First of all, yes I do know that I haven´t spelled the quote right, so there is no need to point that out, thank you very much in advance.

So as the title says, how are the rest of you running the great shopping spree known as down time. The book have amazing guidelines to almost anything, but not at setting prices for when the acolytes want to offload all their loot and old gear. So what are the rest of you doing? Or rather, what rates and rules do the rest of you use to make this both fair and easy?

I am personally planning to find a certain rate for used stuff, and then add or subtract a little bit for the rarity of certain items, their single bolter will after all be worth more than their shock mauls. Beside that am I planning to find an egg timer and then give them an hour or so to buy and sell their stuff in, telling them that down time is over and that the inquisition are calling them home when the timer is up, for knowing my players could we be going at it for sessions on end buying, selling and what not -__-"

I use "standard" video-game logic on selling, with a few minor changes. If the Acolytes buy some gear and then return it before it has been used, then they can get full price for it. Otherwise (assuming it's a piece of gear that'd even be accepted-- they're not gonna be selling that Heretic's autogun very easily), I just assume half the original cost, myself.

During downtime: Make me a list with what you want to sell and what you want to buy and I tell you next week what happened, whether you made some money, how much and whether you have attracted unwanted attention (selling that Legion-Bolter is not going to be easy, y'know? Far from, actually).

During Play: Find a shop, see what they have. If you want a special weapon, you can certainly search for it, assuming your character knows it exists. And not every shop has everything etc etc. Sounds quite arbitrary at this point, but for us it works, as long as I am reasonable with what is available and what not.

I like your style Darkforce, but there is just one little detail that keeps me away from doing that, we are playing Church of the Damned, and this is more or less our only break as such to buy proper gear for a long long while :/

Had this been a free hand plot had I stolen what you said, getting a list from them, then do some math in the background while they get some R&R and hunt down women to have fun with and what not. Hmm... maybe will I take some elements from this and mix with my own ideas... time will tell

No downtime shopping. Use Inquiry to hopefully find some merchents or shady characters. Don't want to risk it? Buy some contacts with your experience. Bartering is done as part of the gameplay and eats away at time - bad for time sensitive scenarios.

Only Inquisitorial Petitions between games.

I like your style Darkforce, but there is just one little detail that keeps me away from doing that, we are playing Church of the Damned, and this is more or less our only break as such to buy proper gear for a long long while :/

Had this been a free hand plot had I stolen what you said, getting a list from them, then do some math in the background while they get some R&R and hunt down women to have fun with and what not. Hmm... maybe will I take some elements from this and mix with my own ideas... time will tell

Now you got me curious, are you going to expand on the War which is then breaking out? As I am integrating the Apostasy Gambit into a larger campaign, I will also expand on said war of faith, with the players getting to play different characters (Basically it will use every system from FFG up to now) to see the whole picture of the war, which, in fact, does not have much to do with Haarlock's Plot but more serves as an awesome background-metaplot robbing the players and the Calixis-Sector of even more precious resources (Did I also mention the Necrons also start becoming more active at this time in the Jericho Reach? Poor, Poor Calixis )

No downtime shopping. Use Inquiry to hopefully find some merchents or shady characters. Don't want to risk it? Buy some contacts with your experience. Bartering is done as part of the gameplay and eats away at time - bad for time sensitive scenarios.

Only Inquisitorial Petitions between games.

Hmm... I don't know, this feels somewhat too restricting to me... I mean, it's not like they couldn't, between to missions, just go to a shop and buy some climbing gear, no?

Other then that though, that is probably the most "correct" way to handle it, since it's a far more responsive and flexible system.

Short answer is no. No I am only going to use the books and what there is in them, not adding anything as such to them, in the plot compartment that is. The long answer... well that would be a bit off topic, but lets say that a mix of me not really liking the next book in the gambit or the whole war idea when you are playing an acolyte and the amount of experience that I have as GM do I not really think that I would be able to add anything more to the plot as such.

As people properly have figured out by now by my many many questions am I a first time GM, so I have no ideas at this moment about what I will or won´t do when I have turned the last page in this book. Honestly am I only choosing this adventure because the group that I am GMing for lost its old GM and someone had to step in, and he started this one up, and you do simply not walk away from a plot when you have ridden a titan and thinks that the pope summons demons in his spare time!

But all of this is getting awfully off topic. And do excuse my grammar and wording, being sick, taking an all nighter and writing in a language there isn´t ones own are not the best cocktail.

I let them roll Inquiry to get potential buyers/sellers for goods. I do offer them the opportunity to turn those into contacts. Should they not make them contacts but come back to do business again i let them. Unless something happened that made that person/shop unavailable like death, destruction, buy-outs, bribes, arrests, threats, ...

Such legal stores deal usually strictly with legal goods, some buying and selling, others just selling. I try to give them something of a personal charme to keep my players invested.

Should the legal routes not turn up anything useful they may reroll or roll Knowledge Underworld for black market dealers. Again, some selling and some buying and selling. Usually connected to a Syndicate, House or gang.

I also allow my players to ORDER weapons and armour in the found stores/contacts. Depending on where they are and what they order prices will vary (standard prize for legal goods which increases by speed of delivery) or they will simply not be available. Black market deals are following their own dangerous 'rules'.

No downtime shopping. Use Inquiry to hopefully find some merchents or shady characters. Don't want to risk it? Buy some contacts with your experience. Bartering is done as part of the gameplay and eats away at time - bad for time sensitive scenarios.

Only Inquisitorial Petitions between games.

Hmm... I don't know, this feels somewhat too restricting to me... I mean, it's not like they couldn't, between to missions, just go to a shop and buy some climbing gear, no?

Other then that though, that is probably the most "correct" way to handle it, since it's a far more responsive and flexible system.

Depends on the local. If they are acolytes on a world they've never been to, probably not. At the start of a new session, a few inquiry rolls, and time deducations are tallied up - because it does eat away at the time for other activites (like trying to decipher a tome, or build a weapon).

If they are in the same location for awhile, probably yes. Going to a merchant you know exists is much easier than randomly trying to find mountaineering gear in a hive. Either way, I try to discourage the notion things that are not basic necesseties are easy to obtain during 'downtime'. And for the most part, it takes about ten minutes to do a few searches and purchasing for a group of 3-4 players.

downtime: go to the Tricorn Munitorium; they got clearance and the cash, they can buy it.

In game: go to the Tricorn Munitorium; they got clearance and fill in the proper paperwork, they can get an item loaned to them....Off world? Walk'n'shop, just don't expect plasma charges in a Feudal world...

Never a huge fan of doing much not ingame. I let them sell stuff, only if the characters would have the time to do so, but they will not get as much as they would normally, and get little access to deals. As for buying, I rarely go this, and only to common items. Anything that is uncommon or harder they have to do ingame.