TonyRizzo

There was someone who was doing this IC with a business, but I know he ended up selling the property. Having a way to get rid of stuff would be nice, especially because the alternative is just throwing it on the ground *cough* clothes *cough* and waiting for the server to restart

Graveyard Shift (Short Story) Soldier Luke Fitz brought forward a potential new associate to be tested. For the test run, Tony decides to put him through his favorite course: chemistry. "I take a lot of pride in my drug runs, I wouldn't doubt it if I were one of the best cooks in the state. Hell I wouldn't doubt it if I were the best seller either, I got the vertical integration down to a SCIENCE." He wasn't just all talk, he really did push himself to be the best dealer; considering he was still alive, he felt pretty close to it. After cooking a batch of meth, the prospect confesses to him that he doesn't know how to cook LSD. Fortunately for him, Tony didn't see it as a dealbreaker, but instead a learned opportunity. He sets to work immediately showing him how to do it, feeling big. It'd been a while since he got to show off his cooking skills to someone new. "See? Nothing to it, just gotta follow the recip-" Tony notices out of the corner of his eye that the tablet he just cooked didn't quite look right, and moments later it fell apart. The fuck? Looking over at the pre-prospect, who had been watching him, Tony realizes what happened. In all his excitement (and flexing), he didn't realize he screwed up the order. The order that he had just taught to the pre-prospect. "Wait no don't put that-!" Shit. He was...embarrassed to say the least. "What the sus?" - Luke Fitz But at the end of the day (well, start of the day), everyone gets paid. They had a good laugh about the screwup and went their separate ways for now. This new guy seemed promising.

+1 to all of this, honestly I'd even just take people moving from the bank to Tequilala, at least hanging out at a bar makes sense

Maybe just add the pistols as practically reskins of a heavy pistol, cause I'd like the added flavor

Show me where in the big book of how to be a criminal it says someone involved in a criminal organization can't commit petty robbery, especially on a server where criminal organizations can't at the moment own the means to produce drugs, counterfeit money, extort or do various other things major mobs do. And you're right, in real life gangs don't scream "hands up" when they see an enemy gang member, because in real life they aren't playing to the rules of a server, they can just start shooting outright. Do that here and you get a DM offense, so "taking out the opposition" is reduced to robbing them, ergo there's nothing wrong with it. Then you send them the screenshot on discord and you both go your separate ways. Unfortunately with bleeding out you don't really have the luxury of "pausing" RP

Some members hanging out at the bank talking to people != using the cameras to avoid getting attacked. Literally every rook will call out on radio and say they're being followed and everyone else will immediately go help. The bank is the servers hangout spot, and it's a good place to meet people or just have casual conversations, being in a gang doesn't mean you suddenly can't do that. Zetas own a store and through RP have established the northern end of vinewood as a zeta controlled street, and if the turf system gets added there's no doubt they'll take it over in whatever way the script allows for it. Telling someone to respond to RP != baiting them to rule break. Nobody takes 30 seconds to hit control + 1 or type /down. If you do, or someone tells you to stop stalling, there's a good chance you're taking way too long to respond to RP. Literally TODAY a guy did exactly this, and eventually just hit T so the ((typing)) would pop up, but would take at least a minute to actually type out /do's How is that not "gangster" stuff

^ This is a good way to regulate it. It also helps criminals play to an air of anonymity, since burner phones aren't a thing +1

