General How much should a patron offer?

[mike wightman]

Going over CT again I came up with these rough and ready guidelines for how much a patron could/should offer for a job.

First I looked at sources of income which consist of:
pensions (Cr4000->Cr8000 per annum or Cr334->Cr667 per month)
ship crew position(s) (Cr1000->Cr9000 per month)
and finally a cashed in TAS high passage ticket (Cr4500)

So that sets the limits of sorts - Cr300 to Cr9000 per month is a ballpark range for a one off payment for a job taking less than a week, you should take into account danger, legality, and expertise required for the patron's job offer. If the job will require over a week then double the reward.

 

[mike wightman]

And now because referee's like tables

2d6	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Cr	300	600	1000	2000	3000	4000	5000	6000	7000	8000	9000

DMs
easy -4
routine -2
difficult 0
challenging +2
illegal +2
no special expertise -2
skilled requirement +1
expert (2+ skill) +2
specialist (3+ skill) +3

 

[kilemall]

I guess I work backwards of that- creating a random mission, I roll the payoff and then I determine difficulty- risk/reward.

 

[mike wightman]

Well you would need to know the mission details to decide DMs

This is just intended as a rough guide to referees to give them an idea of what a patron could/should be offering

There is a DM missing and since I can not edit my own posts:

DMs
easy -4
routine -2
difficult 0
challenging +2
tradewar +1
illegal +2
no special expertise -2
skilled requirement +1
expert (2+ skill) +2
specialist (3+ skill) +3

 

[Condottiere]

A pouch full of gold coins used to be enough.

Hard to obtain equipment could be part of the incentive.

Or information.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Thanks for posting this!

I've had trouble figuring out prices or rewards for certain activities:

Civilian finds and claims in the Imperium

What do Space Explorers look for?

It isn't easy figuring out what to pay the group without unbalancing the game. University of Rhylanor might pay more than the Imperium, but less than a Private Collector. They don't have to be the original Patron, either. Just the Highest Bidder if the original Patron doesn't pay.

And then there's Theft before you get paid, but that's a different subject...

 

[Grav_Moped]

Thanks for posting this!

I've had trouble figuring out prices or rewards for certain activities:

Civilian finds and claims in the Imperium

What do Space Explorers look for?

It isn't easy figuring out what to pay the group without unbalancing the game. University of Rhylanor might pay more than the Imperium, but less than a Private Collector. They don't have to be the original Patron, either. Just the Highest Bidder if the original Patron doesn't pay.

And then there's Theft before you get paid, but that's a different subject...

Nice lists on your blog there.

 

[McPerth]

It will also depend on many more factors, as the economic capacity of the patron (the Duke "only" offers us 15000 Cr? Not sure he really wants it done...), the need for secrecy (even if not illegal), how much the patron needs it done, the availability of other people to do it, the party's reputation... Sure I forgot many.

I don't believe there may be hard rules about it.

Oh, and another factor: the referee's interest if it can help to run the campaign

 

[mike wightman]

Feel free to add DMs and extend the chart, but it is a useful ballpark figure for general use.

 

[Garnfellow]

I was just looking for this post last week!

 

[BackworldTraveller]

If you look at the income of the starship positions and the expenditures associated with particular social standing levels, some ships' roles will up a players low SOC by implication. Odd that this isn't in the rules!

The other thing about these tables is that they sort of assume that wealth/income are linearly defined - whereas there is an exponential distribution in practice. If you are working for anything to do with ships, the salvage/recovery fees will be substantial. Same for fixing major (financially significant) corporate issues. Working for Nobles is also potentially life changing/ending! If you are about to reveal a major criminal action by a mega-corporation, the real reward is in shorting the stock before hand - and the real risk is the post-revalation cleanup by that corporation's security team or by the securities-exchange regulator.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Thought I'd throw this up since I've recently been working on similar. I think you might need to extend that table a bit.

If the job/mission/ticket is out of the system, you'd probably have throw in the cost of a round-trip Jump. Ship Operation costs for the 2 week round-trip, plus Ship Operation time on the job - probably 1 week. Plus crew salaries for the timeframe.

If the job/mission/ticket is out of the system, but there's no Ship, it's at least a round-trip High Passage and a weeks' paid Hotel Accommodations per person. Plus the pay just for the timeframe.

In addition to the job itself.

If the crew doesn't have the gear, then there's Equipment Rental fees and Provisioning costs unless the Patron provides.

And the cost of hired guns/guards/guides/porters.

Plus religious help if you're going to have an open-the-Ark-of-the-Covenant type of ceremony.

Here's an example from The Traveller Adventure Patron Rare Vintage:

The patron wants 100 bottles within ten weeks and is willing to pay up to Cr2,500 per bottle upon delivery for top quality vintage (individual years vary greatly in quality because the wine deteriorates over time). He will not pay if delivery is late.

If they get those, the payout is 250,000. If they steal those bottles, that's a lot of money. Even if they get those 100 bottles at Cr250, the crew is only paying Cr25,000 and getting 10 times that. Even if they are getting the 100 bottles at Cr1,000 each. They're still getting a Cr150,000 payout.

Here's an example from The Traveller Adventure Patron Air of Rebellion:

The group is approached by a pair who identify themselves as freedom fighters from Dhian. They will pay three times standard rates to have themselves and 10 tons of cargo landed on Dhian at a location well away from the starport. Upon landing, they will pay an additional Cr20.000. They will answer no further questions.

So some of these are a lot higher than Cr9,000.

If you want, I can copy these from The Traveller Book and The Traveller Adventure. Just the payouts could fall under Fair Use. But I won't do all 76 Patrons.

Let me know.