Future Imperfect - Economics
One aspect of a science fiction universe is that the Heroes might find themselves hopping from planet to planet, buying, selling and stealing their way to glory. Each planet has its own economy, in fact, areas within a planet might have their own economies! Rather than attempting to develop a complex economic simulation model, we have instead created a simple to use and flexible model that will allow players to run a business of any size, be it a small trading sloop, a war-mongering mercenary company or a fleet of pirate vessels.
Small Group Economics
Unless the profits are exorbitant, if the Crew operates alone, without significant NPC help, they are likely to be able to use a standard RPG economic model. In other words, players can keep track of their cash and spend as they earn, or as they are able to find items which interest them. If this is how you envision your Crew, the rest of this section is unnecessary.
Economies of Scale
One of the most common economies of scale in a Sci-Fi setting is starship ownership. Starship are extremely complex, multi-million credit machines that require extensive maintenance and parts expenditure to keep spaceworthy.
In the real world, an endeavor such as that would require significant time expenditure from administrative members of the crew to ensure parts, fuel and maintenance are all balanced with the need for operating capital to make the purchases necessary to continue to be profitable, if not just make the monthly mortgage payments.
The intent of the economies of scale system is to make a game of larger scope not just possible, but also challenging and rewarding. Moreover, this should remain true without breaking the standard monetary system.
To wit, operating a merchant starship should see a monthly influx of capital in the hundreds of thousands of credits, if not millions of credits. No matter how high the mortgage and expense payments, players would be tempted, if not outright directed, to siphon off operating capital to purchase whatever equipment would make their upcoming adventure easier. What is 20,000 credits to a starship captain on a ship that is raking in 300,000 credits each month?
The answer is, of course, a heck of a lot more than it seems, and anyone who has ever run a business is well aware of this fact. Instead of creating a complex set of timing rules to prevent unrealistic expenditures, we have chosen to almost completely abstract the economic portion of the game, but also have the choices the players make be reflected in the mechanics. It should be possible to make it, but it should not be a given.
Starship Economics
While certainly not the only science fiction option for an economy of scale, a starship is a very common one. The principles listed for ships apply in theory (or can be adjusted) to any type of economic entity.
Income shares are the measure of cash flow for the vessel. These could be through legitimate commerce, piracy, smuggling or anything your Crew can devise. Income shares determine two things: how profitable the vessel is, and how much has the crew been paid. Each ship type has a listed number income shares that must be produced each month, as well as a distribution of expenditures.
Each profitable transaction the crew completes during a given time period will produce one income share per effect level generated. Each type of transaction has its own set of criteria to determine the difficulty of being profitable with that transaction. For example, carrying passengers is quite safe and easy to do, but they pay comparatively little and there is almost no chance of a windfall. Whereas piracy could be extremely profitable one month (when a ship is captured), but run net losses for months, or years, at a time when the IPA is vigilant.
At the end of each month, tally the total income shares the ship has produced. From this pool all expenditures must be paid. Some expenditures are mandatory, and are paid first. Some optional expenditures can be ignored and replaced with maintenance counters. Once all expenditures are dealt with, if any profit shares remain the captain has two choices: convert them to working capital or profit shares.
Working capital is added to the ship's credstick, and can be used for future expenditures or purchases. Each level of working capital is equivalent to one income share.
As long as the crew salary expenditure is paid each member of the crew is assumed to have enough money to use the standard purchasing system (see normal income below). If this expenditure is not paid, the size of "free" purchases is halved. If it is not paid for a second period consecutively, no purchases may be made "free", all NPC crew members also become disenchanted (see chapter XX: Psychology). For each extra profit share allocated to salary all characters collect their normal income.
Normal Income
Each character has a normal income amount listed which is dependent on a number of factors, in general this is 125 CR per wealth level. In Future Imperfect, edges are permanent parts of the Hero, so even edges that give seemingly ephemeral bonuses, such as wealth, carry over into the game.
Do not confuse normal income for total income. The normal income is the total amount of free cash the Hero has to add to his bank account after all expenditures are paid. As with starship economics above, the actual credit amounts may seem low, but this is indicative of the many expenses adventuring heroes find themselves confronted with each day. But hey, look on the bright side, no erasing numbers on your character sheet when you want to buy a space beer for your date!
Any item which costs less than 20% of the characters normal income need not be paid for. These purchases are assumed to come out of their standard expenditures. Any credits listed on the character sheet, even if it is just a few, are "extra" income, and may be used to purchase more expensive items. Characters may not combine their normal income to make "free" purchases, but may combine any credits listed on their character sheet as necessary.
Transaction Types
Each transaction type has a listed difficulty number which is the TN for the check that is made each transaction. These difficulty numbers are set based on the likelihood of profitability of the action, not the actual challenge. Some activities are capped, in that they can only create so much profit.
