On Fri, 19 Feb 2021 12:00:35 +0000, Timothy Collinson
<xxxxxx@port.ac.uk> wrote:

>.. maybe the solution to players' lack of interest in trading - despite
>being merchants!! - isn't to attempt to keep track of cargoes myself in a
>helpful sort of way but simply to track time and costs - i.e. increasing
>debt.  Hmmmm, I think I've been missing a trick...

You could, but my inclination would be to do so in a way that's not
necessarily directly helpful to the PCs - rather, the records you are
keeping are for _you_, as a guide to Possible Events and Complications. You
can play "ship's computer" and give them reminders that mortgage payments
are due, life support supplies need to be replenished, etc., but it will
tend to drive home the need to trade and do so wisely if _they_ have to do
the ship's accounts - especially if there are consequences for _not_
tracking them ("What do you mean, we can't afford it? We made
umpty-thousand credits on that deal three ports back!" "Yes, but you bought
those high-priced weapons two ports back, and you've been spending
eleventeen hundred credits per week on life support, plus port fees,
plus...").

This is where I point you to "Building a Ship's Financial Profile",
Freelance Traveller, June/July 2014,
https://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/rules/finprofile.html and
possibly also "Building a Commercial Atlas", Freelance Traveller, September
2014, https://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/rules/commatlas.html -
you want them to be conscious of the need for wise trade, but you don't
want to get bogged down in the minutia of it; Traveller is "SF Adventure in
the Far Future", not "Accurate Accounting Activities With Role-Playing On
The Side".

Even so, your players might well find that a very basic personal finance
manager program - there are freebies out there, so you don't even need to
spend real money on them - is a good way to keep on top of their ship's
finances, possibly even including automatic transactions like replenishing
life support. Spreadsheets can also be used for this, although they don't
have the possibility of automatic transactions.

(I should work up an article about that topic... or someone else can...)

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