- The Truth Hurts, But Lies Hurt More - To a Rook, the family is everything. Associate Gavriel Arron had just recently come out of prison, after orchestrating a deal with Police Officer Xoza to trade himself for the release of Rex Rogers and Tyler Rogers, as he believed them to be a greater asset to the family at the moment over himself. He believed sacrificing himself for them would be a sign of commitment, something to be congratulated on and recognized. But back when he informed everyone of his plan, he was met with resistance. - Prior to the Deal - Gavriel sought out Viscount Tony Rizzo, as he was the acting higher command in the city at the time, to ask for his blessing to carry out the trade with Xoza. Tony was...less than thrilled at the idea. "Gav, look, you can't just do this. I know you want my approval, but I don't think my word is good enough for this, it needs to go all the way to Dmitri. And honestly, I don't even know how I feel about it. What I do know, the cops, they don't care about holding up their end of the bargain, they care about putting us all away, you included." He had tried to ask Dmitri, but the boss was not in the city at the time, and couldn't be reached via his powered off cell phone, likely to prevent tracking. Tony saw this as an important moment for himself. As the highest rank available, he knew he had to make this decision with the utmost care and consideration. Everyone was watching him for this. At best, I'm looking at not catching heat, regardless of if it goes good or bad. At worst, I'm excommunicado. Tony laid out every thought he had on this to Gavriel, mostly in an attempt to discourage him. In the end, he did not give him a definitive answer. It gnawed at him as Gavriel announced himself about to turn off his radio, and turn himself in. The way he seemed so headstrong about it, so eager to do so, it understandably could've been a sign that he was working with the government, maybe feeding them information. But at the same time, it could've been a young buck, eager to prove himself, climb the ranks and earn a name for himself. Tony would later come to know that his gut was right, and that his lack of leadership had led to something far worse than simply working with police. He knew he'd let his family down - The Present Day - An "interrogation" with a former Yakuza member was underway, being carried out by Viscount "12" Gauge Michaels, Soldiers Ray Jensen, Peter Gowen, and Luke Slant, and led by Marquis Brandon Fitz. A new device was being tested on the unlucky son of a bitch, supposedly some sort of military technology Gauge had used overseas. The premise was simple, working like a lie detector, scanning the users heart rate. If they were determined to be lying, due to a quickened heartbeat, the device would rip off one of five fingernails, setting the precedent that lying would not be tolerated. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty. Upon arriving to the scene, Brandon briefly talked to Tony about his new position. "Now that you've got that jacket, you've got the power to make decisions, and you need to use that. You have to be able to make a decision, even if it's the wrong one. I've definitely fucking made the wrong calls on things, and you have to be ready to do the same." Tony nodded, understanding all of it. He also informed him that he believed Gavriel to be on his last legs as a Rook. With this, and the interrogation, Tony would come to find out just how much his lack of leadership affected his family. During questioning, Gavriel exploded in anger at what he felt was a disrespectful attempt to align himself with the Rooks. "So you want in, you'd only want it for the protection, is that it?" "Well, I mean, no, I-" "Let me tell you something. These people are my family. They're more than just family, they're everything to me. <he points behind him, towards the dam> Not even thirty minutes ago, I was ready to jump off that dam and end it all. <he gestures to everyone standing behind him> But they stopped me. They all were there for me. And for that I'd do anything for them." Tony was, to say the least, touched. As well as, to say even less, destroyed to hear that Gavriel felt this ashamed about letting down his family with his actions. So ashamed that he could ever have been driven to the point of suicide. After the test, Gauge approached Brandon and Tony, and laid out his idea: to use the device to test Gavriel for his loyalty, and to find out if anything had been formed between him and the government. Despite them all thinking what he said earlier was pretty heartfelt, they all agreed it would be a good idea. Peter gave him the standard procedure, patting him down for a wire, and searching his phone for any fishy contacts. When he determined there was none, and he hooked up the gadget to Gavriel, Tony felt it was time for him to say something. "Gavriel, when you initially came to me for my blessing on the swap, I'll be honest I didn't know how I felt about it. On the one hand, making