I was wondering how other GMs handle shopping in their game. Do you let your players roll if they're looking for a specific item, to see if the shop sells it? Do you roll yourself to see if the item is available? What kind of skill do you use for this?

And what if, instead of asking the shop keeper if they sell something, they just have a look around to see if they can find anything useful. As a GM, do you ask what it is the player is looking for, and then let them roll a perception check?

The reason I ask is because I plan to add a pawn shop to The Wheel (used as the setting for the Sabacc modular encounter from Suns of Fortune), and my players might decide to have a look around to see if they can buy anything.

I'm also curious to see if anyone uses a system to determine the quality of an item. Let's say one of your players wants to buy a new Blaster, but the shop is out of new ones. Maybe they have a used one available, but it's not in the best condition. Maybe the trigger has a tendency to jam. So the price for the used blaster might be lower than for a new one, but it comes with a setback die. That sort of stuff. Do you roll for things like that?

Anyone have some experience in this area?

I would also be very interested in getting some input on this as it's something I'd like to include more in my game as well. Especially "used" gear.

Typically I decide in advance what's on the shelf. If what they players want isn't there, they need to roll streetwise.

If the Pawn Shop is supposed to be one of the junk store variety where you really need to look to find anything, then they'll a Perception check. Difficulty would start at something like Average, increasing in difficulty the more specific the search parameters. (So searching for any weapons at all would be Average, but searching for a modded E-11s would be formidable, and restricted weapons would probably be upgraded on top of that)

Things like item quality would be based on the roll results. Advantage could increase it, Threat could decrease it, Triumph means it's Superior or a really hard to find item, Despair means its inaccurate, inferior, dangerous, or all three, or it's restricted and Wheel security finds out...

I was wondering how other GMs handle shopping in their game. Do you let your players roll if they're looking for a specific item, to see if the shop sells it? Do you roll yourself to see if the item is available? What kind of skill do you use for this?

There are rules in the CRB that cover item availability, but I'm sure you'll find that a lot of GMs fudge these rules depending on the circumstances. Technically, any item found in the CRB and supplements could be found anywhere. It is a Negotiation check based on the item's rarity and where you are trying to buy it (either on a Core World, Outer Rim etc.). However, using these rules doesn't make sense for very common items, like stimpacks, or extremely rare items like lightsabers.

What I usually do (and this is recommended in Long Arm of the Hutt) is have a certain max value for a particular area, say 1200 credits. Anything more expensive than that has to be rolled for, to see if it's even available for purchase. If it is I have my own house rule where I'll have the PC then roll either a d4, d6 or d8 to see how many of the said item are available. On top of this, I'll make certain items only attainable under special circumstances, such as lightsabers (not available in my world by rolling) or anything that is restricted (has an "R" next to it in the item tables).

I'm also curious to see if anyone uses a system to determine the quality of an item. Let's say one of your players wants to buy a new Blaster, but the shop is out of new ones. Maybe they have a used one available, but it's not in the best condition. Maybe the trigger has a tendency to jam. So the price for the used blaster might be lower than for a new one, but it comes with a setback die. That sort of stuff. Do you roll for things like that?

Anyone have some experience in this area?

I know item quality is covered in the CRB, but I haven't messed with this too much, especially when the items are being purchased. Maybe you could make items that are purchased further away from Core Words more used, as the area is less civilized. I'd be interested in ideas for this as well.

One of the things I've started doing is making up a "loot table". I'll basically take some base weapons and customize them with attachments and mods - rolling on the mods to get more random perks. So when they're looking for a weapon they won't find a "Heavy Blaster Pistol" they'll find a "snub-nosed alley special", or instead of a blaster rifle, they'll find an illegal assault rifle with grenade launcher attached.

It just gets them to try things other than their normal go-to weapon setups.

I tend to choose the loot based on the planet they're on and how rare the item is. On a Rim world, blasters are a dime a dozen, but in the more civilized Core they're probably harder to come by. Furthermore, if they're in a specialty shop and looking for something within that specialty, I tend to bring the rarity down a peg or two if they want to roll to find it.

My personal philosophy is that if I allow them to roll, then there's a chance they'll find what they're looking for. After all, if they make the super difficult check to locate a rare starship component that I'd rather they didn't have, then I shouldn't have let them roll in the first place. But there's no guarantee the part will work as advertised, which gives me a hook for some drama later.

