and violent hierarchal society.
  Here are some suggestions for bringing the 
  advanced classes of Darwin’s World to life in the 
  setting of Metropolis Rho:
  Barbarian:  A particularly savage character 
  who was raised in the outer Zones by scavs, Zone 
  Rangers, or similarly primitive types, far from the 
  more “cultured” heart of the city.  Learning to utilize 
  the junk of the outer ruins, the barbarian character is 
  a true survivalist.
  Demagogue:  There are ample opportunities for 
  citizens of the Metropolis to become demagogues, 
  since the charismatic skills of these characters are in 
  great demand.  Demagogues can often be found as 
  leaders and rabble-rousers among gangs, as well as 
  subversive groups such as the Mutant Underground.
  Guardian:  Guardians in the Metropolis could be 
  gang soldiers with experience as guards, the personal 
  bodyguards of important political ﬁgures, or even 
  Enforcers.
  Juju Doctor:  Due to the generally “low-tech” 
  angle of this class, juju doctors are not a common 
  choice in Metropolis Rho.  Still, such a character 
  might be the only member of an Unproductive 
  community with any medical knowledge, a doctor 
  thrown out of the Tech Union for being drunk (who 
  now operates on those who fall through the cracks 
  and have no other choice - such as the Mutant 
  Underground), etc.
  Psionic:  A psionic character might be one of only 
  a handful of members of the Mutant Underground 
  with real mental abilities, a special asset they call 
  upon only when the organization is in real trouble.  
  Because mutants with neural mutations can often 
  pass undetected as humans, psionics might be ideal 
  for characters who want to play mutants and still 
  blend in with the inhabitants of the city.
  Raider:  A raider could be any member of one of 
  the city’s more violent gangs, a particularly ruthless 
  and bloodthirsty Enforcer, or even a Bloodsport 
  player whose method of play borders on the 
  psychotic.
  Road Warrior:  Road warrior might be the ideal 
  advanced class for any ganger or Enforcer whose 
  focus is on vehicles.
  Scav:  The outer Zones of Metropolis Rho are 
  infested with scavs, who make a stable living 
  scrounging for junk and other garbage among the 
  
  43
  ruins and selling it to the people of the inner city.
  Scholar:  A character with the scholar class could 
  be a teacher or professor of the Tech Union, or any 
  private individual who has devoted his life to the 
  study of history, the Ancients, technology, or any 
  other obscure form of “lore”.
  Skulk:  The Metropolis festers with a vast number 
  of thieves, burglars, and other less savory types, 
  making the skulk a common option for an advanced 
  class.  It is also common among groups that operate 
  in secret (such as the Cats, Nightcrawlers, and Mutant 
  Underground).
  Sister of The Desert:  This advanced class is 
  the hardest to reconcile with the urban setting of 
  Metropolis Rho; the GM will be hard pressed to 
  justify a PC entering this class.
  Survivalist:  Survivalists, while normally suited 
  for wilderness environments, could exist in the 
  Metropolis living alongside the scavs of the outer 
  Zones.
  Symbiote:  A symbiote might have been orphaned 
  as a youth, growing up on the streets constantly on 
  the run from the gangs, with only a loyal animal as 
  his companion.  Or he could be an Enforcer from a 
  special “K-9” unit, having a dog as his partner and 
  with whom he has an uncanny friendship.
  Tinker:  Individuals trained by the Tech Union 
  often become tinkers, serving the city with their 
  skills, and some private individuals scattered 
  throughout the city also cling to the last remnants of 
  technical knowledge, living in small enclaves and 
  using their knowledge to make life better for their 
  fellow street people.  Some tinkers are also hired by 
  gangs.
  Trader:  A trader could be anyone who makes a 
  living buying and selling legitimate goods, or even an 
  Enforcer or ganger who makes extra money selling 
  on the black market on the side.
  Champion:  The champion epic class is ideal 
  for characters that have a heavy focus in combat, 
  representing heroic (or at least legendary) gangers 
  and Enforcers.
  Mech:  Like tinkers, mechs can exist either as 
  members of the Tech Union, or as men and women 
  who defy the Metropolis’ trend towards technological 
  degeneration by keeping it alive either at home or 
  sharing it with a small group of like-minded friends 
  and followers.
  Medicine Man:  The few real “doctors” in the 
  city are a highly prized asset, making Medicine Man 
  a desirable epic class.  Some medicine men are also 
  hired by gangs to operate drug mills, or research and 
  develop new chemicals for mass consumption.
  Mutant Hunter:  The mutant hunter is an 
  uncommon epic class in Metropolis Rho; in addition 
  to being difﬁcult to get into, though there are mutants 
  in the city (the Mutant Underground) few people are 
  likely to dedicate themselves to their eradication as 
  completely as a mutant hunter requires.
  Scientist:  Like the medicine man, real scientists in 
  Metropolis Rho are a rarity, usually only found in the 
  employ of the Tech Union.  Often they are leased out 
  to companies to help develop new food substitutes 
  and synthetic fuels to keep the city’s precarious 
  economy alive.
  Tech Looter:  The tech looter class could represent 
  an “advanced” form of scav, a man or woman who 
  haunts the outskirts of the city, lingering in bars 
  and squalid hangouts listening to rumors of “tech 
  wonders” being found by his fellow scavs - and 
  beating them to it every time.  Since the Barrier 
  (and other ruins) are said to be rich in preserved 
  technology, the business of the tech looter is 
  potentially quite lucrative.
  Trade Master:  Like the trader, trade masters can 
  represent any legitimate businessman, but can also 
  represent the bosses of major gangs, especially those 
  who focus less on criminal aspects and more on just 
  making money.
  Warrior Monk:  This epic class is mostly unheard 
  of in the Metropolis, but it is still possible for them 
  to exist.  An example might be a former survivalist or 
  scav who has taken it upon himself to “protect” the 
  people of the Zones (namely Unproductives and other 
  scavs) against the intrusion of the gangs from the 
  inner city.  Or the character could become the right-
  hand man of one of the city’s most powerful gang 
  bosses, a cold-hearted and emotionless killer who 
  blends concepts of zen and spiritual perfection with 
  his role as assassin and bodyguard.
  LANGUAGES
  Unlike other communities in Darwin’s World, 
  characters from Metropolis Rho should really only 
  be exposed to Gutter Talk, since the inhabitants of 
  the city have had no contact with outsiders for over 
  200 years.  Languages such as Unislang and Trade 
  do not even exist here.  The language of the Ancients 
  (Ancient) could conceivably exist, though learning it 
  would probably be restricted to members of the Tech 
  Union, or to the rare eccentric or historian citizen 
  living in isolation somewhere in the city.
  MONEY
  The standard money of the Metropolis is the credit, 
  which resembles ratty, color-faded dollar bills.  All 
  characters from Metropolis Rho start with credits 
  instead of corium pieces, but the amounts are the 
  same as normally dictated by occupation (see pages 
  10-12 of the Darwin’s World rulebook).  When 
  buying equipment, credit and corium piece values 
  should be considered interchangeable.
  In addition to cash, characters from Metropolis 
  
  44
  Rho (a Degenerate community) normally begin with 
  one artifact of 3,000 cp value or less.  Characters who 
  are of a different background (Radical, Resurrector, 
  Guardian, or Hedonist) receive whatever is listed 
  under “Special” in their particular entry in the 
  Darwin’s World rules instead.  This artifact can be 
  anything the PC wants (for this one-time inheritance 
  a character does not need to make a Knowledge 
  [Streetwise] check to acquire an item, as is normal 
  with Street Deals).
  NEW FEATS
  Urban Decay presents a few new feats that are ideally 
  suited for the overcrowded and violent urban setting 
  of Metropolis Rho.  These feats are presented below.
  CHROMED
  Whether due to past injuries while ﬁghting one of 
  the city’s many gangs, or from a careless industrial 
  accident while working in one of the city’s aging 
  factories, you have lost a body part to the violence 
  and carelessness of Metropolis society.  Luckily you 
  had the injury remedied by a bionic replacement part.
  Prerequisite:  Degenerate, Resurrector, Guardian, 
  Hedonist, and Advanced only.
  Beneﬁt:  You begin play with a single piece of 
  cybernetics, of up to 8,000 cp in value (see The 
  Foundationists for a list of available cybernetics), 
  already installed in your body.  In addition, the 
  number of cybernetic attachments you can have 
  without suffering negative effects is increased by one.
  Special:  This feat can only be taken at 1st level, 
  and can apply to characters from any community of 
  the appropriate technology level.
  EXCESSIVE FORCE
  Your blows, even with sanctioned nonlethal weapons, 
  cross the line between acceptable force and excessive 
  force.
  Beneﬁt:  When using a nonlethal melee weapon, 
  in addition to inﬂicting nonlethal damage you also 
  inﬂict lethal damage equal to your Strength bonus (if 
  any) to your opponent with each attack.
  GANG LEADER
  Through ruthless discipline and brutal training you 
  have taught your followers to act on your command 
  – without question.
  Prerequisite:  Cha 15+, Leadership.
  Beneﬁt:  All of your followers (including cohort) 
  use your Initiative in combat, acting in unison with 
  you.
  HARDWIRED
  You know how to “modify” nonlethal weapons so 
  that in addition to stunning opponents, they also 
  inﬂict a dangerous electric shock.
  Prerequisite:  Weapon Focus in a powered 
  nonlethal weapon.
  Beneﬁt:  When using the appropriate weapon roll 
  nonlethal damage normally; however, you also inﬂict 
  half that amount in lethal electricity damage to the 
  target as well.
  JUNK CRAFTER
  You waste nothing, ﬁnding a use in even the most 
  worthless junk.  You can turn a piece of scrap into 
  a useful component, putting scavenged garbage to 
  work in unusual but effective ways to reduce your 
  reliance on uncommon or expensive materials.
  Beneﬁt:  The items the character crafts employ 
  junk for many secondary components, making them 
  much cheaper to make – but just as effective.  When 
  making any item the cost in raw materials is halved.
  PEACEKEEPER
  You are expertly trained in using nonlethal force to 
  deal with dangerous adversaries.
  Prerequisite:  Weapon Focus in any weapon that 
  deals nonlethal damage, base attack bonus +1.
  Beneﬁt:  When using a nonlethal weapon with 
  which you have the appropriate Weapon Focus, you 
  inﬂict an additional dice of damage.  For example, 
  a character with this feat using a stun baton would 
  inﬂict 4d6 points of nonlethal damage with each hit.  
  This feat can only be taken once.
  PEACEMAKER
  Your advanced training with nonlethal weapons 
  makes you far more effective in bringing down even 
  the most resistant opponents.
  Prerequisite:  Weapon Focus in any weapon that 
  deals nonlethal damage, base attack bonus +1.
  Beneﬁt:  When using a nonlethal weapon with 
  which you have the appropriate Weapon Focus, if 
  your damage exceeds the target’s Constitution score 
  the save to avoid being knocked unconscious is made 
  with a -2 penalty.
  Special:  You can take this feat a second time, 
  increasing the penalty to -4, and a third time, 
  increasing it to -6.
  RESISTANT
  The over-use of drugs in your community has 
  most everyone hooked to one drug or another, but 
  a few are born each generation with a phenomenal 
  resistance to a broad spectrum of chemicals.
  Prerequisite:  Con 15+.
  
