Deploy the Fleet - Download on Dropbox (v4, 19/10/20) (19/10/20 - Added rebel captain and fleet composition info)

Update: Added a back page, a new encounter, and also a spine on request!

I've been working on this for a while - behold, Deploy the Fleet : an unofficial splatbook focused on starships and space encounters.

The meat of this book is modular encounters centred around starship combat, presented in a practical and usable way as close to the official resources as possible! They're designed to help ease groups into starship-based encounters, provide them with ships, or trial-run larger-scale battles. It also contains a bunch of optional expanded or variant rules- including the Genesys social rules tweaked for Star Wars, an expanded version of the chase rules, and a bunch more aimed at making starship encounters (particularly multi-ship or capital scale) faster and easier to run. The chase and social rules are used in the modular encounters, but everything else is completely optional!

If you're a GM looking for some encounters to drop on your players, or you'd like to test out the stealth or social rules within, give it a try! The content is focused on small-scale capital ship encounters, but each encounter provides suggestions for how to customise it to smaller or larger vessels. Each features a mix of personal-scale and starship encounters, and all contain combat but in most it can be side-stepped by stealth or social skills. They should easily fit in to most Edge of the Empire or Age of Rebellion games (and even Force and Destiny).

A selection of example pages are shown below. Hopefully, the book should be easy to read! I'm happy to take comments and critique- particularly from people who've encountered unexpected snags in the modular encounters or variant rules.

Chapter 1: Fleets of the Galaxy

• Rebels, Imperials & Scum: Simple single-page sets of stats for pilots, captains and admirals for each faction.
• Flora & Fauna: Stats for gigantic space-creatures, from the Exogorth to the Purrgil.

Chapter 2: Ships of the Galaxy

• New Ships: A small range of fighters, corvettes and capital ships.
  • Fighters: Droid TIE Fighters, Scurrg H-6 Bombers
  • Corvettes: Crusader Corvette, Imperial Customs Corvette
  • Capital Ships: Strike Cruiser, EF-97 Intelligence Cruiser
• Buying Used: Rules for allowing PCs to buy sub-par ships at a discount.

Chapter 3: Alternative Rules

• Expanded Social Rules: A tweaked version of the Genesys structured social rules adapted for SWRPG!
• Expanded Chase Rules: A version of the core EotE chase rules, modified for multi-party chases.
• Expanded NPC Crews & Minions: Run large fleet battles with much less effort.
• Starship Stealth Rules: Rules for going dark and sneaking past blockades.
• Alternative Defences: Small tweaks to the shield & defence rules to make PC ships more survivable!

Chapter 4: Modular Encounters

• A Historic Hunt: Track down a vast and ancient Purrgil to recover an old hyperspace beacon... before its nemesis catches up with it.
• Hostile Acquisitons: Pull off a 'routine' heist of a newly-built cruiser as it's delivered to its new owners.
• Proscribed Prescriptions: Smuggle a hold full of vital medicine past two Imperial blockades, whilst avoiding its original owner.
• The End of World's End: Help a small mining colony defend itself from a criminal syndicate out to steal the ancient wrecks they've uncovered.
• Unnatural Entanglements: The PCs ship is trapped in an isolated system by a horde of space jellyfish and a malfunctioning hyperspace beacon.

I haven't looked at it yet, but from what your post shows, this just might be awesome. I plan to download when I get home.

Looks awesome, will respond when I have had a chance to read and digest.

what did you use to produce the document?

Downloaded and going to give this a full read but first impressions - wow!

It looks absolutely amazing, perfectly captures the feel of the official books and looks like there's plenty of material to chew on as well - particularly keen to dive through your expanded rules section.

What software did you use to make this? I definitely think there's some lessons I can learn from this to use for my Heroes On Both Sides book.

I like the Tracking rules, but not with Silhouette-based targeting. If targeting was done based upon Range (as in personal scale and in Genesys), then adding Tracking works very well.

very impressive, thanks for sharing!

not read much yet, so far I especially like the part about buying old ships with flaws^^

1 hour ago, Kualan said:

Downloaded and going to give this a full read but first impressions - wow!

It looks absolutely amazing, perfectly captures the feel of the official books and looks like there's plenty of material to chew on as well - particularly keen to dive through your expanded rules section.

What software did you use to make this? I definitely think there's some lessons I can learn from this to use for my Heroes On Both Sides book.

InDesign! I'm happy to share the file after I've had a few more eyes on this to spot any errors I've made in the formatting. It is an old version I've got through work though, so may not quite work as expected with shiny modern versions.

1 hour ago, HappyDaze said:

I like the Tracking rules, but not with Silhouette-based targeting. If targeting was done based upon Range (as in personal scale and in Genesys), then adding Tracking works very well.

