Jump Packs & Flight Packs

[CRMcNeill]

The RAW stats for jet packs, rocket packs, etc, don't do a very good job of distinguishing between the two; they both use the same basic form: "can move x # of meters horizontally or x# of meters vertically, has x # of charges."

What I've long wanted to do is redesign them based on game function, rather than the tech used to achieve it. Simply put, I'm picturing making two different categories: jump packs and flight packs.

Jump Packs would function very much like the existing rules, allowing a single vertical or horizontal move that begins and ends with a character standing on a solid surface (although I can see circumstances where a character could conceivably make a second "jump" while still in mid-air). This would be a separate Mechanical skill, but at lower Difficulty than a Flight Pack, since there isn't a whole lot of maneuvering involved.

Flight Packs would function more like wearable vehicles, complete with Maneuverability and Speed values. They could hover, accelerate and decelerate, and would mainly be limited by their fuel capacity.

Beyond that, it's conceivable that advanced versions that combine both functions exist, as well as environment-specific "flight" packs would exist for use underwater or in space.

I'm going to be chewing on some game stats, but I wanted to get this out there and see if anyone has any input.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Naaman]

Not sure if this matters to you, but I've always wondered how something like a flight pack is steered. I don't recall seeing any "controls" on such things in films or cartoons.

After seeing what this thread bears, I may steal.... erm... borrow some ideas for the rocket and repulsor skates I've been trying to conceptualize.

[CRMcNeill]

[Naaman]

Yeah. For a shoe type system, though, I'm wondering how it might work to accelerate and decelerate or invert mid flight, etc.

Heck, even a rocket pack makes me wonder how the throttle is controlled, assuming the idea is to allow for both hands to fire guns or shoot grapplers, etc.

[Raven Redstar]

Cad bane used rocket boots which he controlled from a wrist mounted computer.

I like the idea of doing flight packs. We can finally have a proper backpack for those of us who want flying bounty hunters!
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RR
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[Naaman]

I wonder if body movements like CRM mentioned is the answer.

Suppose the user wore sensors on his belt, his wrists, and his ankles. The rocket pack would communicate wirelessly with the sensors to know what to do...

The sensors could be magnetic or radio, I suppose.

[Darklighter79]

[CRMcNeill]

There appear to be a lot of things Jango does with his armor that don't require visible controls; both the jetpack and the missile launcher appear to function without any sort of visible control mechanism. I suppose a sufficiently advanced integrated system could even be run off of eye movement (as in, look at a specific icon on your HUD, blink twice/say a code word/whatever, and your armor's AI systems activate the appropriate system). It could even conceivably be run off of a neural interface (which have to exist in varying degrees for bionic limbs to be a thing).
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Bren]

I could see using controls via sensors reading the motions of specific muscle groups. To prevent the jets from firing at an accidental or inappropriate muscle twitch, the user would need to enable flight mode via a voice command ("Up! Up! And away!"), button, or tongue switch.

[CRMcNeill]

It'd probably be best to just keep any description general, as in "a variety of different control mechanisms" and let people invent their own ideas from there. This being space opera, the ability to fly and/or jump as part of a game scenario is what's important. We never really question how stormtroopers or Mandalorians activate the different systems built into their armor, we just accept the fact that they do as part of the game rules.

So, some more details on this...

Flight Packs seem relatively straight forward. All that's needed is to give them a base Atmosphere Speed and Maneuverability. However, I do think it's appropriate for them to still have some sort of limit on usage, maybe with one "charge" expended for every Move they make. I'm also open to suggestions on altitude limitations.

For Jump Packs, I'm picturing something similar to the Grenade skill, as in, jumper designates his landing point, then rolls his Jump Pack skill, with a miss dictated by the Grenade Scatter Chart. The Jump Pack could even have a "Range", just like a weapon, to make longer jumps have higher Difficulty. There would also need to be rules for clearing obstacles, like trees or buildings...
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Naaman]

Is the idea behind the jump pack that it just launches the character with one initial burst and he lands wherever (based on his skil roll)?

In other words, the character would need to have some kind of control over how high and how far he jumps (whether it is an accute arc, or a broad one) and would need control over his rate of descent, or else he'll just break his knees when he lands from a certain height.

It makes sense to me that if the rate of descent can be controlled, that landing exactly where you want should be pretty easy.

What do you think?

[RyanDarkstar]

[Naaman]

Yeah, that's pretty good.

Not sure what CRMcNeill is going for, though. It's just something that comes to mind for me (as something that he might actually want to address, given his affinity for details).

[MrNexx]

I wonder how small one could make a repulsorlift. Like, would a back-pack sized one be feasible?
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[RyanDarkstar]