How do you all have the players make the jump to hyperspace? Do you use Astrogation for this? I'd like to have a hold-your-breath moment in which the players have to roll the dice to see whether they jump, or whether they fail to jump ("It's not my fault!"), or whether they jump but end up in an asteroid belt (as in "A New Hope").

I *think* that's Astrogation, but the skill description says Astrogation is used to "program" the navicomputer before the jump, which implies a delay before the jump itself.

How do you all handle the jump to hyperspace?

To me, Astrogation is charting the course. I don't make the ability to jump contingent on the Astrogation check. I might require a Mechanics check for it if there are existing hyperdrive problems or if the hyperdrive was targeted or damaged during the sequence in moving our of the gravity well.

If I want to flip Destiny to mess up the hyperdrive, that's another thing. I was in a game where we had a ship with a faulty hyperdrive where the GM could do that without flipping Destiny, it was fine and our trade-off for having a better than average starting ship overall.

For most circumstances, the "jump" is fine and not a challenge unless something's wrong with the hyperdrive or there's a gravity well or Interdictor cruiser, but those circumstances are more narrative than needing mechanics.

Ah, thanks. So when Han Solo tries to make a jump, and the Falcon sputters and fails, that's not a failed Astrogation check -- that might be a Destiny token, or it might be a failed Mechanics check (reflecting ongoing hyperdrive trouble). So I could run Astrogation followed by Mechanics if there's some doubt whether the ship's hyperspace drive will kick in.

Yeah, I would probably always use a Destiny Point for that, barring some circumstance like they have a really busted up ship an and they know its a long shot for it to work.

You really don't want to instill an idea of "GM versus Player" in your crew (That's my opinion, at least) and the rules are designed for a more cooperative style of play. I would caution against using skills for the hyperspace jump for three reasons:

1. To get the feeling you want, the odds of failure would probably be too high.

2. For consistency, you probably want to maintain the rule of a check every time they jump. What happens if they fail when it isn't a tense moment. That hyperdrive sputtering out during a chase from TIEs is harrowing and cool, when you're just popping over to your Corellia to pick up some ale is annoying.

3. And most importantly, failing a skill check implies - to some degree at least - that the player was the one who caused the problem, or wasn't good enough to avoid it. A destiny point on the other hand is fate and not a result of any shortcoming on the fault of the player. Like Han said, he did fix that hyperdrive. (And he did plot the correct course in ANH. It's not Han's fault the planet got blown up.)

4. It also gives you as GM more control over when it happens.

I never call for astrogation unless the destination is unknown or poorly chart, or the PCs are under pressure and are trying to coordinate a quick get-a-way. The same reason I don't call for piloting checks when the pilot is taking off or landing in fair weather.

If there's no reason for them to fail, why would I have them roll?

For most astrogation I just have them do an easy check. Failures mean it just takes a little longer as the computer tries to grind the numbers more due to operator error, kind of like a spell check "Did you mean to arrive at the planet instead of the star?" Advantages/Threats just means less/more time taken on trip.

If they are in combat, or are pressed for time that is different. Then you have difficulty upgrades and setback dice.

In our game, Hyperspace travel moves at the speed of plot. It takes as long as the story deems necessary to get where we're going.

Astrogation checks are typically only really used if we're running away from something. We use it as a mechanic to get away from our pursuers without them being where we are headed at the same time or before us (assuming our enemy is hyperdrive-capable).