Some interesting comments here. I've been going over the CRB, and I think I might have found something that could work, just as Ghostofman suggested, namely the Inferior and Superior item qualities. I can't find anything in the CRB that refers to this, or how advantages/triumphs/threats/despairs come into play during shopping checks. I've been thinking of going this route:

• Success, 1 advantage: 10% cheaper
• Success, 2 advantage: either 25% cheaper or 25% more expensive but has the Superior quality
• Success, 3 advantage: either 50% cheaper or has the Superior quality
• Success, 1 Triumph: 25% cheaper and has the Superior quality
• Success, 2 Triumph: 50% cheaper and has the superior quality

• Success, 1 threat: 10% more expensive
• Success, 2 threat: either 25% more expensive or 25% cheaper but has the Inferior quality
• Success, 3 threat: either 50% more expensive or has the Inferior quality
• Success, 1 Despair: 25% more expensive and has the Inferior quality
• Success, 2 Despair: 50% more expensive and has the Inferior quality

The main issue I have here, is for gear that already had the Inferior/Superior quality, but I suppose I could just drop that quality in the list above. Failure during checks means that the item is currently not available (but advantages/triumphs might indicate it's simply in backorder, and might take some time to restock... so placing a pre-order is possible. Advantages reduce the time it takes to have the item back for sale, and a Triumph means its expected to arrive this week). Or something of that nature.

So what do you guys think, does this list seem 'fair'? Or should I replace the Superior/Inferior qualities with Accurate/Inaccurate (or let my players decide whether they want Superior or Accurate?)

One of the things I've started doing is making up a "loot table". I'll basically take some base weapons and customize them with attachments and mods - rolling on the mods to get more random perks. So when they're looking for a weapon they won't find a "Heavy Blaster Pistol" they'll find a "snub-nosed alley special", or instead of a blaster rifle, they'll find an illegal assault rifle with grenade launcher attached.

It just gets them to try things other than their normal go-to weapon setups.

Oh, I do like the idea of possibly having used items come with mods attached to them, just to show that someone else has already used that item. Nice one!

No, bad monkey, no banana!

Seriously though you've got two problems.

Number one, "shopping" is covered on pages 149 and 150. Its a negotiation check with difficulty being the items rarity modified by circumstances.

Number two, you don't need a chart, and I would discourage its use (it'll be tough, but better to learn tough today, then struggle with a crutch later). The reason why is because everything won't fit onto a table, and tables take power from the player.

Don't use the chart and you won't be tempted to try and use it when it might not apply. Make the call, have confidance , youre the gm, be the gm.

Next you need to let the players have a say when they can. You tell the plot, the players turn it into a story. So if they roll some advantage, rather then applying a solution, ask "what do you want to do with that?" If they want to be at the GMs mercy that's ok, but encourage them to do something of their own first.

Now if you're having trouble with low advantage or threat, and applying accurate vs superior (or the other way) I'd say successful triumph/despair will give you superior/inferior. For innacurate/accurate... High threat/advatange could cover that, but for low results why not make it temporary?

"Ok, this blaster is serviceable, but the sights are damaged and its hard to aim. A little work can probably fix it though.

"Ok, this blaster has a nifty little aftermarket sight mounted on it, so its accurate, but the sight is just a cheap hobby sight, so any kind of rough handling or harsh environmental effects will probably break it."

No, bad monkey, no banana!

Aww, but I want my banana!

You've got an interesting point with letting the players decide how to spend their advantages/triumphs. I'll give that a go, see how it goes. Thanks for the tip.

I have read the shopping rules in the CRB, but it only mentions using Negotiate to see if an item is available, and reducing the cost by 5% for each extra uncancelled success.

The reason I made a chart was basically because I've been watching Dark Heresy sessions on Youtube, and the GM seems to consult a chart to determine in what kind of shape an item is in during shopping. (For example: a player wanted to buy some armor, and the roll determined that there was a high quality armor in between all the other armors in the shop. Or a player wanted to buy a gun, and the roll determined that all the 'good ones' had already been sold, and that only a pistol of lesser quality remained.) I really like that, as it brought the shop more to life, and I wanted to try to do something similar for EotE (as there is no mention of this at all in the CRB). As it is, I find the shopping rules as explained in the CRB very bareboned. I thought that giving the players some choices (cheaper vs Superior, for example) would be a nice dilemma for the players during gameplay.

You do give some nice options for handling advantage/threat, but I'm not sure if I could come up with things like that on the spot. Maybe that experience plays a part in this, as I'm a rather new GM. I guess I could try winging it when it comes up when my players decide to go shop, and see what happens?

We only allow buying between adventures. Shopping slows our game down.

You can buy anything from the rulebooks unless they are restricted or rarity 8 or higher. Then we refer to the rulebook for how to find those things.