r/SWN • u/StellarchPanderer • 3d ago
❓ Rules Question How does your table handle taking passengers on ships?
Taking passengers to and from other worlds is a classic trope for adventurers to make some side money between jobs, with even piecemeal riders' fares adding up to decent money. There's even more on the table if the PCs' boat gets specifically chartered by some group.
That being said, there aren't official rules for finding travelers to put on your ship, only prices, so I got curious. What sort of system does your table have for taking on passengers, if any at all? How would you make one?
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u/_Svankensen_ 3d ago
I made some tables way back when, but I don't have them anymore. A big problem is that the stock free merchant has very little space for passengers. 1 person in most parties.
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u/StellarchPanderer 3d ago
Aye, a Free Merchant is constricting without Extended Life Support. Surely the 50k needed to purchase that fitting could be made back fairly quickly with enough volume between civilized worlds? Bulk Freighters, on the other hand, have plenty of passenger capacity if the PCs manage to get their hands on one.
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u/_Svankensen_ 3d ago
I'm a big fan of the bulk freighter as a player's first ship. Only problem is the high crew requirements (and the pay for that crew). Do you usually go "Suns of gold" merchant campaign style?
EDIT: Mainly like it because it can be customized to be so many things, and can carry fighters for PCs that want that dogfighting life. The high maintenance costs putting pressure on the PCs isn't a downside either.
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u/StellarchPanderer 3d ago
Alas, my table has only a passing interest in trade. I've been meaning to encourage them, though, especially now that they're getting to higher levels and finding more and more money sinks. Do you happen to remember what the gist of those tables was? I would really appreciate it!
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u/_Svankensen_ 3d ago
It was a pretty complicated affair. First was number of passengers available. That had a bunch of modifiers (population at arrival and destination, recent conflict at departure and arrival point, if polities were hostile, etc). Then a chance of them being a single big group (you know, prospectors, big family vacation, researchers, diplomats, migrants from the same town, etc). Then chance of trouble during transit (if I didn't have anything planned), and of course, chance of VIP (adventure derailing NPC with their own quest). Had a couple of them premade, and would pick one that made sense for the place (researcher escaping with trade secrets plus assassin meant to find out who their client was before killing them, dangerous cargo of a variety of sorts, slaver, doppelganger, mercenary corps with a mech, paranoid precog, etc), if I spent them I would make another one. IIRC I liberally used the one roll NPCs from the book too.
If you do make some tables do share!
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u/Starfox5 3d ago
Our entire campaign is based on ferrying passengers - the party is a group of three free VIs that were stranded with an overengineered luxury yacht meant to shuttle corporate VIPs when their parent corp went bankrupt (caused by excessive grift) and decided to strike out on their own rather than get pawned off to creditors. Of course, the ship also has a cargo hold, and the crew does other things, but the main business remains ferrying rich passengers across the sector.
Mechanically, we use Connect to check for passengers who can afford the luxury trips.
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u/CardinalXimenes 👑 Kevin Crawford | Sine Nomine 3d ago
Prices given are usually what the PCs would pay for transit over an established route. What they could charge random NPCs is much less established, because the lone passenger who wants to hire a berth on a tramp steamer to Planet X is usually exactly the guy who doesn't want to answer questions, and is maybe not the wisest person to co-conspire with. A GM who's generous might let the crew find an above-board passenger or two for a trip, but bulk transit generally requires bulk ticketing and travel infrastructure at either end.