[Mirrors: Infinite Macabre] Starships - Advantages & Crew

 Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage in Space!
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition & new World of Darkness - Mirrors: Infinite Macabre
Storytellers: Jerad Sayler, Korri Smith & Mathew Hagan

        Mage: Infinite Macabre - Starships

                                            Advantages & Crew

Special Rule: Vehicle vs. Personal Scale

Ship weapons, armor, and hull are all much more durable and deadly than what PCs carry around on their person. Armor and Durability are effectively doubled for a personal scale force to act upon Vehicles. Vehicle scale weapon damage, armor piercing, and other effects against personal scale targets are doubled. Similarly, personal scale weapons effectively do half damage they normally do against personal scale targets. Please notes that rolls to target and hit targets are not doubled or halved, only the interactions of the effects of these rolls are doubled or halved as appropriate.

 Special Rule: Build Points & Flaws

You can take drawbacks, conditions, and strange quirks to the ship itself or its Modules to gain free Spaceship Merit build points, reducing the cost of these craft or their components for some color and character. Maybe your ship’s gravity goes out when there is a power fluctuation, a minor nuisance in most situations but one that recoups build points for other areas. The rating of these Flaws in your ship are up to the Storyteller and work on a 1-5 rating. Most will be 1 point flaws and anything beyond 3 points is a serious problem or detriment to that of a normally functioning spacecraft.

Default Advantages

All space craft are assumed to have the following advantages as a default baseline. Modules augment these from the baseline. On each of these Default values you can take drawbacks, conditions fault Advantages can be foregone as a 1 Point Flaw. 

Comm Array

Basic Communications – all spacecraft have some basic communications equipment. A crew member can make a roll augmented by the ship’s Systems rating to establish communications penalized by any environmental factors. Basic Communications can reach whatever range band equates to the ship’s System rating (1 = Close, 2 = Short, 3 = Medium, 4 = Long, 5 = Extreme) without taking the cumulative -1 penalty to establish communications with targets that far away. 

Those ranges aren’t very good for space but consider that these are tiny, no-cost communications systems that don’t take up any Hard Points, Capacitance, or Protocols. Communications Array Hard Points vastly increase this communications range and pathway to extend to full intrasystem comms, intersystem or even sector range communications and can transmit libraries of information instantaneously. Basic Communications cannot transmit high volumes of data very quickly (ST discretion) and the Basic Encryption in these messages are easier to break without Encryption Protocols (attempts to decrypt intercepted transmissions are penalized by the Systems rating of the transmitting ship). Other Communication Protocols can also better compress information to allow for high-bandwidth transmissions without the need for a full Comm Array. A point of Power can be expended to boost the range of communications by one Range Band for a scene.


Life Support System & Force Field – all spacecraft come with a protective energy field that prevents explosive decompression as well as protection from cosmic rays and small meteorites in normal conditions. These fields are used for securing airlocks, windows, docking bays and other areas where parts of the ship’s interior might meet the void. This basic Force field is projected tightly across the surface areas of the hull but provide no Armor or Defensive value. In the event that the hull is compromise the field will kick by the next turn from when it was decompressed to prevent people and things from getting sucked out (assuming they haven’t been already).

During an uncontrolled decompression the Life Support System will restore atmosphere to the ship in the number of turns equal to the Chassis of the craft. Capital Ships are compartmentalized and this is localized to the area of the ship where the breach occurred. While the atmosphere is restored to the ship the crew must hold their breath with a check unless they are wearing space suits or use emergency air supplies (see Holding Breath rules in CoD corebook). Exposure to the vacuum of space can impose Extreme Environment Tilts at ST discretion. A point of Power can be expended to instantly purge and restore atmosphere inside the ship.

In the event of a fire in the cabin of the ship the Fire Suppression System with extinguish the fire in the number of turns equal to the ship’s Chassis. A point of Power can instantly extinguish a fire by doing a rapid and control decompression and recompression of the ship. Fire usually inflicts Lethal damage on any crew it engulfs (see fire damage table in CoD corebook) and smoke from a cabin fire can impede vision. Spacesuits with armor rating can help mitigate the damage.

Military craft or ships that travel in low security regions of space tend to have a Shield Generator Hard Point installed. These shields add Ballistic Armor to the space craft, downgrading the damage type of incoming attacks by their rating per hit (Superficial damage is nullified, Structural reduced to Superficial, and Critical reduced to Structural). Certain Tilts and Conditions can disrupt these effects and require actions taken by the crew to restore them. A point of Power can be expended on installed Shield Generators to boost their effective rating by 1 for a Scene.

