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Thursday, January 17, 2019

OSR Star Wars Revision: Starship Rules Part Two: Combat

COMBAT
Combat is carried out normally per old school D&D rules: initiative, moves, attacks, etc. It's all the same. Find the numbers, add or subtract bonuses and penalties, roll the dice.

Distance
Most spaceship fights begin at extreme sensor range between ships. This places the ships 21 - 40 squares apart.
Sometimes a ship is cloaked or manages to get in closer. Sometimes a ship will launch fighters at a closer range. Adjust accordingly.

Combat Phases
The one change is the addition of the Maneuver Check, an opposed Piloting check with bonuses or penalties from a ship's maneuver rating before initiative is rolled. The winner is assumed to have maneuvered to an advantageous position over his enemy.

1. Players declare character movement or actions.
2. Maneuver Phase: Opposed Pilot checks with modifiers for combat advantages.
3. Initiative: 1d6 plus modifiers is rolled by each opposing side.
4. Movement: The LOSERs  of initiative moves his ship first in the movement phase.
5. Ranged Attacks: The winner goes first, followed by the losers
6. Force Use: The winner goes first, followed by the losers
7. Melee Attacks: The winner goes first, followed by the losers

Maneuver Phase

Pilot vs Pilot roll (Dex checks.) Ship's maneuver is added as a bonus to the Pilot's rolls.
Success and highest roll wins. Winner gets a +2 to hit and +2 to Initiative.
The winner also moves after the other ships in the Movement phase of combat (this gives them the opportunity of placing themselves in the most advantageous position.)

Initiative Phase
Basic Roll: 1d6 + Pilot bonus + /- Ship initiative modifier
+2 if a Maneuver roll was won the previous round.

Movement Phase
Again........ The Loser of the Maneuver Phase moves first, the winner moves last.
Each space square is 500m.  Each atmospheric square is 50m.

I'm using a simplified abstract system to represent  movement and maneuvering. That's what the Maneuver Phase is for.

No complicated side-slips or other overly specific mechanics. They are more complex than I wanted in this. IF you want to add them back it go fo it, it's easy enough to do so.

Speed
Unless the pilot adjusts course and speed the ship will automatically stay on the course and speed of the previous round.

Turning
Not all ships turn at the same rate. The smaller the ship the tighter and faster the turn as larger ships use movement to turn unlike smaller ships. This is part of the ship's Move action.

Small (light freighter) or smaller (Starfighters)
These small ships can turn any direction in one square.
It can curve around in the same square, do a looping barrel roll, or whatever to position itself to leave the square and finish any movement it has left.

The Catch: Any forward or sideways movement costs them no movement but any towards a rear arc costs two squares of movement as the ship loops up, down, or sideways to reverse direction.

An X-Wing can make a 180 degree turn, costing it two  squares movement, and move down it's original flight path.

Medium and Large ships (Medium Transport, Corellian Corvette)
These ships can turn fairly sharply for their size. They can move forward or turn in a ninety degree arc.
When it turns it cannot just turn in its current square., it must move forward one square and then turn the ninety degrees and can move into the side square. That move cost two squares movement. The ship, if necessary and still has movement, can move forward another square and then turn another ninety degrees, costing two more square of movement.

A Corellian Corvette can make a 180 degree turn in two rounds, costing it four squares of movement, and end up two squares away from its original flight path.

 Huge ships and Larger  (Mon Cal Cruiser, Star Destroyers)
These massive ships are slow, often moving ony three or four squares maximum. To turn these ships move them up to their max speed. At the end of the move turn the nose 45 degrees in what direction it needs to go into a diagonal square. The next round repeat the maneuver along the diagonal squares. These two rounds turned the ship ninety degrees. Keep going two more rounds to turn the ship 180 degrees.

An imperial star destroyer with a max move of three and turning 180 degrees over the course of four rounds will end up eight squares from it's original flight path.

Moving in Reverse
Unless noted ships cannot go in reverse faster than docking speed. Almost all ships are not equipped with powerful reverse thrusters.

Ranged Attack Phase
Pilot and Crew can attack in this phase.

Pilot's Ranged attack score.
Ranged attack bonus + Dex bonus
+2 Pilot class attack bonus
+ weapon's targetting computer bonus if applicable
speed factor
penalty for range
+2 maneuver bonus if gained

Crewman's Ranged attack score.
Ranged attack bonus + Dex bonus
+ weapon's targetting computer bonus if applicable
speed factor
penalty for range
+2 maneuver bonus if gained

Range (in 500m squares)
Point Blank 0
Short -2
Medium -4
Long -6

Firing into Dogfight
-4 to avoid allies.

Force Use Phase
Characters with Force powers may go in this phase.

Melee Attack Phase
Normal melee combat (if relevant) go in the phase.

SHIPS STATS

Scale
Armor Class
Hit Points
Shields
Move
Maneuver
Initiative

Scale
The size of a ship compared to other ship and objects. This is important as certain weapons (such as Ion) will not affect ships of a larger scale.

Colossal- Capital Ship: Star Destroyer, Mon Cal Cruiser
Gargantun-  Assault frigate
Huge- Nebulon-B escort frigate
Large- Corellian corvette, bulk freighter
Medium- Medium transport
Small- Light freighter, Imp customs light cruiser
Tiny- X-Wing starfighter
Diminutive- Tie fighter
Fine- Missile, escape pod, airspeeder

Armor Class
Vehicle AC + Pilot Bonus + Speed Factor
Flying defensively (no attack attempt) adds +4

Hit Points
The ship's maximum hit points at full strength.  Ships have a Damage Reduction based on size attached to hit points. When ever damage is done to the ship's HP the DR is deducted first.

Shields
Shields deflect objects away from a starship. They run off of generators which can be overloaded in combat or any other situation that the shield is being battered. Shields cannot be left on indefinitely as this will blow out the generators; they are kept for situations such as combat, asteroids, etc.

The Shield Points are the number of damage points absorbed before the shield generators are overloaded and shields are down. Once this happens damage is done to the ship's Hit Points.
Like Hit Points shields have a DR rating based on size which deducts damage to the SP which each hit.

