Have I Been Here Before?

[Totally Not An ISB Agent]

When a ship carrying their characters approaches a planet, the players often ask, “Have I been here before?” Here is a method for determining if they have.

Whenever a character visits a new planet, roll 4D to see if they have visited this planet before. Characters with the Well-Traveled Advantage roll 6D and characters with the Provincial Minor Flaw roll 2D. Characters with the Provincial Major Flaw do not get a roll.

The following table is a general guideline of DC's.
Easy:..............Major hub (Coruscant, Brentaal, Eriadu, Bonadan)
Moderate:........Moderate hub (Corellia, Taanab, Nal Hutta)
Difficult:..........Lesser hub (Ryloth, Rodia, Naboo)
Very Difficult:...Backwater world (Tatooine, Toydaria, Gamoor)
Heroic:............Obscure world (Hoth, Dagobah, Yavin - before certain events)

The DC will vary depending on various factors. A planet that is on the same hyperspace route as a planet that you have visited many times may have an easier DC, while a planet that is on the other side of the galaxy and nowhere near your typical stomping grounds may have a higher DC. A planet in the same star system of one that you 'know well' may have a DC of Very Easy, however if that planet happens to be an Imperial prison, it may have a DC of Heroic instead.

The success of your roll determines how often you have visited the planet.
DC........|..Have I Been There?..|.Skills Modifier..|..Contacts Modifier
Failure...|..Nope.........................|..........+0...........|..........-2D
DC........|..A few quick stopovers..|..........+0...........|..........-1D
DC+5....|..Some extended visits...|..........+1...........|..........+0D
DC+10..|..Visited many times......|..........+2...........|..........+1D
DC+20..|..I know it well..............|..........+1D.........|.........+2D

The world that a character grew up on is automatically set at 'I know it well'.

The Skills Modifier is a bonus to the following skills (but only in relation to that world):
Bureaucracy
Business
Cultures
Investigation
Law Enforcement
Planetary Systems
Streetwise

The Contacts Modifier is applied to finding a contact on that world (See the chapter on Contacts).

What the results mean:
Just because you rolled a result of 'nope', it doesn't necessarily mean that you've never been there. You may have been there one or more times, but you never left the landing bay, or at most you went to a nearby pub. In short, you haven't spent any real time exploring or interacting with the natives.

'A few quick stopovers' means that you've been to at least a couple of locations and spent some time (perhaps a week in total) exploring.

'Some extended visits' means that you've been to several of the major locations on the planet and spent at least a week at each location exploring.

'Visited many times' means that this is a frequent stopover for you and you've cultivated some relationships here. You've spent at least a month in several of the major locations on the planet, and you've visited several more.

'I know it well' means that this is like a second home to you. You've spent at least several months in one or more locations and visited many more.

[Totally Not An ISB Agent]

Stay tuned for my chapter on Contacts.

[KageRyu]

A few personal thoughts offered as constructive Criticism:
• This system would render the Knowledge Skill for Planetary Systems essentially redundant for knowledge of planets and customs - and for that reason I think it is not really suitable. I do see that in a game it can be useful to know if a character has been somewhere before = but this chart/rules as provided over rides many of the factors discussed under Planetary Systems and so would deter players from allocating dice to it.
• I do not think determining if a player has been to a system should be handled as Pass/Fail. I also do not feel it should automatically provide benefits or penalties to various skills. How long did the player character stay? How much did he do while there? How much of the planet did he see? etc...
• This seems to rely on modifiers from an Advantage/Flaw system not detailed or linked to - this makes it difficult to give a proper evaluation.

Personally I feel determining whether a character has been to a planet before should be far more random and far less of a skill check - resolvable on 1D honestly, with maybe + or - 1 pip for things like access to a ship, full die codes of skills like Arrogation or Planetary Systems above base attribute, etc... A character with a ship and lot of skill navigating hyperspace is more likely to to have seen more of the Galaxy than a Kid with only a slingshot and a small animal (dead or alive).[/list]
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"There's a set way to gain new Force Points and it represents a very nice system, where you're rewarded for heroism, not for being a poor conductor to electricity." ~Jachra

[CRMcNeill]

I like it. It’s a great way to flesh out details of a PC’s background without having to detail each and every planet they’ve ever been to. Looking forward to the Contacts.
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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

[garhkal]

[DougRed4]

While I understand the concern of making Planetary Systems skill redundant/unnecessary, I like this chart and think it could add some fun to what characters know.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Totally Not An ISB Agent]

I present stuff like this on the hopes that someone else will pick it up and run with it. Modify it. Improve it.

The part I'm mainly concerned with is are the numbers right? At the moment, a typical character without an Advantage or Disadvantage rolls 4D, and on an average roll will have been to a Major Hub on some extended visits and a Moderate Hub for a few quick stopovers.

On a good roll, he will have visited a Major Hub many times, a Moderate Hub on some extended visits, and a Lesser Hub for a few quick stopovers. He will need some luck on the wild die to have visited a backwater or obscure world.

So do these odds seem right, or should they be adjusted?

[cheshire]

I think that this can serve as a fun basis for a planetary systems check. Even if they haven't visited it before, they may have enough contact with the broader galaxy that they have a pretty good idea of how to get by.

I'd lived my life in the U.S. I'd never been to Dublin before, but before I got there I was pretty sure I could find a pub. I also had a good idea of what would be good fare there before I sat down.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.