Esoteric Enterprises - Hustles

UPDATE DECEMBER 7 2020: The latest version of these rules can be found here.

In Esoteric Enterprises rules as written, there's no tracking dollars and cents of money. The cash value of items recovered translates into XP and is then forgotten. Purchases are made by rolling against your "resources level", by default equal to your character's experience level. When you level up, your hoarded wealth has made you rich enough that you ascend one rung on the financial ladder.

In my house rules for Esoteric Enterprises, I threw that out. The players wanted to spend their ill-gotten gains, not have them disappear into the ether until they met an arbitrary breakpoint to increase their roll-under chance of buying things. We're already tracking dollars and cents for XP anyway. So I recoded the resource level as the character's weekly income. Now, instead of the resource level reflecting hoarded wealth FROM adventuring, it's their money IN ADDITION to adventuring.

But where does that additional money come from?

I've complained before that Esoteric Enterprises doesn't actually have rules for starting your own gang. Maybe I can solve both problems at once.

The design goals are:

• Provide interesting choices without adding too much complexity
• Integrate player hustles into the existing reputation mechanics
• Use simple narrative hooks to give the players a stake in the game world
• Allow players to be gangsters as well as high powered homicidal transients

Quick Reference

When a player reaches Level 3, they must find a territory and either roll Contacts to choose a hustle, or roll a D12 to see what market they end up in.

Every week, the players decide what share of their income they want to spend on security for their hustles, then roll a D20 to see whether one of the gang's hustles is in trouble

After Level 3, whenever a player levels up, they can roll Contacts to diversify into a new hustle

Where Does The Money Come From?

At Levels 1 and 2, the players' income is assumed to come from low rent petty crime that they engage in by themselves. There is no need to track how this money is obtained, and it does not represent a significant criminal enterprise.

When a player reaches Level 3, they become a minor figure in the occult underworld, with their weekly income derived from more organized criminal activity.

In order to cash in on Resource Levels 3 and above, players need territory and a hustle. Without these, they cannot rise above Resource Level 2 (unless they have one of the social advantages from page 29)

Territory

Finding "unclaimed" territory in a city to operate in requires either a Contacts roll or some in-character legwork.

If the entire city is claimed by existing criminal factions, the players must either run a fly-by-night operation and hope to stay under the radar, or come to an arrangement with an existing non-hostile faction. This may require another Contacts roll to set up the connect.

Players operating in another faction's territory must kick up a percentage of their weekly income, usually 10%, for the privilege of working in their territory.

Players who operate without asking in someone else's territory pay nothing, but if discovered their operations will be targeted and they themselves will be subject to reprisals.

Hustles

When a player reaches Level 3, and has a territory to work in, they need a hustle.

Choosing a hustle requires a Contacts roll. If the roll fails, they don't get a choice in what the market demands. Roll a D12 to see where their weekly income comes from:

1. Prostitution
2. Loan Sharking
3. Bookmaking (Sports Betting)
4. Gambling (Weekly Card Game)
5. Drug Dealing
6. Smuggling
7. Unlicensed Version of Legal Business (Illegal Clinic, Sweatshop, Bootlegging, etc)
8. Protection Racket
9. Mobbed Up Legitimate Business (Construction, Trucking, Waste Management, etc)
10. Money Laundering
11. Fence (Buying and Reselling Stolen Goods)
12. Occult Crime

(Alternatively, if a character has a skill that ties into their illegal occupation, they can roll that to choose it instead of Contacts. IE Medicine for an illegal clinic, Technology for a wire fraud business, etc).

The weekly income provided by the player's resource level is their take from the gang's hustle. The rest of the money goes towards rent, payroll, supplies, and other business expenses associated with illegal criminal enterprises.

Hustles may provide other perks. The most obvious is a place to meet, stash items, do business and hide out. A cab stand, nightclub, bookie joint, garage, cathouse or other illegitimate business. Beyond the location, a hustle usually provides goods and services to its owners. Smuggling gives the characters access to the smuggled goods. A protection racket can get them discounts or favorable treatment from local businesses.

Every level after 3, the player can make a Contacts roll to set up a new hustle for the gang. This doesn't bring in additional resources, but it brings additional perks and diversifies their portfolio.

The scale of a hustle is determined by the player's level. At Level 3, it's a small operation with a handful of NPCs, and the player is directly involved in its operations. At higher levels, the player delegate more responsibility to trusted henchpersons. Eventually, the players will be powerful enough to extort entire gangs.

Problems With Hustles

Roll a single D20 every week for the whole group to see if their hustles run smoothly, or if there's an issue. 

• 1-10: No Problem
• 11-15: Minor Irregularity
• 16-19: Serious Irregularity
• 20+: Someone makes a move on the operation

Add between one and four to the roll if the players have a serious negative reputation with another dangerous faction, or if the players have significant legal heat

Add between one and four to the roll if the players are operating in someone else's territory without an arrangement

Subtract one from the roll for every 5% of their share of income the player spends on goons, security, etc for their hustle.

On a 12 or higher, one of the players' hustles has a problem.

Irregularities
A minor irregularity can be corrected by an in-person visit from a player character. The most common form of irregularity in the criminal underground is failure to pay up. A business has a slow week, or a gambler runs up a huge debt.

A serious irregularity is harder to deal with. Usually this is a business that refuses to kick up, or pays out to another faction. Correcting a serious irregularity requires a visit from the players, and some straightening out. If the DM or players aren't interested in roleplaying the ensuing leg breaking, window smashing, etc, they can roll either Charm or Vandalism (whichever is better) to deal with the problem quickly off screen.

Either way, an uncorrected irregularity halves the affected player's weekly income.

Hits
If you roll a 20 or above, the player with the highest Contacts score can roll Contacts. On a success, they receive word through the grapevine that a hit is incoming on their hustle, and can take means to correct it (set an ambush, move the load out of town, hit the perpetrators before they hit you, etc).

When someone makes a move on a players' hustle, that means another faction hit it. If there's an obvious choice, such as someone who's REALLY mad at them, they're the perpetrators. Otherwise, dice for a random unallied faction. If there are no factions who would dare attack the players, it's some no name punks looking to make a name for themselves. If the players have high legal heat, it's the cops who take it down.

The card game gets robbed at gunpoint. The stash house for the drugs is burglarized. Vice shuts down the cathouse. Someone bombs the cab stand.

A hit that the players don't prevent takes away all the affected player's weekly income. Unless they respond, they also receive no income from their hustle in future weeks.

Responding to a hit requires either a counter-move on the perpetrator's operation of equal or greater value, or a Contacts roll to set up a new criminal enterprise.