Space Rock, Starships, and 1D Starship Combat

An illustration for the upcoming Hack by the talented Attila Nagy.

My last post mentioned that I was working on a lifepath character creation method for Monolith. . .

Things have gotten out of hand. 

I started off with just a more hard science life-path chargen for Monolith but quickly realized I was so heavily modifying that system that I might as well make my own hack. As a publishing designer by day, getting the whole thing into InDesign isn't such as huge hassle for me. I've hired an artist for a handful of illustrations and am nearly done with the first version. Just lots of play examples left.

I've decided to call the hack Space Rock, as a cheeky allusion to the fact that this is simply a less fantastic version of Monolith and Meteor—both Cairn hacks named after rocks (with Cairn also being a stack of rocks—there's a lot of mileage in this rock name thing.) I've certainly not reinvented the wheel or anything. If you want psionics and space magic in your game—please please please check out and use Adam Hensley's Monolith. There is nothing wrong with it. I am simply throwing this hack up for those who want a more grounded sci-fi experience.

When I release the PDF on Itch.io (probably 2–3 months from now) I will also have it up on Lulu for sale at cost. The PDF will be pay-what-you-want and the whole system will have a CC-BY-SA license.

All that said, I do want to share my starship combat system. This is probably the most drastic rules departure Space Rock includes, and I feel it makes the ship combat simpler as it is all played in a single band (like chases in SWADE) rather than the hex grid Monolith utilizes.

Let me know what you think of this. I am going to include an example of play in the pdf along with turn by turn battlespace illustrations to help explain this. I've run it a few times and it seems to work well.

Starships

• Hull (HUL). A starship’s structural integrity.
• Engines (ENG). A starship’s engines and power.
• Systems (SYS). A starship’s computer systems.

All starships start with a 10 in each score. Certain modules can increase these scores.

Saves

If a starship must make a HUL, SYS, or ENG save roll 1d20. If the result is equal to or lower than the ship’s current score, it succeeds.

Holds

Holds represent the amount of space a starship has. Each fuel rod (used for by jump drives), each trade good, and each module occupies one hold. Modules that are listed as bulky take up two holds.

Default Elements

All starships have a cockpit and engine room (fighters simply have an engine). These do not occupy holds.

Modules

Modules are upgrades to a ship. They can increase scores, add armor, add weapons, or perform other functions. Effects of modules can stack.

Movement & Inertia

A ship’s movement score represents its travel speed. In combat, it describes the number of bands forward a ship can move in a single turn (see Ship Combat). Inertia represents how much movement is required to turn the ship 180º.

Crew Requirements

The Starship Size table lists the minimum number of crew required to man a starship as well as its maximum occupancy. A ship suffers critical damage each day it is manned with fewer than the minimum required crew. The GM is free to determine how few is too few to crew a ship.

Crew Mates

Additional competent crew mates can be hired for 50c per week. Treat all of their stats as 10, if needed. 

Ship Size

Ship size is determined by its number of holds. Use the chart below to determine the stats of different ship sizes.

Battlespaces

Space Rock uses a one-dimensional representation of space for starship combat. Rather than being played on a hex or grid map, starship combat is represented in a linear battlespace made up of spaces, called bands. Most battlespaces might start out as being only 8 bands wide, but more bands can be added as starships move farther from the origin of the battle.

Any number of ships can occupy the same band, and starships can travel through bands occupied by other ships or structures. However, some bands contain hazards of varying effect.

Rounds & Departments

Like ground combat, starship combat is played in rounds broken into a crew turn and an enemy turn. Rounds in starship combat last roughly 1 narrative minute.

All ships have five departments: piloting, engineering, systems, weapons, and command. All departments get to perform a department action on their side’s turn provided that at least one character is operating that department. Characters can only operate one department at a time. Department actions can happen in any order and all take place simultaneously on that turn.

It takes 1 round for a character to switch departments, unless they are in a fighter.

Start of Combat

At the start of a combat, the crew’s pilot makes a DEX save on behalf of themselves and their crew. If they succeed, their ship and all its departments get to act in the first round.

Attack Modifiers

Size

Attacks against ships two sizes larger than the attacking ship are impaired, and attacks versus ships three or more sizes larger are typically ignored.

Attacks against ships two sizes smaller than the attacking ship are enhanced, and attacks versus ships three or more sizes smaller ignore shields and always cause critical damage.

Facing

All ships in the battlespace should face either left or right. Weapons can shoot in either direction regardless of the direction the ship faces. 

Attacks shooting a ship from behind go up one dice size, up to d12. This is called a facing bonus. This bonus does not supersede an effect which impairs an attack.

Piloting Action

The pilot can move a number of spaces equal to the ship’s movement and perform a maneuver. Flipping a ship to face the other direction costs movement equal to your ship’s inertia. Flipping a ship does not cause it to change bands.

Some maneuvers cost movement. If the pilot has access to a weapon or other module, such as a Flak Cannon, activating it counts as a maneuver.

Boost. Double your movement this round, all your ship’s  weapon actions this round are impaired.

Evade. Spend half your movement (round down) to perform tricky moves and rolls. Make a DEX save. On success, impair all damage taken this round.