  45
  Beneﬁt:  When taking drugs you never need to 
  check for addiction, though you may still overdose.
  STAGGERING FLURRY
  You use your nonlethal weapon so quickly that each 
  follow-up blow staggers your opponent even further.
  Prerequisite:  Weapon Focus in any melee weapon 
  that deals nonlethal damage, base attack bonus +6.
  Beneﬁt:  When using a nonlethal melee weapon 
  against one opponent, total up the damage done by 
  all of your successful attacks (against that opponent) 
  in a single round.  If this total meets or beats the 
  opponent’s current Constitution score, she must 
  make a save as normal to avoid being knocked 
  unconscious.
  Normal:  Normally you must do more damage 
  than an opponent’s current Constitution score in 
  a single attack to force him to save against being 
  knocked unconscious.
  UNFAIR BLOW
  When you’re ﬁghting for your life, it’s foolish to play 
  “fair”.
  Prerequisite:  Brawl, Streetﬁghting, base attack 
  bonus +2.
  Beneﬁt:  Instead of inﬂicting extra damage with 
  your Streetﬁghting feat, you can alternatively choose 
  to try and stun your opponent.  If you hit you do 
  normal unarmed damage and force the target to make 
  a Fortitude save (DC equal to 10 + your Strength 
  modiﬁer) or be stunned for one round.
  NEW ADVANCED CLASSES
  The unique degenerate culture of Metropolis Rho 
  offers its inhabitants new choices for advanced 
  classes, embodied by the three classes presented 
  below:  the Enforcer, the Ganger, and the Barrier 
  Scav.  While these advanced classes certainly 
  exist in numbers in Metropolis Rho, at the GM’s 
  discretion they may also exist outside of the city, in 
  other communities where their existence might be 
  appropriate.
  ENFORCER
  The term “Enforcer” is used throughout Urban Decay 
  to describe the ruthless lawmen who have come to 
  uphold the edicts of the city Mayors, and maintain 
  the fragile hold of law and order whatever the cost.  
  However, Metropolis Rho is not alone in having a 
  dedicated force of protectors; other technologically 
  advanced communities in the wasteland could, 
  conceivably, have “policemen” or “lawmen”.
  The Enforcer is different than the standard 
  community Guardian in many ways, not the least of 
  which are his emphasis on intimidation to enforce 
  order and his effectiveness when working with other 
  Enforcers as a cohesive unit.  While the typical 
  Guardian is by himself a powerful defender of his 
  community, the Enforcer gains even greater strength 
  when operating in numbers.
  The Enforcer advanced class is only open to 
  characters of more advanced communities, where 
  the concept of a dedicated police force is more likely 
  to have been preserved since the time of the Fall.  
  More primitive communities typically use Guardians 
  to enforce the peace, and lack the morale and strict 
  training of these more elite ﬁghters.
  REQUIREMENTS
  To become an Enforcer, a character must fulﬁll the 
  following criteria.
  Background:  Degenerate, Visionary Reinventor, 
  Resurrector, Guardian, Hedonist, and Advanced only.
  Base Attack Bonus:  +3.
  Feats:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency or Futuristic 
  Firearms Proﬁciency.
  Skills:  Intimidate 3 ranks.
  Special:  One Allegiance (to a community or 
  organization).
  CLASS INFORMATION
  The following information pertains to the Enforcer 
  advanced class.
  Hit Dice:  1d10.
  Action Points:  6 + one half the character’s class 
  level, rounded down.
  
  46
  Class Skills:  The Enforcer’s class skills are:  
  Drive (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (ancient 
  lore) (Int), Knowledge (streetwise) (Int), Sense 
  Motive (Wis), Treat Injury (Wis).
  Skill Points at Each Level:  3 + Int modiﬁer.
  CLASS FEATURES
  The following features pertain to the Enforcer 
  advanced class.
  Bonus Feats:  The Enforcer receives a bonus feat 
  at 3rd, 6th, and 9th levels.  The feat must be selected 
  from the following list, and the character must meet 
  the prerequisites to select it:  Attentive, Combat 
  Driving, Conﬁdent, Drive-By Attack, Force Stop, 
  Frightful Presence, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, 
  Renown, Room-Broom, Suppressive Fire, Vehicle 
  Dodge, Vehicle Expert, Weapon Focus.
  Uniformed Fighter:  Ever since the chaotic and 
  crime-ridden twilight of the Ancients, Enforcers 
  have been trained to operate in body armor at all 
  times.  An Enforcer is considered to be proﬁcient in 
  whatever armor is the standard for his community’s 
  defense forces.  Note that he does not gain the actual 
  associated Armor Proﬁciency feat, and he does not 
  beneﬁt from a different type of armor even if it is of 
  the same general category (light, medium, or heavy).   
  If the Enforcer already possesses the Armor 
  Proﬁciency feat (medium), he gains a +1 expertise 
  bonus to his defense when wearing Enforcer Armor.
  Riot Formation:  While a lone Enforcer is often 
  intimidating, a group of Enforcers working together 
  can be terrifying.  When more than one Enforcer is 
  present in a situation, all allied Enforcers double their 
  requisite statistic bonus (Charisma or Strength) when 
  determining the results of Intimidate checks.
  Enforcer Sense:  An Enforcer’s training continues 
  well after the academy.  Soon after hitting the 
  streets he quickly develops his sixth sense - or else 
  he becomes just another rookie killed in the line of 
  duty.  At 2nd level the Enforcer receives a +1 bonus 
  to Initiative rolls.  This bonus increases to +2 at 5th 
  level, and +3 at 8th level.  This stacks with all other 
  bonuses that modify the character’s Initiative.
  In addition, if an allied Enforcer with a higher 
  Danger Sense bonus is within 30 feet of the character, 
  the character may use that bonus instead of his own.
  Armored Fighter:  At 4th level the Enforcer gains 
  a +1 deﬂection bonus to Defense when wearing the 
  standard armor of his community’s defense forces.
  Fearless:  At 8th level the Enforcer is seldom 
  shaken by criminal elements of any kind.  Once per 
  day the Enforcer may re-roll a failed saving throw 
  against any fear-based ability or effect (such as 
  Bloodthirsty Cry, Horrifying Kill, Death Cry, or the 
  Ganger’s “Cold As Ice” ability), but he must accept 
  the results of the second roll.
  Intimidating:  At 10th the Enforcer can attempt to 
  demoralize an opponent with an Intimidate check as 
  a free action (normally intimidating an opponent in 
  combat is a standard action).
  FORMER ENFORCERS
  An Enforcer who abandons his community (or 
  otherwise gives up his Allegiance) can no longer 
  advance in the Enforcer class.  He still beneﬁts from 
  any abilities he gained previously from taking levels 
  in this class, however.
  GANGER
  Whether wearing pin-striped suits and carrying 
  Tommy guns like thugs of old, or clad in form-
  ﬁtting leathers with multiple body piercing that 
  personify the hedonistic and nihilistic nature of post-
  apocalyptic gangs, the term “ganger” is a general 
  one used to describe the urban predators that thrive, 
  often unchecked, at the heart of many of the Twisted 
  Earth’s burgeoning communities.  By deﬁnition these 
  men are members of one powerful gang or another, 
  parts of a criminal brotherhood that seek to dominate 
  a given neighborhood, territory, or even an entire city, 
  through building a network of crime and outright 
  terror.
  Unlike the savage raider gangs of the wasteland, 
  gangers are more sophisticated in their methods, 
  generally restricting themselves to cities or 
  communities where they can hide among the local 
  populace and feed off their labors...and eventually 
  come to dominate them (either from the shadows or 
  TABLE 1-4: THE ENFORCER
  Level
  Base Attack 
  Bonus
  Fort 
  Save
  Ref 
  Save
  Will 
  Save
  Special
  Defense 
  Bonus
  Reputation 
  Bonus
  1st
  +1
  +1
  +1
  +0
  Uniformed Fighter, Riot Formation
  +1
  +0
  2nd
  +2
  +2
  +2
  +0
  Enforcer Sense +1
  +1
  +0
  3rd
  +3
  +2
  +2
  +1
  Bonus Feat
  +2
  +0
  4th
  +4
  +2
  +2
  +1
  Armored Fighter
  +2
  +1
  5th
  +5
  +3
  +3
  +1
  Enforcer Sense +2
  +3
  +1
  6th
  +6
  +3
  +3
  +2
  Bonus Feat
  +3
  +1
  7th
  +7
  +4
  +4
  +2
  Fearless
  +4
  +2
  8th
  +8
  +4
  +4
  +2
  Enforcer Sense +3
  +4
  +2
  9th
  +9
  +4
  +4
  +3
  Bonus Feat
  +5
  +2
  10th
  +10
  +5
  +5
  +3
  Intimidating
  +5
  +3
  
