The tables below serve two purposes. First, whenever the GM needs to whip up a quick cargo, he can simply roll on this chart—one roll for each ton of cargo capacity the ship has. The figure for "Value per Metric Ton" indicates how much each ton of cargo, or "lot," is worth. (Note that some cargoes can be shipped only in multiple metric tons’ worth of cargo capacity.) Alternately, the GM can roll three or four results, discard any he doesn’t like, and then decide what percentages of the ship’s total cargo space the rest of the results occupy, on an individual basis—and remember that not every ship is fully laden.

Second, these tables can be used to generate available commodities in the vicinity. For more information on playing the commodities market, see "Supply and Demand," below.

Astute readers may notice that the weights of certain individual items, when multiplied by the number of items in a one-ton lot, do not equal an even ton. These rules take into account the weight of carrying containers, packaging, and packing material, as well as assorted "cargo support" items (such as feed for live animals, generators for powered items, and so on).

A version of these rules originally appeared in "Chance Cube: Random Cargo Generator," by Michael Mikaelian and Bart Armstrong, in Star Wars Gamer #2.

* A "living host" can entail a number of possibilities depending on the nature of the cargo. If the cargo is large, the "host" might be actually wearing it, carrying it, or escorting it. If the cargo is smaller, the host might have it implanted in his or her body in some fashion. Use your imagination.

D% /Type of Contents /Value per Metric Ton
01–05 Nothing (container is empty) —
06–35 Foodstuffs 1,750 credits
36–38 Livestock/domesticated animals* 1,500 credits
39–42 Sundries 1,200 credits
43–44 Luxury goods 50,000 credits
45–48 Fuel 2,500 credits
49–58 Ore/Minerals see table (see Table 2–A: Ore & Minerals)
59–63 Medical supplies (see Table 2–B: Medical Supplies)
64–73 Electronics (see Table 2–C: Electronics)
74–82 Parts (see Table 2–D: Parts) s
83–85 Chemicals (see Table 2–E: Chemicals)
86–87 Wild creature (see Table 2–F: Creatures)
88–90 Droids (see Table 2–G: Droids)
91–93 Armor (see Table 2–H: Armor)
94–96 Weapons (see Table 2–I: Weapons)
97–98 Vehicle (see Table 2–J: Vehicles)
99 Starship (see Table 2–K: Starships)
00 Slaves (4)* 8,000 credits

* These will always be contained in a pen or cages of some kind, rather than the type of container generated on Table 1.

D20 /Type of Ore or Mineral /Value per Metric Ton
1–10 Industrial Ore/Gems 1,000 credits
11–16 Strategic Ore/Gems 5,000 credits
17–19 Semi-Precious Ore/Gems 10,000 credits
20 Precious Ore/Gems 25,000 credits

D20 /Type of Medical Supplies /Value per Metric Ton
1–8 Assorted supplies 10,000 credits
9–11 Medkits 20,000 credits
12–14 Pharmaceuticals 30,000 credits
15–16 Bacta (in 50-liter drums) 40,000 credits
17–19 Medpacs 80,000 credits
20 Bacta tanks (2) 200,000 credits

D% /Type of Electronics /Value per Metric Ton
01–15 Comlinks (5,000) 1,000,000 credits
16–27 Datapads (300) 300,000 credits
28–32 Credit chips (5,000) 500,000 credits
33–38 Datacards, blank (40,000) 50,000 credits
39–43 Datacards, w/one program (5,000) 1,500,000 credits
44–47 Electrobinoculars (800) 800,000 credits
48–52 Fusion lanterns (400) 10,000 credits
53–57 Glow rods (800) 8,000 credits
58–62 Holoprojectors, personal (5,000) 5,000,000 credits
63–67 Holorecorders (800) 2,400,000 credits
68–72 Macrobinoculars (1,000) 600,000 credits
73–92 Power packs/energy cells (5,000) 100,000 credits
93–97 Recording rods (800) 400,000 credits
98–00 Sensor packs (80) 120,000 credits

D20 /Type of Parts /Value per Metric Ton
1–8 Computer parts 1,000 credits
9–14 Droid parts 2,000 credits
15–18 Vehicle parts 3,000 credits
19–20 Starship parts 4,000 credits

