Gangs of Rome - The Campaign

Chatting with a few fellow gamers after the installation of the new Lord Mayor of Sheffield (congratulations Andy), I was reminded that people are keen to do some more Gangs of Rome.  This prompted me to finalise the structure of our campaign. 

I wanted something that be low-maintenance, time-limited and capable to progressing when enough of us could get together to play, rather than needing all participants every time a new episode took place. Ideally, players who aren't able to get to Sheffield to sit around the table should also be able to contribute. This is what I came up with.

Spurius Verdius and Tarquinius Caerulius are competing big-wigs in Rome at the time of Emperor Vespasian. They are deadly rivals whose followers contend to control the neighbourhoods where their territories overlap. This contention is often violent in nature, at least until the Vigiles Urbani turn up to restore order!

Our campaign will consist of a maximum of six episodes (in addition to The Brawl scenario that some of us played last Christmas, which counts as Episode Zero). Each gang has a list of six missions they must complete over the course of the campaign. Each mission may be selected once. Note that these lists are not the same for both gangs. The Gang with the highest total of Victory Points after six episodes is victorious in the campaign.

Each player in the campaign is associated with either the Spurius Verdius (Green) Gang or the Tarquinius Caerulius (Blue) Gang. In addition, each player has a personal character that only they will play. If that player is not present, their character will be replaced by another, either the personal character of another player or a non-player character to be run by the rest the gang’s players.

Choosing a Scenario

Before each episode of the campaign, the umpire will ask the players of each gang to agree which of their six listed missions they wish to carry out.

At that point, Victory Points earned in previous games may be spent to influence events:

Victory Points spent in this way are lost to the Gang’s running total.

The umpire will work out the details of the scenario taking account of the missions chosen by the two Gangs. Where the chosen missions clash, for example if one side has chosen a mission that can only take place at night but the other has chosen a daytime scenario, priority will be given to the side that has spent most Victory Points to influence events in this episode.

Status Quo Ante

Following The Brawl, the Blue Gang have six Victory Points while the Greens have only a single point! The Greens are going to have to work hard to catch up.