Sha-Bam City contains populations of all of the major species except Imp Jrs, Seals, and Xyloids, who are not unwelcome, but aren’t local either.
Sha-Bam City is a manufacturing town at heart, unfortunately the manufacturing industry is on the decline and the arteries are clogging with the cholesterol of crime. Unemployment is around 18%. Public education is poor and literacy is poorer, so few denizens take advantages of inter-library travel.
Popular activities and motivations
General Fighting and Violence
Whether you’re looking for it or not, there’s always a fight to be found within Sha-Bam city. The communists are always looking to express their ideology through force and rival gangs engage one another on a regular basis.
Occasionally, criminal organizations have pushed too hard and groups of citizens have risen to defend their favorite nightclubs/dojos. Sometimes regular citizens take it upon themselves to try and restore order to the streets when they feel the police can’t/won’t combat crime, but these vigilantes always run the risk of becoming a part of the problem they seek to stop.
If the violence hits the road be prepared to commandeer a fast car and watch out for fruit vendors.
Improving the Community
At this point in the city’s history, it’s actually pretty difficult to make things worse, but not impossible.
Someone looking to improve the city can always jump in head first and go after the gangs and organized crime. From time to time, it may become necessary to defend locations like schools and churches that become the target of violent groups. If you’re looking for a place to start, there’s usually at least one teacher striving for their students, and if the mayor is righteous (or isn’t getting his cut of the criminal profits) he will welcome any help to save his city.
Political Activities
As the city descends into darkness and madness, some people will exploit the situation for their own gain. Politicians, police officers, union bosses, and wealthy people can all be seen taking kickbacks or pushing legislation that benefits themselves at the cost of the city. This level of corruption runs deep and can’t be solved using only evidence and legitimate channels. In some cases it is possible to negotiate an under the table deal. In more drastic cases it may be necessary to create a political spectacle that rallies the people or alter the results of an election.
Stopping Crimes of Various Severity
Sadly you can’t seem to go more than 10 minutes in Sha-Bam City without something being stolen, defaced, or murdered. It’s easiest to ignore small crimes and try to focus on the root causes of crime, such as unemployment or limited access to public education. Other times, it’s important to beat up a mugger or storm a mafia lord’s mansion. It may also be necessary to investigate the channels of criminal activity such as drug production/distribution routes and contraband imports/exports.
Common Areas to Explore
Abandoned Factories
Industry crests and collapses like the waves in Sha-Bam City. There are innumerable abandoned factories just waiting to be used for smuggling, drug production, or just storing illegal weapons and gear.
Chop Shops
Your missing car is stolen. Your stolen car is already chopped. These shops are ludicrously efficient at dismantling cars and distributing the parts. Once the parts have have been processed, they are almost impossible to trace.
Construction Sites
Sha-Bam City’s public works are paced perfectly to maximize profits for everyone involved. Some areas never seem to finish their construction. In other circumstances, a building can be demolished and rebuilt before the start of the next business day. Active construction sites will have workers present with heavy machinery such as cranes, steam rollers, and bulldozers. It is considered extremely unsafe and totally badass to pursue persons of interest through construction sites.
Discos
Music, lights, cash, and customers dance to the tune of their criminal owners.
Drug Labs
Importing anything into Sha-Bam City incurs mafia “taxes” and government “bribes,” so many drugs that claw through the lungs of the city are home-brewed. Lab setups range from cheap, disposable set-ups that can be abandoned at a moments notice to permanent laboratories with heavy capital investment.
Gambling Houses
You can lose money on whatever you enjoy: mahjong, cards, horse racing, penguin fights, whatever.
Museums, Jewelry Stores, other High-Value Theft Targets
Small corner jewelry stores, local pharmacies, convenience stores and the like are all easy targets for petty criminals, but there are plenty of more distinguished targets for the discerning thief.
Organizations
Coast Guard
If it’s on the water and it’s illegal the Coast Guard will do whatever it takes to make sure it’s stopped and perpetrators have their day in court. They can’t be bribed and in 50 years of service they’ve never killed anyone. Just don’t expect them to respond to incidents that happen on dry land.
Communists
This description made no sense. To discuss.
Corrupt Police
Not all of them started out greedy and corrupt, but they all relish the high of being greedy and corrupt now. Corrupt cops will do whatever it takes to keep their pockets filled.
Detectives
They can be private investigators or urban guerillas, but everyone agrees they get the job done no matter the cost.
Gangs
Wayward youth band together for survival. Many of them feel abandoned by the city and only trust one another. Gangs tend to have loose organizational structures and few rules: follow the group, never disobey the group.
Insurance Companies
It takes a lot of capital to insure a place like Sha-Bam City. The insurance companies are good at their jobs but even they have limits.
Mafia
Usually organized by turf and families. A given mafia group has been around for generations and has their hands in everything and tends not to focus too heavily on any one operation. They tend to be very traditional and have set methodical ways of handling business.
Martial Arts Masters
Some are determined to teach the neighborhood children to defend themselves and live with honor. Others refuse to take on new students for fear of what happened to the last student they trained. Others are under the direct employ of other organizations to train their soldiers into killing machines.
National Guard
The National Guard only gets involved when things get really out of control. You don’t want things to get really out of control.
Non-Corrupt Police
Every day they live in shame of their fellow officers, but if they rock the boat they’ll be overboard with a brand new pair of cement sneakers. Quitting isn’t an option, nothing gets accomplished by running away. If they see a true hero out to help the city they’ll do what they can to help, but they can only do so much.
PMCs, Private Military Corporations
Many of the rich and affluent have become fed up with the crime and worthlessness of the police force. PMC’s are neighborhood watches taken to an extreme level. Guaranteed safety and security for the neighborhood, guaranteed funeral services for anyone who tries to disrupt that security.
Runners
Every organization has them to some extent: message carriers, package boys, drug runners, and the like. They can be found all over the city at any time of day trying to earn respect in their organization. They pick up information here and there but most won’t talk for fear of what their boss will do to them.
Street Seraphs
Started out as a non violent neighborhood watch group but quickly escalated into a pseudo-paramilitary organizations. Typically members can be seen walking down the streets unarmed or at most with a baseball bat. If a situation escalates too quickly one phone call can have a heavily armored unit descend on the area within minutes.
SUITS (Special Unit for Investigation and Tactical Subterfuge)
Something funny’s going down in the city. Something that affects all of us. Question is, are these guys here to help us, or it.
The Mayor
Is the Mayor the kind hearted soul trying to bring peace to a city ravaged by crime, or did they have something to do with the mysterious circumstances with which their opponent disappeared during the last election? Perhaps the mafia has arranged for the Mayor’s daughter’s college roommate to be an assassin to control which documents get the mayor’s signature. The only way to find out is to dig deeper.
Union Bosses
Union bosses and unions in general look out for the working class. Unless pushed to their limits they will always choose to work within bureaucracy and pursue non violent protests. That does not mean however that they won’t use tactics such as extortion and bribery to get what they want.