Spinning out of control!

By zsavk, in Game Masters

I had a session with my group of players and we had to pause due to time constraints. One of the pcs is in a pretty bad spot after head to head pass with a pair of TIEs. Let me set the scene:

Skimming at max speed over the treetops with only a little help from the light cast by the planets two moons Violet (Our PC Mechanic) races towards a pair of quickly approaching TIEs. The TIES have responded to a distress call from the base she and her group have just stolen 3 T47 Airspeeders from.

On her right is her Squadron leader Tennek. He pilots another Airspeeder and together they had just failed to outrun the TIEs and decided their best option was to swing around and meet them head on.

During the ensuing head to head exchange of blaster fire Violet was hit hard and suffered HT 1 over her threshold. Her speeder spewing black smoke and spinning out of control above the forest below. Fire illuminating the area. (I rolled 100 on crit table)

Tennek managed to take out a TIE and is currently engaged in a 1v1 dogfight with the remaining TIE. He can only watch and hope Violet survived the hit and can somehow make it!

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So Violets T47 is basically destroyed right? What would you do as a GM in this situation? We paused at a spot where when we pick up again I would like to give her a chance to do something. Perhaps a skill check to reduce damage enough to allow her to land without impacting too hard. (Mechanics) Or a Piloting check to try to crash as gracefully as possible.

Now I need to be ready for failure. I do not want to kill the PC. But I do want to follow the RAW while not making the PC or the other players feel like Im fudging rules to keep her alive. I think after writing this all out for you all that Ive come up with my own idea. But I would like to hear your thougths! Also if she crashes how much damage should she take? Should I refer to the Falling damage chart and consider it medium range? Or have I missed a more accurate rule?

It's not destroyed, but she's going in. I'd roll a Pilot check using Stellar Phenomena modified further by terrain Setbacks, probably 2 Setbacks per the chart, and have her roll. I'd use net failures as wounds suffered, threats as Strain, and Despair a critical injury. If she has no failures, threat, or despair, good job, she set it down without killing herself.

I'm of the opinion that PC's don't die to dice rolls they die to stupidity (or heroism).

Trying to outrun first, then facing an even number of opponents are both good calls. A bad dice roll shouldn't result in death.

Adversity is the stuff adventures are made of. An injured pilot crashing into a burning forest can be a great role play experience. Roll the dice and use the results to work out how bad the injury is, how much equipment survived impact, how close the speeder was to the river (or other fire break / safe zone).

Edited by mulletcheese

I agree with my previous posters. Let her crash, but let her crash like Luke did in ESB. Just a few bumps and bruises. i like the idea of making a - let's say difficulty 4 - piloting check and use failures as wounds and threat as strain and despair would definitely be a crtical injury as the jolly 2P51 suggests. Let her be in a sort of predicament. Once she's on the ground she has to amke sure she isn't captured by the empire and to reconnect with her fellow squadron. The T-47 is burning out, let her do a hard mechanics check with a few setbacks to se what she can salvage from the wreckage in regards to comm equipment, survival etc. Then she needs to try and survive until she's picked up by either her group or the empire. Or perhaps she tries to foot it back to a base. Even if that sitation is undesirable it creates good drama. You might even create a situation like we had in Rebels, where one of teh IMPs is stranded with her there and teh only way to survive is if they rely on each other. Picture a Japanese and American, during WWII shot down over the Pacific, now having to work together to survive.

You might even create a situation like we had in Rebels, where one of teh IMPs is stranded with her there and teh only way to survive is if they rely on each other. Picture a Japanese and American, during WWII shot down over the Pacific, now having to work together to survive.

Only maybe it doesn't last as long as in the movie Enemy Mine.

Do they have parachutes or anything similar in Star Wars?

Maybe spend a destiny point so they can bail from their crashing vehicle?

Is that possible?

I've seen plenty of movies where somebody crashes into a forest and survives. They're usually injured and/or unconscious when found. It's not too hard to simply inflict 20 Wounds and a critical hit and be done with it.

Thanks so much for all the great advice!