Regeneration
Overloaded generators will regenerate Shield Points at a rate per minute based on ship size:
Fine/Diminutive- 1 SP
Tiny/Small- 2 SP
Medium- 5SP
Large/Huge- 8 SP
Gargantuan/Colossal- 10 SP

Repair
As long as the shield generators are not destroyed a character can make a Repair roll with a -8 penalty to regain 5 points to the shields. This is a full round action. It can be repeated until shields are at full capacity.

Ion damage will ignore shields.

Angling Shields
Sometimes called 'doubling' shields. A ship can angle its shields on one fire arc to increase the shield points for that arc. This requires a lot of power and strain on the shield generators. This prevents any protection from arcs other than the angled one. The angled arc's shield points are doubled. If the angled shield is damaged any remaining shield points are halved when power is returned to the other shields. Therefore if a doubled shield is down to 20 shield points after attacks then it and the other shield arcs have 10 when power is redistributed.

Raising shields takes time as seen below.
The shields take effect on the crewman who activated them's turn.

Move
This is the maximum number of 500km squares a ship can move in space and 50m squares in atmosphere.

Unless a Pilot changes speed or direction in a round the ship will automatically move in the direction it was headed at the speed it was at from the previous round.

Starting the Ship
Engines take time to warm up. The bigger the engine the longer the time.


A Pilot can reduce this time by one step (minimum a move action) with a successful Piloting check taken as a move action.

Maneuver
This bonus is added to the Piloting rolls for any Piloting check. It is most commonly used in combat for the Maneuver Check for advantages in combat.

Initiative
The ship's bonus to the Pilot's initiative roll for combat.

WEAPONS
Weaponry is pretty self-explanatory:
listed damage
bonus to hit with the weapon (bonuses from size, fire control computer, etc)
firing arc

The Starship descriptions include weaponry in their stats.
I've used the old d20 weapon stats. They work well and are easy to find online.
I will have a large list of weaponry and options in the upcoming Starship Modifications post.

Here's a few basics to use with the Starship descriptions.

Powering Weapons
The bigger the ship, the longer it takes to get the weapons hot and ready to fire.

Fire-linked Weaponry
One extra dice damage per pair of weapons (you'll see this in the starship weapon stats.) Must be identical weapons.

Ion Weapons
Ion weapons do not work on objects of a larger scale. Personal weapons do not affect vehicles which do not affect starships/transports which do not affect larger ships such as capitol.

Ion weapons ignore shields. When they hit a ship they do not do damage to the ship Hit Points. The ion damage affects electrical systems: pretty much everything aboard a ship. This shows up as a penalty to all skills or abilities used with the ship: Piloting,  Nav, attacks, etc as the damaged systems are slow to respond and glitching.

For each hit and damage roll check the following chart. Total all ion damage done from all ships and weapon emplacement attacks on the targeted ship. Penalties apply immediately.


The more damage builds up the worse it gets until the ship is incapacitated at 81+ points of Ion damage. No system works, controls are locked and the ship continues on the course and speed it had previously.

Missiles
Missiles are guided and have a bonus to hit of their own based on quality of the guidance systems. To hit roll a 1d20 and add the bonus and any range penalties.
+5, marginal
+10, ordinary
+15, good
+20, amazing

Missiles move at a rate of 9 squares. They have enough fuel for six rounds.
When a missile enters the same square as its designated target it makes an attack roll to hit using the bonus from its guidance system.

It will take the most direct route and if it requires a Pilot check the check bonus is equal to the guidance system bonus.
If it misses it will continue on its course using the rest of its movement, if any,  out of the square. It will turn to attack again the next round.
It will stop if it hits the target, runs out of fuel, or runs into something else and explodes.

Distracting Missiles
Target enters Square with another ship, asteroid, etc.
Pilots: check to avoid collision. All pilots in square roll a Piloting check, worst roll is new target.

Asteroids, obstacles, etc.
Asteroid check is 10, Pilot rolls normal. If Pilot rolls better check the asteroid is hit and explodes.

Attacking a Live Missile
Ac- 22
Hp- 30
Move- 9 squares
Initiative- same as when launched.
Fuel- six rounds
Fire-linked- as normal rules.
Attack Roll- 1d20+ guidance bonus.

Tractor Beams
Deals no damage to the target. It traps the target in place or pulls it towardss or pushes away from the source of the beam. To catch the target requires a ranged attack roll but ignores the target ship's armor bonus to AC (usually 10 unless modified.) Thus an X-Wing's base AC vs a tractor beam attack would be 12.

As a move action the beam can move a trapped ship a number of squares based on the size of the tractoring ship.

Resisting/Escaping the Tractor Beam
A Pilot can attempt to maneuver and resist or even escape the beam. He must make a Piloting check with all bonuses and penalties for the ship's Maneuverability score. If he makes the roll by 5 points he has resisted and the trapped ship does not move from its current position. If made by 10+ the ship breaks free and can move normally. If the tractoring ship is larger add a -4 penalty to the check, if smaller add a +4 bonus to the check.

CAPITAL SHIPS
Point-Defense Weapons
Starfighters are a problem at point blank range for capital ships. They have difficulty bringing their weapons to bear at such small targets. They can target no more than one-fourth of their weapons at any single medium or small ship and one-tenth at even smaller ships.
(Round down to a minimum of one weapon.)

To address this problem many capital ships use point-defense weaponry. They fire as a medium sized ship (+0 to hit, no penalty at point blank range.) P-D weapons cannot target a ship at greater than point-blank range (1 square.)

Weapon Batteries
Capital ships have weapons grouped in batteries. They are not about accuracy but about volume. They fill an area with blaster bolts seeking a hit. A battery is a group of up to five identical weapons that fire as one volley using a single attack roll with a +1 bonus per extra weapon up to a +4. For every 3 points a target was hit by an additional weapon rolls damage against the target, up to the maximum number of weapons in the battery. The critical range of the attack roll is dropped by one for each extra gun. A four gun battery would have a critical range of 17 - 20. Each extra hit after the first rolls a 1d20 to see if its damage falls into the crit range.

Strafing Run
A starship or transport can get in close and skim the surface of a capital ship or station; they can also make strafing runs against positions on a planet's surface. This allows the ships to avoid defense weaponry; they also disappear off the sensors of huge ships or larger when making the run. The Pilot must move his ship into one of the squares occupied by the capital ship or station closing to within 10m with a Piloting check to avoid collision. Collisions immediately ends the strafing run.

