Sci-Fi, space battles and multiple PCs in a single ship

[Laurefindel]

So Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca just escaped the Death Star aboard the Millennium Falcon. Tie Fighters are in pursuit, a space battle ensues!

Han and Luke's players declare that their PCs will man the guns. What are Leia and Chewbacca's players doing while the two other players enjoy their fight?

This conundrum is not unique to Star Wars; every time a party of 4-6 PCs ride a single spaceship in combat, only two or three players actually get to enjoy the encounter.

Short of granting each player control of a spaceship, is there a system that actively involve multiple players aboard a single ship? Any DM tips to make the combat enjoyable for all without reducing a player's whole round to a single skill check/roll (player A shoots, player B pilots, player C repairs etc)

'findel

 

[giant.robot]

Each character at a different station on the ship is usually the best way to run things. Don’t think of a station as a single skill check though. Operating the sensors isn’t a single roll. It’s the actual sensor operation, perception-checks/idea rolls to notice details the GM wants to hand out, lookups in the computer’s database for ship configurations, trying to help the pilots or gunners know what the opponent is going to do next by looking at the power distribution of the target.

When you’re running the in-ship part of the game you need to think about how each player can affect things just like if they were walking around on a planet. Let them use their non-combat skills to give short-term bonuses to the other characters. One character’s failed roll might be made up for by another’s check.

 

[5ekyu]

Esper Genesis 5e based scifi has rules for engineering tasks, repair tasks, pilot tasks, gunner tasks, sensor spoofing tasks etc. So it should be easy to fill up other character time with those. Also, if comms are in play, social skills plus hacking can be a thing. If someone gets into the enemy comms they could theoretically "help" the pilot or navigator with choices and timing, giving advantage.

But one key is getting them to think about "what do i do on ship" in chargen. I inckude on my charsheets a "ship ops summary" section where the common tasks are listed with a place for their character to summarize the scores they have. They can build a "fish outta water... Err space" who cannot do much in those moments but its more a concious choice after they fill in a lot of zeroes or 1s on that chart.

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[CapnZapp]

So Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca just escaped the Death Star aboard the Millennium Falcon. Tie Fighters are in pursuit, a space battle ensues!

Han and Luke's players declare that their PCs will man the guns. What are Leia and Chewbacca's players doing while the two other players enjoy their fight?

This conundrum is not unique to Star Wars; every time a party of 4-6 PCs ride a single spaceship in combat, only two or three players actually get to enjoy the encounter.

Short of granting each player control of a spaceship, is there a system that actively involve multiple players aboard a single ship? Any DM tips to make the combat enjoyable for all without reducing a player's whole round to a single skill check/roll (player A shoots, player B pilots, player C repairs etc)

'findel

I know the designers of Coriolis the sci-fi rpg actively tried to address this issue; providing enough distinct tasks on-board for at least four players (characters).

How successful, I don't know.

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[Morrus]

I know the designers of Coriolis the sci-fi rpg actively tried to address this issue; providing enough distinct tasks on-board for at least four players (characters).

How successful, I don't know.

In WOIN, there are about 20 different things to choose from. Enough to ensure everyone in even the largest groups not only has something to do, but also gets to choose each round *what* to do.

 

[CapnZapp]

In WOIN, there are about 20 different things to choose from. Enough to ensure everyone in even the largest groups not only has something to do, but also gets to choose each round *what* to do.

I realize you want to promote your own game, Morrus, but I'm not sure you intend to overshadow one genuine suggestion with yours. It's simply not good form.

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[Morrus]

I realize you want to promote your own game, Morrus, but I'm not sure you intend to overshadow one genuine suggestion with yours. It's simply not good form.

Back in junior thread cop mode again, CapnZapp. Don’t do that, please.

 

[Istbor]

I would also suggest taking a look at the Starfinder Space battle rules. I have yet to really get into the guts of it and have been unable to really play a good/long space battle, but on the surface it seems pretty good. It also makes other tasks on the space ship important. So yes, blasting enemies is helpful, but so is a good pilot, engineer, ect.

 

[Eltab]

Stuff to do which is not shooting back: (not an exhaustive list)

- sensors. Look for new arrivals, pinpoint enemy locations for +1 to-hit
- ECM. Maybe you can mess up THEIR to-hit rolls?
- steer the ship. Duck, dodge, swerve, hide behind a convenient other ship
- Engineering. Get 110% power and a +1 on Laser damage
- Stewards &c can provide medical attention if somebody does get hurt but not killed
- Repair something that enemy weapon fire broke / damaged (like the Power Plant)
- Maintain shields / force fields
- In galley, cook feast to celebrate your upcoming victory; aroma in air vents gives everybody a +1 morale bonus to any one roll per turn

Look over any Traveler edition; they all have Spaceship Combat rules that can provide inspiration to you

 

[tomBitonti]

In the Millenium Falcon example, wasn't Chewbacca pilot, R2D2 on repair, and both Han and Luke gunners?

Both Leia and C3PO were sidelined. It seemed that neither had any relevant skills. C3PO was a translator, and Leia a diplomat, neither particularly useful in a space dog fight.

Not to say that Leia doesn't have skills in addition to diplomacy: In the fight during the jail breakout, she showed that she was able enough using a blaster, was athletic, and showed ranks in Command. It's just that during the space fight, none of these skills seemed relevant. One could suppose she provided encouragement to the others, but that doesn't seem to quite be active enough of a skill use.

Thx!
TomB