Again, terrain is always going to be an issue. In cities you are not going to hover a ship without drawing the wrong type of attention. As I said, there is some sort of air traffic control in civilization. It is not like hovering a helicopter, but more like hovering a 747 or Herc in the middle of a city. Just not going to happen. As to rural settings, terrain is still an issue. Forests, mountains, crags, etc. will mean you can not get close to the ground. You may be able to find a clearing near by, but there will still be travel involved. Time to haul out the land speeder. I just don't see it as being an issue unless you make it one.

I'm not going for addressing an issue so much as I'm brainstorming an adventure idea based on an extended overland travel (wilderness, not urban) and I'm looking for ideas that would plausibly deny "we just fly the ship there" as a derailment.

I'm not going for addressing an issue so much as I'm brainstorming an adventure idea based on an extended overland travel (wilderness, not urban) and I'm looking for ideas that would plausibly deny "we just fly the ship there" as a derailment.

Then take their ship away. Put a "boot" on it. Use some bad luck to have it out of commission. Perhaps the terrain doesn't allow for travel in a ship due to massive forests or other terrain. Maybe other factors like bandits in the area armed with vehicle weapons that would allow them to shoot down low flying ships. Do they really want to risk that lucky shot? Maybe there is a reason to travel by land. Traditions or something. Weather patterns/magnetic anomalies which can interfere with navigation close to the planet. And on and on.

I'm not going for addressing an issue so much as I'm brainstorming an adventure idea based on an extended overland travel (wilderness, not urban) and I'm looking for ideas that would plausibly deny "we just fly the ship there" as a derailment.

Well, hell son, why didnt you say so! Borking the ship as a one-off is super easy! On approach to the planet, the ship's Super-Conductive Magnetic Infindibulator blows out, forcing them to land where they can get serviced (AKA the spaceport). However when they try and get the Infindibulator fixed, the parts stores are all out of 3/4 micron Pinkey Flanges and wont get some in for a week (at least).

Boom, sorted. Now they cant take the ship there, forcing the overland plot. Easy peasy.

If a ship has respulsorlifts, and could park in "hover" why does almost every craft that can land in star wars have landing gear? because there is a small chance that the repulsorlifts could fail and screw everything up. I think every kid in the Galaxy has had this happened to themselves once and decided that hover parking was a bad idea

If a ship has respulsorlifts, and could park in "hover" why does almost every craft that can land in star wars have landing gear?

There's not enough evidence that "almost every craft" has landing gear. I just watched the opening of Episode II the other day, and the Naboo N-1 fighters don't use landing gear. From the various depictions of the Citadel-class Light Freighter, it appears likely to use repulsorlifts to hover rather than actually landing on hardware.

Two words: space combat. They'll presumably want to repair their hull damage afterwards, which will demand leaving the ship in port for some time.

Do they have any illegal gear or cargo on the ship? BoSS records don't include those military grade shields or the new quad laser cannons? Customs Inspection! Ship gets impounded for (plot) days for processing while fines are assessed.

Here's an idea:

They crash. Done and done. "Why don't we just fly the ol' [insert ship name HERE] there?" "Remember? You guys got tangled up in a serious hold up in Coruscant traffic and smashed into that business tower. Now, not only do you have serious hull trauma, but you also have to pay the business, and Customs is on your behind for the smuggled contraband and hidden weapons on the ship, and your having a tough time staying low enough to be ignored anyways."

... Actually, I think I have an idea for my next adventure.

I've also realized that game mechanic differences in piloting a light freighter and an airspeeder are negligible. Whatever advantage the airspeeder might have in handling is offset by how much more likely the PCs are to have a higher rank of Piloting (Space).

I've also realized that game mechanic differences in piloting a light freighter and an airspeeder are negligible. Whatever advantage the airspeeder might have in handling is offset by how much more likely the PCs are to have a higher rank of Piloting (Space).