A second Piloting check determines the success of the run and it is modified by the size of the object being strafed.
Colossal, -4
Gargantuan, -6
Huge, -8
Large, -12

If successful only Point-Defense Weapons can attack the ships.
If it fails the Pilot must immediately make another check with the same penalty to regain control.
If successful the ship flies on normally and can attempt another strafing run on his next action.
If he failed by ten or more he must roll on the out of control chart below. A change of pitch could collide his ship with the larger object. See below.

Once a ship drops of a Huge ship or larger's sensors with a successful strafing run the smaller ship can, in theory, employ its landing claw to dock on the larger ship and appear to have disappeared. The Piloting check penalty for this is -12.

DAMAGE TO SHIPS
When an attack is successful against a ship damage is rolled normally.
You must knock out shields before you start hitting a ship's Hit Points.

Ships can be critically hit:
A natural 20 on the attack dice roll is a crit.
Any hit on the ship when it is at half hit points or lower is a crit.
You cannot critical hit shields, only hits to a ship's Hit Points.

If the roll was a success but less than five over the target AC and the ship is not at half hit points or less:  Roll 1d8
The entry shows what the penalty is and what kind of Repair roll is required, with possible penalties, to jury-rig the system (see below.) Finally it shows the consequences if the entry is rolled again.
1. Stabilizer damaged, -2 to all Piloting rolls and attacks, Normal Repair, if rolled again stabilizers must be replaced and Piloting is at -4
2. Shield generators damaged, lose all shields from the arc attacked and cannot be angled to reinforce this arc until repaired, -4 to Repair to get the generator working
3. Sensor damage: -4 to all Nav Sensor checks, Normal Repair, if rolled again Sensors destroyed and must be replaced
4. Computer damage: All Nav Astrogate and attack rolls at -2 penalty, Normal Repair, will suffer an additional -2 for each time this result is rolled
5. Sublight engine damage, ship max Speed drops by 1d6, Normal Repair, reduce by 1d6 for each time this result is rolled
6. Comms damaged, -4 to all Nav Comms checks, -4 Repair, if rolled again Comms destroyed
7. Weapon damaged, a single weapon (not a fire-linked group) is non-functional, -4 Repair
8. Hyperdrive damaged, +1d3 to ship's hyperdrive multiplier, Normal Repair, it will add 1d3 to the multiplier for each additional result rolled. 

Jury-Rig
The damage above can be jury-rigged with a Repair roll,  with or without a penalty (noted in each entry above.) The jury-rig attempt takes a full round and can be made each round until successful.

A success with remove one set of penalties temporarily. If a system was hit more than once another jury-rig must be made for each additional penalty (unless it is Comm or Sensors, those are destroyed on a second hit.)

For example: Computer is hit twice for -4 total. Each jury-rig attempt would temporarily restore -2. The same works for sublight and hyperdrive engine damages if hit more than once. Each jury-rig would temporarily restore whatever dice of speed was lost in on hit.

The jury-rig will last a number of minutes equal to what the repair roll was made by. After this time the system or part will regain it's damaged state until full repaired. Roll the minutes for each jury-rig even if more than one was on the same system.

If the roll was 5 or more over the target AC or the ship is at half or less Hit Points from the attack or the total damage from all attacks including this one. Roll 1d8
1. Armor stripped! Part of the ship's armor plating is stripped away from the arc attacked, lose 1d10 from AC on that arc, takes one full day to install new armor
2. Shield generators destroyed! All remaining shields are lost, do not regenerate until generators fixed, takes one full day to install new generators
3. Computer destroyed! No nav computer to aid in Astrogation and fire-control bonus lost to all weapons, all attacks take additional -2 penalty , takes one full day to strip and replace
4. Weapons destroyed! One weapon emplacement is destroyed, any gunner(s) will take half damage from the hit, must be replaced
5. Sublight engines knocked out! Ship is adrift in space, can by jury-rigged with a -12 to Repair but takes one full day to do so, if rolled again the engines are totally destroyed and must be replaced
6. Hyperdrive critically damaged! Backup is still functional (if there is one) unless this result shows up again, takes one full day to install new
7. Widespread damge: the ship's power core is overloaded and going to blow in 2d6 rounds, destroying the ship and everyone on board, anything in the same square will take damage according to the ship's size. 
 
8. Obliterated: the ship instantly disintegrates or explodes into a ball of fire. 

Targeting the Engine or Pilot

Sometimes you want to take out a ship without blowing it to space dust. To do this you can target the ships engine or its crew and hopefully it won't explode.
A ship cannot target a ship of a small scale than it is.

Penalties:
-4 to attack the engine or structures such as a conning tower
-6 to attack a smaller structure such as a weapon emplacement or cockpit/crew

If the attack hits roll normal damage.
Once it goes through Shields and is damaging Hit Points add the following effects.

If the roll was a success but less than five over the target AC:
Engines (1d6)
1-4 Sublight Damage: Ship's Max Speed drops by 1d6, Normal Repair, reduce by 1d6 for each time this result is rolled
5-6 Hyperdrive damaged, +1d3 to ship's hyperdrive multiplier, Normal Repair, it will add 1d3 to the mutiplier for each additonal result rolled.

Cockpit: Roll 1d6
1 Comm damage: -4 to all Nav Comms checks, -4 Repair, if rolled again Comms destroyed
2-3 Computer damage: All Nav Astrogate and attack rolls at -2 penalty, Normal Repair 
4-5 Sensor damage: -4 to all Nav Sensor checks, Normal Repair, if rolled again Sensors destroyed and must be replaced
6 All crew in cockpit take damage: 2d6 damage 

Weapon
A single weapon (not a fire-linked group) is non-functional, -4 Repair

Jury-Rig
The above effects on equipment can be jury-rigged as with normal critical hit rules.

