Many times during my Star Wars Edge of the Empire games, a starship scene breaks out and everyone at the table tries to scramble and figure all this hooey out.
“How do I angle the deflector shields? What can my character do if she isn’t piloting or shooting? How much damage do the guns deal?” etc.
For my own games, I’ve sought out to remedy that jarring bump in game mechanics learning curve by providing an all-in-one starship sheet on a single 11″ x 17″ sheet of paper. It contains all of the information the Crew needs, roughly organized by location on the starship and/or the character’s role on the starship. It also integrates the basic statistics of the starship in question for a seamless flow of information.
In practice, this has worked amazingly well, with my players quickly grasping their available options and being able to weigh in on an informed decision when they take their character’s turn. Players tend to place their character’s token or mini directly on top of the box of text that represents the area of the ship that their characters are in.
My group has enthusiastically chosen a YT-1300 light freighter for their starting starship, however I can only imagine the joy that the owners of Firespray system patrol craft will feel now that some of the complexities of their starship’s weapons systems are streamlined. Moreover, I hope that the benefits of the Firespray, and its unique ability to Gain the Advantage due to its higher speed, will be better spelled out for all interested parties.
April 9th, 2013 at 12:45 pm
Whoops! I updated the sheets to reflect the actual rules for evasive maneuvers, gain the advantage, and stay on target; instead of showing my own House Rules.
May 16th, 2013 at 11:30 pm
Excellent game aids, thanks! Based on your design I made one for a Tie Int that my PCs stole last gaming session. If you’re interested, it’s linked in on my page.
May 17th, 2013 at 7:55 am
Love it! Don’t let the canon purists get you down, you go and put shields on whateverthehell ship you want!
Here’s the link for anyone interested in seeing El Tea’s work: http://michael.lesauvage.name/starship-layout-guide-tie-interceptor/
August 27th, 2013 at 11:38 pm
Obviously based upon your work. I made it a two page reference and included all I could for space / vehicle combat. Thank you for the great core idea.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4gsjudtqkeqxlrn/Space%20Combat%20options%20with%20YT-1300%20floorplan.docx