Any Biker Gang Games Out There?

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God I love me some trash post-apoc fiction. Check out The Survivalist series by Jerry Ahern. It starts out as a dude trying to stay alive and fight back in Soviet occupied America. I guess they ran out of ideas, though, because by the end of the series he's fighting aliens and time-traveling nazis.
 
Tulpa Girl said:
Ages ago I read a post-apoc biker novel - not the one you mentioned, but I can't remember the name of the title or the author - that wasn't too bad, written in the late 70s I think. The premise/background was that just as everything was going to pot from a limited(?) nuclear exchange, the President's limo and limited secret service personnel ran into a biker gang, who offered their services for security and manpower, therefore cementing their power base in the years that followed. It came off as trying to be realistic, although that went sideways at one point in the book as the main protagonist goes on a peyote-induced vision quest.

Edit: "The Lost Traveller" by Steve Wilson.

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There was a series (not related) called Traveller, about a post-apocalyptic road warrior who rode around in a van that had kevlar vests plastered all over the inside.
 
Part of me wants to suggest the indie (Story?)game "Ribbon Drive" to suss out what the table's mix tape adventure of a biker gang would be. Yes, yes, I expect much Easy Rider rehashes. But with today's youth I would be curious by not only the soundtrack but also the adventures and "personal revelations" that'd go with it. :hehe: It's been over 50 years since Easy Rider so I think most of its mental presence would not be au courant.
 
opaopajr said:
Part of me wants to suggest the indie (Story?)game "Ribbon Drive" to suss out what the table's mix tape adventure of a biker gang would be. Yes, yes, I expect much Easy Rider rehashes. But with today's youth I would be curious by not only the soundtrack but also the adventures and "personal revelations" that'd go with it. :hehe: It's been over 50 years since Easy Rider so I think most of its mental presence would not be au courant.
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Yeah, kids today would find a lot of interest in 60’s, Vietnam, Cold War, early rap, etc protest music and literature today. Unfortunately, as the protest music isn’t corporate prepackaged media delivered through social media algorithms, they’re not likely to ever know of its existence.
 
CRKrueger said:
Yeah, kids today would find a lot of interest in 60’s, Vietnam, Cold War, early rap, etc protest music and literature today. Unfortunately, as the protest music isn’t corporate prepackaged media delivered through social media algorithms, they’re not likely to ever know of its existence.
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"We strip mine your underground culture
Take the bite out and rinse it clean
Give ourselves credit for creating it
And sell it back to you at twice the price"

-Dead Kennedys,
"Triumph of the Swill"
 
Voros said:
A good book about a RL case of an 'outlaw' gang gone wrong is this one on the Canadian Bandidos massacre where eight people were executed for pretty much no real reason.

It is actually quite a pathetic story, like most true crime.

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And as to the OP I'll reiterate how good the concise but to me comprehensive ruleset for 1%er are.

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A stripped down PbtA ruleset I think it can appeal to those of a more trad mindset who don't mind a minimalist approach in rules.

It inspired Rich Rogers to use it as the basis for his street-level superheroes game Hit the Streets: Defend the Block.

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Jeez that is just pathetic, but like you said this is so often the case with true crime stories.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shedden_massacre


CRKrueger said:
All the big MCs are basically two organizations. The corporations that sell merchandise and recruit motorcycle enthusiasts, and the criminal organizations that use the corporation as cover. You could go on a weekend HA ride with guys who have no record, or you could go to an HA party that's filled with 1%ers.
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Fairly common with organized crime. It makes it much easier to hide your criminal activity if there is a legitimate front, and people are less likely to turn on the criminal element if they believe the "criminals" are just a few bad apples within the larger organization.
 
urbwar said:
One of my old bosses lived on the same street as the Hell's Angels clubhouse in Manhattan. He also rode, but wasn't affiliated with any MC. When the club first started, the neighbors didn't like them much (as most people on the block were older). Then some idiot tried to snatch a woman's purse, and the Angels chased him. Needless to say the guy had a concussion and when interviewed by police, claimed that when they backed him into an alley, he repeatedly ran into the wall trying to escape (which is the same story the Angels told the cops). The old folks ended up liking the Angels, because they swore to keep the neighborhood safe. It made the local news, maybe even 20/20. It's been over 20 years since that happened, so I'm not sure I have all the details right, but I do remember the story of the guy who robbed the woman.