  47
  openly, depending on how powerful the law is in their 
  given turf).  Entire communities have fallen prey to 
  the inﬁltration of gangers, eventually succumbing 
  to their rule and living as virtual slaves to their 
  oppressors.
  Metropolis Rho is not alone in its infestation by 
  gangers and other large communities in the Twisted 
  Earth setting could conceivably have persons 
  belonging to this most repugnant of advanced classes.
  REQUIREMENTS
  To become a Ganger, a character must fulﬁll the 
  following criteria.
  Background:  Degenerate, Visionary Reinventor, 
  Resurrector, Guardian, Hedonist, and Advanced only.
  Base Attack Bonus:  +1.
  Skills:  Knowledge (streetwise) 6 ranks.
  Feats:  Personal Firearms Proﬁciency or Futuristic 
  Firearms Proﬁciency.
  Special:  One Allegiance (to a gang or criminal 
  organization).
  CLASS INFORMATION
  The following information pertains to the Ganger 
  advanced class.
  Hit Dice:  1d8.
  Action Points:  6 + one half the character’s class 
  level, rounded down.
  Class Skills:  The Ganger’s class skills are:  Bluff 
  (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Drive 
  (Dex), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gamble 
  (Wis), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), 
  Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (business, current 
  events, streetwise) (Cha), Move Silently (Dex), Sense 
  Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex).
  Skill Points at Each Level:  5 + Int modiﬁer.
  CLASS FEATURES
  The following features pertain to the Ganger 
  advanced class.
  Bonus Feats:  The Ganger receives a bonus feat 
  at 3rd, 6th, and 9th levels.  The feat must be selected 
  from the following list, and the character must meet 
  the prerequisites to select it:  Alertness, Attentive, 
  Combat Driving, Conﬁdent, Drive-By Attack, Force 
  Stop, Frightful Presence, Intimidating Strength, Low 
  Proﬁle, Renown, Vehicle Dodge, Vehicle Expert, 
  Weapon Focus.
  Underworld Grapevine:  At 1st level the Ganger 
  can use Knowledge (streetwise) in place of Gather 
  Information when attempting to learn information or 
  rumors.
  Coordinator:  At 2nd level the Ganger can 
  coordinate his allies and underlings in combat.  By 
  spending 1 action point and a standard action the 
  Ganger provides a +1 insight bonus to either Defense 
  or attack rolls for that round.  He can affect up to one 
  ally per class level.
  Cold As Ice:  At 4th level the Ganger’s renown is 
  so intimidating that others have a hard time lying to 
  him without freezing or tripping themselves up.  All 
  characters attempting to use Bluff, Diplomacy, or 
  Sense Motive on the Ganger receive a morale penalty 
  equal to the Ganger’s Reputation score.  This is a 
  fear-based effect.
  Nine Lives:  At 5th level the Ganger can spend 
  1 action point to avoid being killed by a fatal attack 
  that brings him to -10 or lower hit points.  When 
  the action point is used the character immediately 
  drops to 0 hit points (or, if already below 0 hit 
  points, the attack does no damage) and is considered 
  unconscious.  He cannot use this ability more than 
  once per day, however.
  Ringleader: At 7th level the Ganger receives 
  the Leadership feat for free.  If he already has the 
  Leadership feat his Leadership score increases by +3 
  instead.
  Escapes Death: At 8th level the Ganger’s ability to 
  cheat death improves.  Now instead of being reduced 
  to 0 hit points by an attack that would otherwise 
  kill him (bring him to -10 or lower hit points), by 
  spending an action point the Ganger completely 
  ignores the damage from that single attack as if it had 
  missed altogether.  He cannot use this ability more 
  than once per day, however.
  Godfather:  At 10th level the Ganger has eyes and 
  ears throughout his territory (be it a neighborhood, 
  TABLE 1-5: THE GANGER
  Level
  Base Attack 
  Bonus
  Fort 
  Save
  Ref 
  Save
  Will 
  Save
  Special
  Defense 
  Bonus
  Reputation 
  Bonus
  1st
  +0
  +1
  +1
  +0
  Underworld Grapevine
  +1
  +1
  2nd
  +1
  +2
  +2
  +0
  Coordinator
  +1
  +1
  3rd
  +2
  +2
  +2
  +1
  Bonus Feat
  +2
  +1
  4th
  +3
  +2
  +2
  +1
  Cold As Ice
  +2
  +2
  5th
  +3
  +3
  +3
  +1
  Nine Lives
  +3
  +2
  6th
  +4
  +3
  +3
  +2
  Bonus Feat
  +3
  +2
  7th
  +5
  +4
  +4
  +2
  Ringleader
  +4
  +3
  8th
  +6
  +4
  +4
  +2
  Escapes Death
  +4
  +3
  9th
  +6
  +4
  +4
  +3
  Bonus Feat
  +5
  +3
  10th
  +7 
  +5
  +5
  +3
  Godfather
  +5
  +4
  
  48
  ward, or entire settlement or city), with which he 
  manages to remain virtually omni prescient about 
  activities conducted on his “turf”.  By making either a 
  Knowledge (streetwise) or Gather Information check 
  (player’s choice) he can ﬁnd out the details of any 
  violent or criminal occurrence that takes place in his 
  territory, including what exactly happened, who did 
  it, and what their motivation was.  This information 
  does not let him track down the culprit, it only 
  identiﬁes who it was, what he did, and why.
  The DC varies depends on what kind of 
  information is being sought:
  Object of Scrutiny
  DC
  Details of an obvious (or public) event
  15
  Details of a private (or secret) gathering
  20
  Details of a crime scene
  20
  Motivation of the individual(s) behind the event
  25
  Identity of the individual(s) behind the event
  30
  BARRIER SCAV
  Related to the traditional Scav of the outside world, 
  the “Barrier Scav” is a man (or rarely, a woman) who 
  makes his living poking through the forbidding ruins 
  of “the Barrier”, the ring of mineﬁelds, automated 
  defenses, and gun turrets that surround Metropolis 
  Rho like a prison wall.
  Barrier Scavs are notorious in the city because 
  they are some of the most degenerate and ruthless 
  of survivors.  Left to rot out in the periphery of the 
  city, far from the warmth of the inner urban sprawl, 
  they have relapsed into primitive mindsets obsessed 
  with ﬁnding shelter, one’s next meal, and artifacts to 
  scavenge from the ruins to better their lives.
  Because the Barrier’s defenses are still an ever-
  present danger, despite their great age, Barrier Scavs 
  quickly learn how to spot, recognize, and evade its 
  many layers of defenses.  The reﬂexes of a Barrier 
  Scav are said to be second to none.  The cutthroat 
  nature of Barrier Scavs is also legendary, and no 
  sane man travels near the Barrier willingly for fear of 
  intruding on their “turf”; even among their own kind 
  there is no place for the concept of “trust”.  As if their 
  miserable lives weren’t dangerous enough, Barrier 
  Scavs often hunt each other, hoping to kill a fellow 
  scrounger for the things he may have found.  As such 
  the best Barrier Scavs soon learn to vanish almost 
  completely from sight, fashioning camouﬂage suits 
  out of bits of cloth and rubbish that, when seen from 
  afar, look like heaps of mundane garbage.
  REQUIREMENTS
  To become a Barrier Scav, a character must fulﬁll the 
  following criteria.
  Base Attack Bonus:  +3.
  Skills:  Hide 6 ranks, Move Silently 3 ranks, 
  Search 6 ranks, Spot 3 ranks.
  Feats:  Vulture.
  CLASS INFORMATION
  The following information pertains to the Barrier 
  Scav advanced class.
  Hit Dice:  1d8.
  Action Points:  6 + one half the character’s class 
  level, rounded down.
  Class Skills:  The Barrier Scav’s class skills 
  are:  Disable Device (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), 
  Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Knowledge 
  (technology, current events) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move 
  Silently (Dex), Navigate (Int), Repair (Int), Search 
  (Int), Spot (Wis), and Survival (Wis).
  Skill Points at Each Level:  5 + Int modiﬁer.
  CLASS FEATURES
  The following features pertain to the Barrier Scav 
  advanced class.
  Bonus Feats:  The Barrier Scav receives a bonus 
  feat at 3rd, 6th, and 9th levels.  The feat must be 
  selected from the following list, and the character 
  must meet the prerequisites to select it:  Acrobatic, 
  Alertness, Armor Proﬁciency (light), Athletic, 
  Attentive, Cautious, Defensive Martial Arts, Dodge, 
  Elusive Target, Meticulous, Mobility, Nimble, Run, 
  Spring Attack, Stealthy, Track, Unbalance Opponent.
  
