(3) [Traveller] Voyages of the R.e.d. Dusk

Game Master mdt

The woman looks at the clock, and sighs. "Go away for 2 hours, and you'll make my life much easier."

"Alright, you got it. 2 Hours and then we will come back. Thanks!"

Jenni is keeping an eye out for fresh fruit, in particular, anything that resembles or tastes like strawberries.

Roll: 1d100 ⇒ 38

Jenni finds fresh fruit for sale, but nothing that tastes like strawberries unfortunately. She does find some that tastes a bit like oranges, and some blue fruit with a sweet and tart taste.

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Coming back 2 hours later, Dev and Alison Assuming we haven't lost that player find a different person working the desk, and are able to get their paperwork straight and begin making trades and picking up cargos.

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Just before the crew is about ready to disembark, they are stopped by station security. They are looking for a thief and insist on searching your entire ship to make sure the thief did not stow away.

You are delayed by 5 hours while they search, before you are finally allowed to leave.

For a change, you do not have to refuel, as the Kektys is refueled for free. The ships can simply head up or down system and then jump.

Astrogation and piloting checks from both ships please

Alison rolls her eyes, "Sure, we're not doing anything, search away."

Astrogation: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (2, 3) + 2 = 7

"So long stable ground..."

Jenni purchases all of the fruits that she can afford and brings them back aboard.

Astrogation: 2d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3, 6) + 2 + 1 = 12
Piloting: 2d6 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (5, 1) + 1 + 2 = 9

Warren follows the security crew and talks to them "I didn't see anyone come onto the ship. What race was this theif? We don't want any trouble and would be glad to help you find him if we can."

Who's the pilot on Kektys?

They tell Warren that the theif was a human, which is why they checked this ship.

Dev notices, as both ships prepare to jump, that Alison's numbers are slightly off and they won't land in the same spot.

Can I call and get her to correct to my numbers?

"I don't know about the rest of you but I'm certainly going to miss this beautiful market and it's beautiful and intelligent creatures. It's too bad it's the only souvenir I can afford, is my memories."

pilot : 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 5) + 1 = 10

You can call and get her to recalculate, or you can try to recalculate to match her plot

@Elrick, you got paid 6000 credits by the other PCs for piloting

@Alison, you got 5000 credits for astrogating

But when do I get paid?

You already did. I posted it already in game a week or so ago, when you landed at the current landing base

Trade Data is available once the group approaches the stations. Moyas can dock the Kektys at the military base for free maintenance, if he chooses to. The Phoenix needs it's life support and routine maintenance done. That's 56,000 credits and a weeks worth of time for the maintenance, 12,000 for the life support, and the crew's salaries add up to 20,000 credits (Alison gets 5,000 of that, and Elrick earns 6,000 of it, the rest goes to the NPCs). The Kektys' costs are covered by the local government (with regards to the ship, the crew costs are already included).

Hiding under spoilers so Dev's RP doesn't have to be influenced by what I roll

Dev contacts Alison and points out that she is out on her calculations.

"Just need to recalculate that last bit, as it looks like you are missing a decimal point in your equation."

Since you only take 3 hours to get to the jump point, congrats, no space encounters!

The two ships jump to hyperspace, toward Inudak.

If the previous system was more like an Imperial system because it had a good station and lots of ships, this system is like a major trade system in the Empire.

As they jump in, they are pinged immediately by at least 30 IFF systems, and the ships computers begin to register other craft, some heading toward the jump point, others away from the jump point, and still others heading at angles from it. About 2/3rds of the traffic is civilian, and a 1/3rd is RoF Military ships.

Pulling up information from the Kektys computer, the two ships are able to identify Inudak as an old colony in the RoF systems. It has a population of over 8 Billion in the system. Most of this population (a little over 7 billion) is on the central planet, Inudak. However, a Military Garrison on the 4th planet contains several million sophonts, and the rest are scattered around the system in colonies and belter enclaves.

There is, however, no gas giants in the system. This means that the Kektys will have to refuel at the port. There are two options, Highport (space station) and Downport (Planetary Surface). Docking fees for Highport are 2000 credits, plus 200 per day. Docking fees for Downport are 1500 credits, plus 200 per day. Fuel costs are 500/ton for refined fuel, and 100/ton for unrefined (The Kektys can refine it's own fuel over time from unrefined fuel).

Space around Inudak is busy, and there's an RoF fleet in the L5 Lagrange point consisting of 3 carriers, 4 battleships, 10 cruisers, and 20 destroyers, to keep an eye on things. Another fleet of about the same size is orbiting the military garrison planet, and another 40 cruisers are scattered around the system in pairs, on patrol.

Will the crew be using the Highport or the Downport?

