I definitely want small guns and Stealing... but what about the third?

Speech is always nice if you like dialogue. Opens up new quests too, I think

Cool, was thinking about that. Hey, last time I became a slaver, I got rich from all the slaving jobs, but eventually I couldn't go out slaving anymore, and it wouldn't let me join some of the coolest mobs in New Reno, which was my goal. What happened?

idk, ive only started FO2 recently and tagged repair melee and small guns

im not exactly great at balancing, though you might want to not tag stealing because you can just save before you pickpocket until you get it

Your nose?

The biggest problem with becoming a slaver is that you get a nice big tattoo on your forehead, so the entire wasteland will know you're a slaver. Even some groups in New Reno don't like slavers, though I don't know exactly which particular families or quests in New Reno will close when you become a slaver.

Right. Drop the slaver idea. But how do I join a cool mob like the ones at the Desperado or the Shark Club?

Uhm, let's see. I think there is sort of a level requirement, these bosses won't hire you if you're too inexperienced. I would suggest starting at level 12 or something. You can do quests for the Mordino's if you convince Little Jesus Mordino you're good enough so he can send you upstairs to talk to Big Jesus Mordino. To do work for the Salvatores just ask the guard, Mason, at the door and Salvatore will call you in when the conversation with Mason is getting to it's end. For work at the Shark Club it would be best to get the suitcase from Roger Moore over in Vault City first. And the Wright family will hire you if you can convince the guy at the door.

Warning: Spoilers, but Spoiler-Lite.

The Mordino's seem to have a strength (or other stats) requirement to be offered the missions.... And make sure you talk respectfully to Senior Mordino, otherwise he wont invite you to join. You'll need to do some easy gopher work. The Mordino's, despite beign ex slaves, have no problem with slavers, and will buy slaves.

Salvatore's - Just hold your ground with Mason, Slavers OK. You'll need to do some gopher work, and part of it will need decent speech skill. Again, be respectful otherwise Salvatore will not offer you the final (very easy, but absolutely required) mission.

Bishop - You need to get the case from Tomcat Moore in Vault City, And not ask him for compensation. Tomcat Moore will not give his case to a slaver (either get it first, or you cannot go this route). Bishop's gopher work will send you far and wide, and IMHO is much harder than Mordino and Salvatore. If you are going to go the Bishop route, and want to become captain of the vault city guard, become the captain first, otherwise this will be locked off to you.

Wright - Talk to Keith(?) Wright in the Railway station. No Slavers. Two missions required to gain entry, the first you can just make up an answer for and not complete properly (but its better if you do!) and the second is difficult without resorting to using psycho.

You can "Resign" from a family by eliminating their head. Eliminating all families will unlock a seperate ending for reno.

You can actually, in fact do all quests for all families. I've done it many times. Just do each family's quests then when they offer you membership, decline. They turn on you and you kill them all, then move to the next. I usually start with Mordinos, then start the Wright quests and during those take care of the Salvatore's too. Then move to the Bishops and do their quests, then finish up with the Wrights and join them.

Incidentally, if you're playing a male character, get both Angela and Mrs. Bishop up in their beds before declining Mr. Bishop's offer to join the family, otherwise they may be killed in the crossfire, and might even help try to kill you. If you don't care whether they live or die then it doesn't matter, but if you are male and sleep with Angela without a condem in your bags, a special ending slide for New Reno will play.

If you also want to become a slaver, you can join the families first (by taking their initial quests), and then go back to the Den and become a slaver. This also applies to the porm star job.

This means you will have to go out of your way to new reno, but if you are really willing to do it, then go for it.

Also, don't tag steal, its a wasted skill. Save before you try and steal something. It works roughly 50% of the time.

Small Guns, Speech and Lockpicking are usually the best combinations. Science after that, and then repair. The beauty of Fallout 2 is that you can eventually have a maxed out character by not having a level cap, but it takes a lot of hard work.

You can also join all families, all you have to do (and this is hard) is sneak past all the guards and talk to the boss (join that family), then the guards won't attack. Repeat the process with all other families untill you are a made man of each one of them.

Furthermore, if you are looking for a new Fallout 2 experience, I would definitely reccomend Restoration Project 1.2 Its a mod, but it makes Fallou2 2 'complete'' in the sense that it adds locations, characters and items originally meant for the game by the developers but cut due to time restraints. Check out my sig if you are interested.

Word of advice.
Don't go with a low STR character, unless you plan a power-armor quickrun at the very start.
I started FO2 some days ago, and being used to FO3's "S.P.E.C.I.A.L. don't matter much, and, you can always up the stats easily", and also the memory of power armor's great +STR, I went with a 4 STR char.

End result: 'till I did a mad dash to you-know-where, I got my ass handed to me at every place. Penalty for rifles (even the pipe one) was bad enough, and being stuck with the 10mm pistol, relying solely on companions to keep me alive kind of svcked, but also all the families except Salvatores wouldn't hire me... Luckily there was another way to get to Myron. (OMG I rely on recruiting ...Myron! That's the definition of... pathetic... *Sigh*)

Speaking of families - best thing is to get the first quest from Mordinos (that gives you Myron) and then go for Wright.
The location acronym "SAD" means "A lot of loot and a nice Combat Armor to go with it"

My guy has 5 STR and I'm cool so far, mainly because my PER is 9, INT is 10, and AGI is 10.