StarCraft Gamma World: Starships

Intro & Rules * Tokens & Sample Characters * Backgrounds, Equipment, Upgrades * Starships * The Prisoner coming soon!

Starship Combat

Enemy starships are added to combat encounters much the same way as standard creatures, each contributing their designated XP to the encounter total. Enemy starships, obviously, are only appropriate in encounters where they can threaten and interact with starships under the command or protection of the adventurers. Non-Combat vessels are ships that do not possess any weapons that are dangerous to other ships, but often represent support craft, transports, civilian vessels, and other targets of opportunity.


Vessels in combat are considered to be continually moving under their respective propulsion systems and inertia, and do not require a specific action to control. Starship positions relative to each other are not physically represented, but are instead assumed to be moving about on the battlefield at some distance to each other.

To attack an enemy starship, a character must be at a command console, located somewhere on each vessel. Command consoles can be any specific form on a starship, such as a helm wheel or weapons’ console. While at the command console and operating the starship, a character is prone. A character at a command console may spend a minor action to make offense, defense, or feint checks against one enemy vessel, using skills deemed appropriate by the Game Master, similarly to a Skill Challenge. Interaction is commonly used for feint checks, Mechanics is often used for defense checks, and History can also be used to call upon military tactics for offense, etc. Starships have one usable command console per 50 hit points, rounded down.

* A successful check against a starship’s offense DC deals 2d8 damage to an enemy ship.  Non-combative ships cannot make this check until they have been ungraded with a basic weapon system.

* A successful check against a starship’s defense DC reduces the next damage your ship takes from that enemy by 5.
* A successful check against a starship’s feint DC provides a +2 bonus to the next three checks you make with your ship.
* Alternatively, a successful check against a starship’s feint DC positions your starship close enough to the enemy vessel for boarding, or evades an enemy boarding attempt.
* At the end of each round, each enemy vessel deals its damage to a single allied vessel of the adventurers, and then declares whether it will attack again or attempt to board one of the adventurer’s vessels. If the enemy vessel attempts to board an allied vessel of the adventurers, a character onboard the allied vessel must make a successful feint check to evade the boarding enemy vessel.
* A successful boarding attempt allows occupants on both vessels to move between the  two starships as a move action, using an extendable docking collar.

At the start of each StarCraft Gamma World campaign, the adventuring party is given one unarmed scout craft for use in travelling between adventures.

Unarmed Scout Vessel                                          Level 1 Non-Com Vessel
Size 1                                                                                 -- XP
HP 60
Speed 6
Offense 13              Defense –
Feint 13                 Damage –

Starship Upgrades

There are multiple upgrades can be applied to the adventurers’ starship. Players are encouraged to create new and innovative upgrades to their vessels, and Game Masters are encouraged to allow these creative outlets and work them into the ongoing story. The Game Master may award starship upgrades as deemed appropriate to the campaign story in place of distributing an item of advanced equipment.

* Basic Weapons System: Allows a non-combat vessel to make checks against an enemy starship’s offense DC ; deals 2d8 base damage
* Upgrade Weapons: deal +5 damage
* Upgrade Weapons: damage is reroll all damage rolls that show a 1
* Upgrade Maneuvering: +2 to offense, defense or feint (can only upgrade each ability once)
* Increase Ship Size/Upgrade Hull: +25 HP (Max 250 HP)

Boarding Parties

Ship-to-ship boarding parties are assumed to invade an enemy vessel at an area close to the command center of the vessel, through either an accessible airlock or by cutting directly through the starship hull. Each enemy starship has guards permanently stationed to repel invaders. A starship will typically have one Minion pilot, on Minion officer, and 1 Standard guard per ship size, of a level equal to the starship. These creatures do not contribute to total XP of the encounter and are considered part of the vessel they are on.

In addition, a starship can carry a boarding party to go on the offensive and bring the fight to the adventurers' front door. A boarding party attempting to take the adventurers' starship can make for the beginnings of an excellent encounter. Unlike stationary guards, offensive enemy boarding parties add their experience point value to the total for an encounter.

Travel, Repairs & Supplies

The StarCraft Gamma World setting focuses on high adventure and exploration, and does not bother itself with the trivialities of day-to-day function. All ship hit points are repaired at the end of an extended rest, and a precise catalogue of food and fuel expenditures is never made, unless it is plot-relevant.

Speed                     Per Hour                            Per Day                 
2                              0.1 light years                    2.4 light years
3                              0.15 light years                  3.6 light years
4                              0.22 light years                  4.8 light years
5                              0.25 light years                  6.0 light years
6                              0.3 light years                    7.2 light years
7                              0.35 light years                  8.4 light years
8                              0.4 light years                    9.6 light years
9                              0.45 light years                  10.8 light years
10                            0.5 light years                    12 light years
20                            1 light year                         24 light years

Size Comparisons

Diameter of Solar System (edge of Oort Cloud)  1 Light Year

Distance from Earth to Centauri System                                4.37 Light Years

Distance from Earth to Center of Galaxy                                27,000 Light Years

Diameter of Galaxy                                                         100,000 Light Years

Distance from Earth to Large Magellanic Cloud   163,000 Light Years

Distance from Earth to Andromeda Galaxy           2,430,000 Light Years

Adventuring Tips

It is assumed that the adventurers are operating as a rogue force, raiding the vessels of government-back navies when they can. As such, their opportunities for selling captured starships become more limited, as buying misbegotten goods can be problematic for the non-heroic merchants the adventurers come across. While there's nothing wrong with making a profit by raiding, but it's usually a more fun adventure to steal the cargo from an old Dominion frigate than it is to mundanely scavenge and pawn junked ships.