Current Credits : 350,300
Current Speculative Cargo :
Basic Consumables - Food Grade Vegetation 12
Basic Consumables - Survival Rations & Storage Packed Liquids 19
Electroncis - Personal and Commerical Computers 18
Basic Manufactured Goods - Residential Applicances 35
Wood - Rare Grades 13
Basic Raw Materials - Chemical Solutions and Compounds 7
Basic Consumables - Pre-packaged Food and Drink 13

I've updated the loot sheet to have a tab for speculative cargo

You have 168,000 you will receive for transporting standard cargo. It will take 3 days to offload the cargo, regardless of where you land.
Note : Moyas, you got the wrong freight table last time, you lookeda t the freight table for Vankreig not Inudak, Inudak had 101 tons of freight if you took everything they had. That's why it's 168,000 instead of 208,000

When buying speculative cargo, keep in mind the value of transport. For example : You picked up a contract to delivery 30 tons of cargo for 48,000, however, the cargo was only worth 15,000 because it was High-Grade Rough Cut Wood. So, whoever did that lost money on the contract. You get paid for cargo based on how far you're taking it (2 jumps is 1600 roughly per ton). That means you shouldn't buy anything you can't make 1600 profit on unless you can't get enough to fill your hold with contract cargo. If you do run into that situation, buy the absolute cheapest stuff you can (like 100 credits per ton) to fill out your cargo hold so you're not running empty, and be prepared to dump it in deep space or sell it for a loss if need be to make room for more valuable cargo.

I'm not understanding that.

Let me explain, let's say you buy a cargo of widgets that's worth 200 credits per ton for 40% (80 credits). Now let's say you buy 10 tons of it. That's 800 credits out of pocket. You jump two systems, and sell it for 200% of it's list price. That would be 400 credits. You'd get 4000 credits right? Meaning you'd make 3200 credits. Sounds like a good deal right? But if you'd taken 10 tons of consignment cargo instead, you'd have gotten 1600 x 10 = 16,000 credits. So, you lost 12,800 credits on the deal. So, basically, to make it worth it to purchase speculative cargo, you need to be able to reliably get more than 1600 credits per tone profit for it to make it worth it, over consignment cargo, for a 2 system jump. Now, if there's no consignment cargo, then that 40% Widget purchase is still a good purchase, but it should be the last thing you buy.

Okay, sure. But wasn't the stuff we bought (on the recent purchase, anyway) worth more profit than that?

I was explaining for the people that aren't experienced with the system, Moyas, not you. :P

Oh, okay. FYI - I've never done this before. :-)

I've GM'd Traveller, but never really got into the trade aspect of it. Usually more of a exploration-beyond-the-rim sort of thing.

You're mostly doing the trade stuff on the way back home, you'll get to do some exploration, or more trade, or whatever you want to do, once you get your stuff sold

Sorry, honestly thought I had said I was going to the high port...but I see nothing here, so maybe I just thought it..

"Well the highport will do for us. We can get all we need and not have to mingle dirtside...unless you want to take the pinnace down?

Elric turns on the comms to the Phoenix and says, "Alright I'm docking Kektys in Downport."

Yeah, my fault too. I thought we'd said. I agree with taking Kektys to the downport.

"Try to find us a berth near the end of the row. Those haulers over there can't maneuver well and I don't want them scraping our hull."

The Phoenix docks with the Highport, and lucks out, as the docking fees drop to 1000 credits mere minutes before they dock. The Kektys lands at the Downport, but isn't as lucky, their landing fees remain 1000 credits.

As the two ships begin to talk back and forth, and the brokers start looking for trade data information begins to roll in. It takes a couple of days to get a good idea of what all is going on locally with trade. However, they can offload their consignment cargo in the meantime. Group receives 168,000 - 2400 credits for berthing and daily berthing costs for 2 days = 165,600 credits profit

2d6 ⇒ (5, 6) = 11

2d6 ⇒ (4, 4) = 8

1 Kektys, 2 Phoenix: 1d2 ⇒ 2

As the Phoenix crew begins to get off the ship, a robot approaches them, and begins speaking in Vargr. It says a few sentences, then starts talking in Imperial. "Greetings humanoids." It speaks in Imperial. "This unit is SKR82749, but is commonly called Skipper. This unit would like to offer you a tour of the space station Glorious Plunder. This service would require a mere 30 credits for a three hour tour." The robot then repeats the message in Aslan, then in as many languages as you allow before you stop it.

"A three-hour tour with Skipper? What could go wrong? I'll take that tour!" says Moyasmedsev. You never know what the odd little droyne will find fascinating.

PHoenix Moyas, not Kektys, you're on the planet, they're on the space station

Drat!

I was just talking to them over the communicator. ;-)

LOL..I was just as excited Moya when I heard it!!