  49
  Survival Instinct:  At 4th level the Barrier Scav 
  develops the ability to react instinctively to traps in 
  the Barrier, giving her a +1 bonus to Reﬂex saves 
  to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against 
  attacks by traps.  These bonuses rise to +2 at 4th level 
  and +3 at 7th level.
  Urban Shadow:  The Barrier Scav learns to make 
  the most of her urban surroundings.  At 1st level she 
  gains a competence bonus to Hide, Move Silently, 
  and Survival checks equal to her Intelligence modiﬁer 
  (if positive), when in an urban or ruined environment.
  Sneak Attack:  The Barrier Scav often prefers to 
  kill those who trespass in her domain rather than let 
  them pass, and she most often attacks such interlopers 
  from hiding or a sniper’s perch.  This ability is the 
  same as the Sneak Attack ability of the Scav (see page 
  29 of Darwin’s World 2nd Edition).
  Perfect Camo:  With her camouﬂage the Barrier 
  Scav seems to literally vanish into the ruins of her 
  urban environment.  By spending an action point 
  the Barrier Scav can effectively become invisible 
  as a free action, so long as she is wearing light or 
  no armor.  This invisibility only remains so long as 
  she lurks near substantial rubble, debris, obstacles, 
  buildings, or vehicle remains (“substantial” meaning 
  large enough to conceal someone of her size and 
  shape).  If the Barrier Scav “breaks cover” (by going 
  more than 20 feet from cover, or by attacking) she 
  again becomes visible.
  NEW ITEMS
  The following lists a few miscellaneous items unique 
  to the futuristic setting of Metropolis Rho.  Many 
  of these are reﬂective of the degenerating culture 
  of the city, and could be ported to any Degenerate 
  community of the Twisted Earth at the GM’s 
  discretion.
  BLOODSPORT SEASON TICKET
  These are all the rage in Metropolis Rho, 
  guaranteeing seats at the Coliseum for weekly 
  matches of Bloodsport.  They generally come in three 
  types, “nosebleed” (the worst seating), “VIP” (good 
  seating, extremely expensive and limited in number), 
  and “good” (everywhere else).
  Cost:  50 credits (nosebleed), 500 credits (good), 
  5,000 credits (VIP).   Craft DC:  N/A.
  CAT CARD
  These ever-popular cards (resembling credit cards of 
  the past) are good for a month’s supply of Cat, a drug 
  that has become a necessity of life for many MetRho 
  citizens.  The card makes getting Cat quick and easy, 
  and guarantees the owner a ready supply.  Many 
  legitimate boutiques in all parts of town are required 
  to keep extra stocks of Cat on hand so that customers 
  with pre-paid cards are never left without a “ﬁx” 
  when they need it.
  Cost:  2,000 credits.   Craft DC:  N/A.
  FOOD RATION CARD
  These items resemble identity cards of the past, and 
  are issued to virtually every citizen who can afford 
  them (and that usually entails everyone but the 
  poorest of Unproductives).  Owners present these 
  cards for scanning when they pick up their monthly 
  allotments of food at government distribution centers 
  in their part of the city.  A card is generally good for 
  a month’s worth of food.  Since these items are so 
  precious, the theft of food ration cards is a serious 
  problem in the city that is frowned upon by even the 
  most ruthless gangs.
  Cost:  600 credits.   Craft DC:  N/A.
  FURNITURE
  This represents the cost of buying the “deed” to 
  a privately owned woman in the city.  There are 
  generally three categories of “furniture” available in 
  Metropolis Rho:
  Low Quality:  While all furniture is generally 
  attractive, the “low-quality” sticker generally covers 
  models who have had more than ﬁve owners to date, 
  or have a heavy drug habit (that may cost the owner 
  in the long run to support), a medical problem (that 
  may also result in unseen costs for the owner), a 
  TABLE 1-6: THE BARRIER SCAV
  Level
  Base Attack 
  Bonus
  Fort 
  Save
  Ref 
  Save
  Will 
  Save
  Special
  Defense 
  Bonus
  Reputation 
  Bonus
  1st
  +0
  +1
  +1
  +0
  Survival Instinct +1, Urban Shadow
  +1
  +0
  2nd
  +1
  +2
  +2
  +0
  Sneak Attack +1d6
  +2
  +0
  3rd
  +2
  +2
  +2
  +1
  Bonus Feat
  +2
  +0
  4th
  +3
  +2
  +2
  +1
  Survival Instinct +2
  +3
  +0
  5th
  +3
  +3
  +3
  +1
  Sneak Attack +1d6
  +4
  +1
  6th
  +4
  +3
  +3
  +2
  Bonus Feat
  +4
  +1
  7th
  +5
  +4
  +4
  +2
  Survival Instinct +3
  +5
  +1
  8th
  +6
  +4
  +4
  +2
  Sneak Attack +1d6
  +6
  +1
  9th
  +6
  +4
  +4
  +3
  Bonus Feat
  +6
  +2
  10th
  +7
  +5
  +5
  +3
  Perfect Camo
  +7
  +2
  
  50
  consistent record of being delinquent in fulﬁlling her 
  part of the contract, or a history of being difﬁcult to 
  get along with.
  Good Quality:  This represents the standard deal on 
  “furniture” in the city, an attractive woman who will 
  serve as a loyal companion for her owner.  Furniture 
  of this quality is guaranteed to have a spotless record 
  of obedience, few previous owners (less than ﬁve), 
  has no drug or medical problems, etc.
  Elite Quality:  The “elite” rating of furniture of 
  this quality does not necessarily govern a particular 
  model’s beauty or youth, but rather her record as 
  a pleasing hostess and accomplished entertainer.  
  Most elites also must be drug free, have no medical 
  problems, have had a certiﬁed tubal ligation (to avoid 
  possible pregnancy and the ﬁnancial complications 
  it poses to an owner), and never have had a “black 
  mark” on their records for disobedience, theft, or 
  otherwise disappointing a previous master.
  Cost:  10,000 credits (low), 30,000 credits (good), 
  60,000 credits (elite).   Craft DC:  N/A.
  GRASSGAS CARD
  Like food ration cards, GrassGas cards are good for 
  regular supplies of gas for those citizens who own 
  cars.  These are obviously a lot less common than 
  food rations (everyone has to eat, but not everyone 
  has the money to own and operate a car), as the use 
  of buses, trains, and other mass transit systems in 
  the city are usually more practical for the average 
  working citizen.  A GrassGas card, when purchased, 
  supplies fuel for one car for one month.
  Cost:  300 credits.   Craft DC:  N/A.
  HOVERBOARD
  One of the implements of the violent and bloody 
  Bloodsport, “hoverboards” are neat little leftovers of 
  pre-Fall technology.  A hoverboard resembles nothing 
  short of a skateboard, but instead of wheels it soars 
  (a few inches to a foot) over the ground on a cushion 
  of air.  Because of their appearance in Bloodsport, 
  hoverboards have become popular with many youth 
  gangs in the city.
  A hoverboard can carry up to 350 lbs. (any more 
  and it cannot move), and is controlled with foot 
  movements, moving left to right as the user chooses.  
  A hoverboard has a base speed of 90 ft., and can 
  accelerate or decelerate at a rate of 60 ft. per round.  
  A hoverboard requires a power cell to operate.
  Cost:  7,500 cp.   Craft DC:  30.
  RIOT SHIELD
  While not necessarily intended to serve as a weapon, 
  riot shields are commonly distributed to Enforcer riot 
  formations to deal with large and unruly crowds.  A 
  typical riot shield of the Metropolis Rho Enforcers 
  is partially transparent at the top to allow ofﬁcers to 
  remain hidden behind cover while still being able to 
  view what is going on in front of him.
  A riot shield requires one hand to use, and provides 
  a +2 shield bonus to Defense.  If the user does not 
  have the Armor Proﬁciency (Medium) feat he suffers 
  a -2 Dex penalty when using a riot shield.
  Cost:  100 cp.   Craft DC:  20.
  ROCKET SKATES
  Seen exclusively in Bloodsport matches, “rocket 
  skates” are just that - roller skates with small 
  chemical rocket engines attached.  Resembling 
  “armored rollerblades”, rocket skates propel the 
  wearer at breakneck speeds down the track with a 
  ﬂash of ﬁre and sparks, followed by a trail of gaudily 
  colored smoke.
  A pair of rocket skates must be worn for them 
  to have any effect.  Rocket skates can carry up to 
  250 lbs. (any more and they cannot move), and are 
  controlled just like roller skates.  Rocket skates have 
  a base speed of 60 ft., but can only accelerate or 
  decelerate at a rate of 20 ft. per round.  The tiny fuel 
  source in each skate cannot be turned off once the 
  rockets are ignited, and usually exhaust themselves 
  after 30 minutes (fuel cartridges are hard to acquire, 
  and cost 250 credits for a pair).
  Cost:  2,500 cp.   Craft DC:  25.
  SAFEGUARD CARD
  Certain established gangs (namely the West 
  Side Gang, East Side Boys, Turf Cowboys, and 
  Switchblades) have begun selling special cards on 
  the open market that, when purchased; ensure safe 
  passage for the bearer when passing through that 
  gang’s territory.  A SafeGuard card guarantees no 
  bodily or ﬁnancial harm will come to the bearer, 
  and according to the commercials, “only display the 
  badge to a gang patrol and you’ll be on your merry 
  way”.  Of course there is no guarantee other gangs 
  will honor the card, however, and the card only 
  applies to the bearer - not others in the bearer’s party 
  (“so don’t forget to buy one for each member of the 
  family”).  Gangs who specialize in the protection 
  ﬁeld have used this burgeoning industry to expedite 
  and clean up the image of this time-honored racket.  
  SafeGuard cards are usually good for one month.
  Cost:  4,000 credits.   Craft DC:  N/A.
  NEW ARMOR
  A number of armor types are unique to the setting 
  of Metropolis Rho, and make an appearance in 
  Humanity In A Bottle.  Full game statistics for these 
  armors are presented in this section.
  
