Hey guys,

Related to some of the conversations about the uselessness of starship speed I started getting worried about one of my players. He took Improved Full Throttle and bought the engine improvement for the ship. So I started looking forward as to what I can do to utilize his speed. First is to run Taming the Dragon, second is lots of chases, and third is blockade running.

Problem is I'm not sure how to run a Blockade encounter. My first thought is that I would back off from straight combat rules and say that the PCs have to move through generalized area fire and turn to stellar phenomena and then hit the ship with an attack from one of the capital ships if the check fails (probably base damage of one of the guns, but deciding how deadly it is comes after deciding how I'm going to run it in the first place).

Problem is that this penalizes higher speeds rather than necessitating them. I could go and say it takes X checks +1 check per speed below a certain number (5 or 6 or whatever) but I'm not sure this is the most elegant solution. I'm not sure any of that is particularly elegant.

I looked at just straight chase rules with an incoming then outgoing chase, but if I read them right, it seemed too easy since capital ships can't punch it and would start stationary.

Tl;Dr: If you wanted to let your PCs run a blockade, how would you set that up? Rewarding a high speed and high Piloting roll is essential.

Another option is to apply "X" damage for each combat turn spent interacting with the blockade (fictionally, it might seem impossible to avoid the mass of a cruiser's laser / turbo laser fire and the best they could do it minimize it), I will break out my rulebook and look at some spacial stuff and let you know how I would run it based on what your pilot wishlist is in a bit.

I'd put two or three blockading starships in the system, each of them clearly powerful enough to defeat the PCs in a protracted fight (that way they won't even try), but not capable of vaporizing them instantly. The following assumes a PC light freighter is trying to get past an Imperial Navy or Imperial Customs Service blockade:

1 EF-76 Nebulon-B Frigate, carrying:

- 18 TIE/LN Fighters organized into two squadrons of three 3-ship flights each.

- 6 TIE/RC Vanguards with advanced sensors individually attached to each flight.

2 CR-90 Corvettes

The Frigate and 1 squadron hang in geosynchronous orbit over the capital city of the planet, so the players are encouraged to rendezvous out in the boondocks. The 2 corvettes patrol the other planets (if any) and the outer system. The second squadron of TIEs is divided into its flights, each shut down and drifting near an asteroid field or other stellar phenomena smugglers might use to sneak in-system undetected.

The players will have to evade or fast-talk the Nebulon for sure, so you've got either a piloting or social challenge right there. The corvettes could be avoided initially, but they've got the acceleration and speed to run down the PCs if you want them to. The stellar phenomena (asteroid fields, meteor showers, nebulae, wrecked hulks, etc.) will encourage the PCs to sneak in, and also provide plenty of Piloting checks, but the detached TIE flights will keep them on their toes, as well as give them a combat encounter they can hope to win.

The TIE Vanguard attached to each flight adds some flavor to what would otherwise be faceless mooks, and fluff-wise can scan the PC ship for concealed weaponry or obviously illegal cargo, as well as communicate with the larger vessels at ranges the TIE Fighters' comms probably can't reach. The Nebulon-B and CR-90s are all second-line Imperial ships, better suited for the Outer Rim (and to being stolen by enterprising Rebels).

If the PCs have a medium or heavy freighter, or even a warship like a CR-90 themselves, increase the opposition to match. The Nebulon-B becomes a Victory -class Star Destroyer, and the CR-90s become Lancer -class Frigates. Another couple TIE squadrons can launch from ground bases or space stations as well. If the PCs are particularly wanted, an Interdictor -class Heavy Cruiser wouldn't be out of place.

GMRicc: Look forward to what you come up with. As far as the constant damage method, I'm not sure I'm into it. Sure it's hard to come out of an encounter like this perfectly clean, but I don't think this is the best way to represent that. I don't really like the idea of telling players "This'll happen and there's nothing you can even try to do about it." I'd rather the damage be included in a roll of some kind.

Joker Two: Really helpful stuff setup-wise, but it kind of leaves me where I started after that. So the players decide to evade the Nebulon via a Piloting check. How do I do that? Opposed Piloting check? Shouldn't speed have a part to play? What happens if the players pass or fail?

Like this! But in space!

Why not use the chase rules in the book? Page 241 seems pretty much made for scenes like yours.

-EF

GMRicc: Look forward to what you come up with. As far as the constant damage method, I'm not sure I'm into it. Sure it's hard to come out of an encounter like this perfectly clean, but I don't think this is the best way to represent that. I don't really like the idea of telling players "This'll happen and there's nothing you can even try to do about it." I'd rather the damage be included in a roll of some kind.

