Vehicle Rules Primer

A ship is not a single machine. It is twenty systems in negotiation with each other, and the crew is the one enforcing the terms.

This chapter is the canonical rules layer for all vehicles in Void Drifters. It builds on Core Rules Chapter 11 and supersedes it where the two conflict. Every other chapter in this book references back to procedures defined here.

The Vehicle Characteristics

Void Drifters vehicles use the following characteristics. Every stat block lists them.

Pilot is the setting-facing name for the Operate skill throughout this book. All Pilot Trials use the Operate skill.

Scale

Scale is the ship's broad physical size category. It determines the envelope within which a hull is designed: how large its systems can be, how many Module Slots and Weapon Hardpoints it supports, how much damage it can absorb, and how it interacts with vehicles of other sizes.

Scale does not replace class. A corvette built for patrol work and a heavy freighter built for cargo runs may both be Scale 4 while doing entirely different jobs.

Scale in Combat

When a vehicle of lower Scale attacks a vehicle of significantly higher Scale, remove Bane Dice from the attacker's pool equal to the difference in Scale (minimum 0). When attacking a significantly smaller target, add Bane Dice equal to the difference. A difference of 2 or more Scale is considered significant.

A Scale 2 fighter attacking a Scale 4 cutter removes up to 2 Bane Dice: the cutter is large enough that hitting it is not the challenge. Shooting back accurately at a fighter from a cutter is harder: add up to 2 Bane Dice to the cutter's attack against the fighter.

Scale and System Size

Ship systems, weapons, and modules are built for ships of a particular Scale. Installing a Scale 3 navigation suite in a Scale 5 frigate works in an emergency but the suite runs at reduced output. The full compatibility rules are in Chapter 10. As a quick reference:

Hull Points and System Points

Hull Points and System Points track different kinds of damage. They are not interchangeable.

Hull Points

Hull Points measure structural integrity: the frame, plating, pressure sealing, and gross physical condition of the hull. When the ship takes Hull Damage, it is being physically beaten.

When Hull Damage equals or exceeds Hull Points, the ship is disabled: it cannot move or act until repaired. A disabled ship is not destroyed. Its hull is intact enough to preserve life, but it cannot function as a vehicle.

A disabled ship near a gravity well, debris field, or hostile adversary is in immediate danger. The crew must address the situation before the environment addresses it for them.

System Points

System Points measure operational capacity: the health of controls, power routing, computer systems, sensor arrays, fire control, and other functional systems. When the ship takes System Damage, its ability to operate is being degraded.

When System Damage equals or exceeds System Points, the ship loses control: it cannot be directed normally. Depending on circumstances, it may drift, spin, fall toward a gravity source, or collide with terrain. The pilot must spend actions regaining control before the ship can act normally.

How They Interact

Hull Damage and System Damage are separate tracks. A ship can take heavy hull damage and still operate cleanly. A ship can lose control of its systems while its frame is entirely intact.

Most weapon hits deal one type or the other. Physical kinetic weapons primarily deal Hull Damage. Disruption weapons deal System Damage. Plasma weapons deal Hull Damage with a secondary heat component. Beam weapons deal Hull Damage. Gravitic and phase weapons create movement complications that generate both types.

Critical Hits (see Chapter 15) generate specific effects beyond simple damage.

System Damage

When a ship accumulates System Damage, the GM tracks which systems are under strain. System Damage is not anonymous degradation. It represents specific operational problems.

System Damage Procedure

When the ship's System Damage crosses a significant threshold (usually half of System Points or a Critical Hit result), the GM either rolls on the Ship Critical Hit table or chooses which system is degraded. The choice should reflect what was hit and what makes the scene more interesting, not just what hurts most.

System Damage Categories

A system marked as disabled cannot be used until repaired. An engineer can attempt an Emergency Patch (see Chapter 11) during structured play to restore temporary function.

Repairing System Damage

Each net Success on a Craft Trial removes 1 System Damage. Two Boons may remove 1 additional damage, preserve parts, or reduce repair time.

Full repair difficulties are in Chapter 11. As a quick reference: minor field damage is Easy, a disabled system is Average, heavy damage with missing parts is Hard.

