TEXT: Steven S. Long
  
  A Setting Book for Dark Champions
  Author: Steven S. Long
  Editing & Development:  Allen Thomas
  Layout & Graphic Design:  Andy Mathews
  Cover Illustration:  Klaus Scherwinski
  Cartography:  Keith Curtis
  Interior Illustration:  Brett Barkley, Nate Barnes, Storn 
  Cook, Andrew Cremeans, John Grigni, Roberto Mar-
  chesi, Eric Rademaker, Greg Smith, Chris Stevens, Derrick 
  Thomas, Daniel Young, Dean Yuen
  DEDICATION
  To the players in my Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss campaign, 
  whose war on crime and injustice inspired me to new heights of 
  creativity:  Andy “Arkady Koslov” Mathews, Brad “Spencer McBryde” 
  Barrett, John “Wiley McCoy” Losey, Gary “Prodigal” Mitchel, Tim 
  “Marcellus Xavier” Binford, Eric “Shadowdragon” Livengood, and 
  Dave “Nightwatch” Cunningham.
  SPECIAL THANKS
  Special thanks to the Digital Hero playtesters and testreaders who 
  reviewed the manuscript for this book and found math errors and 
  typos, oﬀered their suggestions for improvements, and generally 
  contributed their time and ideas to make Hudson City just the sort of 
  book we wanted it to be. Thanks!
  Hero SystemTM ® is DOJ, Inc.’s trademark for its roleplaying system.
  Hero System © 1984, 1989, 2002 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.
  Champions © 1984, 1989, 2002 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.
  Fantasy Hero © 2003 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.
  Dark Champions © 2004 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.
  Hudson City © 2004 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.
  Star Hero, Justice Inc., Danger International, Dark Champions, Pulp Hero,  
  Western Hero © 2002 by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games. All rights reserved.
  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, 
  electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or computerization, or by 
  any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the 
  Publisher:  DOJ, Inc., 1 Haight Street, Suite A, San Francisco, California 94102.
  Printed in the U.S.A. First printing December 2004
  Produced and distributed by DOJ, Inc. d/b/a Hero Games.
  Stock Number:  DOJHERO601 • ISBN Number:  1-58366-037-2
  http://www.herogames.com
  
    TABLE OF CONTENTS
  INTRODUCTION ................................5
  CHAPTER ONE:  A HISTORY 
  OF HUDSON CITY
  THE HISTORY OF HUDSON CITY ........8
  THE EARLY YEARS ...........................8
  THE NINETEENTH CENTURY .............8
  THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY ...10
  THE FIFTIES, SIXTIES,  
  AND SEVENTIES ..........................12
  THE EIGHTIES, NINETIES,  
  AND BEYOND ..............................13
  HUDSON CITY TODAY .....................14
  CHAPTER TWO:   
  THE LAY OF THE LAND
  VITAL STATISTICS ...........................16
  URBANOGRAPHY ............................18
  TOPOGRAPHY ...............................18
  The Streets .................................18
  Landmarks ..................................19
  COME RAIN, COME SHINE ..............20
  UNDERGROUND .............................20
  UTILITIES .......................................23
  GETTING AROUND ..........................24
  Air Travel .....................................24
  Ground Vehicles ..........................25
  Commuter Railways .....................25
  Other Modes Of Transportation .....26
  The Metro ...................................26
   ARDMORE .....................................27
  BANKHURST ...................................29
  BAYSIDE .........................................33
  BLACKBRIDGE ................................35
  CHINATOWN ...................................38
  CROWN POINT ................................41
  EASTWOOD ....................................43
  ELMVIEW ........................................46
  FORSYTH ........................................48
  FREETOWN .....................................50
  GADSDEN .......................................54
  GUILFORD ......................................56
  HIGHLANDS ....................................58
  IRISHTOWN ....................................60
  LAFAYETTE .....................................62
  LATIN CITY .....................................64
  LeMASTRE PARK ............................66
  LITTLE ITALY ...................................68
  MINT RIDGE ....................................71
  MOSCOW WEST .............................73
  NORTH ELMVIEW ...........................75
  The Strip .....................................77
  PIERPOINT ......................................79
  RED HILL ........................................81
  RIVERSIDE HILLS ............................84
  WORTHINGTON ...............................86
  SUBURBS .......................................89
  OUTLYING COMMUNITIES ...............90
  CITY GOVERNMENT ........................91
  THE MAYOR ..................................91
  The Honorable Graydon T. Umstead 91
  Deputy Mayor Edward Wilson .......92
  Other Deputy Mayors ...................92
  THE CITY COUNCIL ........................93
  CITY COMMISSIONS ......................95
  CITY POLITICS ...............................97
  Movers And Shakers ....................97
  Current Issues In City Government 98
  GOVERNMENTAL CENTER ..............99
  COUNTY GOVERNMENT .................99
  STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 99
  CHAPTER THREE:   
  A DAY IN THE LIFE
  LIFE IN THE BIG CITY ....................102
  THE RHYTHM OF THE CITY ...........102
  ANNUAL EVENTS .........................103
  SLANG ........................................104
  ON THE SCENE .............................105
  TELEVISION .................................105
  RADIO STATIONS .........................106
  NEWSPAPERS .............................107
  ON THE TOWN ..............................109
  AMUSEMENT PARKS ....................109
  CULTURAL EVENTS AND FINE ARTS 109
  Dance .......................................109
  Opera And Symphony ................110
  Theatre .....................................110
  Visual Arts .................................110
  Auditoriums And Halls ................111
  MUSEUMS ..................................111
  THE MUSIC SCENE ......................112
  RESTAURANTS ............................113
  SPORTS ......................................114
  Pro Sports Teams ......................114
  Other Sports Venues ..................115
  Annual Sporting Events ..............115
  HUDSON CITY SUBCULTURES .......116
  THE ACADEMIC WORLD ...............116
  THE BUSINESS WORLD ................119
  General Commerce And Industry 119
  Finance ....................................120
  Law ..........................................121
  Retail ........................................122
  Labor And Unions ......................124
  THE ESPIONAGE WORLD ..............124
  THE MARTIAL WORLD ..................124
  THE MEDICAL WORLD .................125
  Hospitals ...................................125
  Health Clinics ............................127
  THE MILITARY WORLD .................128
  THE MYSTIC WORLD ....................129
  THE RELIGIOUS WORLD ...............131
  THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 
  WORLD .....................................132
  THE SOCIAL WORLD ....................133
  The World Of The Wealthy ..........133
  The World Of The Poor ...............135
  CHAPTER FOUR:   
  THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW
  THE HUDSON CITY POLICE  
  DEPARTMENT ............................138
  ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE .138
  Ranks .......................................138
  Geographic Organization ............139
  Bureaus And Squads .................139
  NOTABLE LOCATIONS ..................143
  STARS OF THE FORCE .................145
  OTHER LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 145
  FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT .....147
  The FBI .....................................147
  The DEA ...................................147
  The BATF ..................................147
  COURTS AND CORRECTIONS ........148
  THE COURT SYSTEM ....................148
  State Courts ..............................148
  Federal Courts ...........................150
  CORRECTIONS ............................151
  State Corrections .......................151
  Federal Corrections ...................151
  THE HUDSON CITY FIRE  
  DEPARTMENT ............................152
  Structure And Organization ........152
  Fire Statistics ............................153
  VIGILANTES ..................................154
  
  CHAPTER FIVE:  PREDATORS
  ORGANIZED CRIME .......................158
  THE MAFIA ..................................158
  Territory ....................................160
  Underworld Relationships ...........162
  CHINESE TONGS ..........................163
  Territory ....................................163
  Underworld Relationships ...........164
  HISPANIC ORGANIZED CRIME .......165
  Underworld Relationships ...........166
  RUSSIAN ORGANIZED CRIME .......166
  Underworld Relations .................167
  VIETNAMESE GANGS ...................167
  Underworld Relations .................168
  THE YAKUZA ................................168
  Underworld Relations .................170
  Takayama Shinsaku ...................170
  OUTLAW BIKER GANGS ................170
  Underworld Relations .................171
  STREET GANGS AND POSSES ......172
  Territory ....................................172
  Posses ......................................174
  Underworld Relations .................174
  COSTUMED CRIMINALS ................175
  CARD SHARK ..............................175
  CHARLEMAGNE ...........................177
  DIOMEDES ..................................178
  JANUS ........................................178
  THE KYPHOTIC MAN ....................179
  SPEARGUN ..................................179
   OTHER CRIME .............................180
  ARMS TRAFFICKING .....................180
  GAMBLING ..................................181
  THE SEX TRADE ...........................181
  CHAPTER SIX:  HOT SPOTS 
  FOR COOL HEROES
  AVENUE OF THE ELMS .................184
  COLLINS GUNS AND MILITARY  
  SURPLUS ...................................186
  THE HUDSON CITY FISH MARKET .188
  LITTLE EGYPT ...............................190
  LONGVIEW CORRECTIONAL CENTER 192
  THE SKYLINE CLUB ......................196
  QUICKCORNER .............................198
  CHAPTER SEVEN:  GAME-
  MASTERING HUDSON CITY
  HUDSON CITY CAMPAIGNING .......200
  CAMPAIGN TYPES ........................200
  OTHER GENRES ...........................201
  THE GM’S VAULT ..........................203
  CHAPTER ONE .............................203
  CHAPTER TWO ............................203
  CHAPTER THREE .........................210
  CHAPTER FOUR ...........................213
  CHAPTER FIVE .............................213
  CHAPTER SIX ..............................220
  ALLIES ..........................................225
  THE HARBINGER OF JUSTICE .......225
  RENEGADE ..................................231
  SCARECROW ..............................234
  CARD SHARK ................................236
  CARD SHARK ..............................238
  BLACKJACK ................................241
  DEADMAN’S HAND ......................243
  JACK O’ DIAMONDS ....................245
  ONE-EYED JACK ..........................247
  POKERFACE ................................249
  DECK AGENT ...............................252
  FACE CARD AGENT ......................253
  OTHER VILLAINS ...........................254
  THE CAINITE ................................254
  EL CONDENADO ..........................257
  THE KALEIDOSCOPE MAN ............259
  SHANGO .....................................264
  SIDDHARTHA ...............................266
  TAKAYAMA SHINSAKU ..................268
  STREET FINDER ...........................271
  BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................273
  INDEX ...........................................274
  
  5 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  There are a million stories in the big city, as the 
  saying goes.
  In a small shop in Chinatown, an elderly man 
  stays behind the counter of his butcher’s shop 
  for another hour, hoping to earn a few dollars 
  more before going home to his family. Mean-
  while...
  ...in a seedy hotel room just oﬀ the Strip, a 
  thirty dollar a trick hooker takes oﬀ her clothes 
  for the fourth time tonight and tries to look 
  excited. Meanwhile...
  ...in the Huntsman’s Club high atop the Mur-
  chison Building in Bankhurst, a City Council-
  man shakes hands with a paving contractor, 
  and several million dollars of the city’s money 
  starts to ﬁnd its way into the contractor’s pocket. 
  Meanwhile...
  ...in an illegal casino in an “abandoned” ware-
  house in Pierpoint, a man dressed like he 
  stepped out of a pack of cards deals a hand of 
  poker for a pot with a hundred thousand-dollar 
  ante. Meanwhile...
  ...in Latin City, the cops surround a taque-
  ria where two men with guns have taken ﬁve 
  patrons and a cook hostage. Meanwhile...
  ...in a Gadsden nightclub, a DJ spins the latest 
  hits while the crowd dances and gyrates out on 
  the ﬂoor amid laser light and dry ice smoke. 
  Meanwhile...
  ...a man wearing a black mask with a blue cres-
  cent moon stands on a rooftop, bringing cross-
  hairs to bear on a seventeen year-old kid who’s 
  dealing twenty dollar vials of crack on a street-
  corner in Fayettenam. His ﬁnger slowly begins 
  to squeeze the trigger. Meanwhile...
  ...on a dirty street in Freetown, a woman walks 
  to her third job of the day past gangstas wear-
  ing gaudy jewelry worth at least two weeks of 
  her combined salaries. Meanwhile...
  ...down in Boxtown, a man who hasn’t had a 
  place to live for over a decade crawls inside an 
  old cardboard box that once held a refrigerator 
  and wraps himself in dirty blankets against the 
  evening’s cold. Meanwhile...
  ...a thirty year-old stockbroker eating dinner 
  with his girlfriend at Roberto’s on 20th fumbles 
  nervously with a little velvet box as he starts 
  to ask the most important question of his life. 
  Meanwhile...
  ...a man born and raised in Saudi Arabia looks 
  up at the Stailey Towers and wonders how 
  much high explosive it would take to bring the 
  whole building down. Meanwhile...
  ...most of the city sleeps, gearing up for another 
  workday tomorrow.
  Welcome to the Pearl City. We hope you enjoy it... 
  or at least survive it.
  WHAT’S IN THIS BOOK
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss is your guide to 
  the people and places, streets and parks, and highs 
  and lows of Hudson City, one of the most fascinat-
  ing areas in modern America. It’s a study in con-
  trast, like so many cities these days. Though home 
  to many immensely wealthy people, it’s also a place 
  where grinding poverty keeps tens of thousands 
  of people from achieving their dreams. Though it 
  has some of the most beautiful and beloved build-
  ings in the country, parts of it are ﬁlled with slums 
  and tenement housing little improved over the 
  conditions of a century ago. And though protected 
  by one of the largest police forces in the world, 
  it’s plagued by crime of all varieties, including the 
  sometimes bizarre schemes of ﬂamboyant cos-
  tumed criminals like Card Shark, Janus, and Char-
  lemagne... not to mention the often-destructive 
  activities of the vigilantes who ﬁght them.
  In short, Hudson City is the perfect setting for 
  many types of Dark Champions campaigns, par-
  ticularly those focusing on vigilante crimeﬁghting, 
  police action, and the like. Gamemasters who don’t 
  want to use the city as a whole can easily adapt its 
  locations and people for use in their own games.
  Chapter One, The Pearl City, discusses the history 
  of Hudson City. From its founding in 1803, through 
  the tumult and disasters of the late nineteenth and 
  early twentieth centuries, right up to the advances 
  of the Information Age, the Pearl City has grown 
  and prospered... or, as some would put it, festered.
  Chapter Two, The Lay Of The Land, describes the 
  geography, climate, and layout of the city. From the 
  basic topography to descriptions of the major neigh-
  borhoods and how to get around the city, you’ll ﬁnd 
  it all here. This chapter also has a section that reviews 
  the city’s government and major politicians.
  Chapter Three, A Day In The Life, covers day-to-
  day living in Hudson City. Every city has its own 
  rhythms and routines, and the Pearl City is no dif-
  ferent. Here you’ll ﬁnd information on how Hud-
  sonites entertain themselves, the slang they use, 
  the media they get their daily news from, and the 
  subcultures that call the city home.
  INTRODUCTION
  
  6 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  Chapter Four, The Long Arm Of The Law, reviews 
  the current state of law enforcement in Hudson 
  City. The HCPD is a large and powerful organiza-
  tion that tackles a thankless task every day, and 
  here’s where you’ll ﬁnd out how they do it. This 
  chapter also covers other law enforcement agencies, 
  such as the FBI, and related institutions like the Fire 
  Department, the court system, and the prisons.
  Chapter Five, Predators, looks at the HCPD’s 
  opposite number:  the city’s infamous underworld. 
  Hudson City has a high crime rate, and this chapter 
  discusses its causes — everyone from traditional 
  organized crime groups (like the Maﬁa and Chinese 
  tongs) to crimelords like Shango and Speargun.
  Chapter Six, Hot Spots For Cool Heroes, provides 
  detailed descriptions of a few locations that might 
  be of particular interest to you and your heroes:  
  the Skyline Club; Collins Guns; the Avenue of the 
  Elms; and plenty of others.
  Chapter Seven discusses how to GM a Dark Cham-
  pions campaign using Hudson City. In addition 
  to general GMing advice and character sheets for 
  many criminals and NPC vigilantes, it includes 
  the GM’s Vault, which contains information about 
  what’s really going on in the Pearl City — things 
  only the GM should know.
  Check your ammo and watch your back. It’s 
  time to descend into the urban abyss.
  HEY, WHERE ARE ALL THE SUPERHEROES?
  Hudson City is nominally a part of the 
  Champions Universe, the Hero Games setting that 
  includes Vibora Bay, Millennium City, and super-
  powered humans galore. And yet, there aren’t any 
  superhumans in the Pearl City. There are some 
  decidedly odd people, and some occurrences you 
  might describe as “paranormal,” but no superhu-
  mans. So, the question is:  where are they?
  The answer:  in Champions books. You won’t 
  ever ﬁnd a superhuman from the Champions Uni-
  verse mentioned in a Dark Champions product 
  (much less making an active appearance in one). By 
  the same token, you won’t ﬁnd Card Shark setting 
  up illegal casinos in Vibora Bay, or the Harbinger of 
  Justice showing up in Millennium City to deal with 
  the Ultimates as they so richly deserve. You’re more 
  than welcome to have them do that in your own 
  campaigns, of course... but for “oﬃcial continuity” 
  purposes that sort of intermingling won’t occur.
  There’s no oﬃcial “in-setting” explanation for 
  why this state of aﬀairs exists — no mystic ﬂux, 
  no ban laid down by the gods, no invisible energy 
  ﬁeld that hurts superhumans, nothing. It’s just the 
  way things are. If you want to create a justiﬁcation 
  for the separation in your own campaign, please 
  do — but for “oﬃcial” purposes, the explanation is 
  “because.” Think of it as an “unwritten agreement” 
  between the Hudsonites and the rest of the Cham-
  pions Universe, if you will.
  But there are, of course, meta-explanations 
  that have to do with game publishing, line man-
  agement, and campaign creation. First, including 
  superhumans in Hudson City ruins the “feel” of the 
  setting. There’s no point in having vigilantes and 
  cops struggle to clean up the streets if the Cham-
  pions can show up and take care of the problem 
  quickly and easily. That would just turn Hudson 
  City into an older, dirtier version of Millennium 
  City, and there’s no point in that. Second, if the 
  two settings are presented as already intermingled, 
  it becomes diﬃcult for a GM who doesn’t want 
  them that way to change them — it would require 
  reworking a lot of Hudson City, since the pres-
  ence of superhumans aﬀects a society in many 
  profound ways. On the other hand, if you want 
  to mix the two together, it’s easy:  pretty much all 
  you have to do is say “All right, there are superhu-
  mans in Hudson City,” make a few changes, and go 
  from there. Hudson City is given a location in the 
  Champions Universe for those of you who do, in 
  fact, want to do that, but that’s as far as Hero Games 
  books are going to take it — the rest, as they say, is 
  up to you.
  AUTHOR’S NOTE:  HUDSON CITY  
  AND REALISM
  Dark Champions is partly about more “realis-
  tic” and “gritty” adventuring than what’s depicted 
  in genres like Champions and Pulp Hero, and to 
  that end I’ve tried to give Hudson City as strong 
  an air of verisimilitude as I can without ruining its 
  usefulness. It contains bits and pieces of the “feel” 
  of the many major American cities I’ve spent time 
  in, such as New York City, San Francisco, Atlanta, 
  Phoenix, Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee — but 
  it’s not precisely modeled on any of them, or any 
  other real-world city.
  While I ﬁt Hudson City into the real world 
  by locating it on the New Jersey shore, that’s about 
  as much real-world connection as it needs or has. 
  I haven’t altered the map of Hudson City to ﬁt it 
  precisely into part of the New Jersey coastline; 
  rather, in this ﬁctional world, the coastline of that 
  part of New Jersey has been re-arranged so that it 
  looks exactly like what’s depicted on the maps in 
  this book. (Ahhhh, the power!) I’ve added coun-
  ties, rivers, and other geographical features to suit 
  the city, too, regardless of what exists in the real 
  world — the whole point is to make a ﬁctional 
  city that’s fun for Dark Champions gaming, not to 
  write a geography or social studies textbook. And 
  while there are mentions of New Jersey politicians 
  and people, those folks are all entirely ﬁctional. I’m 
  not trying to parody, satirize, or praise any actual 
  living person (which is one reason I prefer to create 
  ﬁctional counties and cities instead of using real-
  world ones).
  In short:  Hudson City is “realistic,” but it’s not 
  “real world.” Enjoy it for what it is — a dark urban 
  battleground on which to ﬁght your war on crime 
  and evil — and don’t let “real world” considerations 
  get in the way of having fun.
  
  chapter one:
  chapter one:
  chapter one:
  A HISTORY OF HUDSON CITY
  THE PEARL CITY
  
  8 ■ The Pearl City: The History Of Hudson City
  Hero System 5th Edition
  H
  aving only recently celebrated its bicenten-
  nial anniversary, Hudson City has good 
  reason to be aware of its long history 
  — both the good and the bad.
  THE EARLY YEARS
  Relatively little is known of the history of the 
  Hudson City region prior to the arrival of English 
  colonists in what’s now called New Jersey in the 
  seventeenth century. The area was inhabited by 
  tribes of the Unalachtigo branch of the Delaware 
  Indians (known in their own language as Lenni 
  Lenape, or “real people”), an Algonquin-speak-
  ing people. Early explorers and settlers reported 
  encountering several small villages in the area 
  around Hudson City, including a village named 
  Kanahsoki near the mouth of the Stewart River. 
  However, by the time Hudson and LeMastre sur-
  veyed the area, the Indian population had disap-
  peared for reasons that remain unclear today. Some 
  contemporary accounts say the Indians simply 
  “moved on,” but the accuracy of those reports 
  remains somewhat suspect.
  Before 1803, the Hudson City area wasn’t 
  heavily settled by colonists. A few lived and farmed 
  here and there throughout the region, but most 
  preferred the northern and western parts of New 
  Jersey (closer to the cities of New York and Phila-
  delphia, respectively). The Stewart River was not, at 
  that time, considered particularly useful for com-
  merce, though it was ﬁshed.
  The most notable event of the colonial period 
  was the Battle of the Stewart River (1778), in which 
  a ragtag group of Revolutionary soldiers under the 
  command of General Richard Bankhurst defeated 
  a larger British force, thus preventing those soldiers 
  from joining Howe’s forces at the Battle of Mon-
  mouth later that year. The battle lasted for most of a 
  day and involved a series of skirmishes more than a 
  true open battle. Modern historians are not sure of 
  the exact location where all the ﬁghting took place, 
  though they know from the occasional ﬁnds of lead 
  balls and other artifacts that the ﬁercest combat 
  was probably in and around the southwest part of 
  what’s now LeMastre Park and down through the 
  Stewartsboro neighborhood.
  1803:  THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY
  The Hudson City region remained quiet and 
  basically uninhabited until 1803. In that year two 
  men — Emil Hudson, a wealthy merchant, and 
  Andre LeMastre, an expatriate Frenchman drawn 
  to the New World by the promise of the nascent 
  American republic — spent several weeks explor-
  ing and surveying the area. Hudson was seeking a 
  place where he could establish a trading post and 
  center of commerce. He recruited LeMastre, who 
  had some training in architecture, to help him ﬁnd 
  the best location for the city and establish its layout. 
  After he ﬁnished the general survey, Hudson settled 
  on a site at the mouth of the Stewart River.
  The two men returned to civilization. While 
  Hudson purchased the land from the government, 
  LeMastre sketched out a basic plan for the new 
  town that featured a broad grid of streets on the 
  northern side of the river along the coast. LeMastre 
  also ordered building materials and recruited work-
  ers and settlers whose labor would bring his and 
  Hudson’s vision to life.
  In less than a year the basics of the new town, 
  informally christened Hudsonsburg by workers of 
  German extraction, had taken shape. Christmas, 
  1803 saw the ﬁrst families, including Hudson’s and 
  LeMastre’s own, take up residence in the com-
  munity. Some of those families, including the 
  Bankhursts, Fraziers, and Willoughbys, remain 
  among the most prominent in Hudson City today.
  THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
  The new town grew steadily over the next 
  decade as Hudson spent most of his own fortune 
  to increase trade within the city and spent count-
  less hours promoting his new home in other cities 
  and in Europe. By the time of the War of 1812, it 
  was regarded as important enough to merit attack 
  by the British. Christopher Caldwell, a local car-
  penter, Revolutionary War veteran, and leader of 
  the Hudsonsburg Militia, converted his house at 
  Washington Street and 16th Avenue into a small fort 
  where he and a band of like-minded men held oﬀ 
  the redcoats until help arrived. His house, known as 
  Caldwell’s Stand, has been preserved in its original 
  condition and become an important tourist attrac-
  tion and historical resource.
  From 1812 until the War Between the States, 
  Hudsonsburg kept growing. It changed its name to 
  Hudson City in 1823 less than a week before Emil 
  Hudson’s death. Not just merchants and workmen 
  but many diﬀerent types of craftsmen came to live 
  there, and young farmers seeking good land moved 
  into the area to provide the city with food. Most 
  of the growth took place on the North Bank of the 
  Stewart, but small settlements also sprang up on the 
  South Bank.
  Hudson City commerce received a boost in 
  1837 when a group of southern New Jersey busi-
  nessmen built a canal between the upper reaches 
  of the Stewart River and the Delaware River. This 
  THE HISTORY OF 
  HUDSON CITY
  
  9 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter One
  made it possible to carry bulk goods by water all 
  the way from Hudson City on the coast to Philadel-
  phia or other parts of the interior. Although neither 
  the river nor the canal could support truly large 
  ships, it could handle smaller ones without much 
  diﬃculty. That was enough to make Hudson City 
  even more attractive as a center of trade.
  The outbreak of the Civil War slowed the city’s 
  growth, but didn’t stop it, and in some ways laid 
  the foundation for things to come. While thou-
  sands of young men went oﬀ to war on behalf of 
  the Union, manufacturers and early industrialists 
  increased the size of their operations so they could 
  supply the Union Army with needed goods. Some 
  were nothing but proﬁteers, turning out shoddy 
  goods at inﬂated prices, but others did their best 
  to give good value for the government money they 
  received. The Frazier Arms Company in particular 
  was known for the quality of its product (pistols 
  and long arms), and it’s said that the company 
  (which was bought by Remington decades ago) is 
  the true foundation of the Frazier family’s fortune.
  1867:  THE HUDSON CITY RIOTS
  After the War’s end, survivors returned home 
  to Hudson City to rebuild their lives and take part 
  in what they hoped would be a new period of 
  economic prosperity. Unfortunately for them, they 
  faced increasing competition from several groups. 
  Immigration from Europe was increasing, with the 
  immigrants often willing to work for cheaper wages 
  than nativeborn Americans. This led to feelings of 
  resentment, even hatred, which prompted many of 
  the immigrants to live in small ethnic communities.
  Even worse was the arrival of newly-freed 
  black slaves from the South who came north look-
  ing for work. They established a shantytown, called 
  “Freetown” by Hudsonites, a couple miles south of 
  the Stewart and began taking jobs for even lower 
  wages than the European immigrants. Even worse, 
  in the eyes of many whites, Freetown was a den of 
  drunkenness, licentiousness, sin, vice, and crime; 
  it wasn’t long before nearly every crime in the city 
  was being blamed on “Negro invaders.” It didn’t 
  take long for the resentment and frustration many 
  Hudsonites felt to reach a boiling point.
  In 1867 a group of hot-headed men who called 
  themselves the White Riders attacked Freetown. 
  Though sometimes referred to as members of the 
  Ku Klux Klan, the Riders were an independent 
  group with a similar philosophy. Led by a man 
  named Aloysius Flint, the Riders descended on 
  Freetown, assaulting its “citizens,” starting ﬁres, 
  and destroying property. The blacks fought back, 
  and the attack soon became a chaotic melee which 
  gradually worked its way north as Flint and the rest 
  were slowly pushed back by the force of numbers. 
  Somehow, once they crossed back over the Stew-
  art, several ﬁres were started in Hudson City. The 
  blaze soon spread out of control and burned nearly 
  a hundred buildings to the ground. Exactly how 
  these ﬁres started has never been determined. Most 
  historians believe the blacks set them in revenge 
  for the attack, but Hudson City civil rights lead-
  ers maintain to this day that Aloysius Flint and 
  the White Riders deliberately started them so the 
  inhabitants of Freetown would get the blame.
  
  10 ■ The Pearl City: The History Of Hudson City
  Hero System 5th Edition
  AFTER THE RIOTS
  It took a while for the city to settle down 
  after the riots — there were reprisal attacks by 
  both sides, and more than a few inhabitants of 
  Freetown left the area for good. But the truth was 
  that the growing Industrial Revolution demanded 
  workers to ﬁll the factories that were slowly but 
  surely arising in and around Hudson City. That 
  meant the movers and shakers in the city were 
  willing to accept blacks, Italians, Chinese, and just 
  about anyone else. Many of them even built their 
  new manufacturing facilities south of the river to 
  make it easier for workers to get to them. In time 
  local villages and towns like Elmview and For-
  syth became virtual company towns, only to be 
  absorbed into Hudson City proper decades later. 
  The rapidly-growing city and population, not to 
  mention the technological advances of the late nine-
  teenth century and the social changes they brought, 
  sometimes seemed to create as many problems for 
  Hudson City as they did opportunities. Epidemics of 
  cholera, dysentery, and ﬂu swept the city several times 
  during the 1865-1890 period, mostly due to poor 
  sanitation within the city. After they ﬁnished rebuild-
  ing the parts of the city damaged by the Riots, the 
  city fathers planned, and partly built, a more modern 
  sewer system that signiﬁcantly reduced the occur-
  rence of disease in the city.
  Another problem was crime. The Hudson City 
  Police Department was no more professional or 
  well-run than any other such department of the 
  time; it ignored many areas of the city, and corrup-
  tion was rampant. As a result, many forms of crime 
  ﬂourished. Teenage boys and young men formed 
  small, vicious gangs that fought for control over 
  parts of the city, and ethnic crime, such as Italian 
  “Black Hand” extortion rings and Chinese tongs, 
  proved particularly diﬃcult to stop. Many histo-
  rians date the city’s reputation as crime-ridden to 
  these times.
  THE INDEPENDENCE DAY FIRE OF 1895
  Sewer construction and other building proj-
  ects came to a screeching halt during the drought-
  plagued summer of 1895. Badly-manufactured ﬁre-
  works lit during the Fourth of July festivities started 
  a ﬁre in Gadsden. Before the Fire Department 
  could respond, dozens of buildings were ablaze, 
  and low water supplies made it virtually impossible 
  to ﬁght the ﬁres. A southerly wind carried sparks, 
  embers, and hot ash over the river, starting ﬁres on 
  the Southside as well. Four days later, by the time 
  the ﬁres were ﬁnally brought under control (partly 
  due to a timely thunderstorm), over 75% of the 
  buildings in Hudson City were destroyed or signiﬁ-
  cantly damaged. “The entire city has been reduced 
  to a modern-day Hell of ﬁre-ravaged brick and 
  timber,” wrote one New York reporter.
  A lesser people would have given up and left 
  most of the city to rot, but Hudsonites are a hardy, 
  stubborn breed. They rolled up their sleeves and 
  got to work, rebuilding their homes and businesses. 
  The city fathers took the opportunity to redraw 
  the plan of the city. They tried to eliminate narrow 
  or winding streets, change or remove “bad” neigh-
  borhoods, and start anew with the best sanitation 
  systems engineering could build. Their plans didn’t 
  always reach fruition, but as anyone who looks at 
  pre-1895 map can tell, the modern layout of the 
  city owes more to the Independence Day ﬁre and 
  its aftermath than to Andre LeMastre’s original 
  plan (though the city fathers preserved much of 
  LeMastre’s vision).
  In many cases, Hudsonites didn’t bother to 
  rebuild damaged buildings. Instead, they tore them 
  down, covered up the remains (or sunk them into 
  the earth), and built over them. As a result, to this 
  day work crews digging foundations for new build-
  ings or laying new pipes for some project often 
  come across the remains of cellars, basements, 
  primitive sewer systems, and other remnants of old 
  Hudson City. (If the builders tell anyone, these sites 
  sometimes become archaeological treasure-troves... 
  but it’s just as likely they’ll cover up the discovery 
  so the government won’t bring the construction 
  project to a screeching halt while scientists investi-
  gate the ﬁnd.)
  As part of the Grand Rebuilding (as it was 
  known), Hudson City constructed its ﬁrst true 
  subway system. Interest in a subway to comple-
  ment the city’s network of railways had been 
  growing for decades, ever since northern rival 
  New York City had started working on one. A few 
  private companies had built short pneumatic tube 
  subways in the late 1800s, but none had received 
  much support and all had eventually shut down for 
  lack of money. The city formed the Hudson City 
  Rapid Transit Company (HCRTC, with Company 
  later changed to “Division”) to oversee the project. 
  With full public support, the HCRTC had a partial 
  working system in place by 1913, and every year 
  thereafter saw more and more of the city served by 
  underground as well as aboveground commuter 
  rail systems.
  THE EARLY  
  TWENTIETH CENTURY
  By the time the young men of Hudson City 
  were called to war in the trenches and forests of 
  France, most of the city had been rebuilt and had 
  started to grow once more. Wartime manufacturing 
  brought great proﬁts to many businesses the city, 
  particularly to the Hudson City Shipyards and vari-
  ous arms manufacturers.
  PULP-ERA HUDSON CITY
  The new prosperity carried over into the 1920s 
  and ’30s, an era that saw the debut of a phenom-
  enon many people closely associate with Hudson 
  City:  costumed vigilante crimeﬁghters. Prohibi-
  tion, made the law of the land by the Volstead Act, 
  allowed organized crime — mainly the Maﬁa — to 
  ﬂourish by providing bootleg liquor in addition 
  to gambling, prostitution, and other forms of vice. 
  Italian crime families like the Morellis and Torc-
  cones got their start during this period, and their 
  leaders became some of the most powerful men in 
  the city.
  DR. SUSAN 
  RUSSELL
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  10 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 17 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  8-, Concealment 11-, 
  CK: Hudson City 11-, 
  KS: World History 13-, 
  KS: American History 
  13-, KS: Hudson City 
  History 13-, Mechanics 
  8-, PS: Archaeologist  
  11-, PS: Historian 11-, 
  SS: Anthropology 11-, 
  SS: Archaeology 13-
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  A part-time 
  professor at HCSU and 
  full-time member of the 
  Hudson City Historical 
  Society staﬀ, Dr. Susan 
  Russell is an historian 
  and archaeologist spe-
  cializing in the history 
  and artifacts of Hudson 
  City. She’s conducted 
  archaeological digs all 
  over the city in search 
  of bits and pieces of the 
  Pearl City’s past.
  
  11 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter One
  With smuggling, murder, and mayhem on the 
  rise, a breed of men and women arose to oppose 
  the gangsters and ﬁendish masterminds who beset 
  the city. The ﬁrst and foremost among these was the 
  Raven, a masked man dressed in black and wear-
  ing a black cloak. He claimed to have mystic powers 
  of foresight, but to the readers of the Hudson City 
  papers it often seemed as if his quick trigger ﬁnger 
  and unerring aim were the most important abilities 
  he brought to his war on crime. Accompanied by his 
  companion, the lovely and vivacious Velvet Phan-
  tom, his pet raven Cagliostro, and a group of helpers 
  known as the Midnight Brigade, the Raven smashed 
  crime syndicates, foiled the plans of murderous arch-
  criminals, and repeatedly saved the city from disaster 
  despite being wanted by the police.
  As the Twenties turned into the Thirties and 
  the tide of crime (both normal and “weird,” as 
  the papers dubbed it) rose, several other “masked 
  mystery men” took their place beside the Raven on 
  the front lines of crimeﬁghting. The Golden Tiger, 
  an American who somehow learned the secret 
  Oriental ﬁghting arts, brought his skills to bear in 
  an unending war against the tongs of Chinatown. 
  Captain James Battle and his Science Police used 
  their technological know-
  how and arsenal of gadgets 
  to ﬁght all manner of crime, 
  including the insidious Dr. 
  Fang and his Legion of Evil. 
  The Scarlet Shadow wielded 
  a Gas-Gun that allowed him 
  to lay criminals low without 
  harming them. Rawboned FBI 
  agent Sam Spivey didn’t wear 
  a costume, but he worked 
  with the likes of the Raven 
  or Jim Battle so often that 
  he was often associated with 
  them in the minds of the 
  public. Together these men, 
  and others like them, kept 
  the good people of Hudson 
  City from falling under an 
  onslaught of crime.
  WORLD WAR II
  The outbreak of World 
  War II brought most of the 
  ﬂamboyant adventuring of the 
  Twenties and Thirties to an 
  end. A few crimeﬁghters, such 
  as the Raven, remained on 
  duty to smash Nazi spy-rings 
  and keep the homefront safe, 
  but even he had less to do 
  than before (in part because 
  the American government 
  secretly negotiated a deal with 
  the Maﬁa in Hudson City to ensure it would keep 
  the docks functioning eﬃciently and prevent any 
  longshoremen’s strikes, willingly turning a blind 
  eye to many other Maﬁa activities in exchange). 
  Others were absorbed into the war eﬀort. Captain 
  (soon Colonel) Battle and the Science Police fell in 
  combat in 1944 while saving the world from a Nazi 
  menace whose true nature has never been disclosed 
  to the public, and the Scarlet Shadow is thought to 
  have gone to work with the OSS, though records 
  regarding him remain classiﬁed.
  The war aﬀected Hudson City much as earlier 
  wars did:  it brought great proﬁt. Countless wartime 
  government contracts went to Hudson City indus-
  trialists, service providers, and entrepreneurs. Ford-
  ham ChemTech, at the time a small ﬁrm known as 
  Fordham Manufacturing, rose to prominence in 
  large part because of the armaments contracts it 
  obtained, which led to many more such contracts 
  with the Department of Defense in the latter half of 
  the twentieth century.
  
  12 ■ The Pearl City: The History Of Hudson City
  Hero System 5th Edition
  THE FIFTIES, SIXTIES,  
  AND SEVENTIES
  Post-war prosperity aﬀected Hudson City like 
  it did the rest of America. As a result, the Pearl City 
  grew signiﬁcantly, fully absorbing formerly outlying 
  communities like Stewartsboro, Mint Ridge, Little 
  Italy, and even Irishtown (which had long since lost 
  most of its ethnic character, becoming instead a 
  haven for many wealthy Hudsonites).
  Throughout this period there were no notable 
  costumed crimeﬁghters or criminals active, but the 
  Maﬁa and other organized crime groups remained 
  and increased in power. The early Sixties was the 
  height of La Cosa Nostra’s strength, when it con-
  trolled most of the crime on the Northside and a 
  not inconsiderable chunk of it on the Southside. 
  Increased governmental scrutiny and periodic 
  FBI crackdowns weakened the Maﬁa from the late 
  1960s through the mid-Seventies.
  The Sixties, particularly the latter half, were 
  a bad time for Hudson City. Growth stalled, and 
  mounting city expenses meant that proposed new 
  programs often failed to get oﬀ the ground and 
  the city neglected some basic maintenance chores. 
  Economic stagnation coupled with an increasing 
  awareness of civil rights issues caused major social 
  unrest, particularly on the Southside. A new wave 
  of costumed crimeﬁghters, including the ﬁrst Black 
  Whisper, the highly skilled martial artist Shatter, 
  and a brutal adventurer who called himself Jason 
  Scorpion, fought against the worst of the city’s evils, 
  but often with little lasting eﬀect. All of them were 
  dead or retired by 1979.
  The worst incident of this period occurred in 
  the summer of 1967 during a march to celebrate 
  civil rights progress and commemorate the one 
  hundredth anniversary of the Hudson City Riots. 
  The celebration disintegrated into a riot itself when 
  white bigots pelted the marchers with stones, bot-
  tles, and garbage. Blacks in Freetown and in the rest 
  of the city retaliated, often leading to open ﬁghting 
  in the streets. The three-day spree of racial violence 
  caused 21 deaths, untold injuries, and millions of 
  dollars of damage. Many of the leaders of Hudson 
  City’s early twenty-ﬁrst century black community 
  were a part of the march and experienced the riots 
  ﬁrst-hand; their bitter memories of the incident 
  continue to aﬀect Hudsonite racial politics today.
  Things calmed down in the 1970s, though 
  crime continued to rise and the city couldn’t shake 
  oﬀ its economic malaise. Both the Maﬁa and the 
  Chinese tongs ﬂooded the streets with heroin, 
  creating legions of junkies who each commit-
  ted dozens of petty crimes every day to feed their 
  habit. Muggings, burglaries, murders, and rapes all 
  increased dramatically, as did gang activity. “White 
  ﬂight” to the suburbs changed the demographics of 
  the city signiﬁcantly.
  
  13 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter One
  THE EIGHTIES, NINETIES, 
  AND BEYOND
  If the crime situation in Hudson City was bad 
  in the Seventies, it became even worse in the Eighties 
  and Nineties with the arrival of cheap cocaine... and, 
  eventually, crack (not to mention meth and various 
  designer drugs). Many parts of the Northside were 
  far less safe than ever before, and the public hous-
  ing projects of the Southside became so dangerous 
  that the police often refused to go near them. With 
  the Maﬁa weakened by tenacious federal prosecu-
  tion under RICO and other new laws, fresh waves of 
  ethnic organized crime made their way into the Pearl 
  City:  Russian gangsters; Jamaican posses; the yakuza; 
  and many more. Homegrown criminals, mostly in the 
  form of black street gangs on the Southside (includ-
  ing the Nubians, the Warriors, and the Overlords), 
  remained active. Costumed, “weird,” or ﬂamboyant 
  criminals like Card Shark, Redbeard, Jackknife, and 
  Chiaroscuro became more common than ever before.
  New costumed vigilantes arose to face this 
  threat. The earliest of them was Black Whisper II, 
  who ﬁrst appeared in 1983 to tackle the gang prob-
  lem in Freetown and Latin City. For his eﬀorts he 
  was shot at, labeled a racist by several organizations, 
  and despised by far too many Freetowners, but 
  public scorn and derision couldn’t stop him. That 
  took a .45 bullet ﬁred by an HCPD cop (one later 
  dismissed from the force for taking bribes, though 
  his shooting of Black Whisper II was, and still is, 
  regarded as legitimate). Others included Captain 
  X, Midnight, the Sandman, and the Scarecrow. A 
  few of these, such as Midnight, established informal 
  “working relationships” with the police, who often 
  found themselves baﬄed or outgunned by the 
  strange denizens of the underworld.
  The most infamous of this new breed of vigi-
  lantes was the Harbinger of Justice, who made his 
  debut in 1986 by destroying one of Card Shark’s 
  illegal casinos and “executing” all eleven criminals 
  running the place. More ruthless and uncompro-
  mising than even the toughest of his predecessors, 
  the Harbinger launched a one-man crimeﬁghting 
  crusade that has lasted for nearly twenty years and 
  resulted in thousands of deaths. Card Shark seems 
  to be the “Blue Moon Killer’s” particular nemesis. 
  The two have clashed on numerous occasions, and 
  experts believe the current Card Shark is not the 
  original, who was probably slain by the Harbinger 
  sometime in the late Eighties or early Nineties. 
  Although he’s disappeared on a few occasions for 
  months at a stretch, the Harbinger has so far deﬁed 
  every attempt to kill or capture him, and seems to 
  show no signs of slowing down.
  BEYOND THE UNDERWORLD
  Street crime wasn’t the only sort of crimi-
  nal activity making headlines during this period. 
  Hudson City has a not-undeserved reputation for 
  corruption, and several scandals during the Eight-
  ies and Nineties illustrate this nicely.
  In 1987, then Police Commissioner Michael 
  Gentry fell victim to an FBI sting operation. It 
  seemed that he, along with several colleagues 
  lower down the command chain, had taken bribes 
  from defense attorneys to lose or corrupt evidence 
  against various perpetrators. The media’s investiga-
  tion into the scandal uncovered other, related forms 
  of corruption, including an old-fashioned “pad” 
  where reporters and other people looking for police 
  favors paid into a common till at each precinct, 
  which was then distributed among the oﬃcers on 
  the basis of rank. Several hundred ﬁrings and a few 
  high-proﬁle trials later, the Mayor’s oﬃce declared 
  
  14 ■ The Pearl City: The History Of Hudson City
  Hero System 5th Edition
  the HCPD “clean again” — much to the amusement 
  of many Hudsonites.
  In 1993, the City News reported that a develop-
  ment and construction ﬁrm, Boyce & Associates, 
  had lavishly spread money around the County 
  Planning Commission and Planner’s Oﬃce to 
  ensure that its rezoning and permit requests were 
  looked upon favorably. Planning administrators 
  and employees had received cash bribes, trips to 
  Las Vegas and Hawaii, the services of hookers, and 
  illegal drugs, among other things. As a result of the 
  scandal, the City Council completely revised and 
  restructured the Planning oﬃces at the cost of mil-
  lions of taxpayer dollars.
  In 2001, the City News again broke a major 
  scandal story. According to the paper, some HCPD 
  oﬃcers assigned to the North Elmview neigh-
  borhood — which includes the notorious Strip 
  — were arresting prostitutes, then letting them 
  go in exchange for sexual favors. The reporter’s 
  sources even claimed some pimps had worked out 
  an arrangement in which their girls could provide 
  the favors in advance, thus avoiding the hassle of an 
  arrest. Although an internal investigation could not 
  verify the latter claim, it did discover that a “sex-
  for-release” ring existed. A dozen oﬃcers were ﬁred, 
  and four prosecuted.
  HUDSON CITY TODAY
  As of the early twenty-ﬁrst century, Hudson 
  City is a thriving metropolis of over six million 
  souls. Although its crime rate remains high — one 
  of the highest in the nation, in fact — hundreds of 
  people migrate there every day, hoping to ﬁnd a 
  new life for themselves and their families. Despite 
  its problems, it’s still the Pearl City, home to com-
  merce, culture, entertainment, and all the best 
  modern America has to oﬀer.
  Other than crime and corruption (and the 
  related phenomenon of vigilantism), several impor-
  tant issues confront the city as it moves forward 
  into the future. Foremost of these is the changing 
  nature of the modern economy. The shift from 
  manufacturing to service industries has left many 
  Hudsonites, particularly Southsiders, unemployed 
  or underemployed, and often without health insur-
  ance as well. This situation contributes to all sorts 
  of other problems, including crime and bloated 
  welfare rolls. The Mayor and other city leaders 
  struggle to attract new employers to the area, but 
  Hudson City’s reputation for crime and corruption, 
  coupled with its high cost of living, make it a hard 
  sell to many businesses.
  Second, conﬂict between the city government 
  and the unions remains a major factor in local 
  politics. Mayor Umstead was elected despite his 
  staunch anti-union stand, but his anti-union poli-
  cies have created an enormous amount of friction. 
  The result has been work slowdowns and even 
  strikes that have crippled the city for days at a time. 
  Many analysts don’t believe he can possibly win re-
  election in 2006... or even survive ongoing eﬀorts to 
  recall him before then.
  Third, infrastructure maintenance has fallen 
  behind in the wake of the economic downturn of 
  the late Nineties/early 2000s. Hudson City desper-
  ately needs hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth 
  of road and bridge repairs, train track maintenance, 
  asbestos removal, and similar services, but it just 
  can’t aﬀord them. Despite Mayor Umstead’s eﬀorts 
  to squeeze out the money somehow, it’s probably 
  going to take a major disaster before people start 
  paying more attention to this issue.
  THE BICENTENNIAL
  In 2003, Hudson City 
  celebrated its bicenten-
  nial. As part of the cel-
  ebration, the city spon-
  sored a year-long series 
  of festivals, parades, 
  and events throughout 
  the city, culminating 
  in a gigantic weekend-
  long “park party” in 
  LeMastre Park. A good 
  time was had by all, 
  but altogether the cel-
  ebration cost the city 
  approximately $100 
  million... and many 
  of the bills are still 
  coming due.
  
  chapter two:
  chapter two:
  chapter two:
  THE LAY OF THE LAND
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  16 ■ The Lay Of The Land
   The Place
  Size:  80 square miles 
  (metropolitan area) (about 
  10 miles [8,045”] long by 8 
  miles [6,436”] wide)
  Altitude:  0-163 feet above 
  sea level
  Climate:  Temperate; annual 
  precipitation approximately 
  40-45 inches. Standard tem-
  peratures are:
  Month 
  Avg. Temperatures
  JAN. 
  -3o-4o C (27o-40o F)
  FEB. 
  -2o-5o C (29o-42o F)
  MAR. 
  2o-9o C (36o-49o F)
  APR. 
  7o-14o C (44o-57o F)
  MAY 
  12o-19o C (54o-66o F)
  JUNE 
  17o-23o C (62o-74o F)
  JULY 
  20o-27o C (68o-80o F)
  AUG. 
  20o-27o C (68o-80o F)
  SEP. 
  17o-23o C (62o-74o F)
  OCT. 
  10o-18o C (51o-64o F)
  NOV. 
  5o-13o C (42o-55o F)
  DEC. 
  1o-8o C (33o-46o F)
  Getting 
  Around:
  Bus:  $2.00 for locals, $4.00 
  for express buses
  Elevated Rail:  $1.75 for 
  locals, $3.50 express trains; 
  one transfer allowed within 
  an hour
  Subway:  $2.00, one trans-
  fer allowed within an hour
  Taxi:  Basic fee of  $2.50 
  initial charge, plus $0.40 
  per one-ﬁfth of a mile (or 
  fraction thereof) after that; 
  additional fees may apply
  Parking your car:  Approx. 
  $2-6 per hour
  The People
  Population:
  Resident, including suburbs:  
  5.3 million
  Resident, metropolitan area:  
  2.5 million
  Working:  6.3 million
  Racial Background:
  White:  54%
  Black:  21%
  Hispanic:  8%
  Asian:  8%
  Other:  9%
  Religious Background:
  Protestant:  37%
  Catholic:  22%
  Jewish:  12%
  Buddhist:  10%
  Muslim:  9%
  Other:  10%
  2004 Sports
  Baseball:  Heroes (70-91)
  Basketball:  Cougars  
  (30-52)
  Football:  Thunderbolts 
  (10-6)
  Hockey:  Storm  
  (37-27-13-5)
  The Society
  Government:  Mayor (Hon. 
  Graydon T. Umstead [R]) 
  plus 79-member City 
  Council
  Party Afﬁliation:
  Republican:  42%
  Democrat:  47%
  Other/Unaﬃliated:  11%
  Motto:  Facere quam dicere 
  (“To do, rather than to say”)
  Nickname:  the Pearl City
  Rent
  Average monthly rents for 
  a two-bedroom apartment 
  or like residence in 2004, 
  assuming no rent stabiliza-
  tion or other outside factors:
  Luxury (Bankhurst, High-
  lands):  $3,000 or more
  Upscale (Worthington, 
  parts of Blackbridge and 
  Guilford):  $1,000-2,200
  Average (Ardmore, Black-
  bridge, Crown Point, Gads-
  den, Guilford, Riverside 
  Hills):   $750-1,200
  Downscale (Eastwood, 
  Elmview, Red Hill, parts of 
  Freetown and Latin City):  
  $600-900
  Squalid (Forsyth, Free-
  town, Lafayette, Latin City):  
  $500-600
  The Landmarks
  Tallest Building:  Morehead 
  Building (southeast corner 
  of 4th Avenue and Centre 
  Street), 103 stories (1,037 
  feet [158”] tall)
  Highest Point:  the Gads-
  den Cliﬀs (163 feet above 
  sea level)
  VITAL  
  STATISTICS
  JAN.
  22
  FEB.
  22
  MAR.
  20
  APR.
  19
  MAY
  19
  JUNE
  23
  jULY
  19
  AUG.
  23
  SEP.
  22
  OCT.
  25
  NOV.
  23
  DEC.
  24
  AVERAGE SUNNY DAYS PER MONTH
  
  17 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  18 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  L
  ocated at the mouth of the Stewart River, 
  which divides the city roughly in half, 
  Hudson City originally occupied the land 
  along the coast, but over the past two centu-
  ries has spread west along the river for a distance 
  of about eight miles. The northern part of the city, 
  home to the main commercial district and most 
  of the city’s attractions, is known as the Northside 
  or North Bank; the southern part, the poorer and 
  more run-down section of town, is called Southside 
  or the South Bank.
  TOPOGRAPHY
  As a coastal city, Hudson City is low-lying. 
  Most parts of it are within 50 feet of sea level, 
  which sometimes makes ﬂooding a problem. But 
  the highest point in the city — the Gadsden Cliﬀs, 
  which rise 163 feet from the ocean near 12th Avenue 
  — is also along the coast. Other elevated parts of 
  the city include the Highlands and Mint Ridge.
  The Streets
  The main way people get around Hudson City 
  is, of course, the city streets. Most city blocks on 
  both sides of the river are roughly one-tenth of a 
  mile long (80.5”) long on each side, though this 
  can vary tremendously from place to place based 
  on road patterns, the size and location of buildings, 
  and many other factors.
  NORTHSIDE STREETS
  Lost? How the !$&* d’ya get lost? It’sa, whad-
  daya call it, grid — even a chimpanzee could 
  ﬁnd his way around. Read your map if you 
  can’t ﬁgger it out for yerself.
  — friendly StarMart delivery  
  truck driver Norm Feldbaum
  The Northside is laid out in a rough gridwork 
  pattern that makes it easy to get around. Experi-
  enced natives can rattle oﬀ the names of the streets 
  in order no matter which way you go, but even a 
  newcomer knows that 8th Avenue is north of 12th, 
  and so on. However, all on the Northside is not so 
  organized as it might seem at ﬁrst glance. Between 
  the major streets lie an often chaotic welter of 
  minor streets, ranging in size from one-way, one-
  lane alleys to two lanes in each direction. Some 
  minor roads curve or bend in unusual ways.
  There are also three major expressways that 
  twist and turn as needed, since they’re above the 
  ordinary city streets:  N. Truman Boulevard (I-
  4085, which runs from the river near LeMastre 
  Park up to a point just east of Irishtown); Kurtland 
  Boulevard (I-2984, which runs east through Little 
  Italy and Ardmore before curving sharply up 
  through Guilford to meet Truman); and the Coastal 
  Parkway. Each of these has onramps and oﬀramps 
  at major streets and other locations, and provide 
  rapid transportation across the city.
  On the Northside, major roads (i.e., most of 
  the ones marked on the overall city map on page 
  17) are at least two lanes wide in both directions, 
  and often more; none of the major roads is one-
  way, though some minor roads are. The primary 
  north-south artery is Centre Street, which is 
  four lanes wide in both directions and continues 
  through the Centre Street Tunnel down to the 
  Southside.
  North-South
  The roads running north-south are designated 
  “streets.” The major ones are all named after Ameri-
  can presidents — thus, you have Monroe Street, 
  Jeﬀerson Street, Washington Street, and so on (see 
  sidebar). Streets that cross the Stewart and continue 
  into the south side are named “North” and “South,” 
  respectively; streets that are only on the North 
  Bank have no such qualiﬁer. (Centre Street is an 
  exception; it has no qualiﬁer even though it crosses 
  the river.)
  North-south streets begin their numbering 
  at the northernmost point, with a block of 1000 
  numbers for each mile. Thus, an address in the 
  second mile from the northern limit of the city will 
  be 2000-something; one near the river (ﬁve or six 
  miles from the northern limit) would be 5000- or 
  6000-something. Even numbers are always on the 
  eastern side of the street, odd numbers on the west-
  ern side. Thus, the Geraldine’s Restaurant franchise 
  on the east side of N. Washington Street a little 
  south of Courthouse Plaza has the address 2612; 
  Detwiler’s Rare Books, on the west side of Steele 
  Street in the Lowdown, is 6845.
  East-West
  North Bank streets running east-west are 
  called “avenues.” Many of them are named numeri-
  cally:  12th Avenue, 23rd Avenue, and so forth. 
  Roughly every fourth numbered avenue is a major 
  road. Addresses run in 1000s per mile, as with the 
  streets; they begin at their easternmost point (at 
  the coast, for major roads), and even-numbered 
  addresses are on the south side of the street.
  URBANOGRAPHY
   PRESIDENT WHO?
  The map of Hudson City 
  confuses many travelers 
  (not to mention most 
  Hudson City schoolchil-
  dren) because the presi-
  dential streets are not 
  named in chronological 
  order. Major streets were 
  named for whatever 
  president happened to 
  be popular at the time 
  the street was built, 
  paved, or renamed, so 
  they’re in approximate 
  historical order (run-
  ning more or less east-
  west). However, there 
  are a few anomalies, 
  such as the fact that Taft 
  Street lies east of Roos-
  evelt Street, even though 
  President Taft served 
  after President Teddy 
  Roosevelt.
  
  19 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  SOUTHSIDE STREETS
  The Southside is also laid out gridwork fash-
  ion. However, because it grew without the beneﬁt of 
  central planning from the beginning, it has a much 
  more awkward and asymmetrical grid that often 
  doesn’t match the northern one. Major roads come 
  to mysterious dead-ends, only to pick back up 
  somewhere else, and streets can add or lose lanes at 
  odd locations. Only a true native can negotiate the 
  Southside with ease.
  The major streets on the Southside follow the 
  same general pattern as the northern streets when 
  it comes to designations and addresses. Many major 
  roads, whatever direction they run in, are named 
  after famous ﬁgures in the history of Hudson City 
  (and in some cases, of the civil rights movement, 
  such as Martin Luther King Avenue).
  The Southside also has three raised express-
  ways to speed traﬃc across the city:  Truman 
  Boulevard (which runs from the southwest corner 
  of the city to the Monaghan Bridge and thence 
  onward to the Northside); the South Expressway (I-
  3275, which comes up from the suburbs of Wind-
  ham and Southport to merge with the Truman); 
  and the Duvall Parkway (which starts in north 
  Southport and crosses the Southside in a north-
  westerly line to end at S. Roosevelt Street).
  BRIDGES
  The Stewart River separates the two halves of 
  Hudson City. In the early days of the city, the only 
  way across it was ferries. (Private companies still 
  operates several large ferryboats from ferries at 
  Monroe Street and the aptly-named Ferry Street; 
  see page 26.) But modern engineering techniques 
  have made it possible to bridge the Stewart, thus 
  allowing tens of thousands of vehicles to cross the 
  river quickly every day. Five traﬃc bridges cross the 
  river; from east to west, they are:  the Adam Street 
  Bridge; the Monaghan Bridge; the Deerman Draw-
  bridge (built in 1935 as a WPA project when the old 
  bridge was damaged); the Harrison Street Bridge; 
  and the Weston-Timpkins Bridge at Roosevelt 
  Street. There are also two bridges, the Hite in the 
  west and Scherwinski in the east, just for commuter 
  railways. Additionally, the eight-lane Centre Street 
  Tunnel runs under the river to provide another link 
  between north and south, and there are subway-
  only tunnels paralleling the Centre Street Tunnel 
  and Harrison Street Bridges.
  Landmarks
  In addition to its major neighborhoods 
  (described beginning on page 27), Hudson City 
  has a number of prominent landmarks. Some are 
  known mostly to locals, while others enjoy world-
  wide renown. They include:
  Caldwell’s Stand (intersection of Washington Street 
  and 16th Avenue):  the preserved colonial-era house 
  where Christopher Caldwell and his men held oﬀ 
  the British during the War of 1812 (see page 8).
  The Hudson Statue:  This 35-foot-tall (5”) bronze 
  statue of Emil Hudson, the city’s founder, domi-
  nates the Centre Street Circle south of the river. 
  Erected in 1903 to celebrate the city’s hundredth 
  anniversary, it was created by famed sculptor Enico 
  Torrigiani.
  Jason Devon Memorial Coliseum (JDMC) and the 
  Hudson City Convention Center:  Located in Black-
  bridge at the intersection of 8th Avenue and N. 
  Jackson Street, this complex hosts dozens of major 
  conventions and events every year. A skywalk over 
  Harnett Street connects the two so convention 
  attendees don’t have to go outside, and the complex 
  also features a variety of shops and restaurants. The 
  Hudson City Storm, the city’s NHL hockey fran-
  chise, plays at the Devon, as do the Hellions (the 
  arena football team). See page 114.
  LeMastre Park:  The largest park in the city, and site 
  of the Hudson City Zoo. See page 67.
  Mural Street:  Since the mid-1960s, Coleman 
  Avenue between S. Jackson and S. Madison Streets 
  has become renowned for the dozens of beautiful 
  murals artists have painted on nearly every build-
  ing. In some places the murals lap down onto the 
  sidewalk. Many street artists ply their trade here, 
  creating caricatures and sidewalk art for a small fee.
  Olde Hudson City:  Located next to the terminus of 
  Ferry Street, Olde Hudson City is a preserved sec-
  tion of the earliest part of Hudson City. It includes 
  Emil Hudson’s original trading post and Andre 
  LeMastre’s ﬁrst house. Employees in period cos-
  tume conduct tours, display crafts and trades of 
  the time, and subtly steer visitors toward the well-
  stocked gift shop.
  Robertson House:  This well-preserved early nine-
  teenth-century mansion at the intersection of S. 
  Madison Street and King Avenue was once a stop 
  along the Underground Railroad. Today it not only 
  serves as an historical attraction but the home 
  oﬃces for a number of small charities serving the 
  Southside community.
  St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church:  The oldest church 
  in Hudson City, located at 28th Avenue and Cherry 
  Street in Pierpoint. It’s known around the world 
  for the beauty of its architecture and stained glass 
  windows.
  LITTLE T
   5 STR 
  10 DEX
   8 CON 
  7 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   13 PRE 
  8 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  3 REC
   16 END 14 STUN
  Abilities:  PS: Skate-
  boarding 12-, PS: Spray-
  can Artistry 13-, Stealth 
  11-, Streetwise 8-, 
  Reputation (best tagger 
  in Hudson City, among 
  skateboarders and tag-
  gers, 14-, +2/+2d6)
  Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Deﬁant Of Authority; 
  Rivalry:  other tag-
  gers; Social Limitation:  
  Minor
  Notes:  No matter where 
  you live or work in the 
  city, you’ve seen the let-
  ters, painted on a wall or 
  a railroad car, a bus or an 
  overpass. Big or small, 
  every color of the rain-
  bow, painted with pains-
  taking artistry or slapped 
  on quick-and-simple, 
  they always say the same 
  thing:  LITTLE T.
  Ask kids who skate or 
  tag, and most of ’em’ll 
  tell you the same thing:  
  Little T’s the best there 
  is. If there’s a big, blank 
  vertical surface some-
  where, he’ll do his best 
  to scrawl his distinctive 
  moniker on it. It’s even 
  more fun if he gets to 
  obliterate the marks of 
  one of the piss-ant tag-
  gers who thinks he’s as 
  good as Little T. Some 
  people call it “street art”; 
  others call it vandal-
  ism. Little T doesn’t 
  care — he does what he 
  wants to do, and !$&* 
  anyone who tries to tell 
  him otherwise.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  20 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  COME RAIN, COME SHINE
  “White Christmas? We don’t never have a 
  white Christmas around here, pal. Just wait a 
  few minutes after it hits the ground and it’ll 
  turn black and sooty from all the cars and crap. 
  Nothin’ stays white around here for long.”
  — local Scrooge and street  
  raconteur Moustache Billy
  Hudson City lies within the northern half of 
  the North American temperate zone, giving it a rel-
  atively cool climate compared to the Southeast but 
  a much milder climate than, say, Maine or Canada. 
  Its annual precipitation is around forty inches, with 
  an average of a little over three inches per month.
  The year begins with often-bitter cold. There 
  are times in January and February when the aver-
  age temperature barely rises above freezing for 
  days at a time, and snow and ice are frequent. A 
  typical snowstorm drops two to four inches of the 
  white stuﬀ on the city, but deeper snowfalls of two 
  feet or more are not unknown. Most Hudsonites 
  remember the Blizzard of ’01, when nearly four feet 
  of snow, followed by freezing rain, virtually shut 
  down the city for several days. Fortunately, Hud-
  sonites have gotten good at driving on icy roads, 
  and the city has a large ﬂeet of trucks and vehicles 
  to clear the streets as quickly as possible. Mounds 
  of exhaust-grimed snow usually line the roads for 
  most of the winter.
  By late winter/early spring, the temperature 
  warms up enough that precipitation comes in 
  the form of rain more than snow; March brings 
  more rain, on the average, than any other month 
  of the year. You can tell it’s starting to warm up 
  when homeless people emerge from the shelters 
  and subway tunnels and start spending all day and 
  night on the street. By May, temperatures become 
  positively balmy, reaching into the high teens Cel-
  sius (the 60s Fahrenheit) as trees and plants start 
  to bloom. Many people believe that New Jersey in 
  general, and LeMastre Park in particular, are most 
  beautiful at this time of year.
  The summer months feature temperatures 
  suitable for swimming and outdoor activities — 
  July and August have average temperatures in the 
  mid-to-high 20s Celsius (high 70s-low 80s Fahr-
  enheit). Hudsonites take advantage of the pleasant 
  weather to walk, bike, visit the parks, or just sit 
  around on stoops and streetcorners. Tourist attrac-
  tions and local “hot spots” often experience their 
  largest number of visitors during these months.
  As fall rolls around and the leaves start to change 
  color, the average temperatures drop pretty quickly, 
  with the daily high dipping into the low 20s and 
  high teens Celsius (70s and 60s Fahrenheit). The ﬁrst 
  snows may fall in October, but November or Decem-
  ber are more likely most years. At this point, most 
  Hudsonites stop spending time outside, preferring to 
  stay indoors where it’s warm. Museums, nightclubs, 
  and other such attractions often do good business at 
  this time, and shopping picks up as the year proceeds 
  on to Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
  EXTREME WEATHER
  Hudson City’s got it pretty good compared to 
  many other cities — it doesn’t suﬀer from earth-
  quakes, hurricanes, or tornadoes. But extreme 
  weather makes itself felt from time to time. The 
  most common major weather problem is blizzards. 
  Hudson City gets snow every year, but once every 
  three or four years it gets socked in by a big snow-
  storm, usually with an accompanying ice storm 
  before or after (or both). The city tries to keep the 
  roads plowed, and the subways and railways still 
  run, but a major storm tends to shut down much of 
  the city for at least a day or two.
  In the spring and summer, Hudson City some-
  times gets hit with large, violent storms from oﬀ the 
  Atlantic. These cause ﬂooding in some areas, and 
  various other minor problems, but they’re rarely 
  any signiﬁcant concern.
  UNDERGROUND
  Most Hudsonites, much less most visitors, 
  don’t ever give much thought to the world beneath 
  their feet. But the truth is that there’s often as much 
  going on underneath the mean streets of the big 
  city as there is on top of them.
  In most parts of Hudson City, the under-
  ground is like a gigantic layered cake. On the very 
  top lies the part most people know about:  a three-
  inch deep strip of asphalt pavement. Underneath 
  that is about ten inches of coarse concrete on top of 
  soil; the soil soaks up all sorts of waste liquids and 
  chemicals that leak down from the streets above. 
  One to three inches below that layer of soil is more 
  earth, and that’s where wires and cables are laid 
  close to the curbline:  telephone lines; power lines; 
  cable television lines; burglar and ﬁre alarm lines; 
  streetlight power feeds. A foot below that come 
  natural gas pipelines, three feet below them are the 
  water mains, and two feet below the water mains 
  come steam pipes (though many of those are no 
  longer in use, since electrical heating has replaced 
  steam heating in many places).
  Next come the sewer pipes, whose depth varies 
  from place to place so the engineers can angle 
  them to direct the ﬂow of sewage. However, in 
  most cases, the sewer lines (both the lines now in 
  use, such as depicted by the map on page 22, and 
  earlier, now abandoned, lines) are above the tops of 
  the subway tunnels, which are usually from about 
  eight to 180 feet (1.25-28”) below the surface. Even 
  further below, from 200-800 feet (31-123”), are the 
  water tunnels that bring water to the city from dis-
  tant reservoirs (see page 23).
  The Hudson City Underground
  One underground feature most Hudsonites 
  do know about is the Hudson City Underground, a 
  roughly ﬁve block by ﬁve block underground com-
  plex beneath Governmental Plaza and the intersec-
  tion of 3rd Avenue and North Madison. Subway 
  engineers discovered the area — an entire section 
  of the city apparently buried and built over after 
  the Independence Day Fire — when they ran the 
  subway line underneath Governmental Center. For 
  IN THE NEWS 
  IN 2004:
   
  THE CATACOMBS 
  CLUB
  July — The accidental 
  discovery of a (literally) 
  underground “nightclub” 
  has shone a spotlight on 
  Hudson City’s commu-
  nity of below-the-streets 
  explorers.
  Two weeks ago, Sanita-
  tion Commission work-
  ers digging a test tunnel 
  for a new sewer line in 
  Pierpoint discovered 
  something they never 
  expected:  an under-
  ground room containing 
  lights, tables covered 
  in simple tablecloths, 
  candlesticks with half-
  burned candles, a stereo, 
  and a fully-stocked bar. 
  The workers reported the 
  ﬁnd to the police, who 
  sealed oﬀ the area. But 
  before detectives could 
  ﬁnish their investigation, 
  someone snuck into the 
  room and removed most 
  of the contents, leav-
  ing behind only a note 
  signed “the Catacombs 
  Club” which respectfully 
  requested that the HCPD 
  not devote any further 
  eﬀorts to ﬁnding out 
  more about the group.
  “It appears to be part of 
  the city sewer system 
  from the nineteenth 
  century that was closed 
  oﬀ for use decades ago,” 
  said Geraldine Vincennes, 
  a spokeswoman for the 
  Commission. “There’s a 
  lot of things down there 
  that no one in the city 
  knows about.”
  No one, that is, except 
  the Catacombs Club... 
  and people of similar 
  disposition. According to 
  “Gerald,” who refused to 
  identify himself further, 
  there’s an entire culture 
  of “delvers” who like 
  to go exploring in the 
  underground. “It’s a real 
  thrill, ﬁnding things like 
  that room that no one’s 
  known about for years.
  Continued on next page
  
  21 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  years it was just a curiosity, but in the late Seventies 
  a clever entrepreneur named Brad Quinn sold the 
  city of the idea on turning it into an attraction.
  Several years and many millions of dollars 
  later, the Hudson City Underground opened. Fea-
  turing dozens of shops (ranging from chain stores 
  like Barcelona Shoes to trendy, cutting-edge local 
  stores such as Venus [a woman’s clothing store] and 
  Ashanti [African art and cultural items]), restau-
  rants, and nightclubs, it quickly became popular 
  with both natives and tourists. Today it’s every bit 
  as busy, and Quinn’s become a wealthy man. Every 
  week thousands of Hudsonites head “down to the 
  Underground” to eat delicious German food at 
  Deitrich’s, grab a cup of coﬀee at the local Voodoo 
  Bean, dance the night away at the Cellar or Retro-
  Active, or have a drink at Mako’s.
  THE SEWERS
  “Yeah, I see ’em down here all the time — some 
  of ’em as big as rabbits, sweartaGod. Just ask 
  some’a the other guys if you don’t believe me. 
  The big-brains down at headquarters say they’ll 
  always run from my light and I shouldn’t worry 
  about it, but don’t none’a them come down 
  here. I keep askin’ permission to carry a pistol, 
  but they won’t let me.
  “The rats ain’t the worst, really. I’ve run into 
  all kinds of things down here — snakes, snap-
  ping turtles, even a couple things I’m pretty sure 
  were alligators. All those stories about gators in 
  the sewers ain’t just urban myths. Hell, there 
  were some kids that pulled an adult gator out 
  of the sewers way back sometime in the Thirties 
  — you can look it up, it was in the papers.”
  —Sanitation Engineer Pete Grummond
  The Hudson City Sanitation Commission 
  maintains hundreds of miles of sewer and storm-
  water lines throughout the city. In addition to the 
  standard lines that run along the streets at a depth 
  of around eight to twelve feet (1.25-2”) below the 
  surface, larger intercepting sewer lines collect the 
  runoﬀ and channel it to one of the dozen sewage 
  treatment plants located around the city. (See the 
  map on page 17.) Some treated sewage is disposed 
  of, some sold as fertilizer or for other purposes. 
  Typically sewer lines are constructed so that they 
  slope just enough for gravity to do the work of 
  moving the liquid through them at a speed of at 
  least two feet per second, but in a few places the 
  city has installed pumps or other devices to keep 
  the system working smoothly. And it does work 
  well; despite the city’s coastal location, it rarely suf-
  fers any ﬂooding.
  In addition to sewer lines currently in use, 
  there are miles of much older, now abandoned 
  lines hidden beneath the surface and rarely indi-
  cated on any map. Some have become residences 
  for animals or homeless people, others serve as 
  lairs for criminals or vigilantes, but most simply 
  remain sealed up and ignored.
  EVERYONE’S LITTLE FRIENDS
  You’re never alone in Hudson City. Even if you don’t know 
  anyone, the rats and roaches will keep you company.
  Rats
  Everyone agrees Hudson City has a serious rat problem 
  — but no one can agree on the exact extent of that prob-
  lem. Estimates of the number of rats in the city range 
  from about 250,000 to 75 million (i.e., approximately a 
  dozen rats per person in the working population). Most 
  experts favor numbers on the lower end of the scale; 
  bureaucrats looking to increase their rat control budgets 
  and reporters prefer to emphasize the larger numbers. 
  In just one year, a female rat can produce 285 more rats, 
  who’re out on their own within a few weeks, hitting the 
  town looking for a good time.
  The typical Hudson City rat is rattus norvegicus — the 
  Norway rat. Although more than a few sanitation work-
  ers and residents have reported seeing rats as large as 
  rabbits or housecats, biologists claim the Norway rat 
  doesn’t get heavier than about a pound, and about a foot 
  in length. This is in spite of the fact that they’ll eat all 
  sorts of things humans wouldn’t consider “food,” such as 
  soap and leather. The little varmints can chew through 
  almost anything, including masonry and concrete.
  Periodically stories surface in the news of rats biting 
  babies, small children, and even adults. However, the 
  main danger from rats is the diseases they can carry, such 
  as leptospirosis, hantavirus, and the plague.
  In an eﬀort to combat the rat problem, the city has bud-
  geted a total of $12 million for pest control for ﬁscal 2004. 
  No one seems to have told the rats, who’ve gone right on 
  eating and multiplying. Civil rights activist Rev. James 
  Pick has suggested that rather than throwing the money 
  down a rat hole, the city ought to just give every resident 
  of the city six bucks and call it a day — at least that way 
  folks would be getting some good out of the expenditure.
  Roaches
  As far as most people are concerned, the rats are down-
  right cuddly compared to the roaches. No one’s even 
  tried to estimate how many the city contains, but one 
  thing’s for sure — a species that’s remained essentially 
  unchanged for 300 million years knows how to survive 
  and thrive.
  Most Hudson City roaches are German cockroaches 
  — light brown with two distinctive stripes. At less than 
  half an inch long, they’re much smaller than the Ameri-
  can cockroach, a reddish-brown bug up to two inches 
  long that’s rarer in the city... but not unheard of.
  Roaches are surprisingly fastidious — it’s their constant 
  cleaning of themselves that allows humans to poison 
  them (the roaches lick roach powder oﬀ their feet and 
  legs and thus die). However, they can spread disease, 
  trigger allergies and asthma, and cause other health 
  problems.
  Hudson City has no budget to speak of for roach control, 
  other than various programs the Health and Human 
  Services Division maintains to educate the public in how 
  to get rid of the little buggers. The city leaves it up to each 
  citizen to control his own roach problem.
  Down here, we all 
  respect one another’s 
  privacy; you don’t 
  even talk to another 
  delver if you meet him 
  underground unless 
  you already know each 
  other.”
  Continued from last page
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  22 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  
  23 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  UTILITIES
  Utilities are another side of the city few people 
  think about — until they break down, of course. 
  But power and water are the lifeblood of the city, 
  and the phone lines its voice. Without them the city 
  would quickly grind to a halt.
  PHONE SERVICE
  While the rise in importance of the cellular 
  phone over the past decade has reduced the city’s 
  dependence on old-fashioned telephone lines, 
  they’re still a signiﬁcant part of city services — after 
  all, far more calls are made on normal phone lines 
  than with cell phones. All the major phone compa-
  nies provide service to Hudson City. The largest by 
  far is Hudson City Bell, which has its main oﬃce 
  on South River Drive in Crown Point. It’s even got 
  its own small stop on the commuter rail system to 
  make getting to work easier for the ﬁve thousand 
  employees who work there. Hudson Bell’s distinc-
  tive blue and gold-striped vans fan out across the 
  city every day to install new lines, repair damaged 
  lines, and ﬁx problems people have with their 
  phone service.
  POWER
  Hudson City’s supply of electricity comes 
  courtesy of Hudson City Light & Power, a company 
  founded over a hundred years ago to bring the 
  advantages of the discoveries of Edison, Steinmetz, 
  and Stanley to Hudsonites. HCL&P owns and 
  operates twenty main power generating stations 
  throughout the city, and also buys power from 
  regional nuclear and hydroelectric power sources.
  HCL&P’s main oﬃce in Bayside is the nerve 
  center of the city’s power grid. The computers there 
  constantly adjust the ﬂow of power throughout the 
  city to ensure that everyone has the electricity he 
  needs and power outages are kept to a minimum. 
  The company updated much of its equipment 
  throughout the Nineties, thus making blackouts 
  (such as those that occurred in 1966, 1981, and 
  1989) and brownouts much less frequent than they 
  used to be.
  WASTE DISPOSAL
  Solid waste disposal in Hudson City involves 
  two distinct operations. The ﬁrst is the Waste 
  Removal Division of the city’s Sanitation Commis-
  sion (page 96). Waste Removal provides garbage 
  pickup services for all residences within the city 
  limits. It operates a ﬂeet of green and grey garbage 
  trucks; the trucks are a common sight throughout 
  the city. It collects recyclables and non-recyclables 
  separately in most neighborhoods.
  Businesses can’t take advantage of Waste 
  Removal’s services. They rely on privately con-
  tracted garbage services, such as Stewart Waste Dis-
  posal, McGantry Trash Removal, and Ferghetti & 
  Sons. The private waste removal industry is widely 
  considered to be dominated by the Maﬁa (particu-
  larly the Verontese, Scatucci, and Morelli families). 
  Several prominent prosecutions have shown just 
  how true this is, but also seem to have done little 
  to alleviate the problem. For example, in 1999, 
  James Stefonelli, an Elmview entrepreneur who 
  had started up a new waste removal company, was 
  founded murdered and stuﬀed into one of his own 
  dumpsters. The police have never made an arrest in 
  the case, but everyone knows it was the Maﬁa’s way 
  of saying “back oﬀ.”
  The Hudson City Landﬁll
  Both public and private waste removal com-
  panies cart non-recyclable garbage to the Hudson 
  City Landﬁll, a facility located south of the suburb 
  of Hamilton. Built in the late Seventies and popu-
  larly known as “the Dump,” the Landﬁll covers 
  hundreds of acres and takes in tons of new trash 
  every day. Although currently operated according 
  to EPA standards, for years it leaked wastewater 
  and other pollutants into the nearby water table 
  and was a breeding ground for rats, feral dogs, and 
  other creatures.
  WATER
  In the early years of Hudson City, Hudsonites 
  got their water directly from the Stewart River, 
  from local streams and ponds, and from wells. 
  (Some of these streams and small ponds remain 
  today under the surface, having long ago been 
  paved over.) It didn’t take long before the popula-
  tion grew beyond those sources’ ability to keep 
  people supplied with water; additionally, advances 
  in public health toward the end of the nineteenth 
  century indicated that clean water was a key ele-
  ment in preventing outbreaks of diseases like chol-
  era and dysentery.
  With that in mind, the city launched projects 
  to build two large reservoirs far to the west — the 
  Kilkipsee and the Chatataqua. Large aqueducts 
  bring the water from them toward the city into 
  storage reservoirs. Tunnels buried as much as 800 
  feet below the surface run from the storage reser-
  voirs into the city to large waterworks:  the South 
  Pumping Station and West 16th Pumping Station, 
  both run by the Hudson City Water Department. 
  These stations bring the water up riser shafts to 
  water mains located about four feet beneath the 
  surface. The mains, which range from six foot (1”) 
  wide trunk mains to pipes small enough to serve a 
  single house or building, distribute the water to all 
  the houses and businesses of Hudson City. Where 
  necessary, the Water Department has additional 
  pumping stations and stand pipes to move water to 
  higher points in the city, maintain the pressure in 
  the ﬁre hydrant system, and so forth.
  SIDE-LOADER  
  GARBAGE TRUCK
   6  Size 
  50  STR
   8  DEX 
  20  BODY
   6  DEF 
  2  SPD
  Abilities:  Ground Move-
  ment 8” (Limited Maneu-
  verability), Extra Limb 
  (hydraulic “arm” for pick-
  ing up garbage cans).
  HUDSON CITY 
  AREA CODES
  The following are the 
  area codes for Hudson 
  City, by region:
  Area
  Code Region
  221 Irishtown, Guil-
  ford, Ardmore, 
  Worthington
  377 Eastwood, High-
  lands, Bankhurst, 
  Gadsden, Bayside
  550 Little Italy,  
  Mint Ridge, 
  Moscow West, 
  Blackbridge
  655 Chinatown, 
  Crown Point, 
  Riverside Hills 
  (western third)
  722 Freetown  
  (western half), 
  Riverside Hills 
  (eastern two-
  thirds)
  874 Freetown  
  (eastern half), 
  Lafayette, Forsyth
  960 Latin City, Elm-
  view, Red Hill, 
  North Elmview
  Street slang often uses 
  these numbers to refer 
  to particular areas. 
  For example, Free-
  town gangstas might 
  talk about going into 
  “the 655” or “the 960” 
  to sell drugs.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  24 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  “Spend a few hours watching the subway crowd 
  come and go, and you’ll get the truest picture 
  I know of life in Hudson City. Everyone rides 
  the subway:  poor single mothers with their kids 
  in tow; bankers with their overcoats and brief-
  cases; construction workers; gang kids; shop 
  owners; everyone. It’s an amazing hodgepodge.
  “I wish I still dared to ride them. I gave it up a 
  few years ago, long after most of my friends had 
  quit — the crime ﬁnally got to be too much, even 
  for me. The ﬁnal straw was when I was down at 
  Manuel Station waiting for a train. These two 
  kids, rival gang members I guess, got into a ﬁght. 
  One of them stabbed the other and then ran, 
  slashing three other people in his frenzy to escape. 
  I watched the injured boy die right there on the 
  platform before medical help could reach him. I 
  can still see how the blood pooled near him, then 
  spread out through the spaces between the tiles 
  like a scarlet grid. I’ve never been able to get that 
  image out of my mind.”
  — City News columnist Bryan Eagen
  Hudson City is a big place — eighty square 
  miles — and it’s got upwards of six million people 
  moving through it on any given day. Here’s how 
  they get to the city, get around in it while they’re 
  there, and if necessary depart.
  Air Travel
  Three primary airports serve Hudson City:  
  Aberdeen International; Hudson City International; 
  and Sabine County.
  ABERDEEN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
  Located north of the city in Morgan County, 
  James Aberdeen International Airport (ABN) is one 
  of the world’s largest and busiest airports. Covering 
  nearly 5,000 acres of land, it sends ﬂights to or receives 
  them from over 100 nations around the world. It han-
  dles around 24,000 ﬂights per month (about 800 per 
  day), has nearly 15,000 parking spaces, and employs 
  approximately thirty thousand people. The ABN 
  cargo area covers over 300 acres and services over 
  ﬁfty cargo-only airlines and other carriers. The truly 
  amazing thing about this vast logistical morass is that 
  it manages to keep doing its job, day after day, with a 
  pretty high degree of eﬃciency.
  But that’s not to say Aberdeen International 
  doesn’t have its problems. It’s crowded. Its security 
  processes could stand some beeﬁng up. Organized 
  crime groups, particularly the Maﬁa, steal from 
  the cargo area and nearby trucking companies on 
  a regular basis, sometimes netting goods worth 
  millions. Allegations of bribery and corruption 
  relating to airport work contracts and other matters 
  surface every year, as do accusations about orga-
  nized crime’s inﬂuence over various airport-related 
  unions. While most passengers only see the bright, 
  shiny facade, the truth is that behind the scenes 
  there’s a lot of shady stuﬀ going on.
  The Customs Service employees at Aberdeen 
  are generally eﬃcient and courteous. Their chief, 
  Paul T. Wilson, runs a tight ship and doesn’t tolerate 
  corruption. Still, no system is perfect:  the DEA has 
  made several major seizures of drugs at Aberdeen, 
  and there’s a rumor that two years ago the FBI 
  barely intercepted a massive bomb that had been 
  planted on a ﬂight by the PLRL.
  HUDSON CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
  In the Sixties, the City Council realized 
  air traﬃc was soon going to outstrip Aberdeen 
  International’s ability to handle it (or to build more 
  runways and terminals). To ensure the city’s contin-
  ued economic prosperity, they voted funds to build 
  a second major airport. With the assistance of the 
  federal government and other institutions, Hudson 
  City International (HCI) was begun in 1967, and 
  ﬁnished in 1975. It’s located outside Prince William 
  County, along the Outer Beltline.
  About forty percent the size of Aberdeen, and 
  with about forty percent of the traﬃc, HCI handles 
  many types of air travel that ABN has had to forego 
  due to its size and complexity. Private jets, charter 
  jet services, and parachutists are all far more likely 
  to ﬂy out of HCI than Aberdeen, and it has more 
  facilities for helicopter landings and consumer-
  owned planes as well.
  SABINE COUNTY AIRPORT
  The only major airport on the south side of 
  the city, Sabine County (SCY) is to HCI as HCI is 
  to Aberdeen. It only ﬂies domestically, and cannot 
  handle the larger jets.
  HELICOPTERS
  For better or worse, the optimistic predictions 
  in all those 1950s magazine articles describing the 
  helicopter as “the personal automobile of the future!” 
  or “the taxi of tomorrow!” have not come to pass. 
  Nevertheless, Hudson City has a signiﬁcant amount 
  of helicopter traﬃc. Many top-dollar executives, not 
  to mention news stations and the police, use them to 
  get around the city without having to put up with the 
  bother of traﬃc; many of the buildings in Bankhurst, 
  Highlands, and east Worthington have helipads on top.
  GETTING 
  AROUND
  ANOTHER AIRPORT?
  For years, the Hudson 
  City Council has talked 
  about the possibility of 
  building another air-
  port in the area — even 
  with three already, it’s 
  dangerously crowded 
  as far as air traﬃc goes, 
  and the existing airports 
  aren’t exactly state of 
  the art when it comes 
  to air traﬃc control 
  systems and facilities. 
  The tentative plan that’s 
  been ﬂoated for years 
  involves a major new 
  international airport 
  to be built outside of 
  Benton County — but 
  countless problems have 
  arisen even though not 
  so much as a spade-
  ful of earth has been 
  moved. Local residents 
  have mounted a strong 
  “not in my backyard” 
  campaign, citing noise, 
  pollution, and traﬃc 
  issues. Allegations that 
  developers who own 
  land in that area have 
  already paid kickbacks 
  to local politicians have 
  surfaced in some papers, 
  particularly the Agenda, 
  but so far there hasn’t 
  been so much as a grand 
  jury convened to look 
  into the matter.
  
  25 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  Ground Vehicles
  Hudson City has thousands of miles of paved 
  roads and streets... and more traﬃc problems than 
  you can shake a stick at. Despite numerous meth-
  ods of mass transit, thousands of taxis, countless 
  police oﬃcers assigned to traﬃc duty, approxi-
  mately 2,000 traﬃc enforcement agents who write 
  about six million parking tickets a year, and some 
  of the most advanced traﬃc control systems in the 
  world, slowdowns, traﬃc jams, and gridlock are 
  inescapable facts of life in the Pearl City.
  AUTOMOBILES
  According to Transportation Commission 
  statistics, approximately 750,000 cars, trucks, and 
  other privately-owned motorized ground vehicles 
  traverse the streets of Hudson City every day, 
  covering roughly 60 million vehicle-miles. During 
  peak times (“rush hour”), traﬃc often slows to 
  a crawl of as little as 2.5 miles per hour; at other 
  times it ranges from nine to ﬁfteen miles per hour 
  depending where you are in the city and which 
  roads you use. Some radical thinkers have proposed 
  outlawing or restricting the use of private vehicles 
  in some or all parts of the city, but so far Hud-
  sonites would rather put up with traﬃc problems 
  than abandon their cars.
  Parking Fees
  The fee to park a car in Hudson City varies 
  tremendously based on the location and quality of 
  the parking. Hourly rates range from about $2 to 
  $6 — the better the location or greater the demand 
  for parking, the higher the fee. Daily rates are cal-
  culated from the hourly rate, but with an overall 
  discount for “volume.” Monthly parking fees start 
  at about $200 per month and can go up well above 
  $1,000 for the poshest areas and highest security.
  BUSES
  The Bus Division of the Transportation Com-
  mission maintains a ﬂeet of about ﬁve thousand 
  buses, most of which entered service within the past 
  dozen years. As of 2004, these buses cover approxi-
  mately 250 local and 40 express routes throughout 
  the city, and carry over two million passengers every 
  day (approximately 750 million per year). There are 
  over 13,500 bus stops throughout the city.
  It costs $2.00 to ride a local bus, or $4.00 for an 
  express. The buses cannot accept paper money; pas-
  sengers must pay with coins, pre-purchased tokens, 
  or MetroPass Cards. Passengers who pay with cash 
  or tokens may obtain a transfer pass to another bus 
  that’s good for one hour from the time of issuance.
  TAXIS
  Most people who live in Hudson City don’t 
  bother to own a car — it’s too expensive and inconve-
  nient when they have access to mass transportation. 
  If necessary they can always hire one of the city’s 
  approximately 13,000 licensed taxicabs (plus several 
  hundred more unlicensed taxis, known as “gypsy 
  cabs”). As of 2004, the oﬃcial basic rate for a taxi 
  within the Hudson City limits is a $2.50 initial charge, 
  plus $0.40 per one-ﬁfth of a mile (or fraction thereof) 
  after that. If the cab’s stuck in traﬃc, you pay $0.40 
  per two minutes (or fraction thereof). Add a “night-
  time surcharge” of $0.50 between the hours of 8:00 
  PM and 6:00 AM every day, and a “peak hour sur-
  charge” of $1.00 from 4:00 to 8:00 PM on weekdays. 
  If you want to enter the city from Aberdeen Interna-
  tional or other speciﬁc locations, there’s a ﬂat fee set 
  by the Taxi Commission. Some taxi companies add a 
  surcharge for going to certain parts of the city (such 
  as the Numbers or Lafayette), but this is illegal and 
  grounds for revocation of the operator’s taxi license.
  The license to operate a taxi is known as a 
  “medallion.” Wealthy individuals or taxi companies 
  own most medallions and lease them to individual 
  taxi drivers, but some drivers put up the money to 
  buy their own license. As need demands, the city 
  auctions oﬀ new medallions, usually in lots of 100 
  per auction. The average price of a medallion in the 
  early twenty-ﬁrst century is $300,000-350,000.
  The two largest taxicab companies in Hudson 
  City are the Golden Cab Company (which has the 
  usual distinctive yellow cabs) and the Irish Cab 
  Company (whose cabs are kelly green), but there 
  are many smaller companies:  Hudson Yellow Cab; 
  Bankhurst Cab & Limo; Sun Cab; and more.
  LIMOUSINES
  In Hudson City mass transit parlance, “limou-
  sine” doesn’t necessarily refer to the long, luxurious 
  vehicle of the same name — it can mean any for-hire 
  ground vehicle other than a taxi. For example, a 
  shuttle van service from Aberdeen International to 
  hotels in the city could describe itself as a “limousine 
  service.” Similarly, many limousine companies provide 
  regular length luxury cars, SUVs, civilian Humvees, 
  and other vehicles besides stretch limos. However, if 
  you do want to rent an actual stretch limousine for 
  some event, or just because you’re made of money and 
  don’t want to ride in a malodorous cab with a driver 
  who can barely speak English, the rates range from 
  about $30 to $300 per hour. The exact cost depends 
  on the type of vehicle, how long you want to reserve it 
  for, and where you want to go.
  Commuter Railways
  The earliest form of mass transit used in 
  Hudson City was railways, and they remain in use 
  today — albeit in somewhat diﬀerent form than 
  during the Age of Steam.
  ELEVATED RAILWAYS
  Despite the rise of subways, buses, and other 
  ways to move lots of people around the city quickly, 
  Hudson City maintains its network of elevated rail-
  ways (ELs). They’re so called because they’re typi-
  cally raised 15 to 20 feet (2-3”) above the ground 
  on metal trestle arches, though in some places they 
  come down to earth for short stretches. Sometimes 
  they run directly along a street (so that drivers on 
  that street drive directly under the tracks); in other 
  places they crisscross the grid of roadways. A ride 
  on the EL typically costs $1.75 for a local, or $3.50 
  for an express; one transfer to another train is 
  allowed within one hour of disembarkation.
  THE METROPASS 
  CARD
  In the early Nine-
  ties, the Hudson City 
  Transportation Com-
  mission introduced the 
  MetroPass Card — a 
  cardstock or plastic card 
  that allows commuters 
  to pay for multiple rides 
  at once to save money 
  and time. Additionally, 
  a commuter using a 
  MetroPass Card may 
  transfer from any type 
  of mass transit (bus, 
  subway, or elevated rail-
  way) to another within 
  one hour of his last ride 
  for no additional charge. 
  (Persons paying in 
  cash or tokens can only 
  transfer within the same 
  type of transportation.)
  MetroPass Cards are 
  available in per-ride and 
  “unlimited” use versions. 
  Per-ride allows a com-
  muter to pre-pay for 
  $5-100 worth of rides 
  in advance, with each 
  ride being deducted 
  from his Card as he 
  passes it through the 
  reader at various sta-
  tions or on buses. The 
  unlimited pass involves 
  a daily, weekly, monthly, 
  or annual fee (rang-
  ing from $7 to $500, 
  depending on duration), 
  but during the time 
  period for which the 
  card is valid the user 
  can ride as many types 
  of mass transit as often 
  as he likes. However, 
  MetroPass Cards are not 
  valid after midnight.
  MetroPass Cards are 
  available from kiosks in 
  train and subway sta-
  tions, and from various 
  private vendors.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  26 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  The Uniﬁed Rapid Transit System
  Rather than abandon the city’s EL system with 
  the advent of electrically-powered trains in the early 
  twentieth century, the Hudson City Transportation 
  Commission chose a bold and daring course of action 
  that many at the time derided as foolish, but which 
  modern commuters bless it for. It “uniﬁed” the EL and 
  subway systems, making both function in largely the 
  same fashion with the same types of tracks. Thus, a 
  subway car can operate on an EL track, and vice-versa, 
  if necessary. At a few points in the system, a subway 
  line even rises from below the ground to merge with 
  an EL line, or an EL line goes underground and 
  becomes a subway tunnel. For the most part, the 
  Transportation Commission prefers to keep subway 
  cars in the subways, and EL cars on the EL, but the 
  ability of the two systems to work together has saved 
  the city tens of millions of dollars over the decades 
  and made commuting even easier for Hudsonites.
  The map on page 22 shows the major lines of 
  the Uniﬁed Rapid Transit System (URTS), as well 
  as the major stations. It doesn’t indicate minor lines 
  (such as the maintenance lines), lines beyond the 
  city limits, various maintenance yards and related 
  facilities, or the like.
  THE HUDSON CITY SUBWAY
  In the early 1900s, Hudson City entered the world 
  of modern mass transportation by building its ﬁrst 
  subway lines running from Bankhurst to Worthington. 
  In the ensuing century, the system has expanded to 
  include dozens of miles of track, over 600 individual 
  subway cars, and numerous stations. It transports 
  approximately three million passengers daily.
  The Hudson City Rapid Transit Division 
  (HCRTD) of the Transportation Commission sets the 
  fares and establishes other regulations for the subway 
  (and for the EL). Currently it costs $2.00 to ride 
  the subway; one transfer to another subway train is 
  allowed within one hour of disembarkation. Service is 
  “restricted” between midnight and 5:00 AM, meaning 
  that not all lines run (or run less frequently).
  Other Modes Of  
  Transportation
  Cars and mass transit aren’t the only ways to 
  get around Hudson City.
  BICYCLES
  A lot of Hudsonites prefer bikes to cars:  
  they’re quieter, cost less to buy and maintain, don’t 
  pollute, are easily stored in an apartment, provide 
  a means of exercising, and can go places a car can’t. 
  During rush hour, biking through the busy areas 
  of the city is usually quicker, too. The city provides 
  bike paths in LeMastre Park and other parks for 
  recreational bicycling away from city traﬃc.
  The most avid proponents of bicycles-as-trans-
  port are the city’s four thousand bike messengers. 
  These hard-charging, often iconoclastic young 
  people bike all around the city to deliver docu-
  ments and other small objects with a speed cars 
  can’t rival. Even in this day and age, some things are 
  better transported in person than via computer and  
  phone lines. The city’s premiere messenger service 
  is Flash Messenger, run by crazed bodybuilder 
  Dominic Lawrence — but it has plenty of competi-
  tors such as Mercury Delivery Service, Hudson 
  Messengers, and Rapid Wheels.
  FERRIES
  During the early days of the city, ferries were the 
  most common way to cross the Stewart River, and 
  over a dozen ferry services existed. Today, with the 
  advent of bridges and the Centre Street Tunnel, there 
  are easier ways to get across, and only two ferry ser-
  vices — the Hudson City Ferry (which runs between 
  Ferry Street and Centre Street) and the Monroe 
  Street Ferry (which runs between the two halves of 
  Monroe Street) — exist. Both are operated by private 
  companies under a license from the city, and function 
  more or less identically. Ferry ships leave each dock 
  (north and south) on the hour (Hudson City Ferry) 
  or half hour (Monroe Street Ferry). Each ship can 
  carry up to four dozen mid-sized automobiles and 
  takes approximately 10-15 minutes to complete the 
  crossing. Riding either ferry costs $10 if you have a 
  car, and $5 for passengers only.
  Water Taxis
  A few water taxis operate in Hudson City, car-
  rying passengers from various dockside embarka-
  tion points to other places along the waterfront. 
  The taxis resemble either large speedboats or small 
  ferries, depending on the service used, and typically 
  charge $5 to $20 per passenger. Monthly passes are 
  available for frequent commuters.
  WALKING
  Walking isn’t a good way to go from one side 
  of the city to the other, but for shorter distances 
  — such as within a given neighborhood — it’s often 
  a viable alternative to driving or taking the bus, 
  particularly during rush hour. But on the major 
  streets, the sidewalks sometimes seem as crowded 
  as the roads.
  The Metro
  The nerve center of Hudson City’s mass transit 
  system is the Metropolitan Transportation Build-
  ing, a ten-story structure located at 24th Avenue and 
  N. Madison Street and better known simply as “the 
  Metro.” Primarily the Metro serves as the headquar-
  ters for the Transportation Commission (page 96) 
  and its various divisions, but the lower two stories 
  and the underground portions of the building are 
  a vast mass transit depot. Buses, railways, and the 
  subway all stop here, and it’s the standard destination 
  for commuter bus services coming into the city from 
  elsewhere. As such, it’s a hunting ground for “chicken 
  hawks” — pimps and other scum looking to lure run-
  aways into lives of prostitution and virtual slavery.
  LOUIE FEINGOLD
   10 STR 
  11 DEX
   10 CON 
  8 BODY
   8 INT 
  8 EGO
   13 PRE 
  8 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  +1 PER with 
  Sight Group; +10 Pres-
  ence, Only To Protect 
  Against Presence 
  Attacks; Combat Driv-
  ing 11-; CK: Hudson 
  City 16-; KS: Hudson 
  City Gossip 14-; 
  Mechanics 8-; Shadow-
  ing 11-; Streetwise 12-; 
  Fringe Beneﬁt: License 
  To Operate A Taxicab
  25+ Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Loves To Talk; Rivalry 
  (Professional, with 
  competing cabbie or cab 
  company) 
  Notes:  One of few 
  native-born, native Eng-
  lish speaking cabbies left 
  in Hudson City, Louie 
  Feingold is one of those 
  taxi drivers who seems 
  to know every person 
  and place in town. He 
  can take you to the 
  most obscure addresses 
  as easily as he can to 
  Courthouse Plaza or the 
  Berkely Commercial 
  Complex. However, he’ll 
  probably talk your ear 
  oﬀ on the way, because 
  he just can’t seem to 
  shut up — he can yak 
  for hours on almost any 
  subject, even those he 
  doesn’t know anything 
  about.
  
  27 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  “I grew up in Ardmore, and I have to say I 
  think it’s pretty much the best damn place in 
  the entire city. When I was growing up, it was 
  great. Us kids could run around all over the 
  place without our moms worrying too much, we 
  went trick-or-treating from building to build-
  ing, and the park was just a long walk away. 
  OK, I probably wouldn’t let my kids trick-or-
  treat there anymore, but I wouldn’t let them do 
  that anywhere in the city, except maybe Irish-
  town, and those guys won’t even let you in. But 
  the streets are pretty clean, there isn’t much of a 
  gang problem, and prices aren’t too bad.
  “The housing kinda sucks, though. All the best 
  places have been bought up by yuppies, so a guy 
  like me can’t aﬀord to get a place, much less a 
  place big enough for a family.”
  —Michael Keene, assistant manager of  
  electronics, Boudreau’s Department Store
  In the late 1950s, after Kurtland Boulevard was 
  completed, the relatively sparsely inhabited area 
  between Little Italy and Guilford — Ardmore, a 
  name taken from that of an early settler who once 
  had a cabin in the area — suddenly became popular 
  among developers. Brownstone apartments, town-
  houses, condominiums, and even some detached 
  housing sprang up in the shadow of the expressway. 
  Where residential construction wasn’t appropriate, 
  the developers built blocks of low-rise oﬃce build-
  ings, shops, and other commercial structures.
  Ardmore quickly became popular with young 
  professionals, families with children, and senior citi-
  zens. Though it lacked a park or major entertainment 
  facilities of its own, it was only about a mile west of 
  the northern tip of LeMastre Park, and a mile east 
  of the Stewart County Stadium. Coupled with the 
  decent reputation of the local schools, those features 
  made Ardmore attractive to many Hudsonites.
  Today, most Hudsonites deﬁne Ardmore as the 
  neighborhood bounded by N. Roosevelt, N. Har-
  rison, 12th Avenue, and 16th Avenue. It’s regarded 
  as one of the safer, more pleasant neighborhoods 
  in Hudson City, partly because of its proximity 
  to Guilford and Irishtown, and partly due to the 
  inﬂuence of the Maﬁa families of nearby Little Italy 
  (many of whom are said to provide “protection 
  services” in this region of the city). Kurtland Boule-
  vard provides easy access to the suburbs and some 
  other parts of the city (though some residents com-
  plain that there’s no local subway station), and the 
  neighborhood ambience has fostered the growth of 
  many highly-regarded small restaurants and busi-
  nesses. (And people who can’t ﬁnd something they 
  like to eat have only to cross 16th to go to Little Italy, 
  where ﬁne restaurants abound.)
  Ardmore in the Sixties and Seventies was 
  mostly a family place, but that’s changed over the 
  past 25 years. Young professionals, taken in by the 
  neighborhood’s charm and low crime rate, have 
  moved in and bought up buildings, sometimes ren-
  ovating them so they could turn around and resell 
  them for a hefty proﬁt. Longtime residents don’t 
  like it, or the rash of clubs and yuppie-oriented 
  stores that have sprung up, but there’s nothing they 
  can do about it, so they just sigh, shake their heads, 
  and go on about their business.
  SHOPPING
  Hudsonites who want to spend their money 
  at some place other than just another Durango 
  Denim or Fast Forward Music ’n’ Video might want 
  to try these places:
  Frank’s News & Books (7853 16th Avenue):  Biblio-
  philes looking for the sorts of books they won’t ﬁnd 
  at chain stores like Darius Books might want to give 
  Frank’s News & Books a try. It’s mostly a newsstand, 
  with magazines and newspapers from all over the 
  country (including more than a few “fringe” maga-
  zines and other weirdness). But the owner, Frank 
  Wells, is a well-read man with interests as broad and 
  deep as the Atlantic Ocean, so he also stocks unusual 
  books that relate to one of his “subjects” (as he calls 
  them). They’re not well-shelved — you might ﬁnd a 
  book on topology next to a couple on Atlantis, a his-
  tory of London, and one of Shane Velloric’s macabre 
  novels, but Frank knows where everything is. Just ask 
  him, and he can tell you what he’s got in stock, and 
  where to ﬁnd it. He’s well-known around Ardmore 
  (even ran for City Council once) and always “up” on 
  the latest local gossip.
  Hudson City Numismatics (corner of 12th Avenue and 
  Cleveland Street):  Coin collectors from around 
  the United States, and sometimes even around the 
  world, do business with Hudson City Numismat-
  ics. Proprietor Dean Schnabel has one of the best 
  selections of rare, antique, and desirable coins in 
  the country, and knowledge of the subject to match. 
  A crusty old man who refuses to change the name 
  of his store despite all the calls he gets from people 
  who think it’s some sort of self-help program, he 
  carries a pocketwatch and has a habit of ﬁddling 
  with his good luck charm — a $50 krugerrand 
  — when he’s nervous or lost in thought.
  Timeout Sports (2744 Oak Avenue):  Need a baseball 
  glove for your kid? A stick for a game of street 
  hockey? A pair of rollerblades? A ball so you can 
  get an autograph at a Heroes game? Well, Timeout 
  ARDMORE
  IMAGES OF 
  ARDMORE
  Kids playing soccer in 
  the shadow of Kurtland 
  Boulevard
  An old couple in sweat-
  ers on an early spring 
  morning, walking their 
  dog, holding hands as 
  they go
  Beautiful people out on 
  the town, looking for 
  something fun to do 
  after a hard day’s work
  Mothers doing their 
  grocery shopping, kids 
  in tow
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  28 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  Sports is the place for you. It’s got just about any 
  type of sporting gear you can imagine, even for 
  obscure sports like jai-alai and petanque, though 
  it doesn’t carry exercise equipment or anything 
  else too large to store on a shelf. Timeout also has 
  a big bulletin board where people who want to get 
  involved in a team sport can hook up with leagues.
  OUT ON THE TOWN
  If you’re looking for fun in Ardmore, check out 
  these places:
  Edelweiss (corner of Maple Avenue and Fontaine 
  Street):  Leonhard Schroeder came to the United 
  States in 1968 with the dream of opening up his 
  own restaurant. For years he worked in other 
  restaurants, ﬁrst as a waiter, then as sous-chef or 
  assistant chef, and ﬁnally as head chef... but the 
  dream never died. In 1994, he scraped together 
  his savings, called in a few favors from friends and 
  admirers, and left his job at Phoenix (page 32) to 
  open Edelweiss. His restaurant has been a favorite 
  with Hudsonites who like good German food ever 
  since. Edelweiss specializes in Bavarian cuisine, but 
  oﬀers dishes from all over Germany and Austria, 
  including a sublime weiner schnitzel. The portions 
  are large, and the menu has dozens of selections, so 
  it’s no wonder people keep coming back.
  The New York Deli (4326 N. Roosevelt Street):  If you 
  need a quick sandwich and a cream soda instead 
  of a big German meal, stop by the New York 
  Deli. Unimaginatively named by its unimagina-
  tive owners, Marge and Jerry Ballantine, the NYD 
  serves thick-piled sandwiches on home-baked 
  bread, delicious pies, and the best potato salad this 
  side of Manhattan. It’s also got deli meats, salads, 
  and other food to go for busy people who don’t 
  have time to cook dinner.
  The Zanzibar Cabaret (2480 Oak Avenue):  Joel Wil-
  liams used to be a critically-acclaimed, but obscure, 
  jazz musician, but the lack of fame and the rigors of 
  the road eventually got to him. He “retired” to his 
  hometown and opened up the Zanzibar Cabaret, 
  a jazz club that often showcases up-and-coming 
  new talent in the jazz world. It’s the perfect place to 
  spend an evening if you don’t want to endure loud 
  rock music or the latest Hollywood banality.
  THE DAILY GRIND
  Just about anywhere you go on the Northside, and even 
  in some places on the Southside, you’ll see them:  distinc-
  tive dull orange and rich brown awnings, sometimes with 
  matching chairs and small tables underneath. Above the 
  awning is a logo sign, the three words of the store’s title 
  forming a circle around a steaming cup of coﬀee:  THE 
  DAILY GRIND.
  Since being started in 1997 by Kansas entrepreneur and 
  venture capitalist J. Branson Martin, the Daily Grind has 
  rapidly expanded from an initial slate of 50 stores, mostly 
  in the eastern Midwest and Northeast, to over 2,000 out-
  lets nationwide. Every day tens of millions of Americans 
  make the Daily Grind part of their routine, whether that 
  means stopping by in the morning for a pick-me-up cup 
  to get them through the ﬁrst few hours of work, at lunch 
  for a muﬃn and a cuppa, or in the afternoon for that ﬁnal 
  blast of caﬀeinated goodness they need to ﬁnish the day.
  Hudson City has numerous Daily Grind franchises, 
  nearly all of them owned by Ardmore businessman 
  Randy Makepeace. A former stockbroker who decided 
  to abandon the Dawnlea ratrace for something better, 
  Makepeace got in on the ground ﬂoor when the Daily 
  Grind started, and he’s become one of the company’s 
  most important franchisees. On any given day, he usu-
  ally spends at least an hour or two at one of his stores, 
  watching how things go and often taking a turn behind 
  the register for a few minutes — he’s a hands-on kind 
  of manager who wants to know what works, what 
  doesn’t, and what can be improved, not a paper-pusher 
  who just likes to give orders.
  
  29 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  Tall, tanned, and impeccably dressed, he looked 
  south from his oﬃce window on the sixtieth 
  ﬂoor of the Berkely Complex — the ﬁrst build-
  ing he’d built with his name on it, but not the 
  last. From this window alone he could see three 
  other buildings he owned, and northward he’d 
  be able to see at least as many. It’s good to be 
  the king, he thought half-jokingly to himself.
  His reverie over, he turned back to his desk. 
  It was a 200 year-old antique made from the 
  timbers of a British ship sunk during the War 
  of Independence, but as much as he loved 
  it the papers on top of it held his attention 
  more. If his sources down at Governmental 
  Center were right, Hudson City was soon 
  going to consider building another landﬁll 
  — and the land described in these deeds was 
  the most likely spot for it. With some detailed 
  planning, a little bit of luck, and perhaps a 
  few thousand dollars in bribes, he could turn 
  a monumental proﬁt on the property...
  ...assuming, of course, he could convince the 
  old goat who owned the place to sell. That was 
  going to take a little more eﬀort, but he had 
  a conﬁdence borne of an almost unbroken 
  string of business successes. No one said no 
  to him for long.
  — just another business day for Ben Berkely
  Bankhurst — the highly-developed corridor 
  of oﬃce buildings, government oﬃces, shops, and 
  luxury apartments and condominiums running 
  roughly between N. Adams Street and LeMastre 
  Park from the river to around 9th Avenue or so — is 
  the heart of the Northside, and one of the world’s 
  great centers of ﬁnance. Named for the Revolution-
  ary War hero of the Battle of the Stewart River, who 
  after the war had a farm not far from the Berkely 
  Center, Bankhurst is a hustling, bustling place 
  where the only thing taller than the skyscrapers are 
  the egos of some of the people who work in them.
  In the nineteenth century, Bankhurst, espe-
  cially the part known as Westhurst, was as much a 
  residential area as a place to do business. More than 
  one tycoon or robber baron had a large urban man-
  sion or fancy second house in Bankhurst within 
  easy ride of his oﬃces. Today, few of those houses 
  survive, having been replaced by skyscrapers and 
  oﬃce complexes as the land became more and 
  more valuable. The most prominent of the survi-
  vors is the Crenshaw House, former home of indus-
  trialist Louis Crenshaw, which now serves as the 
  headquarters of the Hudson City Historical Society.
  Most people come to Bankhurst to work or to 
  shop. It has relatively few residential buildings, and 
  even the cheapest of those has rents in the many 
  thousands of dollars per month. Only the extremely 
  wealthy live here — and usually they’re nouveau 
  riche to boot, since old money prefers Irishtown. 
  Only in Bankhurst would “rooftop helipad” be 
  included in a real estate listing.
  When Hudsonites refer to “downtown,” they’re 
  talking about Bankhurst (particularly the north-
  ern part). Generally speaking, the oﬃces, shops, 
  and condominiums in Bankhurst tend to become 
  bigger, more expensive, and more prestigious the 
  further north one goes.
  The enormous amount of money ﬂoating 
  around Bankhurst means a high level of security 
  as well; it’s one of the safest parts of the city. The 
  police are always around, and unfailingly polite 
  — they know there’s a good chance someone in 
  Bankhurst is powerful enough to pick up the 
  phone, call the Department, and get them ﬁred if 
  they’re not completely professional and courteous. 
  BANKHURST
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  30 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  Many police matters involving wealthy residents, 
  like speeding or public drunkenness, get “hushed 
  up” or dismissed with a warning instead of leading 
  to arrests... but of course, bums and troublemak-
  ers who cause “disturbances” get arrested quicker 
  than you can say “Fifth Amendment.” Additionally, 
  most buildings have their own security personnel, 
  doormen, and other factotums who look out for 
  the welfare of the locals. But even Bankhurst isn’t 
  100% crime-free; some criminals, such as the Black 
  Tarantula or Prospero, see the wealth-ﬁlled high-
  rises as tempting targets.
  DAWNLEA
  Bankhurst is the ﬁnancial center of Hudson 
  City, and indeed an important center of the world 
  economy due to the trillions of dollars that ﬂow 
  through its banks, brokerages, and exchange houses 
  every year. Analysts and investors who talk about 
  this often refer to “Dawnlea” the same way they’d 
  say “Wall Street.” Dawnlea isn’t a neighborhood, 
  but an avenue that runs right through Bankhurst. 
  Among the buildings lining it are the Hudson City 
  Stock Exchange (see below), the Regentsbank head-
  quarters, and the main North American oﬃces of 
  Vanden Broek and Associates, one of the largest 
  investment ﬁrms in the world.
  The Hudson City Stock Exchange
  Located at the corner of Centre Street and 
  Dawnlea Avenue, the Hudson City Stock Exchange 
  (HCSE) is the center of Hudson City’s ﬁnancial dis-
  trict. Brokers, ﬁnance houses, and everyday people 
  trade hundreds of millions of shares of stock here 
  every day during a frenzied six-hour period (9:00 
  AM to 3:00 PM) of buying and selling. Anyone 
  who wants to act as a broker on the ﬂoor of the 
  Exchange must have a license, and the Exchange’s 
  Board of Governors strictly regulates the number 
  of available licenses. Guided tours of the Exchange 
  are given daily — one every two hours beginning at 
  10:00 in the morning.
  THE LOWDOWN
  “No no no, that wasn’t the deal! We had an 
  arrangement here, Sinclair, and you know it. I 
  want those options back in the package imme-
  diately.
  “Yeah? Well, !$&* you too, you !$&*%@# 
  &+&*sucker! I don’t need your deal, and now 
  I’m gonna go back to Knox Tweedham and 
  we’re going to put together a buyout that we’re 
  gonna shove so far up your ass that you’ll be 
  *%&!%@# paper for a week!”
  — cell phone conversation overheard in  
  the Lowdown
  The southernmost part of Bankhurst (the 
  part below Currier Avenue, roughly speaking) is 
  known as Lower Downtown, or more commonly 
  just “the Lowdown.” Despite the poor connota-
  tions of the name, which was coined a few decades 
  ago by snobbish residents of the “upper” part of 
  Bankhurst, Lowdown is every bit as nice as the 
  rest of Bankhurst. Since it’s nearer the river, it’s got 
  fewer tall oﬃce buildings and more small oﬃce 
  complexes, shops, and even some manufacturing 
  and industrial facilities. Though rents are high, 
  competition for an apartment or condo here is 
  ﬁerce; places with a view of the river or LeMastre 
  Park are particularly sought after.
  Many people claim the best part of the Low-
  down is Timothy Street, a road that was once little 
  more than an alley. Over the past couple of decades 
  developers have transformed it into a half-elegant, 
  half-trendy/hip shopping area, almost like a pedes-
  trian mall. Visit the Longino & Pierce art gallery 
  for the latest selection from Hudson City’s art com-
  munity, stop by the Bagel Joint for some breakfast, 
  or get a new suit at the local branch of Berghalter 
  & Sneed!
  WESTHURST
  The westernmost part of Bankhurst — the 
  part in the “bight” of LeMastre Park, bordered by 
  N. Jackson Street and 20th and 16th Avenues — is 
  usually referred to as “Westhurst.” Although slightly 
  more residential than the Lowdown or the main 
  part of Bankhurst, with a tendency toward small, 
  elegant brownstones painted cream or shades of 
  tan, it’s still primarily a business neighborhood. 
  The buildings aren’t quite as tall as they are to the 
  immediate east, but they’re just as ﬁlled with stock-
  brokers, lawyers, accountants, and businessmen of 
  every variety.
  LANDMARKS
  Some of the most prominent buildings in 
  Hudson City are in Bankhurst. They include:
  The Berkely Commercial Center  
  And Sports Metroplex
  Located on the southwest corner of 16th and 
  Centre, and dominating all of Bankhurst, is the 
  Berkely Commercial Center and Sports Metroplex 
  (sometimes known simply as “the BCC”). The 
  brainchild of ﬁnancier and developer Ben Berkely 
  (page 119), and the crown jewel of his empire, the 
  Commercial Center has some of the most presti-
  gious (and expensive!) oﬃce space in the city. Its 
  sixty ﬂoors contain some of Hudson City’s largest 
  and wealthiest brokerages, law ﬁrms, and real estate 
  developers in addition to Berkely Enterprises... and 
  his personal oﬃce takes up the entire sixtieth ﬂoor.
  The Sports Metroplex portion of the complex 
  is a 33,000-seat arena that’s home to the Hudson 
  City Cougars basketball team (page 114), of which 
  Berkely is part owner. It also hosts conventions and 
  other events in addition to sports matches.
  The third part of the Commercial Center is the 
  Berkely Grande Plaza Hotel, a 25-story luxury hotel 
  where visiting basketball teams, well-heeled sports 
  fans, and businessmen come to strike deals with the 
  Center’s residents often stay. While nowhere near as 
  well-regarded as the Stewart Regency or the DeBal-
  lenger, it’s an excellent place to spend a few nights... 
  assuming you can aﬀord it.
  DALTON BRUNNER
   10 STR 
  12 DEX
   12 CON 12 BODY
   15 INT 
  12 EGO
   15 PRE 
  8 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   3 SPD 
  5 REC
   28 END 25 STUN
  Abilities:  +1 with All 
  Combat, Climbing 11-, 
  Deduction 12-, KS: 
  Berkely Center Person-
  nel 14-, KS: Berkely 
  Center Security Proce-
  dures 16-, Martial Arts 
  (Jujutsu), Paramedics 
  12-, Security Systems 
  12-, Tactics 12-, WF: 
  Small Arms, Contact 
  (Ben Berkely), Contacts 
  (various, in the U.S. 
  Army), Fringe Beneﬁt 
  (Membership in Berkely 
  commercial empire)
  25+ Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Duty Above Everything, 
  Social Limitation:  Sub-
  ject To Orders
  Notes:  Dalton Brunner, 
  a twelve-year veteran of 
  the United States Army 
  who saw combat during 
  Desert Storm, serves as 
  the Head of Security for 
  the Berkely Center. As 
  such, he’s responsible 
  for all security matters 
  pertaining to the Center, 
  the Sports Metroplex, 
  and the Berkely Grande. 
  Responsibility like that 
  would be too much for 
  most people, but not 
  “the Captain” (as his 
  men call him) — he’s 
  always cool under pres-
  sure and looking for the 
  quickest, easiest way to 
  resolve the situation. 
  He’s so devoted to his 
  duty that he’s wrecked 
  his marriage, but he 
  views his job with the 
  same sort of fervor he 
  once reserved for mili-
  tary service.
  
  31 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  The Murchison Building
  Designed in the late 1920s by renowned archi-
  tect Lemuel Perrault and built in the 1930s by stub-
  born industrialist Herbert “I’ll be damned if some 
  stock market collapse is going to stop me” Mur-
  chison, the Murchison Building has a sort of “Art 
  Deco” aesthetic to it that reminds some observers 
  of the Chrysler Building in New York City. Mur-
  chison intended it as the headquarters for what he 
  hoped would his commercial empire, not knowing 
  that both of his sons would die on the battleﬁelds of 
  World War II and that Murchison Industries would 
  be broken up and sold oﬀ following his own death 
  of a heart attack in 1947. Today it’s home to the 
  oﬃces of many important and powerful companies, 
  but none bearing the name “Murchison.”
  With its arch-like polished copper roof, the 
  Murchison Building is a distinctive part of the 
  lower Northside skyline. Nestled right underneath 
  that roof is the Huntsman’s Club, a members-only 
  club popular among wealthy businessmen who 
  work in the building (or elsewhere in Bankhurst). 
  Decorated in a “hunting lodge” theme (Murchison 
  himself having been a skilled big game hunter), it’s 
  often perceived as a “men’s club” even though it has 
  plenty of female members. Membership is by invi-
  tation only, though a member can bring anyone he 
  wants into the club as a guest.
  Stailey Towers
  Built in the early 1980s, these two build-
  ings have an unusual “nested” configuration. The 
  larger (48 stories) and more northerly of them 
  is vaguely crescent-shaped and seems almost 
  to wrap or “embrace” the shorter (36 stories), 
  square-shaped building (despite the fact that the 
  two are separated by enough space that there’s 
  no skywalk connecting them). The brainchild 
  of architect Monroe Stailey, the Towers have 
  become associated with “trendy” up-and-coming 
  companies, including many software firms with 
  more money than sense. Many people think the 
  Towers bring a touch of modern “hipness” to the 
  otherwise stodgy Bankhurst neighborhood.
  The Stewart Regency Hotel
  Considered by many the most elegant hotel 
  in Hudson City, the Stewart Regency at Centre 
  Street and Aiken Avenue is a beautiful twenty-story 
  ediﬁce built nearly a hundred years ago in a clas-
  sic Victorian style. Despite its age, it oﬀers all the 
  modern amenities one could hope for:  high-speed 
  and wireless modem connections throughout the 
  building; in-room whirlpool baths; personal valets; 
  and two ﬁve-star restaurants. Just a few blocks 
  south of the Berkely Center and a few more south-
  west of the Gadsden Consumerplex, it’s perfectly 
  located whether you’ve come to Hudson City on 
  business, pleasure, or both.
  SHOPPING
  Got a lot of time to kill... and a lot of money to 
  spend? Take a shopping trip to Bankhurst and visit 
  some of these places:
  Cartographica (2526 Hastings Avenue):  Owned and 
  operated by Melinda McKittrick, Cartographica 
  sells maps, atlases, globes, and similar objects, both 
  antique and modern. While most of the money 
  comes in from hikers and other people buying the 
  latest, most up-to-date maps available, McKittrick’s 
  real love are the antique maps she sells, some of 
  which are worth tens of thousands of dollars. The 
  best of her stock adorn the walls, though they’re all 
  for sale.
  Elegancia (southeast corner of 25th Avenue and Rich-
  mond Street):  Specializing in the most exclusive of 
  designer fashions for women, Elegancia is a must-
  stop destination for wealthy young women, movie 
  actresses, and others who insist on looking their 
  absolute best no matter what the cost. Even people 
  who can’t aﬀord to shop at Elegancia often walk by 
  to see its beautiful, elaborate windowfront displays.
  Feinblum’s Jewelry (3957 25th Avenue):  After buying 
  a few frocks at Elegancia, a woman needs jewelry 
  to go with them, doesn’t she? Fortunately, all she 
  has to do is stroll half a block down the street to 
  Feinblum’s, supplier of the ﬁnest in jewelry to dis-
  criminating clients for over 55 years. Abe Feinblum, 
  the 90-something owner of the store, is well-known 
  throughout the world of gems and jewelry; it’s said 
  he can estimate the carat weight and value of a 
  stone simply by holding it in his hand and looking 
  at it closely.
  Mortenson and Sons Tailors (southeast corner of 10th 
  Avenue and Lennox Street):  Men who refuse to buy 
  “oﬀ the rack” — even at the most upscale of stores 
  — turn to “Morrie” Mortenson and his four sons 
  for the best in custom-tailored suits, tuxedos, and 
  casual wear. A Mortenson original typically costs a 
  minimum of three thousand dollars, but those who 
  wear them swear it’s worth every penny. Morrie 
  also has contacts with exclusive shoemakers in Italy 
  and can provide footwear worthy of his suits.
  OUT ON THE TOWN
  Most of the nightlife in Bankhurst is stockbro-
  kers, lawyers, and accountants unwinding after a 
  hard day at work. Here are some of the places they 
  go to relax:
  Aces High (6863 Lennox Street):  An inviting atmo-
  sphere, a festive crowd, and inexpensive drinks and 
  appetizers bring in a crowd every night at Aces 
  High, a nightclub in the Lowdown. It plays only 
  soft music, making it much easier for the patrons to 
  carry on a conversation, cut a deal over drinks, or 
  maybe even ask someone out.
  Biff’s Grill (5936 N. Madison Street):  Biﬀ’s, a 
  Hudson City institution for nearly forty years, 
  serves well-cooked American food in a restaurant 
  decorated like a Fifties diner. The Biffburger has 
  won the annual “Hudson City’s Best Hamburger” 
  contest sponsored by the Star-Gazette three of the 
  last six years.
  IAN MCANDREWS
   8 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 
  8 BODY 
   14 INT 
  12 EGO
   16 PRE 
  12 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 19 STUN
  Abilities:  +1 Overall, 
  Computer Program-
  ming 8-, Concealment 
  12-, Deduction 12-, 
  Disguise 8-, Forgery 
  (Documents) 8-, Gam-
  bling (Card Games) 12-, 
  Lockpicking 8-, Security 
  Systems 8-, Stealth 11-, 
  Systems Operation 8-, 
  Survival (Temperate) 
  8-, Contacts (40 points’ 
  worth around the 
  world), Fringe Beneﬁt:  
  Membership (the secret 
  network of Hudson City 
  concierges)
  25+ Disadvantages:   
  Psychological Limita-
  tion:  Nothing Must  
  Go Wrong!
  Notes:  Ian McAndrews 
  is the head concierge 
  at the Stewart Regency, 
  and a fussier, more 
  precise man you never 
  met. He’s determined 
  that every guest’s stay 
  be trouble-free, and that 
  anything a guest wants, 
  a guest gets. He brooks 
  little failure or tomfool-
  ery among his staﬀ, who 
  regard him as a mar-
  tinet, but to the guests 
  he’s as friendly, pleasant, 
  and accommodating as 
  someone can be without 
  becoming an ass-kisser. 
  He’s part of a small 
  group of concierges at 
  elite Hudson City hotels 
  who meet at Gadsden 
  Park every morning to 
  trade event tickets and 
  ﬁnd ways to help each 
  other out.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  32 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  The Garden (southwest corner of 14th Avenue and 
  Steele Street):  Fine food, lush music, and elegant 
  decor combine to make the Garden a destination 
  spot for those whose idea of entertainment runs 
  more toward dining and dancing than ear-splitting 
  rock music. Owned by Kenneth Riley, a movie buﬀ 
  inspired by the dance scenes in old black and white 
  movies, the Garden harks back to the elegance of 
  the Thirties and Forties.
  Phoenix (southwest corner of 15th Avenue and 
  Mathews Street):  Phoenix is a restaurant for Hud-
  sonites with discriminating palates and “an inclina-
  tion toward gustatory experimentation,” as owner 
  and head chef Alberto Raimundo puts it. Phoenix 
  specializes in rare and exotic foods:  elephant, 
  scorpion, caribou, iguana, weird Asian and Oceanic 
  vegetables, you name it — the more unusual, the 
  better. It’s usually booked weeks in advance, but 
  somehow the famous or inﬂuential always seem to 
  get a table that “freed up at the last minute.”
  Running With Scissors (5865 Steele Street):  Up 
  and coming rock, rhythm and blues, and soul acts 
  dream of getting a gig at Running With Scissors, 
  one of the most prominent music clubs on the East 
  Coast. It’s well-known that music critics from major 
  magazines, papers, and websites frequent the place, 
  and more than a few bands have gone on to success 
  and stardom after playing here. Hudsonites in the 
  mood for some cutting-edge popular music know 
  that this is the place to go to hear it.
  Satin Angels (4787 Steele Street):  “Beauty amidst 
  elegance,” reads the gold lettering on the face of 
  the jet-black card-key possessed by members of 
  this exclusive adult club — and it’s a motto the 
  club lives up to. Everything at Satin Angels is of 
  the ﬁnest, whether it’s the furnishings, the wine, 
  or the women up on the stage. The annual mem-
  bership dues are hideously expensive, but for 
  those unwilling to tolerate the more sordid clubs 
  of the Strip, Satin Angels represents the ultimate 
  in adult entertainment.
  Top Of The World (top ﬂoor of 3418 Hastings Avenue):  
  Located on the top ﬂoor of the eighty-story oﬃce 
  building known simply as 3418 Hastings, Top of 
  the World is one of the most exclusive and elegant 
  nightclub/bars in Hudson City. Most people can 
  barely aﬀord to have one drink, much less an 
  evening’s worth of them or a meal, at TotW, but 
  for those with money to spend it’s one of the most 
  popular watering holes in Bankhurst. It usually 
  features light jazz or other non-intrusive music in 
  the evenings.
  IMAGES OF 
  BANKHURST
  Sunshine glittering  
  oﬀ glass and steel  
  skyscrapers
  Well-dressed business-
  men talking on their 
  cell phones as they walk 
  down the crowded  
  sidewalks
  A constant stream  
  of traﬃc, half of it 
  yellow or green cabs, 
  heading up and down 
  Centre Street
  A breeze whipped into 
  a strong wind as the 
  skyscraper cliﬀs chan-
  nel it down the concrete 
  canyons of the streets
  Stockbrokers pouring 
  out of the HCSE at noon 
  to grab some lunch
  The wet concrete  
  smell of just-washed 
  streets after a rainstorm 
  or a streetsweeper 
  passes through
  A cool half-million  
  in diamond necklaces 
  displayed in the show-
  case window of a  
  jewelry store
  AEGIS PERSONAL 
  SECURITY SERVICES
  In this modern world, full of uncertainties and dangers, 
  it pays to do whatever you can to protect yourself from 
  the likes of criminals, terrorists, kidnappers, and their ilk. 
  When you’re a wealthy Bankhurst executive, or a corpora-
  tion that employs one, you have to be even more careful; 
  to many people in this world, you’re nothing more than 
  the possibility of a big, fat ransom
  Well-heeled and important Hudsonites looking for the 
  ultimate in personal protection often turn to one of the 
  most highly-regarded, and highly-specialized, security 
  ﬁrms in the world:  Aegis Personal Security Services. 
  Based in London, APSS provides highly trained body-
  guards for the rich and famous — everyone from mem-
  bers of various royal families, to Hollywood mega-stars, to 
  executives and their families around the world
  Aegis’s services aren’t cheap by any stretch of the imagi-
  nation, but as the company’s representatives are so fond 
  of observing, you get what you pay for. Most experts 
  consider Aegis bodyguards to be the best trained and 
  most competent available. All of them are military and/or 
  law enforcement veterans, but beyond that Aegis puts 
  them through a rigorous six-month training course of its 
  own design that covers every aspect of bodyguarding in 
  excruciating detail. An Aegis bodyguard also has combat 
  driving and marksman qualiﬁcations so he can provide 
  all-around protection. The company’s so certain of the 
  value of its services that it oﬀers a money-back guarantee 
  in the event one of its protectees suﬀers injury or death 
  due to error on the part of an Aegis employee
  In addition to its standard bodyguard services, APSS 
  has two specialized subsidiaries:  Aegis Child Protective 
  Services and Aegis Executive Assistant Services. ACPS is 
  a group of trained bodyguards who are also trained child 
  care workers. Most of them are woman, and they’re all 
  qualiﬁed to care for children from infants to teenagers 
  while protecting their lives. Many of them are licensed 
  nurses as well
  AEAS covers the other end of the spectrum:  its person-
  nel are, in eﬀect, “combat butlers” who provide valet and 
  manservants services in addition to being bodyguards. 
  They can do everything from from expertly pressing their 
  employer’s clothing, to ironing the newspaper for him so 
  he doesn’t get inkstains on his hands, to parachuting him 
  to safety from a crashing airplane or preventing him from 
  suﬀering injury in a ﬁreﬁght.
  
  33 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  “Ahhh, it ain’t so bad most’a the time. I can do 
  a lotta stuﬀ with it — it’s pretty amazing what 
  the docs can come up with. I still can sorta feel 
  my hand there, though, which creeps me out, 
  ’specially in the morning.
  “I’m gonna miss the shipyard, but my cousin 
  said he ﬁgured he could get me some kind’a 
  job at the plant where he works. At least there 
  I won’t hafta worry about that !$&*-up Sturzo 
  droppin’ sheet metal on me again.
  Hey, Bertie, gimme ’nother beer!”
  —former shipyard worker Mark Munson, 
  showing oﬀ his new prosthetic arm down  
  at the Anchor Room tavern
  North of Owl Bay, the Hudson City coastline 
  bulges out slightly. Hudsonites refer to the neigh-
  borhood occupying that bulge as Bayside. Most of 
  them would describe its boundaries as 20th and 24th 
  Avenues and around Easley Street.
  Given its position on the bay, Bayside has 
  historically been a neighborhood devoted to 
  industry and heavy commerce. Even in the earli-
  est days of the city, large ships would pull right up 
  to the Bayside docks to discharge their cargo and 
  take on new goods. That trend continues today, 
  though the ships are no longer made of wood and 
  don’t show up as frequently. In recent years, as 
  manufacturing has declined, Bayside has taken on 
  more of the characteristics of a residential neigh-
  borhood. It always had a few areas where the men 
  who worked on the waterfront and their families 
  lived, but things have improved a little. Devel-
  opers have converted some old oﬃce buildings 
  and tenements to modern apartments, and a few 
  warehouses to lofts — but even taking that into 
  account, Bayside remains mostly a place where 
  people work, not where they live.
  The crime rate in Bayside is moderate. In many 
  ways it’s a rough neighborhood:  the longshoremen, 
  shipbuilders, and dockworkers who form such an 
  important part of Bayside’s economy aren’t genteel 
  folk. After work they often get rowdy; ﬁstﬁghts 
  and more violent encounters occur frequently, and 
  muggers and other criminals often prey on the 
  drunk and the unwary. There have also been some 
  reports of prostitution, but with the Strip not too 
  far south there’s no chance for an extensive sex 
  trade to develop in Bayside. The western parts of 
  the neighborhood, where there are more residences 
  and small businesses than manufacturing ﬁrms or 
  warehouses, are generally safer and quieter, but not 
  always by much.
  It’s widely believed that the Maﬁa — in the 
  form of the Marcelli family — dominates a lot of 
  the activity in Bayside, particularly the waterfront 
  and its businesses. In the past twenty years, several 
  organized crime ﬁgures have been convicted of 
  racketeering charges stemming, at least in part, 
  from their activities in Bayside. The Marcellis 
  supposedly control Bayside union locals, extort 
  protection money from many businesses, own 
  several warehouses that charge exorbitant rates but 
  nevertheless remain heavily patronized, and siphon 
  money out of the Shipyards in many illegal ways. 
  Marcelli lieutenant Angelo “Big Anj” Campanaro 
  and several of his soldiers were sent to jail for life in 
  1997 for murdering one shipbuilding ﬁrm execu-
  tive and threatening another, but no one thinks 
  disrupting his organization means getting rid of 
  the Maﬁa in Bayside. In fact, there are rumors that 
  Campanaro continues to run his people from jail.
  MARWICH
  Some people consider Marwich — the neigh-
  borhood between N. Adams and Oxnard or Easley 
  Street, running from about Gilraith Avenue down 
  to 24th — part of Bankhurst, Gadsden, or even 
  Pierpoint, but city statisticians generally lump this 
  neighborhood in with Bayside for some reason. It 
  was a lot more like Bayside in the ﬁrst half of the 
  twentieth century, but since then it’s transformed 
  into a residential and retail neighborhood that 
  really has more in common with Bankhurst. In fact, 
  a lot of young professionals who work in Bankhurst 
  live in the condominium towers, apartment build-
  ings, and brownstones of Marwich. Smaller invest-
  ment and ﬁnancial ﬁrms ﬁnd the oﬃce space in 
  Marwich a lot more aﬀordable than similar build-
  ings just a few blocks west.
  With so many well-oﬀ residents, Marwich has 
  plenty of clubs, bars, and stores that cater to them. 
  Businessmen looking to take a load oﬀ after a long 
  day of pushing paper around a desk can relax with 
  a drink at Gordon’s Taproom, grab a bite to eat at 
  Bears & Bulls or the Hanover Room, and maybe go 
  clubbing later at places like Downstairs.
  LANDMARKS
  There’s nothing in Bayside proper to attract the 
  average tourist... or even the average Hudsonite. But 
  it does have a few noteworthy places:
  The Hudson City Shipyards:  Shipbuilding ﬁrms 
  dominate the economy and geography of northeast 
  Bayside. Decades ago the city designated this area 
  “the Hudson City Shipyards” as a way of promoting 
  the trade, but the name implies more uniformity 
  than actually exists:  it’s not a single shipyards 
  BAYSIDE
  ASSISTANT  
  HARBORMASTER 
  ANDY POLEVSKI
   10 STR 
  8 DEX
   10 CON 11 BODY 
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 21 STUN
  Abilities:  Bribery 8-, 
  Concealment 11-, 
  Streetwise 8-, WF: 
  Pistols, Fringe Beneﬁt:  
  Assistant Harbormaster
  25+ Disadvantages:  
  None
  Notes:  Andy Polevski is 
  one of the assistant har-
  bormasters charged with 
  overseeing the docks 
  in Bayside. He usually 
  works the second shift, 
  and tries to spend as 
  little of his working 
  hours actually working 
  as possible (after all, it’s 
  a lot more fun to stay 
  inside where it’s warm 
  and watch his portable 
  TV than it is to walk 
  around the docks and 
  ships in the cold wind).
  Polevski is a big, beefy 
  guy whose stomach 
  betrays his love of deep-
  dish pizza, fudge ripple 
  ice cream, and beer. At 
  work he’s supposed to 
  wear a shirt and tie, but 
  as long as there aren’t 
  any supervisors around, 
  he loosens the tie and 
  unbuttons his collar. 
  When he’s outside he 
  usually has on a wind-
  breaker and a cap, both 
  prominently marked 
  “Harbormaster.”
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  34 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  run by the government or any other authority, 
  but instead a group of businesses all in the same 
  industry. All these ﬁrms belong to a trade organi-
  zation called the Hudson City Shipyard Associa-
  tion (HCSA), but the truth is most of them have 
  as much to divide them as bring them together. 
  They often compete with one another (sometimes 
  intensely) for shipbuilding contracts, and rivalries 
  and animosities have built up over the years. Some 
  of the companies have disputes or grievances that 
  stretch back decades, and there doesn’t seem to be 
  any hope of resolving them anytime soon.
  The largest company in the Shipyards is the 
  aptly-named Hudson Ships, which mainly builds big 
  commercial vessels. Others include Owl Bay Yachts 
  (small- to medium-length pleasure craft), McNarron 
  Shipbuilding, and Hibernia Manufacturing.
  Most of the shipbuilding that goes on at the 
  Shipyards is commercial and civilian — everything 
  from large tankers to small pleasure craft. The ship-
  builders do little in the way of military shipbuild-
  ing, though some of them occasionally win govern-
  ment contracts. They’re certainly not equipped to 
  build anything as large and complex as a destroyer, 
  battleship, aircraft carrier, or submarine.
  24th Avenue Armory:  Located at the corner of 24th 
  and Easley Street, this building once housed one of 
  the armories that held the weapons for the Hudson 
  City Militia. Even through the 1960s, it was a 
  National Guard armory, but eventually that use was 
  phased out and the city bought the building. In the 
  1970s it was cleaned, renovated, and turned into a 
  community center. It’s a favored meeting place for 
  Baysiders, who take classes and play sports there, 
  and is often featured in Hudson City architectural 
  guides due to its two distinctive towers (which have 
  been closed to the public for nearly 30 years).
  SHOPPING
  Bayside really isn’t the sort of 
  place people go shopping — not unless 
  they’re looking to buy industrial equip-
  ment or bulk raw materials shipped in 
  from overseas. But a few noteworthy 
  retail stores have opened up in recent 
  years in the more residential parts of 
  the neighborhood, such as:
  Makin’ Tracks (southeast corner of Kemp 
  Avenue and Silas Street):  Located in 
  the shadow of one of the city’s elevated 
  railway tracks, this small specialty busi-
  ness caters to model train enthusiasts. 
  It makes most of its sales via mail order 
  or the Web, but has a dedicated core of 
  local railroading aﬃcionados who come 
  in to pick up the latest models and talk 
  about trains. Every Wednesday night 
  the owner, Rob O’Malley, holds a “movie 
  night” and shows ﬁlms about trains, 
  home movies of train trips, and the like.
  The Doughnut Hole (3888 Easley Street):  
  A local favorite, this combination coﬀee 
  shop/bakery/newsstand caters mainly 
  to the breakfast and brunch crowd. 
  There aren’t a lot of seats, but if you get 
  there at the right time it’s a great place to relax with 
  your morning paper of choice, a cup of good black 
  coﬀee, and a bagel. Most people just get their coﬀee 
  and paper to go, or later in the day pick up some 
  bread or doughnuts.
  ON THE TOWN
  There’s not much nightlife in Bayside. Most 
  people looking for something to do head north to 
  Gadsden or (if they can aﬀord it) west to Bankhurst. 
  But as the residential character of the neighborhood 
  has improved over the past three decades, it’s brought 
  some related businesses along with it.
  Ankara (432 Dawnlea Avenue):  Turkish immigrant 
  Husmettin Nemria opened up this restaurant, 
  which serves the cuisine and coﬀees of his native 
  land, in 1996. The patronage of local residents kept 
  it going at ﬁrst, but since it was “discovered” by 
  Bankhurst businessmen with long lunch hours it’s 
  become a deﬁnite success.
  The White Event:  Where the eastern terminus of 
  Dawnlea Avenue intersects with the Coastal Park-
  way, there used to be a warehouse that stored goods 
  which arrived in Hudson City by ship before they 
  were distributed to local businesses or sent else-
  where. But in the late Eighties the owners fell on 
  hard times, and the warehouse was bought by some 
  entrepreneurs who wanted to open up a nightclub. 
  Their club failed, and so did those of a couple other 
  people who tried the same thing. Then Johnny 
  Skevington came along. A devotee of the goth/rave 
  scene, he had a ﬁnely-tuned appreciation for what 
  modern clubgoers wanted. It didn’t take long for 
  his new club, the White Event, to become a success 
  where others had failed. Since its opening in 2001, 
  it’s been a favorite nightspot for pale-skinned, late-
  night partygoers.
  IMAGES OF 
  BAYSIDE
  The clang and bang of 
  work at the Shipyards
  The smell of the half-
  rotten old piers down 
  along the waterfront
  Bar signs at night, slash-
  ing the darkness with 
  their neon glow
  The smell of fresh bread 
  baking at the Doughnut 
  Hole
  
  35 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  “Man, this place rocks! This is like the great-
  est club ever! I can’t believe Flog My Nixon 
  just showed up here to do a gig. I never get to 
  see anything like this in Missouri. This is so 
  cooool....”
  — convention attendee Charlie Biddick,  
  enjoying a night on the town at Inferno
  Blackbridge takes its name from a time back 
  in the 1800s when a large stream ran through the 
  heart of the area (the stream still exists today, a 
  couple feet under Harnett Street). The main bridge 
  across the stream was built with wood from an 
  enormous black oak tree, so it became known as 
  Black Oak Bridge. Residents later shortened this 
  to Blackbridge, and eventually the name came to 
  signify the neighborhood as well as the bridge. By 
  1935 the stream was completely paved over and the 
  bridge removed. Pieces of wood from the bridge 
  were sold to raise money for charity. Many older 
  families in the city still own a piece or two; some 
  businesses in the city bought numerous pieces and 
  used them to build furniture or artwork for their 
  oﬃces. Pieces remain available in antique stores all 
  over the city.
  Roughly speaking, Blackbridge is the area 
  north of LeMastre Park, east of N. Madison 
  Street (excluding Westhurst), west of Kurtland 
  Boulevard, and south of 4th Avenue. For most of 
  its history it was primarily a residential neigh-
  borhood, and it retains much of that character 
  today. Middle-class families, nature-lovers who 
  wish to be near the park, students from nearby 
  Hudson City University, and others call Black-
  bridge their home. Most of the residential build-
  ings are brownstones and high-rise apartment 
  buildings, with only a few apartment complexes 
  and “detached” houses (the detachment is so 
  small as to be nearly non-existent). There are 
  also plenty of businesses that cater to the resi-
  dents — restaurants, small shops and stores, and 
  the like. Many Hudsonites consider Blackbridge 
  to be one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city.
  However, as the city has grown, bigger busi-
  ness has intruded on Blackbridge. Particularly 
  where the neighborhood nears Bankhurst and the 
  Convention Center, oﬃce buildings have arisen 
  — none reaching the size of skyscrapers, to be 
  sure, but commercial buildings nevertheless. Some 
  Blackbridgers like having oﬃce buildings in the 
  neighborhood, since they work in them and it 
  makes for a short commute. Others would prefer 
  to keep the neighborhood mostly residential. Most 
  don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other.
  Blackbridge is a fairly safe neighborhood, 
  though not as safe as Bankhurst or Highlands. It’s 
  thought that the Maﬁa commits a lot of crimes in 
  the area (and sometimes competes for “turf” there 
  with the Russian Maﬁa, yakuza, or various inde-
  pendent criminals), and occasionally street punks 
  wander north from the park looking for easy pick-
  ings. The vigilante DarkAngel seems to pay special 
  attention to Blackbridge; some authorities speculate 
  that she lives or works there in her civilian identity.
  LANDMARKS
  In addition to Jason Devon Memorial Coli-
  seum (page 114) and the Gangland Museum (page 
  111), here are some of the places people associate 
  with Blackbridge:
  Blackbridge Park:  Bounded by Cayuga and Onon-
  daga Streets and 8th and 9th Avenues, this small, 
  quiet park is a welcome haven from the hustle and 
  bustle of city life. Although Blackbridge is close 
  to LeMastre Park, some residents prefer the less 
  crowded Blackbridge Park. It includes a large play-
  ground area for children.
  Catholic Cemetery (northeast corner of Wallace 
  Avenue and Onondaga Street):  Years ago, when 
  many of the city’s early cemeteries were close to 
  ﬁlling up, several local Catholic churches pooled 
  their money and bought a large plot of land in 
  Blackbridge for use as a cemetery. Today Catholic 
  Cemetery itself is nearing capacity, but it’s become 
  more than just a peaceful resting place for the dead. 
  Locals often jog or walk there, and students from 
  nearby HCU go there when the weather’s ﬁne to sit 
  outside and study. The cemetery’s many large and 
  fanciful tombstones and crypts sometimes attract 
  tourists as well.
  Hudson City Convention Center:  Located between 8th 
  and 11th Avenues, and Rhine and Harnett Streets, 
  right next to the Devon Coliseum, the HCCC is 
  the largest convention venue in the city. Capable 
  of supporting conventions of up to 50,000 people 
  easily, and more than that with a little diﬃculty, it 
  brings hundreds of thousands of businessmen from 
  around the world to Hudson City every year. Sev-
  eral large hotels cluster around it.
  LeMastre Ofﬁce Park (5357 13th Avenue):  This group 
  of three buildings (two six stories tall, one ﬁve) 
  sits right across 13th Avenue from LeMastre Park, 
  and just a couple blocks south of the Convention 
  Center, making it a prime commercial location. 
  Most of its tenants are what you’d expect — stock 
  brokerages, law ﬁrms, and other professional oﬃces 
  — but some are a bit more unusual. Perhaps the 
  most notable is Comrade Capitalists, a security ser-
  BLACKBRIDGE
  IMAGES OF 
  BLACKBRIDGE
  Conventioneer-welcom-
  ing banners hung on  
  the lampposts all around 
  the Devon Coliseum 
  and HCCC
  The laughter of children 
  playing on the  
  playground in Black-
  bridge Park
  The unique facade of the 
  Teale Building
  The sounds of jazz waft-
  ing out of Beethoven’s 
  Ninth on a nice night 
  when the guy watching 
  the front door leaves  
  it open
  The unmistakable sky-
  line of the LeMastre 
  Oﬃce Park
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  36 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  
  37 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  vices planning and consulting ﬁrm. Run by Arkady 
  Koslov, a veteran KGB agent, and Spencer McBryde, 
  a former CIA agent, Comrade Capitalists brings 
  what one of its clients called a “unique and thor-
  ough” perspective to security issues.
  Teale Building (4000 Van Buren Street):  Of all the 
  apartment buildings in Blackbridge, the Teale 
  Building stands out. Built by famed architect 
  Robert Teale in 1918, it has a distinctive facade with 
  broad front steps and gargoyle-like ornamentation 
  along the top of the building. The early residents, 
  who had a reputation for being somewhat Bohe-
  mian, developed the habit of painting their window 
  casements teal, a tradition that later residents main-
  tained. Apartments in the Teale Building are in 
  high demand, and thus expensive.
  SHOPPING
  Blackbridge has plenty of interesting stores 
  just waiting to serve Hudsonites and tourists look-
  ing to spend a little money.
  Edgar McCreedy’s (412 Searcy Avenue):  Although 
  smoking isn’t much in fashion these days, there are 
  some who still indulge... and some who remem-
  ber the elegance of the habit eighty years ago. 
  McCreedy’s is one such store:  a tobacconist’s that 
  caters to the smoking connoisseur. It carries an 
  extensive line of pipes, pipe tobacco, and ﬁne for-
  eign cigarettes and cigars. The cigar craze of the 
  Nineties brought it to the attention of a whole new 
  generation of customers.
  Paper Kingdoms (northeast corner of 5th Avenue and 
  Admiral Street):  A favorite among Hudsonite geeks 
  and pop culture fans, Paper Kingdoms carries an 
  extensive line of comic books, roleplaying games, 
  other non-computer games, and genre ﬁction. The 
  owner, Paul Kassabian, has an encyclopedic knowl-
  edge of pop culture and rock music trivia, and 
  uses it to steer each customer toward just the right 
  books and games for him.
  The Wheel Bookstore (northwest corner of Oak 
  Avenue and Cayuga Street):  Founded in 1927 by 
  iconoclastic artist Clarisse Lemoine, The Wheel 
  specializes in books on left-wing political sub-
  jects. A rallying point for the city’s Communists 
  through the 1950s, radical leftists in the Sixties, 
  and feminists and gay activists since the Seventies, 
  it remains a quirky part of Hudson City’s political 
  landscape. It also carries an extensive selection of 
  obscure poetry.
  ON THE TOWN
  Blackbridge has a lot of attractions for people 
  looking for a fun and relaxing evening out, particu-
  larly in the area around the Convention Center and 
  Coliseum (where you’ll ﬁnd a lot of bars and res-
  taurants, mostly chains but some local places).
  Beethoven’s Ninth (3786 9th Avenue):  A trendy jazz club 
  just a few blocks east of the Coliseum, Beethoven’s 
  Ninth attracts an eclectic crowd:  jazz musicians and 
  record executives looking to catch the next “big thing,” 
  college students enjoying the atmosphere, young 
  professionals trying to impress their dates with their 
  knowledge of “culture,” and people who are actually 
  cultured hoping to meet others of their ilk. The owner, 
  Marvin Walker, has a reputation for ﬁnding talented 
  jazz musicians before they become well-known.
  Inferno (3413 Admiral Street):  This club usually 
  features up-and-coming rock bands and is known 
  for its stiﬀ (but high-priced) drinks, including the 
  famous Hellﬁre Cocktail. It’s a favorite “watering 
  hole” not only for convention attendees (many of 
  whom come back to it, year after year) but for local 
  businessmen looking to unwind after a hard day.
  The Jackhammer (5950 Onslow Avenue):  This dance 
  club just a couple blocks north of LeMastre Park 
  attracts both locals and conventioneers. The puls-
  ing beat of the loud music (rock, house, or techno, 
  depending on the evening) makes it diﬃcult to 
  hold a decent conversation... but no one really goes 
  there to talk anyway.
  Midnight Star (6532 Hastings Avenue):  One of 
  Hudson City’s most popular nightclubs, the Mid-
  night Star is a three-story tribute to the joys of the 
  nightlife. The ﬁrst ﬂoor is mostly a bar, with music 
  played softly enough that people can drink in peace 
  or hold a conversation. The top two ﬂoors are a 
  multi-level dance ﬂoor. Jessica Sung, a former strip-
  per, owns the place; her sister Rebecca is the club’s 
  business manager, and her brother-in-law Oliver 
  Younce, a former NFL linebacker, is the bouncer 
  and general troubleshooter.
  COLISEUM STATION
  Most subway and EL stations in Hudson City aren’t any-
  thing to write home about — just poured cement ﬂoors, 
  brick or tile walls covered with advertising posters in ﬂat 
  plexiglass-covered cases, ﬂyers taped up here and there by 
  people promoting some band or event, and that vaguely 
  disturbing musty-sweaty smell that comes from having 
  people stand around there waiting for trains.
  Coliseum Station in Blackbridge is diﬀerent. When it 
  became apparent that many visitors to the city went 
  through there on their way to the Jason Devon Memo-
  rial Coliseum or Hudson City Convention Center, the 
  city decided to make it more of a showcase. It hired 
  several noted mosaicists and mural painters to beautify 
  the place, and moved all the advertising so it wouldn’t 
  spoil the view. Today commuters who go to Coliseum 
  Station are treated to wall art depicting the early his-
  tory of the city, sports heroes of Hudson City, famous 
  American presidents, and more. The station still has its 
  share of panhandlers, homeless people, and street musi-
  cians, but at least the art brings a smile to most peoples’ 
  faces for a little while.
  MIRANDA HAINES
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  13 COM
   4 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  AK: LeMastre 
  Park 8-, CK: Hudson 
  City’s Northside 12-, KS: 
  The Club Scene 11-, KS: 
  The Music Scene 8-, PS: 
  Bike Messenger 11-, PS: 
  Play Ultimate Frisbee 
  11-, Streetwise 8-, TF: 
  Two-Wheeled Muscle-
  Powered Ground 
  Vehicles
  Disadvantages:  Depen-
  dence (Addiction to 
  amphetamines)
  Notes:  It’s hard to miss 
  Miranda. With her 
  bright pink hair and 
  what looks like a half 
  a pound of metal rings 
  stuck through various 
  parts of her face, she 
  stands out in a crowd. 
  And it’s a good thing, 
  too, since as a bike mes-
  senger she wants driv-
  ers and pedestrians to 
  see her coming from a 
  long way oﬀ — fewer 
  accidents that way. An 
  employee of Flash Mes-
  senger, she’s one of the 
  company’s fastest, hard-
  est-working messengers, 
  but her talent isn’t all 
  natural. She’s able to 
  maintain her frantic 
  pace by using uppers, 
  and sooner or later that’s 
  going to catch up to her.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  38 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  “Dim sum? You want dim sum? Good dim 
  sum! Also Pepsi!”
  — dim sum pushcart owner “Uncle Bennie” 
  Hwan, usually to be found somewhere  
  on the north side of Mott Park
  Like many major metropolitan areas in the 
  United States, Hudson City has a neighborhood 
  populated almost exclusively by persons of Asian 
  extraction. And like those other cities, Hudson City 
  refers to this neighborhood as Chinatown.
  For most of the ﬁrst century of Hudson City’s 
  existence, few “celestials” (as they were then often 
  referred to) lived there. But after the Indepen-
  dence Day Fire of 1895, the need for cheap labor 
  to rebuild the city was so great that it attracted 
  Chinese laborers, many of whom had ﬁrst come 
  to the country to work on the railroads out west. 
  These immigrant workers mostly settled south of 
  the Stewart River, building a small shanty com-
  munity that the rest of the city soon came to call 
  “Chinatown.” As Hudson City grew, so did China-
  town, which was eventually absorbed into the city 
  proper. Today its boundaries are usually deﬁned as 
  S. Roosevelt Street, Kiser Street, Coleman Avenue, 
  and the river.
  During the Twenties and Thirties, when Chi-
  natown was considered a den of vice, newspaper 
  writers often referred to it as “the Yellow Crescent” 
  due to the neighborhood’s shape. Today most 
  people consider that term crass and insulting, and 
  Chinatown’s gone from being seen as a place of 
  depravity to one of hard work and cultural diver-
  sity. Its residents simply see it as home.
  Modern Chinatown is a busy, crowded neigh-
  borhood with seemingly little in the way of central 
  planning — residential buildings sit cheek-by-jowl 
  with commercial ones, and often the top ﬂoors of 
  a small store or shop serves as a residence for the 
  store’s owner and his family. Factories and other 
  businesses that rely almost exclusively on Chinese 
  labor cluster along the waterfront. Many of these are 
  little more than sweatshops that hold their employ-
  ees in quasi-slavery, though a rising class of Chinese 
  entrepreneurs is doing what it can to provide better 
  jobs and working conditions for Chinatown’s resi-
  dents. (Since the residents of Chinatown are notori-
  ously reluctant to even talk to the police, much less 
  cooperate with them, the city has repeatedly been 
  frustrated in its eﬀorts to correct many of the illegal 
  practices.) Elsewhere, the shops and restaurants that 
  outsiders think of when they hear the word “China-
  town” dominate the commercial scene.
  ONE NEIGHBORHOOD, FOUR WORLDS
  While most Hudsonites think of “Chinatown” 
  as one large neighborhood, in truth it’s actually four 
  sub-neighborhoods dominated by diﬀerent Asian 
  groups. Chinatown was almost exclusively Chinese 
  for the ﬁrst half of the twentieth century. But after 
  World War II Japanese immigration to the city 
  increased... and the same applied to Vietnamese 
  immigration after the fall of Saigon. Over the last 
  thirty years, an inﬂux of Koreans has also occurred. 
  The result is a neighborhood more splintered than 
  many outsiders can see.
  Chinatown
  Chinatown “proper” consists of those parts 
  of the neighborhood still dominated by Chinese 
  — which is to say, most of overall Chinatown. 
  (The use of the same name to mean two different 
  areas, one of which is part of the other, causes 
  all sorts of confusion except among the Chinese 
  themselves, who always seem to know which one 
  they’re referring to.) It occupies the western half 
  of the neighborhood.
  Koreatown
  Korean residents, most of whom come from 
  Seoul and other parts of South Korea, live mostly 
  in the northeastern part of greater Chinatown. 
  They keep to themselves, rarely mingling with their 
  Chinese and Japanese neighbors. Although they 
  encourage some tourist traﬃc to Korean restau-
  rants and stores, for the most part Koreatown keeps 
  to itself and prefers to be left alone.
  Little Saigon
  Wedged in between the other three neighbor-
  hoods, Little Saigon evolved in the 1970s to handle 
  the inﬂux of Vietnamese (and Cambodian and Lao-
  tian) immigrants after the end of the Vietnam War. 
  Although not quite as stand-oﬃsh as the Koreans, the 
  residents often prefer their own company (they don’t 
  even have nearly as many restaurants and other tour-
  ist attractions as the other neighborhoods).
  Little Tokyo
  Located in the eastern and southern parts 
  of Chinatown, Little Tokyo is home primarily to 
  persons of Japanese ancestry — one of the larg-
  est concentrations of ethnic Japanese outside of 
  Japan itself, in fact. The residents are a curious mix 
  of successful Japanese businessmen who long for 
  native surroundings (and most of whom work in 
  Bankhurst, Blackbridge, Highlands, or Worthing-
  ton, not Chinatown) and poorer Japanese trying 
  to get by. The architecture of the area is an eclectic 
  blend of Japanese and American that strikes some 
  critics as hideous, others as charming.
  CHINATOWN
  IMAGES OF 
  CHINATOWN
  Young men rushing 
  boxes and carts of fresh 
  vegetables and ﬁsh from 
  the waterfront to restau-
  rants in the early morn-
  ing hours
  Bright red Chinese 
  characters painted on 
  stark white or yellow 
  signboards
  The smell of dim sum 
  cooking
  Ducks hanging in a 
  butcher’s window like a 
  line of soldiers awaiting 
  inspection
  Chinese children 
  dressed in colorful silk 
  jackets for Chinese New 
  Year
  Japanese teens talk-
  ing animatedly about 
  the latest Jap-pop teen 
  heartthrob
  The setting sun cast-
  ing the shadow of Four 
  Dragons Rising east like 
  a long ﬁnger pointing 
  toward night
  The sounds of Oriental 
  languages being spoken 
  at a rapid-ﬁre pace
  
  39 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  CHINATOWN CRIME
  The crime rate in Chinatown 
  seems quite low... and it is, at least as far 
  as tourists and “round-eyes” are con-
  cerned. But the police and community 
  leaders acknowledge that behind the 
  scenes, the area has a serious crime 
  problem — one exacerbated by the 
  residents’ preference not to get involved 
  with the police (or other Western insti-
  tutions) at all.
  In Chinatown proper, vari-
  ous tongs (see page 163) control the 
  underworld. Well-funded and well-
  entrenched, they usually have strong 
  links to powerful Triads back in China, 
  from whom they buy heroin (which 
  they often distribute in the city with 
  the help of allies in the Maﬁa — the 
  geographic proximity between China-
  town and Little Italy has made it easy to 
  foster mutually proﬁtable ties between 
  the two groups). The tongs also control 
  an extensive network of illegal gam-
  bling dens and other vice operations.
  In Little Tokyo, the various clans of the yakuza 
  dominate, each with its own carefully-delineated 
  territory. Much more so than other Chinatown 
  crime groups, the yakuza is involved with schemes 
  all over the city.
  Little Saigon is plagued by Vietnamese gangs, 
  but like their Chinese neighbors the residents 
  rarely cooperate with the police.. Even if the HCPD 
  smashes one gang, it’s not long before a successor 
  steps up and takes control, since the police never 
  have enough information to really make a dent in 
  the overall crime problem.
  Koreatown also has its gangs, but they’re much 
  more fragmented and less eﬀective than their Viet-
  namese counterparts. The yakuza seems to hold 
  some sway here as well.
  See Chapter Five for more information about 
  the Hudson City underworld.
  CHINATOWN GAMBLING
  Chinese people love to gamble. A particular 
  Chinese person might not care for it, but as a 
  people they love games of chance. It’s something 
  of an open secret that there’s plenty of illegal 
  gambling going on in Chinatown’s back rooms, 
  basements, cellars, warehouses, and attics — any-
  where a few people can come together and put 
  a few dollars down on a game without the law 
  trying to break things up. Westerners would have 
  a hard time finding one of these games, much 
  less getting permission to play, but they’re going 
  on out there nevertheless
  However, the games of chance Chinese gam-
  blers prefer aren’t the same as those favored by 
  Westerners. You might find some poker or craps 
  going on, but most Chinese prefer to stick to 
  their native gambling games, such as fan-tan and 
  pai gow.
  Fan-tan is a simple game. It requires a table 
  with a square marked in the center, or a square 
  piece of metal laid on top. The sides of the square 
  are marked 1, 2, 3, and 4. The banker (the person in 
  charge of the game) puts a handful of tokens on the 
  square. Typically small Chinese coins are used as 
  the tokens, but he could use any similar item, such 
  as pennies, poker chips, dried beans, or the like. 
  Then the banker covers the tokens with a bowl, and 
  the players place their bets on 1, 2, 3, or 4. When all 
  bets are made, the banker removes the bowl and 
  uses a small stick to remove tokens in groups of 
  four until he gets down to the ﬁnal batch of four, 
  three, two, or one coins. That remainder indicates 
  which number wins. Anyone who placed a bet on 
  that number has one-fourth of his bet removed by 
  the house, then receives winnings of ﬁve times the 
  remaining 75%. Any bet placed on another number 
  loses. (There’s also a card game that goes by this 
  name, which can be played by up to eight players.)
  Pai gow is a dominoes game, not to be con-
  fused with the modern casino game of “paigow 
  poker.” The name means “make nine,” and some 
  consider it the original form of baccarat. Each 
  player places a bet and the bank then deals him 
  four dominoes (or “tiles”) from the stack (the 
  “woodpile”). From these four dominoes, he must 
  make two hands (one called the “high hand,” the 
  other the “low hand”). The goal is to make both 
  hands total as close to 9 as possible. To win, a player 
  must have a high hand that beats the bank’s high 
  hand, and a low hand that beats the bank’s low 
  hand. If that happens, the player wins his bet and 
  gets paid. If the player and the bank each win one 
  of the hands, that’s a “push”; the player gets his 
  money back but wins nothing more. If the bank 
  wins both hands, the player loses his bet. In the 
  event of a tie, the low hand with the higher-rank-
  ing tile wins. The ranking of dominoes is complex 
  and has to be learned by memory; the best possible 
  hand is gee joon (“supreme pair”), 4-2 and 2-1. 
  Other pairs have their own special names
  Other Chinese gambling games include tien 
  gow (a trick-taking dominoes game for four play-
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  40 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  ers), che deng (“diagonal nails,” another dominoes 
  game), and gwat pai (“bone tiles,” a trick-taking 
  game very diﬀerent from tien gow).
  LANDMARKS
  As far as most tourists are concerned, all of Chi-
  natown is a Hudson City landmark. But the neigh-
  borhood oﬀers a few special attractions of its own.
  Four Dragons Rising (southeast intersection of S. 
  Harrison Street and Cutler Avenue):  To mark the 
  “entrance” to Chinatown, neighborhood movers 
  and shakers long ago commissioned a special 
  statue. It depicts four celestial dragons, one facing 
  each direction, rising from a wave. The distinc-
  tive appearance of the statue as a whole, and the 
  individual dragons, have become closely associated 
  with Chinatown; they’re often seen on souvenir 
  t-shirts, posters announcing neighborhood events, 
  and even some business letterheads and signs.
  Mott Park (southeast intersection of S. Lincoln Street 
  and Iris Avenue):  Most of Chinatown is heavily 
  built up, with buildings clustered densely together. 
  The largest open space is Mott Park, where locals 
  go to relax and walk on grass instead of concrete. 
  Although two streets pass through the park, there’s 
  still plenty of space for kids to play games. The 
  annual Summer Kite Festival held here in July 
  attracts thousands of visitors to watch the elaborate 
  Chinese kites (and kite-ﬁghting competitions).
  SHOPPING
  While many Chinatown stores are ordinary 
  businesses catering to the locals, others aim to 
  attract the tourist crowd. It’s a great neighborhood 
  for bargain-hunters, Asian antique enthusiasts, and 
  curio-seekers.
  Great Wall Oriental Gifts (southwest corner of Cutler 
  Avenue and Wellsley Street):  A small building 
  crammed to the gills with Chinese antiques, curios, 
  knick-knacks, and dust-gatherers, Great Wall Gifts 
  is a mecca for collectors of Chinese art and artifacts 
  (including several museum curators). The owner, 
  Chu Shou-Ming, immigrated to the United States 
  in the early 1960s and opened his store a few years 
  thereafter, but barely seems to have Americanized. 
  His English is atrocious (though he has no trouble 
  understanding his American customers), he wears 
  Chinese clothing, and in general he seems faintly 
  contemptuous of Western culture... though not of 
  Western dollars. His sources for genuine Chinese 
  art objects are extensive.
  Japanamania (1676 Union Street):  Established in the 
  mid-80s to take advantage of the growing Ameri-
  can fascination with Japanese pop culture, Japana-
  mania sells all things trendy and Japanese:  anime; 
  manga; card games; toys; you name it. Ken Iwahara, 
  the owner and an ardent follower of Japanese cul-
  ture, travels back to Tokyo several times a year to 
  ﬁnd the latest and neatest things for his store.
  The Thousand Leaves Bookstore (northwest corner 
  of Windham Street and Covent Street):  Although it 
  mainly caters to locals by selling books written in 
  various Chinese languages, Thousand Leaves also 
  carries a selection of English-language books on 
  various Asian subjects. Sinophiles often visit to look 
  for unusual and interesting books not available in 
  mainstream bookstores.
  ON THE TOWN
  Like Chinatowns across the country, Hudson 
  City’s Chinatown is renowned for its Asian restau-
  rants. It also has a few clubs that cater to Westerners 
  as well as Asians.
  Budokan (1679 Anson Street):  Opened in 2003, this 
  club mixes traditional samurai-themed Japanese 
  decor (suits of samurai armor, swords, medi-
  eval illustrations of Japanese warfare) with more 
  modern touches to create an intriguing “techno-
  samurai” look that seems to appeal to both Japanese 
  and Westerners. It’s a favorite watering hole for 
  local Japanese businessmen early in the evening, 
  then becomes a dance club catering to a younger, 
  hipper crowd after 10:00 PM.
  Golden Palace (northeast corner of Cutler Avenue and 
  Childress Street):  Chinatown’s most famous Chinese 
  restaurant didn’t earn its reputation just because of 
  its food (though its food is without a doubt excel-
  lent). It’s also known for a 1996 incident in which 
  three members of the Scarlet Dragon gang came 
  looking for their enemies, members of the Emerald 
  Door gang. They shot up the place, killing one Emer-
  ald Door and ﬁve innocent bystanders.
  Raw Fish (southeast corner of Cabell Avenue and 
  Union Street):  Established by comedian Jimmy 
  Konishi in 2002, this upscale sushi restaurant 
  takes its name from Konishi’s famous “it’s raw ﬁsh, 
  people!” comedy routine. It’s been a tremendous 
  hit, with a waiting list over a month long, and he’s 
  hoping to franchise it to other cities.
  MRS. ISHIHARA
   5 STR 
  8 DEX
   7 CON 
  6 BODY
   13 INT 
  8 EGO
   13 PRE 
  8 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  3 REC
   14 END 13 STUN
  Abilities:  AK: China 
  11-, AK: Japan 11-, AK: 
  Hudson City’s China-
  town 11-, Languages:  
  Cantonese, English, 
  Mandarin (all idiomatic; 
  Japanese is Native), 
  PS: Instructor 13-, PS: 
  Translator 11-
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  If you want to 
  learn Chinese or Japa-
  nese, the best person to 
  see in Hudson City is 
  Mrs. Ishihara (no one 
  seems to know what her 
  ﬁrst name is; even her 
  husband calls her “Mrs. 
  Ishihara”). A 60-ish, 
  grey-haired woman of 
  intense demeanor, she’s 
  an expert in Canton-
  ese, Mandarin, and her 
  native Japanese, and also 
  speaks English better 
  than most Americans. 
  But don’t ask her to 
  teach you if you’re not 
  willing to really devote 
  yourself to the study of 
  your chosen language; 
  she’s not one of these 
  “learn to speak the lan-
  guage in six weeks!” sort 
  of instructors. Just the 
  opposite — she’ll spend 
  the ﬁrst two weeks just 
  teaching you the history 
  of the language before 
  you even start to learn 
  basic words. But if you 
  stick with her for a year 
  or two, your command 
  of the language will be 
  perfect.
  
