Have Ship, Will Travel: The Tramp Freighter Life

(ie. what your characters know)


(Art by Miguel Iglesias, Art Station)

The Basics

'Tramp Freighters' are commercial vessels that have no regular schedule but takes on and discharges cargo whenever hired to do so. They can and do go everywhere and can and do carry everything. One voyage might be taking priceless Corelian icegems to Bespin, another might be transporting a hundred tons of bantha dung to Tatooine.

In the Core Worlds and other rich areas of the Empire most trade is handled by bulk freighters belonging to major shipping lines, trading houses and conglomerates and the independent trader can hardly compete. Out on the Outer Rim however there is far more opportunity ironically because the pickings are poorer and dangers greater; it simply isn't worth the time or credits for a million ton bulk carrier to make runs to poor mining colonies or primitive frontier worlds. Here the tramp freighter crew can thrive.

Not that they always do thrive of course. Actually most tramp freighter crew end up failing whether due to going bankrupt, falling victim to pirates or rivals, old and unsafe ships exploding, running afoul of Imperial customs officials or any of a hundred other dangers. Still countless spacers and entrepreneurs are drawn to the life looking to have adventures and strike it rich and a lucky few manage both.


(Art from Fantasy Flight Games.)

The Ships

Though there are a few exceptions most tramp freighters are on the smaller side, rarely exceeding a hundred meters in length. There are a near infinite number of ship classes out there but most fall into the category of light freighters (up to forty meters long) and medium freighters (anything between forty and a hundred meters long.) A brand new freighter can cost 100,000 credits or more but most ships you'll see have passed through more than one pair of hands (or claws or tentacles.) The five decade old Smoking Blaster is far from the oldest ship out there.

Tramp freighters are infamous for being modified from their factory designs. Engines, armour, weapons, sensors, shields, the Rancor-skin leather on the pilot's chairs... a ship that has been around for a while might have changed everything inside the hull more than once. Sometimes this can result in a freighter that is faster and more powerful than so small warships. Sometimes it can result in a barely spaceworthy pile of junk. Still, despite the risk and the eyewatering expense there probably hasn't been a tramp captain born who didn't want to tinker with their ships.

The Cargo

You name it and a tramp freighter has probably hauled it. Some captains specialise in certain cargos like alcohol or livestock but most will take a little bit of everything.

Not all tramp freighters are smugglers but many crews do at least dabble in illegal trade. The profits are just too big to ignore and the Empire seems so determined to wring every possible credit from an honest merchant in customs fees and bribes (though the second ones are of course unofficial.) Spice is probably the most (in)famous smuggled substance but gunrunners come a close second. There are also a lot of cargos that might be legal on a a galactic level but are illegal on a local planet or at least heavily taxed. Enter the smuggler.

Unfortunately slaverunners must also be included in this category though most tramp crews will have nothing to do with such scum and their vile trade, unless of course it comes to freeing the slaves in question.


(Art from Fantasy Flight Games.)


The Empire & the Rebellion

Everyone has heard of the Galactic Civil War though ask a dozen different spacers their opinions and you'll get two dozen answers.

Few freighters crews are devoutly pro-Imperial. The job tends to attract fiercely independent souls after all and even if a crew have never personally had a bad experience with Imperials you are not likely to find die-hard members of COMPNOR. The eye-watering taxes and restrictions imposed by the Empire in the Outer Rm don't make many friends either. Then there are those who do have a very personal reason to dislike the Empire; the Imperial Navy, the Stormtroopers and the Moffs can get very heavy handed out on the Rim.

That said the Rebellion is not universally popular either, even if it doesn't usually conjure up the the grudges the Empire can. Spacer attitudes towards the Alliance range from the suspicious ("they are just glorified pirates") to the cynical ("revolutions don't pay the bills darling") to the fatalistic ("Old Palp's will crush 'em soon enough.") Some tramp freighters have also found themselves in the tricksy position of unknowingly carrying Rebel goods or personnel and stupidity is rarely a good defence in an Imperial court. That said there are some spacers sympathetic to the Rebels who quietly do business with them, though even these tend to shake their heads if one of their number goes soft and joins the Rebellion.

The Fringe

The Fringe is the name for the galactic underworld, everyone from small time loan sharks to the Hutt Cartels and Black Sun. Everyone in the tramp trade in the Outer Rim will find themselves having to deal with the Fringe sooner or later. Even the most honest, above board crew can find themselves approached for shakedowns in seedy spaceports. The best advice for any crew is to be smart in your enemies and in your friends.