Hey all. I’m GMing a gang of Hawkers who have just finished character and crew creation. I’ll post an actual play report when we’ve finished our first session.
Discussion about where my players might want to start with their criminal endeavors brought up a question. Can a crew gain a crew upgrade (like a library or a gang of rooks) through a score specifically intended to acquire the materials or persons necessary for that upgrade?
It may have sorta been answered in Sean Winslow’s discussion here: https://plus.google.com/108792259001927627388/posts/4P8anuPFeFc. It also pretty heavily relates to his earlier discussion, here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DuamnFigueroa/posts/9NSHAivGdH1.
Example time (ideal, but still possible): say that crew of Hawkers decides, in order to expand their production, to steal the equipment necessary to create a fully-functioning workshop from a rival gang. If all goes well, they find the Red Sashes’ supplier, knock over their alchemy den, and smuggle the stuff down the river to their lair. They roll well on development, gaining decent hold and coin. (Second Example could be a jailbreak for some friends of friends, who agreed to work for the crew if they’re busted out.)
There’s a big part of me that wants to say: yeah, you have a workshop, now, or an extra gang, but this jars with the rules-as-written (so far) and the idea that upgrades should come from a crew’s experience/growth/etc. It’s analogous to the question about PCs acquiring items from scores. John Harper stated, in the first linked thread, that a PC can gain permanent items through completing a project or through making a series of successful asset roles over time, with an item gained from a score getting an extra tick on a project clock (towards keeping it). Would the same kind of rules treatment work for a crews?
Final note: we are all super excited to start playing! Our group is impressed with the simplicity of the rules and the awesome and terrible things you can do with the setting.
They could get the workshop if they aquire the different items, bring them to their lair, and assemble them in a long time project. Depending how the score went maybe a shorter clock one opposed to a big clock..
I’d say it works like a temporary asset: they have it for one “use”. In the case of a crew upgrade, it’s because they don’t have the infrastructure to keep it up long-term.
So in this case: yeah, you’ve got the equipment, but you don’t have a steady supply of raw materials or the expertise/experience to cook big, quality batches while still keeping up with everything else…so you need to make rolls to keep the product flowing until you buy the upgrade for real.
Or, you recovered tools and equipment specialized for one thing. If you want to do something else you will probably need to go out and get additional equipment, materials, etc (more Asset rolls) Eventually you’ll get everything together and have a solid workshop but for now you are buying stuff as you need it.
Yep, what Jennifer and Jeff are saying are essentially the same thing. If you acquire it in the fiction, but not as an upgrade, then you can use it as a temporary asset, and continue to make “acquire asset” rolls during downtime to keep it running. You could also start a long term project to assemble everything you need to keep it permanently.
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback, everyone.