  41 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  “This usedta be a nice enough neighborhood. 
  Lotsa old families that had been around a long 
  time, lotsa community spirit. It wasn’t the safest 
  place in Hudson City, but I damn sure been in 
  worse. I was raised here, and I turned out OK.
  “Then all the Hindus started moving in. And 
  them Muslims and Arabs and stuﬀ. Things 
  started to go downhill a little — you didn’t 
  know who all your neighbors were anymore, 
  or whose kids you should let your kids play 
  with. Some of ’em didn’t even bother to learn 
  English so’s you could talk to ’em. And then 
  came the fags. Ashwood used to be a nice 
  place, now it’s just Fruit-town. Can’t even 
  go down to Harry’s to have a beer anymore 
  — the fags bought the place and turned it into 
  some fern bar or something.”
  —Crown Point resident Julia Murrow
  Decades ago, Crown Point was mainly an 
  industrial neighborhood, a place of factories, 
  wharves, warehouses, and miscellaneous stenches. 
  Only a few poor factory workers lived there, and 
  most of them were looking for a way out.
  After World War II, when the manufactur-
  ing sector of the Hudson City economy began 
  to decline, many of the Crown Point businesses, 
  including most of the heavier industry, shut down 
  one by one. People looking for cheap housing 
  moved in, and slowly but surely developers tore 
  down a lot of the larger factories to make way for 
  apartments and houses. By the mid-Seventies, 
  Crown Point was as much a residential neighbor-
  hood as a commercial one, if not more.
  The trend continued into the Eighties and Nine-
  ties. In the early Eighties the city built the Museum 
  of World Art in Crown Point, in recognition of the 
  neighborhood’s new character. And immigration 
  began to change the face of the community a little:  
  Indians, Pakistanis, Middle Easterners, and a few 
  Africans and Southeast Asians moved in. But none 
  of them staked out any speciﬁc neighborhoods as 
  their own ethnic enclaves, creating a sort of cultural 
  mish-mash that some Crown Pointers like, and others 
  object to. But it seems as if the newcomers are here 
  to stay, so most people just try to make the best of it... 
  and take advantage of the many new restaurants.
  Today, most people would describe Crown 
  Point (including Ashwood; see below) as the area 
  bounded by Kiser Street, Coleman Avenue, Centre 
  Street or Ferry Street, and the river. Some people 
  quibble over exactly where Crown Point ends, and 
  Riverside Hills or Forsyth begins, but for most 
  Hudsonites Coleman Avenue (particularly the part 
  known as “Mural Street”) makes a good border. The 
  southern part of the neighborhood (the part below 
  Link Avenue) is mostly residences — apartment 
  buildings (some of them refurbished tenements 
  or warehouses) and some detached houses — and 
  small businesses, while the northern part contains 
  mostly light industry and waterfront businesses. 
  Some real estate developers consider Crown Point 
  the next likely target of “yuppiﬁcation” renovations; 
  others scoﬀ at the thought that young professionals 
  would ever choose to live on the Southside.
  Crown Point has a signiﬁcant crime problem. 
  In addition to the gangs that wander up from Free-
  town and Forsyth to sell drugs and look for easy 
  pickings, the crimelord Charlemagne claims part 
  of Crown Point as his “turf,” and his rival Speargun 
  tussles with the Maﬁa and other groups for control 
  of the Crown Point waterfront.
  See page 86 for a map of Crown Point.
  ASHWOOD
  The southwest part of Crown Point is known 
  as Ashwood, though no one knows exactly where 
  the name comes from. Since roughly the early 
  Seventies, it’s been the center of Hudson City’s gay 
  community, and hence also of much of its artistic 
  community. It’s mainly a patchwork of older apart-
  ment buildings and stores, with a good many art 
  galleries and clubs thrown in for seasoning. It’s got 
  an active nightlife that attracts the young and hip, 
  be they straight or gay, from all over the city.
  LANDMARKS
  Crown Point doesn’t have much in the way of 
  landmarks — it’s not really a tourist destination 
  or anything like that. But people do come to see 
  Mural Street (page 19), visit the Museum of World 
  Art (page 112), or attend a game at the Herodome 
  (page 114).
  SHOPPING
  Some of the places in Crown Point where 
  Hudsonites can spend their money include:
  Crown Point Seafood (2 Wilson Street):  Located right 
  on the waterfront, Crown Point Seafood mostly 
  sells to the restaurant trade, but it’s also ready and 
  willing to deal with individual consumers. Crown 
  Pointers with a taste for seafood come here to get 
  the freshest ﬁsh, shellﬁsh, and crustaceans around. 
  Crown Point Seafood also sponsors a lot of local 
  events and children’s sports teams, making it a 
  popular member of the business community.
  The Klein Gallery (northwest corner of Avon Avenue 
  and Edgecombe Street):  Owned by Joel Klein, 
  himself a highly-regarded artist, the Klein Gallery 
  CROWN
  POINT
  IMAGES OF 
  CROWN POINT
  The smell of seafood 
  and water along the 
  wharves
  Two young men walking 
  hand-in-hand down an 
  Ashwood street
  Crowds streaming 
  toward the Herodome, 
  eager to scarf down 
  some hot dogs, guzzle a 
  few brews, and see the 
  Heroes win
  The murals on Mural 
  Street, and the sidewalk 
  artists working beneath 
  them to earn a few 
  bucks for the day
  Paintings in the gallery 
  windows in Ashwood
  A rack of glossy maga-
  zines in a dozen lan-
  guages
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  42 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  sells the latest and trendiest in modern art, both 
  American and European. It holds frequent shows 
  as well, where a crisply-uniformed staﬀ serves brie 
  and champagne to rich clients on the lookout for 
  the next “hip” thing in the art world.
  Teotihuacan (976 Avon Avenue):  This gallery special-
  izes in Precolumbian art and artifacts — Zapotec, 
  Aztec, Mayan, Incan, North American Indian, 
  whatever the owner, Jorge Rodriguez, can obtain 
  on the legal market. An expert on the Precolum-
  bian civilizations of Mexico and Central America, 
  Rodriguez sometimes serves as an adjunct profes-
  sor or guest lecturer at Hudson City universities, 
  and has helped the authorities capture art smug-
  glers or forgers on several occasions.
  ON THE TOWN
  Crown Pointers like a beer and burger just 
  as much as anyone else. Some of them have more 
  reﬁned tastes, or prefer ethnic cuisine. But they all 
  like to have a good time.
  Caribbean Karma (northwest corner of Iris Avenue 
  and Starr Street):  This reggae club, located not 
  far from the Centre Street Circle, also serves 
  Jamaican food at lunch and for an early dinner 
  seating. In the past few years it’s been the site of 
  several shootings, but that doesn’t seem to have 
  done anything to lessen its popularity — if any-
  thing, the touch of danger seems to attract cer-
  tain kinds of people more.
  The Doghouse (northwest corner of Iris Avenue and 
  Ingram Street):  Ever had a hot dog made with lamb? 
  How about alligator meat? This gourmet hot dog 
  restaurant not only sells some of the best traditional 
  beef franks in the city, it oﬀers a wide selection of 
  “alternative” hot dogs. It’s got a satellite “Doghouse 
  Stand” at the nearby HeroDome, where its hot dogs 
  consistently outsell those of other vendors.
  Krazy Karl’s (southeast corner of Link Avenue and 
  Moss Street):  Crown Pointers who like their bars 
  dark, smokey, and quiet come to Krazy Karl’s. Run 
  by an ex-Ranger named Karl Jorgenson, it’s a place 
  where pro sports and darts are the height of culture 
  and beer is the drink of choice. If Karl likes you, he 
  might even whip up one of his famous beer-bat-
  tered burgers for you.
  Mandala (2500 Cutler Avenue):  Pravar Kambhatla, 
  an immigrant from southern India, opened this res-
  taurant in 1999. It’s prospered thanks to its superb 
  food and impeccable service. Most of the rest of the 
  staﬀ is related to Kambhatla in some way, giving the 
  place a sort of pleasant “homey” atmosphere not 
  usually found in elegant restaurants.
  P/J (769 Naomi Street):  The red-hottest, hippest 
  club in Ashwood today, bar none. Although it caters 
  mainly to gay men, the owners aren’t particular and 
  will gladly let in anyone who looks good and can 
  aﬀord to buy drinks (or convince someone else to 
  buy drinks for them). There’s usually a long line of 
  people waiting to get in, and a big, brutish-looking 
  bouncer who decides if someone’s cool enough and 
  pretty enough to make it through the door.
  ART FORGERY AND THEFT
  As the center of Hudson City’s visual arts scene, Crown 
  Point and Ashwood often have to deal with the specter of 
  art theft. Even worse, in the eyes of some dealers and col-
  lectors, is the threat of art forgery
  In the minds of most people, art theft is the bigger prob-
  lem — after all it gets the bigger headlines. On more than 
  one occasion the owner of a gallery in Ashwood have 
  opened for business only to discover that during the night 
  some skilled thief bypassed his elaborate security systems 
  and made oﬀ with some valuable piece of art. The value of 
  art in general, and of well-known pieces in particular, has 
  increased signiﬁcantly over the past decade or so, making 
  art a tempting target for anyone with enough skill and 
  daring to steal it
  Given the level of security in the best galleries, only the 
  most skilled thieves can hope to obtain the truly valuable 
  prizes. Some of the most infamous thieves in the world, 
  including the Black Tarantula, Chiaroscuro, Meteor, and 
  Prospero have hit the local museums, Ashwood galleries, 
  and the homes of private Hudson City collectors. While 
  some of them, particularly the Black Tarantula, have a 
  personal appreciation for art and sometimes steal it just to 
  have it for themselves, most art thieves work for someone 
  else. Typically this person is either (a) an unscrupulous 
  private collector who wants the piece for his collection, or 
  (b) a fence or other person who’s serving as an agent for 
  such a collector. No reputable gallery or museum would 
  buy an item it knew to be stolen
  As if the possibility of having a piece of art stolen weren’t 
  enough, galleries and collectors must beware of forged art. 
  While modern criminalistics and investigation techniques 
  have given experts and forgery-seekers an arsenal of new 
  tools with which to analyze works of art and determine 
  their authenticity, science also provides forgers with more 
  and more ways to create believable fakes. Devilishly clever 
  forgers can use everything from chemical baths, to rabbit 
  skins, to ultraviolet light to create forged works of art that 
  can pass even many elaborate scientiﬁc tests
  The world of art forgery is an obscure and shadowy one; 
  the best forgers never make it to the public eye. In Hudson 
  City, perhaps the best-known forger is Erich Dugan, who 
  was arrested in 1998 after it was discovered he sold several 
  faked paintings to a local collector. He’s currently serving 
  time at Oldemyer Prison.
  HONUR
  The most prominent 
  gay and lesbian activist 
  group in Hudson City is 
  HONUR:  HOmosexuals 
  Needing Understanding 
  and Respect. Founded in 
  the Eighties as the AIDS 
  epidemic was beginning, 
  it quickly earned a repu-
  tation for its willingness 
  to use confrontation 
  tactics and other meth-
  ods that often did more 
  harm than good. Over 
  the past twelve years the 
  group as a whole has 
  calmed down somewhat, 
  but has never ceased its 
  unﬂagging advocacy of 
  issues important to gays 
  and lesbians.
  As of 2004, the lead-
  ers of HONUR are 
  Executive Director 
  Lucy Manero and her 
  Assistant Director, Brent 
  McCormick. Both work 
  for the group full-time, 
  drawing salaries much 
  smaller than they could 
  make in private indus-
  try. Manero’s particu-
  larly good at organizing 
  parades, street festivals, 
  and protest marches on 
  short notice.
  
  43 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  SUSPECT:  Look, see, it ain’t that bigga deal. We 
  got inna shoving match in the bar, see, over this 
  girl. I mean, she weren’t that much to look at, 
  but when a guy starts givin’ ya trouble, ya gotta 
  stand up. So this guy gives me trouble, tries to 
  hit on this girl I’m hittin’ on, so I tell him to back 
  oﬀ. We start shovin’, but the bartender breaks 
  it up and tells us to take it outside. So we do. 
  We get back in the alley, and he starts swingin’, 
  and I ﬁght back, see? I’m knockin’ him around 
  pretty good, ’cause he’s basically a big pussy, so 
  he picks up a brick and comes after me with 
  that. So that’s when I pulled my knife and stuck 
  him. It was self-defense, see?
  OFFICER REILLY:  Sir, are you aware that posses-
  sion of a switchblade knife is itself a crime?
  SUSPECT:  What? Gedouttahere. I’ve had that 
  thing since I was a kid, see?
  — transcript of police interrogation session, 
  10/16/04
  Occupying the northeast corner of Hudson 
  City, just south of the oceanfront suburb of Hudson 
  Beach, Eastwood is a neighborhood that may, at 
  long last, be changing for the better. Early in the 
  history of Hudson City, it began as a neighborhood 
  where sailors and laborers lived. It was considered 
  a squalid, often dangerous, place to live, and with 
  good reason — even as early as the late 1800s it had 
  problems with gangs, street crime, and prostitu-
  tion. An increased police presence ameliorated the 
  worst of these conditions by 1950, but Eastwood’s 
  remained a solidly working-class neighbor-
  hood ever since. Even its proximity to Bankhurst, 
  Worthington, and Highlands, all of which are nice 
  neighborhoods, hasn’t done much to improve it... 
  but it looks like that’s about to change.
  In recent decades, developers have been eyeing 
  Eastwood greedily. It’s a perfect location for upscale 
  housing for business executives and their families. 
  Beginning with the Eastdale neighborhood, gentri-
  ﬁcation and yuppiﬁcation have slowly but surely set 
  in. Many locals scoﬀ at this, and some of the intel-
  lectual “culture experts” at the newspapers decry 
  the loss of Eastwood’s “unique community identity,” 
  but it seems likely that the old, rough-and-tumble 
  Eastwood written about in so many novels and 
  police reports is going to fade away. The completion 
  of the popular Three Lakes Mall in 1998 is consid-
  ered the ﬁnal nail in the coﬃn by many residents 
  who’d have preferred to keep things the way they 
  were. As of 2004, it’s still not safe, and Eastwood 
  High School retains its well-deserved reputation for 
  violent crime... but with some old warehouses and 
  brownstones already converted into lofts and pent-
  houses, can Daily Grind coﬀee shops and Electric 
  Zone superstores be far behind?
  EASTDALE
  The southwest corner of Eastwood, around the 
  intersection of Beaufort Avenue and N. Jeﬀerson 
  Street but extending as far as Leigh or N. Adams 
  Streets in some peoples’ minds, is a neighborhood 
  known as Eastdale. It got its name because it’s 
  slightly lower in elevation than the rest of the area. 
  The yuppiﬁcation that seems to be making its way 
  into Eastwood proper got started here because of 
  Eastdale’s nearness to Highlands. The housing has 
  been improved (in some cases simply by tearing 
  down decrepit old tenements and replacing them 
  with brand-new brownstones), and new, upscale 
  businesses have moved in — mostly chain stores 
  and franchises like Janice’s Fine Foods and the 
  Pecos Steak House. The HCPD has made a con-
  certed eﬀort to patrol here, which has reduced the 
  crime rate signiﬁcantly... though it’s still not as safe 
  a neighborhood as Highlands or Worthington.
  NORTHPOINT
  The easternmost neighborhood in Eastwood 
  — and for that matter, the easternmost point of 
  Hudson City — used to be a center of shipping. But 
  the shoreline isn’t as suited for the larger modern 
  ships as points south (such as Bayside), and so 
  time has gradually passed Northpoint by. Today 
  it’s mostly a lot of old wharves used at about half 
  capacity, plus a lot of warehouses and similar build-
  ings, many of which are abandoned, all of which 
  are in some state of disrepair. It was hoped that the 
  presence of nearby Three Lakes Mall and Eastwood 
  Medical Center would revitalize the area, but so far 
  that hasn’t happened.
  NORTHSHORE
  Northshore is the center of manufacturing in 
  Eastwood. Several small- to medium-sized factories 
  still operate here, providing jobs for many of the 
  area’s residents.
  EASTWOOD
  IMAGES OF 
  EASTWOOD
  Young teens being 
  dropped oﬀ at Three 
  Lakes Mall by their 
  parents
  Couples walking con-
  tentedly along the Vid-
  ersea Boardwalk
  A group of gang kids 
  walking down the street 
  dressed in leather and 
  jeans, all bravado and 
  swagger
  Old people sitting on 
  benches in Vidersea, 
  conversing in Dutch, 
  Russian, or some Baltic 
  tongue
  The mosaic tilework 
  decorating the walls on 
  the Beaufort Avenue 
  entrance to Eastdale 
  Station
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  44 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  VIDERSEA
  Vidersea, by the sea 
  Where my angel fell in love with me 
  And what was meant to be came true 
  When I fell in love with you
  — excerpt from “Vidersea, By The Sea” (1938)
  “That !$&*%@# song! I must hear it ﬁve 
  !$&*%@# times a day. If I ever meet the guy 
  who wrote it, I swearta God I’m going to beat 
  the *%&! outta him!”
  — local curmudgeon Arthur Kresznewski
  Wedged in between Gadsden, Eastwood 
  proper, and the ocean, this primarily residential 
  neighborhood is a bright spot in the otherwise 
  dingy Eastwood environs. Dutch sailors, their fami-
  lies, and other immigrants from the Low Countries 
  began moving into the area in the 1800s, and grad-
  ually transformed it from a rough waterfront into a 
  prosperous community of picturesque brownstones 
  and shops. Gradually, over the course of decades, 
  the Dutch were mostly replaced by eastern Euro-
  peans — Poles, Romanians, people from the Baltic 
  region — and Russians, though the Low Country 
  element never entirely disappeared. Today Russia 
  seems to be the largest source of immigration, and 
  in recent years this has led to an Organizatsiya-
  fueled rise in the local crime rate. Nevertheless 
  Vidersea is still popularly (and not without reason) 
  thought of as an elegant and romantic place to live 
  in or visit. The 1938 song, “Vidersea, By The Sea,” 
  celebrates the neighborhood’s charms, and can still 
  be heard in the area today.
  LANDMARKS
  Eastwood doesn’t have too many places that 
  stand out — it’s mostly full of run-down housing, 
  small manufacturing businesses, and the like. But 
  there are a few notable locations on the map.
  Brantley Park:  This rather small, sad park on 3rd 
  Avenue has deﬁnitely seen better days. It was once a 
  pretty, green place where Eastwooders could enjoy 
  the fresh air, but over the past thirty years or so 
  vandalism, crime, drugs, and homelessness have 
  robbed it of its charm. In the past few years a group 
  of concerned citizens, aided by some funding from 
  the owners of the Three Lakes Mall, have tried to 
  clean up and revitalize the place, but so far they 
  haven’t had much luck. They’re determined to keep 
  trying, though.
  Hibernia Hotel (515 Brenner Street):  Actually more 
  of a long-term rooming/short-term apartment 
  house than a hotel, the Hibernia has become 
  famous due to some of its former residents. In 
  the 1930s, it was home to several artists of minor 
  fame, but in the 1950s the renowned “Back-Beat” 
  poet and novelist Jerrold Silverstein lived there. 
  He wrote several of his best-known works, includ-
  ing Going And Coming and the poem “Overhang,” 
  during his stay in room 7-B. Today the room is pre-
  served as it was then, as a shrine to him.
  The Vidersea Boardwalk:  Despite seeming “old-
  fashioned” to young people, the Vidersea Board-
  walk — a long, broad, plankwood sidewalk run-
  ning along the shore for roughly a quarter of a 
  mile — remains a popular tourist attraction. Its 
  combination of quaint shops, cheap amusements, 
  and an unobstructed ocean view attract all sorts 
  
  45 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  of people. Weddings are often performed there in 
  the summertime.
  SHOPPING
  Eastwood doesn’t have much in the way of 
  fancy shops — it’s a working-class neighborhood, 
  not a commercial district. Its main attraction for 
  consumers is the Three Lakes Mall, on the shoreline 
  where Dunlop and Beaufort Avenues terminate. 
  Though not as large as the Gadsden Consumerplex 
  (page 55) or Stewartsville Mall (page 52), it’s the 
  largest shopping venue in the northeast section of 
  Hudson City, and thus attracts shoppers (particu-
  larly teens and younger adults) from neighbor-
  hoods beyond Eastwood. As Hudson City’s newest 
  major mall (it opened in 2001), it’s a young, aggres-
  sive business that actively promotes itself with a lot 
  of contests, giveaways, and special events. Unlike 
  many malls, it actively courts the younger crowd, 
  with lots of businesses like video game arcades, fast 
  food joints, and music stores that appeal to teens. 
  More than one Eastwood parent eﬀectively uses 
  Three Lakes as a “babysitter” — they drop the kids 
  oﬀ early in the evening with enough money for 
  dinner and a little entertainment, then come pick 
  them up at closing time.
  ON THE TOWN
  Eastwood doesn’t have much of a nightlife 
  — at least, not one that would attract outsiders. 
  While there are a few nice places in Vidersea and 
  Eastdale, most of its residents are happy to stick 
  with plain old bars and burger joints.
  The Copper Samovar (114 Winwood Avenue):  Spe-
  cializing in Russian cuisine, the Copper Samovar 
  is the restaurant of choice for many recent immi-
  grants from Russia and the Ukraine, as well as 
  Hudsonites in search of culinary adventure. The 
  furnishings and decorative art are all genuine Rus-
  sian work that the owners bought cheap in Moscow 
  and Kiev and shipped over to Hudson City. Some 
  of the items are for sale to discriminating collectors 
  (meaning, “anyone who can aﬀord them”).
  Stan’s (854 Dumont Street):  If you’re looking for a 
  nice, thick burger and a good brew to wash it down, 
  check out Stan’s. Stan himself doesn’t talk much, 
  and neither do most of his patrons, but for most 
  people that’s a plus. The decor is straight out of the 
  late Fifties/early Sixties.
  Sunshine Fishing (the Vidersea waterfront, just north 
  of 4th Avenue):  If you’ve got a hankering to get out 
  on the water and go after some ﬁsh, you need to 
  talk to the people at Sunshine Fishing. They run a 
  sport ﬁshing charter service in the summertime 
  (and at other times of the year for customers who 
  book in advance), and can even arrange larger tours 
  for groups, bachelor parties, and the like.
  STREET GANGS OF 
  EASTWOOD
  While it’s not as bad as it was in the 1800s and early 1900s, 
  Eastwood rightly retains its reputation as something of a 
  rough-and-tumble working-class neighborhood. It’s still 
  got a signiﬁcant crime problem compared to surrounding 
  neighborhoods like Worthington, Highlands, and Gads-
  den. Part of that problem is street gangs.
  Compared to the gangs of Latin City, Freetown, or Lafay-
  ette, the Eastwood gangs don’t seem like much. Mostly 
  gang members just hang out together, occasionally 
  commit crimes like shoplifting or joyriding, ﬁght with 
  other gangs, and maybe sell a little marijuana or cocaine 
  here and there. But they’re deﬁnitely not the happy-go-
  lucky sort of gangs you see in West Side Story; they’re 
  often tough and violent, even if they don’t always show 
  it the same way Freetown gangs do. Some of the best-
  known Eastwood gangs include:
  The 3-7s:  No one knows where the “7” comes from; the 
  3 presumably refers to 3rd Avenue, since the gang tends 
  to congregate a lot along that street. At other times they 
  hang out in Brantley Park, sometimes selling coke or even 
  heroin to interested buyers. Many of them wear rings or 
  necklaces displaying a 3 and a 7, or have those numbers 
  as a tattoo.
  The Bangers:  Frequently seen hanging out in or around 
  Three Lakes Mall — and often thrown out of there by the 
  security guards after they make trouble or harass shop-
  pers — the Bangers are one of the least violent local gangs. 
  They joined together mostly to protect themselves from 
  other gangs, and to make a little money; they’re not really 
  hard-core or interested in getting into a lot of ﬁghts. But if 
  push comes to shove, they’ll step up and throw down.
  The Dumont Crew:  This gang takes its name from Dumont 
  Street, since most of the members live on or near the 
  northern part of that road — one of the toughest areas in 
  Eastwood. Some of the other gangs call them “the Stink-
  ers” because they often hang out on the waterfront not far 
  from the sewage treatment plant... and if they do it to the 
  Crew’s face, a ﬁght’s sure to break out.
  The Lady Killers:  Most Eastwood gangs don’t allow girls 
  to become members; at most, girls can hang around 
  with the gang as members’ girlfriends, “associates” who 
  run errands for members, and so on. The Lady Killers 
  is one of the few all-girl gangs in the area. When it got 
  started, a few of the gangs ﬁgured it was easy pick-
  ings and set out to take it over... only to learn, to their 
  sorrow, that these girls were just as tough as any group 
  of punks with dicks. The leader of the gang is a girl 
  who calls herself Jewel. She looks like she’d weigh about 
  90 pounds soaking wet, but everyone on the streets of 
  Eastwood knows she’s too mean to triﬂe with.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  46 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  “C’mon, that’s bull*%&!.”
  “No *%&!, man. I’m tellin’ you, I heard it 
  straight from the brass’s mouth. I was walkin’ 
  over to the accounting oﬃce to talk to ’em about 
  a problem with my check when I overheard 
  these two guys talking. AmSteel’s sellin’ the 
  plant to the Japanese! They’re probably gonna 
  close the whole thing down and sell it oﬀ. Or 
  maybe they’ll convert it to make computers or 
  some such *%&! guys like you ’n’ me don’t know 
  squat about. We’re !$&*ed, man — probably 
  both be out’ve a job inside six months, tops.”
  “There’s no !$&*ing way, Frank. The steel mar-
  ket’s on an upswing right now, they’d never sell 
  the place while the price of steel remains high. 
  We got nothin’ to worry about.”
  — conversation overheard at the  
  Chez Chug-a-Lug
  This large Southside neighborhood is located 
  between Latin City, North Elmview, Forsyth, and 
  Red Hill; most people think of its boundaries as 
  Day Avenue, Ferry Street, and Port Avenue (though 
  it goes a bit north of Day in the west, up to around 
  Martin or Bost Avenues). It began in the early 
  decades of Hudson City, when settlers led by Jona-
  than G. Losey sought new lands to call their own. 
  They crossed the river and claimed the area around 
  roughly where Losey Boulevard and Willow Street 
  now intersect (Losey Square, as it’s called). There 
  were several large elm trees in the area, so they 
  called their new village Elmview.
  In time, other villages, founded by other settlers, 
  sprang up around Elmview:  Keyes Point, home to a 
  strong nineteenth-century ﬁshing and canning indus-
  try; Treymont; Hazelton; Westerbrook. But none of 
  them ﬂourished to the extent Elmview did, thanks to 
  several factories and other prominent business con-
  cerns that got started there, and gradually Elmview 
  grew to encompass them. For many decades it occu-
  pied virtually all of the eastern part of the Southside. 
  In the Fifties and Sixties, when the northern part of 
  the area began to go downhill, Elmview leaders per-
  suaded the city to declare that neighborhood “North 
  Elmview” as a way of diﬀerentiating it a little. Around 
  the same time, as Hispanic immigration to Hudson 
  City increased, Elmview south of Port Avenue became 
  known as Latin City.
  Today Elmview is a solid lower- to lower 
  middle-class residential and industrial neighbor-
  hood. Most people live in tall apartment buildings 
  (or, in the worse parts of the neighborhood, refur-
  bished tenements dating from the late nineteenth 
  century); there’s little detached housing (and most 
  of that in Hazelton). Though it’s unquestionably a 
  rough neighborhood, it’s a lot nicer than the nearby 
  slums and ghettoes of Latin City and Freetown (not 
  to mention the human sewer that is North Elm-
  view) — residents of those areas consider Elmview 
  a “move up,” and often work hard to be able to relo-
  cate there. Residents of Elmview, in turn, often try 
  to earn the money to move to a better part of the 
  city (such as Guilford or Gadsden), though many 
  live their entire lives within just a few blocks of the 
  apartment they grew up in.
  The crime rate in Elmview is high — crime 
  problems from North Elmview, Latin City, the 
  Needle, and other surrounding areas often spill 
  over into the neighborhood, and it has its share of 
  native street gangs and similar problems. Fighting 
  between the “hometown” gangs and incursions by 
  black and Hispanic gangs has led to a lot of shoot-
  ings and other violence. Additionally, the crimelord 
  Janus claims part of Elmview, mainly the Wingate 
  neighborhood and nearby blocks, as his “turf.”
  See page 82 for a map of Elmview.
  LANDMARKS
  Sightseers rarely come to Elmview, but there 
  are a few places local residents consider important:
  AmSteel (on the coast just north of Southridge 
  Avenue):  Elmview’s single biggest employer, 
  AmSteel has a steel factory on the coast. In recent 
  years the company has struggled to keep the plant 
  proﬁtable, and the locals fear that its days are 
  numbered. If the plant shuts down, the Elmview 
  economy will go into a major tailspin.
  Janson Field (399 Jacinto Avenue):  Before they 
  built the Herodome in 1981, the Hudson City 
  Heroes played their games at Janson Field, an 
  open-air stadium capable of seating about 45,000 
  people. After the Heroes moved west, Janson Field 
  became city property. It’s now used by a variety of 
  community, amateur, and college sports teams for 
  their games, and is also the site of some neighbor-
  hood festivals and events.
  Losey Square (intersection of Losey Boulevard, 
  Willow Street, Alamo Avenue, and Parmiter Street):  
  The heart of Elmview proper, Losey Square is a traf-
  ﬁc nightmare. Between the four roads leading into 
  it and all the pedestrian crosswalks, it turns into a 
  snarl of slow-moving cars during every rush hour. 
  But Elmviewers love the burger joints, restaurants, 
  and stores here (including Greenman’s Grocery, one 
  of the oldest continually-operated grocery stores 
  in Hudson City), and have no interest in seeing the 
  place changed.
  ELMVIEW
  IMAGES OF 
  ELMVIEW
  Block after block of 
  working-class apartment 
  buildings
  A group of guys relaxing 
  outside a bar, laughing 
  at some story one of 
  them just told
  Women sunning them-
  selves on apartment 
  building rooftops in the 
  summertime
  Street festivals down on 
  Losey Square
  The early morning sun 
  shining down on a guy 
  passed out in a gutter 
  after a few too many the 
  night before
  
  47 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  Our Lady of Divine Mercy (501 Grifﬁn Avenue):  
  “OLDM” is the largest church in Elmview, and one 
  of the largest Catholic churches in the city. Built in 
  the 1930s in a more or less gothic cathedral style, 
  it’s not just a place of worship for Elmview’s Catho-
  lic residents. Over the years it’s become something 
  of a community center for all Elmviewers regard-
  less of faith. It holds classes, sponsors children’s 
  sporting events and other competitions, and gener-
  ally serves as a rallying point for the neighborhood.
  SHOPPING
  Almost no one comes into Elmview from 
  outside to shop, but Elmviewers have some favorite 
  stores and shops of their own.
  Lardner’s Drugstore (344 Benbow Avenue):  With its 
  full-service pharmacy as well as a lunch counter 
  and a generous selection of other health, personal, 
  and convenience items, Lardner’s has been the 
  drugstore of choice for many Elmviewers since it 
  opened in 1973. Arthur Lardner still works in the 
  pharmacy, but he’s getting on in years and delegates 
  most duties to his employees these days.
  Michelle’s Stop ’n’ Shop (southeast corner of Binford 
  Avenue and Dickson Street):  Chain convenience 
  stores like QuickCorner exist in Elmview, but they 
  often take a back seat in popularity to similar local 
  businesses. Michelle’s Stop ’n’ Shop is one such busi-
  ness. Proprietor Michelle Jemson is a well-known 
  ﬁgure throughout the community, beloved for her 
  generosity to local charities, top-notch coﬀee, and 
  willingness to keep the Stop ’n’ Shop open regard-
  less of weather, riot, robberies, or illness. Unfortu-
  nately, she’s starting to get on in years. None of her 
  children seem to have an interest in taking over the 
  business, so the Stop ’n’ Shop may not be around for 
  too many more years.
  Moe’s Junkyard (235 Port Avenue):  Elmview-
  ers looking for parts to repair an old car, a used 
  appliance they can ﬁx up, or some scrap wood 
  for a building project come to Moe’s Junkyard, an 
  Elmview institution for decades. Now run by Moe 
  Blomstein, Jr., the son of the business’s founder, 
  the Junkyard has been a source of amusement for 
  generations of Elmview kids. One of the toughest 
  “dares” in the neighborhood is to leap the fence and 
  run across the Junkyard without getting caught by 
  Midnight and Talon, Moe’s two ﬁerce dogs.
  ON THE TOWN
  Here are some of the places Elmviewers go for 
  entertainment:
  Argosy (southeast corner of Toledo Avenue and 
  McLawhorn Street):  Opened in the mid-Seventies 
  as a disco, Argosy was a popular dance club for 
  years, then fell into bankruptcy and disrepair when 
  disco died. New owners bought it in 1990, repaired 
  and refurbished it, and opened it as a modern 
  dance club. It’s become a popular nightspot for 
  younger Elmviewers, but even with that the owners 
  often have trouble making ends meet.
  Chez Chug-a-Lug (northwest corner of Green 
  Avenue and MacDonald Street):  If you’re looking 
  for ﬁne wine and food in pleasant surround-
  ings, don’t come here. The Chez Chug-a-Lug is a 
  plain old neighborhood bar — a little run-down 
  and seedy, and sometimes a bit rowdy maybe, 
  but mostly just a place where Elmviewers go to 
  toss down a beer or ﬁve after work. It tends to be 
  especially crowded before, during, and after major 
  events at Janson Field, and immediately after shift 
  changes at AmSteel.
  Hog Heaven (corner of Grifﬁn Avenue and Barnes 
  Street):  A classic “biker bar,” Hog Heaven doesn’t 
  attract much custom from the average Elmviewer. 
  Its patrons are bikers from elsewhere, including 
  more than a few associated with outlaw motorcycle 
  gangs. The HCPD has tried to get the place shut 
  down on several occasions, but has never been able 
  to prove that any wrongdoing actually goes on at 
  the bar itself, or that Hog Heaven’s owner, a devil-
  ishly-bearded guy named Walt Jasons, has commit-
  ted any illegal acts.
  Southside Rhialto (379 Carter Avenue):  Built in a 
  grand style in the 1950s, this ﬁve-screen movie 
  theater still retains much of its “golden days of Hol-
  lywood” charm. In addition to screening ﬁrst-run 
  movies every day, it shows a classic movie on one 
  screen every Thursday night.
  THE ELMVIEW MUTUAL 
  PROTECTION ASSOCIATION
  Crime is a big concern for almost everyone in Hudson 
  City. The residents of Elmview have even more to 
  beware of than most:  freaks and sickos wandering 
  down from North Elmview; gangs from Latin City or 
  Lafayette coming into the neighborhood to sell drugs; 
  the crimelord Janus; and their own home-grown gangs. 
  Rather than sitting around feeling scared or depending 
  on the cops to protect them, some local folks decided to 
  do something to protect themselves and their families. 
  What they did was form the Elmview Mutual Protection 
  Association
  EMPA members, who receive safety training from the 
  HCPD, patrol the streets of Elmview, looking for prob-
  lems the police need to know about. They wear distinctive 
  red shirts and jackets, carry heavy-duty ﬂashlights, and all 
  have cell phones. Each member works one to two nights a 
  week from 9:00 PM until 2:00 AM. They walk the streets 
  in groups of three, and if they spot a crime or suspicious 
  activity, they call it in. The police estimate that they’ve 
  been responsible for stopping nearly a thousand crimes 
  since the group began in 1997.
  SLOW HAND
   8 STR 
  10 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   13 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  10 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 16 STUN
  Abilities:  Bribery 8-, 
  Conversation 11-, Gam-
  bling (Card Games, Dice 
  Games, Sports Betting) 
  8-, CK: Hudson City 11-, 
  PS: Three-Card Monte 
  11-, Sleight Of Hand 8-, 
  Stealth 11-, Streetwise 
  12-, Survival (Urban) 
  11-, Trading 12-, WF: 
  Handguns, Blades
  Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Greedy; Social Limita-
  tion:  Criminal Record
  Notes:  “Tha’s it, man... 
  watcha card, watcha 
  card, gotta keepa eye 
  onna lucky lady....”
  Slow Hand (“they 
  calls me that ’cause I 
  moves th’ cards s’slow 
  tha eveyone c’n see th 
  queen, man”) is into 
  anything that’ll make 
  him a quick buck. Usu-
  ally that means setting 
  up his three-card monte 
  table and hauling in a 
  few bills from suckers 
  who missed the memo 
  a hundred years ago 
  that the whole damn 
  thing is a scam. Other 
  times you’ll ﬁnd him 
  on a street corner sell-
  ing “genuine” Rolex and 
  Gucci watches, or maybe 
  in a crowd somewhere 
  trying his hand at a bit 
  of simple pickpocket-
  ing. Whatever he earns 
  during the day, he usu-
  ally spends later that 
  evening on booze, weed, 
  and women, or throws 
  away on some pony.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  48 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  Forsyth is a cesspool. Mothers on welfare 
  using the money to support their crack 
  habits instead of their kids — and many of 
  them have two or more children by different 
  fathers. The fathers are no better:  gangsters, 
  unemployment cheats, bums.
  And Boxtown! If anything symbolizes what’s 
  wrong with this city, and this society, Box-
  town is it. Those people ought to be driven out 
  or killed, not coddled and given free needles. 
  Give me a big enough ﬁrebomb and I’ll do the 
  job myself. The millions it would cost the city 
  to rebuild the highway afterward would be a 
  small price to pay.
  — from the journals of the  
  “vigilante” Siddhartha
  Partly a working-class neighborhood and 
  partly a college neighborhood, Forsyth evolved 
  from a village of the same name founded by Eng-
  lish settlers early in Hudson City’s history. It never 
  attracted the sort of industry or attention that 
  Elmview did and languished for many years. An 
  inﬂux of relatively educated and prosperous freed 
  slaves after the Civil War — blacks who didn’t have 
  to settle for the shanties of Freetown — caused 
  Forsyth to grow and even expanded the economy 
  some, though many of the “natives” were less 
  than pleased with their new neighbors. Tensions 
  remained high for years, and even today are likely 
  to ﬂare during times of stress (such as the civil 
  rights movement of the late Sixties or recent riots 
  sparked by blacks’ dislike of court verdicts in police 
  brutality cases).
  The building of Hudson City College in the 
  1950s revitalized the ﬂagging neighborhood. Not 
  only were many locals employed in the construc-
  tion, and later in various positions at the College, 
  but students looking for cheap oﬀ-campus housing 
  often came to Forsyth. The parts of the neighbor-
  hood between the college and roughly Burns 
  Avenue have since become a “student ghetto,” ﬁlled 
  with small apartment buildings and detached 
  houses rented by students... as well as the college 
  bars and other businesses that cater to them.
  Today, most people deﬁne Forsyth as the area 
  bounded by Centre Street or Ferry Street, Day 
  Avenue, Southridge Avenue, and S. Madison Street 
  or Heine Street — though it’s not always clear 
  where Forsyth ends and Elmview, Riverside Hills, 
  or Lafayette begins. Most people also consider the 
  neighborhood directly south of Hudson City Col-
  lege (as far west as Carver Street and south to King 
  Avenue) as belonging to Forsyth. The southern 
  and western parts of Forsyth in particular tend to 
  resemble “Fayettenam” more than they do north 
  Forsyth. The presence of Boxtown (see below) has 
  really brought parts of the neighborhood down 
  over the past twenty years.
  A high crime rate plagues Forsyth. Gangs from 
  Freetown and Lafayette come over to sell drugs and 
  ﬁght over turf with a few local gangs. More than 
  a few of the inhabitants of Boxtown are desper-
  ate enough, selﬁsh enough, or mentally disturbed 
  enough to commit all sorts of crimes (particularly 
  the property crimes necessary to support alcohol-
  ism or a drug habit). Anyone who lives in Forsyth 
  and doesn’t at least triple-lock his doors is a fool.
  See pages 53 and 82 for a map of Forsyth.
  LANDMARKS
  ““Spare change? Spare change?” That’s what 
  they ask me, every day. They get me while I’m 
  walkin’ to the train, goin’ to the grocery store, 
  you name it. You ﬁgure they’d get the idea after 
  all the times I’ve told ’em no — I worked hard 
  to get what little I got, and I’m ain’t givin’ any 
  of it to those bums. They should earn their own 
  money. If I could aﬀord a car I wouldn’t haveta 
  put up with this *%&!.”
  — Forsyth resident Dumont Jeﬀerson
  Other than Robertson House (page 19), there’s 
  not much to draw anyone to Forsyth — and plenty 
  of reasons to stay away. The neighborhood’s main 
  feature is one most residents wish would just go 
  away:  the homeless camp called Boxtown.
  Boxtown began in the mid- to late Seventies 
  where the South Expressway merges into S. Truman 
  Boulevard. Bums, vagrants, and homeless people 
  congregated there, since the elevated highways cre-
  ated a sheltered area where rain and snow couldn’t 
  fall to the ground. Some of them brought scrap 
  wood or cardboard boxes to create small personal 
  shelters, and that’s how the place got its name.
  During the Eighties and Nineties, Boxtown 
  grew extensively along the undersides of the 
  highways, and in good weather even beyond their 
  bounds. At times it’s dominated several blocks 
  around the intersection, creating signiﬁcant sanita-
  tion and public safety problems. The police have 
  tried to clean the place out several times, but civil 
  rights activists and other protestors have made 
  their job diﬃcult... and even when they disperse the 
  “residents,” it isn’t long before the residents come 
  back. At this point the police have given up trying 
  to make Boxtown go away; instead they concen-
  trate on trying to minimize the problems it creates.
  FORSYTH
  IMAGES OF 
  FORSYTH
  The sight, sound, and 
  smell of the sea of 
  human misery that is 
  Boxtown
  An HCC student work-
  ing nights at a Quick-
  Corner, studying math 
  whenever there are no 
  customers to wait on
  Gangs selling drugs 
  from their little patches 
  of turf near (or under) 
  the South Expressway
  An astounding variety 
  of goods, each with its 
  distinctive mauve tag, in 
  the windows of Dino’s 
  Pawn
  
  49 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  SHOPPING
  Most of the shops and stores in Forsyth are 
  chains, like In Step shoes, Big Screen Video, and 
  Head Games hairstylists. But some local businesses 
  still survive, such as:
  Dino’s Pawn (3662 Rosemont Street):  Paul “Dino” 
  Dinetti has run this pawn shop near the intersec-
  tion of Rosemont and Toledo (and not far from 
  Boxtown) for nearly forty years. He’ll buy just 
  about anything, from old jewelry, to used VCRs, to 
  dishware, to clothes, but he’s got a well-deserved 
  reputation as a cheapskate — he pays as little as 
  possible, then tries to sell the item quickly for more 
  than he paid so the former owner can’t reclaim it. 
  The police have investigated him for selling stolen 
  goods several times (he doesn’t seem very particu-
  lar about where his Boxtown “customers” may have 
  gotten the things they sell him), but he’s quick to 
  return anything they can prove was stolen and has 
  never been implicated in any serious wrongdoing.
  Forsyth Tracks (southwest corner of Benbow Avenue 
  and Pugh Street):  Catering to both the student 
  crowd and local residents, Forsyth Tracks sells CDs 
  and tapes, and even has a small section of used 
  record albums for the old-timers. Mostly it just sells 
  the latest hits, rap and hip-hop, and other contem-
  porary music, but it also carries a few local favor-
  ites. The owner, Derrick “DJ” Jamison, isn’t much of 
  a businessman, but he’s got a lot of connections in 
  the Southside music scene.
  ON THE TOWN
  Most of the nightlife in Forsyth is in the north-
  ern part of the neighborhood, near the College. 
  There’s enough going on up there that people are 
  willing to be out on the streets late. In other parts of 
  Forsyth, once someone’s in for the night, he usually 
  stays in for safety’s sake.
  Club Twenty (4784 Carpenter Avenue):  This dance club 
  appeals mostly to the College crowd with its blend 
  of modern pop, alternative rock, and techno music. 
  Periodically it hosts raves or other events; student 
  organizations can rent it out for a night for special 
  parties. It has a full bar and also serves some food.
  The Eagle’s Nest (879 Heine Street):  The HCC 
  mascot is the eagle, and the Eagle’s Nest is a home-
  away-from-home for fans of the team. This bar and 
  grill’s decor is wall-to-wall Eagles paraphernalia, 
  team and player photos, and pictures of famous 
  plays; the specials include the Eagle-Burger (a half-
  pound of beef, bacon, two cheeses) and Victory 
  Rings (onion rings with special dipping sauce). 
  The Nest even has TVs set up to receive broadcasts 
  of Eagles games, which are ﬁlmed by the College’s 
  communications department.
  Verne’s Fish Shack (3910 Day Avenue):  Despite its 
  homey-sounding name, Verne’s Fish Shack is actually 
  a pretty good seafood restaurant. The food’s not fancy 
  — you won’t ﬁnd crab-stuﬀed lobster or lemon-
  grilled swordﬁsh steak on the menu — but there’s 
  plenty of it, and it’s all delicious. The owner, Verne 
  Tisdale, does most of the cooking himself, but often 
  comes out of the kitchen to greet his customers.
  BOBBY
   6 STR 
  7 DEX
   9 CON 
  8 BODY
   6 INT 
  5 EGO
   8 PRE 
  6 COM
   1 PD 
  1 ED
   1 SPD 
  3 REC
   18 END 16 STUN
  Abilities:  Concealment 
  11-, PS: Panhandling 
  11-, PS: Scrounging 11-, 
  Survival (Urban) 11-
  25+ Disadvantages:  
  Dependence (heroin 
  addiction; alcoholism); 
  Money:  Destitute; Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Severe Mental Distur-
  bances; Social Limita-
  tion:  Homeless Person
  Notes:  Bobby’s been on 
  the streets so long he 
  doesn’t even remember 
  his own last name, or 
  where his parents live... 
  or even if they’re still 
  alive. He took his ﬁrst 
  hit of heroin years ago 
  as a teenager, and he’s 
  been riding the needle 
  ever since (not to men-
  tion drinking like a 
  ﬁsh). He’s got his own 
  little patch of concrete 
  at Boxtown and an old 
  refrigerator box to sleep 
  in, but everything else 
  he owns he carries with 
  him in a few plastic 
  grocery bags. If it’s rain-
  ing or snowing he just 
  stays in his box all day 
  (unless he has to go out 
  to get a hit, or earn/steal 
  the money to buy one); 
  other days he usu-
  ally wanders aimlessly 
  around Forsyth and 
  Lafayette asking people 
  for money. But while 
  he may be mentally 
  disturbed, and high half 
  the time, he’s not stupid. 
  He sees a lot that hap-
  pens on the streets, and 
  he might be willing to 
  talk about it if someone 
  gave him a few bucks or 
  bought him a meal.
  THE KING AVENUE 
  MASSACRE
  Everyone who lives in Forsyth knows just how bad the 
  neighborhood’s crime problem is. But the rest of the city 
  got a stark reminder of the situation in 2002.
  One warm April evening a group of gangbangers later 
  determined to be associated with the Warriors gang was 
  walking down the north side of King Avenue a few blocks 
  west of Robertson House. According to witnesses, the 
  gang members weren’t doing anything unusual or even 
  threatening; they were apparently just walking some-
  where.
  A few minutes later, a car drove alongside them. In it 
  were members of another gang, the 5 Parkﬁeld Nubians, 
  a rival gang to the Warriors. Without warning, the gang-
  bangers in the car opened ﬁre with pistols, shotguns, and 
  at least one submachine gun. Several Warriors were killed 
  instantly by the barrage; others, luckier or more alert, 
  escaped unharmed or with only wounds by diving behind 
  any cover available.
  As the car sped away, the Warriors returned ﬁre. One of 
  them hit the car’s left rear tire, and the driver lost control. 
  With a screech of tires, the car skidded out of control, 
  smashing into a lamppost. The wreck left the car undrive-
  able.
  Deprived of their getaway vehicle, the Nubians (all of 
  whom were unharmed by the crash) piled out of their car 
  and took cover themselves. They began ﬁring back, and 
  an entire block of King Avenue became an urban battle-
  ground. Bullets began ﬂying back and forth between the 
  two groups as innocent bystanders ﬂed for their lives. One 
  of them, an elderly man named Richard Chesson, couldn’t 
  move fast enough; he was cut down by a bullet ﬁred by 
  one of the Warriors.
  For the next six minutes, the two groups fought on, 
  unhindered by any eﬀorts to stop them; two gangbangers 
  were killed, and several injured. Then the ﬁrst HCPD car 
  arrived on the scene. Sensing a common enemy, both 
  groups of gang members turned their guns on the cops, 
  killing oﬃcers Raymond Tanner and Raul Perreira. Then 
  the gun battle resumed.
  Before more cops could get there, a third party entered 
  the fray:  the Headless Hangman. Apparently attracted by 
  the sound of gunﬁre, he waded into the Warriors, ﬁlleting 
  two with his sickle weapon, breaking the neck of a third, 
  and leaving several others unconscious. Before he could 
  turn his attention to the Nubians, several HCPD cops 
  arrived, so he faded into the night and left the police to 
  clean things up.
  In the wake of this incident, several members of the City 
  Council called for more stringent city ﬁrearm regulations, 
  or more funding for body armor for police oﬃcers, but 
  both measures died in committee.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  50 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  “Bitch.”
  Since I began work on this report, I’ve heard 
  myself referred to by that word dozens of times 
  — sometimes with aﬀection, sometimes with 
  suspicion; sometimes humorously, sometimes 
  angrily. I grew up in your typical white middle-
  class suburban home where we didn’t even use 
  that word for female dogs, so it took some get-
  ting used to. But hearing it spoken constantly 
  as a virtual synonym for “woman” ﬁnally wore 
  down my knee-jerk reaction.
  I never did get used to “ho,” though.
  —reporter Gail Donovan, from the  
  introduction to her six-part series  
  “Running the Numbers:  Among the Gangs  
  of Freetown” in the Hudson City Mirror
  In the 1860s, after the end of the Civil War, 
  a lot of freed blacks migrated north, hoping to 
  ﬁnd work and a new life. Some of them settled on 
  the south side of the Stewart River outside of the 
  borders of Hudson City at that time. They set up a 
  shantytown Hudsonites called Freetown (or, more 
  derisively, Smokeytown — because of the haze of 
  cooking ﬁre smoke that often hung over it, and the 
  “smokey” smell of the inhabitants).
  Life wasn’t easy for the residents of Freetown. 
  In addition to grinding poverty, lack of food, and 
  epidemics of cholera and dysentery, they had to 
  endure the dislike, even hatred, of the Hudsonites 
  (which sparked riots in 1867; see page 9). But in 
  time the city came to accept them, and eventually 
  Freetown grew into a prosperous black commu-
  nity. As Hudson City itself expanded, it eventually 
  absorbed Freetown into the greater metropolitan 
  area, and people came to think of it as a large 
  neighborhood rather than a separate town.
  But becoming part of Hudson City didn’t 
  do much to lift Freetown out of poverty. It was 
  basically a slum and a ghetto then, and it remains 
  a slum and a ghetto right up to the present day. 
  Most of the residents live below the poverty 
  level — often significantly below (though a few 
  neighborhoods, such as Greenbriar or Wister 
  Park, enjoy better standards of living, sometimes 
  approaching middle class). Jobs are scarce, home-
  lessness and crime are everywhere, and for most 
  people the dominant emotions of their lives are 
  despair, frustration, and resentment.
  Modern Freetown (generally considered the 
  area between S. Jackson Street, Day Avenue, and 
  the city’s western and southern borders) is mostly 
  residential, and most of the residences are high-rise 
  projects or apartment buildings. There are plenty of 
  small businesses serving the populace — grocery 
  stores, drug stores, cell phone providers, restaurants 
  and bars, things like that — but relatively few major 
  employers. Here and there a factory like Sharpless 
  Medical Supplies remains open, drawing on the 
  wealth of relatively cheap labor to keep operating 
  costs down. But most industrial facilities shut down 
  long ago, victims of America’s shift away from a 
  manufacturing economy.
  FREETOWN CRIME
  The crime rate in Freetown is the highest in 
  Hudson City — there are parts of the neighbor-
  hood, such as the Numbers, where only the bravest 
  policemen dare to go without signiﬁcant backup. 
  Two crimelords — Shango, an enormous bull of a 
  man with appetites to match; and the mysterious 
  FREETOWN
  TREY-Z
   10 STR 
  10 DEX 
  10 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO 
  13 PRE 
  8 COM
   
  3 PD 
  2 ED 
  2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 
  18 STUN
  Abilities:  Concealment 11-, PS: Drug Dealer 11-, PS: 
  Gangbanger 11-, PS: Play Basketball 11-, Stealth 11-, 
  WF: Blades, Small Arms, Fringe Beneﬁt:  Membership 
  (Wooster Park Warriors)
  25+ Disadvantages:  Distinctive Features:  Wooster 
  Park Warriors colors and tattoos; Psychological 
  Limitation:  Devoted To His Gang; Social Limitation:  
  Criminal Record
  Notes:  Charles Zealey was born to Robert Zealey, a brick-
  layer and construction worker, and his wife Josephine in 
  1987, the third of ﬁve children. The Zealeys worried about 
  exposing their children to life in Freetown, but they didn’t 
  have any choice — they couldn’t aﬀord to live anywhere 
  else, even if they didn’t have ﬁve young mouths to feed.
  They were right to worry. Despite the Zealeys’ best 
  eﬀorts, both their older boys got involved in gangs 
  when they became teenagers; one died in a drive-by 
  shooting in 1996. And when Charles was old enough, 
  he followed in his brothers’ footsteps. Since he was the 
  third member of the Wooster Park Warriors from the 
  Zealey family, it didn’t take long before his homies were 
  calling him “Trey-Z.”
  As of 2004, Trey-Z is 17. He’s never held any kind of 
  job, and he hasn’t been to school since he was 15. But he 
  wears $150 sneakers, $200 sunglasses, and hundreds of 
  dollars’ worth of bling-bling. The good life comes easy 
  when you’re selling $20 vials of crack like they were 
  going out of style and not worrying about what it does 
  to your “customers.” If you asked Trey-Z to care about 
  anyone besides himself, his gang, and his girlfriend of the 
  month, all you’d get would be a blank, hostile stare.
  IMAGES OF 
  FREETOWN
  Crack vials crunching 
  under your feet as you 
  walk down the side-
  walks of the Numbers in 
  the morning
  The sound of gunﬁre a 
  few blocks away
  An old black woman 
  walking determinedly 
  down the street, afraid 
  of nothing
  Gangs, dressed in gold 
  or  green, clustered on 
  the front steps of apart-
  ment buildings, on 
  streetcorners, outside 
  stores
  Cars pulling to the side 
  of the street near gang 
  kids, the driver handing 
  money to the kids for a 
  dime bag
  Homeless people and 
  junkies sleeping in MLK 
  Park
  The pulsing beat of 
  music playing at a rent 
  party, and the smell of 
  frying ﬁsh coming from 
  a balcony grill
  
  51 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  aesthete Strad — compete not only against each 
  other, but countless other, smaller or less well-orga-
  nized groups. The latter include several Jamaican 
  posses and countless street gangs. Gang member-
  ship numbers over 12,000 boys and young men 
  according to the HCPD’s 2004 estimates. Most (but 
  not all!) of the gangs are “sets” of one of three larger 
  gangs:  the Nubians; the Warriors; or the Overlords.
  The crime problem in Freetown is so bad that 
  most mothers won’t let their children play out-
  side, and many families sleep on the ﬂoor at night 
  — both ways of trying to prevent badly-aimed 
  bullets from hitting unintended victims. Most of 
  the residents have become numb to the problem 
  in many ways. They don’t even bother to call the 
  cops anymore to report gang activity or drug deal-
  ing; they know nothing’s going to be done about it. 
  They just go on about their business, stepping on 
  the empty crack vials in the street and avoiding the 
  more confrontational gangs the best they can.
  THE PROJECTS
  In many parts of Freetown, particularly the 
  Numbers, most of the residences are apartments in 
  high-rise government housing projects. These are 
  typically ten- to twenty-story buildings, a block or 
  half a block long, arranged in groups of three or six 
  with all the imagination of a worker ant. Designed 
  with the same practical functionality that gave rise 
  to dumbbell tenements in the late 1800s, they’re 
  little more than brick boxes with row after row of 
  windows along the sides. Few of them have been 
  properly maintained. For example, a study by the 
  Sociology Department of Hudson City University 
  estimated that in the Freetown projects, there’s 
  only about an eighty percent chance of a building’s 
  elevator being in working order at any given time. 
  Gangs have virtually taken over some of the high-
  rises; they hold the residents hostage and charge 
  them money to enter or exit the building. Even in 
  buildings where the gangs don’t rule, they usually 
  claim the roofs for their own — anyone going on a 
  Freetown rooftop without permission is taking is 
  life in his hands.
  Some of the more prominent housing projects 
  include:
  Astoria Towers
  Eden Plaza
  Gracie Park
  Jackson Heights
  Halcyon Village (pronounced “halikon” by Free-
  towners)
  Livonia Green
  Newman Towers
  Parkﬁeld Terrace
  Parsons Plaza
  Southside Homes
  Turlingdale
  Whitehall
  Wooster Park
  THE NUMBERS
  The heart of Freetown, and the most danger-
  ous part of the entire neighborhood, is the Numbers 
  — nearly two miles of streets and housing projects 
  built as a joint project by the city, state, and federal 
  governments in the Sixties and early Seventies. Run-
  ning east-west from S. Jackson to S. Harrison Streets, 
  and north-south from King to Miranda Avenues, 
  it consists of ﬁve avenues (A, B, C, D, and E) plus 
  Southridge Avenue bisecting thirty-seven numbered 
  streets beginning with First Street in the west (the 
  street names are spelled out, not written as numer-
  als), thus creating roughly 240 individual blocks.
  Most of the housing in the Numbers is proj-
  ects, or slumlord-run tenements that aren’t any 
  better. There are no lawns to speak of, and no parks 
  except MLK — kids play in the street or in vacant 
  lots, heedless of the junk, the junkies, and other 
  threats all around them. Most of the kids don’t 
  go to school beyond junior high — unless they’re 
  athletes and want the big shot at a college scholar-
  ship or pro career — and according to Department 
  of Social Services estimates as many as 12% of the 
  girls above age 14 are pregnant or have children 
  already. What money there is in the neighborhood 
  is mostly squeezed out of the residents by the drug 
  dealers, then recycled back through stores catering 
  to the nouveau riche thugs.
  Life in this neighborhood is so dangerous, so 
  beset by hopelessness, that Freetowners have a term 
  for it:  running the Numbers. Anyone who can run 
  the Numbers is a street-smart guy, someone whose 
  wits, speed, or connections help him stay alive day 
  after day on the urban battleground.
  OTHER NEIGHBORHOODS
  Freetown’s so big that it’s divided up into a lot 
  of little neighborhoods, some covering just a few 
  blocks. The rest of Freetown isn’t quite as bad as the 
  Numbers, but no part of it is truly nice or safe com-
  pared to, say, Riverside Hills, Crown Point, or just 
  about any part of the Northside. The rule of thumb 
  is that the further west and north a neighborhood 
  is, the better it tends to be.
  Greenbriar and Wister Park — the areas 
  north and west of Freetown Community College 
  — are the best parts of Freetown. They have some 
  detached housing, and the buildings generally 
  aren’t as tall or oppressive. Some small businesses 
  thrive here, largely due to the eﬀorts of entrepre-
  neurial FCC graduates.
  Charlesburg, which is located south of the Com-
  munity College, is a little worse than Wister Park. 
  Proximity to I-4085 makes it a desirable location for 
  trucking ﬁrms, some small manufacturing businesses, 
  and even a couple of biker gangs. City planners pre-
  dict continued economic growth for Charlesburg.
  Garlock centers around Southridge Avenue 
  between S. Roosevelt and Pershing Streets. The build-
  ings don’t cluster quite as thick as they do in the Num-
  bers, but they’re as harsh and oppressive looking, and 
  the people who live here don’t have much more hope.
  Oakdale, just east of Greenbriar, has seen 
  better days. While it’s the home of the Sharpless 
  Medical Supplies factory, one of Freetown’s largest 
  FLASHMAN 
  JACKSON
   10 STR 
  10  DEX
   10  CON 10  BODY
   13  INT 
  10  EGO
   15  PRE 
  12  COM
   3  PD 
  3  ED
   2  SPD 
  4  REC
   20  END 20  STUN
  Abilities:  Bribery 12-, 
  Conversation 12-, AK: 
  Freetown 14-, CK: 
  Hudson City 11-, KS: 
  The Freetown Commu-
  nity 12-, Mechanics 8-, 
  Persuasion 12-, Sleight 
  Of Hand 8-, Stealth 11-, 
  Streetwise 12-, Trading 
  13-, Well-Connected 
  and 20 points’ worth of 
  Contacts and Favors in 
  Freetown and Lafayette, 
  Vehicle (Peddler Van)
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  Flashman Jack-
  son has been an institu-
  tion in Freetown for 
  nearly twenty years. A 
  former gangbanger who 
  abandoned “the life” for 
  a better one but never 
  left the streets, he cruises 
  around Freetown in his 
  “Peddler Van,” a custom-
  made oversized van with 
  extra doors and special 
  shelving installed in the 
  back. Wherever he sees a 
  crowd, he pulls over and 
  opens for business. A 
  miniature convenience 
  store on wheels, the Ped-
  dler Van has all sorts of 
  non-perishables people 
  need:  candy, t-shirts, 
  cigarettes, condoms, 
  discount CDs, you name 
  it — ask the Flashman 
  for it, and he’s probably 
  got it squirreled away in 
  there somewhere. His 
  prices are fair, and he’s 
  even willing to dicker a 
  little. On top of all that, 
  he tries to keep an eye 
  on the neighborhood 
  kids, making sure they 
  stay out of trouble and 
  giving them rides home 
  sometimes if they need 
  one. Everyone from 
  hard-core gangstas to 
  tired old ladies likes the 
  Flashman and looks 
  forward to seeing his 
  gold-toothed smile.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  52 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  employers, there aren’t many more jobs to be had. 
  The housing was once fairly nice, but has become 
  run-down through neglect. The area’s nominally 
  part of Shango’s territory, but he often ﬁghts for turf 
  with various Nubians sets.
  Astoria runs in a long strip south of Parsons 
  Avenue, expanding to the north a little once you 
  cross Pershing Street. Businessmen from Stewart-
  ville, the suburb to the south, have recently bought 
  several properties in Astoria with an eye toward 
  renovating and revitalizing them... but it remains to 
  be seen whether they’ll succeed, or fail like so many 
  before them.
  Just east of Astoria is Masonville, named by the 
  freed slaves who founded it for the Mason-Dixon 
  Line. Despite the presence of the Stewartville Mall 
  (see below), there’s little good that can be said about 
  Masonville, except maybe that the gang warfare 
  isn’t nearly as bad here as it is to the north — no 
  one claims this territory right now.
  Directly north of the Numbers are two neigh-
  borhoods, Camden and Hadleyville. Both are like 
  the Numbers writ more gently:  poor housing; poor 
  people; poor prospects. They get better to the north, 
  between Harvey and Day Streets. There the neighbor-
  hoods take after Riverside Hills as much as Freetown, 
  and oﬀer a little more in the way of economic and 
  cultural opportunity than most of Freetown.
  LANDMARKS
  Freetown isn’t exactly a tourist attraction 
  — not unless a visitor takes a really wrong turn. 
  But like any other neighborhood it has its note-
  worthy locations.
  Freetown Community College (1043 Drexel Road):  
  The largest institution of higher learning in Free-
  town, FCC (as it’s widely known in Hudson City) 
  is the center of the somewhat nicer communities 
  of Wister Park and Charlesburg. It’s the site of 
  many community events, and quite a few alumni 
  remain in the area after graduation. The homecom-
  ing celebration every fall is a sight to behold, with 
  a contest to build the most elaborate parade ﬂoat 
  and people dressing up in their best ﬁnery or most 
  outlandish costumes (depending on inclination and 
  social status).
  For several years FCC has been lobbying city 
  and state authorities to change its name to Free-
  town College (or better yet, Freetown University). 
  Its Board of Trustees rightly feels that dropping the 
  word “Community” would increase the institution’s 
  prestige, and make it easier for two-year students to 
  transfer credits to other colleges. So far this eﬀort 
  hasn’t succeeded, but most people at the college feel 
  it’s just a matter of time and perseverance.
  Martin Luther King, Jr. Park (southeast corner of King 
  Avenue and S. Harrison Street):  In 1970, city oﬃcials 
  renamed Abercrombie Park in Freetown to honor 
  Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Since that time the 
  park has deteriorated so much that it’s a disgrace to 
  King’s name and causes. What was once a beautiful 
  park, suitable for families and children, has become 
  a battleground between gangs and a haven for 
  criminals and the homeless. Gangbangers have van-
  dalized its play and sports facilities, covering them 
  with gang graﬃti. In eﬀect, MLK Park has degener-
  ated into a vast open-air drug market; anyone who 
  goes there, especially after dark, is risking his life.
  The park has a fairly simple arrangement:  a 
  large playground for children at the south end, 
  basketball courts at the north end, and greenspace 
  (or what used to be green — it’s now mostly dirt) 
  in between. Most of the playground equipment 
  doesn’t work well anymore (if it works at all). The 
  gangs regard the basketball courts as “neutral terri-
  tory,” where two warring groups can meet for peace 
  talks (or, on those rare occasions when reason 
  prevails, to settle diﬀerences with a game of hoops 
  instead of gunﬁre). Quarrels over who has the 
  right to sell drugs elsewhere in the park have often 
  erupted into ﬁreﬁghts.
  Mt. Zion Baptist Church (southeast corner of Benbow 
  Avenue and S. Harrison Street):  Mount Zion was 
  once the largest church in Freetown — and the 
  most beautiful as well, with architecture evoking 
  both European and African designs. Unfortunately, 
  it burned down in June, 1996... at which time it 
  was discovered that a church employee had been 
  embezzling the money intended to pay for insur-
  ance. The church has been trying to rebuild ever 
  since, but has had great diﬃculty raising enough 
  money. The cause of the ﬁre has never been ﬁnally 
  determined; the Fire Department’s tentative con-
  clusion is faulty wiring.
  SHOPPING
  Shopping isn’t the best in Freetown — most 
  residents don’t exactly have lots of bucks to blow. 
  But for a neighborhood that has so many impov-
  erished people, Freetown has quite a few retail 
  businesses ready and willing to sell luxury items to 
  wealthy drug dealers and their hangers-on.
  Smithstone Jewellers (northeast corner of Anson 
  Avenue and Holden Street):  Formerly a more or 
  less ordinary jewelry store getting by on sales of 
  engagement rings and expensive Christmas gifts, 
  Smithstone became better known in the commu-
  nity, and more proﬁtable, when it began designing 
  and selling its own line of the “bling-bling” jewelry 
  favored by gangstas, rappers, and their fans. Its 
  original and innovative designs have caught and 
  kept the eye of Freetown’s hippest street people, and 
  that meant — and continues to mean — big sales.
  Stewartville Mall (4995 S. Jackson Street):  This large 
  mall, completed in 1997, sits right on the edge of 
  the city proper and the suburb of Stewartville. Most 
  pundits predicted that it would fail within a few 
  years, but its clever managers have confounded the 
  experts by making the mall one of Freetown’s few 
  modern economic success stories. It caters primar-
  ily to black and Hispanic consumers, which make 
  up about 65% of its business. Included among its 
  wealth of chain stores (such as Downtown Music, 
  Dynasty [clothing for women], and Miles Of Smiles 
  [cards and gifts]) there are a few locally-owned 
  businesses, like Bessie’s Chicken (a Freetown favor-
  ite) and The Auto Motive (automobile painting, 
  decoration, and alteration).
  HOOPS ON  
  TWENTY-THIRD
  Down on Twenty-Third 
  Street, not far from 
  the Southside Homes, 
  there’s a blacktop bas-
  ketball court wedged 
  in between three grimy 
  brick buildings. The nets 
  got torn down long ago, 
  and the rims are rusty 
  — but if you want a 
  serious game of hoops, 
  that’s the place to go.
  The guys who play on 
  Twenty-Third play hard 
  — no-holds-barred 
  hoops where no one 
  gets a rest break, the 
  only talk is trash talk, 
  and a guy who misses a 
  shot he should’ve made 
  gets jeered by teammate 
  and opponent alike. 
  And don’t come to play 
  if you’re not prepared 
  to bet:  when the game 
  ends, the losers fork 
  over the green and slink 
  oﬀ to wait for their next 
  chance.
  Not everyone likes to 
  play at the court on 
  Twenty-Third, but it’s 
  got nothing to do with 
  the competition. A 
  couple years back, there 
  was a close game where 
  the losers took things a 
  little too hard. The argu-
  ment got settled with 
  lead, and by the time the 
  paramedics got there 
  four guys were dead. 
  Some people claim they 
  can still see the blood-
  stains on the ground, 
  and the whole damn 
  place just gives them the 
  creeps. Plenty of other 
  places to play anyway.
  
  53 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  ON THE TOWN
  People who live in Freetown enjoy a night out 
  as much as anyone else. Here are some of the places 
  they go to relax.
  Eddie’s (3427 Wilson Avenue):  A dark, seedy bar 
  in the mold of dark, seedy bars all over the world, 
  Eddie’s serves a clientele that ranges from the poor-
  est Freetowner to the richest gangbanger. Provided 
  the bartenders know who you are, and that you 
  have a job, they’re usually even willing to run a tab.
  It’s an open secret that a lot of underworld 
  deals get made at Eddie’s. On any given night, it’s 
  not unusual to ﬁnd half a dozen of Freetown’s most 
  prominent gangstas there, warily eyeing their ene-
  mies and ready for anything... be it the chance for 
  proﬁt or an opportunity to put one over on a rival. 
  Somehow, owner Eddie Malden keeps the peace... 
  usually. But even if the patrons keep their cool, the 
  bar sometimes attracts other forms of unwanted 
  attention. More than one vigilante has gone there 
  looking for information... and sometimes even 
  gotten it without a major brawl.
  The Paradise Club (northeast corner of Lindsay 
  Avenue and Kingston Street):  While most of the 
  city’s topless bars and sex clubs congregate over in 
  North Elmview along the Strip, not all of them do. 
  Freetown has its share of vice businesses, and the 
  Paradise Club is one of them. With its red-carpeted 
  entrance, plush decor, fully-stocked bar, and beauti-
  ful dancers, it’s the destination spot for gangbangers 
  with money to blow. It’s said that Buckshot (page 
  173) is a frequent customer and even has unlimited 
  use of one of the private back rooms... and all the 
  women he wants.
  Sensations (southwest corner of Montgomery Avenue 
  and Childress Street):  This dance club often features 
  guest DJs from around the country spinning the 
  latest dance favorites, and sometimes even live acts. 
  It draws everyone from Numbers gangstas to FCC 
  college students; occasionally tempers ﬂare and a 
  ﬁstﬁght or a shooting occurs... but somehow the 
  club is just as full the next night.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  54 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  “Nahhh, it ain’t so bad living near the prison. 
  Sure, it’s kinda scary and imposing to look at, 
  but all those walls and barbed wire and stuﬀ 
  are what keep the bad people in. You hear a lot 
  of stories about what goes on in there, but you 
  don’t ever hear about very many escapes, do ya? 
  Besides, if one’a them guys did manage to make 
  it outta there, you think he’s gonna wanna hang 
  around here? No god-damn way — they wanna 
  get as far from Longview as they can.”
  — Gadsden resident Roger Arnesen
  Named after John Gadsden, beloved mayor 
  of Hudson City from 1876 to 1892, Gadsden 
  encompasses several former small residential 
  neighborhoods (such as Willow Brook, Goshen 
  Heights, Fulton Green, and Cranleigh, all of which 
  frequently pop up today in the names of build-
  ings, businesses, and social clubs) as well as vari-
  ous non-residential zones. Developers looking to 
  attract people to the area, which had something of 
  a reputation as a rough-and-tumble place, coined 
  the name in the 1910s, and their relentless publicity 
  campaign eventually paid oﬀ. Gadsden’s boundaries 
  are usually deﬁned as 8th and 20th Avenues and N. 
  Adams Street.
  Today Gadsden is mostly a middle-class resi-
  dential neighborhood, with a few somewhat lower-
  class areas. Most of the residences are brownstones 
  or apartment buildings. Small stores and oﬃces 
  are sprinkled throughout the residential areas. 
  Toward the coastline there are some industrial 
  facilities and warehouses, but fewer than might be 
  expected since the Gadsden Cliﬀs prevented a true 
  waterfront from developing in part of the area. 
  The neighborhood’s two most notable features are 
  Longview Correctional Center (the city’s massive 
  jail complex; see page 192) and the Gadsden Con-
  sumerplex (see below).
  The crime rate in Gadsden is moderate; no 
  one group dominates the local underworld. How-
  ever, because of Gadsden’s proximity to Bankhurst 
  and Highlands, it’s slowly but surely being “yuppi-
  ﬁed,” “upscaled,” and “urban renewed” (longtime 
  residents believe they won’t be able to aﬀord to 
  live there in ten to ﬁfteen years, at the latest). That 
  may mean the crime rate will go down... or at least 
  change somehow.
  LANDMARKS
  Church of St. Stephen (northeast corner of 14th Avenue 
  and Caxton Street):  Built in the late 1800s primarily 
  to serve a Hungarian community that 
  lived in the area (but which has since 
  vanished into the city’s cultural tide), St. 
  Stephen’s is now the church of choice 
  for many of Gadsden’s Catholics. It’s 
  best known outside the city for its large, 
  beautiful stained glass windows, crafted 
  for it in the early twentieth century by 
  the Hungarian artist Rikárd Antall.
  The Gadsden Cliffs:  The promontory 
  between 12th and 16th Avenues rises 
  sheer and steep from the Atlantic 
  Ocean for 163 feet, creating the Gads-
  den Cliﬀs. The city built Longview 
  Correctional Center here speciﬁcally 
  because the Cliﬀs made ﬂeeing from 
  the city harder for any prisoner who 
  escaped the facility. Since the Cliﬀs 
  make most seaside businesses impos-
  sible, this small length of the Hudson 
  City coastline remains only lightly 
  developed. Sightseers can drive right up 
  13th or 14th Avenue to the Scenic Over-
  view, a viewing park from which one 
  can see miles out to sea on a clear day.
  In recent years, the Cliﬀs have 
  become a favorite target of rock climb-
  ers, who not only ﬁnd them a chal-
  GADSDEN
  IMAGES OF 
  GADSDEN
  Looking out to sea from 
  the Scenic Overview, the 
  ocean breeze ruﬄing 
  your hair and picking at 
  your clothes
  The grim and overbear-
  ing walls of Longview 
  Correctional
  Men moving wheeled 
  racks of new clothes 
  down the streets of the 
  Garment District
  Picnickers, frisbee-play-
  ers, and dog-walkers 
  enjoying Gadsden Park
  The polished marble 
  ﬂoors, ever-moving 
  escalators, and glitter-
  ing store displays in the 
  Gadsden Consumerplex
  
  55 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  lenging climb but enjoy thumbing their nose at the 
  authorities by scaling them (since the law explicitly 
  forbids it). Daring climbers approach the Cliﬀs by 
  boat, then have to make it to the top and get away 
  before someone notices them and calls the cops.
  Gadsden Park:  This 65-acre park, bounded by N. 
  Adams Street, N. Jeﬀerson Street, and 8th and 9th 
  Avenues, is widely regarded as one of the city’s 
  ﬁnest. Unlike the much larger LeMastre Park, it 
  contains a relatively sparse selection of facilities 
  — just a baseball diamond or two. Mostly it’s given 
  over to pleasant green ﬁelds interspersed with small 
  wooded areas and thickets. Plenty of benches are 
  sprinkled throughout to give visitors a place to sit, 
  and there are walking paths and similar attractions.
  In the past couple of decades, Gadsden Park has 
  developed its share of problems. Homeless people 
  started “camping out” in some of the wooded areas, 
  and criminals began mugging park visitors. The 
  worst of these incidents occurred in 1999, when a 
  young teenage couple, Roberta Andresen and Mark 
  Finch, were murdered by assailants who have never 
  been caught. The authorities believe the two were in 
  the park on a date, were robbed, and were then killed 
  by the robbers so neither of them could later identify 
  their assailants. The police stepped up patrols of the 
  park after the Andresen-Finch killing, but that only 
  lasted for a few months.
  Residents of Gadsden treasure the Park, and 
  do what they can to preserve it:  neighborhood 
  watch-style patrols to try to cut down on the crime 
  problem, trash clean-up days, and the like. For years, 
  developers have lobbied the city to sell this incred-
  ibly valuable piece of real estate for commercial 
  development, but every time a concerted eﬀort by 
  neighborhood residents, other concerned Hud-
  sonites, and environmentalists has beaten them back.
  The Garment District:  Along the west edge of N. Jef-
  ferson Street in Gadsden is Hudson City’s famed Gar-
  ment District, one of the centers of the world fashion 
  industry. For most of the twentieth century it was 
  the site of countless clothing manufacturing, display, 
  and sales businesses. In recent decades the manufac-
  turing end of the trade has steadily shifted south to 
  Latin City or west to Chinatown, where labor is much 
  cheaper. The industry has taken a few publicity hits 
  because of this, and once or twice highly-anticipated 
  new designs have been hijacked on their way to from 
  the sewing room to the showroom, but the garment 
  makers save so much money doing business this way 
  that things aren’t likely to change.
  The Garment District truly comes alive for two 
  weeks in April, and a corresponding two weeks in 
  October, when all the major fashion houses hold 
  their spring and fall shows. Elegant showrooms 
  like Galbraithe Hall and the Swann Showplace are 
  packed every day with fashion industry glitterati 
  and reporters eager to say the latest oﬀerings from 
  major designers. Getting tickets to the hottest 
  shows — not to mention the receptions that take 
  place later that evening — is diﬃcult.
  The Hudson City Fish Market:  One of the largest 
  wholesale ﬁsh markets in the country. See page 188 
  for a full description of this fascinating place.
  SHOPPING
  Most Hudsonites don’t really think of Gads-
  den as a mecca for shopping; it’s still got a little too 
  much industry and too few retail areas. But there 
  are some places that might attract someone who’s 
  got money burning a hole in his pocket, such as:
  The Gadsden Consumerplex:  This ten-story monu-
  ment to rampant materialism was built in 1990 by 
  Candace Vanderburg. An enormous department 
  store-cum-mall occupying roughly two by one 
  entire city blocks at the southeast corner of 16th 
  Avenue and N. Adams Street, it features a dizzying 
  array of stores, shops, and services for the eager 
  consumer to patronize.
  In terms of physical layout, the Consumerplex 
  is basically a big box. An atrium running the full 
  height of the building ﬁlls the center, while stores 
  and utility spaces line the outer part. Escalators and 
  elevators provide easy access to every ﬂoor. The 
  ground ﬂoor has an extensive network of fountains 
  and water sculptures as well as an event stage where 
  fashion shows, charity events, and concerts are 
  held. From mid-November through Christmas, the 
  entire ﬂoor transforms into Santa’s Wonderland, a 
  favorite attraction of young children all over the 
  city. The tenth ﬂoor is a skylight-lit food court ﬁlled 
  with so many restaurants that even the pickiest 
  person can ﬁnd something he likes to eat. The Con-
  sumerplex also boasts a 15-screen movie theater on 
  the second ﬂoor.
  Most of the stores in the Consumerplex are 
  chains — Kill Zone electronic games, Emerald 
  Buddha (Thai fast food), Night Eyes lingerie, Polar 
  Bear ice cream, Silver Screen Productions (movie 
  and cartoon merchandise and memorabilia), 
  Bluebird (women’s clothing), CD Alley, Kuperman 
  Shoes, and so on — but a few are local. Examples 
  include Aunt Ethel’s Home-Made Candy, Hartzog 
  Stationers, and Designs By Sharon.
  Vanderburg is constantly on the lookout for 
  ways to improve the Consumerplex; she wants it to 
  be a prime “destination” not only for anyone visit-
  ing Hudson City, but for every resident. She’d like 
  to make it bigger, but she can’t (yet) aﬀord to buy 
  any of the land around it, and the zoning commis-
  sion has twice denied her permission to add more 
  stories. Her current goal is to persuade the city to 
  build a rail station at Tyrrell Avenue and then build 
  a skywalk directly to that station. So far the city 
  fathers remain skeptical, but she’s lobbying hard.
  Cranleigh Costumes (3616 Broome Street):  Founded 
  as Cranleigh Custom Tailors by the Bellamy family in 
  1953, this business gradually developed a specialty in 
  creating and storing costumes and costuming props 
  for the theater and ﬁlm industries, as well as for ordi-
  nary people looking for an imaginative, high-quality 
  costume for Halloween or a theme party. In 1979 it 
  changed its name to Cranleigh Costumes, ceasing all 
  non-costume-oriented work. Today it has one of the 
  largest collections of costumes and related items in 
  the northeastern United States.
  ON THE TOWN
  When Gadsdenites hit 
  the town, here are some 
  of the places they go:
  Blue (southeast corner 
  of 11th Avenue and Leigh 
  Street):  Some of the 
  best drinks around and 
  a soundtrack of “time-
  less classics” suitable 
  for dancing (such as 
  Sinatra, Dean Martin, 
  and the like) make Blue 
  a prime destination for 
  people whose idea of a 
  fun evening out involves 
  dancing but not a puls-
  ing rock beat. The club’s 
  trademark Blue Magoo 
  cocktail is a city favorite.
  Cooley’s Irish Steakhouse 
  (2061 17th Avenue):  
  Some of the best steaks 
  in the city are served 
  fresh oﬀ the grill at 
  Cooley’s, and ﬁne Irish 
  music accompanies 
  the dining experience. 
  The restaurant’s owner, 
  Angus Mulroney, often 
  circulates among the 
  patrons, entertaining 
  them with stories and 
  anecdotes told in his 
  delightful Irish brogue.
  The Factory (450 Hast-
  ings Avenue):  Formerly 
  a shoe and leather goods 
  factory, this long-empty 
  building was bought 
  in 1992 by entrepre-
  neur and restauranteur 
  Gabriel Steubing. He 
  refurbished it and cre-
  ated The Factory, a 
  cutting-edge restaurant 
  serving nouvelle cuisine 
  and whatever else seems 
  culinarily fresh and 
  trendy at the moment. 
  While no longer as 
  crowded as it was in its 
  ﬁrst few years of busi-
  ness, it remains a popu-
  lar nightspot and busy 
  place.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  56 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  The pulsing beat of some insipid boy-band song 
  began to ﬁll the place as he stepped through 
  the door. “Just my luck,” he thought. “Couldn’t 
  be playing the Stones or something else that’s 
  actually worth listening to.” But he wasn’t there 
  for the music.
  Two days ago a girl turned up dead on the HCU 
  campus. He’d gotten a copy of the pathologist’s 
  report, and it said she’d had an unidentiﬁed 
  drug in her system — some designer thing, no 
  doubt, that was so new the cops hadn’t heard 
  about it yet.
  He knew what it was. On the street they were 
  calling it Sky. Some chemist at some under-
  ground lab somewhere in the Caribbean created 
  it, probably. Kids like that girl wouldn’t dream 
  of taking heroin or coke, but this sort of stuﬀ — 
  they thought it was “safe” just because it wasn’t 
  illegal and didn’t leave a hangover. Idiots.
  Since putting a stop to idiocy was an even 
  more diﬃcult task than ﬁghting crime, he was 
  going to stop Sky from getting to the idiots in 
  the ﬁrst place. He’d had to ask around on the 
  streets a little, but it hadn’t taken more than a 
  few hours... and a few broken hands and ribs... 
  before someone told him what he wanted to 
  know. At the Zodiac, they said. Black guy with 
  dreadlocks, calls himself Kingston — prob-
  ably where he’s from, since he’s got a Jamaican 
  accent. “Probably a posse member,” he thought 
  — if it were the Nubians or some other gang, 
  there’d be a pack of them, and his informant 
  told him this guy worked alone.
  He walked across the room, stepping on the 
  astrological symbols inlaid helter-skelter in the 
  ﬂoor, looking for someone who ﬁt Kingston’s 
  description. It didn’t take long to ﬁnd him; in 
  that gold jacket, the man was about as subtle 
  as a locomotive. He watched him for about an 
  hour. Picking out his routine wasn’t any harder 
  than ﬁnding him — someone would approach 
  Kingston’s booth, sit down, and strike up a con-
  versation. After a while some folded bills would 
  be quickly passed to Kingston, who’d pass back 
  a small vial in return.
  That was all he needed to know. He walked 
  over and sat down. Once he was in his seat, he 
  quietly drew the silenced pistol from the false 
  pocket in his pants, using the table to hide what 
  he was doing from everyone in the room. “You 
  Kingston?”
  “Yah, mon. Who’re you?”
  He didn’t bother to answer. The silencer was so 
  eﬀective that someone sitting in the next booth 
  probably wouldn’t have heard the gunshots 
  even without the loud music. Two shots was all 
  it took. He caught Kingston as he began to fall, 
  easing him down to the table so it looked like 
  he was just taking a nap. Without a backward 
  glance he got up and walked out of the club.
  Guilford is a primarily residential neighbor-
  hood located in the northwest part of Hudson 
  City. Bordered by Ardmore, Irishtown, Black-
  bridge, Worthington, and Little Italy, it occupies 
  the land roughly between the city limits to the 
  west, 12th Avenue and Kurtland Boulevard to the 
  south, N. Lincoln Street to the east, and 3rd Avenue 
  to the north.
  Guilford began in the mid-1800s as a settle-
  ment for English and Scottish immigrants, who 
  created a village they called Glenwood. Other 
  communities, such as Burnside, Tarleton, Suther-
  land, Salem, and McCrimmon’s Grove sprang up 
  nearby (as did solidly Irish communities to the 
  immediate north; see Irishtown, below). Over time 
  these villages became towns, and the towns grew 
  together. It was a bureaucratic and administrative 
  mess until the early 1950s, when Hudson City 
  expanded its city limits and absorbed them all, 
  rechristening the area “Guilford” in a name chosen 
  by a plebiscite of the residents.
  Many Hudsonites agree that Guilford is one 
  of the most pleasant neighborhoods in the city. 
  Its residential areas contain a mixture of detached 
  houses and nice apartment buildings (though the 
  quality of housing deteriorates a bit as you get close 
  to Hudson City University), while its retail areas 
  bustle with consumer traﬃc to many ﬁne stores 
  (both chains and local businesses). To the west, 
  in the area around Stewart County Stadium and 
  the Grolnick Power Station, there’s also some light 
  manufacturing, oﬃce parks, and similar commer-
  cial properties.
  Housing in Guilford was considered some-
  thing of a bargain up until the late Seventies. At 
  that point prices began to rise due to proximity to 
  Irishtown and real estate speculation. Today most 
  middle-class families can’t aﬀord to buy a house in 
  Guilford; it’s slowly but surely becoming a neigh-
  borhood of the nouveau riche and arrogant young 
  businessmen. 
  The crime rate in Guilford is much lower than 
  in most parts of the city — there’s no gang problem 
  to speak of, for example. Most residents attribute 
  this to the character of Guilford’s residents and 
  GUILFORD
  IMAGES OF 
  GUILFORD
  The roar of the crowd 
  from Stewart County 
  Stadium when the 
  Thunderbolts score a 
  touchdown
  Neighborhoods of small 
  houses with small yards, 
  carefully lined up in 
  rows that run for blocks 
  and blocks
  The full moon casting 
  an eerie glow over the 
  Pilkenton Mansion
  Diners sitting on the 
  patio at the Marietta 
  Grill, enjoying some 
  good pork barbecue and 
  hush puppies
  The stained glass win-
  dows of St. Ignatius lit 
  by the sun
  
  57 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  the neighborhood’s nearness to Irishtown. A few 
  policemen hint darkly that connections to nearby 
  Little Italy have more to do with it. Regardless of 
  the cause, Guilford’s inhabitants appreciate the 
  peace, quiet, and security.
  For a map of Guilford, see page 28.
  LANDMARKS
  In addition to the Pilkenton Mansion 
  (page 130), the Stewart County Stadium (page 
  114), and Hudson City University (page 117), 
  Guilford’s best-known location is the St. Ignatius 
  Cathedral, at the northwest corner of 12th Avenue 
  and Iroquois Street. The largest Catholic church 
  in the city, it was built about a hundred years 
  ago. Today its luster is dimmed somewhat by 
  the noise from nearby Kurtland Boulevard, but 
  thousands of Catholics still visit it each week to 
  attend Mass, go to confession, or just admire the 
  delicate woodcarving on the pews and the exqui-
  sitely-detailed stained glass windows.
  SHOPPING
  Guilfordans have plenty of money to spend, 
  and plenty of stores to spend it in.
  Avalon Books (southeast corner of 8th Avenue and 
  Hickman Street):  This chain of upscale bookstores 
  was founded right here in Guilford. The “mother 
  store” is now one of the largest, best-stocked book-
  stores in the city. Its managers expertly mix modern 
  best-sellers with obscure books of note and long-
  time classics to create an eclectic blend of books 
  suitable for hours of browsing.
  Calibers (724 Taylor Street):  Despite the relatively 
  low crime rate in Guilford, many Guilfordans (not 
  to mention the residents of nearby Irishtown) live 
  in fear of crime — and with good reason, consider-
  ing that places like Freetown and North Elmview 
  are only a few miles away. Many of them visit Cali-
  bers, a gun store and shooting range near the inter-
  section of Cranford and Taylor, to buy some “per-
  sonal protection” and learn how to use it. Calibers 
  also hosts an international shooting competition 
  every April, awarding tens of thousands of dollars 
  in prizes to the best shots.
  Nina’s Exotic Pets (southwest corner of Isherwood 
  Avenue and Cleveland Street):  Ever thought about 
  owning a tiger? A tank of piranha? Maybe a wolf? 
  Well, if you have, there’s a place in Guilford that can 
  make your dreams come true:  Nina’s Exotic Pets. 
  Owner Nina Ruskin specializes in acquiring any 
  animal you can imagine having as a pet... as long 
  as it’s legal, since she’s an ardent environmentalist. 
  She’s also an ardent (and humorless) feminist, and 
  deals with lewd jokes about “exotic pets” by threat-
  ening to unleash her pet ocelot on the oﬀender.
  Westwood Mall (between Beck and Winwood Ave-
  nues, Cleveland and Hickman Streets):  About ten 
  years ago, a group of entrepreneurs built this pedes-
  trian mall in Glenwood. Mixing precisely-sculpted 
  natural areas and broad walkways with carefully-
  selected high-end retail stores like Moon & Sun 
  nature stores, Cardboard Heroes sports cards and 
  memorabilia, Glenwood Diamonds, and Whirlies (a 
  fanciﬁed bar and grille), they’ve created a consumer 
  destination. The owners are looking to expand, but 
  have yet to convince nearby landowners to sell to 
  them (and even if they could, it’s uncertain whether 
  the city would grant permits for the expansion).
  ON THE TOWN
  When they’re done shopping, here are some of 
  the places Guilfordans go to relax:
  Angus Café (northeast corner of 9th Avenue and Snow 
  Street):  Consistently voted one of the best burger 
  joints in Hudson City by the readers of various 
  newspapers and magazines, the Angus Café mixes 
  modern decor and service with old-fashioned taste 
  and quality. For many Guilfordans the day just isn’t 
  complete unless they stop at the Angus for lunch 
  (or maybe pick up a burger to go for dinner).
  The Junction (southeast corner of LaSalle Avenue 
  and Huron Street):  A college bar serving the HCU 
  crowd (and younger Guilfordans who still want to 
  feel like they’re a part of that scene), the Junction 
  has everything you’d want in this sort of place:  lots 
  of seats, big screen TVs, and cheap beer. It’s par-
  ticularly crowded whenever Pioneers games are 
  broadcast on television.
  Marietta Grill (northeast corner of Cranford Avenue 
  and Meade Street):  Specializing in Southern cook-
  ing at its ﬁnest, the Marietta Grill has become a 
  local favorite since it opened in 1998. Owner Scott 
  Carr grew up in Atlanta, and he’s brought his love 
  of ﬁne Southern food to Hudson City. He’s plan-
  ning to open up another Grill in east Worthington 
  or Bankhurst.
  Zodiac (344 Crestwood Avenue):  Just about everyone 
  in Hudson City has seen one of this club’s now-
  famous “What’s Your Sign?” advertisements or t-
  shirts. That level of exposure, coupled with Zodiac’s 
  popularity among both the college crowd and older 
  partiers, has made the club a proﬁtable business for 
  its owners, the Elliman twins. It’s become a place to 
  see and be seen, where you can’t even get through 
  the door if you don’t have the right threads and the 
  right attitude.
  FELICITY MCQUADE
   8 STR 
  8 DEX
   9 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  16 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   18 END 17 STUN
  Abilities:  Acting 13-, Dis-
  guise 8-, High Society 12-, 
  KS: Hollywood Society 11-, 
  Mimicry 8-, PS: Actress 
  11-, PS: Dancing 11-, Rep-
  utation (famous actress, 
  +2/+2d6)
  Disadvantages:  Hunted 
  (Watched by the media); 
  Rivalry (Professional, with 
  some other Hollywood 
  actress); Social Limitation:  
  Famous
  Notes:  Regarded by many 
  critics and fans as one of 
  the ﬁnest — and most 
  beautiful — actresses of 
  her day, Felicity McQuade 
  has starred in nearly 
  twenty major motion 
  pictures and typically earns 
  over $15 million per ﬁlm. 
  Although still single at 31, 
  at various times through-
  out her career she’s been 
  romantically linked with 
  nearly every major male 
  star as well as numerous 
  wealthy bachelors from 
  other ﬁelds. Born and 
  raised in Guilford, she 
  often returns to Hudson 
  City to see friends and 
  relax. She has an apartment 
  in Guilford and a luxury 
  condominium in an exclu-
  sive building in Bankhurst.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  58 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  “Look, I hate to say it, but you’re crazy. That’s 
  never going to work.”
  “I don’t agree. I tell you, we can do it — it just 
  involves getting the right people on board and 
  playing our cards just right.”
  “Oh, sure. Anything works if everything goes 
  just right. The odds of that happening here are 
  ridiculously small.”
  “That’s where you’re wrong. I have some con-
  nections over at Governmental Center. They 
  can put us in touch with the people who have 
  the say-so over this sort of thing... and given the 
  right “persuasions,” I’m sure they’ll see things 
  our way.”
  “Hmmm. What sort of “persuasions”?”
  “Blondes, brunettes, redheads... whatever. I’m 
  told this guy’s not real particular.”
  — conversation overheard in the City Club
  A couple of miles west of Puritan Bay the land 
  rises, creating a small plateau before sinking back 
  down again as one approaches N. Truman Boule-
  vard. Hudsonites call this neighborhood Highlands 
  not only because of its elevation, but because this 
  is where the movers and shakers of the city spend 
  their time — journalists have parlayed the name into 
  pseudo-intellectual slang terms for city politics like 
  “gathering of the clans” or “the Highland games.” To 
  most residents, Highlands is deﬁned less by topog-
  raphy than as “the area around city hall.” On most 
  maps the boundaries are N. Adams Street, N. Madi-
  son Street, 9th Avenue, and Chatham Avenue.
  Highlands is mainly a commercial and gov-
  ernmental center. There are few residential build-
  ings (mainly luxury condominium towers like the 
  McMillan Building); most of the neighborhood is 
  ﬁlled with skyscrapers containing the oﬃces of rich 
  and powerful businesses, business parks and plazas, 
  cultural attractions, and government facilities. With 
  Police Headquarters right on Courthouse Plaza, and 
  the Department eager to protect the powerful men 
  and women who work here so they’ll look favorably 
  on police appropriations, Highlands is by most mea-
  sures the safest, most crime-free area in the city.
  See page 44 for a map of Highlands.
  LANDMARKS
  Besides such well-known institutions as the 
  Kleinmann Center (page 111), Governmental 
  Center (page 99), and the Museum of Natural His-
  tory (page 111), Highlands has many well-known 
  buildings and other attractions.
  Cherokee Tower (southeast corner of 8th Avenue 
  and Newport Street):  Built in the late 1950s by 
  renowned architect Jalmari Laukkonen, the Chero-
  kee Tower, headquarters of Cherokee Bank (page 
  120), underwent signiﬁcant renovations from 1997-
  2002. While retaining its distinctive proﬁle, includ-
  ing the famous “porthole” window that dominates 
  the eastern facade at the ﬁftieth and ﬁfty-ﬁrst ﬂoors, 
  engineers replaced the grey granite exterior with a 
  lighter-colored, sturdier marble and signiﬁcantly 
  re-arranged the interior space on about half of the 
  building’s sixty ﬂoors. Today most Hudsonites ﬁnd 
  the building a more striking sight than ever before.
  Flag National Bank Building (southeast corner of 4th 
  Avenue and N. Madison Street):  The headquarters of 
  Flag National Bank (page 120), which has dozens of 
  branches throughout the greater Hudson City area, 
  this building also houses several law and account-
  ing ﬁrms who work closely with the city’s banking 
  community. The distinctively-shaped gilded radio 
  tower on top of it can be seen from just about any 
  place on the Northside (provided one has a clear 
  line of sight).
  Hudson City Corporate Center (along Centre Street 
  at 7th Avenue):  This cluster of six forty-story glass-
  and-steel skyscrapers houses some of the most 
  important law ﬁrms, brokerages, and ﬁnanciers in 
  the city. Tower Seven is only twenty stories tall, but 
  contains the ultra-luxurious Highlands Regency 
  Hotel and has skywalks at the tenth ﬂoor connect-
  ing it to Towers One and Two to the north, and 
  Three and Four to the south.
  Hunneford Library (southeast corner of 8th Avenue 
  and Washington Street):  With a collection of 
  approximately 15 million volumes, and millions 
  more magazines, recordings, artifacts, and related 
  information resources, the Hunneford Library is 
  one of the largest public libraries in the United 
  States. Begun in the early 1900s with private 
  donations (including the princely sum of $8 mil-
  lion from ﬁnancier James Hunneford, for whom 
  the building was named), over the past century 
  it’s grown into a major institution of learning. 
  Its distinctive arched main entrance has become 
  symbolic of scholarship and knowledge. The main 
  building, a twelve-story facility, houses both the 
  Lending Collection (books anyone with a library 
  card can borrow) and the Research Collection 
  (reference books that don’t leave the building); the 
  library system includes dozens of other branches 
  throughout the city that hold part of the Lending 
  Collection. Other features of the Library include 
  an enormous reading room on the tenth ﬂoor, a 
  Foucault pendulum, and one of the best Rare Book 
  HIGHLANDS
  IMAGES OF 
  HIGHLANDS
  People walking across 
  the Governmental 
  Center square or 
  through Courthouse 
  Plaza
  The red brick staircases 
  leading down to the 
  Hudson City Under-
  ground
  The Fourth of July deco-
  rations at Governmental 
  Center
  The “porthole” of Chero-
  kee Tower
  The intangible but 
  unmistakable smell of 
  money wafting out of 
  the City Club
  Orthodox Jewish dia-
  mond merchants walk-
  ing on the streets near 
  the Gemstone Exchange
  
  59 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  Rooms in America. The RBR’s collection includes 
  such treasures as medieval incunabula, a Shake-
  speare First Folio, autographed copies of the works 
  of many authors, several unique diaries, and rare 
  Bibles in many languages. The Library’s manage-
  ment has beefed up security signiﬁcantly since 
  Penny Dreadful’s appearance in town.
  SHOPPING
  The streets of Highlands are lined with all 
  sorts of stores and shops... but you’d better have a 
  hefty bank account to shop in most of them.
  Renee’s (southwest corner of Cranford Avenue and 
  Richmond Street):  Women’s clothing and furs are 
  the goods in trade at Renee’s, and the boutique 
  stocks only the best — designer dresses and gowns 
  from the biggest names in fashion from around the 
  world, the most luxuriant fur coats and stoles avail-
  able. It’s reputed that several of the most famous 
  actresses in Hollywood shop here.
  Walters Plaza (southeast corner of 8th Avenue and N. 
  Madison Street):  A collection of small, elegant shops 
  clustered around a delightful fountain, Walters Plaza 
  is a must-visit shopping destination for many of 
  Hudson City’s wealthiest consumers. Women can 
  ﬁnd European cosmetics at Sevres and the latest 
  shoes at Difazio’s while men buy custom-tailored 
  suits and ties at Meloni & Burroughs, Haberdashers 
  and ﬂy-ﬁshing gear at The Compleat Angler.
  Wonderland Toys (2053 Beck Avenue):  If Barbie and 
  Hot Wheels aren’t good enough for your children, 
  stop by Wonderland Toys, which bills itself as “The 
  World’s Greatest Toy Store!”. A better description 
  would be “the world’s greatest toy store for little 
  rich kids,” since there aren’t many things for sale 
  in Wonderland that cost less than a hundred dol-
  lars — and many of the toys range into the thou-
  sands. If you’ve ever wanted to buy your kid a solid 
  mahogany racecar track with inlaid gold highlights, 
  teddy bears made out of real Russian bear fur, or a 
  child-sized Porsche that really works, Wonderland 
  is the place to go.
  ON THE TOWN
  Highlands deﬁnitely has a night life — one 
  several steps above the sort of thing you’d ﬁnd in 
  Bayside or Elmview. In addition to the Skyline Club 
  (page 196), you might want to try:
  The Carthage Club (near the Flag Bank Building on 
  4th Avenue):  The renowned “adventurers’ club” of 
  the Twenties and Thirties still exists, but as a dinner 
  and dancing club rather than a place where explor-
  ers, aviators, and crimebusters share their experi-
  ences with one another over brandy and cigars. 
  The staﬀ wears period outﬁts, and the dining room 
  is the very deﬁnition of “elegance.” The Club also 
  boasts a large ballroom where a big band plays 
  dance music every night from 9:00 PM to 1:00 AM.
  The City Club:  Located on the top ﬂoor of the Flag 
  National Bank Building (see above), the City Club 
  is an expensive, members-only lunch and dinner 
  club. When two prominent Hudsonite businessmen 
  decide to have a lunch meeting, as likely as not the 
  City Club is the place where they’ll agree to meet. 
  It’s said that millions of dollars’ worth of deals are 
  struck here every day. The Club is also famous for 
  its Christmas egg nog, said to be the best in the city.
  Faces (888 6th Avenue):  Perhaps the poshest “gentle-
  men’s club” in Hudson City, Faces features excellent 
  drinks served by beautiful, topless waitresses as 
  well as “exotic dancing” taking place on a well-lit 
  stage. Many businessmen like to “unwind” here 
  after a hard day at work. Most of the club is open 
  to anyone who can pay the $20 “one-time member-
  ship” fee and behaves himself... but those in the 
  know say that membership in the Back Room, the 
  private part of the club, is worth every penny of the 
  $1,000 annual fee.
  MARILIS KETTLER
   8 STR 
  9 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   13 INT 
  12 EGO
   14 PRE 
  12 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 16 STUN
  Abilities:  Computer 
  Programming 8-, Deduc-
  tion 11-, KS: Hunneford 
  Library Collection 13-, 
  KS: Layman’s Arcane And 
  Occult Lore 11-, Lan-
  guage:  English, French, 
  German (ﬂuent conversa-
  tion; Romanian is native), 
  PS: Librarian 14-, SS: 
  Anthropology 11-
  25+ Disadvantages:  
  None
  Notes:  A second-gen-
  eration Romanian 
  immigrant, Marilis Ket-
  tler studied Library Sci-
  ences and Anthropology 
  at HCU and parleyed 
  her excellent grades into 
  a job at the Hunneford 
  Library. Since then she’s 
  worked her way several 
  steps up the ladder to a 
  position of signiﬁcant 
  responsibility:  she’s in 
  charge of overseeing 
  the Library’s Research 
  Collection as it per-
  tains to anthropology, 
  archaeology, and related 
  matters (including the 
  occult). Well-educated 
  and highly intelligent, 
  she can converse ably on 
  many diﬀerent subjects.
  DIPLOMATIC PARTIES
  With Embassy Row as part of the neighborhood, it’s not 
  surprising that the movers and shakers of Highlands often 
  ﬁnd invitations to swank embassy parties in their mail-
  boxes. Someone who’s important enough, rich enough, or 
  popular enough may ﬁnd himself invited to diplomatic 
  parties every week... and at some times of the year, almost 
  every day.
  A typical diplomatic party celebrates some important 
  event in the host country:  a day of independence; a 
  religious holiday; a traditional festival. Less commonly, 
  an embassy may host a party to celebrate the signing of 
  a treaty or some other major event — or maybe just to 
  show itself oﬀ, or try to build contacts within the interna-
  tional community.
  Diplomatic parties are usually formal events at which 
  the men wear tuxedoes (or the cultural equivalent) and 
  women wear dresses of corresponding quality. Getting 
  in requires a physical invitation that the doormen (read:  
  guards) can check. The attendees are usually an eclectic 
  mix of diplomats, politicians, businessmen, and other 
  important people. Some embassies make sure to have a 
  generous selection of beautiful single women circulating 
  among the crowd as well.
  It’s accepted as fact by many people that a lot of espio-
  nage-related activities go on at some embassy parties. 
  Mostly this is low-level stuﬀ, like a “diplomat” from one 
  embassy checking out a “diplomat” representing a rival or 
  enemy nation. Sometimes it helps an analyst to have had 
  face-to-face contact with his opposite number — it lets 
  him better understand what motivates that person (or at 
  least, so spies assume). Other times more extreme activi-
  ties, such as passing messages or even kidnappings and 
  assassinations, take place; the latter are particularly good 
  ways to embarrass the host embassy, if that’s one of the 
  goals of the operation.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  60 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  “Excuse me, sir?”
  “Yeah?”
  “May I see some ID, sir?”
  “You a cop?”
  “No, sir, I’m a private security guard working 
  for Blazon Security Services and hired by the 
  residents of the North Thain Street subdivision 
  to protect their property. I need to see some ID, 
  sir, or I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
  “I don’t haveta show my ID to no rent-a-cops.”
  “Sir, you’re on private property here, not city 
  property. If you don’t show me your ID and tell 
  me what you’re doing here, I’m going to have to 
  ask you to leave immediately.”
  “And what if I don’t leave?”
  “Then I’ll have to place you under citizen’s 
  arrest and escort you oﬀ the premises, sir — 
  with force, if necessary.”
  — exchange between an Irishtown security 
  guard and an unidentiﬁed person
  When the ﬁrst major waves of Irish immi-
  grants began reaching Hudson City in the mid-
  1800s, they encountered signiﬁcant discrimination 
  from the primarily English-descended residents. 
  As a result, they had trouble ﬁnding places to live 
  in what were then the main parts of town — the 
  Northside coast and a couple miles inland from 
  there. Rather than ﬁght the tide, they looked fur-
  ther west and established their own “ghetto” on the 
  northwest edge of modern Hudson City (it was 
  outside the city limits at that time). The neighbor-
  hood quickly became known as “Irishtown,” though 
  the residents themselves called it Westlow.
  In the ensuing decades, as the city grew and 
  became more crowded and polluted, the wealthy 
  and pampered members of society decided they’d 
  be better oﬀ living away from the center of town 
  — a practice which advances in transportation 
  were making more feasible than ever before. 
  Attracted to the Irishtown area by its pleasant land-
  scape and available land (since many of the Irish 
  residents were technically squatters), they began 
  moving out there.
  A century later, Irishtown is the domain of 
  the richest and most fabulous members of Hudson 
  City society, and the slang term “Irish” has come 
  to signify great wealth (and those who possess 
  it) in the Hudsonite patois. Frequently compared 
  to Beverly Hills, Irishtown features large, opulent 
  mansions, elaborately manicured lawns, and streets 
  shaded by stately trees. Its inhabitants are typically 
  “old money”; the nouveau riche are more likely to 
  be found in Bankhurst, Guilford, Highlands, or east 
  Worthington, though many yearn for the mansions 
  of Irishtown and pay enormous sums for one that 
  becomes available.
  The borders of Irishtown are clearly delin-
  eated:  3rd Avenue, Cleveland Street, and the city 
  limits. You can tell you’ve reached them because the 
  streets become cleaner and detached houses with 
  large lawns are the rule rather than the exception. 
  You’ll also notice a lot of cops, not to mention pri-
  vate security guards and gated communities. The 
  residents fear the criminal rabble of the city (and 
  not without justiﬁcation; Irishtown children are 
  sometimes the targets of kidnappers, for example) 
  and spend good money to keep themselves as 
  safe as possible. As a result, the crime rate stays 
  extremely low... but the occasional spectacular rob-
  bery or bizarre homicide keeps the security forces 
  on their toes, the burglar alarm companies in busi-
  ness, and tabloid readers titillated.
  For a map of Irishtown, see page 28.
  LANDMARKS
  In many ways, Irishtown itself is a landmark. 
  Hudson City tourists often come out to Irishtown 
  to drive along the manicured streets and stare at 
  the mansions of business magnates, ﬁlm and music 
  stars, and old money families. But even among the 
  homes of the rich, a few places stand out.
  Nicolaus Aquarium (1 Meade Street):  Home to 
  fresh and saltwater ﬁsh and aquatic animals from 
  all over the world, the Nicolaus Aquarium is both 
  an educational facility and a research institution. 
  While the public comes to see such attractions as 
  Shark Country USA, Ollie the killer whale, and the 
  Penguin Follies show, scientists use the lab’s exten-
  sive collection of sealife to conduct many types of 
  studies and experiments. Under the leadership of 
  director Jill Winston, the Nicolaus has increased 
  its earnings every year for the past decade, and has 
  now drawn up plans for a signiﬁcant expansion.
  Westlow Park:  Every morning, nannies and au pairs 
  from all over Irishtown bring their young charges 
  to play in the ﬁelds of Westlow Park. Nearby you 
  can see people walking or playing fetch with 
  expensive purebred dogs, couples walking hand 
  in hand, and birdwatchers on the prowl with their 
  binoculars. On Thursday evenings in the summer, 
  the Concerts in Westlow series ﬁlls the night with 
  ﬁne classical and jazz music. All in all, it’s one of the 
  nicest, best-maintained parks in Hudson City.
  IRISHTOWN
  IMAGES OF 
  IRISHTOWN
  Private security guards 
  standing post at the 
  gates to residential com-
  munities
  Millions of dollars’ 
  worth of Italian sports-
  cars on the lot at Kelley 
  Ferrari
  The largest, best-mani-
  cured lawns in town
  Women walking down 
  the streets in outﬁts 
  costing more than the 
  average Freetown family 
  earns in a month
  The distinctive blue-lit 
  windows of Far Bombay
  Lots of cops cruising the 
  streets, keeping a careful 
  eye on things
  
  61 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  SHOPPING
  If there’s one thing Irishtown residents have, 
  it’s money to spend. The shopping here is among 
  the best in the city... though you’d better have deep 
  pockets if you plan to spend the day on MacDon-
  ald Avenue.
  Hathaway Custom Accessories (499 MacDonald 
  Avenue):  Located at the corner of MacDonald and 
  N. Roosevelt in the heart of Irishtown’s world-
  famous shopping district, Hathaway’s sells one-of-
  a-kind handbags, scarves, and other accessories 
  designed by the boutique’s owner, Tina Hathaway. A 
  typical Hathaway bag costs about $4,000, and some 
  cost considerably more than that.
  Kelley Porsche-Ferrari-Lamborghini (411 Patterson 
  Avenue):  If you’re in the market for an Italian 
  sportscar, Kelley’s on Patterson is the place to 
  go. An authorized dealership for Lamborghinis, 
  Porsches, and Ferraris, Kelley’s specializes in meet-
  ing the needs of its demanding clientele. No matter 
  what model of these sportscars someone wants, and 
  what features, Adrian Kelley and his staﬀ ﬁnd a way 
  to satisfy them.
  Randolph’s Market & Delicatessen (northeast corner 
  of Bell Avenue and Rotterdam Street):  For many 
  Irishtowners, the typical food bought at a chain 
  grocery store is far too common and crude. They 
  want only the best... and Randolph’s provides. Its 
  shelves are stocked with the choicest gourmet 
  foods available, and its Delicatessen can turn out 
  everything from a pound of potato salad to a 
  catered seven-course meal. This quality doesn’t 
  come cheap, of course, but for some Irishtowners 
  it’s more than worth it.
  Vanderwaite & Flynn (602 MacDonald Avenue):  “Jew-
  ellers to Royalty,” this ﬁrm bills itself with justiﬁ-
  able pride. “V&F” creations have graced the heads, 
  hands, and necks of many princes and queens in 
  Europe, the Middle East, and Asia... not to mention 
  the society mavens of Hudson City. If you have to 
  ask the price, you can’t aﬀord it — but there’s no 
  mistaking a V&F original, or the prestige wearing 
  one confers. The ﬁrm frequently loans jewelry to 
  famous actresses for Oscar ceremonies and other 
  special occasions.
  ON THE TOWN
  Irishtowners want to enjoy life, to be enter-
  tained... and they’re willing to pay handsomely for 
  it. Some of their favorite “hot spots” include:
  Club Irish (6869 Chatham Avenue):  If it’s hip, if it’s 
  trendy, if it’s cutting edge, you’ll ﬁnd it being played 
  and danced to at Club Irish, the hottest after-dinner 
  spot in Irishtown. Don’t even think about trying to 
  get in if you haven’t spent a few thousand dollars 
  on your clothes and hair... and are willing to spend 
  hundreds more on drinks and tips.
  Far Bombay (300 Bell Avenue):  Taking its name 
  from an old Sinatra tune, this upscale cocktail bar 
  serves drinks made from the rarest, most expensive, 
  gins, tequilas, and other exotic booze. Liquor snobs 
  ﬂock to this place like deer to a salt lick to show oﬀ 
  their taste and talk with the “sommeliers” about the 
  latest and trendiest in alcohols. The decor mixes 
  Rat Pack chic with modern touches of neon in a 
  way that, surprisingly, works.
  Marco Polo (990 Patterson Avenue):  An intriguing 
  culinary experiment that succeeded, Marco Polo 
  oﬀers a split menu:  half Italian food, half Chinese 
  food. Most critics predicted it would fail within a 
  year, but somehow the mixture — not to mention 
  Chef Paul Chou’s excellent cooking — caught the 
  fancy of Irishtowners. Marco Polo also boasts a ﬁne 
  selection of Italian wines.
  Orleans (northeast corner of Cook Avenue and York 
  Street):  The house salad costs $20, the menu is 
  entirely in French, and the wine cellar is stocked 
  with millions of dollars’ worth of bottles of wine 
  — even if the waiters’ combination of snootiness 
  and servility weren’t a tip-oﬀ, it wouldn’t be hard 
  to tell that Orleans is a restaurant patronized 
  only by the very well-to-do. Orleans consistently 
  receives a ﬁve-star rating from all the major 
  restaurant guides, and some argue it’s the best 
  French restaurant in America.
  ALLEN STANFORD
   10 STR 
  12 DEX
   12 CON 10 BODY
   13 INT 
  10 EGO
   15 PRE 
  10 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   3 SPD 
  4 REC
   24 END 21 STUN
  Abilities:  +1 to Sight 
  Group PER Rolls, 
  Criminology 12-, 
  Deduction 12-, Forensic 
  Medicine 8-, KS: The 
  Law Enforcement World 
  11-, Lockpicking 8-, 
  Paramedics 12-, Security 
  Systems 12-, Stealth 11-, 
  Streetwise 12-, 20 points’ 
  worth of Contacts in the 
  Law Enforcement World 
  of Hudson City
  50+ Disadvantages:  
  None
  Notes:  A former Hudson 
  City cop and FBI agent, 
  Allen Stanford left public 
  law enforcement nearly 
  twenty years ago to form 
  Blazon Security Services, 
  a full-spectrum security 
  company providing 
  alarm systems, armed 
  guards, armored cars, and 
  bodyguards to customers 
  in need of protection for 
  themselves, their family, 
  and their property. His 
  business has done so well 
  that today he not only 
  provides security guards 
  for many communities in 
  Irishtown, he lives there 
  himself with his wife Cla-
  rice and four children.
  THE IRISHTOWN 
  SOCIAL WHIRL
  More than a few rich people enjoy showing oﬀ just how 
  much moola they’ve got. Some do this by buying the fan-
  ciest sportscars, biggest houses, or most expensive jewelry 
  they can. Another way, one favored by many Irishtown 
  families, is to throw elaborate parties
  Over the years, an informal calendar of parties, balls, 
  cotillions, and similar events held by Irishtowners has 
  developed; the Irishtowners refer to it as “the social whirl.” 
  With so many wealthy families competing for time on the 
  social schedule, it’s tough for a newcomer to break into 
  the routine and make a mark for himself, but that doesn’t 
  stop lots of people from trying
  The three rock-solid anchors of the social whirl are 
  the Frazier “Spring Gathering” in May, the Bankhurst 
  “cookout” in August (one of the few events that attracts 
  large numbers of the far-ﬂung Bankhurst clan back to 
  Hudson City), and the Willoughby Christmas party 
  in mid-December. The latter is particularly highly-
  regarded because of the skill displayed by the Willough-
  bys’ cooks and caterers, and the lavish hands with which 
  their bartenders pour the drinks, but anyone who’s 
  anyone makes a point of appearing at all three func-
  tions. Whether it’s ﬁlet mignon burgers and gourmet 
  Doghouse hot dogs at the Bankhurst compound, or the 
  elegant hors d’oeuvres and pastries at the Spring Gath-
  ering, everyone has a good time
  The other parties on the social whirl aren’t quite such 
  major aﬀairs, but they’re a lot of fun nevertheless. Many 
  Irishtowners particularly enjoy the Andrews “wine and 
  cheese party” in September. The latest party to make it 
  big on the social whirl is Adriene and Jake Davidson’s 
  Halloween costume party in the Mustard Mansion; the 
  competition to win the prizes (best, scariest, sexiest, etc. 
  costume) can get intense!
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  62 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  Down in Fayettenam 
  Ya gotta have a bomb 
  Ya gotta have a gun 
  If you wanna see the sun 
  ’Cause night comes down 
  Y’gonna hear th’ sound 
  Of bucks and nines 
  Guns and knives 
  Guns and knives 
  All’a the time
  — from “Fuller,” by Dis Tense
  Better known in city slang as “Fayettenam” 
  because of all the shootings that take place there, 
  Lafayette competes with Freetown and North 
  Elmview for the title of worst, most dangerous 
  neighborhood in the city. Most people would con-
  sider its borders to be S. Jackson Street to the west, 
  Ferry Street to the east, the city limits to the south, 
  and a zig-zag pattern along Southridge Avenue, 
  Heine Street, and King Avenue to the north — but 
  the truth is that in most peoples’ minds it merges 
  almost imperceptibly with the Numbers and the 
  rest of Freetown (and to some extent with Latin 
  City as well, as the Hispanic community has started 
  to grow beyond the bounds of Ferry Street).
  For the most part, Lafayette is a residential 
  neighborhood:  few businesses can survive in such 
  a place, and most of them are small, one-person 
  or one-family operations providing services the 
  locals ﬁnd indispensable (i.e., small grocery and 
  liquor stores) or desirable (such as beauty par-
  lors and check-cashing services). The only major 
  employer in the area is the South Pumping Station. 
  Most of the residences are public housing projects 
  (not nearly so large or monolithic as the ones in 
  Freetown, but project nonetheless), tenements, and 
  run-down apartment buildings. For most people 
  who live in Lafayette, moving to Forsyth would be 
  considered a step up the social ladder.
  Statistics paint a grim picture about what life 
  is like in Lafayette. According to the Department 
  of Social Services, over 90% of Lafayette residence 
  receive some form of public assistance (usually in 
  addition to public housing), and the unemploy-
  ment rate approaches 50% in many periods. HCPD 
  oﬃcials claim that over half the men age 16 and 
  up living in Lafayette have criminal records or are 
  involved in gangs or the drug trade.
  The crime picture in Lafayette is muddled, 
  though intense. No one street gang or crimelord 
  dominates the area, leading to frequent gang war-
  fare and drive-by shootings. Gangstas selling crack 
  and heroin on the street aren’t the worst problem 
  for most residents, though; junkies who steal or 
  rob to get enough money for their next “ﬁx” are far 
  more of a threat to the average Lafayetter.
  See page 53 for a map of Lafayette.
  THE NEEDLE
  The narrow, arrow-shaped strip of land 
  between Pender Street, S. Truman Boulevard, and 
  Parsons Avenue has been known for years as “the 
  Needle.” By any measure it’s one of the worst, if not 
  the worst, neighborhoods in the city. Its tenements 
  are survivors (barely) of ﬁrebombings, urban street 
  warfare, and years of slumlord control. What few 
  retail establishments exist are so shabby and so 
  tightly barred and barricaded against crime that 
  they oﬀer little incentive to shop there... other than 
  the fact that they’re all there is. Crime and drug 
  use are rampant (the neighborhood’s name doesn’t 
  relate entirely to its shape). All of the inhabitants 
  are black; any whites, Hispanics, or Asians who dare 
  to venture into the Needle are putting their lives in 
  serious danger. No one can remember the last time 
  they saw a cop car there.
  LANDMARKS
  The closest thing Lafayette has to a “landmark” 
  is the Barton Street Mission, located at the inter-
  section of Hoke Avenue and Barton Street, not far 
  from the Barton Station subway stop. Founded in 
  1955, the Mission has served the poor, homeless, 
  and downtrodden of the area for ﬁve decades. It 
  serves three hot meals a day, not turning anyone 
  away until the food runs out. It also has a ﬁfty-bed 
  homeless shelter that’s available on a ﬁrst-come, 
  ﬁrst-serve basis each night. The Mission’s board of 
  directors would like to expand the facility, but they 
  just don’t have the money.
  SHOPPING
  The retail businesses in Lafayette aren’t exactly 
  the kind that attract shoppers from other neighbor-
  hoods.
  Money Now! (4150 Ingram Street):  For the low, low 
  price of twenty percent of its value, Money Now! 
  will cash your paycheck, welfare check, or tax 
  refund check and give you cash on the barrelhead, 
  no fuss and no waiting. Thick bulletproof win-
  dows, steel bars on the windows, an excellent alarm 
  system, and a top-notch vault keep the place from 
  becoming a constant target for burglars despite the 
  large amounts of cash on the premises.
  Ticino Liquor (84 Ticino Street):  Offering the 
  gamut of potent potables from beer to malt 
  liquor, with occasional shipments of cheap wine 
  that owner Carl Lewison happens to lay his 
  LAFAYETTE
  JULIE WALKER
   8 STR 
  8 DEX
   8 CON 
  9 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM 
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 17 STUN
  Abilities:  PS: Book-
  keeping 11-, Streetwise 
  8-, Survival (Urban) 8-, 
  Trading 8-, WF: Pistols
  25+ Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Short-Tempered
  Notes:  A plump black 
  woman in her mid-
  twenties, Julie lives not 
  far from the Mission 
  in Forsyth. She works 
  in Riverside Hills as a 
  bookkeeper and vol-
  unteers at the Mission 
  three to ﬁve days a 
  week, usually at dinner-
  time so she can serve 
  meals and help clean 
  up. Although she loses 
  her temper quickly and 
  becomes sharp-tongued 
  and waspish, she 
  genuinely wants to help 
  and is always on the 
  lookout for additional 
  things the shelter can 
  do to serve the Lafay-
  ette community. She 
  knows a lot of the area’s 
  homeless on sight.
  
  63 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  hands on, Ticino Liquors ranks as one of the 
  most successful businesses in Lafayette. In fact, 
  Lewison doesn’t even live in Lafayette anymore, 
  having earned enough by selling cheap booze to 
  move his family to Riverside Hills.
  ON THE TOWN
  Most people in Lafayette have enough trou-
  ble paying their basic bills — there’s not much 
  left over for wining and dining. But there are a 
  few popular places when someone does have a 
  few bills to spend.
  N-Z (southwest corner of Livengood Avenue and Starr 
  Street):  This club was a favorite of several of the 
  Lafayette gangs for a while, but a few incidents of 
  gang violence (including a shooting that left three 
  people dead) tarnished the place’s reputation. The 
  owners have been working hard to build the crowds 
  back up again, and they’re slowly but surely starting 
  to succeed. Rap star Dis Tense got his start per-
  forming at N-Z on amateur night, and the owners 
  hope they can lure him back for a show sometime.
  Taco Box (4187 Rosemont Street):  The longtime 
  dream of local half-black, half-Hispanic entrepre-
  neur Derrick Rodriguez, Taco Box opened in 2003 
  to serve Mexican food based on Rodriguez family 
  recipes. The name come from its signature “Box o’ 
  Tacos” meal, which includes ten beef tacos, salsa, 
  and a bagful of tortilla chips. It’s become a big hit 
  with gangbangers looking for a late night snack and 
  junkies who’ve got the munchies.
  IMAGES OF LAFAYETTE
  Junkies passed out on the sidewalks of the Needle
  Gang kids on streetcorners at night, trying their hand at 
  creating their own raps in between selling to crack cus-
  tomers
  A bag lady shuﬄing down the street, pushing a battered 
  shopping cart containing all her worldly possessions
  Crowded, crumbling tenements
  Partiers in N-Z forgetting the misery outside — at least 
  for a few hours
  Empty beer and liquor cans and bottles casually discarded 
  on the sidewalk.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  64 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  <“Yo, Carlito!”>
  <“What up, man?”>
  <“Git down here, man — we got work ta 
  do!”>
  <“What th’ !$&*’s goin’ on?”>
  <“It’s Martín, man — they killed him!”>
  <“What the !$&*?!? Who, man?”>
  <“Who d’ya think, man? It was those !$&*%@# 
  EME pricks.”>
  <“What the !$&* happened? Wasn’t he with 
  you? Whyn’t you protect him?”>
  <“Man, they jumped us, a dozen of ’em, there 
  was nothin’ we could do! They grabbed him, 
  shoved him into a van, and drove oﬀ. We got a 
  call later where to ﬁnd him.”>
  <“What’d they !$&*%@# do to him?”>
  <“Man, they !$&*%@#  nailed him into a big 
  wooden box with a bunch of starving rats. By 
  th’ time we got to him, we could hardly tell it 
  was him no more.”>
  <“!$&*. !$&*!!!! We are going to !$&*%@# kill 
  those !$&*ers, man. You got your nine?”>
  <“I do now.”>
  — late-night conversation overheard in  
  the barrio near Corley and Stanton
  Decades ago, Latin City was MacGregor Hill, 
  a part of Elmview — just another working-class 
  neighborhood among other working-class neighbor-
  hoods. Beginning in the late Fifties and early Sixties, 
  immigrants from Puerto Rico began settling there in 
  large numbers due to the cheap housing and cost of 
  living. Increasing immigration from Puerto Rico, and 
  later Mexico and many Central and South American 
  countries, quickly turned the area into a full-ﬂedged 
  barrio where the only signs in English are the street 
  signs... and sometimes not even them.
  Today, Latin City ﬁlls the area south of Port 
  Avenue and east of Ferry Street down to the south-
  ern city limits, and it’s threatening to spill over 
  into Lafayette and south Elmview as the Hispanic 
  population keeps increasing. It’s been called by a 
  lot of names over the years — Little Puerto Rico, 
  Havana North — but most people seem to have 
  settled on “Latin City.” The main inhabitants are 
  Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Mexicans, Nicaraguans, 
  Colombians, and Salvadorans — but natives of 
  every country in Central and South America can 
  be found there. Most of the area is fairly run-down 
  and squalid residential neighborhoods. Here and 
  there residents with money have tried to improve 
  things a bit, even building some duplexes amid the 
  sea of tenements and apartment buildings. Most 
  Hudsonites will tell you these “upper class” Hispan-
  ics got their money dealing drugs; for their part, the 
  residents of Latin City dismiss this as discrimina-
  tion — “if he’s a drug dealer, why don’t they come 
  and arrest him, huh?”.
  But the truth is that Latin City has a major 
  crime problem — so much of one that in the Nine-
  ties, Hispanic gangs backed by the Colombian 
  and Mexican drug cartels worked their way north 
  up the waterfront, displacing the Scatucci family 
  from its long-held ﬁef there. Gangs like Los Reyes 
  (the “Latin Kings”) and the Mexican Maﬁa often 
  ﬁght each other. It’s a constantly-shifting battleﬁeld 
  where life is short, teenagers get rich dealing coke 
  and crack, and innocent bystanders get caught in 
  the crossﬁre. Besides the drug dealing, “businesses” 
  catering to other vices, such as the sex trade, have 
  also sprung up.
  Anglos rarely cross into Latin City; it’s obvious 
  with every stare they receive that they’re regarded 
  with suspicion, fear, and hatred. However, a few 
  brave souls go there for the restaurants (many of 
  which are undiscovered gems, with food prepared 
  by native chefs) and the Latin nightclubs. None 
  of the residents — known as Latinistas — dislike 
  anglos so much that they’ll turn down their money.
  LANDMARKS
  Most of Latin City is pretty plain — street after 
  street of apartment buildings, bodegas, taquerias, 
  and other small businesses — but a few places 
  stand out.
  City Rail Yard (2000 Potter Avenue):  The largest 
  single employer in Latin City is the City Rail Yard, 
  where the Hudson City Transportation Commis-
  sion maintains trains, ﬁxes broken trains, and stores 
  trains not currently in use. It’s busy nearly 24 hours 
  a day, full of hustle and bustle that young boys like 
  to watch from nearby rooftops.
  Hispanic Pride Community Center (southwest corner 
  of Willow Street and Whittier Street):  Every neigh-
  borhood has its heart, and for Latin City that’s the 
  HPCC — or just the “HP,” as it’s usually called on 
  the street. The center runs outreach programs to 
  help improve the lives of Hispanics in Hudson City, 
  helps ﬁnd people jobs, sponsors (and often hosts!) 
  community events, ﬁghts drug abuse and gang vio-
  lence, and generally does whatever it can to have a 
  positive eﬀect on the community.
  LATIN CITY
  LORENZO OLMEDO
   6 STR 
  8 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   8 INT 
  7 EGO
   8 PRE 
  9 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  3 REC
   16 END 15 STUN
  Abilities:  KS: Hudson 
  City Train And Subway 
  Systems 14-, Mechanics 
  11-, TF: Railed Vehicles
  25+ Disadvantages:  Age: 
  40+; Physical Limita-
  tion:  Badly Nearsighted
  Notes:  Lorenzo Olmedo 
  has worked for the 
  Hudson City Rapid 
  Transit Division, and 
  later directly for the 
  Transportation Com-
  mission, for nearly thirty 
  years. He’s got an exten-
  sive knowledge of how 
  the subway and train 
  systems work — knowl-
  edge earned the hard 
  way by slogging it out 
  in the tunnels day after 
  day for years. His vision 
  has deteriorated to the 
  point where they won’t 
  let him actually operate 
  the trains anymore, so 
  they gave him a job at 
  the Rail Yard helping 
  to maintain and repair 
  them. He doesn’t like the 
  job as much, but it pays 
  a little better and it’s a 
  lot shorter commute, so 
  he deals.
  
  65 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  Elpedia Herranza, a striking woman about 30 
  years old, was hired in 2001 to replace the outgo-
  ing director of the Center, and by all accounts she’s 
  done more than just ﬁll his shoes. Her enthusiasm 
  (and at times stubborn determination) have ener-
  gized the place, making volunteers work harder and 
  clients more hopeful. She’s proven quite adept at 
  wringing money out of the City Council and pri-
  vate donors to keep the HP going, and more than 
  one reluctant politician has learned that when she 
  sets her sights on something, she doesn’t take “no” 
  for an answer.
  SHOPPING
  Most of the stores and shops in Latin City are 
  small family aﬀairs — not even many chain stores 
  have opened there. If Latinistas want to really 
  indulge the urge to spend, they go west to the Stew-
  artville Mall. Closer to home they can choose from 
  such places as:
  Compás Hispanico (4538 Ervin Street):  Latin music 
  has become popular in the U.S. in recent years, but 
  there’s still a lot of it that never makes it north of the 
  border into this country. Compás Hispanico (“His-
  panic Beat”) stocks music and movies from Mexico, 
  the Caribbean, and South America that generally 
  aren’t available in the United States. Most of the store’s 
  customers are locals who long to hear the sounds 
  of home, but a few cutting-edge anglo music fans 
  wander in to try to pick up on cool new things before 
  the general population hears about them.
  Elena’s (4020 Barnes Street):  Eight years ago Elena 
  Padilla started supplementing her income from temp 
  jobs by taking in seamstress work at her brother-in-
  law’s dry cleaning business. Today she has a business 
  of her own, where she sells both manufactured cloth-
  ing and her own custom-made designs to Latinista 
  women — and she employs people to do 
  the sewing for her. An outspoken oppo-
  nent of drugs and gang violence, she’s 
  had her store vandalized ﬁve times... but 
  that just makes her work all the harder.
  Tienda de Todo (southeast corner of 
  Corley Avenue and S. Jefferson Street):  
  The “Everything Store” lives up to its 
  name:  small though it may be, it seems 
  to have a little something of everything. 
  One-quarter of the store is given over 
  to groceries, but on the rest of the 
  shelves a determined shopper can ﬁnd 
  toys, books, phone cards, playing cards, 
  toiletries, cosmetics, shoes, secondhand 
  clothes, and car parts... among other 
  things. The owner and sole employee, 
  Pepito Canalejas, is a smooth, fast-talk-
  ing salesman always looking for a way 
  to make a quick buck.
  ON THE TOWN
  When the workday’s done, it’s 
  time for fun! And here are some of the 
  places Latinistas go to have that fun:
  Águila y Serpiente (1740 Port Avenue):  
  Head south straight down S. Jeﬀerson 
  Street until you hit Port Avenue, then hang a left. 
  Just a few doors down you’ll ﬁnd Águila y Serpiente 
  (“Eagle and Serpent”), one of Latin City’s best res-
  taurants. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, 
  but once you go through the doors you’ll see that the 
  owners concentrated on improving the interior rather 
  than the exterior. Everything is bright and festive, 
  with authentic Mexican decorations. And the food is 
  just as good as everyone says. Ray Meléndez and his 
  team (see page 141) eat there almost every day.
  Ariando’s Tacos (334 Gates Avenue):  If the health 
  inspector ever came into Ariando’s Tacos, he’d 
  probably have a heart attack. But dirty and dingy 
  though it may be, there’s no denying it makes some 
  damn ﬁne tacos and other dishes. Residents who 
  couldn’t care less about how clean the place is ﬂock 
  here every day for lunch and dinner.
  Badass Hector’s (southwest corner of Parnell 
  Avenue and Ervin Street):  With a name like “Badass 
  Hector’s,” you’d expect a bar/pool hall to be pretty 
  tough... and you’d be right. Both Hector Baquero 
  and his place live up to their name — anyone who 
  comes into Badass Hector’s had better be able to 
  look after himself. An anglo who walked in through 
  the doors would be lucky to walk back out through 
  them without having received a beating.
  Club Aztec (southeast corner of Parnell Avenue and 
  Platt Street):  One of the few relatively new and 
  “hip” businesses in Latin City, Club Aztec is just 
  what it sounds like:  a nightclub decorated in a 
  sort of Aztec theme, right down to a scale model 
  of the Gran Templo Mayor on one side of the 
  dance ﬂoor (the DJ’s booth is up top, where the 
  sacriﬁcial altar would be). The young and young 
  at heart come from all over Latin City... and even 
  anglo neighborhoods... to dance the night away to 
  a pulsing Latin rhythm.
  IMAGES OF 
  LATIN CITY
  Signs and posters all in 
  Spanish, not English
  Hispanic boys too young 
  to grow full moustaches 
  yet hanging out down 
  on the streetcorner sell-
  ing coke
  The smell of Mexican 
  food cooking
  The blood-driving beat 
  of Latin music coming 
  from passing cars, open 
  doors, boomboxes
  Beautiful young His-
  panic girls with long, 
  straight, black hair
  Kids playing soccer in 
  the street
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  66 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  “I think the crime problem in the park has really 
  been blown out of proportion by the media. 
  Sure, we’ve got some crime here — what part 
  of Hudson City doesn’t? But it’s not like there 
  are packs of wild-eyed murderers and rapists 
  roaming the park at night looking for victims. 
  Between the crowds and the Park Police, most 
  areas are pretty safe. Just use your common 
  sense:  don’t walk around by yourself after dark, 
  don’t leave your stuﬀ unattended while you 
  play frisbee, things like that. If you get in trou-
  ble, look for one of the blue lights; that indicates 
  a public safety phone that connects directly to 
  the Park Police headquarters.”
  — Park Police oﬃcer Roberta Stimpson
  During the founding of the city, Emil Hudson’s 
  business partner Andre LeMastre realized that 
  if Hudson’s plans came to fruition, the city he 
  (LeMastre) was drawing up plans for would soon 
  become very large. As a huntsman and lover of 
  ﬁelds and streams, he decided the residents of the 
  city would need an area of preserved wilderness 
  — a park — to restore and rejuvenate their spirits 
  when the dreary life of the city became too much to 
  bear. With this thought in mind, he set aside a large 
  area of land that would, by law, remain undevel-
  oped in any signiﬁcant way:  no large buildings or 
  permanent residences, no major roads, nothing to 
  disturb the tranquility of the place.
  Early in the city’s history, when much of the 
  land around it remained uncleared and unsettled, 
  no one gave much thought to LeMastre’s park. They 
  used the large, barren hill in the area for public 
  executions, but otherwise left the area alone except 
  as a hunting ground. But in time, the city grew as 
  LeMastre had predicted, and the need for LeMastre 
  Park — as everyone already called it — became 
  obvious. Blessing LeMastre for his foresight, the city 
  fathers established the Parks Commission to turn 
  the Park into a true urban recreation area, rather 
  than just a patch of wilderness.
  Almost 2,000 acres (roughly three square 
  miles) large, LeMastre Park is more than twice 
  as large as Central Park in New York City and 
  occupies approximately four percent of the land 
  within the city limits. It includes approximately 350 
  wooded acres, 800 acres of lawns and ﬁelds, and 
  150 acres of bodies of water (Cedar Lake, various 
  streams and ponds, and the like). It also has:
  ■ over 90 miles of paths and walkways (some 
  paved, some not) suitable for walking, running, 
  biking, skating, and similar activities
  ■ approximately 12,000 benches, many of which 
  are “adopted” by citizens or businesses who become 
  responsible for their maintenance
  ■ dozens of sports ﬁelds for playing baseball, soccer, 
  rugby, and other games, as well as a section of 
  tennis courts
  ■ a large skate park (added in the early Eighties to 
  keep skateboarders oﬀ the paved pathways)
  ■ the Brucato Bandshell, which features an exten-
  sive series of concerts and plays throughout the 
  year (outdoor concerts are sometimes held in other 
  parts of the park as well)
  ■ two nice restaurants (Elysian Fields south of 
  the Zoo near Mint Ridge; and Armstrong’s, near 
  Bankhurst) as well as numerous hamburger stands, 
  pushcarts, and other fast food/snack vendors
  For a map of LeMastre Park, see page 36.
  WILDLIFE
  As the least developed area in Hudson City, 
  LeMastre Park is home to all sorts of wildlife 
  found nowhere else in the city. It’s a birdwatch-
  er’s paradise, with nearly 300 species of birds 
  — mostly songbirds and the like, but also includ-
  ing some waterbirds at Cedar Lake and along 
  the river. Ornithologists have even found hawks 
  and falcons in the forests; apparently they live on 
  pigeons and rats.
  Besides the birds, Hudsonites can see squirrels, 
  chipmunks, raccoons, opossums, rabbits, and many 
  other small mammals. In recent decades the dep-
  redations of feral dogs and cats have cut into the 
  native wildlife population somewhat, despite the 
  eﬀorts of the Park Police to trap or shoot the preda-
  tors (most of which are former pets abandoned in 
  the park by their owners). A charitable organiza-
  tion, the Vrtis Wildlife Trust, works to preserve the 
  diversity of park species.
  GETTING AROUND THE PARK
  Except for 16th Avenue up in the northern 
  “panhandle,” no roads run through LeMastre 
  Park. Visitors take the subway or train to a stop 
  near the Park, or drive there and park in one of 
  the many lots lining it. A stout stone wall sur-
  rounds most of the Park, allowing entrance only 
  at designated gates.
  Once someone passes through one of the 
  gates, the only way to get around the park is on 
  foot, by bicycle, or the like. The law forbids gaso-
  line-powered vehicles on park grounds, except for 
  (a) the scooters and other vehicles used by the Park 
  Police, (b) the Park’s oﬃcial shuttlebuses, and (c) 
  LeMASTRE PARK
  IMAGES OF 
  LEMASTRE PARK
  The smell of fresh-cut 
  grass
  Streams rushing over 
  rocks
  People playing team 
  sports
  Signs featuring a logo 
  with two cloud leopards, 
  pointing the way to the 
  Zoo
  Kids running around, 
  shouting, laughing, 
  playing
  The lights of Elysian 
  Fields sparkling out over 
  the southwestern park 
  after dark
  Park Police cops patrol-
  ling on horseback
  HYFIELD 
  GREENHOUSE
  What the Zoo is to 
  animals, the Hyﬁeld 
  Greenhouse is to plants. 
  Featuring a rich, diverse 
  botanical collection, 
  including a valuable 
  assortment of rare 
  orchids, it’s a delightful 
  place for a refreshing, 
  restoring walk. It also 
  features a Butterﬂy 
  Garden and a series of 
  classrooms where the 
  staﬀ gives lectures on 
  gardening, houseplants, 
  and similar subjects.
  
  67 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  other vehicles that receive short-term temporary 
  permits (usually for the purpose of setting up spe-
  cial events). As a result, getting to the interior areas 
  of LeMastre Park can be a time-consuming chore... 
  but once you get there, it’s worth it.
  Crime And Homelessness
  After I was done with her, I hit her in the head 
  with a rock to shut her up, zipped up, and left. 
  Bitch ought to know better than to go jogging 
  after dark. God, I love the Park.
  — David Greene, serial rapist
  While most people who come to LeMastre 
  Park enjoy the facilities without any diﬃculties, 
  there’s no denying that the park has a problem with 
  both crime and homelessness.
  Homeless people come to the park looking 
  for a place to camp out — usually in the forested 
  areas, where it’s harder to see them. At times some 
  of the wooded parts of the park have housed small 
  communities of homeless people. Most homeless 
  people come out of the woods during the day to 
  panhandle and look for something to eat, but by 
  the time night falls they’ll be back at their chosen 
  “campsites” (though sometimes ﬁghts break out 
  over “ownership” of the best places). Periodically 
  the Park Police roust the homeless out of the park, 
  but eventually they come back.
  Crime is a much more serious problem. 
  During the day, it’s mostly property crimes:  
  purse-snatching; stealing unattended items; pick-
  pocketing; three-card monte dealers. But after 
  night falls, more dangerous predators come out. 
  Muggers looking to earn a fast buck, rapists hunt-
  ing for victims, and even street gangs on “wilding” 
  sprees infest the park, and woe to anyone they 
  come across.
  Despite constant warnings from the police and 
  periodic horror stories in the news, people persist 
  in visiting the park after dark:  young lovers looking 
  for a place to get intimate; joggers and walkers who 
  ﬁgure they’re safe if they stick to the lighted areas; 
  teenagers on dares. More than a few of them end 
  up as statistics on the police blotter... or as “guests” 
  at the City Morgue.
  THE PARK POLICE
  The Park Police, a 30-member branch of the 
  HCPD, tries to maintain order in the Park, but it’s 
  a tough job:  they’ve got 2,000 acres, many of them 
  nowhere near a paved pathway, to patrol (mostly on 
  foot, though sometimes on bikes or horses). They 
  also have to take on park ranger-like duties to pre-
  serve the wild areas, give nature tours, and so forth. 
  Some of them loathe the job, regarding it as a step 
  below “true” police work; others love the chance to 
  be outdoors all day in the park.
  Park Features
  LeMastre Park has so much to oﬀer that even 
  long-time residents of the city rarely have a chance 
  to experience it all. Some of its most prominent 
  features include:
  CALDWELL FOUNTAIN
  In the eastern part of the park, just south of 
  the Greenhouse, stands a large, elaborately marble 
  fountain. In the middle of the fountain is a statue of 
  Christopher Caldwell, hero of the War of 1812 and 
  one of the early “movers and shakers” in Hudson 
  City. The plaza and meadows around the fountain 
  are a favorite site for picnics, sunbathing, frisbee, 
  pick-up tag football games, and similar activities.
  In addition to the Caldwell Fountain, LeMas-
  tre Park has four other ornamental fountains and 
  approximately ﬁfty statues and monuments, the 
  newest being a statue of J.R.R. Tolkien surrounded 
  by small-scale versions of the characters he created 
  in The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings. Accord-
  ing to informal polls conducted by the city’s papers, 
  most people would pick the Dinosaur Garden 
  statues (a tyrannosaur, a triceratops, and several 
  others) as their favorites.
  HANGMAN’S HILL
  The highest point in LeMastre Park is Hang-
  man’s Hill, where citizens in the early days of the city 
  used to hang outlaws. Today it’s a considerably less 
  sinister place — people climb to the top to look at 
  the rest of the park, or jog up and down the hill for 
  exercise. At Halloween the Vrtis Wildlife Trust hosts a 
  large costume party here to raise money; some Hud-
  sonites consider it the premiere event of the year.
  Where the executioner’s platform once was, 
  a large stone called Gibbett Rock now stands. For 
  many years, a traditional prank played by Hudson 
  City teens was to sneak into the park late at night 
  and paint the rock. As the crime rate in the Park 
  has increased, this stunt has become much more 
  dangerous, and thus rarer. On at least two occa-
  sions, teens in the park to paint the Rock were 
  assaulted or murdered. But still the tradition per-
  sists among the daring and stupid.
  THE HUDSON CITY ZOO
  Originally known as the Scheulman Zoological 
  Gardens (after Jacob Scheulman, who donated a large 
  sum of money to get the zoo started), the Hudson 
  City Zoo adopted its current name in 1921, after it 
  was signiﬁcantly renovated and expanded. Today 
  the Zoo receives millions of visitors a year, and is 
  regarded as one of the premiere zoos in America.
  Zoo Director John Geistdoerfer took over the 
  leadership of the facility in 1985 and began a reno-
  vations program. He closed the Zoo from 1988 to 
  1992, but when it re-opened the quality and cleanli-
  ness of the new Zoo amazed and pleased city oﬃ-
  cials and Zoo visitors alike. It’s best known for its 
  Great Cats of the World and North American Small 
  Mammals exhibits, and the Peteira Aviary. The 
  Zoo’s logo features its famed pair of cloud leopards, 
  Tufani and Radi.
  REX
   5 STR 
  17 DEX
   14 CON 12 BODY
   10 INT 
  5 EGO
   18 PRE 
  10 COM
   6 PD 
  3 ED
   3 SPD 
  5 REC
   28 END 22 STUN
  Abilities:  HKA 1d6, 
  Running +1” (7” total), 
  Leaping +1” (2” total), 
  +5 PRE (only pro-
  tects against Presence 
  Attacks), +3 PER with 
  all Sense Groups, Track-
  ing for Normal Smell, 
  Ultrasonic Perception 
  (Hearing), Lightsleep, 
  Concealment 13- (self 
  only), AK: LeMastre 
  Park 8-, Stealth 13-, 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Leader 
  Of The Pack
  Disadvantages:  Physi-
  cal Limitation:  Animal 
  Intelligence; Physical 
  Limitation:  Small; Phys-
  ical Limitation:  Very 
  Limited Manipulation
  Notes:  Rex — or Cani-
  nicus Rexicus, to give 
  his full pedigreed name 
  — is a purebred mastiﬀ 
  who escaped from his 
  owner and has lived 
  wild in LeMastre Park 
  ever since. Big and 
  broadchested, he looks 
  more like some mon-
  strous, slavering, deadly 
  beast than a dog. He’s 
  the alpha male in a pack 
  of feral dogs that live in 
  the park:  a ruler of out-
  casts and rebels in a land 
  of neutered slaves.
  Rex doesn’t particularly 
  like people. Anyone 
  who gets too close to 
  him is likely to ﬁnd 
  himself under attack 
  by an animal who can 
  crack heavy bones with 
  his teeth without strain-
  ing — he’s a survivor 
  and pack leader, not a 
  pet. But like most cin-
  ematic animals, he has 
  an instinctive sense of 
  Right and Wrong, and 
  can at least develop a 
  grudging respect for 
  true heroes... and a 
  hatred for evildoers.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  68 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  “Whadda we gotta come out here on the street 
  for, Nick? It’s cold, it’s raining. Let’s go back 
  inside the club and have some linguini.”
  “What are you, stupid? Don’t you know the feds 
  have that place wired from top to bottom? We 
  don’t discuss business in there, Joe — we don’t 
  ever talk about anything incriminating, you get 
  me?”
  “OK, Nick, OK, I got it, no problem. What’d you 
  wanna talk about?”
  “You know that restaurant up on 4th, the 
  French one?”
  “Sure, Nick, I been there a couple times.”
  “Well, it’s been doing business with one of our 
  trash companies. But now the owner’s gotten 
  “sick and tired” of paying our “outrageous” cart-
  age fees. He says he’s gonna switch to another 
  company. We gotta “persuade” him how stupid 
  that’d be.”
  “You got it, Nick. Whatta you want me to 
  do, smack the guy around some? Bust up the 
  place?”
  “No, moron. He can’t do any kinda business if 
  we go after him or his place. He’s got a kid — a 
  baseball player. Break one of the kid’s ﬁngers. If 
  that doesn’t straighten this guy out, then we’ll 
  get rough.”
  — conversation taking place  
  outside the Sicilian Oyster Bar
  One of the city’s largest and most active ethnic 
  neighborhoods, Little Italy dominates the south-
  western corner of the Northside. Its boundaries 
  are the city’s western limits, the river, N. Harrison 
  Street to the east, and 16th Avenue and Kurtland 
  Boulevard to the north. 
  Hudson City’s earliest Italian inhabitants were 
  mainly sailors and similar tradesmen, who lived 
  in the eastern part of the city along the waterfront. 
  Even through the period immediately after the 
  Civil War, only a few thousand Italians lived in and 
  around Hudson City. But from 1890 to the First 
  World War, nearly half a million Italians — most 
  of them contadini, landless farmers seeking a pros-
  perous life in the New World instead of settling 
  for grinding poverty in the Old — immigrated to 
  Hudson City. Since they found the eastern parts 
  of the city already crowded (and many long-time 
  Hudsonites prejudiced toward them), most of 
  them went a few miles up the Stewart River and 
  settled on the Northside in lands which at that 
  time were mostly vacant. The early arrivals tried 
  to set up small farms, but as more and more Ital-
  ians poured in, the area quickly gave way to rapid 
  urban growth... and attendant urban squalor. By 
  most accounts life in early Little Italy was miser-
  able. Exploitive developers slapped up tenements 
  as fast as they could, leading to crowded neighbor-
  hoods and frequent outbreaks of disease. The lack 
  of jobs in the area forced the men to commute back 
  to the eastern parts of the city to work; the need to 
  provide ways for them to reach work in the eastern 
  half of the city spurred the growth of commuter 
  rails and the subway (on which thousands of Ital-
  ian laborers worked) as well as the extension of 16th 
  Avenue through and past LeMastre Park and Mint 
  Ridge. Numerous aid societies, many established 
  by groups of Italians who all came from the same 
  village or region in Italy, tried to make living condi-
  tions better, but it was a long, hard struggle.
  But despite segregating itself into one part of 
  the city, the Italian community eventually thrived. 
  Slowly but surely, Italian immigrants learned 
  English and merged with the city’s cultural main-
  stream. Regardless of the negative image of Italian 
  gangsters that arose during the Prohibition era 
  and the 1930s, by World War II Italians were prob-
  ably the most prominent and prosperous ethnic 
  group in Hudson City. Slowly but surely, as Italians 
  made money and entered city politics, Little Italy 
  was transformed from little more than a wretched 
  slum into a neighborhood of apartment buildings, 
  brownstones, and some detached housing, inter-
  mingled with small retail and commercial districts. 
  It remains that way today, one of the most pictur-
  esque and pleasant neighborhoods in Hudson City 
  as far as many Hudsonites are concerned. Most 
  long-time residents tell you they wouldn’t want to 
  live anywhere else in the world.
  THE MAFIA
  Italian benevolent associations weren’t the 
  only groups that arose in response to Italian pov-
  erty and despair — organized crime evolved to 
  prey on Little Italy. The “Black Hand” gangs of the 
  early 1900s transformed into the Maﬁa during 
  Prohibition. From the Thirties through the Fifties, 
  Maﬁosi dominated crime not just in Little Italy, but 
  throughout much of the Northside. Eventually the 
  various gangs coalesced into ﬁve “families”:  Mar-
  celli, Morelli, Scatucci, Torccone, and Verontese. 
  Each had its own territories and activities. (For 
  more on these groups, see page 158.)
  Today, the Maﬁa remains a powerful part in the 
  Hudson City underworld, though not the dominat-
  ing force it once was. Its ranks weakened by federal 
  LITTLE ITALY
  IMAGES OF 
  LITTLE ITALY
  Old Italian men playing 
  checkers in Hunsecker 
  Park, speaking Italian as 
  often as English
  The red-and-white 
  checked tableclothes 
  used in so many Italian 
  restaurants
  Groups of young 
  “businessmen” hanging 
  around outside “social 
  clubs,” smoking and 
  joking around
  The taste of homemade 
  pasta and sauce
  The smell of garlic bread
  
  69 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  prosecution and conﬂict with the Russians and other 
  criminal groups, it faces challenges it never even 
  had to consider forty or ﬁfty years ago. But despite 
  these problems, in Little Italy and nearby neighbor-
  hoods like Ardmore and Guilford, the Maﬁa’s power 
  remains supreme. Street crime is largely unknown in 
  Little Italy, since the Five Families keep the peace in 
  ways the police cannot. After all, if they don’t protect 
  their own sheep, they won’t be able to keep ﬂeecing 
  them. The HCPD and FBI have tried repeatedly to 
  break this stranglehold, but the Maﬁa’s popularity in 
  Little Italy has thwarted most of their eﬀorts. Many 
  a time the release or acquittal of a “suspected Maﬁa 
  ﬁgure” has led to riotous street celebrations and par-
  ties in Little Italy, much to the disgust of the city’s law 
  enforcement community.
   STEWARTSBORO
  The southern part of Little Italy, known as 
  Stewartsboro, is less residential and more industrial 
  than the rest of the neighborhood. Lying along the 
  northern bank of the Stewart, it’s always been a 
  good location for factories, ﬁsh canneries, garment 
  production, and similar businesses. Historically, the 
  tenements and other residences in Stewartsboro 
  were the worst in all of Little Italy.
  In the twenty-ﬁrst century, things are a little 
  diﬀerent. While some of the industry remains, a lot 
  of it began leaving in the Seventies. For years this 
  put Stewartsboro in diﬃcult economic straits, but 
  in recent years urban renewal — in the form of old 
  factories renovated into small business oﬃce space 
  and loft apartment buildings — has revitalized the 
  neighborhood. Residents hope the trend continues.
  LANDMARKS
  Many visitors to Hudson City come to stroll 
  the streets of Little Italy because they consider the 
  whole place (or at least its heart, the area around 
  Poplar Avenue and Arthur Street) picturesque — a 
  feeling local businessmen have gone out of their 
  way to encourage. But aside from this sort of faux 
  cultural tourism, Little Italy does have a few genu-
  ine attractions.
  Hunsecker Park (eastern terminus of Peterson 
  Avenue):  Even though LeMastre Park was just a 
  mile or so to the east, some early residents of Little 
  Italy wanted their own park as part of their neigh-
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  70 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  borhood. The city obliged by demolishing several 
  abandoned buildings and creating Hunsecker 
  Park. At ﬁrst it wasn’t much to look at, but several 
  residents formed the Hunsecker Park Association 
  and set out to improve the place. Today, the results 
  of their dedication and hard work, and that of 
  their modern descendants, are apparent to every-
  one:  lush lawns, small copses of cultivated trees, 
  brightly-painted play equipment for the children.
  Italian Heritage Museum (340 Peterson Avenue):  This 
  cultural and learning institution is dedicated to the 
  history of Italians in general, and in Hudson City 
  in particular. It’s a common destination for primary 
  school ﬁeld trips, and the site of an Italian Heritage 
  Day celebration that coincides with Columbus Day. 
  The attached Columbus Café restaurant serves sur-
  prisingly good food.
  SHOPPING
  Little Italy has some great places to shop, 
  despite the inevitable ﬂood of souvenir shops and 
  other places catering to tourists that most people 
  usually associate with it. Some of them include:
  Lambertini’s Italian Grocery and Pizzeria (4642 
  Meade Street):  If even homemade Little Italian 
  food is not enough — if you have to have genuine 
  Italian food straight from Italy itself — then Lam-
  bertini’s is the place to go. Most of the food you’ll 
  ﬁnd there doesn’t even have English labels, and the 
  deli meats and cheeses just can’t be beat.
  If all that shopping makes you hungry, go 
  through the door in the back to the pizzeria. The 
  Lambertini family grows all its own vegetables, 
  makes its own sausage and hamburger, and uses 
  other fresh ingredients to make mind-bogglingly 
  delicious pizzas. Lambertini’s will even overnight a 
  custom-made frozen pie to you, if you’re willing to 
  pay the price.
  Salem Square (southwest corner of Rowan Avenue 
  and Ritter Street):  Salem Square is a small plaza 
  lined with shops. The tiling and architecture 
  roughly suggest those of Rome, but with a few 
  modern American touches. Most of the stores 
  sell clothing, shoes, or cosmetics for women, and 
  the goods are often imported directly from Italy. 
  There’s also a ﬁne men’s clothing store, Rinaldi’s, 
  where Giacomo Rinaldi and his assistants create 
  hand-tailored suits for their wealthy clientele. Mob 
  boss Mario “the Prince” Maneti wears nothing but 
  Rinaldi suits, and has often been seen on television 
  in them.
  ON THE TOWN
  If there’s one thing Italians love, it’s social-
  izing — so you’ll ﬁnd plenty of great places to eat, 
  drink, and be merry in Little Italy. Non-residents 
  frequently come to the neighborhood for the ﬁne 
  restaurants; sometimes it seems like every other 
  business there is a restaurant.
  Four Kings (corner of Litchﬁeld Avenue and Allen-
  dale Street):  Easily recognized from its distinctive 
  sign depicting a hand of four kings and the ace 
  of spades, Four Kings is a cut above your typi-
  cal waterfront bar... though not by much. It’s the 
  perfect place for people who just want to sit and 
  drink:  it doesn’t play loud music, doesn’t serve 
  food, and isn’t conducive to a lot of chit-chat. The 
  head bartender is a pretty woman named Donna 
  Scollari who’s well-known for her ability to insult-
  ingly shoot down the variety of come-ons and lewd 
  propositions she gets every night.
  Manetti’s (southwest corner of Beech Avenue and N. 
  Roosevelt Street):  This Italian restaurant is known 
  not only for its ﬁne food, but for its well-stocked 
  wine cellar. It’s said that Paul Manetti, Jr., the cur-
  rent owner and son of the restaurant’s founder, 
  is such a connoisseur of Italian wines that he can 
  identify the vineyard and vintage of one from a 
  single sip. Manetti’s takes pride in making all of its 
  pasta and other dishes from scratch.
  Sicilian Oyster Bar (southeast corner of Crowley 
  Avenue and Ritter Street):  One of many “social 
  clubs” scattered throughout Little Italy, the Sicilian 
  Oyster Bar oﬀers dinner, drinks, and dancing in a 
  nice, but not overly formal, atmosphere. It’s known 
  as a haunt of the Marcelli crime family.
  Viva Italiana (southeast corner of Beech Avenue and 
  Fontaine Street):  The brainchild of Tuscany-trained 
  chef Maurizio Grazioli, Viva Italiana has become a 
  major success since its opened in 1998. Situated so 
  that it’s easy to reach from both Ardmore and Mint 
  Ridge, it attracts a lot of customers from outside 
  Little Italy.
  CHARLES HARMON
   8  STR 
  10  DEX
   10  CON 
  9  BODY
   13  INT 
  13  EGO
   15  PRE 
  9  COM
   3  PD 
  3  ED
   2  SPD 
  4  REC
   20  END 18  STUN
  Abilities:  Bribery 12-, 
  Bureaucratics 12-, 
  Conversation 12-, High 
  Society 12-, KS: Hudson 
  City Politics 14-, KS: The 
  Maﬁa 12-, Lockpick-
  ing 8-, Persuasion 12-, 
  Shadowing 12-, Stealth 
  12-, Streetwise 12-, WF: 
  Small Arms, Well-Con-
  nected and 30 points’ 
  worth of Contacts, 
  Money: Well Oﬀ
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  Born Charles 
  Armonetti, Harmon is 
  a wealthy Democratic 
  powermonger. At ease 
  both with the very rich 
  and the very poor, he 
  has a knack for ﬁnd-
  ing out what people are 
  thinking and making 
  them feel at ease no 
  matter what their back-
  ground. He’s part owner 
  of the Viva Italiana, 
  and can often be found 
  eating there.
  A widower, Harmon 
  lives in Forsythia, a posh 
  seven-ﬂoor apartment 
  building in Guilford, in 
  Apartment 6-F. He also 
  has a place in Pierpoint.
  IL GIORNALE
  The Little Italy of the early twenty-ﬁrst century isn’t nearly 
  as Italian as it was even forty or ﬁfty years ago, much less 
  a century ago. Thanks to years of cultural integration, the 
  modern economy, and mass media, most Little Italians 
  grow up without ever learning Italian, and many of them 
  don’t stay in the neighborhood after they grow up — they 
  move out to other neighborhoods, or even leave Hudson 
  City altogether.
  Despite this, there are still more than a few Little Ital-
  ians who remember the old country fondly... even if only 
  from stories their parents and grandparents told. Most of 
  them speak English well enough, but they’re also ﬂuent in 
  Italian, and many of them prefer the lyrical language of 
  Rome to the Germanic strains of the Scepter’d Isle.
  It is to such people that Il Giornale (“The Daily”) appeals. 
  Begun in the late 1800s by Italian journalists who emi-
  grated to Hudson City, Il Giornale is Little Italy’s neigh-
  borhood newspaper. As the name indicates, it was once a 
  daily, but with the passing of time it lost many of its cus-
  tomers and eventually transformed into a weekly.
  Full of local news (often written in a gossipy style), articles 
  on subjects of interest to Little Italians, and ads from local 
  businesses, Il Giornale is published in Italian. Bowing 
  to the inevitable, the publisher introduced an English 
  version in the late 1970s, though it’s available mainly by 
  subscription (or, these days, on the World Wide Web). If 
  you want to know what’s going on in Little Italy, pick up 
  a copy of the latest Giornale — it’s the next best thing to 
  being hooked into the Maﬁa.
  
  71 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  “Hey, man, what’s up? Wanna go to the park, 
  toss the frisbee around?”
  “No way — check this out!”
  “Holy *%&! — is that real?”
  “Yeah, you know it, man.”
  “Where the hell’d you get a gun?”
  “You hear all that noise last night, where the 
  cops were chasing some gang kids from the park 
  through here?”
  “Yeah, woke me up ’n’ all.”
  “Well, I ﬁgure one’a those gang kids must’ve 
  had it with him, and he tossed it while he 
  was runnin’ behind our building so the cops 
  wouldn’t catch him with it. I found it out back 
  this morning.”
  “No *%&!. Does it work?”
  “I doubt it. It’s already all rusty from the dew 
  an’ *%&! this morning.”
  “Cool, lemme see it.”
  “Sure, here ya...” <BLAMM!> “Joey? Joey?!?”
  — incident on Delano Avenue
  Years ago, not long after Hudson City was 
  founded, a rich old man named Horace Oakley 
  moved to town. He claimed to have made his 
  money trading cotton and indigo down in South 
  Carolina. He bought a large piece of land a few 
  miles out of town — a hilly place where the Dela-
  ware Indians used to gather mint plants. He built 
  an estate there that he called Mint Ridge. He lived 
  there by himself, a recluse, attended only by a few 
  servants. When he died alone and with no heirs, his 
  land escheated to the state, which sold it to the city.
  The city fathers brieﬂy considered using Mint 
  Ridge to enlarge LeMastre Park, but at the time the 
  park was already far larger than the city needed it 
  to be, so they did nothing with the property. In the 
  early twentieth century, as the southwest corner of 
  the Northside was growing due to the incoming 
  wave of southern European immigration, develop-
  ers bought the land from the city and built cheap 
  housing there. It remained more or less an ethnic 
  ghetto for Italians, Greeks, and Balkan immigrants 
  until after World War II. The housing boom at 
  that time created a demand for better living areas, 
  and developers with vision thought Mint Ridge 
  had potential. They bought up the land relatively 
  cheaply, bulldozed the tenements and ramshackle 
  houses, and built new residential communities 
  more suitable to the pre-baby boomer generation... 
  and their children.
  Today, Mint Ridge is a thriving residential area 
  bounded by 16th Avenue to the north, LeMastre 
  Avenue to the south, N. Harrison Street to the west, 
  and LeMastre Park to the east. Being right next to 
  the park has made it a desirable neighborhood for 
  many families, with a resulting steady increase in 
  property values over the past few decades (though 
  proximity to the park creates some crime and social 
  problems as well). Plenty of families with south-
  ern European names still live in the area, but for 
  all intents and purposes it’s become just a typical 
  generic American middle-to-upper-class urban 
  neighborhood.
  Most of the residences in Mint Ridge are 
  apartment buildings or brownstones, but there are 
  a few neighborhoods of small detached houses in 
  the southern part of the area. The central parts of 
  the area — around Crowley and Litchﬁeld Avenues, 
  where Horace Oakley’s mansion used to stand 
  (though it was completely demolished nearly sev-
  enty years ago) — are the retail district. And here 
  and there, in backyards and gardens, you can still 
  ﬁnd a mint plant or two if you look around a bit.
  The crime rate in Mint Ridge is generally mod-
  erate... though that seems to be changing. Experts 
  believe the neighborhood’s proximity to Little Italy 
  used to “protect” it from street crime to a large 
  extent — the Maﬁa dominated the underworld here 
  as it does west of N. Harrison, keeping the citizens 
  safe from violent assaults and burglaries while 
  exploiting them in less obvious, less immediately 
  dangerous ways. But in recent years, the inﬂux of 
  vicious Russian mobsters into Moscow West (and 
  the resulting competition between them and the 
  Maﬁa) and the increase in crime in LeMastre Park 
  have spilled over into Mint Ridge. More than a few 
  apartment buildings have hired outside security to 
  protect the residents, and it’s not as safe to walk the 
  streets at night as it once was. But Mint Ridge is still 
  light-years ahead of places like Bayside and Elm-
  view, not to mention Lafayette and Freetown, when 
  it comes to public safety.
  See page 69 for a map of Mint Ridge.
  LANDMARKS
  For the most part, Mint Ridge is just another 
  residential neighborhood, but it’s got a few places 
  that attract outside attention.
  Church Of The True Messiah (northwest corner of 
  Rowan Avenue and Onondaga Street):  Considered by 
  many people a cult of the most pernicious sort, the 
  Church of the True Messiah maintains its “World 
  MINT RIDGE
  IMAGES OF 
  MINT RIDGE
  The smell of a mint leaf 
  crushed between the 
  ﬁngers
  The music, costumes, 
  dancing, and food of the 
  Greek Festival
  The trees of LeMastre 
  Park oﬀ to the east, 
  turning colors in early 
  autumn
  The facade of the Odeon 
  Theater
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  72 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  Headquarters” in Mint Ridge in what used to be an 
  oﬃce building. Periodically anti-cult protesters stage 
  small rallies or demonstrations on the street outside. 
  See page 132 for more about the Church.
  Dormition Greek Orthodox Church (4765 Algonquin 
  Street):  This Greek Orthodox Church, on the other 
  hand, is the height of respectability. Its members 
  include some of the most inﬂuential families in 
  Mint Ridge, but people of southern and eastern 
  European extraction all over the city also belong 
  to it. Every May the church holds its annual Greek 
  Festival, which attracts all kinds of Hudsonites 
  eager to hear the music, watch the dancing, sample 
  the delicious food, and maybe even have a small 
  glass of ouzo... or two....
  Odeon Theater (southeast corner of Elmore Avenue 
  and Oneida Street):  Though it still shows movies, 
  the Odeon is renowned as the site of the ﬁnal gun 
  battle between Hudson City’s crimebusting masked 
  mystery man, the Raven, and “Machine Gun 
  Marko” Ghazarian, one of America’s most-wanted 
  criminals at the time. Ambushed as he exited the 
  theater, Ghazarian and his men fought back hard. 
  By the time the shooting was done, Ghazarian and 
  most of his men lay dead or dying, and every car 
  and storefront along the block was pockmarked 
  with bullet holes. To this day objects damaged in 
  the gunﬁght are sold in Hudson City antique and 
  collectibles stores.
  SHOPPING
  The Mint Ridge retail district has a few stores 
  Hudsonites all around the city know about.
  Dellinger’s (southwest corner of Litchﬁeld Avenue 
  and Oneida Street):  “It’s no Boudreau’s,” as 1960s 
  wit Walt Finney once observed, and no one can 
  deny it... but most people think Dellinger’s is still 
  a pretty great department store. It carries an enor-
  mous inventory of items, and its employees have 
  a much-deserved reputation for their friendliness 
  and service. Its wedding, china, and jewelry depart-
  ments are particularly well-regarded.
  Dolman’s Confectioners (620 Crowley Avenue):  
  What better place for Hudson City’s best-known 
  candy store than Mint Ridge? From its hand-made 
  chocolate truﬄes, to its tantalizing pies and cakes, 
  to the so-good-they’re-almost-addictive sugar 
  cookies, Dolman’s has it if it’s sweet and delicious. 
  Dolman’s gift baskets are a favorite Christmas pres-
  ent for many Hudsonites... and they can be shipped 
  around the world!
  Yesterdays And Tomorrows (365 Crowley Avenue):  
  Large and chaotic, this antique store is a favorite 
  of treasure- and bargain-hunters. Amidst its laby-
  rinthine shelves you can ﬁnd everything from top-
  quality rare antiques to chachkis that barely rise 
  above the level of junk. But “one’s person’s trash is 
  another person’s ﬁnd of a lifetime,” as owner (and 
  self-described “packrat collectomaniac”) Patricia 
  Lindsay says.
  ON THE TOWN
  Since Mint Ridge is mostly a residential area, 
  a lot of people who live there don’t want to go back 
  into the main parts of the city once they get home 
  from work. If they’re going to go out, they’d rather 
  stick close to home, at places like these:
  Daphne’s On Birch (northwest corner of Birch Avenue 
  and Cayuga Street):  “Continental cuisine in an 
  elegant atmosphere” is what it says on the door 
  and the menus in gilt lettering, and Daphne’s lives 
  up to that motto. Owner and head chef Daphne 
  Morin wants each customer’s dining experience to 
  be unique and exciting, so she pushes herself and 
  her staﬀ hard to stay fast, creative, and clever... and 
  it shows.
  Greek Islands (northwest corner of Elmore Avenue 
  and Algonquin Street):  If it’s from Greece and you 
  eat it, you can get it at Greek Islands:  moussaka, 
  baklava, souvlaki, keftethes, and lots more. And as 
  if the food weren’t enough, the nightly bellydancing 
  show is not to be missed!
  LeMastre West Bar And Grille (457 LeMastre Avenue):  
  The name says it all:  this is a place to sit down, 
  relax, and get a burger or a steak, not a big, fancy 
  meal like you could have at Daphne’s. One wing of 
  the building is a bar, so you can have a beer with 
  your burger if you want. LeMastre West is a few 
  cuts above your everyday burger joint, and it’s a 
  neighborhood favorite — the Maddocks, who own 
  it, have been mainstays of the Mint Ridge commu-
  nity for years.
  HIGH FATHER  
  PATRICK TALMADGE
   9 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 10 BODY 
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  11 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 20 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  8-, Conversation 12-, 
  KS: Church Doctrine 
  And Practices 12-, KS: 
  Football 11-, Oratory 
  12-, Persuasion 12-, PS: 
  Play Football 11-, PS: 
  True Messiah Priest 
  11-, Contacts (10 points’ 
  worth, among Church 
  members of impor-
  tance), Fringe Beneﬁt:  
  Membership (High 
  Father in Church of the 
  True Messiah)
  25+ Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Devout; Social Limita-
  tion:  Subject To Orders
  Notes:  A former col-
  lege football player 
  who’s gone soft with age, 
  Patrick Talmadge was 
  anointed a High Father 
  (roughly speaking, a 
  priest) in the Church of 
  the True Messiah ﬁve 
  years ago. Thanks to his 
  talents for administra-
  tion and proselytizing, 
  in 2003 the Church 
  leaders assigned him 
  to the Church’s head-
  quarters and gave him 
  a position of responsi-
  bility in the Outreach 
  Program — the Church’s 
  term for its recruitment 
  network. Since then he’s 
  worked hard to bring 
  unbelievers to the light 
  of the True Messiah.
  