If the roll was 5 or more over the target AC or If the ship is at half or less Hit Points from the attack or the total damage from all attacks including this one.
Engines: Roll 1d6
1-4 Sublight engines knocked out! Ship is adrift in space, can by jury-rigged with a -12 to Repair but takes one full day to do so, if rolled again the engines are totally destroyed and must be replaced
5-6 Hyperdrive critically damaged! Backup is still functional (if there is one) unless this result shows up again, takes one full day to fix

Cockpit: Roll 1d6
1 Comm destroyed! Crew takes 1d6 damage
2-3 Computer destroyed! No nav computer to aid in Astrogation and fire-control bonus lost to all weapons, all attacks take additional -2 penalty and the crew takes 1d6 damage
4-5 Sensors destroyed! Crew takes 1d6 damage
6 All crew in cockpit take damage: 4d6 damage 

Weapon
Destroyed! One weapon emplacement is destroyed, any gunner(s) will take half damage from the hit, must be replaced

OTHER HAZARDS
Engine Wash
Flying close to a ship's sublight drives can be hazardous as they put out a lot of heat and radiation. Each round a ship is at point blank range behind another ship it takes damage based on the ship's size. Of course shields and DR will make smaller ship's wash insignificant.

Ship Size Damage
Colossal 10d6
Gargantuan 8d6
Huge 6d6
Large 4d6
Medium 3d6
Small 2d6
Tiny/Dimin./Fine 1d6

Ram Attack
Sometimes Pilot's get desperate and have no choice but ram their ship into an enemy.
This is how ramming works:
Declare the speed of the ramming ship; it must be enough to reach the target ship.
Starship combat Maneuver, Initiative, and Movement phases are followed.
On his movement the ramming ship must move in a straight line towards the target ship (an has a -2 penalty to his AC.) If there are obstacles the Pilot can make a Piloting check to avoid those in his pathway to the target.
When it enters the square the target occupies the Pilot makes an attack roll with a +2 bonus, the armor of the target ship does not count towards its AC (-10.)
If it hits a collision has occurred. If missed it continues on its flight vector until the end of it's max movement that round.

Collision Damage
Use highest speed of the two ramming ships.This gives us a damage dice.
Docking - d4
Cruising - d8
Attack - d10
Ramming - d12

Now find the damage dice based on size. The damage done to each ship will be based on the size of the ship hitting it..
Colossal- 24
Gargantuan-  20
Huge- 16
Large- 12
Medium- 10
Small- 8
Tiny- 6
Diminutive- 4
Fine- 2
Smaller- 0

Finally find the Collision Vector for a Damage Modifier
Moving toward the ramming ship- x2
Moving perpendicular-x1
Moving away- x1/2

Once the damage has been calculated apply damage to both ships,

Avoiding Obstacles

When entering the same square as an obstacle the Pilot must make a Piloting check to avoid hitting them with the ship. It is a free action to steer around or through each relevant obstacle although there are penalties.

If another ship is in the same square and there is the possibility of a collision both Pilots roll. Only if both Pilots fail is there a collision. Unless a lot of damage is rolled it is most likely just a graze with the possibility of losing control.

Use the damage from Ramming above.
If the Piloting check was failed by 10 or more see below.


Failed Pilot Check by 10 or More
If the Pilot is trying to avoid and obstacle or perform some other maneuver which requires a check (except for opposed Piloting checks) there is the possibility of losing control of the ship. This could lead the ship into slamming into another obstacle or ship (if the second ship blows his Piloting check to avoid the out of control ship) and causing damage.

If a Piloting check is failed by 10 or more, and the GM believes the ship is in peril from it, the Pilot must make the check again with the same penalties or bonuses. If successful the maneuver is sitll a failure but the Pilot retains control of the ship. If the second check fails the Pilot must roll on the Loss of Control Table below. Along with the loss of control it also shows the penalties to all checks made within the ship and the penalty to it's Armor Class while out of control.

Skew: The ship skews to one side moving slightly sideways along the same vector and same speed.
Pitch: The ship's nose moves up and down at random and continues along the same direction and speed but at each round of movement the Pilot must roll a dice: even and the ship is flying upwards, odd and the ship is moving at a downward dive. If flying near a gravity well or object this can be bad news.
Yaw: The ship continues on its last vector and speed. Roll a dice. even and the ship moves left 45 degrees. Odd it turns right 45 degrees. It will continue to rotate in this direction until brought under control.
Spin: The ship continues on its last vector and speed but is rapidly spinning. Roll a 1d8 for direction each round to find it's facing. 1: front, 2: front left, 3: left, 4: rear left, 5: rear, 6: rear right, 7: right, 8: front.
Tumble: The ship it completely out of control doing all of the above and moving in the same direction and speed. Roll for Spin and or Pitch.

To regain control the Pilot must roll a Piloting check with the check penalty from above. He can attempt this as a full round action each round.

REPAIRS
System Repairs

Most system repair times are given in the critical hit section. They generally take an hour or so for a system repair up to a day or longer for replacing critical systems.
At the end of a given work time a Repair roll is made. If multiple workers are used they  each add a +2 bonus to the main mechanics roll, up to a maximum of +8. IF the roll is made the repair is complete. If it fails they must take 2d12 to work on it and try again.

To Repair Ship Hit Points
At the end of one hour roll a Repair check. The main mechanic can be aided by up to four others for a bonus of +8 to his Repair. If successful a number of Hit Points equal to what the check was made by are regained.

Ships that are below 0 hit points add the negative number as a penalty to the Repair roll.
No ship can be repaired once it is -10 hit points or less.

I will be posting actual ship stats next.
In later posts I might complicate things a bit by translating other complicated maneuvers to my simple bonuses and penalties.

Bonus:


X-Wing 

(Tiny)
Ac- 22 
Hp- 120/ Dr 10
Shields- 30/ Dr 10
Move- 10 space/ 18 atmo., 1050 kmph
Maneuver- +2 size
Initiative- +2 size

Crew- 1
Passengers- none
Hyperdrive- x1
Backup- none
Cargo- 110kg
Cost- 150K, 65K used

Weapons-
4 fire-linked Laser Cannons
6d10x2, +8 hit (+ 2 size, +6 fire control), front arc 
2 Proton Torp. Launchers (not linked)
9d10x2, +10 (ordinary), front arc, 3 torpedoes each

YT-1300
(Small)
Ac- 21 
Hp- 120/ Dr 20
Shields- none
Move- 8 space/ 13 atmo., 800 kmph
Maneuver- +1 size
Initiative- +1 size Crew- 1 to 2

Passengers- 6
Hyperdrive- x2
Backup- x12
Cargo- 100 tons
Cost- 100K, 25K used

Weapons-
Laser Cannon 
4d10x2, +5 hit (+ 1 size, +4 fire control), turret arc

TIE Fighter
(Diminutive)
Ac- 24 
Hp- 60/ Dr 10
Shields- none
Move- 10 space/ 20 atmo., 1200 kmph
Maneuver- +4 size
Initiative- +4 size Crew- 1

Passengers- 0
Hyperdrive-  none
Backup- none
Cargo- 65kg
Cost- 60K/ 25K used

Weapons-
2 fire-linked Laser Cannons
5d10x2, +8 hit (+ 4 size, +4 fire control), front arc 




Saturday, January 12, 2019

OSR Star Wars Revision: Starship Rules Part One



I had to break this one up. This first post addresses key systems such as movement, sensors, and comms (communications.)