"Umm, sure might as well get to know the place we will be staying in for the next few days. Anyone else want to come along?"

Dev pays the bot 30 credits, and it perks up. "Thank you, Humanoid. Please have your mate and children follow me. Please keep an eye on your children, Skipper is not responsible for the loss of children, either temporary or permanent. Skipper is not a licensed child-care bot."

Just then a very small (6 inch high) red and white bot steps out from behind Skipper, and makes a high pitched whistle sound. the one on the right, that looks like a camera with arms and legs

"As we proceed on our tour, this unit's My Little Buddy(TM), will take pictures for your personal keep sake computer unit. These pictures will be available for 2 credits per image file. This particular My Little Buddy(TM) unit is designated GLGN, most humanoids find it easier to call him Glugen." The bot actually makes air quotes when it says 'TM' every single time.

As the group begins to move through the station, the bot begins to tell them about the various areas of the station. It's tour is slightly off, as it appears it hasn't been updated in a few months, some shops it extoles the virtues of are obviously closed down and being replaced with new shops. Another time, it points toward hallways that are sealed off and mentions that corporate offices exist down that hallway. However, the Tour is about 90% correct, and you find out where the main concession area is, where most of the shops are, where the three gardens are, where all the major hotels are, and where the various observation decks are to look at the planet below.

The entire tour, the little red and white bot runs around on legs that move in a blur so fast you can't focus on them. It's little feet magnetized, so it runs up walls to get pictures at humanoid height, occasionally running upside down on the ceiling to get a picture from above. It moves so fast that it regularly bumps into things and makes a sad 'woo woo' sound.

Finally at the end of the tour, the robot bows, nearly falling over, but corrects itself. "Thank you humanoids, for your patronage. Please have a lolipop for your spawn." It pulls 4 lolipops out of it's onboard storage compartment, and hands them to Dev. "Please be sure to stop by the Dental Offices of Doctor La'Vash after feeding your offspring sugary treats to repair their tooth decay." It adds a final advertisement for another business. "To purchase your pictures, please visit the Sal'vath Tours kiosk in the concession area to choose which ones you wish to purchase."

A high pitched 'peppy' sound comes from the GLGN unit.

Wow..that was awesome!!! A+ for that encounter DM!!

Dev smiles and for some reason waves to the robot as it departs.

"Guess I will have to visit that Sal'vath Tours and get my pictures!"

Warren looks at Dev after the tour, "That was the quickest 3 hours I've ever seen. I have a hankering for some ginger now for some reason. I saw a place back there with ginger chicken I profess or maybe not. Let's check it out."

That was awesome! Great work MDT! Can I guess what was on TV at the time? :) I'm assuming I could go along as that was all posted while I was at work. Did we see any medical equipment places? I'm looking for anything new that came out in the time we lost.

If you want to ask the bot anything while you're walking around, feel free. And no, it wasn't on the tv at the time. I started on the robot, and tried to think of something fun for a tour, and that stupid 'three hour tour' song took off in my head, which gave me the idea.

with regards to medicine, not around this dump. It's TL 8/9 planet, with a TL 10 space station. The RoF is base TL 10, and only major planets (not major colonies) have that level of tech. THe sector capital will be TL 10. Either way, you'll have to wait until you get back to the Empire to hit TL 12/13 stuff.

After the whirlwind tour, Jenni shakes her head to settle the input of information. "Wow, that didn't seem like three hours."

When Dev gets around to checking for the pictures, he finds most of them are pictures of people's legs, pictures of the tour bot's nose, zoomed in photos of people's elbows, and one memorable shot straight up Jenni's nose, a tight focus shot showing her sinuses.

The only one that seems 'reasonable' is a shot of all the crew standing in front of the tour bot, taken from the ceiling, that shows them all in front profile from above, and the tour bot from behind, apparently taken as they were leaving the observation deck, because the planet is behind them outside the big vista windows.

"Well at least one of the pictures came out respectable. Let's get copies made, have it blown up and framed for both ships. In the meantime, we should unload all this cargo and see what we are going to take with us next."

AT INUDAK

ACCOUNT

We have 515,900 credits.

SELLING SPECULATIVE CARGO

We’re currently holding 19 tons of Consumables - Survival Rations & Storage Packed Liquids. We purchased them at 1350 and can sell them here at 3000. That’s barely better than carrying freight, but we already carried it and it -is- better than freight. Each jump we hold onto it we lose money, so let’s sell. That’ll add 57,000 credits to our accounts. This deal was 3.1% better than freight.

Personal computers are a bad sell here, so we’ll hold onto those. Same deal with Basic Consumables - Pre-packaged Food and Drink.

We have 35 tons of Residential Appliances at a cost of 7,000 credits each and can sell them here for 10,000. That’s a good deal. We sell those and make 350,000 credits. This deal was 87.5% better than freight.

