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Five Points Setting...... 4 Political...... 51 Social and Religious...... 56 Gangs...... 62 How the Five Points Came to Be..5 American Melting Pot...... 6 The Wards...... 9 Ambrose Kingsland...... 67 Old Sixth Ward...... 13 Caleb S. Woodhull...... 67 Constantine J. Donoho...... 68 Fernando Wood...... 68 Economy...... 20 George W. Matsell...... 69 Politics...... 21 Hamilton Fish...... 70 Religion & Welfare...... 22 Isaac Vanderbeck Fowler...... 70 Medical Care...... 23 Jacob A. Westervelt...... 71 Entertainment...... 24 John Morrissey...... 71 Newspapers...... 25 Lew Baker...... 72 Crime & Vice...... 26 “Marm” Mandelbaum...... 73 Law...... 28 William M. Tweed...... 73 Locations...... 29 William Poole...... 74 Transportation...... 33

Using this Sourcebook...... 75 Gang Activity...... 34 Liquor Sales...... 35 Organized Crime...... 36 Landlord Surprise...... 79 Police Force...... 37 Infectious Disease...... 81 Political Corruption...... 38 Deceptive Rally...... 84 Poverty...... 39 Missing...... 85 Reformation...... 41 Rioting...... 42 Sanitary Conditions...... 46 Secret Societies...... 47 ViceSample...... 50 file Tabletop Gaming Guide to: Five Points BY Aaron T. Huss EDITING Peter Cakebread COVER ART Carlos Torreblanca INTERIOR ART Carlos Torreblanca ADDITIONAL ART Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com, lynea/Shutterstock.com CARTOGRAPHY Steven Wright/Shutterstock.com

Permission is granted to print this ebook. No site license is provided. Sample file Old Sixth Ward

There is an 86-acre plot in the middle of New York City where immigrants find a new home after leaving their former lives behind. With little money to speak of, but an ambition to save up for a better life, they find themselves stepping off the boats and entering what many believe to be the very first American cultural melting pot. The area is known politically as the Old Sixth Ward. The Old Sixth Ward is seen as an eyesore to those around it. Many speak down about its inhabitants and many more crave the need to “clean it up,” ridding the district of all immoral activities. They say poor immigrants shouldn’t be subject- ed to such conditions upon first arriving in the United States and those residents who work hard to achieve a better life shouldn’t have to deal with unruly neigh- bors. Certainly, the place is disease ridden, mortality rates are sky high and the murder rate is the highest anywhere. The locals of the area know it as the Five Points neighborhood; America’s first and largest mass slum. It is a center for crime, vice, gangs, and all manner of immoral deeds. Five Points Setting Tabletop Gaming Guide to: Five Points is The year is 1849 and New York’s set in 1849, during the height of Five Five Points neighborhood is a dis- Points’ historically worst period. The ease and crime-infested slum where material can easily be adjusted to be set all manner of immoral life rules. Im- before or after this time, slightly chang- migrants, mostly Irish, arrive by the ing the scenery within the neighbor- boat full on a fairly regular basis, hood. As a reference, the Gangs of New fleeing the potato famine back in York movie directed by Martin Scorsese their native land. They join with was set in 1863. The Copper TV series newly emancipated African Ameri- from BBC America was set in 1865. cans, living in an area where life is cheap, hard and filthy, but somehow affordable. If the residents work hard, maybe they can save up and move to a better part of the city; at least, that’s the dream. But for now, they’re stuck toiling away on the mean streets. The streets of Five Points are littered with gangs, corrupt politicians, prosti- tutes, alcoholics, and of course the missionaries that wish to save them all. OutsidersSample are sometimes drawn in, risking a visit to take advantage file of the vice on offer or simply to party – to dance a shuffle or jig in the place where the wild ones hang out and it’s all happening. If one digs beneath the surface, maybe more disturbing problems are hidden there. New York City

Tabletop Gaming Guide to: Five Points is set in the Five Points neighborhood of New York City, for municipal voting purposes also referred to as the Old Sixth Ward. It is bounded by Centre Street in the west, Bowery in the east, Canal Street in the north, and Chatham Street in the south. It is called as such due to the five-pointed intersection created by Orange Street, Cross Street, and Anthony Street. The neighborhood is notorious, for many a mark of what is possibly the worst of the worst within New York City – a place where too many people are squeezed into too small a space, nearly all of them poor, and many of them criminal. A place which lacks sanitation, where the air is unhealthy, and where life is cheap (and often short). Five Points is America’s first slum and its first cultural melting pot. It is disease- and crime-ridden, but has not always been this way. To understand how the Five Points came to be, you must take a walk through its history. How the Five Points Came to Be

Welcome weary traveler to your new home! The home that few would ever choose, but many are forced to live in. Immigration into Five Points is high, the latest arrivals are mos’ly Irish Catholics forced to abandon their homes due to the potato famine back in Ireland. P’haps that’s where you came from? While you may not live the farmer’s life anymore, there are plenty of opportunities to turn a buck and the most ambitious residents try to save their money and find their way into the rest of New York. P’haps you’ll be one of the lucky ones and manage to find yourself a way out? Before you settle down, let me tell you how the Five Points came to be. For the longest time, this land was home to the Canarsie tribe. The Canarsie settlement, which they called Werpoes, sat on the southwestern shores of a pond that came to be called the Collect Pond. We don’t know how long they occupied the land, but when the Dutch came, purchased the island, and settled New Amsterdam, this tribe of Lenape Indians left. The land was left to the colonists and England when they took over after the Second Anglo-Dutch War and renamed New Amsterdam as New York. This land sure looked a lot different a hundred years ago. The Collect Pond was the main source of fresh water to the people, being spring fed, around 48 acres Samplelarge, and as deep as 60 feet in some places. It was a great fishin’file spot and oyster- shell middens were reported along the valley. The valley was formed by three mounts; Kalck Hoek in the west, Pot Bakers Hill in the south, and Bayard Mount in the northeast. Bayard Mount was the tallest hill in the lower reaches of the island, reaching over 100 feet high. These mounts