Joker Two: Really helpful stuff setup-wise, but it kind of leaves me where I started after that. So the players decide to evade the Nebulon via a Piloting check. How do I do that? Opposed Piloting check? Shouldn't speed have a part to play? What happens if the players pass or fail?

Okay, you're worried more about the mechanical side then (i.e. "what do the Players roll?"). I'll use the same example from above, giving examples of different rolls for different situations. This'll be kind of long.

When they're taking the job, or leaving the last system before their destination, if they're using Streetwise or Charm to gather rumors, I'd let a Success tell them about the frigate (and where it is), two Advantages tell them about the corvettes, and a Triumph or 5 Advantages to warn them about the TIEs.

To plot their hyperspace jump, the navigator would make an Astrogation test against the Vigilance or Computers of the crews of the blockading ships trying to detect them. Probably C D , unless you have a specific Rival or Nemesis for them. If the system is little-known, add D or even DD . If they try to jump into the asteroid field, upgrade 1 D to C , but add B for avoiding the larger ships. Failures would mean they are spotted, and one of the ships moves to board and inspect them. A Despair could be a mechanical failure, an asteroid collision, or a warship already within weapon range (although not necessarily willing to fire immediately).

Detecting the TIEs in the asteroid field would be Computers or Vigilance at CC D for their size, the Vanguard's sensors, and the asteroids, plus S for each: passive sensors only, staying to the thickest part of the asteroid field, etc. A Success locates them, two or more Advantage identifies the Vanguard, a Triumph allows them to initiate an engagement (or not) before the Vanguard can comm the warships.

Escaping combat with the TIEs would be opposed Piloting (Space), CC for a 3-ship minion group, with another C P B for the asteroids, and modified with B or S by Handling as usual. When the PCs try to break off, each surviving ship gets one more shot. Each Success is one less TIE that shoots, each two Advantage is one more PC shot, and a Triumph would be a TIE crashing into an asteroid or the Vanguard losing track of them. Each Failure is one additional TIE Shot, each two Threat is one less PC shot, and a Despair would be them colliding with an asteroid or a patrolling corvette arriving.

Outrunning the warships would be Piloting (Space) as well, C D for crew, modified by B or S for Speed , rather than Handling. If the warships had warning from each other or the TIEs, add a D , and if shots were exchanged, upgrade it to C instead. Add a second D for the frigate, since it's better-positioned to blockade the planet and is carrying TIEs. Again, each ship gets one shot, but Successes only add S each to the warship's attacks, instead of ignoring them.

Bluffing their way past a warship would be a Deceive against the crew's C D , plus D for the blockade, and upgrade a D to a C for each PC wanted by the Empire. Add a B for each PC who has good connections in the Empire. A Success results in a cursory boarding inspection, three or more in a sensor scan only, and five or more in no scan at all. Advantages and Threats would determining how well-disposed the crew is towards the PCs in the future.

^ THAT is fan-freaking-tactic work there. Wow, thank you for taking the time to figure all that out!

^ THAT is fan-freaking-tactic work there. Wow, thank you for taking the time to figure all that out!

You're welcome! I tend to improvise a little more myself, but I've run two or three scenarios like that recently. From a roleplay standpoint, name each ship the PCs encounter, and give their captain or first officer some eccentricity or quirk, so they're more than just faceless mooks to the players.

Perfect. Thank you for that. Obviously a lot of it should be improvised and adjusted to the skills of the group, but replacing Handling with Speed hadn't occurred to me. It makes a lot of sense though.

@EldritchFire: The chase rules make sense for any TIEs or other pursuing craft, but it doesn't make sense (at least to me) for representing trying to slip past a much bigger ship.

Isn't blockade running just, umm, running away from the blockade? What about the chase rules don't work? Or are you looking more for sneaking past the blockade?

-EF

Isn't blockade running just, umm, running away from the blockade? What about the chase rules don't work? Or are you looking more for sneaking past the blockade?

-EF

Colyer has a player who wants to make use of both his Piloting (Space) skill and the abilities he has taken to affect his ship's Speed. As written, space combat doesn't utilize Piloting much, and chase scenes totally ignore the ships' respective speeds.

Flying through a blockade at max Speed is really only good for punching through as fast as possible; you're not going for stealth, you're hoping no one else can catch you.

If there's nothing to help hide your presence, like an asteroid field or a moon, all out speed might be your only option.

Here's my suggestion:

First, set everything up from the perspective of the destination (just beyond the blockade, the planet, whatever), so the PCs are at extreme, the Blockade is a short, or something similar. Or maybe the blockade is the center and the PCs have to approach and get at least medium range PAST the blockade.

