Gangbusters - GBM2 Welcome To Rock Junction PDF
Gangbusters - GBM2 Welcome To Rock Junction PDF
Gangbusters - GBM2 Welcome To Rock Junction PDF
TM
Adventure Game
WEIRDTTALES
PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS TM
BY MARK A HUNT
EDITING AND ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT BY MATTHEW POOK
LAYOUT BY MICHAEL DARWIN
This module is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America.
Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained
herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Mark Hunt.
The Blue Book Detective Agency Beginner Game is a supplement for the
GANGBUSTERS 1920s adventure game, and requires the GANGBUSTERS rulebook
for more detailed play.
The names, descriptions, and depictions applied to this supplement are derived
from works copyrighted by and include trademarks owned by Rick Krebs., and
may not be used or reused without permission.
2016 The respective authors, artists and graphic artists. All rights reserved. All
quotes are copyright their respective owners, and are quoted for purposes of
illustration only.
INTRODUCTION 1
WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO PLAY 2
WELCOME TO ROCK JUNCTION! 4
ROCK JUNCTION 7
ROCK JUNCTION PLACES 10
NEW CITY HALL 10
CITY COUNCIL 11
ROCK JUNCTION LAW 12
DISTRICT ATTORNEY 12
ROCK JUNCTION LW ENFORCEMENT 13
BELOW ROCK JUNCTION 19
ROCK JUNCTION KEY LOCATIONS 20
ROCK JUNCTION MEDIA 21
ROCK JUNCTION BUSINESSES 23
OTHER KEY CITIZENS 31
APPENDIX A 32
Rock Junction, a place where the folks here are as tough as the steel they
make. A place where crime and mens hearts are just as dark polluted as
the air they breathe.
GBM-2 Welcome to Rock Junction is the second in a series of setting
supplements after nearly three decades for use with the Gangbusters
RPG rules. It presents a new city for characters to explore using the
Gangbusters RPG rules. This setting is specially designed for the Judge
who needs to get back up to speed with the system in a fresh new city. It
also enables the Judge to run a dynamic and exciting game, but one set in
smaller, more manageable location.
Gangbusters is a game that takes place in the Roaring 20s and early 1930s,
essentially the Prohibition Era, of America. The focus of the game is on
Prohibition and the police/law enforcement struggle to control the streets
and the halls of power. The player characters can take the roles of law
enforcement, criminals, private investigators, reporters, and other types
of roles. The Gangbusters RPG is set in Lakefront City, a fictional version
of the city of Chicago, but GBM-2 Welcome to Rock Junction describes a
new location, Rock Junction, an ostensibly fictional steel town located in
the Midwest. The Judge is free to set the contents of GBM-2 Welcome to
Rock Junction in Rock Junction or take those contents and place them in
Lakefront City or whatever location suits his campaign.
The names of the characters used herein are fictitious and do not refer
to any persons living or dead. Any descriptions including similarities to
persons living or dead are merely coincidental. The information in this
module is only for the Judge who will guide the players through the Game
module. If you plan to participate in this setting as a player, please stop
reading now.
In order to play GBM-2 Welcome to Rock Junction you will need a copy
of the Gangbusters rule book, pencils, paper, two ten-sided and three
six-sided dice, and your imagination! You will also need some time,
somewhere comfortable to play, and maybe even some snacks.
From time to time you will need to make up events or NPCs as you play.
You will never be able to predict or plan ahead for everything that your
players and their characters might do. The adventure has left a lot of open
spots so you as the Judge can fill in when the players wander. Do not be
afraid to improvise as you go. Just be sure to keep notes so you do not
forget important details as you develop a story or adventure in the middle
of playing it out!
!
One gang dominates Rock Junction the Black Hand Society. The first
members of the society arrived during the 1880s and by 1900, Black
Hand operations were firmly established in the towns Italian-American
communities. A branch of the Mafia, it is estimated that members of the
Black Hand Society number over three hundred, plus affiliated members,
the latter consisting of non-Italian members. The societys most visible
activities consist of its numbers games and its street bookies, and whilst it
does engage in petty crimes and prostitution, it leaves such crimes to its
affiliates. It does engage in bootlegging, but does so in conjunction with
the out-of-town Purple Gang. There is some animosity between the Black
Hand Society and the Purple Gang and the latter would happily squash the
Black Hand Society if it had good reason and was not engaged elsewhere.
The primary source of income for the Black Hand Society is extortion and
the protection racket it runs. Certainly members of the Italian community
and their American neighbors know better than to forgo the portion of
their wages paid to the Black Hand Society in return for its protection.
