I just run it like the movies. How long did it take Luke and C-3PO to cross the Jundland Wastes while looking for R2? How long did it take Luke and Obi Wan to travel to Mos Eisley? How fast and how far was that speeder bike chase? It was the speed of the story, that's it.

Consider that scene in SW where Obi-wan and Luke come upon the destroyed Sandcrawler. Luke jumps into his speeder to check on his parents. If this were an RPG, Luke's player would need to know how long it would take to go there and back before leaving. Players will use the knowledge of how long a trip will take to decide their course of action.

In the remote mine example, the players might be willing to take a 13 hour trip to the mine on a speeder because the speeder can haul more gear than their T-16. But if time were an issue, flying without their gear might be a better choice.

So reasonably accurate travel times can be used as a means to give the players more choice as to what they do as well as help immersion.

I just run it like the movies. How long did it take Luke and C-3PO to cross the Jundland Wastes while looking for R2? How long did it take Luke and Obi Wan to travel to Mos Eisley? How fast and how far was that speeder bike chase? It was the speed of the story, that's it.

Consider that scene in SW where Obi-wan and Luke come upon the destroyed Sandcrawler. Luke jumps into his speeder to check on his parents. If this were an RPG, Luke's player would need to know how long it would take to go there and back before leaving. Players will use the knowledge of how long a trip will take to decide their course of action.

In the remote mine example, the players might be willing to take a 13 hour trip to the mine on a speeder because the speeder can haul more gear than their T-16. But if time were an issue, flying without their gear might be a better choice.

So reasonably accurate travel times can be used as a means to give the players more choice as to what they do as well as help immersion.

Very true.

Plus there's the simply fact that, no matter how hard some may try, an RPG is not a movie. The two do not work the same way.

Couldnt agree more. An RPG is not a movie despite some of the similarities. The game goes places a movie doesnt need to and can get away without. Sorry but the "speed of plot" thing just sounds like a cop out to me. If I were playing and my character took a trip I would want to know how long it took and wouldnt want to hear that it just took 'as long as it needed to'.