are you trying to say my idea is pap Tallien?

:'(

I'd be interested in coming to Vegas to watch and bet on duels.  I think it'd be great to have eight or so mafiosos of equal rank sign up to shoot off against eachother in a round robin tournament, winner takes all.  Of course all the shots would be planned for a time; perhaps no shots until high noon, early shots result in disqualification.  Bets could be made on each duel; or say 10:1 odds on picking the overall competition winner.

Great way to make a name for oneself.  If my idea is chosen I'd like to be involved in this venture.

Thanks for the opportunity to share this idea,

-Dynamoan

That sounds like a neat idea, Dynamoan.  Of course it would probably have to be young hot-heads in the game, but that is still a very neat idea.  I've been dreaming lately about ways to mix it up such as setting up "rival" gangs, who shoot at one another if they encounter one another, but don't really go into all-out war or involve made men.

We could simply have a thief competition.  The same as Dyna's idea, but with pickpocketing, so that everyone could get involved virtually without fear.  That way odds could be created based on rank and record.  And "celebrity" thieves might develop once they get a reputation.

That date auctioning thing sounds hilarious, especially if the date is RPed publicly.

I have an idea which I was nursing myself however, as I'm exteremly important and busy, I do not have the capacity to launch it myself. So I'd be happy to sell my idea to you for others to use as a template for business.

So, the idea:

Initially it's a bar, it would ideally be well thought out and well designed bar with a number of bar staff working. Why is it different? I want it to earn money!

Being as important as I am, I want a VIP area, somewhere I can go with my peers, sharing an expesive liquor, smoking cigars and talking about intensely intellectual topics.

How does the bar accomadate this?

The bar staff open up VIP rooms (Back Alley), the key (URL) is then sent to the Very Important person, someone like me, who has paid a set fee for the privilege (around 500k?). As owner of the room, I can cut copies of the key and pass it to my bum chums, it is just the initial capital downlay that costs the funds.

So, I have my room, then I would pay the bar staff a pre-designated fee, in the tens of thousands for all I want is the expesive shit, for the drinks, cigars, strippers and porn. These will be limited, i.e. ten whiskeys per transaction, every time me or my buddies visit (post), we will be drinking one of these whiskeys. When they run out, I will buy more.

It will need a designated, dedicated and descrete crew of bar staff, they will be privvy to conversations in these VIP booths that they must keep quiet, they will also have the opportunity to earn monies by keeping the rooms running smoothly.

Michael smirks and sips some coffee, listening to everyone's thoughtful ideas. He then smirks, nodding at some while laughing at others. He then looks towards the now-silent room, deciding it is his turn to come up and speak.

"I'm rather new to this, but Vegas is my home-town, and I can understand wanting to liven things up. Here are a few ideas," he says as he grabs a nearby chalkboard and starts scribbling madly:

"First, let's talk about speed rping. We have faster ways to talk, thanks to IRC. So let's make a speed room. It'd run like speed dating, for all intents and purposes. Everyone goes to one room, and then randomly picks a private room with someone else on the irc channel. They talk in character for five minutes. Then, everyone changes places, mad hatter style. Why is this entertaining? Because you get to meet new people and yell at old friends. Besides, you never know who might need a new dancing partner."

"Another thing that come to mind is the fact that we need entertainment. Vegas isn't just a casino town, after all. We've got showrooms, and we need people to fill them, complete with tickets and sales. Open up a showroom in a private password-locked room, and charge a low ticket price (200-400) for all admission. Then have a real headliner running the show, some kind of pro musician or comedian. I'm certain you can find someone with the skills around here."

"The last idea came to me when I heard the university concept and the rambling about duels. Why not have some teams? Each city could found their own pickpocketing team, consisting of say eleven to twelve people, all within certain ranks predetermined and agreed upon. Each game could last for one hour, and sometimes you play home, sometimes away. Rules woudl be as follows:" He said with a smirk as he writes on the chalkboard:

1. Every player starts out with $50,000 (or some other amount). Gotta make it fair.

2. Players may target other players with pickpocketing.

3. A player may "pass" his money via transfer to one of his teammates.

4. A player may not engage in banking or money-making crimes during this time. (I sincerely recommend a lack of DFPs during this as well.)

5. At end of game, all proceeds are donated to whoever the team captain, and each captain reports their earnings to the ref. is. We'll neeed IRC to coordinate this, in all likelihood.

6. The ref determines who wins based on which team captain gives him the most money. The ref then cuts the money as follows: 5% for himself, 20% for the Godfather of the winning city, 5% for the Godfather of the hosting city, and 70% to be evenly divided among the winning team.

