okay, that's not entirely true. I get the concept that its how easy or hard to find something, and it adjusts the price based on location and the chart, but the numbers are kinda abstract without a real world comparison. like, rarity 5. what does that mean. would a 9 mil. be a rarity 3? what would be a custom made weapon or ship? like I said I understand what it does, but its abstrsctness I.have troubles with. if it didn't effect a precise measurement like the exact number of credits a character had, it wouldn't be a big deal. if anyone could help with real world examples that would help.

thanks

Many factors take part in rarity. The general consensus is 'How common is the item?' and this leads into 'How easy is it to obtain?' so stuff that's rarity 8 or 9 is verging on prototype or highly restricted stuff such as lightsabers, TIE Phantoms (and other experimental prototype ships etc). You then get 6 and 7 which are fairly rare, but not impossible to find items, so the hot new ship that has just been released would be this level. 4 and 5 is fairly average, you see it a bit, but not everywhere. Rarity 2 and 3 are the easiest to find and most of the time you will find it although there is the chance you may not.

Rarity 0 and 1 items are items that no matter where you go, you will ALWAYS find them.

Rarity 10 would be like something that is locked in the vault of the Smithsonian or Louvre museum, and there are roughly ten or fewer of them in the world. Anywhere from the original Mona Lisa, the original signed Declaration of Independence, a pink diamond, A Gutenberg Bible, A Stradivarius violin, etc…. With regards to coins, there’s a good list at https://tinyurl.com/nob68ex.

IMO, A Jedi Lightsaber is just about that rare. Yes, there are more Jedi Lightsabers in the Star Wars galaxy than there are Gutenberg Bibles left in this world, but then the Star Wars galaxy is rather a bit bigger than this planet.

Rarity 9 would be a step down from that. I’m guessing somewhere around 10-100 times less rare. There’s a list of rare animal species at https://tinyurl.com/yrdxrt that would probably fit into this category. Less than 60 known Javan Rhinos left in the world? I think that would qualify.

Rarity 8 would be the next step down, again probably 10-100 times less rare. The list at https://tinyurl.com/lelj6w5 might fall into this category — like Tyrian purple dye, which required the sacrifice of over 3500 of certain species of mollusk to create just one ounce. This is the original Royal Purple.

As for the other question, what would constitute rarity 3 in this world — I would definitely think that a cheap pistol or rifle would meet that description. You can go into virtually any Wal-Mart in the country and buy one, with minimal background check. And if you would fail that background check, then it’s easy enough to get someone else to go in and buy it for you.

So, it’s really all up to your GM as to exactly how rare things are and what the relative equivalents are, but it shouldn’t be hard to find some examples from the real world to give people an idea.

thank you, brad. that really helped.

A drop bear is incredibly rare in the United States, come here to Australia and you have to be careful around any Gum tree!

On the flip side you have no hope of buying an air rifle anywhere in Australia without some training, police checks and a licence, plus 2 seperate safes one for the gun and one for the ammunition, both keyed differently (I don't have any training in streetwise or Knowledge Underworld so that is not factored in)

Edit: there are also a very limited number of licensed Gun shops, none of this department store stuff.

A drop bear is incredibly rare in the United States, come here to Australia and you have to be careful around any Gum tree!

On the flip side you have no hope of buying an air rifle anywhere in Australia without some training, police checks and a licence, plus 2 seperate safes one for the gun and one for the ammunition, both keyed differently (I don't have any training in streetwise or Knowledge Underworld so that is not factored in)

That’s a really good example of how rarity between planets in Star Wars should be handled. What is common on one planet might be exceedingly uncommon on another.

Thanks!

Well that's covered in the final paragraph, GM has final say. So there's nothing wrong with making final adjustments based on fine details. Getting a gaffi stick on Tatooine is probably pretty easy compare to getting one on Corascant...

I tend to think of Rarity in terms of automobiles. While there is likely a Ford dealership within an easy commute of most Americans (Rarity 3), there's not always a BMW seller (Rarity 5). There may be only one dealer selling Lamborghinis (Rarity 7), or none if you're far from a major city. Good luck finding a military grade Humvee (6/R); much more likely to get the watered down civilian version (5). The McLaren F-1 would be a Rarity 10, while a Formula One race car is likely an 8/R.