I will be using a combination. When we play next the player will get an opportunity to run "Damage Control" and if successful enough could avoid a crash landing and limp back to a landing site. If that fails she can have the option of spending a destiny point and ejecting. Or ride the doomed craft into the ground with a piloting planetary check as per the rules for stellar phenomena. Shes going at speed 3 in a silhouette 2 vehicle so it will be 2 purple and 1 Red with a block die for low light conditions. Ill use the example from 2P51 for damage, strain and possible crits on the character.

Remember that even 20 Wounds and a Critical isn't likely to take her out for more than a scene.

Remember that even 20 Wounds and a Critical isn't likely to take her out for more than a scene.

She would be unconscious until revived though right?

More or less. You get a wound back per 8 hours of sleepy time, but of course, too many and you'd die of thirst, exposure, etc. Your call mostly.

Remember that even 20 Wounds and a Critical isn't likely to take her out for more than a scene.

She would be unconscious until revived though right?

Do they have parachutes or anything similar in Star Wars?

Maybe spend a destiny point so they can bail from their crashing vehicle?

Is that possible?

Grav chutes, 450 credits iirc. Fighters have grav seats as well which allows the pilot to eject safely. The small boxes on rebel pilot uniforms can create on top a small force field to give the pilot a chance in vacuum as well, besides that, naturally any sane pilot will running with a vacuum sealed pilot suit in one form or another. Now if your pilots have grav chutes, jetpacks or jumpboots or just rely on their ejection seats - does not matter really, but any fighter pilot should have an exit strategy, because getting shot down happens even to the bests.

If your players don't have such an exit strategy, you could show them those strategies when npcs eject from the fighters just in time to avoid dying in a horrible explosion. ;-)

Edited by SEApocalypse

Even if the ship is destroyed and rendered inoperable (as I would rule; unless you do a legendary landing, I imagine most ships would be mangled hitting a forest) it doesn't necessarily mean the crash would kill. In this case i would roll a piloting check:

Success: Ship is a rightoff, but the crash is gradual, so no damage over all to the player

Success with Thrumph: As above. The ship might be salvageable, or alternatively the character encounters something that may improve survival in forest.

Failure: It's a bad crash. Inflict one critical injury on the pilot and any occupants aboard.

Failure with dispair: It's a really bad crash! Treat the player as if he/she has fallen a short distance in damage and a critical hit. +10 if this hit would render the character unconscious. Alternatively imperial patrols catch sight of the crash, advancing toward the crash site with purpose...
Success with dispair: you make a successful landing, unfortunately, the only thing holding the ship off the ground from a long drop is some branches. You already hear the tree staining.... Make a coordination check! Oh and please don't bring your space craft too close; the downdraft might this problem much worse....

Edited by Lordbiscuit

What 2P51 wrote, plus I'd probably allow the player to flip a destiny point to avoid the roll entirely. "Yes, this speeder does have an ejection seat, and it blasts you clear. You float down into the forest." Then maybe flip the destiny point back as a ground patrol shows up/a hostile animal emerges/other complication emerges.

Star Wars vehicles all have "inertia dampeners", that are hardwired to never fail. That's why they never have seatbelts. They cushion any blow the ship might receive, they also create the artificial gravity on board.

So yes, surviving a crash and walking out of the wreck is very plausible. I wouldn*'t give her 20 wounds, because that would not be very thematic to me. I really think the best solutioh is for her to climb outta the wreck like Luke did on Hoth.

Oh and in regards to crashlanding in the forest sequence in Legends ficiton: Timothy Zahn in his first Thrawn Novel wrote a perfect example on what happened when Luke and mar both crashlanded in the forest of Myrkr. And those trees have a highly metallic physis. Luke and R2 basically are safed by the inertia dampeners and walk out of the wreck with barely a bruise (or dent). Mara Jade acts unconscious until goody boy scout Luke sees after her and she draws a blaster on him.

Star Wars vehicles all have "inertia dampeners", that are hardwired to never fail. That's why they never have seatbelts. They cushion any blow the ship might receive, they also create the artificial gravity on board.

