Need economic advice...

By DigitalChicanery, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

My group works as gun runners for Jabba - Say they take a load of 50,000cr worth of goods, and manage to sell it all on the Black Market - What percentage of the take should they keep?

Is the 50k what they owe Jabba and they can take whatever they can sell over it? Should they get a cut of the 50k?

Presently, they're responsible for two of these 50k shipments, however one of the shipments has been destroyed by a rival gang. They're in deep to Jabba, so I'm not worried about them having too much expendable income.

(Naturally, typing this all out I'm coming up with answers myself, but I'd still love to get your input).

Sons of Anarchy will provide answers ^____^

What comes to mind for me is one of two things:

1. The runners are the middle - they purchase the shipment entirely from Jabba, and resell at a mark up to Black Market. Their profit is the mark up. Perhaps Jabba gave the first run on loan as a business startup

2. The runners are outright contracted by Jabba to courier - I'd say 10% commission on end result sales but then are they liable for the 50k shipment entirely? Did they have insurance? Did they read the fine print? Da da duuuuh.

I'm with Bubble.

If you go with option 1 then you can actually leverage the trading mechanics. The players can use talents like Street Smarts and Black Market Contacts to increase their odds of success and improve their profit margins, which will give them their spending money. Just figure out how much the boss expects them to make, and say they have to pay at least that amount at the end of the adventure.

If they don't have much by way of the skills and talents for 1, just give them a flat rate based upon performance and story points. If nothing else make sure they get enough to repair and replace any needed equipment and craft. Not getting paid, and getting net 0 after repairs is essentially the same, but one allows for the next adventure to start fresh.

Edited by Ghostofman

Funny you should mention it... may I present the Suns of Anchorhead. :)

Right now it's on loan and they need to come up with 100k to give to Jabba... They're in possession of 50k worth of merchandise...

(I should mention the cash is also a HUGE amount of the group's Obligation).

Edited by DigitalChicanery

...That is an awesome campaign game.

To respond productively,

Mei has the right idea, and what they need to do with it is also going to be different. (by the way, is that 50k wholesale, 50k MSRP or 50k Streetvalue?

If they're couriers, then Jabba (or another group) has men on the other side to receive the shipment. The PC's job starts with the pickup, and end with the delivery. Selling or finding markets isn't their issue. This was basicly what Han did for Jabba, and he was one of the best. (or so Jabba says - he probably tells all his smugglers that)

Keep in mind it would take a lot of time to sell 50K worth of guns on the black market unless you're selling them wholesale to a dealer. That's not the kind of thing you put in a trenchcoat and stand on a corner for.

Edited by Quicksilver

(Thanks! It's been fun to put together).

The plan was that they'll be selling them to other gangs (like in the show). I think I'm going to say it's 50k wholesale (to them anyway) - Whatever they can get over the top they can keep (won't be much, Jabba has his margins).

I made some concessions in the heat of the session that I shouldn't have (they had a buyer lined up for the first 50k that was lost in their warehouse being destroyed - Whoops... but then again, if they had 50k in the warehouse, why were they picking up another 50k at the top of the session? Made sense at the time... My error was not figuring out this crap beforehand).

So I'm going to rule that the shipment they lost and the shipment they have aren't the same items, and they can try to get their buyer to take what they've got... But he's not going to pay full price... They might break even on the 50k, so they'll still be in for 50k to Jabba.

Dealing with that will be a story all its own.

Another option is that the buyer could make the purchase with a trade. Something that they would have to find another buyer for to get their actual credits to pay back Jabba.

Example: The buyer trades the PC's 5 rare Pieces of artwork that were made on Alderaan that are at least worth $10k a piece.

Another option is that the buyer could make the purchase with a trade. Something that they would have to find another buyer for to get their actual credits to pay back Jabba.

Example: The buyer trades the PC's 5 rare Pieces of artwork that were made on Alderaan that are at least worth $10k a piece.

I'll definitely use that at some point, great idea... This deal with Jabba is a long-term gig, so they'll be running plenty of merchandise.

Goods & Services is also a good use for Advantage & disadvantage. Throw in something they need for advantage, get part of the payment as a good they'll need to sell for disadvantage.

I'd consider starting the negotiations at around 90% value and letting them try and talk it up. Making him a small time guy would give you the excuse to give him a more reasonable negotiate. Or give him blacks for being under pressure for some reason.

Also, if you want the negotiations to be tense, long and a major part of the story, consider running it as "Social Combat" where successes deal strain damage until it passes threshold and one side caves in.

My group works as gun runners for Jabba - Say they take a load of 50,000cr worth of goods, and manage to sell it all on the Black Market - What percentage of the take should they keep?

They should keep whatever percentage (or flat rate) Jabba decides they get to keep. Jabba seems to be the type of character who could change the deal at a later date.The deal could start with Jabba wanting his 50k worth (or whatever percentage he expects to make on the value) out of the deal. (If the players can't pay back that total, Jabba will have some not nice words and timelines to get his money before heads start rolling.) If the players pay him and still make a decent profit, Jabba could still come back to them later demanding a larger share. With the weight of his mob behind him he could demand a percentage of their take or reduce their take to a flat fee, whichever he decides at the time.

I can see Jabba saying, "Thank you for my 50k. However, I see that you made 10k on the deal. A job like that is worth 4k, tops. I demand my 6k or you'll be sleeping with the Sarlacc." Heck, Jabba could even say that months later to cause new issues on a deal that the group thought was already finished.

Question. Is the 50k value what Jabba expects to be paid, the street value, or the retail value? Was this the first time the group is dealing with Jabba? Are they nobodies or did they come well recommended? Are the guns illegal or stolen? What is the quality of the goods?

If this was the first time the group worked for Jabba, this is how I'd do it. If 50k is the minimum value Jabba expects, then I'd set up the terms to be the players get 10% of the value OVER 50k while Jabba gets 50k + the 90% over that value. These are Jabba's guns and the players are unknown to him, so he (in his mind) is taking all the risk and demands a huge percentage. Players do well on this and future jobs will reduce Jabba's take. The players may feel that they are not paid enough, but that's what they have to do to get in good with a gangster who'll give them more and better paying jobs in the future.

As for how much the players can sell the guns for, I'd figure out the retail value and cut that in half to figure out the black market price. (Assuming the guns are stolen, forgeries, or some sort of non-professional retail goods.) From there, I'd look at the buying/selling rules to figure out how the players should make their rolls and how much profit over the 50k they could get.

Great stuff - Thank you.

The group has been working for Jabba for awhile, though I don't know yet if Jabba himself is familiar with them - They've been going through Bib Fortuna (who one of the PCs saved at one time in his background).

It's ALL local to Tatooine, so I doubt Jabba cares to deal with them at this point (he will in the future).

If they are arms dealers.

Usually Jabba fronts them the guns.

They sell the goods.

They keep what ever they make over Jabba's costs for the merchandise.

Whats more likely to happen is they get screwed by customers or lose the Merchandise.

Then have to find a way to pay Jabba for his merchandise plus interest. (Because Jabba is such a nice guy)

If they are smugglers.

Jabba tells them to pick up cargo at point a and deliver it to point b.

Jabba pays them a flat rate.

The more smuggling they do the more Jabba pays them and the better runs they get.

*better in this case refers to dangerous and difficult with increases in payment to match.