Help with creating a Yakuza.

[Deth Muncher]

Despite my great enjoyment (that's a word, right?) at doing a good deal of my DM-ing "on the fly", as it were, occasionally I need to actually write stuff down, and come up with actual, fleshed out ideas. When these times happen, I turn to you, the playgrounders, as the collective hivemind that is the Gaming (d20 and General RPG) Forum generally has all the knowledge necesary for no matter what needs to happen.

Currently, I'm running an Updated Oriental Adventures campaign, and the PCs (level 4) are fleeing their city at the behest of their elder to get to a port town to enlist the help of their elder. This elder, of course, happens to be the leader of the town's Yakuza. And as I was doing this, I realized "Well, wait a sec, how would a Yakuza actually work in game? Heck, how does a Thieves Guild work, for that matter?" Which is why I come to you guys, because I realized that really, I have no clue how to make this kind of thing anything more than just a vague "Oh, yeah guys, there's a Yakuza. Mhm. Don't ask questions, or your character's dead." kind of thing.

I was looking at both the Yakuza PrC in OA, as well as the Stretfighter PrC in CAdv, both of which seem to facilitate that whole "gang" thing. They both get a save to shrug off damage (altough SF's is better). They both get bonuses at gathering local information (although Yak's is better). Also, Streetfighter has the benefit of advancing/granting Sneak Attack, whereas Yakuza gives you lots of skill points to invest in all sorts of crimelord things. (Like Forgery! Yeah! -_-*) I think they'd both be great classes to invest in for the ranks of the Yakuza, having SF's for the "enforcers" and having people with the actual Yakuza class being the upper-level crimebosses/lieutennants.

But, even with that being said, how does the infrastructure of this work in Oriental Adventures. The setting as I'm playing it...well, not really biased one way towards one specific culture, so I mean, if it works one way in Japan but another in China, I'd be interested to see the differences.

So, without further ado, help please!

Also, WALL OF TEXT ATTACK!

[hiryuu]

Yakuza generally work the way a thief's guild works, unfortunately, that's been colored a lot by film and media.

Such an organization exists in response to a lack of adequate protection from the criminal elements in an area to fill the gap. A protection racket, for example, isn't just an implied threat if you don't pay. If you don't pay, not only does the organization break your stuff, they also don't protect you from other criminals. People who do pay can actually expect normal criminals to leave them alone, since no one wants the guild breathing down their back about making them look bad, and no criminal wants to suddenly discover himself with a knife in his back.

In Japan, the Yakuza started specifically to protect the commoners from the samurai, who had become little more than armed bullies, and roving bandits. Effectively, the commoners weren't getting protection or policing from the government, and started to try to police themselves. Of course, the Yakuza were not immune to corruption, and drifted down this road after a while, too (you know, power corrupts, absolute power is kinda neat).

Another thing to look at is organized/licensed banditry. Kingdoms who want to control the flow of money and goods in and out of their borders would hire or license bandits to hit a certain amount of goods or types of goods coming into the kingdom to distribute in it for free. Such a system would prevent cities from becoming too independent or free as bandits have been licensed by the kingdom to harass merchants going into or coming out of it in order to make them look for "greener" cities to ply their trade in, keeping the economy of the region decentralized. Yet another activity of a government-endorsed thief's guild might be to cause property damage in equivalency to large sums of coins suddenly deposited into the economy from, say, adventurers. This would keep things equal and prevent the region from collapsing under the weight of gold.

[Doomsy]

From my understanding a lot of the Yakuza clans operated with the tacit approval of the local authorities and may do so to this day. I believe it operates under the assumption that with their own hierarchy they are more likely to regulate themselves and remove elements inside the Yakuza or its territory who have been a bit too violent, noisy, or otherwise undesirable.

[Deth Muncher]

So, basically what I'm getting from this is that the Yakuza is a Thieves Guild that operates alongside whatever local authorities may exist, and possibly with the approval of said authorities. That's fine. I'm guessing, as this is a port city that the Yakuza should have their hands on:
-any drug trade
-imports/exports
-travel
-inter-city trade

Sound about right?

[ForzaFiori]

So, basically what I'm getting from this is that the Yakuza is a Thieves Guild that operates alongside whatever local authorities may exist, and possibly with the approval of said authorities. That's fine. I'm guessing, as this is a port city that the Yakuza should have their hands on:
-any drug trade
-imports/exports
-travel
-inter-city trade

Sound about right?

also gambling, prostitution, etc. Stuff that is usually found in the shadier parts of town usually have at least a little influence from a mafia or gang.

[The_JJ]

Don't forget the tattoos. Tattooed=yakuza, yakuza=tattooed.


But yeah, have them stake out the docks, warehouses, etc. to extort 'tolls.' Have them control all the red light district stuff, and have them extort a monthly fee from local shop owners for protection.

[Bassikpoet]

Pinky cut off at the first knuckle = Yakuza that messed up.

If you want to go with how many of the Yakuza view their history, have them never commit thievery. Many Yakuza view themselves as a force that came into being to fight the "theft" by taxes of the average people by low ranking samurai in the 17th century (early Edo era). Therefore, they would never sink to stealing.

[The_JJ]

Just charging for protection from... accidents.