"As you can see," Michael said with a grin, "This game would be immensely challenging. We could also make bets on these team games, with someone willing to play casino manager and take bets. it'd definitely be something no one's ever seen before, that's for sure."

Drunk Floyd stumbles over

Throws back a quick shot of Mississippi Moonshine

Talking in a slur

It's like this! We'll start a business. Yes a good business. A club!

"Mississippi's in Vegas, Boom Boom Room"

Ow yes, I love the sound. The club name is optional. The club will have a well thought out design. 3 floors!

*1st floor, everyone my participant, from thugs to GF's. (this will be in the business district)

*2nd floor, for Made Man and above only. Anyone under this rank will be taken out back and disposed of. (there will be no way out of this situation, it's just a consequence you have to face)

This floor will be located in Business District as well, label "2nd FLOOR"

*3rd floor, this floor will mainly be for Dons, GF/GM, CL's, and those considered the upper structure of this thing of ours.

Throws back another shot and takes a step over behind the dumpster.

Pisses

Ok! Yeah about the club.

Of course there has to be a way to make money. People will pay a fee just to enter the city when events are going on. (prices your choose). Families may pay to host big events in Vegas at "Mississippi's in Vegas, Boom Boom Room".

By doing this, they will pay a set amount and for a certain period, maybe 2 days or so, they can have their event, invite who they want, and make a little profit on the cover charge.

Here's the juciey part:

Just like all club scenes, there will be drugs, alcohol, and girls. This will cause altercations. If people get into a heated conversation in the club, they may handle it right their in Vegas without facing any harsh consequences for their actions. This way we have proof of the conflict through the club posting and killings are justified.  If they have friends their in the city with them, their friends my shoot at the enemy as well, both ways.  Only thing is, NONE OF THIS MAY LEAVE VEGAS!  Otherwise, things will be handled just like any other situation under another GF or GM's watch.

From past experiences we've seen people get into heated arguements in the streets and someone usually dies. Using this method, people can handle their problems without getting Crewleaders invloved, and have a little fun if 4 or 5 friends get into a shoot out with 4 or 5 enemies at these gatherings. (OOC: I think this is the best part of this event)

Leaders can use the 3rd Floor (back alley) as a place to have "Sit-Downs" (in character) and Vegas can be the spot where are this happens.

(OOC: We could also go as far and picking a good standard time when the majority of people are online and host events at those times.)

Marriages, Birthday Parties, Mafia Meets, pretty much any event you could think of. Of coarse this would have to be well put together, and a good bar staff, and hitters serving as bouncers to handle the rule breakers.

We could discuss even expanding this idea, if it is the one of your choose!

Takes another shot and lays on the bench over by the drug store.

hmm Tallien perhaps you should consider accepting more than 1 of  these ideas...though i still think 1 man should get the money you could still incorporate some ideas

i like sammys idea and have a free for all city no holds bar you step in the city of vegas what ever happens stays there you have no support from your family you are a lone ranger i think that will be awesome

Ok I'll give a shot at this...

Straz clears his throat and gets ready for what he's going to say.

How about if you sell protection or to put it in better words avengement? Someone gives you X amount of money (you decide of course, but should be rather expensive 1M-3M?) and you promise to track down his whacker if the protectee gets shot within a X amount of days (week?) and whack him yourself or by ordering someone in your family to do the job.

Ok might seem a bit unrealistic if a GF whacks a badly behaving Made and the Made is under your protection of course you don't whack the GF, but you could set up a contract going some what like this: "You are protected by Me, Tallien and if you get shot when you haven't done anything wrong such as: Be disrespectful to your superiors, whack a wrong person or misbehave I will personally or my family will hunt down your whacker and avenge your death." You can come up with much more detailed speech, I just came up with that on the top of my head.

Ok you might have a problem with families accepting you whacking their members, but you could set up a list of families that have accepted this rule (ask them personally).

Summary (example):

Chuck Norris gives you 2M for a week of protection (he's on the list of accepted families)

Chuck gets shot without a good reason (he didn't misbehave or be disrespectful etc...)

You track down Chuck's killer and get him killed.

= Chuck is avenged!

What do you think? I hope I didn't forget anything.

Sober Floyd, awakes on the bench and stands to display another plan he just dreamed about in his drunken state.

One more thing Mr. Tallien.  I know this might not fly, but you want ideas, so here goes.