Those who refuse to pay quickly find themselves and their family subject
to harassment, beatings, and sometimes worse
K L M N O P Q R S T T U
THE MAYOR
Clark J.T. McMasters Mayor (Age 56,
Assimilated) Level 8 Politician
MS = 24; AG = 62; OB = 65; DR = 49; PR = 8;
LK = 39; HP = 12
Skills: Public speaking 75, Government 80, law
70, History 70
Weapons: Walking cane.
Carries: Typically $50 carried in cash and $150
in jewelry on him.
In government, it is good to have a healthy
amount of impatience. The Rock Junction City
Council is about the business of moving our city, forward faster!
Clark J.T. McMasters, a Republican, was first elected Mayor in November,
1918, by capturing over 84% of the vote against his Democratic opponent
on a strong business recovery ticket. He has won each of the elections
since. Prior to this he had been a city councilman and the city manager.
He is the sixth member of his family to be city mayor and is strongly pro-
business, pro-Prohibition, and pro-law and order. He is not anti-union,
but he is anti-union action. He is an honest man who truly wants the best
for his town. He does not believe that the Black Hand Society is real and
thinks that is just some foolish kids pranking people and the imagination
of reporters writing for the Lakefront City Tribune and the Rock Junction
Daily Star. He genuinely hates Mathias Pouke, the editor of the Rock
Junction Daily Star.
Mayor McMasters is married with three children (his eldest son was killed
during the Great War). His wife Cecile is more interested in activities of the
Rock Junction Light Operetta Society and the Rock Junction Kennel Club
than in her husband, which means that sometimes the Mayor is starved of
female company. Nevertheless, Cecile is always on his arm when needed.
V W X Y Z [ \ Y ] ^ _ ` Z a
Rock Junction City Council is composed of six councilmen (two from each
ward) and one councilmen-at-large (elected by all wards). All council
members are elected for four-year terms, with the elections staggered so
that only half the council is up for re-election in any given election year.
Currently, five of the Republican councilmen are staunch supporters of
Sheriff, and could prove troublesome to the Mayor.
o p q r s t u q v w p u x y z { u | p } q ~ ~ u v
THE SHERIFF
Oszkr The Wizard jvri
Sheriff (Age 58, Hungarian) Level
9 Sheriff
MS = 69; AG = 42; OB = 75;
DR = 84; PR = 9; LK = 33; HP = 17
Skills: Law 80, Riding 95, Whip
68, Pistol 78, Public speaking 77,
Ranching 77, Rope Tricks 78
Weapons: Smith & Wesson
Military & Police .38 Special
caliber revolver, whip, and a boot
knife.
Oszkr The Wizard jvri is the
ebullient, straight-talking, larger-
than-life, cigar-chomping, hard-
drinking Hungarian immigrant who moved to Rock Junction twenty years
ago to seek his fortune. Prior to his family coming to the USA and settling in
the Ohio Valley, jvri had been a csiks horsemen, a cowboy in Hungary,
but when he first arrived in the city, he applied for a job with the Rock
Junction Sheriffs Department. His application was turned down and instead
he got a job at Rock Junction Steel, the mill owned by the McMasters family,
where he became increasingly dissatisfied with the workers conditions and
those around him in the Vrkerlet (Castle District) named for the way the
Hungarians stick together. Instead of campaigning against this as part of
the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, which would have
curbed his political ambitions, he campaigned to become a member of the
city council.
It took two attempts, but jvri has sat on the City Council as a councilman
for his own district and then as the Councilman-at-Large. Having made a
name for himself by speaking out for the workers and other minorities,
he stepped down at the next election and ran the Sheriffs Office. He won
much to the annoyance of the mayor and the district attorney and has
since made a name for himself with his sometimes odd interpretation of
what justice means. He also favors heavy-handed tactics and tends to over
react to insults last year he marched into the offices of the Daily Star and
threatened to arrest the editor, Mathias Pouke, for a cartoon that satirized
him.
jvri enjoys police work and even took night classes in law before standing
for sheriff. He is always on the back roads seeking out bootleggers across
the county this despite the fact that he likes to drink. On Sundays you can
find him working the Chain Gang so his deputies can go to church. The Black
Hand Society hates him because he has busted a couple of its operations,
both raids making the papers. As a result, the Black Hand Society works
very hard to keep out of his way and his notice. You can tell when The
Wizard is on the prowl by the sound of a whip he always carries.
Why is he called the Wizard?
jvri has a way with animals and is a master on horseback, he often rides
standing up on the backs of two horses this is traditional csiks style when
he patrols the back roads. He is so skilled with the whip he can untie a
mans shoe at a dozen paces. He knows dozens of rope tricks and ways to
use his whip. Although he carries a regulation revolver, his first instinct is to
go for his knife or his whip.
