Cargos

The following system has been designed to generate cargoes, freight, and passengers for starships in 2300 AD. All rolls are conducted on using D10’s.

The first step in determining what is available to the enterprising free trader is to determine what type of world the character is on. The following is a list of worlds in the 2300 AD universe. Each planet has been identified as one of the following types: Agricultural (Ag), Industrial(Ind), Mining(Min), High Population(Hp), Low Population(Lp), or Outpost(Op).

Once you have determined the world type, then the captain may roll for available passengers.

Passengers will pay approximately Lv100 per light year traveled on small vessels. Luxury vessels may charge up to Lv500 per light year, but most characters will not own or operate such vessels.

This table generates "quirks" for passengers. For each 10 passengers
seeking travel, roll a d10. On a 2 or 3, there will be a "quirk"- roll once on
the table below. On a 1, there will be 2 quirks.

All rolls are to be made in secret by the GM, who may substitute his own
choice for any die roll, and his own creation for any "quirk" listed.

Not all of these "quirks" offer any real problem to the running of the
ship, but a passenger ship's reputation affects how much it can charge,
and that reputation is built on how well the ship's staff responds to...
quirks.

Roll	Quirk
01	One passenger is carrying valuables, or secrets... another will try to steal them.
02-03	Passengers include one mischevious and very clever child. Trouble ensues.
04-05	Trouble in bunches- one passenger is a single or unaccompanied parent or gaurdian, and has a veritable swarm (4+) of children in tow!
06	Clearly a suspicious character, the shifty eyes, the way he or she watches everything around, and turns up in odd places at odd hours- but it's a red herring, this passenger is perfectly innocent.
07	Whoever's handling the cooking outdoes himself, or herself, or has otherwise done something dreadful. The chef, or head steward, or whoever bought those pre-packaged rations must make a task roll- upon success, he or she is congratulated by the passengers, improving the ship's reputation. Failure, of course, harms the reputation.
08	Passengers include an eccentric artist, who makes bizarre requests of the crew, accuses other passengers of disturbing his/her stream of concsiousness, and insists on using an important space as a studio during the voyage, to produce a work that "simply cannot wait"
09-11	One passenger is very elderly or otherwise infirm, and needs special assistance.
12	A passenger is a celebrity, (70%) or VIP (30%) travelling incognito.
13-14	A passenger is a celebrity, (70%) or VIP (30%) travelling openly, fully expecting to be catered to and being the center of attention.
15	One or more passengers has a rare disease which won't become evident for several days. If the passenger is thoroughly examined beforehand, this will probably be detected
16-17	A clumsy passenger trips, falls and is injured
18-19	One or more passengers is loud, fussy, demanding, and very wealthy.
20-21	A group of passengers celebrates their first trip with a party. Vasts amounts of legal (80%) and possibly illegal (20%) of mind altering chemicals are consumed.
22-23	A passenger vomits in an inconvenient place.
24	A passenger has lost something small and very valuable, and insists the whole ship be searched thoroughly.
25	A would be passenger has money for neither passage nor the cargo space he or she requests, but offers to split the profit to made on this valuable cargo with the crew, certain that it will bring in a bundle when sold at the end of the journey.
26	A journalist or writer either (50%) insists on documenting, filming, etc, all the goings on aboard, or otherwise does so secretly. For good or ill, the events of this voyage will greatly affect the ship's reputation.
27	Newlyweds are travelling on their honeymoon. They are like two perfect lovebirds- until they have a terrible, emotional argument over something and insist the captain settle it for them.
28	A passenger commits or attempts suicide (40%)or A passenger commits or attempts murder, setting it up to look like a suicide (30%)or a passenger dies of natural causes during the trip
29	Something exotic but innocuous thing brought aboard by a passenger provokes an allergic reaction in a character.
30	A passenger is a criminal travelling under an alias, (50%) or a inspector from a government agency or insurance company
31-32	A passenger's error results in a plumbing problem
33	A passenger or group of passengers requests a special diet to meet their religous or nutritional needs
34-35	Passengers belong to a religious sect that insists on some sort of ritual before each departure
36	One passenger neglects personal hygiene consistently, and others complain
