Smuggling in Modern Traveller

[Condottiere]

Stealth and speed.

Or, just speed.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Smuggling is really simple. Starports are almsot all law level zero, and try to be agonist to goods on board. Just because its illegal where the starport is, doesnt mean its legal purchase elsewhere to elsehwere.
So you take the illegal guns. Sell it to a company that specializes getting goods past customs. Never need to do it yourself.
Not sure why tramp traders would ever need to do so. Unless they're smuggling stuff they want for their own private use.

You may want to rewrite this to be more clear as I am not sure I even understand what you are saying, but I will try...

First off, it is not smuggling if you are not carrying goods to where they are illegal. If you carry the goods from where they are legal, to where they are legal, such as a starport with a LL-0, that is not smuggling. That is just shipping. For it to be smuggling, the goods must, at the very minimum, pass through territory where said goods are illegal.

I am not aware of any legal companies that advertises themselves as smuggling specialists. That would pretty much guarantee some kind of a law enforcement/bounty hunter responses that would destroy the company and the people who worked for it.

As far as why tramp traders would need to smuggle stuff? That's easy. Because they are being paid to, because these political prisoners need to be gotten to safety, because freeing these slaves is the right thing to do, because they believe that people have a right to eat regardless of what those in power say, etc etc etc. There are literally millions of different reasons why tramp traders may be smugglers.

 

[JBRocky]

Don't know if anyone mentioned it but JTAS 14 has an article about smuggling.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Don't know if anyone mentioned it but JTAS 14 has an article about smuggling.

This I did not know! Thank you!

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

The mechanics of smuggling in Traveller will be totally different to current IRL experience.

I completely agree. My point wasn't to show off, but to expand the aperture for what might actually be the case. I have always been amazed at what people are willing to smuggle, not because they do it, but because it is profitable enough to be financially viable.

I use fabricators a lot IMTU, but I follow Roddenberry's Rule of Replication through intentional limitations and the inherent complexity of replicating complex molecular structures. Hydroponically grown vegetables taste different from dirt-farmed vegetables because of the little flaws and variances of nature, which is why there is a whole branch of "dirty hydroponics".

That is where the value comes from.

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

Smuggling is really simple. Starports are almsot all law level zero, and try to be agonist to goods on board. Just because its illegal where the starport is, doesnt mean its legal purchase elsewhere to elsehwere.
So you take the illegal guns. Sell it to a company that specializes getting goods past customs. Never need to do it yourself.
Not sure why tramp traders would ever need to do so. Unless they're smuggling stuff they want for their own private use.

I don't agree that all starports are lawless. IMTU, every starport is different. That is the whole point- you need to be able to buy a product cheap in one spot, and then sell it for an inflated price somewhere else.

The economy. I will buy your legal guns at CR1000/dton and sell them for MCr.25/dton. Historically, that is how Aristotle Onassis made his money using demilitarized torpedo boats to smuggle cigarettes.

The incentive there is to cut out the broker. All brokers are parasites.

 

[OriginalCaruso]

I don’t agree all brokers are parasites. Many are, but not all

Some brokers add value by connecting people who otherwise would never have the opportunity to connect - for which they extract a price. This principle translates well from IRL to Traveller, and may be more appreciated in Traveller given the higher tech where information will have greater value

I sound like a pedant re-reading the above, that’s not my intent

 

[MasterGwydion]

I don't agree that all starports are lawless. IMTU, every starport is different. That is the whole point- you need to be able to buy a product cheap in one spot, and then sell it for an inflated price somewhere else.

The economy. I will buy your legal guns at CR1000/dton and sell them for MCr.25/dton. Historically, that is how Aristotle Onassis made his money using demilitarized torpedo boats to smuggle cigarettes.

The incentive there is to cut out the broker. All brokers are parasites.

Another reason the UWPs don't work. Law Level currently means two things.

"Law Level determines two things in particular – what it is illegal for Travellers to possess on the world and the likelihood the Travellers will run afoul of the law."

This is stupid! Those two things have no bearing on one another. Law Level needs to be divided into two things. What is illegal and the level of enforcement.

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

Another reason the UWPs don't work. Law Level currently means two things.

"Law Level determines two things in particular – what it is illegal for Travellers to possess on the world and the likelihood the Travellers will run afoul of the law."

This is stupid! Those two things have no bearing on one another. Law Level needs to be divided into two things. What is illegal and the level of enforcement.

There are some interesting developments in the World Builder’s Handbook

 

[MasterGwydion]

There are some interesting developments in the World Builder’s Handbook

True. That was a nice piece of writing on Gier's part.