While a lot of gameplay takes place on the inhabited planets and moons of the Mavros System, to go between them the characters must sooner or later travel on a starship. There are many different sizes and layouts of ship and, if they can find the credits to buy one or even manage to steal one, they may own one of their own at some point. While the ship they are on is landed on a planet or moon, it can be treated the same as any other indoor space on the planet. Once it has taken off into the skies though, there are some special rules to follow for living and travelling aboard it.

Life Aboard Ship

General activities may continue aboard ship in the same way as if the characters were on a planet. Standard activities (including ability and skill checks) as well as potential for combat and initiative should continue but with the layout of the ship as the map of the area that the characters are in. Before they enter the ship, the players should have a note of what supplies are present on board. If there is no food, or less then enough food for the time that the characters will be travelling then for each day that a character does not eat, they must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution Check. Each time they fail, they gain a level of hunger. Hunger effects the character as follows (the following conditions stack as they are proceeded through) ...

• One level of hunger - the character gains disadvantage on all rolls (ability checks, skill checks and attacks)
• Two levels of hunger - the character's speed is halved
• Three levels of hunger - the character's maximum hit points are reduced by 5
• Four levels of hunger - the character's speed is 0
• Five levels of hunger - the character dies of starvation

Levels of hunger may be removed, one for each time the character eats and rests for a day.

Resting and Downtime on Ship

Unless the ship is engaged in combat with another vessel or has hostile enemies or creatures aboard, it may be considered a suitable location for resting and for extended periods of downtime for players to level up their characters. In these instances though, the characters must still have enough food and supplies to last the period of downtime, otherwise they will risk falling hungry before completion.

Travelling the Mavros System

The Mavros System consists of four key and distinct areas: the singularity, the asteroid belt, the inner planets and the outer planets. Travel between two locations within one of these sections (e.g. between two of the inner planets) takes 1d6 days to complete. Travel between two sections takes 1d8 days for the each move. So, for example, going from the asteroid belt to the inner planets would take 1d8 days. Going from the asteroid belt to the outer planets though is two steps (with the inner planets in between) and would take 2d8 days to complete.

With a trained pilot on board, these journey times can be reduced by a number of days equal to the pilot's total levels in Science. If the resulting value is less than or equal to 0 then the journey is completed within a day.

If one ship is pursuing another, each ship should roll separately (with the GM rolling for any ships of NPCs) and if the pursuer rolls for fewer days than the other ship then they catch up to them in space. If they roll the same as each other then they catch up with them at their destination (e.g. a planet or moon) and if the pursuer rolls higher then they are unable to keep up and lose track of the other ship in space.

Damage and Repair to Ships

Ships have a maximum number of hit points much like characters and creatures. Engineers may restore hit points to a ship equal to their total levels in Science per day. Multiple engineers may work to repair a ship together, combining their totals each day. If a ship is reduced to 0 hit points it is adrift with a movement of 0. If a ship is reduced to -20 hit points, the hull is breached and, if it is in space, any crew aboard that do not have space suits die.

Spacewalks

If a character has a space suit they may venture out into the void of space. This can happen voluntarily as part of an adventure or due to necessity if their vessel is damaged and its hull is breached. In this case, start the clock. A fresh space suit has a 6 hour supply of oxygen. After this time, if the character has not entered a ship or found more oxygen they die from suffocation.

Ship to Ship Battles

In the same way that ships have hit points, they also have their own armour class and may have weapons with which they can attack other ships. If the characters are on a ship that is attacked or if they attack another ship with their own, initiative begins as normal but with the ships moving and fighting one another exactly as characters and creatures would. In the case of ships, the attack modifier for their weapons is set by the weapon type. See the Ships section for details.

If an enemy ship is reduced to 0 hit points and immobilised, or if its pilot agrees to come to a halt, characters may move aboard the other ship and gameplay continues with the characters on the map of the ship as before.