  73 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  He didn’t look like much, the little man sitting 
  in the coﬀee shop. Old and worn out by life, 
  liver spots covering the backs of his hands and 
  his scalp where there weren’t any wisps of grey 
  hair, he looked just like any other old Russian 
  living out his days here in Hudson City instead 
  of the bitter cold of Moscow or St. Petersburg.
  That is, he didn’t seem like much until one 
  observed him more closely. The two younger 
  men, the hard-looking ones with the rigid 
  posture of former KGB agents that sat nearby 
  — they seemed to hang on his every move and 
  gesture. The rest of the people in the coﬀee shop 
  were subdued, as if the old man were a por-
  celain doll and the least little bit of loud noise 
  could break him. And though the old man’s face 
  was worn with age, a ﬁre of malice and greed 
  still glittered in his eyes.
  Before another ten minutes had passed, the old 
  man ﬁnished his coﬀee. He got up and walked 
  out, signaling to the two men to follow. He 
  didn’t bother to put any money on the table 
  before he left.
  Down the street the three men walked, and 
  people on the sidewalk got out of their way. They 
  went around the corner and down another half 
  a block to the little grocery store with the sign 
  above it that said Vanechka’s. It wasn’t open 
  yet, but the old man banged on the front door.
  A few seconds later, a worried-looking man 
  hurried up and opened the door from the 
  inside. <“Mr. Molenko, sir, how good....”> The 
  rest of his nervous speech was cut oﬀ when the 
  two big maﬁoski grabbed him and hustled him 
  into the back room. The old man followed at 
  his own pace.
  When he got to the kitchen, he found his two 
  bodyguards holding the grocer in a chair. He 
  looked at the terriﬁed man sadly and shook 
  his head as if in sympathy. <“Vanechka, Van-
  echka... you disappoint me. It was to be yester-
  day that you repaid me, was it not?”>
  <“Yes, sir. I’m very sorry, sir, but business has 
  not been good this past month... I only have a 
  little of what I owe you. If I could only have 
  a little more time on the debt, I promise I can 
  repay in full!”>
  <“What, with the interest mounting day by 
  day? I think not. No, Vanechka, you must pay 
  us now. I have run out of patience.”>
  <“But... but Mr. Molenko, I swear to you, I don’t 
  have the money! All I have is in the register out 
  front, there is nothing more!”>
  <“So... that is all, those few dollars?”>
  <“Yes, yes, I swear it!”>
  As the old man considered, he walked around 
  the room, lightly touching utensils and boxes 
  of food, running his ﬁngers along metal tables. 
  Then he spoke. <“It seems, then, that we shall 
  have to ﬁnd some other way to get paid.”> And 
  with the delicate grace of an artist he turned on 
  the meat slicing machine.
  Vanechka shrieked once, hollowly, as the two 
  bodyguards picked him up and carried him 
  over to the machine. With surprising strength 
  the old man grabbed the grocer’s head and 
  forced his face into the machine’s meat-holding 
  bar. Then with one quick gesture he moved the 
  cutting blade across the underside of the bar, 
  trimming a thin slice of ﬂesh oﬀ Vanechka’s left 
  cheek.
  <“So, you will pay us now?”> Vanechka only 
  bawled and screamed incoherently.
  Another pass, another slice. <“And now?”>
  <“Yes, yes!”> Vanechka shrieked through his 
  blubbering.
  “Ahhh,” the old man sighed, letting Vanechka 
  go. The grocer stumbled back and fell down on 
  the ﬂoor. He clutched his cheek, blood seeping 
  out around his ﬁngers.
  <“Since you have no money, I will have papers 
  drawn signing half your business over to me. 
  Fair, yes?”> Vanechka only nodded miser-
  ably. <“Good, then,”> the old man continued. 
  <“We’ll come by tomorrow for you to sign.”>
  In the late nineteenth and early twentieth 
  centuries, when Italian and southern European 
  immigrants began to enter Hudson City by the 
  tens of thousands, the wedge of land between 
  what are now LeMastre Avenue and N. Harrison 
  Street was part of the large Italian ghetto. But 
  beginning in the 1920s, other immigrants, ones 
  coming from Russia, eastern Europe, and Arme-
  nia, began to displace them. In fact, so many 
  Russians (many of them fleeing the chaos of the 
  Bolshevik Revolution and its aftermath) settled 
  there that many people began to call it “Moscow 
  West” instead of its official name, Graham.
  MOSCOW WEST
  IMAGES OF 
  MOSCOW WEST
  Orthodox Jewish schol-
  ars in their black clothes 
  and hats, walking down 
  the street conversing in 
  ﬂuent Hebrew
  Hard-eyed old Russian 
  men and women sitting 
  on benches, passing the 
  time
  The burning taste of 
  vodka, chilled to just 
  above freezing and 
  tossed down in one swift 
  gulp
  The rumble of the 
  subway running under 
  Huron Street
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  74 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  The neighborhood’s population grew and 
  changed in the years leading up to and immediately 
  after World War II as numerous Jews ﬂeeing Nazi 
  and Soviet oppression made it to Hudson City and 
  settled down there. Thanks to their bravery and hard 
  work, Moscow West today has several lovely temples 
  and renowned Hebrew libraries; it’s also the home of 
  the Hebrew University of Hudson City (see below).
  Moscow West’s population remained steady or 
  decreased in the years leading up to the late Seven-
  ties. At that point, Russian immigration to the area 
  took an upswing. Unfortunately, few oﬃcials in the 
  United States realized then, but are bitterly aware 
  now, that more than a few of the emigrants the 
  Soviet Union released as a symbol of “cooperation” 
  and its “commitment to global peace” were actually 
  hardened criminals it wanted to get rid of. Moscow 
  West’s crime problems date to that time, though it 
  was only in the Nineties, after the fall of the Soviet 
  Union and the removal of any signiﬁcant restric-
  tion on travel to and from Russia, that the problem 
  assumed its current dimensions.
  Like Little Italy, Moscow West is a mixture of 
  residential and retail areas, with some light manu-
  facturing or similar concerns along the waterfront. 
  Businesses such as corner grocery stores, neighbor-
  hood bars, and ethnic restaurants predominate in 
  the retail areas. A small tourist trade has sprung up 
  in the past couple of decades, and some businesses 
  cater to this as well.
  Moscow West experiences relatively little street 
  crime, but despite this criminals — the Organi-
  zatsiya, or Russian Maﬁa — dominate the neighbor-
  hood. Diﬀerent groups and gangs ﬁght for turf and 
  power, in the process squeezing the residents for 
  as much as they can aﬀord... and sometimes catch-
  ing them in the crossﬁre. The FBI and HCPD have 
  worked hard to break the gangs’ hold over the area, 
  but so far it seems to be a losing battle — most resi-
  dents won’t talk to the police, both because of fear 
  of retaliation and poor experiences with Nazi and 
  Soviet authorities in the past. Until they learn to 
  band together and oppose the thugs preying upon 
  them, or someone comes along who can help them 
  outside of “oﬃcial” channels, they’ll never truly be 
  able to live in peace. (See page 166 for more informa-
  tion on Russian organized crime in Hudson City.)
  See page 69 for a map of Moscow West.
  LANDMARKS
  Most of the residents of Moscow West keep to 
  themselves, and are just as happy for outsiders to 
  do likewise and not come into the neighborhood. 
  But sometimes interesting places attract visitors.
  Hebrew University Of Hudson City (6300 Cayuga Street):  
  Founded in 1948 by Simon ben Eshel, a rabbi born 
  in Germany, HUHC has grown from a small, little-
  known rabbinical college into a world-renowned 
  institute for the study of Torah, Talmud, Jewish his-
  tory and philosophy, and related subjects. Some of 
  its professors are ranked among the most respected 
  Jewish scholars in the world, and its library contains 
  many rare and valuable texts. The HUHC’s Board of 
  Visitors is currently negotiating with the city for sup-
  port and funding to expand the university.
  Slavic Languages Institute (6452 Oneida Street):  
  Half a school and half a translation service, the SLI 
  was founded in 1981 to study Russian, other Slavic 
  languages, and their literature. Unfortunately, schol-
  arly study alone didn’t pay the bills, so the Institute 
  slowly and painfully transformed itself into a 
  paying business. In addition to teaching Westerners 
  Russian, as a community service it teaches English 
  as a second language to Russian immigrants.
  SHOPPING
  Most of the shops and stores in Moscow West 
  are the typical small, family-run businesses you’d 
  ﬁnd in almost any big-city neighborhood. But a few 
  stand out from the crowd.
  Iron Curtain Imports (northwest corner of Meade 
  Avenue and Huron Street):  The motto under the 
  sign reads “Bringing the Biggest Yard Sale in World 
  History Direct to You!”, and that’s a pretty accurate 
  assessment of the situation. Owner Leon Alexandrov 
  buys surplus Soviet military and government goods, 
  ships them to this country, and puts them on sale 
  as Cold War curios. Given the way the kleptocrats 
  in Russia are selling oﬀ their country piecemeal for 
  a quick buck, he can get just about anything if the 
  price is right and it’s legal to export and import. He 
  also occasionally deals in genuine Russian art and 
  antiquities for selected customers. Most of his busi-
  ness is by mail order, but his store in Moscow West 
  allows for plenty of walk-in shopping.
  Lukin Tobacconists (southwest corner of Coyle 
  Avenue and Huron Street):  Smoking is one of many 
  vices that many Russians indulge in to excess — 
  and some who’ve come to this country miss their 
  favorite brands from back home. Lukin Tobacco-
  nists carries not only common American brands 
  of cigarettes, but a wide variety of smokes from the 
  Old Country.
  ON THE TOWN
  If you ﬁnd yourself in Moscow West with a 
  desire to wet your whistle or have a bite to eat, try 
  these places.
  Red Square (346 Graham Avenue):  Russian cui-
  sine isn’t exactly the most popular ethnic food in 
  Hudson City, but there are some — including many 
  in Moscow West — who enjoy it. And the best place 
  in town to get it is Red Square, an understated 
  but reﬁned restaurant opened in 1989 by Russian 
  emigre Alyosha Chernyshev and his wife Stepanida. 
  Decorated in a style that mixes traditional Russian 
  motifs with modern American ﬂair, it appeals to 
  native and immigrant alike.
  White And Black (244 Joyce Avenue):  Dark and 
  a little dank, this bar is a lot like many in Russia 
  — and that’s the whole point. It caters mainly to 
  residents who want to drink in familiar surround-
  ings, not to visitors or tourists. Most tables have a 
  chess set on them in case anyone wants to play a 
  game; some of Moscow West’s old men — includ-
  ing, rumors say, some maﬁoski — sit here nearly all 
  day, every day playing chess and sipping vodka.
  PIOTR KUZYOMIN
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 10 BODY
   13 INT 
  10 EGO
   15 PRE 
  8 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 20 STUN
  Abilities:  Climbing 8-, 
  KS: American Special 
  Forces 11-, KS: Cold 
  War History 11-, KS: 
  The Military/Merce-
  nary/Terrorist World 
  8-, KS: Military Science 
  11-, KS: Russian Cold 
  War Military Doctrine 
  8-, KS: Russian Special 
  Forces 14-, PS: Play 
  Chess 16-, Stealth 11-, 
  Streetwise 8-, WF: Small 
  Arms, Contacts (20 
  points’ worth, in the 
  Russian military and 
  government)
  Disadvantages:  Age:  
  60+; Psychological Limi-
  tation:  Just Wants To Be 
  Left Alone To Enjoy His 
  Retirement
  Notes:  If you want to 
  take on the top dog 
  among the chess players 
  of Moscow West, you’ll 
  have to track down 
  Piotr Kuzyomin and 
  get him to agree to a 
  match. Usually you can 
  ﬁnd him at White And 
  Black, or maybe outside 
  one of the shops not far 
  from LeMastre Park. 
  Time was when he was 
  a powerful warrior, a 
  member of the Spetznaz 
  who performed all sorts 
  of covert operations for 
  the Russian government. 
  But those days are long, 
  long behind him now; 
  most of his skills have 
  atrophied or been for-
  gotten altogether. Today 
  he just wants to enjoy 
  his retirement here in 
  the capitalist paradise, 
  play chess, and leave the 
  old days behind him.
  
  75 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  “Herr Colonel Cross, are you ready to see 
  German soldiers marching through the streets 
  of your precious Hudson City? For I promise 
  you, soon they shall.”
  “Your life’s your own, Major — but there are 
  parts of Hudson City that I’d advise you to stay 
  out of even if you have the entire Wehrmacht 
  at your back.”
  —Colonel Rick Cross and Major Arndt  
  Teufelmann, from the movie Cross’s Cavaliers
  “Even on the brightest days, it’s always dark as 
  night in North Elmview.”
  —former Hudson City Commissioner  
  of Police Kenneth Walshe
  Page 46 describes the early history of the entire 
  Elmview area, which once included the neighbor-
  hood now known as North Elmview (i.e., the part 
  bounded roughly by Ferry Street, Day Avenue, 
  and the coast). Traditionally the northern part of 
  greater Elmview was the roughest, most industrial-
  ized part of the neighborhood. In the early days of 
  the city it was a center for shipping, bulk storage, 
  and manufacturing. As the technologies involved in 
  those industries evolved, so did northern Elmview... 
  though it remained a district of tough, brutal men 
  working hard jobs, never becoming residential 
  except for a few ﬂophouses and 
  cheap hotels catering to sailors, 
  dockworkers, and the lower 
  end of society.
  Beginning in the 1950s, 
  some parts of the area 
  — particularly eastern Redwine 
  Avenue, known today as “the 
  Strip” — began to become a 
  center for the city’s sex trade. 
  First topless bars and strip 
  clubs, then in time harder-core 
  vice businesses, congregated in 
  the area. This, in turn, attracted 
  pimps and prostitutes. Unable 
  to make these problems go 
  away entirely, the city fathers 
  settled for segregating them 
  into northern Elmview, an area 
  no one important cared about 
  that was slowly but surely slid-
  ing into an economic malaise. 
  Leading residents of Elmview, 
  not wanting to be associ-
  ated with such a sordid mess, 
  worked hard to get Hudsonites to think of that area 
  as “North Elmview,” a separate neighborhood from 
  theirs, and by the early Seventies had succeeded.
  And the “neighborhood” has only gone down-
  hill from there. The sex trade still dominates the 
  area from the Strip, and has in some places spread 
  beyond it... and not always publicly, since some of 
  the “businesses” in North Elmview do things even 
  most hardened criminals ﬁnd repugnant. Along the 
  waterfront, barely-used docks, empty or half-empty 
  warehouses, and cheap, dirty bars are the order of 
  the day. Elsewhere, the “residents” live in weekly 
  rate hotels, some of the worst tenements and slums 
  in the city, or a few dirty housing projects erected 
  in the Sixties... or simply squat in abandoned build-
  ings. In addition to plenty of illegal businesses, a 
  few legal businesses eke out a living catering to the 
  human refuse, or take advantage of the incredibly 
  cheap rents to remain proﬁtable, but they don’t 
  exactly do anything to improve the quality of life in 
  the area. Unless you grew up there, in which case 
  you probably don’t function well in society, to walk 
  the streets of most parts of North Elmview is to 
  take your life in your own hands. But whatever sort 
  of human evil or perversion you’re looking for, you 
  can ﬁnd it there... provided you can pay the piper.
  The western and southern parts of North Elm-
  view are a little better and safer than the Strip and 
  parts north and east of it. Thus, you ﬁnd more of 
  North Elmview’s non-sex trade businesses there, along 
  NORTH  
  ELMVIEW
  NORTH ELMVIEW 
  HOUSING PROJECTS
  Back in the Sixties, the 
  city and federal govern-
  ments tried to “revital-
  ize” North Elmview by 
  building a few housing 
  projects. It didn’t work, 
  but people too poor or 
  troubled to go elsewhere 
  still live in these miser-
  able places. The largest 
  and most prominent of 
  them are:
  Elmview Terrace
  Hornaday Towers
  Kennedy Heights
  Victoria Gardens
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  76 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  with various tenements and apartment buildings that 
  aren’t quite the picture of utter, abysmal squalor.
  CRIME
  The crime most associated with North Elmview 
  is prostitution, which is omnipresent along the Strip 
  (see below). Territory along the Strip shifts con-
  stantly, though it’s widely believed that four vice lords 
  — Cleopatra, a former prostitute; Ernest “King” Cole, 
  infamous throughout America as one of the country’s 
  chief creators and peddlers of pornographic maga-
  zines and ﬁlms;  the corpulent “businessman” who 
  uses the street name Caligula; and upscale master 
  pimp Carl Spears — control most of the ﬂesh trade 
  to one extent or another. However, none of them has 
  ever been prosecuted for any major crimes. See page 
  181 for more information.
  There’s some other street crime along and 
  around the Strip — pickpocketing, the occasional 
  mugging, three-card monte, that sort of thing — 
  but the merchants on the main parts of the street 
  try to keep it to a minimum so their customers 
  don’t get scared away. Rumor has it they occasion-
  ally hire gangs of thugs to “clean out” undesirables.
  Beyond the relatively bright and clean Strip, 
  things get considerably worse. Vice acts too degener-
  ate for public viewing — child pornography, white 
  slavery, torture clubs, and worse — sprout like fungi in 
  the darkness, and anyone who walks the streets is fair 
  game for the criminals and gangsters who call them 
  home. Among the housing complexes, the Doom 
  Fever posse dominates the drug trade, eliminating 
  rivals and other problems with swift, lethal violence. 
  The Morelli family controls the Atlantic-side docks, 
  but the ones along the river remain open territory, and 
  Speargun (page 179) has been steadily encroaching on 
  them from his base of power further west.
  LANDMARKS
  It’s no Bankhurst or Worthington, but North 
  Elmview has a few interesting places marked on 
  the maps.
  Five Points:  The intersection of S. Monroe Street, 
  South River Drive, and Redwine Avenue has tra-
  ditionally been known as Five Points. Early in the 
  neighborhood’s history it was mostly a cluster of ten-
  ements beset by poverty, youth gangs, and epidem-
  ics of cholera and dysentery. Eventually businesses 
  displaced the residences. As the Strip spread east like 
  a virus it swallowed up Five Points, turning the run-
  down oﬃce buildings and stores into exotic dance 
  clubs and peep show parlors. Today the intersection 
  is just a tawdry neon altar where the lonely and the 
  degenerate worship the naked female body in all 
  their perverse ways. New York City found a way to 
  clean up Times Square, but Hudson City’s never even 
  tried to remake Five Points.
  Gilead Park:  The only part of North Elmview that 
  isn’t unrelieved urban blight is Gilead Park, a little 
  southeast of Five Points. For reasons no one can fully 
  explain, somehow more than a little of the park’s 
  grass and trees have survived the neighborhood’s 
  long, slow slide into corruption and decay. But that’s 
  not to say it’s a nice place. These days, it’s mostly used 
  by homeless people as a camp, by drug addicts as a 
  place to buy and shoot up, and by prostitutes as a big 
  outdoor bedroom where they can transact business 
  with johns too cheap to spring for an hour at a hotel.
  SHOPPING
  In North Elmview? Are you kidding? It’s hard 
  enough to ﬁnd a place that sells groceries, much 
  less other things...
  ...unless those other things are pornography, 
  hookers, or drugs. If you’re willing to get dirty 
  enough, lucky enough to talk to the right people, 
  and tough enough to survive, you might even be 
  able to ﬁnd stuﬀ that even stores on the Strip won’t 
  sell. But if you stick to the Strip, you can easily ﬁnd 
  places like these:
  The Emporium (537 Redwine Avenue):  Your one-
  stop shopping place for all the pornographic 
  magazines, adult videos, sex toys, and other erotic 
  paraphernalia your perverted little heart could 
  desire. The home store of Ernest “King” Cole’s por-
  nography empire, the Emporium caters to everyone 
  from “adventurous” young couples to truly sick 
  freaks:  the deeper you go into the store, the harder-
  core the wares become. But none of it violates the 
  law; Cole wouldn’t endanger his various businesses 
  by stocking anything illegal.
  Erotic Fantasies (626 Redwine Avenue):  Ever 
  wanted to star in your own adult film? Well, now 
  you can! The digital fleshmongers at Erotic Fan-
  tasies can take a few pictures of you, then insert 
  you into one of several dozen pornographic 
  videos via the magic of computer manipulation. 
  Available in VHS and DVD.
  ON THE TOWN
  Most of the entertainment businesses in North 
  Elmview are found along the Strip, or nearby (or at 
  least, that’s where you’ll ﬁnd the legal ones). Besides 
  the clubs described below, other places of “interest” 
  in North Elmview include:
  Lucky Seven (303 Taber Avenue):  If you’ve had 
  enough of the bright lights and costume jewelry 
  glitz of the Strip, or you’re looking to drown your 
  sorrows in another way, the Lucky Seven may be 
  just the place you need:  dark, quiet, and smokey, 
  and the booze is cheap. Most people who come 
  here to drink follow the Golden Rule by keeping to 
  themselves. In the event of unpleasantness, Big Lou 
  the bartender gets his trusty shotgun “Lizabeth” out 
  from underneath the bar and restores order.
  International Dockworkers’ Union Local #3178 Hall 
  (southeast corner of Dahl Street and Stanton Avenue): 
  Out of a sense of perverse pride, IDU Local #3178 
  has never moved its union hall to a better part of 
  town (or even a better part of North Elmview):  
  union leaders ﬁgure their men work down there, so 
  they might as well meet down there. But meetings 
  are few and far between; mostly the place is used 
  for “social events” (read:  nightly drinking) as a bar 
  with an exclusive membership.
  The Whiskey Room (northwest corner of Bost Avenue 
  and McCollom Street):  A lot of bachelor parties that 
  end up on the Strip get their start at the Whiskey 
  APOLLO
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   13 PRE 
  10 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 17 STUN
  Abilities:  AK: The Strip 
  14-, CK: North Elmview 
  12-, CK: Hudson City 
  11-, Interrogation 8-, PS: 
  Pimp 11-, Streetwise 12-, 
  WF: Handguns, Knives
  Disadvantages:  Hunted 
  (Watched by Carl 
  Spears); Psychological 
  Limitation:  Vain; Social 
  Limitation:  Criminal 
  Record; Social Limita-
  tion:  Subject To Orders
  Notes:  One of many 
  pimps who manages a 
  stable of Carl Spears’s 
  “bitches,” Apollo’s been 
  on the street hustling 
  tail since he was 18. He 
  knows just the right 
  combination of sweet 
  talk, intimidation, and 
  backhanding to get his 
  girls to bring in the 
  money... most of which 
  he then forks over to 
  Spears. He longs for 
  the old days when he 
  was his own boss, but 
  he knows that if he 
  tried to break away, 
  Spears would have him 
  killed without a second 
  thought.
  Apollo is pretty good-
  looking for a pimp, and 
  he knows it. He’s vain 
  about his looks, and 
  spends a lot of money 
  every week getting 
  his hair done, his skin 
  treated, his nails mani-
  cured, and so on. Com-
  pared to many pimps, he 
  wears relatively low-key 
  clothing — usually to 
  match one of his three 
  Cadillacs, gold, green, or 
  red — but he’d still stand 
  out like a pile of manure 
  in a parlor anywhere but 
  the Strip.
  
  77 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  Room, a not unpleasant (but deﬁnitely not upscale) 
  club a couple blocks east of Ferry Street. A few 
  independent prostitutes work the club, since they 
  consider it a safer place to meet johns than on the 
  street (where they’d also have to submit to some 
  pimp); they kick back a little to the club’s owners 
  and dress better than your typical streetwalker so 
  no one raises a fuss.
  The Strip
  “Sure, I’ve been down there on some cases. Lots 
  of cases, actually. Too many.
  “Usually it’s missing persons *%&! from out of 
  town. You know the type — some teenage kid 
  has a ﬁght with his parents, or breaks up with 
  her boyfriend, or what the hell ever, so they run 
  away to the big city. Mom and dad get in touch 
  with me, beg me to ﬁnd Junior, throw whatever 
  money they have to at me just to get their pre-
  cious baby back home safe.
  “Had one just like that a couple months back. 
  Girl, age 15, short blonde hair, from some 
  place down south... Kentucky, maybe, I don’t 
  remember. Usually these cases lead nowhere 
  — once these kids hit the Metro, nowhere to 
  go, no money, no friends, someone gets ahold 
  of them, and they vanish into the city, !$&*ed 
  for life. But this time I got lucky. A janitor at 
  the Metro recognized the girl from a picture I 
  showed him, told me about the guy who met 
  her, some younger-looking guy in a leather 
  jacket. I learned later she’d been talking to this 
  guy online, but I didn’t know that at the time. 
  All I had to work with was that the janitor 
  described the guy’s tattoo. I knew it for a North 
  Elmview gang tatt.
  “I headed down there, started looking around 
  the area where the gang was from. Got lucky 
  again, saw the guy coming out of this *%&!heap 
  of a building. When they got far enough away 
  I snuck inside.
  “They’d duct-taped her to the radiator when 
  they were ﬁnished with her. Her face looked like 
  raw hamburger, and I don’t know how many 
  times they raped her, or how many of them. It’s 
  the usual way of breaking them down before 
  putting them out on the street or into movies 
  to earn money.
  “I got her out of there quick and over to Vree-
  land Memorial. Her parents came and got 
  her and took her home, and that’s the last I 
  heard about her. I imagine she’s in therapy 
  or some such *%&!, but there isn’t a shrink 
  in the world that can help her get over what 
  happened. Grow strong or go crazy, that’s 
  about her only choices.”
  — private investigator and  
  bounty hunter Eric Doyle
  Beginning around where it crosses S. Jef-
  ferson Street, Redwine Avenue turns into some-
  thing less than a street... and more like a sewer. 
  It becomes the Strip, the heart of the sex trade in 
  Hudson City.
  Starting as early as the 1950s, topless dance clubs 
  and adult bookstores began to cluster on Redwine 
  just a little east of South Jeﬀerson. A few people com-
  plained, but the movers and shakers in Hudson City 
  had long ago given up on North Elmview. As far as 
  some of them were concerned it was better to have all 
  those sorts of businesses in one place so they wouldn’t 
  infest the rest of the city. In the ensuing decades these 
  establishments proliferated, but the area didn’t earn 
  its nickname until around 1970, when the businesses 
  took a harder turn. Most of the bookshops were 
  crowded out by strip clubs, live sex clubs, peep show 
  emporiums — anything the people who owned the 
  land could do to make a buck oﬀ of women’s bodies. 
  Long before then the Strip had become the favored 
  hangout of most of the city’s hookers as well.
  By the early Eighties, a deﬁnite pecking order 
  had become entrenched on the Strip, with the 
  human refuse slowly sliding downhill toward the 
  sea. On the “upper” end of the Strip, closer to South 
  Jeﬀerson, there were the nicer clubs — places with 
  actual names, like the Blue Door, Amber’s, and Fil-
  lies — and not too many streetwalkers. This was 
  the end of the street frequented by Hudsonites 
  slumming for bachelor parties and degenerates too 
  nervous or scared to go further. As you walked east, 
  toward Five Points, the places became more and 
  more sordid, the names replaced by simple descrip-
  tions:  24 Hour Nude Dancers, Hot XXX Shows. By 
  the time you reached about Havelock or Shorrock, 
  the pimps and prostitutes were clustered so thick 
  that a guy couldn’t walk half a block without being 
  oﬀered every sort of “date” known to man. Beyond 
  Five Points the Strip spread out onto South River, 
  Perkins, and Grinnell like a toxic waste spill. This 
  was the home turf of hookers too old or broken to 
  make it anywhere else — the sort of place where 
  the only way left to make any money to support 
  their drug habits was quickie curbside work with 
  their mouths or submitting to the lusts of men too 
  perverted to get any action back on Redwine.
  That’s pretty much the way the Strip is today 
  — it sure hasn’t gotten any better. The two “anchors” 
  of the western end of the street are Little Egypt, the 
  club run by Cleopatra (page 190), and The Empo-
  rium, the main book and video store run by por-
  nographic movie producer Ernest “King” Cole (see 
  above and page 182). The dozens of other places 
  range from large to small, tolerable to squalid, and 
  they’re supported by lots of secondary businesses 
  on the surrounding streets:  by-the-hour hotels; 
  cheap rooming houses; secondhand clothing stores.
  It’s an open secret that just about any business 
  on the Strip that puts women on stage — whether 
  it’s a fairly sedate strip joint like the Rainbow Club, 
  a harder-core club like Jericho, or a live sex act the-
  ater such as the imaginatively-named SEXXX — is 
  a haven for prostitution. Not everyone who visits 
  the Strip wants to consort with the streetwalkers; 
  some prefer to arrange their liaisons in a more pri-
  CHUCK KELFER
   8 STR 
  9 DEX
   10 CON 11 BODY
   8 INT 
  8 EGO
   12 PRE 
  8 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 20 STUN
  Abilities:  Conversation 
  11-, AK: The Strip 12-, 
  KS: The Strip 12-, Street-
  wise 12-, Trading 8-
  25+ Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Anything For A Buck 
  (Common, Moderate)
  Notes:  Chuck Kelfer 
  is the night manager 
  at the Hotel Las Vegas, 
  a place near the Strip 
  that rents rooms by the 
  hour and half-hour. 
  Basically his job is to 
  sit behind the counter 
  and collect $20 for each 
  hour from the johns 
  who bring the girls in. 
  (He also rents rooms to 
  prostitutes by the day 
  for much cheaper rates, 
  often taking payment “in 
  trade” instead of cash.) 
  He puts on a facade of 
  friendliness, and can 
  even be kind of talkative 
  sometimes, but the truth 
  is he doesn’t care about 
  any of the people he 
  deals with every night 
  — he just wants their 
  money.
  Chuck knows the Strip 
  pretty well, both its 
  places and its people. 
  After all, he sees a lot 
  of the same girls, night 
  after night, and even 
  when he’s oﬀ-duty still 
  hangs around in the 
  neighborhood. He’d be 
  a good source of infor-
  mation if approached 
  properly, though he 
  hates cops and govern-
  ment types.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  78 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  vate fashion. Some of the places even have rooms in 
  back — that way the girls can do their business and 
  get back out on stage quicker. Whatever you want 
  in a woman, you can ﬁnd it on the Strip... provided 
  you can aﬀord it.
  STRIP JOINTS
  Here are brief descriptions of some of the 
  better-known places along the Strip.
  The Blue Door (733 Redwine Avenue):  Named for its 
  royal blue-painted front entrance, the Blue Door 
  is really nothing more than a strip club and top-
  less bar. It gets its reputation from the fact that the 
  staﬀ is unfailingly polite and helpful, and the girls 
  among the prettiest on the Strip. A lot of bachelor 
  parties end up here.
  Jericho (355 Redwine Avenue):  Jericho is one of 
  the sleazier “exotic dance” clubs on the Strip. It’s 
  cheaper than the Blue Door, that’s for sure, but 
  the staff is surly and the girls aren’t exactly fresh 
  off the farm.
  The Paradise Theater (northeast corner of Redwine 
  Avenue and S. Jefferson Street):  Unlike most places 
  on the Strip, which will let anyone through the 
  door who can pay the cover charge, the Paradise 
  Theater is a members-only club. In advertisements 
  throughout Hudson City, the management tries to 
  bill it as “the Gentlemen’s Club of the New Millen-
  nium” and its money-green membership cards as 
  some sort of exclusive thing, but the truth is it isn’t 
  really any diﬀerent from most places on the Strip... 
  and anyone who can pay the membership fee can 
  get one of those cards.
  The Rainbow Club (744 Redwine Avenue):  An 
  exotic dance club that specializes in what it calls 
  “duet dancing” — putting two girls on stage at 
  once, usually girls of different races (or at least 
  different hair colors).
  SEXXX (260 Redwine Avenue):  By the 200s block 
  of the Strip, the nude dance clubs and topless bars 
  have given way to harder fare. SEXXX, for example, 
  is a live sex club, where the “dancers” perform actual 
  sex acts on stage, usually to a chorus of suggestions 
  and requests to jump in from audience members.
  STRIP PLAYAS
  Where there are working girls, there are the 
  men who put them to work:  pimps. They’re the 
  kings of the Strip (or so they like to think) — the 
  playas who walk the walk, talk the talk, and ﬁght 
  like wolves over small sections of concrete or the 
  slightest perceived insult.
  The toughest group of pimps on the Strip these 
  days are the ones working for Carl Spears (page 
  182), and there are others that people claim work 
  for the likes of Cleopatra or Caligula, but plenty 
  of pimps fend for themselves — “I don’t need no 
  white-ass cracka to tell me howta run my bitches,” 
  as one of them so eloquently put it. Some of the 
  most colorful of them include:
  DuLayne:  With a stable of a dozen girls out ped-
  dling tail every night, DuLayne Johnson is rolling 
  in green. He’s got a fat bankroll on him, spends 
  thousands on clothes every week, can barely move 
  some of his ﬁngers thanks to the size of the rocks 
  on his rings, and drives a sweet purple Cadillac. To 
  make sure some rough-oﬀ artist doesn’t try to take 
  his stuﬀ, he’s got a couple of big legbreakers who 
  stick near him all the time.
  Jersey:  Jersey isn’t far behind DuLayne when it 
  comes to ﬂash. His favorite color is orange, so he’s 
  got orange clothes, a long orange jacket he wears 
  all the time (even at the height of summer), and 
  an orange car — “looks like a Got-damned traﬃc 
  cone,” as another pimp once put it...
  ...though he didn’t say it within Jersey’s hear-
  ing, because Jersey’s well-known for his violent 
  temper. If his girls don’t bring home enough money 
  at the end of the night, they know they’re going to 
  get a beating; if someone disses him, he’s as likely 
  to pull out a switchblade and go to work on them 
  as anything. He just got back on the street recently 
  after pulling a couple years in Longview until his 
  lawyer got a murder charge against him dismissed 
  on a technicality.
  Keeshawn Wilson:  Laughing, smiling, joking, 
  breaking into impromptu little raps — that’s what 
  Keeshawn Wilson’s like most nights. You might get 
  the impression he enjoys life, and you’d be right. 
  What’s not to like? He’s got the nicest threads, the 
  sweetest rides, and the hottest girls on the Strip, and 
  everyone knows it — just ask him, he’ll tell you. Try 
  to argue with him, and he’ll make a monkey out of 
  you with his quick wits and quicker words. Keep 
  arguing, and he might have to dish out a little pun-
  ishment that’s not quite so pleasant.
  STRIP WISDOM
  “Don’t get in vans. I got 
  in a van once, when I’d 
  only been hooking a 
  couple months. These 
  guys who were hiding 
  yanked me into the back. 
  I didn’t get out of there 
  ’til the !$&*ers dumped 
  me out the back doors 
  the next morning.”
  — Mindy, age 25
  “Look for the guys that 
  blush, even a little. You 
  can usually trick ’em into 
  giving you more. Every 
  dollar I make that Anto-
  nio don’t know about, 
  good for me.”
  — Kim, age 17
  “Don’t wear those real 
  long high heels. Guys love 
  ’em, yeah, but they don’t 
  gotta wear the !$&*ing 
  things. You’ll kill your 
  ankles walkin’ on the 
  street in them things. 
  Go for somethin’ shorter 
  ’n’ thicker — they look 
  almost as good, and yer 
  feet won’t hurt so damn 
  much.”
  — Stephanie, age 22
  “It’s all about blowjobs. 
  That’s all most of these 
  guys want. If their girl-
  friends and wives would 
  just put out for ’em like 
  they want, they’d never 
  come to me.”
  — Amber, age 29
  IMAGES OF NORTH ELMVIEW
  The gaudy and garish lights of the Strip
  Men wearing raincoats, learing with eager eyes at every-
  thing around them; broken-down old whores wearing 
  nothing but raincoats so they can get their tricks over 
  with quicker
  The smell of mildew and rot coming from the old, aban-
  doned buildings near the waterfront
  Girls who don’t look like they’ve even reached puberty yet 
  selling themselves on the street
  The ﬂashy cars, and ﬂashier clothes, of pimps
  
  79 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  “I tell ya, Benny, this neighborhood is goin’ 
  ta hell.”
  “How d’ya mean, Bill?”
  “You remember what it was like when we 
  started to work on the docks? It was a great 
  place — a man’s place, where we worked, and 
  drank after work, and got things done. It was 
  a tough neighborhood, sure, but you could be 
  yourself, and your friends looked after you like 
  you looked after them.
  “But Christ, look what it’s turnin’ into! Half the 
  docks and most of the factories have gone outta 
  business, and God knows how long the rest of 
  them will remain. Every day I go inta work I 
  half expect to get my pink slip.
  “And *%&!, it’ll probably be some woman 
  handing it to me. Company just hired this 
  broad to take Tommie’s place when he retired. 
  You remember Tommie, big guy with a little 
  scar on his chin?”
  “Sure, I remember Tommie. He still comes in 
  here sometimes. Geez, they gave his job to a 
  chick?”
  “Yeah, but not no chick you’d want to date. 
  Big chunky broad with a major mouth on her. 
  Probably one’a those dikes.”
  “Yeah.”
  “And that’s not all! The whole damn 
  neighborhood is changing. All them 
  yuppies are moving in and turning 
  the old warehouses into “lofts” and 
  “luxury apartments” and crap like 
  that. And they’re replacing all the 
  great joints like yours with that crap 
  they think is all trendy and special. 
  There’s a !$&*%@# Irish Glen up on 
  Twain Street now, do you believe it?”
  “No way.”
  “I’m tellin’ you, man, it’s there. Right 
  where that cheap little diner usedta be. 
  Walk by there when you head for the 
  train this morning — you’ll see it.”
  — conversation between Benny 
  Stankiewicz and one of his  
  customers at Benny’s Place
  Located on the southeast side of the Northside, 
  this peninsular neighborhood — roughly speaking, 
  the area south of 24th Avenue and east of Washing-
  ton Street (below 28th Avenue) and N. Adams Street 
  (between 28th and 24th) — was once a busy port and 
  the site of a lot of warehouses, medium to heavy 
  industry, and the like. The docks are still there today, 
  as well as plenty of warehouses and a few small facto-
  ries, but none of them are as busy as they once were. 
  The gradual shift in the American economy over the 
  past century slowly but inevitably turned Pierpoint 
  from a bustling waterfront into a not-so-bustling one.
  But where the old economy failed, the new 
  economy has come to the rescue... after a fashion. 
  In the past few decades, newly wealthy urbanites 
  (many of whom work in nearby Bankhurst) have 
  moved in, renovated old warehouses and turned 
  them into lofts, and given the area an upscale resi-
  dential quality it never had before. Businesses have 
  followed them, and thus parts of Pierpoint (mainly 
  the areas to the west and north of the neighbor-
  hood) have become some of the most fashionable 
  addresses in the city. However, this new residential 
  culture clashes with the dockyard culture that still 
  exists along the waterfront, causing resentment on 
  the part of longtime Pierpoint workers and disgust 
  from the newer Pierpoint residents.
  The crime rate in Pierpoint is moderate. Some 
  of the areas along the waterfront are pretty rough, 
  and sometimes Southside criminals drift over the 
  Adams Street Bridge looking for easy pickings 
  among the yuppies, but violent street crime isn’t 
  PIERPOINT
  IMAGES OF 
  PIERPOINT
  The bright colors of 
  the goods at the Flower 
  Market contrasted 
  against grey buildings 
  and grey streets in  
  the earliest moments  
  of dawn
  How the neighborhood 
  improves as you walk 
  uphill from the tip of 
  the peninsula toward 
  Bankhurst
  Men shouting instruc-
  tions to each other as 
  they work on the water-
  front
  The ferry coming in  
  to dock at the Ferry 
  Street pier
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  80 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  as common as in many other neighborhoods. For 
  years the police have tracked a conﬂict between the 
  Verontese family (which controls most of the docks 
  in this area, as well as the associated International 
  Dockworkers’ Union locals and other unions) and 
  Speargun, the self-styled “Ruler of Dockland” (see 
  page 179). It’s believed that Verontese inﬂuence 
  over the Flower Market (see below) was lost to Spe-
  argun a couple years ago, but police investigations 
  into the matter have reached dead ends... often 
  because the undercover detectives assigned to them 
  have been murdered.
  LANDMARKS
  Besides the Pierpoint Arena (page 115), some 
  of the noteworthy places in Pierpoint include:
  The Columbia’s Pride (32nd Avenue Pier):  Over a 
  hundred years ago, before the development of the 
  great steam engines, men depended on the wind 
  to make their ships move over the waves — and no 
  ships moved as fast as the clipper ships. With bold 
  captains at their helms, the clippers sailed all over 
  the world, bringing exotic goods from far lands to 
  American cities. The Columbia’s Pride — a fully-
  preserved clipper ship that people can board and 
  tour — is a tribute to those glorious days of mari-
  time adventure. Open 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM seven 
  days a week, closed holidays.
  Hudson City Flower Market (waterfront, west of N. 
  Jefferson Street at the terminus of Ilderton Street):  
  Flowers are no good for sale if they’re not fresh and 
  vibrantly-colored. Although refrigeration technol-
  ogy has eased the problem considerably, once ﬂow-
  ers are cut ﬂower growers have only a short time 
  to get them to market, and buyers likewise have to 
  get them to their place of sale quickly. The Hudson 
  City Flower Market exists to make these transac-
  tions as swift and painless as possible for everyone 
  concerned. Wholesalers set up stalls to which sell-
  ers deliver and buyers come to buy; a wholesaler’s 
  location depends upon seniority and the like. In the 
  hours just before dawn, the place is bustling with 
  ﬂower shop owners, hotel and restaurant ﬂower 
  buyers, and other customers eager to make their 
  purchases and get their ﬂowers to their destination 
  as soon as possible; by late morning it quiets down 
  until nightfall.
  SHOPPING
  There wasn’t much shopping to speak of in 
  Pierpoint until the “yuppiﬁcation” of the area set in. 
  Now there are quite a few places that attract the big 
  bucks the young and wealthy have to spend.
  Carolyn Kaye’s (350 24th Avenue):  This women’s 
  apparel and accessories store caters mainly to 
  female urban professionals, but has a section of 
  lower-priced clothing for administrative assistants 
  and the like. Some of its higher-end dresses, not to 
  mention its ﬁne selection of jewelry, are extremely 
  expensive, so it has a top-notch security system.
  Jansen’s Shoe Sales & Repair (931 Price Avenue):  
  What started out several decades ago as a simple 
  cobbler’s store has, through the time and hard work 
  of owners Norman and Maria Jensen, transformed 
  into a top-ﬂight shoe store that also does repair and 
  dying work for shoes. It carries a wide variety of 
  domestic and imported shoes, with a small stock of 
  work boots and outdoor footwear. More than one 
  Bankhurst stockbroker swears by Jansen’s when it 
  comes to comfortable shoes.
  The Sportsman (342 26th Avenue):  If you’re the type 
  of person who wants to escape the polluted air 
  and stressful life of the city for a peaceful week or 
  weekend in the great outdoors, the Sportsman has 
  just want you need. It stocks a full line of ﬁshing, 
  hunting, and camping gear, and all of its employees 
  are knowledgeable outdoors enthusiasts who can 
  recommend just the right piece of gear for your 
  trip. The Sportsman also runs a booking service for 
  outdoor travel; it can arrange anything from a cabin 
  in the mountains to a full-blown African safari.
  ON THE TOWN
  Pierpointers looking for something fun to do 
  often visit these places:
  Benny’s Place (616 Riverfront Drive):  A favorite 
  after-work watering hole for many of Pierpoint’s 
  longshoremen and dockworkers, Benny’s Place fea-
  tures good beer at reasonable prices, sports on the 
  big screen TV, a handful of dart boards, and two 
  pool tables. The owner, Benny Stankiewicz, used to 
  be a dockworker himself, and still knows a lot of 
  people all around the Pierpoint Waterfront.
  The Mortuary (804 26th Avenue):  Through the early 
  Eighties, the Mortuary was just that:  a funeral 
  home. But the owner’s gambling debts caused the 
  place to fall into the hands of the Maﬁa, which let 
  it sit fallow for a while before selling it to a couple 
  of young entrepreneurs. They turned it into a club 
  that’s become one of Pierpoint’s favorite nightspots. 
  The ghoulish decor seems odd when contrasted 
  with the hip fashions and well-tanned skins of the 
  patrons, but somehow it works.
  Tropicala Exotica (northwest corner of 27th Avenue 
  and N. Jefferson Street):  The theme of this adult 
  nightclub is “exotic jungle splendor.” It does its 
  best to provide just that with lots of tropical 
  greenery, tiki torches, wicker furniture, and other 
  such decor... not to mention the topless waitresses 
  dressed as native girls and the “umbrella drinks” 
  the bar serves. It doesn’t feature exotic dancing, but 
  does have a stage where musicians (usually light 
  jazz, but sometimes calypso or reggae to go with 
  the club’s theme) perform live.
  Vincent’s Seafood Grille (southeast corner of 28th 
  Avenue and Leigh Street):  Whether you want ﬁnely-
  grilled mahi-mahi with lemon sauce and capers, 
  a big plate of superb calamari, or some surf and 
  turf, Vincent’s is the place to go. Its chefs prepare 
  some of the best seafood in town, but it also has a 
  generous selection of chicken and beef dishes for 
  people who don’t like ﬁsh (including an exquisite 
  ﬁlet mignon). It’s said that some members of the 
  Verontese family like this place so much they eat 
  here nearly every night.
  MICHAEL 
  DEANGELO
  10  STR 
  11 DEX 
  12  CON 12 BODY 
  13  INT 
  10 EGO 
  15  PRE 
  9 COM 
  4  PD 
  3 ED
  3  SPD 
  4 REC 
  24  END 23 STUN
  Abilities:  Bribery 
  12-, Bureaucratics 12-, 
  Concealment 12-, AK: 
  Hudson City 11-, KS: 
  The Flower Business 11-, 
  KS: Hudson City Flower 
  Market 12-, Stealth 11-, 
  Streetwise 13-, TF: Small 
  Motorized Boats, Large 
  Motorized Boats, WF: 
  Small Arms, Contacts 
  (10 points’ worth, in 
  the Flower Market and 
  ﬂower industry), Favors 
  (from various restaurant 
  and hotel managers he’s 
  helped out)
  25+ Disadvantages:  
  Social Limitation:  
  Criminal Record; Social 
  Limitation:  Subject To 
  Orders
  Notes:  Years ago, several 
  of the Flower Market’s 
  wholesalers banded 
  together to create an 
  umbrella organization 
  to buy ﬂowers from 
  their growers in larger 
  quantities (and thus at 
  better prices). Michael 
  DeAngelo is the Admin-
  istrator of this group, 
  the Hudson City Flower 
  Buyers Association. He 
  does his best to obtain 
  the best prices and pro-
  vide the best services 
  for his group’s members, 
  and to beat out other, 
  competing, groups.
  
  81 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  “Thank God you SWAT boys ﬁnally got here.”
  “Sorry for the delay — goddamn traﬃc coming 
  over the bridge. We didn’t get much of a brief-
  ing; what’s the situation, Hendricks?”
  “We got three, maybe four guys holed up in that 
  four-story building over there. My men have 
  had the place surrounded for an hour now, but 
  we just got the ﬂoodlights about ﬁfteen minutes 
  ago. They’ve been quiet since then.”
  “What is this place?”
  “Used to be an armory, I think, but converted to 
  oﬃce space back in the Fifties or Sixties. Been 
  abandoned since the mid-Seventies. Squat-
  ters live there occasionally, and a couple times 
  gangs have taken it over for a while, but mostly 
  it just sits there empty. First time we’ve had a 
  major problem with it.”
  “Where are they?”
  “Up onna top ﬂoor, Lieutenant — or at least 
  usually. Every one of those broken windows 
  you see, they’ve shot at us from.”
  “Okay, what’ve they got?”
  “The whole arsenal, I think. !$&*, look around. 
  That heap of metal over there used to be a squad 
  car; they blew it up with a grenade, sent one 
  oﬃcer to the hospital. He’s probably not gonna 
  make it. From the automatic ﬁre and the size of 
  the holes in the rest of the cars, I’d say 5.56 or 
  7.62 millimeter assault riﬂes. But all that’s your 
  department, not mine.”
  Before the lieutenant could reply, another stac-
  cato burst of ﬁre split the night. They both hit 
  the ground behind the car as the solo became 
  a duet, then a trio. After ten or twenty seconds 
  of ﬁring, the bullets stopped ﬂying. “Hey, pigs!” 
  shouted a voice from the building. “You better 
  get the !$&* outta here right now or we’re gonna 
  turn you into !$&*%@# Swiss cheese!”
  “See what I mean?” the cop said. “They haven’t 
  issued any demands or made any statements. 
  I don’t even know why they started ﬁring at 
  people over an hour ago.”
  “Who gives a !$&*. All we gotta do is stop ’em. 
  Leave the motives for the shrinks and the D.A. 
  Here’s what I want you to do. When I give the 
  signal, have all of the men open up on the build-
  ing. Those guys won’t dare stick their faces up to 
  see anything, giving me and my men time to 
  get to one of the doors and inside before those 
  assholes can....”
  Before he could ﬁnish, there was a bloodcur-
  dling shriek from inside the building. Then 
  came more gunﬁre, but a few seconds after 
  everyone instinctively ducked, they realized no 
  one was ﬁring at them — the shots were being 
  ﬁred inside the building.
  “!$&*%@’ A — they turned on each other. Let’s 
  move, men!” The lieutenant jumped to his feet 
  and ran for the building as fast as he could, his 
  squad of men right behind him.
  The door they got to ﬁrst wasn’t locked. With 
  military precision they opened it and entered, 
  each man holding his submachine gun at 
  the ready and covering the guy next to him 
  as they moved into the building, around cor-
  ners, through doors, up stairs. Second ﬂoor, 
  no incident. Third ﬂoor, no incident. Fourth 
  ﬂoor door.
  When his men were ready, the lieutenant kicked 
  the fourth ﬂoor door open. Instantly the squad 
  members covered every angle, but they saw no 
  targets and no one ﬁred at them. With the same 
  precision as before, they moved toward the west 
  side of the building.
  A few minutes later, Oﬃcer Hendricks got a 
  call on his radio. “Come on up — we’re clear.”
  When he got to the fourth ﬂoor, Hendricks saw 
  plenty of stuﬀ he expected to see — shell cas-
  ings all over the ﬂoor, bullet holes in the wall, 
  four dead scumbags — but also something he’d 
  never have expected in a million years:  three of 
  the perps were pinned to the walls by arrows. 
  The other lay on the ﬂoor, his neck obviously 
  broken.
  “What the !$&* happened, Lieutenant?”
  “Damned if I know. It was like this when we got 
  up here. Somebody beat us to it, that’s for sure.”
  “Yeah, but how? We’ve had the building sur-
  rounded for an hour. We’ve had ﬂoodlights on 
  it for twenty minutes. How did someone get 
  in here, pull the Robin Hood routine on these 
  guys, and get the !$&* out again?”
  — from a criminal incident in Red Hill
  During the early history of Hudson City, Red 
  Hill — the area bounded by the modern streets of 
  King Avenue, Day Avenue, and S. Monroe Street 
  — wasn’t considered a separate neighborhood so 
  much as it was part of greater Elmview. That began 
  to change in the late nineteenth century, when 
  relatively large numbers of German, Austrian, and 
  RED HILL
  IMAGES OF 
  RED HILL
  Block after block of run-
  down apartment build-
  ings, their once-reddish 
  brick weathered to a 
  brownish-rust shade
  The smell of an eve-
  ning’s worth of smoke in 
  a bar that’s never heard 
  of “no smoking” laws
  People coming home 
  after a hard day’s work 
  somewhere else walk-
  ing up out of Red Hill 
  Terminal
  The sound of motorcy-
  cles as a biker gang rides 
  to one of its favorite 
  watering holes
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  82 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  Polish immigrants settled there. They soon began 
  to leave their mark on the neighborhood, but it 
  wasn’t until the early twentieth century that Red 
  Hill achieved a separate identity. When the United 
  States went to war with Germany in 1917, residents 
  in the rest of Elmview were quick to try to distance 
  themselves from their Hunnish neighbors by refer-
  ring to that part of the city as “Red Hill” instead 
  of “eastern Elmview” (much as they’d disassociate 
  themselves from North Elmview decades later).
  The situation worsened with the rise of Nazi 
  Germany and, eventually, the conﬂagration of 
  World War II. The fact that both federal oﬃcials 
  and masked mystery men like the Raven fought 
  secret Bundist conspiracies, ﬁfth columnists, and 
  Nazi secret agents in Red Hill during the 1930s 
  only exacerbated the problem. Red Hill withdrew 
  into itself, its residents ﬁnding jobs in the neighbor-
  hood whenever they could, and shopping there as 
  much as possible.
  In the sixty years since World War II, Red Hill 
  has changed. It remains basically a working-class 
  neighborhood with small businesses, light industry, 
  and a waterfront, though economically it’s not in 
  nearly as good shape as it was in the ﬁrst half of 
  the twentieth century. But the “German character” 
  and insularity of the neighborhood have withered 
  in light of the change in American-German rela-
  tions, the cultural leveling aﬀect of the modern 
  mass media, demographic shifts, and other societal 
  trends. Almost no one grows up in Red Hill learn-
  ing German as well as English anymore, and despite 
  the last names most families are as American as 
  apple pie or electoral fraud.
  Modern Red Hill is an odd mix of residential 
  and commercial, with more residences — apart-
  ments and old brownstones, mostly — to the west 
  and south of the neighborhood, and more industry 
  and the like as one approaches the docks. A lot of 
  people who grew up there speak longingly of it... 
  but don’t take any steps to move their own families 
  there. Crime is a persistent problem. Between vari-
  ous local gangs of young punks, Hispanic gangs 
  sometimes drifting up from Latin City to sell drugs 
  or try to claim turf, various psychos and criminals 
  drifting down from North Elmview, and the occa-
  sional outlaw motorcycle gang blowing into the 
  neighborhood to drink beer and show oﬀ Nazi tat-
  toos, it’s not the safest place to live. And more than 
  one crimelord or criminal gang has used the aban-
  doned warehouses, crumbling piers, and decrepit 
  old factories of Red Hill to hide himself or his loot.
  LANDMARKS
  For better or worse, Red Hill really doesn’t 
  have anything in the way of signiﬁcant landmarks. 
  It’s got no major parks, no special cultural attrac-
  tions, and no sites of general historic interest. 
  Every now and then people with a special interest 
  in German-American history, or the lives of the 
  masked mystery men of the Thirties, tour the area 
  to see where certain events took place, but other-
  wise there’s not much for tourists to do in Red Hill.
  
  83 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  SHOPPING
  Most of the retail establishments in Red Hill 
  are pretty ordinary. Here are a few that stand out 
  from the pack:
  Bob’s Gun Rack (264 Nelson Street):  While not 
  quite as well-stocked as Collins Guns (page 186), 
  Bob’s Gun Rack nevertheless has a lot to oﬀer the 
  discriminating ﬁrearms shopper. Bob was a Marine 
  sniper in Vietnam and knows a lot about guns 
  — just ask him, he’ll be glad to tell you what you 
  need to know. Bob’s also oﬀers gunsmithing and 
  gun customization services.
  Elmview Custom Cycles (northwest corner of Binford 
  Avenue and Stanton Street):  Hudsonite motorcy-
  clists from weekend hobbyists to the hardest of 
  hard-core outlaw bikers know that if you want just 
  the right bike, you go to Elmview Custom Cycles. 
  Not only does ECC carry a full line of both Ameri-
  can and foreign-made bikes (mostly top-of-the-line 
  and “custom collectible” models), but its mechanics 
  are fully qualiﬁed to do any sort of work a biker 
  needs done. They can improve a motorcycle’s per-
  formance, install aftermarket parts and upgrades, or 
  even paint and accessorize the thing if that’s what 
  the customer wants.
  Hillside Secondhand Furniture (2692 Whittier Street):  
  Local residents looking for a bargain on furniture 
  often stop by Hillside, which carries a large stock 
  of used and remaindered furnishings. Owner Terry 
  Cooke has a knack for distinguishing trash from 
  treasure, so the pieces she sells are usually in pretty 
  good shape even if they look a little shabby. Most 
  of what she carries is strictly for the discount shop-
  per market, but she does have a small selection of 
  antique pieces that she sells via the Internet and her 
  connections among furniture collectors.
  Pilsner House (southwest corner of Harvey Avenue 
  and Hannigan Street):  If Budweiser, Miller, and 
  Coors aren’t quite your style, stop by the Pilsner 
  House. In addition to a selection of modern 
  American microbrews and specialty beers, it car-
  ries dozens of popular brands of British, German, 
  and Austrian beers... and it can place special orders 
  for hundreds more. Charlemagne’s bodyguard and 
  enforcer, Caber, once robbed the place just to get 
  several cases of one of his favorite brands of beer 
  from England.
  ON THE TOWN
  When the work day ends in Red Hill and 
  people are ready to relax, here are some of the 
  places they go to.
  Hannigan’s Waterfront Dive (northwest corner of 
  Benbow Avenue and Losey Boulevard):  Jake Han-
  nigan doesn’t have any illusions about what his 
  place is like:  it’s a waterfront dive, pure and simple, 
  so that’s what he decided to call it. The cheap beer, 
  pool tables, and mix of classic rock and hard-hit-
  ting country music attracts a diverse clientele:  
  dockworkers, their bosses, local residents. A good 
  many of the area’s bikers like to drink here as well, 
  and they don’t take kindly to people who get in 
  their way, play crappy songs on the jukebox, or 
  drive Japanese-made motorcycles.
  Harwell’s (northeast corner of Holden Avenue and 
  Whittier Street):  Harwell’s is in many ways a typical 
  American restaurant. One side of the place is where 
  you sit down and eat, choosing from a menu that 
  covers many diﬀerent types of food, from burg-
  ers, to pasta, to steaks, to a small list of vegetarian 
  selections. The other side of the building is a bar. 
  What sets the place apart is the small stage in the 
  restaurant area where live performers can play light 
  jazz or simple modern pop tunes to entertain the 
  patrons. A lot of Red Hillers ﬁnd they enjoy eating 
  here more than they do at hundreds of similar 
  places throughout the city because the live music 
  adds a touch of class to the meal.
  Radermacher’s (northeast corner of Burns Avenue 
  and Nelson Street):  The ceiling beams are 200 year-
  old oak. The decorations are arms, armor, and other 
  relics from ﬁfteenth and sixteenth century Bavaria. 
  The menu contains dishes inspired by the food 
  served at the most famous hotels and inns of Ger-
  many and Austria, and the beer list includes more 
  than 400 diﬀerent beers. The current owners are 
  the great-grandchildren of the original founders, 
  and all of the chefs were either born in or trained in 
  Germany. In short, if you want authentic German 
  food served in a setting that’s positively dripping 
  with ambience, there’s only one place to go in 
  Hudson City:  Radermacher’s.
  BOBBY WATSON
   10 STR 
  13 DEX
   10 CON 10 BODY
   13 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  8 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   3 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 20 STUN
  Abilities:  Bribery 8-, 
  Concealment 12-, 
  Combat Driving 12-, 
  Deduction 12-, Gam-
  bling (Card Games, 
  Sports Betting) 12-, KS: 
  Pool 13-, Mechanics 8-, 
  PS: Play Pool 15-, WF: 
  Small Arms
  Disadvantages:  Distinc-
  tive Features (various 
  scars and tattoos); Social 
  Limitation:  Criminal 
  Record
  Notes:  Bobby’s origi-
  nally from Georgia, but 
  he’s lived in Hudson 
  City so long he’s practi-
  cally a native. Although 
  none of the business 
  papers show it, he’s the 
  owner of a pool hall in 
  Red Hill that does pretty 
  good business. He’s there 
  every night from 8:00 
  on, playing pool and 
  watching everyone else 
  play. The regulars have 
  already learned that 
  he’s pro-level good and 
  won’t play against him 
  for money, but enough 
  new ﬁsh come in for 
  him to supplement his 
  income nicely with pool 
  winnings. He’s thought 
  about going pro in the 
  past, but he just doesn’t 
  wanna mess with all the 
  paperwork, travel, and 
  other nonsense.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  84 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  “Hey, man, what’s up?”
  “Nothin’. Just trying to get some of this English 
  Lit reading out of the way so I’m ready for old 
  man Garvey’s class this afternoon. What’d you 
  get into last night?”
  “Oh, man, did you miss out! I went over to 
  Fallout with James, and Mindy, and Hank, and 
  four or ﬁve other guys. There was this one girl 
  sitting a couple tables over from us who just 
  got completely bombed. She was so drunk she 
  got up on one of the tables and began dancing 
  around and taking her clothes oﬀ! It was like 
  being on the Strip.”
  “No *%&!. What happened?”
  “Nothin’. She was only halfway into it when she 
  got sick and puked all over Mindy! Man, was 
  she pissed. After that girl came back out from 
  cleaning herself up in the bathroom, I got her 
  phone number, though.”
  “Sweet!”
  — conversation overheard on the  
  Hudson City College campus
  This narrow strip of the Southside, bounded 
  by Day Avenue to the south, Coleman Avenue to 
  the north, the city limits to the west, and Centre 
  Street to the east, gets its name from its mildly hilly 
  geography — it’s got its ups and downs, though the 
  elevation’s not as high as Highlands or Mint Ridge. 
  It evolved from a number of smaller communities, 
  such as Millford, Allston Park, Morris Square, and 
  Arlington, which were founded in the nineteenth 
  century. Some of these towns were created by 
  people ﬂeeing the crowded Northside, others by 
  immigrants, and still others by Freetowners who 
  thrived and found ways to move to a better place. 
  Eventually the whole area came to be known as 
  Riverside Hills after an ambitious, but failed, devel-
  opment project in the early twentieth century.
  As of the early twenty-ﬁrst century, Riverside 
  Hills is mainly a residential and retail neighbor-
  hood. It has plenty of businesses, and even some 
  oﬃce buildings, but little in the way of manufactur-
  ing or industry. Throughout most of the area, the 
  housing takes the form of apartment buildings and 
  brownstones (most of them reasonably nice, if not 
  up to the standards of Bankhurst or Worthington), 
  but in the west, around Morris Square and even 
  parts of Millford, there’s some detached housing.
  The crime rate in Riverside Hills is high, 
  mainly due to the area’s proximity to Freetown. 
  Residents have been particularly concerned with 
  a growing street gang problem in recent years 
  — Nubians and Warriors sets travel a couple miles 
  north to cause trouble and sell drugs in fresh ter-
  ritories. Additionally, the crimelord Charlemagne 
  claims parts of Millford as his territory, while his 
  freakish competitor Diomedes asserts control over 
  Arlington. But despite all these travails, Riverside 
  Hills is a far better place to live than Freetown; 
  many Freetowners “move up to the River,” as they 
  say, when they get the chance to do so.
  LANDMARKS
  If you’re in the mood to wander around River-
  side Hills, check out these places.
  James Court (southwest corner of Barbour Avenue 
  and Anson Street):  This cluster of ﬁve brick apart-
  ment buildings painted white is on the National 
  Register of Historic Places. Designed by famed 
  early twentieth century architect T. Robert Jorgens-
  son, the buildings display his trademark rich sense 
  of style, without sacriﬁcing utilitarianism for aes-
  thetics. The waiting list to get into these apartments 
  is usually months, even years, long.
  Millford Park:  A favorite haunt not only of area 
  residents but students at Hudson City College who 
  are willing to walk a few blocks, Millford Park 
  squeezes in everything you’d want in a park:  green 
  areas, walking and jogging trails, and even a playing 
  ﬁeld suitable for either baseball or pickup football 
  games. When the weather’s ﬁne, you can always ﬁnd 
  teams of players waiting to use the ﬁeld. By unwrit-
  ten neighborhood rule, two teams play for an hour. 
  The winner gets to keep playing; the loser leaves the 
  ﬁeld and the next team in line takes its place. For 
  years, the amateur football games in the fall have 
  been dominated by a team of late twentysome-
  things/early thirtysomethings that calls itself the 
  Mustangs; all the rest of the teams enjoy defeating 
  the Mustangs most of all.
  Wainwright Orphanage (northeast corner of Robin 
  Avenue and Naomi Street):  Technically now known 
  as the “Wainwright Children’s Center,” most people 
  (including its employees) still refer to this place as 
  what it is:  an orphanage. The home to sad legions 
  of children whose parents abandoned them or 
  who have no living relatives, it’s a place where hope 
  springs eternal but is more often than not dashed 
  rudely to the ground to shatter. The staﬀ does its 
  best to make life comfortable and pleasant for the 
  kids, but there’s only so much they can do on the 
  center’s limited budget.
  RIVERSIDE
  HILLS
  MELISSA  
  THOMASON
   8 STR 
  8 DEX
   9 CON 
  7 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   12 PRE 
  10 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   18 END 16 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucrat-
  ics 11-, Computer 
  Programming 8-, Lip-
  reading 8-, Streetwise 
  8-, Contacts (8 points’ 
  worth in city govern-
  ment and appropriate 
  federal government 
  oﬃces)
  25+ Disadvantages:  
  None
  Notes:  Melissa Thoma-
  son is Assistant Direc-
  tor of the Wainwright 
  Orphanage. Her duties 
  involve general admin-
  istration, ﬁnancial man-
  agement, fundraising, 
  and assisting with the 
  placement of children 
  into foster and adoptive 
  homes. Caring and com-
  passionate, she’ll go to 
  great lengths to ensure 
  a successful adoption or 
  ﬁnd the right adoptive 
  parents for a particular 
  child. She focuses much 
  of her eﬀorts on getting 
  the older kids adopted, 
  since there’s always 
  demand for babies.
  
  85 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  SHOPPING
  Riverside Hills 
  doesn’t have any major 
  malls, department 
  stores, or anything like 
  that, but it’s got plenty 
  of retail areas ﬁlled 
  with everything from 
  favorite chain stores to 
  one-of-a-kind Hudson 
  City shops.
  Abercrombie Groceries 
  (2555 Anson Street):  In 
  today’s world of chain 
  supermarkets and mega-
  sized grocery stores, 
  some people still prefer 
  the traditional neigh-
  borhood food store. 
  Abercrombie Grocer-
  ies appeals to just such 
  people. Carrying a mix 
  of about 40% mass 
  produced brand foods and 60% specialty and deli 
  items it prepares itself, Abercrombie’s (as it’s known 
  in the neighborhood) has a loyal clientele. It’s even 
  got some Victorian-style benches set up outside 
  along the sidewalk so customers can sit down, relax, 
  talk with each other, and maybe make a meal of 
  whatever they just bought inside.
  Galacticon Games (northeast corner of Colum-
  bus Avenue and Edgecombe Street):  Whether 
  you prefer to play your games at a computer or 
  using a console and your TV, Galacticon Games 
  has what you’re looking for. It carries the big 
  hits and computer gaming standards, of course, 
  but it’s also good about stocking lesser-known 
  games and recommending them to customers. Its 
  employees, mostly part-timers from the College, 
  are all expert game-players with strong opinions 
  about which games are good... and which aren’t. 
  The only thing they seem to like to do more than 
  play games is argue about them.
  The Newsstand (2648 Garrison Street):  Just what the 
  name says it is. This store, run by newsaholic and 
  speedreader Bobby Donnett, carries hundreds of 
  diﬀerent magazines and newspapers, as well as a 
  small selection of books and personal convenience 
  items (cigarettes, bandages, snack food, that sort of 
  thing). However, Bobby does not stock “adult” or 
  “for men” magazines, which he considers oﬀensive 
  and degrading to women.
  ON THE TOWN
  Riverside Hills has what the Hudson Sun once 
  described as a “jumping” social scene. To the east, 
  Hudson City College dominates the nightlife with 
  bars and clubs that cater mostly to the student 
  crowd. In the western half of the neighborhood, 
  things are a little more laid back, but if you’re ready 
  for a night on the town, you have lots of options.
  Arthur’s (864 Vernon Crescent):  If a college bar 
  like Fallout (see below) isn’t really your thing, try 
  Arthur’s. It’s a little more upscale, it serves more 
  than just beer, and the music is kept to a low 
  enough volume that the patrons can carry on con-
  versations without making themselves hoarse.
  Fallout (northwest corner of DeVries Avenue and 
  Moss Street):  With $3 pitchers of beer every night 
  from 9:00 to 11:00, and baskets of wings with its 
  trademark “Fallout Sauce” for not much more, 
  this bar is one of the most popular hangouts for 
  Hudson City College students. Fallout’s annual 
  Darts Tournament in February is a college mini-
  event, attracting not only determined competitors 
  but lots of spectators.
  Marshall Cineplex (southwest corner of Coleman 
  Avenue and S. Jackson Street):  Let’s go to the 
  movies! At the Marshall Cineplex, even the pickiest 
  person can ﬁnd something he wants to watch:  its 
  30 screens shows everything from the latest block-
  buster, to obscure independent ﬁlms, to the produc-
  tions of Bollywood and other foreign ﬁlm markets. 
  And the popcorn’s been voted best in city twice.
  Scoville’s (southeast corner of Honeywell Avenue and 
  Rosemont Street):  Do you like it hot? Try Scoville’s, 
  where the “mild” food is enough to make most 
  people gulp down a gallon of water. Named for 
  the scale that ranks the “hotness” of peppers and 
  other food, Scoville’s appeals to the macho in its 
  patrons:  can you stand the heat? More than a few 
  of the items on its menu carry warnings about pos-
  sible permanent damage to the taste buds, tongue, 
  mouth lining, or stomach — and the heat on some 
  is so ﬁerce that if a diner can eat the whole thing 
  without drinking more than one small glass of 
  water, he gets his meal for free.
  IMAGES OF 
  RIVERSIDE HILLS
  Steam rising from 
  manhole covers and 
  sidewalk grates on cool 
  mornings
  College kids walking 
  around in Allston Park
  The sad stone walls sur-
  rounding the grounds 
  of the Wainwright 
  Orphanage
  Street gangs from Free-
  town, making forays 
  north to sell coke and 
  heroin where there’s less 
  competition... but the 
  risk of encountering the 
  cops is worse
  A small crowd watch-
  ing the pickup football 
  games in Millford Park
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  86 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  “‘Hi, honey, I’m hoooome!’”
  “Ha, ha. Very funny. How was your day?”
  “Ehhh, not bad. Mostly paperwork, but we 
  ﬁnally got the Myerson case settled. All we need 
  now are the documents from Peterbaugh & 
  Kirkpatrick, and the whole thing goes away.”
  “Congratulations! That’s a real load oﬀ your 
  shoulders.”
  “No kidding. I feel like I lost 20 pounds.”
  “We should celebrate!”
  “Mmmm, what did you have in mind?”
  “Not that, silly. Later. Let’s go out to dinner.”
  “I know you. You have some place in mind 
  already, don’t you?”
  “Let’s try the Spinning Diamond. Alicia was 
  telling me how she and Ted had an absolutely 
  fantastic meal there a couple weeks ago.”
  “D’ya think we can get reservations this late?”
  “Can’t hurt to call and ask. You dial, I’m going 
  to go change.”
  — evening conversation in a  
  Worthington condominium
  Worthington is the north-central neighbor-
  hood in Hudson City. Its boundaries are generally 
  considered 3rd Avenue to the south, N. Adams Street 
  to the east, N. Lincoln Street to the west, and the 
  city limits to the north.
  In the earliest days of the city, Worthington was 
  a district of small farms. As the city grew, these gave 
  way to light industry (such as textiles and furniture 
  manufacturing) and some residences. By the latter 
  half of the nineteenth century, the residential areas, 
  such as Red Branch and Yellow Branch (named after 
  the two branches of a large creek that used to run 
  through the area), became extremely crowded, almost 
  slum-like. Residents of nicer areas to the south 
  didn’t care for that, so they began pressuring the city 
  government to do something about the situation. 
  Over the course of several years, the Mayor and City 
  Council altered the zoning for the area to diminish 
  the population, forcing many people to move west 
  into such neighborhoods as Burlington Heights 
  and Norward. Taking advantage of the new zoning 
  regulations, developers and wealthy businessmen 
  constructed oﬃce buildings and other commercial 
  structures in Worthington. In time the commercial 
  buildings took the place of most of the manufactur-
  ing, which moved to other parts of the city.
  Today Worthington is a pleasant neighbor-
  hood, partly residential, partly commercial. In 
  contrast to the nineteenth century, the eastern 
  parts of the area, such as the two Branches, is 
  mostly commercial:  office buildings, some sky-
  scrapers, business parks, and such. The western 
  areas are more residential, and in the middle you 
  have the neighborhood of Somerset, which mixes 
  the two and has some retail districts as well. 
  The presence of Hudson City State University 
  (page 117) also affects Somerset and Burlington 
  Heights, giving rise to student-oriented busi-
  nesses and cheap student housing.
  Worthington has a moderate crime rate. It’s 
  not as safe as Highlands, Guilford, or Irishtown, 
  but deﬁnitely less dangerous than Eastwood 
  or the Southside. Some criminals drift into the 
  area because they consider the HCSU students 
  easy pickings; skilled criminal crews may target 
  Worthington banks or oﬃces.
  See also page 44 for a map of eastern 
  Worthington.
  NORWARD
  Taking its name from “North Ward,” back in 
  the days when the citizens elected their oﬃcials by 
  wards, Norward is a neighborhood in southwest 
  Worthington. These days most people use the 
  name to refer to the “wedge” between 4th Avenue, 
  Kurtland Boulevard, and N. Truman Boulevard. 
  Years ago it was almost entirely a residential neigh-
  borhood, but the building of the two highways 
  changed things. Shipping companies like EZWay 
  Trucking and other businesses who need easy 
  access to the highways (or to the airport, which is 
  only a few minutes’ drive to the north of Norward 
  via the Truman) began getting parts of the neigh-
  borhood rezoned for commercial use. Most resi-
  dents, eager for more job opportunities, welcomed 
  the newcomers, though others warned darkly of 
  the unforeseen consequences of change and an 
  increase in the crime rate.
  Both predictions have come to pass. Nor-
  ward now has one of the lowest unemployment 
  rates of any neighborhood in the city, thanks to 
  the influx of light industry and related firms... 
  but as a consequence the character of the neigh-
  borhood has gone downhill a little. It’s not as safe 
  as it used to be, nor as family-friendly, but such 
  is the price of progress.
  WORTHINGTON
  IMAGES OF 
  WORTHINGTON
  Trucks pulling oﬀ the 
  highway into Norward, 
  their drivers home at 
  last
  The darkness-dispelling 
  lights of the Golden 
  Avenue advertising the 
  latest shows
  The rustling leaves of 
  the trees on the Avenue 
  of the Elms
  The oﬃce parks and 
  corporate centers along 
  the city’s northern edge
  Businessmen hurry-
  ing to work early in the 
  morning
  The beautiful facade and 
  broad front steps of the 
  Ferranti Auditorium
  The distinctive buildings 
  of HCSU
  
  87 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  LANDMARKS
  Some of the best-known buildings 
  and locations in Hudson City can be 
  found in Worthington.
  Fordham ChemTech Tower (southeast 
  corner of Vance Avenue and N. Madison 
  Street):  The world headquarters of 
  Fordham ChemTech, one of the world’s 
  leading industrial ﬁrms, this ninety-story 
  skyscraper is the tallest building in the 
  area. The company’s current chief execu-
  tive, Jeﬀrey Fordham, has his oﬃces on 
  the 89th ﬂoor; the ninetieth contains a 
  small but elegant restaurant (Madison 
  90) and an observation deck.
  The Golden Avenue:  The section of 1st 
  Avenue between N. Adams Street and 
  N. Madison is Hudson City’s theater 
  district and the heart of its community 
  of performing artists. Referred to as 
  “the Golden Avenue” because of the 
  bright lights of the many playhouses 
  clustered along its length, it’s a top 
  destination spot for natives and tour-
  ists alike. The theaters host original 
  productions, traveling Broadway plays, 
  small concerts, and many similar events. A locally-
  published weekly pamphlet, the Golden Avenue 
  Gazeteer, provides information about what’s cur-
  rently being shown at places like the Neapolitan 
  Theatre, Kelleher Music Hall, the City Theatre, the 
  Mannheim Playhouse, and the Millennium Theatre.
  Harpcor Towers (northeast corner of Combs Avenue 
  and Northampton Street):  One of the most striking 
  oﬃce buildings in Hudson City is the headquarters 
  of the Harper Corporation (Harpcor; see page 
  120), called Harpcor Towers. Consisting of two 
  towers rising from a central base, it reminds some 
  critics of a chimneystack, others of a sort of castle. 
  In addition to the Harpcor oﬃces (which occupy 
  the ﬁrst ten ﬂoors), the building contains various 
  law ﬁrms, brokerages, accounting ﬁrms, and other 
  businesses, including the famed Spinning Diamond 
  restaurant (see below).
  Lowder Publishing (820 Newport Street):  Fans of 
  genre ﬁction have a special place in their hearts for 
  Lowder Publishing, which started as a producer 
  of pulp magazines in 1924. After years of success 
  in the pulp ﬁction business, it shifted over to more 
  mainstream publishing, but still focused on genre 
  ﬁction:  westerns; science ﬁction; horror; fantasy; 
  romance. Some of the most popular fantasy and 
  science ﬁction novels of the twentieth century were 
  ﬁrst published by Lowder, and its “Lowder Fantasy 
  Classics” series is still regarded today as one of the 
  best and most inﬂuential collection of seminal fan-
  tasy works. In addition to the company’s oﬃces, the 
  Lowder Publishing Building includes the Lowder 
  Museum (one of the world’s largest and most valu-
  able collections of pulp and genre ﬁction memo-
  rabilia) and the Lowder Archives (a library of pulp 
  magazines and the like).
  SHOPPING
  Worthington’s retail and commercial districts 
  have a wide selection of stores, shops, and bou-
  tiques for the discriminating consumer.
  Boudreau’s Department Store (southwest corner 
  of 2nd Avenue and Washington Street):  This large, 
  freestanding, twelve-story department store has 
  been a Hudson City institution for well over a hun-
  dred years. The subject of movies such as A Day 
  At Boudreau’s and Meet Me On The Fourth Floor, it 
  includes some very upscale, expensive departments 
  (such as Jewelry and Fine China), but also quite a 
  few that carry economy goods and other inexpen-
  sive wares. The store’s employees have a reputation 
  for being knowledgeable, tasteful, and eﬃcient; for 
  a small fee they’ll deliver your purchase to your 
  home or oﬃce.
  Boudreau’s hosts many events and spon-
  sors many community functions through the 
  year — wine-tasting parties, Little League teams, 
  charity events, and more — making it beloved 
  for more than just its vast selection of goods. Its 
  best-known annual feature is Christmas Village, 
  which it erects in the center of the store the day 
  after Thanksgiving so the children of Hudson City 
  can come sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they 
  want for Christmas. For holiday-minded shoppers, 
  the Boudreau’s staﬀ creates special displays in the 
  outside windows; walking up and down the street 
  looking at them is a favorite holiday pasttime for 
  many Hudsonites.
  Che’s Book Nook (northwest corner of Vance Avenue 
  and Mathews Street):  This enormous bookstore 
  sells both new books (ﬁrst ﬂoor) and used books 
  (second and third ﬂoors). Located in the heart of 
  Somerset, it’s become a haven for the city’s book-
  lovers and literary ﬁgures. The owner, Che Andrew-
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  88 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  son, is a softspoken women who loves to talk about 
  books. When she’s not dealing with administrative 
  matters, you can usually ﬁnd her enjoying a cup of 
  tea in the little coﬀeehouse on the ﬁrst ﬂoor.
  Callahan Gem Importers (Floor 14-A of the Harp-
  cor Towers building):  One of the few major gem 
  importers not to do most of its business at the 
  Hudson City Gemstone Exchange (page 121), Cal-
  lahan Gem Importers deals directly with suppliers 
  of precious stones in Belgium, Russia, Africa, South 
  America, and elsewhere. The ﬁrm in turn sells 
  the stones to jewelers and other customers in this 
  country. Due to the large amount of “stock” it has 
  on hand at any one time, it has a strong security 
  system and the best small vault money can buy.
  ON THE TOWN
  Worthington’s got plenty of places where 
  people can have a good time.
  PoMo (southeast corner of Ashmont Avenue and 
  N. Gabriel Street):  The latest in trendiness, PoMo 
  serves drinks you’ve never heard of to people who 
  wouldn’t be caught dead hanging around someone 
  as uncool as you. The guys covering the door allow 
  in only the hippest of the hip among the beautiful 
  people; the un-hip and unbeautiful need not even 
  apply. Those who make it through the doors earn 
  the privilege of paying three times as much for a 
  drink as they would anywhere else while staring at 
  the decidedly odd decor (bubble fountains, plasma 
  globes and sculptures, weird neon things...). But 
  hey, it’s the place to be seen, and for some people, 
  that’s more than enough.
  Marge’s Place (northeast corner of 2nd Avenue and 
  Onondaga Street):  Truckers and similar folk work-
  ing over in Norward often stop oﬀ at Marge’s Place 
  to have a drink before going home... or maybe 
  before going on duty. Marge Sweetwater, the owner, 
  is a trucker’s widow who sort of informally “adopts” 
  many of her regulars and makes sure they’re doing 
  OK, not working too much, are eating well....
  The Spinning Diamond (Floor 20-B of the Harpcor 
  Towers building):  The top ﬂoor of Tower B of 
  the Harpcor Towers building contains the Spin-
  ning Diamond, a restaurant whose interior slowly 
  revolves, giving most diners alternating views of the 
  northern suburbs and the city. It’s fast becoming 
  one of the city’s trendiest restaurants with its eclec-
  tic menu and impeccable service.
  A Taste Of Paris (northwest corner of Chatham 
  Avenue and Watts Street):  Hudson City has many 
  ﬁne French restaurants, but few that rise to the 
  level of quality shown by A Taste Of Paris. Owner 
  Rene Bouvard, a Paris-trained master chef him-
  self, makes sure that every last detail — from the 
  print on the menus, to the quality of the ﬂoral 
  centerpieces, to the amount of seasoning used in 
  the escargot — is perfect. More than one employee 
  who’d earn top marks at another restaurant has 
  been ﬁred from A Taste Of Paris for failing to live 
  up to Bouvard’s exacting standards.
  LIMELIGHT DREAMS
  The presence of all the major playhouses and theaters 
  along the Golden Avenue, not to mention the many 
  smaller or less prominent venues elsewhere in the 
  neighborhood, has spawned an actors’ culture in east 
  Worthington. Sometimes it seems as if everyone you run 
  into there who isn’t obviously a businessman is an actor, 
  a wannabe actor, a producer, or someone else associated 
  with the theater business in some way, shape, or form.
  The average Hudsonite is most likely to encounter the 
  actors’ culture in one of two ways (besides going to see 
  a play, of course!). The ﬁrst is by going out for some-
  thing to eat in the neighborhood. Countless actors 
  work as waiters, waitresses, coﬀee shop employees, 
  cooks, you name it. Not only is it work that suits their 
  oddball schedules, it puts them in a position to swipe a 
  bite to eat when the boss is not looking — when you’re 
  a struggling actor with the income of a Third World 
  bureaucrat, every free feed helps!
  The second is on the street. Many actors try to scare up a 
  few extra bucks by putting their talents to work as street 
  performers. Technically this requires a license from the 
  city, but most of the actors don’t bother, and only the 
  most bored, hardest-hearted cop wastes his time running 
  someone in for performing without a license — well, 
  anyone other than mimes, maybe.
  The actors themselves tend to be a close-knit bunch, for 
  all that they compete with one another for jobs. They 
  help each other ﬁnd work to tide them over until the next 
  acting job, form support groups and social cliques, and 
  sometimes even assemble acting or comedy troupes that 
  make a name for themselves. The most famous of these is 
  probably the Yellow Branch Company, a mostly comedy-
  oriented group that’s spawned some of the great comic 
  talents of this generation. More than a few of the Yellow 
  Branch alumni have gone on to big success on television 
  or out in Hollywood, and they often repay the favor by 
  returning to Hudson City to teach the Company classes 
  or help put on beneﬁt performances. Getting into the 
  YBC is tough; the group accepts only the most talented 
  performers on the basis of a unanimous vote by all cur-
  rent members.
  KAREN BAKER
   10 STR 
  13 DEX
   11 CON 
  9 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  16 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   3 SPD 
  4 REC
   22 END 20 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  8-, Combat Driving 8-, 
  Combat Piloting 13-, 
  CK: Hudson City 11-, 
  KS: The Military/Mer-
  cenary/Terrorist World 
  8-, KS: The U.S. Army 
  8-, Paramedics 11-, PS: 
  Charter Pilot 11-, Stealth 
  12-, TF: Common 
  Motorized Ground 
  Vehicles, Helicopters, 
  Small Planes, SCUBA, 
  WF: Small Arms, Fringe 
  Beneﬁt:  Licensed Heli-
  copter Charter Pilot
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  Karen Baker 
  owns and operates 
  Ambassador Air Service, 
  a helicopter charter 
  company that ﬂies 
  executives, diplomats, 
  and other important, 
  wealthy people all 
  around Hudson City for 
  a stiﬀ fee. She has ﬁve 
  employees (two other 
  pilots, two support staﬀ) 
  and a small oﬃce and 
  hangar at Hudson City 
  International Airport. 
  An Army veteran, she 
  runs her company with 
  military eﬃciency, and 
  responds level-headedly 
  to the emergencies that 
  sometimes arise.
  
  89 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  E
  ven as large as it is, Hudson City proper 
  simply doesn’t have the space necessary to 
  house the millions of people who work in 
  the city. Additionally, not everyone who 
  works in the city wants to live in an urban area. 
  For that reason, dozens of suburbs and bedroom 
  communities have sprung up on all sides of the 
  city. Most of the suburbs surrounding Hudson 
  City are pretty much the same:  they’re much 
  less built up than the city, have more detached 
  housing and isolated neighborhoods, and so 
  forth. They differ in the standard of living they 
  provide, but otherwise they’re all just bedroom 
  communities for the Pearl City.
  Hudson City occupies the entirety of Stewart 
  County. Six counties ring it:  Morgan; Corinth; 
  Prince William; Benton; Franklin; and Sabine. See 
  page 276 for a map of the area.
  MORGAN COUNTY
  Located north of the city along the coast, 
  Morgan County is a pleasant, sometimes even pic-
  turesque, place. Most of the suburbs here are on the 
  upper end of the economic and social scale; their 
  residents tend to be the families of high-powered 
  executives and the like. (The areas around Aberdeen 
  International Airport, which are mostly industrial 
  or working-class residential, are an exception.) 
  The schools are top-notch, and in Hudson Beach 
  and Bayside (not to be confused with the Hudson 
  City neighborhood of the same name) the county 
  oﬀers Northsiders places to go down to the sea. The 
  beaches there tend to get very crowded on summer 
  weekends; seaside houses and condominiums are 
  extremely expensive and highly desirable.
  Morgan County townships include:
  Arcadia
  Bayside
  Cambria (site of Aberdeen International Airport)
  Hudson Beach
  Mill Creek
  Northdale (also in Corinth County)
  Pleasanton
  Swan’s Quarter
  Morgan County also includes Pine Island, 
  the site of a number of small resorts frequented by 
  Hudson City’s wealthy. (Nearby Osprey Island isn’t in 
  Morgan County, but similarly has lots of resort areas.)
   
  CORINTH COUNTY
  Lying just west of Morgan County, Corinth 
  County is best known to most Hudsonites as the 
  location of Albion, a delightful little town with sev-
  eral ﬁrst-class bed and breakfasts. The town fathers 
  of Albion have adopted stringent zoning regula-
  tions and other ordinances to preserve the town’s 
  charm; getting permission to build a new house 
  there (or renovate an existing one) is harder than 
  pulling teeth.
  Corinth County townships include: 
  Albion
  Jordan (also in Prince William County)
  Norwood
  Rockwell (also in Prince William County)
  PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY
  Irishtown borders Prince William County, 
  and the presence of so much money can be felt in 
  nearby suburbs like Jordan and Andrews Heights, 
  which in many respects aren’t much diﬀerent from 
  Irishtown itself. The houses and lawns are large, the 
  streets are well-patrolled by police and sheriﬀ’s oﬃ-
  cers, and the shops and restaurants are highbrow 
  and elegant. A little further out, such as in Willow-
  ford, things become more middle-class, but still on 
  the upper end of the scale.
  Prince William County townships include:
  Andrews Heights
  Bedford
  Belmont
  Buena Vista
  Carlyle
  Haines Ridge
  Iroquois
  Rome
  Sparta
  Willowford
  BENTON COUNTY
  Benton County sits across the Stewart River 
  from Prince William County. Its towns are mostly 
  middle-class and working-class places; many a 
  Hudsonite has fond memories of having grown up 
  on the streets of East Maple, Elk Lake, or Pineville. 
  Maple Valley is the site of the famous Maple Valley 
  Pottery Works, which produces pots and jugs that 
  are often considered valuable collectibles.
  SUBURBS
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  90 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  Benton County townships include:
  Arlington
  Blanton
  Drexel Park
  East Maple
  Elk Lake
  Harrington
  Knoxboro
  Maple Valley
  Pineville
  FRANKLIN COUNTY
  This county, located southwest of Hudson City 
  proper, has only a few large towns. For the most 
  part, they’re black enclaves like Freetown, but safer, 
  better oﬀ economically, and more spread out. On 
  the Freetown streets, the term “Franklin” describes 
  a black from Franklin County who’s not as street-
  smart as the speaker thinks he ought to be.
  Franklin County townships include:
  Blueﬁeld
  Clifton
  Douglasburg
  Stewartsville
  SABINE COUNTY
  Located directly south of Freetown, Elm-
  view, and Latin City, Sabine County and its towns 
  (mainly Southport, which is along the coast) are 
  mostly working-class residential mixed with the 
  heavy industry and other businesses that cannot or 
  will not function within the city limits. For exam-
  ple, the Hudson City Landﬁll is located just south 
  of Hamilton.
  The towns of Southport and Easton include 
  land along the coast. The beaches here aren’t as nice 
  as those in Morgan, but Southsiders have just as 
  much fun swimming and enjoying the cool ocean 
  breezes as their Northsider counterparts.
  Sabine County townships include:
  Deweyville
  Easton
  Hamilton
  Lukesburg
  Southport
  Windham
  Sabine County’s territory also includes Fort 
  Butler Island, the site of Hudson City’s only large 
  defensework during the nineteenth century. The 
  Fort Butler Historical Society gives guided tours of 
  the fort’s ruins.
  OUTLYING COMMUNITIES
  Beyond the immediate ring of counties and 
  towns around Hudson City lie other, more rural com-
  munities. Hudsonites willing to make long commutes 
  into work sometimes live in these places, where they 
  can own lots of land. These towns include:  Beckett’s 
  Landing; Burkett’s Mill; Cookville; Eagle Springs; 
  Farmingdale; Huntington; Jonesburg; Manchester; 
  Raleigh Hills; Riverwood; Springﬁeld; Stewartsburg 
  (site of Stewartsburg Penitentiary); and Westridge.
  THE INNER AND OUTER BELTLINES
  Not everyone driving through New Jersey 
  wants to go through Hudson City. After all, traﬃc 
  on Truman Boulevard can slow down to a crawl at 
  some times during the day... and what happens if 
  your car breaks down in Freetown or Lafayette?
  To avoid these potentially unpleasant fates, 
  drivers can take either of two beltlines around the 
  city:  the Inner and the Outer. The Inner Beltline, I-
  8755, splits oﬀ from I-3275 south of Sabine County 
  and wends its way through Franklin, Benton, 
  Prince William, Corinth, and just a bit of Morgan 
  Counties before merging into I-4085 a little ways 
  south of the town of Raleigh Hills. The Outer Belt-
  line (I-2379) arcs around all of the counties (except 
  for one corner of Benton) and joins I-4085 a couple 
  miles north of where the Inner Beltline does.
  The Outer Beltline and I-2984 (Kurtland 
  Boulevard) both cross the Stewart River at a town 
  called Burkett’s Mill. As a result of all the trucking 
  traﬃc passing through there, Burkett’s Mill has 
  become notorious as a town of truck stops, prosti-
  tution, and illegal gambling.
  LAKE CHICAROA
  Roughly eighty miles west of the Hudson City 
  limits is Lake Chicaroa, a large, deep lake whose 
  waters are usually too cold for swimming even at 
  the height of summer but ideal for ﬁshing most 
  times of the year. Fed by underground springs and 
  rivers, Lake Chicaroa serves as a backup water 
  supply for Hudson City in the event of a calamity 
  with its current water sources (see page 23).
  And Lake Chicaroa may hold more than just 
  ﬁsh. From the sasquatch of the Paciﬁc Northwest, 
  to the yeti of the Himalayas, to the mokele mbembe 
  of the West African jungle, the world is suppos-
  edly full of creatures man has not yet discovered 
  and catalogued. One such creature is the “Chicaroa 
  Beast,” Hudson City’s equivalent of the Loch Ness 
  Monster. Colloquially known as “Chickie,” and fea-
  tured in cartoon form on countless t-shirts, base-
  ball caps, billboard, and the like, Chickie is said to 
  resemble a gigantic, long-necked lizard with some 
  sort of “claw-ﬂippers” along its sides. No one has 
  ever provided deﬁnitive proof that Chickie actually 
  exists. Several well-known “photographs” of the 
  creature, which tend to follow the description given 
  above, are inconclusive (and some of them have 
  been revealed as fakes or hoaxes in recent years). 
  Proving Chickie does (or does not) exist is an 
  obsessive quest for many residents of the area.
  BERINGHURST 
  -ON-STEWART
  Upriver from Hudson 
  City, well outside the 
  main ring of suburbs 
  surrounding the city 
  but not so far out in 
  the country that it’s 
  completely isolated, sits 
  a charming little resort 
  called Beringhurst-on-
  Stewart. This bed-and-
  breakfast occupies the 
  former home of the 
  Beringhurst family, 
  one of the area’s most 
  prosperous farming and 
  ranching families in the 
  mid- to late 1800s. In 
  addition to impeccable 
  service and delicious 
  food, the b-and-b oﬀers 
  a superb view of the 
  Stewart River and many 
  other amenities, includ-
  ing temporary ﬁshing 
  licenses, horseback 
  riding, and “lawn sports” 
  like croquet. And the 
  B-on-S’s lemonade is so 
  good people often drive 
  out from Hudson City 
  just to have a glass or 
  three along with lunch.
  
  91 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  T
  he Hudson City government has two 
  branches:  the mayor’s oﬃce, which performs 
  executive duties; and the City Council, which 
  acts as a legislative and regulatory body. 
  Additionally, it has hundreds of “commissions” that 
  oversee certain city functions, such as Transporta-
  tion, Sanitation, or historical preservation.
  THE MAYOR
  Hudson City’s chief executive is the Mayor. 
  He (no women have ever held the job) is elected by 
  the citizens at large for a four-year term. There’s no 
  legal limit on the number of terms a single person 
  can hold as mayor. The record is four terms (John 
  Gadsden, 1876-1892), but given the modern politi-
  cal scene and mass media, the odds of someone 
  serving for more than two terms in a row are slim. 
  The mayor’s oﬃce is located at the very top of City 
  Hall, the largest building in Governmental Plaza 
  (see below).
  The mayor’s duties are broad and far-reach-
  ing. In addition to representing the city on the 
  national stage, he handles a wide variety of 
  executive functions, including law enforcement, 
  city personnel and hiring, city budgeting and 
  finance, economic development, and the like. 
  He also interacts frequently, and on many levels, 
  with the City Council to push his agenda for the 
  city, resolve problems in city government, and 
  otherwise keep the city operating as smoothly as 
  possible. In the rare event of a tie in a Council 
  vote, the mayor hold the tiebreaking vote.
  The Honorable  
  Graydon T. Umstead
  The current mayor of Hudson City is the Hon-
  orable Graydon T. Umstead, a Republican.
  Elected by a narrow margin in 2002 on a 
  reformist, anti-union, pro-law enforcement plat-
  form, he came into oﬃce promising to trim the 
  city’s budget and bloated employee rolls, reduce 
  the crime rate, and curb the power of local unions. 
  His eﬀorts to reduce city spending and employ-
  ment have generally succeeded so far — but not to 
  the degree he’d like, and with the unavoidable side 
  eﬀect of angering people who lost their jobs or now 
  have more diﬃculty accessing city services.
  Other than that, his record is neutral or mixed. 
  His staunch support of the Hudson City Police 
  Department has received accolades in some circles, 
  but criticism in others, where he’s called a racist 
  and proponent of police brutality. His eﬀorts to 
  control the crime rate have not accomplished much 
  (to no one’s surprise), but have earned him the 
  city’s respect.
  Umstead’s dogged attacks on the city’s unions 
  (especially those that include city employees) have 
  been his biggest lightning rod for both praise and 
  criticism. On the one hand, Hudsonites are sick 
  and tired of union abuses (such as part-time school 
  janitors earning $60,000 a year, and the 2002 sanita-
  tion workers’ strikes for more money for less work). 
  On the other hand, many citizens are union mem-
  bers or know a union member, and they’re angry 
  about Umstead’s viliﬁcation of the unions.
  CITY 
  GOVERNMENT
  THE CHAIN  
  OF COMMAND
  According to city law, if 
  the election for mayor 
  results in a tie, the cur-
  rent City Council — the 
  one that was in existence 
  the day of the elec-
  tion, not the new one 
  that may have resulted 
  from that same election 
  — chooses the mayor. 
  This has never happened 
  in city history.
  Also according to 
  city law, if the mayor 
  and deputy mayor are 
  both unable to serve, 
  the Speaker of the 
  City Council becomes 
  mayor pro tem until an 
  election can be called, 
  which must take place 
  at the earliest reasonable 
  time (i.e., the city does 
  not wait until the next 
  November). The winner 
  serves a standard four-
  year term. This hap-
  pened in 1950, with the 
  long-term result being 
  that Hudson City may-
  oral elections are not 
  held in the same year 
  as presidential elections 
  the way they once were 
  — they’re held two years 
  after each presidential 
  election.
  THE HONORABLE  
  GRAYDON T. UMSTEAD
  Mayor Of Hudson City
   10 STR 
  10 DEX 
  10 CON 
  10 BODY
   18 INT 
  14 EGO 
  20 PRE 
  14 COM
   
  2 PD 
  2 ED 
  2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 
  20 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 13-; Conversation 13-; Deduction 
  13-; High Society 13-; CK: Hudson City 11-; KS: Hudson 
  City Politics 13-; KS: Law 13-; KS: Political Science 13-; 
  Navigation (Marine) 13-; Oratory 13-; Persuasion 13-; 
  PS: Lawyer 13-; PS: Politician 13-; PS: Sailor 11-; Riding 
  11-; Seduction 13-; TF: Small Wind-Powered Boats; 
  WF: Small Arms; Contacts (50 points’ worth throughout 
  Hudson City, state politics, and federal politics); Favors 
  (15 points’ worth from various people he’s helped during 
  his career); Fringe Beneﬁts: Mayor of Hudson City, 
  License To Practice Law; Money (10 points)
  25+ Disadvantages:  Hunted:  Watched by the media and 
  various other groups; Hunted:  various political oppo-
  nents who want to defeat him in the next election; Psy-
  chological Limitation:  Must Do What He Feels Is Right; 
  Psychological Limitation:  Devoted Family Man; Reputa-
  tion (that fascist bastard of a mayor) 11-; Rivalry (various 
  political opponents); Social Limitation:  Famous
  Notes:  Graydon T. Umstead 
  is the ﬁrst Republican mayor 
  Hudson City’s had in 28 years. 
  A handsome man in his late 40s, 
  he’s got green eyes and hair gone 
  prematurely grey from the stress 
  of his job. He is a committed, 
  slightly moderate conservative 
  who’s ﬁrmly devoted to his prin-
  ciples — no matter what the cost, he does what he thinks 
  is the right thing, even if it means taking on powerful, 
  entrenched special interest groups. He’s equally devoted 
  to his wife, Pat, and children, Graydon Jr. (age 10) and 
  Melissa (age 8), and does his best to shield them from the 
  ugly side of being the Mayor’s family. Umstead’s hobbies 
  include horseback riding and sailing.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  92 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  With an election coming up in 2006, 
  Umstead is considered vulnerable in some circles. 
  Union support of his opponent alone could turn 
  the election against him, unless between now and 
  then he can break the unions’ power and show 
  that his actions have had a measurable beneﬁ-
  cial eﬀect. Similarly, a real victory in the war on 
  crime could land him another four years in Gov-
  ernmental Center... while one high-proﬁle case 
  of police corruption or brutality could get him 
  tossed out on his ear.
  Deputy Mayor Edward Wilson
  Ranked immediately below the mayor in the 
  city hierarchy is the deputy mayor, who runs on 
  the same ticket with the mayor during elections. 
  The deputy mayor assists the mayor, stands in for 
  him when he can’t be present at various functions, 
  represents the city’s government at many diﬀerent 
  events, and if necessary replaces the mayor in the 
  event he cannot serve out his full term.
  Ed Wilson, a black man about the same age 
  as Graydon Umstead, serves with him as deputy 
  mayor. A moderate-to-conservative Democrat and 
  long-time friend of the Mayor’s, he was chosen 
  for Umstead’s ticket to balance it out both politi-
  cally and racially. He plays an important role as 
  Umstead’s link to the black community — though 
  he’s angered the NAACP and some other groups 
  with his outspoken comments about the “poisonous 
  nature” of modern urban black culture and how it 
  holds black people back. He’s considered a potential 
  candidate for mayor or governor in the near future.
  Other Deputy Mayors
  Although press and public alike refer to Ed 
  Wilson is the Deputy Mayor, in fact he’s not the 
  only one Hudson City has — Chief Deputy Mayor 
  or Vice-Mayor would be more accurate titles, 
  reﬂecting his role as the Mayor’s second-in-com-
  mand. The other deputy mayors handle speciﬁc 
  divisions of the executive branch of the city govern-
  ment, and are always referred to by their full title 
  (deputy major for so-and-so) to distinguish them 
  from “the” Deputy Mayor. Each Deputy Mayor has 
  one or more Deputy Assistants serving under him.
  Among the ranks of the deputy mayors, 
  the main ones (and their corresponding depart-
  ments) are:
  ADMINISTRATION
  Often referred to as the “Administrative Ser-
  vices Division” (its name under an older scheme 
  of city government organization), “Admin” is 
  considered the most important branch of the city 
  government by some people. It’s responsible for 
  managing all the city’s personnel and ﬁnancial 
  matters. Its most important task is to draw up the 
  annual city budget for approval by the Mayor and 
  City Council, and its ability to suggest increased or 
  decreased funding for particular oﬃces or projects 
  makes it feared throughout the city. Deputy Mayor 
  for Administration Myron Evans is known around 
  Governmental Center as “the Hangman” for his 
  ability to strangle policy initiatives through lack 
  of funding. His main assistant, Comptroller Ray 
  Krueger, knows more about the minutia of the city 
  budget than anyone else in the government.
  One of the most important sections in this 
  Mayor: Graydon T. Umstead
  Deputy Mayor: Edward Wilson
  Deputy Mayor (Administration): Myron Evans
   
  —  Human Resources Division
  Deputy Mayor (Commerce): Kevin Ramis
   
  — Consumer Affairs Division
   
  — Small Business Assistance Division
   
  — Film and Broadcasting Division
   
  — Labor Relations Division
  Deputy Mayor (Community Development): William Froward
   
  — Economic Development Division
   
  — Planning Division
  Deputy Mayor (Legal Affairs): City Attorney Regina Hallowell
  Deputy Mayor (Operations): Roberta Medrano
   
  — Children’s Services Division
   
  — Environmental Protection Division
   
  — Health and Human Services Division
   
  — Information Services Division
   
  — Taxi and Limousine Commission
  The City Council (79 Councilmen elected by districts)
   
  — Speaker: Tony Hyatt
  City Commissions
   
  — Parks And Recreation Commission
   
  — Public Works Commission
   
  — Sanitation Commission
   
  — Schools Commission (School Board)
   
  — Transportation Commission
   
  — Utilities Commission
   
  — Other Commissions
  
  93 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  department is the Human Resources Division, 
  which is in charge of all city hiring, payrolls, and 
  the like. Georgina Flynn, a large, no-nonsense 
  black woman, has held the position of Director 
  of Human Resources for ﬁfteen years, through 
  three diﬀerent mayors — although her job is an 
  appointed position, she has such extensive experi-
  ence (and, some say, knowledge of which skeletons 
  are in which closets) that each incoming mayor 
  reappoints her. But that doesn’t mean she gets 
  along with her boss. She and Mayor Umstead have 
  clashed on several occasions over city staﬃng, and 
  she’s lost each time (much to her seething resent-
  ment). She’s also mostly pro-union... some say 
  because she’s in the back pocket of the Maﬁa.
  COMMERCE
  Under the steady, if uninspired, leadership of 
  Deputy Mayor for Commerce Kevin Ramis, the 
  Commerce Department handles a wide variety of 
  trade- and business-related matters for the city. Its 
  divisions include Consumer Aﬀairs, Small Business 
  Assistance, Film and Broadcasting, and Labor Rela-
  tions. The latter is a particularly tense and touchy 
  place these days, given Mayor Umstead’s seemingly 
  ceaseless quarrels with the unions.
  COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
  This department, one of the largest (and 
  according to Umstead, most bloated) bureaucracies 
  in the city, has two main sections (and thus func-
  tions). The ﬁrst, and in terms of staﬃng the small-
  est, is the Economic Development Division (EDD). 
  It’s responsible for monitoring the city’s economy 
  and suggesting ways to improve it, attracting new 
  businesses and jobs to Hudson City, and so forth. 
  It’s a thankless task that generally only attracts 
  notice when EDD fails. The EDD often butts heads 
  with Commerce over which department has pri-
  mary authority over a given matter; Deputy Mayor 
  for Community Development William Froward 
  loathes Kevin Ramis, and vice-versa.
  The second, and by far the larger, is the Plan-
  ning Division. If you want to build a new building 
  or subdivision, or alter an existing one, this is where 
  you get the permit. When it’s time to have plans for 
  that building approved, these are the people who do 
  the review and make recommendations to the City 
  Council (which the Council follows over 85% of the 
  time). If you want to have an area rezoned or peti-
  tion for a zoning variance, this is the department you 
  talk to. When it’s time for your building to undergo 
  an inspection for building and zoning code viola-
  tions, Planning sends out the inspectors. In short, the 
  Planning Division is both bane and boon to the city’s 
  developers, contractors, and property owners.
  For decades, one story or rumor after another 
  has claimed the Planning Division is rife with cor-
  ruption, from the lowliest inspector all the way up 
  to the top oﬃce. Like his predecessors, Director of 
  Planning Phillip Taggart staunchly denies these 
  allegations, though some have resulted in pros-
  ecutions whose ﬁndings of “guilty” he can’t argue 
  against. He says those “bad days” are behind the 
  department, and that he looks forward to proving 
  the Planning Department’s integrity to the people 
  of Hudson City.
  LEGAL AFFAIRS
  The Legal Aﬀairs Department handles legal 
  matters for the city — in other words, it’s Hudson 
  City’s lawyer, the agency that handles civil suits 
  brought against the city, and ﬁles suit on behalf of 
  the city when the Mayor deems it prudent to do 
  so. It also includes divisions devoted to legal issues 
  such as Women’s Aﬀairs, Children’s Aﬀairs, Immi-
  gration Aﬀairs, Human Rights, and so forth.
  Umstead’s appointee to this post, Regina Hal-
  lowell, was formerly a partner at the high-powered 
  law ﬁrm of MacDougal, Shorte, and Abraham, but 
  left that job to devote her not-inconsiderable legal 
  skills to the public good. During her tenure the 
  city has paid out 42% less money in civil verdicts 
  against it, and won 21% more cases, than under the 
  past two City Attorneys.
  OPERATIONS
  Operations is a sort of catch-all department 
  for oﬃces, boards, and authorities that don’t ﬁt into 
  any other mayoral branch. Deputy Mayor Roberta 
  Medrano oversees such divisions as Health and 
  Human Services, the Taxi and Limousine Commis-
  sion, Information Services, Environmental Protec-
  tion, Children’s Services, and so forth.
  THE CITY COUNCIL
  The Hudson City Council (HCC) is a legisla-
  tive body composed of 79 Councilmen — one for 
  roughly every 30,000 residents (though more than 
  a few people who work in the city illegally register 
  to vote there even though they actually live in the 
  suburbs). Councilmen are elected for two-year 
  terms by districts. Half of the Council is up for re-
  election every year, ensuring that Hudson City has 
  to suﬀer through a plague of election advertising 
  on a constant basis.
  The Council’s function is to write, consider, 
  and pass laws and ordinances for the city, create 
  and make appointments to the various city com-
  missions (see below), oversee various other aspects 
  of city government, and generally act as a check 
  and balance on the Mayor’s power (as he does on 
  theirs). The Mayor has veto power over the laws the 
  HCC passes, but a two-thirds vote in the Council 
  overrides the veto. Throughout the city’s history, the 
  Mayor has almost never exercised his veto.
  Although all Councilmen enjoy equal voting 
  privileges, every January (and occasionally at other 
  times) the members elect one of their number to 
  serve as Speaker. The Speaker nominally leads the 
  Council, and does have a certain amount of extra 
  prestige and pull (particularly among his own 
  party), but for the most part the position just tacks 
  some extra administrative duties onto the typical 
  Councilman’s responsibilities. The Speaker may 
  appoint other Councilmen to assist him, if desired; 
  so far the current Speaker, Tony Hyatt (see below), 
  has made no such appointments.
  The City Council is in session most days of 
  DANIELLE 
  RICHARDSON
   8 STR 
  8 DEX
   9 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   10 PRE 
  10 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 17 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucrat-
  ics 11-, CK: Hudson 
  City 11-, KS: City Plan-
  ning 11-, KS: Hudson 
  City Zoning Code 14-, 
  PS: City Planner 12-, 
  Immovable (5 points)
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Subject To 
  Orders
  Notes:  Danielle Rich-
  ardson is one of the city 
  planners who works 
  for the Planning Divi-
  sion of the Hudson City 
  Department of Com-
  munity Development. 
  Day in and day out, she 
  evaluates developers’ 
  proposed plans, requests 
  for variances, and other 
  paperwork related to 
  building structures in 
  the Pearl City. She’s 
  earned herself a repu-
  tation as a stubborn 
  battle-axe who won’t 
  budge an inch if she 
  feels a project’s not right 
  for the city, but also as 
  a ﬁerce advocate before 
  the City Council for 
  projects she thinks are 
  worthwhile.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  94 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  the year. Barring emergencies, it does not meet as a 
  formal body on Thursdays and Fridays so Council-
  men can spend time in their local oﬃces helping 
  their constituents. All Council sessions are open to 
  public viewing (and are broadcast on local cable 
  television), but not public participation. The Coun-
  cil holds a special Monday night session every two 
  weeks at which citizens can address the council, 
  bring complaints and grievances to its attention, 
  and so forth.
  As mentioned above, each Councilman 
  maintains an office in his district. Depend-
  ing on the Councilman’s preferences, image, 
  and finances, an office may be as simple as a 
  two-room storefront staffed by volunteers, or 
  as elaborate as a suite of rooms in a skyscraper 
  with a well-paid staff of four to ten employees. 
  Each Councilman receives the same stipend for 
  office establishment and maintenance, but some 
  supplement it with leftover campaign contribu-
  tions, their personal fortunes, or donations from 
  supporters specifically for this purpose.
  In 2002, the City Council elections were 
  largely inﬂuenced by Mayor Umstead’s coattails, 
  giving him the muscle he needed in the Council 
  to achieve several of the items on his anti-union, 
  spending-cutting agenda... but not enough to push 
  his agenda through eﬀortlessly, or do as he pleases. 
  Even worse, the Council had to authorize a minor 
  increase in city property taxes to cover certain city 
  expenses, which left some of them vulnerable to 
  attack. The 2004 elections were mixed, with a few 
  surprising changes, but didn’t do much to alter the 
  fundamental balances of power within the Council:  
  roughly 55% Democrat, 40% Republican, and 5% 
  other. Political consultants are already working on 
  next year’s campaigns.
  NOTABLE COUNCILMEN
  Here are brief descriptions of some of the 
  best-known members of the HCC.
  Max Bishop:  A black Democrat from the 65th 
  District, deep in the heart of Freetown, Bishop is 
  regarded as a smart, hardworking legislator who’s 
  constantly trying to improve conditions in his 
  district. Unlike racial agitator Reverend James 
  Pick (page 132), Councilman Bishop is regarded 
  as a positive inﬂuence in racial politics and a man 
  to whom both sides in a racial dispute will listen. 
  Some in the civil rights community regard Bishop 
  as a “dream candidate” for future mayoral elections; 
  others ﬁnd him a little too moderate for their taste.
  Henry Chen:  Henry Chen represents the 41st Dis-
  trict, which includes part of Chinatown. He’s been 
  on the HCC for 22 years, and most political consul-
  tants in the city consider him unbeatable — he usu-
  ally runs unopposed these days. Although he nor-
  mally remains quiet during Council debates, he has 
  a lot of inﬂuence behind the scenes when Council-
  men discuss issues privately. He is extremely pro-
  business and has done a lot to encourage economic 
  growth in the city.
  Tony Hyatt:  The current Speaker of the HCC, 
  Anthony Hyatt represents the 10th District, which 
  covers part of Worthington. Although registered as 
  a Republican, he’s a moderate one who sides with 
  the Democrats as often as not; his centrism made 
  him an acceptable Speaker to both sides of the 
  Council aisle, and most observers expect him to be 
  re-elected to the position next year. He’s particu-
  larly interested in health care issues, and has intro-
  duced several bills on that subject.
  Frank Jasinkiewicz:  The Assistant Speaker of the 
  City Council is a Democrat from the 14th District. 
  Against the tapestry of waﬄing, ideological pan-
  dering, and corporate ass-kissing that is Hudson 
  City politics, Jasinkiewicz stands out for being par-
  ticularly evasive; pinning him down for his opinion 
  on an issue is like trying to catch a greased pig. The 
  one thing he’s known for is his ardent support of 
  the city parks system.
  Catherine Lewis:  Recently put into oﬃce in the 2004 
  elections, Catherine Lewis is a political newcomer, 
  having previously worked as a homemaker, Red 
  Cross volunteer, and home remodeler. She ran for 
  the 36th District seat on a fairly liberal platform, and 
  is expected to vote solidly with the Democratic bloc 
  in the Council. No one really takes her seriously 
  yet, though she’s already introduced a sweeping bill 
  aimed at improving teachers’ pay and beneﬁts.
  Richard Pendergrass:  Pendergrass, an openly 
  homosexual male, represents the 43rd District, 
  which includes Ashwood and part of Crown Point. 
  He’s been elected several times, largely on the basis 
  of the fact that he seems to know everyone in his 
  
  95 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  district on a ﬁrst-name basis; as a moderate Demo-
  crat, he’s actually not nearly left-wing enough to 
  satisfy more than a few of his constituents.
  Larry Pettigrew:  A Democrat from the 23rd Dis-
  trict, which includes parts of the Blackbridge and 
  Worthington neighborhoods, Councilman Pet-
  tigrew describes himself as a “champion of the 
  middle class,” but his actions in the Council don’t 
  necessarily support that position. For example, he’s 
  voted for property tax increases and more lenient 
  sentences for city crimes in the past — two issues 
  that nearly cost him his last election. 
  Joseph Ruggiero:  If there’s a Councilman more 
  corrupt than Democrat Joseph Ruggiero, the FBI 
  would like to hear about it. Twice convicted of 
  taking bribes, and once of possession of illegal 
  narcotics, he’s avoided jail time by hiring the best 
  lawyers and cleverly using his numerous con-
  nections. Despite his checkered background, his 
  constituents in the 34th District have re-elected him 
  several times, usually by overwhelming margins. 
  He’s known to be a personal friend of Michael 
  “Black Mike” Calvino, don of the Verontese crime 
  family, and most people think the Veronteses have 
  used their clout in Little Italy to ensure that Rug-
  giero remains in oﬃce. The FBI and DEA suspect 
  Ruggiero in many more cases of corruption, and 
  believe he has some connection to Colombian and/
  or Mexican drug cartels, but they have no proof of 
  this — yet.
  Julia Shuman:  A Republican from the 1st District 
  (Irishtown and environs), Councilwoman Shuman 
  is a tireless campaigner against pornography 
  (“smut”) and anything else she views as “tearing 
  apart the fabric of the American family.”  She con-
  stantly pressures the police to crack down on “the 
  Strip” and pushes for tighter regulation of what 
  local cable television providers can show. But even 
  her ﬁercest opponents — and they are legion — 
  admire Councilwoman Shuman for her fundraising 
  eﬀorts on behalf of Habitat For Humanity and her 
  attempts to highlight the problem of sexual harass-
  ment in the workplace.
  Daphne Wong:  Wong represents the 40th District, 
  which includes part of Chinatown. Well-liked 
  by both side of the aisle for her friendly manner 
  and unwillingness to engage in mudslinging, this 
  Republican serves as the HCC’s parliamentarian.
  William Zogby:  What Joseph Ruggiero is to corrup-
  tion, Republican William Zogby of the 29th District 
  (which covers part of Bankhurst, Marwich, and 
  Gadsden) is to hard living. His three drunk driving 
  arrests testify to his love of good liquor, his four 
  marriages to his fondness for beautiful women (and 
  inability to remain faithful to just one). Despite 
  these problems, his extensive contacts in the Hud-
  sonite business and ﬁnancial community (and his 
  willingness to use his political clout to help them) 
  ensure he always has the fat warchest he needs to 
  keep getting re-elected.
  CITY COMMISSIONS
  In addition to standing mayoral depart-
  ments like the Community Development Division, 
  Hudson City also has numerous city commissions. 
  Commissions are established by the Hudson City 
  Council, but staﬀed by the executive via mayoral 
  appointment and the Administrative Services Divi-
  sion (though the mayor is expected to, and does, 
  consult with the Council on who it would like to 
  have in charge of a given commission). Commis-
  sions range from ones so large, important, and 
  longstanding that they’re eﬀectively permanent 
  (Public Works, Transportation) to minor ones 
  that only exist for a short time or about which the 
  public may never learn (Artistic Restoration, City 
  Bicentennial Celebration, Anti-Litter Campaign).
  Although not speciﬁcally part of the executive 
  branch of the city government, the commissions for 
  the most part answer to, and take orders from, the 
  mayor. A stubborn commissioner who refuses to go 
  along with the mayor’s “requests” can cause havoc 
  throughout the city and Governmental Center.
  Some of the better-known and more impor-
  tant city commissions include:
  PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION
  The Parks and Recreation Commission is in 
  charge of building, maintaining, and promoting the 
  city’s cultural and recreational resources:  every-
  thing from LeMastre Park to the smallest, most 
  obscure museum. It also takes care of cemeteries in 
  the city, trees and other plantings along the streets, 
  and the Hudson City Zoo.
  The Recreation Division of the Commission is 
  responsible for the many sports facilities around the 
  city, ranging from Devon Coliseum to local tennis 
  and basketball courts. It runs several recreational 
  sports leagues based on age groups (children, teen-
  agers, adults, seniors), and sponsors advertising cam-
  paigns encouraging people to exercise.
  Juanita Salcedo, a former Councilwoman and 
  long-time Hudson City political veteran, runs Parks 
  and Rec. It’s an open secret that she’s not particu-
  larly happy with the job — the best she could get 
  after losing her last Council election — and would 
  like to ﬁnd something “better” to do.
  PUBLIC WORKS COMMISSION
  Run by Clarence Ingold, who’s worked for 
  it in one capacity or another for forty years, the 
  Public Works Commission takes care of a large 
  number of infrastructure-related duties for the 
  city:  engineering on city buildings (and engineer-
  ing inspections of other buildings); animal control; 
  road and parking facility maintenance and repairs; 
  and maintenance and repair of city vehicles and 
  equipment (most people refer to Maintenance Divi-
  sion simply as “the Shop,” as in “OK, looks like it’s 
  broken — send it to the Shop for repairs”). In the 
  latter capacity, the Commission works closely with 
  the Transportation Commission, which plans the 
  roads, conducts traﬃc analysis studies, and so forth 
  — in fact, the two Commissions occupy adjoining 
  blocks of oﬃces in Governmental Center 3.
  ALICIA BROOKES
   6 STR 
  8 DEX
   8 CON 
  9 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  3 REC
   16 END 16 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  14-, High Society 8-, KS: 
  Hudson City Politics  
  11-, KS: Who’s Who 
  Around Governmental 
  Plaza 11-, KS: Govern-
  mental Plaza Gossip 11-, 
  PS: Secretary 14-
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  For the past 
  quarter-century, Alicia 
  Brookes has worked 
  as an administrative 
  assistant to one City 
  Councilman or another; 
  since 2002, she’s worked 
  for Larry Pettigrew. Her 
  knowledge of the ins 
  and outs of city govern-
  ment, as well as her 
  consummate secretarial 
  skills, assure her of a job 
  somewhere in Govern-
  mental Plaza as long as 
  she’s willing to work.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  96 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  The average Hudsonite is most likely to inter-
  act with Public Works employees from the Animal 
  Control Division. Animal Control oﬃcers show 
  up in their distinctive tan-colored vans to capture 
  stray dogs and cats (or even non-stray ones labeled 
  dangerous by a city court), remove unwanted ani-
  mals from peoples’ houses, and collect the carcasses 
  of dead animals. In addition to having to deal with 
  potentially dangerous animals like trained pit bull 
  terriers or rabid raccoons, Animal Control oﬃcers 
  also have to cope with irate or distraught citizens 
  — in 2002, an Animal Control oﬃcer was mur-
  dered by a Worthington woman when he tried to 
  take away her illegal pet cobra.
  Public Works also enforces the city’s facade 
  law, which mandates that building owners pre-
  serve and maintain the facades of their buildings 
  to prevent deterioration and collapse. The law 
  also imposes special restrictions and approval 
  requirements on changing the appearance of a 
  building’s facade. The law was put in place after a 
  building facade in Blackbridge collapsed, killing 
  a mother and child. Many building owners loathe 
  this law, and do anything they can to get around 
  its provisions.
  SANITATION COMMISSION
  The Sanitation Commission has three main 
  duties:  waste pickup and removal, sewer construc-
  tion and maintenance (see page 22), and street 
  cleaning. As such it’s one of the most important 
  agencies in city government, but also one of the 
  least appreciated. In the autumn the Commissions 
  also runs a leaf pickup and removal service in parks 
  and residential neighborhoods; during wintry 
  weather it operates the city’s sand and salt trucks to 
  keep the roads as safe as possible.
  The Sanitation Commission maintains a 
  fleet of approximately 5,500 vehicles, ranging 
  from large garbage trucks (see page 23) to vari-
  ous specialized vehicles and standard pickup 
  trucks and cars. Its 9,000 Waste Removal Divi-
  sion employees (seven thousand of whom are 
  uniformed sanitation workers of some sort) use 
  these to collect and dispose of approximately 
  12,000 tons of residential and institutional waste 
  every day (as mentioned on page 23, businesses 
  must use private waste disposal companies).
  Paul Olszewski, a small, quiet man, runs the 
  Sanitation Commission. For a Hudsonite, he’s shy 
  and retiring, with a nonconfrontational approach 
  to problem solving. His main goal is to do his job 
  so well that neither the Mayor nor anyone else ever 
  contacts him. He wishes he’d divorced his now ex-
  wife before she egged him on to take this job, but 
  now that he’s got it, he’s going to stick with it.
  SCHOOLS COMMISSION
  Known to most Hudsonites simply as “the 
  School Board,” the Schools Commission is a light-
  ning rod for controversy and public debate. If 
  there’s one thing people care ﬁercely about, it’s their 
  kids, and that means they have very strong opinions 
  about things that aﬀect their kids... like schools. 
  They express those opinions to the members of the 
  School Commission. Shouting and swearing are 
  often involved, and on three occasions in the past 
  ﬁve years disturbed parents have brandished guns 
  during the Commission’s weekly public meetings 
  on Thursday nights.
  Unlike most commissions, the School Board’s 
  ﬁfteen members are chosen by citywide election 
  for three-year terms (ﬁve members are up for 
  re-election every year), though the City Council 
  retains the power to dissolve and remake the 
  Commission if necessary (something it’s never 
  done). The Commissioners elect a Chief Commis-
  sioner from among their number; he serves for a 
  year, but can be re-elected as often as the Com-
  mission likes. As of late 2004, the Chief Commis-
  sioner (or “CC,” as he’s known in the bureaucracy) 
  is Wanda Cranwell, a former teacher and princi-
  pal. The Commission oversees the public schools 
  bureaucracy (see page 116), approves teacher 
  and administrator pay scales, and deals with the 
  myriad of other issues pertaining to the city’s 
  elementary and secondary schools.
  TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION
  The Transportation Commission oversees all 
  aspects of travel and transportation within the city. 
  It manages the subways, buses, and other forms 
  of mass transit; builds, maintains, and repairs the 
  roads; and conducts traﬃc analysis studies. Its 
  major divisions include Rapid Transit (subways and 
  railways), Bus, Ferry, Traﬃc Engineering (i.e., road 
  building and maintenance), and Traﬃc Planning.
  Many Hudsonites think of Transportation 
  Commission employees as lazy slobs. Every time 
  a citizen drives pass a roadwork project and sees 
  four or ﬁve big-bellied guys standing around doing 
  nothing, he wonders what the hell Commissioner 
  Dale Snodgrass is doing with his tax dollars. The 
  truth is, though, that roadwork projects don’t nec-
  essarily proceed at an even pace. Even allowing for 
  what Mayor Umstead would describe as “outra-
  geous” concessions that roadworkers’ unions have 
  obtained regarding work breaks and the like, most 
  roadworkers are reasonably diligent city employees.
  The Transportation Commission also has a 
  reputation for corruption. It’s not unknown for the 
  Commissioner or other high-ranking employees 
  to pad their work schedules with unneeded proj-
  ects and pocket the money for them, or to buy 
  cheap asphalt and other supplies, charge the city 
  for higher-grade stuﬀ, and keep the diﬀerence for 
  themselves. No substantial allegations of corrup-
  tion have ever been brought against Snodgrass, his 
  Assistant Commissioner Norman Embler, or their 
  immediate underlings, and none of the charges that 
  have been leveled have been proven.
  UTILITIES COMMISSION
  The ultimate responsibility for the city’s water, 
  power, and phone services rests with the Utilities 
  Commission, which oversees and regulates the pro-
  viders of those utilities. Although most Hudsonites 
  don’t even think about these things, the truth is 
  that the Utilities Commission (or, more accurately, 
  the equipment and personnel at its headquarters) 
  LUCAS ROBINSON
   10 STR 
  8 DEX
   11 CON 10 BODY
   8 INT 
  8 EGO
   8 PRE 
  8 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   22 END 21 STUN
  Abilities:  Climbing 11-, 
  AK: Forsyth 11-, CK: 
  Hudson City 11-, KS: 
  Pro Football 8-, PS: 
  Sanitation Engineer 11-, 
  WF: Handguns
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  Lucas Robin-
  son — or “Luke,” to his 
  friends — is what city 
  oﬃcials refer to as a 
  “sanitation engineer” 
  and most people call a 
  “garbageman.” Five days 
  a week he’s out there 
  in all kinds of weather, 
  riding on the back of a 
  garbage truck to pick 
  up trash that’s too big 
  or bulky for the normal 
  city trashcans. He’s been 
  doing the job for nearly 
  ten years now, and has 
  learned the city pretty 
  well — he sees a lot 
  more than most people 
  would expect. It’s not 
  exactly the most upscale 
  job in the world, but it’s 
  hard to beat the beneﬁts.
  
  97 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  could paralyze the whole city by denying it water or 
  power. Utilities works closely with the Sewers Divi-
  sion of the Sanitation Commission; both Commis-
  sions have their oﬃces in Governmental Plaza 4.
  In one corner of the Utility Commissioner’s 
  oﬃce there’s an unusual kind of clock — one that 
  runs by dropping tiny steel pellets down a track 
  at precise intervals, creating an eﬀect of constant, 
  carefully controlled motion, and energy harnessed 
  for a good end. This clock provides a perfect 
  metaphor for the Commissioner himself:  Patrick 
  Carrick, a man of untiring energy and enthusiasm 
  who’s continually trying to make the city’s water, 
  electric, and telephone systems run with the same 
  smooth eﬃciency as his clock. His bull-in-a-china-
  shop manner infuriates the many bureaucrats for 
  whom double-talk and delay are a way of life, but 
  there’s no denying Carrick usually gets done what 
  needs done.
  CITY POLITICS
  “Bayside? Why in the world would you want to 
  build in Bayside? You’ll spend half your budget 
  paying oﬀ the Marcellis, and your people will 
  have to rub shoulders with longshoremen and 
  shipyard workers. Build in Eastwood. We’ve got 
  a top-notch hospital, a major mall, an eager 
  workforce, and plenty of other attractions that 
  make it the perfect place for you.”
  — Eastwood booster May Crandall
  Politics in Hudson City often boils down to 
  disputes between the Democratic and Repub-
  lican political machines that mobilize voters 
  and try to sway public opinion. The Democrats 
  are often known as Bolton Hall, from the name 
  of the building where they used to assemble 
  for meetings and rallies. The building was torn 
  down decades ago, but the moniker remains. The 
  Republicans are saddled with a much less ﬂatter-
  ing nickname:  the Ivory Club. The name comes 
  from the club where Republican leaders used 
  to meet, which had two large elephant statues 
  outside and was called the Ivory Club. Today the 
  name is often used in a cruel and sarcastic way 
  to refer to the racial composition, and allegedly 
  racist policies, of the local Republican Party.
  The other major force in city politics is neigh-
  borhood interest. The residents of the various 
  neighborhoods and districts in the city each want 
  to improve their home areas... and that often means 
  ﬁghting with other neighborhoods for resources 
  and beneﬁts. If a company wants to construct a new 
  building or factory in the city, the neighborhood 
  that gets it will beneﬁt, so all the contenders ﬁght 
  for it like dogs quarreling over a bone. If a federal 
  program might funnel some money into the city, 
  every neighborhood that thinks it’s entitled to a 
  slice of the pie bellies up to the table with knife in 
  hand — to use on each other as well as the pie.
  Movers And Shakers
  The Mayor’s oﬃce and the City Council aren’t 
  the extent of city politics. There are plenty of other 
  movers and shakers in the city, each pushing his 
  own agenda or cause. Some of them include:
  Manuel Berillo-Costa:  A former construction 
  worker who grew up in Latin City, Berillo-Costa is 
  a committed Democrat and a prominent member 
  of Bolton Hall. His main support group is the city’s 
  Hispanic community, but he also has many inﬂuen-
  tial backers in the city’s universities, labor unions, 
  and working communities.
  Basil Cromwell:  The spokesman for the Hudson 
  City Republican Party (a.k.a. the Ivory Club), 
  Cromwell is regarded as an intelligent, clever 
  speaker by most people, making him a frequent 
  guest on Sunday morning political talk shows. 
  Many Democrats, including his opposite number 
  Mark Hathaway, think of him as a fascist apolo-
  gist who represents everything that’s worst about 
  American society.
  Mark Hathaway:  The press secretary for the 
  Hudson City Democratic Party (or Bolton Hall, 
  as it’s often called) is a handsome man in his late 
  20s with a flair for public speaking and a razor-
  sharp wit. His verbal confrontations with Basil 
  Cromwell at local events and on television are 
  the stuff of modern legend. As yet unmarried, 
  he’s often seen in the company of movie actresses 
  and pretty young heiresses.
  Bob Jasperson:  A former member of the House 
  of Representatives who lost his re-election 
  bid several years ago, Jasperson remains heav-
  ily involved in politics on the local level. He is 
  almost Manuel Berillo-Costa’s opposite number, 
  since he’s a major Republican fundraiser and 
  often appears on local television shows to argue 
  the GOP position. Many people believe he’s con-
  sidering a run for the City Council or the U.S. 
  Senate sometime in the near future.
  Paul McClendon:  McClendon, an independent, 
  was Mayor of Hudson City over a decade ago. 
  The media hounded him from office after allega-
  tions of connections to organized crime surfaced. 
  Nevertheless he remains a powerful and influen-
  tial man in the city. He currently runs a business 
  consulting firm, and the extent of his political 
  ambitions — and his contacts in the underworld 
  — are unknown.
  James Scopetta:  A former City Councilman from 
  Little Italy, Scopetta was convicted of racketeering 
  in 1984 in connection with a construction scam. He 
  served a short prison term and since his release has 
  continued to wield political inﬂuence despite the 
  fact that he’s not in oﬃce. Extremely popular with 
  the city’s Italian community and labor unions, he’s 
  frequently consulted by city politicians on issues 
  that might aﬀect those groups.
  NICOLE SULLIVAN
   8 STR 
  8 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  12 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 16 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  12-, Conversation 12-, 
  High Society 12-, KS: 
  Hudson City Politics 
  14-, Persuasion 12-, PS: 
  Political Consultant 
  13-, SS: Statistics 8-, 20 
  points’ worth of Con-
  tacts in city politics
  Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Hates To Lose
  Notes:  Nicole Sullivan is 
  one of the most talented 
  political consultants 
  in the city. She herself 
  really lacks strong 
  political convictions 
  — what she’s interested 
  in is taking a candidate, 
  grooming him, leading 
  him through the paces, 
  and seeing him through 
  to victory, not ﬂogging 
  a particular political 
  agenda. Democrat, 
  Republican, indepen-
  dent, Libertarian, Green 
  — she doesn’t care, as 
  long as she wins. The 
  issues don’t concern her, 
  but she hates to lose... so 
  much so that she might 
  resort to underhanded 
  tactics if she felt she had 
  to to secure a win for 
  her candidate.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  98 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  Current Issues In  
  City Government
  As of 2004, here are some of the most pressing 
  political and social issues confronting Hudson City.
  BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT  
  AND JOB CREATION
  The struggle to improve and grow Hudson City’s 
  economy, and provide jobs for all of her citizens who 
  want one, is an eternal task. In Mayor Umstead’s 
  administration to date, the city’s gained about 10,000 
  jobs — better than a loss, certainly, but a mere drop 
  in the bucket in the eyes of many. Economic devel-
  opment proponents assert that the city should oﬀer 
  more incentives to attract new employers; ﬁscal 
  conservatives believe that makes poor ﬁnancial sense, 
  and in any event most incentives depend on state 
  action as much or more than city action.
  CRIME
  Hudson City’s reputation as crime-ridden is 
  well-deserved. Between violent street crime, vice, 
  and corruption at all levels of city government, it 
  sometimes seems as if the criminals outnumber the 
  honest citizens. The Hudson City Police Depart-
  ment and other law enforcement agencies do their 
  best to combat the problem, but as they often tell 
  reporters, they’re outmanned, outgunned, and ham-
  strung by the courts.
  When Mayor Umstead took oﬃce, he 
  announced a bold “Anti-Crime Initiative” whose pro-
  visions included increased funding for the HCPD so 
  it could hire new oﬃcers, a corresponding increase in 
  funding for building new courts and prisons (since 
  having more cops to take more crooks oﬀ the street is 
  meaningless if the system can’t handle the increased 
  load), a program to upgrade the Department’s 
  equipment and weapons, and a pilot program to 
  use modern GPS technology to track all felons, pro-
  bationers, and parolees. He’s made a little progress 
  on improving HCPD equipment, but the state and 
  federal governments haven’t given him the money 
  for his “force and courts upgrade” proposal, and civil 
  rights and privacy organizations have lobbied hard 
  against his “tracking” idea.
  INFRASTRUCTURE
  Like so many other cities throughout the 
  United States and the world, Hudson City is fall-
  ing apart. Many of its roads need repaving or 
  repairs, old buildings require extensive engineering 
  improvements, overpasses and bridges are weaken-
  ing, and sewers and waterpipes spring leaks. But 
  once something’s built, people seem to think it will 
  last forever — it’s easier to get money and approval 
  for a new city building than funding to properly 
  maintain and upgrade an existing structure.
  This is a rare issue on which Mayor Umstead 
  and the unions see eye-to-eye:  he’d like to improve 
  the city’s infrastructure for the obvious reasons, the 
  unions want all the extra work that a program of 
  major repairs and maintenance would create. How-
  ever, both Umstead and the City Council are reluctant 
  to deal with this issue full-on, since raising the neces-
  sary money would undoubtedly require signiﬁcant 
  tax increases. Until someone comes up with a safe 
  solution, is willing to put his hand in the tax increase 
  ﬁre, or a major disaster prompts signiﬁcant reform on 
  the issue, Hudson City’s probably just going to go on 
  patching things here and there as it has to.
  SCHOOLS
  Never let it be said that Hudson City (or any 
  other American city) is truly satisﬁed with its 
  schools. Everyone has an idea for what’s wrong with 
  them and how to ﬁx them, but establishing any sort 
  of signiﬁcant consensus, much less a coalition with 
  suﬃcient political power to actually accomplish 
  anything, is like herding cats.
  Three main issues confront school reformers. 
  First, Hudson City’s public schools aren’t safe. Many 
  kids bring concealed weapons to school, gangs and 
  drug abuse are rampant, and assaults on teachers 
  a monthly (if not weekly) occurrence. Installing 
  metal detectors and stationing police oﬃcers at 
  every school has helped a little, but it’s really only a 
  Band-Aid slapped on a sucking chest wound.
  Second, Hudson City test scores are miser-
  able. It appears that many students learn little or 
  nothing in class (but still get promoted from grade 
  to grade), and illiteracy is shockingly common 
  among secondary school students. Mayor Umstead 
  has proposed both a standardized curricula pro-
  gram and a school uniform policy to address this 
  problem, but his ideas have met with a lukewarm 
  reception. The Democrats in the City Council favor 
  increasing teacher salaries and school budgets, but 
  aren’t willing to take the political hit of increasing 
  taxes to pay for them.
  Third, most Hudson City schools are in mis-
  erable shape. Roofs leak, broken windows remain 
  unrepaired, graﬃti doesn’t get cleaned up, stairways 
  sag. The entire physical plant needs major upgrades 
  and replacements, but there’s no more money avail-
  able for this than for increased teacher salaries.
  UNIONS
  The ongoing conﬂict between Mayor 
  Umstead’s administration and the city’s unions 
  makes headlines almost every week. Umstead put 
  his position succinctly in a recent speech:  “Unions 
  have gone from helping downtrodden laborers 
  regain their dignity and obtain fair working condi-
  tions to helping today’s workers loot public and 
  private treasuries for everything they can. These 
  greedy and corrupt organizations no longer help 
  society — they only hurt it by increasing the cost of 
  the goods we all buy, the time it takes to ﬁnish any 
  public works project, and the size of governmental 
  budgets and payrolls. The time has come for the 
  unions to recognize that they’re doing more harm 
  than good and to mend their ways... before the 
  government has to mend them for them.” Scores of 
  union oﬃcials have ﬁred back with similarly vitri-
  olic statements defending the rights of workers and 
  extolling the good works that unions do. But until 
  one side or the other gains enough political power 
  to force its agenda down the other’s throat, the odds 
  are it’s just going to remain a war of words.
  IN THE NEWS  
  IN 2004:
  DEATH IN ASHWOOD
  April — A mere two 
  weeks after Hudson 
  City’s annual Gay and 
  Lesbian Pride Day cel-
  ebration, James “Jack” 
  Chatworth, an openly 
  homosexual man, was 
  found brutally beaten 
  and killed in an Ash-
  wood alleyway. Pre-
  liminary investigation 
  showed that Chatworth 
  had been tied up and 
  tortured with cigarette 
  burns and razor blades, 
  leading the police to 
  conclude that someone 
  had kidnapped him 
  several days prior to 
  the time his body was 
  found, though none of 
  his friends had reported 
  him missing. At the site 
  his head was smashed 
  in with a brick, resulting 
  in death due to severe 
  cranial trauma.
  Amid cries of outrage 
  from the city’s gay and 
  civil rights communities, 
  the HCPD conducted 
  an intensive investiga-
  tion which eventu-
  ally focused on Gary 
  Miller, a repeat oﬀender 
  released from Stewarts-
  burg Penitentiary earlier 
  in the year. A member 
  of the white suprema-
  cist group the Aryan 
  Brotherhood while in 
  prison, Miller eventu-
  ally confessed to the 
  murder under intense 
  police questioning. As 
  of December 2004, he 
  remains in Longview 
  Correctional awaiting 
  sentencing.
  
  99 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Two
  GOVERNMENTAL CENTER
  The seat of Hudson City government is the 
  Governmental Center, located at 101 Centre Street 
  directly across the street from Courthouse Plaza. 
  Both the subway and the elevated railway have 
  stops at Governmental Center, and part of the 
  Hudson City Underground (page 21) is located 
  directly beneath it.
  The Center consists of seven buildings. The 
  largest and most impressive is City Hall, a twelve-
  story building done in a Greek Revival style with 
  broad front stairs. To each side of it are three build-
  ings, designed and arranged so that the structures 
  create a C shape around a central plaza. In the 
  middle of the plaza is a fountain featuring a statue 
  of the Greek god Poseidon. When the weather’s 
  ﬁne, Center workers often sit on the fountain’s edge, 
  or on various nearby benches, and eat their lunches.
  The six smaller buildings, each eight to ten 
  stories tall, are known as Governmental Center 
  1 to 6, with the numbering beginning at the “top” 
  part of the C and proceeding counterclockwise. 
  They house various governmental oﬃces. Number 
  5 is the City Council building, where the Council 
  Chambers are and the Councilmen and their staﬀs 
  have oﬃces.
  COUNTY GOVERNMENT
  Hudson City occupies the entirety of Stewart 
  County. The city limits were long ago made the 
  same as the county borders. Similarly, government 
  functions that would ordinarily be part of a county 
  rather than a city — the planning oﬃce, the county 
  prosecutor, and so forth — were merged into the 
  city’s governmental structure. Thus, Hudson City 
  doesn’t have a separate “county government” to 
  contend with the way most cities do, though it often 
  has to liaise or deal with the governments of sur-
  rounding counties.
  STATE AND FEDERAL  
  GOVERNMENT
  As large and prominent as Hudson City is, 
  it’s part of a greater state and country — and that 
  means Hudsonites participate in the political pro-
  cess at a level above City Hall.
  STATE GOVERNMENT
  Due to its large population, Hudson City sends 
  several members to both the Senate and General 
  Assembly of the New Jersey Legislature. Hudson 
  City has also played a prominent role in the elec-
  tion of every recent New Jersey governor (includ-
  ing the current one, Democrat Patricia McCor-
  mack); gubernatorial candidates (and potential 
  gubernatorial candidates) visit the city frequently.
  In the world of Hudson City, the New Jersey 
  Legislature has two Houses:  a 45-member Senate 
  and an 90-member General Assembly. In odd-
  numbered years, the citizens in 45 legislative dis-
  tricts elect one Senator (for a four-year term) and 
  two Assemblymen (each for a two-year term). To 
  be a Senator, you must be at least 30 years old and a 
  resident of the state for four years prior to election; 
  to be an Assemblyman, you must be at least 21 and 
  a resident for two years. All legislators must live in 
  the districts they represent. Service in either House 
  is considered a part-time job, so most legislators 
  have other occupations.
  The greater Hudson City area elects ﬁve state 
  Senators and 10 Assemblymen. Some of the better 
  known of them include Senator Alan Taite, Sena-
  tor Louisa Merrick, and Assemblymen Gerald 
  Roth, Henriette Cuyler, James daSilva, Christopher 
  Kaminski, and Augustus “Gus” Andreola.
  FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
  Besides federal aid, assistance, and grants 
  — which Hudson City receives billions of dollars 
  of every year for road maintenance, midnight bas-
  ketball programs, anti-drug campaigns, business 
  development, and many other things — the Pearl 
  City’s main connection with the federal govern-
  ment is through the Senators and Representatives 
  it elects. Hudson City usually goes strongly Demo-
  cratic in presidential elections.
  Senators
  Like every other state of the Union, New Jersey 
  elects two senators. As the largest city in the state, 
  Hudson City has a major inﬂuence on these elec-
  tions — there are nearly as many votes to be had 
  here as in the rest of the state put together — and 
  that means it receives a lot of attention from the 
  candidates come election time.
  The two senators currently representing New 
  Jersey are Braxton Waite (a white Democrat) and 
  Alice Sheﬃeld (a self-described “half-Hispanic” 
  Republican). Waite, a native of Hudson City, got 
  his start in politics on the City Council. He’s a well-
  known ﬁgure in the city and often attends major 
  society gatherings. Sheﬃeld comes from northern 
  New Jersey, but spends enough time in the Pearl 
  City to let Hudsonites know she’s looking out for 
  their interests. Both maintain local oﬃces in the 
  Federal Building on Courthouse Plaza.
  Representatives
  In the world of Hudson City, New Jersey 
  elects 23 Representatives to Congress:  10 from the 
  greater Hudson City area, 13 from the rest of the 
  state. Some of the “locals” include:
  Representative Alexander Goodman:  A black Demo-
  crat from the Freetown area, Goodman rode into 
  oﬃce in 1992 on President Clinton’s coattails and 
  has won re-election ever since. Known as a ﬁery 
  orator and a determined ﬁghter for the welfare of 
  his constituents, the poor inhabitants of Freetown, 
  he suﬀers credibility problems in other circles due 
  to his tendency to label anyone who disagrees with 
  him a “racist,” and because of his connections with 
  the Reverend James Pick (page 132).
  Representative Edward Kurtz:  A Republican and 
  long-time representative whose district includes 
  the Irishtown area. An extremely wealthy man 
  THE MAPLE VALLEY 
  STRATEGIC METALS 
  DEPOSITORY
  On the outskirts of the 
  suburb of Maple Valley, 
  in a secured facility set 
  well back from the road 
  and surrounded by a 
  lush, landscaped lawn 
  without any shrubbery 
  or trees, stands a series 
  of large, low to the 
  ground, grey cement 
  buildings. If they could 
  see them from the road, 
  passersby would prob-
  ably take the place for 
  a aesthetically bland 
  oﬃce park, but in fact 
  it’s something far more 
  important:  a United 
  States strategic materials 
  depository.
  The United States 
  economy and military 
  require certain materials 
  which don’t exist in their 
  natural form in this 
  country, and thus have 
  to be purchased from 
  other nations. These 
  include aluminum, 
  beryllium, chromium, 
  cobalt, manganese, 
  platinum, titanium, and 
  various other metals. 
  To prevent shortages 
  from crippling the 
  nation during times of 
  crises, the government 
  maintains stockpiles 
  of these materials. The 
  Maple Valley Strategic 
  Materials Depository is 
  just one of many facili-
  ties across the country 
  where the government 
  stores part of its stock-
  piles.
  Naturally, the MVSMD 
  is very well guarded, 
  with high-tech secu-
  rity systems, Army 
  soldiers as guards, and 
  many other protective 
  resources. If a thief 
  could penetrate the 
  facility and somehow 
  manage to escape with 
  a sizable quantity of the 
  stockpile, he might make 
  himself a tidy proﬁt... if 
  he could ﬁgure out who 
  would buy the stuﬀ, and 
  how to sell it without 
  getting himself killed.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  100 ■ The Lay Of The Land
  who made his millions as a stock-
  broker, Kurtz has a lot of inﬂuence 
  in Hudson City — but he’s a con-
  templative man who tries to make 
  as few waves as possible, which 
  sometimes makes it diﬃcult for 
  him to get things done in Congress. 
  He has a modest reputation for his 
  preparedness and the thoroughness 
  of his examination of important 
  legislation, due in part to his eﬃ-
  cient staﬀ.
  Representative Caridad Montalván:  
  Representing Latin City and part 
  of Southport, this Democrat cru-
  sades tirelessly for the welfare of 
  her constituents. She’s helped so 
  many people with so many prob-
  lems that she’s run unopposed for 
  the past three elections because 
  everyone knows there’s no over-
  coming her popularity.
  THE DIPLOMATIC SCENE
  As a major center of com-
  merce and culture, Hudson City has 
  a thriving diplomatic community. 
  Most major nations have embas-
  sies or consulates in the city; many 
  of them cluster along 4th Avenue 
  between N. Jeﬀerson and Wash-
  ington Streets, an area sometimes 
  known as “Embassy Row.” People 
  involved with diplomatic work 
  (trade representatives, government 
  oﬃcials, and the like) can expect 
  to receive an invitation to at least 
  one diplomatic reception or party a 
  week, each celebrating some impor-
  tant event or holiday in the host 
  embassy’s nation (see page 59).
  Diplomats sometimes take 
  advantage of their positions, 
  knowledge of American cul-
  ture, and diplomatic immunity 
  to engage in spying or criminal 
  behavior. More than a few of them 
  drive any way they want and park 
  wherever they choose, since their 
  immunity protects them from traf-
  fic tickets — much to the aggra-
  vation of Hudsonites. But some 
  go further, using their status and 
  resources to get involved in the 
  drug trade or the like. For example, 
  in 1998, the son of a high-level 
  diplomat at the Brazilian embassy 
  committed a series of brutal rapes, 
  but diplomatic immunity protected 
  him from being charged with a 
  crime — all the authorities could 
  do was deport him.
  LAHAB AL-BAKIYAH
   10  STR 
  10  DEX
   10  CON 10  BODY
   14  INT 
  13  EGO
   16  PRE 
  12  COM
   3  PD 
  3  ED
   2  SPD 
  4  REC
   20  END 20  STUN
  Abilities: Acting 12-, 
  Bribery 8-, Bureaucrat-
  ics 13-, Computer Pro-
  gramming 8-, Conversa-
  tion 14-, Deduction 13-, 
  Gambling (Card Games, 
  Sports Betting) 12-, 
  High Society 12-, KS: 
  The Espionage World 
  13-, KS: The Hudson 
  City Diplomatic Scene 
  11-, KS: World Cultures 
  11-, KS: World Politics 
  11-, Language: English 
  (ﬂuent conversation, 
  Arabic is Native), Per-
  suasion 12-, Riding 11-, 
  Stealth 11-, Streetwise 
  12-, WF: Small Arms, 
  Knives, Fringe Beneﬁt: 
  Diplomatic Immunity.
  Disadvantages:  Dis-
  tinctive Features:  Arab; 
  Hunted by the FBI 
  Counterintelligence 
  Section 8- (Mo Pow, 
  NCI, Watching); Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Islamic Fundamental-
  ist; Social Limitation:  
  Subject To Orders
  Notes:  Lahab al-Baki-
  yah, an Arabic man in 
  his mid-forties, is one 
  of the highest-rank-
  ing diplomats at the 
  Iranian Embassy in 
  Hudson City (and thus 
  receives full diplomatic 
  immunity). His duties 
  include serving as 
  cultural attaché, mean-
  ing he often arranges 
  events to display Ira-
  nian arts and culture 
  to other peoples, and 
  likewise attends many 
  cultural events. The 
  FBI suspects him of 
  being a spy, but it has 
  no proof.
  
