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By default, this cargo generator will fill 100 metric tons of cargo space (with a randomized amount of unfilled capacity), appropriate for a
light freighter, small warehouse, or a single cargo bay of a larger starship. As such, this is the most cargo that players will generally have
to deal with in a single encounter. At the lower end, 20 tons of cargo is approximately how much you might find in a single speeder truck.
At the upper end, 250,000 tons of cargo is enough to fill all but the largest of starships; a typical bulk freighter usually carries around
100,000 tons of cargo. Larger vessels tend to be packed more efficiently and therefore have less unused space, but it is not uncommon for small
cargo carriers to be significantly or even mostly empty, especially if carrying a small priority shipment.
On average, assume that 1 square (1.5-meters-by-1.5-meters with at least 2.5 meters floor-to-ceiling space, or roughly 5 cubic meters)
holds about 1 ton of cargo. Cargo is generally much bulkier than it is heavy due to irregular shapes, the need for void filler and cushioning,
and consumer packaging, particularly in the case or smaller items. (Think about the relative size of a modern cell phone to its packaging.)
Even relatively dense cargo, such as metals or liquids, is usually placed in shorter stacks, thereby allowing labor droids and other
freight handling equipment to stay within their designed limits.
Generally, it takes a full round action to search a single square, but merely reading the labels on the outside of a container is considerably
faster, usually a swift action. Accounting for the time necessary to move from crate to crate, a single character can take a very quick inventory
(item types, but no specific count) in about 5 minutes, a more detailed inventory in 15 minutes (including rough counts of each item and a cursory
search of the containers), and a detailed inventory and extremely close inspection in about 4 hours (taking 20 on all Perception checks). This is
also useful to keep in mind if the heroes draw the attention of a tenacious customs inspector!
Sources: The concept of this random generator comes from page 57 of the
Galactic Campaign Guide
(by Peter Schweighofer and JD Wiker), which was based on a "Chance Cube" article by Michael Mikaelian, in Star Wars Gamer #2. (It is also
available for free in Hero's Guide Web Enhancement #2,
downloadable from Wizards of the Coast's website.) My generator deviates quite a bit from
these earlier versions, taking advantage of lines of code to handle far more variability than would be possible with a pen-and-paper set of tables.
I tried to draw from more recent Star Wars sources so that GMs will find links to their latest campaign guides. (I will eventually add book
and page references for specific items published outside the Saga Edition core rulebook to help you find the relevant game mechanics when that
becomes necessary.)
In addition, I have lower estimates of how many items will fit into a single ton of cargo capacity: I used modern sources (such as the "volumetric
weight" used by UPS and the weight limit of a tractor-trailer compared to its internal volume) to come up with more concrete estimates of what "1 ton"
means, and from there I considering how bulky even the smallest of items tend to be (drawing from my experience as a security guard at a
warehouse one summer, sometime in the last century). Given this, the cargo generated here will tend to be less valuable on a ton-for-ton basis than
that created by the Galactic Campaign Guide version. (I encourage you to look up their version to compare the two and modify these results
to best fit your Star Wars gaming needs.)
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