Fencing loot, 10% vs. 30% Options

[SaintHax]

So, I have a copy of the SRM guidelines. In it it states that an item can be fenced for 10% of it's value, and that's pretty much the end of the sell discussion. The rest is mainly describing when and item would have decreased value.

So my question is, the book states that equipment has a 30% value when fenced-- is this still valid if I'm using a contact? If I have a "Arms Dealer" contact, can I use him to get the 30% value? If I don't have him, do I get the 10%? I'd assume since we are using core rules (modified only when needed for a global campaign), that the 10% value would be from your fixer for the mission, but we'd still use book rules if we have a contact that would actually buy the type of equipment we are trying to sell.

How exactly does this work? Or is it a straight 10% across the board and contacts don't matter?

[nezumi]

You can ONLY fence your item when you have contacts. If you don't have contacts, your first step in fencing loot is spending the time making those contacts. Your contact may sell items to you for 30%, however.

In my game, I rule as such:
Fixer - 5-10%
Specialized Contact (selling guns to an arms dealer) - 10-15%
Direct buyer (Joe ganger wants an AK, you have an AK) - 20-40%

These are moved up and down based on how close you are to the contact, how hot the item is, current demand, etc.

[TranKirsaKali]

I think in the games I have been playing in. Our Face has done the selling and the price we got was based on his negotiation skills. The better he did the better we got up to a certain point. So the 10% was our starting point.

[Aaron]

One of our goals for downtime was to remove any need for dice rolls or GM intervention. By doing this, every downtime operation becomes a story problem, and you can show your work to anyone who doubts that you have, say, a surface-to-air missile launcher.

There are a lot of variables when it comes to fencing swag, and a lot of those variables are determined by a GM, not to mention a contact's finder's fee if applicable, so we simply looked at the curve and decided to go with a streamlined system with a single, simple value: we started at 30% and adjusted down to 10% on the theory that the item in question is likely either stolen, used, damaged, was used in a crime, has cooties, or a combination of any or all of the above.

So yeah; straight 10%, don't sweat the contacts, don't bother with qualitative analysis, just boom and there's cash.

[SaintHax]

Thanks Aaron, I totally understand your rational (I was staff for SRM 1.0). I hope that 2010's SRM rules update takes a few things into consideration though. As I build my character this week, I realize that I won't be going human Face (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) The campaign restrictions hurt them (both fencing and extended tests).

The Face often does extended tests so I chose him, though the small nerf applies to all extended tests.

Normal extended test: on average for every 3 dice you have, you get 1 success. Add in an edge dice, you have .33 success per 6 dice used.

Buying success: you get a flat 1 success per 4 dice you use.

Rolling...
If you have 11 dice to through at a extended test, (threshold 10, base time 1 month) and 3 edge to play w/, for the first month you add one edge. That get's you 12 dice, and about 4.66 successes. You repeat this for the next two months and end up w/ a total of 13 success. Which I believe you can reduce that last month's time? Maybe no reduced time, I can't find a rule for that in 4th.

Buying...
If you had 12 dice, you'd have no use for the edge dice, as it won't bring you to the next multiple of 4. However, at 11 you get 3 success per month for the first 3 months, and end up w/ 11 in four months.


Edge is devalued-- granted, very nice to have for several other reasons. I have to put that in, b/c in 'net forums people look for things to argue, and will turn the word "devalued" into "worthless" just so they have a reason to type how it can save your life, and ad nausem. (or correct my spelling).

The option to buy success at 4:1 is nice, when given as an option. Most players (I think) know the math, and realize that they are taking a worse ratio, but they are losing the chance of failure. So, if they are that skilled, then it makes sense to do so. It eliminates that nasty game element of an olympic gymnist being unable to jump over a 3 foot wall 5% of the time b/c he rolled a one on a D20 (another game, but we all realize how that failure rate is much too high).


On the other hand, there are people who'd play a home game, and end up w/ mad loot at a Con game that is so unrealistic, it's not funny. Perhaps since this is a forced buy, the average of 3:1 can be applied to extended tests? I'd also like to see the negotiation skill be able to increase fencing price somehow (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

I'm playing an Orc mage though, so these are just suggestions that I'm not going to be waiting on w/ baited breath or anything.

[Aaron]

On the other hand, there are people who'd play a home game, and end up w/ mad loot at a Con game that is so unrealistic, it's not funny. Perhaps since this is a forced buy, the average of 3:1 can be applied to extended tests? I'd also like to see the negotiation skill be able to increase fencing price somehow (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

Thanks for the feedback. I think your analysis is sound.

Another one of the meta-rules for Shadowrun Missions is to use the SR4A rules and not to add new ones when they already exist (in other words, no house rules for SRM). Since there is no provision for a 3:1 exchange for hits, we stick with the existing hit-buying method. By the same token, there are no rules for increasing the sale price of a fenced bit of swag, so we would also avoid that.