Always remember to bring motive into play, if the players steal a ship and the force sensitive PC knowingly allows this to happen, then that is knowing inaction which is 1 on the conflict chart, however motive has to be brought into play here , if the motive for the inaction is selfish then this generates at least another +1 minimum, if the inaction is nefarious then it is +5.

If the FS PC is gaining at any point where they generate conflict they would get somewhere between 1 & 5 additional conflict for the knowing inactivity as it could be looked upon as a selfish action if they knowingly gain from the theft (indirectly they get access to the stolen ship). This last part is often overlooked.

the force sensitive PC knowingly allows this to happen, then that is knowing inaction which is 1 on the conflict chart

Something that regularly gets overlooked is that "knowing inaction" only applies to things that would generate 5+ Conflict if done by the Force user. Theft is a 3 Conflict action, so it doesn't qualify by itself.

Something that regularly gets overlooked is that "knowing inaction" only applies to things that would generate 5+ Conflict if done by the Force user. Theft is a 3 Conflict action, so it doesn't qualify by itself.

There’s “Theft” and then there’s “Grand Theft”.

The former could be a piece of fruit. The latter could be a starship or a planet.

The former would be highly unlikely to result in the death or collapse of livelihood for an individual. The latter could easily lead to the death or collapse of the livelihood of the owners.

So, for Grand Theft, I would not be at all opposed to giving that a significantly higher cost in Conflict. Especially if the “knowing inaction” continues to persist for a long time.

Force & Destiny does note that Conflict for theft can be increased if they take something from someone who can "ill afford to lose it." In a lot of cases, a spaceship represents people's livelihood, so I'd say it could easily qualify for a bump.

And to be honest, I think this case is pushing the bounds of "knowing inaction." If you stand around while your friends jack a car and get in with them and drive around, you're going to have a hard time convincing anyone you don't share culpability.

I would agree, the theft of a ship would generate more than 3 Conflict. Lets keep in mind that a ship cost so much that in order to have one you may have to indebt yourself to a crime lord. Very few people in the galaxy can just roll off the theft of their space ship. If you steal their ship you've likely ruined their life.

I would agree, the theft of a ship would generate more than 3 Conflict. Lets keep in mind that a ship cost so much that in order to have one you may have to indebt yourself to a crime lord. Very few people in the galaxy can just roll off the theft of their space ship. If you steal their ship you've likely ruined their life.

Has someone already pointed out how pointless spaceship theft is? BoSS, transponder codes, unique engine signatures and all. I really wished they would have added those two pages on the Bureau of Ships and Services into all three core books. It's such an elegant and beautiful solution to ship theft.

I would agree, the theft of a ship would generate more than 3 Conflict. Lets keep in mind that a ship cost so much that in order to have one you may have to indebt yourself to a crime lord. Very few people in the galaxy can just roll off the theft of their space ship. If you steal their ship you've likely ruined their life.

Unless the ship owner has it insured against theft. In some cases, they may.actually benefit from having a lemon stolen.

There is a near 100% chance to get your ship back after some time as changing BoSS codes is expensive and rarely worth it. And if they own something as big to make it worth they certainly have cash reserves.

Has someone already pointed out how pointless spaceship theft is? BoSS, transponder codes, unique engine signatures and all. I really wished they would have added those two pages on the Bureau of Ships and Services into all three core books. It's such an elegant and beautiful solution to ship theft.

I would agree, the theft of a ship would generate more than 3 Conflict. Lets keep in mind that a ship cost so much that in order to have one you may have to indebt yourself to a crime lord. Very few people in the galaxy can just roll off the theft of their space ship. If you steal their ship you've likely ruined their life.

Unless the ship owner has it insured against theft. In some cases, they may.actually benefit from having a lemon stolen.

There is a near 100% chance to get your ship back after some time as changing BoSS codes is expensive and rarely worth it. And if they own something as big to make it worth they certainly have cash reserves.

Ships get stolen all the time, hell that's how the Rebellion got their hands on a lot of their fleet, according to the EU stuff, and previous Star Wars gaming books. A good slicer, an outlaw tech, and some contacts in various industries, and poof, you've got a new ship registry that will likely work for just about anywhere you go.

The Empire only covers a small portion of habitable worlds in the galaxy, and BoSS has no power beyond the bounds of the Empire.

The Empire only covers a small portion of habitable worlds in the galaxy, and BoSS has no power beyond the bounds of the Empire.

My understanding is that BoSS pre-dates the Empire, and even the Empire is smart enough not to mess around with BoSS.

Outside of known space, or in some parts of the fringe, BoSS might not have a lot of pull. But they can still provide useful information to Bounty Hunters or local bureaucrats who would like to look up registry/owner/cargo/passenger information on given ships, and that could cause problems for the PCs.

There’s a reason why you need good slicers and technicians to work around the transponder issue and the BoSS database.

The Empire only covers a small portion of habitable worlds in the galaxy, and BoSS has no power beyond the bounds of the Empire.

My understanding is that BoSS pre-dates the Empire, and even the Empire is smart enough not to mess around with BoSS.

Outside of known space, or in some parts of the fringe, BoSS might not have a lot of pull. But they can still provide useful information to Bounty Hunters or local bureaucrats who would like to look up registry/owner/cargo/passenger information on given ships, and that could cause problems for the PCs.

There’s a reason why you need good slicers and technicians to work around the transponder issue and the BoSS database.

Almost like that's the niche that outlaw slicers and techs would be filling in the fringes of civilized space, and how they would make their living. Funny that.

Has someone already pointed out how pointless spaceship theft is? BoSS, transponder codes, unique engine signatures and all. I really wished they would have added those two pages on the Bureau of Ships and Services into all three core books. It's such an elegant and beautiful solution to ship theft.

I would agree, the theft of a ship would generate more than 3 Conflict. Lets keep in mind that a ship cost so much that in order to have one you may have to indebt yourself to a crime lord. Very few people in the galaxy can just roll off the theft of their space ship. If you steal their ship you've likely ruined their life.

Unless the ship owner has it insured against theft. In some cases, they may.actually benefit from having a lemon stolen.

There is a near 100% chance to get your ship back after some time as changing BoSS codes is expensive and rarely worth it. And if they own something as big to make it worth they certainly have cash reserves.

Ships get stolen all the time, hell that's how the Rebellion got their hands on a lot of their fleet, according to the EU stuff, and previous Star Wars gaming books. A good slicer, an outlaw tech, and some contacts in various industries, and poof, you've got a new ship registry that will likely work for just about anywhere you go.

Rebel ships do not need to operate with transponder codes. Rebel chips are immediately recognize as rebels. And BoSS is mentioned predates the empire by far. BoSS applies to the whole galactic civilisation. If you are not in wild space or the unknown regions then BoSS matters. Now what the locals will do with the information that your ship is stolen is a different matter. It might be of little concern, but in most cases it will be at least worth checking with the bounty hunters guild … and in back in trouble you are. ;-)

Speaking of trouble. The Ghost in Rebels is using the Secondary Transponder Mod from Special Modifications. That's a 20,000 credits investion just to stay out of some of the trouble BoSS can cause for them. And besides with C1-10P they should have the necessary computer and mechanic skills to forge false engine and transponder signatures.

(Ok, the price tag is not canon, but you see them using the mod itself in one of the episode to conceal their real transponder code and this fits the mods which is in the game and has that 20,0000 credit price tag)

AoR states iirc as well that the Rebels have ships for operatives which have clean transponders, either legitimate or faked, either way those ships are not supposed to be part of regular fleet operations. The rebels have their own network of bases, carriers, etc and basically don't have to care about civil transponder codes as their ships are military and obviously hostile to the empire. Those ships are not suited for undercover action, including those stolen ships from Rebels, but nonetheless valuable for the alliance as combat ships as the alliance don't need to operate from imperial space ports. Most edge characters do not to operate at least from time to time from official ports.

And btw, the empire certainly does not cover a small portion of the galaxy, if you leave out wild space and the unknown regions which are not part of civilized space and the bigger galactic civilisation itself.

BoSS is not as big as you suggest. They are the space DMV and nothing more.

BoSS is not as big as you suggest. They are the space DMV and nothing more.

Actually they are more like galatic a IMEI registry. If a space port blacklists stolen ships is a much open to individual space ports as it is to blacklist a stolen phone to individual providers. As you have galactic wide bounty system in place as well there is a certain encouragement to update your BoSS data at least sometimes and participate in the data exchange even if you are not part of the empire. The comparison with the DMV is flawed because neither transponder codes nor unique engine signatures are a thing for earth cares.

A better comparison might be toll collect if you like your car analogies. Just licence plates are well … forging a new licence plate is certainly not daunting check, forging false transponder codes involves formidable and daunting checks in two different skills AND those are still just identity theft and not creating a false new identity.

Yea, but there are billions of spaceships that were built before the time of the empire or in systems it doesn't control. There can be ships that have been lost for hundreds of years that someone salvages out of a scrap yard or finds adrift in space and puts back in operation. Oftentimes multiple ships of one type get merged into a single ship as replacement parts for older models grow rare, and ships are frequently renamed. Ultimately there is simply no accounting for all the ships in the galaxy. You might have to do the proper paperwork to register a ship to get landing permission at an imperial port, but it's probably a formality at most, since open trade is an essential part of the galactic economy, and the governors and moffs aren't going to make their own sector unproductive by making it too much of a hassle to do business there.

Yea, but there are billions of spaceships that were built before the time of the empire or in systems it doesn't control. There can be ships that have been lost for hundreds of years that someone salvages out of a scrap yard or finds adrift in space and puts back in operation. Oftentimes multiple ships of one type get merged into a single ship as replacement parts for older models grow rare, and ships are frequently renamed. Ultimately there is simply no accounting for all the ships in the galaxy. You might have to do the proper paperwork to register a ship to get landing permission at an imperial port, but it's probably a formality at most, since open trade is an essential part of the galactic economy, and the governors and moffs aren't going to make their own sector unproductive by making it too much of a hassle to do business there.

No, it's not a "formality", particularly as you get closer to the core. A ship must be registered with BoSS to legally operate anywhere in the galaxy. It's just like in real life, all cars, boats, planes, ships, etc must be registered to be legally operated. There are penalties, both financial, and through potential imprisonment if these laws are not adhered to. So, even if you salvange an ancient ship, and repair it to functionality, you'd still need to register it before you could fly it and/or land at any starports.

Yea, but there are billions of spaceships that were built before the time of the empire or in systems it doesn't control. There can be ships that have been lost for hundreds of years that someone salvages out of a scrap yard or finds adrift in space and puts back in operation. Oftentimes multiple ships of one type get merged into a single ship as replacement parts for older models grow rare, and ships are frequently renamed. Ultimately there is simply no accounting for all the ships in the galaxy. You might have to do the proper paperwork to register a ship to get landing permission at an imperial port, but it's probably a formality at most, since open trade is an essential part of the galactic economy, and the governors and moffs aren't going to make their own sector unproductive by making it too much of a hassle to do business there.

No, it's not a "formality", particularly as you get closer to the core. A ship must be registered with BoSS to legally operate anywhere in the galaxy. It's just like in real life, all cars, boats, planes, ships, etc must be registered to be legally operated. There are penalties, both financial, and through potential imprisonment if these laws are not adhered to. So, even if you salvange an ancient ship, and repair it to functionality, you'd still need to register it before you could fly it and/or land at any starports.

Yea, but there are billions of spaceships that were built before the time of the empire or in systems it doesn't control. There can be ships that have been lost for hundreds of years that someone salvages out of a scrap yard or finds adrift in space and puts back in operation. Oftentimes multiple ships of one type get merged into a single ship as replacement parts for older models grow rare, and ships are frequently renamed. Ultimately there is simply no accounting for all the ships in the galaxy. You might have to do the proper paperwork to register a ship to get landing permission at an imperial port, but it's probably a formality at most, since open trade is an essential part of the galactic economy, and the governors and moffs aren't going to make their own sector unproductive by making it too much of a hassle to do business there.

No, it's not a "formality", particularly as you get closer to the core. A ship must be registered with BoSS to legally operate anywhere in the galaxy. It's just like in real life, all cars, boats, planes, ships, etc must be registered to be legally operated. There are penalties, both financial, and through potential imprisonment if these laws are not adhered to. So, even if you salvange an ancient ship, and repair it to functionality, you'd still need to register it before you could fly it and/or land at any starports.

Good thing there are shadowports all across the galaxy that exist to get around inconveniences like this and slicers to get you false credentials when you absolutely must go to a legitimate port.

Yeah, but shadowports don't do you any good when a Republic/Imperial/New Republic, etc customs cruiser pulls you over to inspect your ship.

That's what your sliced false credentials are good for. It's not impossible to deceive the inspectors after all, and until the new crappy canon, real-time FTL communications were pretty **** limited.

That's what your sliced false credentials are good for. It's not impossible to deceive the inspectors after all, and until the new crappy canon, real-time FTL communications were pretty **** limited.

Depends upon the inspectors.

That's what your sliced false credentials are good for. It's not impossible to deceive the inspectors after all, and until the new crappy canon, real-time FTL communications were pretty **** limited.

Depends upon the inspectors.

Obviously, and it depends on the rolls of the party. You keep acting like it's a forgone conclusion, that there is no way to sneak past the Bureaucracy, that it ALWAYS wins, and that's just not right. Corruption and incompetency is rampant in every branch of government. You assume that every agent is 100% devoted to his job for EVERY second of his shift, and that they don't get annoyed and frustrated, barely take a glance at the credentials because they just don't care, and they're already 15 ships behind schedule, and they're likely going to lose their lunch break, and their sig other is mad at them because again he's going to have to cancel on their night out, because if he doesn't meet his quota he's going to get his pay docked...again!

Think of the tv show Firefly, in the episode where they snuck into the hospital, and just how little of a crap that one guy at the hospital gave about their prep story they made. He just waved the ID against his reader, saw a green light, and waved them on. He was genuinely annoyed they were still there in his space. Or that video game Papers Please, which is all about the banality and mind numbing aspect of work like that. Not every customs inspector is Admiral Thrawn, most of them are just people doing a job, and not paying much attention to the details as long as everything is within specs. And getting it "within specs" is exactly where the illegal groups operate. Altering records to match drive signatures with other registries, so they don't think you are who you are. Wiping records of illegal actions so that it doesn't flag anything. Refurbishing the engine drives so their signature is altered, etc etc.

There is a galaxy of gaps and flaws in the system that can be exploited. Just look at the real world, and how many ways people can scam the system with little to no effort. And that's just ONE country, on ONE planet. You think a galaxy spanning system isn't going to be exponentially more clunky and prone to errors compared to real life?

I am reminded of the time my wife and I were moving to Brussels (Belgium), and we were coming in with all our luggage and our two cats.

We stopped at Customs at the “Things to Declare” line, and the windows were open, and the door was open, but no one was visible. And there was no one in line. We spent a good ten minutes trying to find a customs officer to talk to. When we finally did find a customs officer, he definitely didn’t want to have to look at our extensive paperwork that we had prepared, and he just waved us through.

We were totally and completely flabbergasted. We couldn’t comprehend why he was just waving us through. But after he waved us through a second time (and with more urgency), we did go on and exit into the main part of the airport.

After living in Belgium for a couple of years and flying outside the country a few times, one thing we discovered was that any Caucasian person usually got a cursory glance at most, while anyone who had some color to their skin would get a more intensive investigation. The darker the skin, the more intensive the investigation.

Sad, but true.

That's what your sliced false credentials are good for. It's not impossible to deceive the inspectors after all, and until the new crappy canon, real-time FTL communications were pretty **** limited.

