Enjoyable Speculative Trade

[Maladominus]

:smirk:

Word to the wise: never let a PC have Gambling-5; they'll soon figure out that they can walk into a casino with Cr100 in their pockets, and walk out several hours later with a six-figure bankroll -- even when backing off to Gambling-3 to avoid suspicion of cheating.

In my campaign... if that Gambler had won more than 5 games in a row with big stakes .... he would be dead in the next few minutes, having suffered from numerous GAUSS PISTOL gunshot wounds to his torso.

No one likes to lose money.

 

[kafka47]

Speculative Trade, as fun? Seriously folks, these are some of the things that I really hope that Mongoose cleans up. I voted for Merchant Prince & MT but there are many aspects of Traveller that a simple give away program on a CD ROM, like Wizards did with the Player's Handbook that should be part of the basic rules. Trade Rules, System Generation, Chargen are but a few. For me, Traveller fun involves playing not the endless bogging down of tables and charts.

 

[robject]

Speculative Trade, as fun? Seriously folks, these are some of the things that I really hope that Mongoose cleans up. I voted for Merchant Prince & MT but there are many aspects of Traveller that a simple give away program on a CD ROM, like Wizards did with the Player's Handbook that should be part of the basic rules. Trade Rules, System Generation, Chargen are but a few. For me, Traveller fun involves playing not the endless bogging down of tables and charts.

Please! Speculative trade can be as simple as combat. Oh wait, combat has endless bogging down of tables and charts (EBDOTAC)... hmm, maybe Traveller should have a program for combat, too.

So we'll have trade and combat programs, leaving chargen... no, wait, chargen is EBDOTAC. So, another program.

But we still have starship design... no, that's EBDOTAC.

System generation? EBDOTAC.

Animal encounters? EBDOTAC.


So, we have computer agents instead of human players, and let the game play itself on the computer.

 

[Smeelbo]

Speculative trading can be the seed for adventure

In my experience, speculative trading itself becomes the key that opens the door to adventure. Especially if you have a fast ship, or for whatever reason, relatively little cargo compared to the size and operating cost of the ship, you will need cargos with high margins per ton. This is not reliable using the tables given (that's why it's call speculative trading), so often you wind up having to invent your own cargos. Someone wants to move a few tons of unmarked cargo? Perhaps moving high tech machinery to a lower tech system? Maybe it's alien artifacts, or illicit pharmaceuticals, or even fissionables....

The most profitable cargos yield the most trouble. Hence adventure.

Use the cargo as a start, not as an end.

Smeelbo

 

[Maladominus]

.........so often you wind up having to invent your own cargos. Someone wants to move a few tons of unmarked cargo?

Funny that no one has yet mentioned the old JTAS articles on 'Special Cargo'. Because that's exactly what they are, special cargo, the kind that will not fit easily into some Table or Chart.

My favorite kinds of special cargoes were the ones that included "live cargo". ;0

 

[su_liam]

"Huh!?! It's a naked girl. How 'bout that.

 

[Thuban]

Book 7 + 101 Cargos = "Merchant Prince, now with flavor!"

 

[castiglione]

Their logic has now become: "Why the heck would we risk life and limb trying to be adventurous, or trying to save another lunar colony from am impending asteroid collision (like they did months ago).... doing that deadly stuff and the patrons only pay us several thousand credits each! But when we hit jackpot profits with trading, we can rake in close to half a million credits in profit... easily done when selling profitable radio-active ore, precious metals, high tech components, etc! We already figured out some pretty good trade routes!"

Well...if they become rich hauling cargo, my feeling is that "adventure" will come and find them, whether they want it to or not.

Havings lots of money tends to attract all sorts of unsavory characters...

 

[castiglione]

In my campaign... if that Gambler had won more than 5 games in a row with big stakes .... he would be dead in the next few minutes, having suffered from numerous GAUSS PISTOL gunshot wounds to his torso.

No one likes to lose money.

This reminds me of a real world story.

A blackjack card counter played at a casino in Eastern Europe. The limits at the casino were pretty low (as far as he was concerned) but for his local buddy, the money he was betting (and winning) constituted several months of a regular person's wages.

After his first session, some goons working for the casino informed him that his patronage was no longer welcome. He said it was pretty scary because it was then that he realized he was in a foreign country and out of his element and these goons could've been a lot less gentle in how they treated him.

I probably wouldn't have a PC who "abuses" a high gambling skill end up shot dead. But he could attract the attention of some unsavory individuals.

PC: Woohoo, I won ALL THIS MONEY!!!!

NPC: Hey, that's pretty good. Can I interest you in a business proposition?

PC: Sure. Who are you?

NPC: I'm the owner of the casino where you won that money.

PC: Errr...

NPC: Don't be alarmed. I simply wish to inform you that your business is no longer welcome at my establishment. However, there are other casinos in this city. Now, my proposition is this. I will provide you with a sum of money with which you can gamble at these other casinos, which happen to be run by competitors of mine. You can keep whatever you win over what I provide you minus a 75% commission.

PC: That's not a very good deal. And I don't need your money to bankroll my gambling; I have my own money.

NPC: I wasn't asking. I was TELLING.

 

[Merxiless]

I've always found Trade to be an interesting subplot to, or the reason for, an ongoing adventure.

I've done it both ways with CT rules, and Merchant Prince Rules.

Still working on my own tables, too.