37	A wealthy and condescending passenger makes frequent requests for favors, then tips crew members when the favors are done.
38-39	What do they say about birds of a feather? Roll again to determine a quirk, but now there are 2-10 people with the same quirk.
40	Beware the ides of March! Passenger begins making "psychic predictions", typically of impending doom. 50% likely to begin before the voyage, 50% likely to begin during the voyage.
41	The passenger is a legal activist, who will file a lawsuit after the voyage if he or she feels the crew has "violated the rights" of any passengers- or even low level crew members!
42	Thrilled to bits to be on a ship and fascinated with ships in general, this passenger follows crew members everywhere, asking lots of questions and being annoying.
43	Passenger steals a "souvenier" from the ship.
44-45	An alarm goes off- its a minor thing, or a glitch, but it causes absolute panic.
46	This self obsessed and endlessly talkative passenger will bore anyone unfortunate enough to be cornered into listening to his/her stories. But, survive the monotony long enough, and there's a few gems of knowledge there.
47	Passenger is a "regular" traveller who makes this trip frequently- repeat business is assured if he/she is well treated.
48-49	The passenger is a child, at first seemingly too young to be travelling alone, but proves intelligent and competent enough.
50	This passenger is extremely skittish, jittery, some would say paranoid, always assumes the worst, and will panic at any hint of trouble. He/She might even launch a lifeboat.
51	A first time passenger freaks out, even if there is no sign of any trouble, being affected by the confining conditions aboard ship. Once past that, this person is Okay.
52	Disappointed with the bland look of his/her quarters, this passenger decides to decorate.
53	Some people just have no knack for gadgetry- this passenger just can't seem to get anything aboard to work right- doors, fixtures, etc, and needs frequent help.
54-55	A medical problem- appendicitis, heart attack, impacted wisdom tooth or something else, occurs to a passenger during the trip.
56	The baggage of two passengers becomes intermingled and confused.
57	A mouse or other small pest is seen aboard ship
58	A passenger is an old friend/associate/relative of a crew member, and they haven't seen each other in years.
59	A verbose, self-impressed passenger, "was something of a starship engineer myself, once" has plenty of suggestions for how to improve things. Most are ridiculous, some are obvious but not within budget or have other clear impracticalities, and one or a few are actually valuable ideas.
60	This would be passenger has no money to pay the fare, but wants to "work passage" offering some service in trade.
61-62	This passenger is in similar straits to #45 above, but even more desperate, and doesn't think to offer any services; but does have a tear-jerking story. If work is demanded in trade, it is 50% likely that this poor individual has no useful abilities at all.
63-64	The identity claimed and the documents carried by this passenger are fake, but no ill intent or evil schemes are planned. This person just has private reasons for pretending to be someone else.
65	One of the passengers is an undercover law enforcement officer or spy- and it's 35% likely that they have a "professional interest" in one of the other passengers.
66	This passenger is a professional entertainer, not a superstar but reasonably competent and known. Even if not asked, he or she will become a center of attention and entertain the crew and passengers. 25% chance of this person being just Awful, and annoying more than entertaining.
67	Where did that come from? When all the passengers' baggage has been offloaded, there is one case left over- that didn't belong to anyone!
68	Each day, for 3-5 days straight, there is a puddle of water in the same place- floating drops of water in a ship with no gravity- and nary a clue as to how it got there.
69	This passenger is travelling with a pet- nothing rare or weird, but a beloved animal he or she treats as almost human and is never seperated from it.
70	One of the passengers is a teenage runaway getting as far from home as possible. He or she will pretend to be older than actual age.
71	A passenger is facing a special occassion- birthday, anniversary, retirement, expiration of statute of limitations, whatever. Another passenger asks the crew to do something "special"
72-74	One passenger aims to pass the entire trip in perpetual inebriation, being, more than anything else, a source of embarrassment and an irritant.
