Free Traders and Fringers in the Star Wars Universe

GM Note:  This process is in the beginning of a reevaluation and rebuilding phase.  All information presented below is subject to change without warning.

For character creation, use the SWC "create your own template" procedure.
Free Trader & Smuggler sample templates can be found here.
If you have questions or to submit a new character, E-mail the Branch GM.

As of October 2005, Free Traders & Smugglers will not start out with a ship or a debt.
These would have to be acquired after character creation during an adventure.

Note: Some references to Imperial or Empire in this article may be applicable to the New Republic government as well.

And who are they anyway, these so-called free traders and independent spacers? Rogues, scoundrels, and worse! The common slangtalk term "freighter bums" is more applicable, surely. Beware to the shipper who would entrust them with cargo; woe to the being who books passage with them!

At best, they are feckless ruffians whose unconscionable social values allow them to undercut the fee of established, reliable companies. More often, they're con artists, frauds, tariff-dodgers and, yes, even smugglers!

Is any rascal with a spacecraft to be entrusted with your livelihood? Overhead, administrative apparatus, and managerial proprieties -- these are the best guarantees of a dependable business arrangement!

(Excerpted from Public Service Message #122267-50, sponsored by the Corporate Sector Authority)

Tramp Freighters

Master of the limitless reaches of space ... answerable to no one ... hauling cargo for a tidy profit ... in your beloved ship, with your trusted comrades at your side ... free from all danger, from all "entanglements" -- Imperial or otherwise ...

Admittedly, it's not all fun and games. There are Imperial customs officials to outwit. And space pirates to battle. And don't forget the loansharks, corrupt portmasters, catastrophic mechanical failures in deep space, mynock infestations, and a thousand other things which make your life interesting.

And somehow you keep getting mixed up with that pesky Rebellion ...

But, if you've always yearned to travel the vast reaches of space, to be in charge of your own destiny, answerable to no one -- and, if you've got what it takes to survive -- it's the best, most exciting profession in the Star Wars galaxy!

Some reasons why a character would be useful in a Free Trader group:

1. You are a highly-trained ship mechanic and are able to repair nearly any sort of equipment.

2. You hail from one of the worlds in the area, and still have numerous family, friends and contacts there.

3. You own the ship, yet you also owe a loan shark nearly 20,000 credits. Unless you find a partner soon, you won't be able to continue your life among the stars. Chances are, if you don't pay this guy off soon, you won't be able to continue any life at all.

4. You have just gotten your inheritance, and can finance the first purchase of cargo, but you have absolutely no experience of life in space.

5. You are a criminal with a record, and have found it impossible to get any sort of Imperial work permit -- yet you just won this funky freighter in a bet. While living in the underworld of many planets you have established contacts for nearly any sort of criminal activity, including: fences, cosmetic surgeons, document forgers, and toughs.

6. You already have the necessary licenses and permits to be a freighter captain. You also have a great deal of expertise as a space pilot. Unfortunately, you've become a drunk and have no ambitions other than getting your fill of Regallian draught. These other guys need a pilot; you need to get off-planet before the local authorities throw you in the drunk tank, permanently, this time. You vow to stay sober (don't know if you can do it, though).

7. You have been the Rebel (New Republic) contact on this planet for the last ten years, but your cover has been broken, and you must run for it. You know of nearly every Rebel sympathizer in the sector, and know how to get in contact with the Rebellion outside of the sector. On many systems in the sector you have a contact. However, for now, you are on the run.

The Life of a Tramp

It can be tiring, troublesome, difficult, and hectic. But if your blood boils with the desire to be your own man in a time when government seeks to control you more than ever before, then the life of a tramp freighter is for you. It offers good and bad, but once you experience it, chances are you will never want to give it up.

You know the life will be tough. When you were younger, you used to talk with the crafty old tramps at the local bar. Usually, they were self-centered, cantankerous, and cheap. Their constant struggle for survival -- living from hand to mouth -- did that to them. But, sometimes a fellow would swagger in, brag up a storm about the deal he just swung or the trip he just made, and throw credits to the wind. Then all of the captains loosened up, enjoying his success as if it were their own.

The tramps too life as it came: they were tight when they had to be, free-spending when they could be. They were fierce rivals -- but, if one of them were in trouble, there is nothing the others would not do to help him. They looked after their own.

You know a little about buying and selling goods, about space travel, about hauling cargo, but you'll have to learn most of the ropes as you go. What goods should you buy? Where's the best place to sell? How much should you charge for hauling time-sensitive cargo? How much for danger pay? What are the best routes to frequent? Where are the pirates? Where are the Customs officials?

Even the guys that seem to have it down to a science can lose their shirts. It takes luck and a lot of intuition, you've heard other tramps say, to make enough money to keep the creditors happy. And you'll certainly have creditors to worry about.

Unless you're well-heeled (in which case, why are you going into this line of business to begin with, chum?), the only place you can get the money to buy a ship is through a loan shark. He will be happy to loan you the money. He also makes it perfectly clear that the penalty for non-payment will be painful, and, eventually, fatal.

You've heard talk of a Rebel Alliance fighting the Empire, but that's not your concern. Oh, you wish them luck: there are already too many regulations governing interstellar trade and you know the Empire has more tricks up their sleeve, so anything which preoccupies them is good news for you. Mostly though, you just hope the fighting stays out of your sector -- money gets tight when the lasers start shooting, and the trade lanes can dry up real quick-like. Unless you fancy weapons-running, with all the risks that entails, war is definitely bad for business.

But, no matter what happens, you'll survive. You and your kind always have. They can put in all the bulk freighters they like; they can add all the silly, demeaning regulations they want; they can let the pirates have free run of the space lanes. But they'll never stomp you out.

You've seen it all before. Your kind has been around as long as there has been space travel -- and you'll still be here long after this Empire has been dead and buried. You're part of a proud and lonely heritage: you're a tramp freighter, lord of the space lanes.