I read Rulebook and now am preparing for first session with new group of players. One of them is going to be Smuggler pilot (who wouldn't like to be Han Solo?). I know the expectation is to have some smuggling runs and troubles with pirates, customs office and Imperial Navy. However I have trouble to understand how these adversaries are going to stop any smuggler from any run. Looking at films, when ship jumps to hyperspace it exits it at destination point, so if I understand it correct any patrols or attacks can happen before or right after the jump. I can't find in Rulebook or smuggler supplement details of how exactly hyperspace travel works. There are tables for length of jumps between planets, but is it one jump or series of jumps with transitions in real space? Where are these customs patrols? How many Interdictors Empire can put on hyperspace routes? All of them? And why take alternative routs to avoid customs if, without something pulling ship from hyperspace (Interdictor again?), there is no way to intercept smuggler?

A journey is typically a handful of jumps, depending on the length.

Customs would almost always be after you land. If you’re more well-known for being a criminal, then the Imps might try to arrest you whenever they see you, which could include any stops out of hyperspace.

The Empire uses Interdictors for military purposes, they won’t bother putting them around to catch smugglers.

Alternate routes allow you to come out of hyperspace at different positions relative to the planet, and they also can avoid mid-journey pull-overs.

1 hour ago, vernar said:

1 There are tables for length of jumps between planets, but is it one jump or series of jumps with transitions in real space?

2 Where are these customs patrols?

3 How many Interdictors Empire can put on hyperspace routes?

4 All of them?

5 And why take alternative routs to avoid customs if, without something pulling ship from hyperspace (Interdictor again?), there is no way to intercept smuggler?

1 The movies only ever depict a single jump from the start point to the destination. Same goes for the Clone Wars and Rebels animated series. Logically it would probably be a series of smaller jumps, as adjusting your baring in hyperspace has been shown to be a rare, improbable situation.

2 customs patrols would be at various points on trade routes. If you look at any of the 3 core rulebooks, they depict I believe it is 6 major trade routes. Those will be the most highly patrolled areas, likely at the points where one has to drop out of and then jump back into hyperspace.

3 As many as they want, it's the Empire.

4 An amount that makes sense for the collaborative story you and your players are trying to tell. The whole purpose of an interdictor is to prevent criminals from escaping, so one would assume they would station them where they could do the most.

5 Because you have to drop out of hyperspace to adjust your baring which requires some time to calculate and if you look at the routes (all the lines connecting the planetary dots on the map), they are not straight lines. If you drop out on a major hyperlane trade route, you are likely to be stopped by customs.

Other means of being stopped from hyperspace: if something enters your trajectory. I would think that ships have systems built-in to warn of impending collisions and drop you out of hyperspace. However, as everything in space is in constant motion, it's possible you might collide with things anyway. Star Wars Rebels brings up the idea of the Purrgil, these space whale/octopus hybrids that feed on the same gas that fuels hyperdrive engines and have been known to get in the way of hyperlanes, causing crashes and near-misses.

I believe in Legends there were pirates that used tractor beam tech to place small asteroids in hyperlanes so a ship would either drop out or crash and the pirates would then loot said ship.

There's a lot of information to be had about how hyperspace works in Wookieepedia, which @Yaccarus summarizes nicely. While the films depict a Point-A-to-Point-B jump, they gloss over the fact that it's more likely a number of jumps to reach a destination unless one is traveling along one of the larger established hyperroutes. You're right in that space is large and hard to control even with Imperial resources, so it makes sense that there would be patrol craft around likely transit points from hyperspace to realspace - and any deft smuggler trying to avoid those would be more or less blazing new routes which we all know is a dangerous proposition.

I would suggest that rather than try to foresee every outcome, it might be better to let the dice help make this decision for you. Players rolled a bunch of Threat on their Astrogation roll? Well, there's a patrol boat at the other end of their jump and they're going to have to scramble to escape. A Despair? Well, that's an Interdictor with TIEs already launched. Conversely, a Advantage and Triumph could and should tilt the outcome in the PC's favor.

To answer the reason for not "taking the long way around" we now have fuel considerations, courtesy of Solo - something we didn't really have to worry about previously. But the short answer to all of your questions: yeah, smuggling isn't exactly easy, but it's not exactly hard, either.