D20 /Type of Chemical /Value per Metric Ton
1–10 Inert chemicals 1,000 credits
11–12 Flammable liquids 1,500 credits
13–14 Corrosive substances 1,600 credits
15–17 Lubricants 1,200 credits
18–19 Adhesives 1,100 credits
20 Controlled substances 25,000 credits

D20 /Type of Creature /Value per Metric Ton
1 Acklay (1) 12,000 credits
2–5 Bantha (requires 2 metric tons of storage) 2,000 credits (4,000 total)
6–8 Dewback (1) 1,500 credits
9 Gundark (1) 2,500 credits
10 Massifs (2) 1,800 credits
11 Nexu (1) 4,000 credits
12 Rancor (requires 4 metric tons of storage) 4,000 credits (16,000 total)
13–14 Reek (requires 2 metric tons of storage) 2,200 credits (4,400 total)
15 Tauntaun (1) 1,200 credits
16–20 GM’s choice varies

D20 /Type of Droid /Value per Metric Ton
1–10 Labor droids (4) 4,800 credits
11–12 Protocol droids (4) 12,000 credits
13–14 Power droids (2) 12,500 credits
15–16 Medical droids (3) 12,900 credits
17–19 Astromech droids (3) 13,500 credits
20 Battle droids (8) 14,400 credits

The Star Wars commodities market consists of a very simple principle: Buy goods where they are cheap, then sell them where they’re considered valuable. The difference between the two prices is all profit. This is a simplification, of course. There are other factors to consider, such as availability of commodities, how long it takes to get to the point of sale, and so on.

These factors break down into six concepts: Availability, Supply, Price, Demand, and Travel Time, with Operating Costs being a separate but associated issue.

Availability

Availability refers to how much of a given commodity is available for the buyer to purchase. When buying from other traders, the GM can decide just how much of the cargo capacity of the seller’s ship is taken up by lots of the commodity. The simplest way to do this is to roll a D20 and multiply the result by 5 to arrive at the percentage of the trader’s cargo capacity taken up by the commodity—and therefore, how many tons he has to sell.

D20 /Type of Armor /Value per Metric Ton
1–12 Light armor (80 suits) 80,000 credits
13–17 Medium armor (30 suits) 120,000 credits
18 Heavy armor (20 suits) 220,000 credits
19–20 Powered armor (10 suits) 100,000 credits

D20 /Type of Weapon /Value per Metric Ton
1–3 Knives (800) 20,000 credits
4–6 Combat gloves (800 pairs) 160,000 credits
7–8 Stun batons (400) 200,000 credits
9–10 Vibrodaggers (800) 160,000 credits
11 Vibroblades (400) 100,000 credits
12 Vibro-axes (300) 150,000 credits
13–15 Hold-out blasters (1,500) 450,000 credits
16–17 Blaster pistols (400) 200,000 credits
18 Blaster rifles (150) 150,000 credits
19 Heavy blasters (400) 300,000 credits
20 Stun grenades (1,500) 900,000 credits

D10 /Type of Vehicle /Value per Metric Ton
1–5 Landspeeder (requires 5 metric tons of storage) 2,100 credits (10,500 total)
6–8 Speeder bike (1) 6,000 credits
9 Air speeder/swoop (requires 4 metric tons of storage) 3,000 credits (12,000 total)
10 Cargo skiff (requires 4 metric tons of storage) 2,000 credits (8,000 total)

D6 /Type of Starship /Value per Metric Ton
1 Escape pod (requires 2 metric tons of storage) 10,00 credits (20,000 total)
2–5 Starfighter (requires 10 metric tons of storage) 10,000 credits (100,000 total)
6 Space transport (requires 100 metric tons of storage) 1,000 credits (100,000 total)

But when the buyer is dealing with communities, which may be as small as a farmhouse or as large as an entire planet, the GM needs to know how much merchandise is hand. Obviously, even if a small village on Ord Mantell has some livestock to sell (at 1,500 credits per ton of cargo capacity), they’re not going to have produced enough to provide the buyer with enough to fill the cargo hold of a YT-1300 freighter (which has 100 tons’ worth of cargo capacity).

Assume that every community has saleable commodities on hand equal to twice the community’s credit limit, as given on Table 12–17: Random Community Generator, in the core rulebook. Thus, the village in the example above would be able to sell the buyer 10,000 credits’ worth of livestock, or (at 1,500 credits per ton), six tons of livestock.

