BRP Space: Deckplans

[threedeesix]

In many dice rolling apps you can define an arbitrary dice, like d15 or d45. Set up a new dice with the maximum being the highest numbered module. Roll this new digital dice, check the number against the numbered squares and you're done. 

While this is a cool idea, I wouldn't build a system out for a retail game. Lots of players, myself included, prefer using physical dice and won't want or allow a dice app at the table. Maybe I'm just an old fart, but that's my feelings on it.

Here's the last version of Star Hawk (now renamed Nighthawk). Not as minimalistic, but a few more details could perhaps be added for clarity.

I like this. However I'm not sure if it will print as sharply as your first example.

Rod

[RosenMcStern]

While this is a cool idea, I wouldn't build a system out for a retail game. Lots of players, myself included, prefer using physical dice and won't want or allow a dice app at the table. Maybe I'm just an old fart, but that's my feelings on it.

Also, real dice do not run out of power. Last game I had my bro had to borrow my dice because his iPhone battery was dead

[Skunkape]

I really like the blueprint version of the deck plans as well! There's just something appealing to me about that design over the black(gray) and white one!

[K Peterson]

Lol, yes, I know. How about the unmarked module to the right of the corridor? A bit crammed for a full bathroom perhaps, but not impossible. At tech level 12 (?) they must have shrunk those facilities at least to the size of an iPhone, right?

I kind of fancy that unmarked module as a weapons locker, or vacc suit and EVA equipment storage. Good location for the latter. Maybe not great for the former.

I'd probably suggest an additional piece of "furniture" in each room used for hygiene purposes. Or some kind of hygiene station. Just some random thoughts.

What is the module aft of the crew quarters? Cargo bay? Between crew quarters and what I would assume is the engineering section.

[clarence]

While this is a cool idea, I wouldn't build a system out for a retail game. Lots of players, myself included, prefer using physical dice and won't want or allow a dice app at the table. Maybe I'm just an old fart, but that's my feelings on it.

You're probably right. Forcing players to use an app may not be a good idea. I always use my iPad as a GM, but generally try to avoid the distraction of multiple iPhones on the table. Converting to percentages is not a big thing.

I kind of fancy that unmarked module as a weapons locker, or vacc suit and EVA equipment storage. Good location for the latter. Maybe not great for the former.

I'd probably suggest an additional piece of "furniture" in each room used for hygiene purposes. Or some kind of hygiene station. Just some random thoughts.

What is the module aft of the crew quarters? Cargo bay? Between crew quarters and what I would assume is the engineering section.

The truth is I left that single module empty for flexibility. Most of my players care about starship bathrooms as much as they do in the Star Wars movies. But sometimes they need to hide, and some kind of small cupboard-like space is convenient for those occasions. If it's a vacc suit locker or bathroom doesn't matter really. It's perhaps a "story telling device" module?

For engineering I have cheated a bit with this ship. As BRP Space is tending towards space opera I simply moved the engines to the hull and wings. That's not the way I'm doing it for the next ship though. And that also means everything aft of the cubicles is a cargo hold, with the dotted line representing a possible partition.

I really like the blueprint version of the deck plans as well! There's just something appealing to me about that design over the black(gray) and white one!

Thanks! That's the response I'm getting here at my end too. I hope to have a new lateral design ready soon. And it's slowly dawning on me that the biggest challenge is making functional ships that's also looking good. Getting proportions and angles right takes a bit of sketching. But it's good fun : ) I wonder if I should incorporate them into BRP Space or make them available in some other way?

 

[Skunkape]

Thanks! That's the response I'm getting here at my end too. I hope to have a new lateral design ready soon. And it's slowly dawning on me that the biggest challenge is making functional ships that's also looking good. Getting proportions and angles right takes a bit of sketching. But it's good fun : ) I wonder if I should incorporate them into BRP Space or make them available in some other way?

I'd say include a few of them in BRP Space, then make a separate product with more once you've got enough plans to make it worth while. The few that you include in BRP Space would be common ones, like in Traveler, the Scout, System Defense Boat, Free Trader, etc. Not those exact plans, but something similar.

[clarence]

That's what I'm thinking too. I can probably have three ready to include in BRP Starships (if publication won't be dragging out even longer...). The models I'm thinking about are the above Nighthawk, a slightly larger explorer ship (with a crew of four and an aerial vehicle) and some kind of armed vessel. What's a System Defense Boat? How large are they?

Edited October 29, 2015 by clarence

[Joerg]

A System Defense Boat is basically a warship without FTL capacity. They can be any size you want, from hollowed out motorized asteroids with thick crusts of rock to protect the inside to thin-hulled fighter craft that could also be called crewed missiles. Take any class of warship and increase the fighting power for removing the FTL ability.

That said, a typical use of sublight armed craft is traffic control and customs service. If your opponent is a soft target like a freighter, "corvette class" vessels are typical. Reserve some space for boarding crews (if only system pilots or customs inspectors).

[clarence]

So, a fairly quick and agile ship, a crew of 10-20 (mostly bunks), a sickbay, lightly armored hull, some weaponry and a galley/common area. How long should they be able to operate without landing - a few days or a few weeks?

[Joerg]

Depends on how your bases are distributed. If you have a service station near a jump entrance vector, you don't need the ability to last for months. If you spend months patrolling in stealth mode, amenities and provisions have to last, but that's more a pirate habit.

Alternatively, you could have a supply and repair ship servicing the outlying patrols. I would give them a basic duration of about a week if operating near a base.

 

[clarence]

Excellent. Does anyone happen to have a Corvette deckplan lying around that I can use as a reference?

[clarence]

Here's the final version of the Nighthawk plus ship sheet.