Of course, the clubhouse got raided years later, and some of them went to jail. I think its closed now. But crime on that block was pretty much nill after that once incident, because no one wanted to cross the Angels on their home turf.
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Well...I learned of a similar incident when I was in high school, except the local mobsters in the 90ies used to ride BMWs and not bikes...:grin:
The guy that caused the issues for "one of their neighbours", though - they had an office literally less than 20 m from our building - suffered some relatively minor blunt trauma and counted himself lucky. Since I was one of the neighbours, I learned about it. I suspect people with at least Streetwise-0 also knew.

Basically, this is actually something organised crime of all stripes does a lot:thumbsup:.
 
Toadmaster said:
Fairly common with organized crime. It makes it much easier to hide your criminal activity if there is a legitimate front, and people are less likely to turn on the criminal element if they believe the "criminals" are just a few bad apples within the larger organization.
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Although the interesting thing about the Angels is that the "front" and the "back" use the same branding. That's not that common with Western criminals; the mafia wouldn't call their nightclub "The Mafia Club" and yet "the Angels clubhouse" is frequently a thing.

You see that a bit with the Tongs and the Yakuza in some places though.

Interestingly, I was doing some research after this thread stirred my interest and Scotland is one of the few European countries without a Hells Angels chapter.

Possibly because of the existence of these guys - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Angels_Motorcycle_Club
 
Black Leaf said:
Although the interesting thing about the Angels is that the "front" and the "back" use the same branding. That's not that common with Western criminals; the mafia wouldn't call their nightclub "The Mafia Club" and yet "the Angels clubhouse" is frequently a thing.
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I am pretty sure the Hell's Angels are a registered corporation and pay taxes. There was a Hell's Angels club just a few blocks from where I live. I think it closed over the past year or two (that is what I heard, but the sign is still up so my information might be bad).
 
BedrockBrendan said:
I am pretty sure the Hell's Angels are a registered corporation and pay taxes. There was a Hell's Angels club just a few blocks from where I live. I think it closed over the past year or two (that is what I heard, but the sign is still up so my information might be bad).
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I'm now adding a "Conta Notra - T2S" LLC to my Cyberpunk setting for F!:tFG2e:shade:!
 
Gringnr said:
"We strip mine your underground culture
Take the bite out and rinse it clean
Give ourselves credit for creating it
And sell it back to you at twice the price"

-Dead Kennedys,
"Triumph of the Swill"
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So you think nowadays they listen to Taylor Swift & Billie Eilish? :heart: /imagines biker gang lip-sync-ing to "bad guy"
 
BedrockBrendan said:
I am pretty sure the Hell's Angels are a registered corporation and pay taxes. There was a Hell's Angels club just a few blocks from where I live. I think it closed over the past year or two (that is what I heard, but the sign is still up so my information might be bad).
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I kinda want to run a one shot where you play the Hells Angels trademark department now.
 
Black Leaf said:
I kinda want to run a one shot where you play the Hells Angels trademark department now.
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"I've got an offer for you...what you're looking at? You can refuse it, of course!"
"And if I do?"
"That's not up to me! I only make the offers!"
"And those bikes outside?"
"My job is over when I leave here. With a contract or without."
 
Black Leaf said:
Although the interesting thing about the Angels is that the "front" and the "back" use the same branding. That's not that common with Western criminals; the mafia wouldn't call their nightclub "The Mafia Club" and yet "the Angels clubhouse" is frequently a thing.

You see that a bit with the Tongs and the Yakuza in some places though.

Interestingly, I was doing some research after this thread stirred my interest and Scotland is one of the few European countries without a Hells Angels chapter.

Possibly because of the existence of these guys - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Angels_Motorcycle_Club
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"Outlaw" Motorcycle clubs are a little different than most organized crime, in that most really were a social club first, and the crime developed more as fundraising so they had more time to ride. The crime just developed into big business and some groups like the Hells Angels can actually make money off of their trademarks and merchandising so it is just a natural extension. I'm sure some of the founding members are rolling over in their graves at the thought that the Hells Angels now employ trademark attorneys and the phrase branding is used in any way other than the use of hot irons.
 
Toadmaster said:
"Outlaw" Motorcycle clubs are a little different than most organized crime, in that most really were a social club first, and the crime developed more as fundraising so they had more time to ride. The crime just developed into big business and some groups like the Hells Angels can actually make money off of their trademarks and merchandising so it is just a natural extension. I'm sure some of the founding members are rolling over in their graves at the thought that the Hells Angels now employ trademark attorneys and the phrase branding is used in any way other than the use of hot irons.
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I can't remember where I saw this but one explanation I've seen about the difference is that for your more traditional organised crime groups crime is a way of making money, where for the Angels the money from crime is a way of funding their lifestyle.
 