The type of commodity available in a particular community is up to the GM. But as a rule of thumb, the value per metric ton figure for any given commodity cannot exceed this "double the credit limit" figure. Thus, the example village could sell the buyer a ton of assorted medical supplies, 400 fusion lanterns, or even a ton of semiprecious ores or gems, but they’re not rich enough to have four protocol droids to sell. The GM can always rule that a community could sell a fractional lot (say, only three protocol droids), but this should not be the norm.

Supply

While availability determines how much of the commodity on hand, supply determines how precious it is to the seller. For example, if the village has only those six tons of livestock, and selling them means they’ll have none for their own use, they aren’t likely to want to sell all six tons—at least, not at the market price. If they can be convinced to sell, the village will ask a higher price than the standard 1,500 credits per metric ton.

Supply is a factor determined by the GM. If supply is low, the price goes up, and if supply is high, the price goes down. The GM can use the following table as a guideline, and a column is included in case the GM wishes to determine the supply randomly.

The adjusted base price is equal to the value per metric ton, plus or minus the supply modifier. (Note that you do not recalculate the availability after determining the adjusted base price.) For example, if the supply of livestock in the village were "low" (+10%), the adjusted base price would be 1,650 credits per metric ton of livestock.

D20 /Supply Value /Modifier
1 Critically low +30%
2–3 Very low +20%
4–6 Low +10%
7–10 Average —
11–14 Above average –5%
15–17 High –10%
18–19 Very high –15%
20 Surplus –20%

Price

Once the GM has determined the adjusted base price of the commodity, it’s time to set the final price. The buying and selling parties can make an opposed Diplomacy check to negotiate with one another, subtracting 5% of the adjusted base price for every 5 points by which the buyer’s Diplomacy check beats the seller’s. If the GM needs to quickly generate a Diplomacy skill modifier for a community, the following chart assumes that the highest-level diplomat in the community has a Charisma modifier of +2, and has the maximum possible ranks in Diplomacy (3 plus his level, adjusted by the community modifier).

Community Size /Negotiator’s Diplomacy Score
Thorp 1d4+2
Hamlet 1d4+3
Village 1d4+4
Small town 1d4+5
Large town 1d4+8
Small city 1d4+11
Large city 1d4+14
Metropolis 1d4+17
Megalopolis 1d4+20

If one of the parties is another trader (rather than the negotiator for a community), but the GM doesn’t have the trader’s statistics, the GM can randomly determine the crew quality to arrive at the trader’s Diplomacy score:

D20 /Crew Quality /Negotiator’s Diplomacy Score
1–3 Untrained –4
4–11 Normal +2
12–16 Skilled +4
17–19 Expert +8
20 Ace +12

After determining this number, modify it by the size of the negotiator’s ship. (Remember, this is the negotiator’s main operating ship—not necessarily the ship that the negotiator arrives in!)

Ship Size /Base Skill Modifier
Colossal +8
Gargantuan +6
Huge +5
Large +4
Medium +3
Small +2
Tiny +1
Diminutive/Fine +1

Travel Time

Once all the prices have been agreed upon, and the buyer has the merchandise safely stored, the next step is finding someone to sell it to. If a group of heroes have purchased some merchandise without a clear buyer in mind, they’ll have to shop around to find the best market they can get. The rules for determining demand, below, tell the heroes where they should take their cargo to get the best price. All the group needs to know at that point is how far away the buyer is.

The heroes could simply travel from place to place, checking prices as they go, in which case the GM can use Table 4: Commodity Demand to randomly determine just how much the heroes can expect to charge for their cargo.

But smart traders check out the market before they lift off by making a DC 15 Gather Information check. This use of Gather Information does not require the customary "passing out credits and buying drinks" cost, though it does take the same amount of time.

With a successful Gather Information check, the heroes can locate a buyer willing to pay the base cost of the commodity, about four days’ worth of hyperspace travel away (assuming a x1 hyperdrive multiplier). The heroes can adjust the price and distance in two ways. First, for every five points by which the heroes’ Gather Information check exceeded the DC, they can reduce the travel time by one day. Second, for every additional day the heroes are willing to add onto their travel time, they can increase the demand by one step (from "average" to "above average," for example).

By combining these factors, the heroes can decide just how far they are willing to travel to get a better price.