3 minutes ago, themensch said:

To answer the reason for not "taking the long way around" we now have fuel considerations, courtesy of Solo - something we didn't really have to worry about previously

I mean, Tibanna gas has been a thing since the Original Trilogy and is another form of hyperdrive fuel. Coaxium is just the most recent one and a lot of emphasis was placed on Coaxium in the Solo film.

7 minutes ago, GroggyGolem said:

I mean, Tibanna gas has been a thing since the Original Trilogy and is another form of hyperdrive fuel. Coaxium is just the most recent one and a lot of emphasis was placed on Coaxium in the Solo film.

I thought Tibanna gas was for blasters?

Just now, themensch said:

I thought Tibanna gas was for blasters?

And Y-Wings.

3 minutes ago, Yaccarus said:

And Y-Wings.

Hmm, a quick look at wookieEpedia confirms this. Now, they didn't really say "this is fuel" in the OT but hey, good to learn something every day.

p.s. If tibanna gas is so highly-reactive, why didn't that whole place go up in a giant explosion as soon as lightsabers were lit around it?

4 minutes ago, themensch said:

If  tibanna gas is so highly-rea  ctive, why didn't that whole place go up in a giant explosion as soon as lightsabers were lit around i   t?    

It probably requires some sort of catalyst or maybe even another reactant.

9 minutes ago, themensch said:

p.s. If tibanna gas is so highly-reactive, why didn't that whole place go up in a giant explosion as soon as lightsabers were lit around it?

Star Wars doesn't apply real life physics.

For instance, space whales.

@themensch has given me 5 notifications in the past hour, and I think I’ve returned the favor.

Maybe if we talk about TLJ for a little bit, we could set a record of some sort?

17 minutes ago, Yaccarus said:

if we talk about TLJ

Do you want a locked topic? Because this is how you get a locked topic!

Smuggling isn't just about space travel, and not all smuggling is difficult. Jumping to some rock wouldn't be hard. Being paid to get the items to someone on level 1313 on Coruscant might be. On developed worlds smuggling will likely entail having to land and move items through customs at the spaceport. Point is not all jobs will be hard, and not all issues will occur in space.

A lot of good feedback guys. Thank you for explanation. I will need to digest it somehow now. Would you mind to post some links to Wookieepedia concerning things relating space travel and smuggling?

I have a completely different view on hyperspace and in part it is informed in part based on SJ Games "GURPS Space" which was published with their third edition material. It is still one of the best comprehensive Sci Fi RPG supplements ever published and a good read for any GM thinking about running any Sci Fi.

At the basic level, Hyperspace is a different dimension and when you "enter" hyperspace, you are transported to a different . . . place. Okay call it a Dimension, since that's the word. In Star Wars Hyperspace is devoid of other things and the job of the hyperdrive is to keep your ship IN Hyperspace. So if something bad happens to the hyperdrive, you are kicked out of hyperspace . . . or you disappear.

The next principle is that real space and hyperspace are related to each other and gravity wells in real space impact hyperspace. This is important because an object travelling through hyperspace that interacts with an object's gravity well in real space will be kicked out of hyperspace and back into real space. This is in part why Imperial Interdictors are able to knock ships out of hyperspace.

I do have a point of opinion as to why ships tend to jump "out" of hyperspace so close to planets. (Note OPINION; and yeah this is how I roll in my Star Wars Universe). One thing that navigators do to calculate their jump so that they can get as close to their destination, is that they navigate a course that collides with the destination planet. So what is happening is that the ship collides with the gravity well and in turn the ship is knocked out of Hyperspace as close as possible to the gravity well.

And that nifty point in space also defines how far away a ship needs to be to enter hyperspace. (My one beef with Rogue One ).

So this approach works great with planets as that only kicks you into upper low orbit above a planet. However that approach would be suicide if you got that close to a primary. If you get that close to a star you would either be vaporized by a solar flair or sucked toward the surface under high gravity and THEN vaporized as you approached the surface. Either way, it's a one way trip.

And one last principle about hyperspace travel. Somewhere in EotE they mention that the velocity of the ship remains the same, so in effect the reason that ships travel faster via hyperspace is that this dimension is actually smaller than real space. The points in hyperspace are much closer to each other than in real space. This factor also assumes that hyperspace travel is a straight line of site jump, and as long as you don't bump into anything, you'll be fine. However, I don't like that assumption so In My Star Wars Universe (IMSWU) I do assume that ships can alter their vector, a little, while in transit. This means that you could possibly track a ship into hyperspace and speculate where it might come out based on it's departure vector. However the destination becomes an expanding cone of uncertainty as you progress. And this doesn't stop someone from doing a micro-"jump" of a couple hundred light years and then altering their direction radically.

