Is there a system with a realistic cargo-hauling/speculation system?

[Jd Smith1]

It's a good thing you haven't, because you're looking in Alderan places. I'll see myself out.

Actually, what kind of commerce based campaign are you considering?

My objection to Star Wars isn't the setting or the game material, but the way so many players think 'Jedi PC' the instant they hear those two words. I would love to run a SW campaign where not a single PC had access to the Force.

I'm kicking around a couple ideas. One is a campaign based upon the Firefly TV series: old ship, tight money, need for work. A space trucker, if you would.

The other idea I was kicking around was Space 1889, where the PCs have an airship, and part of an American effort to secure a place in the colonial rush on Mars.

 

[Vaslov]

SWN has the "Suns of Gold" book that is about merchant campaigns. My own experience with the system, and others like it, says I don't think it's going to be a match. Running a ship is expensive, which means the party will have funds. Funds they can use to do other stuff with by just cutting into a very small amount. So I never seem to get to that "just hanging on" feeling out of the game. So I've gone more towards games that approach that atmosphere in a different way

Bulldogs! is a FATE based game. Players are literally space truckers and the bottom of the barrel when it comes to employment. They are working for a company so what they get out of any delivery keeps the needing to make the next delivery. The captain of the ship is an NPC the players design at the start of the game. Even if the FATE rules are not your cup of tea you can take the concept of how they approach the character employment to manage money vs. the costs of running a ship.

I've been meaning to try Scum and Villainy. I think the way it abstracts the money from a "score" and ways for that to be spent which helps to get more of that "on the edge" feeling.

If you really want to go full economic simulator I've got an odd suggestion for you. Video games. Check out StarSector (Starsector), which has a full economic system built into it. I have no idea how to pull out their approach to use for a ttrpg, but might give you some ideas on how to do it.

 

[aramis erak]

My objection to Star Wars isn't the setting or the game material, but the way so many players think 'Jedi PC' the instant they hear those two words. I would love to run a SW campaign where not a single PC had access to the Force.

D6 Space (D6 Space - Nocturnal Media | OpenD6 / West End Games | DriveThruRPG.com ) is D6 star wars less the star wars content, but adding advantages and disadvantages as an optional rule. Currently under $2 ... disguising SW as D6S is a potential option; the templates transfer directly. Ships are ratings compatible. (but not Design System -- and there is one in the book -- compatible)

D6 Space Ships is the expanded ship construction rules and a starting array of statted ships. (D6 Space Ships - Nocturnal Media | OpenD6 / West End Games | DriveThruRPG.com ). plus more on ops costs... currently $3.

Originally, this system was supposedly slated to be D6 SW 3E, then the license got pulled, and this (plus the companion games, D6 Adventure & D6 Fantasy) were released, then released as full text open source. Then WEG was split up... Eventually, these went to Nocturnal.

 

[rgard]

Traveller?

Agreed on Traveller, but we did have some odd results on the tables. At one point our PCs were selling F-15s to farmers on an airless planet.