So the Tyger Claws, my problematic fave. it starts with a high level description of the org in the context of it's history as an Arasaka asset come an almost-neocorp/mafia and impending something-much-worse. then it talks about their leader, twink icon Shinobu the Second, and his personal context to all this history (cyberpsychosis and burnout); drifts down to his lieutenants in the captain of his footsoldiers and the boss of their day markets. A young Wakako is there, in an addition that keeps the inheritance struggles messy and complicated.

Then it's two doombas: a Watson kid who's grown up seeing this boostergang as a normal fact of life, self-identifying as a beat cop; and a keener with a lot of swords, more ambitions, and nothing going for him other than a swift death. A minor fixer down bad for Moegangers sandwiches the two. He poses a fun arc where the PCs can fight Continental Brands and feel the internal contradiction at play (defending one racket from a larger and more insidious one).

As statblocks, these front liners are redundant, but you know how the average Tyger perceives themselves and what systemic forces produce them. You also know that this institution is still being shaped by history and the decisions of actors who are still in motion. The overview teases at the destiny of the Tygers on an institutional level: They'll slide from being protectors and legitimate businesspeople to power bullies as the conditions for their success dry up, and it's not clear if there's a distinction in that or this is a moment revealing their true nature as an organisation.

I don't think this is new. Old World Bestiary cracked the code on "monster manuals that are a better source of high level ideas and plot hooks than they are an immediate source of statblocks. It took a statblock, then added three conflicting perspectives on it. In that way, DGD is inefficient and clockworked by comparison (one statblock, one perspective, and one overarching 'in-universe' authorial voice per chapter). On the other hand it doesn't overstay it's welcome. Shinmai, the keener, is a delivery mechanism to make you imagine what a 'Tyger Dojo' is. Is that like a rec room martial arts class? Is that like ROTC? A bit of both? It’s up to you, oh GM, if you care at all or the name ‘Tyger Dojo’ evokes anything (to me it summons up some Count Dantes assassin-fist woo woo stuff by way of LISA: The Painful). I'm not sure what to make of it, but it got the gears in my head turning so it must be something