  chapter three:
  chapter three:
  chapter three:
  A DAY IN THE LIFE
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  102 ■ A Day In The Life
  A 
  city isn’t just neighborhoods, buildings, and 
  roads. It’s also people, and if the buildings 
  and roads are the city’s body and arteries, 
  the  people are its blood and soul — the 
  things that give it life, and make that life worth living.
  THE RHYTHM OF THE CITY
  Like any other major American metropolis, 
  Hudson City never really “sleeps” — there are 
  things going on all around the city at every hour of 
  the day and night. Some industries, like the hotel 
  and trucking industries, depend as much on night-
  time workers as they do on daytime workers. But 
  for the most part, the Pearl City follows a certain 
  “rhythm” all its own.
  In most parts of the city, the early risers get 
  up around 5:00 or 5:30 AM. This gives ﬁrst-shift 
  workers time to get dressed and have some break-
  fast before heading to work, commuters time to 
  travel to their oﬃces, and workers in restaurants 
  and coﬀee shops time to get ready for the morn-
  ing rush. But most people get to sleep a little later, 
  until sometime between 6:00 and 7:00 — it all 
  depends on how long a commute to work they 
  have, whether they have to get kids oﬀ to school, 
  and so forth.
  Morning rush hour gets started no later than 
  6:30, and by 7:00 it’s usually in full swing. Traﬃc 
  clogs the city streets, particularly in the eastern half 
  of the Northside — even Truman, Kurtland, and 
  the parkways slow to a crawl. Radio station heli-
  copters take to the air to report on the latest traﬃc 
  jams and wrecks as diners ﬁll up with people who 
  want their daily OJ and eggs.
  Since the ﬁrst shift begins at 7:00 in most 
  companies, and most oﬃces expect their employ-
  ees to be at their desks by 8:00, rush hour usually 
  ends no later than 9:00 AM... but that’s not to say 
  the streets become empty. There are still plenty of 
  taxis, delivery trucks, bike messengers, shoppers, 
  and people driving to appointments. In many parts 
  of the city, there’s no time during daylight hours 
  when it becomes truly easy to make one’s way 
  along the streets.
  Early eaters start to hit the restaurants for 
  lunch beginning at 11:00, but most people don’t 
  have their midday meal until noon or 12:30 at the 
  earliest. If the weather’s ﬁne, this is the best time to 
  people-watch, since everyone takes to the streets 
  to walk to a nearby lunch counter, pushcart, or 
  restaurant (or to a park or other pleasant place 
  to sit and eat, for those who brown-bag it). When 
  it’s rainy, you’ll have more fun watching the mul-
  ticolored parade of umbrellas from a skyscraper. 
  The cold winter weather cuts down on the crowds 
  a little, but not much — Hudsonites are tough 
  people and can stand a little nip in the air.
  Evening rush hour starts around 3:00, when 
  the ﬁrst shift’s ending and the second shift’s getting 
  underway. It remains reasonably light until 4:30 or 
  5:00, when workers heading home jam the roads. 
  Some companies oﬀer ﬂextime arrangements so 
  people can come in earlier and leave earlier, but this 
  hasn’t done anything to ease the pain of rush hour.
  After people get home, what they do usually 
  depends on the time of year. In the spring and 
  summer, when it remains light for an hour or three 
  beyond 6:00 PM, many people take the time to do 
  yardwork or chores, play sports, or participate in 
  other activities before eating dinner. In the autumn 
  and winter, when it gets dark early, they’re more 
  likely to stay inside and relax with some indoor 
  activity — watching TV, working a puzzle, playing 
  computer games.
  Hudsonites tend to eat dinner late. The earli-
  est most people consider having dinner is 7:00 PM, 
  and it’s not uncommon for people to wait until 
  8:00, 9:00, or even 10:00 (particularly if they want 
  to catch a movie or a show beforehand). By 8:30 
  most restaurants are pretty crowded, with waits of 
  20 minutes or more; the really popular places may 
  be booked solid, or expect you to wait at least 90 
  minutes to get a table.
  And after the dinner period, the entertain-
  ment hours begin. Movies and shows tend to get 
  started relatively early at night, with showings 
  beginning around 7:00 and often occurring several 
  more times throughout the evening (depending on 
  show length). Nightclubs and the like usually open 
  around 10:00, though they don’t really get “jump-
  ing” until after 11:00 at the earliest. Most of them 
  stay open at least until 2:00 AM, but more than 
  a few keep the night alive until 4:00 or 5:00 AM. 
  Among young professionals there’s a subculture 
  of partiers who stay out until the wee hours, yet 
  somehow make it to the oﬃce by 8:00 AM and put 
  in a full day’s work before going out and doing it 
  all again. And some people — gangsters and other 
  criminals, for example, not to mention the vigilan-
  tes who hunt them — are more active at night than 
  during the day.
  LIFE IN THE 
  BIG CITY
  CALVIN ARCHER
   10 STR 
  13 DEX
   9 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  9 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   18 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  Bugging 13-, 
  Bureaucratics 8-, Com-
  puter Programming 11-, 
  Electronics 13-, SS: Elec-
  tronic Engineering 11-, 
  Mechanics 8-, PS: Small 
  Business Owner 11-, 
  Security Systems 12-, 
  Shadowing 11-, Systems 
  Operation 8-
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  Calvin Archer 
  runs Archer Electronics 
  & Security, a Pierpoint 
  company that sells 
  electronic components 
  and related services 
  and equipment. If you 
  want to build your own 
  ham radio, RC car, or 
  similar gadget, Archer 
  can sell you the parts, 
  tools, and instructions 
  to do it. Archer also car-
  ries a wide selection of 
  surveillance and secu-
  rity devices, which he 
  installs for a fee.
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  103 
  ANNUAL EVENTS
  There’s also an annual rhythm to life in 
  Hudson City, with a round of parades, celebrations, 
  and festivals that the locals enjoy year after year. In 
  chronological order, some of the most important or 
  interesting of them are:
  New Year’s Day Parade:  On January 1, elaborate 
  ﬂoats and gigantic balloons ﬁll the streets of 
  Bankhurst, Highlands, and Worthington (and 
  the air above them) as the New Year’s Day Parade 
  wends its way from the river to the city limits. A 
  nationally televised event that attracts tens of thou-
  sands of onlookers along its route, it’s also a major 
  marketing opportunity for many companies that 
  brings millions of dollars of revenue into Hudson 
  City’s advertising ﬁrms.
  King Day Festival:  On Martin Luther King Day, 
  MLK Park and the surrounding blocks in Freetown 
  are the scene of an enormous street festival featur-
  ing prominent speakers, concerts, games, and other 
  events. Warring street gangs generally set aside 
  their diﬀerences for the day, but violence has been 
  known to break out.
  Pearls Of Great Price Banquet:  Held in late January, 
  this event honors the past year’s most active civic 
  and charity organizations and workers with various 
  awards, plaques, and certiﬁcates of recognition. It’s 
  considered a highlight of the annual social season, 
  and many who attend go all-out to look their best.
  Chinese New Year:  In mid-February, Chinatown 
  holds its own New Year’s celebration, though the 
  parade is much smaller, the secondary events some-
  times a little strange to Western sensibilities, and 
  the ﬁreworks much more common. Many Hud-
  sonites trek over to the neighborhood for the food 
  and festivities.
  St. Patrick’s Day Parade:  Hudsonites of Irish 
  descent take this day to celebrate their heritage 
  with a parade from Irishtown to LeMastre Park, 
  generous helpings of corned beef and cabbage, and 
  gallons of green-dyed beer.
  Gay And Lesbian Pride Day:  Hudson City’s homo-
  sexual community celebrates its lifestyle with a 
  street festival every year in Ashwood in early April. 
  Bigots have taken to calling it “April Queer’s Day.”
  Easter Parade and Egg Hunt:  Every year the Easter 
  Parade starts in Gadsden, progresses west through 
  Bankhurst, then turns north through Blackbridge 
  and Worthington to the city limits. Instead of 
  the ﬂoats found in most other city parades, this 
  one features mainly marching bands, civic and 
  charitable groups walking to raise money for their 
  causes, and so forth. Individuals dressed in their 
  best (or weirdest) clothing often join the parade for 
  a few blocks or miles. For the kids, there’s a massive 
  city-sponsored Easter Egg hunt in LeMastre Park 
  around the Dinosaur Garden.
  Greek Festival:  In May, the Dormition Greek 
  Orthodox Church (page 72) holds its Greek Festi-
  val to showcase Greek food and culture.
  Firetree Cotillion:  An annual dance held at the Fire-
  tree Country Club (page 135).
  Hudson City Toy Fair:  In mid-May the halls of the 
  Convention Center are ﬁlled with more toys than 
  even the greediest child could dream up. Toy and 
  game manufacturers from all over the world come 
  to display their wares to potential buyers and drum 
  up business for the year.
  Memorial Day Celebrations:  Hudson City doesn’t 
  have any speciﬁc Memorial Day event (such as a 
  parade), but every year a wide variety of speeches, 
  solemn remembrances, and celebratory acknowl-
  edgements of America’s ﬁghting forces take place.
  Yacht Club Regatta and parties:  The Hudson Beach 
  Yacht Club (page 135) holds a regatta and a series 
  of parties every summer. The date of the Regatta 
  varies, but it’s usually in late July or early August.
  Hudson City Marathon:  Held in early June, this race 
  starts in Gadsden and wends its way around the 
  Northside to end in LeMastre Park. (See page 115 
  for other annual sporting events.)
  HudsonCon:  In mid-June, over 20,000 science ﬁc-
  tion and gaming fans descend on Blackbridge for 
  HudsonCon, one of the nation’s premiere cons.
  Hudson City Jazz Festival:  Typically held in mid-
  late June, this musical event attracts the top musi-
  cians in jazz — as well as tens of thousands of jazz 
  fans — to the city’s concert halls and parks.
  Hudson City Fourth:  Every year the city sponsors an 
  elaborate Fourth of July festival in LeMastre Park. 
  There’s usually a major concert in the afternoon, 
  and at 9:00 PM sharp the ﬁreworks begin. 
  Summer Kite Festival:  Held in Mott Park every July, 
  this Chinatown event draws thousands of people 
  eager to watch the elaborate Chinese kites (and bet 
  on the kite ﬁghts).
  Hudson City Military Exposition:  Arms and mili-
  tary systems manufacturers hold a trade show at 
  the Convention Center and Coliseum in August. 
  Admission to the show is closed to the public; only 
  persons with valid invitations and identity badges 
  can tour the halls to ooh and ahh at the latest in 
  ﬁrearm, tank, and UAV technology.
  Labor Day Celebrations:  For two days in early 
  September the city nearly shuts down as workers 
  (unionized or not) take a vacation to celebrate the 
  virtues of working. Various events take place all 
  around the city, but the enormous street festival in 
  Elmview and Red Hill is usually considered the best 
  party to go to. It usually includes at least one major 
  musical act in concert.
  Halloween Celebrations:  The city has no formal 
  Halloween event, but many civic and social organi-
  zations hold costume parties, fundraisers, or trick-
  or-treat substitute parties for the kids. (The Vrtis 
  Wildlife Trust’s bash in LeMastre Park, page 67, 
  is one of the best.) There’s usually an impromptu 
  “street festival” in Ashwood featuring some amaz-
  ing (and often scandalous) costumes.
  HELEN NEWSOME
   6 STR 
  8 DEX
   7 CON 
  8 BODY
   8 INT 
  10 EGO
   8 PRE 
  8 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  3 REC
   14 END 15 STUN
  Abilities:  Luck 8d6 
  (Only To Keep From 
  Hurting Herself Or 
  Others While Driving), 
  Bureaucratics 11-, High 
  Society 11-, KS: Hudson 
  City Volunteerism 11-, 
  Oratory 8-, Persuasion 
  11-, 20 points’ worth of 
  Contacts throughout 
  Hudson City, Money:  
  Well Oﬀ
  Disadvantages:  Age:  
  60+, Physical Limitation: 
  Nearsighted (needs cor-
  rective lenses)
  Notes:  The recipient 
  of the 1996 “Pearl of 
  Great Price” award for 
  her selﬂess eﬀorts as a 
  volunteer and coordina-
  tor of volunteers, Helen 
  Newsome is well-known 
  to many segments of 
  Hudsonite society. A 
  spry 68-year-old widow 
  whose husband left 
  her more than enough 
  money to live on for the 
  rest of her life, New-
  some is perpetually 
  optimistic and friendly, 
  always ready to try to 
  help those less fortunate 
  than herself. Refusing 
  to acknowledge that her 
  driving skills are atro-
  cious, she drives herself 
  everywhere she wants 
  to go... but somehow, 
  despite the chaos and 
  fender-benders she 
  leaves in her wake, nei-
  ther she nor anyone else 
  seems to get hurt as a 
  result.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  104 ■ A Day In The Life
  Thanksgiving Day Parade:  Taking place on the 
  morning of the third Thursday of each November, 
  the Thanksgiving Day Parade starts at LeMastre 
  Park, moves east brieﬂy, then turns north and keeps 
  going until it reaches the city limits. It’s much like 
  the New Year’s Day Parade in most respects, though 
  the ﬂoats are usually built with diﬀerent themes.
  Christmas Parade:  The last parade of the Hudson 
  City year takes place in mid-December to celebrate 
  Christmas. It starts near the river and heads north. 
  Riders on many of the ﬂoats throw candy or small 
  toys and gewgaws to the crowds.
  SLANG
  Hudsonites aren’t known for having a special 
  accent (they sound like most other northeasterners), 
  but they do have a few slang terms all their own.
  General Slang
  Blue (n.):  An HCPD cop.
  Buck (n.):  A shotgun.
  Cokely (adj.):  Crazy; nuts. Derived from Cokely 
  Hospital (page 126), which has an extensive ward 
  for psychologically disturbed persons. Usually used 
  as, “he’s Cokely,” or “he’s gone to Cokely.”
  Cool (n.):  One thousand dollars. A large cool is ten 
  thousand dollars.
  Cruciﬁed (adj.):  Incarcerated in Longview Correc-
  tional Center, which is a cruciform building. Usu-
  ally used as, “been cruciﬁed.”
  Ferranti style (n.):  Anything made or done with a 
  maximum of beauty, opulence, and sophisticated taste.
  Franklin (n.):  A black person who’s not street-smart 
  (from Franklin County).
  Free of Freetown (adj.):  Has gotten out of the 
  ghetto.
  G (n.):  A gun. In gang subculture, also means 
  “gangster” (a gang member).
  Grease (n.):  Money
  Grease Machine (n.):  ATM machine
  Grease Market (n.):  In lower case, a bank; when 
  capitalized, the Hudson City Stock Exchange
  Hudson City hardball (n.):  The roughest, dirtiest way 
  to play. “He’s playin’ Hudson City hardball with ya, 
  pal — time to get down ’n’ dirty yourself.”
  Hudson City heartbreak (n.):  A tragedy brought on 
  one’s self, usually due to one’s own failings or inad-
  equacies (especially moral or ethical). Derived from 
  the title and subject of a lurid 1878 play.
  Irish (adj.):  Rich, wealthy; luxurious; especially 
  elegant, sophisticated, or nice
  Joke (adj.):  Sentenced to Juvenile Oﬀenders Cor-
  rectional Hall. Often used as “getting the Joke” or 
  “telling a Joke.”
  Mask (n.):  Vigilante or costumed criminal.
  Moose (n.):  A large man, especially a clumsy, 
  dumb-looking one; a thug; a legbreaker
  Needle Cowboy/Cowgirl (n.):  A junkie, a heroin user.
  Oyster (n.):  A male Hudsoner (cf. “Pearl”).
  Pearl (n.):  An inhabitant of Hudson City, especially 
  a woman. In some cruder subcultures (such as 
  along the Strip), a “pearl” refers to a prostitute or a 
  lesbian.
  The Pearl City (n.):  Hudson City.
  Player (n.):  A person working for or associated 
  with Card Shark.
  Punch ’n’ Judy (n.):  A homosexual couple (usually 
  used derogatorily).
  Ride the needle (v.):  To use drugs (especially 
  heroin) (cf. Needle Cowboy).
  Run the Numbers (v.):  To live and survive in the 
  Numbers; going into the Numbers and coming 
  back out alive.
  Shamrocks (n.):  Paper money (especially $100 bills).
  Skyline (v.):  To ride the elevated railway.
  Smokey (n.):  A black person (hence Smokeytown, 
  a derogatory term for Freetown). This term derives 
  from the alleged distasteful odor emitted by blacks, 
  and from the smoke from the cookﬁres that hung 
  over Freetown when it was ﬁrst established.
  Steal candy (v.):  To commit rape.
  Tallie (n.):  A person of Italian extraction (hence 
  Tallietown, a derogatory term for Little Italy).
  V (n.):  A vigilante crimeﬁghter.
  On The Strip
  Daddy Warbucks (n.):  A wealthy individual willing 
  to pay top dollar (either for the prettiest girls or 
  “unusual” services).
  Greek (n.):  A homosexual. Usually used of men; a 
  “Greek girl” is a lesbian.
  Greek ride (n.):  Anal intercourse.
  Princess (n.):  A prostitute, especially a high-class or 
  expensive one.
  Sweet (n.):  A prostitute, especially a low-class, 
  cheap, or broken-down one.
  Tourist (n.):  A person visiting North Elmview for 
  the purposes of obtaining sex or drugs.
  PREACHER
   8 STR 
  10 DEX
   9 CON 
  9 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   15 PRE 
  8 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  4 REC
   18 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  Concealment 
  11-, Deduction 11-, 
  KS: The Bible 11-, KS: 
  Protestant Christian 
  Theology 11-, Oratory 
  14-, Persuasion 12-, 
  Streetwise 12-, WF: 
  Handguns, Knives
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Criminal 
  Record
  Notes:  “Praise the Lord 
  and follow his word!”
  Hang around on the 
  Southside long enough, 
  and you’re bound to 
  run into Preacher. No 
  one knows his real 
  name, they just call him 
  what he is. Every day 
  he picks a streetcorner, 
  usually one somewhere 
  in Freetown, Forsyth, 
  or Riverside Hills, and 
  commences to preach 
  the Gospel. He doesn’t 
  put out a hat or cup 
  for money, though he 
  won’t turn down an 
  “oﬀering” if you’d like to 
  make one. All day long 
  he exhorts passersby 
  to accept Jesus as their 
  Lord and Savior and to 
  follow the straight and 
  narrow path of righ-
  teousness... and then, as 
  dusk falls, he stops talk-
  ing and wanders away 
  to who knows where, no 
  doubt going to rest up 
  to gather his strength 
  for tomorrow’s sermon.
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  105 
  “This is Daniel Petty, reporting live from Red 
  Hill, where the police have surrounded a 
  waterfront building. With me is Lieutenant 
  Gina Sparks. Lieutenant Sparks, can you tell us 
  what’s going on here?”
  “We received a report of shots ﬁred from this 
  building. We sent a patrol car to investigate, and 
  the suspects in the building shot at it repeatedly 
  with automatic weapons and a grenade, injur-
  ing one oﬃcer. Reinforcements arrived, we sur-
  rounded the place, and now we’re waiting for 
  the SWAT team to arrive.”
  “What will SWAT do when they get here?”
  “I’m sorry, but we can’t discuss that during an 
  ongoing incident.”
  “What’s the word on the wounded oﬃcer?”
  “He was taken by ambulance to Vreeland 
  Memorial. The last thing I heard was that 
  he’s going into surgery, but is expected to pull 
  through.”
  “Have the police contacted DarkAngel? Do you 
  anticipate vigilante involvement?”
  “The Hudson City Police Department does not 
  work with or contact vigilantes, who are not 
  authorized law enforcement oﬃcers.”
  — crime scene interview by  
  Daniel Petty, WJYG
  They say the media is an omnipresent fact of 
  life in modern America, and that’s certainly true in 
  the Pearl City. Many diﬀerent television and radio 
  stations broadcast in the greater Hudson City area, 
  and some of its newspapers are among the most 
  highly-regarded in the nation.
  TELEVISION
  Like the rest of the United States, Hudson 
  City is served by four major television networks:  
  ABS (the American Broadcasting System); CBC 
  (the Central Broadcasting Corporation); NBS (the 
  National Broadcasting System); and the Adair Net-
  work. Additionally, two cable TV “superstations” 
  that reach most of the country are based in Hudson 
  City:  Worldview News (an all-news station known 
  for its accurate reporting) and Berkely Entertain-
  ment Television (BETV).
  These networks’ aﬃliates in the Hudson City 
  area are:
  WCNB, CHANNEL 2
  Hudson City’s CBC aﬃliate has fallen on hard 
  times in recent years. Trailing ABS and NBS locally 
  in the ratings, it’s also lost some of its core viewer-
  ship — adults 35 and up — to WEML. The station’s 
  managers are beginning to contemplate extreme 
  solutions for regaining market share.
  WCNB’s best-known on-air personality is 
  Patricia Eisenhart, the station’s weekend news 
  anchor and its full-time reporter on entertainment 
  and fashion issues. Although extremely pretty and 
  extremely popular, she’s generally regarded as a 
  journalistic lightweight.
  WEML, CHANNEL 5
  WEML is the Adair aﬃliate in Hudson City. 
  The Adair Network’s blend of hip, young shows 
  for hip, young people combined with reality TV 
  and “trash TV” has given it a solid foothold in the 
  Hudson City market. WEML even produces a show 
  of its own:  War Zone, a trash TV show starring 
  Tony Kendall that’s often shot on location around 
  the city. It focuses on “stories about the modern 
  urban battleground” — gang warfare, police activ-
  ity, vigilantes, street life, and so on. Kendall is a 
  wisecracking, fast-talking loudmouth who spends 
  his time looking for the juiciest dirt he can ﬁnd, 
  and then broadcasting it. He thinks “the public has 
  a right to know!”, regardless of the consequences, 
  and cares little for the pain his shows cause as long 
  as his ratings stay high.
  WJYG, CHANNEL 7
  The ABS aﬃliate in Hudson City occupies 
  Channel 7 on the dial. It does pretty well with its 
  national shows, but its news broadcast has lagged a 
  little in recent months. The one thing WJYG news 
  has going for it is Daniel Petty, “eyewitness action 
  reporter” par excellence. Petty has a well-deserved 
  reputation for going after the most dangerous sto-
  ries (such as organized crime exposés) and getting 
  right in the thick of the action (such as the time he 
  covered a police chase of a bank robber from the 
  passenger’s seat of the police car). Tenacious and 
  determined, he won’t let a story rest once he’s on it.
  WPJD, CHANNEL 20
  A small local station that broadcasts only 
  within the Hudson City area, WPJD focuses on 
  community events, local news, and the like. Its 
  Hudson City Focus program of local human interest 
  and “offbeat humor” stories has become surpris-
  ingly popular. 
  ON THE SCENE
  IN THE NEWS  
  IN 2004:
  MEDIA 
  SHENANIGANS
  September — Following 
  an expose by the Star-
  Gazette, Phillip Sut-
  cliﬀe, a reporter for the 
  Hudson City Agenda, 
  admitted to fabricating 
  or plagiarizing mate-
  rial for over two dozen 
  stories in the past three 
  years. Sutcliﬀe, a gradu-
  ate of Stanford, began 
  working for the Agenda 
  in 1998 and quickly 
  became one of the lib-
  eral paper’s star report-
  ers thanks to his witty, 
  biting prose and incisive 
  investigative journal-
  ism. It now appears that 
  much of Sutcliﬀe’s “inci-
  sive” reporting was more 
  ﬁction than fact.
  In commenting on the 
  scandal, Agenda pub-
  lisher Robert Dawes 
  stated, “As a newspaper, 
  our ﬁrst obligation is to 
  the truth, and we deeply 
  regret that oversights on 
  our part allowed Phillip 
  Sutcliﬀe to publish as 
  factual material which 
  was not. However, the 
  fundamental truths 
  behind his articles 
  — corruption in city 
  government and the 
  police, the brutality of 
  the HCPD, the back-
  room dealings of the 
  Ivory Club, corporate 
  ﬁnancial chicanery 
  — remain both true and 
  incontrovertible.”
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  106 ■ A Day In The Life
  WSLH, CHANNEL 8
  Hudson City’s NBS aﬃliate not only has a 
  strong slate of national programming, it enjoys a 
  strong lead in the local news competition. The latter 
  advantage is mainly due to Frederick Tarnauer, the 
  evening news anchor. He’s held that job for over 20 
  years, and has become something of a Hudson City 
  institution. Surveys consistently rank him as one of 
  the city’s most trusted public ﬁgures. However, he’s 
  nearing retirement age, and WSLH has no idea who 
  it would get to replace him.
  WSQS, CHANNEL 36
  Based on the Southside, this independent 
  station covers mostly news, events, and stories per-
  taining to Freetown and Lafayette. It gets enough 
  viewers in those areas to keep going, but its strident 
  left-wing rhetoric turns oﬀ most other people.
  WTBV, CHANNEL 10
  The “mother station” of Ben Berkely’s BETV 
  network, WTBV has been a Hudson City institu-
  tion for over thirty years. Its programming mostly 
  consists of syndicated shows, though it added a news 
  broadcast in the late Nineties that has done reason-
  ably well. Vivacious reporter Sandra Huston, who 
  hosts the Hudson Beat news program every week, 
  has attracted a lot of attention both for her no-holds-
  barred reporting style and her on-air charm.
  RADIO STATIONS
  Several dozen radio stations’ broadcasts can 
  reach the greater Hudson City area. Among those, 
  a few stand out because they’re speciﬁcally based in 
  Hudson City or designed to appeal to Hudsonites, 
  they’re particularly popular, or the like. They include:
  WCBR (105.0 FM):  “Cobra-105 FM” broadcasts 
  so-called “urban contemporary” music — rap and 
  hip-hop with a little blend of soul, in other words. 
  It also covers Freetown Community College sports 
  (such as they are).
  WHCX (94.3 FM):  The “Hudson City Extreme” sta-
  tion oﬀers a blend of classic rock and contempo-
  rary rock with an irreverent twist. Its “Chris and 
  Kelly Morning Show” is one of the most popular 
  in the city and often features bizarre or titillating 
  guests such as strippers, midget entertainers, and 
  local fringe politicians.
  WJGL (98.1 FM):  A Christian contemporary station, 
  WJGL doesn’t have a very large group of listen-
  ers — but the ones it does have are intensely loyal, 
  giving it more clout with advertisers than most sta-
  tions its size.
  WJKF (98.5 FM):  “K-98 FM” is Hudson City’s 
  main country and western station. For many 
  years it was virtually Hudson City’s only C&W 
  station, but the rise in popularity of country 
  music over the past ﬁfteen years caused several 
  other local stations to switch to that format. How-
  ever, none of them has acquired an audience any-
  where near as large as WJKF’s.
  WJWM (92.9 FM):  Rock station “J-92 FM” is known 
  throughout the city both for its cartoon logo (a sly-
  looking fox) and for a seemingly non-stop series of 
  giveaways, promotions, and contests. If there’s an 
  event of any consequence going on somewhere in 
  town, you can bet the J-92 prize van will be there to 
  hand out t-shirts and similar freebies.
  WNRO (99.0 FM):  “Oldies-99 FM” plays rock and 
  pop music from the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies, 
  with occasional forays into the early Eighties. Its 
  “Friday Night Fifties” and “Saturday Night Seven-
  ties” programs are both local favorites.
  WRGL (100.5 FM):  Billing itself as broadcasting 
  “relaxing music you can enjoy,” R-100 FM is an 
  easy listening/adult contemporary station played 
  in many oﬃces and stores throughout the city. It 
  achieved some notoriety last year when one of its 
  most popular DJs accidentally revealed his illegal 
  drug habit to the public by having a major acid 
  ﬂashback at a live remote broadcast.
  WTCJ (102.3 FM):  If WRGL’s music is still a little 
  too much for your sensibilities, check out WTCJ 
  instead. Its mix of “timeless classic” oldies (i.e., 
  Sinatra, Bennett, Martin, Como, and so on), light 
  jazz, and big band music draws in a lot of older 
  listeners and people tired of the same old rock, pop, 
  and country songs.
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  107 
  WTRA (790 AM):  “Talk Radio America” is the pre-
  miere talk radio and news station in the Hudson City 
  area. Its local programming mostly consists of vari-
  ous call-in talk shows; otherwise it mostly broadcasts 
  syndicated national talk and news programs.
  WTWF (97.1 FM):  This station claims that its call 
  letters stand for “We’re The Weirdness Factory,” and 
  it sets out to prove it by broadcasting an unusual 
  blend of odd and obscure rock, pop, and jazz. After-
  noon and evening drivetime DJ Stephanie “Storm” 
  Sullivan does her best to live up to her nickname by 
  ranting about everything under the sun. She’d make 
  an interesting political candidate if anyone could 
  ﬁgure out where she actually stands on the issues... 
  or if there was such a thing as the Annoyed With 
  Everything Party.
  WVSN (640 AM):  “V-Sun 640” plays classical music 
  mixed with some news and other talk program-
  ming (such as a wine appreciation show). The 
  soothing voice of the station’s main DJ, Bernard 
  Lundquist, can also be heard doing voice-overs on 
  many local television commercials.
  WWRD (96.3 FM):  “The Word” is WCBR’s chief 
  competitor in the urban contemporary format. It’s 
  attempting to draw in more listeners by adding a 
  dose of Latin contemporary music to its playlist, 
  but it remains to be seen whether this will work.
  WZQK (93.7 FM):  The “Zaqk attack!” is another 
  competitor in the rock arena. It focuses more 
  on contemporary rock, with only the occasional 
  classic rock song for good measure. Morning per-
  sonality Deborah “Double D” Danson has helped 
  the station gain several points in the ratings over 
  the last year or two with her blend of wit and wry 
  cultural observations.
  NEWSPAPERS
  Television may be more popular and pay better, 
  but real journalists are newspaper journalists — just 
  ask any of them, they’ll tell you — and the real news 
  can only be found in print. Hudsonites have a wide 
  variety of papers to choose from, ranging from the 
  intensely intellectual to the blatantly crude. Several of 
  the outlying counties and suburban areas have their 
  own papers that concentrate on news of local interest.
  THE CITY NEWS
  One of the two most popular papers in 
  Hudson City, the City News is in a no-holds-
  barred competition with the Star-Gazette for the 
  hearts and minds of millions of readers. With 
  its blend of wire service stories and hard-hitting 
  local reporting, presented with writing that ﬂows 
  easily and eye-catching graphics, the City News 
  appeals to the tens of thousands of newspaper 
  readers who want solid reporting they can digest 
  in a minimum of time.
  In the take-no-prisoners mindset of the news-
  paper wars, any day the City News can scoop the Star-
  Gazette is a great day; any day it gets scooped is an 
  unmitigated disaster that sends Chief Editor Norman 
  Kail into a frenzy of yelling and door-slamming. The 
  reporter he counts on the most to deliver in-depth 
  stories that no one else can get is Danica Easley. Her 
  stories about life in Freetown and the eﬀects of pov-
  erty on the lives of its residents have won most major 
  journalism awards, including the Pulitzer. She also 
  teaches journalism classes at City College.
  THE HUDSON CITY AGENDA
  Most newspapers at least pretend to editorial 
  balance. The Agenda is not one of them. It’s a left-
  wing paper through-and-through, and makes no 
  bones about it. When questioned about his lack of 
  objectivity, publisher Robert Dawes says, “We’ve got 
  freedom of the press in this country — so you’re free 
  to go get your own goddamn press and stop telling 
  me how to use mine.” Conservative critics respond 
  that it’s refreshing to see at least one member of the 
  media have the guts to admit his bias.
  The Agenda has been a major thorn in Mayor 
  Umstead’s side since the day he declared his candi-
  dacy, and it has no intention of letting up. As far as 
  most of the paper’s reporters and all of its editorial 
  columnists are concerned, his form of fascism is 
  only slightly more tolerable than Hitler’s, and every 
  day he remains in oﬃce is a travesty of justice. Sev-
  eral of them are convinced he’s got some skeletons 
  in some closets, and they’re not going to stop look-
  ing until they ﬁnd them.
  The Agenda also has a strong anti-vigilante 
  bias. It regards vigilantes as thinly-disguised tools 
  of Big Brother used to keep the “little people” down, 
  and regularly alleges conspiratorial links between 
  Mayor Umstead and the likes of Scarecrow or the 
  Harbinger. Even when a vigilante does something 
  good (like saving a group of kids from a ﬁre), the 
  Agenda usually spins things against the crime-
  ﬁghter (for example, by alleging that he may have 
  caused the ﬁre in the ﬁrst place).
  THE HUDSON CITY DAILY STAR-GAZETTE
  The Star-Gazette is Hudson City’s other main-
  stream paper. It varies from year to year who has 
  the most subscribers and ad revenue, it or the City 
  News, so there’s no time to relax or rest on its laurels 
  — every day is another foray onto the battleﬁeld. 
  Leading the charge for the Star-Gazette are publisher 
  Frances “Frankie” Plimmons (herself a reporter for 
  the paper, years ago) and City Editor Stuart Tormey, 
  who in the past few years have transformed the paper 
  a little. They’ve made the stories shorter, emphasized 
  graphics a little more, and expanded features such as 
  the Lifestyles section, the comics and puzzles page, 
  and the advice columns.
  Most people would say the best reporters the 
  Star-Gazette has on staﬀ are the “Wonder Twins,” 
  Allan Webster and Margaret “Peggy” Ellefsen. 
  They’re not actually twins, of course, but they’ve 
  worked together on so many award-winning sto-
  ries — the “Park Police bordello” story, the Maﬁa 
  in the construction industry story, the children of 
  battered women story — that they’re thought of as 
  a team even though each of them does at least as 
  much work on his or her own. There’s been some 
  talk of getting the two of them to do their own 
  news/opinion show on TV, but nothing’s come of it.
  STEWART 
  MCDERMOTT
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 10 BODY
   14 INT 
  10 EGO
   15 PRE 
  12 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 20 STUN
  Abilities:  KS: Con-
  spiracy Theory Stuﬀ 11-, 
  KS: Layman’s Arcane 
  And Occult Lore 11-, 
  KS: Literature 11-, KS: 
  Myths And Legends 
  11-, KS: The Tarot 14-, 
  KS: Philosophy 11-, KS: 
  Rock And Pop Music 
  14-, PS: Disk Jockey 
  11-, PS: Tarot Reading 
  11-, Stealth 11-, Systems 
  Operations 8-
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  One of many 
  unusual DJs working 
  for WTWF radio, Stew-
  art McDermott hosts 
  a show on Saturdays 
  called “72 Pickup” in 
  which he plays Seven-
  ties music, talks about 
  various mystic or weird 
  topics, and muses 
  philosophically, all of 
  this laced with frequent 
  references to the tarot 
  or other matters mysti-
  cal. Sometimes he takes 
  calls from listeners. No 
  one’s quite sure if he’s a 
  true believer or a cynic 
  amusing himself, but 
  either way it makes for 
  good entertainment.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  108 ■ A Day In The Life
  THE HUDSON CITY MIRROR
  For readers who ﬁnd both the City News and 
  the Star-Gazette too lowbrow, there’s the Hudson 
  City Mirror. Founded over 120 years ago, the Mirror 
  has a rock-solid reputation for the depth and qual-
  ity of its reporting and news analysis. It pulls no 
  intellectual punches, expecting its readers to be 
  able to keep up with the details. For any given time 
  period you care to examine, it’s earned more Pulit-
  zers and other major journalism awards than the 
  Star-Gazette and the City News combined.
  The Mirror is particularly well-known for 
  its ability to ferret out and expose corruption in 
  city government, thanks in large part to reporters 
  like Cindy Gutierrez-Sosa. This pretty, diminutive 
  women strikes fear into the hearts of Hudson City 
  politicians; she seems to have a “sixth sense” for 
  backroom dealing and illegal collusion.
  THE HUDSON SUN
  In everything, a balance exists. While the 
  Mirror takes the highbrow approach to reporting, 
  it’s oﬀset by the Hudson City Sun, a tabloid-format 
  paper that seems determined to ﬁnd the sleaziest, 
  most sensationalistic way to report the news. In the 
  past, Sun reporters have snuck into hospital rooms 
  to photograph accident and shooting victims, lured 
  politicians into compromising situations with pros-
  titutes, and generally engaged in the sort of tactics 
  that give journalists a bad name.
  Chief among the legions of Sun bottom-feed-
  ers is Jack Williamson. One of the most obnoxious 
  reporters on the face of the planet, Williamson is 
  known all over the city for his rude, abrasive manner, 
  his willingness to uncover and publish the most 
  embarrassing facts he can ﬁnd about famous people, 
  and his loud sports jackets and ties. Besides writing 
  for the Sun, he also submits “stories” to the National 
  Inquisition and other supermarket tabloids.
  THE NATIONAL INQUISITION
  Bat-boys! Aliens! Thousand-pound Siamese 
  twins! Elvis’s secret celery and mayonnaise diet! 
  All this, and more, you can read about in the pages 
  of the National Inquisition, one of America’s most 
  popular supermarket tabloids. Most people con-
  sider its “reporting” nothing more than entertaining 
  ﬁction, but a surprising number of people actually 
  believe the nonsense it publishes.
  OTHER JOURNALISTS
  Not every journalist works exclusively for one 
  paper. Some of them freelance, digging up whatever 
  stories they can ﬁnd and selling them to whichever 
  paper pays the best. Some of Hudson City’s most 
  noteworthy unaﬃliated newshounds (and a few 
  others who’ve achieved notoriety outside of the 
  city) include:
  Jack Berlin:  The City News’s star politics reporter 
  is a thirty-year veteran of the news game. He 
  started pounding out stories on a manual type-
  writer, and even though he uses a computer 
  today he’s prone to reminiscing about the “good 
  old days” when men dominated the newsrooms 
  and alcoholism was practically a prerequisite for 
  the job. He’s exposed numerous cases of corrup-
  tion in local, state, and national politics, making 
  him an iconic figure to many reporters. He’s writ-
  ten several books; many people know him better 
  for them than for his reporting.
  Sophie Dulfer:  When there’s no photographer avail-
  able... or willing... to cover dangerous assignments, 
  newspaper editors call Sophie Dulfer. She’ll go any-
  where — Freetown, Lafayette, Baghdad, the Sudan, 
  City Hall — to get the top-notch pictures her 
  employers demand. She’s been threatened, beaten 
  up, spit on, and shot at... but she always gets the 
  pics. In addition to her newspaper work, she’s pub-
  lished several books of photos, including one photo 
  essay of southern Hudson City, Southside Portraits.
  Frank Keaton:  Sometimes called “Fedora” for 
  his trademark hat, Frank Keaton is a freelance 
  crime reporter — and a good one. He’s got a well-
  deserved reputation for having the latest, most 
  accurate information about the Hudson City 
  underworld (rumor has it he even provides infor-
  mation to vigilantes like Renegade and DarkAngel). 
  He’s written for the City News, the Mirror, and the 
  Star-Gazette at various times, and has also authored 
  two books:  Evil Ascendant:  The Coming Rise Of 
  The Maﬁa and Eastern Evil:  The Rise Of Russian 
  Organized Crime In America. He’s said to be work-
  ing on a third book, this one about Chinese orga-
  nized crime. His biggest story to date was an exposé 
  of Mexican Maﬁa activities in Hudson City that 
  was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
  Carl Lundberg:  Known as the “wild-mannered 
  reporter,” Lundberg has a well-deserved reputation 
  for taking crazy risks to get his stories for the City 
  News and Star-Gazette (he sells mainly to the latter, 
  though he’s really proﬁted from the “bidding war” 
  their competition has forced them into). Without a 
  thought for his own safety he’ll walk into the depths 
  of Freetown or Latin City to interview gangbangers, 
  ride along with the cops in some of the worst 
  precincts in town, or barge into society functions 
  to conduct “shock interviews.” It’s a good thing 
  he comes up with such great stories, or his antics 
  would have gotten him ﬁred long ago.
  Robert L. Stephenson:  Stephenson used to work for 
  the City News, but became a freelancer after a falling 
  out with his editors there. He primarily covers the 
  courthouse beat, and to a lesser extent police matters. 
  He knows a lot of cops and judicial oﬃcials.
  CINDY  
  GUTIERREZ-SOSA
   8 STR 
  12 DEX
   10 CON 10 BODY
   13 INT 
  12 EGO
   18 PRE 
  14 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 19 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  14-, Bribery 8-, Combat 
  Driving 8-, Computer 
  Programming 8-, Con-
  cealment 12-, Conversa-
  tion 13-, Deduction 13-, 
  High Society 13-, Lock-
  picking 8-, Persuasion 
  13-, Seduction 13-, Con-
  tacts (30 points’ worth, 
  throughout Hudson 
  City), Fringe Beneﬁt:  
  Press Pass
  25+ Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Stops At Nothing To Get 
  The Story; Reputation:  
  pain in the ass reporter; 
  Rivalry (Professional, 
  with other reporters); 
  Social Limitation:  Sub-
  ject To Orders
  Notes:  A 32 year-old 
  Hispanic woman born 
  in Latin City, Conchita 
  “Cynthia” Gutierrez-
  Sosa knew from an early 
  age that she wanted to 
  be a reporter. She put 
  herself through HCC 
  working odd jobs for 
  various newspapers, 
  then wrangled a job 
  as a cub reporter at 
  the Mirror. She soon 
  showed her editors that 
  she knew what she was 
  doing, and they began to 
  turn her loose on bigger 
  and bigger stories. Today 
  she’s one of the most 
  highly respected report-
  ers in Hudson City, one 
  whose stories almost 
  always get picked up by 
  the wire services.
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  109 
  “Yeah! Yeah! Go, man, go, go, go... touch-
  down!!!”
  “!$&*%@’ A, man. The Thunderbolts are goin’ 
  all the way this year!”
  “I’ll drink to that! *%&!, I’m outta beer. You 
  wanna ’nother?”
  “Yeah, I’ll go with you. C’mon.”
  It wasn’t much of a walk down to the beer 
  stand, but the going was slow because of the 
  crowds. Start of the season and the Thunder-
  bolts were winning, so everyone wanted to be 
  part of the action. “They oughtta have a special 
  lane just for season ticket holders like you ’n’ 
  me, huh, Jerry?
  “No *%&!, man. This crowd sucks.”
  “Here we are. Christ, look at the line! By the 
  time we get back it’s gonna be fourth quarter.”
  “Maybe — but what fun would it be to watch 
  the game without beer, man?”
  — conversation overheard at  
  Stewart County Stadium.
  From the richest resident of Irishtown to the 
  poorest Southside slum-dweller, every Hudsonite 
  wants to have a good time once in a while — and 
  some people devote their whole lives to keeping 
  entertained. Fortunately, Hudson City oﬀers count-
  less opportunities for relaxation and fun.
  AMUSEMENT PARKS
  Lots of Hudsonites have kids, and most of 
  those kids don’t want to go to museums or the 
  opera — they want to have fun! And fun often 
  means amusement and theme parks built with the 
  young (and young at heart) in mind.
  CARNIVAL WORLD
  Built largely (though not entirely) around a 
  “circus” theme on several dozen acres of land out-
  side Benton County, Carnival World has rides and 
  games for all ages, a large petting zoo, and excellent 
  popcorn. Every year in March it stages a major 
  “Mardi Gras” promotion complete with parades, 
  parties (both for kids and adults-only), and lots of 
  free, gawdy fake jewelry.
  DINO-LAND
  Located in south Stewartville, this amuse-
  ment park was designed to appeal to kids who like 
  dinosaurs... and what kid doesn’t like dinosaurs? All 
  of its rides and attractions are structured around 
  various dinosaurs or other “prehistoric” themes, 
  with just a dash of education mixed in so the park 
  can bill itself as a “learning center.” Its chief mascot, 
  loveable cartoon character Wally D. Dinosaur, is a 
  red humanoid tyrannosaur often seen on tee-shirts, 
  stadium cups, and other memorabilia.
  HUDSON GARDENS
  While this park’s name emphasizes its large 
  and well-stocked arboretum and bird sanctuary, 
  what appeals most to the kids are all the rides 
  — particularly Maximum Panic, one of the largest 
  and fastest roller coasters in America. Located just 
  outside Rockwell in Corinth County, Hudson Gar-
  dens remains open year-round, though not all rides 
  operate during cold weather.
  SPLASH MOUNTAIN
  Located a little ways south of Burkett’s Mill 
  and easily accessible from the Outer Beltline, Splash 
  Mountain is “the water park to end all water parks!” 
  (or at least, that’s what its commercials say). Open 
  from Memorial Day to Labor Day, it’s the perfect 
  place to cool oﬀ during those hot summer days if 
  you like your waves and water without the accom-
  panying sand and seagulls.
  CULTURAL EVENTS  
  AND FINE ARTS
  On the opposite end of the spectrum from 
  amusement parks are cultural events and facilities 
  — everything from the most high-brow opera to gal-
  leries containing the latest, weirdest post-modern art.
  Dance
  Hudson City has two major dance companies. 
  The ﬁrst, the Ferranti Ballet, performs year-round in 
  the Ferranti Auditorium (see below), typically oﬀer-
  ing six shows per year in addition to performances of 
  The Nutcracker every December. The second, the New 
  City Dance Ensemble, conducts many diﬀerent kinds 
  of dance performances, from modern, to folk dances, 
  to traditional ballet. One several occasions it has 
  come under ﬁre for some of its rather risqué perfor-
  mances set to popular music. Most of its shows take 
  place at the Dickens Center, a smallish auditorium 
  located on 24th Avenue near Centre Street.
  ON THE TOWN
  IN THE NEWS  
  IN 2004:
  BLOOD AMONG 
  THE  WAVES
  June — Childrens’ 
  laughter and shrieks of 
  amusement turned to 
  screams of terror when 
  a deranged man began 
  shooting at people visit-
  ing the Splash Moun-
  tain amusement park 
  outside Hudson City. 
  Two persons — one 
  adult, one child — were 
  killed, and three more 
  injured, before police 
  ended a tense standoﬀ 
  by shooting and killing 
  the assailant.
  The killer was Zach-
  ary Creighton, a U.S. 
  Marine veteran trained 
  as a sniper who saw 
  action in the Middle 
  East during Operation 
  Desert Storm. In recent 
  years Creighton had 
  received treatment from 
  the Veteran’s Adminis-
  tration for increasingly 
  severe mental problems. 
  According to medical 
  records released by the 
  government following 
  the shooting, Creighton 
  was given to ﬁts of para-
  noia, and occasionally 
  even hallucinations. 
  What precisely trig-
  gered the episode that 
  led to the shooting at 
  Splash Mountain, or 
  why he picked that par-
  ticular location to attack, 
  remains unknown.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  110 ■ A Day In The Life
  Opera And Symphony
  Classical music is alive and well in Hudson 
  City, from the ﬁnest auditoriums to the musicians 
  performing on streetcorners for whatever the 
  passing public is willing to toss into their instru-
  ment cases.
  The Hudson City Symphony Orchestra, 
  Maestro Ilario Riccobene conducting, is widely 
  regarded as one of the best symphonies in the 
  United States. It usually performs in the Kleinmann 
  Center (see below), but often goes on the road to 
  play other auditoriums both in Hudson City and 
  around the world. It also has a “pops” series of con-
  certs oﬀered every summer for people interested in 
  the lighter side of classical music.
  The Hudson City Opera Company, based in 
  the Mulholland Opera House near Gadsden Park, 
  puts on three to ﬁve productions a year, and tours 
  every other year. Its stars include soprano Ashley 
  Fitzsimmons and tenor Giacomo Mastangelo. The 
  portly Mastangelo is something of an eccentric; 
  he’s known for descending on a restaurant with an 
  entourage of beautiful young women and various 
  hangers-on, demanding the best tables, ordering 
  one of everything for the group, and then eating 
  and drinking until the management has to pour 
  him into a cab and send him home.
  Theatre
  Hudson City also has two major outlets for 
  drama. The ﬁrst is the “Golden Avenue” of theaters 
  and playhouses in Worthington (see page 87). 
  Hudsonites with a hankering to see live plays and 
  musicals can go to the Golden Avenue any day of 
  the year and see a show.
  The other is the Hudson City Shakespeare 
  Company, which performs in the New Globe 
  Theatre in LeMastre Park. It offers four to six 
  major plays a year, plus several other smaller 
  productions, restricting itself to Shakespeare and 
  similar works. Its annual production of A Christ-
  mas Carol is a Hudson City holiday tradition that 
  attracts thousands.
  Beyond that, anything goes. There are many 
  small playhouses and other venues for perfor-
  mance art, amateur plays, and various stage 
  performances. The avant garde of Hudson City 
  drama visits these places almost every night, but 
  most Hudsonites find the performances bizarre, 
  stupid, and even offensive. Performance artist 
  Lydia Rubinstein, whose act involves her humor-
  ously masturbating on stage while audience 
  members throw paint-filled balloons at her, dis-
  misses such critics as “grey-minded yokels.”
  Visual Arts
  Hudson City is home to a vibrant and active 
  visual arts scene, much of it focused around two 
  areas:  the galleries and shops of Ashwood; and the 
  auction houses and galleries of Bankhurst, High-
  lands, and Worthington. 
  GALLERIES AND AUCTION HOUSES
  In addition to the art sellers described in 
  Chapter Two, there are many galleries and auction 
  houses displaying and selling the latest works of 
  modern creators as well as earlier artists. Some of 
  the best-known include:
  Arte Fantastique (372 Trelham Avenue):  Catering to 
  art collectors with more money than sense (or taste), 
  Arte Fantastique sells the latest, weirdest art it can 
  ﬁnd. The average person walking into the Arte Fan-
  tastique gallery would wonder where the art is, or at 
  the very least why those things are called “art,” but for 
  some people these abstract paintings and objects are 
  well worth their high pricetags.
  The Landauer Galleries (744 Steele Street):  Founded 
  over 80 years ago, the Landauer Galleries specializes in 
  paintings (particularly those of the early twentieth cen-
  tury), but also carries some sculptures and other items 
  (mainly medieval and Renaissance pieces). Landauer 
  deals mostly with private collectors, but periodically 
  holds public auctions when it has a large number of 
  what it considers “low-value” paintings to sell.
  Llewellyn’s (northwest corner of 11th Avenue and 
  Northampton Street):  Considered by many the pre-
  miere auction house in the city, Llewellyn’s special-
  izes in ﬁne art (particularly paintings and decorative 
  pieces), but will stage an auction of just about any-
  thing if it feels there’s a market. For example, over 
  the past half-dozen years its auctions have included 
  “Treasures from the Ascención” (various artifacts 
  recovered from a Spanish treasure ship), “Rock and 
  Soul Memorabilia, 1966-1976,” and “Medieval Ivo-
  ries of the Moeller Estate.” Llewellyn’s staﬀ includes 
  experts in nearly every type of visual art.
  Szalai House (southwest corner of Onslow Avenue 
  and Lennox Street):  If Llewellyn’s has any competi-
  tion in town, it’s the Szalai House. Founded in 1971 
  by Hungarian artist and immigrant Viktor Szalai, 
  and now managed principally by his son Theodore, 
  Szalai House covers the entire gamut of the art 
  world, including ﬁne housewares such as expensive 
  china and silverware collections. Compared to 
  Llewellyn’s it’s technologically savvy, often conduct-
  ing auctions of minor pieces online or delving into 
  the up-and-coming world of techno-art.
  ARTISTS
  Some of the most popular Hudson City artists 
  in the early twenty-ﬁrst century include:
  Fractal:  An eccentric techno-artist who answers 
  to no other name. Fractal made his mark on the 
  Hudson City art world with his 1987 exhibit of 
  computer-generated abstract art, and has remained 
  popular ever since. His originals now command 
  upwards of $50,000 apiece. 
  KRISTEN  
  MCCULLEN
   8 STR 
  12 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  16 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 16 STUN
  Abilities:  High Society 
  12-, KS: The Classical 
  Music World 13-, PS: 
  Play Clarinet 13-, PS: 
  Play Oboe 16-, Sleight Of 
  Hand 8-, Streetwise 8-
  25+ Disadvantages:   
  Psychological Limita-
  tion:  Artistic Tempera-
  ment
  Notes:  One of the most 
  gifted oboists in Hudson 
  City Symphony history, 
  Kristen McCullen was 
  ﬁred from the Sym-
  phony after a bitter dis-
  pute with the conductor 
  which she refuses to 
  discuss. Unable to ﬁnd 
  other steady musical 
  work, she supplements 
  her meager income 
  from performing at 
  weddings and similar 
  events by performing 
  for tips on the street 
  with two of her friends 
  (a violinist and a cellist). 
  She’s become a lot more 
  street-smart than she 
  used to be, and may see 
  and hear things the cops 
  or vigilantes would ﬁnd 
  useful to know. She can 
  be diﬃcult to get along 
  with, though... particu-
  larly if you interrupt one 
  of her performances.
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  111 
  J. Piero Grinyi:  A sculptor from Italy, Grinyi cre-
  ated the statues of Blind Justice that grace the 
  steps of Courthouse Plaza. Many of his other 
  works, both representational and abstract, appear 
  elsewhere in the city. Having a Grinyi in front of 
  your oﬃces or in your home is considered a sign 
  of high class and taste.
  Curtis Keiths:  Trained primarily as a draftsman, 
  Keiths has built a name for himself as an artist by 
  rendering exquisite, artistically-drawn maps of 
  peoples’ homes, hometowns, favorite parks, or even 
  fantastic locations from books.
  Scot N. Rook:  Known for his angular abstract 
  human ﬁgures and for his offbeat landscapes, Scot 
  Rook has become one of Hudson City’s favorite 
  artists. Critics sometimes compare his work to that 
  of Edvard Munch. He’s recently been experiment-
  ing with color and non-traditional media, and no 
  doubt these forays will yield some bold and inter-
  esting works in years to come.
  Gregory Smythe:  A painter and drawer best known 
  for his exquisitely-drawn pen-and-ink sketches of 
  odd human ﬁgures. Noted for their clarity and style, 
  his drawings have revolutionized some corners of 
  the art world.
  Auditoriums And Halls
  Performers — both local companies and visit-
  ing troupes — need a place to put on their perfor-
  mances. Some of the audiences and performance 
  halls in Hudson City include:
  The Ferranti Auditorium (southeast corner of Dunlop 
  Avenue and Van Buren Street):  Funded by the 
  wealthy Ferranti family around the turn of the 
  century, this hall is noted for its luxuriousness and 
  beauty. Frescoes, murals, paintings, and other works 
  of art ﬁll every available space. The city’s saying 
  “in the Ferranti style” refers to anything done or 
  created with a maximum of beauty, opulence, and 
  sophisticated taste.
  The Kleinmann Center for the Performing and 
  Visual Arts (southwest corner of 4th Avenue and 
  Caxton Street):  Built primarily with donations 
  from Abel and Nancy Kleinmann and their four 
  children, this remarkable arts complex is half a 
  series of performance auditoriums, half an art 
  museum. Some of the greatest performers and 
  artists in the world have shown their work here. 
  The Center is also known for its fabulous Foun-
  tain Gardens, a series of “water sculptures” that 
  decorate its main courtyard.
  MUSEUMS
  Hudson City has dozens of museums and sim-
  ilar attractions, ranging from small ones established 
  as tax shelters and devoted to obscure subjects (for 
  example, the Hudson City Clock Museum in Black-
  bridge) to large, world-class institutions like the 
  Natural History Museum. More than a few of them 
  have been the targets of robbers, forgers, or other 
  criminals from time to time.
  THE HUDSON CITY GANGLAND MUSEUM
  This museum at the corner of Van Buren and 
  11th in Blackbridge captures in vivid detail the life 
  and times of the gangster era of the Twenties and 
  Thirties. Featured displays include the car used by 
  Albert “Al the Rhino” Torccone during the infa-
  mous “Slaughterhouse Run”; a collection of guns 
  from various members of the Murder Syndicate; 
  one of Al Capone’s hats; and a life-size recreation of 
  a Scatucci speakeasy/casino.
  THE HUDSON CITY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
  Anyone interested in the history of Hudson 
  City should visit the Historical Museum at 18th 
  Avenue and Mathews Street, right near the head-
  quarters of the Historical Society (which owns and 
  maintains the museum). Its relics and records of life 
  in the Pearl City over the past 200 years contain all 
  sorts of interesting tidbits of information. Accord-
  ing to some experts, the Museum’s records of pre-
  1895 property records and related documents are 
  more complete than those owned by the city itself, 
  since the city’s were damaged in the Independence 
  Day ﬁre.
  THE HUDSON CITY MUSEUM OF ANTHRO-
  POLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY
  Located in an enormous building at the 
  corner of 8th Avenue and N. Adams Street directly 
  across from Gadsden Park, the “MANH” is 
  devoted to the subject of Humanity and the world 
  it lives in. Separate wings of the museum deal with 
  diﬀerent subjects (such as Insects, Paleontology, 
  Early Man, or Snakes and Reptiles); the facility 
  also features a small aquarium and a planetarium.  
  Among its many valuable collections, the “Gems 
  and Minerals of the World” exhibit stands out as 
  a particularly tempting target for criminals. In 
  addition to its displayed collections, its several 
  underground levels maintain extensive research 
  collections in various ﬁelds.
  THE HUDSON CITY MUSEUM  
  OF MODERN ART
  If an object was created in the last thirty or 
  forty years and is considered “art,” there’s a good 
  chance you’ll ﬁnd it at the HCMMA, at the south-
  west corner of 17th Avenue and Watts Street. From 
  abstract paintings, to bizarre sculptures, to “sound 
  sculptures” that aren’t even tangible, the Museum of 
  Modern Art has it all.
  FREDERICK 
  TANNENBAUM
   8 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 
  8 BODY
   8 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 17 STUN
  Abilities:  KS: Reptiles 
  13-, KS: Snakes Of The 
  World 14-, PS: Museum 
  Curator 11-, SS: Herpe-
  tology 12, SS: Ophidiol-
  ogy 14-
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  Many scientists 
  work at the Museum 
  of Anthropology and 
  Natural History in some 
  capacity, and Frederick 
  Tannenbaum is one of 
  them. An expert on her-
  petology (the study of 
  reptiles), and in particu-
  lar snakes, he’s one of 
  the curators responsible 
  for the museum’s reptile 
  collection and exhibits. 
  A shy, retiring man, he 
  doesn’t socialize much, 
  preferring the company 
  of his snakes and books 
  to that of people.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  112 ■ A Day In The Life
  THE KLEINMANN CENTER
  Described in more detail above, the Center 
  devotes one wing of its building to an art museum. 
  It has an extensive and valuable collection of paint-
  ings and sculpture, including Japanese netsuke ﬁgu-
  rines and a large selection of the works of El Greco.
  THE MUSEUM OF WORLD ART
  An institution devoted to preserving forms 
  of art from all over the world, whether they’re 
  ancient pottery, modern abstract art, or anything in 
  between. It also has a valuable collection of medi-
  eval arms and armor (both European and Oriental).
  OLDE HUDSON CITY
  A “living museum” that attempts to immerse 
  its visitors in the historical experience, Olde 
  Hudson City is a small section of the city around 
  Ferry Street and South River Drive that’s been 
  restored to an early 1800s state. Visitors and natives 
  alike come here for a taste of American history. 
  Olde Hudson City’s attractions include demonstra-
  tions of various crafts (blacksmithing, weaving, and 
  the like) and its Olde Time Ferry (which provides a 
  charming 90-minute trip around the scenic parts of 
  the Hudson City coastline).
  THE THORSON MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY
  Originally funded by Lars Thorson, an immi-
  grant from Iceland, in the early twentieth century, 
  the Thorson has grown into one of the biggest and 
  most highly regarded archaeology museums in 
  the world. Since 1981 it’s been housed in a large, 
  intricately-designed building at the corner of Vance 
  Avenue and Iroquois Street in Guilford.
  The Thorson covers all time periods and places 
  of human history, but its Mesoamerican, Colonial 
  American, and Chinese collections are particularly 
  extensive and fascinating. It also funds archaeology 
  expeditions all over the world.
  THE MUSIC SCENE
  Hudson City’s no Nashville, Seattle, or L.A., 
  but it still has an active music scene. Many major 
  record labels have oﬃces here and are always on the 
  lookout for new talent.
  THE PERFORMERS
  Hudsonites have plenty of opportunities to 
  listen to national or international performers who 
  perform concerts in the city, but they’ve also got 
  lots of local favorites, such as:
  Blended Neon:  Not exactly a rock band, not exactly 
  a jazz band, Blended Neon deﬁes easy description, 
  though comparisons to Steely Dan aren’t unknown. 
  It’s smooth, precisely-crafted music sometimes 
  soothes, sometimes energizes, but always pleases. 
  Lead singer and occasional keyboardist Mickey 
  Asbury is a particular favorite with female fans due 
  to his roguish good looks and single status.
  Flog My Nixon:  Hard alternative rock and heavy 
  metal are the order of the day at Flog My Nixon 
  concerts, where the band’s as likely to start throw-
  ing cans of beer and chocolate bars out into the 
  audience as to ﬁnish a song. The band is well-
  known outside of Hudson City; it’s toured the 
  country together with other bands several times.
  Hy On Lyf:  The ﬁve soulful balladeers of Hy On Lyf 
  are teens from Freetown who were “discovered” by 
  a record exec when they sang at a rent party. Critics 
  have savaged their boy band pop oﬀerings, but the 
  fans clearly do not agree.
  Maximum Color:  Hudson City’s most famous rap 
  group, Maximum Color was nearly wiped out when 
  two of its members were murdered in a drive-by 
  shooting thought to be part of the long and bitter 
  “East Coast versus West Coast rap wars” of the 
  Nineties. But the surviving rappers regrouped and 
  found two new members, so Maximum Color’s 
  come back stronger than ever.
  Napalm Martini:  A rock band that can be found 
  playing local clubs nearly every week, Napalm Mar-
  tini plays both classic and alternative rock covers 
  as well as a few songs of its own. It keeps hoping 
  for a major record deal, and has come close several 
  times, but somehow success always seems to elude 
  it at the last minute.
  Slices Of Psychosis:  Despite the fact that all of its 
  members grew up in good homes in Guilford and 
  Ardmore and essentially wanted for nothing, Slices 
  Of Psychosis has achieved notable success with its 
  alternative rock songs of teen angst, disaﬀection, 
  loss, and misery. One critic claimed that listening to 
  LEGALIZED  
  GAMBLING
  Given Hudson City’s 
  relative proximity to 
  Atlantic City, some 
  segments of the popu-
  lation have pushed for 
  legalized gambling in 
  Hudson City for years, 
  but they’ve failed to 
  make much headway. 
  Local politicians point 
  out that gambling 
  really doesn’t seem to 
  have done a whole lot 
  for Atlantic City other 
  than increase its orga-
  nized crime problem 
  — something Hudson 
  City really doesn’t need 
  (though it could, admit-
  tedly, use the casino 
  jobs). For now the issue 
  seems permanently 
  stuck in the “ain’t gonna 
  happen” category, but 
  you never know which 
  way the political winds 
  will shift....
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  113 
  their albums set his therapy back two years, which 
  the band took as high praise.
  The Solitaires:  A favorite doo-wop group from 
  the Fifties and Sixties, the Solitaires still perform 
  at local beneﬁt concerts and other charity events. 
  Some of the members hope for a Tony Bennett-
  style comeback, but so far it’s not happening.
  Syncopation:  A critically- and commercially-
  acclaimed instrumental jazz band, Syncopation was 
  led by saxophonist by Jeﬀrey Hayes until his death 
  at the hands of a mugger in 2002. Behind new 
  leader Marcus Robelle, the band has continued its 
  successful career. It has a gig almost every night at 
  some jazz bar/nightclub or other in the city.
  Woodrow Crashes The Scooter:  This alternative 
  rock band creates its distinctive sound by mixing 
  orchestral instruments, like cellos and bassoons, 
  into its lineup. Lead singer Ricky Curwin is a musi-
  cal genius who can play nearly three dozen instru-
  ments, so he handles most of the unusual playing 
  without the need to hire outside performers.
  THE CLUBS
  If you want to keep up with what’s going on 
  in the Hudson City music scene, you gotta hit the 
  clubs. In addition to some of the ones described in 
  Chapter Two, check out these places for the latest 
  in tunage:
  Club H (northwest corner of Garland Avenue and 
  Northampton Street):  No one knows exactly what 
  the H stands for. Most people think it’s “hot music,” 
  because that’s the only type that gets played at this 
  place. National stars and local bands alike take the 
  stage at Club H, and the dance ﬂoor’s always packed 
  with students from nearby HCSU, young profes-
  sionals trying to stay on the cutting edge of things, 
  beautiful people looking to meet other beautiful 
  people, and plenty of others.
  Emerald (450 Ilderton Street):  Jazz, blues, soul, and 
  even a little bit of pop/rock are what you’ll hear at 
  Emerald, where the dance ﬂoor is small because 
  most patrons prefer to remain seated and listen to 
  the music in peace. The owner, Gil Osterman, keeps 
  the back corner table reserved exclusively for him-
  self and his guests.
  R Cadia (3670 Kiser Street):  Local music critics will 
  tell you that R Cadia is the hottest rap and hip-hop 
  club in Freetown, and they’re right. Several acts that 
  got their start here, like the Split Peez, went on to 
  national fame. But most patrons don’t care about 
  that — they’re just looking to hear some great 
  music, and R Cadia’s managers make sure they’re 
  not disappointed.
  The Warehouse (430 Gorham Street):  This place is 
  just what it says:  a former warehouse converted 
  into a live music club. It usually books heavy metal 
  bands, acts on the harder side of alternative rock, 
  and the like, but every now and then a classic rock-
  oriented group shows up in the mix.
  RESTAURANTS
  Let’s eat! Besides the many restaurants listed in 
  Chapter Two, here are some others enjoyed by both 
  Hudsonites and visitors.
  Botticelli (southwest corner of Dunlop Avenue and 
  Watts Street):  Renowned for the “living painting” 
  version of the eponymous artist’s The Birth Of 
  Venus that it stages every evening between 8:00 and 
  10:00 PM, Botticelli is one of the most elegant... and 
  expensive... restaurants in Hudson City. Its Oysters 
  Botticelli and Filet Botticelli are so popular that 
  they’ve passed into the American gourmet recipe 
  book — but they’re always better when eaten at the 
  place that created them.
  The Green Room (southwest corner of Lewiston 
  Avenue and Centre Street):  Traditionally visited by 
  Golden Avenue actors either before or after they 
  go on stage for the evening, the Green Room has 
  been described as “an elegant deli.” It’s not the sort 
  of “joint” most people think of when they hear the 
  term “deli” — diners sit at wooden tables on nice 
  chairs, and the decor is deﬁnitely a cut above diner 
  chic — but the food is mostly deli fare, if slightly 
  upscaled. Many people say the pastrami and pickles 
  at the Green Room are the best in the city.
  The Gumbo Shack (northwest corner of Teller Avenue 
  and Burke Street):  Despite its rustic-sounding name, 
  this is a nice, almost upscale restaurant. Serving the 
  best in both traditional and modern Cajun and Creole 
  cuisine, it’s experienced a surge in business recently 
  since renowned celebrity chef “Louisiana Lucien” 
  Madrelle bought it. If you want the best crayﬁsh, 
  gumbo, or jumbalaya in the city, this is the place to go.
  La Maison Continentale (northwest corner of Kemp 
  Avenue and DeWitt Street):  Among the many elegant, 
  expensive restaurants in Hudson City, La Maison 
  Continentale stands out. From the moment a patron 
  pulls up in front and the uniformed valets hurry out 
  to park his car for him while the doorman holds 
  the door open, his every desire and need is fulﬁlled 
  by the attentive staﬀ. One critic described the food 
  at the Maison Continentale — a mix of continental 
  dishes and American favorites, with a slight empha-
  sis on French food — as “beyond ﬁve-star,” and the 
  weeks- or months-long waiting list to get a table 
  there indicates that Hudsonites agree.
  RICKY SULLIVAN
   9 STR 
  10 DEX
   11 CON 
  9 BODY
   8 INT 
  8 EGO
   13 PRE 
  12 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   22 END 20 STUN
  Abilities:  KS: Comic 
  Books 11-, KS: Hudson 
  City Music Scene 13-, 
  KS: Kung Fu Movies 
  11-, KS: Rock Music 
  11-, PS: Play Guitar 13-, 
  PS: Rock Musician 12-, 
  PS: Singing 13-, Seduc-
  tion 12-, Streetwise 8-, 
  Trading 8-
  Disadvantages:  Money:  
  Poor
  Notes:  Ricky is the lead 
  singer and guitarist for 
  the rock band Tarnish, 
  a hometown group 
  described by the local 
  music press as “alter-
  native, lightly frosted 
  with heavy metal.” So 
  far the group hasn’t 
  achieved any real degree 
  of commercial success, 
  and though it usually 
  manages to ﬁnd gigs 
  at least four nights out 
  of the week, what little 
  money the members 
  earn mainly goes to 
  rent, food, and band 
  upkeep. But despite the 
  sometimes angst-ridden 
  nature of the group’s 
  songs, Ricky’s a pretty 
  optimistic guy — he’s 
  certain their big break’s 
  right around the corner.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  114 ■ A Day In The Life
  SPORTS
  Hudsonites are as sports-crazy as the rest of the 
  world — and fortunately for them, they live in a city 
  that provides dozens of opportunities every year to 
  watch professional and collegiate sporting events.
  Pro Sports Teams
  Hudson City has teams competing in all major 
  professional sports.
  BASEBALL:  THE HUDSON CITY HEROES
  The Hudson City Heroes belong to the 
  National League, Eastern Division. Owned through 
  various proxies by local sports mogul Thomas 
  Allen, the Heroes had a 2004 record of 70-91 and 
  failed to make the playoﬀs. Some observers attri-
  bute this to injuries that kept several star players, 
  including shortstop and strong hitter Randy Wil-
  liams, oﬀ the ﬁeld — but most people blame the 
  coaching. Allen apparently agrees, since he ﬁred the 
  former coach and hired David Curtis to take his 
  place. Under Curtis, the Heroes and their fans hope 
  for a better record in the seasons ahead.
  The Herodome
  The Heroes play in the Herodome, a domed 
  stadium located near the intersection of Coleman 
  Avenue and S. Madison Street (teams from nearby 
  City College also use the Dome). It seats about 
  50,000 people. In addition to the Heroes, one of its 
  biggest attractions is the HeroDog (an 18” hot dog 
  with the works) and an accompanying cup of beer 
  for only $3.50.
  BASKETBALL:  THE HUDSON CITY  
  COUGARS
  Part of the Atlantic Division of the NBA, the 
  Cougars were an expansion team founded in 1998. 
  So far they haven’t done very well, unfortunately:  
  their 2003-04 record was 30-52, not good enough 
  for the playoﬀs. However, they recently recruited 
  several players from Duke University, so their 
  future success is assured.
  Clarence Harris, a former pro basketball 
  star who played for the Lakers and the Clippers, 
  owns the Cougars together with media mogul Ben 
  Berkely. A ﬂamboyant man who likes funky-look-
  ing suits and big cigars, Harris watches every game 
  from his ultra-luxury box in the Sports Metroplex.
  The Berkely Sports Metroplex
  The Cougars play at the Berkely Sports Metro-
  plex, a 33,000-seat arena attached to the Berkely 
  Commercial Center (page 30). Featuring a state of 
  the art scoreboard weighing nearly 50,000 pounds 
  (22,700 kg) and a plethora of luxury boxes for well-
  heeled sports fans, it’s also the home of the Hellions 
  (see below) and many collegiate sports events.
  FOOTBALL:  THE HUDSON CITY  
  THUNDERBOLTS
  Also owned by Thomas Allen, the NFL’s 
  Hudson City Thunderbolts (NFC Eastern Divi-
  sion) went 10-6 in 2003-04 but lost in the playoﬀs. 
  Led by quarterback Andy “Stonehand” Mawser and 
  wide receiver Dan Petanowski, they’re sure to make 
  another run for the Super Bowl in years to come.
  Stewart County Stadium
  Hudson City’s newest and largest stadium, 
  the SCS seats 85,000. It was built as a joint venture 
  between Thomas Allen and the city as a venue 
  not only for the Thunderbolts, but for many other 
  major events. Hudsonites have already begun to 
  complain that its location, on the far western edge 
  of Guilford, isn’t served by either the EL or the 
  subway. In response Allen has set up a free shuttle 
  service between Salem Station and the stadium, 
  and is investigating the possibility of having an EL 
  line built.
  HOCKEY:  THE HUDSON CITY STORM
  The Hudson City Storm plays as part of the 
  Atlantic Division of the NHL. It had a 2003-04 
  record of 37-27-13-5, and lost in the ﬁrst round 
  of the playoﬀs. Despite its relatively poor record, 
  the Storm remains one of the most popular of the 
  Hudson City professional teams.
  Beverly Fioretta, the widow of ﬁnancier Merlin 
  Fioretta, owns the Storm. She has no real interest in 
  professional sports, and is simply holding onto the 
  team out of respect for her deceased husband, who 
  loved it. Rumor has it she’s already begun shopping 
  around to sell it.
  The Jason Devon Memorial Coliseum
  Built to honor Hudson City’s greatest World 
  War II hero and his fellow veterans, the JDMC seats 
  28,000 and is the home of the Hudson City Storm 
  as well as many other sporting events. But it’s more 
  than just a sports arena — it hosts many conven-
  tions and trade shows in conjunction with the 
  nearby Hudson City Convention Center (to which 
  it’s connected by both skybridges and underground 
  tunnels). It’s also a popular concert venue.
  OTHER TEAMS
  Hudson City’s arena football team is called the 
  Hellions, and plays at the Sports Metroplex. It had 
  trouble drawing crowds its ﬁrst few years, but it’s 
  become popular enough now that the future of the 
  franchise seems solid. Its fans aﬀectionately refer to 
  it as “the Brats” due to its players’ seeming attempts 
  to live up to their team name on occasion.
  Hudson City also has a soccer team, the Harri-
  ers. It plays at Stewart County Stadium.
  DANNY VISCONTI
   10 STR 
  9 DEX
   10 CON 10 BODY
   8 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 10 STUN
  Abilities:  Concealment 
  11-, AK: Stewart County 
  Stadium 13-, CK: Little 
  Italy, Guilford, And Ard-
  more 14-, CK: Hudson 
  City 8-, PS: Security 
  Guard 11-, Fringe Ben-
  eﬁt:  Membership (Stew-
  art County Stadium 
  staﬀ)
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Subject To 
  Orders
  Notes:  Danny Visconti 
  is one of dozens of 
  security guards who 
  help keep things under 
  control at the Stewart 
  County Stadium. He 
  calms down rowdy fans, 
  ejects fans who violate 
  Stadium policy and the 
  law, and does his best 
  to make sure everyone 
  who comes to an event 
  at the Stadium is safe 
  and has a good time. 
  Sometimes he sneaks in 
  friends of his who don’t 
  have tickets, and he 
  scarfs up a lot of free hot 
  dogs from the vendors, 
  but that’s the extent of 
  his “corruption.”
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  115 
  Other Sports Venues
  In addition to the stadiums and arenas described 
  above, Hudson City has several other venues for 
  sporting events, concerts, and similar activities.
  Pierpoint Arena:  This 20,000-seat arena is located in 
  Pierpoint at the intersection of 24 Avenue and N. 
  Adams Street. The Cougars played here before the 
  Sports Metroplex was built. Today it’s most often 
  used for concerts and boxing. There’s been some 
  talk of tearing it down to make way for a tennis 
  complex.
  Gary Yancey Stadium:  The stadium at Hudson City 
  University, which seats 50,000. Much to the annoy-
  ance of HCSU, the annual HCU-HCSU football 
  game always has to be played here, because the 
  HCSU stadium has insuﬃcient seating and parking 
  to handle the crowd.
  Annual Sporting Events
  In addition to the Hudson City Marathon 
  (page 103), the following major sporting events 
  take place in or near Hudson City every year.
  Berkely Enterprises Hudson City Open:  A tennis 
  tournament held every August at the Hudson City 
  Country Club.
  Boudreau’s Hudson City Open:  A golf tournament 
  held every April at Firetree Country Club. Part of 
  its proceeds go to the Hudson City Jaycees and 
  other charitable organizations.
  Hudson City Fighting Arts Tournament:  An enor-
  mous martial arts competition staged every Octo-
  ber at the Jason Devon Memorial Coliseum. A full-
  contact tournament open to any qualiﬁed martial 
  artist (regardless of style or school) provided he 
  passes the qualiﬁcation tests, the FAT is roundly 
  condemned in some circles as sheer bloodsport. A 
  related tournament for amateurs and non-contact 
  ﬁghters is held the week after.
  Tour de Hudson:  A bicycle race throughout the city, 
  disliked by many Hudsonites because of the way it 
  ties up traﬃc.
  TONY AVANZI
   10 STR 
  10 DEX 
  14 CON 
  13 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO 
  14 PRE 
  8 COM
   
  6 PD 
  3 ED 
  3 SPD 
  7 REC
   35 END 
  30 STUN
  Abilities:  Martial Arts (Boxing — Jab, Martial Block, 
  Martial Strike, Oﬀensive Strike), Combat Driving 8-, 
  Gambling (Sports Betting) 12-, KS: Boxing 13-, KS: New 
  Jersey Sports Laws 11-, Stealth 11-, Streetwise 12-, WF: 
  Small Arms, Contacts (10 points’ worth in the Maﬁa and 
  the boxing world), Fringe Beneﬁt: Athletic Control Board 
  Employee
  Disadvantages:  Social Limitation:  Subject To Orders
  Notes:  Tony Avanzi is Hudson City’s chief representative 
  of the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board — the 
  body that regulates and licenses boxing, martial arts 
  competitions, and other combative sports. While licens-
  ing applications and ﬁnal decisions all get taken care of in 
  Trenton, he handles matters on the local front and make 
  recommendations to his bosses. What it comes down to 
  is, if you want to box professionally in Hudson City, you 
  need Avanzi’s blessing. And if you’re his friend, he can get 
  you front-row seats to any bout you wanna see. 
  A former boxer himself, Avanzi is a real aﬃcionado of 
  the sport, and can talk about it for hours. Unfortunately, 
  his love for it hasn’t kept him from exploiting it. He will-
  ingly takes kickbacks and bribes to approve ﬁghts that 
  shouldn’t go forward, exploits ﬁghters and managers for 
  his own beneﬁt, and bets heavily based on inside infor-
  mation. While not a member of the Maﬁa, he’s a known 
  associate of several soldiers in the Verontese and Marcelli 
  families and often does “favors” for them.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  116 ■ A Day In The Life
  It’s not uncommon to refer to “Hudsonites” as 
  if they were one big, homogenous group of people 
  — but of course they come from a thousand diﬀer-
  ent walks of life and believe in a thousand diﬀerent 
  things. There are lots of subcultures within any 
  major urban area, and Hudson City’s no exception.
  THE ACADEMIC WORLD
  “Mayor Umstead, Superintendent Hughes, and 
  the Schools Commission want to assure the 
  parents of Hudson City that they take incidents 
  such as this one very seriously. All reasonable 
  steps are being taken to ensure the safety of 
  every child in the school system.”
  “Rob! Rob! Rob! Rob! Rob! Rob!”
  “Marjorie.”
  “Rob, what’s the status on the injured student 
  and Principal Michaels?”
  “I haven’t spoken to the hospital since this press 
  conference began, but the latest information I 
  have is that Principal Michaels was shot in the 
  arm. The wound is superﬁcial and he’s expected 
  to make a full recovery. The student who was 
  shot, Rudy Beck, is in serious condition at Vet-
  eran’s Memorial Hospital; we’re awaiting an 
  update on his progress. The suspect, DeShawn 
  Watson, was pronounced dead on arrival at 
  VMH after being shot by the police during the 
  encounter.”
  “Rob! Rob! Rob! Rob! Rob! Rob!”
  “Fred, then Julia.”
  “Rob, what started the incident?”
  “We don’t know yet for sure. Both students were 
  in gangs, but not rival gangs, and as far as we 
  know at this point there wasn’t any bad blood 
  between them. As soon as we ﬁnd anything out, 
  we’ll let you know.”
  “Rob, how did Watson get the gun past the 
  school’s metal detectors?”
  “The metal detectors at Riverside have been 
  oﬄine for the past week and a half due to the 
  City Council’s failure to vote more money for 
  school security matters.”
  — press conference following a shooting  
  incident at Riverside High School
  Thousands of students of all ages live in 
  Hudson City. Here’s where they do their learning.
  ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS
  Hudson City operates approximately six 
  hundred elementary and middle schools covering 
  grades K through 8. These schools employ 70,000 
  teachers and other staﬀ. By most measures, the 
  schools are doing a poor job of educating Hudson 
  City’s children, only 40% of whom read at an 
  acceptable level (and 20% of whom score at the 
  lowest possible level above “illiterate” on stan-
  dardized tests).
  Hudson City organizes its schools into sixteen 
  districts for administrative purposes. The chief 
  administrator of the system (and of the city’s high 
  schools; see below) is the Superintendent of Public 
  Schools, an appointee hired for the job by the Schools 
  Commission, to which he answers. As the most vis-
  ible school administrator in the city, the Superinten-
  dent catches a lot of parental ﬂak that should more 
  properly be addressed to the Commission or the City 
  Council... but that’s why he gets the big bucks.
  As of 2004, Leticia Hughes, a 46 year-old 
  black woman and mother of three, ﬁlls the Super-
  intendent’s chair. A former teacher who also has a 
  law degree from HCU, she’s a tough old bird who 
  doesn’t hesitate to voice her opinions about the 
  subject at hand... no matter whom she happens to 
  be talking to. She once caused a minor scandal by 
  referring to a parent to his face as a “damn idiot” 
  during a Schools Commission meeting, and that’s 
  not the only time her name’s made the papers by 
  any means. However, she’s got an excellent record 
  as an administrator of various schools and districts 
  within Hudson City, so Mayor Umstead’s willing to 
  support her and give her a chance to turn the whole 
  system around... at least for now.
  HIGH SCHOOLS
  Hudson City has a little over 200 high schools, 
  with approximately 25,000 teachers and staﬀ. Most 
  of the schools are general educational schools, but 
  some specialize in a particular curriculum, such as 
  arts, sciences, business, computers, international 
  aﬀairs, or foreign languages.
  Unfortunately, the high schools aren’t doing 
  any better a job than the elementary and middle 
  schools. Only about 65% of students overall com-
  plete high school successfully; that number drops 
  to 42% for black students and 38% for Hispanic 
  students. In some school districts on the Southside, 
  less than 30% of the students pass the city’s Reading 
  and Math exams.
  HUDSON CITY
  SUBCULTURES
  ANGIE PENDRY
   7 STR 
  9 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  8 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 16 STUN
  Abilities:  +5 PRE (only 
  to resist Presence 
  Attacks), Concealment 
  11-, Deduction 11-, KS: 
  Civics 11-, KS: Geogra-
  phy 11-, KS: History 13-, 
  KS: Social Studies 13-, 
  PS: Teacher 13-, Fringe 
  Beneﬁt:  Membership 
  (teacher in Hudson City 
  public school system)
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Subject To 
  Orders
  Notes:  Angie Pendry 
  teaches high school his-
  tory, civics, and social 
  studies in Hudson City. 
  Despite being only 5’3” 
  tall, she’ll stand up to the 
  biggest, toughest gang 
  kid or football player 
  and back him down if 
  he disrespects her or 
  doesn’t pay attention in 
  class. She rides her stu-
  dents hard, but it’s worth 
  it to see even a few of 
  them go on to college 
  and escape the poverty 
  and harsh conditions 
  they grew up in.
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  117 
  School safety is also a problem — ﬁghts, shoot-
  ings, arrests of students for drug dealing and other 
  crimes, and assaults on teachers and staﬀ occur 
  every week (and daily, at some schools). As a gen-
  eral rule, Northside schools are better than those 
  on the Southside, but each area of the city has its 
  model schools and abject failures.
  The accompanying table lists some of the 
  major high schools in Hudson City and surround-
  ing areas, along with their mascots and colors.
  Rivalries
  As in any school system, strong rivalries exist 
  between certain schools (even though most schools 
  don’t have any particular major rival). In Hudson 
  City, the high school rivalries include:
  Central-Southern
  Eastlake-Hudson Beach
  Freetown-Southwestern
  Gadsden-Daniels
  Harrington-Western
  Riverside-Jackson
  Rockwell-Andrews Heights
  COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
  In addition to about a dozen small commu-
  nity colleges and technical schools, Hudson City is 
  home to four major institutions of higher learning:  
  Freetown Community College (FCC; see page 52); 
  Hudson City College; Hudson City State University 
  (HCSU), and Hudson City University (HCU). 
  Hudson City College
  Built in the 1950s, City College is located in 
  Riverside at the intersection of Day Avenue and S. 
  Jackson Street — right on the border with Forsyth 
  and Freetown. The second smallest of Hudson 
  City’s four major colleges, it has an undergraduate 
  enrollment of about 10,000. Like FCC, it’s a minor-
  ity institution, with about 70% of the undergradu-
  ates being black, Hispanic, or members of other 
  minority groups. City College also oﬀers about a 
  dozen diﬀerent courses of post-graduate study.
  With its relatively low tuition, ﬂexible class 
  scheduling, and community outreach programs, HCC 
  has helped many people who never would have gone 
  to college obtain a degree and become “free of Free-
  town.” It’s well-known for its emphasis on group proj-
  ects and community assistance. One excellent exam-
  ple of this is its acclaimed Peer Study Group program, 
  in which freshmen and sophomores are required to 
  belong to a regularly-scheduled study group.
  City College’s mascot is an eagle; its colors are 
  royal blue and white. It’s not considered much of a 
  powerhouse at any sport, though its basketball team 
  does fairly well within its conference most years.
  Hudson City State University
  Hudson City’s second-largest college is 
  HCSU, whose campus is located where N. Jack-
  son Street terminates at 1st Avenue. It has an 
  undergraduate enrollment of about 15,000. Its 
  programs in Engineering and Philosophy are 
  especially well-regarded, attracting many students 
  from all over the country each year. It also has 
  about a thousand graduate students enrolled in 
  its business school, law school, and large selection 
  of graduate degree programs.
  HCSU’s mascot is the catamount, and its 
  colors are gold and grey. It has a strong rivalry with 
  HCU, especially in football.
  Hudson City University
  With 18,000 undergraduates and about 
  2,000 grad students, HCU is Hudson City’s larg-
  est university. It’s also the city’s oldest, having 
  been founded in 1818 by Sebastian Mays, a pros-
  perous merchant of the day. Although originally 
  a private institution, it became a public univer-
  sity in the 1840s. Its undergraduate program is 
  generally ranked in the top 50 in the country, 
  and it has a full complement of graduate pro-
  HUDSON CITY HIGH SCHOOLS
  Name Of School 
  Mascot 
  Colors
  Caldwell 
  Comets 
  Red and Orange
  Carter 
  Mustangs 
  Dark Green and White
  Central 
  Knights 
  Blue and Silver
  Daniels 
  Wolves 
  Grey and White
  Dwight School of the Arts 
  Wildcats 
  Gold and Grey
  Eastern 
  Spartans 
  Gold and White
  Eastlake 
  Tigers 
  Orange and White
  Faraday Science Academy 
  Lightning 
  Gold and Light Blue
  Gadsden 
  Mariners 
  Burgundy and Gold
  Gibson 
  Grizzlies 
  Silver and Black
  Hammerskjold School of International Studies Blue Demons 
  Blue and White
  Hayes 
  Phantoms 
  Grey and Blue
  Jackson 
  Falcons 
  Purple and White
  King 
  Red Raiders 
  Red and White
  Langley 
  Jaguars 
  Gold and Black
  Northeastern 
  Cardinals 
  Scarlet and White
  Northern 
  Golden Eagles Gold and Brown
  Northwestern 
  Ravens 
  Black and White
  Riverside 
  Buccaneers 
  Gold and Blue
  Southeastern 
  Bulldogs 
  Dark Blue and White
  Southern 
  Gators 
  Green and White
  Southwestern 
  Apaches 
  Red and Gold
  Upton 
  Warriors 
  Green and Black
  Western 
  Redhawks 
  Red and Black
  SUBURBAN HIGH SCHOOLS
  Name Of School 
  Mascot 
  Colors
  Andrews Heights 
  Kings 
  Blue and White
  Arcadia 
  Panthers 
  Red and White
  Cambria 
  Thunderbirds 
  Red and Grey
  Clifton 
  Tornadoes 
  Burgundy and White
  Harrington 
  Lions 
  Light Blue and White
  Hudson Beach 
  Sharks 
  Light Blue and Green
  Maple Valley 
  Minutemen 
  Dark Blue and White
  Northdale 
  Eagles 
  Crimson and White
  Rockwell 
  Spiders 
  Black and Gold
  Rome 
  Chiefs 
  Red and Black
  Southport 
  Hornets 
  Yellow and White
  Stewartville 
  Giants 
  Purple and White
  Willowford 
  Pirates 
  Gold and Purple
  PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOLS
  Name Of School 
  Mascot 
  Colors
  Ashmont-Tate Day School 
  Hawks 
  Blue and White
  Bremerton Christian Academy 
  Crusaders 
  Red and White
  Hudson City Day School 
  Bengals 
  Orange and Black
  New Hope Friends School 
  Cyclones 
  Blue and Red
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  118 ■ A Day In The Life
  grams and schools (including the Lange School 
  of Law, HCU School of Medicine, and DeGraff 
  Business School).
  The HCU campus is located at the intersection of 
  4th Avenue and N. Lincoln Street in Guilford. Exten-
  sively redesigned after the 1895 ﬁre, most of the build-
  ings feature a Georgian style of architecture. More 
  recent buildings feature diﬀerent styles.
  HCU’s mascot is the Pioneer, and its colors are 
  scarlet and blue.
  The Community College System
  The Community Colleges of Hudson City 
  (usually referred to simply as “CCHC”) is Hudson 
  City’s network of community colleges. Its facili-
  ties are scattered throughout approximately three 
  dozen separate locations, slightly over half of them 
  on the Southside. They serve as two-year junior 
  colleges for students who want to go on to other 
  colleges, vocational training schools for students 
  who want to go to work in a particular trade, and 
  continuing adult education facilities. Their class 
  oﬀerings are always broad and eclectic, ranging 
  from traditional academic subjects to odd oﬀerings 
  like “Star Trek and Popular Culture.” In a typical 
  year about 15,000 to 20,000 students enroll in the 
  CCHC system.
  Prominent Scholars
  There are many renowned scholars living and 
  teaching in Hudson City. They include:
  Seth T. Coine:  Doctor Coine teaches at HCU, lectur-
  ing both to undergraduates and business school 
  students. He is an expert on human resources man-
  agement and the health care industry, and has writ-
  ten extensively on both topics. His work exposes 
  him both to Hudson City’s business community 
  and its social services agencies, so he knows a lot of 
  people from all walks of life throughout the city. He 
  is married and the father of three.
  Alice Estes:  Professor Estes is a faculty member at 
  HCSU and at both of the city’s law schools. Possess-
  ing both a Ph.D. in Criminology and a law degree, 
  she’s considered a national expert on criminology 
  and criminal law. Unlike many purely book-learned 
  academics, she gets some of her knowledge from 
  time in the trenches:  she’s a former Assistant 
  County Prosecutor.
  Ginny Hernandez:  An expert physicist who teaches 
  at HCSU and HCU. Rumor has it she once worked 
  on nuclear bombs and other important high-tech 
  weapons projects for the federal government.
  Robert Perrine:  Doctor Perrine, a talented civil and 
  mechanical engineer, teaches at City College. He’s 
  done freelance engineering work for the city and 
  several major architectural ﬁrms in the region, and 
  knows a lot about Hudson City’s infrastructure.
  Suhail Ravnashaputra:  “Professor R,” as he prefers 
  to be called, is one of the most popular profs at 
  HCU. He teaches psychology to undergraduates 
  and psychiatry to medical students (he has both a 
  Ph.D. and an M.D.). A friendly man who’s always 
  willing to try to help people, he has a reputation 
  as one of the most likeable professors on campus. 
  The odd thing about this is that one of his areas of 
  special knowledge is the psychology of serial killers 
  and rapists, police psychology, and criminal psy-
  chology in general; he’s even served as a consultant 
  for the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit on several 
  serial killer cases and similar murders. Somehow 
  the grim subjects he deals with every day don’t rub 
  oﬀ on him and spoil his cheerful disposition.
  OTHER NOTEWORTHY 
  SCHOLARS
  Here are the names of a few other notable academicians.
  FCC
  Baruti Sukuma (history, anthropology)
  Barry Sylvester (journalism, political science)
  HCC
  Nathan Abbott (accounting)
  Gerald Fort (journalism, literature)
  Joelle Zimenic (computer science)
  HCSU
  Norman Newell (engineering, chemistry)
  Malcolm Prevett (philosophy, literature)
  Kenneth Simms (oceanography) 
  HCU
  Howard Alexander (religion)
  Arthur Hobbes (criminology, criminal psychology)
  Amy Saunders (engineering)
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  119 
  William Simmons:  Better known to people as “the 
  Roach Professor” due to several stories about his 
  work in the media, this City College biologist has 
  made a career out of studying urban vermin:  rats, 
  roaches, silverﬁsh, and more. If you want to know 
  something about Hudson City’s native “wildlife,” 
  Bill Simmons is the man to ask.
  THE BUSINESS WORLD
  “So where do we stand on the McCluskey 
  deal?”
  “Good and bad, sir. The bank’s agreed to loan 
  us the money we need to complete the transac-
  tion, so we’re good to go on ﬁnancing. The seller 
  still wants to sell. But we’ve hit a snag on the 
  zoning end.”
  “What sort of “snag,” Jack?”
  “Well, the Planning Department has raised 
  some serious concerns about the “remodeling” 
  you want to do. They don’t think it’s within the 
  parameters for the area’s zoning — in fact, they 
  think you’re pretty much just rebuilding the 
  building, not remodeling it.”
  “They’re smarter than we gave them credit 
  for, I guess. Who do we know in the Planning 
  Department?”
  “No one, sir — not anymore. We used to be able 
  to get O’Riordan to “handle” these things for us, 
  but he retired a couple months ago.”
  “Dammit. Well, who do we know on the City 
  Council that could put a little pressure on 
  Planning?”
  — just another Hudson City business meeting
  To paraphrase Calvin Coolidge, “the business 
  of Hudson City is business.” Billions of dollars 
  ﬂow through Hudson City every year in the form 
  of electronic money transfers, goods bought and 
  sold, ﬁnancial deals, stock purchases, and much, 
  much more.
  General Commerce  
  And Industry
  Hudson City has been a center of commerce 
  and manufacturing from its earliest days. While 
  the industrial sector of the economy isn’t as strong 
  as it once was, factories and similar businesses 
  still employ hundreds of thousands of Hudsonites 
  — and the high-tech, service-oriented businesses 
  of the “New Economy” are also doing their part to 
  keep Hudsonites working hard.
  AVERY INDUSTRIES
  A leader in the furniture and textile industry, 
  Avery has several manufacturing plants in the 
  greater Hudson City area as well as many show-
  rooms. The executive in charge of all Hudson City 
  operations is Claude Homer, a skilled and clever 
  businessman. Avery Industries’s headquarters in 
  Hudson City is located near the intersection of 16th 
  Avenue and N. Monroe Street (not far from the 
  Garment District), and it also has a major manu-
  facturing facility at the intersection of Centre Street 
  and King Avenue in Forsyth.
  BARRON PHARMACEUTICALS
  Barron Pharmaceuticals is one of America’s 
  leading manufacturers of medicines and other 
  medical supplies (and, through its subsidiary 
  Barron MedTech, medical equipment and 
  machines). It’s got a reputation in the business 
  world for playing hardball when it comes to 
  product development and marketing (in fact, a 
  few allegations of industrial espionage have been 
  indirectly made against it). But despite that, it 
  has a solid public reputation due to its extensive 
  donations to charity (including its own Barron 
  Foundation), distribution of free cold and ﬂu 
  medicines to inner city neighborhoods in the 
  winter, and other charitable acts.
  Barron’s world headquarters, and one of its 
  largest manufacturing plants, is located in the 
  suburb of Cambria. Company president Rob 
  Schalken is one of Hudson City’s best-known and 
  best-liked businessmen; he and his wife Alicia 
  are frequent guests at charitable and civic events 
  throughout the city.
  BERKELY ENTERPRISES
  Media and entertainment giant Berkely Enter-
  prises (BE) is the creation of maverick businessman 
  Ben Berkely, one of the wealthiest men in Hudson 
  City. He began years ago with one small televi-
  sion station he bought with a loan, and over three 
  decades has parlayed it into one of the world’s larg-
  est and most inﬂuential media empires.
  The linchpin of BE is Berkely Entertainment 
  Television (BETV), which operates WTBV, a national 
  “superstation” (page 106) that broadcasts mostly 
  syndicated and rerun shows. Some of BE’s other 
  holdings include the Berkely Marketing Group (a 
  marketing and advertising ﬁrm), half ownership of 
  the Hudson City Cougars (a professional basketball 
  team), and long-term contracts with various sports 
  and entertainment ﬁgures. BE also owns the Berkely 
  Commercial Center and Sports Metroplex (usually 
  known as “the BCC”), a single enormous complex 
  encompassing BE’s companies’ oﬃces, a sports arena 
  for his basketball team, and the Berkely Grande Plaza 
  Hotel (see page 30).
  BLOUNT PHARMACEUTICALS
  Although smaller and much younger than 
  Barron and many other pharmaceuticals giants, 
  Blount Pharmaceuticals has achieved notable suc-
  cess in the marketplace. Most analysts attribute this 
  in part to the geniuses in Blount’s R&D labs, who’ve 
  made several notable breakthroughs that proved 
  highly proﬁtable, and partly to the brilliant leader-
  ship of company founder and CEO Tobias Blount. 
  Known (but not to his face!) as “the Whale of Wall 
  Street” due to his bulk, his ﬁnancial acumen, stra-
  BEN BERKELY
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   12 CON 10 BODY
   18 INT 
  13 EGO
   20 PRE 
  14 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   24 END 21 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  13-, Conversation 13-, 
  Gambling (Card Games) 
  13-, High Society 13-, 
  CK: Hudson City 11-, 
  KS: The Business World 
  14-, KS: The Media And 
  Entertainment Industry 
  14-, KS: High Finance 
  11-, Oratory 13-, Per-
  suasion 13-, Riding 
  11-, TF: Snow Skiing, 
  SCUBA, Small Planes, 
  Small Wind-Powered 
  Boats, WF: Small Arms, 
  Well-Connected and 60 
  points’ worth of Con-
  tacts throughout the 
  Hudson City and world 
  business and political 
  communities, Money 
  (15 points)
  25+ Disadvantages:  
  Hunted (Watched) by 
  the media; Psychological 
  Limitation:  Worka-
  holic; Reputation (cut-
  throat businessman) 
  14-; Rivalry (with other 
  media industry giants); 
  Social Limitation:  
  Famous.
  Notes:  The business 
  genius behind the 
  creation of the WTBV 
  cable TV “superstation” 
  and numerous other 
  media and entertain-
  ment companies is a 
  real workaholic — a 
  man who puts in 20-
  hour days that leave 
  his aides asleep on the 
  oﬃce couch. He’s also a 
  brilliant self-promoter 
  with a big ego, which 
  has contributed to his 
  business success. He is 
  45 and has a lovely wife, 
  Charlene, who’s slowly 
  becoming popular on 
  the social circuit.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  120 ■ A Day In The Life
  tegic planning, and ruthless tactics have brought 
  Blount Pharmaceuticals a lot farther in a much 
  shorter time than anyone expected when Tobias 
  founded it.
  FORDHAM CHEMTECH
  Begun nearly a century ago as a chemical 
  manufacturing company, Fordham ChemTech has 
  weathered the economic storms of the twentieth 
  century with its adaptability, ﬂexibility, and smarts. 
  It moved into electronics, computers, and other 
  forms of high technology as they were developed, 
  and today competes on a global scale against a vari-
  ety of industrial giants.
  Throughout the company’s history, the Ford-
  ham family has retained a large enough chunk of 
  stock to control the business. The current CEO, 
  Jeffrey Fordham, is the son of the now aged and 
  infirm Robert Fordham whose grandfather and 
  great-grandfather founded the business. Known 
  as a patron of the arts and something of a “party 
  boy” besides being a captain of industry, Jeffrey 
  is in his early 30s but has not yet married (much 
  to his parents’ perpetual chagrin). He lives in a 
  plush Bankhurst penthouse and commutes to 
  work via helicopter.
  The company maintains its world headquar-
  ters in the Fordham ChemTech Tower in Worthing-
  ton (page 87). Additionally, it has several satellite 
  oﬃces and manufacturing facilities throughout the 
  greater Hudson City area. Over the past ten years 
  Fordham’s shut down a lot of its stateside factories 
  and outsourced the work to Asia or Latin America, 
  but seems intent on keeping the remainder open 
  and operating.
  HARPCOR
  The Harper Corporation — better known as 
  Harpcor — isn’t the world’s largest mega-corporation, 
  but according to many estimates it’s within the top 
  twenty. Through an enormous pyramid of subsidiar-
  ies, it’s got its hands in everything from energy, to 
  high-tech manufacturing, to investment services, 
  to aerospace and defense contracting, to advertis-
  ing. Company CEO Daniel Manley has a lavish set 
  of oﬃces in the company’s headquarters at Combs 
  Avenue and Northampton Street (page 87).
  RAVENSCROFT DEVELOPMENT
  One of the largest real estate and commercial 
  development ﬁrms in Hudson City, Ravenscroft 
  Development owns part or all of many buildings 
  throughout the city. It’s also a majority owner of 
  Tyndall Residential Realty, a real estate brokerage 
  chain that sells houses and other residential prop-
  erties. The semi-reclusive head of the company, 
  Richard Ravenscroft, cares little for the social scene 
  that’s so important in modern deal-making; he 
  prefers to stay focused on his work or the charitable 
  organization he founded in 1996, the VOLT Foun-
  dation (page 136).
  STARRTECH
  High-tech companies are often said to be the 
  wave of the future as well as the present. If that’s the 
  case, then riding the crest of that wave is StarrTech, 
  the creation of scientiﬁc and ﬁnancial genius Ran-
  dolph Starr. Often described as “a modern Edison,” 
  Starr not only has two dozen signiﬁcant patents 
  to his name, he’s got the business acumen to know 
  what to do with them. He used his early discoveries 
  to ﬁnance the creation of his company, and his later 
  creations (including the StarrSoft software suite) to 
  turn it into a business giant.
  STRAKE INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL
  This international corporation has busi-
  ness interests ranging from auto manufacturing, 
  to computers, to military defense work, to food 
  sales. It has a reputation as being more interested 
  in proﬁts than in its employees or the environ-
  ment, though it strongly denies any such accusa-
  tions. Various government oﬃcials and whistle-
  blowers have also alleged that SII has engaged in 
  criminal dealings and bribery around the world, 
  but no one’s ever proven any serious wrongdoing 
  by the company in court.
  SII’s founder, president, and CEO Michelan-
  gelo Strake doesn’t live in Hudson City, though he 
  frequently visits the company’s local headquar-
  ters at the Hudson City Corporate Center. SII’s 
  executive City in Hudson City, Franklin Frazier, 
  is thought to be a favorite of the higher-ups and 
  destined for a continued rapid climb up the cor-
  porate ladder.
  Finance
  All that business and industry requires ﬁnanc-
  ing to keep it going through the lean times and to 
  launch new projects. As one of the world’s leading 
  banking centers, Hudson City is home to many 
  major lending and investment institutions.
  CHEROKEE BANK & TRUST
  Headquartered in the distinctive Cherokee 
  Tower (page 58), Cherokee Bank & Trust (CB&T) 
  is a multinational investment bank that got its 
  start in Hudson City at the turn of the twentieth 
  century. CB&T has been involved with much of the 
  city’s development and growth over the past 100 
  years, and has also become a signiﬁcant player in 
  the money market and ﬁnancial advice industries 
  through its various subsidiaries.
  In recent years, CB&T has come under ﬁre 
  from political correctness mavens concerning its 
  name (not to mention its logo, a noble Cherokee 
  Indian in three-quarter proﬁle). American Indian 
  activists have demanded, loudly and repeatedly, 
  that the company change its name. CB&T’s Board 
  of Directors has voted down resolutions suggesting 
  this several times, but has tried to soothe hurt feel-
  ings with signiﬁcant donations to Indian charities.
  FLAG NATIONAL BANK
  As both a business and consumer lending and 
  investment institution, Flag National Bank (FNB) 
  is best known to most Hudsonites from its “Flag 
  — We’re Here To Help” commercials and advertise-
  ments. Many a Hudson City resident has gone to 
  FNB to obtain a mortgage, a loan to start a small 
   THE EMERALD 
  SOCIETIES
  Years ago, Irish work-
  ers and businessmen in 
  Hudson City banded 
  together to help one 
  another in their respec-
  tive trades. They formed 
  social organizations/
  business clubs that came 
  to be known as emerald 
  societies after the name 
  of one of the earliest 
  ones. Each major trade 
  or industry that had a 
  substantial number of 
  Irish workers or mem-
  bers eventually got its 
  own emerald society. 
  In time, as the Irish 
  worked their way into 
  the cultural fabric of 
  the city and advanced 
  in the business world, 
  the emerald societies 
  became an important 
  part of the local busi-
  ness scene.
  Today the emerald soci-
  eties still exist. Most are 
  private fraternal-style 
  organizations that only 
  admit descendants of 
  former members or 
  other persons who can 
  prove their Irish ances-
  try to the society’s sat-
  isfaction, but a few have 
  opened their rolls to 
  anyone who cares to join 
  and can pay the dues. 
  For many a businessman 
  in Hudson City, the ﬁrst 
  thing he does when he 
  needs to get something 
  accomplished at work is 
  contact a fellow emerald 
  society member who 
  can help him.
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  121 
  business, or the money to send his kid to college. 
  FNB maintains its local headquarters in the Flag 
  National Bank Building (page 58), but also has 
  dozens of branches throughout the city.
  INTERNATIONAL FINANCE BANK
  This blandly-named institution is an invest-
  ment bank with worldwide ﬁnancial connections 
  and resources. It has no direct dealings with 
  consumers — it ﬁnances megacorporations, gov-
  ernments, and a variety of international organiza-
  tions. Its ﬁnanciers are masters at moving money 
  around the world to put it in the safest and/or 
  most proﬁtable places for its clients. And it treats 
  those clients royally — anyone who sends a lot 
  of business IFB’s way gets free trips to luxury 
  resorts, lavish gifts ($5,000 Rolex watches being a 
  favorite token of IFB’s esteem), and invitations to 
  parties all over the world.
  Originally established in Saudi Arabia, the IFB 
  has oﬃces in every major city around the world. 
  Its Hudson City “branch” occupies ﬁfteen ﬂoors 
  of the Prosser Building at the corner of 16th and 
  Washington in central Bankhurst. Anjum “Allen” al-
  Rashid, a distant cousin of one of the Bank’s origi-
  nal founders, runs the oﬃce with crisp eﬃciency. 
  He’s known to have a thing for blondes, and rarely 
  appears in public without one or two gorgeous ones 
  on his arm.
  FINANCIERS AND MONEY MEN
  Not everyone associated with high ﬁnance 
  is a bank or brokerage. Sometimes individuals 
  become known for their skill as investors, earners, 
  and lenders.
  Thomas Allen
  Thomas Allen started his career as, believe it 
  or not, a sportswriter. After several years of this 
  work, he wrote a book about corruption in profes-
  sional sports that broke several major scandals 
  and became a runaway bestseller. Using the money 
  from the book and his speaking engagements, Allen 
  began to dabble in the stock market, and discov-
  ered he had a talent for it. Four years and many 
  millions of dollars later, Allen got involved in other 
  ﬁelds, such as real estate. As a present to himself 
  he bought Hudson City’s professional baseball and 
  football teams, the Heroes and Thunderbolts, which 
  he still owns.
  Yuri Fyodorevski
  A Jewish native of the Soviet Union, Fyodorev-
  ski immigrated to the United States in the early 
  Eighties and quickly put his intuitive mind to work 
  making money in the stock market. Today he oper-
  ates an investment ﬁrm that promises its clients it 
  invests only in environmentally sound businesses.
  Oscar Hicks
  Known as “Oscar the Grouch” because of his 
  irascible temper, Hicks is one of the “old men” of 
  Hudson City ﬁnance. His investment brokerage ﬁrm, 
  Hicks Brothers, was founded in the Twenties and 
  barely made it through the Depression intact (his 
  brother and partner committed suicide in 1931). 
  Nevertheless Hicks persevered and eventually made 
  himself a fortune. Thousands of people all over the 
  country have beneﬁtted from his and his ﬁrm’s expe-
  rience in the areas of mutual funds, municipal bonds, 
  and other forms of personal investment.
  James Roman
  Roman is one of the youngest of the city’s 
  ﬁnancial wizards. Sometimes known as “the 
  Markham Guﬀey Kid” because he works for the 
  brokerage ﬁrm of Markham Guﬀey Cartwright 
  Sacks, he’s got an uncanny ability to pick stocks and 
  ﬁnd deals. Right after he got out of college he came 
  to Hudson City and astounded seasoned profes-
  sionals with his ability to consistently pick winning 
  stocks — in fact, he’s so good at it that he’s already 
  being investigated by the SEC for insider trading. 
  He seems conﬁdent that they’ll ﬁnd nothing amiss.
  Law
  Businesses don’t just need ﬁnancing — they 
  need legal advisors, legal protection, and legal 
  warriors to ﬁght their enemies in the courts. And 
  plenty of Hudsonites rely on attorneys to protect 
  their rights, obtain justice for them, and resolve 
  legal diﬃculties. The Hudson City Bar Association 
  has thousands of members, ranging from small 
  solo practitioners to high-powered members of the 
  largest corporate law ﬁrms. Some of the best known 
  legal eagles in the Pearl City are described below.
  LAW FIRMS
  Most lawyers don’t practice by themselves — 
  they belong to law ﬁrms so they can share resources 
  and combine their knowledge of the law, and thus 
  oﬀer better service to their clients. Major law ﬁrms 
  often exert inﬂuence far beyond what most individ-
  ual attorneys could muster. Some of Hudson City’s 
  most prominent ﬁrms include:
  Edwards, Edwards, Kennedy & Edwards:  Three 
  brothers and their sister combined forces to 
  create this ﬁrm. Specializing in employment 
  discrimination, personal injury, and civil rights 
  cases, they’ve become quite the thorn in the side 
  of many local companies that they’ve accused of 
  discriminatory practices.
  Goldstein, Douglas, Jakubowski & Key, P.A.:  High-
  powered corporations need high-powered legal 
  help, and that’s just what Goldstein Douglas pro-
  vides. With major practice areas covering just about 
  every aspect of business — Banking & Finance, 
  International Trade, Energy, Mergers & Acquisi-
  tions, and many more — the ﬁrm has both the 
  knowledge and the legal muscle to get the deals 
  done and keep its clients protected.
  Harlan, Fiske & Stone:  Located in Tower A of the 
  Harpcor Towers, the lawyers of Harlan, Fiske & Stone 
  are renowned for their expertise in the ﬁelds of cor-
  porate law, securities law, and bankruptcy. If you’re 
  ready to get your IPO up and rolling, Harlan Fiske is 
  the ﬁrm to talk to... and if you crash and burn, they 
  can help you out with that problem as well.
  THE HUDSON 
  CITY GEMSTONE 
  EXCHANGE
  Located in Highlands 
  just a few blocks east of 
  Courthouse Plaza, the 
  Hudson City Gemstone 
  Exchange is the center 
  of the diamond and 
  gemstone trade in the 
  Pearl City, and the heart 
  of the city’s small but 
  lucrative “Gemstone 
  District.” A small but 
  heavily secured building 
  that features gemstone 
  receiving and shipping 
  areas, showroom/display 
  areas where members 
  can display gems while 
  negotiating their sale, a 
  state of the art vault, and 
  advanced cutting tools 
  for use by Exchange 
  members are just some 
  of the facilities and 
  features the Exchange 
  provides. A group called 
  the Gemstone Exchange 
  Authority oversees the 
  management of the 
  Exchange.
  Membership in the 
  Exchange is open to 
  accredited gemstone 
  and jewelry dealers 
  who obtain a referral 
  from at least two exist-
  ing members and pass 
  a background check. As 
  in Brussels, New York 
  City, and other locales, 
  the gemstone trade in 
  Hudson City is often 
  dominated by Ortho-
  dox Jews and persons 
  of Eastern European 
  extraction; it’s not at 
  all unusual for Jewish 
  Exchange members 
  wearing distinctive dark 
  clothing to walk around 
  the neighborhood car-
  rying hundreds of thou-
  sands of dollars of gems 
  on their persons. Need-
  less to say, the police 
  keep a close eye on the 
  area; robberies are, sur-
  prisingly, extremely rare.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  122 ■ A Day In The Life
  Leﬂer, Gregson, Downs & Livingston:  Although 
  this ﬁrm has a general practice, it’s become best 
  known for its high-proﬁle criminal defense and 
  divorce cases. Its victories in actress Jessica Litch-
  ﬁeld’s child custody case and the Rudy Salvestro 
  murder case have made it a household name 
  among Court TV fans.
  MacDonald, Peterson & Greer:  Experts on intel-
  lectual property law — patents, trademarks, 
  copyrights — contracts, and technology law, the 
  attorneys of MP&G have represented some of the 
  most successful entertainers, sports ﬁgures, scien-
  tists, and writers in the world. It’s said that part-
  ner Rayson Greer’s address book would be worth 
  a fortune due to all the actresses’ personal phone 
  numbers it contains.
  McLawhorn, Karns, Carr & Long, P.A.:  You know who 
  they are. You’ve watched their ads on TV, heard 
  their commercials on the radio, seen their faces on 
  posters on the sides of buses. McLawhorn Karns 
  is one of Hudson City’s most successful personal 
  injury and professional malpractice ﬁrms, with a 
  roster of clients numbering in the many thousands 
  and million-dollar victories in more than a few 
  cases. Other lawyers often dismiss them as ambu-
  lance chasers, but it’s hard to argue with success.
  Motsinger, Hatch & Fields:  This corporate law ﬁrm 
  specializes in shareholder suits and related forms of 
  litigation, but also provides a wide variety of legal 
  services to businesses. Its Tax department is highly 
  regarded in some circles.
  Riley, Culpepper, Shuler, Petrocelli, Montague & Fouts:  
  Criminal defense attorneys par excellence, the law-
  yers of Riley Culpepper ﬁercely and gleefully chal-
  lenge “the system” every day. While it’s best known 
  for its work in several high-proﬁle murder, drug, 
  and organized crime cases, Riley Culpepper also 
  runs several pro bono legal aid clinics in Freetown 
  and Forsyth.
  Sandbeck & Associates:  Who says a little guy can’t 
  beat a big guy? In the 1990s, the three-lawyer ﬁrm 
  of Sandbeck & Associates took on the pharmaceuti-
  cal industry in a massive class action lawsuit and 
  won despite being out-lawyered by about a hun-
  dred to one. Its coﬀers now ﬁlled to bursting, it’s on 
  the lookout for other major cases to tackle.
  LAWYERS
  Among the thousands of attorneys in Hudson 
  City, a few stand out from the crowd for one reason 
  or another.
  Bill Gregson:  In his thousand dollar suits and 
  $25,000 diamond pinkie ring, Bill Gregson looks 
  as much like an upscale rap star as one of the city’s 
  best divorce lawyers. But the fact that he can aﬀord 
  his lavish lifestyle — which includes a mansion in 
  Belmont — just goes to show how good he is at 
  obtaining generous settlements for his clients.
  Milton Jacobi:  One of Goldstein Douglas’s top guns, 
  Milt Jacobi is a threat in both the boardroom and 
  the courtroom. His understated, clever litigating 
  style complements his hard-nosed negotiating style, 
  allowing him to close deals and settlements that 
  would elude lesser attorneys. His knowledge of the 
  Hudson City business community (including a lot 
  of things companies would rather keep secret) is 
  practically unparalleled. On his rare days oﬀ, he can 
  be found playing golf at Firetree.
  Jacquelyn Lydick:  A member of the Stewart 
  County Regional Oﬃce of the Oﬃce of the City 
  Public Defender, Jackie Lydick has been lead 
  defense counsel for several celebrated criminal 
  trials. Although she doesn’t get paid nearly as 
  much as she would if she were in private practice, 
  she enjoys her job because it gives her a chance to 
  represent people who would otherwise be ignored 
  by “the system.”
  Rudolf Thomas:  A talented trial lawyer who’s rep-
  resented several major Maﬁa ﬁgures, Thomas is 
  known for his ﬂamboyant courtroom manner as 
  well as his extensive grounding in state and fed-
  eral criminal law. People pack the room to watch 
  his wild gesticulations and listen to him shout, 
  cajole, and wheedle until a witness tells him what 
  he wants to hear.
  Stefan Zlowinski:  A media darling who appears as 
  a commentator on news programs and cable TV 
  shows whenever there’s a big trial going on, Zlow-
  inski makes his money as a litigator. He likes to be 
  in the courtroom, and he’ll take any case, civil or 
  criminal, that he thinks will get him there... espe-
  cially if there’s likely to be a big payoﬀ at the end.
  Retail
  Chapters Two and Six describe dozens of the 
  most interesting or prominent stores in Hudson 
  City. In addition to those local places, Hudson City 
  is home to the outlets or local franchises of count-
  less national or chain stores. A few of the best-
  known not described elsewhere are listed below.
  AUTOMOTIVE
  Ready to gas up and go? Any of these places will 
  help you ﬁll up your car and get it ready for the road.
  Eastern:  Founded years ago as the retail arm of 
  the Eastern Oil Company, the Eastern chain of gas 
  stations was bought by the Athens Group, a con-
  sortium of wealthy investors and ﬁnanciers, when 
  Eastern Oil declared bankruptcy twenty years ago. 
  With some new ﬁnancing and an image facelift, 
  Eastern stations have increased in earnings since 
  then; the chain’s added about 20% more stations 
  than it had at the time of Eastern Oil’s bankruptcy.
  GO!:  The initials stand for “General Oil,” the chain’s 
  parent company. With its bright orange signs and 
  catchy jingles, GO! is one of the most recognizable, 
  and trusted, brands in America. Some of its stations 
  still have full-service pumps.
  Monarch Gas:  “Give Your Car the Royal Treat-
  ment!” was once one of the most familiar slogans 
  in America. But then the Monarch Gasoline Com-
  pany became caught up in its founder and CEO’s 
  messy divorce, a bankruptcy, and an estate dispute 
  involving several of the major stockholders... and 
  OTHER CHAINS
  Here are some other 
  chains you might visit in 
  Hudson City:
  Buccaneer Burger (and 
  its sister seafood chain, 
  Cap’n Pat’s Fish & 
  Chips)
  Calypso Delight (“CDs”, 
  Jamaican fast food)
  The Corner Oﬃce (pho-
  tocopying and shipping)
  Discount City (general 
  retail goods)
  Donut Shack
  Excalibur Computers 
  (computer and software 
  superstores)
  Four-Color Afternoons 
  (comic books and toys)
  Furniture Factory 
  (home furnishings)
  Gateway Books
  Grande Taco (Mexican 
  fast food)
  Holliday Homes 
  (residential realtors 
  — “There’s no place like 
  Holliday for a home”)
  Nolan’s (coﬀeeshops)
  Noramco (gas stations)
  Pastimes (sporting 
  goods)
  Roundball Express 
  (sporting goods super-
  store)
  Szechuan Palace (Chi-
  nese fast food)
  Verity Computers (com-
  puters and software)
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  123 
  the company simply ground to a halt. The multiple 
  levels of litigation are still going on today, and will 
  keep going on for the foreseeable future — and all 
  the while, Monarch stations across Hudson City 
  and the country sit unused. Many have become 
  homes for squatters, gangs, or the homeless; most 
  Hudsonites have learned to avoid Monarch stations 
  like the plague.
  CLOTHING AND SHOES
  Haven’t got a thing to wear? Stop by one of 
  these places.
  Amanda DeLaine’s:  Founded by the former house-
  wife of the same name as a secondhand and con-
  signment clothing store for women, “AD’s” did well 
  enough for her to convert into an ordinary clothing 
  store, and then to spread across the country. Its 
  “pink tag specials” are a great bargain for many 
  shoppers, but the phrase has become something of 
  a joke among the snide and irreverent.
  Pumps And Pearls:  Although mainly a women’s 
  shoe store, P&P also sells costume jewelry, hand-
  bags, and various other fashion accessories. A 
  brother chain, Shirts And Slacks, carries men’s suits, 
  shoes, and fashions.
  Rainfall:  Rainfall sells women’s clothing, usually mid- 
  to upper-end. A spin-oﬀ, Silk Rainfall, sells lingerie.
  ELECTRONICS AND MEDIA
  Home entertainment and computing are big 
  businesses these days, and several chains have risen 
  to the challenge of keeping consumers supplied 
  with the latest gadgets and goodies.
  Electronic Alley:  If you’re in the market for a DVD 
  player, CD player, digital camera, camcorder, tele-
  vision, or any other sort of consumer electronics, 
  you can ﬁnd it at the Electronic Alley. The Alley 
  also carries DVDs and CDs; larger stores have 
  computers and sometimes even a small section of 
  electronic supplies for home tinkerers, ham radio 
  enthusiasts, and the like.
  Harlix Computer Games And Software:  A software 
  store usually found in malls and similar locations. 
  Despite its name, it carries plenty of software other 
  than games, and has one of the largest selections of 
  computer programs in the city.
  Rhialto Video:  One of the ﬁrst video rental chains, 
  Rhialto Video sometimes seems to have one of its 
  distinctive green-and-yellow stores on every street-
  corner. In recent years it’s shifted away from VHS 
  tapes to almost all DVDs, and is now getting into 
  the DVDs-by-mail service business.
  Silverton’s:  “Lifestyle items” for people with plenty 
  of money and a desire for stylishness. It sells all 
  sorts of electronic gadgets, doo-dads, and gift items, 
  such as PDAs, oddly-shaped clock radios, desk toys, 
  and sleek, high-tech looking stereos.
  FOOD
  Hungry? Hudson City has plenty of places 
  where you can get a bite to eat.
  Burger Monster:  “A monster of a meal!” Built around 
  “monster” and “sci-ﬁ” themes, this chain of fast-food 
  restaurants is particularly popular with kids, parents 
  who have kids, and pop culture aﬃcionados. Each 
  restaurant chooses a particular motif and styles its 
  decor around it. Most choose “Classic Sci-Fi” (aliens, 
  ﬂying saucers, menacing robots...) or “Classic Movie 
  Monsters” (Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman...) 
  as their themes, but some go in for “Comic Book 
  Heroes” (featuring the chain’s own line of superheroes 
  and villains), “Fantasy and Legend” (knights, wizards, 
  dragons...), or other themes. But regardless of the 
  way a Burger Monster looks, you can always get a 
  great Monster Burger, Super Monster Burger, Captain 
  Cosmic Ultra-shake, or Martian Fries. About 60% of 
  the Burger Monsters in the greater Hudson City area 
  are owned by Patrick O’Sullivan, a local entrepreneur.
  Chisholm Trail Steakhouse:  With its mix of delicious 
  appetizers, steaks cooked any way you like, and 
  enormous desserts, the Chisholm Trail chain has 
  become a popular segment of the “casual dining” 
  market. Where possible, these restaurants have a 
  “Curbside Cookout” service that allows you to call 
  ahead and they bring your order to your car when 
  you arrive.
  Lightning Burger:  Don’t have time to eat at Burger 
  Monster or Buccaneer Burger? Just pull up to 
  a Lightning Burger, shout your order into the 
  speaker, and in just a minute or two you’ll be driv-
  ing away with a sackful of burgers and fries. Even 
  by fast food standards it’s not exactly healthy, but 
  sometimes speed is of the essence.
  Macho Nacho:  Diners tired of burgers, chicken, and 
  subs can get some tacos, nachos, and burritos at their 
  local Macho Nacho. The chain lost ground against 
  competitors like Grande Taco in the late Nineties, but 
  its clever “cute animals in little sombreros” advertising 
  campaign helped it pull even again.
  Mars Needs Pizzas!:  Hudson City’s main pizza 
  delivery chain, brought to you by the same people 
  who dreamed up Burger Monster. Usually referred 
  to simply as “Mars Pizza,” it uses distinctive bright 
  green delivery vehicles and deliverymen in green 
  caps, jackets, and shirts. The company’s “Zreebotz” 
  mascot, a little green Martian, is a popular charac-
  ter recognized by everyone.
  Sandwiches Plus:  Fans of true delis wince at the 
  idea of eating at Sandwiches Plus, which serves 
  deli-style meals (pastrami sandwiches, potato salad, 
  homemade chips, and so on) with fast food speed. 
  It’s not bad food, but compared to a real deli there’s 
  not much to recommend it.
  OBADELE JONES
   8 STR 
  10 DEX
   9 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   18 END 17 STUN
  Abilities:  Running +2” 
  (8” total), Bureaucratics 
  8-, CK: Hudson City’s 
  Eastern Northside 
  11-, CK: Lagos 8-, KS: 
  Hudson City Nigerian 
  Community 11-, Lan-
  guage:  Yoruba (basic 
  conversation; English 
  is Native), PS: Pushcart 
  Operator 11-, Streetwise 
  8-, WF: Handguns
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  A native of 
  Nigeria, Obadele Jilo 
  emigrated to the United 
  States in 1983, later 
  changing his last name 
  to “Jones” to better ﬁt 
  in with his adopted 
  homeland. A resident 
  of Hudson City since 
  1991, he runs a pushcart 
  that sells hot dogs, sau-
  sages, chips, and sodas 
  to hungry Hudsonites. 
  Regardless of the 
  weather, you can ﬁnd 
  him out on the street 
  365 days a year, serving 
  his regulars, chatting 
  with customers, and 
  keeping an eye on things 
  going on around him. 
  He usually sets up his 
  cart somewhere in north 
  Bankhurst or Highlands, 
  since he’s found that 
  people there tip better, 
  but you might ﬁnd him 
  just about anywhere else 
  on the eastern North-
  side (especially if there’s 
  a sporting event or other 
  major activity he can 
  cater to).
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  124 ■ A Day In The Life
  Labor And Unions
  No discussion of business and industry would 
  be complete without a look at labor and unions. In 
  Hudson City, the unions tend to be fairly power-
  ful; some of the largest include the Teamsters, the 
  International Dockworkers’ Union, the Policeman’s 
  Protective Association, the Restaurant and Hotel 
  Workers, numerous construction-oriented unions, 
  and various unions whose ranks include city and 
  state employees. Stories of abuse and corruption by 
  some unions have made them unpopular (and led, 
  in part, to Mayor Umstead’s election), since they’re 
  perceived as making exorbitant demands — but 
  others remain intensely popular, and all enjoy 
  strong loyalty from their members. So far Mayor 
  Umstead’s policies have done relatively little to 
  decrease unions’ power.
  Hudson City unions have an often well-
  deserved reputation for being associated with orga-
  nized crime, particularly the Maﬁa. Several unions, 
  including the Hotel and Restaurant Workers, Dock-
  workers, Teamsters, and construction workers are 
  thought to be ﬁrmly in the grip of racketeers. Con-
  ﬂict over control of certain construction unions 
  was one of the underlying causes of the current 
  “war” between the Scatuccis and the Torccones.
  Some of the leaders of the Hudson City labor 
  movement include:  Dave Cody (carpenters), Bob 
  Lauder (Teamsters); Al Maressa (plumbing contrac-
  tors); Sergeant Hector Hernandez (policemen); and 
  Paul Segretti (hotels/restaurants).
  THE ESPIONAGE WORLD
  “You got the disk?”
  “You got the money?”
  “Yeah, it’s out back.”
  “Then we’ll go out back and check. If it’s as you 
  say, you’ll get the disk.”
  — mysterious exchange  
  overheard near Embassy Row
  Hudson City isn’t the hotbed of espionage that 
  New York City, London, Moscow, or Berlin are (or 
  at one time were), but there are still some shad-
  owy activities playing out among the streets and 
  high-rises. The Pearl City contains many embas-
  sies (the employees of whom are often spies), and 
  international trading and dealmaking which may 
  serve as a front for espionage takes place all the 
  time. Homegrown spying in the form of corporate 
  espionage and sabotage is common in some circles, 
  and it’s possible that other nations (such as China) 
  engage in the same conduct in an eﬀort to steal 
  technological secrets from America’s cutting-edge 
  scientiﬁc companies.
  THE MARTIAL WORLD
  “It’s not all training and strength. There’s still 
  the matter of heart. None of those Black Cobra 
  guys has heart — that’s their weakness. Rely on 
  your own skills, don’t give into fear, and your 
  heart is the edge that you can use to win.”
  — pre-tournament pep talk
  Most of the dangerous people on the streets of 
  Hudson City are the ones carrying guns and knives, 
  but a few of them are armed with nothing but their 
  ﬁsts. The unarmed ﬁghting arts are alive and well in 
  Hudson City, which has dojos and schools teaching 
  dozens of diﬀerent styles, and numerous shows and 
  competitions throughout the year. Whether you’re 
  interested in taking martial arts classes, or you want 
  to size up the competition before the next tourna-
  ment, these are some places you should check out.
  Aikido Unlimited:  By most estimates the best school 
  for Aikido and Judo in the city, “AU” sometimes 
  also oﬀers classes in the less philosophical, more 
  ﬁghting oriented counterpart styles, Aikijutsu and 
  Jujutsu. Its founder and main instructor, Stacey 
  Robinson, earned her black belt in Japan.
  Black Cobra Dojo:  This school, located in Riverside 
  Hills, has a reputation for turning out tough, skilled 
  students who tend to use their martial abilities in 
  bullying ways. The main sifu, Kien “Ken” Wing, sup-
  posedly has tong and Triad ties.
  Eight Harmonies School:  One of many schools in 
  Chinatown that teach the ﬁghting arts, the Eight 
  Harmonies specializes in the traditional Chinese 
  styles:  Hsing-I, Kung Fu, Tai Ch’i Ch’uan. The pri-
  PHIL MARIANI
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 
  8 BODY
   9 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   4 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  11-, KS: Tile 11-, KS: The 
  Union World 11-, PS: 
  Tilelayer 11-, PS: Union 
  Oﬃcial 11-, Streetwise 
  8-
  Disadvantages:  Depen-
  dence (Addiction to 
  alcohol)
  Notes:  Phil Mariani is 
  the Chief Steward — the 
  boss, in other words 
  — of the union to which 
  most tile layers and 
  workers in Hudson City 
  belong. A friendly, glad-
  handing sort of guy, he’s 
  never been the subject 
  of much controversy, 
  much less any investiga-
  tions for corruption or 
  malfeasance. Cynics in 
  the union say that’s just 
  because he’s too good to 
  get caught, and because 
  his Maﬁa friends protect 
  him.
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  125 
  mary instructor is Master Hong, an old, inscrutable 
  Chinese man who’s practically a stereotype from a 
  martial arts movie. He expects absolute obedience 
  from his students, but in return teaches much.
  Hidden Fist Academy of Ninja Arts:  “Learn the 
  deadly arts of the ninja!” the commercials say, and 
  a lot of people believe it. Experts on real Ninjutsu 
  scoﬀ, but with ﬁve “academies” opened already, the 
  Hidden Fist seems to be doing just ﬁne ﬁnancially.
  Three Worlds Martial Arts Academy:  The brainchild 
  of Karate, Jeet Kune Do, and Pentjak-Silat black 
  belt-level practitioner Mike Vergnier, the Three 
  Worlds Academy of Blackbridge bills itself as a sort 
  of “community college for martial arts.” It attracts 
  teachers from many diﬀerent styles and traditions, 
  who agree to teach as personal and student inter-
  est dictate. Students sign up for the courses that 
  intrigue them. Most students, who come to Three 
  Worlds after ﬁrst studying the martial arts some-
  where else, end up learning an eclectic hodgepodge 
  of techniques rather than progressing toward “black 
  belt” in any one... but the school prefers to empha-
  size personal growth and enjoyment anyway.
  THE MEDICAL 
  WORLD
  “Code blue! Code blue!”
  “OK, OK, what’ve we got? 
  Talk to me, people!”
   
  “Hispanic male, late teens 
  early 
  twenties, 
  gunshot 
  wounds to the left chest 
  and left leg. I think the ﬁrst 
  bullet may’ve ended up in 
  his lung.”
  “OK, we’re gonna lift him 
  onto the table — one, two 
  three! Now we’ve gotta sta-
  bilize him and get him into 
  surgery. You, go tell them to 
  get OR 3 cleared for us. You, 
  10 ccs of adrenalin, stat! 
  You,...”
  “I’m not getting a pulse!”
  “Dammit, I am not going 
  to lose this boy. Where’s 
  that adrenalin? OK, inject 
  him; I’m going to work the 
  heart.”
  Two seconds of furious 
  action. Five. Ten.
  “Still no pulse, doctor.”
  Shoulders slump with the weight of the inevi-
  table. “OK, he’s gone. Dammit. I make time of 
  death at 2335 hours.”
  — another night at the Vreeland Memorial ER
  Since vigilantes and other adventurers have 
  a tendency to get shot, stabbed, set on ﬁre, run 
  over, smashed in the head with riﬂe butts, burned 
  with cigarettes, and otherwise mangled, it’s helpful 
  to know where to ﬁnd medical assistance in the 
  Hudson City metropolitan area.
  Hospitals
  Hudson City has approximately sixty major 
  hospitals with about 30,000 beds (plus roughly 
  another hundred smaller or specialized medical 
  facilities). Here are descriptions of some of the 
  best... or at least most interesting.
  ALEXANDER MEDICAL CENTER
  Location:   Freetown, northeast corner of King 
  Avenue and S. Jackson Street
  Status:   
  Public
  Specialties: Trauma medicine, endocrinology
  Description:  Located across the intersection from the 
  northeast corner of the Numbers, Alexander Medical 
  Center is on the front lines of the urban battleﬁeld. 
  KING OF THE HILL
  So, who’s the best ﬁghter 
  in Hudson City? No 
  one can say for sure, 
  but there are plenty of 
  opinions.
  Some “experts” look to 
  the Hudson City Fight-
  ing Arts Tournament 
  (page 115) to provide 
  an answer. The way they 
  ﬁgure it, whoever can 
  come out on top in a 
  full-contact tournament 
  is the best all-around 
  ﬁghter. Unfortunately, 
  no one person has ever 
  won the Grand Prize 
  more than once... and 
  everyone who’s won in 
  a given year has lost in 
  several other years.
  Proponents of the 
  “hard” ﬁghting arts 
  often give the nod to 
  John “Johnny K” Kuí, 
  a Chinese-American 
  man with black belts in 
  both Shaolin Kung Fu 
  and Isshin-Ryu Karate 
  who’s won the Fight-
  ing Arts Tournament 
  once and placed second 
  another time. Others 
  favor Malcolm Livitnov, 
  a big, heavily-muscled 
  ex-Israeli Defense 
  Forces commando who 
  sometimes teaches Krav 
  Maga at Three Worlds 
  Academy.
  “Soft” or “circular” styl-
  ists argue that their 
  techniques can prevail 
  even over the strength 
  and force of the likes 
  of Karate. Among other 
  things, they point out 
  that most real ﬁghts 
  end up with both ﬁght-
  ers on the ground, and 
  the techniques of the 
  hard styles usually don’t 
  work well in ground-
  ﬁghting. These “experts” 
  claim that Roberto 
  “Bobby” de Queiroz, 
  a master of Brazilian-
  style Jujutsu, can take 
  anyone in the city.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  126 ■ A Day In The Life
  Its emergency room doctors and nurses long ago 
  became experts at trauma and combat medicine, 
  since they deal with gunshot wounds, stabbings, 
  deliberately inﬂicted burnings, and car crash victims 
  practically every day... not to mention the overdose 
  patients. But AMC does a lot of general medicine that 
  most people never hear of — everything from dia-
  betes management, to sickle cell anemia studies, to a 
  fairly advanced Pediatrics department on Floor 8.
  BLACKBRIDGE HOSPITAL
  Location:   Blackbridge, northwest corner of 12th 
  Avenue and Onondaga Street
  Status:   
  Public
  Specialties: Neurology, oncology, nephrology
  Description:  Originally founded by the Methodist 
  Church, and still closely associated with it in many 
  ways, Blackbridge Hospital is a general medical 
  care facility. Seven stories tall and with about 2,000 
  beds, it provides most of the major medical services 
  for Blackbridge, and often receives patients from 
  nearby neighborhoods as well.
  COKELY HOSPITAL
  Location:   Gadsden, at the intersection of 17th 
  Avenue and Oxnard Street
  Status:   
  Public
  Specialties: Psychology/psychiatry, neurology
  Description:  Although it serves as a normal hos-
  pital, Cokely is best known for its extensive psy-
  chology ward/asylum. The HCPD typically brings 
  people here for commitment or for mental testing. 
  Hence the slang terms, “gone to Cokely” or “he’s 
  Cokely” (both basically signifying “that guy’s nuts”).
  EASTWOOD MEDICAL CENTER
  Location:   Eastwood, at the intersection of 1st 
  Avenue and N. Madison Street
  Status:   
  Public
  Specialties: Physical therapy, otorhinolaryngology, 
  pediatrics
  Description:  Located, rather unenviably, not far from 
  both the Northshore Sewage Treatment Plant and the 
  Northsea power station, Eastwood Medical Center 
  was built in the 1960s in response to a growing need 
  for a major hospital in the area. It’s beginning to show 
  its age, but there’s no money available for the general 
  course of physical plant upgrades it needs.
  EVERETT MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
  Location:  Guilford, at the intersection of Trenton 
  Avenue and Richland Street
  Status:   
  Private
  Specialties:  Cardiology, pediatrics, plastic surgery
  Description:  Built primarily with donations from 
  the Everett family, and so named after them, this 
  hospital serves the people of Guilford, Irishtown, 
  and Little Italy. It’s considered an excellent facil-
  ity, with state-of-the-art equipment and some of 
  the best doctors in the city, and so tends to charge 
  higher prices than many other hospitals.
  HCU HOSPITAL
  Location:   Guilford, on the HCU campus
  Status:   
  Public, university-afﬁliated
  Specialties:  Thoracic surgery, obstetrics and gynecol-
  ogy, oncology, psychiatry
  Description:  This is a teaching hospital attached to 
  the HCU School of Medicine. It conducts ground-
  breaking research in a variety of ﬁelds, and is con-
  sidered a Top 50 national hospital.
  PLAYING DOCTOR
  Hudson City is home to many well-known physicians. 
  Some of them include:
  Melinda Farwell:  An HCU- and Johns Hopkins-trained 
  oncologist, Dr. Farwell researches how cancer spreads 
  throughout the body. She’s part of a world-wide team of 
  doctors, informally dubbed the “Cancer Hunters,” who 
  are trying to wipe out this deadly disease.
  Reginald Green:  Doctor Green is one of the city’s most 
  prominent cardiologists. Over the course of his career 
  he’s made several major advances in the treatment of 
  heart disease. According to some reports, he’s close to 
  patenting a revolutionary new form of artiﬁcial heart; 
  the speculation has increased the price of shares of 
  stock in his company, CardiOhm, signiﬁcantly.
  Alicia Manzanetti:  A general practitioner on the staﬀ at 
  Southwest General, Dr. Manzanetti is an expert on the 
  eﬀects (both physical and psychological) of rape and 
  child abuse, and is frequently asked to testify in trials of 
  these crimes as an expert witness. 
  Howard Paulson:  A personal friend of Thomas Allen’s, 
  Dr. Paulson is specialist in orthopedics and sports 
  medicine who works as a consultant to the Hudson 
  City Heroes and Thunderbolts. As “doctor to the sports 
  stars” and a youngish, handsome man himself, he’s 
  become a sort of minor celebrity.
  Kyle Reichart:  A renowned and respected neurosur-
  geon with a master’s degree in biophysics in addition 
  to his M.D., Dr. Reichart has spent much of his career 
  working on procedures and devices to help paraplegics 
  and quadriplegics walk again. He hasn’t succeeded 
  yet, but as an eternal optimist he’s convinced there’s a 
  breakthrough right around the corner.
  ELIZA BERKLEY
   10 STR 
  13 DEX
   10 CON 
  8 BODY
   13 INT 
  11 EGO
   15 PRE 
  16 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  KS: The 
  Hudson City Medical 
  Community 11-, Lan-
  guages: French, Spanish 
  (both basic conversa-
  tion), Paramedics 14-, 
  SS: Medicine 14-, SS: 
  Neurology 14-, SS: Sur-
  gery 13-, Fringe Beneﬁt: 
  License To Practice 
  Medicine
  Disadvantages:  None.
  Notes:  Eliza Berkley 
  is one of the many 
  dedicated doctors 
  working at  Alexan-
  der Medical Center. 
  A neurosurgeon, she 
  often handles incred-
  ibly delicate operations; 
  her surgical technique 
  and bedside manner 
  are both respected by 
  her colleagues. Despite 
  being overworked and 
  in her early thirties, she’s 
  every bit as beautiful as 
  she was when she was 
  Homecoming Queen at 
  Northwestern High.
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  127 
  KATZ MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
  Location:   Bankhurst, at the intersection of 12th 
  Avenue and Centre Street
  Status:   
  Private
  Specialties:  Cardiology, neurology, vascular surgery
  Description:  Often used by Hudson City politicians 
  and businessmen due to its proximity to downtown, 
  Katz Memorial is generally considered a top-notch 
  hospital. It lost a major medical malpractice lawsuit 
  in 2002, as part of the resolution of which it recently 
  installed a revolutionary new Patient Status Moni-
  toring Computer. Hospital administrators around 
  the country are observing Katz to see how the PSMC 
  works out; if it does well, medical centers around the 
  country will undoubtedly adopt it.
  QUEEN’S HOSPITAL
  Location:   Mint Ridge, at the intersection of LeMas-
  tre Avenue and Onondaga Street
  Status:   
  Public
  Specialties:  Gerontology, internal medicine, virology
  Description:  One of the oldest major hospitals 
  in the city, Queen’s Hospital takes its name from 
  Queen Victoria of England, who made a gener-
  ous donation to the charitable society that built 
  it. Its doctors treats many residents of Little Italy, 
  Moscow West, and Chinatown in addition to Mint 
  Ridge residents and people who suﬀer injuries 
  while in LeMastre Park.
  SOUTHWEST GENERAL HOSPITAL
  Location:  Freetown, 975 Polder Avenue
  Status:   
  Public
  Specialties: Trauma medicine, pediatrics, gerontol-
  ogy, addiction treatment
  Description:  A huge, sprawling, ancient medical 
  complex that’s the main provider of medical ser-
  vices to much of Freetown. Approximately 85% of 
  its revenues are from public assistance programs 
  such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
  STEWART COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL
  Location:   Crown Point, at the intersection of Cutler 
  Avenue and S. Madison Street
  Status:   
  Public
  Specialties:  Endocrinology, thoracic surgery,  
  neurology
  Description:  Formerly one of the smallest of 
  Hudson City’s major hospitals, Stewart County 
  General ascended in the rankings with the opening 
  of the Richard and Maria Fordham Wing in 2002. 
  Featuring the latest in medical technology and 
  patient care systems, the Fordham Wing doubled 
  the hospital’s bed capacity and did wonders for its 
  overall reputation.
  VETERAN’S MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
  Location:   Riverside Hills, 500 Cutler Avenue
  Status:   
  Public
  Specialties:  None
  Description:  Built in the late Teens and early Twen-
  ties and named in honor of the veterans of the 
  Great War, Veteran’s Memorial has served genera-
  tions of residents of Riverside Hills, Crown Point, 
  and Chinatown. To accommodate patients from the 
  latter neighborhood, the hospital makes a special 
  eﬀort to hire nurses and doctors who speak Asian 
  languages (particularly Mandarin and Cantonese). 
  In recent years the hospital has also treated many 
  veterans of the Gulf War, Iraq War, and Balkans 
  peacekeeping missions.
  VREELAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
  Location:   Elmview, at the intersection of King 
  Avenue and S. Jefferson Street
  Status:   
  Public
  Specialties:  Neurology, cardiology, radiology
  Description:  The main hospital in Elmview, Vree-
  land Memorial also serves residents of Red Hill and 
  North Elmview. Its emergency room has become 
  accustomed to handling overdose and stabbing vic-
  tims from the areas around the Strip. Vreeland also 
  maintains a “North Elmview Outreach Program” that 
  attempts to monitor the health of the Strip’s prosti-
  tutes, and to provide them medical care if possible.
  Health Clinics
  With the assistance of various state and federal 
  agencies, the city’s Health and Human Services 
  Division operates a series of health clinics through-
  out Hudson City; several charitable organizations 
  maintain similar facilities. Usually known as “free 
  clinics” because they provide low-cost or no-cost 
  health care services to the poor, they’re mostly 
  located on the Southside. A typical clinic has 3-
  10 doctors and about twice as many nurses and 
  physician’s assistants, and can provide most basic 
  medical services (though they can’t handle major 
  traumas like gunshot wounds, nor perform sur-
  gery). If a clinic encounters a medical condition it’s 
  not equipped for, it refers the patient to the nearest 
  hospital. Because health clinics maintain stocks of 
  drugs and other medical supplies, they’re usually 
  heavily secured against theft.
  KEVIN WATTERS, 
  M.D., PH.D
   8 STR 
  9 DEX
   9 CON 
  9 BODY
   14 INT 
  11 EGO
   15 PRE 
  10 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   18 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  Conversa-
  tion 14-, Deduction 
  12-, High Society 12-, 
  KS: The Hudson City 
  Psychiatric Community 
  13-, KS: Serial Killers 
  And Serial Killing 13-, 
  Paramedics 12-, Persua-
  sion 13-, SS: Abnormal 
  Psychology 14-, SS: 
  Medicine 12-, SS: Psy-
  chology 14-, WF: Hand-
  guns, 10 points’ worth of 
  Contacts in the HCPD 
  and FBI
  Disadvantages:  None.
  Notes:  A psychologist 
  in private practice in 
  Hudson City and who 
  also teaches at the HCU 
  School of Medicine, Dr. 
  Watters is a nationally-
  recognized expert in the 
  psychology of violent 
  crime. He’s worked with 
  the HCPD and FBI on 
  several occasions to help 
  develop proﬁles of serial 
  killers and other repeat 
  oﬀenders, and has also 
  served as a consultant to 
  TV shows and movies 
  dealing with those sub-
  jects.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  128 ■ A Day In The Life
  THE MILITARY WORLD
  “Terms?”
  “A thousand per week per man for soldiers, 
  twice that for oﬃcers and any personnel you 
  deem “essential,” though that number can’t 
  exceed twenty percent of your force. Estimate a 
  two-week mission, possibly three.”
  “Equipment?”
  “You supply your own personal weapons and 
  what you estimate as one week’s worth of 
  ammo. We supply a second week’s ammo, and 
  that’s yours to keep after the mission. Other 
  personal gear you want and don’t already have, 
  get me a list and we can negotiate it. We’ll pro-
  vide transport to the mission zone, and vehicles 
  there, but those must be returned at the end of 
  the mission, as undamaged as possible.”
  “Extraction?”
  “By air, same way you’ll go in. I can’t tell you 
  more until you agree to the job. Then I can 
  reveal speciﬁcs.”
  “Okay, we’re in. What’s the job?”
  “Ever hear of a place called Zarafshon?”
  “No.”
  “It’s in central Uzbekistan. An oil company 
  exec there to cut a deal went and got himself 
  kidnapped by some particularly nasty bandits. 
  Your job is to get him out... without involving 
  the Uzbeki government in any way.”
  — conversation between two  
  unidentiﬁed individuals
  While there are no large military facilities in 
  the immediate vicinity of Hudson City, the U.S. 
  Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines all impact the 
  city in various ways.
  MILITARY BASES
  The closest major military bases to Hudson 
  City are Fort Houke (an Army base about thirty 
  or forty miles northwest) and Wendover Air Force 
  Base (about ﬁfty miles west). There are no naval 
  bases nearby, but U.S. Navy ships sometimes dock 
  at Hudson City for repairs, shore leave, or the like. 
  Local businesses are happy to cater to military per-
  sonnel, who often come to the city on leave.
  MILITARY PROJECTS
  The military does more than just build and 
  maintain bases. It also needs weapons, vehicles, 
  and other equipment to get its job done — and 
  that means it has to get involved in research and 
  contracting. Many Hudson City companies, such 
  as Fordham ChemTech and StarrTech, are involved 
  in research projects (be they standard, classiﬁed, 
  or top secret) for some branch of the military, 
  the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency 
  (DARPA), the CIA, or some other governmental 
  agency. Fordham, for example, is said to be working 
  on a new, lighter type of body armor for the Army.
  THE NATIONAL GUARD AND ARMED 
  FORCES RESERVES
  Hudson City is home to units of the Reserves 
  of the various armed forces. These Reserves are 
  sometimes called out to assist the National Guard 
  in times of crisis, such as natural disasters or riots. 
  As of 2004, many of them are serving, in whole or 
  in part, in Iraq or Afghanistan.
  Hudson City has three armories for use by the 
  National Guard and Reserves. The ﬁrst is located near 
  the South Pumping Station (Parsons Avenue and 
  Centre Street). The second is on the southern river-
  front near the Adams Street Bridge. The third and 
  smallest one is in west Worthington area. All three are 
  heavily secured and guarded around the clock.
  THE MERCENARY WORLD
  In addition to legitimate military personnel, 
  Hudson City has to deal with its share of merce-
  naries. Public mercenary companies like Military 
  Solutions and Executive Resolution Services have 
  oﬃces in the city where they meet with prospec-
  tive clients and do a small amount of recruiting. 
  It’s also said that various bars and clubs around 
  the city are meeting places for less aboveboard 
  mercenary transactions.
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  129 
  THE MYSTIC WORLD
  “I’m Detective Lancaster — you wanted to see 
  me?”
  “Yes. Thank you very much for agreeing to 
  speak with me.”
  “That’s quite all right, Mrs....?”
  “Rigo. Madame Rigo, if you prefer, though few 
  call me that outside my place of work.”
  “And that is...?”
  “I am what you would call a “fortuneteller,” 
  Detective.”
  “And what would you call it?”
  “I am a seer. I see things, and those things in 
  time come to pass — not always exactly as they 
  have been revealed to me, but close enough.”
  “O-kay. Look, Madame Rigo, I’m pretty busy 
  right now....”
  “I know. With the Suzanne Matheson case, 
  yes?”
  “How did you know about that? That hasn’t 
  been released to the press. You a friend of her 
  family or something? Do you know where she 
  is?”
  “As I said, Detective, I can see things unknown 
  to others.”
  “Sure. Why are you so interested in this case, 
  then?”
  “Because I have seen more of it than simply her 
  name. I have seen a large man, dark, strong, 
  drag her from her house. And I know that he 
  has killed her.”
  “Where and how?”
  “That, I am sad to say, I have not seen. But 
  this much I can tell you:  you will find her to 
  the north, in a green place, beneath a blan-
  ket of red, yellow, and brown. That is why I 
  came here — to tell you this, that you might 
  find her soon and bring some comfort to her 
  grieving family.”
  — conversation at the 98th precinct house
  To most people, Hudson City is a mundane 
  and worldly place — in fact, many would say it’s 
  too worldly, too dirty and corrupt and materialistic. 
  But lurking in the shadows is another Hudson City:  
  one of mystics and occultists, tarot card readers 
  and fortunetellers, New Agers and people of beliefs 
  far more unusual. Ever since the Thirties, when 
  the renowned crimeﬁghter the Raven reputedly 
  used occult powers in his war on the underworld, 
  Hudson City has had a reputation as a place where 
  mystics gather.
  MYSTICS
  While lots of Hudsonites claim to believe in 
  the mystic, and even to know a thing or three about 
  the occult, a few true experts stand out from the 
  pack of dabblers. 
  “Father Miguel” Bressard:  Unlike the leaders of the 
  Church of Humbalu Areya Aye (page 131), Michael 
  “Father Miguel” Bressard, who runs the Randall 
  Avenue Hounfort in North Elmview, openly claims to 
  have magical powers... and a willingness to use them. 
  From his dingy little hounfort — really as much of 
  a shop as a place of religious gathering, despite its 
  name — the self-styled Father Miguel sells his ser-
  vices in the form of curses, ﬁnding-charms, love bath 
  potions, fortunetelling, and protection from malign 
  spirits. Business isn’t exactly booming, but somehow 
  the place manages to stay open.
  Amanda Gallagher:  Some of Hudson City’s wealth-
  ier and more inﬂuential citizens believe in various 
  mystic doctrines — but they wouldn’t be caught 
  dead visiting a shop like Madame Rigo’s (see below) 
  for a wide variety of reasons. Instead, they have an 
  occultist come to them. With her youthful good 
  looks, vivacious personality, and absolute discre-
  tion, Amanda Gallagher brings visions of the future 
  directly to her clients’ homes. She mainly relies on 
  tarot cards, but also does some of what she calls 
  “psychic aura readings” and even channeling. She’s 
  also a big proponent of crystal therapy, often selling 
  her clients one or more crystals which she “specially 
  psychically attunes” to them and their problems.
  Professor Adolph Gottlieb:  A professor of anthro-
  pology and folklore at Hudson City University, 
  Adolph Gottlieb has earned an international 
  reputation as a scholar of the occult. Among his 
  other accomplishments are the translation into 
  English of several German and Hindu grimoires, 
  the publication of numerous scholarly articles on 
  subjects ranging from “Demonic Beings of the 
  Japanese Islands” to “The Inﬂuence of the Lemege-
  ton on Golden Dawn Occult Theory,” and testify-
  ing as an expert witness at three trials involving 
  accounts of “demonic possession” and “Satanic 
  cults.” On top of all that, he speaks twelve lan-
  guages ﬂuently, is an expert on European wines, 
  and plays a mean game of racquetball.
  Madame Keja Rigo:  From a tiny shop in Gadsden, 
  Madame Rigo — “Fortuneteller, Astrologer, and 
  Palm Reader,” according to the sign out front — 
  dispenses “advice,” as she calls it, about any subject 
  her clients need to know about. A full-spectrum 
  occult services provider, she can read tarot cards, 
  gaze into crystal balls, read palms, and cast horo-
  scopes. She claims to have developed the power to 
  foresee the future as a little girl in Romania, and 
  that these various “devices” merely enhance her 
  natural abilities. A kindhearted soul, she’s tried on 
  several occasions to oﬀer her services to the HCPD, 
  but they’ve snubbed her.
  “I HEARD THERE 
  WUZ ALLIGATORS IN 
  THE SEWERS...”
  Urban legends exert 
  a strange hold on the 
  modern American 
  mind. Despite their 
  often manifest absurdity, 
  somehow they remain 
  alive long after they’ve 
  been debunked. There 
  are plenty of them ﬂoat-
  ing around the streets of 
  Hudson City, too:
  Fireball:  In the spring 
  of 2004, the story cir-
  culated throughout 
  Hudson City, largely by 
  e-mail, that Freetown 
  gangs had come up with 
  a new form of enter-
  tainment:  pulling up 
  alongside cars stopped 
  in traﬃc and lobbing 
  Molotov cocktails into 
  them. The HCPD insists 
  it’s never received any 
  reports about this, but 
  more than a few people 
  keep their windows 
  rolled up tightly even in 
  the hottest weather... just 
  in case.
  In a related story, it’s 
  been reported that some 
  Hudson City gangs like 
  to drive around at night 
  without their headlights 
  on. When someone 
  ﬂashes his headlights at 
  their car to alert them to 
  this, they shoot him.
  First Hit’s Free, Baby:  
  According to what 
  “they” say, some Free-
  town gangs hand out 
  drug-laced lollipops to 
  kids as a way of getting 
  ’em hooked young.
  Dust In The Wind:  Didja 
  hear about the burglars 
  who thought the ash in 
  an urn was cocaine?
  Nature Gone Wild:  The 
  old chestnut about 
  alligators in the sewers 
  has been around for 
  decades now, but it’s not 
  the only rumor featur-
  ing dangerous animals. 
  The Hudson Sun has 
  published several stories 
  Continued on next page
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  130 ■ A Day In The Life
  MYSTIC PLACES
  The Mystic World includes places of arcane 
  import as well as knowledgeable people. Some of 
  the mystic locations in Hudson City include:
  The Belltower Of St. Ignatius:  The belltower of the 
  St. Ignatius Cathedral (page 57) was the site of a 
  mutual suicide pact between two lovers in 1875 
  who, despairing that their families would never 
  agree to let them marry, killed themselves. Medi-
  ums claim their anguished thoughts and passions 
  have charged the tower with mystic energy that has 
  attracted various spirits, thus making the tower one 
  of Hudson City’s best-known haunted sites.
  Chinatown:  The people of Chinatown tend to be 
  more superstitious, and more willing to accept and 
  work with people who claim to have mystic powers 
  (such as feng shui specialists), than the average 
  Hudsonite. Some Chinatowners claim that various 
  places in and beneath Chinatown are loci of lines of 
  mystic force, or otherwise possess arcane power.
  Hangman’s Hill:  According to “sensitives,” the spirits 
  of the many people who were executed on Hang-
  man’s Hill in the early years of the city still linger 
  there, full of malice, anger, regret, and lust for ven-
  geance. Once or twice park visitors have reported 
  seeing “strange lights” there.
  The Owl’s Roost Bookstore (northeast corner of 
  Onslow Avenue and Cayuga Street):  Stuﬀed to the 
  brim with used books of every shape, size, and 
  subject, the Owl’s Roost is particularly well-known 
  for its collection on the occult. The owners, Jim and 
  Margaret Schoen, know a thing or two about mat-
  ters arcane (strictly as dilettante scholars, though; 
  they’ve never taught), and have made an eﬀort to 
  acquire books on the subject for their store. They 
  keep the rarest books in their collection under lock 
  and key in special temperature-controlled book-
  cases, and show them only on appointment.
  The Pilkenton Mansion (380 Taylor Street):  This 
  abandoned home, located in the Burnside neigh-
  borhood of Guilford, was the scene of a gruesome 
  triple murder in 1936 — Abraham Pilkenton, his 
  wife Alice, and their teenage daughter Florence 
  all lost their lives at the hands of a killer. No one 
  has ever uncovered the reasons for the killing or 
  the murderer’s identity — as near as anyone can 
  tell, it was a simple burglary gone wrong, since the 
  family jewels and other easily-carried valuables 
  were missing. But many people have reported 
  seeing the ghosts of one or all of the Pilkentons in 
  the house, and “sensitives” feel something deeply 
  “wrong” about the place. The ghosts are most likely 
  to appear to people interested in buying the house, 
  but have also made themselves visible to historic 
  tours and various intruders. The Hudson City His-
  torical Society owns, maintains, and oﬀers tours of 
  the Mansion.
  RELICS AND ARTIFACTS
  Sometimes special items can become charged 
  with great magical power... or so some mystics 
  claim. Here are a few items from Hudson City his-
  tory that might meet that description:
  The Pendant of Patricia Arkwright:  In the early, 
  early days of the city, a mysterious old woman 
  named Patricia Arkwright was hung for killing 
  four children. She claimed it was for purposes of 
  “witchcraft,” and though most people were skeptical 
  of that, there was no question of her guilt for the 
  murders. For reasons lost to history, the hanging 
  took place on a tiny island in the Stewart River that 
  no longer exists (in the 1880s, it was removed as a 
  hazard to navigation); it was near the present-day 
  Centre Street Tunnel. While helping to construct 
  the Tunnel, an Italian laborer found an antique 
  pendant which he turned over to the Hudson City 
  Historical Society. Experts date it to the mid-1700s 
  or early 1800s, and some people believe it was Ark-
  wright’s personal “talisman.” The Historical Society 
  placed it in the Hudson City Historical Museum, 
  where it remains on display to this day.
  The Raven’s Tarot:  When the famed crimebuster 
  known only as the Raven fought the underworld 
  in the Twenties and Thirties, it was rumored he 
  had mystic powers that helped him with his war on 
  crime. Chief among these powers was the Raven’s 
  Tarot, a special deck of tarot cards supposedly 
  designed by the Raven himself and possessing even 
  greater oracular authority than normal tarot cards. 
  While the Raven is surely dead by now, no one has 
  ever found his Tarot... if it exists at all.
  The Scarlatti Mirror:  At the Hudson City Historical 
  Museum (page 111) there’s a large, ornately-framed 
  mirror that’s over 200 years old. An heirloom of 
  the Scarlatti family, the mirror was in the room 
  where Gina Scarlatti murdered her parents, brother, 
  and baby sister with a butcher’s knife in 1886. It’s 
  said that in the right light, at the right time of 
  day, during the right seasons of the year, you can 
  sometimes see the entire murder re-enacted in the 
  mirror by apparitions. “Sensitives” claim to ﬁnd the 
  mirror disturbing.
  The Zodiac Book:  In the Rare Book Room at the 
  Hunneford Library (pages 58-59) there’s a large 
  incunabula bound in featureless black leather. 
  Experts believe it was printed in Germany or Swit-
  zerland sometime in the late 1400s, but when you 
  get right down to it no one has any ﬁrm informa-
  tion about where and when it originated, much 
  less who wrote and printed it. It consists of 144 
  densely-printed pages, twelve for each of the signs 
  of the Zodiac. Occultists say that hidden among its 
  mundane astrological lore and diagrams are true 
  secrets of high magic that would allow an adept to 
  foretell the future... but since the Library won’t lend 
  the book out or allow anyone to copy it, they can’t 
  test their theories.
  about packs of feral 
  dogs “allegedly” attack-
  ing people in LeMastre 
  Park, though the HCPD 
  says no one’s ever 
  reported any such attack 
  to it. There are also tales 
  of a pack of “carnivorous 
  rats” that roam various 
  parts of the city attack-
  ing babies in their cribs 
  and small children left 
  unattended.
  Slightly Used Auto... 
  Cheap!:  Another 
  favorite that’s made the 
  rounds for years is about 
  a woman who sells her 
  husband’s incredibly 
  expensive sportscar 
  — usually a Porsche, but 
  it changes from year to 
  year and teller to teller 
  — for next to nothing 
  (usually $50 or $100) 
  either because (a) he 
  cheated on her, or (b) 
  he died and she didn’t 
  know the car’s value (in 
  this version of the story, 
  it’s a “classic” car of some 
  sort). Ask around long 
  enough and you’ll ﬁnd 
  someone who claims 
  that “a friend of his” 
  “knows a guy” who took 
  advantage of this deal.
  Svelte:  You know all 
  those ultra-thin models 
  and actresses you see 
  on TV and in maga-
  zines? Well, they’ve had 
  ribs removed to keep 
  their hourglass ﬁgures 
  perfect. And guess 
  what!? There are some 
  underground clinics 
  in Hudson City who’ll 
  perform this service for 
  non-famous women for 
  a nominal fee....
  In a related story, gangs 
  of organleggers have 
  been striking around 
  Hudson City. They 
  kidnap healthy-looking 
  people oﬀ the streets. 
  The victim wakes up in 
  the bathtub in a hotel in 
  the suburbs to ﬁnd that 
  one of his kidneys has 
  been removed for sale 
  on the black market.
  Continued on next page
  Continued from last page
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  131 
  THE RELIGIOUS WORLD
  “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It’s been six 
  months since my last confession.”
  “And what sins have you committed since then, 
  my son?”
  “Well... quite a lot, actually. Smoking, drink-
  ing, consorting with women of low morals. But 
  most recently I killed ﬁve men.”
  “What? What did you say, my son?”
  “I said I killed ﬁve men. Five men.”
  “Why, my son?”
  “Because they had it comin’. Not everyone 
  deserves to live, Father.”
  “My son, no man can take that power unto 
  himself. The power of life and death is God’s 
  alone.”
  “Oh, boy, is that wrong. Anyone who can aﬀord 
  a gun can take that power unto himself. And 
  this isn’t going to be the last time, either, I can 
  promise you that.”
  “My son, what is it you want of me? I cannot 
  oﬀer absolution unless you repent of your sins... 
  and cease them.”
  “That’s not what I’m after, Father. I don’t need 
  forgiveness — I told you, they had it comin’. 
  What I want is a witness. When you read about 
  this in the paper tomorrow... and you will, 
  Father, trust me on that... I want you to come 
  forward and explain to people that I’m not 
  crazy. I have a purpose. My acts have meaning. 
  And I need you to tell them that.”
  — a rather unusual confession
  As the vital statistics on page 16 indicate, 
  Hudsonites belong to many diﬀerent religions. The 
  original founders of the city were Protestants, but 
  since that time many diﬀerent waves of immigra-
  tion have brought new religions from all over the 
  world into the picture. 
  CHURCHES AND TEMPLES
  The neighborhood descriptions in Chapter 
  Two include several of the prominent religious 
  buildings in Hudson City, including St. Andrew’s 
  (page 19) and St. Ignatius Cathedral (page 57). 
  Some of the others include:
  Beth Israel Temple (655 5th Avenue):  One of the 
  oldest Jewish houses of worship in Hudson City, 
  Beth Israel has established an enviable record for 
  community service. But it’s also attracted some 
  controversy as the home temple of Rabbi Solomon 
  Stern (see below) and a prominent sponsor of the 
  Star Project, an organization that hunts Nazi war 
  criminals and neo-Nazi “terrorists.”
  Christ Lutheran Church (northeast corner of 14th 
  Avenue and Van Buren Street):  Some aesthetes argue 
  that this Lutheran church in Blackbridge is the 
  most beautiful building in the city. Constructed in 
  a sort of “modern Gothic” style with the ﬁnest grey-
  green marble, its soaring towers and steeple echo 
  the skyscrapers of the surrounding city in a way 
  that both uplifts and humbles.
  Church Of Humbalu Areya Aye (434 Bayle Street):  
  Dismissed by some people as a “Voodoo cult,” 
  Hudson City’s most prominent Santería congrega-
  tion meets here to worship the orishas and engage 
  in social activities. An attached botanica sells icons, 
  herbs, and other Santería supplies.
  First Baptist Church (6902 Steele Street):  Standing 
  strong and proud amidst the rampant commerce 
  and materialism of the Lowdown and Pierpoint, 
  First Baptist Church has been a part of the Hudson 
  City community for nearly 200 years. It has a small 
  museum inside featuring artifacts from the original 
  church, which was destroyed in the 1895 ﬁre.
  Golden Buddha Temple (southeast corner of Avon 
  Avenue and Covent Street):  This Chinese temple is a 
  mainstay of life in Chinatown. Despite its name, it 
  allows Taoist worship as well as Buddhist, and pro-
  motes the social tenets of Confucianism as well.
  Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church (southwest corner 
  of Birch Avenue and Rotterdam Street):  After St. 
  Ignatius, Our Lady of Mercy, in Little Italy, is prob-
  ably the largest Catholic church in Hudson City. 
  The recipient of several extremely generous dona-
  tions over the past four decades, it’s used the money 
  not only to expand and update its facilities, but to 
  establish outreach, missionary, and charity pro-
  grams throughout the city and the world.
  Sacred Path Temple (near the intersection of Riv-
  erfront Drive and N. Madison Street):  This Indian 
  Buddhist temple is less than 20 years old, but has 
  already become a focal point of Hudson City’s 
  Indian immigrant community, Buddhists, Hindus, 
  and Sikhs alike. The latter two groups both have 
  their own temples elsewhere in the city, but major 
  events, such as celebrations of Indian holidays, 
  always seem to take place at Sacred Path.
  Weitzmann Synagogue (northwest corner of Ashmont 
  Avenue and Oneida Street):  Founded in 1993, this 
  temple is part of the Weitzmann Hebrew Academy, 
  a private preparatory school for young Jewish men.
  MEN OF THE CLOTH
  Religions are about more than special build-
  ings and books. Men and women of faith often do 
  more to help worshippers than all the holy writ in 
  the world.
  Thomas Cardinal Alessi:  The Archbishop of the 
  Catholic see that includes Hudson City maintains 
  his oﬃces at St. Ignatius Cathedral. Appointed to 
  his oﬃce by his good friend Pope John Paul II, 
  he’s considered by some a potential candidate to 
  become the next pope upon John Paul II’s death. 
  Veteran Vatican-watchers think the selection of an 
  American candidate unlikely, but stranger things 
  have happened in the annals of the Church.
  That’s Mighty White Of 
  You:  More than once, 
  the story has spread 
  throughout Hudson 
  City that a particular 
  company — usually a 
  national one, but some-
  times a major local 
  business like Boudreau’s 
  Department Store — is 
  owned by the Ku Klux 
  Klan, or some similar 
  organization. No proof 
  is ever forthcoming, but 
  it inevitably results in a 
  loss of business for the 
  company in question.
  That Wasn’t In The 
  Recipe...:  The list of 
  things supposedly mixed 
  into, or found in, food 
  served in Hudson City 
  would just about ﬁll 
  a book itself:  roaches 
  (or roach eggs); semen; 
  blood; various body 
  parts (particularly ﬁn-
  gers); used condoms; 
  medical waste... the list 
  goes revoltingly on. True, 
  veriﬁable accounts of 
  persons who’ve success-
  fully sued restaurants 
  over contaminated or 
  spoiled food have only 
  fueled this particular ﬁre. 
  Sometimes the story has 
  a gruesome ending, such 
  as the version in which 
  insect eggs consumed in 
  a burger/taco/hot dog/
  knish lodge in the eater’s 
  throat or stomach and 
  hatch....
  One of the most horriﬁc 
  of these rumors started 
  in 2001, when “they” 
  claimed that the radi-
  cal gay activist group 
  HONUR (page 42) was 
  putting HIV-laced blood 
  in ketchup dispensers 
  so that victims would 
  “feel our pain.” Nothing 
  was ever proven, and 
  HONUR even won a 
  libel suit over the matter, 
  but the use of ketchup 
  in city restaurants plum-
  meted for months.
  This Is Your Brain On 
  Drugs:  Various stories, 
  including some reported 
  in the Sun or other 
  Continued on next page
  Continued from last page
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  132 ■ A Day In The Life
  Reverend James Pick:  This hot-tempered and 
  antagonistic black Baptist preacher is a leader 
  in the Hudson City civil rights community and 
  one of the most controversial figures in the city. 
  Known for his loud, belligerent speeches, he fre-
  quently denounces the white citizens of Hudson 
  City (especially those who disagree with him) as 
  racists, bigots, and Nazis. His enemies describe 
  him as a race-baiter and a bigot himself. His 1995 
  championing of two black youths who claimed 
  white police officers beat them but who turned 
  out to be total liars has lent credence to his 
  enemies’ charges against him but done little to 
  damage his standing in the black community.
  Rabbi Solomon Stern:  An inﬂuential ﬁgure in the 
  city’s Jewish community, Rabbi Stern has achieved 
  some notoriety with his outspoken denunciation 
  of several organized crime groups, such as outlaw 
  motorcycle gangs that include Nazi symbols as part 
  of their outﬁts or “colors.”
  FRINGE RELIGIONS AND CULTS
  Not every religious group in Hudson City 
  enjoys the legitimacy accorded to faiths like 
  Catholicism, Buddhism, or the Baptist Church. 
  Several are more commonly labeled “cults” or fringe 
  religions. They include:
  The Church Of Holy Unity:  This cult preaches a doc-
  trine that Man himself is the one true god.  The 
  Church’s leader, Dr. Ken Fowler, describes all other 
  organized religions as “evil” and “deceptive.” Follow-
  ers of the Holy Unity must surrender all of their 
  worldly possessions to the Church and live in one 
  of its large farming compounds. There is one such 
  compound to the west of Pineville and Blanton, 
  and the Church’s blue-robed “acolytes” do a lot of 
  proselytizing and fundraising in Hudson City.
  The Church Of The True Messiah:  With its world 
  headquarters in Mint Ridge (page 71), the Church 
  of the True Messiah presents itself as the “correct” 
  form of Christianity, one that worships the true 
  Messiah — the Church’s founder, Jonathan James 
  Ross. Most people would simply call it a cult that 
  bilks weak-willed people seeking acceptance out of 
  their life’s savings. The authorities have investigated 
  the Church several times, but have never pros-
  ecuted it.
  Ross, a recluse now in his seventies who’s 
  believed to live in Hudson City, leads the Church 
  as its “Holy Eminence.” Serving him are a corps of 
  “Holy Fathers” and “High Fathers” (roughly, bish-
  ops and priests) who minister to the faithful in his 
  name. The Church expects worshippers to donate 
  generously to it and its causes.
  The First International Church Of Satan:  Urban leg-
  ends of baby-sacriﬁcing Satanic cults aside, Hudson 
  City is home to an organization that calls itself the 
  First International Church of Satan. It rents an old 
  warehouse on South River Drive in Elmview for 
  use as a church, where its High Priest and Priestess, 
  a couple named Alasdair and Sophia Lovasz, con-
  duct “Black Masses” and other rituals to “honor our 
  lord and master, Lucifer.” Legitimate religious ﬁg-
  ures in the city have noted an alarming increase in 
  the number of “converts” to the church, especially 
  among young people.
  Voodoo:  Besides the Church Of Humbalu Areya Aye 
  (see above), several Voodoo groups (not to men-
  tion a few voodoo posses) exist in Hudson City. The 
  best known of them is the aptly-named Church of 
  Voodoo (3217 Moore Street in Freetown).
  THE SCIENCE AND  
  TECHNOLOGY WORLD
  “Hey, Jim, come check this out.”
  “Whaddaya got?”
  “Just take a look at it. See the micro-gear there 
  on the right?”
  “Holy crap! It worked! I can’t believe it ﬁnally 
  worked!”
  “Now all we gotta do is ﬁgure out a way to 
  make money oﬀ of it.”
  — a recent conversation at  
  Nanoverse Enterprises R&D
  Hudson City isn’t Silicon Valley, but neverthe-
  less it’s the scene of a lot of pioneering technologi-
  cal development and experimentation. Most of this 
  work takes place at the three local universities or at 
  major companies in the area, but there are plenty of 
  smaller tech start-up ﬁrms and backroom tinkerers 
  hoping for a big discovery that will make them rich.
  LABORATORIES AND TECH COMPANIES
  Besides Fordham ChemTech, StarrTech, and 
  Strake Industries International, all described in the 
  Business World section beginning on page 119, here 
  are some of the leading lights of the Hudson City 
  technological ﬁrmament.
  Albemarle Laboratories:  Based in the suburb of Bed-
  ford, Albemarle Labs is on the cutting edge of bio-
  engineering and genetics research and development. 
  It also has cryonics and agricultural sciences divi-
  sions. Company founder and CEO Bennett Moran 
  is something of a maverick in the scientiﬁc world 
  thanks to his blatant commercialism and willingness 
  to insult other scientists.
  Nanoverse Enterprises:  Nanotechnology is all the 
  rage these days, and Nanoverse was founded to 
  exploit that interest and push back the boundaries 
  of the scientiﬁc frontier. From their Corinth County 
  facility, the scientists of Nanoverse have already made 
  several signiﬁcant breakthroughs, and more are 
  expected soon.
  Sewell Computing Laboratories (northeast corner of 
  Pierce Avenue and N. Kimberly Street):  Started by 
  computer programmer Martin Sewell in his parents’ 
  basement in the early Eighties, Sewell Computing has 
  risen to become one of the most proﬁtable and suc-
  cessful companies in the computing industry. While 
  much smaller than many of its fellows, it concentrates 
  on subjects it excels in — producing minor but deﬁ-
  papers more concerned 
  with sensationalism 
  than fact-checking, 
  claim people have 
  done all sorts of hor-
  riﬁc things while high. 
  Examples include the 
  babysitter who cooks 
  the baby in the oven, the 
  acid trip that causes a 
  man to slice oﬀ bits of 
  his ﬂesh, the kids who 
  stared at the sun until 
  they went blind, and 
  many “creative” forms of 
  suicide.
  You’re Gonna Be A Star:  
  Veriﬁed stories about 
  women (from one coun-
  try or another, including 
  the U.S.) being lured 
  into the sex trade in 
  some other country 
  have been around for 
  years. “They” say that 
  the latest twist on this 
  in Hudson City is “ﬁlm 
  crews” luring women 
  away from crowded 
  areas with promises to 
  put them in commer-
  cials, then kidnapping 
  and raping them. 
  Continued from last page
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  133 
  nite improvement to computer chips and other tech, 
  and certain specialized programming tasks — and 
  produces results on deadline.
  SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS
  Tech companies provide the funding for 
  research and development — but it’s people that do 
  the work and make the discoveries. Some of Hudson 
  City’s best-known researchers and inventors include:
  Doctor Li “Lee” Baoxian:  An escapee from Commu-
  nist China and a professor at HCSU, Dr. Baoxian is 
  an expert on laser physics and the industrial use of 
  lasers. In appreciation for the millions of dollars he’s 
  brought in through grants and patents, the university 
  built him a special lab just for his own experiments at 
  one of its satellite campuses.
  Doctor Robert Keenan:  Head of the R&D lab at Strake 
  Industries International, Dr. Keenan oversees a 
  variety of projects involving military and industrial 
  applications. Despite being relegated to a mostly 
  administrative role these days, he’s a brilliant scientist 
  with advanced degrees in physics, materials science, 
  and business. He donates a lot of money to charities 
  in Freetown, where he grew up.
  Doctor Bryce Krueger:  Often described as “eccentric” 
  (“bizarre” and “chronically late” would be more accu-
  rate), the young Dr. Krueger (“Call me Freddie!”) 
  earned his Ph.D in computer science at the tender 
  age of 18. He specializes in advanced computer 
  design and supposedly teaches at HCU, though 
  whenever possible he foists his teaching duties oﬀ on 
  grad students so he can go on working.
  Doctor Janet Shane:  An employee of Fordham 
  ChemTech, Dr. Shane designs computer guidance 
  systems and related parts for missiles and similar 
  military devices. According to one report, her work 
  has improved the eﬃciency of Army missiles by 11%.
  THE SOCIAL WORLD
  “Spare change? Got any spare change, mister?”
  — heard on streets all around Hudson City
  Beyond business, beyond law, beyond religion 
  and learning and everything else, people simply 
  have to live with one another. The Social World 
  of Hudson City is one of contrasts — great highs 
  matched by great lows.
  The World Of The Wealthy
  Fancy cars, opulent mansions, glittering 
  jewels, and the best of everything — such are the 
  realities of life for the rich and fabulously rich of 
  Hudson City.
  THE WEALTHIEST PEOPLE
  In addition to Ben Berkely (pages 30, 119), 
  Thomas Allen (page 121), Brad Quinn (page 
  21), Candace Vanderburg (page 55), and Jeﬀrey 
  Fordham (page 87), a few more of Hudson City’s 
  richest individuals are listed below. According to 
  most rankings, the three wealthiest Hudsonites are 
  Berkely, Fordham, and Allen, in that order.
  Jacques Boudreau:  Scion of the Boudreau family 
  that founded the famous department store, Jacques 
  Boudreau does relatively little with the family 
  business except to show up at major board meet-
  ings and lend his name to various charity drives 
  and promotional campaigns. He prefers to use his 
  money to travel around the world in search of new 
  thrills, take up exotic hobbies, and seemingly try 
  to date every good-looking single woman on the 
  planet. His latest craze is building and ﬂying repli-
  cas of Twenties and Thirties airplanes.
  Jennifer Constanza:  Jennifer Constanza was born 
  in Latin City. She started her show business career 
  at 16 as a model and quickly graduated to “super-
  model” status. After that, she got into acting, then 
  fashion design... and at every step she made even 
  more money, always investing it wisely. Despite 
  the 2002 discovery that her former business man-
  ager had siphoned oﬀ millions from her empire (a 
  matter currently in litigation), she still has several 
  hundred million dollars to her name... and she’s 
  only 31.
  Andy “Stonehand” Mawser:  The star quarterback 
  for the Hudson City Thunderbolts is one of the 
  most photogenic and personable athletes in the 
  NFL... and that translates into major endorsement 
  deals. He earns $8 million a year on the ﬁeld, but 
  his promotional deals and clever investments have 
  brought him hundreds of millions beyond that. 
  Other men sometimes buy their wives ﬂowers; 
  Mawser sends his beloved Lyn weekly gifts such as 
  furs, jewelry, and $10,000 an ounce perfume.
  ARIZONA DUPREE
   
   12 STR 
  14 DEX
   14 CON 12 BODY
   13 INT 
  11 EGO
   15 PRE 
  16 COM
   4 PD 
  4 ED
   3 SPD 
  6 REC
   30 END 25 STUN
  Abilities:  Martial Arts 
  (20 points’ worth of Kung 
  Fu), Combat Driving 12-, 
  KS: Modern Pop Culture 
  11-, KS: Rock And Pop 
  Music 11-, PS: Singing 
  13-, SS: Biology 11-, SS: 
  Chemistry 11-, SS: Phys-
  ics 13-, TF: Basic Para-
  chuting, Advanced Para-
  chuting, SCUBA, Snow 
  Skiing, WF: Small Arms, 
  Money:  Filthy Rich
  Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Thrillseeker; Psychologi-
  cal Limitation:  Noblesse 
  Oblige; Social Limitation:  
  Famous
  Notes:  When she’s not 
  competing on the semi-
  pro racing circuit, partici-
  pating in team sky-diving 
  tournaments, assisting 
  her friends at HCU with 
  particle physics experi-
  ments, attending a Hol-
  lywood premiere, or help-
  ing a friend of the family 
  with some sort of charity 
  event, you’ll usually ﬁnd 
  Arizona Dupree front-
  ing her band, Anxiety 
  Fountain, as lead singer. 
  Sole heir to the enormous 
  Dupree dry cleaning 
  fortune, she’s used her 
  money, good looks, and 
  plethora of natural talents 
  to build a one-woman 
  nonproﬁt business empire 
  around her “career” as a 
  “thrillseeking adventur-
  ess.” Her fans think she’s 
  the greatest thing ever. 
  Her relatives think she’s a 
  little disturbed... but most 
  of them ﬁgure her ways 
  of relieving boredom are 
  better than taking drugs 
  and sleeping around. 
  Arizona doesn’t care what 
  any of them think; she’s 
  just having a ball being 
  herself and occasion-
  ally making the world a 
  better place.
  DOCTOR JANICE SELLERS
   
  8 STR 
  10 DEX 
  10 CON 
  10 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO 
  13 PRE 
  12 COM
   
  3 PD 
  3 ED 
  1 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 
  19 STUN
  Abilities:  Animal Handler (Birds, Canines, Felines) 12-, 
  KS: The Academic World 11-, KS: The Hudson City Geo-
  logical Proﬁle 13-, KS: The Hudson City Underground 
  Environment 8-, SS: Chemistry 8-, SS: Forensic Geology 
  11-, SS: Geology 14-, SS: Geophysics 11-, SS: Physics 8-
  Disadvantages:  Psychological Limitation:  Animal Lover
  Notes:  A tenured professor at HCSU, Janice Sellers is 
  one of the country’s foremost geologists. She’s conducted 
  numerous studies of the geology of Stewart County and 
  southern New Jersey, and has become such an expert on 
  the soils of the region that the police often call her in as a 
  consultant and expert witness regarding soil evidence.
  Doctor Sellers spends most of her free time tending to 
  her menagerie of pets — an unabashed animal lover, she 
  can’t say “no” when she sees an abandoned animal or 
  hears of a friend who has a pet looking for a home. So 
  far she’s got a dog, three cats, a guinea pig, and a macaw... 
  and heaven only knows what she’ll bring home next.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  134 ■ A Day In The Life
  THE WEALTHIEST FAMILIES
  Sometimes known as “the dynasties” because 
  of their long-lasting wealth and inﬂuence on 
  Hudson City society and politics, these families 
  possess vast resources of many kinds. Their chil-
  dren want for nothing, and they’ve all had members 
  prominent not only in business, but in local, state, 
  and national politics.
  The Bankhursts:  The descendants of Revolutionary 
  War hero General Richard Bankhurst parlayed his 
  name and hard work into an even more prosperous 
  farming and ranching business than his own... then 
  into industry and publishing... and eventually into 
  the high-tech sector of the modern global economy. 
  Bankhurst Holdings, the family’s partnership, has 
  assets valued at over $100 billion. The clan remains 
  relatively small, but most of them don’t live in 
  Hudson City full-time anymore; only Eugene and 
  Renee Bankhurst, renowned as patrons of the arts, 
  stay in the city year-round.
  The Fraziers:  Jeremiah Frazier was a friend of Emil 
  Hudson’s who accepted Hudson’s invitation to move 
  to his “new Eden in the Americas.” He didn’t regret 
  it. At ﬁrst he raised horses, but he and his sons later 
  became involved in fur trapping and trading. In time 
  they moved beyond supply to manufacturing, creat-
  ing clothes and other goods. By the Jazz Age they 
  were among America’s most prominent industrialists, 
  but after World War II they wisely diversiﬁed into the 
  ﬁnance and services industries. Today the main part 
  of the family consists only of Jeremiah “Jem” Frazier 
  IV, his wife Audrey, and their four children (ages 6 to 
  14), but there are any number of cousins and other 
  distant relatives who feed, to one degree or another, at 
  the Frazier trough. 
  The Willoughbys:  In contrast to both the Bankhursts 
  and the Fraziers, the Willoughbys are numerous 
  throughout the greater Hudson City area. Their 
  patriarch, William Willoughby, was a staunch Cath-
  olic, and bred his beliefs, including a desire for large 
  families, into his heirs. As a family they’ve got their 
  hands in every economic pie you could imagine, 
  from manufacturing, to publishing, to high tech, to 
  entertainment, to oil, and far beyond.
  MAVENS OF SOCIETY
  Among the wealthy in any society, certain 
  people stand out. They may be more ﬂamboyant, 
  more extravagant, better entertainers, or simply 
  more personable, but something about them 
  attracts other well-to-do people (and hangers-on) 
  like moths to a ﬂame. In Hudson City, the ranks of 
  such people include:
  Philip and Martha Andrews:  Philip is a top executive 
  at the Hudson City branch of Avery Industries; his 
  wife, Martha, retired from the publishing industry 
  in 1998. Martha is an incurable gossip, making her 
  a good source of interesting information about 
  Hudson City’s social set if you can get close to her.
  Adriene and Jake Davidson:  This young couple is a 
  darling of the Hudson City social scene. Though it’s 
  not clear where their money comes from (software 
  engineering? art treasures looted from the Nazis? 
  lottery winnings? stock market? inheritance?), two 
  things are for sure — they’ve got plenty of it, and 
  they enjoy spending it. They live in a turn-of-the-
  century house in Irishtown (known as the “Mustard 
  Mansion” for its distinctive yellow-brown color) 
  with two Maltese dogs, three Abyssinian cats, and a 
  parrot named Mr. Feathers who curses friend and 
  foe alike in ﬂuent Latin. They frequently throw par-
  ties or entertain houseguests.
  Leon and Rachel Edwards:  Leon Edwards is one of 
  the most successful attorneys in Hudson City his-
  tory. Although he’s now retired from the practice 
  of law, the millions of dollars he brought in, and 
  his wife’s clever investing, have left them extremely 
  well-oﬀ. They now spend much of their time run-
  ning a small charitable organization, the Edwards 
  Foundation, and making grants to area universi-
  ties. The recently-completed Edwards Computer 
  and Video Center at City College is just one of the 
  couple’s many ﬁne works.
  Brad L. Patrick:  Heir to the Patrick candy fortune, 
  Brad Patrick is a handsome young man whom 
  many people consider Hudson City’s most charm-
  ing and eligible bachelor. So far he seems content to 
  lead a life of aimless luxury, often in the company 
  of his friend Jacques Boudreau (see above).
  Marion Stuart:  A wealthy widow, “Stu” Stuart is 
  nonetheless relatively young and in big demand 
  on the Hudson City social circuit. Her renown as 
  a hostess means that receiving an invitation to one 
  
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Three
  135 
  of her parties is a major social coup. The guest lists 
  typically read like a “who’s who” of Hudson City 
  society, and all sorts of networking and dealmaking 
  go on at them.
  LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS
  Besides the City Club (page 59) and simi-
  lar places described in Chapter Two, not to 
  mention the Skyline Club (page 196)here’s a 
  list of a few of the exclusive “hangouts” and 
  playgrounds of the wealthy citizens of the 
  greater Hudson City area.
  Blackbridge Racquet Club (4330 Iroquois Street):  
  A sports and health club for the wealthy, located 
  in the eastern part of Blackbridge. It features an 
  indoor basketball court, racquetball and handball 
  courts, a well-equipped weight room and ﬁtness 
  center, private masseuses, gold-plated ﬁxtures in the 
  bathrooms, a large sauna, an equally large jacuzzi, 
  and many similar amenities. Many high-powered 
  business deals take place here.
  Cambria Country Club:  CCC is a small club in the 
  suburb of Cambria. Its golf course is not particu-
  larly noteworthy, but its dinner facilities are some 
  of the best around.
  Firetree Country Club:  Located in the suburb of 
  Andrews Heights only a few minutes’ drive west of 
  the city proper, this club (the most expensive one in 
  the area) has a dozen tennis courts, two Olympic-
  sized pools (plus several smaller pools for exercis-
  ers and young children), an award-winning 18-hole 
  golf course, and excellent dining facilities. The 
  annual Firetree Cotillion, held in May, is one of the 
  biggest social events of the season.
  Hudson City Country Club:  The HCCC is in Rome, 
  right on the border of the main part of the city. 
  It’s the least expensive of the area’s country clubs, 
  and membership is considered the “ﬁrst step” on a 
  person’s climb up the city’s social ladder.
  Hudson Beach Yacht Club:  A club for people inter-
  ested in sailing and/or attending seaside parties. 
  The biggest yacht in the place is Ben Berkely’s 
  Sea Queen, a 200-foot ship with the most luxuri-
  ous accommodations available. The club’s annual 
  Regatta and its “summer circuit” of fabulous parties 
  are big events in the city’s social calendar.
  Stone Ridge Country Club:  A large club located in 
  Northdale. In addition to its golf course and base-
  ball diamond, Stone Ridge has acres of meadows, 
  ﬁelds, and woods suitable for picnics, volleyball, 
  hiking, school ﬁeld trips, and other activities.
  The World Of The Poor
  There’s a ﬂip side to everything — including 
  wealth. Some people have far more of it than aver-
  age, but some people barely have enough to live 
  on. Unfortunately, like all major American cities, 
  Hudson City has a substantial number of citizens 
  living below the poverty line, and some of them 
  don’t have any place to call home other than the 
  streets. Most of the poor live on the Southside; in 
  some neighborhoods, such as Freetown, Lafayette, 
  and North Elmview, it often seems like the only 
  people with any money are drug dealers and other 
  criminal scum.
  HOMELESSNESS
  According to the best estimates, Hudson 
  City has a homeless population of around 45,000. 
  As of late 2004, average occupancy of the city’s 
  homeless shelters totaled approximately 38,000 
  (15,000 children, 23,000 adults), but experts 
  believe several thousand more live on the city’s 
  streets, park benches, and subway trains/tunnels. 
  Approximately 80% of them suffer from severe 
  mental illnesses and are afraid of the authorities 
  in general, and homeless shelters in particular. 
  The largest congregation of them is in Boxtown 
  (page 48), but other gathering places crop up 
  here and there throughout the city.
  The homeless are regarded in some circles 
  as a nuisance, or even dangerous. While most 
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  136 ■ A Day In The Life
  just want to survive and get 
  by, there’s no denying that 
  the more desperate, deeply 
  disturbed, or drug addicted 
  ones can pose a threat to 
  other people. They steal and 
  rob to support themselves, 
  and sometimes attack people 
  whom they regard as threats 
  or easy marks.
  CHARITIES AND SHEL-
  TERS
  Many diﬀerent chari-
  table institutions help the 
  needy citizens of Hudson 
  City in one way or another. 
  Besides the Barton Street 
  Mission (page 62) and others 
  described in Chapter Two, 
  here are a few more:
  Barron Foundation:  A chari-
  table organization founded 
  by Barron Pharmaceuticals 
  as part of the settlement of a 
  large class action lawsuit. Its 
  main projects include drug 
  and alcohol abuse treatment 
  programs, drug awareness 
  education, and the like, but 
  it also maintains a scholar-
  ship fund for pharmacology 
  students.
  Richard and Maria Fordham 
  Foundation:  Started by Fordham ChemTech head 
  Jeﬀrey Fordham, this foundation is responsible for 
  a wide variety of charitable works. One of its main 
  projects is a series of Fordham Youth Centers on 
  the Southside to provide activities for children and 
  teens to keep them oﬀ the street. So far the Foun-
  dation’s only built one (at the intersection of Polder 
  Avenue and Van Allen Street), but half a dozen 
  more are planned so far.
  Thirty-Fifth Street Mission:  A shelter and soup 
  kitchen on Thirty-Fifth Street in the Numbers in 
  Freetown. It has about a hundred beds, most of 
  them occupied by homeless mothers and their 
  children at any given time. A coalition of several 
  churches operates it, though most of the staﬀ are 
  part-time volunteers.
  King Avenue Urban Center:  A large soup kitchen 
  and shelter on King Avenue in Lafayette. Due to the 
  large population of nearby Boxtown, it sees heavy 
  traﬃc at mealtimes, though its shelter is sometimes 
  underused (particularly in the summertime).
  The VOLT Foundation:  Created by real estate mag-
  nate Richard Ravenscroft, the Victims Of Law-
  lessness and Terror (VOLT) Foundation is a two-
  pronged organization. One half of it is a think 
  tank devoted to issues of criminology, public 
  safety, and national security; this branch also 
  lobbies for tougher anti-crime laws. The other 
  half is a community outreach program with two 
  purposes. The ﬁrst is to “help people help them-
  selves,” as VOLT literature puts it. This means 
  assisting with the development of “Neighborhood 
  Watch”-style safety programs, conducting per-
  sonal safety seminars, and the like. The second is 
  to compensate the victims of violent crime who 
  need immediate assistance due to their victimiza-
  tion. For example, the Foundation will pay for a 
  short hotel stay for a family that can’t remain in 
  its home due to damage suﬀered during a break-
  in. The Foundation also maintains several bat-
  tered women’s shelters (page 146).
  CRAZY LENNY
   6 STR 
  8 DEX
   9 CON 
  7 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  7 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  3 REC
   18 END 15 STUN
  Abilities:  Bribery 8-, 
  CK: Hudson City 11-, 
  Language: Vietnamese 
  (basic conversation), 
  Shadowing 11-, Stealth 
  11-, Survival (Urban) 
  11-, TF: Common 
  Motorized Ground 
  Vehicles, WF: Small 
  Arms
  Disadvantages:  Money:  
  Destitute; Psychological 
  Limitation:  Alcoholic; 
  Social Limitation:  
  Homeless Person
  Notes:  Crazy Lenny is 
  just one of the thou-
  sands of homeless 
  people roaming the 
  Hudson City streets. 
  He gets his nickname 
  because he tends to talk 
  to himself a lot, and 
  sometimes stops what-
  ever he’s doing to swat at 
  imaginary ﬂies buzzing 
  all around his head — 
  he’s not dangerous, just a 
  little disturbed. Despite 
  that, he’s smarter and 
  more observant than 
  most people give him 
  credit for. He still 
  remembers the snippets 
  of Vietnamese he picked 
  up during the war, as 
  well as traces of other 
  military skills... and he 
  keeps his wits (such as 
  they are) about him as 
  he walks the paths of 
  the decidedly diﬀerent 
  jungle he now lives in.
  
  chapter four:
  chapter four:
  chapter four:
  LAW ENFORCEMENT IN HUDSON CITY
  THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  138 ■ The Long Arm Of The Law
  THE HUDSON 
  CITY POLICE
  “Hey, Dillon, how ya doin’? First week going 
  OK?”
  “Yeah, I guess. Nothing too heavy — talking to 
  rowdy neighbors and a couple of street busts 
  and stuﬀ.”
  “Good, just keep alert out there — the bad 
  people aren’t going to take it any easier on ya 
  ’cause you’re a rookie. Here, this is for you.” He 
  handed Dillon a couple of rolled-up bills.
  “Twenty-ﬁve bucks? What’s this?”
  “Your share of the pad, kid,” he said, speaking 
  more softly now. “It’s not much ’cause you’re 
  new, but give it time.”
  “I don’t get it.”
  He leaned in closely, whispered ﬁercely. “Look, 
  rookie, take it. People in the precinct pay us to 
  keep more of an eye on their places... or maybe 
  not to look so closely at some things. It’s the way 
  things are. If you don’t want it, ﬁne — more for 
  me. But keep your trap shut, got it?”
  “...No... no, I’ll keep it. Thanks, Sarge.”
  “No sweat, kid. All part of learnin’ the ropes. See 
  ya ’round.”
  — conversation in the locker  
  room of the 12th Precinct
  Law enforcement in Hudson City first and 
  foremost means the Hudson City Police Depart-
  ment (HCPD), a force of approximately 32,000 
  officers plus another 9,000 clerical workers — far 
  too few of both to handle the city’s enormous 
  crime problem. 
  ORGANIZATION AND 
  STRUCTURE
  The HCPD organizes itself in three ways:  ﬁrst, 
  by rank; second, geographically; third, by function.
  Ranks
  The HCPD has a ﬁve-tier rank structure. At 
  the very top of force is the Police Commissioner, 
  who’s appointed to his job by the mayor. The cur-
  rent Commissioner is Alexander Ringwald, whom 
  Mayor Umstead appointed upon taking oﬃce (see 
  text box).
  Immediately below the Commissioner are two 
  ranks. First are the several Deputy Commissioners, 
  each commanding one of the main bureaus of the 
  Department (see below). Second are the Com-
  manders, each in charge of one of the twelve Dis-
  tricts the HCPD divides the city into (see below). 
  The “leader” of the oﬃcers at this level is the First 
  Deputy Commissioner, who serves as special 
  assistant to the Commissioner. If the Commis-
  sioner cannot perform his duties, the First Deputy 
  becomes Commissioner Pro Tem until the mayor 
  appoints a new Commissioner. Commissioner 
  Ringwald’s First Deputy is Ronald Garrone, a big, 
  hearty fellow who reminds some people of a hard-
  nosed Sidney Greenstreet.
  The third tier in the rank system is Captain. 
  A captain commands a precinct (see below) and 
  answers to the commander in charge of his area. 
  Serving beneath captains are Lieutenants. Each pre-
  cinct has several lieutenants to see that the station 
  runs smoothly on a day-to-day basis. Many of the 
  men in the various detective squads (such as Homi-
  cide or Burglary & Robbery) are also lieutenants.
  Sergeant is the last level of command, the one 
  that takes care of things on the street and handles 
  many of the day-to-day major chores in the pre-
  cinct houses. Theoretically, police regulations call 
  for at least one sergeant to respond to every major 
  call for assistance, but in practice there aren’t nearly 
  enough sergeants to go around. 
  Below the sergeants are the patrol oﬃcers, in 
  two ranks:  P1 and P2. To become a P2, an oﬃcer 
  must have at least two years’ experience as a P1 and 
  pass an exam. An oﬃcer cannot advance further 
  in the ranks (for example, become a sergeant or a 
  detective) without ﬁrst serving as a P2 for at least 
  six months. HCPD patrol oﬃcers generally ride in 
  squad cars in groups of two.
  In some situations, rank matters less than one 
  might expect. For example, police regulations spec-
  HUDSON CITY CRIME STATISTICS
  According to the data in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, here’s how many crimes were 
  committed in Hudson City standard metropolitan statistical area in 2003:
  Violent Crimes 
   
   
  Number
  Murder and non-negligent manslaughter 1,038
  Forcible rape 
   
   
  2,512
  Robbery  
   
   
  30,112
  Aggravated assault 
   
   
  36,758
  Property Crimes 
   
   
  Number
  Burglary  
   
   
  32,991
  Larceny 
   
   
   
  168,730
  Motor vehicle theft 
   
   
  26,554
  
  139 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Four
  ify that the oﬃcer who ﬁrst investigates a crime is 
  in charge of the crime scene, regardless of his rank, 
  until a lieutenant or captain arrives. Thus, it’s pos-
  sible for a lowly P1 to end up in charge of a situa-
  tion even if P2s and sergeants are around. Similarly, 
  cops quickly learn what they and their “brothers in 
  blue” are good at, so it’s not uncommon for higher-
  ranking cops to defer to lower-ranking ones who 
  are particularly skilled in the task at hand (such as 
  interrogation, crime scene analysis, or the like).
  Geographic Organization
  Geographically, the HCPD organizes itself into 
  twelve Districts (see accompanying text box), each 
  commanded by a Commander who reports to the 
  Commissioner. Every commander designates one 
  of the precinct houses in his district as his District 
  Headquarters and keeps his personal oﬃces there.
  Within each district are several precincts, each 
  responsible for patrol and investigation duties 
  within a given neighborhood or area within the 
  district. As of 2004, there are 120 precincts in 
  the city, for an average of ten per district, but the 
  number varies wildly. For instance, there are more 
  precincts in the Southwest, South Central, and 
  Riverside Southeast districts, all of which have very 
  high crime rates, than in the quieter North Central 
  and Riverside Northeast districts. A Captain com-
  mands each precinct. Most precincts have 200-300 
  oﬃcers and around 75 support personnel, but again 
  the numbers tend to vary based on the crime rate 
  within the precinct.
  Bureaus And Squads
  Lastly, the HCPD organizes itself by func-
  tion. It refers to its functional branches as bureaus; 
  within each bureau are divisions, squads, and other 
  specialized  groupings (and sometimes geographi-
  cal subgroupings that don’t necessarily match the 
  overall Department’s geographical scheme).
  COUNTERTERRORISM BUREAU
  Formed in early 2002, the Counterterrorism 
  Bureau’s mission is to investigate alleged terrorists 
  and related suspicious activity with the intent to 
  prevent terrorist incidents from occurring in or 
  POLICE COMMISSIONER 
  ALEXANDER RINGWALD
   10 STR 
  11 DEX 
  12 CON 
  11 BODY
   13 INT 
  12 EGO 
  20 PRE 
  10 COM
   
  3 PD 
  2 ED 
  3 SPD 
  4 REC
   24 END 
  22 STUN
  Abilities:  +2 PER with Sight Group, Martial Arts (Police 
  Self-Defense [Commando Training], Use Art with 
  Tonfa), Acting 8-, Bureaucratics 13-, Combat Driving 
  11-, Criminology 13-, Deduction 12-, Gambling (Cards) 
  8-, KS: Criminal Law And Procedure 11-, KS: The Law 
  Enforcement World 14-, KS: Hudson City Underworld 
  12-, KS: Hudson City Government 11-, Lockpicking 8-, 
  Security Systems 8-, Shadowing 12-, Stealth 11-, Street-
  wise 13-, WF: Small Arms, Tonfa, SS: Forensic Pathology 
  8-, Fringe Beneﬁts: Law Enforcement Rank, Local Police 
  Powers, Weapon Permit, Well-Connected and 20 points’ 
  worth of Contacts in city government, other law enforce-
  ment agencies, and the street.
  25+ Disadvantages:  Hunted:  various organized crime 
  groups 8- (As Pow, NCI, Kill); Hunted by the media 
  11- (Mo Pow, NCI, Watching); Psychological Limitation:  
  Perpetually Suspicious.
  Notes:  Police Commissioner Alexander Ringwald is a 
  bold, conﬁdent man in his mid-40s. He started work-
  ing with the HCPD right out of high school as a beat 
  patrolman. His quick wits and sharp eye soon earned 
  him promotions, and after seven years he found himself 
  where he had wanted to be all along — the Homicide 
  Squad. As a homicide detective, Ringwald worked some 
  of the most horrifying cases in the city’s history, and even 
  had to go undercover a time or two to locate particularly 
  dangerous killers, but he handled every job with skill 
  and aplomb. The enemies he made with his driven, no-
  nonsense working style were far outweighed by the cops 
  and citizens who admired his hard work and the results 
  he achieved.
  After ﬁve years on the Homicide Squad, Lieutenant Ring-
  wald was tapped for a promotion to Captain of the 94th 
  Precinct, in one of the worst sections of the city. He con-
  tinued to perform at his usual level, and after his sensitive 
  handling of what could have become a nasty racial riot 
  he was promoted to commander of the South Central 
  District. This position brought him to the attention of 
  then-Councilman Graydon Umstead, who frequently 
  consulted the hard-nosed career cop on police issues. 
  When Umstead won the mayor’s seat, he chose to get rid 
  of the current commissioner, a reputedly corrupt man 
  named Keith Green, and put Ringwald in his place.
  As Commissioner, Ringwald is a tough but fair chief cop. 
  He absolutely will not tolerate corruption, and earned 
  some enmity in the department during his ﬁrst few 
  months by ruthlessly pursuing a number of oﬃcers he 
  knew to be “on the take” until he got them convicted of 
  accepting bribes. However, unlike many commissioners, 
  results matter more to Ringwald than appearances or 
  “going by the book.” This attitude has made him more 
  tolerant of some vigilantes than is good for him politi-
  cally; some groups have accused him of being “soft on 
  people who take the law into their own hands.” However, 
  he has expressly instructed his people not to enter into 
  any sort of “arrangement” with any vigilantes. It’s one 
  thing to focus police eﬀorts on ﬁghting real criminals 
  instead of costumed adventurers; it’s another thing 
  entirely to rely on outsiders to do the jobs the cops 
  should do themselves.
  HCPD DISTRICTS
  District 
  Region
  Northwest (NW) 
  Irishtown, Guilford
  North Central (NC) 
  Central Worthington, Blackbridge
  Northeast (NE) 
  Eastwood, Highlands, east Worthington
  Riverside Northwest (RNW) 
  Little Italy, Ardmore, Mint Ridge, Moscow West
  Riverside North Central (RNC) Blackbridge, LeMastre Park
  Riverside Northeast (RNE) 
  Bankhurst, Gadsden, Bayside, Pierpoint
  Riverside Southwest (RSW) 
  Chinatown, Riverside Hills
  Riverside South Central (RSC) Crown Point, Ashwood, Riverside Hills
  Riverside Southeast (RSE) 
  North Elmview, northern Elmview, Red Hill
  Southwest (SW) 
  Freetown
  South Central (SC) 
  Forsyth, Lafayette
  Southeast (SE) 
  Elmview, Latin City
  COP GEAR
  A typical Hudson City 
  patrol cop is issued the 
  following standard gear 
  before he hits the streets:
  Uniform and hat
  Glock 21 .45 ACP hand-
  gun
  Two extra ammo clips
  Body armor (Level II 
  [DEF 7], Activation Roll 
  11-)
  1 set handcuﬀs
  Baton ﬂashlight
  Tonfa
  Pepper spray
  Many oﬃcers, par-
  ticularly detectives who 
  spend most of their time 
  on the street, carry one 
  or two extra guns (“hold-
  out pieces”). Patrol cops 
  often have shotguns, ﬁrst 
  aid kits, and other gear in 
  their cars.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  140 ■ The Long Arm Of The Law
  aﬀecting Hudson City. It works closely with many 
  federal organizations — the FBI, the Department of 
  Homeland Security, NEST, the INS, Customs, and 
  so forth — and often relies on them for informa-
  tion and assistance, since it’s woefully understaﬀed.
  CRIMINAL JUSTICE BUREAU
  The Criminal Justice Bureau should actually 
  be called the “Law Enforcement Liaison Bureau” or 
  something similar. Its primary responsibility is to 
  work with other state and federal law enforcement 
  agencies to mount collaborative investigations and 
  operations — a thankless task pretty much every 
  day of the week, given the territoriality and touchi-
  ness of most cops.
  CRIMINALISTICS BUREAU
  The Criminalistics Bureau provides scientiﬁc 
  investigative services. Its three main divisions are:  
  the Crime Scene Technician Division, which sends 
  trained oﬃcers to crime scenes to gather forensic 
  evidence; the HCPD Crime Laboratory, which ana-
  lyzes the evidence the CSTs gather, analyzes ﬁnger-
  prints, runs DNA tests, and so forth (see below); 
  and the Bomb Squad. Criminalistics also liaises 
  with the medical examiner (page 145) to obtain 
  autopsy results and work together to solve crimes.
  Deputy Commissioner Rita Clemente runs 
  the Criminalistics Bureau. A former Crime Lab 
  researcher and administrator, and later an assistant 
  medical examiner, she knows the ins and outs of how 
  Hudson City gathers and analyzes physical evidence 
  better than just about anyone 
  in the Department. Years of 
  looking at the most gruesome 
  crime scenes and bodies have 
  left her somber and humorless.
  DETECTIVE BUREAU
  According to the award-
  winning TV show HCPD 
  72, the life of a Hudson City 
  detective is one of drama, 
  adventure, tension, insight, the 
  occasional sexual interlude 
  with a grateful citizen, and 
  bringing hardened crimi-
  nals to justice by the end of 
  the day. Real life may not be 
  that glamorous, but there’s 
  no denying that many cops’ 
  main ambition is to get out 
  of Patrol and become detec-
  tives. Oﬃcers in the Detective 
  Bureau not only have high 
  rank (Detective One, Two, or 
  Three [all roughly equivalent 
  to Sergeant], Lieutenant, or 
  Captain), but better pay, more 
  prestige, more responsibility, 
  and more authority.
  Not all detectives in the 
  Department belong to the 
  Detective Bureau. Some other 
  bureaus, such as Organized 
  Crime and Internal Aﬀairs, 
  ﬁeld their own investigators.
  The bureau assigns most detectives to speciﬁc 
  precincts; they work in teams of two and wear 
  ordinary clothes. Other detectives are organized 
  into divisions based on speciﬁc function. These 
  specialized detectives usually operate within an 
  entire district, but sometimes they have jurisdiction 
  throughout Hudson City. Some of the divisions 
  include:
  Citywide Task Force
  The CTF is an “elite” squad of cops with city-
  wide jurisdiction — they can go anywhere (or be 
  called anywhere) at any time, and can follow the 
  threads of an investigation across the city without 
  having to check in with diﬀerent precinct captains. 
  Many of their investigations involve narcotics or 
  organized crime.
  Detectives regard appointment to the CTF as 
  a real “plum” not only because of the extra power 
  (including the right to carry concealed weapons) 
  but also because of the increase in pay and prestige. 
  However, there are more than a few rumors about 
  some of the Force’s unorthodox practices, including 
  everything from vigilante-style beatings of crimi-
  nals to taking bribes or conspiring with criminals.
  CTF detectives generally work in three- or four-
  man teams called squads and designated by alphabet 
  codewords — Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, 
  and so forth. Perhaps the most notorious of them 
  is Bravo Squad, led by Lt. Roger “Roj” Stokes. Stokes 
  and his men have a case clearance rate 30% higher 
  THE PERSONNEL 
  AND TRAINING 
  BUREAUS
  Among the many other 
  bureaus in the HCPD, 
  two of the most impor-
  tant to the average cop 
  are Personnel and Train-
  ing.
  The Personnel Bureau is 
  responsible for all admin-
  istrative matters relating 
  to the HCPD’s employ-
  ees:  paychecks and pay 
  schedules; vacation time; 
  and a thousand other 
  little things. Most cops get 
  to know their precinct’s 
  Personnel staﬀ pretty 
  darn well.
  The Training Bureau han-
  dles all matters relating to 
  the training and continu-
  ing education of Hudson 
  City cops. It maintains 
  the bureau’s Police Acad-
  emy to the north of the 
  city, where it teaches new 
  hirees all about how to be 
  a cop and oﬀers a series 
  of courses to help veteran 
  cops keep their edge on 
  the streets.
  