To that point, has anyone considered treating in-atmo starship navigation as Piloting (Planetary)?

I mean, take off and landing would clearly fall under Space, since you're only fighting gravity long enough to get from the edge of the atmosphere to the surface (or vice-versa). But if a pilot was treating the ship like a 200-ton air speeder, that seems like something that might be more in the Driver's wheelhouse.

Or maybe I'm just over-thinking the Space/Planetary thing. It was just something that got me thinking a while back when I was crafting a canyon chase encounter ("Hmm ... What if they decide to use their ship?").

I've noticed that one of the adventures increased the difficulty by one for Piloting (Space) vs. Piloting (Planetary) - I think it was in Crates of Krayts.

A couple of ideas just off the top of my head:

- They have to follow/track someone from point A to B. That's hard to do in a spaceship.

- There may be circumstances where a starship will attract too much attention, alerting potential bad guys that someone's close.

- The air is saturated with pollen or other fine organisms. They'd clog up the air filters after only a few kilometres.

- Heavily ionized atmosphere tends to fry huge chunks of metal that traverse the sky.

- Local wildlife attracted to the high-frequency sound of repulsor engines - the bigger they are, the further away they can hear them.

- Local wildlife that feeds on metal and/or energy, like mynocks.

If a ship has respulsorlifts, and could park in "hover" why does almost every craft that can land in star wars have landing gear?

There's not enough evidence that "almost every craft" has landing gear. I just watched the opening of Episode II the other day, and the Naboo N-1 fighters don't use landing gear. From the various depictions of the Citadel-class Light Freighter, it appears likely to use repulsorlifts to hover rather than actually landing on hardware.

wrong

Incredible Cross sections place the landing gear in the wing

And the Citadel is not a great example since there is not enough source information.

Beyond that I could name hundreds, if not thousands of craft in star wars that don't use repulsorlifts when landed, but use landing gear. Especially almost every craft seen the movies one the ground had landing gear.

Don't assume the characters are idiots. A remote key system has been shown in several pieces of fiction. It's no easier to steal a hovering ship than it is one on the ground.

Don't assume the NPC's are either.

If you are the head bad guy and see a ship land don't you send more patrols that way? You no longer have to cover 2-3 avenues of attack. You know as soon as you see the ship the rough direction of attack. Not only will the players face more patrols but there is a good chance (we'll call it a despair) that one patrol happens across an unattended ship.

Perhaps they can't steal the ship, or even disable it. But if the good guys get in do their job and escape, then these guys are already at the exact spot the players are heading to. Put a tracker on the hull and then you also know where the things these guys have stolen is at any time.

Next time, if the bad guy of the week escapes next time he'll have AA and Radar if he doesn't the first time.

Don't assume the characters are idiots. A remote key system has been shown in several pieces of fiction. It's no easier to steal a hovering ship than it is one on the ground.

Don't assume the NPC's are either.

If you are the head bad guy and see a ship land don't you send more patrols that way? You no longer have to cover 2-3 avenues of attack. You know as soon as you see the ship the rough direction of attack. Not only will the players face more patrols but there is a good chance (we'll call it a despair) that one patrol happens across an unattended ship.

This is a good ruse actually. Fly in the crew on speeders and then have the pilot (or a trusted npc) land that big ol' bird on the other side of the evil lair. Watch how the minions swarm towards the ship, leaving the back doors unguarded.

I agree that bringing logistics into the game is going to be more trouble than it's worth, although I think the idea was worth addressing to hash out how plausible it really was. The hover idea is interesting, but if i understand it correctly it is difficult to do and might be a touch dangerous if you just leave it idling, sort of like leaving a car in neutral while nobody is in it.

