Okay, so I need some advice quick, and hoping someone can provide it. I've been busy and now I'm cramming to plan for tonight's session. The crew managed to steal a Firespray last session. I'm going to let them keep it, but they're going to have to work for it. The idea is that this ship has been beat to all hell. It's basically the beater of this low level pirate outfit, and they've been jury rigging it like crazy just to keep it in the air.

The characters stole it after stealing the crew out in the Outer Rim and are now taking it back with them (They haven't decided whether they want to sell it). I haven't told them the condition of the ship yet. On the way back to proper civilization they're going to get ambushed by bounty hunters who are after them, and I want to simulate the effects of this ship. Shoddy handling, unreliable weapons systems, etc. I want it to be a really tense situation where they have to pull out all the stops to keep this ship afloat in the midst of battle (and leave the opportunity for it to get utterly trashed, and the crew of their main ship will have to rescue who's left in the Firespray)... If they do pull it off, they can either invest a significant amount of cash into repairing it and making it spaceworthy, or they can try to sell it for scrap.

Do you guys have any advice on how I'd simulate the conditions of the ship in combat? Use setback dice? Apply critical conditions to it as unfixable qualities? Reduce its stats?

Doing anything on the ship will result in a roll with upgraded difficulty (one or two levels), as well as adding one or two setback dice.

You want to engage the engines, upgrade and setback.

You want to engage the hyperdrive, upgrade and setback.

You want to go to the bathroom, upgrade and setback.

The displays randomly change what language they’re in, and you have to roll to try to change them back to something you can read/understand. Environmental controls randomly change from Tatooine desert heat at its worst to Hoth freezing cold at its worst. Artificial gravity randomly changes strength and direction of operation. Toilets and food processing systems randomly exchange functions.

And please Ghu, SOMEBODY find that **** burning Wookiee pelt and make it stop burning, so that the **** fire alarm system shuts off — and what the hell is that new smell that we have discovered, and where is it coming from?

Think of it as Murphy’s Revenge.

Oh, and that ship has name and a reputation amongst anyone who they could find who might be able to buy it. You will have to pay them big bucks to make them take it off your hands, otherwise you’re stuck with it and the source of all bad luck in the Galaxy.

Doing anything on the ship will result in a roll with upgraded difficulty (one or two levels), as well as adding one or two setback dice.

You want to engage the engines, upgrade and setback.

You want to engage the hyperdrive, upgrade and setback.

You want to go to the bathroom, upgrade and setback.

The displays randomly change what language they’re in, and you have to roll to try to change them back to something you can read/understand. Environmental controls randomly change from Tatooine desert heat at its worst to Hoth freezing cold at its worst. Artificial gravity randomly changes strength and direction of operation. Toilets and food processing systems randomly exchange functions.

And please Ghu, SOMEBODY find that **** burning Wookiee pelt and make it stop burning, so that the **** fire alarm system shuts off — and what the hell is that new smell that we have discovered, and where is it coming from?

Think of it as Murphy’s Revenge.

Oh, and that ship has name and a reputation amongst anyone who they could find who might be able to buy it. You will have to pay them big bucks to make them take it off your hands, otherwise you’re stuck with it and the source of all bad luck in the Galaxy.

Thanks for the advice. And yeah, already have plans for the ship's reputation. It belongs to a group of not-so-well-known pirates, but it's also got a big gang insignia spray-painted on the hood. I don't think these guys know what they're getting into. If they get out of this battle and sell it for scrap (at a pittance), they'll be fine... but the market for beat-up old Firesprays is probably pretty slim... and if they get greedy and try to find a buyer (I bet they will!), it's going to cause them some serious problems.

I would have just noted it has certain problems meriting a setback die on a couple of systems maybe tick a couple of criticals from the book to emphasize its in rough shape or if its a theme for your game every time they roll a despair aboard have a ship system blow up preferably a minor system but enough for a setback die to their situation where desired(but not to blow up the ship OK?) conversely a triumph rolled whilst aboard reveals a previously unknown problem with the ship that actually provides them with either a bonus die or reduction in the critical hit suffered because during that last war the engineer chose to move that critical ship system a few feet to the left of where it should have been and now that bountyhunter is screaming at the GM claiming that isn't possible!

Oh, yeah — and Life Support randomly decides to change which compartments are supposed to have which kinds of breathable gas mixtures for which types of life forms.

Can you breathe Chlorine Trifluoride? I knew you could….

Also... it's haunted.

Oh, yeah — and Life Support randomly decides to change which compartments are supposed to have which kinds of breathable gas mixtures for which types of life forms.

Can you breathe Chlorine Trifluoride? I knew you could….

There's nothing quite like "fun with life support" in the middle of combat to make your players panic.

If you decide to go that route, you could have them roll Vigilance to see if their breath masks are handy (or if they remembered to change the filters) or they get to make Resilience checks to resist strain.

Hahaha. Plenty I can use here, guys. I'll have to toy with some rolls to find a balance that will be challenging and put them at risk of losing their new Firespray but not outright doom them to failure.

If not, and they decide to keep the ship, I can play with all these possibilities in future encounters.

Just spend a d-point to upgrade the players difficulties a lot. The Threats and Despairs will give you all the fuel you need.

Just spend a d-point to upgrade the players difficulties a lot. The Threats and Despairs will give you all the fuel you need.

Dark side point? That's an idea, but it seems more a temporary solution than a permanent one, and it reduces the opportunities to save those for dramatic tension later on.

I'd give it a couple crits that need fixing, specifically component hits (the major system failure-types, so it's damaged until repaired).

A shorter sensor range and a slower engine are all good options, especially since they reduce the capabilities of the ship without rendering the system completely moot—like the damaged shields that reduce defense by 1 in all zones (a Firespray only has 1/–/–/1 defense). Another fun crit is the power fluctuations—unable to voluntarily suffer system strain.

But before the PCs can fix the system (a hard mechanics check for the system crits, since it's the major system failure equivalent), they have to find the right part(s) first! Instant adventure fodder.

If you want to play with the shields component hit, use up two hard points to give the ship a reinforced shield generator, so the default defense would be 2/–/–/1, so they get it with a 1/–/–/0, and the PCs think it's a junker for sure…until they "take inventory" so to speak, and realize the shields are barely operating at 1/–/–/0! Think how their faces would light up when they realize that weak defense profile can be fixed so easily!

Just a few ideas.

-EF

Check out the "Current" section of Sentinel Seven, the ship my players are currently flying.