Drift while being boarded

[Robert Gooding]

So my players were on the run from the police but got caught in a tractor beam and were taking a beating so they powered down their engines and the police boarded them, after the time required to spook down thrusters and spool up drift drive they intend to jump to the drift....with 2 police ships attached, fighting a boarding party and still locked in by the tractor beam .

We ran out of time but I need some ideas what should happen to them next time when they try to jump to the drift

[Metaphysician]

How big is the ship and how big are the police ships? My first thought is "if they are literally attached, this probably shouldn't work at all". Assuming the PC's ship is M and the two police ships are S, that's like trying to Drift twice the intended mass. Likely impossible, with their drive.

That said, if you want a more interesting outcome, I'd suggest something like. . .

1. All the ships get dragged to the Drift

2. The process tears the two police ships loose, and possibly leaves their attachment points at least briefly exposed to vacuum ( the tubes torn open )

3. Every single ship is badly damaged from this transition, particularly the smaller ones

4. This specifically includes the drift drive involved, which is totally fried and will need major repairs

5. The power core probably isn't look good, either

6. All the ships are now totally lost. High difficulty navigation checks to get to any particular place, with failure leading to a random wrong destination, and no matter what, its liking going to the Vast vis a vis travel time

7. Oh, and the messiness of this means they are all guaranteed at least one Drift Encounter, and should probably have a much higher rate of them until they get back to normal space

[Dracomicron]

Metaphysician wrote:

7. Oh, and the messiness of this means they are all guaranteed at least one Drift Encounter, and should probably have a much higher rate of them until they get back to normal space

Sounds like the set-up for a great monster movie.

The cops finally catch the crooks, but as a last-ditch effort an insane criminal jumps everyone into the Drift, and unnamed monstrosities start swarming the disabled ship. To live, they must form an uneasy truce, but can they trust one another for long enough to escape... The Drift Horror!

[Robert Gooding]

Metaphysician wrote:

How big is the ship and how big are the police ships? My first thought is "if they are literally attached, this probably shouldn't work at all". Assuming the PC's ship is M and the two police ships are S, that's like trying to Drift twice the intended mass. Likely impossible, with their drive.

That said, if you want a more interesting outcome, I'd suggest something like. . .

1. All the ships get dragged to the Drift

2. The process tears the two police ships loose, and possibly leaves their attachment points at least briefly exposed to vacuum ( the tubes torn open )

3. Every single ship is badly damaged from this transition, particularly the smaller ones

4. This specifically includes the drift drive involved, which is totally fried and will need major repairs

5. The power core probably isn't look good, either

6. All the ships are now totally lost. High difficulty navigation checks to get to any particular place, with failure leading to a random wrong destination, and no matter what, its liking going to the Vast vis a vis travel time

7. Oh, and the messiness of this means they are all guaranteed at least one Drift Encounter, and should probably have a much higher rate of them until they get back to normal space

All 3 ships are medium, but yeah I was thinking they’d be lost in the vast, but you’ve expanded this so well I love it