You can substitute just about any good for this to work. If they have it at every Walmart in America, it's a 1. If you have to travel to another country to get it, and it's tough to find even then, it's likely 8-9. If there are 100 of them on the planet, that would be a 10.

Also, remember that all items and such have rarity and cost assigned to, however that does not mean that your PC's can just go and buy it. I have a Toydarian Trader-Entrepreneur in my game who can take a rarity down by 5. This means he could find a Lightsaber with a 3 purple dice streetwise check. As the GM I have final say and merely say that they can't. In Edge "One does not simply shop for a lightsaber." I also do this with some items I deem to be prototypes or experimental units.

The rarity and cost on these such items exist merely to offer a baseline for what should happen if your players owns one of these items and then attempts to sell the item for credits on the black market and how difficult it would be to sell due to its 'hot' nature. Plus it adds consistency, I've yet to see any item that is not assigned a cost or rarity value.

I mentally map the rarity table onto settlement size. Anything that turns out, after modifiers, to be Rarity 4-5 works out as difficulty 2, so can be found by Joe Average (Presence 2/Negotiation 0) just over half time he goes shopping.

Anything with rarity 2-3 is something you'll probably find in some village shops/Outer Rim world (+2 modifier).

Anything with rarity 4-5 is something you'll probably find in a provincial town centre/Civilised World (+0).

Anything with rarity 6-7 is something you'll probably find in a big city/Core World (-2 modifier).

Rarity 8-10 objects are things most people won't be able to find, even in a big city- they're things you'll need contacts and experience to buy. Meanwhile, rarity 0-1 things can be found reliably even on uncivilised worlds (+4 modifier)- presumably the kind of stuff you can buy in a petrol station.

I mentally map the rarity table onto settlement size. Anything that turns out, after modifiers, to be Rarity 4-5 works out as difficulty 2, so can be found by Joe Average (Presence 2/Negotiation 0) just over half time he goes shopping.

Anything with rarity 2-3 is something you'll probably find in some village shops/Outer Rim world (+2 modifier).

Anything with rarity 4-5 is something you'll probably find in a provincial town centre/Civilised World (+0).

Anything with rarity 6-7 is something you'll probably find in a big city/Core World (-2 modifier).

Rarity 8-10 objects are things most people won't be able to find, even in a big city- they're things you'll need contacts and experience to buy. Meanwhile, rarity 0-1 things can be found reliably even on uncivilised worlds (+4 modifier)- presumably the kind of stuff you can buy in a petrol station.

edit: like I said, I understand the mechanics, I just had s hard time grasping what it meant. . without anything to compare it to, 4 is just a number.

I would like a show of hands of everyone who went to Wikipedia to find out what horrible disaster of evolution had led to 'drop bears'.

I am ashamed to await your responses with my hand timidly raised.

its a fake koala type bear.

I would like a show of hands of everyone who went to Wikipedia to find out what horrible disaster of evolution had led to 'drop bears'.

I am ashamed to await your responses with my hand timidly raised.

We tend to be a humorous lot...

Not really, its a polar bear type bear,

I would like a show of hands of everyone who went to Wikipedia to find out what horrible disaster of evolution had led to 'drop bears'.

I am ashamed to await your responses with my hand timidly raised.

Let that be a new rarity rule: if you have to look up what it is, it's at least rarity 8+.

yes. I was aware of that, toaster. I was just wanting to get real world examples by rarity level. thank you though.

edit: like I said, I understand the mechanics, I just had s hard time grasping what it meant. . without anything to compare it to, 4 is just a number.

Er, I wasn't trying to explain the mechanics- I was mapping the numbers onto real-world things?

I would like a show of hands of everyone who went to Wikipedia to find out what horrible disaster of evolution had led to 'drop bears'.

I am ashamed to await your responses with my hand timidly raised.

Nope, I learned what they are from Shadowrun. In the setting, they are koalas that have been infected with HMHVV which is the virus that causes vampirism. Nasty, nasty critters.

sorry, I misread.

I would like a show of hands of everyone who went to Wikipedia to find out what horrible disaster of evolution had led to 'drop bears'.

I am ashamed to await your responses with my hand timidly raised.

Sorry another no here. They have a rather good cameo piece in the discworld novel The Last Continent. @ which point one of them drops onto a heavily re enforced wizards hat.