Power Capacity and Heat

Power and Heat are the two operational limits every ship runs against in combat. They are related but track different problems.

Power Load

Every active system that draws power contributes to the ship's current Power Load. Power Capacity is the maximum total Power Load the ship can sustain simultaneously across all active systems.

Common Power Load values:

When active Power Load exceeds Power Capacity, the engineer must immediately choose one response:

A ship can sustain minor overload (1 above capacity) for 1 round without consequence if the engineer immediately declares a response. Sustained overload (2 or more above capacity, or persisting past 1 round) escalates without action.

Heat

Heat accumulates when weapons fire, screens absorb hits, engines push hard, and systems fail under stress. It is not an instant problem. It is a building one.

Common Heat sources:

At the end of each round, the ship removes Heat equal to its Heat Dissipation value. Under normal conditions, this passive cooling is reliable. Under sustained combat, Heat can accumulate faster than it dissipates.

Engineer Heat management actions:

Heat Threshold and Escalation

When Heat equals or exceeds the ship's Heat Threshold, thermal consequences begin. Each band above the Threshold stacks on the ones below it.

Levels stack. A ship at Threshold +5 has all Strain penalties AND all Critical penalties simultaneously.

Emergency Shutdown: If the engineer fails the Severe Trial at Level 5, all active weapons, screens, modules, and ECM go offline. Engines drop to minimum thrust. The ship is drifting and cannot respond. Recovery requires the ship to cool below Level 3 first, then restart each system individually (1 action, Average Craft Trial per system). Life support restarts automatically.

An emergency shutdown in combat is usually how ships are captured rather than destroyed.

Handling

Handling modifies Pilot Trials. It represents how responsive and forgiving the hull is in maneuvering situations.

• Positive Handling adds Boon Dice to relevant Pilot Trials.
• Negative Handling adds Bane Dice to relevant Pilot Trials.

Handling applies to combat maneuvering, evasion, atmospheric approaches, docking under pressure, and other Pilot Trials where the ship's responsiveness matters. It does not apply to passive checks where the ship is simply traveling on course.

A ship with Handling +2 is noticeably nimble. A ship with Handling -2 is sluggish: the pilot can still fly it, but they are fighting the ship every turn.

Heavy cargo loads can temporarily worsen Handling. See the Cargo section below.

Sensors

Sensors determine what a crew can detect and how reliably they can detect it. Every ship has a sensor tier that defines its baseline capability.

Sensor Checks

Most sensor use does not require a Trial. A ship with functioning sensors automatically detects anything radiating a normal transponder signal within its tier's range.

A Sensors check (Electronics skill) is required when:

• The target is running cold or using Signature Management.
• The crew needs specific information beyond class identification.
• The target is actively jamming.
• Conditions obscure the target (debris field, gas cloud, stellar interference).
• The crew is attempting to track a target across a range boundary.

Active Scanning means the ship is broadcasting detection signals. It is more effective but increases the ship's own signature: add 1 Bane Die to Signature Management while actively scanning.

Passive Listening means the ship is only receiving. It does not increase signature, but it is less effective against targets running cold.

Jamming

A ship using active ECM to jam another's sensors forces the jammed vessel to add 1 to 3 Bane Dice to sensor-dependent actions (targeting, scanning, lock-breaking) depending on the strength of the ECM system. Full ECM rules are in Chapter 8.

Crew Minimums and Standards

Every ship lists two crew values: minimum and standard.

Minimum crew is the fewest people needed to keep the ship functional. A ship operating at minimum crew is flying, but degraded. Not every station is covered. Not every system is watched.

Standard crew is the number of people needed for full capability. With standard crew, every station is covered during structured play and no system is unattended.

Effects of Reduced Crew

Which systems operate at reduced capacity when understaffed is a fiction-first decision. A ship with no gunner can still fire weapons, but no one is optimizing targeting or managing the weapon cooling cycle: the attack rolls add Bane Dice. A ship with no engineer can still cruise, but no one is watching the reactor: Heat events and overload checks trigger with reduced warning.

Cargo and Passengers

Cargo

A Cargo Unit is a unit of secured hold space. One Cargo Unit holds one tonne of ordinary packaged freight, and a ship's Cargo stat is how many it has.

