I bought the Anniversary book even though I have my originals. I couldn't resist. I tried. I don't need the book. But, heck, man! It's one of my favorite all-time-games!
It arrived today in shrink wrap!
OK, so I opened it up!
The first thing I checked was to see if the Hull and Shield ratings had been given to the Capital class ships in the Sourcebook. And, the answer to that is, No. The original Sourcebook has a note in the opening paragraphs that says that the large Capital ships in Star Wars should be used as story telling devices. The GM should use them for dramatic effect. And, although the other ships stats were included, Hull and Shield codes were omitted.
The game didn't stay that way for long, because with the publication of the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook and the Imperial Sourcebook, the Hull and Shield codes were included.
So, I thought that maybe this 30th Anniversary would update the Sourcebook with those missing codes (the 2E Sourcebook does include full 2E stats). But, nope, this is a very loyal reprint, from what I can see. It looks to be 99.99% exactly like the original book.
The other thing I looked at were the units used for hyperspace travel in the core rulebook. In the original, the unit is in days. Soon, the game switch to hours as the unit. I've seen some errata that says that the core rulebook was meant to use "hours" as units and not "days".
I've wondered a lot about that. Is it errata? Or, is it a change of heart? Obviously, the game went to hours as a base unit because everywhere else you look, Astrogation charts are listed in hours. But, if you look at the text of the 1E core rulebook, it says "days" there, too, in multiple places.
So, I can't answer if the game was designed to use base units in days, and then a decision was made to use base unit of hours soon after the game was released. Or, if the game, from the start, was meant to use base units in hours.
I've seen some 1E refs comment that they like the days base unit, and they continue to use that in their games.
It's hard to tell, though, how long hyperspace trips take when looking at the movies because, most of the time, we cut, and the journey ends at the destination. Or, there is a small scene while in hyperspace and then the cut is made to the destination. The feel in the movies is leans (in my opinion) towards hours being the base unit. People don't seem to be sleeping, taking meals, changing clothes, or otherwise looking like they've been on a very long journey.
The reprint book did not changes to "hours". The original "days" unit is used.
Han Solo and the trip to Alderaan
According to the Gazetteer in either the original or revised 1E core rulebook, the journey from Tatooine to Alderaan is a base of 7 days.
The Falcon has a hyperdrive multiplier of 0.5, which means that base is halved to 3.5 days. 3 days 12 hours. 84 hours.
The Sourcebook tells us that Han has Astrogation 8D, and it is Han that we see in ANH operate the Navicomp for the coordinates. He's also flying the ship. One could argue that Chewie took over the piloting duties while Han worked the Navicomp. Maybe Chewie was operating the shields. The difference is a -1D for Han doing more than one task.
In re-watchigng the scene, it looks like Chewie is piloting. Han boards the ship and yells, "Chewie, get us outta here!" Then, watching Han in the cockpit, he seems to be manipulating controls--operating the Navicomputer.
We'll say that Han uses his full 8D Astrogation. Chewie is piloting.
We're looking at a 15 difficulty and a trip of 84 hours.
Throwing 8D and looking for a 15+ result is a better than 99% chance of success.
Does Han go a little bit more risky?
I think so. He can raise the difficulty all the way to 18+ and still have a 99% chance of success. He's being chased by Imperial Star Destroyers.
By the 1E rules, every +1 added to the difficulty subtracts 24 hours from the hyperspace jump.
So, Han can adjust to a 17+, taking 48 hours off the journey, doing it in 36 hours (1.5 days).
Or, Han can adjust to a 18+, taking off 60 hours*, doing it in 24 hours.
Does the journey in A New Hope seem like a day to you? 24 hours? OR less?
*I say 60 hours instead of 72 because the 1E core rulebook stipulates a minimum journey of 1 day.
Now, if we use the "hour" unit, then the journey from Tatooine to Alderaan is a base of 7 hours. The game would say that the minimum hyperspace journey is 1 hours. And, adding or subtracting points from the difficulty means adding or subtracting hours from the journey.
Han would be at base 7 hours, which is made into 3.5 hours because of the Falcon's drive.
Then, Han could lower that easily to 1 hour (the minimum) by taking +3 to difficulty and throwing 8D for 18+, which is a 99% chance of success.
So, did the trip from Tatooine to Alderaan feel like 1 hour to you? Or 1 day?
Edited by player3412539