Note:
Please forgive any mis-spellngs etc. My hands and attention span have gotten worse since my stroke an neuropathy diagnosis. Typing can be a bitch. A frustrating bitch. As long as you can get the gist of I'm trying to get across I'm satisfied. 

First up let's look at the most used checks, the Pilot/Nav checks.

PILOT CHECK (Dex)
Pilots add their bonus to Dex checks while driving a vehicle or flying a ship. This ability also negates the -4 penalties non-pilots receive. A Pilot also adds his bonus to his  vehicle or ship's AC.

It is mostly used to avoid obstacles and in combat maneuvering. 

NAV CHECK (Int)
The Nav check is an Intelligence check with a Pilot bonus (or penalty without the Pilot skill) with modifiers. The skill is used with astrogation, communications, sensors, as well as intercepting and jamming signals etc.

It also allows for the calculation of Hyperdrive jumps. Bonuses may be given for good charts, maps, etc as well as Astromech droid assistance.

This is obviously a very important skill. Co-pilots/Navigators are important on transports and other ships. The Pilot may have the high Dex and do the fancy flying but a good Navigator with a high Int will get them where they need to go safely, detect ships and other threats more readily, etc. Nav is key to survival in the Star Wars space setting.

Nav: Astrogation 
This is the art of navigation in space involving the knowledge of present location and figuring out safe routes to where you are going, most often with a Hyperspace jump.

Sublight Astrogation
Sublight astrogation is relatively simple and only requires a Nav if the GM feels that something extraordinary might happen. If the check is failed by 5 or more roll on the Sublight Mishap Table below. Otherwise the trip goes smoothly using the following travel times:

Normal travel times in Sublight is as follows:
Surface of Planet to Orbit: 1-5 Minutes
Orbit to safe Hyperspace Jump Distance: 1 Minute
Planetary Orbit to Planet's Moon: 10-30 Minutes
Planetary Orbit to another Planet in the same System: 2-6 Hours
Planetary Orbit to outer edge of System: 12-24 Hours

Sublight Mishap 1d8
1. Off course. Due to bad maps, a Nav glitch, or some other problem the trip takes twice as long.
2. Through an unknown dust cloud. Sensors and Comm systems are clogged with filth. Until thoroughly cleaned in a starport or other maintenance station all Nav skills with with Sensors and Comms are at a -4 penalty.
3. Fight! The ship encounters pirates, imperials, or some other faction that wants to take the PC's ship.
4. Cargo! The ship flies into another ships dumped cargo setting off the collision alert. A Pilot check must be made to avoid a collision doing 3d6 to the ship's hit points. The cargo may be salvageable at the GM's option.  Possibly 10d10 tons of cargo worth 10d10x10 in credits.
5. Space debris! Collision alarms rock the ship as micro-meteors hit the ship immediately followed by a huge piece of jagged blaster scarred metal  in the ship's path. Pilot check or the ship collides for 1d10x10 to the ship's hit points.
6. Cosmic radiation storm! The a ships systems is overloaded and is damaged. Roll 1d6 and consult the chart below. *
7. Asteroids! An uncharted field sets off collision alarms as they rocket towards the ship The pilot must make a Pilot check with a -4 penalty to avoid the smaller stuff (6d6 hit point damage to ship hit points) and a check with a -8 penalty to avoid the mountains of space rock amidst the smaller pieces (1d10x20 dmg.)
8. Coronal mass ejection! The ship skims the edge of a massive solar ejection event which causes the hull plating to corrode and devastates the electrical systems. The ship takes 25% of its hit points in damage and it's physical armor (hit points listed damage reduction) is dropped by 10. All computer systems (com, controls, nav, sensors, weapons) are damaged and function with a -4 penalty until repaired. The sublight engines are damaged and at half speed until repaired. The Hyperdrive is considered damaged for a calculation penalty.

*1-2 Weapons system (targeting computer non-functional)
3-4 Sublight engine (move at half sublight speed)
5 Hyperspace engine (immediately drop from Hyperspace, cannot re-enter until fixed)
6 Nav computer (blown out and useless)

Hyperspace Astrogation
Astrogation in Hyperspace travel relies heavily on updated data as the universe and its bodies are in constant motion: stars, planets, debris, gravity wells, asteroid fields, gas clouds and other hazards are in constant motion thanks to orbit and natural movement of galaxies.

Updated data for a particular route through Hyperspace is available to anyone with access to the HoloNet- although that data might be outdated if the route in question is not frequently traveled by other ships. Popular routes through trade lanes (Tatooine)  and from prominent planets (Coruscant) will be well mapped and updated. Other worlds off the beaten track (Dagobah) will likely have old out-dated data. The time to calculate the Hyperspace Nav check takes 1 minute (10 rouds) unless there is no data, then the calculations take 1 hour (60 rounds.)

Data Nav Check Modifiers
One day old or less: no bonus or penalty to Nav check
More than a day, up to a week: -4 penalty to check
More than a week, up to a month: -8 penalty to check
More than a month old: -12 penalty to check
No new data available : -16 penalty to check

Other Nav Check Modifiers
No Nav Computer or Astromech: extra -4 penalty
Nav Computer used: +4 bonus
Astromech used: +2 to bonus do not use if Nav Computer also used)
Hyperdrive damaged: -4 penalty
Reduce time needed: -2 for every round cut
No Holonet access (such as Rebellion era): extra -4 penalty
Each extra hour taken on journey: +1
Each hour shaved off of journey: -1

Nav check Astrogate Result:
Fail by 5 or more: Roll on the Hyperspace Mishap table below. The GM will apply the result sometime during the journey when appropriate.
Fail by 1 - 4: add 1d12 hours to travel time
Success by 0 - 4: normal jump
Success by 5 - 9: subtract 1d12 hours from base travel time
Success by 10+: subtract 2d12 hours from base travel time (minimum 1 hour)

Travel Time Modifiers
Hyperdrive engine multiplier: travel time base x the multiplier for true time
Journey within same quadrant: half travel time
Route is well-traveled: reduce the time by half
Route is known to have many random hazards: Add 1d12 hours to base travel time.

