Starwars adventures are full of world exploration, political intrigue, and high action, but that pace can break down when players need to gear up or spend a bit too much time planning. Shopping trips can be flavorful and interesting, but they aren’t the focus of this game. To combat this I am trying something new to make the game move at a more Starwarsy pace.
The idea is simple. An expert with a particular area of expertise is likely to have an item pertaining to that skill. A gunslinger will likely have a gun, an acrobat: climbing gear, a mechanic: tools, etc. During play, whenever a player wants to have a piece of gear at hand that they could reasonably carry on their person they roll the skill that would accompany the use that item.
For example in the Victoriana rules, if a character needs a knife to defend themselves, the character rolls his Swordplay skill (he would still have to draw it of course). Or if a thief needed a pick he would roll Lock Picking. If a scientist needed a microscope he could roll Science, or Medicine.
Once an item is obtained by a successful roll, the player can add them item to the equipment list on their character sheet to be used again later. If the item is used up or lost in play the GM decides if they need to buy a replacement or if they can roll again.
The skill roll to acquire a piece of equipment needs two successes and may suffer black dice according to circumstance. On a successful roll the character acquires the desired piece of equipment. On a failure the item is not present on their person.
It is up to the GM whether the character needs to go to a different town to roll, go to the character’s home to roll, wait a day to roll again, or just buy the item after a failed roll.
Equipment Rolls: Black Dice
Object comes with ammo +1
Object is hard to find +1
Object is Very Rare and/or illegal +1
Object is Expensive +1
Object was obviously not with the character +1
Object is urgently needed right now +2
Object is bulky and would have drawn attention +2
or affected character performance
Object is small or commonly seen locally -1
Object originates in or is common with character’s -1
race or nationality
Edge Cases
Obviously, this rule is not for every game. In a setting where gear is equivalent to leveling it would absolutely ruin game play. This rule is also not for every circumstance. Something small and reasonable like a candle or some matches can just be given to characters if they ask, and I don’t think the sudden appearance of an air ship, mechanical man, or trained elephant can be justified with a roll.
This rule is not about acquiring new items, it represents that skilled characters may already have what they need. When a character needs a useful piece of equipment to accompany a skill or to move forward in play this rule could help.
I look forward to seeing how this system works out this summer. My players will find a few ways to break it, so I’m sure I'll post some errata and situation reports later.
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