Where No Man Has Gone Before http://trek.abillionmonkeys.com/ is a Star Trek RPG by Mike Berkey that is built on the Microlite20 rules. My group has played a couple of games now and we are having a blast. Last session saw our first Starship combat, and we had six players each at a different bridge station console, with the Captains player giving commands. It worked well but I felt that some of the bridge functions were a little unexciting for the player and some were a bit vague. I’m sure some of this is a feature. The game is pretty free wheeling in general and I don't want to counteract the openness of the simple system, but I felt that some additional options might help keep all the players engaged in space combat. (Note: I am no expert at Trek, but I do know that some of these stations are not accurate, I am more interested in making a fun game than adhering to canon.)
Bridge Actions in Starship Combat
At the beginning of a starship combat encounter everyone rolls physical + dexterity for initiative with the highest roll acting first.
The GM will state the range of the enemy ship.
Each combatant may take one action on their initiative.
Once everyone has acted the combat round is complete.
Some actions refer to initiative segments, this is a count of each individual's “turn” in the initiative order.
Captain’s Chair
•Give Command: Tell the crew what to do
•Urgent Command: The Captain can swap his place in the initiative order with another crewman
•Tactical Brilliance: The Captain can make a Knowledge + Charisma check, the result can replace another character's roll this round
•Chair Console: The Captain can operate any other station
Sensor Console
•Short range scanners: Roll Science + Intelligence vs Range DC. Success reveals the ship type (if in Federation Data Banks) and if it has shields up and weapons armed. For every 5 points over DC, pick another piece of data:
-Current Shield Strength
-Shield Rating (SR)
-Weapon numbers and type
-Weapon Rating (WR)
-Number of Crew
-Current and maximum Impulse Speed
-Current and maximum Warp Speed
-Miscellaneous ship info (If it has a maneuver or ruggedness bonus etc.)
•Electronic Warfare: (If ship is equipped with EWAR modules) Roll Science + Dexterity versus range DC. Success prevents the enemy from scanning the ship. For every 5 points over DC pick one additional effect:
-Jam enemy communications your until next turn
-Scramble enemy targeting sensors until your next turn (Increases range DC for attacks by one tier)
Shield Console
•Raise / Lower Shields: Make Science + Dexterity roll. Subtract this number from 20 and this is how many initiative segments it takes for the shields to raise or lower.
•Reinforce Shields: Choose forward or aft. Successful attacks against this section do damage one tier lower on the damage chart. The other section of the ship is not protected by shields.
•Cover object with shield projectors: At the expense of shielding the ship, another object up to short range away may be covered by the ship's shields. If the object is moving it requires a Dexterity + Science roll vs Range DC to shield to the object
Helm
•Adjust Range: The helmsman moves the ship closer or farther away from the target, if the target doesn’t want this to happen they make opposed Piloting rolls (dexterity + physical)
•Maneuver for Position: Attempting to put the ship into a position of advantage, or avoid a position of disadvantage. If against another ship make opposed Piloting Rolls, if against a station object or environmental effect roll vs DC assigned by GM.
•Evasive Maneuvers: The Helmsman rolls dexterity + physical, if the result is higher than the DC to hit the ship, use the results of the roll until the pilots next turn.
•Warp Out: The Helmsman plots a course for warp and engages the warp drive. How long it takes for the ship to warp into subspace depends on the ship's Engineering team. (See Engineering console)
•Flee / Pursue: At Impulse Speeds determine the initial range distance between the ships. When a ship goes one range band past Far Away it has escaped combat. Each round both helmsmen make dexterity + a physical roll modified by comparative ship impulse speeds, the faster ship makes this roll at advantage. Whoever is successful gains a range band of relative distance between the ships. If the result is a tie, there is a 1 in 6 chance for each ship of something terrible happening.
•Ram: Smash your ship into the enemy! Must be a Point Blank Range, make a pilot vs pilot roll, if successful do SR x4 damage to enemy and take the enemies SR x4 damage yourself, plus at least one section damage roll.
Tactical Console
•Fire Phasers: Calculate a firing solution and shoot the ships phaser banks at one target. Phaser banks will be positioned either fore or aft, and only those banks facing the target can fire. If the ship has multiple banks facing the target, an attack roll is made for each. Roll dexterity + physical versus a DC based on the range plus the target helmsman’s dexterity bonus and any miscellaneous modifiers (such as that gained by a maneuverable ship or lost by a particularly large ship). If the attack is successful compare the phaser banks Weapon Rating (WR) to the targets Shield Rating (SR) and roll damage as indicated on the Weapon Damage Chart.
Unless indicated otherwise in the ship description, phaser banks cannot shoot at Far Away range.
More than one target may be fired at by a ship with multiple phaser banks, but every target past the first requires one Fire Phasers action. (And thus cannot be performed by the same character in one round)
•Fire Torpedoes: Calculate trajectory and execute a photon torpedo attack against a target. Photon torpedo launchers will be positioned either fore or aft, and can fire at any range. Roll dexterity + physical versus a DC based on target range, target helmsman dexterity bonus and miscellaneous modifiers. If successful the torpedo will strike the target in 1d6 + range band initiative segments. (Far Away = 4, Long = 3, Medium = 2, Short = 1.) For every 5 points that the attack roll exceeds the DC, another torpedo hits.
Torpedoes can be used while the ship is in warp.
Ships carry a limited amount of photon torpedoes that must be tracked. Subtract one on a miss, and one for every torpedo that hits.
•Lock on Target: Give the ship's targeting computers additional time to lock onto a target and calculate a firing solution. Every round spent locking on the target grants a +1 to the subsequent attack roll up to a maximum of +5.
Engineering Console
•Repair: Dispatch engineering teams to repair ship damage. (See Repairs)
•Re-Route power: Move ships power to a particular system to grant it advantage at the expense of other systems.
5 points from Shield Rating (SR) can be added to Weapon Rating (WR)
5 points form WR can be added to SR
5 points from SR or WR can add to impulse drive for advantage on piloting rolls
5 points from SR or WR can add to sensors for advantage on sensor rolls
When power is re-routed, the system receiving the additional power has a 1 in 6 chance of sustaining level 1 damage.
To re-route power, make an Intelligence + Science roll vs DC 15 to adjust the ships power flow. For every 5 points over the DC add an additional +1 to the system. On a critical hit the system that power is coming from is not reduced, on a 1 the system that power is being moved to takes level 2 damage.
Rerouting only last until the engineers next turn
•Emergency Warp: Coax the warp engines to engage faster than typical operations. Roll Dexteriy + Science, subtract this total from 20, it takes this many rounds +1 to engage the warp drive.
•Beam over a boarding party: Only un-shielded ships can beam or receive a transporter payload. The engineer must roll Dexterity + Science versus the range DC to successfully beam a payload. Failure indicates transport does not occur this round as the coordinates are still being calculated.
•The Trouble with Tribbles: If the starships sensors have successfully scanned a target, engineering can evaluate the target for weaknesses and make recommendations to exploit them. Roll Intelligence + Science, before their next turn the engineer can use the result of this roll to replace a roll by another character. (This pairs well with Technobabble)