If the players know there's a blockade, then someone needs to work on jamming sensors or something else so the ship doesn't show up on sensors. If they can't mask themselves, then the pilot gets setback dice from having to dodge laser fire.

Now pilot makes a piloting check to move between range bands. Speed and silhouette set difficulty just like this was stellar phenomena, plus possible Setback dice (Copilot and Plot Course actions could help with this). Success means the ship moves closer (two range bands at spd 5?) and Failure means no helpful movement and speed reduction. Threat spent could mean a ship breaks off from the "blockade" and possibly becomes an encounter (just don't outnumber the players). To see if a ship breaks off, have them roll a perception check with the difficulty set either by the pilot's pilot skill or the speed of the ship (your choice).

Isn't blockade running just, umm, running away from the blockade? What about the chase rules don't work? Or are you looking more for sneaking past the blockade?

-EF

Colyer has a player who wants to make use of both his Piloting (Space) skill and the abilities he has taken to affect his ship's Speed. As written, space combat doesn't utilize Piloting much, and chase scenes totally ignore the ships' respective speeds.

That's not quite right. Chases do indeed take speed into effect. The winner of an opposed piloting check changes the range by one band plus 1 more band per point of speed faster they are traveling.

-EF

That's not quite right. Chases do indeed take speed into effect. The winner of an opposed piloting check changes the range by one band plus 1 more band per point of speed faster they are traveling.

-EF

Whoops, you're right. Honestly, after the mess that is space combat rules, I only really skimmed the Chase Rules. And frankly, since a single Success takes a ship out of Close Range (the range at which most starfighter-scale weapons can fire), the extra Range Bands don't mean a whole lot.

I reall Like this post:

I've been trying to get my head around how to run a blockade busting and this is gold!

I whish This wasn't the only number crunchy example of a blockade but as far as I can tell it is, thanks

Joker Two

• And hope thatenyone else could give a few more clear examples on how to do it

Quote

On 2014-01-02 at 8:10 PM, Joker Two said:

Okay, you're worried more about the mechanical side then (i.e. "what do the Players roll?"). I'll use the same example from above, giving examples of different rolls for different situations. This'll be kind of long.

When they're taking the job, or leaving the last system before their destination, if they're using Streetwise or Charm to gather rumors, I'd let a Success tell them about the frigate (and where it is), two Advantages tell them about the corvettes, and a Triumph or 5 Advantages to warn them about the TIEs.

To plot their hyperspace jump, the navigator would make an Astrogation test against the Vigilance or Computers of the crews of the blockading ships trying to detect them. Probably C D , unless you have a specific Rival or Nemesis for them. If the system is little-known, add D or even DD . If they try to jump into the asteroid field, upgrade 1 D to C , but add B for avoiding the larger ships. Failures would mean they are spotted, and one of the ships moves to board and inspect them. A Despair could be a mechanical failure, an asteroid collision, or a warship already within weapon range (although not necessarily willing to fire immediately).

Detecting the TIEs in the asteroid field would be Computers or Vigilance at CC D for their size, the Vanguard's sensors, and the asteroids, plus S for each: passive sensors only, staying to the thickest part of the asteroid field, etc. A Success locates them, two or more Advantage identifies the Vanguard, a Triumph allows them to initiate an engagement (or not) before the Vanguard can comm the warships.

Escaping combat with the TIEs would be opposed Piloting (Space), CC for a 3-ship minion group, with another C P B for the asteroids, and modified with B or S by Handling as usual. When the PCs try to break off, each surviving ship gets one more shot. Each Success is one less TIE that shoots, each two Advantage is one more PC shot, and a Triumph would be a TIE crashing into an asteroid or the Vanguard losing track of them. Each Failure is one additional TIE Shot, each two Threat is one less PC shot, and a Despair would be them colliding with an asteroid or a patrolling corvette arriving.

Outrunning the warships would be Piloting (Space) as well, C D for crew, modified by B or S for Speed , rather than Handling. If the warships had warning from each other or the TIEs, add a D , and if shots were exchanged, upgrade it to C instead. Add a second D for the frigate, since it's better-positioned to blockade the planet and is carrying TIEs. Again, each ship gets one shot, but Successes only add S each to the warship's attacks, instead of ignoring them.

Bluffing their way past a warship would be a Deceive against the crew's C D , plus D for the blockade, and upgrade a D to a C for each PC wanted by the Empire. Add a B for each PC who has good connections in the Empire. A Success results in a cursory boarding inspection, three or more in a sensor scan only, and five or more in no scan at all. Advantages and Threats would determining how well-disposed the crew is towards the PCs in the future.