Hi all,

So, after 9 sessions play, the pcs are about to finally reach their ship, which is resting at high anchor above Spectoris in Calixis Sector, and so will want to begin getting their very low starting Profit Factor up asap.

To help with this I have begun to work on an idea where a Magos Genetor down at Enkaiden (the sea world of Spectoris's single underwater city) contacts them with a proposal to come down and meet with him re a matter of mutual profit. It transpires the Magos is in charge of an area of deep sea mines beneath Enkaiden itself containing an organic by product (lets say a marine weed of some kind) that can either be processed into an (illegal) narcotic or medicinal drugs.

The Magos has enemies in Enkaiden, (the Mechanicus head of the city, a crime syndicate known as the Scuttlers, and local agents of the Skaelen-Har Hegemony who dominate the trade lane between Spectoris and Tranch).

Now I'm thinking the trade route should run between Spectoris (where the wonderweed is harvested from the undersea caves) to Percipre (where a middle faction will process it into medicines) and then on to the hospital planet of Reshia.

So ... my problem? How to actually make an exciting adventure out of all this trade stuff.

I'm a very experienced GM, we have a good group of pcs, and a solid background for the dynasty, the ship, etc, however I am a little stumped as to translate potential problems (such as say the Skaelen-Har or the Scuttlers trying to muscle in on the pc's deal ) into actual play.

For example ... the pc's have one ship. They want to set this up as their first trade route. However they can't keep having to pop backwards and forwards themselves on a yearly basis making this long round trip - so they're going to have to buy at least one freighter of some kind to actually do the leg work (perhaps after the pc's have made the first run themselves?) on a regular basis.

I dunno ... but I feel the rulebook is little to no help on this kind of nitty-gritty point. How do you actually play out (or as a GM write) more trade oriented adventures? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

I generally assume that the characters' dynasty either already has a few transport ships that usually stay in the background, plying the trade routes that make up most of the profit factor, or have an alliance with a merchant cartel whom they rent acquired rights to.

Forging the latter would probably be the way to go for your campaign.

Cifer said:

Cool, good idea. I shall probably go with there being an existing deal between the pc's dynasty and a shipping cartel. Solves the problem of having to theoretically buy a new freighter or two every time a new trade route is established.

However, it doesn't really help on actually how to write a trade aligned adventure. ie What to actually do at the table come game night?

Or, are people really keeping trade minimal and outside of game time, and concentrating more on the exploring ruins, looting them and then flogging the loot aspect of the profession?

Adam France said:

Well, first, I have yet to run an RT game, but from what I've gathered from the book, it sounds first and foremost like you are constructing an Endeavor, in which case I don't think you should have an existing alliance with a trading cartel. After all, what you have there is a perfect prerequisite step for the trade rout endeavor: Contract a Trader to Conduct the Day to Day Affairs of the Weed Trade.

They now have to find a trading cartel (one in) and hire/convince them to take up such a rout and haul the weed down the path they chart. To make things interesting, make the trading cartel a bit hard to deal with; perhaps they don't like the RT's dynasty, maybe theirs some ancient bad blood or the noble PC's Vendetta is tied into that cartell. Then make sure their are alternatives. Perhaps they can deal with the juggernaut of the Skaelen-Har but, again, due to the bad blood between them and the Magos, there would be difficulties and some serious RP convincing their represenatives (in some strange and overly complex Rituals of Trade) of the profitable nature of the venture.

Either way, they'll have some choices each with it's own difficulties and potential for interesting role-play on how to go about getting some contracted haulers to make the regular trips and conduct the trade for them with the RT taking his cut of the profits (reflected in the initial increase in his profit factor for completing the endeavor of course). This step might even have to involve some dealings with the mad beaurocracy of the Administratum so the proper papers are drawn up allowing the trading cartel chosen to make the trade runs, which means some interesting role-play with surly paper shufflers and fulfilling any strange requests they might have.

Other steps that might need to be dealt with is dealing with or eliminating the criminal syndicate that posses a threat to the Magos and could hamper the trading lines (perhaps no contract with any chartist captains could be made until they are assured safety which means dealing with the syndicate). For characters gunning for a bit of action, such could probably be found in this step though it could also be solved trough clever politics with the ruling forces, or the right kind of payoffs to the syndicate effectivly hiring them out for a cut of the action. Who knows what the players will come up with, but the threat they pose must be defused.

Finally, they actually need to draft up the charts for the chartists captains to fallow to ply the trade line they are opening up. This might require an actual Administratum Adept to do (so it's proper and official) so they'll have one of those on their ship who will have odd demands that must be followed so he "can do my job" and insure the charters are drafted properly. Perhaps he annoys the living hell out of the Navigators due to his terrible and annoying people skills and his demands of them as well as his persumptions angers them to no end. The PC's will have to run damage control to insure the Navigators keep navigating and the Adept makes the right charts and doesn't screw it all up out of petty spite that only a small beaurocrat with only this little bit of power can muster.

Oh, and that's not even covering setting up a market on the destination world and insuring the shipments will be received by someone...

That's where the fun and adventure will be in a Trading Endeavor. Once all the hassles have been dealt with and the Profit from the Weed starts flowing, it's time for the PC's to move on and find the Next Big Thing. Actually moving the Weed from A to B and then repeating won't be that exciting or fun. It's only an adventure when things are going wrong after all. Of course, that means the PC's could return to the shipping line they set up when a Misfortune strikes and the profit stops flowing in (represented in a decrease in the PF) forcing them to have to return to the shipping line and fix what ever went wrong. The mundane day to day nature of Trading is for underlings and lesser individuals to handle -the PC's should have bigger fish to fry and bigger trading opportunities to hunt up on the horizon.

That's really useful stuff, thanks Graver, it gives me a lot of ideas.

Adam France said:

No problem. Glad I could help

Maybe the criminal gangs don't like the interferance and decide to kill off the PCs. Cue a big fight scene in a funky location (ambushed at the opera?). Once the PCs try to take some revenge and hurt the criminals in return, maybe the criminal cartel decide its not worth hassling the heavily armed rogue traders and come to a settlement, maybe a yearly bribe to the criminals keeps them off your players backs. Negotiating this could be fun tense drama.