Beyond things that are situationally illegal like weapons or untaxed goods, what else can we smuggle?

In canon are there icons from other persecuted religions or illegal substances like plutonium nyborg?

Are deathsticks illegal or just unhealthy?

What cant you smuggle? It's a very, very big galaxy, with moral and legal standards all over the map. Jedi artifacts will get you busted anywhere in the Empire, slaves are acceptable in some regions and not in others, and there are puritanical regions that forbid anything fun like chocolate or non-religious texts. Or the WRONG religious text could be more than just a fine - execution for anti religious heresy, or worse.

Even just shipping Porn alone can have all manner of legal hangups. Is she of legal age on Tatooine? Not so much on Alderaan - and boom, you're a smuggler.

anything may need to be smuggled. Look at what was being smuggled in to the colonies prior to the American Revolution. all raw materials and finished goods needed to be shipped to England and then back to the colonies.

So for example, if you ran a farm in NY ir Virginia and you needed a new iron plow blade, you had to wait for the iron from Pennsylvania to be shipped to England and made into the blade and shipped back. Samee goes for the cotton needed for the textile mills in Massachusetts.

If the planet is under blockade, regular food stuffs could be smuggled.

A rare, exotic fish. A wealthy collector wants one for collection, but the fish's native planet does not condone the export of it's species. Customs at the receiving planet wouldn't be to happy to see a non-native species come to their planet either. Don't forget you'll have to retrofit that cargo bay to hold some water!

While you're at it, you can smuggle some water to a(n) industrial/volcanic/whatever planet. The planet doesn't have much in the way of good, clean water. The water recyclers are old and crappy. The water they put out tastes horrible. Freighter loads of fresh, pure, clean water would fetch some serious credits.

Any kind of flora or fauna can be smuggled for a fun and interesting twist, instead of the same old smuggling run of guns or drugs

While you're at it, you can smuggle some water to a(n) industrial/volcanic/whatever planet. The planet doesn't have much in the way of good, clean water. The water recyclers are old and crappy. The water they put out tastes horrible. Freighter loads of fresh, pure, clean water would fetch some serious credits.

I believe one of the old, old Han Solo novels opened up with him smuggling water to a desert planet (where the local authorities used water rationing to keep control over the populace). If memory serves me, he got busted because one of the water tanks sprung a leak and left a big vapor trail behind the Falcon which the customs guys were able to easily spot.

Anything. Destination has high tariffs for clean water --> Smuggling water is more profitable than going thru official and correct channels.

Few ideas:

Drinking water (imports have a hefty tariff for water, because imperial governor owns planets all fresh water reservoirs. Or planet doesn't have it's own usable reservoirs, and empire wants to control people by controlling water).

Twilek dancers (slaves) (PCs are offered lucrative deal to smuggle a cargo (group of slaves) to backwater planet X skipping the local slaver's guild, which imposes 20% tax to all slave trade. This can also be a moral test to PCs. Will they smuggle slaves?)

Food for a planet which empire tries to force to submission by stopping their supply lines.

Air purification chemicals / system. Space station working at the edge of a remote system is running out of breathable air because empire is blocking all transports to there, because empire suspects station personnel is helping rebellion.

Light freighters. Planet needs freighters, but empire or hutts are restricting freighter selling, because they want to control the planetary logistics. PCs go in with a freighter, and out with a shuttle. Will bad guys notice it?

Point being, anything can be smuggled when it's availability is restricted on destination.

I'm partial to smuggling black market beagles, myself.

Try smuggling lightsaber hilts that have been packed with explosives. They do not function as a real lightsaber, but unless your adversary dumped a lot of resources in Knowledge (Lore), it's unlikely they could distinguish it from a REAL lightsaber. You may never really sell them, but rather gift them to a foreign enemy diplomat, or make them the first crate opened upon surprise inspections (just stay far enough away when it's Time to Go).

While you're at it, you can smuggle some water to a(n) industrial/volcanic/whatever planet. The planet doesn't have much in the way of good, clean water. The water recyclers are old and crappy. The water they put out tastes horrible. Freighter loads of fresh, pure, clean water would fetch some serious credits.

I believe one of the old, old Han Solo novels opened up with him smuggling water to a desert planet (where the locals used water rationing to keep control over the populace). If memory serves me, he got busted because one of the water tanks sprung a leak and left a big vapor trail behind the Falcon which the customs guys were able to easily spot.

Yeah, I think that's probably where I got it from.

Smuggling happens when the item people want is:

- illegal: this could be for reasons that are valid, in the name of social safety; or invalid to protect someone's supply or keep a population under control

- expensive: this could be for reasons of simple rarity, or it could be due to taxes or tariffs imposed by a government to limit public usage or again to protect supply

So as noted, anything is fair game. I've found it almost more fun to steer the players to something mundane that has lots of value elsewhere...there's something amusing about all the chaos and effort of shootouts and chases and competition over a container full of rhinestones that are precious to the shiny object loving crow-people of planet X...

Little twi'lek dolls with heads that wobble?

A person I knew years ago in real life smuggled bibles into China after University.

Edit - which is a smuggling proscribed knowledge, rather than things, can be interesting, comment.

Ancient archeological artifacts, either for a wealthy collector or a museum that can't or won't procure it legally.

Or smuggle the artifact *from* the illegal collector to a museum. Bonus xp if the adventure includes a chase on top of a hovertrain and escaping a caged nexu before it strikes.

Little twi'lek dolls with heads that wobble?

Small emperor/Vader/Tarkin wobbly head dolls to Coruscant? Which imperial officials feels are degrading.