  141 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Four
  than most other squads, though rumors say they get 
  those results by cutting a few procedural corners and 
  ignoring the occasional constitutional right.
  Homicide
  Although not as prestigious or powerful as the 
  CTF, Homicide Division is considered a desirable 
  assignment because it puts detectives right in the 
  middle of exciting, high-stakes, high-proﬁle murder 
  cases. More than one Homicide cop has gone on to 
  greater things when he broke a big case and made 
  a name for himself in the papers. Some of the best-
  known Homicide detectives include:  D-3 Stewart 
  Long, an expert on serial killers and cult murders; 
  Lieutenant Theresa O’Sullivan, who heroically 
  rescued three elementary school students from 
  a deranged hostage-taker in April 1999; Lieuten-
  ants Blake and Christopher Squires, twin brothers 
  known for their reckless style of investigation; and 
  Sergeant Nick Konstantinides, who captured the 
  infamous murderer Vincent Scoria.
  Major Crimes
  Before Robbery-Homicide was spun oﬀ as 
  a separate division, the Major Crimes Division 
  (MCD) mostly handled such cases. Since then, 
  it’s redeﬁned itself to focus largely on crimes 
  committed by so-called “costumed” or “weird” 
  criminals, such as Card Shark, Diomedes, or the 
  Kyphotic Man. Regardless of the crime involved, 
  if that type of criminal’s committing it, the MCD 
  gets the call.
  Narcotics
  The drug trade is a major problem in Hudson 
  City, and the detectives of Narcotics Division are 
  on the front line ﬁghting it. They often work closely 
  with oﬃcers from the Organized Crime Bureau, 
  since so many major drug operations involve orga-
  nized crime to some degree.
  Because anti-drug operations often focus 
  on ethnic criminals, Narcotics Division contains 
  a higher than normal percentage of oﬃcers who 
  speak ﬂuent Spanish or Chinese. For example, Ray 
  Meléndez and his team in Latin City have had 
  such success there because most of them speak the 
  language, and Detective Harry Lo can gain access 
  to places in Chinatown that would never admit a 
  “round-eyes.”
  Robbery and Burglary
  Major property crimes, such as jewelry store 
  robberies or the depredations of car theft rings, fall 
  to the “R&B” division. As a general rule, R&B gets 
  the case if the take from the robbery is $30,000 or 
  more, or if there are unusual circumstances sur-
  rounding the crime. One type of case that they do 
  not investigate extensively is bank robbery, which is 
  the province of the FBI.
  Robbery-Homicide
  When a robbery goes bad and someone gets 
  killed, or a skilled robbery crew takes out the target 
  with lethal force, Robbery-Homicide investigates 
  the case. Like Homicide, it’s considered a plum 
  assignment because of the higher pay and higher-
  proﬁle cases.
  Vice
  The Vice Division covers the whole gamut of 
  human degeneracy, outside of drugs:  prostitution; 
  gambling; child pornography; sexual slavery. Many 
  of its detectives, particularly those involved in child 
  pornography and related investigations, are dedi-
  cated crusaders who go the extra mile to protect 
  the people of Hudson City. Others are burned out 
  by everything they’ve seen and heard during their 
  careers, and just coast along half-heartedly enforc-
  ing the laws as long as no one’s getting hurt.
  KURT DENNAHY
   8 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   15 PRE 
  12 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 19 STUN
  Abilities:  Combat Driv-
  ing 8-, Concealment 11-, 
  Criminology 13-, Foren-
  sic Medicine 8-, KS: 
  Criminal Law And Pro-
  cedure 11-, KS: The Law 
  Enforcement World 11-, 
  Paramedics 11-, Stealth 
  11-, Streetwise 12-, WF: 
  Small Arms, Tonfa, Con-
  tacts (6 points’ worth), 
  Fringe Beneﬁts:  Law 
  Enforcement Rank, 
  Local Police Powers, 
  Weapon Permit
  25+ Disadvantages:  Dis-
  tinctive Features (uni-
  form); Hunted (Watched 
  by HCPD); Social 
  Limitation:  Subject To 
  Orders
  Notes:  Kurt Dennahy is 
  one of the Criminalistics 
  Bureau’s many Crime 
  Scene Technicians 
  (CSTs). When a call 
  comes into his precinct 
  for someone to gather 
  physical evidence, he 
  hops into his CST vehi-
  cle (a sort of mini-van 
  with all sorts of equip-
  ment and containers in 
  the back for collecting 
  and storing evidence). 
  He frequently testiﬁes in 
  court, and knows the ins 
  and outs of the Hudson 
  City justice system 
  pretty well.
  SERGEANT FAITH PADRUSKI
   12  STR 
  14  DEX 
  14  CON 
  10  BODY
   13  INT 
  12  EGO 
  15  PRE 
  13  COM
   
  5  PD 
  4  ED 
  3  SPD 
  7  REC
   35  END 
  25  STUN
  Abilities:  +1 with Sight Group PER Rolls, Running +2”, 
  Martial Arts (Karate, Use Art with Tonfa, +2 DCs), 
  Bureaucratics 8-, Combat Driving 12-, Concealment 12-, 
  Criminology 13-, Deduction 12-, Forgery (Documents) 
  8-, Interrogation 12-, CK: Hudson City 11-, KS: The Law 
  Enforcement World 12-, KS: Hudson City Underworld 
  12-, Shadowing 11-, Stealth 13-, Streetwise 14-, WF: Small 
  Arms, +3 with Karate, +2 with Glock 21, Contacts (12 
  points’ worth on the streets), Fringe Beneﬁts: Local Police 
  Powers, Weapon Permit
  Disadvantages:  Hunted:  Doom Fever posse 8-; Psycho-
  logical Limitation:  Loyalty To CTF Comrades; Repu-
  tation:  renegade cop with a penchant for “curbstone 
  justice” 11- (among the CTF); Social Limitation:  Subject 
  To Orders
  Notes:  Sergeant Faith Padruski, a member of the CTF, 
  was the HCPD’s citywide female martial arts champion 
  of 1999. She does her job well — so well, in fact, that the 
  Doom Fever posse wants to kill her because she busted 
  one of its biggest cocaine rings a while back. However, 
  Sgt. Padruski isn’t all sweetness and light — she has a 
  reputation among the CTF as a “renegade” cop who likes 
  to dish out a little curbstone justice when she feels the 
  situation calls for it. After all, it saves the city a few bucks 
  and probably does more to teach the punk a lesson than 
  a joyride through the court system. Her partners don’t 
  really mind this attitude, but some corrupt CTF cops may 
  use it against her if they ever come into conﬂict.
  Sgt. Padruski is divorced; she raises her young daughter 
  with the help of her mother. Despite her good looks, 
  she has trouble attracting men because she’s a little too 
  aggressive and “masculine” for them.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  142 ■ The Long Arm Of The Law
  Deputy Commissioner Larry Graves
  Also known simply as Chief of Detectives, 
  Deputy Commissioner Larry Graves leads the 
  Detective Bureau. He spent nearly thirty years in 
  the trenches as a Narcotics, Vice, and Homicide 
  detective before the Commissioner tapped him 
  to ascend to the lofty rank of Deputy Commis-
  sioner. He’s been on the job nearly eight years now, 
  and some people whisper that he’s thinking about 
  retirement. An old-school cop, he’s mostly been 
  content to keep things on an even keel. He only ini-
  tiates “reform programs” or “internal investigations” 
  when he has no other choice.
  HOUSING BUREAU
  Housing Bureau cops provide police services 
  for the dozens of public housing projects and hun-
  dreds of thousands of project residents in Hudson 
  City. It’s a dangerous task that takes cops into some 
  of the worst, most crime-ridden neighborhoods 
  in the Pearl City — places where the only citizens 
  who support them are too scared of the gangs and 
  drug dealers to oﬀer so much as the slightest word 
  of encouragement or thanks. Housing cops usually 
  work in teams of two or four. They often engage in 
  foot patrols as part of the bureau’s “Community-
  Friendly Policing” project (which aims to acquaint 
  local civilians with their “neighborhood cop” so 
  they’ll be more inclined to help him).
  INTERNAL AFFAIRS BUREAU
  The cops all the other cops love to hate. “IA” 
  investigates departmental corruption and wrong-
  doing, holds oﬃcers accountable for the mistakes 
  (or perceived mistakes) they make, and otherwise 
  watches the watchmen. It also investigates any 
  incidents in which a policeman shoots 
  someone and either clears the incident 
  as a “justiﬁed shooting” or refers the 
  matter to the County Prosecutor’s oﬃce.
  ORGANIZED CRIME BUREAU
  Since Hudson City has a major 
  organized crime problem, the Depart-
  ment has a special bureau of oﬃcers 
  devoted to combating it. Experts on 
  the nature of organized crime, the local 
  members of various “families” and car-
  tels, and organized crime methodology, 
  they investigate organized crime activi-
  ties using every legal method at their 
  disposal. In addition to wiretapping 
  and bugging, they often use under-
  cover agents to try to get inside and 
  bring a whole group down at once. The 
  OCB often works jointly with the local 
  FBI oﬃce’s Organized Crime Section.
  PATROL BUREAU
  The largest bureau in the Depart-
  ment, the Patrol Bureau includes nearly 
  all of the cops who hit the streets every 
  day to keep the peace and preserve 
  public safety. Most of its divisions are 
  geographical ones that match the pre-
  cincts (though some large precincts 
  have multiple Patrol divisions), but it also has a few 
  special ones, such as the Park Police (page 67).
  Thomas “Boston Tommie” Black commands the 
  Patrol Bureau. His accent tells you that he was born 
  and raised in Massachusetts, but he’s been a Hudson 
  City cop for over three decades, and the Pearl City 
  is deﬁnitely his true hometown. Extremely popular 
  with his men, he’s been known to go to extraordinary 
  lengths to help them, up to and including shouting 
  matches with the Commissioner to get the funding 
  or other resources he wants.
  PUBLIC INFORMATION AND COMMUNITY 
  AFFAIRS BUREAU
  It’s important that the people of Hudson City 
  know how good a job their cops are doing, and that 
  they can get information about the HCPD when 
  they need it. That’s the job of Public Information 
  and Community Aﬀairs, which also runs many 
  other public relations programs (such as sending 
  cops to schools to talk to students).
   SPECIAL OPERATIONS BUREAU
  The Special Operations Bureau handles all 
  sorts of non-standard assignments calling for 
  special training or resources. It most prominently 
  includes SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), the 
  HCPD’s heavy-weapons “commando” team for ter-
  rorist and hostage situations. Team members are all 
  highly-trained combatants, ready to lay down their 
  lives for the people of Hudson City... though they 
  prefer to make the other guy lay down his before he 
  hurts anyone.
  Other SOB divisions include Hostage Negotia-
  tion, Aviation, and Canine.
  
  143 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Four
   SUPPORT BUREAU
  “Support Bureau” is another way of saying 
  “clerical support section.” It includes all the police 
  record clerks, property and evidence clerks, ﬂeet 
  and weapon maintenance technicians, and other 
  cop jobs that can’t be entrusted to civilians but 
  which don’t involve patrolling the streets or directly 
  solving crimes. It’s not the most glamorous of 
  bureaus by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s 
  arguably the linchpin that holds the whole Depart-
  ment together:  without information and equip-
  ment, the cops would be crippled.
  TRANSPORTATION BUREAU
  What the Housing Bureau is to public hous-
  ing projects, the Transportation Bureau is to public 
  transit. Transportation cops ride the railways and 
  subways to keep on the lookout for fare jumpers, 
  muggers, and other troublemakers. Most people 
  call them “transit cops.”
  TASK FORCES
  The HCPD periodically creates a “task force” 
  of oﬃcers from various bureaus to tackle special 
  problems. Examples include the Youth Crime Task 
  Force (which focuses on certain street gangs), the 
  Vigilantism Task Force (which pursues vigilantes 
  deemed a danger to society, such as Renegade or 
  the Harbinger of Justice), and the Aberdeen Anti-
  Robbery Task Force (which tries to curtail crime at 
  Aberdeen International’s facilities). Some of these 
  task forces are short-term groups that disband after 
  completing a speciﬁc task; others are nigh-perma-
  nent groups that eﬀectively become highly special-
  ized mini-bureaus.
  NOTABLE LOCATIONS
  “Whaddaya got for me today, Roj?”
  “Oh, you’re not gonna believe this — 20 kilos of 
  coke and two machine guns.”
  “Holy *%&!! Where’d you ﬁnd that stuﬀ?
  “I ain’t even sure I believe it myself, but here’s 
  what happened. We were workin’ with some 
  Vice guys trying to ﬁnd some kidnapped kids 
  they thought might be used for child porn or 
  some other sick *%&!. I get this tip from one 
  of my CIs that he’s seen some guys in — where 
  else — North Elmview with a couple of kids he 
  knows ain’t theirs. So we head over there and 
  kick in the front door. These scumbags run like 
  rabbits. Faith’s chasing one of ’em and steps on 
  the wrong ﬂoorboard in the hallway. The board 
  breaks, her leg goes through and hits a kilo of 
  coke. They had it all stashed there in a hidey-
  hole, gonna move it soon to some gang in Free-
  town, they said.”
  “*%&!, man, you get all the lucky breaks. Time 
  for another medal, huh?”
  “Hope so. Ain’t had my picture in the paper in 
  a while.”
  “How’s Faith — she hurt herself?”
  “Twisted her ankle. Gary took her over to Katz 
  Memorial to get it taped up.”
  — conversation at the Evidence  
  Depository intake window
  When you’re a Hudson City cop, you end up 
  spending a lot of time in certain places.
  POLICE HEADQUARTERS
  Hudson City Police Headquarters is a ten-
  story building (plus a basement and three subbase-
  ments) on the north side of Courthouse Plaza. It 
  includes the Commissioner’s oﬃce, other admin-
  istrative oﬃces, a press room, and various other 
  facilities. The “basement” level is mostly a parking 
  deck but also includes some storage areas, a shoot-
  ing range, and a gym.
  Evidence Depository And Armory
  The second subbasement ﬂoor of Police 
  Headquarters contains the HCPD’s Evidence 
  Depository, where the Department carefully takes 
  in, catalogs, and stores evidence pending trial — 
  everything from dozens of kilos of drugs, to pow-
  LIEUTENANT  
  FRANK GUERRINI
   12 STR 
  15 DEX 
  14 CON 
  12 BODY 
   14 INT 
  11 EGO 
  18 PRE 
  10 COM
   
  5 PD 
  4 ED 
  3 SPD 
  6 REC 
   30 END 
  25 STUN
  Abilities:  +1 with Colt M1911A, +3 versus Range Modi-
  ﬁer with Riﬂes, Running +1”, Leaping +1”, Swimming +1”, 
  Martial Arts (Commando Training, +2 DCs), Climbing 
  12-, Interrogation 13-, CK: Hudson City 12-, KS: The 
  Law Enforcement World 12-, KS: The Military/Merce-
  nary/Terrorist World 12-, Languages: Italian, Vietnam-
  ese (basic conversation, English is native), Mechanics 
  12-, Security Systems 8-, Shadowing 12-, Stealth 13-, 
  Streetwise 13-, Survival (Temperate/Subtropical, Tropi-
  cal) 12-, Tactics 12-, Tracking 12-, TF: Small Motorized 
  Boats, Two-Wheeled Motorized Ground Vehicles, Basic 
  and Advanced Parachuting, WF: Small Arms, Knives, 
  Grenade Launchers, Heavy Machine Guns, Shoulder-
  Launched Missiles, Fringe Beneﬁts: Law Enforcement 
  Rank, Local Police Powers, Concealed Weapon Permit
  50+ Disadvantages:  Distinctive Features (uniform); 
  Hunted (Watched by HCPD); Hunted (Watched by the 
  media); Reputation (uses excessive force) 11-, Social 
  Limitation:  Subject To Orders
  Notes:  Lieutenant Frank Guerrini commands the HCPD 
  SWAT team. A tough, no-nonsense cop straight out of 
  central casting, he speaks in blunt, clipped phrases that 
  do little to endear him to those who value tact and diplo-
  macy but which earn him a lot of respect and loyalty 
  from his men. A former Marine sniper who served in 
  Vietnam with distinction, he tends to favor a fast-paced, 
  hard-hitting approach to resolving the situations he’s 
  called in to deal with — his most frequent recommenda-
  tion in most SWAT cases is to shoot the perpetrators. 
  This use-of-force “policy” has gotten him in trouble many 
  times and leads both the brass and the media to keep a 
  close eye on him.
  OFFICER 
  TODD FRENCH
   10 STR 
  11 DEX
   12 CON 10 BODY
   13 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  10 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  5 REC
   24 END 21 STUN
  Abilities:  +1 PER with 
  Sight Group, Combat 
  Driving 8-, Criminology 
  12-, Forensic Medicine 
  8-, AK: Hudson City 
  Waters 11-, CK: Hudson 
  City 11-, KS: Criminal 
  Law And Procedure 11-, 
  KS: The Law Enforce-
  ment World 11-, PS: 
  Police Oﬃcer 11-, PS: 
  Underwater Criminal 
  Investigations Proce-
  dures 11-, Streetwise 
  11-, TF: SCUBA, WF: 
  Small Arms, Contacts 
  (4 points’ worth on the 
  streets), Fringe Beneﬁts:  
  Local Police Powers, 
  Law Enforcement Rank, 
  Weapon Permit
  Disadvantages:  Distinc-
  tive Features:  Uniform 
  and/or Badge; Hunted 
  (Watched by HCPD); 
  Social Limitation:  Sub-
  ject To Orders
  Notes:  When a crime or 
  disaster scene involves 
  the river, the ocean, 
  or one of the ponds 
  in LeMastre Park, the 
  HCPD often has to 
  call in its Underwater 
  Criminal Investiga-
  tion (UCI) team to 
  gather evidence, collect 
  bodies, and so forth. 
  Todd French is one of 
  the oﬃcers assigned 
  to UCI. A ﬁve-year vet 
  who’s spent uncounted 
  thousands of hours in 
  the water performing 
  some messy tasks, he 
  likes to think he’s seen it 
  all... but somehow every 
  month brings new and 
  disgusting surprises.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  144 ■ The Long Arm Of The Law
  erful weapons, to scraps of cloth from a homicide 
  scene. Oﬃcers carry small items down to the 
  Depository; things too large to get down the 
  stairs easily can be brought in by special subway 
  car on the line that runs underneath Courthouse 
  Plaza and carted in via a special corridor. Much 
  of what’s held in the Depository (under very tight 
  security) is extremely valuable on the street; from 
  time to time allegations arise of cops stealing 
  stored objects and selling them (or disposing of 
  them to protect an accused criminal).
  Immediately below the Depository, on the 
  third and lowest subbasement ﬂoor, is the HCPD’s 
  Armory. This is where it stores weapons and 
  ammunition, tests new weapons, and so forth. 
  Again, security is extremely tight.
  THE HCPD ACADEMY
  The HCPD’s Police Academy is in the suburb 
  of Arlington. New recruits spend months there 
  learning the basics of their job — advanced driv-
  ing skills, conﬂict resolution and basic negotiation, 
  ﬁrearms, unarmed combat, and more. But gradua-
  tion isn’t the end of their relationship to the Acad-
  emy. Even experienced oﬃcers periodically return 
  there for additional training, re-training, police 
  skills competitions, and more. The “headmaster” of 
  the school, Walter Russo, holds the rank of Com-
  mander even though he’s not really in the main 
  chain of command.
  THE HCPD CRIME LABORATORY
  The ﬁrst subbasement ﬂoor of Police HQ con-
  tains the Crime Laboratory and the oﬃces of the 
  Medical Examiner (see below). The Crime Labora-
  tory is one of the most sophisticated such facilities 
  in the state (+2 to Criminology rolls involving the 
  examination of physical evidence), but it’s not big 
  enough to handle all the work the HCPD needs 
  done. Some is jobbed out to other labs around the 
  state, or to the even more advanced FBI labs in 
  Washington, D.C.
  Doctor Samantha Ferrell-Taft, a highly 
  respected criminalistics expert who’s published 
  three books and countless journal articles in her 
  ﬁeld, heads the Crime Laboratory. Her staﬀ thinks 
  she must be some sort of robot; she’s almost always 
  the ﬁrst person to arrive in the morning, and often 
  the last one to leave at night. 
  JULIANO’S
  There are several “cop bars” around the city 
  — places where police oﬃcers gather to drink to 
  the good times and commiserate over the loss of 
  fallen comrades. But if you asked most cops to 
  name the cop bar in Hudson City, they’d answer 
  “Juliano’s” without even having to think about it.
  Located at the intersection of Kemp Avenue and 
  Oxnard Street in Bayside, Juliano’s was founded back 
  in the 1950s by Tony Juliano, a cop who had to retire 
  due to injury. Most of his kids became cops, but one 
  of them preferred to run the bar. He’s still running it 
  today, and one of his sons will take over after him.
  POLICE  
  CORRUPTION
  Like any major city, 
  Hudson City has its share 
  of police corruption 
  — actually, more than 
  its share, truth be told. 
  Compared to past times, 
  the modern HCPD is 
  much “cleaner,” but there 
  are still more than a few 
  oﬃcers who take bribes 
  from criminals to look 
  the other way or to go 
  after their rivals. In many 
  areas this bribery takes 
  the form of a “pad,” where 
  the money is collected 
  monthly and split among 
  all the oﬃcers in a squad 
  or precinct proportion-
  ately to rank (i.e., a P1 
  patrol oﬃcer gets one 
  share, a P2 two shares, 
  and so forth). Of course, 
  this requires the coopera-
  tion of the entire precinct 
  (or at least a substantial 
  part of it).
  A more common form 
  of corruption occurs 
  when a suspect bribes 
  the small group of oﬃ-
  cers who are about to 
  arrest him to let him go. 
  Some oﬃcers actively 
  solicit such bribes 
  (“shakedowns”). Narcot-
  ics cops are especially 
  susceptible to this form 
  of bribe because of the 
  enormous amounts of 
  cash involved in the 
  drug trade (“Look, that 
  suitcase over there is 
  full’a cash. Lemme go 
  and you c’n keep it”). 
  Cops in Chinatown and 
  Little Italy are also likely 
  to receive more bribe 
  oﬀers than normal.
  Federal law enforcement 
  is subject to corrupt-
  ing inﬂuences just like 
  the HCPD — FBI and 
  DEA agents can easily 
  take money to look the 
  other way (or protect a 
  particular gang), pass 
  classiﬁed informa-
  tion to enemy agents, 
  or steal evidence. The 
  1998 Venturini case, in 
  which an FBI agent was 
  found to have essen-
  Continued on next page
  
  145 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Four
  The customers at Juliano’s are almost all cops 
  (or people who like to hang around with cops). 
  Police oﬃcers come from around the city just to 
  have a beer there, and Department legend has it 
  that a rookie’s not really a cop until he’s bought a 
  round at Juliano’s. Having all those cops around 
  makes it the safest bar in the city. The only time 
  anyone ever made trouble there was back in 1997, 
  when some out of town schmuck who didn’t know 
  any better tried to rob the place. He had so many 
  guns pulled on him that he fainted dead away.
  STARS OF THE FORCE
  The HCPD contains literally tens of thousands 
  of brave men and women who put their lives on the 
  line every day to help keep Hudson City as safe as 
  possible. But even among their number, a few cops 
  stand out for their valor, self-sacriﬁce, or exploits.
  Lt. William “Wild Bill” Daniels:  A detective in Rob-
  bery-Homicide, “Wild Bill” Daniels has a well-
  deserved reputation for doing whatever it takes to 
  catch his man. Captains and commanders dread 
  to hear the words “Lt. Daniels is in pursuit” come 
  over the radio, because they know that’s going to 
  mean wrecked cars, pedestrians jumping wildly 
  oﬀ of sidewalks to avoid speeding automobiles, 
  smashed-up scenery, and lawsuits by the dozen. But 
  they also know that if Daniels is chasing someone, 
  that person’s as good as caught... which is the only 
  reason he hasn’t been given the boot already.
  D-3 Andrew Lau:  The HCPD doesn’t have many 
  oﬃcers who can speak Chinese and know enough 
  about Asian culture to make much headway stop-
  ping crime in Chinatown. Andy Lau is one of the 
  exceptions. Born in China but raised in Hudson 
  City’s Chinatown from age six, he speaks Manda-
  rin, Cantonese, and Vietnamese, and his partners 
  in Narcotics swear that half the people in China-
  town either know him, are related to him, or owe 
  him favors. Over the past ﬁve years, he’s almost 
  singlehandedly made it possible for the County 
  Prosecutor to charge and convict several Chinese 
  gangsters. Lau now carries a heavy price on his 
  head from the tongs, who want more than any-
  thing to get rid of him.
  D-2 Joe Nardini:  Almost no one outside of the 
  HCPD’s heard of Joe Nardini — but within the 
  department he’s treated with the same regard 
  physicists reserve for Einstein, Fermi, and Hawk-
  ing. A brilliant undercover investigator, he’s helped 
  to bring down numerous Maﬁa and Russian Maﬁa 
  crews. The FBI’s tried to hire him away from the 
  Organized Crime Bureau many times, but he likes 
  it just ﬁne in his hometown.
  Lt. Julia Sandoval:  A 2002 recipient of the “Pearls 
  of Great Price” award for her work with various 
  battered women’s shelters and children’s charities, 
  Lt. Sandoval spends her days (and more than a few 
  of her nights) investigating murders as a detective 
  in the Homicide Division. Her capture of the Tally-
  man in early 2004 made national headlines.
  OTHER LOCAL LAW 
  ENFORCEMENT
  The ﬁght to prevent crime and preserve public 
  safety is a diﬃcult one. Fortunately, the HCPD has 
  allies it can call on.
  THE HUDSON CITY MEDICAL EXAMINER
  The Medical Examiner’s office is responsible 
  for performing autopsies on all bodies involved 
  in mysterious, unexpected, or sudden deaths — 
  murders, automobile wrecks, and the like. From 
  its operating rooms, morgue, and laboratories on 
  the first subbasement floor of Police Headquar-
  ters, it can perform all sorts of tests to determine 
  the time of death, cause of death, and other rel-
  evant information.
  The ME’s oﬃce has a simple structure for max-
  imum ﬂexibility (and thus, its administrators feel, 
  eﬃciency). The Chief Medical Examiner (CME), 
  Dr. Gunther Buncombe, is in charge overall. He 
  works closely with both the County Prosecutor’s 
  oﬃce and the HCPD, but answers to no one except 
  the mayor to preserve his oﬃce’s impartiality. 
  Working beneath him is a corps of Assistant Medi-
  cal Examiners (AMEs), medical technicians, and 
  clerical personnel — death is sometimes a messy 
  (and paperwork-intensive) aﬀair.
  tially gone into business 
  with one of his Maﬁa 
  “informants,” is a perfect 
  example of how far a 
  fed can fall. But corrup-
  tion tends to be less of a 
  problem in federal law 
  enforcement, for several 
  reasons. First, many fed-
  eral agents did not grow 
  up in Hudson City, and 
  as newcomers are less 
  likely to have “friends” 
  on the “other side of 
  the law.” Second, federal 
  agencies can transfer 
  agents to other oﬃces to 
  discourage or prevent 
  corruption.
  Continued from last page
  RESPONSE TIMES
  All the cops in the world don’t do any good if they can’t get to a crime in progress in 
  time to stop it. The average HCPD response time to calls for police help varies from 
  district to district and ranges from very good to abysmal. The following table lists the 
  average response time to the highest-priority calls by neighborhood (see the HCPD 
  Districts table for the full names of the districts).
  Neighborhood 
  District 
  Average Response Time
  Ardmore 
  RNW 
  5 minutes, 20 seconds
  Bankhurst 
  RNE 
  4 minutes, 40 seconds
  Bayside 
  RNE 
  7 minutes, 43 seconds
  Blackbridge 
  RNC, NC 
  5 minutes, 51 seconds
  Chinatown 
  RSW 
  6 minutes, 44 seconds
  Crown Point 
  RSC 
  7 minutes, 31 seconds
  Eastwood 
  NE 
  7 minutes, 35 seconds
  Elmview 
  RSE, SE 
  6 minutes, 42 seconds
  Forsyth 
  SC 
  7 minutes, 53 seconds
  Freetown 
  SW 
  9 minutes, 37 seconds
  Gadsden 
  RNE 
  6 minutes, 3 seconds
  Guilford 
  NW 
  5 minutes, 24 seconds
  Highlands 
  NE 
  3 minutes, 30 seconds
  Irishtown 
  NW 
  3 minutes, 14 seconds
  Lafayette 
  SC 
  9 minutes, 32 seconds
  Latin City 
  SE 
  7 minutes, 11 seconds
  Little Italy 
  RNW 
  5 minutes, 39 seconds
  Mint Ridge 
  RNW 
  5 minutes, 20 seconds
  Moscow West 
  RNW 
  6 minutes, 24 seconds
  North Elmview 
  RSE 
  8 minutes, 32 seconds
  Pierpoint 
  RNE 
  6 minutes, 36 seconds
  Red Hill 
  RSE 
  7 minutes, 8 seconds
  Riverside Hills 
  RSC, RSW 
  7 minutes, 5 seconds
  Worthington 
  NC, NE 
  6 minutes, 18 seconds 
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  146 ■ The Long Arm Of The Law
   THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION BUREAU
  Headquartered in Trenton, the New Jersey 
  State Police are responsible for various criminal 
  matters through their Criminal Investigation 
  Bureau. The CIB maintains an oﬃce in Police 
  Headquarters in Hudson City. Whenever the 
  HCPD feels it needs some extra investigative 
  resources, or a criminal ﬂees beyond its jurisdic-
  tion, it contacts the CIB for help.
  INSPECTORS
  Various departments and branches of the 
  Hudson City government have groups of inspec-
  tors attached to them. For example, the Health 
  and Human Services Division conducts health 
  inspections of restaurants and similar facilities. 
  These inspectors aren’t police oﬃcers, but they are 
  empowered to make note of and issue citations 
  for violations of the relevant regulations. As such 
  they have a limited police-like authority, and many 
  people think of them as being a type of cop.
   BATTERED  
  WOMEN’S SHELTERS
  Domestic violence is as big a problem in Hudson City 
  as it is throughout the country. To help women escape 
  abusive relationships, various private charitable orga-
  nizations maintain battered women’s shelters. Most 
  of these shelters are more or less ordinary houses and 
  apartment buildings converted to this special use.
  When a woman contacts the shelter to request assis-
  tance, the shelter’s staﬀ arranges to pick her up at her 
  home or at a neutral location. If an encounter with 
  the alleged abuser could occur, the shelter workers 
  obtain a police escort. When the shelter workers pick 
  the woman up, they take her to a hospital if she needs 
  immediate medical attention. Otherwise they drive 
  around at random for a long time to throw oﬀ any 
  pursuit and make it diﬃcult (at best) for the woman 
  to know where she is. (Otherwise, the possibility exists 
  that she will “change her mind” and tell her abuser 
  where the shelter is, thus destroying its eﬀectiveness.) 
  In extreme cases they may blindfold her for a short 
  period. When the shelter workers feel everything is safe, 
  they take the woman to the shelter.
  Domestic abuse victims remain at the shelter as long as 
  they need to, provided the shelter has the resources to 
  support them and the shelter workers genuinely feel a 
  victim is trying to improve herself and her life. Eventu-
  ally, when the victim is ready, the shelter assists her 
  with establishing a new home (often in another city, or 
  a diﬀerent part of Hudson City than where she used to 
  live) and sends her on her way.
  
  147 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Four
  “You gettin’ all this, Harv?”
  “Yeah, yeah, I’m gettin’ it, the pickup’s ﬁne. The 
  bugs are working ﬁne. Gimme one’a those sand-
  wiches.”
  “What’s he sayin’ now?”
  “They’re talkin’ about Perotti... some hotel ser-
  vices kickback scheme... they’re not happy with 
  how it’s going. He’s yelling now....”
  “Holy *%&! — what was that?!!??”
  “I don’t... I think he shot him!”
  “Jesus Christ, are you sure?”
  “Pretty sure...”
  “!$&*! So much for waiting for him to lead us 
  to bigger ﬁsh. Blue Team, shots have been ﬁred. 
  The mission is a go. Repeat, go, go, go!”
  — another day in the trenches for the FBI
  The United States government also has a 
  strong law enforcement presence in Hudson City. 
  All major enforcement branches of the Depart-
  ments of Justice and the Treasury have large oﬃces 
  in the city, located in the Federal Building right 
  next to the federal courthouse on Courthouse 
  Plaza. The Federal Building, a large ﬁfteen-story 
  structure, also includes the oﬃces of many other 
  federal agencies (such as the Equal Employment 
  Opportunity Commission, the Internal Revenue 
  Service, and the Social Security Oﬃce).
  The FBI
  By far the largest federal law enforcement 
  agency in Hudson City is the FBI, which has several 
  hundred agents stationed in the area. Its Organized 
  Crime Section stays particularly busy, and often 
  works cases jointly with the Organized Crime 
  Bureau of the HCPD. Other branches of the FBI 
  handle bank robbery cases, perform background 
  checks on prospective federal employees, conduct 
  counterterrorism operations, and assist the HCPD 
  with investigations of violent serial criminals.
  The head of the Hudson City FBI oﬃce is 
  Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Cameron Cozort. A 
  ﬁfteen-year veteran of the Bureau, she brought her-
  self to the Director’s attention with an unblemished 
  record of solid investigation work, professional raids 
  and captures, and convictions obtained as the result 
  of her eﬀorts. An eﬃcient, by-the-book administrator, 
  she expects her underlings to run the oﬃce and their 
  investigations like clockwork, and often gets upset 
  over relatively minor blunders or missed opportuni-
  ties (not to mention major ones). In a crisis she issues 
  rapid-ﬁre orders in a clipped voice, seemingly unper-
  turbed by the pressure. She’s particularly sensitive to 
  implications that she got her job just because she’s a 
  woman, or can’t do her job as well as a man; she once 
  decked an HCPD detective who made some snide 
  remarks about “that FBI broad’s” abilities.
  The DEA
  The Drug Enforcement Administration also has 
  a lot of agents in its Hudson City oﬃce. Many of them 
  are trained undercover agents who try to inﬁltrate 
  drug rings and make “controlled purchases” of illegal 
  drugs, thus giving them the means to build a solid 
  case against an entire drug conspiracy. They usually 
  go after large drug-dealing operations because federal 
  law only punishes drug distribution or possession 
  with intent to distribute, not simple possession.
  The local DEA oﬃce has a special squad of about 
  half a dozen Asian agents who work speciﬁcally in 
  Chinatown trying to stop the tongs’ heroin trade. The 
  brass occasionally “loans out” these agents, sometimes 
  nicknamed “the Gang of Four” even though there are 
  more than four of them, to the FBI or HCPD if they 
  need help making a case in the Asian underworld.
  Special Agent Walter Kowalski runs the Hudson 
  City DEA operations. He’s only been in charge for a 
  couple of years, and he’s already regretting his deci-
  sion to take a desk job. He’d rather be back out in the 
  ﬁeld, making cases and chasing down perps, and he 
  takes any opportunity that comes along to get directly 
  involved in an investigation. But he’s not as young 
  and spry as he once was....
  The BATF
  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms 
  has a smaller presence in Hudson City than the FBI 
  or DEA, but it’s still a large ﬁeld oﬃce compared 
  to others around the country. Most BATF special 
  agents spend their time investigating illegal arms 
  dealers or alleged liquor law violations, or trying to 
  stop gangs that smuggle cigarettes up from North 
  Carolina and sell them on the black market.
  In the summer of 2004, the local BATF oﬃce 
  was rocked by the death of two of its special agents, 
  who were gunned down by members of the Overlords 
  street gang whom they were trying to arrest for arms 
  dealing. With assistance from the FBI, the BATF has 
  begun an intensive crackdown on the Overlords that 
  may signiﬁcantly upset the balance of power in Free-
  town and knock Buckshot’s plans into a cocked hat 
  (see page 173).
  FEDERAL LAW 
  ENFORCEMENT
  SPECIAL AGENT 
  DALE MURDOCK
   10 STR 
  12 DEX
   11 CON 10 BODY
   13 INT 
  10 EGO
   15 PRE 
  10 COM
   4 PD 
  4 ED
   3 SPD 
  4 REC
   22 END 25 STUN
  Abilities:  +1 PER with 
  all Sense Groups, Bug-
  ging 8-, Criminology 
  12-, Deduction 12-, 
  Forensic Medicine 8-, 
  Interrogation 12-, KS: 
  Federal Criminal Law 
  And Procedure 11-, KS: 
  The Law Enforcement 
  World 11-, KS: Orga-
  nized Crime 11-, PS: FBI 
  Agent 11-, Shadowing 
  12-, Stealth 11-, Street-
  wise 12-, WF: Small 
  Arms, 8 points’ worth of 
  Contacts on the Hudson 
  City streets, Fringe Ben-
  eﬁts:  Federal/National 
  Police Powers, Law 
  Enforcement Rank, 
  Weapon Permit
  Disadvantages:  Distinc-
  tive Features:  Uniform 
  and/or Badge; Hunted 
  (Watched by the FBI); 
  Social Limitation:  Sub-
  ject To Orders
  Notes:  Dale Murdock is 
  just one of hundreds of 
  FBI agents assigned to 
  Hudson City on a more 
  or less permanent basis. 
  He’s had several Bureau 
  assignments over the 
  years, and has learned a 
  lot from each of them. 
  Currently he’s tasked to 
  the Organized Crime 
  section. He spends his 
  days conducting surveil-
  lance on, and putting 
  together cases against, 
  Maﬁa and Organizatsiya 
  ﬁgures in the Pearl City. 
  Sometimes it’s a boring 
  job, and sometimes dan-
  gerous, but he genuinely 
  enjoys the chance to 
  make society a better 
  place.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  148 ■ The Long Arm Of The Law
  C
  atching criminals isn’t all there is to the 
  justice system. After the HCPD or FBI nabs 
  someone, he’s entitled to his day in court... 
  and to a nice, cozy cell if convicted.
  THE COURT SYSTEM
  “All right, counsel, let’s hear your argument.”
  “It’s fruit of the poisoned tree, your Honor. The 
  search of my client’s apartment was invalid, 
  therefore the guns, drugs, and other items the 
  police seized are inadmissible in court. Without 
  them, the state has no basis on which to charge 
  Mr. Ramirez.”
  “Why was the search invalid?”
  “The search warrant, your Honor. It’s in error.”
  “How so?”
  “My client’s address is 124 Pender Street. The 
  warrant names 412 Pender Street as the loca-
  tion to be searched. It’s invalid, your Honor.”
  “Ms. Shippman?”
  “Your Honor, this is another one of Mr. Lei-
  bowitz’s “creative” arguments. We all know that 
  good faith errors aren’t grounds for invalidat-
  ing a warrant. This was just a typographical 
  error. There isn’t even any such address as 412 
  Pender.”
  “Your Honor, the state has to be held account-
  able! The power to search and to arrest is an 
  awesome one that has to be exercised with the 
  most scrupulous attention to detail. The war-
  rant has to properly specify the location to be 
  searched, as Ms. Shippman is well aware, and 
  this one doesn’t. It’s open and shut.”
  “Sorry, Mr. Leibowitz, but I have to agree with 
  the assistant CP. This looks like nothing more 
  than a typo to me, and that’s not suﬃcient 
  grounds to invalidate. Your client’s trial will go 
  forward as scheduled.”
  — a pretrial motion in the  
  case of Alphonso Ramirez
  Like law enforcement, the criminal court 
  system is divided into two parts:  the state courts 
  and the federal courts.
  State Courts
  The New Jersey state court system has four 
  main levels. At the lowest level are the municipal 
  courts, which are local courts of limited jurisdic-
  tion. They handle traﬃc cases, various ordinance 
  and penalty enforcement actions, some minor 
  quasi-criminal oﬀenses (such as disorderly con-
  duct), and the like.
  The next level is the trial courts, which handle 
  most criminal, civil, and family law trials. The trial 
  courts have several divisions dedicated to speciﬁc 
  types of cases, such as Family Division and the 
  General Equity Division. When a cop, or a player 
  character, has to go to court to testify, he’ll be in a 
  trial courtroom.
  If someone’s not satisﬁed with the outcome 
  of his case and believes prejudicial legal error 
  occurred, he can appeal to the next level up:  the 
  Appellate Division of the courts. Appellate Division 
  chambers (courtrooms) are located in several cities 
  throughout the state, including Hudson City. At this 
  level, three-judge panels hear legal arguments about 
  the outcome of trial court cases; they don’t recon-
  sider the evidence, take testimony from witnesses, 
  or anything like that. A party who loses at this level 
  can appeal to the highest court in the state:  the 
  New Jersey Supreme Court, which sits in Trenton. 
  The Court’s justices hear only a few hundred cases 
  each year, most of them of major importance.
  THE STATE COURTS IN HUDSON CITY
  Courthouse Square, at 1000 Centre Street, con-
  tains the city’s courts (as well as HCPD headquar-
  ters and the Federal Building). The largest structure 
  on Courthouse Square is the ﬁfteen-story State 
  Courts Building, which houses the local machinery 
  of Justice. Flanking the majestic steps leading up to 
  the ﬁrst ﬂoor are two magniﬁcent statues of Blind 
  Justice by famed Italian sculptor J. Piero Grinyi.
  Hudson City has the largest, most convoluted, 
  and by some accounts most corrupt municipal 
  court system in the state. Every day hundreds of 
  citizens clutching traﬃc tickets, penalty citations, or 
  other legal documents trudge through municipal 
  courtroom doors and sit (im)patiently until their 
  case is called. Smartly-dressed lawyers zip in and 
  out, taking advantage of their knowledge of the 
  system and friendships with the courtroom work-
  ers to bypass the long lines and seemingly intermi-
  nable delays.
  The ﬂoors above the municipal courts contain 
  trial courts, where trials and motion hearings take 
  place almost every day. These ﬂoors also include 
  jury waiting rooms where people report for jury 
  COURTS AND 
  CORRECTIONS
  DETECTIVE 
  BILL ATWATER
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 10 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   10 PRE 
  10 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 20 STUN
  Abilities:  +1 PER with 
  Sight Group, Combat 
  Driving 8-, Computer 
  Programming 12-, Con-
  cealment 11-, Criminol-
  ogy 11-, Electronics 8-, 
  CK: Hudson City 11-, 
  KS: Criminal Law And 
  Procedure 11-, KS: The 
  Law Enforcement World 
  11-, PS: Police Oﬃcer 
  11-, Security Systems 
  11-, Streetwise 11-, WF: 
  Small Arms, Contacts 
  (10 points’ worth, in 
  the online community), 
  Fringe Beneﬁts:  Local 
  Police Powers, Law 
  Enforcement Rank, 
  Weapon Permit
  Disadvantages:  Hunted 
  (Watched by HCPD); 
  Social Limitation:  Sub-
  ject To Orders
  Notes:  Bill Atwater is a 
  detective in the HCPD’s 
  small Computer Crimes 
  bureau. He spends his 
  days trolling online for 
  child abusers, child por-
  nographers, hackers, and 
  other people who use 
  computers to commit 
  crimes. He’s grown 
  to hate these sorts of 
  people with a passion, 
  and goes after them with 
  tenacity and a ﬁerce 
  glee. Other detectives 
  sometimes call him in 
  when they need to hack 
  through computer secu-
  rity to get at the ﬁles in a 
  suspect’s computer.
  
  149 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Four
  duty, and holding rooms where prisoners brought 
  in from Longview or other facilities for their hear-
  ings are kept shackled until their cases are called.
  One ﬂoor above the trial courts are the Appel-
  late Division courtrooms for Hudson City. Com-
  pared to the courts below, where all sorts of people 
  mix and mingle and the halls bear the smell of 
  decades of human sweat, anxiety, and anticipation, 
  the Appellate Division ﬂoor are quiet — an oasis of 
  calm where only lawyers and other professionals 
  walk the corridors. The courtrooms themselves are 
  much nicer, even luxurious by some standards.
  The remaining ﬂoors of the building contain 
  oﬃces — of judges, of the Prosecutor and his staﬀ, 
  the Public Defender and his staﬀ, and numerous 
  other courthouse employees. You’ll also ﬁnd court-
  house facilities in the two subbasements, which 
  include the Clerk of Court’s oﬃce, the Register of 
  Deeds, records storage, and the like.
  THE COUNTY PROSECUTOR
  In New Jersey counties, including Stewart 
  County (i.e., Hudson City), in criminal cases an 
  oﬃcial called the County Prosecutor represents the 
  people. (In many other jurisdictions, the title “Dis-
  trict Attorney” is used.) In other words, the County 
  Prosecutor tries cases against accused criminals. 
  A group of Assistant Prosecutors and other sup-
  port staﬀ help the County Prosecutor get his job 
  done. The County Prosecutor is appointed by the 
  governor and is responsible to the state’s Attorney 
  General; the Assistant Prosecutors are hired by the 
  County Prosecutor.
  The Stewart County Prosecutory, Alvin Kim-
  brell, is a hard-nosed, opinionated man who’s held 
  his job for nearly twenty years. He knows exactly 
  how he wants things done, and he expects his staﬀ 
  — which includes slightly over 500 Assistant Pros-
  ecutors — to process the 130,000 cases they handle 
  annually with eﬃciency and a proper appreciation 
  for the nature of their job. As he’s fond of saying, 
  “Remember, people, when we screw up, Justice loses.”
  Most observers believe Kimbrell and his staﬀ 
  do a good job at their appointed duties, though as 
  with any prosecutor’s oﬃce occasional charges of 
  malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance some-
  times arise. The worst of these occurred in 1995, 
  when a story in the Mirror revealed that Assistant 
  Prosecutor Allison Gish had taken bribes from sev-
  eral major organized crime ﬁgures to recommend 
  favorable pleas or bungle the cases against them.
  Divisions
  The Stewart County District Attorney’s oﬃce 
  is organized into many diﬀerent divisions, each 
  responsible for a particular function or type of case. 
  Some of the major divisions include:
  Appeals:  The Appeals Division handles any appel-
  late work involving the oﬃce in either state or 
  federal court. Most of the attorneys working in 
  Appeals are highly experienced, long-time employ-
  ees of the County Prosecutor’s oﬃce who have 
  decided, for whatever reason, to get out of regular 
  trial work and into the more cerebral world of 
  appellate argument.
  Crime-Speciﬁc:  The Stewart County Prosecutor 
  maintains several divisions devoted to speciﬁc 
  types of crime:  Crimes Against Children; Domestic 
  Violence; Gangs Crime; Narcotics; and so on. The 
  attorneys assigned to these divisions are experts at 
  a speciﬁc area of criminal law and how to try cases 
  relating to it.
  Investigation:  Attorneys in the Investigation Division 
  work with law enforcement oﬃcers, forensic accoun-
  tants, analysts, and other experts to help build the best 
  possible cases against major criminals and criminal 
  conspiracies. Their targets are usually organized crime 
  groups, white collar criminal conspiracies, oﬃcial 
  corruption, and like matters that require delicate han-
  dling. They advise and work with the team assigned to 
  a particular case to ensure that the investigation pro-
  ceeds in the way most likely to result in a conviction 
  of a guilty felon.
  Major Crimes:  The most experienced trial attor-
  neys in the oﬃce work in the Major Crimes Divi-
  sion, which handles cases so large, complex, or 
  (in)famous that they require special attention, a 
  clever mind, and a steady hand. Major Crimes 
  attorneys typically work in teams of two or more, 
  depending on the nature of the case. For example, 
  the 1998 trial of infamous serial killer Vincent 
  Scoria was tried by the team of Corrin Lowell and 
  Allen Hubbard, two of the stars of the MCD.
  Trial:  The largest division of the Stewart County 
  Prosecutor’s office is just called “Trial” — mean-
  ing lawyers who try cases that don’t fall within 
  another division’s purview, or who otherwise 
  appear in court.
   Trial Zones
  To foster good relations between speciﬁc 
  police precincts and speciﬁc Assistant Prosecutors, 
  the Stewart County Prosecutor has established a 
  “trial zones” program. Basically this means that 
  most attorneys are assigned to speciﬁc geographic 
  areas (as deﬁned by HCPD precincts). This allows 
  them to become familiar with the area, develop 
  strong working relationships with the cops in that 
  area, and tailor their prosecution eﬀorts to best 
  serve that community.
  THE PUBLIC DEFENDER
  All persons accused of a crime are entitled 
  to eﬀective assistance of counsel to defend them-
  selves... but not everyone can aﬀord an attorney. 
  To help people too poor to hire their own counsel, 
  the State of New Jersey maintains the Oﬃce of the 
  Public Defender (OPD). The New Jersey Public 
  Defender is appointed for a ﬁve-year term by the 
  governor, and oversees a staﬀ of attorneys who 
  try cases throughout the state (these include the 
  Deputy Public Defenders who run the various 
  regional oﬃces of the OPD). The OPD’s staﬀ also 
  includes investigators, appellate attorneys, and sup-
  port personnel, but has only about half as many 
  lawyers as the number of prosecutors in the state.
  Hudson City falls within the Stewart County 
  Regional Oﬃce of the OPD. Deputy Public 
  Defender Willem Bryce heads a corps of roughly 
  NATHAN JACOBSON
   8 STR 
  8 DEX
   9 CON 
  9 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  4 REC
   18 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  11-, Deduction 11-, KS: 
  Civil Law And Proce-
  dure 11-, KS: The Court-
  house World 11-, KS: 
  Criminal Law And Pro-
  cedure 11-, KS: Family 
  Law 11-, KS: The Law 
  Enforcement World 8-, 
  Streetwise 8-, Contacts 
  (30 points’ worth in the 
  Hudson City judicial 
  system and bureau-
  cracy), Fringe Beneﬁt:  
  License To Practice Law
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  Nathan Jacobson 
  isn’t exactly the best 
  lawyer in Hudson City 
  — at most he could be 
  described as average. 
  What gets him by is his 
  extensive knowledge of 
  the city court system. 
  He’s been practicing for 
  nearly twenty years now, 
  and he’s spent most of 
  his days (and not a few 
  nights) trolling around 
  the courthouse, work-
  ing angles on cases for 
  clients who’ve already 
  hired him and trying 
  to pick up a few more 
  clients from the hordes 
  of the desperate that 
  haunt the halls before 
  their cases are called. He 
  knows just about every-
  one there is to know in 
  the court system, and 
  between his experience 
  and his contacts, he can 
  often get things done 
  that other attorneys 
  couldn’t.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  150 ■ The Long Arm Of The Law
  250 public defenders who represent indigent cli-
  ents throughout the state courts in Stewart County 
  (nearby counties, such as Corinth and Prince Wil-
  liam, belong to other regional oﬃces). Bryce went 
  to law school in the early 1970s after spending most 
  of the late Sixties as a Vietnam War protester, and 
  went to work for various public defenders’ oﬃces 
  as soon as he graduated. After a brief stint teaching 
  law school in the early Nineties, he returned to the 
  public sector, and took his present job in 1997. A 
  passionate and tenacious defender of the rights of 
  the accused and downtrodden, he’s been mentioned 
  as a possible Democratic mayoral or gubernatorial 
  candidate on several occasions.
  HUDSON CITY JUDGES
  Dozens of state court judges have their cham-
  bers in Hudson City (and the state can bring in 
  more from other counties to handle periods of 
  heavy caseload if necessary). Some of the most 
  notable or colorful include:
  Judge Celeste Austin (Trial Court, Family Division):  
  Judge Austin was once a state legislator, and in that 
  role was responsible for several laws that strength-
  ened and expanded the role of the Family Division 
  of the trial courts. After she tired of state politics, 
  she ran for and won a judgeship in Stewart County. 
  She’s well-known for the severe sentences she hands 
  down to men convicted of domestic abuse and 
  parents found to have neglected or abused their 
  children. In fact, her sentences are sometimes so 
  severe that defense attorneys have questioned her 
  objectivity and tried (sometimes successfully) to 
  have her removed from such cases.
  Judge Randolph Halsey (Municipal Court):  Judge 
  Halsey’s been on the Municipal Court bench so 
  long that most courthouse employees claim they 
  can’t remember when he ﬁrst donned the black 
  robes. A workaholic, he’s usually in the oﬃce no 
  later than 6:00 AM, works until around 6:00 PM, 
  and in the process hears more cases than any other 
  municipal court judge.
  Judge Sterling Keller (Trial Court):  Judge Keller 
  is known as one of the most liberal local judges; 
  defense attorneys do a little jig when his name gets 
  drawn for their cases. He’s harsh on cops and prose-
  cutors, loathes vigilantes (whom he considers “con-
  spirators” with the HCPD despite the Department’s 
  constant disavowal of them), and tends to hand 
  down light sentences.
  Judge Rennie Purcell (Trial Court):  Judge Purcell 
  is the oldest and most experienced judge in the 
  Hudson City courthouse. Although he hears fewer 
  cases these days than the other judges do, he more 
  than makes up for it with the advice and assistance 
  he provides to other judges. His knowledge of the 
  Hudson City legal community and the Hudson City 
  underworld are both legendary.
  Judge Paul Trevor (Trial Court):  Judge Trevor has a 
  reputation as a brilliant legal scholar and a ﬁrm but 
  fair jurist. With the help of his secretary, Eve, he has 
  also become known as one of the most prepared 
  and well-read judges on the court. He is talented 
  enough that he should probably be a judge on the 
  Appellate Court or Supreme Court, but political 
  enemies have kept him away from them.
  Federal Courts
  In the federal district court system, Hudson 
  City falls within the Southern District of New 
  Jersey — in fact, all the courtrooms for the South-
  ern District are in the eight-story Federal Courts 
  Building on Courthouse Square. Twelve District 
  Court judges have chambers there:  Chief Judge 
  Allen Bates; Judges Conrad D’Angelis, Margaret 
  Gold, Garrett Andretti, Albert Knox, Melinda 
  Foster, John Burbage, Calvin Blalock, and Edward 
  Pepper; and Senior (semi-retired) Judges Roberta 
  Dawes, Lyle Warriner, and Harlan Younce. There 
  are also four Magistrate Judges, who handle civil 
  motions and other “minor” matters to assist District 
  Judges:  Bruce Gathers, Lloyd Stern, Andrea Zodie, 
  and George Fletcher.
  New Jersey is part of the Third Circuit. 
  Appeals from the Southern District of New Jersey 
  courts are heard in the appeals courtrooms in the 
  Federal Courts Building in Hudson City. Six appel-
  late judges hear appeals in panels of three.
  THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
  The United States Attorney for the Southern 
  District of New Jersey serves the same role as the 
  county prosecutor in state court:  he represents 
  the state (in this case, the federal government) and 
  attempts to get accused criminals convicted and 
  punished. Much of the federal criminal caseload 
  involves major drug or organized crime cases, but 
  the US Attorney also handles bank robbery cases, 
  mail and wire fraud cases, and violations of other 
  federal laws.
  As of 2004, Adrian Mazurek serves as USA 
  for the Southern District. During her twelve-year 
  career as an Assistant USA, she compiled a record 
  of wins that no one else in the oﬃce could match. 
  Upon the untimely death of her predecessor in 
  2002, President George W. Bush appointed her to 
  her current post. She’s been particularly aggressive 
  in pushing cases against organized crime, and has 
  developed a good working relationship with SAC 
  Cameron Cozort of the FBI.
  THE FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER
  The Southern District of New Jersey also has 
  a federal public defender’s oﬃce, based in Hudson 
  City. Richard Waggoner oversees a staﬀ of several 
  dozen attorneys who work to protect the rights 
  of indigent federal defendants (well over half of 
  whom are black gang members from Freetown 
  accused of major drug crimes).
  JUDICIAL  
  CORRUPTION
  Hudson City is no 
  stranger to judicial 
  corruption. Among the 
  dozens of state judges 
  working in the city, sev-
  eral are rumored to be 
  “for sale” or otherwise 
  willing to compromise 
  their position. A few of 
  these judges supposedly 
  work hand-in-hand 
  with certain corrupt 
  cops in the interest of 
  mutual proﬁt.
  Far fewer rumors 
  of corruption swirl 
  around the federal 
  judges of Hudson City. 
  Periodically whispered 
  stories about some 
  judge taking mas-
  sive amounts of drug 
  money to dispose of 
  a case make their way 
  around the underworld, 
  but no local federal 
  judge has been seri-
  ously investigated for 
  corruption, much less 
  been indicted, for over 
  a decade.
  
  151 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Four
  CORRECTIONS
  I got to where I could tolerate the rapes. The ﬁrst 
  couple of times, right after I got in, I tried to 
  ﬁght back. But what good’s that gonna do me? 
  I’m just an accountant. Some of these steroid 
  queens could snap me in half if they wanted to 
  — and that’s what they did. All I got for my trou-
  bles was a broken arm and a couple of broken 
  ribs. And it wasn’t as if being in the inﬁrmary 
  stopped them — some of those guys worked as 
  attendants. My being laid up just meant a softer 
  bed where they could pound my ass when none 
  of the docs were around.
  If you can’t protect yourself in prison, you have to 
  ﬁnd someone who can... and pay for it. No way 
  I could hook up with the Brotherhood, not with 
  a last name like Goldman, and I ﬁgured being 
  one guy’s bitch was better than being the whole 
  prison’s. So I cut a deal with the biggest bull fag in 
  the place — Jeﬀerson. I still dread lights-out, but 
  not as much as I did before. Prison’s all about get-
  ting by, and that’s what I’m doing:  getting by.
  — from the memoirs-in-progress of Aaron 
  Goldman, former mob accountant
  Like the judicial system, the penal system in 
  Hudson City is split between the state and fed-
  eral systems.
  State Corrections
  Besides the Longview Correctional Center 
  (page 192), there are four primary jails or prisons 
  in or around Hudson City (as well as many other 
  minor facilities). The total inmate population of the 
  facilities in or near Hudson City (excluding Stew-
  artsburg Penitentiary) is approximately 25,000.
  JUVENILE OFFENDERS CORRECTIONAL 
  HALL (JOC)
  Usually known simply as Juvenile Hall or “the 
  Joke” (from its initials), Juvenile Oﬀenders Correc-
  tional is a facility for the incarceration of oﬀenders 
  under 18 who are not tried as adults. Most juveniles 
  sentenced to the JOC serve less than a year there, 
  and by law a juvenile cannot be conﬁned here 
  past his eighteenth birthday — in other words, no 
  matter what he did, the day he turns 18 the state 
  must release him. This is why particularly vicious 
  juvenile criminals are tried as adults and, if con-
  victed, sentenced to an adult prison.
  The JOC occupies a large building at the north-
  east corner of 7th Avenue and N. Jeﬀerson Street. It 
  has suﬃcient cells and dormitories to hold as many 
  as three thousand detainees, though at several times 
  during the past decade it’s experienced signiﬁcant 
  overcrowding. The warden, Elliott Rosenzweig, leads 
  a staﬀ of dozens of jailers, guards, nurses, and clerical 
  support personnel who attempt to keep order in the 
  face of thousands of adolescents for whom the con-
  cepts of “morality,”  “responsibility,” and “respect for 
  authority” are as alien as the planet Saturn.
  OLDEMYER PRISON
  This state prison, located several miles from 
  Hudson City in Franklin County, houses minimum 
  and medium custody prisoners. It can hold 2,250 
  prisoners. Warden Marshall Bannock runs the facility.
  STEWARTSBURG PENITENTIARY
  Located a few miles north and east of the town 
  of Stewartsburg, “the Stew” is the maximum-cus-
  tody prison nearest Hudson City. Most of the city’s 
  worst criminals spend time as part of its inmate 
  population of approximately three thousand at 
  some point during their careers.
  Stewartsburg Penitentiary consists of one 
  main six-story building in a rough H shape, its four 
  wings designated A through D. The administrative 
  oﬃces, including those of Warden David Grace and 
  his main staﬀ, and other major facilities are located 
  in the central area, while various outlying buildings 
  contain the motor pool, storage areas, and so forth. 
  Enormous walls with numerous guard towers, as 
  well as many other intense security measures, keep 
  the inmates from escaping. There hasn’t been a suc-
  cessful jailbreak from the Stew since 1989.
  TODDBERRY ASYLUM
  Named after a famous nineteenth century psy-
  chiatrist, Toddberry Asylum (or, more correctly, the 
  Toddberry Hospital for the Criminally Insane) is a 
  facility where the state incarcerates criminals with 
  severe psychological problems that render them a 
  signiﬁcant danger to themselves or to others. The 
  inmates include numerous sex oﬀenders, felons expe-
  riencing various psychoses, and the like; over 75% of 
  them were charged with murder, rape, or other vio-
  lent oﬀenses before being found unﬁt to stand trial.
  Some of the most infamous inmates kept in 
  Toddberry under the supervision of Warden Dr. 
  Adam Sarkesian and his staﬀ include:  arsonist 
  Frank Cornell; Jackson DeVere, the lawyer turned 
  serial killer who nearly won his own acquittal 
  at trial; Raymond “Eyekiller” Dunnagan, who 
  assaulted people and drained the ﬂuid from their 
  eyes with a syringe; Vincent Scoria, the serial killer 
  who killed nearly two dozen Hudsonite women 
  (mostly prostitutes) from 1992 to 1996; and the 
  cannibalistic Hale twins, Karen and Jerry.
  Toddberry Asylum occupies a large, well-
  guarded estate several miles west of Hudson City 
  on the outskirts of the suburb of Rockwell. It was 
  once the mansion of a wealthy physician, who left it 
  to the city for use in the care of the mentally ill.
  Federal Corrections
  There’s only one federal prison near Hudson 
  City:  the Federal Correctional Institution at Farm-
  ingdale, about forty miles south of the city. It’s a 
  maximum-security facility housing dangerous, hard-
  ened criminals from around the country. The federal 
  Department of Corrections transfers inmates fre-
  quently, so someone sent to Farmingdale might only 
  spend a few weeks or months there before being sent 
  to FCI: Milan, Michigan, FCI: Atlanta, or any one of 
  many other federal prisons throughout the country.
  OTHER JAILS
  Longview Correctional 
  takes care of most of the 
  city’s jail needs... most, 
  but not all. Even a facil-
  ity as large as Longview 
  can’t hold the city’s 
  entire short-term crimi-
  nal population. The city 
  maintains several other 
  small jail facilities. Many 
  are attached to speciﬁc 
  police precincts, and 
  mainly serve those 
  precincts (and the sur-
  rounding areas), but 
  two are independent 
  facilities:  Elmview Cor-
  rectional Center on 
  Booth Boulevard, which 
  has space for roughly 
  750 detainees; and the 
  Charlesburg Correc-
  tional Center, a 500-bed 
  facility in the shadow of 
  S. Truman Boulevard in 
  southwest Freetown.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  152 ■ The Long Arm Of The Law
  “What a mess. I didn’t think there were this 
  many stuﬀed animals in the world.”
  “Were there a lot of kids here or something?”
  Hartsell ﬂipped through the pages of the pre-
  liminary report. “No, no kids — they only found 
  one body, of a middle-aged woman. Must’ve 
  had a stuﬀed animal collection or something.”
  “Jesus. Looks like they make really good 
  tinder.”
  Hartsell knelt down, sniﬀed carefully. “They 
  sure do, when they’re soaked in that much gaso-
  line. Can’t you smell it?”
  Fredricks took a deep breath. “Yeah. He must’ve 
  used a lot of it, to leave a smell this strong after 
  a ﬁre that intense.”
  “OK, so who do we know that would start a ﬁre 
  this way?”
  “A dozen guys, at least, though I think most of 
  ’em are locked up right now. But I don’t think 
  this was a pro job. A pro could’ve gotten it done 
  more easily and eﬃciently.”
  “Unless someone’s trying to send some sort of 
  message....”
  — conversation between Deputy Fire Mar-
  shalls Frank Hartsell and Craig Fredricks
  From the days of the earliest cities, one threat 
  has caused more anxiety than any other:  ﬁre. 
  To protect the citizens of Hudson City from this 
  danger, the city established the Hudson City Fire 
  Department (HCFD) over a century ago. Prior to 
  that time, ﬁres were fought mainly by neighbor-
  hood “ﬁre companies” which were often little more 
  than social clubs, or which competed with each 
  other by sabotaging equipment and doing other 
  things that just made the overall job of ﬁghting ﬁres 
  more diﬃcult. These conditions contributed, in 
  part, to the burning of the city in 1895, prompting 
  a call for reform that eventually led to the creation 
  of the HCFD.
  Structure And Organization
  The HCFD has a ﬁve-tier structure. Com-
  manding the Department is the Fire Commissioner, 
  who’s appointed to his position by the Mayor. Since 
  Mayor Umstead was elected, Robert “Bert” McGee 
  has served as his Fire Commissioner. A friendly, 
  telegenic man who’s popular with the people in the 
  Department (in part because he was once a rank-
  and-ﬁle ﬁreman himself), McGee could easily hold 
  onto his job even after Umstead eventually leaves 
  oﬃce. During his tenure he’s fought for (and won) 
  increased funding not only for actual ﬁreﬁghting 
  equipment and personnel, but for ﬁre prevention 
  and education programs. The HCFD’s well-known 
  cartoon mascot, Dalmatian Dan, was his creation.
  Below the Commissioner are numerous Deputy 
  Commissioners, each responsible for a speciﬁc 
  branch of the Department (such as Public Rela-
  tions, Administration, Legal Aﬀairs, Technology, and 
  Budget). The two most important Deputy Commis-
  sioner-level oﬃcials have special titles:  the Fire Mar-
  shal (see below) and the Chief of Department. “The 
  Chief,” as he’s known, commands the Fire Operations 
  Division that’s responsible for actually ﬁghting ﬁres 
  and performing similar tasks (such as the Emer-
  gency Medical Technicians [EMTs]).
  The HCFD divides Hudson City into twelve 
  ﬁre districts, identiﬁed by letter (A-L), each under 
  the authority of a District Commander who answers 
  directly to the Chief of Department. District com-
  manders work closely with the captains in their dis-
  tricts. A captain commands one of Hudson City’s 
  dozens of ﬁre stations, each with its complement 
  of personnel ranked Lieutenant, Sergeant, or Fire-
  ﬁghter. To become a ﬁreﬁghter, an applicant must 
  have EMT or Paramedic training (or equivalent) 
  and pass rigorous physical and written tests.
  The HCFD has a total of approximately 18,000 
  employees:  11,000 ﬁreﬁghters and 7,000 civilian 
  support personnel.
  THE HUDSON 
  CITY FIRE
  DEPARTMENT
  JOE STOKOWSKI
   13 STR 
  12 DEX
   15 CON 12 BODY
   13 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  10 COM
   4 PD 
  5 ED
   3 SPD 
  6 REC
   30 END 27 STUN
  Abilities:  Climbing 8-, 
  Combat Driving 8-, CK: 
  Hudson City 11-, KS: 
  Fires 12-, KS: Magic 
  Tricks 11-, KS: Pro 
  Sports 11-, PS: Barbecu-
  ing 11-, PS: Fireﬁghter 
  13-, PS: Stage Magician 
  8-, Sleight Of Hand 11-, 
  TF: Fire Trucks, WF: 
  Handguns, Fringe Ben-
  eﬁt:  Membership (Fire-
  ﬁghter in HCFD)
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Subject To 
  Orders
  Notes:  Joe Stokowski is 
  one of the thousands of 
  ﬁreﬁghters who work 
  hard and risk their 
  lives every day to keep 
  Hudson City safe from 
  ﬁre and other disasters. 
  He’s on the usual two 
  days on, one day oﬀ 
  schedule that HCFD 
  ﬁreﬁghters have; he has 
  a studio apartment in 
  Blackbridge for his days 
  oﬀ. In his spare time he 
  sometimes makes a few 
  extra bucks as a magi-
  cian at kids’ birthday 
  parties, though as often 
  as not the kid is one of 
  his countless little cous-
  ins such-and-such times 
  removed and he does it 
  for the price of a piece 
  of birthday cake. Most 
  women consider him 
  handsome; he’s been an 
  “item” in several char-
  ity bachelor auctions 
  around the city.
  
  153 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Four
  THE FIRE MARSHAL
  The Fire Marshal and his oﬃce investigate ﬁres 
  to determine their causes. Usually the source of a ﬁre 
  isn’t particularly mysterious, but in some cases it’s 
  important to establish the exact cause for insurance 
  purposes and determine whether arson was involved.. 
  The Fire Marshal and his Deputy Fire Marshals are 
  sworn law enforcement oﬃcers who carry badges and 
  guns and can make arrests. Hudson City has approxi-
  mately 100 Deputy Fire Marshals; they work in teams 
  of two; as a unit they investigate around three to four 
  thousand “suspicious” ﬁres a year.
  As of late 2004, Lawrence “Larry” Petrocelli 
  serves as the Hudson City Fire Marshal. A large, 
  broad-shouldered man with extensive burn scars 
  on his partially-crippled left arm (caused by a 
  collapsing roof that caught him when he was a 
  ﬁreﬁghter), he comes across as gruﬀ and brusque 
  at ﬁrst, but warms to friendliness with people who 
  earn his trust and respect. He seems to have a spe-
  cial hatred for arsonists, as if by setting ﬁres they 
  were attacking him personally.
  Fire Statistics
  In a typical year, the HCFD responds to over 
  45,000 ﬁres (structural and non-structural), over 
  300,000 non-ﬁre events (medical emergencies, utili-
  ties emergencies, and the like), and nearly 40,000 
  false alarms. Of the ﬁres it responds to, it classiﬁes 
  over 3,000 of them as “serious” (meaning they are 
  “all hands” ﬁres, with a minimum of four fully-
  engaged ﬁre units, or the even worse 2-, 3-, 4-, or 
  5- or more alarm ﬁres). The department’s average 
  response time to any of these incidents, city-wide, is 
  approximately ﬁve minutes.
  GREAT FIRES IN  
  HUDSON CITY HISTORY
  Since the 1895 ﬁre, Hudson City has been victimized by 
  numerous major ﬁres, though none anywhere near as 
  deadly and devastating as that one. Some of the more 
  recent ones include:
  September 17, 1975:  A ﬁre broke out in a warehouse in 
  Bayside and eventually spread to several nearby ware-
  houses. Unbeknownst to the HCFD, hazardous materi-
  als were illegally stored in one of the burning buildings. 
  The ﬁre and toxic materials caused an explosion that 
  killed three ﬁreﬁghters.
  March 29, 1983:  An arsonist set a building in Elmview 
  on ﬁre as part of what was later determined to be an 
  insurance scam. One adult and two children died of 
  smoke inhalation, and the building was so badly dam-
  aged it had to be demolished.
  June 21, 1996:  The Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Free-
  town (page 52) burned down, killing two persons. 
  The Fire Marshal’s tentative conclusion was that faulty 
  wiring caused the ﬁre, but some Freetowners remain 
  convinced it was arson.
  August 6, 1997:  While patrons danced the night away, 
  the psychotic arsonist Firebug locked the doors of the 
  Black Jade dance club in Riverside Hills, then triggered 
  ﬁrebombs he’d previously planted. Nearly 100 people 
  died from ﬁre, smoke inhalation, or being trampled 
  before the HCFD rescued the remaining clubgoers.
  December 16, 2002:  A badly-maintained Christmas 
  tree in a Guilford apartment caught ﬁre, eventually set-
  ting the whole building aﬂame. Sparks spread to several 
  nearby buildings, igniting them as well. No lives were 
  lost, but tens millions of dollars of damage were done. 
  The city considered an ordinance banning live Christ-
  mas trees in residences, but backed down in the face of 
  massive public opposition.
  FRANK HARTSELL
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 10 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  10 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   3 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 20 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucrat-
  ics 8-, Conversation 
  11-, Criminalistics 13-, 
  Forensic Medicine 8-, 
  KS: Known Hudson City 
  Arsonists 11-, KS: The 
  Law Enforcement World 
  11-, SS: Arson/Explosion 
  Investigation 14-, Street-
  wise 11-, WF: Small 
  Arms, Fringe Beneﬁt:  
  Law Enforcement Rank, 
  Weapon Permit
  Disadvantages:  Distinc-
  tive Features:  Badge; 
  Social Limitation:  Sub-
  ject To Orders
  Notes:  Frank Hartsell 
  is one of Hudson City’s 
  deputy ﬁre marshals. 
  Together with his part-
  ner Craig Fredricks, he 
  investigates dozens of 
  ﬁres every year, sifting 
  through ash and rubble 
  to try to determine the 
  cause of a particular 
  blaze. He aﬀects a sort of 
  air of detached objectiv-
  ity, even cynicism, but 
  he actually cares deeply 
  about people and feels a 
  cold fury at the destruc-
  tion and death that 
  arsonists cause.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  154 ■ The Long Arm Of The Law
  T
  he cops and the feds aren’t the only ones 
  ﬁghting crime in Hudson City. The crime 
  problem is so severe that a few private citi-
  zens have chosen to take the law into their 
  own hands and combat the underworld as vigi-
  lantes. Hudson City’s tradition of masked crime-
  ﬁghters dates back to the Raven in the 1920s, but 
  it’s never been as prominent as in the past twenty 
  years or so.
  Whatever their private feelings on the sub-
  ject might be, Mayor Umstead, Police Commis-
  sioner Ringwald, and all other major city oﬃcials 
  publicly condemn vigilantes and vigilantism and 
  insist that private citizens leave enforcing the law 
  to the police. Police oﬃcers who observe vigilan-
  tes in action must attempt to apprehend them, 
  and detectives often investigate matters pertain-
  ing to vigilantes. However, not all HCPD oﬃcers 
  are quite as diligent in their pursuit of vigilantes 
  as they might be. If cops understand anything, it’s 
  just how widespread and dangerous crime is in 
  Hudson City:  they’re ﬁghting a losing battle, and 
  they know it. If someone wants to help them — 
  particularly with the costumed or “weird” crimi-
  nals who’ve cropped up in recent years — some 
  cops don’t object all that much.
  As of late 2004, the major crimeﬁghters active 
  in Hudson City include:
  DARKANGEL
  The only woman among the ranks of the 
  prominent vigilantes, DarkAngel is also the only 
  one to achieve any level of popular acceptance or 
  support. Unlike her “colleagues,” DarkAngel doesn’t 
  routinely use deadly force. While some of her 
  weapons — such as her sword-shaped throwing 
  blades — are unquestionably dangerous, she uses 
  them to wound rather than to kill. When she’s done 
  at the scene of a crime, the cops don’t ﬁnd corpses, 
  they ﬁnd a bunch of unconscious crooks tied up 
  with her trademark golden-hued rope.
  DarkAngel is most active on the Northside, par-
  ticularly in Blackbridge and LeMastre Park, and to a 
  lesser extent in Bankhurst, Highlands, Worthington, 
  and Guilford. But she’s struck at crimelords and con-
  spiracies all over the city, making herself many ene-
  mies in the underworld... and more than a few silent 
  admirers on the force. (See the Dark Champions:  The 
  Animated Series sourcebook for more information 
  about DarkAngel.)
  DarkAngel is known to have (reluctantly) 
  worked with Renegade on a few occasions, and to 
  have teamed up with LIBRA once or twice since 
  that group’s debut, but otherwise seems to keep 
  to herself.
  THE HARBINGER OF JUSTICE
  The modern era of vigilantism in Hudson 
  City began with the March, 1986 appearance of the 
  Harbinger of Justice, by far the deadliest and most 
  tenacious crimeﬁghter in the city’s history. During 
  a nearly twenty-year career, he’s killed, by most esti-
  mates, somewhere between three and ﬁve thousand 
  persons — exact numbers aren’t available, since 
  there’s no uniform forensic evidence, he doesn’t 
  necessarily claim credit for every kill, the fact that 
  “copycats” may commit crimes like his, and many 
  similar factors. Most of his victims had extensive 
  records (often for violent crimes), but approxi-
  mately ﬁfteen percent of them are not known to 
  have been involved in any criminal activity. This 
  chronicle of slaughter has earned the Harbinger the 
  dubious distinction of being the currently-active 
  vigilante on whom the Vigilantism Task Force 
  (page 143) focuses the majority of its eﬀorts.
  Even other vigilantes don’t particularly like 
  the Harbinger; he’s inﬂexible, judgmental, and 
  condescending. But he seems to know more about 
  the Hudson City underworld than anyone else, so 
  sometimes he’s the only person another vigilante 
  can turn to for help... assuming you can ﬁnd him.
  VIGILANTES
  HCVIGILANTE.NET
  Vigilantes have their fans just like anyone else who 
  gets enough media coverage. In Hudson City, one of 
  the major outlets for the fascination with crimeﬁght-
  ers (costumed or otherwise) is HCVigilante.Net, a 
  website maintained by a twentysomething computer 
  programmer and self-described “crime buﬀ” Kevin 
  Ramini. HCVigilante.Net has FAQs and information 
  ﬁles about known vigilantes (including “Kill Coun-
  ters” showing conﬁrmed or suspected victim numbers 
  for individual vigilantes), an essay on the history of 
  vigilantism in Hudson City, links to related sites, and 
  an extensive “news” section where it tracks vigilante 
  activity (real or supposed) in the city. More than one 
  reporter has relied on HCVigilante.Net for informa-
  tion relating to a story; the site has a well-deserved 
  reputation for thoroughness, accuracy, and indicating 
  when information is based on supposition.
  The most active part of HCVigilante.Net is its mes-
  sage boards, where vigilante fans from Hudson City 
  and around the world debate the merits of vigilantism 
  and the activities of speciﬁc vigilantes. Fair warning to 
  newcomers:  the conversations often turn vitriolic.
  PATRICIA 
  LLEWELLYN
   8 STR 
  10 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   9 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  10 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 16 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  11-, Conversation 11-, 
  High Society 8-, CK: 
  Hudson City 11-, KS: 
  Hudson City Vigilantes 
  14-, PS: Photography 
  8-, PS: Reporter 11-, 
  PS: Writer 11-, Stealth 
  11-, Streetwise 8-, WF: 
  Handguns
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  A former 
  reporter for the Star-
  Gazette, Patricia 
  Llewellyn left journal-
  ism in 2000 to launch 
  a career as a true crime 
  writer. Her ﬁrst book, 
  Masks Of Justice:  The 
  Vigilantes Of Hudson 
  City, debuted in 2003 
  and quickly became a 
  bestseller not only in 
  the city, but nationwide. 
  Since then she’s been 
  in high demand as a 
  speaker. She’s said to 
  be working on another 
  book, one focusing on 
  the vigilante DarkAngel 
  and her chief nemeses. 
  She owns an extensive 
  collection of vigilante 
  paraphernalia, including 
  a shell casing from one 
  of the late Captain X’s 
  assault riﬂes, one of the 
  Harbinger’s blue moon 
  “calling cards,” and a 
  piece of cloth torn from 
  the Headless Hangman’s 
  cloak.
  
  155 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Four
  THE HEADLESS  
  HANGMAN
  With his tattered, 
  hooded black cloak, 
  razor-sharp sickle, and 
  rope-and-noose, the 
  Headless Hangman 
  presents a terrifying 
  picture to underworld 
  denizens and innocent 
  citizens alike. A ruth-
  less foe of the Maﬁa 
  in particular, he seems 
  willing to endanger 
  ordinary people in his 
  quest to see Justice 
  served. For example, in 
  2002 he crashed a car, 
  killing three Maﬁosi 
  but also killing two 
  bystanders and injur-
  ing four more. Both 
  the police and the mob 
  would happily see 
  him behind bars... or 
  dead. He’s clashed with 
  several vigilantes who 
  tried to bring him in, 
  but escaped from all of 
  these encounters; he’s 
  thought to be respon-
  sible for ending the 
  short-lived career of 
  the costumed crime-
  ﬁghter Prodigal, who 
  vanished in 2000.
  LIBRA
  The most recent 
  vigilante to hit the 
  streets of the Pearl 
  City is actually a team 
  of vigilantes that 
  calls itself LIBRA. 
  The authorities are 
  unaware of the exact 
  size of this private 
  army, though they 
  have identified at 
  least six separate indi-
  viduals, and possibly 
  as many as ten, asso-
  ciated with the group. 
  LIBRA members wear 
  similar uniforms and 
  have clearly practiced 
  paramilitary assaults 
  and urban combat 
  together, but it’s not 
  known where they 
  train or who supplies 
  their funding. (See 
  Chapter Nine of Dark 
  Champions for more 
  details on LIBRA.)
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  156 ■ The Long Arm Of The Law
  RENEGADE
  Most people would describe Renegade as 
  Hudson City’s most destructive vigilante. He seems 
  to have a penchant for crashing cars, accidentally 
  or purposely blowing things up, and using other 
  methods of ﬁghting crime that 
  involve reducing his surroundings 
  to rubble. He favors high-powered 
  weapons — USAS-12 combat shot-
  guns, high-caliber handguns, gre-
  nades, and the like. He doesn’t seem 
  to have any deﬁned “territory,” and 
  rarely works with other vigilantes.
  THE SCARECROW
  The Harbinger of Justice may 
  have killed more criminals, but the 
  mysterious Scarecrow ranks as the 
  most brutal of Hudson City’s vigi-
  lantes. The corpses of his victims 
  are marked by burns, cuts, missing 
  digits (or other parts...), ﬂayed ﬂesh, 
  broken bones, and various other 
  mutilations. The Scarecrow seems 
  to eschew the Harbinger’s advanced 
  weaponry, DarkAngel’s and the 
  Headless Hangman’s fancy gadgets, 
  and Renegade’s over-the-top meth-
  odology in favor of a grim, low-key 
  approach — he relies on simple 
  gear like brass knuckles, .45 pistols, 
  knives, and spike-studded leather 
  armor to get the job done.
  SIDDHARTHA
  The murderer who identiﬁes 
  himself as Siddhartha is a “vigi-
  lante” only in the loosest sense of 
  the term; other crimeﬁghters hate 
  him as much as the public does. The 
  “criminals” Siddhartha ﬁghts are 
  mostly victims of social ills such 
  as homelessness and welfare. He 
  occasionally lashes out at drug deal-
  ers or other obvious lawbreakers, 
  but seems to prefer to “clean up” the 
  streets by shooting homeless people, 
  blowing up welfare clinics, and the 
  like. He’s considered responsible 
  for well over 300 deaths, and few 
  people in Hudson City would be 
  sorry to see him captured or killed.
  
  chapter ﬁ ve:
  chapter ﬁ ve:
  chapter ﬁ ve:
  THE HUDSON CITY UNDERWORLD
  PREDATORS
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  158 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  H
  udson City has long been infamous for 
  the extent of its crime problem and the 
  size of its underworld. From the power-
  ful Mafia families who skim millions 
  of dollars a year out of society through threats, 
  violence, and conspiracy, to the street punks who 
  make life in Freetown and Lafayette so danger-
  ous, to the so-called “costumed criminals” that 
  have sprung up like fungus after a rainstorm 
  in the past twenty years, there seems to be no 
  end to the depth and variety of evil that men in 
  Hudson City are capable of.
  Two accompanying graphics illustrate the 
  current state of the Hudson City underworld. 
  First, the maps on pages 159 and 162 mark the ter-
  ritories of the major organized crime groups and 
  powerful criminals as of late 2004. Some of these 
  territories (such as the Maﬁa’s domination in Little 
  Italy, or the tongs in Chinatown) are more or less 
  permanent, though even within a given territory 
  which family, clan, or gang controls what streets 
  and businesses can change quickly. In other cases, 
  such as the patchwork of gang turf that is Free-
  town, the situation remains perpetually ﬂuid, sub-
  ject to change on an almost weekly basis. Areas not 
  marked as being the territory of a speciﬁc group or 
  gang (such as most of the Northside) are generally 
  “open territory,” where anyone can commit a crime 
  without incurring any obligation or special desire 
  for vengeance.
  Second, the diagram on page 278 provides 
  a basic “map” of the relationships among the 
  Hudson City underworld:  double arrows indi-
  cate antagonism, even if it’s only mutual mistrust 
  and loathing (this is the default state of aﬀairs 
  between the families or gangs within a particular 
  type of organized crime, such as all Russian Maﬁa 
  gangs); a single arrow indicates a friendly or 
  allied relationship (with the arrow pointing to the 
  dominant group); and a dashed line indicates a 
  drug supplier relationship (with the arrow point-
  ing toward the buyer). However, this diagram 
  can’t represent the subtleties of how many of 
  these groups interact. Nor can it show the pres-
  ence of the many smaller, less powerful, gangs 
  and groups in the city, or all the relationships 
  involving various costumed crimelords (whom 
  can generally be considered as hostile to everyone 
  else, including each other, though temporary alli-
  ances between two or more aren’t unheard of). As 
  always, see the text for the complete information.
  This chapter only covers the current state 
  of the Hudson City underworld as of late 2004, 
  including brief descriptions of some of the major 
  underworld players. For general information about 
  criminal groups and activities, see The Underworld 
  Sourcebook or Chapter Seven of Dark Champions. 
  Additionally, you can ﬁnd character sheets for, or 
  additional information about, some of the people 
  mentioned in this chapter in Chapter Seven of this 
  book (the GM’s Vault).
  THE MAFIA
  Vito Falcone, caporegima in the Torccone 
  family, got up at 6:30 in the morning, as always. 
  He did some stretching exercises quietly, so he 
  wouldn’t wake Rosa, then took a shower and 
  shaved. After he ﬁnished, he put on a ﬂannel 
  robe and went downstairs. He put two slice of 
  bread in the toaster, poured himself a glass of 
  orange juice, and then went to the front door 
  to get the paper.
  He opened the door and bent down to pick up 
  his morning copy of the Star-Gazette. As he 
  stood back up, he saw a man in a suit get out of 
  a parked car and walk toward him. It’s too late, 
  he thought to himself. Nothing I can do now. 
  Goodbye, Rosa.
  The man in the suit pulled a .45 from under-
  neath his jacket as another car came speed-
  ing around the corner. “Don Carlo sends his 
  regards, fat man,” he snarled. Three quick shots 
  broke the morning stillness; Vito fell back inside 
  his house with three holes in his chest. The car 
  picked the hitman up and sped away with a 
  screech of tires.
  —another battle in the Scatucci-Torccone War
  The longest-lived and most powerful orga-
  nized crime group in Hudson City is unquestion-
  ably the Maﬁa. Though rigorous state and federal 
  prosecution, combined with the aging of the Maﬁa’s 
  formidable leadership structure, has weakened the 
  Maﬁa over the past two decades, and newcom-
  ers like the Organizatsiya are always nipping at its 
  heels, it remains entrenched and powerful. Some 
  experts believe the Maﬁa in Hudson City is due for 
  a resurgence, with a new crop of younger, hipper, 
  more violent maﬁosi soon to hit the streets.
  ORGANIZED 
  CRIME
  NICK VILLANI
   8 STR 
  8 DEX
   7 CON 
  7 BODY
   8 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  9 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   14 END 15 STUN
  Abilities:  AK: Little  
  Italy 11-, KS: The 
  Hudson City Maﬁa 8-, 
  Streetwise 8-
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Juvenile 
  Criminal Record; Social 
  Limitation:  Teenager
  Notes:  Nick Villani is a 
  street-smart kid from 
  Little Italy. He’s only 
  14, but he’s already 
  got a juvie record for 
  shoplifting and petty 
  theft. These days he 
  spends most of his time 
  running errands for 
  members of the Marcelli 
  family and their associ-
  ates. If someone doesn’t 
  do something soon, he’ll 
  end up as a gangster 
  himself within a few 
  years and throw away 
  whatever legitimate 
  future he might have.
  
  159 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Five
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  160 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  Territory
  The Maﬁa got its start in Hudson City in Little 
  Italy over a century ago, and Little Italy remains its 
  base of power today. The ﬁve families (see below) 
  usually maintain a more-or-less stable truce, with 
  territories clearly understood based on decades 
  of interaction and a slow shifting of strengths and 
  advantages — though more intense conﬂicts, such 
  as the current Scatucci-Torccone “war,” still ﬂare up 
  from time to time.
  But the Mafia’s tentacles reach far beyond 
  Little Italy. The Mafia dominates much of the 
  city’s underworld, particularly on the Northside. 
  Its scams and conspiracies, control of various 
  unions, hijacking rings, loansharking operations, 
  illegal gambling outfits, and heroin distribu-
  tion networks affect virtually everyone in the 
  city, even if only indirectly. All the families but 
  the Scatuccis control significant sections of the 
  waterfront as well. The only areas where the 
  Mafia’s influence is muted are ethnic enclaves 
  where other groups hold sway. For example, the 
  Mafia has relatively little penetration in Moscow 
  West, Chinatown, Freetown, or Latin City.
  Over the course of the twentieth century, 
  ﬁve borgatas, or Maﬁa “families,” have evolved 
  in Hudson City. Some got their start back in the 
  Twenties and have remained on the top of the heap 
  ever since; others grew out of now-defunct families, 
  or arose when two small families “merged” through 
  marriage or business partnerships. The so-called 
  “ﬁve families” are:
  MARCELLI
  Begun in the Twenties by mob genius Juliano 
  “Mac” Marcelli, the Marcelli family has always been 
  one of the most stable and prosperous Maﬁa borgatas 
  in Hudson City. But in recent years it’s experienced 
  something of a fall from its previous lofty heights. 
  Guiseppe “Joe Guns” Tauriello, who took over leader-
  ship of the family in 1978, ﬁnally ran afoul of the law 
  and was sent to prison for life in 2001. The family 
  ﬂoundered, essentially leaderless, until mid-2003, 
  when Mario “the Prince” Maneti, a caporegima under 
  Tauriello, eliminated his chief rival and emerged as 
  the pre-eminent member of the family. He’s spent the 
  past eighteen months consolidating his power, and 
  now seems ready to move forward with the full sup-
  port of the family behind him.
  The Marcellis have their ﬁngers in a wide 
  variety of criminal pies. In addition to their “hold-
  ings” in Little Italy, they dominate the underworld 
  in Bayside, including the Hudson City Shipyards. 
  They maintain ties to the Qi On tong in the city, 
  and the Yung Sat tong in Canada, obtaining heroin 
  from both for distribution in the Pearl City and 
  elsewhere along the eastern seaboard.
  Mario Maneti’s underboss is his brother-in-law 
  Gregorio “Wheels” Spagnola, a fast-driving, hard-
  living guy who can drink more whiskey than any 
  other three men put together. His consiglieri, Anthony 
  “Tony D” Diodati, is just the opposite — a quiet, 
  reﬂective, cautious man who tries to minimize every 
  risk. Between the two of them, they keep Maneti on a 
  pretty even keel. The family’s captains include Alberdo 
  “Chips” Marcelli (owner of a snack food distribution 
  business), Peter “Maestro” Carelli, Guido “Hambone” 
  Vachelle, Art “Ladder Man” Benetti (a former burglar), 
  and Joseph “Jonny Blue” Galbone. Other prominent 
  Marcellis include Anastasio “Stoss The Sword” Rocca 
  (a well-known hitman), Paolo “Pally” Sallucio, James 
  “DH” Arrese, and Sonny “Sunshine” Lambesti. Total 
  family membership is about 300 men.
  MORELLI
  The Morelli family takes its name from Antonio 
  “Crash” Morelli, a bootlegger who took control of a 
  semi-confederation of other bootleggers in the Twen-
  ties and Thirties and forged them into a unit. Unfor-
  tunately, given that background, the Morelli family 
  has always suﬀered from a lot of inﬁghting, factional-
  ism, and backbiting — even today, lots of diﬀerent 
  Morellis ﬁgure they have as much claim to positions 
  of power and wealth as anyone else in the family. 
  Prosecution and misfortune nearly ended the Morel-
  lis in the early Seventies, but the family survived 
  because Alphonse “The Brain” Malerno got it heavily 
  involved in the heroin trade. That in turn brought 
  unwanted DEA attention, and in the early Eight-
  ies Malerno fell victim to a joint FBI/DEA/HCPD 
  operation and went up for life on multiple RICO 
  counts. The family drifted through a series of largely 
  powerless leaders until Robert “Bobby Bucks” Bellini 
  took over the top spot in 1996 by shotgunning his 
  predecessor to death. Bellini has a lot more author-
  ity within the family than anyone since Malerno, but 
  many of his captains remain powerful enough to set 
  their own course most of the time.
  The Morellis control part of the North Elm-
  view waterfront. This puts them in a position to 
  exert some inﬂuence over other North Elmview 
  activities, though it’s been decades since the Maﬁa 
  had any real power over the Strip. They remain 
  deeply involved in the heroin trade as well. In the 
  past ﬁfteen years they’ve partly drifted away from 
  getting their heroin from the tongs, instead buying 
  from Armenian, Balkan, and Turkish gangsters 
  who transship Golden Crescent heroin into the 
  States. Their other major activities include union 
  racketeering (particularly in the waste removal and 
  restaurant industries) and illegal gambling — they  
  control many numbers operations and illicit 
  casinos. This frequently brings them into conﬂict 
  with Card Shark. Furthermore, many captains and 
  soldiers feel obliged to “show respect” not only to 
  Bellini but to each of the powerful captains who 
  might one day take his place, which reduces their 
  proﬁts and causes some discontent.
  The Morelli sottocapo is Jimmy “the Rose” Ros-
  sellino, a longtime friend of Bobby Bellini’s. The 
  family’s consiglieri is Bobby’s attorney, John Giatta 
  (who took the place of another man, Anthony 
  “Tony A” Albangetti, whom the Headless Hang-
  man killed in 2002). Richard “Lucky Ricky” DeLuca 
  (who loves to gamble), Mickey “Numbers” Tosconi, 
  Albert “the Hawk” Manneri, John “Fireball” Sanelo, 
  Mario “the Milkman” Santonelli, and Jack “Jackie 
  Fingers” Poroni are the most powerful Morelli cap-
  tains. The family numbers about 260 made men.
  MARTY
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  Concealment 
  11-, Gambling (Card 
  Games, Sports Betting) 
  14-, KS: The Vice World 
  11-, Persuasion 11-, 
  Stealth 11-, Streetwise 
  11-, WF: Handguns
  Disadvantages:  Rivalry 
  (Professional, with other 
  bookies); Social Limita-
  tion:  Criminal Record
  Notes:  Marty (no one 
  seems to know his last 
  name) is one of the 
  many bookies work-
  ing in the Hudson City 
  shadows. From a dis-
  reputable-looking oﬃce 
  in south Arlington he 
  takes bets, lays oﬀ bets 
  when the action gets too 
  hot, accepts payment on 
  losses, and pays out win-
  nings. He’s got an oﬃce 
  girl named Judy to help 
  with the details, and a 
  big black guy known as 
  “Dolph” who collects 
  from gamblers who are, 
  one might say, less than 
  cooperative when they 
  lose. To keep Card Shark 
  oﬀ his back, he pays 
  protection money to the 
  Maﬁa. He only accepts 
  new “clients” if they 
  come with a recommen-
  dation from an existing 
  client or someone else 
  he can trust.
  
  161 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Five
  SCATUCCI
  The Scatucci family rose to prominence during 
  World War II, when the government persuaded 
  Charles “Pretzels” Scatucci to use his inﬂuence over 
  the Southside docks to keep the waterfront open in 
  support of the war eﬀort. Scatucci’s men ruthlessly 
  suppressed any labor agitation that threatened ship-
  ping. By the war’s end, so many powerful men owed 
  Charles Scatucci so many favors that his fortune 
  was made. His successor, Donnie “Chopper” Colleti, 
  strengthened Scatucci ties to corrupt politicians 
  and labor ﬁgures.
  When Colleti died in 1960, Charles’s young 
  son Carlo “Charlie Snake-Eyes” Scatucci took over. 
  Despite being only 33, he ﬁrmly took hold of the 
  reins and steered the family where he wanted it 
  to go. He defused a brief war that had sprung up 
  with the Torccones (thus earning the respect of the 
  Commission) and increased the family’s proﬁts. 
  He’s still capo today, but he’s nearing 80 and has 
  weakened considerably in the past few years. His 
  weakness infected the family, allowing various 
  gangs from Latin City to push the Scatuccis out 
  of the Southside waterfront (at least for the time 
  being...). Even worse, the Scatuccis’ old rivals, the 
  Torccones, sensed the weakness coming a couple 
  years ago and started a second Scatucci-Torccone 
  War. It may fall to “Don Carlo’s” successor to stop 
  this one; he no longer has the ﬁre.
  According to the best FBI analyses, the Scatuc-
  cis are the main family behind Maﬁa control of the 
  waste disposal, janitorial, and deliverymen’s unions. 
  One of the underlying causes of the War is the Sca-
  tuccis’ competition with the Torccones for control 
  of the city’s construction 
  unions. Additionally, they 
  do a lot of loansharking 
  and hijacking.
  The Scatucci under-
  boss, Piero “Leonardo” 
  Scarlotti, is considered 
  Carlo’s likely successor; 
  the old don has no sons 
  to whom he’d wish to pass 
  on his legacy. Scarlotti, on 
  the other hand, is clever, 
  creative, and quick-witted 
  (hence his nickname), and 
  will make a ﬁne leader. 
  The family consiglieri, 
  Stefano “Whitey” Vasario, 
  is a skilled lawyer who 
  often gets Scatucci men 
  oﬀ the hook when they’re 
  arrested. The Scatucci cap-
  tains include Joseph “Thin 
  Man” Adrissi, Joseph “Big 
  Joey” Bonavolente, Ricardo 
  “The Penguin” Rosconi, 
  and Anthony “Drummer 
  Boy” Lambesti. The family’s 
  biggest earner right now is 
  probably Alfredo “Shades” 
  Giordano, a skilled smug-
  gler and hijacker. Before 
  the War, the Scatuccis 
  numbered 320 or so, but their current numbers have 
  reportedly dropped to around 280.
  TORCCONE
  Most underworld observers consider the Torc-
  cones a family on the rise. Having not evolved until 
  after World War II, for many years they were a sort of 
  “second ﬁddle” to more powerful families. Their pro-
  ﬁle dropped even lower when their late Fifties capo, 
  Thomas “Jacques” Antonelli, tried to make himself 
  capo di tutti capi and was gunned down on the orders 
  of the Commission. The ﬁrst Scatucci-Torccone War 
  in the early Sixties didn’t help matters... but after that, 
  things took a turn for the better. Under the deft lead-
  ership of Theodore “Teddy Undertow” Landano, the 
  Torccones outmaneuvered the other families to estab-
  lish ﬁrm control over the docks between 8th and 12th 
  Avenues, including the highly proﬁtable Hudson City 
  Fish Market (page 188). After Teddy’s death of cancer 
  in 1978, the family went through a period of uncer-
  tainty and directionlessness, during which the FBI and 
  HCPD hit it hard. That ended in 1992, when Albert 
  “Hacksaw Al” Ciasca took over. He’s led the family 
  ever since, even starting a war with the Scatuccis in an 
  eﬀort to take territory and inﬂuence from them.
  The Torccones have never “specialized” in 
  any particular type of crime; they spread them-
  selves out well, and command a power base both 
  deep and broad. Their proﬁts mainly come from 
  gambling, drug sales, loansharking, kickbacks, and 
  extortion. The Torccones are the only family with 
  any connections in Freetown; they supply heroin 
  to some gangs there, including the crimelord Strad. 
   HEROIN IN  
  HUDSON CITY
  As of late 2004, the 
  “wholesale” price of a 
  kilo of heroin in Hudson 
  City varies between 
  about $13,000 (for the 
  cheapest, lowest-grade 
  Mexican heroin) to 
  around $200,000 (for 
  the best South Ameri-
  can, Golden Triangle, 
  and Golden Crescent 
  heroin), depending 
  on purity, who it’s 
  bought from, amount 
  purchased, and many 
  other variables. The 
  wider variation in price 
  compared to cocaine 
  (see page 165) reﬂects 
  the multiple sources of 
  supply, the many diﬀer-
  ent groups involved in 
  producing and distribut-
  ing heroin, the current 
  political and military 
  state of aﬀairs in South-
  east and Southwest Asia, 
  and similar factors.
  After “stepping on” 
  (diluting) the pure 
  heroin, a street dealer 
  usually sells it on the 
  street for about $85-600 
  per gram, or $4,000 
  to $7,000 per ounce 
  — though many sales 
  are in small amounts, 
  such as $5 “nickel bags” 
  or $10 “dime bags,” not 
  whole grams/ounces.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  162 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  They’ve long competed with the Scatuccis for con-
  trol of various lucrative construction unions.  
  Hacksaw Al remains ﬁrmly in charge, thanks 
  in part to the help of his loyal underboss, Vito “the 
  Watchmaker” Jesselli and his half-brother and con-
  siglieri Robert “Bobby Red” Finelli. The family’s cap-
  tains include Umberto “Uzi” DePastori (whom most 
  people consider to be more than a little deranged, and 
  give a wide berth to), James “Torchie” Torccone (Al’s 
  favorite cousin), Ignatzio “Iggy” Scafoddi, and Frank 
  “Cooler” Tarantelli. Since the beginning of the Sca-
  tucci-Torccone War, a large number of hitmen, such 
  as Vincent “Two-Spot” Pigellio (who likes to shoot 
  his victims twice) and Salvatore “Happy Sal” Lanza-
  nore, have become associated with the Torccones. 
  The Torccone ranks include about 240 men, though 
  before the War that number was considerably higher. 
  VERONTESE
  If you asked most experts on the Hudson City 
  underworld who the most dangerous maﬁoso in 
  town was, they’d answer “Black Mike” — Michael 
  Calvino, the Verontese capo. In 2000 he took over 
  a family that got its start back in the Fifties when 
  Frederick “Stinger” Verontese took over the Pol-
  loni family and eliminated virtually all of the old 
  Polloni loyalists. Black Mike himself took control 
  when his predecessor, Verontese’s son-in-law Nick 
  “Nails” Travanti, was sentenced to life in prison.
  The Verontese family is more heavily involved 
  in the drug trade than any other family. They obtain 
  heroin from both the Chinese and the Golden 
  Crescent; some rumors claim they’re negotiat-
  ing with the Colombian and Mexican cartels for 
  cocaine, or that they’ve set up labs to develop and 
  produce designer drugs. The Veronteses also have 
  plenty of gambling and hijacking operations, sig-
  niﬁcant inﬂuence over the waste removal industry 
  and the hotel workers’ unions, and control of the 
  Pierpoint waterfront (though they’ve been ﬁghting 
  with Speargun over the latter, and seem to have lost 
  the Flower Market to him; see pages 179, 208).
  Black Mike’s underboss and consiglieri are 
  Thomas “Slugger” Carrera and Frank “the Wizard” 
  Madonari (so called because of his ability to juggle 
  the family’s ﬁnances). The Verontese captains 
  include Charles “Charlie Spats” Gambini, William 
  “Willy the Pick” Scapetta (a feared hitman, known 
  for his sadism and viciousness), George “Aces” Del-
  larubia,  and Paul “Smiley” Baldesti. The family has 
  around 250 made men.
  Underworld Relationships
  As the “top dog” in the underworld, the Maﬁa 
  constantly comes under attack from outside groups 
  that want to take over (or suﬀers internal conﬂicts 
  of its own for much the same reason). The Rus-
  sian mobs, Card Shark, and the yakuza all struggle 
  with the Maﬁa (or, more accurately, various Maﬁa 
  families) for power, proﬁts, and turf. The crimelord 
  Speargun has been eating away at the mob’s control 
  of Hudson City’s waterfronts for years now, and all-
  out war may soon result.
  But the Maﬁa has its allies as well. Geographic 
  proximity to Chinatown, and mutual interest with 
  the Chinese tongs, has led to some proﬁtable work-
  ing relationships — the tongs smuggle heroin into 
  the country, then sell it to the Maﬁa for distribu-
  tion. This sometimes creates tensions with the 
  Mexican and Colombian cartels, but those groups 
  usually restrict themselves to Latin City and Free-
  town, so actual disputes are rare.
  
  163 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Five
  CHINESE TONGS
  This part of the tong hall was magniﬁcently 
  decorated:  beautiful Chinese paintings set 
  oﬀ against the opulent red and gold tracery 
  of the silk wallpaper; Ming vases and ancient 
  statuary on delicately carved tables and stands. 
  Cheng Yi-Fe always felt nervous coming into 
  his master’s domain — a nervousness which 
  was only increased by the fear he felt for the 
  master himself.
  Cheng walked into the anteroom of the Dragon 
  Head’s oﬃce. His master’s secretary opened the 
  large double doors into the main oﬃce with-
  out a word, then stood aside to let Cheng pass 
  through, closing the doors quietly behind him. 
  The Dragon Head’s oﬃce was, if anything, even 
  more lavishly appointed than the rest of the 
  hall, for it was here that he kept his favorite 
  pieces of art and his photos and mementoes 
  of past days. “I am here to report,” Cheng said, 
  barely keeping a quaver out of his voice.
  “Good,” said Kun Feng, Dragon Head of the 
  Sing Chun. “I hope for your sake that you were 
  successful.”
  “We were. My Scarlet Dragons gunned down 
  Kwan Yu as he left the Thousand Sunsets res-
  taurant. No longer will he tell his tales to vigi-
  lantes. Three others who got in our way were 
  also killed.”
  “And the heroin?”
  “The rest of the Scarlet Dragons broke into his 
  house while he was at the restaurant. They 
  found it hidden underneath the ﬂoorboards 
  of his kitchen. Because his wife showed them 
  where it was immediately, they spared her life 
  and the lives of her children.” 
  Kun Feng sat and thought in silence for a few 
  moments. “Very well,” he said when he ﬁnally 
  spoke. “You have performed adequately, and I 
  shall remember. Return to your usual duties; I 
  shall summon you when we need speak once 
  more.”
  “Yes, great leader,” said Cheng Yi-Fe, bowing as 
  he exited the room.
  — after-action report at  
  Sing Chun tong headquarters
  Descendants of criminal organizations dating 
  back centuries and which still exist in China today, 
  the tongs of Hudson City are the greatest power in 
  the Chinatown underworld. Known in the Twen-
  ties and Thirties as purveyors of every sin mankind 
  could dream up, they still specialize in the vice 
  trade in all its depraved forms.
  Territory
  The ﬁve major tongs, various minor tongs that 
  exist in their shadows, and their associated street 
  gangs restrict themselves to Chinatown exclusively, 
  except to the extent that they might prey on Chi-
  nese people living elsewhere in the city. They may 
  ally with other groups if they want to expand their 
  reach — for example, they sell heroin to the Maﬁa.
  All the tongs participate in the same sorts 
  of criminal activities:  illegal gambling (not even 
  Card Shark can break their control over Chinatown 
  gambling); drug smuggling and distribution; the 
  Chinatown sex trade; and even some street crimes 
  like robbery. The tongs diﬀerentiate themselves by 
  territory and attitude rather than activities; the map 
  on page 162 shows which parts of Chinatown each 
  tong controls. Areas not controlled by a particular 
  tong are “open territory” or “up for grabs” (depend-
  ing on one’s viewpoint).
  CHOY SING
  The smallest of the Hudson City tongs with 
  fewer than 200 members (at least according to FBI 
  estimates, which aren’t nearly as accurate as they 
  are for the Maﬁa due to the diﬃculty of inﬁltrating 
  Chinese organizations), the Choy Sing controls the 
  northeast corner of Chinatown proper — the area 
  along the waterfront immediately west of S. Lincoln 
  Street. Its street gang, the Emerald Doors, takes its 
  name from the prominent green doors that lead 
  into the tong’s hall.
  Charles Zhou, who was born in China but 
  emigrated to this country with his family as a very 
  young boy, is the Dragon Head of the Choy Sing 
  (and, in the tong’s role as a simple “benevolent 
  association,” its president as well). Now in his early 
  70s, he lacks the “ﬁre” that some of his younger fol-
  lowers have, but more than makes up for it with his 
  experience, insight, and contacts. His vice-chair-
  man is Lan Hou, his English secretary Yip Tao, his 
  street secretary Han Fei. Phillip “Jackie Duck” Hsaio 
  leads the three dozen members of the Emerald 
  Doors — the gang used to have closer to four dozen 
  members, but a group of them had an unfortunate 
  “encounter” with the Harbinger of Justice.
  GOLDEN SERPENT ASSOCIATION
  The youngest and least traditional of the 
  Hudson City tongs, the Golden Serpent Association 
  makes no pretense of being a “benevolent associa-
  tion,” “merchant’s confederation,” or the like. It’s a 
  gang, pure and simple — but a tough, violent gang, 
  one that’s already made a mark for itself in the ﬁve 
  years since it appeared. It took bits of territory from 
  the Choy Sing and On At-Zhang to create its “turf,” 
  thus earning the special enmity of both tongs.
  Members of the Golden Serpents wear distinc-
  tive gold armbands, sashes, or clothes when they want 
  to identify themselves publicly (which isn’t often). 
  Their sons often belong as well, creating a “street 
  gang” of sorts for the tong (though it isn’t considered 
  quite as separate as most tongs’ gangs are).
  The authorities have never identiﬁed the 
  leader (and presumably founder) of the tong, a man 
  HUANG ZHU
   5 STR 
  8 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   13 INT 
  13 EGO
   13 PRE 
  7 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  3 REC
   16 END 15 STUN
  Abilities:  Bribery 12-, 
  Bureaucratics 12-, Con-
  versation 12-, High Soci-
  ety 12-, AK: Chinatown 
  14-, KS: Chinese Orga-
  nized Crime 14-, Martial 
  Arts (28 points’ worth 
  of Hsing-I and Kung Fu 
  maneuvers), Persuasion 
  14-, Streetwise 8-, Trading 
  14-, WF: Common Melee 
  Weapons, Common Mar-
  tial Arts Weapons, Con-
  tacts (40 points’ worth, 
  throughout Chinatown), 
  Reputation (inﬂuential 
  and revered arbitra-
  tor, in Chinatown, 14-, 
  +3/+3d6)
  Disadvantages:  Age:  60+
  Notes:  In Chinatown, 
  criminal and civilian alike 
  know that if you have a 
  dispute that can’t be settled 
  any other way, you don’t 
  take it to the round-eyes’ 
  courts — you go see 
  Huang Zhu. One of the 
  most revered men in all of 
  Chinatown, Huang Zhu 
  has oﬀered his “services” 
  as an arbitrator for as long 
  as anyone can remember. 
  They say he used to be a 
  big-time Triad boss back 
  in China, but retired to 
  Hudson City for some 
  peace and quiet... and fell 
  into the role of arbitrator 
  when people began asking 
  him for advice. Of course, 
  he’s been in Hudson City 
  for at least 30 years, so if he 
  “retired” here he must be 
  well over 100 by now.
  By some unwritten law, 
  everyone in Chinatown 
  defers to Huang Zhu’s 
  pronouncements. Every 
  tong upholds his word as 
  law, even if it goes against 
  one of them... because 
  without this court of law 
  resort, even trivial dis-
  agreements might result in 
  bloodshed. Anyone who 
  harms, or even threatens, 
  him immediately makes 
  dozens of enemies.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  164 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  known simply as the Golden One. He deﬁnitely 
  seems to command from the rear, sending out his 
  lieutenants (known as hongji, or Red Thorns) and 
  soldiers (huanghu, Golden Tigers) to shake down 
  local merchants for “tea money,” sell drugs, and 
  ﬁght other tongs for money and inﬂuence.
  In addition to the usual tong activities, the 
  Golden Serpent Association has supposedly become 
  involved in the international black market for art 
  and antiquities. The DEA recently intercepted a 
  smuggled drug shipment that also included some 
  rare, and very valuable, Chinese and Southeast Asian 
  artworks the authorities believe were destined for 
  private collections in the United States.
  ON AT-ZHANG
  With an estimated 220 members, the On At-
  Zhang isn’t much larger than the Choy Sing, but 
  enjoys greater respect due to its longevity, skill, and 
  ruthlessness. The tong controls the area around the 
  intersection of South River Drive and S. Harrison 
  Street — a valuable piece of turf indeed.
  The On At-Zhang tong has adopted a Triad-like 
  structure. The 489 or Dragon Head is Wu Kien. His 
  chief lieutenants are Hsaio Loo (a 432) and the tong’s 
  recruiter, Chang Peng (a 438). The tong’s Red Pole, or 
  enforcer, is William Haifeng (a 426). A 415, Lai Yuwei, 
  administrates the tong and oversees its ﬁnances. At 
  age 37, Wu Kien is a relatively young tong leader; he 
  rose rapidly in the tong due to his shrewd mind and 
  intense willpower — he balks at nothing to get what 
  he wants. He has not-so-subtly “eliminated” some 
  rivals who threatened his position, and is thought to 
  have done the same to two DEA oﬃcers who haven’t 
  been seen since summer, 2004.
  Like most other tongs, the On-At Zhang pro-
  vides a variety of community services in the guise of 
  being a protective and helpful organization for Chi-
  nese persons in America. It’s well-known for the elab-
  orate street party it throws to celebrate Chinese New 
  Year (in February). The tongs usually mutually agree 
  to suspend all violence during this festival, but no one 
  knows when one of them will change its mind....
  When the On At-Zhang needs someone 
  to watch its gambling halls or do its dirty work, 
  it turns to the thirty-odd members of the Dark 
  Fist gang, which takes its name from the Chinese 
  ideograms for bravery, loyalty, and superiority that 
  every member has tattooed on the backs of his 
  hands (a Distinctive Feature). The gang’s leader is 
  Xu Te-Wu, a vicious ﬁghter highly skilled at Shao-
  Lin Tiger Kung Fu.
  QI ON
  The Qi On controls the northwestern corner of 
  Chinatown proper. That’s not a very good territory 
  compared to some, but the tong’s approximately 
  300 members give it enough ﬁghting force and 
  prestige to hold its own in the Asian underworld.
  The chairman of the Qi On is the venerable 
  Mah Sze, a 64-year-old veteran of tong life. Mah 
  Sze is known throughout Hudson City as an art 
  collector and a connoisseur; some experts believe 
  his collection of Chinese art is one of the greatest 
  in the world. He goes to great lengths to protect his 
  collection and acquire new pieces. His vice-chair-
  man is Chang Shi-Ping, his English secretary is 
  Shiu Ning, and his street secretary is Lan Lieh.
  The Qi On delegates many of its less pleasant 
  duties to the Amber Moon gang, which has around 
  40-50 members and is led by Johnny Fang. Having 
  properly served the tong for many years, the Amber 
  Moons were recently allowed to start a high-stakes 
  ﬂoating dice game that’s already become a favorite 
  of many Chinese gamblers.
  For the past several years, the Qi On has been 
  involved in a minor turf war with the Sing Chun. 
  For the most part the two tongs’ gangs carry out 
  any actual ﬁghting that’s required — in fact, they 
  have a “shoot on sight” policy toward each other 
  that’s starting to worry leaders in both tongs.
  SING CHUN
  The largest tong in Chinatown with approxi-
  mately 400 members, the Sing Chun controls all of 
  southwest Chinatown, including the businesses and 
  neighborhoods near Duvall Parkway. Its leaders 
  would like to expand east into the unclaimed terri-
  tory around S. Harrison Street, but the tong’s cur-
  rent conﬂict with the Qi On (see above) makes that 
  impractical at this time.
  The Dragon Head of the Sing Chun is Kun 
  Feng, a cold, calculating individual who only 
  looks at others with an eye to how much profit or 
  trouble they can bring him. His vice-chairman is 
  Qui Yixiao. His English secretary is Jewi Meizhu; 
  his street secretary Sun Kuang. A clever, brutal 
  young man named Cheng Yi-Fe leads the forty-
  odd members of the Scarlet Dragon gang that 
  serves the Sing Chun.
  Underworld Relationships
  The tongs quarrel and ﬁght with other China-
  town groups — the yakuza, the Korean and Viet-
  namese gangs — for more power and proﬁts within 
  Chinatown as a whole. Outside of Chinatown, the 
  tongs sell heroin to the Maﬁa (and sometimes other 
  buyers as well), but for the most part they prefer 
  to keep to themselves, and have others stay out of 
  their business.
  KOREAN GANGS
  The part of Hudson 
  City’s Chinatown 
  known as Koreatown 
  (or sometimes Little 
  Seoul) is claimed as 
  “turf” by various gangs 
  of Korean adolescent 
  boys and young men. 
  These gangs gener-
  ally don’t have names, 
  and usually coalesce 
  around one or two par-
  ticularly powerful or 
  charismatic individu-
  als. Like Vietnamese 
  gangs, the Korean 
  gangs often lack rigid 
  structures or firm 
  loyalties — members 
  drift in and out as they 
  please, gangs break up 
  and form quickly, and 
  quarrels between gangs 
  or gangsters are settled 
  with intense violence. 
  The only constant 
  is that the people of 
  Koreatown suffer.
  
  165 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Five
  HISPANIC  
  ORGANIZED CRIME
  Jaime really started to sweat when he saw the 
  chainsaw.
  <“Look, man, whaddayou want, man? I swear, 
  whatever it is, you got it! You want us to stop 
  doing something, that’s cool, we’ll stop!”>
  <“You know what I want,”> said the big, ugly-
  looking Mexican with the bull’s head tattooed 
  on his right bicep. <“I want to know where La 
  EME’s bringing in its next shipment of cocaine, 
  niño.”>
  <“Awww, man, if I tell you, they’ll kill me, man. 
  C’mon, please!”>
  <“At least then you’d’ve lived a few hours 
  longer,”> the big man said. Jaime screamed 
  when the big man bent down to start the chain-
  saw. For the next few minutes, the rest of Jaime’s 
  screams were drowned out by the saw.
  When he was done, the big man wiped the blood 
  and bits of ﬂesh from his face. Then he turned 
  to Jaime’s friend Armado, who was puking up 
  his guts nearby. <“Now, do you wanna tell me 
  where the shipment’s coming in... or do I haveta 
  go to work again?”>
  — part of the Los Toros hostile takeover strategy
  Three large gangs dominate the underworld 
  in Latin City (and, to a lesser extent, southern Elm-
  view and the Southside waterfront). Each of them 
  has alliances with one or more Colombian or Mexi-
  can cartels, and makes most of its money selling 
  heroin, crack, and cocaine. They use their proﬁts to 
  buy guns, cars, and businesses, and they ﬁght each 
  other using some of the most vicious, brutal meth-
  ods imaginable. A variety of smaller gangs round 
  out the Hudson City Hispanic underworld.
  THE MEXICAN MAFIA
  The biggest gang in Latin City is the Mexican 
  Maﬁa, or “La EME,” which controls roughly half 
  of the turf. With the help of its connections to the 
  Reynosa and Coahuila cartels in Mexico, and the 
  Montalvo cartel in Colombia, it can get all the 
  heroin and coke it needs. While its base of power 
  remains in Latin City, EME gangs now range fur-
  ther aﬁeld into Elmview, North Elmview, Red Hill, 
  and sometimes even Forsyth and Lafayette to sell 
  their product.
  Three brothers — Juan, Leandro, and Simón 
  Castares — hold sway over most of the EME gangs 
  in Hudson City. They’re not absolute rulers by any 
  means, but they’re clearly the most powerful of the 
  Mexican Maﬁa leaders in this area. Anyone who 
  doesn’t do what they say had better have a damn 
  good reason.
  LOS REYES
  Los Reyes — the Latin Kings — got its start a 
  few years ago when Félix CarreZo-Madrazo, a sur-
  vivor of the destruction of one of the Cali cocaine 
  families in Colombia, came to Hudson City to 
  set up shop for himself. With the help of several 
  partners he took over a few of smaller street gangs 
  and led them on a bloody crusade that caught both 
  La EME and the cops oﬀ-guard. Today Los Reyes 
  controls about a third of the crime in Latin City. 
  If someone deﬁes the orders of Los Reyes or dis-
  respects one of its members, the gang kidnaps the 
  oﬀender, takes him to an isolated locale, and brands 
  its symbol — a stylized crown — into him with a 
  coathanger bent into shape and then heated red-
  hot in a ﬁre.
  LOS TOROS
  Marked by their distinctive bull’s-head tattoos, 
  the members of Los Toros are the newest players 
  on the Latin City streets. They’re known to have 
  the backing of one of the most ruthless and blood-
  thirsty of the latest crop of Mexican druglords, a 
  man from Tamaulipas who calls himself simply El 
  Azteca (“the Aztec”). Not content with his chunk 
  of the massive Mexican drug trade, he apparently 
  ﬁnanced Los Toros by backing a couple of smaller 
  gangs and giving them the money, muscle, and 
  pipeline necessary to become a major force on the 
  streets. As of late 2004, the Toros have about a quar-
  ter of the drug market in Latin City... but they’re 
  clearly not ready to settle for just that.
  The leader of the Toros is a big, ugly Mexican 
  known only as “Chuco” whose face and body bear 
  the scars of numerous knife-ﬁghts. Chuco is as 
  violent as El Azteca himself is rumored to be. Not 
  content simply to shoot or stab anyone who stands 
  in his way, Chuco prefers to set his enemies on 
  ﬁre, cut them into pieces with a chainsaw, or hack 
  them to bits with a machete. His own people are 
  absolutely terriﬁed of him... but that makes them 
  incredibly loyal.
  COCAINE IN HUDSON CITY
  As of late 2004, the “wholesale” price of a kilo of 
  cocaine in Hudson City varies between about $15,000 
  and $20,000, depending on purity, who it’s bought 
  from, amount purchased, and many other factors. That 
  kilo yields about 70 ounces of cocaine once it’s “stepped 
  on” (diluted with baby powder or similar substances). 
  That translates into close to 2,000 grams of coke. Each 
  gram retails on the street for about $100, yielding a 
  street value of about $189,000 per kilo of cocaine.
  Powder cocaine can be cooked into crack, or rock, 
  cocaine. A “hit” of crack weighs about .2 grams and 
  costs around $10. That’s only about half the absolute 
  value of powder coke, but because addicts can buy it in 
  such tiny amounts and it gives such an intense, short-
  lasting high (meaning lots of repeat purchases), a dealer 
  can move a lot more crack than he can coke, making it 
  more proﬁtable than powder for most dealers. (It’s also 
  easier to carry and hide.)
  JESUS GARRIDO
   10 STR 
  11 DEX
   11 CON 
  8 BODY
   8 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   3 SPD 
  4 REC
   22 END 19 STUN
  Abilities:  AK: Latin City 
  11-, KS: Latinista Gangs 
  And Gangsters 11-, Lan-
  guage: English (ﬂuent 
  conversation; Spanish 
  is Native), Stealth 11-, 
  Streetwise 11-, WF: 
  Small Arms, Knives, 
  Fringe Beneﬁt: Member-
  ship (Los Reyes)
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Criminal 
  Record
  Notes:  Jesus Garrido 
  is a typical member of 
  Los Reyes — the Latin 
  Kings, one of the major 
  gangs in Latin City. He 
  spends his days hanging 
  around on the street, 
  selling coke and crack, 
  committing crimes, 
  drinking cerveza and 
  getting high. If it weren’t 
  for his selﬁshness, will-
  ingness to ruin others’ 
  lives for his own per-
  sonal gain, and intoler-
  ance for societal author-
  ity, he wouldn’t be much 
  more than just another 
  burnout teenager; as it 
  is, he and his compadres 
  are a major menace to 
  society.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  166 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  Underworld Relationships
  For the most part, the gangs of Latin City 
  remain in Latin City, though they sometimes 
  spread out to nearby neighborhoods that aren’t 
  dominated by some other gang. By keeping to 
  themselves they minimize conﬂicts with other 
  groups. Technically, they compete with the posses 
  and street gangs for cocaine sales, and with the 
  tongs for heroin sales, but rarely has that competi-
  tion ﬂared into open conﬂict — each side seems 
  content with its turf. On the other hand, eﬀorts by 
  Mexican gangs to make and sell PCP and designer 
  drugs have put them at odds with various outlaw 
  motorcycle gangs, and those “arguments” are fought 
  with guns and bombs. In some parts of Latin City, 
  the sound of multiple motorcycles in the distance is 
  enough to make innocent people scurry for cover.
  RUSSIAN ORGANIZED 
  CRIME
  The hard-eyed man in the dingy-looking over-
  coat sat on a bench smoking a cigarette. He 
  looked like he was waiting for the bus, but 
  when the bus pulled up, he didn’t get on. The 
  puzzled driver had to close the doors and keep 
  the bus on schedule.
  He had to wait nearly another hour before the 
  man he was looking for appeared. The man 
  looked more like a young laborer than any-
  thing, but everyone who knew the street knew 
  he was a maﬁoski. What they didn’t know was 
  that the young pup had agreed to pay End-
  game ten percent of what he earned... and had 
  reneged on the deal.
  The hard-eyed man snubbed out his cigarette 
  and crossed the street. It was child’s play to 
  get close to the cocky young maﬁoski without 
  being seen; he’d done it easily enough with CIA 
  agents, back in the day. He waited for just the 
  right moment, then stepped up beside the gang-
  ster and pushed him into an alley.
  <“Hey! What’s going on?”> the young man 
  shouted... then quieted down when he saw the 
  silenced pistol the hard-eyed man had pulled 
  out from beneath his overcoat. <“Wait, there’s 
  no need to....”>
  The hard-eyed man ﬁred once, hitting the 
  maﬁoski square in the chest. The maﬁoski fell 
  backward into a pile trash, gurgling helplessly 
  as his damaged heart and lungs tried to func-
  tion properly. The hard-eyed man took another 
  stop forward and shot twice more, once in each 
  of the maﬁoski’s eyes. Almost immediately the 
  gurgling stopped and the twitching began.
  Looking around quickly to make sure no one 
  had noticed anything unusual, the hard-eyed 
  man tossed his pistol down beside the corpse and 
  hurried back out to the street, where he caught 
  the ﬁrst cab he saw. “Aberdeen International,” he 
  said with a sigh. In another two hours he’d be in 
  the air and on his way back to Moscow, where 
  there was good vodka to be had.
  — dealing with deadbeat  
  debtors, Organizatsiya style
  Russian organized crime — usually referred 
  to by Hudson City cops as “the Organizatsiya,” the 
  “Russian Maﬁa,” or “the Maﬁoski” — is one of the 
  youngest, and smallest, organized crime groups in 
  Hudson City, but it has made up for its late start 
  with a viciousness and ruthlessness that has sur-
  prised even experienced law enforcement oﬃcers. 
  The Russian Maﬁa does not hesitate to murder, 
  maim, or torture those who stand in its way.
  While the authorities often refer to “Russian 
  organized crime” as if it were a monolithic orga-
  nization, the truth is it’s one of the least organized 
  forms of organized crime in the city. The gangs 
  adopt an “every gang for itself” approach that shows 
  far less cultural or neighborhood loyalty than, say, 
  the Maﬁa or the yakuza. No single Russian criminal 
  has ever arisen who could even have made a seri-
  ous attempt to “unite” the local Organizatsiya gangs, 
  much less succeeded. If the Russia Maﬁa were ever 
  truly organized, it would likely become even more 
  powerful, wealthy, and violent than it is now.
  Organizatsiya activities in Hudson City mostly 
  take place in the Moscow West and Vidersea areas 
  (both of which have fairly large Russian and Eastern 
  European immigrant populations), but over the 
  past several years Maﬁoski gangs have slowly but 
  surely expanded into other parts of the city (mainly 
  on the Northside). They’re quick to take advantage 
  of “power vacuums” left by the arrest or death of 
  members of more traditional crime groups, or to 
  start city-wide schemes that aren’t limited to particu-
  lar neighborhoods. Their preferred crimes include 
  protection rackets, fraud, theft, counterfeiting, smug-
  gling, weapons traﬃcking, and contract murder.
  The principal Organizatsiya ﬁgures in Hudson 
  City include:
  ENDGAME  
  The largest gang of maﬁoski in the city is led by 
  a man known only as “Endgame” for his love of chess. 
  His real name is unknown, though the FBI’s ﬁles sup-
  posedly contain several guesses. Experts believe his 
  gang is extensively involved in weapons smuggling, 
  protection rackets, fraud, and contract murder.
  ANATOLII KASARAVICH
  A former GRU agent, Kasaravich is a sadistic 
  butcher who employs many former Soviet military 
  and espionage personnel in his gang. Well-armed 
  and highly feared in Moscow West, the gang’s main 
  criminal activities include protection rackets, weap-
  ons smuggling, theft, and contract murder.
  GAVRIL KOSTANZY
  Kostanzy is a slick, skilled, thief who pulled 
  jobs and scams throughout the Soviet Union and 
  never got caught. When the heat got to be too much 
  near the end of the Eighties, he ﬂed to the United 
  COLOMBIAN AND 
  MEXICAN CARTELS
  The cartel scene in both 
  Colombia and Mexico 
  shifts frequently in light 
  of rivalries between and 
  within groups, under-
  world wars, the eﬀorts 
  of law enforcement, and 
  in Colombia the activi-
  ties of revolutionary and 
  counter-revolutionary 
  armies who are now 
  major players in the 
  cocaine trade. As of late 
  2004, here are some of 
  the major Colombian 
  and Mexican drug car-
  tels supplying narcotics 
  to Hudson City:
  Colombian cartels
  Acosta-Cazares
  Carillo-Mendoza
  de Fonseca
  Montalvo
  Gallegos-Madera
  Mexican cartels
  El Azteca
  Coahuila
  Caborca
  Reynosa
  Romanos-Salcedo
  
  167 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Five
  States and set up shop in Hudson City. His gang is 
  involved in theft, fraud, counterfeiting, smuggling, 
  and similar crimes. He has an extensive network of 
  “comrades” in Russia. 
  VIKTOR MOLENKO
  The oldest pakhany in Hudson City, Molenko 
  came to the United States in the early Eighties 
  during one of the times when the KGB exploited 
  easing emigration restrictions to cleanse Soviet 
  prisons. For several years he was unquestionably 
  the most powerful maﬁoski in the city, but the pass-
  ing of time has dimmed his ﬁres somewhat (though 
  not his propensity for violence or his touchiness 
  about being “insulted”). His gang’s principal activi-
  ties include protection rackets, theft, fraud, and 
  counterfeiting.
  Underworld Relations
  The Russian mobs don’t play well with others. 
  As far as they’re concerned, the whole city is up for 
  grabs, and anyone who thinks he has a prior claim 
  is just another target. This attitude has led to fre-
  quent clashes with the Maﬁa (though some gangs 
  have more wisely found ways to work with the Ital-
  ians to everyone’s mutual beneﬁt). They also quarrel 
  with the yakuza insofar as the Japanese gangsters 
  operate outside Chinatown; the Russians seem con-
  tent to leave Chinatown proper to the Asians.
  VIETNAMESE GANGS
  “It’s not the money — it’s about respect. We 
  have the power on these streets, and people 
  have to respect that. They show their respect 
  by paying us to keep them safe and leave them 
  alone. That’s how we live. We provide a service 
  in exchange for money, just like a lawyer or a 
  doctor — pay us and stay safe. If you don’t, it’s 
  your fault, not ours. If you don’t respect us, we 
  have to make things right.”
  — excerpt from an interview with Vietnam-
  ese gangster Little N.G. as part of a story  
  on Chinatown crime in the Hudson City 
  Star-Gazette
  The Little Saigon section of Hudson City’s 
  Chinatown has its own particular breed of native 
  criminal. However, unlike the Chinese tongs, Viet-
  namese gangs don’t usually restrict themselves 
  just to Little Saigon. Some of them prey upon 
  Chinatown residents of other ethnic backgrounds, 
  or strike out into the rest of the city, committing 
  crimes as the mood takes them. Also unlike the 
  tongs, Vietnamese gangs tend to be “loose” — they 
  form, break up, and gain and lose members fre-
  quently and without any particular repercussions 
  for anyone involved.
  As of late 2004, the major factions in the Viet-
  namese underworld are:
  DUC LIEU THO
  Several years ago, there was a gang in Little 
  Saigon known as the Purple Eagles. They were 
  doing pretty well... until the leader and most of 
  the members got their brains splattered against an 
  alley wall by the vigilante Renegade. One of the 
  few survivors of that attack was a young gangster 
  named Duc Lieu Tho, and he decided to pick up for 
  himself where the Purple Eagles left oﬀ. By keep-
  ing a lower proﬁle than his former comrades, he’s 
  formed a gang and made pretty good money with-
  out attracting Renegade’s attention again. But these 
  days his name is pretty well known on the streets of 
  Chinatown, so it may not be long before some rival 
  or vigilante comes gunning for him.
  NGUYEN NOC TRANH
  Nguyen Noc Tranh was one of the most 
  vicious and sadistic officers in the South Viet-
  namese army. When Saigon fell, he fled to Amer-
  ica. Lacking any better thing to do with his skills, 
  he soon established a criminal gang by banding 
  together members of his old unit. For nearly 
  thirty years now, Tranh and his men have terror-
  ized Little Saigon, using their military skill and 
  discipline to retain power and influence while 
  lesser gangs came and went. Anyone who dared 
  to defy General Tranh soon learned just how 
  sadistic and cruel he can be.
  But thirty years can change a man. Tranh is 
  now old and weak, a shell of the man he used to be. 
  Several of his “junior oﬃcers” have already begun 
  jockeying for position, each hoping to take over the 
  gang when “the Old Man” dies. It seems unlikely 
  that Tranh’s power shall survive his passing... much 
  to the relief of the residents of Little Saigon.
  SHADOW TIGERS
  The Shadow Tigers aren’t really of Little 
  Saigon so much as they like to visit it. They have 
  no particular home; Asian crime experts believe 
  the gang actually formed in Philadelphia in the late 
  Nineties. Like many Vietnamese youth gangs, the 
  Shadow Tigers are nomadic:  they breeze into town, 
  often driving the souped-up “classic cars” they like 
  so much, do whatever they feel like doing (home 
  invasions, buying and selling drugs, shakedowns, 
  robbery...), then get out before the cops can draw 
  a bead on them. The apparent leader, a sunglasses-
  wearing, slick-haired punk who goes by the name 
  “Fast Louie,” has a penchant for kidnapping teenage 
  girls, doing as he pleases with them, then dropping 
  them by the side of the road several states away.
  TU’ONG SON COY
  A few years ago, Tu’ong Son Coy was a 
  second-stringer in a Viet Ching gang — a group 
  of Vietnamese-Chinese youth working for one of 
  the tongs (in this case the Choy Sing). But then he 
  got his growth, and suddenly the scrawny kid from 
  Little Saigon had the brawn to match his brains. 
  He returned to his home turf, determined to make 
  a name for himself... and that’s just what he’s done. 
  Through a mix of intimidation, cleverness, and gen-
  erous “rewards” for loyalty, he’s assembled a gang 
  RASPUTIN
  The FBI and HCPD only 
  know about the four 
  powerful pakhany in 
  Hudson City (as well as 
  several others of lesser 
  power). However, on the 
  streets of Moscow West 
  and Vidersea muted 
  voices have begun to 
  whisper about a man 
  known only as “Raspu-
  tin.” Whether he’s a gang 
  leader, an assassin, or 
  something else, no one 
  seems willing to say... 
  but everyone, even the 
  four pakhany, seems 
  fearful of him.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  168 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  that’s wreaked havoc throughout the Southside 
  with its home invasions, drive by-shootings-and-
  robberies of drug dealers, protection rackets, and 
  pimping. But he’s made a lot of enemies in the pro-
  cess, and it’s probably only a matter of time before 
  someone takes him out hard and bloody.
  Underworld Relations
  The Vietnamese gangs don’t even get along 
  with each other, much less anyone else. They some-
  times work for or with the tongs, but usually they’re 
  out for anything they can take, regardless of who 
  asserts a prior claim.
  THE YAKUZA
  Calm, conﬁdent, and wearing a suit that cost 
  thousands, Nakamura Hideo walked into the 
  boardroom. Every seat around the table was 
  already ﬁlled, as he knew they would be. None 
  of his kobun would dare to come late to one of 
  his weekly meetings.
  As he took his seat at the head of the table, 
  a pretty young woman wearing traditional 
  garb served him tea and food, but he ignored 
  them just as he ignored her. “Report,” he said 
  in a ﬂat voice.
  One by one his underlings stood and reported on 
  the current status of their “business aﬀairs.” Noth-
  ing he heard surprised him, for he made a point of 
  keeping tabs on everything that happened in his 
  organization. But there was still value in having 
  these meetings, as he was about to demonstrate. 
  “Nishi Noboyuki, your report, please.”
  Nishi shifted nervously and began his report. 
  “My men were successful in obtaining the guns 
  you asked us to steal, oyabun. Unfortunately one 
  of them was pulled over while driving one of the 
  trucks carrying the guns. The police found the 
  guns.”
  “Is it not part of your job to be certain that 
  your kobun can perform their assigned duties 
  adequately?”
  “Y-yes,” stammered Nishi.
  “Nishi Noboyuki, you have failed me, and you 
  have failed the Sawakiri-gumi. You know what 
  price you must pay if you wish to atone for 
  your failure.”
  At those words, a servant who had been stand-
  ing silently in the corner walked over to Nishi. 
  He carried a tray, and on that tray was a small 
  silver knife, a piece of ﬁne cloth, and some cloth 
  bandages. He placed the tray before Nishi. With 
  trembling hands Nishi picked up the silver 
  
  169 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Five
  knife, which he placed blade-up on the table. 
  He set his right pinky against the blade, and 
  began to lean forward. He stiﬂed a cry of pain 
  as the blade bit though his ﬁnger and sheared 
  oﬀ the top joint of his pinky. The others watched 
  wordlessly, no trace of emotion on their faces, 
  a few rubbing their own hands thoughtfully. 
  Pale and bleeding, Nishi wrapped the severed 
  joint in the cloth and placed it on the tray. As he 
  slumped into his chair and began to bandage 
  his ﬁnger with some help from his neighbors, 
  the servant brought the tray and severed ﬁnger 
  over to Nakamura Hideo. 
  “Very good,” said Nakamura, picking up the 
  cloth and putting it on the table next to him. 
  “Hiyata Miseo, I believe that you are the next 
  to speak.”
  — business as usual for the Sawakiri-gumi
  Until the mid-Seventies, there was very little 
  Japanese organized crime presence in Hudson City. 
  As the Japanese became more and more of a global 
  economic powerhouse, they and their corporations 
  inevitably migrated to the seats of economic and 
  political power around the world, such as Hudson 
  City... and where Japanese business goes, the yakuza 
  follows like a malevolent shadow.
  By late 2004, of the dozen or so major yakuza 
  gangs in Japan, ﬁve have established a signiﬁcant pres-
  ence in Hudson City. In addition to exploiting the citi-
  zens of Little Tokyo through protection rackets, illegal 
  gambling, and similar schemes, they smuggle Western 
  goods, guns, and sometimes women back to Japan, 
  and prey on Japanese corporations throughout the 
  city. Slowly but surely they have been expanding the 
  scope of their operations beyond Chinatown, bring-
  ing them into conﬂict with the Maﬁa, Card Shark, and 
  other organized crime groups. In recent years they’ve 
  clashed most intensely with various outlaw biker 
  gangs over the right to sell methamphetamines, PCP, 
  and designer drugs in various parts of the city.
  Through the delicate diplomacy and nego-
  tiation that so often mark their dealings, the ﬁve 
  yakuza clans have carefully delineated their respec-
  tive territories within Little Tokyo. That’s not to say 
  they don’t ﬁght over territory or power — they do. 
  They just want to make sure everyone knows where 
  the front lines of the battles begin.
  THE HINAGAWA-KAI
  Although it’s arguably the largest and most 
  powerful yakuza clan in the world, the Hinagawa-
  kai is generally considered the weakest yakuza clan 
  in Hudson City. In the yakuza’s scramble over the 
  past two decades or so to establish a presence in the 
  city, it ended up with a territory that includes Mott 
  Park, which holds little appeal for gangsters. (And 
  more than a few members of the clan sacriﬁced 
  ﬁngers to atone for that particular shame.) Still, 
  the FBI estimates that it may have as many as 200 
  members in Hudson City, or nearly as many made 
  men in any of the Maﬁa families. A “businessman” 
  named Ohara Takashi is thought to be the leading 
  oyabun in the Pearl City.
  THE MIYAMIJI-KAI
  The Miyamiji-kai has an average-size pres-
  ence in Hudson City, with about 100 members. 
  Miyamiji Junzo is the oyabun of the gang (like 
  all of the chief bosses of the Miyamiji-kai, he 
  changed his family name to that of the gang). His 
  chief lieutenant is Tsurimi Eiji, and just below 
  him are three other powerful bosses:  Nakatoni 
  Kenji, Morita Yoshio, and Sasaki Akio. Each of 
  these three men have responsibility for eight 
  wakashu, and each wakashu has command of 
  two or more street-level operatives.
  Miyamiji-kai activities in Hudson City aren’t 
  particularly unusual, though they have more 
  sokaiya (ﬁnancial blackmailers) in the city than 
  most clans. The FBI also suspects the clan of 
  involvement in the white slave trade, but has not 
  yet been able to prove it.
  THE SAWAKIRI-GUMI
  Large and strong, the Sawakiri-gumi was one 
  of the ﬁrst clans to come to Hudson City. Today it 
  has somewhere between 175 and 250 men in the 
  city. The ruthless Nakamura Hideo is the unques-
  tioned chief oyabun of the Sawakiri-gumi in the 
  city. His chief kobun are Kajitani Shun, Ono Kiyo-
  shi, Sakiyuri Akira, Hayata Miseo, Takemoto Hisato, 
  and Shirai Seiki. Each of these men is a minor 
  oyabun in his own right, with numerous men under 
  his command.
  As of late 2004, experts describe the Sawa-
  kiri-gumi as the most powerful clan in Hudson 
  City. Nakamura Hideo is immensely wealthy and 
  controls many men; he seems intent on seizing as 
  much Tsukihama-gumi territory as he can. If any 
  other clan shows weakness, he’ll try to take advan-
  tage of that, too.
  THE TSUKIHAMA-GUMI
  The Tsukihama-gumi, formerly the yakuza 
  clan with the largest presence in Hudson City, has 
  experienced disaster in recent years. In 2001, a 
  valuable sokaiya ring was exposed and smashed by 
  DarkAngel, and in early 2004 an unknown vigilante 
  traced many of the gangs’ leaders by monitoring 
  junior members’ incautious use of cell phones 
  and slaughtered them one by one. Nomura Isao, 
  the chief oyabun in distant Nippon, sent one of 
  his most favored and trusted kobun, a powerful, 
  sharp-witted man named Hamada Yoshinaga, to 
  hold on to the clan’s territory in the Pearl City. So 
  far “Yoshi” (as his men aﬀectionately call him) has 
  done so — barely — but the other yakuza clans 
  (not to mention Takayama Shinsaku) know the 
  Tsukihama-gumi remains weak and continue to 
  press their attacks.
  THE YAMAZAKI-RENGO
  The Yamazaki-rengo is a confederation of 
  twenty-two gangs, some large, some small. By 
  agreement of the six most powerful oyabuns, 
  who act as a “governing council” for the rengo, a 
  deputation of ﬁfty gangsters from various of the 
  gangs came to Hudson City in the early Eighties 
  to establish the gang’s presence there. Since then 
  IN THE NEWS  
  IN 2004:
  FINANCIAL 
  GANGSTERS
  March — A type of 
  crime that’s well-known 
  in Japan seems to have 
  made its way to the 
  skyscrapers and board-
  rooms of Hudson City.
  In Japan, the sokaiya, 
  or ﬁnancial gangsters, 
  are well known. They 
  extort money from cor-
  porations by threaten-
  ing to cause trouble at 
  shareholders’ meetings, 
  put poison in company 
  products, or the like. 
  Historically, Japanese 
  companies responded 
  by paying these men 
  oﬀ — bribing them, in 
  eﬀect, to leave the com-
  pany alone. In recent 
  years some companies 
  have fought back, but 
  even today the sokaiya 
  are often feared and 
  powerful.
  The HCPD, in a joint 
  operation with the FBI, 
  reported the arrest of 
  three Japanese men on 
  extortion and several 
  related charges stem-
  ming from what appear 
  to be sokaiya activ-
  ity. The men allegedly 
  threatened to disrupt 
  an annual meeting of 
  the Cherokee Bank 
  shareholders unless the 
  company paid them 
  $10,000. It remains 
  unknown whether other 
  companies have been 
  approached by these 
  men, or similar crimi-
  nals.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  170 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  their ranks have swollen to around 100; the exact 
  number in the city at any given time depends 
  partly on internal rengo politics and what else the 
  gang has going on around the world. Disputes and 
  personality conﬂicts between some of the local 
  rengo leaders — such as Fujikawa Konyo, Arakida 
  Oyori, Miura Akiuji, and Yosida Ichiro — keep the 
  Yamazaki-rengo from being as powerful in Little 
  Tokyo as it might be.
  Underworld Relations
  Most yakuza activities focus on the Japanese 
  community, and so don’t bring the clans into con-
  ﬂict with other organized crime groups (other 
  than Takayama Shinsaku, see below). To the extent 
  the yakuza wants unquestioned authority in Chi-
  natown, it ﬁghts with the tongs, Vietnamese, and 
  Koreans, but these clashes rarely amount to any-
  thing. As the yakuza has expanded its operations 
  into the rest of Hudson City, it’s come into conﬂict 
  with the Maﬁa, the Russians, Card Shark, and vari-
  ous outlaw biker gangs.
  Takayama Shinsaku
  Hudson City’s Japanese residents also suﬀer 
  from the attentions of a crimelord who’s not part 
  of the yakuza — in fact, he seems to be the yakuza’s 
  sworn enemy. His name is Takayama Shinsaku, and 
  he calls himself “the Shogun of Little Tokyo.” Public 
  records show that he worked in Hudson City for 
  years as a high-ranking employee of the Japanese 
  corporation Nimaki. A little less than ten years ago 
  he quit his job and began his quest to take over the 
  Chinatown underworld. Most observers expected 
  he’d be killed within a few months, but he survived 
  three assassination attempts and managed, through 
  skill and ruthlessness, to carve himself a niche. 
  He stands alone, having antagonized not only the 
  yakuza (which he seems to consider a personal 
  enemy) but several Chinese tongs as well... but he 
  seems unwilling to bend or break despite the odds 
  against him.
  OUTLAW BIKER GANGS
  “Okay, is everyone in for the night?”
  “Yeah, Jack — Deek and the boys just got back 
  from Hog Heaven.”
  “Good. Lock the place down; we don’t wanna 
  get caught with our pants down around our 
  ankles and get butt-!$&*ed like the Skulls did.”
  “You got it.”
  An hour passed, then two. The compound qui-
  eted down as bikers one by one passed out or 
  went to sleep; only here and there could lights 
  be seen and laughter heard. The guys in the 
  guardroom tried to remain alert, but what did 
  it matter? With the dogs out in the yard, no one 
  was getting in.
  Then one of the guards was awakened by some-
  one pounding on the gate. “Hey, Hoss, wake 
  up!” he said, shaking his partner awake. “Who’s 
  that out there?”
  “Looks like... *%&!, it’s Sam, he was on patrol. 
  He’s been shot!”
  Hoss smacked the gate control and the doors 
  to the compound opened. Sam rode in, slowly, 
  carefully, as groggy, half-dressed bikers came 
  running up from all over the place to see what 
  was going on.
  “Killers!” Sam gasped, falling oﬀ his motor-
  cycle and into someone’s arms. And then they 
  all heard it — the ominous thunder of motor-
  cycles... lots of motorcycles... approaching from 
  the south.
  “!$&*!” Jack Maxwell shouted. “Everyone get 
  your guns and get ready!”
  — just another night at the  
  Forbidden compound
  Hudson City isn’t home to a “mother chap-
  ter” for any outlaw motorcycle gangs, and in fact 
  only a few maintain any sort of permanent base 
  in the area. But several of the major biker gangs 
  visit the city on a semi-regular basis, either for 
  relaxation, to sell drugs (mainly methamphet-
  amines, PCP, and heroin), or to do dirty deeds 
  for the Mafia (with whom some of them have a 
  solid “working relationship”).
  Whether they stay in Hudson City full-
  time or only visit, most biker gangs stick to the 
  southeast part of the city — the more run-down 
  parts of Elmview, primarily — or stay in the 
  industrialized suburbs and outlying areas south 
  of the city limits. That gives them some freedom 
  of movement without attracting too much police 
  attention. Although they don’t necessarily seek 
  out confrontations with their competitors (the 
  yakuza and some street gangs, primarily), they 
  don’t avoid them, either... and it’s not unknown 
  for two rival biker gangs to bring their feud to 
  the streets of Hudson City.
  JAMES “JIMMY” 
  GUERIN
   12 STR 
  13 DEX
   12 CON 10 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  10 COM
   5 PD 
  4 ED
   3 SPD 
  5 REC
   24 END 25 STUN
  Abilities:  Martial Arts 
  (Dirty Inﬁghting), 
  Bribery 8-, Combat 
  Driving 13-, Electron-
  ics 8-, Fast Draw (Small 
  Arms) 12-, Mechanics 
  8-, PS: Designer Drug 
  Manufacturing 11-, SS: 
  Chemistry 8-, Stealth 
  12-, Streetwise 11-, TF: 
  Two-Wheeled Motor-
  ized Ground Vehicles, 
  WF: Small Arms
  Disadvantages:  Dis-
  tinctive Features:  For-
  bidden’s colors; Social 
  Limitation:  Criminal 
  Record
  Notes:  One of the big-
  gest, baddest, rough-
  est, toughest members 
  of the Forbidden in 
  Hudson City, James 
  Guerin — often called 
  “Jimmy” by his buddies 
  — has been an outlaw 
  biker since he was a 
  teenager. He ran away 
  from home when he was 
  ﬁfteen, and hooked up 
  with the Forbidden a 
  couple years later while 
  he was pulling a stretch 
  in Longview on a rob-
  bery charge. Always 
  ready for trouble, he 
  usually carries a .45 
  automatic and a sawed-
  oﬀ shotgun with him 
  wherever he goes.
  
  171 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Five
  Some of the most prominent biker gangs in 
  the Hudson City area include:
  THE FORBIDDEN
  The Forbidden (whose name signifies that 
  the members feel they’ve been “forbidden” to be 
  part of normal society, though some people mis-
  takenly believe it has occult significance) have a 
  large chapter in the Hudson City area — nearly 
  150 total members. The gang’s headquarters is 
  an old industrial building in Sabine County, not 
  too far from the landfill. The gang has heavily 
  fortified and secured the building:  electric fence; 
  closed-circuit surveillance cameras; patrols; 
  guard dogs; steel doors; and so forth. The gang’s 
  colors are black with a pattern of red blood drip-
  ping down from the shoulders.
  The leader of the “HC” chapter of the For-
  bidden is “Slammin’ Jack” Maxwell, a seemingly 
  friendly, live-and-let-live kind of guy who’s actu-
  ally a vicious bastard. He has a thinly-disguised 
  hatred of “slants” (Asians, particularly the Japanese 
  gangsters with whom his club sometimes ﬁghts) 
  and “spics,” but most of all for the Killers, his club’s 
  biggest enemy. He likes nothing better than to get 
  wasted on PCP and lead his gang on a “raid” against 
  any group of Killers they can ﬁnd.
  THE HIGHWAY MOBSTERS
  Primarily based in the Southeast and Midwest, 
  the Highway Mobsters sometimes come to Hudson 
  City to party — or to ﬁght with the local chapter of 
  its rival, the Satanic Skulls. The Mobsters’ national 
  president, Brian Kelly, spent some time in the Pearl 
  City as a kid and often accompanies his men on 
  these trips. When the Mobsters blow into town, 
  they’re usually looking for a good time, and woe 
  unto anyone who gets in their way The last time 
  someone tried to “calm them down,” the result was 
  a running gun battle with the HCPD. The gang’s 
  colors feature a snake and a rose.
  THE KILLERS
  The Killers gang got its start in the North-
  east in the late Seventies, and has had a chapter 
  in Hudson City almost since its inception. When 
  many Hudsonites think of “biker gangs,” the ﬁrst 
  thing that comes to mind is the Killers’ colors, 
  which feature a knife and a pistol crossed heral-
  dic style. The gang doesn’t have any one national 
  leader; the leaders of local chapters meet peri-
  odically to set “club policy.” A big, bald, ZZ Top-
  bearded fellow called “Cueball” Patterson runs the 
  Hudson City chapter.
  Although it’s deﬁnitely still a biker gang 
  — as its occasional battles with the Forbidden 
  demonstrate — over the past few years the Kill-
  ers have “upscaled” themselves a bit. The gang has 
  often worked closely with various Maﬁa families, 
  and their money and (relative) sophistication has 
  worn oﬀ on the bikers. Some of them have shifted 
  from the in-your-face biker gang style to wearing 
  suits and driving expensive cars:  brutal thugs all 
  spruced up for the big dance.
  THE SATANIC SKULLS
  The Satanic Skulls is a major national biker 
  gang with dozens of chapters. The Hudson City 
  chapter, which has its headquarters in a compound 
  a little south of the Inner Beltline, was once one of 
  the largest and most inﬂuential chapters. An unfor-
  tunate (for the gang) run-in with LIBRA left several 
  dozen members dead and the chapter a shadow 
  of its former self. In recent months that gang has 
  devoted most of its eﬀorts to fending oﬀ rivals and 
  building itself back up.
  The aptly-named “Big Eddie” Malinowski, a 
  loud, obnoxious, brutal man given to alternating 
  moods of anger and hedonism, survived that attack 
  and now leads the Skulls. He proudly wears his 
  gang’s colors, a ﬂaming demon’s skull insignia, at all 
  times, and almost always carries a big-bore revolver.
  Underworld Relations
  Biker gangs aren’t exactly shy and retiring 
  — if they want something, they go after it, and that 
  can bring them into conﬂict with other groups. In 
  Hudson City, they ﬁght with the yakuza (which also 
  sells meth, PCP, and designer drugs), some Latin 
  City and Freetown gangs (with whom they compete 
  for the heroin trade), and even Card Shark (who’s 
  insulted them and tried to horn in on their “turf” 
  plenty of times). On the other hand, some of them 
  have a powerful ally in the Maﬁa. If the Italians 
  need a job done and don’t want to get their own 
  hands dirty, a quick payoﬀ to a biker gang takes 
  care of the matter.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  172 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  STREET GANGS  
  AND POSSES
  “No !$&*%@’ way, man. Nowell Street don’t 
  bow t’ no one, ’specially not some oreo in a 
  fancy suit.”
  The man in the suit was sitting in a booth far 
  enough away from the speakers that he could 
  talk without having to shout. “You sure you 
  don’t want to think that over a little more, 
  LDog? One gang doesn’t have the juice to stand 
  up to Shango or Buckshot. Once they decide 
  they want your turf, they’ll just kill you and 
  take it. I’m oﬀering you a chance to be a part 
  of something bigger than yourself... and keep 
  your life.”
  LDog looked around nervously, aware Strad’s 
  bodyguard had him surrounded even though 
  they weren’t standing close by. Strad didn’t seem 
  scared of him at all. “OK, say we down w’ you, 
  G. Wha’s in it f’ LDog?”
  “You work for me. Your people work for me. You 
  don’t do what you’re told, you’ll be eliminated 
  — I’ve squashed roaches like you before, and I’ll 
  do it again if I have to. But if you play right, I’ll 
  double your drug sales and keep Shango, Buck-
  shot, and everyone else oﬀ your back.”
  “Even that two-headed !$&*er? He’s been 
  makin’ noises ’round F’syth.”
  “Yes, I’ll handle Diomedes. You won’t have to 
  worry about it — you’ll just answer to me.”
  LDog thought it over a few minutes more. “K, 
  we solid,” he ﬁnally said. “Nowell Street yours. 
  But you better come across like you promised, 
  or we walk.” He turned and walked out of the 
  club.
  Strad waited until LDog was gone, then 
  retrieved the pistol he’d been hiding under the 
  table. “I think that went well, don’t you, gentle-
  men?” he asked his guards.
  — business is war in Freetown
  The underworld in Freetown and Lafayette is 
  fractured, chaotic, and extremely dangerous even to 
  those who know it well. Two crimelords, three large 
  gangs, several posses, and dozens of smaller gangs 
  all compete for turf, proﬁts, power, and respect. The 
  HCPD estimates that over 80,000 children, teenag-
  ers, and young adults belong to some type of gang.
  Territory
  Territory is a touchy subject on the Southside. 
  Throughout Freetown and Lafayette, dozens of 
  gangs — many owing allegiance to some leader 
  or larger group — claim a streetcorner or block as 
  their own and ﬁght to the death to defend it. All 
  of the major players control a pretty signiﬁcant 
  chunk of the neighborhoods, but rarely in uniﬁed 
  geographical area. Instead, each one has a pocket 
  of control here, a group of loyal sets there. When 
  drawn on a map (see page 159), the territories look 
  like puddles of oil pooling on dirty water.
  The major “playas” in the struggle for control 
  of the neighborhoods are:
  SHANGO
  In 2001, a big Nubian gangsta named Everett 
  Robinson, known on the streets as ER (mainly 
  because he’d sent so many people to one, not 
  because of his initials), decided he could do better 
  for himself. He broke away from the gang, taking 
  several sets with him, and set out to prove he knew 
  how to handle the streets better than anyone else.
  Turns out, he did. Christening himself 
  “Shango” (a name he learned studying African his-
  tory and legends), he built a small criminal empire 
  by crushing some of his enemies and cleverly 
  manipulating others. Today he controls a large 
  chunk of southern and western Freetown, and he’s 
  always scheming to get more. Most observers think 
  he and Strad are going to be the ones to ﬁght for 
  all the marbles, since they’ve got organization and 
  smarts the Nubians and Warriors lack, but Shango 
  isn’t stupid enough to count the large gangs out of 
  the picture.
  STRAD
  Everything Shango is, Strad is not. Shango 
  came up from the streets; Strad just appeared one 
  day and began taking over the territory he now 
  controls. Shango is big, loud, and strong; Strad thin, 
  quiet, culturally sophisticated. Shango blusters and 
  yells; Strad never seems to lose his temper. In short, 
  Strad looks like a weakling and an also-ran com-
  pared to Shango... but everyone on the streets has 
  learned that crossing Strad means a one-way trip to 
  the morgue.
  As of late 2004, Strad doesn’t control quite as 
  much of Freetown as Shango; his bases of power 
  are in the northeast and north central parts of the 
  neighborhood. He also seems to have fewer men, 
  but his are better trained and equipped than Shan-
  go’s (who are essentially just gang kids with a little 
  more discipline and organization). But he’s holding 
  his own in the struggle for Freetown, and some 
  people think his combination of brains, willpower, 
  and ruthlessness will make him the winner.
  THE NUBIANS
  The Nubians gang was founded in 1986 by 
  Roosevelt Graves, then a high school student. 
  Because school rules forbade students to wear 
  “gang colors,” the members identiﬁed themselves 
  by wearing large gold chains, and gold eventually 
  DERRICK WEBB
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   9 CON 
  9 BODY
   9 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  9 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   18 END 19 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  8-, Conversation 11-, 
  KS: Hudson City Street 
  Gangs 13-, Persuasion 
  11-, PS: Social Worker 
  11-, Streetwise 11-, WF: 
  Handguns, Knives
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Subject To 
  Orders; Social Limita-
  tion:  Criminal Record
  Notes:  Time was, Der-
  rick Webb was out on 
  the street, running 
  with the Nubians, sell-
  ing drugs and getting 
  into major trouble. But 
  an encounter with an 
  understanding priest 
  during his last term in 
  Longview put him on a 
  better path. He earned 
  his GED, went to col-
  lege, and got a degree 
  in social work. Now he 
  works for the Hudson 
  City Department of 
  Health and Human 
  Services as part of its 
  gang outreach program, 
  trying to do the same 
  thing for gang kids that 
  someone once did for 
  him:  save them from 
  the streets. It’s a thank-
  less task, one that often 
  gets him sneered at by 
  gangstas and cops alike, 
  but that just makes 
  every little victory all 
  the sweeter.
  
