On 11Jun2024 0421, greg nokes - greg at nokes.name (via tml list) wrote:
> In the MT SOH, Page 64 (I thnk? For some reason they dropped the page
> numbers after page 59)
>
> Hours in Jump: 124 + (2D X 6)
>
> Now, I love that book for the transfer orbit calcs, but tbh I almost
> never use the expanded jump rules. It just adds to much time to the
> game. Now, if this was early TL-9 and jump drives were new, heck yes, or
> lf you are rushing because an Imperial Cruiser has some questions about
> your cargo of space wizards…

I find it interesting how the rules for jump have changed over the years.

In the LBB jumps were safe unless you did dumb stuff, like using dodgy
fuel, jumping too close to a world, or not maintaining your drives. A
misjump was always the 'real deal' - 1d6x1d6 parsecs in a random
direction, taking 1d6 weeks. From the 1981 version on really dumb
behaviour and bad rolls could get your ship destroyed. Also, dodgy fuel
could kill your powerplant and/or manoeuvre drive as well as your jump
drive. Time in jump is a week.

MegaTraveller adds a whole lot of rolls just to get from the ground to
100 diameters, most of them 'simple', which smells of fishing for
fumbles by the referee to me (and also, because they happen on 1-in-36
rolls, makes space travel breakdown and mishap prone). Then to jump
there are three routine rolls, only one of which really matters unless
you're in a screaming hurry (but in that case the other two should've
been started on lift-off and repeated until they succeeded), and which
apparently can 'fail' without listed consequences, but can't result in a
mishap unless you're doing something dumb. Time in jump is variable, at
6-8 days. Mishaps usually result in more variable jump time (5-10 days)
or emerging in the wrong place within the target system, with only major
mishaps resulting in 'true' misjumps (which do not have a non-standard
duration). Destruction of your ship was possible.

SOM changes the time to 124 + 2d6 x 6 hours, making it more variable,
and adds much more detail to things going wrong.

TNE used the same checks for flight to 100D as MT, but as there was no
auto-fumble rule, it was much less likely to result in annoying minor
breakdowns, etc. (the normal breakdown rules did that anyway...). Jump
prep is only one roll, and a poorly maintained ship makes it harder (and
therefore likely to take longer). Jump failures are much like MT's, with
true misjumps only possible with fumbles when doing dumb shit. Time is
as for MT.

T4 - as for CT, so far as I can see.

GURPS Traveller requires three rolls, but generally only fumbles are bad
- other failures juts require rerolls (but at increasing penalties, so a
run of bad luck can get messy). It's possible to be able to jump way
inside the limit, but the penalty (-12) is sufficient that even very
skilled crews will want to avoid it. Misjumps are highly variable in
range, and direction is random, but tends to be largely 'forward'. Time
taken is given as 168 hours +-10%, but no dice rolls to generate that
are given.

GT: Interstellar Wars requires *four* rolls, but aside from fumbles they
can be retried, and it allows for crews with reasonable skill to
automatically succeed if it's a routine jump. What a fumble causes
depends on which roll failed.

T20 notes that jumps have slight variations in time, exact emergence
location, and vector. Time is normally 147+6d6 hours. Mishaps are highly
variable in effect, ranging from a bit of jump sickness on emergence to
never being seen again, and highly variable jump durations are common.
The odds of a misjump are highly dependent on operator skill, as failed
Astrogation checks to set the course result in them (so do all the usual
things, at about the usual odds).

MgT2 (can't be bothered checking 1e) requires an Astrogation check (but
it can be repeated until it succeeds), then an Engineering check. Both
are normally easy (but longer jumps are harder for the Astrogator). A
really talented Engineer can reasonably safely jump under 100 diameters,
and there's only one penalty for that, no matter how far under. Time is
normally 148+6d hours. A fail by one results in spending extra time in
jump, by 2 and emergence is elsewhere, but in the same system, by more
and you get the traditional 1dx1d range misjump - if the referee is
being nice.

I don't grok T5 at all, and don't have Hero Traveller, so not looking at
them.

So, over time there's a tendency towards more skill-dependant checks.
Whether a ship can be destroyed or lost forever in jump is highly variable.

I swing between thinking on one hand that more skill checks is just
annoying rolling and possibly the system/referee fishing for failures,
and on the other that more checks mean more characters' skills actually
matter. However, as the number of decisions made doesn't really change
(what system, and where in that system is about it), I think fewer rolls
are better, because they're not attached to anything interesting -
there's only one real check being made - Was the jump successful or not,
and if not, in what way?

So I'm leaning towards one roll against the worst of Astrogation or
Ship's Engineering, with a (minor but meaningful) penalty if it's one
person having to do both, and relevant penalties for dumb stuff, etc. If
the roll is failed slighty, jump is delayed for recalculations (only
important if the ship's in a hurry to leave). Major failures mean a roll
on a misjump table (probably with the margin of failure as a 'bonus')
for results ranging from more variable time to multi-parsec misjumps. No
ship destruction or 'lost forever' - those should only be by referee
choice. Details of the checks and tables would depend on the system used.

--
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>