Black Market

The Black Market is a catch-all name given to the various crime families and syndicates throughout the wastes and the goods and services they offer. Drugs, weapons, thugs for hire, stolen goods, information—whether a Marketeer’s gig is extortion or gambling rings, their main goals are control and profit. Although this page will go into some detail, the Network publication “Illicit Business,” goes into more detail on the Black Market and can be downloaded here.

Black Market operations fall into one of three pillars, based on their corner of the Market:

  • Vices and Violence: Brutality and taking the edge off said brutality

  • Social and Mental Control: Shaping what people know, what they think, and what they think they know

  • The Dead Market: Deal in the horrendous, grotesque abominations and exploitation of goods and services centering around Infection.

Each Black Market society operates within a single pillar. DR:CO has a number of criminal organizations that players can join:

  • Vices and Violence: The Executive Suite Club — General crime centered around making large profits, which can then be turned around into hyper-decadent soirees, fronted by The Warehouse.

  • Vices and Violence: The 7x7s — No Gods, No Masters, lots of anarchy for this primarily-Red Star collective of pro-social, anti-“The Man” rabble rousers.

  • Social and Mental Control: The Machonis Family — A medical technology company and front for Our Benevolent Neighbors of the Nuclear Family, these shady scientists enable and equip the Market while pursuing their own goals.

  • Social and Mental Control: The Three Daggers — A group of three loosely-affiliated gangs seeking power over the Market through tactical violence, economic manipulation, and the art of the con.

  • The Dead Market: Bear Claw Hunting and Trapping — Within the ranks of this institution of financial largess lurks a group of body part and Infection merchants working the “leather trade”. Not all of their traps are for animals, and not all of their big-game hunts are for beasts.

  • The Dead Market: Kallisti — A secretive network of scientists, Necrologists, and Aberrants on the cutting edge of advancing Aberrant powers at any cost, to unknown ends and with horrifying consequences.

Groups of three or more players are also able to form their own Black Market societies, or introduce other canon societies, with Director approval. Details on forming your own criminal society and the full list of canon Black Market societies can be found in “Illicit Business,” and details regarding forming your own local society can be found in the Network publication “Social Creatures.” Reach out to the Writing team for more information and assistance. Please Note: Characters are limited to belonging to a single Black Market society at a time, and are limited to four local societies at any given time.

THE BLACK MARKET: A BRIEF OVERVIEW

Reputation is everything in the Black Market. It is the true currency that members deal in—your reputation in the underworld determines your value in it. There are eight tiers of Reputation in the Black Market, with the highest tiers being NPC-only, which signal to NPCs and other PCs the level of respect or trust you should be given in criminal circles. While Reputation is a purely role play-focused element with no mechanical connections to a character’s level of the Criminal Influence skill or what tiered blueprints a character has access to, it is a narrative tool used to help determine what scope of plot a character should be involved in and how scenes with that character should usually be steered by NPCs. 

A character can increase their Reputation by being formally recognized by a PC or NPC at least two reputation tiers higher than your character. A character may only increase their Reputation a single tier with this method. They can also increase their Reputation by building a criminal empire by having three active, unique (i.e, not disguises) PC underlings who report directly to their character and share a membership in their Black Market sub-sect or society. While characters can only gain a single tier of reputation by having at least three underlings, if at least three of the underlings increase their tier through this method, your tier increases as well. A character can lose Reputation through similar ways they would gain it—by being formally admonished or humiliated by someone with equal or higher reputation than them, or by dropping below three direct underlings. More detailed information about Black Market Reputation and the eight tiers of it can be found in “Illicit Business.”

Black Market narratives deal mostly with high-risk, high-reward jobs and navigating various groups who don’t necessarily like one another. Black Market plots take inspiration from The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and other gang, heist, and seedy narratives centered on morally corrupt outlaws.

Maybe your character is a cunning and ambitious business person looking to corner a market. Maybe they’ve got debts they need to pay off and can’t find work that pays as well as this does. Maybe they’re here to play Robin Hood, stealing from and swindling the rich and giving it back to their community. As with Murder Inc., there are many ways to fit your character into the Black Market, and if you have questions or desires to work with a specific syndicate or group, or if you want help steering your character, reach out to the Writing team.

If you’re a Colorado local player and you are looking to have your character leave the Black Market, please reach out to the Writers. Leaving the Black Market is a dangerous and difficult thing to do. The Story team is here to help you come up with a cool narrative or interesting challenge, whether you want to handle that “off-screen” or during game.