Hi All,

I'm new to the Star Wars RPG world as a GM. Now I want to enstablish a good working trading system for my players.

I got a good setup so far for selling items, yet I was wondering how it goes for buying items (couldn't find a ref in the books).

On Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook, Page 150 or Age of Rebellion Core Rulebook, Page 165 is table 5.2 Rarity Modifier.
In this table it saids for Core Worlds it has a -2 modifier. What does this mean for buying? Does this mean a blaster which has a base price of 1000 credits now cost 800 credits or something totally different?

Thanks in advance for the help

Each item has a rarity number, specified in the Rarity Column of the equipment charts. By the rules whenever you are attempting to buy a non-restricted item, one without the ® symbol next to the rarity number, the player is supposed to make a Negotiation roll with a difficulty number specified by the Rarity by the chart that is also on or around pg 165.

The modifiers on table 5.2 apply to this Rarity number. So if the Player is looking at buying a blaster with Rarity 7 say, and they are on a core world, then they would subtract 2 from the 7 and roll against an effective rarity of 5. If the Rarity Modifier is positive, then it is more difficult to find on that planet.

Restricted items, those with the ®, use the same system, but instead of it being a Negotiation roll, it is a Streetwise roll.

That being said, at my table anything that is 'Commonplace' Stim-Packs, Comlinks, basic carrying gear, even simple survival gear (based on the planet not really going to find desert survival gear on an Ice ball) are all available without a roll. Also, if Something is modified to 3 or less I tend not to have the PC roll in the interest of time.

Finally, I also only allow 1 roll to find an item per session to avoid the whole "Roll until I finds it" scenario and PCs can only roll for their own gear or something that they are purchasing for an NPC quasi-controlled by their PC.

I always thought it's easier to find but costs the same.. with a '+' modifier the GM may ADD extra credits due to the 'harder to find' aspect....

Reading through all of the Core references plus supplemental information on trading can be quite confusing. Once you've digested it all, you end up with 3 possible rolls to find and buy something" 1) a "Find Market" roll involving Knowledge, 2) a "Find Item" roll involving Negotiation or Streetwise, and 3) a "Bargain" roll involving again Negotiation or Streetwise. However, it's never suggested you roll all three of these. Perhaps you already know where a market or shop is that could carry your item? Ok, skip #1. #2 might be hand waved by your Referee and only used for higher rarity or restricted items. Finally, you may not wish to bargain so you can skip #3 and go with the default pricing suggested in the books: pay full book price or sell at 1/4 book price. #2, iirc, may also influence the final price without having to make a bargain roll.

Fly Casual's rules may further confuse you until you realize those aren't for standard buying/selling, but smuggling runs.

I know there is some discussion on buying and selling in Core equipment chapters, but in my opinion some better details and examples should have been included. You have to read entries in separate locations then try to meld it into something cohesive if you are planning on using the RAW.

I've been working on a PDF involving trading that explains the steps I mentioned above while trying to use RAW (a few minor house rules), but it's not finished enough to be used in my campaign yet. I'm trying to shoe horn in speculative trading, smuggling, and the RAW trade rules into one cohesive system. Don't know if I will succeed but I will share when it's closer to finished.

Reading through all of the Core references plus supplemental information on trading can be quite confusing. Once you've digested it all, you end up with 3 possible rolls to find and buy something" 1) a "Find Market" roll involving Knowledge, 2) a "Find Item" roll involving Negotiation or Streetwise, and 3) a "Bargain" roll involving again Negotiation or Streetwise. However, it's never suggested you roll all three of these. Perhaps you already know where a market or shop is that could carry your item? Ok, skip #1. #2 might be hand waved by your Referee and only used for higher rarity or restricted items. Finally, you may not wish to bargain so you can skip #3 and go with the default pricing suggested in the books: pay full book price or sell at 1/4 book price. #2, iirc, may also influence the final price without having to make a bargain roll.

Also remember you have that whole Threat/Advantage thing.

So you can compress the check down into Success = you find it, Advantage = you talk the price down. Which is a good method for dealing with mundane shopping trips without it becoming a rollfest.