That aside, I think that stealth would be a strong argument. I understand that most atmospheric travel (except when landing from orbit) is unusual, and somebody doing a lot of it is going to start attracting attention, from the authorities or criminal elements. Could make for an interesting chase, with a couple of cloud cars or TIEs dogging the players through a canyon. If they're in a civilized place, redocking fees could get pretty expensive if they hop from one spaceport to another, and leaving their ship hovering and unattended would certainly draw the attention of local authorities, perhaps after another ship crashed into it.

I find that attempting to slap players down from clever ideas always has negative effects. Creativity is hard enough to find in players that stifling it can cause resentment among the group. I find creating risk-reward usually is more successful. Most RPGs I have run play off of this concept. "You can do that, but..." For that reason, I play with softer barriers than most GMs, and never forbid anything flat out to the players. My players say that they end up in misadventures more often in my games than most others, but then that's not necessarily a bad thing (the players like it anyway.)

My point is this: let them try but always furnish a cost. Sure, they could hover somewhere, but suppose it idles somewhere inconvenient, like ten meters over a cliff, just hanging there or over a den of dangerous creatures like Acklays or something. Naturally there is going to be some risk to leaving it in a spaceport as well: it leaves a record trail and makes you somewhat easier to identify if you don't go to some pains to blend in with the crowd. If they leave it elsewhere, unattended, perhaps their obligation triggers and their pursuers set up an ambush outside of their ship which is just sitting on the plains. Or the Dune Sea half buries it in sand in a matter of hours. Or (more amusingly) Jawas scavenge parts off of it.

If you do something like this, however, make it a nuisance but not a crippling one. If the Jawas steal a few parts, make sure they have the ability to put them back on. Or make sure it is possible to make it back to civilization, and that they can secure transport back to repair their ship. The consequences for this should never result in a total party kill (barring outrageous stupidity from the party, like trying to steal loose change off of the Acklays I mentioned earlier.) Costing credits, time or repairs should be plenty to make them more hesitant to use their ship as a "solve all logistical problems" card.

That's just my two credits worth of ideas. They're worth every penny you paid for them. Best of luck in the game, and I hope you get the problem sorted out!

In media res...

Have the opening crawl for your adventure be something to the effect of...

Adventure Name Here

Episode Whatever

Our intrepid heroes are on another job. This time they have been summoned to

Planet X to do <job> for <person.> Barely escaping with their ship intact, they land

at the spaceport and negotiate local transportation. Chasing their prey across the

landscape, they find the environment is not very forgiving...

Then have them have an encounter with the wildlife or something to start the adventure.

IOW - make it a condition of the adventure that they do not have their ship. Period.

I think that fuel costs, wear and tear on the ship, etc are quite legitimate reasons for not using it as a local taxi and do not need to be presented in itemized detail.

Local aerospace traffic regulations also come into play.

Why does even Mos Eisley have landing bays? Why does a spaceport exist on Tatooine at all if ships can land wherever they please?

Why don't the wizards in Harry Potter carry cell phones that would shred the plot obstacles?

Why didn't Han Solo use a bank transfer to pay off Jabba the Hutt immediately after getting his reward before the Battle of Yavin?

Some of these may have already been mentioned...

* Threat of native creatures that are drawn to and could damage the ship - swarms of metal-eating insects, or something enormous like a dragon

* "Bermuda Triangle" - **** just doesn't work right in this region; PCs hear tales of ships mysteriously disappearing

* Ancient alien defense perimeter or force field still active, tractor beam grounds ship on outskirts of destination

* Ordered by Hutts or other patron not to risk "my collateral" or else

* Going to steal/recover another ship (if there is only one pilot PC he/she can't fly 'em both)

* Primitive culture on the planet has never seen a starship; sighting may have religious repercussions - maybe tie in with a PC obligation (oath, responsibility, duty)

* Ship gets damaged far from civilization, and PCs have to make it back using some other means

* Stealth - a ship is just going to let them know you're coming...

* Hired to lead a ground assault (maybe using AT-ATs or something else - would be a great change of pace from piloting a ship, and the PCs would probably get a kick out of it)

Good luck!