The cost of Drugs? Options

[Kid_Arcane]

Well, I'm sure most of you are aware of the fact that, while they have descibed these very well in the main 4e rulebook, there is absolutely no reference to cost as far as I am aware. Anyone come across these or get a reply via email from any official source listing these?

[Jaid]

well, if by official source you mean "earlier editions" then yes.

otherwise, no.

[lorechaser]

However, Metasigil looked up the 3e costs from Man and Machine:

Hyper- 180Y
Jazz- 40Y
Kamikaze- 50Y
Long Haul- 500Y
Psyche- 500Y
Bliss- 15Y
Cram- 20Y
Nitro- 100Y
Novocoke- 20Y
Zen- 5Y

[Charon]

Wow.

I'll have to dig up my M&M this evening because it seems weird to me that Long Haul is worth 500 :nuyen: and Kamikaze 50 :nuyen: .

Either way, to make it useful you'll also have to look up the availability and street index (if any).

[Metasigil]

Street index no longer exists Charon. We just use the base prices. And availability is what ever the GM says it is depending on how big a hassle he feels like putting you through today. :D

[Moon-Hawk]

That's because long haul is a very "clean" drug. It's made in shiny clean labs by large pharmecutical companies that have standards. It has very few and very mild side effects.
Kamikaze, on the other hand, is cooked up in the back alley or a dirty street-lab out of impure ingredients. It has awful effects on the body. But, it's easy.
If you consider the health costs, kamikaze is still much, much more expensive.
It's like comparing expensive prescription drugs to crack.

[Charon]

[Moon-Hawk]

Aspirin is a very poor comparison. Compare it to a limited-market prescription drug. I know someone who's medication costs $1500 per dose (twice monthly) and is only made by one drug company, so there is no generic brand.

[Charon]

[Jaid]

there's also the matter of target market.

Kamikaze is targetted at the street level. your average ganger or whatever isn't gonna pay 500 :nuyen: per dose of kamikaze... they simply can't afford it.

high level executives, on the other hand... that's another story.

then there's the matter of competition. there's half a dozen combat drugs on the streets. there's only one drug that has the effects of long haul. if you charge 500 :nuyen: per hit of kamikaze, then people just start using cram, novacoke, or whatever instead.

[Moon-Hawk]

See, there's the difference in our perceptions. I'd expect wage slaves and students to be popping a much cheaper and less effective substance, such as no-doze caffeine pills, that work "eh-pretty-well" and give you a boost of an hour or two, rather than taking long haul to make sure you feel zero fatigue for days at a stretch. I think long haul is very much for a niche paramilitary market and that wage slaves and students would be taking a much milder drug.
So I guess we're using the drug differently in our games.

[hyzmarca]

Kamikaze has a rather limited specialized market but it may be that its patent has already ran out, meaning that every two-bit corp can make their own version. This would drasticly drive down the price. I'd expect kamikaze to be standard issue to security guards in some places, since it is so much cheaper than cyberware initiative enhancment. And, since SR4 doesn't have totally insane addiction rules, you don't have to worry about your security guards going off the deep end while high on the stuff.

[Jaid]

[Kid_Arcane]

The problem with using Man and Machine as a sounding board for prices is that it's timeline is almost 20 years old in gameplay. The reason I point this out is because even nowadays, legal drugs that cost a lot today, will be cheap 17 or so years from now. Hell, stuff from 1990 has become dirt cheap compared to what it used to cost then. So if Long Haul was that expensive then on account of it's being new, then it surely would have dropped in price to appeal to the masses and make a buck for the company.

[TheNarrator]

Performing a little thread necromancy because the issue is probably going to come up in my SR4 game soon.

So, I took a look in Man and Machine, and in the SR4 book, to see how prices on chemicals had changed.

DRUG | M&M | SR4 | Street Index
CS/Tear Gas | 10 | 20 | 1
Cyanide | 360 | 450 | 1
Gamma-Scopaline | 300 | 200 | 3
Narcoject | 150 | 50 | 1
Nausea Gas | 10 | 25 | 2
Pepper Punch | 5 | 5 | 1
Seven-7 | 1000 | 1000 | 5

EDIT: Anyone know how to make a chart? I can't get it to work right.

I don't know if that's any help in making up new prices for the drugs that don't have them, but I figure it can't hurt. DMSO in SR3 was 10 :nuyen: with a Street Index of 1.5, but slap patches are so inexpensive in SR4 that I'm guessing the price on DMSO has dropped.

And yeah, 500 :nuyen: does seem like a hefty price for Long Haul, when for 40 :nuyen: you can get the equivalent of Boosted Reflexes 1 for a half-hour.

[Big D]

And the price for DHMO is just insane these days...

[De Badd Ass]

[TheNarrator]

[Wakshaani]

(Thread necro)

Was trying to find this today, actually, hunting for a cost on Addictive materials.

Will official prices, whatever they might be, be included in the next itteration of the FAQ?

[Wakshaani]

Anyone have a thought about what the assorted Availabilities might be?

[djinni]

[Moon-Hawk]

[lorechaser]

"Thank you for using BANKO for all your BANKO needs. Your nuyen and your five free samples of BANKO BUZZ are available for retrieval. In future transactions, you may select 'illicit goods' and 'BANKO BUZZ' to order more!"

I don't have any of my 3e stuff any more, and it never really mattered when I did, but were all the drugs actually illegal? Or were some just restricted? I assume something like Jazz, which is known to be used by the Star and KE, is just restricted....

[Wakshaani]

Well, I'd imagine that there are, at the least, a bunch of "Legalize Zen!" types out there, a "Null Times" magazine dedicated to teh Zen lifestyle, and some sit-in style protests.

They'd love to get full legalization, but, never seem to turn out at the polls.

"Aw chummer, that was yesterday? I was *totally* gonna vote for that! Taht's not wiz, man, not wiz at all. ... ... ... Hey, you wanna get tranced?"

[djinni]