  51
  BLOODSPORT ARMOR
  The armored suits worn by the god-like athletes 
  of the Metropolis’ favorite sport, Bloodsport, are 
  nothing short of obscene.  Deliberately designed to be 
  as lewd as possible, these stylized casings leave little 
  to the imagination while providing only a minimum 
  of protection for the actual players who wear them.  
  Made of a tough and resilient rubber-like material, 
  these suits resemble form-ﬁtting body stockings with 
  large spaces left open to reveal the muscled mid-drift 
  - the part of the human anatomy that is currently 
  considered “risqué” in Metropolis culture.  A heavy 
  armored helmet, a few strategically-placed ballistic 
  weave inserts, and abrasion-resistant joint pads ﬁll 
  out the rest of the uniform.
  A character wearing this armor receives a +2 
  circumstance bonus to all Charisma-related skill 
  checks when playing Bloodsport.
  Cost:  400 cp.   Craft DC:  20.
  ENFORCER ARMOR
  The armor used by the Enforcers of Metropolis 
  Rho resembles the civil security suits developed 
  during the time of the Ancients, but with one unique 
  adaptation.  In addition to the armored pieces 
  standard to most civil security suits, as well as web 
  belt and holster for the ofﬁcer’s sidearm, Enforcer 
  armor also features a short-range headset radio that 
  connects all members of a given squad (up to ﬁve 
  ofﬁcers) on a secure frequency.  This radio allows 
  all Enforcers in the squad to remain in touch and 
  in (verbal) communication so long as they remain 
  within 50 feet of another similarly equipped ofﬁcer.  
  Any ofﬁcer who moves more than 50 ft. from another 
  Enforcer (voluntarily or otherwise) loses his radio 
  link.
  Cost:  1,700 cp.   Craft DC:  28.
  TABLE 1-7: ARMOR OF THE METROPOLIS
  Armor
  Type
  Equip 
  Bonus
  Nonprof 
  Bonus
  Max 
  Dex
  Penalty
  Speed
  Weight
  Cost
  Craft
  Light Armor
  Bloodsport Armor
  Tactical
  +3
  +1
  +5
  -2
  30
  20 lb.
  400
  20
  Praetorian Armor
  Tactical
  +3
  +1
  +5
  -2
  30
  10 lb.
  850
  25
  Medium Armor
  Enforcer Armor
  Tactical
  +5
  +2
  +3
  -
  25
  8 lb.
  1,700
  28
  Riot Shield
  -
  +2
  +2
  -
  -2
  -
  15 lb.
  100
  20
  
  52
  PRAETORIAN ARMOR
  Found only in the possession of the elite guards who 
  defend Titan Tower and the reigning Mayor of the 
  city, this lightweight plastic body armor resembles a 
  full armored body encasing, sleek and stylized to be 
  as intimidating as possible.  A ﬂared helmet with ﬂash 
  guard and integral short-range communicator (with a 
  50 ft. range, operating just like the radio in Enforcer 
  armor) is standard issue.  Because it is made of 
  lightweight polymers the armor offers minimal 
  practical protection, however.
  Cost:  850 cp.   Craft DC:  25.
  NEW WEAPONS
  A number of weapons are unique to the setting 
  of Metropolis Rho, and make an appearance in 
  Humanity In A Bottle.  Full game statistics for these 
  weapons are presented in this section.
  ENFORCER WEAPONS
  The Enforcers of the Metropolis typically employ 
  weapons unique to their faction, including high-
  powered pistols and more menacing-looking 
  weaponry.  Though all Enforcers are issued the pistol 
  described below (the Wildey .44), other pistols and 
  even larger caliber weapons may be acquired with 
  department permission.
  MOSSBERG M500 BULLPUP
  The Mossberg M500 is a pump-action shotgun in 
  bullpup format, featuring a seven round tubular 
  magazine.  It was designed speciﬁcally for 
  military guard duty, prisoner supervision, and law 
  enforcement roles.  Many weapons of this type 
  were left behind by prison guards of the Metropolis 
  penitentiary (“The Pen”) when the city was 
  abandoned, and as such they are found in abundance 
  in the city today, mostly among the Enforcers.
  WILDEY .44 MAGNUM
  A little known ﬁrearm during the time of the 
  Ancients, the super-powerful Wildey was bought 
  at bottom basement prices and in large numbers to 
  supply various Metropolis police forces (including 
  the Enforcers of Metropolis Rho).  The Wildey is 
  a ﬁerce looking automatic chambered to ﬁre the 
  dreaded .44 Auto Mag pistol round.
  GANG WEAPONS
  The more than twenty gangs of the Metropolis 
  generally have no set weapon more characteristic 
  than any other, but in some circumstances certain 
  ﬁrearms are more common than others in the hands 
  of the city’s ruthless overlords.
  MAG-7
  Imported into the city illegally by criminals well 
  before the Fall, the MAG-7 is a South African 
  curiosity, a true “room-broom” shotgun with 
  unparalleled concealability.  Roughly the size of a 
  small submachinegun, it nonetheless ﬁres 12-gauge 
  shotgun shells from a ﬁve round clip inserted in the 
  grip.  Designed for close-quarters combat (such as 
  clearing rooms in urban warfare scenarios), it is of 
  limited range but its small size and balance make it 
  TABLE 1-8: NEW FIREARMS
  Weapon
  Damage
  Critical
  Type
  Range
  ROF
  Magazine
  Size
  Wgt
  Cost
  Craft DC
  Mossberg M500 BP
  2d8
  20
  Ballistic
  30 ft.
  S
  7 int.
  Large
  7 lb.
  1,200 cp
  25
  Wildey .44 Magnum
  2d8
  20
  Ballistic
  40 ft.
  S
  8 box
  Med
  4 lb.
  1,250 cp
  25
  MAG-7
  2d8
  20
  Ballistic
  20 ft.
  S
  5 box
  Med
  8 lb.
  800 cp
  26
  M9 Spectre
  2d6
  20
  Ballistic
  50 ft.
  S, A
  50 box
  Large
  6 lb.
  2,100 cp
  25
  Parker-Hale IDW
  2d6
  20
  Ballistic
  40 ft.
  S, A
  20 box
  Med
  4 lb.
  500 cp
  25
  Ruger Muzzelite
  2d8
  20
  Ballistic
  50 ft.
  S
  10 box
  Large
  7 lb.
  600 cp
  25
  
  53
  TABLE 1-9: NEW MELEE WEAPONS
  Weapon
  Damage
  Critical
  Type
  Range
  Size
  Wgt
  Cost
  Craft DC
  Dicechain (exotic)
  3d4
  x3
  Slashing
  10 ft.
  Large
  20 lb.
  150 cp
  21
  Ripper stick (exotic)
  1d10
  x2
  Slashing
  19-20
  Large
  10 lb.
  200 cp
  21
  an ideal choice for this type of combat.
  In Metropolis Rho, MAG-7s are commonly used 
  in matches of Bloodsport.  This has given the gun a 
  deadly image that has also made it a popular weapon 
  among the city’s gangs.
  M9 SPECTRE
  The M9 Spectre is a relatively cheap 9mm 
  submachinegun, roughly equivalent in size to the 
  MP5.  The appeal of the M9 is its innovative use of 
  four rows of bullets in its magazine, giving it a 50 
  round clip no larger than a typical 30 round clip.
  PARKER-HALE IDW
  The Parker-Hale IDW (“individual defense 
  weapon”) is a compact 9mm machine pistol designed 
  speciﬁcally as a true “briefcase” weapon, originally 
  intended for SWAT and police operations but now 
  extremely popular (due to its concealability) among 
  gangers in the Metropolis.
  RUGER MUZZELITE
  The Muzzelite is a bullpup conversion, in this case of 
  the ever-popular Ruger Mini-14 chambered for the 
  .223 caliber round.  The Muzzelite features a much-
  shortened barrel and a bizarre futuristic appearance.  
  Almost completely rebuilt it is a weapon of menacing 
  appearance, generally only seen in the possession of 
  the Mayor’s personal “Praetorian” guard.
  DICECHAIN
  The so-called “dicechain” is the favored weapon of 
  the “Chuds”, one of the Metropolis’ more unusual 
  gangs.  The dicechain is basically 20 lbs. of heavy 
  metal chain, ﬁtted with razor-sharp barbs and saw-
  toothed lacerating blades.  When thrown, it wraps 
  around a target with a tendency to dice him to pieces.
  The dicechain can be used in one of two ways.  It 
  can either be swung out to attack a nearby target, or 
  it can be thrown.  In the former case the dicechain 
  attacks as a melee weapon with a 10-foot reach.  
  Unlike most other weapons with reach it can also be 
  used against an adjacent foe.
  When thrown the dicechain has a range increment 
  of 10 feet.  If a thrown dicechain hits a target she 
  must make a Reﬂex save (equal to the unmodiﬁed 
  attack roll of the thrower) or become entangled.
  An entangling dicechain can be removed as a full-
  round action that provokes attacks of opportunity.
  Because a chain can wrap around a target’s leg, you 
  can use it to trip attacks.  If you are tripped during 
  your own trip attempt, you can drop the weapon to 
  avoid being tripped.
  RIPPER STICK
  The ripper stick is used almost exclusively in the 
  violent arena game of Bloodsport.  The ripper stick is 
  basically a reinforced hockey stick, with a scythe-like 
  razor edge along one end.  This allows the stick to be 
  used as an effective slashing weapon (in addition to 
  its primary function of moving the game ball along 
  the ground).
  Because of the curve of the stick, you can use it 
  to trip attacks.  If you are tripped during your own 
  trip attempt, you can drop the weapon to avoid being 
  tripped.
  NEW DRUGS
  The various gangs of Metropolis Rho have, over the 
  years, developed quite a few new and interesting 
  