a deal with the police rubs me wrong in every way possible, and the thought that they might betray us and keep the three of you locked away made me incredibly hesitant. But at the same time, I thought about the 'good end,' what it would mean if we got out two high-ranking Rooks. I didn't give you a definitive answer then, I failed you as a leader. And I'm sorry." With that, they began interrogating him. - Trial - As the trial began, Gavriel made a request: at the end of the test, they would let him purposefully lie, setting off the machine, and showing his dedication to the family. They gave their blessing, and began questioning. Every question, from his prior involvement with the Yakuza, to what Xoza said to him, proved his innocence. By the end of the test, the minds of the suits were made up: Gavriel was true to his core, a Rook. There was only one thing left to do. Brandon stepped up to ask one final question, ready for the lie. "Who is the leader of the Rooks?" Gavriel steeled himself. "Me." Peter checked the readout from the device, citing a notable spike in heart rate. It whirred, activating quickly, popping off Gavriel's fingernail. Everyone groaned, turning away, as it's still just as disgusting and as painful to watch the second time around. As the group went to congratulate him on clearing his name, they realized something was wrong. Gavriel seemed to be in much more pain than the last person to have the device used on them. Peter looked at the readout, and realized he was about to pass out. Through labored breath, he began to explain. He had recently received a gunshot wound to the chest, one that was improperly treated with unsterile tools by a Department of Corrections guard. The stress from the fingernail caused it to rip open, showing an infection that had likely been going on for a while. Springing to action, they attempted to cauterize it with a knife, heated up from the exhaust pipe of the motorcycle. When it proved ineffective, they rushed him to the hospital. - Surgery - Bursting through the front door of Central MD, Brandon frantically looked for a doctor. While he did that, Tony and Gauge let themselves into the operating room. If they needed to, they were gonna do it themselves. Thankfully, they didn't have to. Brandon came back into the room, with two doctors in tow. They set to work immediately, strapping Gavriel in to the table, and putting him under. As the doctors cleaned up, they politely asked those who weren't medically trained to leave the room. Gauge and Peter, both having basic medical training from their military service, cleaned up and stayed in the room, should the doctors need any help. To call the surgery brutal would be an understatement. To call it a nightmare might even be too little. Everything the surgeon did, it almost seemed to be beaten out by something new. Bits and pieces of shrapnel from the bullet were all over the inside of his chest, the infection was dangerously far along, and everyone had to come to terms with the very real possibility that they would lose Gavriel. What felt like hours passed. Sitting out in the hallway, looking through the window, it all felt hopeless. To welcome him home with open arms, only to lose him. A call went out over the radio for everyone to come watch, and if need be, pay final respects. Friends both in and outside the family came by to watch the tragic affair. - Prior Experience - Far along into the surgery, the surgeon attempted to cauterize the wound, this time with more professional means. However, as luck would have it, the tool failed him. Frustrated, he picked up another, only for it to fail him as well. Frantically, Gauge and Peter asked to step in, believing they had something that would help. He relented, allowing them to take up the reigns. "Don't worry Doc, we've got prior experience from our time in the military." Popping the magazine out of his gun, Gauge took out a bullet, and cracked it open over the wound, pouring the gunpowder out over it. Everyone in the hallway started crowding the window, confused as to what the hell they were watching. If anything, they thought they'd lost their minds, and they were trying to worsen the infection. Peter then lit the powder, efficiently cauterizing the wound, and helping stabilize Gavriel’s life. As Gavriel later woke up, he was surrounded by his friends, and moreso his family. Gauge explained to him what happened, and that they saved his life with a trick often done by battlefield medics when there is no other alternative. He was thankful, more than that he was grateful, not only for his life but for the Rooks, his family. The doctor told him he needed to take it easy for about 2 to 3 days, and that his right arm wouldn't be very mobile for the time being. After he had healed, he would be as good as new. Gavriel, though displeased with the idea of sitting idle for any amount of time, understood what it meant, and vowed he would return to work as soon as he could aim a gun again. The family is everything.