Inertial Dampeners –

Inertial Dampener Coil

all spacecraft come with basic inertial dampening to prevent G-Forces from damaging the ship or crew in high-speed maneuvers. Without these components to spacecraft the crew would blackout or die when dealing with the rapid acceleration of space travel (or at least supper Environmental Conditions similar to gravity manipulation spells). The interior of small spacecraft are still mostly zero-G though many crew put their craft into spins to prevent muscle atrophy for long journeys. During combat, landings, and take offs the crew strap into crew positions so they don’t have to fight the limited Gs that still affect the ship (no penalties unless the ship suffers the Jostled or Tailspin Tilts or similar condition that impedes or Immobilizes the crew.) Capital ships have the space for their own Gravity Generators without having to occupy Hard Points or use up Capacitance. If, for some reason a smaller ship needs gravity all the time, a Gravity Generator can be installed (using a Hard Point and Capacitance). A point of Power can be spent to impose normal gravity on smaller ships or restore gravity (if it’s lost somehow) on larger ships for a scene.

Atmospheric Flight Conversion & Repulsers –

Repulsor Disk

all non-capital ship spacecraft are assumed to be able to safely enter the atmosphere of hospitable planets and land with landing gear. Additional, in gravity environments they can hover in place using repulsors. Capital ships need to have these as Hard Points or they can only space dock and/or send shuttle craft to the ground.

Self-Defense Beam – all spacecraft come with a basic method of defending themselves from attack without any actual Weapon Hard Points installed. By using the basic Sensors installed on the ship a crewmember can direct energy at another spacecraft. The Gunner rolls Dexterity + Gunnery + Sensors – Defense to hit craft at Close Range. This Self-Defense Beam cannot attack anything outside of the Close range and only does Superficial Damage (+0B). A point of Power can be expended to boost the Sensors and inflict (+1B) instead.

Armor – Spacecraft do not start with any armor rating unless Hull Reinforcement Hardpoints provide them. Armor ratings and Hard Points that add extra space onto the ship (such as external Passenger or Cargo Pods) add to the Hull Integrity of the ship by their value.

Maximum Crew Positions – All spacecraft have a maximum number of Crew Positions dictated by their Chassis. This does not indicate the number of total crew or passengers can be on the ship but it designates the number of Crew that can perform their jobs simultaneously in a turn-based situation without impeding each other.

Crew Positions

In many ways, a spaceship acts as a complex series of equipment for her crew.  Many crew members can be undergoing multiple actions simultaneously in and out of combat.  In general, only two crew members can be doing the same task in a given time interval, one to do the work and the other to assist (teamwork rolls).  This is especially important in combat.  Crew Members can make Dexterity + Athletics checks to move about the ship in combat and may assume a new role once a turn. 

The pilot is the only required position on a spaceship, the rest of the crew can orient into roles based on the situation at hand.  Sometimes this is a well-coordinated effort in which the crew already knows what they should be doing.  Sometimes they shout over internal comms and down hallways as they race frantically to where they can help the most.  In many ships crew member can even re-route control schema to their location for many of the positions but they can only perform one action in that role per turn.

Pilot – The pilot flies the spaceship using an applicable Attribute and the Piloting Skill, usually adding the ships Maneuverability as a bonus to those rolls.  In combat the Pilot uses their Wits or Dexterity and the Piloting Skill to perform Maneuvers.  A Co-Pilot can conduct more knowledge-based checks to assist the pilot on these actions with a Teamwork roll. 

                Basic Maneuvers:

-          Fly/Drive – Basic roll to move the ship, usually only required in dangerous circumstances

-          Accelerate/Decelerate – Basic action to increase or decrease the ship’s thrust by 1, usually only required as a roll in dangerous circumstances such as not having enough room to stop without colliding with someone.

-          Dodge – The pilot makes every effort to avoid the ship getting hit.  This doubles the Defense rating and is rolled against incoming attack rolls.

-          All-Out-Attack – The pilot maneuvers the ship to forgo Defense and grant a Gunner +2 to their attack roll.

-          Dog Fight – The Pilot rolls against the opposing Pilot’s roll to close the distance, stay close to the enemy ship and give Gunners firing solutions.

-          High-Speed Turn – The pilot makes an abrupt turn and takes penalties to a Fly/Drive roll (Dexterity + Piloting + Maneuverability) to pull it off.  Failure on this check causes the ship to suffer the Knocked off Course Tilt.

-          Spin – The pilot violently rotates the ship on its access, orientating the craft 180 degrees to face backwards while continuing on its present course.  This action usually takes – (5 - Maneuverability) as a penalty to do this.  Failure puts the ship into a Tailspin (and gaining the Tilt).

