The world has been saved but things still aren’t looking too good for Tokyo in today’s game, the 1999 Guardians of Order RPG Demon City Shinjuku, based on the anime of the same name. Just over a decade ago a powerful evil sorcerer named Levih Rah put in motion a plan to open a gateway to Hell & allow his demonic master to take over the world. Step one of the plan was to cause a tremendously powerful earthquake, known colloquially as the “Devil Shake”, that turned Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward into an apocalyptic wasteland. Various government agencies made a few abortive attempts to restore order, but the Devil Shake had released countless minor & middling demons to prowl the ward. It was wiser – & easier = to cordon off the area & leave it to its own devices. Gangs, thugs, & evil spirits seized control. Ten years later Levih Rah tried to complete the ritual to bring his master into this world, but was foiled by the protagonists of the movie. The world was saved!

Shinjuku, not so much. Levih Rah has been chopped to pieces & fed to his own demonic patron, but the ward remains overrun with monsters, lesser devils, & the desperate & dangerous humans who still make the place their home. It’s in & around this little patch of Hell on earth that the action in Demon City Shinjuku takes place.

Flipping through the plot summary that opens the book, I’m suddenly reminded of a few articles I’ve seen on sukeban bosozoku (Japanese all-woman motorcycle gang/clubs). Yeah, that sounds good. Our hero is Masanobu Hanako, leader of the Chrome Devils, one of the many gangs that roam the wreckage of Shinjuku. Unlike the criminal bands, however, the Falcons make their money as “finders”, searching for people or items or providing protection to expeditions into the ruins.

Like the rest of GoO’s anime-inspired games, Demon City Shinjuku uses the Tri-Stat system. Beginning characters get a number of points to be divided among the three stats. How many depends on the general power level you’re shooting for. Let’s assume this is an “above average” campaign; the PCs are hero material but not quite superheroic. That means we’ve got 15 points to distribute.

Body 6
Mind 5
Soul 4

Next we select “attributes”, which in most other games I think you would see called advantages or boons or something. Anyway. How many attribute points you’ve got to spend also depends on the game’s power level. For above average, we get 15 of them. Attributes are rated from 1 to 6 & cost a varying number of points per level.

Combat Mastery 2 (adds 2 to Combat Value)
Damn Healthy! 2 (increases Health by 20)
Demonic Powers 1 (10 demon points)
Fortified Body 1 (increases Body by 1)
Highly Skilled 1 (provides 10 additional skill points)
Personal Gear 1 (motorbike, medical supplies, night vision goggles, satellite phone)
Speed 1
Supernatural Training 2

Whoops – that adds up to 16 points. Fortunately a PC can take on “defects” to get additional attribute points. You might have noticed the Demonic Powers bit, so it’s not a hard choice what defect to saddle Hanako with.

Marked 1 (weird characteristic not difficult to hide; Hanako’s tongue is forked)

So I hear you saying, “uh – demonic powers?” Indeed. Shinjuku is still standing, just, but it’s got one foot in Hell & that can have an effect on any mortal who lives there. The Demonic Powers attribute is the way of denoting that a character is some kind of supernatural being, or descended from one. Looks like the Masanobus have more than a skeleton in their closet.

Starting characters get 10 demon points per level of Demonic Powers to spend on “sub-attributes”. These are the myriad weird abilities that infernal beings can manifest, from spitting acid to casting illusions to unnatural strength or speed. As with attributes the cost per level varies according to power & utility.

Special Movement 2 (trackless, wall-crawling)
Summon/Control Servant 4

Hanako fears neither obstacle nor pursuer: her massively powerful motorbike not only leaves no tracks, but she can ride it straight up walls or along ceilings. Her heavy-hitting power, though, that’s her Summon ability. Four levels of that lets her spend ten energy points to call up a diabolical servant of moderate power (15 stat points & between 4-6 character points). Assuming she makes the roll to control it, the servitor remains with her until destroyed. She can have four such servants in her retinue at a time, & each of them can have … let’s say d3+3 … four character points. Doesn’t sound like much, right?

But.

See, fifteen stat points is enough for each summoned being to have fives across the board in their stats. Then they get to buy attributes with their character points. Four character points is enough for each servitor to buy one level of Demonic Powers for themselves. Which nets them ten demon points they can spend on powers of their own. Which, if the GM allowed it/wasn’t paying attention, could lead to full-on Demon-ception if they were to spend those points on Summon/Control…

Hanako doesn’t just lead this gang. She called them up from Hell herself. The other four members of the Chrome Devils really are. I imagine each of them has the Marked 1 defect herself, which is why their clients are in for a shock once the deal for the gang’s services is sealed & they take off their helmets to reveal eyes of flame, snake hair, a mouthful of fangs, or some other terrifying feature.

The next step is to pick skills.

Driving (Motorcycle) 3
Mechanics (Auto) 2
Medical (Emergency) 1
Ranged Defense (Personal) 1
Stealth (Concealment) 1
Unarmed Attack (Striking) 1
Urban Tracking (Ruins) 2

Every skill gets a specialization, a context in which the skill provides a slightly greater advantage.

Finally we figure out a few derived values.

Attack Combat Value (ACV) = 5 base + 2 for Combat Mastery = 7
Defense Combat Value (DCV) = ACV – 2 + 2 for Combat Mastery = 5
Health = (Body + Soul) x 5 + 20 for Damn Healthy! = 75
Energy = (Mind + Soul) x 5 = 45

Hanako’s Soul isn’t the greatest, which means she doesn’t have a heap of energy for her summoning. It’s also a dodgy proposition for her to attempt one without stacking the odds heavily in her favor, so when she does it’s with plenty of preparation to get some bonuses to her roll. The situation would have to be dire for her to try to summon a new gang member on the fly.

For now, though, she & her four fellow demon riders are

Masanobu Hanako

Stats:
Body 7, Mind 5, Soul 4

Attributes:
Combat Mastery 2, Damn Healthy! 2, Demonic Powers 1, Fortified Body 1, Highly Skilled 1, Personal Gear 1, Speed 1, Supernatural Training 2

Demonic Sub-Attributes:
Special Movement 2 (trackless, wall-crawling), Summon/Control Servant 4

Defects:
Marked 1 (forked tongue)

Skills:
Driving (Motorcycle) 3, Mechanics (Auto) 2, Medical (Emergency) 1, Ranged Defense (Personal) 1, Stealth (Concealment) 1, Unarmed Attack (Striking) 1, Urban Tracking (Ruins) 2

In homage to Fujin the wind god, Hanako wears a riding jumpsuit the shade of green his skin is usually depicted as & dyes her hair the same fire-engine red as his. She sometimes wears a heart-shaped plastic patch over one eye. She can see right through it & there’s nothing wrong with the eye; it’s just a decoy oddity. Converse with her casually & you’ll be too focused on the patch to notice anything weird about her tongue.