Toadmaster said:
"Outlaw" Motorcycle clubs are a little different than most organized crime, in that most really were a social club first, and the crime developed more as fundraising so they had more time to ride. The crime just developed into big business and some groups like the Hells Angels can actually make money off of their trademarks and merchandising so it is just a natural extension. I'm sure some of the founding members are rolling over in their graves at the thought that the Hells Angels now employ trademark attorneys and the phrase branding is used in any way other than the use of hot irons.
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Yeah, there’s still “Outlaw Bikers” who aren’t really part of the Organized Crime and criminal rackets side, they just wipe their ass with all the civic statutes, work under the table when they need to, etc.
 
Black Leaf said:
I can't remember where I saw this but one explanation I've seen about the difference is that for your more traditional organised crime groups crime is a way of making money, where for the Angels the money from crime is a way of funding their lifestyle.
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That’s a very good way to put it. The drug and gun runners usually don’t live on the set of Miami Vice, even if they have a lot coming in.
 
Black Leaf said:
I can't remember where I saw this but one explanation I've seen about the difference is that for your more traditional organised crime groups crime is a way of making money, where for the Angels the money from crime is a way of funding their lifestyle.
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I'm sure their motivation would make a large difference to those that have business dealings with them:thumbsup:!
 
CRKrueger said:
Yeah, there’s still “Outlaw Bikers” who aren’t really part of the Organized Crime and criminal rackets side, they just wipe their ass with all the civic statutes, work under the table when they need to, etc.
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The Hells Angels have also hired themselves out as paid muscle. In the 1960s they worked security at shows in the San Francisco Bay Area for Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, pay was often just beer and a free show. They were allegedly hired to provide security at the disastrous 1969 Altamont concert for $500 in beer (almost $4000 today or about 6000 cans of Budweiser, Coors etc which I assume would be the beer du jour for a biker back in the day. Seems like a lot of beer for a weekend..).

Although some of the large mafia groups showed some patriotism during WW2 supposedly helping to reduce crime involving war materials shipping overseas, but I have a hard time imagining anybody openly hiring "the mafia" to provide security.

There has always been some celebrity attached to crime, money buys influence. Bootleggers and bank robbers like Al Capone, Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde were sort of anti-celebrities in the 1930s. In the 1960s there was quite a bit of high profile hobnobbing between singers and movie stars with known mobsters, some of the gangster rap stars in the 80s and 90s were legit gang members, and more than one ended up dead or in prison related to their gang affiliations (many also just took on the persona because it sold records).

Black Leaf when you get back to your organized crime reviews you must find an RPG centered on the gangster rap scene. :hehe:
 
Toadmaster said:
Openly, I'm sure it happens a lot through cover businesses.
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You know, in the 90ies, the competing local mobs here were named after their security/insurance corps, or maybe vice versa (one of the main ones was insurance, the one that had an office next to my flat was registered as security).
I'll let you guess whether their contracts for providing security were either illegal, secret, or whatever of the sort...:thumbsup:
 
Toadmaster said:
The Hells Angels have also hired themselves out as paid muscle. In the 1960s they worked security at shows in the San Francisco Bay Area for Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, pay was often just beer and a free show. They were allegedly hired to provide security at the disastrous 1969 Altamont concert for $500 in beer (almost $4000 today or about 6000 cans of Budweiser, Coors etc which I assume would be the beer du jour for a biker back in the day. Seems like a lot of beer for a weekend..).
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No allegedly needed, the Angels were 'security' at Altamont, recommended by Jerry Garcia.

You can see them working as 'security' in the documentary on Altamont, Gimme Shelter, where you can also see them assaulting the audience and killing one of them.
 
Voros said:
No allegedly needed, the Angels were 'security' at Altamont, recommended by Jerry Garcia.

You can see them working as 'security' in the documentary on Altamont, Gimme Shelter, where you can also see them assaulting the audience and killing one of them.
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There was a lot of back pedaling afterwards, "they were just hired to help out, not as security". The problem with them not being hired as security comes down to then who was if they weren't. So allegedly I'm being polite, I wasn't there and I was 2 years old in 1969... :grin:

I have been to Altamont in later years, for being near San Francisco it is way out in the boonies today, in 1969 it was BFE.
 
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