The whole Availability modifiers thing is pretty crappy in actual play. For one thing, the modifiers should only be applied to items that are crafted offworld or else you have odd situations like Gungan-made items being more common on Coruscant than on Naboo. Also, you need to account for individual worlds that depart drastically from the norm. Just about everything can be found on Nar Shaddaa, but you won't get that result if you apply the modifiers from the book.

The whole Availability modifiers thing is pretty crappy in actual play. For one thing, the modifiers should only be applied to items that are crafted offworld or else you have odd situations like Gungan-made items being more common on Coruscant than on Naboo. Also, you need to account for individual worlds that depart drastically from the norm. Just about everything can be found on Nar Shaddaa, but you won't get that result if you apply the modifiers from the book.

So the GM applies some common sense to the situation. That's pretty much a big part of his job description. That's the main advantage of having an actual person in charge of rules interpretations rather than a computer algorithm.

The whole Availability modifiers thing is pretty crappy in actual play. For one thing, the modifiers should only be applied to items that are crafted offworld or else you have odd situations like Gungan-made items being more common on Coruscant than on Naboo. Also, you need to account for individual worlds that depart drastically from the norm. Just about everything can be found on Nar Shaddaa, but you won't get that result if you apply the modifiers from the book.

So the GM applies some common sense to the situation. That's pretty much a big part of his job description. That's the main advantage of having an actual person in charge of rules interpretations rather than a computer algorithm.

The issue is that just about every world is another exception to the rule. So much so, that I find the rule to be seriously wanting.

The whole Availability modifiers thing is pretty crappy in actual play. For one thing, the modifiers should only be applied to items that are crafted offworld or else you have odd situations like Gungan-made items being more common on Coruscant than on Naboo. Also, you need to account for individual worlds that depart drastically from the norm. Just about everything can be found on Nar Shaddaa, but you won't get that result if you apply the modifiers from the book.

So the GM applies some common sense to the situation. That's pretty much a big part of his job description. That's the main advantage of having an actual person in charge of rules interpretations rather than a computer algorithm.

The issue is that just about every world is another exception to the rule. So much so, that I find the rule to be seriously wanting.

That is actually one the reasons that I argue for the table being a "pick one" thing. Either it is a outer rim worlds outside of all trade routes OR it is a trade hub. Pick one.

Outer rim or not should be of no concern for that, especially as travel along the major trade routes is incredible fast while travel outside of them can keep busy a lot longer while only traveling a few sectors.

Solves the locality issue immediately as well as Naboo is always the major trade lane for Gungan shields and as well the major world for gungan shields on top of that

But yeah, the whole system is rather rudimentary, it just two pages too and it simply is not the focus of the game.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I will keep the base price as the "Core world standard". I also saw in the EotE core rulebook on page 113, Negotiation skill states that every extra success in a roll would give the player a 5% profit.
Which I interpret as a PC deceases the price per extra success (1 to success, the others to decease the price). Now I just have to make a good example sheet

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I will keep the base price as the "Core world standard". I also saw in the EotE core rulebook on page 113, Negotiation skill states that every extra success in a roll would give the player a 5% profit.

Which I interpret as a PC deceases the price per extra success (1 to success, the others to decease the price). Now I just have to make a good example sheet

I think the 5% profit is for trading and selling bulk trade goods, not for buying player equipment. I'd be careful with that, from what I understand it can be broken if applied to equipment buying and selling (think someone worked out you could end up making a profit just by buying and selling the same item on the same planet if you went by RAW).

I think the 5% profit is for trading and selling bulk trade goods, not for buying player equipment. I'd be careful with that, from what I understand it can be broken if applied to equipment buying and selling (think someone worked out you could end up making a profit just by buying and selling the same item on the same planet if you went by RAW).

Except when selling, the standard price you should be able to sell for is 1/4 the “Suggested Retail Price” as printed in the books.

If you’ve got all the appropriate talents and skills to help you buy and sell as efficiently as possible in this game, you can probably turn a small profit on each thing you buy and sell, so that you could slowly amass a considerable amount of money.