For scale: a road freight trailer carries about 22 Cargo Units. A Model 20 light freighter carries 120, so five and a half trailers. A Model 80 bulk hauler carries five thousand.

Density decides how many tonnes fit in a Cargo Unit. A tonne of ore and a tonne of grain are the same mass and nothing like the same problem. Every trade good carries a Density Class.

A 120 Cargo Unit hold therefore takes 240 tonnes of ore, 120 tonnes of machinery, 60 tonnes of grain, or 30 tonnes of raw fibre. Trade good prices in the Equipment Guide are per tonne, so dense cargo is worth more per unit of hold, and every hauler in the Verge knows it.

Grossing Out and Cubing Out

A hold can never carry more tonnes than twice its Cargo Unit rating, whatever the density. Structure and drive set that limit, not volume.

This is why Dense is the densest class: at half a Cargo Unit per tonne, dense freight reaches the mass ceiling exactly as it fills the hold. Load ore and you gross out, hitting the weight limit with space to spare. Load insulation and you cube out, filling every corner while barely loaded. Working crews use both words and neither is a compliment when it happens to a manifest you already priced.

Overloading

Carrying above rated capacity is possible with creative stowage and has consequences. For every 10% above capacity, reduce Handling by 1, to a minimum of Handling −5. The penalty persists until the excess is offloaded.

Cargo type matters beyond mass. Hazardous, fragile, living, or restricted cargo creates additional requirements: secure restraints, controlled atmosphere, refrigeration, armored compartments, or legal documentation. Chapter 11 covers cargo complications in detail.

Encumbrance and Cargo

One Cargo Unit equals 100 Encumbrance. This is the bridge between what a character carries and what a ship hauls, and it is the only conversion you need.

Published Encumbrance values for trade goods assume packaged for shipment: crated, palletised, strapped, and stackable. Loose cargo uses each item's normal Encumbrance value and takes roughly ten times the space. A hundred and twenty rifles crated for transit occupy about 50 Encumbrance. The same rifles loose across a deck occupy nearly 500, and someone has to walk through them.

The GM decides when cargo counts as loose. Everything printed in these books is packaged.

Complement and Life Support

Complement is the ship's standard crew plus its passenger capacity. Both numbers are already on the stat block, so complement is simply their sum. It is the number of people the hull was built to keep alive indefinitely.

A Model 20 with standard crew 4 and passenger capacity 6 has a complement of 10. Everyone aboard counts against it: crew, passengers, hired hands, prisoners, rescued survivors, and boarders who are still breathing.

Life support does not require tracking. Below complement it simply works, and there is nothing to roll or record. It becomes a problem in exactly two situations.

A half-empty ship absorbs a life support hit without drama. A full one does not. That is the entire interaction.

Berths

Passenger capacity is built from berths, and berth type determines how many people fit in the same space.

Berth slots are allocated freely. A hull with ten berth slots can carry ten passengers, or six passengers and two luxury cabins, or twenty in barracks bunks, or any mix that totals ten.

Hot berthing halves the space any berth type requires: two people share one bunk on opposite shifts. Military hulls assume hot berthing in their listed complement already, which is why a Scale 7 carrier lists four hundred embarked troops without four hundred berths. A civilian ship may hot berth at need, and it is the usual answer when a freighter pulls survivors off a wreck. It relieves the shortage of beds. It does not raise complement, because life support does not care where anyone is sleeping.

Luxury is comfort, not capability. A luxury cabin takes more space and costs far more in credits. It does not make the ship fly, fight, or haul any better. Pricing is in Chapter Twelve.

Embarked Troops

On military hulls, passenger capacity is embarked complement: boarding parties, marines, prize crews, and relief personnel. They berth in barracks, they count against complement exactly as passengers do, and unlike passengers they are armed and trained. Boarding actions are in Chapter Fourteen.

Cargo Weight and Handling

A full cargo hold affects how a ship moves. When cargo is at 75% capacity or above, apply -1 to Handling. At full capacity, apply -1 additional (total -2). Offloading cargo or redistributing weight can restore Handling, but requires a docking facility or a Hard Craft Trial to rebalance in space.

