How would you all narrate a starfighter dog fight in which the pc initiated the action and then rooms 7-9?

How would you all narrate a starfighter dog fight in which the pc initiated the action and then rooms 7-9?

How would you all narrate a starfighter dog fight in which the pc initiated the action and then rooms 7-9?

I’m curious how people actually narrate a fight that had many rounds of action resolved in one dice roll.

13 thoughts on “How would you all narrate a starfighter dog fight in which the pc initiated the action and then rooms 7-9?”

  3. OK we’ll be the GM, you be the player (anyone else chime in here if Chalice In Chains has the latest post). We know this is going to end in PC victory, but at some cost.

    “The bogey zips past on your starboard side, guns blazing! He came out of nowhere, but you escape the stream of fire and…?”

  4. I think the way it’s described in the book the player rolls and then spends a minute or two narrating the action leading to the outcome, but the GM gets to butt in once to alter the outcome slightly or add a cost.

  5. The way I run dogfights is much like any other combat, just with more movement over/around terrain, and more describing stunts/maneuvers rather than emotions/”barks”. Describe an enemy or two, how they threaten, then ask “what do you do”, then update with a new maneuver, then ask “what do you do”. Look for an opportunity to throw in a consequence or two, give them a couple of binary choices, then tie it up with a conclusion/resolution.

    Think of the trench run in Starwars. Exchange maneuvers to get visual on the enemy, get a solid lock, get them “in your sights”, before you let them describe how they get taken out. 

    1- Describe how the enemy is trying to lock onto the player

    2- Ask how the player shakes them

    3- Describe a brief volley of fire (close one!)

    4- Ask the player what maneuver they pull to get a lock

    5- Describe how the enemy frantically tries to pull a maneuver to break the lock

    6- Ask the player about their counter-maneuver, ask them to describe the killing blow.

    Rapid-fire these, throw in lots of kinetic words like Dive, Strafe, Wing-Over, Scream, Spiral, Tilt, etc. Talk with a bit of urgency, with a touch of intensity, like you’re watching it happen live. Cadence of speech is really important to getting a punchy fight scene, no matter the context.

    For consequences, play chicken: Offer them an easy victory at the price of running headlong into return fire. Make them push their engines to breaking point to perform a maneuver that will get them into optimal firing position. Have their weapon systems overhead after torching an enemy fighter. Smash their hull with the debris of their most recent kill. Have the stricken ship spin off, disabled rather than destroyed, swearing revenge. Have the stricken ship/wreckage death-spiral towards an unfortunate and/or valuable target.

  6. Mike Schmitz I jam the throttle full forward to get some distance and then pull a wild maneuver, essentially flipping myself nose over tail so that I’m now in attack position and open fire

  10. Chalice In Chains Your guns tear into them like a meteor storm, but your burst is cut short as the enemy fighter pulls behind an asteroid. Your console flashes red and lets out a shrill tone, they managed to launch a pair of missiles and they’re approaching fast.

  11. A starfighter dog fight in which the PC initiated the action and then rolls 7-9 on Open Fire:

     

    Sufferin harm during the exchange

    You abuse your engine to furiously gain height above the giant star destroyer, then pull a close turn and blast away at your pursuing enemy with your cannons. The enemy fighter is cut into pieces by your fire, but even those pieces have still a lot of momentum and collide with your fighter like a meteor shower. One sliver of the enemy’s ship is on such a trajectory that it will nearly unavoidably cut through your canopy and right into you! You need to brace yourself for impact.

    Exchange causes undesirable collateral damage

    You pursue the enemy fighter who is on attack vector against the defenseless freighter transporting refugees. You’ve dispatched his wing-man with ease, but this pilot knows all the tricks. Nearly all of them, but with a reckless maneuver not recommended or even taught in flight school you cut deeply into his starboard engine with your sustained weapons fire. The engine blows out, visibly roasting the pilot in his cockpit, but it keeps moving and spins out of control right on collision course with the freighter. It will hit the cargo pod and expose thousands of refugees to a gruesome death in space. What do you do?

    Battle shifts, changing threats, adding new threats

    The enemy fighter keeps very close to the wreck of the blasted-open heavy enemy cruiser. The big ship is dying, burning out, leaking atmosphere. The fighter tries to shake you tailing him, but to no avail. You manage to get a lock with your torpedoes and just one tiny high-speed missile blasts him into a cloud of sparkling particles. As you roll out of the way of the remains of the enemy fighter, you notice two corvettes launching from the dying hulk, weapon systems hot. One veers off to make short work of the civilian vessels you were supposed to protect, the other accelerates in your direction and their missile pods open. What do you do?

    Targets suffer a lesser fate

    You are on your last torpedo, and your enemy, a fast and highly maneuverable corvette, knows it. You need to blast their reactor or it would still be able to reach the second fleet to bring the demagogic senator on board to safety. That must not happen, your commander made clear. You fly through point-defense fire so close that you could see the individual projectiles buzzing beyond your fighter. But that gives you the shot of your life! Your last torpedo traces a deadly course right into their engineering section – and right through it! It detonates after nearly slicing through the whole pod and takes out one of the port engines. But the reactor is still intact! A bit slowed down the corvette crawls to the safety of the enemy’s second fleet, staged and ready for battle. What do you do?

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