One thing I’ve been struggling to determine is Score payoff.
I run for a group of Hawkers and we are now coming up to our 4th session.
This will be the second Score that seemingly has no direct payout in terms of Coin.
If the crew goes on scores to retrieve some product/setup a new supply line/obtain new equipment etc. is it still recommended that they receive Coin from those types of scores, even if fictionally, they’re not being payed by anyone?
For example, the next Score the group is off to the Jayan Hall of Alchemy to attempt to steal some alchemical apparatus so that they may synthesise a particular drug en masse within the comfy confines of their own lair.
If they succeed would you also give them a Coin payout, and if so how much is reasonable? (perhaps in the form of surplus supplies they then offload or something?)
Cheers in advance.
So, when Shadows steal stuff – not for anyone, mind you, just stealing stuff – would you then make them go through the motions of finding a fence and a market and buyers and all that before paying them? I, personally, don’t. I assume that, as thieves, they have ways of finding people who want the non-coin stuff they pilfer. Similarly, I feel like it should maybe be assumed that as long as Hawkers are undertaking scores to bolster their drug (or whatever) trade, then you can give them a payout from their markets. Maybe that’s just me, but I don’t super feel like making Hawkers work twice as hard I would make my Shadows work.
I’m thinking of popular crime TV: every drug sale isn’t shown on screen, right? Like, we can generally assume there are less-interesting exchanges happening off-screen that keep the characters just comfortable enough to be able to have the adventures we actually give a crap about? That’s what I would aim for.
That said, I’ve also made myself a little cheat of a Fortune roll when it comes to figuring out Score payouts I’m unsure of. I roll d6 = Tier of the target. I’ve only used it once, but it was helpful.
1-3: Tier Coin (minimum 1).
4, 5: Tier+2 Coin.
6: Tier+4 Coin.
Critical: Tier+8 Coin.
Since then, I’ve tried to focus more on the descriptors for the payouts: Minor, Small, Standard, Big, and Major Scores are — to me — evocative enough because I can imagine them being said aloud in crime movies, and I just try to think of how someone in one of those flicks would describe what the PCs are doing. So, what do you think? They’re going to use their equipment to safely make their drugs en masse; if you want to give them a payout for flooding the market, what’s that sound like to you? Standard? Big?
The group by wanting themselves to be in the process of getting the crew off the ground, i.e. to work towards gaining their first supply and selling it. They haven’t (fictionally) hawked much of anything thus far.
The goal of this score was to set up lucrative deals in the future.
I have no problem with giving the crew coin, I was just unsure as to whether these types of situations warranted coin payout.
The 2 eventualities as i saw it were:
1. They don’t get coin for these types of scores. But they then get a much larger payout when they off the supply in the next score.
2. They get coin for every score (bar taking claims and such), where the payout is somewhat more spread out
I do like that Coin calculation as a backup for when I’m ever unsure, thank you.
But to answer your question it would be big or even Major as i see it.
The group will want to do a separate score offloading the drugs they make with the apparatus they get from the current score (if i know my group well enough). Rather than letting it happen off-screen or as part of this current score.
Ok so…
I just had another think about it and a read over the book again.
It seems like this score will of course generate Coin in the examples i mused but it also seems to be a Claim that’s being seized; specifically the ‘Surplus Cache’ Claim on the Hawkers sheet.
I think how I’ll handle it is just do the above. And if the Crew ever wants to do a large scale sell operation, they have the materials to do so.
If they want to pursue something else, they’ll have the trickling in of Coin every downtime instead.
I’m aware this post very quickly turned into me just thinking out loud for the most part, but I think I’ll leave it up in case someone finds it useful in the future xD
My usual approach for my Shadows is that:
A) Anything you steal FOR someone obviously magically turns into coin.
B) Anything that’s easily “moved” automatically turns into coin. Valuables like jewelry, “normal” drugs, etc.
C) More obscure stuff gets a long term project clock to sell it off (I usually represent it as 1 tick per two coin worth of ‘stuff’ and pay out as they go.), though the PCs can short circuit that by finding someone who really wants to buy all the esoteric stuff they lifted from the Path of Echoes or whatever.
I’m going to agree that mechanically those drug making apparati are probably “Supply Cache.”
Personally, some scores don’t result in a payout. Frame ups, turf battles, favours for friendly factions, might have some opportunities for coin, but are more about fictionally positioning the crew.
I do like Mike does, but for obscure or really hot items i tend offer the the players a choice between immediate sale (at a discount or costing extra heat) or a score or project to move the goods.
Michael Atlin Yeah, I think I offered them the chance to “dump” some stuff for half price too.