Okay so that covers the space travel bit . . .

But the big result from hyperspace travel is that things happen at and around planets. You will rarely have to deal with anyone or anything in "deep space."

6 hours ago, vernar said:

I read Rulebook and now am preparing for first session with new group of players. One of them is going to be Smuggler pilot (who wouldn't like to be Han Solo?). I know the expectation is to have some smuggling runs and troubles with pirates, customs office and Imperial Navy. However I have trouble to understand how these adversaries are going to stop any smuggler from any run. Looking at films, when ship jumps to hyperspace it exits it at destination point, so if I understand it correct any patrols or attacks can happen before or right after the jump. I can't find in Rulebook or smuggler supplement details of how exactly hyperspace travel works. There are tables for length of jumps between planets, but is it one jump or series of jumps with transitions in real space? Where are these customs patrols? How many Interdictors Empire can put on hyperspace routes? All of them? And why take alternative routs to avoid customs if, without something pulling ship from hyperspace (Interdictor again?), there is no way to intercept smuggler?

I think d6holocron has a Hyperspace Travel Times option... put in planet of origin and destination and Robert's Your Father's Brother.... I also know that you can wing it and the players just jump.... tbh choose an option and stick to it...

Googled it... probably been ninja'd: http://d6holocron.com/astrogation/Index.php

Only if you want the extra, I've got a series of PDF's that details space operations. I've failed so far to finish the series with a few house rules on interstellar trading and smuggling. But, my take on most of what you've asked about is in Star Journey's in the link below.

Vehicle Ops Series

6 hours ago, vernar said:

I read Rulebook and now am preparing for first session with new group of players. One of them is going to be Smuggler pilot (who wouldn't like to be Han Solo?).

Me I wouldn't like to be Han Solo.

6 hours ago, vernar said:

I know the expectation is to have some smuggling runs and troubles with pirates, customs office and Imperial Navy. However I have trouble to understand how these adversaries are going to stop any smuggler from any run. Looking at films, when ship jumps to hyperspace it exits it at destination point, so if I understand it correct any patrols or attacks can happen before or right after the jump.

Not exactly, hyperspace travel takes precise calculations. Why? Because there is a lot of "stuff" out there, that flying through at FTL speeds would be bad. So various celestial bodies are in the way of a direct line of flight from Point A to B. So on long trips, it's commonly assumed that a flight will take multiple jumps, plotting a course from the origin point, to the first "leg" of the journey. Then, recalculating from that safe point, to the next location. These "hyperspace lanes" are paths through the galaxy that have been repeatedly calculated and charted, that allow for a safe path without the risk of running into objects. So those points can easily be patrolled by Imperial fleets, or ambushed by pirates. Since they all know that anyone using that lane will come out at those "intersections", they can lay in waiting for them. Basically just think of hyperspace travel like modern day interstate travel. Sure you could go offroad, but you're likely going to hit all kinds of problems and damage doing it that way. Much easier to just use the established, paved highways and interstate roads, that don't exactly draw a straight line to your destination, but are safe, controlled paths. FTL travel is kind of like that.

Now if the distance traveled is short enough, then yeah someone could plot a direct course, but long trips (say from the Outer Rim all the way into the Core Worlds), you're likely looking at several jumps, and several days (if not weeks) of travel. Lots of room for problems to arise there.

Now as to your question about the attacks/patrols happening at the points of origin/destination, yeah that could absolutely happen as well, especially if both locations are in the control of some organization like the Empire. It doesn't mean it always happens, not every ship gets regularly stopped for inspection, but it could happen. Assuming the PC's have the proper credentials (or at least good forgeries), this is a low possibility in your everyday traffic. But still, random stops and searches happen, and could happen as well.

6 hours ago, vernar said:

I can't find in Rulebook or smuggler supplement details of how exactly hyperspace travel works. There are tables for length of jumps between planets, but is it one jump or series of jumps with transitions in real space?

