Intel - Marketeering is a vital skill for anyone looking to buy and sell goods, from small items to entire spaceships. With this skill, you'll be able to source the items you need and find the buyers for the items you're selling. You'll have a network of contacts that you can reach out to, whether you need to find a rare item or have something to sell.
One of the key abilities of this skill is the ability to haggle and get the best possible prices. You'll know how to negotiate and get the most value for your money when making a purchase, and how to get the best possible price when selling your goods. With your expertise in marketeering, you'll be able to navigate the complex world of buying and selling in the cybercore universe.
In addition to buying and selling items, Intel - Marketeering also involves being able to spot and identify fake, counterfeit, or stolen goods. With your extensive knowledge of the market and your network of contacts, you can quickly recognize when something is not quite right and avoid getting swindled or caught up in illegal activities. This skill is essential for anyone looking to make a profit in the bustling and often shady world of interstellar trade and commerce.
Each commercial transaction or market activity will have a difficulty rating based on the rarity of goods, market conditions, and complexity of the deal. The rarer the item and the more volatile the market, the higher the difficulty.
When you attempt to buy, sell, haggle, appraise items, identify counterfeits, or establish trade deals, you will make an Intel - Marketeering skill check against the task's difficulty rating. The GM may apply Boons or Banes based on factors such as your reputation with merchants, market conditions, availability of goods, or whether you have established contacts in the area.
Rather than spending skill points to move up skill levels, You may instead spend skill points to purchase any of the following tricks.
Cost: 2 Skill points
Requires: Tactical Training
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: You have a supernatural knack for finding the best deals. When shopping in any market, you automatically find items for 15-20% below market value. You know exactly which merchants are desperate to sell, which goods are overstocked, and when to make your offer.
Cost: 2 Skill points
Requires: Tactical Training
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: You can identify the true value of any item instantly and accurately. When examining goods, you automatically know their fair market value, whether they're counterfeits, if they're stolen, and their quality level. You can't be fooled by fake appraisals or scammed with overpriced junk.
Cost: 2 Skill points
Requires: Tactical Training
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: You know exactly how to pitch a product to make buyers want it. When selling goods, you gain a +1d6 Boon to negotiations and can sell items for 15-20% above market value to motivated buyers. Your presentation makes even mundane items seem valuable and desirable.
Cost: 6 Skill points
Requires: Expert Training
Frequency: Once per Op
Effect: You have extensive contacts in the criminal underworld who can provide access to illegal goods and services. When seeking restricted items (weapons, drugs, stolen goods, forbidden tech), you can find a black market supplier within 1-2 days. You get the "criminal's discount" (10% off illegal goods).
Cost: 6 Skill points
Requires: Expert Training
Frequency: Once per Op
Effect: You can coordinate and manage complex logistics to get goods from supplier to buyer efficiently. When arranging transport or deliveries, you reduce shipping costs by 25%, cut delivery times in half, and ensure goods arrive intact. You know every freight captain, cargo hauler, and shipping lane.
Cost: 6 Skill points
Requires: Expert Training
Frequency: Once per Op
Effect: You understand supply and demand well enough to manipulate local markets. By controlling availability of goods (buying up supply, spreading rumors, creating artificial scarcity), you can influence prices by 15-30% in your favor. This works on specific commodities in specific markets for 1-2 weeks.
Cost: 10 Skill points
Requires: Master Training
Frequency: Once per Mission
Effect: Your reputation as a master trader opens doors everywhere. For one mission, you can: find any item (no matter how rare) within 2-3 days, sell any item (even illegal goods) without legal risk, negotiate deals that seem impossible, or establish instant credit with any merchant. Your name carries weight in commercial circles.
Cost: 10 Skill points
Requires: Master Training
Frequency: Once per Mission
Effect: Your understanding of markets is complete. For one operation, you automatically know: all current market prices and trends, where to find any item at best prices, which commodities are about to surge or crash in value, which merchants are trustworthy, and which deals are scams. You can make fortune trading on this knowledge.
Cost: 10 Skill points
Requires: Master Training
Frequency: Once per Mission
Effect: Once per mission, you can negotiate the perfect deal that benefits all parties. This allows you to: buy rare items at half price, sell common items at double price, establish trade partnerships that seem impossible, or broker deals between hostile factions. Everyone walks away feeling they got a great deal, even when you clearly profited most.
Each established trade route grants a stacking Boon to Intel - Marketeering rolls when conducting business on that route:
Boons apply when:
Established trade routes provide practical advantages:
GM Note: Trade routes require active use. Neglected routes lose profitability as relationships deteriorate.
Trade routes require ongoing management:
Zane "Profit" Chen establishes trade routes for rare goods:
MegaCorp establishes a supply chain: