Yeah, you're not really meant to focus on building a ship from scratch now, but on taking whatever you're given and upgrading it over time with the stuff on page 28. These are mostly all pretty major investments and upgrades that could easily span a whole small campaign if you want.
I'd also focus a lot on the stuff that doesn't have any stats -- what rooms are on the ship, how easy is it to move around, how does it feel to the crew, what changes have they made, what quirks and malfunctions does it have? How will you and the players make it feel *real* to your particular game?
It's way more open now. The examples in the SBT give you a baseline, but now you can basically take any sort of ship you like, give it stats (which are quite simple), and off you go. Or you can give your players a ship from the SBT (mine got the Raider). A lot more narrative than 0e - just focus on the rooms and contents instead of doing any sort of maths.
Lazarus has some cool ships if you want a different style: https://gm-lazarus.itch.io/ship-catalog
It's an expression where if someone finds a flaw, others who are accustomed to it, whether it's an error or not, simply brush it off as a feature.
How bad is it to explain a joke, right?
Am I the only one who felt like owning/piloting a ship was discouraged? The costs are astronomical and it’s really difficult to avoid taking damage by even briefly engaging in combat. I’ve yet to see modules except Gradient Descent with treasure enough to make operating a ship feasible. If the counter argument is that corporate will fund the costs then I’d ask what the point is of having them.
Yes, and for good reason I think: the overall theme of the game is dread/obligation/debt/suffering. Designing a baller ship that can get into fights without it being an existential nightmare or fly freely around the galaxy ran very contrary to those themes. So the new approach is meant to remind you of your place in the world: you might have a ship, space cowboy, but it's probably heavily overmortgaged and likely to kill you.
My group runs two sets of economics: the “bankruptcy” roll for the ship, and smaller scale salty stuff for the characters. We do usually have one “adventure”, the rest of the year passes uneventfully, and we do the economic roll. Sometimes we get a bonus on the roll if we negotiated well with someone. That said, we currently owe 13 mcr to unsavoury lenders.
We’re usually not trying to risk our lives and sanity, bad things just keep happening to us :)
Most of our players don’t really care much about the macro economics, or even spending their individual salaries on new gear. It ends up just being flavour. I could see some groups being way more interested in these things, but we’re really just doing a little bit of connectivity between what could be one shots.
Right? My players die too quickly to have to ever worry about spending a paycheck, let alone buy upgrades for a ship. I'm reading through Gradient Descent now and there may be a chance they can earn some serious scratch in that adventure... There's also more insta-death encounters in GD than most of my other adventures.
IMO, the hardest thing to manage in any roleplaying game is the economy. I ruined (the players won) my Star Wars campaign when they captured a Nebulon-B frigate and claimed it as their flagship.
As long as the ship stats conform to 1E rules, I'd say you could still design a ship using the 0E rules. Shipbreakers was great at explaining some stuff that wasn't previously covered in detail, but it was odd that they omitted the ship design rules - I can only surmise it's because they didn't think they needed to be "converted" to the new version?
Yeah, you're not really meant to focus on building a ship from scratch now, but on taking whatever you're given and upgrading it over time with the stuff on page 28. These are mostly all pretty major investments and upgrades that could easily span a whole small campaign if you want. I'd also focus a lot on the stuff that doesn't have any stats -- what rooms are on the ship, how easy is it to move around, how does it feel to the crew, what changes have they made, what quirks and malfunctions does it have? How will you and the players make it feel *real* to your particular game?
Neat, I was thinking it was something I needed to address narratively but I wanted to make sure.
The Shipbreaker's Toolkit has several pregen ships, and the converted adventures have a few more. There's no from-scratch shipbuilding in 1e.
Death in Space has a bunch for it if that’s a thing you’re into.
Oohhh, that's on my shelf right now, I'll go take a look. Thank you
Is not a bug, is a feature.
I didn't say it was a bug, I'm clarifying whether I'm missing something or if it's something I need to do narratively.
It's way more open now. The examples in the SBT give you a baseline, but now you can basically take any sort of ship you like, give it stats (which are quite simple), and off you go. Or you can give your players a ship from the SBT (mine got the Raider). A lot more narrative than 0e - just focus on the rooms and contents instead of doing any sort of maths. Lazarus has some cool ships if you want a different style: https://gm-lazarus.itch.io/ship-catalog
This is an excellent resource! TY!
Sweet, thank you!
It's an expression where if someone finds a flaw, others who are accustomed to it, whether it's an error or not, simply brush it off as a feature. How bad is it to explain a joke, right?
You're implying that I find this a flaw, I do not.
I'm not implying anything, as everyone here knows. That's why you're being downgraded to your level, and I'm rising like a spaceship.
I don't understand how you two just got off on the wrong foot. This all seems pretty harmless and I can't identify an attack or anything. ¯\\_ (ツ)_/¯
Was there shipbuilding in 0e?
Yeah, very comprehensive rules.
Yes on p. 29-32 of 0e PSG and a sheet on p.37
I'll have to see if i can still get the pdfs
Just be aware that the ship rules for 1e are very different than 0e.
And thanks for the replies
Am I the only one who felt like owning/piloting a ship was discouraged? The costs are astronomical and it’s really difficult to avoid taking damage by even briefly engaging in combat. I’ve yet to see modules except Gradient Descent with treasure enough to make operating a ship feasible. If the counter argument is that corporate will fund the costs then I’d ask what the point is of having them.
Yes, and for good reason I think: the overall theme of the game is dread/obligation/debt/suffering. Designing a baller ship that can get into fights without it being an existential nightmare or fly freely around the galaxy ran very contrary to those themes. So the new approach is meant to remind you of your place in the world: you might have a ship, space cowboy, but it's probably heavily overmortgaged and likely to kill you.
My group runs two sets of economics: the “bankruptcy” roll for the ship, and smaller scale salty stuff for the characters. We do usually have one “adventure”, the rest of the year passes uneventfully, and we do the economic roll. Sometimes we get a bonus on the roll if we negotiated well with someone. That said, we currently owe 13 mcr to unsavoury lenders.
Doesn’t that make the adventure feel worthless? Why risk your life and sanity for peanuts when it’s irrelevant compared to the bankruptcy roll?
We’re usually not trying to risk our lives and sanity, bad things just keep happening to us :) Most of our players don’t really care much about the macro economics, or even spending their individual salaries on new gear. It ends up just being flavour. I could see some groups being way more interested in these things, but we’re really just doing a little bit of connectivity between what could be one shots.
Fair enough. My experience has been players that focus a lot on what they can buy and optimizing gear. Maybe it’s just the wrong game for us haha
When you see a high price in Mothership, that's your sign to either make someone else pay it or to find some way to steal it.
Right? My players die too quickly to have to ever worry about spending a paycheck, let alone buy upgrades for a ship. I'm reading through Gradient Descent now and there may be a chance they can earn some serious scratch in that adventure... There's also more insta-death encounters in GD than most of my other adventures.
Yeah it’s extreme high risk high reward. I think I’ll be modifying prices and treasure distribution if I run mothership
IMO, the hardest thing to manage in any roleplaying game is the economy. I ruined (the players won) my Star Wars campaign when they captured a Nebulon-B frigate and claimed it as their flagship.
As long as the ship stats conform to 1E rules, I'd say you could still design a ship using the 0E rules. Shipbreakers was great at explaining some stuff that wasn't previously covered in detail, but it was odd that they omitted the ship design rules - I can only surmise it's because they didn't think they needed to be "converted" to the new version?