That's really up to you, and the dice rolls. There are likely multiple ways a ship could traverse a path from A to B. How many jumps that takes, and how long depends on a lot of variables. My basic rule of thumb for that, if I were the GM, is roughly as follows:

1. Are they traveling from one Region to another (Outer Rim to Core Worlds), or are they staying within a single Region?

If they are moving from one region to another, I would say the default "standard" route will likely be at least 2 jumps, if not more. If they are staying within a single Region, I'd probably say a single jump is sufficient to get there.

Now if the pilot wants to try and plot his own course, or just rolls really well on his Astronavigation check (Lots of advantage and Triumphs for example), then it's perfectly reasonable to translate those rolls as them finding a slight alternate route, that shaves off some time, and prevents a need to use another jump. For example, they are able to plot a course that takes advantage of a large celestial body to slingshot them around a navigational hazard, instead of taking the long way around, and then reorienting for a second jump.

2. Is the pilot using standard trading lanes, or plotting some alternate, personal course through space, or using other data for their path. For example, they obtained star charts from the mainframe of a pirate cartel in a previous adventure, and given their illegal activities, they utilize a different set of "lanes" for their travels, to avoid "Imperial Entanglements".

If they are using standard paths, then the likelihood of being ambushed by pirates would likely be small, or at least less likely than an Imperial inspection. These are controlled, public lanes that are used by the majority of the Empire's population, so the military presence would be so high on those paths, as to make most pirate clans reluctant to mess with anyone. So for the "random encounter" scenario, I'd say they are more likely to run into Imp's than Scallywags. I mean think of it again in modern terms. What's more likely to happen to you on a long trip using main highways? Getting stopped by people on the side of the road who want to attack you and steal your car? Or getting pulled over by the police?

If they use non-standard paths, I would flip the ratio of Imp to Scallywag encounters. There is less chance the Imperials will be patrolling outside their controlled space, so inspections would be less likely. But bumping into pirates who are setting up an ambush at key points along "alternate" routes, way more likely in my opinion.

7 hours ago, vernar said:

Where are these customs patrols?

Most commonly along trade lanes, since a customs agency would be responsible for commerce and the transportation of said commerce.

7 hours ago, vernar said:

How many Interdictors Empire can put on hyperspace routes? All of them?

As many ships as you feel are needed for the story. Depending on how vastly reaching you want your Empire to be, you could have ships at every single junction in the Core Worlds, but reducing frequency as you get closer to the Outer Rim. I personally would assume they would have reasonable coverage, but not at every single place. More coverage around the major systems, less coverage on the lesser systems.

7 hours ago, vernar said:

And why take alternative routs to avoid customs if, without something pulling ship from hyperspace (Interdictor again?), there is no way to intercept smuggler?

There are lots of ways a clever group of smugglers could pull something out of hyperspace, that don't require an Interdictor. It's usually agreed by most people that your standard hyperspace vessel, has onboard systems designed to check for anomalous gravitational sources where there shouldn't be, and dropping a ship out of hyperspace as a safety precaution. So if the navicomputer senses a large gravitation well in the ship's path, it will hit the brakes and shut things down. So, a pirate clan could just toss a large asteroid in the path of a known route, and wait on a ship to come through, and their safety systems to kick in. Or they could just simply have an Interdictor system. As far as I know it isn't mandatory that it's on an Imperial vessel. The pirates could have a sufficiently large capital ship to house it. Or perhaps a space station. Or heck, they just hollow out the previously mentioned asteroid, and have the equipment in their.

There are lots of ways you could justify this with the game, but honestly I wouldn't worry about it too much. You are the GM, you don't have to explain things like why there are things for them to encounter in your game. You don't have to "show your work" if you don't want to. If it serves the story, then it's ok. The franchise itself operates off this premise, so why should our games be any different?

1 hour ago, ExpandingUniverse said:

I think d6holocron has a Hyperspace Travel Times option... put in planet of origin and destination and Robert's Your Father's Brother.... I also know that you can wing it and the players just jump.... tbh choose an option and stick to it...

Googled it... probably been ninja'd: http://d6holocron.com/astrogation/Index.php

Unfortunately, there are a number of planets/systems that the d6holocron astrogation database doesn't even recognize. I tried Drall, Gorse, Ossus (Adega system), Mandalore, Kamino, Manaan, none of them work. I get "Origin/Destination Not In Database (Check Spelling).