  173 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Five
  became the group’s color when they dropped out 
  of school and were free to wear what they chose. 
  They were so successful as a gang that other gangs 
  started adopting their “style” and allied with them; 
  all of the original members eventually founded 
  sets (gangs) of their own. Graves was killed in a 
  drive-by shooting in 1997, but long before then the 
  Nubians had taken on a life of its own.
  Most Nubians wear one or more large gold 
  chains. They mark their territory with yellow or 
  gold graﬃti.
  Currently, the HCPD’s Youth Crime Task Force 
  estimates that at least thirty to forty sets associate 
  themselves with the Nubians. Some of them include 
  the Lancaster Nubians, True Nubians, Oakdale 
  Nubians, and Blood Nubians. When they’re not sell-
  ing crack, pimping, or getting high, they ﬁght with 
  their main rivals, the Warriors and the Overlords; 
  some weeks not a day passes without a drive-by 
  shooting or two.
  THE OVERLORDS
  The Overlords got its start in the early Nineties 
  when several gangs banded together for protection 
  against the Warriors. It didn’t look like that was 
  going to be enough — the Overlords were about 
  to be wiped out — until the criminal mercenary 
  Buckshot showed up and took over. With his skill, 
  ﬁrepower, and will to back them up, the Overlords 
  fought oﬀ the Warriors and not only held onto their 
  turf, but expanded it.
  Buckshot could leave the Overlords behind 
  and make better money for himself as a mercenary 
  or freelance criminal, but he has bigger goals in 
  sight than just money:  he wants power, and he 
  senses he can achieve that power by taking control 
  of the independent gangs in the city. With not only 
  the Overlords, but the independents, and eventually 
  the Nubians and the Warriors, under his thumb, he 
  can get rid of Shango (whom he bitterly hates) and 
  Strad (whom he doesn’t quite understand... yet) and 
  take over the whole Southside. He thinks the black 
  gangs of Freetown could be, and should be, as pow-
  erful a force in the Hudson City underworld as the 
  Maﬁa or yakuza.
  THE WARRIORS
  The Warriors formed in 1988 at Upton High 
  School. The gang takes its color (green) and name 
  from the UHS mascot and color. No one knows 
  exactly who started the gang, but experts believed 
  it formed to protect its members from being pres-
  sured into joining the Nubians. The gang expanded 
  fairly rapidly, and as of late 2004 has about 25-30 
  sets, such as the Black Warriors, Two-O Street War-
  riors, and Halcyon Village Warriors.
   OTHER GANGS
  Not every gang in Freetown and Lafayette 
  belongs to one of the major sets — there are plenty 
  of “independents” eking out a living on the streets 
  and alleys they can claim and hold. In fact, inde-
  pendent gangs control most of “Fayettenam,” and 
  all of the major playas in Freetown look on that 
  area as a place to expand into.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  174 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  Posses
  Since the late Eighties, Hudson City has also 
  seen an inﬂux of criminal gangs from Jamaica — 
  posses. The early posses, like the Calypso Dreamers 
  and the Trenchtown Rumblers, hit the scene hard, 
  causing one DEA agent to predict that they’d take 
  over crime in Freetown within ﬁve years. Instead, 
  what happened is that they ran out of steam and 
  either merged with existing gangs or got killed oﬀ.
  Beginning in the late Nineties, a second wave 
  of Jamaican crime hit Hudson City, often in con-
  junction with Dominican gangs. Some of these 
  were so-called “voodoo posses,” which mixed their 
  bizarre religion with crime. These posses learned 
  from their predecessors and found ways to take and 
  control turf without being obliterated or absorbed 
  by the local gangs. Instead, they’ve done the obliter-
  ating whenever they had to.
  As of 2004, four posses control signiﬁcant ter-
  ritories on the Southside:
  DOOM FEVER
  This voodoo posse carved out its turf among 
  the housing projects and squalor of North Elm-
  view by killing off several local gangs and taking 
  their business. The posse’s name comes from the 
  members’ saying that anyone who opposes them 
  has “the doom fever” upon him and will surely 
  die — if not at their hands, then because of the 
  evil powers of the loas and spirits their leader,  
  Therrence “Red Hand” Upchurch, commands. 
  Their loyalty to Upchurch and his foul gods gives 
  them a loyalty and bravery that few other posses 
  can match... and that makes them even more 
  dangerous than normal.
  ELIZABETH STREET
  The original members of this posse used to live 
  on Elizabeth Street in Tivoli Gardens, a poor sec-
  tion of Kingston, Jamaica. They maintain strong ties 
  to Jamaica and to the de Fonseca cartel in Colom-
  bia that supplies them with the cocaine they sell.
  Elizabeth Street’s leader, Edward St. John 
  Smythe, was once heavily involved in Jamaican 
  politics as a major supporter of the Jamaican 
  Nationalist Party (JNP). But he fell from favor with 
  the party’s leaders and moved to the United States 
  to avoid any possible “repercussions” (i.e., death 
  squads). Secretive and paranoid, he’s said never to 
  go out of doors in the daytime.
  GHEDE
  Taking its name from a powerful Voodoo loa, 
  the Ghede posse has a reputation for violence, bru-
  tality, and killing that eclipses that of other posses. 
  Under the leadership of the sociopathic houngan 
  Brother Namaan, the posse kills anyone who stands 
  in its way, tortures captured enemies for informa-
  tion, and uses other terror tactics to intimidate 
  potential opponents. The last group to ﬁght Ghede, 
  the Radiance posse, backed oﬀ after a car bomb 
  killed half of its members.
  HURRICANE
  This posse’s name comes from the fact that 
  when they ﬁght their enemies, “it’s like a hurricane 
  of bullets,” according to one gangsta. Under the 
  leadership of Alfred “Alﬁe” Page, Hurricane has 
  developed its crack distribution network together 
  with some groups of prostitutes it controls. The 
  girls refer their johns to Hurricane’s crackhouse for 
  their drugs, and sometimes give a hit or two away 
  as a “free sample” to bring in new business. They 
  also act as couriers from stash house to crackhouse 
  and from city to city.
  Underworld Relations
  The posses don’t get along with anyone — not 
  even each other. They’re not interested in negotiat-
  ing with other gangs, maintaining the peace, or 
  anything other than making money and having 
  good times. If that means they have to go after 
  some rival gang and gun down every one of its 
  members, so be it.
  OTHER POSSES
  Some other posses 
  active in Hudson City 
  from time to time 
  include:
  Kingston Boys
  Radiance
  Spaldings
  Whitﬁeld
  
  175 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Five
  B
  eginning in the mid-Eighties, Hudson 
  City experienced an inﬂux of what people 
  quickly came to call “costumed” or “weird” 
  criminals:  nontraditional crimelords who 
  attempted to make their mark on the underworld 
  through a combination of wits, brutality, and style. 
  The latter often took the form of strange costumes 
  or modus operandi, such as the playing card-inﬂu-
  enced uniforms of Card Shark and his men or 
  Anagram’s habit of leaving clue-ﬁlled puzzles for 
  the police at the scene of her crimes. Since then 
  these strange killers and crooks have become a per-
  manent part of the Hudsonite underworld, though 
  more than a few have fallen to the bullets of vigi-
  lantes or been arrested by the HCPD.
  Describing the costumed criminals as a cat-
  egory is diﬃcult, since they’re a diverse group. They 
  range from professional criminals like Card Shark 
  and Janus (who commit crimes with precision and 
  react ruthlessly to any opposition) to psychotic 
  or deeply disturbed individuals like Diomedes, 
  the Astrologer, and Penny Dreadful (who seem to 
  thrive as much on the fear and chaos they cause as 
  on the proﬁts from their criminal activities). Some 
  of them are semi-permanent residents at Tod-
  dberry Asylum, while others could never qualify 
  for the insanity defense. Some want money, others 
  desire bloodshed, some have a ﬁxation on a partic-
  ular subject or goal. The only thing experts can say 
  for certain about them is that they’re all dangerous.
  CARD SHARK
  “Freeze!” the six cops shouted almost simulta-
  neously.
  The man they were pointing their guns at 
  looked like something that stepped oﬀ a playing 
  card:  red v-neck tunic, white ascot, blue pants 
  and boots, gold sash, white mask with a spade 
  symbol over the left eye. A casual onlooker 
  would assume he was unarmed... but the cops 
  weren’t that stupid.
  Card Shark turned slowly from the jewelry 
  case he’d been working on. He knew he hadn’t 
  tripped any alarm, so some cop on the street 
  must have seen him coming in or something. 
  Usually his luck was a lot better than that... but 
  he still had plenty of aces up his sleeves.
  “Are you sure you want to do that, gentlemen? 
  Let me make a suggestion:  put down your guns 
  and walk out of here and I’ll let you live. You 
  have three seconds to decide.”
  “Bull*%&!,” one of the cops said matter-of-
  factly. “Lay down on the ground and put your 
  hands on the back of your head, or we will open 
  ﬁre! Now!”
  Card Shark shrugged. “Your funeral,” he said. 
  Before any of the cops could even squeeze their 
  triggers, he plucked two cards from inside his 
  sash, then threw them as he dove to the side 
  behind another jewelry case. The cop who 
  spoke and the guy next to him got hit — one 
  in the throat and one in the eye — and both 
  went down screaming, their blood spurting all 
  around them.
  The four surviving cops opened fire, but Card 
  Shark wasn’t behind that case anymore — all 
  they killed was glass and jewelry. Without 
  warning he stood up behind a case several 
  meters away and flung another card. This 
  one exploded with a flash of light so bright 
  that all four of the cops were blinded. One 
  slipped in the blood on the floor and went 
  down; the others started firing wildly. It was 
  a simple matter to get behind them and slit 
  their throats, one by one.
  — a jewelry heist in Bankhurst
  Hudson City’s most notorious costumed 
  criminal is also one of its longest-lived. Card Shark 
  ﬁrst appeared on the scene in 1986, and over the 
  past two decades has grown from being a one-
  man crime wave to the leader of the most unusual 
  organized crime groups in the city — one powerful 
  enough to challenge the likes of the Maﬁa and the 
  yakuza for underworld supremacy.
  Organization And Structure
  When Card Shark started his career, he worked 
  by himself, or at best with temporary gangs. He 
  soon realized the folly of that approach and began 
  building himself an organization from the best 
  criminals, mercenaries, and killers he could ﬁnd.
  Card Shark’s organization has four levels. 
  He’s at the top:  the sole, unquestioned leader who 
  plans the group’s strategies and major crimes. But 
  he’s no lead-from-the-rear general. Quick, strong, 
  smart, clever, conﬁdent, and cruel, he still likes to 
  get out “into the ﬁeld” as much as he ever did. He’s 
  been known to go along and lead his men on jobs, 
  and sometimes pulls oﬀ solo crimes as a way of 
  keeping in practice. He frequently visits his illegal 
  gambling dens, mixing with the big spenders to add 
  a dangerous thrill to their night (and get his own 
  COSTUMED 
  CRIMINALS
  PAUL ROGERS
   10 STR 
  8 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   13 INT 
  10 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 20 STUN
  Abilities:  +1 PER with all 
  Sense Groups, Martial 
  Arts (Aikido — arm-
  based Maneuvers only), 
  Combat Driving 8-, 
  Criminology 12-, Deduc-
  tion 12-, CK: Hudson 
  City 11-, KS: Card Shark 
  14-, KS: Criminal Law 
  And Procedure 11-, KS: 
  Hudson City Costumed 
  Criminals 11-, KS: The 
  Law Enforcement World 
  11-, PS: Police Oﬃcer 11-, 
  Streetwise 11-, WF: Small 
  Arms, Fringe Beneﬁt: 
  Weapon Permit
  Disadvantages:  Physical 
  Limitation:  Paraplegic 
  (0” Running)
  Notes:  Paul Rogers used 
  to be an HCPD cop. Then 
  he had an unfortunate 
  encounter with a group 
  of Card Shark agents 
  being led by Blackjack 
  on a heist. Blackjack 
  beat him nearly to death, 
  breaking his spine and 
  leaving Rogers a paraple-
  gic. Now retired from the 
  force on a full disability 
  pension, he spends his 
  time researching Card 
  Shark and bugging the 
  crap out of his former 
  colleagues with elabo-
  rate “reports” about the 
  masked mastermind’s 
  activities. He knows a 
  lot about Card Shark, 
  and his reports are often 
  useful, but his constant 
  insistence on “immedi-
  ate” police action often 
  annoys people.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  176 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  ego stroked). Cops or vigilantes who think he just 
  sits back and gives orders will quickly learn to their 
  sorrow what a deadly adversary he can be, both 
  personally and as a leader.
  The second level of Card Shark’s organization 
  are his trusted lieutenants (see below). “Trusted” 
  may actually be too strong a word, since it’s doubt-
  ful Card Shark truly trusts anyone, but he seems 
  willing to let these men take charge of major crimes 
  and command large groups of his followers.
  The bottom two levels of the group are Card 
  Shark’s rank-and-ﬁle “soldiers”:  the “Face Card” 
  agents, who serve as ﬁeld commanders and leaders 
  of speciﬁc criminal gangs or operations (such as a 
  particular illegal casino); and the “Deck” agents, who 
  take the orders and do the dirty work. Both types of 
  agents wear uniforms patterned after Card Shark’s 
  costume unless circumstances dictate otherwise.
  Card Shark also divides his organization into 
  four “suits” based on function:  Spades (assas-
  sination, enforcement, and counterintelligence); 
  Diamonds (burglary, theft, smuggling); Clubs 
  (gambling); and Hearts (information acquisition, 
  interrogation, money laundering). It’s unclear to the 
  authorities whether a given agent is permanently 
  assigned to a “suit,” and what other functions the 
  suits arrangement might serve.
  CARD SHARK’S LIEUTENANTS
  Card Shark relies on ﬁve lieutenants to help 
  him run his organization:
  Blackjack:  A huge, hulking man dressed in black 
  with a black hood-like mask. Although not espe-
  cially bright, Blackjack can hit like a Mack truck 
  and is said to be capable of tearing a man in two 
  with his bare hands. 
  Deadman’s Hand:  This sadistic killer wears spe-
  cial gloves that deliver electric shocks of varying 
  strengths. If he gets his hands on someone, that 
  person’s as good as dead.
  Jack o’ Diamonds:  A lithe, agile ﬁghter who wears 
  a costume patterned after his namesake card. Jack 
  is deadly accurate with his trademark diamond-
  shaped throwing blades.
  One-Eyed Jack:  Card Shark’s longest-serving and 
  most trusted lieutenant. He wears a full face mask 
  (black on the left side, red on the right, with no eye-
  hole in the black) and a ﬁnely-tailored man’s suit. 
  He’s slightly lame and uses a walking stick which 
  has weapons concealed inside it.
  Pokerface:  A brutish and sadistic enforcer and 
  assassin whose face never betrays any emotion 
  whatsoever and who seems oddly resistant to pain. 
  In many situations he serves as Card Shark’s body-
  guard or ﬁeld commander.
  
  177 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Five
  It’s possible Card Shark would expand the 
  ranks of his elite operatives if he found anyone he 
  thought both worthy and capable of living up to a 
  card-based nickname. For example, he once had a 
  bodyguard named Wildcard (a man highly skilled 
  with nearly any weapon one could name), who was 
  killed during one of Card Shark’s frequent run-ins 
  with the Harbinger of Justice.
  Activities
  Card Shark’s organization specializes in crimes 
  relating to gambling, smuggling, burglary and 
  theft, assassination, and the provision of “high-tech 
  services” to the underworld. While the spectacular 
  thefts and murders the group pulls oﬀ earn the 
  biggest headlines, gambling is Card Shark’s staple 
  — approximately half of the organization’s income 
  comes from its extensive network of hidden casi-
  nos, high-stakes poker games, and other such 
  establishments. The HCPD believes that he con-
  trols illegal gambling in most of Hudson City. The 
  only areas where he’s not in charge are Chinatown 
  (where the tongs run things), Little Italy (where 
  Card Shark competes with the Maﬁa); and Free-
  town (where he competes with illegal numbers 
  operations run by black organized crime groups). 
  The authorities have no record of Card Shark being 
  involved with drug traﬃcking or the sex trade.
  Underworld Relations
  Through arrogance or necessity (some say 
  both), Card Shark stands alone:  he regards the 
  Maﬁa, the yakuza, and every other criminal group 
  in the city as an enemy — a threat to his goal of 
  increasing his power, wealth, and inﬂuence. He 
  covets some of their resources (particularly the 
  Maﬁa’s deep penetration of city government and 
  industry), and would gladly seize them if he could. 
  If he allies with a group (especially another cos-
  tumed crimelord), it’s a temporary thing that’s 
  likely to end with Card Shark betraying his erst-
  while comrade.
  CHARLEMAGNE
  “Really, my good man, did you think you could 
  scare me with that show of bravado? I’ve faced 
  down many others like you, and their graves 
  are hidden all around this city. Now please, let’s 
  be reasonable — pay the twenty percent you 
  owe me for the right to steal in my dominion, 
  or I’ll have to let my man Caber here take the 
  price out on your bones.”
  — Charlemagne’s business technique
  He names himself after a Dark Ages king, and 
  he dresses like some sort of eighteenth-century 
  dandy. But those who underestimate Charlemagne 
  because of his appearance make a grave mistake:  
  the sleeves of his silk shirts hold strongly-armed 
  muscles, and behind his handsome face there’s a 
  brain both devious and daring. An expert shooter, 
  fencer, and boxer, he’s got a certain “macho” qual-
  ity to him and enjoys challenging his enemies to 
  duels and one-on-one battles... confrontations 
  that invariably end badly for his foes. And if Char-
  lemagne himself weren’t bad enough, his body-
  guard Caber (see the sidebar, or The Ultimate Brick, 
  page 126) is tough enough to beat hardened merce-
  naries to a bloody pulp.
  Charlemagne claims a territory in part of 
  Riverside Hills and Crown Point where he runs 
  protection rackets, commits robberies, sells drugs, 
  and involves himself in any other activity he thinks 
  he can safely make money at. (He’d like to get more 
  involved in illegal gambling, but can’t break Card 
  Shark’s stranglehold on that particular side of the 
  underworld, and perhaps in high-class prostitu-
  tion.) He insists, forcefully if necessary, that anyone 
  committing a crime there pay him a one-ﬁfth 
  “tribute.” Drug dealers and burglars who choose 
  to ignore this “tax” wind up very, very dead. His 
  own gang of thugs and thieves keeps an eye on the 
  neighborhood for him so he doesn’t have to soil his 
  hands on the streets every day. 
  CABER
   25 STR 
  14 DEX
   22 CON 17 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   20 PRE 
  10 COM
   10 PD 
  8 ED
   4 SPD 
  9 REC
   44 END 41 STUN
  Abilities:  Martial Arts 
  (Dirty Inﬁghting), HA 
  +2d6 (Requires A Brick 
  Tricks Roll), Physical 
  Damage Reduction 25%, 
  Resistant (Requires 
  A Brick Tricks Roll), 
  Gambling (Card Games) 
  11-, Interrogation 14-, 
  Power:  Brick Tricks 14-, 
  Stealth 12-, Streetwise 
  13-, WF: Small Arms, 
  Blades
  Disadvantages:  Distinc-
  tive Features (Scottish 
  accent); Hunted:  HCPD 
  8-; Psychological Limi-
  tation:  Enjoys Hurting 
  People; Psychological 
  Limitation:  Greedy And 
  Self-Centered
  Notes:  For a full 
  description of Caber, as 
  well as a complete char-
  acter sheet, see page 126 
  of The Ultimate Brick.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  178 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  DIOMEDES
  “Jesus, that guy. I don’t never get used to being 
  around that guy. Two sets of cold eyes staring at 
  you, one head’s voice ﬁnishing the sentences the 
  other begins... it’s just !$&*%@# creepy.” 
  — professional thug George “Lefty”  
  Bissell, on working for Diomedes
  The strangest crimelord in Hudson City is 
  undoubtedly Diomedes, a dicephalic (two-headed) 
  mastermind with mental abnormalities to match 
  his physical ones. Born Phillip and Reginald Anders 
  in 1975, he drifted into crime after emancipating 
  himself from his parents in his late teens.
  Diomedes has two heads (each containing an 
  insidiously clever brain), two spines, two hearts, 
  and two stomachs. His spines join at his hips, but 
  his upper bodies merge just below the neck, so 
  that he only has two arms. Each of his heads sleeps 
  separately (eﬀectively allowing him to remain func-
  tional almost 24 hours a day), thinks separately, and 
  can talk and eat separately. Because each part of 
  him has a separate nervous system, one side doesn’t 
  necessarily feel pain the other does... but since his 
  body is all one system, a drug administered to one 
  part of him aﬀects “both” of him equally. He only 
  has one set of legs, and each part of him controls 
  the leg on that side, but through long practice he 
  can walk, run, and jump with as much grace as any 
  other athletic man of about age 30.
  Diomedes’s monstrously evil psyche mirrors 
  his monstrous appearance. His quick wits and intel-
  ligence become obvious to anyone who speaks with 
  him for even a short period of time... but so does 
  his cruelty. Cut oﬀ from people by the deformity of 
  his body, he seems to think no more of humanity 
  than he thinks of ants or rats. They’re just things to 
  be crushed, manipulated, and exploited as he sees 
  ﬁt. He’s quick to take oﬀense and quick to kill; he 
  sometimes has trouble recruiting criminals to help 
  him because of his reputation as a psychotic killer.
  JANUS
  “God, I don’t ever wanna go through that again. 
  We was just getting ready to close, gathering up 
  the jewelry trays and carrying them back to the 
  safe in the back room, when this car drove right 
  through the front window! Janie got cut bad by 
  all the ﬂying glass, but before we could help her, 
  all these guys piled out of the car.
  “Most of ’em were guys in jumpsuits wearing ski 
  masks, but the guy in charge — Janus, I think 
  that other reporter said his name was — was 
  diﬀerent. He had on this brown suit, with a hat 
  and a black mask. All the other guys had guns, 
  but he just had this walking stick with a funny-
  looking knob on top. His guys herded us all into 
  one corner at gunpoint while he went around 
  smashing all the jewelry cases with his cane. 
  About half of his men gathered up all the jew-
  elry they could carry in these bags they brought 
  while the others watched us. Mister Drummond 
  tried to say something, to plead with them, but 
  that Janus guy hit him so hard with his cane 
  that he fell over unconscious with a big cut in 
  his forehead.
  “When they had all the jewelry they wanted, 
  they got back in the car quick and backed outta 
  there. We didn’t even hear the ﬁrst siren until 
  after they’d gone.
  “I sure hope Janie’s OK — we haven’t heard 
  anything from the hospital yet.”
  — interview with robbery  
  victim Abby Mersinger
  Unlike Diomedes, who actually has two heads, 
  Janus simply named himself after a god with two 
  faces. As far as the police know, this mysterious 
  ﬁgure is just a crime boss with a ﬂare for drama. 
  The “Janus Gang” has been striking around Elm-
  view and North Elmview for nearly two years, 
  racking up an impressive record of robberies, 
  shakedowns, extortion, and murder. That Janus — 
  assuming he’s just one person and not a group — is 
  clever and cautious shows in his planning, which 
  usually allows the gang’s jobs to come oﬀ without a 
  hitch long before the cops can arrive.
  Janus and his gang have avoided contact with 
  police and vigilantes to date because they don’t 
  commit crimes that would require them to main-
  tain an open presence on the street. Janus doesn’t 
  sell drugs, pimp, or anything similar; he and his 
  gang steal things, mostly, and ﬁght other gangs that 
  encroach on their hunting grounds. Attempts to 
  trace him through the fences he uses have so far 
  failed, leading some to believe he sells his goods 
  through contacts in other cities.
  GEORGE “LEFTY” 
  BISSELL
   10 STR 
  12 DEX
   12 CON 10 BODY
   8 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   3 SPD 
  4 REC
   24 END 21 STUN
  Abilities:  Brawling 
  (HA +1d6), Bribery 8-, 
  Concealment 11-, KS: 
  Hudson City Costumed 
  Criminals 11-, KS: 
  Hudson City Vigilan-
  tes 11-, Lockpicking 
  8-, Security Systems 8-, 
  Stealth 11-, Streetwise 
  11-, WF: Small Arms
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Criminal 
  Record; Unluck 1d6
  Notes:  “Lefty” Bissell is 
  just one of the legions 
  of half-rate crooks and 
  losers with delusions of 
  grandeur who earn most 
  of their money as thugs, 
  legbreakers, and ﬂunkies 
  working for costumed 
  or “weird” criminals 
  like Charlemagne, 
  Janus, Anagram, or the 
  Astrologer. Not skilled 
  or talented enough 
  to join up with Card 
  Shark or to make it on 
  his own, he turns to the 
  more bizarre criminals 
  of Hudson City to give 
  him a job and little self-
  identity.
  
  179 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Five
  THE KYPHOTIC MAN
  “Ya gotta help me, doc — I’m cut bad.”
  “Let me take a quick look. Move your hand, you 
  idiot. Do you think I can see through it?” The 
  hunchbacked physician examined the wound 
  carefully for a few moment. “Yes, that’s bad, all 
  right. The blow nicked an artery. You’re going to 
  bleed to death if you don’t get some help.”
  “So, help me!”
  “Even you can’t be stupid enough to think I 
  work for free. If you want me to take care of 
  this, it will cost you ten thousand dollars, pay-
  able now.”
  “A large cool? But I don’t have that kind of 
  money, doc!”
  The hunchback sighed deeply. “All right, what 
  do you have?”
  “I can give ya a cool now, and another in the 
  morning. Please, doc!”
  “All right, all right. Give me the money. But if 
  you’re not here with the other thousand by 9:00 
  AM tomorrow, my men are going to ﬁnd you 
  and I’ll personally rip your stitches out myself.”
  — the Kyphotic Man’s bedside manner
  Since doctors must, by law, report gunshot 
  wounds and stabbings to the police, the denizens 
  of the underworld are always on the lookout for a 
  doc who can do good work fast and keep his mouth 
  shut. For the past few years, the best man on the 
  street for this sort of thing is a twisted little hunch-
  back who calls himself “the Kyphotic Man.” Every-
  one else calls him “Quasimodo” or “the Hunchback.”
  Over the past several months, the Kyphotic 
  Man’s priorities have shifted. Apparently no longer 
  content to be an underworld doctor, he’s set out to 
  make himself a power in the underworld. With a 
  gang of hired guns at his back, he’s pulled robber-
  ies, hijacked trucks, shaken down businesses, and 
  killed people. Rumor on the street has it that he 
  got one of his patients to spill his guts about some 
  big secrets, and is now using those secrets to make 
  himself a crimelord.
  Experts believe the Kyphotic Man is a socio-
  path; he seems to have no feelings of guilt or shame, 
  no regard for consequences, no compunctions 
  about killing and maiming. His most noticeable 
  trait is his intellectual arrogance, which oozes 
  through every conversation he has. He regards 
  everyone else as his intellectual inferior, and freely 
  says so.
  So far the Kyphotic Man hasn’t staked out a ter-
  ritory or developed any particular pattern or modus 
  operandi — he just commits crimes at random for 
  reasons all his own. The police worry that if he ever 
  settles down, his intellect will make him one of the 
  most eﬀective crimelords the city has ever seen... and 
  his psychosis one of the most deadly.
  SPEARGUN
  “Hold his arm down,” said the dark-haired man 
  holding the speargun.
  The two men with him, both dressed in wetsuits 
  like he was, grabbed the man he was referring to 
  — the guy in the suit, who obviously didn’t much 
  like being out on the river, at night, in a speedboat. 
  They carefully held his arm against one of the 
  boat’s chairs. “Please, no, you don’t gotta...” he said.
  The man with the speargun took careful aim, 
  steadying himself against the rocking of the 
  boat. Before the man in the suit could ﬁnish 
  speaking, he ﬁred. The man in the suit screamed, 
  his shrieks carrying a long way over the water.
  “Throw him over,” the man said. His two help-
  ers wrenched the spear out of the chair, being 
  careful to leave it in the victim’s arm, then tied 
  the rope attached to its end to a ring at the back 
  of the boat. They tossed him overboard as he 
  moaned and cried, holding his arm so the spear 
  would move as little as possible.
  The dark-haired man moved forward to the pilot’s 
  chair, sat down, and pressed the accelerator to the 
  ﬂoor. The man in the suit was soon dragging behind 
  them at forty miles an hour, desperately trying to 
  keep enough slack in the rope to spare his arm.
  After a minute of this, the dark-haired man 
  slowed down to a crawl, then swung back 
  around to pick the injured man up. He reached 
  down and heaved the man out of the water 
  with one hand. “I’ll ask you again, Turetti — 
  who controls the waterfront in Pierpoint?”
  “You do, Speargun! You do!”
  — Speargun’s idea of a pleasant trip out  
  on the water
  Two years ago a new crimelord arose to challenge 
  the Maﬁa’s control of most of the Hudson City water-
  fronts. Calling himself “Speargun” from his trademark 
  weapon, he declared himself “Ruler of Dockland” 
  and put out the word that waterfront businesses and 
  unions had better start doing business with him, not 
  the Maﬁa, or suﬀer the consequences. No one, not even 
  the cops, took him seriously — until maﬁosi and union 
  oﬃcials began turning up dead every week.
  Speargun moved quickly, ﬁrst establishing his 
  authority over the Stewart River docks where the 
  Maﬁa’s hold was weaker. Then he went after the rest 
  of North Elmview and Pierpoint, and at that point 
  his march stalled. The Morellis and Veronteses now 
  knew just how serious he was, so they marshaled 
  their resources to stop him. Since then, it’s been a 
  bloody battle along the docks, with no end in sight.
  The FBI and HCPD believe that Speargun must 
  have some sort of military training, probably as a 
  SEAL or UDT specialist, given the military precision of 
  his attacks and the tactics he uses. However, an exami-
  nation of the relevant military records has turned up 
  no possible suspects. Until someone captures him, his 
  identity and background will remain a mystery.
   INDEPENDENT 
  COSTUMED  
  CRIMINALS
  Not every costumed 
  or weird criminal is a 
  crimelord with a per-
  manent gang. A lot of 
  them are “independents” 
  who work for them-
  selves — or, at most, 
  with gangs of crooks 
  hired for a speciﬁc caper 
  or purpose. Many of 
  them are too loony, or 
  obsessed, to run a real 
  gang for any length of 
  time. They include:
  Anagram:  Most crimi-
  nals are content to get 
  away with the goods. 
  Not Anagram. She has to 
  prove how much more 
  clever she is than the 
  police, and she does it by 
  leaving puzzles, riddles, 
  and games containing 
  clues to where the cops 
  can ﬁnd her. They rarely 
  do... but the vigilante 
  DarkAngel has ﬁgured 
  out Anagram’s twisted 
  logic and brought her to 
  justice many times.
  The Astrologer:  If it’s in 
  the stars, the Astrolo-
  ger will steal it. Using 
  a “Star-Staﬀ” that ﬁres 
  pyrotechnic blasts, he 
  steals objects associ-
  ated with the stars or 
  outer space, or which his 
  astrological predictions 
  “tell” him to.
  Penny Dreadful:  Most 
  people who have a love 
  of literature just get 
  a library card. Penny 
  Dreadful takes things a 
  few steps further — she 
  steals ﬁrst editions, kid-
  naps authors, and plans 
  crime sprees around the 
  events of speciﬁc books 
  and poems.
  Raptor:  Some com-
  mentators have called 
  Raptor an “evil twin” 
  of DarkAngel’s. He 
  uses similar weapons, 
  gadgets, and methods, 
  but for crime rather 
  than crimeﬁghting. His 
  schemes or targets may 
  involve birds in some 
  fashion, but not always.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  180 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  T
  he Hudson city underworld is a large and 
  varied thing. Not every crime and criminal 
  is part of organized crime or some weird 
  criminal’s gang — some parts of the under-
  world are practically islands unto themselves amid 
  the sea of wrongdoing.
  ARMS TRAFFICKING
  I met the maﬁoski Ludyanov in Room 2884 of 
  the Hudson Plaza Hotel.
  “Zdorovat’sya,” he said in a deep voice, at once 
  friendly and menacing. I looked at him blankly, 
  pretending not to understand Russian.
  “Hello,” he said again, in thickly accented Eng-
  lish. “You are ready to deal with me, no?”
  “Yes,” I replied, “I’m here to deal with you.” I 
  took out a pack of cigarettes and put one in 
  my mouth. He asked for one and I held out the 
  pack to let him take one.
  “Ah,” he said gruﬄy, after I gave him a light, 
  “American cigarettes — much better than cheap 
  Soviet leftovers I get in Moscow. Now business. 
  You were interested in the riﬂes, no?”
  “And the rockets,” I said. “Don’t forget the rock-
  ets; my client is very... anxious to obtain them.”
  “Da, da, the rockets. SA-7 Grail missiles, a case 
  of twenty, a bargain to you for only....”
  That was as far as he got before the tranquil-
  izer in the cigarettes knocked him out; the anti-
  dote I’d taken beforehand protected me. By the 
  time he awoke, I’d taken him far away from the 
  Plaza — and from anyone who might hear him 
  screaming. Within an hour I knew how many 
  weapons Zelevsky was trying to move through 
  the city, where his men were keeping them, and 
  how heavily they were guarded. I left a call-
  ing card with Ludyanov’s corpse and went to 
  execute his comrades. With luck, the trail might 
  lead me right back to Zelevsky himself.
  — an excerpt from the journals  
  of the Harbinger of Justice
  The international black market for weap-
  ons, weapon systems, and military hardware is 
  enormous... and proﬁtable, for those clever and 
  connected enough to work the angles. Hudson 
  City isn’t a major center of the arms trade the way 
  Beirut, Rome, and a few other cities are, but it sees 
  its fair share of illegal weapons. Some of the major 
  arms smugglers who run weapons to or through 
  Hudson City include:
  MARZUQ AL-FASHTRI
  A Pakistani, formerly an oﬃcial in that nation’s 
  government and a highly-placed executive of the 
  Pakistani International Commerce Bank (which the 
  CIA has accused of ﬁnancing terrorists on several 
  occasions). Apparently he got tired of simply loan-
  ing money to terrorists, arms merchants, and drug 
  dealers and became one himself. Today he and his 
  organization, headquartered at his palatial estate 
  near Shikarpur, control an extensive international 
  network that sells weapons and heroin to all buyers 
  (including several Hudson City gangs). Because of 
  his inﬂuence, the Pakistani government has made 
  no move to stop him, despite pressure from the 
  United States to do so.
  Since the death of Romanian arms dealer 
  Nico Enesco in 1988, al-Fashtri’s organization has 
  become the chief supplier of arms to both Iran and 
  Iraq. A fervent Muslim, al-Fashtri prefers to sell to 
  fellow Muslims... but when it comes right down to 
  it, money speaks louder than religious aﬃliation.
  CARD SHARK
  Card Shark sometimes sells high-tech weapons 
  systems to buyers all over the world. Typically his 
  organization steals these systems from the govern-
  ment or defense contractors, but some experts 
  believe he has a corps of scientists who develop 
  weapons for him.
  VINCENT DUBOIS
  A registered international arms dealer  with 
  offices in Madrid, New York, Hudson City, San 
  Francisco, Hong Kong, Budapest, Belgrade, and 
  Stockholm, Dubois has allegedly been involved 
  in various illegal weapon smuggling operations. 
  However, he’s never been arrested, much less 
  prosecuted, for any such activities, and continues 
  to protest his innocence.
  MILOS JANOVICZ
  A former general in the Bulgarian army, 
  Janovicz got his start in the Enesco smuggling 
  organization, and took over the remnants of it after 
  Enesco’s death in 1988. Although currently based 
  in the Balkans, it’s thought he frequently travels to 
  Hudson City, masquerading as an innocent busi-
  nessman, to close deals. Janovicz is not likely to 
  remain a problem much longer; rumors say he has 
  a fatal kidney disease and doesn’t have long to live.
  OTHER CRIME
  OTHER ARMS  
  DEALERS
  There are plenty of men 
  throughout the world 
  willing to proﬁt from 
  the blood and misery 
  of the arms market, but 
  who don’t necessarily 
  interact with Hudson 
  City. They include:
  Chen Yan-Fat:  Yan-Fat, 
  of southern Chinese 
  descent, lives in Sin-
  gapore, Thailand, or 
  someplace nearby; 
  no one has been able 
  to ascertain his exact 
  location. CIA analysts 
  believe he has some 
  military experience, 
  but the details, if any, 
  remain unknown. He 
  dominates the ille-
  gal arms markets of 
  the South China Sea, 
  China, and Korea. 
  United States authori-
  ties have never been 
  able to pinpoint his 
  exact location, his 
  suppliers, or what he 
  does with his money, 
  indicating that he must 
  be a very cautious and 
  clever planner.
  Artur Baltasar Morence-
  los:  Morencelos, a 
  formerly a high-ranking 
  oﬃcer in the Brazil-
  ian military, presently 
  lives on an enormous 
  estate just outside Rio de 
  Janeiro. From there, he 
  controls an organization 
  that supplies arms to 
  groups throughout South 
  and Central America, 
  and the world. He is 
  said to be an extremely 
  greedy man, willing to 
  sell anything for a dollar, 
  no matter how much 
  suﬀering it brings.
  
  181 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Five
   VADIM ZELEVSKY
  A former member of the KGB’s 
  Third Directorate, Zelevsky is the 
  dominant ﬁgure in the vast and chaotic 
  Russian black market for arms. He has 
  strong ties to Russian organized crime 
  and to many terrorist organizations. 
  FBI oﬃcials fear he will soon succeed in 
  smuggling ﬁssionable nuclear material 
  out of Russia — if he hasn’t already.
  GAMBLING
  Illegal gambling — mostly in secret 
  “underground” casinos — is a major 
  part of the Hudson City underworld. 
  At ﬁrst glance this seems strange, given 
  how little time it would take someone 
  to get from Hudson City to Atlantic 
  City, where gambling is legal. But illegal 
  gambling thrives for several reasons. 
  First, not everyone likes to travel, even if 
  it’s only an hour or two’s drive. Second, 
  there’s a “thrill” to breaking the law that 
  appeals to even the most jaded gambler, 
  and you can’t get that in Atlantic City. 
  Third and most importantly, the payoﬀs 
  in illegal gambling games are much 
  higher... and the winner doesn’t have to 
  report them or pay taxes.
  The major player in illegal gam-
  bling in the city is Card Shark, who’s 
  said to control an entire network of 
  secret casinos, floating poker and 
  craps games, sports book, and other 
  forms of wagering. The Mafia also has 
  a heavy hand in sports betting, num-
  bers running, and similar pursuits, and 
  the tongs control the frenetic China-
  town illegal gambling scene.
  THE SEX TRADE
  “That’s it baby... just like that... a little lower... a 
  little harder... oh, God....”
  I couldn’t believe what a great angle I had. I 
  don’t wanna think about what Worm uses this 
  peephole for normally, but it’s perfect for using 
  my videocam. Looks like the Councilman’s wife 
  was right about him running around on her... 
  but I bet some of his enemies on the City Coun-
  cil would pay me a lot more for this ﬁlm than 
  she was gonna.
  — a good day at work for private  
  detective Angela Bianchi
  While it lacks the grotesque proﬁtability of 
  drug traﬃcking, the sex trade is one of the most 
  money-intensive segments of the Hudson City 
  underworld. Not only are parts of it legal (or nearly 
  legal), and thus at least borderline respectable, 
  most cops consider this stuﬀ a pretty minor crime 
  compared to the killers and muggers, so they don’t 
  interfere with business too much. As long as things 
  don’t verge anywhere close to kiddie porn — a 
  crime that even many hardened criminals won’t sit 
  still for — or sexual slavery, the HCPD usually ﬁnds 
  other things to worry about than what’s going on 
  on the Strip.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  182 ■ Predators: The Hudson City Underworld
  Pages 77-78 describe the Strip and the sur-
  rounding neighborhood in detail. Here’s the rest of 
  the story — the people who keep the whole sordid 
  area running like a well-lubricated machine.
  CALIGULA
  This immensely fat vicelord (real name:  
  Calvin Gilbertson) owns a series of strip clubs and 
  live sex show theaters up and down the Strip. All 
  of his registered businesses are legal — if disgust-
  ing — but the police suspect that he uses them as a 
  front for prostitution. HCPD detectives believe he 
  took over the stable of a pimp named Glitter sev-
  eral years ago and parlayed it into an underground 
  empire that mirrors his aboveboard one. Some cops 
  even think he’s gotten into more serious crimes, 
  such as white slavery, child prostitution, child 
  pornography, and even drug traﬃcking, but they 
  lack the proof necessary to bring formal charges. 
  Unfortunately, Caligula’s businesses have made him 
  extremely wealthy, and his battalion of high-priced 
  attorneys works night and day to keep the police 
  at bay. After he successfully sued the Department 
  for harassment in 2002, the Commissioner gave 
  instructions to leave him alone until there’s enough 
  proof to justify a thorough investigation beyond a 
  shadow of a doubt.
  North Elmview can be a dangerous place, and 
  Caligula’s in no shape to defend himself against 
  anyone, so he long ago hired a full-time bodyguard 
  named Hotspur. An expert martial artist, Hotspur 
  keeps everyone from bums, to noisy reporters, to 
  vigilantes from getting close to Caligula.
  CLEOPATRA
  Despite the fact that most sex trade workers 
  are female, women rarely have any power in the 
  Vice World — they do their work on their backs or 
  on their knees. The biggest exception in Hudson 
  City is the woman everyone calls Cleopatra. Once a 
  prostitute, exotic dancer, and pornography actress 
  herself, she used her brain, took advantage of a 
  few opportunities that fell her way, and set herself 
  up as a strip club owner. Her picturesque club, 
  Little Egypt (page 190), was so successful that she 
  launched a line of “Little Egypt Studios” adult ﬁlms 
  that’s become an even more proﬁtable enterprise. 
  Compared to most of the other vicelords on the 
  Strip, she’s pretty tame, but as long as the money 
  keeps rolling in she doesn’t care what comparisons 
  people make.
  ERNEST “KING” COLE
  Cleopatra has a large pornography publishing 
  empire, but it pales in comparison to “King” Cole’s 
  magazine titles, ﬁlm studios, and websites. Start-
  ing with one store on the Strip (the Emporium, 
  page 77), Cole built what one industry expert has 
  described as “the Microsoft of porn.” He no longer 
  lives in the city, preferring his enormous mansion 
  with even more enormous grounds in Arcadia.
  To look at him, you’d never think Ernest Cole 
  was one of America’s premiere smutmongers. A 
  handsome late 50-ish man with dark hair, he’s mar-
  ried to a beautiful woman named Monique and 
  has three children, all in their teens. Anyone who 
  doesn’t know better mistakes him for some kind 
  of executive... especially since he gives lavishly to 
  charity and shows up at many social functions 
  despite the obvious distaste some people show for 
  him. He enjoys his life immensely and could give a 
  damn what anyone thinks of him. Besides which, 
  he knows that all those highbrows who look down 
  their noses at him secretly order his movies by mail 
  and visit his websites every day.
  CARL SPEARS
  The most recent power to arise on the Strip is 
  a man named Carl Spears. White but of indetermi-
  nate ancestry, handsome, in his thirties, he looks 
  and dresses more like a businessman or a lawyer 
  than your typical pimp... but then again, he’d point 
  out that he’s not a typical pimp. As near as the cops 
  can ﬁgure out, he “persuaded” a few more tradi-
  tional procurers to “hand over” their business to 
  him, then recruited still more women.
  As of late 2004, Spears’s “organization” has two 
  levels. The ﬁrst are the girls on the street. He runs 
  them with the help of a group of more traditional 
  pimps who joined ranks with him rather than ﬁnd 
  themselves dispensed with in a most permanent 
  fashion — men with street names like Apollo, 
  Paulie, Shaft, and Teddy J. The second level, where 
  Spears himself devotes most of his attention and 
  eﬀorts, takes the form of brothels and call girls, 
  both of which allow him to keep better girls and 
  charge more for their services.
  Like Caligula, Spears is no ﬁghter — after all, 
  he might ruin his manicure or scuﬀ his $500 Ital-
  ian shoes. If it looks like push is about to come to 
  shove, he whistles for his bodyguards, Paul “Mr. 
  Red” Provenzano and Gabriel “Mr. Black” Salvucci 
  (who look nearly identical except for their ties, 
  which match their nicknames). The two of them 
  can handle just about anything long enough for 
  him to get away.
  BEYOND THE STRIP
  The infamous Strip isn’t the 
  only place you can ﬁnd sex 
  for sale in Hudson City.
  Bayside:  Hookers often 
  gather down on the very tail 
  end of 23rd and Needham 
  Avenues. Most of them are 
  old — late 20s, early 30s, but 
  they look like they’re going 
  on 50 — and broken-down 
  from years of the trade, 
  drug abuse, and alcoholism. 
  But they work cheap and 
  quick, and for some guys 
  that’s all that matters.
  Eastwood:  Businessmen 
  from Bankhurst and High-
  lands who don’t have time 
  to go all the way down to 
  the Strip for a lunchtime 
  quickie sometimes head 
  over to Northshore, to the 
  area around the sewage 
  plant, power station, and 
  medical center. The work-
  ing girls there are a little 
  bit better than the ones in 
  Bayside, but not by much.
  Chinatown:  Chinatown 
  doesn’t have streetwalkers 
  or anything else so crude 
  and obvious. The sex trade 
  here takes the form of 
  brothels, all carefully kept 
  secret and protected by 
  the tong or gang who runs 
  them. The girls are illegal 
  immigrants from China, 
  most working oﬀ a debt to 
  the snakehead who smug-
  gled them into America.
  Latin City:  The men of 
  Latin City — and occa-
  sionally a “tourist” looking 
  for a cheap Latina thrill 
  — often use their home-
  grown ﬂeshpots instead of 
  going north to the Strip. 
  A motley group of pimps, 
  gangstas, and other street 
  folk run the hookers, and 
  there are a few dirty little 
  brothels. Most of this 
  trade congregates on the 
  south/east ends of Willow 
  Street and Ring Avenue. 
  Some of the girls were 
  kidnapped by gangs who 
  wanted ransoms from 
  their families, then raped, 
  beaten into submission, 
  and forced to work the 
  street when no ransom 
  was paid.
  
  chapter six:
  chapter six:
  chapter six:
  HOT SPOTS FOR COOL HEROES
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  184 ■ Hot Spots For Cool Heroes 
  “So I said to her, “Look, you’ve got two choices:  
  go on living with the bastard, suck up the pain, 
  and hope he doesn’t keep doing it; or divorce 
  him and nail his balls to the wall.” I mean, that’s 
  all there is to it, y’know?”
  “So wha’d she ’cide to do?”
  “Hasn’t made up her mind yet. If it was me, 
  there wouldn’t be any question — I’d be at my 
  lawyer’s right now ironing out the strategy. No 
  one !$&*s around on me and gets away with 
  it. But I don’t think Suzi’s learned yet that once 
  a cheating bastard, always a cheating bastard 
  — she still thinks she can “make it work,” the 
  poor little fool.”
  — idle gossip exchanged over tea  
  and cakes at the Shade Tree Café
  Beginning in the 1930s, elm trees in the United 
  States came under attack from an insidious fungal 
  infection known as Dutch elm disease. The north-
  ern half of the country was particularly hard-it, 
  with over half of the elm trees in the area destroyed. 
  Many urban areas, including Hudson City, suﬀered 
  the loss of nearly all of their elm trees. Streets once 
  shaded by the branches and leaves of majestic elms 
  were laid bare to the sun. Today, there are virtually 
  no elm trees in or around Hudson City at all.
  By some small miracle, one tiny patch of Hud-
  sonite elms was spared. Along Blanchard Street, 
  a short stretch of road in Worthington, the elm 
  trees survived, their tall boughs creating an almost 
  cathedral-like vault above the street. In apprecia-
  tion of this beautiful site, the city renamed the 
  street “Avenue of the Elms” and dedicated parks 
  moneys to ensure that the trees would remain well-
  tended and healthy.
  Blanchard Street was a residential area, but 
  businessmen quickly recognized the commercial 
  potential of Avenue of the Elms, which became a 
  minor tourist attraction. Beginning in the 1960s, 
  they bought up the brownstones along the street 
  and converted them into shops and stores. Today, 
  the Avenue of the Elms is one of the city’s premiere 
  shopping areas, frequented by native and tourist, 
  rich and nearly-rich alike.
  The Avenue of the Elms runs from Vance 
  Avenue to Chatham Avenue between Richmond 
  and Newport Streets in west Worthington, just 
  north of Highlands and the Governmental Center. 
  Closed to traﬃc on both ends, it’s a pedestrian mall 
  that remains remarkably cool and refreshing in the 
  summertime thanks to all the shade.
  The Shops
  The Avenue of the Elms isn’t the sort of place 
  you’d ﬁnd a Daily Grind or Durango Denim 
  — every shop along the street is a one-of-a-kind, 
  lovingly crafted to ﬁt the local ambience and thus 
  rake in maximum proﬁt. They include:
  CHRISTINE TYLER CUSTOM
  Some of the most elegant gowns and dresses 
  available in the city are designed by fashion maven 
  Christine Tyler right here on Avenue of the Elms. 
  While she’s got a few “stock” designs available at all 
  times, most of her work is specially commissioned, 
  and there’s a ﬁve-month waiting list for most cus-
  tomers — better get your order in now!
  DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS
  Many restauranteurs take advantage of the 
  Avenue’s atmosphere by establishing sidewalk cafés 
  outside their establishments. Desire Under The 
  Elms is one such place. Inside you’ll ﬁnd elegant 
  decor, silk-covered chairs, perfect lighting, and 
  the delectable creations of chef and part owner 
  Andreana DeSimone. Outside you can have the 
  same delectable creations, but by the light of sun or 
  candle in the ﬁne fresh air.
  Those who appreciate ﬁne food enjoy Desire 
  Under (as it’s often called) generally, but especially 
  for its desserts. With the assistance of dessert chef 
  René Gauvin, DeSimone works wonders with sugar 
  and pastry. The Desire Cheesecake is rich enough 
  to put a Bankhurst to shame, and the raspberry tort 
  ehas won both city and national awards.
  FORGOTTEN TREASURES
  Estate jewelry, precious antique glassware, dec-
  orative items from the houses of European royalty 
  — all this and more you can ﬁnd in Forgotten Trea-
  sures, an antique and collectibles store for people 
  with a taste for quality and the unusual. If you’ve 
  got money to spend, it’s the perfect place to ﬁnd a 
  gift for that special someone or just the right piece 
  to ﬁll that “empty spot” in your living room.
  HARRELSON’S SPIRITS
  “For the Connoisseur” reads the tagline 
  beneath the sign, and Harrelson’s lives up to that 
  motto. Carrying an enormous selection of wines, 
  liqueurs, and other expensive spiritous beverages 
  for so small a shop, it’s not the sort of place where 
  the faint of heart should tread. The clerks are as 
  snooty as Frenchmen — if you have to ask about 
  something in Harrelson’s, you clearly don’t know 
  enough to appreciate it, so be oﬀ with you! The one 
  concession made to the hoi polloi are weekly wine 
  HOT SPOTS
  This chapter provides 
  detailed descriptions of 
  eight interesting loca-
  tions that might play a 
  part in any campaign set 
  in Hudson City. Players 
  can make these locales 
  part of a PC’s origin or 
  daily life; GMs can use 
  them as battleﬁelds, sites 
  where the PCs need to 
  conduct investigations, 
  or inspiration for plots 
  by themselves. See page 
  220 for campaign use 
  suggestions and plot 
  seeds.
  AVENUE OF  
  THE ELMS
  
  185 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Six
  and spirit tastings condescendingly conducted by 
  the store’s owner, Arthur Harrelson, as he attempts 
  to educate people to the proper level needed to 
  enjoy his ﬁne wares.
  THE HERMITAGE
  If, for some bizarre reason, the desserts at 
  Desire Under aren’t quite your thing, stop by the 
  Hermitage coﬀee shop instead. It serves a lot more 
  than just the best coﬀee for miles around — it 
  also has teas, ﬁnger foods, pastries, and especially 
  desserts. After all, what’s a cup of coﬀee without a 
  scone or piece of pie to go with?
  PRINTER’S DEVIL RARE BOOKS  
  AND CURIOS
  Among the city’s rare and collectible book 
  stores, Printer’s Devil stands out. For one thing, 
  unlike most rare book stores, it’s not meticulously 
  organized. It’s more of a jumble, like some used 
  bookstores — you probably have to ask the propri-
  etor, Rhona Wainwright, if she’s got the book you’re 
  looking for. And there’s a good chance she will have 
  it; among the Devil’s eclectic stock lurk all sorts of 
  surprising and interesting books. Second, the Devil 
  doesn’t just sell books, it also sells other intriguing 
  curios, antiques, and oddities (often ones related to 
  books or reading somehow). For example, tucked 
  away here and there amidst the books you might 
  ﬁnd a tiny medieval ivory depicting a monk work-
  ing in a scriptorium, a captain’s chronometer from a 
  clipper ship, or a signed photo of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
  THE SHADE TREE CAFÉ
  Yet another of the sidewalk café establish-
  ments along the Avenue, the Shade Tree takes 
  a more relaxed approach to things than Desire 
  Under. Although it’s by no means a cheap place to 
  eat, it’s not nearly as expensive or time-consuming 
  as most other Avenue restaurants. If you want, you 
  can stop by for a quick sandwich and a cream soda 
  — a sandwich that’ll cost you at least $15, admit-
  tedly, but still a sandwich. The Shade Tree also has 
  a small deli area where patrons can buy delicious 
  pies, containers of salad, and other goodies to go.
  STRING AND REED
  In the spring and summertime, the 
  delightful strains of classical music waft out 
  over the Avenue from the ever-open door of 
  String and Reed, where the ﬁnest in musi-
  cal instruments and musicians’ accessories 
  are sold. Owner Marlon Tischman was ﬁrst 
  chair violin for the Hudson City Symphony 
  Orchestra ten years ago, and sometimes gives 
  his customers a treat by retrieving his Stradi-
  varius from its climate-controlled safe and 
  playing a few melodies.
  The People
  The Avenue of the Elms is more than just 
  shops and stores — people are a big part of it, too. If 
  you go to the Avenue often enough, you’ll encoun-
  ter certain “regulars” most of the time... and maybe 
  even become something of a regular yourself.
  ELECTRO
  No one knows Electro’s real name — they call 
  him that because his hair often looks like he just 
  stuck his ﬁngers in a light socket. He makes his 
  living drawing caricatures for Avenue shoppers; 
  when not busy with a caricature, he usually amuses 
  himself (and others) drawing sidewalk art with 
  colored chalk.
  THE ELM STREET CHESS CLUB
  In the middle of the Avenue, the city built 
  several permanent chessboard tables, much like 
  the ones in LeMastre Park. Every morning, and 
  some afternoons, you’ll find a group of old men 
  there playing chess and talking about everything 
  under the sun. They call themselves the Elm 
  Street Chess Club, and they’re as much a part 
  of the street as any merchant or shopper. They 
  gladly welcome others of any age or gender, as 
  long as their temperaments are mild and chess 
  skills decent. The Club members love to gossip 
  about the people on the Avenue, and often con-
  sider it their duty to “keep an eye” on the place.
  JARRED RUSSELL
  Owner and operator of the Olde Fashioned 
  Candy Store, Jarred Russell is also the head of the 
  Avenue of the Elms Merchant Association — the 
  perfect job for him, since he’s a nitpicky fussbudget 
  and petty tyrant par excellence. If another merchant 
  moves a display out just an inch too far into the 
  sidewalk, Russell’s there to make him move it back; 
  if someone causes a disturbance on the street, he 
  calls the cops right away (he’s got 911 on speed 
  dial). As much as the other merchants complain 
  about his heavy-handedness at times, the truth is 
  no one else really wants the job.
  IN THE NEWS  
  IN 2004:
  ELMS CHARITY 
  DRIVE
  October — The mer-
  chants of Avenue of the 
  Elms were pleased to 
  announce that that their 
  annual Elms Charity 
  Drive, which starts in July 
  and runs through the 
  end of September, netted 
  nearly $100,000 in mone-
  tary donations and almost 
  a ton of canned food. 
  According to Jarred Rus-
  sell, head of the Avenue 
  Merchants Association, 
  that constitutes a record 
  for the Charity Drive, 
  which has been held every 
  year since 1990.
  “We’re always pleased to 
  be able to help the com-
  munity this way,” said Rus-
  sell. “But we couldn’t do 
  it without the help of our 
  loyal customers. They’re 
  the ones who bring in the 
  canned food and make 
  the donations — we just 
  handle the administrative 
  end of things. It just goes 
  to show that Avenue of 
  the Elms customers are 
  the best!”
  Donations made to the 
  Charity Drive are given 
  by the Merchants Assoca-
  tion to various charities 
  and food banks around 
  Hudson City.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  186 ■ Hot Spots For Cool Heroes 
  “So there I am, stuck in the middle of nowhere, 
  behind enemy lines, and my goddamn M-16 
  jams on me.”
  “Sonuvabitch. Piece of crap guns. Do those 
  things ever not jam?”
  “No kidding. Not like a Kalashnikov. You can 
  drag an AK through the mud all day and it’ll 
  still ﬁre like new. But that’s what you get when 
  you let the !$&*ers give the job to the lowest 
  bidder. Anyhow, the damn thing jams — and I 
  ain’t got my kit with me. It didn’t matter that it 
  was night; I coulda taken that thing apart and 
  put it back together, I’d done it plenty’a times 
  blindfolded just to be sure. But I sure as *%&! 
  couldn’t do it without tools. So I slung it on my 
  pack and drew my Armbruster 4500D.”
  “The D? What’re you, kidding? You’d never use 
  a D; they suck. Crappy sights, feed problems, 
  low capacity clip — why’n’t you have a J?”
  “This was 1969, smartass. They didn’t make the 
  J yet. The D was almost the latest thing. Yeah, it 
  sucked, but it didn’t suck any more than any other 
  semi-auto at the time. Now, as I was sayin’ before 
  I was so rudely interrupted, I was stuck behind 
  enemy lines with nothin’ but this Armbruster 
  4500D. Charlie’s all around, see? I found out my 
  riﬂe was jammed when I tried to pick one’a the 
  gooks oﬀ, but fortunately he di’nt see me. So I draw 
  the Armbruster and start creeping forward for a 
  better shot. Then I see some other gooks oﬀ in the 
  distance and I know I’m !$&*ed — even if I get 
  close enough for a good shot, the others’ll hear.
  “Only solution is to get really close. So I keep 
  movin’, knowing every step could be my last. 
  I’m waitin’ thirty, forty seconds between steps so 
  there’s no chance they’ll hear a pattern of move-
  ment. Finally I’m in position — I’m right behind 
  this gook and he don’t even know I’m there. Before 
  he can ﬁgure it out, I grab his head, putting my 
  hand over his mouth so he can’t shout. Then I jam 
  the Armbruster into his side as hard as it’ll go and 
  ﬁre, using his body as a natural silencer. I held 
  him until he stopped twitching, got his map and 
  his riﬂe, and snuck back out the way I’d come.”
  “Why’n’t you shoot the others now that you had 
  a riﬂe, Eddie?”
  “Are you nuts? One guy with a Kalashnikov 
  against a whole squad of gooks? I may be crazy, 
  but I ain’t suicidal.”
  — reminiscing down at Collins Guns
  As Second Amendment advocates often say, 
  criminals can get all the guns they want, so it’s 
  important that law-abiding citizens be able to 
  do the same. In Hudson City, when a law-abid-
  ing citizen decides it’s time to arm himself, one 
  of the places he’s most likely to go 
  to buy his piece is Collins Guns and 
  Military Surplus.
  Located at the southeast corner of 
  Hastings Avenue and Admiral Street in 
  Blackbridge, right next to an EL track, 
  Collins Guns (as most people call it) 
  occupies a large, old brick building that 
  looks like it was accidentally passed 
  over during the last round of urban 
  renewal. There’s a reasonably large 
  parking lot with faded lines painted on 
  it and grass growing up between the 
  cracks in the asphalt, and a set of cin-
  derblock stairs that lead up to the front 
  door, which is made of solid wood 
  and looks newer than the walls (Eddie 
  installed it himself some years ago; the 
  back door matches it).
  Inside, things pick up a bit. The 
  ﬂoor is ordinary poured cement, 
  but Eddie and his staﬀ keep it swept 
  clean and nicely polished. To the right 
  there’s the main counter area, and in 
  front of you some long racks hold-
  COLLINS GUNS 
  AND SURPLUS
  
  187 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Six
  ing surplus military clothing. While Collins Guns 
  makes most of its money selling ﬁrearms, the mil-
  itary surplus end of the business can hold its own, 
  and clothing is a big part of that. Fatigues and 
  fatigue jackets in every pattern available, caps and 
  old helmets, all kinds of boots and shoes — you 
  name it, you can probably ﬁnd it here somewhere 
  if you look long enough. Toward the back end 
  of one rack there’s a section with a hand-lettered 
  sign reading “The Bastards Lost — Now Buy Their 
  Stuﬀ!”. This is where he keeps a small selection of 
  surplus Soviet clothing, mainly oﬃcers’ greatcoats 
  (the most expensive clothing item in the store).
  For a map of Collins Guns, see page 277.
  A LITTLE LIGHT READING
  The entire back wall of Collins Guns is taken 
  up by a long rack holding magazines, books, and 
  other military literature. Ranging from lurid issues 
  of Mercenary Weekly, to serious studies of the great 
  battles of the past, to books on how to build silencers 
  in your home workshop, to turgid texts discussing 
  the Big Brother Government Conspiracy To Watch 
  Every Move You Make And Take All Your Guns, it’s 
  a thorough library if not a broad one. If it’s got to do 
  with military matters, ﬁrearms, personal survival and 
  security, or related subjects, you can ﬁnd it here.
  If for some reason you want to read your new 
  book in the ﬁeld at night, walk over to the right side of 
  the store. There you’ll ﬁnd a wide selection of surplus 
  military optics — binoculars, mini-scopes, Gen-1 and 
  -2 nightvision devices, and so on. None of it’s cheap, 
  but it’s mostly in pretty good condition.
  GUNS, GUNS, GUNS!
  The southeast corner of the store is walled oﬀ 
  from the rest of the place, with its own steel door. 
  This is where the guns are kept and sold. There are 
  always at least two employees in this room, and one 
  of them remains behind the counter at all times. 
  There are display cases of long arms, handguns, and 
  gun accessories for easy viewing by the customers, 
  but the most valuable ﬁrearms and gear are kept 
  in the gun vault, or behind the counter in special 
  locked display cases. Both the employees in the 
  room have keys to open all the display cases.
  When the store is closed, all guns and 
  related items are kept in the store’s walk-in gun 
  vault. Only Eddie himself knows the combina-
  tion to the safe, and he only opens it when no 
  one else is in the room.
  Collins Guns prides itself on having every-
  thing a gun enthusiast wants — or at least being 
  able to order it, given a few days’ notice. The display 
  cases are arranged for maximum eﬃciency so they 
  can hold as much as possible. If a customer buys a 
  gun, the staﬀ is quick to ﬁll the empty space in the 
  case so things continue to look orderly and precise.
  SECURITY BLANKET
  Some people would call Eddie Collins para-
  noid. He prefers to think of himself as “prepared 
  for any eventuality.” If Vietnam taught him 
  anything, it’s to get ready for the worst. Accord-
  ingly, he acts like he expects someone to try to 
  rob him every single day. Since he has, in fact, 
  been robbed on several occasions, it’s hard not to 
  think of his approach as justified.
  The security systems at Collins Guns begin 
  with the doors, which are sturdy and solidly-built 
  (BODY 5, DEF 4 for the two wooden ones, BODY 
  6, DEF 6 for the steel door to the gun room). Each 
  one has an electronic combination lock with a key 
  pad (-6 to Lockpicking rolls to bypass); Eddie and 
  all of his employees know the combination for each 
  of the three doors (front, back, gun room).
  Once a prospective thief gets inside, he should 
  smile — because he’ll be on camera the entire time. 
  Eddie has positioned cameras so he can watch 
  every inch of the store. The cameras feed to moni-
  tors and recorders kept behind the counter in the 
  gun room, and also to an oﬀsite computer that 
  stores the images digitally. That way if anyone does 
  rob Eddie, he can damn sure let the police know 
  what the guy looked like.
  The last line of defense in the store is the gun 
  vault (BODY 14, DEF 14; -8 to Lockpicking rolls to 
  bypass). During a daytime robbery, the ﬁrst thing 
  Eddie does (if he can) is to slam the vault’s door 
  shut, thus protecting his most valuable stock.
  All of the alarm systems at Collins Guns have 
  direct links both to the HCPD and to Sureway 
  Security (the ﬁrm that installed and maintains 
  them). There are also alarm buttons underneath all 
  the counters that the employees can press if there’s 
  an emergency.
  EDDIE COLLINS
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   12 CON 12 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  8 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   3 SPD 
  4 REC
   24 END 23 STUN
  Abilities:  +1 with Fire-
  arms, +2 versus Range 
  with Firearms, AK: Viet-
  nam 8-, CK: Hudson 
  City 11-, KS: Guns 
  14-, KS: The Military/
  Mercenary/Terrorist 
  World 8-, KS: Military 
  Science 13-, Language: 
  Vietnamese (basic 
  conversation), Mechan-
  ics 8-, PS: Gun Dealer 
  11-, Security Systems 
  8-, Tactics 11-, Tracking 
  8-, Weaponsmith (Fire-
  arms) 8-, Fringe Beneﬁt: 
  License To Sell Firearms, 
  Weapon Permit
  50+ Disadvantages:  
  Psychological Limita-
  tion:  Loves To Show Oﬀ 
  What He Knows; Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Security-Conscious
  Notes:  Eddie Collins 
  owns Collins Guns, 
  which he founded back 
  in the early Eighties. 
  He’s friendly and easy to 
  get along with, though 
  he has a tendency to 
  talk too much and can’t 
  resist showing oﬀ how 
  much he knows about 
  guns and militaria (or, 
  really, anything else). 
  And he knows a lot 
  about guns, there’s no 
  question about that 
  — he’s ﬁred hundreds 
  of diﬀerent types, and 
  those he hasn’t ﬁred he’s 
  read about extensively.
  Eddie is a Vietnam vet-
  eran, and claims to have 
  killed over a dozen Viet 
  Cong personally while 
  on “special missions.” 
  His skills aren’t what 
  they once were, but he 
  can still hold his own in 
  a crisis situation.
  HUDSON CITY GUN LAWS
  In Hudson City, it’s legal to purchase riﬂes and shot-
  guns without a permit, and to buy handguns with 
  a permit (which is obtained from the HCPD and 
  requires the submission of name, address, and other 
  identifying information, which become public records). 
  The seller must perform a national instant background 
  check at the time of sale, and all guns must be sold with 
  a locking safety device. All federal laws pertaining to 
  gun sales must also be obeyed.
  Possessing a riﬂe or shotgun does not require a license. 
  Possessing a handgun requires a license separate from 
  the license to purchase; obtaining the license involves 
  a similar procedure to obtaining the purchase license. 
  The possession license lasts for three years, but can be 
  renewed for successive three-year periods.
  The right to possess a gun does not give the right to 
  carry it within the Hudson City limits (though it does 
  grant the right to carry it elsewhere in the state unless 
  speciﬁc laws indicate otherwise). Carrying a gun in 
  Hudson City requires a special permit from the HCPD 
  based on “proper cause” (i.e., a damn good reason for 
  needing to carry a gun). The HCPD rarely grants this 
  permit, though some reporters have cynically noted 
  that rich and famous people seem to be a lot more 
  likely to get one than average joes.
  A person must be 21 or older to purchase or possess 
  a handgun, but persons 14 and older may possess and 
  use riﬂes and shotguns for hunting purposes when 
  accompanied by an adult.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  188 ■ Hot Spots For Cool Heroes 
  “C’mon, what’re you talkin’ about? This is top-
  notch stuﬀ!”
  “It stinks, Paulie — it stinks to high heaven,” 
  Roberto said in his strange accent. “How long’s 
  it been outta the water — a day, two days?”
  “Two hours, smart guy — it just came in oﬀa Al 
  Mussachia’s boat this mornin’! I was here when 
  it was delivered. It’s top-notch, I tell ya!”
  Roberto considered. He deﬁnitely needed the 
  ﬁsh — the Trocadero did heavy business every 
  day! But he would only serve the best... unless 
  there was a way he could make a good deal. 
  “OK, Paulie, I tell you what. I’ll take the ﬁsh if 
  you throw in a basket a’them crabs there... and 
  send a couple’a them lobsters over to my house 
  for me and Maggie tonight.”
  “You want crabs and lobster? Whadda I look 
  like, King’a the Sea? I gotta lotta bills to pay, I 
  can’t give away the store. I’ll throw in the crabs, 
  but not the lobsters.”
  “No deal, Paulie — all or nothin’.”
  Paulie sighed... but it was a fake, he was making 
  out all right. “OK, you got it. Stevie’ll box up 
  the stuﬀ and bring it over to the Trocadero and 
  your house no later than eight, OK?”
  — dickering on the dock at the  
  Hudson City Fish Market
  Located on the Gadsden waterfront where 
  Spray Street and Fish Street intersect, just west and 
  north of where the Gadsden Cliﬀs start to rise, 
  the Hudson City Fish Market is one of the larg-
  est wholesale fresh seafood markets in the United 
  States. It got started in the mid-1800s, when ﬁshing 
  boats would sail right up to the docks there, unload 
  their catches, and then sell them as quick as they 
  could so the ﬁsh wouldn’t spoil. Eventually a group 
  of middlemen — ﬁsh sellers — started buying the 
  catches in bulk and then selling them retail, thus 
  freeing the ﬁshermen to go back out to catch more 
  ﬁsh, tend to their boats, or take care of other tasks.
  By the turn of the twentieth century, the Fish 
  Market had become such an established thing 
  that a group of the most successful ﬁsh merchants 
  banded together to form the Hudson City Fish 
  Sellers’ Association for the purpose of building two 
  permanent structures to house their businesses. 
  As the ﬁsh selling industry continued to grow 
  — thanks in large part to advances in railroading 
  and refrigeration that made it possible to bring 
  fresh ﬁsh to Hudson City from all over the country 
  — more sellers moved in, renting the stall space the 
  older merchants had vacated.
  Today the Fish Market moves thousands of 
  tons of ﬁsh, shellﬁsh, and other bounty of the sea 
  every day. Buyers come from all over Hudson City 
  and the surrounding area to purchase seafood for 
  restaurants, grocery stores, and other retailers (few 
  dealers will sell to individual customers, and in any 
  event there aren’t many shoppers who want to get 
  up at 4:00 AM to buy ﬁsh). Many of the ﬁsh dealers 
  — Eastside Fish, Cannatella Fisheries, Spray Street 
  Fish Company, and more — have been in business 
  for decades (some since the 1800s), creating a real 
  feeling of community.
  THE DAILY ROUTINE
  The Fish Market’s “day” gets started at around 
  midnight, when the deliveries start. Most of the ﬁsh 
  doesn’t reach the Market by sea anymore; it comes 
  in on trucks or trains (certain railroad companies 
  have a special arrangement with the Transportation 
  Department that lets them run refrigerated cars 
  carrying ﬁsh on the commuter tracks to the depot 
  at the Fish Market). Workers at the various stalls 
  sort the ﬁsh into ice-ﬁlled containers, cut up ﬁsh 
  that aren’t sold whole, and make any other prepa-
  rations necessary for the arrival of the customers. 
  Since there’s no heat, the Market becomes bitterly 
  cold in winter.
  Around 4:00 AM, buyers arrive. Most work for 
  seafood wholesalers, restaurants, and similar busi-
  nesses, and come to buy in bulk. They often have 
  favorite dealers they buy from using credit terms 
  negotiated long ago, but that doesn’t mean they 
  don’t shop around every morning looking for good 
  deals or the nicest ﬁsh. Other customers — various 
  restauranteurs, owners of gourmet grocery stores, 
  and the like — come to buy in smaller amounts and 
  always comparison shop very carefully to get the 
  best ﬁsh for their money. They buy in cash, so on 
  any given morning there’s a lot of money ﬂoating 
  around the Market in the hands of the sellers.
  After the buying and selling’s done, the sellers 
  have to pack up the ﬁsh and ship it out with the 
  help of various local trucking companies. All this 
  gets taken care of by around 9:00 AM. Then there’s 
  a couple hours of cleanup, and the Market quiets 
  down until it’s time to start the routine all over 
  again the next evening.
  HUDSON CITY 
  FISH MARKET
  RUDY KALANOWSKI
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 10 BODY
   8 INT 
  8 EGO
   8 PRE 
  8 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 20 STUN
  Abilities:  Combat Driv-
  ing 8-, KS: Opera 11-, 
  CK: Hudson City 11-, 
  TF: Common Motorized 
  Ground Vehicles, Two-
  Wheeled Motorized 
  Ground Vehicles, Fringe 
  Beneﬁts:  Licensed 
  Truck Driver, Opera 
  Season Tickets
  Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  Rudy Kalanowski 
  is a truck driver for the 
  Cardinale Seafood Sales 
  Company. He delivers 
  orders of seafood to 
  restaurants and other 
  buyers around the city 
  every morning. A big 
  fan of opera, he sings 
  arias badly while he 
  drives, much to the 
  amusement of other 
  people on the road.
  
  189 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Six
  TOP DOGS
  While it may seem at ﬁrst blush that every 
  seller at the Fish Market has an equal chance to snag 
  customers’ dollars, in truth there are deﬁnite levels 
  of status among them. First, seniority counts — the 
  longer a seller’s been around, the more respected he 
  tends to be. If a newcomer tries to “poach” a customer 
  from an established ﬁrm, that’s regarded as a serious 
  breach of etiquette which may result in some not-so-
  subtle “punishment” being dealt out to the oﬀender in 
  the form of vandalism or a beating.
  Second, being in one of the two buildings 
  — East Building and West Building — is more 
  “prestigious” than having a stall outside. Even 
  among the sellers in the buildings, East Building 
  is considered “better.”
  Selling space at the Fish Market is strictly 
  regulated by the Hudson City Fish Sellers’ Associa-
  tion, which owns the land. Anyone who wants to 
  sell ﬁsh has to become a member of the Association 
  and “buy” a stall for prices beginning at around 
  ﬁfty thousand dollars (better locations, larger stalls, 
  and stalls in the buildings cost more, up to around 
  a hundred thousand). Thereafter he has to pay a 
  monthly lease based on location, seniority, sales 
  volume, and other factors. All sellers must display 
  a distinctive brass “badge” (actually more like a 
  plaque) featuring the Fish Market’s three-ﬁsh logo.
  THE CATCH OF THE DAY RESTAURANT
  Fish sellers and buyers get hungry just like 
  everyone else — and what else are they going to 
  want to eat but seafood? If you’re looking for the 
  absolute freshest ﬁsh in Hudson City, you should go 
  where they do:  the Catch Of The Day restaurant, 
  right on the edge of the Fish Market. It’s not exactly 
  the most elegant restaurant in the city, but the chefs 
  there can prepare seafood any way you want it, and 
  the portions are enormous. Catch Of The Day is 
  open 24 hours a day.
   THE MEN IN CHARGE
  As mentioned above, the Hudson City Fish 
  Sellers’ Association owns the Market’s land and 
  buildings and controls who can sell ﬁsh there. 
  Every two years the Association elects a president, 
  who in turn appoints an Executive Board (vice-
  president, secretary, treasurer) that’s subject to the 
  approval of the Association’s Board of Directors.
  For the past eighteen years, only one man has 
  run for president:  Aldo Cardinale. The popular 
  owner of the Cardinale Seafood Sales Company, 
  he’s won every election he’s run in by a nearly 
  unanimous vote. Cardinale knows virtually every-
  one associated with the Fish Market on a ﬁrst-name 
  basis, and usually well enough to ask after their 
  wives and kids. But he’s also hard-nosed and fair 
  when it comes to settling the countless minor dis-
  putes that arise between sellers. Once Aldo makes 
  a decision, that’s the end of the matter, and anyone 
  who keeps arguing about it is likely to ﬁnd his 
  Association membership “up for review.”
  For the past decade, Cardinale has preferred 
  to keep the Executive Board “all in the family,” so to 
  speak. His vice-president is Mike Rubino, one of his 
  brothers-in-law; his treasurer is another brother-in-
  law, Nunzio “Nick” Viscio (it’s a good thing Cardinale 
  had so many sisters!). Not everyone in the Association 
  is entirely comfortable with having the leadership 
  so tightly bound together, but it’s hard to argue with 
  results — since Cardinale took the presidency, Fish 
  Market revenues have climbed nearly forty percent.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  190 ■ Hot Spots For Cool Heroes 
  There was a quick knock on her door, then 
  Marcelina opened it up and stepped inside.
  “Ma’am, there’s a gentleman down on the ﬂoor 
  who’s been asking to see you personally. His 
  name’s Chuck Ingold, or at least that’s what he 
  says.”
  “Doesn’t sound like he’s lying — Ingold’s not 
  the sort of name a guy makes up. What does 
  he want?”
  “He wouldn’t say, ma’am — wants to talk 
  about it with you only. All he said was that he 
  was interested in some “special services.” His 
  words.”
  “Well, either that’s what it usually means, or 
  he’s some rich guy who wants to have a really 
  big bachelor party. Has he been here all night?”
  “Since about nine, ma’am.”
  “What’s he been doing?”
  “Mostly sitting near the stage, spending big on 
  the girls and getting lots of lap dances. He went 
  to one of the private rooms for a “Pharaoh’s 
  Gold” special, too.”
  “Good. He’s legit, then — there’s no way he 
  could be a cop with a wire, not if he’s had that 
  many girls all over him. Go ahead and send 
  him on up.”
  “Yes, ma’am.” She left quickly. Five minutes later 
  there was a knock on the door and Marcelina 
  entered again with a man in tow — thirtyish, 
  dirty blond, casual clothes, businessman sort of 
  look to him. “Ma’am, this is Mr. Ingold.” She left 
  again as quickly as she had the ﬁrst time, leav-
  ing the two of them alone.
  “How do you do, Mr. Ingold?”
  “Fine. I’m ﬁne, Miss....?”
  “Cleopatra will do.”
  “Cleopatra. I’m ﬁne. I really like your place, 
  come here a lot.”
  “Thank you; we appreciate our regulars. Mar-
  celina said you had some question about “spe-
  cial services”?”
  Ingold shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Well, 
  yeah. I’m... not quite sure how to ask about 
  this.”
  “Just come right out with it, Mr. Ingold. I assure 
  you, nothing you can say will shock me.”
  “I... hear that you can get more here than just 
  exotic dancing, if you know what I mean.”
  “I do. Are you a cop, Mr. Ingold? A police oﬃcer, 
  a fed?”
  “What? N-no, no, I’m a ﬁnancial analyst.”
  “Then I believe we can accommodate you. How 
  much were you thinking of spending?”
  “Ummm... th-three hundred?”
  “That should be satisfactory for some of our 
  girls.” She wrote something on a piece of paper, 
  then rang a small bell on her desk. In a moment 
  Marcelina entered.
  “Marcelina, please take Mr. Ingold and this 
  note to Aurora.”
  “Yes, ma’am.”
  — just another night at Little Egypt
  Located in a prime position on the Strip — the 
  northeast corner of Redwine Avenue and Parrot 
  Street — Little Egypt is the most striking, and 
  deﬁnitely the most famous, “gentlemen’s club” in 
  Hudson City’s notorious vice district. The outside 
  of the building has been resurfaced with a dusty 
  red sandstone designed to make it look like an 
  Egyptian ruin restored to glorious life. Two large 
  statues of cat-headed women ﬂank the steps lead-
  ing up to the front door.
  When a customer approaches, two tuxedoed 
  men open the doors for him from the inside. 
  Though obviously bouncers from their size, they’re 
  unfailingly polite and friendly... until a “guest” starts 
  to cause problems, in which case they become 
  decidedly unpleasant.
  After passing through the purple-painted 
  “entrance chamber,” guests walk through two 
  leather-covered swinging doors into the “main 
  chamber.” The walls are painted blue, with a motif 
  of gold stars on the ceiling. Touches of Egyptian 
  decor appear — gold lamps shaped like Egyptian 
  cat statues on private tables, tomb painting-like 
  murals in a couple places, hieroglyphic designs and 
  cartouches here and there — but it’s not overdone. 
  The point of the place isn’t to teach the customers 
  about ancient Egyptian culture, after all.
  To the right of the doors runs a long bar stocked 
  with all the best liquor. All the bartenders are women. 
  They’re heavily dressed compared to most of the other 
  women in the place, but couldn’t wear their skimpy 
  tuxedo-inspired “uniforms” in public.
  The bar pales in comparison to the T-shaped 
  stage that dominates the room. Usually two 
  LITTLE EGYPT
  
  191 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Six
  “exotic dancers” work the stage at any given time, 
  but sometimes four or more crowd the stage to 
  put on a special show. Cleopatra’s pays well and 
  hires only the best; all the dancers are pretty and 
  talented. A row of comfortable chairs and small 
  tables lines the stage so guests who want to can 
  get close to the dancers; larger tables and booths 
  fill most of the rest of the main floor. Dancers 
  who aren’t on “stage rotation” circulate among 
  the tables, talking to the guests and selling lap 
  dances. One or two “floor managers” keep watch 
  at all times to make sure everyone behaves him-
  self. Loudmouths, troublemakers, and guests who 
  are a little too free with their hands are uncer-
  emoniously tossed out of the place.
  The areas behind the stage, as well as the 
  second ﬂoor of the club, are generally oﬀ-limits 
  to guests. Mostly it’s just dressing rooms for the 
  girls, but there’s also a series of “private rooms” that 
  guests who’re willing to spend a little extra can rent 
  for parties or private dances. This is the only place 
  where the girls perform any of the club’s special 
  “signature dances,” including the Pharaoh’s Gold, 
  which promises “more skin-on-skin contact than 
  any exotic dance in Hudson City!”.
  Personnel
  The queen bee of this hive of debauchery is 
  Cleopatra herself. She keeps her real name secret, 
  preferring her more exotic “trade name.” Probably 
  in her forties, she remains strikingly beautiful, with 
  long, dark hair, a perfect complexion, and a ﬁgure 
  most women would kill for. Contrary to many 
  guests’ expectations, she doesn’t wear Egyptian-
  styled garb — she dresses in well-tailored but prac-
  tical business attire most of the time, though often 
  with pieces of Egypt-inspired jewelry.
  Cleopatra spends most of her evenings in her 
  oﬃce on the second story of the club, from where 
  she can watch what’s going on on the ﬂoor via 
  closed-circuit TV. Her oﬃce has more of an Egyp-
  tian theme to the decor, including a few genuine 
  artifacts she’s purchased on trips to the land of the 
  pharaohs. She also maintains lavish living quarters 
  on the second ﬂoor. Periodically — maybe once or 
  twice a week — she’ll come down to the ﬂoor her-
  self to get a taste for what’s going on.
  Since she can’t be everywhere at once, and 
  doesn’t care to deal with certain matters in any 
  event, Cleopatra has a staﬀ of employees who 
  help her run the place and maintain its reputation 
  for excellent service. Her right-hand man, Burt 
  Zeplowski, is head ﬂoor manager — a polite way 
  of saying he’s chief bouncer and troubleshooter. A 
  former college football player, Burt has the beefy-
  but-quick look of a guy who’s been in a lot of ﬁghts 
  and won most of them. Rumors around the club 
  say he’s also Cleopatra’s lover, but he never seems to 
  conduct himself with anything less than the utmost 
  discretion and professionalism.
  Behind the bar, Ginny Marlowe is in charge. 
  She doesn’t have quite the body that the girls on 
  stage do (or most of the other bartenders, for that 
  matter), but with her friendly demeanor and quick-
  witted replies to the guests she gets tips that are 
  almost as good. She doesn’t plan to work here for-
  ever — she goes to business school during the day 
  — but she kind of enjoys it, much to her surprise.
  TAWNY
   
  8 STR 
  10 DEX 
  11 CON 
  10 BODY
   
  8 INT 
  8 EGO 
  10 PRE 
  13 COM
   
  2 PD 
  2 ED 
  2 SPD 
  4 REC 
   22 END 
  20 STUN
  Abilities:  Acrobatics 8-, Contortionist 8-, PS: Exotic 
  Dancer 13-, Streetwise 11-
  25+ Disadvantages:  None
  Notes:  “Tawny” (real name:  Antonia Jean Ricardi) mar-
  ried her high school sweetheart right after graduation 
  and soon had two kids. Unfortunately, a romance that 
  seemed perfect in high school didn’t hold up well in the 
  face of real-world pressures like jobs, kids, and unpaid 
  bills. When her ﬁrst daughter was 20 months old, her 
  husband walked out on her and never came back.
  Antonia had her high school diploma, but she knew there 
  was no way she could get a college degree — and no 
  ordinary jobs she could get would support her and her 
  daughters. But she had something better than a diploma:  
  a drop-dead gorgeous body. Her face wasn’t much to 
  look at, she thought, but she didn’t ﬁgure on becoming a 
  model.
  It took a little asking around and persistence, but she 
  ﬁnally got a job at Little Egypt as an exotic dancer. It’s not 
  exactly what she pictured for herself when she was little, 
  but it’s not the worst job in the world either. It pays better 
  than she could make in some factory or oﬃce job (espe-
  cially with the tips!), and her mother can look after the 
  girls at night. Every time her circumstances start to get 
  her down, she grits her teeth, thinks of her daughters, and 
  signs up for some overtime.
  DENNY “ANIMAL” 
  MAXWELL
   15 STR 
  12 DEX
   15 CON 12 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   15 PRE 
  8 COM
   6 PD 
  3 ED
   3 SPD 
  6 REC
   30 END 28 STUN
  Abilities:  Martial Arts 
  (Dirty Inﬁghting, plus 
  a couple of Karate and 
  Jujutsu maneuvers), +10 
  PRE (Only For Fear-
  /Intimidation-Based 
  Presence Attacks), KS: 
  Mixed Drinks 8-, KS: 
  Professional Sports 8-, 
  PS: Bouncer 11-, PS: 
  Bartender 8-, Stealth 
  11-, Streetwise 8-, WF: 
  Small Arms, Knives
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Criminal 
  Record
  Notes:  Denny Maxwell, 
  better known by his 
  nickname “Animal” 
  because of his long, 
  shaggy hair and rowdy 
  past, is one of the 
  bouncers at Little Egypt. 
  Looking distinctly 
  uncomfortable in his 
  tux, he keeps a close eye 
  on the club’s patrons to 
  make sure no one takes 
  any liberties with the 
  girls or causes trouble. 
  In his nearly ten years 
  as a bouncer he’s gotten 
  pretty good at calm-
  ing down potentially 
  explosive situations and 
  “escorting” troublemak-
  ers out the door with a 
  minimum of fuss.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  192 ■ Hot Spots For Cool Heroes 
  “It all went down one day out on the rec yard, 
  just like we all ﬁgured it would. Calvin’d been 
  makin’ a lot of noise ever since he got in, talkin’ 
  about how he was gonna be top man and “kick 
  that punk-ass Hanshaw to the curb... after he be 
  my bitch for a while.” We all thought it was just 
  loudmouth talk at ﬁrst, but he was serious. The 
  ﬁrst time a couple’a Hanshaw’s boys turned up 
  dead in the shower and Calvin took their turf, 
  we knew what was gonna have to happen.
  “What we couldn’t ﬁgure was what was takin’ 
  Hanshaw so long. The last time someone tried 
  to push him around was Purnell a few months 
  back — and they’re still feedin’ Purnell through 
  a tube down in the inﬁrmary. But Hanshaw 
  let it slide for a few days. What we didn’t know 
  then was that he was just greasin’ the skids so 
  he could take care of things himself and get out 
  clear. It takes a long time to spread that much 
  scratch around the guards.
  “Then all Hanshaw needed was some time 
  alone with Calvin. In this case “alone” meant 
  “in the middle of a few hundred other cons” 
  and “with two of Hanshaw’s boys along for the 
  discussion,” but whatever. Calvin was talkin’ 
  *%&! out on the yard with a couple of his own 
  boys when they saw Hanshaw comin’ through 
  the crowd. I could see the looks on their faces 
  — they didn’t dare say nothin’, ’cause if they did 
  Hanshaw’d kill them, too — but Calvin was too 
  stupid and full of himself to ﬁgure it out.
  “It was over almost before it began. Hanshaw’s 
  boys grabbed Calvin’s arms. He started to 
  struggle, but Hanshaw stepped around and 
  shanked him four or ﬁve times in the gut. That’s 
  a *%&!ty way to die, bleeding out slow, but 
  Hanshaw had a point to make.
  “Of course, none’a the guards saw anything 
  — not even the ones in the towers.”
  — a lesson in why you should keep your mouth 
  shut, as told by LCC inmate Darryl Wilkins
  Every city needs an institution to house 
  suspects awaiting trial and criminals given short-
  term sentences. In Hudson City, that place is the 
  Longview Correctional Center. An ominous, tow-
  ering structure built of rust-red brick and grey 
  stone, it looms large in the minds of Hudson City’s 
  underworld, whose members know all too well how 
  disturbing and dangerous a place it can be.
  Longview is a jail, not a prison — it houses 
  arrestees who couldn’t make bail (or weren’t given 
  the option to bail themselves out) and prisoners 
  serving sentences of one year or less for various 
  minor oﬀenses. Convicted felons sentenced to 
  longer prison terms serve their time in Oldemyer, 
  Stewartsburg Penitentiary, or some other facility 
  (see page 151). Longview has relatively few true 
  prisoners, though — anything trivial enough to 
  get someone a sentence of less than a year usually 
  results in immediate parole, since Longview needs 
  all the space it can get just to hold Hudson City’s 
  large population of pretrial detainees (see below).
  The Facility
  Named for a famous nineteenth-century 
  prison reformer, Longview Correctional (or “LCC,” 
  as it’s often called) occupies a large area just south 
  of the terminus of 12th Avenue at the Gadsden 
  Cliﬀs. Presently ten stories tall and with two base-
  ment levels, it has the shape of a square cross 
  (hence, people on the street refer to getting sent to 
  Longview as “being cruciﬁed”). 
  Each of the four wings of the prison (starting 
  in the north and going clockwise, A, B, C, and D) is 
  over 600 feet long and has approximately 50 cells 
  per side per story. Stories four and seven have full 
  ﬂoors; the other ﬂoors have only walkways running 
  along the edges, creating an “atrium” eﬀect three or 
  four stories tall. During the day these atria are often 
  noisy, with prisoners shouting across the way to 
  friends on their ﬂoor, or at prisoners on the ﬂoors 
  above and below them. Each wing is divided into 
  four “blocks” per atrium, with a full stairway at the 
  intersection of each block. Blocks have numerical 
  designations. Thus, in A Wing, the blocks for the 
  atrium that covers the ﬁrst through fourth ﬂoors 
  are A1, A2, A3, and A4 (with A1 being closest to the 
  prison center and A4 the furthest away). The blocks 
  for the second and third atria are A5 through A8 
  and A9 through A12, respectively.
  The prison administration uses each wing for a 
  speciﬁc purpose. A Wing is the maximum security 
  wing, where it keeps the most dangerous pretrial 
  detainees. B Wing, and part of C Wing, are used 
  for other detainees and for prisoners serving a sen-
  tence. Prisoners are kept segregated from detainees 
  in speciﬁc blocks. D Wing is the women’s part of 
  the prison, housing both detainees and prisoners.
  Longview has its own generators, located in 
  the basement areas below Prison Center.
  LONGVIEW 
  CORRECTIONAL
  CENTER
  AMY CREIGHTON, R.N.
   10 STR 
  8 DEX
   9 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  10 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   18 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  +10 PRE (Only 
  To Resist Presence 
  Attacks), Bureaucrat-
  ics 8-, Deduction 11-, 
  Forensic Medicine 8-, 
  Paramedics 14-, PS: 
  Nurse 13-, SS: Medicine 
  8-, Contacts (10 points’ 
  worth, with now-released 
  prisoners grateful for her 
  medical help while they 
  were inside), Fringe Ben-
  eﬁt:  Licensed Nurse
  Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Devoted To Helping And 
  Caring For Others
  Notes:  Amy Creighton 
  is one of the nurses who 
  works in the medical 
  facility at LCC. A caring 
  and compassionate 
  woman, she does her 
  best to administer qual-
  ity medical care to all 
  of the prisoners who 
  need it, no matter how 
  vile or depraved they 
  may be... though she 
  doesn’t take any guﬀ 
  from any of them, and is 
  quick to report them to 
  the guards if they don’t 
  behave themselves. On 
  her own time, she likes 
  to read trashy romance 
  novels, paint, and take 
  her dog Max for long 
  walks.
  
  193 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Six
  PRISON CENTER
  The central “hub” between the four wings is 
  known as Prison Center (despite the fact that LCC 
  isn’t a prison). It’s the heart of LCC, where Warden 
  Drayton and his staﬀ have their oﬃces, the guards 
  their locker rooms, and the facility support staﬀ 
  their storage and records rooms.
  The ﬁrst ﬂoor of Prison Center contains both 
  a lobby where visitors to the prison enter, and 
  an intake facility where prisoners come into the 
  system. From the lobby one can walk to the Visitor’s 
  Center (where loved ones and friends can come 
  to talk with a prisoner during visitors’ hours) or 
  various meeting rooms and other places where the 
  public might need to go.
  The jail’s dining hall and kitchens ﬁll most of 
  the second ﬂoor; this is where prisoners go every 
  day to eat their meals. The jail store (where prison-
  ers can buy small personal items, magazines, snack 
  foods, and the like using their jail accounts) ﬁlls an 
  all-too-small space next to the dining hall. On the 
  third ﬂoor are the prison laundry and other sup-
  port facilities where many low-risk prisoners work 
  during the day to earn a small amount of money. 
  The fourth ﬂoor includes the jail’s medical facilities. 
  Most of the rest of the ﬂoors contain administrative 
  oﬃces, storerooms, and the like.
  The roof of Prison Center is ﬂat and has a helipad.
  THE YARDS
  Between the four wings are the yards, where 
  most prisoners get to exercise in the fresh air for 
  an hour a day. The yards contain some exercise and 
  sports facilities (a weightlifting area, some basket-
  ball courts) but are mostly just open ground with 
  some benches here and there. Some of the yard 
  areas also contain additional buildings along the 
  walls — the prison garage, additional storage space, 
  and so forth. Prisoners aren’t allowed to approach 
  these buildings without special permission.
   THE WALLS
  Longview has two walls. The inner wall is a 
  25-foot (4”) tall brick wall topped with concertina 
  wire. It has guard towers roughly every 100 feet 
  along its entire length; two guards armed with 
  high-powered riﬂes man each tower 24 hours a day. 
  The outer wall is a 15-foot (2.5”) tall sturdy cyclone 
  fence, also topped by concertina wire. Between the 
  two walls is a space 32 feet (5”) wide, stripped of all 
  vegetation or other features and ﬁlled with roll after 
  roll of concertina wire. To get over the ﬁrst wall, 
  through the no-man’s-land, and over the second 
  wall without getting cut to ribbons by all the wire, a 
  prisoner would probably have to wear plate armor.
   SECURITY
  The walls and guards aren’t the only security 
  features at LCC. The place is a potential pow-
  derkeg filled with some of the most dangerous 
  people in Hudson City, so the authorities go to 
  great lengths to make sure no one can get out 
  unless they let him out.
  First, there are cameras in virtually every 
  public area of the jail, including every fifty feet 
  (8”) along both walls. Guards in the “camera 
  room” in Prison Center can pan any camera 
  through roughly a 150-degree angle, and have 
  limited zoom features as well.
  Second, there are locks — everywhere, locks. 
  Every cell door and other door in the wings is 
  locked electronically from a room at the entrance 
  to the wing. If a guard wants one open, he has to 
  call down to the “lock room” via a closed-circuit 
  TV system with terminals located at every stairwell 
  and ﬂoor along the wing. The same applies to all of 
  the important doors in Prison Center, where the 
  CCTV system connects to the camera room. The 
  jail’s architects designed the prison so that shut-
  ting and locking the key doors throughout Prison 
  Center would cut oﬀ prisoners’ abilities to move 
  freely throughout the prison in the event of a riot 
  or major jailbreak.
  Personnel
  Longview employs several thousand people 
  who do everything from guarding the prisoners, to 
  preparing food, to keeping the place clean. Low-risk 
  prisoners can also have jobs around the facility to 
  earn a small amount of money and get good marks 
  on their records.
  WARDEN DANIEL DRAYTON
  The warden of Longview Correctional, and 
  thus eﬀectively the most important person in the 
  Hudson City Department of Corrections, is Daniel 
  Drayton, a slightly paunchy man in his early ﬁf-
  ties. Drayton got his start decades ago as a guard 
  at Juvenile Oﬀenders Correctional. After achieving 
  the rank of sergeant there, he transferred to admin-
  istration and spent nearly twenty years working as a 
  prison admin or DOC bureaucrat. In 1997 he took 
  the Warden’s position at Longview.
  Although not exactly the most imaginative 
  or adaptable person in the world — he is a career 
  bureaucrat, after all — Warden Drayton does his 
  job well because he’s been down in the trenches 
  and knows what it’s like to work at the lowest level 
  of a jail. Like most wardens, he’s deeply concerned 
  about the safety of his facility and his employees; he 
  constantly badgers the DOC and City Council for 
  more money for security systems, safety equipment, 
  and so forth — and, of course, getting turned down 
  due to budgetary restrictions. With overcrowding at 
  an all-time high, he’s terriﬁed that a riot or similar 
  incident could result... and he really doesn’t have 
  any way to defuse the situation.
  COMMANDER JERRY COLEMAN
  Warden Drayton’s right-hand man is Jerry 
  Coleman, the commander of the jail’s guards. Where 
  Drayton is a cautious thinker who proceeds slowly, 
  Coleman, a military veteran, is a man of decisive 
  action. In his view, the world only works right if you 
  make it work right, and that means riding the prison-
  ers with an iron hand whenever they so much as look 
  at a guard the wrong way. He doesn’t abuse them, or 
  tolerate his guards abusing them, but he’s quick to slap 
  an inmate down with solitary conﬁnement or other 
  A NEW PRISON?
  Noting the overcrowd-
  ing in LCC, some city 
  oﬃcials have called for 
  the building of a new 
  jail. However, not only 
  can they not say how 
  Hudson City would 
  aﬀord to build this new 
  facility, they have no 
  idea where to put it. 
  There aren’t any good 
  locations for one inside 
  the city limits. North of 
  the city would work, but 
  the powerful and often 
  wealthy residents of the 
  northern suburbs have 
  already indicated their 
  opposition to any such 
  arrangement in the most 
  stark terms. It would 
  be easier to drum up 
  support for a location 
  south of the city, but 
  that would require the 
  jail to transport prison-
  ers as far as a dozen 
  miles to get to court 
  every day, which poses 
  logistical and security 
  problems. For now, the 
  idea remains one that 
  everyone seems to favor, 
  but no one’s willing to 
  do anything about.
  RIOT!
  The last major riot 
  experienced at LCC 
  took place in 1996, 
  when prisoners broke 
  free, took nearly three 
  dozen guards hostage, 
  and held the authorities 
  at bay for nearly a week. 
  In the end, almost ﬁfty 
  inmates and ﬁve guards 
  were murdered, and the 
  jail was retaken without 
  granting any of the pris-
  oners’ demands. Security 
  was beefed up afterward, 
  but it’s still not enough. 
  It would take just the 
  right set of circum-
  stances to spark another 
  riot... but if those cir-
  cumstances arise, God 
  help anyone inside the 
  prison when the inmates 
  take over.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  194 ■ Hot Spots For Cool Heroes 
  punishments if he thinks the inmate deserves it. As a 
  result, he’s probably the most hated man in LCC, and 
  if there’s ever any sort of riot the inmates will make 
  sure he dies slow.
  Coleman is a three-times-divorced bachelor with 
  two grown kids and a small apartment in Bayside. A 
  workaholic, he spends most of his time at Longview.
  The Guards
  Commander Coleman has a staﬀ of several 
  hundred guards, both men and women (though 
  women serve only in D Wing, where male guards 
  generally don’t work). Guards undergo a training 
  course and must pass qualiﬁcations tests, but it’s 
  not exactly a job that attracts a lot of intelligent, 
  thoughtful people — it’s more the sort of thing 
  that attracts people who couldn’t make it into the 
  military or HCPD but don’t have any other real 
  prospects, or who enjoy bullying others. Working at 
  LCC takes a hard mind, a tough body, and a strong 
  stomach, not brilliance or creativity.
  The rank structure below Coleman is fairly 
  simple. He has about two dozen Lieutenants who 
  answer to him directly; one of them is in command 
  of the guard staﬀ whenever he’s not on the premises 
  or otherwise unavailable. The lieutenants command 
  Sergeants (who are in charge of the cell blocks in 
  shifts) and Correctional Oﬃcers (i.e., ordinary 
  guards). The jail also has a twenty-man Crisis 
  Response Team, a SWAT-like group of guards 
  trained to handle heavier weapons and react to 
  hostage taking, riots, and other extreme situations.
  Longview’s guards don’t carry ﬁrearms — they 
  can’t take the chance that an inmate would get 
  a guard’s gun and use it against him and other 
  inmates. They don’t even have nightsticks. They go 
  up against some of the most dangerous scum in 
  Hudson City every day armed with nothing but 
  touch tasers and handcuﬀs. In the event of a riot or 
  other emergency, Commander Coleman can issue 
  the guards pistols, shotguns, tear gas, body armor, 
  riot helmets and shields, and similar gear.
  The Daily Routine
  For the inmates and most staﬀ, the LCC day 
  begins at 6:00 AM with lights on. Inmates get sent 
  to the cafeteria in groups every ﬁfteen minutes. If 
  someone needs medical attention, he tells the guard 
  and gets put on the list to be taken to the hospital 
  in order of priority (the sicker or more hurt he 
  genuinely seems to be, the sooner two guards come 
  to escort him to the docs; if the guard the inmate 
  reports to thinks he’s faking, he automatically goes 
  to the bottom of the list).
  If a prisoner is due in court that day, he has to go 
  to (or be escorted to) 2 Yard to board one of the buses 
  going to Courthouse Square. The buses run every 
  half an hour beginning at 8:00 AM for most of the 
  morning, and again on the same schedule in the latter 
  half of the afternoon to bring prisoners back. Each 
  bus carries two guards in addition to the driver, and 
  inmates remain shackled during the trip.
  Inmates who don’t have to go to court spend 
  the day working (if they have jobs) or sitting 
  around in their cells and the common areas (if not). 
  The less danger an inmate poses, the more freedom 
  he’s allowed; the maximum security inmates must 
  remain in their cells most of the day. In addition 
  to lunch (served from 11:00 AM until about 1:00 
  PM), each inmate who’s not in lockdown as a pun-
  ishment is entitled to one hour’s recreation time in 
  the yard per day. Given the large LCC population, 
  rec hours run throughout the day in shifts — each 
  hour a certain number of inmates are brought back 
  in, and others allowed out. This constant motion of 
  inmates allows for more prisoner interaction than 
  the administration likes, with the attendant risks 
  of ﬁghts, murders, rapes, and other problems, but 
  there’s no way around it since state law mandates 
  the rec hour.
  Prison visiting hours are from 10:00 AM until 
  4:00 PM most days, with longer hours on major 
  holidays. All visitors have to pass through a metal 
  detector and are subject to a full search if the 
  guards deem it necessary. If a prisoner has a visitor, 
  he gets a call and goes down (or is escorted down) 
  to the Visitor’s Center. Depending on his classiﬁ-
  cation, he may have to talk to his visitor through 
  bulletproof glass via a direct phone system, or may 
  be allowed to sit at a table with them and talk pri-
  vately. Visitors can bring inmates gifts, but all gifts 
  are thoroughly searched, even x-rayed if necessary.
  The dining hall serves dinner from 6:00 PM 
  until about 8:00 PM. From after dinner until lights 
  out at 11:00 PM, prisoners’ time is generally their 
  own; the prison often shows movies or has other 
  special events in the common areas to keep them 
  occupied. Despite this, ﬁghts and other problems 
  are common; the guards dread this time of day, and 
  may react to minor diﬃculties quickly and harshly 
  to keep them from getting worse. By 11:00 PM, all 
  inmates must be in their cells for lights out.
  Life Inside
  Longview Correctional is built to hold about 
  eight thousand inmates. As of late 2004, at most 
  times it actually contains ten to twelve thousand, 
  resulting in a horrendous overcrowding problem 
  that only makes life more diﬃcult and dangerous 
  for everyone inside.
  Most inmates are predators of one type or 
  another, and they regard other inmates as prey. An 
  inmate who doesn’t want to be everyone’s victim 
  has three basic choices. First, he can join a gang 
  (see below) so his “brothers” have his back. Second, 
  he can become the bitch of some inmate with 
  enough power and inﬂuence to protect him. Some 
  inmates get forced into that sort of “relationship” 
  before they can join a gang, or because they get into 
  debt to their victimizer — but however it happens, 
  it’s not pleasant for the bitch. Third, he can snitch 
  out to the guards and spend the rest of his stay in 
  protective custody. In short, he’s screwed no matter 
  what he tries.
  CORRECTIONAL 
  OFFICER LARRY 
  CHURCH
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   11 CON 11 BODY
   8 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   4 PD 
  2 ED
   3 SPD 
  4 REC
   22 END 22 STUN
  Abilities:  Guard Train-
  ing (Choke Hold, 
  Martial Disarm, 
  Martial Grab, Martial 
  Strike, Takedown), 
  +10 Presence Only 
  To Resist Presence 
  Attacks, Bureaucratics 
  8-, Criminology 8-, AK: 
  Longview Correctional 
  Center 14-, KS: The Law 
  Enforcement World 
  8-, KS: The LCC Com-
  munity 11-, PS: Prison 
  Guard 11-, Streetwise 
  11-, WF: Small Arms, 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Sergeant
  25+ Disadvantages:  
  Hunted:  prisoner who 
  wants to kill him if 
  given the chance; Social 
  Limitation:  Subject To 
  Orders
  Notes:  Larry Church 
  has been a guard at 
  LCC for thirteen years; 
  he attained the rank of 
  sergeant three years ago. 
  His usual assignment 
  is Block A7, one of the 
  roughest and most dan-
  gerous in the jail. In his 
  time he’s been beaten up 
  (and dished out more 
  than a few beatings in 
  the process of restrain-
  ing unruly inmates), 
  stabbed twice, spit on 
  repeatedly, had ﬂam-
  ing rolls of toilet paper 
  thrown at him, been 
  sexually propositioned 
  by more inmates than 
  he can remember, and 
  talked two potential 
  suicides out of killing 
  themselves. Sometimes 
  he wonders why he 
  comes in to work every 
  day. But hey, there’s the 
  crappy pay, and all the 
  half-stale doughnuts he 
  can eat in the guards’ 
  canteen — who could 
  pass that up?
  
  195 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Six
  GANGS
  Most inmates protect themselves in prison 
  by joining a gang. (If they already belong to some 
  organized crime group, like the Maﬁa, the Nubians, 
  or a tong, they usually join up with their fellow 
  members instead of joining a diﬀerent gang.) It’s 
  not exactly the easiest life — junior gang members, 
  particularly newcomers, are expected to do what 
  the more senior members tell them, from providing 
  sexual favors, to forking over their dessert, to fetch-
  ing cigarettes — but for most it’s the lesser of the 
  evils available. Longview Correctional has numer-
  ous gangs, all racially based.
  White Gangs
  A white prisoner joins the Aryan Brotherhood. 
  Despite the name, not every member is some sort of 
  Nazi or white supremacist — more than a few are, and 
  members often have tattoos featuring Nazi symbols 
  and the like, but most just want protection from the 
  Hispanics and blacks. The Brotherhood loosely allies 
  itself with the Mexican Maﬁa — they don’t really like 
  one another, but they have common enemies.
  The only other white 
  “gang” in LCC is a group of 
  prisoners who follow “Big 
  Bill” Barnett, one of the 
  meanest, toughest prisoners 
  in the entire place. Barnett 
  bucked the trend by killing 
  two men who tried to make 
  him their bitch and refusing 
  to join the Aryans. Instead, 
  he ended up attracting his 
  own gang, though he doesn’t 
  really think of himself as 
  a gang leader per se. He 
  doesn’t let just anyone hang 
  around him — a prospective 
  “member” has to impress 
  him somehow, or have some-
  thing Bill needs or wants.
  Black Gangs
  The black gangs at 
  Longview are the most pow-
  erful, since over half the 
  inmates in the jail are black. 
  The biggest is the Black Guer-
  rilla Family, which espouses 
  far left-wing political ideals 
  (including the overthrow of 
  the U.S. government) and an 
  end to racism — but it’s really 
  just another gang, interested 
  only in itself. BGF members 
  tend to be very anti-authority, 
  and thus prone to disruptive-
  ness, so the guards keep a 
  close eye on them. The gang is 
  allied with La Nuestra Familia, and thus opposed to 
  La EME (not to mention the Aryan Brotherhood; 
  the two hate one another).
  The other major black gang within LCC is 
  the Islamic Brotherhood, whose members are all 
  devout Muslims. They preach a message of peace, 
  understanding, and not using alcohol or drugs. 
  Most other gangs regard them as punks and sissies, 
  but despite their preference for peace they can ﬁght 
  just as well as any other gang.
  Hispanic Gangs
  Two Hispanic gangs compete in LCC for 
  power and proﬁts. The largest and most violent 
  is the Mexican Maﬁa, or La EME, which has long 
  since become a power outside the prison as well 
  as in. Another gang, La Nuestra Familia, formed 
  in opposition to La EME, but has never achieved 
  that group’s size or prominence. LNF allies with the 
  Black Guerrilla Family to enhance its stature and 
  provide further protection.
  ROBERT HANSHAW
   13 STR 
  14 DEX
   13 CON 11 BODY
   11 INT 
  10 EGO
   16 PRE 
  8 COM
   5 PD 
  4 ED
   3 SPD 
  6 REC
   26 END 25 STUN
  Abilities:  Martial Arts 
  (Dirty Inﬁghting; Knife-
  ﬁghting), Bribery 12-, 
  Concealment 13-, AK: 
  Longview Correctional 
  Center 11-, KS: Free-
  town Street Gangs 11-, 
  PS: Drug Dealing 11-, 
  Stealth 12-, Streetwise 
  13-, WF: Small Arms, 
  Knives, Fringe Beneﬁt:  
  Membership (Nubians)
  Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Viciously Self-Centered; 
  Social Limitation:  
  Criminal Record
  Notes:  Hanshaw (almost 
  no one remembers his 
  ﬁrst name, much less 
  uses it) has spent so 
  much time inside LCC 
  that he’s practically a 
  permanent resident. A 
  member of the Nubians 
  since he was 13, he’s got 
  a record for drug deal-
  ing, assault, and other 
  crimes as long as your 
  arm. His time inside 
  LCC and Stewartsburg 
  has hardened him, 
  making him a cruel, 
  vicious man who’ll kill 
  anyone who crosses 
  him. But he knows how 
  to work prison the right 
  way, get things done 
  without getting caught. 
  He’s killed ﬁve men 
  inside so far without so 
  much as being inves-
  tigated. Right now he’s 
  one of the most power-
  ful cruciﬁed Nubians, 
  and makes a lot of 
  money dealing drugs to 
  other prisoners.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  196 ■ Hot Spots For Cool Heroes 
  “Evening, Mr. Gilbertson. What’ll it be 
  tonight?”
  “Just the usual, Gloria, thanks.”
  “One Bombay Sapphire martini, two olives, 
  coming up.”
  She returned in a couple minutes with the 
  drink, and Gilbertson settled back into his seat 
  to enjoy it. He needed a few minutes to collect 
  his thoughts before the meeting.
  The few minutes ran out all too quickly. He saw 
  the elevator doors open and Mardosian step 
  out. He took oﬀ his thousand-dollar overcoat 
  and handed it to the girl at the coatcheck coun-
  ter — that hot redhead Bob Keiser’d told him 
  sleeps around with a lot of the club’s members 
  — and walked right over to him. Didn’t even 
  have to look around, he seemed to know exactly 
  where Gilbertson was sitting.
  “Good evening, Howard,” he said smoothly, 
  with his usual easy, disarming manner. “How 
  are you tonight?”
  “Fine, just ﬁne! Havin’ a little drinkski. You 
  want one? I was just about to order another.”
  “No, that’s all right. Let’s not drink just now. 
  We have other things to discuss,” Mardosian 
  replied, waving Gloria away before she could 
  respond to Gilbertson’s upraised hand.
  “Sure, sure.”
  “Let me get right to the point. You owe me 
  money, Howard... a lot of money.”
  “I know, I know, and I’m going to pay you back, 
  with interest, I told you I would. It’s just that 
  business has been a little slow these past couple 
  months — I need the Christmas season to get 
  me back on top.”
  “It’s too late for that, Howard — I’ve been 
  patient and waited more than long enough. I’m 
  calling in the marker, right here and now.”
  “N-now? But I don’t have it, I can’t pay you.”
  “Then you’ll have to give me something of equal 
  value.”
  “Uhhh... what’d you have in mind?”
  “Eﬀective immediately, I own half your business.”
  “What?!??! But that wasn’t what we agree...”
  Mardosian leaned in close before Gilbertson 
  could ﬁnish talking, spoke softly. “No protests, 
  Howard. This is going to happen, so you might 
  as well accept it. Cause trouble for me now, and 
  you’re going to regret it. So will your family. 
  How’s your daughter doing these days?”
  Gilbertson paled. “She’s... uhhh, she’s ﬁne. 
  Boarding school and all.”
  “I’m glad to hear it. I hope she remains “ﬁne,” if 
  you understand what I mean.”
  Gilbertson’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Okay, 
  okay, I got it. Send the papers over tomorrow 
  and I’ll sign them... partner.”
  “I’m glad we understand one another. See 
  you tomorrow, Howard.” Without a backward 
  glance, Mardosian got up, collected his coat, 
  and left.
  Gilbertson raised his hand wearily. Now he 
  really needed a drink.
  — doing deals up at the Skyline Club.
  There are plenty of places all over Hudson City 
  where the rich and powerful can go to relax, have 
  a drink, enjoy pleasant music and conversation, or 
  simply have a good time:  the City Club; Top Of 
  The World; the Carthage Club; the Garden. But if 
  you ask some people, all of those pale in compari-
  son to the world-famous Skyline Club.
  So called because it looks south from the top 
  of the Cherokee Tower at 8th Avenue and Newport 
  Street toward the most striking part of the Hudson 
  City skyline, the Skyline Club is a members-only 
  facility. The annual dues as of late 2004 are $20,000 
  per year, making the Club inaccessible to all but the 
  wealthiest people in Hudson City society. And as if 
  the dues weren’t enough, the Steering Committee of 
  the Club has to approve all prospective new mem-
  bers, and their standards are often excruciatingly 
  proper. In the past they’ve denied membership to 
  people with even a whiﬀ of scandal about them... 
  but the Steering Committee’s radar for such things 
  does seem to depend on just how rich and inﬂuen-
  tial a prospective member is.
  AMENITIES
  For his twenty cool a year, a member of the 
  Skyline Club receives:
  ■ access to the Club’s bar, the Cutty Sark, which 
  carries every type and brand of liquor you can 
  possibly think of, and has some of the most skilled 
  bartenders in the city
  ■ access to the Club’s restaurant, the Bon Homme 
  Richard, for parties of up to eight at any time, 
  THE SKYLINE 
  CLUB
  PAULA BONTINE
   8 STR 
  8 DEX
   8 CON 
  9 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  12 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 17 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  8-, Conversation 11-, 
  Deduction 11-, High 
  Society 11-, KS: High 
  Finance 14-, Persuasion 
  11-, PS: Stockbroker 14-, 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Licensed 
  Stockbroker
  Disadvantages:  Reputa-
  tion:  a business failure 
  8- (in the Business 
  World)
  Notes:  A couple years 
  ago, Paula Bontine 
  was ﬂying high. After 
  an incredible run as a 
  stockbroker, she started 
  her own brokerage and 
  was really raking in the 
  dough. Then she made a 
  few bad decisions... and 
  one of her employees 
  was investigated by the 
  SEC for insider trad-
  ing... and her divorce 
  cost her a bundle and 
  played havoc with her 
  emotionally. Before she 
  knew it, she was out of 
  business and living on 
  her savings. One of the 
  few assets she has left is 
  her membership in the 
  Skyline Club — her bro-
  kerage paid for several 
  years’ worth in advance. 
  Today she spends a 
  lot of time at the club, 
  trying to make connec-
  tions and ﬁnd a new job.
  
  197 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Six
  and larger parties with a reservation. The service 
  at the Richard is impeccable, and its chefs con-
  sistently rank among the best in Hudson City in 
  food critics’ surveys.
  ■ access to the Club’s smoking room, the Golden 
  Hind, which also features pool tables, chess tables, 
  and similar amusements.
  ■ the utter servility of the Club’s staff and  
  management.
  Most importantly, a member has the ability to 
  mingle with and meet other members. There’s no 
  one in the Club who isn’t rich, successful, powerful, 
  inﬂuential, an expert in his ﬁeld, or all of the above. 
  The contacts a member can make, the networking 
  he can do, and the deals he can make over brandy 
  and cigars more than justify the membership cost 
  for many.
  LAYOUT AND FACILITIES
  The Club keeps its layout fairly simple, arrang-
  ing things to allow the members to enjoy the spec-
  tacular view as much as possible. The elevator up 
  requires a card key to access the Club’s ﬂoor. The 
  elevator doors open onto a small lobby area where 
  members can check their coats and hats. The lobby 
  leads directly into the Cutty Sark, with the long 
  bar over to the left. From their tables and chairs, or 
  small conversation pits made of elegant sofas and 
  endseats, members can look out the window at the 
  city below.
  Members who want to eat at the Bon Homme 
  Richard continue on through to the west wall of the 
  bar and go through the restaurant’s front door. The 
  most desirable seats are near the window, but from 
  any table in the place a patron can take in the view.
  The Golden Hind doesn’t share the view — it’s 
  oﬀ to the left as one enters the Club, through a 
  leather-covered door just to the left of the bar. The 
  rest of the Club contains the kitchens, storage areas, 
  and other practical things the members don’t want 
  to see or think about.
  PERSONNEL
  One of the reasons the Skyline Club hums 
  along so eﬃciently is its employees, who all have 
  two things in common:  ﬁrst, they’re very, very 
  good at whatever they do; second, they’re willing to 
  cater to a Club member’s every whim in exchange 
  for the large salary and tips they receive.
  Armand Pelletier, a short man with a fero-
  cious temper toward his employees but a voice of 
  silken sweetness for his employers, oversees the 
  Club as its General Manager. He’s there every day 
  from when the Club opens at 11:00 AM until it 
  closes at 2:00 AM the next morning, and never 
  once can anyone claim to have seen him look-
  ing tired, harried, or stressed. Based on the way 
  Armand behaves, you’d think that everything 
  was always all right with the world... even if the 
  world were plunging into sheer chaos all around 
  you. He speaks with an accent that seems a little 
  French, a little Spanish, and all haughty.
  After Armand, the Club employee most 
  members know best is Giles Rossiter, the maitre’d 
  at the Bon Homme Richard. Forced to cope with 
  a Club charter that promises members a table 
  for up to eight at any time without a reservation, 
  he sometimes has to juggle table space and wait 
  staff schedules like mad, but somehow he always 
  gets the job done.
  The ﬁne food at the Bon Homme Richard is 
  the responsibility of a head chef known as Head 
  Chef. No one can pronounce his real name — “it’s 
  some Romanian thing, all consonants,” according 
  to Rossiter, one of the few people who can even 
  remember it — so they just refer to him by title. 
  And it’s a title he richly deserves; there’s not a dish, 
  soup, or dessert yet created that he can’t prepare to 
  perfection. If anyone questions his talents or his 
  instructions, he’s prone to throwing cookware.
  CAROL COLLINSON
   8 STR 
  9 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   13 PRE 
  16 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 16 STUN
  Abilities:  Conversation 
  12-, Gambling (Card 
  Games) 8-, High Society 
  8-, KS: Skyline Club 
  Members 11-, KS: Soap 
  Operas 11-, PS: Coat-
  check Girl 11-, Seduc-
  tion 12-, Trading 8-
  25+ Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Greedy
  Notes:  Carol likes 
  money and nice things. 
  Carol meets men who 
  have a lot of money and 
  nice things through her 
  job at the coatcheck 
  counter at the Skyline 
  Club. Carol has a pretty 
  face, a sexy ﬁgure, and 
  an active imagina-
  tion. Put two and two 
  together and you can 
  ﬁgure out how Carol 
  spends most of her eve-
  nings after work.
  It’s an open secret 
  around the club that 
  Carol’s “easy,” at least 
  with men who don’t 
  look too bad and/or are 
  really generous. What’s 
  not so well-known is 
  that Carol is smarter 
  than she seems, and 
  a pretty good listener. 
  She picks up all sorts 
  of interesting snippets 
  of information while 
  on the job or lounging 
  between the sheets with 
  one of her “friends”... 
  information they might 
  not always want her to 
  have. Given the right 
  opportunity, Carol could 
  turn that information 
  into a chance to build 
  a better life for herself 
  — if she’d dare to take it.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  198 ■ Hot Spots For Cool Heroes 
  “Oﬃcer, I must insist that you arrest those two 
  young men and take them away from my store. 
  They are selling drugs.”
  “I’m sorry, Mr.... how do you pronounce your 
  last name again, sir?”
  “Kalanadhabhatala. My name is Vajramani 
  Kalanadhabhatala.”
  “As I was saying, Mr. Candlebattle, I’ve got 
  nothing to arrest them for. I searched them; 
  they don’t have any drugs on them.”
  “They are loitering!”
  “Loitering? Oh, come on. With all the stuﬀ 
  going on down at the police station, you think 
  I’m going to run someone in for loitering?”
  “They are driving away my business! You must 
  stop them.”
  “I’m sorry, sir, the HCPD doesn’t get involved 
  in economic matters. If those boys commit 
  an actual crime, call us again and we’ll come 
  arrest them. But as long as they’re not causing 
  any public disturbance, we’re going to leave 
  them alone, and I suggest you do the same. 
  Good evening.”
  The oﬃcer walked out the front door and 
  toward his squad car. Glancing back over his 
  shoulder to make sure the guy wasn’t watch-
  ing, he stepped over to where the two boys were 
  standing. “Hey, you take care of it, man?” one 
  of them asked.
  “No problem, cough it up.” One handshake later 
  and ﬁfty bucks changed hands with no one else 
  the wiser. The oﬃcer turned around and went 
  back to his car.
  The older boy looked inside and gave the clerk 
  the ﬁnger. “G’wan back home, Hindu bitch,” he 
  said to no one in particular.
  — the racial politics of QuickCorner
  You can see them all over the city, squatting on 
  streetcorners from the depths of Freetown to the 
  heights of Highlands:  bright orange and blue signs, 
  lots of gaudy posters in the windows, sometimes 
  two gas pumps out front. The QuickCorner — yet 
  another of America’s answers to the question, “how 
  can I get things done quicker?”.
  Better known in some circles as the “Stop ’n’ 
  Rob,” QuickCorner provides all the basics some-
  one needs to get through the day:  magazines and 
  newspapers; coﬀee; soft drinks; condoms; snacks; 
  prepackaged sandwiches; beer; beef jerky; lottery 
  tickets; smokes. The fact that QuickCorners have 
  public restrooms makes them a godsend to the 
  city’s homeless community.
  The exact layout of a QuickCorner depends 
  on the shape of the building, but most of them 
  follow more or less the same ﬂoorplan, as shown 
  by the map on page 277. The front counter, where 
  you’ll ﬁnd the clerk, cash register, and closed-circuit 
  televisions used to monitor the premises (if any), is 
  located just to the left as you enter. Right next to it 
  is one of the magazine racks; this usually contains 
  the higher-priced magazines, including any “adult” 
  magazines the store carries.
  Along the front wall of the store is a larger 
  magazine rack holding a wide selection of maga-
  zines:  sports weeklies; diet and beauty magazines; 
  hot rod picture mags; you name it. Right next to 
  that rack is a larger one containing miscellaneous 
  toiletries and other goods — everything from 
  kitchen cleanser, to diapers, to motor oil.
  Behind the toiletries rack are two racks of 
  food. Most of this is snack or fast food — bags of 
  chips and pretzels, all sorts of candy, individually 
  packaged toaster pastries, and so on. To wash all 
  that down, go to the refrigerated drink container on 
  the back wall and grab yourself a soda, iced tea, or 
  bottled water.
  If you’d prefer something hot to drink, try the 
  coﬀee station near the front counter; it’s got both 
  caf and decaf. Next to it is a long row of toys and 
  other such knickknacks. Older kids seeking amuse-
  ment try the video game machines in the front 
  corner — though in a lot of QuickCorners those 
  things don’t draw much business anymore, not 
  since the advent of Nintendo and Xboxes.
  The far back corner has two bathrooms. Most 
  QuickCorners keep them reasonably clean, though 
  a few have given up on that losing battle. If the 
  condoms out front aren’t quite your speed, the 
  machines in the bathrooms might have what you’re 
  looking for.
  The back quarter of a QuickCorner serves as a 
  storeroom for pallets of product that hasn’t sold yet. 
  If the store has a back door (not all of them do), 
  you’ll ﬁnd it here.
  QUICKCORNER
  VAJRAMANI KALA-
  NADHABHATALA
   8 STR 
  8 DEX
   9 CON 
  9 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  4 REC
   18 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  AK: India 8-, 
  CK: Bombay 8-, CK: 
  Hudson City 8-, KS: The 
  HCC Community 11-, 
  PS: Convenience Store 
  Clerk 11-, PS: Student 
  11-, SS: Biology 11-
  25+ Disadvantages:  
  None
  Notes:  Vajramani Kala-
  nadhabhatala came to 
  this country from his 
  native India nearly ten 
  years ago — though 
  you might guess he just 
  stepped oﬀ the boat 
  from the thickness of 
  his accent. (Despite that, 
  he speaks very good 
  English.) He’s studying 
  biology at Hudson City 
  College, with the hope 
  of going on to medical 
  school and becoming 
  a doctor. Since he has 
  to hold down two jobs 
  to support his wife and 
  three young children, 
  it’s been slow going; he’s 
  gotten to know the HCC 
  community well, even 
  though he doesn’t have 
  much time to socialize.
  Vajramani is a smart guy 
  who takes his work seri-
  ously. He doesn’t regard 
  it as a dead-end job, but 
  as an opportunity he 
  needs to make the most 
  of. He’s unfailingly polite 
  to the customers (even 
  the many who are rude 
  to him), ﬁnds things to 
  do during the downtime, 
  and runs the place eﬃ-
  ciently. He’s also pretty 
  observant; not much that 
  goes on in or around the 
  store escapes his notice. 
  The store’s owner wishes 
  he had half a dozen more 
  like Vajramani.
  
  chapter seven:
  chapter seven:
  chapter seven:
  GAMEMASTERING 
  HUDSON CITY
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  200 ■ Gamemastering Hudson City
  R
  eady to run a game set in the Pearl City? 
  Here are a few suggestions to help you 
  get started, plan your game, and make the 
  experience as fun as possible for you and 
  your players.
  CAMPAIGN TYPES
  As it’s presented in this book, Hudson City is 
  primarily intended for Vigilante Crimeﬁghting and 
  Law Enforcement campaigns — it’s a gritty modern 
  city with a major crime problem that needs solv-
  ing. For the most part things remain as “realistic” 
  as they can get in an adventure gaming context, 
  though a few characters have unusual, “weird,” or 
  paranormal abilities that don’t break the setting’s 
  paradigm or “feel.” But all this is not to say you 
  can’t use it for other types of Dark Champions cam-
  paigns; it works well for many of them.
  CAPER
  Since Caper Hero campaigns tend to involve 
  a lot of travel — after all, targets for daring, high-
  proﬁt robberies are few and far between — setting 
  an entire Caper campaign in Hudson City might 
  be implausible. But it’s deﬁnitely possible for Caper 
  Hero characters to visit Hudson City once, or over 
  the course of a campaign several times, to pull oﬀ 
  a robbery.
  Here are three Caper Hero plot seeds involving 
  Hudson City:
  Home Run:  Hudson City businessman Warren Stadt 
  has one of the world’s most valuable collections of 
  baseball cards, the rarest of which he displays in 
  museum-quality cases in one wing of his home in 
  Irishtown. Plenty of private collectors would pay 
  big money for the cards if the characters can get 
  them....
  The Caspian Star:  A few years ago, Russian dia-
  mond miners dug up from the ground one of the 
  largest uncut diamonds ever seen — over 220 
  carats. Christened the Caspian Star, it was eventu-
  ally sold to a diamond merchant in Hudson City, 
  who’s already begun the process of cutting it into 
  several large, brilliantly-faceted stones. Now’s 
  the time to steal it... but naturally, the security 
  surrounding the dealer’s business is intense. To 
  complicate matters, the HCPD detective assigned 
  to investigate the group’s activities is distractingly 
  attractive and sexy....
  Turning Japanese:  The Kleinmann Center’s col-
  lection of netsuke ﬁgurines is a tempting target: 
  they’re small, easily carried, currently trendy, and 
  very valuable. But the Kleinmann Center is a tough 
  nut to crack, not only because of its security but 
  because there are so many people in it for so much 
  of the day. Can the characters pull oﬀ the job?
  DARK CHAMPIONS:  THE  
  ANIMATED SERIES
  Hudson City works excellently as a setting for 
  Dark Champions:  The Animated Series campaigns 
  — all you have to do is tone down the grittiness 
  and lethality a bit, and perhaps inject a little more 
  “weirdness” and comic book-style technology. See 
  the Dark Champions:  The Animated Series sub-
  genre book for a complete discussion of the subject, 
  including sample campaigns and many plot seeds.
  ESPIONAGE
  Hudson City isn’t exactly Berlin, London, 
  Beirut, or Moscow, but there’s more than enough 
  political intrigue (not to mention industrial espio-
  nage) to make it a worthwhile destination or home 
  for Espionage characters. Between the diplomats 
  on Embassy Row, the technology companies and 
  defense contractors working on military hardware, 
  the threat of terrorism, and the large immigrant 
  population, there’s a lot of spying going on that PCs 
  can get involved with.
  Here are three Espionage plot seeds involving 
  Hudson City:
  Business Is War:  A friend of one of the PCs owns a 
  small tech company. He conﬁdes in the PC that his 
  company has suﬀered some mysterious data losses 
  and other diﬃculties lately — and what makes this 
  all the more distressing is that it’s interfering with 
  the company’s ability to complete a major defense 
  contract by deadline. Suspecting espionage of some 
  sort, the PCs have to investigate and resolve the 
  situation... hopefully without getting the authorities 
  involved and thus imperiling the company’s ability 
  to win future defense contracts.
  The Enemy Of My Friend:  The British prime minis-
  ter is coming to the States, and his visit includes a 
  stop in Hudson City. The PCs’ agency has informa-
  tion suggesting that Islamic terrorists might try to 
  kill the P.M. in revenge for his support of American 
  activities in the Middle East... and it assigns the PCs 
  to make sure no harm comes to the man.
  Yellow And Red:  The agency the PCs work for sus-
  pects that a diplomat at the Chinese embassy is a 
  spymaster running a network of spies in the north-
  eastern U.S. They assign the PCs to follow him, 
  investigate the situation in general, and take appro-
  priate steps to protect American interests.
  HUDSON CITY
  CAMPAIGNING
  SOME CAMPAIGNS
  Here are a few more 
  suggestions for types of 
  campaigns you could 
  run in Hudson City 
  other than the typical 
  Urban Abyss crimeﬁght-
  ing or law enforcement 
  game:
  Hudson City:  Fallen 
  Angels:  The PCs are 
  cops who got caught on 
  the take. Given a second 
  chance because of their 
  otherwise stellar records, 
  they’re now back on the 
  streets, trying to do the 
  right thing and not give 
  in to the temptations 
  around them... and yet 
  still get their jobs done.
  Hudson City:  La Vida 
  Loca:  The PCs are part 
  of one of the lesser 
  Latinista gangs, trying 
  to survive and make a 
  name for themselves on 
  the hard streets of Latin 
  City.
  Hudson City:  Rat Bas-
  tards:  The PCs are 
  criminals — typically a 
  robbery crew or nascent 
  gang of some sort 
  — trying to make their 
  mark on the Hudson 
  City underworld and 
  avoid the unpleasant 
  attentions of cops, rivals, 
  and vigilantes.
  Hudson City:  Wolf In The 
  Fold:  The PCs (typically 
  a small group, no more 
  than three) are under-
  cover cops inﬁltrating 
  the mob. Can they do 
  their job, week after 
  week, without exposing 
  themselves... or getting 
  too friendly with the 
  enemy?
  
  201 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Seven
  MONSTER HUNTER AND WEIRD  
  CONSPIRACY
  On the surface, Hudson City might not look 
  like a good location for campaigns involving weird-
  ness, the paranormal, or similar phenomena — it’s 
  a bit too “normal,” so to speak. But weirdness isn’t 
  very weird without normalcy to contrast it against, 
  is it? By tailoring Hudson City to the type of cam-
  paign you have in mind, it becomes an excellent 
  venue for tracking down monstrous beings, strange 
  aliens, people with unexplainable “powers,” and 
  other Things Man Was Not Meant To Know. For 
  example, if you want to run a Monster Hunter cam-
  paign which pits the PCs against a secret worldwide 
  culture of vampires and werewolves who prey on 
  mankind, all you have to do is decide that many 
  of the organized crime groups in Hudson City 
  are actually fronts for the bloodsuckers or lycan-
  thropes, and then turn the PCs loose to protect the 
  city from them.
  Here are three Monster Hunter/Weird Con-
  spiracy plot seeds involving Hudson City:
  Angles Of Attack:  A series of grisly murders strikes 
  Hudson City. The cops think there’s a new serial 
  killer on the loose, but the PCs suspect it’s some-
  thing else:  a particular type of extra-dimensional 
  horror that can “extrude” itself into this dimension 
  through certain types of angles in architectural 
  structures. They have to track it down (and, possi-
  bly, the cult that’s helping it manifest in this world) 
  and stop its depredations.
  Pyromania:  Several mysterious ﬁres burn down 
  buildings in Hudson City over the course of a 
  month. The Fire Marshal suspects arson, but there’s 
  absolutely no proof of it. Could there be some sort 
  of pyrokinetic on the loose?
  Up In The Sky:  A rash of UFO sightings occurs 
  throughout Hudson City. UFOs are weird enough 
  in themselves, but it’s very odd to have sightings in 
  a major urban area. Time for the PCs to ﬁgure out 
  what’s going on!
  OTHER GENRES
  Even though it’s primarily intended for Dark 
  Champions campaigns, you can adapt Hudson City 
  as a setting for other genres and styles of play with-
  out too much trouble.
  CHAMPIONS
  As a modern-day city, Hudson City is an excel-
  lent setting for Champions campaigns. All you have 
  to do is decide that true superpowers do exist in the 
  city, and some people have them. Then adapt the 
  city to cope with these strange beings in its midst. 
  For example, you’ll probably want to add a MARS 
  (Metahuman Activities Response Squad) team to 
  the HCPD, and may even need to deﬁne the city’s 
  policy toward superheroes — do they have “oﬃcial 
  relationships” with any of them, are they all out-
  laws, or something in between?
  Assuming you want to maintain the gritti-
  ness and “realism” of Hudson City, your best bet 
  for a “Pearl City Champions” campaign is probably 
  either a street-level supers game or an Iron Age 
  Champions game. See Dark Champions, pages 19-
  21, for more information.
  CYBER HERO
  Advance the Hudson City timeline ﬁfty or 
  sixty years and introduce cyberware, the Cybernet, 
  and the cyberpunk aesthetic, and you’ve got the 
  perfect setting for a Cyber Hero campaign. The 
  Hudson City of Cyber Hero probably has a much 
  less eﬀective government; it exists, but it’s tooth-
  less in the face of mega-corporations. Organized 
  crime still exists, but the Maﬁa, the Russians, and 
  just about everyone else have been eclipsed by the 
  yakuza and the tongs, who struggle for supremacy 
  on many battleﬁelds.
  FANTASY HERO
  At ﬁrst glance, Hudson City doesn’t look like 
  much of a place to run a Fantasy campaign. But 
  looks can be deceiving.
  First, if you’re willing to do a little work, you 
  can transform Hudson City into a typical Fan-
  tasy campaign city. The cars become horses and 
  wagons, the skyscrapers towers, the mayor a king, 
  the HCPD the City Guard, and organized crime 
  various gangs and guilds seeking to dominate the 
  city’s underworld. In short, keep the landscape, but 
  change everything into its Fantasy equivalent.
  Second, if you want to stick to the modern day, 
  Hudson City can become the canvas on which you 
  paint an Urban Fantasy campaign. You may want 
  to damp down on the grittiness, cruelty, corruption, 
  and selﬁshness that seems to mark so much of what 
  goes on in Hudson City (since too much of that 
  ruins the “sense of wonder” that’s so often impor-
  tant to Urban Fantasy), but otherwise you can keep 
  things the same. In this sort of game, the Mystic 
  World — ranging from fortunetellers, to minor 
  mages who run occult bookshops, to faerie-folk 
  and other magical beings lurking in the shadows 
  — becomes the most important aspect of the city, 
  eclipsing (but not obliterating) the usual concern 
  RAINART 
  EISENBACH
   6 STR 
  8 DEX
   7 CON 
  8 BODY
   18 INT 
  15 EGO
   15 PRE 
  7 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  2 REC
   14 END 15 STUN
  Abilities:  Bribery 8-, 
  Bureaucratics 12-, Con-
  cealment 13-, Deduction 
  15-, KS: Art History 
  11-, KS: Nazi Germany 
  14-, Language:  English 
  (ﬂuent conversation; 
  German is native); Stealth 
  11-, WF: Small Arms, 20 
  points’ worth of Contacts, 
  Money:  Wealthy
  Disadvantages:  Age:  60+ 
  (83); Hunted (various 
  Nazi-hunting organiza-
  tions); Psychological 
  Limitation:  Desperately 
  Seeking Absolution; Social 
  Limitation:  Harmful 
  Secret
  Notes:  A member of the 
  partnership that owns 
  the Moskowitz Building 
  and other properties, 
  Rainart Eisenbach gives 
  the appearance of being 
  a prosperous, if aged, 
  businessman. He is that... 
  but he’s much more. Sixty 
  years ago his name was 
  Manfred Theissen, and he 
  was commandant of the 
  concentration camp at 
  Ravensbruck. Under his 
  command tens of thou-
  sands of Jews were herded 
  into cages like animals, 
  and eventually herded 
  back out again and sent to 
  the extermination camps 
  at places like Sobibor 
  and Auschwitz-Birkenau. 
  Theissen escaped the fall 
  of Nazi Germany via the 
  Odessa route. In time 
  he changed his name to 
  “Rainart Eisenbach” and 
  made his way to America, 
  where he became a suc-
  cessful investor and 
  ﬁnancier. So well did 
  he hide his secrets that 
  not even his American 
  wife knows of his past. 
  But as he grew older, 
  guilt gnawed at him like 
  a cancer. He came to see 
  that the Nazis were wrong, 
  Continued on next page
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  202 ■ Gamemastering Hudson City
  with crime. You might even go so far as to replace 
  street criminals with malign Unseelie faeries, ghosts 
  and poltergeists, vampires, werewolves, and other, 
  more subtle, adversaries.
  NINJA HERO
  A Ninja Hero campaign set in Hudson City 
  would probably have to be of limited scope — the 
  characters restrict themselves to Chinatown, using 
  their ﬁghting skills, Oriental magic, and other abili-
  ties to keep the streets safe and make life better 
  for everyday folk. Even though Chinatown’s only a 
  small part of the overall city, there are lots of people 
  living there and lots of strange things going on that 
  might tempt PCs to get involved.
  POST-APOCALYPTIC HERO
  After society collapses, an urban area like 
  Hudson City could become a mostly-abandoned 
  wasteland where tribes of scavengers prowl 
  through concrete canyons in search of “treasures” 
  that have survived while trying to avoid enemy 
  tribes or mutant monsters. In short, it’s an ideal 
  setting for an urban post-apocalypse campaign 
  — instead of organized crime, corrupt cops, and 
  vigilantes, the PCs cope with hostile tribesmen, 
  warlords who want to rule the entire city, and of 
  course mutants. All you have to decide is how soci-
  ety fell:  if it was a nuclear war, Hudson City might 
  be a “rad zone” where no one can survive; if it was a 
  plague, the entire city might be virtually intact.
  PULP HERO
  Hudson City was deﬁnitely around in the 
  Twenties and Thirties, and even had its own 
  masked mystery-man keeping the streets safe:  the 
  Raven (see page 11). If you want to base a Pulp 
  Hero campaign around crimebusting in a speciﬁc 
  city (as opposed to a “globetrotting adventure” 
  campaign inspired by the likes of Doc Savage and 
  Indiana Jones), Hudson City works perfectly — it 
  provides the detail you need for verisimilitude, but 
  doesn’t tie you to a city like New York or London 
  that might require a lot of research to use properly. 
  Pull the city limits in a mile or two on all edges and 
  make other changes appropriate to the period, and 
  you’re set — time for some two-ﬁsted adventure!
  STAR HERO
  To use Hudson City in a Star Hero campaign, 
  you’ll probably have to transplant it to another 
  planet, or even transform it into a gigantic space 
  station or orbital mega-structure — most Science 
  Fiction games don’t limit themselves to a single city 
  on Earth. Other than that, the changes are mainly 
  cosmetic. Traditional organized crime groups 
  become gangs and “families” of criminals from 
  speciﬁc alien species, the HCPD becomes Station 
  Security or the Galactic Police Patrol, and so forth. 
  Plenty of Science Fiction stories focus more on 
  crime and other “gritty” goings-on than on starship 
  battles or exploring alien worlds, and your cam-
  paign will do the same.
  VICTORIAN HERO
  Since most city-based Victorian Hero cam-
  paigns take place in London, Hudson City might 
  not make a good location for one. However, it can 
  provide you with plenty of ideas and inspiration. 
  You can transplant locations and people (with 
  appropriate changes, of course) to the Greatest City 
  In The World and make just as much use of them 
  there as you could leaving them in their native turf.
  and that he himself, as one 
  of them, had to atone for 
  the countless evils he had 
  done.
  Desperate to ﬁnd some 
  way to mitigate his 
  sins, Eisenbach began 
  performing all the good 
  deeds he could set his 
  hands to. But still he 
  sees so much evil in the 
  world around him, and 
  wishes to ﬁnd some way 
  to end it as he believes 
  his should have been 
  ended so long ago. 
  To that end, he might 
  become the patron or 
  sponsor of a group of 
  high-minded crime-
  ﬁghters....
  Continued from last page
  
  203 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Seven
  T
  his section contains additional and/or secret 
  information about Hudson City that’s for the 
  GM’s eyes alone. If you’re playing in, or plan 
  to play in, a campaign based on the Hudson 
  City setting, do not read this section!!
  The GM’s Vault is organized by chapter and 
  page number. If the Vault doesn’t comment on 
  some part of the main text, it’s usually safe to take 
  what’s written there as accurate (or as left for each 
  GM’s individual interpretation). As always, you’re 
  free to change anything in this book to suit your 
  own preferences or campaign.
  CHAPTER ONE
  PAGE 8 — THE DELAWARE INDIANS
  The local Indian tribes left the Hudson City 
  region due to concern about European settlers. 
  They could read the writing on the wall and see 
  that the inﬂux of “white-skinned men” wasn’t going 
  to end, so they packed up and moved to new lands 
  west of the Delaware River...
  ...unless, of course, you prefer a more sinister 
  explanation. For campaigns emphasizing horror, 
  maybe a group of colonists slaughtered the Indians, 
  leaving a host of phantoms that still haunts the area 
  today. For mystic-oriented games, maybe a curse or 
  a foretelling prompted the Indians to leave, and that 
  curse or foretelling is about to come home to roost.
  And of course, even if the Delaware left peace-
  fully, there’s always the possibility that an ancient 
  Indian burial ground or two exists in the area....
  PAGE 9 — THE HUDSON CITY RIOTS
  Flint and the White Riders didn’t start the 
  ﬁres in Hudson City. The standard historical view 
  — that blacks involved in the riots set them — is 
  correct.
  PAGE 11 — THE FATE OF THE GREAT PULP 
  HEROES
  Captain Battle and the Science Police were 
  killed by the Nazi mastermind Dr. Gerhardt Spre-
  gen, who had developed a new, incredibly powerful 
  germ warfare weapon that could easily have won 
  the war for Germany. Battle and his men destroyed 
  the weapon, and nearly killed Spregen, but died in 
  the resulting explosion.
  The Scarlet Shadow did go to work for the 
  Oﬃce of Strategic Services. He survived the war 
  (though not without injuries), and retired from 
  adventuring to become an industrial chemist after 
  the war.
  PAGE 13 — BLACK WHISPER II
  Hudson City Police Department ﬁles describe 
  the killing of Black Whisper II as a justiﬁed shoot-
  ing. According to several witnesses, including 
  another cop, the Whisper attacked Oﬃcer Ronald 
  Jeﬀerson when Jeﬀerson attempted to apprehend 
  him. There’s no evidence to indicate that the shoot-
  ing was, in fact, a murder. Jeﬀerson and his partner 
  took money from several street gangs to “remove” 
  the Black Whisper. Jeﬀerson’s partner and all of 
  the gangstas involved are now dead; the only one 
  who knows the truth is Jeﬀerson himself, who has 
  worked as a construction manager since being con-
  victed of taking bribes.
  CHAPTER TWO
  PAGE 21 — BENEATH THE CITY
  The ground beneath Hudson City holds plenty 
  of other surprises for the explorer (including kids 
  looking for a thrill, vigilantes and criminals seek-
  ing new hideouts or secret bases, and engineers 
  in search of leaks or other problems). A network 
  of old pneumatic tubes dating from the late Teens 
  still exists, though it hasn’t seen much use since 
  World War II days. Some of the turn-of-the-cen-
  tury experimental pneumatic subway tunnels still 
  exist on the Northside, though they’re not marked 
  on any oﬃcial map. Here and there are subway 
  stations, abandoned and sealed oﬀ because they 
  were too small for the newer, larger subway cars. 
  And over in east Blackbridge, a little south of 12th 
  Avenue, there are a few blocks of a six-lane under-
  ground highway system that a private ﬁrm started 
  building back in the late Fifties and early Sixties, 
  but eventually abandoned when the company went 
  bankrupt.
  PAGE 23 — JAMES STEFONELLI
  Stefonelli was murdered by Paul “Paulie G” 
  Giametti, a Verontese soldier with interests in a 
  Verontese-controlled waste removal company. 
  The public suspicion — that the killing was a way 
  of protecting Maﬁa “turf” — is absolutely correct. 
  Anyone else who tries to break La Cosa Nostra’s 
  stranglehold on private waste disposal will get the 
  same treatment.
  PAGE 23 — THE HUDSON CITY LANDFILL
  To say that the Landﬁll now meets EPA stan-
  dards is not entirely correct. It’s operated in a safer 
  fashion than before, but oﬃcials in charge of the 
  facility bribe EPA inspectors so they don’t have 
  to spend the tens of millions of dollars needed to 
  THE GM’S 
  VAULT
  ALBERT KREBS
   10 STR 
  15 DEX
   12 CON 10 BODY
   16 INT 
  10 EGO
   15 PRE 
  8 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   3 SPD 
  4 REC
   24 END 21 STUN
  Abilities:  Combat 
  Driving 8-, Conceal-
  ment 12-, Demolitions 
  12-, Electronics 8-, KS: 
  Fences 12-, KS: Thieves 
  And Thieving 11-, Lock-
  picking 12-, Mechanics 
  8-, Security Systems 12-, 
  Stealth 12-, Streetwise 
  12-, WF: Small Arms
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Criminal 
  Record 
  Notes:  Albert Krebs 
  used to lead a crew of 
  hard-core robbers and 
  hijackers who worked all 
  up and down the East-
  ern Seaboard, including 
  frequent hits in Hudson 
  City. But six years ago 
  the feds caught up to 
  them after a bank job 
  in Massachusetts went 
  sour, and how he’s pull-
  ing a 10-to-life stretch 
  in federal prison. He’s 
  currently incarcerated in 
  FCI: Farmingdale, about 
  40 miles fro Hudson 
  City. If the cops need 
  a little advice about a 
  job or a crew, he might 
  be willing to cooperate, 
  provided he gets a sig-
  niﬁcant sentence reduc-
  tion and no one learns 
  he’s a rat.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  204 ■ Gamemastering Hudson City
  upgrade the Landﬁll — or worse, the hundreds of 
  millions required to build a new one. The Landﬁll 
  continues to pollute the nearby area, though at a 
  slower pace than before.
  PAGE 24 — PAUL WILSON
  The reports of Wilson’s honesty are well-
  founded:  he’s virtually unbribable. He tries to instill 
  the same spirit in his underlings, but some of them 
  are happy to take money on the side to let drugs or 
  other things “slip through” onto a plane. The PLRL 
  bomb (which did exist) wasn’t one of these, though 
  — not even the most callow Customs agent would 
  knowingly allow something like that on a plane for 
  any amount of money. It was snuck on board with-
  out Customs’s knowledge.
  PAGE 30 — THE HUDSON CITY STOCK 
  EXCHANGE
  A license to be a broker on the HCSE ﬂoor is 
  a 1-point Fringe Beneﬁt, but characters can’t get it 
  simply by forking over a Character Point — they 
  have to justify it during character creation or game 
  play, since the number of licenses is limited and 
  they’re in very high demand. A character has to 
  have a lot of inﬂuence, or work for a company that 
  does, to get one of the coveted licenses.
  A skilled computer operator with some knowl-
  edge of high ﬁnance who could gain access to the 
  HCSE’s sophisticated ﬁnancial transfer computers 
  could steal billions of electronic dollars in a matter 
  of minutes. However, the computers are heavily 
  secured (minimum of -10 to the Computer Pro-
  gramming roll... and of course the computer has 
  Computer Programming and Security Systems with 
  which to protect itself).
  PAGE 31 — IAN MCANDREWS
  Ian McAndrews is not the simple servant he 
  seems to be. In the Sixties and Seventies he was an 
  agent for British intelligence... and a double agent for 
  the KGB. He escaped from the UK just days before 
  his superiors discovered his treachery. After hiding 
  out in South America for several years, he moved to 
  Hudson City and became a concierge at the Stewart 
  Regency, eventually working his way up to head. He 
  considers this “hiding in plain sight,” since though 
  it’s a rather public job he’s changed his hair and facial 
  hair so that he doesn’t look much like he used to. He 
  has the Disadvantage Social Limitation:  Harmful 
  Secret in addition to his Psychological Limitation.
  PAGE 31 — ACES HIGH
  Aces High has a “silent partner” who owns 
  most of the business through various front com-
  panies:  Card Shark. There’s a secret room in the 
  basement, its door cleverly concealed behind some 
  “boxes of bottles of whiskey.” Luxuriously fur-
  nished, the room is an illegal casino where Card 
  Shark’s ﬂunkies deal out the cards and rake in the 
  proﬁts from well-heeled gamblers. Scantily-clad 
  “waitresses” keep the gamblers’ drinks full and their 
  minds on things other than their cards.
  PAGE 32 — SATIN ANGELS
  For most members — those with black card-
  keys — Satin Angels is just what it seems:  an 
  upscale adult club with beautiful employees. To 
  “special” members with a gold card-key, it’s some-
  thing more:  a high-class brothel. Gold members 
  can have their pick of the girls for the evening. 
  Though the prices are extremely high (far higher 
  than most places on the Strip, since after all Satin 
  Angels is both more elegant and safer), the manage-
  ment is quite willing to accommodate “unusual” 
  requests such as threesomes, foursomes, B&D, 
  S&M, and just about anything else a client can 
  think of that won’t permanently hurt the girls.
  PAGE 33 — ANGELO CAMPANARO
  The rumors that Campanaro still runs his 
  crew from jail are true — between phone calls and 
  frequent visits from relatives and associates, it’s 
  not that hard to stay on top of things, even from 
  Stewartsburg Penitentiary. Plus, he has the help of 
  his wife Maria, who keeps a close eye on things in 
  his absence... much to the annoyance of some of 
  his more traditional-minded colleagues, who don’t 
  like having a woman involved in their business in 
  any way.
  The Marcelli schemes in the area are mostly 
  garden-variety Maﬁa activities:  domination and 
  exploitation of unions; stealing from ships and 
  warehouses; control of service industries related to 
  local businesses. But its scheme in the Shipyards is 
  both more creative and highly proﬁtable. A decade 
  or so ago, a couple of the smaller shipbuilding ﬁrms 
  got into ﬁnancial trouble and borrowed money 
  from Marcelli loansharks. That was all the in the 
  Marcellis needed, and soon they were running 
  both ﬁrms. Through their union connections, the 
  Marcellis were able to grow their own shipbuild-
  TOM SIMMS
   9 STR 
  13 DEX
   10 CON 
  8 BODY
   11 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  10 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  Combat Driv-
  ing 8-, Computer Pro-
  gramming 8-, Forgery 
  (Documents) 14-, Gam-
  bling (Sports Betting) 
  11-, PS: Paper Artist 14-, 
  PS: Printing 11-, Seduc-
  tion 8-, Streetwise 12-, 
  10 Deep Covers, Fringe 
  Beneﬁts:  Press Pass, 
  International Driver’s 
  License, Passport
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Criminal 
  Record
  Notes:  Tom Simms is a 
  “paper artist” — a forger 
  who specializes in creat-
  ing false documentation. 
  Whatever you need, from 
  a phony driver’s license 
  to a passport good 
  enough to fool any Cus-
  toms agent in the world, 
  Simms can make it for 
  you... if you can meet his 
  price. He only works for 
  people he trusts, and that 
  usually means getting a 
  rock-solid referral from 
  an existing customer 
  (which is about the only 
  way someone could ﬁnd 
  him anyway). A some-
  what paranoid individual, 
  he’s used his skills to set 
  up ten elaborate false 
  identities for himself, 
  any one of which he can 
  vanish into with just a 
  few minutes’ preparation.
  
  205 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Seven
  ing businesses at the expense of their rivals. Once 
  they were in a position to compete fairly, they 
  made it known that they’d deeply undercut their 
  rivals... unless each rival was willing to pony up a 
  hefty annual “fee” to keep things fair. Sensing the 
  inevitable, the other shipbuilders went along with 
  the arrangement — especially after the Marcellis 
  killed one of them, a man named Bill Price, who 
  stubbornly refused to give in. The shipbuilders have 
  been paying through the nose ever since... but it’s 
  cheaper than cutting prices.
  PAGE 33 — ANDY POLEVSKI
  While he’s not openly or greedily corrupt, 
  Assistant Harbormaster Polevski is deﬁnitely ame-
  nable to a bribe in the right circumstances. He’s got 
  a solid working relationship with several Marcelli 
  soldiers and associates — they pay him to turn a 
  blind eye to some of their activities (and, if neces-
  sary, mislead the cops). He’s hoping he can use his 
  “connections” to make a play for the Harbormas-
  ter’s job in a few years... though the truth is he’d 
  have to become a lot more helpful to the Marcellis 
  to deserve that kind of help.
  PAGE 33 — THE SHIPYARDS
  Although there’s no overt military shipbuild-
  ing going on at the Shipyards, if you’re running 
  a campaign that involves military, espionage, or 
  government matters you can easily have some of 
  the businesses there working on secret, small-scale 
  naval projects.
  PAGE 35 — DARKANGEL
  The speculation is correct:  in her secret 
  identity, Stacy Hunter, DarkAngel does live in 
  Blackbridge. That’s why she works so hard to 
  keep the neighborhood safe. See the Dark Cham-
  pions:  The Animated Series subgenre book for 
  more about DarkAngel.
  PAGE 37 — COMRADE CAPITALISTS
  Koslov and McBryde sometimes work as 
  vigilantes, though it’s not their preferred modus 
  operandi. They’ve clashed with the Russian Maﬁa 
  (which Koslov has some connections to) on several 
  occasions, and gotten involved in various other 
  matters that aﬀected them or their clients. A rather 
  cautious pair, they’ve taken advantage of renova-
  tions to their building (#3, the six-story building 
  to the east) to make the place a little more secure 
  without the building’s owners being any the wiser. 
  For example, the large planters in front of the 
  building are now made of reinforced concrete so 
  they function as a vehicle barrier.
  PAGE 37 — THE JACKHAMMER
  No one knows how, but the Jackhammer long 
  ago became a favorite meeting place for mercenar-
  ies seeking work in Hudson City (see page 212 for 
  more on mercenaries). Maybe it’s because the Jack-
  hammer is the last sort of place anyone would look 
  for mercs and recruiters, or maybe some important 
  recruiter really liked the place — but regardless, 
  most weekends a merc or two is hanging around, 
  hoping to make a business connection.
  PAGE 37 — THE MIDNIGHT STAR
  Oliver Younce runs a high-stakes poker 
  game in the club’s back room on Wednesday and 
  Friday nights. Most of the players are regulars 
  who kid around a lot more than most hard-core 
  poker players do, but every game features a few 
  new faces. Just about anyone can play, provided 
  he has the money to buy in and Younce doesn’t 
  think he’ll cause trouble.
  PAGE 38 — CHINATOWN
  Chinatown’s reputation as a vice den back in 
  the Twenties and Thirties was entirely deserved. 
  What most Hudsonites don’t know is that it’s still 
  deserved. While the main vice in Chinatown is 
  gambling, there are more than a few carefully-
  hidden houses of prostitution — most of them 
  staﬀed by girls from China who “indentured” 
  themselves to the tongs in exchange for the money 
  to leave their homeland, but now ﬁnd themselves 
  pressed into a career very diﬀerent from the ones 
  they were promised. Some of the brothels in China-
  town rival the most depraved places on the Strip... 
  and more than one young girl’s body has been qui-
  etly dumped into the Stewart River after an “enthu-
  siastic” client took things a little too far.
  PAGE 40 — GREAT WALL ORIENTAL GIFTS
  Chu Shou-Ming’s art and antique business isn’t 
  entirely aboveboard. Most of his pieces are legitimate 
  objects legitimately obtained, but he occasionally deals 
  with art thieves and smugglers when oﬀered a par-
  ticularly desirable piece. His friends in the tongs help 
  him forge certiﬁcates of authenticity for the items.
  PAGE 40 — BUDOKAN
  Budokan is a mizu shobai (“water business,” or 
  front/money laundering operation) for a group of 
  Japanese “businessmen” belonging to the Sawakiri-
  gumi yakuza gang (page 169). Many of the gang’s 
  local top leaders meet here frequently to socialize 
  (and sometimes conduct business).
  PAGE 42 — CARIBBEAN KARMA
  Caribbean Karma is actually owned by the 
  surviving remnants of the Calypso Dreamers posse 
  (page 174) through a series of front corporations. 
  They mostly try to keep it separate from their crim-
  inal dealings, but they do sell cocaine, crack, and 
  other drugs there. The shootings were committed 
  by rival gangs... and it’s likely there’ll be more such 
  incidents in the future.
  PAGE 42 — KRAZY KARL’S
  Karl Jorgenson wasn’t in the Rangers... that’s 
  just what he tells people. He served in the Army for 
  a couple years, then got dishonorably discharged 
  for selling Army weapons on the black market (his 
  superiors hushed it up and didn’t hold a court-mar-
  tial for fear of the bad publicity). He drifted into 
  the Mercenary World and spent nearly 20 years as a 
  soldier of fortune. His contacts in the Military/Mer-
  cenary/Terrorist World and the Espionage World 
  are extensive, and his bar is a place where mercs 
  looking for work come to meet recruiters — and of 
  course Karl gets a “ﬁnder’s fee” from each hire.
  SING HO
   10 STR 
  8 DEX
   10 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   13 PRE 
  8 COM
   4 PD 
  2 ED
   3 SPD 
  5 REC
   20 END 20 STUN
  Abilities:  Martial Arts 
  (Kung Fu — Martial 
  Block, Martial Dodge, 
  Martial Grab, Martial 
  Strike), Bribery 12-, 
  Bureaucratics 8-, Gam-
  bling (Dice Games) 11-, 
  KS: Hudson City Tongs 
  13-, Language:  English 
  (ﬂuent conversation; 
  Cantonese is Native), PS: 
  Grocer 11-, Streetwise 
  12-, WF: Common Mar-
  tial Arts Weapons, Small 
  Arms, Money: Well Oﬀ
  Disadvantages:  Hunted 
  (Watched by HCPD 
  Organized Crime 
  Bureau); Social Limita-
  tion:  Subject To Orders
  Notes:  Sing Ho owns 
  and operates a small 
  but proﬁtable grocery 
  store in Chinatown. He 
  carries mostly Asian 
  foodstuﬀs, but with a 
  reasonable selection of 
  American foods that his 
  customers like. To all 
  intents and purposes, 
  he seems like an ordi-
  nary member of the 
  Chinatown community 
  — friendly, hardwork-
  ing, always looking for 
  another way to make a 
  buck. But he’s a member 
  of the On At-Zhang 
  tong, which gives him 
  an edge both socially 
  and in business. His 
  activities for the tong 
  include storing some 
  drugs and other contra-
  band in concealed areas 
  in his storeroom, and 
  helping with some gam-
  bling rackets.
  Sing Ho’s family — his 
  wife and four children 
  — all help him run the 
  store. Together with 
  his mother and aunt, 
  they live in some rooms 
  above the store.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  206 ■ Gamemastering Hudson City
  PAGE 45 — THE COPPER SAMOVAR
  The owner of the Samovar, a shadowy Rus-
  sian emigre named Dominik Gromov, has con-
  nections to Endgame’s Organizatsiya gang. He 
  sometimes uses his shipments of authentic Rus-
  sian furnishings and art to smuggle over drugs or 
  women from Russia. 
  PAGE 47 — LARDNER’S DRUGSTORE
  Arthur Lardner has been padding his retire-
  ment account by selling prescription drugs illegally 
  to drug abusers and unscrupulous doctors. When 
  he’s got a big enough nest egg, he plans to sell the 
  pharmacy and move to Florida.
  PAGE 47 — HOG HEAVEN
  Despite the Police Department’s suspicions, 
  there’s nothing going on at Hog Heaven. The 
  patrons may plot their own schemes in the dark-
  ened booths or over a game of pool, but the bar 
  itself remains strictly neutral in the conﬂicts and 
  crimes committed by the area’s outlaw biker gangs. 
  Walt Jasons is a gun aﬃcionado and amateur phi-
  losopher, but he’s no criminal.
  PAGE 49 — CLUB TWENTY
  The owners of Club Twenty — a married 
  couple named Gary and Janice Halman — do more 
  than just provide a place for the college kids to 
  dance. They also supply Ecstasy and other designer 
  drugs to students, and have been known to bring 
  hookers down from the Strip for fraternity par-
  ties. Their own sexual proclivities are somewhat 
  unusual, and a time or two they’ve plied a college 
  girl with “date rape” drugs so they could have their 
  way with her.
  PAGE 52 — MT. ZION BAPTIST CHURCH
  The exact cause of the 1996 ﬁre is left to your 
  ﬁendish imagination. It’s entirely possible that it 
  was just faulty wiring... but if you have a scenario 
  idea in mind, nearly anyone (or anything) could be 
  to blame.
  PAGE 53 — THE PARADISE CLUB
  Buckshot is more than just a favored cus-
  tomer at the Club — he’s secretly part owner. He’s 
  using it to size up some of his gang rivals, gather-
  ing information about them and sometimes even 
  trying to get one of his women close to them. 
  And the usual perks of owning a sex club cer-
  tainly aren’t lost on him.
  PAGE 56 — GUILFORD
  It’s true that Guilford has little in the way of 
  street crime — but it’s not crime-free. The Maﬁa 
  has its greedy ﬁngers in quite a few Guilford pies, 
  such as trucking ﬁrms near Kurtland Boulevard, 
  concessions and other businesses connected with 
  the Stadium, and various companies to which it’s 
  loaned money or established other ties. Many Guil-
  ford residents would be shocked to discover just 
  how much is really going on in their neighborhood 
  behind the scenes.
  PAGE 57 — THE JUNCTION
  Gino “the Stick” Carbelli, a soldier in the Sca-
  tucci family, secretly has a controlling interest in 
  the Junction. He uses the place both to launder 
  money and to sell small quantities of drugs to HCU 
  students. If he ever thinks the cops are getting too 
  close to him, he plans to run up huge beer and food 
  orders from his distributors, sell what he gets cheap 
  on the black market, torch the place for the insur-
  ance money, and disappear before the distributors 
  can catch up to him.
  PAGE 58 — CHEROKEE TOWER
  Though it’s only been hinted at in a few news-
  paper stories, the corruption and fraud related 
  to the Cherokee Tower renovations is staggering. 
  Not only was money lavishly spread around to get 
  the permits for the work without any fuss, but the 
  Maﬁa-dominated construction ﬁrms that did most 
  of the work skimmed oﬀ a lot of money during 
  the project. If the situation became public, it would 
  embarrass Cherokee Bank and lead to indictments 
  against several city oﬃcials.
  
  207 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Seven
  PAGE 58 — FLAG NATIONAL  
  BANK BUILDING
  As the headquarters of a bank that does a lot 
  of consumer business, the Flag Building stockpiles 
  cash every Friday for shipment to its local branches 
  to cover paychecks. Given that there’s a subway line 
  running right underneath the building, a gang of 
  clever thieves who timed things just right might be 
  able to steal millions of dollars and get away with-
  out having to take to the streets.
  PAGE 59 — FACES
  Unbeknownst to even the Back Room mem-
  bers, Faces is largely owned by the mysterious 
  international assassin Timothy G. Gersh. It’s a good 
  way for him to launder some of his earnings, and 
  the Back Room gives him a secure place to meet 
  prospective “clients” on his home turf.
  PAGE 61 — CLUB IRISH
  The bartenders at Club Irish are more than 
  happy to supply a little Ecstacy or other designer 
  drugs to the club’s patrons... for the right fee, 
  of course. They’re used to accommodating 
  “unusual” requests from spoiled rich kids, since 
  that means big tips.
  PAGE 65 — CLUB AZTEC
  Club Aztec is a legitimate business, but it’s also 
  a front for less scrupulous doings. A ﬂamboyant 
  Mexican cartel leader who calls himself El Azteca 
  (“the Aztec,” see page 165) built it both as a way 
  to launder drug proﬁts and as his toehold in the 
  Hudson City market. The Los Toros, who work for/
  with him, spend a lot of time here.
  PAGE 70 — VIVA ITALIANA
  Unbeknownst to the authorities, Mickey 
  “Numbers” Tosconi, an inﬂuential caporegima in 
  the Morelli crime family, owns half of this restau-
  rant. He eats there frequently at a dark table in the 
  back where most of the patrons can’t see him.
  Charles Harmon owns the other half of the 
  restaurant. His rumored connections to the Maﬁa 
  aren’t just rumors; he’s been associated with the 
  Morellis for decades. He has the Social Limitation 
  Harmful Secret.
  PAGE 71 — HORACE OAKLEY
  The text notes that Oakley “claimed to” have 
  made his money selling cotton and indigo. That’s 
  probably true... but if you prefer, he might actually 
  have earned it in some less ordinary, more sce-
  nario-inspiring way. In a mystic-oriented campaign, 
  maybe he was a cruel slave-trader, and the evil of 
  his deeds has left a taint and curse on his former 
  property in Hudson City. Or maybe he was a pirate 
  whose wealth came from plundered gold, and 
  the remains of his treasure lay buried somewhere 
  beneath Mint Ridge!
  PAGE 72 — DOLMAN’S CONFECTIONERS
  One of Dolman’s managers, Fred Warnecke, 
  is a serial child abuser who uses the store as the 
  linchpin of his crimes. He spots little girls he 
  finds “appealing” when they come into Dolman’s, 
  gets their addresses from their mothers’ credit 
  card slips and such, and then finds ways to 
  kidnap them. If necessary he uses free candy to 
  lure the girls into situations where he can prey 
  upon them. He’s also killed two of them who 
  accidentally got too good a look at his face. If he 
  keeps it up, it’s only a matter of time before the 
  police make the connection and catch him... but 
  so far he’s been pretty cautious and clever.
  PAGE 74 — IRON CURTAIN IMPORTS
  Alexandrov occasionally uses his contacts back 
  home to buy Soviet weapons — up to and includ-
  ing things like tanks — on the black market. He 
  then resells them to “special customers” (mercenary 
  units, organized crime families, and the like) for a 
  stiﬀ markup (but still far less than they’d pay if they 
  tried to buy direct on their own). He won’t import 
  any illegal goods into Hudson City, or transport 
  them to his store, unless there’s no other way to get 
  them to the buyer.
  PAGE 74 — LUKIN TOBACCONISTS
  Selivan Lukin also smuggles in cigars from 
  Cuba for a few of his wealthier clients. As Hudson 
  City crimes go, it’s pretty pedestrian, but you never 
  know when the BATF may stumble onto his doings 
  and take oﬀense.
  PAGE 77 — CRIME ON THE STRIP
  The rumors about occasionally “cleaning up” 
  the main parts of the Strip are true. The people who 
  own businesses along that part of the street have 
  an informal organization they call the Redwine 
  Avenue Protection Association. When they think 
  it’s necessary, they pool their money and pay the 
  Morelli family to get rid of anyone who’s causing 
  problems:  greedy thieves; anyone who uses vio-
  lence on a “tourist” (as the locals call anyone who 
  comes in to patronize the Strip); the homeless; too-
  persistent panhandlers; and the like. Usually a gang 
  of Morelli thugs is enough to scare most of these 
  people away, but more than one body of someone 
  too disturbed, greedy, or desperate to heed the 
  warnings has been dumped into the river oﬀ a 
  North Elmview pier.
  The Doom Fever posse has worked out an 
  “arrangement” with the Redwine Avenue Protection 
  Association to sell drugs along the Strip. The deal is 
  that the posse keeps it low-key and inobvious — no 
  clothes or cars that would look out of place, speciﬁc 
  areas where they can sell — and the merchants in 
  turn take a tiny cut and refer customers to them. So 
  far it’s worked to everyone’s advantage.
  PAGE 77 — FUNGI IN THE DARKNESS
  In case you want to run adventures in the 
  darker, more degenerate parts of North Elmview, 
  here are descriptions of a few of the underground 
  businesses there. They’re not marked on the map 
  so players can’t learn about them and you can put 
  them wherever you want. None of them advertise; 
  they attract customers through word of mouth 
  among the dregs of society, and often “vet” prospec-
  tive customers carefully.
  FISKE
   15 STR 
  15 DEX
   16 CON 13 BODY
   15 INT 
  13 EGO
   20 PRE 
  8 COM
   6 PD 
  5 ED
   3 SPD 
  6 REC
   32 END 35 STUN
  Abilities:  Running 
  +2” (8” total), Martial 
  Arts (Shotokan Karate, 
  +2 DCs), +1 with All 
  Combat, +1 HTH, 
  Breakfall 12-, Combat 
  Driving 12-, Deduction 
  12-, CK: Hudson City 
  14-, Shadowing 13-, 
  Stealth 13-, Streetwise 
  14-, WF: Small Arms, 
  Common Martial Arts 
  Weapons, 30 points’ 
  worth of Contacts in 
  the Hudson City under-
  world, Reputation (bad-
  ass underworld courier, 
  among the Hudson City 
  underworld, +3/+3d6)
  Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Gotta Make The Deliv-
  ery; Social Limitation:  
  Criminal Record
  Notes:  Sometimes 
  people in the under-
  world need to make 
  deliveries of stuﬀ 
  — money, important 
  papers, that sort of thing 
  — and they either can’t 
  or won’t do it them-
  selves. They’ve got to 
  have a third party they 
  can trust. In that situa-
  tion, they usually turn 
  to a proven underworld 
  courier like Fiske.
  Fiske works for anyone; 
  he doesn’t play favorites. 
  He gets a commission 
  of 25% of the value of 
  whatever he’s carry-
  ing, paid in advance. 
  Once he accepts a 
  contract, the goods will 
  get through — on that 
  you have his personal 
  guarantee. And he’s got a 
  well-deserved rep in the 
  underworld for living up 
  to that guarantee.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  208 ■ Gamemastering Hudson City
  Cherry Pie:  A live sex club in which young girls, 
  mostly Thai or Russian and supposedly virgins, are 
  raped onstage for the audience’s amusement. Tapes 
  of the evening’s “performance” are available for a 
  stiﬀ fee.
  Hotel:  That’s all the sign out front says. From the 
  front, it looks like just another North Elmview hotel 
  used by prostitutes and their johns. But in the back 
  part, where the public doesn’t go, there are rooms 
  and studios set up for ﬁlming rape ﬁlms, snuﬀ 
  ﬁlms, and other illegal pornography. It also includes 
  some locked, soundproofed rooms where the 
  unwilling participants in these ﬁlms are kept before 
  the cameras start rolling.
  The Marketplace:  Not actually known by any 
  particular name, “the Marketplace” is a group of 
  pornography merchants who sell the sickest of 
  the sick:  snuff films, kiddie porno, rape videos, 
  and more. It moves around from one abandoned 
  building or unused backroom to another from 
  month to month so the authorities can’t find it. 
  Locating it should take a few hours and a Street-
  wise roll at -5 or better; KS: The Vice World or 
  the like is Complementary.
  The Showroom:  Run by a group of hardened Bos-
  nian criminals who are veterans of Balkans warfare, 
  the Showroom kidnaps beautiful young American 
  women, dopes them up with drugs, and then sells 
  them to wealthy foreigners for their “amusement.” 
  The Showroom is where the customers come to 
  pick out their purchases.
  PAGE 77 — THE EMPORIUM
  The main text should more properly read 
  “Cole wouldn’t endanger his various businesses 
  by stocking anything illegal in the Emporium.” As 
  discussed on page 219, an underground empire 
  of child pornography and the like mirrors Cole’s 
  aboveground empire of smut. He’s just very, very 
  careful not to associate it with his legitimate opera-
  tions any more than he has to.
  PAGE 78 — THE BLUE DOOR
  Instead of just having places in back where 
  the girls can quickly prostitute themselves, the 
  Blue Door is actually a full-blown brothel. The 
  owners secretly converted the extensive base-
  ment, and a few rooms upstairs above the club 
  floor, into rooms for the girls and their custom-
  ers... and more than a few of those rooms are 
  filled every night of the week.
  PAGE 78 — JERICHO
  HCPD detectives, and some private eyes, 
  consider Jericho a good place to pick up infor-
  mation — several of the bartenders and other 
  employees are more than willing to “snitch” in 
  exchange for a few bills.
  PAGE 80 — THE HUDSON CITY  
  FLOWER MARKET
  For a place that sells such beautiful wares, the 
  Hudson City Flower Market seethes with under-
  ground animosity. Because time is of the essence, 
  the Flower Market’s always been vulnerable to dis-
  ruption, and the Verontese family took advantage 
  of that to sell its “services” to the wholesalers. For a 
  “small monthly emolument,” the Veronteses ensure 
  that nothing delays a wholesaler’s shipments, his 
  stall isn’t vandalized or torched, and his customers 
  aren’t “persuaded” to buy elsewhere.
  A few years ago, Speargun (page 179) upset 
  the flower cart. Determined to fulfill his prom-
  ise to take control of Hudson City’s docklands, 
  he made his move on the Flower Market. A few 
  bloody months of fighting were all it took to 
  drive the Verontese family out and take their 
  place. The Veronteses want the Flower Market 
  back (they still retain control of the rest of the 
  Pierpoint waterfront), but so far Speargun’s held 
  on to what he took.
  Michael “Tulips” DeAngelo is a soldier in the 
  Verontese family. He should also have KS: Veron-
  tese Family 13-, KS: Maﬁa 11-, 12 more points’ 
  worth of Contacts in the Hudson City underworld, 
  and Psychological Limitation:  Brutal And Greedy.
  PAGE 83 — BOB’S GUN RACK
  Bob was a Marine sniper to about the same 
  extent that FDR was a Republican. He’s never been 
  in the military — he’s just a high-grade military 
  history geek and gun nut who can recite enough 
  facts, ﬁgures, and trivia about military hardware 
  to choke an Army ﬁrearms maintenance oﬃcer. 
  He’s a pretty good shot on the targeting range, but 
  whether that would carry over to a combat situ-
  ation is another thing altogether. His big dream 
  is to parlay his knowledge and stock of ﬁrearms 
  (including a large personal collection with dozens 
  of weapons, including many from the 1845-1945 
  period) into a job as a gun consultant on Holly-
  wood movies.
  PAGE 83 — HANNIGAN’S  
  WATERFRONT DIVE
  People who want to drink beer aren’t the only 
  sorts of customers Jake Hannigan has. Through 
  no particular eﬀort or connections of his own, 
  the Waterfront Dive has become a meeting place 
  for mercs looking for work, or who want to put 
  together a team to tackle a particular job. Hannigan 
  himself doesn’t get anything out of it — in fact, he’s 
  barely aware of it — but the mercs drink plenty of 
  beer, so he’s content to let sleeping dogs lie.
  PAGE 84 — MELISSA THOMASON
  Melissa Thomason has the Disadvantages 
  Psychological Limitation:  Compulsive Gambler and 
  Social Limitation:  Harmful Secret, because she’s not 
  entirely the sweet and helpful lady she’s described 
  as being. She likes to play the ponies and the slots, 
  and years ago she got in way over her head with 
  Card Shark. He didn’t really have much use for her, 
  so he traded her to the yakuza in exchange for a 
  future favor.
  The yakuza knew exactly what to do with 
  Melissa. She has access to a large number of girls 
  with no societal connections... and the yakuza can 
  use young Western women. When the orphanage 
  JEFF MACILROY
   9 STR 
  10 DEX
   10 CON 
  8 BODY
   9 INT 
  8 EGO
   12 PRE 
  10 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  Bribery 8-, 
  Concealment 12-, 
  Deduction 11-, KS: The 
  Kiddie Porn World 13-, 
  KS: The Vice World 13-, 
  PS: Photography 11-, PS: 
  Stockbroker 11-, Street-
  wise 8-, WF: Handguns, 
  Money:  Well Oﬀ
  Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Child Abuser; Social 
  Limitation:  Harmful 
  Secret
  Notes:  Jeﬀ Macilroy and 
  his wife Marcia look 
  like an ordinary upper 
  middle class suburban 
  DINK couple:  big 
  detached home in Swan’s 
  Quarter, an SUV and a 
  nice car in the garage, 
  widescreen plasma TV 
  in the living room, lots 
  of weekend getaway 
  trips to nearby resorts. 
  Their neighbors would 
  be shocked to discover 
  that they don’t use 
  their basement to store 
  things. Instead, they’ve 
  got part of it tricked 
  out to look like a child’s 
  playroom. They lure 
  kids — never kids from 
  the neighborhood, mind 
  you — back to their 
  house and down to the 
  room, where they abuse 
  them sexually and take 
  pornographic pictures 
  of them. The rest of the 
  basement includes a 
  darkroom for develop-
  ing the ﬁlm and a large 
  walk-in safe where they 
  store their pictures, 
  videos, and other illegal 
  pornographic material. 
  Each picture or ﬁlm is 
  original; they don’t make 
  copies. Sometimes they 
  get together with other 
  couples like them and 
  trade or sell pictures.
  
