So, with the new Quickstart, I have one small question that jumped out to me. The Thief crew gets a Street Fence and a Luxury Fence. One boosts Robberies, the other boosts Burglaries. What is the difference?
Going by the dictionary:
Burglary – entry into a building illegally with intent to commit a crime, especially theft.
Robbery – the action of robbing a person or place.
Very similar, of course. However, going by the names of the fences, I would guess/say that the Street Fence applies to more common stuff, things one might steal from common business or maybe other gangs (equipment, weapons, drugs, etc), while the Luxury Fence would apply to the kind of things one might steal from the rich and powerful (gold, jewels, artwork, etc).
What does everyone else think?
Robbery tends to have some sort of violence involved in the act, whether it’s actual or implied
I think the idea of splitting them by merchandise type is the way to go. Robbery for cheap low-end goods, luxury fence for luxury items.
According to Wikipedia “Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear.” while “Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illegal entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offence. Usually that offence will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbery
https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Burglary
Benjamin Brown Sure, but I don’t think the fences care how the loot was obtained. While it may not be a technical vocabulary map, I think the intent is pretty clear.
Andrew Shields Absolutely, it’s a mechanical effect tied to a fictional position. I think it comes down to if the crew wants to sell a blood-spattered fob watch or a carefully excised painting by a demon-possessed master.
I’ve always interpreted a fence in terms of the luxury aspect, specializing in rare goods and speciality markets. Part of it comes from having played and run Shadowrun for a few years. Mostly though, it’s probably influenced by the Finn’s story about Smith in Neuromancer. The Finn would straddle that line between street and luxury fence, leaning towards lux.
You’re going to want to move different things if you’ve just rolled someone on the street for their pocket watch and diamond stickpin than if you have crept into their home at night and relieved them of their rare objet d’art. Everyone has a specialty.