SWN: Merchants of the Void

Tyrmä's Sunday game nights, starting on the 21st of October. Merchants of the Void (name pending) is a sandbox-like science fiction space trader campaign running on Stars Without Number (Revised), available for free online and the Suns of Gold supplement for the same game. Do you have it in you to blaze the starlanes, dodging pirates, nosy customs officers and taxes alike? Intention is to play in English, but Finnish can be switched to if necessary.

On the Setting

The free rulebook has a more detailed history of the setting, but the short version is that humanity expanded to cover the entire Orion Arm, but then suffered a major collapse and is only now recovering, with some planets having reached levels of technology similar to before the collapse, while others still resemble post-apocalyptic wastelands.

Sector Pax Alpha

The interstellar sector that this campaign will be taking place can be roughly split into two halves: the technologically and economically less developed “west” and the more developed “east” which suffers from its own problems, one among them a proxy war between two interplanetary governments. But where an ordinary planet-dweller sees problems, a far trader sees opportunity, and you need only the courage, the cunning and the cargo space to reap the rewards therein.

On the Nature of Far Trading

A trader that abides by every single law and regulation concerning trade is a trader that's soon to be bankrupt. Bribes, smuggling, and exploiting loopholes are some of the tools with which far traders stay in business.

On the Starting Situation

At an orbital shipyard, your new ship is almost ready to go, and your careers as unscrupulous far traders can begin. But first you need products to trade, and you've managed to hear of a local bureaucrat who happened to lose a shipment of weapons, and might just be willing to tell you where that shipment is, if you provide them with some discreet help.