  209 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Seven
  is ready to release a woman 
  who’s turning 18, sometimes 
  Melissa alerts the yakuza, and 
  they kidnap the girl. No one 
  misses her — she’s got no rela-
  tives and no job, and it’s not 
  exactly uncommon for former 
  wards of the orphanage to 
  disappear into the city and 
  never be heard from again 
  — and she soon enough ends 
  up somewhere in Asia, the 
  victim of a well-developed 
  white slavery ring.
  PAGE 92 — DEPUTY 
  MAYOR EDWARD 
  WILSON
  As the text notes, Wilson 
  is Mayor Umstead’s long-time 
  friend... but he’s also a politi-
  cian. If he saw a real chance 
  to gain a major electoral oﬃce 
  for himself — mayor, gover-
  nor, senator, or the like — by 
  turning on Umstead, there’s 
  a good chance he’d stab his 
  friend in the back and go for 
  the brass ring. But he might 
  have a hard time rehabilitating himself in the eyes 
  of many black power-brokers in the city, who dis-
  like him a lot more than they’ve ever let on publicly.
  PAGE 93 — HUMAN RESOURCES  
  DIRECTOR GEORGINA FLYNN
  The rumors about Flynn being corrupt are 
  completely untrue — and she’ll sue anyone who 
  repeats them publicly. She’s pro-union because she 
  thinks unions are a good thing.
  PAGE 93 — DEPUTY MAYOR FOR COM-
  MERCE KEVIN RAMIS
  Ramis himself isn’t corrupt — but his Deputy 
  Assistant, George Mikowlski, is. Mikowlski gladly 
  lines his pockets any way he can (provided he 
  thinks he can get away with it), and often exagger-
  ates the extent of his inﬂuence over Ramis and the 
  Mayor to make himself look more important.
  PAGE 93 — DEPUTY MAYOR FOR  
  COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT  
  WILLIAM FROWARD
  Like George Mikowlski, Froward is plenty 
  corrupt. The two of them have “worked together” 
  on a few schemes that brought them both plenty 
  of moola, and Froward’s considering ways to 
  manipulate city politics to oust Kevin Ramis and let 
  Mikowlski take his job.
  PAGE 93 — DIRECTOR OF PLANNING PHIL-
  LIP TAGGART
  Taggart’s lying through his teeth. While he 
  himself isn’t particularly corrupt — he made his 
  pile as a developer years ago and isn’t willing to 
  risk his public proﬁle just to get more money — he 
  knows full well that plenty of people in his depart-
  ment are. Inspectors “overlook” code violations for 
  a bribe... or threaten to note non-existent violations 
  if not paid oﬀ. More than one planner has taken 
  money from a contractor or developer to approve 
  building plans that aren’t as safe, eﬃcient, or good 
  for the city as they could reasonably be. Some long-
  time employees of the Planning Division have done 
  quite well for themselves under the table, and no 
  one in the system has anything to gain by rocking 
  the boat. If Mayor Umstead found out about this, 
  he’d blow a gasket — but the odds are he wouldn’t 
  be able to do much about it unless he were willing 
  to gut the department and start over, which really 
  isn’t feasible in a city with as much development 
  and construction going on as Hudson City.
  PAGE 95 — COUNCILMAN JOSEPH  
  RUGGIERO
  The feds’ suspicions about Ruggiero are cor-
  rect:  he takes just about any bribes he can, and he’s 
  “mobbed up” with the Colombians as well as the 
  Maﬁa. Only the constituents for whom he’s shov-
  eled up so much porkbarrel money could possibly 
  like this repellent man.
  PAGE 95 — COUNCILMAN  
  WILLIAM ZOGBY
  Although he’s currently married, Zogby keeps 
  a mistress in a nice Westhurst apartment, and also 
  is a “regular” with several of the prettier and less 
  inhibited girls on the Strip. It’s only a matter of 
  time before he does something so scandalous, or so 
  deadly, that it ruins his career.
  
  Hero System 5th Edition
  210 ■ Gamemastering Hudson City
  PAGE 96 — TRANSPORTATION  
  COMMISSION
  The Commission’s reputation for corruption 
  is well-deserved, though Commissioner Snod-
  grass himself is not corrupt (or at least, not yet). 
  In addition to the illegal acts described in the 
  main text, the Mafia exerts a lot of control over 
  various roadworkers’ unions and uses that influ-
  ence to skim money from roadwork projects. 
  As a result, getting even the smallest new road 
  built in Hudson City is an enormously expensive 
  proposition; the odds of the city ever build-
  ing something like Kurtland Boulevard or the 
  Coastal Parkway again are virtually nil.
  PAGE 97 — PAUL MCCLENDON
  McClendon remains very much in the Maﬁa’s 
  pocket. He often uses his inﬂuence behind the 
  scenes on behalf of various mobsters, and most of 
  his “business consulting” work is for ﬁrms owned 
  or dominated by La Cosa Nostra. He’d like to run 
  for oﬃce again, but overcoming his negative repu-
  tation would be diﬃcult at best.
  PAGE 100 — CARIDAD MONTALVÁN
   There’s no denying Montalván’s devotion to 
  her constituents, or her genuine desire to help them 
  and look out for their interests. However, her judg-
  ment in other matters is questionable. She’s friends 
  with several prominent Latin City residents whose 
  money allegedly comes from the cocaine trade, and 
  has had an on-again-oﬀ-again relationship with a 
  local man who’s now serving prison time for drug 
  possession. There have been no allegations that 
  she’s involved in the drug trade personally, but she 
  has pulled strings to helps some of these  “promi-
  nent” voters out with various matters.
  PAGE 100 — LAHAB AL-BAKIYAH
  Al-Bakiyah is an Iranian spy; he should also 
  have the Disadvantage Social Limitation:  Secret 
  Identity to reﬂect this. Since 9/11, he’s had to curtail 
  his activities to avoid making the FBI even more 
  suspicious of him than it already is, but he hopes 
  that will change soon.
  CHAPTER THREE
  PAGE 105 — PATRICIA EISENHART
  Patricia Eisenhart is much more intelligent 
  than the average Hudsonite or station manager 
  realizes. She’s tired of her current job and wants 
  to become the full-time anchor — a move which 
  could deﬁnitely improve the station’s standing, if 
  only the managers could see past their dismissal of 
  her. She might be tempted to try something risky or 
  unusual to get their attention.
  PAGE 108 — FRANK KEATON
  The rumors that Keaton provides information to 
  vigilantes are absolutely correct. But he only does so on 
  a quid pro quo basis — he expects information from 
  them in return, and possibly an exclusive on what they 
  do with the information he provides (if he thinks the 
  outcome will be particularly newsworthy). He makes 
  a great Contact for PCs; he costs +2 points for “very 
  useful Skills or resources” and +1 point for “signiﬁcant 
  Contacts of his own” (total +3 Character Points).
  PAGE 109 — AMUSEMENT PARKS
  Wicked GMs should remember that amuse-
  ment parks and similar places are good locations 
  for terrorist attacks, kidnappings, bombings, and 
  the like:  they’re ﬁlled with crowds of people in 
  search of innocent American fun (making them 
  a tempting target for anti-American fanatics) and 
  generally have lax security. You can ﬁnd a map for 
  an entire amusement park in Chapter Three of 
  Champions Battlegrounds, though you may want to 
  change the names and themes of some of the rides 
  to better suit the world of Dark Champions.
  PAGE 109 — CARNIVAL WORLD
  Park oﬃcials have gone to great lengths to 
  conceal this problem, but in recent years Carnival 
  World has suﬀered a rash of kidnappings. One or 
  two clearly seem to relate to child custody disputes 
  between divorced parents, but the rest are unex-
  plained, and none have been solved by the police. 
  Most are committed by people who want to use the 
  children for child pornography and prostitution; a 
  few kids were taken by psychotic individuals who 
  wanted a child to raise “of their very own.”
  PAGE 110 — KRISTEN MCCULLEN
  McCullen’s falling-out with the Symphony had 
  to do with her mild drug habit — mainly mari-
  juana, very occasionally heroin. She’s not addicted 
  yet, but it’s only a matter of time. It’s possible that 
  the right person could turn her back to the light, 
  but getting close to her is going to be tough due to 
  her sometimes waspish temper.
  PAGE 110 — THE LANDAUER GALLERIES
  Herman Landauer IV, the reclusive, secretive 
  owner of the Landauer Galleries, is himself an accom-
  plished painter... and smuggler, and forger. Most of his 
  company’s business is entirely aboveboard, but some-
  times he does “favors” for his wealthier clients that 
  involve illegal activity. He knows the art demimonde 
  very well, and has even advised the FBI or other law 
  enforcement organizations in the past.
  JUNGLE DOG
   10 STR 
  12 DEX
   10 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  10 EGO
   13 PRE 
  10 COM
   4 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   20 END 18 STUN
  Abilities:  Bribery 8-, 
  Combat Driving 11-, 
  Electronics 8-, Forgery 
  (Automotive Documen-
  tation) 11-, KS: Automo-
  biles 14-, Lockpicking 
  11-, Mechanics 13-, PS: 
  Auto Mechanic 13-, PS: 
  Car Thief 13-, Street-
  wise 12-, Fringe Beneﬁt:  
  Membership (Strad’s 
  gang)
  Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Loves Fine Cars; Social 
  Limitation:  Criminal 
  Record
  Notes:  Jungle Dog (real 
  name:  Joaquim Harris) 
  belongs to Strad’s orga-
  nization. He runs a chop 
  shop for Strad where he 
  cuts up cars for parts, 
  repaints stolen cars for 
  resale, and forges auto-
  mobile documentation. 
  He does the same sort 
  of work “on the side” for 
  friends, provided they’re 
  not enemies of Strad’s. 
  His knowledge of auto-
  mobiles is encyclopedic, 
  his appreciation for a 
  ﬁne automotive machine 
  deep and true.
  
  211 
  Hudson City ■ Chapter Seven
  PAGE 112 — LEGALIZED GAMBLING
  The real reason the idea of legalized gam-
  bling never makes any headway is that the people 
  with a major interest in illegal gambling — Card 
  Shark, the Maﬁa, the tongs, and others — pay hefty 
  bribes to city oﬃcials to keep the issue dead. Legal 
  gambling in the area would cut their proﬁts signiﬁ-
  cantly, and they can’t allow that. Even if the idea 
  made it past the “maybe” stage, the Maﬁa would use 
  its control over the unions to make any actual con-
  struction work grind to a halt.
  PAGE 113 — EMERALD
  Gil Osterman does a little drug dealing from 
  his back corner table — nothing heavy, just a 
  little coke here and there to people he trusts. His 
  real dream is to become a music promoter and 
  producer, and he’s always on the lookout for the 
  one group that he thinks could catapult him into 
  the big leagues.
  PAGE 114 — BEVERLY FIORETTA
  Fioretta deﬁnitely wants to sell the Storm 
  — she honors the memory of her husband, but not 
  enough to keep the team, given her general disin-
  terest in sports. She’ll let it go for a pretty reason-
  able price, but not cheaply.
  PAGE 118 — DR. GINNY HERNANDEZ
  The rumors about Dr. Hernandez are true:  
  she did once work on nukes for the United States 
  government. She’s been out of that line of work for 
  about ten years, so her knowledge is a little out-
  dated, but that probably wouldn’t matter to a ter-
  rorist or criminal who targeted her for kidnapping 
  and interrogation.
  PAGE 119 — BLOUNT PHARMACEUTICALS
  Though there’s no denying that Tobias 
  Blount is a brilliant businessman, his success has 
  as much to do with his criminal tendencies as 
  his leadership. Embracing the Japanese saying 
  “business is war” and the Eighties mantra “greed 
  is good,” Blount does whatever he must to make 
  sure his company succeeds. If that means corpo-
  rate espionage, his spies go out to steal competi-
  tors’ secrets and sabotage their factories. If it 
  means cutting deals with Colombian and Mexi-
  can cartels, and creating new “designer drugs,” to 
  get into a different end of the “pharmaceuticals” 
  business, so be it. And if it means a particularly 
  bothersome adversary has to be “eliminated,” the 
  Whale of Wall Street gives the order.
  PAGE 120 — RANDOLPH STARR
  Starr is no more likeable or honest than Tobias 
  Blount. Although he’s unquestionably a brilliant 
  inventor, a lot of “his” discoveries are technologies he 
  stole from other scientists through deception, black-
  mail, strong-arm tactics, or corporate espionage. 
  To protect him from the many enemies he’s made, 
  he has two lines of defense:  ﬁrst, a corps of lawyers 
  that make pit bulls look warm and cuddly; and two 
  female bodyguards, nicknamed StarrLight and Starr-
  Bright, who accompany him everywhere he goes.
  PAGE 120 — STRAKE INDUSTRIES INTER-
  NATIONAL 
  The general allegations regarding SII are true. 
  Michelangelo Strake really only cares about proﬁt, 
  and if obtaining proﬁt means he has to pollute the 
  environment, expose some of his employees to dan-
  gerous working conditions, or pay his workers in 
  Third World countries substandard wages, so be it. 
  Company publicists and attorneys can deal with the 
  fallout while he’s counting the money.
  PAGE 121 — INTERNATIONAL  
  FINANCE BANK
  While it presents an innocent front to the 
  world (and in fact the vast majority of its busi-
  ness is legal), the IFB is deeply involved with 
  backing and laundering money for certain crimi-
  nal organizations (such as Colombian cartels) 
  and terrorist groups (including the PLRL). Its 
  main concern is making money — lots of money 
  — not where its clients get their money or what 
  they do with it.
  PAGE 121 — JAMES ROMAN
  James Roman isn’t an insider trader. He’s just 
  very skilled at picking stocks.
  PAGE 122 — RUDOLPH THOMAS
  Thomas is a skilled attorney, of that there’s no 
  doubt — but he’s also a cheat. He’s more interested in 
  getting his clients oﬀ the hook than he is in conduct-
  ing himself ethically — he’ll cut corners, or even break 
  the law, to help his clients if he has to. As far as he’s 
  concerned, the whole system is corrupt and oppres-
  sive, and it’s his job to see that the tables are turned 
  on the government every once in a while. He keeps 
  a detailed diary of his work with the Maﬁa that he 
  hides in his safe deposit box; its contents could break a 
  bunch of Maﬁa operations wide open.
  PAGE 123 — RHIALTO VIDEO
  A few of the Rhialto Video outlets in Hudson 
  City secretly deal in pornographic videos and other 
  products they’re not supposed to — in a few cases, 
  even child porn. The employees sell this stuﬀ out 
  of the back after hours, and sometimes even hold 
  “screening parties” in the store to drum up sales.
  PAGE 124 — THE ESPIONAGE WORLD
  There’s more espionage going on in Hudson 
  City than the main text alludes to — any city with 
  so many people, companies, and money is bound 
  to attract spies of one sort or another. In short, feel 
  free to set any espionage-oriented adventure or 
  Danger International campaign that you’d like in 
  Hudson City. The accompanying sidebar has an 
  example spy you can use.
  PAGE 124 — THE MARTIAL WORLD
  You can easily make just about any of the 
  people or schools mentioned in this section an ally 
  (or pawn) of organized crime, the focus of a ﬁght-
  ing tournament storyline, or the source for all those 
  pesky ninja that keep attacking the PCs. The text 
  hints at this a bit here and there, and you can take 
  those hints as truth if you prefer.
  SAYYID EL-GHAZALI
   10 STR 
  14 DEX
   13 CON 13 BODY
   18 INT 
  14 EGO
   15 PRE 
  10 COM
   5 PD 
  4 ED
   3 SPD 
  5 REC
   26 END 25 STUN
  Abilities:  Acting 12-, 
  Bribery 8-, Bugging 8-, 
  Bureaucratics 13-, Com-
  puter Programming 
  13-, Conversation 14-, 
  Deduction 13-, Demoli-
  tions 13-, Forgery (Doc-
  uments) 8-, High Soci-
  ety 12-, KS: The Espio-
  nage World 13-, KS: The 
  Hudson City Diplomatic 
  Scene 11-, KS: The Mili-
  tary/Mercenary/Terror-
  ist World 8-, KS: World 
  Politics 11-, Language: 
  English (ﬂuent conver-
  sation, Arabic is Native), 
  Persuasion 12-, Stealth 
  12-, Streetwise 12-, WF: 
  Small Arms, Knives, PS: 
  Spy 11-, Well-Connected 
  and Contacts (20 points’ 
  worth in the Espionage 
  and Political Worlds), 
  Fringe Beneﬁt: Diplo-
  matic Immunity
  75+ Disadvantages:  
  Distinctive Features:  
  Arabic; Hunted (FBI 
  Counter-Intelligence 
  8-), Psychological 
  Limitation:  Islamic 
  Fundamentalist; Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Hates America And The 
  West; Social Limitation:  
  Secret Identity (is a spy); 
  Social Limitation:  Sub-
  ject To Orders
  Notes:  Sayyid el-Ghazali, 
  an Arabic man in his 
  early thirties, works in 
  a high administrative 
  position at the Syrian 
  Embassy in Hudson City 
  (and as such has full 
  diplomatic immunity). 
  Secretly he spies for the 
  Syrian government. In 
  his cover identity he 
  is aﬀable and politely 
  talkative — the perfect 
  diplomat — but secretly 
  he hates all Westerners, 
  particularly Americans, 
  and loves the fact that 
  he’s working to bring 
  about their downfall.
  
  212 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  PAGE 128 — MILITARY BASES
  All of the military bases listed in the main text 
  are ﬁctional, for ease of game play. The GM is wel-
  come to use nearby real-world bases, such as Fort 
  Dix and Dover Air Force Base, if he prefers.
  PAGE 128 — NATIONAL GUARD ARMORIES
  To say that the armories are “guarded around 
  the clock” is something of an exaggeration. They’re 
  usually guarded... but sometimes the guards take a 
  little nap, or go for a bite to eat. After all, the place 
  is locked up tighter than a drum, and everything in 
  it is heavy and bulky — who could steal any of this 
  stuﬀ in the time it takes to grab a sandwich?
  One of the guards at the Adams Street Armory 
  has a little scam going. When he gets the chance 
  he “borrows” a couple of guns, or some ammo 
  — anything he can carry easily — and sells the 
  stuﬀ on the black market. When it comes time to 
  take inventory, he just makes sure he’s in charge of 
  checking those sections, and he notes that every-
  thing’s in place.
  PAGE 128 — THE MERCENARY WORLD
  As the text hints, mercs gather in Hudson 
  City to hook up with prospective employers, form 
  squads and teams, exchange information, and inter-
  act with others of their kind. Some of the favored 
  locations for this are clubs and bars like Hannigan’s 
  (page 83), Krazy Karl’s (page 42), Faces (page 59), 
  and the Jackhammer (page 37).
  A lot of mercenaries like to meet their 
  employers at Devon Coliseum, which they con-
  sider “safe” because of the crowds and numerous 
  avenues for escape. Usually the meetings and 
  negotiations take place in corridors or other 
  secluded areas, not in the arena itself, but it 
  depends on personal preference:  the mercenar-
  ies most likely to use this place are those with 
  such a reputation for skill and professionalism 
  that they can dictate the location of the meeting 
  to prospective employers.
  The House Of Cards, a brothel and under-
  ground casino in an “abandoned” warehouse in 
  Eastwood run by Card Shark, is another popular 
  meeting place. Since Card Shark often hires merce-
  naries himself, he ﬁnds it convenient to use one of 
  his businesses as a mercenary market. Employers 
  making deals there pay Card Shark a 2% commis-
  sion, but are assured of complete security and the 
  use of the House’s “services.”
  PAGE 129 — THE MYSTIC WORLD
  The extent, prevalence, power, and nature of 
  the Mystic World in Hudson City depends on the 
  type of campaign you’re running. If it’s a completely 
  mundane game with nothing unusual or paranormal 
  involved — such as many Vigilante Crimeﬁght-
  ing and Law Enforcement campaigns — then the 
  Mystic World is nothing but crackpots, fakers, and 
  delusional people. There are no such thing as true 
  mystic powers, ghosts, or the like. On the other hand, 
  some campaigns (such as Monster Hunter games, 
  and many Weird Conspiracy games) presuppose that 
  mystic people and beings do exist, or at least could. In 
  that case you’ll probably want to develop the Mystic 
  World of Hudson City even further.
  PAGE 129 — FATHER MIGUEL BRESSARD
  Whether “Father Miguel” actually has Voodoo 
  powers is up to the GM (see The Ultimate Mystic, 
  pages 116-20, for more on Voodoo, including 
  sample spells). His real name is Michel Brillard, 
  and he was once one of the feared Tonton Macoute 
  enforcers of the Duvalier regime in Haiti. When 
  Baby Doc Duvalier fell, Brillard ﬂed the country, 
  ﬁnally ending up in Hudson City with a generous 
  chunk of the Haitian national treasury to ﬁnance 
  his new life. Figuring it was easier than working, he 
  set himself up as a Voodoo priest (since he’d been 
  one in Haiti previously).
  PAGE 130 — THE RAVEN’S TAROT
  The Raven did, in fact, use a special tarot deck of 
  his own design possessing unique symbolism whose 
  origin he never revealed. Upon his death, it passed 
  into the hands of his widow — Irene Dubois, who 
  fought crime at his side in the guise of the Velvet 
  Phantom. She’s still alive, though as of 2004 she’s 91 
  years old (albeit a rather spry and feisty 91), and still 
  has the Tarot. She lives by herself in a nice (almost 
  luxurious) condominium in Worthington, and no one 
  has any idea she was once a famous crimeﬁghter.
  PAGE 131 — WEITZMANN SYNAGOGUE
  Some faculty members of the Weitzmann 
  Hebrew Academy secretly raise money for, and pro-
  vide other support to, Jewish terrorist organizations 
  in the Middle East.
  PAGE 132 — FIRST INTERNATIONAL 
  CHURCH OF SATAN
  The truth behind the Church of Satan depends 
  on the type of campaign you’re running. In games 
  with no mystic or paranormal element, it’s just 
  another oddball religion, possibly one with some 
  criminal connections. In Monster Hunter, Weird 
  Conspiracy, and other games that could involve 
  magical phenomena, you can make it a full-ﬂedged 
  agent of Evil that performs regular Black Masses 
  involving all sorts of criminal activity.
  PAGE 133 — DOCTOR ROBERT KEENAN
  Despite his charity work, Dr. Keenan is nearly as 
  unethical and greedy as his boss, Michelangelo Strake 
  (pages 120, 211). He won’t take unnecessary risks, but 
  he gladly cuts corners when he feels he can get away 
  with it and it won’t aﬀect the results of his work.
  MASTER JAMES
   7 STR 
  9 DEX
   9 CON 14 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   8 PRE 
  7 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  3 REC
   16 END 23 STUN
  Abilities:  Conversation 
  11-, KS: Astrology 11-, 
  KS: Layman’s Arcane 
  And Occult Lore 13-, KS: 
  The Tarot 11-, KS: World 
  Religion And Mythology 
  11-, PS: Occultist 11-, PS: 
  Tarot Reading 11-, Fringe 
  Beneﬁt:  Membership 
  (leader of mystic group/
  cult)
  Disadvantages:  Physical 
  Limitation:  Morbidly 
  Obese; Social Limitation:  
  Game Designers Have 
  An Easier Time Getting 
  A Date Than This Guy 
  (-2 to all Interaction Skill 
  rolls involving women)
  Notes:  “Master James” 
  (real name:  James Jessup) 
  fancies himself a latter-
  day Aleister Crowley. 
  Unfortunately for him, 
  he’s got too little brains, 
  too little learning, way too 
  little charisma, and about 
  250 too many pounds to 
  qualify for the position. 
  The best he’s been able 
  to do is to wheedle and 
  bully his way to a posi-
  tion of leadership in a 
  group of similar social 
  rejects with a penchant 
  for the occult. As “Arch-
  Magister” of the Circle 
  of Esoteric Wisdom, he’s 
  entitled to command the 
  group as it conducts its 
  magical rituals and “seeks 
  the true Lore of the Ages.” 
  The group is just cult-like 
  enough that he can force 
  the other members to 
  do things for him, like 
  “loan” him small amounts 
  of money or occasion-
  ally sleep with him. In 
  the right circumstances, 
  it might become even 
  worse, leading to Master 
  James developing delu-
  sions of grandeur with 
  possible tragic conse-
  quences.
  
  213 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  CHAPTER FOUR
  PAGE 140 — CITYWIDE TASK FORCE
  The rumors have more than a little truth to them 
  — a lot of CTF cops are crooked. They use their rela-
  tive freedom and authority to conspire with criminals, 
  run criminal groups of their own, or skim money and 
  drugs from busts for their own use. Allegations of 
  CTF brutality also have grains of truth to them. But 
  not all CTF detectives are bad seeds; most are damn 
  good cops doing a damn good job.
  PAGE 141 — KURT DENNAHY
  Kurt Dennahy should also have Social Limita-
  tion:  Harmful Secret, since he’s corrupt. He takes 
  money to lose or contaminate evidence, or some-
  times to spoil an evidence test so it gives wrong or 
  conclusive results. He also sells contraband from 
  police property when he gets the chance.
  PAGE 141 — NARCOTICS DIVISION
  Narcotics detectives are notoriously corrupt. 
  With all that money ﬂoating around the drug trade, 
  it’s no wonder so many of them choose to enrich 
  themselves by taking bribes, stealing from dealers, 
  working with a particular drug dealer in exchange for 
  a cut of his proﬁts, or the like. Not all Narcotics cops 
  are on the take, but many people assume they all are.
  PAGE 143 — THE ARMORY
  Unbeknownst to even longtime Armory cops, 
  there’s a second entrance — from the sewers. When 
  the subbasement was built long ago, the engineers 
  encountered an old, disused sewer tunnel. Rather 
  than make major changes to their plans, they 
  simply bricked up the “entrance” and then plastered 
  over the bricks.
  PAGE 150 — JUDGE RANDOLPH HALSEY
  Judge Halsey has developed a nice little “side 
  business” taking money from defense attorneys to 
  reduce their clients’ traﬃc tickets and other minor 
  oﬀenses. For even more money he’s willing to try 
  to “throw his weight around” in other ways, but he 
  doesn’t promise any results.
  PAGE 150 — JUDGE STERLING KELLER
  If ever there was a man who didn’t live up to 
  his name, that man is Judge Sterling Keller. He’s 
  not only tilted way too far toward the defendants, 
  he’s about as dirty and corrupt as they come. Only 
  luck and the assistance of powerful “friends” in the 
  Maﬁa have allowed him to avoid impeachment 
  and prosecution... so far. In the past he’s consorted 
  with organized crime ﬁgures, taken bribes to throw 
  cases, and committed similar breaches of judicial 
  ethics and the law.
  PAGE 150 — ADRIAN MAZUREK
  Some people in the Hudson City law enforce-
  ment and judicial community whisper that AUSA 
  Mazurek and SAC Cozort have more than just a 
  “working” relationship, “if you know what I mean.” 
  This is complete nonsense (they’re both happily 
  married), but in the male-dominated world of cops 
  and courts, two women working so closely together 
  are bound to generate cruel rumors.
  PAGE 154 — OPINIONS ON VIGILANTES
  As the main text notes, the city’s oﬃcial posi-
  tion is anti-vigilante. Both Mayor Umstead and 
  Commissioner Ringwald have a sneaking admira-
  tion for “heroic” vigilantes like DarkAngel, and 
  wish they could support them publicly. But while 
  they may not exactly quibble with the deaths of 
  a bunch of hardened criminals, they regard the 
  “lethal” vigilantes as a threat to the fabric of society 
  and an evil almost as bad as the ones they ﬁght.
  Publicly, all high police oﬃcials support this 
  position. However, plenty of them privately favor 
  the “lethal” vigilantes a lot more than they let on. 
  Some have developed informal working relation-
  ships with the crimeﬁghters, exchanging informa-
  tion from time to time in their mutual interest.
  PAGE 155 — LIBRA
  As explained in Chapter Nine of Dark Cham-
  pions, LIBRA is actually working with/for the Har-
  binger — though not quite as he might want it to. 
  See that book for more information.
  CHAPTER FIVE
  PAGE 162 — THE VERONTESE FAMILY
  Nick Travanti is not happy that Black Mike 
  Calvino replaced him as Verontese capo. He 
  planned to run the family from prison by proxy, 
  only to have his hopes dashed by the ambitious and 
  clever Calvino. Travanti’s now scheming to try to 
  get rid of Black Mike and take back over, and his 
  machinations might lead to a civil war within the 
  family, or open it up to further attack by the FBI.
  The rumors about the Veronteses expanding 
  their role in the drug market are true. Working 
  with outlaw biker gangs they control, they’re trying 
  to create new designer drugs and other products 
  they can market instead of just relying on the “old 
  standbys.”
  Most of the Verontese family is behind Black 
  Mike — he’s a large, friendly man who inspires 
  loyalty and enthusiasm. However, some of the men 
  feel he’s too laid back, and that the family should 
  be more aggressive in expanding its territory (par-
  ticularly now, while the Scatuccis and Torccones 
  are ﬁghting). The leader of the dissatisﬁed men is 
  Harold “the Shark” Ruggiero, a family captain. If he 
  sees an opportunity, Ruggiero may try to take over 
  as the Verontese boss.
  PAGE 163 — THE CHOY SING TONG
  Han Fei, the tong’s street secretary, thinks 
  Charles Zhou is a poor Dragon Head — too cau-
  tious, too lacking in ambition. He believes the Choy 
  Sing will come to ruin if it does not throw Zhou 
  out and make himself chairman. He has tried to 
  recruit followers to support a bid for power, but has 
  had only moderate success so far.
  JAKOB PONZI
   6 STR 
  8 DEX
   7 CON 
  8 BODY
   13 INT 
  10 EGO
   6 PRE 
  8 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   1 SPD 
  3 REC
   14 END 15 STUN
  Abilities:  Luck 2d6, 
  Bribery 10-, Bureau-
  cratics 10-, Cramming, 
  High Society 10-, KS: 
  High Finance 14-, KS: 
  Business And Finan-
  cial Chicanery 14-, KS: 
  Business Law 11-, KS: 
  Tax Law 11-, KS: Maﬁa 
  11-, KS: Verontese 
  Family Finances 14-, PS: 
  Accounting 16-, PS: Play 
  Violin 11-, Streetwise 8-, 
  Fringe Beneﬁts: License 
  To Practice Accounting, 
  Membership (Verontese 
  family), Money: Well 
  Oﬀ, Eidetic Memory, 
  Lightning Calculator, 
  Perfect Pitch
  Disadvantages:  Psy-
  chological Limitation:  
  Abject Coward; Social 
  Limitation:  Subject To 
  Orders
  Notes:  Jakob Ponzi is 
  a mathematical genius 
  and one of the country’s 
  most skillful under-
  world accountants. He 
  knows just about all 
  there is to know about 
  “voodoo accounting,” 
  and has mental records 
  of many Verontese 
  family business crimes.
  Ponzi is an utter coward, 
  totally unwilling to 
  ﬁght or place himself in 
  danger; if captured, he’ll 
  fold at the ﬁrst threat. As 
  a Jew, he can’t be made, 
  but still commands great 
  respect in Maﬁa circles.
  
  214 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  PAGE 163 — THE GOLDEN SERPENT  
  ASSOCIATION
  Who or what is the Golden One? That’s a 
  mystery left for you to resolve for your own cam-
  paign. “He” could be a woman, hiding her gender 
  behind an enigmatic disguise because women aren’t 
  permitted in tongs. Or he could be a member of 
  another tong secretly establishing a power base 
  for himself, an inﬁltrator from another organized 
  crime group, or the like.
  The authorities’ suspicions that the Golden Ser-
  pents are involved in art smuggling is correct. For this 
  reason, the Golden Serpent Association often works 
  with the Qi On tong, because its chairman, Mah Sze, 
  uses them to help improve his art collection.
  PAGE 166 — ENDGAME
  Endgame’s real name is Nikolai Rodion Kos-
  tiurin. He was once a high-ranking ﬁeld agent and 
  assassin for the KGB... and a valuable double agent 
  working for the CIA and FBI. He was no idealist 
  — he sold his country out for money, not some-
  thing as ephemeral and stupid as “democracy” or 
  “liberty” — and his involvement with the American 
  espionage eﬀort was extensive and quite valuable. 
  So far the FBI has treated him with kid gloves 
  because it’s concerned what might be revealed if 
  Kostiurin were subject to oﬃcial investigation or 
  media scrutiny.
  PAGE 167 — RASPUTIN
  Rasputin (real name:  Dominik Vladimir Igo-
  rovich) is a powerful vor v zakone in Russia. Having 
  become tired of the chaos that is modern Russia, 
  he’s decided to move to Hudson City. He already 
  has people in place to prepare for his arrival, and 
  part of that is to alert the underworld. The existing 
  pakhany justiﬁably fear him; he’s reputed to have 
  killed more than a dozen men with his bare hands, 
  and his power and wealth in Russia have been leg-
  endary for nearly two decades.
  PAGE 169 — THE MIYAMIJI-KAI
  The FBI is right. Eager for the proﬁts the white 
  slave trade brings, the Miyamiji-kai has set up sev-
  eral talent agencies and temporary-employment 
  agencies in Hudson City to lure in unsuspecting 
  Western women. The clan then either (a) keeps the 
  women in Hudson City for use in illegal sex clubs it 
  maintains in Little Tokyo, or (b) tricks the women 
  into going to Japan, where they ﬁnd themselves 
  held captive and exploited in various unpleasant 
  ways. The Miyamiji-kai has spent a lot of time, 
  eﬀort, and money to set up these organizations, and 
  will go to great lengths to protect them.
  Not all members of the Miyamiji-kai are 
  pleased with the clan’s operations beyond Japan. 
  This “isolationist” faction would prefer to restrict 
  gang activities to Japan and Southeast Asia. As yet, 
  their resentment is not very strong, but a signiﬁcant 
  setback in American could fan the ﬂames of their 
  anger to the point where they would rebel.
  PAGE 169 — THE SAWAKIRI-GUMI
  Nakamura Hideo is interested in power, both 
  criminal and political. He agreed to come to the 
  United States for two reasons:  ﬁrst, his rivals are 
  there, so he must be as well; second, the proﬁts he 
  can earn there will help him in Japan — ultimately 
  he wants to return home and become the chief 
  oyabun of the entire gumi. For these reasons, the 
  Sawakiri-gumi in Hudson City avoids high-proﬁle 
  activities like white slavery and contract murder, 
  concentrating instead on sure money-earners like 
  gambling and gun smuggling.
  PAGE 171 — THE SATANIC SKULLS
  The Hudson City chapter of the Skulls recently 
  achieved a real coup:  two of its “women” have 
  gotten jobs in the HCPD as Records Clerks. This 
  gives the gang a way to check on prospective new 
  members (and maybe even tamper with evidence if 
  the circumstances are right).
  PAGE 172 — SHANGO
  See page 264 for more information on, and a 
  character sheet for, Shango. While his ﬁrst inclina-
  tion is to ﬁght his enemies, Shango realizes that 
  might not be the best approach right now — he’s 
  got too many of them. He’s trying to ﬁgure out a 
  way to get one of the major gangs to join up with 
  him. He thinks the Overlords would be ideal, 
  assuming he could convince Buckshot to put his 
  own ambitions on hold and become second ﬁddle 
  to Shango himself....
  
  215 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  PAGE 172 — STRAD
  Strad — or Daniel Strademyer, to give his 
  real name — was born in Georgia, not Hudson 
  City. He got his start in the underworld after 
  joining the Army; he set up a smuggling ring 
  that stole weapons and military supplies and sold 
  them on the black market. When the Army found 
  out, he fled the base just seconds ahead of the 
  MPs; the Army hushed up the whole incident for 
  fear of bad publicity. Strademyer spent several 
  years as a mercenary and adventurer, but after 
  stumbling across a cache of conflict diamonds in 
  central Africa, decided it was time to return to 
  his homeland. But he didn’t want to go back to 
  rural Georgia. He was going to set himself up in 
  style and become the power he always wanted to 
  be. With his background, politics and business 
  were out — the only thing suitable to his tem-
  perament was the underworld. With the help of 
  a couple of merc buddies, he established himself 
  as the Pearl City’s newest crimelord... and the 
  money’s been rolling in ever since.
  PAGE 175 — CARD SHARK
  See pages 236-53 for complete details on Card 
  Shark and his organization.
  PAGE 178 — JANUS
  The police want various members of Janus’s 
  gang for crimes ranging from murder and assault 
  to theft and forgery. Janus himself has carefully 
  avoided any sort of exposure that would give the 
  police the means to identify him, so as yet the 
  HCPD only knows that someone very intelligent 
  is running “the Janus Gang”; they don’t know who 
  that person is or what crimes he has committed 
  personally, only that he calls himself Janus.
  
  216 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  PAGE 179 — THE KYPHOTIC MAN
  THE KYPHOTIC MAN
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   10 STR 
  0 
  11- 
  Lift 100 kg; 2d6 [2]
   14 DEX 
  12 
  12- 
  OCV:  5/DCV:  5
   16 CON 
  12 
  12-
   10 BODY 0 
  11-
   20 INT 
  10 
  13- 
  PER Roll 13-
   13 EGO 
  6 
  12- 
  ECV:  4
   15 PRE 
  5 
  12- 
  PRE Attack:  3d6
   6 COM 
  -2 
  10-
   5 PD 
  3 
   
  Total:  5 PD (0 rPD)
   4 ED 
  1 
   
  Total:  3 ED (0 rED)
   3 SPD 
  6 
   
  Phases:  4, 8, 12
   5 REC 
  0
   32 END 
  0
   23 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  53
  Movement: 
  Running:  4”/8”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  -4 
  Has Diﬃculty Walking:  Running -2”  
  (4” total)
   
  Perks
  1 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  License To Practice Medicine
  5 
  Money:  Well Oﬀ
  2 
  Reputation:  underworld doctor and 
  crimelord (in the Hudson City underworld) 
  14-, +2/+2d6
   
  Talents
  5 
  Eidetic Memory
   
  Skills
  3 
  Bribery 12-
  3 
  Computer Programming 13-
  3 
  Electronics 13-
  3 
  High Society 12-
  3 
  Inventor 13-
  3 
  Mechanics 13-
  3 
  Paramedics 13-
  3 
  PS: Doctor 13-
  3 
  Stealth 12-
  3 
  Streetwise 12-
  2 
  WF:  Small Arms
  3 
  Scholar
  2 
  1)  KS: Art History 13-
  2 
  2)  KS: History 13-
  2 
  3)  KS: Literature 13-
  2 
  4)  KS: Serial Killers 13-
  3 
  Scientist
  2 
  1)  SS: Biology 13-
  2 
  2)  SS: Chemistry 13-
  2 
  3)  SS: Human Anatomy 13-
  2 
  4)  SS: Medicine 13-
  2 
  5)  SS: Physics 13-
  2 
  6)  SS: Psychology 13-
   
  Resource Points
  0 
  Equipment Points:  60
  10 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  30
  10 
  Follower/Contact Points:  25
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  87
  Total Cost:  140
  100+ Disadvantages
  15 
  Distinctive Features:  hunchback (Not Con-
  cealable; Noticed And Recognizable
  20 
  Hunted:  HCPD 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Capture)
  20 
  Psychological Limitation:  Antisocial Person-
  ality Disorder (Very Common, Strong)
  15 
  Psychological Limitation:  Intellectual Arro-
  gance (Common, Strong)
  5 
  Rivalry:  Professional, with other Hudson 
  City crimelords
  Total Disadvantage Points:  175
  Background/History:  Edgar stubbed out his ciga-
  rette in the ashtray next to him. There were four 
  other butts in there already, and he’d only been in 
  the waiting room an hour. Having to sit and stew 
  was unbearable.
  It still didn’t seem quite real — him and Elise, 
  about to be parents. It hadn’t really hit him until 
  about an hour and a half ago, when the hospital 
  called to say she’d gone into labor and been rushed 
  to the ER. He cursed himself for not being there 
  to take her, but there’d been so much to do at the 
  oﬃce, he didn’t dare take the time oﬀ. Now more 
  than ever, he had to keep in Mr. Bostick’s good 
  graces.
  He reached into his jacket pocket for another 
  cigarette and realized the pack was empty. He got 
  up and went to look for a cigarette machine to 
  buy another pack. He spent ﬁfteen minutes walk-
  ing nervously up and down the hospital corridors, 
  looking for one, until he realized the hospital 
  probably didn’t have them, what with that Surgeon 
  General’s warning and all. Dejectedly, he returned 
  to the waiting room.
  There was a nurse waiting for him there — an 
  old battleaxe looking kind of nurse, a chunky 
  woman in white with a sour look on her face. It 
  wasn’t exactly how he’d envisioned getting the news, 
  but what the hell — any port in a storm. “Boy or 
  girl?” he asked eagerly.
  “It’s a boy, Mr. Williams....”
  Before she could continue, he threw his ﬁst in the 
  air and did a little dance, like he’d just scored the win-
  ning basket. A boy! Baseball, football, ﬁshing!
  “Mr. Williams, please restrain yourself. I need 
  you to come with me, please.”
  He stopped celebrating. “Huh? Is there some 
  problem? It’s not Elise, is it? She’s okay?”
  “Your wife is ﬁne, sir. Please follow me, Dr. 
  Carver would like to talk to you.”
  Unsure why she was being so serious, Edgar 
  followed her.
  Doctor Carver was a younger doctor, with 
  a short-trimmed black beard. When Edgar was 
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  Colt Detective +0 
  +0 
  1d6 
  1d6-1 
  6 
  9
  Scalpel 
  +0 
  —  
  1 point 
  0 
  —  
  3 
  Can Be Thrown
  Armor: None
  Gear:  Doctor’s bag, including a selection of useful drugs
  Clothing:  Nice men’s clothes, tailored for his unusual frame
  
  217 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  escorted into his oﬃce, he rose from his chair and 
  extended his hand. “Good evening, Mr. Williams. 
  I’m Dr. Carver,” he said pleasantly.
  “Edgar Williams,” Edgar said, shaking it. 
  “What’s going on? Is there something wrong with 
  my son? The nurse wouldn’t tell me anything.”
  “Please have a seat, Mr. Williams,” the doctor 
  said. Edgar sat down, feeling a little numb.
  “Mr. Williams, your son’s health is ﬁne, but I’m 
  afraid there are some... physical complications.”
  “What sort of “complications”?”
  “Well, there really isn’t any gentle way to put 
  this, Mr. Williams. Your son was born with certain 
  deformities to his thoracic and cervical spine.”
  “In English?” Edgar said weakly.
  “In layman’s terms, Mr. Williams, your son is a 
  hunchback.”
  Edgar felt dizzy all of a sudden. Little black 
  spots appeared in front of his eyes. The doctor went 
  on as if he didn’t notice.
  “As I said, there aren’t any health problems 
  — he doesn’t have any sort of disease. It’s just a 
  physical deformity. It will aﬀect his appearance, 
  and maybe his ability to walk, run, or lie down, but 
  that’s all. Do you understand?”
  Edgar nodded, unable to say anything.
  “All right. If you like, I can take you to see your 
  son now.”
  Edgar just shook his head. It was too much to 
  take in. He couldn’t look at him right now.
  “Edgar! Guess what!” Elise’s voice was ecstatic.
  “What, honey?”
  “Little Edgar’s reading!”
  “What? Elise, he’s only three.”
  “I know, I know, but he’s reading!”
  “What did he read?”
  “TV logos — “The Merv Griﬃn Show,” things 
  like that. Then I gave him a Dr. Seuss, and he read a 
  couple of words in that, too.”
  “Okay, okay, he’s reading then! Give him a copy 
  of War And Peace next; maybe he can explain it to 
  me when he’s done, I never did understand it.”
  “Very funny. Listen, pick up a half-gallon of 
  milk on your way home, okay?”
  “Okay. See you about 5:45, then.”
  “Bye, honey.”
  “Bye.”
  Edgar ﬁrst realized his son’s mind wasn’t quite 
  right when the boy was eight years old. He saw Little 
  Edgar sitting on the ground in the backyard, playing 
  contentedly with something. He walked over to get a 
  closer look. “What are you playing with, son?”
  “Squirrel,” Little Edgar said, not looking up.
  Two steps later, Edgar was close enough to see 
  what he was talking about, and it nearly made him 
  vomit. It was a squirrel, all right — or it used to be. 
  The skin across its stomach had been cut open and 
  peeled back and pegged to the ground with sharp-
  ened twigs. Little Edgar’s hands and the kitchen 
  knife he had were red with blood.
  “See, Daddy? That’s the heart! And that’s his 
  stomach.”
  Too angry and frightened to speak, Edgar 
  picked his son up roughly, grabbed the knife 
  away from him, and marched him into the house 
  and sent him up to his room. Little Edgar, con-
  fused and scared at the way his father was acting, 
  burst into tears.
  After he had buried the remains of the squir-
  rel and washed oﬀ the knife so Elise wouldn’t see it, 
  Edgar threw up in the sink. He stood there with his 
  head resting against the cool chrome of the faucet 
  for a long, long time.
  “You wanted to see us, Mr. Matthewson?”
  “Ah, good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Williams. 
  Please have a seat.”
  “Is Edgar in some kind of trouble again?” Elise 
  asked worriedly.
  “Well, yes, ma’am, he is.”
  “What happened this time?”
  “Well, as I’m sure you know, the other children 
  pick on Edgar a lot — with his back problem he’s a 
  natural target for that kind of abuse, unfortunately.”
  “We know,” said Edgar.
  “Well, today they were doing it again, out on 
  the recess ﬁeld. I don’t know why, but this time 
  something happened — Edgar fought back. He 
  began beating one of the boys with a baseball bat.”
  Elise drew her breath in sharply.
  “Was he hurt?” Edgar asked.
  “The other boy, Billy Lowell, was taken to the 
  hospital; he’s got some broken ribs and contusions. 
  Some of the other children jumped on Edgar, but 
  THE KYPHOTIC MAN 
  PLOT SEEDS
  A lot of wanted crimi-
  nals have “disappeared” 
  lately. The PCs get a 
  tip that they’ve simply 
  “gone underground” 
  with the help of a little 
  plastic surgery from the 
  Kyphotic Man. They 
  need to track the hunch-
  backed crimelord down 
  and ﬁnd out what’s 
  going on.
  A strange epidemic 
  strikes Hudson City. The 
  PCs need to ﬁnd the 
  Kyphotic Man and get 
  him to help cure the dis-
  ease — and who knows, 
  maybe he’s the one who 
  unleashed it on the city 
  in the ﬁrst place.
  The Kyphotic Man 
  captures the PCs and 
  performs plastic sur-
  gery on them to give 
  them all hunchbacks. 
  He says that if they do 
  what he wants them to, 
  he’ll reverse the process 
  — otherwise they’re 
  stuck with them.
  
  218 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  a teacher got to the scene before he suﬀered more 
  than a few bruises. He’s down in Detention Hall 
  now.”
  Edgar stood up. “We’ll take him home with us, 
  Mr. Matthewson. I promise you he’ll be severely 
  punished for this. It won’t happen again.”
  The principal looked a little nervous at the 
  vehemence in Edgar’s voice. “Well, Mr. Williams, 
  do as you think best, but I believe the best thing for 
  Edgar right now might be some counseling.”
  Edgar Williams, Jr. smiled. College had been 
  ludicrously easy, and med school only marginally 
  less so. Those frat-boys and their blonde girlfriends 
  might laugh at him behind his back, his hunched-
  up back, but they were dolts, all of them. Let them 
  have their beer and their cheap sex, he had some-
  thing greater — knowledge. You could take every-
  thing all of them knew and add it all together, and 
  it would only equal a fraction of the information 
  in his ﬁnely-tuned brain. Now that he was done 
  with medical school, he was going to get a job at a 
  research hospital. While they went on about their 
  boring, petty little lives, he was going to be saving 
  lives, developing cures and new techniques. They’d 
  read about him in the paper one day, and be sorry 
  they laughed.
  Or so Edgar thought. He was unable to ﬁnd a 
  job in a research hospital... or any hospital for that 
  matter. What few administrators his appearance 
  didn’t put oﬀ, his arrogance did. Swallowing his 
  pride, he began looking for lesser jobs, but no one 
  he interviewed with would hire him. Deﬁantly, he 
  opened his own practice in a tiny, run-down build-
  ing in Hudson City. He was sure that once word of 
  his skill got out, he’d have plenty of patients.
  It didn’t quite work out that way. In fact, he 
  couldn’t attract many patients at all. Edgar was 
  close to despair, knowing ﬁnancial ruin was near, 
  when one night a man stumbled into his “clinic.” 
  He’d been shot in the shoulder. Expertly, Edgar 
  removed the bullet and stitched up the wound. He 
  knew the law required him to report any bullet 
  wounds, but the man oﬀered to pay him a cool if 
  he kept his mouth shut. Edgar didn’t even have to 
  think about it.
  After that, the word got around about the “doc 
  who keeps quiet.” Soon he had a patient or two 
  every evening, all of them willing to pay him hand-
  somely to ﬁx their injuries and not tell the cops. He 
  learned how to dispose of bodies without anyone 
  ﬁnding out about it. He bought new medical equip-
  ment and began to turn a nice proﬁt.
  Opportunity walked into his oﬃce one night 
  in the form of Vinnie Poletti, a Maﬁa hanger-on 
  who ﬁgured he could set up his own gang. The 
  Maﬁa got wise and sent someone to have a “talk” 
  with Vinnie. Two of Vinnie’s men brought him in; 
  he was bleeding from major wounds in his stomach 
  that would certainly prove fatal if not operated on. 
  Edgar had the men bring Poletti into his little oper-
  ating room and then told them to wait outside.
  Instead of operating immediately, Edgar put 
  on his surgical gown and sat back and waited a few 
  minutes while Poletti lay there and moaned in pain. 
  Then he opened the door slightly, said he needed 
  some help, and beckoned one of the men inside. 
  Nervously the man came in, expecting to be asked 
  to assist in the operation. Edgar grabbed him from 
  behind and slit his throat with a scalpel before he 
  could cry out. The warm, red blood sprayed all over 
  the operating table and Vinnie Poletti, mixing with 
  his own blood.
  Edgar reached into the thug’s jacket and pulled 
  out his gun — and his silencer. Opening the door 
  again, he shot the other gunman twice in the chest, 
  then dragged his body inside where no one on the 
  street might see it.
  Edgar injected Poletti with a stimulant to keep 
  him awake, then began interrogating him. After a 
  couple of hours, Poletti was dead, and Edgar knew 
  everything he’d known about the underworld. 
  Using this information, Edgar took over what was 
  left of Poletti’s gang, recruited new men, and set 
  himself up as a crimelord. Now this was something 
  worth doing. Christening himself “the Kyphotic 
  Man,” Edgar fell into his new role with relish. 
  After avoiding a few pitfalls, the Kyphotic Man has 
  become a minor, but increasingly important, ﬁgure 
  in the Hudson City underworld.
  Personality/Motivation:  Although intellectually 
  gifted, the Kyphotic Man suﬀers from certain 
  neurological abnormalities. These, combined with 
  being raised by a father who could barely stand 
  to look at him and a mother who pampered him 
  out of subconscious guilt, have made his morals 
  as twisted as his spine. He is a sociopath, but an 
  unusual one in that he can clamp down on his anti-
  social tendencies just enough to function — at least 
  a little — within mainstream society. Thus, he com-
  pleted medical school, even though most socio-
  paths drift from one meaningless job to another. 
  He can act quite cultured and urbane if necessary 
  — though he can only keep the act up for so long 
  before someone annoys him with their “stupidity.”
  The Kyphotic Man is evil and cruel, capable of 
  engaging in the worst sorts of excesses to satisfy his 
  cravings for power and knowledge. He has almost 
  no interest in sex (what little exists he satisﬁes with 
  the occasional prostitute or rape); rather, his mind 
  is bent towards acquiring information and power. 
  He’ll take any steps he can to increase his power 
  in the underworld, regardless of who he hurts or 
  what he has to do, provided he can avoid putting 
  himself in too much danger. He uses his knowledge 
  of medicine and anatomy to commit the cruelest 
  sorts of tortures upon those who oﬀend him (or 
  who simply attract his maleﬁc attention), and his 
  background in psychology to pick apart someone’s 
  psyche and ﬁnd out what bothers him the most... 
  and then refer to it again and again in conversation.
  The Kyphotic Man’s most noticeable trait is his 
  towering intellectual vanity, which is apparent in even 
  the most casual conversation. He thinks no one knows 
  as much as he does, and that anyone who disagrees 
  with him or cannot match him intellectually is a dolt. 
  He uses his knowledge as a club to beat people down 
  and make them feel inferior. He’s quick to point out 
  the errors in anything anyone says to him, and is quite 
  
  219 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  free with harsh, bitter insults. His vanity is even appar-
  ent in his nom du crime:  any other crimelord would 
  have called himself “the Hunchback,” or “Quasimodo” 
  (in fact, his men do call him that), but not Williams 
  — he had to pick something that sounded scientiﬁc, a 
  name most people have to look up in the dictionary.
  Quote:  “No, no! You’re just too stupid to live; I’m 
  surprised your parents didn’t have the sense to 
  kill you when you were little — but then again, 
  if they’re the ones that gave you your genes, they 
  weren’t all that bright, either. [To henchman] Here, 
  you! make yourself useful for once. Shoot him.”
  Powers/Tactics:  The Kyphotic Man ﬁlls several 
  roles in the Hudson City underworld. First and 
  foremost, he’s a crimelord — a minor one, perhaps, 
  but a crimelord nonetheless. He competes with the 
  likes of Charlemagne and Janus, and sometimes 
  with organized criminal groups such as the Maﬁa. 
  Second, he still performs services as an underworld 
  doctor if the price is right (and it usually is; he’s as 
  good as he claims to be). Third, he’s developed a 
  sideline as a “professional crime planner” and/or 
  gadget designer for other gangs for about 50% of 
  the proﬁts.
  Despite his deformity, the Kyphotic Man is not 
  wholly incapable of combat. He can shoot reason-
  ably well, and is stronger than he looks. But he pre-
  fers to run rather than to ﬁght if possible.
  When appropriate, the Kyphotic Man usually 
  has at least half a dozen thugs with him. Most of 
  his thugs are at least competent, but sometimes he 
  deliberately hires men who are stupid so he can 
  insult them with big words and they won’t know 
  what’s going on.
  The Kyphotic Man often allies himself with 
  Diomedes, another minor crimelord. The two of 
  them quarrel incessantly, but nevertheless seem to 
  work pretty well together.
  Campaign Use:  The Kyphotic Man is a crimelord with 
  a bit of a twist. If you don’t need another crimelord 
  in your game at the moment, fall back on his roles as 
  underworld doctor, inventor, and planner. When the 
  time is right, he can make his play for power and step 
  into your underworld’s upper ranks.
  To make the Kyphotic Man tougher, enhance his 
  physical abilities to match his mental ones:  increase 
  his STR and SPD to represent maniacal fury; his PD 
  and ED to represent the tolerance for pain he’s devel-
  oped over the years. He generally doesn’t need weak-
  ening, since he’s not a combatant, but you can always 
  decrease his Characteristics a bit.
  The Kyphotic Man is a malevolent and imagi-
  native Hunter. He rarely goes after his foe directly, 
  preferring to use his intelligence and knowledge of 
  psychology to play with his quarry’s mind and ruin 
  his life before lowering the boom. It may take him a 
  long time to get his revenge, but he never forgets a 
  wrong done him.
  Edgar Williams, Jr. has no criminal record. 
  The police have not, as yet, connected him with the 
  Kyphotic Man, of whom they’ve heard.
  Appearance:  The Kyphotic Man is an ugly little 
  man in his early 30s. His hair is dirty blonde and 
  wispy. Due to his hunchback, he only stands a 
  little over five feet tall; however, he can walk and 
  run pretty well despite this, and does not need 
  a cane. He usually dresses in typical men’s suits 
  or (when performing illegal surgeries and such) 
  doctor’s uniforms.
  PAGE 179 — SPEARGUN
  Speargun is Titos Spargiros, a former Navy 
  SEAL who got his nickname when his command-
  ers couldn’t pronounce his real surname properly. 
  One of the most highly-skilled men the SEALs ever 
  trained, he performed missions so secret that their 
  existence, and his, was removed from military ﬁles. 
  After receiving several reports of his increasing 
  brutality and sadism, the Navy took him oﬀ front-
  line duty and assigned him a desk job.
  Spargiros wasn’t about to put up with a desk 
  job, so he went AWOL. That was when the Hudson 
  City crimelord Card Shark contacted him and 
  asked:  how’d you like to put your skills to work 
  making some real money? Spargiros bit, and the 
  rest is as described in the main text.
  Card Shark keeps the links between himself 
  and Speargun very secret; not even his own lieuten-
  ants know what’s really going on. He wants Spear-
  gun to take over the Maﬁa’s lucrative “monopolies” 
  along the waterfront and run the docks for his 
  (Card Shark’s) own purposes — and if Speargun’s 
  not cooperative enough, Card Shark can simply 
  eliminate him when the time’s right.
  PAGE 180 — VINCENT DUBOIS
  Dubois is involved in a few somewhat shady 
  arms deals, but nothing blatantly illegal (like know-
  ingly selling military-grade weapons to street 
  gangs). He might even be willing to provide vigi-
  lante PCs with some behind-the-scenes informa-
  tion about the arms trade to “clear his name” or 
  harm one of his competitors.
  PAGE 182 — CALIGULA
  Caligula is deeply involved in all the crimes 
  the police suspect him of. He goes to great 
  lengths (and great expense) to keep that side of 
  his business protected and secret, because he has 
  no desire to go to prison. If anyone — cops, vigi-
  lantes, reporters — gets too close to his secrets, 
  he won’t hesitate to take whatever steps are nec-
  essary to get rid of them.
  PAGE 182 — CLEOPATRA
  See page 221 for more information about Little 
  Egypt, including Cleopatra’s character sheet.
  PAGE 182 — ERNEST “KING” COLE
  Cole’s front as some sort of post-modern 
  Hugh Hefner conceals all sorts of rancid secrets, 
  not the least of which is that he used to force his 
  wife to act in pornographic videos. Although not 
  a consumer of it, he traﬃcks in kiddie porn, not 
  particularly caring about the lives he ruins in the 
  process. He has a second mansion, in Thailand, 
  where he keeps dozens of women in what amounts 
  to sexual slavery for his own personal gratiﬁcation 
  (and sometimes that of his best clients). He comes 
  THE COLONEL
   10 STR 
  14 DEX
   12 CON 12 BODY
   15 INT 
  11 EGO
   16 PRE 
  8 COM
   5 PD 
  4 ED
   3 SPD 
  4 REC
   24 END 23 STUN
  Abilities:  Martial Arts 
  (Commando Training), 
  Climbing 12-, Conceal-
  ment 12-, AK: Africa 
  13-, AK: Central And 
  South America 11-, CK: 
  Hudson City 8-, KS: 
  The Military/Merce-
  nary/Terrorist World 
  14-, KS: Military Science 
  11-, Paramedics 12-, PS: 
  Mercenary 13-, PS: Merc 
  Recruiter 11-, PS: Play 
  Chess 11-, Streetwise 
  12-, Systems Opera-
  tion 8-, Tactics 13-, WF: 
  Small Arms, Grenade 
  Launchers, Shoulder-
  Fired Weapons, Contacts 
  (30 points’ worth, in 
  the Mercenary World), 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Con-
  cealed Weapon Permit
  Disadvantages:  Rivalry 
  (Professional, with other 
  mercenary recruiters)
  Notes:  If you’ve got an 
  ear on the streets, you 
  might hear about the 
  Colonel. No one knows 
  his name; they just call 
  him by his rank. They say 
  that back in the day, he 
  was wherever the action 
  was — Africa, mostly, but 
  a few missions in Central 
  America as well. But he’s 
  older now, slower and 
  weaker, so he’s taken to 
  serving as a recruiter 
  for mercs instead of a 
  merc himself. You can 
  sometimes ﬁnd him in 
  LeMastre Park, play-
  ing chess or checkers at 
  those cement tables the 
  city set up. He’s usually 
  got his dog Dog with 
  him. He won’t talk to just 
  anybody, but if you can 
  convince him you’re for 
  real, that you won’t bring 
  any heat down on him, 
  and that he can make 
  money oﬀ you, you’ll get 
  his attention.
  
  220 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  across as a liberated defender of First Amendment 
  rights and a champion of innocent hedonism, but 
  he’s got more in common with the scum you scrub 
  out of a toilet.
  PAGE 182 — CARL SPEARS
  Born Carlo Spirretti, Spears looked like he was 
  destined for the Maﬁa from an early age — he got 
  involved with running numbers, and taking care 
  of errands for gangsters, and all the other stuﬀ that 
  Maﬁa “apprentices” do. But one of his uncles rec-
  ognized how smart he was and steered him ﬁrst to 
  college, then business school.
  That wasn’t enough to rescue him, though. 
  The idea of slaving away for some corporation 
  for years just to get a corner office and a gold 
  watch when he retired disgusted him. Instead, he 
  figured:  why not take the best of both worlds? 
  Since it was too late for him to go into the Mafia, 
  he decided to try applying his business school 
  acumen to the Strip. So far he’s been very pleased 
  with the results on every level. He’s even begin-
  ning to wonder if he might pull off a merger with 
  a bigger organization, or let someone buy him 
  out, and make even more money....
  CHAPTER SIX
  PAGE 184 — AVENUE OF THE ELMS
  Electro’s real name is Gerald McBradden. He’s 
  a distant cousin of the Bankhurst family and actu-
  ally very wealthy — he just doesn’t show it. Money 
  means nothing to him; he gets more satisfaction 
  out of life amusing himself and others with his art 
  skills.
  Here are three plot seeds for Avenue of the 
  Elms:
  The Devil’s In The Details:  Penny Dreadful has 
  just robbed the Printer’s Devil! The store isn’t 
  yet sure what she took, but desperately wants 
  to get its valuable property back. A reward has 
  even been offered. Can the PCs track down the 
  larcenous literary lady and get the goods without 
  destroying them in the process?
  Pentacatta:  Someone’s stolen Marlon Tischman’s 
  Stradivarius violin. There are no signs of a break-
  in, no ﬁngerprints, no damage to the safe, nothing. 
  Who took it, and why?
  There’s A Fungus Among Us:  An unidentiﬁed crimi-
  nal sends a letter to the city, and all the Avenue 
  merchants, threatening to unleash Dutch elm 
  disease on the Avenue unless he’s paid a million 
  dollars. The PCs hear about the situation and have 
  to resolve it before one of the city’s most beloved 
  landmarks is dead.
  PAGE 186 — COLLINS GUNS
  Eddie Collins is a Vietnam veteran, but he 
  didn’t go on any “special missions” to speak of. He 
  just got a lot of in-the-ﬁeld experience — enough 
  to give him fodder for a lifetime of half-real, half-
  embellished/made up stories. Despite the fact that 
  it’s illegal, Eddie usually carries an unlicensed 
  concealed handgun with him at all times... and of 
  course his store has loaded guns hidden behind the 
  counters as a further security precaution.
  One of Collins’s employees, a slightly scruﬀy-
  looking guy named Pete Waters, is crooked. He 
  sometimes sells guns out the back door to gang 
  kids and the like, then doctors the books so no one 
  can tell. He can’t do this often, since it would be too 
  obvious, but he does it when he thinks he can get 
  away with it.
  Here are three plot seeds for Collins Guns:
  The Armorer:  One of the PCs develops Eddie Col-
  lins as a Contact (maybe he saves Collins’s life or 
  something). Eddie gets in touch and oﬀers to keep 
  the PC in guns and ammo for next to nothing as 
  his way of “contributing to the war on crime.” Is 
  the oﬀer legit, or part of some sting operation that 
  Eddie’s helping the police with?
  Documentation:  Eddie orders a batch of surplus 
  training manuals from the Army. When they arrive, 
  there’s something else in the box — plans for some 
  sort of new weapon system or something. He takes 
  them home to study them... and the next day he’s 
  dead, shot twice in the head. The documents are 
  nowhere to be found (assuming he bothered to 
  
  221 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  tell anyone he had them so they know to look for 
  them). Who killed him, and what’s going on with 
  the documents?
  Supply Side:  The police have evidence that guns 
  used in several recent murders (none of them 
  related to the others) were obtained from Collins 
  Guns — yet Eddie has no record of their being 
  sold! What’s going on?
  PAGE 188 — THE HUDSON CITY  
  FISH MARKET
  The Fish Market stinks — and not because of 
  all the ﬁsh. It’s been a Torccone family cash cow for 
  decades, and nothing goes on there that they don’t 
  know about or approve. Aldo “the Fish” Cardinale 
  is a high-ranking family caporegima, and his broth-
  ers-in-law soldiers.
  The Torccones skim hundreds of thousands of 
  dollars out of the Fish Market every year in numer-
  ous ways:
  ■ the “buy-in” fees for stalls, and the monthly stall 
  “lease fees,” are grossly excessive in light of demand 
  and the Association’s operating costs. The overage 
  goes into the Torccones’ pockets.
  ■ Hudson City Fish Sellers’ Association dues and 
  fees are likewise excessive.
  ■ ﬁsh sellers have to pay a monthly “badge leasing 
  fee” to the Association for the plaques they have to 
  display at their stalls. It’s not much, but it’s essen-
  tially free money for the Torccones (who got the 
  plaques made cheap years ago).
  ■ anyone who wants to move ﬁsh through or from 
  the Fish Market has to pay a “cartage fee” to the 
  Association.
  ■ the Torccones control the unions associated with 
  the Fish Market, and the owner of the Catch Of The 
  Day restaurant is a family member as well.
  If anyone protests any of these arrangements, 
  is slow to pay what he owes, or — God forbid 
  — threatens to go to the cops, Cardinale and his 
  boys “take care” of the matter. A beating is the least 
  a troublemaker can expect; the Torccones might 
  also vandalize or burn down his stall, bring his 
  membership or stall rights “up for review” by the 
  Association, scare customers away from him, or 
  the like. If necessary, they’ll simply have him killed. 
  The FBI and HCPD have both investigated the Fish 
  Market in the past, but to no avail — it’s mostly a 
  closed world that undercover agents have trouble 
  penetrating, and several such oﬃcers have disap-
  peared mysteriously.
  Here are three plot seeds for the Fish Market:
  A Little Help:  The FBI’s been trying to investigate 
  the Fish Market again... and another of its agents 
  has failed to make contact after going undercover. 
  Through “back channels,” the feds ask the PCs to 
  help ﬁnd their man... and ﬁnd out the real story 
  behind the Fish Market.
  Some Heroin With Your Salmon, Ma’am?:  The Torc-
  cones begin using deliveries to the Fish Market to 
  smuggle drugs into Hudson City. The PCs have to 
  locate the new source of high-quality H hitting the 
  streets and shut down the pipeline.
  A Whale Of A Tale:  A well-liked seafood restauran-
  teur is found dead in his home, brutally beaten and 
  shot twice in the chest. The PCs must investigate 
  to uncover the cause of the murder and bring the 
  killers to justice. If they dig deep enough, they’ll 
  discover the restauranteur heard something he 
  shouldn’t have when visiting the Fish Market and 
  was “rubbed out” to keep him from talking.
  PAGE 190 — LITTLE EGYPT
  There’s more to Little Egypt than meets the 
  eye. For the most part, the place is just as described:  
  an upscale strip club that’s kind of on the tame side 
  for the Strip. But most guests don’t know anything 
  about the brothel right beneath their feet. Behind 
  the stage, near the stairs going up to Cleopatra’s 
  oﬃce, there’s a locked door. Go through that door 
  and down the plushly-carpeted stairs behind it and 
  you’ll come to the second part of the club — the 
  elegantly-appointed “parlor” with several hallways 
  of rooms leading oﬀ it. Most of those rooms are 
  bedrooms where Cleopatra’s string of prostitutes 
  provide “services” that make the Pharaoh’s Gold 
  dance look PG. A few other rooms contain jacuzzis, 
  massage tables, or other amenities; most of these 
  have Egyptian-themed decor, though the bedrooms 
  and parlor usually don’t.
  Cleopatra keeps this side of her business as 
  secret as possible. She only allows a “client” access 
  to the brothel after she’s personally met him, or if 
  he has a strong recommendation from someone 
  she trusts. She doesn’t mind if knowledge of her 
  brothel is an “open secret” in some parts of the Strip 
  — as long as it doesn’t become open knowledge to 
  the cops... or at least not those she hasn’t bribed.
  Here are three plot seeds for Little Egypt:
  Disappearing Act:  One of Little Egypt’s dancers 
  hasn’t shown up for work two nights in a row, and 
  no one can get in touch with her. Someone who 
  works at the club (maybe even Cleopatra herself, 
  if she’s had amicable contact with the PCs) asks 
  the heroes to look into it, since they can’t call the 
  HCPD — naturally, no one at the club wants to get 
  regular cops too mixed up in Little Egypt’s aﬀairs.
  For The Children:  The County Prosecutor brings a 
  child pornography case against Cleopatra — and it 
  looks like a strong one. But she knows it’s a set-up. 
  Desperate to clear her name, she calls in a favor 
  from the PCs (or promises one) and asks them to 
  ﬁnd out what’s going on and who’s doing this to her.
  An Offer You Can’t(?) Refuse:  Cleopatra runs into 
  ﬁnancial woes and approaches a wealthy PC about 
  investing in her businesses. Is the PC willing to 
  become a smut king in exchange for potentially 
  enormous proﬁts?
  Cleopatra
  There’s nothing going on between Cleopatra 
  and Burt Zeplowski. She has lovers aplenty, but he’s 
  not one of them — she doesn’t fool around with her 
  employees, it’s not good for morale.
  RUSSELL NEWKIRK
   8 STR 
  8 DEX
   9 CON 
  8 BODY
   8 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   3 PD 
  3 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 17 STUN
  Abilities:  Bureaucratics 
  8-, AK: The Strip 11-, 
  KS: History 13-, KS: 
  Social Studies 11-, PS: 
  Teacher 11-
  Disadvantages:  Psycho-
  logical Limitation:  Sex 
  Addict; Social Limita-
  tion:  Harmful Secret
  Notes:  To look at Russ 
  Newkirk, you’d think 
  he was pretty much a 
  normal guy — junior 
  high history and social 
  studies teacher, husband, 
  father of two, bicyclist, 
  weekend garage tinkerer. 
  What you wouldn’t 
  see is that Russ is a 
  sex addict who visits 
  the Strip three or four 
  times a week because 
  his wife won’t satisfy his 
  frequent, and sometimes 
  odd, demands. If anyone 
  found out about it he’d 
  lose his job, so he does 
  everything he can to 
  keep his secret.
  
  222 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  CLEOPATRA
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   10 STR 
  0 
  11- 
  Lift 100 kg; 2d6 [2]
   12 DEX 
  6 
  11- 
  OCV:  4/DCV:  4
   12 CON 
  4 
  11-
   10 BODY 0 
  11-
   14 INT 
  4 
  12- 
  PER Roll 12-
   13 EGO 
  6 
  12- 
  ECV:  4
   18 PRE 
  8 
  13- 
  PRE Attack:  3½d6
   16 COM 
  3 
  12-
   3 PD 
  1 
   
  Total:  3 PD (0 rPD)
   3 ED 
  1 
   
  Total:  3 ED (0 rED)
   2 SPD 
  0 
   
  Phases:  6, 12
   4 REC 
  0
   24 END 
  0
   21 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  33
  Movement: 
  Running:  6”/12”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  10 
  Lucky Lady:  Luck 2d6 
  0
   
  Perks
  20 
  Contacts:  20 points’ worth, around the Strip 
  and throughout Hudson City
  8 
  Favors:  various, from clients whom she’s 
  helped
  10 
  Money:  Wealthy
   
  Skills
  3 
  Acting 13-
  3 
  Bribery 13-
  1 
  Bureaucratics 8-
  3 
  Conversation 13-
  2 
  Gambling (Card Games) 12-
  3 
  High Society 13-
  2 
  AK: The Strip 11-
  1 
  KS: Egyptology 8-
  2 
  KS: Movies 11-
  3 
  KS: The Pornography Industry 12-
  5 
  KS: The Vice World 14-
  3 
  Persuasion 13-
  2 
  PS: Exotic Dancer 11-
  2 
  PS: Pornographer 11-
  2 
  PS: Prostitute 11-
  3 
  Seduction 13-
  3 
  Streetwise 13-
   
  Resource Points
  0 
  Equipment Points:  60
  0 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  10
  5 
  Follower/Contact Points:  15
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  96
  Total Cost:  129
  100+ Disadvantages
  10 
  Hunted:  HCPD 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Watching)
  10 
  Psychological Limitation:  Vain (Common, 
  Moderate)
  10 
  Reputation:  vice queen of Hudson City, 11-
  10 
  Social Limitation:  Criminal Record (Occa-
  sionally, Major)
  Total Disadvantage Points:  140
  Background/History:  “No, Daddy... don’t!....”
  So began far too many of Juanita Best’s child-
  hood nights. The daughter of a prostitute and 
  her pimp, both black, Juanita had a much lighter 
  complexion than either of her parents — she could 
  almost pass for white or Latina. Her father ﬁgured 
  that meant her mother’d been cheating on him and 
  she wasn’t his... which meant he despised Juanita 
  and looked on her as something to be used, the 
  same way he looked at most women. At ﬁrst he 
  simply ignored her, but as she grew older he began 
  to abuse her, both physically and sexually. Her 
  mother, terriﬁed of the man and grateful that he 
  wasn’t attacking her so much anymore, did nothing 
  to stop him. Juanita can count herself fortunate that 
  she made it out of childhood without any scars... at 
  least, not any physical ones.
  Juanita’s only escape from this 
  horrible existence was through 
  movies and books. Her favorite 
  was Anthony and Cleopatra — 
  what elegance, what beautiful cos-
  tumes! When no one was looking, 
  she played Cleopatra, pre-
  tending that fawning admir-
  ers and men who would kill 
  to do her bidding waited on 
  her every word.
  Not long after she 
  hit adolescence, Juanita’s 
  father put her out on the 
  street to turn tricks. She 
  put up with that only until 
  she looked close enough 
  to 18 that she ﬁgured she 
  could ﬁnd work in porn. 
  She ditched him and headed 
  for California. It took a few 
  months and a lot of sleeping 
  around, but she ﬁnally hooked 
  up with someone — porno 
  actor/producer Rod Spectacu-
  lar — and convinced him she 
  was really 18. He quickly put 
  her to work, giving her the 
  stage name “Cleopatra” at her 
  request, and began to make 
  big money oﬀ of her.
  But Juanita didn’t intend 
  to keep on making ﬁlms 
  until her breasts sagged 
  — probably about the time 
  she turned 25, she ﬁgured — and Rod dumped her 
  for some newer, hotter girl. She had far grander plans, 
  schemes worthy of Cleopatra herself. When she 
  turned 18, she secretly informed on Rod and had him 
  arrested for producing and distributing pornographic 
  ﬁlms with models under 18 years of age — and then 
  she took over his organization. One or two people 
  tried to ﬁght her for it, but she had a few friends from 
  the street help her out by murdering them, and after 
  that no one gave her any trouble.
  With her first-hand experience in the indus-
  try and eye for talent, it didn’t take long for Juan-
  ita — who now referred to herself exclusively by 
  CLEOPATRA  
  PLOT SEEDS
  One of Cleopatra’s girls 
  doesn’t come into work. 
  The cops won’t take the 
  case seriously, so she 
  turns to the PCs for help 
  in ﬁnding the girl.
  Caligula begins moving 
  against Cleopatra 
  — hard. Her own people 
  aren’t up to the task of 
  stopping him, so she 
  appeals to the PCs for 
  help, pointing out that 
  he’d be a lot worse to 
  have around than her.
  Cleopatra’s mother 
  claims that her real 
  father is now a promi-
  nent Hudson City politi-
  cian. Cleopatra asks the 
  PCs to help her look 
  into the matter without 
  raising any suspicions.
  
  223 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  her stage name — to build a real empire of sleaze, 
  with a pornographic film “studio” that’s one of 
  the largest in the country. But just being in the 
  film biz wasn’t enough for her. She returned 
  home to Hudson City and founded Little Egypt 
  as a dance club, then expanded into true pimping 
  by having a couple of friends murder her father 
  so she could take over his stable. Through a com-
  bination of smarts, treating her girls far better 
  than most pimps do, and money, she’s made her-
  self into a true queen of vice. Like the Hollywood 
  image of her namesake, Cleopatra rules over an 
  empire of sin, ignoring the fact that she destroys 
  many young lives just as hers was destroyed.
  Personality/Motivation:  The constant abuse Cleopa-
  tra suﬀered as a child and adolescent has left her 
  with a raging case of low self-esteem that she 
  covers with her glamorous street personality and 
  extreme vanity. Despite all she’s accomplished, her 
  feelings of self-worth are just a surface thing; deep 
  down inside she knows how loathsome her life is. 
  If confronted with adversity she can’t handle with 
  her usual wiles, her facade breaks down and she 
  becomes eager to please, willing to do anything to 
  keep the suﬀering from starting again.
  Although outwardly she seems friendly and 
  warm, Cleopatra’s experienced a lot of suﬀering in 
  her life and has become a hard, cold person because 
  of it. She has no qualms about killing people who 
  bother her or interfere with her businesses, but she 
  doesn’t do the work personally — she delegates.
  Quote:  “I would advise you not to interfere in my 
  activities, little man — and I do mean little.”
  Powers/Tactics:  Cleopatra is a businesswoman, not 
  a combatant. Her “tactics” are to call her bouncers 
  and ﬂunkies to help her out. If that doesn’t work, 
  she’ll resort to lawyers and underhanded methods 
  like siccing the IRS on someone. Her chief concern 
  is expanding her empire of sin and depravity, not 
  ﬁghting her way to the top. She’ll use her seduc-
  tiveness as a weapon if she must, but prefers to 
  leave such things to the girls on her payroll — she’s 
  beyond that now.
  Campaign Use:  Cleopatra is one of four major “play-
  ers” in the Hudson City vice world, and despite her 
  many problems probably the most likeable — she 
  doesn’t exploit children the way Caligula and Cole do, 
  nor abuse and degrade her girls as Carl Spears does 
  his. The PCs might see her as an ally, albeit a tempo-
  rary one, in their quest to clean up worse messes on 
  the Strip. She’d be willing to “sell” information to them 
  in exchange for them leaving her alone (or even pro-
  viding “protection,” should she need it).
  Don’t try to make Cleopatra signiﬁcantly 
  tougher; she’s not intended to be a ﬁghter. At the 
  most, give her a concealed poisoned knife, or per-
  haps a pet asp. To weaken her, reduce her wealth, 
  Contacts, and Favors.
  Cleopatra generally doesn’t Hunt anyone; it’s 
  not good business. If someone does her wrong, she’ll 
  remember it, and she’ll take advantage of any oppor-
  tunities for revenge that come her way, but she won’t 
  go out of her way to track an enemy down.
  Cleopatra has a criminal record as a prostitute 
  from years ago, and the authorities certainly sus-
  pect her of pimping, but her more serious crimes 
  (murder, occasional drug-dealing, ventures into 
  blackmail) have not yet been linked to her.
  Appearance:  See page 191. Cleopatra stands 5’8” 
  and weighs about 120.
  PAGE 192 — LONGVIEW CORRECTIONAL 
  CENTER
  Longview Correctional is a harsh, depressing 
  place no matter how you slice it. Life is cheap, the 
  inmates regularly abuse and degrade each other in 
  ways normal people can’t even imagine, and crime 
  — drug dealing, robbery, rape — is even more 
  common inside than outside.
  While many LCC guards just wants to do their 
  job well and make it home safely at the end of the 
  day, more than a few of them are on the take. They 
  accept bribes from inmates to smuggle things into 
  the prison (drugs, weapons, food, you name it), to 
  provide a prisoner with access to his wife or girl-
  friend for a quick “conjugal visit,” or to overlook 
  criminal activity. Some guards make almost as 
  much as their salary in bribes.
  And some guards are brutal bullies as well. 
  They answer backtalk with a punch to the oﬀender’s 
  ribs or a knee in his groin; for them, “restraining” 
  a prisoner usually means administering a severe 
  beating. This type often carries “holdout” weapons 
  — small pistols and knives — in blatant violation of 
  jail policy.
  Here are three plot seeds for Longview Cor-
  rectional:
  Breakin:  The PCs desperately need to talk to an 
  LCC inmate — he’s got information they have to 
  have right away and can’t get anywhere else. They 
  have to break in to Longview Correctional to 
  “interview” him.
  Riot!:  A riot breaks out! The PCs have to do what 
  they can to resolve the situation with minimum 
  loss of life... or take advantage of the chaos to dis-
  pose of a few old enemies.
  Something’s Rotten...:  If the PCs are cops or have 
  other “oﬃcial” standing of some sort, the HCPD or 
  Department of Corrections might recruit them to 
  go undercover to investigate allegations of guard 
  corruption and brutality. Once inside, the PCs will 
  ﬁnd themselves on a battleﬁeld unlike any other 
  they’ve fought on before.
  PAGE 196 — THE SKYLINE CLUB
  One thing the main text doesn’t discuss is 
  that the Skyline Club used to have something of 
  a reputation as a haven for wealthy drug users 
  — cocaine and designer drugs, mostly, but any-
  thing they could get away with using discreetly 
  would do. Over the past ten years the drug use 
  here has dropped considerably, but it’s never 
  gone away altogether. After all, the one thing the 
  Club’s members have in common is that they’re 
  used to getting everything they want... and if 
  what they want today is to get high, that’s what 
  they’ll do.
  KANAN “KEN” 
  CHANDRASHAKAR
   10 STR 
  10 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   15 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   3 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 17 STUN
  Abilities:  Computer Pro-
  gramming 13-, Electron-
  ics 12-, KS: The High-
  Tech World 11-, PS: 
  Small Business Owner 
  11-, SS: Computer Sci-
  ence 13-, SS: Electronic 
  Engineering 11-, Money: 
  Well Oﬀ
  Disadvantages:  Rivalry 
  (Professional, with vari-
  ous other programmers/
  inventors)
  Notes:  With a B.S. and 
  a Masters in Computer 
  Science from Stanford, 
  a Ph.D. from HCU, 
  and a headful of ideas, 
  Ken Chandrashakar set 
  out several years ago 
  to take the high-tech 
  world by storm. He 
  didn’t exactly become 
  the next Steve Jobs, but 
  he did well enough with 
  the patents he already 
  had, and a few more he 
  acquired, to keep his 
  company Chandronics 
  going strong. Today it 
  has oﬃces in the Stailey 
  Towers, a dozen or more 
  projects going on at any 
  one time, and a solid 
  reputation as a ﬁrm of 
  high-tech innovators.
  
  224 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  Here are three plot seeds for the Skyline Club:
  I Know What You Did Last Summer:  Two dozen 
  or more Club members receive blackmail notes 
  — serious blackmail notes, revealing intimate 
  knowledge of all sorts of indiscretions and secrets 
  they don’t want to get out. A few of them have 
  learned a little something of the scope of the prob-
  lem because they’re good enough friends to conﬁde 
  their problems to each other, but no one knows the 
  full extent of what’s going on... except, of course, 
  the blackmailer. One of the victims turns to the PCs 
  for help in resolving the problem without causing a 
  scandal — or dozens of scandals.
  The Maltese Giraffe:  Periodically the Club brings 
  in new decorative art, or temporarily exhibits art 
  belonging to the members. Recently they displayed 
  African art from one member’s collection of Afri-
  can artifacts, including a valuable gem-encrusted 
  statuette of a giraﬀe. Now the whole exhibit’s been 
  stolen! The PCs get involved somehow, and must 
  trace the theft and recover the goods.
  Was It The Soup?:  A prominent foreign diplomat 
  comes to the Skyline Club as a guest of one of the 
  members... and drops dead in the middle of dinner! 
  Preliminary forensics tend to indicate he was 
  poisoned. Head Chef, furious, threatens to quit if 
  his name isn’t cleared post-haste. The Club’s man-
  agement or Steering Committee turns to the PCs 
  (through back channels, of course) to investigate 
  and solve the mystery.
  PAGE 198 — QUICKCORNER
  Here are three plot seeds for use with Quick-
  Corner stores:
  Epidemic Of Convenience:  Over a dozen people in 
  Hudson City have gotten seriously ill with a rare 
  and deadly disease over the past week or so; two 
  have already died. The only common thread the 
  investigators can ﬁnd is that they all visited Quick-
  Corner stores (or, if you prefer, a single Quick-
  Corner) in the previous week. Is someone adulter-
  ating QuickCorner products... and if so, why?
  And I Want A Car... A Big One That Gets Crappy Gas 
  Mileage!:  A “disturbed” individual decided to rob a 
  QuickCorner. The clerk, being an edgy sort of guy, 
  pulled a concealed pistol, and the robber shot him 
  in the shoulder. The robber then took everyone in 
  the store hostage. The cops now have the place sur-
  rounded, but they’re not making much headway 
  dealing with the robber, who’s issued some pretty 
  odd demands. The PCs have to resolve the situa-
  tion... hopefully without any more bloodshed (or at 
  least, innocent bloodshed).
  Pack ’a Smokes, Man:  An enterprising QuickCorner 
  clerk has hit on a great way to supplement his income:  
  sell drugs on the side. All someone has to do is come 
  in and request “Gold Bar 999s, unﬁltered” (there is 
  no such brand — all 999s have ﬁlters) and he’ll get a 
  nickel bag of H along with his cancer sticks. The PCs 
  have to track down the source of the heroin ﬂooding 
  the streets... and then trace the chain from the clerk, to 
  his supplier, and beyond.
  DEWAYNE 
  SIMMONS
   8 STR 
  10 DEX
   8 CON 
  8 BODY
   10 INT 
  8 EGO
   10 PRE 
  8 COM
   2 PD 
  2 ED
   2 SPD 
  4 REC
   16 END 16 STUN
  Abilities:  Computer 
  Programming 11-, Elec-
  tronics 13-, Inventor 11-, 
  AK: Freetown 11-, KS: 
  Freetown Gangs 11-, 
  Stealth 11-, Streetwise 
  11-, Systems Operation 
  8-, WF: Handguns
  Disadvantages:  Social 
  Limitation:  Criminal 
  Record
  Notes:  Although only 
  14 years old, DeWayne 
  Simmons is a budding 
  electronics genius. 
  He started taking his 
  family’s stereo and other 
  electronic items apart 
  and putting them back 
  together when he was 
  only 8. These days he 
  can not only ﬁx just 
  about about any piece 
  of electronics someone 
  brings him (and make 
  pretty decent money 
  doing it), he’s building 
  his own creations. He 
  ﬁgures it’s only a matter 
  of time before he comes 
  up with an invention 
  so valuable that he can 
  patent it, sell it, and use 
  the money to get him-
  self, his mother, and his 
  brothers and sisters the 
  hell out of Freetown for 
  good.
  
  225 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  L
  ife on the streets can be tough... and danger-
  ous. Sometimes your heroes may need a 
  little help in their war on crime and injustice 
  — and other times they may ﬁnd themselves 
  butting heads with characters who approach situa-
  tions diﬀerently than they do.
  THE HARBINGER OF JUSTICE
   Val  Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   15 STR 
  5 
  12- 
  Lift 200 kg; 3d6 [3]
   23 DEX 
  48 
  14- 
  OCV:  8/DCV:  8
   20 CON 
  20 
  13-
   15 BODY 10 
  12-
   30 INT 
  30 
  15- 
  PER Roll 15-
   15 EGO 
  10 
  12- 
  ECV:  5
   40 PRE 
  50 
  17- 
  Presence Attack:  8d6
   10 COM 
  0 
  11- 
    
   8 PD 
  5 
   
  Total:  11 PD (3 rPD)
   6 ED  
  2 
   
  Total:  9 ED (3 rED)
   5 SPD 
  27 
   
  Phases:  3, 5, 8, 10, 12
   10 REC 
  6
   40 END 
  0
   33 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  213
  Movement: 
  Running:  9”/18”
   
  Leaping:  5”/10”
   
  Swimming:  4”/8”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  80 
  Super-Skills:  Variable Power Pool, 40 pool 
  + 20 control cost, Cosmic (+2); Only For 
  Super-Skills And Like Abilities (-½) 
  var
   
  Martial Arts:  Various Styles
   
  Maneuver 
  OCV DCV 
  Damage/Effect
  4 
  Block 
  +2 
  +2 
  Block, Abort
  4 
  Choke 
  -2 
  +0 
  Grab One Limb, 
  4½d6 NND (2)
  4 
  Dodge 
  — 
  +5 
  Dodge all 
  attacks, Abort
  4 
  Escape 
  +0 
  +0 
  55 STR versus 
  Grabs
  3 
  Hold 
  -1 
  -1 
  Grab Two 
  Limbs, 50 STR 
  to hold on
  5 
  Joint Break 
  -2 
  -2 
  Grab One Limb, 
  HKA 1d6+1 
  (2d6+1 with 
  STR), Disable, 
  Target Falls
  4 
  Joint Lock/
   
  Throw 
  +1 
  +0 
  Grab One Limb, 
  3½d6 NND (7), 
  Target Falls
  5 
  Kick 
  -2 
  +1 
  12d6 Strike
  4 
  Knifehand 
   
  Strike 
  -2 
  +0 
  HKA 1d6+1 
  (2d6+1 with 
  STR)
  4 
  Nerve Strike 
  -1 
  +1 
  4½d6 NND (1) 
  4 
  Punch/
   
  Elbow Strike  
  +0 
  +2 
  10d6 Strike
  5 
  Takeaway 
   
  Throw  
  +0 
  +0 
  Grab Weapon, 
  45 STR; Target 
  Falls
  3 
   Throw 
  +0 
  +1 
  8d6 Strike + 
  vel/5, Target 
  Falls
  20 
  +5 Damage Classes (already added in)
  2 
  Use Arts with Blades, Clubs
   
  Martial Arts:  Zen Riﬂery
    
  Maneuver 
  OCV/DCV Rng Damage/Effect
  4 
  Accurate Shot +2/+0 
  +0 Weapon +4 DC
  4 
  Defensive Shot +0/+2 
  +0 Weapon +4 DC
  3 
  Diving Shot 
  +0/+2 
  +1 Weapon +4 
  DC, Half Move 
  Required, You 
  Fall
  5 
  Far Shot 
  +1/-1 
  +4 Weapon +4 DC
  3 
  Leg Shot 
  +0/ -1 
  +0 Weapon +4 
  DC, Throw
  4 
  Oﬀensive Shot -1/-1 
  +0 Weapon +8 DC
  4 
  Trained Shot 
  +0/+0 
  +2 Weapon +6 DC
  16 
  +4 Damage Classes (already added in)
  65 
  Quick Fire:  Autoﬁre (5 shots; +½) for  
  any non-Autoﬁre ﬁrearm built on up to  
  130 Active Points, Reduced Endurance  
  (0 END; +1); OIF (ﬁrearms of opportunity; 
  -½), Requires A Shooting Tricks Roll  
  (no Active Point penalty; -0), Not While  
  Targeting (-½) 
  0
  3 
  Gun Muscle:  +10 STR; Only To Meet  
  STR Modiﬁer For Using Firearms (-2) 
  1
  30 
  Shrug It Oﬀ:  Physical and Energy  
  Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50%;  
  Requires A CON Roll (no Active Point  
  penalty; -¼), STUN Only (-½), Must Be 
  Aware Of Attack (-¼)  
  0
  6 
  Swift:  Running +3” (9” total) 
  1
  9 
  Combat Running:  Running +9”; Only  
  To Make Half Moves In Combat (-1) 
  2
  2 
  Strong Leaper:  Leaping +2” (5” forward,  
  3” upward) 
  1
  2 
  Combat Leaping:  Leaping +5”; Only  
  To Make Half Moves In Combat (-1) 
  1
  2 
  Strong Swimmer:  Swimming +2” (4” total) 1
  6 
  Disappearing Act:  Teleportation 9”;  
  Can Only Teleport To Places Harbinger 
  Could Normally Go (-½), Must Cross  
  ALLIES
  
  226 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  Intervening Space (-¼), No Noncombat  
  Multiple (-¼), Only To “Vanish” When  
  No One Is Looking (-½), Requires A  
  Stealth Roll (-½) 
  2
  1 
  Relaxation Techniques:  Life Support  
  (Diminished Sleep:  only needs about an 
  hour of sleep per night) 
  0
   
  Perks
  6 
  3 Deep Covers (see sidebar)
  10 
  Improved Equipment Availability:   
  Advanced Military Equipment
  15 
  Money:  Filthy Rich
  15 
  Reputation:  ruthless vigilante (throughout 
  the US and the underworld) 14-, +5/+5d6
   
  Talents
  6 
  Combat Luck (3 PD/3 ED)
  15 
  Combat Sense 15-
  20 
  Deadly Blow:  HKA +2d6 with All HTH 
  Attacks
  20 
  Deadly Blow:  RKA +2d6 with All Ranged 
  Attacks
  5 
  Eidetic Memory
  3 
  Resistance (3 points)
   
  Skills
  40 
  +5 with All Combat
  24 
  Range Skill Levels:  +8 versus Range Modiﬁer 
  with all attacks
  24 
  Targeting Skill Levels:  +8 versus Hit  
  Location modiﬁers with all attacks
  5 
  Accurate Sprayﬁre
  3 
  Acrobatics 14-
  3 
  Acting 17-
  3 
  Analyze Style 15-
  3 
  Analyze Combat Technique 15-
  3 
  Breakfall 14-
  3 
  Bugging 15-
  3 
  Combat Driving 14-
  3 
  Combat Piloting 14-
  3 
  Computer Programming 15-
  3 
  Concealment 15-
  5 
  Concentrated Sprayﬁre
  3 
  Contortionist 14-
  3 
  Criminology 15-
  3 
  Cryptography 15-
  3 
  Deduction 15-
  10 
  Defense Maneuver IV
  3 
  Demolitions 15-
  3 
  Disguise 15-
  3 
  Electronics 15-
  3 
  Fast Draw (Common Melee Weapons,  
  Small Arms) 14-
  3 
  Forensic Medicine 15-
  4 
  Forgery (Documents, Money) 15-
  4 
  Gambling (Card Games, Dice Games) 15-
  3 
  High Society 17-
  3 
  Interrogation 17-
  3 
  Inventor 15-
  3 
  CK: Hudson City 15-
  2 
  CK: Fell’s Point 11-
  2 
  AK: Hudson City Underground Systems 11-
  3 
  Lipreading 15-
  3 
  Lockpicking 14-
  3 
  Mechanics 15-
  3 
  Mimicry 15-
  3 
  Paramedics 15-
  5 
  Rapid Attack (Ranged)
  5 
  Rapid Autoﬁre
  3 
  Security Systems 15-
  3 
  Shadowing 15-
  25 
  Shooting Tricks 25-
  5 
  Skipover Sprayﬁre
  3 
  Sleight Of Hand 14-
  5 
  Stealth 15-
  3 
  Streetwise 17-
  3 
  Systems Operation 15-
  3 
  Tactics 15-
  12 
  Transport Familiarity:  Common Motorized 
  Ground Vehicles, Two-Wheeled Motorized 
  Ground Vehicles, Tracked Military Vehicles, 
  Small Planes, Large Planes, Fighter Planes, 
  Helicopters, Small Motorized Boats, Para-
  chuting (Basic & Advanced), SCUBA
  10 
  Two-Weapon Fighting (HTH)
  10 
  Two-Weapon Fighting (Ranged)
  12 
  WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common 
  Missile Weapons, Common Martial Arts 
  Weapons, Small Arms, Flamethrowers, Gre-
  nade Launchers, General Purpose/Heavy 
  Machine Guns, Shoulder-Fired Weapons 
  8 
  Weaponsmith (Muscle-Powered HTH, 
  Muscle-Powered Ranged, Firearms, Missiles 
  & Rockets, Chemical Weapons, Biological 
  Weapons, Incendiary Weapons) 15-
  3 
  Linguist
  1 
  1)  Arabic (ﬂuent conversation; English is 
  Native)
  1 
  2)  Cantonese Chinese (ﬂuent conversation)
  1 
  3)  French (completely ﬂuent)
  1 
  4)  German (completely ﬂuent)
  1 
  5)  Italian (completely ﬂuent)
  2 
  6)  Japanese (completely ﬂuent)
  1 
  7)  Mandarin Chinese (completely ﬂuent)
  1 
  8)  Russian (ﬂuent conversation)
  2 
  9)  Spanish (completely ﬂuent)
  3 
  Scholar
  2 
  1)  KS: Arcane And Occult Knowledge 15- 
  4 
  2)  KS: Card Shark And His Organization 17-
  2 
  3)  KS: Chinese Organized Crime 15-
  2 
  4)  KS: Drug Cartels And Drug Traﬃcking 15-
  2 
  5)  KS: The Espionage World 15-
  1 
  6)  KS: High Finance 11-
  2 
  7)  KS: Hudson City Telephone And Utility 
  Systems 15-
  2 
  8)  KS: The Hudson City Underworld 15-
  2 
  9)  KS: The Law Enforcement World 15-
  2 
  10)  KS: The Maﬁa 15- 
  2 
  11)  KS: The Martial World 15-
  1 
  12)  KS: Mental Health Professionals 11-
  2 
  13)  KS: Mexican Organized Crime 15-
  2 
  14)  KS: The Military/Mercenary/Terrorist 
  World 15-
  2 
  15)  KS: Military Science 15-
  2 
  16)  KS: Serial Killers And Serial Killing 15-
  2 
  17)  KS: Street Gangs And Posses 15-
  2 
  18)  KS: The Vice World 15-
  2 
  19)  KS: World Criminals 15-
  1 
  20)  KS: World Literature 11-
  
  227 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  2 
  21)  KS: The Yakuza 15-
  3 
  Scientist
  2 
  1)  SS: Accounting 15-
  2 
  2)  SS: Bloodstain Interpretation 15-
  2 
  3)  SS: Chemistry 15-
  2 
  4)  SS: Criminology 15-
  2 
  5)  SS: Entomology/Forensic Entomology 15-
  2 
  6)  SS: Fingerprint Analysis 15-
  2 
  7)  SS: Hair And Fiber Analysis 15-
  2 
  8)  SS: Human Biology 15-
  1 
  9)  SS: Materials Science 11-
  1 
  10)  SS: Metallurgy 11-
  2 
  11)  SS: Pharmacology/Toxicology 15-
  1 
  12)  SS: Physics 11-
  2 
  13)  SS: Psychology/Criminal Psychology 15-
  2 
  14)  SS: Serology 15-
   
  Resource Points
  88 
  Equipment Points:  500
  95 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  200
  50 
  Follower/Contact Points:  105
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skill Cost:  1,057
  Total Cost:  1,289
  100+ Disadvantages
  25 
  Hunted:  organized crime group of GM’s 
  choice 11- (Mo Pow, NCI, Kill)
  15 
  Hunted:  Card Shark 8- (As Pow, NCI, Kill)
  25 
  Hunted:  HCPD 11- (Mo Pow, NCI, Capture)
  25 
  Psychological Limitation:  Vigilante Mental-
  ity (Very Common, Total)
  25 
  Psychological Limitation:  Obsessed With 
  Crimeﬁghting (Very Common, Total)
  20 
  Reputation:  Murderous vigilante, 14- 
  (Extreme)
  20 
  Social Limitation:  Secret Identity (Fre-
  quently, Severe)
  1,034 Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  1,289
  Harbinger uses a wide variety of weapons in 
  his never-ending war on crime. Most are of his own 
  design and incorporate the latest advances in weap-
  ons technology. Here are a few of his favorites.
  Mark I Handgun:  This is a .50 AE handgun with a 
  12-round magazine typically loaded with Hybrid 
  Frangible/HP ammunition with improved propel-
  lant, and personalized to Harbinger so no one else 
  can ﬁre it. He typically carries two of them in fast-
  draw shoulder holsters.
  Cost Power
  35 
  Mark I Handgun with Polygonal Riﬂing  
  ﬁring Improved Propellant Hybrid  
  Frangible/HP Ammunition:  RKA 3d6+2,  
  +2 Increased STUN Multiplier (+½),  
  Penetrating (+½), 8 clips of 12 Charges  
  each (+¼) (124 Active Points); OAF (-1), 
  STR Minimum (12, STR Minimum  
  Doesn’t Add/Subtract Damage; -1),  
  Beam (-¼), Real Weapon (-¼)
  3 
  Silencer:  -3 to PER Rolls; see Dark  
  Champions, page 237
  7 
  Features:  AccuTech Barrel Coating; 
  AccuTech Cryotreatment; Fine Tuning II; 
  Improved Firing Pin; Improved Trigger;  
  Personalization; Streamlining
  5 
  x2 Mark I Handguns
  1 
  One clip of Standard ammunition  
  (RKA 2½d6+1)
  1 
  One clip of AP ammunition (RKA 2d6+2, 
  Armor Piercing)
  1 
  One clip of Reversed Ogive ammunition 
  (RKA 3d6+2, Armor Piercing, +1 Increased 
  STUN Multiplier)
  Total cost:  53 points.
  Final Gun:  RKA 3d6+2, +2 Increased STUN Mul-
  tiplier, Penetrating, 8 clips of 12 Charges each, +3 
  OCV, +1 Fast Draw
  MAWS:  The Multiple Assault Weapon System 
  (MAWS, or “Mouse”) is Harbinger’s advanced 
  assault riﬂe. It ﬁres 5.56x45mm rounds from a heli-
  cal 125-round magazine. In addition to standard 
  assault riﬂe mode, it converts into a sniper riﬂe 
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  Mark I Handgun +3 
  +0 
  3d6+2 
  1d6+1 
  12 
  12 
  8 clips, +1 Fast Draw
  MAWS 
  +4 
  +1 
  2d6+1 
  1d6 
  125 
  14 
  +3 OCV and +10 RMod, all OBS
  Mark I Tranq 
  Pistol 
  +3 
  +0 
  8d6 NND 
  — 
  12 
  8 
  +1 Fast Draw
  Combat Knife +0 
  +0 
  1d6 
  1d6-1 
  — 
  8 
  Can Be Thrown
  Armor
  DefTex Body Armor (DEF 10, Activation Roll 15-, anti-IR coating)
  DefTex Armored Clothing (DEF 2)
  DefTex Trenchcoat (DEF 2, Activation Roll 11-)
  Polarized Mask Lenses:  Sight Group Flash Defense (8 points)
  Wolf’s Ears:  Hearing Group Flash Defense (8 points)
  Gear:  Harbinger often carries other equipment when ﬁghting crime, but his exact kit depends on the mission he’s 
  performing. In combat situations, he usually uses a variety of communications and sensory devices built into his 
  mask, and carries the equivalent of a Utility Belt (Dark Champions, page 283, about 20 gadgets) in the pockets and 
  pouches on his uniform.
  Clothing:  See Appearance for his uniform, which he wears on most combat missions; when in disguise, he could wear 
  just about anything.
  
  228 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  with a barrel attachment, and also has an under-
  slung integral automatic-ﬁre grenade launcher that 
  ﬁres Harbinger’s advanced CCD 20mm grenades. 
  The Multipower below assumes fragmentation gre-
  nades, but many other types could be loaded.
  In addition to Harbinger’s standard polygonal 
  riﬂing and Accutech treatments, the MAWS comes 
  equipped with an advanced targeting computer, 
  sights, a camera, and related devices. These devices 
  link to the electronics in Harbinger’s mask, if 
  appropriate, making aiming even easier.
  Cost Power
  23 
  MAWS:  Multipower, 87-point reserve; all 
  OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-¼), STR Minimum 
  (14, STR Minimum Doesn’t Add/Subtract 
  Damage; -1), Two-Handed (-½)
  2u 
  1)  Assault Riﬂe:  RKA 2d6+1, Autoﬁre  
  (5 shots; +½), +1 Increased STUN  
  Multiplier (+¼), 125 Charges (+¾)  
  (87 Active Points); OAF (-1), Beam (-¼), 
  Real Weapon (-¼), STR Minimum  
  (14, STR Minimum Doesn’t Add/Subtract 
  Damage; -1), Two-Handed (-½)
  1u 
  2)  Sniper Riﬂe:  RKA 2d6+1,+1 Increased 
  STUN Multiplier (+¼), No Range  
  Modiﬁer (+½) (61 Active Points); OAF  
  (-1), Beam (-¼), Extra Time (Full Phase  
  to prepare before use; -¼), Real Weapon 
  (-¼), STR Minimum (14, STR Minimum 
  Doesn’t Add/Subtract Damage; -1), Two-
  Handed (-½), Uses Same Charges Pool  
  As Slot #1 (-0)
  2u 
  3)  Underslung 20mm CCD Grenade 
  Launcher:  RKA 2d6, Explosion (+½),  
  Autoﬁre (3 shots; +1¼) (82 Active Points); 
  OAF (-1), Real Weapon (-¼), STR  
  Minimum (14, STR Minimum Doesn’t  
  Add/Subtract Damage; -1), Two-Handed 
  (-½), 12 Charges (-¼)
  11 
  Features:  Inherent Accuracy (+1 OCV,  
  +1 RMod); AccuTech Barrel Coating; 
  AccuTech Cryotreatment; Fine Tuning II; 
  Improved Firing Pin; Improved Trigger;  
  Personalization
  20 
  Targeting Computer:  see Dark Champions, 
  page 237
  10 
  Camera:  see Dark Champions, page 232
  1 
  Thermal Sight:  see Dark Champions,  
  page 236
  10 
  Flash Suppressor:  see Dark Champions,  
  page 232
  1 
  Rangeﬁnder:  see Dark Champions, page 232
  5 
  GPS Tracker:  Detect Exact Position On 
  Earth 15- (Radio Group) (10 Active Points); 
  OAF (-1)
  1 
  Compass:  Bump Of Direction (3 Active 
  Points); OAF (-1)
  Total cost:  88 points.
  Mark I Tranq Pistol:  For situations in which Harbin-
  ger doesn’t want to use lethal force, he carries this 
  small but handy gun. It has two barrels in an over-
  under conﬁguration, one ﬁring tranquilizer darts in 
  sabots, the other break-on-contact pellets contain-
  ing knockout gas.
  Cost Power
  32 
  Mark I Tranq Pistol:  Multipower, 105-point 
  base; all OAF (-1), STR Minimum (8, STR 
  Minimum Doesn’t Add/Subtract Damage; 
  -1), Real Weapon (-¼)
  2u 
  1)  Tranquilizer Darts:  Energy Blast 8d6, 
  NND (defense is Life Support [Self-Con-
  tained Breathing or appropriate Immunity]; 
  +1) (80 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR  
  Minimum (8, STR Minimum Doesn’t  
  Add/Subtract Damage; -1), Limited  
  Range (50”; -¼), Real Weapon (-¼),  
  12 Charges (-¼)
  3u 
  2)  Tranquilizer Gas Pellets:  Energy  
  Blast 6d6, Area Of Eﬀect (One Hex; +½),  
  Continuous (+1), NND (defense is  
  Life Support [Self-Contained Breathing  
  or appropriate Immunity]; +1)  
  (105 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR  
  Minimum (8, STR Minimum Doesn’t Add/
  Subtract Damage; -1), Limited Range  
  (20”; -¼), Real Weapon (-¼), 8 Continuing 
  Charges lasting 1 Extra Phase each (-¼)
  7 
  Features:  AccuTech Barrel Coating; 
  AccuTech Cryotreatment; Fine Tuning II; 
  Improved Firing Pin; Improved Trigger;  
  Personalization; Streamlining 
  Total cost:  44 points
  Other weapons Harbinger often carries 
  include the Mark I “Firestorm” SMG (RKA 3d6+2, 
  AF5, 125 Charges), the Mark I Automatic Combat 
  Shotgun (RKA 2½d6, AF5, 12 Charges each of shot 
  and slugs), the Mark VI Handgun (RKA 2d6+1, 8 
  Charges, a “holdout” pistol carried in a springsleeve 
  holster), the Mark II “Silent Thunderbolt” Handgun 
  (RKA 2d6+1, a plastic gun with maximum silenc-
  ing and concealability features), Shock Gloves 
  (gloves with a taser-like weapon built into them), 
  and various CCD grenades.
  HARBINGER’S  
  DEEP COVERS
  Harbinger maintains 
  three Deep Covers, 
  each described briefly 
  elsewhere in this 
  book:  freelance crime 
  reporter Frank Keaton 
  (page 108); homeless 
  person Crazy Lenny 
  (page 136); and Free-
  town peddler Flashman 
  Jackson (page 51). (If 
  Harbinger doesn’t actu-
  ally have a Skill or Dis-
  advantage that’s listed 
  on their character 
  sheets, it’s noted there 
  as a way of preserv-
  ing the illusion for the 
  players; just substitute 
  the closest available 
  Skill he does have, if 
  necessary.) In any of 
  these guises he might 
  pass on information, 
  or provide other assis-
  tance, to PCs without 
  their knowing it... or 
  spy on them.
  
  229 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  Background/History:  Page 154 describes most of 
  what’s deﬁnitively known about the mysterious, 
  ruthless vigilante who calls himself the Harbinger 
  of Justice. (He’s often referred to by the public as 
  “the Blue Moon Killer” because of the distinctive 
  calling cards he sometimes leaves on his victims 
  — solid black with a royal blue crescent moon.) 
  The Vigilantism Task Force of the HCPD, which 
  has a section that works with the FBI in an eﬀort to 
  track the Harbinger down, believes the following 
  deductions or suppositions about him are largely or 
  entirely accurate:
  ■ he has formal military training, probably as part 
  of a special forces or elite unit of some sort.
  ■ he may also have received formal espionage training
  ■ he is fabulously wealthy, though the source of his 
  wealth is unknown (most people on the VTF think 
  he started out with a nest egg obtained in some 
  legitimate manner, but now supplements that with 
  millions stolen from criminals he kills)
  ■ besides his obvious combat skills, he’s mastered 
  numerous other disciplines, including many sci-
  ences. In particular, he’s shown phenomenal skill at 
  disguises and impersonation, forensics and crimi-
  nalistics, stealthy movement, covert entry, and skills 
  related to manufacturing and using ﬁrearms and 
  other weapons
  ■ he has an extensive network of contacts, infor-
  mants, and informal “assistants” who knowingly or 
  unknowingly help him prosecute his war on crime
  Beyond that, the authorities know very little 
  with any certainty. 
  Personality/Motivation:  Harbinger is motivated by 
  one thing, and one thing only:  the desire to destroy 
  crime and those who commit it. So far as anyone 
  knows, he has no family, no desire for romance, and 
  no real friends. His entire life and being are devoted 
  to crimeﬁghting and the upholding of Justice as 
  he believes it to be. He is a textbook example of 
  extreme monomania. 
  Harbinger will stop at nothing to kill (“exe-
  cute,” as he insists) those he feels deserve killing, 
  though he’s never stated publicly exactly who quali-
  ﬁes for “execution” — he seems to prefer to let his 
  actions speak for themselves. Violent criminals 
  — murderers, rapists, robbers, and the like — 
  clearly qualify, as do drug dealers, most members 
  of organized crime groups, and anyone else who 
  contributes signiﬁcantly to the crime problem. On 
  the other hand, while he’s often gone after pimps, 
  child pornographers, and the like, he usually leaves 
  prostitutes alone.
  Based on the few statements he’s made to wit-
  nesses, Harbinger seems to follow a straightforward 
  philosophy:  everyone is free-willed and has the 
  capacity to act within the bounds of Justice. At a 
  minimum, people must leave one another in peace 
  and not hurt each other. Those who violate this 
  “rule” in minor ways deserve one chance to correct 
  their behavior and act as they should. If they fail to 
  act properly thereafter, he “executes” them as threats 
  to society. Other forms of behavior — murder or 
  rape, for example — are such extreme violations of 
  Harbinger’s code of Justice that they merit immedi-
  ate execution.
  Harbinger seems to prefer to work alone, since 
  he ﬁnds other crimeﬁghters too “soft-hearted,” 
  “aﬄicted with moral cowardice,” or “ineﬃcient” (his 
  words) to do their jobs properly. He tends to act 
  with ruthless eﬃciency, doing whatever he must 
  (short of harming innocent persons) to achieve 
  his goals. Since he doesn’t trust other crimeﬁghters 
  (not surprisingly, given how many of them have 
  tried to capture him in the past), he goes to great 
  lengths to keep his secrets.
  Quote:  “The innocent know me as a Harbinger 
  of Justice. But criminals know me as a Harbinger 
  of doom.”
  Powers/Tactics:  Harbinger is a master combat-
  ant — a man who can take on large numbers 
  of opponents and kill them quickly and cleanly 
  without suffering any injuries himself. He seems 
  to have mastered not only the use of firearms 
  and weapons, but a variety of unarmed combat 
  styles and techniques. If he knows in advance 
  what sort of opposition to expect, he’ll come pre-
  pared with the best weapon load he can arrange 
  given the circumstances; if not, he’ll carry a stan-
  dard multi-purpose “kit.”
  When possible, Harbinger prefers to oper-
  ate from secrecy and cover. Instead of charging 
  into a dangerous situation, he uses his disguise 
  and covert entry skills to infiltrate and gather as 
  much information as he can. To his way of think-
  ing, things go best when his target has absolutely 
  no idea he’s being stalked... until that last few 
  seconds of life when Harbinger destroys him and 
  his operation. To minimize possible casualties to 
  innocent bystanders, and preserve evidence he 
  can use to track down other criminals, he uses 
  poisons, gases, and other “non-violent” weapons 
  when it’s feasible to do so.
  If forced into open combat, the Harbinger 
  relies on cover and fast movement. Unless he’s got 
  a lot of cover and plenty of targets, he rarely stays 
  put in one place for more than a few seconds, pre-
  ferring to keep moving so his enemies can’t draw a 
  bead on him. In these situations, his only concerns 
  are protecting innocents and winning the battle. 
  He’ll “cheat,” break his word, or ﬁght “dishonorably” 
  to achieve this aim if he must; to his way of think-
  ing, this is no-holds-barred a war, not some duel in 
  a Hollywood movie.
  The Harbinger prefers to take his enemies 
  captive whenever possible. After the battle, he 
  takes his captives somewhere private, interro-
  gates them extensively, and then “executes” them 
  after he’s gathered all the information he can. 
  He has no qualms about using torture or other 
  “extreme” interrogation methods if he must, but 
  he doesn’t inflict pain for pleasure — that would 
  reduce him to the level of the scum he fights.
  Harbinger relies on his reputation and over-
  whelming personal presence whenever possible. 
  There’s no need to fight or cause harm when he 
  can terrify a criminal into submission.
  HARBINGER  
  PLOT SEEDS
  A person dressed like 
  Harbinger has recently 
  murdered several prom-
  inent individuals around 
  Hudson City. None of 
  the victims had a crimi-
  nal record. Was it really 
  the Harbinger — and 
  if so, were the victims 
  secretly involved in the 
  underworld somehow? 
  Or is someone trying to 
  pin a few more murders 
  on him, ﬁguring no one 
  will even question that 
  he’d do it... and if so, 
  what’s really going on?
  The PCs desperately 
  need some information 
  — and the Harbinger’s 
  the only person likely to 
  have it. Do they dare ask 
  him to help? If so, how 
  do they ﬁnd him? And 
  what do they do if he 
  only agrees to tell them 
  what they need to know 
  if he can help them 
  complete their mission?
  The Harbinger contacts 
  the PCs. He says he 
  needs some information 
  they have... and if he 
  doesn’t get it right away, 
  thousands of people 
  could die. Can they trust 
  him? Are they willing 
  to work with him to 
  prevent this supposed 
  tragedy?
  
  230 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  Campaign Use:  The Harbinger’s vast capabilities 
  and consummate skills make him a force to be 
  reckoned with. When running him, remember that 
  he’s a genius, one extensively trained in many ﬁelds 
  and with nearly two decades’ experience ﬁghting 
  crime in Hudson City. He does not ﬁght or act stu-
  pidly, prepares intelligently for every contingency 
  or emergency he can think of, and acts as eﬃciently 
  and ruthlessly as he has to.
  At ﬁrst glance, it may seem that the Harbinger is 
  so powerful that Hudson City doesn’t need any other 
  crimeﬁghters. But that’s demonstrably untrue; he’s 
  been on the job for nearly twenty years, and Hudson 
  City still has a signiﬁcant crime problem (though 
  some experts do attribute a drop in the crime rate to 
  his actions and those of other vigilantes). The truth 
  is that he’s only one man, and thus can only do so 
  much. Even allowing for the fact that he only needs 
  to sleep about an hour a night, there’s a limit to what 
  he can accomplish. The vast majority of his time is 
  spent gathering and analyzing information, maintain-
  ing Deep Covers, performing the maintenance and 
  administrative tasks necessary to support his war 
  on crime, and so forth — it’s not as if he’s out on the 
  streets 24 hours a day gunning down criminals. If he 
  ever had the “support staﬀ” necessary to let him do 
  that, everyone in Hudson City would know it from 
  the ﬂood of corpses.
  As an NPC, the Harbinger can interact with 
  your PCs in several ways. The ﬁrst is as an antago-
  nist. Few, if any, crimeﬁghters share the Harbinger’s 
  extreme views, and many of them have tried to 
  stop him (though none have succeeded for long). 
  Harbinger would never use lethal force on another 
  crimeﬁghter — any true crimeﬁghter, no matter 
  how much of a “moral coward” he is, is worth 
  keeping on the streets — but he’ll use nonlethal 
  weapons and inﬂict nonlethal injuries to keep them 
  from stopping him. But the PCs should realize that 
  if they do stop the Harbinger and the word gets 
  out, the Hudson City underworld is going to run 
  riot — whether the PCs like it or not, he does keep 
  crime in the Pearl City in check to some degree.
  Second, he could be an ally (though admit-
  tedly a diﬃcult one to get along with at times). He 
  won’t ﬁght the PCs’ battles for them in most cases 
  — he’s got plenty of his own to take care of — but 
  if he respects another crimeﬁghter he’ll willingly 
  exchange information, oﬀer advice, or provide 
  other assistance that seems reasonable to him. 
  Third, Harbinger could serve as a mentor or patron 
  for the PCs, much as he’s doing with LIBRA (see 
  Dark Champions).
  You shouldn’t need to make Harbinger any 
  tougher; he’s already pushing the upper end of how 
  most campaigns deﬁne “Dark Champions charac-
  ters.” To weaken him, get rid of (or substantially 
  reduce) his Variable Power Pool, decrease his Char-
  acteristics, and/or get rid of some of his Skills.
  As a Hunter, the Harbinger is an incredibly 
  dangerous opponent. He’ll use his Skills to gather 
  all the information he needs, then strike at the 
  target at the best opportunity, usually using a 
  sniper rifle or poison. The odds are the target 
  will never see him.
  Harbinger is wanted by all local and national 
  law enforcement organizations for several thou-
  sand murders and uncounted acts of assault and 
  kidnapping. However, convincing a jury beyond 
  a reasonable doubt that a particular person com-
  mitted many, if not all, of them would be difficult 
  due to the evidentiary problems noted on page 
  154 — the Harbinger isn’t stupid enough to use 
  the same gun for long periods of time. Periodi-
  cally he melts gun parts down and recycles the 
  metal into other guns, or discards the metal if it’s 
  no longer useful. The total reward money offered 
  for him, dead or alive, from both law enforce-
  ment and criminal organizations exceeds five 
  million dollars.
  Appearance:  Harbinger is 6’0” tall, with a build 
  like a martial artist —  muscular-looking, but 
  not overly so. When on patrol or performing a 
  combat mission, he wears a black, skintight, full-
  face mask with a royal blue crescent moon over 
  the left eye. Atop the mask Harbinger wears a 
  black men’s fedora, though this often gets lost in 
  the heat of battle.
  Harbinger wears one of two uniforms. On 
  standard surveillance missions, patrols, and other 
  operations where he doesn’t expect to engage in heavy 
  combat, he dresses “formally” — an all-black men’s 
  suit, shirt, tie, shoes, trenchcoat, and gloves. Under-
  neath his clothes he wears a light armored bodysuit. 
  If he’s expecting combat or trouble, his uniform is 
  more like combat fatigues, with steel-toed boots, lots 
  of pockets, weapons slung/holstered/attached here 
  and there (plus other, hidden, weapons), much heavier 
  body armor, and an open trenchcoat.
  
  231 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  RENEGADE
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   18 STR 
  8 
  13- 
  Lift 300 kg; 3½d6 [4]
   18 DEX 
  24 
  13- 
  OCV:  6/DCV:  6
   18 CON 
  16 
  13-
   13 BODY 6 
  12-
   15 INT 
  5 
  12- 
  PER Roll 12-
   12 EGO 
  4 
  11- 
  ECV:  4
   20 PRE 
  10 
  13- 
  PRE Attack:  4d6
   11 COM 
  1 
  11-
   8 PD 
  4 
   
  Total:  8 PD (0 rPD)
   8 ED 
  4 
   
  Total:  8 ED (0 rED)
   4 SPD 
  12 
   
  Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
   8 REC 
  0
   36 END 
  0
   35 STUN 
  4 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  98
  Movement: 
  Running:  6”/12”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  Martial Arts:  Dirty Inﬁghting
    
  Maneuver 
  OCV DCV 
  Damage/Effect
  4 
  Block 
  +2 
  +2 
  Block, Abort
  4 
  Disarm 
  -1 
  +1 
  Disarm, 28 STR 
  to Disarm roll
  4 
  Eye Gouge 
  -1 
  -1 
  Sight Group 
  Flash 4d6
  4 
  Kidney Blow 
  -2 
  +0 
  HKA ½d6 
  (1d6+1 with 
  STR)
  4 
  Low Blow 
  -1 
  +1 
  2d6 NND(3)
  4 
  Punch/
   
  Backhand 
  +0 
  +2 
  5½d6 Strike
  5 
  Roundhouse/Two-
   
  Fisted Smash 
  -2 
  +1 
  7½d6 Strike
  3 
   Tackle 
  +0 
  -1 
  3½d6 +v/5 
  Strike; You Fall, 
  Target Falls
  5 
  Lucky Guy:  Luck 1d6 
  0
   
  Perks
  5 
  Improved Equipment Availability:  Military 
  Equipment
   
  Talents
  3 
  Lightsleep
   
  Skills
  10 
  +1 Overall
  8 
  +1 with All Combat
  9 
  +3 with USAS-12, Spectre M4, and Desert 
  Eagle
  3 
  Combat Driving 13-
  3 
  Concealment 12-
  1 
  Criminology 8-
  3 
  Deduction 12-
  3 
  Interrogation 13-
  3 
  Mechanics 12-
  3 
  Stealth 13-
  3 
  Streetwise 13-
  3 
  WF: Small Arms, Knives
   
  Resource Points
  12 
  Equipment Points:  120
  10 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  30
  5 
  Follower/Contact Points:  15
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  125
  Total Cost:  223
  100+ Disadvantages
  5 
  Distinctive Features:  various tattoos (Easily 
  Concealed; Noticed And Recognizable)
  20 
  Hunted:  HCPD 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Capture)
  20 
  Hunted:  the Maﬁa 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Kill)
  20 
  Psychological Limitation:  Vigilante Mental-
  ity (Very Common, Strong)
  15 
  Psychological Limitation:  Devout Catholic 
  (Common, Strong)
  15 
  Reputation:  Murderous vigilante, 11- 
  (Extreme)
  15 
  Social Limitation:  Secret Identity (Frank 
  Scarpetta) (Frequently, Major)
  10 
  Social Limitation:  Criminal Record (Occa-
  sionally, Major)
  3 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  223
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  USAS-12 
  +0 
  +0 
  2½d6 
  1d6 
  28 
  13 
  AF5
  Spectre M4 
  +1 
  +1 
  1d6+1 
  1d6-1 
  50 
  13 
  AF5, 4 clips
  Desert Eagle 
  +1 
  +0 
  2d6+1 
  1d6 
  9 
  13 
  4 clips
  Combat Knife +0 
  +0 
  1d6 
  1d6-1 
  — 
  8 
  Can Be Thrown
  Armor
  Level II-A body armor (DEF 6, Activation Roll 14-)
  Armored Duster (DEF 2, Activation Roll 11-)
  Sunglasses (Sight Group Flash Defense [5 points])
  Gear:  Radio headset (Radio Listen and Transmit), motorcycle
  Clothing:  See Appearance.
  
  232 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  Background/History:  Think of every bad kid you’ve 
  ever known and roll them all into one, and you’d 
  have Frank Scarpetta. From the time he was old 
  enough to know what “crime” was, Frank was 
  involved in it. He started out bullying other kids 
  and taking money from them, then began shoplift-
  ing, and graduated to auto theft as soon as his legs 
  were long enough to reach the pedals. He spent far 
  more time with his street gang than he ever did 
  with his family, and before too long he just stopped 
  going home altogether.
  By the time most kids his age were gradu-
  ating from high school, Frank was a hardened 
  criminal who’d killed more than once. His affin-
  ity for his work did not escape the attention of 
  the local Mafia caporegima, who approached 
  Frank with an offer to bring him into his group 
  of “soldiers.” This was the sort of break Frank 
  had been waiting for, so he jumped at the chance. 
  Despite his undisciplined youth, he fit in well 
  and became a valuable part of the crew... and, 
  eventually, his boss’s right-hand man.
  This was the best job that Frank had ever 
  had, and he loved every minute of it. It was a per-
  fect combination of luxurious surroundings and 
  the opportunity to exercise his violent tenden-
  cies. However, his opinion of his boss and his job 
  changed when he ﬁnally met the boss’s daughter, 
  Angela, a woman with a sad, pale sort of beauty. A 
  childhood illness had left her crippled, conﬁned to 
  a wheelchair for life. Unlike the boss and his com-
  patriots, who treated Frank as a sort of hired hand 
  or attack dog, Angela actually seemed to see some 
  good in him and treated him with a kindness that 
  was completely foreign to him.
  Soon Frank was seeking excuses to be near 
  her, because she was the only person in the world 
  he really liked. He even listened to her when she, 
  a devout Catholic, tried to bring religion into his 
  life. It sounded like nonsense to him at ﬁrst, but 
  the more time he spent with her and the more 
  he listened, the more he came to believe. Soon he 
  was accompanying her to church on the pretext of 
  “guarding” her, and before too long he’d converted 
  to Catholicism and even been baptized.
  As Frank’s piety increased, his desire to do his 
  job decreased. After his baptism he decided he’d 
  had enough of the violence and bloodshed. He 
  asked Angela to marry him, and after she said yes 
  the two of them went to her father to tell him that 
  Frank was calling it quits and they were leaving. 
  But the boss had other ideas. He told Frank that no 
  daughter of his, crippled or otherwise, was marry-
  ing a thug like him, and that the only way he was 
  going to leave “the family” was in a pine box. 
  That was when the shooting started, as Frank’s 
  former comrades in arms tried to gun him down 
  and he tried to shoot a way to safety for himself 
  and Angela. Three dead bodyguards and a lot of 
  bullets later they’d almost made it out of the house 
  when Angela saw that another one of her father’s 
  guards was about to shoot Frank in the back with a 
  shotgun. Screaming for him to run, she threw her-
  self in the way of the blast.
  Something in Frank snapped. The only person 
  he’d ever cared about was dead, killed by murder-
  ous criminal scum like he’d once been. He looked 
  up from her body at the boss and his men with a 
  murderous glint in his eyes even more savage than 
  the one that had been there so many times before. 
  When Frank walked out of the house the boss and 
  every single one of his men were dead, each shot 
  cleanly through the head.
  Frank realized God had sent him a mes-
  sage. He wasn’t destined to fall in love and be 
  happy in the way normal men are — he was to 
  be an instrument of righteous vengeance, remov-
  ing evil men from this life to face judgment in 
  the next. After equipping himself to fight this 
  “holy war” and christening himself “Renegade,” 
  he began patrolling the streets of the city, doing 
  “God’s work” with a fury that most people would 
  never associate with the divine.
  Personality/Motivation:  Renegade is an unusual 
  mix of piety and violence. Ever since he was a child 
  he’s been a ruthless and brutal person, and even 
  his religious conversion hasn’t purged him of these 
  tendencies. However, his new-found faith has inﬂu-
  enced who he uses force on. Where once he’d ﬁght 
  or kill anyone he was ordered to, he now reserves 
  
  233 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  his violent tendencies solely for criminals, “the 
  greatest sinners of all.” In a sense, he sees himself as 
  “God’s weapon on Earth,” though he’d never express 
  that sentiment out loud.
  Deep in his heart, Renegade knows the path 
  of violence isn’t a truly Christian way to live — but 
  violence has been a part of his life for so long he 
  ﬁnds it impossible to become a truly peaceful 
  person without Angela by his side to help him. 
  Subconsciously he feels a great deal of guilt because 
  of both his past and present life. When he has no 
  immediate goal to focus on, the guilt begins to 
  haunt him, making him worry that someone like 
  him could never be admitted to the kingdom of 
  Heaven. So, fatalistically, he goes right on with his 
  vigilante crusade, willingly sacriﬁcing his own sal-
  vation to bring some safety and comfort to a few 
  people on Earth. And when the guilt just gets to be 
  too much to bear, he drinks it away.
  Anytime Renegade takes money from drug 
  dealers and other criminals, he anonymously 
  donates everything but what he needs for basic 
  upkeep and survival to the Church or various 
  Church-aﬃliated charities.
  Quote:  “A little time in Purgatory is just what  
  you need.”
  Powers/Tactics:  Renegade is an experienced street-
  ﬁghter, crimeﬁghter, and gunman, but his sense 
  of tactics isn’t all that well developed. It consists 
  mainly of an “I’m making this up as I go along” 
  approach that involves a lot of violence, smashing 
  things, and car crashes. For example, his version 
  of lockpicking is kicking or blasting the door in. 
  Although he can be stealthy when he wants to, 
  subtlety is not his strong suit, and the sort of dis-
  guise-based inﬁltration mission favored by the Har-
  binger of Justice is the farthest thing from his mind. 
  Usually he locates an appropriate target, gathers as 
  much information about it as he can through direct 
  observation and asking questions on the street, 
  and then attacks, counting on his extremely vio-
  lent methods and powerful weapons to shock the 
  enemy into confusion and defeat.
  Campaign Use:  Renegade makes an excellent 
  ally for the PCs. He’s a little more experienced 
  than a starting PC, but his bull-in-a-china-shop 
  approach and personal demons should keep him 
  from making the PCs look weak or incompetent. 
  In truth, he needs their help as much as they 
  probably need his.
  To make Renegade tougher, round out his 
  Skills and decrease the strength of his Psychological 
  Limitations, making him a more experienced, well-
  rounded, well-adjusted person. To weaken him, 
  remove his Overall and All Combat Levels and/or 
  reduce his SPD to 3.
  As a Hunter, Renegade isn’t subtle — he locates 
  the target and goes charging in. If that doesn’t work, 
  he’ll retreat, spend more time in observation, and 
  then charge right back in when he feels he’s got a 
  better grip on the situation.
  Renegade is wanted by the Hudson City 
  Police for twenty conﬁrmed murders and several 
  dozen acts of assault. He’s a suspect in many more 
  murders. The police are especially eager to catch 
  him because one of his victims was Oﬃcer George 
  Hurley, a cop accused of using excessive force 
  against black suspects.
  Appearance:  Renegade is a white male. He doesn’t 
  wear a costume per se, just jeans, a t-shirt of some 
  sort, combat boots, body armor, and a dark brown 
  duster with armored panels sewn into it. He stands 
  about 6’2” tall, weighs about 225, and has a solid, 
  muscular build. He ties his shoulder-length brown 
  hair back in a ponytail, and hides his eyes behind 
  a pair of sunglasses. Tattoos cover his arms and 
  chest, though the tats can’t be seen when he’s wear-
  ing long sleeves. He usually carries his Desert Eagle 
  handgun and Spectre SMG in shoulder holsters 
  underneath his jacket and his USAS-12 combat 
  shotgun on his back.
  RENEGADE  
  PLOT SEEDS
  Renegade contacts the 
  PCs for some help. He’s 
  stumbled onto what 
  he thinks is a major 
  criminal conspiracy 
  involving smuggling, 
  but he doesn’t have the 
  skills to uncover the 
  full extent of the thing. 
  Want to team up and 
  kick some ass?
  Renegade disappears 
  — no one’s seen him on 
  the street in weeks. Then 
  the PCs catch some 
  gang punks using what 
  appears to be his USAS-
  12. What’s going on?
  Renegade gathers some 
  information on the 
  street that suggests one 
  of the PCs is actually 
  working for the Maﬁa, 
  not against it. Can the 
  PCs ﬁnd out what’s 
  going on and stop Ren-
  egade before he kills 
  their friend?
  
  234 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  SCARECROW
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   13 STR 
  3 
  12- 
  Lift 150 kg; 2½d6 [3]
   15 DEX 
  15 
  12- 
  OCV:  5/DCV:  5
   15 CON 
  10 
  12-
   10 BODY 0 
  11-
   13 INT 
  3 
  12- 
  PER Roll 12-
   10 EGO 
  0 
  11- 
  ECV:  3
   20 PRE 
  10 
  13- 
  PRE Attack:  4d6
   8 COM 
  -1 
  11-
   6 PD 
  3 
   
  Total:  6 PD (0 rPD)
   3 ED 
  0 
   
  Total:  3 ED (0 rED)
   3 SPD 
  5 
   
  Phases:  4, 8, 12
   6 REC 
  0
   30 END 
  0
   25 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  48
  Movement: 
  Running:  6”/12”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  13 
  Brawler:  HA +4d6; Hand-To-Hand  
  Attack (-½) 
  0
  2 
  Observant:  +1 PER with Sight Group
   
  Perks
  1 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  License To Practice Law
  3 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Membership (in the County 
  Prosecutor’s oﬃce)
  1 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Weapon Permit
  4 
  Reputation:  psychotic vigilante (throughout 
  Hudson City) 14-, +2/+2d6
   
  Skills
  8 
  +1 with All Combat
  3 
  +1 with Favored Weapons (see Suggested 
  Equipment Table)
  1 
  Combat Driving 8-
  1 
  Computer Programming 8-
  3 
  Criminology 12-
  3 
  Deduction 12-
  3 
  Interrogation 13-
  5 
  CK: Hudson City 14-
  3 
  KS: The Hudson City Underworld 12-
  2 
  KS: Law 11-
  2 
  KS: The Law Enforcement World 11-
  1 
  Lockpicking 8-
  1 
  Mechanics 8-
  2 
  PS: Assistant County Prosecutor 11-
  2 
  PS: Police Oﬃcer 11-
  3 
  Shadowing 12-
  3 
  Stealth 12-
  3 
  Streetwise 13-
  2 
  WF: Small Arms
   
  Resource Points
  12 
  Equipment Points:  120
  5 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  20
  10 
  Follower/Contact Points:  25
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  102
  Total Cost:  150
  75+ Disadvantages
  20 
  Hunted:  HCPD 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Capture)
  20 
  Psychological Limitation:  Vigilante Mental-
  ity (Very Common, Strong)
  10 
  Psychological Limitation:  Addicted To 
  Spending Time In Alternate Identity 
  (Common, Moderate)
  10 
  Reputation:  Murderous vigilante, 8- 
  (Extreme)
  15 
  Social Limitation:  Secret Identity  
  (Jack Clauson) (Frequently, Major)
  Total Disadvantage Points:  150
  Background/History:  Jack Clauson was born and 
  raised in Elmview and Red Hill, with drugs and 
  crime all around him. But his family was loving 
  and devoted, and he and his brothers and sisters 
  usually avoided the perils of inner-city life. Jack’s 
  father was a security guard, and this inspired 
  Jack to become a policeman.
  Jack worked on the force for many years. 
  During that time, he was shot, stabbed, assaulted, 
  spit upon, harassed, and saw too many of the scum 
  he arrested released too soon by courts and prison 
  oﬃcials who didn’t seem to understand the crime 
  situation on the streets. Finally, this disgusted him 
  so much that he decided to do something about 
  it:  he went to law school, became an attorney, and 
  went to work in the county prosecutor’s oﬃce. He 
  hoped he could make a diﬀerence, but his hopes 
  were soon dashed. He found he was now part of a 
  monolithic bureaucracy that was more interested 
  in processing criminals and getting them out of the 
  system than in making sure they got the punish-
  ment they deserved.
  The last straw was the day he was viciously 
  assaulted and almost killed by a burglar/rapist he 
  had convicted only three months before who was 
  already out on parole. As he recovered in the hos-
  pital, Jack decided the time had come to abandon 
  “the system,” which wasn’t working, and try an 
  unorthodox approach to cleaning up the streets. He 
  began to train himself, augmenting his policeman’s 
  training with criminology skills, burgling skills, 
  and the like. After designing himself a suit of armor 
  and picking out the right weapons for the job, Jack 
  began to spend his nights stalking the streets as 
  “the Scarecrow,” a name he was given because of 
  the tattered overcoat he wore. During the day, he 
  works as an assistant county prosecutor; at night, 
  his brutal, vicious style of crimeﬁghting evokes fear 
  and hatred in the underworld.
  Personality/Motivation:  The Scarecrow is extremely 
  devoted to his war on crime, but sees himself 
  almost as two diﬀerent men:  Clauson, who works 
  within the system; and the Scarecrow, who deals 
  with criminals in the “proper” way. As time has 
  passed, this attitude has become so pronounced 
  that Jack is nearly a split personality. He refers to 
  his two identities as separate persons, and has in 
  eﬀect become addicted to spending time as Scare-
  crow. The longer he has to remain in his “civilian” 
  identity, the more bizarre his behavior becomes 
  until he loses hold on Clauson’s polished exterior. 
  SCARECROW  
  PLOT SEEDS
  It looks like the Scare-
  crow’s ﬁnally gone over 
  the edge — he starts 
  shooting jaywalkers and 
  brutally torturing even 
  the pettiest of criminals 
  for no particular reason. 
  The PCs need to ﬁnd 
  him and bring him in... 
  but when they catch up 
  to him, they discover 
  he’s been drugged or 
  brainwashed. Who did it 
  to him, and why?
  The Scarecrow comes 
  to the PCs and asks 
  them to help him. He 
  thinks he’s uncovered a 
  conspiracy of corrup-
  tion within the County 
  Prosecutor’s oﬃce, and 
  needs their help to take 
  it down. At the same 
  time, he has to be care-
  ful not to expose his 
  Clauson identity....
  One of the PCs wakes 
  up one morning to ﬁnd 
  himself wearing the 
  Scarecrow’s armor and 
  uniform. Is it possible 
  he’s the Scarecrow, and 
  that he’s suﬀering from 
  multiple personality 
  disorder or something? 
  What’s going on?
  
  235 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  At some point in the future, he will completely snap 
  and spend all of his time as Scarecrow... but right 
  now, he’s far from reaching this point.
  The Scarecrow side of his personality is much 
  more extreme than the Clauson side. Clauson is 
  certainly hard on crime, and punishes criminals to 
  the full extent of the law, but the Scarecrow goes far 
  beyond this. Scarecrow’s approach to crimeﬁghting 
  involves torture, mutilation, and murder. He has no 
  compunctions about treating criminals this way, for 
  he considers them to be subhuman, bestial things. 
  The Scarecrow’s very name is enough to make 
  hardened criminals speak in hushed whispers, for 
  they know that any criminal who attracts his atten-
  tion is bound to regret it.
  Quote:  “You still have one knee left. I still have a 
  sledgehammer. Where can I ﬁnd Roberto Jimenez?”
  Powers/Tactics:  Scarecrow’s approach to ﬁghting 
  crime depends mainly on his elaborate information 
  network, which not only includes his contacts in 
  the HCPD and the criminal justice system, but his 
  skill at ﬁnding information on the street. He often 
  supplements this by torturing information out of 
  captured criminals; he has a keen eye for knowing 
  who he can shoot right away and who he needs to 
  take prisoner. He knows he can’t tackle large num-
  bers of opponents and win, so he uses his reputa-
  tion and dirty tricks to make up the diﬀerence. He 
  hates to be drawn into open combat, preferring 
  instead to attack his enemies from ambush. 
  Scarecrow’s armor is a combination of 
  leather, chain mail, and Kevlar; it offers protec-
  tion from both bullets and knives. The armor 
  is studded with sharp, tiny spikes in strategic 
  locations. His helmet not only offers him head 
  protection, but is built to keep him from being 
  injured in the face and neck (which would be 
  difficult to explain to his co-workers).
  Campaign Use:  The Scarecrow represents someone 
  who’s a little lower-powered than most PCs — he’s 
  only built as a Standard Heroic character — and 
  also a good bit closer to going “over the edge.” His 
  methods should make the PCs blanch, then wonder 
  what they can do to turn him into a more level-
  headed crimeﬁghter.
  To make the Scarecrow tougher, upgrade him 
  to full Powerful Heroic status and spend the extra 
  50 points to boost his Characteristics and add a few 
  Skills. To weaken him, get rid of his Brawler ability 
  and/or decrease his Characteristics a bit.
  The Scarecrow doesn’t usually Hunt anyone 
  for a long period; he doesn’t have the time, since 
  he can only afford to spend so many hours per 
  night on the street. He focuses primarily on the 
  current target of his investigation until he gets 
  the guy, then moves on to the next guy. When 
  pursuing someone, he watches them carefully, 
  waiting for an opportunity when his target is 
  unprotected enough for him to handle the situa-
  tion. Then he moves in, fast and brutal.
  The HCPD wants the Scarecrow for question-
  ing regarding numerous acts of torture, aggravated 
  assault, and murder.
  Appearance:  Scarecrow is a white male 5’10” tall, 
  190 pounds, with an athletic (but not overly mus-
  cular) build. He covers his dark brown leather-
  and-chain armor with an old tan overcoat; the 
  spikes on the armor have made the overcoat 
  tattered and ragged. Scarecrow’s 
  weapons (a couple of .45 
  pistols, a couple of combat 
  knives, a touch taser, a set of 
  brass knuckles, and a tear gas 
  grenade or two) are attached 
  to holsters and sheaths on 
  the armor, and are posi-
  tioned so he can reach 
  them quickly and easily. 
  His dull gray helmet is 
  adapted from a football 
  helmet; he wears a ban-
  danna mask and set of sports 
  glasses underneath 
  to conceal his 
  identity 
  and pro-
  tect his 
  eyes.
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  Colt M1911A 
  +1 
  +0 
  2d6-1 
  1d6 
  7 
  9 
  Carries two, and 6 clips
  Combat Knife +0 
  — 
  1d6 
  1d6-1 
  — 
  8 
  Can Be Thrown, carries 2
  Brass Knuckles  +0 
  — 
  2d6 N 
  — 
  — 
  5
  Touch Taser 
  +0 
  — 
  8d6 NND 
  — 
  8 
  —
  Smoke Grenade +0 
  +0 
  CE 
  — 
  2 
  RBS 
  -3 Sight PER in 4” radius, lasts 3 Turns
  Armor
  Spiked leather-and-chain armor (DEF 4; spikes are an HKA ½d6 Damage Shield, Activation Roll 12-)
  Sports Glasses (Sight Group Flash Defense [3 points])
  Gear:  Whatever he happens to ﬁnd useful that he acquires during his adventures
  Clothing:  See Appearance.
  
  236 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  Membership:  Card Shark, Blackjack, Deadman’s 
  Hand, Jack o’ Diamonds, One-Eyed Jack, Pokerface, 
  and various agents
  Background/History:  Emil Lagerfeld’s father was a 
  gambler, a hustler, and a second-rate second-story 
  man... and Emil adored him. By age six, he was 
  helping his father burgle businesses — a little boy 
  could easily ﬁt through windows and ventilation 
  ducts too small for a grown man. By eight, he could 
  count cards ﬂawlessly. By ten, he could shuﬄe like 
  a pro; by twelve, he could deal oﬀ the bottom of the 
  deck smoothly enough to fool most seasoned gam-
  blers; by fourteen, he’d mastered the much more 
  diﬃcult center-deck deal and was pretty much sup-
  porting himself and his family playing cards.
  By the time he was eighteen, Emil had real-
  ized what a loser his father really was. He wasn’t the 
  slick criminal his young son had envisioned him 
  as being, just a jerk who’d never really amounted to 
  anything in life. Emil decided he wasn’t going to fall 
  into that trap — he would make a name for himself, 
  and a pile of money in the process. But ﬁrst, he 
  wanted to see the world, so he joined the Navy.
  And hated every minute of it. Sure, he made 
  pretty good money playing cards, developed some 
  contacts that would help him later on, set up some 
  proﬁtable black market schemes, and did, in fact, 
  see the world — but he had to do it on someone 
  else’s schedule. He found out he couldn’t stand 
  taking orders, and hated those who bossed him 
  around. Twice during his tour of duty oﬃcers he 
  particularly loathed went “missing” in mid-sea and 
  were never found again... but no one ever suspected 
  Emil had anything to do with it.
  When his hitch was up, he got the hell out 
  and returned home to Hudson City. He ﬁgured it 
  was time to go back to his roots and start his climb 
  to the top of the underworld — but how? The big 
  powers in Hudson City were organized crime:  the 
  Maﬁa, the yaks, you name it. The best he could 
  hope for with those groups was to be a hanger-on; 
  he didn’t have the right blood to become a full 
  member. And that was no good; he intended to be 
  in charge, not a ﬂunkie for the rest of his life.
  He ﬁnally realized he needed to start his own 
  gang. He had the smarts and the ambition, so it was 
  only sensible to try to make a go of it on his own, 
  instead of as part of someone else’s stable. But he 
  needed a gimmick, something to attract attention 
  and give him a proﬁle in an underworld crowded 
  with nobodies. The “weird” and costumed criminal 
  phenomenon gave him the key he needed — with 
  a costume and a ﬂashy motif, he’d make a name for 
  himself a lot faster than as Emil Lagerfeld. Drawing 
  on his love of gambling, his skill with his hands, 
  and the criminal talents he’d mastered as a child, he 
  created the identity of Card Shark.
  Card Shark debuted in 1982 and quickly 
  gained a reputation as a top-notch burglar and 
  assassin. Slowly but surely, he attracted other crimi-
  nals, forming the nucleus of what would one day 
  be his large, powerful organization. As the Eighties 
  progressed, Card Shark became a major force in the 
  Hudson City underworld... and a very wealthy man.
  The one stumbling block in Card Shark’s 
  path to glory was vigilantes. Time and again, these 
  “crimeﬁghters” thwarted his eﬀorts and exposed his 
  schemes, costing him uncounted millions. He killed 
  two of them — a caped, acrobatic buﬀoon known 
  as Nighthaunt, and a gun-toting muscle-brain who 
  called himself Captain X — but that was a cold 
  satisfaction compared to the humiliation and losses 
  they and their ilk inﬂicted on him.
  The worst of the breed was a homicidal maniac 
  with the arrogance to title himself “the Harbinger 
  of Justice.” From the Harbinger’s ﬁrst appearance 
  in 1986, he and Card Shark became each other’s 
  arch-nemeses. Time and again they clashed, each 
  narrowly avoiding death at the other’s hands sev-
  eral times... but with the Harbinger inﬂicting such 
  damage on the organization every time that he 
  became intolerable. Finally, in 1992, in a desperate 
  attempt to swat this gadﬂy, Card Shark stuck his 
  neck out a little too far — and got it broken.
  Lagerfeld’s death tumbled the organization 
  into disarray. The Harbinger took advantage of 
  the chaos to destroy a lot of its resources and 
  kill a lot of Card Shark’s people, but the core 
  of the organization — Card Shark’s lieutenants 
  — survived, retreated, and regrouped. For several 
  years the organization stumbled along, not much 
  better than a street gang, reaping what profits it 
  could and trying to rebuild. But it wasn’t work-
  ing; what the group needed was another leader 
  — another Card Shark.
  Enter Ryan DeLaney. He’d served as the ﬁrst 
  Card Shark’s second Jack o’ Diamonds, replacing a 
  man killed by the Harbinger. Sensing an opportu-
  nity to take the helm of the organization, he spent 
  years training himself to develop the criminal skills 
  he didn’t already have, and when the time was right 
  presented himself to the others as the new Card 
  Shark. Not all of them approved — some had ambi-
  tions of their own, after all — but no one could 
  deny that the group needed a leader, and DeLaney 
  had the right skills and attitude for the job. In 1998, 
  they agreed to follow his lead.
  In the years since then, the new Card Shark 
  has rebuilt the organization to the position of 
  prominence, power, and proﬁtability it enjoyed in 
  CARD SHARK
  ANNA-MARIE 
  DREWRY
   13 STR 
  14 DEX
   13 CON 11 BODY
   13 INT 
  10 EGO
   15 PRE 
  15 COM
   4 PD 
  4 ED
   3 SPD 
  6 REC
   26 END 25 STUN
  Abilities:  Martial Arts 
  (Commando Training; 
  Aikido Throw, Boxing 
  Cross, Choke, Kung Fu 
  Block), Concealment 
  12-, Conversation 12-, 
  Gambling (Card Games) 
  13-, KS: The Hudson City 
  Underworld 8-, Persua-
  sion 12-, PS: Card Shark 
  Agent 12-, Seduction 12-, 
  Shadowing 12-, Sleight 
  Of Hand 12-, Stealth 12-, 
  Streetwise 12-, WF: Small 
  Arms, Knives, Fringe Ben-
  eﬁt:  Membership (Deck 
  agent in Card Shark orga-
  nization)
  Disadvantages:  Distinc-
  tive Features (Card 
  Shark uniform); Hunted 
  (Watched by Card Shark); 
  Psychological Limitation:  
  Amoral And Greedy; 
  Social Limitation:  Subject 
  To Orders
  Notes:  Anna-Marie 
  Drewry is one of Card 
  Shark’s Deck agents. She’s 
  in charge of one of his 
  illegal casinos in Crown 
  Point, though at ﬁrst glance 
  you’d have a hard time 
  telling it. She spends most 
  of her time there as a poker 
  dealer and makes one of 
  her underlings pretend to 
  be her. When necessary, 
  she gives orders to her 
  doppelganger with various 
  covert, subtle hand and 
  body signals. Card Shark’s 
  aware of how well she’s 
  running things, and has his 
  eye on her for promotion 
  when the time is right.
  
  237 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  1992. He strikes where he will throughout the city, 
  ignoring claims of turf or authority and answer-
  ing to no one but himself. Vigilantes, including the 
  Harbinger, remain a major problem, but the organi-
  zation has learned from its mistakes and plans to be 
  around and in business long after all those idiotic 
  do-gooders are dead and buried.
  Organization And Structure:  The Card Shark 
  organization has a simple hierarchical structure, 
  described on page 175. As noted there, Card 
  Shark’s agents are grouped into “suits” based on 
  function, but for the most part only a few receive 
  a permanent assignment to a suit — Card Shark 
  allocates agents to specific jobs and duties based 
  on their particular talents, not some predeter-
  mined table of organization.
  At any given time, Card Shark’s organization 
  has about 400-500 agents, and in some cases a 
  given agent might have a small group of associates 
  or hangers-on who do his bidding but don’t actu-
  ally belong to the organization or wear the uniform. 
  Card Shark’s proﬁle in the underworld is such that 
  he rarely has diﬃculty recruiting new agents when 
  he needs them.
  Group Relations:  Card Shark is no fool — he knows 
  a large organization needs discipline and eﬃciency 
  to function eﬀectively. He expects three things of 
  his men, from his lieutenants down to the lowliest 
  Deck agent:  obey his orders without question; obey 
  the orders of your superiors in the organization; 
  and don’t quarrel or ﬁght with other members. If 
  he ﬁnds that an agent has attacked, stolen from, 
  or otherwise caused problems for another agent, 
  or has caused other problems he feels are harmful 
  to the organization as a whole, he simply kills the 
  oﬀending agent out of hand.
  Card Shark’s lieutenants are an exception to 
  this rule; they’re too important and powerful for 
  him to dispose of casually. He tolerates some fric-
  tion between them as long as it doesn’t interfere 
  with their work. For example, Blackjack doesn’t 
  much care for Jack o’ Diamonds or One-Eyed Jack 
  (both are too “slick” and “uppity” for his tastes), 
  nor for Pokerface (who’s beaten him into line a 
  time or three). One-Eyed Jack ﬁnds all the others 
  but Jack o’ Diamonds a little too crude and thug-
  gish for his tastes, and Jack o’ Diamonds seems to 
  agree. Pokerface never expresses an opinion about 
  anyone; Deadman’s Hand seems to get along well 
  with everyone.
  Tactics:  Card Shark doesn’t regard his agents as 
  combat troops — he has a gang, not a private army. 
  Whenever possible, he prefers for his men to avoid 
  armed conﬂict, relying instead on ambush, black-
  mail, and assassination to get things done. But in 
  a world where crimeﬁghters and rival gangs are a 
  constant threat, he and his men have to be ready 
  to ﬁght at all times. He has Pokerface and other 
  personnel train all of his agents in basic tactics and 
  combat procedures.
  Card Shark’s combat strategy usually depends 
  on how much he knows about his enemy and how 
  much time he has to plan. If possible, he and his 
  men come equipped with weapons and gear specif-
  ically designed for use against their enemy. Lacking 
  any more speciﬁc plan, the usual procedure is “hit 
  hard, and keep hitting until we win or the battle 
  turns against us; in the latter case, everyone do his 
  best to escape.” Card Shark’s men use lethal force in 
  most situations, although Card Shark is not averse 
  to taking heroes prisoner if he can. In battle, Poker-
  face has overall tactical command of the entire 
  CARD SHARK CODES
  Card Shark transmits messages and orders to his men 
  by means of a “playing cards code,” detailed below. The 
  codes may change a little from time to time, but for the 
  most part they stay the same. In most cases, a note or 
  encrypted CD accompanies the note to explain the spe-
  ciﬁcs of the job. Cards not listed usually refer to speciﬁc 
  Card Shark facilities or operations; these change much 
  more frequently.
  Spades 
  Ace:  Kill X 
  King:  Destroy a particular object, building, or the like
  Queen:  Collect a debt from X and leave a “warning”
  Jack:  Assault X; provide X a “warning”
  Diamonds 
  Ace:  Kidnap X
  King:  Steal X object; smuggle X object from point A to 
  point B
  Queen:  Blackmail X
  Jack:  The organization will provide special help (such 
  as high-tech equipment) for this mission
  Clubs 
  Ace:  Harass X or X group
  King:  Watch (and/or follow) X (or X location)
  Queen:  Have X or X group seduced, subverted, inﬁl-
  trated, or corrupted; obtain potential blackmail infor-
  mation on X
  Jack:  Guard X or X location
  Hearts 
  Ace:  Attend a meeting at X location with Y person(s).
  King:  X is wanted, a reward of $X is oﬀered for him.
  Queen:  Report to X location to take part in a mission.
  Jack:  Obtain this information
  Other Cards
  Card Shark:  an Ace of Spades with all four corners 
  folded
  Blackjack:  any two cards totaling 21 in blackjack bent 
  in half together 
  Deadman’s Hand:  an Ace and an Eight bent in half 
  together
  Jack o’ Diamonds:  the Jack of Diamonds with one 
  corner bent
  One-Eyed Jack:  a one-eyed jack with one corner bent
  Pokerface:  a blank card
  Face Card agent:  that particular face card with two 
  corners bent
   CARD SHARK  
  PLOT SEEDS
  Card Shark decides 
  to commit a series of 
  crimes based on the 
  ascending hands in 
  poker (two of a kind, 
  jacks, two pair, three of a 
  kind...). The PCs have to 
  ﬁgure out what’s going 
  on, anticipate what the 
  next crime will be, and 
  put a stop to this odd 
  crimewave.
  Card Shark contracts 
  with a dangerous Third 
  World nation to provide 
  it with certain weapons 
  and other types of mili-
  tary technology. Getting 
  what he needs involves 
  various crimes — thefts, 
  kidnappings of eminent 
  scientists, blackmail, 
  smuggling — and if 
  the PCs don’t discover 
  what’s going on in time, 
  one of America’s most 
  fanatic enemies will 
  suddenly be much more 
  powerful.
  A veritable horde of 
  hired assassins, killers, 
  mercs, and thugs begin 
  gunning for the PCs 
  for no apparent reason. 
  Unbeknownst to them, 
  Card Shark is staging 
  a “criminal scavenger 
  hunt” in which anyone 
  who kills a hero gets a 
  big reward... and Card 
  Shark’s “customers” bet 
  extravagantly on who’ll 
  get killed ﬁrst.
  
  238 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  organization, except for Card Shark himself.
  If one of Card Shark’s men is captured, 
  he knows to keep his mouth shut. Every agent 
  learns early on that loyalty to Card Shark is richly 
  rewarded — if Card Shark can recover the agent, 
  or otherwise help him, he’ll do so; if not, he makes 
  sure the agent’s family (if any) is well looked after 
  during his incarceration, and sets the agent up with 
  a generous bonus upon his release. On the other 
  hand, anyone who squeals — even a little — has 
  just bought himself a ticket to the morgue. As a 
  result, getting any information out of Card Shark’s 
  people is like pulling teeth.
  Campaign Use:  The Card Shark organization repre-
  sents an alternative to traditional organized crime 
  groups — one that draws its inﬂuence as much 
  from comic books as crime literature. The costumes 
  and gimmicky weapons set it apart, “brand” it in 
  ways that make it distinctive and attention-grab-
  bing. They also make it easy to adapt the group to 
  Dark Champions:  The Animated  Series games, 
  Champions games, and the like — just tone down 
  the group’s lethality a bit.
  When you use the Card Shark organization, 
  portray it as smart, clever, and ruthless. Card Shark 
  and his men didn’t struggle their way up from the 
  bottom of the underworld — twice — by making 
  stupid mistakes or taking unnecessary risks. Just 
  because they look “comic book” doesn’t mean they 
  act like it. For example, if Card Shark has an enemy 
  on the ropes, he usually polishes him oﬀ — he 
  doesn’t capture him, put him in a deathtrap, then 
  walk away.
  To make the Card Shark organization tougher, 
  give it more lieutenant-level members with code-
  names and unique abilities. Sticking with the 
  “card” theme, you might create new lieutenants 
  with names like Wildcard, Deuce, Ladybird, Soli-
  taire, Gambit, or Ace. If you want to expand it to 
  cover gambling in general, you could also consider 
  Snake-Eyes, Jackpot, Roulette, and so forth. Natu-
  rally, the character’s abilities and temperament 
  probably ﬁt his name; for example, Deuce might be 
  a two-gun ﬁghter.
  The best way to make the Card Shark orga-
  nization weaker is to decrease the general compe-
  tence and abilities of its members. If you need a 
  quicker solution, remove some of the lieutenants 
  and decrease the size of the organization to no 
  more than about 100 agents.
  The Card Shark organization doesn’t usu-
  ally Hunt characters — vendettas involve too little 
  proﬁt, too much risk — but will go after people 
  that cause it enough problems. It Hunts cautiously 
  and cleverly, using its resources to gather as much 
  information as it can about the target before lower-
  ing the boom. If he thinks he’s in the catbird’s seat, 
  Card Shark’s not above toying with an enemy (for 
  example, by threatening or killing his loved ones 
  ﬁrst), but he usually goes straight for the kill.
  CARD SHARK
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   15 STR 
  5 
  12- 
  Lift 200 kg; 3d6 [3]
   23 DEX 
  48 
  14- 
  OCV:  8/DCV:  8
   20 CON 
  20 
  13-
   12 BODY 4 
  11-
   20 INT 
  10 
  13- 
  PER Roll 13-
   12 EGO 
  4 
  11- 
  ECV:  4
   25 PRE 
  20 
  14- 
  PRE Attack:  5d6
   16 COM 
  3 
  12-
   8 PD 
  5 
   
  Total:  14 PD (6 rPD)
   8 ED 
  4 
   
  Total:  14 ED (6 rED)
   4 SPD 
  7 
   
  Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
   8 REC 
  2
   40 END 
  0
   40 STUN 10 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  142
  Movement: 
  Running:  9”/18”
   
  Leaping:  6”/12”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  40 
  Deadly Cards:  Multipower, 60-point  
  reserve; all OIF (multiple OIFs stored  
  in sash; -½)
  1u 
  1)  Razor Card:  RKA 1d6, Armor  
  Piercing (+½), 12 Recoverable  
  Charges (+¼); OIF (-½), Range Based  
  On STR (-¼) 
  [12rc]
  3u 
  2)  Flare Card:  Sight Group Flash 8d6,  
  Explosion (+½); OIF (-½), 8 Charges (-½) [8]
  3u 
  3)  Blast Card:  RKA 2½d6, Explosion  
  (+½); OIF (-½), 6 Charges (-¾) 
  [6]
   
  Martial Arts: Kung Fu
   
  Maneuver 
  OCV DCV 
  Notes
  4 
  Block 
  +2 
  +2 
  Block, Abort
  4 
  Disarm 
  -1 
  +1 
  Disarm, 45 STR
  4 
  Dodge 
  +0 
  +5 
  Dodge all 
  attacks, Abort
  4 
  Escape 
  +0 
  +0 
  50 STR vs. 
  Grabs
  3 
  Joint Lock/Grab -1 
  -1 
  Grab, 45 STR
  5 
  Kick 
  -2 
  +1 
  11d6 Strike
  4 
  Knife Hand 
  -2 
  +0 
  HKA 1d6+1 
  (2d6+1 with 
  STR)
  3 
  Legsweep 
  +2 
  -1 
  8d6, Target Falls
  4 
  Punch 
  +0 
  +2 
  9d6 Strike
  3 
  Throw 
  +0 
  +1 
  7d6 +v/5, Target 
  Falls
  4 
  Tien-hsueh Strike -1 
  +1 
  4d6 NND (1)
  20 
  +4 Damage Classes (already added in)
  6 
  Fast:  Running +3” (9” total) 
  1
  3 
  Strong Leaper:  Leaping +3” (6” forward,  
  3” upward) 
  1
  20 
  Lucky Bastard:  Luck 4d6 
  0
   
  Perks
  5 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Membership (leader of  
  Card Shark organization)
  10 
  Improved Equipment Availability:  Advanced 
  Military Equipment
  15 
  Money:  Filthy Rich
   
  Talents
  12 
  Combat Luck (6 PD/6 ED)
  15 
  Combat Sense 13-
  
  239 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  8 
  Deadly Blow:  HKA +2d6 with Razor Card
  18 
  Evasive
  6 
  Lightning Reﬂexes:  +4 DEX to go ﬁrst with 
  All Attacks
   
  Skills
  16 
  +2 with All Combat
  12 
  +4 with Deadly Cards
  12 
  Targeting Skill Levels:  +4 versus Hit  
  Location modiﬁers with all attacks
  3 
  Acrobatics 14-
  3 
  Breakfall 14-
  3 
  Bribery 14-
  3 
  Bureaucratics 14-
  3 
  Climbing 14-
  3 
  Combat Driving 14-
  3 
  Concealment 13-
  3 
  Contortionist 14-
  3 
  Conversation 14-
  3 
  Computer Programming 13-
  3 
  Deduction 13-
  10 
  Defense Maneuver IV
  3 
  Electronics 13-
  3 
  Fast Draw (Deadly Cards) 14-
  16 
  Gambling (Board Games, Card Games, Dice 
  Games, Roulette, Sports Betting) 16-
  3 
  High Society 14-
  3 
  Interrogation 14-
  3 
  CK: Hudson City 13-
  5 
  KS: Gambling 15-
  5 
  KS: The Hudson City Underworld 15-
  3 
  KS: The Military/Mercenary/Terrorist World 13-
  3 
  KS: The Vice World 13-
  3 
  Lockpicking 14-
  3 
  Persuasion 14-
  3 
  PS: Gambler 13-
  3 
  Security Systems 13-
  3 
  Seduction 14-
  7 
  Sleight Of Hand 16-
  5   
  Stealth 15-
  5 
  Streetwise 15-
  3 
  Tactics 13-
  7 
  TF: Common Motorized Ground Vehicles, 
  Basic Parachuting, Helicopters, SCUBA, 
  Snow Skiing, Two-Wheeled Motorized 
  Ground Vehicles
  6 
  WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common 
  Missile Weapons, Small Arms
   
  Resource Points
  48 
  Equipment Points:  300
  45 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  100
  60 
  Follower/Contact Points:  125
  3 
  Miscellaneous Points:  3
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  561
  Total Cost:  703
  100+ Disadvantages
  10 
  Distinctive Features:  Style (Not Concealable; 
  Noticed And Recognizable by Large Group)
  20 
  Hunted:  HCPD 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Capture)
  10 
  Hunted:  Harbinger Of Justice 8- (As Pow, 
  Kill)
  20 
  Psychological Limitation:  Vain, Arrogant, 
  And Overconﬁdent (Very Common, Strong)
  10 
  Psychological Limitation:  Can’t Resist A 
  Wager Or Gambling Challenge (Common, 
  Moderate)
  20 
  Reputation:  Hudson City crimelord, 14- 
  (Extreme)
  15 
  Social Limitation:  Secret Identity (Ryan 
  DeLaney) (Frequently, Major)
  498 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  703
  Background/History:  Ryan DeLaney was a bad seed, 
  and everyone could tell almost from the moment 
  he was born. He picked on the other kids, stole 
  things, and caused trouble constantly. Although 
  tests showed him to be extremely intelligent, he got 
  rotten grades in school because he wouldn’t pay 
  attention and didn’t give a damn what his teachers 
  thought or did.
  As he got older, Ryan developed two hob-
  bies:  computer hacking and gambling. He was 
  never more than a second-tier hacker at best, but 
  he really excelled at gambling — he had good 
  hands, a good head for odds, and a natural lucky 
  streak. When he was old enough, he headed off 
  to Vegas to make his fortune.
  Things didn’t quite work out:  he ended up in 
  debt to the Maﬁa for tens of thousands of dollars. 
  Lacking any other way to pay them oﬀ, he did some 
  computer hacking jobs for them, succeeding so well 
  that he became a valued Maﬁa associate. He wasn’t 
  really happy with the situation — it seemed like a 
  dead end to him, no matter how much money he 
  was making — but he didn’t have any alternatives.
  Then Card Shark offered him one. He’d 
  learned of the young man through his under-
  world contacts, and he seemed like a perfect fit 
  for the Card Shark organization. “Work for me, 
  and you’ll be a full member of the team, able to 
  go as high as your talents will take you,” he said. 
  That was just what Ryan was looking for. He 
  jumped ship and never looked back.
  After a couple years as a Deck agent, Ryan 
  advanced up the ranks to Face Card, becoming the 
  Jack of Clubs. When the ﬁrst Jack o’ Diamonds was 
  killed, Card Shark tapped him to take the man’s 
  place... and when Card Shark was killed, Ryan saw 
  the opportunity he’d been waiting for. A few years 
  later, he’d maneuvered himself into the organiza-
  tion’s top position and become a major ﬁgure in the 
  Hudson City underworld. Now he looks around 
  him and sees an entire city for the taking... if he’s 
  strong and smart enough to take it.
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Armor
  Ballistic cloth costume (DEF 2, Activation Roll 15-)
  Gear:  Generally speaking, Card Shark can obtain any sort of gear he needs, given 
  reasonable notice; his organization not only maintains stockpiles of equipment, it has 
  extensive black market contacts
  Clothing:  See Appearance.
  CARD SHARK  
  PLOT SEEDS
  Card Shark needs to 
  get himself a stake to 
  enter a major under-
  world poker tourna-
  ment. As a point of 
  pride, he wants to 
  obtain the money him-
  self, not get it from one 
  of his bank accounts 
  or with the help of his 
  men. If the PCs can 
  figure out what he’s 
  doing and anticipate 
  his next theft, they’ll 
  have a chance to take 
  down one of the top 
  dogs of the underworld 
  in a team-on-one fight.
  The PCs get a message 
  from Card Shark chal-
  lenging them to a game 
  of Texas hold-’em. If 
  they win, he’ll give them 
  some very valuable 
  information about cur-
  rent underworld doings; 
  if he wins, they have to 
  leave him and his opera-
  tions alone for three full 
  months. Do they dare to 
  play cards against one 
  of the world’s greatest 
  gamblers?
  Card Shark gets some 
  information that sug-
  gest Emil Lagerfeld may 
  not really be dead — he 
  just faked his death to 
  hide from the Harbin-
  ger, and now runs the 
  Card Shark organization 
  from behind the scenes. 
  Naturally, as the current 
  leader of said organiza-
  tion, Card Shark doesn’t 
  like this possibility one 
  bit. He decides to tip oﬀ 
  the PCs to investigate 
  it... and, if it turns out to 
  be true, eliminate Lager-
  feld for him.
  