Vegas can be the only city where you can be unsponsered and not be killed.  For instance, a person could go to Vegas after their -48 hours is up and from that point, if they stay in Vegas they are allowed to rank up without a sponsor.  This way people could rank as high as possible and still remain unsponsored. 

Only things is, they have to stay in Vegas at all times and if they decide to visit another city they're signing their death certificates.  This is when stradegy is put into play and people would have to get Pro Shots to leave the city and be back before their Pro Shot is up. 

Having said that, we all know that Tallien and Vegas have to benefit from this.  How you ask?  Everyone has to pay tribute that are not apart of a Vegas family(or any other family, basically the unsponsered), but with that tribute they have protection from Vegas incases another family wants to come in Vegas and kill them without justified reasons.

Next, these people are allowed to set up Mob Gangs that may have no more than a 10 man HQ including the RHM, LHM, and Crewleader.  All gangs will pay tribute to the Godmother (your choice of amount).

Plus, no gangs my start conflicts with anyone outside of Vegas, only with the other gangs in Vegas that have also been allowed to set up.

So much more can be added to make this business plan perfect, but it's just a idea thrown out their.  If you would like to go further indepth, I'm here and willing to explain more, if you're interested of coarse.

Thanks for your time.

I like your second idea a lot, Floyd.  I've been thinking about a structured way for rogue gangs to set up.

That would certainly be interesting, Floyd. 

Thanks Tama for the support on an idea of a free-for-all city. Possibly my idea of witness statements not being sent out, open pockets, AND Floyd's idea of being safe as an unsponsored in Vegas could be twisted together. Of course the only downfall to this is that more than likely anyone who sees an unsponsored is going to shoot, assuming that his statement will be concealed. So they kind of clash, but I'm sure the "fine print" so to speak could be ironed out. 

Yeah, you might not, because that whole "crew" (of up to 10) HAS to be in LV, so there's a good chance that one of them would end up witnessing your attempt at one of their guys.  This is all a very interesting idea.  It would change the entire way you think about everything.

"Vegas as a free-for-all city would be vastly entertaining," Mike mused. "Besides that, it could allow for entire unknowns to rise up outta nowhere, and that could add all sorts of new implications. Honestly, it'd make this city a hell of a lot less safe, but then again, what's the fun in safety?"

Of course that auctioning should be rp'ied.. And the dates too.

Any further interest in this?

~T~

"Well yes Sir"

"How about building a race track once a month can have the Vegas cup where mobsters could bring there auto mobiles to the track be charged a entrance fee the winner takes the cup and a price, along with 2nd and 3rd, but of course Vegas takes a profit, i will be willing to enter one of my fine machines"

Tallien, one more for you here.

I've been toying with the idea of tips and the concept of an individual having to tip up to a certain amount in a particular city to gain drug units, and the fact that the individual concerned would then have to go to that city to gain the drug units. Using that as a basis for an idea, I believe that a reward scheme for being tipped up in your city would then be beneficial to the city as it will bring people to your city to collect advancements on their drug carrying capacity.

With that in mind, I would start an initiative that meant that when the FBN agent claims someone "understands how the relationship works" after you tip him, that you would then reward this individual with a cash or credit prize for having completed this and taken a picture with the FBN agent for proof of that claim. To make it plausible however, it would need to be only applicable to people who have the carrying capacity of 20 drug units or more.

This would then reward the Godmother of Las Vegas with the tax money from the original drug run to Vegas to check for more drug units, the petties and felonies within the two or three hours and a general increase in population within the city - which could potentially create a snowball effect of making it a more popular city due to crackdowns and such benefitting the online persons. That would surely cover the reward for gaining the 20 drug units or more tip-off.

Later that evening, as Tallien knocked back a couple of drinks in one of Vegas's most exclusive bars, he was surprised to see a large man with a flame-red beard pull up a chair next to him.

"Jesus, Hammer!" Tallien arched his eyebrows."This is an exclusive joint.Who the hell let you in here?And how the hell did you get past...Heshyn?!" Tallien looked behind him to see the sprawled figure of his bodyguard on the floor, before shooting an angry glare back at Hammer, while reaching for his gun.

"Relax, Tallien," replied The Hammer, "he'll be fine in the morning.His head may be a little sore, but nothing a thick skull like his can't handle!"The Hammer reached for his jacket pocket, and smiled as he saw Tallien's hand once again twitch in the direction of his own shoulder holster."Just a cigarette, old friend, relax..."

