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The Black Market

Overview -- The Black Market: A Gamemaster's Paradise

Ah, the black market. This is where the fun is. This is where the money can be made; this is where the traders can get themselves in a whole bunch of trouble. Every gamemaster dreams of getting his characters enmeshed in the black market. It's a place where you can offer them huge rewards in return for hideous risk, and watch their greed battle their common sense.

Guess which one wins more often?

Basically, the black market is an illegal economic system outside of the normal galactic economy. Almost anything -- weapons, drugs, food, contraband entertainment -- can be bought and sold there. The goods and services available through the black market range from the mildly illegal -- say, bootleg holos -- to the morally repulsive -- say, Twi'lek slave girls.

Virtually every planet in the galaxy has some kind of black market running. There are almost always people willing to buy goods which are unavailable through normal channels. On Imperial-dominated planets, the black market may be a highly-efficient system offering all of the goods described above, and more. On repressive or highly-religious planets, simple mind-altering substances such as alcohol or caffeine may be available only through the black market. On some planets, it may be illegal to trade in animal skins; there they would only be available through the black market.

Even planets in Rebellion against the Empire will probably have some kind of a black market, possibly selling pornographic holograms, booze, and even expensive clothing not carried in the Alliance commissary.

A good does not necessarily have to be illegal or restricted to be sold in the black market either, either. People buy and sell through the black market sometimes to avoid paying taxes or to avoid having to notify the authorities that one has purchased a certain good (avoiding blaster permits, for example).

Finding the Black Market

The first time the characters attempt to get in contact with the black market on a planet, it's a bit of a touchy proposition. It is illegal: there's no sign posted saying, "this way to the black market." The traders must make a contact. After they have done so, in later visits to the planet they'll know who to talk to and should have no further troubles, but the first contact can be difficult and risky.

Fortunately, the player characters are in a good position to get in contact with the black market. Elements of the black market can almost always be found in and around a spaceport: purchasing agents, shippers, and warehouse managers form an essential link in the underground economy, buying, selling, storing and transporting the contraband goods. In fact, the local Customs agents may be intimately involved, as well.

Most free traders have done some business with the black market at some point in their checkered careers. If a character merely asks politely at the local spacer's bar, he's likely to find someone with the right connections (for a small fee, of course).

If a trader wishes to get in contact with the local black market, his player should describe what he is doing: who he is talking to, how he is phrasing his questions, and so forth. If his tack is at all reasonable, let him make a streetwise roll as described on the "Black Market Contacts Table." Each roll represents about a day's worth of searching. Modify the roll according to how good the player plans his character's actions and how well he roleplays.

(Naturally, these are only guidelines, and should be used if the contact with the black market is not integral to your story line. If you need the traders to get in touch with the black market, then let them, no matter how poorly they roll. If you need them to fail to find the black market, they fail, no matter how well they roll.)

Failure on this roll can mean one of two things: either the trader was not able to find anyone at all, end of story, or he perhaps brought himself to the attention of the local or Imperial authorities.

If alerted, the authorities may simply give the trader a warning to keep his nose clean. In more extreme cases, they may search his ship, fine him, impound his ship and hold him for questioning, or boot him off-planet.

It's also entirely possible that an Imperial agent or local law enforcement official is the black market contact on the planet. A trader may find himself "taken in for questioning"; but when he's brought in before the officer, the only question he's asked is, "what are you looking for, bub and how much are you willing to pay?" This is risky, of course: the Imperial may be lying and hoping to get the trader to implicate himself further; on the other hand, he may be genuine.

As you can see, the entire thing is simply loaded with juicy roleplaying opportunities.

Black Market Contact Table

Black Market Settings

As mentioned above, the black market is rarely a building with "Black Market" written on it. Typically, it's a number of very loosely-linked merchants, shopkeepers, warehousemen, and other diverse beings in the business of buying, selling, storing, or transporting goods. A character would meet one of these beings under cover of doing legitimate business, describe his needs or what he has to sell, the black-marketeer names a price, and the actual transaction would take place somewhere else entirely.

It is unlikely that the black-marketeer will have many of the contraband goods right there at his normal place of business; he may, however, have samples or holos of the items he has for sale. If the characters are not known to the black-marketeer, he may require a deposit of 50 percent of the selling price before he arranges the drop-off of the merchandise.

If the characters are selling to the black market, on the other hand, the buyers may demand that one of them accompany his goons as hostage before the marketeer goes to pick up the goods: this ensures against double-crosses or last-minute changes of plan. Conversely, depending upon the value of the merchandise they are offering, the traders can also ask for hostages and up-front money; in these cases, opposed bargain rolls (or con rolls, if someone wishes to pull a fast one) are appropriate.

References are always useful when dealing with illegal enterprises. If the traders can get a mutually-trusted third party to vouch for them, another trader who has done business with the market on this planet, for instance, the local is much more likely to trust the traders.

Remember that what is contraband on one world may be legally bought and sold on every streetcorner on another and may not be available for any price on a third.

