Blind Hyperspace Jumps

[Raven Redstar]

Sounds like fun. I'll give these a go the next time someone wants to do a blind jump.
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RR
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[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

In fact, it looks like I'll need to re-write a good portion of the process, so I might as well fit in rules for an uncalculated jump (as opposed to a blind jump) into a unified rule...
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

Okay, here's an updated version of the rule to reflect both the new Mishap Table and the ability to make Blind Jumps with an active Safety Cut-Out.

Blind Hyperspace Jumps

The extant Astrogation system focuses entirely on the premise of accurately navigating from one star system to another. However, there are other potential uses, most prominent of which is making a Blind Hyperspace Jump; that is, making a jump without pre-calculated coordinates and no particular destination in mind apart from "anywhere but here." Blind Jumps are fraught with danger, and only the most fool-hardy or desperate ship crews attempt them, usually when they have no other choice.

There are two methods of making a Blind Jump, but both involve simply aiming your ship at an open patch of sky, uttering a prayer to your deity of choice, and engaging the hyperdrive. The more common form of blind jump still requires that the ship be far enough from any gravity well that the hyperdrive's safety cut-out doesn't engage, but still carries with it a very real risk of collision with an unmapped object. The other method - far more rare and even more dangerous - actually disengages the safety cut-out, so that the ship is literally flying blind, with no way to warn against potential impacts. This method requires either physically disconnecting the cut-out or modifying a ship so that the safety cut-out can be deactivated from the cockpit.

How It Works
In game terms, making a Blind Jump simply requires an Easy Piloting roll (there is no Astrogation involved, after all), subject to any penalties from proximity to a gravity well (see the stats for the Interdictor Cruiser, on pg. 18 of Wanted by Cracken). On a successful jump, roll 2D and compare the result to the following table:

2 - The ship suffers the "Collision, Heavy Damage" result from the Astrogation Mishap Table.

3 - The ship suffers the "Hyperdrive Cut-Out & Damaged" result from the Astrogation Mishap Table

4 - The ship suffers the "Close Call" result from the Astrogation Mishap Table. Roll once on the Heavy Damage Table.

5-12 - The ship emerges into real space at a random location 2D minutes away from the jump's starting point. The ship must now calculate a new jump from its current location (+2D to Astrogation Difficulty)

If making a Blind Jump with the Safety Cut-Out deactivated, the ship will have no advance warning of mass shadows in its path, and any collision will be likely be fatal. As above, initiating the Jump requires an Easy Piloting Roll, but unmodified by any nearby gravity. On a successful jump, roll 2D and compare the result to the following table:

2 - The ship hits an obstacle at hyper-luminal velocities and is destroyed. All characters are killed.

3 - The ship suffers the "Collision, Heavy Damage" result from the Astrogation Mishap Table.

4 - The ship suffers the "Close Call" result from the Astrogation Mishap Table. Roll once on the Heavy Damage Table.

5-12 - The ship emerges into real space at a random location 2D minutes away from the jump's starting point. The ship must now calculate a new jump from its current location (+2D to Astrogation Difficulty). If making a normal, calculated jump, the Safety Cut-Out must be reengaged.

A character may expend a Force Point and move the result up one level (i.e. from Destroyed to Collision, or from Collision to Close Call, etc). However, this is not considered Heroic, and the FP is not earned back.

Longer Jumps
Because Blind Jumps are linear and of short duration, they can be tracked and duplicated at Easy Difficulty by a pursuing craft. The characters may wish to stay in hyperspace longer in an attempt to throw off any pursuit (Astrogation Difficulty for pursuing ships increases at a rate of +5 for every additional 2D minute segment). However, this increases the likelihood of a collision, with each additional jump "segment" counting as a new jump for Mishap Calculation purposes (re-roll 2D for every additional jump, with a Result modifier of -1 per jump).

Modifying Your Ship
Deactivating your ship's hyperdrive safety cut-out is a Very Bad Idea; it's called a Safety Cut-Out for good reason. However, some ships (generally those involved in illicit or covert activities) occasionally find themselves in situations where risking likely death by making a blind hyperdrive jump is preferable to the alternative.

On the vast majority of ships, the hyperdrive cut-out is hard-wired into the system, and can not be easily deactivated (to do so requires a Difficult Repair roll that takes 15 minutes). However, some ships (smuggling vessels and intel special missions craft in particular) are equipped with a discrete control switch that allows the ship's crew to deactivate the cut-out as a Free Action. Naturally, such switches are highly illegal, and are usually disguised as some other, nondescript ship's function in order to deceive inspections and customs agents. Installing the switch and mechanism requires a Very Difficult Repair roll and takes 4 hours.

It is impossible to reconnect the safety cut-out while the ship is in hyperspace. Any attempt to do so will destroy the cut-out completely.

I'll also want to re-think how my Scout/Survey Hyperdrive would mesh with this...
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index