The actual process of trading a specific individual trade good is, thankfully, a great deal easier than coming up with a list. To trade a good, the characters first indicate which good they would like to trade, whether it is to buy that good from a trader, or to sell that good to the trader. The GM then looks up the key prices of that good on their prepared trade list. These key prices are their
initial offer, their
best price point, the item’s
standard trade value, and their
boundary price point. Knowing all four prices is important in case the PCs decide they want to
haggle (negotiate over the price).
Whether or not a character can haggle a price is entirely dependent upon the rules of the campaign, the location of the character (
for example, friendly Starports using an SF1 trading model won’t allow any haggling to take place), and if any haggling over the price is allowed. If the trader’s trading disposition is “No Bargaining”, then there is no haggling over the price. The GM gives the characters their best price point as their initial offer. The characters must accept the price as given and go on to indicate how much of the item they’d like to trade, or refuse to trade (
which automatically causes the trader to break off the trade and raises their Frustration level (see below) by two).
When the trader’s disposition is either “Bargain a Little” or “Bargain a Lot”, the characters are allowed to haggle over the price. The GM gives the characters the initial offer point as the opening price for the good. At this point, the PC who is doing the actual haggling makes a
Negotiations Check, which is opposed by the trader's own
Negotiations Check. If either character has earned a reputation in trading circles for their style of trading, add whatever
Reputation Trait modifier they may have to the result of the roll. The characters also add whatever
Temper modifier they may have to the result of the roll. This opposed Check determines if trading will go in the character’s favor (their result is higher than the traders), or in the trader’s favor. It's generally recommended that haggling be attempted by characters that are strong in the
Communications disciplines (particularly one who is strong in
Negotiations), though of course any character may attempt to conduct the negotiations for the group.
After the
Negotiations Check has been made, the characters have three options: they can either accept the proposed price as is, they may make a counter offer, or they may refuse the offer. If the players refuse the offer, the result of the trader's
Negotiations Check changes; see the table below for specifics and adjust the result if necessary. In the event of a counter offer, the GM checks to see where the counter offer lies in relation to the four key prices, and then takes an action as prescribed on the table below (they will either accept the character's price, make a new counter offer, or refuse to budge from their previous price). If the action prescribed by the table is a counter offer but the recommended new amount of the counter offer would indicate a better deal for the trader (i.e. a higher price than offered while selling or a lower price than offered while purchasing), the trader will accept the current offer of the PCs instead. This whole process repeats until either both sides have come to a final agreement on a sale price or until both sides refuse to deal any further.
Should the GM make a counter offer, the character may choose to either make a fresh opposed
Negotiations Check or just use the result of the previous Check (whether it was in their favor or not). Taking a fresh Check may give the negotiating character more chances to increase their skill score in
Negotiations, at the risk of failing the Check and making life harder on the group. Not re-rolling the Check speeds up the trading process a little bit, but sticks the group with whatever result they got from their previous Check. The result of the trader's Check may be adjusted in subsequent trading rounds depending upon what transpired in the previous round. If the trader makes a counter offer, the result of their Check increases by five. If their Frustration level is increased, the result of their Check increases by ten per increase in the Frustration level.
In all successful trades, the players are limited by the amount they can buy from a trader by the available amount of space in their ship’s cargo bays, the amount of cash they have on hand, and the amount of the good the trader has on hand. They are limited in the amount they can sell to the trader by the amount of the good they have on hand.
Frustration Level and Trader "Colors"¶
Some of the actions listed on the table below refer to the trader’s
Frustration Level, and refer to a status of “Green” or “Red”. These are all in relation to the Frustration Level, which is a measure of how angry the characters have made the trader since they’ve walked into the trade center (
“Green” denotes a happy trader, “Yellow” one with a neutral attitude, and “Red” as an angry trader). These colors correspond to the possible colors of the Psychic Probe artifact (
see Chapter 5.9); if the players have that artifact in their possession, they may request the GM to reveal the trader's color level at any time during the negotiations. Otherwise, the GM keeps the color a secret. The GM should keep the actual Frustration level counter (as explained shortly) secret at all times.
