Generating Encounters

Creating interesting starship encounters can be a challenging task. Unlike in character-based encounters, DMs are limited by the more constrained nature of space combat: The heroes are confied to an environment that might limit their abilities, and coming up with encounters that do more than just pit two squads of starfighters against one another takes more work. Despite this, creating an exciting starship combat encounter can make an adventure much more memorable, encouraging players to become just as involved as they would be in ground-based encounters.

One of the most important elements of a good starship encounter is giving each player something to do. Gunners should have plenty of targets, a goal that is relatively easy to accomplish. Pilots should have obstacles to maneuver around and ships to fly past, making the environment of the encounter very important. Character combat holds players' interests because each player has something to do in every round. Engaging players in the same manner during a starship combat encounter requires the Gamemaster to design aspects of the encounter that give every player something to do in every round.

Designing a starship encounter that keeps several players active on every turn can be daunting. An alternative solution is to create encounters that encourage players to fly their own starships. For example, in a party of four characters, one character might serve as the pilot of the party's freighter, one character might serve as the gunner aboard that freighter, and the other two would pilot starfighters in the same encounter. This gives three players -- the three pilots -- the ability to move and attack in each round, just as they would in character combat. Even characters untrained in the Piloting skill can perform basic movement and actions, and trained pilots can help protect those untrained pilots during starship combat.