Klaus Kipling
Mongoose
1 week in jump. It's starting to bug me. I understand the initial reasonings, but it really cuts off a lot of plot hooks.
For instance: there's been a murder on a remote base or outside normal jurisdiction, and the player's boss at HQ calls them in to investigate. Except, by the time they get there, the crime is, at the very least, 2 weeks old...
or
The player's patron gives them a mission to such and such a planet, a few subsectors away. The trip will take months.
or
The PC's escape a trap and jump out-system, so the henchmen sends a courier back to the evil nemesis to tell them where he thinks they're going. Except, by the time the nemesis gets the message and jumps in, all he sees is the player's ship jumping out again.
or
How long do the IISS wait before declaring their ships overdue for return. A year? 2 years? Scratch that rescue mission then, as the crew will probably be dead long before the IISS starts looking for them.
Of course, there are narrative ways around these issues, but they end up being clunky and repetitive, like trying to make sense out of nonsense UWPs.
No as I said before, I understand the reasoning. Emulate the age of sail, put the players a long way from the chain of command, the help isn't coming, so be self reliant, etc etc.
Except, sometimes the chain of command is a useful way of getting the players where you need them, or you might need to reinforce the baddies because you underestimated the players firepower. Or, if the players use nukes on a planet, how do you keep them around long enough for the Marines to find out about it and come storming in? How do bounty hunters work, when the source of the price might be a year away from the place where you get your man (unless the bounty is frekkin massive, it'll cost you more to collect, in dinners alone, than it's worth).
Thing is, if you change jump from 1 week to 1 day, a lot of these problems get solved, without taking anything away from the setting at large.
I see lots of advantages, and not many disadvantages. Certainly makes it easier to ref games on the fly (especially in our current era, where we are used to instant communications, and therefore inspiration often comes in forms that require a swifter timeframe than weeks or months). Instead of pure age of sail, it's more like our modern age (with transcontinental aircraft and trains), but without phones, radio, or the net.
What does anyone else think?
(note, I'm not expecting or clamouring for a rules change, just positing a talking point)
For instance: there's been a murder on a remote base or outside normal jurisdiction, and the player's boss at HQ calls them in to investigate. Except, by the time they get there, the crime is, at the very least, 2 weeks old...
or
The player's patron gives them a mission to such and such a planet, a few subsectors away. The trip will take months.
or
The PC's escape a trap and jump out-system, so the henchmen sends a courier back to the evil nemesis to tell them where he thinks they're going. Except, by the time the nemesis gets the message and jumps in, all he sees is the player's ship jumping out again.
or
How long do the IISS wait before declaring their ships overdue for return. A year? 2 years? Scratch that rescue mission then, as the crew will probably be dead long before the IISS starts looking for them.
Of course, there are narrative ways around these issues, but they end up being clunky and repetitive, like trying to make sense out of nonsense UWPs.
No as I said before, I understand the reasoning. Emulate the age of sail, put the players a long way from the chain of command, the help isn't coming, so be self reliant, etc etc.
Except, sometimes the chain of command is a useful way of getting the players where you need them, or you might need to reinforce the baddies because you underestimated the players firepower. Or, if the players use nukes on a planet, how do you keep them around long enough for the Marines to find out about it and come storming in? How do bounty hunters work, when the source of the price might be a year away from the place where you get your man (unless the bounty is frekkin massive, it'll cost you more to collect, in dinners alone, than it's worth).
Thing is, if you change jump from 1 week to 1 day, a lot of these problems get solved, without taking anything away from the setting at large.
There's still no FTL radio, so you still need a ship to send a message. Even with a days gap, no message can be instant, but a conversation by correspondence will take less than years to say hello.
It also lets banking and credit arrangements easier to conceive.
You're days from the chain of command, rather than weeks - you still have independence, but help and/or oversight is still conceivable.
The players are not kicking their heels every other week. Sure, you can gloss over jump time but some players like to play out every second. What about not developing relationships with your crewmates, or dealing with loads of faceless passengers. Starts to become accounting, not role playing.
Travelling further than a few parsecs now becomes less of a multi month campaign. It's still time consuming and an ordeal, but you no longer celebrate more than one birthday on a single journey. If the ref wants to, he can skip out a journey to up the pace of the campaign, but a month is more reasonable than a year.
A 'race against time' scenario is now possible; with 1 week jumps the only viable time to race again is something months ahead. That somehow lacks urgency.
With 1 week jump, characters doing a lot of Travelling will earn more rewards (as in increased skills) than those actually playing.
Changing jump to 1 day does not appreciably alter the default setting, and therefore the OTU, in any meaningful or significant way
I see lots of advantages, and not many disadvantages. Certainly makes it easier to ref games on the fly (especially in our current era, where we are used to instant communications, and therefore inspiration often comes in forms that require a swifter timeframe than weeks or months). Instead of pure age of sail, it's more like our modern age (with transcontinental aircraft and trains), but without phones, radio, or the net.
What does anyone else think?
(note, I'm not expecting or clamouring for a rules change, just positing a talking point)
