ADE setting: Bedford.

[Legionnaire]

BEDFORD, BEDFORDSHIRE, F-UK.

Being of a smaller size than its brethren and sistren London, Manchester and Birmingham, Bedford was not hit so badly during The War, but there was a flipside to the coin, because it was reasonably unscathed many sought refuge in it from all over the place. During the next generation it became a cultural melting pot, more so than it was before, with representatives from around much of the known world, but setting their cultural differences aside in favour of a much more practical neighbourhood community. In the beginning there were individuals from the same area banding together for mutual protection and mutual benefits, Muslims standing side by side with Christians and Hindus, because everyone realised they needed help from each other to survive. Later they evolved into gangs, like the Goldington Road Ruffians, the Harpur Street Conmen and Ashburnham Road Chuffers, and you are very much born into the gang depending on where you live in the area, each member sporting some garment to identify their affiliation. Outsiders are generally not admitted into the gangs as they are a very private affair to the members, but many gangs hire mercenaries to do their dirty works and if the outsiders can prove that they are of use (such as craftsmen, farmers and merchants) they are allowed to stay in the area, enjoying the benefits of being protected by the local gang, but also hat risk of attracting any rival gangs attention.

The town which once housed around 80000 in population is now whittled down to around 800, where once there were parks and sport fields there are now crops growing and safe drinking water can be had from the Great River Ouse that flows through the town, but obviously at a price by those regulating the access. In the town centre there is a bustling market every day, where both merchants from the city and from outlying settlements ply their trade. The South Wing hospital is still in operations by a group called The Whitecloaks and is led by The Supreme Surgeon, they refuse to be gang affiliated and will treat anyone needing their help but only if paid adequately for their services. As such, they are one of the most influential and richest groups in the town. The Higgins museum is home to a bunch of scholastically inclined people, mostly referred to as the Weirdoes and at the top of the old castle mound they have built a tall observation tower to keep an eye on everybody else. Even though many of their contraptions and schemes turn out far too dangerous or hare-brained, the ones that do work as intended tend to work very well indeed. St Paul’s church across one of the town bridges is now home to a deranged pastor who has barred the doors and spends his days shouting at the sky or shooting “heathens” with his Holy Sniper Rifle. No one is ever seen at his door so there are plenty of rumours about how he manages to live day after day, ranging from a secret food stash to having a network of tunnels under the city and being fed by Angels. Attempts have been made to seize the church but due to the failures there are whispers around that the place is either protected by Higher Powers or that it’s Cursed.

A short while ago The State set a cunning plan in motion, but it was also highly dangerous. In an attempt to kill two birds with one stone they pitted most of the bigger gangs against each other, with carefully manipulated strokes they attempted to whittle down the disgusting gang presence until they could swoop in and take control of the town. It started like an avalanche, a little pebble rolling down, gathering up collateral and getting bigger and bigger, in this case the ingenious murder of the then Supreme Surgeon and a planted evidence. This was the spark that ignited it all, in blinding fury over such a heinous crime the gangs clashed and retaliated against each other, for weeks the streets of Bedford ran red with blood, and for the first time ever in living memory, the Whitecloaks refused blankly to help anyone until a new Supreme Surgeon had been agreed upon, from their four story building they simply watched the city burn. When the gun smoke had cleared and all the dead bodies had been dragged away it stood clear what toll the fighting had taken on the town. Much of the gang leadership had been wiped out and left young or very inexperienced members to fill the gap. The South Wing Hospital opened the doors once more and announced that a new Supreme Surgeon had been appointed and that their services were once more available. The State, based in the old Territorial Army barracks and the adjoining The Keep had taken a very risky gamble and suffered losses too, leaving them with not enough resources to gain the control they had hoped for, but at least the gangs were heavily decimated now.