+1 to this and honestly just +1 to any new cars, but especially the hellfire

+1

I think what a lot of people want isn't PD to lose something, but moreso for the playing field to be evened a slight amount. Not gun or money wise, but maybe numbers wise. Personally I think criminal RP is the most fun shit out there. Outside of the illegal activities, interacting with other criminals whether friends or enemies is great. But at the same time, a good gunfight every now and then is also really fun too, and a lot of people would agree with this. Take for example this situation that occurs in the Rooks nearly daily: someone is pulled over for a traffic stop, they aren't wanted so they comply with the officer and get a demerit on their license. Before that stop is finished, at least 3-4 more cruisers have pulled up. Granted, they have pretty good IC reason to assume a car in Rook colors is a Rook, so they call for backup in case they get attacked. They've got realistic reason for it, sure, but it really does prevent us from doing anything to get the person out if they ARE wanted. So we're kinda forced to make a choice: wait for backup/don't wait and send in whoever we have on hand, or just letting them go down. Depending on how many cops there are factors into the outcome chosen. Obviously one comes with a greater risk, but the potential for a quick gunfight; the other is just foregoing RP at all and going off to do something else. IC wise, we want to uphold our gang beliefs, but OOC we know doing it will just lead to us giving up the next 4 hours of our lives doing jailtime, so we're stuck with a dilemma, and it's not fun RP wise to have to be like "sike nevermind not gonna help out our brethren." Let's think back to a few months ago when the mask riots happened. By the end of it, there was maybe 1 cop still on duty, and he basically wasn't responding to anymore calls because of the omnipowerful triple gang. While I can't imagine it was fun for any cops to basically be stripped of their ability to do anything, it was a one time thing. Dealing with PD often feels like the mask riots, except it's a daily thing. Now I'm not saying there needs to be some OOC rule about how many cars can respond to something as backup, because that's stupid. But there does need to be some sort of change to make PD be a little more manageable in smaller scenarios like this.