But then there’s all the bribes you’d probably have to pay to the authorities to look the other way, and all the time you’d be spending doing nothing but buying and selling and not getting any XP or sleep or anything else.

So, unless all your players want to play “Shopping Wars” 24x7x365, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

If they do want to play “Shopping Wars”, then as GM you have to decide if you want to do that or if you want to get some different players.

I think the 5% profit is for trading and selling bulk trade goods, not for buying player equipment. I'd be careful with that, from what I understand it can be broken if applied to equipment buying and selling (think someone worked out you could end up making a profit just by buying and selling the same item on the same planet if you went by RAW).

Except when selling, the standard price you should be able to sell for is 1/4 the “Suggested Retail Price” as printed in the books.

If you’ve got all the appropriate talents and skills to help you buy and sell as efficiently as possible in this game, you can probably turn a small profit on each thing you buy and sell, so that you could slowly amass a considerable amount of money.

But then there’s all the bribes you’d probably have to pay to the authorities to look the other way, and all the time you’d be spending doing nothing but buying and selling and not getting any XP or sleep or anything else.

So, unless all your players want to play “Shopping Wars” 24x7x365, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

If they do want to play “Shopping Wars”, then as GM you have to decide if you want to do that or if you want to get some different players.

It's not that my players want to do Shopping Wars, its just having a base system on paper to related to when buying or selling.

Also, if someone would buy something with a discount and sells it for a bit of profit on the same planet, that shouldn't be a big issue in my opinion, If you are a dedicated negotiator and it's your job (for example a Trader, Entrepreneur or Quartermaster).

But like I said shopping wars is not on the agenda

The 1/4 base price as sale base price is important to avoid lootwhoring. If you allow every blaster to be sold starting at face value there will be a temptation to salvage everything that's not nailed down after every battle. If you don't have that problem, it's not a huge issue...

If the players want to run a merchant operation (which is totally viable, even if it's just a cover for the smuggling) then you're getting into the buying and trading portion of the rules. Catch to that is just to understand it's applying to trade goods and not personal gear. It's for that entire crate of blasters you bought with the intent to sell on the outer rim, not the one blaster you picked up and carried around for three adventures before replacing it.

After having a few sessions wherein around 2 hours is taken up by only 1-2/6 players rolling over and over to buy items, I simplified the process and removed the option to shop while playing, unless it's story-centric.

I sent them all the link to the site below so they can browse gear. If they have questions, they can text/call.

http://swrpg.viluppo.net/

Here's the way I've been running it (and it's worked out pretty well so far): Buying gear: each success represents each copy of item x the seller has and is willing to sell at this very moment. Advantage/Threat decrease/increase the cost of the item by 5% per. Triumphs turn the "random shopkeep" npc into a full NPC that is then introduced into the game and is a good contact of the player's. Failure means the player cannot buy the item for any cheaper than the base price; the shopkeep's prices are fixed. Despair means either the group throws a red flag and i'll send some goons after them, the deal has gone bad, or the npc becomes a recurring nuisance. You'll note that the Triumph/Despair options are pretty much straight from the EotE core rules on Negotiation/Streetwise checks.

Selling gear: Just as the book states. Selling price is 25% of the base price, going up with each success and capping out at 3 success/75% of the base price. Advantage/Threat work the same way as when buying, same goes for Triumph/Despair.

I do not require the players to make a Negotiation check to buy legal gear but they may do so if they want a better deal. The Legal goods shouldn't be so hard to obtain if they have a crap Negotiation skill but have tens of thousands. However, they must roll to sell gear. For Restricted gear, I absolutely make the player roll their Streetwise against the rarity. Illegal equipment should be difficult to acquire and sell.

I personally feel that the rarity variance system is meant for bulk trading, so I leave it for whenever my players decide to become merchants and I keep the rarity of personal buying/selling at the base value.

I allow one buy/sell roll for each item inbetween sessions, resetting after the next session. That way, if they do decide to roll, even if it's outside the session, it represents all the time they took on moon XYZ trying to find that scattergun but couldn't find one anyone was willing to part with for cheaper than the standard.