There's definitely an argument that it's effectively double-dipping on the silhouette penalty/bonus as maximum speed is strongly correlated with silhouette. I did actually consider a version of Tracking that meant a weapon fired as if it had a higher silhouette (so bombs on starfighters might shoot as if they were Sil. 7 so they're only effective against cap-ships), but using speed instead also allows for bombs to be effective against ships caught unawares, which seemed more appropriate.

Minor mistake, but you listed [THREAT][THREAT] instead of [ADVANTAGE][ADVANTAGE] in the description for "Faltering Deflectors."

Love the ships flaws rules, but I haven't read much further yet.

Looks Awesome. Clearly a labour of love.

1 hour ago, Talkie Toaster said:

InDesign! I'm happy to share the file after I've had a few more eyes on this to spot any errors I've made in the formatting. It is an old version I've got through work though, so may not quite work as expected with shiny modern versions.

Would love to see that file when you're ready to share - I am working on a few supplements myself and have recently switched to Affinity Publisher, which can now open InDesign files - looks like you've already done a bunch of leg-work that I was still figuring out how to do

11 hours ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

Minor mistake, but you listed [THREAT][THREAT] instead of [ADVANTAGE][ADVANTAGE] in the description for "Faltering Deflectors."

Love the ships flaws rules, but I haven't read much further yet.

Great, thanks for the catch! I'll fix that.

11 hours ago, Cynabar said:

Looks Awesome. Clearly a labour of love.

I did most of it last year whilst writing my PhD thesis- my brain was incapable of doing anything other than writing huge documents, and after a day of LaTeX, InDesign comes as a pleasant relief.

10 hours ago, DangerShine Designs said:

Would love to see that file when you're ready to share - I am working on a few supplements myself and have recently switched to Affinity Publisher, which can now open InDesign files - looks like you've already done a bunch of leg-work that I was still figuring out how to do

Definitely! Ideally I'd set up a small site for all the resources and a guide for how to use them. Do people have any suggestions for good, easy-to-use places to host a site and files? I'd normally put resources on GitHub and create a GitHub Pages site, but the copyright status of this is 'Very illegal but it's all just fun and games' and I'm not sure GitHub is the right venue for stuff like that.

4 hours ago, Talkie Toaster said:

Great, thanks for the catch! I'll fix that.

I also noticed a spot in the table for spending Advantage/Threat in Social Checks where you swapped Boost/Setback in the entries for add Setback to target and add Boost to ally.

This is awesome and looks beautiful! Love the buying used and chase sections especially.

13 hours ago, Talkie Toaster said:

Definitely! Ideally I'd set up a small site for all the resources and a guide for how to use them. Do people have any suggestions for good, easy-to-use places to host a site and files? I'd normally put resources on GitHub and create a GitHub Pages site, but the copyright status of this is 'Very illegal but it's all just fun and games' and I'm not sure GitHub is the right venue for stuff like that.

What I did for the fan-created book “Spark of Rebellion” was that I went to a well-known domain and hosting provider (GANDI.net) and I signed up for a low-cost virtual server with them, along with their providing the rpg.buzz domain. Of course, the book itself was the effort of a large team of people who made up Rancor Publishing Group, of which I was just one member. But while the others were more experienced in things like InDesign, I had the domain and site hosting experience that I could offer, on top of my somewhat OCD services in the area of Quality Control.

I do like GANDI and I recommend them, but I also realize they are a bit more complex than some other providers. They also provide you more powerful and secure tools than a lot of other providers, but that does come at a certain cost of complexity.

They do have the advantage of being located in France, and they are well known for supporting certain contentious open source projects, so they are less likely to do a standard knee-jerk response if they should get a Cease and Desist order. And that would have to be under French jurisdiction and laws.

very nice! Looks like another supplement that I am going to want o get printed in hard copy.

I'm interested in the design file as well, as I'd also like to attempt to put something together at some point.

On 3/8/2020 at 11:45 PM, Talkie Toaster said:

InDesign! I'm happy to share the file after I've had a few more eyes on this to spot any errors I've made in the formatting. It is an old version I've got through work though, so may not quite work as expected with shiny modern versions.

I've been considering making the move from Photoshop to InDesign for my next project as by all accounts it's far better suited for this sort of thing. I'd definitely be interested in looking at any template files you have.

2 hours ago, Kualan said:

I've been considering making the move from Photoshop to InDesign for my next project as by all accounts it's far better suited for this sort of thing. I'd definitely be interested in looking at any template files you have.

It is WAY WAY WAY better...Having used InDesign myself to do stuff like this. Added bonus you can flow text through the whole document which makes lay out much easier.

26 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

It is WAY WAY WAY better...Having used InDesign myself to do stuff like this. Added bonus you can flow text through the whole document which makes lay out much easier.

What is the learning curve like? The main reason I've stuck with Photoshop so far is that I've been using it for years but have never used InDesign.

7 minutes ago, Kualan said:

What is the learning curve like? The main reason I've stuck with Photoshop so far is that I've been using it for years but have never used InDesign.

It is easy... If you can use Photoshop InDesign will be easy.