In the vacuum left by the demise of many of the established gangs, two upstarts are vying for control. They are young and inexperienced but highly motivated in making their mark on the town. They are: The Bunyan Road Skins, led by a tall, longhaired bad-ass named Matty and the Kimbolton Road Budgens Duffers (the BD’s for short), where a very vocal man of Scandinavian descent named Sven is in charge. They have managed to pilfer some of the weapons from the previous hostilities but are mostly armed with short blades and sharpened tools.

[Brummie Thug]

Awesome background it sounds brilliant! 

[Legionnaire]

Awesome background it sounds brilliant! 

Cheers! Received the rules V2 and my mate and I have been itching to start a proper campaign. The suggestions at the moment are to do it the really hard way, 5 Yobs each and 10pts worth of equipment but that might be revised, maybe ease it a little bit by purchasing upgrades for the Yobs (Move, Toughness and Skill) as well. If all goes according to plan we will kick it off this coming Monday. Raiding abandoned stores around St Paul's square in search of loot whilst the unpredictable deranged pastor rains down gunfire on anyone in sight!!! Should be a cracking game. 

[Adm Richie]

Sounds awesome sir! Love the setting as well...the entire staff of Dead Earth Games were born in Bedford, funnily enough.
You'd be the first to take on the Hardcore campaign, to my knowledge! Although as your Yobs are relatively worthless, you can go all guns blazing...or knives flashing at least!

[Legionnaire]

Sounds awesome sir! Love the setting as well...the entire staff of Dead Earth Games were born in Bedford, funnily enough.
You'd be the first to take on the Hardcore campaign, to my knowledge! Although as your Yobs are relatively worthless, you can go all guns blazing...or knives flashing at least!

I on the other hand was born on a totally different but smaller island than the UK, located in the Baltic sea  . We might start with a Grunt and 4 Yobs but still only 10pts worth of equipment and maybe tweak it so you can upgrade the Stats by 1 each per game that they survive for 5 Points (making it a minimum of three games to reach Grunt), but that's still in discussion.

[commissarmoody]

Sounds like a great starting point.

[aliensurfer]

sounds like Bedford these days 

I'm up in Stevington this weekend, this is now going to play on my mind, great intro 

[Scorpio]

Agreed, excellent foundation to build on there. Just enough backstory to come up with lots of ideas to work with, and a lot of room for players to fill in the gaps.

[Legionnaire]

Thank you gentlemen! In truth there will only be two players, but then we can do whatever campaign we want to do  .

There has been a "pass" on the house rules since last. We have agreed that 6 games for a Yob to make it to a Grunt (and then hopefully transform into one of the Specialist Classes...) is a bit much for us. Therefore, providing a Yob survives the and is fit for fight in between games, you can give him (or her) Intensive Training, basically you pay Loot Points to upgrade their Stats until they are "as good as a Grunt". Giving you the option to either improve your cannonfodder to fight another day OR to spend it on weapons and equipment. With a bit of luck a Yob will be a Grunt in 3 games instead with this method and who knows, maybe a Leader will emerge from this bunch of ragamuffins...  !

[Adm Richie]

Really intrigued by your hard-core Gang building campaign. Hope the first couple of games aren't too "dry" without classes. On the other hand, they're bound to be very quick games with no leaders or medics. Can't wait to hear how this goes.

[Brummie Thug]

Sounds great. Look forward to hearing about it and how it works out for your fledgling gangs.

[Halforc]

I live just outside Bedford and travel there twice a week, I think the zombie apocalypse has already hit the place!

[Legionnaire]

I live just outside Bedford and travel there twice a week, I think the zombie apocalypse has already hit the place!

There are worse places around, but sometimes I really do wonder as I walk around in town  .

[aliensurfer]

There are worse places around, but sometimes I really do wonder as I walk around in town  .

I used to go stay in The Gordon Arm's pub - George Street is the name stuck in my mind for some reason, can't recall much else bar the park and The Pheonix pub. Nowadays we normally are out in Stevington or the outskirts of the town - Wentworth Drive I think it's called. I think most town centres are the same these days - lots of zombie like folk about