So yes, surviving a crash and walking out of the wreck is very plausible. I wouldn*'t give her 20 wounds, because that would not be very thematic to me. I really think the best solutioh is for her to climb outta the wreck like Luke did on Hoth.

Oh and in regards to crashlanding in the forest sequence in Legends ficiton: Timothy Zahn in his first Thrawn Novel wrote a perfect example on what happened when Luke and mar both crashlanded in the forest of Myrkr. And those trees have a highly metallic physis. Luke and R2 basically are safed by the inertia dampeners and walk out of the wreck with barely a bruise (or dent). Mara Jade acts unconscious until goody boy scout Luke sees after her and she draws a blaster on him.

The alternative I propose is wraith squadron. Anyone who has read that remembers when a tie fighter got shot down and hit a forest, that was somewhat less rosey.

Dampers can break, ship parts can break off, people can get thrown out of their ships, etc there are plenty of options to handle it, but inertia dampeners do indeed make a crash a lot less problematic. Compared to the acceleration rates of most star wars ships a crash in earth like atmospheres with terminal velocity should be rather tame actually. That is IF your ships damper still work.

If not ejecting sounds like a good plan. ^_^

Star Wars vehicles all have "inertia dampeners", that are hardwired to never fail. That's why they never have seatbelts. They cushion any blow the ship might receive, they also create the artificial gravity on board.

So yes, surviving a crash and walking out of the wreck is very plausible. I wouldn*'t give her 20 wounds, because that would not be very thematic to me. I really think the best solutioh is for her to climb outta the wreck like Luke did on Hoth.

Oh and in regards to crashlanding in the forest sequence in Legends ficiton: Timothy Zahn in his first Thrawn Novel wrote a perfect example on what happened when Luke and mar both crashlanded in the forest of Myrkr. And those trees have a highly metallic physis. Luke and R2 basically are safed by the inertia dampeners and walk out of the wreck with barely a bruise (or dent). Mara Jade acts unconscious until goody boy scout Luke sees after her and she draws a blaster on him.

The alternative I propose is wraith squadron. Anyone who has read that remembers when a tie fighter got shot down and hit a forest, that was somewhat less rosey.

True, but I actually don't think that regular TIE fighters have inertia dampeners, since they don't even have basic life support or an ejector seat...

Star Wars vehicles all have "inertia dampeners", that are hardwired to never fail. That's why they never have seatbelts. They cushion any blow the ship might receive, they also create the artificial gravity on board.

So yes, surviving a crash and walking out of the wreck is very plausible. I wouldn*'t give her 20 wounds, because that would not be very thematic to me. I really think the best solutioh is for her to climb outta the wreck like Luke did on Hoth.

Oh and in regards to crashlanding in the forest sequence in Legends ficiton: Timothy Zahn in his first Thrawn Novel wrote a perfect example on what happened when Luke and mar both crashlanded in the forest of Myrkr. And those trees have a highly metallic physis. Luke and R2 basically are safed by the inertia dampeners and walk out of the wreck with barely a bruise (or dent). Mara Jade acts unconscious until goody boy scout Luke sees after her and she draws a blaster on him.

The alternative I propose is wraith squadron. Anyone who has read that remembers when a tie fighter got shot down and hit a forest, that was somewhat less rosey.

True, but I actually don't think that regular TIE fighters have inertia dampeners, since they don't even have basic life support or an ejector seat...

Life support can replaced by a space suit, ejector seats are non essential to the ships performance. Not having inertia dampers means you kill the pilot the first time he does a hard-turn to the right. It would not make sense to have TIE fighters which are more agile than X-Wings to suffer from glock, while X-Wings can pull just fine 10, 20 or most likely even hundreds of g.

I also think it was also due to the fact that the character was a mess medically to begin with, and that the crash was so bad (they were flying really low above a forest line) that even with the dampeners he needed medical attention or he was going to die. He didn't get that medical attention and died sometime later.

Dampeners do make a crash survivable, but in being shot down can mean that not everything works when the ship hits the treeline. Sometimes being servery injured is better then a severe case of death. XD

Edited by Lordbiscuit