Failure means the player cannot buy the item for any cheaper than the base price; the shopkeep's prices are fixed.

I might do this for items that are Rarity 4 or below, but for more rare items, a Failure would mean that the item simply is not available from any of the sellers they were able to find. They could try again next session, or after something else major changes (like a lot of time passes), etc….

Alternatively, another PC could roll for those items, to see if maybe they can find contacts that the previous one couldn’t. But then that would mean they would be giving up their ability to find/buy something for themselves that session.

In our group, we tend to have the most capable PC doing the rolling, and they get an Assist or other boost from another party member. That represents the best we can do.

And starting with this next game, I think pretty much all our shopping is going to be done off-line, during the downtime between games. Since we play every other week (or so), that shouldn’t be a problem.

I made a doc based on the info given from the Core Rulebook about Selling/Buying and the Negotiation skill.

Which could be found here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/55zyp96dw0fbaww/Trading.pdf?dl=0

The Advantage and Threat Sheet which is referenced to in the doc comes from:

http://www.d20radio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=152&t=13920

I made a doc based on the info given from the Core Rulebook about Selling/Buying and the Negotiation skill.

Which could be found here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/55zyp96dw0fbaww/Trading.pdf?dl=0

The Advantage and Threat Sheet which is referenced to in the doc comes from:

http://www.d20radio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=152&t=13920

Obvious Error: Finding and buying, Failure=price increase.

While it's of course an option I suppose (maybe for an absolutely vital quest item?) I would assume that failure means... well... you fail. you don't find the item you're looking for.

Otherwise you may risk an issue like the players blowing a ton of cash on some thing they really really want, and not buying something they actually kinda need for the road ahead. Like dumping thier account to get a specific really nice blaster, when they really need a new star ship or something.

Not so Obvious possible Error: Finding and buying, Rarity increase/cost increase.

The rarity/cost increase table is for use when buying and selling trade goods, not individual gear.

So like "I want to sell this baster of mine that I've been using off and on for a few games now" you don't use it.

"I want to sell this case of blasters that I bought as a case of blasters to resell here" you use it.

Also this allows for some narrative easing of the game details. For example that "case of blasters" can just be that as far as the game is concerned. It doesn't matter the make, model, or exact count of the blasters, just that it's a 1mx1mx1m box, that's 8 Enc total and it contains 5,000 credits worth of blasters. It's less of an item and more a McGuffin. You can enhance it as the narrative calls of course, but up front it's just a box.

I made a doc based on the info given from the Core Rulebook about Selling/Buying and the Negotiation skill.

Which could be found here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/55zyp96dw0fbaww/Trading.pdf?dl=0

The Advantage and Threat Sheet which is referenced to in the doc comes from:

http://www.d20radio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=152&t=13920

Obvious Error: Finding and buying, Failure=price increase.

While it's of course an option I suppose (maybe for an absolutely vital quest item?) I would assume that failure means... well... you fail. you don't find the item you're looking for.

Otherwise you may risk an issue like the players blowing a ton of cash on some thing they really really want, and not buying something they actually kinda need for the road ahead. Like dumping thier account to get a specific really nice blaster, when they really need a new star ship or something.

Not so Obvious possible Error: Finding and buying, Rarity increase/cost increase.

The rarity/cost increase table is for use when buying and selling trade goods, not individual gear.

So like "I want to sell this baster of mine that I've been using off and on for a few games now" you don't use it.

"I want to sell this case of blasters that I bought as a case of blasters to resell here" you use it.

Also this allows for some narrative easing of the game details. For example that "case of blasters" can just be that as far as the game is concerned. It doesn't matter the make, model, or exact count of the blasters, just that it's a 1mx1mx1m box, that's 8 Enc total and it contains 5,000 credits worth of blasters. It's less of an item and more a McGuffin. You can enhance it as the narrative calls of course, but up front it's just a box.

The Failure = price increase was ment when doing the check for the negotiation of the price. Meaning I will have to add a extra description to it