Hyperdrive Mishap 1d10
1. No jump. The engine misfires and does not jump. The attempt can be made again in 2d6 rounds as it resets.
2. Hyper-drive cuts out.  A large mass shadow causes the Nav computer to bring the ship out of lightspeed. New calculations must be made to find where they are (Nav check) and a new Hyperspace jump must be plotted.
3. Gravity field! The ship bounces off of a gravity field and takes structural damage of 3d6 to the ship's hit points and rips 5 points of armor off of the front of the ship.
4. Rad Zone! The ship enters a vast zone of high radioactive particles which mess with the sensors causing false contact alarms which drop the ship out of lightspeed.
5. Hyperdrive engine explosion! The Hyperdrive cuts out after a near collision with a stellar gravity shadow. The close call overstressed the engine and it blows out in a shower of sparks. A Repair check with a -4 penalty and a half hour are necessary to get it up and running again. Otherwise a backup drive must be used.
6. Radiation fluctuations! A surge in radiation in this zone of Hyperspace affects the Hyperdrive engine causing it to sputter and require repair. The Repair roll is at a -8 penalty. If successful the jump's time is reduced by 1d6 hours. If failed it is extended 1d6 hours.
7. Completely off course. The ship emerges from Hyperspace in the wrong system chosen randomly by the GM. Plot a new course and start again!
8. Black hole shadow! The ship skips the edge of a massive gravity well caused by a black hole. It's not enough to drop the ship from lightspeed but it does knock the ship about causing 3d6 damage to its hit points.
9. Star cluster! A mega-dense cluster of stars wreaks havoc on the Hyperdrive engine causing it to burn up and drop the ship from lightspeed. It must be replaced.
10. Mystery collision! Something in Hyperspace physically collides with the ship causing 1d12x 15 damage to the ship, 2d6 to the crew, and wrecking the Hyperdrive and shield generators and damaging ships steering (-4 to Pilot checks.) The ship drops to realspace. The Hyperdrive and shields must be replaced and the steering must be fixed at 10% of the ship's original value.

SENSORS
Used to detect other ships, planets, hazards, etc. This allows the ship to scan the universe around them for information. It is the crew's electronic eyes and ears in space.

Using the Sensors requires a Nav check modified by distance, size of the object being scanned, and anything else that affect a reading. . For example, it’s much easier to detect a ship in open space than to find a ship hiding in an asteroid belt.

There are four modes of scanning: passive, scan, search, and focus.
The default mode is Scan mode. Any ship or object approaching the ship will set off proximity alarms unless the approaching ship has special hardware or is taking precautions to be unseen. A ship that approaches undetected has automatic surprise in combat.

Passive Mode: 
Receive info out to short range.  Grant no bonus on Computer check to detect objects. Help hide from others that might detect active sensors. it is a free action to read passive data.

Scan Mode:
Sends active pulses out to long range in all ranges. Grants a +2 bonus to Nav check to detect objects. Requires a move action.

Search Mode:
Sweeps specific arc (front, left, right, rear) out to extreme range. +4 bonus to Nav check to detect objects. The three remaining arcs are blind spots. Requires a move action.

Focus Mode: 
Directs search to a specific area or target up to extreme range. +6 bonus to Nav check to detect objects. Full-round action.

Range, Distance (Squares, 1 equals 500m), Nav Check Mod
Point Blank: 0-1, +4 bonus
Short: 2-5, 0
Medium: 6-10, -2 penalty
Long: 11-20, -4
Extreme: 21-40, -8
Out of Range: 41+, n/a

Target Size, Nav Check Mod
Colossal, +8 bonus, Star destroyer, Mon Cal star cruiser
Gargantuan, +6, Assault frigate
Huge, +4, Nebulon-B escort frigate
Large, +2, Corellian corvette, Bulk freighter
Medium, 0, Medium transport
Small, -1 penalty, Light freighter, Imp customs light cruiser
Tiny, -2, X-wing starfighter, Sith war droid
Diminutive, -4, TIE fighter, Rancor
Fine, -8 Missile, escape pod, airspeeder, wampa

Countermeasures
Ships can make themselves harder to detect in a variety of ways.
Each of the following countermeasures gives a penalty to an enemy ship's sensors Nav check.

Hiding behind larger objects.
Sensors do not bend around objects; they are essential line of sight. A ship can hide behind a planet or other large body. However a sufficiently large ship may throw off enough energy emissions to be detected. Concealed by object 3x larger, -10 penalty to sensor detection.

Passive mode.
By setting sensors to passive mode a ship reduces its chances of being detected. Using any of the other three gives a signal that is easiere to detect. If using scan/search/focus modes, +4 bonus to detection.

Power down.
A ship can run silent by powering down all systems except life support which is run on power generators as a backup. The generators can normally support life for five minutes. Powered down, -4 penalty to detection.

Sensor masks.
A sensor mask conceals energy emissions. Some are more powerful than others. The penalty to the enemy's Computer check is noted in the sensor mask descriptions.

Sensor decoys
Small pods that sends out electromagnetic and holo signals duplicating the sensor image of the ship. This gives the enemy sensor operator two identical signals to choose from. This is easy to visually see through at  point blank range.

COMMS
Comm signals are difficult to find without knowing the proper frequency. There are billions of freqs for comms and  subspace communication. Military have established government bands as well as secret frequencies for secured comms, often scrambled. 

Local governments regulate the use of frequencies for civil­ian, business, emergency services and military communications. Other groups may also use unauthorized frequencies for covert communications.

All ships are equipped with at least one of the following, if not more. Note that systems that transmit through hyperspace only operate in realspace.

Holonet Tranceiver:
Top of the line, generally only on military capital ships as they are huge and require massive amounts of power. Real-time holo network transmission through hyperspace.

Hypertransceiver:
Provides real-time audio and visual through hyperspace. Military and large private and corporate starships are usually equipped. Also power hogs.

