If a score involved stolen goods, does the payoff automatically implies the sale of those goods (and the resulting…

If a score involved stolen goods, does the payoff automatically implies the sale of those goods (and the resulting…

If a score involved stolen goods, does the payoff automatically implies the sale of those goods (and the resulting Coins)? How do you guys manage payoffs without immediate profit?

12 thoughts on “If a score involved stolen goods, does the payoff automatically implies the sale of those goods (and the resulting…”

  1. That probably would depend on the nature of the score. Would you like to give an example? It’s possible that your score had other goals than making coin, and then maybe it’s okay to skip the coin step if you ended up taking an important claim from another gang (or achieving other worthy goals). On the other hand, it’s usually not to hard to come up with incidental money making opportunities while you’re already committing crimes.

  2. Mark Griffin  It was the first score of a crew of Hawkers: a simple assault on a small boat used by the Red Sashes to move drugs between one of their warehouses and a drug den. They just stole the boat and the shipment.

    As a payoff a gave them “stolen goods worth 4 coins” but I’m not entirely satisfied with my solution, because now they have to find a way to sell the whole thing and get the actual coins (a score probably). It seems kinda punishing to me: 2 scores for 1 payoff.

  3. I’m not actually a criminal in real life, but television tells me that for a crew of Hawkers, a shipment of drugs is as good as cash. I’d say during the payoff that they managed to steal 4 coin worth of Crimson Dust or some other made up drug. Maybe they sell those drugs and generate silver, maybe they just use them to barter. Either way Blades encourages you to abstract that process by just calling it coin.

  4. MisterTia86 “2 scores for 1 payoff” –> just make the second score’s payoff twice as big. Maybe the first score is stealing 8-coin worth of drugs, and the second score is liquidating it into 8-coin worth of silver.

  5. Maybe stolen goods can be converted into long-term project?

    If the characters sell the stuff themselves, the project yields coin every time you spend downtime doing it. E.g. if you have 8 coins worth of Crimson Dust then you draw the 4-segment clock and you get two coins every time you fill a segment. Or the maximum number of coins gained can depend on number of claims/turfs.

    Or the characters make a long-term project to set up a network of pushers, who sell the stuff. The network converts goods to coins, but does not require spending downtime – and, of course, it can create all kids of trouble, like skimming from top, being easy target for rival gang, etc.

    Of character could have a fence contact who takes the stuff off their hands and gives them back their cut.

  6. Arseny Kuznetsov That seems unnecessary. Page 20 on the QuickStart says that coin is an abstract measurement of cash and liquid assets. The drugs are themselves a liquid asset and should be treated as such. Your average crew already has more downtime activities than they have available actions, and forcing them to spend their precious actions to get the coin they already earned on the score is punitive. Page 28 lists GM bad habits and one of them is not giving players what they’ve earned.

  7. I think that depends on the group. To me, the whole point of playing Hawkers is to NOT treat the drugs (or whatever) as a liquid asset. And I don’t think it’s “not giving players what they’ve earned” if you scale up the rewards to match the effort involved.

    Crime fiction does it both ways. Sometimes the goods from the heist are turned over to the fence and the story moves on, but other times moving the goods is a job unto itself.

    I think the meta-answer here is to be real clear with your players about the rewards for each score before they do it. If they’re stealing something that will require a long-term project to offload, it’s fair to let them know up front.

  8. With that situation, I might offer immediate payoff as an option (take what you can get from the usual fence…) and riskier actions to negotiate a higher payoff (..or bargain with the shadier fences who might have more money, but are known for their questionable dealings; you sure you want to do this?)

  9. Mark Cleveland Massengale I like your idea. Maybe just a special Downtime Action (as described in the rules) to raise the payoff (instead of a full score)?

  10. Sounds like downtime could maybe handle it, but I think it should be a score since it’s illegal activity to get rid of stolen goods. Albeit, one that is probably quiet (low Heat), low paying (2 to 4 coin), and carries a lesser risk of entanglement – but a score nonetheless.

  11. These are the kinds of things that I would hand wave and require either no action or perhaps just a roll or two at most. That is, unless this was the sort of things the players were excited to zoom in on (if perhaps they were trying to unload a 1 ton idol of a forgotten god to a curio collector who is also a demon). Your mileage may vary, but my gaming time is limited and I prefer to cut to the most interesting sequences (according to the players), and let Blades abstract the rest (which it is very good at doing).

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