75	A passenger is a scientist, and realising he or she is on the verge of something really important, (probably only to the scientist and peers) begs for use of the ship's computer. If granted, the scientist will end up using so much of the computer's capability that it begins to interfere with other operations.
76	Lost and confused, this passenger wanders somewhere passengers shouldn't go, and touches something passengers shouldn't touch.
77	For no apparent reason, the smell of either the air or water is "off" and it annoys the passengers.
78	This passenger has an important issue to be resolved right away- but speaks no language anyone in the crew can translate.
79	This passenger belongs to an organization, foundation, company, etc, that sends a lot of people on such voyages, and he or she lets the crew know, of course.
80	Among the passengers is a retired, vacationing, on sabatical, or otherwise currently unemployed ship's engineer, or other such professional.
81	A passenger is travelling with a rare and exotic pet
82	This voyage makes an impression on this one- assuming the voyage went well, the head steward (or other individual having the most interaction with the passsengers) must make a task roll, and success means the passenger is overjoyed with the experience, and plans future voyages on the spot, and is even willing to pay premium prices. If the voyage was bad, there is the same task roll, but this time, success means that this otherwise irate passenger was mollified, and won't sue. If the roll is failed, any offer to refund at least 1/2 the ticket price has a 50% chance or preventing a lawsuit.
83	This passenger makes frequent trips to the ship's doctor, demanding treatment for minor, even non-existent conditions.
84	A highly narcissistic passenger is terrified that shipboard conditions detract from his or her appearance.
85	Inexplicably, this passenger has gotten onto the wrong ship- or, the ship isn't going where he or she thought it was.
86	Departure time is near, and one passenger, whose baggage is loaded and ticket paid for, is missing. This person has run into an unavoidable delay, and will show up
87	Someone wants to move an item of cargo so valuable that it is brought aboard almost as if it was a passenger itself, and 1-3 persons will escort it, seeing to its safety.
88	A dedicated, commission earning professional salesman has come aboard and sees passengers and crew as a captive audience.
89-90	This passenger's garb is one or more of the following: Outlandish, shocking, provocative, absurd, nonexistent, in relation to the cultural standards of the crew and/or other passengers.
91	Opportunity knocks. This particular passenger will be non-descript during a voyage, but if suitably impressed with the crew's competence, will make a very lucrative offer upon the journey's end.
92	An otherwise innocent passenger has been used as a "mule" by criminals- or perhaps secret agents- unknowingly smuggling something.
93	A diplomat is among the passengers. He or she proceeds to get thoroughly and blissfully intoxicated on board, then says something that really, really, shouldn't have been said.
94	A nefarious individual wants passage- and cargo space for something illegal. He/She is willing to pay extra to move the contraband.
95-96	A passenger has a VERY major beef with another passenger- there is a 25% chance of this getting violent if left to escalate.
97	While preparation is being made for departure, an extreme VIP wants to charter the ship for a different destination- and will use either carrots or sticks to get his or her way.
98	A potential passenger wants to charter ALL of a ship's passenger capability- but wants a discounted rate.
99	The obviously pregnant female passenger was CERTAIN the delivery date would be safely past the end of the voyage...but there's a 50% chance she was mistaken.
100	They let this one out of the asylum- roll THREE other "quirks"- and they all apply to this ONE passenger!

Now that you have determined how much cargo is available to a ship, the PC’s will need to know how much it will cost to purchase the cargo. The following tables will allow you to randomly generate cargo prices per ton, especially if it is not a preplanned cargo.

DMs: -1/2 of Trader Skill. Bargaining skill can be used as follows. Reducing Price of Cargo, Bargaining, Difficult, Instant. Success allows –1/2 of Bargaining skill. Any failure results in +1/2 of Bargaining skill. Maximum DM is –4.

What is in those crates? Often, it adds much needed flavor to the game if the GM can be fairly specific about what the cargo actually is. The next section covers how to generate the specifics of each lot of cargo or freight. Each world type has its own table with which to generate cargo details

This percentage is applied to the actual value of the cargo as determined in the first part of these guidelines plus any interface costs. Only one sale attempt may be made per week.