[Tales of the Solar Patrol] Countdown to blastoff!

[Stormcrow]

One of the players in my game of Tales of the Solar Patrol suggested that the atmosphere of the game would be improved if we played out the countdown to launch when their ship blasts off. This seems like a good idea to me, but I am uncertain how to do it in a meaningful way. It also seems like a familiar idea, as if I have read about it somewhere before.

Can anybody here make any suggestions on how to integrate a countdown into the rules for spaceships? Ideally each player would have some job to perform in order to announce, "Check!"

[Sword-dancer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hobEA...eature=related

Perhaps this helps

[Stormcrow]

Not really...

[Mr_Sandman]

Maybe a "go/no go" flight check. With each player making a skill check on their specialty, maybe opposed by a secret roll to see if there is an issue they miss.

"Engines?" (roll, roll) "GO"
"Helm" (roll,roll) "GO"
"Weapons" (roll, roll) "GO"
"Radar" (roll, roll) "NO GO. Interference from the sunspots, I need a minute to recalibrate."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZolVCyn6L8

[sgtcallistan]

I would suggest that each character have a function in the take-off process; like the above go-nogo.

The Engineer and his gang must maintain the ship, ready and control the power; Nav must calculate and lay in the plot for the ships' course. Pilot must recommend a course, and guide the ship; the commander must make the decisions of why, what and when to to do it.

Make this a ritual run-through for each take-off until the crew is competent, the ship is shaken down; then throw in a time-constrainted take-off, or have vital equipment fail during an attempt to make a launch window, there are many possibilities.
The Nav could 'lose the plot' at a critical juncture, for example; an excellent way to have the ship discover a hidden location.

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by Mr_Sandman

Maybe a "go/no go" flight check. With each player making a skill check on their specialty, maybe opposed by a secret roll to see if there is an issue they miss.

"Engines?" (roll, roll) "GO"
"Helm" (roll,roll) "GO"
"Weapons" (roll, roll) "GO"
"Radar" (roll, roll) "NO GO. Interference from the sunspots, I need a minute to recalibrate."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZolVCyn6L8

Just remember to dock 2 CP from the player who says "And I'll form the head!". :)

Actually, the first Helmsman book (conveniently titled "The Helmsman") by Bill Baldwin went through a fairly deep check off list before the IFS Truculent took off. If you can find a copy, it would likely give you several things to check for before liftoff.

[Mr_Sandman]

To expand on the thought I tossed out before. I see two possible ways to do it.

1. Do it as a quick contest of skills.
As you go through the checklist, each player rolls against his character's appropriate skill.
The GM makes a hidden roll against 10 - modified by 1 or 2 up or down based on extra time or less time to launch, adverse conditions, etc.

• If the player succeeds, as far as the character knows the answer is "GO."
• If the player fails, the character knows the answer is "NO GO." There is a problem that will take seconds or minutes and a successful skill roll to fix before a safe launch can be made.
• If the player succeeds but the GM's hidden roll succeeds by more, then the character still thinks "GO," but there is a problem the character didn't spot, that will become an issue during the launch, or sometime later.

The problem I have with this is that a failed roll lets the character identify a problem while a success leaves the player guessing whether there is a problem or not.

The way I can see around that is:
2) The GM makes a hidden roll for each character.

• Success: Tell the player "go."
• Failure: Tell the player "no go." There is a problem to fix.
• Critical failure: Tell the player "go." There is an undisclosed problem.

The problem here is lots of rolling for the GM. It seem like it would break up the flow of role playing the preflight check. One solution is that the GM could pre-roll several launch sequences, and have the sheet of results in front of him. He could just give each player a thumbs up or thumbs down as the captain goes through the checklist.

[dcarson]

From THE REVOLT ON VENUS A TOM CORBETT Space Cadet Adventure, which is some of the original material that inspired this I bet.

While Captain Strong and the members of the Arcturus unit strapped themselves into acceleration cushions, Tom conducted a routine check of the many gauges on the great control panel before him. Satisfied, he flipped open the intercom and called, "All stations, check in!"

"Radar deck, aye!" drawled Roger's lazy voice.

"Power deck, aye!" rumbled Astro.

"Energize the cooling pumps!" ordered Tom.

"Cooling pumps, aye!"

The whine of the mighty pumps was suddenly heard, moaning eerily throughout the ship.

"Feed reactant!"

The sharp hiss of fuel being forced into the rocket engines rose above the whine of the pumps, and the ship trembled.

"Stand by to blast," called Tom. "Standard space speed!"

Most of the Tom Corbett books are on Gutenberg at http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/r#a8081

[Stormcrow]

Some good answers. Thanks.

I see two questions involved here: does the crewman successfully perform his task? are there any malfunctions?

If we presume that malfunctions are relatively rare, it comes down to the crewman's skill. Time pressures and similar circumstances can be covered by situational modifiers. If the crewman succeeds at a skill roll, the system is either activated, or the GM announces that there is a problem. If the crewman fails, the system is not activated—either the crewman did it wrong, or there was a problem and the crewman couldn't fix it immediately.

This eliminate the possibility of a crewman failing to notice a problem that becomes important later in the flight. However, if malfunctions are somewhat rare, unnoticed malfunctions are even rarer. The GM can always decide there was a malfunction anyway, by fiat.

[Anaraxes]

I'd also suggest an abbreviated sequence, maybe just one secret roll by the GM, to see if there are any unspotted problems. Doing the checklist a couple of times will be fun and atmospheric. Doing it every game session will probably get old, like those inevitable transformation/filler sequences in a lot of anime series.

You'll also want to bring out the full checklist for occasional dramatic purposes, as when the crew is rushing to blast off before the Venusian swamp dragon reaches the ship and wrecks their jets*. (And don't forget the TDMs for being in a hurry...)


*Yeah, the Solar Patrol doesn't use jets. Neither do rocketships; they have nozzles. Still, those Golden Age guys are always wishing each other "Hot jets!" and the like.