Question about Hawkers territory
I’ve started a new Blades game and the players have chosen a Hawkers crew. The vice they deal in is gambling. Their big ticket item is ghost fights. Typically, convicts and ghosts fighting for survival: the living fighting possession and other bodies possessed by ghosts, the ghosts hungry for life essence. Obviously highly illegal.
The crew’s special ability is High Society, largely because the Spider is a fallen noble trying to make good on his old networks. No doubt they’ll be pushing for the nobility to get hooked on betting on ghost fights.
The territory features on the Hawkers sheet are: covert sale, product supply, show-of-force and socialise. I suppose territory is the area the crew uses to deal their vice. But we’re not really sure what the features mean or how to differentiate them. Are they intended to be the crew’s preferred means of dealing vice?
Also, if the crew attempts a score in their territory that matches the feature they pick, do they get a free downtime activity to prep for the operation?
There’s somehting on p.48 (not about hawkers buth shadows):
“Choose a starting feature for your hunting grounds that describes your preferred type of crime: Burglary (theft from a place), Espionage (spying, blackmail), Robbery (theft from a person), or Sabotage (destruction, disruption).
When you attempt a score on your hunting grounds that matches one of its feature types, you get a free downtime activity to prep for the operation (gather info, acquire an asset, etc.—whatever makes sense).”
Translated to Hawkers that would be maybe “Choose a prefered method to push your business”
And yes, when you do this, you get a free downtime action for preparation.
Stefan Struck, cheers. I was basing my thinking around that page because that’s the only time its discussed in the quick start. The various types of crimes for the hunting ground are pretty clear and distinct.
However, I lack that clarity with Hawkers. Like, what is show-of-force or socialise? I assume covert sales are hidden deals, but is that the only difference from product supply?
The final rules may clarify. Until then, I’d say Product Supply is selling openly to the general public, whereas Covert Sale is out of sight to a more limited and special clientele who need to meet certain criteria. Show of Force is anything involving letting people know that your territory is yours. Socialise could be establishing clientele or negotiating with suppliers.
Anything done on your territory with similar methods would also apply, even if it doesn’t directly relate to “hawking” as such.
Phil Hartwich, ah that makes some sense. So your crew might be good at preparing for guarding its territory but less good at finding new clientele, setting up a reliable service or making a big sale. Thanks!
+Oliver Granger don’t all these features usually provide a +1d to certain activities? So show of force might give you +1d Command to intimidate someone with a gang or something?
Also, I’d say that Product Supply is something about the supply chain for your product – maybe you’ve got a stable supply source
Narayan Bajpe, if Hawkers territory works the same as Shadows hunting grounds, then the feature you pick gives a free downtime activity to prep for the score that matches that feature. So for Shadows, if the crew picked burglary, then they’re especially good at taking advantage of opportunities for burglary in their hunting grounds. I assume Hawkers territory works similar; scores involving establishing or maintaining product supply would be easier to prep for if the crew picks product supply as a feature of their territory. That is, I reckon the feature you pick is saying something about what crew is good at rather than saying a fact about their territory or operation. Not that they have a stable supply, but that they are good at setting up and caring for their product supply.
I don’t know any rules where territory grants an extra die.