Editing Paradise City:Introduction to Paradise City (section)

=The Black Market=

[[Image:Drug-deal-for-web_100.gif]]

The difficulty of finding and purchasing illegal items in an area will depend greatly on the particular item and area involved.  At its simplest, the process will require a successful roll against Streetwise to locate a seller, and then whatever rolls or role-playing the GM decides is appropriate for the situation.
Finding a Seller:  The GM will assign the area a Control Rating, depending on police tolerance of the desired items.  Items with a Legality Rating equal to or higher Control Rating should normally be obtainable without a roll.  Common items (including weapons of LR 1 or higher) with a Legality Rating lower than the Control Rating will have a penalty to the Streetwise roll equal to twice the difference between the Legality Rating and the Control Rating.  For example, if the Area Control Rating is 2 and the weapon’s Legality Rating is 1, the roll would be Streetwise -2.  There will frequently be much heavier penalties to the Streetwise roll – some things are hard to find and some neighborhoods are very hard to find things in.  For example, in some corporate neighborhoods, it is effectively impossible to obtain many illegal items (or obtaining them would be an adventure in itself).
Criminal transactions are always unpredictable affairs and the involvement of gangers in organized crime does not make them less so.  However, gangs rarely sell items with an LR lower than the CR -1.  If you are Downtown and suddenly want to purchase an assault rifle, a seller is less likely to be a ganger than to be a trusted member of an organized crime syndicate.