  54
  drugs to complement the old favorites - cocaine, 
  PCP, marijuana, etc., getting the people of their 
  neighborhoods addicted and continuing the economic 
  tradition of gangs of the past.  Each gang has its own 
  favorite to which it dedicates major research into 
  reﬁnement and development, and thus different drugs 
  are the rage in different parts of town.
  Drugs are usually produced in underground labs 
  that rival pre-war factories, with masses of poor 
  workers herded in each morning, noon, and night 
  to produce the drugs in mass quantities for quick 
  distribution through the city.  Such complexes are 
  almost exclusively heavily guarded by gang members 
  or hired mercenaries, and provide a large portion of 
  each ganglord’s monetary gains.
  ADDICTION
  These rules are meant to give a quick means of 
  resolving the effects of drug addiction, an optional 
  new aspect of drugs for Darwin’s World.
  Effect:  Once a character is addicted, failure to 
  take the drug in question within 24 hours results in 
  the character suffering one of the following effects 
  (depending on the addiction DC; see individual drugs 
  for details):
  DC 10 or lower:  Headaches and nervous tick; 
  character suffers –1 to all attack rolls, saving throws, 
  and skill checks for the duration.
  DC 11-15:  Cold sweat and tremors; character is 
  considered shaken.
  DC 16-19:  As 11-15 above, except the character is 
  also fatigued for the duration (rest has no effect).
  DC 20+:  As 16-19 above, except the character 
  suffers an additional –2 circumstance penalty to 
  Dexterity and Wisdom for the duration.
  Duration:  In general the duration of addiction 
  penalties last for one day per DC of the addiction 
  saving throw, or until the character takes another 
  dose.
  If the character persists in staying off the drug she 
  breaks the addiction.
  CAT
  Electro-Impulse Subdual Catalyst, nicknamed “Cat”, 
  is a drug in widespread use throughout Metropolis 
  Rho, the latest in a string of “fad” chems used by the 
  poor and wealthy alike.  The drug affects the brain 
  stem by confusing and fragmenting electric impulses 
  which pass on to the frontal lobe of the cerebrum 
  - in effect, dulling and confusing impulses of guilt, 
  reason, etc..  Users of the drug become dulled to the 
  psychological effects of living in a closed, isolated 
  environment (such as a domed city), as well as to 
  the guilt associated with killing, rape, and torture.  
  This allows much of the population to deal with the 
  gradual degeneration of the city, of course, and as 
  such Cat is one of the biggest sellers on the streets.  
  Nearly everyone enjoys a “hit” now and then, and 
  most of the population is hooked.
  Beneﬁt:  In addition to a perceptible stunting of the 
  moral conscience (which has no real game effect), 
  Cat increases a character’s Will saves by +2 for 1d4 
  hours.
  Addiction:  Each time a character takes a dose 
  of Cat she must make a Fortitude save (DC 13) or 
  become addicted.
  Overdose:  Failing an addiction roll by more than 
  5 results in an overdose.  A character who overdoses 
  on Cat falls into a temporary coma for 2d12 hours.
  Incompatibility DC:  12.
  COPIA
  Copia is an unusually popular drug that has recently 
  become a hit among mid- to lower class citizens of 
  the city.  Copia, when taken (usually in shot form), 
  stimulates the part of the brain that governs the sense 
  of taste, causing the user to experience the sensation 
  of eating a feast for real.  The drug has become 
  popular largely in part of the shortage of real foods 
  in the city (other than bland algae chips), and since 
  Copia is far cheaper than real food, it provides a 
  practical alternative to those who want to taste real 
  food, but can’t afford to.
  Copia comes in many different ﬂavors, including 
  (but not limited to) the popular brands SimuBeef, 
  ArtiChicken, and SensuFish.  Note that the drug does 
  not actually provide nutrition, only the perception of 
  taste, and lasts for only about one hour at a time.
  Beneﬁt:  No real game effect.
  Addiction:  Each time a character takes a dose of 
  Copia she must make a Fortitude save (DC 10) or 
  become addicted.
  Overdose:  None, there is no risk of overdose with 
  Copia.
  Incompatibility DC:  10.
  TABLE 1-10: NEW DRUGS
  Drug
  Type
  Addiction DC
  Overdose?
  Cost (per dose)
  Craft DC
  Cat
  Ingested
  13
  Yes
  200 credits
  25
  Copia
  Injected
  10
  No
  50 credits
  25
  DreamSlide
  Ingested
  16
  Yes
  1,000 credits
  25
  Eros
  Inhaled
  10
  No
  200 credits
  25
  Psycho
  Injected
  20
  Yes
  750 credits
  32
  Tufn-Up
  Ingested
  18
  Yes
  500 credits
  30
  
  55
  DREAMSLIDE
  This drug is a powerful hallucinogen that sends the 
  user into a comfortable but stimulating rest; while 
  unconscious the senses are stimulated, creating an 
  active and three-dimensional “dream”.  DreamSlide is 
  used as a means of escaping reality, sending the user 
  into a deep dream-like trance for hours on end.
  Beneﬁt:  A character taking DreamSlide (willingly 
  or otherwise) must make a Fortitude save at DC 16 or 
  fall unconscious, remaining asleep until the duration 
  runs out (1d2 hours).  Making noise, slapping the 
  character, etc. allows for a second saving throw (once 
  per round only).
  Addiction:  Each time a character takes a dose of 
  DreamSlide she must make a Fortitude save (DC 16) 
  or become addicted.
  Overdose:  Failing an addiction roll by more than 
  5 results in an overdose.  A character who overdoses 
  on DreamSlide enters a permanent coma.
  Incompatibility DC:  12.
  EROS
  Eros is a strong drug that stimulates the adrenaline 
  and hormonal centers of the body, as well as the 
  emotion/behavior lobe of the frontal cerebrum.  Eros 
  is generally used as a sexual stimulant, exciting 
  the user into a blissful ecstasy that enhances and 
  magniﬁes sexual pleasure during sessions of physical 
  intercourse.  It also has a subtle hallucinogen effect 
  that distorts reality and perception to a limited 
  extent.  While Eros gas does enjoy some private sales 
  (enhancing the love life of many wealthy couples), 
  it is most commonly seen in “sex parlors” where it 
  is pumped in via fog machine (or similar device) to 
  affect entire crowds.
  Beneﬁt:  A character affected by Eros suffers a -4 
  penalty to Wisdom for 1d2 hours.
  Addiction:  Each time a character takes a dose 
  of Eros she must make a Fortitude save (DC 10) or 
  become addicted.
  Overdose:  None, there is no risk of overdose with 
  Eros.
  Incompatibility DC:  10.
  PSYCHO
  Popular among the gangs of Metropolis Rho, Psycho 
  is an injected drug that stimulates various parts of 
  the motor cortex - in effect, agitating the body and 
  stimulating acceleration in adrenaline production.  
  Psycho, once injected, takes mere seconds to kick 
  in, after which time the user becomes “pumped” - 
  receiving an increase in strength and speed.  
  Beneﬁt:  A character affected by Psycho receives a 
  +2 bonus to Strength and Dexterity for 1d4 minutes.
  Addiction:  Each time a character takes a dose of 
  Psycho she must make a Fortitude save (DC 20) or 
  become addicted.
  Overdose:  Failing an addiction roll by more than 
  5 results in an overdose.  A character who overdoses 
  on Psycho becomes paralyzed for 1d4 hours, after 
  which time she must make a second Fortitude save 
  (DC 15) or die from cardiac arrest.
  Special:  Each increased dosage of Psycho 
  increases a character’s Strength and Dexterity 
  cumulatively, but also increases the save DC to avoid 
  addiction and overdose risk by +2.
  Incompatibility DC:  15.
  TUFN-UP
  Packaged in green soda cans reminiscent of an 
  Ancient-era soft drink, the drug known as “Tufn-
  Up” is widely popular among the more violent gangs 
  of Metropolis Rho.  Similar to Psycho, Tufn-Up is 
  highly addictive, but when drunk it gives the user 
  almost inhuman fortitude for a brief time.  Most street 
  gangers love the stuff as it makes them virtually 
  immune to pain.
  Beneﬁt:  A character who takes Tufn-Up has her 
  Massive Damage Threshold increased by +3 for 2d4 
  rounds.
  Addiction:  Each time a character takes a dose of 
  Tufn-Up she must make a Fortitude save (DC 18) or 
  become addicted.
  Overdose:  Failing an addiction roll by more than 
  5 results in an overdose.  A character that overdoses 
  on Tufn-Up suffers no immediate effects, but after 
  3d6 minutes becomes fatigued.  This fatigue lasts 
  for 2d4 days, regardless of the amount of rest the 
  character has.
  Special:  Each increased dosage of Tufn-Up 
  increases a character’s Mas cumulatively, but 
  also increases the save DC to avoid addiction and 
  overdose risk by +2.
  Incompatibility DC:  10.
  NEW VEHICLES
  A number of Ancient-era vehicles managed to 
  survive the chaos of the Fall, and the survivors who 
  populated the city in its early years managed to re-
  activate one or two auto factories as well.  As a result, 
  a vast number of vehicles are still used in the city.
  This section only details new vehicles used by the 
  Enforcers; other vehicles from d20 Modern may 
  appear here in abundance, at the GM’s discretion.
  TERMINATOR PATROL CAR
  The standard police car of the Enforcers is the 
  Terminator, a sedan of the typical variety often 
  souped-up and armored for city street combat.  
  Because of the added armoring, it is allegedly a 
  difﬁcult vehicle to drive.  Most Terminators carry a 
  
  56
  Mossberg M500 in the front seat for the crew to use 
  in emergencies.
  There are usually about ten or twelve of these 
  vehicles per Enforcer precinct.
  PEACEMAKER ARMORED CAR
  The Peacemaker is an armored car that was used 
  by many pre-Fall cities to ensure civil order during 
  the ﬁnal years of Ancient civilization, and many 
  have been salvaged and replaced in duty with the 
  Enforcers.  The Peacemaker is really just a surplus 
  British Shorland S55 Armored Car purchased by 
  the Metropolis’ pre-war government and repainted 
  in police colors.  City Peacemakers are sometimes 
  armed with a 7.62mm machinegun in the turret (or a 
  high-power water jet), a standard two-way radio, and 
  a computer connecting units in the ﬁeld with precinct 
  headquarters.
  There are roughly ﬁve Peacemakers per precinct, 
  usually assigned to squads charged with assault, riot 
  control, or fugitive-hunting duties.
  OTHER GOODS & SERVICES
  In addition to items from the standard Darwin’s 
  World rules, there are goods and services available 
  in the Metropolis that aren’t available anywhere else.  
  Few of these items will have much functional use to 
  PCs, but they do give an idea of the rarity of certain 
  items and the relative value of particular services 
  mentioned in this sourcebook.
  CLOTHING
  The styles and fashions of the people of the 
  Metropolis change with each passing decade, 
  sometimes even with each passing year.  As the city 
  slowly degenerates the fashions of the times reﬂect 
  TABLE 1-11: NEW VEHICLES
  Name
  Crew
  Pass
  Cargo
  Init
  Man.
  Top Speed
  Def.
  Hard.
  HP
  Size
  Cost
  Craft DC
  Terminator
  1
  5
  400 lb.
  -2
  -1
  185 (18)
  8
  5
  38
  H
  12,000 
  25
  Peacemaker
  2
  6
  200 lb.
  -2
  -2
  175 (17)
  8
  10
  44
  H
  52,000
  25
  
