using Merchant Influence

[Chernobyl]

how would a merchant succesfully use his Influence (from Merchant Princes) on Passenger or Freight Traffic? Seems straightforeward on speculative trade, (adjusting the % purchase price or sale price result), but I can't see how it works on the others.

 

[rust]

Merchant Prince states that Influence can be used on the Passenger Route
Fee Table (see page 71), Freight Adjuster Table (page 66) or the
Modified Price Table (page 81).

I find it difficult to imagine how a merchant could use his influence with his
peers to influence the amount of freight and especially the number of pas-
sengers available. Freight and passengers depend on the local economy
and on "customer decisions", not "merchant decisions".

 

[AndrewW]

I find it difficult to imagine how a merchant could use his influence with his peers to influence the amount of freight and especially the number of pas-sengers available. Freight and passengers depend on the local economy and on "customer decisions", not "merchant decisions".

I could see some influence in terms of knowing about available freight.

 

[rust]

I could see some influence in terms of knowing about available freight.

Yes, but to get this freight would probably be a matter of competition be-
tween the merchants, less of cooperation, and to me Influence seems to
cover only the cooperation part (giving advice, etc.), not the competition
part.

 

[AndrewW]

I could see some influence in terms of knowing about available freight.

Yes, but to get this freight would probably be a matter of competition be-
tween the merchants, less of cooperation, and to me Influence seems to
cover only the cooperation part (giving advice, etc.), not the competition
part.

Yes but in some cases if the one merchant isn't able to take the cargo (wrong direction, full hold and so on) they may pass it on to another. Perhaps that other will do the same for them.

I don't have the MGT Merchant Prince so don't know the details of it.

 

[alex_greene]

Even among competitors, you will find cooperation. Two merchants both known for hauling the same freight run will still occasionally look after one another, networking a mutually beneficial solution rather than coming on like two stags jockeying for dominance.

It usually begins with one of the freight captains seeing a choice cargo available for hauling. He might not have the cargo capacity for it at the moment, but in the spirit of cooperation he might open comms with his rival and tell him where the cargo is and the quantity. If the other guy can handle it, go for it. The freight gets shipped, the rival gets the cash and the man in the port notes down the player character as someone who knows someone ... the go-to guy who'll always find a solution to the problem of getting these freight containers shipped, no matter what.

The freight captain keeps it up, he gains a good reputation - measured as Influence. Pretty soon, his mere arrival in the system will get faces to brighten and people queuing up at the docking port for his attention.

 

[rust]

Even among competitors, you will find cooperation. Two merchants both known for hauling the same freight run will still occasionally look after one another, networking a mutually beneficial solution rather than coming on like two stags jockeying for dominance.

I see your point and agree, I am just not sure whether this should use
Merchant Prince's Influence rule, to me it seems to be something that
is better done with roleplaying than with a game mechanic, which I think
was written for other purposes - but this is just the way I see it.

 

[alex_greene]

Even among competitors, you will find cooperation. Two merchants both known for hauling the same freight run will still occasionally look after one another, networking a mutually beneficial solution rather than coming on like two stags jockeying for dominance.

I see your point and agree, I am just not sure whether this should use
Merchant Prince's Influence rule, to me it seems to be something that
is better done with roleplaying than with a game mechanic, which I think
was written for other purposes - but this is just the way I see it.

I use the Ref's Golden Rule: "If they can't handle roleplaying it, abstract it to a game mechanic." It's no disparagement to the highly intelligent players out there. It's just sometimes, roleplaying something like this might not be to anyone's best interests.

The character might not be a long-term thing, it's just a one-off scenario played over the holidays, or the players might feel that roleplaying out the whole running a business thing is too much like their RL rubbish job.

So you can just gloss it over and bypass objections with a simple die roll, reducing the process to a single shorthand gesture: roll the dice. They succeed or they fail.