🎉 Piranhas
“Can you put a price on bliss? The Piranhas have the cost — and the drugs to give it to you.”
Once grunge garage partiers, the Piranhas have clawed their way up to become Night City’s one-stop shop for all things exclusive, shiny, and fucking lit. Whether you need a mile-high party with no budget or the slickest show possible for pennies, the Piranhas got you.
📋 Overview
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Type | Party Gang |
| Territory | Watson area, mobile base |
| Base | Piranha Palace (moves weekly) |
| Leader | Corpse Reviver |
| Signature Drug | Piranha Smash |
| Danger Level | Medium |
📜 History
The old Piranhas were exactly what you’d expect — they partied, drank Smash, dealt drugs, and mugged people. “The Party is everything” was the only creed.
Everything changed when the previous leader overdosed. Corpse Reviver — a Combat Zone survivor with a head for numbers — took control and transformed the gang:
- Absorbed several other party gangs, including remnants of the DJs
- Organized members into cells called “shoals”
- Professionalized operations — turning party chaos into a business empire
- Introduced the concept of becoming Night City’s reigning party monarchs
🏠 The Piranha Palace
The gang’s base of operations is mobile:
The Piranha Palace shifts location regularly to keep rivals out and party makers in. It may be an abandoned warehouse in a Combat Zone one week and a penthouse apartment in the heart of Night City the next.
This mobility makes the Piranhas nearly impossible to pin down for rival gangs or law enforcement.
💰 Operations
The Party Business
The Piranhas run a full-service event operation:
| Role | Function |
|---|---|
| MCs & DJs | Run the shows |
| Cooks & Mixologists | Food, drinks, and drugs |
| Light & Sound Crews | Technical production |
| VR Artists & Dancers | Entertainment |
| Bouncers & Security | Keep things (mostly) safe |
| Clean-up Crews | Erase the evidence |
Drug Trade
The Piranhas’ real leverage is designer drugs:
- Piranha Smash — the gang’s signature creation (yellow, foamy, lime-tinted)
- Effect (4 hours): +2 to Acting, Contortionist, Conversation, Dance, Human Perception, Persuasion
- Secondary (DV9): Smash addiction; −2 to those same skills while hooked
- Cost: 10eb (Cheap)
- They hook wealthy elites into party/drug lifestyles, then use addictions for leverage and blackmail
👥 Leadership
| Name | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Corpse Reviver | Leader (Exec) | Combat Zone survivor; brilliant organizer and accountant; united the Piranhas from a burned-out party gang |
| Bazooka Joe | Security Chief (Solo) | Oldest active Piranha; uses a Tsunami Arms Helix; the muscle |
| Dirty Shirley | Drug Creator (Tech) | Invented Piranha Smash; the chemist behind the empire |
⚔️ Conflicts
The Prime-Time Players War
A brief gang war erupted between the Piranhas and the The Prime-Time Players over suburban turf. It ended prematurely when both sides’ cheap 3D-printed guns started exploding in their hands. Massive casualties on both sides. A teen named “Zip Print” — the gun supplier — was found hanging from a lamp post with a bullet hole in his head and “cheap” carved in his chest.
🎲 GM Resources
Using the Piranhas
As Employers: Need security for a high-profile event, or someone to retrieve stolen product. Pay in cash, drugs, or VIP access.
As Information Source: The Piranhas see everyone at their parties — corpos, gangsters, fixers. Corpse Reviver knows who’s been partying with whom, and that information has value.
As Antagonists: A Piranha Smash addiction spiral targeting someone the Crew cares about. Or the gang’s blackmail operation hooks the wrong corpo and the fallout is everyone’s problem.
Stat Blocks
- Mooks: Use Boosters (CRB); replace VH Pistols with Medium Pistols; add Neural Link + Kerenzikov
- Named NPCs: Full stat blocks for Corpse Reviver, Bazooka Joe, Dirty Shirley in DGD
Adventure Hooks
- Find the Piranha Palace before it moves again — someone important was last seen there
- Dirty Shirley’s latest creation is killing people. Get the formula before it hits the streets
- Corpse Reviver wants competitors eliminated before the biggest party of the year
- An addiction to Piranha Smash is destroying a contact’s life. Trace the supply chain
🔗 Related Topics
(Sources: CRB p.308; Danger Gal Dossier pp.95+; CRB Screamsheet “Gang War Ends Early”)