Depends upon the inspectors.

Obviously, and it depends on the rolls of the party. You keep acting like it's a forgone conclusion, that there is no way to sneak past the Bureaucracy, that it ALWAYS wins, and that's just not right. Corruption and incompetency is rampant in every branch of government. You assume that every agent is 100% devoted to his job for EVERY second of his shift, and that they don't get annoyed and frustrated, barely take a glance at the credentials because they just don't care, and they're already 15 ships behind schedule, and they're likely going to lose their lunch break, and their sig other is mad at them because again he's going to have to cancel on their night out, because if he doesn't meet his quota he's going to get his pay docked...again!

Think of the tv show Firefly, in the episode where they snuck into the hospital, and just how little of a crap that one guy at the hospital gave about their prep story they made. He just waved the ID against his reader, saw a green light, and waved them on. He was genuinely annoyed they were still there in his space. Or that video game Papers Please, which is all about the banality and mind numbing aspect of work like that. Not every customs inspector is Admiral Thrawn, most of them are just people doing a job, and not paying much attention to the details as long as everything is within specs. And getting it "within specs" is exactly where the illegal groups operate. Altering records to match drive signatures with other registries, so they don't think you are who you are. Wiping records of illegal actions so that it doesn't flag anything. Refurbishing the engine drives so their signature is altered, etc etc.

There is a galaxy of gaps and flaws in the system that can be exploited. Just look at the real world, and how many ways people can scam the system with little to no effort. And that's just ONE country, on ONE planet. You think a galaxy spanning system isn't going to be exponentially more clunky and prone to errors compared to real life?

BoSS is not a standard governmental branch at all, Fly Casual is very specific on how special BoSS is. The rules describe them as about as honest and straight as it gets, nothing is 100% not even death, but BoSS officers are as close as it gets. Furthermore you can certainly slice your credentials, hack your manifest, manipulate your engine signature, etc that's all in the rules, BUT what is as well in the rules are the difficulties for those rolls. And those make stealing starships for the most part not profitable on freighter and fighter scale IF you need those ships for normal travel. Stealing them for military purpose or when you have buyers at hand who can ignore BoSS is fine. It's funny that I really dislike the "middle ground logical facility", but neither Happy Days attitude that BoSS is no problem, nor Tramps maybe a little too much trust into BoSS seem appealing to me. The rules are imo very clear. Fabricating a new ID an adventure in itself, involving a physical visit into a BoSS bureau while identify theft on transponder level is very hard and super hard on engine level, the kind of which involves super skillful, and super expensive mechanics or just rolling yourself that formidable check. And if you fail, it can be engine repair time. Time is money, ships are cheap, especially old ones, second hand ones. If you ever have the chance to steal a CR90 or similar, go for it, hacking BoSS, forging a complete new ID, changing the Engine Signature, etc all that is totally worth it for such a ship. A YT-1300 at the other hand? Don't bother, even if it is the MF, not worth the trouble and a stealing the ID of a similar ship might not be enough to keep an determined (ex)owner away from you.

With BOSS while I imagine they might always be a background problem, I imagine their prescience would be felt more greatly the closer to the core worlds you get; the outer rim always struck me as the wild west where there are pockets of civilisation scattered amongst civil unrest and savagery. I imagine the simplest way to resolve it is the obligation tracker; steal a ship thats registered and the characters gain a group obligation. If it comes up then a complication comes up, so a crew could get a ship easy but ultimately have a set of interesting consequences that continues to complicate situations.

Consquences for the party, fun for the players! XD

Yeah, any time you pursue violent action against someone that's not an active threat, that's grounds for the PC gaining Conflict.

When Luke blew up the Death Star, he was protecting innocent on Yavin 4 that were being targeted by the DS.

However, when Wedge Antilles/Lando blew up the 2nd Death Star, the DS was not a threat at that point to no one - the rebels did attack the Imperials at Endor in contrast to Yavin 4. Would Wedge/Lando get 5 millions Conflict points if they were FS?