Example: Deel Surool has a cargo of droid parts, for which he paid the base price of 2,000 credits per ton. He rolls a 26 on his Gather Information check, which exceeds the DC of 15 by 10; he can find a buyer willing to pay the average price only two days’ travel away. The buyer is willing to pay Deel what Deel paid for the droid parts: 2,000 credits.

But Deel Surool wants to make a profit, so he decides to travel two days further on to find a buyer in a area where the demand is higher, and the buyer is willing to pay more. Each extra day bumps the demand up by one step, from "average" to "high", or +20% of the base price. Thus, by traveling for four days instead of two, Deel can get 2,400 credits per ton of droid parts—a profit of 40 credits per ton.

Demand

As with supply, the availability of the commodity affects the selling price. The difference is that the better the local supply, the less interested the locals are in buying. So, if the buyer bring six tons of livestock to a world that’s well provisioned with herd animals, the base price (1,500 credits per ton) is modified downward—obviously, not a great idea. Demand, like supply, is a factor determined by the GM. If demand is low, the price drops, and if demand is high, the price goes up. The GM can use the following table as a guideline, and a column is included in case the GM wishes to determine the demand randomly.

So, for example, if demand for livestock is "low" at the selling point, the buyer—now the seller—can expect to get only 1,350 credits per ton. They’re better off trying someplace else, where demand is "high" or "very high," and they can get 1,800 credits or even 1,950 credits per ton. (Remember, the supply at the point of origin dictated that they had to pay 1,650 credits per ton, so if demand at the selling point is only "above average," the seller makes no profit—unless he negotiated particularly well when he bought the merchandise in the first place.)

Once the GM has the adjusted base price, the sellers can begin negotiating with the buyers—exactly the same process described under Price, above. The difference is that, this time, the sellers want to beat the buyer’s Diplomacy check so that they can adjust the final price up, not down.

Communities generally prefer to trade commodities of their own, rather than credits, mainly because they have twice as much a credit limit in terms of commodities. (See Availability.) If the seller insists on payment in credits, though (or the community has no commodities to offer), remember that the maximum amount of credits that the community can spend to buy commodities is based on the size of the community.

Saturating the Market: Demand may drop in a community precisely because sellers are supplying the community with all it needs. The GM can determine whether or not the market has become saturated by rolling again on Table 4: Commodity Demand, for a community to which the seller has previously sold the same commodity, adding the community modifier from Table 12–19 in the core rulebook.

If the result is equal to or less than the community’s previous demand for the commodity, they still need more. If the result is higher, the market for that commodity has dried up in that location.

Heroes with a ship but no money to buy cargo can still make a living in the shipping business, transporting cargo for people who have money but not enough ships. The standard rate for shipping is 10 credits per ton per day, so a YT-1300, with 100 tons of cargo capacity, could net the heroes 1,000 credits a day, assuming a full load. (Note that the kind of cargo doesn’t enter into the equation, though the customer may be willing to pay more for a particularly valuable cargo, to encourage the heroes to protect it more carefully—or not to simply steal it themselves!) Payment for shipping is nearly always on delivery, further encouraging the ship’s crew not to dawdle.

Shipping is a much less complicated endeavor than buying and selling commodities. The important factors are Cargo Size, Travel Time, and Cargo Priority.

Cargo Size

The size of a potential cargo depends on the size of the point of departure, much like the availability of commodities hinges on the wealth of communities. Obviously, a small town isn’t going to have anywhere near as much cargo to ship as a metropolis. The GM can use the table below to determine just how much shipping a given community needs in a given time period (generally about a month). If the community or merchant has more that needs shipping than the heroes have cargo capacity to transport, they can continue to return until such time as all the cargo has been shipped.

Note that, in this case, the "community" can include individual merchants, who may simply not have enough room on their own ships to transport all the cargo they have to sell.

D20 /Demand Value /Modifier
1 No interest –20%
2–3 Very low –15%
4–6 Low –10%
7–10 Below average –5%
11–14 Average —
15–17 Above average +10%
18–19 High +20%
20 Very high +30%

Travel Time

Unlike with transporting merchandise that they own themselves, heroes want lengthy shipping times on cargo, for two reasons. First, and most obviously, each additional day of travel time is another 10 credits per ton. But second, if the heroes don’t have a full cargo hold, they can pick up more cargo en route to their final destination and deliver it to drop points on the way. (See Picking Up Additional Cargo, below.)