- The Story of Tony Rizzo - After the war was dissolved, life for the Rooks should've returned to normal. But it didn't. The tragic loss of Rose, and the departure of Zion and Al left an air of uncertainty throughout the family. Everyone was concerned for the future, not least of all was Tony, who had been out of the state on business matters for a good amount of time. His promotion to Viscount was certainly welcome; it was something he was working towards for a long time. But coming at a time like this, he couldn't help but reflect on his life thus far. - Flashback - With the knowledge he learned from his father, Tony would've likely joined the family business and become a mechanic. That is of course, had he not developed a taste for rock, racing, and rebellion. A hotshot by the time he graduated high school, Tony Rizzo was an up-and-comer in the Broker underground street racing circle. A self-proclaimed revolutionary, most wrote him off as a kid who'd seen a few too many movies. Most people raced for the competition, or the respect. Tony on the other hand, raced for the freedom, breaking away from what he felt was keeping him down. He loved the rush of it, and chased it like a high. Despite his family's shop, he had to pay for repairs and upgrades to his prized Gauntlet. And for that, he needed money. <photograph recovered from an old friend's social media account> - Life of Crime - It was just about as simple as it could be: scare off the clerk, smash the register with a bat, and grab whatever he could in ten seconds. Usually, nobody had to get hurt, and he'd make it out with a couple hundred bucks easily. Unfortunately, it's not always that simple. Sometimes, people want to fight back, and sometimes ten seconds isn't enough to grab enough to even pay for the bus ride over. He considered occasionally finding more legitimate work. But at the same time, he didn't want to stop. As far as destroying the establishment goes, there wasn't much better than this. On top of that, doing this gave him something familiar: a rush. The rush of holding down the place and taking what he wanted far excelled the rush he got from racing. He decided he needed a crew. Employing the help of some friends from the racing scene, they'd clear out a store in ten seconds flat, no fuss. One of them even had a gun, making it easy to prevent anyone from playing hero. The going was good for a good while, until the day it came crashing down. Like every time before, they went in and scared everyone down, leaving Tony to grab the loot. From the crew's places elsewhere in the store, nobody saw the clerk hit the panic button. Nobody that is, except for Tony. He was about to say something about it when he stopped, and took a good look at her. She looked about the same age as Tony, who was 23 at this time. She looked terrified, and he knew she didn't wanna lose her life over a minimum wage job. And he knew that they'd shoot her if he said anything. So he didn't. Staying behind the register with the cash bag, Tony called out that it was time to go. Everyone ran out the front, and piled into the getaway car they had stashed in an alley. Everyone except, of course, Tony, who ran out the back door. As the sounds of sirens approached, Tony threw the bag in a dumpster, alongside the mask and jacket he had on, and started running as fast as he could towards home. That night, his three friends were on the news, having been caught after a chase. As he watched it, he knew the word would spread that Tony ditched them; he could never go back to the races. Hell, he might not be safe in Liberty City anymore. He packed his bags, and returned to the dumpster where he threw the cash bag. Taking out the contents, he headed for the airport, making arrangements for his car to be sent wherever he ended up. - Next Stop - After a hasty exit from his old life, Tony wasn't looking for any trouble. All he had to his name was his Gauntlet, that he lived in for the first few months of his new life in Los Santos. He decided to leave behind street racing, considering his own safety and keeping his head down. He often thought about the crew he'd betrayed, the former friends he'd left behind. The guilt ate at him every day. Was it right for him to put the life of the girl over the freedom of his friends? Every answer he came up with made him more and more frustrated, until it drove him to swear that he would never backstab anyone who gave him their trust again. After being fired from his job at the post office for hanging out at Tequila-la while on duty, he set out to find a new line of work. While not eager to return to smash-and-grabbing store registers like he did back home, he didn't rule it out as an option. He started gambling more and more, thinking if he could get just one lucky break he'd be set. One night, after a particularly bad streak of luck at the casino, he met a woman who'd introduce him to the underbelly of paradise. One tour of the states' most notorious chopshops later, and he found himself his new profession. The rush he got was different from the rush he got from grabbing cash, but it was a good different. After spending enough time in the criminal underworld, the rush of carjacking wore off, and it wasn't long until Tony found himself deep in the drug trade of San Andreas. Even sober, the rush was fresh, it was new, and it was exactly what he was looking for. Over time, he perfected his craft, and took great pride in his skills, managing supplies, and maxing profits. From this, he developed a bit of a cocaine habit, but nothing too serious. On a day like any other, he was hard at work at a lab, when two men in dark clothes drove up. Tony prepared himself for a fight, but that wasn't what they were looking for. Instead, they talked, telling jokes and hanging out, quickly forming a friendship. The men introduced themselves as Mack Tylar and Johnnie Everdeen. They said they were Rooks, a gang rising out of the ashes of the LS Irish Mob, and they asked Tony if he was interested. In that proposal, Tony saw an opportunity, a chance to grow, to prove to himself that his mistakes would not be what made him. Needless to say, he was interested. - What's Next? - His life of crime may have started out as thrillseeking or self-proclaimed rebellion, but under the wing of the Rooks, he quickly learned what it was to be a professional. As much fun as it was, he came to the realization that his life rode on playing the right hands, and that it was dumb luck he'd made it this far. With that, he embraced his new family, and began a new goal in his life: to see that they thrived. He kept in mind the mistakes he'd made thus far, and the promise he made to himself. That day at the store still haunted him, but he kept it in check. The hotshot rebel burned out that day, but from the ashes came something new; not a phoenix, but a Rook.

As I think I understand it, the current zones for building on property you own is either defined as a cylinder or a circle, starting from the door as the midpoint. Whereas this works well most of the time, there's still properties that end up having awkward building zones. For example, a property I recently bought allows me to build out in the middle of the street, nearly crossing it, but not in the backlot or the back end of the roof, because the building is a few feet too long. At the same time, I'm able to build on the property of the neighboring building, which while it could give some RP about arguing about zoning laws and such, it doesn't really make sense scriptwise. Now obviously you can't build on a public walkway/road, so that space is more or less useless. What I'm suggesting is that over time, properties get closer attention paid to their building zones, and possibly revised to allow for use of the entire property. New properties that are added could be given this at the start to prevent having to go back and redo it.