We’re carrying 13 tons of rare woods. We can sell them here for slightly above market value, but we still would have been better off carrying freight. It doesn’t look as though they’ll want it at all at Ansana, so I say sell now. That’s 27,300 credits. This deal was 36 % worse than freight.

We have 7 tons of Basic Raw Materials - Chemical Solutions and Compounds we purchased for 7,000 credits each and can sell them here for 12,600 credits each. That’s 88,200 credits. This deal was 250% better than freight.

Sell these things and we’ll add a total of 522,500 credits to our accounts. This will leave us with 31 tons of computers and pre-packaged food.

That would leave our account at 1,038,400 credits.
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Of the 227 tons of cargo space in Phoenix and Kektys, that leaves us 196 tons free for the jump to Ansana. Following our 2:1 rule, we’ll try to get approximately 130 tons of freight. But first, let’s look at any good deals for Speculative Cargo.

Looking at the Ansana market, they’re keen on Machine Parts, Manufactured Goods and Precious Metals. Makes sense for a water world. They’re also in the market for Basic Ore, Polymers, Radioactives, Robots, Uncommon Ores and Vehicles.

Also looking at the Inudak market, there are some really good deals that may have me arguing to cut into the freight allotment. Let’s find out:

* 14 tons of Machine Parts are available -way- below market at 45% off. That’s something they want on Ansana. Snag! Cost: 77,000 credits.

* There are a further 25 tons of Machine Parts available at 30% off. We’ll grab those too. Cost: 175,000 credits.

*5 tons of Beryllium (precious metal) available at a 35% discount. Cost: 81,250.

There are no great deals on Manufactured Goods, so let’s look at what else Ansana wants. Robots and ore are overpriced, but there are some excellent deals on vehicles, so let’s hit the new car lots and purchase:

*12 tons of Tracked Repair Components available at 25% off. Cost: 90,000 credits.
*10 tons of Wheeled Components available at 15% off. Cost: 127,500 credits.

So if we purchase all of that, it’s 76 tons of stuff we’re likely to sell at a nice profit at Ansana. However, there are still some very good deals on offer, so let’s take a look at what’s left:

* 8 tons of Weapon Components available at a 40% discount. Cost: 600,000 credits.
* 2 tons of VR Computer and Sensor Packages available at a 35% discount. Cost: 135,000 credits.
* 16 tons of TL 10 Slug Weapons available at a 35% discount. Cost: 1,040,000 credits. Good discount on a high-value item. That means that even if we can’t sell at Ansana, there is still profit to be made later on down the line.
* 14 tons of Fiber-optic cable available at a 25% discount. Cost: 525,000.

However, we just can’t afford much of that stuff. So let’s just take the 2 tons of VR Computer and Sensor Packages.

Okay, if we bought the Machine Parts (39 tons), Beryllium (5 tons), Tracked Repair Components (12 tons), Wheeled Components (10 tons) and VR Computer and Sensor Packages (2 tons), we’d have 78 tons of really good Speculative cargo at 685,750 credits. I think that’s a steal!

FREIGHT

That leaves us 118 tons for freight haulage, which should net us 188,800 credits at Ansana. Besides avoiding troublesome cargo like radioactives or live animals, there’s not much reason to prefer one freight cargo over another. For pure role-playing, then, we’ll avoid carrying as freight anything we want to sell as a speculative cargo. Don’t want the law of supply to drive down the price. So we’ll take 50 tons of Video Game and Entertainment Systems, 30 tons of workable metals, 20 tons of Pneumatics and Hydraulics, 10 tons of Protective/Specialized Clothing, 5 tons of Ruthenium/Rhenium and 3 tons of Survival Equipment/Colonisation Kits.

Is everyone good with that?

Awesome Moya...you should take up a few levels of broker for all this work!! Thank you for breaking it down for us!

Thanks, Moya. You're better at this than I am! Yes, this looks okay to me.

I angled for broker and steward in creation, but never quite came up with the rolls. I've always played captains and soldiers and psions, so I thought I'd play an inscrutable little number-cruncher this time out instead.

3d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 4) = 11

The group spends 3 more days working up cargoes and getting them loaded, and then sets out again. No gas giant, so the Kektys will require fueling, 100 credits per ton, 3,400 credits for a full refueling. Let's call it 3,100 since she wasn't bone dry

1d6 ⇒ 1

The two ships make it to the jump point without incident.

Navigation and Piloting check for both ships, next stop is the sector sub-capital, where you can finally reach an Imperial Consulate. So expect a lot more RP next stop

Astrogation: 2d6 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (6, 4) + 1 + 2 = 13
Pilot: 2d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1, 6) + 2 + 1 = 10