I had a previous group that ran several large loads of salt to Arcona. They were getting those little green guys good and wasted on sodium chloride. They only got caught a couple times, but they had to fight their way out the second time and decided not to go back

For a highly moral smuggler, there's always the option of smuggling freed slaves as an "underground railroad" type.

Our group smuggled Tibrin bath salts ( not the same as real-world bath salts) to a world where the Empire used controlled access to the same to keep their Ishi Tib laborers under their thumb.

Alliance propaganda items (posters, tapes of speeches, etc.) are always in demand by Rebel-sympathizers.

Little twi'lek dolls with heads that wobble?

Small emperor/Vader/Tarkin wobbly head dolls to Coruscant? Which imperial officials feels are degrading.

You should see what they did to the guy who robbed a bank wearing a rubber Palpatine mask...

Any item in the books with an R next to the price is illegal so if you're just trying to find a thing to smuggle, pick any of those.

What I want to know is what we can snuggle. Even a teddy bear is going to stab your face with a spear or drop a log on you.

Any item in the books with an R next to the price is illegal so if you're just trying to find a thing to smuggle, pick any of those.

What I want to know is what we can snuggle. Even a teddy bear is going to stab your face with a spear or drop a log on you.

Little twi'lek dolls with heads that wobble?

And what exactly was our net profit on the famous wobbly-headed doll caper ?

Thing is...there's two kinds of smuggling: where there's an objection to the cargo , and where there's an objection to the location .

Of course, this leaves open the questions of who's objecting, why they're objecting, and whether it's the pick-up, drop-off, or both, in terms of location. Also, there's times where it's only the specific intersection of cargo and location that makes it smuggling...for example, a hold full of salt is a boring cargo, spare parts and droids to Cona is a standard run...a hold full of salt to Cona is big trouble (if you get caught), and honestly, the regulation is there for good reason.

Then of course there's economic/corporate interests...smuggling bootleg bacta off Thyferra, for example. Once you get offworld, you're home free, can sell nearly anywhere in the galaxy (as a legal carge), and it's highly profitable (because you didn't pay the inflated rates on the planet to obtain and transport it legally).

I could also see an interesting adventure in "enlightening" a world being kept in the dark by the Empire...perhaps the REpublic declared martial law on the world, using it as a base during the Clone Wars...with the Empire, the local Moff has totally cut off contact between that planet and the galaxy at large, keeping them under the illusion that the war is going badly, and forcing them into perpetual indentured servitude in factories to "support the war effort". Enter our intrepid heroes, smuggling in news from the outside galaxy, modern communications equipment (strictly off-limits to citizens), etc. which opens their eyes and starts planting the seeds of rebellion, leading to more necessary and more daring smuggling operations to deliver weapons, medical supplies, armor, droids, etc.

Finally, there's the option of an oppressive local government, imposing stricter regulations than even the Empire, and in more targeted ways. Perhaps the planet is ruled by a particularly religious sect that has declared certain things as "unclean", or perhaps a ruling collective that imposes some sort of program of forced uniformity, such that luxury items, different foods, etc. are all off-limits.

There's really no limit to the types of things that can be smuggled, there just needs to be a reason for someone in power to object to free, unregulated trade in a particular good or service.

Yeah, I keep reading this topic title as "What can we snuggle ?" and can't help but think you've got a weird campaign going.

Little twi'lek dolls with heads that wobble?

And what exactly was our net profit on the famous wobbly-headed [/size] doll caper[/size] ?[/size]

Hey, people *loved* those!

Any item in the books with an R next to the price is illegal so if you're just trying to find a thing to smuggle, pick any of those.

What I want to know is what we can snuggle. Even a teddy bear is going to stab your face with a spear or drop a log on you.

No it isn't. Restricted items are that, restricted. Some may be illegal other just require permits but are legal. Heck even lightsabers are still legal, and that's canon.

This game doesn't have a distinction between Restricted and Illegal items like Saga Edition, but rather the rules for Black Market sales come with the disclaimer: "Exactly what is illegal on each world is up to the Game Master or may be specified in that world's description." However, "Restricted" items in this game cannot be purchased on the open market, and must be purchased on the black market. Therefore the sale/purchase of them is, by definition, illegal. Of course, what that means in any given system is up to GM interpretation. Perhaps it's the illegal trading that you might be charged with, rather than possession (perhaps the authorities want to take down a whole ring, and you're just a piece of the larger puzzle). Or maybe the ownership of a certain item is considered illegal for whatever reason, and you could be facing confiscation of the weapon and jail time just for possession. Here, a bribe might go a long way, if handed off to the right official...

That said, items that have a hard "illegal" tag are usually called out as such in their individual descriptions, either as part of their "flavor text" or in the special rules section underneath their descriptions. Like disruptor weapons, underslung flamethrowers, and most spices.

Lightsabers are interesting in they aren't technically outlawed. At least, not to my knowledge. But it's most certain to get you noticed by the wrong sorts of people Maybe charged with seditious activity by an overzealous Imperial Intelligence agent (at best), or carted off to be reconditioned and turned into an agent of the Empire yourself (at worst). And they really can't be purchased anywhere legally, so buying them requires a Streetwise check and is considered illegal activity.

Keep in mind that X-wing Starfighters are not Restricted, but I bet that any transport with a hold full of them is going to attract a lot of attention if Imperials notice it. Double that attention if the transport is a (also not Restricted) Mon Calamari design...

I think that the Restricted rules are really poorly done in this game. The idea that a MC-80 is legal to own is hilariously stupid--it's like the most outrageous 2nd Amendment argument cranked up to 11,000!