Vehicle Scale vs. Character Scale

Ships and characters inhabit the same scenes but operate at different scales. Each affects the other differently.

Character Actions Against Ships

Personal weapons generally cannot damage ships. A sidearm fired at a corvette's hull scratches paint at best. However:

• Boarding and Sabotage: Characters inside a ship can damage it through direct action. A character with the right tools and access can disable systems, plant charges, open airlocks, or reroute power. These are treated as Craft or relevant skill Trials with the GM setting difficulty based on the system and conditions.
• Structural damage from personal weapons: Military-grade personal weapons (anti-materiel rifles, shaped charges, plasma cutters in sabotage mode) can deal 1 Hull Damage per successful hit to Scale 1-2 vehicles, but are ineffective against larger hulls without dedicated anti-vehicle munitions. Anti-vehicle weapons deal damage as their profile states.

Ship Actions Against Characters

Ship-scale weapons are catastrophically effective against unprotected characters. A character caught in the open under ship weapons fire is not in a fight: they are in an extinction event.

• Ship weapons against characters: Any direct hit from a ship weapon on an unprotected character causes immediate incapacitation and likely death, at GM discretion. Treat this as a narrative consequence, not a damage calculation.
• Crash damage: When a ship crashes, rolls, or suffers a catastrophic hit, characters aboard make Athletics Trials or suffer Wounds proportional to the severity. A minor impact is Average for 3 Wounds. A severe collision is Hard for 6+ Wounds, with Banes creating additional consequences.
• Vacuum exposure: When hull integrity fails, characters in the affected section must reach sealed compartments or emergency suits within a number of rounds equal to their Might (minimum 1). After that, they begin accumulating Wounds from vacuum exposure each round until they reach safety or receive medical intervention.

Gravity, Atmosphere, and Environment

Artificial Gravity

Most ships maintain artificial gravity systems that keep the interior at a comfortable range (0.8g to 1.2g). When the AG system is functioning normally, gravity has no mechanical effect on crew inside the ship.

When ship AG fails (power loss, system damage, deliberate override):

• The affected sections immediately drop to microgravity.
• All crew in the affected area must make an Average Athletics Trial or lose control: floating loose, knocked against surfaces, unable to act until they anchor.
• Crew who are strapped in or wearing mag boots on compatible surfaces are unaffected.

Military ships with Funtari anti-gravity systems or dedicated gravity control can set differential gravity by compartment. Security crews with hover suits can operate at full effectiveness in 3g while boarders without anti-gravity equipment suffer severe penalties. Full gravity rules for characters are in the core Gravity Rules canon; the table below summarizes ship-relevant gravity effects.

Atmospheric Operations

Ships have an atmospheric rating that determines their capability in planetary atmospheres.

Entering atmosphere in a hull rated Limited or None requires a Pilot Trial. On success, the ship enters safely but begins accumulating Hull Damage each round (1 damage per round for Limited, 2 per round for None). On failure, add Bane consequences: additional Hull Damage, system disruptions, or loss of control.

Landing on a planetary surface requires that the ship have landing systems. A hull with atmospheric rating but no landing systems can hover, but cannot touch down safely without a landing pad or docking facility.

Planetary Atmosphere Ratings

The atmosphere a ship operates in matters beyond just whether it can fly there. Thin atmosphere affects cooling (Heat Dissipation reduced by 1). Thick or toxic atmosphere may require sealed hull integrity (hull breaches are immediately dangerous). Corrosive atmosphere deals 1 Hull Damage per hour of exposure unless the hull has environmental sealing.

Fuel, Supplies, and Maintenance

The following rules provide abstract campaign-level tracking. They are designed to create periodic pressure and decision points, not round-by-round bookkeeping.

Fuel

Ships consume fuel during sublight and Slipstream travel. Fuel is tracked in Supply Units, where 1 Supply Unit represents one standardized measure of fuel or consumable suitable for the ship's Scale.

Fuel consumption rates:

Fuel can be purchased at any functioning port. Prices and availability vary by system and political situation; the GM Guide and Sector Atlas contain regional supply information.

Zero fuel: A ship with no fuel cannot enter Slipspace. It can continue sublight operations on whatever minimal reserves remain, but is limited to the current system. Getting fuel to a stranded ship is a job opportunity.

