The other day I asked my players what their favorite session of the game was so far. Apparently, it was a one-shot session that involved Tera Sinube, a venerable Jedi Master who trained younglings during the Clone Wars. Near death, he approached the PCs hoping to find a crew crazy enough to brave a trip into the Deep Core so that he could die on Tython -- birthplace of the Jedi Order -- and know at last the truth of the Prophesy of the Chosen One. Tython is wracked by storms because the galaxy is in a state of darkness, but where Sinube's escape pod landed the storm cleared, and the Force sensitives in the party "hear" his final message; "The Jedi will return. All will be well."

Of course it wasn't that easy. Getting into the Deep Core required a trip to the Skyhook on Coruscant, where the party had to strong arm a Black Sun smuggler into giving up the astrogation data for getting into the Empress Teta system. And even then, there was the whole issue of naviating the Deep Core.

Anyone familiar with the Star Wars EU -- particularly the Dawn of the Jedi series -- should know that getting through the Deep Core is something of a death trap, but still not an an insurmountable task by any means.

Here's how I handled things, as well as a brief rundown on how I handle Astrogation checks in general;

-- Using one of the five major hyperlanes requires an Easy check, and may even reduce travel time by a bit at the GM's discretion.

-- Using all other hyperlanes requires an Average check.

-- "Bushwhacking" through space requires a Hard check, which can increase to Daunting or Formidable, or Nearly Impossible depending on how many "squares" on the galactic map are moved through without finding an established hyperlane.

-- All of these guidelines as well as those described on pages 246-247 apply to navigation through the Deep Core, except all Difficulty dice are converted into Challenge dice automatically to reflect all the black holes, gravity wells, mass shadows, and warped time/space found in the region.

This is the only instance wherein I've decided that Difficulty dice aren't sufficient to reflect a given danger. I understand that it conflicts with the RAW somewhat, but it makes perfect sense to me as well. Has anyone else ever tried this with other situations besides Astrogation?

Also, using guidelines for Astrogation checks similar to what's described above, how would one handle trips into the Unknown Regions or Wild Space, wherein navigation is still hard, yet not necessarily filled to the brim with black holes that want to kill you?

Good guidelines, I think I'll adopt them. I haven't really given it much thought, and usually wing it based on the situation.

I like your upgrades for the deep core as well. The only thing is you'd have to be prepared to deal with multiple Despairs, and give the players a way to correct them, without the danger of TPK, at least not immediately. It is space, after all, and if the danger source is external it quickly becomes all or nothing, eg: because of the Despair, your calculations are off...you're heading for a black hole, make your piloting roll or prepare to "get small"...

I was thinking the same thing. My players got lucky and only rolled a single Despair as they were leaving the Deep Core, which I ruled as meaning they ran out of fuel and had to stop and spend some credits on Duros before heading back home. With multiple Despairs, I probably would have ruled that their ship got ripped apart and needs urgent repairs before an Imperial patrol craft arrests them for entering restricted space.

The other angle a player trying to reach the deep core can try? Getting the proper permits! One of the games in Dawn of Defiance centered around getting in all buddy-buddy with a rich and powerful (and sympathetic) noble who has access to the deep core. Beware the smooth talking politico or diplomat who wants to do an end-run around all your difficult astrogation rolls! (:

The only thing is you'd have to be prepared to deal with multiple Despairs, and give the players a way to correct them, without the danger of TPK, at least not immediately..

I might go with "Good news everybody! You didn't bounce too close to that supernova when you got those three dispairs. In fact, you're in orbit above a planet. What planet? Oh, the METSOP is pinging back as a planet called 'Byss'. . . ."

The other angle a player trying to reach the deep core can try? Getting the proper permits! One of the games in Dawn of Defiance centered around getting in all buddy-buddy with a rich and powerful (and sympathetic) noble who has access to the deep core. Beware the smooth talking politico or diplomat who wants to do an end-run around all your difficult astrogation rolls! (:

That was something the players discussed and tried. Unfortunately, the Doctor and the Trader didn't roll high enough of Knowledge (Education) to expedite the process, and they had a dying Jedi Master to worry about.