A Star Wars FTL alternative to Drift

[theGlitch]

Since the campaign i'm mastering is in the Star Wars universe it doesn't make much sense to use the vanilla DRIFT to rule FTL travel. After some thought and a long trial and error phase, me and krinn have finally come up with a solid Hyperspace ruleset, using THIS MAP as a reference. I know it is setting-specific, but so is the one offered by paizo.

Hyperspace Travel Time Calculator

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(yes, it's the same format of Nickela's Starfinder Ship Calculator. It's efficient)

Random User: «But theGlitch, how does it work?»
In Star Wars FTL is achieved through a hyperdrive, which creates a hypermatter field around the hull of a ship, sending it in the HYPERSPACE, your standard dimension where physics doesn't follow normal rules. While it is possible to plot a direct* route from point A to point B, it is better advised to follow the already charted Hyperlanes (purple lines on the map).

*:

Technically speaking it's not a straight line as it would probably pass through the "gravitational shadow" of a large object (big asteroid and larger, starship usually don't count as such), crushing the ship. So in the file i have included a little additive variable for direct travel to simulate the small route corrections, roll 2d10 and put the result in the appropriate cell.

Annoyed Random User:«Ok, but how does it MECHANICALLY work?»
Plotting a route is a long task, requiring a hour of calculations followed by a piloting check with a DC (base 10) that varies with the sector of origin, the destination and whether you are travelling on a hyperlane or not, but not on the distance.
Going from or to the Outer rim is +0, to the mid rim is +5, to the inner rim is +10, to the core and wild space is +15, to the deep core and the unknown region is +20. If you are NOT travelling along a hyperlane the DC is +5.
You need to specify BOTH the point of origin and the destination, so if you are travelling from tatooine to alderaan the DC is 10+0(outer rim)+15(inner rim)+0(hyperlane) .
But wait, there is more.
Let's say you are in a hurry, like "you have three Imperial Star Destroyers trying to shoot you down" kind of a hurry. You can try to make a hasty jump by spending a resolve point (push action) with a +10 to the DC.
As with vanilla rules, failing by 9 or less means you realize the mistake and have to start over again (and spend another resolve point if the Empire is still shooting); failing by 10 or more means you end up "somewhere" between the point of origin and the intended destination (GM choice of the actual exiting point), and the ship suffers critical damage and loses hp equal to 5% of its total for every point by which you failed the check.

To calculate the distance count the squares as per tactical movement, so diagonal moves count as 1.5 squares. If you are using a hyperlane you count (Count Dooku approves)the sectors it goes through (GMs can approssimate if it only crosses a smidge of a corner). I know it can be seem finicky, but it really isn't and having a printed map helps as it allows to precisely measure the length of the route.

The duration of the jump depends on many factors: the result of the piloting check (a good pilot can plot an optimal route and squeeze every ounce of power from the engine without damaging it), the Engine Rating** (even the best pilot can't do miracles with a low tier hyperdrive) the distance, whether you are travelling on a hyperlane (they are about 1.5 faster) and (at your own risk, if you choose to) overclocking done by the engeneer***.

**:

We had to tinker a bit with the numbers to make everything work properly so now the engine rating goes from 1 to 3 instead of 1 to 5.

***:

The engineer can use an action similar to Divert every hour of travel (either you do from start to finish or you don't, no "every two or three hours" shenanigan) with a DC of 10+1,5*tier. A failure means that the engine gets the Glitching condition. Failing twice means it is Damaged. At the third fail it gets Wrecked and the ship is kicked out of hyperspace. Note that the piloting roll and the engineering roll are separate, it is possible to pass the former and fail the latter, however passing the piloting roll is mandatory in order to succesfully hyperjump.

In summation all you have to do is fill in the BLUE cells and read out the YELLOW ones to know how long it will take. The spreadsheet is there to help the user to do educated guesses on how long a jump will take; to make sure you don't read the wrong value use the bottom cells.

To all those who think it's "too complex" always remember:
Han Solo: «Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy!».

[CeeJay]

If only this much thought went into hyperspace travel in the actual Star Wars movies. :)

[Imnotgoodwithnames]

As someone who has also been trying to combine Star Wars and Starfinder, this is awesome!