Shadowrun

Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: insomn14 on <03-02-15/1156:35>

Title: The Price of Things
Post by: insomn14 on <03-02-15/1156:35>
Hey guys,

I wanted to vet this by some other people before I use it as a MacGuffin in a game.

A hit of Novacoke runs about 10¥ (SR5E, pg. 411).  The novacoke is most likely cut and is probably a very small amount.  Much less than an ounce.  I figure maybe 10 hits equals an ounce (just for round numbers).  Therefore, a pound is about 160 hits of novacoke and a four-pound brick of novacoke would run 6,400¥.  But that's cut novacoke.  Again, just for round numbers, we'll assume uncut novacoke would run about twice as much as cut novacoke (yeah, they're probably using more than 50% filler, but that's neither here or there), so a 4-pound brick would be closer to 13k¥.

Everything sound reasonable?
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: Namikaze on <03-02-15/1203:39>
Yeah I think I used 10k for a kilo in one of my games, but that was more for round numbers.  Your math seems sound to me.
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: insomn14 on <03-02-15/1220:00>
I definitely like using kilos to stay consistent with the other numbers in Shadowrun.  10k a kilo is definitely a better price than what I was giving (using 2.5 lbs to kilo ratio), which works better for me.  Thanks, Namikaze.
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <03-02-15/2051:48>
Mmmm.  That does remind me of the 'Big Haul' adventure I once ran.  I had to cut down the haul from 'we stole three cargo vessels full of stuff' to 'we stole a cargo container full of stuff'.

A cargo container (1 TEU, the most common dimensions for which are 20 feet (6.1 m) long, 8 feet (2.44 m) wide, and 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m) high, for a volume of 1,360 cubic feet (39 m3) will maximum-mass transport approximately 21,600 kg.  Convert that into something mass-to-cash friendly, and you're looking at quite a big chunk of change - if 1 kilo is worth 10k, then you're looking at roughly 21,000,000¥ for a cargo container full of drugs.  This presumes, however, that it'll get cut and split at the destination; if you're sharp, you dial it back to having already been processed and packaged for distribution.

Now, since we want numbers to come out clean, we'll call a hit-plus-packaging equivalent to 33 1/3 grams of weight/mass - so that we get 3 per 100 grams, and 30 per kilogram.  That allows us to stuff our 21,000 kg space with 630,000 doses which, at 10¥ a pop, gives us a street value of 'only' 6,300,000¥.  Sell that at 30%, and you'll get 1,890,000¥ for it.  A wiser player will sell it quickly for only 10%, and vanish into the shadows with 630,000¥ ...

... much better for RP purposes (when split between 8 people) than three 1500-TEU feeder ship at 10% netting the group a hundred million ...
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: Namikaze on <03-03-15/0028:30>
Yeah but most cargo containers of drugs aren't full to the brim with drugs.  They have something else to act as legitimate cargo.  So you could probably cut that even further down to 1/3 or 1/2 of the 630,000¥.  Still a not-insubstantial chunk of change though.
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <03-03-15/0212:01>
Not when you're dealing with an Aztechnology shipment from an Aztlan port to an Aztechnology dock, you're not.  Perfectly legal to stuff it chock full of drugs.  ;)
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: Namikaze on <03-03-15/0220:43>
Oh well then sure.  But that 600k isn't going to be enough to get you out of the Azzies' reach.  :)
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <03-03-15/0227:19>
You don't need to be out of their reach, you just need them to not know who they're looking for.  :D
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: Reaver on <03-04-15/2338:27>
You don't need to be out of their reach, you just need them to not know who they're looking for.  :D

Or, have them looking for the wrong people....
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: Imveros on <03-05-15/0829:37>
You don't need to be out of their reach, you just need them to not know who they're looking for.  :D

Or, have them looking for the wrong people....

Yup! The perfect crime is not the one that goes unsolved, but the one that is but with the wrong man held accountable  8)
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: Herr Brackhaus on <03-05-15/0836:15>
I'd say the perfect crime is the one that goes completely unnoticed ;)
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: Sendaz on <03-05-15/0836:43>
You don't need to be out of their reach, you just need them to not know who they're looking for.  :D

Or, have them looking for the wrong people....

Yup! The perfect crime is not the one that goes unsolved, but the one that is but with the wrong man held accountable  8)
Unless of course you are the wrong man being held accountable, Layer Cake style. :P


I'd say the perfect crime is the one that goes completely unnoticed ;)
If a Cargo Container of Novacoke goes missing, that usually gets noticed. :P

Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: Herr Brackhaus on <03-05-15/0848:37>
Then stealing a cargo container of novacoke is not the perfect crime. 8)
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: Shaidar on <03-06-15/1223:29>
Then stealing a cargo container of novacoke is not the perfect crime. 8)

Might try to delay discovery by swapping the novacoke with powdered sugar.
Title: Re: The Price of Things
Post by: The Wyrm Ouroboros on <03-07-15/1505:49>
Not when it's acquired via high-caliber gunfire.