  240 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  Personality/Motivation:  Card Shark’s life has been 
  one success after another, culminating in his cur-
  rent “job.” He’s never failed to get what he wanted, 
  and as a result he’s come to expect that he can do 
  anything he pleases. His arrogance and overconﬁ-
  dence, compounded by his vanity and self-absorp-
  tion, is his biggest Achilles heel. Running a close 
  second is his love of gambling and wagering. He’s 
  not a compulsive gambler — he can back away 
  when he really wants to — but he loves the thrill of 
  placing a bet on cards, dice, or anything else he can 
  participate in.
  Card Shark has just the temperament needed 
  to make him an excellent crimelord. He’s daring 
  enough to take the risks that big-time crime entails, 
  canny enough not to overextend himself, and 
  level-headed enough to keep passion from over-
  ruling sound judgment (most of the time, anyway). 
  Any group of PCs should ﬁnd him a diﬃcult and 
  supremely dangerous foe to tackle.
  Quote:  “Now I’ll deal you a real dead man’s hand!”
  Powers/Tactics:  In combat, Card Shark ﬁghts with 
  economy and ruthlessness, relying on his Deadly 
  Cards weapons to see him through to victory 
  (though he can use others if need be). He favors 
  his Razor Card, but will use his other weapons or 
  hand-to-hand combat skills if the situation calls 
  for it. If he’s alone, he throws himself into the fray, 
  moving quickly and dodging while focusing all of 
  his eﬀorts on a single foe at a time until that foe 
  falls. If he’s with a group of his men, he usually 
  holds back, allowing his men to do the work while 
  he analyzes the opposition. When he feels it’s time 
  for him to get involved, out come the Deadly 
  Cards.
  If beaten or thwarted in some way, Card 
  Shark regroups and spends time with his 
  most trusted bodyguards and advisors going 
  over the mistake and ﬁguring out ways to correct it. 
  No one ever beats him the same way twice.
  Campaign Use:  See the introductory text for gen-
  eral information. Except when his pride and arro-
  gance get the better of him, Card Shark doesn’t act 
  without purpose. His every move is calculated to 
  bring him some sort of gain. His plans are usually 
  complex, multi-layered aﬀairs, with double-blinds 
  and decoys masking his true purpose. He thinks 
  nothing of spending weeks or months carefully 
  planning and practicing a crime, because he knows 
  that such eﬃciency is the cornerstone of his reputa-
  tion and skills.
  Card Shark’s already pretty tough, so you 
  shouldn’t need to strengthen him to give him a 
  ﬁghting chance against the PCs — at most, maybe 
  increase his SPD to 5 and/or add some super-skills 
  (particularly one involving Damage Reduction) to 
  give him a better chance against a whole group of 
  heroes. To weaken him, reduce his Characteristics 
  appropriately and start shaving away Skills and Tal-
  ents until he’s not quite so deadly and competent.
  Card Shark generally doesn’t Hunt anyone 
  himself; see above for information about how the 
  group as a whole Hunts its foes.
  The police want Card Shark in connection 
  with an enormous number of crimes, ranging from 
  murder to relatively petty gambling oﬀenses. As 
  Ryan DeLaney he had a juvie record, but it’s been 
  destroyed pursuant to the unrecorded orders of a 
  judge he controlled... and then killed.
  Appearance:  Card Shark is a white male 6’2” tall, 
  about 200 pounds,  with an athletic (but not overly 
  muscular) build. He wears a red tunic, v-neck with 
  puﬀed sleeves, a gold belt sash in which he keeps 
  his weapon-cards, and blue pants and boots. His 
  gloves are white. He wears a white ascot around 
  his neck, and a white full face mask with a “spade” 
  symbol over the left eye.
  
  241 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  BLACKJACK
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   25 STR 
  20 
  14- 
  Lift 800 kg; 5d6 [5]
   16 DEX 
  18 
  12- 
  OCV:  5/DCV:  5
   20 CON 
  20 
  13-
   20 BODY 20 
  13-
   10 INT 
  0 
  11- 
  PER Roll 11-
   10 EGO 
  0 
  11- 
  ECV:  3
   20 PRE 
  10 
  13- 
  PRE Attack:  4d6
   8 COM 
  -1 
  11-
   10 PD 
  7 
   
  Total:  10 PD (0 rPD)
   8 ED 
  4 
   
  Total:  8 ED (0 rED)
   3 SPD 
  4 
   
  Phases:  4, 8, 12
   10 REC 
  2
   40 END 
  0
   50 STUN 
  7 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  111
  Movement: 
  Running:  6”/12”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  10 
  Blackjack:  HA +4d6; OIF (-½), Hand- 
  To-Hand Attack (-½) 
  2
  25 
  Bonebreaking:  HKA 1½d6 (2½d6 with  
  STR), Penetrating (+½); Must Follow  
  Grab (-½) 
  4
  34 
  Shrug It Oﬀ:  Physical and Energy Damage 
  Reduction, Resistant, 50%; Requires A  
  CON Roll (no Active Point penalty; -¼), 
  STUN Only (-½) 
  0
  8 
  Mask Lenses:  Sight Group Flash Defense  
  (10 points); IIF (-¼) 
  0
   
  Perks
  4 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Membership (lieutenant in 
  Card Shark organization)
   
  Talents
  3 
  Resistance (3 points)
   
  Skills
  20 
  +4 HTH
  4 
  +2 OCV with Blackjack
  1 
  Gambling (Card Games) 8-
  3 
  Interrogation 13-
  2 
  CK: Hudson City 11-
  2 
  KS: The Hudson City Underworld 11-
  1 
  KS: The Military/Mercenary/Terrorist World 8-
  1 
  KS: The Vice World 8-
  3 
  Stealth 12-
  3 
  Streetwise 13-
  4 
  WF: Common Melee Weapons, Small Arms
   
  Resource Points
  6 
  Equipment Points:  90
  5 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  20
  2 
  Follower/Contact Points:  9
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  141
  Total Cost:  252
  100+ Disadvantages
  20 
  Enraged:  if taunted, mocked, or belittled 
  (Common), go 11-, recover 11-
  10 
  Hunted:  Card Shark 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, 
  Watching)
  15 
  Hunted:  Harbinger Of Justice 8- (Mo Pow, 
  Kill)
  15 
  Psychological Limitation:  Loves To Fight 
  (Common, Strong)
  20 
  Reputation:  Card Shark’s chief legbreaker, 
  14- (Extreme)
  10 
  Social Limitation:  Criminal Record (Occa-
  sionally, Major)
  62 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  252
  Background/History:  Desmond Thompson, an 
  obnoxious and brutal individual, was a bully and 
  a thug from the moment he could make a ﬁst. As 
  soon as he was big and strong enough to make it 
  on his own, he quit school and became a part of the 
  underworld, where his size, muscles, and intimidat-
  ing manner gave him an edge. After Ryan DeLaney 
  became the new Card Shark, he heard about Des-
  mond, and decided to bring him into the ranks 
  under the name “Blackjack.” Desmond was grateful 
  for the break, and has worked loyally for the orga-
  nization ever since, though he can be a nuisance at 
  times (Pokerface has had to dress him down a time 
  or two when he got particularly rude).
  Personality/Motivation:  Blackjack is a classic bully 
  who thinks he can solve any problem with violence. 
  He loves to beat on people, break things, and be 
  obnoxious when he has the upper hand; but he 
  often turns tail and runs if things go badly for him. 
  Still, he’s loyal to Card Shark and most of his com-
  rades (in his own bull-in-a-china-shop sort of way), 
  and won’t abandon them. Well, OK, he might aban-
  don Jack o’ Diamonds or One-Eyed Jack, whom he 
  regards as “sissies,” and Pokerface, whom he hates 
  — but he’ll stick around to help Deadman’s Hand 
  or Card Shark for sure.
  Quote:  “One hellacious beating, coming up!”
  Powers/Tactics:  Blackjack isn’t exactly a subtle or 
  sophisticated ﬁghter. He uses an enormous black-
  jack as his weapon, and he loves to hit and smash 
  things. In combat, he takes a simple, straightfor-
  ward approach:  hit it until it’s busted into little 
  bitty pieces, and then stomp on the pieces. This 
  predictability is his one major weakness.
  Campaign Use:  See the introductory text for gen-
  eral information. Blackjack is a thug, pure and 
  simple (albeit a really tough one), and shouldn’t 
  pose any sort of threat to the PCs on his own. As 
  part of a group, though, he could really put a hurt-
  ing on them.
  To make Blackjack tougher, you have two 
  options. First, you could emphasize his “brick-ness,” 
  perhaps giving him some appropriate strength- and 
  BLACKJACK  
  PLOT SEEDS
  The PCs spot an incred-
  ibly big, beefy, broad-
  shouldered black man 
  in an underworld bar. 
  Could this be Blackjack 
  slumming it in his civil-
  ian identity? Could be; 
  mighty hard to tell in 
  this light. Maybe they’d 
  better follow him and 
  see what happens....
  One of the few things 
  that scares Blackjack is 
  suﬀering an injury so 
  bad that he’d be con-
  ﬁned to a wheelchair 
  — maybe a spinal injury 
  or something. He hears 
  about a new, experi-
  mental exo-skeleton-
  like device that allows 
  crippled people to walk, 
  so he steals it to keep as 
  “insurance” in case he 
  ever gets hurt. But the 
  company that invented 
  it needs that prototype 
  to continue work on the 
  project. The PCs have to 
  track him down and get 
  the device back.
  The cops ﬁnd the body 
  of an incredibly big, 
  beefy, broad-shoul-
  dered black man lying 
  in a Southside alley. Is 
  this Blackjack, and if 
  so, what happened to 
  him?... and what will 
  Card Shark do when he 
  ﬁnds out someone iced 
  one of his men?
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  Combat Knife +0 
  +0 
  1d6 
  1d6-1 
  — 
  8 
  Can Be Thrown
  Armor
  Ballistic cloth uniform (DEF 3, Activation Roll 15-)
  Gear:  Blackjack rarely carries other gear, but if he needs some can usually get whatever 
  he needs from the organization.
  Clothing:  See Appearance.
  
  242 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  toughness-related abilities from The Ultimate Brick 
  or the super-skills section of Dark Champions. 
  Second, you could expand his range of abilities, 
  giving him additional Skills and weapons so he’s 
  not so much of a one-trick pony. To weaken him, 
  just reduce his Characteristics until he’s at the right 
  level for your campaign.
  Blackjack doesn’t Hunt people unless ordered 
  to by Card Shark, in which case he follows his 
  orders.
  Desmond has been captured before as 
  Blackjack, so the police know his identity 
  even though the public at large does 
  not. He has never committed a murder 
  (though not for lack of trying), but he’s 
  wanted on dozens of charges of aggra-
  vated assault, kidnapping, and rape.
  Appearance:  Blackjack is a black male. 
  He’s a huge brute, 6’6” tall and extremely 
  well-muscled (yet not so much so that 
  it would slow him down). He wears a full 
  black bodysuit of rough, leathery weave, with 
  a full black face mask that has a sort of peaked 
  hood (sort of like an executioner’s hood). He 
  wraps his hands in leather thongs to help him 
  keep a grip his blackjack.
  
  243 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  DEADMAN’S HAND
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   10 STR 
  0 
  11- 
  Lift 100 kg; 2d6 [2]
   14 DEX 
  12 
  12- 
  OCV:  5/DCV:  5
   15 CON 
  10 
  12-
   12 BODY 4 
  11-
   10 INT 
  0 
  11- 
  PER Roll 11-
   10 EGO 
  0 
  11- 
  ECV:  3
   15 PRE 
  5 
  12- 
  PRE Attack:  3d6
   10 COM 
  0 
  11-
   6 PD 
  4 
   
  Total:  6 PD (0 rPD)
   6 ED 
  3 
   
  Total:  6 ED (0 rED)
   4 SPD 
  16 
   
  Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
   5 REC 
  0
   30 END 
  0
   25 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  54
  Movement: 
  Running:  7”/14”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  37 
  Electriﬁed Gloves:  Multipower, 60-point 
  reserve, 30 Charges for entire reserve  
  (+¼); all OIF (-½), No Range (-½)
  3u 
  1)  Taser Touch I:  Energy Blast 6d6, NND 
  (defense is insulated rED; +1); OIF (-½),  
  No Range (-½)
  2u 
  2)  Taser Touch II:  Energy Blast 4d6,  
  NND (defense is insulated rED; +1),  
  Continuous (+1); OIF (-½), Lockout  
  (can’t use other Multipower slots while  
  maintaining this slot; -½), No Range  
  (-½), Must Maintain Touch To Maintain 
  Eﬀect (-¼), Costs 1 Charge Per Phase To 
  Maintain (-¼)
  2u 
  3)  Paralytic Grip:  Entangle 4d6, 4 DEF, 
  Takes No Damage From Attacks (+½);  
  OIF (-½), No Range (-½), Lockout (can’t  
  use other Multipower slots while  
  maintaining this slot; -½), Must Maintain 
  Touch To Maintain Eﬀect (-¼), Costs  
  1 Charge Per Phase To Maintain (-¼)
  3u 
  4)  Deadly Touch I:  RKA 4d6; OIF (-½),  
  No Range (-½), Requires 2 Charges Per  
  Use (-¼)
  2u 
  5)  Deadly Touch II:  RKA 2d6,  
  Continuous (+1); OIF (-½), No Range  
  (-½), Requires 2 Charges Per Use, And 1 
  Charge Per Phase To Maintain (-½),  
  Lockout (can’t use other Multipower  
  slots while maintaining this slot; -½), Must 
  Maintain Touch To Maintain Eﬀect (-¼)
  4 
  Used To The Jolt:  Armor (6 ED); Only  
  Works Against Limited Type Of Attack  
  (electricity; -1) 
  0
  2 
  Fast Runner:  Running +1” (7” total) 
  1
   
  Perks
  4 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Membership (lieutenant in 
  Card Shark organization)
   
  Talents
  6 
  Lightning Reﬂexes:  +6 DEX to act ﬁrst with 
  Electriﬁed Gloves Multipower
   
  Skills
  15 
  +5 with Electriﬁed Gloves Multipower
  2 
  Gambling (Card Games) 11-
  2 
  CK: Hudson City 11- 
  2 
  KS: The Hudson City Underworld 11-
  3 
  Stealth 12-
  3 
  Streetwise 12-
  3 
  WF: Small Arms, Knives
   
  Resource Points
  6 
  Equipment Points:  90
  5 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  20
  0 
  Follower/Contact Points:  5
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  106
  Total Cost:  160
  100+ Disadvantages
  10 
  Hunted:  Card Shark 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, 
  Watching)
  15 
  Hunted:  Harbinger Of Justice 8- (Mo Pow, 
  Kill)
  20 
  Psychological Limitation:  Casual Killer 
  (Very Common, Strong)
  10 
  Social Limitation:  Criminal Record (Occa-
  sionally, Major)
  5 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  160
  Background/History:  Patrick Carlton was raised 
  in the Elmview and Riverside Hills sections of 
  Hudson City. He first got in trouble with the 
  law in his early teens for petty theft and truancy. 
  Thereafter he became involved in gang activities 
  (primarily with a gang known as the Vultures), 
  developing an impressive criminal record that 
  begins with vandalism and theft and continued 
  on into drug dealing, grand theft auto, arson, 
  burglary, and attempted murder. While serving 
  time at Stewartsburg Penitentiary in the mid-
  Nineties, he met a member of the Card Shark 
  organization. Intrigued, he joined up after he was 
  released, becoming a Deck agent. After he saved 
  Card Shark’s life during a police raid on one 
  of the organization’s illegal gambling dens, he 
  became one of the boss’s favorites. When one of 
  Card Shark’s pet scientists invented the Electri-
  fied Gloves, Card Shark figured Patrick was the 
  perfect person to give them to... and Deadman’s 
  Hand was born.
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Armor
  Ballistic cloth and kevlar uniform (DEF 5 [8 against electricity], Activation Roll 14-)
  Ballistic cloth and kevlar vest (DEF +3, Activation Roll 11-)
  Gear:  Deadman’s Hand rarely carries other gear, but if he needs some can usually get 
  whatever he needs from the organization.
  Clothing:  See Appearance.
  DEADMAN’S HAND 
  PLOT SEEDS
  There’s been a rash of 
  murders by electrocu-
  tion. When the PCs 
  catch up to Deadman’s 
  Hand, he swears he 
  didn’t do it... though it 
  looks exactly like his 
  m.o. Is he on the level 
  — is someone imper-
  sonating him, and if so, 
  why? Or is it all some 
  sort of scheme Card 
  Shark’s cooked up?
  One of the PCs’ street 
  contacts tells them he 
  used to run with Pat-
  rick Carlton and knows 
  where they can ﬁnd him 
  now... for a hefty fee, of 
  course. Is it a legit oﬀer, 
  a scam, or part of a trap 
  set up by the Card Shark 
  organization?
  Deadman’s Hand gets 
  a better oﬀer from the 
  yakuza and abandons 
  Card Shark to work for 
  it. Not wanting to spark 
  an underworld war by 
  taking care of the prob-
  lem himself, Card Shark 
  decides to trick the PCs 
  into doing it for him.
  
  244 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  Personality/Motivation:  Deadman’s 
  Hand used to be a more-or-less 
  ordinary criminal:  greedy, selﬁsh, 
  willing to do whatever it took to 
  get ahead. Being given the powerful 
  Electriﬁed Gloves has exacerbated 
  his tendencies toward antisocial 
  personality disorder — he has the 
  power of life and death in his hands 
  (literally), and loves using it. The 
  sight and smell of someone “frying” 
  in his grasp ﬁlls him with a savage 
  glee; more than once he’s gotten in 
  trouble with Card Shark for killing 
  someone the organization needed to keep alive. 
  If he keeps messing up, having once saved Card 
  Shark’s life won’t be enough to save him.
  Psychological testing performed during his 
  periods of incarceration indicates that Deadman’s 
  Hand has a low threshold for frustration and inac-
  tion. If he sees something he wants, he takes it, 
  or ﬁgures out a way to get it. He’s temperamental, 
  prone to ﬁts of anger when thwarted or annoyed.
  Quote:  “Just wait ’til I get my hands on you....”
  Powers/Tactics:  Deadman’s Hand relies almost 
  entirely on a unique technological item:  his Elec-
  triﬁed Gloves, a pair of specially insulated gloves 
  connected to batteries in his vest, small 
  backpack, and small “fanny pack” by 
  wires woven into his uniform. The 
  Gloves are controlled by switches 
  built into them. Using the Gloves, 
  Carlton can shock a target into 
  unconsciousness (similar to a 
  taser), paralyze him by causing 
  its muscles to lock up, or simply 
  electrocute him. However, he must 
  be able to touch his target (or, at the 
  GM’s option, touch something conduc-
  tive that his target is also touching) — he 
  cannot “throw” or project bolts of elec-
  tricity. When he uses the Gloves, arcs of 
  electricity run up between his ﬁngers like 
  a Jacob’s ladder.
  Deadman’s Hand wears a specially 
  insulated uniform made of Kevlar, Nomex, 
  and other materials. It provides mild resistance 
  to bullets and knives, moderate resistance to ﬁre, 
  and high resistance to electrical shock (frequent 
  exposure to electricity has also made Deadman’s 
  Hand more resistant to electricity than the average 
  person, even without his uniform).
  Deadman’s Hand has a tendency to show oﬀ 
  his equipment and combat skills. He enjoys playing 
  “cat and mouse” with his opponents if he feels he 
  has an edge on them. However, he’s not stupid, and 
  will ﬂee if he feels he’s outnumbered or if the tables 
  are turned on him.
  Campaign Use:  Deadman’s Hand is an assassin and 
  enforcer for Card Shark. When bodies start show-
  ing up with signs of death by electriﬁcation and 
  charred handprints where someone gripped them 
  while applying the juice, the PCs can be certain it’s 
  Deadman’s Hand’s doing.
  To make Deadman’s Hand tougher, broaden 
  his combat abilities — give him some Martial 
  Arts, or some mundane weapons. To weaken him, 
  decrease the Electriﬁed Gloves to 45 Active Points’ 
  of eﬀect in each slot.
  Deadman’s Hand doesn’t Hunt people unless 
  ordered to by Card Shark, in which case he follows 
  his orders.
  Carlton has been captured before as Dead-
  man’s Hand, so the police know his identity even 
  though the public at large does not. He has an 
  extensive criminal record including approximately 
  a dozen counts of murder, many more counts of 
  aggravated assault, and numerous lesser crimes.
  Appearance:  Deadman’s Hand is a white man. He 
  5’10” and weighs about 170 pounds — he’s thin, but 
  athletic and even a touch muscular. He wears Electri-
  ﬁed Gloves, a pair of specially insulated gloves con-
  nected to batteries in his vest, small backpack, and 
  small “fanny pack” by wires woven into his uniform. 
  He wears an insulated black uniform with a red vest 
  (which provides extra protection of the torso region, 
  though it doesn’t look quite as bulky as most combat 
  vests). On the lapels of the vest in gold are two “A”s 
  and two “8”s, symbolic of his nom du crime.
  
  245 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  JACK O’ DIAMONDS
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   15 STR 
  5 
  12- 
  Lift 200 kg; 3d6 [3]
   20 DEX 
  30 
  13- 
  OCV:  7/DCV:  7
   16 CON 
  12 
  12-
   10 BODY 0 
  11-
   14 INT 
  4 
  12- 
  PER Roll 12-
   11 EGO 
  2 
  11- 
  ECV:  4
   15 PRE 
  5 
  12- 
  PRE Attack:  3d6
   12 COM 
  1 
  11-
   8 PD 
  5 
   
  Total:  11 PD (3 rPD)
   5 ED 
  2 
   
  Total:  8 ED (3 rED)
   4 SPD 
  10 
   
  Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
   6 REC 
  0
   32 END 
  0
   26 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  76
  Movement: 
  Running:  9”/18”
   
  Leaping:  6”/12”
   
  Swinging:  10”/20”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  10 
  Throwing Diamonds:  HKA ½d6 (1d6  
  with STR), Autoﬁre (5 shots; +½),  
  Ranged (+½), 30 Charges (+¼); OAF  
  (-1), Range Based On STR (-¼) 
  [30]
  20 
  Deadly Accuracy:  Find Weakness 13-  
  with Throwing Diamonds
   
  Martial Arts:  Diamond Throwing (Throwing 
  Diamonds is default)
   
  Maneuver 
  OCV/DCV Rng Damage/Effect
  4 
  Accurate Shot +2/-2 
  +0 Weapon +2 DC
  3 
  Defensive Shot -1/+2 
  +0 Weapon +2 DC
  5 
  Far Shot 
  +1/-1 
  +4 Weapon +2 DC
  3 
  Leg Shot 
  +0/ -1 
  +0 Weapon +4 
  DC, Throw
  4 
  Oﬀensive Shot -1/-1 
  +0 Weapon +4 DC
  8 
  +2 Damage Classes (already added in)
   
  Martial Arts: Kung Fu
   
  Maneuver 
  OCV DCV 
  Notes
  4 
  Block 
  +2 
  +2 
  Block, Abort
  4 
  Disarm 
  -1 
  +1 
  Disarm, 25 STR
  4 
  Dodge 
  +0 
  +5 
  Dodge all 
  attacks, Abort
  5 
  Kick 
  -2 
  +1 
  7d6 Strike
  4 
  Punch 
  +0 
  +2 
  6d6 Strike
  3 
  Throw 
  +0 
  +1 
  3d6 +v/5, Target 
  Falls
  4 
  Tien-hsueh Strike -1 
  +1 
  2d6 NND (1)
  8 
  Mask Lenses:  Sight Group Flash Defense  
  (10 points); IIF (-¼) 
  0
  5 
  Swingline:  Swinging 10”; OAF (-1) 
  0
  6 
  Fast Runner:  Running +3” (9” total) 
  1
  3 
  Strong Leaper:  Leaping +3” (6” forward,  
  3” upward) 
  1
   
  Perks
  4 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Membership (lieutenant in 
  Card Shark organization)
   
  Talents
  6 
  Combat Luck (3 PD/3 ED)
   
  Skills
  9 
  Range Skill Levels:  +6 OCV versus Range 
  Modiﬁer with Throwing Diamonds
  9 
  Targeting Skill Levels:  +6 OCV versus Hit 
  Location penalties with Throwing Diamonds
  10 
  Agile Combatant:  +3 DCV; Requires An 
  Acrobatics Roll (-½)
  3 
  Acrobatics 13-
  3 
  Breakfall 13-
  3 
  Climbing 13-
  1 
  Computer Programming 8-
  3 
  Contortionist 13-
  3 
  Conversation12-
  2 
  Gambling (Card Games) 12-
  2 
  KS: The Hudson City Underworld 11-
  3 
  Lockpicking 13-
  3 
  Persuasion 12-
  3 
  Security Systems 12-
  3 
  Seduction 12-
  3 
  Shadowing 12-
  3 
  Stealth 13-
  3 
  Streetwise 12-
  3 
  Tactics 12-
  3 
  WF: Small Arms, Knives
   
  Resource Points
  6 
  Equipment Points:  90
  5 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  20
  10 
  Follower/Contact Points:  25
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  213
  Total Cost:  289
  100+ Disadvantages
  10 
  Distinctive Features:  Style (Not Concealable; 
  Noticed And Recognizable by Large Group)
  10 
  Hunted:  Card Shark 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, 
  Watching)
  15 
  Hunted:  Harbinger Of Justice 8- (Mo Pow, 
  Kill)
  15 
  Psychological Limitation:  Greedy (Common, 
  Strong)
  10 
  Psychological Limitation:  Skirtchaser 
  (Common, Moderate)
  15 
  Social Limitation:  Secret Identity (Tom 
  Lively) (Frequently, Major)
  10 
  Social Limitation:  Criminal Record (Occa-
  sionally, Major)
  104 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  289
   JACK O’ DIAMONDS  
  PLOT SEEDS
  Jack decides he wants 
  to be the next Card 
  Shark... and he’s not 
  willing to wait around 
  until the current one 
  vacates the position. He 
  begins secretly feeding 
  information to the PCs, 
  hoping they’ll track 
  Card Shark down and 
  take him out, but not 
  damage the organization 
  too much.
  In his civilian identity, 
  Jack meets a female PC 
  in her civilian identity 
  (or a prominent female 
  DNPC). They become 
  friendly and start dating. 
  What happens when 
  they discover each 
  other’s “extracurricular 
  activities”?
  Jack o’ Diamonds is in 
  charge of one of Card 
  Shark’s ring of hijackers. 
  During one recent theft, 
  they stole a shipment 
  that, unbeknownst to 
  them, contains some 
  potentially dangerous 
  materials that are part 
  of a secret government 
  experiment. The govern-
  ment appeals to the PCs 
  to recover the materi-
  als without causing a 
  ruckus or getting the 
  media involved.
  
  246 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  Background/History:  After Ryan DeLaney aban-
  doned the Jack o’ Diamonds identity to step into his 
  new role as Card Shark, he needed someone to take 
  his place. Examining the roster of his organization, 
  he took an interest in Tom Lively, a man who’d been 
  with Card Shark for many years after compiling an 
  impressive criminal record for robbery, burglary, 
  and hijacking on his own. More importantly, Lively 
  had been a gymnast and track runner in high 
  school, and had kept in shape.
  Lively got the order to report to the boss’s 
  oﬃce and did so immediately. He spent the next 
  year in intensive training, learning not only how to 
  ﬁght like Jack o’ Diamonds, but how to walk, talk, 
  and live the part of someone who was an important 
  part of a major criminal organization. It was a gru-
  eling regimen, but Lively came through with ﬂying 
  colors and assumed the mantle of one of Card 
  Shark’s lieutenants. Since then he’s proven his worth 
  time and again, earning Card Shark’s trust (as much 
  as anyone can) for his loyalty and ability to make 
  money for the organization.
  Personality/Motivation:  Compared to the some-
  what more complex psychological profiles of the 
  likes of Deadman’s Hand or Pokerface, Jack o’ 
  Diamonds is a pretty simple guy. He wants 
  money, luxuries, influence, and women 
  — not necessarily in that order. In many 
  ways he’s your typical selfish criminal; what 
  sets him apart is that he’s got the discipline to 
  make something of his potential and become a 
  lot more skilled, dangerous, and powerful than 
  your average thief or killer.
  Jack’s a surprisingly sensitive soul for a Card 
  Shark employee. Although he had little 
  formal education when he was growing 
  up, he enjoys classical music, ﬁne foods, 
  and quality literature (Greek drama is a 
  particular favorite). He dislikes “extreme” 
  crimes such as torture and rape, which he regards 
  as demeaning and pointless. But he’s neither a fop 
  nor a coward — he’s administered more than one 
  vicious beating in his life, and killed well over a 
  dozen men. He just prefers to give his victims a 
  ﬁghting chance before he kills them.
  Quote:  “A Diamond is a girl’s best friend.”
  Powers/Tactics:  Through intense training, Jack o’ 
  Diamonds has become an expert hand-to-hand 
  ﬁghter and acrobat. His weapons of choice are 
  specially-crafted diamond-shaped throwing blades 
  which he throw singly or in groups of up to ﬁve. 
  During combat he dodges and moves around a lot, 
  often acting as a “decoy” to set an opponent up for 
  an attack by one of his allies.
  Campaign Use:  See the introductory text for gen-
  eral information. Like his predecessor Ryan De-
  Laney, Jack o’ Diamonds makes a good Card Shark-
  in-training in case your PCs kill DeLaney and the 
  organization needs someone to take his place.
  To make Jack tougher, give him some gim-
  micked throwing diamonds similar to Card 
  Shark’s cards:  ﬂare diamonds; acid diamonds; 
  stickyfoam diamonds; and so forth. To weaken 
  him, remove some or all of his Martial Maneuvers 
  and/or his Find Weakness, and/or reduce his Char-
  acteristics a little.
  Jack o’ Diamonds doesn’t Hunt people unless 
  ordered to by Card Shark, in which case he follows 
  his orders.
  Tom Lively has a criminal record of stagger-
  ing variety and length. He has committed thefts, 
  robberies, hijackings, assaults, and scores of petty 
  crimes. Jack o’ Diamonds is wanted for a number of 
  robberies and two murders, but no one in the law 
  enforcement community has yet connected Lively 
  with the Jack o’ Diamonds identity.
  Appearance:  Jack is a white man, 5’9” tall and about 
  175 pounds, with an athletic, muscular build. He 
  wears a rather gaudy costume styled after the Jacks 
  in a deck of playing cards.
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Armor
  Ballistic cloth uniform (DEF 4, Activation Roll 15-)
  Gear:  Jack rarely carries other gear, but if he needs some can usually get whatever he 
  needs from the organization.
  Clothing:  See Appearance.
  
  247 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  ONE-EYED JACK
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   10 STR 
  0 
  11- 
  Lift 100 kg; 2d6 [2]
   18 DEX 
  24 
  13- 
  OCV:  6/DCV:  6
   13 CON 
  6 
  12-
   10 BODY 0 
  11-
   18 INT 
  8 
  13- 
  PER Roll 13-
   14 EGO 
  8 
  12- 
  ECV:  5
   20 PRE 
  10 
  13- 
  PRE Attack:  4d6
   14 COM 
  2 
  12-
   6 PD 
  4 
   
  Total:  6 PD (0 rPD)
   6 ED 
  3 
   
  Total:  6 ED (0 rED)
   3 SPD 
  2 
   
  Phases:  4, 8, 12
   5 REC 
  0
   26 END 
  0
   22 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  67
  Movement: 
  Running:  4”/8”
   
  Leaping:  1”/2”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  7 
  Gimmicked Walking Stick (Weighted):  HA 
  +3d6; IAF (-½), Hand-To-Hand Attack (-½) 1
  8 
  Gimmicked Walking Stick (Concealed 
  Dagger):  HKA 1d6-1 (1d6+1 with STR);  
  IAF (-½) 
  1
  11 
  Gimmicked Walking Stick (Concealed  
  Gun):  RKA 1½d6, Armor Piercing (+½);  
  IAF (-½), STR Minimum (7; STR Doesn’t 
  Add/Subtract Damage; -1), Beam (-¼),  
  8 Charges (-½) 
  [8]
  8 
  Mask Lenses:  Sight Group Flash Defense  
  (10 points); IIF (-¼) 
  0
  -4 
  Slightly Lame:  Running -2” (4” total)
  -1 
  Slightly Lame:  Leaping -1” (1” total)
  10 
  Lucky Bastard:  Luck 2d6  
  0
   
  Perks
  4 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Membership (lieutenant in 
  Card Shark organization)
   
  Talents
  5 
  Eidetic Memory
  3 
  Lightning Calculator
   
  Skills
  3 
  Acting 13-
  3 
  Bribery 13-
  3 
  Bureaucratics 13-
  3 
  Concealment 13-
  3 
  Conversation 13-
  6 
  Gambling (Card Games, Dice Games, Sports 
  Betting) 13-
  3 
  Fast Draw (Gimmicked Walking Stick  
  Weapons) 13-
  2 
  Forgery (Documents) 13-
  3 
  High Society 13-
  1 
  KS: Criminal Law 8-
  2 
  KS: The Espionage World 11-
  3 
  KS: The Hudson City Underworld 13-
  2 
  KS: The Military/Mercenary/Terrorist World 11-
  1 
  KS: The U.S. Navy 8-
  3 
  Persuasion 13-
  3 
  Seduction 13-
  5 
  Sleight Of Hand 14-
  3 
  Stealth 13-
  3 
  Streetwise 13-
  3 
  WF: Small Arms, Knives
   
  Resource Points
  6 
  Equipment Points:  90
  10 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  30
  15 
  Follower/Contact Points:  35
  1 
  Miscellaneous Points:  1
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  141
  Total Cost:  208
  100+ Disadvantages
  10 
  Hunted:  Card Shark 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, 
  Watching)
  15 
  Hunted:  Harbinger Of Justice 8- (Mo Pow, 
  Kill)
  5 
  Physical Limitation:  missing left eye (-
  1 OCV at Range) (Infrequently, Slightly 
  Impairing)
  15 
  Psychological Limitation:  Greedy; Loves 
  Luxurious Things (Common, Strong)
  10 
  Psychological Limitation:  Compulsive Gam-
  bler (Common, Moderate)
  15 
  Social Limitation:  Secret Identity (Errol Bel-
  mont) (Frequently, Major)
  38  
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  208
  Background/History:  The ﬁrst Card Shark, Emil 
  Lagerfeld, met Errol Belmont in the Navy. The two 
  became fast friends over a three-day marathon 
  game of poker that Lagerfeld won by a mere two 
  dollars. It wasn’t long before Belmont was helping 
  Lagerfeld out with his various scams and escapades. 
  During one of their adventures, Belmont had the 
  misfortune to suﬀer an injury to his left eye that left 
  it permanently blinded. Lagerfeld soon nicknamed 
  his friend “One-Eyed Jack.”
  Lagerfeld and Belmont got out of the Navy at 
  about the same time. After Lagerfeld became Card 
  Shark and began building his criminal empire, he 
  got in touch with Belmont and oﬀered to let him 
  in on the ground ﬂoor. Belmont jumped at the 
  chance, taking his nickname as his nom du crime 
  and becoming the ﬁrst of Card Shark’s lieutenants. 
  It was a perfect ﬁt. Belmont had a head for organi-
  zational matters that made him valuable to Card 
  Shark, who didn’t care so much about the details of 
  running a major criminal gang.
  When Lagerfeld was killed, One-Eyed Jack 
  survived... barely... and led the lieutenants as they 
  tried to recover and rebuild. He brieﬂy thought 
  about trying to become the new Card Shark, but 
  knew he lacked the physical abilities and ruthless 
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  Glock 17L 
  +1 
  +1 
  1d6+2 
  1d6-1 
  19 
  9
  Armor
  Ballistic cloth suit (DEF 4, Activation Roll 15-)
  Ballistic cloth vest (DEF 1, Activation Roll 11-)
  Gear:  One-Eyed Jack rarely carries other gear, but if he needs some can usually get 
  whatever he needs from the organization.
  Clothing:  See Appearance.
  ONE-EYED JACK 
  PLOT SEEDS
  One-Eyed Jack goes 
  missing. Card Shark 
  begins tearing the town 
  apart looking for him. 
  The PCs have to try to 
  stop him... and if pos-
  sible, get to Jack ﬁrst!
  One-Eyed Jack contacts 
  the PCs and oﬀers to 
  turn state’s evidence, 
  or tell them everything 
  they want to know 
  about Card Shark (their 
  choice) if they’ll just 
  pick him up tonight and 
  get him to safety. What’s 
  got him so spooked? Is 
  he telling the truth, or is 
  it a trap?
  The PCs hear reports of 
  a one-eyed man making 
  the rounds of illegal 
  gambling dens not asso-
  ciated with Card Shark. 
  Is it One-Eyed Jack, and 
  if so, what’s he up to?
  
  248 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  temperament necessary. When Ryan DeLaney put 
  himself forward as a candidate, One-Eyed Jack rec-
  ognized the wisdom of choosing him and helped 
  persuade the others to agree. As a result, he secured 
  himself a position in the new Card Shark’s regime, 
  since DeLaney has a habit of rewarding those who 
  remain loyal and helpful to him.
  Personality/Motivation:  Like Jack o’ Diamonds, One-
  Eyed Jack is a pretty simple soul. He’s a sybarite 
  who wants money, luxuries, all the ﬁner things in 
  life... and is willing to commit heinous crimes to get 
  them. Selﬁsh to an extreme, he usually doesn’t care 
  what happens to other people as long as he’s not 
  bothered.
  One-Eyed Jack has a compulsive gambling 
  problem, though he’s usually able to keep it 
  under control. Unlike Card Shark, normally he 
  can resist “challenges,” recognizing them for the 
  traps they are.
  Quote:  “Proﬁts are up across the board in our casi-
  nos, but we’ve lost three big places this year to vigi-
  lantes. It’s time to stop fooling around and kill those 
  sons of bitches.”
  Powers/Tactics:  One-Eyed Jack is no combatant, 
  and he knows it. His omnipresent walking stick 
  contains several weapons (an eight-shot gun, a 
  knife, and a weighted club), but he only uses it as a 
  last resort. He’d rather talk his way out of a sticky 
  situation, or run, than ﬁght.
  Campaign Use:  As Card Shark’s right-hand man, 
  One-Eyed Jack may make a tempting target for 
  the PCs. All the knowledge of Card Shark’s activi-
  ties locked into his brain means interrogating him 
  could provide the information to break the organi-
  zation once and for all.
  If you want to make One-Eyed Jack tougher, 
  more of a combatant, give him some Combat Skill 
  Levels with his weapons and increase his Charac-
  teristics a little. To weaken him, get rid of his Walk-
  ing Stick gun.
  One-Eyed Jack doesn’t Hunt people unless 
  ordered to by Card Shark, in which case he follows 
  his orders.
  One-Eyed Jack has no criminal record. The 
  police want him for many Card Shark-related activ-
  ities, but he’s never been arrested.
  Appearance:  One-Eyed Jack is a white male, 5’10” 
  tall, about 180 pounds. He usually wears expensive 
  hand-tailored men’s suits. His full-face mask is 
  completely black on the left side (where his use-
  less eye is), and red on the right side. He covers his 
  hands with black gloves, also ﬁnely tailored. He 
  normally has a ﬂower in his buttonhole, and always 
  carries a fancy walking stick.
  
  249 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  POKERFACE
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   20 STR 
  10 
  13- 
  Lift 400 kg; 4d6 [4]
   20 DEX 
  30 
  13- 
  OCV:  7/DCV:  7
   25 CON 
  40 
  14-
   20 BODY 20 
  13-
   13 INT 
  3 
  12- 
  PER Roll 12-
   15 EGO 
  10 
  12- 
  ECV:  5
   20 PRE 
  10 
  13- 
  PRE Attack:  4d6
   8 COM 
  -1 
  11-
   12 PD 
  12 
   
  Total:  18 PD (6 rPD)
   10 ED 
  7 
   
  Total:  16 ED (6 rED)
   4 SPD 
  10 
   
  Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
   15 REC 
  22
   50 END 
  0
   50 STUN 
  7 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  180
  Movement: 
  Running:  7”/14”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  28 
  Necksnapper:  HKA 2d6, NND (defense  
  is rigid rPD on the neck, or anything else  
  that prevents the neck/head from being 
  turned and twisted the right way; +1),  
  Does BODY (+1); Must Follow Grab  
  (-½), Must Target The Head (-1), No STR 
  Bonus (-½), Requires A STR Roll  
  (no Active Point penalty; -¼) 
  9
   
  Martial Arts: Commando Training, Dirty 
  Inﬁghting
    
  Maneuver 
  OCV DCV 
  Notes
  3 
  Aikido Throw +0 
  +1 
  6d6 + v/5, Target 
  Falls
  4 
  Boxing Cross 
  +0 
  +2 
  8d6
  4 
  Choke  
  -2 
  +0 
  Grab One Limb, 
  3d6 NND (2)
  4 
  Escape 
  +0 
  +0 
  45 STR vs. 
  Grabs
  4 
  Eye Gouge 
  -1 
  -1 
  Sight Group 
  Flash 6d6
  4 
  Hold 
  -1 
  -1 
  Grab Three 
  Limbs, 40 STR
  4 
  Judo Disarm 
  -1 
  +1 
  Disarm, 40 STR
  4 
  Karate “Chop”  -2 
  +0 
  HKA 1d6 (2d6 
  with STR)
  4 
  Kung Fu Block +2 
  +2 
  Block, Abort
  4 
  Low Blow 
  -1 
  +1 
  3d6 NND(3)
  5 
  Roundhouse 
  -2 
  +1 
  10d6 Strike
  3 
  Tackle 
  +0 
  -1 
  6d6 +v/5 Strike; 
  You Fall, Target 
  Falls
  8 
  +2 Damage Classes (already added in)
  34 
  Deadened Nerves:  Physical and Energy 
  Damage Reduction, Resistant, 50%;  
  Requires A CON Roll (no Active Point  
  penalty; -¼), STUN Only (-½) 
  0
  12 
  Unimpressed:  +25 PRE; Only To Resist  
  Presence Attacks (-1) 
  0
  10 
  Unimpressed:  Power Defense (30 points); 
  Only Works Against Limited Type Of  
  Attack (Drains or other reductions of  
  PRE; -2) 
  0
  2 
  Fast:  Running +1” (7” total) 
  1
  1 
  Long-Lived:  Life Support (Longevity:   
  ages at half normal rate) 
  0
   
  Perks
  4 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Membership (lieutenant in 
  Card Shark organization)
   
  Talents
  12 
  Combat Luck (6 PD/6 ED)
  5 
  Rapid Healing
  10 
  Resistance (10 points)
   
  Skills
  16 
  +2 with All Combat
  6 
  +2 with Firearms
  3 
  Combat Driving 13-
  3 
  Concealment 12-
  3 
  Fast Draw (Small Arms) 13-
  2 
  Gambling (Card Games) 12-
  5 
  Interrogation 14-
  2 
  CK: Hudson City 11-
  3 
  KS: The Hudson City Underworld 12-
  3 
  KS: The Military/Mercenary/Terrorist World 12-
  2 
  KS: The Vice World 11-
  3 
  Lockpicking 13-
  1 
  Mechanics 8-
  3 
  Paramedics 12-
  3 
  Security Systems 12-
  3 
  Shadowing 12-
  3 
  Stealth 13-
  5 
  Streetwise 14-
  3 
  Tactics 12-
  1 
  Tracking 8-
  5 
  TF: Common Motorized Ground Vehicles, 
  Basic Parachuting, SCUBA, Two-Wheeled 
  Motorized Ground Vehicles
  7 
  WF: Small Arms, Blades, Flamethrowers, 
  General Purpose Machine Guns, Grenade 
  Launchers, Shoulder-Fired Weapons
   
  Resource Points
  18 
  Equipment Points:  150
  10 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  30
  10 
  Follower/Contact Points:  25
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  296
  Total Cost:  476
  100+ Disadvantages
  10 
  Distinctive Features:  no facial expression 
  (Concealable With Eﬀort; Noticed And Rec-
  ognizable)
  10 
  Hunted:  Card Shark 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, 
  Watching)
  15 
  Hunted:  Harbinger Of Justice 8- (Mo Pow, 
  Kill)
  5 
  Physical Limitation:  impaired sense of touch 
  (-1 on DEX-based Skills and relevant DEX 
  Rolls) (Infrequently, Slightly Impairing)
  20 
  Psychological Limitation:  Casual Killer 
  (Very Common, Strong)
  15 
  Psychological Limitation:  Sadist (Common, 
  Strong)
  15 
  Psychological Limitation:  Misogynist 
  (Common, Strong)
  20 
  Reputation:  Card Shark’s sadistic enforcer, 
  14- (Extreme)
  15 
  Social Limitation:  Secret Identity (Mark 
  Knight) (Frequently, Major)
  POKERFACE  
  PLOT SEEDS
  A gang of thugs display-
  ing unusual resilience 
  begins terrorizing 
  Hudson City. Suspect-
  ing some connection 
  to Project:  Durable, 
  Pokerface manipulates 
  the PCs into checking 
  things out so he can 
  follow their trail and 
  ﬁnd out what’s going on.
  A government contact 
  reveals to the PCs that 
  Pokerface “may” have 
  gotten his powers as the 
  result of a government 
  experiment — and oﬀers 
  to provide them with a 
  special drug that may 
  counteract his abilities, 
  at least temporarily. But 
  in exchange, he wants 
  the PCs to do something 
  they’d really rather not 
  do. Are they willing to 
  compromise their ethics 
  and/or endanger them-
  selves to get the drug?
  Card Shark decides to 
  see if he can re-create 
  the eﬀects of Project:  
  Durable... and he thinks 
  the PCs would make 
  perfect guinea pigs.
  
  250 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  10 
  Social Limitation:  Criminal Record  
  (Occasionally, Major)
  241 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  476
  Background/History:  Mark Knight grew up strong, 
  tough, and a bully. He got mixed up in petty street 
  crime early — everything from shaking down 
  other kids for their lunch money to joyriding. 
  Despite being fairly intelligent, he made no eﬀort 
  at schoolwork, and nearly ﬂunked out several 
  times. When he graduated, he joined the armed 
  forces rather than going to college. 
  He was soon sent to Vietnam, where he 
  distinguished himself with his total disre-
  gard for the value of human life. He did 
  so well that the government decided he 
  might make an excellent “volunteer” for 
  a project it had in mind. When his medi-
  cal proﬁle ﬁt the project’s needs, Mark 
  “volunteered.”
  Project:  Durable was one of many 
  “super-soldier” projects instituted by the 
  American armed forces since the beginning of 
  World War II. Its goal was to render soldiers 
  immune to pain and fatigue by blocking sub-
  stantial parts of their nerve endings. Certain 
  nerves, such as those in the hands, were left 
  mainly intact. The project was scrapped after 
  several years due to numerous unanticipated 
  side eﬀects that compromised the subjects’ 
  eﬃciency and could not be corrected. These 
  included a leprosy-like inability to detect 
  wounds and infections, soldiers starving to 
  death because their nervous systems didn’t tell 
  them they were hungry, and most commonly 
  mental instability caused by the treatments (includ-
  ing various manifestations of violent hyperactivity 
  and antisocial personality disorder).
  The only “volunteer” who came through 
  Project:  Durable physically and mentally intact 
  was Mark Knight — or at least, he emerged only 
  marginally more mentally unstable than he’d been 
  going in. Rather than stay in the armed forces, 
  Knight decided to make some real money. He 
  deserted and returned to the States, where he 
  drifted into the underworld as an assassin and 
  enforcer. His unique facial characteristics and 
  temperament made him a natural as “Pokerface” 
  when the ﬁrst Card Shark began recruiting help. 
  Though not normally a very social guy, Pokerface 
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  S&W 4506 
  +1 
  +0 
  2d6-1 
  1d6 
  8 
  8 
  Carries 2, 3 clips each
  Ruger P94 
  +0 
  +0 
  1d6+1 
  1d6-1 
  15 
  8 
  Carries 2, 2 clips each
  Touch Taser 
  +0 
  — 
  8d6 NND 
  — 
  8 
  —
  Combat Knife +0 
  +0 
  1d6 
  1d6-1 
  — 
  8 
  Can Be Thrown
  Brass Knuckles  +0 
  — 
  2d6 N 
  — 
  — 
  5
  Armor
  Usually none, but may add some light body armor (3-6 DEF) in appropriate circumstances
  Gear:  Pokerface rarely carries other gear, but if he needs some can usually get whatever he needs from the organization.
  Clothing:  See Appearance.
  
  251 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  ﬁt in well with the Card Shark organization and has 
  remained with it ever since.
  Personality/Motivation:  Pokerface has all the per-
  sonality (and facial expression) of a killer shark. 
  He maims or kills anyone who bothers him... or 
  even people who just happen to catch his eye, since 
  he enjoys inﬂicting pain in and of itself. He par-
  ticularly likes to hurt women, and often displays 
  considerable imagination in ﬁnding ways to do so. 
  There’s nothing likable about him from the sane 
  person’s point of view.
  Quote:  None. Pokerface does not usually speak, 
  because the weakness of his throat and facial mus-
  cles gives him a harsh, unappealing voice which is 
  diﬃcult to understand.
  Powers/Tactics:  Pokerface’s abilities — his strength, 
  swiftness of reaction, resistance to pain, and 
  retarded aging — result primarily from the “super-
  soldier” treatments he underwent as part of Project:  
  Durable in 1970. On top of these abilities, Poker-
  face is a highly trained and clever soldier, with a 
  lot of combat and tactical skills. He can stand up to 
  interrogation easily, so he often sacriﬁces himself 
  to let his comrades escape. They repay the favor 
  by breaking him out of jail as soon as they get the 
  chance, though he can do hard time without any 
  problems. He’s also good at “playing possum,” since 
  most people don’t realize how quickly he wakes up 
  after being knocked out (i.e., how phenomenally 
  high his REC is).
  The treatments that deadened Pokerface’s 
  nerves had a number of side eﬀects. His sense of 
  touch is impaired (though not too badly, and he’s 
  trained himself to overcome the worst of these 
  eﬀects). Like a leper, he’s susceptible to infection, 
  gangrene, and other problems because he doesn’t 
  know he’s hurt. He’s permanently impotent (a con-
  dition that hasn’t exactly done anything to improve 
  his attitude toward women). He can’t speak clearly 
  or swallow easily because the muscles in his neck 
  and throat don’t work quite as well as they should. 
  He has to force himself to eat at regular intervals 
  because he doesn’t feel hunger. All in all, it’s a high 
  price to pay for the ability to not feel pain — but he 
  hasn’t regretted paying it for so much as a minute.
  Campaign Use:  See the introductory text for gen-
  eral information. In addition to being an enforcer 
  and assassin for Card Shark’s organization, Poker-
  face is often a “wild card” in combat because he’s 
  so hard to put down and keep down. Just when the 
  PCs think he’s out for the count, he’s likely to wake 
  up and shoot them in the back.
  To make Pokerface tougher, give him some 
  more super-skills and Talents, or even increase his 
  SPD to 5. To weaken him, tone down his defensive 
  and recuperative abilities a little — don’t get rid of 
  them, because they’re his “schtick,” but make them 
  less eﬀective.
  Pokerface doesn’t Hunt people unless 
  ordered to by Card Shark, in which case he fol-
  lows his orders.
  Pokerface is wanted on twelve counts of 
  murder, 27 counts of aggravated assault, and eight 
  counts of kidnapping. He has an extensive criminal 
  record from his pre-Army days, but thanks to Card 
  Shark’s inﬂuence and bribes all those records have 
  been removed from the system and destroyed — so 
  the cops don’t know who he is. His Army records 
  still exist, but are sealed and designated Top Secret, 
  since the government doesn’t want Project:  Dura-
  ble to become public knowledge.
  Appearance:  Pokerface is a white male, 6’2” tall, 
  215 pounds, with a build indicating toughness 
  and the skill to use the strength his muscles 
  provide. He has no facial expression; his face is 
  always as blank as a refrigerator door. He wears 
  a dark suit, a tan overcoat, and a fedora. He con-
  ceals his guns under his coat.
  
  252 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  DECK AGENT
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   13 STR 
  3 
  12- 
  Lift 150 kg; 2½d6 [3]
   14 DEX 
  12 
  12- 
  OCV:  5/DCV:  5
   13 CON 
  6 
  12-
   10 BODY 0 
  11-
   10 INT 
  0 
  11- 
  PER Roll 11-
   10 EGO 
  0 
  11- 
  ECV:  3
   13 PRE 
  3 
  12- 
  PRE Attack:  2½d6
   10 COM 
  0 
  11-
   4 PD 
  1 
   
  Total:  4 PD (0 rPD)
   3 ED 
  0 
   
  Total:  3 ED (0 rED)
   3 SPD 
  6 
   
  Phases:  4, 8, 12
   6 REC 
  0
   26 END 
  0
   24 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  31
  Movement: 
  Running:  6”/12”
  Cost Powers 
  END
   
  Martial Arts: Commando Training
   
  Maneuver 
  OCV DCV 
  Notes
  3 
  Aikido Throw +0 
  +1 
  2½d6 + v/5, 
  Target Falls
  4 
  Boxing Cross 
  +0 
  +2 
  4½d6
  4 
  Choke  
  -2 
  +0 
  Grab One Limb, 
  2d6 NND (2)
  4 
  Kung Fu Block +2 
  +2 
  Block, Abort
   
  Perks
  1 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Membership (Card Shark 
  organization)
   
  Skills
  3 
  Concealment 11-
  1 
  KS: The Hudson City Underworld 8-
  2 
  PS: Card Shark Agent 11-
  3 
  Stealth 12-
  3 
  Streetwise 12-
  3 
  WF: Small Arms, Knives
  9 
  Choose 9 points’ worth of Skills from the 
  following list:  Acting, Breakfall, Bribery, 
  Bureaucratics, Bugging, Combat Driving, 
  Combat Skill Levels, Computer Program-
  ming, Conversation, Deduction, Demolitions, 
  Electronics, Fast Draw, Forgery, Gambling, 
  Interrogation, Lockpicking, Martial Arts, 
  Mechanics, Paramedics, Persuasion, Security 
  Systems, Shadowing, Sleight Of Hand, Sys-
  tems Operation, Tactics, Teamwork, Weapon 
  Familiarity, any Background Skill
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  40
  Total Cost:  71
  50+ Disadvantages
  5 
  Distinctive Features:  Card Shark uniform 
  (Easily Concealed; Noticed And Recogniz-
  able)
  10 
  Hunted:  Card Shark 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, 
  Watching)
  15 
  Psychological Limitation:  Amoral And 
  Greedy (or a similar criminal motivation) 
  (Common, Strong)
  20 
  Social Limitation:  Subject To Orders (Very 
  Frequently, Major)
  10 
  Social Limitation:  Criminal Record (Occa-
  sionally, Major)
  Total Disadvantage Points:  110
  Description:  This character sheet represents a typi-
  cal Deck agent — the rank-and-ﬁle members of 
  Card Shark’s organization. Referring to them as 
  “agents” is a touch of bravado on Card Shark’s part, 
  since they’re nothing more than trained street thugs 
  with special uniforms, but it improves morale.
  The Deck agent has 29 points’ worth of Dis-
  advantages unspent, if you’d like to improve any of 
  his abilities or give him more Skills to represent his 
  pre-Card Shark criminal career. In some cases, you 
  may want to remove the Criminal Record Disadvan-
  tage — while the vast majority of Deck agents have 
  criminal records, they don’t all have to.
  Appearance:  Deck agents typically dress like 
  normal men and women on a day-to-day basis, as 
  beﬁts whatever job they actually do. If given time 
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  9mm Pistol 
  +0 
  +0 
  1d6+1 
  1d6-1 
  12 
  8 
  Carries 2 clips
  .45 Pistol 
  +0 
  +0 
  2d6-1 
  1d6 
  8 
  10 
  Carries 2 clips
  Combat Knife +0 
  +0 
  1d6 
  1d6-1 
  — 
  8 
  Can Be Thrown
  Brass Knuckles  +0 
  — 
  2d6 N 
  — 
  — 
  5
  Armor
  Ballistic cloth uniform (DEF 3; Activation Roll 15-)
  Gear:  As appropriate for mission, but an agent almost always has a cell phone, walkie-
  talkie, radio headset, or other appropriate means of communicating with other agents 
  and his commander.
  Clothing:  See Appearance.
  
  253 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  to prepare, they wear dark blue jumpsuits with dull 
  red combat vests; the jumpsuits have identiﬁcation 
  patches on the upper arm. The agents carry a vari-
  ety of pistols, submachine guns, and assault riﬂes, 
  depending on the situation. 
  FACE CARD AGENT
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   15 STR 
  5 
  12- 
  Lift 200 kg; 3d6 [3]
   16 DEX 
  18 
  12- 
  OCV:  5/DCV:  5
   15 CON 
  10 
  12-
   11 BODY 2 
  11-
   13 INT 
  3 
  12- 
  PER Roll 12-
   10 EGO 
  0 
  11- 
  ECV:  3
   15 PRE 
  5 
  12- 
  PRE Attack:  3d6
   10 COM 
  0 
  11-
   5 PD 
  2 
   
  Total:  5 PD (0 rPD)
   4 ED 
  1 
   
  Total:  4 ED (0 rED)
   3 SPD 
  4 
   
  Phases:  4, 8, 12
   6 REC 
  0
   30 END 
  0
   27 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  50
  Movement: 
  Running:  6”/12”
  Cost Powers 
  END
   
  Martial Arts: Commando Training
   
  Maneuver 
  OCV DCV 
  Notes
  3 
  Aikido Throw +0 
  +1 
  3d6 + v/5, Target 
  Falls
  4 
  Boxing Cross 
  +0 
  +2 
  5d6 Strike
  4 
  Choke  
  -2 
  +0 
  Grab One Limb, 
  2d6 NND (2)
  4 
  Escape 
  +0 
  +0 
  30 STR vs. 
  Grabs
  4 
  Hold 
  -1 
  -1 
  Grab Three 
  Limbs, 25 STR
  4 
  Judo Disarm 
  -1 
  +1 
  Disarm, 25 STR
  4 
  Kung Fu Block +2 
  +2 
  Block, Abort
   
  Perks
  3 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Membership (Card Shark 
  organization)
   
  Skills
  8 
  +1 with All Combat
  3 
  Bribery 12-
  3 
  Concealment 12-
  2 
  KS: The Hudson City Underworld 11-
  2 
  PS: Card Shark Agent 11-
  3 
  Stealth 12-
  3 
  Streetwise 12-
  3 
  WF: Small Arms, Knives
  15 
  Choose 15 points’ worth of Skills from the 
  following list:  Acting, Breakfall, Bureaucrat-
  ics, Bugging, Combat Driving, Combat Skill 
  Levels, Computer Programming, Conversa-
  tion, Cryptography, Deduction, Demolitions, 
  Electronics, Fast Draw, Forgery, Gambling, 
  Interrogation, Lockpicking, Martial Arts, 
  Mechanics, Mimicry, Paramedics, Persuasion, 
  Security Systems, Seduction, Shadowing, 
  Sleight Of Hand, Systems Operation, Tactics, 
  Teamwork, Weapon Familiarity, any Back-
  ground Skill
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  72
  Total Cost:  122
  50+ Disadvantages
  5 
  Distinctive Features:  Card Shark uni-
  form (Easily Concealed; Noticed And 
  Recognizable)
  10 
  Hunted:  Card 
  Shark 8- (Mo Pow, 
  NCI, Watching)
  15 
  Psychological 
  Limitation:  
  Amoral And 
  Greedy (or a 
  similar crimi-
  nal motivation) 
  (Common, Strong)
  20 
  Social Limitation:  
  Subject To Orders 
  (Very Frequently, Major)
  10 
  Social Limitation:  Criminal 
  Record (Occasionally, Major)
  12 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  122
  Description:  The “Face Cards” are 
  Card Shark’s chief agents — the ones 
  who run the major criminal opera-
  tions and report directly to him, 
  sort of like the made men in a 
  Mafia family. Most are male, but 
  the Queens are female.
  Appearance:  Face Card agents wear uniforms 
  styled something like Card Shark’s own, but not 
  enough so as to cause confusion, and usually with a 
  few ﬂourishes or other touches reminiscent of the 
  face card that designates them. The Queens wear 
  domino masks in the color of their suits, the others 
  wear white full face masks with their suit symbol 
  over the right eye.
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  9mm Pistol 
  +0 
  +0 
  1d6+1 
  1d6-1 
  12 
  8 
  Carries 2 clips
  .45 Pistol 
  +0 
  +0 
  2d6-1 
  1d6 
  8 
  10 
  Carries 2 clips
  SMG 
  +0 
  +0 
  1d6+1 
  1d6-1 
  32 
  12 
  AF5
  Combat Knife +0 
  +0 
  1d6 
  1d6-1 
  — 
  8 
  Can Be Thrown
  Brass Knuckles  +0 
  — 
  2d6 N 
  — 
  — 
  5
  Armor
  Ballistic cloth and kevlar uniform (DEF 4; Activation Roll 15-)
  Gear:  As appropriate for mission, but an agent almost always has a cell phone, walkie-
  talkie, radio headset, or other appropriate means of communicating with other agents 
  and his commander.
  Clothing:  See Appearance.
  
  254 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  THE CAINITE
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   15 STR 
  5 
  12- 
  Lift 200 kg; 3d6 [3]
   20 DEX 
  30 
  13- 
  OCV:  7/DCV:  7
   20 CON 
  20 
  13-
   15 BODY 10 
  12-
   20 INT 
  10 
  13- 
  PER Roll 13-
   20 EGO 
  20 
  13- 
  ECV:  7
   30 PRE 
  30 
  15- 
  PRE Attack:  6d6
   8 COM 
  -1 
  11-
   6 PD 
  3 
   
  Total:  9 PD (3 rPD)
   6 ED 
  2 
   
  Total:  9 ED (3 rED)
   5 SPD 
  30 
   
  Phases:  3, 5, 8, 10, 12
   10 REC 
  6
   40 END 
  0
   33 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  165
  Movement: 
  Running:  9”/18”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  28 
  Necksnapper:  HKA 2d6, NND (defense  
  is rigid rPD on the neck, or anything else  
  that prevents the neck/head from being 
  turned and twisted the right way; +1),  
  Does BODY (+1); Must Follow Grab  
  (-½), Must Target The Head (-1), No STR 
  Bonus (-½), Requires A STR Roll (no  
  Active Point penalty; -¼) 
  9
  15 
  He’s Got A Strong Punch For Such A  
  Skinny Guy:  HA +3d6, Reduced  
  Endurance (0 END; +½); Hand-To- 
  Hand Attack (-½) 
  0
  33 
  Nerve Strikes And Touches:  Energy Blast  
  4d6, NND (defense is rPD over vital  
  spots; +1), Reduced Endurance (0 END;  
  +½); No Range (-½) 
  0
  15 
  The Picture Of Sheer Terror:  Drain  
  PRE ½d6, Area Of Eﬀect (8” Radius;  
  +1¾), Penetrating (+½), Personal  
  Immunity (+¼), Reduced Endurance  
  (0 END; +½), Persistent (+½); Always  
  On (-½) 
  0
  7 
  Quickly-Building Terror:  +2 SPD; Only  
  To Use Picture Of Sheer Terror (in  
  Segments 4 and 11; -2) 
  0
  36 
  Doesn’t Feel Much Pain:  Physical Damage 
  Reduction, 50%, Resistant; Requires  
  A CON Roll (no Active Point penalty;  
  -¼) plus Physical Damage Reduction,  
  25%, Resistant; Requires A CON Roll  
  (no Active Point penalty; -¼) 
  0
  6 
  Swift:  Running +3” (9” total) 
  1
  6 
  Contortionist’s Feet:  Extra Limbs (feet  
  usable as hands), Inherent (+¼) 
  0
  5 
  Perching:  Clinging (normal STR);  
  Requires A Climbing Roll (-½), Only To 
  “Perch” (-½) 
  0
   
  Talents
  8 
  Deadly Blow:  HKA +2d6 with Knives 
  2
  6  
  Combat Luck (3 PD/3 ED)
  4 
  Double-Jointed
   
  Skills
  16 
  +2 with All Combat
  3 
  Acrobatics 13-
  3 
  Breakfall 13-
  3 
  Climbing 13-
  3 
  Computer Programming 13-
  9 
  Contortionist 16-
  3 
  Deduction 13-
  3 
  Demolitions 13-
  3 
  Interrogation 15-
  3 
  KS: Layman’s Arcane And Occult Lore 13-
  6 
  KS: General Knowledge And Trivia 16-
  3 
  Lipreading 13-
  2 
  SS: Human Anatomy 11-
  9 
  Stealth 16-
  10 
  Two-Weapon Fighting (HTH)
  6 
  WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common 
  Missile Weapons, Small Arms
   
  Resource Points
  0 
  Equipment Points:  60
  0 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  10
  0 
  Follower/Contact Points:  5
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  252
  Total Cost:  417
  100+ Disadvantages
  20 
  Enraged:  for pretty much any reason that 
  takes his fancy (Very Common), go 11-, 
  recover 14-
  20 
  Hunted:  FBI 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Capture/Kill)
  20 
  Hunted:  HCPD 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Capture/
  Kill)
  15 
  Physical Limitation:  Mute (Frequently; 
  Greatly Impairing)
  25 
  Psychological Limitation:  Homicidal Maniac 
  (Very Common, Total)
  20 
  Reputation:  insane serial killer, 14- 
  (Extreme)
  10 
  Social Limitation:  Criminal Record (Occa-
  sionally, Major)
  187 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  417
  OTHER  
  VILLAINS
  
  255 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  Background/History:  In 1976 a small boy, no more 
  than two-and-a-half years old, was left on the 
  steps of the Wainwright Orphanage. There was no 
  note or explanation, and the boy seemed unable to 
  speak, so the Orphanage took him in and named 
  him “Norman Smith.”
  Smith grew up in the Orphanage, but never truly 
  ﬁt in there. He was a constant discipline problem, 
  never obeying his teachers or the Orphanage staﬀ if 
  he could ﬁnd a way not to. The only thing he cared 
  about was playing malicious pranks on anyone, child 
  or adult, who seemed a worthwhile target. A series 
  of social workers and psychologists treated him, but 
  none of them could get at the root of his diﬃculties... 
  or even really ﬁnd any way to relate to him at all. He 
  was as strange and distant as an insect.
  In the summer of 1992, a psychologist named 
  Kevin Yancy began treating Smith. On August 18, 
  Orphanage personnel heard a high-pitched, ululating 
  scream come from Dr. Yancy’s oﬃce. They burst in to 
  ﬁnd Smith sitting naked against the wall. He was cov-
  ered in blood, and strange, bloody symbols adorned 
  most of the walls. Doctor Yancy’s raped, mutilated 
  body was stuﬀed under his desk, and the penknife 
  used to kill him lay on the ﬂoor nearby. When the 
  authorities arrived and addressed Smith by name, 
  he screamed, “That’s not my name!”. He never again 
  answered to the name “Norman Smith,” and refused 
  to tell anyone what his name “really” was. No one 
  understood what the symbols on the wall meant, and 
  they remain undeciphered to this day.
  “Smith” stood mute at trial. The court judged 
  him insane and sentenced him to Toddberry Asylum, 
  where he was carefully watched. He never caused 
  any problems unless brought within arm’s reach 
  of another inmate, in which case he attacked with 
  unmitigated fury. He killed two of them before the 
  Asylum staﬀ began keeping him completely isolated.
  In 1998, “Smith” was assigned to the care of Dr. 
  Raphael Berlozzi, a psychiatrist. Doctor Berlozzi 
  treated him for several months, seeking to discover 
  and address the root causes of his psychosis. On 
  October 31 of that year, shortly after midnight, he 
  sedated his patient and had him taken to the asy-
  lum’s operating theater. In a brief procedure, he sur-
  gically removed “Smith’s” tongue, then turned the 
  scalpel on himself, slitting his own jugular vein. An 
  examination of his notes by the authorities revealed 
  that beginning in August they were written in an 
  unknown language, possibly related to Etruscan, 
  which has so far deﬁed all attempts at translation.
  In the resulting confusion, “Smith” escaped 
  from the Asylum, killing a guard in the process. 
  He disappeared into the Hudson City underworld 
  and has remained at liberty ever since, occasionally 
  surfacing to commit some bizarre murder or other 
  crime. During encounters with law enforcement 
  — once an HCPD cop named Angela Brindisi, 
  once with the Headless Hangman — he identiﬁed 
  himself as “the Cainite,” and the press has used that 
  name for him ever since. His present whereabouts 
  and intentions are unknown... though undoubtedly 
  they won’t remain that way for long.
  Personality/Motivation:  Prior to the removal of his 
  tongue, the Cainite accused one of his doctors of 
  “elevating the Machine-God above the Levitican 
  Urge” — his way of saying they relied on science 
  (psychology) instead of moral judgment. Many 
  who have studied him have taken this statement 
  to indicate that the Cainite sees himself as some 
  sort of embodiment of Evil, though others have 
  observed that that analysis seems rather straight-
  forward and simpleminded for so pyschologically 
  complex a person.
  Whatever his true history or motivations, the 
  Cainite’s actions speak for themselves. He revels 
  in acts of depravity, chaos, and destruction, often 
  going so far as to mutilate or violate the corpses of 
  his victims. At times he lashes out for no reason, 
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  Scalpel 
  +0 
  —  
  1 point 
  0 
  —  
  3 
  Can Be Thrown 
  Armor
  None
  Gear:  Usually none, but whatever he thinks he needs for the situation at hand
  Clothing:  Whatever strikes his fancy (often including clothes taken from his murder 
  victims)
  
  256 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  then quickly lapses back to a state of calm when his 
  violence has achieved its end. (His “Enraged” rep-
  resents this tendency.) He seems to have a body of 
  symbolism whose true meaning is known only to 
  himself (though experts have written thousands of 
  pages of analysis trying to “read” his “writing”). By 
  any criteria, he is both deeply disturbed and very, 
  very dangerous.
  Quote:  None. The Cainite has no tongue and cannot 
  speak, though he can make some sounds (such as 
  chilling howls or a cackling quasi-laughter).
  Powers/Tactics:  The Cainite has a swiftness and 
  strength born of insanity (or, perhaps, Evil...), and 
  he makes ﬁendishly clever use of them on his vic-
  tims. He prefers to approach from stealth, often 
  using his “perching” ability to lurk above an unsus-
  pecting foe, then drop down on him. His favored 
  weapons are blades, particularly surgical scalpels, 
  with which he inﬂicts precise, lethal wounds. The 
  economy of his attacks suggests to some a ballet 
  dancer or gymnast more than a serial killer.
  The Cainite has such a wrongness about him 
  that his mere presence can terrify even the bravest 
  men. In game terms, this is represented with his 
  The Picture Of Sheer Terror power, which reduces 
  the PRE of everyone around him by 1-3 points on 
  every one of his Phases (and don’t forget the +2 
  SPD he has with the ability). Once a victim’s PRE 
  drops to low enough levels, you can consider the 
  Cainite’s mere proximity as a fear-based Presence 
  Attack that causes the victim to panic and/or ﬂee.
  In addition to his attack skills, the Cainite 
  is a superbly-skilled contortionist, climber, and 
  acrobat. Although he cannot ask questions, being 
  near him for a long period of time is so terrifying 
  that most people can’t help but blurt out informa-
  tion he wants to know (this, together with various 
  threatening gestures and actions, is how he uses his 
  Interrogation Skill). He can withstand signiﬁcantly 
  more injury than the average human before feeling 
  the eﬀects of pain.
  Campaign Use:  The Cainite should be a ﬁgure of 
  terror in your campaign. He represents a pure and 
  unbridled sort of human depravity, one that oﬀers 
  no justiﬁcation and accepts no explanation beyond 
  the bounds of Good and Evil. The mere mention 
  of his name should be enough to put your players 
  in a somber, serious mood, and you should adjust 
  his abilities to make him frightening enough to do 
  this. For example, to make him more of a threat to a 
  group of PC vigilantes or cops, you might increase 
  his Damage Reduction or SPD; if he’s already too 
  tough, reduce his SPD to 4 and get rid of one or 
  two of his attack abilities.
  Few characters should frighten a PC more as 
  a Hunted than the Cainite. He’s got the patience of 
  Job and the cleverness of Satan, and he’ll use both 
  to pick the most opportune moment to attack his 
  foe. His attack will not be swift; he prefers to enjoy 
  his enemies’ suﬀering before their end. And if a 
  hero presents too great a challenge, well, his loved 
  ones are probably easier prey....
  The Cainite is wanted by the HCPD and the 
  FBI for nearly two dozen murders they can deﬁ-
  nitely connect him to, and is a suspect in almost 
  ﬁfteen more.
  Appearance:  The Cainite is a white male, 5’11” 
  tall and noticeably slender and lanky. He has 
  unruly black hair but no facial hair. His eyes 
  are likewise dark. He has no tongue. He wears 
  whatever clothing he feels like — often garments 
  taken from his victims.
  THE CAINITE  
  PLOT SEEDS
  Someone’s killing pros-
  titutes down near the 
  Strip. The murders are 
  all done the same way, 
  with a series of small 
  knife cuts that indi-
  cate torture. Is this the 
  Cainite’s work, or that of 
  someone else?
  A player character 
  begins receiving letters 
  and e-mails from some-
  one who claims to be the 
  Cainite. Each one counts 
  down another day to the 
  hero’s supposed death. 
  Is this a real threat, or 
  someone’s sick joke?
  The Cainite begins 
  killing people he feels 
  embody the Seven Car-
  dinal Virtues (Prudence, 
  Justice, Fortitude, Tem-
  perance, Faith, Hope, 
  and Love [Charity]). The 
  heroes have to ﬁgure out 
  who his next victim will 
  be and stop him... pref-
  erably without getting 
  killed themselves.
  
  257 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  EL CONDENADO
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   15 STR 
  5 
  12- 
  Lift 200 kg; 3d6 [3]
   18 DEX 
  24 
  13- 
  OCV:  6/DCV:  6
   20 CON 
  20 
  13-
   14 BODY 8 
  12-
   14 INT 
  4 
  12- 
  PER Roll 12-
   13 EGO 
  6 
  12- 
  ECV:  4
   18 PRE 
  8 
  13- 
  PRE Attack:  3½d6
   11 COM 
  1 
  11-
   6 PD 
  3 
   
  Total:  9 PD (3 rPD)
   6 ED 
  2 
   
  Total:  9 ED (3 rED)
   4 SPD 
  12 
   
  Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
   10 REC 
  6
   40 END 
  0
   32 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  99
  Movement: 
  Running:  7”/14”
  Cost Powers 
  END
   
  Martial Arts:  Knifeﬁghting
    
  Maneuver 
  OCV DCV 
  Damage/Effect
  4 
  Block 
  +2 
  +2 
  Block, Abort
  4 
  Dodge 
  — 
  +5 
  Dodge, Aﬀects 
  All Attacks, 
  Abort
  4 
  Foist 
  +2 
  +0 
  Weapon +2 DC 
  Strike
  3 
  Grab 
  +0 
  -1 
  Grab One Limb, 
  +10 to STR for 
  holding on
  4 
  Slashes 
  +0 
  +2 
  Weapon +2 DC 
  Strike
  5 
  Stabs 
  -2 
  +1 
  Weapon +4 DC 
  Strike
  5 
  Thrusts 
  +1 
  +3 
  Weapon Strike
  2 
  Quick On His Feet:  Running +1” (7” total) 1
   
  Talents
  6 
  Combat Luck (3 PD/3 ED)
   
  Skills
  8 
  +1 with All Combat
  10 
  +2 with Ranged Combat
  16 
  +8 versus Range Modiﬁer with Firearms
  3 
  Climbing 13-
  3 
  Combat Driving 13-
  1 
  Demolitions 8-
  1 
  Lockpicking 8-
  1 
  Security Systems 8-
  7 
  Shadowing 14-
  3 
  Stealth 13-
  4 
  Survival (Desert, Temperate/Subtropical) 12-
  3 
  Tactics 12-
  4 
  TF: Common Motorized Ground Vehicles, 
  Equines, Two-Wheeled Motorized Ground 
  Vehicles
  4  
  WF: Small Arms, Knives, Oﬀ Hand
  3 
  Weaponsmith (Firearms, Muscle-Powered 
  HTH) 12-
   
  Resource Points
  28 
  Equipment Points:  200
  10 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  30
  5 
  Follower/Contact Points:  15
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  151
  Total Cost:  250
  100+ Disadvantages
  20 
  Hunted:  FBI 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Capture)
  20 
  Hunted:  drug cartel (GM’s choice) 8- (Mo 
  Pow, NCI, Kill)
  20 
  Psychological Limitation:  Casual Killer 
  (Very Common, Strong)
  10 
  Social Limitation:  Criminal Record (Occa-
  sionally, Major)
  80 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  250
  Background/History:  And so it all came down to 
  this... his ﬁrst big hit.
  It started so long ago, when he was just a boy, 
  with his grandfather teaching him to hunt. The 
  cartel men, they saw how quick and clever he was... 
  and how good a shot. Soon they began giving him 
  jobs to do:  drugs to carry, federales to look out for, 
  things like that. As he got older, he drove for them, 
  took care of other responsibilities.
  Then they asked him to kill a man.
  One of their people had betrayed them, they 
  said, and a lesson had to be sent. He shrugged his 
  shoulders and agreed; obedience was the route to 
  prosperity and power. He did the job cleanly, with 
  one shot, and they paid him well. Twice after that, 
  they called upon his special talents.
  There came a day when the group of them, the 
  leaders of the cartel, turned on one of their own. 
  Galíndez had betrayed them, they said — taken 
  money for himself that belonged to them all. In 
  such a society, only trust held men together, and 
  when one of them turned his back on that trust, 
  there could be only one response.
  So now he was here, on the hillside above the 
  Galíndez hacienda, hoping to ﬁnish the job and 
  escape before the rain set in. The man was clearly 
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  Barrett 82A1 
  +2 
  +10 
  3d6 
  1d6 
  1 
  15 
  x4 Telescopic Sight
  H&K MP5 
  +1 
  +0 
  1d6+1 
  1d6-1 
  30 
  12 
  AF5
  H&K P7M13 
  +1 
  +0 
  1d6+2 
  1d6-1 
  13 
  9
  Combat Knife +0 
  +0 
  1d6 
  1d6-1 
  — 
  8 
  Can Be Thrown, carries 2-3
  Armor
  Level II-A (DEF 6), Activation Roll 11-
  Gear:  As needed for mission or expected opposition
  Clothing:  Paramilitary garb (fatigues and such)
   EL CONDENADO 
  PLOT SEEDS
  The PCs get word that 
  someone’s hired El Con-
  denado to take them 
  (or one of them) down. 
  Who put out the con-
  tract on them, and how 
  can they deal with the 
  problem without ruin-
  ing whatever investiga-
  tion or mission they’re 
  already on?
  El Condenado chal-
  lenges the PC who’s 
  most like him (the best 
  shot, and/or the one 
  with sniper-type skills) 
  to a “match.” He’ll pick 
  a target, and the PC has 
  to ﬁnd him and shoot 
  him before he gets oﬀ 
  his own shot. The name 
  of the ﬁrst victim is 
  appended to the letter 
  announcing the “con-
  test.”
  An “unnamed” intel-
  ligence agency 
  approaches the PCs. 
  It needs a top-notch, 
  totally deniable sniper 
  for a job. It wants El 
  Condenado, and it 
  wants the PCs to get 
  him for it.
  
  258 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  preparing to go somewhere; there were several 
  cars in the compound, and his men were mill-
  ing about, eager and restless. Then Galíndez 
  himself came out, accompanied by his beauti-
  ful wife and beautiful young daughter.
  This was the moment! This was what 
  he had trained for so long, all those 
  countless hours spent holding a 
  heavy riﬂe in a dozen diﬀerent 
  positions so he wouldn’t cramp 
  up or tire at the worst moment, 
  all those thousands of rounds 
  of ammunition ﬁred at the 
  targets he set up far out in 
  the desert. He brought the 
  crosshairs to bear on Galín-
  dez. His ﬁnger tightened on the 
  trigger, slightly, smoothly, that ﬁrst 
  few pounds of pressure to make 
  the ﬁnal squeeze easier....
  He felt the muzzle of a 
  gun pressed against his head. 
  “Mierda,” he swore softly.
  Galíndez’s men marched him 
  quick to the compound, his hands 
  tied behind him with rough rope. 
  Galíndez smiled when he saw 
  the man who would have ended 
  his life. “So, then, the cartel 
  has condemned me. It seems 
  that now I shall condemn the 
  man they sent against me.” 
  As he said it he laughed, and 
  behind him dark thunder-
  clouds roiled the sky.
  They marched 
  him again, this time 
  out to a tree not far 
  from the compound. He 
  saw them throw the rope over the branch before 
  they yanked a burlap sack over his head. He felt 
  the noose tightened around his neck. And then the 
  pressure, the terrible terrible pressure, as they lifted 
  him into the air. His scream came out as a gurgle. 
  His body twitched helplessly.
  And then — el milagro! There was a bright 
  light, so bright he could see some of it even through 
  the sack, and a thunderclap louder than any he had 
  ever heard... and the pressure ended. He landed 
  hard, twisting his ankle, as he gasped for breath. 
  The already-loose ropes came oﬀ his hands quickly, 
  and he tore oﬀ the sack. He saw Galíndez’s men, 
  blinded and deafened by the thunderbolt, stum-
  bling around in the driving rain. And he saw the 
  pistol one of them had dropped.
  A few moments later, he crept up to the com-
  pound, gun in hand, the storm masking the sounds 
  of his approach. Galíndez was a fool; he had sent 
  too many men out to kill his killer, and the rest had 
  taken shelter in their barracks. Only Galíndez and 
  his family were in the house.
  It was the work of but a minute to ﬁnd Galín-
  dez and put two bullets in his brain. When he was 
  done with the wife and the daughter, he shot them 
  too. Then he stole an SUV and ﬂed, into the storm, 
  into the night, having taken the ﬁrst true step on 
  the path that would be his life. He had earned him-
  self a new name:  El Condenado, the Condemned, 
  the man who survived the death his enemies 
  brought against him and killed them instead.
  Personality/Motivation:  El Condenado is a stone-
  cold killer. At most times he seems like a fairly 
  ordinary guy — laughing, fun-loving, ready to go 
  for a cerveza and chase girls. But there’s a frost that 
  never leaves his eyes, and it doesn’t take much time 
  around him to learn that he sizes up everyone he 
  meets as a potential victim. Anyone who annoys El 
  Condenado is lucky to escape the assassin’s pres-
  ence with his life.
  Quote:  “Adios, puerco.”
  Powers/Tactics:  El Condenado is an assassin, 
  skilled at dispatching his victims in many ways. His 
  preferred method of killing is sniping — it’s quick, 
  it’s clean, and it gives him time to get away after the 
  shot. He’s trained himself to have a sniper’s patience 
  and fortitude; time and again he’s had the stamina 
  and guts to wait for the shot in situations when a 
  lesser assassin would have cut and run.
  When riﬂe shots aren’t feasible, El Condenado 
  is also skilled with pistols and knives; he’s rarely 
  without at least one of both (though usually they 
  remain hidden when he’s not “working”). He favors 
  a two-knife ﬁghting style (to gain the +1 DCV from 
  his WF: Oﬀ Hand); he’ll start slow, with Thrusts 
  and Slashes, working his way up to Foists and Stabs 
  when he feels he’s got a good angle of attack.
  El Condenado still carries in his pocket a 
  tiny knotwork charm made from a bit of the rope 
  Galíndez’s men used to try to hang him. He believes 
  it brings him luck.
  Campaign Use:  As an assassin skilled with long 
  arms, El Condenado presents lots of possible uses 
  in the campaign. The simplest is to send him after 
  the PCs, but that may be too predictable. He might 
  work better as backup or ﬁre support for other 
  criminals instead of as a straightforward attacker.
  As a Hunter, El Condenado is patient and 
  tenacious. He’ll keep a careful watch on his quarry 
  until he ﬁgures out a routine or a weak point in 
  his conduct, then set up for the shot and wait. He’ll 
  wait as long as it takes.
  To make El Condenado tougher, improve 
  some of his Familiarities to full Skills, or give him 
  additional Skills (and perhaps some more All 
  Combat CSLs). To weaken him, reduce his Range 
  Skill Levels and get rid of a couple of his Martial 
  Maneuvers.
  El Condenado is wanted by both the American 
  and Mexican authorities for numerous counts of 
  murder and related crimes.
  Appearance:  El Condenado is a Hispanic male. 
  He’s around 30, with an athletic build, black hair 
  kept short, and a black moustache. He doesn’t wear 
  a uniform of any sort; he favors casual wear and 
  leather jackets when not on the job, and paramili-
  tary garb when stalking a target.
  
  259 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  THE KALEIDOSCOPE MAN
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   15 STR 
  5 
  12- 
  Lift 200 kg; 3d6 [3]
   18 DEX 
  24 
  13- 
  OCV:  6/DCV:  6
   17 CON 
  14 
  12-
   12 BODY 4 
  11-
   20 INT 
  10 
  13- 
  PER Roll 13-
   15 EGO 
  10 
  12- 
  ECV:  5
   18 PRE 
  8 
  13- 
  PRE Attack:  3½d6
   10 COM 
  0 
  11-
   8 PD 
  5 
   
  Total:  5 PD (0 rPD)
   6 ED 
  3 
   
  Total:  6 ED (0 rED)
   4 SPD 
  12 
   
  Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
   8 REC 
  4
   34 END 
  0
   40 STUN 11 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  110
  Movement: 
  Running:  9”/18”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  4 
  Psychomorphing:  Shape Shift (Mental  
  Group, Limited Group of personalities), 
  Costs Endurance Only To Activate (+¼); 
  Extra Time (1 Hour or more; -3), Requires 
  An EGO Roll (-¾) 
  1
   
  Martial Arts: Commando Training
   
  Maneuver 
  OCV DCV 
  Notes
  3 
  Aikido Throw +0 
  +1 
  5d6 + v/5, Target 
  Falls
  4 
  Boxing Cross 
  +0 
  +2 
  7d6 Strike
  4 
  Choke  
  -2 
  +0 
  Grab One Limb, 
  3d6 NND (2)
  4 
  Judo Disarm 
  -1 
  +1 
  Disarm, 35 STR
  4 
  Karate “Chop”  -2 
  +0 
  HKA 1d6 (2d6 
  with STR)
  4 
  Kung Fu Block +2 
  +2 
  Block, Abort
  8 
  +2 Damage Classes (already added in)
  7 
  A Welter Of Personalities:  Mental Defense 
  (10 points total) 
  0
  6 
  Fast:  Running +3” (9” total) 
  1
  6 
  Observant:  +2 PER with all Sense Groups 0
  10 
  Lucky:  Luck 2d6 
  0
   
  Perks
  5 
  Improved Equipment Availability:  Military 
  Equipment
  10 
  Money:  Wealthy
  23 
  Well-Connected and Contacts (20 points’ 
  worth, most limited to a particular personality)
   
  Talents
  3 
  Lightsleep
  3 
  Resistance (3 points)
   
  Skills
  16 
  +2 with All Combat
  3 
  Deduction 13-
  3 
  Disguise 13-
  3 
  Forgery (Documents) 13-
  3 
  KS: The Espionage World 13-
  2 
  KS: The Military/Mercenary/Terrorist World 11-
  3 
  Paramedics 13-
  3 
  Stealth 13-
  8 
  WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common 
  Missile Weapons, Small Arms, Grenade 
  Launchers, Shoulder-Fired Weapons
  2 
  Weaponsmith (Firearms) 13-
  15 
  Skills By Personality:  Variable Power  
  Pool (Skill Pool), 12 base + 6 control cost;  
  No Conscious Control (changes with  
  personality change, see text; -1) 
  0
   
  Resource Points
  48 
  Equipment Points:  300
  15 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  40
  8 
  Follower/Contact Points:  21
  3 
  Miscellaneous Points:  3
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  243
  Total Cost:  353
  100+ Disadvantages
  10 
  Accidental Change:  from one personality to 
  another, under appropriate circumstances as 
  determined by GM (Uncommon), 11-
  20 
  Hunted:  CIA 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Kill)
  15 
  Floating Hunted (see text)
  20 
  Floating Psychological Limitation (see text)
  15 
  Floating Psychological Limitation (see text)
  15 
  Social Limitation:  Secret Identity (Leon) 
  (Frequently, Major)
  158 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  353
  Background/History:  Seward’s dress shoes went 
  clop, clop as he walked down the tiled hallway at 
  Langley. Each clop was crisp and sharp, like the 
  pleats in his pants and the look on his face. And 
  the contents of the file he held in his hand. Yes, it 
  was a sharp file, too sharp indeed, and now it was 
  cutting him to pieces.
  When he ﬁnally got to the unmarked door he 
  wanted — they were all unmarked, but he’d been 
  here often enough to know exactly which one to 
  use — he pressed the intercom button and waited 
  until the secretary buzzed him inside.
  “Is he waiting for me?” he asked her, quietly.
  “Yes,” she said. She didn’t look straight at him.
  Seward walked across the reception room 
  to the sturdy wooden door on the other side. He 
  knocked lightly and then went in, knowing he 
  was expected.
  The furniture in the room was ﬁnely made 
  — nothing but the best for the government’s top 
  employees — and the walls were decorated with 
  military prints and photographs:  Mr. Grey gradu-
  ating from West Point, Mr. Grey with his unit in 
  World War II, Mr. Grey on the deck of the Missouri, 
  Mr. Grey in Korea, Mr. Grey in Vietnam, Mr. Grey 
  at his son’s graduation from West Point.
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  Colt M1911A 
  +1 
  +0 
  2d6-1 
  1d6 
  7 
  9
  H&K MP5 
  +1 
  +0 
  1d6+1 
  1d6-1 
  30 
  12 
  AF5
  Combat Knife +0 
  +0 
  1d6 
  1d6-1 
  — 
  8 
  Can Be Thrown
  Armor
  Varies, based on personality and mission
  Gear:  Varies, based on personality and mission
  Clothing:  Varies, based on personality and mission
  
  260 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  The man himself sat behind the desk at the far 
  end of the room, older than he appeared in most of 
  the photographs, but still obviously the same man. 
  He was reclined in his chair, reading a report of 
  some sort. As Seward walked up to the desk and sat 
  down opposite him, he sat up, put down the report, 
  and said, “Morning, Seward, how are you?” It was 
  a friendly question, but the cold look on his face 
  belied the friendliness.
  “Just ﬁne, sir,” Seward answered.
  “Good. Then do you mind telling me just what 
  the Hell is going on with Project: Leon?”
  “Yes, sir. There have been unforeseen... com-
  plications.”
  “Damn right there have. According to this 
  report, we’ve lost how many people so far? Five?”
  “Yes, sir — the director of the Project and the 
  four scientists who assisted him. Three of them 
  were shot, one poisoned with strychnine, one stran-
  gled. Each was killed in his home or his car.”
  “And you’re telling me it’s the subject of the 
  Project that’s done all this?” Mr. Grey waved the 
  report at Seward to emphasize his point.
  “That’s what we suspect, sir. No one else has 
  the knowledge to do it, except me — and I’ve got 
  alibis,” he added hastily.
  “So what happened? What went wrong?”
  Seward smiled thinly, grateful for the chance 
  to descend into technical explanations. “Well, as 
  you know, sir, Project:  Leon was an attempt to 
  create a “multi-taskable” intelligence agent. Follow-
  ing the success of the American Flag project....”
  “I’ve seen the reports on that, Seward — and 
  the newspaper clippings. I don’t know if you can 
  call that one a complete success.”
  “Errr, no, sir — what I meant was that he 
  performed adequately in the field. We decided to 
  attempt a slightly different task, programming a 
  human with a dozen different personalities and 
  careers, giving us an agent who could fit into a 
  wide variety of environments and perform many 
  different types of operations. The personali-
  ties selected, and the “donors” who provided 
  the necessary information and life histories, are 
  described in the report.”
  “The subject of the Project was a 13-year-
  old autistic boy named Leon. Using sophisticated 
  “brainwashing” techniques and data implanta-
  tion methods ﬁrst developed for the American 
  Flag project, we “erased” what little personality 
  he had and began substituting the ones we had 
  constructed, bits at a time. As he gained suﬃcient 
  knowledge of a particular subject, we would test 
  him, train him, and educate him further to assure 
  that he was properly assimilating the data.
  “After almost a dozen years of work, the twelve 
  personalities had all been successfully implanted. We’d 
  taken a thirteen-year-old mental cripple and turned 
  him into the perfect espionage agent, a man who 
  could eﬀortlessly assume any one of a dozen cover 
  identities and portray them ﬂawlessly — because they 
  weren’t covers, they were his actual identities!” Seward 
  couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice, though 
  he knew he wasn’t here to gloat — even after what had 
  happened, he was still proud of his “pupil.”
  “We sent Leon into the ﬁeld immediately, 
  employing his “Omega” identity to obtain the plans 
  for certain microchips whose capabilities inter-
  ested the Agency. For several years after that, we 
  employed Leon extensively; all of his identities saw 
  repeated use.”
  “But your psychologists told you something 
  was wrong with him, didn’t they?” Mr. Grey 
  accused.
  “Not exactly, sir. They indicated he had occa-
  sional “lapses” when he accidentally switched per-
  sonalities or forgot who he was. We checked him 
  extensively, but we were never able to determine the 
  exact cause of this phenomenon. It never endan-
  gered any of his missions.”
  “Until the last one.”  It was a statement, not 
  a question.
  “Yes, sir,” Seward said sourly. “We had switched 
  him over to his “Aquarius” personality to get him 
  to smuggle some data into Estonia. He kept his ﬁrst 
  two check-in times, but after that — nothing. He 
  just vanished. We assumed his mission had been 
  uncovered and he’d been killed by Russian agents. 
  But several months ago people associated with the 
  project were murdered, one by one, and we now 
  must assume that he is alive.”
  “So, what happened to him?” Mr. Grey asked 
  exasperatedly.
  “We’re not sure, sir. I’ve had some of the 
  Agency psychologists — top men, sir — evaluate 
  the case, and I even called in some of the FBI’s men 
  on a pretense. Their best estimate, based on a study 
  of his creation and the slight “deterioration” in the 
  separation of his personalities, is that somehow the 
  “barriers” we constructed to keep his personalities 
  distinct have weakened, or possibly even collapsed 
  entirely. As a result, not only is he going to ﬂuctu-
  ate uncontrollably between one personality and 
  another, but all of them are likely to become much 
  more violent — possibly even sociopathic. A couple 
  of the experts also speculated that he may have 
  developed one or more additional personalities 
  besides the ones we programmed into him. God 
  knows what they might be, but one thing’s certain 
  — they won’t be pleasant.”
  “Jesus,” Mr. Grey said, astonished in spite of 
  himself at the things the Agency could do — and 
  how badly they could screw them up. “So, Seward, 
  what do you intend to do about your baby?”
  “We’re doing our best to ﬁnd him, sir, I prom-
  ise you that. We’ve got agents on alert for him all 
  over the world. We’ll ﬁnd him.”
  “You’d better, Seward. I can only keep this from 
  the President for so long. If you don’t ﬁnd him, it’s 
  going to mean your job — and a helluva lot of lives. 
  Get out of here and get him back.”
  “Yes, sir!”  Seward said, then rose and turned 
  to go.
  Personality/Motivation:  The Kaleidoscope Man has 
  no set personality to speak of. Instead, he has thir-
  teen diﬀerent personalities he switches between:  
  the twelve the CIA programmed into him, and 
  another one, which calls itself “the Kaleidoscope 
  Man,” that arose because of the breakdown of the 
  barriers between the other twelve and the mingling 
  SKILLS BY  
  PERSONALITY
  Each of the Kaleido-
  scope Man’s personali-
  ties has up to 12 points’ 
  worth of Skills it obtains 
  through his Power Pool. 
  Here are the Skills each 
  personality possesses:
  Aquarius:  Cryptogra-
  phy 13-, Navigation 
  (Marine) 13-, TFs (all 
  Wind-Powered, Motor-
  ized, and Military water-
  craft, and Submarines)
  Buckingham:  Gambling 
  (Cards) 13-, High Soci-
  ety 13-, Seduction 13-, 
  TFs (Basic Parachuting, 
  Hanggliding, SCUBA, 
  Skiing)
  The Captain:  Combat 
  Driving 13-, Cryptogra-
  phy 13-, Systems Opera-
  tion 13-, Tactics 13-
  César:  Combat Driv-
  ing 13-, Demolitions 
  13-, Language: Spanish 
  (completely ﬂuent), 
  Mechanics 13-
  Ernie:  CK: Hudson 
  City 13-, Streetwise 13-, 
  Survival (Urban) 13-
  Judas:  Bureaucratics 
  13-, Gambling (Cards) 
  13-, KS: World Arms 
  Industry 11-, Language: 
  Spanish (ﬂuent conver-
  sation), Persuasion 13-
  Kennedy:  Conversation 
  13-,  High Society 13-, 
  Persuasion 13-, Seduc-
  tion 13-
  Mercury:  Combat Driv-
  ing 13-, Streetwise 13-, 
  Systems Operation 13-, 
  Tactics 13-
  Mr. Hyde:  Climbing 
  13-, Combat Driving 
  13-, Demolitions 13-, 
  Gambling (Cards) 13-
  Omega:  Climbing 13-, 
  Electronics 13-, Lock-
  picking 13-, Security 
  Systems 13-
  Pavlov:  KS: The Aca-
  demic World 11-, SS: 
  Psychology 13-
  Vendetta:  Combat 
  Driving 13-, Com-
  puter Programming 
  13-, Lockpicking 13-, 
  Streetwise 13-
  
  261 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  of bits and pieces of other personalities and the 
  programmed instructions the CIA placed in him. 
  Although most of his personalities used to be rela-
  tively stable, now they are all violently psychotic, 
  some moreso than others, and the Kaleidoscope 
  Man most of all.
  In game terms, the shifting of the Kaleido-
  scope Man’s personae is represented as (a) Mental 
  Sense Group Shape Shift, (b) ﬂoating Hunteds and 
  Psychological Limitations, and (c) a Variable Power 
  Pool representing Skills each personality has (in 
  addition to ones they all have, which are bought 
  normally). (For the Kaleidoscope Man personal-
  ity, the GM should randomly choose 12 points’ 
  worth of Skills from the various personalities.) 
  He uses Disguise to make appropriate altera-
  tions to his appearance for each personality, 
  so it’s possible for a Hunter to pursue “one of 
  him” without knowing the other personalities 
  are actually the same person.
  Leon’s personalities are:
  Aquarius:  A former United States Navy 
  oﬃcer with an extensive background in 
  ship operations and related subjects. This 
  personality was intended for use in smuggling, 
  investigation of enemy naval activities, and 
  similar missions.
  Aquarius’s Psychological Limitations are 
  Hatred Of Russians and Greedy And Self-Centered 
  (formerly American Patriot, but like most of the 
  “good” aspects of Leon’s personalities, this changed 
  as he suﬀered his breakdown). His Hunted is a 
  Colombian drug cartel (GM’s choice) whose smug-
  gling operations he once exposed.
  Buckingham:  A suave, sophisticated espionage 
  agent along the lines of James Bond. The Kaleido-
  scope Man prefers to use this personality when ﬁrst 
  meeting with many prospective employers, since 
  Buckingham presents himself as knowledgeable 
  and competent. Behind this facade, Buckingham is 
  a vicious killer who enjoys “cat-and-mouse” games 
  with his enemies.
  Buckingham’s Psychological Limita-
  tions are Casual Killer and Sadist. His 
  Hunted is the British secret service, since 
  he often pretends to be a member (or 
  former member) of that organization.
  The Captain:  A former Army oﬃcer, the 
  Captain was designed to be Leon’s iden-
  tity for defense intelligence and military 
  installation inﬁltration missions. He 
  serves a similar function for the Kaleido-
  scope Man.
  The Captain’s Psychological Limitations are 
  Ruthless and American Patriot (the only personal-
  ity to retain this Limitation; for this reason, the 
  Kaleidoscope Man has to be careful not to use the 
  Captain on missions which are not in the interests 
  of the United States). His Hunted is the PLRL.
  César:  César is a radical left-wing revolution-
  ary and terrorist. This personality was designed 
  so that the CIA could inﬁltrate such groups and 
  bring them down from within. They did their job 
  too well; César now espouses left-wing radicalism 
  wholeheartedly, which causes the Kaleidoscope 
  Man no end of problems.
  César’s Psychological Limitations are Casual 
  Killer and Left-Wing Radical. His Hunted is vari-
  
  262 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  ous South and Central American law enforcement 
  agencies and military groups.
  Ernie:  Ernie is a street person, no diﬀerent from 
  most homeless men... except that he habitually car-
  ries a couple of knives and a loaded pistol and isn’t 
  afraid to use them if you bother him. Ernie was 
  originally designed as a “disguise” for Leon, allow-
  ing him to get close to any urban target without 
  exciting suspicion. He serves that same function for 
  the Kaleidoscope Man.
  Ernie’s Psychological Limitations are Casual 
  Killer and Must Attack From Surprise (i.e., he 
  doesn’t openly assault targets, he always tries an 
  ambush; if the ambush fails, he ﬂees). His Hunted 
  is the Hudson City Police Department, who wants 
  him for questioning regarding a murder-for-hire he 
  committed last year.
  Judas:  Judas is a dealer in illegal arms and illicit 
  information. Whatever you want, he can get it for 
  you, or ﬁnd it out — but be careful, he has a well-
  deserved reputation for treachery (such as selling 
  his clients out to a higher bidder).
  Judas’s Psychological Limitations are Casual 
  Killer and Greedy Backstabber. His Hunted is vari-
  ous Organizatsiya gangs he’s double-crossed.
  Kennedy:  A clever dilettante whose debonair atti-
  tude and personal élan grant him access to the 
  homes of the rich and famous, where he can usually 
  dig up all sorts of useful dirt on the defense indus-
  try, oﬀshore investments, and even the drug trade.
  Kennedy’s Psychological Limitations are Bored 
  Dilettante and Sadist (something that a few women 
  who thought Kennedy was a good “catch” found out 
  about, to their sorrow, in his bedroom). His Hunted 
  is a private detective agency hired by the father of 
  one such woman; this agency is less than concerned 
  about any harm that might befall Kennedy while 
  they try to apprehend him or after they turn him 
  over to their employer.
  Mercury:  A heartless mercenary, a man who’ll do 
  anything for money. The CIA intended this person-
  ality for use in inﬁltrating the mercenary under-
  ground; the Kaleidoscope Man has found it to be 
  one of his most useful personae.
  Mercury’s Psychological Limitations are 
  Casual Killer and Anything For Money. His Hunted 
  is various merc teams he’s betrayed.
  Mr. Hyde:  Mr. Hyde was the CIA’s name for Leon’s 
  assassin personality. Now that several of the Kalei-
  doscope Man’s personalities have assassin-like 
  tendencies, Mr. Hyde has become even worse:  he 
  is a savage, bestial killer, one who likes to beat or 
  strangle his victims to death. Mr. Hyde has the least 
  morality and self-control of any of the Kaleido-
  scope Man’s personalities. It’s a rare thing for Mr. 
  Hyde to walk away from a mission not covered in 
  blood... and reveling in that state.
  Mr. Hyde’s Psychological Limitations are 
  Casual Killer and Brutal And Sadistic. His Hunted 
  is the Hudson City Police Department.
  Omega:  Omega is a cat burglar. The CIA used him 
  more than any other personality, for he was very 
  good at obtaining data and other things the CIA 
  wanted. The Kaleidoscope Man uses him similarly, 
  but for his own beneﬁt.
  Omega’s Psychological Limitations are Thrill-
  seeker and Greedy. His Hunted is the National Secu-
  rity Administration, from whom he recently stole 
  some extremely valuable computer components.
  Pavlov:  Pavlov, a psychiatrist, was the CIA’s link to 
  the world of psychology, where they hoped to pick 
  up information on recruits and other “potential 
  assets.” Pavlov was also to serve as a therapist for 
  other agents. The Kaleidoscope Man uses this per-
  sonality the least of all.
  Pavlov’s Psychological Limitations are Fas-
  cination With Psychology and Obeys The Hippo-
  cratic Oath. His Hunted is the American Medical 
  Association, which has a few questions for him 
  concerning his license to practice medicine and his 
  “unorthodox” therapy methods.
  Vendetta:  Vendetta is a vigilante crimeﬁghter the 
  CIA hoped to use to gather information on other 
  such crimeﬁghters. Vendetta’s programming is still 
  relatively intact, for some reason, and the Kaleido-
  scope Man avoids using the personality unless he 
  absolutely has to.
  Vendetta’s Psychological Limitations are Devo-
  tion To Justice and Vigilante Mentality. His Hunted 
  is the Maﬁa.
  The Kaleidoscope Man, Leon’s thirteenth per-
  sonality, dominates “the Others” (as he refers to his 
  additional twelve personalities), and is more ruth-
  less and antisocial than any of them. He cares only 
  for himself, will do just about anything (no matter 
  how evil) for money or some other beneﬁt (even 
  just for fun), and has absolutely no qualms about 
  killing. He revels in bloodshed and chaos, and tries 
  to inﬂuence the other personalities to do likewise. 
  He would love to expunge the Others and keep 
  Leon’s body for himself, but as yet has found no 
  way to do this. 
  The Kaleidoscope Man’s control over the 
  Others is not complete, however. When in “his” 
  personality, he can switch to another personality by 
  meditating and concentrating for an hour or more, 
  then succeeding with an EGO Roll. After that, it 
  may be days, weeks, or even months before he can 
  reassert control; in the meantime, Leon may have 
  experienced dozens of personality shifts.
  None of Leon’s personalities is stable; all of 
  them are subject to sudden bouts of forgetfulness 
  or complete changes. These changes (represented 
  by his Accidental Change Disadvantage) are most 
  likely to occur when he’s bored or directionless. 
  They almost never happen in stressful situa-
  tions (such as when he’s in the middle of stealing 
  something or involved in a ﬁreﬁght), but this has 
  occurred once or twice in the past, when Leon was 
  badly wounded but not knocked unconscious. The 
  GM should determine randomly which personality 
  emerges when Leon involuntarily psychomorphs.
  KALEIDOSCOPE 
  MAN PLOT SEEDS
  Enemies of one of the 
  PCs hire Mercury (or 
  Mr. Hyde) to kill that 
  PC. Halfway through 
  the mission, a second 
  personality takes over, 
  leaving the PC baﬄed as 
  to his hunter’s sudden 
  change of tactics.
  The Vendetta personal-
  ity becomes dominant 
  for a period of several 
  weeks and works a few 
  missions with the PCs. 
  Then it’s replaced by 
  Mr. Hyde or one of the 
  other particularly nasty 
  personalities, and the 
  PCs have to ﬁgure out 
  why the person whose 
  picture was taken by a 
  security camera while he 
  was killing an electron-
  ics company executive is 
  their former ally.
  The CIA gets a line on 
  the Kaleidoscope Man, 
  but doesn’t dare go after 
  him directly. It decides 
  to manipulate the PCs 
  into bringing him in... or 
  killing him.
  
  263 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  The Others are dimly aware that they’re not 
  entirely “whole,” but most ignore or rationalize this 
  and come up with odd explanations for what hap-
  pened to them during the “blank periods” in which 
  other personalities were dominant. Thanks to the 
  CIA’s indoctrination, each personality usually has 
  no trouble believing these self-made explanations 
  and adopting them as the total truth. Important 
  facts (such as the nature and goals of the current 
  mission) often “carry over” from one personality to 
  another when a switch takes place.
  The Kaleidoscope Man personality is some-
  what aware of what happens when he’s possessed 
  by one of the other personalities; what occurs 
  when they are dominant seems to him like a fuzzy, 
  half-forgotten dream. Fortunately for him, several 
  of them (Aquarius, Buckingham, César, Judas, 
  and Vendetta) keep journals or elaborate records, 
  enabling him to ﬁnd out what some of his “other 
  selves” have been up to.
  Quote:  None.
  Powers/Tactics:  The Kaleidoscope Man possesses a 
  variety of combat- and mission-oriented Skills (in 
  addition to the Skills each separate personality has). 
  In any personality, he ﬁghts cleverly, eﬃciently, and 
  ruthlessly; for most of them, their goals in combat 
  are (1) ensure that they can escape safely, and (2) 
  inﬂict as much damage upon the enemy as possible. 
  The Kaleidoscope Man’s psychotic brutality often 
  blends into the other personalities in combat, push-
  ing them to do things that they might not consider 
  otherwise (for example, Vendetta will kill innocents 
  to get at a criminal, Omega will kill an unsuspect-
  ing guard when he could simply escape unseen).
  Each personality equips itself out of the Equip-
  ment Points as appropriate to the mission and its 
  temperament. For example, Omega usually takes gad-
  gets designed to help him sneak into places and steal 
  things; Mr. Hyde takes heavy weapons and explosives.
  Campaign Use:  The Kaleidoscope Man is a strange 
  opponent — one the PCs might encounter a dozen 
  times before realizing the scope of what he is 
  and what he can do. He’s an extremely dangerous 
  Hunter, since if he can’t get at his target one way, 
  he’ll shift personalities and try another approach... 
  and once he ﬁxates on someone, he never, ever 
  stops pursuing them until he kills them.
  To make the Kaleidoscope Man tougher, give 
  him more Skills that he can use in all his person-
  alities, and perhaps a Deadly Blow Talent or some 
  Combat Luck. To weaken him, reduce his Variable 
  Power Pool slightly, trim his Characteristics down a 
  bit, and get rid of his Extra Damage Classes.
  Most of the Kaleidoscope Man’s personalities 
  have a criminal record; some of them have even 
  spent time in jail. It is only a matter of time before 
  a records check reveals that several criminals have 
  the exact same ﬁngerprints; from there, a clever and 
  determined investigator may be able to unravel the 
  Kaleidoscope Man’s story.
  Appearance:  The Kaleidoscope Man is a trim, well-
  developed man in his early thirties with blond hair, 
  blue eyes, and a handsome face to go with them. He 
  is six feet tall and weighs 175 pounds. He dresses 
  (and disguises himself) appropriately for his per-
  sonality and its mission.
  
  264 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  SHANGO
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   20 STR 
  10 
  13- 
  Lift 400 kg; 4d6 [4]
   14 DEX 
  12 
  12- 
  OCV:  5/DCV:  5
   20 CON 
  20 
  13-
   20 BODY 20 
  13-
   13 INT 
  3 
  12- 
  PER Roll 12-
   10 EGO 
  0 
  11- 
  ECV:  3
   20 PRE 
  10 
  13- 
  PRE Attack:  4d6
   10 COM 
  0 
  11- 
   8 PD 
  4 
   
  Total:  8 PD (0 rPD)
   6 ED 
  2 
   
  Total:  6 ED (0 rED)
   3 SPD 
  6 
   
  Phases:  4, 8, 12
   10 REC 
  4
   40 END 
  0
   50 STUN 10 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  101
  Movement: 
  Running:  6”/12”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  13 
  Brawler:  HA +4d6; Hand-To-Hand  
  Attack (-½) 
  2
  20 
  Can Take A Punch:  Physical Damage  
  Reduction, Resistant, 50%; Requires A  
  CON Roll (no Active Point penalty; -¼), 
  Character Must Be Aware Of Attack (-¼) 0
   
  Perks
  5 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Membership (leader of his 
  own gang)
  3 
  Improved Equipment Availability:  Street-
  Level
  5 
  Money:  Well Oﬀ
  12 
  Vehicle:  customized civilian Humvee
   
  Talents
  5 
  Rapid Healing
   
  Skills
  10 
  +2 HTH
  3 
  Bribery 13-
  3 
  Concealment 12-
  6 
  Gambling (Card Games, Dice Games, Sports 
  Betting) 12-
  3 
  Interrogation 13-
  5 
  CK: Freetown 14-
  2 
  KS: African History And Cultures 11-
  2 
  KS: African Myths And Legends 11-
  5 
  KS: Freetown Gang World 14-
  2 
  KS: Professional Sports 11-
  3 
  Oratory 13-
  2 
  PS: Drug Dealing 11-
  2 
  PS: Play Football 11-
  3 
  Stealth 12-
  3 
  Streetwise 13-
  3 
  WF: Small Arms, Knives
   
  Resource Points
  8 
  Equipment Points:  100
  10 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  30
  15 
  Follower/Contact Points:  35
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  153
  Total Cost:  254
  100+ Disadvantages
  20 
  Hunted:  HCPD 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Capture)
  15 
  Hunted:  Buckshot 11- (As Pow, Kill)
  15 
  Hunted:  Strad 11- (As Pow, Kill)
  20 
  Psychological Limitation:  Casual Killer 
  (Very Common, Strong)
  15 
  Psychological Limitation:  Hunting Buckshot 
  And Strad (Common, Strong)
  10 
  Social Limitation:  Criminal Record (Occa-
  sionally, Major)
  59 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  254
  Background/History:  Everett Robinson’s story 
  diﬀers little from that of many other Freetown 
  boys:  neither the love nor tears of his mother and 
  grandmother could drown out the siren song of the 
  streets. Before he was ten, he was running around 
  with gangs; by his mid-teens, he was a major playa 
  in the Nubians.
  He killed for the ﬁrst time when he was only 
  thirteen. On the streets, it’s all about respect. An 
  older boy from another gang dissed him in public, 
  in front of dozens of people, and that couldn’t go 
  unanswered. The ﬁght didn’t last long. Ignoring 
  the switchblade the other guy stuck into his arm, 
  Everett beat him to death with his bare hands. As 
  he stood over the corpse, blood dripping from his 
  ﬁsts and the knife still sticking out of his bicep, his 
  reputation was assured. No one ever dared to dis 
  him again.
  But Everett had something most other gang-
  bangers didn’t:  the intelligence to see beyond his 
  circumstances. By his late teens, he realized gang 
  life wasn’t going to take him anywhere. Sure, he was 
  making good money, but that couldn’t last. Sooner 
  or later he’d age out, or get killed or crippled, and 
  that was it. He wouldn’t accept that. He wanted 
  more — power, money, fame, respect.
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots 
  STR Min 
  Notes
  Casull Fieldgrade 
  +1 
  +0 
  2d6+1 
  1d6 
  5 
  12
  Baretta 92 
  +0 
  +0 
  1d6+1 
  1d6-1 
  15 
  9
  Baretta 93R 
  +0 
  +0 
  1d6+1 
  1d6-1 
  20 
  11 
  AF3, RC1
  Sawed-oﬀ 12 gauge 
  +0 
  +0 
  2½d6 
  1d6 
  2 
  12 
  AEC, AF2, RR, RP
  Combat Knife 
  +0 
  +0 
  1d6 
  1d6-1 
  — 
  8 
  Can Be Thrown
  Armor
  Usually none, but he may put on Level II or III body armor if he knows he’s about to get into a gun battle
  Gear:  Shango has enough money and connections to obtain whatever he wants, within reason.
  Clothing:  A dashiki or like garb, lots of gaudy jewelry
  SHANGO  
  PLOT SEEDS
  Shango’s cut a deal with 
  one of the Colombian 
  cartels to get in a big 
  shipment of cocaine 
  that may allow him to 
  corner the Freetown 
  market by undercut-
  ting his competition. It 
  would help if the com-
  petition was feeling the 
  heat at the same time, 
  so he manipulates the 
  PCs into attacking them 
  while he rolls out the 
  discount crack.
  Shango decides he’s had 
  enough of Strad and 
  starts an all-out war 
  in the streets. Before 
  more innocent people 
  get hurt, the PCs have 
  to ﬁnd a way to broker 
  a peace agreement 
  between these two arch-
  enemies.
  A prominent anti-Afro-
  centrist scholar goes 
  “missing” while visiting 
  Hudson City for a series 
  of lectures. It’s a good 
  bet Shango kidnapped 
  him and is “educating” 
  him on the “truth” of 
  things. The PCs need 
  to ﬁnd the prof and get 
  him back before Shango 
  loses his temper and 
  beats the man to death.
  
  265 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  He ﬁnally realized that the only way he’d get 
  that would be to break away from the gangs and 
  start one of his own — become a crimelord, in 
  other words. In 2001 he put his plan into motion, 
  walking away from the Nubians with several 
  sets loyal to him. War in the streets followed; the 
  Nubians weren’t willing to give up the turf, and the 
  Warriors saw weakness they could exploit. But 
  Everett, now calling himself “Shango” from the 
  Yoruban god of thunder, had the discipline to 
  ﬁght for and keep what he’d taken, and the 
  cleverness to manipulate some of his ene-
  mies into ﬁghting each other or accept-
  ing a truce with him on his terms. In 
  the years since then, he’s become one 
  of the most powerful, if not the most 
  powerful, criminal in Freetown. He’s 
  gotten everything he wanted... and now 
  he wants more of it.
  Personality/Motivation:  Shango is just a 
  gangbanger writ large. He’s got the intellect 
  and self-control to run a criminal empire, but he 
  still thinks in gang terms:  us versus them; respect 
  versus being dissed; violence as a solution to almost 
  any problem; bling-bling, cool guns, fancy cars. He 
  kills without hesitation, sometimes even when it 
  would be better for him to leave someone alive. He 
  spends lavishly in support of his organization; this 
  ensures loyalty (and keeps a lot of police heat oﬀ 
  him), but leaves him with much less money than 
  one would expect from the volume of drugs he 
  moves.
  Shango’s a die-hard Afrocentrist. He can 
  show you how African civilizations are respon-
  sible for pretty much every major invention 
  and cultural advance that mankind’s ever 
  devised — just ask him.
  Quote:  “We are all brothers together... but 
  brothers under the command of one leader!”
  Powers/Tactics:  Shango doesn’t do much ﬁghting 
  anymore — he’s got people to do that for him. But 
  he still carries at least one gun with him every-
  where he goes, just in case. Despite that, he favors 
  hand-to-hand combat over shooting; nothing’s 
  better than pummeling an enemy into submission 
  (or death) with his ﬁsts.
  Campaign Use:  Shango is one of several crimelords 
  or factions competing for bigger pieces of the Free-
  town pie. As such he might see the PCs as a threat 
  to be eliminated, a potential ally (if he can con-
  vince them he’s a lesser evil they should support), 
  or a tool he could manipulate into attacking his 
  enemies. He’s more than just someone for them to 
  ﬁght; he’s a clever, street-smart opponent who’s sur-
  vived in Freetown longer than many of them have 
  been alive. Taking him down should be anything 
  but a simple matter.
  If you want to make Shango tougher, give 
  him some Martial Arts (Dirty Inﬁghting and/or 
  Wrestling, probably), increase his SPD to 4, or 
  give him more super-skills or Combat Skill Levels. 
  To weaken him, reduce his Characteristics (thus 
  emphasizing that he’s gotten more “soft” as he’s 
  aged) or remove his Levels with HTH Combat.
  If there’s one thing life on the streets has 
  taught Shango, it’s the importance of maintaining 
  “face” and getting revenge on anyone who wrongs 
  you. This makes him a determined and patient 
  Hunter... but not a stupid one. He knows that rush-
  ing out to seek vengeance at the ﬁrst opportunity 
  has gotten a lot of people dead, so he watches and 
  waits for the best chance at his foe.
  Shango has an extensive criminal record for 
  drug dealing, theft, assault, attempted murder, and a 
  host of other crimes. The police currently want him 
  in connection with many more charges, includ-
  ing several murders, but can’t ﬁnd him or get close 
  to him (in part because of the bribes he spreads 
  around parts of the Department).
  Appearance:  Shango is a black male in his late 30s 
  or early 40s. He’s a big bull of a man, standing 6’4” 
  tall and weighing nearly 300 pounds. His broad 
  shoulders and still-somewhat-muscular arms show 
  how immensely strong he once was, but as time 
  has passed he’s become overweight, even corpulent. 
  His face betrays both his cleverness and his cruelty. 
  He usually wears African-style clothing such as 
  dashikis.
  
  266 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  SIDDHARTHA
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   12 STR 
  2 
  11- 
  Lift 133 kg; 2d6 [2]
   14 DEX 
  12 
  12- 
  OCV:  5/DCV:  5
   13 CON 
  6 
  12-
   10 BODY 0 
  11-
   13 INT 
  3 
  12- 
  PER Roll 12-
   10 EGO 
  0 
  11- 
  ECV:  3
   15 PRE 
  5 
  12- 
  PRE Attack:  3d6
   12 COM 
  1 
  11-
   5 PD 
  3 
   
  Total:  5 PD (0 rPD)
   4 ED 
  1 
   
  Total:  4 ED (0 rED)
   3 SPD 
  6 
   
  Phases:  4, 8, 12
   5 REC 
  0
   26 END 
  0
   23 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  39
  Movement: 
  Running:  6”/12”
  Cost Powers 
  END
  3 
  Observant:  +1 PER with all Sense Groups 0
   
  Perks
  2 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Concealed Weapon Permit
  5 
  Improved Equipment Availability:  Military 
  Equipment
  15 
  Money:  Filthy Rich
   
  Skills
  3 
  Acting 12-
  3 
  Combat Driving 12-
  1 
  Computer Programming 8-
  3 
  Demolitions 12-
  3 
  Disguise 12-
  1 
  Electronics 8-
  1 
  Forgery (Documents) 8-
  3 
  High Society 12-
  2 
  CK: Hudson City 11-
  3 
  KS: Hudson City Society 12-
  1 
  Lockpicking 8-
  1 
  Security Systems 8-
  3 
  Stealth 12-
  1 
  Streetwise 8-
  2 
  WF: Small Arms
   
  Resource Points
  38 
  Equipment Points:  250
  20 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  50
  5 
  Follower/Contact Points:  15
  1 
  Miscellaneous Points:  1
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  120
  Total Cost:  159
  100+ Disadvantages
  20 
  Psychological Limitation:  Homicidal Hatred 
  Of The Underclass (Common, Total)
  15 
  Social Limitation:  Secret Identity (Roderick 
  Thorpe) (Frequently, Major)
  24 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  159
  Background/History:  “Ewww. Daddy, what’s that?”
  “That’s a homeless man, son.”
  “What’s he doing digging around in that  
  trashcan?”
  “He’s probably looking for something to eat.”
  The thought was almost revolting enough 
  to make Roddie throw up. “Why would he eat 
  something that’s been thrown in the garbage? Why 
  doesn’t he just buy some lunch?”
  “He doesn’t have any money, son. That’s why 
  he’s homeless.”
  “Why doesn’t the government do something 
  about him — send him away somewhere, so we 
  don’t have to look at him?”
  Father chuckled indulgently. “That’s not the 
  way society works, son. Some people are lucky 
  and have everything they want or need — like us. 
  Others aren’t so lucky. It’s our responsibility to help 
  them, not drive them away.” Then the light turned 
  green and the Thorpe limousine glided on, leaving 
  the homeless man behind.
  Claude Thorpe’s lessons in civic responsibil-
  ity didn’t take, then or later. The image of that 
  homeless man — a bestial thing who rooted 
  through trash for scraps of food — stuck in 
  Roderick Thorpe’s mind forever. And the more 
  he saw of society, the more revolted he became. 
  How could people allow this sort of foulness to 
  exist in their midst? Good people knew how to 
  behave, and could afford to support themselves 
  properly (even if they weren’t rich like Rod and 
  all his friends). It was wrong to tolerate people 
  who couldn’t be proper members of society; they 
  needed to be removed. That was the best thing 
  for everyone.
  But as he grew older and more aware, Rod-
  erick realized society tolerated them to an extent 
  he’d never dreamed. My God, the government 
  paid these people to be poor! It paid them to sit 
  around, unemployed, with half a dozen children 
  by half a dozen different fathers, doing nothing 
  worthwhile or beneficial. They were leeching off 
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  H&K Mk 23 
  +1 
  +1 
  2d6-1 
  1d6 
  12 
  10 
  Sil (-3), FS, Laser, 3 clips
  H&K UMP 
  +1 
  +1 
  2d6-1 
  1d6 
  25 
  11 
  AF5, 2 clips
  H&K G33 
  +1 
  +2 
  2d6 
  1d6 
  25 
  15 
  AF5, FS
  Combat Knife +0 
  +0 
  1d6 
  1d6-1 
  — 
  8 
  Can Be Thrown
  Armor
  Level II-A (DEF 6, Activation Roll 11-)
  Gear:  With his wealth, Siddhartha can obtain just about anything he needs, within reason
  Clothing:  in his civilian identity, the ﬁnest men’s clothes; when on a mission, the ﬁnest actionwear available
  SIDDHARTHA  
  PLOT SEEDS
  The classic Siddhartha 
  plot:  he kills a large 
  group of poor people 
  (for example, he ﬁre-
  bombs a welfare clinic). 
  The public outcry 
  targets all vigilantes, 
  not just him, making 
  the characters’ jobs as 
  crimeﬁghters more dif-
  ﬁcult... which means it’s 
  up to them to track him 
  down and stop him to 
  prove they’re not the 
  same as him.
  A wealthy PC meets 
  Roderick Thorpe 
  socially and strikes up a 
  friendship (or, if female, 
  a romantic relationship) 
  with him. What hap-
  pens if the PCs discover 
  he’s Siddhartha? Or if 
  Roderick decides they’re 
  sympathetic to his goals 
  and recruits them to 
  form a team?
  A group of jaded, 
  wealthy teens decides 
  Siddhartha’s got the 
  right idea. Forming a 
  group they call “the 
  Rat Pack,” they start 
  “helping” him by killing 
  homeless people. Now 
  the PCs have a whole 
  team of these quasi-vigi-
  lantes to stop.
  
  267 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  society, and all people could talk about was how 
  “unfortunate” they were. Something ought to be 
  done, he thought.
  Matters came to a head when he was 22. His 
  limousine was late picking him up, so he walked 
  down the street to a place where he could hail a 
  cab. He didn’t like cabs — they smelled, and the 
  drivers barely spoke English — but it was better 
  than waiting. An aggressive homeless person 
  accosted him, looking for a handout. Roderick 
  tried to give him the brushoff, but the man kept 
  following him, shouting and gesticulating, hurl-
  ing all sorts of filthy insults. Finally, Roderick 
  lost his temper. Pulling the concealed pistol he 
  carried with him whenever he had to go into the 
  city, he spun around and shot the man five times. 
  Shocked by what he’d done, he ran for his life, 
  eventually finding a hiding place in an alley.
  He lurked in the alley for two hours, but no 
  one found him. Eventually fear turned to amaze-
  ment, then exultation. He’d gotten away with it! 
  More importantly, he’d done something to clean up 
  the streets — one less poor person made society 
  better. Maybe he could do it again....
  From that point, it didn’t take long for Rod-
  erick to launch his “vigilante” crusade. Mentally 
  christening himself “Siddhartha” as a way of psy-
  chologically separating himself from his actions, he 
  began a one-man campaign against welfare moth-
  ers, homeless people, and the poor and underprivi-
  leged in general. For several years now he’s used 
  guns, bombs, arson, and other methods to lash out 
  at those he feels are destroying society.
  Personality/Motivation:  Siddhartha (the name 
  comes from Thorpe’s gross misunderstanding of 
  Buddhist history and legend) thinks of himself as a 
  vigilante, but he’s wrong. A vigilante pursues people 
  who’ve committed crimes. Siddhartha hunts and 
  kills people he regards as not worthy to live — the 
  poor, people on welfare, the homeless, and so on 
  — regardless of whether they’re upstanding citi-
  zens or hardened criminals. At best he’s a warped, 
  twisted picture of a vigilante, one who elevates the 
  concept of social Darwinism to a hunting license.
  Many people think Siddhartha’s a racist, 
  since most of his targets are blacks or Hispanics. 
  This is completely wrong — he hates poor people 
  and those he regards as a “drain on” or “poison-
  ous to” society, regardless of race. It just happens 
  that most of the people who fit his definitions 
  are black or Hispanic.
  Quote:  “With people like you out of the way, society 
  will be a better place.”
  Powers/Tactics:  Siddhartha has no formal combat 
  training, though he’s gained a good bit of practi-
  cal experience using his weapons to kill. He strikes 
  from surprise against more or less helpless targets. 
  If confronted with signiﬁcant opposition or the 
  threat of capture, he’ll ﬂee (and he always tries to 
  have at least two escape routes ready). There are 
  plenty of targets out there, and plenty of opportu-
  nity to take them.
  Siddhartha isn’t an experienced field 
  op, but he’s used his money and connec-
  tions to make up for the lack. He doesn’t 
  maintain any connection between his 
  “vigilante” career and his normal life 
  as ultra-wealthy dilettante Roderick 
  Thorpe. He has separate vehicles, facili-
  ties, and clothes that he only uses as 
  Siddhartha (all bought and reg-
  istered with phony papers to 
  keep anyone from tracing 
  them back to him), and 
  he takes a lot of steps 
  to make sure no 
  one’s following him.
  Campaign Use:  Sid-
  dhartha represents 
  a moral and ethical 
  enemy rather than 
  a combat opponent 
  for most characters. His 
  crusade tarnishes the rep-
  utation of of all vigilantes, 
  making it harder for them 
  to obtain and keep public 
  support. Even if PCs didn’t 
  want to stop him because 
  he’s a serial killer, the fact 
  that people equate him with 
  them should be enough to 
  make them want to put an 
  end to him.
  To make Siddhartha tougher, 
  give him more combat training 
  — perhaps he’s hired the best 
  mercs in the business to make 
  him a better warrior. He probably 
  doesn’t need to be weakened, but 
  if necessary you can remove some 
  of his Skills and/or reduce his 
  Characteristics.
  Siddhartha has no criminal 
  record, but is wanted by the 
  HCPD for dozens of murders.
  Appearance:  Siddhartha looks 
  like an average white 
  male. He’s in his early 
  30s and weighs about 
  180. He’s trim, and he 
  works out, but he’s not 
  muscular or even toned. 
  He wears ordinary clothes suited for quick action:  
  jeans, sneakers, leather jackets, military fatigues, 
  that sort of thing.
  
  268 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  TAKAYAMA SHINSAKU
  Shogun of Little Tokyo
   Val Char 
  Cost Roll 
  Notes
   15 STR 
  5 
  12- 
  Lift 200 kg; 3d6 [3]
   14 DEX 
  12 
  12- 
  OCV:  5/DCV:  5
   13 CON 
  6 
  12-
   10 BODY 0 
  11-
   14 INT 
  4 
  12- 
  PER Roll 12-
   12 EGO 
  4 
  11- 
  ECV:  4
   18 PRE 
  8 
  13- 
  PRE Attack:  3½d6
   12 COM 
  1 
  11-
   6 PD 
  3 
   
  Total:  6 PD (0 rPD)
   5 ED 
  2 
   
  Total:  5 ED (0 rED)
   4 SPD 
  16 
   
  Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
   6 REC 
  0
   26 END 
  0
   25 STUN 
  0 
  Total Characteristics Cost:  61
  Movement: 
  Running:  6”/12”
   
  Leaping:  3”/6”
  Cost Powers 
  END
   
  Martial Arts:  Kenjutsu (Swords Group is 
  default)
   
  Maneuver 
  OCV DCV 
  Damage/Effect
  4 
  Block 
  +2 
  +2 
  Block, Abort
  4 
  Disarm 
  -1 
  +1 
  Disarm, 35 STR 
  4 
  Evade 
  — 
  +5 
  Dodge, Aﬀects 
  All Attacks, 
  Abort
  4 
  Lightning 
   
  Stroke 
  +2 
  +0 
  Weapon +4 DC 
  Strike
  5 
  Running 
   
  Stroke 
  +1 
  +0 
  Weapon +2 DC 
  +v/5; FMove
  8 
  +2 Damage Classes (already added in)
  1 
  Use Art Barehanded (Block, Disarm,  
  Evade only)
   
  Martial Arts:  Karate
   
  Maneuver 
  OCV DCV 
  Notes
  4 
  Atemi Strike 
  -1 
  +1 
  3d6 NND (1)
  3 
  Legsweep 
  +2 
  -1 
  6d6 Strike, 
  Target Falls
  4 
  Punch/
   
  Snap Kick 
  +0 
  +2 
  7d6 Strike
  5 
   Side/Spin Kick -2 
  +1 
  9d6 Strike
  1 
  Strong-Limbed:  Leaping +1”  
  (3” forward, 1½” upward) 
  1
   
  Perks
  5 
  Fringe Beneﬁt:  Membership (leader of his 
  own gang)
  5 
  Improved Equipment Availability:  Military
  10 
  Money:  Wealthy
   
  Skills
  5 
  +1 HTH
  3 
  Combat Driving 12-
  1  
  Computer Programming 8-
  2 
  Gambling (Cards) 12-
  3 
  High Society 13-
  3 
  Interrogation 13-
  2 
  KS: Kenjutsu 11-
  2 
  KS: Karate 11-
  3 
  KS: High Finance 12-
  5 
  KS: Japanese History And Culture 14-
  3 
  Language: English (completely ﬂuent;  
  Japanese is native)
  3 
  Oratory 13-
  3 
  Persuasion 13-
  3 
  Stealth 12-
  6 
  WF: Common Melee Weapons, Common 
  Martial Arts Weapons, Small Arms
  2 
  Weaponsmith (Muscle-Powered HTH) 12-
   
  Resource Points
  8 
  Equipment Points:  100
  5 
  Vehicle/Base Points:  20
  10 
  Follower/Contact Points:  25
  0 
  Miscellaneous Points:  0
  Total Powers & Skills Cost:  139
  Total Cost:  200
  100+ Disadvantages
  10 
  Distinctive Features:  Style Disadvantage 
  (Not Concealable, Always Noticed And Rec-
  ognizable, Detectable Only By Large Group)
  20 
  Hunted:  Yakuza 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Kill)
  10 
  Hunted:  HCPD 8- (Mo Pow, NCI, Watching)
  15 
  Psychological Limitation:  Overconﬁdence 
  (Very Common, Moderate)
  15 
  Psychological Limitation:  Hatred Of West-
  erners And America (Common, Strong)
  30 
  Experience Points
  Total Disadvantage Points:  200
  Background/History:  The wait at Immigration after 
  he got oﬀ the plane had seemed interminable, but 
  at last they were done with him. Takayama Shin-
  saku walked out of the terminal and into the sun-
  shine of Hudson City. At last, he thought. At last. 
  Here I shall humble the people who humbled my 
  homeland.
  He let his thoughts drift into the past — to the 
  times when, as a boy, he picked through the ruins 
  of Hiroshima, looking for scraps of food to keep 
  his family alive. His father had been a kamikaze, so 
  there was only Shinsaku to look after his mother 
  and sisters.
  While everyone around him seemed to think 
  only of survival from one day to the next, other 
  thoughts occupied Shinsaku. He burned with 
  hatred for the Americans who had killed his father 
  and ruined his home, but at the same time he could 
  not help but feel a grudging respect for them as 
  warriors. He decided that somehow, no matter how 
  long it took, or how great a sacriﬁce, he would one 
  day triumph over them and redeem Japan’s honor.
  As he grew older Shinsaku studied the history 
  SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT
  Weapon 
  OCV 
  RMod 
  Dam 
  STUN 
  Shots STR Min Notes
  Katana 
  +1 
  — 
  1½d6 
  1d6-1 
  — 
  12
  Beretta M92 
  +0 
  +0 
  1d6+1 
  1d6-1 
  15 
  9
  Armor
  Usually none, possibly samurai armor (DEF 6) if involved in a formal duel
  Gear:  Whatever he needs or wants, within reason
  Clothing:  Fine men’s tailored suits, or formal Japanese men’s garb
  
  269 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  and culture of his country, absorbing the elements 
  that had made his one of the great civilizations. 
  He delved into Japan’s martial traditions, and even 
  learned the rudiments of Kenjutsu from one of the 
  few surviving masters of the art. He also studied 
  Western culture, albeit grudgingly, for one can only 
  learn victory from victors.
  Not content with the time that it would 
  take to achieve power in Japan legitimately, 
  he turned to the yakuza in the hopes 
  of achieving it illegitimately. But the 
  yakuza gangs spurned him, wary of 
  someone who seemed so intense and 
  unpredictable. Takayama was forced 
  into minor criminal enterprises with 
  little or no yakuza association.
  He soon realized he was accom-
  plishing nothing. If he had to exist in 
  the yakuza’s shadow, he was doomed 
  to fail from the start. Better to form 
  his own criminal empire — but that 
  was impossible in Japan, where the 
  yakuza held things in an iron grip. 
  he turned his thoughts to the land 
  of his enemies — America. Where 
  better to gain first-hand knowledge 
  of them and begin their destruction?, 
  he decided.
  And so it was that he found him-
  self outside Aberdeen International 
  Airport hailing a taxi. He had arranged to stay 
  with friends in Little Tokyo until he could 
  establish himself, so he quickly began looking 
  for gainful — or at least proﬁtable — employ-
  ment. The yakuza had not yet come to Hudson 
  City at that time, so here he had a chance. As 
  the taxi drove him away from the airport, he 
  smiled conﬁdently.
  But ﬁrst he needed money and a base 
  of power. With this in mind, he obtained a 
  position with Nimaki, a Japanese investment 
  corporation that had established a branch 
  in Hudson City. He worked in the ﬁnancial 
  world for years, dealing mainly in com-
  modities and investments involving Japan 
  and her interests. His dream of establish-
  ing a criminal empire with which to attack 
  America from within continued to grow, as 
  did his personal fortune. 
  At last he felt that he was ready. He quit his job 
  and began establishing ties with the Asian under-
  world. Unfortunately, he found that the yakuza 
  had beaten him once again — by now they were in 
  Hudson City in full force, cutting oﬀ his avenue to 
  power. So be it, he thought. I will ﬁght them, too.
  Never one to do things in a small way, 
  Takayama declared himself “Shogun of Little 
  Tokyo” and recruited a gang of toughs with 
  which to establish his own niche in the under-
  world of Chinatown. It was a difficult start 
  — he survived three assassination attempts and 
  watched most of his original cadre of followers 
  die, one by one, at the hands of the yakuza gangs. 
  However, his ability to survive these attacks 
  built his reputation and attracted more follow-
  ers to his side. His only true failure during this 
  period was the loss of his son Seiki. Infected by 
  an American lack of discipline and respect, Seiki 
  abandoned Takayama and his goals. The Shogun 
  of Little Tokyo has sworn to kill his son for the 
  “disgrace” he brought upon the family’s honor.
  Today Takayama Shinsaku, Shogun of Little 
  Tokyo, walks a razor’s edge between triumph and 
  death. He has carved a small criminal empire out 
  of the yakuza’s territory, something the yakuza will 
  never forget or forgive. He has antagonized the 
  Chinese tongs as well. But through it all he has held 
  on to his dream of one day becoming truly power-
  ful and using that power to strike back at the nation 
  that took his father from him. For now he has to be 
  content with corrupting the Americans with drugs 
  and vice, but the day will come when he will do far 
  worse things to them than that.
  
  270 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  Personality/Motivation:  It wouldn’t be entirely cor-
  rect to label Takayama Shinsaku an obsessive... 
  but it wouldn’t be entirely wrong, either. For many, 
  many years he has held in his mind the idea that 
  America needs to be destroyed and cast down, as it 
  cast down Japan and his father. He’s directed most 
  of his eﬀorts toward that goal, though tempera-
  ment and misfortune have forced him to take the 
  left-hand path — to gain power through criminal 
  rather than political means. Still, power is power, 
  and he hopes to use his power one day soon to 
  “avenge” Japan.
  But the truth is, his time in America has not 
  left him unsullied. He was vicious, hot-tempered, 
  greedy, and (despite all of his talk of “discipline”) 
  impulsive when he arrived in Hudson City, and his 
  time in America has only made him more mate-
  rialistic and violent. By this point he is as much a 
  child of America as of Japan, though he would kill 
  anyone who dared to say that to his face.
  Takayama is a despot of a leader, one who 
  brooks no disrespect or disobedience — much 
  like his father was to him, and much like he was 
  to Seiki, before that attitude drove Seiki away. He 
  attracts to himself Japanese criminals for whom 
  these values, and his radical right-wing Japanese 
  political beliefs, hold such appeal that they’d lay 
  down their lives for them. He has allocated to 
  himself the privilege of kirisutogomen, the right to 
  kill outright any of his followers who so much as 
  displease him.
  As his fanciful title indicates, Takayama thinks 
  of himself as a “reincarnation” of the samurai of 
  old. He knows something of Kenjutsu, the samurai’s 
  sword art, but has had little formal training; he 
  would give much to gain such knowledge. In samu-
  rai tradition, he tries to act honorably, but inevita-
  bly greed, ambition, and rage get the better of him 
  and make him act in dishonorable ways (attacking 
  enemies from behind, betraying allies, and the like). 
  He rationalizes these acts by convincing himself 
  that they’re “for the ultimate good of my people.” 
  Some criminal psychologists suspect that Takaya-
  ma’s “Shogun of Little Tokyo” posturing indicates 
  a deep-seated psychological delusion. This is not 
  true; Takayama knows he’s not a “shogun.” The title 
  is simply a symbolic one he enjoys using.
  Quote:  “Bow down to me or be slain. These are your 
  only choices. The Shogun of Little Tokyo tolerates 
  no disrespect.”
  Powers/Tactics:  Takayama thinks of himself as a 
  skilled swordsman, so he won’t hesitate to challenge 
  others to duels. In truth, his Kenjutsu skills are 
  passable, but not spectacular, and he would be will-
  ing to learn more if he could ﬁnd someone quali-
  ﬁed to teach him.
  Outside of such personal challenges, Takayama 
  prefers to let his followers do his ﬁghting for him. 
  For the most part his “samurai” are ordinary Japa-
  nese street toughs, though a few have military expe-
  rience or other combat training. All of them know 
  at least a little Karate (several are black belts), and 
  most of them have received some Kenjutsu training 
  from Takayama.
  Campaign Use:  Takayama Shinsaku is a sort of low-
  level master villain — he’s tougher than a typical 
  gang leader, but doesn’t have as much power or as 
  many followers as a major yakuza oyabun or Maﬁa 
  capo. He’s also got a slightly diﬀerent perspective 
  than other crimelords, which may make him a 
  more interesting foe than just another gang boss.
  To make Takayama more powerful, make 
  him a master swordsman — give him all the Ken-
  jutsu maneuvers, some Combat Skill Levels with 
  Kenjutsu, the Defense Maneuver Skill, and so forth 
  — and boost his Characteristics a bit. To weaken 
  him, get rid of his Karate and/or decrease his Char-
  acteristics (especially DEX and SPD) a little.
  As a Hunter, the Shogun of Little Tokyo is 
  clever and cautious. He hasn’t survived all these 
  years by sticking his neck out or acting too rashly. 
  He’ll proceed calmly and carefully, taking the time 
  to evaluate his target at length before choosing the 
  best time to strike.
  Takayama Shinsaku has no criminal record. 
  The police suspect his involvement in crime, but 
  haven’t been able to prove anything yet.
  Appearance:  Takayama is a Japanese male in his 
  early 70s (though he looks young for his age), with 
  black hair conservatively cut and a trim build. He 
  wears expensive men’s suits. He doesn’t carry weap-
  ons in most situations, but frequently has at least 
  one sheathed samurai sword nearby.
  TAKAYAMA  
  SHINSAKU  
  PLOT SEEDS
  Word gets back to 
  Takayama that one 
  of the PCs has been 
  making anti-Asian slurs. 
  Whether it’s true or not, 
  he takes it as true and 
  sets out to teach the 
  PC a lesson in Japanese 
  superiority.
  The PCs rescue a young 
  Japanese man from a 
  mugging. The would-be 
  victim turns out to be 
  Takayama Seiki! In grat-
  itude, and to get revenge 
  on his father, he oﬀers to 
  help the PCs take down 
  Shinsaku’s organization.
  Several low-level yakuza 
  oyabuns approach the 
  PCs with an oﬀer:  we’ll 
  help you get rid of 
  Takayama if you leave 
  us alone for one year. 
  Are the heroes willing 
  to deal with one devil to 
  get rid of another?
  
  271 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  H
  aving trouble ﬁnding that 
  street you’re looking for? 
  Well, search in vain no 
  more! With this handy 
  reference table you can ﬁnd any 
  of the major streets depicted on 
  the maps in Chapter Two. It uses 
  the 1-5, A-D grid system from the 
  map on page 17 as a reference.
  1st Avenue ..................................5-A, B, C, D
  2nd Avenue .................................5-A, B, C, D
  3rd Avenue .................................5-A, B, C, D
  4th Avenue .................................5-A, B, C, D
  5th Avenue ......................................5-A, B, C
  6th Avenue .................................4-A, B, C, D
  7th Avenue .................................4-A, B, C, D
  8th Avenue .................................4-A, B, C, D
  9th Avenue .................................4-A, B, C, D
  10th Avenue ...............................4-A, B, C, D
  11th Avenue ...............................4-A, B, C, D
  12th Avenue ...............................4-A, B, C, D
  13th Avenue ...............................4-A, B, C, D
  14th Avenue ....................................4-A, B, C
  15th Avenue ....................................4-A, B, C
  16th Avenue ...............................4-A, B, C, D
  17th Avenue ....................................4-A, B, C
  18th Avenue ....................................4-A, B, C
  19th Avenue ....................................4-A, B, C
  20th Avenue ........................................ 4-A, B
  21st Avenue ......................................... 3-A, B
  22nd Avenue ........................................ 3-A, B
  23rd Avenue ........................................ 3-A, B
  24th Avenue ........................................ 3-A, B
  25th Avenue ........................................ 3-A, B
  26th Avenue ........................................ 3-A, B
  27th Avenue ........................................ 3-A, B
  28th Avenue ........................................ 3-A, B
  29th Avenue ........................................ 3-A, B
  30th Avenue ........................................ 3-A, B
  31st Avenue ..............................................2-A
  32nd Avenue .............................................2-A
  33rd Avenue .............................................2-A
  34th Avenue .............................................2-A
  A Avenue .................................................1-C
  Abington Avenue ..........................1-B, C, D
  Adams (North) Street ................ 3-, 4-, 5-B
  Adams (South) Street .......................1-, 2-B
  Admiral Street .................................. 4-, 5-C
  Aiken Avenue .........................................4-C
  Alamance Street ............................... 1-, 2-C
  Alamo Avenue ...............................1-A, B, C
  Alderney Avenue ...................................3-A
  Alexander Avenue ................................ 1-D
  Algonquin Street .........................3-, 4-, 5-C
  Allendale Street ...........................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Amsterdam Street ..................................1-C
  Anders Street ..........................................2-A
  Anson Street ................................1-, 2-, 3-C
  Archer Street ..........................................4-A
  Arthur Street ...............................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Ashmont Avenue .....................5-A, B, C, D
  Atlantic Avenue ..................................... 4-D
  Avenue of the Elms ...............................5-B
  Avon Avenue .................................2-B, C, D
  B Avenue .................................................1-C
  Barbour Avenue ............................2-B, C, D
  Barnes Street .................................... 1-, 2-A
  Barton Street ..........................................1-B
  Bascomb Street ......................................4-A
  Bayhill Street .................................... 1-, 2-A
  Bayle Street .............................................3-B
  Beaufort Avenue ...........................5-A, B, C
  Beck Avenue .............................5-A, B, C, D
  Bedford Avenue ................................3-C, D
  Beech Avenue ....................................4-C, D
  Bell Avenue ............................................ 5-D
  Benbow Avenue .......................1-A, B, C, D
  Bennie Street ......................................... 5-D
  Benton Avenue ...................................... 1-D
  Bertie Street ............................................1-C
  Binford Avenue ........................1-A, B, C, D
  Birch Avenue .....................................4-C, D
  Bladen Street ..........................................1-C
  Booth Boulevard ....................................1-A
  Bost Avenue ....................................... 2-A, B
  Brecker Street .........................................4-A
  Brenner Street ........................................5-A
  Bridle Lane .............................................2-A
  Broome Street .............................3-, 4-, 5-A
  Browne Street .........................................1-C
  Brunswick Street ....................................1-B
  Bunch Avenue ..........................2-A, B, C, D
  Burke Street .................................1-, 2-, 3-C
  Burlington Avenue ................................ 4-D
  Burnette Street ............................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Burns Avenue ...........................1-A, B, C, D
  Burr Avenue ...........................................3-C
  C Avenue .................................................1-C
  Cabarrus Street ...........................1-, 2-, 3-C
  Cabell Avenue ...............................2-B, C, D
  Cabot Street .................................1-, 2-, 3-D
  Calhoun Avenue ....................................3-C
  Camden Avenue .................................... 4-D
  Cameron Street ......................................1-C
  Carpenter Avenue ....................1-A, B, C, D
  Carter Avenue ........................................1-A
  Carteret Street ...................................1-, 2-B
  Carver Street ............................... 1-, 2-, 3-B
  Castille Street .........................................1-C
  Caswell Street ..............................1-, 2-, 3-D
  Caxton Street ............................... 3-, 4-, 5-B
  Cayuga Street ..............................3-, 4-, 5-C
  Centre Street ..................... 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-B
  Chatham Avenue .....................5-A, B, C, D
  Cherry Street ..........................................3-A
  Childress Street ...............................1-, 2- D
  Chilton Street .........................................5-A
  Church Avenue ................................. 2-A, B
  Clark Avenue ..................................... 2-A, B
  Clay Avenue ........................................... 3-D
  Cleland Street .........................................1-A
  Cleveland Street ..........................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Clive Street .............................................2-A
  Coastal Parkway .............................. 3-, 4-A
  Coates Street ...........................................1-A
  Coleman Avenue ...........................2-B, C, D
  College Avenue ......................................2-C
  Columbus Avenue ........................2-B, C, D
  Combs Avenue ..............................5-B, C, D
  Conway Avenue .................................... 1-D
  Cook Avenue ......................................... 5-D
  Coolidge Street ...................................... 3-D
  Corley Avenue ................................... 1-A, B
  Cornwallis Street .................................. 3-D
  Corry Street ............................................5-A
  Cotanche Street ........................... 1-, 2-, 3-B
  Covent Street .................................... 1-, 2-C
  Coyle Avenue ....................................3-C, D
  Craddock Street ............................... 1-, 2-A
  Cranford Avenue .....................5-A, B, C, D
  Cremeans Avenue ..................................3-B
  Crestlin Street ................................... 2-, 3-A
  Crestwood Avenue ............................... 4-D
  Crowley Avenue ............................3-B, C, D
  Cumberland Road ................................ 4-D
  Currier Avenue ................................. 3-A, B
  Cutler Avenue ................................2-B, C, D
  D Avenue ................................................1-C
  Dahl Avenue ...........................................2-A
  Davidson Street ...........................1-, 2-, 3-D
  Dawnlea Avenue ............................... 3-A, B
  Day Avenue ..............................2-A, B, C, D
  Delano Avenue ..................................3-C, D
  DeVries Avenue .......................2-A, B, C, D
  DeWitt Street ............................... 3-, 4-, 5-B
  Dickson Street .................................. 1-, 2-A
  Dinapoli Boulevard .............................. 5-D
  Drexel Road ........................................... 1-D
  Drummond Avenue .........................5-C, D
  Dumont Street ............................3-, 4-, 5-A
  Dunlop Avenue .............................5-A, B, C
  Durham Street ................................. 1-, 2-C
  Duvall Parkway ............... 1-A, B, C; 2-C, D
  E Avenue .................................................1-C
  Earle Street ............................................ 2-D
  Easley Street ..................................... 3-, 4-A
  Edgecombe Street .......................1-, 2-, 3-C
  Eighteenth Street ...................................1-C
  Eighth Street ...........................................1-C
  Eleventh Street .......................................1-C
  Elmore Avenue ..................................3-C, D
  Ervin Street ....................................... 1-, 2-A
  Fairﬁeld Street ........................................1-C
  Farraday Street .......................................3-A
  Ferry Street ........................................1-, 2-B
  Fifteenth Street .......................................1-C
  Fifth Street ..............................................1-C
  First Street ..............................................1-C
  Fish Street ...............................................4-A
  Flora Street .............................................4-A
  Fontaine Street ............................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Forrest (North and South) Street .. 4-, 5-C
  Fourteenth Street ...................................1-C
  Fourth Street ..........................................1-C
  Francis Avenue .................................. 1-A, B
  Franklin Street ............................1-, 2-, 3-D
  Front Street .............................................2-A
  Fuller Avenue .....................................1-B, C
  Fulton Avenue ........................................5-A
  Gabriel (North and South) Street .. 4-, 5-C
  Garland Avenue ................................ 5-A, B
  Garrison Street ................................. 2-, 3-C
  Gaston Avenue ...................................... 3-D
  Gates Avenue ..................................... 1-A, B
  Geary Street ............................................5-A
  George Avenue ...................................... 2-D
  Gilead Avenue ........................................2-A
  Gilraith Avenue ................................. 3-A, B
  Gorham Street ........................................5-A
  Gorman Street ........................................2-C
  Graham Avenue ................................3-C, D
  Grant Street ........................................1, 2-D
  Grantz Street ..........................................1-C
  Granville Street ...........................1-, 2-, 3-C
  Green Avenue ................................1-A, B, C
  Greer Street ........................................... 3-D
  Griﬃn Avenue ................................... 1-A, B
  Griggs Avenue ........................................2-A
  Grinnell Avenue .....................................2-A
  Grover Street ..........................................5-A
  Halifax Street ............................... 3-, 4-, 5-B
  Hamilton Street ...........................1-, 2-, 3-D
  Hannigan Street ............................... 1-, 2-A
  Hanover Street .......................................1-B
  Harlick Avenue ...................................... 5-D
  Harnett Street ....................................4-, 5-B
  Harrison (North) Street .............3-, 4-, 5-C
  Harrison (South) Street .................. 1-, 2-C
  Harvey Avenue .........................2-A, B, C, D
  Hastings Avenue ......................4-A, B, C, D
  Havelock Street ................................ 1-, 2-A
  Healy Street .......................................4-, 5-B
  Heine Street ................................. 1-, 2-, 3-B
  STREET FINDER
  
  272 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  Henderson Street ........................1-, 2-, 3-D
  Hertford Street ..................................4-, 5-B
  Hickman Street ...........................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Hobbs Street ......................................1-, 2-B
  Hoke Avenue .................................1-A, B, C
  Holcomb Street .................................4-, 5-B
  Holden Avenue ........................1-A, B, C, D
  Honeywell Avenue .................................2-B
  Huron Street ................................3-, 4-, 5-C
  Hyde Avenue .................................4-A, B, C
  Ilderton Street .................................. 3-, 4-A
  Ingram Street ............................... 1-, 2-, 3-B
  Iredell (North and South) Street .... 4-, 5-C
  Iris Avenue .....................................2-B, C, D
  Iroquois Street .............................3-, 4-, 5-C
  Isherwood Avenue ............................5-C, D
  Jacinto Avenue ..............................1-A, B, C
  Jackson (North) Street .....................4-, 5-B
  Jackson (South) Street ................1-, 2-, 3-C
  James Avenue ........................................ 2-D
  Jeﬀerson (North) Street .............3-, 4-, 5-A
  Jeﬀerson (South) Street ................... 1-, 2-A
  Johnston Street .......................................1-C
  Joyce Avenue .....................................3-C, D
  Kemp Avenue .................................... 3-A, B
  Kennerly Avenue ......................2-A, B, C, D
  Kent Avenue ......................................2-C, D
  Kerner Street ..........................................5-A
  Ketchum Street ................................ 1-, 2-A
  Key Avenue ........................................5-C, D
  Kimberly (North and South) Street 4-, 5-C
  King Avenue .............................1-A, B, C, D
  Kingston Street ......................................1-C
  Kiser Street ..................................1-, 2-, 3-C
  Klopman Street ......................................4-A
  Knox Avenue ......................................... 2-D
  Kurtland Boulevard (I-2984) ..........4-C, D
  Lamont Avenue ................................. 2-A, B
  Lancaster Avenue .................................. 1-D
  LaSalle Avenue ..................................5-C, D
  LeFlore Avenue ..................................... 2-D
  Leigh Street .................................. 3-, 4-, 5-B
  LeMastre Avenue ..............................3-C, D
  Lennox Street .............................. 3-, 4-, 5-B
  Lenoir Avenue ....................................2-B, C
  Lewiston Avenue ......................5-A, B, C, D
  Lincoln (North) Street ...............3-, 4-, 5-C
  Lincoln (South) Street ................1-, 2-, 3-C
  Lindsay Avenue .............................1-B, C, D
  Link Avenue .......................................2-B, C
  Litchﬁeld Avenue ..............................3-C, D
  Little River Drive ...................................2-C
  Livengood Avenue ........................1-A, B, C
  Lomond Street .......................................1-C
  London Street .........................................1-C
  Losey Boulevard .......................1-A, B, 2-A
  Loudon Street ..............................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Lucy Street ..............................................2-A
  Lyman Avenue ........................................3-A
  MacDonald Avenue .............................. 5-D
  MacDonald Street ............................ 1-, 2-A
  Macon Avenue ..................................3-C, D
  Madison (South) Street .............. 3-, 4-, 5-B
  Madison (South) Street ....................1-, 2-B
  Malden Street ..............................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Malloy Street .................................... 2-, 3-A
  Maple Avenue ....................................4-C, D
  Marshall Street ............................1-, 2-, 3-D
  Martin Avenue .......................................2-B
  Mason Avenue ....................................2-B, C
  Mathews Street ..................................4-, 5-B
  McCollom Street ...............................1-, 2-B
  McKinley Street ..........................1-, 2-, 3-D
  McLawhorn Street ........................... 1-, 2-A
  Meade Street ................................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Medford Street ................................. 1-, 2-A
  Mercer Street ....................................1-, 2-D
  Merrimont Avenue ............................3-B, C
  Miranda Avenue ................................1-B, C
  Monroe (North) Street ......... 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-A
  Monroe (South) Street .................... 1-, 2-A
  Montaigne Avenue .................................1-A
  Montclair Avenue ................................. 4-D
  Montgomery Avenue ............................ 1-D
  Montrose Street ................................ 1-, 2-C
  Moore Street ..................................... 1-, 2-C
  Morganton Street ..............................2-, 3-B
  Morrison Street ................................ 1-, 2-A
  Moss Street .................................. 1-, 2-, 3-B
  Motsinger Avenue .........................5-A, B, C
  Naomi Street ...............................1-, 2-, 3-C
  Nash Avenue ...........................................1-A
  Needham Avenue ..................................3-A
  Nelson Street .................................... 1-, 2-A
  Newport Street ............................ 3-, 4-, 5-B
  Nineteenth Street ...................................1-C
  Ninth Street ............................................1-C
  Northampton Street .........................3-, 4-B
  Nowell Avenue ...................................1-B, C
  Oak Avenue .......................................4-C, D
  Ogden Avenue ...............................4-A, B, C
  Oneida Street ...............................3-, 4-, 5-C
  Onondaga Street .........................3-, 4-, 5-C
  Onslow Avenue ........................4-A, B, C, D
  Oxnard Street ................................... 3-, 4-A
  Parmiter Street ................................. 1-, 2-A
  Parnell Avenue .................................. 1-A, B
  Parrot Street ..................................... 1-, 2-A
  Parsons Avenue .............................1-B, C, D
  Patterson Avenue .................................. 5-D
  Pender Street ..........................................1-B
  Perkins Avenue ......................................2-A
  Perrin Street .......................................... 5-D
  Pershing Street .................................1-, 2-D
  Peterson Avenue ................................... 3-D
  Piedmont Avenue ................................. 4-D
  Pierce Avenue ....................................5-C, D
  Pine Avenue ........................................... 3-D
  Platt Street ..............................................2-A
  Plum Street ............................................ 4-D
  Polder Avenue ....................................... 1-D
  Pomeroy Avenue ............................... 2-A, B
  Pope Avenue ...........................................2-A
  Poplar Avenue ...................................4-C, D
  Port Avenue ....................................... 1-A, B
  Potter Avenue .................................... 1-A, B
  Pratt Street ..............................................1-A
  Price Avenue ...................................... 3-A, B
  Princeton Avenue ................................. 4-D
  Pritchard Avenue ..............................3-C, D
  Pugh Street .............................................1-B
  Pullman Avenue ................................3-C, D
  Ragland Avenue ................................ 3-A, B
  Ralston Street .........................................5-A
  Randall Avenue ......................................2-A
  Randolph Street ..........................1-, 2-, 3-D
  Redwine Avenue ............................... 2-A, B
  Rhine Street ...................................... 4-, 5-C
  Richland Street ............................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Richmond Street ......................... 3-, 4-, 5-B
  Ring Avenue ...................................... 1-A, B
  Ritter Street ..................................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Riverfront Drive .......................2-A, 3-A, B
  Robin Avenue .....................................2-B, C
  Rockingham Street .....................1-, 2-, 3-D
  Roosevelt (North) Street .................4-, 5-D
  Roosevelt (South) Street ............1-, 2-, 3-D
  Rosemont Street .......................... 1-, 2-, 3-B
  Ross Street ..............................................4-A
  Rotterdam Street .........................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Rowan Avenue ..................................4-C, D
  Salem Avenue ........................................ 4-D
  Sampson (North and South) Street 4-, 5-C
  Saratoga Street .............................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Saunders Street ......................................1-C
  Seabury Street .................................. 2-, 3-A
  Searcy Avenue ........................................4-C
  Second Street ..........................................1-C
  Seeman Street ...................................1-, 2-D
  Seneca Street ...............................3-, 4-, 5-C
  Seventeenth Street .................................1-C
  Seventh Street .........................................1-C
  Sevier (North and South) Street .... 4-, 5-C
  Shaﬀney Avenue ....................................1-A
  Sherman Street ................................. 1-, 2-A
  Shorrock Street ................................ 1-, 2-A
  Silas Street ......................................... 3-, 4-A
  Sixteenth Street ......................................1-C
  Sixth Street .............................................1-C
  Snow Street ..................................3-, 4-, 5-D
  South Expressway (I-3275) ..................1-A
  South River Drive ....... 2-A, B, C, D, 3-B, C
  Southridge Avenue ..................1-A, B, C, D
  Spray Street .............................................4-A
  Stanton Street ................................... 1-, 2-A
  Starr Street .........................................1-, 2-B
  Steele Street ................................. 3-, 4-, 5-B
  Stokes Avenue ........................................2-B
  Sullivan Street ........................................1-C
  Surrey Street ..................................... 1-, 2-C
  Sutcliﬀe Crescent ...................................3-C
  Suzannah Street .....................................1-C
  Swasey Avenue ...................................... 3-D
  Swasey Avenue .......................................3-C
  Taber Street .............................................2-A
  Taft Street ..........................................1-, 2-D
  Taylor Street ................................3-, 4-, 5-D
  Teller Avenue ..........................................2-C
  Tenth Street ............................................1-C
  Thain Street ........................................... 5-D
  Third Street .............................................1-C
  Thirteenth Street ....................................1-C
  Thirtieth Street .......................................1-C
  Thirty- Fifth Street .................................1-C
  Thirty- First Street .................................1-C
  Thirty- Fourth Street .............................1-C
  Thirty- Second Street ............................1-C
  Thirty- Seventh Street ...........................1-C
  Thirty- Sixth Street ................................1-C
  Thirty- Third Street ...............................1-C
  Thomas Street ........................................5-B
  Thomas Street ........................................4-B
  Ticino Street ...........................................1-B
  Tidewater Street .....................................3-A
  Tilburg Avenue ..................................... 1-D
  Timothy Street .......................................3-B
  Toledo Avenue ...............................1-A, B, C
  Tolman Avenue ......................................2-C
  Trelham Avenue ............................4-C, 4-D
  Trenton Avenue ..................................... 4-D
  Trimble Street .........................................1-A
  Truman Boulevard (North) 3-, 4-, 5-B, 5-C
  Truman Boulevard (South) .1-B, C, D, 2-B
  Twain Street ............................................3-A
  Twelfth Street .........................................1-C
  Twentieth Street .....................................1-C
  Twenty- Eighth Street ...........................1-C
  Twenty- Fifth Street ...............................1-C
  Twenty- First Street ...............................1-C
  Twenty- Fourth Street ...........................1-C
  Twenty- Ninth Street .............................1-C
  Twenty- Second Street ..........................1-C
  Twenty- Seventh Street .........................1-C
  Twenty- Sixth Street ..............................1-C
  Twenty- Third Street .............................1-C
  Tyrrell Avenue ..........................4-A, B, C, D
  Union Street ................................1-, 2-, 3-C
  Van Allen Street ...............................1-, 2-D
  Van Buren Street ...............................4-, 5-B
  Van Voorne Avenue .................5-A, B, C, D
  Vance Avenue ...........................5-A, B, C, D
  Vernon Crescent ....................................2-C
  Victoria Street ...................................1-, 2-B
  Vienna Street ..........................................1-C
  Vineland Avenue ................................... 4-D
  Virginia Avenue .................................... 4-D
  Wallace Avenue .................................5-C, D
  Walsh Avenue ........................................ 2-D
  Warren Street ................................... 1-, 2-C
  Warwick Avenue ...........................1-B, C, D
  Washington Street ...................... 3-, 4-, 5-B
  Watts Street ........................................4-, 5-B
  Wayne Avenue ........................................2-B
  Wellsley Street ..................................1-, 2-D
  Weston Avenue ..................................... 1-D
  Wharton Street ........................... 1-, 2-, 3-B
  Wheeler Street ........................................1-A
  Whitby Street .........................................3-A
  Whittier Street .................................. 1-, 2-A
  Wiley Street ............................................5-A
  Wilkes Avenue ...................................2-C, D
  William Avenue .................................... 2-D
  Williamston Street .................................1-C
  Willow Street ..........................................1-A
  Wilson Street ...............................1-, 2-, 3-C
  Windham Street .....................................2-C
  Winwood Avenue ....................5-A, B, C, D
  Wolﬀ Street .......................................1-, 2-D
  Wright Street .....................................1-, 2-B
  Yancey Avenue .......................................2-C
  Yates Street ...................................3-, 4-, 5-A
  York Street ...................................3-, 4-, 5-D
  
  273 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  Bowers, Malcolm.  
  Gary Gygax’s Extraordinary 
  Book Of Names
  Ellefson, Connie. The  
  Melting Pot Book Of Baby 
  Names, 2nd Ed.
  Grannick, Harry. Underneath 
  New York.
  Jackson, Kenneth, ed.  
  The Encyclopedia Of New  
  York City.
  Roadmaster Travel Planner:  
  New York/New Jersey
  Swanton, John R. Indian 
  Tribes Of North America
  Urdang, Laurence, ed.  
  The Timetables Of  
  American History.
  Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia 
  Of Native American Tribes, 
  Revised Ed.
  www.nj.gov
  www.nyc.com
  www.snopes.com
  BIBLIOGRAPHY
  
  274 ■ Index
  Hero System 5th Edition
  This index lists page references for 
  the various subjects covered in this 
  book, such as “History” or “Skills.” For 
  an encyclopedic index of the people, 
  places, organizations, and things of 
  Hudson City, please download The 
  Hudson City Encyclopedia, a PDF 
  available for free from the Free Stuﬀ 
  page on the Hero Games website 
  (http://www.herogames.com/Free-
  Stuﬀ/freedocs.htm
  Academic World .......................... 116
  Actors and acting ........................... 88
  Airports .......................................... 24
  Allies .............................................. 225
  Amusement parks ....................... 109
  Annual events .............................. 103
  Area codes ...................................... 23
  Arms traﬃcking ........................... 180
  Art forgery and theft ..................... 42
  Artists ............................................ 110
  Arts, ﬁne ........................................ 109
  Asian organized crime .. 39, 163, 168
  Asylums ........................................ 151
  Auditoriums ................................. 111
  Automobiles ................................... 25
  BATF ............................................. 147
  Battered women’s shelters ........... 146
  Bibliography ................................. 273
  Bicentennial .................................... 14
  Bicycles ........................................... 26
  Biker gangs ................................... 170
  Black organized crime ...........172-74
  Bridges ............................................ 19
  Buses ................................................ 25
  Business World ............................. 119
  Cabs ................................................. 25
  Campaign types ........................... 200
  Caper campaigns ......................... 200
  Cars ................................................. 25
  Chain stores .................................. 122
  Champions ................................... 201
  Charity organizations .................. 136
  Chinese organized crime ...... 39, 163
  Churches ....................................... 131
  City commissions .......................... 95
  City Council ................................... 93
  City government ............................ 91
  Civil War ........................................8-9
  Climate ...................................... 16, 20
  Clinics, health ............................... 127
  Clubs, music ................................. 113
  Cocaine ......................................... 165
  Colleges ......................................... 117
  Colombian cartels ........................ 166
  Commerce and industry ............. 119
  Commissions, city ......................... 95
  Commuter rails .............................. 25
  Corrections ........................... 151, 192
  Corruption, police and  
  judicial .......................... 98, 144, 150
  Costumed criminals .13, 175, 236-70
  Council, City .................................. 93
  Country clubs ............................... 135
  County government ...................... 99
  County Prosecutor ...................... 149
  Court system ................................ 148
  Crime .................................67, 157-82
  Criminal Investigation Bureau .. 146
  Criminalistics ............................... 144
  Cultural events ............................. 109
  Cyber Hero ................................... 201
  Dark Champions:  The Animated 
  Series campaigns ....................... 200
  Day in the life ..........................101-36
  DEA ............................................... 147
  Demographics ................................ 16
  Deputy mayors ............................... 92
  Detectives ..................................... 140
  Diplomatic parties ......................... 59
  Diplomatic scene ......................... 100
  Districts, HCPD ........................... 139
  Electricity ........................................ 23
  Elementary schools ..................... 116
  Elevated railway ............................. 25
  Entertainment .............................. 109
  Espionage campaigns .................. 200
  Espionage World .......................... 124
  Events, annual .............................. 103
  Families, wealthy .......................... 134
  Fantasy Hero ................................ 201
  FBI ................................................. 147
  Federal government ...................... 99
  Federal law enforcement ............ 147
  Ferries ............................................. 26
  Festivals ......................................... 103
  Finance .......................................... 120
  Fine arts ........................................ 109
  Fire Departments ......................... 152
  Fires, in Hudson City .................. 153
  Forensics ....................................... 144
  Gambling ........................ 39, 112, 181
  Gamemastering .................... 199-224
  Gangs ...........................39, 45, 172-74
  Garbage disposal ........................... 23
  Genres, other ................................ 201
  Getting around ............................... 24
  GM’s Vault .................................... 203
  Government, city ........................... 91
  Government, county ..................... 99
  Government, federal ..................... 99
  Government, state ......................... 99
  Gun laws ....................................... 187
  Health clinics ................................ 127
  Helicopters ..................................... 24
  Heroes, NPC ................................. 225
  Heroin ........................................... 161
  High schools ................................. 116
  Hispanic organized crime .....165-66
  History ...............................................8
  Homelessness ..............48, 67, 135-36
  Homosexual activists .................... 42
  Hospitals ....................................... 125
  Hudson City Fire Department ... 152
  Hudson City Police  
  Department ...........................138-47
  Industry and commerce ............. 119
  Insane asylums ............................. 151
  Inspectors, city ............................. 146
  Introduction ......................................5
  Inventors ....................................... 133
  Issues, current ................................ 98
  Jails and prisons ................... 151, 192
  Jamaican posses ........................... 174
  Judges ............................................ 150
  Korean organized crime ............. 164
  Labor ............................................. 124
  Landmarks ................................ 16, 19
  Law and lawyers ........................... 121
  Law enforcement  ...................137-56
  Legends, urban  ............................ 129
  Limousines ..................................... 25
  Maﬁa ......................10-12, 68, 158-62
  Martial World ............................... 124
  Mayor .............................................. 91
  Media ............................................ 105
  Medical Examiner ....................... 145
  Medical World .............................. 125
  Mexican organized crime ......165-66
  Military World ............................. 128
  Money men .................................. 121
  Monster Hunter campaigns ....... 201
  Motto ............................................... 16
  Museums ...................................... 111
  Music scene .................................. 112
  Mystic World ...........................129-30
  Neighborhoods .........................27-90
  Newspapers .................................. 107
  Ninja Hero .................................... 202
  NPC heroes .................................. 225
  Opera ............................................ 110
  Organizatsiya ............................... 166
  Organized crime .......................... 158
  Outlaw motorcycle gangs ........... 170
  Parking ............................................ 25
  Parties, diplomatic ......................... 59
  Phone service ................................. 23
  Police ........................................138-47
  Politics, city ..................................... 97
  Poor, the ........................................ 135
  Population ...................................... 16
  Posses ............................................ 174
  Post-Apocalyptic Hero ................ 202
  Power ............................................... 23
  Precincts, HCPD .......................... 139
  Prisons and jails ................... 151, 192
  Professional sports teams ........... 114
  Projects ........................................... 51
  Public Defender ........................... 149
  Pulp Hero ..................................... 202
  Racial demographics ..................... 16
  Radio stations ............................... 106
  Railways .......................................... 25
  Rats .................................................. 21
  Realism in Hudson City ..................6
  Regions of the city ....................27-90
  Religious demographics ................ 16
  Religious World ........................... 131
  Response times for the HCPD ... 145
  Restaurants ................................... 113
  Retail outlets ................................. 122
  Revolutionary War ...........................8
  Rivalries, high school .................. 117
  Roaches ........................................... 21
  Roads ............................................... 18
  Russian organized crime ............ 166
  Scholars ......................................... 118
  Science World ............................... 132
  Scientists ....................................... 133
  Sewers ........................................21-22
  Sex trade ............................75-78, 181
  Shelters, homeless ........................ 136
  Slang .............................................. 104
  Social World ................................. 133
  Sports .......................................114-15
  Star Hero ....................................... 202
  State government ........................... 99
  Street Finder ................................. 271
  Street gangs ..................... See “Gangs”
  Streets ...................................... 18, 271
  Subcultures ..............................116-36
  Suburbs ........................................... 89
  Subway ............................................ 26
  Superheroes, lack of .........................6
  SWAT ............................................ 142
  Symphony ..................................... 110
  Taxis ................................................ 25
  Technology World ....................... 132
  Telephone service .......................... 23
  Television ...................................... 105
  Theatre .......................................... 110
  Tongs ....................................... 39, 163
  Trash disposal ................................ 23
  Trial zones .................................... 149
  Underground things ...................... 20
  Underworld, the ......................157-82
  Unions ........................................... 124
  Universities ................................... 117
  Urban legends .............................. 129
  Urbanography ................................ 18
  Utilities ............................................ 23
  Victorian Hero ............................. 202
  Vietnamese gangs .................. 39, 167
  Vigilantes .................................154-56
  Villains .....................................236-70
  Visual arts ..................................... 110
  War Of 1812 ......................................8
  Waste disposal ................................ 23
  Water ............................................... 23
  Water taxis ...................................... 26
  Wealthy, the .................................. 133
  Weapons smuggling .................... 180
  Weather ..................................... 16, 20
  Weird Conspiracy campaigns .... 201
  Weird criminals ........13, 175, 236-70
  Wildlife, in LeMastre Park ............ 66
  World Wars I-II .........................10-11
  Yakuza ..................................... 39, 168
  INDEX
  
  275 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  
  276 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  
  277 
  Hudson City:  The Urban Abyss
  
  278 
  Hero System 5th Edition
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Hero System/Hero System - Hudson City.pdf