  57
  the hollow soul of its citizens, with clothes that have 
  moved from functional to alluring to downright 
  obscene.
  While natural fabrics are now a thing of the ancient 
  past (there is not enough space to grow cotton in 
  usable amounts, nor an abundance of animals to skin 
  for their hides), clothes made of synthetic materials - 
  most based on recycled plastics - are still made in the 
  city’s many textile mills, and range from the cheapest 
  and most affordable attire to the truly ﬂashy and 
  expensive suits of the big-time gangers.
  Clothing
  Cost
  Clothing (cheap stuff)
  50 credits
  Clothing (informal wear)
  100 credits
  Clothing (formal working clothes/suit)
  200 credits
  Clothing (expensive)
  250 credits
  Clothing (ultra-elite)
  1,000 credits
  FOOD & DRINK
  As stated before the people of Metropolis Rho 
  constantly live on the verge of starvation and 
  food crisis.  With a population that is barely kept 
  under control by its own constant gang warfare, 
  conventional food reserves became far too restricted 
  for the average civilian long ago.  While some 
  strictly controlled dairies and animal farms do exist 
  in a handful of secure parts of the city, by and large 
  the people of Rho are forced to subsist on what 
  are known as “algae chips” - nutritious but utterly 
  ﬂavorless wafers made from algae (bulked up through 
  feeding off of biological waste products dumped into 
  the river).
  Most people in the city live on algae chips alone; 
  only the wealthy can afford real fruit, real vegetables, 
  and real meat.
  Food & Drink
  Cost
  Synthihol (per bottle)
  20 credits
  Algae chips (day’s ration)
  5 credits
  Real alcohol (per bottle)
  250 credits
  Real fruit/vegetables (per fruit)
  50 credits
  Real meat (per lb.)
  500 credits
  Real ﬂowers (per bulb)
  150 credits
  Real cheese (per lb.)
  50 credits
  Real milk (per bottle)
  50 credits
  RENT
  As if the people of the city didn’t have enough 
  to worry about, living space is still at a premium.  
  While much of the city was abandoned during the 
  Fall (leaving hundreds if not thousands of empty 
  buildings including vast apartment complexes and 
  even downtown skyscrapers), many of these are in 
  ruin, their condition less than sub-standard; in these, 
  rats and decrepit Unproductives vie for living space.
  Countless renovated buildings do exist, however, 
  though these are usually owned by the gangs of a 
  given district.  Monthly rent is usually paid directly 
  to the gang, though sometimes private entrepreneurs 
  are allowed to “own” buildings as private businesses 
  (in exchange for paying a percentage of proﬁt to 
  the gang).  It is these buildings that see regular 
  occupation, and while it would be possible for 
  someone to just go out and ﬁnd an abandoned 
  building to squat in for free, having running water 
  and electricity are necessities that the people of the 
  Metropolis have yet to give up on.
  All costs listed below are per month.
  Rent (per month)
  Cost
  Communal ﬂophouse space
  -
  Downtown
  100 credits
  Riverside
  125 credits
  Slam
  150 credits
  Midtown
  175 credits
  Government
  n/a
  Typical dive (private)
  Downtown
  200 credits
  Riverside
  300 credits
  Slam
  400 credits
  Midtown
  500 credits
  Government
  n/a
  Highrise suite (low-end)
  Downtown
  1,300 credits
  Riverside
  1,500 credits
  Slam
  1,700 credits
  Midtown
  2,000 credits
  Government
  2,500 credits
  Highrise suite (penthouse)
  -
  Downtown
  2,600 credits
  Riverside
  2,700 credits
  Slam
  2,800 credits
  Midtown
  3,000 credits
  Government
  3,500 credits
  Highrise suite (luxury)
  Downtown
  n/a
  Riverside
  n/a
  Slam
  7,800 credits
  Midtown
  8,000 credits
  Government
  8,500 credits
  Services (per month)
  Running water (added to base cost)
  100 credits
  Electricity (added to base cost)
  100 credits
  Secure keycard locks (added to base cost)
  200 credits
  Security guards (added to base cost)
  5,000 credits
  STREET DEALS
  An important consideration in the kind of restricted 
  setting posited here would be what the characters can 
  and cannot get, either legitimately or on the black 
  market of Metropolis Rho.  Since the Metropolis still 
  produces some goods, and also holds onto various 
  bits of technology from the time of the Fall, many 
  items may be available to the PCs in one way or 
  another.
  
  58
  For a start, recreational drugs, synthetic alcohol, 
  foodstuffs, and most basic survival items (clothing, 
  apartment space, and algae chips) are all readily 
  available and go for the listed cost (see New Drugs 
  and Other Goods & Services).  Medicines from the 
  Darwin’s World rules are getting scarcer, however, 
  and are now hoarded by most gangs and city factions 
  to keep their ranks swollen with healthy foot soldiers.  
  The price should be 2-3 times normal for these 
  valuable items.
  Typical weapons that should be available include 
  most modern-era ﬁrearms formerly produced in 
  the U.S.A. (i.e. non-foreign), all advanced melee 
  weapons, and perhaps some advanced ranged 
  weapons as well (with the exception of cannons, anti-
  tank weapons, and missile launchers, etc. - these were 
  all conﬁscated long ago to construct the Barrier).  
  Most of these sell for regular price.
  Various high-tech gizmos (such as professional 
  equipment, surveillance equipment, etc.) may be 
  available at the GM’s discretion.  Power sources 
  should generally sell for 2-5 times their listed price, 
  as these items are becoming scarcer as the years 
  advance.
  PCs may be able to purchase cybernetic/
  bionic limbs and other parts (as detailed in The 
  Foundationist sourcebook), as a few of these 
  advanced items have been preserved by the hospitals 
  of the city over the years.  These items are rare, 
  however, and should sell for 1.5 to 2 times their 
  normal list price.  Most have been “recycled” from 
  previous owners (i.e. taken off of dead gangers), and 
  as a result may have some minor damage that will 
  need to be repaired.
  FINDING AN ITEM
  Actually ﬁnding a desired item in Metropolis Rho 
  is much more difﬁcult than buying it, however.  
  Generally speaking the only way to ﬁnd a legitimate 
  seller, street dealer, black marketer, or any merchant 
  with the goods the PCs want is to hit the streets, 
  canvas the area, and drop a few credits here and there 
  to get the word out - and loosen lips.  This translates 
  to requiring a Knowledge (streetwise) check to ﬁnd 
  each individual item on a character’s shopping list.  
  The DC varies, depending on the general nature of 
  the item.
  RESTRICTING ITEMS
  Since the people of the Metropolis have been 
  scrounging through the same ruins and sifting 
  through the same rubble for generations, new ﬁnds 
  of technological items are exceedingly uncommon.  
  Still, tech items have been maintained over the years 
  despite the prevailing violence of society, though they 
  are now getting quite rare.
  While most items should be available (assuming 
  the PCs make successful Knowledge [Streetwise] 
  checks; see above for details), the following items 
  should be considered unavailable in this setting:  
  blood agent grenades, negation grenades, nerve gas 
  grenades, radiation grenades, satchel charges (any 
  kind), stun grenades, all energy ﬁeld generators 
  (blasters, plasmas, EMP weapons), all particle 
  beam weapons, anti-tank weapons (AT-5, LAW, 
  RPG, TOW II), Hydra rockets, UH radiation riﬂes, 
  powered armor, identity cards, impulse detectors, 
  corium lanterns, cyborg sustenance tubes, gravity 
  boots, force ﬁeld belts, jetpacks, neural control pods, 
  obedience collars, pain collars, stealth packs, truth 
  serum, regen tanks, armored vehicles, and aircraft 
  of any kind.  The GM can also restrict other items as 
  she sees ﬁt.
  BLOODSPORT (MINI-GAME)
  Included in this ﬁnal chapter is a brief system of rules 
  for playing Bloodsport, the violent and ruthless sport 
  of choice for the degenerate citizens of Metropolis 
  Rho.
  TABLE 1-12: STREET DEALS
  General Type
  Knowledge 
  (streetwise) DC Examples
  Tools, professional equipment
  14
  Basic/deluxe mechanical tool kit, demolitions kit, evidence kit, etc.
  Modern-era weapons
  16
  Uzi, Glock 17, Bushmaster M-17S, ammunition, etc.
  Modern-era armor
  18
  Undercover vest, light-duty vest, NBC suit, etc.
  Basic gizmos
  18
  Power sources, binoculars, common surveillance gear, etc.
  Advanced melee weapons
  22
  Chainsword, stun baton, shock gloves, etc.
  Modern-era medicines
  26
  First aid kit, potassium iodide tablets, ready syringe, etc.
  Advanced medicines
  28
  Stimshot, medi-spray, rad-purge shot, etc.
  Vehicles
  28
  Chevrolet Cavalier, Ford Crown Victoria, Harley Davidson FLSTF, etc.
  Advanced gizmos
  30
  Magnetic shield, power ﬁst, animatrons, etc.
  Computer equipment
  30
  Portable detection radar, motion detector, X-ray goggles, etc.
  Advanced medical equipment
  32
  Diagnostic scanner, pocket nurse, healing pack, etc.
  Advanced ranged weapons
  32
  Laser riﬂe, maser pistol, gauss riﬂe, etc.
  Cybernetic/bionic equipment
  32
  Myoelectric arm, biomechanical targeter, combat arm, etc.
  Advanced armor
  35
  Military combat suit, lazab, plastex, etc.
  
  59
  OBJECT OF THE GAME
  The object of the game is to get the “ball” from one 
  end of the playing ﬁeld to the other.  Each time this is 
  achieved the team whose player crosses the ﬁnish line 
  with the ball earns his team a point.  Whichever team 
  has the most points when the ball ﬁnally detonates is 
  declared the winner.
  PLAYERS AND EQUIPMENT
  Each team has fourteen players at the start, with 
  each player possessing a varying degree of skill 
  at the game.  There are two players mounted on 
  motorcycles, four players mounted on hover boards, 
  and eight players wearing rocket skates.
  At the start of the game two of the players on 
  hover boards have ripper sticks (a hockey stick with 
  a scythe blade on one end), while two are armed 
  with pistols or close-in shotguns (on this scale 
  these weapons have the same effect).  Of the rocket 
  skaters, six have ripper sticks, and two have ﬁrearms.  
  Motorcyclists do not have weapons, but their 
  motorcycles are equipped with scythe-like blades 
  along each side that allow the motorcycle to “swipe” 
  other players as they race by.
  SETUP
  Players must set up in the spots indicated on the track 
  as their team’s “starting positions”.  However teams 
  can arrange their players any way they choose, so 
  long as they start with one player on each of these 
  positions.
  At the start of the game a member from each team 
  declares which side of the coin is “his”.  A referee 
  then ﬂips the coin.  The team that wins moves and 
  acts ﬁrst.
  When the game begins, the ball piece should be 
  placed on the Centerline marker.
  