THE SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT
James Jimmy Tanner Police Lieutenant (Age 32, Irish) Level 5 Police Officer
MS = 67; AG = 51; OB = 56; DR = 54; PR = 7; LK = 44; HP = 17
Skills: Fingerprinting 62, Chemical Analysis 72
Weapons: Smith & Wesson Military & Police .38 Special caliber revolver on
a belt holster.
Carries: $20 in his wallet.
Owns: 1919 Model T Ford Coupe
Being in law enforcement is the family trade for the Tanner family Arthur
Tanner was Rock City Junction Sheriff before the Great War and both
of his sons are in the department. The younger of two brother, James
Jimmy Tanner is the more ambitious and has been to college and taken
Federally approved courses in forensics. Jimmy is a hard-working law
officer who doggedly pursues most criminals. He is willing to overlook
bootlegging and gambling, however, which he does not consider truly
criminal activities. He does his very best to work with his boss, but he
often finds Sheriff jvris activities exasperating, something that he
complains about when he gets home. Jimmy does not know that his
older brother, Phineas, is crooked.
Phineas Fin Tanner Police Sergeant (Age 44, Irish) Level 4 Police Officer
MS = 58; AG = 55; OB = 64; DR = 60; PR = 7; LK = 46; HP = 17
Skills: Stealth 54, Ballistics 83
Weapons: Smith & Wesson Military & Police .38 Special caliber revolver .38
revolver and a nightstick in on a belt holster.
Carries: $50 in his wallet.
Owns: 1921 Dupont Speedster Coupe
Phineas Tanner followed his father into the Rock Junction Sheriffs
Department and has served for twenty years. He plays up his image as
an Irish cop and caring sergeant, but there have been incidents when
both his father and his younger brother, Jimmy, have got him out of
trouble and kept him his job. What Jimmy does not know is that Phineas
is corrupt and takes bribes from the Black Hand Society. His father
suspects, but keeps quiet for the sake of Jimmy and Phineas mother.
Luigi Vespacci Patrolman, Car Patrol (Age 27, Italian) Level 3 Police Officer
MS = 86; AG = 79; OB = 72; DR = 76; PR = 6; LK = 13; HP = 22
Skills: Shadowing 51, Boxing 74
Weapons: Smith & Wesson Military & Police .38 Special caliber revolver and
nightstick on a belt holster. Winchester Model 97 Trench 12G 2.75 caliber
shotgun in patrol car.
Carries: $10 in his wallet.
Luigi is a second generation Italian-American. He is a dedicated policeman
who believes he is doing a necessary job the best of his ability. Recently,
however, the edge has worn off his idealism, as he has seen too much
corruption in official circles. Luigi and his partner Gus Peterson patrol
the steel mills in a police car. If an alarm is sounded, they will probably
be the first police officers on the scene. Stocky and well-built, he is the
Sheriffs Department boxing champion.
Gus Peterson Patrolman, Car Patrol (Age 27, Assimilated) Level 2 Police Officer
MS = 61; AG = 72; OB = 57; DR = 65; PR = 5; LK = 26; HP = 19
Skills: Fingerprinting 89
Weapons: Smith & Wesson Military & Police .38 Special caliber revolver and
nightstick on a belt holster. Winchester Model 97 Trench 12G 2.75 caliber
shotgun in patrol car.
Carries: $30 in his wallet.
Augustus Gus Peterson is a good cop gone crooked. He was an honest
man until he needed money to pay for medical bills and now he is on the
take. Currently this mostly involves looking the other way and convincing
his partner, Luigi Vespucci to ignore bootlegging as a harmless crime.
Marcus Hill Undercover Police Officer (Age 26, Black) Level 1 Police Officer
MS = 70; AG = 65; OB = 74; DR = 70; PR = 8; LK = 37; HP = 19
Skills: Stealth 54, Ballistics 83, shadowing 73, Boxing 66, Acting 78, Law 80
Weapons: Astra Mod 200 .25 ACP caliber pistol.
Carries: $10 in his wallet.
Marcus Hill is the latest recruit to the Undercover Squad, a theology
graduate who put himself through law school and then was hired by
Lukas Kovacs when his application to join the Sheriffs Department was
turned down. Currently he is working in the community doing good
deeds in the Third District.
There is a small coal mine that was discovered when the town was first
settled, but has long since played out. The mine was closed for safety
reasons in 1891 and access to the shaft declared off limits. Recent road
work has opened up a tunnel that joins the shaft to a maze of catacombs
and sewers that now stretch for miles under the city. There are rumored to
be hidden entrances into these lower depths from sewers and basements
all over the city, but whatever the truth of the matter, the tunnels are
being used by Bootleggers, Gunrunners, and fugitives from both the law
and the criminal underworld.