Advanced Maneuvers: (Represented by Merits on a Pilot’s sheet)

-          Punch It (2 dots) – The Pilot accelerates or decelerates the rapidly, from max Thrust to zero or vice versa.  This check takes a penalty to equal to (5 – the difference in Thrust).

-          Evasive Maneuvers (2-4 dots) - The pilot takes actions to increase Defense for one turn by the number of successes on the check. The Gunners take a penalty equal to the Defense increase.  This bonus and penalty cannot exceed the Propulsion Attribute of the ship.  The 4-dot version doesn’t penalize the Gunners.

-          Gain the Advantage (2-4 dots) – The pilot takes actions to increase the attack rating of Gunnery rolls for a number of successes garnered on the check.  The ship’s Defense is reduced by the same amount for the turn.  The bonus and penalty cannot exceed the Propulsion Attribute of the ship.  The 4-dot version doesn’t penalize Defense.

-          Defensive Flying – Adapts the Stunt Driver Merit

-          Crack Flying – Adapts the Crack Driver Merit and allows the Pilot to make a flying action and fire a weapon in the same round.

Gunnery Turret

Gunner – The gunner is anyone operating a Hard Point to fire weapons at enemy craft.  Only one Gunner and Spotter can operate a single weapon turret, pod, or system at a team (the Co-Gunner.  The Gunner usually rolls Dexterity + Gunnery – Defense to fire at enemy targets.  The Spotter rolls Wits + Gunnery + Sensors to assist the Gunner.  These crew members may switch which weapon or Hard Point they are operating once per turn.  The Gunner can also take penalties to target specific areas of an enemy ship (and inflict Tilts by succeeding or disabling certain parts of an enemy ship by achieving Exceptional Successes).

Note: Gunners with specialized Merits can do more than just fire the weapon once per round.  They can perform special attacks such as Blanket Barrage (Suppressing Fire rules), Concentrated Barrage (multiple weapons targeting a specific part of the enemy ship), Alpha Strike (Firing all ship weapons at one target), or Deathblossom (doing a small amount of damage to every craft within Close Range).  These rules are not finalized.

Sensor Analyst – The Sensor Analyst operates the ship’s sensors and feeds relevant data throughout the ship.  They make Perception rolls augmented by the combined Sensors of the ship (and using any appropriate modules) and make knowledge-based skill checks to learn patterns, formation or enemy weaknesses.  They are also aware of the full condition of their ship.  A Science Officer can assist by performing Teamwork rolls or conducting separate analysis on the situation. These positions can garner the crew beneficial Conditions to pass on to crew with their insights.

Astrogator – The Astrogator is responsible for navigation of the ship and plots courses for the ship to avoid dangers and to reduce travel time.  By making checks to interpret star maps and sensor data the Astrogator can mitigate environmental penalties for the other crew positions, avoid dangers and can reduce travel time using their knowledge of astrophysics, gravitation and relativity to plot optimal travel courses.  The Astrogator can be assisted by an additional Navigation Specialist.

Commander – A completely optional position, the Commander can coordinate efforts between crewmates, convey tactics and strategy, keep an eye on the bigger picture and expend willpower on behalf of an action taking by other crew members.  Naturally they also tend to be able to inspire the crew (Inspiring Merit).

Communications Officer – The Communications Officer is responsible for coordinating efforts between other space craft and operating cyber defensive and offensive actions.  They can crack coded messages between enemy craft, decipher languages and signal patterns, and can hack into enemy systems.  Sometimes they are backed up by a Cyber Ops Officer.

Damage Control Team - The Engineer coordinates repairs during combat to mitigate damage, restore functions to core systems of the ship, and restore modules that are destroyed or disrupted.  They are assisted by a Damage Control Lead.

-          Damage Control - With an Instant Action, the Damage Control team can make a roll and remove a point Superficial Damage with a successful check.  An Exceptional success can remove two points.

-          With an Instant Action, if the team is in the right part of the ship the crew can many system functions disrupted by ship Tilts.

-          Damage Control - With an Instant Action the team can restore function to a damaged Module.  Extended actions (10 x targeted damage in successes) to restore function to a disabled Module.

-          Manual Repairs - With an Extended Action (30 successes), the Damage Control team can downgrade a point of Structural Damage to: Superficial Damage.  It cannot be downgraded further or removed without repairs at a port of call.

-          Manual Repairs - With an Extended Action (50 successes), the Damage Control team can downgrade a point of Critical Damage to a Structural Damage.  It cannot be downgraded further or removed without repairs at a port of call.

Module Operators – This last crew position is a catch all for any additional crew that operates a module that requires direct control and aren’t automated by Protocols.  Typical Operators drive Weapon Turrets as additional Gunners.