Hawkers and product supplies – how granular do YOU think it should be? I’ve run a couple of sessions of a Hawkers game, starting with them stealing enough unrefined electroplasm to make a heap of Spark, but I’m not sure whether it’s a great idea to continue requiring scores like that.
And in a similar vein (pun, of course, intended), do you think a Clock to manage actually producing product is a good idea? I did that in the first downtime, but again I’m not sure we want to keep doing that going forward.
Anybody got thoughts?
I think a score to steal unrefined electroplasm, and then a clock to cook it, is perfectly fine. I’d say that after the project, they have A Lot of Spark, and then not worry about their supply until something happens that would threaten or dwindle ot. Then they could do that over again or do something else to replenish the stock.
In general, I’d say Hawkers are dealers, not producers, and it’s better to find fictional justification for them having a regular product supply (we cooked up a big batch of Spark, we made a deal with a supplier, we took over another faction’s drug lab) than to get too into the weeds about where it’s coming from.
Great thoughts, Jason, and exactly what I reckon too. One of the characters is pretty much (unintentionally!) Walter White, so I want to make sure to highlight her being a master drug cook, but I absolutely agreed that we don’t want to get bogged down in it (until it becomes a source of drama, of course!)
I always imagined Hawker product as crafted material that is then distributed/sold to accomplish a specific goal. Once the goal is accomplished the “goods” are all used up.
So you might have clocks like “Loyal Customers”, “Take over X district market”, “Become exclusive dealer to X group of Nobles”, etc.
You then have dueling clocks with rivals that can be filled in by fortune rolls for the Tier of the product being sold and players take actions to remove ticks from the rivals clock. That could incentive players to find ways to invent more potent/unique product which requires the acquisition of stronger base components or spending a little Coin. The crew’s Tier 4 product is sure to corner the market before their rival’s Tier 2 knockoff… that is until their Rival comes up with a brand new product; everybody is always chasing the next big thing. Time for the crew to come up with a shiny new product to sell before they get left behind.
Oooh, interesting. I definitely want to focus on things like trashing rivals’ supplies and labs, and in using their better product (Alchemist special move + Workshop upgrade + The Good Stuff = Tier 0 making some pretty good shit!)
I also want to throw come entanglements at them with cheap knockoffs, rogue employees cutting the goods, etc. So much to work with!
My crew are also drug producers/dealers. The way we run things, aside from grabbing the occasional stash of leviathan blood that they use, my crew seek out sources which could regularly supply them with the blood, as well as a couple clients who buy from them regularly. During downtime, I have our alchemist roll for drug quality, and then they send the drugs off with one of their cohorts to be delivered. Each client earns them one coin per score.
As for complications, I had another gang start selling a much more lethal knock-off version of my crew’s drug. I would also have the crew’s clients lose patience with low quality goods (though the Leech’s 3 in Tinker+a workshop+The Good Stuff makes that pretty much impossible)
Ah, cool ideas. I had their second score (after obtaining the Leviathan blood then making product during Downtime) involve socializing for a “wholesale arrangement” with the Red Sashes. In the end, I gave them Coin for it, but also called it “Local Graft” to signify their boosted reputation and extra income.
Interestingly, after a few increasingly-desperate rolls, they wound up parlaying it into an agreement that they could sell it themselves, too (they were going to anyway) if they joined the Sashes’ anti-Lampblack alliance.
I haven’t decided yet whether that deal “used up” their stash (…hence this thread!)