Consumables

Consumables represent food, water, atmospheric processing supplies, and medical basics. Each ship lists a Consumables stat representing how many months of standard crew operation the ship can sustain without resupply.

Consumable consumption: 1 Consumable Unit per person per month, counted against everyone aboard rather than crew alone. A ship carrying passengers, troops, prisoners, or survivors burns stores for all of them. Running at minimum crew with no passengers consumes proportionally less, which is how a shorthanded hull stretches a long transit.

The listed Consumables figure assumes the ship is carrying its standard crew and nothing else. A liner rated at eight months with 120 crew and 400 passengers aboard is provisioned for closer to seven weeks, and its operators know it. Small craft list Endurance in hours instead, covering a single sortie rather than a voyage.

Zero consumables: When consumables are exhausted, crew accumulate 1 Strain per day until resupplied or rationing is implemented. Rationing (hard Willpower + Resolve check per crew) halves consumption but adds 1 Bane Die to all checks until resupply.

Maintenance Clock

Ships require periodic maintenance to function reliably. The Maintenance Clock tracks how long a ship has operated without proper service.

Resetting the clock: Full maintenance requires a proper shipyard or repair facility, appropriate parts, and a number of days proportional to the ship's Scale (Scale 3-4: 3 days; Scale 5-6: 7 days; larger: proportionally more). A character can perform field maintenance to extend the clock by 1 month per successful Average Craft Trial, but field maintenance cannot reset it fully.

Reading a Ship Stat Block

Ship stat blocks in this book use the following format. Every field means something specific.

##### [Ship Name] — [Class]
*[Builder], [Model family]*

| Stat | Value | Stat | Value |
|:--|:--|:--|:--|
| Scale | [1-5] | Speed | [value] |
| Handling | [+N or -N] | Sensors | [Basic/Extended/Military] |
| Armor | [DR N] | Deflection | [N] |
| Hull Points | [N] | System Points | [N] |
| Power Capacity | [N] | Heat Threshold | [N] |
| Hardpoints | [L N / M N / H N] | Module Slots | [N] |
| Crew | [min N / std N] | Cargo | [N tons] |

**Standard Systems:** [list]
**Traits:** [list any special rules]

Scale: Size tier (see Scale table above).

Speed: Movement rate per Maneuver during structured play. Higher Speed allows covering more range bands per round.

Handling: Modifier to Pilot Trials. Positive is Boon Dice, negative is Bane Dice.

Sensors: Tier (Basic, Extended, Military). Sets baseline detection capability.

Armor: Damage Reduction applied to Hull Damage from physical attacks.

Deflection: Bane Dice added to energy-weapon attacks against the ship (from deflection screens, if active).

Hull Points: Structural integrity. Disabled when Hull Damage reaches this value.

System Points: Operational capacity. Loses control when System Damage reaches this value.

Power Capacity: Maximum simultaneous Power Load across all active systems.

Heat Threshold: Heat level at which thermal strain begins.

Hardpoints: Weapon Hardpoint capacity listed as Light / Standard / Heavy by mount size (see Chapter 8).

Module Slots: Number of available Module Slot positions for optional installations (see Chapter 10).

Crew min/std: Minimum crew to fly / standard crew for full capability.

Cargo: Rated cargo capacity in metric tons.

Standard Systems: Core systems installed at factory spec. Deviations from this list are tracked as modifications.

Traits: Any special rules, builder advantages, or model-specific notes that affect play.

Simple, Routine, and Dangerous Operation

Routine vehicle operation does not require a Pilot Trial. A ship holding orbit, cruising a charted lane in good conditions, or following normal traffic guidance succeeds without a roll.

Call for a Pilot Trial when the outcome can change the scene and failure has consequences: docking under fire, evading an intercept, threading a debris field, forcing an offset Slipstream exit, or maintaining control after System Damage. Difficulty is set by conditions and opposition, not by distance traveled.

The same principle applies to other crew stations. An engineer managing a functioning reactor in calm conditions does not roll. An engineer managing an overloaded reactor while the ship is taking fire rolls, because both failure and success change what happens next.