As The Hammer lit up his cigarette, Tallien took the opportunity to appraise his old brother in arms.He'd lost weight, and that stupid phony accent he'd adopted to fool the plebs into thinking he was dumber than he looked had disappeared.If anything, The Hammer's new suit made him look even more dangerous...like a razor blade disguised in a piece of Turkish Delight."What the hell do you want, Hammer?And cut to the chase, I'm a busy man these days!"

The Hammer took an infuriatingly long drag, before exhaling purple smoke towards the ceiling.Leaning back in his chair, he explained that he'd heard Vegas was looking for some new ideas...ways to shake things up a little, and maybe have a bit of fun.Hammer went on to explain how he had once had dreams of re-establishing the Las Vegas Outlaws, the greatest crew-that-never-was, but that, as he reached his twilight years, he found he had neither the stamina nor inclination to run a family again.Hammer explained that accordingly, just as he had once shared his Ultimate Guide, a Bible for Mademen and above, with Tallien, he now wanted to pass on the ideas he had once hoped to implement in Vegas one day, in the hope that some of those dreams might bear fruit.After another round of drinks were ordered, and the unconscious body of Heshyn had been removed by the helpful staff, the two old dogs got down to the details.In essence, The Hammer's ideas were as follows...

Paying due respect... As Godmother of Las Vegas, Aurora has undisputed authority over Las Vegas.This is her town, and hers alone.Accordingly, why should any Tom, Dick or Heshyn be allowed to start ripping off old ladies and pushing produce on The Northern Lights' turf without so much as a by-your-leave?From now on, all out-of-towners should find a member of the Vegas families to vouch for them before they are allowed into the city.That Vegas-native will vouch for the good character of the out-of-towner, and in return, the out of Towner will pay a small tax for being allowed to make a profit in Vegas.The vouch-safer takes a cut, and passes the rest on up the chain to Aurora.For the avoidance of doubt, is vouch-safe is good for only one visit...after that, the out-of-toner may need to introduce themselves to another member of the Vegas families, if their previous friend is not available at that time.This has a two-fold benefit; firstly, it reminds those from out of town who runs this joint; secondly, it encourages them to secure contacts with the Vegas families, bringing them closer together, and encouraging new business relationships to flourish.

The benefits of being Made... A mademan is untouchable.They have been trusted by their family to hold to the highest standards of this thing of ours.Therefore, if a Las Vegas mademan or above decides he wants to pick your goomba pockets, then wherever he is...he can!If he decides he wants to shoot your wiseguy-ass for working his patch of Vegas without anyone having vouched for you, then...he can!You have only one way to guarantee this does not happen...you make it worth their while to keep you alive when you visit Vegas, by making sure you pay them a nice little sum, to say thank you for their hospitality.

Other assorted realities of "this thing of ours"...

1)      Wiseguys and below never hold a position of importance in a family...whoever heard of trusting someone enough to make them Right Hand Man, when they haven't even proved themselves as Made yet...and, on the flipside, whoever heard of a mademan who couldn't be trusted to help run the family's affairs?

2)      People who repeatedly go mad, believing themselves to be in the future, or simply in some sort of "game", are put out of their misery, regardless of their standing.The Madness of King George nearly crippled the British Empire, and, just so, the madness of high-ranking Mafioso can spread, infecting those they come into contact with.Go bonkers once...a stern talking to, to snap them out of it.Barmy twice...and intensive course of therapy with doctor Tallien and his acerbic wit.Doo-lally your dough-nut a third time, and someone administers a lethal dose of reality, .22 calibre.

3)      Busy workers are happy workers.No matter how fantastic any new idea is, it will soon become old...either consigned to the dustbin, or accepted as policy throughout the mob.But mobsters have always enjoyed being kept on their toes.Drill your hit-squads by sending them after imaginary targets; keep the younger guys happy by leading them on a pub-crawl around the various bar districts; set minds to work planning and executing a daring heist; or even re-establish the Street-Fights, where thugs through to wiseguys competed on the streets for standing and respect, the only rules being no firearms, no killing, and no bringing a fat guy to just sit on your opponents!

The ideas laid out, The Hammer nodded to a couple of pretty girls over the other side of the bar."Hey Tallien, remember when we were young, and we used to party with Tita and Lexi...?"Tallien glances over at the girls, smiling as he remembers the crazy nights the Brotherhood used to have on the tiles, when they were all a bit younger.Amiling for the first time that evening, he turns back to The Hammer...who has gone!A cigarette smoulders in the ashtray, and a calling card peeks out from under Hammer's empty tumbler, but of the Viking mobster...not a sign.