Over time, adventurers may find themselves in possession of a number of small starship comprising their own little fleet. Operating such a fleet makes each starship vulnerable to a large boarding party, as the adventurers must spread themselves across the entire fleet to protect it. A boarding party of Protoss Zealots will make short work of any ship with only a single adventurer piloting it.

Example Starships

Protoss Carrier                                                    Level 9 Attack Vessel
Size 4                                                                           1,600 XP
HP 200
Speed 4
Offense 25            Defense 21
Feint 21                 Damage 4d10+28

The Gantrithor                                  Level 11 Attack Vessel
Size 4                                                                           2,400 XP
HP 200
Speed 4
Offense 27            Defense 23
Feint 23                 Damage 8d6+28

Protoss Mothership                                         Level 11 Attack Vessel
Size 5                                                                           3,000 XP
HP 250
Speed 3
Offense 23            Defense 23
Feint 19                 Damage 10d8+50

Protoss Arbiter                                                   Level 8 Attack Vessel
Size 3                                                                           1,050 XP
HP 150
Speed 4
Offense 20            Defense 20
Feint 24                 Damage 3d10+21

Protoss Void Ray                                 Level 7 Attack Vessel
Size 3                                                                               900 XP
HP 150
Speed 5
Offense 15            Defense 19
Feint 19                 Damage 6d8+30

Protoss Scout                                                      Level 2 Attack Vessel
Size 1                                                                              125 XP
HP 50
Speed 8
Offense 18            Defense 18
Feint 14                 Damage 1d6+4

Protoss Warp Prism                                      Level 3 Non-Com Vessel
Size 1                                                                                 35 XP
HP 10
Speed 4
Offense 15            Defense –
Feint 11                   Damage –

Protoss Observer                                          Level 1 Non-Com Vessel
Size 1                                                                                 25 XP
HP 10
Speed 2
Offense 9              Defense –
Feint 13                 Damage –

Protoss Phoenix                                                  Level 4 Attack Vessel
Size 2                                                                              350 XP
HP 100
Speed 5
Offense 16            Defense 16
Feint 16                 Damage 2d10+12

Protoss Corsair                                                    Level 5 Attack Vessel
Size 1                                                                              200 XP
HP 50
Speed 8
Offense 13            Defense 21
Feint 17                 Damage 1d10+7

Terran Battlecruiser                                        Level 9 Attack Vessel

Size 4                                                                           1,400 XP

HP 200

Speed 4

Offense 18            Defense 26

Feint 18                 Damage 8d8+48

The Hyperion                                     Level 11 Attack Vessel

Size 4                                                                           2,400 XP

HP 200

Speed 4

Offense 19            Defense 27

Feint 19                 Damage 6d12+52

Terran Wraith                                                  Level 6 Attack Vessel

Size 1                                                                               250 XP

HP 50

Speed 8

Offense 22            Defense 18

Feint 18                 Damage 1d8+6

Terran Valkyrie                                                Level 4 Attack Vessel

Size 2                                                                               350 XP

HP 100

Speed 6

Offense 12            Defense 16

Feint 16                 Damage 4d6+16

Terran Medivac Dropship                          Level 3 Non-Com Vessel

Size 3                                                                               100 XP

HP 40

Speed 5

Offense 15            Defense –

Feint 11                  Damage –

Terran Banshee                                           Level 4 Non-Com Vessel

Size 2                                                                                 85 XP

HP 25

Speed 8

Offense 20            Defense –

Feint 12                 Damage –

Terran Viking                                                    Level 5 Attack Vessel

Size 2                                                                               400 XP

HP 100

Speed 8

Offense 21            Defense 13

Feint 21                 Damage 2d8+10

Terran Raven                                               Level 2 Non-Com Vessel

Size 2                                                                                 60 XP

HP 25

Speed 6

Offense 10             Defense –

Feint 14                 Damage –

Zerg Overlord                                             Level 1 Attack Vessel
Size 2                                                                              1,000 XP
HP 200
Speed 2
Offense 10            Defense –
Feint 10                  Damage –

Zerg Mutalisk Swarm                                  Level 6 Attack Vessel
Size 3                                                                              750 XP
HP 150
Speed 8
Offense 18            Defense 18
Feint 18                  Damage 3d10+24

Zerg Corruptor                                             Level 9 Attack Vessel
Size 2                                                                              800 XP
HP 100
Speed 4
Offense 17            Defense 21
Feint 21                  Damage 4d8+24

Zerg Behemoth                                             Level 10 Attack Vessel
Size 5                                                                              1000 XP
HP 500
Speed 2
Offense 19            Defense –
Feint 19                  Damage –