Lunar Marketeer

"The cataclysm will soon reach you. Rumors exist of a planet safe from destruction called Safehaven. Your ship is capable of reaching it, but the Intergalactic Governing Patrol has put up tariff barriers in between solar system zones. Will you risk it all to rake in enough to thrive or will you steadily build up to the tariff? Will you reach the rumored planet of Safehaven?"

Lunar Marketeer is a dice based solo marketing game. You are a marketeer trying to escape a galaxy wide disaster. Make a strategy and adapt to the will of the galaxy. Pay the tariff or succumb to the cataclysm.

Articles required for the journey:

A d6 or Fate/Fudge Dice. 6-10 are recommended for ease of play and tracking. Something to keep track of you resources, Creds (Currency), and other aspects of the game.

Optionally, Music to accompany you on your journey.

Feedback from Marketeers is appreciated and taken.

Credits: Created by me, Yougotachocolate/Choco for the One Page Jam 2024, Dicier is by Speak The Sky, licensed under CC by 4.0. M Kirin and the Virtual Cafe for a lot of help. Special thanks to nemysisrelapse for balancing help. Check out Hawker for another merchant game!

Preface and Inspirations

So, Lunar Marketeer was my first ever TTRPG project. I had played a few TTRPGs (Mutants and Masterminds 3E and Cairn as a GM, Iron Valley and Ironsworn for solo play) before creating this. My general idea was creating a rougelike with some of the ideas from shopkeeping games. I've played a few, such as Moonlighter and Hometown Story. I also played a few of the simulation games from Kariosoft. These were my main inspirations as I went on to make Lunar Marketeer

Art from Moonlighter

Funny enough, I could thank the dice chest in my local game shop for giving me the idea to use fate dice for the game. They're simple (negative, blank, and positive) and easily adaptable for a game like this. After buying six of them, I started my few day journey into making Lunar Marketeer.

The Game Itself

The game had three phases: buying your stock, selling it, and trying to upgrade anything left over. All three relied on the majority type being used. I feel now this system is quite limited. For a small game like this, it works fine. However if I were to expand Lunar Marketeer, I would lean more into your ship being a shop aspect.

The major threat of each run was the Tariff. On the 7th day, a player needed to pay the Tariff or they would lose. I personally think that I should have allowed an option for the tariff to be paid via items market value to let players have a chance to survive without a full wallet.

They'll never catch me with my ET copies

One other aspect I would like to use in the future is Risky items. How they work is kind of like gambling: when you sell them the result determines the price. If you get a great result (Majority 5/6 or plus on fate dice) you could get your investment back plus more. However, getting normal would bring it down to half the market price. There was also something with crossing the zone border where if you were found out you had to pay a debt or fine. I think the distinction of Legal and Illegal items could be expanded upon in the future.

Final Thoughts and Additions

Lunar Marketeer is my clunky and somewhat convoluted debut game, yet I can't come to hate it. On an idea level, I believe it could scratch the itch between roguelike and shop sim. However, this is more of a roguelike. If I ever make a Lunar Marketeer V2, I will focus more on the RPG aspect of a TTRPG. I would like to also like to add things like stocks and mechanics for the "shop" itself down the line.