This section describes a few of the important places and local businesses
in Rock Junction. Each of them contains the basis of one or more story
ideas of their own, but the Judge should bear that Prohibition has just
started and will heavily affect both your games and events in Rock
Junction. It means that crime is on the rise, whether it is small time crooks
are looking for a piece of the bootlegging action or the Black Hand Society
in the background attempting to further its own ends. Already embedded
in Rock Junctions Italian community, the Black Hand Society currently
dominates Bootlegging in the city and the county due to its control over
profitable blackmailing and organized theft operations.
The heart of Rock Junction is the city park, known as McMasters Park.
Opened in 1887, it is surrounded on all sides by a high iron fence with
entrance gained via four gates, one at each of the four cardinal points.
Paths wind from these gates gently through the park to The Square at
its center. The Square is dominated by a large fountain, but to one side
there is a bandstand where the Rock Junction Fire Department Band
plays on Sundays and Ragtime and Jazz bands play on Saturdays. On two
sides of The Square there are rows of cafes and teashops, an aviary, and
other amenities. The Square is also an open-air art gallery swarming with
portrait-painters and charcoal-illustrators selling their work at starving-
artist prices.
During the Great War, the park was known as Mud Park because the
army would hold drills and marches, often churning the ground up in the
process. Today it is a favorite lunching spot for office and shop workers
as well as somewhere to stroll on a Sunday afternoon. It is also the haunt
of pickpockets and the occasional bunko artist. If you know who to ask,
a thermos flask of tea can be purchased this is actually tea, but with a
shot or two of bootlegged whisky in it.
Mathias Pouke Editor, Rock Junction Daily Star (Age 38, German) Level 3 Editor
MS = 30; AG = 75; OB = 49; DR = 62; PR = 6; LK = 11; HP = 16
Skills: Business management 68%, writing 80%, tracking 55%
Mathias Pouke is a recent German immigrant, having fled Germany
following the Great War to avoid its politics. He is actually a failed writer,
having wanted to write the great German novel and now wanting to
write the great American novel. Hired as a journalist, he has somehow
found himself promoted after the last editor was fired and is trying to
do the best that he can. So far he has managed to upset the sheriff
resulting in shouting matches in German across his desk and the City
Council. If they learned that they were both on the same side against the
Black Hand Society, then the paper might get some real scoops.
ROCK RIVER STATION Between Fellows & E. Rock Junction at the river
Western Rail has its main freight yards for the state here, and all trains
going west pass through it. Some trains turn around here; others continue
on to the Lake front city rail yards. There is a hobo camp located someplace
in the rail yards. The conductors are on the lookout for those who wish to
freeload on the rails.
THE STAFF
Dr. Arthur Brown Doctor (Age 55, German) Level 2 Doctor
MS = 56; AG = 63; OB = 54; DR = 59; PR = 5; LK = 34; HP = 15
Skills: Shadowing 99, Stealth 87
These take place near or in Rock Junction. They are designed to be used
when a player is between major scenarios and needs something to do
while the action develops elsewhere.
That take place near or in Rock Junction
Sometimes, a player will be between major scenarios and need something
to do while the action The Judge should keep a supply of short encounters
handy to deal with this:
1. MISUNDERSTANDINGS
Harold Magnusson (sailor) is smashing up the Doctors office. He is drunk
and angry, and claims that Dr. Moses have stolen his wallet. They claim
he must have lost it. Actually, Harold has accidently dropped his wallet
on the floor, where it will be found when someone (like the player
character) suggests a search.
2. STOPPING FIGHTS
A policeman character hears a fight in a local tavern, where both
Harshaw brothers are fighting Marty Flaherty (dock worker). Marty
had complained about some tools he bought. The Harshaws lost their
tempers and the fight was on. Both sides will stop when ordered and
neither will press charges (but the next encounter like this may become
a general brawl).
3. THE ENFORCER
One player character is getting too close to the truth. A hired enforcer
tries to discourage him (by threats, smashing property, beating,
attempted murder, and so on).
4. THE INFORMER
The player character receives a secret tip, but must meet the informer
for more information. While talking to the informer, a hit man takes a
shot at them, possibly killing the informer.
5. THE RIDE
A characters enemies decide to make him disappear. Mobsters grab
the character and hustle him into a black limousine. Chance gives the
character an opportunity to escape (like a traffic accident ahead causes
a policeman to stop the car). If the character can trick or talk his way
out of the situation, he will get away. Otherwise, he will be taken to the
country and shot. A character who survives a shooting (by a luck roll) will
be found and taken to a hospital by a friendly NPC.
6. LADY IN DISTRESS
A person or persons unknown are stalking a beautiful young lady. The
character must escort the lady to a destination chosen by the Judge. On
the way there, the mysterious stalker will strike and the character must
foil the stalkers plan.