Legal (1, 2, 3, 4): Items which are legally available on the planet, but purchased through the black market -- because, for instance, the trader needs to buy the item at 2:00 AM on the alien equivalent of Christmas Eve, or he's buying it for some illegal purpose and wants to leave no trail. Legal items are also sold on the black market for fairly obvious reasons -- they're stolen, for instance.

F (Fee): A special fee or permit of some kind is required to purchase the item. This fee generally runs from five to 50 percent of the cost of the item, and averages around ten percent. Even if only a special fee is required, a record of the transaction is still often filed with the authorities so that they can keep track of who owns such items. Hunting weapons and most armor requires a fee and a permit on many Imperial-dominated worlds.

R (Restricted): Restricted items may not be sold or purchased without a local or Imperial license. In order to obtain such a license, the petitioner must usually undergo a background check and perhaps pay a high fee (100 percent of the item's cost or higher). The background check and any fees, of course, are avoided by using the black market.

X (Illegal): It is illegal to possess the item. Possession may violate local law, Imperial law, or both. Illegal goods are available only through the black market. Thermal detonators, stormtrooper armor, spice, anti-Imperial holos, and so forth, are all illegal (unless the possessor is cleared for such items, of course).

Buying Black Market Items

Once a contact has been located, the trader puts in a request for the goods he desires and the two sides agree upon a price.

Base Selling And Buying Price For Black Market Goods

*Modified according to the "normal" price of the item

Find the base offering price on the "Base Selling and Buying Price for Black Market Goods" chart. Once you have the base asking price, cross-reference the results on the Bargain table (see Speculative Trading section). This gives you the black-marketeer's final offer. (Note, of course, that special circumstances may cause the marketeer to lower his price further, at the GMs discretion -- e.g., if the trader is purchasing in bulk.)

Of course, the buyer is free to reject this price and try elsewhere (if he succeeds at a second streetwise roll, difficulty increased by +2). It's up to the GM whether or not there are other black-marketeers in the area, and whether or not they carry the item in question. And if they do so, their price may be even higher than the original offering.

Generally, the seller is responsible for transporting the goods to the agreed-upon drop-point -- since he will not usually want the buyer to know the location of his warehouse -- but this varies according to specific circumstances and GM whims.

As always, you are encouraged to customize black market prices to fit your campaign: if the traders have been engaged in a lot of gun-running to Mos Eisley, for example, the supply of guns on Tatooine would be high, and the price of guns might go down.

[In SWI, the Crime Branch GM recently ruled that the supply of all military weapons, hardware and ships had suddenly dropped to 10 percent of former availability] ?????

Other Prices

Glitterstim (Illegal): A single dose can cost up to 10,000 credits in some markets, and almost never drops below 6,000 per dose (even on Kessel itself). Mined on Kessel.

Andris: 1 credit per dose (10 grams) on Sevarcos (legal), up to 50 credits per dose on the black market. Mined on Sevarcos.

High-Quality Andris (Restricted): Up to 500 credits per dose. Mined on Sevarcos.

Carsunum (Illegal): 1,000 credits per dose on the black market. Mined on Sevarcos.

Ryll (Restricted): Bulk price is probably not available to free traders. A 100 kilogram crate of ryll sells for 5,000 to 10,000 credits on Ryloth, resellable for 10,000 to 25,000 credits. They don't actually sell it by the metric ton to people passing through the starports (Re: Platt's Starport Guide). Mined on Ryloth.

Not only is some spice illegal or restricted to possess, but dealing and transporting it involves other regulations and infractions not covered here.

Selling to the Black Market

After the characters have made a few black market purchases and have first-hand experience with the sometimes outrageous prices charged, they may want a cut of the action. There is indeed money to be made selling goods to the market, but it is not easily acquired. Captains who choose to sell to the black market tempt not only the laws and officials of the Empire, but they also involve themselves with some very dangerous elements.

Again, this is good roleplaying stuff: it gives the player characters the opportunity to make a lot of money, or get into a lot of trouble. Remember that they're dealing with criminals here -- typically not people rebelling against the system because they wish to fight tyranny, but folks who go outside of the system because they want to make a lot of money and don't care how they do it. There are honorable black-marketeers, but it's kind of hard to tell them from the dishonorable ones at first glance. In other words, the traders had better be real careful with these guys, or they may find themselves trying to swim with a pair of synthecrete overshoes on.

These are the basic rules for selling on the black market. The characters have to find a contact as above (streetwise rolls), arrange a meeting, display a sample of the goods, and then bargain for the price. Determine the base offering using the buying charts above and make opposed bargain rolls.

Typically, the seller is responsible for transporting the stolen goods to a location specified by the purchaser; he is also responsible for any bribes necessary to get the items off the spaceport. It is possible that the purchaser has better contacts at the spaceport and can transport it easier than the seller; if so, his offering price will be correspondingly lower, to cover his extra risks and expense.