HUGE +1, RP wise I've never really liked the bank being the place to hang out, especially when Tequila-la is another NCZ, people only seem to hang out there when there's poker. I almost want the bank to be decentivized for hanging out at, even for a short while, so people will give the amusement park a try

+1 shitposting RP lmao

+1 This seems like it'd bring a lot more flavor to being a mechanic, even though I've personally never experienced being one, this might make it a bit more enticing to work towards

^ This was my immediate thought about using the in-game building system to build something, not to mention regular players can't make doors that "teleport" you to the interior of a house. This involves using out of game modifications

Over the last few months, I've seen a couple people suggest the introduction of a new legal faction for construction workers. One common idea between the multiple times it's been suggested has been letting people change the interior of their house. While I personally like this idea, I'm gonna go the opposite direction and instead suggest building OUTSIDE. (Disclaimer: I don't know much about how the server runs/would run when it comes to map mods, but considering it tends to do fine with the rise in people building outside with individual pieces, I think it'd do fine. I don't know near enough about the mechanics of the game/modding it to know if any of this would really work, I'm just kinda spitballing here.) Similar to how weazel has a team that works together to create content in the form of videos and news articles, the construction workers could potentially decide where new projects could begin, and where (if need be) some could be demolished. Contracts could be government issued or paid for by individual citizens, this could lead to the need for someone to apply to obtain a building permit in a certain area, potentially leading to someone being denied if they have a bad record with the law, thus creating the need for fronts and the RP that comes with that. It could also lead to either RP between city officials determining whether or not building there passes regulations (could follow a modified version of the current rules for players building on their property), or as simple as a discussion between admins about what areas can be developed or not. In between these major developments of buildings, players could pay for renovations to be done to their houses, creating a somewhat consistent salary flow, providing a use and need that's at least somewhat similar to mechanics/weazel. As an alternative to building in random places, there's a number of construction sites all throughout the map, but to keep it simple, I'm going to use Mirror Park and Paleto Bay as my examples. To start, lets look at a decently popular place in the server, Mirror Park. In this small section of the city alone, there's at least 2 empty lots situated between other, regular houses. I don't know whether or not it's possible engine-wise to just copy and paste a building to these spots, but I also doubt finding a modded model of a house to put here would be difficult. Next let's look at the under construction cul-de-sac. Like I said above, clearing out the already in-construction stuff might be a problem, or it might not be. But I think it's safe to say that a lot of people want to live in MP, and a good number of people want to live in a cul-de-sac. Next, let's look north. With the recent addition of the sheriffs department as well as a number of commodities, it's clear that growth of Paleto Bay is being pushed, and I'm personally all for it. I love the concept of RP centered around there (as well as other the other small towns), and I think it can be helped with further development. Take this area for example: Either new homes or a shopping center, or hell maybe even that Paleto parking lot that's also been getting suggested a lot. This is nowhere near fully thought out, but after seeing other people want construction in some way, I thought I'd try looking at it from a different angle. Thoughts?

+1

+1 This is almost exactly how I pictured it in my head

+1 Especially now that the Wanted are official, giving them something they can RP specializing in would be cool, not to mention giving crims in general something fun to play with

Guarding the door while important business takes place inside.

- Stopwatch - In his younger years in a different city, Tony Rizzo learned the value of time in a robbery. In, out, gone before anyone could stop them. Don't get greedy, don't overstay. He brought with him this knowledge to the streets of Los Santos, and to his family, The Rooks. One of the few things he brought with him when he moved out west was a watch his father gave him. Gold plated, with a brown leather strap. Built in was a stopwatch mode that made it all too easy to keep track of his in point, and his out point. To celebrate some recent promotions, a crew was put together to make some serious cash. A simple stickup, some stores out in the sticks. No casing necessary. For any criminal, this is just a regular day, where they run the risk of getting caught. But for a Rook, it isn't. Because being professional means having a plan, and being a professional means constantly trying to outdo yourself. He started the night by timing how fast him and the crew could empty the store. 6:08.72. Not bad. But could be better. 6:06.30. Getting there. Next stop, Sandy Shores. 6:15.20. Almost had some "guests" that could've been a problem, but they drove away quickly. 6:05.90. Excellent. In and out of the store in under 7 minutes every time. The final pull ended up around $25,000 for each of them. The crew were all happy for their fantastic work that night, but even happier about the large sum of money sitting comfortably in their pockets. With the approach of morning, they set out to celebrate over breakfast.

When interrupted by a would-be robber, an example is made: don't fuck with the family.

+1 for being able to turn down the radio volume in general