Ramming. Collide with a ship in the same band. This ends your movement immediately. Both ships take 1d8 hull damage (roll damage separately for each ship). If the ships are more than one size class apart, the damage to the larger ship is impaired and the damage to the smaller ship is enhanced.

Jump. Engage the jump drive to immediately initiate beyond lightspeed travel to another system. This action requires the system’s department to take the astrogation action this turn.

This action cannot be taken if any hazard or non-fleet ship occupies this band or any band forward of your starship.

Engineering Action

The ship’s engineer can use their action to boost other departments. Engineering actions cost energy from the ship’s energy reserves. If the ship has no remaining energy reserves, this action will reduce the ENG score by 1 and the ship must then make an ENG Save vs critical damage. Failure causes the engines to fail, and no further engineering actions can be made until they are repaired. Repairs take 1D6 hours for each point.

Boost Piloting Station. Pilot may take a second action.

Boost Shields. Restore 1D4 shields.

Boost Weapons. One weapon module rolls twice, taking better result.

Boost Systems. Activate one extra system modules in one turn without needing to make a WIL Save.

Systems Action

Systems are operated by one character at a time. Each action per turn beyond the first requires a WIL save or no systems are activated and operator takes a fatigue.

Astrogation. Plot an emergency jump to another system. The jump must be made by the pilot this round. If this ship is part of a fleet, all ship pilots in the fleet can also jump.

Module. Activate one systems module. No module can be activated more than once per round.

Weapons Action

A character operating the ship’s weapons may choose a weapon module to operate and make an attack each turn.

Attacks deal damage to a target’s shields (SHI), then HUL, unless otherwise specified. This works similarly to the way character damage hits HP before STR.

Targeted Attacks

Unless the attack would already be impaired, a character may choose to impair their next attack in order to target a specific module on the target ship. If the enemy ship takes critical damage, the targeted module is damaged.

Switching Weapons

Switching to a different weapon takes one turn. A character may attempt to change weapons and attack in the same turn by making a DEX Save. Failure results in losing 1d2 turns.

Multiple Weapons

Multiple PCs can operate different weapons if your ship has more than one. When multiple weapons are being used to attack the same target, only apply the highest result. This does not apply to multiple weapons against the same target made from different ships.

Command Action

Encourage another department for 1 fatigue. This allows one individual to attempt any single roll a second time and keep the result if it’s better.

Fleets

When multiple starships are allied with each other, they form a fleet. Ships in a fleet operate independently on the same turn. Fleets share a single command department action which can be used to benefit any fleet ship. Ships in the same fleet also share the benefits of any astrogation action.

Critical Damage

When a starship takes damage to its HUL, ENG, or SYS, the ship needs to make the related save vs critical damage. On failure, a random module is damaged. If the module was already damaged, it is destroyed.

Starship Score Loss

If a ship’s HUL is reduced to 0, it is destroyed. Vac-suits and escape pods on the ship may prevent anyone onboard from dying in space.

If a ship’s ENG is reduced to 0, it is junked. Engines are totally destroyed. The ship will require replacement.

If a ship’s SYS are reduced to 0, it is fried. All modules are inoperable. The ship’s entire systems must be replaced, (typically half-the cost of the ship itself.)

Repairing Damage

PCs may attempt to repair damage to Starship Scores. During combat, one attempt per Score may be made each round. If PCs have the appropriate tools (hull, engine, or systems repair kit) and skill/training, they will repair 1D4 damage each round. If a PC only has tools or skill, but not both, they must pass a WIL Save to figure it out.

If multiple players attempt the same repair, only the highest result applies.

Hazards

Asteroids, debris, clouds, large structures, planets, and black holes represent hazards in a space battle. 

Asteroid & debris fields

Asteroid and other debris fields can provide cover in a dogfight, but flying through them is risky. They can span multiple bands and are rated as level 1, 2, or 3 based on their density. A ship inside or beyond an asteroid or debris field benefits from additional armor equal to the level of the field, but can never benefit from more than 3 total armor.

Each time a ship enters or starts its turn in a debris field the pilot must succeed on an Evade action or the ship takes HUL damage equal to the level of the asteroid or debris field.

Dust clouds

Attacks against ships in or behind a dust cloud are treated as impaired, as well as attacks originating from within a dust cloud. If more than one ship are in a dust cloud at the end of the crew turn, roll 1d6. On a 1, the ships collide inside the cloud. See ramming.

Large structures

Large and giant spacecraft, enormous satellites, and spaceports can represent hazards in a space battle. Moving safely into a band occupied by a large structure requires an amount of movement equal to your ship’s inertia, otherwise you collide. See ramming.

Planets

Planets represent impassable obstacles at one end of a battlespace. Ships cannot move into or beyond a band occupied by a planet. If the planet has an atmosphere, the space adjacent to the planet requires a ship’s entire movement to enter safely, otherwise the pilot must make a successful DEX save to avoid the ship taking critical damage.

Black hole

Black holes can be a terrifying opponent in their own right. At the end of each round, the black hole will pull all ships towards itself a number of bands equal to each ship’s inertia. If a ship starts its turn in the same band as a black hole, the pilot must use their action to make a STR save to boost away from the black hole. If they fail the ship and all crew are immediately destroyed.