Subspace Transceiver:
Allows audio, visual, and holo at a range of a few dozen lightyears. With a sufficient power boost it may send out to 100 light years. Most ships have this for emergency.

Comm:
Lightspeed comms for  ship to ship and ship to planet. Interact directly with ship intercoms and personal comlinks. Starports use pre-set channels to broadcast a METOSP (“Message to Spacers”) providing landing protocols, traffic patterns, conditions at the starport and any other information incoming pilots need to know.

Intercomms:
On-board systems used for communication within starship sections.

Intercepting Signals
It is possible to intercept and listen in on signals with a Nav comms check. Detecting transceivers is more difficult than subspace comms. Transceivers have a -4 penalty to the attempt. Subspace comms have a -2 penalty. If attempting to intercept a signal are attempted in a high signal area such as in a major battle or on a bustling planet. The extra penaty for this can be from -2 to -8 at the GM's discretion. If the interceptor succeeded on his roll by 5+  he is undetected if there is an officer or program monitoring a signal for anomalies.

Once a signal is located it can be listened to until it ends, passes out of range, or some other event or interference causes a new intercept roll. Also be aware that listening is not always understanding: messages can be encrypted, scrambled, etc.

The targeted comm signal may be sent by a station or network that is monitored by a counter-intelligence agent, an officer or program on guard for signal tampering.  If the interceptor did not roll well enough to conceal his presence the counter-intel agent will be alerted and can make an opposed Nav comm check to block the interception attempt. If the agent wins not only does the agent stop the attempt but if it wins by 5+ on the opposed check the agent learns the location of the would be spy.

Scrambling Signals
Com scramblers can be attached to a comms station to automatically scramble any signal sent. A receiving comms station with a linked com scrambler can receive the message normally. The sender of the message must make a Nav comm check with a bonus based on the quality of the com scrambler used: +0, +4, or +8.

Messages captured can be unscrambled if run through a non-linked com scrambler and a Nav comm roll is made with a penalty based on the quality of the com scrambler that sent the message with an additonal -4 for using a non-lnked scrambler. Each attempt takes ten minutes (1 turn.)

Jamming
Any comm device with a Com Jammer attached may be used to cause interference with enemy comm and sensor systems. Comlinks can only jam comlinks and transceivers must be used for transceivers. The transmitted signal causes static on all frequencies which interferes with any communications within range. This works on both friends and foes and it alerts everyone in range that another ship is out there. The ship broadcasting the jamming signal cannot use his own comms while doing so.

A Nav comms roll is made from the jamming ship with a +8 bonus. Affected ships can attempt to overcome the jamming with a normal Nav sensors opposed roll. The bonus to jam is reduced with range measured in 500m squares:
Point Blank: 0-1, +8 bonus
Short: 2-5, +6 bonus
Medium: 6-10, +4 bonus
Long: 11-20,  +2 bonus
Extreme: 21-40, No bonus
Out of Range: 41+, n/a

NEXT EPISODE:
Combat Rules and clarifications and Ship stats.



Saturday, January 5, 2019

Our Current OSR Star Wars..... a short playlog.

Edit: 
Put a few pics of the final fight at end of post.

The PC's:
A Wookie Bounty Hunter, level 6

A Sullustan Thug, Level 6

A Skakoan Tech, Level 6

Three years before the Battle of Yavin...............

The PC's are hunting an expensive bounty on data stolen by rebel operatives, data that could embarrass the Star Destroyer Captain that let it get away. The Captain has sent his loyal officer Lt Voors to supervise a group of Imperial hunters that they have previously done business with. He has also posted a substantial anonymous private bounty in the even his Imperial hunters fail. He is hedging his bets. If his Imperial hunters are good enough they can claim the bounty. If not someone else will.
The reward is 30K for the Rebel, dead or alive, and 45K for the stolen datadisk.

The PC's  learn from their Bounty Hunter Guild handler that the Rebel was spotted at Kwenn station near Hutt Space. The PC's are the closest guild members so off they go.

KWENN STATION
At the station they left their Mon Cal pilot to watch their ship. Soon they were recognized by Puggles Trodd, one of the rival Imperial hunters. Trodd hired Rodian mercs to attack the PCs but the Rodians were all killed in a massive blaster fight after springing their ambush. After that the PC's  meet a Hutt contact at a sleazy bar where the Skakoan uses an unregistered data terminal to find the Rebel from various cameras and then track her to the small hotel she is staying at.

Arriving at the hotel the old Gran running the place tells them which room the Rebel is in after they show her pic to him and give him a good pile of credits. He also warns them that other hunters arrived shortly before. The Skakoan stays downstairs plugging into a terminal to monitor things as the Wookie and Sullustan head upstairs. The turbo-lift opens on the correct floor and they run straight into DX, an independent battledroid bounty hunter and his repeating heavy blasters that he has instead of hands. After a fierce blast fight DX gets destroyed (and salvaged for the Skakoan.) The Sullustan is wounded but still up. During the confusion Trodd gets away through an air vent after killing the Rebel. The Wookie cuts off the Rebel's head as proof of capture and puts it in a sack. The Skakoan finds info that the data had been given to a Rebel smuggler registered out of Cloud City. And he left the station a half hour ago.

Taking off from Kwenn station in their modified YT-1930 they were set upon by what was left of the Rodian mercs seeking revenge. After a short dog-fight with the Rodians and their YT-1300 the PC's disabled the ship,  boarded it and began killing everyone. The Wookie even ripped the defiant  Rodian Captain's arm off. One gunner survived and showed the PC's where the Rodian Captain stored their credits in a hidden panel and was allowed to join the PC's crew. The Skakoan took the remains of a half crushed 3PO unit as salvage. He wants to build a droid cheap with spare parts.

CLOUD CITY
They arrive at Cloud City an hour after the Imperial hunters. Unknown to both groups of hunters the Rebel with the data had not arrived yet as he had a slower hyperdrive. As a joke the Sullustan and Skokan get ahold of the Wookies vox box and change a few phrases such as No to Maybe.

After an interrogation by landing pad customs officers they get into the city (and lying saying they are not on a hunt.) They acquire a public service 3PO droid who is assigned to aid visitors and they definitely stand out in a crowd. Plus the Wook and Sullustan can't vocalize basic.