Upon entering a trade center, the trader begins trade with a Frustration level counter of zero and a condition of “Yellow”. This is modified based on the
Reputation level of the character who will be conducting the actual trading. For every five points of
Reputation as a Complication, the starting Frustration level is placed one level higher, and vice versa.
Note that this may make it to where the characters are considered “Red” before they even enter the trade center; if this is the case, they will be denied entry altogether. The trader is considered “Yellow” until the characters sell the trader a desired specialty trade good item, after which time the trader can achieve “Green” status by having a negative Frustration level. Going green earns the character five points towards
Reputation as a Talent for that species.
The trader’s Frustration level can only be so high before they reach “Red” status. This maximum level is determined by the trader’s trading style. Traders that like to “Bargain a Lot” go Red when the Frustration level reaches seven, or after the players conduct four actions in a row that increase the frustration level of the trader. Those that only like to “Bargain a Little” go Red at six or three actions in a row, while those that don’t like to bargain go Red at five or two consecutive actions that raise the Frustration level.
Once at Red status, the next action that raises the Frustration level will cause the trader to stop trade on the object. This can be mitigated by the character’s
Negotiation sub-discipline level; for each ten points in their
Negotiation sub-discipline, the character gains one more chance. Should the trader become frustrated enough to stop trade, any subsequent trade automatically begins with a +2 Frustration penalty (which is cumulative) and the player is penalized one point towards
Reputation as a Complication. If the trader gets to the point where they’d be Red before trade on the next item begins, they will boot the characters from the trade center (which carries a five point penalty towards their
Reputation as a Complication).
The trader’s
Temper trait factors in to some Frustration level adjustments. If the trader’s
Temper is a Complication, then for every ten points in their
Temper trait, an extra point of Frustration is given out whenever their frustration is increased. Conversely, if the trader’s
Temper is a Talent, then any time the Frustration level is decreased, an extra amount for every ten points in their
Temper trait is taken off.
Trade Action Chart
NOTE: The price percentage amounts listed in this table are meant only as a guideline. During actual game-play, the GM might not have enough time to calculate an exact amount to change their offer price. If strict adherence to the table detracts from the game, it’s perfectly fine to wing it and the GM should do so. Negotiations Check Actions and Results| Players Buying Item | Players Selling Item | Successful Negotiations Check | Failed Negotiations Check |
|---|
| Offer Greater than Best Price Point | Offer Less Than Best Price Point | Trader Agrees to Offer. -2 to Trader Frustration Level. If “Green” at end of trade, subtract 20% off the price of all remaining items. | Trader Agrees to Offer. -1 Trader Frustration Level |
|---|
| Offer Less than Best Price Point but Greater than item STV | Offer Greater than Best Price Point but Less than item STV | Trader makes a Counter Offer at least 10% of STV towards maximum/minimum. If currently “Green”, go another 10%. | Trader makes a Counter Offer at least 10% of the STV towards maximum/minimum. |
|---|
| Offer Less than STV but Greater than Minimum Bound | Offer Greater than STV but Less than Maximum Bound | Trader makes a Counter Offer at least 10% of STV towards maximum/minimum. If currently “Red”, +1 to trader Frustration level | Trader Refuses player’s Offer (+1 Frustration). If “Red”, +1 to trader Frustration Level. |
|---|
| Offer Less than Minimum Bound | Offer Greater than Maximum Bound | T |
|---|
rader Refuses player’s Offer (+1 Frustration)Trader vehemently Refuses player’s Offer (+2 Frustration). If already “Red”, Trader immediately breaks off trade. | Player Refuses Trader’s Offer
(Add 25 to the Trader's Check for Specialty Trade Goods, 50 for all other Goods) | Trader makes Counter Offer exactly 50% of STV towards maximum/minimum. (+2 Frustration) | Trader breaks off Trade. (+2 Frustration) |
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