2 hours ago, Tramp Graphics said:

Unfortunately, there are a number of planets/systems that the d6holocron astrogation database doesn't even recognize. I tried Drall, Gorse, Ossus (Adega system), Mandalore, Kamino, Manaan, none of them work. I get "Origin/Destination Not In Database (Check Spelling).

Gorse isn’t in a database that’s multiple decades old?

I am SHOCKED.

7 minutes ago, Yaccarus said:

Gorse isn’t in a database that’s multiple decades old?

I am SHOCKED.

Well, you'd figure they'd update it. Also, that doesn't excuse long established worlds like Mandalore, Manaan, Kamino, and Ossus.

10 hours ago, vernar said:

However I have trouble to understand how these adversaries are going to stop any smuggler from any run. Looking at films, when ship jumps to hyperspace it exits it at destination point, so if I understand it correct any patrols or attacks can happen before or right after the jump.

And why take alternative routs to avoid customs if, without something pulling ship from hyperspace (Interdictor again?), there is no way to intercept smuggler?

Think of it this way: space is big, but meaningful destinations comparatively aren't. To transport contraband to a place , smugglers have approaches that narrow the closer they get. It's in those increasingly manageable areas that interdiction agents, from system patrols to orbital guards to customs inspection, operate.

I think when you're trying to talk about "how smuggling works", there's a lot to talk about. That's a pretty broad topic. But at it's core, smuggling is transporting cargo from one place to another illegally. This might get done for a variety of reasons:

1.) The cargo is contraband in the drop off area. Banned materials won't usually be allowed past customs check-points without special permits.

2.) The cargo is subject to heavy tariffs or import taxes, which the receiving party would like to avoid. These items would be allowed through customs, but they'd normally be subjected to the aforementioned tariffs or taxes.

3.) The planet/city/system is blockaded, and no goods of any kind are being allowed in or out. Siege tactics like this are in common use by the Empire to force cooperation, soften military targets, or secure locations while trying to capture high value targets. The goods smuggled past blockades are often perfectly legal goods, like fresh water, medical supplies, power packs, etc, desperately needed by locals to survive.

Note that it also might be the reverse, where getting a specific thing OFF of a world past local customs or a blockade is the problem.

So basically, depending on which situation it is, local authorities might use a customs space station, a customs agent at landing pads and such, and likely some kind of customs traffic control with fighters to detect ships trying to land in the wilderness to make shady deals instead of going through the customs process. Customs might be operated by the Empire or a local agency.

So as far as how smuggling adventures should generally run. It probably looks something like this:

Step 1: Getting the job: Someone has to hire the PCs to move something. Enterprising PCs might just load up with a cargo they think will be easy to move and keep all the profit for themselves.

Step 2: Acquiring the cargo: The PCs have to get the cargo and load it onto their ship.

Step 3: Getting the cargo off world: If the planet they are on has customs agents to get past, the PCs will have to scout, plan, and execute a way to get past without detecting of the goods. This might take many forms, such as disguising the goods as something else, hiding the goods from inspectors, or just dodging the inspectors altogether and sneaking or running out of the system.

Step 4: Hyperspace: Generally the most laid back part of this. But pirates and checkpoints can exist. Interdictors, or even large asteroids towed into hyperspace lanes can force ships from hyperspace early, subjecting them to attacks or surprise inspections.

Step 5: Getting the cargo planetside: PCs now need to scout, plan, and execute a way past customs on the delivery location. This can again take many different forms.

Step 6: Cargo delivery: PCs need to meet up with the recipients of the cargo and transfer them the goods. This might include taking payment from them.

Step 7: Loose ends: PCs might have to bring a payment back to the job originator, which might be hard currency, goods in trade, passengers, etc.

So really, there is enough there where, if some of the steps are very simple, you can handle it all in one session, or as part of a larger adventure, or just make a smuggling run an entire multi-session adventure on its own.

Hope that helps!

On 12/20/2018 at 12:19 AM, Tramp Graphics said:

Well, you'd figure they'd update it. Also, that doesn't excuse long established worlds like Mandalore, Manaan, Kamino, and Ossus.

I just put in a nearer system and wing it... an update would be nice or even a downloadable/offline version

One thing to remember is that to get to most destinations will require multiple hyperspace jumps. Some of which will be in the middle of nowhere, some of which will have official inspection stations, all of which give opportunity for getting caught by pirates or imperial inspectors.