They find an old contact that owes the Wookie a favor, an Ortolan smugger who has done jobs for the Rebels. They learn the Rebels congregate in the Starlight cantina in the seedy underbelly of Cloud City known as Port Town.

They head to the Starlight, the Skakoan stays outside slicing into a public data terminal, and start asking questions as subtley as this group is capable of. The Skakoan recognizes the band leader as Skawn Bonaduna, a twi'lek fugitive with a 30k bounty with a disentigration order. They play it cool and observe the twi'lek when the Rebel Smuggler they're looking for comes in. Bonaduna and the Smuggler meet at the bar and have a quiet conversation.

The Wookie begins to use the jump servos in his bounty hunter armor to leap across the cantina at the rebels but he is shot from behind by the public service 3PO who has a hidden auto-blaster and a hidden flame projector in his arms. The droid is actually an agent for the Rebels. The hunters were observed by rebel operatives when they landed and the droid was sent in his cover of public service droid to monitor them.

All hell breaks loose four Rebels pull blasters and everyone opens fire. The other patrons all hug the floor and hide under tables. The Sullustan blows the droid to pieces and gets into a shoot out with several Rebels. While this happens the Wookie jumps across the cantina  to smash the two Rebels heads into the bar, knocking them out. He then beheads Bonaduna with his vibro-axe.

Outside the Skakoan sees a couple of Rebels who were watching the street head towards the cantina. He uses the terminal to drop blast doors on both ends of of the corridor sealing the cantina off from outside interferance.

Inside the Wookie and the Sullustan finish off the Rebel gunmen. The Wookie grabs the unconscious Smuggler and Bonaduna's head as a hallway blast door begins to open. The Wing Guard has arrived and are opening a way to the cantina. The Skakoan hustles inside, stoppng to pull the flame projector fuel tank from the droid's body and fling it at the door. The Sullustan blasts it and it explodes, flaming liquid jelly covering the entrance and holding off the Wing Guard. They run into a back office with an exit, herding the remaining cantina patrons to safety. A pair of doors lets them split off from the crowd and find their way up a level into an alley-way. The Skakoan takes a pic of Bonaduna's head on his datapad as proof. They notice a camera is watching them and they hurl the head at it.

The smuggler awakens and they interrogate him. The dead Rebel on Kwenn was his girlfriend and he freaks out when they tell him she is dead (and wisely do not mention they have her head in a freezer on the ship.) He asks if they killed her. All say no. The Wookie hits the NO button on his vox box and it comes out MAYBE. Their little practical joke backfires and the Smuggler freaks out.
After much explanation and footage of the fight with DX captured by the Skakoan the Smuggler calms down. He is a broken man and reveals he sent the data to two information brokers that work with the Rebels. One is a solicitor by trade and he sends them to the solicitor's office. They let him go and he then wanders off to whatever fate awaits him.

They find the solicitor's but the Imperials have been there already. The human broker is dead and the solicitor himself, a Bithian, cradles a stump where Kast removed his hand, torturing him. The Bithian, in agony, reveals that he sent the data via courier topside. The courier is to meet the leader of the Rebel cell on Cloud City, a Bothan businessman named Silver Fur, at a public plaza in a very nice section of the city. The meeting is in a half hour.

As he is babbling information the Wookie sees a blinking light under the Bithian's desk.  A thermal detonator is wired there. The Wookie grabs his confused companins and flees. In a flash of light the solicitor's office and a good chunk of the corridor is gone. It was on a timer set off by remote control. Trodd almost got them.

They head to a turbo lift and take a several minute journey to the upper levels. They emerge at the plaze and see many tourists and local civilians in nice clothing. They see the silver furred Bothan and a man in an orange courier uniform heading towards him across the plaza. Suddenly they hear the whine of a motor and a shoulder-fired missile hits the Bothan before the data is received. Several civilians are killed in the blast. Looking up they see a man in mandalorian armor on a nearby tower: Jodo Kast.

They open fire, missing Kast. They take cover and the fight is on.
Two Wingman run up towards Kast's position but he fires a wrist rocket at them, killing one along with a few more civilians.

A door opens below Kast's position and Puggles Trodd and Lt. Voors come out. They take up positions behind a few civilians that they use as shields. They intend to be rid of the PC's and then grab the data.

Kast flies down to them as the Sullustan moves forward firinig at Trodd but misses him and missing the civilian. The Skakoan takes a shot at Kast and misses.
The Wookie uses the jump servos to leap forward, taking several hits from Voors' heavy repeating blaster but no damage getting through. Frustrated Voors runs towards the Wookie to try to punch through the Wook's armor.
Trodd throws a stun grenade at the Sullustan but misses.

Trodd takes a head hit from the Skakoan but is still on his feet, barely.

Kast trades shots with the Sullustan and the Skakoan, hitting the Sullustan hard through his armor.
The Wookie cuts Lt. Voor to pieces as his armor holds up to the repeating blaster (which did misfire once.) He then servo jumps to the stage next to Kast.

Kast takes off with his jet pack while spraying down the Wookie with his flame projector lighting him on fire but doing little damage. The Wookie is frustrated as Kast lands on the tower and gets away.

Trodd drops a stun grenade at the Wookie who is dazed but still on his feet and slightly on fire.
Trodd is then hit in the chest and head by the Sullustan, killing him.

The Wing Guard arrives in force and the PC's lay down their arms and surrender.
They spends the night in jail and are interrogated fiercely.

They have up-to-date Imperial Peace Keeping Licenses and all the proper paper work to hunt the data.  No holo or vid cams were in the Starlight so there is no proof against them and their actions were against Rebels. None of the patrons have come forward as witnesses.
They also have witnesses and holo proof they did not fire first at the plaza; Kast did. They claim to have been defending civilians until the Wing Guard arrives.
No mention is made of the alley way camera and Bonaduna's head. Apparently someone other than the city was watching them via the camera.

The Baron Administrator, Dominic Raynor, knows it's bantha poo doo but has no real proof. And they did help take care of a growing Rebel problem that was gaining too much attention from Imperial Security Bureau agents hidden in the city. Cloud City must remain neutral.

With dire threats of shooting them out of the sky should they ever return while she is Baron Administrator Raynor lets them go.

They head off to collect their money and and wait for their next adventure.