The GM can determine the delivery time, in days of hyperspace travel, by rolling 1d8 and subtracting 1, with results of zero indicating half a day of travel. It is important to note that this estimate of delivery time is not calculated by how fast the heroes’ ship can travel, but how fast a reasonably swift ship can travel—that is, a ship with a x1 hyperdrive multiplier. If the heroes have a ship that travels through hyperspace more slowly than that, that’s their problem: the standard rate for shipping is based on a x1 hyperdrive multiplier. (Of course, if the heroes can make the delivery in less time, they still get paid the full rate—and they can use the extra time to make more deliveries.)

Travel time includes loading and unloading time (each calculated at one day, regardless of how long it actually takes), but does not include time that the cargo sits aboard the ship while the heroes look for more business to fill up all of their cargo capacity. Some customers might even charge the heroes for not beginning the delivery immediately (see Cargo Priority, below, for more information).

Picking Up Additional Cargo: A ship carrying cargo for someone else always has the option of picking up another cargo (provided they have the space for it), but the important question is: Does it slow down the delivery of the original cargo? The simple resolution is for the GM to roll another 1d8–1, as normal, to determine the delivery time of the additional cargo. If this result is equal to or less than the time remaining on the current delivery minus two days (for loading and unloading), the heroes can safely deliver the new cargo without losing time on their original delivery.

Community Size /Cargo Size (in Metric Tons)
Thorp 1d6
Hamlet 2d6
Village 2d10
Small town 5d10
Large town 5d10x2
Small city 5d10x5
Large city 5d10x10
Metropolis 5d10x20
Megalopolis 5d10x30

Merchant’s Ship Size /Cargo Size (in Metric Tons)
Colossal 1d4
Gargantuan 1d6
Huge 2d4
Large 2d6
Medium 2d8
Small 2d10
Tiny 3d10
Diminutive/Fine 5d10

Cargo Priority

Sometimes, a customer’s needs don’t fall into the x1 hyperdrive standard. In most cases, this means that the cargo isn’t so critical that it can’t afford to wait a little longer for delivery—if the price for shipping is lower than normal. In a few cases, the customer needs the cargo delivered faster than normal and is willing to pay extra, if the delivery date is guaranteed (meaning that the transporting ship has a hyperdrive modifier of less than x1). And, of course, the industry standard is that missing the delivery date is grounds for at least a partial refund.

If there is a question as to what type of shipping the heroes’ customer wants, the GM can roll a D20: 1–8, lowpriority; 9–17, standard priority; 18–20, high-priority.

Low-Priority Shipping: The low-priority shipping option means that the customer is willing to wait twice as long as the standard expected delivery time before asking for a refund. The price for low-priority shipping is only 6 credits per ton per day, however.

High-Priority Shipping: This option means that the customer pays more for a faster delivery. The price for highpriority shipping is 15 credits per ton per day for delivery in only three-quarters the standard time (which can be accomplished with a x.75 hyperdrive), or 25 credits per ton per day for delivery in only half the standard time (which can be accomplished with a x.5 hyperdrive).

Overdue Shipments: In the event that a shipment is late, the customer can legally ask for a 10% discount off the total delivery charge for each day by which the shipment missed its delivery date. When the discount reaches 100%, the ship’s crew are effectively delivering the cargo for free, and if the discount exceeds 100%, they can actually be charged with piracy! (Most reasonable customers merely accept the free shipping and make a mental note not to do business with that particular crew anymore.) With the potentially serious repercussions of failing to deliver, it’s small wonder that crews occasionally dump overdue cargo and claim they were raided by pirates.

Unfortunately, buying, selling, and shipping aren’t "free money." In addition to maintenance costs for the ship or ships hauling the cargo from place to place (see Section Nine: Vehicles and Starships), traders must pay for various permits and licenses that allow them to conduct their business unmolested by customs agents. Heroes can certainly forego these permits, but doing so means that they are, by the legal definition, smugglers, and thus they run the risk of losing their cargo, their ships, and their freedom should they be caught.

The legal alternative to "let’s just not get caught" is an annual fee that incorporates the cost of all of the assorted documents the trader needs to do business. This particular cost is calculated by the size of the trader’s ship, and in the case of fleets of ships, the fee must be paid for each ship.

This fee is not negotiable (so no reduction of the fee via the Diplomacy skill), but a noble could certainly make a favor check (DC 15, adjusted by the ship’s size modifier) to obtain a license for half the usual price.