3 hours ago, Kualan said:

I've been considering making the move from Photoshop to InDesign for my next project as by all accounts it's far better suited for this sort of thing. I'd definitely be interested in looking at any template files you have.

50 minutes ago, Daeglan said:

It is WAY WAY WAY better...Having used InDesign myself to do stuff like this. Added bonus you can flow text through the whole document which makes lay out much easier.

without sounding like a shill, you might both want to look at Affinity Publisher - it's a $50 flat fee and is extremely robust and full featured (and can work with InDesign files). There is also Affinity Photo that I moved away from Gimp/Photoshop for and have bought but not used Affinity Designer (like Illustrator). Again, no connection to the company, just super impressed at the price point and functionlity.

7 hours ago, Kualan said:

I've been considering making the move from Photoshop to InDesign for my next project as by all accounts it's far better suited for this sort of thing. I'd definitely be interested in looking at any template files you have.

5 hours ago, Daeglan said:

It is WAY WAY WAY better...Having used InDesign myself to do stuff like this. Added bonus you can flow text through the whole document which makes lay out much easier.

4 hours ago, Kualan said:

What is the learning curve like? The main reason I've stuck with Photoshop so far is that I've been using it for years but have never used InDesign.

4 hours ago, Daeglan said:

It is easy... If you can use Photoshop InDesign will be easy.

I agree with @Daeglan here. If you can use Photoshop, you can use InDesign. They use the same basic interface and toolbar. Each program (Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign) is strongest at what they do. Photoshop for image manipulation, Illustrator for Vector-graphics images, such as logos, and such, and InDesign for page layout, typesetting, and pre-press.

5 hours ago, DangerShine Designs said:

without sounding like a shill, you might both want to look at Affinity Publisher - it's a $50 flat fee and is extremely robust and full featured (and can work with InDesign files). There is also Affinity Photo that I moved away from Gimp/Photoshop for and have bought but not used Affinity Designer (like Illustrator). Again, no connection to the company, just super impressed at the price point and functionlity.

How compatible is Affinity Publisher with fancy modern InDesign files? I've wanted to try using @drainsmith 's brilliant Genesys templates, but my old version of InDesign can't open them.

14 minutes ago, Talkie Toaster said:

How compatible is Affinity Publisher with fancy modern InDesign files? I've wanted to try using @drainsmith 's brilliant Genesys templates, but my old version of InDesign can't open them.

Can you point me at the files and I will try them and let you know?

2 hours ago, Talkie Toaster said:

How compatible is Affinity Publisher with fancy modern InDesign files? I've wanted to try using @drainsmith 's brilliant Genesys templates, but my old version of InDesign can't open them.

So, the InDesign files evidently have to be saved in IDML, I found the files you were talking about but don't seem to be able to get them open as they are likely too old. That said, he HAS provided the Affinity Publisher files, so I am able to open and look at those - great stuff!!

Importing InDesign documents

Affinity Publisher can import InDesign files that have been saved in IDML (InDesign Markup Language) format, which is available in InDesign CS4 and later. With earlier versions of InDesign, you can export documents to PDF and then import that format directly into Affinity Publisher.

The dpi (dots per inch) setting of the resulting Affinity Publisher document is decided as follows:

• If the imported IDML file does not contain linked or embedded raster resources with their own dpi settings, the document is set to 300 dpi if it's a CMYK document or 72 dpi if it's an RGB document.
• If the imported IDML file contains linked or embedded raster resources, the document is set to whichever of 72, 96, 144, 192, 300, 400 and 600 dpi is closest to the highest dpi setting of all those resources.

A document's dpi setting can be changed at any time in File > Document Setup .

Supported IDML features

The following features of IDML files are honored upon import into Affinity Publisher:

• Facing two-page spreads
• Master pages
• Automatic page numbering
• Bleed settings
• Document grid and guides
• Text frame and picture frame properties
• Text styles
• Missing resource warnings (fonts and placed content)
• Tables
• Blend modes

Text variables, aside from page numbering, are converted to text.

To import an Adobe InDesign (IDML) file:

1. From the File menu, select Open .
2. Select an IDML file and click Open .
3. If linked resources are not found, Publisher will ask whether you want to locate them. You can click:
   • Yes to locate missing resources one at a time.
   • Resource Manager to review missing resources and locate only those required at this time.
   • No to open the document without locating anything. Items can be located later by selecting Document > Resource Manager .
4. If the document uses fonts that are unavailable, Publisher will warn you and provide a shortcut to Font Manager , where you can make substitutions.

Update: I was trying to produce a template but thankfully The Dearth has rendered that unnecessary . Please use his fancy templates!

So instead I can just post the finished version, with typos and errors fixed and a new modular encounter: A Lost Delivery , where the party are sent by a wealthy Baron to chase a contractor who has refused to hand over an item from a lost temple he sent them to acquire. Unfortunately, the temple fell into a black hole centuries ago...