Passenger Service
Passenger service is the carrying of passengers between ports of call. This type of commerce is relatively low risk financially, and almost always delivers consistent results within a tight band. Finding passengers is a TN 3 merchant or bureaucracy check, with failure meaning no passengers are available that day. A critical fail means no passengers will be interested in this route at this time, no more checks are allowed. As soon as a single success is generated it is assumed passengers will continue to be attracted each day until the craft leaves port.
The number of low passage passengers found per day is determined by the passenger service effect level of 1d6. This level can be bumped, but the number of bumps is limited by the Mk value of the ship's entertainment programs plus the Mk value of the ship's cuisine program. High demand destinations provide +1 bump on top of any provided by amenities. Multiply the number of days of advertisement (since the first successful recruitment) by the effect number generated for total low passage purchases. The number of full low passage cabins must always exceed the number of middle passage cabins, which must always exceed the number of full high passage cabins. Once the low passage recruitment is complete, divide the number of cabins by 2 (truncate fractions) for middle passage, and do the same on middle to get high.
Income generated: Each full cabin generates one income share per 200 LY of travel. On an individual basis, high passage generates 1/200LY, middle 1/400LY and low 1/800LY. Always round .75 income share or greater up, drop anything .74 or less.
Free Trade
Planets also have a number of goods available, along with an associated risk value from low to medium to high. The risk value and demand matrix are used to determine if a good will be purchased and for how much. Merchants are not required to take any offer. The supply matrix lists the goods the planet is known for selling (the most commonly available), and the demand matrix is the same for buying.
Each good also has a supply level at that planet, listed as a die type. A standard listing for a good will have the name of the good, as well as the supply level and risk level. EX: Gold (d4, Low). Goods themselves also have standard cargo sizes, or loads, which is the amount of cargo space one income level of the item takes. A buy or sell attempt is made at the market location, generally the spaceport, and takes 8 hours. The time can be decreased, if the player wishes, but for each factor of 2 it is divided by the TN is +1.
Sid Scorpio doesn't have time to spend 8 hours at the market to buy Thorium, so he decides he will only spend 2 hours. Since that is 1/4 of the necessary time, the TN is +2.
Finding Goods
Commerce is divided into two related but disparate activities: acquiring goods and liquidating them. For ease of game play they will also serve completely distinct purposes.
To purchase goods, the merchant indicates the amount of capital (income levels) he wishes to spend, and then makes an easy (TN 3) commerce test to find goods on the planet’s supply matrix, or a difficulty 5 (if it is not listed at all) or 7 (if it is on the demand matrix). Success indicates that the effect should be used to determine how much of the appropriate good is available, with the number of income shares spent determining the row. The merchant may decide to spend less than originally intended, or even more, but does not receive the bump increase.
Ishmail finds herself on Alderamin VII looking to purchase some wares to sell at their next port of call. She checks the supply matrix and sees that luxury food items, gold, silver and platinum are listed. In the demand matrix mechanical parts, electronic parts, vehicles and tools are listed. If she chooses to buy gold, the TN would be 3. If she chooses mechanical parts, it would be 7. Looking for something absent from both lists, such as Thorium, would be TN 5. She chooses the low risk option of Gold (d6). Her Merchant skill is 2d8 and she indicates she wants to spend 3 Income Shares, and on the card she finds a 5 in the skill section, a success. Checking the 3d6 effect section (3 Income Shares and d6 supply) she finds a 16, since the purchase EN required is 6, she is able to buy 2 loads of Gold for 3 Income Shares.
Skilled merchants are able to get better prices for their goods, and also to acquire goods at better prices. Each bump on the merchant check shifts the demand die one to the right at the initially requested purchase level only. This is called the bump increase. This increase will not always affect the amount of product purchased (remember, only full income levels are purchased).
A single card draw will show the entire market at a glance. The goods available in the standard market will all have different die types. To purchase goods, decrement the income and notate the purchased amount. Goods are always purchased in full income levels.
Selling Goods
Unless your goal is to be a feature episode of Space Hoarders (on Space A&E, of course), the precious cargo you purchased needs to be sold at a different port of call. As above, the system is fairly straight-forward and simple.
To sell goods, perform a merchant test based on the risk level of the goods. Low risk goods are TN 3, medium risk goods are TN 5 and high risk goods are TN 7. Goods that are not on the planetary demand matrix have a TN increase of 1. Goods that are on the supply matrix are one difficulty level higher and capped for maximum sales like low risk goods (see below). Bumps on the sale check produce bump increases as notated in purchasing of goods.
Ishmail and her crew have flown to Anubis VI where they wish to sell the aforementioned Gold. She checks the demand matrix and does not find Gold, same with the supply matrix. This makes the standard TN of 3 for low risk goods a 4.
