[Gnomercy]

I just ran a modified version of SR mission 4-00 Back in Business, and now I'm wondering how to make the selling of their acquired items interesting.  Since they pretty much grabbed anything that wasn't nailed down (including the smuggler's boat!), they want to sell the stuff next session.

Any suggestions or book/webpage recommendations on how to accomplish this in an interesting and challenging way?  I want to make sure that this isn't like how selling loot usually happens in D&D...I want to make sure that they have to work for it (at least roleplay-wise, if not also combat-wise)!

[CanRay]

SR4A:  Page 312:  Fencing Gear.

Note:  If the smuggler is still alive, he'll want his boat back.  And revenge.  If not, he probably had debts (Think Han Solo's debt to Jabba the Hutt!).

[John Shull]

If they are a looting party I would advise you to set up avenue to deal with this inside the game.  They need a fixer contact who specializes in hardly used merchandise for example.  Set them up a meet in game as a friend of a friend or just stretch a current contact to fit the bill.  Once a working relationship emerges you can play it out or make it as short as you want when time is a issue.  One episode you take the to the docks and they haggle over everything including the weather or they hand you a list and you say 'Lou Chen got your data pics and likes what he sees.  He is wiring over have the 6K now and will send the rest when his boys pick it up at the wharehouse tomorrow before lunch.  You guys better be awake to let them in this time.'  They will also be on the other side of the fence for when they go looking for a thermal lance, glider parashoots, or a good safe house to lay low.  Its good to have a useful contact that is almost 'part of the family' as he will get used very regularly but it will also bother the team that he is gonna know way more than they have any right to like.  He is buying up basically evidence of their runs and disposing of it.  If he is ever caught holding murder weapons or the like they had better have been treating him very well to this point or know where his family lives.  I wandered a bit but once you build a avenue to deal with this it will become a strength of your game.

[Charybdis]

I agree with John Schull here.

If the party is a loot-minded attitude, then someone needs a competent (and loyal!) fence-contact to deal with this in-game.

As an upside, having such a contact also makes it easier to acquire objects, so it's very much a win-win scenario for the players.

Then, the relationship between this contact can be roleplayed out accordingly to teh depth of your campaign, ranging from:
- Fat Tony? Yeah it's me. We got a lot of 2nd-hand goods worth your while, you right to get the specs now? Sure. Look them over, give us a figure and let us know where to drop the gear off.
to
- A full session run for the handover including evading capture from Knight Errant (and previous equipment owners/run targets), driving a van through gang territory, hacking/erasing the data trail and RFID's on the gear, half-now, half-later etc etc

[baronspam]

While picking up loose gear is a good way to earn some extra cash, make sure you characters are smart about it.  Taking things that are unique or traceable should should cause them problems.  Legal guns have serial numbers, prestige items like Red Samurai armor or prototype gear are easily traceable and will bring the heat or corporate cleaner teams down on the players.  Sometimes the difference between getting away clean and endup up with a landmine under your matress is some fenced goods.

As others have said, the characters want a well connected, well protected, loyal fence if they are going to do this.  The loyalty 1 fence is going to sell them out if they get any heat, or maybe even sell them out proactively if there is a big enough reward. 

I haven't looked at the fencing rules in quite a while, but keep in mind that characters will get a fraction of the gear price listed in the book.  Basically, they are selling second hand goods, wholesale, and some items may need to be "sanitized' before they can be offered on the market. 

[John Shull]

I like to use a house rule where I roll the total dice for the loy/con rating of the contact before game and apply that to the interactions of that session.  I like using this to show the shadowy nature of the criminal world.  So in the case of the Fixer friend it could fluxuate like this.   If they scored 3 successes or such then the contact is in a good position to do all that can be asked and maybe even cheaply.  However, should they glitch or crit glitch it goes the other way.  They may be unavailable, out of what they want, laying low, or they may need the PC's help for something (crit glitch).  I just don't like things getting to predictable but I don't trust myself to be perfectly impartial.  Don't know if its something you'd like to use but it works good for me. 

[FastJack]

I like to use a house rule where I roll the total dice for the loy/con rating of the contact before game and apply that to the interactions of that session.  I like using this to show the shadowy nature of the criminal world.  So in the case of the Fixer friend it could fluxuate like this.   If they scored 3 successes or such then the contact is in a good position to do all that can be asked and maybe even cheaply.  However, should they glitch or crit glitch it goes the other way.  They may be unavailable, out of what they want, laying low, or they may need the PC's help for something (crit glitch).  I just don't like things getting to predictable but I don't trust myself to be perfectly impartial.  Don't know if its something you'd like to use but it works good for me. 

I like this. Especially since lower Con/Loy contacts would mean a smaller dice pool and more likely to critically glitch.

[Gnomercy]

Thanks for the suggestions.  The fencing rules in the core rulebook were a great start, but I really needed to get the flavor of how they would actually do this in game.  I'm lucky that my group is used to looting and selling stuff IC through various other games (D&D, Hero, Rifts, 7th Sea, et al), and I want to give them a feel for how interesting this could end up in SR....and to make them use their contacts instead of using ye olde Matrix for everything (during the first game, I couldn't get them to actually talk to their contacts until their Matrix searches ended up with some bad rolls....and even then, it took me passing notes across the table to various players reminding them of their contacts!).

Looks like I have a little prep to do to make sure my players have people that will screw them over work with them :-D  Thanks folks....this is why I really appreciate these forums!

[CanRay]

Want a suggestion?  Deal with a pawn shop owner.  Give you a good idea on how to play things a bit.

After all, that's pretty close to what the PCs are going to be doing anyhow...

[John Shull]

Want a suggestion?  Deal with a pawn shop owner.  Give you a good idea on how to play things a bit.

After all, that's pretty close to what the PCs are going to be doing anyhow...

Excellent idea.  You can get a wealth of ideas out of talking to those guys about what they do. 

[Gnomercy]

Want a suggestion?  Deal with a pawn shop owner.  Give you a good idea on how to play things a bit.

After all, that's pretty close to what the PCs are going to be doing anyhow...

Funny that you mentioned that....that was actually what I had in mind for at least their starting point for trying to get rid of their loot :-)

[CanRay]

It's an old, old tale.  I think I introduced "Jerry's 'Probably Stolen' Pawn Shop".  Someone had defaced the sign with "Probably Stolen" written in spray paint so often that Jerry no longer tried to fix it.

And, frankly, truth in advertising. 

[Gnomercy]

I ended up creating "Trader Joe's Pawn Shop" into my game...a play on the organic grocery store chain that's in the US (and probably wouldn't exist in the UCAS at this point in the timeline).  The players were amused, which is helpful.  They haven't actually gone to the shop yet, mainly because they putzed around for a long time being silly with their downtime.

Now I get to deal with the possibility of plans to buy corp stocks and to possibly create a minor corp to use to launder money :-P