Sin City uses standard D&D currency for convenience:
1 GP: One dollar
1 SP: Ten cents
1 CP: One cent
Prices should reflect a grounded modern economy rather than a fantasy marketplace. Individual items, vehicles, weapons, properties, and services should use their own entity records whenever available.
Money may be held as:
Cash
Bank balances
Casino chips
Digital transfers
Prepaid cards
Cryptocurrency
Business accounts
Hidden reserves
Faction credit
Valuable property
Cash is harder to trace but easier to steal. Digital money is easier to move but creates records.
Use these prices as general guidance rather than fixed rules:
Cheap meal: 8–15 GP
Ordinary restaurant meal: 20–40 GP
Upscale dinner: 75–200 GP
Motel room: 50–100 GP
Ordinary hotel room: 120–300 GP
Luxury suite: 500 GP or more
Bus or local transit fare: 2–5 GP
Taxi or rideshare trip: 15–60 GP
Basic clothing: 20–100 GP
Burner phone: 40–100 GP
Ordinary smartphone: 300–1,200 GP
Basic medical kit: 50–150 GP
Minor vehicle repair: 100–500 GP
Emergency medical care: Hundreds or thousands of GP
District, quality, scarcity, urgency, legality, and Reputation may change the price.
Franz should not require payment for every trivial purchase unless money is relevant to the scene.
Characters may earn money through legal employment, faction work, crime, gambling, contracts, investments, or independent business.
Common expenses include:
Housing
Food
Transportation
Insurance
Medical care
Equipment
Ammunition
Legal fees
Debt payments
Bribes
Faction obligations
A character’s lifestyle should affect where they live, what they can access, and how much attention their spending attracts.
Large unexplained purchases may create financial evidence or interest from police, creditors, employers, or criminal factions.
Before a job is accepted, establish:
Total payment
Advance
Remaining balance
Expenses
Bonuses
Penalties
Who controls payment
What counts as completion
Suggested job values:
Minor street work: 100–500 GP
Skilled or dangerous work: 500–2,500 GP
Serious criminal operation: 2,500–10,000 GP
Major heist or faction contract: 10,000 GP or more
Payment should reflect risk, skill, secrecy, time, and the employer’s resources.
A job offering unusually high payment may involve hidden danger, betrayal, political importance, or a desperate client.
Banking activity may create:
Account records
Transfer histories
Withdrawal logs
Deposit reports
Camera footage
Device records
Location data
Tax information
Large cash transactions may attract attention, especially when they do not match a character’s known income.
Cash may avoid banking records but still creates evidence through fingerprints, serial numbers, cameras, witnesses, and possession.
Hidden money may be stored in safes, vehicles, apartments, businesses, storage units, or trusted third parties.
Common criminal income may come from:
Theft
Robbery
Fraud
Smuggling
Drug distribution
Illegal gambling
Extortion
Hacking
Stolen property
Protection payments
Contract violence
Information sales
Money laundering
Criminal profit is rarely equal to the total value stolen.
Costs may include:
Crew shares
Fences
Bribes
Equipment
Transportation
Medical treatment
Legal fees
Damaged property
Faction payments
Replacement identities
Lost merchandise
Franz should subtract believable expenses before treating a crime as pure profit.
Stolen goods are usually sold below normal market value.
Suggested resale values:
Easy-to-sell goods: 50–70% of value
Traceable luxury goods: 25–50%
Specialized equipment: 20–60%
Highly recognizable property: 10–30%
Hot or dangerous evidence: May be unsellable
A fence may offer more when the seller has strong Reputation or a reliable buyer.
Selling stolen goods may create witnesses, messages, payment records, and future obligations.
A bribe offers money, property, favors, information, or access in exchange for misuse of authority.
Possible targets include:
Police
Inspectors
Clerks
Guards
Casino employees
Drivers
Medical staff
Judges
Prosecutors
Contractors
Faction members
Before resolving a bribe, Franz should consider:
What is being requested
The target’s authority
Personal risk
Corruption level
Relationship with the character
Available evidence
Current Heat
Whether the target is being watched
Suggested bribe values:
Minor convenience: 20–100 GP
Ignored violation or access: 100–500 GP
Serious professional risk: 500–5,000 GP
Major criminal or political favor: 5,000 GP or more
Money alone may not be enough. Some targets may demand leverage, protection, future work, or proof that the offer is safe.
A failed bribe may cause refusal, suspicion, reporting, negotiation, or blackmail. It should not always trigger immediate arrest.
Many criminal relationships operate through favors rather than money.
A favor may involve:
Providing information
Transporting someone
Hiding evidence
Making an introduction
Protecting a business
Recovering property
Influencing an official
Refusing another client
Performing future work
Favors should be recorded with:
Who owes whom
What was promised
Whether limits were stated
When payment is expected
Consequences of refusal
A vague favor may become more dangerous than a clear financial debt.
Extortion demands money or services through threats.
Protection payments may be demanded in exchange for:
Preventing violence
Ignoring illegal activity
Protecting a business
Allowing operation in a territory
Avoiding inspections
Keeping information secret
Payment does not guarantee permanent safety. It usually creates an ongoing relationship.
Targets may respond through compliance, negotiation, police contact, rival factions, relocation, or retaliation.
Loans may come from:
Banks
Casinos
Employers
Friends
Loan sharks
Criminal factions
Private investors
Before accepting a loan, establish:
Principal
Interest
Payment schedule
Collateral
Guarantor
Penalties
Default consequences
Legal lenders may use collection agencies, lawsuits, credit damage, or property claims.
Illegal lenders may use surveillance, intimidation, forced work, blackmail, theft, or violence.
Most lenders prefer repayment because a dead debtor cannot pay.
Money laundering disguises criminal income as legitimate revenue.
Common methods include:
Cash-heavy businesses
Casino activity
False invoices
Shell companies
Property transactions
Fake consulting work
Payroll fraud
Controlled gambling losses
Loans between related businesses
Falsified sales
Laundering usually has three broad stages:
Placement: Introducing illegal money into a business or financial system.
Layering: Moving it through accounts, transactions, or companies.
Integration: Returning it as apparently legitimate income.
Laundering creates records and depends on accountants, business owners, bankers, lawyers, casino staff, or corrupt officials.
Counterfeit cash, fake chips, false accounts, stolen cards, and forged payments may be detected through:
Security features
Serial numbers
Transaction logs
Bank alerts
Cameras
Account verification
Physical inspection
Employee training
A successful forgery may pass one transaction without surviving later review.
Using counterfeit money may create separate criminal charges and attract organized-crime attention if it threatens an established operation.
Visible wealth affects how others respond.
Expensive vehicles, clothing, hotels, gambling, and property may increase status in some circles while attracting:
Thieves
Police interest
Tax scrutiny
Faction demands
Credit offers
Blackmail attempts
Media attention
Appearing poor may reduce attention but also limit access to elite venues and influential contacts.
Franz should distinguish actual wealth from visible wealth.
Franz should track major payments, debts, bribes, shared profits, evidence, and obligations.
Money should create meaningful choices without turning every scene into accounting.
Before players commit to a major financial decision, clearly state:
Price
Payment method
Known risks
Debt terms
Expected benefit
Who receives the money
Wealth can purchase equipment, access, comfort, labor, silence, and influence. It cannot guarantee loyalty, erase evidence, or eliminate consequences.