Public communications during the Empire era.

[S-Foil]

Here's how I've always done communications in my games:

HoloNet
A network like the internet. In order to access it you need a HoloNet transceiver and the appropriate access codes for the network. During the Old Republic each individual member world had a HoloNet transceiver and you'd drop a message(s) and it would get delivered to the recipient. Messages could be pretty much any type of data. Realtime communication was possible but cost a lot more but still just required you to connect to the planet's HoloNet transceiver, you didn't need your own.

During the Empire the HoloNet wasn't dismantled, just locked down to government sanctioned traffic. Excuses were made early on that the HoloNet was damaged during the Clone Wars but this was just a lie to cover its lock down. HoloNet transceivers were also installed on larger Imperial cruises (and all Star Destroyers). It was the means by which the Imperial political apparatus functioned. Besides the large government contractors that had access to the HoloNet it was also possible to slice into the a local transceiver to send clandestine messages.

Subspace Radio
This is the communication technology to which the characters have the most ready access. A subspace transceiver can broadcast messages up to about 30ly but require a lot of power. They're rarely found on starfighters and many found on freighters have shorter range due to power constraints. A civilized planet will often have tens or hundreds of subspace transceivers through which messages can be sent. Many sectors have subspace relay networks in the absence of HoloNet access.

On the relay networks realtime communication is extremely expensive because each node in the relay needs to be running during the entire call. Typically messages are transferred in batches and routing takes place at each station to figure out where messages need to go. Some routes are invalid because a sector might not have a ready connection to other sectors.

Local communications
Local comms work a bit like cellular/satellite/landline phone networks. A comlink can operate in untethered mode where it acts like a walkie talkie or trunked mode where it connects to a comm network. Comlinks all have a unique ID and a phonebook storage so you can load up the IDs of other comlinks to make calls.

Comm networks on civilized worlds will often have phonebook services you can connect to to try to find people's comlinks (if they're listed). A comlink can also connect to data devices like a laptop or data pad to provide network access. Many of these devices have their own comlinks and can access networks directly. A person might have a dozen different comlink IDs for different devices. Services like e-mail exist where a message is delivered to an address and can be accessed by the recipient just about anywhere.

You can use a comlink to connect to a subspace or HoloNet transceiver to send messages (if you have access) for whatever fee is charged. Typically planets have free or extremely low cost planet-wide coverage simply because it is efficient to do so. While comlink signals are encrypted there's nothing stopping eavesdropping if the listener has the appropriate decryption keys or equipment to crack it. Comlinks listed in the books as "encrypted" just have better than normal encryption circuitry and are more difficult to crack.

Courier
Couriers are used by anyone that wants pretty damn secure communications since they need to be physically intercepted. Courier droids networks are set up alongside subspace relay networks (as competition) or sometimes just by companies or groups that want more secure communications. Major hyperspace lanes are packed with courier droids delivering messages.

There's also "mail bags" available on many worlds that freighter captains can pick up and deliver. Often times mail bags are batched communications with a destination not reachable by the local subspace relay network and there's no courier droids that ply that particular route. If a captain files a flight plan that includes a mail bag destination they'll get a call asking if they'll deliver the bag. They can also call up a list of mail bag destinations if they wanted to do a mail bag run. Mail bags instantly destroy their contents and slag their storage device if they're tampered with and are heavily armored besides. Their safety mechanisms are mechanical so they can't be disabled by ionizing them or something. Often when ships are destroyed a mail bag they were carrying in the only thing that survives. These are more common in the Outer Rim than more densely populated regions of the galaxy.

[garhkal]

I know in the Trio of novels (iirc the corellian trilogy) Lando (with luke in tow) uses a high price holonet transmitter to get a message in real time to a potential wife, not just as a tool to impress with (due to the price) but cause he wanted to ensure things had not changed since they last were 'wrote about'
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Mikael Hasselstein]

[S-Foil]

[Pel]

We touched on this a while back when our smugglers decided to hijack some Sector Plexus courier droids. What started as piracy evolved into intercepting the droids and slicing their messages. Turned into a pretty lucrative career until the Empire caught on.

Still, it was a good break from the standard convoy raiding mission.
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Aha!

[Fallon Kell]

Also, don't forget hyperspace message pods which basically amount to galactic USPS.

[Mikael Hasselstein]

[Matthias777]

The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology has a whole entry dedicated to subspace transceivers and technology (p. 136), and another page dedicated to HoloNet transceivers/tech (p. 138). If you guys don't have the book, let me know and I'll type it out for everyone.
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Arek | Kage

[S-Foil]

[Matthias777]

Canon states that "subspace messages can be intercepted by any vessel within the transceiver's considerable broadcast range", and that this range is the one used for distress signals in addition to regular communications. That, to me, says "omnidirectional" pretty plainly, but I get why you would want to have different ranges for directional vs. omnidirectional. If you have to have them, though, it seems that the canonically-stated figures should be for the omnidirectional range, not a directional range.
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Arek | Kage

[CRMcNeill]

There was a scout ship in Wanted by Cracken that was equipped with a directional transponder. I can't remember the exact details, but the transponder made Communications rolls more difficult to intercept comm signals.

EDIT: Wanted by Cracken, page 81. Intercepting a tight beam signal requires a Very Difficult Communications roll, and additional rolls may be required to decode if the signal is encrypted. Lower base difficulty by one level if the specific comm frequency is known, and by one level if the signal vector is known.
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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

[jmanski]

Nice catch
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[S-Foil]

[CRMcNeill]