Building a Crew for Reality's Edge

The Alley Gang

While browsing at Games and Stuff, my Friendly Local Gaming Store, I discovered the miniatures for the Orphan Gang from Zombicide Invader.  This is a sci-fi collection of six children, mostly teens, armed with various guns and cybergear.  The sculpting and detail on the miniatures is amazing and they ooze cyberpunk character.  So I had to have them.  The sculpting from Zombicide: Invader is tops and you can see them here. Since they fit the aesthetic so well I decided to make them a crew for Reality’s Edge. 

In my head, their Showrunner is a child prodigy known as Ashcan.  Ashcan is a runaway from the corporate life.  She was provided the best in schooling, physical training, and other advantages, groomed to one day join the corporati elite.  Despite all these benefits, Ashcan grew tired of her emotionally distant parents and her suffocating and regimented life.  On her fourteenth birthday she ran away from home, with a few choice pieces of equipment of course, and started a new life in the Sprawl. Despite her young age; her quick wit and genius-level intellect allowed her to establish a new life as a mercenary operator.  After a particularly successful job for the Hayte Corporation, she received a contact from a shadowbacker called the Pied-Piper, who offered her a Showrunner contract.  With the Pied Pipers’s backing Ashcan set-up her own crew.  Given her own background, Ashcan only hires other children, though she does not discriminate between corporate runaways and the Sprawl-raised. 

For her Showrunner background I chose Arcology Raised since it represents her fluff the best.  For this she received a +1 Mettle and received an Autopatch Deluxe equipment and Infravision chrome.  This latter necessitates that I must buy a cyber eye if I wish to use it, which I plan to do.  Both items add +35 CC’s to the Ashcan’s total value, but since they are otherwise free, I do not have to pay for them. 

For Ashcan I decided the best class type for her would be the sprawl ronin.  Despite her small size, kids tend to be quick and I imagined she would have chrome that would duplicate the effect of Lightning Reflexes (this is just a narrative thing, not represented by actual chrome).  Befitting her Showrunner status, she also gained Fearful Reputation for being a ronin and the Crew Leader, Visualizer, and V-Spyke special rules and equipment.  Additionally, since she is so small, her focus would be on ranged warfare instead of close combat. So I took +1 Move and +1 Aim for her stat increases, chose the heavy SMG for her primary weapon, and I took +1 to Activation Tests for her Tricks of the Trade.

Finally, I picked out her starting items.  I chose a Bludgeon (10 CC), heavy SMG (18 CC), armor weave (20 CC), cyber-eyes (10 CC), and a neural link (15 CC).

For the next member of the crew, we have Renegade.  A tough kid who was orphaned when his parents were gunned down by mercs under the employ of Diju International during the Takahito Trade War. Taking up his father’s gun, Renegade become one of the many recruits of his father’s old outfit.  Trained up from the age of eight, Renegade eventually washed out due to attitude problems, but not before learning a thing or two about survival and gunplay.

Renegade is an enforcer operative type given his history as a former child soldier. To reflect his generic battle training, I gave him +1 Aim and +1 Melee. I rolled Careful Shooting for his skill, which should pair well with Ashcan. The model is equipped with a shotgun (15 CC), so I took that as Renegade’s primary weapon and also gave him a bludgeon (10 CC) in case things got close-up.

Ever crew needs a console cowboy and for that I have Kid Matrix.  A one time champion of Treasure Assault, a HyperNET Arena Game, he was banned for insider trading using in-game assets.  After his ban no E-sports team would touch him and his electronic riches soon ran dry.  Abandoned by his alcoholic father, kicked out of his coffin cube for lack of payment, Kid Matrix ran out of options.  Today he pounds the pavement for Ashcan using his hacking skills for whatever the boss needs.   

For Kid Matrix I look the +1 Movement, as a kid he is fast and getting to those valuable network nodes are more important than fighting.  Just to give him something to do, I did give him a light SMG (15 CC), which is also his primary weapon, and because all the kids are doing it, some Muze™ (10 CC) to help with the hacking. For his skill I rolled Clever, which fits the theme of a smart kid gone rogue.

With my crew taking shape, I felt I needed a bit of fun.  Nothing says fun like messing with the enemy’s plans like an infiltrator can.  For that, I have Starling.  Another runaway, Starling ran away from her Burbclave as her parents’ divorce got bitter and she was tired of being a pawn between her physically abusive father and her emotionally manipulative mother.  With a predilection for avoid trouble, Starling made her way into the Sprawl and has stayed in the shadow’s ever since.  Though a bit of luck she was able to secure an apprenticeship in the Infiltrator’s Guild and has been learning from the bottom up. 

For Starling, I chose the +1 Aim option since the model comes with two light SMGs; I also chose that weapon for her primary weapon as well.   For equipment, she has the aforementioned light SMG and the EMP grenade, which is just awesome.  For her skill I rolled Shadow Blend, which is quite possibly the best result I could have rolled.

To add some punch to the crew, a drone jockey was chosen.  The aforementioned jockey is Princess, a faulty child clone of a world famous musico.  She was abandoned after certain biological protocols were deemed to be violated.  However, her creator took pity on the clone and released her into the streets rather than terminate her.  Alone on the streets, Princess used her bubbly personality and flair for the dramatic to win friends.  Despite being a natural extrovert, Princess as a clone feels a more natural affinity for bots and drones than actual humans.  A quick study, Princess eventually cobbled together the money to build her predator attack drone she calls Buttercup.  Princess has a knack for electronics and much prefers the company of drones and robots to actual human beings. 

For Princess I gave her the +1 Move options so she can keep up with her drone.  For a bit of offensive punch, I gave her a light SMG since even though she is likely to miss; there is no reason not to shoot since guns don’t jam in Reality’s Edge.  For Buttercup I purchased a predator attack drone for 40 CC.  To put the focus on the drone, I chose to roll a skill for Buttercup instead of Princess and got First to the Fight, which will really help get Buttercup into close combat faster.