The amount of profit is determined by checking the effect level and comparing it to the profit margin of the goods. The number of income shares of goods being sold is the row. Selling goods is a binary affair, all of a type of goods must be sold or none, though the merchant may choose to walk away from the transaction if he so chooses. Goods on the demand matrix use the column listed, goods that are not on either matrix use the d6 row, and those on the supply matrix use d4.
Now the moment of truth, where Ishmail wishes to generate capital from her investment. She has two Income Shares of Gold to sell, so she will use the 2d6 row in effect, if she succeeds. She draws a card and finds a 10 with an exceptional result! She draws a second card and gets a 7, for a total value of 17. This provides 2 bump increases on the effect, shifting from 2d6 to 2d10. The listed effect is 8 in 2d6, but 12 in 2d10. Gold has a sales EN of 5, so this indicates a profit of 2 Income Shares (the bump increases had no net effect in this case). Since her total purchase was 2, she can either sell now for 4, or hold the goods and try to sell at another port with greater demand for Gold.
There is more to risk than just sales difficulty, however. Low risk goods are in demand everywhere, and can almost always be sold, however they have well established values which limit their potential profit margins. Low risk goods do not draw extra cards on increased effect. But because of their low risk nature the first income level of profit can be generated as long as at least half of the target number is achieved. This does not affect how further income levels are generated.
Medium risk goods are the standard wares of traders across the galaxy. They are in good demand, but also have a small enough supply to incur some risk, allowing greater profits to be attained. Medium risk goods may draw up to one time on increased effect.
High risk goods are exactly as they sound. They are more difficult to move, but when that appropriate buyer is found the profits can be excellent. There is no income cap for high risk goods.
Goods
What follows are a listing of each type of goods, and their standard attributes (load size and risk level).
Prospecting
Haulage
Haulage is the carrying of cargo from one port to another, with no ownership transfer. As with passenger service, haulage is an extremely low risk transaction. All taxes and fees are handled by the owning party, and a fuel surcharge is also provided (netting a 20% fuel discount per 100 tons of haulage). In general, haulage pays 1 profit share per 150 LY of the journey, per 100 tons of cargo. But it also generates no expenses, so other business can sometimes be negotiated to coincide with the haulage contract, with the docking/fuel fee savings noted.
Illegal Activities
Economically, there are two illegal activities of concern in this section: smuggling and trafficking contraband. Each has the potential to be wildly profitable, but also can carry very steep fines or prison sentences.
Smuggling
There are two general purposes of smuggling: avoiding paying fees and taxes or selling restricted goods. The former uses the same economic system as above, but does not generate any tax burden, that is if the goods are sold in port (which is a higher risk, of course). Goods can be sold at alternative locations, or directly to planetary buyers. In this case, the sales EN is increased by 1 unless the merchant makes a successful Streetwise test TN 5.
Selling restricted goods can be a lot riskier, but also extremely lucrative. Finding a buyer has a variable TN based on the oppressiveness of the government and the level of illegality of the items. Buyers will also be very wary of sellers who do not have trusted references.
When a sale does commence, the procedure is similar to the previous system, except that since the buyer has already been located there is no check to sell the goods. Instead, there is a negotiation contest between the two parties. The sales EN for illegal goods start at 3 and is adjusted by the result of the negotiation. For every 2 one side defeats the other, adjust the sales EN one. Use the action card from the buyer to generate effect levels.
Sid Scorpio has a case of 30 blast pistols he wants to sell to some rebels on Attar III, where all TL 7+ weaponry are very illegal (making the demand level d10). Given that the government is not very oppressive, his TN to locate a buyer is only 5. When he locates the buyer, he will put his Streetwise of 3d8 against the seller (2d8) to adjust the sales EN, base 3. Both Sid and the buyer get 8s for their contest, leaving the EN at the base 3. Sid checks his 1d10 effect (30 blast pistols is only 1 income share), he finds a 7, generating 2 income shares profit, three total. Not bad!
Contraband
There are many types of contraband, from stolen items, to drugs, to subversive literature (in the appropriate society, of course). Locating buyers and the sales negotiation are done exactly as above, except that the sales EN will vary with the type of contraband. The Master will provide this information when necessary.
Taxation and Fees
Everyone hates the tax man. Each port of call has a tax rating, as well as a bureaucracy level to indicate the amount of red tape and fees. At the end of each month taxes will be tallied and applied to the expenses. I don’t know how yet. There also must be some way for the skill of the captain to reduce red tape, but it should not be a given. These are necessary to make smuggling an attractive option.
Regular Maintenance
For a starship to run properly it needs to be properly maintained. This requires space parts, expendable resources (such as lubricants, circuits/wire etc.)and good, old fashioned elbow grease. This is the role of the ship’s engineering team.
Engineering and maintenance are two different but related disciplines. One engineer might be excellent at keeping a ship running at peak efficiency, but useless when designing an upgrade or performing on the spot jury-rigging, while another is the exact opposite. In Future Imperfect, we strive to make both of those engineering types viable, and interesting, character archetypes.