  60
  ACTING
  Each player may move and attack during a given 
  turn.  A player must move ﬁrst, then attack (or 
  alternatively knock or throw the ball; see Moving The 
  Ball).  Players attack and move one at a time (in any 
  order); only once the current piece has played its turn 
  can another act.
  MOVEMENT
  A map accompanies this module showing the 
  Bloodsport playing ﬁeld, divided into squares.  
  These squares govern movement per turn, as well as 
  distance (for when the ball is “thrown”; see below).  
  A player may move up to his allowed squares either 
  straight, backwards, diagonally, or any combination 
  thereof.
  Each turn a player on rocket skates can move up to 
  2 squares.
  Each turn a player on a hoverboard can move up to 
  3 squares.
  Each turn a player on a motorcycle can move up to 
  6 squares.
  HITCHING A RIDE
  There is a special movement option that players can 
  use if they have at least one motorcycle remaining 
  on their side.  A player on either rocket skates or a 
  hoverboard can “hitch a ride” by holding onto the 
  motorcycle and trailing along behind it.
  Any player can hitch a ride on a friendly 
  motorcycle if he ends his movement adjacent to 
  the motorcycle.  When the motorcycle moves its 6 
  squares the hitching player move also, ending up 
  adjacent to it (on a facing opposite the direction of 
  the motorcycle’s movement, i.e. behind it).
  While hitching a player cannot make an attack, 
  but he may hold on to the ball.  Only one player may 
  hitch a ride with a motorcycle per turn.
  ATTACKING
  Each player may attack once on his turn, after 
  moving.  Players equipped with ripper sticks (or 
  riding motorcycles, since they have razor-blades 
  along their sides) may only attack other players 
  adjacent to them in a melee attack.  Players equipped 
  with guns can attack anyone on the map in a ranged 
  attack (so long as their is line-of-sight; if any player 
  is in the way, the attack can’t be made).
  When attacking, the attacker must roll d20 
  regardless of what weapon he uses; any number 
  above 10 indicates a hit.  The target of the attack may 
  make a roll to dodge aside (or block, in the case of 
  melee attacks).  He must also roll d20, and beat the 
  number rolled by the opposing player.  If he succeeds 
  he stays in the game; if he fails he is killed.
  Each playing piece also receives a modiﬁer to 
  its defense roll; this reﬂects the skill of the player 
  in question.  Modiﬁers range from +0 (for rookie 
  players) to +4 (for true champions of the sport).
  PUSHING
  A player (of any kind) can attempt to push another 
  player into a square adjacent to his current position 
  by moving into contact with him, then rolling 
  d20.  Any number above 10 indicates the player is 
  forcefully moved into any adjacent square of the 
  pusher’s choice (no dodge).
  This tactic is usually used to push important players 
  into hazard areas.
  HAZARD AREAS
  Certain squares bordered in orange on the Bloodsport 
  map mark “hazard areas”.  These areas contain 
  random dangers sometimes inserted into the game to 
  add a little bit of chaos and uncertainty to the match.  
  These hazards range from pop-up laser turrets to 
  mines concealed in the track.
  Hazard areas are only triggered if and when a 
  rocket skater or motorcyclist rides into or through 
  them on a given turn (hoverboarders do not activate 
  hazard areas, since they are pressure sensitive).  
  When this happens the GM should roll 1d6 to 
  determine what happens:
  Roll Hazard
  1-3
  Nothing.
  4
  Pop-up laser; a small turret pops up in the center 
  of the hazard area and shoots a laser beam at 
  the nearest target.  The GM must roll d20 for its 
  attack; the target may attempt to dodge as normal.  
  Otherwise he is killed (sliced in half).*
  5
  Concealed ditch; the player is immobilized, and 
  his movement stops immediately.  He cannot 
  move again until next turn.  If the player was on a 
  motorcycle, he goes ﬂying (and is removed from 
  play).*
  6
  Mini-mine; the player who triggered the hazard area 
  is killed and removed from play.*
  * Note that if the player was carrying the ball it is dropped 
  on this square, and someone must risk entering the hazard 
  area for the game to continue!
  STAR PLAYERS
  Players marked with a gold star (as shown on their 
  piece) are considered “star players”.  These players 
  may re-roll any one roll (attack, dodge, the result of 
  triggering a hazard area, etc.) during the course of the 
  game.  He must accept the new roll, however.
  GOAL TOKEN
  At the start of the game this token should be placed in 
  the endzone of the opposing team.  Since the ball can 
  
  61
  be intercepted during play, the goal may change at 
  virtually any time, so this token can be moved around 
  as necessary to mark the new goal.
  MOVING THE BALL
  The ball must be moved from one end of the ﬁeld to 
  another to score a goal.  After the ﬁrst goal is scored 
  the ball must always be moved to the opposite end 
  of the track to score another goal.  It can be hand-
  carried, knocked, or thrown to cover the distance.
  Handcarrying is the traditional method of ferrying 
  the ball.  When the ball is carried in this manner it 
  moves with the player holding it, starting and ending 
  in the same square as its carrier.
  A player armed with a ripper stick (or a 
  motorcycle) can knock the ball at any time instead 
  of attacking.  When the ball is knocked it moves a 
  random number of squares in the desired direction 
  (straight or diagonal).  Roll 1d4+5 to see how many 
  squares it moves.  The ball cannot be knocked 
  through a square occupied by another player; if it 
  makes contact it is considered “intercepted” (and 
  passes into that player’s possession).
  A player can throw the ball at any time instead of 
  attacking.  Doing so allows the ball to be thrown up 
  to 8 squares, even over squares currently occupied 
  by other players.  Note that each time the ball passes 
  through an occupied square, the player there may 
  make an immediate d20 roll to “catch” it (the target 
  number is 16; no modiﬁers apply).
  Note that the ball can never move off the track; if it 
  makes contact with a wall its movement stops there.
  SCORING A GOAL
  A goal is only scored when the ball is hand-carried 
  over the goal line.  A ball thrown or knocked over 
  the goal line does not score a goal.  Instead the ball is 
  immediately moved to the centerline (see map); the 
  ﬁrst player to reach it regains control of it.
  Each time a point is scored (or if the ball is 
  intercepted by the opposing team) the goal changes 
  from its current endzone to the opposing endzone.  
  Use the goal token to mark the new goal.
  WHEN THE BALL EXPLODES
  The ball is a bomb, with an interior timer set before 
  the game to explode at a random time in the last 10 
  minutes of the game.  No player knows when the 
  bomb will explode - this adds a certain degree of 
  uncertainty to the sport (and the crowds love it).
  When the game begins the GM should roll 1d10 
  and add it to 50.  This indicates the number of 
  minutes before the bomb goes off.  The GM should 
  keep track of time during play (with a stopwatch or 
  any other timer that has a buzzer) so as not to forget 
  when the bomb explodes.
  When the ball explodes it instantly kills the player 
  holding it where he stands and all players within two 
  squares of the holder.  These kills (regardless of who 
  was holding the ball) count as scored points for the 
  appropriate teams.
  If 60 minutes is too long for a game, you can of 
  course shorten the game to 30 minutes or less.
  MISCELLANEOUS POINTS
  In addition to making goals, points can be scored by 
  killing other players.  Each player of a given team 
  killed (whether by friend or foe) nets the opposing 
  team one point.
  Note that only three members of a given team can 
  be killed for each ten minutes of game (this is known 
  as the “overkill rule”, and is intended to prevent the 
  game from devolving into a pure bloodbath).  If this 
  number is exceeded, each player killed over three 
  results in a negative point for the opposing team.
  VICTORY
  The game ends when the ball explodes, at which 
  time all points are tallied.  The team with the highest 
  number of points wins the game!
  
  62
  OPEN GAME LICENSE VERSION 1.0A
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  15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
  System Rules Document Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; 
  Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on original 
  material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson
  Modern System Reference Document Copyright 2002, Wizards of the Coast, 
  Inc.; Authors Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, based 
  on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, 
  Peter Adkison, Bruce R. Cordell, John Tynes, Andy Collins, and JD Wiker.
  Metropolis Rho: Urban Decay Copyright 2005, RPGObjects; Author 
  Dominic Covey
  OPEN GAMING CONTENT
  Designation of Product Identity: The following terms are designated as 
  product identity as outline in section 1(a) of the Open Gaming License: 
  Darwin’s Word, Twisted Earth, Denizens of the Twisted Earth, Terrors of the 
  Twisted Earth, Artifacts of the Ancients, Cave of Life, Benders, Brethren, 
  Brotherhood of Radiation, The Cartel, Children of the Metal Gods, Clean 
  Water Clans, Far Traders, Enthropist, The Foundationist, The Movement, 
  Paradise Believers, Ravagers, The Savants, Doomriders, Brethren Follower, 
  Brotherhood of Radiation, Foundationist Paladin, Sister of the Desert, Willy 
  World, Enforcers, Metropolis Rho, Humanity In A Bottle.
  Designation of Open Gaming Content: The following sections of Humanity 
  In A Bottle are designated as open gaming content except for terms deﬁned 
  as product identity above.  All illustrations, pictures, and diagrams are 
  Product identity and property of RPGObjects™.
  All monster, npc, city, and trap statistics blocks are open content.  All 
  new feats, advanced classes, weapons, drugs, items, and vehicles are open 
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SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Darwins World/Darwin's World Metropolis Rho.pdf